Post by Los Angeles on Aug 4, 2015 17:22:51 GMT -6
First of all I would like to thank the six teams that participated and I hope you enjoy.
1. Who has the best contract in the league? Who has the worst?
San Francisco- Best contract is Charles Barkley who makes 13.5 million dollars this year and next and is a top 5 player in the league. He will be eligible for Free Agency at age 28 and should be in his prime through his next deal so even at a max moving forward he is a good value. Worst contract is easy it is Dennis Johnson. A formerly top 5 player in the game who is still very good but at 32 is in year one of a 4 year plus team option deal that owes him over 72 million in guaranteed money over the next 4 years. With Indy treading water it is going to be hard to find any value in a deal involving DJ.
Mexico City- Rookie contracts are always good, but I'm not going to include them in this answer. Looking around the league I love what Dino Radja is doing and for peanuts. Well done.
As for the worst, for my money its Scottie Pippen. To me he's a bench guy at best, and he's on a near max for at least 3 more seasons. Yuck.
New York- Well for this question I assume we are excluding rookie contracts but i'd say before they decided to test FA, it was unquestionably John Stockton and Hakeem Olajuwon who are the top 2 players in the league but were never even making a mini max of 15 million. The teams that had them were lucky to have them. Now though I have a different big man and guard answer with Charles Barkley and Mookie Blaylock as the best contracts in the league. Both are capable of 26+ PPG (Mookie probably closer to 23-24 in a normal competing situation) and are making less than the mini max's first year (15 million) for every season of their current contracts. You could look at some more obscure players that are making minimums or something for solid production but I think when you have a superstar on a sub-max deal, it's a lot more valuable for your team and makes it easier to build.
The worst contract is a bit harder to identify. I didn't look at any expiring contracts to minimize the field a bit and one name that popped out to me was Vinko Jelovac. He's still a quality player but he's 32 and hasn't been an All-Star in 2 years. Despite this he has the third biggest contract next season in the league (behind Dr. J and Jo Jo White) and on top of that he has a PLAYER option at the age of 34 years old. Scottie Pippen is obviously another that's going to be mentioned just for the size and length of his contract despite not being great at anything. Solid but not exceptional at anything due to poor TC luck so he falls into the bad contract category.
Indiana- Best: For us this is easily Charles Barkley. Charles is 1 of the best players in the league and is among the leaders in scoring and rebounding. 13,500,000 for this season and next is extraordinary.
Worst: The contract of Alonzo Mourning is pretty bad considering his stats but i think the worst and most intreging is the 10 million dollar contract the Washington Bullets are paying Derrick McKey, aguy that is playing just 12 minutes and scoring less then 5 points per game. Im not sure if this contract got in the way of Kevin McHale resigning but if it did it's not just a bad contract but bad management.
Philly- The best contract has to be Rasheed Wallace. You are getting an elite PF for 2.5 million, and has another year after this. The worst to me is Mychal Thompson. I wanted to put Pippen but the guy is playing lockdown defense and giving them 15 a game. Thompson was suppose to be the man alongside Danny Manning. Defensively and rebounding wise, Thompson is doing fine. But from a max contract, I want more than 12 PPG.
London- Can we take guys on rookie deals because then you need to entertain folks like Tim Duncan, Shawn Marion, and Tayshaun Prince. All super stars being paid nothing. But if we talk about guys on 2nd or 3rd deals then recently traded Mookie Blaylock, Titan's wing Steve Smith, or even Clark Kellogg the surprise All-Star for Brazil Franca.
Worst contract? That one was a little tougher for me. I didn't see a lot of terrible money spent out there. Perhaps my pick would be Terry Cummings due to the length of the deal and the other talent being paid that kind of money. He's not useless but probably just overpaid.
