NBA Showdown: Team Building

I am trying to get better at this blogging thing, and my hope here is to do a weekly or every other week post highlighting a different aspect of my NBA Showdown game. The first one will be team building. First I will go over the team building rules, and finally I will create my own team and we can criticize my roster decisions. We have to see if one of us can become the next great GM and place the right players around each other to create the best team possible.

(IDK when this list was made, but LeBron should still be on this list, I don't care if he was 40 years old, he gives you at least  a one season chance at a ring)


Team Building:
If you aren't using the actual NBA teams, teams are built out of the players of your choice as long as you stay under the salary cap.

Team Needs: 8-12 players to fill your roster, it is recommended to have 1 player at each position but not a requirement. With a total of 5,000 points or less for the total team salary.

Personally it doesn't make sense to carry more than 10 players as you probably won't even use 10 players in a given game. Fatigue does make having a bench necessary, and depth is always important in case your best players are having a cold game. You have to decide as the GM do you go all in on a top level superstar (Giannis, LeBron, Harden) knowing how much salary it will cost your team, or do you try to balance it into having multiple players that can take a game over.

Positions: I feel like at this point we are playing the advanced game, so position less basketball is where we are. But you have to be mindful of the penalties that come along with it. Lets go over the penalties again.

Now if you're guarding a player out of position, you can't ever have an advantage, so if your point guard is a 12 offense and the defense uses a 18 center, you call that difference a 0, then the +4 bonus the offense gets to their rolls, giving your point guard a +4 advantage on his rolls due to the defensive mismatch. Also note, Guards qualify as PG or SG, Forwards as SF or PF, so they would receive no penalty when guarding in those positions.

Team Building: So using the new 2019-2020 Cards I am going to build my team that I hope to be a contender, So first I need my core, I am going youthful even though it has no effect in a card game situation.

The Core

 Luka and  Tatum are 2 young studs, but they come at a high price, 1750 of my teams 5000 points. This gives me 3250 points for my remaining 6-8 players or 400ish points per player. So how do I build around them, preferably I need a solid guard and a solid center, and maybe a sixth man before the rest of my team falls into place.

My third player on the squad is Domantas Sabonis, he provides a player that can player 2 positions, with good defense and rebounding to battle off other teams big men. He can be my third scorer to help the main two when they are faced with tough match ups. 2520 points is a big commitment for a big 3 but the versatility that they bring to the table should put me in advantageous situations. 

My starting guard along side Luka is Damion Lee, who as a player I do not know much about other than he is the brother in law of Steph and Seth Curry. But from a showdown perspective he brings a respectable offense and defense score, being able to guard three positions adds to the flexibility I am looking for with my team. 3110/5000

Thanos Snappers knew this one was coming, my basketball obsession of Cedi Osman is unexplained, but I see a good role player in the NBA with him, and that is his job on this team. He will be my starting small forward and be my fifth option in my starting lineup. 3630/5000

6th Man: My other favorite Cavalier is rookie upstart Kevin Porter JR. I had to place my two guys on the team so they can hopefully see some success, Porter and Cedi are interchangeable in my lineup and can bounce back and forth depending on match ups. 4130/5000

My bench center who will have a prominent role with this team is Brook Lopez, when he comes in it allows Sabonis to move back to the power forward position. That gives my team more rebounding, but less defensive versatility. Lopez can defend other centers in the league very well, so I don't see many being able to take advantage of him, unless it is a top tier center. 4690/5000

My final roster spot goes to Matthew Dellavedova, while he is a Cavalier that is not why I chose him, I wanted another guard for my team, and while he won't play very often, if I need to try to get assists, a good roll of the dice can net me three or four assists to help my scorers do what they do best. 5000/5000.

Planned Rotation:

1st
PG - Lee 8-8 SG - Doncic 18-12 SF Osman 7-6 PF Tatum - 13-11 C Sabonis 13-11

Bench: Porter Jr, Lopez, Delly

2nd

PG- Lee 8-8 SG - Porter Jr 6-7 SF Tatum 13-11 PF Sabonis 13-11 C Lopez 9-11

Bench: Delly, Doncic, Osman

3rd

PG Doncic 18-12 G Delly 4-4 SF- Porter Jr 6-7 SF Osman 7-6 C Lopez 9-11

Bench: Lee, Tatum, Sabonis

4th

PG Lee 8-8 SG Doncic 18-12 SF Osman 6-7 PF Tatum 13-11 C Sabonis 13-11

Bench: Delly, Porter Jr, Lopez 

There you have it, my full 5,000 point squad, what do you all think? Have you created your fantasy lineup yet and think they are better than mine? I would be curious to see what this would look like in a draft format when you have to be conscious of the salary that your team has.

My challenge to you guys is build your own team under the 5,000 point salary cap, and eitehr post in here, post it on twitter and tag me @mlbshowdowncup, dm it to me, or send it in an email.