Post by BRB on Jun 19, 2012 16:39:01 GMT -5
In this article, repole will be offering up his vast FBB knowledge to 10 teams (one being his own) in varying circumstances. I tried to take teams that are already winning, stuck in the middle and tanking. Also made sure to have 5 East and 5 West teams. With that said, let's begin.
The Orlando Magic are not that far away from the Bingo era when they won 3 titles in a row. As of now, they are in year 2 of their rebuilding/retooling. Let's see what repole thinks, well, repole should do.
The main thing here is to stay the course and be patient. We have a lot of guys who I think are only going to improve in value (Cooper, I think Hollis will be the real deal eventually, Robey) as a few TCs go by, and I think it's important that I don't sell early (or late) on those guys. But eventually I have to make some moves, because I don't think my pieces fit very well together. Glenn and Purvis could form a nice back court, but Cooper probably isn't the ideal SF for me because he's a mediocre shooter, and as much as I love Robey, I really need stat defense up front. Landing a guy like Eaton in the draft with that Grizzlies pick would be a really, really good fit for us.
The Detroit Pistons are in a similar situation, you know, minus the 3 straight titles. They did make the playoffs for 4 seasons in a row and were finally able to rebuild it. Currently at 15-26, they are obviously hoping for more losing.
Cross your fingers and hope? Honestly I don't know. Your team has some decent young talent, but you lack anything resembling a franchise guy, and barring some real lotto luck you won't be acquiring one this year. I think you have to put all your eggs in the FA basket at this point, and if that fails, hope you win 42 by contract year and then perhaps blow it up and try again, this time with some extra assets from moving some decently valuable pieces. You could certainly build a 50 win team, but I just don't see how you get a legitimate contender out of that roster.
The Pacers are stuck in that dreaded no mans land. Being stuck there is bad. Being stuck there without your own pick is even worse. With that said, the Pacers have plenty of assets to make a move either way. The 15-24 Pacers are up
Get a time machine, go back a season, and trade for Bingo Smith? Eh, in terms of what he's got on his roster right now, I think he has to play English at SG because Lucas is such an awful rebounder, and then he should be starting a big time rebounder at SF (Ellis isn't an awful fit, though a more offensive guy like Willie Davis would be great). His rebounding is issue number one, so he needs to be aware of that and try to maximize rebounding around Lucas (if he wants to commit to Lucas as a legitimate starting PG). If he moves Ellis to SF like he should, that means he's in desperate need for another big man, and not an average one, but a guy like Caldwell Jones. Moving whatever he can to get someone of that caliber (at least defensively and on the glass) would be well worth it and probably get his team to a 50 win level. After that a few TCs might be enough to bump him up into that elite level. Moving Fred Carter for a similar aging big man would be a great move for him at this point if he could pull it off. To be clear though, if I'm Biggie the last thing I do is deal English, pretty sure that'd be a huge mistake at this point.
Repole's Jeremy Lin is up now. The Hawks are currently 21-18 and while that's obviously not bad, they are another team you can say are stuck in limbo. Mengelt's carer, can be construed, as wasting away on the Hawks team. Let's see what repole believes his homie should do.
I've told Jay plenty of times, but he needs to blow it up and do a proper rebuild. He was in his contract year last year because he kept thinking he could pull together a bunch of meh players and win without going through the process of really acquiring talent. Now blowing things up fresh off a contract year is never a good look, but if Jay doesn't want to end up in the exact same situation again, that's what he has to do. His team this year is mediocre, it's not young, it's got no real future, I just don't understand why he carries forward with a roster like this. He hates tanking, I get it, but at this rate he won't win anything until he accepts that it's a necessity in BBS these days. Even if it's only for a year, he could deal off Mengelt and the other bit of talent he has for some picks, tank it next season for a stud, and then use those assets to come back much stronger than he is now. If he REALLY wanted to make a run now (which would be ill advised), he'd acquire some shot blockers/defensive players for Boswell. His offense is nice outside of the turnovers (thanks Bos), but the defense is pretty awful.
