It’s the greatest internet fantasy geek tournament ever created, and it starts now. Plus it’s a hell of a way to pass the off season rumor mill and FA period by.
That’s right we have brought to The Sports Headquarters for the first time the All Time NBA Mock Draft.
The basis of the competition is simple, we took every NBA player that has ever laced them up and made them eligible to be in our draft, once the order was determined we went through a 12 round snake style draft that created our teams.
The teams were created with the rules being, everyone plays by today’s NBA rules, all players are considered to have access to the same technology and work out regimen of today.
Once the teams were selected, well that is where we are now, the pool play. In the pool play we take our teams and devise a sort of game plan, based off a combination of game plans, roster, and NBA knowledge you vote for who you think would win our hypothetical game.
In today’s matchup we have two of the greatest big men to ever lace them up, and two that couldn’t be any different from one another, it’s the All Time NBA Mock Draft: Moses Malone v Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
As always, head on over to our forums sections to discuss any of your grievances with the usage of these all time greats.
Joes Team
Starters:
C: Moses Malone 42m
PF: Elvin Hayes 38m
SF: Elgin Baylor 40min
SG: Julius Erving 38min
PG: Isiah Thomas 40min
Bench:
C: Tree Rollins 6min
PF: Connie Hawkins 10min
SF: Dale Ellis 8min
G: Pete Marovich 8-PG, 10-SG
DNP: Kevin Willis
DNP: Manu Ginobli
Moto of Joes gameplan is ASTOUND, POUND, and REBOUND. Joe’s playing his former teammate BNW, and after the pregame handshake we’re strapping it on and taking it to his team of glass jawed scorers.
1) ASTOUND: Baylor is one of the best all around offensive players in history, not only can the cat pass, and rebound, but could hit his shot from anywhere. Dr J is the original highlight film, dunk master flash. Hawkins was known as one of the best athletes to step on the floor. Hondo called Pistol the best ball handler of all time.
2) POUND: His starters don’t like playing physical. Dirk, Jabbar and Durant will be played hard and get a dose of rough em up baseketball, every little chance they get, little shove, small bump, post em up, body them out.
3) REBOUND: Got 3 of the top 15 rebounders in career rpg in Moses, Hayes, and Baylor who combine for over 38 RPG compared to BNW’s starting frontline who combine to only 25 rpg. More possessions for Joe.
Three years in a row Joe’s traded for Moses Malone, cat is underrated. Everyone knows the dude is a stud rebounder, but he’s also an amazing scorer and a pretty good defender as well. Two big series Malone has battled Jabbar, neither time has Jabbar dominated.
80-81 Season, year after Jabbarman won his NBA-MVP at 32yrs old, Moses’ team won series 2-1.
Jabbar vs rest of the nba regular season = 26.2ppg-57%
Jabbar vs Moses in 3 playoff games = 26ppg-45%
Moses during those 3 games = 29ppg-51%
82-83 Finals vs Sixers this time with Moses in rematch vs Lakers team that won in 6 games yr before.
Jabbar in 4 games / 155 minutes had 30 rebounds and 3 steals
Moses in 4 games / 157 minutes had 72 rebounds and 6 steals
Jabbar still played six more years after that series.
Plus the main backcourt dudes for Joe are studs for getting everyone else involved, main dude Zeke led the league in 84-85 with 13.9apg.
Joe’s cats Zeke+Doctor+Pistol=18.6apg
BNW dudes Frazier+Durant+Alvin=13.9apg.
Joes Offense
Joe’s dudes can and will run, and even though BNW’s cats can run as well it’s joe’s strength and when we see Jabbar lagging back we’re blazing down the court. Get the board and then run the horses.
-Moses up the middle quick after a Forward rebounds, Jabbar trailing as usual, get easy jam up the gut.
-Baylor crosspass to Erving, dudes flying in from FT line to jam.
-Hayes to Zeke, gets quick screen from Moses as he goes down low, zeke pops jumper.
-Moses rebounds to Zeke down middle, Baylor and Erving on wings flying in to jam, hit either.
-Hayes gets it quick down low In the block before Jabbar can help, pound on Dirk.
If fastbreak bucket ain’t there, then we’re setting up with Zeke up top of the key, Baylor and Erving on the wings to elbows, Hayes Elbow to baseline, Moses starts midpost then moves down low, it’s time to POUND. Both Hayes and Baylor can crash the boards if Moses is tying up Jabbar. Moses is the best offensive rebounder, and even against Jabbar the dude got putbacks or will just kick it back out to Zeke to reset the offense. Be physical with BNW cat’s by POUNDING them, especially Jabbar, Dirk and Durant. Zeke will keep the scoring balanced with all the starters cause all four of the others can finish it strong, but also get some good looks himself, especially late in the shot clock or late in the game, finish strong. Zeke, Baylor and Doctor are all dudes that can work the rock around.
