Rupp Rafters NBA Legends GM Draft Round 1: UKNorse vs Cowtown Cat

[DraftCat]

We drafted 12 players from a pool of anyone in NBA history. It is understood that this includes the totality of the player's career and not one particular season.

Which team do you believe would win a 7 game playoff series on a neutral court played with today's regulations (shot clock, three point line, etc)?

UKNorse

Steph Curry, PG

James Harden, SG/PG

James Worthy, SF/PF

Nate Thurmond, PF/C

Shaquille O'Neal, C

Reserves

Klay Thompson, SG

George Mikan, C

Tiny Archibald, PG

Kevin Love, F

Nikola Jokic, C

Hal Greer, G

Billy Cunningham, F


Cowtown Cat

Oscar Robertson, G/F

Kevin Garnett, F

Kawhi Leonard, F

Tracy McGrady, G/F

Dwight Howard C

Reserves

Karl-Anthony Towns, C

Penny Hardaway, G

Ron Artest, F

Rip Hamilton, G

Antoine Walker, F

Horace Grant, F

Lamar Odem, F

 

[BassProCat]

Damn that’s a lot of offense right there. Tough decision

 

[gossie21]

This is a close one. I'd love to hear some arguments.

For UKNorse, I love the collection of shooters. Steph, Klay, and Harden, and the MDE Shaq down low.

For Cowtown he has the best player to neutralize Shaq in Dwight, and a formidable offensive package himself with the Big-O, Garnett, Kawhi and T-Mac/Penny.

I certainly am leaning one way, but I could be persuaded.

 

[DraftCat]

@Cowtown Cat give me your starting line up and ill edit the OG post.

 

[DraftCat]

This is a close one. I'd love to hear some arguments.

For UKNorse, I love the collection of shooters. Steph, Klay, and Harden, and the MDE Shaq down low.

For Cowtown he has the best player to neutralize Shaq in Dwight, and a formidable offensive package himself with the Big-O, Garnett, Kawhi and T-Mac/Penny.

I certainly am leaning one way, but I could be persuaded.

Shaq only needs one dunk on Howard he will cry and go back to the locker room. I'll get into more detail later if needed but there is no doubt my combination of shooters are lethal and would be a force to stop in a 7 game series.

 

[gossie21]

Shaq only needs one dunk on Howard he will cry and go back to the locker room. I'll get into more detail later if needed but there is no doubt my combination of shooters are lethal and would be a force to stop in a 7 game series.

Maybe. Or if the refs actually called offensive fouls on Shaq he may not ever get the chance to dunk on Howard. At any rate, those are two of the biggest strongest centers in this thing.

 

[DraftCat]

Maybe. Or if the refs actually called offensive fouls on Shaq he may not ever get the chance to dunk on Howard. At any rate, those are two of the biggest strongest centers in this thing.

I think the biggest issue when comparing Shaq and Howard is that Howards offensive game is non-existent. I'm not sure over the course of the game his defensive impact on Shaq will outweigh how badly he will get scored on.

Not to mention my guards consistently putting Howard in pick and role actions and forcing mis matches.

 

[morgousky]

Cowtown tha man but uh.......having trouble picking away from Norse here....

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Big O
T Mac
Kawhi
KG
Howard

 

[morgousky]

Does Cowtowns avatar count? How crazy can we get here?

Cowtown, throw up the nip and wager texas with a dollar sign.....

 

[BassProCat]

I went with cowtown cuz he has a lil more defense on his side and enough scoring to get it done. We know curry and harden are playing little to none D. Leonard and Artest will get in your head with their aggressive d.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

FWIW, I was really wanting to take Bill Russell with that first pick.

 

[morgousky]

Cowtown has a squad for sure.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Does Cowtowns avatar count? How crazy can we get here?

Cowtown, throw up the nip and wager texas with a dollar sign.....

I might have one on this phone. Can't remember.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Cowtown has a squad for sure.

I was trying to go with as many two way players as I possibly could.

 

[Big_Blue79]

We drafted 12 players from a pool of anyone in NBA history. It is understood that this includes the totality of the player's career and not one particular season.

Which team do you believe would win a 7 game playoff series on a neutral court played with today's regulations (shot clock, three point line, etc)?

