ok I'll try to throw something together tomorrow...not gonna have time to look at specifics of every guy so a lot of it will just be based kinda on feel.

Posted by badja on 8/8/2011 7:22:00 PM (view original):

Posted by tarheel1991 on 8/8/2011 6:30:00 PM (view original):
I'm the defending champ...do I have to do them? That's just a funk52 rule, right? If people want though I can do my best to throw together some evaluations.

They are a pain unless you are like Ash and know the players almost by rote memory!   Plus you never know which season ppl will use and that could completely change the team. 

Yeah.  My opinion of which MIchael Jordan(s) to use are different than someone else's... Mine are right, of course, but... j/k.  Sort of.  It's commonly held that 88-89 Jordan is an amazing player (he is) and is the Jordan to use almost every time.  I disagree with that.  I find 89-90 Jordan far superior (3s, efg% & stl%).  Lesser efg% versions that are cheaper (and consequently have some advantages like lower tov% and lower fouls) are the 95-96 & 96-97.  I almost wouldn't consider using another Jordan, as in this sim, threes are dominant and your guard probably needs to shoot quite a bit of them.  Thus the 88-89 is not near as valuable IMO.  Also, that Jordan is one of the only Jordans that is not a tier 1 usage player.

But my vision of 89-90 Jordan with some guys will perform very differently than an 88-89 Jordan with the same guys.  It makes it hard to predict.  It's still fun to think about, though.

Here are some evals for the people whose teams I know most fully (ones that have posted their 7-man rosters, plus myself). Briefer versions for everyone else to follow.

eleibowitz:

a lot of things to like about this team. Great efg%, pretty solid rebounding, low on negatives, solid defense. But I think you’re almost out of money with a decent amount of minutes to fill out - will you be able to do it without taking total scrubs? you probably need mostly PG minutes too, with Porter only playing 2600. You’re a little light on assists, but you may be OK since your efg% is so high. Aside from those questions, I think this is a good team - just not a great one. I see a 1st round playoff exit or so.

appleseed:

a team of contradictions. good OReb, bad DReb. great efg%, terrible assists. This might be the hardest team to figure out of all of them, which is something you seem to be good at producing. just like your low-efg% team that played really well a couple years ago, this will test some of our assumptions about the SIM. I think this one will end up splitting the difference between dominance and disaster, and end up somewhere around .500

malone:

I think the Tiny pick killed you. If it had been me, what I would have been looking for out of that pick was a SG with 20+ usg, good efg%, plenty of threes, and respectable Dreb%. Someone like...Jason Richardson (sorry to rub it in!). Archibald was a panic pick, and a bad one. Starting two guards under 48% efg, even with low-ish usage, ain’t gonna cut it. Without threes teams will go -2 or so all day on you, which will hut your rebounding as well. I like your frontcourt a lot, but a weak backcourt and not enough usage means most likely no playoffs. good news is, you may have a shot to try again with Wilt next year ;)

robocoach:

I don’t understand using the 07-08 Jamison at all. You said you loved him, but that season gives you nothing special except good rebounding from a SF, plus he’s not good defensively. That efg% with 26% usg will absolutely doom your team, I think. There are some things to like here, but ultimately how efficiently you use your possessions is a huge factor, and Jamison is really going to hurt you in that regard. I can’t see this team winning more than 35 games, or making the playoffs.

jakotay:

Very good offensive team - except not many threes. Good rebounding team too. But lack of defense might be this team’s undoing. This will be a good chance to test my thoughts on defense earlier in this thread - that you can’t win without it, unless you have an overpowering team in other respects. This one is good, even very good - but I don’t think it can overcome only one defender over 60, and only three over 50. I think this is a 1st round playoff exit.


badja:

At first glance, I thought this was my favorite so far - good efficiency, good rebounding, some good defenders. The only thing I worry about is that you have lots of usage extremes - either very low or very high - so that while, on balance, your average usage is OK, you may sometimes have too much on the court, and sometimes too little, so that the overall product isn’t as good as the overall numbers would suggest. I also think that you’re running out of money, and may end up with a couple thousand useless minutes. To fill out your roster. But those concerns aside, I think this a team that should make the playoffs, and might make some noise once it gets there.

tarheel1991:

