Current NBA Draft QF2 - Kasper vs adexkola/RDCR07

[Moby]

Welcome to the first game of the Current players NBA draft. Please select the winning team based on the listed players' current ability and form during the last two seasons.

Kasper: 1. Leonard 2. Irving 3. Butler 4. DeAndre Jordan 5. Kevin Love 6. Al Horford 7. Beal 8. Shaun Livingston 9. Fournier 10. Bosh


VS


RDCR07 & adexkola: 1. Curry 2. Green 3. Paul George 4. Drummond 5. DeRozan 6. Rubio 7. Korver 8. Bogut 9. Ibaka 10. Danny Green

Team Kasper​

Starting 5: Irving, Butler, Leonard, Love, DeAndre Jordan
Bench: Livingston, Beal, Fournier, Bosh, Horford

Matchups:
My matchups are pretty straight forward. Irving will defend Curry, as he has shown in the finals that he can handle him pretty well. Butler will take on DeRozan, Leonard on George, Love on Green and DJ on Drummond.

Strategy/Why I'll win:
Defense:
My team is excellent defensively and I am very confident that they can contain my opponents team. Obviously Curry is the biggest scoring threat but as we've seen before, Irving is not afraid to take him on and he actually outplayed him in the finals (27.1 PPG on 47%FG vs. 22.6 on 40%FG). Another advantage is that with Butler and Leonard I have 2 elite defenders that can switch any time on him, so I'll barely have a mismatch. Now, I'll give it to my opponent that he had an excellent timing picking DeRozan, now that he suddenly went off but I'll have to remind everyone that he has absolutely crumbled in the play-offs so far and with Butler on him I'm pretty sure I've eliminated his scoring threat. Leonard, my star player and two times DPOY, will take on his second scoring threat, PG, and here I'm also pretty confident that he'll keep the upper hand. The two times they played each other in the last two years, Leonard kept George to a shocking 8-34 shooting (while forcing 7 turnovers) while shooting above 45% himself. Green will probably be his main ball distributor, so Love simply has to watch out that he doesn't get open shots and Drummond/Jordan nullify each other.

Offense:
3 of my 5 players are capable of creating their own shot but most important they don't demand the ball in their hand all the time like other star players. Irving and Butler have shown that they're capable of playing the second fiddle and Leonard is as selfless as it gets. DJ will be reduced to simple P&R/alley-oops/getting rebounds (and he's fine with that) while Love will offer Post ups and open corner threes. My overall variety of offensive threats will be hard to impossible to contain, three pointers, mid range, attacking the basket, post up, they're capable of everything.

Bench:
My bench is simply better. Horford and Bosh are two excellent all-star big mans that can shoot as well so they'll offer an excellent alternative to DJ/Love, Livingston has proven to be an outstanding backup PG in the last two years (over 50%FG), Fournier is an excellent 3 point shooter and Beal an allround offensive threat. Meanwhile I see no balance in my opponents bench. Basically no one is attacking the ring, Rubio is known for passing only, he has Korver and Green, who're playing basically the same role as spot up shooters(?) and two rim protectors that offer not much else.


Overall I'm confident that my elite defense and my diverse offense as well as my better bench will be able to win this match.

Team adexkola & RDCR07​

Kasper: 1. Leonard 2. Irving 3. Butler 4. DeAndre Jordan 5. Kevin Love 6. Al Horford 7. Beal 8. Shaun Livingston 9. Fournier 10. Bosh


VS


RDCR07 & adexkola: 1. Curry 2. Green 3. Paul George 4. Drummond 5. DeRozan 6. Rubio 7. Korver 8. Bogut 9. Ibaka 10. Danny Green


Kasper has a great team here, but there are weaknesses that are perfectly set up for my team to exploit.


Starting Lineup:


Steph Curry: Best offensive PG in the league.


DeMar Derozan: 20 ppg all star caliber Shooting Guard. Led Raptors to Conference Finals in 2015-16 season


Paul George: Elite small forward. Recovered from leg fracture in 2015 and made All-NBA, defensive and All-Star rosters at end of 2016 season. Carried offense for anemic Pacers teams while handed difficult task of guarding the likes of LeBron, Durant, etc...


