Mookie/Goran/Victor
Mike/Goran/Victor
Faried/Anderson/Smith
McAdoo/Sabo/Embiid/Andris
Walton/Embiid/Andris

my backcourt will be mostly stout to quite scary, varying - my frontline will be anywhere from not too shabby to trash fire

totally agree with robusk about people sharing their draft process...i love that ****..heres mine

1. Kareem - I thought about banning Kareem and Shaq as well. They both have 5 full minute high usg, high efg seasons. To me they were the clear top two choices. I think Shaq is better but I chose Kareem since I've had Shaq for almost his whole career in the TEPL. I'm excited to see what 75-76 Kareem can do. It's his lowest efg season(53) I'm using but hes got a 93d and 29.5% dreb. Also has 13.6% ast and 4.9% blk over his 41mpg.

2. Billups - I would have liked to use a different player here since I used all of his seasons before in the TEPL. I didn't even think he would be available with the last pick in the 2nd. But after Mookie went right ahead of me it became an easy choice. I always value PG very highly(probably too high) and especially so in this format. I thought there was a bit of a drop off at PG after Billups went so I feel lucky to get him when I did.

3. Ho Grant - Shocking right? No one saw this coming. And by no one I mean absolutely everyone. Five good seasons that are super clean with boards, defense, and good efg at SF? Yesssssir. But most importantly he allowed me to take....

4. Amare - He and Zo went too late imo. I've got 4 seasons of 26%+ usg and 55%+ efg from him with amazing FTr and TOV%. That's 1st round scoring right there. I was hesitant due to his rebounding/defense but in the end I couldn't pass up the chance to have two high usg, high efg scorers wreaking havoc on teams. I felt like he could give me that edge I needed in a super tough field. His negatives may end up burning me in the end but it was worth the risk. I've only ever used 07-08 so I'm curious to see how his other seasons do, especially 04-05.

5. Kevin Love - I didn't want to add another poor defender so soon but he really had all the other qualities I was looking for to play in a rotation at the 4/5 with Kareem and Amare. I needed dreb% most of all and Love certainly provides that. I was also looking for someone with lowish fouls to offset Amare's hacking. Love is a beast when it comes to low fp48. Then when you add in the 3s and the low tov%, it became easier to overlook the horrible defense. He will be a starter for his two best seasons(13-14 and 10-11) and a backup for the other 3. I'm really liking that 17-18 season with the awesome 3pt shooting and 28% dreb. I might have to start looking at that season more in the ODL/52.

6. John Henson - Since I was taking Love, I figured finding a SF who defends and rebounds would be more important than finding my starting SG(deep pool there). Henson really stood out to me there. When I saw how perfectly his seasons fit with Grant's I knew I had to grab him. He even has a nice 22+ usg season I'll be using to play a 0-3 mins at PF on the team I'm using 00-01 Spoon at SF.

7. Doug Christie - I would have loved to grab Danny Green here. However, Doug gives me good ast% for some teams that really needed it and he's a fantastic defender. Very happy to land him here. I would have loved to get more boards at SG but I knew that wouldn't be possible if I wanted 3s/D/ast as well.

8. Eddie Jones - He fits nicely at SG for the teams that needed a lil extra usg at SG. Two good starting seasons and plenty of solid backup ones. Like Christie, he's bringing some valuable defense and plays a clean game. I was very happy to land both of them at the 7/8 turn. I can't wait to see what the 100 d 98-99 Jones can do. He'll be playing 16-22 mpg behind Phills.

9. Dan Majerle - I had a tough time picking between him and Wesley Person. Ended up going with Dan since he had better backup seasons and I've neever used him before. His 92-93 season will be starting for one of my teams. He continues the theme of super clean 3pt shooting with good defense and some ast% at SG.

10. Tim Hardaway - Backup PG was pretty easy to get. I had several other names I liked here including an undrafted guy. I went with Hardaway since he had the usg% and ast% I wanted for all 5 seasons. I knew I wouldn't need another backup PG. The shooting and defense could be better but he's pretty solid overall for this point in the draft. He's soooo much better in this format than regular draft leagues. I wouldn't use any of his seasons for the ODL/52.

11. Spoonman - Perfect fit for me. I already pretty much had my entire frontcourt set after the Love/Henson picks but I needed a few extra mins to cover overtimes and WIS being stupid. I needed two seasons with 18.5+ usg to play at PF and three seasons of low usg boarding to play at SF. Spoon provided both. He also has that fantastic 00-01 seasons that ended up replacing one of my Grant's on a team that needed more dreb%

12. Bobby Phills - He's probably only playing in his one really good 95-96 season, but he will be a starter. I've always loved this season and was happy to finally get to use it again.

