...that is:

1) The absolute gem you most want in a high cap league ($52 mil or above)?

2) The best reserve in a high cap league?

3) The most effective starter in a $42-47 mil league?

4) The best reserve in a $42-47 mil league?

5) The most poisonous substance in the WISNBA player pool?

To answer my own questions...

1) For me it's pretty easily 66-67 Wilt or 08-09 Lebron.  I'm sure there will be disagreement on this, though.
2) I've become a huge fan of 04-05 Donyell Marshall.  He never slips to the bench rounds in a draft league, but when I can use this season he gives that nifty combination of boards and 3s from either forward spot (98% at SF, but that's never stopped me).
3) This is tougher, especially since I never play open leagues anymore and have less of a sense of what works.  But in a draft league I try to angle for 89-90 Magic or 05-06 Billups, and build around the floor general.
4) 07-08 J.R. Smith.  Instant 3s, although he doesn't really do anything else whatsoever and his fouls are a tad high.
5) I'm going to think about this one a bit more, although just about any George McGinnis season is a candidate with his high TOs and PFs.

1.  91-92 Rodman...REBOUNDING DELUXE...in a high cap it is all about specialization
2.  94-95 Rodman...read above
3.  09-10 or 05-06 LeBron James...He does everything...09-10 for a 47 mil and 05-06 for a 42 Mil, and don't forget the 09-10 Jason Kidd..so much win there
4.  64-65 Wilt, 09-10 DeAndre Jordan, 56-57 Russell...Rebounding and blocked shots everything a growing boy could want from a big man 
5.  Allen Iverson...who wouldn't want an ok defender that dominates the ball like no other and never had an efg% sniff 50%.  He was marginal from 3, he didn't rebound, he was an ok passer with a penchant for turning the ball over...FANTASTIC.  Kudos also go to the careers of the aforementioned George McGinnis and Antoine "Cybertwan" Walker

1)  91-92 Rodman.  1st runner up is 66-67 Wilt.  08-09 Lebron 2nd runner up.

2)  94-95 Rodman (if clones are allowed, I'm going to have 94-95 Rodman & 95-96 Rodman rotate at the 4, probably with 91-92 Rodman at the 3).

3)  42 - 97-98 Dennis Rodman.  09-10 Jason Kidd.  Combo of 95-96 Shaq & 64-65 Wilt (the 17xx minute half).
      47 - 66-67 Wilt

4) the best team in lower cap leagues are almost always made up of partial season players, not answer this question.

5)  Anybody who has a high usage with a low efg%.  If you add on no help in the possession war (no boards, high tov%) and lack of defense to this, you almost can't help but say AI.  Guys like Elgin & Elvin at least give you something... but are still pretty damn poisonous.

1. always 66-67 wilt...best player in the sim

2. depends on position...pg is probably ward, wing is jr smith if i want 3s, big man has a lot of options but i always seem to go with bynum

3. besides the obvious ones...ben wallace...love that guy

4. sam mack is a cheap backup guard....roger brown gives you great oreb% for cheap

5. iverson led me to a finals appearance the only time i used him so ill lay off him.....im a pretty big grant hill hater so ill say him

1) Like everyone else 66-67 Wilt and either 08-09 or 09-10 Lebron

2) Would agree Rodman 94-95 or 92-93

3) Ben Wallace 02-03 is very cheap for what he offers, Jason Kidd 08-09 or 09-10 again very cheap for what he offers.  And 09-10/08-09 Lebron anytime you can have your leading scorer and starting PG at the same time its always a good thing.

4) Well my usual suspects are J.R. Smith 07-08, 08-09 Micheal Redd  02-03 and I tend to go with Chris Dudley a lot.  Again very cheap rebounding with not getting too carry away with fouls.

5) Like Ash said high usage low efg% but sometimes you can build round one such player to make it a challenge.  Took Elgin Baylor to a championship game in open leagues lost in the finals.  But one this is a killer is high fouling, especially players who are in more than 15 mins and have more than 6.5 fl48.  Even players who are in less than 15 minutes I really try to avoid.  Its not just the fouls (and the points the other team gets) but when a guys sits for fouls it can mess your whole rotation up plus fatigue players.

Posted by longtallbrad on 8/5/2011 10:53:00 AM (view original):
...that is:

1) The absolute gem you most want in a high cap league ($52 mil or above)?

2) The best reserve in a high cap league?

3) The most effective starter in a $42-47 mil league?

4) The best reserve in a $42-47 mil league?

5) The most poisonous substance in the WISNBA player pool?

1.  '91-'92 Rodman. No one else can give you anything close to comparable at the 3.

2. '64-'65 Chamberlain in behind Shaq.

3. '96-'97 S. O'Neal. Not a tonne of minutes, but is dominant in his time on the floor. And with lower minutes, you don't have to worry about his higher foul rate. Runner up is '92-'93 Rodman. Like the '91-'92 Rodman, you can't get those numbers at the 3 from anyone else. And like S. O'Neal, you don't have to worry about higher fouling because of his lower minutes. There is nothing worse for me than taking a higher minute guy who constantly gets in foul trouble and can't play all his minutes.

