RollWithEm

Depth Charts:

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

Knicks
PG Kevin Johnson/Ricky Pierce
SG Michael Jordan/Dave DeBusschere
SF Rick Barry/Kiki Vandeweghe
PF Wes Unseld/AC Green
C Willis Reed/Mark Eaton

__________________
But that's just me.

PauloCatarino

Depth Chart for this match-up:

PG – Steve Nash (40) / Maurice Cheeks (10);
SG – John Havlicek (38) / Latrell Sprewell (10);
SF – Bernard King (30) / Mark Aguirre (18);
PF – Dirk Nowitzki (38) / Maurice Lucas (10);
C – Hakeem Olajuwon (38) / Robert Parish (10).

Roster:

Steve Nash 2005-2006: 18.8ppg, 10.5apg, 4.2rpg, .512FG%, .4393P%, .931FT%, 23.3 PER – League MVP
John Havlicek 1970-71: 28.9ppg, 9.0rpg, 7.5apg, 20,8 PER, All-Nba 1st team, All-D 2nd team;
Bernard King 1984-1985: 32.9ppg, 5.8rpg, 3.7apg, .530FG%, 25,2 PER – All-Nba 1st team;
Dirk Nowitzki 2005-2006: 26.6ppg, 9.0rpg, 2.8apg, .4063P%, 28,1 PER - All-Nba 1st team
Hakeem Olajuwon 1992-1993: 26.1ppg, 13.0rpg, 3.5apg, 1.8spg, 4.2bpg, PER 27,3 – All-Nba 1st team, DPOY;
Maurice Cheeks 1985-1986: 15.4ppg, 2.9rpg, 9.2apg, 2.5spg, PER 17,9 – All-D 1st team;
Latrell Sprewell 1996-1997: 24.2ppg, 4.6rpg, 6.3apg, .3543P%, 19,7 PER
Mark Aguirre 1983-1984: 29.5ppg, 5.9rpg, 4.5apg, .524FG%, 23.5 PER
Maurice Lucas 1976-1977: 20.2ppg, 11.4rpg, 2.9apg, PER 18,3
Robert Parish 1980-1981: 18.9ppg, 9.5rpg, 1.8apg, 2.6bpg, .545FG%, PER 25,2

About this match-up:

1- BENCH:

I've said it before in other threads: i don't like the Knicks subs. Pierce is NOT a PG and he can't made upon one. Dave played PF, but now he is a SG???? Kiki could score, but nor defend nor rebound. AC Green is a miscast and has no business in this Tournament. Eaton was a great defensive center, true. But in the second unit i don't think he will play enough to make a difference.

I got a hard-nosed defensive PG who won a chip, a dynamic, 2-way player in Spreewell, a great scoring machine in Aguirre, a great intimidator/enforcer adequate rebounder and scorer as a PF who will defend till his arms fall off and a silent, producing big man who won 3 championships as the starting center.

2- STARTERS:

I've said it before that i don't think pairing Jordan with Barry would work. Both of them are accostumed to have the ball at all times.
I guess Jordan will be the go-to guy on offense. That makes me put Hondo on him at all times (he won't stop Jordan, off course, but he has the stamina, resilience and bball IQ to make a good job - heis also one of the greatest perimeter defenders ever).
I love KJ, but Nash is better at directing the offense and shooting.
In this tournament, i would say King vs Barry is a wash.
In the frontcourt, the Knicks are playing a 6'7 PF and a 6'9 C (according to basketball-reference), while i have two 7footers. IMHO, i have a huge advantage in the frontcourt, considering both Dirk and Hakeem are pretty much unstopable on offense and CAN and WILL up their games (history has proven that) in do-or-die situations.

It won't be easy, but i will have a pretty good disruptive defender on Jordan at all times, and besides Barry (who i think won't work with Jordan) i have a relevant edge in PG, PF and C.

My main offensive weapon will be Dirk, who i don't think will have much problems scoring on Unseld (who was not very mobile himself).

__________________
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.

PauloCatarino

I wish the Knicks would provide a write-up, to make things even more interesting.

Regarding my biggest (IMHO) challenge (Hondo - 6'5, 203, on Jordan - 6'6, 195, on defense), and considering Jordan can't really be stoped, i like my chances.