Verdict: I agree with New York that having cheaper superstars is huge, but I am going to have to chalk this one up to Mexico City. Radja is 27 and locked into a contract that will pay him less the next three years than a few players in the league make in one season. 1. Mexico City 2. New York 3. San Francisco 4. London 5. Indiana 6. Philly
2. What player has surprised you most this season? It could be in a good or a bad way
San Francisco- Brad Daugherty. He really has stepped his game up and is putting up 23.9 points (6 above previous career high) 9.5 boards (1.4 over career high) and blocking a decent amount of shots (1.2 per games). I really thought Detroit was doomed and although they are only 13-18 they have shown enough promise that if they can find a way to win on the road (2-8) they might have a chance to finish with 35 wins.
Mexico City- Maybe cause I have had no reason to look at Bayi since they came into the league, but now you have to with the solid year they are having. John Salley is a guy I never realized was as good as he is, and he's a key reason this team is fighting for a division title.
New York- Definitely Rasheed Wallace. Obviously you can't predict TC jump but goodness one jump took him from a respectable 17-18 PPG guy to a guy putting up 27 PPG in only 31 minutes. Plus it's not solid player putting up numbers on a bad team when no one else is there to score because if it was he wouldn't be so efficient not to mention the fact that Beermen is not a bad team.
Indiana- It's no surprise to see players sadly cut down during the training camps but Shawn Kemp was cut down so badly he has become a liability on defense as just a shadow of his former self. Scoring 10 less points per game and grabbing less rebounds while being played out of position has been big shock. Look for the article "The Death of Shawn Kemp".
Philly- Kobe Bryant. (Thanks Chicago for that one) Chicago went from having a ridiculous young trio of athletic perimeter players in Kobe/AI/T-Mac. AI got traded even though he was playing the best of the 3. T-Mac is solid. Kobe died and is a shell of himself from last season
London- Everyone is going to say Clack Kellogg right or am I a year late on the guy? He is basically the reason that the Franca have been surging in the America's this year. Yeah they've had other good talent on the team but not enough to break into the elites. Finding a guy for a reasonable price who improved in Training Camp has made them legit contenders. He is putting up ridiclous numbers at 22/8.5/5/1.5 - not bad eh for 10 mil.
Something the surprised me in a bad way was that current playoff team Tehran traded their best player (Mookie Blaylock) instead of tried to make noise in the postseason. He was only 25 anyway so its not like the rookies will be significantly younger. Not a big deal but just kind of surprising.
Verdict: All of these were very good answers. I like London’s point about Tehran a lot. It’s crazy to see what Kemp is now and also what his teammate Rasheed is. John Salley! And Brad D a forgotten man is playing great. I think a lot of us saw Kobe coming though. This is tough. 1. London 2. San Francisco 3. Mexico City 4. New York(tied) 4. Indiana(tied) 6. Philly
3. The Eurasian playoff teams seem set and were barely into the season. The Americas are a little tighter. What current non playoff team do you think has a best chance to make a run into the playoffs?
San Francisco- Sonics. The logical choice may be the Spurs but I think the Sonics will figure it out and they always seem to go on a 17-3 stretch at some point during the second half of the year. They may need to make a trade but they have the assets to be a terrifying 8 seed.
Mexico City- The spurs probably have the best chance of the teams not in. They are still a pretty solid team and I really have zero faith in Harlem.
New York- Seattle. Easy question and that's not meant as a slight to the Spurs or Celtics who are the other +.400 teams outside of the playoffs. He's struggling right now but there's a reason he's a 2x champion and it's just because of Jo Jo White because we've seen plenty of teams have great players and do nothing. He may not put it together but if I had to bet on a team that had the best chance of putting it together outside of the top 8 right now it'd be them.
Indiana- San Antonio are currently sitting just outside of a playoff birth, they are good team and will no doubt make it. Harlem could easily fall away like they did last year and anything could happen to the Bulls season. Spurs will make it at the expense of either of these 2 teams.
Philly- Spurs. Bias can carry a team pretty far with that efficient scoring. If they could add a better center, they would be a lot better off
London- The right choice has got to be Seattle. Can't count them out of any palyoff race especially only being 1.5 games back. Looks like Harlem is heading the wrong way so I expect that it would come down to Seattle and the Bulls for the final spot in America. Trading Byron Scott though probably makes Chicago fans breath a sigh of relief. Eurasia coaches are already giving their players breathers saving them for the post season.
