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to enjoy this podcast. What is poppin Hardwood Knox Listeners. I am Dan
Pavalle coming at you with Adam Frommel, editor in chief and founder of MBA
Math and also an editor for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter. As
always at from zero nine, we are taking another break from our decade ranking
series. Rest assured the Memphis Grizzlies top ten players of the decade are coming.
I believe we'll actually have that drop on Monday. This podcast though,
since we have the opportunity to podcast on the anniversary of the nineteen ninety six
NBA Draft, We're not going to do a redraft. We are going to
draft teams. We're building a starting lineup each of us. We're picking five
players trying to build the best starting lineup. So this is not, and
I want to emphasize this, a redraft. There will be selections made for
fit purposes, particularly on after the first selections, because you build basically you're
starting lineup around that entire player. It's pretty much the idea at that point.
So if you have any feedback, we'd like to know who you think
has the best starting lineup that we come up with. If you have any
other feedback, criticisms, do you like this? Maybe it's an exercise we
could do for future drafts. Again, we didn't want to do just another
redraft. Those are out there. I in fact just wrote one for this
so you can check that out on bleacher Report. But again, I just
want to emphasize, reiterate one more time. We're building starting fives off the
ninety six NBA draft. Let us know who has the better one and whether
you liked this concept. The usual housekeeping notes before we get to this,
though. Above all, please remember to rate, review and subscribe to us
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We very much appreciate that. Subscribing and downloading all of our episodes wherever
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We will come up. Most of our podcasts are put up there. You'll
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few moments. Adam, how are you doing after listening to me speak off
the cuff for more than two and a half minutes consecutively. I'm just waking
up from about two and a half minute math. No, I'm doing pretty
well, aside from the fact that you kind of bulldozed through the joke that
I was planning on making about your redraft on Bleacher Report and now I was
going to ask who wrote that thoroughly mediocre one, But you know, it
is what it is. Look that draft took Steve Nash over Alan Iverson,
which is criminal. Apparently I didn't realize I at least thought it was a
debate. I wasn't trying to argue it was consensus, but people were mad
about that selection Steve Nash at number two over Iverston at number three. However,
we're not here to litigate a redraft, are we We're not. We
are We're putting a new spin on this, and to be perfectly honest,
like, we don't know exactly how this is going to work out. So,
as Dan said, we definitely want feedback and if this is something that
you want us to do more of moving forward, because we don't know how
it's gonna go. Are we gonna stop at the starting lineups? Are we
gonna draft a sixth man? Who knows? Yeah, that might be we
that's gonna that'll be a decision that we just make mid podcast. You're welcome
in advance everybody. I think it's gonna be whoever feels like they have the
worst line up the let's keep going. And it also depends on it also
depends on how quickly we get through it too. If there's all of a
sudden knowing us that that could be a challenge that yeah, or this is
gonna be a twelve minute podcast, we're gonna need to draft the entire rotation
and maybe this isn't new If there's another podcast or a concept like this that
you've seen happening to let us know. We're not trying to step on it
on anyone's toes here. But Adam had this idea to do it this way.
So we're gonna build starting lineups. It turns out that I have the
first pick and Adam is going to have the second pick, so I guess
I'll just get right into it and make my first pick. Now, the
way I'm viewing this and justifying each selection is probably a good start. The
first player you pick is the one that you build the lineup around, because
why else would you make them your first pick at the risk of them not
being there later. I am still going to pick Kobe Bryant, who should
be the consensus number one pick. I don't know that there's anyone out there
that would take Steve nash Er Allen Iverson over him. I certainly hope not.
When you look at his career and we're we're drafting these players, I'm
assuming as if they're at their peaks. Correct, that's how you viewed this
as well. I'm kind of viewing, yeah, like the peak version,
you know, maybe like a five year peak. Basically, like you're going
to get the best versions of these players to build around. We're not really
you know, like, you don't need to draft Kobe because he's going to
stick around for twenty years. You're drafting peak Kobe, right, and look
his entire resume. He might be able to if we're only dealing with five
years. There are a bunch of different combinations you could use. We're talking
about two time Final MVP Award winner, he has won League MVP, fifteen
all NBA teams, twelve all defensive bids, two scoring titles, and then
obviously the five championships. I don't even know why I would have to justify
this pick. And also, if we're viewing the first election as the player
around which you're going to build your starting lineup, the perfect way to start
out is with Kobe, because I do feel like he's the type of player
where you need to properly adapt the rest of the roster or line up in
this case, or rotation, whatever it winds up being around him. Yeah.
