By the way, great evals so far. Nice format, well written, lot of good stuff here. You said something nice about Dave Cowens. I can’t give you an A+ because a couple of times you wrote you’re when you should have written your, but I will give it an A. Good work, I’m looking forward to reading the rest.

I can’t wait to see how jcred tries to figure out my team when I was still drafting starters in round 11.

awesome job jcred...really appreciate all the work being put in

i plan on putting out a self eval tomorrow that might explain some of my decisions...we share a lot of the same concerns tho obviously(boards!)

Gerryred
Kareem is good value at 7. He brings some variety to his potential seasons. Some 90-100 D seasons, some with great passing and rebounds that are solid to very good. Helps a bit with flexible roster building. Top notch scoring too. Probably the pick I’d have made here. Howard, Admiral, maybe even CP are interesting – but Kareem is great and doesn’t hurt you anywhere. Drummond has been going higher and higher lately and I can see it. The mediocre defense and maybe FT% that once scared people off no longer do. Your boards are off to an excellent start. Defensively you can get away with 94% or whatever of Kareem guarding a PF given how good his D is. Drummond has some nice high eFG seasons too. The only question at this point is whether you’re limiting yourself by not having a guard yet. Ibaka and his D fit nicely with Drummond, good enough rebounds for a SF. Often very low TO’s and efficient scorer. Got some work to do with guards though, you’ll need to hope a fair – haired, sharp shooting PG is still available for you later. Moncrief is a great pick here. Good value, great D, low TO’s and helps with boards. You’re a bit light on assists, but in very solid shape.
Like Jojo (not White!), Mark Price is back where he belongs for the 8^th time. Amerk and albi would not stand in the way of gerry’s pet cat. No one knows better how to build a roster around Mark Price, which is to get lots of defense and rebounds and Gerry is on his way to that. If he had wanted to disappoint us and leave Price hanging, he could have gone with a good defender still sitting on the board like Mookie or even Conley – but Gerry would not be denied. Derek Harper should back him up and maybe take a season or two? Starting for Price. Solid fit here. Jakob Poeltl is fun. Super efficient scoring and ok D and rebounds. I believe often/always limited to center – but sometimes 97% of one guy is still better than 100% of someone else. Larry Nance Jr. is a really good guy to get off the bench with his SF eligibility. Good shooting and boards. Roy Tarpley is about as similar as a back up comes for Drummond. Shoots a little too much for a guys sometimes in the mid to high 40’s, but the boards are great. JR Smith is some really nice bench usage seasons at SG and will give some much needed 3’s. Patty Mills will fit in somewhere I imagine, not a bad player but you’ve got quite a few guards at this point. Last pick of Renaldo Balkman has one sneaky super sub season and a little more help the other two.
Final thoughts: This is a well put together team. You have good, not great D and pretty good scoring for your starters. Some interesting bench guys. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is one of your best outings.
Draft Grade: B
Best value pick: Moncrief
Head scratching pick: Maybe Poeltl
Projection: 5 - 10

