Hitting the Gym: Evaluation of the Training Room

[logpmess]

In this article, we will look at the preseason paid training and try to get an insight into what the GMs are thinking.

TRAILBLAZERS:

Johnny Newman
Athletic Training
STR 69 --> 74 (15 points)
Personal Foul 55 --> 65 (current 55 is a C Rating so, 20 points)

A.C. Green
Potential Training
BLK C-->B (25 points)

Jim Petersen
Athletic Training
JMP 57-->60 (7.8 points, round up to 8)

TOTAL 35+25+8 = 68 points

Point Bank Payment: viewtopic.php?p=128984#p128984

Johnny Newman is a 23 year old wing that can play the 2 or the 3. Building up his foul will only help his defense, while upping his strengh will make him a nightmare at shooting guard.

A.C. Green is a 24 year old power forward. His height may not be the biggest, but his strength and jump makes him an athletic freak. Blocks are his real week point defensively, so by bumping up his potential, he can grow into an absolute monster on that side of the ball.

Jim Peterson is a G/G center at 25 years old. He has the height and weight to hold his own, but lacks a little in strength. With his skill set already so good, Peterson will be able to be a great backup at Center, while potentially growing into a starter.

Overall, Wig is building up his very young players. These three are potentially bench players this season, but with adding these trainings, they will all be able to get minutes now defensively. Wig is setting up for an absolute monster defensive team that is uber athletic. With it being the younger guys as well, these players will only be better in the upcoming years.

Otis Thorpe
•JPS Rating Training (43 to 49) = 11 points
•PAS Rating Training (39 to 43) = 7 points
•QKN Rating Training (40 to 45) = 13 points

Craig Ehlo:
•PAS Rating Training (59 to 61) = 4 points
•QKN Rating Training (66 to 69) = 9 points

Total: 44 points, paid
viewtopic.php?p=129190#p129190

Otis Thorpe (25 years old) has monster athletic skills. Adding to the jumpshot rating and passing rating is interesting since he will be playing the power forward typically. Adding to his quickness give a little insight into where I think Thorpe will develop. The only negative athletic with Thorpe is his quickness, which is being worked on.

Craig Ehlo (26 years old) is getting boosts to passing and quickness. Already a good 2-way player, Ehlo is getting boosts to his current ratings. His passing isn't bad for his position and his quickness is good for a small forward.

Xist is looking for win now development. Making Otis Thorpe a viable starter at C/PF allows that position to be locked down with his size and skill. With Ehlo, it definitely seems like Xist is trying to get him the skills to be a better shooting guard. Rounding out his lineup with Ehlo at shooting guard solidifies his starting roles with players that fit the position.

Scottie Pippen:
Potential
JPS C --> B (25 points)

Bank: viewtopic.php?p=129105#p129105

Scottie's glaring weakness offensively is the JPS category. Bumping him up to a B allows him to have A/B in all four of the scoring categories. LogPMess is looking to build his first round pick into a complete two way player.

Derek Harper
QKN 82->85
JMP 66->68
18 points

paid: viewtopic.php?p=128945#p128945

Derek Harper is being built into a point guard. He has the skill, and Syndicate is putting the athleticism into his game. Harper is going to be a great combo guard for the next few years with this training. I expect him to receive quickness training the next couple of years as well.

Pacers
Armen Gilliam
DRB: 51 ---> 56 (9pts)

Jerome Kersey
PSD: 47 ---> 57 (18pts)

TOTAL: 27pts (BANK: viewtopic.php?p=129203#p129203)

I don't see the build here. Armen is an undersized center that would only be a deep bench player on a good team. Adding 5 points to his defensive rebounding doesn't add any additional value this season, nor does it give any sort of development for future seasons.

Adding some defense to Jerome Kersey is a good move to give defensive solidity to a solid two way player. I don't understand it for this team though. I'd rather put my points into a potential on a young team that's not competing now. I am definitely confused with these trainings, but Pauly has proven his knowledge through the years, so I can't doubt his process.

Byron Scott

FT 79 => 81 (4.2)
PRD 73 => 80 (14.7)
QKN 77 => 82 (16)
JMP 70 => 75 (15)

= 49.9, rounded up to 50pts

Paid viewtopic.php?p=129039#p129039

Oh boy. Byron Scott was the big acquisition for Greeple and he is investing immediately. For a team that has most of their starters in their prime, greeple is investing in his younger player to make him an all around player. I like these trainings that solidify his weaknesses as well as gives Scott some development in his atheletic ability. He is now a super sixth man this year with a starting shooting guard in years to come.

