[Seuss]

You are voting as to which team you feel is the best of the bunch.
Leaving comments as to why you picked a team would be appreciated.

If your team is in this division, you are not allowed to vote, and your vote will/would not count.

Golden State Warriors Team:

PG: Bob Cousy
SG: Baron Davis
SF: Kevin Garnett
PF: Shawn Kemp
CE: Amare Stoudamire

BENCH: Jamaal Mashburn, Jason Richardson, Stephen Jackson, Samuel Dalembert, Billy Owens

Los Angeles Clippers Team:

PG: Tony Parker
SG: Joe Dumars
SF: LeBron James
PF: Rasheed Wallace
CE: Nate Thurmond

BENCH: Adrian Dantley, Manu Ginobili, Andre Miller, Brad Miller, Danny Manning

Los Angeles Lakers Team:

PG: Tim Hardaway
SG: Pete Maravich
SF: Latrell Sprewell
PF: Carlos Boozer
CE: Patrick Ewing

BENCH: Byron Scott, Sven Nater, Clyde Lovellette, Kelly Tripuka, Slow Eddie Johnson


Oakland Oaks Team:

PG: Nate McMillan
SG: Jerry West
SF: Bruce Bowen
PF: Dwight Howard
CE: Wes Unseld

BENCH: Ralph Sampson, Derek Harper, Kenny Anderson, Rudy Tomjanovich, John Brisker

Phoenix Suns Team:

PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Anfernee Hardaway
SF: James Worthy
PF: Jermaine O’Neal
CE: Alonzo Mourning

BENCH: Jerry Stackhouse, Alvin Adams, Dan Majerle, Steve Kerr, AC Green

[Diophantos]

I'm leaning towards Phoenix, but I think Golden State is very intriguing and could cause them some problems. The bench there is a little lacking though.

[Sharpie]

This is a weird division. Phoenix and the Clippers look good... The Warriors are unpredictable... The Lakers lag behind the rest of the teams... And Jerry West is dying for more scoring on his team... It's a toss up between the Suns and Clippers IMO.

[fruitcake]

suns look like they would play very well together...but the clippers look like they have a little more firepower.

i dont think the lakers are the worst team here. they are pretty close with the suns and clippers. in fact, i think i'm going to go with them as the best team in this division. hardaway, maravich are very good scorers surrounding Ewing and a good wing defender in Sprewell. Boozer is a little out of place with the legends but he is still a solid rebounder and efficient scorer. The bench is a little weak though. Tough call. Could go with all 3 of them. Feel like the Lakers right now.

it looks like Oakland lacks the supporting cast for Jerry West...and Golden State is very weird..Baron Davis starting at SG in a legends draft? KG, Kemp, Amare is ultra-athletic but not sure if that works either.

[BadBaronRudigor]

Will hold off on voting to see if anyone wants to writeup a report or a rebuttal but here are my impressions so far:

Golden State: Don't like the mix on this squad. The guards are ball dominators who shoot poorly and aren't much defensively. There are three power forwards who all like the ball in the same area though Garnett is more versatile. The bench doesn't add much.

LA Clippers: I like this squad much better though any team with Rasheed and Dantley is going to have some issues. Still, the guards are very good, LeBron is a star and Thurmond is a terrific defensive anchor though a mediocre post shooter. Assuming LeBron moves to the 4 when Dantley comes in and Dumars to the 1 with Ginobili? I'd use Danny Manning as my other top reserve, he's a good glue guy and Brad Miller isn't an answer.

LA Lakers: Too many gunners, not enough defense or sharing, the bench picks didn't help.

Oakland: West and a bunch of defensive players. I don't think there is enough firepower on this squad to compete at the all-time level. Sampson probably should start to give West at least another option.

Phoenix: Good two way front line, very creative backcourt (though Penny's defense and Kidd's shooting are your achilles heels). Nice mix of players though the top end guys aren't really scary. I like this team but am leaning to the Clippers at the moment . . . pending writeups/rebuttals.

[Hyperion]

Looks like that Magic trade is paying dividends for Phoenix. I didn't think that they'd be able to replace a HOF PG with another HOF PG, but they did, not only that, but the team is comprised of 6 (out of 10) real former Suns players! Amazing... truly a gifted drafting that you did Seuss!

[Seuss]

Phoenix Suns Gameplan:

Obviously, we're a running team. I wanted runners, but also players who can still step in and defend.
I thought our bench big man will continue to be productive, AC Green and Alvan are really capable players on the fastbreak. If the game slows down, Alonzo would be the main guy in the system. If Kidd is having a bad shooting night and teams are doubleing JO or Alonzo, I would either try Kerr or Have Penny play some PG and let Stackhouse or Majerle take the reigns at the 2 guard spot to give some outside shooting. We're not going to lock a team down defensively, but I'm not sure if a team can handle us with all the offensive ability we have. I would definately try Worthy in the post. I don't feel most SFs in this division would be capable of guarding him 1-on-1.

Stackhouse is the main offensive weapon off the bench. Starters aren't feelin it, I'll send in the reserves to allow Stackhouse to go to work. With shooters like Kerr, and Majerle, and the hustle plays of Alvan and Green, I think Jerry could do alot of damage with that squad. Penny would be a main backup PG, if I brought Kerr in, he would play SG on offense, and PG on defense. Allowing Penny and JO/Alonzo to work the pick-n-roll.