Jethroeg
Pretty sure this is the highest David Robinson has been taken, though close a couple times at 9. The question becomes why not Dwight? First The Admiral, there’s a lot to like such as three 100 D seasons and two more at or close to 90. While not top notch eFG, he’s one of the few big men who get a big bump in TS% because he hits FT’s and gets to the line a lot. Plenty of usage and Though again in WIS never as much as IRL. Good to solid low TO’s and sometimes a plus passer. Depending on how much you value Stocks (steals and blocks) there’s probably no one better (maybe Hakeem) so he will help you turn your opponent over. The reason he sometimes slides I believe is his bad rebounding and a couple seasons where he’s closer to 50 eFG than 55. Howard is pretty much the same defender with now three 100 seasons and you may have to take a 70 or two with it, but it’s close. Howard is much better eFG scorer and far superior rebounder. He is sloppy with the ball in the high teens TO% and can get into foul trouble, though Robinson is close there too. To me the decision comes down to whether you think you can find enough low TO guys to fit around Howard for the shooting and rebounding advantage. Or can you find enough boards and maybe watch your shooting a little with Robinson. I give the edge to Howard, but it’s close. Pippen is a nice pick here, nice to build around doing everything you need a SG to do except hit a lot of 3’s – the value of which in Savage is a little questionable. Only thing to watch here is your shooting is just ok. Buck Williams. Sooo tempting with that eFG and rebounds. Two drafts in a row he’s slid to late 3^rd round after usually being late 2^nd and I think this is the right place for him. The shooting is great, rebounds are good and usually solid usage with good to very good D. But if you fear the Towels (TO’s and Fouls) he can be a little scary. He fits ok with this team, Pippen is not the best with TO’s either so you’re team may turn it over a bit. And while he’s good on the boards, next to Robinson your weak on the boards in the front court. Maybe Donyell Marshall here gives you a few seasons of plus rebounds at SF and you can get guys later with 35 creb later. Tough call. Clyde Drexler is curious here. With Pippen you’re either thinking of sneaking some of Drexler or Pippen at the point or SF, which is concerning. Too redundant this early for my taste. Drexler is good on his own, but I don’t see it yet on this team. Cheeks can be appealing with his great D and hit shots when he takes them. But a bad rebounder on a team needing rebounds and more TO’s. He’s pretty low usage so the TO% isn’t as concerning as Buck’s. Also cements that Pippen or Drexler are playing time at SF on a team light on rebounds.
Baron Davis is an underrated defender, good passer but can’t shoot. You got him in the 10^th round last time and that’s a good spot for him. 6^th round is too early. I like Eddie Jones as a value pick and on this team he’s a pretty good fit behind Pippen (or maybe Drexler?). Welcome to Savage Alton Lister! I believe for the first time. I’ll leave it at that. Alex English will have to compete hard for minutes with Pippen, Drexler and Eddie Jones. He has some decent defensive seasons and can certainly score and rebound for a SG. Just not sure where he’s playing. Maurice Lucas is a good pick and one I had been targeting. He has one very good season with creb close to 40, 70 D, 50 eFG and solid TO’s. He does foul a bit but at this point – great value. If you can live with the other lower shooting seasons maybe also a back up. Michael Ray Richardson has appeal with his defense, rebounds and passing. Sometimes ok with TO’s but other times terrible and he can’t shoot. Guessing he’ll fit behind or next to Cheeks when you don’t go with Baron Davis. And if those guys don’t work you have TJ McConnell. I like the pick and value here, but you just have a lot of guards and wonder if you could have gotten value a little earlier.
Final thoughts: Started out pretty good but the pieces around Robinson, Pippen and Williams could struggle. I think you’ll turn over the ball a lot and miss some shots. Defense is pretty good, but I don’t think enough to overcome it.
Draft Grade: D+
Best value pick: Maurice Lucas
Head scratching pick: Drexler
Projection: 20’s

Midge:
I expect Midge is quite happy to see Howard still there at 9. I already discussed the benefits of Howard previously so I won’t repeat, but Howard at 9 considering when you get to pick in the 2^nd is a great start. The glove is a perfect fit, well – that’s fun to say and we’ll see if it’s true. Payton is a top notch PG giving the great D, good assists, good TO’s and some boards. The shooting can be a challenge. I’ve tried Payton a few times without much success and I think it’s because he was my #2 scoring option. If Payton is second in shot attempts on your team you need to surround him with high eFG guys. Elton Brand in the 3^rd is a nice pairing. The defense is off to a great start, good rebounds at SF, lots of usage. The thing to watch is you have two pretty high usage guys who don’t shoot great. Which make Ray Allen a nice fit. Good shooting and chips in with assists. Nice low TO’s. Usage is getting pretty high across the board, want to make sure Howard is getting all his shots. Kevin Love makes an appearance in the 5^th, not what I expected initially. Very good rebounder and sometimes pretty good shooter. I’m guessing you fee like you have enough defense so far, which may be true. You’re usage is through the rough, the concern being that your best scorers like Howard will probably shoot less often.
Robert Williams is a nice get here, strengthening your defense inside and high eFG scoring. With Howard and Love you can live with his slightly low rebounds. Kevin Johnson is a nice back up that will give you 5 seasons behind Payton and enough assists to focus on other categories elsewhere. Bill Bridges is an underrated guy with some SF eligibility who can cover for Brand when he has to play PF. Rodney McCray is a great value pick. I wouldn’t be surprised with all the usage in your starting 5 if you’re tempted to start him and bring Ray Allen off the bench. Would give you a defensive bump too. At this point in the draft most people are hunting for a season or two that can spot start or take back up minutes. Michael Cooper is a very good defender and decent passer/bad rebounder depending where you play him. Tough to say on Bob Pettit. The shooting is rough and his usage is very high. Nice defense, use him sparingly I’d think. Every time Bailey Howell is picked I wonder who the heck is this guy and what was someone was thinking until I look at his numbers, he’s good and nice value in the 12^th.
Final thoughts: Good draft with some nice players. Very good first 4 picks and lots of options with the guys you took through. I don’t know how many teams you’ll get in, may depend on the SF/PF combo’s with Brand, Love and Bridges. These teams could be real good.
Draft Grade: B+
Best value pick: Bill Bridges
Head scratching pick: Kevin Love
Projection: 5-10

