Post by carmelo115 on Jul 22, 2024 15:50:12 GMT
1. Your team didn’t start the way you should have, but have bounced back these last few sims. What was the issue early on and how have you turned things around?
We had a lot of injuries early on. Some of the box scores were erased, but we had players miss 20 games out of the first 37 and that doesn’t include the games in which they got injured. These aren’t the backups either. These are injuries to my starters and my sixth man. I also changed the depth chart a little to have others as the top option instead of Lamelo to see if that would get everyone else going. The thing that I didn’t expect was that Mark Williams really improved once we changed out the options. Getting more out of him has been huge also.
2. Lamelo is a free agent after this season and due for a massive contract. What are you comfortable paying him if he does hit the open market?
80 million a year sounds about right lol. I think he’s worth the max(not the Booker one). He’s one of the top point guards in the league. He has brought down the turnover problems that he had early on. He is a guy that can either lead the league in assists like he did in the first season or he can score almost 30 per game. I think he’s definitely worth the max and I know other teams will offer him one, so I will have to make sure that I offer one, but max sure that I clarify what I’m offering to avoid the Booker scenario.
3. You overpaid Murray this past offseason and had some criticism. Why did you offer him that deal and do you regret it?
I’ve been trying to gauge where people are on contracts in this league and I guess I thought wrong. I actually compared Murray a lot to where Lavine was a few years ago when he got the 40 million deal. A lot of the better shooting guards have been getting around those numbers. I thought he would probably get around 35, so I went a bit higher. The way that I saw it was that he was arguably the best point guard available and he could score enough to play shooting guard, so teams looking for either of those could have offered him in the mid 30s. If he had offered to resign in the 28-32 range, I definitely would’ve taken it. That’s likely were I would have lowered the offer to after day 1. If I’m being honest, I really thought the Knicks were going to go after him because he didn’t have a point guard after the Mitchell trade and he had Murray the year before. Topic has worked out for him, but he was a huge question mark and I’m not sure he would be putting up those numbers with another GM that doesn’t understand FBB as well as rip since he has experience running leagues. To answer the question, I definitely regret going as high as I did. Luckily, he has picked up the scoring a bit, because it was lucky really dicey when he was averaging 15 per game.
4. You haven’t done much these last couple seasons to upgrade the roster with a prime Lamelo. How come you have kept your picks so safe past this season?
I’ve tried adding some pieces. I did pick up Randle and Murray last season to round out the starting lineup. I think the beginning of the year with Barrett really screwed up our playoff hopes. I’m never going to be the guy to trade 4 picks for someone. I prefer going the incremental upgrade route. I guess if someone expects a big, go all in move, I probably wouldn’t be doing any of those. I prefer trading one pick for an upgrade.
5. Say you resign Lamelo for a huge long term deal this offseason, what will be your plan to fill out a contending roster around him?
I think anything that I do will probably have to center around finding someone that can actually play small forward at a high level. That’s the biggest weakness on the roster. I might need to find a taker for some of the bigger contracts that I have to see if I can get some room under the cap. I’ve been scared into overpaying for a few of my players which obviously hurts me when trying to improve the team.
6. Half way through the year, give me your East winner, West winner, and who will take home the NBN title this season.
I think at this point I’m going to go with the Wizards in the East. The team has three 20 point per game scorers. They have some very strong defenders and a solid amount of depth. They can switch up their lineup also if they wanted to try to work some matchups in the playoffs.
I think I will go with the Thunder in the West. The team is really deep and plays great defense. It will be a tough matchup for anyone. Mobley and Wemby inside is just unfair.
I think overall I will go with the Wizards. I like the depth that they have inside. I think they can throw bodies at Wemby to see if someone can contain him. Collier against Brunson is interesting. Brunson is the only person on the Thunder that isn’t a great defender and the Wizards have a strong scorer opposite him.
7. We are starting to mix some vets into the drafts going forward. What is your thought on this and who are some players that you are excited to see soon?
