In reality what's most likely to happen with my team ASH is that Pippen & Richmond with their 45%fg shoot me out of a lot of games. Gilmore & Lucas will be in constant foul trouble. I will have to set the button to disregard fouls because othewise there could be a lot of 35-15 first quarters. Other teams will go to the line 20+ times and even in games I'm able to match that, poor ft% will prevent me from winning. High scoring guards will go off against the weak D of Richmond and Nixon.Lucas & Gilmore will not come anywhere close to IRL rebound numbers. This team will win 35 games and disappoint.

coach it's not the fg% it's the EFG and Pippen and Richmond both have pretty decent EFG because of all those 3s

Thanks for the commentaries Ash...
My team will be a bit different than first envisioned, but with a ton of 3's and it might work.   I will start Perdue and JR rather than Buck and Nance.

banditone: Charles Barkley, Willis Reed, Julius Erving, Dale Ellis, Jameer Nelson, Paul Westphaul, Grant Hill
ncih: Moses Malone, Donyell Marshall, Bob Lanier, Terrell Brandon, Derek Harper, Eddie Johnson, Billy Paultz
empdenied: Wilt Chamberlain, Glen Rice, Manu Giniboli,  Red Robbins, Sleepy Floyd, Terry Catledge, Phil Rollins
tricky24: Dennis Rodman,Kevin Durant, Zelmo Beaty, Harry Gallatin, Tim Hardaway, Jamal Crawford, Leroy Ellis
dh555: Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Terry Porter, Brent Barry, Jerome Williams, Alonzo Mourning, Damon Jones
uvasooner: Magic Johnson, Swen Nater, Amare Stoudamire, Rashard Lewis, Michael Redd, Jim Les, Marvin Webster

jakotay: Michael Jordan, Wes Unseld, Deron Williams, Connie Hawkins, Joel Przbilla, Mark McNamara, Tracy Murray
xxevlilvexx: LeBron James, Steve Nash, Hakeem Olajuwon, Cedric Ceballos, A.C. Green, Kyle Korver, Marcus Banks
shapandrew7: Dwayne Wade, Mel Daniels, Gary Payton, Andris Biedrins, Joe Johnson, Manny Leaks, Mike Gminski
robocoach: David Robinson, Peja Stojakovic, Elton Brand, Fat Lever, Steve Francis, Pat Garrity, Jason Collins
sappy: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ben Wallace,  David Lee, Jason Richardson,  Jose Calderon, Trevor Ariza, Roy Tarpley
scudmissle: Shaquille O'Neal, John Stockton, Antawn Jamison, Bill Walton, Dennis Scott, Gerald Govan, Gail Goodrich

eleibowitz: Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Walt Frazier, Jayson Williams, Mark Landsberger, John Shumate, Steve Novak
tarheel1991: Karl Malone, Ray Allen, Darrell Walker, Erick Dampier, Olden Polynice, Bob Kauffman, Luther Head
longtallbrad: Oscar Robertson,  Dikembe Mutombo, Reggie Miller, Al Jefferson,  Hedo Turkoglu, Randy Denton, Jon Barry
badja: Tracy McGrady, Dana Barros, Kevin Willis, Buck Williams, Larry Nance, J.R. Smith, Will Perdue
ashamael: Dwight Howard, Troy Murphy, Kevin Johnson, Danny Granger, Tyson Chandler, Larry Smith, Charlie Ward
gtak: Shawn Marion, Paul Pierce, Brad Daugherty, Anfernee Hardaway, Clifford Ray, Brooks Thompson, Chris Dudley

lhtgk: Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Shawn Kemp, John Drew, Marcus Camby, Chuck Person, & Kenny Smith
captainzen: Chauncey Billups, Kevin McHale, Tom Boerwinkle, Calvin Natt, Mike Miller,  Steve Kerr, & Jamie Feick
felonius: Bill Russell, Dirk Nowitzki, Clyde Drexler, Marques Johnson, Rajon Rondo, Kenny Anderson, & Matt Bullard
98average: Kevin Garnett, Mookie Blaylock, Vince Carter, Horace Grant,  Detleff Schrempf, Shammond Williams, & Freeman Williams
coachcroft: Artis Gilmore, Jerry Lucas, Scottie Pippen, Mitch Richmond, Norm Nixon, Ed Pickney, & Courtney Alexander
bsmuke:  Bob McAdoo, Carlos Boozer, Chris Mullin,  Mark Price, Raja Bell, George Lehmann, & Clarence Weatherspoon

What grades mean:

A - With each pick, you got good value.  This means that not only did you pick pieces that seemingly work together well, you got guys that maybe you shouldn't have at the position you did - in a good way.  Furthermore, I see this team as far and away a top contender for the title.

