Post by JR on May 16, 2020 9:37:55 GMT -8
Welcome to JR’s Roundtable how is everybody doing on this fine evening?
Ashes - Well, it's morning for me, but I am doing very well. It's Saturday after a long week at work and I'm ready to chill and drink a few cold ones. The convenient store next to me closed for remodeling so I now have to walk an extra 5 minutes to get to the next closest one. More like inconvenient store, if you ask me. I'd love to get a bottle of liquor but I would rather cut my left nut off than deal with throwing away glass bottles in Japan. I have a glass bottle of tomato sauce that will probably remain with me until I move back to the US.
Steve - Doing mighty fine. Just saw a season simmed in less than 2 weeks essentially.
Skillz - I am experiencing many emotions! Intense sadness and hope! Losing in the Conference Finals the way we did was rough, but getting MJ back was an unexpected surprise and gives us the hope that we can win it all next year.
Well lets jump right in and start with the biggest surprise from this past season? Can be a trade, what happened during the season or the draft. Why were you surprised by this?
Ashes - The trading of Steve Nash. Nash is just an amazing player here. True superstar in every definition of the word. I hated the deal then and I hate the deal even more now. He basically ended up trading Nash for a bunch of mediocre to terrible 1sts. The Wolves 03 might be okay, but that's about it. Nash is a cornerstone on the team, but for some reason he doubled down on Brand over Nash. I'm sure the Pacers will be fine because they got their 1st back, but just seems like overall terrible value for one of the best players in the league. Then he traded for an outside guy in Lewis when he has an inside guy Brand. Meh. Could've been Nash/Lewis + other outside pieces. I would've preferred to move Brand for good value, but oh well. I also think getting back to prominence in the East is going to be very difficult now, whereas with Nash you'd never really be far from competing. I guess we will wait and see!
Galo: I was surprised how uber-competitive the East was this season. There’s a lot of great GMs in the conference but the jockeying for position was really tight all season long. Three teams (Sixers, Raptors, Celtics) all finished with 40+ wins and all missed the playoffs. In the West, they would have all comfortably made the playoffs. So I guess I was more surprised by the lack of parity in the league as a whole with the majority of the win-now teams are in the East while the West has a lot of rebuilding clubs. The chip went to Utah, but they were really only challenged by 2 other clubs (Clippers and Nuggets) in the West.
Steve -Trading Steve Nash for such a poor package. Nash is such an unbelievable asset and he's arguably the best PG in the game...and getting Sprewell back as the main piece is just simply not enough. I've been a believer in my time to always try to maximize a franchise piece even when they are closing in on 30. Nash was 26 at the time of the deal. I mean, literally in his prime, and it's not like Sargo wasn't in a position to compete. He still made the playoffs after the trade. Brand is putting him in such a tough spot, though. His value is being shitted on right now, but he's certainly better than what he is getting credit for, too. I do think Sargo did some nice things afterwards, but that is hard to come back from.
Skillz - I'll just say the leaguewide interest and activity. I signed up on a whim because I liked BBS back in the day and it was quarantine time, but I expected this to be a casual reunion. The level of intensity and activity - and PACE - was a surprise. But I think it's a happy surprise.
Alright well those are interesting answers for sure! Next up is after the first season has come and gone, which player do you think is the most overrated by GMs round the league? Tell me why you don’t believe the hype as well.
Ashes - You lie! You didn't know my answer! Oh wait! I know the answer to this one, it's Jamal Crawford right?? This is a tough question because I don't actually think there are many "overrated" players. Crawford is a pretty polarizing figure for the league for some reason, I'm just trying to live my life over here with Kobe and JCraw and it somehow blew up into quite an interesting league topic. The way this question is worded can really only point to Crawford because he is really the only guy being talked about by GMs in the league. However, I'm going to look at it a different way because I refuse to answer this loaded question! I'd go with Shawn Marion. Not a whole lot of talk about him because the Rockets really aren't shopping the guy, but given where he was selected and what he's looking like, I don't value him as highly. He is definitely a good player with upside, but right now he looks like a worse Kevin Garnett, and KG isn't that good right now either. I expected more of a 2/2.5 steals/blocks stat line out of Marion but he's a 1.5/1 guy with crazy turnover issues. I hate turnovers more than anything else in FBB, so that worries me. But the Rockets were playing a bad DC on purpose and using guys like Marion and Outlaw as options, so maybe they stabilize a little more as time goes on. Plus there's TC around the corner and blah blah. Even with the shortage of bigs, Marion is probably valued a little too high for my liking, at least I think he is. Get off Crawford's nuts! Stop talking about him!
