Okay, okay, perhaps we’ve all moved on now that the season is over, but I hadn’t written anything yet. Life gets busy sometimes, no? Or, playing video games becomes too appealing. Take your pick.tbone963 wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 8:54 am Seeing an influx of articles with people trying to make the word count
#4
Anyway, as S2 came to a close, I was pondering a few things that I thought I could jabber about, so here they are. Enjoy!
What happened to the reigning champ Nets?
Golly, perhaps the biggest surprise of this season was the hangover season of RPF’s Nets! Their seeding only dropped from 6th to 8th, granted, but when you realize they went from 44 wins to 30 - 6 games over .500 to 22 UNDER .500 - the dropoff feels much more significant. At first glance, with such a young team, it looked like they had only gotten better, but their best players, Darryl Dawkins and Cliff Robinson, played marginally worse than their championship season. Their backcourt, T.R. Dunn and Larry Drew, looked fairly similar, with a slight dropoff from Dunn. It still does not seem to explain the drastic change.
The most significant change seemed to be adding Herb Williams, whom I would think would add success to the team, not detract from it. I can only thing that RPF sat scratching his head the entire season why the same success hadn’t been realized this year, or at least something close to it. I sure scratched my head. I’m still scratching it. With such a young core, however, I must believe that this year was a one off failure for a team and GM with lots of future upside.
Where is the Lakers PF?
When I first started filling out Sim Vegas for S2, I selected LazyTitan’s Lakers to win it all. I changed it to the Blazers (at least I got one question right, I bet), but not because I didn’t think the Lakers would be a threat. LTS shopped World B. Free and Jamaal Wilkes voraciously in order to pick up a serviceable PF, and when the season started I just assumed they would find someone, but they didn’t. One of the most active teams in the trade market got nothing done this year. Word on the street was they were close to closing a deal with the Bullets, but ultimately the deadline came and went before they could accept a deal. I know how tragic this was for the Bullets, but I bet it was equally tragic for the Lakers, too.
So what happened? I know in the old PBSL, LTS garnered a reputation for making wildly slimy offers for others’ players, but I don’t think that trend has continued. I could be wrong. I know how active he was looking for a deal though, considering how many DMs I received from him trying to make something work, but nothing made sense to me. Not bad offers, to be certain. Just offers that I couldn’t justify accepting in a way that would improve my team.
With their best player being Kelly Tripucka, a rookie, I imagine the Lakers are due for some serious re-tooling in the seasons ahead. Playing their best player in a 6th man role? I must say, I kinda loved it. But to Valhalla Tripucka couldn’t take them coming off the bench. Their search for a true 4 continues…
Bullets trading Calvin Natt
Speaking of the Bullets, I know their deal here hinged on closing their deal with the Lakers, which never came to fruition. I know the Bullets wanted trade backs on this one when the other deal didn’t finalize, but he took a risk that didn’t pay off. All I know is that if I make it past the Suns and Blazers (doubt it), a Kings with Natt is one I would not like to see in the semi-finals. And sitting at the 5 seed, I am sure the Bullets would have preferred keeping him, attaining any kind of home court advantage for the playoffs.
Maximizing the value of tanking: Sonics and Pistons over the Sixers and Hawks
Leaving the middle of the pack and heading for the bottom, we gotta check these teams out. Losing properly takes time, skill and effort, BigDaddy proved, achieving a 50 L streak before the season ended. It would be an absolute shame if they lost the lottery to the Sixers or Hawks given this feat. If they lost the lotto to the Pistons, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as tragic, They worked hard to be bad, too.
Because when you’re the Sixers or Hawks, what are you even doing?? Nothing, and that’s the problem. Both teams have some high quality players, and they’re going to waste. Gameplan a little? Edit some DCs perhaps? The Hawks popped in from time to time, which was good, after taking most of S1 off. But field any offers that weren’t from LTS they did not, and they are primed to do so, in my opinion. Dennis Johnson could be a hot commodity if shopped at all, but instead he stayed in Atlanta, marinating in mediocrity.
And digiskunk and his 76ers? Gah. It was nice seeing you in the offseason, I guess. Come back!
Wig’s dominance realized again?
Wignosy was a mythic entity since I joined sim league pre-covid. He was gone, but his legacy remained. I get it now. One finals appearance complete, and another one likely on its way, we could be due for a showdown with another all time great in Quailman. Whereas Quail has built teams up and torn them down in a season, Wig looked at an underperforming Blunt Force Trauma Blazers and refused to accept it. By the end of the season, they’re arguably the best team in the league, and a true test for anyone.
With five titles from their first PBSL run, I reckon they’re due for at least 5 more. Their first is probably this year, and I’m not sure anyone else has the firepower to challenge it.
Magic vs. Moses
Moses. Seriously, who would you rather have on your team? Moses all day, baby.
League health
Coming from a dying PBSL, the NPBSL has been such a refreshing experience, right down to the chat. Discord was the right move. Regular podcasts from Wig have been such a delight. There’s healthy competition, a decent amount of shit talking, but everyone seems to be having fun. Even the commish! I think this piece is the most important, especially for the longevity of the league. As long as the man in charge is having fun, I think we’re all having fun.
Always a pleasure, fellas. Best of luck in S3 to all!