#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.

Rank your favorite or top 3, deadline moves and explain how it impacts the season. If you don't feel like there are any worth talking about (or even if you do), you can also/instead discuss the teams that didn't make a move that you believe should have. Come up with a theoretical deal they could've made as well, if you're so inclined.

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There were only 4 deadline sim trades, and I think it's fairly obvious that the most substantial one was the one to move Johnny Davis to the Magic. For Orlando, this move is reminiscent of the season they traded for Ron Artest midseason and then went on to win their first championship. Even though Bricker was doing pretty well holding down the PG spot, this move no doubt vaults Orlando into the conversation. The only thing I would've done differently for the Magic is to have tried to stay under the apron. With Lampley, they're 800k over the apron, and with a max re-sign impending on Johnny Davis, if they avoided the tax year, they wouldn't be in a repeater situation next season. They DID need a 10th player as they were going into sim 8 with two injuries, but if they'd foregone Lampley and picked up a FA with a couple fewer years of experience, they wouldn't be in the tax. Not that it matters too much, NM77 is one of a small handful of GMs who doesn't spend every last point on training only to end up scrambling for points in competitive years, and the window to build around Johnny and Fabian is really this season and next season (a third would be a stretch, especially with Lomax getting on in years as well). But regardless of what happens, Magic will be fine tax-wise.

For the Suns, they manage to swing 16 points currently and knock down that tax bill a bit more, which could help them stay out of tax jail if they keep grinding out points before UFA. Bricker is still a lot younger than Johnny Davis, too, and with the extra year on his contract, the Suns won't lose him like they would have lost JD if they held onto him. Now, they can either trade him next season, or perhaps pair him with Maxwell Lewis for a revamped build.

And finally, the Pistons grab Jason Marotta, who even as a fake blue might be more interesting than any of the depth pieces they had before. They could lose him next season because he's expiring and not max-worthy, but at 6 points, that's not a huge loss. And if the Pistons plan is the same as the previous Pistons' owner...put together a dynasty team that you can't afford and just quit with an insurmountable tax bill, he could lock Marotta back up and coast his way out of the league after trying for a four-peat.

All in all it was a quiet trade deadline. As long as we've had $60m plus contracts as a standard in this league, I can't recall a single season that there hasn't been one team with open money on the books to take on some bad deals, so I think that's why there was so little activity this year.

However, I think the Magic acquiring Johnny was the biggest deadline deal by far. The most intriguing deal to me was Richard Reed heading to the Nets. The Spurs don't trade very often, and in short order they made a top prospect available and gone within a few days. I'm not sure I've ever seen the Spurs make a move like this, but I'm also pretty certain I've never seen the Nets close a deal this quickly either. Props to both GMs really. The Spurs save some long term cap by not worrying about Reed in RFA next season and got a y/y rookie off the books. Perry Gaston will be helpful in the playoffs and fall off; Roach will be a trade chip whenever Eazy decides to cash him in.

9 points is hilarious though - was that all the points available? Had to be lol

The one team I didn't see make another move and expected was the Mavs. It's tough seeing them go this deep into the tax with two very tradeable assets still on their roster who do nothing for their title run. I'm sure they asked around and tried, but I think I would have closed the best deal available if I were them. It could mean the difference between a title shot and losing in the semis to the Spurs... time will tell.

While this team did make a trade at the deadline, and I understand their worry about adding more salary, a team I think could've attempted to do something to up their chance at bigger success this season is the Spurs. Carlos dealt Richard Reed, a blue pot big man with huge potential hitting RFA, for points and a green pot. However, I think Reed could definitely have been used as a way of getting an upgrade somewhere.

Even if it wouldn't have worked, if I was Carlos I might have hit up the stewards and seen how interested they'd be in sending Ware for Reed and Kozak and points/picks. Him and I could've discussed something similar for Safi too, but he'd have a shortage of size. I'd maybe have dipped my toe in the Antonio Gates pool too with a similar idea.

Maybe none works, but Spurs aren't far off and a big push would've been worth it even if the swings were missed.

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The Trade Deadline sim is always one of my favorites during the whole sim cycle. You get to see a flurry of activity from teams that are hoping to solidify their potential post season run or teams that are hoping to plan ahead for the future with more prospects and draft capital.

A true buyers and sellers market.

