S89 Town Hall 4

[Mike Lowry]

Have we reached the era of super-teams?
Can a GM build through the draft and compete for the title?
Or has the competition been raised to a level where you can't win without adding a superstar via trade?

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: Deadline for Sim 4

[AngryBanana]

Have we reached the era of super-teams?
Can a GM build through the draft and compete for the title?
Or has the competition been raised to a level where you can't win without adding a superstar via trade?

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: Deadline for Sim 4

I mean, the best team in the league, the Spurs, is one that was mostly built for the get go through the draft. You could then trace this current team based on the trades made of the players they stockpiled through several years of good luck in the draft. The counter to this argument though is the Bucks, who always manage to retool instead of going through the draft.

So now that I have typed this out it sounds like it’s honestly based on doing the grind and making moves. .

Seriously though, there is no one way to do it as shown above, and it’s based on how GMs like to operate. However all builds require tweaking where trades are inevitable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BigDaddyd8720]

I think it’s possible to build a championship team through the draft. It’s just a matter of patience. You’d have to take at least 4-5 seasons off just to be able to get your roster filled out through the draft. But then the issue comes around that some of your players become solid starters so you just naturally start performing better and it hurts your chances of getting another great player in the draft. My SuperSonics are a good example. I drafted KJ, Chapman, Pinckney, and Perdue. So it’s possible they turn this team into a contender but they’re at the point where I wouldn’t be able to get another star player in the draft. Had I not signed Kiki and traded for Clyde, I’d still be a few seasons away from competing but it’s possible they all develop into stars. And even then, by the time all of them are ready there would be a smaller window of competing. Where as now I’ve given my team a few extra seasons of competing.

So I do think it’s possible to build through the draft, it’ll just take longer than making trades for superstars


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NickMalone77]

I really don’t think there’s a wrong way to build in this league. The team that builds through trades usually gets lucky in some capacity in terms of plucking a star from a bad team to add to their roster. There’s consistent teams that builds through trades with their rosters but it eats away at the asset capital a team might have.

If you take the time to build through the draft, that means losing at least 2-3 years and hoping the stars that are drafted are consistent enough to stick around long term and not die in TC. It’s a tricky play either way but you hope to have enough young talent to cash in at some point on a star that is worth it for championship aspirations. I think it’s a combination of builds that has a team approach and mentality that is most successful.

[Mike Lowry]

This is definitely Super Team time.
Building through the draft will only get you so far.
I do think my own best chance to land a cornerstone is through the draft.
I also like the idea of guiding a star through their entire career, and have the experience of training them year after year, but eventually I'll have to cash some assets in and upgrade the supporting cast around the star.
I think it is important to have assets as the star approaches their prime in order to make the final steps.
Best example right now is the Suns.
Kavarga landed Stockton to Malone, and added Daugherty, Lang, and Del Negro.
He is winning at a high clip this season with a strong core, but I think he spun his wheels for a few seasons, and lost some trades badly that took him out of position to win it all with this group.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Jordan, West, and Manning are the only players on the Spurs roster who are home grown, and they're the favorites to win their 2nd ship in 3 years.

[WigNosy]

Have we reached the era of super-teams?
Can a GM build through the draft and compete for the title?
Or has the competition been raised to a level where you can't win without adding a superstar via trade?

I fear the era of super-teams is just beginning.

I think it's possible to build a team multiple ways; however, what we're seeing in the NPBSL is the same thing we see in the NBA... your team is helped massively by underpaying key roster pieces (usually by way of rookie contracts), then using the cap space rookie contracts save you to go add additional pieces until your cap fills up... then keep those pieces by way of Bird Rights. Timing here is crucial - the Spurs, for example, could not have added Magic Johnson AFTER re-signing Chris Mullin, and couldn't have re-signed Chambers without Bird Rights.

