jesus pm your pick to someone so we can keep it moving plz

Round 3, pick #90 - Otis Thorpe



Otis Thorpe is one of the more underrated players in NBA history. He was a very efficient scorer (.584 TS%, .546 efg%), went for about 17/10/3 during most of his career, and was a solid defender also. Thorpe was also a deft passer. He also didn't miss a single game from age 24-29, and had 14 straight healthy and productive seasons to start his career. He could lead his team in scoring or take 2nd man role, as he did behind Dream in the early 90s and during the first championship run.

I know have a dominant defense with Thorpe and Wallace inside and Iverson at the point. I have 3 guys who have proven themselves as healthy and productive players. Giving Iverson a low post scorer was also key. Thorpe is 39th all time in defensive win shares and 46th all time in offensive win shares. That TS% puts him at 37th all time. My team is taking shape and I like it so far. I now have elite options at scoring, rebounding, defense and shooting %.


Here are some of his many accomplished stats and awards:
Career averages of -
14.0 Points
8.2 Rebounds
2.2 Assists

1992 All Star
3 career triple doubles
112.1 offensive rating (90th)
1994 NBA Champion

Team fanmail so far:
Allen Iverson, PG
Otis Thorpe, PF
Ben Wallace, C

SammyKid11 is on the clock

I think Artest is better than Battier at every facet of the game. On-court, atleast. Battier is great off-court, being a nice guy and all. +team chemistry. but i just dont see how one could (reasonably) argue Battier brings more to the table offensively than Artest.

re: Chandler. Even though I'm anti this pansy all defensive biz, I like the makeup of this team right now. Payton should be able to play the Paul role in that relationship more or less, but not quite as effective.

If Im not on deck by the time I come back, I will pm my pick to someone to post it for me.

Seems like there are a lot of Battier fans who know the pick was a huge reach but hold back on the venom.

At this point, I feel Battier pick is worse than the Bynum pick and better than the Marbury pick.

I'll be honest I really don't. I don't think Marion is a great halfcourt player. He loves standing on the perimeter and jacking the 3 in the corner off ball rotation. He also can do some damage following misses. But I don't see him as a guy who I'm going to isolate on the block and the other team is really going to worry about him. Battier has thrived being on a team with TMac. When teams double they're forced to rotate leaving Battier open alot. Deron is your best offensive option IMO which would worry me. He's getting alot better but I don't really want to be working my offense through him every play.

I mainly worry about how Marion and Battier are going to complement each other on the court as they basically are suited to play the same position and I think you're leaving yourself weak at the 2 or 4 now.

wow, there goes another one of my players. why would u take thorpe... cmon man.

Sick thing about thorpe u didnt mention, I think 6 straight years of 82 games played in his prime. I was gonna combine this with the uncertainty of bynum to make a good combo.

Well there goes my huckabee pick

Artest has missed significant time precisely because of the off-court issues.

man, i think thorpe is a nice pick. i was having a hard time rating him but i always liked him as a kid and his stats are nice.

I guess I like the Thorpe pick. Haven't thougth about alternatives yet. Truthfully don't know dick about him other than the HOU championship teams.

re: Battier/Artest efficient/inefficient. The thing about efficient limited scorers is that they need setting up. Deron is helpful there, but Marion is sorta in the same boat as Battier in that regard, though to a lesser degree. Right now it just seems Deron is going to have to work his ass off.

Well, offensively, I think it depens on who your alternatives are. On a team with many other good scoring options, I will take Battier; on a team starved for offense, Artest is better because the other options are likely to be even less efficient. In this league, I think almost every team will have enough good options where Artest forcing things on offense will be a negative.

Yeah I did:

He also didn't miss a single game from age 24-29, and had 14 straight healthy and productive seasons to start his career.

fanmail,

Solid pick IMO. Thorpe's stats really jumped out at me and made me say wow when I've been looking through players. I definetly underrated him in my mind.

Ugh. Battier is a top 10 offensive efficient players in the NBA. I am not drafting my go to scorer in the 3rd. I am building my team. Making it dynamic. I am not drafting ****ing Kiki Vandkdfakdweghesdkjewhe, someone who will stand in one spot all game which won't work when you have the best players of the last 30 years on the floor. I have a big guy that can get up and down the court, sit on the arc when Deron goes to the paint, someone who can pnr, a defender of 3 positions which makes drafting of later rounds versatile and it also gives me the ability to play match-ups--I will be able to play small and run when all is said and done or play big.

I like the idea of being able to get up and down the court and being able to play great defense, what a novel idea.

seriously in a half-court set the best offense I have seen from Battier is hitting a kick-out 3, for marion it's... probably hitting a kick-out 3 again, or maybe going into the lane for a runner but he isn't that good at it.

I like Battier a lot and am a fan of his versatility. I just think you could get similar value in round 4 or 5, at least I hope so, lol.

i had my eye quasi on otis thorpe, because he does a few things that are really impressive:
insanely healthy. dude played 82 games 9 times. played into his late 30s. further, averaged a bunch of minutes age 24+, so for a F-C who is big, means he was in great shape and is not an injury risk.
for a big guy who doesn't need the ball often (sub 20 career usg%) he gets to the line a decent amount. (5+ per 36 mins)
his ORtg is solid, mainly due to the fact he was VERY efficient (.584 ts, granted on only 10 fga/game though)

but:
i think calling him an elite rebounder is a mistake, though. he never had a top 10 season with regard to rebound pct. also, he fouls a ****load. he committed the most (or 2nd/3rd) fouls in a season 4 times in his career, and per 36mins is just shy of 4. also, although he had 7 seasons of double digit defensive win shares, his per 36 mins for blocks and steals is repulsive: .8 and .5 respectively. (seriously, thats bad) it LOOKS as tho his defensive ratings benefitted from the teams he was on. (the 1990-95 rockets which featured "the dream")

all that said, he teams up with ben wallace well, is a nice guy to run a PNR with for iverson, and i think you got solid value at this spot.

It really is a bummer that I only get 3 players and you guys get to keep drafting.

rofl, so awesome darkotilt.

Thorpe rules as a 4. Great post defense, gobbles up boards, gets to the charity stripe a lot. Played a gagillion minutes.

Aren't Battier and Marion both SF too?

fanmail...pic doesn't work for me.

fair enough, even coupled with this tho Artest is a no brainer ahead of Battier

Do you think Battier sucked at Memphis? I'm confused. He's putting up almost identical numbers.

I still don't think they're going to have significant trouble scoring in the half-court, but even if they do this team will create a lot of turnovers and missed shots as it is.