Seven on Five: The Pulse of the League

[AngryBanana]

Hello everyone, and I hope you are all enjoying the new PBSL year! We have now gotten through the draft and right now it one of the most active times in the season for PBSL. It is the time of year, where people who are not always checked in will at least message you back to tell you that they are not interested in the trade that you are thinking of. With that in mind, I felt it was a great time to do a 5 on 5 article, plus I can use the points to get out of debt. I also thought that it was a good time as its the beginning of the year, not even having RFA done yet, so we are still in flux. This is compared to when I usually do these by about the second sim or at the trade deadline. So no questions about how do you think team X looks, or who do you think will win Conference Y. So I reached out to several people in the event not all responded or did not have time. Little did I know that everyone would in fact answer that I asked (minus Gary... womp womp) so instead of the usual 5 on 5 that we have, it is going to be 7 on 5.

The General Managers that are on the hot seat answering all questions sim league related today are all prior champions at some point in their respective careers (except me, because I wanted to present a non champions mindset on things). We have today with us Dr.K of the New York Knicks, Syndicate with the Denver Nuggets, AB with the Oklahoma City Thunder, K100 with the Philadelphia 76ers, Eazy with the San Antonio Spurs, Mexican Mamba with the Los Angeles Clippers, and False9 with the Orlando Magic.

1. What are your thoughts on a potential reset? It comes up every few seasons and is always a point of discussion, so I’m curious what you think about it? Are there more pros or cons to doing it?

Dr. K: “It would be great. I’d love to see some changes. Honestly it’s the same teams winning over and over again. Create some chaos and let these bum teams that never win get a championship or two while the ‘winners’ get stuck in the cellar to see how it is for the rest of us. There are more pros than cons. Maybe it’ll be the thing that brings the interest back from some GMs. That would be my suggestion. Besides I’ll probably win the whole thing with a bunch of greens and yellows.”

Syndicate: Count me as totally into a reset. I've always thought playing with 'real' players was more fun than fake ones. I think the immediate risk would be losing some GMs that are either not interested in restarting, or just barely interested period. I think A) That risk is probably a little overblown by some. B) If a GM that's barely here anyways wanted to drop, then good. Maybe a reset brings a fun, but smaller league if point A is wrong, and C) I think it might make it easier to attract some new blood as well (thinking back to when I was recruited, it wasn't nothing that my team 'had Larry Bird' when Doug sold it to me (even if Bird was overpaid and not nearly as good as irl even in 1994).

AB: I feel like with most people this probably ebbs and flows based on how their team looks at the time of being asked. In the past, admittedly, if I had a good team that had a chance at a championship why would I rest? But if I had a bad team, I was more inclined. I am now at the point where I think either way I would be interested in going back in time to real players because I caught the very tail end of the real player era. I think AD for instance was around, but was not the world beater he was in his prime. I had John Wall on my team, but I think it was a vet min contract… So I like the idea of doing it as long as it does not destroy the league as a whole. I think that I would also get rid of paid training, but keep insurance if we went back. Let the players develop naturally, but prevent them from dying for no reason. I also think what Syndicate said has some merit, where it could potentially make the league as a whole stronger.

K100: I am pro-reset. I won a title already, my team's finances are in shambles, and I dont have any semblance of forming a competitive squad for another 10-12 seasons so selfishlessly I am more than ready to burn this iteration of sim league down and start anew. Especially if a reset means my tax bill also resets. Tax absolvement aside, I genuinely believe we have hit a bit of a lull in sim league enjoyment and a reset would be a jolt to the league for the better. Plus the player contracts are ridiculous now. We are already paying superstars almost $75M per season. When is it going to end? I have proven that I cannot be trusted with this much buying power.

