Central
ysw128: Dennis Rodman, Andre Drummond, Alonzo Mourning, Mike Conley, Oscar Robertson, Andrew Bynum, Cheick Diallo
Rodman/Drummond is such a scary rebounding combo and Zo is the perfect complement to those two. Love the Conley pick. At first I was unsure about the Oscar pick, but he covers a lot of what you need. This is an awesome offensive team, with crazy rebounding, but there are a couple holes. Opponents can guard you -1 all season, and the defense isn’t great aside from your top 2 guys. Good perimeter scorers could really hurt you.
Prediction: 45 wins
sixernuggets: Moses Malone, Donyell Marshall, Ray Allen, Mookie Blaylock, Willis Reed, Rick Barry, Earl Watson.
Moses Malone at 8 is way too early. Donyell in the 2nd? Ray in the 3rd? Rick Barry? There are some things to like about this team and after looking at the squad you put together, I don’t hate it like I thought I would. However, I still don’t like many of the individual pieces.
Prediction: 29 wins
zora4preside: Kevin Garnett, Scottie Pippen, Bill Russell, Mark Price, Gary Payton, Anthony Mason, Grant Hill
Your starting lineup has insane defense and very good rebounding. That’s usually a good recipe for success. However, your bench has terrible defense and rebounding and the offense isn’t any good either. You are going to be playing your starters heavy minutes which is great, but there’s some major flaws, such as efficiency, to those starters to go with their major advantages. When your top 6 guys are all in the game, you should be fine. You won’t be great, but you will survive. Unfortunately, whenever you have to play a single player of your bottom 6, you are going to be in major trouble.
Prediction: 35 wins
Bds9992: Giannis Antetekounmpo, DeAndre Jordan, Joel Embiid, Jerry West, George Hill, Jameer Nelson, Brandon Wright
Step 1: Draft superstar scorer. Step 2: Trade back into the 1st round. Step 3: Draft DeAndre Jordan. Step 4: Win Championship? Where have I seen this formula before? Giannis is awesome, he’s a top 3 per minute player in the SIM, which is why I have him as a top 3 pick in the ODL. In the $52, I have him lower, but you still got him in a good spot. Trading away so many assets and drafting Giannis is certainly not a bad plan, but his limited minutes does mean you have to nail the rest of your roster. I’m not sure you did. I like a lot of what you did (especially loading up on 19-20 seasons), but I’m not sure that bench has quite the punch to replicate what I did last season.
Prediction: 43 wins
tarheel1991: Anthony Davis, Ben Wallace, Julius Erving, Rajon Rondo, Jamaal Tinsley, David West, Robert Covington
Anthony Davis isn’t as good in this format as the ODL, but he’s still a steal where you got him. Big Ben is the perfect compliment. I was also trying to trade up to grab Dr. J, but you beat me to it. He’s a great option next to your top 2. What a start defensively! Then you double down and grab Rondo. Not a bad pick, but doesn’t address what you need. Covington solves some of that, but I had thought Dr. J was going to be your SG. Looking at your roster, I’m not sure why you didn’t use the 54 efg% season for Erving, or the best Wallace season. Regardless, this team is a juggernaut defensively that should have just enough offense to be a contender.
Prediction: 50 wins
benhoidal: John Stockton, Hassan Whiteside, Amare Stoudemire, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Korver, Andrew Bogut, Michael Porter
I took a risk and punted on usage until the 3rd round. Grabbed the best passer and best D/rebounder. This gave me a lot of flexibility, but also presented some holes. Amare and Harrell are the perfect scorers to complement them offensively, but put me into a small rebounding hole. Overall, rebounds are adequate, but not a huge strength. Defense is average or slightly above when Whiteside is in the game, and very bad when he is out which is almost half the game. I also did a poor job of getting good value per minute. The combination of poor defense and rebounding puts me in a hole that is almost impossible to climb out of. That is, unless I have the best offense in the league by a wide margin, which might actually be true. My seven draft picks all have at least 59 efg% and my team has relatively low turnovers. This team should be awesome at home, but struggle a bit on the road.
Prediction: 44 wins
Divisional Predictions: Four good teams in this division. tarheel1991 should get the bye. Ysw128, benhoidal, and bds9992 will all compete for the playoffs. zora4preside and sixernuggets will miss the playoffs.