The Wizards come up next, with a 12-27 record and in year 3 of a rebuild. The Wizards are led by the turnover prone duo of Barnes and Scott. Theus looks like a solid looking wing in which they can also build with. Let's see what repole says
So the problem tends to be that when you tank for three years and don't come up with a franchise player, you're not going to go anywhere fast. Barnes is great, but Theus is a ways off, and it'll take some lotto luck this year to land another real stud. Barnes and some decent role players should carry them to 42 next season, but I don't foresee the Wizards ever really emerging as much more than a bottom 4 seed in the East. They should have moved Charlie Scott earlier, but now it's probably too late and they'll need some production from him next season. The issue is, both he and Barnes have turnover issues, and the combination is just too much to take. Not exactly a duo that complements each other. From this point forward there's only so much he can do until he'll need to do an all out rebuild again.
Well, obviously things have changed with the recent deal but the Wolves come in being stuck in no mans land with a less then great looking core. Let's see what repole thought they should've done, pre-trade
The most important thing for them is that KAJ/Monroe/Rudy re-signs in the offseason. From there, they're probably best off dealing for their picks back (though I'm obviously biased in that assessment), as Monroe and KAJ age and whatever window to win that may have existed seemingly closes. As for the present, their held back a bit by having DJ+Smith+Wesley combining for almost 40 points on pretty bleh efficiency, without the benefit of any other players really stepping up with elite efficiency. Their defense is nice though, and their rebounding is excellent, so they could make some noise in the playoffs, but if they want to win it has to be now. The best thing they could do is get more productive minutes out of where Phil Smith is playing, but with all that money committed to him, you can bet he's going to get playing time.
Lakers up next with a bit of a shocking 17-18 record. Being led by Cash Money and Larry Kenon, the Lakers might have some work to do to get where they feel like they should be. They considered a rebuild then quickly changed it. Let's see what repole thinks.
Step one is not to trade Money, no matter what (well, unless Magic or Larry is knocking on the door). I think what they ultimately need to do though is bring in some top tier defensive players. Two shot blocking bigs up front with Bill at SF, Kenon at SG, and Money at PG would be pretty damned scary. I don't think Goo is a great fit at this point, Raymond's mediocre, and Hudson has seen the end of his productivity on the wings. They have enough talent to make those moves and come out a contender in the West, but they have to be proactive and target the right guys. Unfortunately finding defensive bigs isn't always the easiest thing to do.
The Thunder are most definitely stuck in a position where nobody wants to be in. Their draft pick situation is worse then watching Game salvage his own picks mess and they have no real youth. Repole, fix em
Bleh, I really don't know. The longer they wait the more fucked they are. As the owner of both their pick this year and three of their futures, I'm sort of torn on what would actually be good for them. On one hand, moving Barry/Hazzard/Block for picks now would give them at least a shot at surviving down the line, but obviously they don't want to do that without their pick. On the other hand, each day they hold onto those guys is another day their value goes down, and there's a decent chance that by next season the only things of value on their roster are those couple Hornets picks they have, which isn't going to be nearly enough to get them out of this hole. Ultimately I think they have to take whatever they can get for Barry/Hazzard/Block now and bite the tanking bullet, hoping to come back come their contract year with enough talent to compete again. Things are rough in OKC though, I think dealing all those futures has finally caught up with Habes.
One of the quieter GM's around, Greg's up. The Mavs are coming in with a 8-26 record so they obviously are tanking. They have some solid youth and obviously can definitely go somewhere in the future. Repole..:
For the most part, keep doing what they've been doing. All they can really do is tank and hope to finally get some value around Moses. Come the offseason they'll have to start looking to move whatever talent they can for some win now pieces to get over their contract year, but they should have enough value on the roster to make that happen without too big of an issue. I don't think Thompson is really a guy who's going to help a team win though, nice scorer, but the rebounding is brutal, and the defense doesn't help.
Again, the Blazers/Wolves deal I'm sure changed things around here but the Blazers are already a very good team with some good youth still hanging around like Tree and an underrated PG in Fryer. Anyways, let's see what repole said pre-deal.
Don't freak out that you're not dominating first of all. The team is young, you've got a big window to get things right. With that said, improving the front lines is not the worst idea. I don't think Kermit is a very good fit at this point, his offense doesn't add much to what you already have, and you could probably use more of a stats defender up front than him. Outside of that, Robinzine's been pretty bad in his minutes, the backup PG spot hasn't given anything, Keye is useless, and while Landsberger is a nice rebounder (not as productive as his ratings say he should be though), he's awful on offense. Broph needs better bench production, which quite frankly for a guy who seems to pride himself on identifying productive players is a bit disappointing.
