My team is very cookie cutter pretty much 5 starters and 7 bench players always in the same spots

stockton/ward
manu/carter
faried/Holmes/bosh3/edge2
duncan/Beaty3/bosh2
unseld/varajao
Weighted team totals:
defense ranges between 65-72
efg between 53.4 and 54.5
Rebounding between 122-130
assists between 75-84
tov between 13.6-15.2
my fp48 are to embarrassing to share lol

i doubt this team will be competing for anything but hopefully I learn my lessons for the next one.

Posted by robusk on 2/6/2023 1:55:00 PM (view original):

Posted by PBandJ on 2/6/2023 1:40:00 PM (view original):
Since all the cool kids are doing this, I may as well too:

LeBron James/Jose Calderon/Mark Jackson
Jose Calderon/Zach LaVine/Joe Ingles/Mikal Bridges
Draymond Green/Zach LaVine/Brandon Ingram
Robert Parish/Domantas Sabonis
Dikembe Mutombo/Tom Boerwinkle

First things first, LeBron never fails to play point guard. EVER. My PF's may play a little center (actually on one of my teams it will be a must)

Once I got my seven man rotation down, I decided that I could start looking at specialists. In doing so I left myself a little short on the defensive end with my second lineups. I am still fleshing out my lineups, once I feel like I am done I then start thinking about it again. I do like that I have flexibility to use some short seasons that maximize the things I am looking for out of my team. So far my worst starting lineup look like 55.8% efg/ 125.3% CReb%/ 92.1% Ast%/ 7.3% Stls/ 13.8% Blk%/ 77.8 Def Rating Average. Of course, by thinking that is my weakest lineup assures that it will actually be my most functional.

If Jose Calderon is SG and Zach Lavine is SF, does that defeat the point of LeBron playing PG? I mean it wouldn’t be the first time. We had a team rolling out Cheeks and Majerle at SG and SF with LeBron at PG. Team did well too.

So far, LaVine will never start. For his positives he has too much usage and he will mainly play SG. I just see that he and LeBron playing 30 mpg together is wasted, but LaVine will play a little SF. When LeBron is out Calderon will move to PG most of the time (essentially trading the rebounding for assists). My starting lineups will typically be over 90% APG with rebounding always over 125%. I don't think I will dominate the boards, but I feel my mix of assists, boards, defense, and shooting may measure out the opportunity cost of being completely elite in one or two areas.

My feelings often lie to me though.

Pbj putting lavine on the bench is no guarantee Lebron and lavine wont share most of there minutes

Posted by steelers821 on 2/6/2023 2:12:00 PM (view original):
Pbj putting lavine on the bench is no guarantee Lebron and lavine wont share most of there minutes

Oh, I know that unfortunately, but a boy can dream that the sim won't screw him, right....right????

Posted by PBandJ on 2/6/2023 3:09:00 PM (view original):

Posted by steelers821 on 2/6/2023 2:12:00 PM (view original):
Pbj putting lavine on the bench is no guarantee Lebron and lavine wont share most of there minutes

Oh, I know that unfortunately, but a boy can dream that the sim won't screw him, right....right????

You could put lavine as Lebron backup. Idk how that fits in other places but seems like a good way to keep 1 high usage player on the floor at all times.

First chunk of evals. I'm posting individually because I'm close to half way through and may want to adjust my predictions having not looked at all the rosters.

