Post by TimPig on Nov 2, 2018 19:23:18 GMT
JHB: Let’s dive right in. Biggest surprises of this sim season in your opinion.
TP: I’ll give you three teams: the Knicks, the Grizzlies, and the Rockets.
I never thought I’d see the day where there was a Knicks firesale. I guess it remains to be seen if it actually happens, but it seems like eric is actively sending out PMs and trying to move these guys. Asking prices are clearly high, so I’m not sure if anyone will be willing to send multiple all-star youngsters in exchange for a 30+ veteran. Eric never tanks and doesn’t want picks, so it’s going to be really interesting to see how he pursues this rebuild.
For the Grizzlies, I think it’s just Odin setting them a DC that’s not awful. You and I have had many negotiations involving Grizzlies draft picks because I think we were both expecting them to toil under management of daBK. I guess now it’s kind of being co-managed by Odin and MJ - not really sure what’s going on - but a 17-7 start to the season is impressive.
The Rockets seem like they should be better than 8-12. They don’t really have a GM, but last year they won 51 games. Jesus Shuttlesworth is the only guy who left but he shouldn’t make that big of a difference. Perhaps Brain Winter can no longer carry a team solo? It’s good to see. I hope Jamison hates his life there and suffers on a terrible team for the rest of his career.
Give me some of your surprises that aren’t mine.
A Knicks firesale? This is new (Giphy search: "Firsto")
JHB: I’ll believe the Knicks have a firesale around *insert thing that rarely happens here*.
As for me, I’ll go with the Heat (specifically Ray McCallum), Jazz, and Supersonics.
The Heat and Ray McCallum continue to underwhelm me. I thought Ray McCallum was going to be the real deal before the draft and tried desperately to trade into the draft to get him. Unfortunately, he appears to be regressing this year (and really every year a bit). With as weak as the East is, I would expect him, Johnson, and Zion to be able to drag that team into the 5-7 seed range...especially after getting some big depth in his trade for Bones to the Knicks. Hopefully Yawn forgets to log on after FA and we can see McCallum spread his wings elsewhere.
I thought the Jazz would be a lot better. Despite losing Maten (who I always felt was an odd fit in Utah but maybe that was just Ank’s DC tinkering), I felt they still had a chance to be very competitive in the West. A lot of this probably has to do with the GMing. I have no clue what the fuck Ank is doing here. Petrovic getting starters minutes while Herb Jones plays less. Duval absolutely killing it on the bench while Newman shoots them into the ground. The big rotation is kind of a mess. The lack of a strong depth of quality options is finally exposing Ank’s poor GMing if you ask me. *shots fired pew pew pew*
Finally, the Supersonics. Thought this team would be a lot better. I was disappointed they broke up the swat team of Swift and Noel, but with Neon on board I could understand. The problem is they took a half measure and got a point guard that isn’t great. Still with Price in tow I thought they should at least be solidly in the top half of the west with their defense. At this point though things still appear to be a bit of a mess. Hopefully Duc can find a really upgrade at PG because I know those feels of struggling to fix your DC there.
Give us your Better Than Eric’s Rookie Ladder for the first quarter of the season.
TP: The Jazz don’t surprise me. They lost Clarence Withers two years ago, who is a scoring/defense/rebounding machine from the wing. They could afford to do that because they had Mustapha Heron, but then they lost Heron after some controversial Celtics bids that Ank sent, and lost Maten, who is probably a top 10 player in the league at the very worst. Maten fits any scheme and excels at multiple positions. Now he has Bossert and...Malik Newman? Athansios Cathasach? I agree Duval should start, but this team is done.
Oh, and on the Heat really quickly - I just want to point out that Yawn upgraded McCallum’s passing when McCallum was built as a PG and didn’t appear to have any issues with keeping his handling grade above B-. I think that was the beginning of his downfall.
As for rookies, I agree with eric that it looks like a pretty poopy class. I know you just want to be buttered up here for drafting the two guys at 1.1 and 1.2 that everyone would’ve taken. So, congrats JHB. LJ is the clear number one, and Rick Fox is the clear number two, though I think that has more to do with the rest of the class being awful than Fox being a star in the making.
