K123456789: Gobert, Domantas Sabonis, Michael Porter, Christian Wood, Magic Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Andrew Bynum

Gobert is a very good pick. Really impactful in this format. Outside of his lower usage there’s nothing not to like

Domantas Sabonis if you’re going to pick young Sabonis, Gobert is who you want to pair him with. Since rejoining the 52 I’ve been interested in K#’s approach. Had a lot of success with the high eFG with passing that I did not think was possible. Sabonis is definitely on brand for K#. Not an approach I would take with his horrific defense and higher TO’s, but he’s had success with this approach before.

Michael Porter Nice player who if you can play at SG is a great rebounder, still ok at SF. Extremely efficient player, tons of 3’s with Gobert and Sabonis is a nice fit.

Christian Wood his per minute value in my formula has him one of the most valuable players when he’s on the court. I haven’t used him a lot, but I feel like when I see others use him he tends to under perform by a bit. That may be because he’s often played at SG and if you’re only other passer is PG, there’s some penalty. With Sabonis there will be plenty of assists on the floor. Good pick and on brand for K#.

Magic Johnson excellent value, way too late for Magic to go. The TO’s are high, but he is good or great at almost everything else. Sneaky good FT’s – rebounds depending on the season. He and Sabonis will certainly help Porter and Wood reach their potential. Depending on the seasons chosen, the defense is pretty weak next to Porter/Wood.

Aaron Gordon This pick made me wonder of Denver should trade for Christian Wood. He’d fit right in with Porter and Gordon. Another player on his own very valuable, the broader team composition with lack of D is the question. You can outscore people in this format.

Andrew Bynum Really good pick. Very effective scorer inside. A little light on the boards, but this team may not miss a lot of shots.

Draft Grade: B+

Prediction: Playoffs, ~ 50 wins but maybe not a first round bye.

Midseason update:
On pace for 48 wins and playing much better after a .500 or so start for the first part of the season. Division record is 9-11, so that may not bode well long term. Although not sure it’s that tough a division and could have been too small a sample size. 135+ per game is nasty but only 4.5 differential. I think the team will go as far as match ups will allow. Gober only plays 31 mpg and when he’s not on the floor it’s a layup line. If a team can really attack the inside this team could get bounced quick. However – if they’re matched up against teams that can’t score at a high rate it could definitely be a finals contender. Lukemikk’s or dbe’s might cause problems in a 7 game series.

Positives:

• 135 ppg
• TS%
• Only losing the TO margin by 1.4
• Magic on the outside and Gobert on the inside providing just enough D to slow opponents down slighty

Negatives

• Allowing more ppg than an 11-33 team, is that sustainable?

Undrafted

• Toppin is a very nice find
• Bogdan is underperforming a little
• Champagnie playing some solid D

Revised Prediction:
With the benefit of seeing the division I think K# will win this. Raggedclaws has to make a run soon but is 5 back and that may be enough cushion.
52 wins and 1^st round bye.

Raggedclaws: KD; Kessler; Jalen Duren; Ginobili; Kirilenko; Porzingis; Mark Williams

KD at 14 is a good pick, I’m sure you’ll play him at SG. I used to like KD a lot, my ratings had him as one of the highest value players in the sim especially at SG. I won my first ODL with his awesome low minute Golden State season. However I’ve taken him several times since in Savage and ODL and been disappointed. Probably it’s the team I put around him. He does everything well except I guess Oreb, but for a SG that’s not a big deal.

Walker Kessler has a great low minute season with great D and blocks, good boards and super high eFG with low usage. Very valuable player.

Jalen Duren his new season is really good an fits well with Kessler. Can’t wait to see what Duren is like in 4 or 5 IRL seasons.

Manu Ginobili Manu was one I never quite understood. Almost always taken by the “smart” owners. Kind of like Derrick Favors. Manu is good, he just isn’t quite great at anything. And if you play him at the point his assists are pretty low. But I looked closer and saw the great FT rate with high FT% good rebounds for a PG and high usage. Part of the reason I took him in Savage (although that’s mixed results so far). Next to KD I like him and you’ll have plenty of assists.