Pbandj:
For many seasons I thought picking high in savage was an advantage. 10 seasons in I’m not so sure. Having to wait 72 picks for your 3^rd player is tough, Lebron certainly helps with that. Not much to say about the first pick, amerk took Wilt here last time but LeBron is the consensus #1 pick. High efficiency shooting with volume is one of the hardest things to get, and to get with D, reb, ast, low TO’s and position flex makes him the perfect start to build flexibly. I like Mutombo here. 4 or 5 100 D seasons with solid rebounds and eFG. Draymond is interesting here. The positive is you’re pretty much done with assists and can stack up what you want/need at SG. Great defender, has a couple seasons he hits 3’s and if you can swing it – even a PG eligible season. The negative is the TO’s. Not a very high usage player so maybe you can get away with it if you build well. I’ve always been a little intrigued by Parish. At times a good or bad defenders, good to very good rebounds. Pretty good TO’s and an effective mid range usage guy with good eFG. I’ll be interested to see which seasons you use – he does have one or two 99% PF seasons that is a small price with Mutombo.
Initially didn’t love Lavine here. I get you need some scoring, understand the appeal of 3’s, probably needed some usage. And with LeBron, Draymond and Dikembe you have a good D foundation. But I’d have considered a better rebounder and defender. Someone like Gerald Wallace comes to mind but he was gone. Marques Johnson would have been interesting here, even an Otto Porter type. Looking more closely at Lavine I like him a little more. Mostly low TO’s, more assists aren’t a bad thing and he has one fantastic shooting seasons and some other good ones. More assists and bad D coming with Domantas Sabonis. Like Lavine he scores effectively and often, good boards. Maybe he starts a season or two over Parish, not sure. Good back up but the bad defenders are adding up. Insert Jose Calderon! It’s hard to find defenders this late in the draft, you usually have to sacrifice something to get one. A guard who doesn’t pass or a front court player with lower rebounds. 3 poor defenders in row, but a lot of offense.
Mikal Bridges is a new pick, his 90 D season next to LeBron, Draymond and Mutombo will be a tough team for sure. Other season are nice with less defense. Boerwinkle is a nice Mutombo back up. The only thing I don’t love is that his best seasons wont use all his minutes because he and Mutombo can’t play PF, so not ideal there. Joe Ingles is another good shooter with good passing, but a below average defender in this league and turns the ball over a lot. Brandon Ingram is a good value pick, nice bench usage with low TO’s who rebounds and passes for a couple seasons. Mark Jackson here is curious. It’s just a 12^th pick but I’d have thought you had plenty of assists already. Maybe there’s a season or two you like him backing up PG more than Calderon I guess.
Final thoughts: In your second savage I like this team better. You made some nice improvements and while LeBron is great, it’s not easy to build a team having to wait so long on the 2^nd and 3^rd picks. I like you’re core of LeBron, Mutombo and Draymond and some of the pieces. Interested to see if you can make it work.
Draft Grade: C
Best value pick: LeBron!
Head scratching pick: Lavine
Projection: 12-15

Chewy:
I used to think Wilt was the best player in this format. My theory being that Wilt was a top 5 player and because of his minutes, also a backup player too. A player with 5 seasons of ~ 1,000 minutes of Wilt I bet is a 6^th or 5^th round pick. So taking him frees you up to be more aggressive earlier in the draft and take a better player with less minutes/seasons knowing you have an extra mid round pick. I still think it’s true, but LeBron is just better. And front court is deeper position and Wilt can be a little hard to build around with his PF eligibility. I like Paul George, don’t love him but he’s good. I like most he pairs pretty well with Wilt I think and at this point, gives you enough to keep you options open moving forward. Good to great D, rebounds, passes, 3’s and usage. Not the most efficient scorer but he doesn’t hurt you. Jerry Lucas – I’ve never looked too deeply at him because on the surface people have valued him more than I. I think it’s a bit of a conservative pick here. He’s not great at anything, doesn’t really differentiate you. Has one or two good D seasons, but also some bad ones. Some good eFG seasons, but he doesn’t shoot a lot. Rebounds are good, pretty good TO’s. I’d have like to see someone like Camby here, maybe Bobby Jones or Nance or even Walton. Montrezl Harrell is a good pick here. Great eFG and TO’s, good enough boards and some usage.
I like the Mike Conley pick here, nice combination of some D, shooting, assists and some 3’s. Good value at this point in the draft. Paul Pierce is in the PG13 back up, I like taking a high usage quality back up a little earlier than you have all your starting positions set. I might have considered Vince Carter here instead, but Pierce replicate Paul George better with similar rebounds and passing. Pascal Siakam is a great pair with Harrell, love this pick. Another good pick with Fat Lever – I think you can get 5 starting seasons between Conley and Lever and they even back each other up a bit. Another great SF in David West. To me this is a great way to build SF in Savage. There is a lot of value out there. Mo Bamba looks good on paper, I had him last time and he was crap in the regular season then went on a run in the playoffs and helped a team or two exceed – so I can’t criticize this is one. LaMelo Ball has a couple nice seasons at PG and Cole Aldrich is a bit of a super sub in very limited minutes.
Final thoughts: I think there’s a lot to like. The only thing I wonder is if you end up with extra unused minutes could you have done more with the Lucas pick. That said, you have everything you need. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is your best finish and get a championship if you go for it with a team or two.
Draft Grade: B
Best value pick: Fat Lever
Head scratching pick: Jerry Lucas
Projections: top 10