B - Each pick, for the most part, was a good value.  Each component of the team make sense when put next to the other parts.  You might have reached and got a guy early.  Or you might have missed on a guy that would have been better.  I see a B team with a good shot to make the playoffs and maybe even go deeper.

C - You missed on some picks or have a couple of guys that really don't seem to mesh well with the overall team.  C teams can go either way - 50+ wins, middle of the pack or on the bottom looking up.  Most teams in these leagues are C teams.

D - You missed most of your picks, either getting guys that could have gone much later or picking someone when there was someone available that could do everything your guy does and more.  D teams have no shot at the playoffs in my eyes.

F - You don't understand the way the sim works at all.  Your team will be lucky to win 10 games.

banditone: Charles Barkley, Willis Reed, Julius Erving, Dale Ellis, Jameer Nelson, Paul Westphaul, Grant Hill

Barkley was early but the pick is not undefensible.  I think you missed on a couple of guys... Grant Hill in the 6th was nice value... but i don't see you being able to use one of his top seasons.  C



ncih: Moses Malone, Donyell Marshall, Bob Lanier, Terrell Brandon, Derek Harper, Eddie Johnson, Billy Paultz

Everything about this team makes sense when looking at the whole.  Again, i was a little puzzled at Brandon + Harper, but man, that's a pretty damn elite rotation when you add in Eddie Johnson.  Marshall was a tad early, but all in all, I think you're a solid B



empdenied: Wilt Chamberlain, Glen Rice, Manu Giniboli,  Red Robbins, Sleepy Floyd, Terry Catledge, Phil Rollins

As I said before, you made the Wilt mistake.  I don't see that your 6th round put you in any better shape.  You've got enough offense to win a lot of games, but the possession battle will keep you from making it deep (if you make the dance at all).  C



tricky24: Dennis Rodman,Kevin Durant, Zelmo Beaty, Harry Gallatin, Tim Hardaway, Jamal Crawford, Leroy Ellis

There's a lot about this team I don't understand.  There's a lot about this team I like.  I really was disappointed when you took Crawford in r6.  Anybody whose best sim season is a $239k one probably shouldn't be drafted.   Yet that is a solid strategy, too.  I think you missed on what you needed to do when building around Rodman, however.  This is another team that can go either way, but I don't think this team will be dancing.  C



dh555: Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Terry Porter, Brent Barry, Jerome Williams, Alonzo Mourning, Damon Jones

Holy efg% batman!  Porter/Barry/Jones is about as sick a backcourt as you can get in a $42M without spending a ton on guys like Jordan and LBJ.  Your frontcourt works, too, and you've built about as good as you can around Bird.  Except that he's your only high usage guy.  Lot depends on what Parish you use.  You're going to win a lot of games with this group, but I think you'll have way more turnovers than you think you should.  B



uvasooner: Magic Johnson, Swen Nater, Amare Stoudamire, Rashard Lewis, Michael Redd, Jim Les, Marvin Webster

This is our first A.  Each pick makes sense when looking at who you picked before and who you picked afterward.  You got tremendous value in Nater & Redd.  Webster & Les are good r6 picks, too.  If this team's not in the playoffs, you got in a bad division.


more to come later.  showtime.

jakotay: Michael Jordan, Wes Unseld, Deron Williams, Connie Hawkins, Joel Przbilla, Mark McNamara, Tracy Murray

This team looks so good on paper... until you realize that this is a $42M league.  I like everybody on this squad (well, rounds 1-5, anyway), but at some point you have to realize you got to draft a huge minute, low defense, cheap kind of guy.  That point came in round 4, and you did exactly what you should have.  Then Joel P in round five blew that up.  $4.8M on less than 2k minutes won't get it done when you're spending $18M+ on your backcourt.  All is not lost - the greatest player of all-time has cheaper seasons that work, too, and you can build around that.  Just sucks that you don't get to take full advantage of MJ at his best.  This was an A squad until Joel P... he almost turns it into a C squad.  I know how hard it is to try and build a bench for this squad, as I spend quite a bit of time trying to do that to pick for you when you had your emergency...  But it is salvageable and should be a playoff team, even with older-not-as-good MJ as your best player.  B-



xxevlilvexx: LeBron James, Steve Nash, Hakeem Olajuwon, Cedric Ceballos, A.C. Green, Kyle Korver, Marcus Banks