-Hayes midpost on Dirk, drop patented turnaround jumper.
-Hayes down low posting up Dirk, Moses on weakside baseline to pull Jabbar out.
-Erving or Baylor ISO on Durant, which ever he defends.
-Zeke to Erving PNR, can drive to dunk or kick it back out to the other for the j.
-Thomas to Moses PNR, go right at Jabbar strong.
-Erving to Baylor PNP, either to shoot.
-Baylor pick Frazier to create space, Zeke mid range jumper.
-Moses back down Jabbar, get physical with him.
-Zeke to Hayes PNP, either can hit the jumper.
-Anytime that Tmac is in with Durant we can attack both weak defenders.
Bench dudes come in and do what they do best. Tree comes in when Jabbar is out. Hawkins and Pistol come in together. Ellis and Pistol alternating time, can stretch the floor with their range and prevent those cats from packing the paint.
-Hawkins will be mid to low post, while C brings defender to baseline, working post moves.
-Pistol to Hawkins PNR, or reverse for PNP for Pistol, both stud passers.
-Pistol or Ellis hit from long range.
-Tree at 7-1 can get garbage putbacks on Rounds.
-Pistol streaks down center, Hawkins on wing, fast break.
-Hawkins ISO on defender down low.
-Pistol gets screen from SF, hits jumper.
Joe’s Defense
Jabbar guarded by Moses, Play the dude physical. Jabbar didn’t like being down low with a real physical defender, gobble up every rebound he can. Moses kept that dude right at or below his FG averages at that time. Get down in position first, then hold that position with his power.
Dirk guarded by Hayes, Great shot blocking PF, 8x top 10 in bpg in NBA. Hayes will crowd that cat, make it hard for him to get any shot off. Force him right by playing a bit off his left, ready for the step-back to the left shot, or spin move to the right. Strong base if he posts up on the baseline. Play him rough, not enough to get to the line for free throws, but to let him know how PF’s used to play the game.
Pippen guarded by Baylor, outside the arc play close, then keep in front of the dude inside the arc where he can get in front of the passing lanes and also not allow that dude to get a step on him to the basket. No problem crashing the boards as Baylor was one of the best, use his strength. Get him to force a shot late in the clock, dude had a fear of closing it out, ask Kukoc.
Durant guarded by Erving, dudes quick and was great at getting a quick steal. Dr was known for a mean streak, just ask the birdman. Play him close and tough, throw a hand up on his jumpers, never give him room. Tmac will be played the same way, dude should get time here.
Frazier guarded by Zeke, stay right up on that dude, got the speed if he drives on Zeke. Fight through all picks, make it tough for him to get his teammates involved.
Backups:
C: Chandler or Rounds checked by Tree, the 7-1 shot blocking fool.
PF: Rounds, checked by Hawkins who has mad leaps to rebound or block shots.
SF: Billy C by Ellis stay in front of the kangaroo.
G: Mookie or Alvin, checked by Pistol, give them no room.
Joe’s Team FTW
ASTOUND: Pistol, Dr J, Hawkins flying around.
POUND: Bust up Jabbar and Durant, make those rails pay. Work it on Dirk, make him tired.
REBOUND: Outboard the frontline, plus Dr J ( high of 8.5rpg ) can match Durant ( high of 8.0rpg ).
Peace
Good Ass Job
C- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar- 38 min
PF- Dirk Nowitzki- 36min
SF- Scottie Pippen- 34min
SG- Kevin Durant- 36min
PG- Walt Frazier-36min
BE- Mookie Blaylock- 12 min PG
BE- Tracy McGrady-14 min SF
BE- Alvin Robertson 12 min SG
BE- Billy Cunningham- DNP
BE- Dan Roundfield 12min PF
BE- Jack Sikma DNP
BE- Tyson Chandler- 10 min at C
Defense- We will run a man to man defense all game long. They’re probably going to look to run which is fine. Prime KAJ was athletic and should be able to get back and make attacking the rim difficult. And we all know Chandler has shown the ability to make life tough on running teams when he’s been healthy. His ability to get back down the court and make the opposing team pull back is elite all time. Both guys are also great help defenders who make their teammates much better defenders.
