Explain yourself...
Before I talk about my team I want to make it perfectly clear that I'm here to give keen, concise basketball analysis. If you're here because you think I might say something funny please go here www.funnythingsthatmidgehassaid.com. On with the show.
1) Dwight Howard - For the first time I was considering trading my position in the draft. I had a deal in place to trade down to 12 and take Rudy Gobert, but when Dwight was there I had to take him. With multiple seasons of elite defense, scoring and rebounding, it makes me wonder why he hasn't done better in Savage.
2) Gary Payton - I think I messed up last season by taking guards with my first two picks, so this time I wanted to take a quality big and point guard with my first two picks. I was hoping that Oscar "The Mitten" Robertson would fall to me, but I was okay with settling for Gary "The Glove" Payton. I'm not thrilled with his three point shooting, his free throw shooting and that his usage% is too high for his eFG%, I worry that he will take shots away from Howard, but his elite defense for PG and SG, plus tons of minutes, plus a nice chunk of assist% made him the right choice.
3) Elton Brand - I was torn here between Brand, who brings a lot to the table for two seasons and is playable for all five seasons, and Jerry Lucas, who would give me five seasons of rebounds, which is always something I seem to be lacking. I gambled on taking Brand here and getting Lucas in the 4th, because that is where he has been going. Of course I knew that last season has very little to do with this season, because if somebody wants a player, they need to take him a little higher than last season.
4) Ray Allen - At this point I really felt like I needed some threes to go with Dwight Howard. Ash said that last season in the playoffs everyone went -2 or -3 against him with his Dwight/Oscar ("The Mitten", are you paying attention?) team and it sunk his season. I had Ray Allen before teamed with Magic Johnson in the backcourt and my defense was shredded. I'm hoping teaming Jesus Shuttlesworth with "The Glove" will be a better fit.
5) Kevin Love - My plan is to bring Love off the bench, firing threes and grabbing boards, while at the same time hiding his defense behind my good defense centers. I know jcred5 didn't like this pick, which further increases the feeling that I screwed up by not taking Lucas. If I had Lucas, I wouldn't have taken Love, and jcred5 would have been happy. Isn't making other people happy what it's all about?
6) Robert Williams - This is where in the past I would have been looking to take Dave Cowens, but luckily for me someone else took him and I took Robert Williams instead. Just in Time, Lord I got lucky there.
7) - Kevin Johnson - Traditionally, the 7th round is where I always quit looking to see who is best for my team and I start looking around to see who I can screw over. Who needs a point guard with at least five seasons of 25% assists? Ah, there he is, dh555! Sorry dude. It's like when you're playing Ticket To Ride and you don't really need that New Orleans to Miami track, but your brother does so you take it. TAKE THAT TIM! THAT'S FOR HITTING ME IN THE HEAD WITH A HAMMER WHEN I WAS SIX YEARS OLD!
8) - Bill Bridges - I think of Bill Bridges as Jerry Lucas lite. Build some Bridges, throw in some Love, mix in a little Time Lord, with a dash of a good Brand and voila!, you have yourself a power forward.
9) - Rodney McCray - A lot of guys were moving up in the draft, which means someone was sliding, so I was happy to take Rodney McCray in the 9th round. He will see some action at both SF and SG, with good rebounding at SG and good passing at SF. Decent defense everywhere.
10) - Michael Cooper - I still need minutes at SG, and I wanted to take a guy who plays defense to play in front of or behind Ray Allen. Two seasons will play for sure, maybe some from a third season. His 100 and 90 defense seasons will come in handy when Steph Curry comes to town.
11) - Bob Pettit - I figure this pick will have a lot of people saying huh? My thinking is that he plays good defense (90), has good rebounding (insert numbers here) and the team usage won't get messed up when he subs for Dwight Howard. His eFG% is weak, but he gets to the free throw line a lot and his passing is better than Dwight. If the Bob Pettit experiment is a massive failure I still have Bill Bridges to play some center if I need to make the change.
12) - Bailey Howell - I see Howell as Elton Brand lite. He has one season that will start and play a lot. Not bad for the 12th round.
I'm not going to say if I think my team will be good or not. I have no idea. What I will say is that me taking the time to write this when I haven't even put my teams together yet is like writing an extra credit paper when I haven't yet written the paper that is worth 50% of my final grade.
2/9/2023 8:37 PM (edited)