First Trimester Round Table [-GRADED-]
Jan 15, 2016 3:10:07 GMT
Minnesota, Sarawak, and 3 more like this
Post by Sarawak on Jan 15, 2016 3:10:07 GMT
With roughly a third of the season in the books, a round table was put together to get the views of some GMs on several different issues around the league.
@minnesota is going to be the grader and not participate. For this he will recieve 150 PP. Scoring will be 100 PP for Participating. 100 bonus for first, 75 for 2nd, 50 for 3rd. Best answer overall Minnesota will choose and be worth 50 extra pp. Each answer is worth between 1 and 5 points and will be given credit by Minnesota. Answers were due by noon on Thursday 1/14/16
The Participants were
Brazil
Cairo
Moscow
New York
Perth
Portland
1. You have been assigned as a mentor to a new GM. What are the three pieces of advice do you give the GM?
Brazil: 1) Don't trade for the sake of trading- I've learned that lesson the hard way before. Make sure you have a plan for your team and stick with it- I'm absolutely guilty of changing up my plans on the fly and it hasn't helped my team long-term (this is for ABCAs past, since it's my first season with Brazil).
2) Don't be afraid to ask for trade advice from other GMs- especially from the mentor. Lots of people have different ways of seeing players, so in my mind, it's always great to see another pair of eyes on the deal- they may see something you're not seeing or confirm what you're seeing. I always ask multiple people about all my trades so I can get the whole picture.
3) Always know how your cap situation looks for the next season or two, especially if you have big free agents this offseason or next. Example- me with Sabonis this year-I almost made a trade for a high-priced SG but hadn't calculated my contracts for next season correctly, so I almost screwed myself from signing Sabonis unless I were to make a trade. Always know your cap situation.
Cairo: 1) Learn the league and as part of that learn to say no. One of my favorite things about Ultimate is it is a really good group of GM’s and a lot of sharks who are going to come hard at you with deals. So by learning the league you will know this and learn to not get too frustrated with the offers and just say no. People are persistent so say no and if you have wiggle room, tell them what does interest you.
2) Think long term first and short term second. The temptation when you get a team is to try to win right away. I get that but always think long term. What guys do I need to re-sign, what is my cap situation, what picks (esp. firsts) do I own etc. Understand what you have and what your limitations are moving forward, maybe you have 50 million in salaries on the books next year and you have to re-sign your best player to a max starting at 18 million. Understand how that impacts your cap etc. and plan based on that.
3) Ask a lot of qs as there is a lot of knowledge in the league and lots of guys willing to share their thoughts and opinions on things. You will hear differently things from different GMs and this can help you form your own views on everything from what you value in a starting C, to how you gameplan.
Moscow: First and foremost, hold onto your picks unless there is a real star coming your way. Having flexibility in the future is huge. Secondly, figure out which direction you want to go and go at it hard. The middle isn’t how you succeed. Lastly, try not to get attached to any player or have perceived notions about the ability or players. League is different and understanding value and production is important.
New York: - First thing I'd tell a new GM is to read and look around the forum because while I know some feel the committee is usually slacking, there have been quite a few threads put together that I find useful for a GM that is just getting started. I know for a fact some of the guys i've mentored have gotten good use out of threads made by Minnesota, Cairo and others for sure.
- Ask questions and don't be afraid to speak with other GMs. One of the biggest things in getting used to the league is getting familiar with how things happen and with the other GMs. Don't be afraid to ask questions because while it seems routine to some of us, there is a lot of stuff going on around the league and even stuff like the check in threads can throw newer GMs off if they aren't talking with anyone. I always tell the guys i'm mentoring that I'm always around for the most part so make sure if you have a question to ask it because i'll try my best to help you out.
- Be patient. One of the worst things a GM can do is just rush out of the gate trying to make move after move from the beginning. It's something I tried to do when I first started and it's something I have had to talk with newer GMs about multiple times. There will be plenty of time to put your mark on your team but you should learn the league regarding value and such first because we've seen GMs put themselves in rough situations by trying to rush into things. I know we have the 1 week ban for moves but some don't take advantage of that. Use that time to figure things out and I guarantee you'll be better off in the end.
Perth: The first piece of advice is a broad piece of advice, but its the most important and that is to be patient. This doesn't even just apply to completely new GMs. How many times have we seen a GM come into the league, new or returning, and try to make moves immediately. Typically they get hosed in whatever move comes first. Take a broad look at the league before doing anything drastic.
Next piece of advice and this falls a lot on the mentor as well, is develop a relationship with a couple of GMs that you trust. While I do not believe every trade should be run by other GMs, it never hurts to have a couple of guys with a different perspective in order to gather information about prospective moves. Also I believe the best way to improve as a GM without just running a ton of solo simulations is through conversations with fellow GMs.
Third piece of advice is to keep your own picks. This kind of goes with number 1, but you are a new GM here and your value of players and assets is going to be off at the beginning. Take a season to assess the league before doing something like trading your picks in order to "compete". Nothing kills a new GMs interest in the league more than having an uncompetitive team without its picks. While there have been success stories of GMs trading their picks quickly and sticking it out, I'm looking at you New York, we've had a lot more horror stories and I know it isnt easy to fill these spots when you have to sell a garbage team that is barren of assets to a prospective GM.
Portland: Always get advice from two other gm’s before making a trade, but be careful about who you ask. Don’t assume a guy has your best interests at heart, even if he’s a successful gm. Over time you’ll learn who to trust, and it will definitely take some time. Also if you feel you’ve carefully thought out your reason for making a deal, don’t be afraid to buck the advice. It’s your team! Another gm isn’t going to weigh the pros and cons of a deal to the extent you may have; they may not see the picture you see.
Ask for advice on your game plan. I consider myself a good game planner but still love to hear the opinions of other gms. Hanging out on Slack gives you plenty of useful tips. Too many gm’s think they can trade their way to a title just by acquiring the best possible talent, but I’d say 40% of your success comes from matching your game plan well to that talent.
Do everything you can to avoid making work for the commissioner: Ask questions of the board members before taking them to the commish; get your dc’s in on time; post your trades properly; understand the roster limits; know what your cap situation is at all times.
Graders Thoughts: Seems like virtually everyone hits on 3 main points - don't trade (your picks) right away, talk to people/learn the league, and be patient with your plan. All great advice. Portland goes a little further and says to not trust everyone and I think that's sound advice when it comes to talking trades. Moscow's was a little short and while it covered the main points of the others perhaps missed some of the nuance that could have been benefical. I think discussing style of play would have been useful to a new GM building a team and making the right moves. Maybe some of you meant that when you say talk to others but that's a little vague.
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 4
Cairo - 4
Moscow - 3
New York - 4
Perth - 4
Portland - 5
2. There have been a lot of big trades in season so far this year. Which team do you think has done the best job of improving?
Brazil: For me, it depends on the way you look at it- whether you mean for the future or for this season. For the future, I like what New York and Piraeus have done in stockpiling young assets (in NY's case), and a ton of picks (in Piraeus's case). For this season- I like what Moscow did in getting Horford- no one can explain why Moscow is doing so well so far, but needless to say the ability to bring a guy like Horford off the bench at the 3/4/5 is a HUGE luxury with him still getting over 30 minutes a game. Even if they don't get a PG, if they keep playing like they are now- they'll be a tough out. One move I really loved- the Bulls dumping Conley for Modestas. I get the reasoning for San Fran at the time, and I still understand it, but that contract is terrible. Even if Conley does have a good TC or something- he'll still be only a decent PG, and that's not the amount of money I'd want to pay a "decent" PG. One more team I wanted to mention- I like what Boston has been doing- Grabbing Ewing was a massive move for the franchise, and honestly they didn't give up as much as I thought someone would have to to get Ewing. If Chris Paul can figure out how to get his percentages up, they'll be literally unstoppable. Even if he keeps shooting like that, though, they're a tough team to beat.
Cairo: Well I like what Moscow has gone and done. Yes they have overachieved so far this year and have used some out of the box thinking with their game plan to do so but they add a guy who is both very talented and fits their ages in Horford and I liked that move for them now and in the future. I think they are well positioned with Horford, MKG, and Kiki to be a pretty interesting and formidable team long term.
