#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

It's a season of transition here in the Big Apple and there are lots of changes to the roster. We have two first round picks next season so we're going to see who fits the rotation system this season and go from there with our in-season/off-season moves this season. That said our starting rotation of McIntyre, Haun, Bye, Leonardo, and Hodges should prove to be successful. Yes we are actively looking to trade Bye but we're looking ahead too if he we don't trade him this season. Our bench is going to be very interesting this season. We've overhauled it with David Bower as Sixth Man. Bower earned that spot last season with his overachieving play. He was a top 3 or 4 rookie in the entire league last season despite being drafted or cut by two teams before we got him last season. That was one of the best signings I've ever made. To be honest he basically did what I thought O'Connor would do for us when we signed him many seasons ago. Like I said, he earned his promotion in the rotation last season and we paid him this offseason. Volker Kapp is definitely going to be getting some minutes as well. Barrett Colton and Billy Koch are back but the rest of the bench is made up of entirely new players to the team and I'm intrigued to see how the team works with the players I've brought in. Fricke, Sayles, Logue, Gu, Haier, and Alcantar all will get minutes to see who works best in the rotation. As you all can tell I'm not afraid to cut players or make gambles on players nobody's even heard of so I'm very interested to see how we end up this season. We won't be the best or the worst team this season, just somewhere in-between. That covers everything I think, time for a great season.

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: You released Ronald Jordan with a couple seasons left on his contract. What was your reasoning behind that?

The "not the best, not the worst" approach seems to be the calling card of the Knicks for quite some time. Obviously you are not a fan of wheeling and dealing, but do you sense any frustration in the fanbase about the lack of aggressiveness in bringing in outside help? Could you see a situation come about where you would swing for the fences in a trade ?

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MexicanMamba wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:49 pm The "not the best, not the worst" approach seems to be the calling card of the Knicks for quite some time. Obviously you are not a fan of wheeling and dealing, but do you sense any frustration in the fanbase about the lack of aggressiveness in bringing in outside help? Could you see a situation come about where you would swing for the fences in a trade ?

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Lack of aggressiveness? Did you see my tax bill last season? I paid to keep our top talent here and it was worked. Me made the playoffs 2 seasons ago and last season only missed the playoffs by 1 game. I think I'm good there if 2-3 of the players I've brought in click well with the system by averaging 6 or more points. Yeah I can see that but most GMs usually ask for too much on trades so unless it's a good deal I won't do it. It's a league that's become based on high salaries, hoarding blues, and over trading. That said yes I could see it happening but only if I need to do it. Last season RoJo got injured, I didn't make a trade, and my team improved to the point where it almost made the playoffs after starting the season 4-10. Trades aren't always the answer in scenarios like that.

You're a one-of-a-kind GM here in the PBSL, and S54 is shaping up to be no different. For example, even if he underperformed, not many here would have the balls to cut RoJo outright. But switching gears, if David Bower is one of your best ever signings, what does that make Bulter? Haun? Do you have a top 5?

Similar to greeple's point - in terms of the strategy and skill needed to build a team from scratch, as you have done since the 7-75 days of the Knicks, where would you rank yourself among the league's GMs?

Top 5? Bottom 5? Middle-of-the-pack?

What have you learned here since starting many seasons ago that you wish you knew when you started?

greepleairport wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 6:47 pm You're a one-of-a-kind GM here in the PBSL, and S54 is shaping up to be no different. For example, even if he underperformed, not many here would have the balls to cut RoJo outright. But switching gears, if David Bower is one of your best ever signings, what does that make Bulter? Haun? Do you have a top 5?

Haun was drafted and Bulter was traded to me from the Thunder. As far as best free agent signings I'd say my top 5 ever are Bower, Andrew Aleman, Harold Bye, Arthur Lujan, and Jerald Alexander. Those were the five that either played extremely well for us or overachieved for us. Honorable mention goes to Freddy Stambaugh from way back in the day.

K-100 wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:47 pm Similar to greeple's point - in terms of the strategy and skill needed to build a team from scratch, as you have done since the 7-75 days of the Knicks, where would you rank yourself among the league's GMs?

Top 5? Bottom 5? Middle-of-the-pack?

In the middle mainly due to not trading often and not doing paid trainings to increase player ability levels. I definitely rank high with finding hidden gems in free agency that end up playing well. That's definitely a strong suit. Player development over time is another one. I like keeping the same players for many seasons so this season is rare since it won't be like that. However I did bring back 7 players from last season but that's still a low number for me. Overall in the middle due to career win percentage and my bad stretch a few seasons back.

ballsohard wrote: Mon Sep 20, 2021 10:10 am What have you learned here since starting many seasons ago that you wish you knew when you started?

Don't get into Tax Hell. That's by far the biggest thing. Keeping it at a manageable level is the key. By that I mean below $15 million over but no higher than $40 million over. Anything higher than that will be a problem long term if you do that over multiple seasons.

Random Reporter: From the sound of things, this will be another experimental season as you try to determine which direction to move towards. Is this the thing that you enjoy the most about sim league, the mental aspect of team building and development?

Xist2Inspire wrote: Mon Sep 20, 2021 12:55 pm Random Reporter: From the sound of things, this will be another experimental season as you try to determine which direction to move towards. Is this the thing that you enjoy the most about sim league, the mental aspect of team building and development?

Yes. It's all a matter of finding who works and bringing them back for 2-3 seasons to compliment your stars. In this case I've combined the original big three strategy that the team had when I took over with the team rotation/depth strategy I've employed in recent seasons. The only thing to figure out when to trade Bye and promote the younger talent. The rest is just seeing who fits the system and who doesn't.