preseason 2 done

[PacersGM]

discuss

[NetsGM]

Experimented by moving focus to outside (it was balanced), to see how it would effect the guys.  I'll probably experiment with the first sim or two with an inside focus as well.

Ralph didn't seem to mind too much with the outside focus, his scoring went down (to 27.5 ppg), his rebounding up (to 12.1), and his efficiency up (to 48.5%)

Munson's scoring went up (18.3 ppg), and his efficiency went way up (47.5%).  He still rebounded (10.9) and blocked (3.5) well.

Blackman also went up by over a ppg, now averaging 16.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.9 apg, 2.1 spg.

Brice went up 1.5 ppg and 1.2 apg.  Put up 14 ppg, 10.6 apg, 2.9 spg as a non-option.

[NetsGM]

Walker over Bias is officially my worst draft decision in SSBA.

 

More later.

[SixersGM]

Walker over Bias is officially my worst draft decision in SSBA.

 

More later.

Didn't you scout for Walker's real potential?

[RaptorsGM]

Woo Hoo, Ransey leading the league in ppg.

[HornetsGM]

Well this is a relief.

[CelticsGM]

Well this is a relief.

true. I have no idea what would have happened if he didn't lead the league in scoring.
might as well shut down SSBA ...

[RaptorsGM]

Amen guys, amen 

[CelticsGM]

nice. Billy Thompson is a stud. Young and unpolished but you can already see that he will be a good one in a few seasons.
Parker Calinoff is underrated. Sure, he couldn't stay defensively with the better SGs, but he did nothing to hurt his rotation spot.

Hunt is no PF. Chambers probably neither but he won'T be asked. And I need a big man.

[WizardsGM]

Well I was way off on the CPU settings. CPU recommended Fast, Always, Often, Outside. I didnt think I had very good defenders and was worried about those trap settings but I gave up 8ppg less than I scored en route to a 9-4 record. And instead of tiring my bigs out with the fast pace, they played more minutes.  

Not that I will complain about my 2 bigs, Kleine and Borgmann, combining for 5.5 blocks per game, and they both even averaged 9.3 rebounds! Its a miracle!

CPU set George Johnson to #1 option, much to my surprise. I thought about doing it anyways to see if his production picked up, and it did - up about 5ppg to 14.8 in 28.5min (he only played 6 games - I personally like to take off injuries during PS sims hehe).

Interesting to note that the CPU decided to play small ball with my lineup, starting George at PF, Xavier at SF and bringing Kliene off the bench. I like that Xavier's turnovers are down to under 2, that is a big help.

How did George fare defensively at PF? Opponents shot 50% on him, but much of that credit goes to Mike Gminski who dropped 31 on him shooting 13/19. But Mike was the only one to score over 20. George gave up an avg of 15.8pts/9reb against.

Evans was incredible as 2nd option: 26.1/5.5/9.8. I really didnt like the 5.2 turnovers though, but I guess that is what a fast pace will do. If the wins stay more frequent than the losses than I might just bite the bullet and live with them.

Magic was 3rd option and put up 25.5/7.9/2.8/2.1 while dropping his turnovers to 2.4 and shooting 51.2%.

Lots to think about when doing my DCs for the season now...

[SpursGM-old]

No changes in my DC between sim 1 and 2.  But my record went from 9-7 to 12-4.  Will be interesting to see what happens when the games actually count.

Handed the Hornets 2 of their 3 losses...including an OT game on their court.  3 of my 4 losses were to western playoff teams.  My defense stayed about the same but my offense improved which IMO says more about 1) the changes my opponents made and 2) the fickleness of the program.

[GoldenStateGM]

Hmm...  Decent 9-5 record.
Lester Connor did not the amazing sim he had in the first preseason, but his line of 14 ppg 7 rpg, 7 apg and 2.1 spg, along with only 2.1 topg shows me he is for real, and will be my future (or current?) starting PG.

Hobson came a little back to earth, but he still played quite well.
11 ppg, 10 rpg, 1.5 spg, 1.6 bpg, and only 0.9 topg.  Too bad he is a terrible percentage shooter (39%)
Fuqua reenteerd the lienup, and played his good 6th man of the year basketball.

Fortson was very effective as a starter, getting 8 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.2 apg, and only 0.9 topg, on 50% for the field, and 40% from behind the arc.

Team defense is fantastic... 3rd in opponents FG%, and first on opponents 3pt%.
Suprisingly outrebounding my opponents by 1 rpg.  Don Collins just needs to pick up his scoring percentages. 

Back to the outside offense for Don, it would appear....

[GoldenStateGM]

Adam Fortson is a really good 1 on 1 defender...
Of the 14 games the Warriors played, in 9 of them, he held the opposing SG to a PPS (points per shot) of 1.0 or under...

[NetsGM]

Ran through the other teams numbers.  It's hard to really gauge this sim, because Brice went down for the final 10 games.  Edgar Artest did an admirable job filling in, scoring in double figures in 8 of the 10 games, and double digit assists in 6 of the 10.  Averaged 13.3 ppg and 10 apg during that span, although he had some turnover problems (4.5 per game).

Overall the offense was about the same.  Scored the same amount of points 97), but was slightly more efficient (46%).  +5 rebounding differential this time though, which was an improvement.  And the defense was better, holding them to 91 ppg and 43.7% fg%, 36.1% 3pt%, and 1.10 pps.

Munson is an absolute stud defender, and I'm really happy to have him here.  Wu and Strait are nice backup bigs.  That's an interesting battle.   Strait is a little better rebounder, Wu a better defender.

[NetsGM]

btw, preseason 1 and 2 are both up at:
http://files.ssbabasketball.com/files/2023/preseason/