Overall I'm pretty happy with how the draft turned out. I'm pretty average to possibly weak on the boards but I feel like that's my only major flaw. Love and Amare will drag down the defense but I'm pretty solid there otherwise. Christie/Jones will add some much needed stl%. Other than Amare and Henson's fouls I have a very clean team, and that should help make up for the lack of boards. I fully intend to dominate teams at the FT line. My biggest worry is Chauncey's shooting. I don't like to have him as my lead scoring guard and seeing the other teams top defender every game. He could shoot me out of a few games. I feel like I could make the playoffs with every team - I'm pretty well balanced. But who the hell knows in this league. It's new ground for all of us. I can't wait to see how it plays out.

can I draft any $239k player to rest for the vacant season? or did you have specific scrubs you wanted us to use.
I vote for specific players!. Pick a PG, SG, SF, PF, & C. They're on rest anyway.

I like ash's suggestion of the lowest efg $239k guys available. Anyone under 25% should do.

1. AD

Love how clean his game is. That was important to me. I felt I could take bigger swings on “peerless” types of players with faults, which I quickly did with drafting...

2. Steve Nash

Im not sure if this is a great pick with no cap, but his consistency over 4.5 seasons is really nice for this format. I don’t know if you guys have seen, but he has pretty good eFG/ast numbers, to go with his turnovers and poor def.

3. Nance

No secret I wanted Brand here, but I lucked out. No way Nance goes this low next season. Another remarkably consistent 4.5 seasons. I hope Nance and Nash can find their way back to each other with a better owner.

4. Marquis Johnson

long wait, but very happy to get him here. Does it all pretty good except spacing. So many quality minutes that I felt comfortable grabbing

5. Ben Simmons

My hope is to have Nash guard 1-5. Simmons is an A/A- defender. Elite rebounding to help what is becoming a huge concern. More eFG and assists. 2 seasons will bite me though and it was probably too early.

6. Bob Covington

Switchable defender that can spread the floor. Very happy to add him. Again, maybe others are seeing this, another guy with 4.5 good seasons.

7. JV

Looking for more home rum hitters. I saw him play the Warriors in March last season after being traded and have been itching to use this special little partial season of his. During my research, found him to actually have some better seasons than I thought.

8. Buddy

This was a big one for our spacing concerns. With Nash and Simmons on board, he slots nicely into being the 3rd guard or can star on the Ben SANSimmons teams.

9. Troy Murphy

3’s and boards. Leaning toward letting him get a chance as an alpha, running around with K Bell and Ted Danson before he realizes that this is the bad place.

10. Mirotic

trying to platoon his good seasons with Murphy’s bad seasons and vice versa.

11. IT

I was going to take IT, before Nikola and was nervous I messed it up. Sound like another stroke of luck, because I think Ben said he would have taken Mirotic. Should be interesting to see what his monster season looks like with Nash, the good and the bad.

12. Detlef

Thought about a bunch of other guys. Really like what Detlef brings in this format. I will be planning on taking him before the 12th next season.

You have a lot of good players jhsukow!

1. Shaq

No brainer. He was #1 on my board. Best high usage/high efg%/Paint/low TOV big man in the sim. Plus great boards, assists and 4 seasons of 80 D. Perfect guy to build around

2. Walt Frazier

I would never take him in a normal draft. Or ever for that matter. But top his 5 seasons are ridiculously consistent. 90D, 51%efg, 16-23% assists, 14-16 CRB%, good FTR and low fouls, 2800 minutes minimum. All but 1 year his TOV is pretty good. This is an anchor I could build around looking for more 3's later in the draft. My guess was that highly efficient PG's who shot lot's of 3's would be in short supply, played bad D, and had meh other stats. I was right. Walt's consistency and D allowed me to grab a couple of really efficient guards later on without worrying about their deficiencies. Not a sexy pick but very solid.

3. Bobby Jones

Didn't expect him to fall to me. Wasn't on my radar. Had to grab him when he was there. Best player available. Three seasons of 100D and 2 90D, excellent rebounding from the SF position, great efg%, assists ... not a weak season. He's a stud. Only issue is one of his best seasons he's 95% at SF, so I did some maneuvering to make sure I teamed him with the best rebounding Shaq and ... l would figure it out later. Thrilled with this pick.

4. Kyrie Irving

Best high efficient PG who shoots lots of 3's available. Only issue is his 2 best seasons were limited minutes, and he had a 5th season I wasn't crazy about. But the 4 seasons I'm using his efficiency and TOV are ridiculous. Good assists, average rebounding, average D. That's why I grabbed Walt.

5. Samuel Dalembert

I wanted Dale Davis here. I Almost, and now wish, took Kermit Washington, but thought incorrectly that he would fall. I ultimately didn't take him because he only had two usable big minute seasons. Dalembert had a ton. Still happy with the pick. All of his seasons are between 35-41% CRB, 60-71 D, and over 50% efg with low usage. I wish the defense was better, which is why I miss grabbing those two 80 D years from Kermit. Assist's are horrible. But overall he's very usable.

