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The Best Team Money Can Buy?
AP Photo Last year Andrew Perna suffered an embarrassing loss to Chris Reina in the reader voting, and so RealGM welcomed the opportunity for Andrew to lose to someone else (Daniel Leroux) this time around. The format is simple— assemble the best team possible while remaining under the Salary Cap, set at $57.7 million. The one caveat, however, is that players on rookie contracts, such as Brandon Roy and Kevin Durant, are ineligible. Andrew Perna’s Wildest Dream For Indiana In 2008, my strategy was to spend more than 85% of my payroll on the starting five (Nash-S.Jax-LeBron-D.West-Wilcox). Twelve months later, I tried to select a more balanced roster. I even had additional money left over to pay myself considerably more than the veteran’s minimum. The Starting Five PG: Devin Harris I thought about taking Chris Paul with the first overall pick, but I was content to pay less for Harris. He will be the leader of my three-pronged offensive attack. Like Wade, he can hit a shot with the game on the line and the starting five will be happy to run the floor with him. SG: Dwyane Wade Wade is my highest-paid player, and I expect him to be the leader. In the interest of full disclosure, I haven’t always been the biggest fan of Wade, but his MVP-worthy season restored my confidence. SF: Ron Artest I have nightmares of Artest dribbling out the shot clock, but Harris and Wade are such ball dominators that I don’t think he’ll have much of a chance to monopolize the leather. If my team was in the NBA, they’d contend for the title. Hopefully, Artest will be as focused on my team as he appears to be in L.A. PF: Chris Wilcox Wilcox is in my starting lineup for the second straight year and I’m not entirely proud of it. He’s cheaper than he was last season, and with Harris, Wade and Artest on the floor he won’t be ask to do a single thing offensively. Rebound, outlet and run. Repeat. C: Marcus Camby When I initially thought about taking Camby, I thought he was cheaper than $9 million annually. Upon review, however, I felt as though it was money well spent. He has averaged a double-double with more than two blocks in four of the last five seasons. He’s also from my home state of Connecticut, so he’s got that going for him. The First Men Off The Pine G: Roger Mason Jr. I envisioned John Salmons in this role, but simply didn’t have the money to make it happen. Mason brings decent size to the guard spot and will provide energy and scoring off the bench. He only averaged 11.8 points last season, but he posted 20 or more points eleven times. F: Jamario Moon Moon is the most athletic member of the roster, and brings decent value at $3 million. He doesn’t have great awareness, but he’ll make up for it with his leaping ability and frenetic energy. The Rest Of The Second Unit G: Earl Watson Watson has long been my favorite backup point guard, and I thank Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh for inking him to a reasonable deal. He’s a great defender and isn’t far removed from averaging 10 points and 7 assists for the Sonics (remember them?). He also fulfills my requirement of having at least one UCLA Bruin. Oh, Mr. Parker. He’s cheap, what can I say? Mr. Reina grabbed up all the minimum-salary players shortly after taking Chris Paul and Dwight Howard with his first and second selections, so I was left with Williams. He’s strong and brings some defense, along with Candace’s pretty face when she’s not playing herself. In a reoccurring theme, Elson is a big man that can run and play good defense. He’s also Dutch, which means I can insult him on a nightly basis with horrible impersonations of European accents. The Cheerleaders G: Ronnie Price Price is a pretty good third point guard, especially since Harris and Watson shouldn’t have any problem chewing up 48-plus minutes every night. He’s on the small side, but I’m content with his athleticism. C: Joel Anthony I wanted to “sign” Jeff Foster as my backup center, but that dream went out the window when I decided to take Wade and Camby. Instead, all I could afford was Elson and Anthony to play behind my starting center. He was drafted by the Atlanta Krunk in the 2007 CBA Draft, which is fitting because he could probably toss a few back on the bench without anyone noticing. G: Andrew Perna I used up all the Jackie Moon jokes last year, so I’ll be grasping at straws here. Even though I assembled the team, I’m sure I’ll be assigned all of the rookie duties. That will include, but won’t be limited to, tossing a Rohypnol-filled streak to a tiger, marrying a stripper and somehow pulling out my own tooth. That’s right, anything to put butts in the seats. Daniel Leroux’s Seattle SuperSonics (because they need a team, damnit) PG: Andre Miller – Andre was not necessarily part of the original plan for this team, but he works incredibly well considering the rest of the talent. As the only starting PG in the league to have more assists on close