Andrei Kirilenko Kirilenko is maybe the best defender in the sim and on this team I think fits well. Plenty of efficient scoring already and Kirilenko can defend multiple positions. Nice passer too.

Kristaps Porzingis Porzingis is a great all around player and fits pretty well with the rebounding you already have. You can never have too many 3’s.

Mark Williams The new season is a great low minute addition. Combined with Duren that’s over 3K very good interior minutes

Draft Grade: A

Prediction: 1^st round bye competing for a championship

Midseason update:
Boy I don’t know. 19-22 was nowhere near what I expected. The offense is pretty good at 125ppg with good shooting numbers. 1.5 point differential is some bad luck, but I expected better. K# is in the division and probably driving the ppg allowed up in 4 match ups. The undrafted guys where all good too, so I’m not sure. Fouls are a little high I guess. Almost 13 blocks per game but still allowing over 50% from the field. I think this has to change and rc will have this team in the playoffs and once that happens, all bets are off.

Positives:

• Duren, Kessler and Williams doing what they need to do
• AK47’s 5.5 stocks with 1.8 fouls

Negatives

• Ginobili is under performing by a lot, not sure why
• Jaylin Williams, low minutes though
• Thought the overall D would be better

Undrafted

• Nice group of guys in Davis, Noel and Chriss

Revised Prediction:
Low to mid 40 wins, 5 or 6 seed and then makes deep playoff run.

Sorry there wasn't another eval tonight. Hopefully will have more tomorrow

Posted by jcred5 on 6/7/2025 11:01:00 AM (view original):
Writes ups for the Midwest. As requested by CommishMidge I will eval the team out of the draft without looking at the mid season outcome, then update. Note the preseason prediction will be without having looked at other teams or divisions because I’m too lazy.

Copernicus: Curry; Claxton; Ho Grant; Bill Russell; Bledsoe; K Love; Herro.

Curry is the right pick. I would consider the new SGA season. The very good shooting great perimeter D is tempting, but Curry at his best is one of the most valuable assets in a high cap league. I’ve struggled with higher cap leagues because I tend to lean defense and clean teams, but with a high cap I think the best offense wins a little more than the best defense, all other things being equal.

Claxton is fine in the 2^nd. Even with 2200 minutes he gives very good D, solid boards and the increasingly sought after super high eFG. With so much talent in the sim you can go low minutes and grab quality post draft.
Looks like you traded you swapped your 3^rd and 4^th for oddson’s 3^rd and 4^th to grab one of oddson’s 6^th, if I got that right. Easier to assess this trade now, but even in the moment dropping in the 3^rd to move up a little in the 4^th is a pretty good move. The talent starts to flatten a bit. Using hindsight you gave up the chance to get guys like Robert Williams, Tyson Chandler, Jarrett Allen, Derrick White, Jalen Duren and took Ho Grant and then with the earlier 4^th pick took Bill Russell. Evaluating the players you lost the trade, by which I mean you moved up to get Russell in the 4^th and missed out on those guys in the 3^rd. On paper the trade is fine, but I think the wrong players.

As for Horace Grant, he’s fine. Nothing wrong with him but he doesn’t really differentiate you accept in Oreb a little and TO’s, but with a modest usage. He’s not really worth the pick here and looks worse when you could have had Robert Williams, Jarrett Allen or Duren.

I love Bill Russell in real life and I’m liking him more in the sim lately. But I don’t love it here because I believe in this league you can’t win with a guy playing a prominent role shooting that bad. Savage and if you can make the money work in the ODL, he’s great. Also – what’s the (10-0) in the draft board posting?

Eric Bledsoe is meh. I don’t like him much and not a fit for this team. I get you want some perimeter defense to cover Curry, but Bledsoe is a PG and he doesn’t rebound great. And while he has 90D, his stock’s are modest. I would estimate you have almost 50 combined ast% with Curry, Grant, Claxton and Russell – a 3 and D rebounder would have been a better choice. Gerald Wallace was the next pick – he doesn’t cover the PG position I don’t think but I would probably live with that and leave Curry on an island with his solid 68D. Though Wallace doesn’t give the offense. Even a Robert Covington type would have been interesting.

