Post by Majic on Apr 11, 2018 14:50:52 GMT
Lets go with a great opening question that we always have: Talk about the league and your team a bit. What has most surprised you? Who stands out, busts? What are your thoughts on your team?
Druce - The Knicks beating the Rockets surprised me the most. I thought myself or the Clippers would have the best shot to knock them off. Nope! Chuck Testa! I'm enjoying having a big man centric offense for the first time in my sim career, I think I made a mistake not starting Obama the whole season. I'm a bit concerned about Blevins, but hopefully he has a nice TC. I hope Len Bias is better than he was in 4.0. As far as busts go, it might be a little too early for that, we shall see. I'm interested to see how FA goes thats for sure.
Delap - I think 5.0 is off to a promising start. Odin did a great job with the builds to really make big men matter in the offense. Just to prove that you can't always peg him as a certain type of GM (other than being a hopeless romantic for his former players), eric went and won the league with scoring bigs instead of D/R bigs. What a world. My team is.... something? Not good enough to consistently win games because my frontcourt is garbage. But, I'm utterly in love with Cam Reddish. I'm 90% sure that he's the best player I've ever had on my team. I'm sure he'll hit some bad TC luck and I'll cry. But that is what tissues are for.
Eric- The Bronx Bombers.
The Greatest Game Ever Played.
The Original Shot Clock Champion Syracuse Nationals.
Every great league (hence the WHA/NHL not being mentioned above) has a great origin story taking place in greater New York City. It's only fitting that SLF (Sim League Five) (the fifth iteration of our basketball sim league) follows the pattern with a Cinderella story for the ages.
My team is the best in the league, and that's why we're wearing the belt. Sure we don't have the best "stats" or "players" or "respect for the separation of church and state", but once you correct for playing in the Big Beastern Conference it all adds up. Let's see those hot shot fancy Dan prima noctis Houston Rockers and Rollers run 50 grueling marathons against a leopard with the feet of a bear and a mouth like a lion having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns one crown, the Sim League Championship of the World.
My man Firsto Picko is large and in charge. My perimeter players leave a lot more to be desired. Really disappointed in how HOFzman and the HOUFnd have turned out so far, but Sandor's a young 33 so he's got time to turn it around. Broderick Langhi is a super elite defender who can't shoot his weight from the three point line. Jesse Epstein's handles are sub-sub-sublime. Even a squad as dominant as we are will be lucky to make the playoffs next year in the Beastlantic Division. Hey, flags fly forever in the baleful glare of our Lord Baal.
Timpig- I knew bigs were going to be more valuable but did not expect such a massive transition so quickly. I’m excited to see which different methods of team-building can lead to success. As for busts, I know this is a hot take, but I don’t personally believe R.J. Barrett is going to be an elite player who warranted the second overall pick in the Creation Draft. He’s got some potential, but I just don’t think he can take that big of a leap. Don’t @me, Fecta.
As for my team, I like it currently. What I really wanted out of the creation draft was one elite player I could invest in and build around and some other pieces who could be good trade bait/role players. I think I accomplished everything I wanted to, now I’m just banking on some guys having a good TC or two and then adding pieces around them. Can’t w8.
JHB - Biggest Surprise: Just how good Harry Gallatin was
Honorable Mention: I had a feeling Jake Shuttlesworth would be very good but I also thought Jesus would be that good too
Stand Out: Elvis Delle Donne was everything I hoped for
Busts: I really should have waited to see if Terrence Catchings was worth a shit before dumping all those dump bucks into the inside scoring that didn't help at all
Thoughts on my team: BIG MONEY BIG MONEY BIG MONEY NO WHAMMIES in FA
Majic- think the league as a whole is in a really good spot right now. The main thing I am enjoying the balance of all the positions and that ability to build a team in different ways. I honestly expected there to be a big nerfing that happened with some of the attributes, so its nice to see that taking shape. I thought introducing the amnesty mid season was a great move overall for the league. Gets some of the bad players/contracts off the books so teams can correct mistakes and hopefully get competitive. Overall I think the post-season went pretty much as expected. I honestly thought the Grizz would make a run with the 2 dominant big men, I was also surprised at the run by the wizards in the playoffs. I am happy for eric to have won, Firsto was a hell of a pick for him at 9 and that teams looks like it could be good again.
