2025 CelticsBlog Fantasy Draft: '05-'25 Edition

[smokeablount]

2025 CelticsBlog / CelticsStrong Fantasy Draft: 2005-2025 Edition


Draft Lottery Order:


(Drumroll....)


#1 - Moranis - Cleveland Cavaliers
#2 - CelticsFanForever - Orlando Magic
#3 - Who - New York Knicks
#4 - Jvalin - Indiana Pacers
#5 - Snively - Chicago Bulls
#6 - Roy Hobbs - Boston Celtics
#7 - SAB - Spirits of St Louis
#8 - Donoghous - Milwaukee Bucks
#9 - RodyTur - Toronto Raptors
#10 - Timdawgg - Philadelphia 76ers


Congrats to Moranis! You will kick us off on Tuesday, July 22nd at 10:15am ET.


Reverse snake. Moranis with #1 selects 1st, 20th and 21st. Timdawg selects 10th, 11th, 30th, 31st.


RULES:


- Each player will be assigned one team to run, where GMs will draft one player per pick - they now own all seasons this player has played, that fall within the draft parameters.


- Within 1 week of the draft ending, GMs will be required to choose the individual seasons of each player they have selected, which must sit within the draft years of 2004-05 and 2024-25.

In addition, GMs must submit depth charts and minutes guidelines for their rosters, or specify which players will receive all allotted minutes by the sim, who gets any remaining minutes, etc. (the sim looks at total minutes a player plays in a season and divides by 82 games for many minutes per game a guy plays. If Player A plays 828 minutes, he?s allotted ~10.1 MPG and we round up a minute on decimals)
      - e.g., when listing one's team: SG: Michael Jordan (1987-88), and so on (note: MJ is ineligible)


- The draft will be a snake draft format, as per usual. It will take place from July 22-August 1st:

Tuesday-Friday, 10:15-11:45am ET, one player selected per day.
   -10 minutes per pick

Tuesday-Friday, 10:15-11:45am ET, two players selected per day.
   -5 minutes per pick


- The first 4 rounds will be done over 4 days in 10 minute intervals, the final 8 rounds will be done over 4 days in 5 minute intervals to get through two rounds in a day.


- GMs are on the clock as soon as their allotted time ticks over. If the previous GM has missed their slot, that is on them - they can make their pick whenever they are able.


- If a GM is not available on a draft day for whatever reason, they can PM me their draft list. Please supply a list long enough to ensure that there is at least one player on your list that will be there - I am not making choices for you.


- Draft rounds will commence at 10:15AM EST, barring significant pushback.


- The draft is unique in what timeframe / rules teams will abide by. Managers can select the styles they want (5 out, twin towers) and assemble teams that possess the attributes, traits, scoring balance or lack thereof, and even the exact desires %?s and rebounding totals desired based on who a GM drafts.

We will use the whatifsports.com simulation engine to pit teams against each other. So a GM can draft a 5 out offense under modern rules and face off against a twin towered paint monster, and while the sim isn?t perfect, it will provide definitive results and hopefully some fun.*


*See my Sim Notes & Recos, to come tomorrow, for advice on the sim and things to consider if you want good results during that portion of the season. If you just want to draft for fun or follow your own guidelines, totally cool. For me, I found the engagement on the draft I did in 2023 to be fantastic during the draft, but then it cooled off. I hope the sim element prolongs the season and adds some fun.


- Once the individual seasons, rosters, and minutes guidelines are provided a week after the draft ends by August 8th, I will input the 10 rosters in my 10 whatifsports.com sim spots. I will customize them to your liking and ensure the minutes restrictions are followed (players can play 1/82nd of their total season minutes, rounded up).


I will simulate a regular season where each team plays every other team 3x at home, and 3x on the road, to tabulate a season W-L. Based on W-L, each team will be seeded 1-10 for the playoffs.

Like the modern NBA, there will be a play-in. The 10 seed will play the 7 seed in a 5 game playoff for the #7 spot, and the 9 seed will play the 8 seed in a 5 game playoff for the #8 spot.

There will then be an 8 team bracket with 4 teams in the East and 4 in the West, and we will have all 7 game series to get us to the NBA finals for a best of 7.


- You can seek advice on the direction of your team in public threads, but limit discussion of specific players to PMs so as not to influence the draft.


- For the love of all things holy, do not discuss undrafted players in the draft thread!


