Post by killiam bing on Mar 31, 2022 10:59:06 GMT -5
I give my hot take on a handful of teams and GMs respond in kind.
Supersonics
Hot Take: Not tearing this team down was clearly the right move. Timpig is back and as long as he can continue surrounding his big 3 with competent point guard and backup play he should pick up at least 1 but probably 2-3 more titles with this core.
Tim: Big three? Who is the third? Tatum? 7th in small forward win shares Tatum? The guy who finished .1 win shares behind noted bust and sabotagee Trevor Ariza? I also have issues with "competent point guard play" but I'll take your word for it that two guys who can't get offered more than mins or LLEs are "competent."
Dirt: Yawn gave him Tatum for super cheap and it was probably the best move out of anybody this seeason. I even said he shouldn't trade Dwight. I think he needs to resign Tatum 1st before we start talking about 2-3 more titles. I think he has a top 3 player in the league so he's taking advantage of that. He should be thrilled that out of the players that left him it wasn't D12 or Al. I think you've hit the nail on the head for once on this take.
Fason: I agree with you that Tim did make the right move by holding onto his two bigs. People buried the Sonics too soon. Don’t agree with the 2-3 more titles part since the Lakers didn’t even do that. If Tim brings back Tatum though he can cruise to when has 1.2 coming up.
Majic: Tim was obviously frustrated after his unlucky FA situation last offseason, but he has rebounded nicely. His has the dominating twin towers in the front court and adding Tatum has been an outstanding addition. Its possible that the FA situation benefitted him, giving him more flexibility salary cap wise. I don’t expect much falloff from this team over the coming seasons.
Chap: Howard is a slightly better Clint Capela taking way more shots, a net negative. Jefferson is a one trick pony who is one bad TC away from being an amnesty. Jason Taintyum is about to occupy the Sonics cap for years to come and their point guards suck. I don't see this team making it out of the first round again, blow it up.
Chapparals
Hot Take: Lazy gm who refuses to put in the work to rebuild his team properly and thus has consistently been shedding value for the past 15 seasons. Does he have the nads to hang onto ariza and melo and trade everything else to get more picks to stack around his 1.1? Or will he just continue to coast pretending a tie with the portland trailblazers for the 6th seed is worth not getting value out of his roleplayers. We all know its option #2
Tim: I don't see what's lazy about drafting wing after wing who scores with decent efficiency and low volume and does nothing else and then re-signing them to way above market value deals and then complaining about how eric sabotages your players. That kind of grift takes a real commitment to stick with. This team hasn't been relevant since Papaloukas retired and only ever mattered after that RNG free agent signing,.
Dirt: Once Capela leaves he will be hurting pretty good. I think Melo isn't done yet but i don't know if he'll ever be a starter for a championship roster. I'm unsure what his Potential is still but he needs some help moving forward. I think it's going to be tough for him to move his players because alot of GMs are unwilling to move those top picks. These aren't really Hot takes so far. It's like your takes are as normal as ever now.
Fason: I’ve yet to see Chap make any type of movement with trades. I’ve long thought he must be sim’s version of irl Mark Cuban overvalueing his homegrown talent and being fiercely loyal. That or he’s gone the way of Troy and bill has his password for when he wants to help his own team.
Majic: #2 all day, Chap had a nice run at the start of 6.0 and put together some strong teams. However, since that initial core fell apart Chap has barely been active and hasn’t don’t much to rebuild his team. He reminds me a lot of Pointy at this point, he does enough to stick around and occasionally drafts a really good player. I personally think he should tear it down completely and rebuild in a couple seasons when he has the 1.1.
Chap: Top 5 players Will Solomon and Trevor Ariza lead this powerhouse of a team. RotY lock Carmelo Anthony has shown out and his headband game is off the charts. Joel "Godzilla" Przybilla is the most underrated player in the entire league. Hard not to see this team cruising to a record 3rd TMBSL Championship.
Trailblazers
Hot Take: This team is a little bit of fool’s gold. they have some interesting young pieces and fraser is a good get but there are a lot of big holes at positions and the stars arent super enough to carry that. Portland has some decent picks coming up and needs to nail them to have any hope of climbing up the 6.0 fracs rankings, where he trails noted stud GMs Fason and Yawn
Tim: Maxing one of the nominees for Glue Guy of the Year was an interesting choice. To Majic's credit, he has a few high draft picks coming up so it made a bit of sense to throw maxes out to players who hold some value rather than wasting that cap on re-signing his own guys who routinely only got him to the 6th or 7th seed. One more max to someone of Peter John Ramos' caliber and this team could contend for the 5 seed. And yes, I had to look up his name despite him being on my team.
Dirt: I've been hearing from BK my team sucks but i still can't believe the Blazers are better than me. I would have sold the farm for Bird if i was him. He needs an All-Star like player such as a D12 or a Myles Turner to really turn the corner in the playoffs. I think he needs more defense to help out his efficient offense. Hopefully next season this team can shoot just as good.
