cmcafeeky –

1. LeBron James

Savage IV: A no brainer selection. I would have preferred to have fell into a slot that was more conducive to my drafting a player that I actually liked and or rooted for in RL. A slot that came with less pressure to succeed. With the number one pick, and what amounts to the best player, there are expectations that exceed my Savage III Timmy Duncan disappointment.
Real Life: Greatest of All Time: 1.Wilt Chamberlin, 2. Jabbar, 3. Nike Jordan, 4. LeBron. To neglect the two giants is silly and less than informed.

2. Larry Nance
Savage IV:Not sure what I was hoping for with the 48^th pick, as that selection is much less rote than are the first 30 or so picks. I do know you don’t land the #1 pick and instantly begin conjuring up LeBron – Larry Nance dream team scenarios. Strongly considered Ewing, but prefer more rebounding from an interior player. Bobby Jones, Paul George… assumed Bill Russell would have been available…. Most of the options there at the end of 2 were ‘meh’. Would have preferred waiting much longer for a SF, and anticipated more than ‘solid’ with my 2^nd. Love Love Love the defense though: 100-100-100-94-92, and I’m sure a shutdown defender at the 3 will be beneficial.
Real Life:For me, the two prevailing mental images of Larry Nance are: His winning the first NBA dunk contest in 1984, and Nance as a vital cog for those fantastic Cleveland teams that were vexed by Nike Jordan. Interesting side bar: Think about the trade that sent Larry Nance from Phoenix to Cleveland in exchange for Kevin Johnson, Mark West a pick that turned out to be Thunder Dan Marjele.

3.Robert Parish

Savage IV: With pick #72, I came away pleased to land a highly efficient big with a few seasons of scoring punch, and relatively strong efg% (54.2 to 59.8) for the five selected seasons. I’d like more rebounding, but Parish is a good addition nonetheless.
Real Life:Solid, and semi overlooked member of basketballs all-time greatest frontline (Bird-McHale-Parish). Personally, one of my favorite moments is when ‘The Chief’ pummeled Laimbeer in 1987. Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals saw Laimbeer’s dangerous tackle / take down of Bird set off one of the more notorious episodes of ‘Bad Boy’ lore. Two games later – Parish tore into one of the NBAs most reviled players in league history with a crescendo of well-placed punches. I still remember the satisfaction of seeing Laimbeer receive a much deserved a$$ whipping. You hear people share what super power they would desire: being able to fly, invisibility, etc etc. As a sports fan, I think it would be super cool to have the ability to unleash a good old fashioned a$$ whipping onto some much deserving jackasses (like Laimbeer) at your own discretion. And WOW, what a long list my deranged mind would conjure: Bobby Knight, Christian Laetneer, Rajon Rondo, John Thompson, Draymond Green, Matt Barnes, James Horry, (I could go on for pages)

4. Joakim Noah
Savage IV: I had my fingers crossed that Kyrie Irving would fall ONE more spot. Noah seems to be the kind of player that brings the efficiency and passing needed to compliment a ‘LeBron at point’ stratagem. Noah is NOT the type of player I normally gravitate toward, and is a prime example of my attempting a paradigm shift away from my typical interior role player (defensive rebounding drones with poor skills). Leery of his rebounding.
Real Life:Noah will forever be etched in my mind as a two time NCAA champion for Billy Donovan’s Gators. He is one of those definitive guys that are BELOVED if he’s on your team and REVILED as an opponent. To me, he will always be a first class jackass and one of the most despised of Kentucky opponents. I always assumed he would land on a great NBA team and be a key piece of a long running dynasty. He’s that kind of key glue guy that ensures winning. That never transpired for Noah, as it seemed he always toiled for an also ran.

