Posted by dh555 on 12/30/2020 6:51:00 PM (view original):
id say its pretty clear after 3 savage seasons that pex and dbkc are in a tier by themselves...very impressive

id say its also pretty clear that i was wrong about the big 3 ban...mike has like 3 or 4 52 titles with wilt and is 20th

For now! I'm already working out kinks for s4. I was sad sack earlier today when I saw that a buzzer beater against dbkfuckingc kept me from getting all-5 in, but now I'm determined to work some **** out.

And yeah, no reason to ban the big 3. Except maybe Lebron's Miami years. That would be the only thing I would consider, and I wouldn't even put up a poll about it until someone actually wins the crown with him.

(god help us if dbkc or pex gets him)

Posted by ashamael on 12/30/2020 2:54:00 PM (view original):

Posted by robusk on 12/30/2020 2:49:00 PM (view original):

Posted by ashamael on 12/30/2020 2:43:00 PM (view original):
Well, I was a John Collins buzzer beater (against a load managing dbkc team) away from having all five teams in the playoffs. Pretty sure that would have put me third (before division lead bonuses anyway, of which I have none).

I’m pretty disgusted with how this season went. My best team got into the best division of all time, a division where literally five of the six teams are championship quality, would be 55 or 60 win teams in a normal division division; my second best team was just dominated by Harden, and the rest I was hoping were just good enough to contend for a playoff spot and they lived down to those expectations.

These three savages have convinced me of several things, and the next one will likely be my last. I have one more trick to try before riding off into that sunset as a defeated and disheveled has been.

Pacific W4 was only five games back from that division. It was a brutal ******* grind all season.

But Midwest W3.... off.

I had a team in the 2nd toughest and 5th toughest division. Made the playoffs in both but losing the tie breaker for division in one and nowhere near the top in the other.

tarheel winning that many games despite having the toughest division draw of all the owners in really impressive.

Anyway, you have to keep playing as long as I do.

Is the reverse true as well?

Obviously.

Posted by longtallbrad on 12/30/2020 2:51:00 PM (view original):

Posted by robusk on 12/30/2020 2:28:00 PM (view original):

Posted by longtallbrad on 12/30/2020 10:04:00 AM (view original):

Posted by dBKC on 12/29/2020 10:53:00 AM (view original):
Super quiet. Everyone have a good holiday? Anyone have any SAVAGE thoughts?

Nothing savage whatsoever, but important updates. I managed to overcrisp a batch of cider donuts yesterday, but redeemed myself by making a wicked good Thai green curry. My Nuggets are off to an anemic start but Jokic looks like the business. In other news, my little dog is growling menacingly at some mysterious, distant disturbance in the force.

What did you do for the curry?

I had no idea you were a Nuggets fan. I assumed Wizards. How did that happen?

I've been living in the DC area for twenty years but I grew up in Colorado.

I'm trying to remember what went in the sauce. Green bell pepper, scallion, red onion, lots of Thai basil and cilantro, jalapeno, Thai green chili, and fish sauce...I think I'm forgetting a couple items but could check the list. I threw all that in a blender, then simmered it in a pan with coconut milk for a while, then added a bunch of steamed vegetables and served it over rice. I confess it was delicious.

Sounds amazing man. I wish I could make it more but my wife and I are on polar opposites when it comes to heat. And my daughter breaks the tie in my wife’s favor.

Anyway, you have to keep playing as long as I do.

Is the reverse true as well?

Obviously.

ALBI EVAL
Executive Summary and Team Construction –

You are really close Albi... a lot closer than you may think. One or two changes and this draft would be a contender for the podium. You did a good job drafting usage early and focusing on building two contending teams. You misplayed Elton on your non-playoff teams, and played him correctly on your contending teams. In my world, Kyrie and Alvin are your PGs. Battier and Cooper are your SGs (some SG minutes at 98% for Giannis). Elton and Giannis your SFs. No Reggie, Kyle O’Quinn instead. So your bigs are Giannis (2 seasons), O’Quinn, Kanter, Yao, Varejao (instead of Johnson), Valanciunas (instead of Roundfield) with certain seasons of Bradley. That’s 4-5 teams in playoffs and fighting for 2 chips.