UKNorse

Steph Curry, PG

James Harden, SG/PG

James Worthy, SF/PF

Nate Thurmond, PF/C

Shaquille O'Neal, C

Reserves

Klay Thompson, SG

George Mikan, C

Tiny Archibald, PG

Kevin Love, F

Nikola Jokic, C

Hal Greer, G

Billy Cunningham, F


Cowtown Cat

Oscar Robertson, G/F

Kevin Garnett, F

Kawhi Leonard, F

Tracy McGrady, G/F

Dwight Howard C

Reserves

Karl-Anthony Towns, C

Penny Hardaway, G

Ron Artest, F

Rip Hamilton, G

Antoine Walker, F

Horace Grant, F

Lamar Odem, F

UKNorse: I would start Curry and Thompson, with Harden revising his 2012 OKC role. All 96 backcourts minutes go to these three (sorry, Tiny). Shaq is just a monster with that spacing, which alleviates the big concern with the post game in 2018 - the ease of denying entry passes due to illegal defense rules. Does Thurmond work with that? I doubt it. Love is an interesting piece as a shooting big; the roster oddly lacks shooting beyond the obvious Curry/Thompson/Harden lasers. Jokic probably doesn't play much, as his value comes from having the ball in his hand (not needed here); maybe Mikan transitions to modern NBA well? The roster is light on defense, and the wings (Worthy, Cunningham) are not good. This is a very top-heavy team (Curry, Harden, Shaq, Klay) that is capable of blowing any team out on a given night. Klay is the perfect compliment here for the same reasons he is in GS: elite shooter, good defender, doesn't need to make plays with the ball in his hand.

Cowtown Cat: Terrific balance on the roster. Love the size on the wing McGrady, Kawhi, and even Rip. Garnett is severely underrated historically (he's almost as good as Duncan), but this might be one lineup where his value is diminished; he can't guard Shaq, and no other big on UKNorse's team really poses that much of a threat. Whenever Shaq sits, I go Oscar/Penny/McGrady/Kawhi/Garnett and smother that shooting. Towns could feast against backup Cs, and while he could pull Shaq away from the basket he'll get destroyed by Shaqtus on the block. Weak at center, which is a problem, but Garnett helps alleviate that concern. Howard was a legitimate top 5 MVP guy in his prime, but his game doesn't really work in the modern NBA unless he's willing to screen/rimrun/rebound/D up. I think he's about a good a counter for Shaq as anyone, but still gets eaten up. Big O is no joke, but can he stay with Curry/Harden when they put him on skates? I don't know enough about his style of play/strengths and weaknesses, but he's universally top-12 all time for a reason (probably a bit high due to pace of play, but still).

Verdict: I love this matchup and both of these teams as a matter of fun. As much as I want to pull the trigger for UKNorse (and I would against a lot of other teams), the wing rotation is really bad. Cowtown Cat doesn't have great shooting, but between McGrady, Kawhi, Rip, and even Garnett and Towns it's probably enough. It's just a nicely constructed roster with great balance and the ability to dictate matchups. Two matchup issues tip the scale to Cowtown Cat: the size in the backcourt to credibly defend, and DHo can slow down Shaq juuuuuuust enough to eek out a win. But it's a 7 game series.

 

[WildMoon]

I said this when this draft was happening.

Steph and Shaq on the same time just makes me chuckle. My vote goes to UKnorse.

 

[GonzoCat90]

Two sides to the court. Give me Cowtown. Curry and Harden trying to guard Oscar and McGrady? Nope.

Too many big, versatile wings who can attack/create. There's no one for Steph to guard and lots of guys to guard him and cut the head off the snake.

Thurmond actually hurts the spacing you're going for with Steph and clogs things for Shaq, and Worthy is more of a 4 than a 3 in your offense.

It's fun to say omg Steph and Shaq but there's a lot more to it than that and the other pieces don't really fit.

 

[UKcats1988]

Kawhi is probably my favorite player to watch in the nba currently. Garnett is one of my 2-3 favorite guys ever. This one is tough.

 

[WonderBraa]

This is the most interesting matchup so far. Also, lots of big personalities.

 

[dvillecatfan]

Cowtown has length and athletes that are hard to pass up. Just feel the trio of Harden, Curry, and Thompson would spread everyone out and Shaq would feast.

 

[Aike]

I went back and forth on this but eventually went with Cowtown. I don’t like Thurmond and Shaq on the floor together, but I don’t like Dwight either.

I think you end up with Kevin Love matched up on Kevin Garnett (bad for Love) and Shaq chasing KAT around.

Really a close call. I might think something different if I look at it in an hour.

 

[DraftCat]

Looks like I survived 23-17

Great team @Cowtown Cat realistically I think it could of went either way.

Sounds like I need to make a change to my starting line up though for next round. Maybe replace thurdmond with my stretch 4 in Love

 

[Big_Blue79]

Looks like I survived 23-17

Great team @Cowtown Cat realistically I think it could of went either way.

Sounds like I need to make a change to my starting line up though for next round. Maybe replace thurdmond with my stretch 4 in Love

All about those matchups! Nice win.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

I like having Penny, Rip,

I went back and forth on this but eventually went with Cowtown. I don’t like Thurmond and Shaq on the floor together, but I don’t like Dwight either.

I think you end up with Kevin Love matched up on Kevin Garnett (bad for Love) and Shaq chasing KAT around.

Really a close call. I might think something different if I look at it in an hour.

Hell, I don't even like Dwight. He was a default pick.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

@UKNorse good game, buddy.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

I knew that Dwight Howard pick was gonna end up biting me in the ass. He was the best all around center left. I did want Ben Wallace. Just figured I could get him later on.