shots, layups, and dunks than mid-range and three-point shots, he is uniquely qualified to help kick-start the transition game and feed the ball down low in half-court sets. Plus, he is a guy who absolutely does not force shots. Swingman #1: LeBron James – The best player in the NBA. The fact of the matter is that superstars win championships in the NBA- over the last thirty years, only three teams have won a title without any player who would win an MVP in their career and the last non-Pistons team to win a championship without someone who had already won an MVP was the 1981 Celtics (who had Mr. Bird, who later won three of them). What made LeBron an easy call for me is that he is the only player in the league that hits so many important niches: He is an unquestioned #1 scorer, excellent distributor, and a very good, albeit somewhat overrated defender. What’s more, this team gives LBJ the opportunity to unleash his full potential since he does not have to worry about guarding another team’s #1 scorer with Ariza on the floor and he can also move to PF when the team goes super uptempo without any problems. The other huge benefit to LeBron is the amount of minutes he can play: He’s not only the best player in the NBA, he can bring it for 40 minutes a game if he has to, which helps continuity and reduces the pressure on backups (even though this team is deeper than the imprint on Eddy Curry’s couch). Swingman #2: Trevor Ariza - I choose not to draw lines between my two swingman spots on this team, because both James and Ariza will bend the traditional lines of position definition. Ariza’s role would be a more refined version of what he was for the Lakers this past year: Lead defender on wing scorers, transition assassin, and open shot driller. We have already seen that he can do all of that exceedingly well, and it’s all he’ll need to do. Power Forward: Al Jefferson – Much like Mr. Ariza, Big Al is put into the perfect situation to succeed here. He will never be the big man charged with handling a dominant offensive big and does not need to be the #1 scorer with the MVP on the roster. Furthermore, since the Centers on this squad are largely non-entities on offense, Jefferson can be free to dominate on offense wherever he’s rolling on a given night. His rebounding ability takes this team to another level, as he and the Centers should be able to both limit the offensive boards for the opponents and send the rest of the squad tearing ahead for bushels of easy buckets. Big Al has the most developed offensive repertoire of any young big man in the NBA, and this team lets him unleash it without having to worry about getting smoked on D. Center: Kendrick Perkins – Perk is the enforcer on the starting line. He can feel free to block and change shots at will, especially since one of the best rebounding bigs in the league is playing PF next to him. Furthermore, his job is made dramatically easier by the fact that the Birdman is around too- the two of them can each play a super-intense but smaller minute role on this team. What’s more, Perkins falls in the Andre Miller category of being a player who does not take many bad shots (FG% of .577 puts him in the top-10 of NBA Centers). 6th Man: Chris Andersen (C) – The Birdman gets to play exactly the same song he excelled at in Denver this past year. He is a defensive disruptor, hustle rebounder, and finisher in transition. As I mentioned before with Perkins, having the two of them on the same team allows both to be aggressive since their minutes can be more limited, making both fatigue and foul trouble much smaller problems. 7th Man: Anthony Morrow (SG) – The best eligible contract for our draft belongs to the guy with one of the prettiest strokes in the league. Morrow’s job on this team is to make open looks, plain and simple. Considering his three point shooting led the NBA by more than a full percent, it shouldn’t be an issue. The other perk to Morrow is that he is a very good free throw shooter at 87%. That holds value on a team with as many foul-generating guys as this Sonics team has, especially in situations late in the game where the other team has to foul. 8th Man: Jose Juan Barea (PG) – Another guy with a badass contract, Barea serves as the backup for Andre Miller and brings talent and experience to the table along with his 2.6 A/T ratio. 9th Man: Channing Frye (PF) – One of my favorite young players in the league, Frye benefits almost as much from the Perkins/Andersen Center rotation as Al Jefferson. Channing can stretch the floor and can mesh very well with the other talent on the squad regardless of tempo. 10th Man: Matt Barnes (F) – Matt is the glue guy of the swingmen. His versatility makes him useful to a team that can play at different speeds and he serves as an interesting complement to LBJ at times when Andre Miller is off the floor. Barnes also benefits from a smaller, more defined role, especially on the offensive end since he has no need to force the issue with the other scoring talents on the floor. 