After those two, it gets really, really ugly. Ackles, maybe? I’m not sure I see anyone outside of the top two I’d go out of my way to get. I love Augmon’s defense, but he isn’t even a D/R wing with how bad the R is.
Honestly, I think this is more than anyone wants to talk about what looks to be a horrifying rookie class (though Odin did say he thinks it’ll be better than last year’s).
This year's class of rookies (Giphy search: "Rookie Ladder")
We had a bit of a crisis early this week and it looked like the league was about to die. What do you think about all of that conversation lately? Less active GMs, people having to manage second teams, GMs leaving, lack of recruitment.
Can anything be done or is sim league just dying a slow, painful death?
JHB: First, you also forgot about LaBradford. He’s gonna be a stud, just watch.
When it comes to the survival of the league...We just need to recruit. And in other places than on TMB. Problem is people don’t usually stick when they come from outside the TMB realm. Really just BK (against most people’s consent) for awhile and Mike have stuck without being a referral from someone or coming from TMB. So we need to find more guys like MIke.
I’m just glad the league didn’t meet its end the other night. It was really special to see everyone band together and agree that the league needed to continue so that we could see LJ develop into a special player for the Hawks.
Is Fecta ever going to find a PG he’s happy with and gets his team over the hump?
It's been tough for Fecta to get over the hump (Giphy search: "Over the hump")
TP: I agree that it was cool to see people come out in support of the league - especially some of the guys who I thought really didn’t care anymore, like Ward, HT, and MJ.
Really quickly, before we get off this topic, Odin mentioned he spoke with “a few” GMs who said the league should die. Who do you think those GMs were? I’d guess one is Fason - he hasn’t said much lately and based on how outspoken he was about killing 4.0, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has the same feelings now during 5.0. Agree/disagree? Who else?
I think Fecta’s current PG-by-committee route with Jalen Brunson and Sarunas Jasikevicius is good enough to get him over the hump because some of his other players are so good. We said Seventh Woods was bad when the signing happened, and it turned out to be true (*pats self and JHB on back*) with the exception of his one outlier year. Crazy to think what Shareef’s injury that year may have done to a potential dynasty.
It seemed like everyone on the Hornets played out of their mind that year, but they’ve since come back down to earth. Shareef has been pretty average since that injury - guess that cracked skull (I think?) really messed him up. If PG is his biggest hole, I think PF is second. Giannis is struggling this year but should be fine, I think?
I may have more actively pursued someone like Guyton, who Odin made clear was available when Fecta posted his trade block.
What’s next for the Hawks? Clearly Jay Williams is top of mind right now - what happens if you get him? What happens if you don’t?
No explanation needed (Giphy search: "Kill the league")
JHB: I don’t want to speculate on who was trying to kill the league because we all know it was probably like Druce, Heebs, and Fason.
As far as what’s next for the Hawks: youtu.be/Pp3mJmaaFiM
What about the Bulls? What’s next in Chicago?
TP: That was an expectedly boring response.
I should have anywhere between one and three lottery picks this year, and I really like this class. Kareem is obviously the cream of the crop, but there are a few other guys I think I’d be really happy to end up with as well.
I should have some cap room as well, so I’m basically just trying to get back to my actual team-building philosophy, which I strayed from when I made the Ayton trade and felt as though I needed to do everything I could to win with him. In before Ian makes some lame comment about me abandoning my strategy.
Speaking of Ian, as a more active GM, I feel like we should talk some T-Wolves. No future picks and the evolution of a so-far-disappointing Clyde Drexler aren’t going to take this team from 14-13 to championship caliber. To Ian’s credit, I thought he started his rebuild really well - getting tons of picks and Canaan for Sexton, drafting Amare, then totally playing HT and getting Sexton back. But since then, it hasn’t panned out nearly as well as I thought it would.
What do you think? Do the T-Wolves have a hope with this core?
JHB: There is a turd in the punchbowl in Minnesota and its name is Ian Boyd. Has that guy ever won a championship? Ha ha. Ian Boyd burn.
