Fact or Fiction: A 1st Sim Reaction Story

[IamQuailman]

It's been a long while since I've written up an article, so I thought I would bring back an oldie I used to do pretty often at the start of seasons, the Sim 1 Over-Reaction article. With those, I would just rattle off instant takes based soley off sim 1's results. However, I decided to shake things up a little bit this time. I'm going to present 10 reactions, 5 of them as fact and 5 as fiction (aka unsustainable results aka fake news). HERE WE GO!

FACT
The Southeast is WIDE OPEN - Sloppy start to the beginning of the season for the Southeast division. The Magic are still trying to figure out their rotations in a post-Wiggins world, although Boban looks to be LEGIT. The Heat have superstar Devin Booker, but need a small forward sooner rather than later. The Hawks are teetering on competing and rebuilding, but they always find a way to come back and compete for the division crown. The Wizards have some of the best front court depth in the league and always find a way to stay in the hunt. The Bobcats are better than their 1-6 records indicates. This could be a very messy division with majority hovering around .500 for a bit.

FICTION
The Nuggets Point Differential - The Nuggets are on a jet-setting, record-breaking pace to their 3rd SLOE championship in a row and are posting a 27.0 point differential in the process. But, while their team is pretty damn good, this point differential is FAKE NEWS. Of the 7 games played in the front half of November, Denver played a whopping 2 teams that were in the playoffs last year (Hawks and Heat). They played 5 games against teams in the top-10 of this past draft and currently have a combined record of 10-17 (4-16 if you remove the improved Timberwolves from the equation). This number will come down substantially at some point, especially once they start hitting more road games.

FACT
Balanced Bulls - If there is one thing that GM garbageman has shown the ability to do, it's his ability to adapt every season and put a competitive roster together top to bottom. This team has no stars (Aaron Donald too small to be a star), but everyone knows the role they play. And they do that to the T. This is a complete team that has the depth and fit to remain at the top of the Central standings all season, assuming that Silva, Donald and Phoenix can keep AD at bay.

FICTION
AD's Demise - Yea, we all celebrated AD going BLUE/BLUE during TC. It was a miraculous day, a momentous occasion reminiscent of Kemp's decline. But, that was short lived. As we can already see that Davis is clearly not in decline. He's posting better numbers this year than he did in his previous season in the following categories: PPG, RPG, TOPG, STL, BPG, FG%, 3P%. Sure, small sample size, but don't pull out your confetti blowing machines and Bailey "HUGGER" inflatables just yet to celebrate. This bastard ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

FACT
2nd Tier Western Conference Teams Murky as Hell - Nuggets, Kings, and Spurs are the creams of their divisional crops, but after that? Timberwolves looking good, but will need to see some sustained success before we start saying they'll challenge for the Nuggets divisional crown. The Rockets have resumed their role as second-fiddle to the Spurs (sorry 78), and they have enough talent to stay over the .500 mark. The Pelicans looks good, although they really need a PG bad. And the Trailblazers will continue to challenge the Timberwolves for 2nd place behind the Nuggets, but they are another team with the depth to be very solid throughout the season. There is no real clear cut BETTER team amongst this tier, and the playoff seeding will reflect that. Teams will jump from 4th seed to 7th seed all season long until the end. Don't worry about 8th seed though, the Jazz are only 2 games back of it with a record of 0-6.

FICTION
Deez Nets - I Fryeing love how hard the Nets team is playing right now. Funky Cole Medina is playing out of his mind, leading the team in assists and #18 in scoring. Okogie is well outplaying his color ratings, with 19 PPG. Kight continues to look like the perennial all-leaguer he is. And the front court law firm of Humbert, Brown & Chriss are grabbing rebounds at an alarming rate (2nd in league, only to Nuggets). So why are they fiction? My biggest concern with the Nets is depth. The roster is 9-deep, and we know that with this league injuries are just around the corner. You need to be built to weather a storm of sprains, concussions, and breaks. If an injury to a major contributor on the Nets happens, if even for only a couple weeks, it could be a huge set back for a team that is looking like it could be in the hunt for back-to-back division titles. There are some options they have, but can they make the move before the injury bug bites? That's my biggest fear. The stats are fact, but the production vs. the durability/longevity of a 9-player deep roster is fiction.

