Posted by NotoriousJ on 3/2/2024 3:33:00 PM (view original):
Thats a great writeup nice work man

Thank you sir!

Posted by steelers821 on 3/3/2024 10:16:00 AM (view original):

9. jcred5 - Rudy Gobert, Larry Nance, Andrei Kirilenko, Clyde Drexler, Dirk Nowitzki, Fat Lever, Donovan Mitchell, Zion Williamson, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Mel Daniels, Gorgui Dieng

- Whats not to love above about Rudy Gobert(in the sim at least) he gives you an immediate advantage on the boards with fantastic dreb and good oreb, great efg and great defense. His usage isn’t even that low compared to some of his counterparts like DJ. With that said I still prefer to have a bit more usage with my pick i personally would’ve gone with Shaq or Kareem. Nance, boom 3 more 100 defense seasons. Nance is a lot of fun, decent efg, passable rebounding for SF and at least 3-4 low tov options. In fact I didn’t realize how many good seasons he had, IMO its not obvious which 5 to choose. You picked him about 12 picks earlier than hes been going in our 22-23 version of savage but i don’t consider that much of reach. Kirilenko, hmm I’m starting to notice a theme. Just looking at all of his seasons gives me a headache. Some with high efg but not 100 D or 06 where everything is fantastic except his TOV and efg. I’m not sure if I like this pick. Good defense is hard to find late so maybe it was smart to load up early but it just feels like there were more efficient offensive options. Ok so I’m assuming Clyde is going to be playing a decent amount of PG. I like that a lot. You finally answered the glaring lack of usage, while improving your team from a possession battle standpoint. His assists are also not terrible for a PG. When I look at the other high usage options available here this pick was definitely the right one. I love Dirk and sandwiching him between 3 100 defenders and a PG who is good on the offensive boards makes me feel like you planned on taking Dirk for a while. Dirk is going to get the line a lot for you and rarely turn it over so is meh EFG isn’t a problem. Dirk is a player who’s fantastic when the pieces fit well around him and you did that to perfection. Fat Lever is clearly always a great pick in savage. If I remember correctly, he could have the highest point total if he was drafted every season. Even by my more modest standards he only has 4 usable season but thats fine in the 6th. The seasons that he does have provide a major possession advantage and should fit well behind Clyde or next to him if need be. Mitchell and Zion both provide one really good season but not much else. I'll be honest, I wasn’t familiar with Al’s game but the low tov and good dreb will make for good enough backup to Dirk. Theo seems to be a fine match Gobert’s backup and Mel Daniels is a walking rebounding advantage for 2 seasons although not much else.

Overall I’m in love with the first 6 picks. I don’t think there are enough 3s but that’ll be fine until playoff season. Mitchell and Zion give you some best season flexibility for your starters but I do worry about your depth. My prediction is top 5 finish, with at least one title but a lack of 3s and depth keeps you from winning your second savage.

Great eval. My Dirk plan came only once after the 3rd pick. I then really wanted Drexler and Lever later and would have been happy with Amare or Dirk. If they weren't there not sure what I would have done. Maybe Boozer pu pu platter later. 3's are light, the zion pick was gratuitous and probably I should have taken a perimeter player.

15. riftonapple – Great start with AD. Not that he slid, but he’s great to build around. Rebounds can be a bit light, but he does everything really well. Gilmore I don’t love as much. He’s ok, but I think there’s more valuable players here. And if you’re going to take two bigs I’d rather you do it with someone who has position flex. Gilmore has some interesting seasons to choose from and can give roster building flex, with his big minute early career seasons with the higher boards and D or the later career high eFG at the expense of boards and D. Also he’s a towel machine, but at least you have very clean AD next to him.

