Post by Von on Jul 8, 2020 7:55:51 GMT -8
Welcome to another Pigpen Exclusive: Interview/W Greeme.
We sat down with the Greememeister for 12 questions to get his thoughts on certain items around the league:
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your history with sim leagues up until this point.
Greeme: I was born in the US and currently live in Israel, which makes things difficult given the time difference. Also i'm orthodox so I'm not around from fri night to sat night. That sometimes causes trouble in fast leagues bc i can miss the draft or fa or the playoffs.
I have been in a bunch of different leagues. I think the first league i was in was ITP. Sometimes I get bored and join a bunch of leagues and then I'm sorry I did lol. I generally like leagues with low or no inflation. In general i don't take the leagues too seriously and they are mostly a way to kill time.
Pig: I have always wanted to go to Israel. The women are suppose to be the most beautiful in the world. I had a friend of mine who lived in Tel Aviv for a couple years and absolutley loved it. Never heard of ITP (sounds like a professional tennis tour).
I first started in BBS and then UOSL. Those were the leagues I was in the most....been about 15 years since I started sims. I was also in some other league that was different program than FBB that was pretty cool at the time.
2. What do you think the components are that are required in order to have a successful team in BBS? What style of team works best for Greeme? What doesn't work for you?
Greeme: Defense is key. It is always easier to find offense. You just take a bunch of outside shooters and plug them in. Ideally you have 3 good rebounders and 1/2 sbers. try to get a rebounding adv at sf. somebody that get steals/blocks and can shoot is also helpful. Most of the scoring usually will come from pg/sg/backup pg/sg. It is much easier to be successful running an outside offense just because outside shooters are easier to find. To have success with an inside scoring team you pretty much need a tim duncan/ anthony davis/ yao ming type and they are never easy to find.
Pig: I think Greeme and I think the same way here. They are maybe ways to win otherwise, it's just not something I am pretty comfortable operating. I don't particullarly like slow pace teams just because it is outside my comfort zone. One thing I am currently learning is how to operate outside offenses with big men as options and that has been pretty interesting on my end.
3. After a tough start to the season it seems like you have made a little bit of a comeback and have got on fire as of late. What did you analyze on what the issue(s) was/were and what was your thought process in how to mitigate them. Did you ever consider a rebuild?
Greeme: I think it was mostly just bad luck. 0-11 is hard to do if you try and next to impossible if you don't. Everybody shot poorly and the tos were through the roof. We have changed dcs a number of times and the current one looks solid. We also added 2 starters for free pretty much which obviously helped. I think we could be dangerous if we get a couple trades done but I'm not in a rush. After sim 2 I thought maybe I wouldn't make any dc changes and just wait out the year and tank but I hate tanking. Objectively it would make more sense to tank bc trying to make the playoffs and just missing is the easiest way to end up cyd.
Pig: East is going to be tough this year, like it has been most years in this version of BBS. I think the Nets definitley have a shot of winning 45-50 games. We got off to a bad start last year and it took me a while to figure out what the issues were and to mitigate those issues. Nets seem to have caught their issues earlier than I did.
4. What teams right now do you think are the best in the league and who are you fearful of playing right now in a 7 game series?
Greeme: The Suns, Wiz, Hornets and Kings have the 4 best teams but gming comes into play in the playoffs more. I think i could beat any of those teams in a 7 game series. In the playoffs I would rather play the Wiz than the Knicks even though the Wiz have a better team.
Pig: Historically, even with my better teams, have not had a good track record against the Nets at all. I hesitate from applying a lot of defensive pressure in fast pace offenses due to the fact my bigs get into foul trouble that way and if I don't have the depth to cover there I can get burned. This is how I get ripped apart by teams who shoot real well. The Wizards are in this mold but I think they are vulnerable with their TO's. Knicks will always be solid and the Kings as well. Phoenix looks sneaky good right now as well and I can't count the Cavs out.
5. You have to build around one player in the league right now......who is it and why?
Greeme: To win this year I would take Duncan hands down. He is such a dominating force and the position he plays is so weak. In a vacuum I would take Billups but the avg pg is much, much better than the average center.