I mean, there's not much justification necessary there because he's probably the easiest
to build around because of how far above everybody else he is just in terms
of talent, and production, So that was the pretty easy choice. But
fortunately I get to have two. I will note though, I'll try and
do this for everyone. Kobe was originally selected in the nineteen ninety six NBA
Draft at thirteenth by the Charlotte Hornets, then traded to the Lakers, but
thirteenth. I think he turned out to be a pretty valuable number thirteen pick,
and the Hornets are kind of just the footnote because he didn't want to
work out for everyone, and he kind of wanted to force his way to
LA, even though he would tell you, and I think he said this
a couple of years ago that he was excited to play with the Hornets until
he realized that they weren't going to be like super committed to giving him a
lot of minutes from the start, and that's when he wanted out, which
is a bit of revisionist history. But he will give it to can you
fall team? For Hey, if I'm not going to play, I'd rather
not play in LA for that first year. I mean, he came off
the bench for two years. It's it's really just it's it's another example of
how he modeled his game and his playing style after Michael Jordan, you know,
the person he had to make up the perceived slights to motivate himself.
I will this is the other thing. And since it's this is just a
pick, you don't justify. I feel like even the second pick in this
yours, maybe a little bit you might have to. But if he if
you did do the ninety six redraft over, like if we were able to
go back in time Philly, him ending up in Philly would just be chef.
Yes, no one can see it. I just yeah, yeah,
it would be great. But yeah, So for my first pick here,
I'm going to I'm gonna go with Steve Nash, who was originally selected fifteenth
overall by the Phoenix Suns. I think you can debate between Nash and Iverson
in terms of who has the better NBA legacy. They're probably in fairly similar
positions in historical rankings, but in terms of building a team around the player,
Nash clearly rises ahead of Iverson for me just because of the way that
he played, and I'm actually going to have him play for my team slightly
different then he played even at his peak as a two time MVP for the
Phoenix Suns. Because as innovative and as forward thinking as Mike d'antoni's seven seconds
or less offense was centered around Nash, it did not have him shoot the
ball enough, and I just I can't help but think that he was just
born a decade too early, and imagine what his career would have been like
if he had entered the league at a time where players like Steph Curry were
getting the green light to shoot all the time he sat. He told ESPN's
Tim mcmaan in twenty eighteen, I never took it to the heights that the
numbers validate in today's day and age, where I probably should have shot the
ball twenty times a game. It probably would have made a lot more sense.
Well, it would have made a lot more sense, and we are
going to let him do that. I support that decision. The only thing
I'll say is I do probably think that even though he did he could hit
pull up jumpers. I wonder how his efficiency is impacted by that type of
role, because we're talking about someone with four fifty forty ninety seasons, the
most an NBA street, and twice as many as any other player. But
the other thing that got me, and I know these things because I again
wrote the ninety six redraft for Bleach Report, there was for basically a decade
he averaged around seventeen points tennessis on a fifty forty four ninety shooting slash.
To basically have fifty forty ninety for an entire decade just mind meltingly efficient.
And that's ultimately when I you know, and I think for you, you're
making the same decision. Are you going to take him over Alan Iverson?
