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24th May, 2006 - 12:59 pm
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| Current Features |
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TEAM RANKINGS: The RealGM.com Final NBA Team Rankings For 2007-08
Which teams were statistically the best in 2007-08? Which teams improved the most from 2006-07? Some of the answers may surprise you.
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Hey folks and welcome to the RealGM All-Time Draft!
This is the first in a series of articles that will look back at the RealGM All-Time Draft event that took place on the RealGM.com forums and analyze how things might have gone down in a tournament based on the assembled teams.
You've got questions, like "What the heck are you talking about, Tyler?" I've got answers.
Earlier this year, the participants on the RealGM.com bulletin boards decided to run a little test: We gathered thirty people and assigned each one to an NBA team (for example, I got Toronto). Then we did what amounted to a fantasy draft, only instead of picking current players, we selected players from all across the history of the NBA, so long as they'd played in about 330 games. It was a twelve-round draft and we selected based on a randomized seeding that rotated in ABBA format.
So say I picked first in the first round, I'd have picked LAST in the second round, last in the third round and then first in the fourth and fifth rounds as the cycle renewed. It's a little complex but basically, we drafted 12-man rosters based on every player to ever play the game. We didn't limit ourselves to players from our own franchises, otherwise the Lakers and Celtics would have murdered every other team before halftime.
First up, Dallas and Sacramento!
To start things off, let’s take a quick look at the rosters for these teams, including their projected starting lineups:
Dallas
C Dikembe Mutombo
PF Tim Duncan
SF Jamal Mashburn
SG Walter Davis
PG Sam Cassell
Mark Price
Paul Westphal
Sean Elliot
Dale Davis
Calvin Natt
Christian Laettner
Joe Johnson
Sacramento
C Patrick Ewing
PF Larry Nance
SF Eddie Jones
SG Joe Dumars
PG Isiah Thomas
Gus Johnson
Toni Kukoc
Rick Mahorn
Kenny Smith
Eddie Johnson
Brian Grant
Steve Kerr
The first real test of these teams is just how they matchup at the tip; the starting lineups would be key. Dallas’ major strength is interior defense, with the Twin Towers pairing of Dikembe Mutombo (7’2, 4-time DPOY, monster shot-blocker) and Tim Duncan (6’11, should have at least one DPOY, excellent shot-blocker) intimidating even the most aggressive of slashers. Furthermore, between Sam Cassell and Walter Davis, the Mavericks have a particularly adept shooting backcourt that is only enhanced by Mark Price and Sean Elliot off the bench. Having Paul Westphal only further enhances that advantage as well as giving them an excellent passer to complement Price and Cassell.
The main advantage the Kings have, aside from the absolutely filthy defense that they would play, is that they don’t actually have a weakness on offense. They’ve got slashers, post scorers, perimeter shooters, all kinds of weapons. They can go big, go small, go with an array of dazzling athletes, go brute force, they can match up against any style of basketball that the opposition wants to play.
Now the problems start to crop up: Dallas has a stunning lack of significant size on its bench and is extremely weak defensively in the backcourt. That’s going to spell trouble when Duncan and/or Mutombo ride the pine (in foul trouble or in need of rest) and the backcourt will present a problem all game long. Cassell is an excellent scorer but he has never been a stellar defender. Against Isiah Thomas, Kenny Smith and Joe Dumars, he’s going to get burned on the regular. Having to deal with Patrick Ewing and Larry Nance will not go lightly on Mutombo and Duncan; they will probably experience foul trouble early in most games in this series. A healthy, prime Ewing was an aggressive interior scorer and he generally had his way with Mutombo despite Deke’s excellent defense. Larry Nance was a ridiculous athlete and had a good all-around game. He likely wouldn’t explode offensively against Tim Duncan but he would be putting the pressure on and would make for an excellent transition option. Plus, his rebounding and shot-blocking would be key aspects of the Sacramento gameplan. Furthermore, Dallas has a dearth of significant defenders aside from their starting frontcourt. They’ve got some capable guys but when you look at this matchup, Sacramento’s D stands out and the noticeable weakness besides lack of significant frontcourt depth for Dallas is its defense.
On the flipside, Sacramento’s weaknesses include a lack of a truly explosive iso wing scorer and a lack of post scoring after Ewing. Nance counts but only to a point. Dumars, Eddie Jones and Isiah Thomas are all dangerous single-game scorers but can they each come up as necessary across a series, especially an extended series? They don’t really have a go-to guy on the wing and that is a significant flaw. It won’t matter early in the series but if it stretches out past 5 games, it’ll become an issue because players can only stay hot for so long and Sacramento is primarily a perimeter-oriented team after Ewing. That said, this is a team that is in a similar mould to the modern Detroit Pistons ; a well-balanced team lacking big-time scorers but with basically the entire starting five capable of coming up big at any time. Technically, prime Ewing counts as a big-time scorer and Thomas had some explosive performances in the postseason, so they’re even more dangerous than that.
Dallas’ primary advantage is interior defense, so I expect that the Kings would put the game into high gear and push the tempo a lot to get transition opportunities before the defense is set. To that end, the Mavs would see a lot of a small lineup featuring a backcourt of Thomas, Kenny Smith and Eddie Jones with Gus Johnson and Larry Nance up front. Running the break like that, the Mavs would have an extremely difficult time keeping up. Even if the Mavs went small to match up, the Kings would still be big enough to exploit post-up opportunities and they’re a better orchestrated team. Sam Cassell is a great point guard but Isiah Thomas was way better.
Ultimately, Sacramento’s superior depth, offensive versatility and defense would prove too much for Dallas to handle and they would take the series, most likely in 6 games.
Cick here to visit the Player Comparison board and the various threads on the RealGM All-Time Draft |