6. Nicolas Batum

He was the best available all purpose guy with 5 usable seasons, rebounds, assists, and over 45% of shots taken from 3's. The 3's were key. In retrospect he's not a guy I would normally take because his efficiency is meh, defense meh, and too many turnovers in his high assist years. But he had 2 surprisingly excellent low turnover years in his arsenal that I ended up using, and found my assist's elsewhere. For the purpose he serves I don't feel like I passed on anyone better, but this pick was hardly thrilling.

7. Kemba Walker

Super find in the 7th round. 3 solid seasons of 51% + efg with TONS of 3's, a ridiculously low 10% TOV, 20+ assists, great FTR with a high % and low fouls. Defense in the 50's so not great but not horrible either. Rebounds ok but at least not Derick Harper levels. And again ... this is why I drafted Walt, to cover these flaws. His 4th year I normally wouldn't use because his efficiency is below 50%, but even that one is 49.5% with a 10% TOV and that year he's a 74 D, 13% CRB. 5th year is trash but he's a great companion to Kyrie, and almost completes my 3 point shooting PG needs to compliment Shaq.

8. JaVale McGee

Can't believe he fell this far. No brainer backup to Shaq. Super high efg% in all 5 seasons, 30-35 CRB%, 70-90D, low TOV. Good usage. 2 of his seasons were solid minutes and 99% at PF, so I was able to use all of them. His 18-19 season is ridiculous with good minutes but only 95% at power forward. But that was the perfect compliment to Shaq's 80D lower minute 02-03 year. Every other year he fits that backup role like a glove. Super happy with this pick.

9. Marvin Williams

I thought he would be picked earlier. Happy he fell. I'm not sure I'll use all of his seasons but on a team with Shaq, 3's are king, and this guy shoots a ton. Over 50% of his shots come from 3. 5 seasons of 52% efg with VERY low TOV. He only has 1 really good season (55% efg, 73D) which I'm using all of his minutes, but he's a nice option in every other year to go to if 3's are needed. Too many flaws with his D, rebounds, and assists to jump up and down, but solid need filled for a 9th round pick.

10. Bill Bridges

Another guy I can't believe fell this far. I think he was lost in the shuffle because at first glance he has a ton of expensive, big minute years with 60 D and meh stats otherwise. But at closer look, he has two seasons of 80 D, 10%+ORB%, 23% DRB%, over 10% assists, and 2500 minutes. Punch those numbers in the search engine and you'll get 18 seasons ... all of which from players drafted in the first two rounds. He goes in the 10th. Crazy. His shooting is below 50% but his usage is low and TOV are ok. Perfect PF next to Shaq. Plus he has a very good 3rd season of 52% efg, 35% CRB and 8% assists. Only 60 D but still a solid season. Totally salvaged my Dalembert pick.

11. Russell Westbrook

I know what everyone is thinking. I would never take him in a million years. But in this format ... yeah ... I had to take him. The perfect low minute adrenaline shot for my team. I'm interested to see what works better for my team ... him or Batum. That 16-17 year is just stupid. 33% rebounds and 36.7 assists%. Are you kidding me? Three of his other years are almost as ridiculous. Funny because his horrible 31-41% usage with bad efg% and meh TOV% doesn't destroy my teams overall efficiency nearly as much as I thought, because he's taking minutes from a low efficiency Batum. I lose 3's, but just plugging in 8-10 minutes a game does wonders to the rebound and assist levels of my team. I mean the difference is drastic ... a much more solid positive impact than the negative efg% impact. Solid D, GREAT FT rate, low fouls ... positive. But too many mid range shots, high usage/low efg make him a real turn-off ... normally. But in a 5 season league playing against backups and possibly scrubs? For limited minutes? Maybe not so bad. I mean that usage/efg is HORRIBLE, but everything else is stellar, so labeling him sim poison, especially in this format, is probably not fair. He's no Iverson. We shall see if that usage kills my team and relegates him to garbage time scrub. But in the late 11th round he's a no brainer pick.

12. Amir Johnson

Once again, I'm thrilled he was available in the 12th. He has 5 totally usable seasons. Great efg (all high 50's and a couple in the 60's), excellent rebounding from the SF position, only around 60 D but one 95 D low minute beast season. Good assists. Good TOV and a couple of great TOV seasons. Lots of paint shots. His biggest flaw, and the reason I rarely consider him otherwise, is his HORRIBLE FTR/fouls committed. Fouls at nearly 3x the rate he goes to the line. Ugh. However, on this team, it's a non issue. Shaq, Kyrie, Kemba, Westbrook, Frazier ... all get to the line a ton and foul very little. I'm totally solid in this area so I can afford to plug in Amir. He'll play solid Backup minutes to Bobby Jones in all 5 seasons. Happy with this pick.

it's really fascinating looking into the minds of people's draft strategies. I like how some people totally go with best available options while others do deep detailed planning (and, of course the varying levels of the mix of the two). I tend to be more of a planner rather than the take the best available approach, as I've gotten myself into pickles doing the latter and have just never been any good at it... but as long as you keep in mind a general idea of what is going to realistically be there for you later, it's probably the best way to go about it.

