Any Interest in a CelticsBlog What If Sports fantasy league?

[bdm860]

Though I'd like to see someone put this into some sort of simulation --- an 82 game schedule.... i'd like my team's chances.

Ok this is from the "Fun Friday Game" thread, but gave me an idea which is perfect for summer boredom.

Ever heard of www.WhatIfSports.com?
You build your own team, compete in a 24 team league, run it through an entire 82 game season plus playoffs.
Every player from every season is choosable.  So you can select '62 Chamberlain and team him with '09 LeBron, and they can go up against a team with '88 Jordan and '04 Garnett, but another team could have '89 Jordan and '63 Chamberlain.

The thing is there is a salary cap, they may give '62 Chamberlain a salary of $38 million, but you may have only $50 million total to fill out your entire team.  So $12 million for 11 more players isn't going to build you a very deep team.  Minutes are also very important, you can't be slick and try to pick up a bargain basement '86 Jordan (who only played 18 games) for only $2 million thinking your getting a deal, because he'll break down, get injured and won't be able to play alot of minutes for you (might not be bad as a 12th man though).  Better the player was in any particular season, the more he costs.   (Just examples, I'm not certain of the exact numbers).

From their website

SimLeague Basketball™ is an online basketball simulation game that puts you in the dual role of GM and coach.

Build a team of stars from throughout NBA history. Want to load up on scoring? How about a trio of Jordan, Chamberlain & Kobe? Like to pound the boards? How about Rodman, Russell and Elgin Baylor up front? You can do it all!

Set depth charts, target minutes, defensive sets, double-teams, offensive tempo, deal with player fatigue and more. An 82-game season presents many decisions, and you get to make them all!

Test your hoops IQ in our fantasy basketball simulation!

I haven't played in a few years, but when I last did it games were simulated twice a day at noon and midnight, and they give you a full box score and play by play.  Wake up in the morning, check your score from last night, and make any necessary adjustments (players get hurt fatigued, traded, waived, etc.), then do the same thing after lunch/dinner/work etc.  The whole things last 40+ days (82 games + playoffs with 2 games per day).

The only problem is you have to pay to play,  A full season costs $9.95, but right now I see on the website there is a first time discount price of $4.95 if you've never played before (enter promo code NBA First).

We can choose different levels of salary caps, and set other rules and themes (usually rules are no clones, i.e. can't have same player from different seasons like '85 and '86 Bird on your team.  Some leagues have rules like no Jordan or Wilt).

I'm at work now, but if you guys are interested I'll set up a 24 team private league tonight.  Are 23 other guys willing to pay to play?  It costs a couple bucks and lasts more than a month (but I believe micromanaging isn't a must, so if you have a week vacation coming up, it won't really mess up your team if you're playing but away for a few days).

If you guys are interested, it will probably take a few days to cooridinate everything and get everyone on the same page, but you can sign up for a free 10 game exhibition season so you can get some practice and see how the league will actually work.

As of now expect the basic rules/guidlines to be:
A cap in the $50 million range.
No clones

[Rondo2287]

Im in, sounds fun

[Gainesville Celtic]

Though I'd like to see someone put this into some sort of simulation --- an 82 game schedule.... i'd like my team's chances.

Ok this is from the "Fun Friday Game" thread, but gave me an idea which is perfect for summer boredom.

I'd be willing to give it a shot... sounds interesting

[bdm860]

And for those who sign up, this is how games will look after they're played.  You get the box score and you can read the play by play if you click on the option on the scoreboard:

This is the '86 Celtics (home) vs. the '08 Celtics (away)
http://www.whatifsports.com/NBA/boxscore.asp?GameID=2037095&nomenu=1&teamfee=-1

Now instead of just picking a whole team from any year, we'd be picking any player from any team from any year to fill out our whole rosters.  Then it sims a whole season where fatigue and injuries come into effect.

I ran this several times, played with the depth charts, different results every time.  This can be fun if we get enough people to play.