Galo: It’s a really tough question but I would say right now Latrell Sprewell. I considered getting Spre last year and didn’t pull the trigger. His assists to turnover ratio is almost 1 to 1 and although he’s had some big games and performances – he can be a liability. I think there’s a reason he’s been on 4 teams all last season (Cleveland, NYK, Indiana and now Minnesota where he’s being shopped). His rating look great on paper, but curious to see how TC treats him and if someone camps his handles.
Steve -I'll go with Rasheed Wallace here and I'll explain why. Played for an awful team so his numbers look amazing...but if you dive in deeper...he is a turnover machine who can't shoot the 3 and isn't a great free throw shooter either. Which kind of makes me think he might not be able to play the SF position that well, too. He is showing B potential but at age 27 I don't see that being a crazy big deal. I don't know...he's kind of a better version of Jamison...which believe me, I know, it's a headache in that respect. Having said all of that, he is fixable with camps. I didn't check so I don't know if he has been camped yet...but yeah. I wanted to go with a player that has some recognition, and not pick an average player here.
Skillz - Shaq. I've blasted him in other articles so I don't want to go too long on this one. Obviously you'd love to have a player as dominant as him on your team, but he is fundamentally challenging to build around. If he just shot a poor percentage from the FT line, his foibles would be easy to overlook. But his handles compound his offensive issues.
How the playoffs are simmed is new to me, I actually like it a lot, how do you feel about the way playoffs are simmed? Are there ways to improve it or is it done how you would sim?
Ashes - This is way of simming playoffs is pretty standard to me. Only other format I can recall is back in the day with live sims you could see DC changes for the Finals after each game. This system works well and offers ample time to play with match-ups and adjust. I think one thing that would be cool is to give the Finals participants and opportunity to change DCs for a Game 7, since by the time you're simming PT2 of the Finals, they would likely be online anyways, or at least east to reach. I think that would be pretty exciting to see, and nice for those two GMs who made it that far, since FBB playoffs is such a cuckfest in general. Make it happen!
Galo: I would propose a live playoff sim format which would make it easier for GMs maybe but not so convenient for Spencer. I think this would be advantageous for the later rounds maybe Conference Semis to the Finals. It would knock out the playoffs faster and give people time to observe results at a set time then make adjustments promptly with less delays.
Steve -I'm cool with whatever...but in my other league we simmed games 1/2 then games 3/4 then games 5/6 and if necessary a game 7. I do like that in the respect that there is some strategy involved but as Skillz can attest here...it takes significantly longer. My suggestion would be this...sim games 1/2/3 then sim games 4/5/6...if necessary sim a game 7. I'm cool with whatever, though.
Skillz - How do you normally see them simmed? This is pretty standard for what I am used to. I think there should be a rule that if a series goes to a game 7 and both GM's are online, they can edit their DC one more time. But that is more work for Spence so maybe it's not neccessary.
Speaking of playoffs, there was talk the West was bad and that’s why the Jazz won as many games as they did, were they the best team in season 1? If not who was and why.
Ashes - Jazz got the homecourt because the West was so bad, but they were obviously the best team in the end. They beat the Nuggets, Clippers, and Nets. All three teams were major threats if we are talking about FBB playoffs. I would've liked to see a Jazz/Knicks match-up, because I feel like the Knicks were a better team than the Nets, but the Nets beat them, so can't hold that against the Jazz. And the Nets were no slouch either. I said the West would win the playoffs this year, but I was really thinking it would be the Clipps/Nuggs due to Duncan/Shaq. But you did a good job assembling your team and I think homecourt coupled with a very good David Robinson was enough to get the job done. When you have a scorer like Houston and can get some defensive stops and rebounds with the rest of your team, that is a hard team to beat. I think in general, to win in the playoffs you need a guy that can go off for 30, 40, 50 in a game. Greeme was missing that and I think that's why he didn't win it all. Good job, jr.