The Orlando Magic are not that far away from the Bingo era when they won 3 titles in a row. As of now, they are in year 2 of their rebuilding/retooling. Let's see what repole thinks, well, repole should do.
The main thing here is to stay the course and be patient. We have a lot of guys who I think are only going to improve in value (Cooper, I think Hollis will be the real deal eventually, Robey) as a few TCs go by, and I think it's important that I don't sell early (or late) on those guys. But eventually I have to make some moves, because I don't think my pieces fit very well together. Glenn and Purvis could form a nice back court, but Cooper probably isn't the ideal SF for me because he's a mediocre shooter, and as much as I love Robey, I really need stat defense up front. Landing a guy like Eaton in the draft with that Grizzlies pick would be a really, really good fit for us.
The Detroit Pistons are in a similar situation, you know, minus the 3 straight titles. They did make the playoffs for 4 seasons in a row and were finally able to rebuild it. Currently at 15-26, they are obviously hoping for more losing.
Cross your fingers and hope? Honestly I don't know. Your team has some decent young talent, but you lack anything resembling a franchise guy, and barring some real lotto luck you won't be acquiring one this year. I think you have to put all your eggs in the FA basket at this point, and if that fails, hope you win 42 by contract year and then perhaps blow it up and try again, this time with some extra assets from moving some decently valuable pieces. You could certainly build a 50 win team, but I just don't see how you get a legitimate contender out of that roster.
The Pacers are stuck in that dreaded no mans land. Being stuck there is bad. Being stuck there without your own pick is even worse. With that said, the Pacers have plenty of assets to make a move either way. The 15-24 Pacers are up
Get a time machine, go back a season, and trade for Bingo Smith? Eh, in terms of what he's got on his roster right now, I think he has to play English at SG because Lucas is such an awful rebounder, and then he should be starting a big time rebounder at SF (Ellis isn't an awful fit, though a more offensive guy like Willie Davis would be great). His rebounding is issue number one, so he needs to be aware of that and try to maximize rebounding around Lucas (if he wants to commit to Lucas as a legitimate starting PG). If he moves Ellis to SF like he should, that means he's in desperate need for another big man, and not an average one, but a guy like Caldwell Jones. Moving whatever he can to get someone of that caliber (at least defensively and on the glass) would be well worth it and probably get his team to a 50 win level. After that a few TCs might be enough to bump him up into that elite level. Moving Fred Carter for a similar aging big man would be a great move for him at this point if he could pull it off. To be clear though, if I'm Biggie the last thing I do is deal English, pretty sure that'd be a huge mistake at this point.
Repole's Jeremy Lin is up now. The Hawks are currently 21-18 and while that's obviously not bad, they are another team you can say are stuck in limbo. Mengelt's carer, can be construed, as wasting away on the Hawks team. Let's see what repole believes his homie should do.
I've told Jay plenty of times, but he needs to blow it up and do a proper rebuild. He was in his contract year last year because he kept thinking he could pull together a bunch of meh players and win without going through the process of really acquiring talent. Now blowing things up fresh off a contract year is never a good look, but if Jay doesn't want to end up in the exact same situation again, that's what he has to do. His team this year is mediocre, it's not young, it's got no real future, I just don't understand why he carries forward with a roster like this. He hates tanking, I get it, but at this rate he won't win anything until he accepts that it's a necessity in BBS these days. Even if it's only for a year, he could deal off Mengelt and the other bit of talent he has for some picks, tank it next season for a stud, and then use those assets to come back much stronger than he is now. If he REALLY wanted to make a run now (which would be ill advised), he'd acquire some shot blockers/defensive players for Boswell. His offense is nice outside of the turnovers (thanks Bos), but the defense is pretty awful.
