Post by Herby New Year! on Jan 27, 2022 10:03:22 GMT -5
Hello to the wide world of sim enthusiasts - fans, GMs, players, admirers, et al. Today my fellow GMs and I bring you a roundtable retrospective on the second sim decade of six point oh.
Enjoy!
1. Give me your all-decade team (two bigs, two wings (one that is SG eligible), and a PG).
TimPig
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Terrance Ferguson
SF: Dominique Wilkins
PF: Serge Ibaka
C: Myles Turner
Kyrie seems like the obvious choice at point guard, but he may already have relinquished his spot as the best point guard in the league to Harry Hough, who is still on the upswing. Since we’re considering longevity to an extent, Kyrie is in.
Dominique at SF seems like the other obvious choice. His pts/tsa and volume are both ridiculous, he doesn’t turn it over, rebounds exceptionally well, and is a plus defender for his position. I wish I had this version of Dominique in 5.0 to pair with LeBron.
I love Ferguson at shooting guard. He’s a very good scorer but brings a lot more to the table than some other shooting guards that received consideration (McCollum and Oladipo come to mind). He’s a stupid good rebounder for a shooting guard and his turnovers are fantastic.
Serge and Turner are balanced bigs that have been consistently good for a very long time. If Lew had been in the league 3-4 seasons when we did this roundtable, he’d surely be the pick, but I can’t choose him for an All-Decade team after one season. Turner and Serge each have slight knocks - rebounds and turnovers, respectively - but the rest of the package is excellent.
Ankly
PG: Kyrie Irving - The king. Crazy high peak and longevity. Going to retire with a ton of TMBSL records. Very easy selection.
SG: Dajuan Wagner - Probably the greatest TC boom so far in 6.0. Wagner has been at the top of the win shares charts for a long time now. Might have the highest cumulative Ins/JS/3s attributes in 6.0 to date.
SF: Dominique Wilkins - The other easy selection. Basically what if Dale Ellis was also an elite rebounder? By far the best wing in the league in the last decade.
PF: Brook Lopez - Perennially at the top of the win shares charts. Core member of some contenders. I'll give him the nod given he was the best player on a title team.
C : Yao Ming - Has been a top center for nearly the whole decade. Has been the #1 player on his team's pretty much the whole time.
Yawn
PG: Kyrie
Wing(SG): DaJuan Wagner
Wing: Dominique Wilkins
Big: Joel Embiid
Big: Derrick Coleman
Odin
Kyrie
Dumars
Nique
Boozer
Yao
Kyrie is the obvious choice and PG. Nique is another obvious choice but the 2nd wing slot could have gone to a couple of guys. Embiid and Yao seemed just a bit more consistent than the other handful of bigs I considered.
Fason
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Dajuan Wagner
SF: Dominique Wilkins
PF: Joel Embiid
C: Joe Barry Carroll
Combo of the two teams that dominated the decade as far title appearances/Fracs. I think Embiid is the only one where there could be any type of debate if he belongs but you can't argue with his efficiency and he's currently a Jazz so deal with it.
2. What players just missed the cut of the all-decade team?
Odin
PG: none. HM: NVE
Wing: Wagner and Butler are were the only two considered for the Dumars slot. HM: Webster, Worthy, W Gates
Bigs: Unless I missed something, the only bigs to have more than 100 ws during the decade were Boozer (119.9), Yao (116.3), Embiid (110.1), Coleman (109.9), and Lopez (105.8).
Bynum (99.8) was pretty close so good job, BK. I didn't actually consider Bynum but did have to add up ws to decide between the others. (not so much coleman and lopez, mostly just Boozer, Yao, Embiid).
TimPig
I named a few above - Hough, McCollum, Oladipo - but some others that come to mind are Yao Ming, Dajuan Wagner, Carlos Boozer, Dolph Schayes, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Butch Lee, LaSalle Thompson, Joe Dumars, and Martell Webster, off the top of my head.
Fason
Lakers/Knicks are barred from this team
PG: Harry Hough
SG: Joe Dumars
SF: James Worthy
PF: Myles Turner
C: Yao Ming
I leaned towards newer school by including Harry Hough at PG rather than Nick Van Exel due to Harry winning MVP last year. I think Dumars is the clear 2nd best SG of the last 10 years. I admittedly snubbed Caron Butler by putting Worthy at SF, he's the only other SF to consistently appear in the top 5 SF win shares. Could have gone a lot of different ways with the bigs but decided on Yao and Turner due to their years where they put up win shares close to Kyrie.
Ankly
There was no one close to the cut at PG to be honest. Kyrie will be the unanimous pick. NVE #2 though.
