52 Million Draft League Evaluations Topic

 1) ginandjuice     ------ Dennis Rodman. Great pick for gin. Easier to build around than Wilt IMO. Never liked this player in this league as an SF and everybody has done that. Also playing Rodman at PF allows him to more easily slide over to guard the C spot. Okay Gin got me on the eval regarding Rodman sliding over to the C spot as I didn't check to see that he's just 93% effective there in his best season. A pretty good evaluator yes. Always correct no I'm not. But let's see what the next 2 picks are. The suspense is killing me. Round 2 Manu Ginobli. Round 3 Patrick Ewing. Based on the yardage needed to get first down at this point to have a chance for a game winning field goal I can't think of any 2 better picks than these. High usage with high EFG% was needed big time, rebounding was still needed, and Ginobli adds assists and lots of 3s at 29 mpg. These 2 players always get taken way too low most of the time in this league. It will be difficult to find a 6 usage point back up to Ginobli, but my guess is that the key to this team being championship contender now is the PG position. So far we are looking at an A to an A+ grade. Round 4 Jason Terry. If you are looking for a pure PG this isn't the pick. As a combo guard its a pretty good choice with excellent advanced numbers shooting the ball. The defense is a bit low and so is the assist % at 19.7. But he makes a lot of 3's at about a 43% rate and doesn't turn the ball over or foul much. He can be the 3rd scoring option too which was needed. This is still a strong unit. Round 5 Samuel Dalembert. Adds excellent rebounding, very good EFG%, and pretty good defense. This is shaping up to be quite a team. More assists are needed, and a back ups for Ginobli and Dalembert. This was a real good selection. Round 6 Walter Davis and Jayson Williams. I do not like these last 2 picks at all. Both are poor defenders and Davis turns the ball over at a very high rate ( 5 or more turnovers in 48 minutes). I understand the need for high EFG% and usage behind Manu but a player with much better 3's and almost 52% EFG with a ton of three's made and over 29 usage was available. I like a similar player to Williams better because of his 56% EFG although he can only be pushed to 26 MPG and Jayson Williams can play 29 MPG. A very good SF with high assists and an excellent PG with 90 defense weren't selected. Final Grade B+.

 2) sixernuggets     ------ Wilt Chamberlain. Great pick and should have gone # 1. Don't wait until round six to draft a couple of your starters or your team is doomed. Only one season for Wilt is recommended if winning the league title is the goal. Drafting enough boards in later rounds is critical to making this work. Round 2 Willis Reed. A cool pairing here. The 90 defensive version of Reed is the one I like the best. Good enough rebounding as Wilt will play along side him for 48 MPG. Makes his FTAs at over 75%. The usage of Reed at 22.1 will still allow Wilt to get enough shots. Nice work. Round 3 Penny Hardaway. Great pick of an underrated player. Nice usage at a high EFG%. Low negative numbers and 83 defense. Tons of assists weren't needed since Wilt has about 17% for those. Round 4 Tracy McGrady. I love this pick here. Offense was needed. The EFG% is a bit low but Penny's makes up for it (and so does Wilt since he will be in the game for 48 MPG). Nice 17% CREB, 18% assists, makes a ton of 3's, gets to the free throw line and converts. The defense at 61 isn't bad because everybody else is 83 or higher on D. Great pick sixernuggets. Round 5 AC Green. This is very smart choice at SF.I recommend the 80 defense season. About 30 CREB%, 53 EFG%, and very low turnovers and fouls. High efficiency was needed at this position and offensive rebounds since we know T Mac miss a lot at times. Just about a perfect SF pick here. Keep this up with more smart choices in round 6 sixer and your team will be playoff bound I believe. Round 6 Matt Bonner and Roderique Beaudois. Great picks. Bonner adds about 90 3's from the SF position behind Green and has an EFG% of 56. Roderique's 59% EFG, for 9 mpg at 24 usage, helps that number at the SG position. Overall I really like this team. The extra boards from the guard position is a huge bonus. Hardaway was actually a steal in round 3. This is the best T Mac team that I have seen built yet. The Final Grade is an A.
 
 3) banditone     ------ Moses Malone. A nice safe pick and easy to build around. Being able to play almost 42 mpg, ability to make his FTs, and of course to dominant offensive rebounding,  sets him apart from the other bigs remaining that could be considered to go this high. Better players were available but not necessarily better for building a winner in this league. A six usage point scorer is still needed if possible and more boards. Waiting until round 6 to get Moses a big man to help on the boards would be a big mistake. Round 2 Clyde Drexler. A great guard to run with Moses. Drexler has very efficient scoring and is a clean player. Good defense, great rebounding for SG and very good assists. So far so good for banditone. Drexler is a much better player than the SG's left on the board that normally go higher than he does. Round 3 Gerald Wallace. Great defense at SF, very low negative numbers. Offensive rebounding is weak but it won't matter much on team with Moses already on it. Just enough offense too. A very good pick. Round 4 Nate Thurmond. A nice clean choice that adds some defense, and some rebounding. EFG% at about 45% or so at his level of usage (about 18) or so is a bit low. The PG position is becoming a great need at this point. This unit will be pretty good. Round 5 Rick Barry. I hope that this pick is intended to be used so that Drexler has a back up. I actually like the 6869 season for Barry if this was the intention. If this pick was made with the intention of moving Drexler over to the PG postion I get the pick and I hate it. I don't like any of the seasons of Barry in this league other than the 6869 season. A lack of assists will doom this team. The lack of offense rebounding other than from Moses is another huge weakness. Round 6 George Gervin and Happy Hairston. I don't quite understand what is going on here. There are no partial seasons for Gervin that seem to work as a backup to Drexler.  at SG. Drexler at the PG position??? Good luck with that. Hairston . . . well I like his 282 minute season but other than that his defense is too weak and he isn't a good back up for Wallace at SF. bandtione you have created a storm of mis-matched talent that has swirled into a sea of  self imposed disfuctionality that even Moses can't cross over. Final Grade is a D+ at lease the first 3 rounds were very solid.

 4) natenoy    ------  MJ. A very good pick here. I liked one player slightly better and thought that nate would grab him. MJ is a dominant force at either pg or SG in this league. I kind of like him at PG more because of the rebounding advantage and because there's tons of low usage SG's available later on to pair him with, But as we know nate is not about low usage so what comes next is probably going to baffle and shock us. Round 2 Bill Walton. A great pick here. Adds great defense, defensive rebounding along with nice assists and good usage. One of nate's best picks in draft leagues that I have seen. Good job. Round 3 Trade from Felonious Bob Lanier. Very good defense, good usage and fairly average or below EFG% in this league. The rebounding is not great either. I really only like one C better that was left on the board so it was good pick. Nice balance up front. An unusual start for nate so far. This team has the great defense going and is pretty efficient on offense so the playoffs are a distinct possibility. Nice work. Round 4 Darryl Walker. A good low usage partner for MJ in the backcourt. Super rebounding, about 24% assists, very low turnovers and fouls. His defense is pretty good at 61 but the SIM has it wrong he should be an 85 + defender. I like similar player better here that has more 3's but higher usage at about the same EFG% number. A pretty good choice though. Round 5 Serge Ibaka. What happened to the real nate??? The usage happy, fun loving, full of crazy formulas and fancy explanations nate that we all know and love? Ibaka brings great defense, fairly low negative numbers and good rebounding to the SF position. This team may average less 3 point attempts than any team that I have seen in quite some time. But fantastic rebounding at the guard position.This makes round 6 very intriguing. Will the real nate come back or is he gone forever LOL? Round 6 Kyrie Irvin and Glen Rice. The real nate is back. Too much usage and too little value in Rice's game for this league. Who is backing up who? Rice backing up Ibaka at SF is a horrible idea in this league.  Walton and Lanier will also have a terrible back up. Keep in mind Walton can only play 28 mpg. I doubt this team will get more than 45 wins in this league. Nate your team may be # 2 on my list for being in my division. Final Grade B-

