GM-A-TEAM MAY/JUNE '11 WINNER DECLARED

[RiotPunch]

Reserved for Beerwaukee.

[Blazer50]

I am judging final rosters on preceived upgrades, ability to compete and core potential.

1 Chicago Bulls: While they will regret Joe Johnson - he is the upgrade needed at the SG. Good draft in R Jackson. Scola at PF & depth from 3 - 5 make the Bulls odds on favorites in 2012.
2 OKC - It's going to be expensive, but great blend of talent and winning egos.
3 NY Knicks - Nice starting 5 with blend of Offense & Defense. Good values for Amare. Bargs will work with DAntoni. Odom & Crawford will need career years as the major backups.
4 Congrats to our commissioner - New Jersey Nets. Solid starting 5 at the cost of Deron Wms and I like the pickup of Gibson, Beaubois and Beidrins in the backup roles. Solid contender.
5 Denver Nuggets - Did what they needed to in order to move to the next level. Solid roster 2 deep and the guys George Karl can coach. Sometime less is more.
6 A Potential reward goes to the Utah Jazz. Jarrett Jack is a good leader for the young PGs and the youth and talent on this roster extends all the way to Thabeet (but may not include Thabeet?).
7 Lakers retool - spend a billion dollars because they can - good infusion of "youth" - UGH!
8 Toronto Raptors - Good job in finally moving Bargs and Calderon (with a late start). I do like the young talent and this should be a fun team that could contend for the playoffs with some luck.
9 Indiana Pacers - Mixed bag. I like what the Pacers were able to do at the PG and Wings and am not so sure about the bigs - Don't like Bynum's lack of durability. A. Varejao was a good pickup, but your old bigs (Hasbrough, McRoberts & Hibbert) were better complements to AV.
10 - Honorable Mention:
New Orleans Hornets parlayed CP3, Okafor and West into a nice core group. They need a center to help them, but Pryz and Mosgov can hold down the middle for the tme being. With an upgrade at Center, they would have been considered several spots higher. In addition,

Milwaukee Bucks. Looks great on paper. Unfortuneately 40% of draft pick live up to potential so a few of those hot prospects are going to be D League Wonders. But, big POTENTIAL.

Balance of Teams probably realize their pluses and minuses and could be rated in any order.

Great Game - I as the Portland GM I can''t argue being thrashed. Having change my goal - contend -blow up and contend again did create some issues with my roster. However, I still hold out hope that the Naysayers will rue the day they doubted our Greg Oden commitment.
Again, Fun Game!

[Crispy]

1. OKC - KD and D12 will be absolutely unstoppable. Pretty much Kobe/Shaq all over again, except they have a much better supporting cast.

2. CHI - Definitely better than before. Johnson's a great compliment to Rose, and Scola's pretty underrated.

3. NOH - Wall, Mayo, Batum, Love is a terrific core going forward. I'm really high on Wall, think he could be even better than Rose.

4. NJ - Ended up being a good decision to trade D-Will. I'm pretty high on Curry, and the wings are upgraded.

5. ATL - Just for getting Wade, the Hawks have improved in my eyes. They haven't had a true star player in a LONG time, and they got their guy.

6. MIN - I think Bosh has a real nice team around him. It's all up to how Rubio does though, and I think he'll do well with the team around him.

7. MIL - The Bucks were in a ugly situation, so gotta give props here. They have a starting 5 with potential, and they can continue to stock up the lotto picks for a while.

8 - SAS - I like trading Duncan for Jefferson. Jefferson gives them a legit #1 option and he's still in his prime.

9. UTAH - I think the Jazz improved their situation. Great move in deciding to build around Favors, I'm pretty high on him.

10. TOR - Adding Wes Johnson and Conley was big. They don't have great potential, but definitely good role players.

11. GSW - Thought they should have kept Wade. Better than before, but at a couple points in the game this team had the best starting 5.

12. IND - A pretty solid rebuild. Like how they went out and got Bynum. If he stays healthy he will be special.

13. NYK - I actually really like their bench, and Bargs is a solid 2nd offensive option to Melo. Still, don't think their much (or any) better than before.

14. DEN - Getting Ibaka and Leonard were the team's best acquisitions. Lot of young talent, but can any of them be stars? I don't think so.

