S83 Town Hall 9

[Mike Lowry]

What's more interesting right now, the race for the bottom, or the race for the top?
How did people get caught in the middle?
Who are you surprised to see in the position they're in?

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 10

[Mike Lowry]

The race for the top is where my money is, and I think that's a good sign for the league.

It did catch me by surprise when teams began tanking in 82 and trying to harvest for 84.
I never entertained the option to follow that trend, and now I'm glad I didn't.
Most of the teams that sold off early ended up with picks that are looking like late lottery at best.
The Celtics waited til the last minute to change course and put on a clinic on textbook reload.
Teams that wanted to hold one asset and dive found out that it takes technique and steroids to compete with that program at the Alamo.

The playoffs are going to shake some Trees though!
I'll get to the record early and be the first to pick the Bulls for the finals.
They made great moves all season and positioned themselves to knock off the team that has been front running from Milwaukee all season.
The Western Conference is a different kind of animal.
I could see any one of the top 4 teams getting hot and making a run.

Also, it blows my mind that the Sonics are in real danger of not making the playoffs.
That team is loaded to be in 7th.
And, the Suns waited longer than the Celtics, traded the best player in the league, and will land a stud in the draft.
Some guys have all the luck - some have buzzards

[WigNosy]

What's more interesting right now, the race for the bottom, or the race for the top?
How did people get caught in the middle?
Who are you surprised to see in the position they're in?

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 10

To me the race for the top is more interesting since any team that doesn't win it all this season is still probably primed to make moves that will make them interesting in the future. The race for the bottom is less so since teams that don't get a generational talent won't be able to make moves that make them interesting... and even the teams that do get one are so gutted, I have my doubts about their ability to quickly compete.

I think the teams that got caught in the middle are the teams that were pushing to join the contending teams but came up a bit short due to the number of competitors - here I am mostly thinking of teams like the Clippers and Sonics - one of those teams is going to miss the playoffs just because there are only six playoff slots and seven teams gunning for them... but change the results of a couple of games (or move them East) and they'd be fine.

The one team that does surprise me is the Nuggets... when they tore their team apart after winning a title in 1982, I thought they would try to compete for a top pick in the 1984 draft... but I guess getting Drexler in 1983 changed their mind. The problem is Drexler alone hasn't been enough to get them back into the playoffs, so we'll have to see them find another method to add talent.

[Xist2Inspire]

What's more interesting right now, the race for the bottom, or the race for the top?
How did people get caught in the middle?
Who are you surprised to see in the position they're in?

Definitely the race for the top, especially in the West. In the West, a team's playoff position could mean the difference between a WCF appearance and a 1st-round exit. It's a little less cutthroat in the East, though I'm sure nobody wants to finish 6th and have to face the Bulls in Round 1 instead of having a small shot at drafting one of the Big 4.

The teams in the middle ended up there primarily because of not really committing to any direction. Most of the teams that are in contention for Jordan/Olajuwon/Stockton/Barkley are either legitimately bad, or made calculated efforts to be bad. Most of the teams that aren't in that group are littered with failed or poorly-thought-out pieces to either facilitate a tank or compete. I think a lot of middling teams held on to good players that they liked thinking that it wouldn't impact their losing too much, which let teams that were more willing to clean house jump ahead of them. Likewise, teams that either didn't have the willingness or trade capital to load up got blown out of the water by teams who were able to (or who already had an incumbent advantage).

As for one team I'm surprised to see where they're at...I just don't understand why the Rockets decided to go in the direction they did. Re-signing Gilmore at that price is just horrible, and Birdsong - while a good player - probably isn't that much better of a contract in the grand scheme of things. If Bird being traded truly wasn't an option, then why weren't legitimate moves made to build some semblance of a competitive roster? Instead, you have a Bottom 4 roster that Bird is keeping firmly in the #6-9 range.

[BigDaddyd8720]

What's more interesting right now, the race for the bottom, or the race for the top?
The race for the top is always more interesting. Last season the warriors seemed unstoppable. This year, other teams seemed to have closed the gap a bit so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top

Who are you surprised to see in the position they're in?
Clippers. Not to say I didn't think they would be good but because of the fact that the division is so tough. It seems like last season and this season that somebody from the pacific will have a good season and miss the playoffs. Another surprise is the Nuggets. They looked to be in rebuild mode but turned it around to try and be competitive. I thought for sure they would be making moves at the deadline but they did not.

[Mike Lowry]

@Mike Lowry
@WigNosy
@Xist2Inspire
@BigDaddyd8720
+1 point