11th Man: James White (SG/SF) – Besides giving the team another Dunk Contest entrant, James is a unique athletic specimen that is finally starting to see his long-term potential as an NBA role player. Obviously, James would not have to do much on this team, but he is another long and talented swingman that can be groomed into a more than capable defensive force who can wreck the other team in transition. In fact, it’s hard to think of a better young player for White to model than Trevor Ariza. 12th Man: Patrick O’Bryant (C/PF) – First off, I want to extend my condolences to fellow Warriors fans for dredging up some unpleasant memories. That said, the fact of the matter is that a team could do a whole heck of a lot worse for the last man on the active roster. The Notorious P.O.B. still has many of the skills that made him a lottery pick, from his disgusting wingspan (less than an inch less than Thabeet’s) to his shot-blocking to his ability to finish at the rim. Chris Reina’s Anaheim Orangemen Starting Five PG: Chris Paul Chris Paul makes everybody better and that is what you want from a franchise player and that is what separates Paul, LeBron James and Tim Duncan from Stephon Marbury, Tracy McGrady and Amare Stoudemire. Paul and Dwight Howard were my top two picks and are bookends that will prop up everybody else, regardless of their talent levels. SG: Kelenna Azubuike I went into the draft confident Anthony Morrow would be my starting shooting guard with the best non-rookie contract salary in the NBA, but I unexpectedly was able to draft both Paul and Howard with my top two picks and I left him open to Leroux twice before I picked again. Azubuike is a nice alternative, who is a career 41.1% 3-point shooter with better athleticism and can truly finish at the bucket. Most title teams get a little bit more out of their starting wing, but he could have a Trevor Ariza type of effect on the Lakers and would be a huge upgrade on a team like Cleveland. SF: Caron Butler I essentially chose Caron Butler over Danny Granger and I honestly didn’t even realize it. I feel Butler is the better player on both sides of the floor, but I probably would have preferred Granger’s superior shooting given how many open looks Paul and Howard will create for perimeter shooters. PF: David West West is an ideal high post power forward to complement Howard at center. He will spread the floor with his jumper, taking his man away from Howard in the post and also help on the glass. Howard will continue to be a step behind the true superstars until he develops a reliable low-post game, but given the fact he has no peer at the center position, it is extremely easy to make the argument that he is the most valuable and irreplaceable player in the NBA. Between the way he blocks shots, affects shots, dominates the glass, all while shooting in the high 50s, he has as much impact on the floor as just about any other player not named LeBron. In the Rotation Shaun Livingston: After drafting Howard and Paul with my first two picks, I began taking every contract under $1M, starting with Livingston. At his salary, he is an extremely low-risk, high-reward player that could have a Grant Hill-like resurgence if he gets healthy again. Tim Thomas: Personally, not one of my favorite players but he is making just over $825k and I can live with him at that price. He can defend the power forward position while spreading the floor with a career 36.9% from distance. Will Bynum: Bynum didn’t make it in his first NBA foray with the Warriors in 2006 and cut his teeth with Maccabi Tel Aviv before returning with the Pistons this past season. He isn’t a perimeter shooter whatsoever, but he particularly skilled at knifing into the lane. He probably wouldn’t have survived the more physical handcheck style of the 80s and early 90s, but he is a really good reserve for this era. Louis Amundson: Amundson’s rebound and blocked shot rates have always been encouraging in his limited minutes and with extended floor time during the 08-09 season, he proved to be a player that can contribute. Quincy Douby: The Kings gave up on their 2006 first rounder during the 08-09 season and was subsequently picked up by the Raptors, where he showed some promising signs of life, particularly as a perimeter shooter. Waving Towels Josh Powell: Powell has bounced around quite a bit and hasn’t played too many quality minutes, but he was a nice piece for the Lakers following the Andrew Bynum injury. He can score a little bit and certainly rebounds effectively. DJ Mbenga: Mbenga is a big body who has never shied away from using his fouls. He isn’t an efficient finisher or shotblocker, so he is primarily valuable for his six fouls and for rebounding at a nice clip. Chris Reina: Without a hint of conceit, Andrew and Daniel will have matchup problems if they have to guard me. Draft Order
1. AP: Ron Artest Click here to vote for which team you think would win a mythical matchup.
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