 5) 98average ------  Kareem Abdul Jabbar. A nice pick. Somewhat weak rebounding and not the greatest defense makes it a below average choice. Passing on Lebron James is highly questionable as well. It's way to early for grades but this is a C so far. Round 2 Paul Pierce. Only one season to use in this league. Great 3 pt % and over 200 made. EFG% is somewhat low but is a nice fit paired with Kareem. Great defense and defensive rebounding for an SG. The team doesn't need much more scoring. Hopes of the playoffs are forming now. Liking this team more now than before. Round 3 Wes Unseld. Very good rebounding and EFG is pretty good too. The defense is a little bit weak at PF now. But Unseld fills the need better than the lower minute bigs left. A good pick to help Kareem out up front. Round 4 Josh Smith. Plays 90 defense, rebounds pretty well at SF, assists at almost 15% and has pretty low negative numbers. EFG% is about 50, he doesn't makes threes and shoots around 60% at the stripe. I liked a couple of other SFs better but 98's tend to love defensive specialists helps his teams make the playoffs most of the time. This team looks like a bubble team. I don't predict more than 45 wins here unless something changes. Round 5 Terrell Brandon. Adds great usage, great defense and great assists. Terribly low turnovers and fouls for a player that has over 27% usage. The overall team usage is getting high and too many shots seem to be going to be taken away from Kareem. Two players with usage levels about as high as Kareem with both of them having about 50% EFG spells trouble for this squad especially since the total team OREB% looks to be pretty low. But the assists are very high so this team will be pretty good and it looks like a bubble playoff team to me. Round 6 Mike Miller and Brent Price. Miller has several useful seasons with high EFG%, loads of 3s made and very good rebounding for a guard and around 15 to 21 usage. Some offense was needed. Millers defense isn't the worst so a good pick. Price adds 3s, nice assists at about 25% and extremely high EFG% at over 60 in about 25 MPG in his best season. In his second best season he plays about 16 MPG with good numbers too. Was 98 able to pull a Rabbit out of his hat in round 6? Not sure about that but there are no Turkeys on the team either. This will be tough squad. Final Grade B+.

 6) tarheel1991 ------ Lebron James. A complete gift. Should be considered at least a top 3 choice. Dominant at PG and a great SG in this league. Tarheel will kill it with this start unless he relies on getting to much value in round 6. This sets tarheel up for a playoff run for sure. Round 2 Larry Nance. Great defense, good enough rebounding, very efficient etc. Solves the SF problem. His 2 usage points are underrated. Inside scoring is still needed. Boy this pairing would have been fun to watch in RL. Round 3 Brent Barry. A great player to pair with Lebron. Awesome EFG%, decent defense, get a few boards and dishes out few dimes. Plus, Barry take and makes a ton of 3's. Not snagging a front court player here may haunt the team later on. Also a # 2 scoring option is needed. This team will win the dunk contest SEBLE LOL! Round 4 Pau Gasol. Pay attention people we are witnessing GENIUS here. The perfect pick for this team.Don't be fooled by the fairly low defensive rebounding number. Very good EFG%, almost 22 usage, over 11% assists, 71 defense and extremely low negative numbers. He also shoots over 82% from the free throw line and makes quite a few for this level of usage. At this point in the draft 37 MPG is another bonus. Teach us bro! Round 5 Joakim Noah. A great back up for Nance it appears but the rebounding is a bit light for backing up Gasol. Very good defense, plays clean and rebounds really well at SF. I expected a different player to be taken here. But the holes in the team aren't that great. However, when you take Lebron you expect the defensive rebounding to be much better than average and to me this is the one area where the team is going to end up about average. Round 6 Brandon Rush and Red Robbins. In my mind Rush only has one good season for this league and its at  25 MPG. To make this work Barry's best season surely won't be used but he has another good one at 23 MPG and high assists that is similar. I see it working but would have preferred Barry's best season complimented by one of my favorite foreign players. Still A great pick. Robbins plays a solid game and doesn't foul a lot or turn it over much. His rebounding is good and his usage is low. But, I don't like the fairly low EFG% at about 48% for a 39 MPG player regardless of the usage level in this league. There was one ugly pasty C that I liked a bit better with about the same defense, 10% higher EFG% and more usage, and of course a lot more fouls. This team is still a top 4 team and a favorite to win it. Final Grade A. 

 7) brickman  ------  Shaq. I don't like this pick much. The fairly poor rebounding and very poor FT% are a bad combination at this point of the draft in this league. At least 3 other big men should have been taken here if that is what was wanted. Now dh555 is getting a gift. Between his and tarheel's drafts so far my dream of a threepeat is rapidly fading away. Round 2 Mel Daniels. I think Daniels is underrated and I like the pick. Rebounding was needed especially defensive rebounding. There were better bigs available for a lot less minutes but if you are drafting as low as brickman is in round six they will all be gone by then. One of the biggest mistakes owners make is not getting enough rebounding around Shaq but that won't be the case with this team. Round 3 Terry Porter. Great EFG% and good enough assists. Made 130 or 140 3 pointers in about 33 MPG. The 60 defense is okay. It seems like a 4 usage point SG is needed to push this unit into the playoffs but that's not too hard to still find.Round 4 Connie Hawkins. Usage was need and so was scoring. Mission accomplished. I do like one 4 usage point player with a higher EFG% a bit better but he's one of my secret weapons. This was a very good pick. Round 5 Leandro Barbosa. Great EFG% number and hits 190 3's in about 32 mpg. Over 23 usage. Doesn't assist much but doesn't turn it over or foul too much either. The lack of assists hurts a bit but the biggest issue is the 45 defense. The teams overall defense is low for this league and the back court defense averages out to about 52 or 53 which is bad. Not sure if this unit can make the playoffs. They will score a tom of points and should will plenty of home games with the advantage there and those high EFG% numbers. Round 6 Bobby Phills and Andris Biedrins. Surprized that Phills doesn't get drafted every time in this league. I mean what's not to like ,  , , 80 defense, over 51% EFG, over 43% from 3, he gets rebounds and assists with over 21 usage and low tirnover and fouls. Biedrins is the efficient back for Daniels and allows him to back up Shaq which is a smart move. Great EFG% good rebounding and one season that I really like with 17 usage. I like the playoff chances better now. Great job in the 6th Round
 Final Grade is around a B+ to an A-. 

