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. If you need a refresher on the draft rules, you can check out Part One here.

Today, we are going through four more matchups; Team 5 vs Team 28; Team 6 vs Team 27; Team 7 vs Team 26 and, naturally, Team 8 vs Team 25. As always, these polls will be up for 24 hours. Onto the matchups!

5. Chicago Bulls vs 28. Miami Heat

Chicago

G – Derrick Rose
G – Michael Jordan
F – Jimmy Butler
F – Elton Brand
C – Joakim Noah
6th Man – LaMarcus Aldridge

This is a pretty formidable squad. Derrick Rose aka the youngest MVP in NBA history running the point. Then just some guy you might have heard of, but if you haven’t. He is not only the greatest player in the history of the NBA, but he also saved the Looney Tunes from a life of slavery; Mr. Michael Jordan. You may also be surprised to learn that Jimmy Butler doesn’t just sell overpriced coffee. The dude can ball as well. He pairs up well with Elton Brand who, before being a really terrible GM, was a very, very good basketball player. Joakim Noah finishes up the starting lineup (bring him back Bulls!) and the 6th man is LaMarcus Aldridge; a guy the Bulls drafted then traded for…Tyrus Thomas…yikes…

Miami

G – Dwyane Wade
G – Steve Smith
F – Glen Rice
F – Caron Butler
C – Bam Adebayo
6th Man – Bojan Bogdanovic

Now, this isn’t a bad squad. Wade is an obvious Hall-of-Famer and Smith, Rice and Butler had very good careers. Fun fact; Glen Rice is my favourite non-Michael Jordan player of all-time. Bam is already an all-star and is only going to get better and Bojan has proven to be a very effective scorer in the league already. For the record, he was drafted by the Heat then traded on draft day for Norris Cole.

6. Boston Celtics vs 27. Los Angeles Clippers

Boston

G – Chauncey Billups
G – John Havlicek
F – Larry Bird
F – Paul Pierce
C – Dave Cowens
6th Man – Kevin McHale

The Celtics were spoiled for choice with this exercise. They end up with four Hall-of-Famers and two who should be in there soon enough. Billups didn’t get a chance to shine in Boston, being shipped out halfway through his rookie season, but he became an excellent point guard, even winning a Finals MVP in his career. Hondo Havlicek is lucky we aren’t considering personalities because dude has maybe lost his mind BUT there is no doubting his skills on the court, and he was one of the best all-round players ever to lace them up. Speaking of one of the best, Larry Legend, the man from French Lick, is one of the five best players ever and was a no-brainer here. Paul Pierce may have lost some credibility due to his shaky analyst career, but he was a beast on the court and, like Billups, has a Finals MVP on his resume. Cowens has the distinction of being the last player-coach in the NBA (unless you count LeBron…) and was a beast on both ends of the floor, even winning the MVP in 1972-73. It’s fitting that McHale ended up as sixth man as most people consider him the best sixth man ever.

Los Angeles Clippers

G – Byron Scott
G – Hersey Hawkins
F – Adrian Dantley
F – Blake Griffin
C – Bob McAdoo
6th Man – Tom Chambers

Here’s a funny story; the Clippers never seem to be able to draft great Guards. Byron Scott and Hersey Hawkins, who both had great careers, were the only guards even worth considering. Literally. Unfortunately they brought the Clips down as the rest of the squad is excellent. Adrian Dantley was one of the most talented scorers ever, Blake was up there with Vince Carter in terms of excitement whenever he touched the ball, and McAdoo was DOMINANT in the 70’s, winning three scoring titles along the way. Speaking of great scorers, Tom Chambers was a 20 point per game scorer for the first 11 seasons of his career while also pumping out 5 boards and 5 assists a game.

7. Detroit Pistons vs 26. Washington Wizards

Detroit

G – Isiah Thomas
G – Joe Dumars
F – Grant Hill
F – Dennis Rodman
C – Bob Lanier
6th Man – Dave Bing

The Pistons are 6 from 6 here in terms of Hall-of-Famers. With three of these guys, Zeke, Dumars and Rodman, being from the infamous Bad Boys, the team that beat up on the Celtics, Lakers and Bulls in the late 80’s/early 90’s, this is a formidable squad. Add to that a guy who was LeBron before LeBron in Grant Hill. Who knows how he could’ve gone had injuries not taken their toll. Finally, two old-schoolers in Bob Lanier and Dave Bing. The former, a double-double machine through the entire 70’s for the Pistons. The latter, an elite scorer and solid passer in the 60’s-70’s.

Washington

G – John Wall
G – Earl Monroe
F – Richard Hamilton
F – Rasheed Wallace
C – Wes Unseld
6th Man – Bradley Beal

Not a bad team here. The freshly-traded John Wall is the franchise leader in assists and steals while also being Top-5 in points. Earl the Pearl was a great scorer in his own right, as was Rip Hamilton, he who rocked a facemask just as well as he moved off the ball to get open. Sheed is Sheed. I dunno what else to say. Wes was an undersized center who didn’t play like an undersized center and won himself an MVP award in 1968-69, his rookie season! And of course Beal is one of the best SGs currently playing.

8. Portland Trail Blazers vs 25. New York Knicks

Portland

G – Damian Lillard
G – Clyde Drexler
F – Drazen Petrovic
F – Jermaine O’Neal
C – Bill Walton
6th Man – Terry Porter

It’s Dame Time! Currently the best PG in the NBA, Lillard is one of the best natural scorers we’ve ever seen. Dude can spit bars too. Clyde may be too busy these days being bitter that he could never beat Jordan but in his prime, he was an excellent SG, leading this Portland team to a Western Conference title in both 1989-90 and 1991-92. Petrovic was tragically taken way too early from us and was ahead of his time with his silky smooth jumpshot and scoring ability. Jermaine O’Neal still (I believe) is the youngest player to ever play in the NBA, and became a perennial MVP candidate once he moved to Indiana. And Bill Walton might be now known for probably taking Acid constantly before watching college basketball games, but he was once considered the best passing big man of all-time. And we can’t mention Clyde without mentioning his running mate Terry Porter, who was instrumental in those Western Conference Champ teams.

New York

G – Walt Frazier
G – Rod Strickland
F – Bill Bradley
F – Willis Reed
C – Patrick Ewing
6th Man – Dolph Schayes

Walt Frazier was as good at being so wrong about Michael Jordan as he was at leading the Knicks to two NBA Championships, being a 20 point, 8 assist per game player through the late 60’s/early 70’s. Rod Strickland was a great passer but also one of the best PGs ever at getting to the rim. Bill Bradley is a Hall-of-Famer and was a solid scorer on those two Knicks Championship teams while also having a gangster-ass nickname (Dollar Bill). If you aren’t sensing a theme, Willis Reed was also an integral part of the Knicks two Championship teams. Ewing was not a integral part of a championship team BUT he was a very good center in his own right and kinda gets forgotten about due to playing with guys like Shaq, Hakeem and David Robinson. Dolph Schayes is a Hall-of-Famer and was a double double machine throughout the 50’s and 60’s.

There are the matchups for Day 2 of this bracket showdown. Who you voting for? Remember to keep an eye out on Twitter, and I’ll be back tomorrow with four more first round matchups.

PEACE.