Draymond Green: Runner up DPOY twice. Capable of defending multiple positions in the half-court and in transition. Excellent distributor and secondary offense facilitator. Lethal coming out of the PnR, especially with Curry (more on this later)


Andre Drummond: Yeah, try snagging a rebound going up against this bastard. Great paint protector.


Bench Lineup:


Ricky Rubio: Can thread the ball of a camel through the eye of a needle... great defender at the position and high assist to turnover ratio.


Danny Green: In the top tier of 3-D guys in the league. Great wingspan enables him to guard swingmen with ease. Smartest player in the league playing transition defense. He cannot be ignored on the perimeter.


Kyle Korver: Just his presence on the team opens up lanes for his teammates. .492 3 point conversion in 2014-15.


Serge Ibaka: Excellent stretch four with the capability to patrol the interior, protect the rim (he just blocked another shot), and defend the PnR, as well as operate in it.


Andrew Bogut: The Warriors of the past 2 seasons benefited immensely from his ability to duel with elite centers in the paint, pass in the low or high post, and crash the boards.




Strategy against Kasper


Kasper has 3 excellent defensive players on his team. I expect the matchup to yield low scoring battles of attrition between Leonard, Butler and DeAndre on one end, and Derozan, George and Drummond. This series will be won on the margins where I hold the advantage, as explained below:


1. Kyrie is a great scorer in isolation, but he might as well be labeled a shooting guard; LeBron is the facilitator on the Cavaliers. With no starter able to set up the offense, they are already at a disadvantage. This does not account for me placing Draymond on Kyrie from the top of the key, and utilizing Steph as a “help safety” to snag loose balls, steal passes and initiate transition attacks.


2. The Curry – Green PnR is one of the deadliest combinations in the league. Factor Steph’s threat from deep with Draymond’s ability to roll and distribute almost as well as any point guard in the league. Numerous tweaks on this can be done (pop the ball to Draymond, let George or Derozan roll to the rim and finish, or drag help defense, leaving Steph or Draymond open at the 3)


3. Drummond is one of the best rebounders in the league on both ends. Draymond is an efficient rebounder as well. Between the 2, it will be easy for us to generate second chance shots, and deny the same to our opposition.


4. Regarding the bench defense, Livingston is excellent in transition. To counter this, Rubio who handles the ball for my bench, sports an excellent assist to turnover ratio. Danny Green is the best transition defender in the league. By limiting turnovers and getting back on defense, we’ll force the bench to set up half court offense. At worst they won’t be able to run up scores against our bench.


5. Utilize the pick and roll with Rubio and Bogut/Ibaka. Ibaka can roll to the rim or pop from midrange. Bogut is an effective screener. Rubio, a laser accurate PG can find cuts to the rim by Green or Korver.


6. Kasper has to guard Green and Korver on the perimeter and leave the paint open for Ibaka and Bogut, or clutter the paint and risk being drowned with 3s.


In summary, Kasper’s excellent starting team will eventually lose ground against my starters, and his bench will be unable to get the team back in the game once they are denied space in the full court.

 

[Moby]

Good luck @Kasper @adexkola @RDCR07

 

[Kasper]

Short question: If Draymond defends Kyrie, who's Steph's man?

 

[adexkola]

Short question: If Draymond defends Kyrie, who's Steph's man?

No one. Or, everyone, depending on how you look at it.

Steph isn't a great lock down defender ala Tony Allen. He is great at moving in the lanes and snagging errant passes. I feel that with Kyrie being covered by Draymond, this will happen a lot. Kyrie tries to pass while being locked down by Green. Steph steals ball. Transition 3 or pass.

 

[Kasper]

No one. Or, everyone, depending on how you look at it.

Steph isn't a great lock down defender ala Tony Allen. He is great at moving in the lanes and snagging errant passes. I feel that with Kyrie being covered by Draymond, this will happen a lot. Kyrie tries to pass while being locked down by Green. Steph steals ball. Transition 3 or pass.

Draymond is a great defender but that's mostly when he's up against players of the size 6.5 or taller. Kyrie is simply too agile, too quick and too got of a ballhandler to get locked by Green.
And even if you do, I don't see how Stephen can simoy hang around and wait for passes to be stolen. If I simply let butler/Leonard bring the ball down the floor with Draymond on Irvig I'll have mismatches all over the floor.