 8) dh555     ------  Dwight Howard. The best pick so far except for . . . oh yeah Lebron went at # 6 %$#@#. Sometimes the most obvious choice is the best choice. I really wanted a shot at this player but after my last trade I figured that it wasn't worth the battle. dh555 is now set up to at least have a shot at winning a division and most likely a top 2 or 3 finish. Great EFG%, defense, rebounding and draws a ton of fouls (which is very underrated BTW). Round 2 Horace Grant. The best low usage SF on the board. Very good defense, excellent rebounding and EFG% at SF. It could be argued that Larry Nance would have been a better pick here due to the 100 defensive rating and 2 usage point season. But that's splitting hairs. There's enough good guards left to snag one in round 3 right? Round 3 Amare Stoudamire. Inside scoring won't be a problem. Amare's poor defense is nicely covered up. More Excellent EFG% and could set a league record for front court EFG% for a season. Amare also takes a ton of FTA's which is helpful. I wasn't in love with any of the guards left in the draft either but who's going the force the opponents out of -2 defense and who is going to be able to get these guys the ball? This is getting interesting fellas. Round 4 Steve Nash. I would absolutely love thos pick if the team already had 80 plus defensive player at SG but is doesn't. But at this point what do you do . . . take the best defensive PG left on the board and then get stuck with terrible SG later on? This team still looks like a playoff team. Good luck with finding the right SG to go with Nash. I would look at the lower usage guys with great defense for starters. Don't be fooled dh555 knows what he is doing. This team has weaknesses but they will score tons of points and should break 120 points almost every game. Round 5 Doug Christie. Great defense, passes out few dimes, low usage and makes 39% from 3. Close to a perfect pick here. Great job. Round 6 Jameer Nelson and Chris Anderson. Nelson's EFG% number and usage are hard to resist as a backup for Nash. But the 45 defense hurts. Not to nit pick but I liked another back up PG with much better defense and more assists better here. Anderson has awesome defense and good rebounding. I have very high expectations for dh555 so I'll give a Final Grade of an A-. Gives him added incentive to kick my tail which his teams have done more than once.
 
 9) mikee1 -------  Larry Bird. Solves the SF problem we all pretty much face in this league. A good solid pick. If used at SG with the right combination of other players a monster to deal with. Not a great pick but certainly not a mistake. I like this player a lot better than others that have gone higher at the SF position in the past. Round 2 Buck Williams. Good rebounding, good defense, excellent EFG%. Buck adds needed OREB%. A really good pairing and the team will be tough. We still don't know what position Bird will play yet do we?
Round 3 Ray Allen. Great offense and fairly poor defense. Will be a nice fit and is very efficient. Tons of three's. I love the EFG%. This may be a playoff bubble team. Round 4 Swen Nater. Great rebounding at about 35 MPG. Efficient offensively. Very poor defense. Very low negative numbers. Hopefully a decent defensive front court player will be there later on to back up Buck and Swen. Round 5 Erick Dampier. Adds very good rebounding, and 2 usage points but fairly poor defense. The PG position hasn't been aadressed yet which is bad thing. I get it that Bird and Allen pass out some assists but a good PG is needed to compete in this league. The overall poor defense will hurt the team for sure. Round 6 Carmelo Anthony and Fat Lever. Anthony backs up Allen well except for his poor defense for 12 MPG. Lever is a bit os a sleeper. He has very low turnovers and fouls, assists well enough at PG since Bird is at SF, and is a fantastic rebounder at the guard spot. Lever's EFG is low but the team won't need him to shot much. I recommend a high minute season with 80 defense as the team needs as much of that is it can get to fill out the roster. This is a solid B to a B+ Final Grade if the overall team defense doesn't kill the hopes a long playoff run.
 
10)  chris_snid ------  David Robinson. Awesome defense, nice advanced numbers, and makes his FTs.  A great player to start with. More rebounding is needed but chris will add plenty of that I can assure you. Very good pick at # 10.  I really thought that I could snag him at # 13 and was a bit taken back and had to rethink my plan when chris took the Admiral. Round 2 Donyell Marshall. The perfect SF pick to run with the Admiral. Great defense, nice EFG%, very good 3 point % with a lot made, very low negative numbers. Doesn't score a lot and doesn't shoot many FTs. A great player because so much usage in left on the board to add later. Let's see who the guards turn out to be. I like the mojo here so far though. Round 3 Mookie Blalock. A nice clean pick and makes and takes a ton of threes but at a lot less than 40%. Very good defense. Enough scoring punch is available in round 4 at SG and plenty of bigs left in round 5 to complete the roster. This unit should be very hard to beat at home and will some road games on the defense so far alone. Impressive start chris. Round 4 Alex English. Scoring was needed and English does that. At SG he rebounds very well and defends well enough. His 14% assists are a very nice bonus. 3's weren't needed. His 25% usage doesn't take away form the Admiral too much at all. Great pick here chris. Round 5 Zelmo Beaty. This was a really good choice. Beaty adds offensive rebounding, high EFG% at over 55 and makes 79% of his free throws. His defense of 54 isn't that bad because he's playing up front with the Admiral and with Marshall. There seems to be a plan here and so far I like it. Round 6 Vlade Divac and Tony Allen. I didn't know that Divac had seasons at 100% effective at SF. That's my bad. I like this pick as a back up for Beaty amd the Admiral. Decent rebounding and usage and pretty good EFG%. Tony Allen Super defense at SG and backs up English okay except for his lack of 3s. Final Grade A-.

11) coachcroft ------ D Wade. If used right a great SG that can dominate games by himself. Needs some higher EFG% players around him to make up his poor shooting games that he will have in this league. Has been used more than once in this league to win the title. Be sure to add a good efficient PG to run with D Wade to make this work. Round 2 Tyson Chandler. Adds rebounding, about 70 defense and can pretty much play 2 positions up front. Excellent EFG% is just what was needed as well. A great pick here. A team to watch. Round 3 Shawn Kemp. I like this pick. Great defense and very good offense. Very good rebounding and Kemp gets fouled alot. The usage is very good too. This front court will foul a bit more than I like but this will be good team. Great job so far coach. Round 4 Andrew Bynum. A real steal here. Very good EFG%, very good rebounding, pretty low negative numbers to balance out Kemp's bad numbers, and very good usage. An SF that can shoot the 3 ball is needed still. But coach has a lot of flexibility with his last guard pick and could wait until round six if he likes and should come out okay. A smart pick up this late in the draft. Good work coach. Round 5 Robert Horry. If this is the SG pick with D Wade playing the point it is an interesting choice. Horry is 99% at SG, Plays over 90 defense, shoots over 36% from 3, rebounds very well and doesn't foul or turn the ball over much. Don't know if this will work but an experiment worth trying.Round 6 Kevin Johnson and Jamaal Wilkes. Johnson can back up both guard positons and I recommend the only the 9697 season to be used. This was a great choice as more usage was needed and KJ draws a ton of fouls. Wilkes is a bit of a puzzling choice to me. He is a pretty weak rebounder at SF in this league. I am kind of baffeled another SF with much better rebounding and higher assists wasn't the choice here. Final Grade B. 