1. Giannis: I was very happy he was still there and not concerned about the minutes because I expected the replacement minute talent to be there in later rounds. I was partially right about that, not completely right though. Underestimated the jigsaw puzzling that started for me in later rounds. More on that later. I think he went about in the right position. The players above him all have 5 full great to very good seasons where as Giannis has one season that's pretty mediocre and another one that is good not great.
2. Payton: I did pivot my strategy a little here to get a guy that will give me a lot of options for 5 full good to great seasons. You have the more efficient shooting Payton with less reb and assists and the higher usage seasons with more 3's, assists and rebounds. Working on my strategy to balance those out with the rest of the team.
3. Lowry: I like him a lot next to Payton, giving me the 3's Payton won't always get and and solid assists. I have always found you either need to PG's at the 1 and 2 unless you have a pretty high passing F/C. Giannis does have some high seasons, but as those assists go up the minutes go down so I definitely thought another PG was needed here and a good fit. The depth of his usable seasons surprised me.
4. Oakley: Not someone I'm sure I've ever used and don't typically target because he fouls a bit much and is not a great shooter. But for this team I though the rebounding and defense was a little more important at this point in the draft. He also has SF eligible seasons at 99 and 98% that I can use to cover for Giannis.
5. Pretty happy with Willis Reed here. Came to me late, was looking at other guys and other scenarios. Didn't need the usage and would be better to have a lower usage, higher rebounder - but couldn't find a guy with enough seasons. Reed with give me two real good seasons and one or two other solid seasons. At this point I looked at other teams and they all looked so good. I think everyone can score and if you don't have good or great defense I don't think you can win in this league. With no cap there are so many players out there to fill out a roster. I grabbed Kirk Hinrich late and he has a season that is 95% as good as 2nd round ODL pick. So my thinking is that if everyone has guys that are 80 - 90% as good as great guys, you'll need to get stops. We'll see.
6.Andersen if the first low minute guy and trying to keep the defense going. With several high minute seasons at the 3, 4 and 5 already in place felt I could afford a low minute stud who can play all 3 positions.
7. I am developing an Ash for Klay Thompon level hard on for Paul Westphal lately. You should look at this guy, I may be using him in future graft leagues. In this case I love his ability to come off the bench with a few high usage seasons and score in the 52-55 efg range and get solid assists. He even has some solid to good D seasons too. Who knew Westphal was actually good?
8. Alvan Adams: I am pretty sure this is a bad pick. In the 4th round when I took Oakley, Noah went 2 picks before me to the son of a B mptrey. I wanted Noah there because his tops seasons would have fit nicely with Giannis' 2 lesser seasons. But sadly no. So at this point I'm trying to think of my bench, which so far has Westphal playing pretty sizeable minutes at the 1 or 2 and he's not a big assist guy. Further, many seasons I will use Oakley and Andersen at the 3 behind and have no assists so Adams gives me assists in the FC. He does have a 55% efg season with creb over 31 and 15ast%. But he D sux and he turns it over a lot. He has other sort of interesting seasons and of course I can limit his minutes to 12-15 a game to just give bench assists. There's a chance he doesn't play much, which in retrospect is not ideal for an 8th rounder.
9. Hinrich: Mentioned him earlier, love that one 80 D, 50 efg and good ast season. His other seasons that are ok to solid. I may use him off the bench with Westphal to add some D. Maybe even that top season I use beside Payton for a super high D over a lesser Lowry season.
10. Dampier: great bench rebounder, good on the offensive boards. Usually an average defender. Think of him as a poor man's Roy Tarpley.... yikes!
11. George Hill: Did no prep for this pick. He often taken in the 6th and 7th rounds of both the ODL and 52 draft, doesn't hurt you anywhere. May or may not use him.
12. Caldwell Jones: Alvan Adams insurance.

I started off pretty happy with this team, I would have been through the roof if I got Noah in the 4th. As the draft went on and I looked at other teams I like them all so much, I'm not sure how well I'll do. Will anyone win 55 games?

@kinoa1: you are the best sim owner going the last couple years, so I really enjoyed the insight to your process. Thanks for the write up.

Posted by jhsukow on 6/6/2020 1:00:00 AM (view original):
1. AD

Love how clean his game is. That was important to me. I felt I could take bigger swings on “peerless” types of players with faults, which I quickly did with drafting...

2. Steve Nash

Im not sure if this is a great pick with no cap, but his consistency over 4.5 seasons is really nice for this format. I don’t know if you guys have seen, but he has pretty good eFG/ast numbers, to go with his turnovers and poor def.

3. Nance

No secret I wanted Brand here, but I lucked out. No way Nance goes this low next season. Another remarkably consistent 4.5 seasons. I hope Nance and Nash can find their way back to each other with a better owner.

