edsortails
Better owners than me have built teams around Kawhi Leonard. His numbers look very good. Good to very good shooting with great TS%. Basement low TO%, rebounds very well for his possession. Defense is great, high usage to take advantage of his efficiency and pretty good assists. 7 time champion and averages 48 wins, impressive considering I drafted him twice! I wonder those average if you remove my teams. When I had him I found it exceedingly frustrating adjusting his minutes for those 2000 – 2100 minute seasons. Your best player getting tired set to 23 mpg. And to continue my tangent, I firmly believe there is a cap that when you exceed your per game minutes by more than ~ 15%. TO’s and shooting fall off significantly. Relevant to Kawhi because if you get playoff bye or want to bank minutes, he’s so low that you can’t get more than 35 in his best seasons, maybe 28 in other seasons. I don’t get it. I’d have him mid-ish 2^nd round. But enough about Kawhi. Artis Gilmore is good. Great shooting very good boards and pretty good D. Can go with different seasons depending on your shooting or rebounding needs. TO’s are high though and he’s not Hakeem bad with fouls, but he’s high. I want to like Shawn Kemp, but the TOWELS are rough and next to Gilmore concerning. Some good shooting, some mediocre. Some good to great defense. Boards are pretty good. Not a bid pick, just a lot of TOWELS in your front court and Mr. Clean at SG won’t totally make up for it. Tracey McGrady here threw me. Usually a prized back up for his usage and otherwise stat filling capabilities. Occurred to me you may look at Kawhi at the point for a season or two. I was surprised to see Tmac has some PG eligibility. Curios to see where this goes. Deron Williams is a nice get here. Fills in some good seasons at PG, great assists with solid D.
Alvin Robertson has defense, good rebounds and passing you can sometimes play at the point. You’re TOWELS are seriously piling up. You’ve almost got a “who’s who” of turnovers and fouls. I admit to some bias, for years I didn’t focus on the TOWELS and I now hate them. You have a lot of good defense and some good rebounds. Josh Smith can do some things at SF. Good rebounds, great D and passing. Kyle Korver is a 3 point specialist and not much more, assume he’ll get reps when you don’t want Tmac on the floor. Have to figure out the usage rotation. Zion Williamson has a great offensive season, he’ll give a very nice offensive bump to the team you put him with. I’m not sure John Havlicek has a place in Savage. I wish he did, but the shooting is not good and I don’t know he has enough other attributes to make up for it. Troy Murphy is a nice addition late. Defense is not as bad as I remember with very good shooting and pretty good boards. Elvin Hayes has 5 seasons over $9 million in the sim. That should count for something.

Final thoughts: Kawhi has been successful and you certainly started with a player who can add a lot when on the court. There are players here I like such as Gilmore, Deron and Zion, but it’s the fit I don’t love. I mentioned the TOWELS concern, not sure if your mostly very good defense can overcome that.

Draft Grade: C-
Best value pick: Troy Murphy
Head scratching pick: Kawhi ?? McGrady
Projection: 15-20

Ashamael
I sense you’re worried about Jokic. Imagine where he’s going next Savage! I love the pick. He’s not the traditional defensive player, but boy can he do everything else. Amazing shooting with a lot of usage, solid to great rebounds and of course the assists. A fun player to build around I would think. Ben Wallace seems the perfect pairing. A complete statistical opposite of Jokic. Walt Frazier is a guy I would typically be hesitant to try because he doesn’t pass enough for a PG or rebound enough for a SG. Activate Jokic Powers! You have such incredible front court assists you can grab an otherwise valuable guy with great defense, pretty solid shoot and if you play him at PG, fine rebounds. Derrick Favors in the 4^th is ok. Some pretty good D seasons with lower minutes. Shoots very well later in his career. Solid rebounds and some of it at SF. Did you consider Marques Johnson here? Would be interesting to see him with this group. Jayson Tatum! As we know he should be rated much higher defensively, but even so he offers a lot offensively. You needed some usage, great boards, pretty good passing and nice low TO’s. I like the fit.
Carlos Boozer falls to you in the 6^th and I’m guessing he’s your Jokic backup. Pretty nice for a backup. In high doses as a starter he can be flawed but I like him behind Jokic. Brandan Wright is a super efficient scorer and can rebound well for a SF. Check out his crazy low TO%! Kemba Walker is interesting, I always forget how good the sim thinks his defense is… way better than Tatum’s! You can use him in a few ways. I’m not doing the math, but with Wallace basically being a zero with usage you need a lot next to him. So maybe you’ll run Jokic, Tatum and Kemba sometimes. A.C. Green is another SF option with solid D, rebounds and shooting. Doesn’t really hurt you anywhere, solid guy to have around. I’m starting to get a little pretzled with some of the positions here, Jamario Moon is a great SG plug in. Loosing track a bit, but I guess you still need SG minutes? Or is a defensive and rebounding upgrade over Tatum or Kemba. Miles Bridges has one very nice shooting season at SG, one or two other help seasons. Closing with Rasheed Wallace that is good value this late. His SF seasons are very usable.