I expect Wilkins to be unanimous as well at SF. The other wing is a bit closer. Dumars, Martell, and maybe Caron Butler receiving consideration
All-Decade bigs were a challenge. I think Embiid, Boozer, and Ibaka were also great candidates. Myles had too late a start to be considered.
Yawn - Myles Turner, Yao Ming and Joe Dumars could easily have been on this list. Only Kyrie is unassailable. DC and Embiid benefit from having more time. Yao is punished from playing on some pretty bleh teams. Dumars is just stuck behind studs.
3. There were a lot of players drafted, what were the best and/or worst signings of the decade?
Ankly
Pete with Chris Mihm at 1.1 in 3017. Mihm is fine, but this is super underwhelming as a 1.1. My problem with the pick is that I don't really see much of an avenue for him to have become a superstar, and I think that's got to be the most important consideration with a 1.1.
Sap with Malik Monk at 1.3 in 3015. This one was rough because Sap had a pretty fantastic build going otherwise. But then he basically sets a 1.3 on fire to take a non-profile SG 3rd overall.
Fecta with Mason Plumlee at 1.3 in 3016. You know, sometimes the draft grades do tell the story.
Best picks:
20s taking Terrance Ferguson in the 3rd (!) Round in 3015. I had remembered this as a 2nd rounder, but this is even more amazing. This pick shows why teens with B or A potential are very valuable. To grab one in the 2nd or 3rd round is a steal in any case. In the case of Terrance Ferguson, it's the best ROI of any draft pick ever.
Heebs taking Giannis at 1.1. Giannis did not have good college stats, and I think it may have scared some other GMs away. But kudos to Heebs for still taking him. I thought it showed a good understanding of potential and positional value to still snag Giannis.
Yawn taking Shawn Livingston at 1.9 in 3018. 6'7" 18 year old PG with A potential at 1.9? That's a great pick unless he's got crazy TO issues, and Livingston didn't have those.
Chap taking Montrezl Harrell at 1.6 in 3014. A great "don't overthink it" pick. Chap lands the PER leader in the college stats who nearly had 1.2 pts/TSA. That's a safe and valuable pick. 3014 was a crazy good draft though in retrospect.
TimPig
I think the best value pick we’ve seen in 6.0 is Terrance Ferguson. I count third round picks for this exercise, so he’s a pretty easy choice when comparing performance to draft position. Getting .182 ws/48 for his career out of a guy who cost essentially nothing was an incredible find for 20s.
The next best pick has to have been Harry Hough going to the Pacers at 1.21. As expected, it took him a bit to come around, but we don’t often see the 21st overall pick win an MVP award. It’s funny to look back on as I texted Heebs to let him know that he was up to draft, and his response was “Is that 18 yo pg with A potential still there?” The ascension for Hough from a guy whose name couldn’t be remembered to one of 6.0’s best PGs puts him near the top for best draft picks.
The worst picks over the last decade have to start with Clemon Johnson. It’s embarrassing that the second overall pick is on IR and can’t even get regular season minutes. Other bad value picks (I’m generally sticking to those made in the top 5) in order by year: Amar’e Stoudemire, Karl Malone, Charles Oakley, Sleepy Floyd, Fat Lever, Bob Pettit, D’Angelo Russell, Malik Monk, Mason Plumlee, Trey Burke, Steven Adams, Kenyon Martin, Stromile Swift, and Mike Miller.
Yawn
Best Draft picks:
A lot of the 3013 draft has had staying power, which is surprising. Especially when you look at it compared to the top of perceived "stronger" drafts. There's a bunch of picks in there that have helped teams. Harry Hough went 21st for cripes sake!
The 3015 third round will live in infamy. NWG and Terrance Ferguson both! What a world.
Worst Draft Picks:
The top 3 of the 3011 draft (Ewing, Malone, Oak) really stings after Dumars was selected 4th and Trofie had two of those picks. It stings even more since greatest Smrek ever, Mike, was selected late in the 1st.
The Hornets pick of a Plumlee at 1.3 should draw universal opprobrium but that draft was dookie. I had 1.5 and ended up taking Steven Adams because I was going to be in a debtor's prison using scouts to find something useful.
The 3017 looks to be pretty bad. Not sure we can single anything out.
Fason
Way too much research involved for this questions so please see Dirt's article
tmbslsix.proboards.com/thread/3875/best-draft-picks-last-years
Some picks that I really liked:
Lasalle Thompson 1.6 in 3012
Two scrub PGs foolishly taken right before an elite big.
Joe Lapchik 1.7 in 3013
Props to Delap for not being a size queen. Can't say the same for myself.
Justise Winslow at 1.7 in 3014
Bonus points to Majic for taking Pointy for a ride. Perhaps sim karma exists.
