S72 Town Hall #4 How to Build Your Build

[Mike Lowry]

I'm mostly giving the Magic a pass on this one and putting extra onus on the multiple champs:
How do you build a champion?
What are different stages of building, and how do you approach each stage?
What pieces do you think are necessary to win it all?
If you haven't won, but came close, what were you missing?
Who do you see building in a way that you approve of?
Who has it ass backwards?
What advice do you have for the Magic?

Specific to the Magic:
What do you think you understand so far about building a team?
What is your strategy for moving forward?
What is some advice that you got so far that you think is sound?


Rules: 1 point if you give thoughtful answers, which I will award after the timer ends for responses. The timer ends for responses at the moment the corresponding week's Sim is run.

Note: Use approximately 5 sentences as your bare minimum for 1 point. If you write 3 long, complex sentences, you'll still get a point. If you write 5, 3 word sentences, you will not get a point. Don't @ me.

Due: Sim 4 deadline.

[greepleairport]

How do you build a champion?
A 'big 3' is a good rule of thumb. You want three high-caliber players leading your time - the fill different voids on your roster - and then fill out the rest with good complimentary players. The better the complimentary players on top of your big 3, the better chance you have to win a 'ship.

What are different stages of building, and how do you approach each stage?
Build, contend, reset. All phases complement each other. During the build, you want to use any asset you have to increase the speed of it. New team, no assets? Tank, and get points. Contending, you want your championship build in place and ready to win. Resetting, consider what you have from your contender team, and what kind of return you can get for your best players. Some will place more value on them than others.

What pieces do you think are necessary to win it all?
A dominant big and well-structured offense with a solid PG are usually essential. Not always though. Your team needs to have "great cohesion," per the software, almost certainly.

Who do you see building in a way that you approve of?
Bulls.

Who has it ass backwards?
Mavs.

What advice do you have for the Magic?
Be more like the Bulls than the Mavs.

[K-100]

How do you build a champion?

• A little bit of luck, some patience, a roster full of good to great players, and a little bit more luck.

What are different stages of building, and how do you approach each stage?

• Stage 1: Asset accumulation - tank, get good draft picks, train those picks to be better or swap them for win-now talent

• Stage 2: Compete - win games, develop a good reputation as a GM. In free agency when there is a 50/50 chance you could land the dude the player will always select "the better team". You become the better team if you have strung together consecutive winning seasons.

• Stage 3: Rebuild - once your team wins a title or dies trying, you have to be ready to tear down. Sell, sell, sell. The better you sell the faster you get thru Stage 1 when the cycle restarts.

What pieces do you think are necessary to win it all?

• You need a bona fide star player. The alpha dog. The player your opponent has no idea to gameplan against. You also want your team to have an identity. It does not matter what but you need to be elite at some facet of the game.

If you haven't won, but came close, what were you missing?

phpBB [video]

Who do you see building in a way that you approve of?

• Sacramento Kings

Who has it ass backwards?

• Cleveland Cavaliers

What advice do you have for the Magic?

• Weaponize your cap space. There are over a dozen teams in the luxury tax and half of them have no business being in the red. This is your chance to be their best friend and save them from the tax man for a price. If you want to really jumpstart your rebuild there is a GM in Dallas who is in a dark, scary place right now. Who knows if you play your cards right maybe A'ja Wilson will be wearing Orlando Blue next season in exchange for the projected #1 pick?

[garbageman]

Jesus, this is the most Town Hall questions in a Town Hall ever. I already have an article started just for the Orlando Magic since I was co-steward of the Magic for about a day. And with two people giving thorough answers already, this is gonna get repetitive quick. I only ever missed one town hall question about saying something nice about Doug last season because I had already written an article where I said, in seriousness, several nice things about Doug, and the Doug-i-verse was dominating the TV news cycle. Am I really willing to whore my time out for this point? This single point?

We'll see...because I'm going to answer each question with only 3 words.

How do you build a champion?
Go all in.

What are different stages of building, and how do you approach each stage?
Tank or dominate

What pieces do you think are necessary to win it all?
Outdo 25 teams

If you haven't won, but came close, what were you missing?
Got 10 rings.

