As we find ourselves in the middle of the playoffs, most of us are not playing anymore. And the Spurs have taken a quick 2 games from a very formidable Nuggets squad, featuring Saddiq Bey, exiting his shell and playing a key role (perhaps THE most key role overall) off the bench. Miguel Thomas, Ben Franklin and Jordan Johnson, all certainly no longer in their primes, buoyed by a not-prime but still great backcourt of Norris Turney and Burt Gibson, may not have what it takes. Another sim or two will tell - maybe another three sims if the Nuggies are as good as they have been all season long.
After all, the Suns stole a couple games from the Spurs this year, too. Jame Hector and Ronny Asher did stand up to OG Anunoby. Ronnie Reynolds could match with Dorian Whitley...he just matched with Daniel Yandell instead, which, okay. Sure. Fine. Why not? It worked for a couple games? Anyway, the Suns future is bright, but the Spurs juggernaut trotted on.
Eazy is submitting DCs this year, too, so, yeah, that’s to everyone’s detriment. So what will it take?
Maybe the Pelicans - the most GMless team right now (debatable)? Plus the 15 best players in the league?
Probably. So let’s look at that, shall we? First let’s figure out who the best players in the league are today. Not that I necessarily agree with all of them, but for the sake of clarity, the best players are the All League players. Right? So let’s add these guys all up from the All League First, Second and Third teams to concoct a brand new Pelicans roster:
C Mitchell Robinson
PF Delmar Lopez
SF James Wiseman
SG Fang Shuo
PG Luguentz Dort
OG Anunoby
Ronnie Reynolds
Marcel McAlister
Dorian Whitley
Daniel Yandell
Paul Cassel
Makur Maker
Kostas Antetokounmpo
He Hor
Zaire Wade
Off the top we’re a 12 man team, not 15 (since the Spurs are already basically all of the All-League Second Team). This is okay because we could only use 13 of them anyway, and often only the 11th and 12th players never get off the bench. But we’re basically an All-League First and Third team. Okay?
Let’s build out our depth chart. I like that starting 5 just fine for now.
C: Mitchell Robinson
PF: Delmar Lopez
SF: James Wiseman
SG: Fang Shuo
PG: Luguentz Dort
The 6-12 slots are a bit more complicated given each player's skill set, but I think we can safely throw Marcel McAlister into the 12 slot, because if he weren’t on the Raptors he’d probably come off the bench. So there:
6th: ???
7th: ???
8th: ???
9th: ???
10th: ???
11th: ???
12th: Marcel McAlister - 0
Ronnie Reynolds can swing about three different positions: PG, SG, and SF, though he’s probably best suited for SF. The next most comparable player is Kostas Antetokounmpo because his most natural role is at SF. However, he is big enough, strong enough, and defends well enough in the post to swing PF, so whereas Ronnie’s a 1-3, Kostas is a 2-4.
Either way, these two guys are the reason Marcel has to be the last guy to come off the bench. Marcel ain’t got nothing on them. We’ll come back to them.
That leaves us with 2 bigs and 2 guards: Paul Cassel / Makur Maker and He Hor / Zaire Wade.
First the 2 bigs, Paul and Makur. Neither one, due to height, fits in perfectly at Center, though both have played it sufficiently. And both are such great players that they both need floor time. And both defend extremely well underneath. And rebound. And make plays. And have 47 QKN. But with Makur being more of a shot blocker, he should back up Mitch Rob at Center, and we’ll have Cassel backing up Delmar (maybe not next year though - will this upcoming S55 TC spell out Delmar’s death year??). Paul can also make his own plays driving to the hoop without dribbling off his foot, which is something I see in a PF more than a C.
Things are starting to come together now. Let’s slot these bigs in the lineup:
6th: Makur Maker © - ??
7th: Paul Cassell (PF) - ??
8th: ???
9th: ???
10th: ???
11th: ???
12th: Marcel McAlister - 0
Now these two guards fall in really easily behind the SG and PG spots with Zaire at SG (though he could be a backup PG easily) and He Hor at PG. Let’s add them in:
6th: Makur Maker © - ??
7th: Paul Cassell (PF) - ??
8th: ???
9th: Zaire Wade (SG) - ??
10th: He Hor (PG) - ??
11th: ???