All that being said, I think there are more negatives than positives at the present moment so I am not holding my breath we reset anytime soon. The mere thought of a creation draft sounds boring as Frye. I am already bored just simulating one round so how long would it take to have 24-26 GMs draft 15 players each? Additionally, I am not sure when a reset should start. 1950? 1960? 1970? I'd be down for any decade, but I think we get to a point where these draft classes mean just as little as the simputer's fake college files do if we go too far back to the NBA's early days. If we could maybe find a new sim engine that would incorporate the NCAA and start in 2022, now that would be cool to try and scout blue chip prospects and recruit them to take my alma mater all the way to a championship during March Madness. But I dont know what it takes to run the main node and as long as Wig is willing to host us, I can understand why folks would not want to meddle with this if it still works. All in all, I hope a league vote comes soon one way or another. I'd like to at least take the temperature of the league to see if others are ready for a fresh start.

Eazy: In years past I was against a reset but now I am kinda for it because I think it would help keep interest high within the league. I feel like it may help with league activity a lot. People would be familiar with real named players with their actual potentials being somewhat accurate. The Cons would be maybe patience with a long creation draft that would take days to complete and I don’t know if everyone would have the patience waiting 2 hours for an auto drafted pick from the same team(s) for like 10 rounds lol.

Mamba: For me, it just depends on how far back that reset would go. If we're talking heading back to the 60's, where I would not know any of the players anyways, and would be (literally) years before getting to draft classes where I'd recognize a bunch of players, count me out. Could just keep going forward as-is if that is the case. That is a personal view though. On the macro, I could be for it if it meant re-gaining the engagement of GMs who are now in coast mode. I don't know if it would actually accomplish that however, because it seems that people aren't losing interest mainly because of the game itself. It is because their lives have become majorly and positively different in the years that they have played this game. Family, kids, work, responsibility. Their attention is elsewhere and that is great, but reset or not, might not change much. A reset is a break glass in case of emergency/last gasp move, which I'd make if everyone was on-board.

F9: This seems to come up quarterly, and it evokes the same feeling every time- vast indifference. It doesn’t strike me as a magic bullet to “SAVE THE LEAGUE” but if it brought it more outside interest to fill empty teams, great. My suggestion the last time this came up in a 5 on 5 was to “scramble” the players so that it wouldn’t be obvious to tank for the 2003 draft class. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s possible.

2. With the just completed reshuffle of divisions, we were allowed to pick new names for the division. If you had that opportunity to name your division after any player past or present, what would you name your division?

Dr K: “Freddy Stambaugh. He was my first full yellow nobody bum player who started playing in the league. Andrew Aleman was my other boy back in the day. I do like the RoboGM2 Division as a name although we could name the divisions after F-list celebrities just to troll it instead.”

Syndicate: Fun! I have two answers. In the 'Star' Category, I'd have to go with the 'Wade' Division. He was my first big lotto pick, the first star I won a ring with, and my first Playoff MVP. If TC insurance had been around back then, he could have been one of the best ever (he got nerfed right after he got paid in RFA but his INS potential was over 100 and he looked like this: http://pbsl.ijbl.net/2006/players/player278.htm).

In the 'non-Star' Category, I'd go with the 'Griffin' Division - as in Eddie Griffin. He was the unheralded, defensive-minded Center of the team that won my first two rings. He was a stalwart in games like this one: http://pbsl.ijbl.net/2007/boxes/box230-1.htm (a rousing 75-60 finals clinching game where the opps were held to 28.9% shooting)

AB: Sooooo, funny story. I did get to name my division. Firstly I was stuck between Pete Maravich and Boban. I was stuck between a league great and a team great. I chose the team great to cement his legacy as my favorite, as mentioned from my article. I do think that from a non-star player, Vincente Carvalho would be my player I named after. He was my first real glue guy. I think I kept him around for like 6 years as a green and yellow player, signing him to higher than market value because he fit in so well at the three with his defense and shooting. A real three and D player. He was my Basil Garden (my favorite rename I have ever done), before Basil Garden.

K100: In another 10 seasons, the Wiseman Divison once he retires (btw congrats on the 2nd title!). Right now, maybe the Ulis Division. I know his heyday was with the Celtics but he was the first "superstar" I got in UFA when he was only 33 years young. I wasted any remote chance he had at winning a title before he retired, but he was a great player to "set and forget" during my first few years in the league.

