WESTERN CONFERENCE
Midwest division
bkbillups (2) "Saving Arvydas Sabonis": Larry Nance, Kevin McHale, Arvydas Sabonis, Toni Kukoc, Eric Murdock, Charles D. Smith, Stacey Augmon, Brent Price, Dean Garrett, Sam Perkins,
Very strong team defensively. Nance and McHale are a dangerous combo. Both are top notch defenders at the 3 and 4 spots, have 2-4 usage points and OUTSTANDING FG%. Augmon, Garrett and Perkins are solid defenders off the bench. Sabonis has low minutes at C, but when he's out there, will put up very good numbers. CD Smith provides good usage and eFG off the bench, but is weak off the glass. Kukoc does it all pretty well. Price can hit 3's off the bench. The only wekaness I see is that bk will be low on assists, especially with Murdock not really your prototypical PG--he's more of a scorer than a distributor. McHale and Nance don't pass much, and with no one to consistently get them the ball, their shooting percentages may suffer a tad.
My prediction: This shortage of assists could cost them, but there is no doubt they have some very effective scorers. I would guess they will make the playoffs with somewhere between 45 and 50 wins.
tstamp2 "The Big Barkowski": Charles Barkley, Vlade Divac, Nate McMillan, Darrell Armstrong, Reggie Williams, Roy Tarpley, Tracy McGrady, Bob Sura, Spud Webb, Samaki Walker, Robert Pack, Adrian Caldwell
Sir Charles has three usable seasons that are all outstanding offensively, albeit average defensively, plus he can pass well. Vlade is an effective big man and should work well in this league. McMillan was drafted worfully high, but tstamp made up for it by taking Darrell Armstrong, who will be MUCH more effective offensively. Tarpley was a great choice when he got him, and will help on the boards with Barkley, giving him two strong guys off the glass. Reggie Williams is a decent player, but I think there were more effective players to take at that point. He will provide above average defense though if not great shooting. Sura was a curious choice, with his horrible eFG #'s. McGrady really hadn't started pitting up TMac type numbers yet in this decade, but will provide some scoring punch off the bench and decent D.
My prediction: This teams starting five is pretty strong. He should be pretty good at rebounding, but other than Barkley, the shooting percentages could be somewhat low. I see an overall lack of qualtity depth too with too many role players. I would guess this team wills truggle to reach the playoffs, finishing with 35-40 wins.
slamdaham61 "12 Monkeys": Dikembe Mutombo, Dana Barros, Wes Person, AC Green, Chris Dudley, Allen Houston, Rolando Blackmon, Johnny Dawkins, Jerome Lane, Donyell Marshall, Danny Ainge, John Wallace
While not being as impressive as slamdahams 2nd team, there are some nice pieces on this team. Mutombo is a monster defensively down low. Barros best season is scary from beyond the arc, but you'd wish his usage was higher and his D better. LOVE Wes Person in the 3rd in this league! Green is a perfect role player at the 3. Blackmon and Dawkins were nice choices when he got them. Houston can score effectively, but will be a defensive liability when on the floor. Dudley is an offensive rebounding stud, but very limited offensively. Donyell Marshall will defend but wasn't the offensive force that he became in the next decade. But he was an ok pick at that point, just won't help as much in this decade.
My prediction: Mutombo will make them hard to score against in the paint, while Person and Green will defend the wings well. I think there may be a bit of a dearth of scoring here though. He tried to make up for that with Houston and Blackmon, but it may be a little too late. I think this team may lose quite a few 100-92 type games. Should win a few low scoring type games too though, so I'd say this is a borderline .500 team and borderline playoff team.
roadhouse19 "LA Confidential":: Hakeem Olajuwon, Vin Baker, Clarence Weatherspoon, Pooh Richardson, Nick Anderson, Ron Harper, Rick Mahorn, Dee Brown, Lionel Simmons, Manute Bol, Alton Lister, Kevin Gamble
It's hard to argue against Olajuwon as the 3rd pick in this decade as his pure numbers are unreal. But for some reason, CONSISTENTLY underperforms in WIS. Vin Baker and Weatherspoon are effective scorers in the paint as well. Will they all be able to co-exist in the same painted area in the same starting unit is my question. The backcourt of Pooh, Nick Anderson, Ron Harper & Dee Brown is pretty strong, but may be a case of TOO much usage and not enough distribution. There are some nice tools off the bench though too. Bol and Lister will provide great defense and boards respectively, and Lionel Simmons was a STEAL at that point of the draft, with above avg usage and above 80 D. He will back up Spoon nicely at the 3.
