S56 Mock Division Draft

[AngryBanana]

So, a new year and the idea of a reshuffle is upon us. So I thought I would do a quick article on what each team would bring to a division in a redraft. Plus, I like points so here is another way to get it done. So, we have four GMs, including myself, that will be vying to set up new divisions for themselves and might be looking at it in a variety of ways. They might be looking at it like Pauly in the last go round, where they look at it as “what is the best way for my team to be dominant”, or maybe they want to make it balanced, or they also might think “what would be the most fun?” from either knowing the GMs or from an activity standpoint. This article will focus on whatever I deem at that moment, and might not have any rhyme or reason other than me thinking “ok, yea sure let us put them there.” So anyways, let us get it done.

Round 1 Pick 1 (Spurs): Carlos is coming from a division that had a nice balance to it. He had competitive teams in Kings, Suns, and Bucks, while also having the Hawks who were always bottom dwellers, then the wildcards of the Mavs and Rockets. So I think he is going to look for more of the same in this new division. With the first pick I think Carlos is going to pick a team that will bring competition to his division, but also keep things light and interesting. So he is going to pick the Wizards. The wizards are a team that have been to the playoffs every year for probably longer than I have been a GM. It is insane. His teams are always competitive, even if his talent is on the lower end of the spectrum. He has Brendon Silva who is clearly his best player and is a top end scorer. He has also gotten a lot out of Denji Avidja, getting his best season yet at age 30 on a low end contract. The wizards have cap space to compete next season and will continue I think his playoff run for the next few seasons before maybe resetting when Silva gets older.

Round 1 Pick 2 (Bulls): So my thought is that Josh is going to pick General Managers that he enjoys playing with. After winning again this year, I think Josh looks at this as still making this as entertaining as possible for him, and that is not winning per se. So I think with his first pick he is going to choose the Knicks. The Knicks if I remember correctly were brought in by Josh. I find that when Josh makes a meme, it is often involving the Knicks or bashing others about the Knicks. Also, we all enjoy the Knicks perspective on things.

Round 1 Pick 3 (Thunder): So here I am with my first pick. I came from a similar situation as Carlos, where I always had a few top end teams and a few bottom dwellers. Anyways, I think I am going to try to pull from my tree whenever possible, so with my first pick I am going to draft the Philadelphia 76ers. I talk to K100 pretty regularly about this, so adding trash talk to the mix of playing more often will make it even more fun. He is in tax hell right now, but I think he will find a way to get out of it quicker than most and get it done.

Round 1 Pick 4 (Pistons): Scott is a team on the up and up, and I think he will make sure that his team will have an impact for as long as he can. Could he go for a potential rival? Or he could go for a team that is on the rebuild run. The thought I am having is more of the second to start out. This team is going to be the Hawks. So, the thought with Louie is that he is in tax jail and will allow Scott a few easy wins each season to build up that point bank. Undoubtedly I would not blame him for doing this at all. Coincidentally, Louie will probably have no idea that this is done either. K100 is probably the only other team that is in a hard rebuild, and I took that team, so the Hawks it is.

Round 2 Pick 1 (Pistons): With Scott’s second pick, if I was following this strategy I would double dip at this point because you know that you are not going to have a pick again for a while. So the pick is going to be the Pelicans. They have a brand new GM and not a lot to work with. I think that they will be a team that takes a few years to get back on track which works perfectly with Scott’s timeline. Right when he is done competing will be when they are maybe getting better, which will help him with tanking as well.

Round 2 Pick 2 (Thunder): To continue my trend of picking people who I have brought in, this pick will be the Cavs. As previously mentioned, I look forward to talking trash between the three of us and I am hoping that the meme show continues from the Cavs that will be directed towards me. The Cavs have a nice mix of players to finally make the playoffs next season if they have a productive offseason. I think they might finally be on track to have a good season and I look forward to competing with them. I also hate trading within division for the most part, so that should also make you lot happier that I can not get any more deals with him (no guarantees though).

Round 2 Pick 3 (Bulls): With this pick, I think Josh is going to go with the Magic. Andy is an active GM on the forum with memes and in chat. While we are some time removed from the Magic dominance of Boban, the magic have a good core currently. He has players in Dort, arguably the best player in PBSL, and Robinson that he can build off of going into the offseason. He will present an interesting challenge that I think Josh will look forward to and they are both from Chicago which helps, right? They can chat over some deep dish and malort, the two things that all Chicagoians love, at a real life bulls game.