My team is pretty terrible, mainly due to my 2nd and 3rd round picks being shit. Moore was a steal for a late round pick so I am extremely happy about that, although I am concerned at bringing him back. I like that I have a bit of a blank slate to work with right now.
This has been discussed on some of the pods but lets get some new takes on the matter. We now have gone through a full season and Draft with all of the league changes. What are some of your early thoughts? What do you like the most? What do you like the least? Which new change, if any, do you think changes by year 5?
Druce - I think the draft lottery will change by year 5, I personally would change it to be an unweighted lotto for the top 3-5 picks, then the rest fall in standings order. I love the relevance of bigs and more realistic block numbers, and I really hope that doesn't change. G league is great as are the automated penny generation and a lot of other things. I think it's added life to the league.
Delap - I really do like the variety in the league now. It's nice knowing you can build a team without having one of the best 5 PGs in the league and still be competitive. I still don't understand the O League entirely, or how to maximize it's value, but I love other things Odin has thrown in, like the specialized training camps for U22s. I'm not a huge fan of the randomness of Odin sims, but I'm sure that will smooth out now that he is moving to Birmingham.
Eric- League's good. League's strong. Really enjoying the unweighted lotto and the new predictions set up. O League seems like a big investment on the commish side so that would be my guess for changes the most, I don't have strong feelings on it either way so no skin off my nose.
Timpig- I like all of the adjustments to bigs and the various caps that have been introduced that would create seemingly multiple ways to construct a good team and win. Eric will inevitably ruin it by dissecting every bit of the software to determine the best/only way to build a team and then use his power on the trade committee to veto any transaction that he doesn’t like and force people to follow the rules he establishes according to his aforementioned team-building method, but until then, it’s pretty cool to have some uncertainty and actually be able to be creative.
JHB - I like the unweighted lotto. I also like how miserable to opponents of the unweighted lotto are. The thing I least like is that opponents of the unweighted lotto were not inconvenienced more. *Eye emoji*
Majic- as I said above I am really liking the diversity of the league, more ways to win is exciting and a nice change up. Like druce said, I hope/think the lotto will change within the first 5-7 years. I am very vocal against it but understand if we keep it. G-League I think has the potential to be a huge bonus for the people that can learn to utilize it best. I love the idea of a guy or two slipping through the cracks getting a chance to be a stud through the G-League. Also a huge fan of the camps that were recently thrown in. Mostly I thought the trade off of adding something also subtracts from another to be a realistic addition.
Going along with that question, Block numbers were way down this year and overall numbers looked to be a bit more spread out amongst positions. The PG position really seemed to lack depth in terms of star players. Do you think this continues? What do you think the league numbers look like in 3-5 season? Will bigs still hold their value like it appears right now?
Druce - I think it will continue, and I like it. Frankly I don't think there should be any PGs like we had in 4.0 because we know how much they can dominate the software, so if Brain ends up being one of the best PGs of all time, I'm ok with that. Hopefully the numbers remain roughly the same going forward. More positional balance is good instead of all great teams needing to have studs at certain positions.
Delap - Odin has shown he knows how to make builds to keep bigs active and prominent. I doubt that changes. The Creation Draft and the 1986 Draft were both really barren in the PG/SG areas... 1986 was mostly garbage all around. I'm sure we'll get better and better guards over the years, but simply because of better players entering the league, not Odin changing builds. A good PG is always going to win MVP, thanks heavyreign.
Eric- Blocks will come up a little between TC and upgrades, but if guys keep being created with blocks this low we won't ever get back to 4.0 levels. Very interested to see the first real FA after most/all the creation contracts are off the books, I think that'll tell us a lot about where the league's headed.
Timpig- It seems like a point was made to avoid any elite point guards off the bat and I didn’t see much investment in them either through The Lab. I’ll be interested to see if this trend changes as people draft point guards and take the time to develop and invest in them. It’ll all depend on how Odin builds players. If he wants bigs to maintain their value, then bigs will maintain their value.
JHB - I hope it continues. There was an over-saturation of good PGs in 4.0 which led to a really awkward trade market where players who would be superstars at any other position were traded for nothing. I anticipate bigs will continue to hold their value but I would hope more defensive wings are made in future drafts as well to help suppress wing scoring.