 

[adexkola]

Draymond is a great defender but that's mostly when he's up against players of the size 6.5 or taller. Kyrie is simply too agile, too quick and too got of a ballhandler to get locked by Green.
And even if you do, I don't see how Stephen can simoy hang around and wait for passes to be stolen. If I simply let butler/Leonard bring the ball down the floor with Draymond on Irvig I'll have mismatches all over the floor.

Draymond has demonstrated the ability to guard players at all positions. Steph isn't hanging around idly, he's playing help defense. Kyrie will get some shots off cause he is that great of a player, but his percentages will drop, and he isn't that great of a point guard to make a defense pay by smothering him.

Are you comfortable with Butler or Leonard bringing the ball down the court? Then what? If that occurs then either George or Derozan will guard them.

 

[Moby]

Getting PG13 in R3 was massive.

 

[Kasper]

Draymond has demonstrated the ability to guard players at all positions. Steph isn't hanging around idly, he's playing help defense. Kyrie will get some shots off cause he is that great of a player, but his percentages will drop, and he isn't that great of a point guard to make a defense pay by smothering him.

Are you comfortable with Butler or Leonard bringing the ball down the court? Then what? If that occurs then either George or Derozan will guard them.

When has Draymond guarded a 1.90m PG with the shooting+ballhandling of Irving for a whole game tho? He'd be good against someone who can only drive but Kyrie is an excellent shooter. If a better defender (size and agility wise) in Thompson couldn't stop him in the finals (27PPG on 47%FG), there's no way Green will.
Yes, I'm comfortable with Butler or Leonard bringing down the ball, they're regulary doing it for their teams. Anyway, my team isn't set up in the way that a single player has the ball in his hand on every possesion for the first 15 seconds of the shootclock (like Harden or Rondo), it's about ball rotation and finding the mismatch/open man. If Kyrie pulls Draymond out of the paint (you can't leave him open, can you) that'll give my players plenty of opportunities in the perimeter, where Butler and Leonard (and Love) excell in.
It's also quite unlogical to say you'll place Draymond at the top of the key and than proceed to claim that you'll profit from his rebounding, denying my players second chances. How?

I also disagree with the notion that the Green+Curry combo will be as deadly as you expect. It's a good scoring production in the regular season but where was it in last years finals? And in my case Kyrie has an even better defender next to him to help out in Butler instead of JR Smith.

Getting PG13 in R3 was massive.

I agree, especially in this matchup where most people probably wrongly assume George = Leonard, which is simply wrong.

 

[adexkola]

When has Draymond guarded a 1.90m PG with the shooting+ballhandling of Irving for a whole game tho? He'd be good against someone who can only drive but Kyrie is an excellent shooter. If a better defender (size and agility wise) in Thompson couldn't stop him in the finals (27PPG on 47%FG), there's no way Green will.
Yes, I'm comfortable with Butler or Leonard bringing down the ball, they're regulary doing it for their teams. Anyway, my team isn't set up in the way that a single player has the ball in his hand on every possesion for the first 15 seconds of the shootclock (like Harden or Rondo), it's about ball rotation and finding the mismatch/open man. If Kyrie pulls Draymond out of the paint (you can't leave him open, can you) that'll give my players plenty of opportunities in the perimeter, where Butler and Leonard (and Love) excell in.
It's also quite unlogical to say you'll place Draymond at the top of the key and than proceed to claim that you'll profit from his rebounding, denying my players second chances. How?

I also disagree with the notion that the Green+Curry combo will be as deadly as you expect. It's a good scoring production in the regular season but where was it in last years finals? And in my case Kyrie has an even better defender next to him to help out in Butler instead of JR Smith.



I agree, especially in this matchup where most people probably wrongly assume George = Leonard, which is simply wrong.

Draymond hasn't guarded a PG for a whole game, but he has been assigned in spurts to target dominant PGs like Westbrook in the playoffs. Again I don't think you can stop Kyrie. In fact, I want him shooting. He alone can't win the game and I don't think he can hurt a defense for overcompensating the way Chris Paul can for example. Kyrie will have Butler but he won't have LeBron James, the actual distributor on the team.

Don't forget I'll have Drummond in the paint.

On the bolded I agree with you. Player to player comparison Leonard is better. But that is not a matchup that he will dominate.