I like my own team the best of this group, but not by much. I don’t think it’s a title team, like my last one. I already discussed it some, but here’s a little more. I love my rebounding, have pretty solid defense, and while I have no real efg% studs I also have no weak players in that sense. I do, however, have two worrisome weaknesses: fouls and turnovers. To me, the effect of the fouls isn’t certain; my current theory is that fouls and FTA, more than any stat, will generally regress towards the mean more than anything, so that a lot may not hurt me as much as they should. But the turnovers could be a bigger problem. In sum, I have the benefit of seeing all 12 guys on my own roster, but overall I like my chances to get into the playoffs as a 2-4 seed, just don’t think it’s good enough to get to the finals.

ljemd: it's already been said. Hayes and Thomas are terrible additions to a Jordan team. Baylor has a couple good seasons, actually, but that and the underrated Floyd can't save this squad. one of the worst in the league, I'm afraid. 

ncih: love it, without looking at the details. Reed teams haven't seemed to do too well lately, but on paper he and Dirk are a great 4/5 to pair with Rodman. Love Curry as well. Long as you can afford a solid bench, this is a great team.

banditone: good frontcourt start. backcourt...yuck. porter and rice give you no rebounds and no defense. Barry and Scott are efg% drains. Don't like this at all. Not much shot at playoffs.

jcred: Love LBJ, hate Thurmond. Brand at SF means good rebounds, Lacey and Hornacek are OK, but Thurmond is a killer. Think this is not a playoff team.

98average: wow, what a frontcourt. Like Carter too. Not sure if the backcourt overall will hold up its end of the bargain, but the frontcourt is so good. Probably a playoff team.

dh555: a lot to like about this team. Not a huge Kareem guy, but Camby is a good match. Defense is a little bit of a concern in the backcourt. But this team has a lot of offensive punch. Nelson and Balkman are a good bench - maybe a little expensive? If you're good on cash to fill out the minutes, this is a borderline playoff team.

tricky24: like the start , not the finish. Dwade is one of the best 47m building blocks around, Buck is a good big man. Hill is a little iffy for me, McAdoo could work though. Just don't like the QRich/Govan/Pressey finish - sounds like you had some salary concerns.  I think this team wins 35 games or so.

mikee1: haven't looked at the total picture, but I love this on paper. CP3/Ginobili/Marshall is a dream 1/2/3 in any league. Mutombo a great big man to start with, Landsberger/Pryzbilla a nice combo, Person has some great seasons. Seems like an expensive group - I worry about your minutes. But if you solve that concern, this should be a legit contender.

"jakotay:

Very good offensive team - except not many threes. Good rebounding team too. But lack of defense might be this team’s undoing. This will be a good chance to test my thoughts on defense earlier in this thread - that you can’t win without it, unless you have an overpowering team in other respects. This one is good, even very good - but I don’t think it can overcome only one defender over 60, and only three over 50. I think this is a 1st round playoff exit."

I have been here for 10 years... 11 if you include an old alias.  In that time one thing has stayed constant; even through "major" sim changes and inputs.... rebounding is king.  To simplify.... nothing has really changed that much.  Defense ratings were added... but I have yet to see enough of an impact between 1 55 and an 85.  I am sure its there in some form... but if I can get enough boards and shoot well enough then I hope the short DEF is a wash.  The same can be said for things we do not see (but are used in the sim) like tov% and FG+.  So many things added but yet if you rebound and shoot well... you will at least do o.k.  Eye candy more than impact IMO.

As for threes... had my heart set on Ward as a back-up... so much so I tried to trade.  I knew scud was on him as well given his proxy list (and curious as to why he did not grab him) but I think that would have been ideal had sixer not nabbed him.