Albiband0
Albi starts off with Barkley who is really good, but I think pretty hard to build around. You take his 3 SF 99% seasons for sure and then I think you have to go with 2 PF seasons, that reduces his value a little. At SF he’s a superb rebounds, always a highly effective scorer with 2^nd tier usage. He passes enough to make a difference, but at times can be real high TO% and his boards are PF are good but not as differentiating. Albi takes Jason Kidd in the second and on paper this looks like a nice match and good start. It might be, but I have a hard time with Kidd. I know I’m supposed to like him and have come close to talking myself into him in the past. Shooting is just so important and TO’s are too and to take someone in the second who’s bad at both those is hard. Kidd does have those two late career seasons where the 3’s get him over 50 and that helps. The rebounds are great and definitely the assists. And if you’re going to try Kidd, Barkley is a good guy to pair him with so I’ll go with it for now. I like Valanciunas just fine. His rebounds and efficient scoring are great, but not with Barkley because of the D. You can get away I think with two mediocre defenders and you now have that, so you’ll need to starting going for defense. Christian Wood is great when he plays and I bet you’re thinking you have great rebounding and scoring at SF with Barkley and Wood. You do, but you’re heading into the 5^th rounds with a lot of defensive needs.
Dale Davis is a step in the right direction. He has some good defense seasons. Good scoring, pretty low TO’s and solid boards. Khris Middleton pick I don’t love. He’s a bit of a role player and I sound like a broken record with the defense – that’s my concern. Nice all around player though. Bob Dandrige I like better than Middleton so that’s a good grab. Good D and all around good player with rebounds and some assists with pretty good TO’s. Antonio McDyess is a good pick and value at this point in the draft. Often eligible at SF you now have that position locked up with Barkley and Wood. Pretty good defense at times that you’ll need. Dana Barros looks like the Kidd back up. He’ll inject some 3’s into the team with some high eFG and solid assists. George T. Johnson is a great defender, but when you take defense in the 10^th round it can come with drawbacks like a TO% in to the 20’s. Another great SF with limited minutes in Cheick Diallo. I like him, probably you’ll take advantage of play Wood at SG with all your small forwards. Last up Nick Anderson, nice pick in the 12^th who shoots 3’s, rebounds ok with some passing and solid D.
Final thoughts: Some fun players and an interesting start with Barkley and Kidd, but I think you’ll have a hard time getting stops.
Draft Grade: C-
Best value pick: McDyess
Head scratching pick: Middleton
Projection: 15-20

Jhsukow
Great start with Chris Paul. I think 11 has value as I have him rated a little higher. Great PG’s are hard to come by and CP has no flaws, unless you want to say light on rebounds – but that’s not a weakness, just not a strength. Karl Anthony Towns was a little bit of a surprise here to me, but there is a lot to like with his incredibly efficient scoring, great boards, some passing, solid TO’s and 3’s. Of course the challenge is his D and that’s why he’s not a first round pick. But you have real good D with Chris Paul and plenty of picks to go. I confess I haven’t looked closely at Horace Grant in a while, never seemed to be in my range. He’s great. I didn’t scout every single season, but I trust you’ll get the 5 best whether he’s at 99 or 98% SF. Good D, solid scoring and boards and real low TO’s. Great first 3 with Rob level low TO’s. Pau Gasol in the 4^th I kind of like, but mostly worry about the interior defense. Gasol is a great innings eater where he doesn’t hurt you anywhere and that’s nice to have in general, especially in the 4^th round. The only concern being those two guys on the floor at the same time. But maybe Gasol spends a good amount of time behind Towns who often is light on minutes.
Otto Porter/Jr. is a real good value pick that fits well beside Chris Paul. Good 3 and D with rebounds. Very clean as well. Batum is a great pairing with him. Gives you many of the same traits as Porter just less so. I always think Tobias Harris can play D until I look him up. He’s rated really low, maybe too much time under Doc Rivers. Great rebounder, shoots 3’s and passes a little with super low TO’s. Josh looks like he’s going for the low turnover title. Old man Sabonis is a good guy behind Towns. I like all that he does at this point in the draft but wish he played better D. Grant Hill I bet fills in behind Horace Grant. I like the idea of him filling the counting stats categories off the bench. Mel Daniels has a couple good seasons you can plug him in. Derrick Rose has some nice later career seasons to provide usage off the bench and Przbilla will crash the boards – good value in the 12^th.

