Interesting to see the first pairings coming together.

Seemed early to me for Willis, but he makes a lot of sense in a $42 mil league and coachcroft has more salary to play with in the next couple rounds than some of us will. Nash is an obvious monster in this kind of league, and coach has his assists and a good chunk of his rebounding needs taken care of.

Hard to argue with Stockton and Duncan. I tend to forget how much the Big Fundamental can do in this sim - although I also tend to forget he needs more rebounding help than some of these other dudes do.

I get the pairing of Kidd and Wallace. As chester notes, scoring can be cheap. Kidd isn't nearly the beast he was before the last big sim patch, though, what with the premium now placed on eFG%.

I'm sure I drafted Billups too high. I tend to be one of those predictable owners who look to take care of rebounding and the PG position early on (although I would've taken Bird if he fell to me), and Billups for me is right up there with Nash among the best PGs for a $42 mil league. He does great up-tempo, as ashamael keeps saying. This is higher than he should go, but he'd be long gone by the time I pick again. We'll see if I regret this.

As dh says, he's spending a big wad on his C-PF combo...but it'll be very interesting to see what kind of damage Hakeem and Garnett can do together. The paint will be on lockdown.

Ya for Thurmond!

No thoughts on the drafting of Oscar @ #15?

I think it's about the right spot for him. I'm curious to see who you draft to run alongside him.

yeah, i'm with coach about the salary thing... i'll spend up to 8.5m and not below 7m, at least for my starting 5... lots of value in that price range, and affords you solid back-ups who'll play.

that price range gets you terrific 2800 min players rather than 3100+. in an odl, that's what i like. solid starters, terrific backups who'll play 12-15 mins.

Wow, some fascinating choices.

I can see the McGrady/Mutombo combo. I thought this was high for Mutombo but I know several owners smarter than me like him as a first rounder, and he and McGrady complement each others' strengths well. McGrady can be a great Swiss army knife in a $42 mil league - maybe the ideal SF if you don't need much outside shooting from him.

Thurmond is a nice, high-minutes rebounder to pair with Bird, although his low eFG% usually scares me off in this version of the sim.

Magic and Bryant will be very interesting to watch together. scud clearly is counting on getting his rebounders (and maybe a dirt cheap, one-dimensional chucker) in later rounds. I hope no one else needs the ball...

Seems high for Murphy here given his limited minutes, but the curious 08-09 version does give Shaq what he needs: a nice complementary rebounder who can also space the floor.

well, brad.... not later rounds... i have two, 2nd rounders to draft, via the trade i made with lhtgk

This draft is going so much differently than the last one. . .not that I was around for that, but I did my research! (Not sure it's enough research to get more than 20 wins though . . . I am a rook to draft leagues)

Quote: Originally posted by scudmissle on 11/17/2009well, brad.... not later rounds... i have two, 2nd rounders to draft, via the trade i made with lhtgk

Ah, that's right. And plenty of affordable (and less affordable) talent to mine in the second round.

i wanted to go big with my first two picks after checking out the last draft and seeing how all the quality bigs got snatched up pretty early......i almost forgot about ben wallace until i did a last second player search for rebounds to see if i was missing anyone before i sent in my proxy....big ben teamed with the dream would give me probably the two best low post defenders....both 95-96 def, 2+ stl 5+ block, great rebounders.....and bens low to and fls help even out hakeems....all for 2-3 mil cheaper then the guys i was looking at.....it would have been a great start for a dominant defensive team

but chester ruined it(big fan of the kidd/ben pairing btw)....now i have kg and no idea where this team is going

I started last ODL with Kidd and Wallace. Chester may want to check out the rest of my roster to se how not to ruin it. I am sure he will do a better job!

barkley and allen together? wow, that's the team to beat so far

Quote: Originally posted by garyman on 11/17/2009barkley and allen together? wow, that's the team to beat so far

the chucklesworth is an awesome foundation.

The success of the Barkley/Allen tandem will lie in rounds 4 and 5. I have every faith that uva will crush my hopes in round 3 though... and finding similar players is not my forte'. Thanks for the kudos though!

lol I've got the same problem here.. love drafting in front of scud and monkee - absolutely loathe drafting after them!