SLOE News Day
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:56 am
Word count: 3,011
SLOE News Day
If you ask our man Douglas, this sim season has been a nightmare and one of the most boring and predictable in recent memory. Though I think it is pretty safe to assume that we know who the eventual champion will be (The Cavs), I still believe that there have been some very interesting things happening in the league this season. Particularly interesting because I have not written a second article, yet this season and I need the points. So, let’s dive in a little deeper shall we? Dissect this season of PBSL.
Pre-season Review
Right after the pre-season I wrote a short article going over everything that happened. I gave out some awards and kudos and tidbits, so why not go back now and see if some of those things were a fluke, which held steady and if other people who didn’t perform well in the pre-season showed out in the regular season.
Five Surprises:
Frank Daily’s Scoring
In the original article I did not believe that Daily’s out-of-nowhere scoring outburst could be sustained through the regular season but noted that there was a chance that the 6th man role could have unlocked something in the career 12 PPG scorer. During that pre-season run, Daily was averaging 25 points. I was correct that that high of a number was not sustainable, but he has still mightily cleared his career averages and up until fairly recently was the Pistons leading scorer off the bench, averaging 20 points in each contest. Scott has done a lot of load management for his starters this season, giving Daily ample minutes and opportunity to get his shot off, something he had not been allowed to do. Still, Daily’s offense is not NEEDED for this team to be great, but its been whipped cream and cherries (and maybe some caramel drizzle) on top of the sundae that is the Pistons roster. Initially I didn’t feel like Daily would be enough of an upgrade over Emoni Bates to feel any worse about my (slim) chances against the Pistons if I were to meet them in the Finals, but I’ve been proven wrong about that.
No Defense in Phoenix
Unfortunately, I did not write down just how bad the Suns defense was in the pre-season; however, I do remember them being near the bottom of points allowed and defensive efficiency. This was a surprise given the effort that Nate put into upgrading his defense in the off-season. Well, looking at the numbers now and they still are not as good as hoped coming into the season but not the trainwreck the pre-season promised. In points allowed, the Suns are still near the bottom of the league however part of that is due to their breakneck pace, so they are 8th in defensive efficiency. Quickley’s TC tumble and a number of injuries to good defenders for the team have contributed to some of that. Health permitted, Suns should still be a tough out come playoff time.
Cavaliers!
After the pre-season, I focused on the uptick in scoring for the Cavaliers, which has remained a strong point for the team. Michael Sneed’s addition has been a SIM God send in Cleveland as he is currently #2 in the league in scoring and as a team, they are 6th at 116.4 per game. The progression from bad to good goes team-wide however, as they are sitting comfortably at 4th in the conference with just ½ a game separating them from the Jazz at 3rd. This is massive improvement for a team who has 1 playoff appearance in this GM’s tenure and that came with a below .500 record at the bottom part of conference lacking quality depth. They have a shot at a 50-win season which would be a great achievement for a GM whose best win total sits at 38 (which they’ve already topped).
Rise of the Wolf?
Not so much. I really believed that the Timberwolves were primed up for a solid season and probably a low seed playoff run with a fun, young roster. Injuries would come and rear their ugly head early and often for this team however and they never could re-gain any traction throughout the season. The positive is getting to add another prime young asset in a loaded draft, but I know that Raby would like to see the kids he already has to finally show the promise that they have.
De-Fanged
This can be kept short and sweet. That negative point differential with their 4-2 pre-season record was indeed a dark sign of what was to come. The Nets are one of the worst teams in the league. Still, there is a lot of upside to that roster and they have an opportunity to swing the #1 pick in the lotto and get a true stud. Being bad was the good of this Nets’ season in the end.
All Pre-season Team:
Jericho Sims
Evan Mobley
Saddiq Bey
Michael Sneed
He Hor
I don’t think that any of these players were aberrations and they have all performed at a supremely high-level throughout the course of the season. There will be some differences in the 1st Team All-League teams that will release later this week, but I will not be shocked if all these players are on the lists in some capacity, be that 1st, 2nd or 3rd team.
Top Stories
Time to move past the pre-season review and let’s go over my favorite storylines of the regular season. Some of the things I would have listed here have already been discussed in the previous section (The Cavaliers rise, Frank Daily’s leap) so I will choose some replacement stories to fill this top 5 section.
