Post by Delap on Apr 7, 2017 9:48:48 GMT -6
The King is dead! Love live the King! 3042 would start with a breath of fresh air, as Heebs replaced Dump as the King of the Sim League and all was well. I’ll do the normal run-down, adding in some good minimum contracts to the LLE section, as they often function as the same type of thing.
MAX:
Jimmy Jackson – Boston Celtics – 6 years - $146,396,900
One of the best players in SIM history, inks a mega-deal with Boston. He would be traded after a single season of the deal. He would go on to garner 3 1st Round picks, along with two decent players. Those picks are coming to fruition next season, so the true value of the deal won’t be known until then. Jimmy would go on to lead the Knickerbockers to their first championship in franchise history, so whatever the price, it was worth it. Even at age 36, he shows no signs of stopping… but that $30m price-tag for next season? Yeeeeowtch.
Shaquille O’Neal – Orlando Magic – 6 years - $131,250,000
A SIM homecoming that sadly never materialized IRL… the Big Aristotle signs with the Orlando basketball franchise. While a dominant center, and possibly the best player on the Nets championship team, Shaq was probably not worth this deal. Centers can be great players, but the fall-off from elite to very very good isn’t very big. Traded to Utah after 4 seasons, Shaq’s contract is now probably the biggest albatross in the league. Worst MAX this year.
Meyers Leonard – Seattle SuperSonics – 3 years - $39,406,250
Again, probably an overpay for a center, but less than half the cost and half the years of Shaq (see above)… Meyers is a much better investment. High blocks, high rebounds… not great shooting %s. Leonard anchored the middle for Delap’s best team (3043) next to Eddie Griffin in the middle. Was eventually part of the deal to PHX that nabbed Charlie Hardnett and Alredick Hughes (ahem… league scoring leader, Alredick Hughes) that revamped the Seattle core.
Austin Rivers – Kansas City Kings – 1 year - $12,500,000
2poor wanted to suck… and if you want to suck, you sign Austin Rivers and let him run the show. An astounding 3.2 TOs in fewer than 26 minutes a game, coupled with only 4.7 assists in the same amount of time. He is just awful. Great signing for sucking.
Damian Lillard – Minnesota Timberwolves – 6 years - $93,750,000
Something about Minnesota must draw the FAs in for the SIM league… because Lillard left the plains of Oklahoma to head to basically a colder, slightly less racist version of Oklahoma. Probably one of the Top 10 players in the league right now and the contract has never looked bad. Trying to prove that he is one of the alpha PGs and overall players, he may just not be a winner, as the Timberwolves have disappointed since his arrival. Either way, he’s great and he’s the best MAX deal, in hindsight.
Jonas Valanciunas – New York Knicks – 1 year - $20,000,000
What is money to a Dolan? Nothing apparently. Jonas wasn’t bad by any stretch… but was definitely outperformed by 2 other Cs on minimum deals on his own team (Bol, Dieng). Huge overpay, but when your dad gives you the money… you spend it. (his price-tag did make landing JJ possible… so probably worth it.)
Jonathan Bender – Memphis Bobcats – 1 year - $17,500,000
Sidney Deane – Memphis Bobcats – 3 years - $52,500,000
Proper payment for two quality guys to keep them on the roster. Neither jump out as good or bad deals. They just are. Bender on the downside of an illustrious career, Deane peaking as a slightly above average PG. The price was fair for both.
Mid-Level deals between $6m - MAX:
(A lot of activity from the Central teams in this range, for whatever reason)
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Milwaukee Bucks – 5 years - $50,000,000
Eddy Curry – Milwaukee Bucks – 5 years - $32,500,000
Wow. Great deals for Trofie. Of course both players were traded after a single season… but they were fantastic signings. Combined for somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 stocks per game, while packing a good scoring punch, these two would have a great ’42 season together (leading Milwaukee to 58 wins) before being shipped out of town. With Rashard Lewis, Darko, and Danny Granger on board… Milwaukee really shat the bed in dismantling a contender. Fantastic signings followed by horrendous GMing.
Andre Drummond – Memphis Bobcats – 7 years - $57,823,5338
Eric Gordon – Memphis Bobcats – 2 years - $14,000,000
Like Bender/Deane in the previous category, this ended up being average price for average value. Nothing to scream or cry about, just solid GMing. Drummond has steadily improved over the life of the deal and is probably the best “PF” labeled player in the league, though. That should tell you how bad other “PF”s are.