Ike Anigbogu at 1.10 in 3015 and Terrance Ferguson in the 3rd round
Ike seemed like a pick out of left field at the time, but he's been very good. And Ferguson was gold.
Desmond Mason at 1.7 in 3017
Pick is finally starting to pay dividends.
4. There were a lot of FAs signed, what were the best and/or worst signings of the decade?
Yawn - Jonathan Motley as a free agent signing by the Bucks really stands out. Worst signings are meh? I mean in a world of Amnesty does it matter if you show your ass on a contract? I took over Tyus for a ton of money and if I couldn't have amnestied him it would have been TRASH but that's not the world we live in
Ankly
Worst signings
Tyus Jones Max by Odin and Yawn - I'm going to be repeating this a lot, but contracts that are guaranteed to end up amnestied are very bad offers. Tyus Jones is an example of that. Amnestied twice on the same deal in like 3 years.
kingb4yah's first offseason - These were all terrible signings other than Fogarty. Don't offer long term contracts to replacement level players.
Andrew Bogut 2nd max by Andrew Luck - Dear god who are you bidding against?
NVE 2 years, $5 million per year - SCUMBAG move
Best Signings
Isaiah Canaan, 7 years x 1.2 million - This signing by yours truly combined two important strategies: 1) be aware of who has never received uppies and 2) offering 6/7 years for really cheap is very often worth the risk as the risk is very small. Same thing applies to the Nene waiver claim which was also crazy good ROI.
Charles Hyatt extension - Heebs takes a slightly different approach it seems to me where he'll just not play some of the guys he drafts until they expire and he can lock them into a long deal. Hyatt is an example of that working. Unfortunately, he's been toiling away on the Pacers bench for years.
JBC Extension by Pete - I think this deal was just on the money in terms of giving Pete a great chance of retaining a stud player without drastically overpaying to the point that it wrecks his team build. Smart offers like this is what allowed Pete to stay on top for so long. If you just mindlessly max, you can screw yourself a few years down the road.
TimPig
This one is a bit harder to identify because no one has taken the time to update the History folder with awesome Free Agency recaps. The best free agent signing that immediately comes to mind is Fecta playing Ankly by getting him to sign an un-upgraded Kentavious Caldwell Pope to a long-term, cheap deal and then acquiring him for granola. Truly elite GMing out of Charlotte to get a 10+ win share guy on that deal and giving up nothing in return.
The other one that’s not quite as impressive since it wasn’t a long-term deal is Olivier Hanlan. He’s been a dynamite scorer for the Cougars after bouncing around in purgatory for a few years. Hanlan will be due a massive raise this offseason but his contributions the last two have well exceeded what he’s getting paid.
Fason
Trofie had the two best signings IMO.
Jonathan Motley was by far the best as Trofie was able to turn him into a 1.1
Harry Hough was a great value signing, unfortunately for Trofie people don’t give a shit about outside PGs
Similar to Hough, Olivier Hanlan was a great signing by 20s.
Ank deserves some credit for KCP.
And lastly, I saved the league from Pete’s reign of terror by signing JBC after his devious amnesty plot. You’re welcome sim league.
5. What GM had the best run during the decade?
TimPig - It’s been a pretty balanced decade. We’ve had two GMs - Ankly and Pete - win multiple titles, but it’s pretty remarkable that Ankly has only been able to win two with a player at the software’s most favorable position. Pete has also had a three-headed monster with Dominique, Boozer, and Wagner that also won two, but he’s absolutely destroyed Ankly in the frac standings so I guess I’ll say that he’s been the best.
Odin - There's three option here: ank, pete, and myself. Lots of all types of hardware across the board. Lakers and Knicks won quite a few more awards than the Bobcats. Knicks were good 10/10 years, Bobs 9/10, Lakers 9/10. All won two titles. Ank, pete, odin in order. Final answer.
Fason
This is a clown question bro
It's the frachog Pete, he deserved to win at least 7 titles but the software is dumb.
Odin did a really good job pivoting from tanking and putting together a unique team that won a couple championships.
Kudos to 20s for overcoming some adversity with unfortunate free agent luck.
Hat tip to Ank for shuffling the deck around Kyrie and keeping his team consistently elite outside that one year as the 8 seed.
In spite of the stupid question, I'll include Heebs in this group with how he was able to keep his team in title contention while sticking to his guns and valuing shown defense. Man’s got a code.
Ankly - Pete. Did a great job stacking top 3 picks in nearby drafts (which is very important in the wheel). Then had lovely payoff on the Wagner lotto ticket and took advantage of that dunce Fason with the JBC trade. This has all combined to create the 6.0 Lakers dynasty and his gigantic Frac lead. Playoff sims have not been kind to Pete, but he still has 2 titles. I do think that some cracks have (finally) started to form, and it's interesting that he's begrudgingly keeping his squad together at this point. Will be interesting to see what he does next.