4. Marquis Johnson

long wait, but very happy to get him here. Does it all pretty good except spacing. So many quality minutes that I felt comfortable grabbing

5. Ben Simmons

My hope is to have Nash guard 1-5. Simmons is an A/A- defender. Elite rebounding to help what is becoming a huge concern. More eFG and assists. 2 seasons will bite me though and it was probably too early.

6. Bob Covington

Switchable defender that can spread the floor. Very happy to add him. Again, maybe others are seeing this, another guy with 4.5 good seasons.

7. JV

Looking for more home rum hitters. I saw him play the Warriors in March last season after being traded and have been itching to use this special little partial season of his. During my research, found him to actually have some better seasons than I thought.

8. Buddy

This was a big one for our spacing concerns. With Nash and Simmons on board, he slots nicely into being the 3rd guard or can star on the Ben SANSimmons teams.

9. Troy Murphy

3’s and boards. Leaning toward letting him get a chance as an alpha, running around with K Bell and Ted Danson before he realizes that this is the bad place.

10. Mirotic

trying to platoon his good seasons with Murphy’s bad seasons and vice versa.

11. IT

I was going to take IT, before Nikola and was nervous I messed it up. Sound like another stroke of luck, because I think Ben said he would have taken Mirotic. Should be interesting to see what his monster season looks like with Nash, the good and the bad.

12. Detlef

Thought about a bunch of other guys. Really like what Detlef brings in this format. I will be planning on taking him before the 12th next season.

I think I said this before - I loved both the Nance and Marques picks (both went too low) but I'm still not sure about their fit together. I didn't have Nash ranked that high; the defense scares me off for a guy being picked that high. But PG was probably the thinnest position and as you said, it's a huge benefit to lock in someone that consistent early. Valanciunas was a great pick too, such a perfect fit behind AD.

Ultimately I think the two seasons where you have Simmons, your teams will be really good and extremely dangerous. The ones that don't have him, I'm less sure about. If those teams are above-average too, you might just win the whole thing.

Posted by jcred5 on 6/6/2020 10:06:00 AM (view original):
1. Giannis: I was very happy he was still there and not concerned about the minutes because I expected the replacement minute talent to be there in later rounds. I was partially right about that, not completely right though. Underestimated the jigsaw puzzling that started for me in later rounds. More on that later. I think he went about in the right position. The players above him all have 5 full great to very good seasons where as Giannis has one season that's pretty mediocre and another one that is good not great.
2. Payton: I did pivot my strategy a little here to get a guy that will give me a lot of options for 5 full good to great seasons. You have the more efficient shooting Payton with less reb and assists and the higher usage seasons with more 3's, assists and rebounds. Working on my strategy to balance those out with the rest of the team.
3. Lowry: I like him a lot next to Payton, giving me the 3's Payton won't always get and and solid assists. I have always found you either need to PG's at the 1 and 2 unless you have a pretty high passing F/C. Giannis does have some high seasons, but as those assists go up the minutes go down so I definitely thought another PG was needed here and a good fit. The depth of his usable seasons surprised me.
4. Oakley: Not someone I'm sure I've ever used and don't typically target because he fouls a bit much and is not a great shooter. But for this team I though the rebounding and defense was a little more important at this point in the draft. He also has SF eligible seasons at 99 and 98% that I can use to cover for Giannis.
5. Pretty happy with Willis Reed here. Came to me late, was looking at other guys and other scenarios. Didn't need the usage and would be better to have a lower usage, higher rebounder - but couldn't find a guy with enough seasons. Reed with give me two real good seasons and one or two other solid seasons. At this point I looked at other teams and they all looked so good. I think everyone can score and if you don't have good or great defense I don't think you can win in this league. With no cap there are so many players out there to fill out a roster. I grabbed Kirk Hinrich late and he has a season that is 95% as good as 2nd round ODL pick. So my thinking is that if everyone has guys that are 80 - 90% as good as great guys, you'll need to get stops. We'll see.
6.Andersen if the first low minute guy and trying to keep the defense going. With several high minute seasons at the 3, 4 and 5 already in place felt I could afford a low minute stud who can play all 3 positions.
7. I am developing an Ash for Klay Thompon level hard on for Paul Westphal lately. You should look at this guy, I may be using him in future graft leagues. In this case I love his ability to come off the bench with a few high usage seasons and score in the 52-55 efg range and get solid assists. He even has some solid to good D seasons too. Who knew Westphal was actually good?
8. Alvan Adams: I am pretty sure this is a bad pick. In the 4th round when I took Oakley, Noah went 2 picks before me to the son of a B mptrey. I wanted Noah there because his tops seasons would have fit nicely with Giannis' 2 lesser seasons. But sadly no. So at this point I'm trying to think of my bench, which so far has Westphal playing pretty sizeable minutes at the 1 or 2 and he's not a big assist guy. Further, many seasons I will use Oakley and Andersen at the 3 behind and have no assists so Adams gives me assists in the FC. He does have a 55% efg season with creb over 31 and 15ast%. But he D sux and he turns it over a lot. He has other sort of interesting seasons and of course I can limit his minutes to 12-15 a game to just give bench assists. There's a chance he doesn't play much, which in retrospect is not ideal for an 8th rounder.
9. Hinrich: Mentioned him earlier, love that one 80 D, 50 efg and good ast season. His other seasons that are ok to solid. I may use him off the bench with Westphal to add some D. Maybe even that top season I use beside Payton for a super high D over a lesser Lowry season.
10. Dampier: great bench rebounder, good on the offensive boards. Usually an average defender. Think of him as a poor man's Roy Tarpley.... yikes!
11. George Hill: Did no prep for this pick. He often taken in the 6th and 7th rounds of both the ODL and 52 draft, doesn't hurt you anywhere. May or may not use him.
12. Caldwell Jones: Alvan Adams insurance.