15. MIA - The team is deeper definitely, but I didn't like them trading Wade. Only real upgrade I see is with Duncan, but who knows how well he's gonna play in 2012?

16. MEM - Don't really think they improved. Kevin Martin is really a one trick pony, and I think they're going to miss Gay and Mayo.

17. SAC - Adding Gibson was a good acquisition. Not very high on Jennings though, thought they should have just taken their chances with someone in the draft.

18. DAL - They probably downgraded from before, losing Chandler really hurt. Still should be in the playoffs though.

19. PHI - Basically dumped Iggy/Brand, kept Holiday/Turner. They have direction, but could have done better perhaps.

20. DET - Not much was done here, except they were able to clear cap, which is nice.

21. CHA - Harris is an upgrade over Augustin, but the team doesn't have much direction really.

22. HOU - I thought they had something nice with Gay, but they traded him. Overall, no real improvement or direction.

23 - POR - Think they pretty much downgraded everywhere, made a couple questionable trades.


2012 winner - OKC - Durant/D12 is just too nice, and with Felton/Harden as good all-around guards? Just gonna be too much to handle.

2017 winner - OKC - Durant will be a top 3 player in the league, Harden will be an All-Star level player, and D12 2ill still only be 29/30.

[nikkoewan]

ok here's my rankings with a bit of comment. Take note that i did not judge based on how close you are to contending status. I judged based on the difficulty of the job at hand and the outcome so let us begin!

1.) Milwaukee - a team chuck full of bad contracts and going nowhere became a team chuck full of young talent on rookie contracts. Nuff' said.

2.) Utah - another team heading towards rebuilding status creates a starting 5 that can grow together. Although i question the effectiveness of that starting 5(NO ONE is a consistent 3 pt threat), i think creating an 8 deep YOUNG lineup is enough for me. Don't know if he traded future picks(even with lottery) but from his writeup, awesome job.

3.) Chicago - converted boozer into joe johnson (awesome), got Scola(awesome) but lost the fierce defense there bench exhibited(this will be SORELY missed).

4.) NY - created a team that's fit to play beside Melo. Obviously, it needs to replenish its bench almost every year(its full of veterans and question marks), the starting 5 is above average. I question the defense of that starting 5 though.

5.) Denver - I'm a sucker for keeping the core together and improving, which Denver did. Although they do still lack something every one knows: they lack an alpha dog which will take the blame and credit for everything. Will that be Gallo? Lawson? Nene? i was hoping that question was answered better.

6.) NJ - this team is all about potential. the starting 5 is above average, with the ability to become one of the better starting 5s. bench is inconsistent(and i really mean INCONSISTENT) but lots of potential.

7.) OKC - easiest jobs in the game(along with Heat). improved mightily in the starting 5, weakened the bench so much. Built for the playoffs. But the assets they had dampened the job.

8.) Pacers - I don't trust Bynum, not totally wowed by George. love the bench though and Brandon Knight and Anderson Varejao. With the lack of assets (besides Granger, Collison, Hibbert, George, what do they have? and those 4 aren't even superstar level), got a good team in place. still a middling team.

9.) NOLA - First and foremost, I'm a hornets fan so I can truly assess the gravity of his work. I would have placed him higher had he not done it with the Dan Gilbert route. GREAT TEAM(as you'll see later on) but I question the validity of his intention of "spend to win" philosophy - is that even possible for a small market team with only Chouest as the greatest probability owner(who BTW is very fiscally responsible)? would have placed him top 5 if not for that philosophy. Anyone could have gone that route and created a good team, the question is, does that team have that kind of a market/owner? The simple answer is no.

10.) Lakers - lost their edge (big man domination) although they have a solid back court. that's why they are middle of the pack. Lost the edge.

11.) Heat - easiest job to GM(along with OKC) because you know the direction, and you got 3 superstar assets you can parlay into something meaningful. Love the LMA and JRich acquisition. Hate the Westbrook/James pairing and i question the Duncan trade plus they still have no bench. Overall, meh for what he had.

12.) Spurs - I don't know what they are going for. It looks like they want to contend, but failed to reach contending status in my eyes. Simple.