Lu Dort
Yes, I will go with a homerific top choice here. We are in a league that generally hates to trade for players over the age of 30, and even if they are moved, their trade value is low, low, low like a woman wearing apple bottom jeans and boots with the fur. In the past I have spoken on how this can be a mistake, depending on the player. Lu Dort’s season, at 32 years old, is an example of one of these times. Granted, Dort is an extraordinary player and he may be an outlier because of just how high his potentials and current abilities were/are, but it still is worth noting just how great Dort has been this season. First of all, I am pretty confident that he will win the MVP barring some major collapse in the final month of the season.
Here are the statistics that Dort is having a career year in:
Minutes, points (leading the league), rebounds, assists, shots per game.
He has also hit his career highs in a single game in:
Points, rebounds, assists, made FGs, made 3’s.
He is averaging 30.7 points, 9 rebounds, 11.4 assists per game.
Dort has been other-worldly this season, carrying the 2nd best team in the league on both ends of the floor too! (He has a defensive efficiency rating of 100.4, and that was below 100 all season until recently when both Karlo Pearson (the team’s best defender) and Dong Bone went down with injuries.
So, Lu, here are your flowers!
Jazz Grit
Gary and his Utah Jazz were the talk of the off-season when he decided to finally get aggressive and grabbed Talen Horton-Tucker and defensive ace, Zaire Wade to attempt to compete for a championship, even though he would have to contend with his dynamic conference rival, Detroit Pistons. There was a lot of excitement about how good the team could be, and that excitement appeared to be earned with a hot 7-1 start to the season. Unfortunately for Gary, that start came with a huge price tag: A long-term injury to Zaire Wade. From that point, the Jazz struggled with consistency and floated around the .500 mark for a long time at that point, hitting 25-25 at the 50-game mark. The Jazz got healthy and off the backs of THT, Wade and Les Kim (all of which are averaging above 20 points per game) and have gone 18-5 since that point (as of this writing). Though they should not catch the Magic, who have a 7-game lead on them, it has been a nice turnaround to grab the 3-seed after such a sad start to the season. The Jazz should be a fun team to watch in the playoffs.
In the (K)nick of time?
As we all know, there are two things that the Varga-Knicks don’t give a damn about: Player color and trading. Well, a third thing could be taking on dead salary, but that’s another article entirely. This season though, the Knicks decided to dig into the league in a different way and decided to get their name on the finalized trade page, which has been fun to see go down. Let’s sidetrack and grade the deals the Knicks have pulled off:
Elliot Thorpe for Kenneth Johnson/5 points
B- : Thorpe has been playing very efficiently and is a solid rotational player, though is often playing very sparingly because of the Knick’s tendency to run a long rotation instead of shortening their bench. I think the biggest benefit to this trade was the Knicks saving $8mil this season and the full $10mil next season.
Carmelo Williams for Spencer Johnson, John McIntyre, John Sena, 10 points, 48 & 50 1st round picks
D+ : I think Carmelo Williams is a solid player, capable of being a steady PG presence on a good team, however he is not very dynamic (evidence by his 11-6-6 stat line) so will not be the kind of player to really change a team’s fortunes too much. None of the players given up in this deal are important, but 10 points AND 2 1st round picks (both of which have the potential to be lotto picks) is entirely too rich for my blood for this player.
David Bower for Landon Nicks/48 76ers 2nd round pick
B+ : This move was pretty shrewd. Landon Nicks is an overpaid piece but useful for a run at the 7th seed, but the real value in this deal is getting rid of David Bower’s $25mil price tag next season. For a small topper, the Knicks also get a 2nd round pick, which for most teams doesn’t mean much but Varga enjoys digging into that pool of players and has gotten some value there recently.
The Draft
Maybe this is more about the off-season (which I know there are plenty of folks already ready to get to), but there was some slight buzz in the league chat when the draft file was put up. It is a rare thing to get a ready-made and draft able purple player so that alone was news worthy. On top of that, the blue list of players in this draft is 11 deep, which is almost the entirety of the lotto, meaning we could see more movement by teams trading around in the draft than usual. There’s also a ton of great NAMES in the draft file, which is always fun, if for no other reason than to see complaints when/if those cool names are changed to something much more boring. A lot of promise and excitement for the teams at the bottom of the league in this upcoming off-season.
Drop like a Bull
Okay, this is not really one of my “favorite” stories, but it is noteworthy. Josh has been the standard at the top of the league for many seasons now, and even in years where it looks like he may be re-building after a championship run, he had managed to stay in playoff contention and be a pain in the side of other teams. So, it has been surprising to see a team of his fall so far below the competitive threshold this season. Of course, the one season that this happens to him during we get one of the best draft files that we have gotten in quite a long time, so please prepare yourselves for the Bulls to jump to #1 in the lotto! I suspect Josh has not really enjoyed this tank job too much and I look for him to be aggressive this off-season in rebuilding as quickly as possible as well.
