Statistical Rankings Day 5 - Almost 2 months review
Oct 28, 2023 15:43:38 GMT -6
mcgrady4mvp2 likes this
Post by kipper on Oct 28, 2023 15:43:38 GMT -6
After 5 sims this season, there is many surprises in the rankings for me. Some that are good surprised, some that are not good. Let's review and see what it looks like.
Hot of nowhere:
I think the biggest surprise in term of these rankings and the standings to me are the Sonics. By far the most surprising team. They traded away Flynn last season for some future and yet they are still killing it. 2nd in the rankings and 2nd best winning percentage in the league behind the Knicks, which we will discuss later in this article. Sonics are not 1st in anything, but they are almost top 10 everywhere. They are not the best at anything, but they are very good at almost everything. Behind Bargnani and Antetokoumpo, the team is winning games after games. Bargnani is dropping 30 a game and still getting 11 rebounds which is what surprises me the most. That and his 2.1 blocks. He does not have the ratings that would tell me a stats line like that, yet he has a stats line that could make him MVP or in the considerations. Very good for the Sonics. Wishing them the best.
Then, we have to talk about the elephant in the room. The Knicks are literally just dominating the league and it is not even close. 1 loss in 24 games and 1st in 8 categories. There is 18 categories total by the way. So they are first in 8/18 which is bonkers. there is like 2 categories that they are behind the median otherwise they are top 15 in everything. Lamelo Ball is just making the league look like College. 38 points per game and 10 assists. Looks like he will be getting yet again another MVP. this could be his 5th MVP since he entered the league. At this rate, he will be the absolute GOAT and it will not even be close. As long as the Knicks have decent players and Ball, they will be very hard to beat.
Another pleasant surprise is the Bulls. They finished last season with a record of 39-43 and turned it around. Currently 15 w ins in 25 games and ranked 12 in this rankings. They gained 3 spots last sim. Hardaway and Snow have a cute little thing going on together and are performing well. They are a surprising team to me since they do not have like any super elite players. Just a bunch of good players that seem to be doing the job together. It will be interesting to follow their progress during the season.
Top of the mountain, but not for good reasons:
The Bucks are yet again in the hunt for #1 overall pick this season. They were in the hunt last season as well with a record of 19-63. This season, they are on pace to do even worst with 18 wins only. There should be a Bucks rules for first pick and then the under 30 rule. At this point, the Rule should be if you finish under 20 wins for 2 seasons in a row, you cannot trade any 1st picks. I cannot see how this would change with the draft anyway, they will have to get some free agents in order to turn it around. LeBron seems to be developing well but he still has some ways to go. They will need Bibby or Price to develop into a good option for scoring as well to be able to give some help to the King.
The Magicians are also struggling this season. They are struggling a lot more than the Wizards of the past. Last season, they accumulated 38 wins. They are on pace for 24 wins right now. Perhaps for them, you try to trade Money for a 1st or something to get some more young guys for the future seasons. You could maybe even turn around and throw that newly acquired 1st pick with your own 1st pick of a future season (I think the one for this season you do not touch it unless a miracle trade is proposed) and you get a great piece. I do not know that there is many of them available, but in the event there is one, this could be an idea.
The last team I want to look at is not necessarily an awful team, but a team that dropped a lot from last season. Lakers were almost there last season to win it all. This season, they are fighting to be above .500%. They currently hold a record of 9-12. They are not doing too horribly in the grand scheme of things, but they have some work to do. Right now it seems like defensively is what it is killing them the most. They were doing great last season on that end, while this season is more of a struggle. I am not sure what actually change, since I do not remember exactly who they had on their roster last season, but something seems off. Is it because the strategies are off? Is it because the west seems to have gotten even better than last season? Could be different combination, but we are looking for them to get it rolling again and finish above .500. That should be enough to get in the playoffs.
Hot of nowhere:
I think the biggest surprise in term of these rankings and the standings to me are the Sonics. By far the most surprising team. They traded away Flynn last season for some future and yet they are still killing it. 2nd in the rankings and 2nd best winning percentage in the league behind the Knicks, which we will discuss later in this article. Sonics are not 1st in anything, but they are almost top 10 everywhere. They are not the best at anything, but they are very good at almost everything. Behind Bargnani and Antetokoumpo, the team is winning games after games. Bargnani is dropping 30 a game and still getting 11 rebounds which is what surprises me the most. That and his 2.1 blocks. He does not have the ratings that would tell me a stats line like that, yet he has a stats line that could make him MVP or in the considerations. Very good for the Sonics. Wishing them the best.
Then, we have to talk about the elephant in the room. The Knicks are literally just dominating the league and it is not even close. 1 loss in 24 games and 1st in 8 categories. There is 18 categories total by the way. So they are first in 8/18 which is bonkers. there is like 2 categories that they are behind the median otherwise they are top 15 in everything. Lamelo Ball is just making the league look like College. 38 points per game and 10 assists. Looks like he will be getting yet again another MVP. this could be his 5th MVP since he entered the league. At this rate, he will be the absolute GOAT and it will not even be close. As long as the Knicks have decent players and Ball, they will be very hard to beat.
Another pleasant surprise is the Bulls. They finished last season with a record of 39-43 and turned it around. Currently 15 w ins in 25 games and ranked 12 in this rankings. They gained 3 spots last sim. Hardaway and Snow have a cute little thing going on together and are performing well. They are a surprising team to me since they do not have like any super elite players. Just a bunch of good players that seem to be doing the job together. It will be interesting to follow their progress during the season.
Top of the mountain, but not for good reasons:
The Bucks are yet again in the hunt for #1 overall pick this season. They were in the hunt last season as well with a record of 19-63. This season, they are on pace to do even worst with 18 wins only. There should be a Bucks rules for first pick and then the under 30 rule. At this point, the Rule should be if you finish under 20 wins for 2 seasons in a row, you cannot trade any 1st picks. I cannot see how this would change with the draft anyway, they will have to get some free agents in order to turn it around. LeBron seems to be developing well but he still has some ways to go. They will need Bibby or Price to develop into a good option for scoring as well to be able to give some help to the King.
The Magicians are also struggling this season. They are struggling a lot more than the Wizards of the past. Last season, they accumulated 38 wins. They are on pace for 24 wins right now. Perhaps for them, you try to trade Money for a 1st or something to get some more young guys for the future seasons. You could maybe even turn around and throw that newly acquired 1st pick with your own 1st pick of a future season (I think the one for this season you do not touch it unless a miracle trade is proposed) and you get a great piece. I do not know that there is many of them available, but in the event there is one, this could be an idea.
The last team I want to look at is not necessarily an awful team, but a team that dropped a lot from last season. Lakers were almost there last season to win it all. This season, they are fighting to be above .500%. They currently hold a record of 9-12. They are not doing too horribly in the grand scheme of things, but they have some work to do. Right now it seems like defensively is what it is killing them the most. They were doing great last season on that end, while this season is more of a struggle. I am not sure what actually change, since I do not remember exactly who they had on their roster last season, but something seems off. Is it because the strategies are off? Is it because the west seems to have gotten even better than last season? Could be different combination, but we are looking for them to get it rolling again and finish above .500. That should be enough to get in the playoffs.