Verdict: This question was written and answered last week. The Spurs have made moves now and moved into a playoff birth. The Sonics are also 1.5 games behind the Bulls as the two teams lead opposite paths. It honestly seems like both of the teams will make it. I have to call this a wash due to stupidity of the question on my part.
4. Players are underrated for different reasons: There are GMs who do not talk as often and it helps their players fly under the radar, there are players who do the dirty work and don’t get the accolades. Who is the most underrated player in the league? On the flip side who is the most overrated?
San Francisco- Most underated is Mookie Blaylock I am not sure people realize just how good he has become. This year he is putting up 26.2 points 12.3 assists 5.8 boards and 2.9 steals yet is rarely talked about. Those are Stockton level numbers and he is right there in the convo among the best PG's in the league.
Mexico City- You know how much I love and talk about Steve Smith and still he gets little to no respect league wide. If the guy had a different more well known name, was not playing behind guys like Sprewell, Hawkins, Thomas and Payton in the years up to this on maybe he'd get more love. Anyway he shoots great %'s, has size, athletism, and puts up good ratings and numbers in rebounds and assists yet nothing. Great contract to boot BTW if i wasnt pumping Steve Smith endlessly Id pick Mookie Blaylock
As for most overrated Im gonna Say Toni Kukoc, I just feel like by now he should be better, he's solid do not get me wrong but he's shown that he is a not a top option guy, and his teams have never been good, just average.
New York- Most overrated is probably one of my players not sure which one though lol. Most underrated is probably Clark Kellog for me who no one ever talks about this guy but he is currently on his second 22+ PPG season and is currently the 2nd most valuable player on the 2nd best team in the league. Brad Daughtery on the Pistons is another that might be a bit underrated right now. He's not a star but he's a very good player that is a capable scoring big man for a team and he doesn't get much mention.
Indiana- Underrated. Len Bias! The Spurs never speak of this man and if you didnt pay attention the league leader boards you could be forgiven for forgetting Len Bias even exists! Put Len next to a defensively dominant center and yo own the front court.
Overrated. I think Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is bordering on becoming irrelevant and is 1 bad TC away from a wheel chair.
Philly- Most underrated is Dominique Wilkins. In the general board on slack, there was a conversation about best tweeters in the league. He wasn't mentioned till I brought him up. Dude is arguably the best IMO.
Most overrated is Steve Francis. I just don't like mediocre efficiency scorers with no defensive ability. I don't know if there are any pure OVERRATED players in the league, but he is another peewee Kirkland.
London- I think Len Bias is somewhat underrated because the Spurs don't talk him up as often as one hears about, oh, I dunno.. Hank Gathers - who is my most overrated/talked about guy right now. Hank is solid but the talk is unwarranted. Bias is a beast who keeps San Antonio in the mix every year. He is the best at what he does in the league and destroys people. Every single team in the league could use a Len Bias.
Verdict: Due to the amount Roark talks about Steve Smith he couldn’t possibly be the most underrated. For the amount Toronto talks about Hank Gathers you would think hes amazing, but I do not think he is overrated because every GM is aware of his talent level and just drowns out what Toronto says about him being the future. I have to say I don’t love any teams combination of answers. I would say of the answers I think Mookie was most underrated, but san fran didn’t answer most overrated. Roark blabbers about Steve Smith and mentions Blaylock, but I don’t find Kukoc to be that overrated, he is not talked about much. 1. Philly 2. Indiana 3. New York 4. London 5. San Francisco 6. Mexico City
5. Still early in the season, rank your top 4 Championship contenders as of now.
San Francisco- First off the New York Knicks. He will deflect and say that I am the favorite but he is the true favorite and the defending champs. Second off the San Francisco Warriors. Yes we have to tweak a few things but we are deep and can defend like the dickens. Third the Los Angeles Lakers Hakeem and Harper finally have some help now that they have Gus and Iggy to compliment what was already a scary duo. Fourth I guess I should go with a team from Eurasia so Sydney to me is the best team in that conference. They have a lot of talent and have the second best Center and PG combo in the game in Ewing and Frank Johnson. They have been right there for the past several years and this could be their year.