This came up when I searched Ian Boyd Burn and it had to be shared (Giphy search: "Ian Boyd burn")
I think it’s pretty clear that there is no hope for this core unless something weird happens in a TC and Amare, Canaan, and Drexler all get noticeably better. Also, I don’t know what the fuck Ian was thinking when he traded two firsts in ‘12 and ‘13 for washed Bamba but shit, I’m not mad about it.
In short, no he won’t be able to get out of his own way so no, there probably isn’t much hope.
Let’s do some random rankings. Who are your top 5 players on rookie contracts?
TP: Dajuan Wagner, Cody Zeller, Rich King, Greg Anthony, and Yao Ming is a distant fifth.
But really, Yao has to be number one, Jay Williams is probably number two, then Victor Oladipo, Caron Butler, and Larry Johnson is a step below all of those guys, which makes sense because the first four are from Druce classes.
Let’s start wrapping this up before people get bored.
JHB: My top 5 are Larry Johnson, Rick Fox, LaBradford Smith, who cares, and who cares. Thanks for asking. Subject to change pending a Jay Williams trade.
Quick hitter round:
Knicks firesale: how many of Firsto, Griner, Jock, and King get moved by the end of the season?
TP: I’m going to go ahead and say none. I’m not sure eric’s asking prices are “too high”, but I don’t think anyone can/will meet them.
JHB: None. Eric is bluffing or won’t be able to swing a trade based on the feedback I’ve seen from some of his trade offers in shout.
Which team finally blows it up (or should seriously consider it) this offseason?
TP: The Knicks. Three of the four guys mentioned above are expiring and eric only has about $25 million in committed salary next year. He’s savvy enough with free agency to shake up his team quite a bit.
JHB: The Jazz. Bossert isn’t getting any younger and everyone else is a role player.
How long until BK comes back?
TP: I legitimately think he is gone for a while, if not forever. He’s actually stepped away from the board for the most part (from what I can tell), which is for the best. He won’t come back until he gets his own shit together.
JHB: Hopefully never. I was often on the BK train before just to have another active GM, but he fucking sucks. He’s not a good GM and he treats posting on a board where we’re all shooting the shit like some absurdist performance art. Get it together, dude. But away from TMBSL.
Gone, but never forgotten (Google search: "Billy King")
Who wins the TMBSL title this year?
TP: This will be a fun year to watch shake out since I don’t think there’s a clear favorite, just like last year. I could see Phoenix repeating, and as much as it pains me to say it, I think the Hornets are the favorites out East.
JHB: My money is on the Globetrotters from the East and the Suns from the West with Phoenix ultimately winning it all. I thought the Globes were starting to fade last year, but Delle Donne is having a bit of a bounceback year and they just seem really well-rounded and deep with Jackie Moon off the bench. I don’t see any glaring holes or deficiencies and I think that usually plays well in the Sim Playoffs. The Suns are probably the most stacked team though in terms of high end talent so I think that ultimately wins out. But those are my two favorites through 40 days of sim.
Worst and Best GM to negotiate with?
TP: For a while it was a run and gun battle between Heebs and BK, but we’re all out of BK so Heebs takes the cake. I can’t remember the last time this guy made a trade that wasn’t totally one-side in his favor, and I think people finally caught on, hence him not making a trade in however many seasons (I think eric said four yesterday?). People have gotten past the shtick of letting him convince them that his trash assets are worth anything. Majic also gives a surprisingly hard time, but nowhere near Heebs.
As far as the best, most are usually pretty reasonable. I’ve dealt a lot with eric and Skrouse in 5.0 it feels like, so I’ll put them near the top. Fason, Duc, and Mike are also very pleasant to trade with.
JHB: BK was always the worst to deal with because he asked too much and was just totally obstinate and I think half of his alleged trade blocks could be registered as “him doing performance art”.
I enjoy trading with most people in the league. Ank is usually reasonable to work with, TimPig too. RW is good to deal with (other than his schedule), he knows what he wants and he won’t just shut it down after one offer, he usually will entertain counters. Fason is a good guy to try to deal with.