13.) Warriors - starting 5 is good, but old and has lots of question marks(billups will retire in a year or two, Amare and his knees, Gordon as a starting 2, Horford as a starting 5 IN THE WEST) plus they have a skeleton bench.

14.) 76ers - love it that they got rid of their long term contracts and focused on youth rebuilding. the only real problem I have is besides Jrue and Turner, they got no young talent that i find has lots of potential. Thad is a great vet(?) to lead the team. I love Thad though.

15.) Hawks - got worse, IMO. even with DWade, they got weaker considerably. the strength of Atlanta was that although they didn't have a REAL closer, they had such a balanced team. That's gone now. and there front court just got WAY weak.

16.) Kings - not a playoff contender, no room for contender status in the near future. I loved the Reke+Thornton pairing. replacing Thornton with Jennings made it more complicated IMO. Gained a lot of picks though but besides that 2013 POR 1st and 2012 SA 1st, everything else has little chance of being a lottery pick.

17.) Rockets - i don't know if they want to contend, or they want to rebuild. They don't have young assets, they have a below average starting 5. a bench that doesn't fit. Only thing I like is the number of picks they got, even if most of them are low picks. they have 5 2012 picks in the strong 2012 draft. *slow clap*

18.) Minnesota - on the surface they seem like a good team, but its a team stuck in mediocrity, IMO. this team also had lots of assets, and they understandably, wanted to consolidate assets. But Bosh is not a closer(I don't like the Ostrich!), Bogut is nice but injury prone but its great that they have Udoh to back him up. Plus, their wings are a question mark. And i don't trust Rubio, IMO. all hype.

19.) Portland - agree with Keeslinator, too much dependence on Roy/Oden. just, read Keeslinator's. )

20.) Charlotte - no direction still. i was hoping they'd also go rebuild mode. but they stuck with the mediocre route(as is with Minnesota).

21.) Toronto - understandably, lukarts wasn't able to do much because he got it AFTER the draft. didn't like the option to rebuild around DeRozan and Davis(although i think he had no choice).

22.) Detroit - still has no direction. the worst thing a franchise can be in is to have no direction. Go one way or the other, don't be stuck in mediocrity or be stuck in no mans land.

23.) Dallas - lost lots of depth(even if they are old). didn't resign Chandler.didn't get any picks(even if they did, it was the wrong direction because they decided not to trade Dirk).

2012 champs - OKC
2017 champs --> BOLD STATEMENT NEW ORLEANS(i think John Wall has all the makings to be the best PG in the league)

Final notes: HAD LOTS OF FUN GUYS! AWESOME JOB BY EVERYONE BEING SO ACTIVE. I LOVE IT. Hopefully, I can join in the next gm-a-team game and GM my team, the Hornets. AWESOME experience. just plain, AWESOME.

[lukekarts]

Well, this was tough, but here goes, OKC and Toronto's rankings are in:

1. Chicago - lateral moves at PF, improvements at SG, better depth. Can't fault the job, fixed the problems, this team should contend.

2. Utah - assembled a high potential group of guys, low payroll (relatively), little to fault, but hard to know if anyone will develop into a star.

3. New Orleans - Can't fault their future, though adding a few bad conracts to get there isn't ideal.

4. Milwaukee - fantastic job in clearing out the bad; it might be a slow couple of years for the Bucks and they lost their best player (Bogut) but the GM here is a lot more competent than the real life one!

5. Denver - good progression from where the team is at in real life, still no star pieces, but not every team can have stars and this team will make the playoffs and make money year in year out.

6. Indiana - mixed direction but built a solid all round team -Future will depend on Knight and George but with a good leader in place (Kidd), I'd expect these guys to imrpove very quickly. The front court will be nasty defensively.

7. Minnesota - should finally make the playoffs with a great front court, though the backcourt lacks consistency/experience. May turn out great in the long-run.

8. Atlanta - finally got a star, which is great, though not sure what Wade and Boozer can do without much help.

9. Memphis - corrected minor problems, took on some salary but it's not too bloated, solid overall job.

10. New Jersey - good job in assembling a nice young core, only downside is there's no 'star' in New Jersey, but the building through youth route is something they may have to consider in the long run if Dwight won't come.

11. GSW - love the front court, but the backcourt may struggle. Still, considerable improvement on the real life Warriors and will be a 2nd round playoff team.

