1. How has your approach to team building changed over your CSL career?
Very significantly. In my early years, it was just stacking talent however possible (LeBron, Kobe, Dirk in the oCSL with the Pacers, if anyone still remembers that lol... then famous Harden/Howard/Cousins shit-storm in the inaugural season of this league). The game changer for me in that engine was seeing how much better we were with wing defenders in Iguodala and Oladipo instead of an ill-fitting post scorer in Cousins. At that point, I understood that fit was always important, and tried to find players that fit point-Harden/point-forward-Harden on offense, let him operate with the ball as much as possible, much like his real-life counterpart, and just surround him with the best defense I could find.
Fast forward in PB19, with an entirely new roster, I often struggled to find the right mix of role players to fit a Monk/Winslow/Towns starting five. Went full offense one year, went full defense with it another year. Nothing held up in a playoff series for one reason or another.
I still have no idea what's going on in the PB22 engine either, especially offensively. I have not been able to make it work with bad scorers like Winslow no matter what I did, and in that sense, this engine is more modern than past ones... you can't hide zeros on offense in the NBA these days, and while others seem to manage fine here, I don't.
The seismic shift for me in this engine, is us going back to the style of play I grew up with in the 2000s and grinding out low scoring games as of late. We have been absolutely terrible playing with pace, and this 16-5 run that we're on now, is largely because we're playing slow and just trying to lock down on defense.
One thing that remained constant throughout my 9+ years (wow) in this league is shot distribution to efficient players, which drives my love for good 3-point shooters. I'm always looking for ways to divert shot attempts from bad scorers to those who can score with high efficiency, much like the real life NBA. That has never changed, and it's the reason I've fallen in love with players like Harden, Zach LaVine, Tyus Jones, Monk, Abdur-Rahkman... over the years, even if I foolishly ignore other parts of their games. They don't have to be exclusively 3-point shooters, if I ever found a mid-range dweller who could put up points at 60 TS%, I'd take him too.
This engine's issues with inefficient interior scoring was supposed to be my golden opportunity to try a five-out offense in a modern engine, with Mika at C, and a ton of shooters on the wings... but again limitations with the engine (mostly with the 3-point rate setting not being pushed all the way up) seem to be hard capping 3-point attempts to like... 2010 levels. So it hasn't been a complete experiment by any means. I believe we're taking significantly less threes than we took at any point in the last engine (despite always having two non-shooter stars in Winslow and Towns).
In case anyone was wondering, I'd love to continue being the mad scientist I've always been in sim leagues, but we've spent the last couple seasons just fighting for our lives to avoid the play-in, and I haven't had the time or energy to test things the way I like.
2. For a GM known for roster turnover and heavy trading, how did Monk survive various team versions, and ultimately, a rebuild?
Lack of offers.
The vision for last offseason was truly to mostly turn over the roster and acquire young, versatile 6'5 - 6'9 two-way wings in any way possible. I would've rolled out a roster of 15 of them if possible. But of course, only so many of those players exist and are available. So we came out of last offseason having drafted 3 in Walker, Davis, and Johnson. Johnson was dealt in order to flip Winslow for Gates so that we'd have a defensive stud who could actually not torpedo our offense. Of those acquired after FA, Reddish has been fun to play with, and Wiggins and Mika also two-way guys who shoot the 3.
I did intend to kick tires on Monk trades that got us more versatility and two-way play, but ultimately, nothing good enough came through, and I'm expecting him to remain with this iteration of the team. He's been a lot more consistent in this engine than I was expecting. Isn't taking as many shots as I thought he would without KAT in the mix, but still he's incredible and there are very few players I'd ever replace him with. He very much fits our current timeline (Monk 27yo, Gates 26, MJ 23, Reddish 23) so I wouldn't expect him to go anywhere just yet. He'll be 5-year maxed on Day 1 of Free Agency.
3. Tell us about the KAT deal? Take us through that negotiation and your new star MJ Walker?
That KAT trade was talked about for probably a full season before it actually happened. The previous season, I had been offered a similar deal with Porzingis in Bam's place and I think most of the same picks. I didn't have enough time to look before Porzingis was dealt in another move, and probably should have said yes on the spot. So while it fell through, we stayed in touch, and on draft day, after several months of trying, Willy would wind up with a much better deal in the end.