When looking at some context, at this point in the season, even with an increased salary cap, there’s just 3 teams in the league operating in the black. With a majority of the league operating in some form of economic despair, and a bunch of teams looking to ship off some of those massive contracts for relief, the hindrance to take in those talents makes the flow of trades hit a bit of an impasse of more than just whether the said talent fits on the roster. So with so few trades, or teams looking to sell, more teams likely pressed pause on buying until the offseason when the books would reset and the option to buy or sell would be refreshed in a way.

One trade that caught my eye however was a trade between the Pels and the Heat. Dwain Ramos, Harold Schiff, and a Wizards First heading to New Orleans for Baba Miller & Albert Anderton. Now, a trade between two teams that are likely heading towards the lotto wouldn’t normally be so interesting on the surface but let’s look at what the trade did for both teams…

For Miami, getting Baba Miller can finally give the Heat someone to lock in to a DC and hold onto for a few seasons. His contract isn’t terrible at 40 mil per range over the next few seasons and he will be looked at as a focal point for what the Heat want to do along with some of their young pieces they’ve drafted and picked up via trades like Amida Brimah, & Jeffrey Krause. They also have some contracts that they can decline and open up even more space to try and sign some free agents in the offseason if they choose to do so before the end of the year.

For the Pelicans, getting Ramos & the Wizards pick (while it likely won’t be a Lotto pick), it’s more learning and building that they can afford to have as they learn the game and pick up prospects along the way. While Ramos is 25 and on his second contract, you can see some of the pieces that New Orleans is attempting to assemble. Bender, Cottrill, and Tony Lee, are all solid pieces for a rebuild project but you can see what’s growing in the Big Easy. If Lee gets a big contract in RFA, Cottrill, & Ramos, can play on the wings together. My only thing with the Pels (and this trend can be a league wide thing) is that there’s a glut of guys between 6’4-6’7 and a whole bunch of 7 Footers that either won’t play or everyone gets minutes and it bogs the team down. There’s no real delineation or system that can stand out and lead the team if everyone can do the same thing at an average pace and ability.

It was a good trade by two newer GM’s that can help energize the team and you learn more by throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what has the chance to stick than doing nothing or selling off guys for points.

Teams with expiring contracts, that are not making a playoff run, should be looking to extract some value from those expiring contracts, especially if they involve older players.

These older players should not be getting max contracts next UFA and are on expiring contracts this year and on a team not bound for the playoffs. They should be moved for any amount of value, even if it's as little as 10 points. (Unless the GM is planning on going to be deep in the tax next year, and able to pay their taxes this year.)

Are they worth more than 10 points? Almost certainly. But 10 points are worth more than 0 points. Once these players hit free agency, they are just as likely, if not more likely, to sign with another team. (For example, a team that did make the playoffs, the bulls.)

Let’s examine some players who are just as likely to re-sign with their current team as to join a new one, since they are just as likely to receive a higher contract from another team in the next unrestricted free agency:

The players who might have made sense to move:

Safi Fino-A-Laself: Now, the Lakers have an outside shot at making the playoffs, so I'm not sure if Safi fits the criteria. Also, Safi deserves some respect on his name, so for nostalgia's sake, I'm glad he wasn't traded.
Lenz Durrenberger
Saul King
E.J. Liddell
Trey Murphy III
Allie Quigley

These players are just as likely to stay with their team as to leave. Getting something for them is better than getting nothing. These are the type of players I was looking to acquire because their value should be cheap.

The notable exceptions to this are Charley Quick and Daniel Johnson. While I think there is a very real chance that Charley Quick is going to sign with another team despite a supermax offer, I, like the Trailblazers, would chance it, because the upside is so high. Daniel Johnson will likely receive a max contract from the Lakers and probably re-sign because of the Lakers' winning ways.

Comparing these players to AJ Blaze. AJ Blaze is still young enough to warrant a max contract deal. I'm sure multiple teams will offer him one. Since the Trailblazers moved on from Bricker and are starting a youth movement around Quick, a sign-and-trade with Blaze might make the most sense. (I personally wanted to see the Bricker, Blaze and Quick trio-together longer, at this point I would still be looking to build a win now team around Quick or ideally move him for a purple young player since he still has a number of prime years in him.)

Long enough? @greepleairport

Since I needed the most help at PG, Safi and Murphy were the two that I looked at the hardest.

There's just not a ton to pick from unfortunately. I'm going to say mine involving suns/pistons/magic. It's going to be beneficial for all 3 teams. And didn't cost anyone too much.
Magic get the superstar in Johnny. Pistons get a depth piece for guys who weren't playing. The Suns offloaded a guy they weren't going to be able to resign in exchange for a guy who gives them 1 more year to work out the tax situation. It was a good trade for all parties. BUT I like sharing tea so here we go....

