Post by Lazy Pete on Jan 9, 2015 7:34:13 GMT -6
With 2014 now firmly in the rear view, I thought it would be fun to look back at the year in sim league and find out what were some of the bests and worsts of the year. I quickly realized that my opinion alone wasn't worth a hill of beans, so I convened some of the finest minds in the league to get their opinions as well. This is the true story of 5 GMs, picked to participate in a roundtable, answer questions and have their answers printed, to find out what happens when people stop being polite... and start getting real.
Question 1: Who would you pick as your Best GM of the Year? Worst GM of the Year?
Best GM so far has been Druce because he is the only GM to win titles with two different cores. I’ve been really impressed with his ability to rebuild and retool on the fly while staying a playoff team in the very tough west. Honorable mention goes to Soup. Been more impressed with what he has been able to do with the Celtics than his work with the Mavs. Devine was easily the worst GM in 2014 due to his lack of results and effort. If not for getting lucky with Jordan in free agency he would still be without a playoff win and would have been stuck picking in the 7-10 range every lotto. The best move he made during his tenure was forgetting to resign Dwight Howard.
I'm going to go with Fason for best GM. Yes, he hasn't won anything but in a league that prides itself on abilities to tank Fason has rewritten the book. It's been years since he's won a game, and this year again he'll be in the single digits. I love the Mike Conley pick, looks like he may become his 2.0 version and that's a scary thought. That's not even mentioning David Robinson who's fighting abroad. Worst GM is one who's no longer with us, Scat. He got his typical luck falling into Catfish and Reeves, couldn't do anything with them. He traded away Neon and Moses for peanuts. The amount of talent that went through Brooklyn is absurd for the amount of mediocrity they accomplished. Scat said he wanted to stay in the league after trading away Neon/Moses then leaves a few weeks later. He's a good dude that had a bad year. Hopefully hebrew can bring some winning ways to Brooklyn.
GM of the year would be Soup based off of the continued winning. Worst GM is without a doubt Devine. I've never seen so much apathy in TMBSL. I have quite a few screenshots of texting convos with him about TMBSL that are absolutely ridiculous in terms of the stupid questions he asks and things he says that make it seems like he's been a GM for two weeks.
It's close at the top, but my vote would go to Druce. While he isn't up top of the win colum, he currently has two titles and has shown great GMing skills through trades, free agency, and draft. His trade for Don Buse has been one of the better trades of 4.0 in my opinion.
Worst GM has to go to Canesfan. True he has had some bad luck when it comes to injuries, but he did nothing to remedy the situation and seemed content to just sit back on excuses. His team has been in decline the last couple of seasons and he is now forced to sit at the bottom of the league with the Fason's of the World. By his own admittance he has been very abisentee and by all accounts has still remained as stubborn as ever when it comes to trade talks even with his back against the wall. He is notorious for holding on to players for too long in players like Bob Mcadoo and appears to be on the same path with Reggie King.
I’m going with Druce for top GM of 2014, he’s built two winners 5 seasons apart and only had one player carry over from that first team. The only criticism you can make is that he’s probably been too quick to reset his roster, particularly after this latest title. For overall worst GM, Devine is definitely the answer. He just never seemed to care enough to commit to competing or tanking, didn’t do anything with his players when he did stumble into a keeper, and basically just treaded water all year. He also would’ve been terrible at running the news wire, since I don’t think he was ever on here enough to know what was going on in the league.
Question 2: Best newcomer GM of the year?
Pete by far has been the best newcomer. He has done good work with the Raptors, been great running the wire, writes the best articles and is enjoyable to shout with. Love Pete. Honorable mention goes to Tyler since he was the only newcomer to win a title.
We have plenty of newcomers but I'm going with SPL here. He got a shit sandwich in New York but the podcasts have been a welcome addition that has drawn the attention of everyone in the league.
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Definitely Pete. Guy came in with humor and activity which TMBSL loves. He fits in, he's active online, and he comPETEs.