Mexico City- American teams dominate here, I'll say SF, L.A. and N.Y are the best of the best. That last spot could go to a team like Sydney, BCZ, MC or maybe Brazil based on early season play.
New York- Four is hard since I think there are a bit more title contenders than that but in no specific order:
New York Knicks
San Francisco Warriors
London Towers
Los Angeles Lakers
I know that's 3 American teams and I think there are a few more Eurasian teams that could walk away with the title but those are probably my top 4. Not having the Titans and Brazil on there was hard but I didn't want to bet against Hakeem completely.
Indiana- Cant go passed the Knicks I think they will go back to back. The Warriors are in with a real crack. London are the only team for me in the Eurasian conference but i have to say I'm really surprised by Franca, I love the dark horse or the underdog and I'll be rooting hard for them. Knick, Warriors, Towers, Franca.
Philly- (1) Warriors- team is just stacked across the board. The athleticism of his bigs is the only issue but that is just nitpicking.
(2) BC Zalgiris- team has 7 (almost 8) guys in double digits and they are he warriors counter part with every athletic bigs. Mourning and KG is a very formidable duo
(3) Lakers- THE DREAM!!!!!!! Seriously? Harper and Hakeem make an extremely intimidating top 2. They also have a very strong supporting cast. GIVE ME IGGY!
(4) Knicks- the Simulation Spurs of ABCA. The sauve of Zoran and Dantley just carries this team every season it seems and they are still a juggernaut this year. Don't count the veterans out.
London- #1. London
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#2. BCZ
#3. Sydney
#4. San Miguel
All American teams are jokes. It's all about Eurasia! I'd take 7 out of the top 8 Eurasian teams over anyone in America. America smells bad.
Verdict: LA should be 1 on all answers. 1. New York 2. San Francisco 3. Philly 4. Mexico City 5. Indiana 6. London
6. Who will be the best player to get traded before the season is over?
San Francisco- WHo is on the Bulls at this point? No clue, a ton of big names have moved and there has been chatter about a lot of big names: Elie, LJ,McHale. I would guess McHale if Milan gets a strong offer it would make sense for them to move him and focus on next year. Question is will they get an offer that justifies moving him?
Mexico City- Id say a guy like Grant hill would be the guy if I actually had faith the Piston gm would get off his butt and actually care about his team, since that is not the case I will say its either Dominique Wilkens from the bullets or Kevin Mchale from Milan, whichever gm wakes up first..
New York- Larry Johnson is one I think we could see since all the top guys seem to be off limits. A year ago this would've been impossible to imagine but after the slight decline in TC and Sydney adding Allan Houston and Patrick Ewing, I think LJ is more available. Another guy to watch for is the aforementioned Brad Daugherty who Detroit should explore the options of trading because he's playing at a career high level but he's expiring next year and is 26 years old. His value is higher than it will be any time following this year and this is a team that would do well with an actual rebuild after the Grant Hill all-in move didn't work out great. So while i'm sure there will be some random superstar traded, I can't really pinpoint who it'd be so i'll go with two star level players as the best to get traded before the season is over.
Indiana- Karl Malone. Bulls just got him, he'll be traded next week.
Philly- Dominique Wilkins. Bullets look to be going rebuild and trading Nique for a package would be the best way to jumpstart it
London- It probably already happened in Mookie being dealt but otherwise it could be a guy like Robert Parish (who is just elite so if he gets moved its obviously a huge deal - Plossl will care). Maybe Dominique Wilkens will be the biggest talent/name to be moved. I think Washington will want to get younger and there will be a team needing some scoring/talent who will give Nique a chance to get a ring.
Verdict: Again a stupid question that is impossible to judge. All good answers, another wash.
Scores:
San Francisco-16
Mexico City- 13
New York- 18
Indiana- 12
Philly- 12
London- 13
So it looks like we have New York as our winner, with San Francisco in second, and Mexico City and London tied for third. Indiana and Philly were very close as well.
