Dang I was hoping to make my picks tonight. I'll try to make it online in the afternoon tomorrow but it could be tough.
I think you underestimate Ibaka's offensive ability, I watched him a lot last season and I was surprised with his footwork and maturity of the game. He doesnt jack up shots like Westbrook, Durant, Green, or Harden does. As a result, he doesn't get many touches coming off the bench most of the season. He's also a very efficient player with a mid range good jumper Consistency is an issue but I just feel he needs more touches(he only gets off 7 shots a game and averages 10). I can really see him average 15 points per game if he had more shots. Also don't forget about Carmelo who is tremendous in the post also and I consider him part of my frontcourt. His offensive game is probably one of the best right now plus he is clutch too. His knock is his defense which why I got Ibaka and Noah, a deadly defensive frontcout.
a frontcourt of bosh/horford will be effective against most of these teams, but i think they'll have problems against garnett/nene' size. your team is built for a faster pace game, but in order to capitalize on transition offense, you'll need to be able to grab rebounds. do you think that bosh/horford can outrebound garnett/nene? i think it was a mistake drafting westbrook. he plays out of control, doesn't have particularly good court vision, and is a poor perimeter shooter. his poor shooting will force you to use draft picks to acquire good shooting wings which are limited. you don't draft next until the 5th round, right?
nene averaged 2 offensive rebounds per game last season. how can most of his points come off offensive rebounds? anyways, its useless to look at their ppg. you need to look at their percentages. thats the best way to estimate how they'd perform if they got more touches.
............. Considering Bosh/Horford had a combined 17.6 rpg last year and Nene/Garnett had a combined 16.5 last year. Yes, I'm pretty sure Bosh and Horford can outrebound those two. Hell Bosh/Horford career numbers > Nene/Garnett
Horford averages more rebounds than Garnett while Bosh averages more rebounds than nene. I think im pretty set there. My idea was to build around a westbrook and Horford pick and pop seeing as Horford shoots a 58% on long 2s(highest in the league). I was hoping to draft iguodala to cover for westbrooks lack of court vision.
Like you said, consistency is an issue. and i dont know who you intend on drafting, but i'll guess it'll be an offensive player. so if you have that offensive player and carmelo, are you really going to gameplan to give ibaka more mid-range jumpers? also, since he'd be taking mid-range jumpers, he'd have no chance at getting the rebound. I think Ibaka is still very raw which leads to a lot of defensive mistakes. for instance, in the OKC series against memphis, he averaged around 26 mpg and 4 fouls per game.
That's going to happen when you have a 2nd year player going up against Zach Randolph who decided to turn into Timmy D circa 2004 in these playoffs.
bosh averaged 8 rebounds in 36 minutes. horford averaged 9 rebounds in 35 minutes. nene averaged 7.5 rebounds in 30 minutes. garnett averaged 9 rebounds in 31 minutes. so even though horford/bosh averaged more rebounds, garnett/nene grabbed them at a better rate. additionally, bosh is 6'10 & 228 lbs. i'm pretty sure that he didnt have to fight for rebounds against guys like nene (6'11 & 260 lbs). i expect nene's rebounding numbers to increase b/c he'll be matched up against smaller opponents. similarly, i expect bosh's to decrease.
The thing is that bosh wouldnt be boxing out nene, horford would whos only 5 pounds lighter than nene. I agree that your front court has better rebounding though but the difference would not be as game changing as you made it out to be.
game 2: zbo shot 2-13. ibaka got 5 fouls in about 30 min. game 3: zbo shot 8-22. ibaka got 5 fouls in 43 min. game 4: zbo shot 9-25. ibaka got 5 fouls in 17 min.
basketball-reference has horford at 245 lbs and nene at 260 lbs. 15 lbs is substantial if its all muscle. bosh's total rebounding % is 13.6%. garnett's is 17.5%. using the same logic as before, since garnett got his numbers against bigger players, he should do even better against a smaller bosh. and if you gameplan for horford to shoot mid-range jumpers, that'll decrease your overall rebounding even more.
That has zero to do with his ability to draw fouls on an untested player....why not throw in his 3pt % while you're at it.
it's very relevant. it shows that ibaka is prone to foul trouble, even if his opponent is having a poor shooting night. in those 3 consecutive games, zbo wasn't playing anywhere near prime duncan level and still put ibaka in foul trouble.
There's a reason why Horford and Bosh play more minutes per game, they're better players right now. Reggie Evans pulled down 11.5 in only 26.6 minutes per game. So why shouldn't the Raptors play him 40+ so he can get 18-20rpg? Because he's a not a very good player and thus not worth having him out there for more than his 26.
Exactly, prone to foul trouble in the one serious you brought up because he was going against Randolph. I do think 22.8 ppg and 12.3 rpg while shooting 45% and going 55/67 from the line is a pretty stellar series.