Eazy: I actually did get a chance to do that and I named it after one of my Favs Bryce Dejean-Jones. I like the real life version of him and the SLOE version. Real life BDJ was the reason for the rename. When I got that high pick I had a few renames in mind but went with BDJ hoping that the player I had drafted that season would become an all-star type of guy. He ended up being better than that. Best thing is he ended his career where it started and won a ring that same season. He’s a SLOE HOF’er in my eyes.

Mamba: This is easy for me, and does not require much explanation : Boban. Trading for him helped lead me to my only championship and he's obviously one of the greats of the game. Crown him!

F9: Boban. I could elaborate more, but you know damn well why.

(Wait a second….I NEED THOSE SWEET SWEET POINTS)

(BUT WAIT I’M ALSO GOING TO TALK ABOUT HIM LATER SO NEVERMIND)

3. I recently did a piece reflecting on two of my favorite PBSL players, and mentioned how they were involved in two of my best teams. I would consider both Wade and Pete on my Mount Rushmore of players respectively. Who would you consider to be the four players, for either personal reasons or for merits, you would put on your amount Rushmore?

Dr. K: “As far as a Mount Rushmore goes my picks are David Bower, Andrew Aleman, Arthur Lujan, and Roosevelt Hoddges. That’s right I’m picking my four best Sixth Man players ever for this because players like that are the key to victory. If you have injuries you have to have a strong bench and that’s how you don’t have to panic trade if there’s an injury. Just grin, get through the rough patch, and hope for the best. Next man up mentality is the way to go.”

Syndicate: Man, this is really hard. The first names that come to mind are from the championship teams: Wade, KG, Klay, West, Duren, Otto Porter Jr, KVH but also guys from the lean years that I LOVED, like Jrue Holiday, Rondo, Claxton, Terry Dehere (such a fake green that I brought back year after year after year)

So I think if I go with the guys I feel had their best years in Denver, with long tenures, and aren't really 'known' for being with another org (ala Duren and the Kings), it'd be Wade, West, Klay, and Jrue.

AB: I love this question and was part of the reason I decided to answer my own questions. I do not know how a GM like Syndicate, being such a senior General Manager, answers this question. I have a hard time narrowing it down to four people when I have been around a fraction of the time of most of the senior guys. First and foremost, Pete Maravich and Zaire Wade would be on this list. After them, I have four names for two slots: Eckbert Winkler, Nathaniel Anderson, Makur Maker, and Scot Bulter. Ultimately, I think time is on the side of Maker and Winkler compared to Bulter and Anderson. I am almost positive Maker and Winkler lead my team in most stats that a big man can have. They also have long tenures on the team. Third, with Maker in particular, he was a homebuilt player. Where I traded for the draft slot to pick him. So in all, in more of a Hokage style fashion on a mountain, it is Pete, Winkler, Wade, Maker, with the order being from when they arrived on the team… I actually kinda like the idea of calling my premier players Hokages, with Pete being the first Hokage.

K100: Interesting question. My Sixermore would be the following from my recent title run. A little boring I know, but I only have 15 seasons in sim league, and I held onto guys longer than most GMs do these days so my pickings are slimmer than most.

James Wiseman. My first #1 overall pick, the Playoff MVP during my title run, and the greatest sim league Sixer ever. He is the face of Philadelphia basketball.

Cassius Winston. My little man. The first true point guard I had all those years ago. Did you know Cassius Winston can play all 5 positions even though he is only 6'1? I did. Dont believe me? Ask Mamba. He saw the light too. To Sir Winston, I am sorry you are spending your golden years right now under the terrible management of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Maybe jlmarines will finally put together a winner soon. Maybe I will pay off my tax bill too?

Obi Toppin. Our final days together were downright ugly when he got injured in the playoffs and missed my first trip to the Finals. It somehow got even uglier that following UFA when Toppin bounced for Houston while I was prepping to reload for another run at a title. But Obi will always be my favorite training project despite all the headaches, bad TCs, and freak injuries. Even though we did not end on a good note, I'm glad the rest of the league got to see Obi be a 1-man wrecking crew once he was on the Rockets because he was unfortunately always in the shadows of Wiseman and Winston during my build.

