Sim 2 preview and discussion

[CelticsGM]

Back to the drawing board for the Celtics in sim 2.

Thought adding Marion at SG and moving Schabinger to SF (where he performed better when given the chance last season) would bring "automatic" wins to Beantown. Little did I know. Maybe it's because my team was completely rebuilt from last season and guys like Boozer, Griffin need to be worked in too, even if no option.

But I realized I have plenty of work ahead ...


This sim is going to be a load. Playing mainly winning teams entertaining Bulls, Cavs and Jazz and traveling to Pacers, Rockets (who will do some changes to get back on track) and Grizz (who will long for revenge after getting humiliated in Boston). Any winning sim will be just great but I could also go 0-6 if we continue out scoring drought (while failing to stop anybody).



Anf finally the obligatory Q:     EARLY or LATE ?  "Sleepless in Vienna" or "Morning has broken (my team)" ...
 

[GrizzliesGM]

The Grizzlies are making a small change by inserting Jason Williams back into the starting pg spot. So now its essentially the same lineup that almost got us to the championship last but a little worse due to age. Snow did not do bad but I think that Williams has some intangable that just seems to really work well on the team as a whole. Even though Wiliiam's ratings are slightly worse I think the grizzlies will perform better overall.

[JazzGM-old]

the jazz are back in action after a hurtful vacation, missing out on the draft and free agency. 2-0 for the first sim, loaded couple of sims hereafter, hopefully my personal touch to the lineup will bode success...Murray is the clear starter for the first time in his career after 2 years of TC improvement...still I look week inside, having to move AK47 inside and then going with the offensive barage of beardslee over defense as Curran went down in TC and has been relegated to the bench. Should be an interesting year for the Jazz to see if this lineup can still take me to the playoffs, with AK47 and Hughes leading the way, i should have a decent shot.

[GrizzliesGM]

Should we stay up for the sim results?

[NetsGM]

sim 2 up.

[RaptorsGM]

Thats more like it. 5-1 sim for the Raptors.

[HeatGM]

a nice 6-2...lost an overtime with the magic...and a blowout loss to the rockets...im happy that my team leads in the steals category and is top 10 of all the other categories... my reboudning has picked up...from the bottom to the top 9...nice job by my guys 

[MagicGM]

yey?

1st time to have an unbeaten sim. hihihi

Brice was missed the biggest by my team last sim. He proved to be really valuable.

this has got to be the best perfomance of Dwight in the season so far:
http://ssba.phillyarena.net/boxes/18-2.html

brice did flirt with a triple-double being a rebound away from it

this has got to be the best defensive sim for my team so far. My starting line-up, besides for Peters, made the top 10 list for either the most spg or bpg

[SixersGM]

To be honest, I'm disappointed with how my team played this sim. THis sim just showed that my team still lacks some components in order to be an elite team in the league. Well, I just hope my guys can bounce back in the next sim.

[Str8westcoasta]

5-3

A long overdue winning sim for the Rockets!

I made some changes looking to get more points from Barton O'Connell and the team responded.

Big sim for O'Connell, J-Rich (duh) and Udonis Haslem played very well too...

We actually have a winning record... 9-8!

Hopefully we can continue this form and make a run at the playoffs this year...

~RocketsGM

[CelticsGM]

That was way better now.

After a heartbreaking 1pt loss to the Rockets and a disappointing home defeat from the Bulls my Celts went on a 4-game win streak against Pacers, Cavs, Jazz and the rematch with the Grizzlies, each win coming by at least 18 pts.

Finally the defense displayed is closer to my expectations, although still giving up 97ppg won't make it against the top teams.

But other than that, this sim was fine. +16ppg, a +7 reb differential, the league lead in the "taking care of the rock" column, and some great individual games, including the first 20/20 game from a Celt in ages.

Rookie (and 2nd round pick - as promised ... ) Julius Smith took over the starting PG nod and after immediately matched against O'Connell (and looking overmatched) he came along holding Jameer to 11pt/6ass (on 4-12 shooting), Nick English to 5 pts on 2-4, and White Chocolat to 8pts on 1-6 shooting. Himself he provided 14ppg, 7apg, just 1 giveaway per and 42% shooting. That numbers won't bring you into ROTY considerations but will get you a lot more opportunities to shine !
 

And the vets did like it too, either the slightly worse opponents, the slower pace or Julius distribution, as nearly everyone played better. Especially Boozer went from 13/9 on 40% in sim1 to 23/14 on 56% in sim2, proving why I traded for him

(and the guy I gave away for him, Ivan Strong, proved with his first career triple double why I traded him AWAY: 20/12 and 10 (!) turnovers)

Marion too was back to "Being Shawn Marion", getting 28/8 and as much defense as you can get from 34yr old guys.


Team defense seems to be my biggest problem, especially in the frontcourt. But there's still hope some help is underway. And no, i'm not talking bout the pending return of Ronny Roof ...
 

[RaptorsGM]

My team really liked the fact that I took out Hunter and brought in Jackson to the starting lineup.

The defense really stepped it up, and I have won against some very tough opponents. So far I have wins over the Magic, Pacers, Hornets AND Nets. THis is something that hasn't happened since the Peja-Yao-Mihm days for the Raptors. I'm getting kinda excitied as I feel like one of the next couple years could be THE year for the Raptors...after so many seasons (I lost count).

Raps are leading the league in 3 pt %, thanks in  part to LUKE JACKSON, who has started the season an UNBELIEVEABLE 21-29 from 3 pt land, a SCORCHING 72.4%!

Anyway, for sim 2, the Raptors went with a margin of victory of 5.4, showing that we are in fact capable of winning close games against good opponents.