 

[charlton66]

When has Draymond guarded a 1.90m PG with the shooting+ballhandling of Irving for a whole game tho? He'd be good against someone who can only drive but Kyrie is an excellent shooter. If a better defender (size and agility wise) in Thompson couldn't stop him in the finals (27PPG on 47%FG), there's no way Green will.
Yes, I'm comfortable with Butler or Leonard bringing down the ball, they're regulary doing it for their teams. Anyway, my team isn't set up in the way that a single player has the ball in his hand on every possesion for the first 15 seconds of the shootclock (like Harden or Rondo), it's about ball rotation and finding the mismatch/open man. If Kyrie pulls Draymond out of the paint (you can't leave him open, can you) that'll give my players plenty of opportunities in the perimeter, where Butler and Leonard (and Love) excell in.
It's also quite unlogical to say you'll place Draymond at the top of the key and than proceed to claim that you'll profit from his rebounding, denying my players second chances. How?

I also disagree with the notion that the Green+Curry combo will be as deadly as you expect. It's a good scoring production in the regular season but where was it in last years finals? And in my case Kyrie has an even better defender next to him to help out in Butler instead of JR Smith.



I agree, especially in this matchup where most people probably wrongly assume George = Leonard, which is simply wrong.

First bold: I agree Draymond doesn't guard the PG on a regular basis during games but you can virtually guarantee he has guarded a better 1.90 m PG during practice than Kyrie, one with both superior shooting and ball handling skills, so he has more than likely got plenty of experience taking this on if he has to. As to Klay vs Draymond's defensive prowess, Klay is taller but that is about it when it comes to describing who is a better defender. Draymond has more blocks, steals, and rebounds than Klay. He is a defensive beast. As to last years finals, the Warriors were doing fine through 4 games. Game 5 they lost Draymond and game 6 and 7 Bogut. Give Draymond some decent help protecting the rim (Drummond in this case) and he becomes an even more elite defender than ever.

Second bold: I am presuming for the sake of argument that everybody is healthy when considering who will win this match up. The Green/Curry combo struggled somewhat during the playoffs because one of the duo was playing with multiple injuries. When Kevin Love can close you down (as happened at the end of game 7) you know there is something wrong. When both are fully fit, this is one of the most devastating scoring tandems in the league. It also doesn't really matter who you have helping out alongside Kyrie, if these guys are on you are not stopping them.

In addition, you've also got De Rozan and Paul George as decent mid range scoring threats (George is also not bad from 3) and Drummond inside if you want to go that route. If you collapse on Drummond you get killed from outside, if you defend the perimeter, either Drummond is scoring easy baskets inside or someone is driving to the rim.

To be honest, I actually think adex/RD has the best team out of all eight.

 

[Kasper]

Draymond hasn't guarded a PG for a whole game, but he has been assigned in spurts to target dominant PGs like Westbrook in the playoffs. Again I don't think you can stop Kyrie. In fact, I want him shooting. He alone can't win the game and I don't think he can hurt a defense for overcompensating the way Chris Paul can for example. Kyrie will have Butler but he won't have LeBron James, the actual distributor on the team.

Don't forget I'll have Drummond in the paint.

On the bolded I agree with you. Player to player comparison Leonard is better. But that is not a matchup that he will dominate.

Guarding Westbrook is something different, since he relies on athleticism and attacking the rim - unlike Irving. I agree that he isn't on CP3 levels when it comes to ball destribution tho. But we're going in circles, we simply disagree on the Irving/Green matchup, fair enough!


I'll ignore the Golden State fan who thinks that warriors practice or the good old injury excuse are relevant to this thread.

 

[charlton66]

I'll ignore the Golden State fan who thinks that warriors practice or the good old injury excuse are relevant to this thread.

You initially brought up their performance (Curry/Green) in the finals and I responded that one of them was injured which everyone seems to have conceded is true. It's no excuse for losing the finals but in the context of this thread it is relevant since like I said I presumed we were playing when everybody is fully fit. However, forget any possible injuries and just base their performance over the entirety of the last two years where they were one of the best double acts in the game.