Bobby Jones is a good player and you took him in a good spot, but he’s another one with very high towels. You’ll be looking at you team D and wondering how teams are scoring so much against you until you notice you’re average 20-23 fouls and TO’s each. Jones and AD I like a lot. Jones and Gilmore not so much. But if you pair them with plenty of clean players it can work. SGA is a bit of a reach. I like being aggressive with lower season guys, but I have him with 1 starting season and two helping. Late 4^th the guards are getting real thin and I’m not sure there were significantly better options. You need assists so maybe Lowry. 5^th pick is Pierce and it’s a bit early. I see Anfernee is still on the board. If you take Anfernee’s best and SGA’s best, you now have two emerging strong teams. Pierce is fine, but I’ve had been interested to see that Anfernee/SGA combo. Dejounte is ok. One season with great boards and solid elsewhere. Another pretty solid season. 3’s are a little light but looking at my team who am I to criticize that. Poeltl and Maxwell are real nice value. McMillan I like as a defender with steals and you have enough usage. Blake can be good and gives a little flex with Bobby Jones if you need to play him at the 4. I think Gervin is a good back up and a bit undervalued if you can make it work. I’ve had Lonzo Ball – hopefully you enjoy him more than I did.

Is this your first savage? If so welcome!!! I think you did pretty well for a first timer, if not still good. AD, Gilmore and Bobby Jones do a lot and you filled in behind them pretty well. You could do worse than 5 seasons of Pierce with these guys, but I wonder if you could have done a little better.

Overall Prediction: 6-12 range
Individual League Championship O/U: + 600
Savage Title Odds: + 1200
Draft Grade: B-

FYI all these odds are backwards. 12 to 1 is expressed as +1200, not -1200.

I’m glad I’m not doing 24 of these

16. ashamael – Solid start for Ash with Karl Malone. My metrics have KG, Kawhi and Bird a little higher, but not much and you may have used them before. And you may also be afraid of taking Kawhi based just on metics because you know what it feels like for Kawhi to put up 24 mins, 14 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast in a playoff game. F That! I’ll take Malone’s 27-7 any day!!! Sorry, I can’t do a Savage eval without taking shots at that looser Kawhi. Oscar is a good solid player but I think too early. Nothing wrong with the player, but I like several other players more. Camby is very nice next to Malone. You have all the assists you need now and good FC defense. Boucher is early, but he has one of the best per minute seasons so you have that with some other nice partial seasons.

Brent Barry is not my cup of tea. Hopefully playing mostly at PG behind Oscar. Batum is a pretty nice fit here. You can afford Kanter with you FC defense and A.C. is a nice clean player who doesn’t really hurt you anywhere. Okongwu is a nice value in small doses. Really like O’Quinn and don’t mind Sikma. Good dreb and solid D. De’Aaron Fox is likely to cost me a fantasy basketball championship because he can’t hit his damned FT’s so F that guy. But fine for a 12^th round Savage back up.

I find Ash’s teams the most difficult to eval. He’s so good at assembling teams I couldn’t see, so I’ll eval what I see knowing Ash will probably do better with it.
Overall Prediction: 6-12 range
Individual League Championship O/U: -+350
Savage Title Odds: -+900
Draft Grade: B

Posted by tarheel1991 on 3/3/2024 1:36:00 PM (view original):
FYI all these odds are backwards. 12 to 1 is expressed as +1200, not -1200.

Clearly I don't gamble for real - I'll edit it.

Ha no worries. Sports betting will be legal in a week in NC so it's on my brain.

Posted by tarheel1991 on 3/3/2024 3:22:00 PM (view original):
Ha no worries. Sports betting will be legal in a week in NC so it's on my brain.

No more driving to Cherokee for my betting.

Posted by steelers821 on 3/3/2024 10:17:00 AM (view original):
I'll try to release the other 3 by the end of the day tomorrow. also DH would it be possible to copy paste our reviews onto page 1?

absolutely...good thinking

Posted by PBandJ on 3/3/2024 3:36:00 PM (view original):

Posted by tarheel1991 on 3/3/2024 3:22:00 PM (view original):
Ha no worries. Sports betting will be legal in a week in NC so it's on my brain.

