More questions for Phoenix:
7) You still owe me an answer on why you're better than Seattle. Also, nick says you're lower than Golden State, too, so how do you match up with the Fake Warriors?
I already looked at the Warriors, but moving one..
Phoenix V Seattle: Opening Salvos
Frontcourts:
Duncan is a more well rounded frontcourt player than anyone in the NBA. He's probably lost a decent amount of athleticism, but he's a crafty old coot. He might not have the best turnaround, but he's got a heckuva good turnaround. He might not be the best post defender, but he's a heckuva post defender.
I'd be anxious to see what Seattle says about how they'd defend my frontcourt. I wonder if they'd put Duncan on Jefferson, or Martin on Jefferson. Neither are great matchups for Seattle. Jefferson has owned Martin since he got traded to MIN, averaging roughly 19pts and 14 rbs per game, compared with Martin's 10pts and 6 rbs.
If you only look at the last 3 games (games last JAN and on), Jefferson is scoring at a clip of 21ppg and 14rbs, to Martin's 8ppg and 6rbs
I think there is a clear advantage to Al Jefferson if K-Mart is guarding him, and a clear advantage to Duncan if Biedrins is guarding him, but I'm less clear how it works if Duncan is on Jefferson straight up. Neither guy can stop the other from scoring, and neither guy scores especially well on the other guy. I'm not saying Al Jefferson is as good as TD is in a all around game sense, but from a 1 v 1 sense AJ seems to fare pretty evenly. Slight advantage Duncan at present point.
Our benches are also kind of evenly matched. Brandon Bass has done more at this point in his career than any of my frontcourt bench players, but beyond him the FC depth is trash at Seattle. I think i have the advantage because I've got the size to matchup with Duncan and the footspeed to match up with Martin on my bench, but SEA doesn't have anyone tall enough to match with Biedrins and be reliable. POB is awful, and Ratliff is pretty sub-par at this point in his career too.
Wings:
Thad Young I like as a player. I like his versatility, his athleticism, and his size, but Josh Howard is better, and I'm not convinced that Young can guard him straight up. Josh Howard meanwhile has shown an ability to get by against stronger players, and at 6-7 and 210, he's only giving up 1 inch and 10lbs to Young.
Ben Gordon is better talent wise than Roger Mason Jr. Roger Mason Jr is more consistent than Ben Gordon. If Gordon can get it going for 7 games straight I'm going to have issues, otherwise I like my matchup here. Probably a win for Seattle but I don't think its by a huge margin. Mason plays defense well enough to frustrate Gordon into takin shots he'll miss unless he's on fire.
I like my bench at the wings a lot more than Seattle's. Kyle Korver is a borderline starter that can play either wing position and keep the defense honest with honest to goodness sniper range. He does this without killing me defensively. Dahntay Jones is a good guy off the bench but like Hoyo says, he can't score. He had a 64% 3pt fg rate, but that was on 17 attempts, for the year. Corey Brewer has been also problematic offensively, and is proving himself to be a not prudent draft choice. In 15 MPG last year, Brent Barry scored 3.7 points. In 17 mpg the year before, he scored 7.1 points. I think he has offically hit the wall.
Bruce Bowen should be good enough to guard anyone on the wing other than Thad Young, who should take any of my traditional wings to school besides josh howard. I got Ilyasova and McRoberts though, two very mobily very big PF's, who should be able to stop young from bodying on the wing. I think my bench is one of my bigger advantages vs SEA.
Point Guards:
Rajon Rondo is better than TJ Ford. I believe that with my whole heart and soul. However, they match up pretty evenly also.
Ford: 16.50pts 3.8ast 3.75reb 0.75stl 2.33t/o 0.475 fg%
Rondo: 7pts, 9ast, 7.25reb, 2stls, 2.33t/o, .348%
Rondo's game is better rounded, better all around, I get that. But Ford scores more. I don't get it. Ford must be pretty darn quick.
In any case, I like Nate Robinson over Jarryd Bayless, if only because Robinson has more confidence in himself as a player at this point in their respective careers.
I think my bench by and large outclasses Seattle, and I think that my starters match up very well, beyond Biedrins on Duncan in which Biedrins is completely outclassed. This is a situation where Oberto could really help in teh playoffs.
8 ) Doc Rivers (a pretty smart guy) has publicly mentioned a dislike for playing two "lane clogging" bigs together. Your two starting big men are classic lane cloggers, with Big Al a poor jump shooter, and Biedrins maybe the worst shooting big man in the NBA (he shot .153 eFG% on jumpers!)
a) Can they co-exist?
b) And with them filling the lane, how is Rondo going to be able to penetrate, especially when teams dare him to shoot (with his second-to-worst eFG% on jumpers among starting point guards)?
9) Building on the previous question, do you have concerns -- like Doc does -- about Rondo's shooting and scoring? Also, do you question (like Danny Ainge did) his maturity, stubbornness, and failure to show up on time for playoff games?
Topic: CB Draft '09 Mock Press Conference: Pacific Divison (Read 57699 times)