Wake Forest Basketball: Pick Your Dream Starting 5 for the Deacs

Remember when the “Pick Your Starting 5” lineup game was all the rage last summer? Sure you do. If you’re like me, you probably spent countless hours going over fantastical scenarios of selecting your dream team for a variety of different sports and programs. There’s a catch, of course: You can only select your starting five on a $15 budget and the better the talent, the bigger the hit you’ll take in your wallet. Some genius out there who created the first “Pick 5” found the perfect way to procrastinate at work, have fun, and second guess yourself 100+ times all in about a 10 minute span. I once caught myself a half hour in to a New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets pick’em on what was evidently a boring Tuesday. I don’t even like the Nets. So yeah, this game really is addicting.

While recently scrolling through Twitter endlessly like I do on a typical weekday, I had a realization that I had never actually seen one that was strictly Wake Forest related. There was a massive gap in the market that had to be filled, and given the fact that I had very little confidence in some random account making one for all of us to enjoy, I took it upon myself to make my own last night. In case it’s been a while since you got lost in this “Fantasy Draft” type of game, I’ll briefly go over the rules below.

1. Pick 1 player from each position on the board
2. Overall spending for your starting lineup cannot exceed $15
3. I realize some players have their position stretched a little. Wake Forest has had a lot of talented guards in its history. Spreading them out only seemed fair
4. Comment below with your Starting 5. Explanations and discussions are encouraged

And now it’s time to pick your starting lineup... All eligible players had to wear the Black and Gold from 1985-Present. The options are:

In case you don’t recognize somebody from their picture, here’s the list in text form:

PG: $5 Chris Paul, $4 Muggsy Bogues, $3 Randolph Childress, $2 Ish Smith, $1 Jeff Teague

SG: $5 Justin Gray, $4 Robert O’Kelley, $3 Bryant Crawford, $2 CJ Harris, $1 Codi Miller-McIntire

SF: $5 Rodney Rogers, $4 Josh Howard, $3 Al-Farouq Aminu, $2 James Johnson, $1 LD Williams

PF: $5 Darius Songaila, $4 John Collins, $3 Chris King, $2 Sam Ivy, $1 Travis McKie

C: $5 Tim Duncan, $4 Eric Williams, $3 Devin Thomas, $2 Kyle Visser, $1 Chas McFarland

Here is how the BSD Staff Picked:

Ned: PG: Ish Smith ($2) SG: Justin Gray ($5), SF: Al-Farouq Aminu ($3), PF: John Collins ($4), C: Chas McFarland ($1)

I have my glue-guy in Chas, my distributor in Ish, my scorers in Gray and Collins, and my versatile wing piece in Aminu. I heavily considered flipping Ish and Gray for Paul and Harris, but my irrational love for Smith took control here. Collins might feel pretty young on the squad, but he’ll get used to it as the W’s come rolling in.

Adam: PG: Randolph Childress ($3), SG: CJ Harris ($2), SF: LD Williams ($1), PF: John Collins ($4), C: Tim Duncan ($5)

I’m going to pound the ball in the paint the whole game to Duncan and Collins and play inside out. On the perimeter I have Harris and Childress, who both shot around 39% from downtown for their Wake Forest careers. I have LD Williams specifically for defense to lock down the opponent’s best perimeter player, while Duncan anchors down the paint (4 BPG for his career).

Edward: PG: Randolph Childress ($3), SG: CJ Harris ($2), SF: Josh Howard ($4), PF: Travis McKie ($1), C: Tim Duncan ($5)

Riley: PG: Jeff Teague ($1), SG: CJ Harris ($2), SF: Al-Farouq Aminu ($3), PF: John Collins ($4), C: Tim Duncan ($5)

Anonymous: PG: Chris Paul ($5), SF: Rodney Rogers ($5), C: Tim Duncan ($5), SG: You ($0), PF: Me (Also $0)

Rob: PG: Jeff Teague ($1), SG: CJ Harris ($2), SF: Al-Farouq Aminu ($3), PF: John Collins ($4), C: Tim Duncan ($5)

So now that you’ve seen our picks, who do you guys have on your Dream Demon Deacon Starting 5? Comment below and let the discussion, arguments, and “what if” scenarios begin.