Round 2:#4 Kilo v #5 YRTB

[yrtb]

The matchup we've all been waiting for...

 

Kilo

 

C - Al Horford/Zydrunas Ilgauskas/Marcin Gortat

PF - Pau Gasol/David West/Al Harrington

SF - Caron Butler/Carl Landry

SG - Anthony Morrow/JJ Reddick

PG - John Wall/Raymond Felton

 

C - Al Horford ($5,444,857)

PF - Pau Gasol ($16,452,000)

SF - Caron Butler ($10,561,960)

SG - Anthony Morrow ($4,000,000)

PG - John Wall ($5,144,280)

6th - David West ($8,287,500)

7th - Carl Landry ($3,000,000)

8th - Raymond Felton ($7,000,000)

BN - Zydrunas Ilgauskas ($1,352,181)

BN - JJ Reddick ($7,500,000)

BN - Al Harrington ($5,765,000)

BN - Marcin Gortat ($6,322,320)

 

YRTB

 

C Yao Ming/Marc Gasol/Luis Scola

PF Derrick Favors/Luis Scola/Marc Gasol

SF Andre Iguodala/Wilson Chandler/Landry Fields

SG Brandon Roy/James Harden/Aaron Afflalo

PG Chris Paul/Chris Paul/Jrue Holiday

 

C Yao Ming $17,686,100

PF Derrick Favors $4,133,280

SF Andre Iguodala $12,345,250

SG Brandon Roy $13,603,750

PG Chris Paul $14,940,153

6th Marc Gasol $3,573,333

7th Wilson Chandler $2,130,482

8th Luis Scola $7,775,378

BN Jrue Holiday $1,627,920

BN James Harden $4,304,520

BN Arron Afflalo $1,959,577

BN Landry Fields $473,604

[italstallianion]

Can I cast my vote for Ross Perot?

[italstallianion]

Also as a reminder, this is the LAST matchup where people can vote for their own teams. When we get to the final four, teams will not be able to vote for their own teams.

[YanksHater213]

Kilo.

 

He's got by far the best front court top to bottom in this entire thing. They can score, rebound, and stretch the defense. Morrow and Wall are good enough defenders to the point where I feel like they'll limit Roy and Paul to an extent. Kilo wins this series by front court domination.

[yrtb]

Guards: John Wall is quickly developing into a star, but Chris Paul is the best PG in the NBA and is 25, so three years from now although Wall will have developed, so will have CP3. Basically, Wall is like CP3 right now except Wall does not have the jumper of CP3 and turns the ball over more often. Raymond Felton and Jrue Holiday are similar in the passing game, and while Felton takes more shots, their shot percentages are similar, and Felton thrives in the fast NY system. I also think Holiday will be better than Felton in three years, as Holiday is only 20. Anthony Morrow is a great 3 point shooter, but honestly what else does he do? He's not great at driving to the hoop, or passing, or playing defense. Brandon Roy is a better passer, rebounder, and defensive player, and I think he can dominate both ends of the floor when they are 1 on 1. Redick and Harden are also mainly shooters who don't do much else, and Afflafo is a nice shutdown defender, but he isn't anything to brag about on the offensive ends. Basically, I think I have the better starting defensive players, and the backups have similar skillsets. I think CP3 and Roy can compliment well in the backcourt, because CP3 is a pass-first mentality PG and Roy is a shoot-first mentality SG, and both are at least above average on defense (I think CP3 is an elite defensive PG, feel free to disagree with me). While I think Wall and Morrow will also compliment well, Morrow is a pretty one dimensional player, and that will hinder their progress as Wall develops.

 

Caron Butler again, is a good shooter, and his defensive ability is alright, but Iguodala is a shutdown defender, and is extremely athletic. He also has superior passing and rebounding abilities to Butler, and I think he can shut him down on the defensive end. Carl Landry will not have the quickness to cover Chandler effectively, and Chandler is strong on the defensive end, he puts up blocks, and he will thrive against Landry, who has no perimeter shot and will have to depend on the short jumpers and post up, which will also crowd the paint for Kilo's team

 

Kilo is stacked at big man, but Harrington and Gortat are going to play, what, 4 or 5 minutes a game with the people in front of them? So they really aren't going to be much of a factor. Gasol is great on both ends of the floor, though more-so on the offensive end, he just dominated the defensive end as well in the playoffs. Favors is a risk, but I think that when Gasol is older and not as quick, Favors can use that to his advantage on the offensive end. Also, Scola is already a star in this league, he can put up 20/10 starting, and while he is nothing to brag about on the defensive end, he is not bad by any means there either. He plays a similar game to David West, both are good shooters and rebounders. Gasol is going to dominate Favors if they were to play right now, but three years from now it may be a different situation. Al Horford is developing into a star, but going up against Yao Ming not assuming injury, Ming has 8 inches on him, and Ming also has a solid mid range jumper, better rebounding and blocking abilities, so all Horford has on him is quickness. CP3 will be able to get the ball to Ming in favorable situations due to his height as well. Gasol is almost as good as Horford already, he is great at posting up and has a solid mid range jumper, he is also 7-1 and is very tough, and I think he will be close to as good as his brother in three years, and will dominate an old Ilgauskas.