12. Detroit - cleared out the bad - which is great; added Vasely who could be a good player. Will not make the playoffs but at least has the chance to fix mistakes made by Dumars.

13. LA Lakers - really hard to get this job right, I don't think has made the team better or worse, but the front court advantage has gone, whilst the backcourt is the strongest ever.

14. Sacramento - modest improvements to the team (PG & PF), dropped considerably when taking on Villaneuva IMO, the payroll will hurt the franchise, but the future is bright.

15. New York - hard to rank this team right, has a great, deep roster, but only Melo is a star. I think this team runs the risk of being just like the 07-10 Nuggets, a good playoff team but nothing more.

16. Houston - Mixed direction. I didn't like the Beasley trade, and the team still lacks a future star, but in the long-run projects as a consistent playoff team which is better than in real life.

17. Philly - cut the payroll, but unfortunately hasn't yet added the kind of talent that makes it worthwhile IMO.

18. San Antonio - ness' worst job yet IMO, didn't really improve the team, though I appreciate 35 year olds don't have much value.

19. Charlotte - cleared out Diop, made the team slightly better in the short term, but still lacks long-term direction. Tough job, though.

20. Dallas - stuck to goals, cut salary, but also effectively broke up the team that is now championship favourite.

21. Portland - bad contracts, worse best players. Not sure I like it.

2012 Champion - Miami?

2017 Champion - Utah?

[Devilanche]

I give higher consideration for what a team started with. So for example while Detroit might be more lacking in talent than Miami ever will, i give more consideration that Detroit were able to shed 3 undesirable contract while not bleeding talent than Miami building a complete team.

Everyone would be willing to deal with Miami to take on 1 of their big 3 but nobody wants to end up with Rip/CV/Gordon. If you're a contender with one of these overpaid guys, i'll look at their contribution but if you're a rebuilding team, i probably expect to see a solid talent somewhere for your spacecap eating move.

Detroit though will have a hard time to attract talent now but 1 offseason to shed those 3 in real life and fans will probably celebrate more than a ring.


1: New York - Started with Carmelo/Amare/Billups + pieces and turned it into a decent starting lineup with defence(Chandler/Matthews) to cover for Bargnani/Carmelo and also 2 6MOTY in crawford(FA) and Odom. Not a bad job considering that K Mart and Nenad are warming up somewhere to enter the game. Good frontcourt too but with Kurt Thomas/K mart as 5th and 6th option might have been better off packaging K Mart with Telfair for a backup PG.

2:Oklahoma City- Westbrook/Ibaka/Perkins turns into Felton/Dwight while stealing Landry off FA. Anytime you can trade for howard you do it. Don't think he'll bolt since Durant is there. Didn't think signing Landry is a good choice though. Ideally would have been better to flip him for an expiring PF to make a run at CP next offseason. Need a better bench scorer than Peja to be higher on my list.

3: Chicago - Boozer/Bogans into JJ and Scola? Good move in talent but i really don't like JJ salary in future. Bench has improved marginally and should realistically contend.

4: Milwaukee- Lost Bogut but made Salmon/Maggette/Gooden contract disappear for Al Harrington contract in return. Clearly going into full rebuild which i think fans may accept after missing playoff last year. Beno and Mydyess will help provide veteran presence off the bench.

5:New Jersey- Exchanged DWill + Pieces into Curry and Gay. Obviously gearing the team for movement to the new arena.Exchanged Outlaw 3 year contract into Beans 2 year contract which shouldn't affect luxury tax until expiry.Could have done with better 2nd stringer. I only like Beaubois/Beans from that 2nd stringer.

6: Miami- Started with the big 3, ended up with a big salary bill but more crucially depth. Should win the title but could have done better with salary management considering what miami started with ($65m to 95m)

7:Golden State - Beans/Lee/Monta/Curry turns into Horford/Amare/Smith/Billups. A good job if the team focus is a win now mode. Not much depth/youngster behind though.
Considering the starting pieces, i really love the outcome.

8: New Orleans- Had to either choose to find CP3 a partner or trade CP3. Got a big return in Wall and surrounded with nice pieces in love/batum/mayo. Ended up with Jefferson and Davis on 2 years contract in same year those 3 will need to be extended. Maybe could have found worse player on 1 year deal to help ranking.