Galo: Early on, I thought the Nets were the best team in the regular season. Then, I switched it to the Knicks after they got Nash. Around the last couple sims, I start realizing the Jazz were a force in the West to be reckoned with after the Clippers started falling back a bit. There’s a reason they won the championship and Utah has the first season trophy.
Steve -Jazz were certainly good, lol. I think many were essentially pointing out that they had the much easier path compared to a guy like Skillz who had a gauntlet after round 1. He had to face the Hornets if I'm not mistaken who owned a very impressive 8+ point differential, and then against Greeme's Nets who were damn good, too. Jazz essentially had a bye to the conference championship and basically had to win 2 series...compared to Greeme's squad or Skillz' squad. But yeah, make no mistake about it, Jazz were very good. Their point differential suggested just that. In saying all of that, I think Skillz squad was the best team that year...however, more often then not the best team doesn't win.
Skillz - I'm obviously biased but I think we had the best team. Not that it matters at all. But yeah, I mean, I think we would beat the Jazz in a series 7-8 times out of 10. Nash/MJ/Mash was the best big three in BBS and we had depth at every position, a rim-protector and Hakeem and had the best point differential in the league during the regular season despite dealing with injuries to almost every starter. We outscored the Nets in the playoff series we lost, too.
Piggy backing that last question, A lot of GMs say the first season doesn’t matter, how do you feel about that mind set? Why?
Ashes - I say it as a joke because all I care about is FA + TC, but there has been some precedent to easier early success vs later, sustained success. I think it is easier to build a winner in the first year because you get a lot of guys tanking because they know what big draft studs are on the way. I've seen many GMs mortgage it all, win the 1st title, and ride the coattails of that success into mediocrity for the next 8-10 seasons. Winning the title is always nice, and no one can take that from you, but now you have to keep up the success, in my opinion. It's not super impressive to me if you win the 1st title, struggle the next season, blow it up the third. I think rebuilding these next few years might be difficult due to half the league still wanting LeBron in 03 and weaker drafts overall. The weaker drafts is still kind of experimental, if you think about it. Tanking teams this past season are going to be in a rough spot if some of these guys don't develop or just don't really sim like the established guys. It's going to be very interesting to see how the league shapes up the next few seasons. I look at teams like the Suns, Lakers, Blazers, Hawks, Magic, etc and get nervous for them because the CY will come up fast and their teams are still missing a lot of guys and need to have big TCs to contend. The Western teams have it easier in resetting their CY, so that's a nice thing, but you don't really want to hover around 6th-8th seed for years. All in all, I think you got it right this year by not overly risking your future while still winning the title. I don't think you'll let me down and become mediocre for the next 8 seasons, so this first season mattered.
Galo: It’s all about perspective really. The thing is the Contract Year will eventually catch up to you so even if the first season doesn’t matter, you’ll have to start winning by Year 3 anyway to keep your job. I think people mean it doesn’t matter because there’s no TC and ratings come in really low and unknown. But, then things get inflated quickly with camps, ACs and TC etc.
Steve -Absolutely matters. I believe Skillz summed it up beautifully here:
Major congrats to JR for building a great team and making all of the right decisions
Not that this needs to be said, but a championship this year is worth just as much. We were all competing and angling for advantages in a creation draft.
To do this with H20 as your best player -- not a top 5 pick -- is even more impressive.
Don't let anyone take anything away from you!
The first season mattered. We all picked in the creation draft, right? We all didn't get handed a random team, right? I think it's always impressive to win a title no matter the situation. Unless it's some BS trade that catapults a team into that spot, I respect it. Allan Houston was a big time pick...and someone I was hoping fell to me, haha.