Moscow: While I didn’t like every move for the Grizz, have to love the trio in the backcourt. Michael Jordan is a top 2 player with Chuck and Hill is really good at a position that doesn’t have a ton of talent. He’s done a great job of setting team up to win now and down the road.
New York:
- Well if you are talking in season then it can't be the obvious answer which is Boston even though I believe his Ewing trade happened in season and that was the best move for a team this season (if we are including him then he's the obvious answer). Outside of him I love what Cairo did this season. He took a team that was stuck in the middle of the pack and added a star to his team in Mel Daniels and since that time they've went about 14-5 or something of that nature and that's with a shaky sim recently along with 12 of their games being on the road since the trade. They are a legit title contender. So Boston if he's allowed since he took a team that was a horrible team last year and added Ewing (his best player now) and is a title contender and if not him Cairo for the reasons mentioned.
Perth:
As far as improving the team in the current state I am a fan of what Cairo did in adding Mel Daniels the most. Trading what was described a as a bucket of meh/yuck(still being debated) for a top big man in the league has made him into a true contender, giving him what I consider the best trio in the league. While his team is certainly still top heavy, he has paired the best PG in the league with a top shooting guard and an elite big man and I'll take that anyday of the week. He looks to me to be one player away from being the title favorite in my mind.
Portland: The Supersonics. They’ve made the aggressive moves to position themselves for a playoff push, supplementing the superb KC Jones by bringing in Clyde Frazier, Paul Westphal, and young Dario Saric. It cost them a useful piece in Dimitris Diamantidis, the fading Vern Mikkelsen, and an ’05 first rounder… all of which were worth sacrificing in my opinion to get the current unit together. Their last sim indicates they’re beginning to gel.
Graders Thoughts: You are all wrong. Minnesota was the right answer. Trading Ewing/Belov/Guy for Zoran/Smart/Ostertag/Spurs 04/Aoshen 04 trumps all other moves. Better squad than last year, bigger window, and still assets to move or use for low contract talent for 4 years. Talk about stockpiling picks (Piraeus) or building for now (Cairo) but the Wolves are doing it all. You all lose this one. For shame.
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 1
Cairo - 1
Moscow - 1
New York - 1
Perth - 1
Portland - 1
3. Roughly a third of the way through the season, list your top three title favorites from each conference and briefly address why you think each team is among the favorites.
Brazil: American:
1) Bulls- if Barkley can stay healthy they're as good as any team in the league.
2) Celtics- The Paul/Ewing combo is something else- again Paul's percentages suck, but overall their team is really really good. I really like that team in the playoffs.
3) Boca Juniors- I'm a fan of Durant and Malone, even if KD's declining a bit for some reason. UPM is a nice player if Cro can figure out how to utilize him correctly. To me, they're a better team that teams like Minnesota- although Minny had a strong case for me since it's still John running this team and they have KG and Wiggins and Smart. I just like Buenos Aires a bit better.
Eurasia:
1) Maccabi Tel Aviv- Defending champs- you can never count them out. Maybe the best offensive team in the league- Strong all-around and Baylor is a beast.
2) Cairo- Stockton/Sam Jones/Mel. That's a pretty formidable trio. Even Greg Minor is putting up decent stats. They'll be a hard out in the playoffs.
3) Moscow- Heck, why not? There's a bunch of teams that could have made the case here, and they all might have better arguments, but whatever they're doing in Moscow is working. Kiki was a steal in the draft, they've got Horford coming off the bench, and MKG has been great at PG somehow. They're a pretty solid team all-around, and if it keeps working, they've got as good a shot as anyone.
Cairo: In the Americas I am going to say Minnesota, Chicago and Boston. Minnesota has oodles of talent and a GM that has a track record of winning in the post season. They are young, athletic and skilled. The Bulls have added more depth around the best player in the game in Barkley and also have a GM with a proven record of success here and in Legends. Boston is a bit of a wildcard for me. I am not convinced their pieces fit together all that well, but the talent is there and they are right up despite having missed their starting SG the whole year.
In Eurasia it starts with Tel Aviv because as slackbot has taught us to be the man you gotta beat the man! Depth, proven track record and a GM who slides under the radar in terms of quality. Auckland is my next choice. It feels like teams have just forgotten about Auckland but they are right there in the division, have played a road heavy schedule (5 more Road than Home games) and I think will start clicking shortly. Finally I will say my Cairo squad. We still have some things to sort out and my Center situation gives me a bit of pause considering some of the teams I may face in the playoffs. We have a big three and better overall depth than I think people think.
Moscow: - In the America’s, the top 3 candidates are Minnesota, Buenos Aires, and Chicago to me. While 3-4 other teams could make a case you have to like how complete these 3 are. Minnesota has a couple stars, Buenos Aires has front court to matchup and Chicago still has Chuck who is due.
- In Eurasia, I like Tel Aviv, Cairo, and Mikawa as the leaders. Tel Aviv got better after winning a title, Cairo has one of the best top 3’s and Mikawa finally has wings to add to his bigs and knows how to win in the playoffs.
New York:
- Cairo: Since acquiring Mel Daniels this team has won over 70% of their games and that is with them playing 66.6% of their games on the road. This team has three all-stars and are looking really good so they are a favorite for the title.
- Maccabi: I mean they are the champs and are currently in the #1 spot for Eurasia right now with the best defense in the league and unlike last year where they were 20th they are 5th in the league offensively. If this team was able to win a title with an elite defense and bad offense last year then you would be insane not to list them when they are elite offensively and defensively this year.
- Milan: This might be a headscratcher but this is the best team in the league offensively and they are flying under the radar a bit. In their last 20 they have won 70% of their game and while I know some don't buy their GM, this is a GM that has shown he can succeed back in Legends if he doesn't get in his own way. In their 14 wins over the last 20 they have outscored their opponents by 17+ PPG. I think there are some good teams such as CSKA, KK Partizan, Mikawa, and Auckland but I think this team could be there in the conference finals with one of the above teams for sure.
- Timberwolves: The teams around them in America have continued to shuffle back and forth but this is the team that has been consistently great this year in America. KG at the Center position has put him in position to finally become a legit top 5 superstar in the league and with a supporting cast of Wiggins, Zoran (elite defensively) and Smart it's hard to see this team losing early in the playoffs.
- Bulls: This team has the best player in not only America but the league. While they've been sliding a bit recently this team at one point was on a 20 game win streak! If that doesn't get them onto this list then I don't know what will. They've disappointed in the playoffs so far in Legends but I wouldn't be shocked if this was this team's year.
- Celtics: Patrick Ewing has this team much further along than they were last season and I think while this team similar to every team in America (besides Minnesota) has been inconsistent I think you have to put them in that third spot for the conference.
Perth: I'll start with Eurasia. As I just gushed over Cairo, it is pretty clear he is a favorite to me, not THE favorite without one more player, but certainly one of them due to his trio. Next is my favorite from the conference, the defending champion Tel Aviv squad. The team that came out of nowhere last year has kept on trucking this year lead by the perfectly complementary duo of Ben Wallace and Elgin Baylor. Elgin will do the scoring and Ben will do the stopping and it works. Also I love Israel. My third answer, although he is barely in the playoffs right now, is Mikawa. His teams over the last few years have been notorious for skating by and then turning it up in the playoffs. Idk if he intentionally plays possum, I personally think its bc hes secretly the creator of the game and wants to throw us off his scent, but he always seems to be there.
Now in America. First off is Minnesota. The only time he's not in the top 3 contenders in his conference is the first season of every league and guess what, its the third season, so hes a monster contender. I still hate him for hoarding KG and Wiggins, but thats just sour grapes.(GIVE ME TOWNS!!!!!!) Ugh, I really hate the rest of this conference and I dont want to just crown John right now, but it feels like the way the East in the NBA has over the last few years, whereas theres its inevitable LeBron makes the finals, here it seems to be the same way for John. Gun to my head I have to choose 2 more teams, I would go with Vancouver and Chicago. If Chris Pauls shot didnt look so shitty, I would have the Celtics, but rn I will go with Chicago, because they still have the bowling ball known as Barkley and the Modestas and Fernando addition was nice, and Vancouver because I like how their team looks after making a few trades, plus MJ.