Fason: I don’t disagree about David Harrison, Cliff Anderson and Walt Frazier being elite enough to rack up a high number of fracs. However Majic is about to add Barkley or Hakeem and Sam Perkins to the 3 I previously mentioned with Josh Howard and David West as well. That’s a really strong group to work with if he wants to make some big trades or just have a deep team.
To address the absolutely uncalled for last line of the take, if only there was somebody to blame for the lack of elite talent at the top of recent drafts that is needed to break the barrier of racking up high fracs.
Majic: I don’t know that anything listed here is a hot take… I completely agree as I am really banking on the upcoming draft capital that I have. I have toyed with the idea of a trade or two, but nothing caught my attention enough. I really like the upcoming draft class and think it could be a strong group, perfect time to have 2 picks in the top 4. If I miss on landing a true stud, or two, then my team could be stuck in mediocrity.
Mavericks
Hot Take: Trade for mason was great. Trade for this years 1.1 was good but his pick of rodman and choice of upgrades for him is mind blowing bad. Dirt consistent use of FG% as a metric over pts/tsa will doom any chance of a lebron dynasty that we saw in 5.0
Tim: Dirt hasn't upgraded Rodman and I'm not even sure what route he plans to go so it seems unlikely that he's crippled his franchise by making a pick that hasn't even hit his roster yet. I'm guessing he said somewhere that he plans to upgrade Rodman's inside, which would be really weird since he apparently wants to shift to an outside offense as indicated by his trade for Mason. I don't know. Any commentary on this team feels like a waste of time since the roster will be 90% changed in like four days.
Dirt: A. Nobody has even seen the Rodman scout but me. B. Lebron is just a rookie that isn't fully upgraded. I think BK may be forgetting that Rodman is a PF. He can't get his SHO to 60. I think it's a bit odd that Bigs are easy to find when you literally have one of the top 3 in the league. You can also counter there is only 1 A+ Rebounder so that's obviously not easy to find. I'0ve tested Rodman so many times i'm not sure if 20+ upgrades into SHO is worth it. He may not even get any better than 1 Block per/36. Your take makes sense but your also not informed enough to talk shit about Rodman.
Fason: It’s so Dirt to have Lebron but shift the focus of his team to compliment a second round PG that he was able to groom/mentor. Dirt may have been better off holding onto the 1.1 then trading it this offseason for an established star. I appreciate the gamble and do like Rodman. I missed where Dirt used upgrades on a player not in the league yet.
Majic: Lebron does not yet look like the OP player that he was in 5.0, but there is still plenty of time. Dirt has a unique GM’ing style and loves to wheel and deal. I don’t see a scenario where Dirt ever wants to trade LBJ so it will be fun to watch him operate with LBJ as the centerpiece. As for the efficiency discussion, pts/tsa seems to be the best metric to use, but I can understand relying on multiple data points to make decisions. There is no reason to ONLY rely on one though.
Chap: This is where Amigos go to die. Nice to see that Josh Smith has improved his shooting to merely far below average. Joe "Crispin the bacon" Crispin actually looks nice though. Lebron is overrated, jealous Melo is getting the spotlight, and his hairline is already receding.
Raptors
Hot Take: Delap is gifted sim relevance by the wheel gods in getting kareem abdul jabbar. He has done a decent job at surrounding his with other talent, but the star power outside of kareem IS lacking. Fecta has a better top 3 than this team and Delap needs to get aggressive to really maximize his chance.
Tim: he savviest move that wasn't getting wheeled 1.1 for an obvious great was trading for Joe Dumars, who couldn't win a title in Toronto. Somehow trading him and making his team worse led to a title which I'll never not be bitter about. I just can't fathom trading your 2nd and 3rd best players in Swift and Dumars for Purvis Short and too draft picks in the teens. But, he did win a title over me, so he gets the last laugh.
Dirt: Reminds me a lot of BK w/ Myles Turner. Great player and shot blocker and decent talent around him. In TMBSL that's simply enough. SHO is so important that 1 Bad Ass big can turn things around for you. I didn't like his deal for the Pacers player for a 1.5. He could have done a little bit better, but it was enough. Not sure what you mean about his chance because he is the defending champion at the moment.
Fason: I honestly thought Delap kneecaped his title chances last season with the Swift for Purvis Short and stuff trade but he’s the one with the title and league leading fracs this season. His future is fine he’s got the draft capital to buy quality vets through trades. Would be a big ball move if he traded Kareem soon for the largest return of 6.0.
And Fecta’s entire team is about to expire.
Majic: I agree with this assessment and think Delap needs to make a move. One of the hardest parts of GM’ing is knowing the exact moment to go All-In and trade for another star and empty your future draft capital. When it works, its glorious and gun. When it backfires it can be a long wait before you can do a true rebuild. If I were delap I would be doing everything I could to add a start to this team.
Chap: Kareem is a beast and I think the Raptors' other bigs compliment him well, not a big ask really. Purvis is strongly on my offseason radar, a very nice player. The other wings leave something to be desired, as does this PG situation. Rozier isn't shooting well, but at least he doesn't have many turnovers. Can the starpower carry this team? We will have to wait and see.