Would be happy with your assessment,,, I changed my team style to a more balanced one in terms of usage%.  Making the playofs with the first revision would be a welcomed result.  Hopefully you are right!

and a few more:



evil 1: like it a lot; you used the pick you traded up for well, and found some solid big men late. Gasol is a great 4 when you have guys like Bird and Pippen at the 2/3 to board and score, Robbins is a serviceable 5. Unless you're short on minutes (you've got some expensive per-minute guys there) this is a great team, and a contender.

evil 2: not as good as the first. you get no threes from Walker and Lever and bad efg% as well. At least defense should be good on this team, though. Should have good rebounding too. Just don't like the offense. Might make the playoffs, more likely not - close to 50/50 though.

jethroeg: just not getting a good vibe on this one. it should have good D, decent overall, rebounding. I like the component parts. Just as a whole...it feels wrong. I don't like the bench either - Wicks doesn't have the rebounding punch for a 3rd big man. This team could prove me wrong, and the scoring punch is there to put up major points (along with some good D), I just don't like the feel overall. I'm feeling 40 wins.

sixer 1: it's a waste to play erving as a 3 and murphy as a 4 -  they're most valuable as a 2/3 combo. Still a decent rebounding team, regardless, and still some good pieces. The Barrys are good pieces. But overall the frontcourt won't cut it, defensively or rebounding-wise - Catchings is pretty bad. Not terrible, but no playoffs IMO.

sixer 2: I like this starting lineup, and Ward as well. Do you have enough scoring, though? Light on usage from the bench. I guess Malone, JRich, and Harper are enough though. This squad doesn't have a lot of guys I would use, but I can't really find a major flaw either, so I'll say it's got a decent shot at the playoffs.

captainzen: I'll say this: Wallace is one of my favorite SIM players, but I really don't like Stockton. Just a personal thing. But you probably covered his lack of rebounding well. Maxwell and Zo are good too, but pretty expensive for this cap. Mullin is good as well. Not a big fan of the bench picks, though - guessing you ran out of cash. Like the starting lineup, not sure your bench will be good enough though. I suspect this team is a borderline playoff squad.

scudmissle: as you said, you sure loaded up on combo forwards. I'm assuming you're using the best rebounding Garnett and Marques given they're playing the 4/5; even with Tmac/Odom not sure the rebounding is enough to make this a great team. Also I feel like people are having trouble winning with Garnett lately. Lee is a good rebounder off the bench, but Price isn't. You've got scoring, and threes, and defense...just not sure it's enough to overcome low boards. Borderline playoffs. 

empdenied: on paper, I love this team. good thing for you thurmond was already taken, okafor is much better. I like J. Smith too, but have had trouble fitting him in places - wonder which season you're using (might need a higher D season in the frontcourt). One question - do you have enough usage from Reggie, KLove, etc? Maybe you'll be using a high efg% Smith, that would help, but Kidd, Gadzuric, Muggsy are all pretty low. Some questions, but if you find the right mix of seasons I could see this being a team that goes past the 1st round of the playoffs.

sappy: like the starting lineup. not sure about the bench, though - Mason will have to log a lot of his minutes at the 4/5 with no post player on the bench, and he's better as a 3. Brewer gives you almost nothing - minutes filler,  I assume. when Brewer/Calderon are in, and/or Boozer/Lucas out, your rebounding will suffer. Powerful starting lineup, afraid the bench dooms you. Borderline playoffs.

tarheel...Tiny won't kill me.  I will most likely start Charlie Edge who is 97% at SG and I have Darvin Ham as a backup.  I went with a 2100 (or so) Tiny.  Thought I could squeeze in Big Tiny and 66-67 Wilt.  I decided not to do this at the cost of a bench.  My team should be ok.  My biggest oopsy is three's (which is VERY unlike me, but my bench may help with that).

tarheel1991 - Magic, Gerald Wallace, Boerwinkle, Kris Humphries, Noah, Darrell Griffith, Oakley

- Wow...well no question this team will be winning the rebounding battle. That 4 man rotation of bigs is beastly.  I loved the early Wallace pick because he gives you so much flexibility with positions, rebounding, and defense. I really felt like you could have taken advantage of that after your first 4 picks. For some reason, Amare gets no love in draft leagues despite being one of the best paint scorers in the sim(and he shoots fts at 80%). You could have stole him in the 5th, giving this team the big time scorer it really needed. With Kardashian and Boerwinkle playing next to him, and Magic at the point you wouldn't have been that bad on the glass. And if you felt you needed more boards then you could always get some more from the sf spot and play Wallace at sg. Instead, you went with Griffith as the lucky guy who gets his passes from Magic and his boards cleaned by an expert crew. You ARE the defending champion and a very good owner so maybe I'm missing something, but what exactly does he do well? There had to be better options out there. As it is though, great boards + Magic makes me think this will still be a playoff team.

