An All UK NBA team

[JonathanW]

I know we've discussed this before. But now that the NBA regular season is over, I was looking at UK player stats. I guess also what got me to thinking about this was this morning when I was on the elevator at work, and this woman noticed my UK-blue truck with UK plates (I live in NC) & was telling me that her grandfather was the coach of the Kentucky Colonels years ago.

How would a non-conventional lineup of Cousins, Towns, Davis, Booker & Wall do? Would Davis be able to defend an NBA SF? That lineup would own the paint, but 3pt shooting wouldn't be horrible (Towns, Cousins & Booker all made 36%, and all put Davis made >1 3-per-game).

Off the bench you have Bledsoe, Randle, MKG, and then some combination of the other almost 20 (soon to be more) guys.

Not only do I think an all-UK team would dominate the league, but I think we are getting to the point where you could create 2 all-UK teams, that both would at least be competitive. Maybe not playoff teams, but not bottom 5 teams either.

 

[Big_Blue79]

The lack of dominant small forwards continues, and it's getting weird. I'd likely start Towns (or Cousins), Davis, MKG, Booker, and Wall, and be liberal with sub packages to exploit mismatches. Rotate in bigs to keep them fresh, and have the SF spot be a mix of Davis, Patterson, MKG, and even Booker, depending on matchups. The team would dominate the bench unit times (end first/early second, end third/early fourth). MVP would be Davis, but PPat has the best +/- (he gets SF minutes when the opposing wings aren't scoring threats).

If I'm trying to win this year, the bench is Cousins (or Towns), Patterson, Liggins (can play some SF in a pinch), Noel, Bledsoe, Kanter, Knight, and Murray. I would take Monk over Murray, and Fox over Knight if the option was available. Just missed - Randle, Skal, Ulis. Not considered - Rondo.

3 of the 4 best players are best at center (Brow, KAT, Boogie), and the other 2 are PGs (Wall, Bledsoe). Some weird lineups, but this team is probably better than most other college conference teams, let alone schools. A quick perusal puts this team ahead of the Big 12 (no good PGs), Big East (lol, nothing left), Big 10 (lack of good players, it's actually pretty barren). The ACC lacks elite centers, but has some serious talent (Irving, Paul, Bosh if healthy) and tons of depth (7 Plumlees (1 of which is good, I think), Redick, Barnes, Parker, even James Johnson). Same for the Pac 12 with stars (Westbrook, IT, Harden, DeRozan, Klay, Brook Lopez, Love) and depth (Ryan Anderson, Vucevic, LaVine, Taj, etc...). Adding the rest of the SEC to UK adds Beal, Tobias Harris, Jordan Clarkson, Horford, KCP, Pat Beverly, JaMychal Green, DeMarre Carroll. So take Beal, Horford, KCP (can play the 3), Carroll, maybe Beverly.

I'd rank it:

1. Pac 12
2. SEC (including UK)
3. UK
4. ACC
5. A pit of misery
6. Big 12
7. Big 10
8. It doesn't matter anymore.

Non-Power 5 conference team would be pretty stacked (Curry, PG13, Milsap, Mills, Lillard, McCollum, Lin, Whiteside, Hill, Faried, Kawhi). No college at all would probably be good, but they're getting old (Lebron, Howard, JR Smith, etc...).

 

[BlueBomb]

OK, I'm going to go against the grain:

Wall and Booker at the guards seems a no-brainer.

Then, I'll go with Noel in the middle and MKG for defense. And Davis at the 4.

Davis, Townes and Cuz have all become very similar modern big men. All wanting to play out on the floor, shoot jumpers etc. No need to have them all on the floor at the same time even if they are all incredible players.

Give me some D and bring Townes and Cuz off the bench.

 

[GonzoCat90]

OK, I'm going to go against the grain:

Wall and Booker at the guards seems a no-brainer.

Then, I'll go with Noel in the middle and MKG for defense. And Davis at the 4.

Davis, Townes and Cuz have all become very similar modern big men. All wanting to play out on the floor, shoot jumpers etc. No need to have them all on the floor at the same time even if they are all incredible players.

Give me some D and bring Townes and Cuz off the bench.

