Roster/Depth Chart
PG – Kidd, Fisher, Dixon
SG – Maggette, Pierce, Peterson, Carroll, Dixon
SF – Pierce, Maggette, Peterson, Carroll, Balkman
PF – West, Gooden, Rose, White
C – Okur, Przybilla, Rose, Collins
PG – Jason Kidd
SG – Corey Maggette
SF – Paul Pierce
PF – David West
C – Mehmet Okur
6 – Drew Gooden
7 – Derek Fisher
8 – Morris Peterson
9 – Joel Przybilla
10 – Matt Carroll
11 – Juan Dixon
12 – Malik Rose
I – Renaldo Balkman
I – Jarron Collins
I – DJ White
Top Offensive options
1. Pierce (and he takes the last shot).
2. West
3. Maggette
4. Okur
Drafting Philosophy:
Originally I was given the 5th pick in the draft, and I was content to draft there and wasn’t really looking to trade. Then Steve Weinman offered me a deal I couldn’t pass up (his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, for my 1st and 6th). With the 5th pick I was planning a win now team, but moving down in the 1st after my trade with Steve I was going to build my team based on who was available and let the players available dictate how I drafted since I had no idea in the draft would play out. Once I got Pierce and David West with my first 2 picks I decided to go for a win now approach and this was cemented when I drafted Jason Kidd with my 3rd pick. For my first 8 picks I felt like I drafted the best player available which also conveniently filled a need. Because of this I didn’t have to make any other trades. My team is old, no doubt about it, and I would have liked to get some younger players, but I felt with a win now approach, the younger players who I would have liked to draft were picked much higher than I valued them.
Stats:
It’s hard to point to stats, since obviously they are going to change with just about every player in the league switching teams. Some stats I think will stay somewhat consistent though are 3p% and FT%. Based on last years real NBA stats, and based on what my players did last year this is where my team would have ranked:
3 point %
1 Phoenix 0.393
Fantasy Nets 0.392
2 Toronto 0.392
3 New Orleans 0.389
4 Orlando 0.386
5 Boston 0.381
FT %
1 Dallas 0.814
2 Toronto 0.812
3 Sacramento 0.798
Fantasy Nets 0.796
4 Phoenix 0.783
5 Washington 0.782
8 Boston 0.771
This will make my team very hard to beat.
4 of my 5 starters averaged 38% or better from 3 last year, 8 players total were better than 38% (Pierce 39%, Kidd 38%, Okur 39%, Maggette 38%, Fisher 41%, Peterson 39%, Carroll 44%, Dixon 42%)
5 of my 5 starters averaged 80% or better from the FT line, 8 players total were better than 80% (Pierce 84%, West 85%, Kidd 82%, Okur 80%, Maggette 81%, Fisher 88%, Carroll 80%, Dixon 81%)
We will be able to spread the floor, and you won’t be able to foul us. I have multiple players who can create for themselves, plus Kidd who can create for anybody. How do you stop that?
The most important stat is winning (regular season wins are from last year)
Pierce – 66 wins, NBA Champs, 1 Finals appearance, 1 ring
West – 56 wins, best road record
Okur – 54 wins, best home record, 1 Finals appearance, 1 ring
Kidd – 2 Finals appearances
Gooden – 1 Finals appearance
Fisher – 57 wins, 5 Finals appearances, 3 rings
Rose – 2 Finals appearances, 2 rings
Peterson, 56 wins, best road record
Collins – 54 wins, best home record
Dixon – 1 NCAA ring
The majority of my players have a proven track record of success. Tons of championship experience, tons of playoff experience. 12 Finals appearances, 7 NBA rings (and 1 NCAA ring). 6 Different players have been to the Finals, 4 different players have won rings.
Keys to success:
Veteran players who know how to win, and who have won.
Great Offense, my players can score, you can’t double off of any of my starters, several players can shoot the 3 allowing for great floor spacing, and my players can hit free throws. Too much fire power may be my only offensive weakness (and that’s a weakness I can live with).
Depth – my top 9 players were all primarily starters last year. I could lose any starter and still be a playoff team, I really think I could lose any 2 starters and still be a playoff team. Of my main rotation guys - Okur, Maggette, Peterson, Fisher, and Przybilla all have experience coming off the bench too.
Areas of concern
Defense – none of my players are known as great defensive players (except Balkman). While none of my players are really known as great defenders, I feel they are all capable defenders, and most can rise to the challenge (we all saw Pierce with the ability to shut down Kobe in the Finals). While my individual players might not be the best on the floor none of them are going to get destroyed either. Kidd still has size over all the other PGs, Pierce and Maggette can keep up with the Lebron’s and Kobe’s, West can hold is own with any of the elite PF’s. And Okur can manage against Dwight Howard and Yao (especially when Okur pulls them out to the 3 point line!). My players might now win the individual matchups every night, but I don’t feel there will be one night when they will be manhandled either. There’s no player in the league my guys can’t reasonably handle.
Too much offense, how do you keep everyone happy? Veterans seem to be much more capable of sharing, and taking lesser roles than young players, and I have a team full of veterans that know they have the chance to be something special. Pierce took a lesser role last year. Okur was the 3rd or 4th option on his 54 win team, and West was the 2nd or 3rd option on his 56 win team. Maggette came off the bench for the Clippers playoff run in ’06 and was willing to come of the bench in the real world this upcoming year for the Spurs and Celtics. And I have Kidd, we saw what he’s done with Team USA and how he can keep everyone happy and he doesn’t need to score. Fisher came off the bench and played with some huge egos in LA ’04. Also winning makes everyone happy, and we plan on winning a lot.
For the regular season I plan on playing a lot of players, but will tighten up to a 9 man rotation for the playoffs. We hope to keep the starters at or under 32 minutes per game during the regular season. This will keep the veterans fresh for the playoffs and allow almost everyone to get more minutes.
We’ll activate Collins for games when we we’re facing teams with top tier centers, we’ll activate Balkman for games when facing a top notch perimeter player and if we just need more toughness. Dixon, Carroll, and Rose may spend some time on the inactive list too, depending on performance, matchups, and everyone else’s health.
We may experiment bringing Maggette off the bench. This will bring more firepower to the bench, and allow Maggette and the rest of the remaining starters more shots. If we were to do this we would still plan on playing Maggette at the end of games though. When we go to a 9 man rotation, either Maggette or Pierce will probably allows be on the floor. Bringing Maggette off the bench may not be necessary though as Gooden, Peterson, and Dixon are all able to provide scoring off the bench.
We feel we can go small or big, but will force teams to matchup with us, instead of matching up to them.
Outlook
We see a 2 year window for a championship. After that we don’t plan on Kidd being able to contribute at a high level. But located in Brooklyn, with Jay-Z as an owner, we count on landing some big free agents in 2010. I won’t say any names for tampering reasons, let’s just say we have our eye on Lebron J., wait that’s too obvious, let’s call him L. James, ya that will work.