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2022-23 CmanCalzone Sim League Surprises and Disappointments


The first third of our season has gone by, and there’s already been a decent amount of surprises. Here’s the most recent video showing the standings and stats so far: https://youtu.be/CMdSgShPH6U. And below, are my thoughts on how we stand!

Surprises

Bullets: I called them the worst team in the league, and I think they even considered themselves to be bad as well. But Jaren Jackson Jr. and rookie Ousmane Dieng have averaged 46 points per game between them, thanks in large part to shooting a LOT of threes. They’re not a contender yet by any stretch of the imagination, but they’re 17-14 - the rebuild in Baltimore is way ahead of schedule.

Warriors: 3rd in a competitive West is something I definitely didn’t see coming for the Warriors. Nothing really jumps off the page here either. Their best player, Evan Mobley, is only averaging 11 and 8 on average efficiency. Rookie Paolo Banchero is leading the team in scoring with a nice 22-8-4, and Kuminga is adding a nice 18 and 8, but no one else is averaging more than 12 ppg. I’m not sure what the formula is that they’re using here, but it’s working so far. The whole team is young too, so the only direction to go is up.

Spurs: I was worried Harden wouldn’t be able to replicate his performance from last year’s playoffs and carry a team by himself, and that a stripped roster around him wouldn’t provide enough help. Yet Harden had to prove me wrong, and went out and averaged 33-6-9, good for second in the league in points, and second in assists as well. Their second best scorer and playmaker is 80 OVR Caleb Love. This is probably the most single-star dominant team in the league… but right now it’s working like a charm. Having the the 4th defense on the league, led by Jonathan Isaac and Mitchell Robinson, surely helps. Isaac is averaging 2.4 steals and blocks per game, thought shooting an abysmal percentage from the floor and averaging fewer than 10 ppg. Robinson is averaging 10 boards a game and shooting higher than 70% from the floor. I’m not sure this shoddy supporting cast can sustain this performance (or if harden himself can), but I’m hoping they can. If last year is any indication, the Beard is someone you don’t want to face in the playoffs, no matter his seed.

Pistons: The Pistons are doing a redux of the Vancouver Grizzlies from last year, riding a dominant defense and a competent offense carried by two stars to the playoffs. They allow the fewest points per game, thanks mostly to AD (averaging more than 2 each of steals and blocks), who also improved his playmaking up to 4 assists to go along with a solid 21-12 line. Dame is only averaging 22-4-6 as their leading scorer, and no other player has more than 12 ppg, so that lack of diverse scoring options could be worrying. Still, they have length and tenacity up and down the roster, and as long as they keep preventing the other team from scoring, they can keep winning grind-it-out games

Disappointments

Lakers: What the heck is going on in LA? The Lakers are below average on both ends of the floor, which is something I certainly didn’t see coming when I called them a legit contender. KD is somehow scoring less than 23 ppg, and that’s a massive problem; he has to be a more featured part of the offense. Halliburton and Christian Wood are both chipping in more than 16 ppg, and Norman Powell and CP3 are helping too, so it’s tough to say he doesn’t have enough help. Everybody other than their two centers are shooting well below 50% from the floor, which doesn’t help matters either. This team doesn’t have dominant defensive personnel (though most of their rotation is at least decent on that end), so having a meh defense might be okay, but there’s no excuse for this team to be so mediocre offensively.

Pelicans: This team just can’t manufacture a bucket to save their lives. We knew they’d struggle after trading KP, but this is another level. Jaylen Brown and Caris LeVert lead the team in points, but neither is that good of a scorer. Perhaps playmaking is the larger issue; rookie JD Davison is leading the team in assists with only 5.2. Whatever the reason, this team should have more than 6 wins.

V. Grizzlies: Having a dominant defense covering for a mediocre offense works for some teams; you could argue the 2019 Lakers won a chip doing it. This was definitely the Grizzlies’ strategy last year… but it’s a precarious one. A little slippage on either end can mean a good dip in the standings, and a big dip can mean a free fall. That’s what’s happening now, as a team that relied on Beal and PG to get all their buckets is struggling with Beal gone and PG a year older. George is still doing his best with 23-6-4 a night, and KPJ is chipping in with 21 points and 6 assist, but no one else has more than 12 ppg. They still have the 6th ranked defense, but now they have only the 28th offense; it’s clear they’re not a threat as currently constituted.

Others worth noting

Raptors: I wasn’t sure if the game plan of “having two top 5 players, and then 13 guys from the local YMCA” would actually work, but I placed the Raps 2nd in the legit contender tier in the preseason rankings anyway. So far, it looks like that is paying off, thanks (unsurprisingly) to the efforts of the two stars in question. Steph (42-6-8) and Jokic (29-12-8 on 60% shooting) are 1st and 5th in the league in points per game, and 5th and 4th in assists. Per-36, they’re actually first and second in the league in points per game. Steph is MAKING 6.5 threes a game on more than 14 attempts, and is still shooting 46% from deep despite the massive volume he’s carrying. Maybe this super top-heavy roster wouldn’t work for most stars, but it looks like the fact that both are capable and willing passers (and that Jokic is a good enough rebounder to give them a passable defense) is enough to make it work. They have the 8th worst defense in the league, but their offense is 4 ppg better than the second best team, and that’s more than enough to make up for it. So far, the experiment is working.

Hornets: LaMelo is 4th and BI is 10th in scoring, and LaMelo is first in assists (while also averaging 2.4 steals per game as well). The Hornets are sitting pretty in the playoffs out west, and could be a tough out for anyone. Things are still on the rise for them.

Suns/Aztecs: I won’t dive too deep into either team, but the Suns looked to be on the outskirts of the playoffs before trading for KP, and he’s been exactly what they needed as a shooting big and second option next to Ja Morant. The Aztecs were never very good even with Jokic on their team, but reloading the roster when trading him away has worked wonders. Brogdon and Beal are forming a balanced backcourt, Scottie Barnes and Miles Bridges add some nice complementary scoring and defense, and Rudy “Blockparty” Gobert is holding it all together. Both these teams are trending upward finally.

Trae Young looks like he’s 98% as good as Harden, but still just a tick behind. Trae is third in points, assists, and 3PA, while Harden is second in all three categories (behind Steph, LaMelo, and Steph again respectively). Harden does get 3 more rebounds a game, but Trae does actually have him beat in three point MAKES, given that Trae shoots close to 45 percent whereas Harden is averaging a still-very-respectable 45%

Never heard of 77 OVR rookie Max Abmas before, but he’s averaging 19 points and 7 assists as the starting PG on a playoff team in Philly. Once again, Doc Rivers’s 76ers seem to find a way to make the whole of the team better than the sum of the parts

Most importantly, Richard Holmes is 3rd in the league in boards on the clips!!!

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