9: Denver - Playoff shown that whatever Denver had going for them wasn't going to work for a ring. Got marks for getting younger at PF without losing any of the starter. Basically flipped felton/JR/Chandler for Maynor/TA/Prince + Leonard and picks(late first). Good decision to stash first round picks. Probably a safe type of GM and frankly those are still good to hire.

10: Detroit - Bye bye rip, ben gordan and CV. They still kept Monroe/Stuckey/Daye/Vesely and added on flynn as a prospect. Great job.

11: Minnesota - Henderson/Klay/J.Hamilton/Caspi will bound to have 2 starting wing in the future. Bayless is solid insurance should Rubio be more hype than talent. Getting Bosh instead of Love gives wrong signal regarding the short term/long term goal though getting Bogut for whatever they had given up was a good move. Good experienced frontcourt and a learning guard position. Not sure how that will work out but now the team is out of the lottery. Could have enough in internal improvement.

12: Atlanta - Undersized frontcourt in J.Smith/Horford remains undersized Boozer/Anthony with a drop in talent. But hey at least you turned marvin/JJ into butler/Wade. Got to give some credit for that.


13: Toronto- Started late so pretty much disadvantaged. Conley/Wesley are pretty nice pieces to work with considering they still kept Davis/Derozan. Going to the lottery for another year or two so probably with them being way under the cap, could have added some expensive pieces for draft picks.

15: Los Angeles Lakers - Deproved in frontcourt to get themselves D Will. At least we know who's taking over Kobe in future. Took on alot of future salary though in the name of overall improvement.Not sure if a bench of George Hill/Maggette/Davis is that much better than Brown/Barnes/Odom considering the salary increase.

15: San Antonio - Lost George Hill in the backcourt while making wholesale changes in the frontcourt. I really like an Al Jefferson/Dalembert frontcourt going forward and artest is solid since i suppose the spurs constructed need more defence. Contender though now there's no youth whatsoever unless one believe Blair is a building block for the future.

16: Houston- Good deal with Deandre on the declining deal considering their current cap situation. Overpaid though. 2 expiring piece in Barbosa/West to ensure more flexibility. Too good to be in the lottery but probably not good enough to be in the playoff out west. Great wing rotation of Ariza/Beasley/Thornton/Brewer but could have probably spread the talent better at PG or PF. With Martin gone, one of Beasley/Thorton will have to step up and i think one would.

17: Utah- Out went Jefferson/Millsap/Okur and have Mcgee to play beside favors in a going young approach. Not sure having both kemba and Fredette is the right approach as both are small and didn't have much to show for losing 3 PF that i do value quite highly.

18: Memphis - Lowry and Conley are pretty similar in my view but Lowry is slightly cheaper. Turned Gay into Kevin Martin and Young/Mayo/Darrell into JJ/T.Will/Amir. Give me Mayo out of that 6 anytime and Gay/Martin is about equal. Not much has changed.

19: Sacramento- Had alot of capspace and 2 good building pieces in Tyreke/Cousins to start with. Ended up close to luxury tax and only had Taj Gibson/Jennings to show for it. Didn't think Sacremento should have taken on Lewis/Villanueva. Would have prefer an SF prospect of some kind since Rashard will probably be allowed to walk upon expiry.

20: Philadelphia - Philly just got into the playoff and made a total decision to go young and rebuild. You did move Brand contract but considering it took a whole lot of talent out means you were probably better off trying to compete instead.Too much under the capspace would have been better served getting 1-2 more talented players like a real backup PG. I do think i would have given more minutes to turner at just one position. Either a Jrue/Turner/Young combo or a Jrue/Meeks/Turner combo considering that Jrue/Turner are your 2 pieces going forward. Bled too much talent with the Phoenix trade though.

21: Dallas - Cuban would have preferred a ring to savings in luxury tax. Though with they way Dirk is playing right now, they are probably still good for a conference semis appearance. Benefits of having a jumpshooting 7 footer negated by having 2 undersized C beside him.

