#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Greetings #SLOEsters! Do you seek the approval of your peers? Do you need validation for your work? Well have no fear because East vs. West is here to prop you up (or for the unfortunate few, pee on your grave). You may be asking: "Golly gee, what is East vs. West?" Well, friend, East vs. West is a new column on #SLOE that evaluates the best 3 (insert whatever) in a conference and the 1 worst. It is completely subjective, and carries no real weight (unless you want to make it more important than it is). This article will be focused on the 2004 NBA Draft. My counterpart NOLa. and I ran through each and every team's draft and discussed, deliberated, and described what we perceived as the best and the worst drafts and graded them accordingly. As much as we'd love to talk about everyone, simply we don't have that time. So if you make it here, you must be really special! With all that said, please enjoy and provide any comments or feedback AFTER the East AND West are both posted!

First up... THE EAST.

EAST WINNERS

#1) Detroit Pistons
Grade: A
The Detroit Pistons have to be the unanimous, clear choice winner of the 2004 Draft. There aren’t many drafts where a team has the top two picks and doesn’t come out on top. First, there’s Dwight Howard, the 18 year old, 6’11 center right out of high school. Dwight will be a defensive juggernaut if developed fully, and will be an absolute terror crashing the boards. He’s everything you want as a center, and will be Detroit basketball’s face of the franchise for years to come. He does have room to improve in his Inside scoring game, but with his strength and athleticism, he will shoot well when given the opportunity. Where Dwight falls short in being a true scoring option, Kevin Martin will hopefully pick up the slack. The initial reaction to Martin being picked at #2 over fellow SG Andre Iguodala was not positive from the league. I felt the same way at first, but after looking at the two closely, I believe Kevin Martin was the better talent and fit for the Detroit Pistons. Iguodala is a good talent, but he is not on the same tier as Kevin Martin is on offense. Martin is a great pairing match for Dwight Howard, so I give the Detroit Pistons an A.

#2) Orlando Magic
Grade: B
The Orlando Magic was busy early in the draft. With the #8 pick in the draft secured with the 76ers 1st, but after my trade with the Nuggets in which we swapped #5 & #6, the Magic pounced and traded journeyman Gilbert Arenas and Pachulia for the 6th pick, Kyle Korver, and a 2nd rounder. This was already a big win for the Magic, as Arenas did not fit the plans as a pure PG. Using the 6th pick, the Magic grabbed balanced PG Devin Harris. Harris will do a lot of things well, but nothing at an elite level. Where Harris excels is his pure athleticism, which will help not make him a liability on offense. With the 8th pick, the Magic finally might have found their player for center ever since they traded Tyson Chandler. Emeka Okafor comes in ready to play, with his only raw area in defensive rebounding. He has the potential there to become a solid player. He won’t be great unless he gets a huge boost in training camp, but he joins the ranks of solid-role-type-players the Magic have stacked up with.

#3) Philadelphia 76ers
Grade: B-
I really wanted to give this spot to someone else, but it was hard to look past the 76ers new management’s moves, which was done swiftly and confidently. The 76ers were comprised of two, elite level players… and nothing else. No picks, and both players were ball-dominant guards. The new GM moved Rip Hamilton to the Minnesota Timberwolves for defensive wing Tayshaun Prince, developing international big Luis Scola and the 17th pick in the draft. The move really balanced the roster out for the 76ers, and was then able to draft swingman Josh Childress. I give this team bonus points for turning around a bad situation into something constructive, which is why I chose the 76ers as the last winner of the East this draft.


EAST LOSER

New York Knicks
Grade: D
This was harder than I thought to make a single selection of who I thought came out the worst in all of this. I was tempted to give this to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but I can’t give a grade to someone who wasn’t part of the draft process. The same reasoning is also why I wanted to put them in this spot. However, I believe the New York Knicks had the worst actual draft of the East. It’s not a total knock on them, because it was really only because the other East teams didn’t make bad picks or make bad trades during the draft. Looking at the Knicks, they did not possess their own pick, which ended up being the 4th pick of the draft and ultimately Josh Smith. Howard, Iguodala and Kevin Martin were already gone, so I don’t believe the Knicks missed out on a big time prospect, but this team needs young talent in the worst way. They did have the 15th pick of this draft, thanks to Orlando, but they picked SF Dorell Wright. I didn’t understand this pick, mainly because this team already has Carmelo Anthony as their SF and Dorell isn’t athletic or talented enough to play another position. That’s a shame, because they could have really used a PG, SG, or PF, and there were plenty of equal or better talent picked after at those positions. The pick didn’t make much sense, and we can only look at the 4th pick and wonder “what if” for the Knicks.