12) xxevilivexx ------  Karl Malone. The player that I wanted after the Admiral was taken at # 10.  An offensive force that plays great D too. One of very few players with over 55% EFG and 30% Usage. Fantastic pick here as he was one of the last, if not the last, game dominator left on the board. The season with over 15% assists is my favorite for this league. Round 2 Dikembe Mutombo.  Great player to par with Malone up front. Very good defense and very good rebounding. The main components of the front line is set for playoff team. Will the guards be good enough to push this team into the top tier? IMO that's a definite maybe. Round 3 Reggie Miller. A very good pick here. Offense was needed. Miller has awesome EFG% along with very low negative numbers and over 41% from 3. 41 defense . . . well that is weak for this league. If the starting PG has less than 80 defense than I see problems on the end of the court. Nice job evil. Hopefully right players will still be there for you to finish this offensive monster. Round 4 Derek Harper. A very sauvy pick here. Harper plays very good defense at 80, assists well enough because Malone has 15% in that category, makes some 3s at 37% and shoots well enough from 2. Pretty low turnovers and fouls. The perfect addition next to Reggie Miller because you need some D at guard spots in this league. Very well done evil. Round 5 Charlie Ward. This could turn out to be a genius pick. Wards defense and assists are stellar. He shoots over 53% EFG wise and makes over 37% from 3. Use Harper to back up Miller and your guards are set. An SF is needed in round 6. Curious to see who is left at that point. The last 2 picks will determine whether or not this team will make the playoffs of make a deep run in the playoffs. I like this unit a lot. Round 6 Clarence Weatherspoon and Andrei Kirelenko. Well those 2 fill the bill at the SF position. I like both picks. Weatherspoon's 2700 minute season fits well and Kirelenko's 16 MPG season is really great. Nice defense between the 2 and Weatherspoons neagtive numbers are very low. Final Grade A.

13) vancem ------  Artis Gilmore. The only big left worth taking this high that I figured I could build a contender around. He can play over 40 mpg with about a 41% CREB and shoots 55% from the field. The 80 defensive is a plus. Less than 20% usage for a player taken this high is normally not a good thing though. Round 2 Deron Williams. The best PG left with 4 usage points IMO. Love the assists, 39% from 3 and 70 defense. Kind of high turnovers, only made 89 3's, and is a weak rebounder. A good safe start. Not swinging for the fences yet. Being too conservative may end the hopes of a threepeat. Round 3 Marques Johnson. Great rebounding CREB% over 30 and good defense 74 at SF. 2 usage points and plays clean. EFG% at over 53% is pretty good at this point based on what was left. The defensive players have gone early in this draft and there's no way MJ gets back to me in round 4. Here again a pretty basic pick that won't lose games but he won't win many by himself either when the other players aren't doing well. Not having a 6 point usage guy may kill the title hopes. Round 4 Vince Carter.  Adds scoring punch, 70 defense, very low negative numbers and a few dimes and a few rebounds. His poor EFG% is balanced out a bit by the other players higher EFG%. In this league I like teams with between 110 and 115 total usage points. Hey, If I could make it work with D Wade 2 seasons ago, and then last season with Kobe, then I can make it work with Vinsanity right? LOL! Round 5 Dale Davis. Well when both Gasol and Beaty left the board the bigs I wanted with 2 usage points and high EFG% and added FTAs were gone too. DD provides OREB% at 13 which is needed with Carter missing a ton of shots, 77 defense, 29 MPG and very low turnovers and low fouls. EFG % at 56 is good even at just 1 usage point. The team has a playoff shot but the last 2 picks will need to be perfect to o keep the threepeat hopes alive. Other owners have drafted much better so far  Round 6 Jon Barry and David Lee. Both provide about 60% EFG which is needed by all of the role players because Vinsanity won't be even be close to shooting 50% in this league and he will be taking most of the shots. Barry also adds 47% from the 3 pointline and gets some dimes without fouling or turning the ball over much. Lee wasn't the best rebounder available but maybe was the most efficient player that I wanted to back up Davis and Gilmore. Lee also takes and makes a lot of FTs at over 80% for a low usage player. I am predicting the playoffs for this team. Overall Grade B+ or A-. 

14)  maglor1 ------ Hakeem Olajuwon. Love the player in RL. The greatness doesn't translate to the SIM. Great defense, not great EFG% or rebounding for a player taken this high. If a big was needed with great defense than Ben Wallace should have been the pick. Round 2 Gary Payton. A great clean pick, awesome defense, makes a lot of 3s but at a lower % than you would like. Very good assists. EFG% is a little low especially when Hakeem's is already less than 55%. Efficient role players are needed with very high EFG% and more FTAs to get this team to the playoffs. But it is possible. Round 3 Jerry West. More defense wasn't really needed, more EFG% below 55% wasn't really needed but received. And more usage with fairly high turnovers wasn't needed. In RL the best player available most likely. This team has enough offense. The role players better be great with the remaining picks or the playoff hopes are over. Round 4 Anthony Mason. Not a bad SF here. Mason adds defense, boards and assists. If used at PF his rebounding is a bit low. I'm interested to see how this draft finishes up for this team. I like it in a weird way for some odd reason. Round 5 Bo Outlaw. In my mind this team was set at SF with Mason. Outlaw doesn't fit well IMO. The front line will lack both in offensive and in defensive rebounding which is a very bad thing in this league. This is especially bad because all of the shooting percentages go down in a 52 million league so tons of missed shots by Payton and Olajuwon will be rebounded by opponents with much higher EFG%s. Sure the defense overall is awesome but that won't turn out enough points for this team to make the playoffs. I would be surprised if this unit wins more that 15 road games. Round 6 Paul Milsap and Fred Hoiberg. Milsap rebounds well, shoots well and fouls a lot at SF. Hoiberg adds extremely high EFG%, assists well enough for a back up guard and rebound the ball at the defensive end of the court extremely well. He will back up Payton and West well enough. But I liked another combo guard better to back them up. Final Grade C+. 

15) theyard2  ------  Ben Wallace. The best game changing big man left with very low negative numbers. Awesome defense and rebounding. It will take a ton of points to make this make this work but it can be done fairly easily for street smart owner. I almost took Big Ben over Gilmore and changed my mind at the last minute. Round 2 Elton Brand. Great defense at SF and pretty good EFG%. Shoots a lot of FTs and the rebounding is good. Of coarse a lot of points are still needed and especially 3s. But the lock down defense up front so far and the very low turnover and fouls numbers will add up to wins. Who are the guards going to be . . . I'm very curious. Round 3 Bob McAdoo. A great pick to get inside scoring up front at over 25 usage. 73 defense is more than good enough with the front line as established. 55% RFG and about 32% CREB. Obviously the guards will have to be great and threes are needed badly. Round 4 Peja Stojakovic. A really great pick for 3 pointers and for 24 usage at the SG position. He also takes and makes a lot of FTs. Horrible defense for this league. This team may have fewer assists than any $52 Million league team that I have seen in long time. This is not a $42 Million league and assists are needed to compete for title. I liked 3 or 4 others with lower EFG% and more assists for this pick. Round 5 Mark Jackson. A great pick for the assists but the defense at less than 50 will hurt the team. There was a player left on the board that would have been a better fit. Basically, the weak defense at the guard spots will most likely make this team 6th seed at best in the playoffs. Round 6 Michael Redd and Javale McGee. Redd adds more shooting and 3 points to the SG position for about 9 mpg and then will more over to the SF position where his rebounding is weak. McGee is a decent choice to back up McAdoo and Wallace. His defense is good, EFG% is very good and he rebounds okay. Final Grade B. 