1. Who has the best contract in the league? Who has the worst?
San Francisco- Best contract is Charles Barkley who makes 13.5 million dollars this year and next and is a top 5 player in the league. He will be eligible for Free Agency at age 28 and should be in his prime through his next deal so even at a max moving forward he is a good value. Worst contract is easy it is Dennis Johnson. A formerly top 5 player in the game who is still very good but at 32 is in year one of a 4 year plus team option deal that owes him over 72 million in guaranteed money over the next 4 years. With Indy treading water it is going to be hard to find any value in a deal involving DJ.
Mexico City- Rookie contracts are always good, but I'm not going to include them in this answer. Looking around the league I love what Dino Radja is doing and for peanuts. Well done.
As for the worst, for my money its Scottie Pippen. To me he's a bench guy at best, and he's on a near max for at least 3 more seasons. Yuck.
New York- Well for this question I assume we are excluding rookie contracts but i'd say before they decided to test FA, it was unquestionably John Stockton and Hakeem Olajuwon who are the top 2 players in the league but were never even making a mini max of 15 million. The teams that had them were lucky to have them. Now though I have a different big man and guard answer with Charles Barkley and Mookie Blaylock as the best contracts in the league. Both are capable of 26+ PPG (Mookie probably closer to 23-24 in a normal competing situation) and are making less than the mini max's first year (15 million) for every season of their current contracts. You could look at some more obscure players that are making minimums or something for solid production but I think when you have a superstar on a sub-max deal, it's a lot more valuable for your team and makes it easier to build.
The worst contract is a bit harder to identify. I didn't look at any expiring contracts to minimize the field a bit and one name that popped out to me was Vinko Jelovac. He's still a quality player but he's 32 and hasn't been an All-Star in 2 years. Despite this he has the third biggest contract next season in the league (behind Dr. J and Jo Jo White) and on top of that he has a PLAYER option at the age of 34 years old. Scottie Pippen is obviously another that's going to be mentioned just for the size and length of his contract despite not being great at anything. Solid but not exceptional at anything due to poor TC luck so he falls into the bad contract category.
Indiana- Best: For us this is easily Charles Barkley. Charles is 1 of the best players in the league and is among the leaders in scoring and rebounding. 13,500,000 for this season and next is extraordinary.
Worst: The contract of Alonzo Mourning is pretty bad considering his stats but i think the worst and most intreging is the 10 million dollar contract the Washington Bullets are paying Derrick McKey, aguy that is playing just 12 minutes and scoring less then 5 points per game. Im not sure if this contract got in the way of Kevin McHale resigning but if it did it's not just a bad contract but bad management.
Philly- The best contract has to be Rasheed Wallace. You are getting an elite PF for 2.5 million, and has another year after this. The worst to me is Mychal Thompson. I wanted to put Pippen but the guy is playing lockdown defense and giving them 15 a game. Thompson was suppose to be the man alongside Danny Manning. Defensively and rebounding wise, Thompson is doing fine. But from a max contract, I want more than 12 PPG.
London- Can we take guys on rookie deals because then you need to entertain folks like Tim Duncan, Shawn Marion, and Tayshaun Prince. All super stars being paid nothing. But if we talk about guys on 2nd or 3rd deals then recently traded Mookie Blaylock, Titan's wing Steve Smith, or even Clark Kellogg the surprise All-Star for Brazil Franca.
Worst contract? That one was a little tougher for me. I didn't see a lot of terrible money spent out there. Perhaps my pick would be Terry Cummings due to the length of the deal and the other talent being paid that kind of money. He's not useless but probably just overpaid.
Verdict: I agree with New York that having cheaper superstars is huge, but I am going to have to chalk this one up to Mexico City. Radja is 27 and locked into a contract that will pay him less the next three years than a few players in the league make in one season. 1. Mexico City 2. New York 3. San Francisco 4. London 5. Indiana 6. Philly
2. What player has surprised you most this season? It could be in a good or a bad way
San Francisco- Brad Daugherty. He really has stepped his game up and is putting up 23.9 points (6 above previous career high) 9.5 boards (1.4 over career high) and blocking a decent amount of shots (1.2 per games). I really thought Detroit was doomed and although they are only 13-18 they have shown enough promise that if they can find a way to win on the road (2-8) they might have a chance to finish with 35 wins.
