#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Feel like the Pacific had a good run, but the torch is gone.
Which division is the toughest to win in?
Do you think the teams in this division will maintain high level competition moving forward?

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 6

Which division is the toughest to win in?
Central

Do you think the teams in this division will maintain high level competition moving forward?
Yes, all 3 GMs in the mix for the division title are active right now and making moves to get better. I think it will come down to the final sim to sort out who takes the division crown. While the other three teams are squarely in the lottery right now, there is some intriguing young talent on these squads too that I think they will make a push in another 2-3 seasons.

Mike Lowry wrote: Wed Feb 04, 2026 11:31 pm Feel like the Pacific had a good run, but the torch is gone.
Which division is the toughest to win in?
Do you think the teams in this division will maintain high level competition moving forward?

Well, it would seem the Midwest and Central divisions are making a stand for this position. The Spurs, however, seem to be a dominating force that will be hard to top in the midwest, so that brings me back to the Midwest.

Syndicate finally pushed his chips in to put together a smackin' squad. Doug's team never seems to be bad and it really grinds my gears (oh hi alton lister). The Pistons are right in the mix with them but I'm not so sure about all their recent trade activity. I'm hoping it works out for them, but I'm skeptical.

For the time being, though, those three teams seem pretty evenly matched, and some of the best teams in the league. Outside of the Celtics, the next best group of teams are the Spurs, Rockets (?) and Mavericks. Unfortunately, the Spurs are just leagues better and driving down the competitiveness in the division overall. More often than not the Spurs are beating both of those teams head to head, but I think there's a lot more up in the air in any combo of a hawks-bucks-pistons matchup. Those should be more fun to watch.

Gotta be the Central. Not tooting my horn so much as tooting the horn of Ryan (who put together a great team this offseason) and TBone (who is a consistent thorn in the Bucks' side season after season). Both of these guys have some great, talented teams that will continue to push to make the division champion not a GIVEN.

The Midwest definitely is giving the Central a run for its money. The Spurs have unlocked the beast in moving on from ball hogs Aguirre & Kiki, allowing MJ just to be who he's destined to be. But the Rockets, Mavericks, & Jazz are no slouches at all. One injury to the Spurs could open the door for this being an incredibly tight race for the division.

Honorable Mention: Atlantic
Not enough is being said about how well of a job the Celtics are doing in constructing their roster. Yes, I'm complimenting Charlie. It's a shock, but props to them for doing a great job with their roster. They are benefiting though from the fact that the Nets lost one of their best players for a month and a half. I'm curious, once at full-strength, the kind of run the Nets will be able to make to make the race tigher. Also, don't discredit the 76ers too. They are playing some great basketball and look to finally be making a playoff run. Just a fun division again.

I asked this question knowing it would track two trains of thought.
One is which division is the tightest race, the other is which has the strongest teams.
Current standings would suggest the Central is the tightest race, and the Midwest is strongest teams.
So I'll start with the Atlantic, where there are three legit title contenders.
The Celtics are my favorite to win the East and push the Spurs to their limit in the finals.
I say they have a strong chance of winning it all based on their balance and front court advantage.
The 6ers and Nets both have deep, talented teams that can knock off anybody if they game plan right with healthy players.
The Central will definitely be a dog fight until the end.
I also don't love the moves the Pistons made recently.
They might step back, but the Bucks and Hawks are going to be closer than any other race.
The Spurs obviously took a leap forward and have become the torch bearers for the near future.
Though the Rockets and Mavs trail by seven games, in their division, I think they have the talent to get to the Western Finals.
Ewing and Bowie are both proving to be solid foundations, and they each made great moves to add support this season.
The Midwest is the new tough neighborhood, but longevity is not guaranteed.
Their concentration of talent is not as strong as we saw with the Pacific, and luxury tax has become a real factor.

Which division is the toughest to win in?
I think the Central Division is the toughest right now because neither of the top teams are really able stand out in the division. The other divisions all have one team that is clearly better than the rest while the central has 3 teams all looking worthy of the first round bye. And the Bulls and Pacers aren't too far behind before they start competing again.

Do you think the teams in this division will maintain high level competition moving forward?
Absolutely. Bucks and Pistons are built to compete for many years, Hawks finally came around. And the Bulls and Pacers aren't too far behind. We know the Pacers GM is more than capable of building a top tier team and the Bulls have been rebuilding for a couple of seasons and are going to be ready to get back to their winning ways soon

Which division is the toughest to win in?
Do you think the teams in this division will maintain high level competition moving forward?

I think most people are answering "which is the toughest division to win" which is not the same as the "toughest division to win in." The second is what was actually asked and isn't about the best teams in the division; rather, it is about the depth of the division. The best measure in my mind is to sum the division W-L records; since all intra-division games will cancel out (one winner, one loser), it means that the division with the highest division winning percentage beats the other divisions most frequently.

So far this year, that's the Midwest. They're 27 games over .500 as a division (the Central is just 17 games over). The Spurs have a lot to do with that, but the whole division is tough and even the back end of the division beats up on others somewhat (the Spurs lead the way at 16-2 but the Rockets are 18-7, Mavs are 18-9, Jazz are 16-6, even the Nuggets 10-14 against non-division opponents and the Kings are 8-16 outside their division).

I don't think the competition will remain high-level in the long run because we happen to be in a cycle where none of these teams are actively trying to tank... and that part of the cycle is going to come. Two years ago, who would have thought the Nets, Bullets, and Knicks would be actively tanking in the Atlantic? Every season, three or four teams start to go into a rebuild and - especially if the division remains tough - some of these Midwest teams are eventually going to decide it's better to build for the future than try to compete now.