Yawn - User Pete is in the FRAC industry. What a decade. He didn't even rely on a once in a generation point gawd (not the false messiah that led to the death of blasphemous user Ian) so it's doubly impressive. Pete's had an amazing decade. I think since the beginning Trof and 20s have been the best overall GMs but Pete has hit some heady heights in the 3010s.
6. Was Fecta's decade the worst you've ever seen? Do you think it would be possible for it to be worse?
Ankly - Enough about the past. The Hornets have a fantastic future ahead of them. The KCP contract is ELITE. Butch Lee is a core member. He's only like 3 players away from the playoffs at this point.
Odin - Easily the worst but also yes, it could have been worse. If I remember correctly there were a handful of players who we thought were being wasted there, so at least there were a few bright spots. They weren't very bright but they were there. Players like Derrick Rose and, uhh, *checks notes* Derrick Rose! Yes, it was very bad.
Fason - Appreciate Fecta sticking around to run a team. It will be hard to do worse, but Troy looks on his way to topping it
Yawn - It's honestly impressive. As a not great GM I am in awe of the fine line Fecta walks between not caring and making just enough moves to standout as bad at sim. He's my idol.
TimPig - It’s hard to say it’s the worst decade we’ve ever seen when we remember that everything that the Hornets did over the past 10 seasons was to set themselves up for the next 10. Sure, the record doesn’t look great on paper, but tons of careful planning had to go into building the next Big 3 in KCP, Butch Lee, and Jerome Whitehead, and then you remember that it doesn’t end there. Mason Plumlee, Kris Humphries, the list goes on and on.
7. We are another decade into TMBSL 6.0 - how do you feel about the league? Still like/dislike the wheel? Wish amnesties were a thing of the past? Pining for any changes/improvements to the league?
Fason - I still enjoy how different 6.0 is to 4.0 & 5.0. Feels like eric has done a really good job of keeping inflation at bay which has kept team building interesting. I love the wheel, I like how it forces GMs to properly assess their windows of opportunity and make calculated risks of going "all in". Amnesties are okay but should probably be more expensive. I would love to see some of the GMs that quit come back. Need more drama
Yawn
I really really enjoy the league, but I do miss a lot of the GMs that have left. I didn't particularly like the drama, and I think some of it bordered on toxic behavior, but I always found a bunch of those fellows as good dudes 1 on 1.
I struggle a bit with the wheel. I think it's the best of course, but there are points where I've been in no-man's land and wishing I could just bottom out and go again. I really appreciate that the drafts are a bit more hit and miss so being at the top isn't the most important thing, but just having hope that things could change is something I miss.
TimPig - The only thing that bothers me about the league is the affordability of amnesties. I’m glad we took some steps to curb their ability to be abused, but I still think they’re a bit too affordable for my taste. Everything else is great.
Odin - Honestly I'm pretty happy with it. I hate fbb but whatever, it is what it is at this point. I wish we'd try something else for 7.0 but I know I'm in the minority there. Improvements can always be made but even I am running out of ideas for change to improve rather than change to change. Amnesties are fine. Wheel is fine. Most all the rules are fine. GM numbers are good, not great, but good. We're currently at 23 plus I'd have to imagine skrouse would still be here given a different situation. 6.0 is going well imo
Ankly
I think the league is healthy. We haven't really had major rules controversy since the scouting drama has died down. 3 points to make though:
1. League not at full capacity - I think it's important to fill in a couple of these vacancies. Things are fine now, but what happens if we have another 2-3 departures like we've experienced before? I'd much rather stay closer to full capacity than to half a league. Approaching a half-full league could spell doom! Also it's wild we haven't fixed the contraction issue yet.
2. Amnesties - I think we closed the biggest potential loophole here before it was exploited. I'm fine with our current version of amnesties, although I would support a raise in price. Maybe even turn it into a trade asset similar to contract extensions? Where you need to trade for one if you've already used yours for the decade or something. I dunno. Just spitballing.
3. Wheel - It's an integral part of 6.0 so this isn't going anywhere. I do understand why some people don't like it. I think there are two key things with the wheel:
A. It really does make this more of a skill-based thing. So the people "bad" at managing assets and things find themselves ever chasing contention whereas the others who know (and have the time/energy to devote to this) can find themselves at the top perpetually. Maybe we make it tougher for those contending teams to financially maneuver somehow? Like only lotto teams have an amnesty available each offseason, but they can trade it should they wish (e.g. the playoff teams have to pay up to amnesty their dudes).