Majic – I think the biggest thing is we now see how to build out bigs and what rules to implement in order to keep these numbers reasonable. The fact that we don’t have many really good PGs is slightly surprising, and given the 86 draft I don’t think we see that changing very soon. But I think that’s a good thing. Bigs have far more increased value and once some of them start hitting FA it will be fun to see what happens. I to think some of this will even out as TC and upgrades start to determine more, but it’s a great start.
Ian promised us that 5.0 would result in increased participation yet we lost 4 GMs before we even made it a full sim year. What are your thoughts on some of the openings, which looks best? Worst? Do you think we ever get a league with 29 participating GMs again?
Druce - I'm not shocked that sloutang and valvenis didn't stick. I'm a bit more surprised that SPL and maybe Shaun are leaving. I think it'll be tough to have a league with 29 active GMs unless some long time guys come back like say yawn or ocho etc. With us all getting older and not having as much free time it's more difficult to recruit people. Everything with the league is pretty complicated except to us who are in it, and with sloutang and val I don't know that anyone ever took the time to explain to them how it works. If we can get some of these reddit people a mentor to explain shit to them then there is a better chance they will work out.
Delap - Ank is the Jazz. Jazz is the Ank. That is the best situation. Toronto and Denver just look awful. Cleveland isn't really open because Shaun is a good dude and will keep putting in a yeoman's effort to keep the team alive. His love for the league is that strong. I really want 29 active GMs, which has only happened a couple times in my 2 years here. It makes everything, like articles, mafia, trading, etc. better. 4.0 died because of lack of GMs. This shouldn't be the case right now.
Eric- I've said this a lot and I'm happy to say it again, I think what a person insists will lead to more participation tells you more about that person than anything else. There just aren't enough people interested in this kind of exercise at all for there to be these massive blocs waiting in the wings to jump in that ABSOLUTELY won't join unless it's a creation draft, or weighted lotto, or all real players, or whatever the topic du jour is.
The Jazz are obviously the best opening. .500 team with a star and three other decent players on the books for two more years.
The Denver Fighting Juniors are awful but have their picks and only $13m on the books two years from now.
The Toronto RIPetes are just as bad and also have their picks, but have a little more future $ on the books.
The Cavs aren't manifestly worse than the other two Jazzless openings, but history tells us they're guaranteed to lose Isidoro in FA so I'll put them last.
There's no source of growth for this community, it's just whomever we happen to find. It's possible we get to 29 again but more likely is we have 10-20 active GMs, 5-15 itinerant holdovers, and a few empty slots... just like we did throughout 4.0.
Timpig- Well, Sloutang is obviously the worst. He started off with a Slou-bang and then went down without so much as a Slou-whimper. After a few days it became pretty clear that ValVenis wasn’t going to stick around. Shaun is a surprise, though I don’t think there’s any reason for him to quit. He didn’t set a DC last season which was bad but other than that, he’s still as active as plenty of GMs even while he’s “too busy”. I think he has high expectations for himself though and wants what’s best for the league, which would be more GMs who are as active as he is when he is fully engaged.
It’s good to have Ank back but it’s hard to see us ever having 29 really active GMs again.
JHB - There is definitely more participation, we just rushed to fill the last several spots and didn't get the cream of the crop. I'm sure we will be able to fill the league.
Majic- overall I think the league is in the best spot we have been in since last fall. I think it will forever be increasingly hard to fill 29 spots but sitting at 25/26 is a great number. I think the changes along with the re-start of the draft classes should keep activity in the league very high. I am not shocked at the fact that we lost a coupel GMs so quickly, although losing SPL and possibly shaun surprised me a bit. I honestly think that SPL is still holding some bad feelings toward the league from the end of 4.0 and its soured his taste to sticking around.
Lets talk a little about the draft. 86 class, not a lot of legendary names to come out of this class. What are your general thoughts on the draft? Who went higher than you expected? Who went lower? Who got the best value?
Druce - I paid very little attention to the draft aside from my picks. I'm pretty shocked that Tarpley fell to 15 as I thought he was a top 8 pick. Other than that, I'm sure there will be some guys drafted late that will turn into solid players because Odin.