Hondo was a 8-time All-D (both teams) player, and could run all day (from nba-com:""[I]On stamina alone he'd be among the top players who ever played the game," longtime New York Knicks Coach Red Holzman once said of John "Hondo" Havlicek. "It would've been fair to those who had to play him or those who had to coach against him if he had been blessed only with his inhuman endurance. God had to compound it by making him a good scorer, smart ballhandler and intelligent defensive player with quickness of mind, hands and feet." The 6-5 Boston Celtics star was a perpetual-motion machine, a human dynamo who was legendary for wearing out opponents with his relentless baseline-to-baseline efforts. A star at both forward and guard, Havlicek's versatility made him perhaps the finest all-around player in the history of the NBA, according to Sports Illustrated.[/I

Right or wrong, i picked Havlicek in this draft (my 3rd pick, IIRC) specifically to match him against the Jordans, Kobes, Wests and Dr. J's of this Tournament.

__________________
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.

Knick Killer

Any team that has Michael Jordan is gunna be good but I think the Knicks could have put a much better team around him. That's just my personal opinion.

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jericho

I'm not so worried about Jordan and Barry sharing the ball. They were both alpha males, but I think they'd respect each other and figure out how to feed one another. They'd both want to WIN more than they would to dominate the ball. I have more of a question about how KJ fits in. One of my favorite point guards, but he really liked to run the offense and in his prime wasn't much of a perimeter shooter so he just seems like the wrong running mate for Jordan.

I think Havlicek is a great defensive pest for either Jordan or Barry, but can only pay attention to one of them. King and Barry will go bucket for bucket for each other, and chances are King will get his points more efficiently but Barry will help his team a bit more by being more of a playmaker and spacing the floor.

On the other hand, while I love Unseld, Dirk is going to run circles around the Knicks' bigs. I love all those guys, but none of them can stay with him. Their best strategy is to whack him, bruise him, and make him think twice about driving.

Overall this one is really, really close for me, and I hate to vote against Jordan and we all know Nash is a matador on defense, but I just think the Warriors are designed as a more cohesive unit in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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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

Nice post (as usual), jericho. I wish some more posters would share their opinions on the rosters/match-ups, instead of just voting....

I'll try to adress you arguments.

KJ, Jordan and Barry are all great players, obviously, but putting them up together, one must think what will the offensive "chemistry" be. If KJ ain't handling the ball, he won't provide much, offensive-wise, because he wasn't a great shooter (like, say, Steve Nash ). Could Jordan and Barry co-exist? Obviously. But they would be playing 2-against-5 on offense, cause either of them (i) hogged the ball (ii) wanted to take the majority of the shots. And Jordan has the good shooting percentages. Barry, not so much. So i'm not seing Jordan giving the ball to someone who was less effective than him on scoring. Barry's range was also a little limited, so a Jordan drive-and-dish to him would not be a great option.

True. John will be on Jordan all of the time.

I don't think King can stop Barry. Nor i think Barry can stop King. But Bernard King was not a ball-hogger, and could get his points (with superior eficciency) in the flow of the offense (due to his quickness and agility). Like i've said previously, Barry was not an efficient scorer (in the NBA, never above .464FG%), although he WAS a great scorer. But King, in his peak (the season i elected him) was a 32ppg scorer on around .530FG%). I believe that, in a Tournament like this one, King ups Barry (although Barry was the greater player, all things considered).

Dirk has always been my offensive wild-card. Dude is just an anomaly. And able to up his percentages in the playoffs.
Unseld was a great rebounder and apt defender. But he played in the post. Dirk can score from anywhere. What i could be giving away in rebounding, i'm making up by having Dirk shoot over a guy like Unseld.

That's what i tried to accomplish: getting together a group of player i though could play well together. In my team, i don't expect King to go for 30ppg, nor Nash to go for 20. i tried to get a balanced team, defense-oriented (Hondo, Hakeem), with range in the offense (Nash, Dirk), and able to play together as a cohesive (sp?) unit (Nash, Hondo, Dirk and Hakeem are team players first and foremost).

__________________
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

Time to call the question on this round and move to the Finals?

__________________
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

RollWithEm

Absolutely. Sorry about the delay. I haven't had power all week. Damn Isaac!

__________________
But that's just me.