As to Warriors practice sessions, all I said was that I would be surprised if Green hadn't already guarded a PG better than Kyrie so if he had to do it, would it be that much of a stretch. For arguments sake, let's say that's not true but instead let's just listen to one of the best coaches in the game (Steve Kerr) from just last night describing who Draymond can and can't guard. “Draymond’s amazing. He literally can guard anybody in the league, from Dwight Howard to Schroder to everybody else in between.”

 

[Kasper]

You initially brought up their performance (Curry/Green) in the finals and I responded that one of them was injured which everyone seems to have conceded is true. It's no excuse for losing the finals but in the context of this thread it is relevant since like I said I presumed we were playing when everybody is fully fit. However, forget any possible injuries and just base their performance over the entirety of the last two years where they were one of the best double acts in the game.

As to Warriors practice sessions, all I said was that I would be surprised if Green hadn't already guarded a PG better than Kyrie so if he had to do it, would it be that much of a stretch. For arguments sake, let's say that's not true but instead let's just listen to one of the best coaches in the game (Steve Kerr) from just last night describing who Draymond can and can't guard. “Draymond’s amazing. He literally can guard anybody in the league, from Dwight Howard to Schroder to everybody else in between.”

Something that came conveniently up after they lost. During the finals Curry himself said that he's fine and it didn't seem to bother him much during the conference finals.
I brought the finals up because they're the best empirical evidence we have for a comparison how the Curry/Green PnR does against elite teams over the course of a series (Keep in mind that a "fit" Curry wasn't unstoppable either in the 2015 finals.). That's better than speculating about how Draymond would hypothetical defend Irving (if he'd be so awesome why did GSW put Iggy on Lebron and Thompson on Irving?).
Steve Kerr is conveniently Draymonds coach, it's quite surprising that he has a high opinion of him.

 

[charlton66]

Something that came conveniently up after they lost. During the finals Curry himself said that he's fine and it didn't seem to bother him much during the conference finals.
I brought the finals up because they're the best empirical evidence we have for a comparison how the Curry/Green PnR does against elite teams over the course of a series (Keep in mind that a "fit" Curry wasn't unstoppable either in the 2015 finals.). That's better than speculating about how Draymond would hypothetical defend Irving (if he'd be so awesome why did GSW put Iggy on Lebron and Thompson on Irving?).
Steve Kerr is conveniently Draymonds coach, it's quite surprising that he has a high opinion of him.

It didn't come up after the finals that Curry had injuries. Everyone knew there was some sort of problem, that's why the media kept asking him about it throughout and he kept denying it because it didn't really matter in the context of the finals, but it was still there. Even against OKC there was an obvious problem. This was a team that went 75-9 in the regular season/playoffs but after Curry's initial injury in game 2 against Houston went 13-9 the rest of the way (I actually thought the knee injury in game 4 was worse btw). Your comment about 2015 is a good one though. Curry was not the dominant force in the 2015 finals either. No excuses on that one.

As to Iggy on LeBron and Thompson on Irving in the finals, I'd have done that too since it freed up Green to help Bogut on the boards against Tristan Thompson/Kevin Love/LeBron. I had no choice other than speculating about Draymond on Irving though because that's what Adex/RD said they would do so I was kind of stuck with that match up. As I said I wouldn't have done it but I was just trying to stick with the strategies of the two parties.

Finally, as to Steve Kerr's opinion of Draymond, as you say it is hardly surprising since he is his coach but he has been two times runner up in the DPOY stakes so it's not only Kerr that rates him on the defensive end of the floor.

@Kasper, if no-one debated you about this stuff, it would be no fun at all.

 

[Moby]

it freed up Green to help Bogut on the boards against Tristan Thompson/Kevin Love/LeBron

And that ended in Lebron dropping 41 and what is one the greatest finals performances I've seen.

Green is one Golden State player I absolutely detest and it was great watching him being put to his place.

 

[Kasper]

It didn't come up after the finals that Curry had injuries. Everyone knew there was some sort of problem, that's why the media kept asking him about it throughout and he kept denying it because it didn't really matter in the context of the finals, but it was still there. Even against OKC there was an obvious problem. This was a team that went 75-9 in the regular season/playoffs but after Curry's initial injury in game 2 against Houston went 13-9 the rest of the way (I actually thought the knee injury in game 4 was worse btw). Your comment about 2015 is a good one though. Curry was not the dominant force in the 2015 finals either. No excuses on that one.