Delap - Awful class really. Price, Bias, and Sabonis should be stars. Daugherty will be good, too. Hornacek and Petrovic will be busts, sadly. Price going as low as he did really surprised me. Gotta get the clear #1 PG. Rodman will be the biggest question mark, methinks.
Eric- I only cared about former Knicks great Larry Krystkowiak, and he didn't go to me.
Timpig- Not the most exhilarating class to kick things off. I bet if there were some bigger names than it would have led to a much more active league in year one as folks tried to put themselves in position to acquire a real big-name player. It’ll be interesting to see if people do that in year two with the 1984 class coming up.
I thought Fecta reached for Drazen Petrovic at 10. He has one grade that looks even halfway decent and if he doesn’t have decent volume it doesn’t look like he’ll contribute anywhere else.
The compu-Raptors getting Rodman at 12 was good value. He’s who I originally wanted when I asked to trade up into the top 3, but that was based on his profile which was deleted. Once I saw the grades and that neither his defense or rebounding were as high as I would have expected, and that he is already 25, I decided to pass on him. I have no idea what kind of player he’ll turn out to be, but if IRL is any indication, 1.12 is a great place to get him at.
JHB - The new guy that picked Buck Johnson made the best pick. Tim trading up to get Daugherty and overlooking Buck Johnson was silly IMO but I can see why he did it with so many young wings. I think Hornacek may have been a reach but I don't know with how good he was in 4.0. Also Odin randomly liked my contract extension of Myron Jackson but didn't like many other posts in the extensions thread when I checked so I am calling him the sleeper of the draft until proven otherwise.
Majic- as I said in the question, this class isn’t the most exciting class to have as the first real players class. It’s a bit hard to determine much at this point since no one in the class really jumps out as a potential superstar. I liked the pick of Bias at #1 but who knows what he will turn into. Mark Price was the only PG taken in the lottery and who knows if he is even going to be good. I think this will be a great first test class to see what/how an odin class turns out. The only surprising thing was Tarpley falling to 15. I liked the look of him and really thought he would be a top 10 pick. This draft seems to follow the current structure of the league, lots of wings/bigs but no great PGs, and I am perfectly OK with that.
Ok now that we have discussed the league in detail, lets move to some more entertaining questions:
Rank your top 5 and bottom 5 GMs in regard to fist fighting?. I.E. Who are the 5 toughest and 5 weakest GMs?
Druce –
Toughest:
1. Trofie
2. Buster
3. Majic
4. Myself
5. JHB
Weakest:
1. Eric
2. Ank
3. Fecta
4. Fason
5. Delap
5 toughest are also 5 of the biggest dudes in the league. I give Trofie and Buster the edge because of their surroundings. I've always seen people from the midwest as being tougher in general, blue collar if you will. As far as weakest, it's not a knock on any of those guys, I just don't see them as being intimidating people. I know Eric and Ank are pretty small dudes, Fecta is a vegan so he's obviously a big pussy. Fason I don't know what he looks like but I perceive him to be scrawny as well and perception is reality. Delap I just see being a gentle guy.
Delap - Can we count the commish? I've heard he's huge and would probably win this going away. If not...
Toughest (in no order): MJ, Ward, Majic, kn88, Canes
Weakest (in no order... and we are all really weak): delap, BK, eric, dump, fecta
Eric-
1. Majic - fistfights recreationally and does so while balanced on ice skates. imagine what he can do on foot
2. Timpig - same as above but has a glass chin
3. Buster - in a brawl is the easy 1.1, but what if there aren't any salt shakers around
4. Dump - not sure what kind of power he has but when you never miss a shot it adds up
5. Pete - who's gonna mess up that mug
Timpig-
5 Toughest:
1. Majic
2. TimPig
3. JHB
4. MJ
5. Duc
For the most part, I picked people who have at some point said they participated in a real sport or actually have at least some commitment to strength training. Majic played hockey at a high level and we can all universally agree that it’s the toughest sport to play, and likely the only one that any of us have participated in that involved at least a bit of fist fighting, which is what this question is about. I put myself second for mostly the same reasons, though I originally had JHB higher because the dude used to be able to lift a pretty incredible amount. I think he said he’s pretty out of shape now, so that drops him, but he’s probably still got a lot of natural strength. MJ is #4 also because he’s a pretty strong guy. I picked Duc at 5 because I think he still coaches football and therefore is likely stronger than 90% of the people in TMBSL.
