Old Weight Room/Training Outline: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=23
Suggestion Thread (Section III for Paid Training portion): viewtopic.php?f=37&t=3862
Poll Results: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3884
Before these voted in changes, foul ratings were just one of those things you were forced to accept for what it is. Guys like Boogie Cousins suffered a horrific career of bad TC outcomes (pre-insurance days) compounded by an abysmal foul rating. You were lucky to get 30mpg and 4 fouls out of him. He averaged 28mpg and 3.7fpg through his 1st 7 seasons. He's one of many guys you look back and say, "If only we had TC insurance and the current training system in place back then..."
Boogie at the end of his 2nd season: http://pbsl.ijbl.net/2011/players/player623.htm
Boogie at the end of his 7th season: http://pbsl.ijbl.net/2016/players/player623.htm
This isn't an article just to make NOLa feel bad about a bust of a 1st overall pick he had... we are here to talk about the 90s! The GLORY DAYS/WILD WEST of Sim League! There was so much unknown about this version of Fast Break Basketball 3 to all of the guys that came over from the Hornets/Pelicans Report sim league. Everything was so new... so we never even THOUGHT that a thing like foul ratings existed, much less how they would impact what a guy did on the court. You see a guy playing 20mpg and averaging 3 fouls... you start tweaking gameplan or switching up positions or bringing them off the bench as opposed to starting. But unfortunately, nothing worked. This article is going to highlight those guys... the FALLEN BROTHERS who weren't able to control their bodies or set their feet or keep their hands in check. I present...
THE FIRST EVER FOUL-STAR TEAM
Now technically, the stats I took went into our 2000-01 season, but it will look back stats from that season, as well as their career THROUGH 2000-01 season. For players that were only the 1st or 2nd year into their careers, we have the opportunity of knowing their futures, which may get mentioned. Honorable mention players' stats will reflect averages for the 2000-01 season. Lastly, guys who qualify need to at least average 15 mpg for a season. Let's dive in!
CENTER
Starter... P.J. Brown, Spurs: 2000-01 stats - 20.3mpg, 3.1fpg ~~ Career stats - 26.3mpg, 3.4fpg
Player Page: http://pbsl.ijbl.net/2000/players/player797.htm
Brown was the primary backup big at this point of his career on the 8th seed Spurs after a solid career on the Rockets, Hornets, and Sixers. The number of big men to pick from was actually a sizeable pool, and had Joel Pryzbilla been further along in his career at this point, he probably would be sitting in this spot over PJ. Brown.
Honorable Mention: Joel Pryzbilla, Heat (17.5mpg, 3fpg) ~~ Raef Lafrentz, Sixers (19.5mpg, 2.8fpg) ~~ Jamaal Magloire, Trailblazers (20mpg, 2.8fpg) ~~ Ervin Johnson, Trailblazers (21mpg, 2.8fpg) ~~ Jeff Foster, Hawks (22mpg, 2.9fpg), Michael Olowokandi, Wizards (25mpg, 3fpg)
POWER FORWARD
Starter... Joe Smith, Rockets: 2000-01 stats - 26mpg, 3.4fpg ~~ Career stats - 25.1mpg, 3.0fpg
Player Page: http://pbsl.ijbl.net/2000/players/player764.htm
Joe Smith was only 25 years old at this point of his career, but he had already gone through a roller coaster. In his first 3 years, Joe had started at least 75% of games for the Nuggets and Wizards averaging 17ppg and 6rpg in 31mpg, despite fouling at a high 3.5fpg rate. But after the training camp of heading into Year 4, he came in fat and out of shape and was relegated to the bench in Washington before heading to the Rockets in 2000-01. He started over half the games for the Rockets, but averaged only 26mpgs while fouling a whopping 3.4 fouls per game. Yikes.
Honorable Mention: Kurt Thomas, Knicks (31mpg, 3.9fpg) ~~ Jahidi White, Magic (24mpg, 3.1fpg) ~~ Tim Thomas, Bulls (26mpg, 3.1fpg) ~~ Brian Grant, Raptors (28mpg, 3.3fpg)
SMALL FORWARD
Starter... Marcus Liberty, Pistons: 2000-01 stats - 20mpg, 2.7fpg ~~ Career stats - 25.5mpg, 3.1fpg
Player Page: http://pbsl.ijbl.net/2000/players/player705.htm
Marcus Liberty was on the wrong side of 30 at the end of the 2000-01 season, but when it came to fouls, he was still in his prime. His game was primarily that of a defensive stopper on the wing. Having played for 7 teams over an 11 year career at this point, the league knew they had to take the good with the bad. He would get you some key stops, steals and boards, but he would also make some boneheaded mistakes that would sometimes keep him off the court when he may have been needed most (debatable, I suppose). He only topped 30mpg once in his career (10th season, 31mpg)... and he fouled at a whopping 3.8fpg. He took the aggressive gameplanning seriously.
Honorable Mention: Predrag Danilovic, Grizzlies (22mpg, 2.7fpg) ~~ James Posey, Pistons (32.5mpg, 3.5fpg)
SHOOTING GUARD
Starter... Tharon Mayes, Lakers: 2000-01 stats - 12mpg, 2.1fpg ~~ Career stats - 18.8mpg, 2.9fpg
Player Page: http://pbsl.ijbl.net/2000/players/player729.htm
Tharon Mayes inspired this article. When I think of a player that epitomized production never matched potential, it was Tharon Mayes. This guy had the defensive ratings to be an all-defense first teamer and the offensive ability to knock down the 3pt shot at a decent clip. Despite all this, he only shot over 40% from 3 twice in his career through 2000-01 (10 seasons). Teams got frustrated with him; he played on 7 different teams over 10 seasons (2 separate stints in Miami). He couldn't get over 18 mpg in his 1st 5 seasons... mainly because he fouled anywhere from 2.2 to 3.0 fpg. In his 6th season, he FINALLY was able to get over 20mpg. In the season where he averaged his highest minutes per game (25mpg), he averaged a WHOPPING 4fpg. This dude just couldn't stay on the court. He would probably be the MVP of this team.
Honorable Mention: Terry Dehere, Nuggets (29.5mpg, 3.7fpg) ~~ Manu Ginobili, Trailblazers (24mpg, 2.6fpg) ~~ Erick Strickland, Trailblazers (32mpg, 3.3fpg) ~~ Mitchell Butler, Pistons (24mpg, 2.2fpg)
POINT GUARD
Starter... Tyronne Lue, Spurs: 2000-01 stats - 14.4mpg, 2fpg ~~ Career stats - 13.5mpg, 1.8fpg
Player Page: http://pbsl.ijbl.net/2000/players/player227.htm
The pickings were slim for PGs back in the 1990s. They all played perfect defense... or maybe refs allowed a lot more hand-checking than they do these days (HEY CHADWICK DANGERFIELD, I'M TALKING TO YOU). I scoured through the entire league and index, and everyone was pretty good. If Tyronne Lue was your biggest foul offended, point guards were lucky to be playing at that time. If there is a need for a back-up point guard, we'll just throw Tharon Mayes out there. He can stay on the court, am I right?!
Honorable Mention: N/A
All-in-all, the big time offenders on this list aren't the most famous of names. But that's more due to the fact that they saw more impact handing out sweat towels to teammates on the bench than these did handing out Ls to the other team on the court. Who knows what Tharon Mayes would've been if his foul rating could've been trained up from -27. Thankfully, with our current training system and the options we have in place, we can improve our players in this hidden rating to make them less hidden from the annals of the SLOE history books.