Final thoughts: Ok, this is tough as the final product is hard to predict. For sure your Core is Jokic, Wallace, Frazier and then it’s a jumble. At times you can put more defense out there with Favors, AC Green, Moon and Rasheed. Other times you’re rolling with Boozer, Tatum, Kemba and Bridges. I guess you’ll blend them to get what you need.
Draft Grade: B+
Best value pick: Boozer
Head scratching pick: Favors
Projection: 5-10

Amerk:
Dennis Rodman at 22 does the things we all know, crazy rebounds and great defense at SF and PF. A bit like Ben Wallace in that you have to load up on usage, but when Rodman is a first rounder it can make the task a little daunting. Moses Malone is a super fun pair with him. The rebounds are nuts and Moses often has a lot of usage that you need. Some good defense and ok with TO’s. For a team that needs usage you’ve come to the right place with Kobe. And for a team with Kobe taking a bunch of shots, who better to pick up his misses than Rodman and Moses. Keep this up and you’ll lead the league in FGA, an impressive accomplishment with Rodman on your team. Joking aside Kobe I think is generally undervalued. Great D, good rebounds and assists and juuuuuust enough shooting with great TO’s. I’d love him in the 4^th round, early 3^rd is a bit early. Tree Rollins continues a trend of shoot a lot or don’t shoot at all. His defense is the appeal and he fluctuates a bit on the boards. When he shoots his efficiency is good. Best to set his minutes target MUCH higher than recommended because he will be in foul trouble a lot. Dirk Nowitzki in the 5^th you can certainly afford with you commitment to rebounds and defense. But I don’t love it. If you put Amare Stoudemire in this spot… now you’re talking. Dirk is fine offensively and his D isn’t that bad. His boards are fine given what you have. Just think you could have done even better.
Finally a middle of the road usage player in Terry Porter. Solid addition at the point. Has one high shooting season and other where he gets you the assists you need. Chris Mullin is a Kobe back up, that work. Jameer Nelson is a nice back up PG, good fit behind Porter. Theo Ratliff is nice value here. Good D, finished well, some rebounding with his SF eligibility. Don Buse helps fill in at back up PG. Not a ton of assist for a PG, but good D. Had to look up Andrew Wiggins. Looks like a couple solid seasons with the Warriors. Not sure what you’ll do with Rick Barry.

Final thoughts: I really like how you started this, a bit non traditionally. I was with you until Dirk. Still kind of like this team. You could certainly load up and go for a championship. Some kinda sorta good rotation guys. Very interested to see what you make of it.
Draft Grade: C+
Best value pick: Theo Ratliff
Head scratching pick: Dirk
Projection: 10-15

Steelers821
Welcome Steelers! You’re in a good drafting spot at 23, excited to see what you do with it. You start off by nailing down assists with John Stockton. Once thought of as a gem, people now focus on his TO% (fairly so) and his lack of rebounding for a 1^st round pick. Those criticisms are fair, but the shooting is very good and assists is one category that one player can be kind of a force multiplier. In that Stockton allows you to take guys at SG and certainly front court that others might have to wait on. You can use that to your advantage, that’s the value of Stockton. In the second round you take the guy you should have take in the first round! No worries, Duncan in the second is a steal. Love Duncan in this format I considered him over KG. Great rebounds, good TO’s, passing and solid rebounds. Hits every category. Manu Ginobili is a popular guy to spot start and back up. Solid player, doesn’t hurt you anywhere and maybe helps a little here or there. So early in the 3^rd I’d have preferred something more bold. Nance, Frazier, Camby maybe Brand. But Manu is fine. Kenneth Faried is very effective at SF. Not the best defender but you’re doing well there otherwise. The rebounding helps as you’re a bit low in other spots. I like the Richaun Holmes pairing. Nice compliments and Holmes can score it with solid boards.
Wes Unseld at times can be a plus rebounder but with mediocre D. Other times he’s a good passer, but I’d focus on getting as much rebounding out of him as you can. Vince Carter is a great with Manu. He’ll do a lot of heavy lifting when Manu is out, pretty good D and super low TO guy. Gives you good usage when you starters come out. Charlie Ward can back up Stockton. Solid D and some passing and boards. TO’s are high but he’s fairly low usage. Anderson Varejao has a few nice seasons. Fairly good shooter and ok boards depending on the season. Good TO’s too. Zelmo Beaty, I’m guessing you don’t love all the Unseld seasons and Beaty fits in other spots. Or maybe is playing besides Duncan. He has a couple solid seasons with pretty good shooting and doesn’t hurt you elsewhere. Chris Bosh I’m less sure of. Possibly you’ll use his later career SF eligible seasons to help with Faried and Holmes. If so that’s a solid approach. Charlie Edge is a very good defender and rebounder in limited use.