If you're starting something from scratch? Why I put him at number two when
I did wrote the redraft for Bleach Report is he just guaranteed offensive excellence for
teams in a way that Allen Iverson never did. Maybe that's in part because
the Sixers never put the right talent around him, But for Steve Nash,
it was never. It was never how do you put the right talent around
him? Everyone was the right talent because he amplified and simplified some roles or
he would build many others. And so that's why I ended up going with
him over Iverson. So I think that's a solid way to start your your
lineup slash rotation off whatever we're gonna write. Nash led his teams, whether
with the Mavericks or the Suns, to the NBA's best offensive rating in six
different seasons, and granted, like he always got to play around a lot
of talent Amri Stadhamier and Sean Marian and Phoenix, and then the Dallas teams
alongside durk Nevitsky, like he was always given more opportunities to succeed than Iverson
Gott. But it's kind of a chicken egg scenario here where it's hard to
know, like how much of it was because of the teammates and how much
of it was because he just guaranteed that offensive productivity. And I tend to
think that he could have been used even better, because even if you do
see some efficiency declines when he's firing over the top of screens in the pick
and roll game more than he ever did during his peak days, it's still
gonna work. He's still gonna make those shots. He remains one of the
better shooters in NBA history, and it helps that we're gonna put Ray Allen
next to him with our second pick. Alan was originally the fifth pick of
the draft from Minnesota Timberwolves and immediately traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. I want
that early version of him. I want I want the lockdown defender on the
perimeter. I want the guy who competed in a dunk contest because he just
had so much bounce that we tend to forget about because he evolved, devolved,
I'm not quite sure which to use there into one of the NBA's greatest
three point shooters ever and a guy who took such a high percentage of his
shots from behind the arc later in his career. But you put that kind
of shooter, that kind of slasher around Nash and forced defenses to pay attention
to him on the perimeter and to not let him get free on these backdoor
cuts and stuff, and our offense is just going to get even better while
also giving us someone who can take on the tougher perimeter defensive assignment and let
Nash rest a little on that end. I forgot that this was a snake
draft for a second, the way we were doing it. But so Ray
Allen is who I had my eye on primary. I was just spectacular.
He has seven seasons in which he cleared twenty points, three assists, and
two made threes per game. Only one player in NBA history has more such
seasons and that is James Harden with eight So I support that pick. He's
sort of like the plugin play star and you kind of touched upon it by
his move when he goes to the Celtics, he was still Yeah, it
was the tail. It was towards the back end of his career, but
he still maintained his stardom for a couple of seasons while just drastically shifting the
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word, blue wire, bet online. You're online wagering experts. My second
pick, and you're gonna take one of my all time favorite players here.
I know it? Am I I think so am? I I think I
know where you're going with it. I'm thinking about being super bold here,
but I also don't. I don't think I'm actually, oh man, this
is so that's also true. All right, So I'm gonna make my first
pick. I'm going Germain Onio Prime. Germain Onnio was just an absolute,
absolute force. And you know, I have to like him because I'm I'm
still like even in retrospect, I'm just not against like more conventional bigs.
And O'Neil obviously had like some more range in his repertoire than than most bigs
of this period. But he was when he made the move from Portland to
Indiana, and there was like the season of feeling out in Indiana. But
after that, after his first season in Indiana, over the next six he
averaged twenty point four points, ten rebounds, two assists, two blocks,
a stat line during that time that was matched by by only Tim Duncan.
He won Most Improved Player. He has three All NBA selections, six All
Star selections, and two thousand and three two thousand four Jermaine and Neill finished
third in MVP voting, and so he's just I think he's gonna ends up
being a perfect fit alongside Kobe Bryant. Perhaps not the not perhaps he's definitely
not the best defensive big, but still gives you sort of a presence around
the rim. And I'm gonna get hopefully this sin is gonna be too weird,
but my third pick here to round out my lineup, I'm going to
go with Pagrisiakovitch, someone who I don't think people realize was more than just
a shooter. And I say this based on some of the comments I got
on the redraft. He had the limitless range, but he could knock down
on off balance jumpers, he was okay putting the ball on the floor,
and look, he finished top five on the mvpp out the same year that
O'Neil did in two thousand and three, two thousand and four, and he
has that. I know his peak was shorter than most, but between two
thousand and two thousand five, we're talking about someone who cleared over twenty points
and two assists lushooting better than fifty percent from two and forty percent from three.
