#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Rules: 1 point if you give thoughtful answers which I will award after the timer ends for responses. The timer ends for responses at the moment the corresponding week's Sim is run.

Due: Wed Dec 6th at 4pm at Sim 5 deadline.

Question: As the calendar turns and we head to the back stretch of the season. We currently have 4 new teams sitting in playoff spots who did not make it last year. Cavs, Bucks, Bobcats, Trailblazers. Who do you like most to win a series in the playoffs and why?

Major props to all 4 GMs listed above for making such significant strides with your teams. I thought all of you were going to be terrible in some fashion or another when the season started and yet here we are. I'll take 2 slices of humble pie. Please and thank you.

Give me the Cleveland Cavaliers. This one is simple because they have the most dominant offensive threat of the four teams with Jonathan Isaac. The Cavaliers are led by the worst GM in the league @jlmarines but even he understands all you have to do every play is give the ball to Jon Isaac and GTFO out of his way. Nobody has an answer for this guy defensively so if the J-Train is rolling, you just have to brace for impact. The playoffs can be quite wonky but one thing is always certain. The true alpha dogs will show up. Much to my chagrin, the Cavaliers finally have that guy.

Last year, The Bucks missed the playoffs for the first time since Tua Mane started GM'ing the Bucks. Three of those trips went to the conference finals. Gimme the Bucks.

Wembanyama has not yet experienced a serious drop off in skills, and Kel'el Ware finally crossed the purple current threshold. Ebbe Clauer, the third of their big 3, also had decent gains this offseason. This triple threat alone is enough to give other teams problems in the playoffs, and when TuaMane makes the playoffs, he gets out of the first round. Except once. Guess what, they didn't have Wemby. They had Vrenz Bleijenbergh. Yeah. No Ebbe either. No Eddie Cruce.

Gimme the Bucks.

Obviously it depends on the matchups and who faces who, but the Bucks are the strongest team. It was kind of flukey that they missed it this year, and they're the most likely to have home court advantage with a better team than they had last year, but greeple already said them.

So...I'm going to say the Charlotte Bobcats. They're off to a hot start, and I hope they keep it up because they don't have their pick, but the reason I'm going to say the Bobcats isn't because of they're unique roster of guys that Dr. K put together, but it's because if the playoffs started right now, they'd be playing the Detroit Pistons.

Number one, it'll be a Curtis Rakes revenge series. The Pistons don't have an answer for them because they're not focused on building a well-rounded roster yet. They've got their three superstars of the future, and they're all purple pot or dang close to it, but usually, that means they're kind of the same type of wing player that can play other positions, but isn't ideal for them. The Bobcats, on the other hand, have a ton of guys who don't look great on paper next to their contracts, but they play their roles well.

Number two, Doug will lose this series on purpose. He's taking a lot of heat for his sliminess again, and he needs to shake that before it catches fire and he becomes the butt of slime jokes again. Thus, Doug's going to purposely lose this series and then talk about how fantastic of a trade partner he is and how even the Curtis Rakes trade was.

Unless they break up the party, like Iamquailman suggested, I think the Bucks will likely win a first round series. They've done it before and they haven't gotten any worse. Really the league, especially there conference has gotten better. On the other hand, the Cavs were probably my next choice to do well in the playoffs, but they are still a little to underdeveloped this year. In the future watch out, all things being equal, the Cavs will be be the best team of those four.

I think given the conference and the level of competition. As a betting man I wouldn't put my money on the bucks or cavs winning a series. There's probably a question to be had if one of those teams even makes it or not as the alpha conference is very competitive and bunched together. The wolves are going to surge and make life hard for the cavs to get into the field. Overall that playoff race between those 8 teams will be juicy.

That brings me to the omega conference where I think the blazers have an opportunity to make some noise if they do 1 thing and 1 thing only. Fill out the roster with 1-2 more role players. They just need to add some players to keep their team from being so stretched thin with them basically running a 7 man rotation. I learned last year that not having a more full roster hurts cohesion and morale.
Now the issue is... Are they good enough to win a series? I think they are. They could win as a 4-5 seed as they will avoid the BIG 3 in the omega conference. Full toss up after that, so they need to try and be the 4th best team. BUT most folks think the blazers payroll is too large for where they are in the race. Those folks would be correct, but at minimum. The blazers should see if adding a complete roster helps them over the next few sims. Because their core 4 are good enough to challenge a team in a series. Lomax is the odd man out on shot attempts but he's actually posting very efficient numbers on his shooting splits. Some of his best in a long time.

