S83 Town Hall 6

[Mike Lowry]

Approaching the mid-season point, what stands out to you?
What trends are you looking at?
What teams/moves have surprised you?
What are you expecting soon?

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: Due by the deadline for sim 6

[WigNosy]

Approaching the mid-season point, what stands out to you?
What trends are you looking at?
What teams/moves have surprised you?
What are you expecting soon?

In no particular order, what stands out to me:
1. The Bucks are crushing in the East
2. The Bulls haven't been able to find a PF despite having an abundance of draft picks
3. The Pacific continues to be a bloodbath

What trends am I looking at:
1. The Celtics showing they can tank when they want to.
2. The Lakers' +/- rocketing up since the Magic Johnson trade.
3. The Nets being back atop the Atlantic now that they're healthy.

Things that have surprised me:
1. The Magic Johnson trade.
2. The Magic Johnson trade
3. The Magic Johnson... just kidding, the Jazz pushing the Kings in the Midwest.

What am I expecting soon:
1. The Bulls to find a PF (though it took the Lakers multiple seasons, so maybe not?)
2. Dennis Johnson to be be traded
3. One of the teams that is floundering to sell off players for almost nothing in order to improve their lotto odds.

[Mike Lowry]

Parity stands out to me.
The fact that the tanking lines have been drawn. And there are some skilled GMs tanking with a purpose.
None of the picks that were harvested for this season are in position to grab a top talent.
And amount of teams in purgatory with no real direction, floating in the middle.
Looks like half the league couldn't get high or low enough to line up with their plans.

I see a trend of powerhouse contenders separating themselves from the pack, but running out of time.

I'm surprised that the Clippers, Mavs and Pistons aren't doing better.
Of course the Magic trade (Feel like I offered multiple trade offers better than what he landed over the last 2 seasons).

Coming soon, the Bucks, Warriors, Cavaliers, Bulls, Lakers, and Pistons will all have TOUGH decisions to make in UFA.
The emergence of clearing houses is coming because of all the inflated contracts already handed out and the level of talent pouring into the league.
12 years A Spur

In short - it's getting interesting

[BigDaddyd8720]

Approaching the mid-season point, what stands out to you?
The Pacific once again is the toughest division and it's not even close. As one of the GMs in that division, it puts even more pressure on me to be able to win my games outside of the division. I'm far from being the best team in the division but being able to compete with the rest bodes well for my future.

What trends are you looking at?
I'm looking to see how the Pistons finish this season. They got off to a great start and looked to be finally having some success but the last couple of sims haven't gone their way. It may just mean that next season turns into their breakout season.

What teams/moves have surprised you?
The Bullets. Going from 60 wins to possibly having a losing record. And it's not like the East got that much better. The Nets and Bulls stepped up but other than that, the bullets could have been more competitive. But that may be the cost of giving out too many high contracts.

What are you expecting soon?
Trades. It's been pretty quiet for a few sims so I expect to see some teams selling/buying after this sim. Very curious to see how different teams look after this weekend

[Xist2Inspire]

Approaching the mid-season point, what stands out to you?

Just how good the Bucks look compared to the rest of the league. Sure, other teams may have more top-level talent, no other team has the sheer amount of quality production up-and-down their roster quite like the Bucks do. Even though I do believe that they're built more for the regular season than for the playoffs, they still probably won't face a real challenge until the Finals.

What trends are you looking at?

I'm just waiting to see which teams start tuning their eyes away from the season and on towards the draft. We all know about the Top 3, but there's a nice amount of talent outside of them. And as long as there's a lotto, there's a chance. Neither conference's playoff pictures look particularly inviting right now, so I'm expecting some teams to throw in the towel soon, especially if they have good older players.

What teams/moves have surprised you?

I wasn't surprised by the Magic trade, as it needed to happen. I was just surprised with the return. So with that out of the way, I guess I'll piggyback off of my last answer and say that I'm very surprised that some teams haven't thrown in the towel yet. Magic got traded, but Larry Legend is still in Houston when there's absolutely no reason for him to be there anymore. Same for Tree Rollins (Mavs) and Dan Roundfield (Hawks). Dennis Johnson is having a great season in Detroit, but the question of retaining a 29-year-old expiring isn't one that a 14-21 team with a 22-year-old superstar should be worrying about. There's just a lot of teams with big questions on their roster that haven't seemed proactive about answering, and I'm wondering what the holdup is. If they're not answered, they're in for a bad time no matter who they draft, because......

What are you expecting soon?

...I'm expecting cap room chaos over the next three seasons. I don't think teams quite understand just how nasty it's about to get cap-wise. There's been a few sus (and even outright bad) contracts given out already, and
with a lot of heavy hitters about to get paid next season + the first crop of RFA players after that, cap management is about to become key. I still think that we'll end up with a healthy & competitive FA market overall (definitely by the 90s), but getting there will be a painful process.

[IamQuailman]

Approaching the mid-season point, what stands out to you?
What trends are you looking at?
What teams/moves have surprised you?
What are you expecting soon?

1. The Nets are leading their division. They had a fantastic turn around after a horrific season last year (injuries etc). But that turned into lady lotto luck and has allowed Ed to truly build a long term contender. On top of that Fat has had a miraculous surgery and will fully recover from the broken leg that hindered him all last season and offseason.

2. Trends --> The West is an absolute nightmare. This isn't really a trend new to this season, but it continues to trend that way with no end in sight. At some point talent will have to shift to the East, and maybe this draft is the inflection point.

3. No brainer the Suns trading away Magic. Just an absolutely dumb move. I know there could've been other offers out there if you just put him on the actual block. Please let me know next time you're trading a mega-star, James!

4. I'm expecting to hopefully be healthy one of these sims. I keep coming out with little nagging injuries that doesn't let me see this squad at full capacity for an entire sim. Maybe after this one I'll get lucky.

[jlmarines]

Trends I'm currently looking at are Celtics and Mavericks. Not sure what strategy both teams are trying to do. But it's been a disaster. Celtics traded all their good players. Not sure if they are trying to lose on purpose. I do expect the Cavs to make some news due to recent injuries. I do think the Cavs are one player away to be a dangerous team.

[Mike Lowry]

@WigNosy
@Mike Lowry
@BigDaddyd8720
@Xist2Inspire
@IamQuailman
@jlmarines

+1 point