1) albiband0 – LeBron James, Paul George, Dikembe Mutombo, Joakim Noah, Thaddeus Young, Kenneth Faried, Alvin Robertson
Intriguing bunch here. It looks like albi is keeping James in the backcourt, which is the right way to use him in order to either create an overall advantage on the boards or to allow flexibility somewhere else in the roster. Noah is that flexibility, with lackluster rebounds but great D and ast%. I’d love to see a backcourt of James and George but am guessing Thaddeus pushes George to SF. I’m not excited about the T. Young pick. Not awful, but he doesn’t bring anything notable. Faried has several nice seasons, almost all identical in terms of key stats. I don’t see how Alvin fits in. I liked the start but I don’t forecast a postseason appearance.
2) jhsukow – Wilt Chamberlain, Kyrie Irving, Christian Wood, Zion Williamson, Tobias Harris, Mitchell Robinson, Ryan Anderson
A clear emphasis on efficient scoring. Irving is a nice follow-up to Wilt. I see the rationale for every player but I think I like the Zion pick least, in part because of woeful defense but also because so many Wilt teams seem to end up short on rebounds. Teams that load up on efg% often shortchange oreb% (thank you, benhoidal), but that’s not the case here so I’ll be very curious to watch how the possession battle goes. We may be looking at some high-scoring games. I’ll take a flier on this bunch and say they squeak into the playoffs, but I don’t see a cohesive core here that carries them past the first round.
3) hoopsdude – Steph Curry, Jrue Holiday, Robert Williams, Pau Gasol, Pascal Siakam, Arvydas Sabonis, Otto Porter
This is one of several teams looking to leverage high overall efg%. I like the opening tandem of Curry and Holiday, having just run Holiday next to Wade for the title last season. Williams is a low-minutes stud but I would use him at SF where his 97% effectiveness doesn’t detract significantly from his pluses. Each of the drafted players belongs in this league but I’m seeing a lack of boards and insufficient inside presence to keep defenses from collapsing on the perimeter gunners.
4) ncih – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nikola Vucevic, Shawn Marion, Nicolas Batum, Rajon Rondo, Nikola Mirotic, George Hill
I’ve never used Kareem in this league and I won’t pretend to know how to draft around him. Vucevic might have been available in the next round…I’d rather have gone with Paul George or some other investment in offensive balance here. Vucevic is a poor defender but at least he’s a legit glass cleaner. Marion brings a lot and remains a worthy third rounder, although I don’t understand why he ranks so highly above Gerald Wallace who is now starting to go undrafted. Batum can do a lot well but I think it would have been a good gamble to count on him falling another round and grabbed Conley for better D and more floor spacing. Rondo is a nice piece…a rare PG who tends to get drafted despite his lack of 3s. Methinks no postseason dance here.
5) thomcat – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Draymond Green, Shawn Kemp, Deron Williams, Mikal Bridges, Anderson Varejao, Chris Gatling
Giannis definitely served me well last season. His couple of best seasons that, in my opinion, make him worthy of going so high in the draft are unnervingly low on minutes. Pairing him with Draymond makes for fascinating options. While I prefer on the whole to use Giannis at SF, he and Green virtually take care of assists, creating the possibility for a backcourt of efficient 3 and D guys, while providing a nice start on defensive boards and D rating. I don’t love the Kemp pick. Yes, he brings an efficient inside game as well as oreb% and defense. He’ll lead your team in mistakes, though. I get that he belongs in the third round in most ways. Maybe my lurking bias toward a sim game that errs on the side of reflecting reality tilts me toward whining that Kemp is not a “real center.” Anyway, Deron is a steal in the fourth round, but…it’s starting to look like you’re wasting money on unrealized assists. I might have gone with the by-now-undervalued Derek Harper for better D and fewer mistakes (to make up for Kemp’s proclivities). Or, what about Crash Wallace at SG to build a serious advantage on the boards? Varejao and Gatling are old standards…nice backup bigs at this cap level. You can’t do much better than Gatling as a sub for Kemp. The recent love for Mikal in this league feels like recency bias, which I have no problem with as long as we can call it what it is. His D rating in the sim is a pale imitation of his real-life impact on the court, which means that all he does for you is shoot efficiently, and that not very often.
6) tarheel1991 – Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Elton Brand, Anfernee Hardaway, Horace Grant, Pat Connaughton, Jon Konchar
Intriguing experiment. It’s a shame Jokic’s D rating tops out at 40; I honestly think he deserved at least a 60 for 21-22. I assume Jokic and Embiid start together and one of them fills in behind the other. And Jokic of course allows tremendous flexibility in rounding out the backcourt. I really like all of the first five players chosen in this league, but in my opinion Brand and Grant don’t belong on the same roster. Brand is a filthy defender and Grant is a marvelously efficient glue guy, but both are SFs in my book and slightly meh rebounders to boot. Penny is a nice addition who can go a round or so earlier if you can get your 3s elsewhere; he plays clean, can D up, and adds some FTs. tar is missing one starting guard but I’m sure he can pluck a decent role player from the undrafted basket. As for Connaughton and Konchar, I confess I had to look them up. Apparently they’re professional basketball players. Overall, I I expect this squad to struggle on the boards and end up just outside the playoffs.
