2024 annual Jazzfanz current draft competition round 2 match Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the Phoenix Suns

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

Cavs
PG - Dejounte Murray / James Harden
SG - Tyrese Maxey / Cam Thomas
SF - Kawhi Leonard / Bojan Bogdanovic
PF - Anthony Davis / Miles Bridges
C - Ivica Zubac / Nic Claxton

Vs.

Suns
PG - Derrick White / Fred VanVleet
SG - Alex Caruso / Anfernee Simons
SF - Jalen Williams / Donte DiVincenzo
PF - Giannis Antetokounmpo / Tari Eason
C - Brook Lopez / Wendell Carter Jr

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

@Jason @infection please pin this thread

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

Phoenix Suns team writeup

Defensively my team matches up well here. Looking at matchup data on NBA.com Maxey struggled when guarded by either Caruso or White. Both Giannis and Lopez can guard Davis. I like the idea of giving some of the Defensive possessions on Davis to Brook, leaving Giannis to play free safety. Kawhi, if healthy is difficult for anyone to guard, but Caruso has been one of the best defenders against Kawhi, and Williams with some help defense should work ok as well.

Offensively I can create switches on to his weak defensive guards while spacing Zubac out to the 3pt line. Kawhi is not the defender he once was, dropping his DBPM to 0.6 this year. That leaves Davis to defend the whole court, and while he is a great defender, can't guard everyone. FVV will get plenty of minutes in the guard rotation as another ball handler.

Plus, can you really feel good voting for a team with Miles Bridges? Should be an automatic disqualifier, imo.

 

[The Midnight]

Do we assume Kawhi is healthy for this?

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

Do we assume Kawhi is healthy for this?

Yes. It’s in the op for the draft. If they are suspected to be playing game one then we assume they will play 82 games.

 

[The Midnight]

Yes. It’s in the op for the draft. If they are suspected to be playing game one then we assume they will play 82 games.

But Kawhi isn’t gonna play 82 games.

 

[The Midnight]

If you have a strong and healthy Kawhi for the series Cavs wins it, if not then Suns wins.

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

But Kawhi isn’t gonna play 82 games.

hardly anyone will. The point is it’s a 7 game playoff series and the rules are you assume he’s playing every game. Unless injured and unable to play games someone like Leonard is expected to play every playoff game.

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

Them’s the rules Jack!!

 

[David Hume]

But we can assume that even if he plays, he's not 100 percent healthy. Kinda like Zinger the last game he played for the Celts, hobbling around somewhat. After all, we are predicting how they will fare this year, and some can be expected to be only at 60-80% health come playoff time.

 

[The Midnight]

I’m so confused, which is it?

 

[LogGrad98]

I’m so confused, which is it?

Whichever you want it to be. Plenty of people voting already decided in their heads "yeah but no way kawhi stays healthy" and voted accordingly. Do what you want.

 

[The Midnight]

Whichever you want it to be. Plenty of people voting already decided in their heads "yeah but no way kawhi stays healthy" and voted accordingly. Do what you want.

An ok its too late, the poll closed.

Looks like it wont be the deciding vote anyway.. lol..

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

I’m so confused, which is it?

Which is what?

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

Whichever you want it to be. Plenty of people voting already decided in their heads "yeah but no way kawhi stays healthy" and voted accordingly. Do what you want.

This isn’t an 82 game thing. It’s a best of 7 playoff series. All anyone needs to know is he’s healthy now.

 

[The Midnight]

This isn’t an 82 game thing. It’s a best of 7 playoff series. All anyone needs to know is he’s healthy now.

That’s not how the voters voted though.. lol..

That’s how democracy work though - you can’t resist it no matter how much YOU tried.

Kudos to the voters.

 

[Thee Idiotic Minivan K]

That’s not how the voters voted though.. lol..

That’s how democracy work though - you can’t resist it no matter how much YOU tried.

Kudos to the voters.

This never was a democracy

 

[The Midnight]

This never was a democracy

Speaking like a true dictator…

 

[LogGrad98]

This isn’t an 82 game thing. It’s a best of 7 playoff series. All anyone needs to know is he’s healthy now.

Eh, he's missing 3 of the 7 no matter what.