Here is a little indepth coverage of sim 2...

Raptors 98 Bucks 87 -- Robert Swift pwns Okur, getting 16 points and 21 rebounds for POTG honours. Chills leads the scoring with 20 (9-13) and grabs 7 boards. Jackson, in game 1 as a starter scores 14. Hunter comes off the bench for 12 (5-7), exactly what I need from him. Max, as my top option, seems to be the Steve Nash of SSBA, and that sure as hell ain't a bad thing. Max takes just 6 shots, scoring 2 points, but dishes 10 assists. THe big difference in the game is the 18-19 FT shooting for us, which is fantastic to see.

Raptors 109 Bulls 99 -- This was George (pronouced Gay-Org) Boykins' coming out party. Faced with an extremely difficult matchup against Amare Stoudamire, Boykins match's Amare's 31 and 16 in 41 minutes with 32 and 10 in 30 minutes before sadly fouling out. Jackson adds 18 points and 7 rebounds, and Max has 15 points and 13 assists. Swift also fouls out in just 24 minutes, meaning having a good bench is very much important. Quentin Brand covers for Swift, playing 24 minutes and scoring 4, grabbing 7, stealing 4 and blocking 1. Great min pickup, I bet the Kings wish he had him.

Nuggets 111 Raptors 87 -- Raps take a day off, a small rest period before we get the Hornets and Nets back to back. And hey, it was worth the loss here to get the 2 wins there. Swift and Boykins combine for 40 points, 19 rebounds. Max scores 13 and dishes 15. Team gets killed by Berk's 32 and 15.

Raptors 107 Hornets 88 -- A convincing 19 point win at home over the 2nd best team in the league. Yao absolutly KILLS his former team with 49 points, 16 rebounds, 4 blocks. However, he has a tough time guarding our frontcourt, and plays just 33 minutes. On the flipside, Chills leads the way with 22, holding Wolkowski to just 4. Jackson gets 21 while grabbing 7 rebounds. In hte matchup of two of the league's best PGs, Max (19 [7-13], 9, 5, 1 to) and Livingstion (6 [2-5], 12, 6, 2 to) and Max's scoring might give him the advantage. Somehow we are able to block more shots than the Hornets, 8-7, with Swift swatting 5 in the 16 minutes he played. Brand did an excellent job after that, Swatting 2 and grabbing 7.

Raptors 124 Nets 120 -- You don't beat the best team in the League on the road unless you're good. Raps shoot 52.7% against the Nets' fantastic defense, giving them their only home loss of the season. Boykins leads the way with 32 on 10-20 shootin, 12-16 from the line. Jackson shows up hugely with 28 and 7 boards, including 5-5 from downtown. Whoever said these 2 dissappeared in big games was dead wrong. Chills scores 21 and grabs 7 boards, and Max puts up 20 and dishes 7 assists. Meaning 4 of my players contributed 101 points! BJK came off then bench and in 15 minutes, he went 5-5 for 10 points and grabbed 10 boards! Wow. Outblocked a superior blocking team for the 2nd game in a row.

Raptors 97 Hawks 90 -- Raps do a good job of not taking the win for granted against an inferior opponent. Again, Jackson has a huge game with 33 and 6, 4-5 from 3. Boykins gets 16 and 8, Chills adds 14 and 8. Max scores 9, dishes 13 and grabs 8. Hunter gets 11 off the bench. Hawks badly outrebound us 57-43, but we win the turnover battle and shoot 50% from 3 to secure the W.

[KingsGM-old]

Nice, made some changes and went 6-2. Still, can't beat the damn Clippers. Oh well...

Beat the Wolves, Knicks, Hornets, Bulls, Nuggets and Sonics. Lost against the Clips and Blazers.

* Close 1pts win over the Wolves. Tmac 32pts, Nowitzki with 35/10 and Bibby with nice overall game, 6pts, 13as, 7rebs.
* Smoked the Knicks by 16+ as Dirk exploded for 54pts. Tmac followed nicely with 25pts, 5as, 5rebs.
* Entire team played great against the Hornets. Dirk 35pts, 5as, 6rebs, Mcgrady 28pts, 7as, 8rebs, Gasol 17pts, 3blo, 10rebs and Bibby with game of the season, 16pts, 14as, 5rebs.

And Ronald Talbott is THE MAN!!  .

8pts, 8as, 4rebs in 14 minutes against the Bulls.
8pts, 4as in 11 minutes against the Sonics.
4pts, 5as, 5rebs in 13 minutes against the Clippers.

This guy is a great overall talent. 4.5pts, 2rebs, 4apg in only 12mpg.

So far very pleased with this team. 10-3, 4th best record in the league and game behind the no1 in the West.

[RaptorsGM]

Hard to get too excitied just 12 games into the sim, but there is a buzz in Raptorland that hasn't been there since the days of Yao-Mihm-Peja-HOUSE-Baron.

8-4, having played 8 games on the road so far. Beat the Magic, Pacers and Nets on the road.

Boykins and Jackson have more than made up for the loss of Melo.

Boykins and his 20 and 9 has been great, he just needs to improve the percentages a little more.

Jackson, on the other hand, is averaging 20.7 as a starter. With the aforementioned amazing numbers from downtown.

Chills has been the best trade for the Raps since the Yao-Peja trade. 15.3 and 7.3 to start the season.

Max and his 11.1 apg are great, as he has been what I beleive is the BEST PG in the league so far. Lord and Khoury might have something to say about that.

[MagicGM]

sorry to butt-in but I think Brice deserves a say about that too.