*Watch this is a foreshadow to them beating me in the playoffs*

I prefer the Milwaukee Bucks because they are the most experienced of the four teams with their prior playoff experience. Their frontcourt is quite formidable and Ebbe Clauer is an excellent wing defender. The other teams have talented players but the Bucks have proven to be the best defensive game planners so I think they can scheme up ways to confuse their opponents.

I would pick the Cavs. Not because JLM is a good GM, but because Jonathan Isaac is that good. I think if the Cavs also have one more move to make, that can make them an even more competitive team.

I would love to defend myself against my loser enemies. But, I can't vote for myself. I'll take the Bucks. I'm a big fan of Kel'el Ware. Ware is a dominant defensive player who can score. I can see the Bucks winning a playoff series with great defense by Ware.

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The team that is the most talented is the Bucks, because Ware and Wemby are the best front court in the league and Cruce, Ebbe give them one hell of a foursome. However, Alpha is ridiculously tough, so who knows who they'd have to go up against. The Blazers on the other hand have some great talent combined with a terrible bottom of the conference so they absolutely could climb the playoff ladder and put themselves in position to win a series the easiest. Too bad he's not paying any damn attention.

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garbageman wrote: Mon Dec 04, 2023 11:40 pm Obviously it depends on the matchups and who faces who, but the Bucks are the strongest team. It was kind of flukey that they missed it this year, and they're the most likely to have home court advantage with a better team than they had last year, but greeple already said them.

So...I'm going to say the Charlotte Bobcats. They're off to a hot start, and I hope they keep it up because they don't have their pick, but the reason I'm going to say the Bobcats isn't because of they're unique roster of guys that Dr. K put together, but it's because if the playoffs started right now, they'd be playing the Detroit Pistons.

Number one, it'll be a Curtis Rakes revenge series. The Pistons don't have an answer for them because they're not focused on building a well-rounded roster yet. They've got their three superstars of the future, and they're all purple pot or dang close to it, but usually, that means they're kind of the same type of wing player that can play other positions, but isn't ideal for them. The Bobcats, on the other hand, have a ton of guys who don't look great on paper next to their contracts, but they play their roles well.

Number two, Doug will lose this series on purpose. He's taking a lot of heat for his sliminess again, and he needs to shake that before it catches fire and he becomes the butt of slime jokes again. Thus, Doug's going to purposely lose this series and then talk about how fantastic of a trade partner he is and how even the Curtis Rakes trade was.

Great observations and thank you for the props. I’m going with the Bucks like others have. They have the best overall roster and that’s reason enough right there. Blazers starters are good but I’m not sold at all on their bench which is why I think my team passed them up over the last few sims. The depth is a huge issue of they have injuries.

The Bucks. While I like the Cavs, and think the best thing about the Omega is that anyone could win, the Cavs are too new to success, and the worst thing about the Omega is that anyone could win.

While I'm not in love with the Bucks' roster construction, you can't count out a team with two dominant players, especially when that combo is something that their rivals can't easily match. There's no other team in the Alpha with a post combo as strong as Ware/Wemby, and that gives them a built-in advantage in the one area they need to dominate in to win. Also, seeding is going to be critical. I feel better about the Bucks as a #2-5 seed than I do as a 6th or 7th seed. That's another factor in why I didn't pick the Cavs, as if the season ended now they'd be heading to Denver for a matchup with the Nuggets. Compare that to a #4/#5 bout between the Raptors and Bucks.

I think the Bucks have the best chance at winning a playoff series out of the bunch. TBH they can sneak in and get a bye If some of the teams in front of them has a slight hiccup and they go on a roll. The Bucks are currently 1.5 games back from the top spot. As long as they can keep WCW (Wemby, Clauer and Ware) healthy they can possibly win a first round series by way of playing or just having the 1st round off.

I'm going with the Blazers solely based on Point Guard play.
My opinion is that nothing impacts playoff winning like point play.
They aren't deep, but they're talented on a short rotation of guys, in the age range where good players are hungry and looking to make statements.

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