#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Based on roster construction, which teams are over/under performing?
What strategy do you think would help them perform better, or explain why they are performing above expectations?

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: Deadline for Sim 5

Overperforming
Indiana Pacers - a motley crew of greens led by the savvy vet John Lucas, the Pacers are currently in playoff contention seemingly out of nowhere. Defense is their forte right now with Manute Bol currently leading the lead in blocks. The Pacers are well ahead of schedule right now and PaulyP is flush with cash next offseason so the future is looking really bright in Indy.

Underperforming
New Jersey Nets - I'm not quite sure what is going on here but the Nets are looking like an expensive mishmash of talent and I dont think they are going to figure out how to get out of this mess this season. The talent is obviously there but they have just been inconsistent this season. Some games they are lights out on offense, other nights they cant make a shot. It is bizarre. Honorable mention goes to the Mavericks who also have a lot of talent on paper, but their GM cannot gameplan to save his life. Sad.

Mike Lowry wrote: Mon Dec 08, 2025 1:27 am Based on roster construction, which teams are over/under performing?
What strategy do you think would help them perform better, or explain why they are performing above expectations?

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: Deadline for Sim 5

Overperforming:

The Kansas City Kings. Their starting 5's defensive rebounding ratings are: 64, 63, 11, 2, and 24. I'm honestly not sure how they are grabbing 62% of the defensive rebounds available to them. Somehow they are 7-22 despite a -17.1 differential (compare to the Bullets, also 7-22 but with a -10.0 differential and the 4-27 Suns with an -11.6 differential). The Kings should be lapping the field for the #1 pick with that little defensive rebounding, and yet they're behind the Suns and in a dogfight with the Bullets. I don't understand this one at all. Obviously, they need more rebounding.

Underperforming:
The Atlanta Hawks. They have a rock-solid defensive center, a two-way scoring and rebounding threat at PF (Cliff Robinson), another glass-eater and scorer in Charles Barkley, and what should be a solid defensive backcourt in the Harper, Louis Orr, and Darwin Cook... but things just haven't come together for them. They're dead last in Pace and dead last in points per shot. I think they should try to push the pace and get some easier buckets; they certainly have the athletes to do so. Failing that, they might try to extend their depth from the backcourt to the frontcourt by bringing either Robinson or Barkley off the bench for 30+ minutes per game and starting three guards once Orr gets back, then they'd have a very tough seven-man lineup; starting three bigs means the backup minutes at PF and C get them in trouble.

I'm going to go Cleveland on the over perform because the obvious answer of Indiana Pacers already got mentioned.
Between this season and last a bunch of people were talking about the ride on these wheels.
This Cleveland team has been methodically put together without any outside interaction.
Everybody was calling for JLMarines to abandon ship and accept that these players can't win together.
And now they are...a lil bit.
They are definitely benefitting from tear downs by the Bulls and Bullets, but hey, playoffs pays points, and it looks like they're in this year.

That could change on a dime if the aforementioned Nets or Hawks start playing to their potential, which I think is great in both cases.
Since they have already been covered I'll throw the Suns and 6ers out there.
I can't believe either of these teams is doing so poorly, especially the Suns.
Stockton been a stud since he put the jersey on and Malone also handled business out the gate.
I was expecting them each to take a step forward and at least get the Suns around 30 wins.
Currently they're looking like a 15 win team which is outrageous with that kind of talent.

Overperforming: Cleveland Cavaliers

Maybe this is a case of Recommended knowing more than it lets on, but I'm not sure how the same roster that's missed the playoffs for the last two seasons and posted a 28-54 record last season is well on their way to beating that with 17 wins. I think the answer might just be that Jim Paxson was a statpadder that was holding this team back, and as he naturally gets used less thanks to falling from purple to blue, the rest of the team (most notably Rick Mahorn) gets more opportunities to shine. This is Paxson's first year under 25 usage rate. Last season he was at 27, and when you look at his teammates, they all performed significantly worse in raw stats.

Underperforming: New Jersey Nets

Only one ball? The Nets are on here not just for this season, but also for last, where they kinda limped to a Conference Finals appearance (as much as it makes sense to call that "limping"...). Now they're having another slow start with only 12 wins to 16 losses, and this is far too talented and expensive of a roster to post that kind of a record. While I joked that a trade might be in order, they should be good if they can just figure out how they want their offense to run. The individual numbers are solid, but collectively they're not clicking, which to me screams "gameplan" more than anything else. Kellogg's injury does give them a few sims to see if the problem really is too many cooks in the kitchen though.

Based on roster construction, which teams are over/under performing?
I think my roster overperformed for a bit there but then I decided it was better to go into tank mode instead of stay in limbo. Trailblazers seem to be underperforming so far but I fully expect them to get it together. I also think the Jazz are underperforming a bit, they just don't have any consistency with their team yet

What strategy do you think would help them perform better, or explain why they are performing above expectations?
I think the Jazz just need to figure out their gameplan a bit better. They have the talent to compete this season, just not putting it together on the court. Might need to make a move for another big man to really solidify themselves within the top playoff teams.

Overperforming:
The Pacers are doing really great with what they have... a little too great maybe. I don't think they envisioned themselves being a game below .500 at this point in the season. Not that there isn't talent on their team... it's just not fully baked. But what can I say... Milwaukee pedigree must've carried over with Jeff Malone. That champion's mentality is helping show the young squad how to be winners. I can't outright say tank better, but maybe it would be a good time to get ahead of this by moving some non-long term pieces to acquire some points or late round 1sts. A little bit here and there goes a long way.

Underperforming:
Philadelphia 76ers have way too much talent to be this bad, even with Jay Humphries recovering from injury. JBC should be tearing it upand carrying alot of the weight of the scoring burden, with Mullin, Pierce & Sunvold doing plenty to help lift the team up. But one does wonder if Gary is just ahead of his time with his build... this team is built for the 90s+ where 3pt shooting really starts to take off. That said, some gameplan tweaks should help right the ship a little bit.

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+1 point