I enjoy sending offers to Yawn occasionally for the posts about me trying to rape him in shout 36-72 hours later.
TP: I’ll give you three teams: the Knicks, the Grizzlies, and the Rockets.
I never thought I’d see the day where there was a Knicks firesale. I guess it remains to be seen if it actually happens, but it seems like eric is actively sending out PMs and trying to move these guys. Asking prices are clearly high, so I’m not sure if anyone will be willing to send multiple all-star youngsters in exchange for a 30+ veteran. Eric never tanks and doesn’t want picks, so it’s going to be really interesting to see how he pursues this rebuild.
For the Grizzlies, I think it’s just Odin setting them a DC that’s not awful. You and I have had many negotiations involving Grizzlies draft picks because I think we were both expecting them to toil under management of daBK. I guess now it’s kind of being co-managed by Odin and MJ - not really sure what’s going on - but a 17-7 start to the season is impressive.
The Rockets seem like they should be better than 8-12. They don’t really have a GM, but last year they won 51 games. Jesus Shuttlesworth is the only guy who left but he shouldn’t make that big of a difference. Perhaps Brain Winter can no longer carry a team solo? It’s good to see. I hope Jamison hates his life there and suffers on a terrible team for the rest of his career.
Give me some of your surprises that aren’t mine.
A Knicks firesale? This is new (Giphy search: "Firsto")
JHB: I’ll believe the Knicks have a firesale around *insert thing that rarely happens here*.
As for me, I’ll go with the Heat (specifically Ray McCallum), Jazz, and Supersonics.
The Heat and Ray McCallum continue to underwhelm me. I thought Ray McCallum was going to be the real deal before the draft and tried desperately to trade into the draft to get him. Unfortunately, he appears to be regressing this year (and really every year a bit). With as weak as the East is, I would expect him, Johnson, and Zion to be able to drag that team into the 5-7 seed range...especially after getting some big depth in his trade for Bones to the Knicks. Hopefully Yawn forgets to log on after FA and we can see McCallum spread his wings elsewhere.
I thought the Jazz would be a lot better. Despite losing Maten (who I always felt was an odd fit in Utah but maybe that was just Ank’s DC tinkering), I felt they still had a chance to be very competitive in the West. A lot of this probably has to do with the GMing. I have no clue what the fuck Ank is doing here. Petrovic getting starters minutes while Herb Jones plays less. Duval absolutely killing it on the bench while Newman shoots them into the ground. The big rotation is kind of a mess. The lack of a strong depth of quality options is finally exposing Ank’s poor GMing if you ask me. *shots fired pew pew pew*
Finally, the Supersonics. Thought this team would be a lot better. I was disappointed they broke up the swat team of Swift and Noel, but with Neon on board I could understand. The problem is they took a half measure and got a point guard that isn’t great. Still with Price in tow I thought they should at least be solidly in the top half of the west with their defense. At this point though things still appear to be a bit of a mess. Hopefully Duc can find a really upgrade at PG because I know those feels of struggling to fix your DC there.
Give us your Better Than Eric’s Rookie Ladder for the first quarter of the season.
TP: The Jazz don’t surprise me. They lost Clarence Withers two years ago, who is a scoring/defense/rebounding machine from the wing. They could afford to do that because they had Mustapha Heron, but then they lost Heron after some controversial Celtics bids that Ank sent, and lost Maten, who is probably a top 10 player in the league at the very worst. Maten fits any scheme and excels at multiple positions. Now he has Bossert and...Malik Newman? Athansios Cathasach? I agree Duval should start, but this team is done.
Oh, and on the Heat really quickly - I just want to point out that Yawn upgraded McCallum’s passing when McCallum was built as a PG and didn’t appear to have any issues with keeping his handling grade above B-. I think that was the beginning of his downfall.
As for rookies, I agree with eric that it looks like a pretty poopy class. I know you just want to be buttered up here for drafting the two guys at 1.1 and 1.2 that everyone would’ve taken. So, congrats JHB. LJ is the clear number one, and Rick Fox is the clear number two, though I think that has more to do with the rest of the class being awful than Fox being a star in the making.
