S90 Town Hall 2

[Mike Lowry]

Think we have a big enough sample size to do some player evaluations.
Which players have caught your eye for the numbers they're putting up so far?
How is their team and their GM benefitting or suffering?

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

[greepleairport]

No disrespect to Dr K., but I thought the Suns sucked this year. Then, I lost twice to them - once at home, and once on the road. I was lightweight pissed to lose to a team that sucked, but upon further inspection...

The Mailman Karl Malone plays for the Suns.

Dude is playing ape shit this year, the kinda play GMs dream about from their purple/purple bum ass barely 20ppg asses. The Mailman dragged this team into a winning record against all odds, with a teeny bit of help from Stockton. I mean, Stockton... he alright, but just alright. The MAILMAN is droppin' buckets like they were bastards in a teenager.



BITCH I said what I said. Nah for real though, if it weren't for the Mailman the Suns would get shipped off to North Korea. I'm a Brad Daugherty fan but he ain't moving any needles. It's all Karl Malone and he's putting the league on notice.

[Darth Vegito]

Which players have caught your eye for the numbers they're putting up so far? How is their team and their GM benefitting or suffering?

I'll do both together.

Malone and Ewing putting up big numbers on bad teams at the moment. Let's see how the Suns fare from here on out but the Rockets are ass and should not be that bad. So I look at these top players and I wonder why their record is so bad. Hanky panky tanky tanky? The level of tanking in this league is truly embarrassing. That's what the numbers say to me. I just hope Sim Karma is real and the top players in the draft over the next few years go to deserving teams.

Only 1 team has two players in the Top 10 scoring in this league. That team is in Kansas City. Y'all can close ya mouth while watching the Sonics rack up the wins. He can go 71-1 and get bounced in the 2nd round. And the Spurs are on notice. The Kings are coming. Malone and Ewing can have those empty stats and win MVP. Congrats.

Malone, Cologne, Provolone, Mascarpone...Kings in 5.

[WigNosy]

Think we have a big enough sample size to do some player evaluations.
Which players have caught your eye for the numbers they're putting up so far?
How is their team and their GM benefitting or suffering?

I have to look to Denver here and Nate McMillan. I always thought of McMillan as a second-tier point guard - not a BAD guard, certainly an excellent defender... but not an all-league performer. Last season, he averaged 10.6 ppg and 9.9 apg - starter? Sure. All-star? No. Max-worthy? Probably not.

Nate had a great off-season, though, and is now averaging 13.6 ppg, leads the league with 11.6 apg, and his defense is scary good. And his scoring potential shows he still has scoring improvement left. I don't know that he'll ever average 20 ppg, but he's moved into the class of Isiah Thomas, John Stockton, and other top Point Guards not named Magic Johnson. Once Jedihero finds some high-grade scorers to put around him, will his assist numbers continue to shoot up? It's a good problem to have!

[K-100]

Which players have caught your eye for the numbers they're putting up so far?
Scott Skiles earned his max contract this offseason and is doing a great job as tank commander this season. Skiles is starting for the first time in his career and is putting up a respectable 8/8 this season. I think Skiles is just tapping into his potential right now so I expect as the Mavericks add more talent to the squad, Skiles should be able to average a double-double soon enough.

How is their team and their GM benefitting or suffering?
The Mavericks are comfortably in the lead for the race to #1, thanks to Skiles role as tank commander. The Mavs benefitted by getting a free PG and will lead the Mavs for years to come.

[NickMalone77]

When looking at the stats, there’s probably a few unsung hero’s that are putting their respective teams on their backs that are hiding in plain sight because the Bulls, Sonics, & Spurs, all seem to be dominating so far this season. Buck Williams for Portland is putting up career #’s despite the talent around him and is a bonafide all star. Rod Strickland for the Lakers looks like a nice young PG that’s properly developing and is averaging close to 3.5 more assists per game from his rookie season. Another player I wanted to shout out is Rodney McCray for the Hornets. Getting his first real run as a starter and he’s proving his dividends now that he’s got some run as a starter as the main key on his own squad playing with Hersey Hawkins.