appleseed1 - Barkley, AK, McHale,  JR Smith, Birdman Anderson, Moncrief, Bob Gross

- Ughhh...I really hate your teams appleseed haha. You have the dream scoring tandem of McHale and Barkley yet decide to NOT draft a point guard or a center to help them on the glass. And WTF were you doing taking AK47 in the 2nd round? Billups would be looking pretty damn good in this offense dishing to those two and providing the outside shooting. The defense is awesome, with Barkley and Smith being able to guard the other teams weaker opponents. But you probably won't be as great as you think since you are kinda weak on the defensive glass, imo the most important part of defense. Like I said, I hate your teams, and this one is no different. But I LOVE the Bakley/McHale combo and I always seem to underrate defense so I guess I won't be surprised if you do well. But I'm gonna go ahead and set myself up for some losses to your team by predicting you miss the playoffs.

tricky24 -  Wade, Buck Williams, G. Hill, McAdoo, Q. Richardson, Govan, Pressey

- Well if you've ever read any of my draft comments you know how I feel about this team. Grant Hill = No playoffs. Yea...Wade is a beast, McAdoo was a steal, Buck is a nice player(not sure he's a 2nd round pick though), and Q was a good sg pick next to Wade. But you have Grant Hill....so no playoffs for you.

mikee1  - CP3, Mutombo, Donyell, Manu Ginobili, Landsberger, Przybilla, Wesley Person

- Some great team building here. He made a smart 2nd round pick to compliment his stud first rounder. With pg and c taken care of(the best ones go in the first 2 rounds) he could just sit back and snag the best available 2,3 or 4(usually more steals from those positions). Donyell fell into his lap in the 3rd(seriously, when is he gonna start getting picked in the 2nd where he belongs? who else does what he does?) and then Manu somehow fell to him in the 4th. He literally got the best available sg and sf with those picks. I thought you could have used some paint scoring(although lands best season isn't too bad) next to Mutombo to balance out the great 3pt shooting. But that's really the only thing I don't like about this team. Possible division winner.

robocoach  - Oscar, Ray Allen, Walton, Bobby Jones, A. Jamison, Sabonis, Steve Hawes

- I love the backcourt. Allen is absolutely worth a 2nd round pick. Walton is expensive but was good value for when you got him. Jones was a great pick to play with those guys. Then you picked Jamison and f*cked it all up. Why was he needed at all? You had a rebounding sf(Jones). You had enough 3s(Allen is the king and you could have added more at the backup sg/sf spots). You didn't really need his usage either. Especially since you picked Sabonis next, only to waste him by not using his best season. With Oscar,Allen(maybe use his 05-06 for more usg%), Walton, and the good Sabonis you wouldn't need Jamison shooting his bricks. I understand the guy has been a winner before and he offsets some of Oscars turnovers with his great tov% but I reealllly hated him for this team. I'm thinking it will come down to how he plays for this team as to weather or not this is a playoff team. I'm a Jamison hater so I'm saying no.

jakotay -  Mel Daniels, Unseld, K. Johnson, Richard Jefferson, Connie Hawkins, Barros, Lasalle Thompson

- The commish(you did another great job btw, even with the computer problems, ty) made the worst 1st round pick in the draft. Sorry.  I love Daniels but he has no business being taken before Artis,Drob, or Shaq. You did say you wanted a strong a start on the glass and you cant argue against that with Daniels/Unseld. I just think you have to take advantage of that kind of talent when it's available. Of course you've been in sooo many of these drafts now that you could just be tired of the same guys over and over and wanted to try our Daniels for a change. KJ was a great pick in the 3rd(didnt ash win a few titles with him?). I feel like a lot of teams screwed up their point guard picks(DERON WILLIAMS WASN'T DRAFTED!!??!?!!) but this wasn't one of them. Hawkins is one of my favorites, loved that pick. Jefferson confused me at first but when i look at the team as a whole he fits nicely(except you really could have used more 3s from that pick). You have 3 guys(RJ,KJ,Hawk) who are great at getting to the line(and shoot it well) but usually don't see as many trips to the line since they typically are the 3rd option on offense. On this team they will get the chance to max out their ft chances. I used this strategy in the last ODL and it worked very well. I like this team but the lack of a true star concerns me, I'm thinking a borderline playoff team here.

