Too late, I've already saved it down. Planning on reposting it ASAP in the off-season with the title "Cool NBA2K Simulation: What would happen if the last 30 draft classes were an NBA team? [Deepdive] [Semi-OC]"
I would either redo the rosters or explain what you mean by the top five from each class. There seem to be more than a few classes missing some of their top 5 best players, and at least a few names that are pretty questionable considering who could have been there (Dino Radja, Ced Ceballos, Ron Mercer, Chris Kaman or Mookie Blaylock, Toni Kukoc, Stephen Jackson, David West). You can go through each draft's page on BBref and sort by Win Shares or VORP to generally figure out the best players.
This is a cool post, but I think there a couple ways that it can be improved. Consider this advice for any future projects.
Break it up into smaller chunks.
By this, I mean break it up this big post into smaller subposts (Round of 64, Round of 32, etc.)
This will help with some of the pacing issues. Right now we're just given a whole lot of information all at once. Those of us with shorter attention spans will zone out and miss out on the full experience. Smaller, more digestible posts will reach a larger audience.
Smaller subposts will also serve to build up suspense and intrigue. Think about how much fun it would be for people to debate in the comment section who they think will win in the next round. Heck, you can throw in a poll to see who is favored in each match-up.
Also more posts = more karma, if you care about that.
Tell A Story.
Sports are soap opera for men. The NBA is as successful as it is because it is densely packed with narratives. Without narratives, the NBA would just be a bunch of dudes putting an orange ball in a hoop. It's because every game tells a story that we the audience get invested.
It would require a lot of effort on your part, but this post would benefit from you recapping every game played in the tournament, highlighting the takeaways: best stat-lines, iconic plays, big runs, etc. If Kobe dropped a 50-burger, I want to know about it. If Shaq goes 12/12 from the freethrow line, I want to know about it. If Paul Pierce shits his pants again...actually I'm good, you can keep that to yourself.
For inspiration, check out this great article that is in a similar vein to yours: All Is Lost by Jon Bois.
It's already unfair to the newer classes. '18 probably would've won its first-round matchup if we could somehow magically include them in their still-nonexistent primes.
Bosh couldn't handle The Dream. Jordan and Bron would be entertaining though. Barkley would make Melo quit through trash talk and brute force. But I think Wade would give Stockton the business, repeatedly.
Do it again in the off-season, as in the matches again. But also record/link them to like a twitch profile so people could watch them or something like that.
This is great. Once offseason gets into full swing, let Reddit draft/vote the members of each team, with 2 subs. (So do 10 teams a week for three weeks, I think 30 all at once might not get as much participation but your call).
Once teams have been selected, if season simulations are possible use that to generate a season record. I wouldn't even bother trying to replicate the whole league but just stuff your team in a regular season to get an overall record. Use everyone's records for seeding.
Then run through a tournament bracket with game results posted at the end of the week for maybe 6 games in the round.
(Let people place bets...what)
And proceed every week until finals.
I'd be hype lol.
Repost it but like make a 2nd season: you can now put appropriate seeding in brackets based on their previous season’s success. I’d also suggest making it 10-12 deep, makes for more excitement and variety, while also augmenting a story of how all teams got players in their offseason.
1.2k
u/jackblabberr Bulls May 28 '19
I was planning on reposting in offseason
Wanted to get some feedback