Skillz - Despite everything I just said, no one should take anything away from the Jazz's championship! It was well-earned. High level of difficulty (late FRP!) and it required proactiveness (Big Dog!) and patience. Anyone trying to discount a title is just insecure about their own standing in the league. Everyone knows the rules. Everyone just competed against one another in a Creation draft. If anything, a title in Year 1 may be worth more because you are dealing with more variables than you would during a "normal" year. The mindset you reference in your question is dumb and disingenuous.
Spencer has been a beast at simming, always keeping the file up to date is helpful, if you had to grade Spencer just off season 1 what would you give him? Explain your answers please.
Ashes - Spencer is always an A+ commish. Always has been and always will be. The activity has been very good and Spencer is keeping up with it perfectly. I've seen BBS seasons go by a little faster in the past, but not by much. This pace is good, and I don't see it really slowing down, which is also good. When you get together a large group of guys that have been doing this awhile and have experience with each other in a league, it makes for a very good combination and the league benefits from it overall. All of this is held together by Spencer who has always been one of my favorite people in sim leagues. I mean not many people from the 18 years I've been doing this have my phone number! Spencer also has a lot of people with experience to help him out, which is going to go a long way. I'm always willing to help wherever needed, so I'm glad I can help ease the burden on Spencer, even if it's just a little. I just hope when he finally retires, Jack is ready to step up and take over!
Galo: A minus. I think he maybe didn’t sim one day all season? No one's perfect but Spencer has thrown at least a 1 hitter this year which damn good for any commish. And, still impressive despite us being in a pandemic. He’s been really thorough and honest about expectations too despite some people playfully badgering and also just pushing for more speed. He’s the motor to this whole league.
Steve -A+. I mean god bless that man. He was on the money in season 1. I couldn't do it so hey full marks to him. On top of it, he's very rationale in all his decision making. No one should worry about him at the helm.
Skillz - A+. Seriously, he is a machine. Thanks Spence!
Draft was finished at a very fast pace, did you feel like anybody was rushed into taking somebody or was the pace good for everybody?
Ashes - More than half the league was waiting all season for the draft! It's no surprise to me how quickly it went by and play is the best draft mod out there, so it's going to go smooth and fast. With as active as the league is, and with as many ways to contact people as there are, it's a recipe for success for a quick draft. I love it! Keep it up.
Galo: I think the pace was good despite many GMs being in different time zones. I remember when drafts used to take 3-4 days to complete so I think people are just more prepared now and frankly have more time to research right now because everyone is mostly at home right now lol.
Steve -The rules are in place. I thought it was fine for this season, but we could run into problems in the coming drafts. I think what we can do to improve the situation is to give our number to one of the draft mods. I just know when life actually starts to pick up...or I am teaching...there will be periods where I just can't get online. What would help to alert me would be a text saying I'm up. I think this is important to take care of for the following draft. Right now, it flew by. Also, right now, there is nothing to do. Life will pick up...and I believe one of the draft mods should have our number.
Skillz - As a Moderator, I don't think so. We didn't have to Auto for anyone who didn't want to be Auto'd and it seemed like everyone was able to make a decision in a timely manner. Knock on wood, but this is one of the most stress-free drafts I can remember.
With talk moving towards the draft who made the worst selection? Who made the best? Why do you feel this way bout both selections?
Ashes - I'm going to disregard the top two slots because they could have gone either way in my opinion. I think habes made the best pick of the draft getting Tony Parker at #5. I just have a feeling Tony Parker is the guy. I think he is going to be a sick, efficient PG who will be good after TC and camps pumped into him. I think he'll be a low TO guy, which is awesome. I am worried about Kidd and TP going into TC together, but only because I am very superstitious about multiples guys at the same position in TC. I feel like it's burned me before but of course there could easily be no relation. TC is a gamble no matter what. Worst pick of the draft for me was Tinsley. It's a later pick so not super relevant, but I would have taken Radman, Griffin, Hunter, Haywood over Tinsley. Hell I would've taken Kedrick Brown over Tinsley if they were both available at 25. I hate PGs with TO problems and when the only relevant thing in your notes are handle issues...oof.
