Post by Sarawak on Mar 10, 2016 1:17:37 GMT
Roundtable Questions
@minnesota is going to be the grader and not participate. 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.
Cairo gets 100 points for organizing and -100 points for it taking so damn long so no points for me.
The Participants were
Moscow
Los Angeles
Perth
Piraeus
1. What is your preferred way to build a team? Without giving away all your secrets, what do you look for in players and why?
CSKA: - Clearly based on my past, my favorite way to build is around a team that can shoot it. It’s such a difficult thing to defend or gameplan around when a team is balanced from the outside. Recently I’ve been leaning the way of defense and athleticism with the idea of pushing the pace. I’d like to get as many scoring opportunities as I can (especially easy buckets) with the thought that the other team won’t be able to keep up with the athletes or defend as well. Size helps as well as we saw in the playoffs with my run. Being able to have an advantage at multiple positions is crucial. For me, there are a few things I look for. I’d prefer to limit turnovers and get to the rim. In theory, if I can make more FT than you attempt and take more shots… there is very little you can do to win. The easiest way to accomplish that is to rebound and win the turnover margin. So without giving away every secret, I look for players who I know won’t be too big of a hindrance in certain areas but can have a distinct advantage in aspects of the game.
Los Angeles: I like to have my best defender be the big man inside; a rim protector and shot blocker who's both mobile and strong, and cleans up the boards really well. I'm fortunate to have Bill inside playing that roll, and cannot think of anyone else I'd rather have on my young, up and coming team to fill that role of defensive anchor inside; he's surrounded with shooters with unlimited range and who know how to get hot real quick. To be perfectly honest, this was not the original plan for my team, when I was building around Bill and Dame, but I decided to go for it once I was on the clock at #7 and had multiple options. In the end, I went for what I thought may be the most fun. Free agency definitely helped me solidify the identity I opted for during the draft. I think this small-ball lineup of TB-Lillard-Rimas-Mullin-Russell will be plenty of fun; yes, there is a chance it may not work very well, but hey, gotta try first right? I have high hopes for it and think it will produce real well on offense especially, considering Bill will not struggle inside if the need arises.
Perth: If you looked at my history you would probably assume that I like to build my teams from the inside out and you would sort of be correct. The thing is when acquiring Wilt, Hakeem, McAdoo in the past it has more been that they were the best players available at the time, they just all happened to be bigs. Certain things I like include defensive versatility in order to play match ups in the playoffs and when you are able to find a guy at either a position that is scarce throughout the league or has a skill, like 3 point shooting, that is scarce around the league. Qhwn it comes down to it, I have no preferred way to build a team because things don't go the ideal perfect way, you have to react and adjust to whatever comes at you and do what you think is best for your team.
Piraeus: I always try to draft a cornerstone in the creation draft and then the best “win-now” talent to compete for a title in the early seasons. I feel like I am more effective than others at this strategy. This worked in Legends as well as it could, but didn’t work as well in Ultimate – primarily because I chose the wrong cornerstone in Karl Malone. More on that below. Ideally, I will win for 3-5 seasons and then rebuild either by landing a young star in a trade, or having 1-2 really bad years to gain elite talent. I hate being in the middle of the standings and you will never see a team coached by me at 41-41 unless it is full of young talent and I’m trying to win.
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus -
2. Do you have a preferred style of play? If so what is it? If not what is your approach instead when it comes to gameplanning?
CSKA: - Well, I believe I answered my style of play in the way I build a team which should say a lot. When you’ve got two bigs who can’t shoot or pass and two wings that can really only shoot, you’d think you have a good mix but in truth are killing your team. Your roster should have 2 to 3 things in common (regardless of what they are) so you can focus in those areas. Being a jack of all trades instead of dominating certain areas of the game is bad. For me, I like to push the pace regardless of whether it is defensive or offensive focused so I need to have either the athletes to make that happen or good enough shooters to take advantage of the shots taken. Preferably I am pushing the pace with athletes who can shoot and defend but well, a dream is a dream.