I think his stardom similar to Ray Allen's, is a different type of
stardom obviously different place thus, but it's it's more universal than I think a
lot of other high end players aren't, so that he can fit with whatever
roster is basically going to be around him, because he can play off the
ball so well, and he made defenses work when he was in Sacramento just
pinballing around. So my starting lineup right now has Kobe Pajia and Jermaine O'Neil,
and I feel pretty good about it. I admire your dedication to just
paying homage to the nineteen ninety six draft with a throwback lineup that is going
to take so many long pointers. If you can tell Steve Nash to education,
to history, if you can tell Steve Nash to shoot more, I
can tell my team which which kinds of shots to take. That's fair.
I don't I don't hate either those selections. But I am glad that you
left the guy that I really wanted on the board. I was curious thought
I was going to take this guy actually because he wasn't actually taken during the
nineteen ninety six NBA Draft, But he is technically a part of that class
because he went undrafted. And that's Ben Wallace, who might never have averaged
double digit points during his NBA career, but was the best player on a
championship winning team, a multiple time Defensive Player of the Year, one of
the greatest interior defenders of all time, and a guy who is going to
make Steve Nash's life so much easier, really on both ends of the floor.
Like we have him picking up behind the turnstile on the defensive end and
deterring people from attacking the rim against us. And we also have a big
athletic body who did not have a chance, no disrespect meant to Chauncey Billups,
but did not have a chance to play with a passer of Nash's caliber.
And I think we can make Ben Wallace score at least a dozen points
per game just off the pick and roll. Ops. Look here out drafting,
there's offense anyway. He's one of the best defensive players in in NBA
history, So I value a little bit more range on my team, which
is why I wouldn't go with him. I might have. I almost consider
going with Marcus Camby, someone that you're super high on. Obviously, Ben
Wallas was better, so you have to make him the pick before Camby.
I do, and then with my with my this is my fourth pick here,
I'm gonna take Sharif abdur Rahim. I am personally attached to him because
when I was growing up in Atlanta, I went to a basketball camp that
he led, so I got to meet him at a young age and learn
things from him. But that is not the real reason for the selection.
And that's just because we're looking at these peak versions, and if Shariff had
managed to stay healthy for into his career, I think we're talking about him
on the same level as some of these guys who went earlier in the draft.
I mean, he only had one All Star appearance the two thousand and
one two thousand and two season with the Hawks, where he averaged twenty one
point two points, nine point over rebounds and three point one assists. But
this guy was a three level scorer. He was a competent defender. He
was an underrated facilitator who was comfortable operating out of the post from the elbows
and distributing for his teammates. And I just think if we're we're looking at
the peak of a career rather than the totality of a career that he's just
an awesome value here. I feel terrible that Allan Iverson is still left on
the board when he is a top three talent from this draft, I think,
but he doesn't think, who are you putting out in a vacuum?
Are you putting over Iverson? After three? The only the only option would
be would be Alan. I think there's some case for ray Allen moving into
the top three past him, But I can't justify how Iverson on the same
team as Steve Nash when both of them need the ball in their hands to
thrive. So I'm gonna go with Sharif here, and I'm not going to
feel bad about it. Look, you're kind of touching on my moral dilemma
here, because how do I like at this point? Is how do I
not take Iverson? I just I don't like the idea necessarily applaying him with
Kobe at the same time he went played with Mellow. So look, why
not here I'm gonna take I'm just gonna take Allen Iverson if you have a
chance to get two of the top three players from this draft class. This
story Draft class two MVPs on the same roster, right, it's great from
a talent perspective, right, no poems there. And so look, if
we're look, there's some imagineering to steal phrasing from Disney. There's some imagineering
involved here, and so you're you're going to hope that these are two players
and Kobe and Allen Iverson who won't have a problem deferring to one another.
Whereas with Iverson there was always just look at his number two was in Philly.
They were all short lived, and none were better when you're looking at
them in totality, probably than Eric Snow you can make a case that maybe
the Kemma Tumbo age thirty four thirty five to Kemmtumbo could have been the best
teammate he had. He spent basically no time with Andre Gadala. So there
are different ways for you to approach this. But I look at his brief
partnership with Larry Hughes and it scares me a little bit for this, But
I think Kobe and Allen Iverson ultimately find a way to make it work.