WEST WINNERS:

#1 Minnesota Timberwolves
Grade: A
The Timberwolves were movers and shakers during this draft. They originally had pick #17, but they decided to jettison that pick, along with wing-defender Tayshaun Prince and slow-developing Luis Scola, for an instant upgrade on the wing, Rip Hamilton. Rip has already proven to be a dynamic, elite scorer, something the Timberwolves have sorely lacked since the days of Clyde Drexler. On top of that, Rip has started to show signs of life on the defensive end of the ball. Rumors are circulating that the Wolves have hired a top defensive assistant to help elevate that portion of Rips game. Had the Wolves stopped there, they would've had #12 and #21 to add more youth to their already fledgling team. Instead, JNR know when that phoneline bling it can only mean one thing. Gmessi had the Wolves GM on speed dial, and as soon as #12 was on the clock, they offered Joe Johnson to Minnesota in return for the pick. Joe Johnson is definitely a 1-way player, but again, after years of struggling to hit 90-something points, the Wolves wanted to make scoring an emphasis this offseason. With JJ and Rip, they did just that. Lastly, with pick #21, the Timberwolves decided to bring in some depth down low in the strong power forward Nick Collison. Nick won't be a starter anytime soon (barring injury), but what he can bring to Minny is board-crashing prowess and a tough-as-nails attitude that is infectious among teammates. Things are looking great for the Timberwolves!

#2 Phoenix Suns
Grade: B+
We mentioned them briefly in the last post. As Minnesota decided to adopt the motto "WIG Defense, Get Points", Phoenix opted in the opposite direction. They added with their 10th pick Trevor Ariza, a prototypical 3-and-D forward out of UCLA. Many called this pick "headstratching" after the Suns essentially traded what ended up being Dwight Howard for James Posey, but upon further glance, Phoenix allowed themselves a good bit of flexibility. Where will Posey play? Starting 3? Starting 4? Starting 2? Who knows? Surely their opponents won't, which is why I think this pick of Ariza is pretty great. If the Suns continue to trend upwards in their development, they will be a nightmare to gameplan for. This brings us to their 2nd pick, which required ditching offensive experiment Joe Johnson for the 12th pick. That pick, rumor has it, was supposed to be used for Al Jefferson, but brother (and rival GM) Logpmess found out Gmessi's plans and intentionally thwarted it (talk about an awkward Thanksgiving dinner coming up). Gmessi instead had to "settle" for Andris Biedrins. And if I'm the Suns and I'm "settling" for Biedrins, then I'm pretty escstatic. Biedrins is projected as a Power Forward, but with his size, quickness, and strength (along with his potentially elite rebounding ability), there is nothing preventing the Bean show from playing the center position either. Flexibility is key here. The only knock on this defensive draft is that the Suns are going to have to really roll the dice on picking up an offensive weapon in free agency, something that is never a guarantee (only thing preventing me from giving an A grade).

#3 Sacramento Kings:
Grade: B
The Kings came into this draft with the hopes of jumping into the top 3 of the draft. After a brief moment of joy after the Nets were awarded Pick #7, the Kings ballooned head came back down to earth when they heard their name called at Pick #6. But, as always, GM NOLa. did not sit on his laurel and let the draft determin who he picked. The Kings traded up to #5 (for those at home counting, that's 1 spot) to select small forward Luol Deng. Luol Deng is a perfect fit for the Sacramento Kings. He can shoot the ball from beyond the arc or score inside, all the while playing defense on the opposite end of the floor. That level of talent had the Kings too impatient to wait their turn to pick, paying a future draft pick (Hornets 2005 1st) to get their guy. Rumor has it too that the Nuggets weren't that enamoured with Deng, something that resonated among pundits after the draft. Some think the Kings got bait and switched with a little draft tease, but GM NOLa has gone on the record saying "IDGAF". He got his guy, and he's satisfied. Now fast forward to pick #27; usually at this point of the draft, the talent pool is thinner than Manute Bol's calves. However, the Kings find gold again, having 18 year old 6'7" Point Guard Shaun Livingston fall right into his lap. Livingston has incredible quickness for his size, and the Kings are in love with his versatility on the wing. The only reason he fell this far was due to rumors of NBA fortune tellers foreseeing a gruesome leg injury (#SimLeagueBrokenLeg) in his future, and no one wanted to take that chance. The Kings, as always, are risk takers and again are more than willing to wait for this to pay out its dividends.

WEST LOSER:

Utah Jazz
Grade: C
Don't get me wrong; I love Andre Iguodala. Majority of this league does and wishes they were in the position the Jazz were in. And this is in no way a swipe or slight at the Utah GM. However, in the current situation of the Jazz, they were hoping and praying that Kevin Martin would fall to #3 after initial rumors circulated that the Pistons were leaning towards Iguodala. Kevin Martin would've been a GREAT fit for the Jazz, and would compliment Bonzi Wells. He would've been able to make an immediate impact. Then Detroit foiled that plan. They do get a great prospect in Iggy, but with Duncan and Wells approaching 29 years old this season, it really doesn't help their situation this year or next. The fact that he was so willing to shop Iggy right after drafting him is proof of that itself.

Cleveland probably did the worst at not drafting of the several East teams that did not pick. Way worse that the guys who are going to decline their precious picks' options, too.

It's us. Blame us.

Ayyyyyeeeeeeee

AWARDED 5 POINTS (NOLa and Quail)! THANKS! (for 04-05 Season media Total)