I started off pretty happy with this team, I would have been through the roof if I got Noah in the 4th. As the draft went on and I looked at other teams I like them all so much, I'm not sure how well I'll do. Will anyone win 55 games?

I wanted George Hill really bad in the 11th and am deeply insulted that you took him and aren't even sure that you'll use him ;) He should have gone two rounds earlier, IMO.

As you alluded to - the difficult thing about Giannis in this format as a first round pick is not just the low minutes (not to mention only four good seasons), but also that he forces you to find multiple pieces to fit around his various forms. Some seasons he has to play PF. Others he probably has to play SF. Some the usage is tier 1, some it's tier 3. Just a stressful way to start this draft, IMO - but you may just pull it off.

Posted by tarheel1991 on 6/6/2020 10:39:00 AM (view original):

Posted by jhsukow on 6/6/2020 1:00:00 AM (view original):
1. AD

Love how clean his game is. That was important to me. I felt I could take bigger swings on “peerless” types of players with faults, which I quickly did with drafting...

2. Steve Nash

Im not sure if this is a great pick with no cap, but his consistency over 4.5 seasons is really nice for this format. I don’t know if you guys have seen, but he has pretty good eFG/ast numbers, to go with his turnovers and poor def.

3. Nance

No secret I wanted Brand here, but I lucked out. No way Nance goes this low next season. Another remarkably consistent 4.5 seasons. I hope Nance and Nash can find their way back to each other with a better owner.

4. Marquis Johnson

long wait, but very happy to get him here. Does it all pretty good except spacing. So many quality minutes that I felt comfortable grabbing

5. Ben Simmons

My hope is to have Nash guard 1-5. Simmons is an A/A- defender. Elite rebounding to help what is becoming a huge concern. More eFG and assists. 2 seasons will bite me though and it was probably too early.

6. Bob Covington

Switchable defender that can spread the floor. Very happy to add him. Again, maybe others are seeing this, another guy with 4.5 good seasons.

7. JV

Looking for more home rum hitters. I saw him play the Warriors in March last season after being traded and have been itching to use this special little partial season of his. During my research, found him to actually have some better seasons than I thought.

8. Buddy

This was a big one for our spacing concerns. With Nash and Simmons on board, he slots nicely into being the 3rd guard or can star on the Ben SANSimmons teams.

9. Troy Murphy

3’s and boards. Leaning toward letting him get a chance as an alpha, running around with K Bell and Ted Danson before he realizes that this is the bad place.

10. Mirotic

trying to platoon his good seasons with Murphy’s bad seasons and vice versa.

11. IT

I was going to take IT, before Nikola and was nervous I messed it up. Sound like another stroke of luck, because I think Ben said he would have taken Mirotic. Should be interesting to see what his monster season looks like with Nash, the good and the bad.

12. Detlef

Thought about a bunch of other guys. Really like what Detlef brings in this format. I will be planning on taking him before the 12th next season.

I think I said this before - I loved both the Nance and Marques picks (both went too low) but I'm still not sure about their fit together. I didn't have Nash ranked that high; the defense scares me off for a guy being picked that high. But PG was probably the thinnest position and as you said, it's a huge benefit to lock in someone that consistent early. Valanciunas was a great pick too, such a perfect fit behind AD.

Ultimately I think the two seasons where you have Simmons, your teams will be really good and extremely dangerous. The ones that don't have him, I'm less sure about. If those teams are above-average too, you might just win the whole thing.

I was considering Nance in the early second. That spot was just waaaaay too low for him.

Posted by kinoa1 on 6/6/2020 5:15:00 AM (view original):
1. Shaq

No brainer. He was #1 on my board. Best high usage/high efg%/Paint/low TOV big man in the sim. Plus great boards, assists and 4 seasons of 80 D. Perfect guy to build around

2. Walt Frazier

I would never take him in a normal draft. Or ever for that matter. But top his 5 seasons are ridiculously consistent. 90D, 51%efg, 16-23% assists, 14-16 CRB%, good FTR and low fouls, 2800 minutes minimum. All but 1 year his TOV is pretty good. This is an anchor I could build around looking for more 3's later in the draft. My guess was that highly efficient PG's who shot lot's of 3's would be in short supply, played bad D, and had meh other stats. I was right. Walt's consistency and D allowed me to grab a couple of really efficient guards later on without worrying about their deficiencies. Not a sexy pick but very solid.