Los Angeles: (Answered one and two in combo...) I like to have my best defender be the big man inside; a rim protector and shot blocker who's both mobile and strong, and cleans up the boards really well. I'm fortunate to have Bill inside playing that roll, and cannot think of anyone else I'd rather have on my young, up and coming team to fill that role of defensive anchor inside; he's surrounded with shooters with unlimited range and who know how to get hot real quick. To be perfectly honest, this was not the original plan for my team, when I was building around Bill and Dame, but I decided to go for it once I was on the clock at #7 and had multiple options. In the end, I went for what I thought may be the most fun. Free agency definitely helped me solidify the identity I opted for during the draft. I think this small-ball lineup of TB-Lillard-Rimas-Mullin-Russell will be plenty of fun; yes, there is a chance it may not work very well, but hey, gotta try first right? I have high hopes for it and think it will produce real well on offense especially, considering Bill will not struggle inside if the need arises.
Perth: Similar to my answer to question 1, you always have to read and react to the situation at hand, not every team can play the same way. Ideally, I like to score a lot of points. Based of personnel I haven't always had the best shooting teams, but my teams have generally drawn a ton of free throws. The fast pace, combined with strong offensive scorers like Legends Hakeem, made that easier. But once we came here, my personnel dictated a different type of play and I have been a slower defensive team, even if I am still inside focused. I think you have to be like Pat Riley and craft your style to the players you have and the games your playing. One decade your Showtime the next your the Bully Knicks.
Piraeus: My preferred way is with defense and smart shooting. Very similar to Darryl Morey’s philosophy on offense. I value players who can attack the basket to draw fouls, or how light up the three point line. I try to avoid mid-range shots until I drafted Karl Malone and realized I had to embrace that style. Setting my offense to balanced along with a few other changes improved our offensive efficiency, but it’s not my ideal style. On defense, I always value players who are strong at creating turnovers. I complement this type of defense with a man defense or a help defense depending on my personnel.
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus -
3. Who are your way too early top 3 contenders in each conference to make the league finals?
CSKA: - America: Minnesota, Boston, New York. Yes, three very obvious candidates. Boston is the defending champion so you must give him the nod. Minnesota has as legit of a starting five that exists and the depth is solid behind it. New York is one of the more defensive teams and has loads of depth across the two deep.
- Eurasia: Tel Aviv, Cairo, Mikawa. Again with the obvious choices. Tel Aviv got better after losing in the finals and may be overall frontrunner. Cairo has a giant three and plans on making it a four with Greg Minor. Mikawa has the pieces and knowledge to make it and there aren’t many other good options. Xman at the four is scary.
Los Angeles: 3. In America, the Timberwolves led by young KG and Wiggins, the Grizzlies led by GOAT and Hill, and of course, moi, mostly because I'm hopeful haha. Maybe the Bocas.
Eurasia? Can't really bet against Maccabi for obvious reasons, Partizan with the young big in Bynum and Dream alongside him, Joe and Andy in the backcourt, and I think I'll go Shaq, Sheed and Deron in Milano.
Perth: I will start in Eurasia where there is a clear favorite to return to the finals for the 3rd straight year. Talk about an absolute home run of a free agency, able to sign Dr. J away from Harlem, before resigning PLM. This defensive juggernaut just added a lot more firepower after an upsetting finals loss. They slot the all around game of Dr. J in between the defensive force of Ben Wallace and the offensive force of Elgin Baylor. Outside of Tel Aviv I don't love the top outlook of this conference, but by process of elimination I have it down to four teams. Of these teams I am going to go with Cairo Zamalek and Barcelona Regal. Cairo I am going with because of their insane backcourt and the fact that John Stockton is an incredible point guard in a league severely lacking of them. Jones should only grow as a scorer and they have the inside presence in Mel Daniels to keep teams honest. There are depth concerns here, but they have the backcourt to do it. The other team I picked goes with the opposite approach of Cairo and is built around their stacked front court of George Mikan and Kevin McHale. I definitely caveat this with the fact that I've never seen the GM prove himself as a game planner, as opposed to the two teams, Mikawa and Moscow, I chose him over which I've seen their GMs put together championship game plans, and also that I think they are a little help short of being a true contender, but they have the assets to add.
In the Americas there are two extremely easy picks imo. We have the defending champion Boston Celtics, who have done nothing to make us think they're going to have a championship hangover. It is not just Chris Paul and Patrick Ewing as there is talent all over this team, with Jason Richardson and now sophomore stud, Alonzo Mourning making significant contributions to the team. This team will only get better as their young studs grow. The other easy choice is one that is almost always easy, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rarely is John not an answer to this question, but he established himself as a lynchpin of this league with his Kevin Garnett and Andrew Wiggins duo. Like his foes from Beantown, this is not a two man team, with a fantastic supporting cast of Zoran Slavnic, Marcus Smart amongst others. I did not love any third team from this conference, but once again used process of elimination to get my last team and landed on the Douchecouver Grizzlies. DD, MJ, and Hill form a potent trio and I've seen this GM consistently bring his teams far and add talent.