Why would you purposely clog the lane AND go smaller with less rebounding and post presence? You're overthinking it.

Wall
Bledsoe
Booker
Davis
Towns/Boogie (rotate the other at the four spot as well).

Wall and four guys who can stretch the floor. Plus, you have two shot blockers and two supreme perimeter athletes to mask Booker's defense.

 

[StubbornPenny]

PG Ulis
SG Jamal Murray
SF MKG
PF Patrick Patterson
C Willie Cauley Stein

Bench: Skal, Meeks, Poythress

We have so many guys in the NBA, that you can form a competent team with second tier guys. That team is better than the damn 76ers starting lineup.

 

[WildMoon]

OK, I'm going to go against the grain:

Wall and Booker at the guards seems a no-brainer.

Then, I'll go with Noel in the middle and MKG for defense. And Davis at the 4.

Davis, Townes and Cuz have all become very similar modern big men. All wanting to play out on the floor, shoot jumpers etc. No need to have them all on the floor at the same time even if they are all incredible players.

Give me some D and bring Townes and Cuz off the bench.

I agree with MKG but you shouldn't have three guys who doesn't have great spacing.

It should be wall, booker(or Murray), mkg, Davis, and boogie/Kat.

 

[drbubba]

What was the line up for the 48 team. They won the NC and a gold medal, right? Sorry, Im atraying from the a NBA quesrion, but its all UK players.I'm going old school on you. I guess, other Wildcats have won good medals since, including Cousins.

 

[Blueaz]

Booker can play small forward easily. If there are two large in the paint.
Eazy peazy, problem solved...your welcome.

 

[mustnotsleepnow]

Wall
Booker
MKG
Davis
Towns

I don't see how you can go any other way.

First off the bench:

Cousins
Bledsoe
Noel

 

[WildMoon]

Booker can play small forward easily. If there are two large in the paint.
Eazy peazy, problem solved...your welcome.

Don't think booker can play SF.

 

[Blueaz]

Don't think booker can play SF.

the suns have said, they may play him there...

 

[WildMoon]

the suns have said, they may play him there...

And they are also one of the worst team in the league.

 

[JonathanW]

Booker can play small forward easily. If there are two large in the paint.
Eazy peazy, problem solved...your welcome.

I don't see it as a "problem" to play the 3 bigs together, IF Davis can guard a 3. Which I think he could. On the other end, of the floor show me a 3 that could defend him (or Cuz or KAT)?

 

[Big_Blue79]

I don't see it as a "problem" to play the 3 bigs together, IF Davis can guard a 3. Which I think he could. On the other end, of the floor show me a 3 that could defend him (or Cuz or KAT)?

With all 3 on the floor, you get severe diminishing returns. So while any individual SF (short of Lebron b/c he has the size) cannot really guard Davis, a defensive scheme could do better than the sum of its parts guarding 3 guys who are best at C. And, in the NBA, whenever there is a question about going up or down a position, always go down (i.e. Davis should play C, not PF and not SF). It's damn near universal.

But really, why do that when you can take the 96 big man minutes and distribute them between 3 elite offensive players? That's 32 mins/game for each on a deep team, and there are no NBA backups who could stop whoever was in during the bench stretches (late first/early second and late third/early fourth). Or sit Cousins every 4th game so he's not in technical foul suspension territory come playoff time. Rest Davis. Make Towns play D or sit. So many options.

 

[Blueaz]

And they are also one of the worst team in the league.

And your point?
They are by far the youngest and rebuilding. They would have been younger than 15 of the sweet sixteen teams.
You can bandwagon with us in a couple of years.

 

[Blueaz]

I don't see it as a "problem" to play the 3 bigs together, IF Davis can guard a 3. Which I think he could. On the other end, of the floor show me a 3 that could defend him (or Cuz or KAT)?

I ageee, but some were a little anxious about this make believe team. I thought that was the easy answer for them.

 

[VikingCat21]

I wouldn't say an all UK team would dominate the league, but it would certainly be one of the top 5 teams. Golden State, San Antonio, and Cleveland would still be better but after those 3, an all UK team would probably be the next best. Wall, Davis, and Cousins are All-Stars. KAT and Booker are soon to be All-Stars. It would be a loaded team.

