Post by Lazy Pete on Jul 15, 2015 21:29:55 GMT -6
One week ago, I took a one-man roadtrip from DC to South Carolina to visit family for the 4th of July. The drive is 566 miles and typically takes anywhere from 8.5 (i wish) to 11 hours, depending on traffic. As a way to keep myself entertained, I started just writing down random things related to sim league (sometimes just random things) on my phone. I decided that I would do all of this without looking at anything related to the league, and then go back and look at the results, where I was right, where I was wrong, etc.
Not all of these make sense, and some probably would've been better left on the cutting room floor. But here we are. I hope you enjoy my ramblings.
Top 5 by position
PG
Harrison
Oscar
Curry
Marbury
Conley
I almost left Conley off the list but thankfully remembered him before putting someone like Nash or Dutch in his place. I've got no complaints about the 5 I named here, I think most would have a similar list.
SG
Bossert
Porzingis
Lance
Selvy
McCloud
A couple thoughts: I think this is a solid list. Porzingis and Bossert are the class of the SGs, and Selvy showed last year that he belongs in the conversation too. Lance is listed at SG but I'm pretty sure he plays SF almost exclusively. Lance still belongs in this discussion, but not at this position. I love McCloud's game, but I think Ray Allen and Budinger both could just as easily fill out that top 5. Still, could be worse.
SF
Niang
Barkley
Champ
Rice
Fazekas
Welcome to worse. There's been some talk lately about the lack of quality SFs, and it really sunk in for me as I sat for 20 minutes trying to think of anyone besides Niang who belonged. Obviously, as mentioned, Lance should be in this list. I completely brainfarted on guys like Jon Pierce and Al Horford and wound up reaching for Glen Rice, who is shouldn't sniff the top 5, and Champ, who didn't play SF last year according to Eric's win shares article. I immediately regretted writing Barkley, but it turns out I wasn't giving him enough credit.
Bigs
Blair
Turner
Blake
Tex
Dwight
Shareef
Jermaine O'Neal
Furry
Jahlil
Kemp
I combined PF and C into one category because that's basically what they are. Huge omission forgetting Buck Williams in Orlando, who is already incredible, and I think Big Country is probably close too. Furry is another that belongs on the SF list, but I couldn't remember who was playing on the perimeter in Dirt's jumbo lineup. I way overrated Tex by including him here, he's not in this stratosphere, at least not yet.
PLAYLIST
My car is too shitty to have blutooth or any kind of auxiliary port, so I'm stuck with CDs. So this list is the combination of albums and podcasts I listened to throughout the drive.
1. Enter the 36 Chambers - Wu-Tang Clan
2. At.Long.Last.A$AP - A$AP Rocky
3. If You're Reading This It's Too Late - Drake (Go Raptors!)
4. Never Not Funny - Guest Anthony Rapp (my burned CD copy of this cut off with 20 minutes left in the episode, and it was probably for the best)
5. Run the Jewels 2 - Run the Jewels
6. The Bones of What You Believe - CHVRCHES
7. Improv4Humans - Live at the Del Close Marathon Pt. 1
8. Liquid Swords - GZA the Genius
Top 10 Traded Picks
Nuggets 20
Pacers 20
Nuggets 21
Nuggets 22
T-Wolves 20
Cavs Picks?
Hornets '22
Raptors '21
Knicks pick
(tie) Any Clipper, Bucks, Bobcats
This category was a horrible idea in both interest and execution. Clearly I did a horrible job even remembering what picks had been traded, and it's hard to rank traded picks this far out, because things change so drastically from season to season. I clearly had no idea whether Eric had traded his pick (he had, in the Godbolt trade) but it had no business on this list when I didn't mention picks that were surefire lotto picks last draft. I also included like 10 draft picks in my last slot, but as we all know, situations in LA, Milwaukee and Memphis change quickly and I would put their futures ahead of some less-skilled GMs.
Top 5 Draft prospects
LaMarcus
Morrison
Roy
Shawne
Balkman
...aka see if I can remember 5 draft prospects. I'm not sure if all the profiles were posted yet or not, but I definitely hadn't looked through them yet if they were. If I had remembered Rudy Gay was a thing, he definitely would've made the list. And as much as my heart wants to put Balkman on this list, I think there were about 30-40 guys with as good a claim for his spot. In fairness, I was getting pretty punchy at this point in the trip.
GMs I've Met IRL
Buster
Bruns
Trof
Ocho
Ank
Yawn
Heebs
Possibly...YOU!