And like you have one of the great shooters in Pajostyokovitch just sort of flying
around and so that's going to help with the spacing. Jermaine O'Neill had some
pick and pop to his game as well too, so I do think that
ultimately helps it. And I just this was a position where I could not
take him, if that makes it like, it just it just wasn't an
option, right, And you do still have that opening in the backcourt.
I mean, that's it. That's what it comes down to. Like,
at some point, I think talent has to supersede fit, and this is
a good spot for that to happen, right. I mean, look,
it's combustible, but I think it's it's high. It's high, it's high
ceiling, low floor. It's one of those types of things. It's high
stakes here we're talking about it. It could either be magnificent or just absolutely
awful. And I'm still on the clock here, correct, you are still
on the clock here, and I'm really hoping that you don't take my guy
here. I don't know. This is such a tough spot because it has
to be sort of like a front court wing and when you just look at
the options, or you could go big ball here and I'm not throwing Camby
next to Jermaine o'neo. That can't happen. I mean he could. You're
about to throw Camby with Ben Wallace that is out of control. You're not
even gonna spoil it. Just that awkward silence, nor Deny. You know
what. No one's gonna like this pick because I don't think they remember what
he was good at during his prime. But Antoine Walker, I'm gonna throw
there. I briefly considered Kerry Kittles, but I don't think he provided enough
defensively to where I value Antoine Walker's offense more on this team that I would
carry Kittles is even though Kittles, sort of another plugging play guy, really
helped amplify those NETS teams. But for Antoine Walker, like this again,
I continue to admire the dedication to the long twos. Again, my team
is going to be taking threes. And look, Antoine Walker, he dribbled.
He got him first all he got a round guys too. In his
heyday. He could get past guys off the dribble. And then also he
was hitting these off the dribble threes. But he can also be the guy
who's going to launch those super long bombs from from deep. So I think
the spacing then becomes valued around both Kobe and Alan Iverson. So that's that's
why I ultimately went the way I did here. I think it makes sense.
I think we forget that Walker played on on those bad teams with the
Celtics where he needed to jack up so many shots and that was always going
to cause those efficiency dips, and he was obviously a talented scorer. I
just I just hope that your locker room survives when Antoine Walker is only getting
three shots a game, because the other eighty are going to Iverson and Kobe,
I think, and looking, I feel like my team is going to
get hammered, in part because, look, I understand the risk I took
with Kobe and Allen Iverson, but Antoine Walker's a pick that I'm going to
stand by. Maybe people don't remember how good Soyokovitch was either, but Anton
Walker specifically, I'm talking like he wasn't super quick, but he scooted around
guys in the post. He I wouldn't say blue by them, but he
got by them off the dribble when he was younger, and so you have
that dynamic. But also with his three point volume and capabilities, even if
he was erratic even at his peak. I think for this team that ends
up being the best offensive fit that's left on the board. Yeah, I
think it is who I would have picked for your team had I had the
same four to start. So I don't mind that selection at all. I
think it's good value. I'm just I'm glad that you didn't take Carry Kittles
because that is who I want for my team. And I'd like to read
an excerpt from a piece recently written about the nineteen ninety six draft to help
justify this. So if you'll indulge me here, I'll try. I mean,
all right, So there was a smoothness to Kittles's game. He played
brilliantly off the ball, putting pedal to metal in transition and ducking in for
baseline feats. His three point shooting was his vital during the New Jersey Nets
back to back finals runs, giving Jason Kidd the ultimate outlet, and he
had a knack for throwing quick second passes that kept the offense humming. Through
his first eight seasons, Kittle average fourteen point three points and two point six
assists while splashing in thirty seven point eight percent of his threes. Only three
players during that same span matched his benchmarks on his many three point attempts Ray
Allen, Eddie Jones, and Reggie Miller. That was from I can't remember
Annamous wrote that in his nineties six redraft. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I can't. I can't quite put put my finger on who wrote that.
But I think it's great that we have two of those, two of those
four guys who hit as many three pointers while making thirty seven point eight percent
of them in Ray Allen and Carry Kittles, And really like his ability to
thrive in transition to play as an off the ball score to be not necessarily
a great defender, but at least a competent one. With Ben Wallace behind
him, he is the perfect fit as the final cog in our starting five.