No more driving to Cherokee for my betting.

Wohoo can’t wait

Much respect to those attempting evals. I've always hated evals. Being tasked with looking at other people's teams and judging them, doling out grades or whatever... I've just never liked it. It's one thing to just give overall thoughts as it goes along, but you can't know what's in somebody's head or what their process looks like. Some people take criticisms of their team too personally and get bent out of shape. Some people take the criticism too literally and it stymies their own progress because now they're trying to do it "like rob does" or "like jcred does" etc. I don't know. I do know how extensive my process is for drafting and making teams, and there's nobody that really could understand that unless I told them - and I'm not going to tell them - so if I am ever tasked with evals, you're getting memes.

5. robusk

1. Michael Jordan

I think MJ has settled nicely into the consensus #5 player in Savage. I'll concede Giannis as #4 even though I'm kinda scared to use him in this league - I'd much rather start with MJ. It's a nice safe warm feeling knowing you have a 37-40 mpg #1 scorer for all 5 teams who gives you elite defense at the 1-2. 3s are really the only flaw you have to worry about. I had a tough time deciding between 92-93 and 95-96 as the 5th season when I used him last season so I'll be curious to see which one you went with. I know you can win from any draft slot but it's extra terrifying to see you starting with MJ.

2. Shawn Marion

Marion is such a great late 2nd to pair with MJ. It's a long wait until the 3/4 turn and it really helps to have a flexible player like Marion who plays heavy mins in 4/5(07-08?) seasons. He's not a great 3pt shooter but the extra splash of 3s he gives you at the 3 or 4 is important when MJ is your 2. His 02-03 season could also play the 2 to pair with 88-89 MJ in a scary looking backcourt. I know you kinda pushed back on this earlier, but when I think of robusk teams, low tov% is what comes to mind. Marion definitely fits this bill and combined with MJ gives you an incredible start with tov%.

3. Dikembe Mutombo

Oh shiiiiit. Dikembe drops to this spot again? It was an easy pick for me last season and I imagine it was pretty easy for you as well. Sure, he can only play the 5 and loses some D when covering the 4. He doesn't have elite creb% or efg% for most of his seasons either. Tov% maybe a lil higher then you'd like. But you can't ignore the 100 D with insane blk% combined with that many mins still available in the late 3rd. Bill Walton went with the next pick. Marcus Camby went earlier. These guys don't come close to the amount of high quality mins Mutombo provides. Scary to see you get a player like that knowing how well you do at drafting and fitting in those lower min middle round studs.

4. Chauncey Billups

This seems awfully familiar. WTF robusk? Just straight up copying my team from last year at this point. I expect better from you. I don't ever remember you using him before. I have some success with him last year and all of a sudden he's on your radar? - doesn't add up. I mean, I'm sure there were other options out there that perfectly compliment MJ in the backcourt. You're telling me you couldn't find any other guys who shoots a ton of 3s at 40% while giving you the right amount of usg%, ast%, and D to compliment the first 3 picks? You just happen to pick the one that I used? I bet you didn't even know about his sneaky good FTAs. Pathetic.

5. Chris Andersen

I'm glad you decided to stop copying me and got back to drafting your kind of players. It's the middle rounds now so that means low minute, high efg% role players for robusk. I used to be like, "How is he going find enough quality mins taking a guy like Rob Williams in the 5th?" But a few Savage title seasons later and I'm wondering when those guys will start going in the 4th. You have kinda changed the draft board in that respect. Birdman is a great fit since he can play the 3 and 4 and allows you to possibly move Marion to the 4 in some lineups. I'm kinda surprised you didn't go with Michael Porter here though.

6. Ivica Zubac

Another robusky type pick. He brings that high efg% paint scoring and more importantly for this team, high oreb%. Mutombo covers his biggest weakness, defense, at the 4/5 but he really drops to concerning D levels when switched to the 3. Small concerns tho. I'm starting to get a sinking feeling the robusk 3-peat is inevitable.