B. It is very tough to build up from a bombed out roster (i.e. the expansion scenario). I certainly think we should improve the package that is given to New GMs. Give them more bucks. Give them uppies. Compensation picks perhaps (like an extra 1.10 or something).
Enjoy!
1. Give me your all-decade team (two bigs, two wings (one that is SG eligible), and a PG).
TimPig
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Terrance Ferguson
SF: Dominique Wilkins
PF: Serge Ibaka
C: Myles Turner
Kyrie seems like the obvious choice at point guard, but he may already have relinquished his spot as the best point guard in the league to Harry Hough, who is still on the upswing. Since we’re considering longevity to an extent, Kyrie is in.
Dominique at SF seems like the other obvious choice. His pts/tsa and volume are both ridiculous, he doesn’t turn it over, rebounds exceptionally well, and is a plus defender for his position. I wish I had this version of Dominique in 5.0 to pair with LeBron.
I love Ferguson at shooting guard. He’s a very good scorer but brings a lot more to the table than some other shooting guards that received consideration (McCollum and Oladipo come to mind). He’s a stupid good rebounder for a shooting guard and his turnovers are fantastic.
Serge and Turner are balanced bigs that have been consistently good for a very long time. If Lew had been in the league 3-4 seasons when we did this roundtable, he’d surely be the pick, but I can’t choose him for an All-Decade team after one season. Turner and Serge each have slight knocks - rebounds and turnovers, respectively - but the rest of the package is excellent.
Ankly
PG: Kyrie Irving - The king. Crazy high peak and longevity. Going to retire with a ton of TMBSL records. Very easy selection.
SG: Dajuan Wagner - Probably the greatest TC boom so far in 6.0. Wagner has been at the top of the win shares charts for a long time now. Might have the highest cumulative Ins/JS/3s attributes in 6.0 to date.
SF: Dominique Wilkins - The other easy selection. Basically what if Dale Ellis was also an elite rebounder? By far the best wing in the league in the last decade.
PF: Brook Lopez - Perennially at the top of the win shares charts. Core member of some contenders. I'll give him the nod given he was the best player on a title team.
C : Yao Ming - Has been a top center for nearly the whole decade. Has been the #1 player on his team's pretty much the whole time.
Yawn
PG: Kyrie
Wing(SG): DaJuan Wagner
Wing: Dominique Wilkins
Big: Joel Embiid
Big: Derrick Coleman
Odin
Kyrie
Dumars
Nique
Boozer
Yao
Kyrie is the obvious choice and PG. Nique is another obvious choice but the 2nd wing slot could have gone to a couple of guys. Embiid and Yao seemed just a bit more consistent than the other handful of bigs I considered.
Fason
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Dajuan Wagner
SF: Dominique Wilkins
PF: Joel Embiid
C: Joe Barry Carroll
Combo of the two teams that dominated the decade as far title appearances/Fracs. I think Embiid is the only one where there could be any type of debate if he belongs but you can't argue with his efficiency and he's currently a Jazz so deal with it.
2. What players just missed the cut of the all-decade team?
Odin
PG: none. HM: NVE
Wing: Wagner and Butler are were the only two considered for the Dumars slot. HM: Webster, Worthy, W Gates
Bigs: Unless I missed something, the only bigs to have more than 100 ws during the decade were Boozer (119.9), Yao (116.3), Embiid (110.1), Coleman (109.9), and Lopez (105.8).
Bynum (99.8) was pretty close so good job, BK. I didn't actually consider Bynum but did have to add up ws to decide between the others. (not so much coleman and lopez, mostly just Boozer, Yao, Embiid).
TimPig
I named a few above - Hough, McCollum, Oladipo - but some others that come to mind are Yao Ming, Dajuan Wagner, Carlos Boozer, Dolph Schayes, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Butch Lee, LaSalle Thompson, Joe Dumars, and Martell Webster, off the top of my head.
Fason
Lakers/Knicks are barred from this team
PG: Harry Hough
SG: Joe Dumars
SF: James Worthy
PF: Myles Turner
C: Yao Ming
I leaned towards newer school by including Harry Hough at PG rather than Nick Van Exel due to Harry winning MVP last year. I think Dumars is the clear 2nd best SG of the last 10 years. I admittedly snubbed Caron Butler by putting Worthy at SF, he's the only other SF to consistently appear in the top 5 SF win shares. Could have gone a lot of different ways with the bigs but decided on Yao and Turner due to their years where they put up win shares close to Kyrie.
Ankly
There was no one close to the cut at PG to be honest. Kyrie will be the unanimous pick. NVE #2 though.
I expect Wilkins to be unanimous as well at SF. The other wing is a bit closer. Dumars, Martell, and maybe Caron Butler receiving consideration
All-Decade bigs were a challenge. I think Embiid, Boozer, and Ibaka were also great candidates. Myles had too late a start to be considered.