Finally, William Pearman. I'll always remember Pearman went purple before Wiseman but Pearman was just wasting away in Phoenix before greeple rescued him and then sent him over my way during his mini-reset a few seasons ago. Willy P was an absolute monster during my title run, and I thought had a legitimate shot at Playoff MVP before Wiseman went bezerk in the Finals. Pearman was a true sharpshooter and one of my favorite weapons to gameplan with during my heyday because of his versatility.

So I think if I go with the guys I feel had their best years in Denver, with long tenures, and aren't really 'known' for being with another org (ala Duren and the Kings), it'd be Wade, West, Klay, and Jrue.

Eazy: This is a tough question. Being in the league for so long there were many players I liked….let me see. The four guys I would put on my Rushmore Would be, not in any particular order Glenn Robinson, Josh Smith, Bryce Dejean-Jones and Dan Yan. Yan being the only player that was never drafted by the Spurs but I have to add one other that I really liked Shareef Abdul-Rahimr. He was my Favorite before Josh Smith showed up and became 12 years a Spur. I was looking for a PG at the time and Derek Fisher was available. I traded up to a spot where I was thinking he would fall to me because the team before me would not pick him but he didn’t fall so I went with SAR. Ended up being a real good choice.

Mamba: Clippers Mount Rushmore:

Boban Marjanovic. I listed the main reason above. Brought me home a championship. Obviously he was great way before me and continued to be after, but that deal got me on track.

Terry Sterner. No, Scary Terry didn't win me a championship. However, I got him when I traded Boban and immediately made him a pet project. I pumped points into him to turn him into my Point Guard. After a long stay in Los Angeles, he ranks : 3rd in points, 3rd in rebounds, 1st in assists, 7th in steals, and 3rd in triple doubles in Clipper history.

Glen Sabo. Another big trade that lead to my grabbing of a championship, and he was the focal point of another in Denver. He's top 10 in Clippers history in points and rebounds and 2nd in blocks. The big fella tormented folks alongside Boban while with me.

Michael Garvin. One of the few players that made an impact for me who were already on the roster when I took the team over. He played his first 8 seasons with the Clippers, getting him to 2nd all-time in points. Most fun of all is he got to be a champion in that 8th season before going to UFA and cashing in elsewhere. A true storybook ending.

F9: Deandre Jordan, Paul George, Boban, Josh Jackson

You never forget your first time- Deandre Jordan, Paul George were the most important pieces of that team (honorable mention to James Harden, Marcus Smart, and Dario Saric).

Boban and Josh Jackson were part of my best teams. The Boban project really was my personal North Star for sim league, and I’d say it worked out pretty well and inspired heavy point investments for some other GMs.

4. I noticed a lot of people were rooting for me this past season in the championship series against the bulls. I feel that it was two fold: one because Josh wins A LOT, and two because I had never won a championship before. Who would be the one General Manager that you would want to see a championship, not yourself, regardless of how many they have won before.

Dr. K: “You because you’re one of the best to never win it. The other would be 78# because he’s been around since 1868 and never won it so it’s a nostalgia thing. JNR would be up there too.”

Syndicate: There's only one answer to this, and it's Gary (Digiskunk / The Jazz GM). And anybody that answers anything different is wrong. And I'll tell you why. Gary is the most entertaining sonofabitch who's ever been in this league, and if he were engaged enough and successful enough to win a championship, it would easily be the most fun the league has ever had. Bonus points if Varga, Doug, and Mamba are also in the running that year for the sheer madness of the situation. If this league is about fun, then that's the answer, hands down.

AB: I think the two General Managers I would love to see it would be Dr. K or Gary. My reasoning is a lot of the same reasons as what Syndicate said for Gary. It would just be a fun time if either player was in the lead. If Dr. K were to also to win the whole thing in his style of running a team, I think people would actually quit.

K100: SuperDog. SuperDog doesn't really care about the day-to-day minutiae of sim league. I'm pretty sure the Kings GM wont even know I wrote this even after tagging em. The Kings never respond to presser questions, routinely submit their depth charts after sim day has already been processed, and just simply go AWOL during the playoffs. Dont get me wrong, SuperDog loves the analytical side of sim league and is always down to talk strategy 1-on-1 but this particular GM just gets a little busy living life to remember to login into Tapatalk every M-W-F before 5pm CST and you know run the Kings franchise. Despite all these spells of inactivity in recent seasons, the Kings are still a well-built scoring machine. It really is a beautiful thing to witness. I honestly hope they auto-pilot their way to a title soon.