Lil Penny – Atlanta Hawks – 4 years - $29,200,000
CJ Miles – Atlanta Hawks – 6 years - $36,213,970
Wow. Overpay for 2 pretty average dudes. I have no idea how this ATL team won 50 games in ’42. Rafer was buried behind Lil Penny and the rest of the team was pretty meh. Neither of these jump out as worst of the year… but they aren’t pretty. Fun fact: Both players would go on to be on the Rockets roster and play exactly 0 minutes for them during a season.
Johnny Cox – Indiana Pacers – 4 years - $44,000,000
Overpay for a high TO, low scoring PG. Jerry West ruined Ewing’s prime by surrounding him with awful guards, like Mr. Cox. He would go on to retire at the end of the deal at age 33. Worst signing of the year in this category.
Bradley Beal – Chicago Bulls – 5 years - $36,630,600
Lip’s first off-season as a GM and he comes in gunning after a FA coming off a rookie deal. Fair price for Beal, who has proven to be a rangy defender (earning All-Defensive Team nods in ’43 and ’44). He doesn’t pack the scoring punch you want to see from his position, but that can be fixed by surrounding him with a good PG/SF combo. Unfortunately, he’s never really played with a good PG/SF combo.
Alredick Hughes – Phoenix Suns – 4 years - $24,000,000
Mystic Stone – Phoenix Suns – 1 year - $7,000,000
Boom or bust. The mercurial Hughes can really get hot. He’s everything you want in a SG, except the TOs. The TOs are a real problem. Great price for him, though. Mystic Stone shined as one of the ultimate D/R bigs in the league with a stripper name. Actually, in that category, he’s probably THE ultimate D/R big with a stripper name. Good player, good signing.
Draymond Green – Orlando Magic – 6 years - $36,000,000
Ew. Just ew. He has declined in every category since signing the deal. An undersized PF who doesn’t really block shots or score effectively… a really bad signing. I take back what I said about Johnny Cox earlier… this is the worst signing of the 3042 off-season, regardless of category.
MLE:
Like last season, I’ll break up the MLE guys by starters/real contributors and backups. If you were an MLE backup, congrats… but you don’t get a write-up. If you were an MLE who got fewer than 10 minutes a game, you stole money… congrats. I’ll denote those guys with *s… they will be the worst MLEs of the year.
Backups:
Sam Jacobsen – New York Knicks
Popeye Jones – Orlando Magic***
Billy Hoyle – Washington Bullets***
Ben Ellison – New Jersey Nets
John Jenkins – Golden State Warriors
Matthew Lockhart – Cleveland Cavaliers
Starters/Real Contributors:
Khris Middleton – Philadelphia 76ers
Khris was the 6th man on the 63-win 6ers and came through with excellent defense on the wing, along with strong shooting percentages across the board. He didn’t turn the ball over, either. Best MLE of the year.
Dolph Schayes – Milwaukee Bucks
Pretty efficient numbers as a 3rd big. Great rebounding numbers. Good signing.
Mike Farmer – Houston Rockets
Really efficient 3rd wing. TOs are a little high, but overall a solid player at the right price.
Loren Woods – Utah Jazz
Great D/R big, bit of a down year in FG%, but he barely shoots, so it doesn’t matter too much.
Jerome Whitehead – LA Clippers
Really fell off after a great NYK season the year before, still a decent D/R big, but not starter-level play like in the 3041 season.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Indiana Pacers
One of the few MLEs to be a real starter, he put up pretty respectable numbers across the board. Doesn’t do any phenomenally, but doesn’t really hold you back either. 3pt% was a bit of a let-down.
LLE/MIN:
We’re looking at the guys who made an impact on winning teams here, good bargain basement buys. And for teams that finished Top 5 in West/East… not a whole lot of purchases here.
Shawn Bradley – Seattle SuperSonics – MIN
Shawn served as a rotation big and injury-replacement for Eddie Griffin and ended up with 3.6 blocks per/36. Good buy.
Marcus Bol – New York Knicks – MIN
Gorgui Dieng – New York Knicks – MIN
Benji Wilson – New York Knicks – LLE
Wow. Value across the board for a combined $3.2m. Eric wins this category going away. The 3 players averaged 7 blocks and 4 steals per game (combined) in vital bench roles for the 51-win New York basketball squad. Benji shot at a high clip and did a bit of everything. This folks, is why Eric continues to shop at Filene’s Basement each year… the risk is low and the reward can be YUGE.