7. Hot Rod Williams

Some hope! Everyone snatches up all the other usual robusk picks and I'm guessing you had to shift gears and take Hot Rod earlier than you would have liked to. I remember when you could get him in the 10th or later. Thanks ash. You have to pay more for defense these days(Terry Tyler wasn't even available) so it makes sense to grab it while you can here. He has two really nice seasons and some others that can be used if necessary that won't hurt you too bad.

8. Kevin Johnson

I think you definitely needed some usg% + ast% behind Billups so getting KJ here was big. You can start his great 96-97 season which allows the worst Billups season to shift to a backup role(or not used at all depending on the team). Lack of 3s is concerning but I'm not sure there was a better option available that did shoot 3s. Maybe 3s will be the thing that can derail the 3-peat? You gonna give us a chance robusk?

9. Troy Murphy

I guess that's a no. Ughhh kind of a perfect fit. You can throw his two usable seasons on the teams that need 3s the most. Troy also provides elite dreb% for any teams that might need that as well. The defense is horrendous but you have good defenders around him at the 3-5. The low oreb% can be matched with Hot Rod/Birdman and their high def/oreb seasons at the 3. This isn't good.

10. Vince Carter

Really? Vince is just gonna be sitting there as the perfect MJ backup in the 10th? Even has the super low tov% to match. That's it, I'm calling it. You are the favorite to win it all in Savage XIV.

11. Mo Bamba

Here's Troy Murphy lite(with better defense) added to the mix. Awesome.

12. Ryan Anderson

Sure. Why not. Might as well add the OG 3pt/reb% guy at the 3 too. He was my 12th round target too. You suck.


Another stellar draft for the Savage GOAT. Plenty of usable mins. Flexible seasons. No major weaknesses. Not sure you're elite at anything(maybe tov%?) so there's that I guess. Looking forward to seeing how you put the teams together.

Prediction: Top 5 finish. Favorite to win it all

6. ncmusician_7


1. Dwight Howard

I'm not really sure who should be ranked #6 on the overall big board. Personally I would have Shaq because of his combo of mins, usg%, and efg%. But Shaq has a bunch of flaws and I think you can make a strong case for a few other guys, Dwight being one of them. Elite efg%, rebounding, and defense at the 4/5 with major mins. What's not to love? My problem with Dwight has always been that I don't trust him as a #1 scorer, which he will be for your team here. The pp48 is pretty low for his usg/efg combo and then of course you have the end of game FT concerns. I think he's best suited as the #2 guy.

2. Magic Johnson

Wow! Pretty sure this is the latest Magic has ever went. What a steal. You had to be thrilled to see him here. Ast% concerns out the window. Rebounding on the way to being elite. Another higher usg% player that will draw a good amount of FTAs(in some of his seasons anyway). Super flexible. The downside is that tov% is now a pretty big weakness and you will be stressing 3s and backcourt D the rest of the draft.

3. Elton Brand

Oh man, Klay went two picks ahead of you in the 3rd. I know he gets a lot of hate but I love him as a 3rd rounder for this team. Were you thinking about him here? Never sure how to feel about Brand. 3 of his seasons are 97/98% at the 3 which always bugs me with higher usg players. But he also comes with good to elite defense and good rebounding. The two teams with his best seasons are going to be scary.

4. Danny Green

I've never been a fan of the 2/3s that don't rebound and pass. I just always feel like I still need one of those things, or both. You don't have that problem here so I get the Green pick, despite how early it feels. He's super clean and shoots a ton of 3s - huge needs for you. He even has 2 seasons that are 100% at the 1 which I didn't know about until just now. The other seasons will take a pretty big hit at the 1 when covering for teams with poor defense from Magic. I thought I was going to hate this pick a lot more but I'm not really sure who would have been a better substitute for all those things you needed from the 2. I doubt he would have made it to your 5th rounder.