Moses- Kareem will get the call in this one. Moses was a glass-cleaning machine so we’ll look to have Kareem always putting a body on Moses. KAJ can also use his insane length to make those put backs Moses loved much more difficult.
Big E- Dirk gets the call here with Dr. Rounds also seeing some time. Big E loved that turn around J. Dirk is going to be in the face of Hayes using his size to always get a hand up in his face. And when Dr. Rounds is in the game we’re going to be physical with Hayes. Dr. Rounds wasn’t big, but he was a Ben Wallace type of defender.
Baylor- Pippen gets the call here. We’re going to be playing Baylor straight up. Elgin could do it all no doubt. But Pippen has the length to keep him out of the lane. If he wants to post Pippen up we’ll let Pippen go one on one. We feel that Pippens length should be able to keep Elgin down. We’ll also look to turn Elgin over. Pippen was a master ballhawk and he’s going to be after the ball in this game.
Dr. J- Durant gets this one. Also, when he came to the NBA, Doc wasn’t the same player he was in the ABA. We’re going to be playing way off of the Doc in this one. If he wants to shoot, we’ll give him the shot. KD can still get a hand up because of his length. Doc was able to use his athleticism to take people off the dribble but he’s never seen someone like Durant before. His combination of length and athleticism should give Doc fits.
Zeke- Frazier gets the call here. We want Frazier to play Zeke tight. If they kept track of steals in Frazier’s day he would have been one of the all-time greats in that category. We also want to body Zeke up and play him physical with Frazier.
Pistol- If they start Pistol whoever is guarding the guy that sits is on him. We’ll play him tight. Don’t want to let him get any open looks from deep. If he comes off the bench, Alvin Robertson will take him. Robertson could play D like few others in NBA history and his ball hawking skills were incredible. We’re going to look to turn Pistol over quite a bit and get out on the break.
Bing- Mookie Blaylock takes Bing. Again, Blaylock was a ball hawk. He will look to force Bing to turn it over. We’re willing to give Bing the open J in order to try to better take the drive away.
Offense- we want to run a 1-3-1 in this game with Kareem down low, Dirk in the high post, Frazier up top and Pippen and Durant on the wings. We’ll be making this a half court game. Our team does get a lot of steals so we should be able to get some easy fast break buckets off of that but we don’t want this to turn into a running game against Joe.
Frazier will bring the ball up the court, if he has a lane to penetrate he will take it otherwise he can work the ball into KAJ, call for a pick from Dirk and run PnR’s or pass it off to either Durant or Pippen. Working it down low will be the top option. Kareem can look to go to the hook or look for Durant or Pippen to cut. Dirk (and Dr. Rounds) will be running PnR’s and PnP’s with our wings. We want to get our wings open lanes to the basket because Moses wasn’t a great shot blocker. We’ll also give Dirk some iso’s on the elbow and let him go to work on Hayes. There is nobody on Joe’s team that can matchup with Dirk. We’ll let him take Hayes off the dribble or post him up from the elbow and do his signature fade away. We want to attack with Dirk. Joe’s backup bigs aren’t much to write home about, if we can get a couple of quick fouls on Big E or Moses we feel we have a huge advantage.
Our wings will also be looking to attack. KD should have Baylor or Dr. J on him in this one. Both of these guys are athletic but neither were actually great defenders. KD is going to be attacking the basket. We’ll bring our PF’s up to screen for him and he can either look to take a dribble or two and pop or drive it home to the basket. KD will also have some iso’s called for him so he can fully show off those 3 scoring tittles he has.
Pippen will also look to attack in this game. He will also take over Fraziers job at times in order to keep Walt fresh on both ends and keep either Elgin or Doc off balance. But like Durant, Pippen should see a limited defender on him and we want to exploit as well. We will also let him go down and post up whoever is on him. He had a mean post game combined with an awesome turnaround J.
Frazier will be in attack mode. We want him to drive to the basket against Zeke. He can either stop and pop at the elbow for an easy mid range jumper or he can go all the way and look for a kickout to either of our open wings, Dirk or if Moses comes over to help dish it off to KAJ.
T-Mac is going to be our spark off the bench. We want to run a lot of screens for him and some iso’s for him. When he’s in the game he’ll be our second option. We want him to have the ball in his hands quite a bit.
Chandler will mostly look for tip backs or oops when he’s in, Blaylock will take over Fraziers role in the offense and Robertson will look to take over Durants (he will be in with T-Mac for a good part of those minutes so T-Mac will get a lot of the touches from the wing spot so we’re not looking for Robertson to do what Durant did in terms of production.)
Best of luck to Joe.
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