5. Kevin Love
Savage IV: Rebounding and scoring punch. It seems my builds are traditionally light on 3’s, and Love contributes from an unlikely 4 spot. Love has TERRIBLE defense that forces help from teammates. Helps with decent passing. Pex had surprising success with Love in the Class Action Progressive, putting Love on my radar as a potential asset in spite of his Matador defensive ratings. Five is probably too high a round to snag a guy to back up your second rounder. I like Love here, but his selection creates about as many questions as he solves, and a different direction might have been more beneficial. Temporarily tempted to once again snag Paul Silas and his defense. Strongly considered Kanter and better rebounding, but opted for Love with the 3s, and usage to more compliment backing up Parish.
Real Life:seems like a solid citizen, and it was nice to see him land a title in Cleveland after posting surprisingly strong numbers in Minnesota. Still puzzled how UCLA wiffed on a title having Love, Darren Collison, Russell Westbrook, and Mbah a Moute, but glad they did.

6. Kemba Walker,
Savage IV: Not a fan. He isn’t a good shooter. He isn’t a good passer. He isn’t a good defender. Then why in the Hell would you pick him? Well, if you select LeBron, then you’re off to a flying start and quickly you start filling in the OTHER spots. When it comes around to ensuring you have some semblance of usage and ast% from your backup for your “LeBron at Point guard stratagem”, what do you do? Well the answer is, you select a point guard BEFORE you get stuck with Kemba Walker in the 6^th FRICKIN round. I don’t know, maybe Kemba is the best available in the 6^th for the spot, but something just below the surface of my psyche says “no…no… noooo….F&#@ NO !!!!”, and the next thing I knew I had actually typed K-E-M-B-A….
Real Life:As an unabashed member of Big Blue Nation, there are several clubs that DO NOT DESERVE to have won a NCAA championships, in my not so humble opinion. Up near the top of that list is Kemba Walker’s 2011 UConn Huskies. Ironic that Boston bilked the Charlotte Hornets in trading away Isaiah Thomas to land Kemba. Both are undersized players that shoot too much and are only slightly more than feel good stories where a short player over comes being vertically challenged. A shoot first 6’ point guard with 51% efg is NOT going to get it done for Danny Ainge OR cmcafeeky. Reminds me of Uncle Joe’s assessment of Madea: “I don’t even like that dude.”

7. Kyle Anderson
Savage IV:Another example of my attempted paradigm shift after a disappointing Savage III. I normally stuffed my wing slots with shoot first offensive minded players who usually need help defending, rely on pass first back court mates, and leave rebounding duties to the bigs. I’m very pleased with Andersons Def: 94,93,75,72,69 & passing & assists. Anderson is a generic Swiss army knife – he does everything well (or at least decent), except score.
Real Life:non-descript. I remember him at UCLA being an NBA prospect. He always struck me as a stereotypical UCLA / California product (although I think I remember him being born somewhere back East): thin and avoids contact. He played with the Spurs, but he never made much of a positive impression. MEH

8. Ed Davis,
Savage IV: I normally wouldn’t have invested 8th round draft capital in a limited minutes low usage 8th rounder, But the efg% (61.6, 61.1, 60.1 & 58.2) and combined reb% are THRILLING. My third and regrettably last ‘Paradigm Shift’ selection. The Davis pick kinda made me feel like I was onto something here….
Real Life:I COULD NOT STAND the 2009 North Carolina Tar Heels, as Tyler Hansborough always struck me as a guy that was a product of EXTREMELY favorable treatment from the collegiate whistle (kind of like almost EVERY DUKE player, but in a lighter shade of blue of course) . I NEVER bought the lie that Hansborough was a good basketball player, and his NBA career proved THAT point. What a BUST in transitioning from one of Carolinas most revered performers to THAT NBA career. WTF happened? (he wasn’t very good) Which brings me to Ed Davis. He was a super sub on that team, but never struck me as anything more than another in a long line of Carolina bigs that are really just big ‘hacks’ (see Hansborough comments). That being said, I thought Davis was really better, especially IF he got the same whistle as “Psycho T” (Hansborough) – Hell, my mother would have been first team All-American if she would have got the Hansborough whistle,a nd she was only 5’4” 120#....I was thoroughly convinced Davis would have benefitted by coming back for another Tar Heel campaign in order to establish himself as a go to player, and guy that could lead a team’s offense. Instead, another money grab sees a player jump to the league maybe sooner than benefits his long term development. As a result his shooting percentage is FAR HIGHER than his scoring average, and his usage reflects he was never more than an afterthought in the plans of his NBA teams.