Piraeus: Tel Aviv Maccabi is the prohibitive favorite with their acquisition of Erving. I really don’t see any big challenges to them reaching the finals for a third season. Despite not making many moves, I like Cairo’s core of Stockton/Jones/Daniels, but I think they fall short of the conference finals to my third team, Madrid. I don’t really like what some of the other contenders did (or didn’t do) in the offseason, e.g. Milan, Mikawa, Auckland, so I’ll go with Madrid. They addressed their biggest issue, depth, by adding Mikkelsen, Longley, and Anthony. I like them to reach the conference finals, losing to Tel Aviv.
In the Americas, I believe the competition is much stronger. I like Boston as the season opening favorite, given their run to the title and the expected improvement of all of their guys. However, I don’t think you can count of Minnesota, as I believe KG is going to make a huge jump this year and John is always on point. Kirkland and Lee Wilkins are some under the radar signings that add depth. Finally, I’ll go with the Knicks. They look deeper than anyone in the league, and they got a steal I regrettably passed on in Larry Nance as well as supremely underrated Archie Clark. It would not surprise me to see one or both getting some starts this year. I expect Minnesota to prevail over Boston and face Maccabi in the title gam
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus -
4. If you could start your franchise with one player in the league right now, who would that player be and why? Disregard salary.
CSKA: Charles Barkley. Three seasons in and three MVPs. Yes he is 28 but that gives me three years to chase a title before worrying about if he declines. Sure, there are young bigs and young guards and even a wing here and there but to not take the three time MVP who has been head and shoulders above everyone else in the league would be bad. I know how to build around him from having him in Legends and winning a title and could easily do so yet again. He has no real slaws and hey, maybe I pour a little PP into his three point shot to see if he can average 40 a game for the season!
Los Angeles: I believe I would start with Isiah. It's hard for me to pick against a young rookie with superstar potential at the point guard position. He'll lead his team in steals and assists and will be a threat to score as well. A do-it-all type of point guard, how can one pass him up? Plug him in any system and he'll thrive just about the same.
Perth: All my Hoosier bias wants me to say Isiah Thomas and justify it with the lack of point guards, some says just have Barkley and enjoy him for the few seasons he has left on top of the world, but after a disappointing run in Legends, this man exploded onto the ABCA scene and put up a dominant rookie season and thats the Big Aristotle, Shaquille O'Neal. This guy has absolute juice and is going to be a terror to stop for years and years to come. A high level offense can be built around this guy no problem and he should eat defenders alive while he grows into the rest of his game. I think Shaq is going to be an MVP candidate for along time without a TC death. Honorable mentions to Isiah, Barkley, Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, Elgin Baylor
Piraeus: Kevin Garnett. He’s just about to hit the risk-free age, is approaching Barkley in terms of how good he is, though he probably won’t quite get there, and signed for a long time. All-league 2nd team and All-league defensive 2nd team. He has some shooting range, great passing, and can guard out to the 3 point line. He’s the most desirable asset in the league in my mind.
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus -
5. From your teams perspective give me what you view as the good, the bad and the ugly of the first sim of Free Agency.
CSKA: - From my team’s point of view… the good was no bad contracts on the roster and that is a stretch. The bad was missing out on a point guard in sim 1 (editor’s note: got one in sim two). The ugly was Tel Aviv adding a superstar to his already frontrunner team. It destroyed my hopes and dreams of overtaking him. Quite frankly, I didn’t like much outside the stars this year so I didn’t mind missing out on things while keeping a clean payroll going forward.
Los Angeles: Free agency was a success for the Lakers as we have not made noise in the offseason until this year. Aside from selecting who I believe to be an excellent point guard in Brandon, we were able to sign Chris Mullin and Rimas Kurtinaitis in an attempt to pursue our aforementioned style of play this year. Both are under 30 and are signed to pretty good contracts, Rimas expiring at the age of 32, post-prime, and Mullin at 31. We also brought in an excellent backup point guard in Shabazz Napier, a young gun with much to prove who can handle the ball well and space the floor in our system. Excellent defensive big man depth was brought in too with the acquisitions of Melvin Turpin and Andrei Fetisov, two bigs who can really rebound well and defend the post with the best of 'em as well. Right now, we are lacking in the shotblocking department, as we have no one who is able to make an impact in that regard aside from Bill; this would probably be our ugly. The bad? Missing out on Lamond Murray. We were very hopeful in regards to bringing him in to compliment our shooters when they need a rest by coming off the bench, but he opted against. We wish him the best of luck however.
