The thing I found enticing about Artis is, positional stuff and turnovers aside, is that he has so many usable seasons with different usage profiles that he can fit on a pretty wide ranging amount of teams.

Waiting for ash's (or anyone's) take on pick 1 through 6.

Posted by robusk on 5/22/2020 5:41:00 PM (view original):
Hey ash: I am curious how a local TV news guy in Texas ends up with someone from Alabama, who played the bulk of his career in Philly and Phoenix as his all time favorite player.

I'm in Tennessee (not that that makes any difference), but what happened was that my first real NBA game watching was a Bulls vs Sixers in the mid 80s. Barkley gets a defensive board, drives the length of the floor, and stuffs it with two hands, swinging on the rim. I was just a kid and was like, "That guy's awesome. He's my favorite," and stuck to it.

Biggest irony, though, is that he went to Auburn, and I've been an Alabama fan my whole life. I became an Alabama fan in the 80s because they were my dad's team's (Tennessee) rival. I became a fan as an act of rebellion lol Dad had a lot of laughs in the 90s... but it's been me that's laughing for the past 14 years!

Posted by ashamael on 5/22/2020 7:00:00 PM (view original):

Posted by robusk on 5/22/2020 5:41:00 PM (view original):
Hey ash: I am curious how a local TV news guy in Texas ends up with someone from Alabama, who played the bulk of his career in Philly and Phoenix as his all time favorite player.

I'm in Tennessee (not that that makes any difference), but what happened was that my first real NBA game watching was a Bulls vs Sixers in the mid 80s. Barkley gets a defensive board, drives the length of the floor, and stuffs it with two hands, swinging on the rim. I was just a kid and was like, "That guy's awesome. He's my favorite," and stuck to it.

Biggest irony, though, is that he went to Auburn, and I've been an Alabama fan my whole life. I became an Alabama fan in the 80s because they were my dad's team's (Tennessee) rival. I became a fan as an act of rebellion lol Dad had a lot of laughs in the 90s... but it's been me that's laughing for the past 14 years!

I was a 49ers fan when I was a kid just to spite my parents, so I can relate.

I don't why I thought you were in Dallas or Austin. Which city in TN? I have spent a lot of time in TN for work, mostly Memphis and Nashville. However, I also went to Chattanooga a couple times and I would contend it is one of the 3-4 prettiest cities in America.

Posted by longtallbrad on 5/22/2020 6:25:00 PM (view original):
Waiting for ash's (or anyone's) take on pick 1 through 6.

I just gave a quick grade early on... but ask & ye shall receive!

1. dh555 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - had 'Cap 1 (1a, more accurately) on my list. Best combination of usg%/efg%/def & minutes. Fantastic dreb%. Shaq has better tov% & paint%, but less minutes. Kareem also has more usable seasons to choose from (Shaq's top 5 are just blatantly obvious, and that's not exactly bad because they. are. so. good!) If I had the first pick, I would have taken Kareem over Shaq just for the extra minutes.

2. copernicus - Michael Jordan - I had MJ 4 originally but moved him back to 5 just because of how much I value paint scorers who double as board lords (Howard). MJ gives you almost everything you could want. Tier 1 usage for most of his seasons (88-89 is tier 2, barely) with several of efg% 52% or higher (that beautiful 89-90 season is like 54.999). Top tier defense. One of the best tov% in the sim (especially with his usg). Great boards for a 2. Some seasons give you 3s, some don't. Doesn't hurt you in any facet. Unlike the rest the top five, there's nobody even close to MJ at the 2 in all of these areas.

3. bds9992 - Karl Malone - I had Mailman 3 originally but dropped him to 4 just because Dwight is just so superior on the boards and efg%. Mailman does give you more in the ast% for most of his better seasons, though, and is basically either a 70 (good) or 90 (top notch) defender. Super easy to build around. Lower orb% than I typically like for a 4/5, but all of his +s far outweigh his -s.

