RollWithEm

Depth Charts:

Grizzlies
PG Derrick Rose / Rajon Rondo
SG Reggie Miller / Allan Houston
SF Dominique Wilkins / Bruce Bowen
PF Kevin Garnett / Chris Bosh
C Tim Duncan / Bill Laimbeer

Bullets
PG Chris Paul (38) / Fat Lever (10)
SG David Thompson (38) / Shane Battier (10)
SF Larry Bird (39) / Connie Hawkins (9)
PF Dennis Rodman (40) / Buck Williams (8)
C Dwight Howard (38) / Mel Daniels (10)

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But that's just me.

Knick Killer

Other than Small Forward, I think I have an advantage at every position. Rodman and Howard might have an advantage on the boards, but I think they would struggle to slow down two MVP calibre big's in KG and Tim Duncan.

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jericho

I'm reproducing here the specific seasons, with key stats for those player seasons and the intended minutes allocation for the Bullets.

Larry Bird (87-88) – 29.9 ppg, 52.7 fg%, 41.4 3pt% (98 3s made), 91.6 ft%, 9.3 rpg (25.5 creb%), 6.1 apg, 1.6 spg
Dennis Rodman (91-92) – 9.8 ppg, 53.9 fg%, 18.7 rpg (48.7 creb%), 2.3 apg
Dwight Howard (07-08) – 20.7 ppg, 59.9 fg%, 14.2 rpg (41.2 creb%), 1.3 apg, 2.1 bpg
David Thompson (77-78) – 27.6 ppg, 52.1 fg%, 33.6 3pt%, 77.8 ft%, 4.9 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.2 spg, 1.2 bpg
Chris Paul (07-08) – 21.1 ppg, 48.8 fg%, 36.9 3pt% (92 3s made), 77.8 ft%, 4.0 rpg, 11.0 apg, 2.7 spg
Mel Daniels (70-71) – 20.5 ppg , 51.5 fg%, 17.8 rpg (41.0 creb%), 2.1 apg, 2.8 bpg
Buck Williams (84-85) – 18.2 ppg, 53.0 fg%, 12.3 rpg (34.6 creb%), 2.0 apg
Connie Hawkins (67-68) – 26.7 ppg, 51.9 fg%, 13.4 rpg (26.2 creb%), 4.6 apg, 1.5 spg, 1.5 bpg
Shane Battier (05-06) – 10.1 ppg, 48.4 fg%, 39.4 3pt%, 78.5 ft%, 5.3 rpg
Fat Lever (87-88) – 18.9 ppg, 47.3 fg%, 78.5 ft%, 8.1 rpg (22.2 creb%), 7.8 apg, 2.7 spg

Dwight Howard 38 / Mel Daniels 10
Dennis Rodman 40 / Buck Williams 8
Larry Bird 39 / Connie Hawkins 9
David Thompson 38 / Shane Battier 10
Chris Paul 38 / Fat Lever 10

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Favorite players: Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone, Bill Russell, Alex English, Kiki Vandeweghe, Sidney Moncrief, Lafayette Lever, Dan Issel, Bobby Jones, Julius Erving, Rick Barry, John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West...and Brooks Thompson

LEGENDS DRAFT:

C - Dwight Howard / Mel Daniels
PF - Dennis Rodman / Buck Williams
SF - Larry Bird / Connie Hawkins
SG - David Thompson / Shane Battier
PG - Chris Paul / Fat Lever

jericho

Some very interesting matchups here.

Point guard is a critical one. Playing head-to-head in real life (for what that's worth), Paul has scored 18.4 ppg shooting .504, .600 and .824, and posted 3.2 rpg, 9.2 apg, and 2.4 apg. Rose's numbers are 17.6 ppg shooting .403, .500 and .917, with 5.2 rpg, 8.6 apg, and 1.6 spg. But I know, I know...this situation is different, and they have different teammates.