Yawn - Myles Turner, Yao Ming and Joe Dumars could easily have been on this list. Only Kyrie is unassailable. DC and Embiid benefit from having more time. Yao is punished from playing on some pretty bleh teams. Dumars is just stuck behind studs.
3. There were a lot of players drafted, what were the best and/or worst signings of the decade?
Ankly
Pete with Chris Mihm at 1.1 in 3017. Mihm is fine, but this is super underwhelming as a 1.1. My problem with the pick is that I don't really see much of an avenue for him to have become a superstar, and I think that's got to be the most important consideration with a 1.1.
Sap with Malik Monk at 1.3 in 3015. This one was rough because Sap had a pretty fantastic build going otherwise. But then he basically sets a 1.3 on fire to take a non-profile SG 3rd overall.
Fecta with Mason Plumlee at 1.3 in 3016. You know, sometimes the draft grades do tell the story.
Best picks:
20s taking Terrance Ferguson in the 3rd (!) Round in 3015. I had remembered this as a 2nd rounder, but this is even more amazing. This pick shows why teens with B or A potential are very valuable. To grab one in the 2nd or 3rd round is a steal in any case. In the case of Terrance Ferguson, it's the best ROI of any draft pick ever.
Heebs taking Giannis at 1.1. Giannis did not have good college stats, and I think it may have scared some other GMs away. But kudos to Heebs for still taking him. I thought it showed a good understanding of potential and positional value to still snag Giannis.
Yawn taking Shawn Livingston at 1.9 in 3018. 6'7" 18 year old PG with A potential at 1.9? That's a great pick unless he's got crazy TO issues, and Livingston didn't have those.
Chap taking Montrezl Harrell at 1.6 in 3014. A great "don't overthink it" pick. Chap lands the PER leader in the college stats who nearly had 1.2 pts/TSA. That's a safe and valuable pick. 3014 was a crazy good draft though in retrospect.
TimPig
I think the best value pick we’ve seen in 6.0 is Terrance Ferguson. I count third round picks for this exercise, so he’s a pretty easy choice when comparing performance to draft position. Getting .182 ws/48 for his career out of a guy who cost essentially nothing was an incredible find for 20s.
The next best pick has to have been Harry Hough going to the Pacers at 1.21. As expected, it took him a bit to come around, but we don’t often see the 21st overall pick win an MVP award. It’s funny to look back on as I texted Heebs to let him know that he was up to draft, and his response was “Is that 18 yo pg with A potential still there?” The ascension for Hough from a guy whose name couldn’t be remembered to one of 6.0’s best PGs puts him near the top for best draft picks.
The worst picks over the last decade have to start with Clemon Johnson. It’s embarrassing that the second overall pick is on IR and can’t even get regular season minutes. Other bad value picks (I’m generally sticking to those made in the top 5) in order by year: Amar’e Stoudemire, Karl Malone, Charles Oakley, Sleepy Floyd, Fat Lever, Bob Pettit, D’Angelo Russell, Malik Monk, Mason Plumlee, Trey Burke, Steven Adams, Kenyon Martin, Stromile Swift, and Mike Miller.
Yawn
Best Draft picks:
A lot of the 3013 draft has had staying power, which is surprising. Especially when you look at it compared to the top of perceived "stronger" drafts. There's a bunch of picks in there that have helped teams. Harry Hough went 21st for cripes sake!
The 3015 third round will live in infamy. NWG and Terrance Ferguson both! What a world.
Worst Draft Picks:
The top 3 of the 3011 draft (Ewing, Malone, Oak) really stings after Dumars was selected 4th and Trofie had two of those picks. It stings even more since greatest Smrek ever, Mike, was selected late in the 1st.
The Hornets pick of a Plumlee at 1.3 should draw universal opprobrium but that draft was dookie. I had 1.5 and ended up taking Steven Adams because I was going to be in a debtor's prison using scouts to find something useful.
The 3017 looks to be pretty bad. Not sure we can single anything out.
Fason
Way too much research involved for this questions so please see Dirt's article
tmbslsix.proboards.com/thread/3875/best-draft-picks-last-years
Some picks that I really liked:
Lasalle Thompson 1.6 in 3012
Two scrub PGs foolishly taken right before an elite big.
Joe Lapchik 1.7 in 3013
Props to Delap for not being a size queen. Can't say the same for myself.
Justise Winslow at 1.7 in 3014
Bonus points to Majic for taking Pointy for a ride. Perhaps sim karma exists.
Ike Anigbogu at 1.10 in 3015 and Terrance Ferguson in the 3rd round
Ike seemed like a pick out of left field at the time, but he's been very good. And Ferguson was gold.
