the team im most interested in besides my own is definitely jkaye

as someone who realllly hates using mchale at sf, barkley is the dream paring...but it also comes with a high def/high dreb% center in my dream...hes only got the one okafor season and the one kessler season with a def over 70...add in nash and the fact that danny green doesnt really guard pgs and i dont see how this isnt the worst defensive team in the league...love the offense but can you really win with d that bad?

ive been getting my *** kicked by jkaye(tepl!) since i started at wis so i know better than to doubt him...very curious to see how he pulls this off

i think dbkc might be my favorite...amare/jonas combo sandwiched between deandre and marion is awesome...really liked how the guard seasons were distributed as well

ben, ed, midge, and ash are our last 4...3 of them have already entered some of their teams...shouldnt be much longer now

make sure to check out the eval videos while youre waiting

teams are done. Putting them in WIS and the leagues over the next few hours as i'm watching basketball / working

damn, dicked around till all-defense teams announced.

Posted by dh555 on 5/10/2023 8:03:00 PM (view original):
the team im most interested in besides my own is definitely jkaye

as someone who realllly hates using mchale at sf, barkley is the dream paring...but it also comes with a high def/high dreb% center in my dream...hes only got the one okafor season and the one kessler season with a def over 70...add in nash and the fact that danny green doesnt really guard pgs and i dont see how this isnt the worst defensive team in the league...love the offense but can you really win with d that bad?

ive been getting my *** kicked by jkaye(tepl!) since i started at wis so i know better than to doubt him...very curious to see how he pulls this off

Top 3 offense and Top 3 defense. Maybe the best and worst literally. My goal is to create about 1.5% of TS Separation. Something like 59.0-57.5. With neutrality everywhere else I think that’s a solid edge. This will be … interesting. I won’t be mad if I flop because I did ask for it.

Posted by jkaye24 on 5/11/2023 8:09:00 AM (view original):

Posted by dh555 on 5/10/2023 8:03:00 PM (view original):
the team im most interested in besides my own is definitely jkaye

as someone who realllly hates using mchale at sf, barkley is the dream paring...but it also comes with a high def/high dreb% center in my dream...hes only got the one okafor season and the one kessler season with a def over 70...add in nash and the fact that danny green doesnt really guard pgs and i dont see how this isnt the worst defensive team in the league...love the offense but can you really win with d that bad?

ive been getting my *** kicked by jkaye(tepl!) since i started at wis so i know better than to doubt him...very curious to see how he pulls this off

Top 3 offense and Top 3 defense. Maybe the best and worst literally. My goal is to create about 1.5% of TS Separation. Something like 59.0-57.5. With neutrality everywhere else I think that’s a solid edge. This will be … interesting. I won’t be mad if I flop because I did ask for it.

Best team TS% we have had as a 5 world average so far is 58.44% and the worst opponent TS% we have had as a 5 world average so far is 58.55.

The team with the best TS% had the following roster (S3):

Durant, Kevin

Nash, Steve

Ewing, Patrick

Cheeks, Maurice

Mason, Anthony

Doncic, Luka

Gervin, George

Nater, Swen

Przybilla, Joel

Williamson, Zion

Beaubois, Rodrigue

Mejri, Salah

The team with the worst opponent TS% had the following roster (S5):

Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem

Nash, Steve

Stoudemire, Amare

Harper, Derek

Faried, Kenneth

Dalembert, Samuel

Westphal, Paul

Aldrich, Cole

King, Bernard

Cooper, Michael

Smith 2, Michael

Nater, Swen

Posted by dBKC on 5/10/2023 11:32:00 AM (view original):

Posted by berkelon on 5/9/2023 11:29:00 PM (view original):

Posted by robusk on 5/9/2023 1:12:00 PM (view original):
Okay, couple caveats on Episode 2:

• it's a long one
• we wanted to try and hit every team, if some of it seems negative it's because we all wanted to speak on every team and we all can't like every team - we seemed to have mixed views, no unanimous opinions which is good
• there were things we liked and didn't like about every team
• I am still very new at editing and filming so cut me some slack, I do not know wtf I am doing

https://youtu.be/MSsFOBofjdQ

Great stuff, and big thanks for all the insight. I think I'm fairly safe from relegation this season. I didn't try to copy jcred again, so I think my build ended up loads better than that shiite show from last season. Listening to you guys chop it up was really helpful, just in terms of specific thinking about this league.

