1) tricky24 - Wilt Chamberlain, Grant Hill, Chauncey Billups,
Wilt's always a good top 3 pick in the funk52. Hill gives him some nice board help at the 3, as well as good ast%, but I don't care for Hill's offense that much. He is a classic mid-range scorer, which still isn't primo in the sim. I certainly dislike him as your highest usage player... so I would hope you're using a higher usage Wilt... then I think you'll run into some wasted usage with Billups. I'd love a monster Wilt + Billups, or Support Wilt + another big usage guy + Billups, but I don't think this trio will be as good as they look on paper.
2) banditone - LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash,
LeBron is worth picking first in almost any format at this point. You don't need all the excess usage with Dirk AND Nash, but you've got some great efg% & a lot of threes... Nash kind of screws up the great tov% you had rolling with King/Dirk, which is a bummer, and he gives you nothing as far as back court rebounds, but it's a reasonable start.
3) coachcroft - Dennis Rodman, Gary Payton, Manu Ginobili,
I love where this can go. Rodman should be a top 5 pick in pretty much any format, and in a $52M format you can afford to use the 91-92 version at the 3. Combined with the back court rebounding potential of the Glove & Ginobili, you're going to be a force in the possession war. Ginobili is a god for about 30 minutes a game. All three are great defenders. Not a lot of weakness to speak about. I'm not a huge Payton fan offensively, but much of the sim is shifting away from needing to have all huge efg% scorers.
4) sappy - Michael Jordan, Buck Williams, Bob McAdoo,
MJ is still a sim-god (rightfully so). Buck is a great compliment. I don't care for McAdoo here (though he is great - and you got great value for him) as I think you might have wanted to go for more boards, but it's the makings of a solid squad.
5) felonius - Moses Malone, Paul Pierce, Donyell Marshall,
Let me get this straight. You have 44%+ creb% at your 4 (or 5), almost another 30 at your 3, and then flirting with 20 at your 2. You've got 6700+ minutes between just 2 guys, and both of your higher usage players get to the line plenty. Your 3 gives you 3s and your high volume guy does, too. Good defense all around. And you still have a ton of flexibility with your last two picks (as long as you get some ast%). Scariest team thus far.
6) katernberg - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mel Daniels, Gerald Wallace,
I love Kareem, though I think there were better options to build around. Daniels is a nice compliment to pretty much anybody, so that's good. Wallace gives you 25%+ creb% at the 2, along with good defense. Good news is that you have a lot of boards, defense and usage (you have 10 points of usage right now). My only concern going forward would be - where are the threes?
7) ncih - Magic Johnson, Robert Parish, David Lee,
Magic is probably the 2nd best point guard behind Lebron when it comes to upper tier usage (blasphemy, I know) and is certainly one of the best (and easiest) guys to build around in the current environment. Parish & Lee provide you with more of what you need (boards & efg%) and are perfect compliments to him. This is a great start.
8) jakotay - Charles Barkley, Wes Unseld, Clyde Drexler,
This might have been high for Chuck in this format, but maybe not. His best seasons got jacked up way high because of TS% being part of the formula for salary, which is dumb because nobody gets to the line near as often as they did IRL. But he's still a force and can be utilized at the three. Being a $52M league, you can even use one of those seasons that got drilled. If you can't make it work, the 90-91 season is an incredible buy. Unseld is a very nice compliment, as is Drexler, assuming you don't kill Chuck's possessions. Drexler is very nice in the backcourt, giving you 20%+ creb%.
9) 98average (1) - Dwight Howard, Shawn Kemp, Bobby Jones,
Good boards. Good efg%. Good God, help us all.
10) 98average (2) - Artis Gilmore, Tim Duncan, Cedric Maxwell,
Same as above except a minor ewwww @ Duncan. It's a sad world where Kemp is better than Duncan.
11) vancem - Chris Paul, Bill Walton, Julius Erving,
I think Paul went way too high here. Assuming you use the seasons I think you'll use, however, you've got nice back court rebounding and solid for half the game with Walton. Lots of ways to go here. You do have some good stuff working defensively, too.
12) captainzen - Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Mchale, Fat Lever,
Shaq & McHale are efg% gods and wonderful to build around, but lack boards. Oh, hi there, Fat Lever. Nice pick-up. I don't know if he's enough, though. As long as you get solid boards at the 2 & 3 while getting your 3s and some more assists, this squad could be dangerous.