Desmond Mason at 1.7 in 3017
Pick is finally starting to pay dividends.
4. There were a lot of FAs signed, what were the best and/or worst signings of the decade?
Yawn - Jonathan Motley as a free agent signing by the Bucks really stands out. Worst signings are meh? I mean in a world of Amnesty does it matter if you show your ass on a contract? I took over Tyus for a ton of money and if I couldn't have amnestied him it would have been TRASH but that's not the world we live in
Ankly
Worst signings
Tyus Jones Max by Odin and Yawn - I'm going to be repeating this a lot, but contracts that are guaranteed to end up amnestied are very bad offers. Tyus Jones is an example of that. Amnestied twice on the same deal in like 3 years.
kingb4yah's first offseason - These were all terrible signings other than Fogarty. Don't offer long term contracts to replacement level players.
Andrew Bogut 2nd max by Andrew Luck - Dear god who are you bidding against?
NVE 2 years, $5 million per year - SCUMBAG move
Best Signings
Isaiah Canaan, 7 years x 1.2 million - This signing by yours truly combined two important strategies: 1) be aware of who has never received uppies and 2) offering 6/7 years for really cheap is very often worth the risk as the risk is very small. Same thing applies to the Nene waiver claim which was also crazy good ROI.
Charles Hyatt extension - Heebs takes a slightly different approach it seems to me where he'll just not play some of the guys he drafts until they expire and he can lock them into a long deal. Hyatt is an example of that working. Unfortunately, he's been toiling away on the Pacers bench for years.
JBC Extension by Pete - I think this deal was just on the money in terms of giving Pete a great chance of retaining a stud player without drastically overpaying to the point that it wrecks his team build. Smart offers like this is what allowed Pete to stay on top for so long. If you just mindlessly max, you can screw yourself a few years down the road.
TimPig
This one is a bit harder to identify because no one has taken the time to update the History folder with awesome Free Agency recaps. The best free agent signing that immediately comes to mind is Fecta playing Ankly by getting him to sign an un-upgraded Kentavious Caldwell Pope to a long-term, cheap deal and then acquiring him for granola. Truly elite GMing out of Charlotte to get a 10+ win share guy on that deal and giving up nothing in return.
The other one that’s not quite as impressive since it wasn’t a long-term deal is Olivier Hanlan. He’s been a dynamite scorer for the Cougars after bouncing around in purgatory for a few years. Hanlan will be due a massive raise this offseason but his contributions the last two have well exceeded what he’s getting paid.
Fason
Trofie had the two best signings IMO.
Jonathan Motley was by far the best as Trofie was able to turn him into a 1.1
Harry Hough was a great value signing, unfortunately for Trofie people don’t give a shit about outside PGs
Similar to Hough, Olivier Hanlan was a great signing by 20s.
Ank deserves some credit for KCP.
And lastly, I saved the league from Pete’s reign of terror by signing JBC after his devious amnesty plot. You’re welcome sim league.
5. What GM had the best run during the decade?
TimPig - It’s been a pretty balanced decade. We’ve had two GMs - Ankly and Pete - win multiple titles, but it’s pretty remarkable that Ankly has only been able to win two with a player at the software’s most favorable position. Pete has also had a three-headed monster with Dominique, Boozer, and Wagner that also won two, but he’s absolutely destroyed Ankly in the frac standings so I guess I’ll say that he’s been the best.
Odin - There's three option here: ank, pete, and myself. Lots of all types of hardware across the board. Lakers and Knicks won quite a few more awards than the Bobcats. Knicks were good 10/10 years, Bobs 9/10, Lakers 9/10. All won two titles. Ank, pete, odin in order. Final answer.
Fason
This is a clown question bro
It's the frachog Pete, he deserved to win at least 7 titles but the software is dumb.
Odin did a really good job pivoting from tanking and putting together a unique team that won a couple championships.
Kudos to 20s for overcoming some adversity with unfortunate free agent luck.
Hat tip to Ank for shuffling the deck around Kyrie and keeping his team consistently elite outside that one year as the 8 seed.
In spite of the stupid question, I'll include Heebs in this group with how he was able to keep his team in title contention while sticking to his guns and valuing shown defense. Man’s got a code.
Ankly - Pete. Did a great job stacking top 3 picks in nearby drafts (which is very important in the wheel). Then had lovely payoff on the Wagner lotto ticket and took advantage of that dunce Fason with the JBC trade. This has all combined to create the 6.0 Lakers dynasty and his gigantic Frac lead. Playoff sims have not been kind to Pete, but he still has 2 titles. I do think that some cracks have (finally) started to form, and it's interesting that he's begrudgingly keeping his squad together at this point. Will be interesting to see what he does next.
