Team Focus: Funk Coalition

It's hard NOT to build a quality team around Lebron James. He scores, he passes, he rebounds, he shoots threes, he does it all -- except block shots. Then again, with such an all around killer, does it make sense to punt half of the categories? Whether it makes sense or not, the Funk Coalition are choosing to do exactly that.

Pure shooting Michael Redd and Carmelo Anthony were the second and third picks. By passing up a quality big man here (Jermaine O'Neal was available), Jon emphasized his desire to go small ball. Since Redd and Carmelo are only three category players, sealing the other category breaches would have been very difficult.

By taking point guards Jameer Nelson, TJ Ford, Rafer Alston, and Sam Cassell in four out of the next five picks, it's small ball all the way for Funk. Fifth round pick Mehmet Okur was an interesting choice for this strategy; even considering he can hit a three per game. Okur's REB and BLK stats, as paltry as they are, could be totally wasted here.

The rest of the squad is composed of pure 3PT shooter Kyle Korver, the always tantalizing (ie. disappointing) Mike Dunleavy, and a young big man, Sean May. This team is killer in PTS and AST. They are projected to outscore the rest of the league by a wide margin, and should have enough point guards to win AST handily. Funk ranks first in PTS, AST, FT% and second overall in 3PT. Of course, they also rank dead last in FG% and TO, with REB and BLK not doing much better. The key category here could be STL, since quite a number of teams can currently out-STL Funk Coalition, which would translate into instant victory for opponents.

Best pick: Lebron James in Rd1.
Future star: none.
Steal: Sam Cassell in Rd8.
Questionable: Mehmet Okur in Rd5. He really doesn't fit in here does he?
NBA copycat: Phoenix Suns