Although he hasn't necessarily been the most successful of the new GMs, my pick would be Pete. Outside of his initiation trade rape by Buster, Pete has hit the grown running by being active and making moves. Pete's biggest contribution has been his personality. From the wire to his involvement in the podcasts, to answering my late night drunk calls, Pistol has been a breath of fresh air to the league.
I hope everyone didn’t think I threw this in about myself 
. Honestly, while I’ve been thrilled to join sim league, I’m not the best newcomer. Tyler won a title but the way he left that team in rooins keeps me from giving him too much credit. So I’m going to go with Fason. He’s obviously a phenomenal tanker, but I think he would’ve had those Sixers in the hunt for a few years if Jordan didn’t leave him at the altar for Devine. Fason’s also been great in the other aspects of the league and very active overall, even while he tanks his ass off.
Question 3: Biggest surprise of TMBSL in 2014?
The Pistons winning the title in 3001. They beat a really good Jazz team and prevented a three-peat. Honorable mention to the success that HT has had. Right when the league was starting I remember people jokingly wishing that HT wouldn't join and talked about him sucking in 2.0 but his teams in 4.0 are always pretty good and he has a title along with a title appearance in 3000.
That Odin is still the commish. I'm surprised he hasn't gotten restless wanting to become a GM again. He has stuck with us through a couple moves and stays entertained by creating commish specials with odd names.
I've been very pleasantly surprised with Odin. Commishes usually don't last this long. He's handled everything really well. He's good with conflicts and I like the extra work he puts in. Another thing I have been really surprised with is Dirt's GMing. It's been way worse than 2.0 and it can't be blamed on Magic leaving him anymore.
For me it would be the lack of success from GMs like Dirt and Ank. Both GMs were forces to be reckoned with in 2.0, and I expected more of the same results in 4.0. Each of them have had some bad fortune, but I feel that has been overshadowed by questionable moves and no real plan in place.
If I had been in the league for Tyler’s title run that probably would’ve been my pick, but since I just missed that one I’ll go with MJ’s Magic rallying from down 3-0 in the finals. That whole playoffs was pretty entertaining but to see a team rip off four straight wins in that situation against a really good Thunder squad was unbelievable. It also spawned one of my favorite memes of the year, “Congrats JHB”
Question 4: Best trade of the year? Worst trade of year?
Best trade was Soup getting Larry Kenon from Oops for Mavs 3003-06 firsts, Pistons 3003 first, Thunder 3004 first and Bill Robinzine.
Worst trade was Ank trading Sam Bowie to JHB for Ernie Grunfeld and 3 Thunder firsts. I think Ank was just trying to prove how disgusted he was with Bowie.
Honorable mention to Bankz trading Walter Davis, Stanley Robinson and Bob McAdoo to Kn for Pete Maravich and Andy Rautins.
Best trades is tough, Barry to Dallas is up there. Champ to Boston has worked out well for dump.
Worst I'm going with Khalid to Houston. Iggy busted, Grunfield left and just about every pick seems to have fallen between 20-30. It looked good on paper with 6 picks but when you're trading a star away the picks from the team that star is going to are always dogshit.
Sheesh that's a hard question. There's been a lot of trades that set up dynasties. I guess the ones that stand out in my mind are Barry to Utah, Kenon to Dallas, Barry to Dallas, and Khalid to Houston because all of those led to titles. Worst trade of the year was Moses to Dallas for nothing. One of the most one sided non-vetoed trades I've ever seen. I have no idea what scat was thinking, pretty sure he just wanted to trade his guys and quit. Great deal for soup. I agree with it not being vetoed because Scat was a veteran GM.
Best trade would be when the Dallas Mavericks traded 7 future first round picks to the New Orleans Pelicans for PF Larry Kenon. At the time it appeared to be a big haul for the talented youngster, but none of the picks turned into much and it gave Dallas the 2nd piece to their future title teams.
