2012 Southwest Division Preview

We don't really have any "storied" franchises in this division. The Rockets are the oldest, having been founded in 1968. Then the Spurs (an ABA team, so you could say either 1968 or 1977), followed by the Mavericks (1981), Hornets (1989), and Grizzlies (1996). So, realistically, I'm expecting maybe two teams, tops, to make the playoffs out of the Southwest. (And I've definitely got the two in mind already.)

2012 Pacific Division Preview

We've got another loaded division here, with only one really terrible team... I bet you can guess who it is...

2012 Northwest Division Preview

The Northwest Division features three really good teams, one team that I think can do some damage out there, and one team that's, quite frankly, going to be terrible. (Sorry, Minnesota.)

2012 Southeast Division Preview

For our final eastern conference division, we've got two older franchises, two that are pretty young, and one that's practically an infant... Guess which ones will be battling it out for the division title?

2012 Central Division Preview

The Central Division is quite a bit more eclectic than the Atlantic. We've got the team with the 3rd most titles ever - but all within a span of eight years, a team that's had a lot of good players and a lot of bad luck, another team akin to the Knicks and Sixers with a very long history, a team composed almost entirely of ABA players, and a team that's been around for quite a while yet still hasn't managed to keep any point guards or big men. It's a weird grouping. I'm excited to see how some of these rosters pan out in the standings.

2012 Atlantic Division Preview

First up, the Atlantic Division, which contains three extremely storied franchises with deep, rich histories, one former ABA team with a modest amount of decent players, and one franchise whose two best players are deeply hated by it's current fan base. (That should be fun.) For each of the teams, I'll list their starting lineup, their bench, and a little bit of commentary about how I determined the starting lineup. (The number before the player's name is the year of that player's career I'll be using, the number immediately following the player's name is his career Greatness Rating with the team, and the number in parentheses after that is his "salary", in millions, for the given year according to WhatIfSports.)

2011-12 Season Overview

Alright, so this is how this is going to work. The entire 2011-2012 NBA season will be simulated using rosters that I've developed to determine the 12 best players in each franchise's history. There's a few things that should be noted about how the rosters were made up:

Site/2012 Season Update

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, everyone. Particularly on the List of Greatness. (That will get done though, I can assure you.) But on the Hanging from the Rafters as well. But I promise there's a good reason.


Since the 2011-2012 NBA season is basically dead. I'm just operating under the assumption that we'll have no pro hoops at all this year (and if that reverse jinxes it into happening, all the better, but I'm still doing this.) So I've been working frantically to run the entire 2012 season with updated "Ultimate/All-Time Rosters."


The season was scheduled to start November 1, so I'll have a series of posts the week prior to that - first outlining the concept in general, and then the next six days will outline each of the divisions, with each team's roster and starting lineups and such. Then, I should (hopefully) have it automated to kick things off so that the results of the games show up daily (with full box scores!).

ABA Ultimate Roster Comparisons

So, here's how the rosters for the Nuggets, Pacers, Nets, and Spurs look with various values given to their ABA accomplishments:

ABAers on the Ultimate Season Rosters

It's been pointed out in a couple comment threads that ABA players should get full credit for their ABA accomplishments when determining the rosters, since a team's ABA history is legitimately part of the team's entire history. And that's a valid point. However, I've been reluctant to do that, and didn't want to include ABA players (who might not be as skilled as players, but accumulated more stats in a weaker league) at the expense of NBA players and potentially hurt the team. So I figured instead of keeping this in various comment threads, I should just make a post where it could be discussed in a central location. Anyway, I'm currently giving players 40% credit for their ABA accomplishments (the same percentage as the Greatness Equation).


Here's the list of ABA players that would make the All-Time Rosters under this system:

The List of Greatness - 1985

Okay, I'm going to try this with my updated older data and hopefully everything matches up. Please let me know if you notice any inconsistencies so I can get them corrected ASAP. (I'm not sure exactly how much I had changed from this earlier stuff to the most recent data I was using, so I think I changed everything, but it's possible something slipped under my radar.)

Site Update

Sorry about the lack of updates recently everyone. There's been quite a few factors involved in that. First, my "List of Greatness" data may have been lost. Not sure how or why - but my computer does not seem to think it exists anymore. I've been working on updating some of my older files/versions of it to bring it all back up to speed but it might take some time. Secondly, I'm trying to get everything prepared so I can have the 2012 season play out with Ultimate Rosters in time for the actual, scheduled tip-off day. Not sure if it'll happen, but that's the goal. And finally, I'm getting married October 21, so the planning and everything for that has really been cutting into my blogging/research time. (Gotta have priorities, I know.)


Hopefully, I can find some kind of serviceable work-up to get the List of Greatness back up and going before too much longer, but it's still a lot of number crunching, and I'd rather have it done right than do it half-assed just to get a post up. Thanks for understanding.