Build Your Championship Starting 5 | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Build Your Championship Starting 5

$5 Okafor
$4 Bazz
$2 Karaban, Boat, Giff

Crazy value at $2.

2 point guards, 4 deadly shooters, 2 guys who can get their own shot, killer FT shooting, and the ultimate rim defender. And 2 guys who can board like a PF.

Can’t think you can do better than this. You can’t possibly double anyone ever.
 
$5 - Kemba
$1 - Ricky Moore
$1 - Roscoe
$2 - Karaban
$5 - Okafor

Give me the best PG and C in the history of the program. You are NOT going to score on us. We're going to grind you down and beat you 53-41 every game. Also, Karaban is a free square at $2 in the modern game. He spaces the floor for my center and fits into any offense.

Edit: Just realized that's only 14 and I can't count. If I were to change it I'd put Giffey in for Roscoe for some shooting. But I kind of like the original gritty lineup anyway.
 
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Had to splurge on Kemba as he can do it all. Really wanted both Rip and AJax as forwards, but as that wasn't possible, looked for the best transition guys who could both rebound and shoot 3s. So Niels and Karaban. Figured Lamb did just fine with Kemba, so he's my other guard. Leaving $3 for Jake, for his offensive rebounding.
 
Thunderbird said:
Now that we have 5 championships, we have the perfect number of championship starters for this exercise. Using an allotted $15, buy your ideal starting 5 with each UConn National Championship starter being valued from $1-$5 listed below. You can only choose one player from each position. Each player is valued as they were during their championship season (ie. 2011 Jeremy Lamb instead of 2012)

PG:
$5 - Kemba Walker
$4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$3 - Khalid El-Amin
$2 - Tristen Newton
$1 - Taliek Brown

SG:
$5 - Ben Gordon
$4 - Jordan Hawkins
$3 - Jeremy Lamb
$2 - Ryan Boatright
$1 - Ricky Moore

SF:
$5 - Rip Hamilton
$4 - Andre Jackson
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Niels Giffey (2014)
$1 - Roscoe Smith

PF:
$5 - Kevin Freeman
$4 - DeAndre Daniels
$3 - Josh Boone
$2 - Alex Karaban
$1 - Tyler Olander (2011)

C:
$5 - Emeka Okafor
$4 - Adama Sanogo
$3 - Jake Voskuhl
$2 - Alex Oriakhi
$1 - Phil Nolan

Please provide insight into your selections! Some of the decisions that went into making this list were difficult so feel free to let me know if you disagree with anyone’s value. But if anything that just means you get a steal!
Expand ...
Having not read any comments yet, Khalid and Lamb are easy picks for $3. Adding Rip for $5 over the other choices is a no brainer. Leaving $4. So with that in mind, I would take Jake and Tyler Olander to complete the squad. Maybe a little weak on the defensive side, but Jake makes up for some of that.
 
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4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$1 - Ricky Moore
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Alex Karaban
$5 - Emeka Okafor

I actually thought long and hard about this. This team has incredible balance, a game-changing PG that can create his own shot, solid defenders at both guard positions who can pressure their matchups with Mek protecting the rim, can go 4 out and isolate Mek down low, and elite 3-point shooting in Bazz/Rashad/Karaban.

This team is SOLID.
 
I have the Team:
3 from 1999 the original championship team that whooped the supposed best team ever, and 2 from 2023 that had the most dominant run.

El-Amin - True leader who exudes confidence. 3
RIP - Best scorer/ shooter. 5
Ricky - Lock down. Bargain at 1
Alex - What’s left to say about this kid. 2
Adama - Automatic on O and Tough on D. 4
 
$3 KEA
$2 Boatwright
$3 Rashad
$2 Karaban
$5 Okafor
Ball handling, shooting and swagger in the backcourt plus Boat's awesome on-ball D. Rashad and Karaban being perfect 3 and D wing shooters. Okafor dominating the paint on both ends. Fun exercise!
 