5 Weakest:
1. Eric
2. BK
3. Ank
4. Dump
5. IanBoyd
I’ve met the first three in person. Eric and BK are both pretty equally frail when it comes to muscle mass, though to BK’s credit he doesn’t try to claim he’s in shape. Ank isn’t a big guy at all which is why he’s on this list, and he also doesn’t come off as very aggressive. Dump, I don’t know…he just doesn’t strike me as someone who is very intimidating. IanBoyd likes anime and we all know that it’s impossible to like anime and be good at fist fighting.
JHB - I'm just going to go with GM's I would pick to win a fight vs those I would not. I struggled to come up with good names so I just went with hockey players and dudes I know are big versus small guys and vegans
Top 5:
Majic - hockey
Tim - hockey
Odin - tall
Druce - has described himself as larger
Ank - would definitely exclusively attack the groin
Bottom 5:
BK - small
Fecta - vegan
Eric - lost his only televised fight in the movie Office Space
Canes - seems like the type of guy to try and talk his way out of a fight instead of hitting someone
Dump - too gentle a soul to fight anyone, he's too much of a sweetheart
Majic –
Toughest:
1. myself – this goes without any explanation
2. MJ – this is mostly due to strength, guy is basically an amateur body builder. I mean have you seen his Instagram stories, dude is lifting like 650 lbs
3. Timpig – listen, it’s a known fact that if you play hockey you know how to fight. Enough said
4. trofie – I make this selection because of sheer size. Ive been told trofie is a very large human being, almost giant status
5. Odin – same can be said for odin. I don’t care who you are, 6’6 is a big human.
Weakest:
1. Eric – this is purely based on eric being a self-proclaimed lover and not a fighter.
2. BK – I mean hes a skinny redneck from West Virginia. He’s nothing close to physically intimidating
3. Ank – I mean the guy works for accountants, not much weaker of role in life than that
4. Fecta – the guy doesn’t eat meat, science proves this means you are weak and not a real man.
5. Delap – he is a great church going guy, and church going people do not fight as they let the lord and savior be their shield of salvation.
Rank your top 3 Best and Worst GMs as employees for their companies.
Druce –
Best:
1. Delap - he was on jeopardy
2. Pete - seems like a company man
3. Heebs - strikes me as someone with a high work ethic
Worst:
1. Billy - hates his job
2. Odin - hates his job
3. Buster - heavy drinker, might show up drunk
Delap - Best: I'm sure duc is an awesome teacher, I'm amazing at my job, and (tied) eric and heebs both seem to really have their ish together
Worst: BK probably yells at old ladies about their double AA batteries, so that is no good. Tim is always here, so I'm not exactly sure what he "does", Majic keeps quitting his job... so that can't be good (but he did hook me up, so thanks!)
Eric-
1. Eric - he's like a machine
2. Herb - just don't promote him to CEO
3. Billy - half of the battle is just showing up, and Billy can definitely get people to just show up, HR superstar
Timpig-
Best 3:
1. Myself. I’m often commended for my commitment to diversity and inclusion and that’s what is most important in a good employee.
2. Pete. Intelligent guy and pleasant to be around, both of which make for a strong employee.
3. JHB. He said he built a lot of macros to do his job for him and he seems pretty good at computers so he gets a vote.
Worst 3:
1. Eric. It’s probably tough to do your job well when your time is split between transcribing music videos made by 32-year-old married women, tweeting at 32-year-old married women, letting the world know every time a 32-year-old married woman cuts her hair, recording songs for 32-year-old married women, watching every television series and movie recommended by a 32-year-old married woman, doing workouts that a 32-year-old married woman described as difficult, etc.
2. BK. He’s said multiple times in Shout that he should have been fired from the battery store for one transgression or another and that he was only still employed because the owner liked him. I don’t doubt he’s great at fixing phones and recommending batteries, but he’s probably difficult to work with as a customer.
