Post by aaronjh on Jul 19, 2007 14:53:33 GMT -5
Strengths: Balanced offensive attack, ballhandling, depth
We bring offensive firepower at every spot in our lineup, and it's the key to our gameplan. Zach Randolph, Lamar Odom, LaMarcus Aldridge and Michael Redd are all capable of being top scoring option, which is reflected in the numbers--all four guys are scoring above 15 points a night. Ray Felton is the perfect distributor for the lineup, and we also have solid scorers in Vitaly Potapenko, Mo Williams, Jason Maxiell and Marcus Banks off the bench. We're looking to be among the league leaders in offensive production and efficiency.
Our ballhandling looks really good this year, as well. We may not have a top ballhandler running the show, but Ray Felton has shown that he's an obvious improvement over Mo Williams, and his passng was stellar in the first sim. Michael Redd is an elite ballhandler for his position, and he has low turnovers. Lamar Odom's turnovers are down and he is a great passer. Other guys in the rotation, such as Thabo Sefolosha and Mo Williams, step into the lineup with good ballhandling as well. We hope this leads to reduced turnovers and high scoring.
With three top ten choices in this year's draft, we bring some excellent depth. Mo Williams, Vitaly Potapenko and Jason Maxiell all started last year and will move to the bench. Joining them is the tenth pick in this year's draft, Thabo Sefolosha. We hope to take advantage of teams with subpar second units.
Weaknesses: Shotblocking, positional defense
In general, our defense is OK. We have excellent size and athleticism, but a lot of our guys can get taken one-on-one. We have only one guy in the lineup with A- defense. However, LaMarcus Aldridge and Raymond Felton are both very capable defenders, and Michael Redd looks to have improved. Zach Randolph is a liability on the defensive end, but he did an impressive job against Elton Brand last sim.
We also lack shotblocking in our main unit. Potapenko and Maxiell are two good shotblockers, and if our shotblocking proves to be a weakness, Zach Randolph could lose playing time to Maxiell, a much better defender.
Franchise Player: No doubt, LaMarcus Aldridge is the guy. He came into the league with C+/B/C+ ratings and improved remarkably to B/B+/B at age 21, while maintaining his A potential. We look for him to eventually be one of the best centers in BBS. He has room to grow in shotblocking, strength and rebounding, and given his offensive ability already, he should be a dominant post scorer. In the past, Orlando has, for lack of an obvious choice, tried to tag generally solid guys like Lamar Odom, or players with limited abilites like Zach Randolph as franchise players. Now, though, Orlando has its obvious centerpiece, a guy who can do it all and is only getting better.
Trade Block: Potentially looking to deal a package of my depth for a star. Potapenko, Randolph, Williams, Redd are all available in that package. Anyone else will be significantly more difficult because I don't think I need to add a star to win a lot of games.
Outlook: This is a playoff team, no doubt. Two seasons ago, Orlando won 41 games and made the playoffs. The only contributor from that team to have departed is Bobby Simmons, and lest we forget, Lamar Odom was injured for the majority of that season. If that team made the playoffs, and two of its starters are now bench players (not for their inability, but for the ability of the guys in front of them), this team has to be playoff-bound.
Last year's roster lacked punch. There were weaknesses everywhere. Those weaknesses have been plugged with an infusion of youth and athleticism. Orlando has found better athletes, better ballhandlers, and Lamar Odom looks to be bak in form; there's no reason why this team can't compete for the division title.
We bring offensive firepower at every spot in our lineup, and it's the key to our gameplan. Zach Randolph, Lamar Odom, LaMarcus Aldridge and Michael Redd are all capable of being top scoring option, which is reflected in the numbers--all four guys are scoring above 15 points a night. Ray Felton is the perfect distributor for the lineup, and we also have solid scorers in Vitaly Potapenko, Mo Williams, Jason Maxiell and Marcus Banks off the bench. We're looking to be among the league leaders in offensive production and efficiency.
Our ballhandling looks really good this year, as well. We may not have a top ballhandler running the show, but Ray Felton has shown that he's an obvious improvement over Mo Williams, and his passng was stellar in the first sim. Michael Redd is an elite ballhandler for his position, and he has low turnovers. Lamar Odom's turnovers are down and he is a great passer. Other guys in the rotation, such as Thabo Sefolosha and Mo Williams, step into the lineup with good ballhandling as well. We hope this leads to reduced turnovers and high scoring.
With three top ten choices in this year's draft, we bring some excellent depth. Mo Williams, Vitaly Potapenko and Jason Maxiell all started last year and will move to the bench. Joining them is the tenth pick in this year's draft, Thabo Sefolosha. We hope to take advantage of teams with subpar second units.
Weaknesses: Shotblocking, positional defense
In general, our defense is OK. We have excellent size and athleticism, but a lot of our guys can get taken one-on-one. We have only one guy in the lineup with A- defense. However, LaMarcus Aldridge and Raymond Felton are both very capable defenders, and Michael Redd looks to have improved. Zach Randolph is a liability on the defensive end, but he did an impressive job against Elton Brand last sim.
We also lack shotblocking in our main unit. Potapenko and Maxiell are two good shotblockers, and if our shotblocking proves to be a weakness, Zach Randolph could lose playing time to Maxiell, a much better defender.
Franchise Player: No doubt, LaMarcus Aldridge is the guy. He came into the league with C+/B/C+ ratings and improved remarkably to B/B+/B at age 21, while maintaining his A potential. We look for him to eventually be one of the best centers in BBS. He has room to grow in shotblocking, strength and rebounding, and given his offensive ability already, he should be a dominant post scorer. In the past, Orlando has, for lack of an obvious choice, tried to tag generally solid guys like Lamar Odom, or players with limited abilites like Zach Randolph as franchise players. Now, though, Orlando has its obvious centerpiece, a guy who can do it all and is only getting better.
Trade Block: Potentially looking to deal a package of my depth for a star. Potapenko, Randolph, Williams, Redd are all available in that package. Anyone else will be significantly more difficult because I don't think I need to add a star to win a lot of games.
Outlook: This is a playoff team, no doubt. Two seasons ago, Orlando won 41 games and made the playoffs. The only contributor from that team to have departed is Bobby Simmons, and lest we forget, Lamar Odom was injured for the majority of that season. If that team made the playoffs, and two of its starters are now bench players (not for their inability, but for the ability of the guys in front of them), this team has to be playoff-bound.
Last year's roster lacked punch. There were weaknesses everywhere. Those weaknesses have been plugged with an infusion of youth and athleticism. Orlando has found better athletes, better ballhandlers, and Lamar Odom looks to be bak in form; there's no reason why this team can't compete for the division title.