Who do you see building in a way that you approve of?
Celtics, Suns, Warriors

Who has it ass backwards?
Won't talk shit

What advice do you have for the Magic?
Don't trade your pick. Do not trade your pick. Not even for A'ja Wilson. Don't trade your pick. Don't trade your pic for an expiring RFA you're going to have to pay before you know how to build around them. DON'T TRADE YOUR PICK. Do not trade your pick, and most importantly, don't trade your pick.

[LazyTitanSmash]

To all those commenters - I'M STILL FEELING GOOD. But being down a point guard is going to be a problem when I have this tax bill hanging over my head. (I will be coming to say high to the magic soon.)

Everybody's hating but I'll probably make another run at it again and pay still be able to pay my taxes. (Even with Funk on the shelf for the full season.) You better hope you don't see me in the first round of the playoffs with Funk back.

I'm going to use garbageman's format to answers the rest of these questions.

[b]How do you build a champion?[/b]
Patience... build slow and keep hold of your rookie contracts.(Especially your top 5 picks) Oh and ignore most people they will try to get you to trade your rookies away. They are looking out for themselves not you.

What are different stages of building, and how do you approach each stage?
Accumulate assets and making your playoff run.

What pieces do you think are necessary to win it all?
Flexibility and churning. Oh and identifying when you are just one piece away from a championship.

If you haven't won, but came close, what were you missing?
Getting balls to go for that last piece. That being said, I think I'm just hanging round in the playoffs hoping for the Pistons run to end and being there to pick up the pieces.

Who do you see building in a way that you approve of?
Pistons, Warriors, Lakers, Grizzlies, Spurs (The Bulls and the Wizards are also great team builder but impossible to emulate.)

Who has it ass backwards?
Lots of teams, but they have fun so its whatever

What advice do you have for the Magic?
Yeah if you want to ignore my advice on not trading rookies away, lets talk.

[Jedihero]

I’ll take the getting close question.

In my first few years, I made the playoffs 3/3 times.

On my first trip my best player, P/P Amos got hurt in the game before the playoffs, so I got smoked in the first round since he was a great part of my team.

Season 2 I added a great player in a B/B RHJ and had a much better regular season and fought my way through the playoffs reaching the finals but getting swept by the Pisstons. On this one I was surprised and happy to even be there so it didn’t bother me much getting swept, but I definitely missed some bigger key players like the Pisstons had. Another purple players and maybe I take a game or two.

Season 3 was very similar but I had a much easier route through the playoffs, only dropping a couple games this time, so I actually thought I could put up a little fight, but alas I was swept again. It was disheartening this time that the Pisstons were just that much better than the 2nd best team in the league and not sure what more I could have done.

That was it for me though cause the tax was too big and I had to start selling everyone off. Womp womp.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pennpanther1]

How do you build a champion?
Hell if I know, I never even made it to the Conference Finals. I think you just have to be willing to go all-in. Take risks and be bold.

What are different stages of building, and how do you approach each stage?
The others here nailed it. Accumulate, spend, recharge. Rinse and repeat.

What pieces do you think are necessary to win it all?
You need a facilitator and you need a dominant big or stretch 4.

If you haven't won, but came close, what were you missing?
I never found a true stud at Point Guard. I cobbled together what I thought would be a competent backcourt but I got exposed year after year in the playoffs by the league's best.

Who do you see building in a way that you approve of?
Boston Celtics

Who has it ass backwards?
Toronto Raptors

What advice do you have for the Magic?
Do not be shy. Ask questions. The league is full of GMs of varying levels of experience and skill who are always happy to talk about sim strategy.

[BigDaddyd8720]

What pieces do you think are necessary to win it all?
From what I've gathered, it seems like having a really good big man is key. Also having an elite PG can really take your team to the next level. I focused on building up Tony Lee as a SG and while his points each game are nice, he didn't offer much on defense so it didn't really help the team. Dick Bender keeps getting better each season and is close to becoming one of the elite centers in the league. Also, Homer Pizzaro is starting to become a true PG and those two have proven to be extremely important to this team in the first two sims. Just need Homer back healthy to see just how good this team really can be

Who do you see building in a way that you approve of?
Celtics and Pelicans. Celtics turned around really quickly from being a playoff team, to bottom of the league, and now back to being a playoff contender. They tore the roster down and then made a bunch of trades the last couple of seasons to be right back in the mix. Pelicans took a much slower route but my team seems to be putting it all together and could be one big move or one TC away from joining the top teams in the league. Just need to make sure to pull the trigger sooner rather than later. Trade deadline may be crucial for the pelicans

[NY_Magic_Garrett]

Hmmm maybe I made too much noise at the last town hall. Really put myself in the spotlight, but thats okay, we love the bright lights. The Magic were meant for the big stage.