This thing started going downhill in round 3.  Sometimes there's a reason an all-time great falls.  Round 6 didn't save it.  This is a C, at best. 



shapandrew7: Dwayne Wade, Mel Daniels, Gary Payton, Andris Biedrins, Joe Johnson, Manny Leaks, Mike Gminski

I already said why I dig this team.  I don't care for the round 6 picks, but the starting five alone warrants a B.



robocoach: David Robinson, Peja Stojakovic, Elton Brand, Fat Lever, Steve Francis, Pat Garrity, Jason Collins

Round 6 didn't change my mind.  Lots of opportunities missed.  You'll win some games, though... C-



sappy: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ben Wallace,  David Lee, Jason Richardson,  Jose Calderon, Trevor Ariza, Roy Tarpley

I already loved this squad.  r6 addition of Tarpley made it even better.  I don't care for the ariza pick, but the value for Lee and Calderon (not to mention Tarpley) push you from a B to a B+.  You're seriously flirting with an A.  FTAS & oreb are the only reasons why you don't get it.



scudmissle: Shaquille O'Neal, John Stockton, Antawn Jamison, Bill Walton, Dennis Scott, Gerald Govan, Gail Goodrich

I know you had RL issues that caused your r6 fail to happen... But Govan still gives you good value.  You got great value in Jamison & Walton, too... I don't see how this team doesn't make the playoffs.  A-

eleibowitz: Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Walt Frazier, Jayson Williams, Mark Landsberger, John Shumate, Steve Novak

Novak was a great pick-up.  While many of the individual pieces you have here are great, I just don't see the big picture.  At least, that's what this team doesn't see.  They also don't see the playoffs.  C-



tarheel1991: Karl Malone, Ray Allen, Darrell Walker, Erick Dampier, Olden Polynice, Bob Kauffman, Luther Head

You have two guys on this team I'm not a usual fan of, but that doesn't mean it's not good... You're set up well in all areas... I especially like Head... errr... the Head pick.  The guy used to be a staple on my teams... not sure why he still isn't, tbh.  Not sure what happens when both Mailman & Jesus go out of the game... But I'm still giving the team an A-


longtallbrad: Oscar Robertson,  Dikembe Mutombo, Reggie Miller, Al Jefferson,  Hedo Turkoglu, Randy Denton, Jon Barry

Jefferson doesn't fit with the team like many other guys you could have drafted did.  Denton evokes nothing one way or the other in me.  Barry is perfect since you don't need more usage off the bench.  Solid B.



badja: Tracy McGrady, Dana Barros, Kevin Willis, Buck Williams, Larry Nance, J.R. Smith, Will Perdue

This is a very well put together team.  Very efficient and gets everything done that you need to get done.  r6 was exactly what you needed, too.  Willis's 22% usage is the only thing keeping a plus from appearing behind your A.


ashamael: Dwight Howard, Troy Murphy, Kevin Johnson, Danny Granger, Tyson Chandler, Larry Smith, Charlie Ward

I'm not giving myself a grade... but to get my first three picks again when drafting 6 spots behind... and the same 6th round... yeah, this team is going to be tough.  Chandler/Granger don't work as well as Dampier/VC did for many reasons, including expense... which caused me to use different versions of two players than I wanted to, which means this team is almost completely different, even though it has some of the same faces on it.



gtak: Shawn Marion, Paul Pierce, Brad Daugherty, Anfernee Hardaway, Clifford Ray, Brooks Thompson, Chris Dudley

Dudley was brilliant here.  Had you not picked him, jakotay's team would have turned out very different.  So you did the entire league a favor when you drafted him.  He'll make a nice combination with Ray.  Solid squad all-around.  You've got everything you need, even if you won't dominate in a couple of important areas.  I've called you a playoff lock before, and you let me down... so don't do it this time!  Solid B+

lhtgk: Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Shawn Kemp, John Drew, Marcus Camby, Chuck Person, & Kenny Smith

I loved the Rifleman and the Jet pick in the 6th.  They gave you exactly what you needed more of - threes - at a good price.  B, flirting with a +


captainzen: Chauncey Billups, Kevin McHale, Tom Boerwinkle, Calvin Natt, Mike Miller,  Steve Kerr, & Jamie Feick

Wait, who?  In all of my time and teams on WIS, I've never even considered Feick.  But he's a good fit.  I still think Natt's out of place on this team, but I also still think this team is a winner.  Kerr was a nice back-up for Miller.  I really dig what you're going to do to most of the league.  B


felonius: Bill Russell, Dirk Nowitzki, Clyde Drexler, Marques Johnson, Rajon Rondo, Kenny Anderson, & Matt Bullard