Mexico City- Maybe cause I have had no reason to look at Bayi since they came into the league, but now you have to with the solid year they are having. John Salley is a guy I never realized was as good as he is, and he's a key reason this team is fighting for a division title.
New York- Definitely Rasheed Wallace. Obviously you can't predict TC jump but goodness one jump took him from a respectable 17-18 PPG guy to a guy putting up 27 PPG in only 31 minutes. Plus it's not solid player putting up numbers on a bad team when no one else is there to score because if it was he wouldn't be so efficient not to mention the fact that Beermen is not a bad team.
Indiana- It's no surprise to see players sadly cut down during the training camps but Shawn Kemp was cut down so badly he has become a liability on defense as just a shadow of his former self. Scoring 10 less points per game and grabbing less rebounds while being played out of position has been big shock. Look for the article "The Death of Shawn Kemp".
Philly- Kobe Bryant. (Thanks Chicago for that one) Chicago went from having a ridiculous young trio of athletic perimeter players in Kobe/AI/T-Mac. AI got traded even though he was playing the best of the 3. T-Mac is solid. Kobe died and is a shell of himself from last season
London- Everyone is going to say Clack Kellogg right or am I a year late on the guy? He is basically the reason that the Franca have been surging in the America's this year. Yeah they've had other good talent on the team but not enough to break into the elites. Finding a guy for a reasonable price who improved in Training Camp has made them legit contenders. He is putting up ridiclous numbers at 22/8.5/5/1.5 - not bad eh for 10 mil.
Something the surprised me in a bad way was that current playoff team Tehran traded their best player (Mookie Blaylock) instead of tried to make noise in the postseason. He was only 25 anyway so its not like the rookies will be significantly younger. Not a big deal but just kind of surprising.
Verdict: All of these were very good answers. I like London’s point about Tehran a lot. It’s crazy to see what Kemp is now and also what his teammate Rasheed is. John Salley! And Brad D a forgotten man is playing great. I think a lot of us saw Kobe coming though. This is tough. 1. London 2. San Francisco 3. Mexico City 4. New York(tied) 4. Indiana(tied) 6. Philly
3. The Eurasian playoff teams seem set and were barely into the season. The Americas are a little tighter. What current non playoff team do you think has a best chance to make a run into the playoffs?
San Francisco- Sonics. The logical choice may be the Spurs but I think the Sonics will figure it out and they always seem to go on a 17-3 stretch at some point during the second half of the year. They may need to make a trade but they have the assets to be a terrifying 8 seed.
Mexico City- The spurs probably have the best chance of the teams not in. They are still a pretty solid team and I really have zero faith in Harlem.
New York- Seattle. Easy question and that's not meant as a slight to the Spurs or Celtics who are the other +.400 teams outside of the playoffs. He's struggling right now but there's a reason he's a 2x champion and it's just because of Jo Jo White because we've seen plenty of teams have great players and do nothing. He may not put it together but if I had to bet on a team that had the best chance of putting it together outside of the top 8 right now it'd be them.
Indiana- San Antonio are currently sitting just outside of a playoff birth, they are good team and will no doubt make it. Harlem could easily fall away like they did last year and anything could happen to the Bulls season. Spurs will make it at the expense of either of these 2 teams.
Philly- Spurs. Bias can carry a team pretty far with that efficient scoring. If they could add a better center, they would be a lot better off
London- The right choice has got to be Seattle. Can't count them out of any palyoff race especially only being 1.5 games back. Looks like Harlem is heading the wrong way so I expect that it would come down to Seattle and the Bulls for the final spot in America. Trading Byron Scott though probably makes Chicago fans breath a sigh of relief. Eurasia coaches are already giving their players breathers saving them for the post season.
