For our most recent podcast, Carl and I decided on the best lineups for each team choosing ONLY players that team had drafted. This made for some interesting lineups, but the pod wasn’t enough for us. We decided to add in two more teams, the Seattle Supersonics and an all-Undrafted team, to get our total teams up to 32; the perfect number for some bracket madness. We seeded each lineup during the pod as well and we are going to put the polls up on Twitter, so be sure to follow @sportcodex to be kept up to date.

A few rules we had for the draft:

  1. We were drafting the players in their prime. So for example, Kyle Lowry on the Grizz wasn’t very good, but they get the perennial all-star version despite him not playing for the Grizzlies.
  2. We did lineups of G, G, F, F, C and 6th man. A player qualified for a position if they played SIGNIFICANT time at said position. For example, Kevin Love qualifies as a center but someone like Shaq wouldn’t qualify as a forward. A 6th man didn’t have to be a 6th man in their career though.
  3. We tried to make lineups “fit” well as well, but not to the detriment of the overall lineup. So if a lineup lacked spacing, we wouldn’t insert say BJ Armstrong over Michael Jordan.

    We will put up four polls a day and leave them open for 24 hours. Without further adieu, here are the first four matchups

1. Golden State Warriors vs 32. Memphis Grizzlies

Golden State

G – Steph Curry
G – Anfernee Hardaway
F – Vince Carter
F – Rick Barry
C – Wilt Chamberlain
6th Man – Klay Thompson

You would look at this lineup, see Klay, Wilt, Barry and Steph and understand completely. But some people might see Penny and Vince and be confused as to why they’re on this squad. Well, as I mentioned above, players are only eligible for the team that drafted them. Penny Hardaway was traded in a draft day trade to Orlando for Chris Webber, and Vince was famously traded to Toronto for his college teammate Antawn Jamison.

Memphis

G – Mike Conley
G – Kyle Lowry
F – Shane Battier
F – Shareef Abdur-Rahim
C – Kevin Love
6th Man – Mike Bibby

It’s not a surprise to see this lineup not be great considering their relatively short life as a franchise. The Grizz do well when drafting PG’s though. Ja and Jaren Jackson Jr just missed out on this lineup as we need to see more from them before committing. As for Kevin Love, he was drafted by Memphis then traded to Minnesota for OJ Mayo on draft day.

2. Milwaukee vs 31. New Orleans

Milwaukee

G – Giannis Antetokounmpo
G – Alex English
F – Julius Erving
F – Dirk Nowitzki
C – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor)
6th Man – Sidney Moncrief

This lineup has 76 all-star appearances and 13 MVPs between them as well as multiple scoring and rebounding titles, and DPOY awards. The whole team, bar one, are either in the Hall of Fame or no-brainer first ballot about to be. The one person who is not just won back-to-back MVP’s so yeah, this lineup is pretty damn formidable.

New Orleans

G – Chris Paul
G – Buddy Hield
F – J.R. Smith
F – David West
C – Anthony Davis
6th Man – Zion Williamson

The New Orleans franchise is even younger than the Grizzlies so they did well not to get last place here. However, the depth just isn’t there which is made obvious by half of the team; Buddy Hield is a nice shooter but hasn’t done much else yet; J.R. is basically a meme at this point but hit his ceiling as an ultimate heat check guy; and of course Zion Williamson, he who has played only a handful of games and to be honest, looked pretty average in the bubble. But future hall-of-famer CP3 and probably Anthony Davis as well, as well as former all-star David West boost this team up just enough.

3. Los Angeles Lakers vs 30. The Undrafteds

Los Angeles

G – Magic Johnson
G – Jerry West
F – James Worthy
F – Elgin Baylor
C – Marc Gasol
6th Man – Gail Goodrich

The best part about this team is that current Lakers fans won’t know who anyone is and will be asking where Kobe is. Lakers fans are the worst, seriously. Despite all of that, it is impossible to deny just how stacked this team is. They have the best PG in the history of the NBA, the Logo, Big Game James, Elgin Baylor, who is perhaps THE most criminally underrated player in NBA history, and the captain of the Grit n Grind era, Marc Gasol. Gail Goodrich was no slouch either, and started next to Jerry West on those championship teams.

Undrafteds

G – Jose Calderon
G – John Starks
F – Connie Hawkins
F – Brad Miller
C – Ben Wallace
6th Man – Fred VanVleet

Yes, these teams are not even close to even. But for players that NO TEAM felt were good enough on draft day, this isn’t a horrible squad. Jose Calderon, in his prime, was an elite playmaker who never turned the ball over. John Starks made an all-defensive team, won a 6th man award and made an all-star game while being a key member of perhaps the last GOOD Knicks team, Connie Hawkins is a hall-of-famer and was an elite scorer in the 60’s and 70’s, Brad Miller was a 2-time all-star who once had a fight with Shaq and lived to tell the tale, Ben Wallace is one of the best interior defenders in history and should absolutely be in the Hall of Fame right now, and VanVleet just secured the biggest contract ever for an undrafted player after having a great season for the Raptors.

4. Seattle Supersonics vs 29. Oklahoma City Thunder

Seattle

G – Gary Payton
G – Dennis Johnson
F – Scottie Pippen
F – Kevin Durant
C – Shawn Kemp
6th Man – Jack Sikma

Well, what a first round matchup! The Sonics have the chance for revenge against the team that are holding their spot in the league. I don’t think I need to go through this squad, but I will. Hall of Famer, Hall of Famer, Hall of Famer, Future Hall of Famer, Would have been a Hall of Famer if he didn’t love cocaine so much, Hall of Famer. Now Pippen is here as he was acquired by the Bulls on draft day for Olden Polynice. Yup, not a typo. And of course, Kevin Durant’s rookie season was the Sonics last season in existence…for now. BRING BACK THE SONICS!

Oklahoma City

G – Russell Westbrook
G – James Harden
F – Serge Ibaka
F – Brandon Clarke
C – Steven Adams
6th Man – Eric Bledsoe

First things first, yes, Russell Westbrook was technically drafted by the Sonics. BUT, he was drafted by the Sonics who were just about to become the Thunder, so we allowed him to go to OKC. I mean, they have nothing else! Well, Harden is one of the best scorers of this generation. Ibaka was a great defensive player who has since added a reliable 3 and Adams is just a beast. Brandon Clarke has star potential but obviously isn’t there yet but it was out of him and Terrance Ferguson, so I am happy with our choice. Eric Bledsoe was drafted by OKC but traded to the Clips for a future 1st.

There it is. Be sure to vote on these matchups and follow us on Twitter. Vote along and share it out. I’ll be back tomorrow with the next round of matchups. Until then…

PEACE.