After those two, it gets really, really ugly. Ackles, maybe? I’m not sure I see anyone outside of the top two I’d go out of my way to get. I love Augmon’s defense, but he isn’t even a D/R wing with how bad the R is.
Honestly, I think this is more than anyone wants to talk about what looks to be a horrifying rookie class (though Odin did say he thinks it’ll be better than last year’s).
This year's class of rookies (Giphy search: "Rookie Ladder")
We had a bit of a crisis early this week and it looked like the league was about to die. What do you think about all of that conversation lately? Less active GMs, people having to manage second teams, GMs leaving, lack of recruitment.
Can anything be done or is sim league just dying a slow, painful death?
JHB: First, you also forgot about LaBradford. He’s gonna be a stud, just watch.
When it comes to the survival of the league...We just need to recruit. And in other places than on TMB. Problem is people don’t usually stick when they come from outside the TMB realm. Really just BK (against most people’s consent) for awhile and Mike have stuck without being a referral from someone or coming from TMB. So we need to find more guys like MIke.
I’m just glad the league didn’t meet its end the other night. It was really special to see everyone band together and agree that the league needed to continue so that we could see LJ develop into a special player for the Hawks.
Is Fecta ever going to find a PG he’s happy with and gets his team over the hump?
It's been tough for Fecta to get over the hump (Giphy search: "Over the hump")
TP: I agree that it was cool to see people come out in support of the league - especially some of the guys who I thought really didn’t care anymore, like Ward, HT, and MJ.
Really quickly, before we get off this topic, Odin mentioned he spoke with “a few” GMs who said the league should die. Who do you think those GMs were? I’d guess one is Fason - he hasn’t said much lately and based on how outspoken he was about killing 4.0, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has the same feelings now during 5.0. Agree/disagree? Who else?
I think Fecta’s current PG-by-committee route with Jalen Brunson and Sarunas Jasikevicius is good enough to get him over the hump because some of his other players are so good. We said Seventh Woods was bad when the signing happened, and it turned out to be true (*pats self and JHB on back*) with the exception of his one outlier year. Crazy to think what Shareef’s injury that year may have done to a potential dynasty.
It seemed like everyone on the Hornets played out of their mind that year, but they’ve since come back down to earth. Shareef has been pretty average since that injury - guess that cracked skull (I think?) really messed him up. If PG is his biggest hole, I think PF is second. Giannis is struggling this year but should be fine, I think?
I may have more actively pursued someone like Guyton, who Odin made clear was available when Fecta posted his trade block.
What’s next for the Hawks? Clearly Jay Williams is top of mind right now - what happens if you get him? What happens if you don’t?
No explanation needed (Giphy search: "Kill the league")
JHB: I don’t want to speculate on who was trying to kill the league because we all know it was probably like Druce, Heebs, and Fason.
As far as what’s next for the Hawks: youtu.be/Pp3mJmaaFiM
What about the Bulls? What’s next in Chicago?
TP: That was an expectedly boring response.
I should have anywhere between one and three lottery picks this year, and I really like this class. Kareem is obviously the cream of the crop, but there are a few other guys I think I’d be really happy to end up with as well.
I should have some cap room as well, so I’m basically just trying to get back to my actual team-building philosophy, which I strayed from when I made the Ayton trade and felt as though I needed to do everything I could to win with him. In before Ian makes some lame comment about me abandoning my strategy.
Speaking of Ian, as a more active GM, I feel like we should talk some T-Wolves. No future picks and the evolution of a so-far-disappointing Clyde Drexler aren’t going to take this team from 14-13 to championship caliber. To Ian’s credit, I thought he started his rebuild really well - getting tons of picks and Canaan for Sexton, drafting Amare, then totally playing HT and getting Sexton back. But since then, it hasn’t panned out nearly as well as I thought it would.
What do you think? Do the T-Wolves have a hope with this core?
JHB: There is a turd in the punchbowl in Minnesota and its name is Ian Boyd. Has that guy ever won a championship? Ha ha. Ian Boyd burn.
