NBA Lockout Distractions

Derrick Rose
Joe Johnson
Danny Granger
Lamarcus Aldridge
Dwight Howard.

I mean, Derrick Rose / Joe Johnson / Danny Granger can produce my offense. I have a sick back court of Dwight and Lamarcus, this is all i can think of. Looks good imo.
 
Derrick Rose
Joe Johnson
Danny Granger
Lamarcus Aldridge
Dwight Howard.

I mean, Derrick Rose / Joe Johnson / Danny Granger can produce my offense. I have a sick back court of Dwight and Lamarcus, this is all i can think of. Looks good imo.

Solid line-up. I'm a big Aldridge fan, so I love that you included him. Side note: White Girl Mob in the avi is a win.
 
PG: Dwyane Wade
SG: Manu Ginobli
SF: Lebron James
PF: Dirk Nowitzki
C: Dwight Howard

Well, the obvious problems with a team loaded with superstars are attitude and deference. On a team with many scorers, there will be a tough time establishing chemistry and sharing the ball to ensure everyone gets enough touches. Therefore, I decided to have the main scoring load rest on Dwyane Wade and Manu Ginobli. Lebron James and Dwyane Wade are going to have to share ball-handling duties, and, of course, Manu Ginobli is more than able to bring the ball up and initiate the offense. The most difficult position to fill for me was the 4 spot. I looked for a great post defender who rotates well on defense and could fill in as help defense when Dwight Howard was out of position. I had guys like Kendrick Perkins, Josh Smith, DeAndre Jordan, and Kevin Garnett. Eventually, I settled on the Wunderkind. While not as great of a defender as I have wanted (still good though), he makes up for it offensively... I originally had Kevin Garnett instead of Dirk, but I needed a good shooter. And, he goes along well with the pick-and-roll oriented offense I imagine.

This team is extremely solid defensively and offensively. The prevalent offense would probably be pick-and-rolls. One of Miami's most dangerous sets this year involved a pick and roll with Dwyane Wade as the ball-handler and Lebron James as the roll man. Manu Ginobli is also deadly in the pick-and-roll; I assume everyone knows that the Ginobli-Duncan PNR is one of the decade's best. Dirk Nowitzki would be absolutely deadly in the pick-and-pop game with Manu. The post would also be a great ally for this lineup... Can you guys imagine teams even trying to double team LBJ/Dirk/D12? All three are great passers from the post, and Manu and Dirk can really do damage from the three-point line.
 
It seems most of us generally agree on how to construct the best line-up of today's players. Let's make this interesting: How about we make line-ups of the ideal under-25 teams? All the players on the team have to be 24 or younger as of October 26th of this year. I'll start:

PG - Russell Westbrook
SG - O.J. Mayo
SF - Kevin Durant
PF - Al Horford
C - Andrew Bynum

Rose vs. Russell for the point turned out to be a tougher debate than I anticipated. They put up very similar scoring stats, though Rose had the edge. Westbrook edged Rose in assist numbers, though he also had the league's best scorer on his side. Ultimately, I made the decision based on defense. Both are great scorers but scoring won't be an issue for this team. Westbrook is a superior defender and that is more valuable to me than the slight difference in their offensive game.

OJ Mayo vs. Eric Gordon was a tough call. Gordon had a great year, and Mayo had a down year in every way. Still, I haven't given up on the Trojan. He posted up the exact same 3 pt percentage as Gordon and still hasn't touched the ceiling on his potential. He is a bigger guard and though Gordon is a great defender I am no fan of small backcourts if I can help it. I went with the bigger guard.

Durant was the easiest choice of all the positions. By far.

Al Horford is naturally a power forward, though ATL played him heavily at center. He is an excellent low post player and is tough enough to bang with the best of the NBA bigs.

Bynum is beginning to live up to the monster hype that Jim Buss has fed Laker fans for years. He is a 7 footer and has increased his post skills dramatically since entering the league. He is a great shot blocker and is tough and athletic. I have a soft spot for Joakim Noah, who I almost gave this spot to, but when healthy Bynum is the second best center in the NBA.
 
Man, I'm not goin' the same direction at all with my under 25 team.

PG - John Wall. Wall has IMO the best court vision of any of the young star PGs, he doesn't need to score a lot with the crazy teammates he has here, and with great shooters around him doesn't need to be relied on for the long-ball. He's the Rajon Rondo of the team.

SG - Eric Gordon. I don't really see this as a contest, Gordon plays hard, excels on both ends of the court, is versatile offensively, etc.

SF - Kevin Durant. Even less of a contest.

PF - Blake Griffin. This guy just had one of the most incredible rookie years of all time. He plays his heart out, gobbles up rebounds, scores like crazy, not bad defensively, either. Shout out to my runners-up Serge Ibaka and Kevin Love.

C - Is Noah under 25? If so that's who I'm going with. This team will have a lot of grit and hustle. Sorry Bynum, not gonna choose a guy who averages 40-50 games played per season.

As for my all NBA team -

PG - Deron Williams. No disrespect to CP3, but DWill is a great distributor, shooter, and defender, too, and at this point in their careers DWill is just more reliable. He wins by a hair.
SG - Probably Dwyane Wade. He's a great defender, still got his legs, great slasher and distributor when needed. Just don't see another SG that complements this team better.
SF - Kevin Durant. I think Lebron is (clearly) the more complete player at the moment, but Durant is better for this super-team. He doesn't need the ball in his hands as much and his extra rebounding is appreciated, though Lebron's defense is missed.
PF - Kevin Love! That's right, he spreads the floor like no other PF right now (shooting better from 3 than even Dirk himself) and is the best rebounder in the league, he's also a low usage player, great for this team. Dwight covers up his defensive deficiencies in the paint.
C - Dwight Howard, and IMO you're crazy if you don't take him. He's the best defensive Center in the league by an enormous margin, and a very very good offensive Center. He ruins teams by himself with his interior D.
 
SG-Kobe Bryant, the best player in the nba

PG-Derek Rose,such an amazing season, and while i feel that chris paul is excellent, derek rose is the better choice because of hes younger.

SF-Kevin Durant, i cant really think of anyone else who really compares to him
(i consider lebron a power forward)

Center-Dwight Howard/Andrew Bynum,/Noah Its hard for me to get excited about these guys.

PF- Nowitzky, I hate dallas, but at least dirk is a winner, lebron james will never be a winner he has no class and i cant find much to like about the way he comports himself on and off the court.
 
Steve Nash
Kobe Bryant
kevin Durant
Dirk Nowitzki
Dwight Howard

IMO this is a perfect team. Not everyone is ball hogging and Nash is one of the best pure distributors with a knock down 3. Kobe and Dirk also have killer shots and can space the floor or create for themselves. KD provides a god compliment o the two in that he can cut through the lane and score better than the rest. Dwight is obviously the best post by far, and is the focal point of the team. A few years ago, when the Magic were good, they had Dwight and 4 shooters in their starting lineup, meaning if you double Dwight you leave a shooter open, and if you don't, you know what happens. This puts up the same combo, but better.
 
PG - Magic Johnson
SG - Michael Jordan
SF - Larry Bird
PF - Karl Malone
C - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

I mean, obviously guys. What the fuck.
 
Rajon+Rondo+wTg6UPRXsxOm.jpg


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