 

[WildMoon]

And your point?
They are by far the youngest and rebuilding. They would have been younger than 15 of the sweet sixteen teams.
You can bandwagon with us in a couple of years.

Lol. It's a bad idea and will always be a bad idea.

 

[JonathanW]

I wouldn't say an all UK team would dominate the league, but it would certainly be one of the top 5 teams. Golden State, San Antonio, and Cleveland would still be better but after those 3, an all UK team would probably be the next best. Wall, Davis, and Cousins are All-Stars. KAT and Booker are soon to be All-Stars. It would be a loaded team.

I think I have to respectfully disagree.

GS comes the closest. Curry may have slight edge over Wall, but it's close. Same for Thompson & Booker. Durant & Davis is pretty even. Cousins has the slight edge over Green, and Towns would demolish Pachulia. You have to like our bench more too with Randle & Booker leading the way. Or if we go smaller, then they gain the slight advantage with Durant over Booker.

Cleveland would be next. Wall & Irving is pretty even. Booker or Bledsoe would own old-man JR Smith. LeBron has the advantage on Davis (or hurt Booker). Cousins would have the slight advantage over Love. And Towns would take Thompson pretty easily.

I don't see anyway SA would be better. Parker & Green would be owned by Wall & Bledsoe/Booker. Towns would beat Gasol. Cousins would beat Aldridge. The only position SA might win would be with Leonard over Booker (but if Davis is there that is pretty even). Even in the SA way of thinking, the whole is better than the sum of the parts, there is still no way SA could compete with an all-UK team.

 

[WildMoon]

I think I have to respectfully disagree.

GS comes the closest. Curry may have slight edge over Wall, but it's close. Same for Thompson & Booker. Durant & Davis is pretty even. Cousins has the slight edge over Green, and Towns would demolish Pachulia. You have to like our bench more too with Randle & Booker leading the way. Or if we go smaller, then they gain the slight advantage with Durant over Booker.

Cleveland would be next. Wall & Irving is pretty even. Booker or Bledsoe would own old-man JR Smith. LeBron has the advantage on Davis (or hurt Booker). Cousins would have the slight advantage over Love. And Towns would take Thompson pretty easily.

I don't see anyway SA would be better. Parker & Green would be owned by Wall & Bledsoe/Booker. Towns would beat Gasol. Cousins would beat Aldridge. The only position SA might win would be with Leonard over Booker (but if Davis is there that is pretty even). Even in the SA way of thinking, the whole is better than the sum of the parts, there is still no way SA could compete with an all-UK team.

Did you just say Irving and wall is pretty even?

 

[Blueaz]

Lol. It's a bad idea and will always be a bad idea.

 

[JohnnyGentle]

triple towers wouldn't work, unless it was towns or davis with antetokounmpo & porzingis

that towns was the worst defensive 5 in the league this year makes it a tougher call, but it's hard to imagine cousins accepting a diminished role, so i'd leave him off the roster entirely

davis
kidd-gilchrist
towns
wall
booker

bledsoe
noel
murray
randle
skal
lyles
knight

 

[420grover]

I think the salary cap would prevent any of these teams from being possible. That's a bunch of max contract guys.

 

[KA4Prez]

An all-UK team would be dang, dang good, but I'm afraid the wing position is the most dominant in the NBA and the team would struggle to guard there.

If only MKG not had all those injuries, he would've been just enough.

 

[truebluewildcat]

If I were going to put together an all UK 7 man rotation as a GM...

Wall
Booker
Townes
Cousins
AD

Monk
Randle

That line up covers the board...explosive scoring capability, shooting, size, athleticism, versatility, defense, rebounding, shot blocking...

 

[jockstrap_mcgee]

Wall is one of the best PGs at finding open men on the perimeter. Him with booker, towns, Davis and cousins would average 97,000 made threes per game.
SF might be a weakness with no natural SF at that position, but that triumvirate of towns Davis and cousins would lock the paint. Let MKG come off the bench if it's not workinh

 

[Wall2Boogie]

Can someone tell me who Townes is please?