Amigos
Hot Take: The kat trade to fecta is the worst thing ive ever done to myself and the best thing to sim league to have a relevant redhead yet again
Tim: That's a dumb take because that trade allowed you to get Markelle Fultz who is in a class of his own among PGs in my opinion. I expect that Fecta will head back into his hidey-hole after this season with 95% of his team hitting free agency. The Amigos should be better with two MVPs on the roster but they're being surrounded by Bingo Smith, Jason Richardson, and Yinka Dare. Delap may struggle to surround Kareem, but I don't see this effort as much more impressive.
Dirt: -I think you would have been better off but you wouldn't have known after the trade Kat would go +2 and Fultz go -2. I think Fultz won an MVP last year, so it wasn't a terrible thing. The West is so competitive any of the top 5 could make a run for a title. If your going to run an outside offense you need a solid PG with great steals and rebounds to go with it. Other than the Bingo signing i like the Amigos.
Fason: Can I use this entry to point out the over the top narcissism of this article. A whole RT based off responses to your own shitty hot takes. I’m only answering these questions so I can afford to max-amnesty-repeat again soon.
To answer the question, I’d like to know why you did that trade. I get the Sonics had Wilkins at that point but Turner/KAT would be incredibly easy to build around. You still had Dunlap and Apke at that point.
Also quit trying to steal Ank’s glory for rejuvenating Fecta.
Majic: The trade never made sense and continues to not make sense. BK made a lot of unconventional moves and most of them worked throughout the early years of 6.0. I think BK needs to find his footing again and settle on a style of a team he wants to build.
Chap: What a GM, riding Miles Turner's coattails to years of disappointing playoff results. Turner is better than KAT for sure, but turning KAT into Fultz+other shit...yea not great. Speaking of that other shit, what are these names. Yinka? Bingo? Ndudi...N-Doody??? This dudes plan was to amnesty a starting big so he could even field a team next year. Truly 5-head GMing.
Cavaliers
Hot Take: Set himself up great for an awesome build yet again, and then makes the same mistake upgrading mo williams inside to 70 instead of pouring it all into outside scoring. Will he ever learn?
Tim: The Mo Williams upgrades were wild but they're even crazier when you look at what they originally were - Inside, threes, JUMPING, and then jump shot. I was tempted to say something when I did the bank transaction but 1) I'm not BK and 2) I am still extremely bitter about Dominique leaving and single-handedly wrecking my 10-year dynasty.
Dirt: When he went +30 strength on Battier i was so confused. He has a love for strength that out weights anything. I think Mo can be solid steal with B outside and most likely some solid Potential left. Instead of talking so bad about Mo, lets see what happens the next 2 TCs. I think he sould have taken Bias but Bad Brad can still be a stud. I'm really curious what he will do with him. His TO will be really bad unless he puts some upgrades into handling.
Fason: smdh You’ve put as much effort into these hot takes as spelling the draft classes correctly. Not going to comment on Williams but do think Sap should trade Wilkins this upcoming offseason, this will be the point to sell high. Play the long game.
Majic: I just completely disagree on this statement, as I stated in shout a week ago. There has been an increase in GM’s upgrading 3pt shot and leaving inside alone on SG’s and PG’s. Every data point that we have points to how important inside scoring is and how impactful it can be to every position. I personally think solely focusing on 3pt shot leads to a lot of wasted players who could have otherwise been solid players.
Chap: Derrick Coleman is old. Bob Greacen is another Amigos reject. Nique is the industrial strength glue that holds this off brand K'Nex set together. Mo Williams looks good, BK wouldn't know how to get to a basket if someone handed him one on Easter.
Pacers
Hot Take: Had a pair of superstars but perennial mismanagement has caused him to have a bk or 20s like team (always 2nd fiddle), when he could easily have moved a struggling giannis for a superstar big or point guard to actually get consistent 60 win seasons, but will now be stuck with 55 win teams and hoping to steal one. Will continue to spoil his chances with his buffoonery
Tim: What superstar big or point guard was on the table for Giannis? He tried to get Dwight and I said no. I struggle with Giannis because he always racks up win shares but I'm skeptical of paying someone with a career pts/tsa of 1.07 a max deal, especially now that he appears to have forgotten how to shoot free throws. When it was obvious that no one wanted Giannis, at least not for the price he was being shopped at, I think Heebs did a nice job in the return he got for Larry Bird, whose stats remind me a little bit of noted superstar Frankie Sanders.
Dirt: I don't think i would have moved Bird but then again who knows? I'm not a huge fan of Frank and i know he is. I think the Pacers can possibly make some noise after those draft picks get picked. He does have a 1.2 and a 1.3 in one of the better drafts after the MJ draft. I think your way off on this because he didn't do this deal for this season. He did it to complete a full roster in a few years. I know Heebs is the king of patience. For Example, Hulett was a gem for 4 years and he waited and sat on him until he could sign him for pennies.