Portland:Minnesota Timberwolves, American. They have a seasoned gm with a pedigree of titles, they have Red Auerbach coaching the games, and they have a lot of players in their prime. Kevin Garnett is the straw that stirs the drink.
Chicago Bulls, American. They’re hungry with an axe to grind over last season's unexpected exit, and they have a healthy-for-now Sir Charles. Martin and Paulauskas flesh the team out nicely.
Mexico City Titans, American. Perhaps not the logical #3 but the veteran hand guiding the franchise is in my opinion less likely to panic down the stretch than some others. They’ve been beating the teams they’re supposed to beat.
Tel Aviv Maccabi, Eurasia. They run the same guys out there each sim, don’t seem to make a lot of crazy-ass experiments, and other than turnovers have no major weakness. Very stable franchise.
Milano Olimpia, Eurasia. Maybe too young to stay in the thick of things, but their youth doesn’t look too intimidated by their elders. I see them getting a high seed.
Auckland Breakers, Eurasia. A well-rounded squad which is efficient on both ends. McAdoo and Korac are a load down low and are enough to carry the team when healthy.
Graders Thoughts: New York bought legit arguments backed up by stats. That's good stuff. They win for that. The rest I split up based on how well I thought the arguments were made. Brazil - how do you leave the team with the best win % off the list? Wouldn't have been significantly higher than 2nd had the Wolves not lost 3 in a row. Moscow didn't really support their statements.
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 2
Cairo - 4
Moscow - 1
New York - 5
Perth - 4
Portland - 3
4. If you could add one rule to the league what would it be and why?
Brazil: Hmmm. Tough question since I haven't been here for as long as others. Personally, I'd like to see us toughen up the trade-back players rule- I saw one player this offseason (can't remember who) get traded back and forth between a team after like a week in real time- I know it's technically allowable in the rules, and I don't think they did it with any intention of skirting the system, I just personally would like to see that rule clarified a bit better, maybe put a 60 sim day or one month real time or some kind of time limit on trading back for that player with the same team you traded him to (if he's been traded to a 3rd team and you trade for him there, that's totally fine with me).
Cairo: The rule that I would add is pretty simple. Players cannot be traded back to a team they were traded from in the same season. There has been a big increase of this in recent years. One it just isn’t realistic and two it actually is not allowed under NBA rules (www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q100)
Granted there are some other NBA Rules that we ignored when it comes to trading like that a player that has signed as a free agent or signed an extension or the rule that we have disabled about players not being eligible to be traded for a certain number of days after being traded. However, I don’t think those rules potentially impact the balance of the league and feel that enforcing the rule about players being traded back in the same season would be a benefit to the league and cut out some of the silly back and forth swapping that has become increasingly popular.
Moscow: Really, I like where the league is at the moment. If I were adding a rule, it would have to be something involving the moving of players back to a team who dealt them. This is a reach and a rule I’ve seen elsewhere. It limits trades to a degree but could actually open up people to new trade partners as well. Honestly, don’t see any new rule that is super needed.
New York:
New York did not submit an answer for Question #4
Perth: Can we ban teams from having specific trade partners? No? Alright I guess I have to say something else. Personally, I dont see many rules that I really disagree with. I was never a huge fan of the anti-tanking rule and definitely have always been a fan of the draft board so Im not gonna say the wave system like some others may. I do think there is a possibility that a not being allowed to draft in the top 5 two straight years could be a thing, but if theres one rule I think should be instituted its that if you dont have the game there should be limits on FA bids. I absolutely hate entering bids in WITH the game, so I dont think its fair to force John to enter 100 bids in especially when a majority of them arent even going to be close. Sure this hamstrings teams without the game, but it will also motivate them to go and get the game. I know when I didnt have the game I tried to limit my bids as I felt bad. I also tried to limit the amount of DCs I forced John to enter in manually, because its a pain in the ass and he does enough for us already.
Portland: really had to think about this because I feel the league rules aren’t in need of tinkering. Personally I would make the anti-tanking rules more draconian (I hate tankers) but I know that wouldn’t be popular among the gms. I recognize the “if you’re gonna suck, suck hard” mentality is a sign of the times in most professional sports, and if the fan bases don’t revolt I suppose it won’t stop. So why should it in the ABCA, I guess.
Graders Thoughts: Most of you went with the No-Trade-Backs idea which is something that I think people would like looked into. Fair enough - that argument was made well by 3-4 people. Portland suggests that Tanking happens in the NBA perhaps it should be allowed here too. I think Cairo argued the best and supported it with CBA Facts (see what I did there?) which is appreciated. I thought Perth had some interesting ideas but wasn't really sure how to impliment a No-Bottom-5-Twice-In-A-Row idea.
Umm, NY, WTF?!
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 3
Cairo - 4
Moscow - 3
New York - 0
Perth - 2
Portland - 3
5. If you could add one feature to the game what would it be and why?
Brazil: That it would work on a Mac without having to buy Paralells and a Windows OS. -_- Seriously though- that's where half my issues are- I have to get screenshots from everyone else because I don't have a copy of the game. It sucks. So in terms of features- I'm probably the wrong one to ask since I don't actually have a copy of the game. In terms of the exports/game- I know it'd be awesome if there was a way to export and see "chunk" stats from each sim- see how each player did during the sim. I know JSB had a way to do that that we utilized in the IBL with the help of some of our tech-savvy members that worked in Silicon Valley. It'd just be a neat feature.
Cairo: I would enable the ability to freely negotiate with all of your upcoming free agents. Maybe they will still be bound to test Free Agency but without RFA, which I think would be a bit messy to do in a sim league in terms of structuring the off season sims, I think I should be able to offer any of my guys an offer. For example I would totally max Stockton and Mel right now and if they take it great. If not I guess I would have to think harder about trading them etc. The way it works currently you do not get any sense of it they will come back, other than as a general rule guys don’t turn full maxes from their current team. I have heard talk of ideally it being limited to say 3 offers per player and that would work for me. It would be great if it worked like Out of the Park Baseball and if you low balled a player too many times, they would inform you that they are headed to Free Agency and plan to sign with another team. I think this would make an interesting dynamic and of course it would have to re-set if a player was traded in season.
Moscow: Most people would want restricted free agency as an option and I am no different. Guys coming off their rookie deals shouldn’t be able to go elsewhere freely unless the team denies the deal. Now, this would mean cap holds would have to come into play and that’s a bi-product of this. Quite frankly, there are a ton of features as someone who knows the CBA pretty well that I’d like to see but most importantly would be the ability to have restricted free agents.
New York: We discussed this in length in the Slack chat but I would really like to see the re-signing process for players revamped. Obviously this would mainly cover the in season re-signings and i'll try to go over what I'd like to see. First off, everyone is willing to at least discuss an extension. This is closer to real life because lets be honest you aren't going to have a guy just completely ignore their home team if they put a max offer on the table, he may not sign but he'll at least consider it. If you did want to make it where some guys won't re-sign then have it tied to the happiness thing because right now that has no real use or effect in game. There is no reason a guy that is the star player on an elite team that is in contention for a title decides he won't even listen to an offer. Now the next thing would be that right now you can negotiate with a player from sim 2 till the end of the playoffs and no matter how many times you low ball them you can still not only get them to re-sign but get a discount that if you know the percentages will never change from player to player. That should change, you should only get so many chances to negotiate with a player before they just decide to test Free Agency (maybe 3 times). If in real life Lebron James was offering a minimum contract over and over, he's not going to continue to just negotiate with a team that he feels isn't offering him what he is worth. As for what a player is willing to sign for, that can be tied to 3 more ratings that currently have no real use and that's loyalty, greed, play for winner. If a guy is greedy then maybe he is only willing to take a max contract and nothing less, if a guy is loyal he may take a bit of a paycut (the amount could change based on how high their loyalty is) if it is a team they've been with for a while, if a guy wants to play for a winner then they may be willing to give a discount of some sort to a team that is clearly a playoff/title team. This was longer than I expected and I didn't go over everything but I think most would agree that this re-signing setup would be a lot more interesting and less random than what we currently have in place.