Speaking of stages, I havent even seen them all or know how to approach them. Scary times. Still studying what pieces I want to target and the idea of coming close to wins still only lives in my distant dreams. I don't know if my ass is backwards or my head is upside down at this point so all the advice is welcomed and appreciated.

That being said, I have received a lot of great early advice and direction from many corners of this league. The generosity is inspiring. I must take this advice and use it to become a force and make you all regret these posts

Now, lets talk more about the Magic.

What do I think I understand so far about building a team? Can't rush the process. Trust the process. Use the draft and others to make yourself rich in points. Don't try to skip steps or you will be standing on a weak and vulnerable foundation, which equals no future fun.

What is my strategy for moving forward? Pray to the most high for a top 2 pick & use my cap space to bring in some points for the offseason. I have a few ideas on how I would like to structure the team, at least my starting 5, but will be flexible and see what type of players fall into my lap through the rest of this sim and the offseason.

What is some advice that you got so far that you think is sound? Draft picks are valuable for a roster in my position, don't try to rush and get a win-now player that I'm not ready for, & types of contracts I should and should not be taking on at the moment.


Once again, really appreciate everyone who has reached out. Ill be sliding into DMs soon.

[Mike Lowry]

I definitely added a few steps sideways and backwards to what I understand the process to be.
For instance, I had NO BUSINESS going into the tax the first time I did, and I was too stubborn to make what I thought were bad deals at the time in order to reset my timeline.
I agree with the basic cycle that has been laid out thus far, but I want to add some nuance.
Like the different ways to reset that I see GM's approaching.
One major thing you see good GM's doing in the offseason is clearing up cap space for the UFA market.
That involves shedding contracts that are inflated for the opportunity to bid for new contracts which may or may not be inflated.
But inflated contracts are most often more inflated at the end than the beginning.
An overpay for a stud in his prime is different once that decline sets in and the checks keep getting bigger.
So building assets for me only means star players.
Collecting a bunch of mid won't get you anywhere.
Best opportunity to land a star player is the draft.
Which is another thing good GM's do, trade for picks from bad teams and end up with a deep playoff run followed by adding lottery picks.
Then building your bank is crucial.
I like the advice of spending wisely, but at some point using paid training in the right spots for the right players will make the difference between all star and superstar.
I didn't see anybody mention getting on a timeline yet.
From what I've seen thus far, having a superstar that is 29 years old tearing the league up, and another that is 24 finding their legs never pans out.
Your team has to be ready as a whole.
So I see teams winning with mature talent, not potential.
PG is THE position that you have to compete at!
It's nice to have a complimentary frontcourt, and wing talent is a nickel a dozen, but you can't win it all without the point.
I have not come close, but I think I understand why.
First, I never had a top point when they were in their prime, and I stay with overinflated contracts that add up and don't deliver at their price.
Also, I like to trade, and I have let some good players go just to have action, or for a few seasons as necessary to get out of the tax.
I really appreciated seeing this Pistons Build, I like what the Grizzlies are doing, I respect the Spurs and Pacers for approaching differently, and tip my hat to the Bulls, Lakers, and Suns for perennially being in the mix.
I think ass backwards is the guys who don't communicate.
You'll have fun and be challenged if you are an active part of the community.
Talk some game, talk some shit, pat people on the back, raise a toast, it's fun.
You don't have to do homework or design algorithms for that.
But if you check your DM a few times per season and leave people on read, you'll be in the way, and you won't compete.
There's a hand full of teams guilty of this, but I think the most frustrating example is the Jazz because they often land great players, and The Bobcats because I really like Kavarga's humor in the chat. That ADHD is real though.
Hope this Town Hall serves the Magic well.

[Eazy P]

Building a team starts with a identity. Once you figure that out then you move according finding the pieces that fit. Some builds take longer than others. Timing is everything. Building a championship team doesn't mean you have to have all blue and purple players. Sometimes a great game plan could get you a title. Sometimes you just need players that specialize in certain areas to place around your star(s). I lost to a suns team a long time ago who had a Blue/Blue Kyle Kover, a Blue/Purple Kevin Love and a bunch of yellow guys. But those yellow guys 3pt attributes were high, I wanna say in the 90's. They put together a gameplan and beat my team in a game 7 WCF match. Their Identity was the 3 point shot.