9. Paul Westphal
Savage IV:This is the point of the draft that in Real Life, I had to ramp up preparations for a return to school and cut back on Savage IV preparations. That being said, I REALLY like the efg% Westphaul provides in the 9^th, but he’s an old school guy that didn’t rely on 3 point shooting to inflate his efg% and or stretch defenses. Westphaul doesn’t pass well enough to be a starting PG in Savage and he doesn’t rebound well enough to garner p.t. at SG. A selection to enable me to bench Kemba Walkers more pedestrian seasons. Pretty plain and simple. But he’s not much different than Kemba Walker, which is probably as much an indictment on Kemba than a positive on Westphaul. Going with Gordan Hayword probably have been a better move than nabbing Westphaul.
Real Life:An underrated star that flourished in the obscurity of small markets (Phoenix and Seattle) and before the Bird – Magic days that helped the league skyrocket.?

10. George Gervin
Savage IV: The second in my ‘back to school – Savage roll back” phase. Gervin gives very strong production – and surprisingly good defense. He sat there high on my list round after round – pick after pick – and with that star quality name recognition – it was easy to be short on time and throw George Gervin out as your 10^th rounder. But let’s be blunt: in Savage he is a ‘tweener’ He doesn’t pass well enough to be a SG and he doesn’t rebound well enough to be a SF. He shoots – he scores. And that’s it.
Real Life:Bill Russell’s defense is one of the most agreed upon gaffes in WIS basketball World. Somewhere in a similar conversation should be George Gervin’s defensive ratings. 85, 79, 78, 71, 64 is a miscarriage of justice. George Gervin was a TERRIBLE defensive player. Geez….

11. Caldwell Jones Savage IV: Caldwell Jones was another guy who sat high on my list when it rolled around to my turn. He fits in my schema of defensive minded drones who provide a tad of rebounds but scant little else. I’m sure more sufficient time would have enabled me to find a better suited back up for Noah.
Real Life:A long time member of the Dr. J Sixers. Along with Bobby Jones, Caldwell rebounded and played stout D for the good Dr., and was able to get out of the way on the offensive end.

12. Terrence Jones
Savage IV: The ’14 and ’15 seasons might offer contriubions by Jones. Not a bad 12^th round flier.
Real Life:Still not sure why or how a talent like Jones doesn’t provide more of a contribution to an NBA franchise. Assuming maybe he brought a knucklehead attitude that rubbed the Rockets the wrong way.

“To neglect the two giants is silly and less than informed.” - This is the kind of language that is combative and rubs people the wrong way. To take a matter of opinion and turn it into a binary fact is unnecessarily stoking fires man.

Posted by robusk on 3/27/2021 4:54:00 PM (view original):
“To neglect the two giants is silly and less than informed.” - This is the kind of language that is combative and rubs people the wrong way. To take a matter of opinion and turn it into a binary fact is unnecessarily stoking fires man.

aiming more for provocative than combative...
combative is more negative than my intent...

Im not making a post or sharing an opinion or idea to make people mad or illicit a fight.
Opinions can be interesting when shared or discussed.
discussions done in a sane civil fashion are fun and oft times enlightening.

If people are 'rubbed wrong', then maybe they are a little too pugnacious in the first place.

a list titled "GOAT' is never a fact and always just an opinion....
Like making a list of the World most beautiful actresses...
It's interesting to explore the subjective criteria that caused the opinion.
or not...lol

I like the theme for your team names, NotoriousJ. Great movie.

My life has been flip turned upside down in 2021. Got my notecards going now so I can design my 5 teams. I’ll do my best to get them in ASAP, hope I’m not holding things up too much (no idea how many teams are entered currently though)

loving all the self evals...heres mine


1. Hakeem
2. DWade

I made the trade with jcred hoping to get Stockon/Magic. I've picked a PG in the first 3 rounds in all four Savage drafts and I don't see that changing in future drafts. Just missed on Magic so it was on to the backup plan of taking two elite defenders. There's a lot of interesting D combos to choose from in that Hakeem/Wade/Pippen/Dr.J/BigBen/Rodman/Gobert/Kawhi/Kidd/Payton group at the turn. It seems so obvious now that it feels funny that I was surprised when ben went with the Hakeem/Dr.J combo in the first Savage. Wade/Dr. J was one combo I thought about but I couldn't pass on Hakeem. He's probably the most destructive defensive force in the sim. Very happy to get my two high usg players out of the way early so I could concentrate on the large pool of <22usg great defenders that would be available with my next 3 picks.