Final thoughts: Nice job for your first time. The Stockton pick isn’t popular, but as I said if you use him right it can be effective. Not sure you totally did that, but you got some valuable guys along the way.
Draft Grade: C
Best value pick: Holmes
Head scratching pick: Zelmo
Projection: 15-20

20ks
Last but not least, seriously running out of gas and will try not to have it reflect on your eval. Nothing like a Dr. J and Hakeem wrap to inject some life into me! My position and category analysis says he should be considered in the top 10. Five 100 D seasons, amazing rebounds, solid assists, scoring, good TO’s and enough STOCKS to make a difference. Paired with Hakeem again, Ben and midge both gave it a whirl, your defense can’t be off to a much better start. You’ve got a lot of usage, a friggin crap ton of STOCKS. Hakeem’s rebounds can vary, so you’ll want to watch that. I thought my team had a good start defensively… Bobby Jones. If you take the best defensive seasons 11 of your starting 15 player seasons are 100 D and the others a close. If you go with the 95% SF season for Jones and play him at PF, you’ll need to match the rebounds. But whatever. So far other teams won’t be scoring very much. Eric Bledsoe keeps the defense theme going. Not the caliber of the others, but still a good defender. A little light on assists for a PG. But Dr J is solid and Hakeem helps sometimes. Another 100 D season is added with Joakim Noah. I’d have considered a few more rebounds, but he’s ok and he does have a nice SF eligible season. Maybe one to cover Bobby Jones?
A bit early for Nerlens Noel. He’s good but you could have waited. More defense here and he can also score efficiently. More front court with Samuel Dalembert. When he’s your worst defender you know your defense is strong. One very high rebounding season and help from other seasons. Why does the WIS data base have both C.J. and CJ McClollum? Anyways he can be plugged in behind Doc or even a bit at PG. super low TO guy and hits plenty of 3’s. Carmelo Anthony is probably bench usage. He has some SG seasons that can help off the bench. David Lee has some nice SF seasons and with you defense, you can afford his low defensive numbers. Grant Williams! I bleed green and wouldn’t take this guy!!! Turns out he actually has a little value at SG, so there you go. And Mr. Insignificant Paul Westphal. His shooting is tempting, he’s a bit funny in that his rebounds are so low and assists not really high, but in small amounts he can score it off the bench.

Final thoughts: I’m not exactly a Savage historian, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this is the best defensive team ever in terms of all 5. Some one can keep me honest. It falls off in the later rounds of course but that’s to be expected. Vaguely similar to my team, but better I think. Doubling down on defense and hoping you can make enough shots.
Draft Grade: A-
Best value pick: Dalembert
Head scratching pick: Noel
Projection: 15-20

Thanks for your patience with this. I wanted to inject more humor but found myself just digging into each pick and trying to understand the roster building and approach. These evals might be more about my own thoughts on players in savage than your teams, which I tried to have a broader perspective in the final thoughts. The predictions are not scientific and I haven't gone back to adjust up or down based on all teams, so take my opinions with a big grain of salt.

Posted by Midge on 2/9/2023 1:30:00 AM (view original):
Explain yourself...

Before I talk about my team I want to make it perfectly that I'm here to give keen, concise basketball analysis. If you're here because you think I might say something funny please go here www.funnythingsthatmidgehassaid.com. On with the show.

1) Dwight Howard - For the first time I was considering trading my position in the draft. I had a deal in place to trade down to 12 and take Rudy Gobert, but when Dwight was there I had to take him. With multiple seasons of elite defense, scoring and rebounding, it makes me wonder why he hasn't done better in Savage.

2) Gary Payton - I think I messed up last season by taking guards with my first two picks, so this time I wanted to take a quality big and point guard with my first two picks. I was hoping that Oscar "The Mitten" Robertson would fall to me, but I was okay with settling for Gary "The Glove" Payton. I'm not thrilled with his three point shooting, his free throw shooting and that his usage% is too high for his eFG%, I worry that he will take shots away from Howard, but his elite defense for PG and SG, plus tons of minutes, plus a nice chunk of assist% made him the right choice.