Eazy: Myself
Myself
Myself LOL.
But seriously I would like to see You and Ed finally get a ring. Ed is one of the OGs and came close once with that dominate team he had back when he acquired T-Mac but injuries in the postseason messed that up for him. Also even though we are rivals 78 too. I kinda messed that up for him early in his SLOE career by taking out I think it was Jason Kidd after losing to him in the playoffs (I wanna say WCF). I like 1st time champs. I want everyone to have at least 1 ring. Even tho I loss out on my chance of winning number 6 vs the Sixers (and they whipped up on my team) I was happy for a new champ. I think that also helps with the league GM activity.

Mamba: The obvious answer here is either the Suns or Pelicans, both or whom I brought in with me and are good friends or family. It'd be great to see them take what they've learned in action and take it to the top. Outside of my tree, it's Jon. He's been close a few times and just missed. And even though I don't have a 2nd championship yet because of his insistence on helping Josh and K100 .... I still hope he nabs one since we came in together and I know he's still passionate about the game.

F9: Kiss-ass answer: AB, because it’s always good to see someone get their first.

Secret answer: Josh, because I like seeing him pile up those rings.

Dark Horse answer: Wig, making a triumphant return to fight for the title of GOAT GM.


5. We have a new Commissioner, who is doing a great job might I say. If it was you that had his unilateral power, what would be the one thing you would add or take away from the League? No strings attached, and not needing a vote to be done.

Dr. K: “I would take away paid trainings and put limits on the amount of trades as well as the amount of players that can be traded. There were some ridiculous trades in the last two seasons and I was one hundred percent not a fan of them at all. As for paid trainings if it wasn’t for that some of these bums wouldn’t be producing at the level that they are. Eliminate that crap as soon as possible. The other change I’d make is eliminating points for memes. I don’t think memes should be worth points at all. Hell they all sucked just like all of these weak ass trades have sucked. Trade limit to only 3 trades maximum per team per season is what I’d do and yes that does include the preseason. Also teams that are over the cap to where they have to pay should not be allowed to add players in-season until they are under the cap. None of that would go over well but it’s what I’d do if I were in charge.”

Syndicate: This is kind of unfair because I've BEEN commissioner - or at least co-commish - so I've had a fair amount of say, and to be honest was pretty content to just keep shit the same. But if I had the time to dedicate to it, and it were possible, I'd like to learn the technical setup of the league (and nodes, etc), migrate the platform off Wig's equipment and onto some platform that could be jointly managed (or at least somewhat jointly managed, and/or managed by me). And then do a restart draft. A couple of other things I think would be fun: 1. Make training for older players cheaper than it is, 2. I'd reset the divisions differently and reduce playoff teams to 6 (top 2 seeds with byes), 3 divisions per conference (playoffs is division winners and 3 wild cards). 3. I'd absolutely explore the salary floor idea brought up what seems like a decade ago. and 4. I'd make Foul training much cheaper for the 'bad' bands than it currently is (it should be a lot easier to get a guy from a 0 to a 50 in foul rating, but VERY hard to get a guy from 50 to 75 or 100)

AB: Honestly, I would be interested in what Dr. K presented with getting rid of the Paid Trainings. As previously mentioned I would still keep the insurance in this scenario. If this were to happen I would also revamp how points are done. We could still accumulate points as we are now, but they would be applied differently. Besides paying for going over the cap, you would have to pay to insure players. Where the older they get the more it would cost. So a player who is 21 would maybe cost like 10 points, where a player that is 27 would cost like 35 to 40 points lets just say. It would still make earning points mean something, but would allow for the end to players getting artificially bumped up to Purple just because the General Manager has a lot of points (a lot like what the Suns General Manager tried doing a few seasons ago)

K100: Host a bracket-style single elimination tournament to determine lottery draft odds in order to try and "reduce" the incentive to outright tank in the regular season. Lot of manual inputting I reckon but somebody smart can figure that stuff out, and I'll push the button on the node to run it. And because I need points, here is a bonus suggestion. Distribute the points collected from the luxury tax teams to the zero tax teams before RFA starts each season. Fiscal responsibility should be rewarded in a league where spending has run amok.