Final thoughts: This is a tough one. I really like most of these players and the CP, Towns, Grant start is great. I worry about the overall defense. But, I’m not exactly a Savage historian but usually the most successful teams have to sacrifice something. Sometimes it’s rebounds, or top notch shooting or scraping by with barely enough assists. I don’t recall if someone has gotten by with what I think is average or a bit below average D. But this team could. You will have a TON more possessions than your opponents with your crazy low TO’s and you should out-rebound your opponents. Fouls are good too. So maybe you can win a lot even if your teams out-shoot you. I’m excited to find out.
Draft Grade: B+
Best value pick: Could be Chris Paul, but I’ll say Otto Porter
Head scratching pick: Tobias Harris
Projection: 5ish, no worse than 10

24kpyrite
24 leads off with Rudy Gobert, the best version of the modern center who doesn’t shoot a lot, but finishes at the rim with very high eFG, incredible rebounds and defense. He has three 100 seasons but one of them is only 1800 minutes. Front court is a fairly deep position, but not with guys like this. Lillard in the 2^nd is an excellent pairing. One of the most efficient scorers at PG, gives a ton of 3’s, low TO’s, solid assists and even some boards. Great combo to start. I like Bam Adebayo here too. With Gobert’s boards you can get away with a PF that is a little low on rebounds. Very good defender and efficient scoring and of course the passing is the prize here. Bam is light on boards, but because he’s so good with assists you can now draft a SG that rebounds well and not worry about passing. Bam is a little high on TO’s a few seasons, but not enough to scare in the 3^rd round. Now things get interesting with Luka. My first reaction is concern that Lillard won’t be your primary scorer. I like Lillard by 1A or 1B because he’s so efficient and that justifies the lack of defense. Having said that, Luka has 2 good and one real good shooting season and is off the charts on rebounds and great assists. TO’s are a bit high. Defense is not great. You’re back court won’t get a lot of stops, but your rebounds are looking good and with all the passing piling up you’re already efficient scoring should get a boost. I like grabbing McAdoo in the 5^th to fill in a couple seasons for Bam. He has a nice 73 D year with low TO’s and solid stats otherwise. He also has the 74-75 season where he averaged 35 ppg IRL and I’ve seen that season dominate teams for stretches. It’s not a great rebounding season or high eFG season – but guys who score more PPG (35) than usage (30.5) are rare and he can win you a series in the playoffs. Probably don’t put him with one of the 3 bonkers Luka seasons.
Tyrese Haliburton is going to be great. I think he could be close to Chris Paul 2.0. For now he has one very good shooting season with good passing and high TO’s and partial season that passes less and better TO’s. Defense is pretty good, should fit in with the Luka gap years. Dan Roundfield looks like the first SF. Eligibility varies from 97-100 with usually the better seasons being less eligible. He rebounds well enough to even compete at PF. I’ll be interested to see what you roll out. Very good D and boards, a bit high in the TOWELS. I like the Victor Oladipo grab here, one very good season to further help piece together the SG spot next to Lillard. De’Anthony Melton up next and now I’m thinking Luka is playing some SF. Luka certainly rebounds well enough for a SF, but the + + advantage of his boards at guard are much less. And assists don’t matter where you get them. I admit I still build off the old school approach of playing guys as far away from he basket as possible to make sure you have maximum rebounds. But several have shown you don’t need to take this approach to win. On his own Melton is a nice roll player with great D and good boards and shooting. Nice guy to have. Gary Payton II has that fantastic back up season last year shooting almost 68% eFG for a guard, incredible. With 89 D, very nice. Chris Webber slides to the 11^th! More recently a 6^th or 7^th round pick. Similar to Roundfield with the tempting SF eligibility. Seems like you may go with him at the 3 sometimes and maybe some PF too. Very good value here. Another good value pick in James Worthy in the 12^th. Very efficient scorer.

Final thoughts: I like a lot of this team. I wonder if you could have gotten enough usage to maximize Lillard with someone like Danny Green, Covington or Porter besides Lillard and improved your D. But you got that late with other players and have options now with Luka. I wanted to love this team, then with Luka I was a little worried, then I think I went back to loving it seeing how you rounded out late.
Draft Grade: B+
Best value pick: McAdoo
Head scratching pick: Luka
Projection: 5-10

Great stuff, jcred!