MAX:
Jimmy Jackson – Boston Celtics – 6 years - $146,396,900
One of the best players in SIM history, inks a mega-deal with Boston. He would be traded after a single season of the deal. He would go on to garner 3 1st Round picks, along with two decent players. Those picks are coming to fruition next season, so the true value of the deal won’t be known until then. Jimmy would go on to lead the Knickerbockers to their first championship in franchise history, so whatever the price, it was worth it. Even at age 36, he shows no signs of stopping… but that $30m price-tag for next season? Yeeeeowtch.
Shaquille O’Neal – Orlando Magic – 6 years - $131,250,000
A SIM homecoming that sadly never materialized IRL… the Big Aristotle signs with the Orlando basketball franchise. While a dominant center, and possibly the best player on the Nets championship team, Shaq was probably not worth this deal. Centers can be great players, but the fall-off from elite to very very good isn’t very big. Traded to Utah after 4 seasons, Shaq’s contract is now probably the biggest albatross in the league. Worst MAX this year.
Meyers Leonard – Seattle SuperSonics – 3 years - $39,406,250
Again, probably an overpay for a center, but less than half the cost and half the years of Shaq (see above)… Meyers is a much better investment. High blocks, high rebounds… not great shooting %s. Leonard anchored the middle for Delap’s best team (3043) next to Eddie Griffin in the middle. Was eventually part of the deal to PHX that nabbed Charlie Hardnett and Alredick Hughes (ahem… league scoring leader, Alredick Hughes) that revamped the Seattle core.
Austin Rivers – Kansas City Kings – 1 year - $12,500,000
2poor wanted to suck… and if you want to suck, you sign Austin Rivers and let him run the show. An astounding 3.2 TOs in fewer than 26 minutes a game, coupled with only 4.7 assists in the same amount of time. He is just awful. Great signing for sucking.
Damian Lillard – Minnesota Timberwolves – 6 years - $93,750,000
Something about Minnesota must draw the FAs in for the SIM league… because Lillard left the plains of Oklahoma to head to basically a colder, slightly less racist version of Oklahoma. Probably one of the Top 10 players in the league right now and the contract has never looked bad. Trying to prove that he is one of the alpha PGs and overall players, he may just not be a winner, as the Timberwolves have disappointed since his arrival. Either way, he’s great and he’s the best MAX deal, in hindsight.
Jonas Valanciunas – New York Knicks – 1 year - $20,000,000
What is money to a Dolan? Nothing apparently. Jonas wasn’t bad by any stretch… but was definitely outperformed by 2 other Cs on minimum deals on his own team (Bol, Dieng). Huge overpay, but when your dad gives you the money… you spend it. (his price-tag did make landing JJ possible… so probably worth it.)
Jonathan Bender – Memphis Bobcats – 1 year - $17,500,000
Sidney Deane – Memphis Bobcats – 3 years - $52,500,000
Proper payment for two quality guys to keep them on the roster. Neither jump out as good or bad deals. They just are. Bender on the downside of an illustrious career, Deane peaking as a slightly above average PG. The price was fair for both.
Mid-Level deals between $6m - MAX:
(A lot of activity from the Central teams in this range, for whatever reason)
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Milwaukee Bucks – 5 years - $50,000,000
Eddy Curry – Milwaukee Bucks – 5 years - $32,500,000
Wow. Great deals for Trofie. Of course both players were traded after a single season… but they were fantastic signings. Combined for somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 stocks per game, while packing a good scoring punch, these two would have a great ’42 season together (leading Milwaukee to 58 wins) before being shipped out of town. With Rashard Lewis, Darko, and Danny Granger on board… Milwaukee really shat the bed in dismantling a contender. Fantastic signings followed by horrendous GMing.
Andre Drummond – Memphis Bobcats – 7 years - $57,823,5338
Eric Gordon – Memphis Bobcats – 2 years - $14,000,000
Like Bender/Deane in the previous category, this ended up being average price for average value. Nothing to scream or cry about, just solid GMing. Drummond has steadily improved over the life of the deal and is probably the best “PF” labeled player in the league, though. That should tell you how bad other “PF”s are.