Kevin Love is fine. He’s a 6^th rounder so you can’t be too critical, but with Curry and now Love you’re inviting more +2 D settings. Maybe consider more inside threats and defense. Love’s offense isn’t so good in this league that I think it offsets his defense.

Herro’s new season is pretty good. Pretty good guys to back up Curry.

Draft Grade: C+
Prediction: playoff bubble

Midseason update:
On pace for 41 wins currently in the ~ 7^th spot right behind the guy you traded with.
Positives:

• Curry is being Curry
• Bledsoe is performing a little better than I’d have expected
• Russell is mostly outperforming, even if still shooting 45%
• Winning at the free throw line and 3points may help in the 2^nd half
• Team name

Negatives

• Herro has been pretty inefficient, probably due to lack of assists when he’s on the floor
• Losing on the boards with Bill Russell
• Doug McDermott and Tom Gugliatta have played 196 minutes. I hope they were all scrub time!

Undrafted

• Oden and Boban is quite a combo
• You’re not really playing anyone else from undrafted.You drafted over 18,000 minutes.Kind of a lot, which suggests lower quality players on average
• Patty Mills wants to know what’s up?

Revised Prediction:

No revision

Thanks for doing so much work here! One thing I would add is that none of my guys are hitting their FG%s, and most of my division OPP is in the bottom half of OPP FG% season to date, so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a second half surge

Oddson: DeAndre Jordan; Artis Gilmore; John Stockton; Montrezl Harrell; Klay Thompson; JJJ; Ty Jerome

DeAndre Jordan Pretty Solid pick. Shaq is tempting here – I’ve flipped a little on my opinion of these guys. Shaq kills you at the FT line and that’s tough as your top or one of your top scorers. Not a great rebounder either and the importance of very high eFG make DJ a solid option. He also misses FT’s, just less often. Covers both positions and one of the best rebounders out there.

Artis Gilmore I guess he’s ok, though you’re going to miss a lot of FT. Boards are great and very good eFG. Interesting start

John Stockton I think I saw this was technically copernicus’ pick and you traded up for it. You certainly need assists and Stockton’s FG is very nice. You can afford the low rebounds at PG – definitely need to watch the TO’s.

Montrezl Harrell I think with this pick you won the trade. Not that Stockton and Harrell is such a great haul, but you got a guy you want and it didn’t really cost you anything. Looks like you’re leaning into eFG and Harrell’s great at that and doesn’t hurt you anywhere else.

Klay Thompson Much needed 3 pointers with Klay. You no longer have a rebounding advantage, so that’s the price you pay taking Stockton and Harrell. I’ve seen similar approaches where someone has a big advantage in a couple categories then gives it away chasing a deficit. I wonder if a rebounding SG who shoots some 3’s, not as many a klay, but enough would be better. The other perspective is that Klay can be a great player to have that scares people with the lack of assist and boards – and you solved that with other positions. And in the 5^th it’s pretty nice value.

Jaren Jackson Jr The 100 D season is pretty nice with the 3’s too. Fouls a lot, so you’ll be fighting towels most of the season.

Ty Jerome Another guys with a real good new season. 111 3’s in 1392 minutes is great, low TO’s and passable D for a bench guy.

Draft Grade: B

Prediction: 45-48 wins with 1^st or 2^nd round playoff exit

Midseason update:
Tracking better than predicted in a pretty good division. Gilmore and DJ have been great and have been managing fouls reasonably well. Winning creb with Stockton and Klay is saying something, helped by a few good undrafted rebounders. Real nice FG% differential, this team could make a deep run.

Positives:

• Gilmore and DJ crushing it down low
• Winning on the boards with Stockton and Klay
• Managing towls, even if losing them

Negatives

• Losing comfortably in FT’s and 3’s pointers not always a recipe for success\

Undrafted

• Aldrich, Lee and even Moses Brown were all important to hold on to rebounding advantage.
• More 3’s than Bouillabaisse and little Pippen offer may have helped.