Looking at the broader picture, Rose is a bit bigger, and is more explosive and athletic, but Paul is superior in every key statistical category except PPG. Prime Paul plays bigger than his size, is explosive in his own right and a feared penetrator, and a superior playmaker. (And for those who care about such arcane matters, Paul has three seasons with a win share total better than that of Rose's MVP campaign.) Rose possesses some intangibles, including a notable drive to win, but so does Paul and I don't see that Rose's offset Paul's advantages. One really important factor to my offensive scheme is that Paul is consistently a more efficient scorer. But I'll call this matchup a push.

Another key matchup is center, where again Duncan loses some of the physical advantages he'd have at power forward. In real life head-to-head competition, Duncan posted 19.8 ppg shooting .521 and .732, 10.6 rpg, 3.0 apg, and 1.8 bpg. Howard put up 18.9 ppg shooting .571 and .563, with 12.9 rpg, 1.1 apg, and 2.1 bpg. We all know Duncan is an exceptionally heady player who (as I wrote in another post) can control the tempo of a game unlike any modern big I've seen play. But it seems pretty obvious from these stats that he doesn't Howard out of his game. Dwight will still be able to do what I need him to do, which is to give the Bullets an edge on the glass and score a decent amount inside (and efficiently) against some of the best defenders ever.

Bird and Dominique will light each other up, but Bird brings more to the court with superior range, rebounding and passing. I saw some amazing duels between those two in the 80s and early 90s, and Wilkins sometimes outscored him a bit but on much less efficient shooting. Garnett and Rodman will be fun to watch. Rodman will get his board, and Garnett will almost certainly outscore him so I'll need to be able to make that up elsewhere.

Shooting guard is at least one place where that happens. I don't want to see the ball in Reggie's hands in the clutch, for sure, and if Vancouver has the ball with the game on the line then Battier comes in to wave long arms in his face, but outside of that moment I think Washington has an important edge here. Reggie is a little underrated as a defender on boards like this but he can't keep up with Thompson on the break and he doesn't have the lateral quickness to close off his penetration. Miller will score some, too, but I think Skywalker takes him to school.

And for what I need them to do, I'll take every player on Washington's bench over their counterparts. I've got defensive toughness, rebounding prowess, and the ability to fly on the break.

(Sorry for writing such an essay, by the way. I just get carried away sometimes.)

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Favorite players: Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone, Bill Russell, Alex English, Kiki Vandeweghe, Sidney Moncrief, Lafayette Lever, Dan Issel, Bobby Jones, Julius Erving, Rick Barry, John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West...and Brooks Thompson

LEGENDS DRAFT:

C - Dwight Howard / Mel Daniels
PF - Dennis Rodman / Buck Williams
SF - Larry Bird / Connie Hawkins
SG - David Thompson / Shane Battier
PG - Chris Paul / Fat Lever

Knick Killer

Those Duncan vs. Howard stats are kind of irrelevant seeing how I'm using Duncan from his 2001-02 MVP season. Howard never played against a prime Tim Duncan, they first started playing against each other in 2004 when Duncan's numbers were slowly starting to decrease each season. In 2012 at the age of 36, Tim Duncan put up identical numbers against a prime Dwight in their only match-up this season. If he can match a prime Dwight at the age of 36, imagine what he could've done against him in his own prime at age 25.

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RollWithEm

I like a prime Timmay over anything I've seen from DHo so far in his career. KG also provides more offensively than Rodman, even though he'll likely get out-rebounded.

CP3/Fat Lever vs. Rose/Rondo is just an incredible PG match-up. I would love every second of watching those battles.

Bird has the edge on Nique in terms of all-around play, but he didn't have the athleticism to keep him from getting his on the offensive end.

The Bullets have more size on the bench, but the Grizzlies have much better perimeter shooting.

What are the odds Buck Williams would make Chris Bosh cry, though?

This one is super close in my mind.

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But that's just me.

PauloCatarino

I'm baffled to the underusage of Buck Williams in this match-up.
He would break KG in half if he played more than 8 minutes.
And why isn't Rodman part-timeing at SF?