My advice to the Magic is to trust the process, be patient and learn the game and how it works. Once you get a feel for it then make your move. Also like someone said earlier there are GMs willing to help them along the way. I have seen a few newer GMs dig themselves a hole with bad moves and contracts. A lot of us been doing this since it started on HornetsReport/PelicansReport some years ago. Too damn long tbh lol.

[MexicanMamba]

How do you build a champion?
You have to be active, smart, and willing. Yeah, there's depth to how to build specific teams but in general, if you have those 3 things you're likely to be successful. If I'm going more basketball focused, then, you need a team that can play defense at a high level and you can't be full of foulers.

What are different stages of building, and how do you approach each stage?
The stages are easy, and already mentioned by nearly everyone. You need to know WHEN to pull the trigger on any direction you choose to go in though, and the willingness to pull those triggers.

What pieces do you think are necessary to win it all?
Defenders. A true alpha scorer. Defenders. Someone who can handle the rock. And did I mention great defenders?

If you haven't won, but came close, what were you missing?
I've got a couple, but I've missed out on a bunch more. Honestly, sometimes I was just beat by a team with a better ALPHA even if I had the better full team.

Who do you see building in a way that you approve of?
The DUH of all time: Bulls. But he taught me so, I mostly build just like him, just not as successful.

Who has it ass backwards?
I'm sure the Mavs have been hammered here, but what I'll say is they're not completely backwards. They're like Zack Snyder's DC universe. There's some greatness there, but they have so far been unwilling to make the small tweaks needed to become elite.

What advice do you have for the Magic?
Have fun, ask questions, don't be afraid to make mistakes, and stay active. You'll learn if you want to learn. My door is always open.

Sent from my SM-F711U using Tapatalk

[Black Superman]

This is extremely tough for me to answer because I quite literally don't know. I've never been to the finals but I did manage to win 3 games in a conference finals of a superteam. That's as close as I've been. I do think that team was a championship team pretty much any other year outside of a handful of teams over time. That team had 3 superstars, quality depth. A true big man, but it was missing a natural point guard. I can only speak on the championship teams that I've been around for and what I have monitored. There are 2 things that stand out over the last 20 or so champions(I did the research on this a couple seasons ago and at the time I think it was going back to the last 15 champs) and that would be defense and spending. All of the championship teams had some sort of defensive identity. Whether it be length, stealing, rim protection, and some of the teams had all 3. The champions over the last 15-20 years have all gone into the luxury tax to do it. The simple argument here is, the best players cost money. and the best players cost money. It doesn't have to be the single best player or a collection of the best players. That statement is to be taken literal. The best players are usually in their primes, on their second contracts and those guys cost money. I haven't done enough research into the makeup of the teams over the years but I think back to great guard play off the top of my mind, Johnny Davis, Markus Ridenhour, Mac McClung, Bernardo Carrasco, Daniel Yandell. The last 20 finals MVPs have been dominated by PG and PF play. And not just regular traditional PF play, we're talking versatile PF play where these guys could be played all over the lineup to shut down the opponents best players. Lauri and Folse come to mind. I mean Folse won 6 straight finals MVPs with 3 different teams.

I don't want to go too far into beating up on this team, because some people may already have. But the Mavericks are quite literally the opposite of that defensive example. They are offensive focus and have too many of the same type of players who lack defensive focus, and versatility.

My advice for the Magic would be to just be patient, it's going to suck for a while because you're going to be bad. But if there's anyone they can and should learn from, it's their mentor and pseudo mentor who are both on that patient drive right now. Wolves made a great trade in their first few days and now have a future superstar in Benny. The pels have been bad and have landed some lady luck in the draft on top of drafting well. The Grizzlies have also been a patient team and it's going to pay off for them. A lot of this has been attributed to the dominance of the Pistons. I do think the Pels or Grizz mightve made a move already if it was a normal wide open type of stretch. That's not been the case and I commend all of those GMs who have been patient. So Magic, soak up the game. Learn as much as you can, get involved and when you're ready to strike remember to balance some Defense in there!

[Mike Lowry]

Greeple
K-100
GMan
LTS
Jedi
Panther
BigDad
NY_Magic_Garret
Lowry
Eazy P
Mamba
Superman

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