Galo: I’m going with Boston taking Shane Battier at #12 as the worst – don’t think he’ll be a bad pro at all but wish that Brian would have taken a higher reward/risk guy here. Battier might be a nice 5th starter but this team needs another potential star or asset to pair with AI down the road. Diop is a close second but he might actually be a valuable shot blocker with the right camps.
Orlando had a fantastic draft starting with Iso Joe at No. 3. He’s an almost perfect complement to Employee #8 at shooting guard. Then they added Eddie Griffin at #20 who might be the steal of the draft in my opinion. The guy gets blocks, rebounds and can score down low plus he starts for them right away. Lastly, they got nice backups in Steven Hunter and Raul Lopez later in each rounds.
Steve -Diop, lol. Liked quite a few players over him. If you wanted him, trade the heck down. It's just poor value. Reminds me of the Eagles Reagor pick. It's fine if you like the kid, but you do realize you could've gotten him a few picks later. Trade down, gain some easy value, and get your guy at the end of the day. Best pick for me might be by Habes who received a gift tbh. Chandler will be solid, no doubts...but Parker is just the better value pick. Take best available, and figure it out later! I really liked the Dalembert pick, too. He will be really good, and could come away as the best big not named Pau in this draft class. Getting him at 8 is nice.
Skillz - Desagna Diop and Eddy Curry were the worst picks and they were bad for the same reason: prioritizing positional scarcity over BPA. Some really good starters were available in RJ, J-Rich, Bobby Simmons and Shane Battier and both of these bigs were huge reaches. Curry might have big potential but he has the type of ratings profile that does not lead to wins. Diop just sucks.
Best pick is a hot take: Carlos Arroyo in the middle of the 2nd! Think he could pop.
Im sure most of you have talked trade with most of the other GMs at one point or another during this first season, who has been the easiest to deal with, and who has been the hardest? Why?
Ashes - I like talking trade with play the most. We value players very similarly and never have issues getting deals done in any league we've been in together. Habes is an easy guy to deal with also, because our baselines are always relatively close. Kobe is actually very easy to talk trade with in my experience, he's very reasonable in PMs and values players pretty similarly as well. I also tend not too have any issues with guys like DB, Nanz, styro, or erbes. As far as difficult to trade with, a trade with me and greeme will likely never happen. Just way too different in trade approaches, no thanks hard pass. I find trading with jah is pretty difficult too, because we usually start on randomly far off values from each other, but he isn't unpleasant. Skillz is hit or miss, I wouldn't say he is difficult. Either I like the deal or we are so far apart no amount of Skillz PM reasoning will change it. I like the offer he sent me today, but I hate the ultimatum, so unlikely a deal happens. People probably think I can be hard to deal with sometimes, but it's probably because my margin for negotiation is usually lower than others. I like starting with a baseline we are both relatively comfortable with, like the habes TMac offer. That deal was very close to happening, I had the PM typed out to agree to it. I don't deal well with lowballers who expect some negotiation to where they are only solidly winning the deal rather than their initial rape offer. Also I don't trade for the sake of trading very often and usually have a set gameplan for how I want to build my roster and I'm willing to work with it for some time even if it means I miss out on winning in value if I pulled the trigger earlier. Sometimes it works out, other times it doesn't. I am almost always pleasant in talks at least.
Galo: Sargo has been pretty pleasant to work a couple deals with although he flirted with competing, then tore it down just enough to stay competitive and make the playoffs in the first year.
There’s a lot of GMs that are hard to deal with so that’s kind of a vague question just depends on your definition of ‘hard’. I think a lot of GMs want you to think like them such as skillz or just keep messaging you like kobe and some just won’t counter or explore any other options. I think when some teams give away assets or players then they get exploited and make it ‘harder’ to trade with in the future. So it really just depends on your definition.
Steve -I always have good talks with Skillz, but I also know how he operates since we are in another league together, and we've been really in sync as of late. Kobe can be tough, at least from the BBSBL3 days, but I had a nice easy talk with him this past season. I had difficulty with John (Spurs) during the creation draft, but it wasn't anything crazy. I've really had productive talks with all the GMs I've been in contact with thus far. I'm pretty straightforward so there typically isn't too much difficulty on my end. We'll see. I'm sure I'll be annoyed with a GM eventually...actually it just hit me, it'll be Greeme. Luckily, I haven't had to talk to him yet.