I love the retro aspect of sim leagues. It’s fun to redo the past. I love Eddie Jones. He was one of my favorite players with the Heat. I’m looking forward to some more former Heat players coming in. I think we are starting around the same era where the previous league left off when it died. It will be fun to get the guys from the mid 90s like KJ/ Kobe/ Duncan in the league. I am curious to see how Rog handles it if we keep from from 90s to present day or go back further at some point or just mix them all in.
8. Although we are getting some nice ones in the drafts, shooting guards seem tough to find around the league. Do you think it's an unfortunate development issue once they are in the league or they are not being built for success pre draft, which is making it tough for them to progress?
I agree with what Knicks GM said, in that it is almost a byproduct of what the game is today. We have grown into this position-less basketball and that has caused a lot of players to be classified as point guards, where some may have been classified as shooting guards if this were 10 or 15 years ago. We are also projecting where some guys will end up as pros when they are currently like 14 or 15 years old, so they could end up growing more and be shooting guards even if they are currently point guards in the league. I think as we see the 80s and 90s guys come in, we should see more traditional shooting guards and see an increase in good players at the position.
9. With the NFL season right around the corner, who is your favorite NFL team and what are you expectations of them going into the season?
I’m a Dolphins fan. I expect them to have a solid season and fall apart like they always do when they above average. I didn’t really understand most of the offseason moves or the players that they drafted. It seems like we have some deficiencies and the coaching staff/front office is too stubborn to fix them. If I watch another jump ball to Tyreke Hill against double coverage with both guys being half a foot taller, I might lose the rest of my hair. They needed a big physical receiver and instead got OBJ, who is similar to the other receivers.
10. Real life NBA. What's your thoughts on Bronny James and him going to the Lakers? In your opinion, does he have a future in the NBA?
I do not believe that he should have been drafted. I feel for him. He did have the heart issue. I understand why Lebron helped him get drafted. His son now has a great amount of money to build the rest of his life on without depending on his dad. I think under normal circumstances, I would’ve recommended that he go back to USC and get 100% healthy before entering the league. He needed more development. I guess he can get that development in the G-League, but it seems like he has a long way to go before he can contribute
verysilentone
We had a lot of injuries early on. Some of the box scores were erased, but we had players miss 20 games out of the first 37 and that doesn’t include the games in which they got injured. These aren’t the backups either. These are injuries to my starters and my sixth man. I also changed the depth chart a little to have others as the top option instead of Lamelo to see if that would get everyone else going. The thing that I didn’t expect was that Mark Williams really improved once we changed out the options. Getting more out of him has been huge also.
2. Lamelo is a free agent after this season and due for a massive contract. What are you comfortable paying him if he does hit the open market?
80 million a year sounds about right lol. I think he’s worth the max(not the Booker one). He’s one of the top point guards in the league. He has brought down the turnover problems that he had early on. He is a guy that can either lead the league in assists like he did in the first season or he can score almost 30 per game. I think he’s definitely worth the max and I know other teams will offer him one, so I will have to make sure that I offer one, but max sure that I clarify what I’m offering to avoid the Booker scenario.
3. You overpaid Murray this past offseason and had some criticism. Why did you offer him that deal and do you regret it?
I’ve been trying to gauge where people are on contracts in this league and I guess I thought wrong. I actually compared Murray a lot to where Lavine was a few years ago when he got the 40 million deal. A lot of the better shooting guards have been getting around those numbers. I thought he would probably get around 35, so I went a bit higher. The way that I saw it was that he was arguably the best point guard available and he could score enough to play shooting guard, so teams looking for either of those could have offered him in the mid 30s. If he had offered to resign in the 28-32 range, I definitely would’ve taken it. That’s likely were I would have lowered the offer to after day 1. If I’m being honest, I really thought the Knicks were going to go after him because he didn’t have a point guard after the Mitchell trade and he had Murray the year before. Topic has worked out for him, but he was a huge question mark and I’m not sure he would be putting up those numbers with another GM that doesn’t understand FBB as well as rip since he has experience running leagues. To answer the question, I definitely regret going as high as I did. Luckily, he has picked up the scoring a bit, because it was lucky really dicey when he was averaging 15 per game.