Award Season
This is not necessarily a prediction of who I believe will be listed by the sim-puter for these awards, but instead who I would be putting on there if I were turning in my own ballot. What are my criteria for each award? Frye if I know! I’ll make it up as I list them here.
General Manager:
Part of me wants to go with Gary or JL for the Jazz or Cavs since they have upped their game so much and took big swings. However, this is not the award for most surprising GM or a pat on the back award. So, there is no other choice for me here than Scott running his Pistons. If not for injuries, this is likely a historic season in terms of wins. Hell, there is a very good chance that it still ends up that way if Scott decides not to be injury cautious and plays all his starters down the stretch. He could have comfortable stood pat this off-season as well and probably still been the top team in the league and the eventual champion, but he threw caution to the wind and took on Frank Daily’s massive contract and build the Dark Avengers of a roster, future tax concerns be damned.
Most Valuable Player:
Lu Dort
I have already given my case for this award, so not much else needs to be said. A career season for a super player. This would probably end up unanimous of a vote as well.
Defender of the Year:
With Zaire Wade being out so long with injury this season, it is finally time to crown a new defensive king. In all honesty, I could probably name the same player for the next three awards, but that would be pretty boring. So, for defense … let’s go with Wade’s partner in crime: Les Kim. Kim is soaring over the competition on the leader board for blocks per game (4.7) and also is top 10 in rebounding (9.3 per game) with a defensive efficiency rating of 103.7. That number would be even lower if the team defense wasn’t lacking all season due to injuries and some missteps in roster construction leading to holes. He’s also doing all of this while also leading the team in scoring (24.2, a career high).
Sixth Man of the Year:
This will be a runaway.
Frank Daily.
Like Dort, I have already gone through a lot of his credentials, so this can be short. It’s an easy vote and the award belongs here.
Most Improved:
As I said, I could list the same player here and it would be very deserving. No one’s game has taken a leap quite like Frank Daily’s this season. However, I like variety in my award lists so let’s go with someone else.
Charles Bojorquez, Wizards.
This is probably a case of opportunity finally coming his way, but pretty much across the board, Bojo has upped his game this season and has led the Wizards on yet another playoff run (currently the 6th seed). He is averaging just shy of 20 points per game and showing versatility and command of the team. It is also not a roster that is full of top-end talent, so a playoff run here is pretty impressive. This is a player that I have found intriguing for awhile now, so it is great to see him beginning to come into his own.
First Team All-League:
Center: Jazz, Les Kim. 24.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 4.7 blocks.
Power Forward: Pistons, Gerry Folse. 21.1 points, 9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 3.1 blocks.
Small Forward: Nuggets, Saddiq Bey. 28.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.7 steals.
Shooting Guard: Cavaliers, Michael Sneed. 29.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6 assists, 1.8 steals.
Point Guard: Clippers, Lu Dort. 30.7 points, 9 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 1.2 steals.
First Team All-Defense:
Center: Jazz, Les Kim. 4.7 blocks.
Power Forward: Pistons, Gerry Folse. 3.1 blocks.
Small Forward: Pistons, Frank Daily. Tied for league leader in steals. 97.2 defensive efficiency rating.
Shooting Guard: Spurs, Lyle Galloway. League leader in steals.
Point Guard: Rockets, Brendon Silva. Top 3 in steals.
** Skipped all of the all-rookie awards because, well, I don’t always remember who the hell is a rookie and who isn’t because (like me) teams redshirt guys. I’d just be reading the rookie of the month and week award listings. **
Conclusion
I’ll use this space to briefly bring up some folks who I think have done a good job this season which I may not have had much space for up above. I think Ryan and Doug both did solid jobs this season getting their rosters together. Ryan grabbed some very useful players midseason to give himself a shot at making some noise and Doug maximized his return in just about every trade he made for his rebuild. Andy’s use of Charles Hintz has been a lot of fun. I thought the Raptors made fun moves in the off-season but got derailed by injury after injury, but at least it’ll lead to another good draft piece to move around with to add to Fang and Mobley and Ridenhour. Pauly took some swings this season and has built a really good roster. Jon has remained steady and finally is seeing some of the fruit regarding the seeds he planted into Darius Garland.
I think that’s all that I got for now. I am pretty sure that you will see me again here in the next couple of days as I drop my season-ly playoff predictions that are sure to go wrong.
Until then, Mamba OUT!
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