Yeah, things were getting bleak at this point. I was so starved for human contact that thoughts of sim league began to drift towards those of you I have had the pleasure of meeting. I hope to add some names to this list over the next year, but why I felt anyone would want to see this list is beyond me. Also, I spelled "possibly" wrong. No Ragrets
States I've Been in This Year
DE
PA
NJ
NY
NH*
TX*
NV
NC
SC
FL
VA
IL*
CA
MD
WV
OH
Speaking of stuff no one cares about, I've traveled a ton this year, particularly from April on. I began to wonder just how many states I've been to this year, hence this completely dumb list. If you're counting at home, that is 16 states so far, with at least 4 more on the books in the next couple months (MA, CO, MN, IA, all for the first time). One more and I get a free sandwich!
Items consumed on road trip
Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese
Large McDonalds Fry
Large McDonalds Coke
20 oz Coke
20 oz Pepsi
16 oz Red Bull
Chewy Sprees
Sadly no beaver nuggets :(
Best Articles (That I Didn't Participate In)
Softest GMs
Devine's Boom Roasted article
20s Draft Preview
Eric's Software Shizz
Yawn's Night Before Christmas
Finally back to sim league. These were some of my favorites of the past year and I love going back and rereading them every once in a while. I probably only understand about 10% of Eric's stuff, but I have a feeling if I did, I would unlock the meaning of life, so he gets the nod here. Good job by all involved!
Top Teams 3 Seasons from Now
1. Thunder
2. Kings
3. Grizz
4. Bulls
5. Bucks
What's scary is that Harrison and Shareef might be a better 1-2 than David Thompson and Larry Kenon. Get used to the Thunder colors on the board, I've got a feeling we're in for a Dil-like run of title teams for Geebs. 20s team looks a hell of a lot different that the beginning of last season, but 20s knows how to keep his team at or near the top, so I think he's a safe pick for any future rankings. The next three are a combination of respect for GM skills and core building blocks in place. The Couv is having a strong start to it's rebuild and the Bucks have a couple young stars to build around. I probably would leave the Bulls off if I re-did this list, but Bruns is getting something cooking w/ his trade for Dutch and KD. Others who probably should be here: Lakers, Raptors, Magic (I'm betting that Carney is a beast)
¡Bienvenidos a South Carolina!
Trip Start: 4:30 PM EST, Thursday July 2nd
Trip End: 2:30 AM EST, Friday July 3rd
Total Trip time: 10 hours
Not all of these make sense, and some probably would've been better left on the cutting room floor. But here we are. I hope you enjoy my ramblings.
Top 5 by position
PG
Harrison
Oscar
Curry
Marbury
Conley
I almost left Conley off the list but thankfully remembered him before putting someone like Nash or Dutch in his place. I've got no complaints about the 5 I named here, I think most would have a similar list.
SG
Bossert
Porzingis
Lance
Selvy
McCloud
A couple thoughts: I think this is a solid list. Porzingis and Bossert are the class of the SGs, and Selvy showed last year that he belongs in the conversation too. Lance is listed at SG but I'm pretty sure he plays SF almost exclusively. Lance still belongs in this discussion, but not at this position. I love McCloud's game, but I think Ray Allen and Budinger both could just as easily fill out that top 5. Still, could be worse.
SF
Niang
Barkley
Champ
Rice
Fazekas
Welcome to worse. There's been some talk lately about the lack of quality SFs, and it really sunk in for me as I sat for 20 minutes trying to think of anyone besides Niang who belonged. Obviously, as mentioned, Lance should be in this list. I completely brainfarted on guys like Jon Pierce and Al Horford and wound up reaching for Glen Rice, who is shouldn't sniff the top 5, and Champ, who didn't play SF last year according to Eric's win shares article. I immediately regretted writing Barkley, but it turns out I wasn't giving him enough credit.
Bigs
Blair
Turner
Blake
Tex
Dwight
Shareef
Jermaine O'Neal
Furry
Jahlil
Kemp
I combined PF and C into one category because that's basically what they are. Huge omission forgetting Buck Williams in Orlando, who is already incredible, and I think Big Country is probably close too. Furry is another that belongs on the SF list, but I couldn't remember who was playing on the perimeter in Dirt's jumbo lineup. I way overrated Tex by including him here, he's not in this stratosphere, at least not yet.
PLAYLIST
My car is too shitty to have blutooth or any kind of auxiliary port, so I'm stuck with CDs. So this list is the combination of albums and podcasts I listened to throughout the drive.