3. Bobby Jones

Didn't expect him to fall to me. Wasn't on my radar. Had to grab him when he was there. Best player available. Three seasons of 100D and 2 90D, excellent rebounding from the SF position, great efg%, assists ... not a weak season. He's a stud. Only issue is one of his best seasons he's 95% at SF, so I did some maneuvering to make sure I teamed him with the best rebounding Shaq and ... l would figure it out later. Thrilled with this pick.

4. Kyrie Irving

Best high efficient PG who shoots lots of 3's available. Only issue is his 2 best seasons were limited minutes, and he had a 5th season I wasn't crazy about. But the 4 seasons I'm using his efficiency and TOV are ridiculous. Good assists, average rebounding, average D. That's why I grabbed Walt.

5. Samuel Dalembert

I wanted Dale Davis here. I Almost, and now wish, took Kermit Washington, but thought incorrectly that he would fall. I ultimately didn't take him because he only had two usable big minute seasons. Dalembert had a ton. Still happy with the pick. All of his seasons are between 35-41% CRB, 60-71 D, and over 50% efg with low usage. I wish the defense was better, which is why I miss grabbing those two 80 D years from Kermit. Assist's are horrible. But overall he's very usable.

6. Nicolas Batum

He was the best available all purpose guy with 5 usable seasons, rebounds, assists, and over 45% of shots taken from 3's. The 3's were key. In retrospect he's not a guy I would normally take because his efficiency is meh, defense meh, and too many turnovers in his high assist years. But he had 2 surprisingly excellent low turnover years in his arsenal that I ended up using, and found my assist's elsewhere. For the purpose he serves I don't feel like I passed on anyone better, but this pick was hardly thrilling.

7. Kemba Walker

Super find in the 7th round. 3 solid seasons of 51% + efg with TONS of 3's, a ridiculously low 10% TOV, 20+ assists, great FTR with a high % and low fouls. Defense in the 50's so not great but not horrible either. Rebounds ok but at least not Derick Harper levels. And again ... this is why I drafted Walt, to cover these flaws. His 4th year I normally wouldn't use because his efficiency is below 50%, but even that one is 49.5% with a 10% TOV and that year he's a 74 D, 13% CRB. 5th year is trash but he's a great companion to Kyrie, and almost completes my 3 point shooting PG needs to compliment Shaq.

8. JaVale McGee

Can't believe he fell this far. No brainer backup to Shaq. Super high efg% in all 5 seasons, 30-35 CRB%, 70-90D, low TOV. Good usage. 2 of his seasons were solid minutes and 99% at PF, so I was able to use all of them. His 18-19 season is ridiculous with good minutes but only 95% at power forward. But that was the perfect compliment to Shaq's 80D lower minute 02-03 year. Every other year he fits that backup role like a glove. Super happy with this pick.

9. Marvin Williams

I thought he would be picked earlier. Happy he fell. I'm not sure I'll use all of his seasons but on a team with Shaq, 3's are king, and this guy shoots a ton. Over 50% of his shots come from 3. 5 seasons of 52% efg with VERY low TOV. He only has 1 really good season (55% efg, 73D) which I'm using all of his minutes, but he's a nice option in every other year to go to if 3's are needed. Too many flaws with his D, rebounds, and assists to jump up and down, but solid need filled for a 9th round pick.

10. Bill Bridges

Another guy I can't believe fell this far. I think he was lost in the shuffle because at first glance he has a ton of expensive, big minute years with 60 D and meh stats otherwise. But at closer look, he has two seasons of 80 D, 10%+ORB%, 23% DRB%, over 10% assists, and 2500 minutes. Punch those numbers in the search engine and you'll get 18 seasons ... all of which from players drafted in the first two rounds. He goes in the 10th. Crazy. His shooting is below 50% but his usage is low and TOV are ok. Perfect PF next to Shaq. Plus he has a very good 3rd season of 52% efg, 35% CRB and 8% assists. Only 60 D but still a solid season. Totally salvaged my Dalembert pick.