Ty84moss:
Steph Curry would probably be my 3^rd ranked pick, but he could be the most fun to build around. He has some of the best shooting seasons in the sim. Sometimes a good PG and solid defender. Jrue Holiday is a bit of a bold pick here and I kind of like it. Great guards are a little hard to come by and you have two. They defensively complement each other. But it’s a risk, very light on boards and forces you into the front court. I think the Jarrett Allen hype has gone a little too far. His best season is about 26 mpg, he’s not a top notch or even good defender. Rebounds are fine, definitely like the eFG and pretty good TO’s. In the 4^th round I can like it, a bit early here I think. Donyell Marshall would have been interesting here. Maybe Gasol. I like Gerard Wallace, but now I’m wondering what’s going on. Maybe Jrue will back up Steph or vice versa and Wallace can play the two for his best 3 or so seasons. Emeka Okafor is fine, but this team is lacking defense. Rebounds are ok, shooting is good. But if you don’t get some stops you’re in trouble. Paul Millsap is good here. Pretty sure you can get 5 seasons at SF here of good D, boards and solid shooting. TO’s are nice too. DeAndre Ayton is pretty good player in Savage in the 7^th round, but not for your team. You’re short on D and passing and he doesn’t help either. Ivica Zubac’s has been a sought after average big man for several seasons, for good reason. He should fit in with Allen and Okafor.
Nate McMillan – assists and D, here we go! This is a good pick and I like him next to Curry. Myles Turner is also an interesting player and gives some D, but I wonder how much he can play with all the front court players. Tony Parker I’m not sure about. As a Steph back up I like him, but I’m losing track of what’s going on with your guards. I worry you’ll be playing Wallace at SF. Taj Gibson is a good roll player in this league and he can help behind Millsap.
Final thoughts: Steph and Holiday is a fun start, but drafting 2 or 3 guards in the first 4 picks can make a tough build. I think the defense is lacking a bit and you’ll score and get boards, but I think you’re assists are a bit low as well.
Draft Grade: C-
Best value pick: Zubac
Head scratching pick: Jarrett Allen
Projection: In the 20’s

Jpevans31
I like Jordan here. SG is one of the weaker positions and obviously MJ checks all the boxes, except maybe one in terms of highest efficiency scoring like Shaq, Howard, Giannis. Rob had the blueprint a couple seasons back with teams that maximized possessions to get the most out of Jordan. Bill Russell, while a legend IRL, is a concern here. The D and boards are great, a little passing – but to take a decent hit in shooting this early worries me. There was a run on front court players so I get it was getting a bit thin, but I’d have gone Nance, Bobby Jones, Mutombo, maybe Camby. Mourning is an interesting bounce back, making me potentially like Russell better. Russell covers Mourning’s weak rebounds and vice versa with the scoring. So far, your defense is ridiculous. Brent Barry is interesting here. He can play the point a little if you can find assists elsewhere and so can Jordan. I like the pairing with Jordan, so long as you get the assists. Then you go Mookie, you’re building a team of my IRL favorites with Jordan, Russell and Mookie (sorry Brent). And Mookie I think is undervalued in Savage – I like him better than Barry, end of the 5^th is a steal for him. I wonder if this wasn’t your plan and you just couldn’t pass him up. Now you have Mookie, Jordan with Barry and can take the best of Mookie and Barry with Jordan and just watch the assists. Once more on the defense, impressive.
Dave Cowens is interesting. I guess he’s coming off the bench and filling in a couple spots for Zo perhaps. Solid pick with more good D. Had to look up Desmond Bane, turns out he has a couple nice seasons, one with 23 usage. Good role player, I’m guessing you had some SG gaps to fill with Barry/Jordan. Lamar Odom has that nice SF season with good boards, great assists and a few 3’s. In a season where you’re not getting enough assists in the back court – Odom is great and you have plenty of D. The other seasons, I don’t know. Maybe you don’t plan to use them much or at all - we’ll see. You follow it up with Amir Johnson, and I’m guessing you’re matching up when you can go with Amir because you have the assists and when you need Odom. Amir doesn’t shoot a lot, but very efficient and you need that. Eyeballing your roster so seem almost set at this point. I’d have thought you have 5 seasons of guards, close at SF and done at PF so you can start finding guys to improve in certain areas. But Kukoc I’m not sure – he’s a good passer, maybe there are times you need him rather than Barry. But with Jordan at 2900 – 3100 minutes a season you don’t need much. Not sure how Kukoc fits outside of a confidence builder for Michael in practice ??. Same with Danny Granger. He’s pretty good, but I’m not sure where he plays. Larry Sanders is an example of guy I think you could just grab and upgrade for half of a season. Larry Smith. It’s the 12^th round and you have so much I don’t think it hurts you, but I’m not sure he should play for you.
Final thoughts: I like this team, not sure I love it. You can put a ton of D out there and try to win that way and opportunistically use guys like Barry, Bane and others. I don’t know if you have enough offense though to really challenge. Very interested to see the pieces put together
Draft Grade: B
Best value pick: Mookie
Head scratching pick: Kukoc
Projection: 8 – 12