3) Elton Brand - I was torn here between Brand, who brings a lot to the table for two seasons and is playable for all five seasons, and Jerry Lucas, who would give me five seasons of rebounds, which is always something I seem to be lacking. I gambled on taking Brand here and getting Lucas in the 4th, because that is where he has been going. Of course I knew that last season has very little to do with this season, because if somebody wants a player, they need to take him a little higher than last season.

4) Ray Allen - At this point I really felt like I needed some threes to go with Dwight Howard. Ash said that last season in the playoffs everyone went -2 or -3 against him with his Dwight/Oscar ("The Mitten", are you paying attention?) team and it sunk his season. I had Ray Allen before teamed with Magic Johnson in the backcourt and my defense was shredded. I'm hoping teaming Jesus Shuttlesworth with "The Glove" will be a better fit.

5) Kevin Love - My plan is to bring Love off the bench, firing threes and grabbing boards, while at the same time hiding his defense behind my good defense centers. I know jcred5 didn't like this pick, which further increases the feeling that I screwed up by not taking Lucas. If I had Lucas, I wouldn't have taken Love, and jcred5 would have been happy. Isn't making other people happy what it's all about?

6) Robert Williams - This is where in the past I would have been looking to take Dave Cowens, but luckily for me someone else took him and I took Robert Williams instead. Just in Time, Lord I got lucky there.

7) - Kevin Johnson - Traditionally, the 7th round is where I always quit looking to see who is best for my team and I start looking around to see who I can screw over. Who needs a point guard with at least five seasons of 25% assists? Ah, there he is, dh555! Sorry dude. It's like when you're playing Ticket To Ride and you don't really need that New Orleans to Miami track, but your brother does so you take it. TAKE THAT TIM! THAT'S FOR HITTING ME IN THE HEAD WITH A HAMMER WHEN I WAS SIX YEARS OLD!

8) - Bill Bridges - I think of Bill Bridges as Jerry Lucas lite. Build some Bridges, throw in some Love, mix in a little Time Lord, with a dash of a good Brand and voila!, you have yourself a power forward.

9) - Rodney McCray - A lot of guys were moving up in the draft, which means someone was sliding, so I was happy to take Rodney McCray in the 9th round. He will see some action at both SF and SG, with good rebounding at SG and good passing at SF. Decent defense everywhere.

10) - Michael Cooper - I still need minutes at SG, and I wanted to take a guy who plays defense to play in front of or behind Ray Allen. Two seasons will play for sure, maybe some from a third season. His 100 and 90 defense seasons will come in handy when Steph Curry comes to town.

11) - Bob Pettit - I figure this pick will have a lot of people saying huh? My thinking is that he plays good defense (90), has good rebounding (insert numbers here) and the team usage won't get messed up when he subs for Dwight Howard. His eFG% is weak, but he gets to the free throw line a lot and his passing is better than Dwight. If the Bob Pettit experiment is a massive failure I still have Bill Bridges to play some center if I need to make the change.

12) - Bailey Howell - I see Howell as Elton Brand lite. He has one season that will start and play a lot. Not bad for the 12th round.

I'm not going to say if I think my team will be good or not. I have no idea. What I will say is that me taking the time to write this when I haven't even put my teams together yet is like writing an extra credit paper when I haven't yet written the paper that is worth 50% of my final grade.

Love this self eval!

Posted by dh555 on 2/8/2023 8:03:00 PM (view original):
Explain Yourself....

1. Shaquille O'Neal

Thrilled to land the #5 pick. I figured none of the big 3 would fall so it was gonna be Shaq(1st choice) or MJ for me. I'm not opposed to trying Giannis at this spot if I get the chance again, but I felt building around Shaq/MJ and their extra mins would be easier for me. 4 of the 5 Shaq seasons are no-brainers but I had to think a little bit about the 5th. I decided on 02-03 for the extra D.

2. Klay Thompson

I was definitely looking for a guard in round 2. I've been wanting to use Klay for awhile now and this seemed like as good a time as any to finally try him out. I figured he would be available and loved the thought of a deadly inside-out 1-2 scoring punch with Shaq. I started getting cold feet on Klay as it got closer to my pick as I tried to figure out how I would get enough AST% for my liking. I started talking myself into Draymond as a solution and was starting to like that fit. I also felt that Billups might fall to me or that Lowry in the 4th would be ok. If Payton and Kidd had made it to me I would have gladly picked them over Klay. I knew Lillard wouldn't be an option with robusk picking right in front of me. The only other guard I was considering over Klay was...

3. Steve Nash

**** yea!!! There's been a few picks in Savage where I was surprised/delighted that someone fell to me, but this was my absolute favorite. Nash used to be my guy in WIS and I won a lot of games and chips with him. I'm done worrying about AST% now and feel good about 3s even if I can't add anymore behind Nash or in the frontcourt(3s at SG behind Klay was always a given). But the best part is that my 3 highest usg players on all 5 teams will all have an EFG over 55%. My teams have an identity now - I will outscore you with an awesome inside-out super high efg% attack. I'll need to have a good offense because I have no shot at a good defense with Nash at PG and Klay not a great option to cover him. I'm also waaaay behind on the glass so defense/rebounding will be the priority at the 3/4.