Revised Prediction:
Mid to high 40 wins, maybe even compete for division title and a deep playoff run

Riftonapple: Shaq; Wemby; Dyson Daniels; Scott Barnes; CJ McCollum; Kevon Looney; Goga Bitadze

Shaq Good safe pick. Good, maybe not great scorer in terms of efficiency. Enough boards to keep you honest. Depending on the season will pass and solid stocks. Good all around player.

Wemby Feels too high. New season is pretty interesting, but low minutes. Not a bad pick and I guess if you want him he probably doesn’t last to the 3^rd round. Next to Shaq I like Kessler or Claxton, but that’s a lot of missed FT’s. Maybe a guard but all the best ones are gone. Wemby it is!

Dyson Daniels The new Daniels season is pretty sick defensively, but he’s pretty much a zero everywhere else. I also wonder if he could have gone later. Wemby and Daniels IRL would be scarry. I just think you can get a little more on the perimeter in the 3^rd.

Scottie Barnes he’s good on paper, the couple times I had him not so good in the SIM. I’m sure you’ll do better. Great perimeter stocks and he makes up for slightly light boards from Daniels. Wemby and Shaq can both pass so you’re fine with Ast. Pretty interesting build so far.

CJ McCollum Polar opposite of the last 3 guys. Klay was one pick away and I wonder if you were hoping he’d be there, that would be been a nice addition. You should have enough D to cover McCollum

Kevon Looney He’s fine, good oreb for a wing. Scores pretty effectively.

Bitadze Had to look up the new season, wasn’t aware it was draft worthy. My only memory of this guy was him knocking Celtics all over the place in the 1^st round of the playoffs and hardly picking up fouls. It is a nice 1400 minutes of a high eFG, good boards with good D.

Draft Grade: B

Prediction: Mid to high 40 wins, playoffs but probably not conference finals

Midseason update:
Better than I thought. The ppg margin is slight and with the poor FT shooting, I wonder if the record could slide. I under estimated CJ McCollum, he has a pretty solid D with some boards season – missed that. You seem to be juggling Wemby well. Actually thought the defense would be even better, not that it’s bad.

Positives:

• Shaq has been doing his thing
• Daniels has been great
• Goga
• Good overall team passing

Negatives

• Barnes is letting you down
• Wemby’s numbers for the 33^rd pick is just not enough. He doesn’t even look to be on track to come close to his blocks, strange

Undrafted

• Some nice undrafted guys Kyle Anderson has been pretty good
• Another Marquese Chriss citing
• Love that Jordan Bell season

Revised Prediction:
Probably the same, may depend on whether ragged’s team wakes up

uptowngbv's Tall Trees Town

Tyrese Haliburton 24-25- 6.7

Jalen Johnson 23-24- 4.6

Elton Brand 05-06- 9.6

Clint Capela 20-21- 11.7

Evan Mobley 24-25- 7.9

Robert Parish 80-81- 6.8

Thad Young 20-21- 4.8

Bradley Beal 22-23- 1.3

Bismack Biyombo 14-15- 2.7

Jordan Bell 17-18- 2.6

Melvin Ely 06-07- -0.6

Kelenna Azubuike 09-10- 0.5

Total York Score- 56.6

I like a lot about this team. I love Elton Brand I used to use him all the time and he was a key player in my first (and only?) 52 ship. Haliburton is awesome and I wish he had more minutes. He is like a more efficient but less defensive Chris Paul. It is a shame that you didn’t get DPOY Mobley but thems the breaks. In all the typical key advanced stats you are doing decent. Good Rebounding, pretty decent eFG%. Plenty of Assists. And your defense isn’t elite but it isn’t a negative either. However, your team by this point hasn’t quite broke .500. Something I see is that your bench might be dragging your starters back a bit. Especially Biyombo and Parish. Biyombo with that 1.8 ast% and Parish with all those PFs. See I think when your starters are not on the floor you assist% dips below 60 which isn’t that bad. Usually the negative you see from running a team under 60 assist% (but over 50) is balanced out if you run up tempo BUT this league is super competitive and that small difference can have big ramifications if coupled with another issue which is your fouling. Your PFS are higher than I would like and Parish plays a big part in that. IF I run a team that fouls that much I try to have them be good FT% shooters because if the opponent is shooting more FTs than you then you wanna beat their quantity with quality and unfortunately your team is not good at FTs either. With what you have now you only have a negative point differential due to FTs. If you factor out FTs your scoring differential goes from -1.5 to +0.4. I think you might be a little better than .426 season so far but I do not think you settle out much higher than .500. We will see.