Pig: Duncan is the easiest choice for me, however his value is so high right now we are finding that it's tough for GM's to obtain the assets around him to build a contender. the original michael gave up on him in a really short time. I think I would want to go with Lebron or Wade right now to be honest. I think the versitility they have gives GM's a lot of flexibility on how they surround the team around them.
6. What is the proper way in taking a playoff team and rebuilding it in BBS?
Greeme: The best way is to trade everybody for future picks. Even if you don't get full/fair value it is always better to have futures than guys who will hurt your tank. Tank for 3 years. Don't draft a pg bc then you can just sign a to machine. If there is a stud pg in the draft i wouldn't pass him up but ideally just draft guys who won't hurt your tank much. Either draft smalls and run inside or vice versa. Only try to sign studs in fa for the first 3 years and if you get one trade him for youth/picks. The final year overpay in fa and get a few very good starters. trade youth only if you need to in order to make the playoffs.
Pig: I would agree with you 100%. My Alonzo Mourning deal with @ukfanjohn seemed to be universally panned by most in the league however by the end of that deals and others I had something like 11-13 picks including my own over a three year span. It was a weird time because I felt there was some abstract devaluation going on in the league over 1st round picks that I couldn't quite grasp. I think GM's perceived value on 1st round picks have gone back to about normal since then. The FA strategy here is also spot on in my opinion, however you need to be cognizant of the true value guys have if you are trying to flip them.....which can be hard at times.
7. A recent article was written about the best trading partners in the league by a specific GM. Who are the top 5 GM's that you like to deal with and the least favorite 3 GM's that you like to deal with when it comes to trade discussions?
Greeme: top 5 -
Sargo - He always seems to be on and answers quickly. Not afraid to make a trade he likes without wasting time.
Habes - We don't trade much but he has a good grasp on what he wants and what he is willing to move so things go quickly
play - He knows what players you want and doesn't offer guys that make no sense for you
royal - see sargo
ashes - he will overpay for a piece he wants. he will pay a fair price in general.
bottom 3 -
trapster - hard to trade when you don't answer quickly.
skillz - just make an offer. i don't need a whole backstory why it makes sense for me
jeb - see trapster
Pig: Interesting points. I was actually starting to look at this article and @aaronjh and Jeb were the top two for me for different reasons. Aaron is always moving quickly and honestly is always providing fair value in almost all the offers he sends. He's also very ammendable and willing to work with you to fine common ground. JEB and I have close to a 100% success rate on deals proposed to deals executed. Ironically, most of our deals get universally panned by the rest of the league as lopsided for one or the other. Interesting enough, our Sprewell/Stack deal (panned for Wolves) gave me the pick in which I selected Caron Butler which I then sent back to JEB for Z (panned for Hornets). SARGO is also in my top 5 and he is easily the quickest PM back in the league if he's on the boards.
I don't really deal with Play or Ashes that much to have informed opinions compared to others. Ashes and I discussed a couple deals that fell through, Play and I really haven't talked too much this version of BBS on trades. However, they aren't guys I am trying to avoid. Me and @royal made the megadeal for the Wade pick, however I have definitley received 3 or 4 of the worst offers I have ever received in this league from him.
I have beat Skillz to death in previous threads so I won't get into it again but I defintiley agree with your point on him.
8. Are there any rule changes that you would like to see Spencer make to the league at this point that you feel would make the league better?
Greeme: He used to let us ask questions about draftees. I think we should bring that back.
Pig: @Ashes brought up a great point in the DAL-ORL deal today about protected picks that have the potential to carry over to an unprotected pick outside the three year window. I tend to agree with him on that one, I think that needs to be nipped in the butt. I would like to have the ability to use RC's on advanced scouting for drafts but that might provide more work for Spencer and I definitley don't want to implement anything that makes this more time consuming than it actually is.
9. What do you believe the worst trade in BBS has been up to this point and why?
Greeme: bbs2020.proboards.com/thread/1977/sac-orl?page=1
Not sure what the point of the trade was. If you move kobe at least make sure you make cy. Probably had 50 offers which could have helped him get through cy. Not to mention the timing was horrible. If you are going to move kobe move him earyl, make cy and move on.
Pig: I think this is another one that has been beat to death and it seems like break has taken responsibility for the missteps he took regarding Kobe.
10. Do you feel like it is an obligation of every GM to provide a counter to any GM that provides an unsolicited deal to you?