Skillz - It's normally easy to trade with GMs with whom I have a preexisting relationship. Habes would be # 1 because we have probably made 100 trades over the years. There aren't games and there's trust. The entire CT crew is easy to deal with. Steve and I have made a million deals.
Of GM's I've known in the past, Play and Erbes have always been difficult to make deals w/.
But frankly it's been difficult to trade with most of the BBS-newbies because there is clearly a lack of trust. I think the Nash deal hurt in terms of perception. During a normal year, I'd probably lead the league in trades per season. The only way to do this is by making fair and mutually beneficial deals. If every trade I made was one-sided, it would be impossible to complete a high-volume of deals. So the perception that i am out for one-sided deals has really been exaggerated and made it difficult to deal with GMs I don't know. Also, no one sends offers. You guys are better than this!
Alrighty then, This next question is for your teams that you control, what is your plan for this next season? Any big players you are eyeing? Don’t have to name names if you don’t want!
Ashes - We are going to be a lot better next year, especially in the weak West. I still think it might be difficult to assemble the championship-caliber team I want by next season, but I'm still going to try to win games. Obviously I have Kobe and Crawford, so it won't be too hard to get Ws. I'm hoping Artest develops well, but he isn't going to be ready to contribute much next season, and I'm hoping Okur can have some solid immediate impact. I really hope he is on the cusp of like a 1 steal 1 block kind of guy on defense, but not banking on it. I think he is going to be a nice scorer, and might try him as a super sub to the 2/3/4/5. That'd be fun. Obviously I am trying to sign AK or Manu. AK is my priority and he would slide right into my long term plans and probably be a King for life. Manu I might try to flip for talent spread a couple of positions, but could also slide Kobe to the 3 and play Manu at the 2 depending on TC and how he does in preseason. Kedrick Brown is a low risk, high reward guy I was happy to pick up because if his potential is legit, he could develop nicely in the 3 or maybe even 4 position. I'll always have a steady stream of RCs, and while I might not be a volume AC guy, my ACs should always net me +5s when I do decide to write them. If I miss out on AK or Manu, I can grab a lot of guys in FA to fill out the roster with my cap space. I should be in a pretty good position these next few seasons. And hey, if Kobe has a season ending injury I still have my 02 1st!
Galo: I’m not going to disclose much but obviously we’re going to look for some good depth pieces in free agency and hopefully it goes well. We don’t have our pick this year and next so we’re in win now mode for the foreseeable future.
Steve -My plan really comes down to TC. I need to pray for big TCs from Jamison and Marbury which in Marbury's case isn't a big ask. Jamison taking the next step is pretty vital, too. If they do, then I can start competing right away. If they don't, then I'll probably tear it down. Luckily, winning 42 games saves my ass and gets me another year to make a decision like that. With respect to FA, I think it's fairly obvious what I will attempt to do. Either way, I'm excited for next season!
Skillz – We'll probably run it back. If we won the title, I definitely would have blown it up and tried to extend the window. But you don't get many chances with players like MJ. Even without Hakeem, I would still take our team over any other squad at this point. I tried to collect offers to see if it was worth being proactive and making big trades but as I alluded to, everyone is scared to send offers.
So this next question is pretty personal, can you tell us something that most gms here don’t know about you! Just to get to know the GMs better.
Ashes - Hmm I think a good amount of GMs here know me by now. Let me think. I've always wanted to learn how to play the piano! I regret not trying earlier. I have nice, long piano player fingers and soft, dainty hands but I've never put them to any use besides video games and basketball. I think learning the piano would be awesome, it's my favorite instrument. I think I can still do it, I am learning Japanese right now, so maybe I'll take up piano-playing as well! I used to be able to play Fur Elise but not from understanding the piano, I actually memorized all the keys and played it that way. Used to be a good parlor trick. Oooh I also used to be really good at card, coin, and pen tricks. I'd say I'm pretty solid at sleight-of-hand to this day. Got a girl's number in college with a card trick. Who says magic can't get you laid??