4. Donyell Marshall

I kinda think Donyell is a bit overrated in Savage. 03-04 is fantastic but the other seasons are better suited as backups. However, he was the last SF left in his tier group. If I don't grab him now I'm hoping for Bo in the 5th(could have got him!) or piecing the position together later. I didn't feel great about the options at PF(Noah? kills the efg vibe, Pau? not enough boards) so Donyell it is. I sent out a 2 person proxy for this pick and decided on Bogut as the 2nd name. This would have been way too early for him but he brings exactly what I wanted from the PF spot and I felt good about Donyell being there with my pick anyway.

5. Andrew Bogut

...and he's still available in the 5th! Things are working out nicely for me here. He lacks mins, but is a solid rebounder that actually has decent defense. Those guys are drying up fast so I was glad to get one.

6. Kermit Washington

This was the hardest pick in the draft. I knew it would be my last chance to get some of the great 1/2 season guys at SF here. But I also really needed mins at PF as well. My guy Unseld is just starring at me, ready to lock down PF with clean rebounding. But with Nash, that would have been a death sentence for my defense and I really wanted to try to hammer high EFG as much as possible. And then there's Amare. Just insane value in the 6th. I played around with his fit for awhile but it just wasn't gonna work. In the end, it was between Kermit, Boucher, Clarke, Porter, and Henson. Despite being able to play some SF, I was actually viewing Kermit as a PF for my team. In looking for potential PFs with good defense and high EFG, Kermit's 2 seasons were sticking out. I was definitely looking for higher dreb% but everything else fit nicely(well except the towels but that's pretty much unavoidable at this point). I also liked that he was flexible between 3/4 and could provide defense there if needed. Still not sure how I feel about this pick.

7. Terry Tyler

One pick away from Porter! Damn you robusk, that must have been your easiest pick of the draft. But I wasn't expecting Porter here. I had already filled in the KJs behind Nash by the time midge picked him. That was frustrating as I thought I would get him for sure with the way PGs have been dropping in Savage drafts. It was important to me to find good backups to Nash and Klay and I didn't want to wait too long to pull the trigger. I knew SG could wait, but PG was starting to look ugly for what I wanted(someone with 5 seasons of at least 25% ast). With KJ off the board, I focused back to SF/PF. Siakam and that one great season was very appealing but I didn't like any of his other seasons. I didn't like his average to below average efg, but Tyler was pretty much my last chance to add elite defense with solid rebounding at the usg I wanted. He has two seasons I felt could start and 3 other decent seasons to use if I was hurting for mins. I thought about rolling the dice and trying to get him in round 9 but decided not to risk it.

8. Rajon Rondo

There's Rondo, lingering like a bad fart. I didn't want to use him again. I wanted to take another SF/PF or just take Reggie now in case he goes earlier than I expect. I don't like the efg and turnovers and his usage will make him the 3rd highest udg player in certain lineups. Jameer in round 9 was considered but luckily I didn't choose that path as he went before my pick. In hindsight, I'm pretty happy with this pick. I needed the ast% and it was nice to add some defense to the backcourt. Not sure who I would have ended up with if I passed on Rondo. Tim Hardaway again in the 12th? I think I need to seriously reconsider the PG position in Savage and AST% in general. I've convinced myself I need a certain amount, yet I see other teams doing just fine with lower AST% then I would consider. Just off the top of my head, my concern for AST% at backup PG has led to me picking Rondo(twice), Jose Calderon, Ty Lawson, Darrell Armstrong, Tim Hardaway and probably another scrub or two who shouldn't be drafted.

9. Clifford Ray

Oh **** you dbkc! The one time I really want to use Reggie Miller. Ah well, I still have J.R. and Buddy available. And I definitely need to grab some more PF mins here anyway. I feel comfortable grabbing Przybilla in the 11th, but Ray has more mins and I feel like I'm gonna need them all(I did). I think I might regret this pick the most. I could have locked up Buddy or J.R. here and used my last two picks on Przybilla and another boarder at PF. Kermit could have easily shifted to SF to cover the other mins I needed there.

