The Pigpen w/ilovebball
Oct 10, 2012 13:42:24 GMT -5
Post by Pig34Asaurusrex on Oct 10, 2012 13:42:24 GMT -5
A PIGPEN EXCLUSIVE: The Pigpen w/ilovebball
Welcome back to another edition of The Pigpen, BBS's dirtiest and most informative Q&A on the boards. Getting sloppy in the trough today is Houston Rockets GM ilovebball, a.k.a HustlinDaly.
1. I don't think I have had the pleasure of being in a sim with you before. Tell us who you are, how you came upon sims and more directly BBS and your thoughts on the league up until this point.
I started in sim leagues during the mid-late 2000s (during my senior year in HS and freshman/sophomore years of college). From 2005-2008, I was in a bunch of random leagues, most of which I do not even remember. I never really did much, I feel like I was mostly inactive/crappy. There are a few BBS GMs who were on my AIM buddy list prior to me joining BBS (such as Reopole, Jah, Play, Andy, DBW, possibly more).
During the summer of 2011, I randomly got bored and decided to get back into sims. Since I had quite a bit of time on my hands, I joined quite a few leagues and was active in all of them. This time around, I did a better job overall. I thought things through, planned the types of moves I wanted to make before making them. I built some great teams across various leagues. From Summer 2011, onwards, I have won five championships in four different leagues (eight if you count sims which ended during the middle of a season and simmed the rest).
During this time, I had been in leagues with many current/former BBS GMs (such as Svedda, GAME, Broph, Traves, HF, Sytro, Ukfanjohn to name a few). And all of them told me that BBS is the best league out there (due to the tough GM pool along with a great commish in Spencer). During May of 2012, I joined a random league (which lasted less than a season) in which Spencer was also a GM. I did a solid job turning a mediocre team with a bunch of terrible contracts into a rebuilding team with a couple of good players, everybody else expiring while keeping all my picks. Shortly after that league ended, Spencer offered me the Wizards in BBSv4 where I was a GM for the final seven seasons of that league. While I built some competitive teams there, I was not as successful as I wanted to be (which is why I view BBSv5 as a great chance to start over and prove myself).
As far as my thoughts on BBS so far, I do feel that it is the best league I have been in. The GM pool is very good overall, Spencer is a great commish in every aspect and the activity level has been high throughout my tenure in BBSv4 and so far in BBSv5.
2. Let us talk about the Rockets for a second. What are you trying to do with this team? You had a stellar record this year, what moves are needed to be made to make this team a championship contender?
I am trying to win now. I want a ship. I do not have '09 first so I need to stay competitive between now and then. I feel like my current core should be able to stay competitive but getting to that championship level would require some fine tuning. Right now, I am trying to re-sign my depth guys and then try and make some moves to get upgrades. The Suns making a power move to acquire KG and seeing the Duggets add Shawn Marion near the end of last season (as well expecting them to make other moves due to CY) should make the Western Conference a lot tougher for this upcoming season.
3. What do you value the most rating wise in players? How do you prefer your bigs? Your guards? Is there a specific characteristic you need to have in your players that you couldn't do without.
Due to some useless/unimportant attributes in FBB, it is difficult to judge a player based on letter grade ratings (just look at Royal Ivey, his ratings look ugly yet he is an outstanding starting PG for me). I feel like stats is the only way to get an idea of how good or bad a player is.
For bigs - I look for ones who are great defensively (which I actually judge on the letter grade rating along with shotblocking ability) and ones who can rebound (which I judge based on RPG). I also highly prefer bigs who can keep their turnovers low and shoot at a high percentage. If I am running an outside of balanced offense, I look for bigs with a good/great jumpshot (which I judge based on FT%).
For wings - I look for guys who can put up a lot of points at high shooting percentages while keeping turnovers low. I prefer wings who can rebound at a solid rate. Defense is a MAJOR plus as well.
For point guards - The most important thing is keeping turnovers low and shooting high percentages. Defense (along with steals) is also important for me. If they can rebound, that is a MAJOR plus (though I feel like I can live without it if I have great rebounders at the other positions).
4. What do you think of the ratings so far. Are they inflated, deflated or just about right?
I feel like they are at a deflated or just right level. Spencer did an overall great job with the file and has been keeping potentials low (as evidenced by training camps for top young players so far into the league). It should be interesting to see where ratings are at 10+ seasons into the league tbh.