Perth: Good- I signed Jerome Kersey to a deal 3 years at 10 million dollars a year. I believe I got Kersey on a good deal, a sentiment that was echoed by a few GMs in the Slack chat. The contract does not increase yearly and the number isn't exorbitant so he retains his value as both a player to my team and as a trade chip. For now he is staying though and provides wing scoring and honestly just scoring that has been lacking down under
Bad- I had a really low stakes free agency. Coming off a missed playoffs, I didn't expect to be a major player for the big free agents so not much stands out in the way of bad. If I had to name one thing I guess it would have to be that I did strike out on higher profile targets than the one that I ultimately signed in Kersey or that Knicks stole Ty Corbin away from me when I was planning on using Bird Rights to sign him later, but overall I was pretty happy with how things went.
Ugly- My backcourt. There is no way around it, but the weakness that has plagued my team since this league's inception remains uncured. I have yet to establish a strong backcourt and the situation looks as bad as its ever been. With Kersey more of a SF, my current starters are Pat Riley and rookie Frank Johnson. Riley we know what were getting out of him, but Johnson, while a nice prospect, should not be starting day 1. There doesn't even look to be much talent left in free agency to remedy the situation.
Piraeus:
The Good: Everyone knows about Erving, so I’ll say Louie Dampier for Barcelona. I think his presence in the backcourt to go with Mikan/McHale is enough to get this team back into the playoffs. Jeb is doing good work in the post Michael Jordan era.
The Bad: Tough that Milan mismanaged his calendar and lost Antonello Riva to the Trailblazers. Although, I don’t think is as bad as some think. I don’t love his stats (12ppg, 16 PER, 6.6 EWA) for the money Portland gave him. He has talent, but max money is a bit of an overpay.
The Ugly: 5 year max contract to someone who shot 9.4 PPG, 39.4% from the field, 28.3% from three point range, only 5.4 assists as a point guard, and a paltry 1.1 EWA. For comparison, Riva had 6.6 EWA and most stars have 15+ EWA. He’s one bad TC from being much worse than season 1 Henry Bibby. And he’s got 4 years guaranteed! It’s Dante Exum, ladies and gentlemen.
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus -
6. Give me a question you think would be a good one for a future roundtable. Without answering the question directly, tell me why you think it is an important one to ask.
CSKA: - There are quite a few that have ran across my mind but there is one real “issue” I’d like solved with the idea of future leagues in mind more than this one. “What do you think can be done to manage the talent influx that happens around year 5 or 6 where each team seems to have multiple uber talented players?” I’m not sure the answer so getting a collective pool of ideas to try and stop the time where we all have a starting line-up full of blue current guys and some blue not even getting minutes. Ideally the way the talent is year 3 or so is where I’d like it to stay but with upgrades and drafts, it’s often extremely difficult to do so. HELP
Los Angeles: What has been your single, best moment in Legends thus far?" - I think this would allow for a trip down Memory Lane, not to mention really allow GMs to examine what they've done in their tenure here thus far, despite only 3 seasons having elapsed, and from their examination either be satisfied with the way they have managed their team or make changes to their approach.
Perth: This is not really a grade-able question really, but I would be super curious to see the answers and that would be: Why do you do this? Why are you in the league?
As we've seen over countless sim years and even real life years, there are an eclectic group of personalities in this league and I'm sure people do it for different reasons. Some might be just pure fun, some camaraderie, some competition, but different things drive different people and it is definitely something that I would like to hear other GMs answer.
Piraeus: The question I would pose is: “What new feature would you most like to add to the league?” Many of us have been playing these types of leagues for a decade of real time or more. It’s always important to think of new and exciting ways to make the sim league experience as rewarding as it could be. I can think of many great ideas of how to make Ultimate even more enjoyable than it already is, and I would love to hear the perspectives of others.
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus –
First Place (100 PP Bonus):
Second Place (75 PP Bonus):
Third Place (50 PP Bonus):
Fourth Place: Moscow (14)
Best Answer (50 PP Bonus) -
@minnesota is going to be the grader and not participate. 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.