Perth: This one is easy for me and that would be Mac compatibility. I just wanna use the game on my real computer without having to use parallels or use this crappy old pc I have. Just make it nice and easy for me
. As far as things that are actually functions of the game and not just how it can be used I would say that it would be to have restricted free agency. It is a prominent factor in NBA free agency and something that could add an interesting wrinkle to the league. To see the types of poison pill contracts handed out a la Jeremy Lin would be interesting, especially with the animosity between some of the GMs in the league.
Portland: I wish the entire contract negotiation and free agency process would get revamped. Restricted FA is direly needed. Too many marginal stars get maxed because gm’s don’t know what’s going on in their players' heads or behind the scenes in the market. Not wanting to get stranded by these players leaving gms just throw money at them. It’s not realistic as-is, and I personally don’t find FA much fun. It should be one of the most exciting periods of the season.
Graders Thoughts: Wow - 2 "MAKE IT NATIVE FOR MAC" arguments. TBH - they are all GREAT suggestions. We need it available on all OS, we need RFA, and we should ne able to offer loads of money at a guy who will ask for 7 mil in FA. I like Cairo's suggestion of limiting how many times you can go back to the well during re-signing negotiations. I can't find fault with any of this.
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 5
Cairo - 5
Moscow - 5
New York - 5
Perth - 5
Portland - 5
6. There is a potential for there to be another committee member election soon. If there is who do you think would make a good candidate and why. You can choose yourself, another or list multiple people.
Brazil: Me of course! I was a committee member in Global, and I did a fantastic job, if I do say so myself. :simple_smile: No, but seriously, there are a lot of deserving candidates. The work Belgrade did with the Mobile Pages makes him a candidate in my eyes. And Seer is always a fun committee member. He's been around for forever, so maybe he would want to do it. I don't know. I'm sure he has an appropriate emoji response for this.
Cairo: Well in lieu of Corey making a triumph return this is a pretty tough question for me, but not due to a lack of quality candidates. I can think of 4 or 5 guys who I think would add something of value to the committee. Before I name my choices for good candidates I think sometimes people think that the Committee is really just about the occasional making rules and other kind of big picture stuff. That is certainly a part of it but each member also has additional duties, in my case managing PP among other things and these seemingly small tasks are what help the league continue to run as smoothly as it does. That means it doesn’t necessarily have to be my favorite person but can be somebody that I think will add a lot to the league, will be around for the long haul and has an educated opinion about things. There are several candidates I think best fit this criteria for me in the league right now and they are in alphabetical order Beijing, Guangdong, San Francisco and Vancouver. Beijing really impressed me last election cycle with his ideas and trying to work with everybody on things. It doesn’t hurt that I enjoy talking with him and he has been with the league for a long time. Guangdong, while Seer is well know, I think he would add levity to the committee when debates got heated and he seems like an overall good dude who would ask qs the committee might not think of, provide that unique perspective and he has been around the league for a long time. San Francisco is new but I like how active he has been in the league and how many good questions he asks of many of us. I have seen his work in another league and there is a consistency to his interactions that I like. I would be remiss to not mention Brazil is another new GM who I have been impressed with so far. Lastly there is Vancouver. It is no secret that Vancouver and I don’t always get along and sometimes get into it a little bit but in terms of knowledge of the game, commitment to the league and will debate things. It is these qualities that actually make me think he would be a very good candidate and he is the guy I would hope runs if there is another election that I think would add an interesting dynamic to the current mix. In my opinion all of these guys would be strong candidates, worthy of my vote.
Moscow: Let’s choose me for arguments sake here. There is likely nobody as active in the boards + slack as I am and with Corey as the GM gone, the committee could use someone who likes to make decisions quick and is not really worried how it affects other committee members. Not saying that occurs with the group but there is little doubt Corey was one of the members who thought independently and often acted that way as well. Plus, who doesn’t like a good redemption story. We have a community of members who love movies and 95% of those are happy endings. Let’s make this next committee vote a redemption story for the ages!
New York: As much as I figure he's not really into the idea at this point, i'd love to see Seer return to the committee. One thing I try to do as a committee member is communicate respectfully with the rest of the committee and league members because at the end of the day we are all just in the league to have fun and sometimes I think that gets lost on some GMs (myself included because I won't pretend that I don't get frustrated at times and slip up). With Seer I don't always agree with every point he makes but when he goes about making his point it never comes off as him feeling like he's smarter (or better) than anyone he is having a discussion with so I am always willing to at least consider what he says. Now I assume mentioning Seer might be too Kliq'y (not sure what I was going for there) even though I'm unsure who is exactly in the Kliq so another couple of options would be Chicago, Perth and Beijing. Some have been around for a while and some haven't and I know the long standing members are the popular candidates here but I don't think that matters because for example someone like Chicago hasn't been around super long but much like Seer if you look at his contributions to things when an issue or debate comes up, his responses and input is always helpful but also respectful and I think that is a key attribute for the next committee member (if there is one) to have.
Perth: Can my answer be anyone but Beijing? I think theres a few good options including Beijing that sucker. Besides him, I think myself and Piraeus would both be good options, but I think theres someone who combines mine and his traits and would be the best option for the job...Vancouver. I know I know, this answer wont win me the question and I'm sure its the committees biggest nightmare, but personal issues aside its tough to argue him as a good candidate. He has never left and is always one of the most active members of the league. Annoying or not he brings a different viewpoint to the committee that I think would be refreshing. He is knowledgable about the game and passionate as well even if it causes him to harass trade victims. And no one could ever say the committee is a "Kliq" again if their most hated person is on it. Mostly I just think hes a refreshing viewpoint that can represent some of the underrepresented GMs in the league.
Portland: There are several good candidates; I would like to see Piraeus on the committee because he’s one of the ‘voices of reason’ on the boards and Slack, from my perspective. Very important to me that board members aren’t just recycled; I would prefer some new blood to mix with the core veterans.
Graders Thoughts: First, saying things like "there is little doubt Corey was one of the members who thought independently (on the committee) and often acted that way as well" shows that you don't know what you're talking about and it's pretty disrespectful, Moscow. There were 7 (currently 6) very independent and thoughtful GMs trying to make the best decisions for the LEAGUE. No one cares about their own team or any other team on the committee. That's ridiculous.
Second, Brazil you can't suggest Belgrade and suggest us to take the rest of your post seriously
The work he has done for us on the mobile site (and former sortable pages) has been great but godsgift had a couple of shaky prior stints here. I think he is doing great this time around but probably needs to put in a little more time before getting serious consideration here. I think he'd probably agree with that. Who knows though, you might be on the cutting edge and the rest of us aren't seeing it yet 
Seriously thrilled though the GG is winning some games - what was happening for him in Legends was some bad voodoo.
Finally, there seems to be a lot of support for Beijing and Guangdong on these ballots which I think is great. Both guys (whether they'd be interested in being on the committee or not) have been good for the league. Seer's been on the committee in the past and is the longest running member of any sim I've run. One of the easiest to get along with straightshooters you'll find. We all <3 Seer, amirite?
What really shocks me is the league-wide love for Beijing during/since the last committee vote. He really pushed the other nominees and responded well in that nominee roundtable. I think that illustrates how someone can gain respect in this league. Beijing wouldn't have made anyone's top 15 list for members of the dreaded "Kliq" (and no doubt if he gets into the committee it'll be 2 months before he's viewed as a lifetime member) but his dedication and respectful approach to things have made him a true contender for this spot.
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 3
Cairo - 5
Moscow - 1
New York - 5
Perth - 4
Portland - 3
First Place (100 PP Bonus): Cairo (23)
Second Place (75 PP Bonus): Portland (20) *TIE*
Second Place (75 PP Bonus): New York (20) *TIE*
Second Place (75 PP Bonus): Perth (20) *TIE*
Fifth Place: Brazil (18)
Sixth Place: Moscow (14)
Best Answer (50 PP Bonus) - PORTLAND "Question 1" (There were a lot of great little tidbits in this roundtable but I think what's he is saying just had the right mix of truth, insight, and getting to the point. Good job!)