Fason: I regret not making a formal offer for Bird. I was at first surprised Heebs chose Giannis but makes sense with his code. Frank, Winslow, Giannis and Huellet who is underrated should be easy to build around with his couple top 3 picks coming up. Troy Murphy is probably a stud that is waiting in the wings about to be signed to a 7 year LLE.
Majic:
I tend to agree with this, at least to an extent. It would have been hard to pass on Bird simply because you had Giannis, but that was a hard situation to be in. I think Heebs could have maximized Giannis’s value a couple years ago and ended up with a better overall package for him. I thought the Grizz won the Bird trade and not sure it gave Heebs enough value to utilize long term.
Chap: Giannis and Justise Winslow both have a Trevor Ariza poster on the inside of their locker. I think this team has a huge statistician budget so Heebs can pleasure himself to advanced defensive statistics reports.c
Grizzlies
Hot Take: A preciptious fall for the grizzlies from one season to the next, larry bird is a surefire stud. His whining in shout makes it seem like he isnt going to retain reggie theus which would be a majic level move.
Tim: I think Bird is overrated, but Druce is absolutely right that Reggie Theus blows. He's an average scorer, bad rebounder, and bad defender. I hope that BK amnesties a few guys in order to make room to max him. He's half the player that Desmond Mason is and probably one of the bigger reasons that the Grizzlies haven't been able to get over the hump in recent years. Joseph Forte >>> Reggie Theus.
Dirt: I think Druce did the 2nd best move this season getting Bird without sending out a top 2 pick. He still has some fire power left for trades and should be good. The biggest test for the Grizz will be replacing ibaka when he retires. He's a sure fire HOF and one of the best bigs in the league still at such an old age. The biggest blow will obviously be Bird leaving but time will tell how good the Grizzlies will be next season.
Fason: I have not been in shout to witness Druce’s so called whining. But I really liked his trade for Bird. To me Theus looks kind of busty, GMs can just sign a more efficient SG that has already been mentored or mentor their own second round pick. Theus is probably worth a low risk MLE.
Majic: Druce went all in on a draft class the ended up being pretty terrible and that sucks. I really liked the Bird trade, although I think it sapped his team of some second level talent. Druce also made some moves in this current draft and is looking to reload around Bird. Its an odd choice given the overall skill level of this draft class and I don’t know how its going to turn out for him long term.
Chap: The former Champs just barely snuck into the playoffs. Obviously everyone wants to snag Bird in FA, but as you mention, Theus could be a nice pickup as well. When the Grizzlies were playing the Bobcats, JR Smith was told by his teammates "You gotta pick up Mo Cheeks homie". JR responded with "What are you talking about? I do that every night."
Jazz
Hot Take: Another GM who spent a ton of time whining about Grant hill only to have a bonafide stud on his hands, has put together another mildly competitive team around these picks. Why? Im not really sure. Fason chose to spend capital to acquire cap eating role players to pretend to be relevant when he could be using that capital AND using cap space to add max players around his rookies. Blowing the period that his stars arent on rookie deals will come back to haunt him more than erics grob edits
Tim: Imagine a GM whining about a 1.1 who ended the season with fewer win shares than multiple backups. It'd be like whining about your 1.1 who turned into the best player in the league and fake quitting over it. Or whining over the fact that you couldn't double reset a camp and then fake quitting over it. The best move the Jazz have made was somehow convincing the Raptors that Joe Lapchick was going to be a better fit in Toronto than Robert Swift.
Dirt: Fason got the bad end of the stick on that draft. Big Dog should have been a better rebounder. He was a better rebounder than Hill in college. Hill will be good but everyone wants a stud at 1.1 and unfortunately it just doesn't happen that way. I'm not sure where the Jazz sit in my power rankings. I do think he has the talent to possibly make a run with this software. The talent around the league compared to creation is just mind blowing. I will admit if the Jazz had a bad ass Big Dog as 1.1, he would have been set for years. RIP.
Fason: Grant Hill a stud This is your hot take, this is as lukewarm as eric’s old trade offers involving currency. My main regret with my current situation is holding onto and using top 5 picks during the bk DM era. Incredibly convenient that you “figure” things out after my turn with 1.1, then resign. The 2.0 GM in me wants to take my ball and go home, but I’m sticking it out to do better the next time I have some high picks. My second regret would be losing patience. Barring miraculous TC luck I should pivot or I’ll trade my futures for more role players.
Majic: I have long thought that Fason is one of the better GM’s in the league and I continue to think that. Fason has continually put together a really good team but never one that was able to consistently be elite. He has some really, really good players but I am not sure if its good enough. If he could find a way to get Howard and Hayes more minutes I think it could really help his team, although I am not sure if that’s possible.
Chap: I don't know that I agree the role players aren't worth the money. Win the championship and no one will be saying this. Remember amnesties are only 50k. So yea, this is a hot take. Even if they don't get it done this year, almost everyone is coming back. I like this roster.