I think any bad trade that we allow a new GM to make that is very lopsided should be considered the worst trade of the year. Sitting back and allowing it to happen then responding with "it's a right of passage" is one of the dumbest things this league could do. It's bad for the league and it's bad for the new GM.
Best trade of the year to me was probably Barry to Dallas. Soup got an all-league SG for a great price, and one who stuck around way longer than anyone expected. I’m sure if 2poor knew Barry wasn’t going anywhere for 2 more seasons he would’ve held out for more value. I’m tempted to give worst trade to myself for that Moncrief deal, but I think there were a couple that let me off the hook. Instead of piling on the Scat deals, I’m going to cite the Thunder Clippers trade that sent Dantley to LAC. At the time this didn’t look like a bad trade, but it complete fucked the Clippers once Magic left town that offseason. He then had to spend a ton of assets to get his own picks back and ended up with a long road back to competing.
Question 5: Biggest controversy of 2014?
I can’t think of many so I’ll just say all the trade rapes of newbie GMs. Those threads always ended up with multiple pages and people complaining.
Honorable mention to the lack of Alvin Robertson’s injury removal although I don’t think anyone really cared because it happened to Ian.
Moses/Neon trades. Still think that was bullshit. Scat traded away Neon and Moses for peanuts, then claimed no one was offering more. Those were elite players (still are) who were young and traded away for something like 2 shitty picks each. Both would go on to win titles (Moses with the Mavs, Neon with the Kings) independently, frustrating to see superstars go for nothing especially when there were better offers out there (I had offered a young Tom Barker and pick (s)).
Probably bankz quitting. That really got under my skin. I like dump overall, but when he gets in his "me against the world no matter what I'm going to be a huge dick with no heart" attitude I really can't stand him. Really immature and annoying. Bankz also didn't handle it very well.
Would have to be the day Malone/Neon were traded from the Nets to the West. What started off as an uneventful peaceful Saturday turned into arguably the biggest meltdown this league has ever seen.
Thankfully things don’t often get too ugly here, but since we are a subset of a large standoffish group of unfriendly men who fear change, there are a few dustups that come to mind. The biggest one that I can remember was probably the Scat teardown night. I think because it happened on a weekend it was even worse, since it was a slow trickle of people checking in, seeing the trades, and then flipping a shit, meaning it lasted days instead of hours.
Question 6: Best title team of the year?
The 3005 Mavs who had Thompson, Barry, Kenon, Catfish and Moses. That team won 68 games and went 16-2 in the playoffs. Honorable Mention goes to 3008 Magic who had Magic, Dantley, Roundfield, Greenwood and Monroe. That team won 72 games and came back from 3-0 in the finals.
Skywalker, Kenon, Moses, Catfish, Barry I believe were a starting lineup. That's nuts, nothing will come close to that lineup.
The top four 4.0 teams imbo are:
1. Mavs '05
2. Rockets '10
3. Jazz '01 or '02
4. Grizzlies second title team
3005 Dallas Mavericks. The team was stacked with at least 4 future hall of famers with no weak link and no challenger from the '05 season.
Odin’s Tournament of Champions basically settled this yesterday, but I would’ve picked the 05 Mavs no matter what. That team had All-Star caliber talent at every position and were a lock to win the title from day one.
Question 7: Best team that didn’t win a title in 2014?
I’d say those Celtics teams that lost in the finals in 3003 and 3004. They were loaded with World B. Free, Hawkins, Adams, Lanier and a young Cliff Robinson. Honorable mention to Trofie’s team that had Champ and Barkley.
Dump's team with Adam's, World B. Free, Cliff, and Lanier. Poor dump.
I think one of those early Jazz teams didn't win one when they had the same core which is surprising. Dump had a solid squad until he messed it up. I was always surprised that Ian's 60-win teams couldn't win a championship.