5. Who is the most overrated player in the league and why? Also who is the most underrated?
As of right now, I would have to say the most overrated player is Chauncey Billups. I (along with many others) really thought he would be the guy who turns the NY franchise into a contender. This past season, he has looked extremely mediocre (as did the Knicks team).
As far as most underrated, I'll have to say my boy Royal Ivey. I have seen multiple article saying I need a PG yet this guy has been amazing for me. I run a very fast pace inside offense with him playing 33 MPG starting at PG. He averaged only 1.1 TOPG and dropped 16 PPG on great percentages as a non-option or third-option. It was because of questions asked during the draft (handles rankings) I knew he would be a great pickup in the 2nd round and so far, he has exceeded my expectations. He has 85+ handles, 85+ jumpshot and A- defense (as well as stealing at a high rate). What more can I ask for?
6. Who is the most overrated GM in the league and why? Also who is the most underrated?
I feel like it is difficult to call any GM overrated since the ones which have been getting respect so far into the league have been deserving of that respect. Also makes it difficult when no GM Rankings or anything have been posted.
As far as underrated goes, I feel like Andy built a really nice team last season, though his team overall and players (particularly Billups) really did underperform. While Skillz has won a championship and built great teams in each of the first seasons of this league, I feel like he hasn't been talked about (in interviews, GMOTY voting, random threads, etc) as much as he should be. He is easily a top 2-3 GM in this league so far IMO. There are probably others which I am missing.
7. Which GM is the most difficult the deal with? Which GM is the easiest to deal with? Do you avoid trying to deal with certain GM's? If so, who are they.
There is nobody I avoid dealing with. If I see a move which I feel can work, I'll go for it. As far as difficult goes, the one who comes to mind is Biggie. While I ended up getting a deal done with him, it took forever ironing out the details (and in hindsight, I got raped for fricking SAR). I've found Insane and Sargo to be very easy to deal with so far.
8. There has been debate over the presentation over draft notes as of late. Some GM's prefer them to be presented in a different manner than others do. How do you feel player ratings should be represented via draft notes?
I love the draft notes as they are. They do not give away too much information and they come in handy during drafting. It is the questions which I do feel requires change (this is my only gripe about BBS so far into the league). I feel like they can give away too much information. Drafts would be much better IMO if we only had notes and no questions. I will admit, that I am a major abuser of asking questions about specific or all players during the draft but with the system the way it is, it does give me a great advantage when drafting.
Spencer did abolish asking questions about rankings so should be an improvement but I would like to see him abolish all questions period. Some of them are ridiculous. Take this previous draft, the draft notes on Rudy Gay state "Gay is an extremely athletic wing that can score inside and out" and later in the thread, CC asks "how is gays inside game to start?" I mean wtf is that? CC is a cool guy and I don't mean to call him out but he really did take random players and ask about every aspect (making my questions look not that bad at all).
9. We have 5 teams in their CY right now. Obviously, many moves can be made between now and the playoffs. Who is in, who should be sweating and who is defintley out, in your opinion, when all is said and done?
It is difficult because when you look at the teams which made the playoffs last season, it seems like all of them want to continue to compete (or are forced to due to a lack of picks).
This should be a fun season as each conference will have 10-11 teams competing for the 8 spots so who gets in is somewhat of a crap shoot (then again, the previous BBS ended with me winning 42 games as an 11th seed so anything is possible). All of these CY teams will have to make moves and so far into the offseason (with the draft almost over), none of them have done anything.
I feel like Denver should definitely make it. Broph is a great GM and that team is only a couple of pieces away from being a serious contender. The Marion deal was great as was the Roy pickup.
Hype won 40 games last season so you would have to think that it should be easy for him to get a couple of upgrades (or hope for a great TC) and make it as well.
Philly and Toronto both have great young cores. Both need to make moves and do work this offseason to surround their cores and improve but I do like their chances overall.
Hornets should be an interesting team to watch. They were near the top of the East before RBx submitted a DC so maybe they are good. But part of me thinks that was a fluke. Their roster looks like such a mess overall. If Granger and Bargnani have big TCs, then maybe they can make it but tbh, I feel like Aar has a lot of work to do to make them a competitive team. I do feel like he is a great GM so it should be interesting to see what he does going forward. But as of right now, I do not really like their chances at all.