Cairo gets 100 points for organizing and -100 points for it taking so damn long so no points for me.
The Participants were
Moscow
Los Angeles
Perth
Piraeus
1. What is your preferred way to build a team? Without giving away all your secrets, what do you look for in players and why?
CSKA: - Clearly based on my past, my favorite way to build is around a team that can shoot it. It’s such a difficult thing to defend or gameplan around when a team is balanced from the outside. Recently I’ve been leaning the way of defense and athleticism with the idea of pushing the pace. I’d like to get as many scoring opportunities as I can (especially easy buckets) with the thought that the other team won’t be able to keep up with the athletes or defend as well. Size helps as well as we saw in the playoffs with my run. Being able to have an advantage at multiple positions is crucial. For me, there are a few things I look for. I’d prefer to limit turnovers and get to the rim. In theory, if I can make more FT than you attempt and take more shots… there is very little you can do to win. The easiest way to accomplish that is to rebound and win the turnover margin. So without giving away every secret, I look for players who I know won’t be too big of a hindrance in certain areas but can have a distinct advantage in aspects of the game.
Los Angeles: I like to have my best defender be the big man inside; a rim protector and shot blocker who's both mobile and strong, and cleans up the boards really well. I'm fortunate to have Bill inside playing that roll, and cannot think of anyone else I'd rather have on my young, up and coming team to fill that role of defensive anchor inside; he's surrounded with shooters with unlimited range and who know how to get hot real quick. To be perfectly honest, this was not the original plan for my team, when I was building around Bill and Dame, but I decided to go for it once I was on the clock at #7 and had multiple options. In the end, I went for what I thought may be the most fun. Free agency definitely helped me solidify the identity I opted for during the draft. I think this small-ball lineup of TB-Lillard-Rimas-Mullin-Russell will be plenty of fun; yes, there is a chance it may not work very well, but hey, gotta try first right? I have high hopes for it and think it will produce real well on offense especially, considering Bill will not struggle inside if the need arises.
Perth: If you looked at my history you would probably assume that I like to build my teams from the inside out and you would sort of be correct. The thing is when acquiring Wilt, Hakeem, McAdoo in the past it has more been that they were the best players available at the time, they just all happened to be bigs. Certain things I like include defensive versatility in order to play match ups in the playoffs and when you are able to find a guy at either a position that is scarce throughout the league or has a skill, like 3 point shooting, that is scarce around the league. Qhwn it comes down to it, I have no preferred way to build a team because things don't go the ideal perfect way, you have to react and adjust to whatever comes at you and do what you think is best for your team.
Piraeus: I always try to draft a cornerstone in the creation draft and then the best “win-now” talent to compete for a title in the early seasons. I feel like I am more effective than others at this strategy. This worked in Legends as well as it could, but didn’t work as well in Ultimate – primarily because I chose the wrong cornerstone in Karl Malone. More on that below. Ideally, I will win for 3-5 seasons and then rebuild either by landing a young star in a trade, or having 1-2 really bad years to gain elite talent. I hate being in the middle of the standings and you will never see a team coached by me at 41-41 unless it is full of young talent and I’m trying to win.
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus -
2. Do you have a preferred style of play? If so what is it? If not what is your approach instead when it comes to gameplanning?
CSKA: - Well, I believe I answered my style of play in the way I build a team which should say a lot. When you’ve got two bigs who can’t shoot or pass and two wings that can really only shoot, you’d think you have a good mix but in truth are killing your team. Your roster should have 2 to 3 things in common (regardless of what they are) so you can focus in those areas. Being a jack of all trades instead of dominating certain areas of the game is bad. For me, I like to push the pace regardless of whether it is defensive or offensive focused so I need to have either the athletes to make that happen or good enough shooters to take advantage of the shots taken. Preferably I am pushing the pace with athletes who can shoot and defend but well, a dream is a dream.
Los Angeles: (Answered one and two in combo...) I like to have my best defender be the big man inside; a rim protector and shot blocker who's both mobile and strong, and cleans up the boards really well. I'm fortunate to have Bill inside playing that roll, and cannot think of anyone else I'd rather have on my young, up and coming team to fill that role of defensive anchor inside; he's surrounded with shooters with unlimited range and who know how to get hot real quick. To be perfectly honest, this was not the original plan for my team, when I was building around Bill and Dame, but I decided to go for it once I was on the clock at #7 and had multiple options. In the end, I went for what I thought may be the most fun. Free agency definitely helped me solidify the identity I opted for during the draft. I think this small-ball lineup of TB-Lillard-Rimas-Mullin-Russell will be plenty of fun; yes, there is a chance it may not work very well, but hey, gotta try first right? I have high hopes for it and think it will produce real well on offense especially, considering Bill will not struggle inside if the need arises.