We did come up with Bam (traded for Turner+DAL 1st), MJ Walker, Jalen Johnson (traded with Winslow and other things for Gates+Reddish), and Knight who is on a two-way right now, but we had to give up a swap of PHX 1st this year for PHI 1st next year, which will wind up being a huge pick up for Orlando.
Towns had other offers, but I liked Orlando's best even after giving up that PHX pick. MJ Walker was always the front-runner with the 6th pick, as I see him as an NBA Gordon Hayward type player who doesn't really excel in any one thing but is consistently well above average at just about everything on the court, with seriously great IQ. As someone who's always looked for the guy with the elite skill (Harden with his driving, Faried with his rebounding, Winslow/Gates with their defense, Monk with his shooting), I don't think I've ever built around such a well-rounded player and I have to say I'm surprised at how well he's doing as a rookie. He probably won't ever been a CSL All-Star but he's the archetype I want to build with.
4. Predict who will be on this roster after this coming offseason?
Malik Monk, MJ Walker, Kaiser Gates, Cam Reddish. I could see myself turning over most of the rest of the team, but doubt I sell cheap on Devin Davis, Vernon Carey, or Nathan Knight before seeing what they look like with a bit more experience. We'll be looking at filling some holes, particularly on the rebounding front, and a more natural playmaker, so the situation is fluid, but those top 4 guys are probably sticking around if we can help it.
5. Which team, if you could swap with any, would you take and why?
I've mentioned it a couple times, but after one of our more brutal playoff losses in the Monk/KAT/Winslow era, the Dallas Mavericks opened up, led by the greatest player that will ever exist in the CSL- PB19 Luka Doncic. I had let Jon know I was considering the switch if they'd let me, but opted against it after all.
Dallas has been a personal favorite of mine since I was 8-9 years old, getting into basketball. My go-to create-a-player in NBA Live back in those days was a PF-sized point guard who wore #77 on the Mavs, so I naturally immediately became a huge fan of Luka once he got into the NBA. Luka's CSL counterpart being Harden on steroids would've been a ridiculous amount of fun.
I would still switch to that team for Zion, who I believe is now better than PB22 Luka by a fair margin, and would rip my interior-presence-less Rockets a new hole if we played this season.
6. Do you follow the NBA? If so what's your team?
A bit less than I used to, but still very much invested in the NBA on a regular basis. Still watch 50-60 Charlotte Hornets games a year, even though the Hornets are doing everything in their power to make me lose interest
I've sort of adopted Denver as a bandwagon team, as I live out here now, and the Nuggets have been a thrill to watch with Jokic in the middle. This playoff run has been special.
7. Finally, tell us about your approach to strats, both offensively and defensively.
I'm heavily constrained by the engine currently, and my roster reflects it to a certain degree. I like to mirror what I imagine the modern NBA roster would look like. A team with a star scorer or two, surrounded by a roster where everyone can shoot from all three levels, your 2-4 are easily interchangeable on offense and defense, and you have a big time rim protector who isn't a liability on the perimeter, and just inhales rebounds. All five players on the floor can create a look for themselves and others, isn't a liability with the ball in their hands, and at least a threat to have a big game. Roster wise, we're honestly mostly there already, with one massive weakness- we can't rebound at all and lose the paint game basically always.
With this ideal roster, I'd want to outrun most other teams, score an NBA-like 115-120 points, fire 40+ 3s a game, and basically play like Mike D'Antoni's NBA Rockets, but still have the option of a rim protector in the middle.
Unfortunately, we could jack our pace to 10, play 7-seconds offense, and we still were not breaking 100ppg in this engine with its current settings. So we tested all sorts of things, and the only thing that seemed to work on both ends, is slowing down, and focusing on locking down on defense, switching everything, even more recently running Cam Reddish at backup PG to eliminate one defensive liability. We're averaging just 92.2 points against over our 16-5 stretch, and that's the only way we're winning games in this engine apparently.
I hope you enjoyed this look into an integral player in this league, and if you are interested in being interviewed please express your interest here: https://www.championsimleague.com/viewt ... 65&t=15050
It'll be first come first serve, and I'll gauge interest and go from there.