Verdict: This question was written and answered last week. The Spurs have made moves now and moved into a playoff birth. The Sonics are also 1.5 games behind the Bulls as the two teams lead opposite paths. It honestly seems like both of the teams will make it. I have to call this a wash due to stupidity of the question on my part.
4. Players are underrated for different reasons: There are GMs who do not talk as often and it helps their players fly under the radar, there are players who do the dirty work and don’t get the accolades. Who is the most underrated player in the league? On the flip side who is the most overrated?
San Francisco- Most underated is Mookie Blaylock I am not sure people realize just how good he has become. This year he is putting up 26.2 points 12.3 assists 5.8 boards and 2.9 steals yet is rarely talked about. Those are Stockton level numbers and he is right there in the convo among the best PG's in the league.
Mexico City- You know how much I love and talk about Steve Smith and still he gets little to no respect league wide. If the guy had a different more well known name, was not playing behind guys like Sprewell, Hawkins, Thomas and Payton in the years up to this on maybe he'd get more love. Anyway he shoots great %'s, has size, athletism, and puts up good ratings and numbers in rebounds and assists yet nothing. Great contract to boot BTW if i wasnt pumping Steve Smith endlessly Id pick Mookie Blaylock
As for most overrated Im gonna Say Toni Kukoc, I just feel like by now he should be better, he's solid do not get me wrong but he's shown that he is a not a top option guy, and his teams have never been good, just average.
New York- Most overrated is probably one of my players not sure which one though lol. Most underrated is probably Clark Kellog for me who no one ever talks about this guy but he is currently on his second 22+ PPG season and is currently the 2nd most valuable player on the 2nd best team in the league. Brad Daughtery on the Pistons is another that might be a bit underrated right now. He's not a star but he's a very good player that is a capable scoring big man for a team and he doesn't get much mention.
Indiana- Underrated. Len Bias! The Spurs never speak of this man and if you didnt pay attention the league leader boards you could be forgiven for forgetting Len Bias even exists! Put Len next to a defensively dominant center and yo own the front court.
Overrated. I think Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is bordering on becoming irrelevant and is 1 bad TC away from a wheel chair.
Philly- Most underrated is Dominique Wilkins. In the general board on slack, there was a conversation about best tweeters in the league. He wasn't mentioned till I brought him up. Dude is arguably the best IMO.
Most overrated is Steve Francis. I just don't like mediocre efficiency scorers with no defensive ability. I don't know if there are any pure OVERRATED players in the league, but he is another peewee Kirkland.
London- I think Len Bias is somewhat underrated because the Spurs don't talk him up as often as one hears about, oh, I dunno.. Hank Gathers - who is my most overrated/talked about guy right now. Hank is solid but the talk is unwarranted. Bias is a beast who keeps San Antonio in the mix every year. He is the best at what he does in the league and destroys people. Every single team in the league could use a Len Bias.
Verdict: Due to the amount Roark talks about Steve Smith he couldn’t possibly be the most underrated. For the amount Toronto talks about Hank Gathers you would think hes amazing, but I do not think he is overrated because every GM is aware of his talent level and just drowns out what Toronto says about him being the future. I have to say I don’t love any teams combination of answers. I would say of the answers I think Mookie was most underrated, but san fran didn’t answer most overrated. Roark blabbers about Steve Smith and mentions Blaylock, but I don’t find Kukoc to be that overrated, he is not talked about much. 1. Philly 2. Indiana 3. New York 4. London 5. San Francisco 6. Mexico City
5. Still early in the season, rank your top 4 Championship contenders as of now.
San Francisco- First off the New York Knicks. He will deflect and say that I am the favorite but he is the true favorite and the defending champs. Second off the San Francisco Warriors. Yes we have to tweak a few things but we are deep and can defend like the dickens. Third the Los Angeles Lakers Hakeem and Harper finally have some help now that they have Gus and Iggy to compliment what was already a scary duo. Fourth I guess I should go with a team from Eurasia so Sydney to me is the best team in that conference. They have a lot of talent and have the second best Center and PG combo in the game in Ewing and Frank Johnson. They have been right there for the past several years and this could be their year.