3001 Utah Jazz. With a better team than their '00 and '02 title teams, the Jazz managed to choke in the sim finals to a Detroit Pistons team led by Paul Westphal and Brain Winters. Buse/Barry/Gervin is arguably the best trio on any contending team in TMBSL history.
This is a little tougher to suss out. Dump’s Adams-Lanier teams were probably the most complete team not to win a title, but I also thought the Ank Suns squad post-Westphal rape and JHB’s Williamson-Boogie-Adams Thunder teams were both ridiculous and had the misfortune of coming around during the height of competition in the West.
Question 8: Best article of 2014?
TMBSL movie posters was the best. Simfan and The Pelicans Brief still make me laugh. Honorable Mention to Ank’s 10 softest GMs in the game article.
I enjoyed Ved's night before Christmas poem, Dil's big boards, Pete's photoshops, I was proud of the all-divisions teams.
Definitely the photoshopped movie posters. Great job guys. Not close to the best, but surprising hilarious, was Devine's "boom roasted" article.
My favorite was the photoshop article of movie posters that Pete, 20's, and I did earlier in the year. A lot of time went into it, and I feel that all three of us really challenged each other artistically and creatively ultimately turning it into what you guys saw. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to do it again in the future.
This was an easy one for me, as that movie posters article was one of the favorite things I’ve ever done. I got the added benefit of seeing each one as it was completed so it brought laughs for me for a solid week as I saw each new one that Soup and 20s finished. Every article I’ve done since then has been chasing that feeling.
Question 9: Rivalry of the year?
I’ll say Soup and Ian. Ian constantly compares his teams to Soup’s and always seems very concerned with what moves the Mavs make. The Grant Hill for David Thompson trade offer with the selling point being to get Thompson another title to lock up his HOF bid was hilarious and I think that same year the Mavs as an eight seed without Larry Kenon upset Ian’s best team. Honorable Mention goes to Mavs/Sixers. Everyone knows about the beef between Soup and I off the court but on the court the Mavs-Sixers series is tied 5-5 when I’m not tanking.
I'm excited for the eric/hebrew NYC rivalry. I'm full team eric (my new choice for best new gm). It's a natural rivalry and two teams that have lacked good GM's for a long time. Both have a long road ahead of them in terms of building their teams but they will rise and fall along the same time lines giving us some good trash talking.
The Midwest. The Mavs, Jazz, Wolves, Thunder, Kings, Nuggets, and Rockets have all had multiple title contending teams. Love you guys.
Best rivalry is hands down the Midwest division. The most competitive division in TMBSL and also the most successful in terms of championships. With 4 teams having won titles, and 6 total, no other division comes close.
My pick is Ian - Druce. This rivalry doesn’t boil over as often as others, but things usually get very real when they do. The Hank Gathers dispute nearly caused Druce to walk away from his team the year it won the title. It is clear that both strongly dislike each other, and I get the feeling that if Druce and Ian ended up in the same room together IRL they would be the two most likely to actually end up in a fight.
Question 10: Best new rule addition/league change in 2014?
I love the reform to the casino/reward system. My favorite part about it is giving points for box score achievements because I like how it rewards teams for winning and trying to compete. I have little respect for GMs who tank by scorching the earth.
I like the ability to sign Buyouts. Soon enough there will be a really good pickup i.e. Dan Roundfield that will give a team a nice addition. I added Otis Thorpe through this method, he offered to resign for very cheap too.
The transfer of everything to dump bucks has been really really good for the league.
Odin has done a really good job of being open to making changes and listening to everyone's input on how to make the league better. My favorite change has been converting most everything into dump bucks and creating rewards for certain milestones achieved throughout the season. It has given GMs who don't like to write articles an opportunity to improve their team as well as increase activity by "forcing" you to look at each of your box scores.