12th: Marcel McAlister - 0
Now that we have this going, I look back at ol’ Ronnie Reynolds and Kostas and think, gee, 8th and 11th spots? For Ronnie and Kostas? Nah dawg, that ain’t right. Let’s make some changes top to bottom - we’ll add Ronnie at 8th and Kostas at 10th for now because, well, Kostas is just a more valuable player than He Hor.
6th: Makur Maker © - ??
7th: Paul Cassell (PF) - ??
8th: Ronnie Reynolds (SF / PG) - ??
9th: Zaire Wade (SG) - ??
10th: Kostas Antetokounmpo (PF / SF) - ??
11th: He Hor (PG) - ??
12th: Marcel McAlister - 0
So let’s rearrange some things now, including the starting 5, which I’ll explain in a sec:
C: Mitchell Robinson
PF: Delmar Lopez
SF: James Wiseman
SG: Zaire Wade
PG: Luguentz Dort
6th: Ronnie Reynolds (SF / PG) - ??
7th: Makur Maker © - ??
8th: Paul Cassell (PF) - ??
9th: Fang Shuo (SG) - ??
10th: Kostas Antetokounmpo (PF / SF) - ??
11th: He Hor (PG) - ??
12th: Marcel McAlister - 0
Yeah, Zaire Wade just cannot come off the bench like that. Too valuable, too defensively sound in a lineup glutted with scorers like Lopez, Wiseman and Dort. So let’s get some big minutes from Wade for that extra defense while his peers get points on the board. And with Ronnie Reynolds the best suited to role play different positions coming off the bench? He’s our overpowered 6th man.
Now let’s stack these Pelicans up against the Spurs (built based on regular season stats):
Pelicans | Spurs |
| C: Mitchell Robinson | C: OG Anunoby |
| PF: Delmar Lopez | PF: Danny Bryant |
| SF: James Wiseman | SF: Genaro Montoya |
| SG: Zaire Wade | SG: Dorian Whitley |
| PG: Luguentz Dort | PG: Daniel Yandell |
| 6th: Ronnie Reynolds (SF / PG) | 6th: Chris Ridley (SF / SG) |
| 7th: Makur Maker © | 7th: George Schott (C) |
| 8th: Paul Cassell (PF) | 8th: Matthew Burns (PF) |
| 9th: Fang Shuo (SG) | 9th: Eric Heatherly (PG) |
| 10th: Kostas Antetokounmpo (PF / SF) | 10th: Slick Watts (SG / PG) |
| 11th: He Hor (PG) | 11th: Milton Melvin (C) |
| 12th: Marcel McAlister - 0 | 12th: Armando Gilkey (SG) |
Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby used to be teammates in a powerhouse frontcourt for the Minnesota Timberwolves. What an exciting pair! Head to head the edge goes to Mitch Rob, though. OG is more sized for PF, but a slow and foul-prone one at that. Mitch Rob is the best center in the league and the only other person in that conversation is, arguably, Mike Burnham. (Catch him if you can!)
Delmar smokes Danny Bryant.
Wiseman and Montoya is my favorite match up here, and one we may actually witness in the finals if K-100 and his tax bill can overcome the Thunder. Montoya is far inferior by the numbers, mostly because he’s on the best team in the league. He will not score like Whitley or Wiseman but he will hold his own. We’re maybe one or two seasons from Montoya being the clear favorite in this head to head matchup.
Zaire Wade and Dorian Whitley are fun, too, because Wade is perhaps one of the only players in the league who can reasonably stand in the way of Whitley’s prolific scoring. Conversely, Zaire Wade can score too, and Whitley cannot defend like Wade can.
Dort and Yandell is extremely interesting, too, as Yandell was the last PG MVP before Dort and is 7 inches taller. Does Dort’s speed make up for this? Driving inside, theoretically, it should, but it really kills Dort’s perimeter offense. He’ll have a hard time passing around Yandell, too, who is known for getting so many steals. With Dort as the Pelicans best player, this spells big trouble for them if Yandell can mostly neutralize Dort’s offense.
Pelicans bench smokes Spurs bench.
So based on this analysis, the Pelicans would definitely beat the Spurs head to head. ...Wait, what did I title this article? Oops. I guess I was wrong. Wouldn’t be my first article with an incorrect twist. I hope you enjoyed it anyway.
...but wait! Ah ha, under NEW leadership! See, that’s the key. Could a brand new GM manage this squad all the way like Eazy has done with the Spurs? Of this I am not so sure. So boom, my title is still perfect and the Spurs would still win. Article done.
Well? Do you agree? Disagree (how dare you)? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