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2012 Legends Draft Winner

Golden State Warriors:
PG- Steve Nash - Maurice Cheeks;
SG- John Havlicek - Latrell Sprewell;
SF- Bernard King - Mark Aguirre;
PF- Dirk Nowitzki - Maurice Lucas;
C- Hakeem Olajuwon - Robert Parish.

jericho

Good suggestions. Buck would certainly log heavier minutes if I needed more scoring on the floor, but I would give Rodman a good chance to get under Garnett's skin. Rodman is a master of head games and Garnett is pretty volatile and a bit of a threat to go postal and take a swing at him.

Rodman certainly can certainly switch to covering Wilkins at times, but I want Hawkins to get some playing time since he's the primary scoring threat in my second unit.

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Favorite players: Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone, Bill Russell, Alex English, Kiki Vandeweghe, Sidney Moncrief, Lafayette Lever, Dan Issel, Bobby Jones, Julius Erving, Rick Barry, John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West...and Brooks Thompson

LEGENDS DRAFT:

C - Dwight Howard / Mel Daniels
PF - Dennis Rodman / Buck Williams
SF - Larry Bird / Connie Hawkins
SG - David Thompson / Shane Battier
PG - Chris Paul / Fat Lever

jericho

By the way, everyone, I'll be away on vacation and completely off of the internet from Saturday morning until sometime the following Sunday.

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Favorite players: Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone, Bill Russell, Alex English, Kiki Vandeweghe, Sidney Moncrief, Lafayette Lever, Dan Issel, Bobby Jones, Julius Erving, Rick Barry, John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West...and Brooks Thompson

LEGENDS DRAFT:

C - Dwight Howard / Mel Daniels
PF - Dennis Rodman / Buck Williams
SF - Larry Bird / Connie Hawkins
SG - David Thompson / Shane Battier
PG - Chris Paul / Fat Lever

Knick Killer

So you say I have an advantage in the post, were basically tied at point guard, and that the Bullets have only a slight advantage at small forward yet you vote for Washington? That makes sense...

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RollWithEm

The advantage is razor thin. This is a super close game that could really go either way. The ever-so-slight edge went to Washington just because of the play-making advantage of having Chris Paul and Larry Bird in the starting line-up. I will take their passing over the passing of KG and D-Rose. Everything else is too close to call.

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But that's just me.

jericho

In leagues like this I tend to look for the players with superhuman drives to win and the special skills that carry a team in crunch time. Those guys are the difference makers when the matchups come out even or close to even on paper. In this case each team has one of those guys - Bird and Duncan.

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Favorite players: Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone, Bill Russell, Alex English, Kiki Vandeweghe, Sidney Moncrief, Lafayette Lever, Dan Issel, Bobby Jones, Julius Erving, Rick Barry, John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West...and Brooks Thompson

LEGENDS DRAFT:

C - Dwight Howard / Mel Daniels
PF - Dennis Rodman / Buck Williams
SF - Larry Bird / Connie Hawkins
SG - David Thompson / Shane Battier
PG - Chris Paul / Fat Lever

PauloCatarino

Bullets by a hair (and due to Larry Bird).

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2012 Legends Draft Winner

Golden State Warriors:
PG- Steve Nash - Maurice Cheeks;
SG- John Havlicek - Latrell Sprewell;
SF- Bernard King - Mark Aguirre;
PF- Dirk Nowitzki - Maurice Lucas;
C- Hakeem Olajuwon - Robert Parish.

KG-Kid21

Not really understanding why this one is so close..

The Grizzlies team is absolutely filthy...Duncan/KG would absolutely abuse Rodman/Howard...they're every bit as good on defense and would be able to open the hell out of the floor for Reggie/Houston....then you got Rose/Rondo running around too? All that to say nothing of Dominique who would certainly be able to score on Bird.

Larry Bird's not THAT good. I think the Bullets are a great team that would do well against another type of opponent but The Grizzlies are just filthy...WHO SCORES ON THE BULLETS? Rodman and Dwight would be lucky to combine for 20 on most nights...KG would get that himself. Bird could get 35 in every game and they could still get swept..

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Knick Killer

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

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