10. Bob Lanier

3 spots left and I still need my backup to Klay and Shaq plus more mins at SF. I really like Lanier and Yao for C, J.R. and Buddy for SG, and Maxwell and Spoon for SF. But who will fall? I decided Spoon was most likely to make it back to me(correct) so it was between SG and C. Lanier is the best player but I need more mins at SG. I also notice gerry has picked J.R. the last 3 drafts. Would he really take him again?(yes dummy! this is the guy who takes Mark Price every single draft). In the end it came down to who I was more comfortable with as a 3rd option - Michael Redd or Cousins/Blake. I started talking myself into Redd(two really good seasons!) and decided Lanier was too good to pass up. His one really good season will back up 02-03 Shaq. I might even play some of that season at PF but the rest will strictly be Shaq backups.

11. Terrence Jones

Of course gerry takes J.R. again. And there goes Buddy too. Yao also went, and I'm sure Lanier would have as well. dbkc strikes again with Maxwell. But at least Spoon makes it back to me. However, I started searching for other options with decent defense and better efg than Spoon. Jones takes a hit on mins, defense and boards compared to Spoon but I was starting to like his fit on one of my teams and really liked his good 900 min season backing up 03-04 Marshall. The result is I now have to play one of the 48% efg Tyler's for 20mpg on one of my teams but I can live with that.

12. Michael Redd

Sigh...I should have picked Reggie/J.R./Buddy earlier. At least he has realllly low tov%.


I'm pretty excited about this team even though I feel it could end up failing miserably. It was always a risk starting with the Shaq/Klay/Nash trio(d/reb/pos flex) but I love the offensive upside of that inside out combo. You really can't play any kind of +/- defense on me. I thought I did a solid job of trying to add as much defense/boards as I could at the 3/4 while still maintaining a high efg. Unfortunately, I added waaaay too many towels. For a team that's gonna be mediocre to bad on the glass, that could be a death sentence. My hope is that Nash doesn't completely tank my defense and I'll be able to win the shooting battle most games. The good thing about my starting trio is that they are consistent across their 5 seasons which gave me the chance to build 5 teams capable of making the playoffs(or all finishing with 36-42 wins if things go bad). I did beef up a bit on the teams with 99-00 and 00-01 Shaq. I'm hoping they can compete for a title.

What is your adjusted creb sitting at for most teams?

Posted by Midge on 2/9/2023 1:30:00 AM (view original):
Explain yourself...

Before I talk about my team I want to make it perfectly that I'm here to give keen, concise basketball analysis. If you're here because you think I might say something funny please go here www.funnythingsthatmidgehassaid.com. On with the show.

1) Dwight Howard - For the first time I was considering trading my position in the draft. I had a deal in place to trade down to 12 and take Rudy Gobert, but when Dwight was there I had to take him. With multiple seasons of elite defense, scoring and rebounding, it makes me wonder why he hasn't done better in Savage.

2) Gary Payton - I think I messed up last season by taking guards with my first two picks, so this time I wanted to take a quality big and point guard with my first two picks. I was hoping that Oscar "The Mitten" Robertson would fall to me, but I was okay with settling for Gary "The Glove" Payton. I'm not thrilled with his three point shooting, his free throw shooting and that his usage% is too high for his eFG%, I worry that he will take shots away from Howard, but his elite defense for PG and SG, plus tons of minutes, plus a nice chunk of assist% made him the right choice.

3) Elton Brand - I was torn here between Brand, who brings a lot to the table for two seasons and is playable for all five seasons, and Jerry Lucas, who would give me five seasons of rebounds, which is always something I seem to be lacking. I gambled on taking Brand here and getting Lucas in the 4th, because that is where he has been going. Of course I knew that last season has very little to do with this season, because if somebody wants a player, they need to take him a little higher than last season.

4) Ray Allen - At this point I really felt like I needed some threes to go with Dwight Howard. Ash said that last season in the playoffs everyone went -2 or -3 against him with his Dwight/Oscar ("The Mitten", are you paying attention?) team and it sunk his season. I had Ray Allen before teamed with Magic Johnson in the backcourt and my defense was shredded. I'm hoping teaming Jesus Shuttlesworth with "The Glove" will be a better fit.

5) Kevin Love - My plan is to bring Love off the bench, firing threes and grabbing boards, while at the same time hiding his defense behind my good defense centers. I know jcred5 didn't like this pick, which further increases the feeling that I screwed up by not taking Lucas. If I had Lucas, I wouldn't have taken Love, and jcred5 would have been happy. Isn't making other people happy what it's all about?

6) Robert Williams - This is where in the past I would have been looking to take Dave Cowens, but luckily for me someone else took him and I took Robert Williams instead. Just in Time, Lord I got lucky there.

7) - Kevin Johnson - Traditionally, the 7th round is where I always quit looking to see who is best for my team and I start looking around to see who I can screw over. Who needs a point guard with at least five seasons of 25% assists? Ah, there he is, dh555! Sorry dude. It's like when you're playing Ticket To Ride and you don't really need that New Orleans to Miami track, but your brother does so you take it. TAKE THAT TIM! THAT'S FOR HITTING ME IN THE HEAD WITH A HAMMER WHEN I WAS SIX YEARS OLD!

