Those are excellent selections Big Ticket. I agree on almost every count. I'd make two smallish changes:
- I'd have KG and Yao switch spots.
- I need Chauncey Billups to be on one of those teams. Since Deron and Paul are on the second team, I'll have to leave him on the third team. I'll throw off Kevin Durant, mainly because of his team's lousy record.
Thanks, Who. So you'd have KG as the 2nd team center? Or would you move Dirk to C... or just have 3 forwards? I agree with you based on merit alone, but I tried to keep the G-G-F-F-C format somewhat rigid.
Billups is a tough one for me. I know he is going to get a ton of credit for the Nuggets turnaround, but I'm fighting with myself about how I think of it. Statistically, Melo is still that team's best player. But the swap of Iverson and Billups, and resulting team play, just screams that Billups brings more than his inefficient FG shooting and low assist rate as a point guard. I will use a comparison that I've made before... the Nuggets this year are a lot like the Celtics last year, with Billups playing the role of KG (just not quite as good on either count). I suppose I'd bump Johnson for Billups (again, want to try and keep the GGFFC format, but unfortunately there are several worthy guards that I had to leave off in order to honor the structure with Durant at F).
I'm not overly concerned about the positions. As long as they're capable of playing the spot, and playing it at a very high level, then it's fine.
For example, both Brandon Roy and Joe Johnson are capable of playing all three perimeter positions for their teams, and do play all three positions for their teams. Their natural position is the off guard but they're still immensely talented players at the other spots. JJ in particular, who is 6-7 and 240lbs, is easily able to play the three position.
Ditto for KG and Dirk -- On another matter, I think the Mavs need to switch Dirk to center and plan their rebuilding effort around that. I don't think they can build another contender if they try to keep him at power forward, takes too many options off the board and forces them use a big asset on a center who is unlikely to be a large enough difference maker at that cost.
As for Melo and Billups, I think Billups has been a lot better for the Nuggets. Melo's all round game has improved a lot this season but his scoring+efficiency have had a big drop. I think next season, when Melo's scoring talent is back on full display, he'll be the superior player -- temporary best player tag for Billups. I also think Billups has the larger effect on his teammates performances.
Topic: Your All NBA Teams Thus Far (Read 3356 times)