Embracing chaos
My main goal was to remove the perceived ceiling on my team full of fourth-best-and-worse players. To do this, I wanted a mix of players who could shoot the lights out (Lou Williams, Kemba Walker, Kevin Love), score from a variety of places (DeMar DeRozan), a host of guards and wings who could make your life miserable on defense (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Donte DiVincenzo, Malcolm Brogdon, Norman Powell), and a young core who could potentially stick with the team and develop as team goes on (Michael Porter Jr., Jarrett Allen, DiVincenzo).
I ended up with a small team full of versatile wings, which quickly became my objective. Multi-positionality was a priority, as was bucket-getters. I think the finished product speaks to some level of success with this.
In a head-to-head matchup with Gerald’s Sea Lions, he’ll have a massive edge in size and rebounding. As I mentioned in my excerpt in the piece, the Burnt Ends will be watching the Houston Rockets’ small-ball experiment in the NBA’s Orlando restart closely, because KC is barely any bigger than that roster.
With guys like Steven Adams, Clint Capela and Lauri Markkanen, his team towers over mine, but I think the Burnt Ends can keep up with shooting and matchup versatility.