Malone, Russell - too early? How important are bigs? Is Sly's trade going to work out for him? Etc. Etc.

Moses is an awesome pick...by the time year 3 and 4 roll in that team (of course based on what pieces are draft around him) could be a sledge hammer.

I am always a fan of Russell.  Rebounds and defense with good assists from a big is an awesome combo, and he plays a ton of minutes.

Bigs are important, but not more than anything else since there are so many good ones...in a progressive you can often find dominating players at multiple positions.  I mean would you rather have a good big with MJ, or a good sg with Wilt.  It is an eternal question..lol.  Here it is not about bang for the buck as much as it is about pieces since salary is a moot point.

Another thing I like about Russell is the low fouls to go with that great D. Hopefully he makes a good building block.

I really think most of the people selected so far aren't really debatable - you can build with any of these guys, they have so many epic seasons.

There are a couple of players I would definitely have taken by now - I can't imagine they'll slip much further.

Another thing you have to look at emp is the longevity factor.  Mailman will be a big producer for an owner for pretty much as long as this league lasts.  He has many, many great seasons offensively, provides solid boards and for the most part, has a good defensive rating (uncapped league = defense somewhat important).

Russell could be considered early because of his poor efg% but I don't think so.  Unlike certain other guys who are better sim rebounders, Russell doesn't take 5 years to get going.  He'll be doing it from the first season on.

Shaq is going to be amazing.  Only issue with him is after his third season, he has 3 years where he got hurt/plays limited minutes.  Then he becomes a real monster (again).  He's got longevity and super production (and was who I really wanted to build around, but couldn't pass on MJ).

I hate Sly.  Another progressive league that I'll have to watch my favorite player play for someone else.

I agree on the longevity, I was going to take the Mailman with my pick, but instead settled on Russell's 12-13 seasons of 90+ defense and 35+ TRB with several seasons of less than 3 FP48. I also considered Gilmore and Duncan - good to know my thoughts were mirrored by some owners.

Any thoughts on the Admiral at #5?

Posted by shooter83211 on 1/11/2011 7:44:00 PM (view original):
Any thoughts on the Admiral at #5?

sim likes him better than what he was in real life

Admiral was better when he was 100% at C & PF for more seasons.  Still, he's pretty godly in the sim and doesn't take any time to develop.  You'll have several really good seasons in a row to start.  And then he's got many good years after that.  All-in-all, the ideal first round draft pick in this league and a top 5 center for this format (Wilt, Moses, Kareem, Shaq being the other 4).

Big run on Centers atm.  That means good things for those guys late in the first round.  You're going to get top 5 worthy talent (and sim-proven) with day 2 picks.  Wow!

Are the initial drafts for previous versions of UPL online somewhere? I might have stretched on picking Duncan early, but he can play two positions well and has never had a bad year(rookie year one of his best).

I struggled with Barkley/Olajuwon/Duncan respectively. I just love Barkley's efg% & rb%'s, but of course preferred him when he was 100% at SF & PF. No complaints though.

And ash- sorry! What city are you going to play out of? Wondering if you'll be in my division. If I were to venture a guess you'll prob play out of NC somewhere? I'll be in Portland so you prob won't get the joy of Barkley beating up on you 8 games a season.

I was thinking of being "Ashland" (Portland) but probably not since you'll be in Portland.  Could work as Cleveland or Maryland (Baltimore), though.  Ash Angeles... but I'm sure Shooter will be an LA based team (not that that city can't support two franchises, I just hate for him to feel like the Clippers =p).  Maybe I'll do Ash Carolina.  Maybe Ashadelphia (would be apt if I had Barkley, Wilt or Moses).  Whatever I do, I'm going to try and set up operations in a city where someone else isn't already playing... but maybe I want that west coast challenge =p  Long as I'm not in uva's division this time... oh... wait... no uva.  Good times!

Hey I was planning on bring back the Asheville Not Allowed

You may be aware but, Ashland is a city in Southern Oregon. Home of Southern Oregon University Raiders. 300 miles or so south on I-5 of Portland.