Posted by jcred5 on 2/7/2023 9:17:00 AM (view original):
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

Cool write up. I did modify my SLs a little bit last Sunday morning when I did my final tweaks. I like using Marion's two SG/almost SG seasons as super subs so he is only starting 3x. I think you are more optimistic on my team than I am. I don't feel very good about. There is a group of about 6-8 and I think it could be any of them. I think my OREB is about 5-7% lower than I like it, TO% about 0.5% too high, and STOCKS slightly under where I prefer them. Its best strength is a combination of some high defensive ceiling players with lots of positional flexibility. iirc I had brutal division draws each of the last two seasons so praying for a little help this time around.

Thanks for all the hard work.

Posted by jcred5 on 2/7/2023 8:07:00 PM (view original):
Jhsukow
Great start with Chris Paul. I think 11 has value as I have him rated a little higher. Great PG’s are hard to come by and CP has no flaws, unless you want to say light on rebounds – but that’s not a weakness, just not a strength. Karl Anthony Towns was a little bit of a surprise here to me, but there is a lot to like with his incredibly efficient scoring, great boards, some passing, solid TO’s and 3’s. Of course the challenge is his D and that’s why he’s not a first round pick. But you have real good D with Chris Paul and plenty of picks to go. I confess I haven’t looked closely at Horace Grant in a while, never seemed to be in my range. He’s great. I didn’t scout every single season, but I trust you’ll get the 5 best whether he’s at 99 or 98% SF. Good D, solid scoring and boards and real low TO’s. Great first 3 with Rob level low TO’s. Pau Gasol in the 4^th I kind of like, but mostly worry about the interior defense. Gasol is a great innings eater where he doesn’t hurt you anywhere and that’s nice to have in general, especially in the 4^th round. The only concern being those two guys on the floor at the same time. But maybe Gasol spends a good amount of time behind Towns who often is light on minutes.
Otto Porter/Jr. is a real good value pick that fits well beside Chris Paul. Good 3 and D with rebounds. Very clean as well. Batum is a great pairing with him. Gives you many of the same traits as Porter just less so. I always think Tobias Harris can play D until I look him up. He’s rated really low, maybe too much time under Doc Rivers. Great rebounder, shoots 3’s and passes a little with super low TO’s. Josh looks like he’s going for the low turnover title. Old man Sabonis is a good guy behind Towns. I like all that he does at this point in the draft but wish he played better D. Grant Hill I bet fills in behind Horace Grant. I like the idea of him filling the counting stats categories off the bench. Mel Daniels has a couple good seasons you can plug him in. Derrick Rose has some nice later career seasons to provide usage off the bench and Przbilla will crash the boards – good value in the 12^th.

Final thoughts: This is a tough one. I really like most of these players and the CP, Towns, Grant start is great. I worry about the overall defense. But, I’m not exactly a Savage historian but usually the most successful teams have to sacrifice something. Sometimes it’s rebounds, or top notch shooting or scraping by with barely enough assists. I don’t recall if someone has gotten by with what I think is average or a bit below average D. But this team could. You will have a TON more possessions than your opponents with your crazy low TO’s and you should out-rebound your opponents. Fouls are good too. So maybe you can win a lot even if your teams out-shoot you. I’m excited to find out.
Draft Grade: B+
Best value pick: Could be Chris Paul, but I’ll say Otto Porter
Head scratching pick: Tobias Harris
Projection: 5ish, no worse than 10

jkaye had some team in like S3 or S4... I wanna say it was Curry Towns off the top of my head. His team defense was probably the worst in the league but he had two teams at like 59 eFG and those two teams had the two best regular season win totals iirc.

If I ever win a draft league (unlikely but who knows) I promise the people I will review the draft in reverse order. For to long the closer to 24 players have been left behind for evals. In all seriousness cool evals jcred just ready to have mine lol.

Posted by ashamael on 2/7/2023 2:45:00 PM (view original):
I can’t wait to see how jcred tries to figure out my team when I was still drafting starters in round 11.

My number of starts by round (lol more than double the amount of starters in round 9-12 as I had in 5-8)::

Round	xStarter
Round 1	5
Round 2	3
Round 3	3
Round 4	4
Round 5	2
Round 6	0
Round 7	1
Round 8	0
Round 9	2
Round 10	1
Round 11	3
Round 12	1

I think the Jarrett Allen hype has gone a little too far.

Could not agree more.