Mexico City- American teams dominate here, I'll say SF, L.A. and N.Y are the best of the best. That last spot could go to a team like Sydney, BCZ, MC or maybe Brazil based on early season play.
New York- Four is hard since I think there are a bit more title contenders than that but in no specific order:
New York Knicks
San Francisco Warriors
London Towers
Los Angeles Lakers
I know that's 3 American teams and I think there are a few more Eurasian teams that could walk away with the title but those are probably my top 4. Not having the Titans and Brazil on there was hard but I didn't want to bet against Hakeem completely.
Indiana- Cant go passed the Knicks I think they will go back to back. The Warriors are in with a real crack. London are the only team for me in the Eurasian conference but i have to say I'm really surprised by Franca, I love the dark horse or the underdog and I'll be rooting hard for them. Knick, Warriors, Towers, Franca.
Philly- (1) Warriors- team is just stacked across the board. The athleticism of his bigs is the only issue but that is just nitpicking.
(2) BC Zalgiris- team has 7 (almost 8) guys in double digits and they are he warriors counter part with every athletic bigs. Mourning and KG is a very formidable duo
(3) Lakers- THE DREAM!!!!!!! Seriously? Harper and Hakeem make an extremely intimidating top 2. They also have a very strong supporting cast. GIVE ME IGGY!
(4) Knicks- the Simulation Spurs of ABCA. The sauve of Zoran and Dantley just carries this team every season it seems and they are still a juggernaut this year. Don't count the veterans out.
London- #1. London
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#2. BCZ
#3. Sydney
#4. San Miguel
All American teams are jokes. It's all about Eurasia! I'd take 7 out of the top 8 Eurasian teams over anyone in America. America smells bad.
Verdict: LA should be 1 on all answers. 1. New York 2. San Francisco 3. Philly 4. Mexico City 5. Indiana 6. London
6. Who will be the best player to get traded before the season is over?
San Francisco- WHo is on the Bulls at this point? No clue, a ton of big names have moved and there has been chatter about a lot of big names: Elie, LJ,McHale. I would guess McHale if Milan gets a strong offer it would make sense for them to move him and focus on next year. Question is will they get an offer that justifies moving him?
Mexico City- Id say a guy like Grant hill would be the guy if I actually had faith the Piston gm would get off his butt and actually care about his team, since that is not the case I will say its either Dominique Wilkens from the bullets or Kevin Mchale from Milan, whichever gm wakes up first..
New York- Larry Johnson is one I think we could see since all the top guys seem to be off limits. A year ago this would've been impossible to imagine but after the slight decline in TC and Sydney adding Allan Houston and Patrick Ewing, I think LJ is more available. Another guy to watch for is the aforementioned Brad Daugherty who Detroit should explore the options of trading because he's playing at a career high level but he's expiring next year and is 26 years old. His value is higher than it will be any time following this year and this is a team that would do well with an actual rebuild after the Grant Hill all-in move didn't work out great. So while i'm sure there will be some random superstar traded, I can't really pinpoint who it'd be so i'll go with two star level players as the best to get traded before the season is over.
Indiana- Karl Malone. Bulls just got him, he'll be traded next week.
Philly- Dominique Wilkins. Bullets look to be going rebuild and trading Nique for a package would be the best way to jumpstart it
London- It probably already happened in Mookie being dealt but otherwise it could be a guy like Robert Parish (who is just elite so if he gets moved its obviously a huge deal - Plossl will care). Maybe Dominique Wilkens will be the biggest talent/name to be moved. I think Washington will want to get younger and there will be a team needing some scoring/talent who will give Nique a chance to get a ring.
Verdict: Again a stupid question that is impossible to judge. All good answers, another wash.
Scores:
San Francisco-16
Mexico City- 13
New York- 18
Indiana- 12
Philly- 12
London- 13
So it looks like we have New York as our winner, with San Francisco in second, and Mexico City and London tied for third. Indiana and Philly were very close as well.
