Western Semis: San Antonio Spurs vs. Portland Trailblazers

[Kid Chocolate]

I'm confident that Delonte West could pull out his inner Stephen Jackson and take out all your guys in the ensuing brawl. And, no, "pull out his inner Stephen Jackson" is not any kind of euphemism.

Oh the things I could tell you about Delonte. I'm sure he would probably kick some ass.

 

[lukewarmplay]

I'm wondering if you guys are even debating anymore lol

KC has a much more keen basketball mind than I do- although we're pretty well-matched at selecting players and building these types of teams (but I wouldn't dream of actually coaching my own team). The one place I can mentally slug it out with him is in the gutter- because he can't resist being drawn into it. It's his home. It's his palace. It's his retirement villa.

 

[Kid Chocolate]

My team wins by default, you have no coach! They will run around like chickens with their heads off!

 

[lukewarmplay]

But here's what I think. Say Yao gets his. Let's say he gets 20-25 (he's averaged 21 against Bogut). Where's the rest of the scoring come from? After Yao and Hedo, I don't see anyone torching us. Sheed averaged 13 ppg last year and 13 in the playoffs, and he's on the decline at his age, especially with his minutes dropping every year. Delonte is a streaky player, and Conley would be guarded by Rondo, who is an excellent defender. You can't count on anyone on your bench to give consistent production. I find it unlikely that DJ Augustin would do much, rookie PG's always have a tough time adjusting to the league, and he'd always have a tough defender on him in Rondo/Dooling. Daequan cook had some nice gmaes last year, but that was because he was playing on a Heat team that had no one, and he shot under 39% from the field on the year. Wilson Chandler had a couple nice games at the end of the year, but the games didn't really matter and I don't know how much credence you could put in any performances from the Knicks over the last 2 months of the season. At that, he was was still highly inconsistent. Spencer Hawes averaged under 5 ppg last year, he could improve, but he's very young, and young big men like that usually take a while to develop. Gallinari would be tossed for molesting my team, and even when he's in, we could throw Marquis Daniels at him and Cook, who is a good defender.

Aaron Gray could dominate, he's like a better Tim Duncan.

I'm counting on being surprised by someone's production every game. But who knows, maybe they would be low-scoring games, although I wouldn't expect it. Honestly, this match-up to me seems very difficult to predict, and I think you're discounting several of my players too easily. For instance, the series could easily turn on Delonte getting hot a few games.

 

[lukewarmplay]

My team wins by default, you have no coach! They will run around like chickens with their heads off!

Will you stop fantasizing about headless chickens? (What the hell, how are you resisting?)

 

[Kid Chocolate]

Yea, but Delonte also has those games where he goes in the crapper. I could say the same thing about someone like Rudy Fernandez, Durant, or Foye getting hot.

 

[Kid Chocolate]

See I feel as though I have players off my bench who can get hot and turn the game around, but Daniels, Boone, and Dooling have shown that they can be consistent contributes, with major playoff experience, and can turn a game around.

I'd hope you remember that one game in the first round when Dooling killed the Nets a couple years ago, going like 6-7 from the field. Daniels started 5 games for the Mavs in the playoffs in 03-04 and averaged almost 16 ppg. He's not the same player he is now, and won't get those minutes, but I think that playoff experience has a huge impact, especially the deeper you get into the playoffs.

It's hard to gauge someone like Rudy Fernandez, but he did score 22 points against USA in the gold medal game, and averaged 15.8 ppg (47.7 fg% & 42.9% from 3) in under 26 minutes in Euroleague (2nd best league in the world), while winning the Rising Star award. I think he's shown he can play with the big boys and would be a great contributer, especially in this series. He has more experience than the rookies on your bench.