Let's see how my roster rounded out and just for fun added ESPN stupid NBA rank.
STARTING 5
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PG Kyle Lowry (78)
SG Victor Oladipo (114)
SF Andre Igoudala (31)
PF Danny Granger (69)
C Joakim Noah (23)
If I can slot Granger as my starting 4, I really like this team. The trade to swap Butler for Oladipo was huge, because it added another moderate usage player to my starting 5. I like Jimmy Buckets game and think he'll do fine as a 3 and D player, but I needed a little more play making. Lowry, Oladpio, and Iggy can all pass and defend their positions. Noah is key because he can defend, rebound, AND pass. Overall, the starting unit is lacking scoring volume and efficiency but here's hoping the rebounding, defense, and play making can make up for that. This team is relying a lot on Granger playing and yah..... that's not a good thing.
BENCH
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PG - JJ Redick (92), Randy Foye (232), Gal Mekel (358)
WINGS - Quincy Pondexter (210), Giannis Antetokounmpo (376)
BIGS - Kosta Koufos (150), Andrea Bargnani (143), Andrew Nicholson (197), Miles Plumlee (414), Jeff Ayres (324), Ryan Kelly (477)
For the bench I wanted to make sure I had enough 3 point shooting and enough big men to soak up playing time. Redick, Foye, Pondexter, and Bargnani can chuck from 3 point land and I could do worse than Kosta for a back up C.
My lottery picks this year:
- The Greek: His activity in rebs/blks/stls in limited pre-season minutes looks insane. We'll see if he gets run.
- Andrew Nicholson, Ryan Kelly: Hoping one of these guys turn into stretch 4s for their respective squads (ORL/LAL)
- Gal Mekel: Looking solid in pre-season. Devin Harris is hurt and Monta Ellis is not a PG.
- Miles Plumlee: Been turning heads in PHO this season.
- Jeff Ayres: The Spurs signed this relative unknown to a decent contract. I trust Pop and Buford.
All in all. I like my team. Lost some value in the mid rounds, having to chase higher USG players after drafting around 2 lower USG studs, but I still like how the team is constructed. In hindsight, if I would have known it would be hard to find enough USG to field a competitive team, I would have drafted LaMarcus Aldridge instead of Noah and built with an Iggy/Aldridge base and in the 3rd/4th round draft a defensive center (Pecovic/Kanter/Bogut/KG - likely Pecovic). Oh well.