My favorite change has been the reduction in bonus points up for grabs. As a league we are very fortunate that Ian wasted so many on Grant Hill’s handles, because David Thompson proves how ridiculous someone can be with enough bonus points pumped into them. With less opportunities to pump a player’s attributes, the terrifying spectre of inflation shouldn’t be a problem moving forward.
B-b-b-b-b-onus-s-s-s-s-s:
Send a gif to summarize TMBSL in 2014
Feel free to chime in with your own picks for any of these categories
Question 1: Who would you pick as your Best GM of the Year? Worst GM of the Year?
Best GM so far has been Druce because he is the only GM to win titles with two different cores. I’ve been really impressed with his ability to rebuild and retool on the fly while staying a playoff team in the very tough west. Honorable mention goes to Soup. Been more impressed with what he has been able to do with the Celtics than his work with the Mavs. Devine was easily the worst GM in 2014 due to his lack of results and effort. If not for getting lucky with Jordan in free agency he would still be without a playoff win and would have been stuck picking in the 7-10 range every lotto. The best move he made during his tenure was forgetting to resign Dwight Howard.I'm going to go with Fason for best GM. Yes, he hasn't won anything but in a league that prides itself on abilities to tank Fason has rewritten the book. It's been years since he's won a game, and this year again he'll be in the single digits. I love the Mike Conley pick, looks like he may become his 2.0 version and that's a scary thought. That's not even mentioning David Robinson who's fighting abroad. Worst GM is one who's no longer with us, Scat. He got his typical luck falling into Catfish and Reeves, couldn't do anything with them. He traded away Neon and Moses for peanuts. The amount of talent that went through Brooklyn is absurd for the amount of mediocrity they accomplished. Scat said he wanted to stay in the league after trading away Neon/Moses then leaves a few weeks later. He's a good dude that had a bad year. Hopefully hebrew can bring some winning ways to Brooklyn. GM of the year would be Soup based off of the continued winning. Worst GM is without a doubt Devine. I've never seen so much apathy in TMBSL. I have quite a few screenshots of texting convos with him about TMBSL that are absolutely ridiculous in terms of the stupid questions he asks and things he says that make it seems like he's been a GM for two weeks.It's close at the top, but my vote would go to Druce. While he isn't up top of the win colum, he currently has two titles and has shown great GMing skills through trades, free agency, and draft. His trade for Don Buse has been one of the better trades of 4.0 in my opinion.Worst GM has to go to Canesfan. True he has had some bad luck when it comes to injuries, but he did nothing to remedy the situation and seemed content to just sit back on excuses. His team has been in decline the last couple of seasons and he is now forced to sit at the bottom of the league with the Fason's of the World. By his own admittance he has been very abisentee and by all accounts has still remained as stubborn as ever when it comes to trade talks even with his back against the wall. He is notorious for holding on to players for too long in players like Bob Mcadoo and appears to be on the same path with Reggie King.
I’m going with Druce for top GM of 2014, he’s built two winners 5 seasons apart and only had one player carry over from that first team. The only criticism you can make is that he’s probably been too quick to reset his roster, particularly after this latest title. For overall worst GM, Devine is definitely the answer. He just never seemed to care enough to commit to competing or tanking, didn’t do anything with his players when he did stumble into a keeper, and basically just treaded water all year. He also would’ve been terrible at running the news wire, since I don’t think he was ever on here enough to know what was going on in the league.Question 2: Best newcomer GM of the year?