How did this trade come to be? Well the magic and pistons were very easy and peaceful to work with. I enjoy working with both and it's not my first trade with either guy.

But there were other teams in negotiations.
- rockets opted out of the pistons role for points sake which makes sense.
- cavs, how do I say this.... completely F'd me over and it'll take a while before I forgive them. And until that happens, they are banned from asking me any commissioner tasks(kidding on the tasks, but also I'm pretty hurt by it)
- Mavs can't and refuse to get out of their own way. I wanted everybit an opportunity to give them Johnny to help dethrone the inevitable champ in Doug but the Mavs are hell bent on offering minimal in all of their trades. Like Josh stated in his presser, he is refusing to understand how to make an even trade or as close to even as possible. So everything is to benefit him by a lot.
- spurs mulled over an offer but ultimately kept Alvarado.
- raptors, just not a good enough offer.
- bulls.....where do I begin....I talk to Josh probably every day about sim league. Outside of Tuesdays when I bowl with mexicanmamba. I probably talk to Josh the most in this league period. Bro has given me absolutely no love in the trade game. I'm constantly being looked at as a fall back. It's happened twice now.

Alright end rant. Cavs pissed me off. And the bulls hurt me to sum up how this trade went down.

LazyTitanSmash wrote: Fri May 03, 2024 1:27 am Teams with expiring contracts, that are not making a playoff run, should be looking to extract some value from those expiring contracts, especially if they involve older players.

These older players should not be getting max contracts next UFA and are on expiring contracts this year and on a team not bound for the playoffs. They should be moved for any amount of value, even if it's as little as 10 points. (Unless the GM is planning on going to be deep in the tax next year, and able to pay their taxes this year.)

Are they worth more than 10 points? Almost certainly. But 10 points are worth more than 0 points. Once these players hit free agency, they are just as likely, if not more likely, to sign with another team. (For example, a team that did make the playoffs, the bulls.)

Let’s examine some players who are just as likely to re-sign with their current team as to join a new one, since they are just as likely to receive a higher contract from another team in the next unrestricted free agency:

The players who might have made sense to move:

Safi Fino-A-Laself: Now, the Lakers have an outside shot at making the playoffs, so I'm not sure if Safi fits the criteria. Also, Safi deserves some respect on his name, so for nostalgia's sake, I'm glad he wasn't traded.
Lenz Durrenberger
Saul King
E.J. Liddell
Trey Murphy III
Allie Quigley

These players are just as likely to stay with their team as to leave. Getting something for them is better than getting nothing. These are the type of players I was looking to acquire because their value should be cheap.

The notable exceptions to this are Charley Quick and Daniel Johnson. While I think there is a very real chance that Charley Quick is going to sign with another team despite a supermax offer, I, like the Trailblazers, would chance it, because the upside is so high. Daniel Johnson will likely receive a max contract from the Lakers and probably re-sign because of the Lakers' winning ways.

Comparing these players to AJ Blaze. AJ Blaze is still young enough to warrant a max contract deal. I'm sure multiple teams will offer him one. Since the Trailblazers moved on from Bricker and are starting a youth movement around Quick, a sign-and-trade with Blaze might make the most sense. (I personally wanted to see the Bricker, Blaze and Quick trio-together longer, at this point I would still be looking to build a win now team around Quick or ideally move him for a purple young player since he still has a number of prime years in him.)

Long enough? @greepleairport

Since I needed the most help at PG, Safi and Murphy were the two that I looked at the hardest.

You forgot to add scoot to your list. Bro is gone.

While I didn’t have time to look at the other trades that have happened, I want to talk about my trade with the Heat.

As a new GM, I felt like it was a good move for me. I get another first round pick (which I know likely won’t be that high) and another young prospect. I also was able to help free up some cap space for the next couple of years. Hopefully my lotto pick can follow the same trajectory as Tony Lee who is shaping up to be a stud.

I also like to think this trade helped the Heat too since they get a proven veteran in Baba Miller to help solidify that position on the DC.

Hopefully, in the future, I can have more/better assets to be involved in big time trades that go from helping rebuild to helping win a championship


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forgot about town hall 9

+1 to @BigDaddyd8720 @Black Superman @LazyTitanSmash @NickMalone77 @MexicanMamba @greepleairport @garbageman