Eazy: Great job……hm I don’t know. All he does is press a button and then saves the file after the sim is completed. He didn’t block me and Josh trade this season like David Stern did the Hornets/Lakers IRL lol. Just Kidding

But seriously he’s doing a great job and he’s keeping the league alive. Every Commish we had has done a great job of running this league cause if not we would not be here right now. League would have ended a long time ago. I have never been a Commish but it seems like a somewhat tough job. I don’t think I would want the Job of being the commish tbh. If I was currently something I would take away from League is Doug…….JK but would Take away RFA and bring Back a revised version of in season signings. I think that was taken away because teams were retaining players at a cheaper rate and others wanted a shot at them. I kinda think RFA is really poison pill season. Forcing GMs to make a decision on a either overpaid guy or a guy on a 2 year deal overpaid with a player option. I also understand it’s part of the strategy.

Mamba: I'd fire the asshole in-charge. Case closed.

F9: I would get pretty radical and institute my promotion/relegation idea from a while back.

The league would be two tiers- I'm thinking 18 for the top league (NBA) and 12 for the bottom (D league). At the end of the season, the bottom 3 from the NBA would be relegated to the D League and the top 3 from the D League would be promoted. We would still have playoffs, but I'm not sure what's preferable to the current format vs something similar to Champions League.

There's a a lot more I'd tie onto this- elimination of the draft (all rookies would be treated as free agents), elimination of max salaries and points limits on transactions, points tied to salary and finishes in the standings/playoffs. It would be ambitious and definitely different from the existing format.


So... I would like to thank everyone from the panel who took part in this interview today. It was really interesting to get the point of view from several General Managers with varying years of involvement in the league. I for sure enjoyed the perspectives that were pointed out and I hope that you readers will enjoy as well. A few interesting things of note that I saw while compiling this list were Andy's idea with regulations. I know that is has been brought up in the past (as recently as I think Ballsohard mentioning it in chat within the past few months). A few of us here are soccer fans, and is something else that seems interesting. I am also surprised at the response of a reset. I thought there would be more opposition to the idea, but for the most part it was positive. I wonder if that is a more league wide sentiment now. Wig should 100% be an answer that someone thought of when it comes to a GM winning. Wig back would be great. Also, people choosing me got 0 participation points. Please feel free to drop a comment in the section below with what your thoughts were after reading this? Do you think that any of these things should be enacted? Do you think that naming a division after Basil Gardens would be a terrible idea? I look forward to hearing from you.

Syndicate: 678 words
Dr. K: 442 words
AB: 1609
K100: 1066
Eazy: 690
Mamba: 532 words
F9: 437 words

[greepleairport]

I think it's bs you didn't hit me up for this but having recently tasted the sting of embarrassing finals defeat - a taste I'll never forget - I'll let it slide.

1. Ever since the Delmar era ended I've been less opposed to a restart. I really think it's a selfish choice for most. If your team sucks, you're all for it; if your team is good and you haven't won a ring yet, it would be awful to have that opportunity erased. In my recruitment efforts, fake basketball players with real or fake names has not made much of a difference in garnering interest. Most look at me like I'm crazy, or can't believe we're not doing this to gamble lol and just doing it for "fun."

2. Delmar division, duh

3. Four-headed Delmar Mount Rushmore (honorable mentions for Joe Sherrill, David Leiker (you perished on rotten teams and i'm sorry dude, you deserved better) and Mike Burnham (before K100 stole him from me in FA thus beginning my first PBSL rivalry))

4. As soon as he gets back to me post-holidays, my first ever referral. Also me. Mamba too (seems like he should have more than one ring by now, no?).

5. I'm still trying to build a ring-winning team - I don't have time for this question yet.

AB +8pts (word count, coordinating and editing)
syndicate +3pts
DrK +2pts
K100 +5pts
Eazy +3pts
mamba +3pts
false +2pts