3. Camby

I'm all in on defense as soon as I made the Hakeem/Wade pick. There are no half measures in Savage. I need that edge over all these sharks and Hakeem/Wade's elite D gives that to me. Will a sub par offense sink me in the end? Maybe. But I'd rather take that risk then draft a boring *** team that I hate like I did in Savage III. Nance and Bobby Jones were the plan from the start. They both go right around this spot and I felt great about my chances of getting one of them and their multiple 100d seasons. I already have a ton of towels from Hakeem so I was really hoping to get the cleaner Nance. Jones also has that annoying 95% SF 76-77 season. cmc ruins that plan by taking Nance at pick 2.24 and I go on tilt. All my reasons for going Nance>Jones have me second guessing Jones now and I start considering Camby or Frazier/Manu. Then I really start thinking about who I can get later on at the 4/5. Noah? Very unlikely he makes it to me. Tree Rollins is always my 4th/5th round big I target when I build my Wade D teams in draft leagues. But he's also not really much of a defensive rebounder outside his great 79-80 season. I could already see how this spot ends up being the soft spot in my defense if I wait. Camby gives me elite dreb% plus the added bonus of ast% and low fp48. I was unsure at the time but I'm thrilled I made this pick now. Rollins never made it to my 4th round pick and I was able to snag Bo at SF later on.

4. Jimmy Butler
5. Terrell Brandon

Thought a lot about Bo Outlaw with one these picks. He was the last good defender at SF with serious minutes. But with Camby being low usg and a 48 pick wait ahead of me, I thought I better grab some decent scorers with D while I still could. I wasn't too thrilled with the usg/D options as SF. Harrell(who went 1 pick ahead of me anyway) would be nice but it'd be tough to get all the guys I liked to pair with him later on. Too many sharks. However, this was a sweet spot for usg/D guards in the draft. Penny/Bledsoe/West/Butler/Brandon/Moncrief all started making their way down to me. I barely missed out on the first 3 and went with Butler/Brandon over Moncrief for the ast% and meager 3pt shooting(hey every little bit helps haha). My offense is now firmly the worst in the league BUT with these last three picks a new strength is beginning to form. The super rare heavy D/low towels team.

6. Bo Outlaw
7. Wes Unseld

SF is the concern with this pick now. The options are starting to get shaky. Bo is the pipe dream but I see several teams who could draft him and he really sticks out at this point if you want some D at SF. I liked the Tyler/Henson combo and felt pretty good about getting them both. I liked A.C. Green a lot too. D is pretty average but he's super clean and has enough mins to allow to look at other positions with my 7th. I got nervous when Henson and Green both went but holy sh!t...is Bo still falling? That low usg is pretty tough to fit on a team that actually gives a crap about offense. He might actually make it to me. That's it...only a few more...oh sh!t..don't do it amerk/midge..yes..yesss..yesssssssss!!!! Bo plays enough mins that I could focus on my next biggest need - a backup to Camby. Searching for elite D at that spot was pretty rough. It was all 1/2 year guys and George T. Johnson. Sammy D and Unseld were the guys I was willing to weaken the D for. I considered Varejao too but didn't like the thought of having to use another roster spot for his low min seasons. I liked that Sammy had better D/blk% and offered more scoring, but in the end I couldn't pass on the ast% and low towels Unseld gave me.