@minnesota is going to be the grader and not participate. For this he will recieve 150 PP. Scoring will be 100 PP for Participating. 100 bonus for first, 75 for 2nd, 50 for 3rd. Best answer overall Minnesota will choose and be worth 50 extra pp. Each answer is worth between 1 and 5 points and will be given credit by Minnesota. Answers were due by noon on Thursday 1/14/16
The Participants were
Brazil
Cairo
Moscow
New York
Perth
Portland
1. You have been assigned as a mentor to a new GM. What are the three pieces of advice do you give the GM?
Brazil: 1) Don't trade for the sake of trading- I've learned that lesson the hard way before. Make sure you have a plan for your team and stick with it- I'm absolutely guilty of changing up my plans on the fly and it hasn't helped my team long-term (this is for ABCAs past, since it's my first season with Brazil).
2) Don't be afraid to ask for trade advice from other GMs- especially from the mentor. Lots of people have different ways of seeing players, so in my mind, it's always great to see another pair of eyes on the deal- they may see something you're not seeing or confirm what you're seeing. I always ask multiple people about all my trades so I can get the whole picture.
3) Always know how your cap situation looks for the next season or two, especially if you have big free agents this offseason or next. Example- me with Sabonis this year-I almost made a trade for a high-priced SG but hadn't calculated my contracts for next season correctly, so I almost screwed myself from signing Sabonis unless I were to make a trade. Always know your cap situation.
Cairo: 1) Learn the league and as part of that learn to say no. One of my favorite things about Ultimate is it is a really good group of GM’s and a lot of sharks who are going to come hard at you with deals. So by learning the league you will know this and learn to not get too frustrated with the offers and just say no. People are persistent so say no and if you have wiggle room, tell them what does interest you.
2) Think long term first and short term second. The temptation when you get a team is to try to win right away. I get that but always think long term. What guys do I need to re-sign, what is my cap situation, what picks (esp. firsts) do I own etc. Understand what you have and what your limitations are moving forward, maybe you have 50 million in salaries on the books next year and you have to re-sign your best player to a max starting at 18 million. Understand how that impacts your cap etc. and plan based on that.
3) Ask a lot of qs as there is a lot of knowledge in the league and lots of guys willing to share their thoughts and opinions on things. You will hear differently things from different GMs and this can help you form your own views on everything from what you value in a starting C, to how you gameplan.
Moscow: First and foremost, hold onto your picks unless there is a real star coming your way. Having flexibility in the future is huge. Secondly, figure out which direction you want to go and go at it hard. The middle isn’t how you succeed. Lastly, try not to get attached to any player or have perceived notions about the ability or players. League is different and understanding value and production is important.
New York: - First thing I'd tell a new GM is to read and look around the forum because while I know some feel the committee is usually slacking, there have been quite a few threads put together that I find useful for a GM that is just getting started. I know for a fact some of the guys i've mentored have gotten good use out of threads made by Minnesota, Cairo and others for sure.
- Ask questions and don't be afraid to speak with other GMs. One of the biggest things in getting used to the league is getting familiar with how things happen and with the other GMs. Don't be afraid to ask questions because while it seems routine to some of us, there is a lot of stuff going on around the league and even stuff like the check in threads can throw newer GMs off if they aren't talking with anyone. I always tell the guys i'm mentoring that I'm always around for the most part so make sure if you have a question to ask it because i'll try my best to help you out.
- Be patient. One of the worst things a GM can do is just rush out of the gate trying to make move after move from the beginning. It's something I tried to do when I first started and it's something I have had to talk with newer GMs about multiple times. There will be plenty of time to put your mark on your team but you should learn the league regarding value and such first because we've seen GMs put themselves in rough situations by trying to rush into things. I know we have the 1 week ban for moves but some don't take advantage of that. Use that time to figure things out and I guarantee you'll be better off in the end.
Perth: The first piece of advice is a broad piece of advice, but its the most important and that is to be patient. This doesn't even just apply to completely new GMs. How many times have we seen a GM come into the league, new or returning, and try to make moves immediately. Typically they get hosed in whatever move comes first. Take a broad look at the league before doing anything drastic.
Next piece of advice and this falls a lot on the mentor as well, is develop a relationship with a couple of GMs that you trust. While I do not believe every trade should be run by other GMs, it never hurts to have a couple of guys with a different perspective in order to gather information about prospective moves. Also I believe the best way to improve as a GM without just running a ton of solo simulations is through conversations with fellow GMs.
Third piece of advice is to keep your own picks. This kind of goes with number 1, but you are a new GM here and your value of players and assets is going to be off at the beginning. Take a season to assess the league before doing something like trading your picks in order to "compete". Nothing kills a new GMs interest in the league more than having an uncompetitive team without its picks. While there have been success stories of GMs trading their picks quickly and sticking it out, I'm looking at you New York, we've had a lot more horror stories and I know it isnt easy to fill these spots when you have to sell a garbage team that is barren of assets to a prospective GM.
Portland: Always get advice from two other gm’s before making a trade, but be careful about who you ask. Don’t assume a guy has your best interests at heart, even if he’s a successful gm. Over time you’ll learn who to trust, and it will definitely take some time. Also if you feel you’ve carefully thought out your reason for making a deal, don’t be afraid to buck the advice. It’s your team! Another gm isn’t going to weigh the pros and cons of a deal to the extent you may have; they may not see the picture you see.
Ask for advice on your game plan. I consider myself a good game planner but still love to hear the opinions of other gms. Hanging out on Slack gives you plenty of useful tips. Too many gm’s think they can trade their way to a title just by acquiring the best possible talent, but I’d say 40% of your success comes from matching your game plan well to that talent.
Do everything you can to avoid making work for the commissioner: Ask questions of the board members before taking them to the commish; get your dc’s in on time; post your trades properly; understand the roster limits; know what your cap situation is at all times.
Graders Thoughts: Seems like virtually everyone hits on 3 main points - don't trade (your picks) right away, talk to people/learn the league, and be patient with your plan. All great advice. Portland goes a little further and says to not trust everyone and I think that's sound advice when it comes to talking trades. Moscow's was a little short and while it covered the main points of the others perhaps missed some of the nuance that could have been benefical. I think discussing style of play would have been useful to a new GM building a team and making the right moves. Maybe some of you meant that when you say talk to others but that's a little vague.
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 4
Cairo - 4
Moscow - 3
New York - 4
Perth - 4
Portland - 5
2. There have been a lot of big trades in season so far this year. Which team do you think has done the best job of improving?
Brazil: For me, it depends on the way you look at it- whether you mean for the future or for this season. For the future, I like what New York and Piraeus have done in stockpiling young assets (in NY's case), and a ton of picks (in Piraeus's case). For this season- I like what Moscow did in getting Horford- no one can explain why Moscow is doing so well so far, but needless to say the ability to bring a guy like Horford off the bench at the 3/4/5 is a HUGE luxury with him still getting over 30 minutes a game. Even if they don't get a PG, if they keep playing like they are now- they'll be a tough out. One move I really loved- the Bulls dumping Conley for Modestas. I get the reasoning for San Fran at the time, and I still understand it, but that contract is terrible. Even if Conley does have a good TC or something- he'll still be only a decent PG, and that's not the amount of money I'd want to pay a "decent" PG. One more team I wanted to mention- I like what Boston has been doing- Grabbing Ewing was a massive move for the franchise, and honestly they didn't give up as much as I thought someone would have to to get Ewing. If Chris Paul can figure out how to get his percentages up, they'll be literally unstoppable. Even if he keeps shooting like that, though, they're a tough team to beat.
Cairo: Well I like what Moscow has gone and done. Yes they have overachieved so far this year and have used some out of the box thinking with their game plan to do so but they add a guy who is both very talented and fits their ages in Horford and I liked that move for them now and in the future. I think they are well positioned with Horford, MKG, and Kiki to be a pretty interesting and formidable team long term.
Moscow: While I didn’t like every move for the Grizz, have to love the trio in the backcourt. Michael Jordan is a top 2 player with Chuck and Hill is really good at a position that doesn’t have a ton of talent. He’s done a great job of setting team up to win now and down the road.