7) pharrop – Michael Jordan, Karl Anthony-Towns, Marcus Camby, Brent Barry, Montrezl Harrell, Marquese Chriss, Derrick Rose
This is a combination of players I haven’t seen before. I kinda dig it. Anyone else remember when Jordan was the consensus first pick in this league? I’m assuming his most expensive season is being used because otherwise I foresee an ast% deficit. Towns and Barry bring a nice parcel of efficient threes. Helpful boards from the backcourt, and no one is a revolving door on defense. I’ll be surprised if this crew doesn’t make the playoffs.
8) gerryred – Shaquille O’Neal, Bam Adebayo, Tyson Chandler, Bobby Jones, Mike Conley, Miles Bridges, Cheick Diallo
Nice defense and efficiency overall among the starting crew. Maybe a tad light on ast%. Bam brings a lot but I would have loved to see a legit board lord next to Shaq, especially since Jones doesn’t bring much in that department. It looks like Bridges slots in at SG, where he helps with boards and 3s. Miles might be the X-factor with this crew. I’m not wowed but Shaq will beast and his teammates don’t make many mistakes. I think they fight for a playoff spot.
9) seapilots – Dwight Howard, Damian Lillard, Gary Payton, Jarrett Allen, Tom Boerwinkle, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marvin Williams
Dwight, properly used, is a monster in this league. Two of my four 52mil championship teams started with him. Lillard spaces the floor helpfully, Payton covers for Lillard on defense and takes pretty good care of the ball while he’s at it. Allen and Boerwinkle make for a funky frontcourt rotation. Boe should have gone earlier and might fit better somewhere else. Pairing a legit board lord with Howard is scary, but I’m not sure his wicked ast% was needed, his D is unimpressive, and he loses the ball a lot for someone with his low usage. Defense is not exactly worrying me but it could/should be better. I have never been able to get excited about Aldridge in this league. Either other owners see something I don’t (which certainly possible) or he's benefiting from a recency bias sheen. I can see this crew making the playoffs and maybe the second round, but I don’t think they go farther.
10) ysw128 – Karl Malone, Andre Drummond, Steve Nash, Clyde Drexler, Emeka Okafor, Jose Calderon, James Johnson
Another pretty solid move in the direction of efficient scoring. My initial impression is that the Mailman is the only defender of note. Drummond and Nash are among the very best at what they do best; still, one is an indifferent defender and the other is awful. I’m hoping the starting SF went undrafted, unless Johnson is leading a platoon there. (JJ does everything well…he’s a great glue guy at this cap level.) Calderon is a low efficiency version of Nash, down to the decimal point. I might start Okafor (a very fine 5th rounder) and bring Drummond off the bench since the efficiency drop from Malone to Emeka is risky. Overall, this crew appears to cover the bases fairly well. Clearly a stronger look on O than on D. I can’t give a confident assessment without seeing how the starting lineup rounds out. My gut inclination is that they fall just short of the postseason.
11) longtallbrad (B) – Rudy Gobert, Luka Doncic, Julius Erving, Mookie Blaylock, Tree Rollins, Kyle O’Quinn, LaMelo Ball
I still think this is a slight reach for Rudy but I just never get to pick smack in the middle of the first round. I like my opening trio, with Luka and Dr. J supplying all the offense and, between them, a good bit of everything else. Doncic is a pretty woeful defender and that may push him further into the second round in future drafts, but Mookie represents well there and gives me the rest of the 3s I need. The Blaylock pick makes me slightly nervous as he shot me out of some games the only other time I remember using him, but he won’t get that many chances behind my wings. Rollins and O’Quinn are a nice tandem at center, even though Tree may occasionally run up into the stands looking for additional people to foul. I’m taking a flier on LaMelo, and already wish I had looked harder for someone who scores more efficiently at that usage level. Still, he slots in nicely behind Doncic. I will cautiously say this could be a playoff team…maybe a good playoff team. That said, I won’t rush plans for a movie deal.
12) Midge (A) – Chris Paul, Artis Gilmore, Michael Porter, Richaun Holmes, Enes Kanter, Kevin Looney, Kevin Love
Paul seems to have cemented an identity as the best PG in the sim not named Lebron 12-13. The A Train (lauded in his day as the strongest dude in basketball) is a solid start on boards and inside D, lays on the minutes, and gives you a couple of usage tiers to choose from while scoring efficiently in the paint. MPJ and Holmes are a great tag team at the 3-spot. Porter’s insane efg%, boatload of 3s, and respectable rebounding more than make up for his middling defense. I get confused from there. Kanter can be awesome on the boards and hardly misses from inside the paint but he is an utter matador on defense. Love is a similar player but with more usage. Looney just finished a really nice season but belongs at SF in this league. Maybe Porter is slotted at SG but then you’re low on assists. The team is way light in the usage loafers unless Love is starting. Between Kanter and Love, there is going to be at least one gaping hole in the defense on each position. Maybe the starting SG hasn’t been drafted yet. I like the offensive spacing and of course the efficiency, but I don’t see the master plan yet and I can’t spot enough defense to make me say this squad will make much noise. I look forward to observing how the roster rounds out.