Steelers821’s Mediocre 52 team 13.0

Terry Porter 90-91- 4.5

Victor Oladipo 17-18- 4.4

Charles Barkley 87-88- 10.3

Kevin Garnett 07-08- 9.4

Mitchell Robinson 21-22- 7.1

Zach Lavine 24-25- 2.1

Clifford Ray 71-72- 6

Derrick Favors 18-19- 7

JJ Hickson 15-16- 0.5

William Avery 01-02- -0.8

Alize Johnson 20-21- 1.2

Dario Saric 24-25- -0.1

York Score- 51.6

First thoughts when looking at your team is thus: Barkley paired with Garnett is *chef’s kiss. Those two compliment each other very well. Barkley’s weakness is defense, turnovers, and DReb% (when he plays PF) and Garnett’s best attributes are all those weaknesses. I also love Lavine coming off the bench. If I have a player like Lavine who is a defensive liability but scores that well I like to have him coming off the bench so he isn’t defending the best players and the best defenders arent typically defending him. I love Mitchell Robinson individually but I do not like him for this team. With Terry Porter out there it leaves a massive gap in DReb% and Mitchell Robinson did not make up for this weakness. Your starters Cumulative DReb% is 84.9 which is not high enough for a cap this high. I think you drafted Clifford Ray I think in an attempt to mitigate this but Clifford Ray is a trap. He seduces you with his crazy rebounding but he is HORRIBLE when it comes to TOWELS. I think Clifford Ray is this teams kryptonite. I think he might be hurting more than he is helping, however, he also is probably the reason you have a positive rebounding differential so what do I know. I am also concerned about your assist numbers. I do not know your exact line up but you possibly could have dangerously low assist numbers if you do not have the right line up set up but it looks like you might because you still have over 30 Assist per game. I think your team is performing right were it ought to right now, sorry to say. But again I am by no means an expert in this. Barkley I feel like has been thriving in the 52 lately so who knows.

The Outlaw From Dallas - 24kpyrite

Preseason Review:

"CP3, Holmgren, Bam A., D.Marshall, L.Sanders, A.Wiggins, Covington-----very solid draft. Interesting to have both Holmgren and Bam A. D.Marshall is clean and provides 3's and D and decent rebounding. Love L. Sanders here. I think you coulda done better with your 6th and 7th rounders.
Draft Grade: A- Prediction: Playoff contender"

Midseason Review:

I was definitely lower on this draft than rifton. There is an emphasis on defensively-oriented "clean" players with low towels. Every team should draft some of these, but they are best used to complement players who provide surplus value in scoring efficiency, rebounding, or both. I would be hesitant to consider Chet until the 3rd round honestly, his rebounding is so bad compared to other early-round bigs. Going for a couple riskier, higher upside picks would've made a big difference to this unit. Sanders and Covington are great role players, but not what this roster needed.

The Outlaw(-ers?) are struggling hard (-8.1 point differential), and in pretty much the ways you would expect. Losing the eFG battle 49.1% to 53.3% is difficult to overcome, and impossible when you're grabbing 8.3 less rebounds per game than your opponents. Doing well on turnovers with a -1.8 differential, but still at a big possession deficit because of rebounding. Not sure why the fouls are a weakness, maybe a lack of players with high free throw attempts? I commend 24k's creativity for building around Mark Aguirre. It's a fun idea, but very hard to execute in a competitive high cap league. I'm guessing he was planning that from the beginning of the draft and purposely avoided drafting much usage. I hope I can see one of these teams with oddball high-usage players succeed at some point. I'm perplexed by his choice to use 24-25 Adebayo over 23-24, who has only 70 Def compared to 90. I think he and Aguirre are the reason the Outlaw defense is worse than expected. Rifton was way off here, this team is likely out of the playoff race even with a late surge.