Round 2 Pick 4 (Spurs): So to end round 2, I think the Spurs go with a team that they consider to have a rivalry with that is in their current division before the shakeup. They are going to go with the Rockets. Both teams have been around for a long time and have probably played since the old league. They also both have similar histories in keeping players for a long time (12 year a spur and the never dying Al Horford to name a few instances.) The Rockets are in a rebuild right now, having only Jordan Johnson as a B/B at 35 years old. However, they will more than likely have the most cap going into the offseason which will help them in RFA and UFA respectively to get things done if they want to. Who knows, maybe 78 works his magic and Jordan Johnson will remain a B/B until he is in his 40s?

Round 3 Pick 1 (Spurs): This next pick gets interesting, do the Spurs go for another team that has been around for a while or for something different? I think they pick the Nets here. Ed is another senior GM who I think will be a good team to have in your division for both fun purposes of knowing the GM, but also presenting a challenge to your team. The Nets current build has been confusing where he has two outstanding players in Fang and Kostas. I think the change of scenery might be what he needs (And away from the Lakers, Wizard, and I who have been giving him fits for years).
Round 3 Pick 2 (Bulls): Keeping with the trend, I think the Bulls select the Denver Nuggets with his next pick. I know there is a commish chat out there in skype world, and it is only fitting that it could also be a division chat at this point, with josh handing the reigns over to the Nuggets and Clippers after backing away. And while the nuggets are also now stepping down, I know that they will still be an active GM that will always present a really good team. They won the He Hor competition last season and will only look to build upon that this season where both he and Saddiq Bey I think will only get better.

Round 3 Pick 3 (Thunder): Ahhhh, how did this work out so well? It is almost like I am predicting things in my favor in this simulation. With the next pick I will complete my general manager tree and draft the Kings. I will probably regret bringing them into the division because that team has probably the best non-Dort player in Killian Hayes. They also have James Addington in his prime and a slew of other great comp players like Clark and Lewis. It will be fun to have all of us in one division.

Round 3 Pick 4 (Pistons): With the next pick I think they are going to take the Timberwolves. They have also both been around for a while and JNR is a guy who often talks similar topics with the Pistons on Skype. I think they both approach the game to a similar degree and will only give them more opportunity to chat. When it comes to team build, JNR is early on in his rebuild as well, which will help the pistons. The Timbs will not be an easy win, but will not be a head scratcher of sorts either. A good middle ground to go off of.

Round 4 Pick 1 (Pistons): With the next pick, the pistons will hypothetically go with the Suns. They threw all their chips in a few seasons ago for a winning season that did not get them as far as they probably should have. So they are now rebuilding to a degree. They have a purple BBJ, who is now 30. He is probably a fake P/P, but is still someone you can build around with his traits. If the suns find a few players in the trade market (idk, maybe some Thunder players that are on the block?) he could find himself in contention for a playoff spot again.

Round 4 Pick 2 (Thunder): With my next pick I am going to pick someone that I think I would also enjoy trash talking with in addition to all of my friends from the tree of LaGrange. So we are going to take the Bucks here. Quailman is one to never shy away from trash talk if it is in good fun, so I hope he can continue that. Add the fact that the kings are in the division, and that gives Tani some ammo to mess with Quail about when he looks at the page after every season. Also, I enjoy that Quail always reinvents his teams, its a very different approach to how I team build and will be fun.

Round 4 Pick 3 (Bulls): The Bulls will pick the Clippers in this situation. This will complete the Commish hand off that happens and really make that chat a division chat at this point. I think the Clippers are another team that Josh will find interesting to match up with and will present unique matchups that will keep Josh engaged.

Round 4 Pick 4 (Spurs): The Spurs are going with another senior GM in this situation and taking the Pacers. Pauly has also been around for a long time and I think is someone that is on the same par with most of the other teams within the division. This will immediately put Pauly in a harder division than what he was in last, which might cause him to dip a bit in production.

Round 5 Pick 1 (Spurs): The spurs will pick the Lakers with this pick because that is who they picked already. Makes enough sense to me here.

Round 5 Pick 2 (Thunder): The thunder are picking again based on ties. While we know the GM of the Heat personally, we are not sure if they will be around for the long term. So we are going to go with our Radier Pride and pick the Raptors. Also, if we get Herb Jones in our division we would be happy about that too.

Round 5 Pick 3 (Bulls): They are going to pick another GM that I think they brought into the league and go with the Mavs.

Round 5 Pick 4 (Spurs): With the last pick I think the blazers are going to pick the most active of the bunch. Which is either the Mavs or the Traiblazers… I think the pick here is the Mavs. They are a more established team, where the Blazers more recently hit the reset button after a failed attempt to go all out with Dort and Sneed.

Anyways, as I am now looking at how the draft is going so far. I am already completely wrong in this. But hey, this is a simulation. And we all know how off simulations can be from the actual end product.

[greepleairport]

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