Charles Barkley
BLK Potential: C -> B (25pts)

Benoit Benjamin
INS Potential: B -> A (30pts)

Total Cost: 55pts (PAID - viewtopic.php?p=129125#p129125)

Doug is looking to the future with these trainings. Barkley can now play the power forward position with the ability to block added to his future.

Benjamin was a steal a few years ago for the Bucks and he continues to get better. Doug has built his down low starters for the next 5 plus years. These two will be a nightmare going forward on both sides of the court.

Supersonics training:

Nate McMillan
INS 31-41 15pts
JPS 46-56 18pts

Kevin Johnson
STR 50-55 13pts

15+18+13=46pts

viewtopic.php?p=129240#p129240

David seems to be rounding out his roster for sooner than later. Putting some points into McMillan's currents will try to get him as a complete player that needs to be guarded when on offense.

Kevin Johnson, who is already a potential ROY candidate, just got stronger. Strength is KJ's weakest atheletic skill. If they continue to increase his strength, he will be the toughest point guard in the league before his rookie contract is finished.

Spud Webb
INS: C > B (25 points)
INS: 54 > 59 (9 points)

Johnny Davis
JMP: 55 > 60 (13 points)

Bill Laimbeer
QKN: 17 > 20 (4.8 points)
JMP: 46 > 48 (5.2 points)

Johnny Moore
JMP: 68 > 69 (3 points)

total: 60 points

As a young point guard on a good team, Spud Webb is not needed as a starter at the moment. This allows his potential to develop. Bumping up his Inside potential and his inside currents will jumpstart that development. These trainings really gives him a rounded out offensive game to go with his speed and jumping ability.

Bill Laimbeer has crossed the 30 year old threshold but he is still at the top of his game. With his skill not dropping, bumping up his athleticism alllows for him to maintain in his prime for longer.

Johnny Moore just signed with Dallas and he is in the back end of his prime. With a strong offensive game inside, increasing his shooting allows for him to expand the game and keep some defensive players off of the post scorers.

Overall, K-100 is at a luxury of being able to train for the current and for the future. Spud Webb is going to be a baller later in his career, but Bill and Johnny gives the Mavericks a chance to compete now.

Rodney McCray
POTENTIAL TRAINING - JPS (current band: C, increase to B) = 25 points

SKILL TRAINING
INS (60 > 64 ) - 8.1 points
DRB (54 > 60) - 10.8 points

Athletic Training
QKN (50 >55) - 13 points

Total = 56.9 (round up to 57)

viewtopic.php?p=129094#p129094

Rodney McCray is the newest addition to the vaunted Spurs team, and he is the least developed. With absolute studs throughout the lineup, McCray is the logical depth to try to boost. But, the Spurs are in win now mode, despite being so young. So they added current ability and athletics to their weakest piece. That's a great move.

Michael Adams
POTENTIAL TRAINING - JPS (current band: B, increase to A) = 30 points

Dell Curry
SKILL TRAINING
INS (42 > 47 ) - 9 points

Total: 39 points

Paid: viewtopic.php?p=129308#p129308

Moving the potential for jump shooting to an A, Michael Adams now has A's across the board in all scoring, ball handling, passing, perimeter defense, and steals. That's an absolute stud. Did that greatly improve his chances of being a top player, I'm not so sure. It really depended on where is B potential landed. If he was in the low B's, this move makes a lot of sense. If it was in the high B's, then JL could have still had a stud without putting in 30 points.

With Adams and Curry seemingly on a different timeline as the rest of his team, trying to boost Curry's currents as soon as possible makes sense. Trying to make him a viable option now as a sixth man on a winning team is the right move.

[WigNosy]

OBJECTIVE: 1,175 words = 4 points (1,000 - 1,499 words)
SUBJECTIVE: I loved the premise of this article, though the depth of analysis was a little bit uneven (analysis of how training would affect each player was about the same throughout; however, some trainings led to additional discussion on "why" and some predictions about how the trainings might affect team building or lineups, such as the early Blazers and Jazz and late Mavericks and Cavaliers analysis, but this was lacking on the teams in the middle like the Bulls, Hawks, and Pacers). I enjoyed the attempt to get inside other teams' heads and since this covered all paid trainings, I give it points for covering the whole league (you can't cover training habits of teams that did no paid trainings and you aren't going to be penalized for it). I'll add 4 subjective points - if we had seen the same depth of "here's why I think this team made these trainings and here's what it will allow them to do now and in the future" across all teams that we saw on some of the teams, I would have awarded the full 6. So 4 points here.
TOTAL: 8 points