Thunderbird said:
Now that we have 5 championships, we have the perfect number of championship starters for this exercise. Using an allotted $15, buy your ideal starting 5 with each UConn National Championship starter being valued from $1-$5 listed below. You can only choose one player from each position. Each player is valued as they were during their championship season (ie. 2011 Jeremy Lamb instead of 2012)

PG:
$5 - Kemba Walker
$4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$3 - Khalid El-Amin
$2 - Tristen Newton
$1 - Taliek Brown

SG:
$5 - Ben Gordon
$4 - Jordan Hawkins
$3 - Jeremy Lamb
$2 - Ryan Boatright
$1 - Ricky Moore

SF:
$5 - Rip Hamilton
$4 - Andre Jackson
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Niels Giffey (2014)
$1 - Roscoe Smith

PF:
$5 - Kevin Freeman
$4 - DeAndre Daniels
$3 - Josh Boone
$2 - Alex Karaban
$1 - Tyler Olander (2011)

C:
$5 - Emeka Okafor
$4 - Adama Sanogo
$3 - Jake Voskuhl
$2 - Alex Oriakhi
$1 - Phil Nolan

Please provide insight into your selections! Some of the decisions that went into making this list were difficult so feel free to let me know if you disagree with anyone’s value. But if anything that just means you get a steal!
Expand ...
PG: Taliek - $1
SG: Ricky - $1
SF: Andre - $4
PF: Daniels - $4
C: Okafor - $5

This might be the most unwatchable offensive team possible at $15 but have fun scoring. Boone might be a better defender but I wanted to reach $15.

PG: Taliek - $1
SG: Hawk - $4
SF: Rip - $5
PF: Karaban - $2
C: Jake - $3

Here I put our two best off ball runners with our best screener in Jake a floor spacer in Karaban and a solid defender, leader and passer at the one.
 
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InKembaITrust said:
4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$1 - Ricky Moore
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Alex Karaban
$5 - Emeka Okafor

I actually thought long and hard about this. This team has incredible balance, a game-changing PG that can create his own shot, solid defenders at both guard positions who can pressure their matchups with Mek protecting the rim, can go 4 out and isolate Mek down low, and elite 3-point shooting in Bazz/Rashad/Karaban.

This team is SOLID.
Expand ...

I really wanted some more size at the guard spot, and there isn't much breaking down of defenders with this lineup...but it was the first one I came up with as well.

Otherwise, you can also go Okafor, Karaban, Roscoe and then have 2 scoring guards like Kemba and Boat or Bazz and Lamb.

Cripes I hate these things.
 
Yankees32123 said:
$1 - Taliek Brown

$4 - Jordan Hawkins

$5 - Rip Hamilton

$2 - Alex Karaban

$3 - Jake Voskuhl
Expand ...
Close

PG:
$1 - Taliek Brown - don’t need scoring here. Defense and passing (6.5 assists per game in 2004 and 5.4 pg for his career)

SG:
$2 - Ryan Boatright
Boat was incredibly consistent for 4 years.
38% 3 pt fg %


SF:
$5 - Rip Hamilton
Consistent scoring and the epitome of clutch.
20 ppg for career. 21.5 in 1999


PF:
$2 - Alex Karaban
I’ll take Alex’s passing and shooting and save a few bucks here.


C:
$5 - Emeka Okafor
17.6 ppg in 2004
11.6 rbg in 2004
4.1 blocks per game in 2004!
Emeka was such a force
 
Ricky Moore is a steal at a $1. He could bring ball up against pressure and his defense is legendary... "The Dragon Slayer"!
I'd take Newton at $2. He was stuffing the stat sheet again in the championship game and his TO's could be lowered playing with Ricky.
I'd take RIP at $5. He can score at every level.
Karaban is my 4 for $2. Great complimentary player.
Which allows me to get Okafor as well. He was dominant at both ends. I like Sanogo a lot, but Okafor is more athletic and he had the ability to protect the room and his defense often led to fast breaks. I hope he teaches DC how to block shots and keep them in play.
 
rip81 said:
PG: $1 - Taliek Brown
SG: $2 - Ryan Boatright
SF: $5 - Rip Hamilton
PF: $2 - Alex Karaban
C: $5 - Emeka Okafor
Expand ...
Yup this is where I landed. Think Taliek is way better than the other 1s outside maybe Ricky, so started there to afford multiple 5s. Think Karaban is not far off from any of the PFs and a lot better than the 1, so he was an easy inclusion, too.