Mr. Savage DH555
There’s a lot to like about Shaq. One of the most consistent efficient scorers with high volume across 5 seasons. Solid to good D, usually very low TO’s and even a little passing. When you take Shaq you need to keep an eye on rebounds and defense. Depending on how much value you place on TS% vs. eFG, Shaq definitely takes a hit. TS% is not a perfect measure in the sim because even with most playing up tempo, players never come close to their IRL FTA. Still, most players are a positive at the line while Shaq is a negative. Klay Thompson in the 2^nd is questionable to me. He does so little besides score, 3’s and some D. Not that you can’t make it up, but one it can really limit your options moving forward. You have great scoring and pretty good D, but you’re in need of major rebounds and assists. On the plus side, the inside out is top notch. Rob took Marion right before that would have been nice. Others like PG13 may have been interesting. I’ll admit I’m not a fan of Steve Nash in the sim because I put too much value on Defense and more recently, TO’s. There is an appeal of a guy that can pretty much lock up assists for you and on this team he does that, freeing up other positions to focus on other categories. Not that you expect a PG to typically help you make up on rebounds, but Nash and Klay is pretty low. Klay is among the lowest TO’s for a high usage guy, so you may be able to get away with Nash’s TO’s. You’ve got some work to do at this point. Donyell Marshall is a very good fit here. Helps with much needed boards and gives you good D. You’re putting together an impressive perimeter team that you don’t often see in Savage and if you can get owners running +2 on you, Shaq will feast.
Andrew Bogut gives you some boards and a little bit of D, but I’d have like to see you lean into a bit more. Options are limited in the late 5^th, maybe Cowens. You get Kermit Washington in the early 6^th. Pretty solid pick. Good not great boards, same with the D. I think he’s got enough or close to it SF eligible seasons for you to put out 5 SF seasons of very good boards and D. I like Terry Tyler is a back up, but I’d have waited to address that with your need at PF and back up to Shaq. Maybe Arvdas behind Shaq? Then you go Rondo to back up Nash. Very good fit behind at back up PG, but still concerned about front court. Clifford Ray comes to save the day! Good value here in the late 9^th. Two very good rebounding seasons, another partial one. TO’s are high but he’s low usage so not too concerning. Defense is passable. This pick may have saved you. Next up Bob Lanier. Great value at this point (bit of a slide in the draft for Bob compared to Savage 9), but he can’t really play PF. Maybe you’ll play him some at PF and just pay the penalty. Terrance Jones has a nice season or two to help at SF. Michael Redd can offer some bench usage probably behind Klay.
Final thoughts: The Klay and definitely Nash picks concerned me, but looking at the whole picture you have some good teams. The best of Shaq, Klay, Nash can seriously score and with the best of Donyell and Kermit/Clifford Ray could compete.
Draft Grade: C+
Best value pick: Donyell Marshall
Head scratching pick: Nash
Projection: 10 - 15