Here's my draft recap:

I took Karl Malone at 12 because I made a solemn promise to myself after last season that I would take two big men with my first two picks. I've gotten it into my head that I win when I have take two big men early, and I lose when I don't. Quite a recipe for success, I must admit. Artis Gilmore is a suitable ingredient in that lazy, broke-*** recipe, so there you have it. Plus, I didn't even realize that fouls were a significant part of the WIS game until recently (they aren't on the advanced stats tab, so I basically ignored them). Also, drafting is much easier if you just take fouls out of the equation, so welcome aboard, A-Train!

I figured I now needed guards and 3's and defense, so welcome Manu and Chauncey. I have all these echoes of past critiques I read on various forum posts switling around in my head...Chauncey is overrated? Manu at the point is legit? I remember butchering Manu one year in the ODL with Barkley, but there are already so many memories of hack jobs of the past already in my brief WIS career, I can't let that deter me from my goal of not finishing 24th again.

Faried and Andersen felt like picks I would make if I was Jackedjamie or some ****, so I felt good about them. Plus, if I know one thing for sure about these leagues it's that rebounding is very helpful. Right or wrong, that's been my biggest takeaway of this mediocre run of the past 18 months.

Mookie was a pick I loved when I made it. I got him two rounds later than he usually goes, and I thought for sure it was Moncrief that Rob hated, not Mookie...I knew he hated Cheeks, that one was burned into my melon, but I mixed up Mookie and Moncrief. Welcome, Mookie!

I figured at some point during my builds I would find myself balled up in the corner, cold and shivering, and Green was the type of guy that would make me feel like maybe everything wasn't broken. Korver was just a pick because I got nervous about having enough threes. Brandon and Biyombo were both value picks I took because Rob and Ben took them in previous drafts. Beasley is only playing three minutes total, but when I just double-checked that to confim, I realized I managed to not pick his best year for those three minutes. Wheeeeee!

Like Billy Beane said, you’ll never win against the greats if you play the same strategy but as an underdog.

Figure out why they picked those guys, and use backlogic to see why they consider them good players, but then use that logic to find the best fit for your team. They might like Brandon and Biyombo in a vacuum, or for a specific build, but they probably wouldn’t have picked them for this build ;)

(Well Brandon is a good fit, actually. I just think you could have maybe gotten him later, or a similar player later. But I think you needed someone with higher usage to backup Karl and Artis)

Anyway, you drafted pretty well! Just maybe find things that no one else is doing to give you an advantage over them. It’ll have a better shot at success than doing the same thing they’re doing but with less experience.

Thanks, appeciate it! Reality is I don't have much extra time, so it's about 5 minutes per pick during the draft, and about an hour total to build all the teams. I still really enjoy the process, but I have to blitz everything out to work with my schedule, so there's only so much that I can do, from a planning and research angle. But I do like that idea of trying something no one else is doing...sounds like a fun way to get relegated!

Rob, Ben, dB and jh: just like pretty much everybody here, I read/watch and appreciate all the evals. Thanks for taking the time and effort. To echo a couple other guys, I just stopped posting because nobody responded. I don't take it as a slight, just that what I posted or how I phrased it wasn't interesting to others. I love talking NBA, but I'm not offering the helpful insight you good Savage guys bring up.

As for my team, I understand the criticism. I'll (mostly) stand by taking Pip with Kawhi. Kawhi gets 2 seasons at PG, so I'd still need at least 2 good SG seasons anyways, Pip got me my only ring in Savage, and he's my 2nd favorite player ever. And, Draymond playing PG in 2 worlds should help cover for playing Kawhi or Scottie at SF... TOs will be a big problem... Dale, yeah, I took him a round earlier than I should've... As noted, I'm banking on other guys to cover Boozer's defense, and a bunch off decent passers to keep up his offensive efficiency. It'll probably backfire in some worlds, but it might work out in a couple... Murray/Fox I just wanted to try. Murray's 21-22 will start, but the rest of their best seasons will be backup PG only... If I could change one pick, I would've tried being patient and waited for Dale one more rd, then probably could've gotten most of the guys I got after him one rd later.