Bullard was a spiteful draft pick.  I guess you didn't want anyone else getting his incredibly cheap, high efg% (and high minute, for the price) seasons to flesh out their rosters.  You spiteful S.O.B.  Anderson was another solid pick to flesh out the squad.  I still feel somewhat a lack of chemistry here, but this all-in-all this is a rock-solid squad with virtually no weakness.  And because of the incredible value of pretty much your first five picks (of them falling to where they did), I give you an A



98average: Kevin Garnett, Mookie Blaylock, Vince Carter, Horace Grant,  Detleff Schrempf, Shammond Williams, & Freeman Williams

This team has some good going for it, but I can easily see it ending up on the wrong side of .500, too.  Lack of boards will keep it from being a serious contender.  You might have a positive differential on boards, but it won't be enough to offset the mostly poor efg% of your first three picks.  Horace & Detlef won't make up for it, either.  C



coachcroft: Artis Gilmore, Jerry Lucas, Scottie Pippen, Mitch Richmond, Norm Nixon, Ed Pickney, & Courtney Alexander

I guess I've always just overlooked Nixon.  He still doesn't seem worth the price, to me.  r6 didn't sway me one way or the other.  I think this team makes it into the playoffs, but I think you could have done better after round 2.  C+



bsmuke:  Bob McAdoo, Carlos Boozer, Chris Mullin,  Mark Price, Raja Bell, George Lehmann, & Clarence Weatherspoon

You've almost got enough of the right ingredients to be a dominant team.  You're falling short on the most important one (rebounding), though.  No amount of threes is going to make up for the severe lack of offensive rebounding this team shows.  You're better on the defensive boards, but not enough.  You will win some games with your potent offense, however.  C-

overall opinion:  I gave no Fs and no Ds.  Even the owners who seem to have the hardest time in this league are building stronger teams.  There are fewer teams that just flat out stand out.  I've spoken of parity before, and I'll speak of it again now.  There will be a lot of teams between 30 & 50 wins.  Very few above 50.  Out of the 5 teams I gave an A or higher to, probably only 3 of them will get 50 wins.  If there are more than four 50 win teams, I'll be shocked.

early favorite:  UVA.  He's just got too much firepower and too much of everything a champion needs to not be a dominant team.  He is also built to be least likely to have extreme sim outliers put him on the wrong end of a 7-game series.  I also think Tarheel's built really well to not fail in the playoffs.  And he's due.  So is Scud, for that matter.  My team will be the most susceptible to getting sim-screwed in the playoffs.  Why?  Fouls.  That... and the fact that I don't have a starter with more than 2821 minutes.  Yeah, I'm going to be relying on my bench again this season.

dh555: Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Terry Porter, Brent Barry, Jerome Williams, Alonzo Mourning, Damon Jones

Holy efg% batman!  Porter/Barry/Jones is about as sick a backcourt as you can get in a $42M without spending a ton on guys like Jordan and LBJ.  Your frontcourt works, too, and you've built about as good as you can around Bird.  Except that he's your only high usage guy.  Lot depends on what Parish you use.  You're going to win a lot of games with this group, but I think you'll have way more turnovers than you think you should.  B




im using 88-89 parish....his best season imo(he does have some real nice lower min seasons too tho)....im also using 97-98 zo(26.8usg 55efg 68pnt 27.6 pp48) to help bird some with the scoring...still youre right about bird....i was too concerned with building a efg monster and ignored usage and ftas too...barry/parish/porter are great role players but bird needed a wingman to rely on so he doesnt have to go 30/7/7 every game....it will be fun though to frustrate teams that beat me in most areas but end up losing because i shoot 60% from the field and 50% from downtown....i have a good feeling ill be one of those teams fighting for a playoff spot and if bird has a top 5 mvp season like i think he can(ive never seen it before from him) i might even win a playoff series or two

Your evals are much appreciated, ashamael!  I'm hoping to meet your expectations, but with my coaching, I dunno ...  

Thanks ash, for taking the time. Your opinion on my team pretty much matches mine - I'm really worried about what happens when Malone and Allen are out of the game, especially in a short playoff series. I *think* I have enough strengths in other areas - particularly rebounding - to make up for it, but we'll see. I have a hard time seeing this team being more successful than my team last year, which I knew from the beginning was the best ODL team I had drafted (mainly thanks to TR Dunn).

Thanks Ash, always good to get pointers on team building!