16) logain  -------  Chris Paul. Probably one of the best picks yet because of the weaknesses of the players (monsters who never win the title in this league) that were left on the board when logain passed on them. Great assists and defense. Low fouls and turnovers. Has been on more than one title team in this league (including my first championship team here). Almost a no brainer at #16.Round 2 Kevin McHale. Super EFG%, good rebounding at SF, great defense, about 24 usage and plays clean game. 97% or 98% effectiveness at SF does hurt a tad bit but the overall efficiency of the Paul and McHale combo makes this pairing a force to be reckoned with. Round 3 Kevin Love. Aside from the terrible defense of 30 this is a very good pick. Love has the ability to hit threes and plays a clean game. Add some solid defensive role players and the playoffs should become a reality. Probably 4 to 5 extra possessions each game just because these guys don't turn the ball over an they don't foul much. Nice job logain. Round 4 Wes Person. Plays great 83 defense and hits loads of 3's at a very high percentage. Extremely low negative numbers. But doesn't add many assists of rebounds (which are still needed) since Love only plays about 32 mpg. A good choice and the usage is perfect based on rest of the team so far.Round 5 Kris Humphries. A very good pick here. At 25 mpg Humphries adds rebounding, 2 usage points at over 52% EFG, low turnovers and low fouls. 59 defense would be good if Love wasn't so terrible on defense next to him. But this team still looks to be a playoff contender. Round 6 Charlie Edge and Andrew Bogut. Edge can back up McHale and then allow him to back up the position behind Love. I like that plan. Bogut rebounds well enough and shoots very well. His defense is weak. I like the overall team balance and the way the defense has been added to surround Love. A tough team to beat that's for sure. Final Grade B+.
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17) katernberg   ------ Kevin Durant. At great pick for kat. Provides a ton of scoring, great defensive rebounding at the SG position and pretty good defense. The best pure scoring guard left on the board who can play big minutes. kat's teams always do better than I predict and I don't recall him drafting a great offensive player with over 30 usage in recent seasons. Looking forward to what the rest of the team will look like. Round 2 John Stockton.  The perfect compliment to Durant in the back court. Great assists, very good defense, very high EFG% and makes his threes. This is a really good choice. Of course a lot of front court help is needed and now offensive rebounding becomes a huge priority. Nicely played kat. Round 3 Robert Parish. A wonderful choice. Great efficiency and very good rebounding. Less than 50 defense rating hurts a bit and just 2 usage points. Luckily with Durant already on board nobody else really needs to get over 20 PPG on a nightly basis. Nice work. Round 4 Cedric Maxwell. A great addition at SF in many ways. Tremendous EFG%, very good rebounding at SF and shoots a ton of FTA's for a 2 usage point player. The inside defense is weak but the scoring is excellent efficiency wise. The overall supporting cast for Durant has great efficiency. More defense will need to be added to win the title. But this was a great pick. Round 5 Tree Rollins. Rollins adds great interior defense, decent rebounding and high EFG% with low usage. I like the team already but recommend that a 2 or 4 usage point player be added to help Durant and the Chief for when the have poor shooting games. Round 6 Kermit Washington and Kenneth Faried. Washington adds inside defense at 80 with okay rebounding and is underrated in this league IMO. Faried brings a ton of boards and more high EFG% to the SF position. This team will foul a lot and lacks a 4 usage point player to consistently help Durant with the scoring burden. The overall defense is average but he EFG% is off the charts. Final Grade A-.

18) eleibowitz ------  Charles Barkley. Fell a lot further than though he would. A really great pick here if he is surrounding by enough defense at all of the other positions and especially at PF and C. eleibowitz is the right owner to make this work. I considered Sir Charles at #13 but then got lazy because I didn't want to have to work so hard the rest of the draft on getting the right players to go with him for a championship run. Round 2 Marcus Camby.  Adds the defense that was greatly needed inside even if just for 29 mpg. Great rebounding, very low turnovers, really good assists and the lowish EFG% doesn't matter that much at .5 usage level and because Sir Charles will take more shots now. I like this pick better than a more obvious choice that had less defense higher negative numbers and a much higher EFG%. Plus, Camby is 100% effective at 2 postions. Excellent so far. Round 3 Alonzo Mourning. Adds what was needed and his negatives are balanced out by the other 2 players strengths. A really great pickup here. At about 34 MPG Mourning defends, scores at over 55 EFG%, shoots a ton of FT's. Close to a perfect pick. I like McAdoo a bit better as he can play 40 MPG in this league and has lower negative numbers. The guards have to be taken at some point so finding a quality 25 to 30 MPG back up for Camby and Mourning will be challenging. Great job though. Best Barkley team in this league that I have seen in a while so far. Round 4 Nick Anderson. A great pick here. Anderson is a very clean player, plays around 70 defense, takes and makes a lot of three's. Plus, he both assists well and rebounds well for his position. A really good PG is still needed. But IMO whether or not this unit is a top 6 team will be determined by the quality of the back ups taken in round six. I like this team better and better as each pick is taken. Round 5 Arvydas Sabonis. He plays behind Mourning and then Mourning backs up Camby. That's a good plan to me. Great EFG%, good rebounding, over 25 usage, makes threes and gets some dimes. If the right PG or PG's are available in round 6 this will be a tough team to beat especially at home. Round 6 Mark Price and Ryan Anderson. Price as a starting PG in this league is a weakness because of his defense. Barkley's defense is also a weakness so having 2 starters at less than 60 defense will be a problem. Offensively and usage wise this was a great pick in the 6th round. Ryan Anderson has a nice season where he can back up Barkley at SF. That was a perfect pick pretty much. Final Grade A-. 

19) seapilots    ------- Tim Duncan. A very good choice. TD is fantastic on defense, rebounds okay and provides good inside scoring. His best season for this league he can only play about 35 mpg which hurts a bit. Pretty low negative numbers too. This player is underrated IMO. Round 2 Jerry Lucas. A great fit next to Duncan up front. Two good seasons to choose from but I like the 3075 minute season the best. However, the 3600 + minute season has a bit more usage and eliminates a need to find a 20 mpg back up for the SF and C positions in later rounds. 47 to 50 defensive rating is somewhat weak for a starter in this league playing 37 to 44 minutes. Lucas has low fouls and turnovers and shoots the ball well and rebounds well enough. The really good guards are getting snapped up quickly so we will see how the back court turns out. A great PG might have been a better choice here and then cobbling together some partial seasons of foulish bigs with over 40% CREB in later rounds. Round 3 Walt Frazier. Great defense, very good EFG% at over 54, get about 21 % assists, plus he hits the boards. He can play either guard spot very well which is great when it comes time to make the next back court pick. A fine choice here. Round 4 Stephen Curry. A really good player that I like a lot. However, with a much better PG on the board when the pick was made I have to give this pick a high medium rating. Curry is a great shooter and has good usage. He kills it from 3. This is still a good team with potential. There is a good plan here. Round 5 Nate McMillan. A good choice and I like the guard rotation. Nate adds great defense, assists, pretty good EFG% and rebounds. In RL seeing him and Frazier destroy other teams guards on defense would have been fun to watch. Waiting until round 6 is a danger for getting your SF but at least seapilots has a high pick in that round. Round 6 Voshon Leonard and Charles Oakley. Frazier + McMillan+Curry +Leonard = too many guards. Leonard's best season by far has him playing 25 mpg. Oakley is a nice fit with 40% CREB, 70 defense and 21 mpg to back up Lucas. Playing Leonard or McMillan or Frazier is a weakness on the boards in the league if that was the idea. Final Grade B. 