Draft -

Giannis Antekounmpo - Giannis should be drafted anywhere from 8^th to 12^th depending on what you value, so for you to get him at 8th is in the early range of acceptable placement. (he went 15^th to Pharrop in the 2nd season which was a steal) With his new MVP season 19-20 available I can imagine he was too tempting to pass up. And he’s a passing big man, which I love because it gives you so much flexibility with guards later. With Giannis you get 2 seasons to try to win a chip at PF (’19 and ’20), 2 seasons to try to win a chip with him at SF (’17 and ’18), and one season that makes it difficult to get all 5 teams in the playoffs (’16) that might even be best to play at SG. So when you draft a guy like Giannis (Steph falls into this category too), you’re pretty much locking into the overall strategy of 2-4 dominant teams to try to win a chip in 2. You drafted the right 5 seasons (surprised if you hadn’t) and are using them in the right positions. 2 PF, and 3 SF. Because you drafted Brand next who is also best played at SF, it may have made sense to play Giannis (’16 and ’17) more minutes at SG rather than have Brand with minutes at PF, and then instead of drafting another guard later you could draft another big man.

Elton Brand - You drafted the right 5 seasons of Elton, but I don’t think you’re using 3 of them correctly. I think of Elton as a SF (probably because in normal leagues I only ever draft his two best seasons which are 100% at SF). Elton doesn’t have enough DREB in any season for me to use him at PF. You’re starting Elton as a PF in 3 leagues, which I think is a mistake. If you were drafting a PF/C with your 2^nd pick then I might have considered Dikembe or Drummond instead. If you were drafting a SF here, then I’d prob take Marion over Elton. That way, of the 10 seasons drafted in the first two picks, only 2 will be used at PF (Giannis ’19 and ’20) and the other 8 seasons (Giannis and either Brand/Marion) will be used at SF with 3 of those seasons having some minutes at SG. This draft choice isn’t a miss because he has 5 usable seasons, but for how you’re using him there were better choices. That said, I like that you paired Elton’s two best seasons at SF ’06 and ’07 with Giannis two best season’s at PF ’19 and ’20. Easy to see why those are your two best performing teams. You’ve given yourself a chance to win two leagues with the proper pairing of your 1^st and 2^nd round picks.

Kyrie Irving - Your strategy to try to focus on winning with 2 teams is becoming evident with this pick, pairing Kyrie’s two best seasons ’18 and ’19 with Elton and Giannis’ two best seasons as well. I like this strategy, it’s one of the two ways to win the crown. However, I’m not crazy about this pick though, because I think there were better choices out there in Robert Parish and Gerald Wallace. I feel like you were determined to take a PG with this pick, and took the one with the two best seasons. Kyrie’s quality falls off after his two best seasons so you’re sacrificing your other 3 teams records.

Alvin Robertson – Taking Alvin in the 4^th round is early. He’s a 5^th round pick in both prior seasons. But I’m not mad at the pick because he gives 5 usable seasons. You didn’t draft all his best season’s though. ’86, ’90, and ’91 are his 3 best seasons and you put two of those on your 2 best teams, so you got the important part right. Drafting ’88 is a mistake, more usage with lower efg% is not what you want, better to go with ’85 or ’89.

Dan Roundfield – This is not a 5^th round pick. You could have gotten Roundfield in the 7^th or 8^th round, which means you could have gotten Jonas Valanciunas here. Jonas gives fewer minutes, but better quality. Roundfield is a good player though with 4 usable seasons in 79 through 82, all of which you chose.

Enes Kanter – This is a good pickup who gives you usable minutes on all 5 teams, and you used the right 5 seasons. And you didn’t get him too early either. His two best seasons are ’18 and ’20, which you put on your 2 best teams, reinforcing that 2 championship team strategy. A+

Reggie Miller - This is not a pick I would make. With Giannis, Elton, Kyrie, Kanter… you don’t need to draft a scorer here…and Reggie provides little else. You could have taken Roundfield here, or Kyle O’Quinn which would be an even better choice. And taking another big man in this spot pushes Elton to SF more as previously mentioned.

Michael Cooper – This is an OK pick, certainly not a miss. I think of Cooper as a 9^th or 10^th rounder even though he also went 8^th round last draft. He does give you usable minutes across at least 4 seasons. I would have chosen his ’83 season over his ’86 season though.

George T. Johnson – Another OK pick, but you didn’t choose his 5 best seasons. There were better big men available in Biyombo and Varejao. Not crazy about his ’79 and ’82 seasons, these are unusable IMO… would have preferred ’74 and ’76.

Yao Ming – This is a good pickup for 10^th round. Surprised he was still available, and probably should have gone earlier.

Shane Battier – I like this pick, but exclusively at SG. This is a good example of why getting your usage early allows you to get good players in later rounds that other owners have to pass up because they can’t afford to take on low usage. If he had 20% usage, he’d be a 6th to 8th round pick, but you got him in 11^th round cause he kept getting passed by for low usage and low assists.