Pete by far has been the best newcomer. He has done good work with the Raptors, been great running the wire, writes the best articles and is enjoyable to shout with. Love Pete. Honorable mention goes to Tyler since he was the only newcomer to win a title.We have plenty of newcomers but I'm going with SPL here. He got a shit sandwich in New York but the podcasts have been a welcome addition that has drawn the attention of everyone in the league. Although he hasn't necessarily been the most successful of the new GMs, my pick would be Pete. Outside of his initiation trade rape by Buster, Pete has hit the grown running by being active and making moves. Pete's biggest contribution has been his personality. From the wire to his involvement in the podcasts, to answering my late night drunk calls, Pistol has been a breath of fresh air to the league. I hope everyone didn’t think I threw this in about myself . Honestly, while I’ve been thrilled to join sim league, I’m not the best newcomer. Tyler won a title but the way he left that team in rooins keeps me from giving him too much credit. So I’m going to go with Fason. He’s obviously a phenomenal tanker, but I think he would’ve had those Sixers in the hunt for a few years if Jordan didn’t leave him at the altar for Devine. Fason’s also been great in the other aspects of the league and very active overall, even while he tanks his ass off.Question 3: Biggest surprise of TMBSL in 2014?
The Pistons winning the title in 3001. They beat a really good Jazz team and prevented a three-peat. Honorable mention to the success that HT has had. Right when the league was starting I remember people jokingly wishing that HT wouldn't join and talked about him sucking in 2.0 but his teams in 4.0 are always pretty good and he has a title along with a title appearance in 3000.That Odin is still the commish. I'm surprised he hasn't gotten restless wanting to become a GM again. He has stuck with us through a couple moves and stays entertained by creating commish specials with odd names. I've been very pleasantly surprised with Odin. Commishes usually don't last this long. He's handled everything really well. He's good with conflicts and I like the extra work he puts in. Another thing I have been really surprised with is Dirt's GMing. It's been way worse than 2.0 and it can't be blamed on Magic leaving him anymore. For me it would be the lack of success from GMs like Dirt and Ank. Both GMs were forces to be reckoned with in 2.0, and I expected more of the same results in 4.0. Each of them have had some bad fortune, but I feel that has been overshadowed by questionable moves and no real plan in place.If I had been in the league for Tyler’s title run that probably would’ve been my pick, but since I just missed that one I’ll go with MJ’s Magic rallying from down 3-0 in the finals. That whole playoffs was pretty entertaining but to see a team rip off four straight wins in that situation against a really good Thunder squad was unbelievable. It also spawned one of my favorite memes of the year, “Congrats JHB”Question 4: Best trade of the year? Worst trade of year?
Best trade was Soup getting Larry Kenon from Oops for Mavs 3003-06 firsts, Pistons 3003 first, Thunder 3004 first and Bill Robinzine. Worst trade was Ank trading Sam Bowie to JHB for Ernie Grunfeld and 3 Thunder firsts. I think Ank was just trying to prove how disgusted he was with Bowie.
Honorable mention to Bankz trading Walter Davis, Stanley Robinson and Bob McAdoo to Kn for Pete Maravich and Andy Rautins.
Best trades is tough, Barry to Dallas is up there. Champ to Boston has worked out well for dump. Worst I'm going with Khalid to Houston. Iggy busted, Grunfield left and just about every pick seems to have fallen between 20-30. It looked good on paper with 6 picks but when you're trading a star away the picks from the team that star is going to are always dogshit.
Sheesh that's a hard question. There's been a lot of trades that set up dynasties. I guess the ones that stand out in my mind are Barry to Utah, Kenon to Dallas, Barry to Dallas, and Khalid to Houston because all of those led to titles. Worst trade of the year was Moses to Dallas for nothing. One of the most one sided non-vetoed trades I've ever seen. I have no idea what scat was thinking, pretty sure he just wanted to trade his guys and quit. Great deal for soup. I agree with it not being vetoed because Scat was a veteran GM. Best trade would be when the Dallas Mavericks traded 7 future first round picks to the New Orleans Pelicans for PF Larry Kenon. At the time it appeared to be a big haul for the talented youngster, but none of the picks turned into much and it gave Dallas the 2nd piece to their future title teams.I think any bad trade that we allow a new GM to make that is very lopsided should be considered the worst trade of the year. Sitting back and allowing it to happen then responding with "it's a right of passage" is one of the dumbest things this league could do. It's bad for the league and it's bad for the new GM.
