2024 All-Time NBA Draft Round 1: Team E vs Team A

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

Team E:
Robertson; Lillard

Iverson; Joe Johnson

Klay; Bowen

K. Malone; Brand

Dwight; Yao Ming

Rashard Lewis and Adrian Dantley as specialists depending on the situation.

Vs.

Team A:
Hakeem Olajuwon/ Artis Gilmore
Blake Griffin/Amari Stoudemire/ Serge Ibaka
Elgin Baylor / Alex English/ Dan Majerle
Manu Ginobili / Mitch Richmond/ Majerle
Luka Dončić / Deron Williams

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

Team E writeup
Robertson; Lillard



Iverson; Joe Johnson



Klay; Bowen



K. Malone; Brand



Dwight; Yao Ming



Rashard Lewis and Adrian Dantley as specialists depending on the situation.

In facing team A:

Robertson will start and run a nice pick and roll with Malone with Klay there for spacing and defense on Luka, AI there as an elite scorer and defensive nightmare, and Dwight as a secondary post scorer/lob target and offensive rebounder. Depending on how things are going Bowen could be brought in to tighten up the defense even more making Klay the SG or Lillard and Johnson could come in a rain threes.

Defensively: one of Klay, Bowen or Robertson will always be on Luka, even if he’s used as a SG. Likely two of them will be in the entire game allowing for switching.

Hakeem is a beast so throwing Dwight, Yao and Malone at him will hopefully disrupt him a bit, while Malone should hold his own against Blake or Amare. If Hakeem rotates to Malone that leaves Dwight or Yao available for lobs with Dwight or a pick and roll/pick and pop with Yao.

AI will be difficult for Manu or the other SGs to guard. While Joe Johnson can play as a big SG who in his best years was a capable defender is tough to defend and Bowen is interchangeable between SG and SF with the ability to spread the floor and defend at high levels.

Overall, I believe Hakeem is the only position where I am at a disadvantage though having Dwight as a multiple time DPOY and athletic freak will help.

I believe Malone will handle both Blake and Amare with his physicality offensively and defensive ability being on multiple all defensive teams.

At SF: I believe we are close as we both have elite scorers with Joe Johnson, Adrian Dantley and Rashard Lewis, however I also have Bowen who is a shut down defender. I believe these options, especially with Johnson’s and Lewis’s three point range, Bowen’s elite defense and range, and Dantley’s pure scoring gives me the edge.

At SG: I have flexibility in who I can play there whether AI, Klay, Johnson, Lewis, or Bowen depending on the need. Manu, Mitch and Majerle are great, but I believe I have better scoring and the edge with defense.

Finally at PG I have Robertson who was the Luka (and Westbrook in some ways) before Luka. Luka has the edge in shooting range, but honestly it’s tough to know how Robertson would do, and besides Wilt, Robertson seems to be very polarizing as to how good he was. Based on numbers and 2K rankings he’s great so I can’t really give Luka the edge, especially because of his defensive liability. I believe Lillard edges out Deron barely because of his scoring abilities and unlimited range. Both are liabilities on defense though Lillard is probably a bit worse.

In the end, I believe my defensive arsenal at each position combined with the elite scoring at all levels makes my team the better option for moving forward in a playoff scenario.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Team A Goated. Luka and Dwill

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

Team A team writeup
I believe I have the smoothest half court offense in this.

Hakeem in my mind is the most gifted center physically, athletically, footwork wise, cognitively in game situations, focus. He had it all. Remember what he did to Shaq offensively Dwight was one of the least skilled bigs ever, he got where he was with pure athleticism. Hakeem would systematically take him out.


View: https://youtube.com/shorts/mLhISV6rM7I?si=8B0jpXn1oNCP7x0p


Luka is an elite playmaker and bucket getter. He’s one of the few pg’s that the big O can’t bully, and one of the few pg’s Luka can match foot speed with on defense. And like Oscar is an elite stat stuffer and triple double machine. That will be a fun matchup, but one Luka will win as he has a more defined game for the modern era, he can score with a deeper bag of tricks.

Also with Luka he has a matchup we will exploit using screens to cause Iverson to have to guard Luka 1 on 1.


View: https://youtube.com/shorts/WzJ8lxOqI88?si=qfkEWX1Mt6ZYYC0Q


Baylor is one of the more underrated players of the 60’s. He was one of if not the first to be able to handle the ball as a guard he was truely dynamic, passer and scorer and at 6/6 230lb’s was a Mac truck going down the lane. He would be a load for Klay


View: https://youtube.com/shorts/702PftB3-JI?si=6_6mZ0NjYD5orLp0


Ginobili is what unlocks this team. He can fit into any situation, uptempo, half court. He can space the floor be a secondary playmaker with the ball in hand, and play above the rim, and ultimate team player who can take a backseat to someone like Luka. he’s perfect because he’s the guy on this team you have to ignore because it takes everything to stop the elite talent at every other position. But Manu is every bit as elite as the other starters


View: https://youtube.com/shorts/MzuTFitGYfM?si=QJBDqehzRtR4jY7j


Blake Griffin, some will contend that putting Blake Griffin and Hakim in the same lineup doesn’t work because they play in the same space but that simply is not true. To a lesser extent, Hakim doesn’t just play in the post, but Blake Griffin is truly special with the ball in his hand. He didn’t play in the post mostly he played outside with his hand. He was a great distributor to the rim will with his dribble drive. One of the most gifted athletic freaks of nature. He truly could handle the ball like a guard or wing on the court and what made him truly deadly was the court vision he displayed and that is how he spread the floor for his team and that’s what he will do for my team.

Guard skills

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/6jlau-5OY8s?si=y9eUjvQDcs3LNJUe


Passing skills
https://youtube.com/shorts/ajje9izToFg?si=Nv4M8Rfa0VNHKXmW

Athleticism
https://youtube.com/shorts/TpeWqFao_NM?si=EDYsBTNmUOuzik7c

I like my bench to just be pure microwave on offense.

First and foremost Amari Stenemeyer is one of the best pick and roll bigs, and Deron Williams is easily one of the best pick and roll point guards to ever play the game. Those two would be monsters together together. my opponents bench would have no prayer of stopping this tandem in the Pick and roll. Mitchell

Richmond is a matchup nightmare, who isn’t just a volume shooter, but can take his man off the dribble and bully smaller guards in the post which he did all the time.

Alex English is damn near impossible to stop in the midrange. It’s basically unguardable kinda like the Kareem’s skyhook.

I can bring in Thunder Dan off the bench at either wing position if needed for extra defense and added floor spacing

Serge Ibaka will bridge the gap between Blake and Stottlemeyer. He will play the last 5 min of the first half and last 8 min of the 4th quarter for added defense and floor spacing so Luka and Hakeem can play their two man game. His length and rim protection will give Malone another look and make it harder on him, and make his patented 15 to 18 foot fade away a lot tougher to make

Gilmore just gives me a second great center with elite length that will give Dwight issues, and match size with Yao Ming

In the end my team is way too crafty with guys like Luka Hakeem everything Griffin brings, the Williams and Stoudemire tandem. Team E has some nice defense but my teams offense offsets that. My team is way too skilled.

The last 8 minutes looks like this.

Hakeem
Ibaka
Luka
Ginobili
Deron

 

[The Fresh Prince]

Everyone knows the elite matchup here is Artis Gilmore vs Yao Ming.