I'm a big fan of the Marion/Big Ben start...interested to see where you go next.

I feel pretty lousy about my Kobe pick, but given that all the bigs I had wanted were gone, I wanted an outstanding guard. The two others I considered went right after.

I agree with most of what 'Heel said.  Here is where I differ:

In draft, no matter the cap, the goal in the first round is to get somebody who is easy to build around.  You want that first pick to give you extreme flexibility later.  Obviously this guy needs to have very few minor weaknesses, but almost as important is the position it puts you in later.  And few things put you in a comfortable position later like having a big chunk of your usage knocked out.  A tier 1 or tier 2 guy is extremely valuable early, because now you don't have to wait and wonder.  If this guy does other things like Lebron, who gives you great boards in the backcourt, plenty of threes, a very reasonable tov%, lot of ftas, good defense, low fouls, good assists, (do I really need to go on?), or Shaq (fta monster, decent boards, low tov%, good defense), you've got a slam dunk pick.  And that's what you should be shooting for early...

Let me continue this.  Lebron gives you (in every season except 2, and the ones you'll like use qualify) a tier 1 usage guy.  That's 8 points.  Now you don't have to wonder if you'll have to pass up a low-usage board hoarder in favor of someone who has a little higher usage but lower rebounds.  Now you have complete freedom to draft the best player available.  That's what drafting high usage early gives you.

Of course, you don't want to draft a dud with high usage and cripple yourself, so if that guy isn't available, you pick someone else to put yourself in a good position later.  A guy like Moses gives you great boards for 3400 minutes and efg% of 54% with a tier-3 usage guy all in one... who can play PF & C at 100%.  The only problem here is that Moses isn't going to be the cornerstone of your offense... his usage is too low to do that.  So you're paying more than $10M for a guy that's going to be your second or third banana.  That's fine... it just puts you in a situation later where you have to take some higher usage guys (which will be available) when some better lower usage guys might fit better.  That's why I take a guy like Howard (27.4% usage - tier 2) over him.  He puts me in an easier situation to draft later.

I value Moses more than Kareem & Shaq despite the usage that I just brought up because the fact that he is an elite rebounder on top of the good offense he brings you... well... it's hard to find 44% creb% guys that play good defense... it's even harder to find them that shoot 54% from the field and get to the line as much as he does (and does well there).

By contrast, a guy like Rodman... he's bottom tier usage.  You KNOW you have to draft offense later.  But you're in an extremely flexible position because you have the best rebounder in the sim.  Period.  And he can play either the 3 or the 4.  You'll most likely want to use him at the 3 to maintain your board advantage, but you have the opportunity to do things later.  He makes it easier on you to draft every other pick here on out.

And, again, that's what I find most important in the whole process... if after every pick the next pick gets more difficult to make (as in fewer guys available that will work), you're doing something wrong.  At the same time, you want to have an idea of where you are going to go, but it's important to keep the idea of where you CAN go as wide as possible.


So let's take a look at my team... I've got the Mailman & Mr. Big Shot.  Mailman can be a PF or C, and is either a tier 1 or tier 2 usage guy.  I have 3 seasons narrowed down to use, each one something I like more than the others.  It really depends on who is available to me later if I end up using the tier 2 season (92-93... it's such a nice, nice season) or if I go with one of the tier 1 ones (89-90, which is godly, or the 96-97, which is even godlier in many respects but not as good at getting to the line or scoring in the paint, which I is a big part of my particular strategy).  All three of these seasons have an efg% of 55% or higher, defense of 70 or more, and have a creb% of greater than 31% (which is low).

Now Billups is either a 1 or a 2... good defense, low turnovers, high ast%, gets to the line a ton, shoots a ton of 3s (which combined causes pain for the opponent... especially if you have a paint monster), low fouls, and is most likely going to be a tier 3 usage player for me (I *might* use a tier 4 season, but doubt it).  So in just two picks, I already have a minimum of 8 but most likely 12 usage points.

I no longer have to worry about if the guy I'm getting will give me the usage I need.  Now I'm looking at taking the best available...

...which is good because I'm extremely light on the boards.  I took a gamble that the guy I want to play center will still be there for me in round 3.  I also have a couple of guys that could work, so hopefully one of them will be there if he's not.  If that doesn't work out for me, then I'll have to take a board hoarder that fouls and doesn't play defense, which sucks, but that's just the way it goes sometimes.  Guess what?  There are a TON of those guys out there.  I am set up to draft role playing specialists the rest of the way, which I like better than having to try and find that guy with the right combination of usage & efg% later on... because that is really hard.

Your center will not be there ash...I know what you are thinking and I am going to get him first.

Do you?

Do you really?

Pierce was a great pick.  I almost took him.  50% efg% at 29% usage always brings up serious questions for me, but with the amount of other stuff he gives you, it makes up for it.

I agree with basically everything you're saying - I don't really think we differ too much in philosophy. I didn't mean to imply that you shouldn't take usage early, just that you should only get it if it comes with elite efficiency. Shaq, Howard, and Mailman are all guys that should be gone in the top 15, for sure. 

And I agree that the best result early is flexibility - but that's just the flip side of what I said (that you have to get either a guy that does a ton of things well or a guy that does a couple things amazingly well). The first type (best demonstrated by Lebron) gives you flexibility cause he has no weaknesses and you can really take anybody...the second type (Rodman) does a couple things so well that you can take other guys who are weak in those areas that you might not otherwise take.

The only place I really disagree is your last paragraph. By taking two guys with light boards for their positions, you've forced yourself to take guys with weaknesses later - board lords that foul a lot and (maybe) don't play good defense too. You'll still get a good player and have a good team, but I bet I will too after taking much less usage (in Marion and Wallace) in the first couple rounds. I don't think I'm any more restricted by needing high usage with good efficiency - like you, I might have to take a guy with weaknesses (some combo of high turnovers, low boards/assists, high fouls, low defense), but there are plenty of guys with efficient usage out there who will go later or won't get drafted.

one thing that I don't like about my team now (which is also unusual for my teams) is that I don't have any assists after two rounds. Actually the main PG I was targeting was Deron Williams...and then Malone swooped in for him. He never goes this early! Guess we might be collectively done with ignoring him for too long.

I'd rather have a guy that grabs boards and fouls too much than a medium/high usage guy that isn't as great offensively as someone I could have drafted earlier.  That comes down to preference.  You definitely have a great building block with Big Ben & Matrix.

And ideally, I would have had Kidd at PG, but I knew he wasn't dropping.  Pippen was someone I thought might.

believe it or not, I was strongly considering pairing Kidd and Wallace, potentially the lowest-usage start in league history, and then loading up on usage guys from there. It was a tough choice between the two for my first pick, as well, so we'll see how it turns out.

I almost did that 2 drafts ago when I took Kidd in round 1.  Was just too much worry about who was going to be shooting the ball for me to consider doing that.

updated thru, banditone

I thought that maybe everyone had forgotten about Deke since he normally goes late 1/early 2.  I almost took him in round 2, but his best season (imo) had its defense nerfed to 70-something... which just really set me off.

Loved the Mutombo pick, but I would've loved it more if I had made it two slots later.  What a great pickup at #45.  Couple that with Lebron at #4, and I like sappy's team a ton so far.