My dad and myself have been LA Clippers season ticket holders ever since I was a kid. They run a bunch of promos during the game and have been pestering my ticket rep to let me do the Chumash Casino Shootout (this was before Sterling pissed off the Native Americans with his racist comments) and still had sponsors. So on February 25th 2014 (Clippers vs Houston Rockets – Dwight still was playing for Houston), he finally got me picked to do the shooutout. They give you 6 shots about half way between the 3 pt line and key with each shot worth $1k.
I left work early that day and went to the closest 24 hour fitness gym in Hollywood to practice shooting. I was little nervous after I started and promptly missed the first 3 shots, then I made the first one on the other side and sank the rest including the money ball. I had one more shot to double my money to $6k if I sank it between halfcourt and 3 PT line. I raised up and felt good leaving my hands but hit the back of the rim then 2 bounces and off. It sucked losing $3k but got a round of applause from the crowd, then saw rapper Lil Wayne sitting courtside and gave him a fist bump. True story on all this and will never forget it!
Steve -Well, I'm sure most know I am a teacher. I just graduated in 2019 and landed a job at the school I student taught at...otherwise, I wouldn't have landed a job so quickly. I teach health from 4-6 grade. As far as something people don't know about me...I played chess at a rather young age. I went to National tournaments in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Orlando, Florida during my middle school days.
Skillz – Just moved to Cincinnati for the remainder of this Quarantine with the GF! We've been dating for a loooong time now and I had her in NYC with me for longer than she would have liked. Now back to the Midwest.
Well that does it for this roundtable, I will open it up for questions for me. I welcome all questions, personal or league related!
Ashes - Predict the next 3 seasons of BBS. Who wins the title, who drafts Yao in 02 and LeBron in 03, and who gets CY'd or has a serious CY scare, and why?
JR – OK well, if I didn’t pick myself to repeat what kind of competitor would I be? In all seriousness I’m expecting Cavs, Bulls and Knicks to make
a run again plus the Nets just in the East. I would pick the Knicks, Skillz seems like he only wants to win and has a way with trading. Yao goes to the Sonics,
I think they will still be bad and it will help them, even though Amare should go 1st! LeBron ima say Pacers, because that’s what Sargo lives for. I think the
Sonics might have a scare along with the Magic. Sonics seem set on moving their good players for picks right now, and if those draft picks don’t develop
hes in trouble. The Magic just made a good selection but they have a long ways to go. In the East that doesn’t look like a good thing.
Galo - Were you born and raised in Fresno? If so, what makes you stay there? And, at what point did you think you were going to be the 2000 BBS Champ?
JR – Been here since I was 3 years old. Born in Boston, still have family there. I stay in Fresno cus its what I know and its in between a town and a bigger city tbh. Quiet city or loud town whatever you wanna call it. Also coached High School basketball here for a couple years, had to stop to finish my degree though. I was confident I would make it to the Finals, but never thought I was going to win till it happened. I trust my team, but FBB is crazy unpredictable.
Steve - Fun roundtable! Congrats on a well deserved championship. I'll ask 2 questions...1 league related and 1 personal.
1. What is the plan for your current team? Make one more run with D-Rob coming back?
2. What is your current career/job?
Thanks, brutha!
JR – Yeah as far as your first question, I am trying to run it back. DRob coming back is huge especially if he doesn’t die in TC. He was a defensive monster in the playoffs and without him we probably don’t make it to the WCF. The second question is I do a little bit of everything. Still in school, cus I am a lazy person, but I bartend and do some office work for a restaurant right now, was about to start subbing but the covid happened.
Skillz -
Who is your favorite and least favorite GMs of the guys you hadn't been in the league w/ before?
JR – Hmmm this is a tough one, because it could be the same person so far lol. Kobe gets so many posts out of me he has to be one of my favorites for that reason, but then he be saying some dumb shit that could make him my least favorite, if that makes sense. With that being said I respect everybody here and don’t mind the shit talking.
oh well I'll still give it a 5. Just remember come will reading time why brian jr name doesn't get read 
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