Perth: Similar to my answer to question 1, you always have to read and react to the situation at hand, not every team can play the same way. Ideally, I like to score a lot of points. Based of personnel I haven't always had the best shooting teams, but my teams have generally drawn a ton of free throws. The fast pace, combined with strong offensive scorers like Legends Hakeem, made that easier. But once we came here, my personnel dictated a different type of play and I have been a slower defensive team, even if I am still inside focused. I think you have to be like Pat Riley and craft your style to the players you have and the games your playing. One decade your Showtime the next your the Bully Knicks.
Piraeus: My preferred way is with defense and smart shooting. Very similar to Darryl Morey’s philosophy on offense. I value players who can attack the basket to draw fouls, or how light up the three point line. I try to avoid mid-range shots until I drafted Karl Malone and realized I had to embrace that style. Setting my offense to balanced along with a few other changes improved our offensive efficiency, but it’s not my ideal style. On defense, I always value players who are strong at creating turnovers. I complement this type of defense with a man defense or a help defense depending on my personnel.
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus -
3. Who are your way too early top 3 contenders in each conference to make the league finals?
CSKA: - America: Minnesota, Boston, New York. Yes, three very obvious candidates. Boston is the defending champion so you must give him the nod. Minnesota has as legit of a starting five that exists and the depth is solid behind it. New York is one of the more defensive teams and has loads of depth across the two deep.
- Eurasia: Tel Aviv, Cairo, Mikawa. Again with the obvious choices. Tel Aviv got better after losing in the finals and may be overall frontrunner. Cairo has a giant three and plans on making it a four with Greg Minor. Mikawa has the pieces and knowledge to make it and there aren’t many other good options. Xman at the four is scary.
Los Angeles: 3. In America, the Timberwolves led by young KG and Wiggins, the Grizzlies led by GOAT and Hill, and of course, moi, mostly because I'm hopeful haha. Maybe the Bocas.
Eurasia? Can't really bet against Maccabi for obvious reasons, Partizan with the young big in Bynum and Dream alongside him, Joe and Andy in the backcourt, and I think I'll go Shaq, Sheed and Deron in Milano.
Perth: I will start in Eurasia where there is a clear favorite to return to the finals for the 3rd straight year. Talk about an absolute home run of a free agency, able to sign Dr. J away from Harlem, before resigning PLM. This defensive juggernaut just added a lot more firepower after an upsetting finals loss. They slot the all around game of Dr. J in between the defensive force of Ben Wallace and the offensive force of Elgin Baylor. Outside of Tel Aviv I don't love the top outlook of this conference, but by process of elimination I have it down to four teams. Of these teams I am going to go with Cairo Zamalek and Barcelona Regal. Cairo I am going with because of their insane backcourt and the fact that John Stockton is an incredible point guard in a league severely lacking of them. Jones should only grow as a scorer and they have the inside presence in Mel Daniels to keep teams honest. There are depth concerns here, but they have the backcourt to do it. The other team I picked goes with the opposite approach of Cairo and is built around their stacked front court of George Mikan and Kevin McHale. I definitely caveat this with the fact that I've never seen the GM prove himself as a game planner, as opposed to the two teams, Mikawa and Moscow, I chose him over which I've seen their GMs put together championship game plans, and also that I think they are a little help short of being a true contender, but they have the assets to add.
In the Americas there are two extremely easy picks imo. We have the defending champion Boston Celtics, who have done nothing to make us think they're going to have a championship hangover. It is not just Chris Paul and Patrick Ewing as there is talent all over this team, with Jason Richardson and now sophomore stud, Alonzo Mourning making significant contributions to the team. This team will only get better as their young studs grow. The other easy choice is one that is almost always easy, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rarely is John not an answer to this question, but he established himself as a lynchpin of this league with his Kevin Garnett and Andrew Wiggins duo. Like his foes from Beantown, this is not a two man team, with a fantastic supporting cast of Zoran Slavnic, Marcus Smart amongst others. I did not love any third team from this conference, but once again used process of elimination to get my last team and landed on the Douchecouver Grizzlies. DD, MJ, and Hill form a potent trio and I've seen this GM consistently bring his teams far and add talent.