So then the options were

Rip, Emeka, Boatright
Rip, Ben, and Oriakhi
Ben, Emeka, Giffey

Think Rip and Emeka are better than Ben and also Boatright is clearly better than Giffey and on the same level (maybe slightly worse) than Oriakhi. So think Rip, Emeka, Boatright is the combo of choice.
 
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I'm using foreign exchange rate to build a team with eight players. Everyone gets some rest, and will run any of your teams into the ground.

$5 Emeka Okafor

$3 - Jake Voskuhl

$.0002 - Adama Sanogo ($5 in Mali currency)
$.5 USD Amida Brimah ($5 in Ghana currency)
$.33 USD Kentan Facey ($5 in Jamaican currency)
$.002 USD Hasheem Thabeet ($5 in Tanzania currency)
$3 USD Denham Brown ($5 Canadian)
$3 USD Justin Brown ($5 Australian)

Actually, for $5 USD I could pack the stands with people from Mali, Ghana, and Tanzania, and have enough left for free beer night.
 
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temery said:
I'm using foreign exchange rate to build a team with eight players. Everyone gets some rest, and will run any of your teams into the ground.

$5 Emeka Okafor

$3 - Jake Voskuhl

$.0002 - Adama Sanogo ($5 in Mali currency)
$.5 USD Amida Brimah ($5 in Ghana currency)
$.33 USD Kentan Facey ($5 in Jamaican currency)
$.002 USD Hasheem Thabeet ($5 in Tanzania currency)
$3 USD Denham Brown ($5 Canadian)
$3 USD Justin Brown ($5 Australian)

Actually, for $5 USD I could pack the stands with people from Mali, Ghana, and Tanzania, and have enough left for free beer night.
Expand ...
For $0.0235 you could've added Antric Klaiber. For $0.011, you could've added Charles Okwandu. Even better, for $0.085 you could have Souleymane Wane.

Btw, Denham Brown would cost you $3.70 and Justin Brown $3.35. So you've actually spent $16.05.
 
PG:
$5 - Kemba Walker

SG:
$1 - Ricky Moore

SF:
$2 - Niels Giffey (2014)

PF:
$2 - Alex Karaban

C:
$5 - Emeka Okafor

I like this because 2011 is represented with Kemba, 1999 with Moore, 2023 with Karaban, Giffey with 2014 and 2004 with Emeka. Okafor is the ultimate rim protector and Kemba is the perfect "I will take the team on my back" leader.

As a 6th man if I am allowed an extra 2 or 3 bucks I might take Anderson or Lamb.

This gets me to thinking, I think a starting 5 that included kemba and El-Amin would be very intriguing (though even if they were of the sam age, unlikely), wonder how that would work.
 
temery said:
Maybe, but I'm using the value of dollars from the years they played.
Expand ...
If that's the case, then I'm taking Rip for $2.75!

1680862402777.png
 
Interesting question for those who have picked their first 5, if you are given 18 dollars instead of 15 to choose a 6th man, who do you add as your 6th man?
 
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PG Chris Smith / Kemba / Ricky Moore / Shabaz / Ryan Boatright
SG Ray Allen / Jeremy Lamb/ Ben Gordon / Jerome Dyson /Tony Robertson
SF Caron / Rip /Rudy Gay / Stanley Robinson / Nadav
PF Donnelly Marshall / Jeff Adrien / Freeman / Gavin Edwards / Karaban
C Emeka / Adama /Clingan / Boone / Voskul
6th men
Rasheed Anderson
John Gwynn
Charlie Villanueva
Niles Giffey
Joey C
fatlucy said:
You left out many of my favorites.
Expand ...
 