With these three teams, one’s at a crossroads. The other is selling and the other is making a run to compete despite the record and make improvements across the margins. With the young talent in Portland, it might be wise to cash in on the value of Buck while the iron is hot to get some more quality assets for the next draft class ahead. The Lakers are clearly selling as per their latest trade but they got their own pick back. Now they can let Rod run the show despite the lack of talent now around him as the Lakers look to the future as per who they can pair with long term with Rod. For the Hornets, having a playoff season with Hersey and McCray would be key to see the progression of how far this group can really go at this level if they do indeed make the post season.

[BigDaddyd8720]

Hakeem had an MVP caliber season last year and then came back this season and is putting up even better numbers. Going from 25. 8ppg and 10.7rpg to 27.3ppg and 11.4rpg. Not to mention his 3.9 blocks per game. Dude is having an amazing season and absolutely a huge part in why the Celtics are leading the division. It does help that the division is weak again but the #4 defense is no joke. If the Celtics can find one piece to their puzzle, they could really unlock Hakeem AND their team. But for now, Hakeem will have to settle for just being the best Center in the game. Sure Ewing has better numbers, but as teams have stated before, the Rockets are bad. His stats are inflated by nobody else around him. Hakeem is doing this with elite talent on his team. He commands the ball at all times and rightfully so

[Mike Lowry]

Which players have caught your eye for the numbers they're putting up so far?
I'm going to go the opposite direction as most have taken and point at some guys that are problematic.
I'll start with a look at some of the biggest salaries in the league this year, top 10 are:

Sleepy Floyd $4,240,598
Isiah Thomas $4,240,598
Eddie A Johnson $4,240,598
Clark Kellogg $4,240,598
James Worthy $4,240,598
Rodney McCray $4,240,598
Ralph Sampson $4,240,598
LaSalle Thompson $4,240,598
Bernard King $3,980,554
Kelly Tripucka $3,660,878

We all know about Bernard doing a Captain Phillips in Dallas and taking the ship down with him, but he is actually putting up 25, 8, and 4 for the dumpster fire. I doubt the efficiency is there, but those aren't horrible numbers for the contract.
Sleepy Floyd on the other hand is churning out a whopping 7.5, 2, and 3 in 15 minutes per game on THE highest salary in the league.
Kelly Tripucka 18, 5, and 3 respectable, but not great for the money.

How is their team and their GM benefitting or suffering?
In essence, these contracts as well as I would argue Eddie Johnson and Rodney McCray have hamstrung the GMs with a heavy load. For those of us who have been anticipating the day when improvident spending would catch up to careless GMs, the time has come, and it is here in a BIG way. There are currently 9 teams over 1 million deep in the tax, and 8 of them are buried over 1.7 deep. No surprise that the Cavs are leading the charge and sitting at over 5 million in the tax.
Contrast that with 3 teams that can combine to offer about 8 mil in relief and you have some very real heartburn after swallowing those pills.
Gonna be interesting to see how people move forward in this new era.

[IamQuailman]

Think we have a big enough sample size to do some player evaluations.
Which players have caught your eye for the numbers they're putting up so far?
How is their team and their GM benefitting or suffering?

I'm going to nominate Derrick Coleman. Yes, he's a rookie on a cost controlled contract, but lil man is putting up 18ppg, 8.9rpg, 1.2 bpg, and shooing 52% FG & 30% from 3.. as a rookie. He's on a direct path to Rookie of the Year. And the sky is the limit for this guy, and the Bullets just gave him away for a couple scratch off tickets with the hope of drafting someone that is as good as Derrick Coleman will grow to become. Chasing hopium instead of championships. For potential, he's about as good as you get without being purple potential (room to train his JPS and/or BLK would even further elevate). This guy is a cornerstone franchise player. Given away in his rookie year. For 2 picks that probably will be 5-10th pick (at best). The East is absolute dogshit, and the Knicks & Hornets can easily get better and become a playoff team before those picks come due. Props to the Knicks for acknowledging a gift when given to them. Biggest winner of the season by far.