The current draft class is only a single data point, but if it's reflective of larger trends, this should scare teams as if young players now don't reach star status until they're on their second (non-rookie) contract, it makes it much more difficult to get the benefit of having key rotation players be underpaid thanks to rookie deals. This means that teams will have to pick the seasons when they spend hugely to keep key expiring contracts on-board with Bird Rights and incur large tax bills in the process.

The best teams will still be super-teams, because there will always be teams out there trying to tank that are selling off talent to teams looking to accumulate pieces... it's just that super-teams will not be able to survive as long. It's going to take a shift of strategy from the Pokemon-like simply "collect all the best players" because you're not going to be able to afford them forever. You have to save up points to pay the tax, take a 2-3 year window, then sell off your players at below market value to get back under the tax.

Also, at some point, I have to think the year-over-year cap increases will fall below 5% - so far, the league hasn't been hurt by contracts constricting cap space because cap space has risen faster than contract increases... but when it doesn't, teams that have valued financial flexibility will be in a better position to capitalize than teams that have gone all-in to re-sign a (probably super-team) core.

Basically, everyone has a strategy until the facts on the ground change. If players don't come into the league capable of dominating in Year 1 or 2 of their rookie deal, maybe people tank less hard... nah, that's probably never going to happen. To the final question, it's probably still going to be POSSIBLE to build through just the draft, but most teams will mix in a wide variety of options, including draft, trades, and strategic free agency signings (or more likely re-signings).

[greepleairport]

Have we entered the era of super teams? Yes? Can we no longer build through the draft? No.
Do we have to trade for a superstar? Not necessarily, but you can’t win without one.

Outside of the first 4 or 5 seasons, we’ve been in the era of super teams. Unsurprisingly they’re the same teams with GM’s that had monster teams in the old sim league, same teams on the cusp of championships, etc. it’s surprising how quickly in happened, sure, but I don’t think we were willing enough to make the changes necessary to create some parity, or at least try. Some GMs are just going to be better than others no matter what parameters are in place, and that’s fine too. But, be it thru the draft or trades or whatever, however the assets are accrued is irrelevant. If you have assets and use them correctly, you’re going to consistently have super teams like Doug. Eazy doesn’t burn and churn so quickly so hell rise and fall. Wig is always contending too- he just hasn’t been in as easy a conference as the bucks the whole time.

[K-100]

Have we reached the era of super-teams?
I think so. The talent in the league is growing every season and as we approach the 90s, the overall landscape of the league will be that much deeper compared to the creation draft era. The league has its established set of dominant bigs, but we are going to see a slew of guards/wings in the coming years that will eventually take over the statistical leaderboards. Sim league has always been a copycat game so teams are seeing what works and tanking for superstars is the name of the game right now. Talent attracts talent and then your next super team is created.

Can a GM build through the draft and compete for the title?
I still think you need at least one superstar via tanking in the draft, but I just dont see teams building through the draft alone. It requires too much patience and a lot of luck to not get hit with a freak injury or a TC nuke to keep all your talent afloat. It is why I am so in favor of training players into purple. It incentivizes folks to keep homegrown talent, but the league remains largely opposed to the measure.

Or has the competition been raised to a level where you can't win without adding a superstar via trade?
To be successful, you have to be active and trades are just a part of that formula. The GMs who are in the hunt now are also the most active in the league. They are constantly looking for talent by updating their trade blocks and stay engaged with negotiations. Sure you need to "win" more trades than not, and these GMs are often the ones who pull off the wins but being flexible to your roster build is what sets them apart from the mid and rebuilding teams.

[logpmess]

The first season, Darryl Dawkins won the title with his run in the playoffs alone. Since then, we have been going to a superteam is needed for a chance of winning. Ultimately, the team is built during the draft. Teams at the top (Bucks, Celtics, Sonics, Spurs) all had high caliber draft picks that kept their team in contention. Ultimately what puts a team over though is that superstar player that often is attained during trades. So realistically, the very upper eschelon needs both. A solid base of players to support when a superstar walks into the building via trade.