Current injuries and injury history are to be taken into account when voting.
The Monstars
PG: Steph Curry | Patrick Beverley | Lonzo Ball
SG: Jimmy Butler | Jamal Murray
SF: Jayson Tatum | Danilo Gallinari | Royce O'Neale
PF: Jaren Jackson Jr. | Nemanja Bjelica
C: Al Horford | Mitchell Robinson
With the lineup adjustments, The Monstars sport a far more formidable front court and imposing wing defense than they did previously. JJJ is an ascending star who can stretch the floor and protect the rim. As Horford begins to age, JJJ can fill in at the 5, and Robinson will have room for more minutes, providing top tier rim protection and general interior defense.
Murray coming off the bench will feast on RTZ's second unit, providing elite scoring and secondary playmaking. Bjelica has a reputation for making the players around him far better when he's on the floor vs. off, and provides excellent spacing at the 4 (Top 20 in 3P% this past season) The Monstars have the perfect mix of experienced and budding stars, allowing them to be relevant now as well as for the future. RTZ is relying heavily on Zion developing into a superstar early, which, while possible, isn't a certainty.
Road To Zion may hold a slight advantage in the first year with their second-unit, but all of their key bench players are past their prime and will decline over the three year period, especially Gasol, whereas The Monstars have young guns like Lonzo, Murray, and Robinson, all of whom are already key players on their teams and are only projected to improve.
Road To Zion
PG: De’Aaron Fox | Mike Conley | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
SG: Klay Thompson (ACL)/Lou Williams
SF: Robert Covington | Trevor Ariza
PF: LeBron James | Zion Williamson
C: Steven Adams | Marc Gasol | DeAndre Jordan
disclaimer: this lineup insinuates that the 2020 playoffs have been reached, regardless of seed, and that Klay Thompson has recovered from his ACL injury.(this is a 3 year tournament)
The Monstars sport an excellent backcourt full of 2 way players including superstars Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry as well as rising star Jayson Tatum. The goal of RTZ, and the entire thought process in building this team, was to neutralize powerful backCourts. To guard the phenom curry you have up and coming Star Fox who was in the top 15% in steals last season, and seems primed for a breakout year. Although the notion that any team can shut down Curry is foolish, it seems reasonable to believe that Fox can hold him slightly below average, while also having a field day on the offensive end as curry cant play defense to save his life. Klay in the first year off an ACL will have a rough time Vs buckets, but years 2 and 3 I really believe he will AT least match him offensively, if not have a position +/- against him outright. At the 3 we have RoCo Vs Tatum; and again unless Tatum makes a huge Jump, neutralized.
Having LeBron at the 4 will allow him to camp passing lanes on defense, he has the highest basketball IQ of any player in the league and although JJJ is a rising star, I think he won’t have the impact you’d like to see him have defending and having to try to score against the Goat. Adams should win the rebound Battle easily but don’t see him scoring much Vs Horford and Visa versa.
As far as reserves go I am confident that RTZ has superior relief. For as great a defender as he is Beverly can’t hang with Conley, Lou should match Murray’s scoring, and Gasol/Zion should form a deadly Duo of bigs going against less talented reserves in Bjelica and Robinson off the bench. SGA and Jordan can he inserted if Guard stoppers or Rim protection was needed, but it’s unlikely either would see much if any time in this lineup. It will be a gritty series, but by my call Monstars win year one, and RTZ takes years 2 and 3 as Fox and Zion hit their prime.
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