New York:
- Well if you are talking in season then it can't be the obvious answer which is Boston even though I believe his Ewing trade happened in season and that was the best move for a team this season (if we are including him then he's the obvious answer). Outside of him I love what Cairo did this season. He took a team that was stuck in the middle of the pack and added a star to his team in Mel Daniels and since that time they've went about 14-5 or something of that nature and that's with a shaky sim recently along with 12 of their games being on the road since the trade. They are a legit title contender. So Boston if he's allowed since he took a team that was a horrible team last year and added Ewing (his best player now) and is a title contender and if not him Cairo for the reasons mentioned.
Perth:
As far as improving the team in the current state I am a fan of what Cairo did in adding Mel Daniels the most. Trading what was described a as a bucket of meh/yuck(still being debated) for a top big man in the league has made him into a true contender, giving him what I consider the best trio in the league. While his team is certainly still top heavy, he has paired the best PG in the league with a top shooting guard and an elite big man and I'll take that anyday of the week. He looks to me to be one player away from being the title favorite in my mind.
Portland: The Supersonics. They’ve made the aggressive moves to position themselves for a playoff push, supplementing the superb KC Jones by bringing in Clyde Frazier, Paul Westphal, and young Dario Saric. It cost them a useful piece in Dimitris Diamantidis, the fading Vern Mikkelsen, and an ’05 first rounder… all of which were worth sacrificing in my opinion to get the current unit together. Their last sim indicates they’re beginning to gel.
Graders Thoughts: You are all wrong. Minnesota was the right answer. Trading Ewing/Belov/Guy for Zoran/Smart/Ostertag/Spurs 04/Aoshen 04 trumps all other moves. Better squad than last year, bigger window, and still assets to move or use for low contract talent for 4 years. Talk about stockpiling picks (Piraeus) or building for now (Cairo) but the Wolves are doing it all. You all lose this one. For shame.
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 1
Cairo - 1
Moscow - 1
New York - 1
Perth - 1
Portland - 1
3. Roughly a third of the way through the season, list your top three title favorites from each conference and briefly address why you think each team is among the favorites.
Brazil: American:
1) Bulls- if Barkley can stay healthy they're as good as any team in the league.
2) Celtics- The Paul/Ewing combo is something else- again Paul's percentages suck, but overall their team is really really good. I really like that team in the playoffs.
3) Boca Juniors- I'm a fan of Durant and Malone, even if KD's declining a bit for some reason. UPM is a nice player if Cro can figure out how to utilize him correctly. To me, they're a better team that teams like Minnesota- although Minny had a strong case for me since it's still John running this team and they have KG and Wiggins and Smart. I just like Buenos Aires a bit better.
Eurasia:
1) Maccabi Tel Aviv- Defending champs- you can never count them out. Maybe the best offensive team in the league- Strong all-around and Baylor is a beast.
2) Cairo- Stockton/Sam Jones/Mel. That's a pretty formidable trio. Even Greg Minor is putting up decent stats. They'll be a hard out in the playoffs.
3) Moscow- Heck, why not? There's a bunch of teams that could have made the case here, and they all might have better arguments, but whatever they're doing in Moscow is working. Kiki was a steal in the draft, they've got Horford coming off the bench, and MKG has been great at PG somehow. They're a pretty solid team all-around, and if it keeps working, they've got as good a shot as anyone.
Cairo: In the Americas I am going to say Minnesota, Chicago and Boston. Minnesota has oodles of talent and a GM that has a track record of winning in the post season. They are young, athletic and skilled. The Bulls have added more depth around the best player in the game in Barkley and also have a GM with a proven record of success here and in Legends. Boston is a bit of a wildcard for me. I am not convinced their pieces fit together all that well, but the talent is there and they are right up despite having missed their starting SG the whole year.
In Eurasia it starts with Tel Aviv because as slackbot has taught us to be the man you gotta beat the man! Depth, proven track record and a GM who slides under the radar in terms of quality. Auckland is my next choice. It feels like teams have just forgotten about Auckland but they are right there in the division, have played a road heavy schedule (5 more Road than Home games) and I think will start clicking shortly. Finally I will say my Cairo squad. We still have some things to sort out and my Center situation gives me a bit of pause considering some of the teams I may face in the playoffs. We have a big three and better overall depth than I think people think.
Moscow: - In the America’s, the top 3 candidates are Minnesota, Buenos Aires, and Chicago to me. While 3-4 other teams could make a case you have to like how complete these 3 are. Minnesota has a couple stars, Buenos Aires has front court to matchup and Chicago still has Chuck who is due.
- In Eurasia, I like Tel Aviv, Cairo, and Mikawa as the leaders. Tel Aviv got better after winning a title, Cairo has one of the best top 3’s and Mikawa finally has wings to add to his bigs and knows how to win in the playoffs.
New York:
- Cairo: Since acquiring Mel Daniels this team has won over 70% of their games and that is with them playing 66.6% of their games on the road. This team has three all-stars and are looking really good so they are a favorite for the title.
- Maccabi: I mean they are the champs and are currently in the #1 spot for Eurasia right now with the best defense in the league and unlike last year where they were 20th they are 5th in the league offensively. If this team was able to win a title with an elite defense and bad offense last year then you would be insane not to list them when they are elite offensively and defensively this year.
- Milan: This might be a headscratcher but this is the best team in the league offensively and they are flying under the radar a bit. In their last 20 they have won 70% of their game and while I know some don't buy their GM, this is a GM that has shown he can succeed back in Legends if he doesn't get in his own way. In their 14 wins over the last 20 they have outscored their opponents by 17+ PPG. I think there are some good teams such as CSKA, KK Partizan, Mikawa, and Auckland but I think this team could be there in the conference finals with one of the above teams for sure.
- Timberwolves: The teams around them in America have continued to shuffle back and forth but this is the team that has been consistently great this year in America. KG at the Center position has put him in position to finally become a legit top 5 superstar in the league and with a supporting cast of Wiggins, Zoran (elite defensively) and Smart it's hard to see this team losing early in the playoffs.
- Bulls: This team has the best player in not only America but the league. While they've been sliding a bit recently this team at one point was on a 20 game win streak! If that doesn't get them onto this list then I don't know what will. They've disappointed in the playoffs so far in Legends but I wouldn't be shocked if this was this team's year.
- Celtics: Patrick Ewing has this team much further along than they were last season and I think while this team similar to every team in America (besides Minnesota) has been inconsistent I think you have to put them in that third spot for the conference.
Perth: I'll start with Eurasia. As I just gushed over Cairo, it is pretty clear he is a favorite to me, not THE favorite without one more player, but certainly one of them due to his trio. Next is my favorite from the conference, the defending champion Tel Aviv squad. The team that came out of nowhere last year has kept on trucking this year lead by the perfectly complementary duo of Ben Wallace and Elgin Baylor. Elgin will do the scoring and Ben will do the stopping and it works. Also I love Israel. My third answer, although he is barely in the playoffs right now, is Mikawa. His teams over the last few years have been notorious for skating by and then turning it up in the playoffs. Idk if he intentionally plays possum, I personally think its bc hes secretly the creator of the game and wants to throw us off his scent, but he always seems to be there.
Now in America. First off is Minnesota. The only time he's not in the top 3 contenders in his conference is the first season of every league and guess what, its the third season, so hes a monster contender. I still hate him for hoarding KG and Wiggins, but thats just sour grapes.(GIVE ME TOWNS!!!!!!) Ugh, I really hate the rest of this conference and I dont want to just crown John right now, but it feels like the way the East in the NBA has over the last few years, whereas theres its inevitable LeBron makes the finals, here it seems to be the same way for John. Gun to my head I have to choose 2 more teams, I would go with Vancouver and Chicago. If Chris Pauls shot didnt look so shitty, I would have the Celtics, but rn I will go with Chicago, because they still have the bowling ball known as Barkley and the Modestas and Fernando addition was nice, and Vancouver because I like how their team looks after making a few trades, plus MJ.
Portland:Minnesota Timberwolves, American. They have a seasoned gm with a pedigree of titles, they have Red Auerbach coaching the games, and they have a lot of players in their prime. Kevin Garnett is the straw that stirs the drink.