3. IanBoyd. He’s mean to just about everyone all the time. Nobody likes a mean coworker.
JHB –
Best:
Heebs
Ank
Pete
Worst:
Me - I am a team member on a team that hasn't been fully hired and onboarded yet so I'm literally doing nothing right now except some occasional reporting
BK - I don't think I need to explain this
Fason - seems like a guy who enjoys sewing discord
Majic-
Best:
1. Ank – I mean the guy just leveraged another offer to get a promotion to be Heebs boss. That takes some brass balls and I commend you
2. eric – he is a machine so really there is no stopping in what he does
3. JHB – the guy built a machine (eric??) to do his work for him.
Worst:
1. Timpig/Fecta – im not exactly sure what they do? I know tim spends a lot of time in the league and they are able to record podcasts every Friday afternoon in the office? Seems like little work gets done
2. BK – I mean does this need an explanation?
3. Druce – he knows why…..
Who are the top 3 GMs you would want to have a beer with?
Druce –
Eric - I find him interesting
MJ - seems like a fun dude, i'll pass on the drugs though
Trofie - I think him and I are a lot alike
Delap - I'd love to share a (root) beer with Heebs, eric, and Ward. I'd also like to do that with most of you, really.
Eric- I don't really drink beer but I'd split a pitcher of Zimas with
1. Ankly - because i'd love to trade Firsto and 2000 dump bucks for Max Zaslofsky and a future third rounder to be named later
2. Delap - we can commiserate about neither of our teams making the Champions League this year
3. JHB - think we have a similar sense of humor
Timpig-
1. Eric
2. Majic
3. Fason
I purposely left off most of those GMs I’ve actually already gotten a beer with (Fecta, BK, Pete, Ank) because I’m a huge fan of being open-minded, broadening my horizons, and meeting new people. I couldn’t leave Eric out, even though we’ve already been fortunate enough to share each other’s company, as number one because he’s without a doubt my favorite GM and it’s not even close. Majic is a good guy and one of the only ones here with the mental capacity to understand hockey, so he makes the list. I think Fason is hilarious and a pretty excellent troll, so he’d probably be a good time. Kn gets an honorable mention since he has always been willing to offer help since the day I joined the league and has been nice ever since.
JHB –
Heebs
Pete
Fason
Majic-
1. Tim/Fecta – have heard they are great hosts and I love the city of Seattle. So really would be a win/win
2. MJ – feel like he would have some great war stories from his drug filled adventures
3. eric – seems like a genuine guy and would be enjoyable to BS with and talk some sports
Ok, for the last 2 lets go a little out of the box:
Would you rather fight 1 horse sized duck or 100 duck sized horses?
Druce - 100 duck sized horses and it isn't close. You can punt the fuck out of them, how would they hurt you? Biting ankles?
Delap - 1 horse sized duck, clearly.
Eric- I'm a lover, not a fighter. It's a lot easier to break a duck's neck though.
Timpig- 100 duck-sized horses. I don’t want any business fighting something the size of a horse that can fly.
JHB – NO.
Majic – 1 horse sized duck. Ducks have no idea how to fight, just kick out one of the skinny legs and you got it right where you want it.
What sport would be the funniest to add a mandatory amount of alcohol to and why?
Druce - Soccer, Tennis, or Curling would all have their hilarious moments.
Delap - The Kentucky Derby... horses and jockeys must be drunk on Kentucky bourbon.
Eric- esports because nobody would get hurt and watching people fail at video games is underrated funny. shooting their own guy, dot healing the primary DPS instead of off tank, pulling the whelps, it's a cavalcade of laughs.
Timpig- Hockey, especially for the people in TMBSL. Most of them can’t skate anyway, so forcing them to drink and then do so would be pretty funny.
I can’t let this RT end without giving at least one more heartfelt shoutout to eric, who I consider one of my best friends. Without him, I’d never have discovered Kina Grannis or apple-flavored whiskey or peppercorn-crusted donuts or anime or liberalism or all the other wonderful things that make this world worth living in.
JHB - NASCAR - I'm only in it for the crashes.
Majic – Baseball would be hilarious. Hand eye coordination while drunk is extremely hard. Add in the action of swinging a bat while unstable and you have the potential for some great comedy