As to Iggy on LeBron and Thompson on Irving in the finals, I'd have done that too since it freed up Green to help Bogut on the boards against Tristan Thompson/Kevin Love/LeBron. I had no choice other than speculating about Draymond on Irving though because that's what Adex/RD said they would do so I was kind of stuck with that match up. As I said I wouldn't have done it but I was just trying to stick with the strategies of the two parties.

Finally, as to Steve Kerr's opinion of Draymond, as you say it is hardly surprising since he is his coach but he has been two times runner up in the DPOY stakes so it's not only Kerr that rates him on the defensive end of the floor.

@Kasper, if no-one debated you about this stuff, it would be no fun at all.

I never said that Draymond wasn't a great defender, I'll agree that he's brilliant I just disagree with the notion that you can simply put him on anyone without consequences. The "Can even guard PGs" claim might hold some truth when it comes to a specific situation but I don't think it would work to well over a whole match. When Lebron defended Rose in the last 5 minutes of G5 of the 2011 ECF, everyone hailed him as the lockdown defender that will take on Nowitzki in the finals - but instead they put Bosh on him because they knew that certain factors, such as height, simply make a difference.
I agree tho, that those fantasy drafts need debating, I just feared before the match that it would all be about Curry/Draymond and was therefore slightly annoyed when it indeed went that way. And no offense, but you already push the NBA thread with loads of warriors related posts and I therefore wasn't too thrilled to turn this into another GSW debate.

Anyway, well played @adexkola and @RDCR07, definitely deserved win. You simply matched up better, I actually expected you guys to focus way more on exploiting Love in my line up but it worked out anyway.
Good luck for the next match

 

[charlton66]

And that ended in Lebron dropping 41 and what is one the greatest finals performances I've seen.

Green is one Golden State player I absolutely detest and it was great watching him being put to his place.

Out of all the Warriors, I don't think Draymond was put in his place in game 7. Once Bogut was gone, Draymond had it all to do on the boards against Thompson, Love and LeBron and he nearly did it. If the Dubs had held on, we would have been talking about one of the great game 7 performances from Draymond himself. He led everybody in points and rebounds and only LeBron had more assists 11-9.

 

[Moby]

Out of all the Warriors, I don't think Draymond was put in his place in game 7. Once Bogut was gone, Draymond had it all to do on the boards against Thompson, Love and LeBron and he nearly did it. If the Dubs had held on, we would have been talking about one of the great game 7 performances from Draymond himself.

I was talking about Game 6 though.

Don't think he was anything special in Game 7 either, at least nowhere near Lebron's Game 6, who also had by far the greatest defensive play of the series in Game 7 himself.

 

[charlton66]

I never said that Draymond wasn't a great defender, I'll agree that he's brilliant I just disagree with the notion that you can simply put him on anyone without consequences. The "Can even guard PGs" claim might hold some truth when it comes to a specific situation but I don't think it would work to well over a whole match. When Lebron defended Rose in the last 5 minutes of G5 of the 2011 ECF, everyone hailed him as the lockdown defender that will take on Nowitzki in the finals - but instead they put Bosh on him because they knew that certain factors, such as height, simply make a difference.
I agree tho, that those fantasy drafts need debating, I just feared before the match that it would all be about Curry/Draymond and was therefore slightly annoyed when it indeed went that way. And no offense, but you already push the NBA thread with loads of warriors related posts and I therefore wasn't too thrilled to turn this into another GSW debate.

Anyway, well played @adexkola and @RDCR07, definitely deserved win. You simply matched up better, I actually expected you guys to focus way more on exploiting Love in my line up but it worked out anyway.
Good luck for the next match

Sorry about that. I will definitely back off. I'm glad you mentioned it to be honest. My wife says I need to shut up about them too.

 

[charlton66]

I was talking about Game 6 though.

Don't think he was anything special in Game 7 either, at least nowhere near Lebron's Game 6, who also had by far the greatest defensive play of the series in Game 7 himself.

He had 32 points on 11-15 shooting, 15 rebounds and 9 assists. He almost managed to pull the game out on his own.

 

[Moby]

He had 32 points on 11-15 shooting, 15 rebounds and 9 assists. He almost managed to pull the game out on his own.