Here. I'm assuming that we have to keep going at this point.
I think we have to at least do a sixth man so that the picks
are even, since you know, otherwise you know, with an odd number,
whoever goes first has the advantage, right, which means that I'm taking
Marcus Camby here. Obviously I want that defensive depth. I need it behind
behind my Nash Alan Kittle's backcourt trio. But you know, Camby was just
incredible on the boards, on defense, just a shot blocking behemoth even though
he was undersized, A guy who who thrived because of his energy, his
indefatigable motor, his relentless hustle's He's just a guy who who played basketball the
right way and understood his limitations and didn't let those limit him. And I've
always loved guys like that. He was always one of my favorites to watch
because anytime you don't need to score to provide immense value, I respect that.
And on a team with Sharif a Door, Raheem Ray, Allen,
Carry Kittles and Steve Nash, I don't need a score. I need a
backup who's going to make sure that that Ben Wallace can stay fresh and that
our defensive performance isn't going to dip when Wallace isn't on the floor. And
we have that in Canby. It's interesting how Canby is not claimed by any
one fan base even though he was so good. I associated him most with
the Nuggets. I see, yeah, there's the Nuggets, there's the Knicks,
There's there's even the Raptors. But what's interesting about Canby too is that
he didn't just like he wasn't confined to those like functional nooks and crannies of
what everyone thinks that his game was. He took more jumpers than I think
everyone realizes. He wasn't necessarily good at them, and his motion took a
couple of days to get through, but he took them. He put the
ball on the floor a little bit more than I think people remember. He
could block jump shots away from the rim, and he averaged over reassists in
multiple seasons, which is not something that you would expect from a player with
his skill set. And he just he had a bunch of there was some
switchability to his defense as well, and so he seems like the ultimate role
player. I would have loved to have put him him on my team.
Coming off the bench, I'm left with like an impossible decision here between Stephon
Marbury or Olgawskis, and I really don't know how to go. Part of
me just wants to say, like, let's lean into just the offensive diversification
and we're gonna have all these guys that can put the ball on the floor
and try and score. I don't care about whatever locker room issues there might
be. And then the other part of me is like, you know,
the Drewnisal Gawskis, have him come off the bench behind O'Neil, maybe even
make O'Neil you're sixth man, just because Ogaskis is sort of more of that
steadying presence. But I think I think I'm gonna go with Stephon Marbury here.
I'm just lean. I'm leaning into the star power. Like we're still
talking about the Everson, Kobe, Antoine Walker and marb in the s and
Jermaine O'Neil in the same locker room. Who's your coach to be determined,
I think we need Phil Jackson here. I'm gonna give you Phil Jackson to
manage these personalities. I'm going Greg Popovich, I think. Okay, Okay,
so I'm going Greg Popovich is gonna coach this team. Okay, But
I'm just I'm gonna take the gamble here. I know I know what the
optics are gonna look like, but if you look at this team, there
is so much offensive firepower. There's a lot of offensive firepower. So look,
Stephan Marberry was good. I think the I know everyone or not everyone,
but they're the vast majority of people are gonna say his best basketball never
came for the best versions of his best teams. But so many of the
organizations he played for are they just have They're incompetent historically, whether it's Phoenix,
whether it's Minnesota, whether it was the Knicks. And I think he
was a star at enough stops where it kind of shows that his individual talent
is scalable. And so, yeah, maybe he's gonna have a hard time
fitting in within specific parameters, and you don't want him playing next to Iverson
and Kobe at the same time. But rest ashore, this team is going
to try it. Those will be lineups that we run. Yeah, you
absolutely need to. But he was. He was really good, and so
if he couldn't carry a team on his own, he's at least there's at
least substance to his game. And he was so ridiculously good. It's another
pick too, where I find myself like Stephan Marbury is still on the board,
so I feel like I need to take him. So this team once
more incredibly combustible, but I kind of dig it. I like the risk
that's being taken here. If you can manage to convince Marbury that he's playing
in China too, then you're set. I just don't know if he's coming
off the bench in China. I just don't know if there's enough room for
all the statues we would have to build in that scenario if that's valid.