Shawn Bradley – This is actually a good pickup to spot fill center minutes in certain seasons. He has 3 seasons that are usable in ’01 (good), ’99 (better), and ’03 (best). And you used his 2 best seasons on your 2 best teams. His ’95 and ’96 seasons aren’t usable and should be benched.

Posted by robusk on 12/30/2020 9:42:00 PM (view original):

Posted by longtallbrad on 12/30/2020 2:51:00 PM (view original):

Posted by robusk on 12/30/2020 2:28:00 PM (view original):

Posted by longtallbrad on 12/30/2020 10:04:00 AM (view original):

Posted by dBKC on 12/29/2020 10:53:00 AM (view original):
Super quiet. Everyone have a good holiday? Anyone have any SAVAGE thoughts?

Nothing savage whatsoever, but important updates. I managed to overcrisp a batch of cider donuts yesterday, but redeemed myself by making a wicked good Thai green curry. My Nuggets are off to an anemic start but Jokic looks like the business. In other news, my little dog is growling menacingly at some mysterious, distant disturbance in the force.

What did you do for the curry?

I had no idea you were a Nuggets fan. I assumed Wizards. How did that happen?

I've been living in the DC area for twenty years but I grew up in Colorado.

I'm trying to remember what went in the sauce. Green bell pepper, scallion, red onion, lots of Thai basil and cilantro, jalapeno, Thai green chili, and fish sauce...I think I'm forgetting a couple items but could check the list. I threw all that in a blender, then simmered it in a pan with coconut milk for a while, then added a bunch of steamed vegetables and served it over rice. I confess it was delicious.

Sounds amazing man. I wish I could make it more but my wife and I are on polar opposites when it comes to heat. And my daughter breaks the tie in my wife’s favor.

This is how the food dynamic works in my family too. I'd love to make more Thai curries, but my wife hates anything spicy (and also cilantro). And the 4-year-old doesn't like anything spicy either. So the only curry I can make at home is sort of take on a Massaman curry. I use Thai yellow curry seasoning, plus some additional cardamom and cinnamon, with tomato paste, peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, and either brown sugar or maple syrup. Usually make with onions, carrot, and sweet potato, and sometimes add chicken. Very tasty but I'd like more heat.

I keep a variety of dried chili’s on hand to make little accompanying sauces to put on stuff because the girls just aren’t having it.

My three year old is so annoying to feed. I take it as a personal affront when I feel like I have concocted the perfect dish that I know she will eat and then she takes a hard pass. So unpredictable from one day to the next.

Posted by robusk on 12/30/2020 2:49:00 PM (view original):

Posted by ashamael on 12/30/2020 2:43:00 PM (view original):
Well, I was a John Collins buzzer beater (against a load managing dbkc team) away from having all five teams in the playoffs. Pretty sure that would have put me third (before division lead bonuses anyway, of which I have none).

I’m pretty disgusted with how this season went. My best team got into the best division of all time, a division where literally five of the six teams are championship quality, would be 55 or 60 win teams in a normal division division; my second best team was just dominated by Harden, and the rest I was hoping were just good enough to contend for a playoff spot and they lived down to those expectations.

These three savages have convinced me of several things, and the next one will likely be my last. I have one more trick to try before riding off into that sunset as a defeated and disheveled has been.

Pacific W4 was only five games back from that division. It was a brutal ******* grind all season.

But Midwest W3.... off.

I had a team in the 2nd toughest and 5th toughest division. Made the playoffs in both but losing the tie breaker for division in one and nowhere near the top in the other.

tarheel winning that many games despite having the toughest division draw of all the owners in really impressive.

Anyway, you have to keep playing as long as I do.

Yeah I had a much better team this time around, IMO, but similar results to Savage 2 (so far) because in Savage 2 I got a super easy division draw (and did nothing with it) and this time I had a really tough one. Very happy to have the best record in two leagues with my two best teams; the other three teams were all disappointing to various degrees. #3 rallied and snuck into the playoffs after a lineup change that shouldn't have made much difference but somehow did; #4 got drawn into the division of death and squashed my hopes of it being sneaky good (though I somehow had a winning record in the division and got crushed by the rest of the league); and #5, which I knew would be the worst, was just awful all the way. (I was hoping for 35 wins or so and ended up with 23.)

Hoping to make some noise in the playoffs with the two #1 seeds. It would be a pretty big choke job if neither makes the finals.