Piraeus: Tel Aviv Maccabi is the prohibitive favorite with their acquisition of Erving. I really don’t see any big challenges to them reaching the finals for a third season. Despite not making many moves, I like Cairo’s core of Stockton/Jones/Daniels, but I think they fall short of the conference finals to my third team, Madrid. I don’t really like what some of the other contenders did (or didn’t do) in the offseason, e.g. Milan, Mikawa, Auckland, so I’ll go with Madrid. They addressed their biggest issue, depth, by adding Mikkelsen, Longley, and Anthony. I like them to reach the conference finals, losing to Tel Aviv.
In the Americas, I believe the competition is much stronger. I like Boston as the season opening favorite, given their run to the title and the expected improvement of all of their guys. However, I don’t think you can count of Minnesota, as I believe KG is going to make a huge jump this year and John is always on point. Kirkland and Lee Wilkins are some under the radar signings that add depth. Finally, I’ll go with the Knicks. They look deeper than anyone in the league, and they got a steal I regrettably passed on in Larry Nance as well as supremely underrated Archie Clark. It would not surprise me to see one or both getting some starts this year. I expect Minnesota to prevail over Boston and face Maccabi in the title gam
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus -
4. If you could start your franchise with one player in the league right now, who would that player be and why? Disregard salary.
CSKA: Charles Barkley. Three seasons in and three MVPs. Yes he is 28 but that gives me three years to chase a title before worrying about if he declines. Sure, there are young bigs and young guards and even a wing here and there but to not take the three time MVP who has been head and shoulders above everyone else in the league would be bad. I know how to build around him from having him in Legends and winning a title and could easily do so yet again. He has no real slaws and hey, maybe I pour a little PP into his three point shot to see if he can average 40 a game for the season!
Los Angeles: I believe I would start with Isiah. It's hard for me to pick against a young rookie with superstar potential at the point guard position. He'll lead his team in steals and assists and will be a threat to score as well. A do-it-all type of point guard, how can one pass him up? Plug him in any system and he'll thrive just about the same.
Perth: All my Hoosier bias wants me to say Isiah Thomas and justify it with the lack of point guards, some says just have Barkley and enjoy him for the few seasons he has left on top of the world, but after a disappointing run in Legends, this man exploded onto the ABCA scene and put up a dominant rookie season and thats the Big Aristotle, Shaquille O'Neal. This guy has absolute juice and is going to be a terror to stop for years and years to come. A high level offense can be built around this guy no problem and he should eat defenders alive while he grows into the rest of his game. I think Shaq is going to be an MVP candidate for along time without a TC death. Honorable mentions to Isiah, Barkley, Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, Elgin Baylor
Piraeus: Kevin Garnett. He’s just about to hit the risk-free age, is approaching Barkley in terms of how good he is, though he probably won’t quite get there, and signed for a long time. All-league 2nd team and All-league defensive 2nd team. He has some shooting range, great passing, and can guard out to the 3 point line. He’s the most desirable asset in the league in my mind.
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus -
5. From your teams perspective give me what you view as the good, the bad and the ugly of the first sim of Free Agency.
CSKA: - From my team’s point of view… the good was no bad contracts on the roster and that is a stretch. The bad was missing out on a point guard in sim 1 (editor’s note: got one in sim two). The ugly was Tel Aviv adding a superstar to his already frontrunner team. It destroyed my hopes and dreams of overtaking him. Quite frankly, I didn’t like much outside the stars this year so I didn’t mind missing out on things while keeping a clean payroll going forward.
Los Angeles: Free agency was a success for the Lakers as we have not made noise in the offseason until this year. Aside from selecting who I believe to be an excellent point guard in Brandon, we were able to sign Chris Mullin and Rimas Kurtinaitis in an attempt to pursue our aforementioned style of play this year. Both are under 30 and are signed to pretty good contracts, Rimas expiring at the age of 32, post-prime, and Mullin at 31. We also brought in an excellent backup point guard in Shabazz Napier, a young gun with much to prove who can handle the ball well and space the floor in our system. Excellent defensive big man depth was brought in too with the acquisitions of Melvin Turpin and Andrei Fetisov, two bigs who can really rebound well and defend the post with the best of 'em as well. Right now, we are lacking in the shotblocking department, as we have no one who is able to make an impact in that regard aside from Bill; this would probably be our ugly. The bad? Missing out on Lamond Murray. We were very hopeful in regards to bringing him in to compliment our shooters when they need a rest by coming off the bench, but he opted against. We wish him the best of luck however.