 

Overall, I think my team meshes together well because I have a lot of well rounded players who play generally well on the defensive end, and I have my clear #1 passer, #1 shooter, #1 perimeter defender, and #1 downlow defender, all who excel at what they do (CP3, Roy, Iggy, and Ming respectively). While I like the team Kilo has built together, I feel that his perimeter players are too one dimensional (Carl Landry being the exception, but he is not a perimeter player, he should be a PF) - and as a result he will have to rely too much on Wall and Gasol to make plays, while my team has more options for making plays.

[WhiskeyBreath]

I really like yrtb's team but I just don't like how they match up with Kilo's squad. Main reason is the big advantage at the center and power forward positions. I think it's a huge mistake to start Yao and Favors over Gasol and Scola. To be honest, I would vote yrtb if he had started those guys instead.

 

yrtb has a very big advantage in the back court and I would give them the nod overall defensively.

 

Kilo.

[italstallianion]

I'm going to start off by saying a few obvious things. First, I think that Kilo has a better frontcourt (4 and 5) than Ytrb, and that Ytrb has a better backcourt (1 2 3) than Kilo. Also, while I'd give Ytrb the talent edge in more positions, I think that Kilo has a greater margin of disparity in the two positions that he wins (as in Kilo wins the PF and C position by a larger margin than Ytrb wins the PG SG and SF positions)

 

I agree with WhiskeyBreath that it's not wise to start (or even draft for that matter) Yao Ming and I'd hesitate between Scola and Favors, although I'd like to think that in 3 years, Favors would be better than Scola. I think that the "no injury" thing does make Yao look a little better, but spending 17 million on him was not a good decision, and that single handedly prevented you from getting some other players.

 

While I got my ripping on Yao out of the way, I'm also not a big fan of David West or JJ Redick. David West plays like LaMarcus Aldridge, and for a tough exterior, his game is soft. For example, he got out manned by Robert Horry vs. the Spurs in the playoffs (2008 I think). Redick has also been a flop since coming out from college, and the only thing he really has going for him is his FT% and 3 point%, and he doesn't get enough attempts to really make a difference in the game.

 

However, that does give me a good segway to my main point. I believe that this series is going 7 games, and will probably be decided late in the game. With that said, in my opinion, 2 really important things in a game like that are Free Throws, and 3 pointers. (In addition to defense, don't worry, I didn't forget about that)

 

I looked at the numbers for both teams, and while Ytrb has more people who I would consider decent/good 3 point shooters, Kilo has the best 3 point shooter of the lot (Anthony Morrow at a career 45.2%) In addition, some of ytrb's highest 3 point shooting percentages come from 2nd year players (Harden at 38%, Holiday at 36.5%) so I wouldn't be as trusting of those numbers since they are from a smaller sample size.

 

As for Free Throws, I would also go with Kilo's team. Again, I did not factor Wall's or Favor's numbers since they haven't played enough to establish themselves. Yao is better than Horford here (83.3% to 75.7%) but Iguodala (74.9%) and Roy (80.1%) are a bit disappointing considering their star status, and considering that they are guards. Butler (84.9%) and Morrow (87.7%) have them beat here, and Reddick (88.6%) can factor in if Wall doesn't turn out to be a good free throw shooter. Only Landry Fields of the guards on Ytrb's team is shooting about 82%, and he's a rookie.

 

With all of that said, and combining the fact that I believe that it's more important to have frontcourt depth due to foul propensity, injury risk, and trench warfare in close games, I think that Kilo's team would win in a 7 game series. I think that Ytrb's team is more talented and would probably have a better season record, but I think that Kilo's team has the pieces to win the playoff series.

 

So despite the fact that I had voted for Ytrb's team over Kilo's team in the tiebreaker, I have to go with my gut on this one and I feel that Kilo's team is better built for the championship haul.

[TheKilo]

Ital, as a UConn fan like yourself, I hate myself for picking Reddick as there hasn't been a college player I've hated more - but he has turned himself into a really good bench player in the NBA. he's a great option to have for about 18 mins a night, which is all I will require of him.

 

I think the prevailing thoughts in this thread a fairly accurate, but I'd also like to point out that if injuries played even the slightest part in this thing, my team would win by a landslide. Just another reason I find that rule to be a little dubious.

[yrtb]

Honestly, I don't think getting rid of the injury rule would make much of a difference because people are not thinking too highly in Yao Ming, like WB even suggested starting Gasol over him. Before his injury problems, a lot of people considered him the 2nd best center in the league

 

Anyways, Kilo advances