11. Russell Westbrook

I know what everyone is thinking. I would never take him in a million years. But in this format ... yeah ... I had to take him. The perfect low minute adrenaline shot for my team. I'm interested to see what works better for my team ... him or Batum. That 16-17 year is just stupid. 33% rebounds and 36.7 assists%. Are you kidding me? Three of his other years are almost as ridiculous. Funny because his horrible 31-41% usage with bad efg% and meh TOV% doesn't destroy my teams overall efficiency nearly as much as I thought, because he's taking minutes from a low efficiency Batum. I lose 3's, but just plugging in 8-10 minutes a game does wonders to the rebound and assist levels of my team. I mean the difference is drastic ... a much more solid positive impact than the negative efg% impact. Solid D, GREAT FT rate, low fouls ... positive. But too many mid range shots, high usage/low efg make him a real turn-off ... normally. But in a 5 season league playing against backups and possibly scrubs? For limited minutes? Maybe not so bad. I mean that usage/efg is HORRIBLE, but everything else is stellar, so labeling him sim poison, especially in this format, is probably not fair. He's no Iverson. We shall see if that usage kills my team and relegates him to garbage time scrub. But in the late 11th round he's a no brainer pick.

12. Amir Johnson

Once again, I'm thrilled he was available in the 12th. He has 5 totally usable seasons. Great efg (all high 50's and a couple in the 60's), excellent rebounding from the SF position, only around 60 D but one 95 D low minute beast season. Good assists. Good TOV and a couple of great TOV seasons. Lots of paint shots. His biggest flaw, and the reason I rarely consider him otherwise, is his HORRIBLE FTR/fouls committed. Fouls at nearly 3x the rate he goes to the line. Ugh. However, on this team, it's a non issue. Shaq, Kyrie, Kemba, Westbrook, Frazier ... all get to the line a ton and foul very little. I'm totally solid in this area so I can afford to plug in Amir. He'll play solid Backup minutes to Bobby Jones in all 5 seasons. Happy with this pick.

I feel like James Carville after Will Ferrell schools him in the debate competition in Old School: "We...have no response. That was perfect." You got arguably the top player in the draft at #4. You added great value picks from there - I would have picked Frazier if all the high-D board-lords were gone in the 2nd; Jones was a steal in the third; I wanted irving with my 4th until you snatched him two picks ahead of me and sent me on my Chris Mullin tangent (I should have picked Kyrie in the 3rd); you added great value bench guys. I think this team is the favorite.

Posted by robusk on 6/6/2020 10:50:00 AM (view original):

Posted by tarheel1991 on 6/6/2020 10:39:00 AM (view original):

Posted by jhsukow on 6/6/2020 1:00:00 AM (view original):
1. AD

Love how clean his game is. That was important to me. I felt I could take bigger swings on “peerless” types of players with faults, which I quickly did with drafting...

2. Steve Nash

Im not sure if this is a great pick with no cap, but his consistency over 4.5 seasons is really nice for this format. I don’t know if you guys have seen, but he has pretty good eFG/ast numbers, to go with his turnovers and poor def.

3. Nance

No secret I wanted Brand here, but I lucked out. No way Nance goes this low next season. Another remarkably consistent 4.5 seasons. I hope Nance and Nash can find their way back to each other with a better owner.

4. Marquis Johnson

long wait, but very happy to get him here. Does it all pretty good except spacing. So many quality minutes that I felt comfortable grabbing

5. Ben Simmons

My hope is to have Nash guard 1-5. Simmons is an A/A- defender. Elite rebounding to help what is becoming a huge concern. More eFG and assists. 2 seasons will bite me though and it was probably too early.

6. Bob Covington

Switchable defender that can spread the floor. Very happy to add him. Again, maybe others are seeing this, another guy with 4.5 good seasons.

7. JV

Looking for more home rum hitters. I saw him play the Warriors in March last season after being traded and have been itching to use this special little partial season of his. During my research, found him to actually have some better seasons than I thought.

8. Buddy

This was a big one for our spacing concerns. With Nash and Simmons on board, he slots nicely into being the 3rd guard or can star on the Ben SANSimmons teams.

9. Troy Murphy

3’s and boards. Leaning toward letting him get a chance as an alpha, running around with K Bell and Ted Danson before he realizes that this is the bad place.

10. Mirotic

trying to platoon his good seasons with Murphy’s bad seasons and vice versa.

11. IT

I was going to take IT, before Nikola and was nervous I messed it up. Sound like another stroke of luck, because I think Ben said he would have taken Mirotic. Should be interesting to see what his monster season looks like with Nash, the good and the bad.

12. Detlef

Thought about a bunch of other guys. Really like what Detlef brings in this format. I will be planning on taking him before the 12th next season.

I think I said this before - I loved both the Nance and Marques picks (both went too low) but I'm still not sure about their fit together. I didn't have Nash ranked that high; the defense scares me off for a guy being picked that high. But PG was probably the thinnest position and as you said, it's a huge benefit to lock in someone that consistent early. Valanciunas was a great pick too, such a perfect fit behind AD.

Ultimately I think the two seasons where you have Simmons, your teams will be really good and extremely dangerous. The ones that don't have him, I'm less sure about. If those teams are above-average too, you might just win the whole thing.

I was considering Nance in the early second. That spot was just waaaaay too low for him.

Yeah I considered him with my 2nd too - even though he's a terrible fit with Durant.