Posted by robusk on 12/30/2020 10:49:00 PM (view original):
I keep a variety of dried chili’s on hand to make little accompanying sauces to put on stuff because the girls just aren’t having it.

My three year old is so annoying to feed. I take it as a personal affront when I feel like I have concocted the perfect dish that I know she will eat and then she takes a hard pass. So unpredictable from one day to the next.

Ditto, but that's just how they are. My four-year-old doesn't even like mashed potatoes, which are usually like every kid's favorite food.

I think I read that kids usually have to taste a new food like 10-20 times to get a taste for it?

Heya, Pex. I'm digging going thru your evals. Just putting it out that I'm open to any of my WIS teams being eval'd at any point. So, if you find yourself with a 15 min boredom lull, I'm cool with some constructive criticism like you just gave Albi.
Whenever I feel qualified, I'm open to doing evals in the future. It'll hit on the good and bad. Occasionally, I might take shots at certain players, but that will have no effect on how well I think they'll perform, or how well the team was drafted.

Posted by tarheel1991 on 12/30/2020 10:52:00 PM (view original):

Posted by robusk on 12/30/2020 10:49:00 PM (view original):
I keep a variety of dried chili’s on hand to make little accompanying sauces to put on stuff because the girls just aren’t having it.

My three year old is so annoying to feed. I take it as a personal affront when I feel like I have concocted the perfect dish that I know she will eat and then she takes a hard pass. So unpredictable from one day to the next.

Ditto, but that's just how they are. My four-year-old doesn't even like mashed potatoes, which are usually like every kid's favorite food.

I think I read that kids usually have to taste a new food like 10-20 times to get a taste for it?

Yeah I heard the same thing. My kid is either the exception to the rule or the rule is bullshit though.

S3 was a disaster. I thought I was learning and improving through the first 2, but pretty much everything I guessed on went wrong this time around.

There was a 50 game stretch in the 2nd half of the season where I went 14-36. That's humbling.

Posted by pexetera on 12/30/2020 10:37:00 PM (view original):
ALBI EVAL
Executive Summary and Team Construction –

You are really close Albi... a lot closer than you may think. One or two changes and this draft would be a contender for the podium. You did a good job drafting usage early and focusing on building two contending teams. You misplayed Elton on your non-playoff teams, and played him correctly on your contending teams. In my world, Kyrie and Alvin are your PGs. Battier and Cooper are your SGs (some SG minutes at 98% for Giannis). Elton and Giannis your SFs. No Reggie, Kyle O’Quinn instead. So your bigs are Giannis (2 seasons), O’Quinn, Kanter, Yao, Varejao (instead of Johnson), Valanciunas (instead of Roundfield) with certain seasons of Bradley. That’s 4-5 teams in playoffs and fighting for 2 chips.

Draft -

Giannis Antekounmpo - Giannis should be drafted anywhere from 8^th to 12^th depending on what you value, so for you to get him at 8th is in the early range of acceptable placement. (he went 15^th to Pharrop in the 2nd season which was a steal) With his new MVP season 19-20 available I can imagine he was too tempting to pass up. And he’s a passing big man, which I love because it gives you so much flexibility with guards later. With Giannis you get 2 seasons to try to win a chip at PF (’19 and ’20), 2 seasons to try to win a chip with him at SF (’17 and ’18), and one season that makes it difficult to get all 5 teams in the playoffs (’16) that might even be best to play at SG. So when you draft a guy like Giannis (Steph falls into this category too), you’re pretty much locking into the overall strategy of 2-4 dominant teams to try to win a chip in 2. You drafted the right 5 seasons (surprised if you hadn’t) and are using them in the right positions. 2 PF, and 3 SF. Because you drafted Brand next who is also best played at SF, it may have made sense to play Giannis (’16 and ’17) more minutes at SG rather than have Brand with minutes at PF, and then instead of drafting another guard later you could draft another big man.

Elton Brand - You drafted the right 5 seasons of Elton, but I don’t think you’re using 3 of them correctly. I think of Elton as a SF (probably because in normal leagues I only ever draft his two best seasons which are 100% at SF). Elton doesn’t have enough DREB in any season for me to use him at PF. You’re starting Elton as a PF in 3 leagues, which I think is a mistake. If you were drafting a PF/C with your 2^nd pick then I might have considered Dikembe or Drummond instead. If you were drafting a SF here, then I’d prob take Marion over Elton. That way, of the 10 seasons drafted in the first two picks, only 2 will be used at PF (Giannis ’19 and ’20) and the other 8 seasons (Giannis and either Brand/Marion) will be used at SF with 3 of those seasons having some minutes at SG. This draft choice isn’t a miss because he has 5 usable seasons, but for how you’re using him there were better choices. That said, I like that you paired Elton’s two best seasons at SF ’06 and ’07 with Giannis two best season’s at PF ’19 and ’20. Easy to see why those are your two best performing teams. You’ve given yourself a chance to win two leagues with the proper pairing of your 1^st and 2^nd round picks.