Chicago Bulls, American. They’re hungry with an axe to grind over last season's unexpected exit, and they have a healthy-for-now Sir Charles. Martin and Paulauskas flesh the team out nicely.
Mexico City Titans, American. Perhaps not the logical #3 but the veteran hand guiding the franchise is in my opinion less likely to panic down the stretch than some others. They’ve been beating the teams they’re supposed to beat.
Tel Aviv Maccabi, Eurasia. They run the same guys out there each sim, don’t seem to make a lot of crazy-ass experiments, and other than turnovers have no major weakness. Very stable franchise.
Milano Olimpia, Eurasia. Maybe too young to stay in the thick of things, but their youth doesn’t look too intimidated by their elders. I see them getting a high seed.
Auckland Breakers, Eurasia. A well-rounded squad which is efficient on both ends. McAdoo and Korac are a load down low and are enough to carry the team when healthy.
Graders Thoughts: New York bought legit arguments backed up by stats. That's good stuff. They win for that. The rest I split up based on how well I thought the arguments were made. Brazil - how do you leave the team with the best win % off the list? Wouldn't have been significantly higher than 2nd had the Wolves not lost 3 in a row. Moscow didn't really support their statements.
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 2
Cairo - 4
Moscow - 1
New York - 5
Perth - 4
Portland - 3
4. If you could add one rule to the league what would it be and why?
Brazil: Hmmm. Tough question since I haven't been here for as long as others. Personally, I'd like to see us toughen up the trade-back players rule- I saw one player this offseason (can't remember who) get traded back and forth between a team after like a week in real time- I know it's technically allowable in the rules, and I don't think they did it with any intention of skirting the system, I just personally would like to see that rule clarified a bit better, maybe put a 60 sim day or one month real time or some kind of time limit on trading back for that player with the same team you traded him to (if he's been traded to a 3rd team and you trade for him there, that's totally fine with me).
Cairo: The rule that I would add is pretty simple. Players cannot be traded back to a team they were traded from in the same season. There has been a big increase of this in recent years. One it just isn’t realistic and two it actually is not allowed under NBA rules (www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q100)
A team cannot reacquire a player they traded away during that season (a season being July 1 - June 30). If he is waived by his new team, then he cannot re-sign with his original team until the one-year anniversary of the trade, or until the July 1 following the end of his contract, whichever comes first. However, if a team trades a player's draft rights, they can reacquire the player during the same season.
Granted there are some other NBA Rules that we ignored when it comes to trading like that a player that has signed as a free agent or signed an extension or the rule that we have disabled about players not being eligible to be traded for a certain number of days after being traded. However, I don’t think those rules potentially impact the balance of the league and feel that enforcing the rule about players being traded back in the same season would be a benefit to the league and cut out some of the silly back and forth swapping that has become increasingly popular.
Moscow: Really, I like where the league is at the moment. If I were adding a rule, it would have to be something involving the moving of players back to a team who dealt them. This is a reach and a rule I’ve seen elsewhere. It limits trades to a degree but could actually open up people to new trade partners as well. Honestly, don’t see any new rule that is super needed.
New York:
New York did not submit an answer for Question #4
Perth: Can we ban teams from having specific trade partners? No? Alright I guess I have to say something else. Personally, I dont see many rules that I really disagree with. I was never a huge fan of the anti-tanking rule and definitely have always been a fan of the draft board so Im not gonna say the wave system like some others may. I do think there is a possibility that a not being allowed to draft in the top 5 two straight years could be a thing, but if theres one rule I think should be instituted its that if you dont have the game there should be limits on FA bids. I absolutely hate entering bids in WITH the game, so I dont think its fair to force John to enter 100 bids in especially when a majority of them arent even going to be close. Sure this hamstrings teams without the game, but it will also motivate them to go and get the game. I know when I didnt have the game I tried to limit my bids as I felt bad. I also tried to limit the amount of DCs I forced John to enter in manually, because its a pain in the ass and he does enough for us already.
Portland: really had to think about this because I feel the league rules aren’t in need of tinkering. Personally I would make the anti-tanking rules more draconian (I hate tankers) but I know that wouldn’t be popular among the gms. I recognize the “if you’re gonna suck, suck hard” mentality is a sign of the times in most professional sports, and if the fan bases don’t revolt I suppose it won’t stop. So why should it in the ABCA, I guess.
Graders Thoughts: Most of you went with the No-Trade-Backs idea which is something that I think people would like looked into. Fair enough - that argument was made well by 3-4 people. Portland suggests that Tanking happens in the NBA perhaps it should be allowed here too. I think Cairo argued the best and supported it with CBA Facts (see what I did there?) which is appreciated. I thought Perth had some interesting ideas but wasn't really sure how to impliment a No-Bottom-5-Twice-In-A-Row idea.
Umm, NY, WTF?!
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 3
Cairo - 4
Moscow - 3
New York - 0
Perth - 2
Portland - 3
5. If you could add one feature to the game what would it be and why?
Brazil: That it would work on a Mac without having to buy Paralells and a Windows OS. -_- Seriously though- that's where half my issues are- I have to get screenshots from everyone else because I don't have a copy of the game. It sucks. So in terms of features- I'm probably the wrong one to ask since I don't actually have a copy of the game. In terms of the exports/game- I know it'd be awesome if there was a way to export and see "chunk" stats from each sim- see how each player did during the sim. I know JSB had a way to do that that we utilized in the IBL with the help of some of our tech-savvy members that worked in Silicon Valley. It'd just be a neat feature.
Cairo: I would enable the ability to freely negotiate with all of your upcoming free agents. Maybe they will still be bound to test Free Agency but without RFA, which I think would be a bit messy to do in a sim league in terms of structuring the off season sims, I think I should be able to offer any of my guys an offer. For example I would totally max Stockton and Mel right now and if they take it great. If not I guess I would have to think harder about trading them etc. The way it works currently you do not get any sense of it they will come back, other than as a general rule guys don’t turn full maxes from their current team. I have heard talk of ideally it being limited to say 3 offers per player and that would work for me. It would be great if it worked like Out of the Park Baseball and if you low balled a player too many times, they would inform you that they are headed to Free Agency and plan to sign with another team. I think this would make an interesting dynamic and of course it would have to re-set if a player was traded in season.
Moscow: Most people would want restricted free agency as an option and I am no different. Guys coming off their rookie deals shouldn’t be able to go elsewhere freely unless the team denies the deal. Now, this would mean cap holds would have to come into play and that’s a bi-product of this. Quite frankly, there are a ton of features as someone who knows the CBA pretty well that I’d like to see but most importantly would be the ability to have restricted free agents.
New York: We discussed this in length in the Slack chat but I would really like to see the re-signing process for players revamped. Obviously this would mainly cover the in season re-signings and i'll try to go over what I'd like to see. First off, everyone is willing to at least discuss an extension. This is closer to real life because lets be honest you aren't going to have a guy just completely ignore their home team if they put a max offer on the table, he may not sign but he'll at least consider it. If you did want to make it where some guys won't re-sign then have it tied to the happiness thing because right now that has no real use or effect in game. There is no reason a guy that is the star player on an elite team that is in contention for a title decides he won't even listen to an offer. Now the next thing would be that right now you can negotiate with a player from sim 2 till the end of the playoffs and no matter how many times you low ball them you can still not only get them to re-sign but get a discount that if you know the percentages will never change from player to player. That should change, you should only get so many chances to negotiate with a player before they just decide to test Free Agency (maybe 3 times). If in real life Lebron James was offering a minimum contract over and over, he's not going to continue to just negotiate with a team that he feels isn't offering him what he is worth. As for what a player is willing to sign for, that can be tied to 3 more ratings that currently have no real use and that's loyalty, greed, play for winner. If a guy is greedy then maybe he is only willing to take a max contract and nothing less, if a guy is loyal he may take a bit of a paycut (the amount could change based on how high their loyalty is) if it is a team they've been with for a while, if a guy wants to play for a winner then they may be willing to give a discount of some sort to a team that is clearly a playoff/title team. This was longer than I expected and I didn't go over everything but I think most would agree that this re-signing setup would be a lot more interesting and less random than what we currently have in place.