Oh...and there's my boy Barros...barely making a roster as a backup...getting disrespected again...did no one notice that he shot 50/50/90 with well over 250 3s and over 300 ftm for a division winner?

xxevilivexx1   Bird, Pippen, Billups, Red Robbins, Gasol, Clifford Ray, Bo Outlaw

- Great trade evil. I thought for sure I was getting Billups. It was only tarheel in front of me and he already had Magic. Then he announced the trade and I thought, "ah sh*t he's gonna steal Billups." I was right. I'm big on winning the 3pt/ftm battle. I'm not even sure how much that really matters overall but it's usually the 3rd thing I shoot for after boards and efg%. Billups is the king of that. Look at the 3pt and FTM leaders in any league and he up there in both of them. And then theres his ridiculous A/T and 80 defense. No way should he even approach the 3rd round...ever...in any draft league. The passing on this team is just insane. Robbins is the only guy who isn't above-average for their position. Robbins isn't flashy but he's a solid pick since you had to wait so long to get your first big. It's really gonna come down to the bigs. They play well and this could be a division winner. They struggle and it'll probably be a weak playoff team.

xxevilivexx2 -   Marion, Duncan, Fat Lever, Darrell Walker, Happy Hairston, Steve Kerr, Vareajao

- Yikes...this team is about as sexy as a dead baby. What's going on here? Rebounds...that's for sure. Pretty good defense too. But what the hell is Fat and Fat jr doing in the same backcourt?  Duncan and Marion have to carry the scoring load....just don't see that working out well. You finally drafted some 3s with Kerr but he barely shoots the ball. The Happy/Sideshow Bob combo is pretty underwhelming on a team that needed some punch from those picks. I know uva and others have gotten monster seasons out of Marion and I could see it happening again with this team. I don't think it will be enough though. (soup nazi voice)No playoffs for you!

jethroeg -   Hakeem, Glove, English, Drexler, Caldwell Jones, Joe Dumars, Sidney Wicks

- Hakeem over Artis/Drob/Shaq is a mistake. ODL vets all know this and jethro will too after this season. Payton was a great 2nd round pick and a complete stud if you need scoring from your point guard. But you picked English and Drexler as well, so you're cutting into the Glove's value there. Speaking of Drexler, what the hell was he doing still available in the 4th round? Figures he goes to a team that probably didn't need him. English actually isn't that bad of a player now that I look at him, except you should probably play him at the sg spot and need a lower usg% pg who shoots a ton of 3s and has great ast%. He doesn't fit on this team at sf. Caldwell Jones was a sh*tty pick. I'm not even gonna bother looking at Wicks. I know he played in the 70's so he's probably not a very good sim player.  Jim Mora, tell em what I think about his playoff chances: www.youtube.com/watch






the rest will be coming....ill try to do some now while im watching lee dominate the dodgers....its really amazing to be a phillies fan right now

yeah, like you said, tar, u don't know what versions of the players are being used.

scud...if you want...post what seasons youre using...ill probably be doing your team pretty soon and id love to know so i dont have to assume

badja  - Artis, Kobe, Penny Hardaway, Dalembert, Granger, Jim Les, R. Evans

- Let me start off by saying how much I hate you for knocking out my TheMagicShow team in last seasons playoffs. That was my favorite team I ever built in a draft league and really felt they were gonna win it all. With that out of the way I can now gush about your team. Artis and Kobe with your first two picks is as good as you can hope for picking at #17. Penny is a stud, and while not always an ideal fit next to Kobe, I like that you went with the talent while it was there. Those two will wreak havoc on opposing backcourts. Dalembert/Evans is exactly who you want at pf since you had enough usage in the backcourt and enough paint scoring from Artis. Les is a favorite of mine and imo the best low usg% backup pg for this league since hes so cheap and has two good seasons to choose from. Then there's Granger. Not quite sure how he's gonna work out playing sf for this team. He gives you 3s and another big time scoring threat to help Penny and Kobe but he doesn't rebound well for a sf and you might have been better off getting someone in the 17-22 range for usg% instead of Grangers high usg%. Even if Granger doesn't fit too well there's no way I see this team missing the..WOW! Cliff Lee just hit a homerun!....playoffs.