Lil Penny – Atlanta Hawks – 4 years - $29,200,000
CJ Miles – Atlanta Hawks – 6 years - $36,213,970
Wow. Overpay for 2 pretty average dudes. I have no idea how this ATL team won 50 games in ’42. Rafer was buried behind Lil Penny and the rest of the team was pretty meh. Neither of these jump out as worst of the year… but they aren’t pretty. Fun fact: Both players would go on to be on the Rockets roster and play exactly 0 minutes for them during a season.
Johnny Cox – Indiana Pacers – 4 years - $44,000,000
Overpay for a high TO, low scoring PG. Jerry West ruined Ewing’s prime by surrounding him with awful guards, like Mr. Cox. He would go on to retire at the end of the deal at age 33. Worst signing of the year in this category.
Bradley Beal – Chicago Bulls – 5 years - $36,630,600
Lip’s first off-season as a GM and he comes in gunning after a FA coming off a rookie deal. Fair price for Beal, who has proven to be a rangy defender (earning All-Defensive Team nods in ’43 and ’44). He doesn’t pack the scoring punch you want to see from his position, but that can be fixed by surrounding him with a good PG/SF combo. Unfortunately, he’s never really played with a good PG/SF combo.
Alredick Hughes – Phoenix Suns – 4 years - $24,000,000
Mystic Stone – Phoenix Suns – 1 year - $7,000,000
Boom or bust. The mercurial Hughes can really get hot. He’s everything you want in a SG, except the TOs. The TOs are a real problem. Great price for him, though. Mystic Stone shined as one of the ultimate D/R bigs in the league with a stripper name. Actually, in that category, he’s probably THE ultimate D/R big with a stripper name. Good player, good signing.
Draymond Green – Orlando Magic – 6 years - $36,000,000
Ew. Just ew. He has declined in every category since signing the deal. An undersized PF who doesn’t really block shots or score effectively… a really bad signing. I take back what I said about Johnny Cox earlier… this is the worst signing of the 3042 off-season, regardless of category.
MLE:
Like last season, I’ll break up the MLE guys by starters/real contributors and backups. If you were an MLE backup, congrats… but you don’t get a write-up. If you were an MLE who got fewer than 10 minutes a game, you stole money… congrats. I’ll denote those guys with *s… they will be the worst MLEs of the year.
Backups:
Sam Jacobsen – New York Knicks
Popeye Jones – Orlando Magic***
Billy Hoyle – Washington Bullets***
Ben Ellison – New Jersey Nets
John Jenkins – Golden State Warriors
Matthew Lockhart – Cleveland Cavaliers
Starters/Real Contributors:
Khris Middleton – Philadelphia 76ers
Khris was the 6th man on the 63-win 6ers and came through with excellent defense on the wing, along with strong shooting percentages across the board. He didn’t turn the ball over, either. Best MLE of the year.
Dolph Schayes – Milwaukee Bucks
Pretty efficient numbers as a 3rd big. Great rebounding numbers. Good signing.
Mike Farmer – Houston Rockets
Really efficient 3rd wing. TOs are a little high, but overall a solid player at the right price.
Loren Woods – Utah Jazz
Great D/R big, bit of a down year in FG%, but he barely shoots, so it doesn’t matter too much.
Jerome Whitehead – LA Clippers
Really fell off after a great NYK season the year before, still a decent D/R big, but not starter-level play like in the 3041 season.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Indiana Pacers
One of the few MLEs to be a real starter, he put up pretty respectable numbers across the board. Doesn’t do any phenomenally, but doesn’t really hold you back either. 3pt% was a bit of a let-down.
LLE/MIN:
We’re looking at the guys who made an impact on winning teams here, good bargain basement buys. And for teams that finished Top 5 in West/East… not a whole lot of purchases here.
Shawn Bradley – Seattle SuperSonics – MIN
Shawn served as a rotation big and injury-replacement for Eddie Griffin and ended up with 3.6 blocks per/36. Good buy.
Marcus Bol – New York Knicks – MIN
Gorgui Dieng – New York Knicks – MIN
Benji Wilson – New York Knicks – LLE
Wow. Value across the board for a combined $3.2m. Eric wins this category going away. The 3 players averaged 7 blocks and 4 steals per game (combined) in vital bench roles for the 51-win New York basketball squad. Benji shot at a high clip and did a bit of everything. This folks, is why Eric continues to shop at Filene’s Basement each year… the risk is low and the reward can be YUGE.