13) mikee1 - David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, Tom Boerwinkle,
Are there any Admiral seasons that are 100% at PF anymore? If so, then I love this. If not, I still like it but a little less. Pippen takes away from the Admiral's possessions, which I don't like, but he does give you a lot of good from the 2. With just him & Winkle, you'll be able to get a far from typical PG, which is good because the high-rebounding, 3-point bombers are all (about?) gone.
14) garyman - Larry Bird, Kevin Willis, Mookie Blaylock,
Bird is making a comeback. I still hate the idea of having him as my highest usage player because of the lack of FTAs (who would want to foul him, anyway?), but with everything else he brings, it's worth taking him high AND building around in a draft type environment. Willis is a piece of **** that I doubt I'll ever use on a team again, but he will get you some rebounds. It's insane that Mookie fell this far. He's definitely worth considering in the mid/early 2nd round. Kidd is the only one better at almost everything you get with Mookie: Boards, assists, efg%. Mookie gives more 3s & steals...
15) malone9975 - Hakeem Olajuwon, Ray Allen, Brent Barry,
I think you sprung for Dream too early. I've given my dream spill before, but I'll give it again: My high usage player(s) have to give me some combination of high efg%, a large number of FTAs, and a lot of boards (or threes if back court). Olajuwon has seasons where he gives all of these, but never at the same time! On top of that he fouls a ton which blows chunks in this sim. I'll never forget drafting him in round 3 and then regretting it 2x a day until the season was over.
All that said, you got good value for Jesus. I doubt people have forgotten how dominant he was in the last incarnation of the sim for $42M leagues, and well, $52M now isn't far off from what $42M was back then. He's easily a 2nd rounder. Though I believe many people are giving up offensive, bomber-type guards for ones that rebound and play defense more. Still, I really like where this team is and where it's going, if, and only if, your back court is Allen & Barry. If one or the other is your SF, then I think this team is headed in a bad direction.
16) scudmissle - Jerry Lucas, Kevin Durant, Peja Stojakovic,
Lucas's 3075 minute season is sooooo good, and he has a plethora of other really good ones, too. Durant's 09-10 season is an absolute monster if you build around it correctly, and if there's anybody that can, it's the Scud. Peja adds an interesting dynamic here... putting you on the line will be costly! I don't like Peja's rebounding for the current environment, however. Still, this team is in good shape and has lots of room to expand in the right way.
17) ashamael - Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer,
Kidd = best lower tier usage PG in the sim. Boards AND threes, along with low turnovers & high assists. He's one of the best guards in the sim for helping win the possession war, and if you use his 09-10 season, that's 55% efg%. Put him with a high volume scorer that's a monster at the free throw line, puts up some threes & gets some boards and you've got the makings of a dominant back court. Add in a paint scoring, high efg% board-lord as a compliment... That's why I did what I did. Bad news is that I won't get to put any of the other pieces around them for a while still, so the trade could back fire. The good news is... I don't care.
18) empdenied - Dwyane Wade, Swen Nater, Troy Murphy,
Wade is right there with Magic & Lebron as a deadly PG in the sim right now. You literally need nobody else higher than bottom tier usage to get over the penalty, and so far, you've surrounded him perfectly. Boards (Nater) & more Boards (Murphy) with high efg% 3pt bomber (Murphy again). You got great value with Murphy, even if he is light on offensive boards. I really, really like this team...
19) jayharvill - Kevin Garnett, Nate Archibald, Patrick Ewing,
...And I really don't like this one. Never been a Garnett fan in the sim (though his 07-08 season has been intriguing me lately) and I think you reached for Tiny. I actually like Ewing (one or two seasons, anyway), but not when you already have KG & Tiny. You need some specialists, and you need them soon.
20) chris_snid - John Stockton, Tracy McGrady, Marques Johnson,
Nice back court. McGrady was actually who I wanted with Kidd. After Jordan (& Lebron, though I think of him more as a PG), he's probably the best SG in the sim. He gives you everything you should want in a SG for this sim... threes, FTAs, rebounds, good assists, and incredibly low tov%. Hey he even has 65 defense! Put him with Stockton and wow... Marques is a nice rebounding SF, something that isn't easy to find (that gives you anything else, anyway). I dig this squad thus far.