Best trade of the year to me was probably Barry to Dallas. Soup got an all-league SG for a great price, and one who stuck around way longer than anyone expected. I’m sure if 2poor knew Barry wasn’t going anywhere for 2 more seasons he would’ve held out for more value. I’m tempted to give worst trade to myself for that Moncrief deal, but I think there were a couple that let me off the hook. Instead of piling on the Scat deals, I’m going to cite the Thunder Clippers trade that sent Dantley to LAC. At the time this didn’t look like a bad trade, but it complete fucked the Clippers once Magic left town that offseason. He then had to spend a ton of assets to get his own picks back and ended up with a long road back to competing.Question 5: Biggest controversy of 2014?
I can’t think of many so I’ll just say all the trade rapes of newbie GMs. Those threads always ended up with multiple pages and people complaining.Honorable mention to the lack of Alvin Robertson’s injury removal although I don’t think anyone really cared because it happened to Ian.
Moses/Neon trades. Still think that was bullshit. Scat traded away Neon and Moses for peanuts, then claimed no one was offering more. Those were elite players (still are) who were young and traded away for something like 2 shitty picks each. Both would go on to win titles (Moses with the Mavs, Neon with the Kings) independently, frustrating to see superstars go for nothing especially when there were better offers out there (I had offered a young Tom Barker and pick (s)). Probably bankz quitting. That really got under my skin. I like dump overall, but when he gets in his "me against the world no matter what I'm going to be a huge dick with no heart" attitude I really can't stand him. Really immature and annoying. Bankz also didn't handle it very well.Would have to be the day Malone/Neon were traded from the Nets to the West. What started off as an uneventful peaceful Saturday turned into arguably the biggest meltdown this league has ever seen.Thankfully things don’t often get too ugly here, but since we are a subset of a large standoffish group of unfriendly men who fear change, there are a few dustups that come to mind. The biggest one that I can remember was probably the Scat teardown night. I think because it happened on a weekend it was even worse, since it was a slow trickle of people checking in, seeing the trades, and then flipping a shit, meaning it lasted days instead of hours.Question 6: Best title team of the year?
The 3005 Mavs who had Thompson, Barry, Kenon, Catfish and Moses. That team won 68 games and went 16-2 in the playoffs. Honorable Mention goes to 3008 Magic who had Magic, Dantley, Roundfield, Greenwood and Monroe. That team won 72 games and came back from 3-0 in the finals.Skywalker, Kenon, Moses, Catfish, Barry I believe were a starting lineup. That's nuts, nothing will come close to that lineup. The top four 4.0 teams imbo are:1. Mavs '05
2. Rockets '10
3. Jazz '01 or '02
4. Grizzlies second title team
3005 Dallas Mavericks. The team was stacked with at least 4 future hall of famers with no weak link and no challenger from the '05 season.Odin’s Tournament of Champions basically settled this yesterday, but I would’ve picked the 05 Mavs no matter what. That team had All-Star caliber talent at every position and were a lock to win the title from day one. Question 7: Best team that didn’t win a title in 2014?
I’d say those Celtics teams that lost in the finals in 3003 and 3004. They were loaded with World B. Free, Hawkins, Adams, Lanier and a young Cliff Robinson. Honorable mention to Trofie’s team that had Champ and Barkley.Dump's team with Adam's, World B. Free, Cliff, and Lanier. Poor dump. I think one of those early Jazz teams didn't win one when they had the same core which is surprising. Dump had a solid squad until he messed it up. I was always surprised that Ian's 60-win teams couldn't win a championship. 3001 Utah Jazz. With a better team than their '00 and '02 title teams, the Jazz managed to choke in the sim finals to a Detroit Pistons team led by Paul Westphal and Brain Winters. Buse/Barry/Gervin is arguably the best trio on any contending team in TMBSL history.This is a little tougher to suss out. Dump’s Adams-Lanier teams were probably the most complete team not to win a title, but I also thought the Ank Suns squad post-Westphal rape and JHB’s Williamson-Boogie-Adams Thunder teams were both ridiculous and had the misfortune of coming around during the height of competition in the West.Question 8: Best article of 2014?