Kyrie Irving - Your strategy to try to focus on winning with 2 teams is becoming evident with this pick, pairing Kyrie’s two best seasons ’18 and ’19 with Elton and Giannis’ two best seasons as well. I like this strategy, it’s one of the two ways to win the crown. However, I’m not crazy about this pick though, because I think there were better choices out there in Robert Parish and Gerald Wallace. I feel like you were determined to take a PG with this pick, and took the one with the two best seasons. Kyrie’s quality falls off after his two best seasons so you’re sacrificing your other 3 teams records.

Alvin Robertson – Taking Alvin in the 4^th round is early. He’s a 5^th round pick in both prior seasons. But I’m not mad at the pick because he gives 5 usable seasons. You didn’t draft all his best season’s though. ’86, ’90, and ’91 are his 3 best seasons and you put two of those on your 2 best teams, so you got the important part right. Drafting ’88 is a mistake, more usage with lower efg% is not what you want, better to go with ’85 or ’89.

Dan Roundfield – This is not a 5^th round pick. You could have gotten Roundfield in the 7^th or 8^th round, which means you could have gotten Jonas Valanciunas here. Jonas gives fewer minutes, but better quality. Roundfield is a good player though with 4 usable seasons in 79 through 82, all of which you chose.

Enes Kanter – This is a good pickup who gives you usable minutes on all 5 teams, and you used the right 5 seasons. And you didn’t get him too early either. His two best seasons are ’18 and ’20, which you put on your 2 best teams, reinforcing that 2 championship team strategy. A+

Reggie Miller - This is not a pick I would make. With Giannis, Elton, Kyrie, Kanter… you don’t need to draft a scorer here…and Reggie provides little else. You could have taken Roundfield here, or Kyle O’Quinn which would be an even better choice. And taking another big man in this spot pushes Elton to SF more as previously mentioned.

Michael Cooper – This is an OK pick, certainly not a miss. I think of Cooper as a 9^th or 10^th rounder even though he also went 8^th round last draft. He does give you usable minutes across at least 4 seasons. I would have chosen his ’83 season over his ’86 season though.

George T. Johnson – Another OK pick, but you didn’t choose his 5 best seasons. There were better big men available in Biyombo and Varejao. Not crazy about his ’79 and ’82 seasons, these are unusable IMO… would have preferred ’74 and ’76.

Yao Ming – This is a good pickup for 10^th round. Surprised he was still available, and probably should have gone earlier.

Shane Battier – I like this pick, but exclusively at SG. This is a good example of why getting your usage early allows you to get good players in later rounds that other owners have to pass up because they can’t afford to take on low usage. If he had 20% usage, he’d be a 6th to 8th round pick, but you got him in 11^th round cause he kept getting passed by for low usage and low assists.

Shawn Bradley – This is actually a good pickup to spot fill center minutes in certain seasons. He has 3 seasons that are usable in ’01 (good), ’99 (better), and ’03 (best). And you used his 2 best seasons on your 2 best teams. His ’95 and ’96 seasons aren’t usable and should be benched.

Thanks a lot pex, appreciate your eval and you taking time doing this.

About reggie miller pick: i felt I had way few many threes, therefore I drafted a bomber from outside.
with o'quinn instead of reggie, do you think other teams would have played my squads with focus on paint defense? The only other shooter in my team would have been Kyrie ( Giannis shoots poorly from 3, Alvin Robertson gives boards but does not shoot 3s, Battier has low usage)

yea, they should... but you still would've won a lot more games across all your squads. If you're looking for a more balanced offense, there are quality players who give you more than just 3s, but Reggie isn't really one of them. Eric Bledsoe was still available when you chose Alvin. Jose Calderon was still available when you chose Roundfield. I would take either of those players over Reggie in a heartbeat. (Not in real life, but in the SIM)

Wilt in the hands of a better drafter, tinkerer and in- season manager will be a monster. I didn't plan my draft well (Kemba HELLO), spent too little time arranging the teams, and went WIS-dark for about a month during the season....too many covid and draftkings distractions. Don't be fooled by 20th for Wilt. This is very different animal than the 52, and in the right hands he will be a beast.

Edit: yes I'll come back to donate five teams again next season!