2012 Season - Games for Nov. 4

Sorry, everyone, but I've been having some serious issues with my formatting. I've been trying to work on it over Thanksgiving here, but so far no luck. Hopefully I'll get it figured out soon. Luckily, we'll have basketball relatively soon, so, I won't feel so bad if I have to put the "Ultimate Season" on hiatus for a bit and go back to the "List of Greatness" or "Hanging from the Rafters" for a while.

2012 Season - Games for Nov 3

Only three games scheduled for today, but I'm catching up on games in general, so we're getting there. (And it sounds like there may actually be the slimmest of hopes for a real NBA season. But even if there is, I'll continue with this 82 game ultimate season.)

2012 Season - Games for Nov 2

Okay, so we're way behind already with this, but I think I've got most of it under control for now - as far as formatting and things go. There will still probably be some lag with the games because I can only save three teams at a time with What If Sports, so essentially, I have to re-create each team for each matchup. BUT this means I can run every matchup between the two teams in one sitting. For example, the Thunder and the Lakers played each other on opening day, so I have the results for all of their matchups all season completed already. However, if they play any other team, I have to re-create those teams again. So, to start with, things are gonna be a bit slow and behind, but eventually, the games will completed will catch up with the date. Anyway, click ahead for a whole lot of box scores.

2012 Season Update

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on how things were progressing since I didn't get the scores up yesterday or today. I'm still working out some kinks in the formatting, record keeping, and automatic posting departments - but hopefully I'll have time to get those taken care of this weekend. Regardless, the process will only go smoother from here, so every game will get played and every stat will get posted eventually, even if I have to back date some of it.

2012 Season - Games for Nov. 1

I'm still messing with the format to get everything aligned correctly. But, I think you guys are smart enough to figure it out. From left to right we have minutes, field goals/attempts, 3 pointers/attempts, free throws/attempts, offensive rebounds, total rebounds, assists, blocks, steals, turnovers, fouls, points... So, for right now, the easiest way to look at it is the last number listed for each player is their total points. Anyway, we have three games for opening night.

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:

2011-12 Ultimate Season (Update)

So, apparently, WhatIfSports sucks at allocating minutes to "Dream Teams." Here's a few examples - 1.) Jerry West starts over Magic Johnson on the All-Time Lakers squad, which would be fine, but they split minutes at the point right down the middle and each end up with only about 18 minutes a game. (Slater Martin picks up the rest.) 2.) Michael Jordan does not start for the All-Time Bulls. Jerry Sloan does. And the split time at the 2-guard slot. 3.) Larry Bird not only doesn't start for the All-Time Celtics, but he averages only 9 minutes a game... And this is when I stopped letting What If Sports do it's own thing and decided I needed to step in.


So, here's my plan - I'm going to come up with a system to determine which five guys would be most beneficial for each team to start. I'll try to stay as close to their original position as possible, but I may move some guys up or down a slot if it seems like they could handle that spot and still be far superior to their replacement. (Example: I will probably start both Shaq and Kareem for the Lakers, rather than Pau Gasol, who is the best true "Power Forward" on the team.)


Basically, I'm going to start the best true point guard, the best two wing men (these will most likely be shooting guards or small forwards, but could conceivably contain a point guard under the right circumstances), and the two best big men (either power forwards or centers - or small forwards if a team is desperate.)


And I plan on allocating minutes based on whatever the minute per game average was for the player's best year according to What If Sports. (Yes, I realize that won't add up to the correct number of minutes every time, but WIS can short the non-starters if need be.)


Does that make sense to everyone? Or does anyone have any better suggestions for formulating a team's starting five?

Ultimate Season

In anticipation of the looming cancellation of the 2011-2012 NBA season, I've decided that instead of doing the Ultimate Tournament this year, I'm going to try to do the Ultimate Season. I'm going to take the ultimate rosters (I'm in the process of updating them right now) and run the entire 2011-2012 schedule with those rosters. A couple notes:


1. The Rosters will be mostly the same as they were last year for the Ultimate Tournament, a few teams might be slightly updated because of the results of last year and the addition of win share data from before 1952.
2. The games will be run through the WhatIfSports simulator. During last year's tournament, I determined the minutes and positions and whatnot myself, but due to time constraints, I'm afraid I'm going to have to let WIS do that on it's own.
3. If this takes off enough, hopefully we can do an All-Star Game and season Awards and Honors. If I get enough readers, maybe I can even have people vote on it. That'd be kind of cool.
4. If anyone has the schedule for every team for every month on one sheet/page or knows where I can find it, please post the link in the comments.
5. Wish me luck!