I was wondering, how can I win with an inefficient scorer? Is it possible? McGrady is one of my favorite all-time players and I want to win with him but I don't know how! How can I surround him with a team that'll at least give him a chance?

four other chuckers is the way

go big or go home

Never won a championship myself, so take my advice with ample salt. But I'd suggest pairing him with strong offensive rebounders and some other shooters with sub-50% FG% but the highest possible EFG% (i.e., they miss more than half their shots, giving the offensive rebounders opportunities; but they make 3s to make up for the misses, too).

79-80 Moses Malone could be a good fit. High usage, 50%+ shooting, and one of the top offensive rebounders with ample minutes. Then I'd grab maybe the best Jayson Williams (top ORB), and maybe a Kyle Korver. Get a PG with high AST%, ample usage, and not much worry about his FG% (another chucker).

Just some ideas. Get those ORBs, make some 3s.

It is possible to win an open league with a Tracy McGrady or Kobe Bryant type player. Surround that player with a good passer -Jason Kidd or John Stockton for example- and good rebounders/defenders -Dennis Rodman and Ben Wallace for example-.

I tried it with Bibby and Iverson and Cheeks and Kobe. Never made the playoffs

With McGrady, no, it's not possible. His best defensive version shoots 47%. His best offensive version is a 64 defense. Too much of an uphill battle to overcome.

The right Kobe (06-09), paired with 66-67 Wilt, a bunch of Rodman's, some high efg 3 point shooters, and a Stockton, Paul or Kidd … maybe. I've seen that formula win in open leagues with 96-97 MJ, so it's possible. Not likely though. That's one of the weaker MJ's and he still shoots better and has a lower TOV than even the most efficient Kobe.

Posted by kinoa1 on 8/25/2018 4:53:00 PM (view original):
With McGrady, no, it's not possible. His best defensive version shoots 47%. His best offensive version is a 64 defense. Too much of an uphill battle to overcome.

The right Kobe (06-09), paired with 66-67 Wilt, a bunch of Rodman's, some high efg 3 point shooters, and a Stockton, Paul or Kidd … maybe. I've seen that formula win in open leagues with 96-97 MJ, so it's possible. Not likely though. That's one of the weaker MJ's and he still shoots better and has a lower TOV than even the most efficient Kobe.

McGrady has been a part of at least one title team in the $47M ODL. The 02-03 McGrady -the highest eFG% season- would be the correct version to use. U can use a high defense player to cover the PG/SG positions.

Posted by ncmusician_7 on 8/25/2018 6:26:00 PM (view original):

Posted by kinoa1 on 8/25/2018 4:53:00 PM (view original):
With McGrady, no, it's not possible. His best defensive version shoots 47%. His best offensive version is a 64 defense. Too much of an uphill battle to overcome.

The right Kobe (06-09), paired with 66-67 Wilt, a bunch of Rodman's, some high efg 3 point shooters, and a Stockton, Paul or Kidd … maybe. I've seen that formula win in open leagues with 96-97 MJ, so it's possible. Not likely though. That's one of the weaker MJ's and he still shoots better and has a lower TOV than even the most efficient Kobe.

McGrady has been a part of at least one title team in the $47M ODL. The 02-03 McGrady -the highest eFG% season- would be the correct version to use. U can use a high defense player to cover the PG/SG positions.

That was over 6 years ago though. The player pool is much different now. No way a McGrady led team wins an open league anymore.

I assumed we were talking open leagues, but even in ODL it's nearly impossible. I'll say this, if you picked McGrady in the 1st or 2nd round you would have zero chance of even making the playoffs. If you made solid picks for efficiency, rebounding and defense, and then grabbed him for his usage in one of the later rounds, then maybe you could win. That's how the championship team you mentioned did it. But that was 1 team. 6 years ago. And he was taken in the 4th round. I'm not sure that qualifies him as a guy you can build around.

Open leagues … forget about it.

Edit: There is one owner who built a pretty smart team around him in my open league. Paired him with Gobert, D Jordan and 2 low usage, high assist guards. He won 52 games and is in the playoffs. So I guess it's possible to build a winner in open leagues. I still don't think you could ever win a championship with him, but I'm curious to see how far he goes in the playoffs.

I'd agree with kinoa1's assertion that it would be difficult, if not close to impossible to build a winner with TMac or Kobe in a open or draft league. However, in a higher cap league, especially one that allows clones, I think a Magic (2x), McGrady. Rodman, Wilt team could have some success if they wouldn't have to contend with the typical cookie cutter lineups that pervade those leagues. Magic gives you both high ast% and oReb% relative to his position(s), as does Wilt. Rodman is there to grab boards.

Then again, I've never won a championship, and miss the playoffs more often than not, so what do I know?

McGrady's still very possible to win in an OL. Time to break out the old low turnover Mustangs.

Posted by kinoa1 on 8/25/2018 8:59:00 PM (view original):
I assumed we were talking open leagues, but even in ODL it's nearly impossible. I'll say this, if you picked McGrady in the 1st or 2nd round you would have zero chance of even making the playoffs. If you made solid picks for efficiency, rebounding and defense, and then grabbed him for his usage in one of the later rounds, then maybe you could win. That's how the championship team you mentioned did it. But that was 1 team. 6 years ago. And he was taken in the 4th round. I'm not sure that qualifies him as a guy you can build around.

Open leagues … forget about it.

Edit: There is one owner who built a pretty smart team around him in my open league. Paired him with Gobert, D Jordan and 2 low usage, high assist guards. He won 52 games and is in the playoffs. So I guess it's possible to build a winner in open leagues. I still don't think you could ever win a championship with him, but I'm curious to see how far he goes in the playoffs.

That open league McGrady team that won 52 regular seasons games had over 18000 minutes drafted -way too many-. That is no where near the optimal way to build around McGrady. With regards to the ODL, while I wouldn't recommend drafting him before the third round, I could make the playoffs drafting him late in the 2nd round.

Benhoidal, other than Steph Curry, there are player-seasons which are minor statistical improvements over the ones 6+ years ago -so I wouldn't say the player pool is a lot different-.

I have a better PG to pair him with now than what I would have ran 4 years ago, too.