Supersonics
Hot Take: Not tearing this team down was clearly the right move. Timpig is back and as long as he can continue surrounding his big 3 with competent point guard and backup play he should pick up at least 1 but probably 2-3 more titles with this core.
Tim: Big three? Who is the third? Tatum? 7th in small forward win shares Tatum? The guy who finished .1 win shares behind noted bust and sabotagee Trevor Ariza? I also have issues with "competent point guard play" but I'll take your word for it that two guys who can't get offered more than mins or LLEs are "competent."
Dirt: Yawn gave him Tatum for super cheap and it was probably the best move out of anybody this seeason. I even said he shouldn't trade Dwight. I think he needs to resign Tatum 1st before we start talking about 2-3 more titles. I think he has a top 3 player in the league so he's taking advantage of that. He should be thrilled that out of the players that left him it wasn't D12 or Al. I think you've hit the nail on the head for once on this take.
Fason: I agree with you that Tim did make the right move by holding onto his two bigs. People buried the Sonics too soon. Don’t agree with the 2-3 more titles part since the Lakers didn’t even do that. If Tim brings back Tatum though he can cruise to when has 1.2 coming up.
Majic: Tim was obviously frustrated after his unlucky FA situation last offseason, but he has rebounded nicely. His has the dominating twin towers in the front court and adding Tatum has been an outstanding addition. Its possible that the FA situation benefitted him, giving him more flexibility salary cap wise. I don’t expect much falloff from this team over the coming seasons.
Chap: Howard is a slightly better Clint Capela taking way more shots, a net negative. Jefferson is a one trick pony who is one bad TC away from being an amnesty. Jason Taintyum is about to occupy the Sonics cap for years to come and their point guards suck. I don't see this team making it out of the first round again, blow it up.
Chapparals
Hot Take: Lazy gm who refuses to put in the work to rebuild his team properly and thus has consistently been shedding value for the past 15 seasons. Does he have the nads to hang onto ariza and melo and trade everything else to get more picks to stack around his 1.1? Or will he just continue to coast pretending a tie with the portland trailblazers for the 6th seed is worth not getting value out of his roleplayers. We all know its option #2
Tim: I don't see what's lazy about drafting wing after wing who scores with decent efficiency and low volume and does nothing else and then re-signing them to way above market value deals and then complaining about how eric sabotages your players. That kind of grift takes a real commitment to stick with. This team hasn't been relevant since Papaloukas retired and only ever mattered after that RNG free agent signing,.
Dirt: Once Capela leaves he will be hurting pretty good. I think Melo isn't done yet but i don't know if he'll ever be a starter for a championship roster. I'm unsure what his Potential is still but he needs some help moving forward. I think it's going to be tough for him to move his players because alot of GMs are unwilling to move those top picks. These aren't really Hot takes so far. It's like your takes are as normal as ever now.
Fason: I’ve yet to see Chap make any type of movement with trades. I’ve long thought he must be sim’s version of irl Mark Cuban overvalueing his homegrown talent and being fiercely loyal. That or he’s gone the way of Troy and bill has his password for when he wants to help his own team.
Majic: #2 all day, Chap had a nice run at the start of 6.0 and put together some strong teams. However, since that initial core fell apart Chap has barely been active and hasn’t don’t much to rebuild his team. He reminds me a lot of Pointy at this point, he does enough to stick around and occasionally drafts a really good player. I personally think he should tear it down completely and rebuild in a couple seasons when he has the 1.1.
Chap: Top 5 players Will Solomon and Trevor Ariza lead this powerhouse of a team. RotY lock Carmelo Anthony has shown out and his headband game is off the charts. Joel "Godzilla" Przybilla is the most underrated player in the entire league. Hard not to see this team cruising to a record 3rd TMBSL Championship.
Trailblazers
Hot Take: This team is a little bit of fool’s gold. they have some interesting young pieces and fraser is a good get but there are a lot of big holes at positions and the stars arent super enough to carry that. Portland has some decent picks coming up and needs to nail them to have any hope of climbing up the 6.0 fracs rankings, where he trails noted stud GMs Fason and Yawn
Tim: Maxing one of the nominees for Glue Guy of the Year was an interesting choice. To Majic's credit, he has a few high draft picks coming up so it made a bit of sense to throw maxes out to players who hold some value rather than wasting that cap on re-signing his own guys who routinely only got him to the 6th or 7th seed. One more max to someone of Peter John Ramos' caliber and this team could contend for the 5 seed. And yes, I had to look up his name despite him being on my team.
Dirt: I've been hearing from BK my team sucks but i still can't believe the Blazers are better than me. I would have sold the farm for Bird if i was him. He needs an All-Star like player such as a D12 or a Myles Turner to really turn the corner in the playoffs. I think he needs more defense to help out his efficient offense. Hopefully next season this team can shoot just as good.
Fason: I don’t disagree about David Harrison, Cliff Anderson and Walt Frazier being elite enough to rack up a high number of fracs. However Majic is about to add Barkley or Hakeem and Sam Perkins to the 3 I previously mentioned with Josh Howard and David West as well. That’s a really strong group to work with if he wants to make some big trades or just have a deep team.