Greeme: No, if somebody wants a player i don't want to trade and I don't like his players why would i counter? I do think it is an obligation to answer in a timely fashion.
Pig: I would tend to agree with you on this. Skillz is a guy who seems in trade negotiations if he comes with something unsolicited to your inbox he feels like he is owed a counter from you in return. That opinion maybe looking into the weeds too much to be honest but I felt like the litmus test for some of his GM grades on trading dealt with ability to counter his deals.
11. What are your thoughts on the draft files up until this point? Do you think the league will inevitably be inflated with ratings at some point? If so, when?
Greeme: I like the files so far. Spencer is keeping inflation under control as well as can be expected. It is obviously hard to do so long term because guys are helped along by camps and some randomly explode. On the other hand camps breed activity so you can't shut them down. My guess is about 10 years in inflation starts getting more out of control. Guys bank enough rcs to give them out early which seems to exacerbate inflation.
Pig: One of the smarter GM's out there than myself maybe able to pinpoint when this would start to take place. Average RC's used per year + Average AC's used per year over time to give an approximate timeframe on we could potentially see inflation based against the starting league file. Would be a lot of work and variables to cover but it would be an interesting article.
12. If you could have any team in the league right now what team would it be and why?
Greeme: The sixers. I always wanted to get Yao in a league but i never did. I just think it would be a nice change of pace to have a team built around a big and would be a slightly different type of challenge. He blocks, hits fts, rebounds does it all. I think the sixers have pretty much done nothing besides luck into yao. I would clean the whole team out and just build around yao with players that fit in with him.
Pig: It's interesting that you would build with Duncan and not Yao then if you would just clean the team out. Sixers run that inside offense that I don't believe is that conducive to winning. Jamison is an interesting player that I am not sure I know how to use effectively. I think Webber might flourish in an outside offense, he reminds me a lot lof a better version of Elton. I am not sure Dejan and Francis really fit the mold of what they are trying to do. I always hated the Miller contract. I don't know. I do think he can flip these guys for assets if he wants to.
Habes has a fun team but I like the Jazz a lot. Really fun team that they have and Lebron is there as well.
Thanks Greeme!
We sat down with the Greememeister for 12 questions to get his thoughts on certain items around the league:
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your history with sim leagues up until this point.
Greeme: I was born in the US and currently live in Israel, which makes things difficult given the time difference. Also i'm orthodox so I'm not around from fri night to sat night. That sometimes causes trouble in fast leagues bc i can miss the draft or fa or the playoffs.
I have been in a bunch of different leagues. I think the first league i was in was ITP. Sometimes I get bored and join a bunch of leagues and then I'm sorry I did lol. I generally like leagues with low or no inflation. In general i don't take the leagues too seriously and they are mostly a way to kill time.
Pig: I have always wanted to go to Israel. The women are suppose to be the most beautiful in the world. I had a friend of mine who lived in Tel Aviv for a couple years and absolutley loved it. Never heard of ITP (sounds like a professional tennis tour).
I first started in BBS and then UOSL. Those were the leagues I was in the most....been about 15 years since I started sims. I was also in some other league that was different program than FBB that was pretty cool at the time.
2. What do you think the components are that are required in order to have a successful team in BBS? What style of team works best for Greeme? What doesn't work for you?
Greeme: Defense is key. It is always easier to find offense. You just take a bunch of outside shooters and plug them in. Ideally you have 3 good rebounders and 1/2 sbers. try to get a rebounding adv at sf. somebody that get steals/blocks and can shoot is also helpful. Most of the scoring usually will come from pg/sg/backup pg/sg. It is much easier to be successful running an outside offense just because outside shooters are easier to find. To have success with an inside scoring team you pretty much need a tim duncan/ anthony davis/ yao ming type and they are never easy to find.
Pig: I think Greeme and I think the same way here. They are maybe ways to win otherwise, it's just not something I am pretty comfortable operating. I don't particullarly like slow pace teams just because it is outside my comfort zone. One thing I am currently learning is how to operate outside offenses with big men as options and that has been pretty interesting on my end.
3. After a tough start to the season it seems like you have made a little bit of a comeback and have got on fire as of late. What did you analyze on what the issue(s) was/were and what was your thought process in how to mitigate them. Did you ever consider a rebuild?