I think my team is most balanced offensive team. Double anyone, and it will comeback to bite you.
We also are no push over defensive team. JO and Alonzo shot blocking ability, plus Kidd's great man-to-man defense.

[bruindre]

Wow, do I feel like the Spurs of this division (real life Spurs, that is).

I thought I had posted my starting line up - I actually would be starting Derek Harper at PG, with Nate coming off the bench as a G/F.

Having Howard at C and Unseld at PF, with Sampson & Tomjanovich off the bench, I'm happy with the rebounding there - think I'd more than hold my own with any other front court in the Pacific.

Lack of scoring outside of West? Considering some of my players in their prime...

Howard - 15.1 career scoring average, 17.6 last season
Harper - 13.3 career scoring average, 18.0 1989-90 season
Tomjanovich - 17.4 career scoring averge, 21.6 1976-77 season
Brisker - 20.7 career scoring average (NBA & ABA), 29.3 1970-71 season

Besides, isn't it defense that wins championships?

[Seuss]

Voting closes Sunday, 5EST/2PCT.


I will tally the votes.

[TiMVP2]

I like the Suns here.

[Diophantos]

Still pondering, now between Phoenix and the Clippers.

I like Golden State, but I don't think they're quite good enough--a different backcourt might have been enough to put them over the top for me. I will say that I absolutely love KG at the small forward in this type of league; all the old-school "post-up" small-forwards running around (by which I include, in large part, Worthy and Dantley in this very division), would, I think, be taken completely out of their games being guarded by a guy as athletic and long as KG, while not having the size to alter his jumpers on the other end. Combine that with Golden State's explosive, mismatch-happy frontcourt and streaky backcourt and I think they could pull off some upsets in this league with the right opponent. The backcourt, though, will shoot them out of too many games and will have trouble in the half-court.

As for who actually wins the division, I think I'll have to go with Phoenix. They'd put a lot of pressure on the Clips frontcourt, and off the bench LAC's bigs are very mediocre. They have enough firepower to win this I think.

[Knick_Killer31]

As much as i want to vote for Golden State because of there big 3 Garnett-Kemp-Stoudemire, you just gotta pick Phoenix. Jason Kidd is going to use all of his weapons effectively and turn the Suns into one big machine that a lot of teams are going to have trouble stopping.

[Seuss]

Voting Results:

Suns - 7
Clippers - 3
Lakers///Warriors - 1
Oaks - 0

Ronna's and Bruindre's votes did not count.

[Sunsfan81]

Damn, I see the voting closed. Obviously I'm not upset that the Suns won, but I think the Clippers are a bit better.

The Clippers have Finals MVP Parker who is very quick, who's not a great shooter, but can score. Dumars was certainly a winning player, pretty good scorer, and great defensively. Then they have the awesome talents of Lebron James. Wallace is a head-case and can hurt the team. Thurmond is a HOF center, not a great scorer, but awesome defensively and rebounding. Then they have a major weapon off the bench in Dantley who should be a Hall of Famer. Ginobili, the great flopper, is a winning player, and a nice player to have off the bench. Manning is pretty good, though not great, and Andre Miller is a good distributing PG, which the Suns don't have on their bench.


The Suns have a great PG with Kidd, certainly an advantage over Parker. They have Anfernee Hardaway who was a HOF caliber player before all the injuries. Worthy is a HOFer, but he's still nowhere near as good as Lebron, and Mourning might be a HOFer one day, but he's not as good as Nate Thurmond. Kidd, Hardaway, Worthy, and Mourning make up for Jermaine O'Neal who I wouldn't want on my team. He's another one of those who's not as good as his stats may indicate. I'm not crazy about their bench, but Stackhouse is certainly a major scoring threat.

The Warriors probably have the second best PG ever in Cousy, that is if Oscar Robertson isn't counted as a PG. But then Baron Davis is a bit out of position as a SG, although he certainly does like to shoot. Garnett is more of a 4 than a 3, and Amare is a natural PF, I wish the Suns could find a real center and move him to PF. Kemp was certainly a very good PF, but not quite a HOFer. Their bench stinks. Mashburn is pretty good, but the rest isn't too impressive.

The Lakers are pretty good, and are close to the Suns. They have an excellent backcourt with Maravich and Tim Hardaway. Maravich will certainly score, and was an awesome passer. Tim Hardaway, though probably not a Hall of Famer, was a very, very good player. Sprewell was a nice player, but not one I would want on my team, the coach better watch his neck! He's also out of position at SF. Boozer is very talented but inexperienced. Ewing is a great HOF center. They have another HOF center with Lovellette off the bench, and he could certainly play PF, and I would start him at that position over Boozer. They already have a backup center in Nater, so might as well use Lovellette as a forward. Heck, with Lovellette at forward, they might be better than the Suns. Byron Scott is also a nice player to have off the bench.

Oakland has the weakest team. It's too much of a defensive team. West will have to carry the bulk of the scoring load. I think they'd be better off with Harper starting instead of Nate McMillian, but Harper certainly wasn't a great player. West is awesome, can score, pass, defend, and might be the greatest clutch player ever. They're not going to get much scoring from their frontcourt. Bowen great defensively, can't score much. Unseld is a great HOF center, who can rebound, defend, and pass, but is not much of a scoring threat. The inexperienced Dwight Howard is their best scoring threat inside. They might be better off starting Tomjanovich who is a better scorer. Sampson is a nice backup center to have, and then they have another backup PG with Kenny Anderson. And then Brisker, who I wouldn't want anywhere near my team. He had talent but major attitude problems.