8) - Bill Bridges - I think of Bill Bridges as Jerry Lucas lite. Build some Bridges, throw in some Love, mix in a little Time Lord, with a dash of a good Brand and voila!, you have yourself a power forward.

9) - Rodney McCray - A lot of guys were moving up in the draft, which means someone was sliding, so I was happy to take Rodney McCray in the 9th round. He will see some action at both SF and SG, with good rebounding at SG and good passing at SF. Decent defense everywhere.

10) - Michael Cooper - I still need minutes at SG, and I wanted to take a guy who plays defense to play in front of or behind Ray Allen. Two seasons will play for sure, maybe some from a third season. His 100 and 90 defense seasons will come in handy when Steph Curry comes to town.

11) - Bob Pettit - I figure this pick will have a lot of people saying huh? My thinking is that he plays good defense (90), has good rebounding (insert numbers here) and the team usage won't get messed up when he subs for Dwight Howard. His eFG% is weak, but he gets to the free throw line a lot and his passing is better than Dwight. If the Bob Pettit experiment is a massive failure I still have Bill Bridges to play some center if I need to make the change.

12) - Bailey Howell - I see Howell as Elton Brand lite. He has one season that will start and play a lot. Not bad for the 12th round.

I'm not going to say if I think my team will be good or not. I have no idea. What I will say is that me taking the time to write this when I haven't even put my teams together yet is like writing an extra credit paper when I haven't yet written the paper that is worth 50% of my final grade.

You know GPII already has the nickname "The MItten" right?

I wonder those average if you remove my teams.

49 wins, 360 pnts. In those seasons, there is only a single time he finished lower than 3rd and it was in season 1 when no one knew wtf they were doing. The other seasons he has been 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 respectively.

Posted by jcred5 on 2/9/2023 8:54:00 AM (view original):
edsortails
Better owners than me have built teams around Kawhi Leonard. His numbers look very good. Good to very good shooting with great TS%. Basement low TO%, rebounds very well for his possession. Defense is great, high usage to take advantage of his efficiency and pretty good assists. 7 time champion and averages 48 wins, impressive considering I drafted him twice! I wonder those average if you remove my teams. When I had him I found it exceedingly frustrating adjusting his minutes for those 2000 – 2100 minute seasons. Your best player getting tired set to 23 mpg. And to continue my tangent, I firmly believe there is a cap that when you exceed your per game minutes by more than ~ 15%. TO’s and shooting fall off significantly. Relevant to Kawhi because if you get playoff bye or want to bank minutes, he’s so low that you can’t get more than 35 in his best seasons, maybe 28 in other seasons. I don’t get it. I’d have him mid-ish 2^nd round. But enough about Kawhi. Artis Gilmore is good. Great shooting very good boards and pretty good D. Can go with different seasons depending on your shooting or rebounding needs. TO’s are high though and he’s not Hakeem bad with fouls, but he’s high. I want to like Shawn Kemp, but the TOWELS are rough and next to Gilmore concerning. Some good shooting, some mediocre. Some good to great defense. Boards are pretty good. Not a bid pick, just a lot of TOWELS in your front court and Mr. Clean at SG won’t totally make up for it. Tracey McGrady here threw me. Usually a prized back up for his usage and otherwise stat filling capabilities. Occurred to me you may look at Kawhi at the point for a season or two. I was surprised to see Tmac has some PG eligibility. Curios to see where this goes. Deron Williams is a nice get here. Fills in some good seasons at PG, great assists with solid D.
Alvin Robertson has defense, good rebounds and passing you can sometimes play at the point. You’re TOWELS are seriously piling up. You’ve almost got a “who’s who” of turnovers and fouls. I admit to some bias, for years I didn’t focus on the TOWELS and I now hate them. You have a lot of good defense and some good rebounds. Josh Smith can do some things at SF. Good rebounds, great D and passing. Kyle Korver is a 3 point specialist and not much more, assume he’ll get reps when you don’t want Tmac on the floor. Have to figure out the usage rotation. Zion Williamson has a great offensive season, he’ll give a very nice offensive bump to the team you put him with. I’m not sure John Havlicek has a place in Savage. I wish he did, but the shooting is not good and I don’t know he has enough other attributes to make up for it. Troy Murphy is a nice addition late. Defense is not as bad as I remember with very good shooting and pretty good boards. Elvin Hayes has 5 seasons over $9 million in the sim. That should count for something.