Greeme: I think it was mostly just bad luck. 0-11 is hard to do if you try and next to impossible if you don't. Everybody shot poorly and the tos were through the roof. We have changed dcs a number of times and the current one looks solid. We also added 2 starters for free pretty much which obviously helped. I think we could be dangerous if we get a couple trades done but I'm not in a rush. After sim 2 I thought maybe I wouldn't make any dc changes and just wait out the year and tank but I hate tanking. Objectively it would make more sense to tank bc trying to make the playoffs and just missing is the easiest way to end up cyd.
Pig: East is going to be tough this year, like it has been most years in this version of BBS. I think the Nets definitley have a shot of winning 45-50 games. We got off to a bad start last year and it took me a while to figure out what the issues were and to mitigate those issues. Nets seem to have caught their issues earlier than I did.
4. What teams right now do you think are the best in the league and who are you fearful of playing right now in a 7 game series?
Greeme: The Suns, Wiz, Hornets and Kings have the 4 best teams but gming comes into play in the playoffs more. I think i could beat any of those teams in a 7 game series. In the playoffs I would rather play the Wiz than the Knicks even though the Wiz have a better team.
Pig: Historically, even with my better teams, have not had a good track record against the Nets at all. I hesitate from applying a lot of defensive pressure in fast pace offenses due to the fact my bigs get into foul trouble that way and if I don't have the depth to cover there I can get burned. This is how I get ripped apart by teams who shoot real well. The Wizards are in this mold but I think they are vulnerable with their TO's. Knicks will always be solid and the Kings as well. Phoenix looks sneaky good right now as well and I can't count the Cavs out.
5. You have to build around one player in the league right now......who is it and why?
Greeme: To win this year I would take Duncan hands down. He is such a dominating force and the position he plays is so weak. In a vacuum I would take Billups but the avg pg is much, much better than the average center.
Pig: Duncan is the easiest choice for me, however his value is so high right now we are finding that it's tough for GM's to obtain the assets around him to build a contender. the original michael gave up on him in a really short time. I think I would want to go with Lebron or Wade right now to be honest. I think the versitility they have gives GM's a lot of flexibility on how they surround the team around them.
6. What is the proper way in taking a playoff team and rebuilding it in BBS?
Greeme: The best way is to trade everybody for future picks. Even if you don't get full/fair value it is always better to have futures than guys who will hurt your tank. Tank for 3 years. Don't draft a pg bc then you can just sign a to machine. If there is a stud pg in the draft i wouldn't pass him up but ideally just draft guys who won't hurt your tank much. Either draft smalls and run inside or vice versa. Only try to sign studs in fa for the first 3 years and if you get one trade him for youth/picks. The final year overpay in fa and get a few very good starters. trade youth only if you need to in order to make the playoffs.
Pig: I would agree with you 100%. My Alonzo Mourning deal with @ukfanjohn seemed to be universally panned by most in the league however by the end of that deals and others I had something like 11-13 picks including my own over a three year span. It was a weird time because I felt there was some abstract devaluation going on in the league over 1st round picks that I couldn't quite grasp. I think GM's perceived value on 1st round picks have gone back to about normal since then. The FA strategy here is also spot on in my opinion, however you need to be cognizant of the true value guys have if you are trying to flip them.....which can be hard at times.
7. A recent article was written about the best trading partners in the league by a specific GM. Who are the top 5 GM's that you like to deal with and the least favorite 3 GM's that you like to deal with when it comes to trade discussions?
Greeme: top 5 -
Sargo - He always seems to be on and answers quickly. Not afraid to make a trade he likes without wasting time.
Habes - We don't trade much but he has a good grasp on what he wants and what he is willing to move so things go quickly
play - He knows what players you want and doesn't offer guys that make no sense for you
royal - see sargo
ashes - he will overpay for a piece he wants. he will pay a fair price in general.
bottom 3 -
trapster - hard to trade when you don't answer quickly.
skillz - just make an offer. i don't need a whole backstory why it makes sense for me
jeb - see trapster
Pig: Interesting points. I was actually starting to look at this article and @aaronjh and Jeb were the top two for me for different reasons. Aaron is always moving quickly and honestly is always providing fair value in almost all the offers he sends. He's also very ammendable and willing to work with you to fine common ground. JEB and I have close to a 100% success rate on deals proposed to deals executed. Ironically, most of our deals get universally panned by the rest of the league as lopsided for one or the other. Interesting enough, our Sprewell/Stack deal (panned for Wolves) gave me the pick in which I selected Caron Butler which I then sent back to JEB for Z (panned for Hornets). SARGO is also in my top 5 and he is easily the quickest PM back in the league if he's on the boards.