4. '64-'65 Chamberlain behind O'Neal. In higher leagues, I take the really low minute Chamberlain as well to fill out my centre minutes. Much better eff% from those 2 Chamberlains.

5. I agree with Iverson here. He just sucks.

Some guesses, some experience.

1) The absolute gem you most want in a high cap league ($52 mil or above)?   LBJ. 
2) The best reserve in a high cap league?  Manu, Rodman
3) The most effective starter in a $42-47 mil league?  LBJ or 50 point Wilt.
4) The best reserve in a $42-47 mil league?   JR Smith, Rodman
5) The most poisonous substance in the WISNBA player pool?  AI

I only have experience with Open Leagues so far but Rodman is by far the most broken player.  I guess it's possible to build a championship team without him but it sure does make you work a lot harder.  I would vote to flat out remove Rodman from the pool if we could.

Rodman isn't broken.  He was a dominating rebounder and a great defender that didn't score a lot nor did he demand the ball.  Rodman is just magnified here because of the era he played.  Rodman may easily get 20 RPG in this era of uber 3pt shooting.  I think that Rodman was one of if not the smartest rebounders that ever lived.  While he was a freak he still used to watch game film to identify how any given player would typically miss a shot, and often he could tell where a ball was going once it was shot based on that players shooting style and the trajectory of the ball.

the only problem with Rodman is that there are several great utility seasons (see also Jason Kidd) that probably dont cost enough in the current valuation system

you can spend less than 14 K on Kidd and Rodman and take care of a huge swath of very important stat categories and still have plenty of money to plug into your high usage scorers - it's why they are so ubiquitous

Posted by malone9975 on 8/8/2011 5:38:00 PM (view original):
Rodman isn't broken.  He was a dominating rebounder and a great defender that didn't score a lot nor did he demand the ball.  Rodman is just magnified here because of the era he played.  Rodman may easily get 20 RPG in this era of uber 3pt shooting.  I think that Rodman was one of if not the smartest rebounders that ever lived.  While he was a freak he still used to watch game film to identify how any given player would typically miss a shot, and often he could tell where a ball was going once it was shot based on that players shooting style and the trajectory of the ball.

I don't mean Rodman the actual player.  I just mean Rodman in terms of the sim engine.  Needed Usage levels is WAY below what it should be.  Rebounds are also under valued from what they should be based on their importance.  That combination makes Rodman just broken in terms of the current sim engine.  You are going to be hard pressed to find a team that doesn't improve from a low usage high OReb & DReb player who also often has high defense and plays multiple positions.

Again I am not judging the actual player or even how his individual stats are represented.  I'm just discussing how the player stats the sim calls "Dennis Rodman" influence the sim engine.

Posted by mccheech on 8/9/2011 12:14:00 AM (view original):

Posted by malone9975 on 8/8/2011 5:38:00 PM (view original):
Rodman isn't broken.  He was a dominating rebounder and a great defender that didn't score a lot nor did he demand the ball.  Rodman is just magnified here because of the era he played.  Rodman may easily get 20 RPG in this era of uber 3pt shooting.  I think that Rodman was one of if not the smartest rebounders that ever lived.  While he was a freak he still used to watch game film to identify how any given player would typically miss a shot, and often he could tell where a ball was going once it was shot based on that players shooting style and the trajectory of the ball.

I don't mean Rodman the actual player.  I just mean Rodman in terms of the sim engine.  Needed Usage levels is WAY below what it should be.  Rebounds are also under valued from what they should be based on their importance.  That combination makes Rodman just broken in terms of the current sim engine.  You are going to be hard pressed to find a team that doesn't improve from a low usage high OReb & DReb player who also often has high defense and plays multiple positions.

Again I am not judging the actual player or even how his individual stats are represented.  I'm just discussing how the player stats the sim calls "Dennis Rodman" influence the sim engine.

But...teams with Dennis Rodman did pretty well irl didn't they?  I mean a guy that grabs 20 boards and defends the paint is pretty useful!

Regarding usage levels, I am curious why you say the SIM requires less than RL.  Looking at the '96 Bulls you have MJ and Pippen and a bunch of very low usage players.

I think it is fair to say that MJ being the greatest player of all time breaks the mold for what an average team needs.

When you combine the issue with double-teaming in the sim (to be at best worthless and at most detrimental) it creates a problem for the GAME of WiS when it comes to low Usage players.  Rodman was a great player.  However when he is far and way the best player in the sim that clearly does not reflect real basketball.

My main point though isn't the reality issue at all.  My main point is that Rodman in the current sim is just broken in regards to the play of this game.  In an open league if you chose to not have at least one Rodman then it is not because you want to build the best team but because you want to challenge yourself.  In the current form of WiS Basketball Rodman hurts the sim because he occupies the best player at both SF & PF thus eliminating a huge number of players for anyone wishing to build "the best possible team" and not limit themselves on a personal basis.

I disagree with two things you say:

1)  The usage requirement is not absurdly low.  It used to be, but now usage is expensive.
2)  Any great team could always use a guy that doesn't want to shoot the ball but does all the hustle plays.  It actually reflects ideal basketball pretty accurately when you think of it like that.