8. Terry Tyler
9. John Havlicek

The only thing tough about the 8th round pick was trying to remember if it's Terry Tyler or Tyler Terry Thrilled to get him here. Waiting on SF was definitely the right call for this draft. I expected to round out the backcourt rotation with some 1/2 season guys starting in this round with Ron Harper. That 88-89 season is perfect for this team build. Sadly, beloud(does anyone else pronounce it beh-loud in their head?) snagged him 12 picks before I had the chance. Never imagined I'd be taking Hondo here, but when I was looking for guys with usg% and ast% that had as much def/reb% as possible he kept coming up. If you ignore his scoring he's got 1st round talent. This is probably the point where I went too far on the whole "punting efg%" strategy. There were several options with poor D I could have added to the guard rotation. Hondo ended up playing 20 mins on two teams and 9-11 mins on two others. I considered waiting until the 10th to take him but was immediately vindicated when midge revealed he was planning on taking him and regrets not doing it the pick before me.

10. Marc Gasol
11. Marvin Williams

Though I wanted and would have picked Yao/Cousins with my last set of picks, I was pretty excited to take Greg Monroe with this pick. When I first started looking at potential back ups to Hakeem, Monroe was a name that really stood out to me. When I noticed that he wasn't drafted in the last Savage draft I thought for sure I could land him at this spot. The sim devil is always lurking in the shadows though, ready to cast his evil upon you at any given moment. F*cking ben...4 picks away too. Gasol was a half-assed backup proxy. I liked the 60 D, ast%, and low towels. But he doesn't have 4 points usg in all the seasons I'm using and he's a pretty weak rebounder. Luckily Hakeem plays heavy mins so hopefully he's not a problem. I didn't expect to have any actual 3pt shooters on the teams but it looks like one of them will get a boost from Marvin. I guess he's a steal at this point? Tough to really gauge that with these later round picks. He only has one season I plan on using but it's an awesome one.

12. Charlie Edge

Come on guys. I literally tip you off to this hero in the rules post! But hey, if you guys want me to add a 12/20 85d 3.4 fp48 SF to the mix I'm more than happy to. His lower min season makes for a nice lil 12 mpg backup as well.


Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with this draft. I had a good plan and executed it nicely while getting numerous lucky breaks along the way with the guys I wanted falling to me. I've got the best defense and was able to add good passing(60%+ at all times with some lineups in the high 80s) and solid boards while keeping it pretty clean for a D heavy team.

Contender? Well that comes down to whether the plan was flawed from the start or not. EFG% will always be the most important stat imo. I have the worst efg% in the league(not to mention no 3pt shooting). So that either makes me stupid or arrogant to think I can win without it. This could very well get ugly and I'll be quickly saying " Yea that was stupid." But my arrogant side would like to point out that my Wade D teams are always contenders. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Posted by dBKC on 3/27/2021 8:11:00 PM (view original):
My life has been flip turned upside down in 2021. Got my notecards going now so I can design my 5 teams. I’ll do my best to get them in ASAP, hope I’m not holding things up too much (no idea how many teams are entered currently though)

12 teams in and i havent even begun to check the rosters...youre good

i dug up an old 3 ring spiral notebook for this years build...lots of crumpled up pieces of paper this time around trying to figure out my backcourt rotation...i imagine youll be burning through those notecards with the giannis sf/pf split

Real Life: Greatest of All Time: 1.Wilt Chamberlin, 2. Jabbar, 3. Nike Jordan, 4. LeBron. To neglect the two giants is silly and less than informed.


booooooooo

first ill have to point out that when im talking about the NBA GOAT, im talking about greatest nba career...talking about most talented(which wilt is certainly in the discussion) is a different story

wilt had three different careers in one...the ballhog guy who put up legendary stats but never won anything, prime wilt, and lakers wilt who was more of a role player....only one of those wilts is in the discussion for GOAT imo....you gotta carry a team to more than 1 title if you want to be the GOAT...especially when you played in an era with 8 teams and too many white guys

personally i dont understand how anyone doesnt have lebron in their top 2 at this point...its year 18 now and hes still the best in the league...its crazy...i grew a huge MJ fan but I think Lebron is about to pass him, if he hasnt already

my top 4 goes

1. jordan
2. lebron...for now
3. kareem
4. duncan...yea yea ill take heat for this one but i think hes got a great case

btw...loved the real life takes on your draft picks cmc...fun twist

Posted by dh555 on 3/27/2021 8:20:00 PM (view original):