My predication: I think this is a playoff team. Nice offense in the paint and scorers in the back court. Could be a lil weak from the outside, but Anderson and Brown & Gamble should help that. Just wonder if there is enough passing to get the ball to Hakeem and Vin consistently. I'd guess 45-50 wins.
amerk1180 "There's Something About Markie": Grant Hill, Horace Grant, Mark Price, Reggie Lewis, Shawn Bradley, LaPhonso Ellis, Glenn Robinson, Mahmoud Abdul_Rauf, Kendall Gill, Malik Rose, Tony Delk, Cherokee Parks
OK, time for me to be a little biased lol. Grant Hill sucks in WIS leagues, but I'm hoping maybe in a decade league like this, he will flourish. He definitely does a lot of things very well. Grant will provide defense and good eFG, probably at the 4. Price can hit 3's and is an effective scorer and pretty good distributor, but could hurt defensively. Reggie Lewis and Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson provide scoring at the 2 or 3 spots, as well as above average D. Bradley will help defensively in the paint, rebounds OK, but won't give me much offense. The Fonz will be a nice complement to Bradley in the paint though. Abdul Rauf is an OK passer but provides strong usage off the bench at the point. Delk can hit 3's off the bench. Malik Rose provides great defense and rebounding at the 3 or 4.
My prediction: admittedly I'm biased as I drafted this team, but I think this will be one of the better teams in the conference. Lotta scoring depth and decent passing, especially with Hill at the SF spot. Possibly TOO much usage and not enough distribution though...not sure. Rebounding could be one of the only holes on this team, but if they can get effective rebounding and not be outrebounded consistently, I think I win 50+ games.
jethroeg "Armageddon": Brad Daugherty, Clyde Drexler, Glen Rice, Damon Stoudamire, Otis Thorpe, Sherman Douglas, Felton Spencer, Antoine Walker, Dale Ellis, Ken Norman, 2 SCRUBS
DEFENSE!..DEFENSE!...will be what the home crowds of this team will be chanting all season. Daugherty is an effective scorer in the paint no doubt, but a lil weak at rebounding and poor defensively. Rice AND Dale Ellis on the same team! Too bad they couldn't add Allen Houston or Peja too. Rice and Ellis will fill up baskets every game....for BOTH teams. Their OLE defense will be a boon to opposing scorers, as much as they will light up scoreboards themselves. Other than Drexler, there won't be a defender on the floor with a defensive rating over 50 most of the time. That spells TROUBLE, and a lot of 134-118 type losses.
My prediction: I hate to rip jethro because he was a big help joining very late to help out, but his wanting to originally call his team "Last Again?" will be prophetic. 25 wins or so I'm guessing.
West division
superrobb420 "Boyz N the Hood": Shaquille O'Neal, Latrell Sprewell, Rodney McCray, Tom Gugliotta, Bo Outlaw, Rik Smits, Steve Smith, Cory Alexander, George Lynch, Terry Mills, Vern Fleming, Frank Brickowski
Shaq down low with some of those Orlando years stats will make him one of the league MVP choices. Rod McCray and Sprewell are effective defenders on the wings, while Spree can score effectively at times. Smits has far too high usage for his production, as his eFG for a big man really sucks. With Shaq though, he won't have to play a ton of minutes. Outlaw is a great defender at the 3 or 4, but a lil weak at rebounding. Gugs does a lot of things well, but like Smits, his usage is high, but his percentages aren't great. Some quality depth players in Smith, Alexander, Lynch and Mills. A big negative though, is I don't see many strong distributors. There really isn't a pure point guard on the team who can play 30+ minutes. This lack of assists could hurt Shaq, Gugs and the scorers effectiveness on this team.
My prediction: This team should be strong defensively and has scoring but it remains to be seen if that lack of assists will hurt them badly or how much. I think this team makes the playoffs, but might be a one or two round ouster. I';d guess somewhere around 44-46 wins.
jpeterso "Reservoir Dogs": Larry Bird, Chris Mullin, Robert Parish, Elden Campbell, Fat Lever, Bill Laimbeer, Rasheed Wallace, Mo Cheeks, Drazen Petrovic, John Salley, Xavier McDaniel, John Paxson
Bird admittedly was a pick of the heart in the 1st round. He was no where near the Bird in his prime in this decade. Mullin on the other hand, was never better than in the early 90's and should be this teams top scorer. Parisk, Campbell, Sheed and Salley down low are a nice nucleus. Great defense and adaquate rebounding. Parish and Sheed are effective scorers as well. Laimbeer is a curious pick. I don't know how many minutes he will see with those other four on the roster, just because he is such a defensive liability, compared to the others. Mo Cheeks and Lever won'th it many three's but are top notch defenders at the point. Paxson is a nice role player off the bench, as is Drazen, but both aren't the best defenders.