20) iccoachb ------  Magic Johnson.
A really good pick. Magic dominates his position and does so many things to help his team. His defense is less than 70 which isn't the worst for a first round pick in this league bit isn't good either. Making a great 2nd round pick is the key to creating a great team as Magic is more of a facilitator than a scorer. Round 2 Kobe Bryant. At first I hated this pick but now kind of like it. Kobe seems to shoot a very low percentage in this league. Great defense, very good assists. tons of FTs. The combined assist percentage of the backcourt will be about 50% or better. If I can win the title with Kobe who's to say that iccoachb cant do it? I'm very intrigued by this team so far and am really looking forward to seeing who the front court players will be. If the front court players can make enough high percentage shots and if the assists kick in this team will be tough to beat. Round 3 Chris Mullin. I don't like this pick for 2 reasons mostly lack of rebounding at SF and lowish defense. The first kiss of death in this league is too little rebounding at the SF position and especially when we are 3 roounds in and you haven't taken a big man yet. I know that Magic and Kobe board well for their positons but rebounding by committee doesn't work here. Round 4 Kevin Willis. A great pick up for rebounding at 36 mpg. Very weak defense for this league. The team is also close to the upper limits of the top usage that you want now too. I don't see this unit making a playoff push at all. Round 5 Dave Cowens. Adds 90 defense, over 11% assists and about 37% CREB on the boards. He also adds fouls and 48% EFG. The names are all great but I still don't see much hope for this unit as far as winning enough games to make the playoffs. Round 6 Antonio Mcdyess and Eddie Jones. Both are good players. Mcdyess rebounds well at SF and I only like the 9798 season at all for this team. He plays 86 defense but fouls a lot. Playing him at SF and backing him up with Mullin makes some sense. Eddie Jones I love but not running on this team. Why draft a an SG when the team already has 2 and none of Jones seasons look like solid backup seasons? When you look at all of the numbers they add up. However, when you look at the parts working together to make a winning team the players here IMO are actually working against each other. No playoffs. Overall Grade C.

21) longtallbrad -------  Julius Erving. LTB glad you are back! A nice pick but just one season seems to work well in this league and he only plays about 34 MPG in that year. As a SG there was at least one choice of a similar player that I liked better. Awesome defense, rebounding is terrific, and the assists as an SG are all huge pluses here. As an an SF I don't like this pick as in the other seasons the EFG% is too low, the rebounding is average for the most part, and the turnovers are bit high. Round 2 Chauncey Billups. A really great pick because the excellent defense in the back court continues. Excellent assists and very low turnovers. Makes a ton of 3s. The most expensive season probably the one LTB will use. I don't like the close to 40% 2 point FG% for that season but the 3 point percentage is over 43%. Awesome back court combo that will cause problems. Billips weak rebounding means that a ton of boards are still needed. Pretty good start for an owner that's been away for several seasons. Round 3 Carlos Boozer. Great advanced numbers and poor defense. At 31 MPG he will kill it scroing the ball and rebounding. If DR J is playing SG then he won't be able to rotate on the Boozers man and believe me Carlos will get burned by the big men he is going up against. I like the pick more if a big with defense is added later on. Round 4 Emeka Okafor. A close to a perfect pick based on was needed and what was left. Okafur rebounds and defends well. His EFG% is about 53 and he plays a pretty clean game. He has 2 usage points too. If I want to look for flaws he only can play about 29 MPG and only shoots 59% from the free throw line. The way I envison this unit 3 out of the 4 players drafted can only play 34 MPG or less, so quality minutes are needed to complete this team.  I do like the team so far. Round 5 Joel Pryzbilla. Great EFG%, great defensive rebounding. Very low usage but that's okay when the DR is in the game. If he starts along side of Boozer than the defense is too weak up front. A unique squad that in my mind is on the playoff bubble.Round 6 Jamario Moon and JR Smith. Smith looks like a great back up for Dr J. Moon brings a lot of good things to the table as a back up SG in this league. As a starting SF he lacks offensive rebounding. But the 92 defense will come in handy and he is a good fit in that he doesn't hurt team plus his usage fits. The playoffs are likely. I will restate that if DR J is used at SF then I don't like the overall make up of the team. Overall Grade B+.

22) felonius  ------  Kevin Garnett. EFG% is a bit low for a starter in this league taken this high. However, KG dominates at SF in terms of rebounding, defense, FTA's and assists. Very low negative numbers for a player with over 26 usage. The EFG% can be worked around so this is a very good start. Round 2 Scottie Pippen. I really like the pick. If this team keeps getting put together with same great defensive, low negative numbers, along with high assists vibe I'm feeling then look out league! Pippen at SG is an excellent defender, great rebounder, very good assist player and in the right season makes over 150 3s. The only slight negative is that both players have less than 55 EFG% with fairly high usage levels. Still great work so far felonius Round 3 Tom Boerwinkle. Traded with Nate swapping thirds and a sixth I think. Well a great pick up here. The team already had great defense and plenty of usage. Big burly Tom brings killer rebounding and about 19% assists. Does this team even need a PG now? Only negative with Boerwinkle here is that he can only play about 29 MPG. Well executed trade too. Round 4 Rajon Rondo. A very good pick. 90 defense and over 34% assists. Gets boards as a bonus at the PG position. In his most expensive season he only makes 21% of his three's which is a downer. The team had a ton of assists already so I preferred a similar player with a lower assist percentage and a lot more 3's at a decent percentage at this pick. Round 5 Chris Webber. A very interesting choice here. Webber adds inside scoring, 80 defense, assists and over 24 usage at 54 EFG%.  I like this pick. It will be very interesting to see how the extra assists add to the teams win total. Webber was't even on my board. Well he is now. Round 6 Clifford Ray and Jamaal Tinsley. The Ray/Boerwinkle Center combo is pretty cool. They foul a lot, rebound the heck out of the ball which is needed here and also boat loads of assists. Their defense is mediocre but along side of Garnett and Pippen and the other good defensive players they will be fantastic. Nicely excecuted. Tinsley adds defense, over 32% assists, and actually hits some three's. A great pick up behind Rondo. Now that the team is complete i can see the plan that was in place and I like it. Final Grade A-. 