To address the absolutely uncalled for last line of the take, if only there was somebody to blame for the lack of elite talent at the top of recent drafts that is needed to break the barrier of racking up high fracs.
Majic: I don’t know that anything listed here is a hot take… I completely agree as I am really banking on the upcoming draft capital that I have. I have toyed with the idea of a trade or two, but nothing caught my attention enough. I really like the upcoming draft class and think it could be a strong group, perfect time to have 2 picks in the top 4. If I miss on landing a true stud, or two, then my team could be stuck in mediocrity.
Chap: A paltry 7th seed, what even is this roster? Alpha Kappa? Who names their kid after a dead alphabet? Tobias Harris? Isn't that the dude who painted himself blue? Gossy Baby is their best player; it's certainly not Walt Frazier who TimPig was furiously texting while driving around town.
Hot Take: Trade for mason was great. Trade for this years 1.1 was good but his pick of rodman and choice of upgrades for him is mind blowing bad. Dirt consistent use of FG% as a metric over pts/tsa will doom any chance of a lebron dynasty that we saw in 5.0
Tim: Dirt hasn't upgraded Rodman and I'm not even sure what route he plans to go so it seems unlikely that he's crippled his franchise by making a pick that hasn't even hit his roster yet. I'm guessing he said somewhere that he plans to upgrade Rodman's inside, which would be really weird since he apparently wants to shift to an outside offense as indicated by his trade for Mason. I don't know. Any commentary on this team feels like a waste of time since the roster will be 90% changed in like four days.
Dirt: A. Nobody has even seen the Rodman scout but me. B. Lebron is just a rookie that isn't fully upgraded. I think BK may be forgetting that Rodman is a PF. He can't get his SHO to 60. I think it's a bit odd that Bigs are easy to find when you literally have one of the top 3 in the league. You can also counter there is only 1 A+ Rebounder so that's obviously not easy to find. I'0ve tested Rodman so many times i'm not sure if 20+ upgrades into SHO is worth it. He may not even get any better than 1 Block per/36. Your take makes sense but your also not informed enough to talk shit about Rodman.
Fason: It’s so Dirt to have Lebron but shift the focus of his team to compliment a second round PG that he was able to groom/mentor. Dirt may have been better off holding onto the 1.1 then trading it this offseason for an established star. I appreciate the gamble and do like Rodman. I missed where Dirt used upgrades on a player not in the league yet.
Majic: Lebron does not yet look like the OP player that he was in 5.0, but there is still plenty of time. Dirt has a unique GM’ing style and loves to wheel and deal. I don’t see a scenario where Dirt ever wants to trade LBJ so it will be fun to watch him operate with LBJ as the centerpiece. As for the efficiency discussion, pts/tsa seems to be the best metric to use, but I can understand relying on multiple data points to make decisions. There is no reason to ONLY rely on one though.
Chap: This is where Amigos go to die. Nice to see that Josh Smith has improved his shooting to merely far below average. Joe "Crispin the bacon" Crispin actually looks nice though. Lebron is overrated, jealous Melo is getting the spotlight, and his hairline is already receding.
Raptors
Hot Take: Delap is gifted sim relevance by the wheel gods in getting kareem abdul jabbar. He has done a decent job at surrounding his with other talent, but the star power outside of kareem IS lacking. Fecta has a better top 3 than this team and Delap needs to get aggressive to really maximize his chance.
Tim: he savviest move that wasn't getting wheeled 1.1 for an obvious great was trading for Joe Dumars, who couldn't win a title in Toronto. Somehow trading him and making his team worse led to a title which I'll never not be bitter about. I just can't fathom trading your 2nd and 3rd best players in Swift and Dumars for Purvis Short and too draft picks in the teens. But, he did win a title over me, so he gets the last laugh.
Dirt: Reminds me a lot of BK w/ Myles Turner. Great player and shot blocker and decent talent around him. In TMBSL that's simply enough. SHO is so important that 1 Bad Ass big can turn things around for you. I didn't like his deal for the Pacers player for a 1.5. He could have done a little bit better, but it was enough. Not sure what you mean about his chance because he is the defending champion at the moment.
Fason: I honestly thought Delap kneecaped his title chances last season with the Swift for Purvis Short and stuff trade but he’s the one with the title and league leading fracs this season. His future is fine he’s got the draft capital to buy quality vets through trades. Would be a big ball move if he traded Kareem soon for the largest return of 6.0.
And Fecta’s entire team is about to expire.
Majic: I agree with this assessment and think Delap needs to make a move. One of the hardest parts of GM’ing is knowing the exact moment to go All-In and trade for another star and empty your future draft capital. When it works, its glorious and gun. When it backfires it can be a long wait before you can do a true rebuild. If I were delap I would be doing everything I could to add a start to this team.