The Wizards come up next, with a 12-27 record and in year 3 of a rebuild. The Wizards are led by the turnover prone duo of Barnes and Scott. Theus looks like a solid looking wing in which they can also build with. Let's see what repole says
So the problem tends to be that when you tank for three years and don't come up with a franchise player, you're not going to go anywhere fast. Barnes is great, but Theus is a ways off, and it'll take some lotto luck this year to land another real stud. Barnes and some decent role players should carry them to 42 next season, but I don't foresee the Wizards ever really emerging as much more than a bottom 4 seed in the East. They should have moved Charlie Scott earlier, but now it's probably too late and they'll need some production from him next season. The issue is, both he and Barnes have turnover issues, and the combination is just too much to take. Not exactly a duo that complements each other. From this point forward there's only so much he can do until he'll need to do an all out rebuild again.
Well, obviously things have changed with the recent deal but the Wolves come in being stuck in no mans land with a less then great looking core. Let's see what repole thought they should've done, pre-trade
The most important thing for them is that KAJ/Monroe/Rudy re-signs in the offseason. From there, they're probably best off dealing for their picks back (though I'm obviously biased in that assessment), as Monroe and KAJ age and whatever window to win that may have existed seemingly closes. As for the present, their held back a bit by having DJ+Smith+Wesley combining for almost 40 points on pretty bleh efficiency, without the benefit of any other players really stepping up with elite efficiency. Their defense is nice though, and their rebounding is excellent, so they could make some noise in the playoffs, but if they want to win it has to be now. The best thing they could do is get more productive minutes out of where Phil Smith is playing, but with all that money committed to him, you can bet he's going to get playing time.
Lakers up next with a bit of a shocking 17-18 record. Being led by Cash Money and Larry Kenon, the Lakers might have some work to do to get where they feel like they should be. They considered a rebuild then quickly changed it. Let's see what repole thinks.
Step one is not to trade Money, no matter what (well, unless Magic or Larry is knocking on the door). I think what they ultimately need to do though is bring in some top tier defensive players. Two shot blocking bigs up front with Bill at SF, Kenon at SG, and Money at PG would be pretty damned scary. I don't think Goo is a great fit at this point, Raymond's mediocre, and Hudson has seen the end of his productivity on the wings. They have enough talent to make those moves and come out a contender in the West, but they have to be proactive and target the right guys. Unfortunately finding defensive bigs isn't always the easiest thing to do.
The Thunder are most definitely stuck in a position where nobody wants to be in. Their draft pick situation is worse then watching Game salvage his own picks mess and they have no real youth. Repole, fix em
Bleh, I really don't know. The longer they wait the more fucked they are. As the owner of both their pick this year and three of their futures, I'm sort of torn on what would actually be good for them. On one hand, moving Barry/Hazzard/Block for picks now would give them at least a shot at surviving down the line, but obviously they don't want to do that without their pick. On the other hand, each day they hold onto those guys is another day their value goes down, and there's a decent chance that by next season the only things of value on their roster are those couple Hornets picks they have, which isn't going to be nearly enough to get them out of this hole. Ultimately I think they have to take whatever they can get for Barry/Hazzard/Block now and bite the tanking bullet, hoping to come back come their contract year with enough talent to compete again. Things are rough in OKC though, I think dealing all those futures has finally caught up with Habes.
One of the quieter GM's around, Greg's up. The Mavs are coming in with a 8-26 record so they obviously are tanking. They have some solid youth and obviously can definitely go somewhere in the future. Repole..:
For the most part, keep doing what they've been doing. All they can really do is tank and hope to finally get some value around Moses. Come the offseason they'll have to start looking to move whatever talent they can for some win now pieces to get over their contract year, but they should have enough value on the roster to make that happen without too big of an issue. I don't think Thompson is really a guy who's going to help a team win though, nice scorer, but the rebounding is brutal, and the defense doesn't help.
Again, the Blazers/Wolves deal I'm sure changed things around here but the Blazers are already a very good team with some good youth still hanging around like Tree and an underrated PG in Fryer. Anyways, let's see what repole said pre-deal.
Don't freak out that you're not dominating first of all. The team is young, you've got a big window to get things right. With that said, improving the front lines is not the worst idea. I don't think Kermit is a very good fit at this point, his offense doesn't add much to what you already have, and you could probably use more of a stats defender up front than him. Outside of that, Robinzine's been pretty bad in his minutes, the backup PG spot hasn't given anything, Keye is useless, and while Landsberger is a nice rebounder (not as productive as his ratings say he should be though), he's awful on offense. Broph needs better bench production, which quite frankly for a guy who seems to pride himself on identifying productive players is a bit disappointing.