Final thoughts: This has a lot of players I don’t like. They could be good but they’re not the type of guys I like to use. I liked but did not love a lot of these picks. Bird and Camby are strong. Nothing wrong with Oscar and others like McGee. I think I’m a little luke warm on the SG. A little too much usage for guys a little too just ok. Ultimately a good team that I’m not sure is great.
Draft Grade: C-
Best value pick: Troy Murphy
Head scratching pick: Kawhi ?? McGrady
Projection: 15-20

Maybe a little copy pasta problem here. But man, having done this stuff a bunch, it is hard af. You did A LOT of typing on this. I know everyone really appreciates it and it is a lot of what mkaes draft leagues fun.

Jayson Tatum! As we know he should be rated much higher defensively

LOL

Posted by jcred5 on 2/9/2023 8:58:00 AM (view original):
Thanks for your patience with this. I wanted to inject more humor but found myself just digging into each pick and trying to understand the roster building and approach. These evals might be more about my own thoughts on players in savage than your teams, which I tried to have a broader perspective in the final thoughts. The predictions are not scientific and I haven't gone back to adjust up or down based on all teams, so take my opinions with a big grain of salt.

You did awesome man! Great evals and even more awesome to have seen you get your first Savage crown. Looks like you got a great shot at a repeat too.

Posted by jcred5 on 2/8/2023 5:12:00 PM (view original):
jkaye24
Jk returns for his 5^th Savage season starting off with DeAndre Jordan, couple of 90 D seasons, very high rebounds and while low usage his eFG is about the best. I used to de-value his eFG because his usage is so low. But if you took at team of 4 players shooting 50% eFG with an average usage of 21 and add DeAndre’s 15.3 usage with 71.4 eFG, the whole team shooting jumps up 3.35%. That’s a big difference. Now his FT’s can be terrible. His most expensive season he’s 13.6 usage, 71.1 efg 63.8 TS% thanks to shooting 39.7% FT on 471 attempts. So you have to weigh that in. I’ve never run the numbers, but I would guess a guy like Jordan gets to the line 40-60% as much IRL. So it will hurt you but not as much. Magic Johnson in the second round take a strong rebounding start and doubles down on it. Usually gives you all the assists you should need often at the expense of high TO’s. good to very good shooting and the defense can be solid at times. Patrick Ewing next to DeAndre is a nice fit. Patrick Ewing gives the usage and fairly efficient scoring and DeAndre covers his just ok rebounds. Kyle Lowry is an interesting pick next to Magic. You’re definitely strong in assists, Lowry will get you 3’s and can play some solid D at times but overall your guard defense is lower than average. Robert Covington is exactly the type of player that fits next to Magic, 3 and D with boards because you invested in Magic’s assists. So I like Covington, but now really don’t get Lowry. I worry you’ll play Covington at SF and lose the rebound advantage.
Brandon Clarke has some excellent value when he plays, very good D and shooting. I like taking high value players even with low minutes early given the overall depth. The question here is more about the overall fit at SG. More guards on the way with Paul Pressey. I like him off the bench behind Magic, great defense. Comes at the price of high TO’s. Andris Biedrins is a nice fit. He has gone late in the past, but 8^th round is not too early if he’s what you need. Strong all around back up center with high eFG, good boards and won’t hurt you on D and TO’s. Daniel Gafford is another high value per minute player. Great when he’s playing SF with very high eFG, good rebounds and pretty good TO’s. Yao Ming give great usage behind Ewing. He’ll help keep you out of the usage penalty when Ewing is out. Rebounds a little light, but overall a helpful player to have. Marvin Williams is good value, with one starter worthy season with 73 defense, good rebounds, shooting and 3’s. Last up Brad Daugherty is a last round flier if you don’t like what Ming is giving.

Final thoughts: I’m not sure this will be one of jk’s best outings. I like Jordan, Magic and Ewing, but after that I thought you maybe didn’t maximize what those players can do. Some good players that I don’t know fit optimally. DeAndre and Ewing are super low assists, so I can see the appeal of Lowry with his 3’s, assists and rebounds. I’d have liked Hardaway or Mookie if you wanted assists.
Draft Grade: C
Best value pick: Ewing
Head scratching pick: Lowry
Projection: 15-20

Nice review! Funnily enough, I never considered R-Cov at SG. I think there's two ways to go with Magic/DeAndre. Go all-in on being a rebounding giant...OR use their rebounding advantage to go all in on other areas (EFG and Def) that otherwise wouldn't be possible. I chose the latter. So I've got a bunch of 55-57% eFG, and mid-high 70s defensive teams that are hopefully Average at rebounding.

Why does the WIS data base have both C.J. and CJ McClollum?

They do this for lots of players and it is such a hassle for keeping my db orderly.