23) trick24 ------- Jason Kidd. A really good pick as there's no other player like him at PG that rebounds, assists, plays defense and hits a ton of 3s. Well played so far. Also low turnovers and high usage scoring can easily be added later on. Round 2 Bill Russell. Great rebounding, good defense, low fouls, very good assists and can play 44 to 45 mpg. Low EFG% will hurt the team a bit but this team has a good foundation. Its very difficult to know where Russell fits in this league for me. If only he had the appropriate defensive rating of 95 to 100 . . . alas. This team looks like a winner but the right offensive players are needed for it to be a top contender.  Round 3 Dirk Nowitzki. Usage was needed in big way and Dirk fills the bill here. This is a good fit next to Russell up front. However the combined defense averages to about 60 between the 2 and the teams combined EFG% is below average for this league. Still a good choice here based on what was needed and who was available. Round 4 Bobby Jones. A very well played pick. Jones has awesome defense and EFG%. His rebounding isn't great but pretty good at SF. This will be a fun squad to watch if tricky and can a 4 usage point scorer at SG. Good work. Round 5 David Thompson. Nice defense at 73, a scoring machine and not bad EFG% of 53. Gets some dimes and gets a few boards. Makes his FTs. A good pick as scoring was needed. Probably the best scoring SG left on the board at over 37 mpg and over 70 defense. Round 6 Anderson Varejao and James Harden. Two great picks. Varejao is a really good back up in this league and fits with this roster. Harden well you make room for a guy that in round 6. He backs up Kidd and Thompson nicely here. That was a steal. I'm smelling playoff possibilities. Overall Grade B+

24) jethroeg ------  Oscar Robertson. Great pick for Jethro. I love the 23 usage season at the PG position. Great rebounding, good defense, good assists and nice scoring. If used as the # 2 scorer I really love this pick. Round 2 Shawn Marion. WTH? Jethro has just made by far his 2 best first and second round picks ever. This is a great 2nd round pick if the 100% lover usage season or 98% higher usage season is used. Marion's excellent EFG% and very good rebounding at the SF position make this a super pick. Then take into account Marion's clean game with such low turnovers to contrast Robertson's relatively high turnovers and so far Jethro gets an A +. Round 3 Walt Bellamy and Round 4 Dana Barros. Very strange wev'e gone through 4 rounds and Jethro hasn't picked high usage sub 47% EFG player so far WTH? Based on what was on the board and what was needed this pair of picks is close to an A grade. Bellamy has one decent season for this league with 26 usage, just over 53% EFG and over 35% CREB. At 41 MPG Bellamy was no brainer for Jethro as  SIM poison backup C pick won't be needed. Barros does things that Oscar doesn't do (both good and bad). Barros adds high percetage 3's and takes a ton of them. Assists were needed as Oscar's are marginal for a starting PG in this league and Barros has 24% assists. Barros turnovers are fairly low and his over 21% usage is needed as the only season of Oscars that should be considered is the 23% usage season. Oh yeah and 57% EFG is great too. Again, the fact that Barros can play over 42 MPG means that jethro can't add a high minute loser in later rounds or can he??? Jethro you are doing great and your team just might beat my team this season  
Round 5 Blake Griffin. High usage and bad defense and pretty low EFG%.  Round 6 Grant Hill and Mark West. Marion was already there at SF so Hill has to be the back up. West has low usage which is good, high EFG% which is good and pretty low rebounding numbers. The good new is that unless someone else messes up worse I'll be picking your team # 1 for my division LOL! Overall Grade D-.

3/5/2013 8:48 PM (edited)
Deciding between MJ and the other guy really was a coinflip vance. I think evil may have picked the wrong version last time, pretty sure I'll be going the 89-90 route. The 96-97 is very interesting as well with such low to's/fouls and more triples.

Evil got 569 of MJ's 793 RL FTA's, from 88-89 MJ; the guy in my OL (not exactly the same thing but worth noting) got 534 out if 699 RL FTA's; what is really interesting is that the guy in my OL with the 96-97 MJ got 563 of 576 RL FTA's.

OL 89-90 MJ also had an efg .64% higher because he went 128/317 from three over the RL 92/245. I know it won't happen in the $52 mill but OL MJ had 648 boards over 565 in RL, not sure I've seen a 14.7% board increase over RL before in the sim. The other differences form RL included: 78 more assists (expected); 42 more steals; 16 more blocks and 51 fewer fouls. Bad thing was 72 more to's, but again expected from the high usage guys running uptempo in the sim.

OL 96-97 MJ also outperformed RL in efg% by 1.43% because of 23 more triples in only 24 more 3pta. But I don't think I could get 52.99% efg over RL 51.56% in this league. Other numbers were all very close to RL, 33 more steals may win an extra game or two. One MAJOR red flag though: sim to's 294 RL to's 166. That would be my primary reason for taking the 96-97 MJ over the 89-90. I could live with a 29% increase over RL to's, but a 77% increase defeats the entire purpose of taking the 96-97 version and the efg% tradeoff.

Funny thing is that evil's 88-89 MJ had 282 to's compared to 290 in RL. Three very different MJ's but a to range in the sim of 282-319 when the RL range was 166-290, perhaps the engine assigns a set turnover range to MJ (with very little variation) regardless of the RL stats. (The same may also hold true for the FTA's.) With the FTA's there is a clear cap for all teams, looks like the sim let's MJ get in the mid-500 range, but I am still surprised that the 96-97 version got almost 98% of his RL FTA's.
 
And I have not looked at RL TO% yet, maybe I'll find my answer to the TO range there.   
2/21/2013 2:33 PM
MJ cant play PG and LBJ can
2/21/2013 7:50 PM
MJ is 100% at PG in his most expensive season and is 99% at PG in a season where he shot 37% from 3. Nate will most likely use one of those two seasons. If you take any other of his seasons you really don't get the most bang for your buck so to speak IMO. In that 100% PG season MJ is a pure scoring machine and a monster. But again LBJ is a more dominant PG IMO as I like the better assists and rebounding at that position.
2/22/2013 12:44 AM (edited)
damn vancem...top 2-3 already?...you must like dwight a while lot better than i do....i mean im thrilled to finally get to build around him but i wouldnt say hes a steal at 8...right about where id rank him on my imaginary big board
2/21/2013 10:35 PM
RE MJ: just because it's the most expensive doesnt mean it's the best season in WIS terms (it's not, turnovers, lack of 3pa) and 99% is not 100% - LBJ gives you better PG attributes at PG as a PG for 100% PG effectiveness than even MJ's single 100% PG effective season - better rebounding, better dimes, more 3pa, same D, same Usage, same efg, same or slightly better FTA
2/22/2013 12:16 AM (edited)
felonius if you compare the 89-90 MJ to either the 08-09 or 09-10 LBJ:

MJ orb% 5.0 LBJ 2.9 and 4.0 advantage MJ
MJ dreb% 15.1 to 17.4 and 17.9 adv LBJ
MJ total reb% 20.1 to 20.3 and 21.9 adv LBJ
MJ 3PM 92 to 129 and 132 adv LBJ
MJ #3pt%  37.9 to 33.2 and 34.1 adv MJ and this one is critical to my theory on the sim. In my last OL the champion's MJ was 128/317 from three for 40.4%.
MJ efg 55 to 54.5 and 53 adv MJ (OL champ 89-90 MJ just had a regular season efg 55.6 and playoff efg of 58.3)
MJ ast% 18.1 to 28 and 25.2 adv LBJ
MJ stl% 3.1 to  2.0 and 2.1 adv MJ by about a steal a game in the sim
MJ rl pts/48 41.3 to 36.5 and 36.2 adv MJ
MJ FT% 84.8 to 76.7 and 78 adv MJ and I believe 80% is a critical cutoff point for the sim
MJ min 3197 to 2966 and 3054 adv MJ that's 2-3 min more per game of MJ than LBJ
MJ has a slight to adv and LBJ has a block adv

It's really close to a push depending on what the plan for the team is. I would point out also that last season LBJ's team was 35-47 here and MJ's 50-32; the season before LBJ 30-52 and tar's MJ had a league best record of 57-25, I really think Lebron is far harder to build around.