22: Charlotte- $13m under salary cap. Ended up with role players and still kept most valuable piece(SJax).Other than Chalmers and and Donatas (Draft pick), didn't really have any other young pieces to work with. 3 Picks from next year draft though. Would have ended up higher if went for a total rebuild. I do think they'll fall just short of playoff.

23: Portland - Flipping between contending/rebuilding really hurt the outcome alot.
Started to go wrong after the 4th trade. Not a good idea to end your hopes on B.Roy + Oden knees for upwards of $25m.


2012 Champion: NYK - Had to love the bench
2017 Champion: OKC - Can't argue against a Durant/Dwight madness.

[sterncohen]

Rankings from Denver


Very well played game this time around. The rankings seem much closer to me than in most earlier games – lots of teams improved some, very few improved drastically, very few are worse off. Also appreciate getting comments from everyone, rather than just rankings.

1. OKC. Add Dwight Howard to Kevin Durant, hold on to James Harden, give them all a good PG to work with, you win.

2. Minnesota. Essentially replaced Kevin Love with Chris Bosh and Andrew Bogut. The age situation is messy – basically, a bunch of rookies have to come through in the backcourt for the team to win – but the talent is greatly improved.

3. Indiana – I’d rather have Andrew Bynum and Brandon Knight than Roy Hibbert and Danny Granger. Add some valuable defenders in Varejao and Asik and yo’uve got a significantly better team.

4. New Jersey – Curry, Gay, and Lopez is a very nice core; tough to lose Williams but also a lot safer than counting on him to re-sign. Adding Beaubois helps as well. PF and SG remain weak positions.

5. Utah – In for a penny, in for a pound – went young throughout the lineup and came up with very solid talent in Kemba Walker, Derrick Williams, and Javale McGee to join Favors.

6. Miami – First of a bunch of teams that fall under the heading “I don’t know what to think.” I’ll take Aldridge as equal to Bosh, which means that he’s got Westbrook and Duncan in return for Wade and spare parts, plus some veterans at SG. No question that there’s a ton of talent here. Two concerns: age (Duncan, Richardson, Hamilton) and fit (this lineup emphasizes Westbrook’s weaknesses and minimizes his strengths).

7. Chicago – As everybody else has said, Joe Johnson and Scola should produce more than Boozer and the weak Chicago SG’s. But …Johnson’s contract is brutal, and he declined substantially this year, to the point where he was a not much better than average player – and that’s on a team that relied on him as the primary scorer. And, much as I like Scola, a healthy Boozer is a better player. So this is a gamble that might well pay off in the short run, and is likely to look ugly soon afterwards.
8.
New Orleans – Wall and Love is a terrific return for Paul, West, and Okafor. There’s not much here besides those two, other than bad contracts that will limit the team for years. Still a great duo to build around.

9. Golden State – Stoudemire and Horford is a wonderful front line. The rest of the lineup is a worry – Billups may be done, and I don’t see Josh Smith as a SF. Still seems to me to be a significant upgrade.

10. LAL – Deron Williams would be a great addition to any team, and even more so to LA, replacing PG’s who are well below league average. But David Lee is not Pau Gasol, Emeka Okafor is not Andrew Bynum, and Glen Davis is not Lamar Odom. A locker room with Kobe Bryant and Corey Maggette would provide some entertainment, though.

11. Atlanta – Similar reaction to LA - big points for getting Dwayne Wade. But it cost a lot – downgrade from Horford to Boozer, and basically everybody else with talent is gone. Teague/Butler/Anthony as 3/5 of a starting lineup is a very heavy load for those two guys to carry.

12. New York – Total talent is up, and Tyson Chandler will provide a defensive anchor the Knicks sorely lack. I don’t think there’s enough total talent here to be a serious championship contender, though, and relying on Bargnani as your starting PF is asking for a lot of trouble.

13. Milwaukee – Traded their best players, but got rid of an impossibly bad set of contracts and brought in a lot of youth. If one or two of the new guys are good, they come out well ahead.

14. San Antonio – quite a fair return for Duncan, getting Al Jefferson and Camby, and replacing Richard Jefferson with Artest. Not convinced that it’s a championship team, though; still quite old; and has given up some of the young players who had a chance to keep them in contention long term.

15. Toronto – Nice job of getting rid of the bad contracts. No significant increase in talent, though, so hard to see how this team becomes a contender, unless they luck out with one of the young players turning into a star.

16. Charlotte – Might be the hardest team in the league to play in this game. Again, good work on moving contracts; still a perennial also-ran.

17. Detroit – And again – moved out bad contracts, no significant talent increase.

18. Sacramento – Cousins, Evans, Jennings – lots of potential, but the felony potential may equal the talent potential. Quite a locker room. And what’s Rashard Lewis doing here?

19. Memphis – I like the exchange of Mayo for Kevin Martin, and Conley for Kyle Lowry. But losing Rudy Gay outweighs the gains.

20. Philadelphia – Held on to the young players, but gave up Iguodala and Brand without getting equal value in return.

21. Houston – This seems to me to be a badly mismatched team, reliant on guys like Ariza and Beasley who just aren’t that good.

22. Dallas – Talent out (Chandler, Terry, Kidd, Beaubois) substantially greater than talent in, without any significant youth coming back in return.

23. Portland – Ditto; very little to show for Aldridge, Batum, Matthews.


2012 champion - Miami
2017 - OKC

[skorff26]

Minnesota rankings
This has probably been the hardest GM a Team I've had to judge, no team completely wowed me like some have in the past but the vast majority of teams improved. The top 15 teams were super close, I bet if I were to grade them in a week I could have some teams 5-10 spots different just because of good (not great) so many GM's did.
1. Denver I really like what Denver did, I think Ibaka is a perfect piece for that team. Also bringing in vets like Prince and Allen are nice moves as well.
2. OKC - Durant with Howard is amazing, plus their supporting cast compliments those 2 well.
3. Utah - Being #3 is quite respectable (but it's also #3 in their division), they aren't as good as they are now but their current team lacks a direction, Utah's GM did a fine job of rebuilding and should have a solid team in a couple of years.
4. Milwaukee - Losing Jennings and Bogut hurts, hopefully they can get 2 players as good as they are from their young players. The biggest reason Milwaukee is so high though was their ability to move some of their bad contracts.
5. Indiana - They're younger (I think), more balanced, and an improved team.
6. Miami - I like the cast around Lebron better then what he has now. They would be very tough to beat in the next 3 years.
7. Toronto - They got out of some of their bad deals and have a nice young starting 5 to build around
8. Chicago - Joe Johnson is overpaid by a lot (but so is Boozer) and JJ definitely fills in a big whole and picking up Scola nicely fills in their PF spot... I think they would give Miami a very close series in the playoffs.
9. Philly nice young core, should be solid in a few years... finally picked a direction that they're going
10. GSW - Smith/Horford/Amare is a nice trio, but it's not that different from Atlanta's trio of JJ/Smith/Horford (Amare is better but I think JJ fits a lot better with the other 2). After GSW current supporting cast isn't the greatest, if BG returns to a decent player then they could do well in the next couple of years and Billups is still solid but is getting up their in age... one injury would instantly derail this team.
11. SAS - probably a bit better then they currently are, nice depth of veterans who if they play together maybe could win a title in the next year or two... plus al jefferson and tony parker are 2 decent pieces to start a rebuild with once the old guys are gone.
12. NOH - It's tough to get a good grade when you move Paul, but ending up with Love, Wall, and Batum is a good return
13. Atlanta - Hard to put them this low since they got wade, only problem is I don't see much else unless Boozer can pick it up a ton
14. Sac - Pairing Evans with Jennings is a nice duo along with Cousins, their cap space and draft picks should help to fill in the gaps on their teams
15. LAL - DWill is a big upgrade for them, only problem is theirs downgrades at PF and C. I think they are about as good as they are right now, but they will be competitive for a longer period of time.
16. NY - I really like their depth as a team, but I don't think there's enough there to be competitive and they have no flexibility to improve with no cap space and draft picks.
17. Detroit - I'm not really a fan of their current roster, but he did do a nice job of moving out some bad deals.
18. Charlotte - I think they improved a little bit for next year, and a little bit for the future as well, but their roster is comparable to what they currently have.
19. NJ - Moving DWill without getting a superstar back hurts their rankings. The Curry/Gay/Lopez trio is nice but I don't think it is nice enough to carry them past the 1st round of the playoffs and they'll be stuck in limbo with no cap space and a mid round 1st.
20. Hou - most of their positions I feel are a bit weaker then when they started.
21. Dall - Biggest reason they're so low is that I think Chandler >> Hayes, most of the rest of their roster is fairly comparable to what they currently have.
22. Mem Their big move was moving Gay/Conley for Martin/Lowry which I don't think is a good move at all. Losing Allen hurts a lot too.
23. Port - I tried not to put them last but I had too... they are solely relying on Roy and Oden to come back and be solid contributors and then they'd be playoff contenders... the current team is a playoff contending team and hope Roy and Oden come back to make them a championship contending team.

2012 Champs Miami
2017 Champs OKC

[-Kees-]

Final Calculated Rankings:

1. Oklahoma City *
2. Chicago
3. New Orleans
4. Milwaukee
5. Miami
6. Indiana
7. New York
8. Los Angeles Lakers
9. New Jersey
10. Utah
11. Minnesota
12. Denver
13. Golden State
14. Atlanta
15. Toronto
16. Memphis
17. San Antonio
18. Detroit
19. Sacramento
20. Houston
21. Philadelphia
22. Charlotte
23. Dallas
24. Portland

*Winner of this game. You get 2nd choice on team pick for next game (after the previous commish, me). Luke, Congrats on winning, please tell me or Karmaloop (commish of next game) who you want for your team for next round. Everyone else will go through the traditional 3 team system.

Thanks to everyone who participated, this was one of the closest games ever! If you liked it please sign up for next round!

[Warriorfan]

congrats to the winner

[Karmaloop]

Final Calculated Rankings:

22. Charlotte

I'm calling shenanigans. Just kidding, but on a more serious note this was one of the most difficult games for me. Charlotte didn't have very many assets to use in trades, and they were straddled with a bunch of tough contracts. I was aiming to make them playoff-bound in a weak East, and I think I did that.

BTW, great job Keeslinator. A very flawless commished game.

P.S. I'll get sign ups thread started here shortly.

[-Kees-]

Final Calculated Rankings:

22. Charlotte

I'm calling shenanigans. Just kidding, but on a more serious note this was one of the most difficult games for me. Charlotte didn't have very many assets to use in trades, and they were straddled with a bunch of tough contracts. I was aiming to make them playoff-bound in a weak East, and I think I did that.

BTW, great job Keeslinator. A very flawless commished game.

P.S. I'll get sign ups thread started here shortly.

Yeah I understand. I believe one flaw of this game is that people don't value if you take a team that had little, and set them up good. Maybe that's just my weird look on things, but I think people value big names and secure production then well set up talent for the future on a team that started with crap...so yeah just my 2 cents.

Thanks! It did go relatively well.

[nikkoewan]

Final Calculated Rankings:

22. Charlotte

I'm calling shenanigans. Just kidding, but on a more serious note this was one of the most difficult games for me. Charlotte didn't have very many assets to use in trades, and they were straddled with a bunch of tough contracts. I was aiming to make them playoff-bound in a weak East, and I think I did that.

BTW, great job Keeslinator. A very flawless commished game.

P.S. I'll get sign ups thread started here shortly.

Yeah I understand. I believe one flaw of this game is that people don't value if you take a team that had little, and set them up good. Maybe that's just my weird look on things, but I think people value big names and secure production then well set up talent for the future on a team that started with crap...so yeah just my 2 cents.

Thanks! It did go relatively well.

Agreed Keeslinator, i was particularly impressed with Milwaukee. that was such a quick turn around, i can't even begin to imagine the stress they had to take. GREAT JOB!! Keeslinator! looking forward to a new GM-A-TEAM GAME (or should i say Doin' work a gm-team LOL)

[lukekarts]

Oooh I won. Did not expect that Thanks a lot guys.

[Devilanche]

Yeah I understand. I believe one flaw of this game is that people don't value if you take a team that had little, and set them up good. Maybe that's just my weird look on things, but I think people value big names and secure production then well set up talent for the future on a team that started with crap...so yeah just my 2 cents.

Thanks! It did go relatively well.

I personally think Detroit should be much higher than most do. I think everyone looking for contention, if you end up with the marginal talent/bad contract, save for massive trading i don't think you can end up in the top 10.