Chap: Kareem is a beast and I think the Raptors' other bigs compliment him well, not a big ask really. Purvis is strongly on my offseason radar, a very nice player. The other wings leave something to be desired, as does this PG situation. Rozier isn't shooting well, but at least he doesn't have many turnovers. Can the starpower carry this team? We will have to wait and see.
Amigos
Hot Take: The kat trade to fecta is the worst thing ive ever done to myself and the best thing to sim league to have a relevant redhead yet again
Tim: That's a dumb take because that trade allowed you to get Markelle Fultz who is in a class of his own among PGs in my opinion. I expect that Fecta will head back into his hidey-hole after this season with 95% of his team hitting free agency. The Amigos should be better with two MVPs on the roster but they're being surrounded by Bingo Smith, Jason Richardson, and Yinka Dare. Delap may struggle to surround Kareem, but I don't see this effort as much more impressive.
Dirt: -I think you would have been better off but you wouldn't have known after the trade Kat would go +2 and Fultz go -2. I think Fultz won an MVP last year, so it wasn't a terrible thing. The West is so competitive any of the top 5 could make a run for a title. If your going to run an outside offense you need a solid PG with great steals and rebounds to go with it. Other than the Bingo signing i like the Amigos.
Fason: Can I use this entry to point out the over the top narcissism of this article. A whole RT based off responses to your own shitty hot takes. I’m only answering these questions so I can afford to max-amnesty-repeat again soon.
To answer the question, I’d like to know why you did that trade. I get the Sonics had Wilkins at that point but Turner/KAT would be incredibly easy to build around. You still had Dunlap and Apke at that point.
Also quit trying to steal Ank’s glory for rejuvenating Fecta.
Majic: The trade never made sense and continues to not make sense. BK made a lot of unconventional moves and most of them worked throughout the early years of 6.0. I think BK needs to find his footing again and settle on a style of a team he wants to build.
Chap: What a GM, riding Miles Turner's coattails to years of disappointing playoff results. Turner is better than KAT for sure, but turning KAT into Fultz+other shit...yea not great. Speaking of that other shit, what are these names. Yinka? Bingo? Ndudi...N-Doody??? This dudes plan was to amnesty a starting big so he could even field a team next year. Truly 5-head GMing.
Cavaliers
Hot Take: Set himself up great for an awesome build yet again, and then makes the same mistake upgrading mo williams inside to 70 instead of pouring it all into outside scoring. Will he ever learn?
Tim: The Mo Williams upgrades were wild but they're even crazier when you look at what they originally were - Inside, threes, JUMPING, and then jump shot. I was tempted to say something when I did the bank transaction but 1) I'm not BK and 2) I am still extremely bitter about Dominique leaving and single-handedly wrecking my 10-year dynasty.
Dirt: When he went +30 strength on Battier i was so confused. He has a love for strength that out weights anything. I think Mo can be solid steal with B outside and most likely some solid Potential left. Instead of talking so bad about Mo, lets see what happens the next 2 TCs. I think he sould have taken Bias but Bad Brad can still be a stud. I'm really curious what he will do with him. His TO will be really bad unless he puts some upgrades into handling.
Fason: smdh You’ve put as much effort into these hot takes as spelling the draft classes correctly. Not going to comment on Williams but do think Sap should trade Wilkins this upcoming offseason, this will be the point to sell high. Play the long game.
Majic: I just completely disagree on this statement, as I stated in shout a week ago. There has been an increase in GM’s upgrading 3pt shot and leaving inside alone on SG’s and PG’s. Every data point that we have points to how important inside scoring is and how impactful it can be to every position. I personally think solely focusing on 3pt shot leads to a lot of wasted players who could have otherwise been solid players.
Chap: Derrick Coleman is old. Bob Greacen is another Amigos reject. Nique is the industrial strength glue that holds this off brand K'Nex set together. Mo Williams looks good, BK wouldn't know how to get to a basket if someone handed him one on Easter.
Pacers
Hot Take: Had a pair of superstars but perennial mismanagement has caused him to have a bk or 20s like team (always 2nd fiddle), when he could easily have moved a struggling giannis for a superstar big or point guard to actually get consistent 60 win seasons, but will now be stuck with 55 win teams and hoping to steal one. Will continue to spoil his chances with his buffoonery
Tim: What superstar big or point guard was on the table for Giannis? He tried to get Dwight and I said no. I struggle with Giannis because he always racks up win shares but I'm skeptical of paying someone with a career pts/tsa of 1.07 a max deal, especially now that he appears to have forgotten how to shoot free throws. When it was obvious that no one wanted Giannis, at least not for the price he was being shopped at, I think Heebs did a nice job in the return he got for Larry Bird, whose stats remind me a little bit of noted superstar Frankie Sanders.
Dirt: I don't think i would have moved Bird but then again who knows? I'm not a huge fan of Frank and i know he is. I think the Pacers can possibly make some noise after those draft picks get picked. He does have a 1.2 and a 1.3 in one of the better drafts after the MJ draft. I think your way off on this because he didn't do this deal for this season. He did it to complete a full roster in a few years. I know Heebs is the king of patience. For Example, Hulett was a gem for 4 years and he waited and sat on him until he could sign him for pennies.