My prediction: A nice mix of defense and scoring would be a positive. A lack of outside shooting would be a negative. Bird in the 1st and Laimbeer would be a negative. Other than Mullin and Xavier McDaniel, there is not a lot of high usage points. Overall, this team COULD make the playoffs, but it might be a struggle. I'd guess somewhere between 36-40 wins.
dh555 "Searching for Bobby Phills": Gary Payton, Anthony Mason, Pervis Ellison, Bobby Phills, Paul Pierce, Billy Thompson, Will Perdue, Greg Anthony, Carlos Rogers, Kenny Williams, Jelani McCoy, Jon Barry
Payton was at his absolute prime in this whole decade and will have plenty of good seasons to choose from. I've never been a big fan of Mason, but he seems to be a pretty effective player in WIS whenever he plays against me. Ellison is a decent big man for a decade league like this. Pierce was an absolute steal. His rookie season in 98-99 provides some very good numbers...73 D and over 40% from the arc and four usage points. Phills also defends (80), can hit the occasional 3 and is very effective when he does score. He has some pretty good role players who all had at least one good season in the decade. This is one of those teams that doesn't wow you on paper, but I am betting that in WIS, will gel well together.
My prediction: Will make the playoffs and be one of the better teams in the conference. Somewhere around 50 wins.
cmcafeeky "Blue Brothers 2000": Dennis Rodman, Reggie Miller, Dale Davis, Larry Johnson, Gary Grant, Chris Gatling, Brian Shaw, Ed Pinckney, Tracy Murray, David Vaughn. David Greenwood, Kurt Rambis
Cmac says this is one of his weakest teams in this decade leagues. I would have to agree. He will be one of the strongest teams in the league off the glass with Rodman, Davis, Gatling, Pinckney, Greenwood and Rambis. Problem is, really none of those guys (other than Gatling) can score or really even TRY to score. All have .5-1.0 usage points. Miller and Granmama will be asked to pick up the scoring punch, but both are poor defenders. Defense to those guys is the thing that separates their back yard from their neighbors back yard. This team will score and get a lot of put backs, but should also give up plenty of points. Oh, and there isn't a ton of assists either, with Grant and Shaw being the primary distributors.
My prediction: Around 30-33 wins and missing the playoffs.
skypilot "The Usual Suspects": Kevin Johnson, Chris Webber, Joe Dumars, Jayson Williams, Rony Seikaly, Derrick McKey, Elliott Perry, Jerome Kersey, Anthony Bowie, Shandon Anderson, Lorenzen Wright, Rodney Rogers
KJ late in the first round was a bit surprising. He was a nice player who does a lot well, but his defense is just average. Webber and Dumars make for a nice inside-outscide scoring punch and they can both defend well. Jayson Williams is a weird player. He is an offensive rebounding juggernaut, but his D is not great, he doesn't score a lot and has a bad %, and rarely blocks a shot. Derrick McKey is an elite defender on the wings, but not that great an effective scorer. Seikaly give sky the scoring that Williams doesn't. It will be interesting to see how he divvies up the minutes among those two and CWeb., Some very good role players off the bench in Anderson, Perry and Rodney Rogers, who was a steal in the final round.
My prediction: Despite the defensive shortcomings of a few of these guys, there is a nice mix of post scoring and outside shooting. There should be enough assists and rebounding. I think this team makes the playoffs and should be better than sky's other team.
samuelyork93 "Alvin & the Chipmunks": Mookie Blaylock, Alvin Robertson, Buck Williams, Tom Chambers, Oliver Miller, Ricky Pierce, Khalid Reeves, Isiah Thomas, Brad Lohaus, Scott Williams, Clifford Rozier, Danny Ferry
OK, finally....lat team. I have never been a fan of Mookie. I think his usage is too high and his percentages too low to be drafted as high as he always is, but his teams on WIS always seem to be pretty good, except for mine the one time I used him lol. What he can do is defend, and he does that as well as anybody at the PG spot. Pair him up with Alvin Robertson, and you have a scary backcourt defensively. Buck Williams rebounds and defends, as does Oliver Miller. Neither gives you much offense or usage though. Tom Chambers can score, but like Gugliotta, has high usage and poor percentages, as well as average rebounding for a big. I like Isaih Thomas off the bench here. Not a great eFG guy, but can score with a high usage, is a decent defender, and is a high assist guy. The perfect complement for Mookie. Same player really, minus the D and 3's but higher assist rate. Lohaus, Scott Williams and Rozier are nice role players down low off the bench.
My prediction: Should lead the league in steals, and win a bunch of primarily low scoring games. I don't see a ton of elite scorers though, and the ones that do, do not do it at a high shooting percentage. If this team had an elite Offensive Rebounding guy, like a Tarpley, Jayson Williams, Chris Dudley or Rodman, I would think they would make the playoffs. I don't see that on this team though, and I don't think there will be enough offensive rebounding guys to put back the misses that Mookie, Zeke or Chambers brick up. I'd guess they miss the playoffs with anywhere between 35 and 40 wins.
Well, thats my first crack at doing evals. Send hate sitemails to amerk1180 lol
6/18/2016 8:17 PM (edited)