Will share more on my thought process on this decision in a few.
2/22/2013 11:57 AM

Here is why I went the MJ route over LBJ. IMO it is far easier to build around a high usage sg and very difficult to build around a high usage pg. Last time in this league I tried the usage at PG strategy and won only 39 games, in the last ODL I didn't draft my usage until the 6th round (which was sg usage) and made the finals. LBJ's ast% is awesome but I've also found that ast% never becomes an issue for me and MJ's 18.1 will be plenty. So I started with the assumption that LBJ's ast% adv doesn't do much for me.

My plan is to take a no usage PG with 60+D 25%+ ast and good to great rebounding in the 4th or 5th round. I will start the PG for the 28-40 min that he plays and use MJ and his 99% for the remaining minutes. I will also draft a high efg, high usage SG/SF in the 6th round (there are always plenty left over.) I will start this player at SF and fill whatever minutes I need to complete the SG minutes. If I get an unexpected SF early then I can move MJ to PG, the high usage 6th rounder to SG and use fewer minutes from the 4th/5th PG.

My SG position will keep me out of the penalty and provide my scoring, the leftover MJ minutes go to the PG position and the other guy's leftover minutes go to SF. There are tons of options for no usage PG's which assures that I get one in the 4th or 5th. I hope to maximize MJ's 3pt% and my other usage player will shoot 3's as well. If I take a 32 min high usage 6th rounder that means 8 minutes a game it's him w/o MJ, 16 min it's MJ w/o him and 24 min it's both.

Like I said the fact that I'm getting my usage at SG makes life so much easier. I can ignore usage for the rest of the draft and take my bigs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4/5. Not having to be concerned with usage in those rounds gives me far more options in building this team. At least that's the plan.

2/22/2013 12:39 PM
Posted by natenoy on 2/22/2013 11:57:00 AM (view original):
felonius if you compare the 89-90 MJ to either the 08-09 or 09-10 LBJ:

MJ orb% 5.0 LBJ 2.9 and 4.0 advantage MJ
MJ dreb% 15.1 to 17.4 and 17.9 adv LBJ
MJ total reb% 20.1 to 20.3 and 21.9 adv LBJ
MJ 3PM 92 to 129 and 132 adv LBJ
MJ #3pt%  37.9 to 33.2 and 34.1 adv MJ and this one is critical to my theory on the sim. In my last OL the champion's MJ was 128/317 from three for 40.4%.
MJ efg 55 to 54.5 and 53 adv MJ (OL champ 89-90 MJ just had a regular season efg 55.6 and playoff efg of 58.3)
MJ ast% 18.1 to 28 and 25.2 adv LBJ
MJ stl% 3.1 to  2.0 and 2.1 adv MJ by about a steal a game in the sim
MJ rl pts/48 41.3 to 36.5 and 36.2 adv MJ
MJ FT% 84.8 to 76.7 and 78 adv MJ and I believe 80% is a critical cutoff point for the sim
MJ min 3197 to 2966 and 3054 adv MJ that's 2-3 min more per game of MJ than LBJ
MJ has a slight to adv and LBJ has a block adv

It's really close to a push depending on what the plan for the team is. I would point out also that last season LBJ's team was 35-47 here and MJ's 50-32; the season before LBJ 30-52 and tar's MJ had a league best record of 57-25, I really think Lebron is far harder to build around.

Will share more on my thought process on this decision in a few.
  1. points re 3pa and 3pt% combined - Lebron will attempt more 3s and because the sim is the sim make more despite the variance in IRL #3pt%
  2. point re efg Lebron also will out average his FG%s in the sim if played uptempo so the difference between 54.5 and 55 is negligible
  3. point re steals 1 more steal in the sim? no 1 more % and offset by MJ also more likely to  turn it over (depending on which LBJ season you want to pick) - and that's assuming that steal %s generate on a 1 to 1 basis which they dont necessarily
  4. point re ppg LBJ has higher usage (or same depending on season) which has more impact in the sim than ppg or pp/whatever (as will teammates relative usage)
  5. re FT% fair point but Lebron will take more per/whatever and neither are likely to approach their IRL #s
  6. re blocks the impact in the engine is in there somewhere I guess

my thing is that a sim rule of thumb is that you should always try to push a player out his most perimeter 100% effectiveness - LBJ with a 28% as% is the better PG and allows you more flexibility moving forward in the draft at the other 2 perimeter positions - Mike is going to make you look for more dimes and 3s from the other 2 positions which is completely doable but now you've got to think about it and have created area of need rather than covering areas of need

 

2/22/2013 3:43 PM
Both are great. I would take Lebron higher but they're both top 4 on my board, can't go wrong with either. I think Lebron gives a tad more flexibility, though.

#5 on my board (the other top 4 guys being Wilt and Rodman) is the Mailman, who just went 12th. You can argue Kareem at 5, Dwight Howard, maybe Moses Malone, but I love Karl for the super-efficient Tier 1 usage, lots of ft at good %, great assists from a PF, and low fouls/to from a big guy with that much usage (96-97 being my preferred season).

2/22/2013 5:39 PM
Tar you took MJ over LeBron here two seasons ago and won a league best 57 games. Why has your board changed?
2/22/2013 6:34 PM
Posted by natenoy on 2/22/2013 6:34:00 PM (view original):
Tar you took MJ over LeBron here two seasons ago and won a league best 57 games. Why has your board changed?
First time I had ever gotten to use MJ, my childhood hero. And he's clearly amazing in the SIM. We're talking miniscule differences here, though. No point nitpicking MJ v Lebron, they're both clearly top 5 guys. MJ is the more efficient scorer, but IMO LBJ is easier to build around. Not that Jordan is hard to build around.

I was thrilled to get Lebron at 6, and would have been just as thrilled to see Jordan sitting there.

2/22/2013 10:22 PM
agreed, dont get me wrong, the difference is slight
2/22/2013 10:54 PM
14)  maglor1 ------ Hakeem Olajuwon. Love the player in RL. The greatness doesn't translate to the SIM.
Very sad to hear that this still is the case after so many years.
2/23/2013 7:17 AM
I'll catch up in the pm guys. Actually headed out to church. You all know I need it!
2/24/2013 11:02 AM
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