1. Enter the 36 Chambers - Wu-Tang Clan
2. At.Long.Last.A$AP - A$AP Rocky
3. If You're Reading This It's Too Late - Drake (Go Raptors!)
4. Never Not Funny - Guest Anthony Rapp (my burned CD copy of this cut off with 20 minutes left in the episode, and it was probably for the best)
5. Run the Jewels 2 - Run the Jewels
6. The Bones of What You Believe - CHVRCHES
7. Improv4Humans - Live at the Del Close Marathon Pt. 1
8. Liquid Swords - GZA the Genius
Top 10 Traded Picks
Nuggets 20
Pacers 20
Nuggets 21
Nuggets 22
T-Wolves 20
Cavs Picks?
Hornets '22
Raptors '21
Knicks pick
(tie) Any Clipper, Bucks, Bobcats
This category was a horrible idea in both interest and execution. Clearly I did a horrible job even remembering what picks had been traded, and it's hard to rank traded picks this far out, because things change so drastically from season to season. I clearly had no idea whether Eric had traded his pick (he had, in the Godbolt trade) but it had no business on this list when I didn't mention picks that were surefire lotto picks last draft. I also included like 10 draft picks in my last slot, but as we all know, situations in LA, Milwaukee and Memphis change quickly and I would put their futures ahead of some less-skilled GMs.
Top 5 Draft prospects
LaMarcus
Morrison
Roy
Shawne
Balkman
...aka see if I can remember 5 draft prospects. I'm not sure if all the profiles were posted yet or not, but I definitely hadn't looked through them yet if they were. If I had remembered Rudy Gay was a thing, he definitely would've made the list. And as much as my heart wants to put Balkman on this list, I think there were about 30-40 guys with as good a claim for his spot. In fairness, I was getting pretty punchy at this point in the trip.
GMs I've Met IRL
Buster
Bruns
Trof
Ocho
Ank
Yawn
Heebs
Possibly...YOU!
Yeah, things were getting bleak at this point. I was so starved for human contact that thoughts of sim league began to drift towards those of you I have had the pleasure of meeting. I hope to add some names to this list over the next year, but why I felt anyone would want to see this list is beyond me. Also, I spelled "possibly" wrong. No Ragrets
States I've Been in This Year
DE
PA
NJ
NY
NH*
TX*
NV
NC
SC
FL
VA
IL*
CA
MD
WV
OH
Speaking of stuff no one cares about, I've traveled a ton this year, particularly from April on. I began to wonder just how many states I've been to this year, hence this completely dumb list. If you're counting at home, that is 16 states so far, with at least 4 more on the books in the next couple months (MA, CO, MN, IA, all for the first time). One more and I get a free sandwich!
Items consumed on road trip
Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese
Large McDonalds Fry
Large McDonalds Coke
20 oz Coke
20 oz Pepsi
16 oz Red Bull
Chewy Sprees
Sadly no beaver nuggets :(
Best Articles (That I Didn't Participate In)
Softest GMs
Devine's Boom Roasted article
20s Draft Preview
Eric's Software Shizz
Yawn's Night Before Christmas
Finally back to sim league. These were some of my favorites of the past year and I love going back and rereading them every once in a while. I probably only understand about 10% of Eric's stuff, but I have a feeling if I did, I would unlock the meaning of life, so he gets the nod here. Good job by all involved!
Top Teams 3 Seasons from Now
1. Thunder
2. Kings
3. Grizz
4. Bulls
5. Bucks
What's scary is that Harrison and Shareef might be a better 1-2 than David Thompson and Larry Kenon. Get used to the Thunder colors on the board, I've got a feeling we're in for a Dil-like run of title teams for Geebs. 20s team looks a hell of a lot different that the beginning of last season, but 20s knows how to keep his team at or near the top, so I think he's a safe pick for any future rankings. The next three are a combination of respect for GM skills and core building blocks in place. The Couv is having a strong start to it's rebuild and the Bucks have a couple young stars to build around. I probably would leave the Bulls off if I re-did this list, but Bruns is getting something cooking w/ his trade for Dutch and KD. Others who probably should be here: Lakers, Raptors, Magic (I'm betting that Carney is a beast)
¡Bienvenidos a South Carolina!
Trip Start: 4:30 PM EST, Thursday July 2nd
Trip End: 2:30 AM EST, Friday July 3rd
Total Trip time: 10 hours