This came up when I searched Ian Boyd Burn and it had to be shared (Giphy search: "Ian Boyd burn")
I think it’s pretty clear that there is no hope for this core unless something weird happens in a TC and Amare, Canaan, and Drexler all get noticeably better. Also, I don’t know what the fuck Ian was thinking when he traded two firsts in ‘12 and ‘13 for washed Bamba but shit, I’m not mad about it.
In short, no he won’t be able to get out of his own way so no, there probably isn’t much hope.
Let’s do some random rankings. Who are your top 5 players on rookie contracts?
TP: Dajuan Wagner, Cody Zeller, Rich King, Greg Anthony, and Yao Ming is a distant fifth.
But really, Yao has to be number one, Jay Williams is probably number two, then Victor Oladipo, Caron Butler, and Larry Johnson is a step below all of those guys, which makes sense because the first four are from Druce classes.
Let’s start wrapping this up before people get bored.
JHB: My top 5 are Larry Johnson, Rick Fox, LaBradford Smith, who cares, and who cares. Thanks for asking. Subject to change pending a Jay Williams trade.
Quick hitter round:
Knicks firesale: how many of Firsto, Griner, Jock, and King get moved by the end of the season?
TP: I’m going to go ahead and say none. I’m not sure eric’s asking prices are “too high”, but I don’t think anyone can/will meet them.
JHB: None. Eric is bluffing or won’t be able to swing a trade based on the feedback I’ve seen from some of his trade offers in shout.
Which team finally blows it up (or should seriously consider it) this offseason?
TP: The Knicks. Three of the four guys mentioned above are expiring and eric only has about $25 million in committed salary next year. He’s savvy enough with free agency to shake up his team quite a bit.
JHB: The Jazz. Bossert isn’t getting any younger and everyone else is a role player.
How long until BK comes back?
TP: I legitimately think he is gone for a while, if not forever. He’s actually stepped away from the board for the most part (from what I can tell), which is for the best. He won’t come back until he gets his own shit together.
JHB: Hopefully never. I was often on the BK train before just to have another active GM, but he fucking sucks. He’s not a good GM and he treats posting on a board where we’re all shooting the shit like some absurdist performance art. Get it together, dude. But away from TMBSL.
Gone, but never forgotten (Google search: "Billy King")
Who wins the TMBSL title this year?
TP: This will be a fun year to watch shake out since I don’t think there’s a clear favorite, just like last year. I could see Phoenix repeating, and as much as it pains me to say it, I think the Hornets are the favorites out East.
JHB: My money is on the Globetrotters from the East and the Suns from the West with Phoenix ultimately winning it all. I thought the Globes were starting to fade last year, but Delle Donne is having a bit of a bounceback year and they just seem really well-rounded and deep with Jackie Moon off the bench. I don’t see any glaring holes or deficiencies and I think that usually plays well in the Sim Playoffs. The Suns are probably the most stacked team though in terms of high end talent so I think that ultimately wins out. But those are my two favorites through 40 days of sim.
Worst and Best GM to negotiate with?
TP: For a while it was a run and gun battle between Heebs and BK, but we’re all out of BK so Heebs takes the cake. I can’t remember the last time this guy made a trade that wasn’t totally one-side in his favor, and I think people finally caught on, hence him not making a trade in however many seasons (I think eric said four yesterday?). People have gotten past the shtick of letting him convince them that his trash assets are worth anything. Majic also gives a surprisingly hard time, but nowhere near Heebs.
As far as the best, most are usually pretty reasonable. I’ve dealt a lot with eric and Skrouse in 5.0 it feels like, so I’ll put them near the top. Fason, Duc, and Mike are also very pleasant to trade with.
JHB: BK was always the worst to deal with because he asked too much and was just totally obstinate and I think half of his alleged trade blocks could be registered as “him doing performance art”.
I enjoy trading with most people in the league. Ank is usually reasonable to work with, TimPig too. RW is good to deal with (other than his schedule), he knows what he wants and he won’t just shut it down after one offer, he usually will entertain counters. Fason is a good guy to try to deal with.
I enjoy sending offers to Yawn occasionally for the posts about me trying to rape him in shout 36-72 hours later.