Perth: This one is easy for me and that would be Mac compatibility. I just wanna use the game on my real computer without having to use parallels or use this crappy old pc I have. Just make it nice and easy for me
. As far as things that are actually functions of the game and not just how it can be used I would say that it would be to have restricted free agency. It is a prominent factor in NBA free agency and something that could add an interesting wrinkle to the league. To see the types of poison pill contracts handed out a la Jeremy Lin would be interesting, especially with the animosity between some of the GMs in the league.Portland: I wish the entire contract negotiation and free agency process would get revamped. Restricted FA is direly needed. Too many marginal stars get maxed because gm’s don’t know what’s going on in their players' heads or behind the scenes in the market. Not wanting to get stranded by these players leaving gms just throw money at them. It’s not realistic as-is, and I personally don’t find FA much fun. It should be one of the most exciting periods of the season.
Graders Thoughts: Wow - 2 "MAKE IT NATIVE FOR MAC" arguments. TBH - they are all GREAT suggestions. We need it available on all OS, we need RFA, and we should ne able to offer loads of money at a guy who will ask for 7 mil in FA. I like Cairo's suggestion of limiting how many times you can go back to the well during re-signing negotiations. I can't find fault with any of this.
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 5
Cairo - 5
Moscow - 5
New York - 5
Perth - 5
Portland - 5
6. There is a potential for there to be another committee member election soon. If there is who do you think would make a good candidate and why. You can choose yourself, another or list multiple people.
Brazil: Me of course! I was a committee member in Global, and I did a fantastic job, if I do say so myself. :simple_smile: No, but seriously, there are a lot of deserving candidates. The work Belgrade did with the Mobile Pages makes him a candidate in my eyes. And Seer is always a fun committee member. He's been around for forever, so maybe he would want to do it. I don't know. I'm sure he has an appropriate emoji response for this.
Cairo: Well in lieu of Corey making a triumph return this is a pretty tough question for me, but not due to a lack of quality candidates. I can think of 4 or 5 guys who I think would add something of value to the committee. Before I name my choices for good candidates I think sometimes people think that the Committee is really just about the occasional making rules and other kind of big picture stuff. That is certainly a part of it but each member also has additional duties, in my case managing PP among other things and these seemingly small tasks are what help the league continue to run as smoothly as it does. That means it doesn’t necessarily have to be my favorite person but can be somebody that I think will add a lot to the league, will be around for the long haul and has an educated opinion about things. There are several candidates I think best fit this criteria for me in the league right now and they are in alphabetical order Beijing, Guangdong, San Francisco and Vancouver. Beijing really impressed me last election cycle with his ideas and trying to work with everybody on things. It doesn’t hurt that I enjoy talking with him and he has been with the league for a long time. Guangdong, while Seer is well know, I think he would add levity to the committee when debates got heated and he seems like an overall good dude who would ask qs the committee might not think of, provide that unique perspective and he has been around the league for a long time. San Francisco is new but I like how active he has been in the league and how many good questions he asks of many of us. I have seen his work in another league and there is a consistency to his interactions that I like. I would be remiss to not mention Brazil is another new GM who I have been impressed with so far. Lastly there is Vancouver. It is no secret that Vancouver and I don’t always get along and sometimes get into it a little bit but in terms of knowledge of the game, commitment to the league and will debate things. It is these qualities that actually make me think he would be a very good candidate and he is the guy I would hope runs if there is another election that I think would add an interesting dynamic to the current mix. In my opinion all of these guys would be strong candidates, worthy of my vote.
Moscow: Let’s choose me for arguments sake here. There is likely nobody as active in the boards + slack as I am and with Corey as the GM gone, the committee could use someone who likes to make decisions quick and is not really worried how it affects other committee members. Not saying that occurs with the group but there is little doubt Corey was one of the members who thought independently and often acted that way as well. Plus, who doesn’t like a good redemption story. We have a community of members who love movies and 95% of those are happy endings. Let’s make this next committee vote a redemption story for the ages!
New York: As much as I figure he's not really into the idea at this point, i'd love to see Seer return to the committee. One thing I try to do as a committee member is communicate respectfully with the rest of the committee and league members because at the end of the day we are all just in the league to have fun and sometimes I think that gets lost on some GMs (myself included because I won't pretend that I don't get frustrated at times and slip up). With Seer I don't always agree with every point he makes but when he goes about making his point it never comes off as him feeling like he's smarter (or better) than anyone he is having a discussion with so I am always willing to at least consider what he says. Now I assume mentioning Seer might be too Kliq'y (not sure what I was going for there) even though I'm unsure who is exactly in the Kliq so another couple of options would be Chicago, Perth and Beijing. Some have been around for a while and some haven't and I know the long standing members are the popular candidates here but I don't think that matters because for example someone like Chicago hasn't been around super long but much like Seer if you look at his contributions to things when an issue or debate comes up, his responses and input is always helpful but also respectful and I think that is a key attribute for the next committee member (if there is one) to have.
Perth: Can my answer be anyone but Beijing? I think theres a few good options including Beijing that sucker. Besides him, I think myself and Piraeus would both be good options, but I think theres someone who combines mine and his traits and would be the best option for the job...Vancouver. I know I know, this answer wont win me the question and I'm sure its the committees biggest nightmare, but personal issues aside its tough to argue him as a good candidate. He has never left and is always one of the most active members of the league. Annoying or not he brings a different viewpoint to the committee that I think would be refreshing. He is knowledgable about the game and passionate as well even if it causes him to harass trade victims. And no one could ever say the committee is a "Kliq" again if their most hated person is on it. Mostly I just think hes a refreshing viewpoint that can represent some of the underrepresented GMs in the league.
Portland: There are several good candidates; I would like to see Piraeus on the committee because he’s one of the ‘voices of reason’ on the boards and Slack, from my perspective. Very important to me that board members aren’t just recycled; I would prefer some new blood to mix with the core veterans.
Graders Thoughts: First, saying things like "there is little doubt Corey was one of the members who thought independently (on the committee) and often acted that way as well" shows that you don't know what you're talking about and it's pretty disrespectful, Moscow. There were 7 (currently 6) very independent and thoughtful GMs trying to make the best decisions for the LEAGUE. No one cares about their own team or any other team on the committee. That's ridiculous.
Second, Brazil you can't suggest Belgrade and suggest us to take the rest of your post seriously
The work he has done for us on the mobile site (and former sortable pages) has been great but godsgift had a couple of shaky prior stints here. I think he is doing great this time around but probably needs to put in a little more time before getting serious consideration here. I think he'd probably agree with that. Who knows though, you might be on the cutting edge and the rest of us aren't seeing it yet 
Seriously thrilled though the GG is winning some games - what was happening for him in Legends was some bad voodoo.Finally, there seems to be a lot of support for Beijing and Guangdong on these ballots which I think is great. Both guys (whether they'd be interested in being on the committee or not) have been good for the league. Seer's been on the committee in the past and is the longest running member of any sim I've run. One of the easiest to get along with straightshooters you'll find. We all <3 Seer, amirite?
What really shocks me is the league-wide love for Beijing during/since the last committee vote. He really pushed the other nominees and responded well in that nominee roundtable. I think that illustrates how someone can gain respect in this league. Beijing wouldn't have made anyone's top 15 list for members of the dreaded "Kliq" (and no doubt if he gets into the committee it'll be 2 months before he's viewed as a lifetime member) but his dedication and respectful approach to things have made him a true contender for this spot.
Grades (1-5 Points):
Brazil - 3
Cairo - 5
Moscow - 1
New York - 5
Perth - 4
Portland - 3
Final Standings
First Place (100 PP Bonus): Cairo (23)
Second Place (75 PP Bonus): Portland (20) *TIE*
Second Place (75 PP Bonus): New York (20) *TIE*
Second Place (75 PP Bonus): Perth (20) *TIE*
Fifth Place: Brazil (18)
Sixth Place: Moscow (14)
Best Answer (50 PP Bonus) - PORTLAND "Question 1" (There were a lot of great little tidbits in this roundtable but I think what's he is saying just had the right mix of truth, insight, and getting to the point. Good job!)
