#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.

Note: Use approximately 5 sentences as your bare minimum for 1 point. If you write 3 long, complex sentences, you'll still get a point. If you write 5 3 word sentences, you will not get a point. Don't @ me.

Due: Sim 9 deadline.

Who slept at the trade deadline and why do you think that? What would you have done instead?

I'm just going to get in here early and take the low hanging fruit;
The Lazy Titan is asleep at the wheel.
I do have to commend him for putting together an excellent squad that is enjoying great success, but his timeline is goofy.
Everybody knows he only listens to his alter ego Lazy Titan Grab but his indecision may prove costly.
As soon as he dealt for Jordan Poole his flexibility was on the clock.
Paying Parker was not a huge mistake because it gave him the opportunity to trade her for Wemby, Ware, or Uncle Phil in a package that would have cost him Clark.
Any one of them, with the activation of Angel Reese would make him a very strong contender.
Instead, he is going to sit out a season, that he is in the tax anyway, and allow Jordan Poole to decline, along with all those other players.
Wemby in particular is having an MVP type season.
I think a trade would have got him a trip to the finals.

I think the Blazers missed a chance to kick the tires at resetting and bringing in a large haul of prospects. This season has been a disaster and if they do not fix their problems this offseason I could see AJ Blaze and Charley Quick walking away after next season to join a contender which would leave Portland in shambles. I think the Blazers need to take some time this offseason and evaluate where this team is at and probably update their trade block accordingly. This team is too talented to be almost 20 games below .500

The Nuggets are a team with a new GM and therefore I'm not going to go hard on them by any means.

I would like to provide evidence from a previous post.

Exhibit A. Screenshot


Now this type of move needed to be made sooner than trade deadline in my opinion. Similarly to the cavs, they needed to make the move around day 60 so they could start building cohesion sooner. As it stands at the trade deadline I'm not totally against the nuggets staying pat. They are the 7th seed and risk losing the playoffs after a huge offseason signing. But they are under the cap. So again the decision to sit still at trade deadline was smart. No reason to rush into financial meh-ness this late in the season. But man I wish they had been able to pull off something sooner. I mentioned before they needed Amos in the 36-40 minute range and he's still not there, and actually 3rd on the team in minutes. Not sure if that's just how the games are going or what. If the Celtics manage to catch them and they can't at least make a higher seed uncomfortable in the first Rd, this is going to be a moment Jedi looks back on in the future when he's smarter with the game and say "AHHH I GET IT NOW"

The Pacers needed to make a move, the window on Herbert Jones is closing. They are very close to winning a title, but I think they look a little weaker than the Rockets or Lakers. One more move and they would probably be on the Rockets and Lakers Level. The problem is their real trade piece is pretty valuable. They have put points into him and he's producing pretty, pretty well right now; but will be even better in the future. I am talking of course about Dan Spooner. I think they should have gone out and gotten either an upgrade at Center (like Wemby) or a PG.
I personally think the need a point guard to free up Herbert Jones to score more. He could have packaged his y/y and a few g/g with Spooner to pick up a max contract PG.

I hope the Pacers prove me wrong and win the whole thing; I'll be rooting for them.

The Hawks needed to make more moves. I did not really understand their plan to trade for Jaylen Forbes and then stop adding talent. It does not make sense with that much cap space why they were not more aggressive if they remained so stubborn about not trading Phil Smith. I think the Hawks are going to be in a lot of trouble soon because they keep hemorrhaging talent. I know it is a difficult spot to be in but the Hawks really need to reset as soon as this offseason. I had a lot of trouble letting go of Evan Mobley and Markus Ridenhour a few seasons ago, and then Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney just recently but looking back getting that fresh start was the best thing I've done so far as a GM.

I think the Bobcats really should've made some moves here before the trade deadline. They're the only team that's in the tax right now with a record less than .500, so some kind of change here would be nice to either get under the tax or get some extra push to get to the playoffs. A savvy GM would do both.

First, I'd see if I could get Walker Kessler from the Wizards for Anas Mahmoud, points, and pick(s) (maybe a 2058/2060 Bobcats). Wizards were really expecting a high return from Kessler, but the return wasn't out there. If their expectations weren't lowered, I'd go to my second option.

Knock on the Warriors door and trade Anas and points or a pick for Harold Schiff. Schiff will probably get you the same production as Mahmoud for cheaper.

In either case, you can cut unused vet mins and get under the apron while remaining as competitive or getting a little better....with Kessler, you get a guy you can try to resign and use with Funkhouser with plenty of run left in his career.