Posted by dBKC on 3/27/2021 8:11:00 PM (view original):
My life has been flip turned upside down in 2021. Got my notecards going now so I can design my 5 teams. I’ll do my best to get them in ASAP, hope I’m not holding things up too much (no idea how many teams are entered currently though)

12 teams in and i havent even begun to check the rosters...youre good

i dug up an old 3 ring spiral notebook for this years build...lots of crumpled up pieces of paper this time around trying to figure out my backcourt rotation...i imagine youll be burning through those notecards with the giannis sf/pf split

You know the struggle.

3 teams of Giannis/Grant Hill at SF with some extra Bridges/Daugherty at PF/C. 2 teams of Bridges/Moon at SF with Giannis at PF. Simmons/Porter/Clyde PG carousel is tricky too. My brain is getting a workout.

Oh come on, this is the obvious top three of all time:

1) Michael Jordan
2) LeBron James
3) John Havlicek

How did we decide to do divisions?

Posted by dh555 on 3/27/2021 8:45:00 PM (view original):
Real Life: Greatest of All Time: 1.Wilt Chamberlin, 2. Jabbar, 3. Nike Jordan, 4. LeBron. To neglect the two giants is silly and less than informed.


booooooooo

first ill have to point out that when im talking about the NBA GOAT, im talking about greatest nba career...talking about most talented(which wilt is certainly in the discussion) is a different story

wilt had three different careers in one...the ballhog guy who put up legendary stats but never won anything, prime wilt, and lakers wilt who was more of a role player....only one of those wilts is in the discussion for GOAT imo....you gotta carry a team to more than 1 title if you want to be the GOAT...especially when you played in an era with 8 teams and too many white guys

personally i dont understand how anyone doesnt have lebron in their top 2 at this point...its year 18 now and hes still the best in the league...its crazy...i grew a huge MJ fan but I think Lebron is about to pass him, if he hasnt already

my top 4 goes

1. jordan
2. lebron...for now
3. kareem
4. duncan...yea yea ill take heat for this one but i think hes got a great case

Going by the "gotta carry a team to more than one title" actually hurts Kareem a little. He won when Oscar arrived to help out, and that team had some other talent. First Finals for him in LA, Magic started at center in the Finals after Kareem got hurt. And for the rest of his career from then on, he was never the best player on his own team again. Not to take much away from Kareem, in my opinion he's 4th-best all-time career.
MJ and LeBron are 1 and 2 (LeBron might make it to better career as a whole with his insane longevity, but MJ was a better player and went 6-0 in the Finals). Bill Russell comes in at 3 for me. Every NBA generation there are a few more athletic/physical phenoms popping up. Could one someday accomplish stats like Wilt's 1st half-career (taking into account rules, pace and his stats vs his peers)? Not likely, but there's a chance. Now, could anyone do what Russell did, in being a defensive/rebounding force of nature that is the leader (and short-time Head Coach) of a team that wins 11 titles in 13 seasons? No. We won't be seeing that again. To add another wrinkle, those 11 rings, that 13 years, all with one team. LeBron has had to switch teams 3 times to go 4-6 in the Finals in 11 seasons. We will not see another career like Bill Russell's.

I’m not even sure how much I believe it anymore, but I always tell people I have Hakeem 3rd.

im pretty sure I mean it.

Posted by jhsukow on 3/27/2021 9:51:00 PM (view original):
I’m not even sure how much I believe it anymore, but I always tell people I have Hakeem 3rd.

im pretty sure I mean it.

Being that it's opinion, and Hakeem's my favorite big-man ever, I wouldn't fight you on that. I still put Russell/Wilt/KAJ just ahead of him, with TD/Shaq right behind. In my opinion, Hakeem carried 2 of the worst Champioship rosters, while decimating his rivals (Shaq, DRob, Ewing). It was 2 years of Dream just kicking ***, especially on the road in the Playoffs. I still believe that if MJ hadn't retired that 1st time, Hakeem still would've won at least one of those titles.