10. What's your early bird prediction for next years championship series?
Rockets over some East team in 4
Well thank you ilove for your wisdom in this version of The Pigpen! Check back later as another GM gets dirty with the Pig on BBS related issues.
Welcome back to another edition of The Pigpen, BBS's dirtiest and most informative Q&A on the boards. Getting sloppy in the trough today is Houston Rockets GM ilovebball, a.k.a HustlinDaly.
1. I don't think I have had the pleasure of being in a sim with you before. Tell us who you are, how you came upon sims and more directly BBS and your thoughts on the league up until this point.
I started in sim leagues during the mid-late 2000s (during my senior year in HS and freshman/sophomore years of college). From 2005-2008, I was in a bunch of random leagues, most of which I do not even remember. I never really did much, I feel like I was mostly inactive/crappy. There are a few BBS GMs who were on my AIM buddy list prior to me joining BBS (such as Reopole, Jah, Play, Andy, DBW, possibly more).
During the summer of 2011, I randomly got bored and decided to get back into sims. Since I had quite a bit of time on my hands, I joined quite a few leagues and was active in all of them. This time around, I did a better job overall. I thought things through, planned the types of moves I wanted to make before making them. I built some great teams across various leagues. From Summer 2011, onwards, I have won five championships in four different leagues (eight if you count sims which ended during the middle of a season and simmed the rest).
During this time, I had been in leagues with many current/former BBS GMs (such as Svedda, GAME, Broph, Traves, HF, Sytro, Ukfanjohn to name a few). And all of them told me that BBS is the best league out there (due to the tough GM pool along with a great commish in Spencer). During May of 2012, I joined a random league (which lasted less than a season) in which Spencer was also a GM. I did a solid job turning a mediocre team with a bunch of terrible contracts into a rebuilding team with a couple of good players, everybody else expiring while keeping all my picks. Shortly after that league ended, Spencer offered me the Wizards in BBSv4 where I was a GM for the final seven seasons of that league. While I built some competitive teams there, I was not as successful as I wanted to be (which is why I view BBSv5 as a great chance to start over and prove myself).
As far as my thoughts on BBS so far, I do feel that it is the best league I have been in. The GM pool is very good overall, Spencer is a great commish in every aspect and the activity level has been high throughout my tenure in BBSv4 and so far in BBSv5.
2. Let us talk about the Rockets for a second. What are you trying to do with this team? You had a stellar record this year, what moves are needed to be made to make this team a championship contender?
I am trying to win now. I want a ship. I do not have '09 first so I need to stay competitive between now and then. I feel like my current core should be able to stay competitive but getting to that championship level would require some fine tuning. Right now, I am trying to re-sign my depth guys and then try and make some moves to get upgrades. The Suns making a power move to acquire KG and seeing the Duggets add Shawn Marion near the end of last season (as well expecting them to make other moves due to CY) should make the Western Conference a lot tougher for this upcoming season.
3. What do you value the most rating wise in players? How do you prefer your bigs? Your guards? Is there a specific characteristic you need to have in your players that you couldn't do without.
Due to some useless/unimportant attributes in FBB, it is difficult to judge a player based on letter grade ratings (just look at Royal Ivey, his ratings look ugly yet he is an outstanding starting PG for me). I feel like stats is the only way to get an idea of how good or bad a player is.
For bigs - I look for ones who are great defensively (which I actually judge on the letter grade rating along with shotblocking ability) and ones who can rebound (which I judge based on RPG). I also highly prefer bigs who can keep their turnovers low and shoot at a high percentage. If I am running an outside of balanced offense, I look for bigs with a good/great jumpshot (which I judge based on FT%).
For wings - I look for guys who can put up a lot of points at high shooting percentages while keeping turnovers low. I prefer wings who can rebound at a solid rate. Defense is a MAJOR plus as well.
For point guards - The most important thing is keeping turnovers low and shooting high percentages. Defense (along with steals) is also important for me. If they can rebound, that is a MAJOR plus (though I feel like I can live without it if I have great rebounders at the other positions).
4. What do you think of the ratings so far. Are they inflated, deflated or just about right?
I feel like they are at a deflated or just right level. Spencer did an overall great job with the file and has been keeping potentials low (as evidenced by training camps for top young players so far into the league). It should be interesting to see where ratings are at 10+ seasons into the league tbh.
