A few more unofficial evals... (The first 12 are on page 9.)
13. jt7king - Chris Paul, Alonzo Mourning, Shawn Kemp, Larry Nance, Kris Humphries, Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver
dh already gave this squad a good look. Paul’s most expensive season is my favorite of his, with higher usg% and FTAs, but I’m guessing jt is going with 14-15 which would certainly be legit. Vicious defense with Mourning, Kemp and Nance. Lighter rebounding across that front line than I would like, but the addition of Humphries helps a lot with that presuming the right season is used. Teague and Korver bring the 3s that will be needed to keep defenses from huddling around Alonzo and the Man-Child. A very well-constructed team that we should expect to see in the playoffs.
14. slymonium - Charles Barkley, Ben Wallace, Clyde Drexler, Jose Calderon, Andrew Bogut, Paul Millsap, Jamaal Tinsley
This team is hard for me to assess, mainly because there are different ways to go with Bogut. Lower minutes but a pretty complete package, or higher minutes but noticeably less of the good stuff, including defense. I’m guessing sly goes with the former since usage will be needed, given the presence of Big Ben and Calderon. Drexler doesn’t bring as much in the sim as he did in real life, in part because his better seasons have mediocre efg% and no perimeter game. Millsap and Tinsley are fixtures as supersubs. This is another nicely engineered squad, but for some reason I’m not feeling it. Maybe low on FTAs? Should be a good bet for the playoffs, but may not make a lot of noise there.
15. vancem - Dwyane Wade, Chauncey Billups, Buck Williams, Tree Rollins, Arvydas Sabonis, Cedric Maxwell, Michael Redd
I struck out the one time I used Wade in this league, but he’s led teams to titles here before and I’ll bet vancem is one of the owners who can build around him. Overall, I really like this team. Chauncey will shoot you out of some games and doesn’t seem to get the bump the sim used to give him, but he still brings a nearly unique combination of FTAs, 3s, defense, assists, and virtually no mistakes. Gotta love him. Wade is a wrecking crew on offense, and I think it’s smart not to position him as the starting unit’s primary playmaker. The big man trio of Buck, Tree and Arvydas is solid, bringing a little of everything between them (although it’s a bit of a usage mismatch to have Arvydas subbing for Rollins. Leaving the SF spot until the sixth round, vancem needed a guy who can rebound and help boost the team’s shooting efficiency. And voila! A gift in the form of Maxwell, who used to be a fixture a couple rounds earlier in this league. I’m not really feeling Redd at this cap level since he doesn’t do much other than shoot, but I can see his 02-03 season taking all the bench backcourt minutes, with Wade sliding over to PG when Billups sits. I could see this crew reaching the conference finals.
16. dh555 - Kevin Durant, Steve Nash, Rudy Gobert, Tyson Chandler, Kobe Bryant, Jameer Nelson, Samuel Dalembert
A tad high on usage, but it may be a worthy experiment to see what kind of havoc Durant, Nash and Kobe can wreak together. Jameer is pretty much the perfect backup for Nash and Gobert, Chandler and Dalembert give you three guys who do virtually nothing but grab rebounds and play pretty good defense. (And unlike some bigs who fit that description, none of them is a mistake bomb on the court. I winced at the Kobe pick a the time, but the more I think about it the more I suspect the gamble could pay off. If enough usage is sprinkled across the 2 and 3 positions on the bench, this team just might – maybe – contend.
17. beachhouse - Jason Kidd, Magic Johnson, Charlie Ward, Bismack Biyombo, Reggie Evans, Cedric Ceballos, Connie Hawkins
This one is a stumper. Solid assists, to be sure, but not nearly enough for the magic efg% bump and this seems waaay high for Ward, even if he were slotted to start. I get the appeal of Magic in the second round, but the rationale behind this first trio eludes me when I realize that either Kidd or Magic could have been joined by, say, Big Ben and Ewing, or Mourning and Frazier. Biyombo and Evans are a nice pairing for board hogs who don’t need the ball on offense, but they both feel like reaches given who else was available. Hawkins fits pretty well as a starting SF, and I’m inferring that Dirk is the starting PF. He’s a nice find outside the draft, but he’s definitely one of those players who’s much more of a legit sensation in real life than in this sim. He’s doesn’t bring the rebounds I tend to look for in a PF (I mean, have you seen his oreb%) and his efficiency isn’t anything special. He does bring some of the FTAs this team desperately needs. So, I’m wrong about a lot in this sim, but I’ll be surprised if this collection of passers and rebounders gets near the playoffs.
18. longtallbrad - Tim Duncan, Scottie Pippen, Gerald Wallace, Derek Harper, Willis Reed, Anderson Varejao, Cole Aldrich
This is maybe my third try with Duncan in this league, and I have yet to do well with him but this is also the most conventional team I’m put around him. (I think Ginobili was my SG the first time out.) I’ve long wanted to try using Pippen, especially on a defensive team, and Crash is sort of my new Billups…he keeps falling to me and I can’t resist him. I’m surprised more owners aren’t high on Wallace, since the only other SFs in the sim with 20 dreb%, 50 efg%, 90D and 400 FTA are named Garnett and Bird (with one season each). Throw in his 3s and he’s basically Bird’s 84-85 season with lower usage. Harper is solid at PG, although I’d prefer more assists, and Reed was a gift in the fifth round. Varejao and Aldrich were arguably reaches near the top of the sixth given their low minutes, but they shore up the rebounding department nicely without causing problems elsewhere and I ended up being happy with what fell through the draft to round out my bench. This is indeed sort of a typical dh52 team for me these days: solid on the boards and on D, plenty of FTAs and just enough 3s, unremarkable efficiency and too many fouls.