Fason: I regret not making a formal offer for Bird. I was at first surprised Heebs chose Giannis but makes sense with his code. Frank, Winslow, Giannis and Huellet who is underrated should be easy to build around with his couple top 3 picks coming up. Troy Murphy is probably a stud that is waiting in the wings about to be signed to a 7 year LLE.
Majic:
I tend to agree with this, at least to an extent. It would have been hard to pass on Bird simply because you had Giannis, but that was a hard situation to be in. I think Heebs could have maximized Giannis’s value a couple years ago and ended up with a better overall package for him. I thought the Grizz won the Bird trade and not sure it gave Heebs enough value to utilize long term.
Chap: Giannis and Justise Winslow both have a Trevor Ariza poster on the inside of their locker. I think this team has a huge statistician budget so Heebs can pleasure himself to advanced defensive statistics reports.c
Grizzlies
Hot Take: A preciptious fall for the grizzlies from one season to the next, larry bird is a surefire stud. His whining in shout makes it seem like he isnt going to retain reggie theus which would be a majic level move.
Tim: I think Bird is overrated, but Druce is absolutely right that Reggie Theus blows. He's an average scorer, bad rebounder, and bad defender. I hope that BK amnesties a few guys in order to make room to max him. He's half the player that Desmond Mason is and probably one of the bigger reasons that the Grizzlies haven't been able to get over the hump in recent years. Joseph Forte >>> Reggie Theus.
Dirt: I think Druce did the 2nd best move this season getting Bird without sending out a top 2 pick. He still has some fire power left for trades and should be good. The biggest test for the Grizz will be replacing ibaka when he retires. He's a sure fire HOF and one of the best bigs in the league still at such an old age. The biggest blow will obviously be Bird leaving but time will tell how good the Grizzlies will be next season.
Fason: I have not been in shout to witness Druce’s so called whining. But I really liked his trade for Bird. To me Theus looks kind of busty, GMs can just sign a more efficient SG that has already been mentored or mentor their own second round pick. Theus is probably worth a low risk MLE.
Majic: Druce went all in on a draft class the ended up being pretty terrible and that sucks. I really liked the Bird trade, although I think it sapped his team of some second level talent. Druce also made some moves in this current draft and is looking to reload around Bird. Its an odd choice given the overall skill level of this draft class and I don’t know how its going to turn out for him long term.
Chap: The former Champs just barely snuck into the playoffs. Obviously everyone wants to snag Bird in FA, but as you mention, Theus could be a nice pickup as well. When the Grizzlies were playing the Bobcats, JR Smith was told by his teammates "You gotta pick up Mo Cheeks homie". JR responded with "What are you talking about? I do that every night."
Jazz
Hot Take: Another GM who spent a ton of time whining about Grant hill only to have a bonafide stud on his hands, has put together another mildly competitive team around these picks. Why? Im not really sure. Fason chose to spend capital to acquire cap eating role players to pretend to be relevant when he could be using that capital AND using cap space to add max players around his rookies. Blowing the period that his stars arent on rookie deals will come back to haunt him more than erics grob edits
Tim: Imagine a GM whining about a 1.1 who ended the season with fewer win shares than multiple backups. It'd be like whining about your 1.1 who turned into the best player in the league and fake quitting over it. Or whining over the fact that you couldn't double reset a camp and then fake quitting over it. The best move the Jazz have made was somehow convincing the Raptors that Joe Lapchick was going to be a better fit in Toronto than Robert Swift.
Dirt: Fason got the bad end of the stick on that draft. Big Dog should have been a better rebounder. He was a better rebounder than Hill in college. Hill will be good but everyone wants a stud at 1.1 and unfortunately it just doesn't happen that way. I'm not sure where the Jazz sit in my power rankings. I do think he has the talent to possibly make a run with this software. The talent around the league compared to creation is just mind blowing. I will admit if the Jazz had a bad ass Big Dog as 1.1, he would have been set for years. RIP.
Fason: Grant Hill a stud This is your hot take, this is as lukewarm as eric’s old trade offers involving currency. My main regret with my current situation is holding onto and using top 5 picks during the bk DM era. Incredibly convenient that you “figure” things out after my turn with 1.1, then resign. The 2.0 GM in me wants to take my ball and go home, but I’m sticking it out to do better the next time I have some high picks. My second regret would be losing patience. Barring miraculous TC luck I should pivot or I’ll trade my futures for more role players.
Majic: I have long thought that Fason is one of the better GM’s in the league and I continue to think that. Fason has continually put together a really good team but never one that was able to consistently be elite. He has some really, really good players but I am not sure if its good enough. If he could find a way to get Howard and Hayes more minutes I think it could really help his team, although I am not sure if that’s possible.
Chap: I don't know that I agree the role players aren't worth the money. Win the championship and no one will be saying this. Remember amnesties are only 50k. So yea, this is a hot take. Even if they don't get it done this year, almost everyone is coming back. I like this roster.