5. Robert Williams

I could hear robusk scream all the way from across the country as you made this pick right in front of him. I can safely say I'll never be using him in Savage if 5th round is now his price tag. This is crazy people. He has under 4500 mins total! But it definitely works for owners. Can't argue the results. He's pretty great with the efg/oreb/d in the few mins he does play. I kinda hate this pick for your team though. You were already pretty good in those things with Dwight and Elton. Meanwhile Portis and Porter were right there to add some more 3 point shooting to the frontcourt to balance out Dwight's paint scoring.

6. Andre Iguodala

I loved this pick for your squad. Backcourt defense was drying up fast and Iggy can platoon with Green nicely at the 2. He has several usable seasons with varying usg% that will come in handy when putting the teams together.

7. Deandre Ayton

Looks like he will be the primary Dwight backup. The efg% and creb% are lovely but I'm not sure if the usg% is right. You are pretty much locked into low usg players at the 2 and the 5. Ayton only has 2 seasons with 4 points usg% and Magic and Brand have seasons that aren't 4 points as well. It seems like you might run into some trouble with usg% in certain lineups. Not a whole lot of great higher usg options at this point(maybe Boozer?) so maybe it's worth that risk.

8. Chris Webber

Ehhhhh I don't know nc. I see you have him listed as the primary Brand backup. Does that include his 93-94 season that is 95% at the 3? All of his seasons are 97/98 or lower at the 3. I'll be curious to see how the Brand/Webber rotation does in those 97/98 seasons. The few times I've tried to do that with higher usg players it always burned me so I try to avoid it.

9. Steven Adams

A natural fit with Rob Williams in the super high efg/oreb platoon at the 5. His 22-23 is lower mins but pretty amazing with that 18.8% oreb. Great pick here.

10. Jameer Nelson

I'm thinking you had to be very pleased no one took Jameer early. When you need 5 seasons of 3s with a certain amount of usg/ast at the 1 late in the draft, it doesn't get much better than Jameer. His 08-09 is an elite backup season.

11. Joel Przybilla

The third leg of the high efg/oreb center trio. Where else can you find a player with a 40% creb season this late. He even has some seasons with decent defense. I'm surprised he isn't drafted more.

12. Leon Powe

Finally a 3 who is 100% at the position! Love that 07-08 season.


As usual with your teams, the efg% will be a strength. However, I just don't like floor balance and usg% distribution. Danny Green isn't scaring me enough to not go -2 on you. I also think you put too much pressure on Magic and Dwight as scorers that could lead to even higher turnover numbers. Should be strong on the glass and the defense is solid. I think the 05-06/06-07 Brand teams could be title contenders but the other 3 teams may struggle.

Prediction: 10-15 finish

I'll be building my teams and finishing the other two evals throughout the next 2 days. Dont wanna get burned out on either front. So expect league #s out sometime Monday or Tuesday night.

Take your time, dh! I will work on my teams all week. I worked on them a couple of hours this weekend, but I'll buckle down in the evenings at work when I have more time. I'm encouraged with the start:

Best team:
106.3% usg, 55.6% efg, 60.5% ts, 65.3% ast, 428 3pm, 12.2% tov, 72 defense, 15.8% stocks, 38% orb, 101% drb, 139% crb, 18.48 fp48

Five team average:
103.7% usg, 54.5% efg, 59.8% ts, 65.1% ast, 429 3pm, 13.0% tov, 70.3 defense, 16.8% stocks, 37.8% orb, 97.8% drb, 135.6% crb, 19.33 pf48

Worst team already has higher $/min values across the board (both adjusted for and not adjusted for usg% & minute bloat) than my best team last season and doesn't have the holes defensively that that one did, and the best squad right now has the highest of those same numbers I've ever had. I take those numbers with a grain of salt, but it's still encouraging to see. I probably won't get much better 5TA numbers than these, but you can bet your *** I'm going to make as many builds as I can to squeeze every possible ounce of value out of every minute.

Current prediction of finish: