Blazers Draft - Signups (Cancelled)

[durantbird]

Draft Rules:

1. All NBA/ABA seasons from 1959-60 to 2024-25 are eligible, subject to the restrictions outlined below.

2. You will be required to draft a total of 8 players in 8 rounds. Each of your players must play a minimum of 8 minutes in your rotations.

3. Your team will be allowed a combined total of 88.0 FGA with a minimum of 3.0 FGA per player corresponding with the specific seasons indicated for each player. Pre-merger seasons (1969-70 to 1975-76) are multiplied by 0.85 to account for pace, with closest 0.1 rounding. NOTE: You may pick a player whose actual FGA number was lower than 3.0, but you still be charged 3.0 for that player.

4. Each player you select must have played at least 50% of regular season games in the season selected.

5. Each player selected must have played at any point in his career in either:
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Philadelphia 76ers (Portland's 1977 finals rival)
- Detroit Pistons (Portland's 1990 finals rival)
- Chicago Bulls (Portland's 1992 finals rival)

Any predecessor franchises are also relevant.

6. We will be doing a modified snake draft. It will go like this: ABBABABA.

7. Players will get a maximum of a 2-hour window to make their selection when they are on the clock. If you still have not chosen a player by then, or if the player you have chosen is ineligible, you will be skipped. Also, if you know ahead of time that you won't be available to make your pick on the clock then please PM your selection to another participant. NOTE: If you miss one pick and have failed to make it by the time your next pick comes around, you will be skipped.

8. The clock will be turned off between 12 midnight and 9 AM EDT.

9. Draft order will be completely randomized.

10. After you have made your draft selection, please quote and/or PM the person that goes after you so they will know that it is their turn and they are on the clock. You may not change your pick after it has been made, even if the next person in the order has not picked yet. Please note that the clock starts whenever the previous drafter has either made their pick or their two-hour window has expired, even if the next person is not quoted.

11. The winner of the draft will be determined by rankings, playoffs, or hybrid (depending on numbers).

Team Roster Page Rules:

You will be responsible for creating a roster page for your fantasy team. Here are the things that you will be required to include on your roster page:

. Players
. Rotations
. Draft selections
. The most important of all, you must show the total FGA per player on your roster AND a total sum of each players FGA to display that it is under the required 88.0 FGA

-All of the above must be completed before playoffs/rankings begin.

Signups:
durantbird
MadNess
flaco
Larry_Russell
Jon_3232
Laimbeer

If 10:
Snakebites
Fadeaway_J

[MadNESS]

In

[flaco]

In

I think MJ reigns supreme in this draft. Any chance we run ABBBBBBB or an alternative variation instead of our usual ABBABABA?

[Snakebites]

In

I think MJ reigns supreme in this draft. Any chance we run ABBBBBBB or an alternative variation instead of our usual ABBABABA?

I don’t think you do that to nerf one draft position.

All that does is kill the second third and fourth spots- the issue isn’t MJ, it’s the lack of viable challengers to him in this pool. The Pistons, Sixers and Blazers bring a pretty solid pool of secondary guys to the table but the pool overall is light on true superstars.

Switching the order does not fix that.

I’ll wait and see on this one. I haven’t decided yet.

[durantbird]

In

I think MJ reigns supreme in this draft. Any chance we run ABBBBBBB or an alternative variation instead of our usual ABBABABA?

I don’t think you do that to nerf one draft position.

All that does is kill the second third and fourth spots- the issue isn’t MJ, it’s the lack of viable challengers to him in this pool. The Pistons, Sixers and Blazers bring a pretty solid pool of secondary guys to the table but the pool overall is light on true superstars.

Switching the order does not fix that.

I’ll wait and see on this one. I haven’t decided yet.

Notice it's anyone who played there. MJ is clearly best but there are other legit first rounders like Wilt Walton Wade Embiid Harden Erving Moses Barkley Tracy etc.

Theoretically the solution would be to ban MJ but then you may argue Wilt is "unfair"?

[Dr Positivity]

Feels a bit thin to me.

[Fadeaway_J]

The pool is fine, I just want to see how many people sign up. Don't love the single-digit drafts.

[Dr Positivity]

Candidates to add:

Lakers - they've played them 12 times including in 1977, and 2000 probably was the real finals.
Nuggets - would complete the 1977 opponent set with Bulls and Lakers if the latter were in, and had crazy series recently
Warriors - late 2010s nemesis
Sonics (NOT Thunder) - other pacific northwest team

Lakers alone would add a ton obviously.

[durantbird]

Candidates to add:

Lakers - they've played them 12 times including in 1977, and 2000 probably was the real finals.
Nuggets - would complete the 1977 opponent set with Bulls and Lakers if the latter were in, and had crazy series recently
Warriors - late 2010s nemesis
Sonics (NOT Thunder) - other pacific northwest team

Lakers alone would add a ton obviously.

Did you notice it's "whoever played those clubs once"? I tried to simulate it for 10 guys and the pool seemed deep enough to me.

Below is a list:

Spoiler:

First round caliber: MJ Wilt Embiid Walton Wade Harden Erving Barkley Moses Tracy

Borderline first round / common second rounders: Pippen George Lillard Butler Drexler Hill Billups Rose Brand Gilmore Pau Isiah McAdoo Lanier Gervin Roy

Other All Star level guys: Rasheed Middleton Dumars Petrovic Lowry Holiday Porter Maxey Griffin Detlef Hamilton GeraldWallace Sabonis Chandler Rodman Parish Dantley Noah AllanHouston Cade Markannen CliffordRobinson BobbyJones DeBusscherre Webber Iverson Carmelo Aldridge SteveSmith

Among others

If we add Lakers and Warriors (which seem most suitable), we need to change concept and include only relevant seasons

[flaco]

Forgot about Wilt tbh. He's definitely comparable to MJ in terms of talent.

Assuming we wanna expand the pool, first teams that come to mind are Seattle (/OKC) and Vancouver (/Memphis) due to geographical proximity. I believe plenty of Sonics fans support the Blazers since the relocation to OKC. Draft-wise, the Thunder add plenty of intriguing names including 2 legit go-to scorers. It's slim pickings when it comes to the Grizzlies.

Personally, I'm OK either way. Wilt makes the pool a bit more balanced than I thought.

[Fadeaway_J]

Candidates to add:

Lakers - they've played them 12 times including in 1977, and 2000 probably was the real finals.
Nuggets - would complete the 1977 opponent set with Bulls and Lakers if the latter were in, and had crazy series recently
Warriors - late 2010s nemesis
Sonics (NOT Thunder) - other pacific northwest team

Lakers alone would add a ton obviously.

Did you notice it's "whoever played those clubs once"? I tried to simulate it for 10 guys and the pool seemed deep enough to me.

Below is a list:

Spoiler:

First round caliber: MJ Wilt Embiid Walton Wade Harden Erving Barkley Moses Tracy

Borderline first round / common second rounders: Pippen George Lillard Butler Drexler Hill Billups Rose Brand Gilmore Pau Isiah McAdoo Lanier Gervin Roy

Other All Star level guys: Rasheed Middleton Dumars Petrovic Lowry Holiday Porter Maxey Griffin Detlef Hamilton GeraldWallace Sabonis Chandler Rodman Parish Dantley Noah AllanHouston Cade Markannen CliffordRobinson BobbyJones DeBusscherre Webber Iverson Carmelo Aldridge SteveSmith

Among others

If we add Lakers and Warriors (which seem most suitable), we need to change concept and include only relevant seasons

There's also Dwight who played for the Sixers.

I'm not really that wild about adding teams unless we get 12 or more drafters. Would be nice to try out a thinner pool for once.

[Snakebites]

I will play IF we can get to 10.

[Fadeaway_J]

I will play IF we can get to 10.

Ditto

[durantbird]

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[Dr Positivity]

Candidates to add:

Lakers - they've played them 12 times including in 1977, and 2000 probably was the real finals.
Nuggets - would complete the 1977 opponent set with Bulls and Lakers if the latter were in, and had crazy series recently
Warriors - late 2010s nemesis
Sonics (NOT Thunder) - other pacific northwest team

Lakers alone would add a ton obviously.

Did you notice it's "whoever played those clubs once"? I tried to simulate it for 10 guys and the pool seemed deep enough to me.

Below is a list:

Spoiler:

First round caliber: MJ Wilt Embiid Walton Wade Harden Erving Barkley Moses Tracy

Borderline first round / common second rounders: Pippen George Lillard Butler Drexler Hill Billups Rose Brand Gilmore Pau Isiah McAdoo Lanier Gervin Roy

Other All Star level guys: Rasheed Middleton Dumars Petrovic Lowry Holiday Porter Maxey Griffin Detlef Hamilton GeraldWallace Sabonis Chandler Rodman Parish Dantley Noah AllanHouston Cade Markannen CliffordRobinson BobbyJones DeBusscherre Webber Iverson Carmelo Aldridge SteveSmith

Among others

If we add Lakers and Warriors (which seem most suitable), we need to change concept and include only relevant seasons

The depth is ok but I feel like having Harden or Embiid in 1st round when other players have MJ or Wilt leaves you pretty cooked.

[flaco]

I'd argue the depth is determined by the availability or scarcity of legit 1st-round talents. There's a massive advantage when picking MJ over T-Mac in round 1 whereas there's only a marginal difference when selecting players in the later rounds. No big deal if I have to settle for Aaron McKie or Keith Bogans instead of Shane Battier or Lu Dort. All these guys are role players.

The same goes for real-life drafts. The classes of 1984 and 2003 are considered historically deep because of MJ, Hakeem, Barkley, Stockton, LeBron, Wade, Bosh and Melo, not because of Kyle Korver, Josh Howard and Leandro Barbosa.

All that said, I don't mind the thinner pool. Makes the game more challenging. Kinda worried that MJ-Wilt are OP, but oh well.

[Snakebites]

The balance of the pool isn’t usually a factor in whether or not I sign up- its rarely even something I think about until after I have my draft position.

I care whether the premise/player pool seem like they’ll be enjoyable to play around with or not.

[Fadeaway_J]

I'd argue the depth is determined by the availability or scarcity of legit 1st-round talents. There's a massive advantage when picking MJ over T-Mac in round 1 whereas there's only a marginal difference when selecting players in the later rounds. No big deal if I have to settle for Aaron McKie or Keith Bogans instead of Shane Battier or Lu Dort. All these guys are role players.

The same goes for real-life drafts. The classes of 1984 and 2003 are considered historically deep because of MJ, Hakeem, Barkley, Stockton, LeBron, Wade, Bosh and Melo, not because of Kyle Korver, Josh Howard and Leandro Barbosa.

All that said, I don't mind the thinner pool. Makes the game more challenging. Kinda worried that MJ-Wilt are OP, but oh well.

The relevant comparison is between Round 1 and Rounds 2 and 3, not between stars and role players. Pairing an Embiid with someone like Pippen or PG and then a top third rounder can be pretty powerful in a limited pool.

[flaco]

I'd argue the depth is determined by the availability or scarcity of legit 1st-round talents. There's a massive advantage when picking MJ over T-Mac in round 1 whereas there's only a marginal difference when selecting players in the later rounds. No big deal if I have to settle for Aaron McKie or Keith Bogans instead of Shane Battier or Lu Dort. All these guys are role players.

The same goes for real-life drafts. The classes of 1984 and 2003 are considered historically deep because of MJ, Hakeem, Barkley, Stockton, LeBron, Wade, Bosh and Melo, not because of Kyle Korver, Josh Howard and Leandro Barbosa.

All that said, I don't mind the thinner pool. Makes the game more challenging. Kinda worried that MJ-Wilt are OP, but oh well.

The relevant comparison is between Round 1 and Rounds 2 and 3, not between stars and role players. Pairing an Embiid with someone like Pippen or PG and then a top third rounder can be pretty powerful in a limited pool.

Chances are we all have similar views on the top 10-15 players all time. As soon as we move past the mega stars, it becomes way more difficult to establish a consensus. Talent-wise, I don't see a big gap between 2nd-tier stars. We'll see how the game plays out, but I think there are enough 2nd-tier stars to go around for everybody. It's just that some of them are easier to fit alongside other stars.

[Larry_Russell]

yup