So that's the only thing I'd be worried about. Also, Stephan Marbury in
retrospect, imagine prime Stephen Marbury is the sixth man also, and if I
had it would be perfect. If I had any sort of backbone, I
would put Stephon Marburry in this ring line up and making out iverson in the
sixth minute intriguing. I feel like either of them would thrive in that role.
Though I did want to circle back and say one more thing about can
be just because I was looking up this stat while you were ruminating over your
last pick. Only nine players have ever averaged at least three assists and three
blocks per game in the same season, and those nine players are Bill Walton,
Shaquille O'Neil, Bob Lanier, Andre Kirolenko, Patrick Ewing, each of
whom did so once, Canby did so twice. David Robinson and Hakim Malajuan
did it three times apiece, and Kareem did it six times, and that's
awesome company. And I'm I'm very pleased that I don't even like have to
manipulate the benchmark so that much to get to that that quality of a nine
man group. I will say, you kind of have to worry about staggering
certain players as much as I do, because Candy is not normal six man
material, just because he's not going to generate his own offense. No,
And I think that we probably could get a way with playing bigger lineups with
Camby and Ben Wallace on the floor together just because no one would ever score.
And I think Nash alone generates so much offense even without too much spacing
around him, that we would still be able to, like at least score
enough to keep up. If you have Nash and Ray Allen on the court,
so you know that you have two of these historically great shooters, it
probabably helps. But you're gonna make fun of the shot selection on my team
when you're just gonna have two players who can't shoot. Oh, they're not
going to shoot though there will be no shots allocated to them. But I
do think that like these these players together Sharif played played a lot of three
early in his career. I think he is movable into those wing roles where
he can he can be a spot up guy where he can defend perimeter players.
And I do think that we have the flexibility to play some really big
lineups that are still going to be able to play like with a sustainable modern
style as long as Nash is on the court. If Steve Nash gets hurt,
this team is toast. See if I were you and you were dead
said on drafting a big as in your sixth man role, I might have
considered Ilgauskus just because he had more of the offensive layers to his game.
The feathery touched around the basket, he had some He had some zemblance of
a floor game too when he was younger, and then we know that he
could he could space the floor. It wasn't always beyond the three point line,
but he can knock down those those long too. So I feel like
for your roster this is I like the the talent play or just the high
upside play with with Camby and what it could do to your defense, I
feel like Ilgascus might have been the safer fit play just like I feel like
for me, if I was going for fit with my sixth man, Derek
Fisher might have been the best fit left on the board. I was gonna
say I considered Derek Fisher just because it would guarantee you a championship or five.
I considered Tony Delk because he's good for one fifty point game every five
hundred forty five games. You know, stuff like that was appealing, but
ultimately Camby's talent was just too much. Yeah, I'm interested. So let's
recap these rosters here. Your your starting line up, your rotation. Your
six man rotation ended up being starting lineup of Steve Nash, Ray, Allen
Sharif, abdu Raheem, you had. Why am I missing your your Harry
Kittles, Terry Kittles and Ben Wallace with the sixth man of Marcus Camby.
Now, we're going to be coached by Steve Kerr because I would love to
see what he could do with someone like Nash filling the Curry role. Okay,
I could. I could see that we're gonna be coached by Greg Popovich.
Over here, my team is Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant starting backcourt.
Pages, Sayakovich, Antoine Walker, and Jamaine O'Neil upfront, with Stefan Marberry
coming off the bench. So everyone, let us know which team is going
too fair better. Let us know what you thought about this experiment. Is
it something we should We should be adding a third person just to make it
harder, make it a little bit longer. Let us know again on Twitter
at Hardwood Knox or get it. Adam at FROMMO zero nine, I'm at
Dan FA Valley FA v A L. Until next time, though, I
leave everybody with the shout out to the one, the only, the real
star of this draft class from nineteen ninety six malikros Sugar, Ray Leonard,
Roberto Duran, Marvelous, Marvin Hagler, and Thomas Hearns. Legends whose four
way rivalry define one of the greatest errors in boxing history, relive their decade
of dominance in the new Showtime Sports documentary The Kings, a four parts series
premiering Sunday, June sixth, only on Showtime