[Gainesville Celtic]

1 question, 1 comment


question --- so could I draft '94 Pierce and then you draft '98 Pierce? That could throw a wrench into things... maybe we should say a player can only be drafted 1 time? I haven't thought through the implications...

maybe getting diff. "vintages" of the same player is a function of their diff. salaries? But i couldn't tell you the diff. between Barkley's 88 and 94 seasons off the top of my head....

comment -- We could wait until after the 30-team Fake NBA draft, then when people are hungry to keep going do a historical one...

or we could just get it going with the first 30 folks who sign up now?

[bdm860]

1 question, 1 comment


question --- so could I draft '94 Pierce and then you draft '98 Pierce? That could throw a wrench into things... maybe we should say a player can only be drafted 1 time? I haven't thought through the implications...

maybe getting diff. "vintages" of the same player is a function of their diff. salaries? But i couldn't tell you the diff. between Barkley's 88 and 94 seasons off the top of my head....

comment -- We could wait until after the 30-team Fake NBA draft, then when people are hungry to keep going do a historical one...

or we could just get it going with the first 30 folks who sign up now?

Answer to Question:  We could both draft '99 Pierce, or I could draft '99 Pierce and you could draft '00 Pierce.  You just can't have 2 Paul Pierces on your team (well you could if we allowed clones which we won't).  There wouldn't be a draft, you just pick your team from pool of available players (which is everyone, ever) while managing against the cap.  A draft would take a lot of time (as evidenced by how long the CB draft takes).  You build your dream team, I build mine and we see who's is better throughout the season through the sim engine.  It keeps stats and rankings.

It would be cool to do a draft where only 1 Paul Pierce could be drafted, but that would take a lot more time and effort to do.  This is much quicker and easier I think.

You might think if we both had the same players it wouldn't work out well, but think of it like this: '62 Wilt had the best statistical season ever so I think a team with '62 Wilt and John Stockton as my point guard would be unstoppable, but you think a team with '62 Wilt with Chris Paul as the point guard would be better.  We both have the same Wilt, but our teams would be constrcucted and managed differently.  It's about who can build the best team while managing the cap.  With a 24 team league, there will be a few similar players, but there would be plenty of variety with the teams construction.  My '62 Wilt might average 45 ppg but my team goes 40-42 based on the team I built around him and our style of play, and yours might only average 35ppg but your team might go 62-20.

Now there will be 16 Charles Barkley's for you to choose from. All of them will have different salaries based on how he performed each season.  His better seasons will have similar salaries, but maybe you have to choose do you want to take 5 more ppg, or 2 more rpg or one that shoots 50% from the field but 20% from 3, vs one that shoots 45% from the field but 35% from 3.  You'd have to really look at the stats and given value to figure out which one you want, but I think that's a big part of the fun. Is 5 more ppg worth $7M more in salary?  You make the call.

[bdm860]

And to answer the comment:

We could wait till after the CB Draft, but I'm itching for some of this right now, and setting up your teams goes 100x's quicker, you can do it in an hour, or take a whole day, or over few days, as oppossed to 3 weeks and having to wait for some one else to draft, etc.  We could have the whole league set up and running by the end of the week if people participate.

No bickering either 
And the sim engine takes away a lot of the debate (although not all of it).

And once we get the league set up it pretty much runs itself with 2 simmed games everyday.  And after the CB Draft, that's when the regular season starts, and peoples attention is elsewhere.  Of course this could be fun anytime, but I just thought I'd suggest it now. (Not trying to jack the CB Draft league though).

But so far interest appears minimal, so this may not get off the ground at all. 

[Moranis]

I haven't played the NBA game at WIS in a long time, but I'd be willing to do it in this league.  I would suggest that everyone who wants to do it play a 10 game preseason schedule first (which is free).  It will give you a pretty solid idea on how to construct a team and how the game is played.  Fatigue won't play as much a role, but you still get the general idea.