4. kinoa1 - Shaquille O'Neal - As I said with Kareem, I had Shaq as my 1b. Shaq is the best combination in the sim when it comes to usg%+efg%+tov%+fouled%+paint%. Also fine defense & ast%. Doesn't hurt you on the boards. Less minutes than Kareem, but still has five incredible seasons of 35mpg or more. It's hard to go wrong with any of the guys in the top 5, but Shaq at 4 feels like highway robbery.

5. 24kpyrite - Chris Paul - I had CP3 6th. Like MJ, CP3 is completely unique at PG. He gives you top tier ast%, top 2 tov% for a PG (and other guy not even in his class elsewhere), elite defense (a couple of great seasons aren't 80 or 90, but they are still 70), good boards for the position, decent 3s, ideal usg% for a PG, consistently decent efg% for all the other things he brings (one upper tier season that's full minutes). Basically, to sum it up, no PG (minus banned guys) helps you more in the shooting struggle (efg%+ast%+def) and the possession battle (crb%+tov%), and for that, he's the only PG I give a top 10 grade to.

6. tarheel1991 - Kevin Durant - I had him graded at 12, but could put him anywhere from 5-15 and be happy. He has two absolutely incredible seasons with 3100+ minutes, and several Golden State seasons that would be even better if they had more minutes. I might be mistakenly placing a premium on higher minutes (with early picks, anyway), but that is the only place I dock him. I would want to use those GS seasons, but 2k minutes? I can't use a top 10 pick on 2k minutes. He does have great seasons with more minutes, it just... it ate at me a bit. Superior usg%+efg% combination. 3s. Defense. Even dimes at one point. Good fouled%. Decent drb% but horrid orb% for a 3. Still, the +s > the -s *by far*.

Unfortunately I'm not able to take part in this draft. My health is good and family is good.
It's work related and I can't turn down the extra $. It means I don't have the time I need
to do this draft right.
I've sent a sm to dh555 and have offered my spot to longtallbrad.
I love these drafts and this is one is top shelf!
Best of luck and I'll be seeing you around WifSNBA soon I'm sure
Hooray It's Draft Day!

Posted by seapilots on 5/22/2020 8:05:00 PM (view original):
Unfortunately I'm not able to take part in this draft. My health is good and family is good.
It's work related and I can't turn down the extra $. It means I don't have the time I need
to do this draft right.
I've sent a sm to dh555 and have offered my spot to longtallbrad.
I love these drafts and this is one is top shelf!
Best of luck and I'll be seeing you around WifSNBA soon I'm sure
Hooray It's Draft Day!

sad to hear you're not gonna play but glad to hear that it's not because of bad stuff!

sorry seapilots but also congrats on extra $$$!

good commentary ash!

and then

no and thens!

Good news is... I've had a lot of time to think about this next pick.

Bad news is... I still have no idea where I'm going to go with it. I have 4 players in mind, all very different from each other and could get pulled any direction at this point.

Sad to see you go seapilots, and thanks for the commentry ashamael, always great seeing the opinions of the vets.

I pick after you. I have a very specific direction that I could advise you to not go, if that helps any.

16. amerk1180 - Tim Duncan - yeah, talk about a safe pick. Good boards? Check. Good defense? Check. Always at least a tier 3 (if not tier 2) usage guy? Check. Couple of nice efg% seasons? Sure. Positional flexibility? Absolutely. Definitely a tier below the Kareems/Shaqs/Dwights of the sim-world, but still a totally great foundation to any squad. I had Duncan as a mid-late 1st grade.

17. mptrey - Magic Johnson - Bit of an odd case is Magic, but absolutely a strong building block. Good combination of usg%/efg%/ast% and in several cases, def! You won't have to stress about drafting lower ast% guys at the 2 or 3 because he mostly covers that by himself. GREAT rebounds from the back court. Gives you some threes some seasons. Great fouled%. Low pfs. Ultimately flexibility pick thanks to the assists and being 100% at three positions (not that you'd really think about putting him at the 3 in a league like this, but if you wanted to, you could). I had Magic 13th because of all of that. There's now a big dropoff at PG now that cp3, Stockton, and Magic have all been taken.

If I stayed at 15, that was my pick.