TMBSL movie posters was the best. Simfan and The Pelicans Brief still make me laugh. Honorable Mention to Ank’s 10 softest GMs in the game article.I enjoyed Ved's night before Christmas poem, Dil's big boards, Pete's photoshops, I was proud of the all-divisions teams.Definitely the photoshopped movie posters. Great job guys. Not close to the best, but surprising hilarious, was Devine's "boom roasted" article.My favorite was the photoshop article of movie posters that Pete, 20's, and I did earlier in the year. A lot of time went into it, and I feel that all three of us really challenged each other artistically and creatively ultimately turning it into what you guys saw. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to do it again in the future.This was an easy one for me, as that movie posters article was one of the favorite things I’ve ever done. I got the added benefit of seeing each one as it was completed so it brought laughs for me for a solid week as I saw each new one that Soup and 20s finished. Every article I’ve done since then has been chasing that feeling.Question 9: Rivalry of the year?
I’ll say Soup and Ian. Ian constantly compares his teams to Soup’s and always seems very concerned with what moves the Mavs make. The Grant Hill for David Thompson trade offer with the selling point being to get Thompson another title to lock up his HOF bid was hilarious and I think that same year the Mavs as an eight seed without Larry Kenon upset Ian’s best team. Honorable Mention goes to Mavs/Sixers. Everyone knows about the beef between Soup and I off the court but on the court the Mavs-Sixers series is tied 5-5 when I’m not tanking.I'm excited for the eric/hebrew NYC rivalry. I'm full team eric (my new choice for best new gm). It's a natural rivalry and two teams that have lacked good GM's for a long time. Both have a long road ahead of them in terms of building their teams but they will rise and fall along the same time lines giving us some good trash talking.The Midwest. The Mavs, Jazz, Wolves, Thunder, Kings, Nuggets, and Rockets have all had multiple title contending teams. Love you guys.Best rivalry is hands down the Midwest division. The most competitive division in TMBSL and also the most successful in terms of championships. With 4 teams having won titles, and 6 total, no other division comes close. My pick is Ian - Druce. This rivalry doesn’t boil over as often as others, but things usually get very real when they do. The Hank Gathers dispute nearly caused Druce to walk away from his team the year it won the title. It is clear that both strongly dislike each other, and I get the feeling that if Druce and Ian ended up in the same room together IRL they would be the two most likely to actually end up in a fight.Question 10: Best new rule addition/league change in 2014?
I love the reform to the casino/reward system. My favorite part about it is giving points for box score achievements because I like how it rewards teams for winning and trying to compete. I have little respect for GMs who tank by scorching the earth. I like the ability to sign Buyouts. Soon enough there will be a really good pickup i.e. Dan Roundfield that will give a team a nice addition. I added Otis Thorpe through this method, he offered to resign for very cheap too. The transfer of everything to dump bucks has been really really good for the league.Odin has done a really good job of being open to making changes and listening to everyone's input on how to make the league better. My favorite change has been converting most everything into dump bucks and creating rewards for certain milestones achieved throughout the season. It has given GMs who don't like to write articles an opportunity to improve their team as well as increase activity by "forcing" you to look at each of your box scores.My favorite change has been the reduction in bonus points up for grabs. As a league we are very fortunate that Ian wasted so many on Grant Hill’s handles, because David Thompson proves how ridiculous someone can be with enough bonus points pumped into them. With less opportunities to pump a player’s attributes, the terrifying spectre of inflation shouldn’t be a problem moving forward.B-b-b-b-b-onus-s-s-s-s-s:
Send a gif to summarize TMBSL in 2014
Feel free to chime in with your own picks for any of these categories