sixernuggets1 - Admiral, Dr. J, Troy Murphy, B. Barry, Mo Cheeks, J. Barry, Catchings

- I gotta be honest, when I saw you had two teams in the league I was happy to know I had double the chance to get you in my division and pick up some easy wins. It seems you've been learned some from your mistakes(best way to get better in the ODL, I had a Buse/Ellis backcourt on my first team, learned fast that wasn't gonna cut it in this league). I like what you've done here. But you have to use the right Dr. J. I like Murphy more then most since he gives you more options when picking guards. By picking him you were able to get Mo Cheeks and not have to worry about his lack of 3s. The Barry boys are efg% gods, always great picks in the ODL. You have some expensive players and that's really gonna hurt the team since you really could have used some rebounding depth and Catchings isn't the answer. Don't care much for defense but I have to believe having two 100 defenders will have some kind of impact. You have a real shot of making the playoffs here.

sixernuggets2 -  Russell, Karl, D. Harper, J.  Richardson, Clarence Weatherspoon, W. Cooper, C. Ward

- I change my mind about Russell more then any other player in the sim. Right now I love him. That 68-69 season is incredible value. And ask emp how Russell is working out for him in the ncih52. I still think it's nuts you picked him over Shaq but when you're able to get the mailman in the 2nd it's not such a big deal. Harper is a solid pg but you could have gotten someone who will really feed Malone the ball(like Deron Williams). J-Rich does as good a Ray Allen impression as anyone. I don't get why he and Richmond don't get more opportunities to pair up with a scoring big man(like the mailman). 3s win games and those guys will get you 250+ every time. Spoon is a very solid sf who seems to be getting more popular and with good reason. He doesn't have many negatives and can board from the sf spot, always an important attribute. This is another solid team for sixernuggets. Like the other team, I'm not sure it's a contender but playoffs are a possibility.

eleibowitz  - Shaq, P. Pierce, Tyson Chandler, Terry Porter, AC Green, Redd, Foster

- Shame on all of you. You guys let the hottest owner in the sim(not named ash or dman) get Shaq at #20. You can't give leibo a head start like that. Shaq is one of the easiest guys to build around. Start with Shaq, pair him with a cheap low usgae boardlord pf and a sf who can rebound some. Get him a pg to pass him the ball and then surround him with 3pt shooting. Bam...playoffs. Redd, Pierce, and Porter are a sick trio to pair with Shaq on the perimeter. Chandler/Foster...perfect. I'm not big on Green but he will board some from the 3 and doesn't hurt you with negatives. So yea...this is what happens when you let a good owner get Shaq late so he can pair him with an elite guard. My only concern is that you might not be as strong on the boards or with the dimes as other teams. Porter will need a good backup pg. For me, this team is the favorite.

captainzen - Ben Wallace, Stockton, C. Maxwell, Zo Mourning, Chris Mullin, Rivers, Silas

- Big Ben is worth a late 1st rounder and the best low usage rebounder in the ODL not named Rodman. Like mike's team you set youself up to take advantage of any stud 2,3,4s that fell to you. Maxwell is a steal to some owners. I never liked the fact that his negatives were so high for a guy who only had a 18% usage. He's got great ft numbers but does he really get there much with such low usage?(i really dont know, never had him and havent checked it out). Still, he was a great sf pick at the bottom of the 3rd. It's always somewhat of a risk picking your two leading scorers with your 4th/5th picks but there is certainly enough guys out there(especially at sg) to get away with it. I would have loved Amare for this team. He's a much better scorer then Zo. Mullin was one of the best available but you really could have used some 3s from that spot and Mullin doesn't shoot enough of them. Mullin/Zo will have a lot of pressure on them and it'll be interesting to see how they do. Big Ben = Playoffs.




ill do the last 3 sometime tomorrow

draft's over and none of his cheap seasons are any good so I feel confident in asking the following question without getting redlined:

Nobody drafted Deron Williams?  What the hell?  His 07-08 season is ******* rape in $47M.

That is all.

Have a great day!