I seem to be avoiding something today, so here's a first installment of unsolicited and possibly unfounded evals...
14. jkaye24 – John Stockton, Bill Russell, Klay Thompson, Kevin Love, Ryan Anderson, Hot Rod Williams, Danny Granger – I like the Stockton-Russell pairing since it provides so much flexibility in later rounds. Thompson starts to fill the offensive need, but the additions of Love and Anderson mean: a) there will be a rain of 3s but no inside scoring threat to speak of, and b) overall defense will border on subpar. Klay will fill it up at times, but starting-quality players with D and 3s and not much else are still available in the sixth round and will probably go undrafted. Anthony Davis or Chris Webber might have been more useful grabs here. This bunch has a lot going for it but they’re missing some of the needed tools to contend and probably will finish outside the playoffs.
15. dh555 – Dwyane Wade, Alonzo Mourning, Larry Nance, Mo Cheeks, Larry Sanders, Rodrigue Beaubois, Mark Eaton – Another monster D team, with oodles of blocks and scowls. Pretty light on rebounding % and no 3s whatsoever. Wade can be a colossus in this league, so I don’t love the notion of Mourning taking shots from him (even though, yes, Alonzo makes a higher percentage of the shots he takes). I’m guessing Mourning comes off the bench to back up both Sanders and Eaton, but dh may prefer the higher-usage configuration. I foresee the playoffs, but not a title this time. There’s just…something…missing.
16. carbonjones – Charles Barkley, Chauncey Billups, Rudy Gobert, Brent Barry, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Arvydas Sabonis – I like the composition of this team, even though I’m not a fan of Gasol in this league (due to lesser rebounding than I want from a big). There’s a nice inside-outside offensive dynamic going on, and the Gobert/Sabonis tag-team should work nicely despite the usage discrepancy. Billups has long been one of my sim favorites. He’ll shoot his team out of some games, but his combination of defense, FTAs (which he makes), 3s, and passing is pretty fabulous. Barry is a terrific role player. I’m rooting for this group to reach at least the second round.
17. maglor1 – DeAndre Jordan, Shawn Marion, Walt Frazier, Andrew Bynum, John Wall, Dan Roundfield, Brandon Roy – I liked the first three picks (although this was a tad high for DeAndre), but I don’t think the last four rounds brought enough firepower and consistency. Bynum’s best scoring season has lackluster defense, and Wall is a teaser due to the fact that his generally fine stats are nicked by poor shooting efficiency for someone who touches the ball a lot in this league. This team won’t get lit up a lot, but they won’t do a lot of lighting up. I’ll project this crew to miss the show, although not by much.
18. copernicus – Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Charlie Ward, Bob Lanier, Emeka Okafor, Andrew Bogut, Carmelo Anthony – This might be my favorite team out of this draft. Bird and Erving are two of the sim classics who aren’t as good here as they should be, but they complement each other nicely. Carmelo is a great choice as the first wing off the bench, and I’m liking the Okafor/Bogut tandem. Ward is like a rich man’s Steve Kerr, doing the little things that help the star teammates shine. Good defense overall, and the kind of offensive firepower that’s usually needed to make noise in the playoffs. A mild Achilles heel could be the relatively lower FTAs, but I expect good chemistry from this group.
19. vancem – Tim Duncan, Artis Gilmore, Horace Grant, Paul Pierce, Nate McMillan, Darrell Armstrong, Dan Gadzuric – I finished well out of the playoffs both times I tried building around Duncan. Brother vance will probably do a better job with him. I like the offensive spread on this team, and Grant, McMillan and Gadzuric (the right seasons, that is, which I’m sure vance will use) are three of my favorite glue guys at this cap level. I’m guessing this bunch makes it to the dance, but doesn’t go deep due to a slight lack of offensive dynamism.
20. pennsylvania – Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Bobby Jones, Mel Daniels, George Gervin, Zelmo Beaty, Ed Pinckney – I’ll say it once more, penn’s teams are usually better than I think they’ll be or should be. This one puzzles me more than some, with two high-caliber PGs but not enough assists to get an efficiency bump. penn drafts Bobby Jones more than anyone else drafts anybody. Daniels was a great fourth round pick. I’m hoping Beaty is the fifth starter rather than Gervin. I don’t really get Pinckney in this league, but I don’t need to. This team is lighter on boards and 3s than I’d like. My best guess is that this bunch just misses the playoffs, but penn frequently achieves something I don’t expect.
21. samuelyork93 –Ben Wallace, Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Jerry West, Vince Carter, Rich Kelley, Javale McGee – Two role players par excellence in the first two rounds. I’m not a Kobe fan, either in real life or in this sim, but I’ll concede he fits nicely with Big Ben and Kidd. I’d rather have West, but they don’t belong together. Carter makes three SGs in a row. Kelley would be drafted more often if he didn’t mess up a lot (he’s basically Shawn Kemp without the defense). Using Carter off the bench really helped sink my team last season. McGee I get; we see him every so often in this league. Overall, this team will be interesting to watch and boasts four defensive stalwarts, but will lose the battle of the boards several times due to the lack of a bona fide SF for this league. I’m guessing playoffs are not on the horizon this time.
22. jhsukow – Anfernee Hardaway, Kevin Garnett, Anthony Davis, Anthony Mason, Jamario Moon, Jeff Teague, JoshSmith – Penny should go in the second round, in my opinion, and Garnett probably belongs in the late first even though most of us can’t figure out how to build around him, so overall jh got good value for his first two picks. Every one of these six players belongs in the league, but I don’t get how they fit together. Garnett or Davis must be the center, but I still prefer them both at SF to create a rebounding advantage. Very good defense and decent distributed passing, and a pretty clean game overall. Maybe low on 3s, but there’s not an inside scoring monster creating a loud need to space the floor. I don’t see a guy who carries the team offensively. This squad will win some games by simply minimizing mistakes, but the first round of the playoffs is as far as I see them going.
23. banditone – Bob McAdoo, Kevin McHale, Wesley Person, Sleepy Floyd, Chris Gatling, Adrian Dantley, Dennis Scott – bandit’s teams have been getting better and better, but this one didn’t come together for me. Floyd has a season that works in this league, but he could have been available in the sixth round. Same with Gatling. McHale at PF (presumably) means a real disadvantage on the boards. This team has offensive balance and some decent defense in early rounds. Dantley has a backup season I’d use in this league, but I’m guessing he’s the fifth starter. I haven’t seen Scott drafted in a long while. Back to the lottery this season, after a nice surge to the playoffs last season.
24. eleibowitz: Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon, Chris Webber, Serge Ibaka, Andre Iguodala, Chris Andersen, Al Horford – Impressed and intimidated as I usually am by elei’s teams, I can’t figure this one out. I’ve long wanted to try pairing Pippen and Olajuwon, and Ibaka fits well with a “D first” theme. Iggy at point guard? Are there enough assists to keep the motor running? Probably, with Webber’s help, but to my mind he’s weak on the boards for a big man at this cap level. Is this a rare slow-down team? I’m intrigued, but not convinced.