He was definitely going to get good numbers as he usually does when you have Curry and Thompson getting most of the attention. Let's not pretend he was playing for some underdog, they were at home and part of a great team. It was something expected. He still got humiliated in the previous game on defense, and even on offense when Lebron managed to put a great block on him when he was open. Overall he'd like to forget that series especially with what happened earlier to those games and his defense was surely exposed quite well by the Cavs.

 

[charlton66]

He was definitely going to get good numbers as he usually does when you have Curry and Thompson getting most of the attention. Let's not pretend he was playing for some underdog, they were at home and part of a great team. It was something expected. He still got humiliated in the previous game on defense, and even on offense when Lebron managed to put a great block on him when he was open. Overall he'd like to forget that series especially with what happened earlier to those games and his defense was surely exposed quite well by the Cavs.

Draymond was a fool in game 4. The series was over and he let LeBron get under his skin. However, once Bogut got hurt in game 5 it was always going to be an uphill battle for him on defense, even more so once the Cavs seized the momentum by winning that game. As to his defense being exposed I thought he did rather well in game 7 to be honest since the Cavs were held to under 100 points. As I said, he led both teams in scoring, rebounding, was joint in steals and was second to LeBron in assists. Having said all that, he still cost the Dubs a ring.

 

[Moby]

As to his defense being exposed I thought he did rather well in game 7 to be honest since the Cavs were held to under 100 points.

You keep stepping over Game 6.

 

[charlton66]

You keep stepping over Game 6.

Because the Dubs got outplayed in game 6. However, surely you can't say that was entirely down to Draymond. Like I said, he probably cost them the series but it wasn't due to his lack of defense, it was due to his lack of brains.

 

[charlton66]

....And no offense, but you already push the NBA thread with loads of warriors related posts and I therefore wasn't too thrilled to turn this into another GSW debate.

I think I'm going to stay away from the basketball threads for a while now. I meant to shut up after you posted this, but I still couldn't help myself responding to @Aldo even after your original post.

 

[Kasper]

I think I'm going to stay away from the basketball threads for a while now. I meant to shut up after you posted this, but I still couldn't help myself responding to @Aldo even after your original post.

Relax It's good to have posters keeping the NBA thread going, I was merely talking about this game where I didn't want a matchup of a lot of players turned into a gsw vs cavs fight. No harm done tho, so don't worry.

 

[Moby]

I think I'm going to stay away from the basketball threads for a while now.

I hope you're not being serious with that.

 

[adexkola]

I never said that Draymond wasn't a great defender, I'll agree that he's brilliant I just disagree with the notion that you can simply put him on anyone without consequences. The "Can even guard PGs" claim might hold some truth when it comes to a specific situation but I don't think it would work to well over a whole match. When Lebron defended Rose in the last 5 minutes of G5 of the 2011 ECF, everyone hailed him as the lockdown defender that will take on Nowitzki in the finals - but instead they put Bosh on him because they knew that certain factors, such as height, simply make a difference.
I agree tho, that those fantasy drafts need debating, I just feared before the match that it would all be about Curry/Draymond and was therefore slightly annoyed when it indeed went that way. And no offense, but you already push the NBA thread with loads of warriors related posts and I therefore wasn't too thrilled to turn this into another GSW debate.

Anyway, well played @adexkola and @RDCR07, definitely deserved win. You simply matched up better, I actually expected you guys to focus way more on exploiting Love in my line up but it worked out anyway.
Good luck for the next match

Cheers mate.

Kevin Love was the X-Factor I couldn't account for. His impact on the Cavaliers in the past 2 seasons has been muted, especially in the finals; but he has the quality to go off and that would have put my team in a serious predicament, considering the mismatch that would have created.

I maintain that if this matchup happened in real life it would go to 6 or 7 games, and it could have gone either way.

@Aldo, is there a benefit to allowing winners to redraft before the next round?

 

[RDCR07]

Why did this league not go past this round? @adexkola

 

[Akshay]

Would be nice to have another of these drafts now the season's over. I know the votes tend to reflect 'star names' more than balance & fit maybe, but they're just harmless fun in the end.

 

[Moby]

Guess who had the MVP!

 

[Skizzo]

I don't mind running one in the near future. I'll try and think of something to spice it up a little as opposed to just doing a straight draft again.