Rob
Picking high again, this time Rob gets Giannis and that’s bad for everyone else. At times he might be the best player on the floor in any game. He has SF seasons with TS over 60, creb of 32+, enough passing to give you flexibility in other sports and 90 D. At PF he’s 100 defender with over 40 creb and even better passing. His TO’s are good, though not top notch. But Rob easily navigates low TO players so no concerns there. I wonder if it’s not too bold to say he should be considered at 2 or 3 if you thought you could nail later picks. Marion is a wonderful pick with Giannis. The SF position falls into place like Tetris. I saw rob’s post of the lineup slotting and didn’t see a 5^th Marion not Marion at SG. So if he does’t want to pair SG Marion with SF Giannis, on behalf of all other owners I saw THANK YOU! I’ve always wanted to try Marion, such a good player to build around. Andrei Kirilenko next up, I don’t always totally love him, but on this team with Giannis and sometimes Marion’s shooting you can do it. I see this as pure asset building. Take a guy with position flex behind and next to Matrix and Freak. So far Rob has basically every box checked and with Freak, Matrix and AK47, some exciting team name options.
Look who’s coming to Dinner! Rob’s old friend Jimmy Butler. As a Celtics fan I hate/respect this guy. In the sim he’s a very valuable at the 1 and 2 and he can fit very well with the other players. Right now the only question I have is what happens with Giannis come off the floor, which as a modern player he does with some regularity. Andre Iguodala next here and will again refer to Rob’s post – kind of not needed I would guess with Butler, AK and a little Marion. But I’m sure he’ll find minutes. Iguodala is good, I just might have gone front court or bench usage here. And that’s what Rob did next with Amare Stoudemire. The 6^th round is just too late for this guy. His defense isn’t that bad, although his rebound is. But his very efficient scoring and low TO’s is almost unparallel at times. But if you can put Giannis, Marion, Butler next to him – should be enough boards and such a bump in scoring. I’ll get into this more in my own eval, but Amare was squarely on my radar in the 5^th and I chickened out being afraid I wouldn’t have enough boards. Michael Porter is an aggressive pick I like. He doesn’t play much, but when he does he’s excellent. Marcin Gortat helps shore up the boards inside. Not a great defender, but he won’t kill you and you have a lot of D already. I imagine you’ll want to minimize the amount of time Amare and Gortat are out there together. Kyle O’Quinn fits right in the Rob mold, defense, scoring efficiently and low TO’s. George Hill is a nice bench player who can play PG or SG. Mason Plumlee looks like a nice backfill for Giannis, close to matching the boards, passing and efficient scoring at PF. And Terrell Brandon in the 12^th is a steal. He has one season that on it’s own is 2^nd/3^rd round talent with 81 D, very low TO’s and mid 50’s TS%. And he can spot back up other places. He should not have lasted that long.
Final thoughts: We are in trouble. This is a very well drafted team. I think he can go 5 wide and get all the teams in and still compete for multiple championships.
Draft Grade: A
Best value pick: Stoudemire
Head scratching pick: I guess Iguodala
Projection: 1^st

Good review format, Jcred.

In honor of KD and Russ, I’m naming my teams OKA Thunder, OKB Thunder, OKC Thunder, etc.
Anyone else have any themed team names?

Posted by dBKC on 2/7/2023 10:31:00 AM (view original):
Good review format, Jcred.

In honor of KD and Russ, I’m naming my teams OKA Thunder, OKB Thunder, OKC Thunder, etc.
Anyone else have any themed team names?

My teams are all named from lines in the Shelley poem Ozymandias.

Yeah, I'm a nerd.

Posted by PBandJ on 2/7/2023 11:22:00 AM (view original):

Posted by dBKC on 2/7/2023 10:31:00 AM (view original):
Good review format, Jcred.

In honor of KD and Russ, I’m naming my teams OKA Thunder, OKB Thunder, OKC Thunder, etc.
Anyone else have any themed team names?

My teams are all named from lines in the Shelley poem Ozymandias.

Yeah, I'm a nerd.

Yeah, who the hell would do something like that....

I'm going unibrow, duobrow, tribrow, tetrabrow, and pentabrow (I realize I'm mixing greek and latin but monobrow doesn't hit quite the same way)

In the past I have used themes in which Boston fit into the theme. Cities and towns in the United States, Kentucky, Georgia, the United Kingdom all included Boston. I used rock bands. I used cruisers from the U.S. Navy from World War II. This season I am planning on a different theme. Since this is Savage X and there is also a Def Leppard album called X I am planning to name all my teams for Def Leppard albums.