Perth: Good- I signed Jerome Kersey to a deal 3 years at 10 million dollars a year. I believe I got Kersey on a good deal, a sentiment that was echoed by a few GMs in the Slack chat. The contract does not increase yearly and the number isn't exorbitant so he retains his value as both a player to my team and as a trade chip. For now he is staying though and provides wing scoring and honestly just scoring that has been lacking down under
Bad- I had a really low stakes free agency. Coming off a missed playoffs, I didn't expect to be a major player for the big free agents so not much stands out in the way of bad. If I had to name one thing I guess it would have to be that I did strike out on higher profile targets than the one that I ultimately signed in Kersey or that Knicks stole Ty Corbin away from me when I was planning on using Bird Rights to sign him later, but overall I was pretty happy with how things went.
Ugly- My backcourt. There is no way around it, but the weakness that has plagued my team since this league's inception remains uncured. I have yet to establish a strong backcourt and the situation looks as bad as its ever been. With Kersey more of a SF, my current starters are Pat Riley and rookie Frank Johnson. Riley we know what were getting out of him, but Johnson, while a nice prospect, should not be starting day 1. There doesn't even look to be much talent left in free agency to remedy the situation.
Piraeus:
The Good: Everyone knows about Erving, so I’ll say Louie Dampier for Barcelona. I think his presence in the backcourt to go with Mikan/McHale is enough to get this team back into the playoffs. Jeb is doing good work in the post Michael Jordan era.
The Bad: Tough that Milan mismanaged his calendar and lost Antonello Riva to the Trailblazers. Although, I don’t think is as bad as some think. I don’t love his stats (12ppg, 16 PER, 6.6 EWA) for the money Portland gave him. He has talent, but max money is a bit of an overpay.
The Ugly: 5 year max contract to someone who shot 9.4 PPG, 39.4% from the field, 28.3% from three point range, only 5.4 assists as a point guard, and a paltry 1.1 EWA. For comparison, Riva had 6.6 EWA and most stars have 15+ EWA. He’s one bad TC from being much worse than season 1 Henry Bibby. And he’s got 4 years guaranteed! It’s Dante Exum, ladies and gentlemen.
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus -
6. Give me a question you think would be a good one for a future roundtable. Without answering the question directly, tell me why you think it is an important one to ask.
CSKA: - There are quite a few that have ran across my mind but there is one real “issue” I’d like solved with the idea of future leagues in mind more than this one. “What do you think can be done to manage the talent influx that happens around year 5 or 6 where each team seems to have multiple uber talented players?” I’m not sure the answer so getting a collective pool of ideas to try and stop the time where we all have a starting line-up full of blue current guys and some blue not even getting minutes. Ideally the way the talent is year 3 or so is where I’d like it to stay but with upgrades and drafts, it’s often extremely difficult to do so. HELP
Los Angeles: What has been your single, best moment in Legends thus far?" - I think this would allow for a trip down Memory Lane, not to mention really allow GMs to examine what they've done in their tenure here thus far, despite only 3 seasons having elapsed, and from their examination either be satisfied with the way they have managed their team or make changes to their approach.
Perth: This is not really a grade-able question really, but I would be super curious to see the answers and that would be: Why do you do this? Why are you in the league?
As we've seen over countless sim years and even real life years, there are an eclectic group of personalities in this league and I'm sure people do it for different reasons. Some might be just pure fun, some camaraderie, some competition, but different things drive different people and it is definitely something that I would like to hear other GMs answer.
Piraeus: The question I would pose is: “What new feature would you most like to add to the league?” Many of us have been playing these types of leagues for a decade of real time or more. It’s always important to think of new and exciting ways to make the sim league experience as rewarding as it could be. I can think of many great ideas of how to make Ultimate even more enjoyable than it already is, and I would love to hear the perspectives of others.
Graders Thoughts:
Grades (1-5 Points):
Moscow -
Los Angeles -
Perth -
Piraeus –
Final Standings
First Place (100 PP Bonus):
Second Place (75 PP Bonus):
Third Place (50 PP Bonus):
Fourth Place: Moscow (14)
Best Answer (50 PP Bonus) -
