NBA State Tourney (West - Round 2)

Kidd, Baron & Pierce battle Deron, Bosh & Shaq.

I decided to create an NBA State Tournament to see which states are producing the best players.

Do certain states excel at producing certain positions? Who’s going to win it all?

Help me decide by voting for each matchup, and we’ll crown an NBA State Champion right around the time of the NCAA Championship game.

#1 Seed

West Region

California (42 players)

Total Population = 36,553,215

Round 1: Beat Washington/ Oregon/ Alaska

PG: Jason Kidd, Gilbert Arenas, Andre Miller

SG: Baron Davis, Brent Barry

SF: Paul Pierce, Tayshaun Prince

PF: Drew Gooden, Matt Barnes, Amir Johnson

C: Tyson Chandler, Chuck Hayes

Everyone else: A. Afflalo, T. Ariza, B. Bowen, J. Childress, Jar. Collins, Jas. Collins, A. Croshere, J. Dudley, J. Farmar, J. Hart, R. Hollins, E. House, C. Jacobsen, J. Kapono, M. Madsen, D. Martin, D. McGuire, K. Ollie, S. Pollard, L. Powe, G. Pruitt, C. Smith, K. Snyder, D. Stevenson, DJ Strawberry, R. Swift, J. Vaughn, L. Walton, D. Wright, N. Young.

Crunch Time: Kidd / Baron / Pierce / Prince / Chandler

X-factors: Arenas as a backup, Prince guarding power forwards

#2 Seed

West Region

Texas (29 players)

Total Population = 23,904,380

Round 1: Beat “Everyone Else”

PG: Deron Williams, T.J. Ford

SG: Devin Brown, Daniel Gibson, Desmond Mason

SF: Rashard Lewis, Eduardo Najera

PF: Chris Bosh, LaMarcus Aldridge, Jason Maxiell

C: Shaquille O’Neal, Emeka Okafor

Everyone else: M. Baston, I. Diogu, J. Foster, G. Green, Dam. Jones, A. Law, Ken. Martin, C. Mihm, CJ Miles, K. Perkins, R. Price, Q. Ross, B. Skinner, K. Thomas, J. Voskuhl, V. Wafer, S. Williams.

Crunch Time: Deron / Brown / Lewis / Bosh / Shaq

X-factors: Shooting guard position

NBA State Tournament

Round 2

West Region

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Poll Ends: Monday, March 31st @ 11:59pm PST

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My pick: To Be Announced

I’ve decided to hold back on announcing my picks until at least 5 people have commented on who they chose and why. Here are some possible questions that you may want to address:

How would you divvy up the minutes?
Which matchups are most intriguing to you?
What are the keys for each team?

NBA State Tournament Rules: - To qualify, players must have played in at least one NBA game this season (Sorry Brand & Oden) and be on a current NBA roster. - Players are affiliated with the state they graduated High School in rather than the State born in. (Information courtesy of: Basketball-Reference.com). Key differences will be noted. - There are 16 total “Teams” separated into 4 Regions. - Teams are seeded using this formula: Total population (rounded to the nearest million) x 1/2 + Total # of current players. - Smaller states are merged together until they total 16+ active players. - Rosters of 12 are chosen for each team. - Vote for which team you think would win in a 7 game series on a neutral court. - After voting, please comment on which team you picked, how many games to win, and why.