So far, I've had / am having success in OLs, but I think I'm ready to jump into themes now. I wanted to get some feedback from the veteran theme league players, first, though.

So...any of the following would be great:

Themes you guys like/dislike?

Themes/people to look for/avoid for a good league?

Any tips for putting together a theme league team (as opposed to an OL team)?

Anything else I should know about theme leagues that I wouldn't have gleaned from OL play?

Thanks!

My advice:

1.  Find a theme that seems fun.  This can be the right theme mixed with the right people.

2.  Find a theme the breeds creativity.  These stupid themes that have caps over 57 Mil are useless.  I prefer themes that are 52 Mil and lower.  A guy who has since left the site used to complain that every cap was too high and we came up with an idea for a 20 mil cap league.  I think we did like 5 seasons or more of this league.

3.  Draft about 19300 minutes and a good amount of threes.  I will let you figure out that number.  

4.  Get more assists and rebounds (look at 70% assist 40% oreb and 100% dreb is good for the low end) than you think are reasonable and target 12.5-16.5 points of usage.  Especially when caps in the 48 Mil range and over.  

5.  Do not ignore the bench, and look to have a team that is reasonably 8 deep.

6.  Draft the 12-13 LeBron and 66-67 Wilt when ever the theme allows.  

7.  Defense is important, but make it a part of the premium players you draft.

8.  Fouls can wreck your team more than almost everything.  Drafting a 3200 minute Olajuwon may only give you 3000 minutes due to the world of foul trouble you experience.  If you are in an exclusive theme and you have Olajuwon that likely means you will have to deal with competitors that have Wilt, Robinson, Shaq, Howard, Mcadoo, and Moses and Karl Malone that will draw huge amounts of fouls against a hack happy Dream.  Account for the lost minutes somewhere.

9.  There are people in these leagues that can be irritating, but most people are pretty cool.  Ignore or jab the hell out of those you don't like (your choice), but it is still worth it.  Most people are pretty awesome, and since themes where the best players are (and the most competitive too) this is where you come to get the most out of the sim.  OL players typically play the same crap time after time and talk about having a great rating.  Rating is BS.  I have taken over more dead in the water teams in progressive leagues than I can count, and I tend to try stupid experiments, but ultimately I have fun.

10.  Again, have fun and have thick skin.  Oh and prepare to lose some.  I was in the top 10 on the list of most wins, no championships.  I took some time to learn what the best players were doing and the type of team I like to run.  I love high rebounding, good assists, solid efg teams.  My teams usually run high on fouls and turnovers and I can often over shoot usage by a little.  I also have teams with a poor foul draw rate compared to many others, and when our draw rates are good our free throw percentages are poor.  

I cosign every single thing malone just said.

I agree with malone on most counts, with the exception of salery, I prefer high cap leagues but join any from $47M to unlimited. I see your bench as one of the main differences between OL's and theme leagues. A low cap theme league is still $47M, That extra $5M is best spent on your bench players. I see a lot  of owner bring great defense in their first five and terrible defense on their bench. I think the strongest teams in theme league take care of biz'ness on the bench. GL

thisredbox I've played you in the OL's and think you'll do fine and be a welcome addition to the theme leagues. malone is right about having tough skin and your owner rating will suffer for awhile..but it's well worth it. lol

about every word Malone just said especially number 10... I wish you good luck redbox! I am sure we'll meet in a theme!

Thanks to all you guys - especially malone. :) It's heartening to get helpful feedback from people who are genuinely trying to help (not just one owner, but the sim-ian community as a whole). 

I might start looking at some theme leagues tonight. Can someone give me a quick rundown of what progressive and regressive leagues are? I've heard these bandied about elsewhere.

I think one/both of these have to do with dynasty-type leagues...where people have keepers and draft picks (as someone mentioned before - some teams will stink for a couple of seasons to load up?). If someone could clarify that would be super. Maybe I have this wrong, though. Are there even leagues that do that (allow you to maintain mostly the same roster from year to year and add "draft picks" or some such)?

Thanks again guys! :)

(and thanks for the vote of confidence, smokey. :) )

(and thanks to tanguma and ash, too. :) )

Posted by thisredbox on 7/21/2013 6:55:00 PM (view original):
Thanks to all you guys - especially malone. :) It's heartening to get helpful feedback from people who are genuinely trying to help (not just one owner, but the sim-ian community as a whole). 

I might start looking at some theme leagues tonight. Can someone give me a quick rundown of what progressive and regressive leagues are? I've heard these bandied about elsewhere.

I think one/both of these have to do with dynasty-type leagues...where people have keepers and draft picks (as someone mentioned before - some teams will stink for a couple of seasons to load up?). If someone could clarify that would be super. Maybe I have this wrong, though. Are there even leagues that do that (allow you to maintain mostly the same roster from year to year and add "draft picks" or some such)?

Thanks again guys! :)

(and thanks for the vote of confidence, smokey. :) )

(and thanks to tanguma and ash, too. :) )

Progressive leagues "progress" or go forward from year to year, i.e., if a league starts with the 1980-81 NBA season, then it's second season would be 81-82, and so on.

Regressive leagues "regress" or go backward in time. So if the league started with the 1980-81 NBA season, then the second season would be 79-80.

My advice is for you is to select the "view posts for the last year" option in the classifieds section, then look at previous postings for more specific rules about various leagues. GL.

Thanks! :)

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