Nice job everyone, I like what you've done here and have been following since the beginning. I thought I'd give my 2 cents. I'm basing the teams on VBG's post made at 7:04pm today. I know most of what I'm saying is negative, but I figure it would be more beneficial to everyone hearing negatives than positives. dharocks - Nice all around team, although it may not be the most talented based on individual players, I think this is definitely one of the best overall teams. Could use some defense coming off the bench. ICanDunkOnYao - No inside defensive presence will hurt. Should be a fun team to watch, and definitely possible of putting up a lot of points, the question is will it be enough points? BleedRocketsRed - Not a big fan of the PF position. Derrick Williams should be good, but with him being unproven, I'd be afraid to peg him as my starting PF, unless I had someone that could step in, just in case he doesn't work out. I don't think McRoberts is that someone. I hope Camby, at 37, can play a lot of minutes. arjun - Well, with only 7 players, it's going to be very tough. No true inside defensive presence and Durant basically playing 48 minutes scares me. Great rebounding should help get some easy buckets. Bob MonkeySon - Unfortunately, I definitely see this as one of the bottom teams. Other than SG, no position is really a strength, could really use upgrades everywhere. Spooner - I like what you've done, they should be able to spread the floor well for Rose. Love makes up for Lopez's rebounding woes, and you have some nice defense at the 1-3 spots. No inside defensive presence could come back to hurt you. freeze00up - Probably could have been a better team if he had been making timely picks. Even still, I like the starters, but the backups (and lack thereof) are definitely going to hurt the team. Good offense/defense combo. thething - Another team that I think will make it far. Great facilitator in CP3, surrounded by good shooters, and a post presence in Kaman. Good defense, rebounding, and well chosen backups that can play multiple positions. Could be a slight lack of offense. RedNation - Scary (not in a good way) seeing Odom and Duncan at the 4/5 (edit...having Thompson does ease the fright a bit!). Duncan isn't any younger, and Butler's injuries could come back to haunt this team. I could definitely see Deron and GWall wrecking havoc on the break. YourSecretLover - Not sure if this team can/will go far. Below average PG/SG's will hurt. If anything, the teams defense will keep them in games and Carmelo will give them a chance to win. hoopstar - Probably a middle of the pack team. Good all around offense/defense, but not enough outside shooters. Teams will probably double Amare with little fear of getting beat from the outside. wekko368 - Little defense from the 1-3 positions. Garnett is a year older and just can't be expected to do what he used to. It's definitely nice having Nene there to help clog the paint. I don't think this team will have much trouble scoring, but even with Garnett and Nene, the defense scares me. torque - A well rounded team. I like the SF and C combo's, well done. It would be nice to have some better outside shooters. Teams clogging the paint may make it hard for this team to score. Defensively, I really like this team. Asik coming off the bench shouldn't be much of a step down from Okafor. Sydeffect - Not one of the better all around teams. No true go to player on offense. Griffin will be forced to put up 25+ a night, and Stuckey may need to put up 18-20 of his own as well. Once again, this is a defensive team, and that should make the scoring pressure that much easier. greenhippos - below average defensively, below average offensively. Other than Monta, when he eventually comes into the game, it's hard to see anyone else putting up a lot of points. It will definitely take a team effort for this team to stand a chance. No inside defensive presence could hurt. Jmcballer88 - Another team I see making it far. Great defense/offense combination. The only thing that scares me could be a lack of outside shooting. Teams will double Aldridge and dare Lowry/Beasley to beat them from the outside. Efryll - Below average overall. Bynum and Granger are a nice combination, but the rest of the team...well...sucks. No one to go to at the end of the game when you need one big basket. No true backup 5 could also hurt. I know Efryll didn't draft this entire team, so good luck with what you have to work with! AFS - Good combination of players, but no real reliable go to scorer. Gay and Jefferson could step up, but I wouldn't want to go to them at the end of games. Who knows what Kanter will do, I definitely wouldn't expect much out of him. I think the lack of a proven PF/C could hurt. da_juice - Nobody to go to in the clutch, and nobody to create their own shot. Definitely above average defensively, but the offense is what will hurt this team. I like how each position has a legit backup. VBG - Good team all around, doesn't seem to excel, but is still above average. The outside shooting will help clear the floor for Randolph. I really don't see any true weakness in this team. Well done. fadeaway - Decent all around team. Lack of a true facilitator could hurt, as well as little to no offense coming off the bench. I do like this team, but think it could use a spark plug SG/SF instead of a defensive backup SF like Battier. Ubigman - Probably an average team. Good PG's, but with aging starters at the 2 and 3, it may have trouble running the break and getting easy baskets. A lack of defense from the starters could also hurt. RocketsRed14 - One of the worst PG/SG teams. Not great defensively, but not terrible either. A lack of offense will hurt this team, and the fact that they may not be able to rely on their defense to keep them in the game will hurt. RowdyRicky - Great all around team. Good offense/defense combination's, as well as backups at each position, except for possibly PF. It's hard to see Gasol or Haywood sliding over. Same with Collison or Dragic playing SG, but I think that's definitely more of a possibility. If anyone steps up one night, expect this team to win. Overall, in no particular order, my top teams are: dharocks, Spooner, thething, jmcballer88, VBG, RowdyRicky, Torque Ok, don't bash me too much. I worked about 80 hours this week, and I'm practically falling asleep, but I wanted to speak up before it was too late. Good luck to everyone! Pugs
For projected performance in these simulations, we are to use last season's performance as the baseline. Last season, Garnett anchored the defense for the 2nd best defensive team in the league. According to this link: http://www.backpicks.com/2011/04/11/the-nbas-top-defenders-in-2011/ Garnett was the 3rd best defender in the league last season, and Nene was the 13th best. But since you made your evaluation, I traded Maggette for Anthony Parker and Wilcox for Kwame Brown (both for defensive purposes). I think everyone really underestimates my defense though. Last season, Dwight Howard anchored a team featuring Jameer Nelson (who is actually a good defender), Rashard Lewis, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson, Vince Carter, JJ Redick, and Hedo Turkoglu into the 3rd best defensive team in the league. His defensive rating was 94. Garnett's was 95. AND I'm adding Nene and Kwame Brown into the mix.
Thank you for your input Pugs. I was hesitant about having Courtney Lee at the 3, but you have given me some confidence on the matter.
well the tandum of scola/martin/lowry/hyes would give up about 108 a game themselves. Other bench players are better defensively thus could easily bring that number down to the 104 averaged against last season. Besides, those numbers actually bode well for you. Other people should get mad, not you.
82games.com has a metric called "simple rating" which primarily utilizes PER and +/-. It's a good starting point to determine the strength of the individual players your team, but it doesn't consider how the players mesh with each other so there is room for debate. GreenHippos, your team has a combined "simple rating" of -5. I've checked most of the teams. Yours is the only negative one I've come across...
greenhippos, Just an fyi, DRtng measures how many points would be allowed per 100 possessions, not per game. The fastest-paced team in the NBA last year (Minnesota) averaged 96.5 possessions per game (league average was 92.1). If you're interested, league-average DRtng was 107.3