Yawn - User Pete is in the FRAC industry. What a decade. He didn't even rely on a once in a generation point gawd (not the false messiah that led to the death of blasphemous user Ian) so it's doubly impressive. Pete's had an amazing decade. I think since the beginning Trof and 20s have been the best overall GMs but Pete has hit some heady heights in the 3010s.
6. Was Fecta's decade the worst you've ever seen? Do you think it would be possible for it to be worse?
Ankly - Enough about the past. The Hornets have a fantastic future ahead of them. The KCP contract is ELITE. Butch Lee is a core member. He's only like 3 players away from the playoffs at this point.
Odin - Easily the worst but also yes, it could have been worse. If I remember correctly there were a handful of players who we thought were being wasted there, so at least there were a few bright spots. They weren't very bright but they were there. Players like Derrick Rose and, uhh, *checks notes* Derrick Rose! Yes, it was very bad.
Fason - Appreciate Fecta sticking around to run a team. It will be hard to do worse, but Troy looks on his way to topping it
Yawn - It's honestly impressive. As a not great GM I am in awe of the fine line Fecta walks between not caring and making just enough moves to standout as bad at sim. He's my idol.
TimPig - It’s hard to say it’s the worst decade we’ve ever seen when we remember that everything that the Hornets did over the past 10 seasons was to set themselves up for the next 10. Sure, the record doesn’t look great on paper, but tons of careful planning had to go into building the next Big 3 in KCP, Butch Lee, and Jerome Whitehead, and then you remember that it doesn’t end there. Mason Plumlee, Kris Humphries, the list goes on and on.
7. We are another decade into TMBSL 6.0 - how do you feel about the league? Still like/dislike the wheel? Wish amnesties were a thing of the past? Pining for any changes/improvements to the league?
Fason - I still enjoy how different 6.0 is to 4.0 & 5.0. Feels like eric has done a really good job of keeping inflation at bay which has kept team building interesting. I love the wheel, I like how it forces GMs to properly assess their windows of opportunity and make calculated risks of going "all in". Amnesties are okay but should probably be more expensive. I would love to see some of the GMs that quit come back. Need more drama
Yawn
I really really enjoy the league, but I do miss a lot of the GMs that have left. I didn't particularly like the drama, and I think some of it bordered on toxic behavior, but I always found a bunch of those fellows as good dudes 1 on 1.
I struggle a bit with the wheel. I think it's the best of course, but there are points where I've been in no-man's land and wishing I could just bottom out and go again. I really appreciate that the drafts are a bit more hit and miss so being at the top isn't the most important thing, but just having hope that things could change is something I miss.
TimPig - The only thing that bothers me about the league is the affordability of amnesties. I’m glad we took some steps to curb their ability to be abused, but I still think they’re a bit too affordable for my taste. Everything else is great.
Odin - Honestly I'm pretty happy with it. I hate fbb but whatever, it is what it is at this point. I wish we'd try something else for 7.0 but I know I'm in the minority there. Improvements can always be made but even I am running out of ideas for change to improve rather than change to change. Amnesties are fine. Wheel is fine. Most all the rules are fine. GM numbers are good, not great, but good. We're currently at 23 plus I'd have to imagine skrouse would still be here given a different situation. 6.0 is going well imo
Ankly
I think the league is healthy. We haven't really had major rules controversy since the scouting drama has died down. 3 points to make though:
1. League not at full capacity - I think it's important to fill in a couple of these vacancies. Things are fine now, but what happens if we have another 2-3 departures like we've experienced before? I'd much rather stay closer to full capacity than to half a league. Approaching a half-full league could spell doom! Also it's wild we haven't fixed the contraction issue yet.
2. Amnesties - I think we closed the biggest potential loophole here before it was exploited. I'm fine with our current version of amnesties, although I would support a raise in price. Maybe even turn it into a trade asset similar to contract extensions? Where you need to trade for one if you've already used yours for the decade or something. I dunno. Just spitballing.
3. Wheel - It's an integral part of 6.0 so this isn't going anywhere. I do understand why some people don't like it. I think there are two key things with the wheel:
A. It really does make this more of a skill-based thing. So the people "bad" at managing assets and things find themselves ever chasing contention whereas the others who know (and have the time/energy to devote to this) can find themselves at the top perpetually. Maybe we make it tougher for those contending teams to financially maneuver somehow? Like only lotto teams have an amnesty available each offseason, but they can trade it should they wish (e.g. the playoff teams have to pay up to amnesty their dudes).
B. It is very tough to build up from a bombed out roster (i.e. the expansion scenario). I certainly think we should improve the package that is given to New GMs. Give them more bucks. Give them uppies. Compensation picks perhaps (like an extra 1.10 or something).