Based on values you’ve provided I would mix it up by those for my team:

I want the absolute 2 best players on the board in Rip and Emeka. So there’s 10. I would take the value of Taliek and Ricky for 1pt each for their defense but need one more scorer for 3 pts so I’m ripping off the 2gs and taking Lamb as well. I like that team. Screw the PFs for their value I go small.
 
Travelman32 said:
Interesting question for those who have picked their first 5, if you are given 18 dollars instead of 15 to choose a 6th man, who do you add as your 6th man?
Expand ...

The entire country of Burundi.
 
Thunderbird said:
Now that we have 5 championships, we have the perfect number of championship starters for this exercise. Using an allotted $15, buy your ideal starting 5 with each UConn National Championship starter being valued from $1-$5 listed below. You can only choose one player from each position. Each player is valued as they were during their championship season (ie. 2011 Jeremy Lamb instead of 2012)

PG:
$5 - Kemba Walker
$4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$3 - Khalid El-Amin
$2 - Tristen Newton
$1 - Taliek Brown

SG:
$5 - Ben Gordon
$4 - Jordan Hawkins
$3 - Jeremy Lamb
$2 - Ryan Boatright
$1 - Ricky Moore

SF:
$5 - Rip Hamilton
$4 - Andre Jackson
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Niels Giffey (2014)
$1 - Roscoe Smith

PF:
$5 - Kevin Freeman
$4 - DeAndre Daniels
$3 - Josh Boone
$2 - Alex Karaban
$1 - Tyler Olander (2011)

C:
$5 - Emeka Okafor
$4 - Adama Sanogo
$3 - Jake Voskuhl
$2 - Alex Oriakhi
$1 - Phil Nolan

Please provide insight into your selections! Some of the decisions that went into making this list were difficult so feel free to let me know if you disagree with anyone’s value. But if anything that just means you get a steal!
Expand ...
I think I'm going...

Kemba
Ricky
Niels
Alex
Emeka

Karaban at $2 is sort of a no brainer since the PF is the position lacking a true "star"...that gap between the $5 option and the $2 option is the smallest. Can sacrifice offense at the SG position when you have Kemba running the point with two shooters at the forwards. Niels and Alex both terrific ball movers/floor spacers and having Emeka sitting in the paint covers up any defensive deficiencies (although both guys I believe to be underrated defensively and you have a tremendous perimeter defender at the SG position here).
 
Thunderbird said:
Now that we have 5 championships, we have the perfect number of championship starters for this exercise. Using an allotted $15, buy your ideal starting 5 with each UConn National Championship starter being valued from $1-$5 listed below. You can only choose one player from each position. Each player is valued as they were during their championship season (ie. 2011 Jeremy Lamb instead of 2012)

PG:
$5 - Kemba Walker
$4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$3 - Khalid El-Amin
$2 - Tristen Newton
$1 - Taliek Brown

SG:
$5 - Ben Gordon
$4 - Jordan Hawkins
$3 - Jeremy Lamb
$2 - Ryan Boatright
$1 - Ricky Moore

SF:
$5 - Rip Hamilton
$4 - Andre Jackson
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Niels Giffey (2014)
$1 - Roscoe Smith

PF:
$5 - Kevin Freeman
$4 - DeAndre Daniels
$3 - Josh Boone
$2 - Alex Karaban
$1 - Tyler Olander (2011)

C:
$5 - Emeka Okafor
$4 - Adama Sanogo
$3 - Jake Voskuhl
$2 - Alex Oriakhi
$1 - Phil Nolan

Please provide insight into your selections! Some of the decisions that went into making this list were difficult so feel free to let me know if you disagree with anyone’s value. But if anything that just means you get a steal!
Expand ...
Thanks for starting this thread. I was playing around with different roster combinations in my head earlier. I will have to get back to you on this. I always find this "mini basketball fantasy roster building" very fun, but also quite the exercise for the brain, too, which I can appreciate.

Damn, I need to get back to work, LOL ;)
 
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