- Main rule: have fun & be respectful. These games are meant to be a light-hearted distraction from the dull times between Celtic action.


Draft parameters:
- Only player seasons may be selected from 2004-05 thru 2024-25.
- Players may have played before the above timeframe but only seasons after ?04-?05 are in consideration.


Trading:
- All trades must be PM'd to me by both GMs involved, which I will then publicly post, acting as confirmation.
- It is highly unlikely that I will find a trade to be so unbalanced as to require intervention, but in that case I will ask GMs to come back to the trade table to negotiate something fairer. This seems rare.
- Trading can be done as soon as the draft order is announced, and will conclude 48 hours after the draft has ended.


If there are any further questions, or any rules you think I've forgotten to touch on, just let me know.

Thanks! Looking forward to kicking it off with you guys!

[Roy H.]

Yikes, that's a lot of pressure representing the Green.

[Donoghus]

Yikes, that's a lot of pressure representing the Green.

My first action as owner of the Bucks is returning to the dribbling deer logo.

[Moranis]

I've narrowed from 6 or 7 down to 2 for the 1st pick.  Haven't decided yet on player or even what year I'd choose of the 2 players.

[smokeablount]

Yikes, that's a lot of pressure representing the Green.

You?re a Celtic thru and thru Roy. At first I debated leaving the C?s out but they are our team, and you have -25K TPs, down from Larry Bird thousand a few years ago. Easy call

[smokeablount]

Yikes, that's a lot of pressure representing the Green.

My first action as owner of the Bucks is returning to the dribbling deer logo.

Classic, the sim will love it. Just a heads up that I usually have issues posting pics and media stuff here and I?ve never been able to figure out. So this may be the least aesthetic fantasy draft ever. If someone can help I can do better, or come sim time I am happy to email screenshots and visuals if people are interested in the content and a helper doesn?t mind posting some.

[snively]

Nice, I can keep my Bulls logo.

[smokeablount]

Nice, I can keep my Bulls logo.

Picking your team was easy

[Celtic Fan Forever]

I've narrowed from 6 or 7 down to 2 for the 1st pick.  Haven't decided yet on player or even what year I'd choose of the 2 players.

I was between 3 guys that I wanted at #2, I think I talked myself down to 2, so my job will be a lot easier after you pick.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

Question on the simulation:

If a guy played 60-65 games due to general load management or small tweaks but not a major injury, is that treated significantly differently than if someone played 75-80 games. How much do the amount of games they played that year actually matter?

I have a general idea of how we have always treated this for voting purposes but curious as to how the sim will react.

[Moranis]

That is a good question. Also, are we relying only on the sim or will we do the standard voting as well because I can see the sim giving different results than voting quite easily, especially if you craft a team for the simulation.

[smokeablount]

That is a good question. Also, are we relying only on the sim or will we do the standard voting as well because I can see the sim giving different results than voting quite easily, especially if you craft a team for the simulation.

The ultimate goal is the simulation. There will be a quick season, and then a playoffs. And I hope people enjoy it. But voting has been the tradition and some people will draft in ways the sim may not love but that would be great in real life.

So I am happy to hold a voting period 1-2 weeks after the draft and select a winner via voting, while the sim provided a new layer of engagement.

As for players and minutes, don?t think of this in terms of games played. Think of it as total minutes played in a season. That?s what you have available. You divide the total minutes played by 82 and that is the mpg you can max a player out at, rounded up to the next minute. The result is stars from earlier can play more.

I am going to go into a few nuances like this later today, so if you have any other questions fire away and if they come up later I?ll try to address them.

[Jvalin]

Teams will end up being uber loaded. The worst team in our game would likely sweep the 2025 Thunder or the 2024 C's in a 7-game series. Any chance we apply some sort of restrictions? For instance, each team is allowed to select up to 3 players who have ever made the all-star teams at any point throughout their career.

[Who]

I've narrowed from 6 or 7 down to 2 for the 1st pick.  Haven't decided yet on player or even what year I'd choose of the 2 players.

I was between 3 guys that I wanted at #2, I think I talked myself down to 2, so my job will be a lot easier after you pick.

I have 3 guys I am looking at with #3 pick. I am struggling to put them into any order. Each create quite different types of teams.

[Moranis]

I know who the computer will like better of my top 2, so I almost want to pick the other guy just for fun.