4. You haven’t done much these last couple seasons to upgrade the roster with a prime Lamelo. How come you have kept your picks so safe past this season?
I’ve tried adding some pieces. I did pick up Randle and Murray last season to round out the starting lineup. I think the beginning of the year with Barrett really screwed up our playoff hopes. I’m never going to be the guy to trade 4 picks for someone. I prefer going the incremental upgrade route. I guess if someone expects a big, go all in move, I probably wouldn’t be doing any of those. I prefer trading one pick for an upgrade.
5. Say you resign Lamelo for a huge long term deal this offseason, what will be your plan to fill out a contending roster around him?
I think anything that I do will probably have to center around finding someone that can actually play small forward at a high level. That’s the biggest weakness on the roster. I might need to find a taker for some of the bigger contracts that I have to see if I can get some room under the cap. I’ve been scared into overpaying for a few of my players which obviously hurts me when trying to improve the team.
6. Half way through the year, give me your East winner, West winner, and who will take home the NBN title this season.
I think at this point I’m going to go with the Wizards in the East. The team has three 20 point per game scorers. They have some very strong defenders and a solid amount of depth. They can switch up their lineup also if they wanted to try to work some matchups in the playoffs.
I think I will go with the Thunder in the West. The team is really deep and plays great defense. It will be a tough matchup for anyone. Mobley and Wemby inside is just unfair.
I think overall I will go with the Wizards. I like the depth that they have inside. I think they can throw bodies at Wemby to see if someone can contain him. Collier against Brunson is interesting. Brunson is the only person on the Thunder that isn’t a great defender and the Wizards have a strong scorer opposite him.
7. We are starting to mix some vets into the drafts going forward. What is your thought on this and who are some players that you are excited to see soon?
I love the retro aspect of sim leagues. It’s fun to redo the past. I love Eddie Jones. He was one of my favorite players with the Heat. I’m looking forward to some more former Heat players coming in. I think we are starting around the same era where the previous league left off when it died. It will be fun to get the guys from the mid 90s like KJ/ Kobe/ Duncan in the league. I am curious to see how Rog handles it if we keep from from 90s to present day or go back further at some point or just mix them all in.
8. Although we are getting some nice ones in the drafts, shooting guards seem tough to find around the league. Do you think it's an unfortunate development issue once they are in the league or they are not being built for success pre draft, which is making it tough for them to progress?
I agree with what Knicks GM said, in that it is almost a byproduct of what the game is today. We have grown into this position-less basketball and that has caused a lot of players to be classified as point guards, where some may have been classified as shooting guards if this were 10 or 15 years ago. We are also projecting where some guys will end up as pros when they are currently like 14 or 15 years old, so they could end up growing more and be shooting guards even if they are currently point guards in the league. I think as we see the 80s and 90s guys come in, we should see more traditional shooting guards and see an increase in good players at the position.
9. With the NFL season right around the corner, who is your favorite NFL team and what are you expectations of them going into the season?
I’m a Dolphins fan. I expect them to have a solid season and fall apart like they always do when they above average. I didn’t really understand most of the offseason moves or the players that they drafted. It seems like we have some deficiencies and the coaching staff/front office is too stubborn to fix them. If I watch another jump ball to Tyreke Hill against double coverage with both guys being half a foot taller, I might lose the rest of my hair. They needed a big physical receiver and instead got OBJ, who is similar to the other receivers.
10. Real life NBA. What's your thoughts on Bronny James and him going to the Lakers? In your opinion, does he have a future in the NBA?
I do not believe that he should have been drafted. I feel for him. He did have the heart issue. I understand why Lebron helped him get drafted. His son now has a great amount of money to build the rest of his life on without depending on his dad. I think under normal circumstances, I would’ve recommended that he go back to USC and get 100% healthy before entering the league. He needed more development. I guess he can get that development in the G-League, but it seems like he has a long way to go before he can contribute
verysilentone
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