I'm aware that I build teams more narratively interesting to me than actual good Savage teams. As Rob mentioned, in a way I'm trying to replicate my Scottie/Whiteside team, in that they won a ring in one world with defense. I'm competitive, but I'm also trying to find a sweet spot that's between building a team I like IRL and a team that can do damage in draft leagues. Figure that's why I usually suck at Savage and I'm actually decent at progs.

Thanks to everyone contributing to all of the evals we've had. I may be bad at this league, but it's fun. And dB, thanks for noting what I thought: my team could be really fun to root for IRL, although the math isn't good.

GL to everyone this season.

Posted by raggedclaws on 5/10/2023 7:13:00 PM (view original):


Must everyone mock my Donovan Mitchell pick???

Seriously though, so happy for SGA.

Jaylen Brown second team. Now Boston is going to sign him to a max extension for a guy with a sloppy handle, inconsistent D and offensively disappears in big moments. Great!

Posted by robusk on 5/11/2023 8:25:00 AM (view original):

Posted by jkaye24 on 5/11/2023 8:09:00 AM (view original):

Posted by dh555 on 5/10/2023 8:03:00 PM (view original):
the team im most interested in besides my own is definitely jkaye

as someone who realllly hates using mchale at sf, barkley is the dream paring...but it also comes with a high def/high dreb% center in my dream...hes only got the one okafor season and the one kessler season with a def over 70...add in nash and the fact that danny green doesnt really guard pgs and i dont see how this isnt the worst defensive team in the league...love the offense but can you really win with d that bad?

ive been getting my *** kicked by jkaye(tepl!) since i started at wis so i know better than to doubt him...very curious to see how he pulls this off

Top 3 offense and Top 3 defense. Maybe the best and worst literally. My goal is to create about 1.5% of TS Separation. Something like 59.0-57.5. With neutrality everywhere else I think that’s a solid edge. This will be … interesting. I won’t be mad if I flop because I did ask for it.

Best team TS% we have had as a 5 world average so far is 58.44% and the worst opponent TS% we have had as a 5 world average so far is 58.55.

The team with the best TS% had the following roster (S3):

Durant, Kevin

Nash, Steve

Ewing, Patrick

Cheeks, Maurice

Mason, Anthony

Doncic, Luka

Gervin, George

Nater, Swen

Przybilla, Joel

Williamson, Zion

Beaubois, Rodrigue

Mejri, Salah

The team with the worst opponent TS% had the following roster (S5):

Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem

Nash, Steve

Stoudemire, Amare

Harper, Derek

Faried, Kenneth

Dalembert, Samuel

Westphal, Paul

Aldrich, Cole

King, Bernard

Cooper, Michael

Smith 2, Michael

Nater, Swen

Good stuff. Certainly not out of realm of the possible that my team ends up with both records by year end.

https://www.whatifsports.com/locker/site_updates.asp?sport=NBA

Perfect timing with what appears to be the launch of savage the adjusted D ratings. Think it really only helps chewy for that one Bam season, could be missing some.

Great job Rob, Ben, dB and jh on the eval video. I really enjoy seeing it come to life and the discussion around players, team builds, etc. I appreciate the work you put in to make this extra enjoyable... crushed my Savage X evals! Can't wait for the next one.

Posted by jcred5 on 5/11/2023 1:21:00 PM (view original):
https://www.whatifsports.com/locker/site_updates.asp?sport=NBA

Perfect timing with what appears to be the launch of savage the adjusted D ratings. Think it really only helps chewy for that one Bam season, could be missing some.

I think Ben got a nice Jrue boost too

Why do we sleep on Evan Mobley?