FACT
Where's Waldo ft. Every Pacific GM except NOLa - The Pacific Division is in a really sad state right now. None of them submitted a DC for Sim 1. Looking at the "Human Coaches" page of the index, Tray was the only one to submit via TV in the last 30 days. Tray, Samsonian, and Messi all checked the forum in the last 24 hours. With some minimal activity, any of these teams could make a move or two that could help catapult them out of obscurity and into the playoff hunt. OR they could compete for ping pongs and ship out aging assets. I obviously am not saying how to run your team, and maybe the inactivity is residual from moves made that didn't pan out or slow growth of rookie players. I'm not really sure what is going on, but I'd love to see just a little more activity from that division. The state of the Pacific is pretty much the driving force behind talks of re-alignment, and this season seems to be not much different than the last few seasons.

FICTION
Ben Simmons, 3rd Banana? - The emergence of Udoka Azubuike is all the talk in Philly right now, as the 3rd year player is taking the league by storm. Meanwhile, Markelle Fultz continues to be the primary weapon and facilitator on the Sixers. But where does that leave Ben Simmons? Have the off-season distractions of his 7th season of his NBC sitcom "Brotherly Love" and the on-again-off-again relationship with one of those Kardashian/Jenner girls gotten his head not screwed on right? His numbers are down across the board. But there is one particular stat that I would like to point to... his assist/turnover ratio. Simmons is posting career-high assists and career-low turnovers so far this season. To me this says he has stepped back as a primary scoring option in an effort to help facilitate this offense more and set up his teammates. And it appears to be paying dividends, as the Sixers sit atop the Atlantic Division standings after the 1st 2 weeks of play.

FACT
Gary Harris, Highest Paid Towel Waver in NBA History - Gary Harris is riding the pine and shaking those pom poms for his teammates. How the mighty have fallen. The once elite two-way guard got his ill-advised (for the Knicks organization) payday and has been spiraling since. Some attribute Harris's demise to the overall spiraling morale of the organization due to his GM's unorthodox approach to the game... an approach where the GM would rather have 10mil in dead cap than try to find a way to bring in a supporting cast. Long-time Knicks fans long for the days of Inner GI or even the stewards, who they feel were the real guiding force behind the franchise's only championship despite how much the current GM claims it as his own. In the end, Harris doesn't care too much. He's making 80 million over the next two seasons to play 0 minutes and think about the good ole days.

FICTION
Thundering Back Into The Lotto - The Thunder have been a Draft Lottery mainstay since... well... probably the last 2 real life years. And right now, with a 2-5 record, they looked poised to make that return once again... but NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND! This time is going to be different. AngryBanana's young players finally look like they have turned a corner. This team is trending in a positive direction, and with a couple moves, they could easily insert themselves into that 8th playoff spot I previously discussed. I'm not exactly sure what move needs to be made, but their guard rotation appears to be pretty set. I think if they could find a forward that could double as a backup SF and PF... this could go a long way for them. I would expect the Thunder to be active in the market when Dec 15 rolls around and players acquired in the off-season start to become available. They are my dark horse Western Conference team to make the playoffs this year!

[IamQuailman]

1569 words... 6pts for this article!

[garbageman]

I think the Nets are more fact than the Bulls

[false9]

FACT
Gary Harris, Highest Paid Towel Waver in NBA History

More like towel waiver after he's cut

[NOLa.]

FACT
Gary Harris, Highest Paid Towel Waver in NBA History

More like towel waiver after he's cut

"He's my idol, I want be just like him."

[TheSyndicate]

FICTION
The Nuggets Point Differential - The Nuggets are on a jet-setting, record-breaking pace to their 3rd SLOE championship in a row and are posting a 27.0 point differential in the process. But, while their team is pretty damn good, this point differential is FAKE NEWS. Of the 7 games played in the front half of November, Denver played a whopping 2 teams that were in the playoffs last year (Hawks and Heat). They played 5 games against teams in the top-10 of this past draft and currently have a combined record of 10-17 (4-16 if you remove the improved Timberwolves from the equation). This number will come down substantially at some point, especially once they start hitting more road games.

Big stand you're taking when my best player is out