PBand J’s Amen, Joker

Deron Williams 07-08- 4.7

Amen Thompson 24-25- 6.8

Gerald Wallace 05-06- 5.2

Robert Williams 21-22- 8.2

Nikola Jokic 23-24- 14.1

Paul Millsap 15-16- 6.2

Myles Turner 22-23- 4.2

Andre Iguodala 18-19- 3.6

David West 16-17- 1.7

Drew Eubanks 21-22- 1.6

Tobi Kukoc 00-01- 0.9

Drew Gooden 02-03- 0.6

York Score- 57.8

You landed the best offensive player in the SIM (and my favorite season of his) which is always a plus but I have always looked at him as someone very difficult to build a team around because in theory you need another point center who has usage to back him up and those are hard to come by, it looks like you making due with Myles Turner and David West who are each part separately which I don’t think is quite as effective. I loved your first 3 picks. Joker, Amen, and RWIII all work great together and Amen and RWIII go great with Jokic. You lost me with Deron Williams though. He is a pure passer but you had your passing covered by Jokic. His rebounding is poor and could have gone for another great rebounding guard there. Shoot Magic was available and he is a decent or great rebounder at the guard spot depending which season you pick. Gerald Wallace would have been great to back up that hypothetical rebounding guard too. I like the individual pieces of this team and it has potential as your york score is closer to 60 (the golden number I shoot for when I make a team) than the other teams I have evaled up to this point. I also don’t love using Myles Turner on this team or on any team that doesn’t have elite guard rebounding. Without giving specific recommendations I would play with your line up to take advantage of some rebounding mismatches that could improve your rebounding numbers. I think this team COULD break .500 if played right but fixing your rebounding issues at guard could make your rebounding issues at big man worse so it could be damned if you do damned if you don’t.

Midge's Cheese and Onions

Alex Caruso 23-24- 3.5

Kyrie Irving 20-21- 3.7

Larry Nance Jr 23-24- 3.2

Ivica Zubac 24-25- 12.3

David Robinson 90-91- 11.9

Otto Porter Jr. 17-18- 5.4

Jamal Murray 23-24- 3.2

John Collins 19-20- 5.8

Jordan Bell 17-18- 2.6

Jaylin Williams 24-25- 3

Josh Hart 22-23- 2.1

Greg Oden 09-10- 1.7

York Score- 58.4

David Robinson is a great player to build around but I have personally always struggled. You appear to not share that struggle. Also, about Zubac. It is a darn shame you couldn’t use 2nd team defense Zubac. His updated 24-25 season has the 8th highest Dork score out of any other player's highest Dork score season ( Bill Russell is number 3 so they aren’t perfect.) I still love him here on your team. I also love the build of your team overall and love how you filled out your bench. You are using some of my favorite low minute players. Especially Jaylin Williams, love that guy. I had questions on why you went with 20-21 Irving but I think it might be so you could have Jamal Murray back him up which isn’t a wrong choice. The SIM also seems to love your cheese and onions as well and you are over .500 and I think you were dominating the league for a hot minute there until a prolonged cold stretch. I did notice somethings about your team I would also like to comment on constructively. As much I love the efficiency of your bench they lost some oomph when it comes to rebounding. I love your whole bench but they don’t have an elite rebounder that plays enough minutes to cover the admiral or Zubac when they aren’t playing. I think that is a major factor to your negative rebound differential. Also I can’t figure out what is happening at the SF spot. Why start Larry Nance Jr? Is it because he allows your starters to have over 60 assist% or because he is a better rebounder than other options at both? I am just curious. Who plays all the other minutes? Overall this is a well built team and I think it will continue its success and make the playoffs. It is going to be hard to beat a team with no players under 55 eFG% and half of the team has over 60 eFG%.