I don't really deal with Play or Ashes that much to have informed opinions compared to others. Ashes and I discussed a couple deals that fell through, Play and I really haven't talked too much this version of BBS on trades. However, they aren't guys I am trying to avoid. Me and @royal made the megadeal for the Wade pick, however I have definitley received 3 or 4 of the worst offers I have ever received in this league from him.
I have beat Skillz to death in previous threads so I won't get into it again but I defintiley agree with your point on him.
8. Are there any rule changes that you would like to see Spencer make to the league at this point that you feel would make the league better?
Greeme: He used to let us ask questions about draftees. I think we should bring that back.
Pig: @Ashes brought up a great point in the DAL-ORL deal today about protected picks that have the potential to carry over to an unprotected pick outside the three year window. I tend to agree with him on that one, I think that needs to be nipped in the butt. I would like to have the ability to use RC's on advanced scouting for drafts but that might provide more work for Spencer and I definitley don't want to implement anything that makes this more time consuming than it actually is.
9. What do you believe the worst trade in BBS has been up to this point and why?
Greeme: bbs2020.proboards.com/thread/1977/sac-orl?page=1
Not sure what the point of the trade was. If you move kobe at least make sure you make cy. Probably had 50 offers which could have helped him get through cy. Not to mention the timing was horrible. If you are going to move kobe move him earyl, make cy and move on.
Pig: I think this is another one that has been beat to death and it seems like break has taken responsibility for the missteps he took regarding Kobe.
10. Do you feel like it is an obligation of every GM to provide a counter to any GM that provides an unsolicited deal to you?
Greeme: No, if somebody wants a player i don't want to trade and I don't like his players why would i counter? I do think it is an obligation to answer in a timely fashion.
Pig: I would tend to agree with you on this. Skillz is a guy who seems in trade negotiations if he comes with something unsolicited to your inbox he feels like he is owed a counter from you in return. That opinion maybe looking into the weeds too much to be honest but I felt like the litmus test for some of his GM grades on trading dealt with ability to counter his deals.
11. What are your thoughts on the draft files up until this point? Do you think the league will inevitably be inflated with ratings at some point? If so, when?
Greeme: I like the files so far. Spencer is keeping inflation under control as well as can be expected. It is obviously hard to do so long term because guys are helped along by camps and some randomly explode. On the other hand camps breed activity so you can't shut them down. My guess is about 10 years in inflation starts getting more out of control. Guys bank enough rcs to give them out early which seems to exacerbate inflation.
Pig: One of the smarter GM's out there than myself maybe able to pinpoint when this would start to take place. Average RC's used per year + Average AC's used per year over time to give an approximate timeframe on we could potentially see inflation based against the starting league file. Would be a lot of work and variables to cover but it would be an interesting article.
12. If you could have any team in the league right now what team would it be and why?
Greeme: The sixers. I always wanted to get Yao in a league but i never did. I just think it would be a nice change of pace to have a team built around a big and would be a slightly different type of challenge. He blocks, hits fts, rebounds does it all. I think the sixers have pretty much done nothing besides luck into yao. I would clean the whole team out and just build around yao with players that fit in with him.
Pig: It's interesting that you would build with Duncan and not Yao then if you would just clean the team out. Sixers run that inside offense that I don't believe is that conducive to winning. Jamison is an interesting player that I am not sure I know how to use effectively. I think Webber might flourish in an outside offense, he reminds me a lot lof a better version of Elton. I am not sure Dejan and Francis really fit the mold of what they are trying to do. I always hated the Miller contract. I don't know. I do think he can flip these guys for assets if he wants to.
Habes has a fun team but I like the Jazz a lot. Really fun team that they have and Lebron is there as well.
Thanks Greeme!
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