I think the team that slept the most during this trade period was the Cavs. Yeah, I know how can I choose the team that traded for a guy like Garland? Well... they could have done more. When you have a player like Isaac on your team and you are a smaller market that teams hate playing for, it is only a matter of time before you will have that player leave your organization... In all seriousness though, Vassell and Isaac are clearly great players, and Garland is fighting off father time, however there is a clear weakness on this team and that is the starting SF. Marotta is not at the level of being a starter for a playoff team, especially one wanting to make the finals. I think that they could have turned Marotta, points, and a pick into either Ebbe (like my trade) or gone after another player like Cruce to shore up the perimeter. However, JLM decided to think his team was perfect. Before you go celebrating a championship in our group chat @jlmarines, you should maybe make sure both you and your team will be ready for the playoffs.

Can I just ignore the question and comment on others comments here. I'm surprised at all the people pooping on the Mavs. I don't think they had a lot of moves they could make. Sure they could've moved something for Wemby or whatever, but that's not moving the needle IMO. The cost of giving up the salary to get Wemby wouldn't be worth it. Jordan Poole is having his best efficiency year of his career. Damn need triple double. Everyone saying REESE IS READY, ACTIVATE HER.... She isn't. She's a defensive Sieve and very mid on offense RIGHT NOW. She'll be great, but wouldnt be an upgrade at the moment. Mavs are the 4th or 5th best team in the league, and I don't think there was 1 move to make that was RIGHT THERE FOR THEM TO TAKE that would put them over the Lakers and Rockets. So I commend him for sitting pat and having patience with the young core. Keep the core together and let them grow. Dump Poole in the offseason.

The only questionable move the Mavs made was naming Caitlin Clark that name when she's got a C 3PS.

Just to avoid repeating the same things over and over, I'll say a team that is probably fine as-is and I wouldn't really call asleep at the wheel by any means. However, a team that could've aimed to sell incredibly high on a player, try to get below the threshold, and do a quick re-tool is the Spurs. I'm not sure if this is a championship type squad after losing BI in free agency and trading Hub. So, still being $104mil over the cap in year 3 of the tax with a current bank roll of 0 points, is a little tough to swallow. What could they have done? Well, the easy answer is they could have put Alvarado on the block and tried to deal him to the highest bidder without taking on much salary. And I bet they'd have gotten an absolute haul for one of the best PGs and players in the whole league.

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TBH I do not know who slept and who didn't. Between work and Mardi Gras, I did not have time to figure that out. For myself I just stayed pat because I was so busy, I did not have time to do anything but lower my tax bill with a couple of cuts lol. If anyone slept it was me and the reason is stated above. Idk what could've been done differently because participating and going to parades were fun. Will it come back to haunt me remains to be seen but for now I am good with sleeping this past deadline by doing minimal.

Really great answers so far. I'm not sure I have a new one. I'd like to pick on the Kings, but their whole MO is not doing squat and watching the seasons roll on by.

I was going to go with the Hawks, but they were covered. I was also going to go with the Mavs, and while I generally disagree with @IamQuailman 's take, it definitely softened my stance on the moves they did make (6 player cuts, putting Poole on the block hours before the deadline, etc). But I shouldn't pick on my brothers' in law. I love them no matter what kind of GM moves they make.

So instead I'll pick on the guy I already tagged, without much good reason. First of all, how dare you not do anything? Dude, you are like, Mr. Trade. Did you even DM anyone in S68? Sure, you've got talent, you've got wins, you've got a good thing underway.

...But I love you. And I miss you. And I wish sometimes you'd just drop me a line. Hey Greep, how's it going? Wanna talk trades that won't happen? Me neither. It's okay. I still love you, no matter what you write about me in the town hall, and I want you to know, Greep, that my everlasting love for you is...everlasting.

Alas, Mr. Quailman, our time here is not over. AND my love for you, in turn, has not waned. But you COULD have DM'd me u fuk u, even just for lulz

That's too easy. It's the Celtics. It's very clear AB was hoping Antonio Gates would take him to the promise land. AB doesn't get it. Antonio Gates is not Jonathan Isaac. Gates cannot lead a team by himself. He's not elite. I think the Celtics lost an opportunity to trade Gates for points and draft picks. At this point the Celtics priority is to rebuild again. They will not compete anytime soon as long as the Cavs have Isaac and Devin Vassell. Celtics need to accept the facts, Cavs are here to stay.