5. Who is the most overrated player in the league and why? Also who is the most underrated?
As of right now, I would have to say the most overrated player is Chauncey Billups. I (along with many others) really thought he would be the guy who turns the NY franchise into a contender. This past season, he has looked extremely mediocre (as did the Knicks team).
As far as most underrated, I'll have to say my boy Royal Ivey. I have seen multiple article saying I need a PG yet this guy has been amazing for me. I run a very fast pace inside offense with him playing 33 MPG starting at PG. He averaged only 1.1 TOPG and dropped 16 PPG on great percentages as a non-option or third-option. It was because of questions asked during the draft (handles rankings) I knew he would be a great pickup in the 2nd round and so far, he has exceeded my expectations. He has 85+ handles, 85+ jumpshot and A- defense (as well as stealing at a high rate). What more can I ask for?
6. Who is the most overrated GM in the league and why? Also who is the most underrated?
I feel like it is difficult to call any GM overrated since the ones which have been getting respect so far into the league have been deserving of that respect. Also makes it difficult when no GM Rankings or anything have been posted.
As far as underrated goes, I feel like Andy built a really nice team last season, though his team overall and players (particularly Billups) really did underperform. While Skillz has won a championship and built great teams in each of the first seasons of this league, I feel like he hasn't been talked about (in interviews, GMOTY voting, random threads, etc) as much as he should be. He is easily a top 2-3 GM in this league so far IMO. There are probably others which I am missing.
7. Which GM is the most difficult the deal with? Which GM is the easiest to deal with? Do you avoid trying to deal with certain GM's? If so, who are they.
There is nobody I avoid dealing with. If I see a move which I feel can work, I'll go for it. As far as difficult goes, the one who comes to mind is Biggie. While I ended up getting a deal done with him, it took forever ironing out the details (and in hindsight, I got raped for fricking SAR). I've found Insane and Sargo to be very easy to deal with so far.
8. There has been debate over the presentation over draft notes as of late. Some GM's prefer them to be presented in a different manner than others do. How do you feel player ratings should be represented via draft notes?
I love the draft notes as they are. They do not give away too much information and they come in handy during drafting. It is the questions which I do feel requires change (this is my only gripe about BBS so far into the league). I feel like they can give away too much information. Drafts would be much better IMO if we only had notes and no questions. I will admit, that I am a major abuser of asking questions about specific or all players during the draft but with the system the way it is, it does give me a great advantage when drafting.
Spencer did abolish asking questions about rankings so should be an improvement but I would like to see him abolish all questions period. Some of them are ridiculous. Take this previous draft, the draft notes on Rudy Gay state "Gay is an extremely athletic wing that can score inside and out" and later in the thread, CC asks "how is gays inside game to start?" I mean wtf is that? CC is a cool guy and I don't mean to call him out but he really did take random players and ask about every aspect (making my questions look not that bad at all).
9. We have 5 teams in their CY right now. Obviously, many moves can be made between now and the playoffs. Who is in, who should be sweating and who is defintley out, in your opinion, when all is said and done?
It is difficult because when you look at the teams which made the playoffs last season, it seems like all of them want to continue to compete (or are forced to due to a lack of picks).
This should be a fun season as each conference will have 10-11 teams competing for the 8 spots so who gets in is somewhat of a crap shoot (then again, the previous BBS ended with me winning 42 games as an 11th seed so anything is possible). All of these CY teams will have to make moves and so far into the offseason (with the draft almost over), none of them have done anything.
I feel like Denver should definitely make it. Broph is a great GM and that team is only a couple of pieces away from being a serious contender. The Marion deal was great as was the Roy pickup.
Hype won 40 games last season so you would have to think that it should be easy for him to get a couple of upgrades (or hope for a great TC) and make it as well.
Philly and Toronto both have great young cores. Both need to make moves and do work this offseason to surround their cores and improve but I do like their chances overall.
Hornets should be an interesting team to watch. They were near the top of the East before RBx submitted a DC so maybe they are good. But part of me thinks that was a fluke. Their roster looks like such a mess overall. If Granger and Bargnani have big TCs, then maybe they can make it but tbh, I feel like Aar has a lot of work to do to make them a competitive team. I do feel like he is a great GM so it should be interesting to see what he does going forward. But as of right now, I do not really like their chances at all.
10. What's your early bird prediction for next years championship series?
Rockets over some East team in 4
Well thank you ilove for your wisdom in this version of The Pigpen! Check back later as another GM gets dirty with the Pig on BBS related issues.
