GM Survey The Final Instalment- Team Building/Bold Predictions

Well, the quest for GM points continues and there�s still some precious data leftover from the GM Survey, so here are the results of the final polls that were left unshared. The main topic that was left untouched from the survey was the team building aspect. The responses for the GM survey were all delivered about 2 weeks before the positional lock rule which is significant for a variety of reasons. We will break it down in greater context later in the piece.

What position do you think is most important?

2022-23 will be the first season with positional locks in the NSL and for good reason. The 2021-22 post-season featured some of the funkiest line-ups you will see on a basketball court, rather than teams going for positional specialists, most squads were built with ridiculous size with forwards and centers playing significant guard minutes. Willie Cauley-Stein played more minutes at SG than he did at C, Bam Adebayo ran the point in Detroit and Portland rolled Hartenstein primarily at the SF position� Dafuq? How�s this, game 2 of the NSL Finals featured the following starting 5s:

Portland:

PG- Harden
SG- Durant
SF- Hartenstein
PF- Drummond
C- Whiteside

Detroit:

PG- Irving
SG- Adebayo
SF- Thompson
PF- Poeltl
C- Gobert

Both teams went so overboard in the size department that the brains-trust in the admin team called an emergency meeting (post-season), deciding that a position-lock needed to occur to prevent the league becoming a cheese-fest.

Prior to the position lock, the league GMs voted the most important positions to be:

PG- 57.7%
SG- 7.7%
SF- 11.5%
PF- 0%
C -23.1%

When breaking down the poll and discussing with the GMs, the general feel was that every good team needs a great point guard. Two-way point guards especially were of the most value, while offensive minded superstars like Steph Curry and Dame Lillard have dominated the votes in the MVP for the last 2 seasons. With positional locks in place gun �PGs� like Lebron James, Jimmy Butler and (possibly) Ben Simmons will be controversially locked into other less ball-dominant positions such as PF/SF/SG, which may slow their overall production in game, if only marginally. Running a dud-point guard definitely hurts your team at the point of attack and is a sure-fire way to tank your end of season positioning� *Cough cough* LA Clippers *cough cough*

 

The Center position was 2^nd ranked as the paint beast seems a requisite for winning games. If you can�t find a big that can block and rebound, you probably won�t compete in this game. Rebounds matter, rim protection matters and good teams must get stops. A quality big man ensures this. The C-spot could be less valuable this coming season as big men won�t be able to play SG, however there�s no doubt that every good team will have a least one high quality rebounder/ rim-protector.

 

What position do you think is least important?

You would expect that the �least important� graph would reflect the results from the most important poll, with PF being a stand-out least valuable position. However the graph has a few contenders and appears more well-rounded.

PG- 0%
SG- 23.1%
SF- 30.8%
PF- 34.6%
C- 11.5%

The point guard position received zero votes, meaning every GM understands the position�s importance to overall strategy and success. The wings received almost half the vote with Small Forward being the second least important position as voted by GMs.

It seems there is a mentality that the wings can be patched with big forwards who can lock down with pure size. The SF position in previous engines seems to touch the ball significantly less than the guards which means as long as your starting SF can defend, they shouldn�t be a significant downgrade vs a lesser player at another position. An interesting argument for that point is the fact that the SF position seems to be one of, if not, the shallowest in 2k, with the absolute elite SFs being a rare and usually unmovable piece. Finding a star SF on the open market is next to impossible as most of the elite are sitting, cemented on a contending roster.

 

The least valuable position according to the GMs, was the Power Forward position. It�s historically been a position in the NSL that can be easily patched by a big center, meaning owning a high-end scoring PF is not really that important. Power Forwards tend to get less touches and when outsized in the paint can be man-handled by gun big men. The truly elite at PF eg. Kevin Durant, Tatum and co have usually seen more dominance at other positions while guys like Siakam and Sabonis have been arguably worst stars to translate into the game. There are a few exceptions to the rules, Anthony Davis is one of the true difference makers at this position and can shift up to C and Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the best in the game.

 

The bold predictions

The bold predictions were one of the most enjoyable sections to read in the GM Survey, featuring some truly thought-provoking and some wild takes.

GM bold predictions were as followed:

�We will have a new champ�

�Washington will finish 1st in the East�

�A team in the East boast best record�

�Lakers make the playoffs�

�Neither Spurs or Blazers finish atop the west�

�A team in the final 4 will have a top 4 draft pick next draft�

�An East team will be bottom five in the lottery and will have won 35 games�

�Sheed asks too much for Kyrie and then loses him in Free Agency >D�

�Will be the last season with 30 teams� (Expansion on the horizon?)

�Multiple Superstar trades� (Not sure how bold this is haha).

�3 contenders will NOT be contenders by week 10�

�New NSL champion�

�BKN 2025 1st will go to Portland� (Lol)

�Lebron will miss the NSL playoffs� (Too soon man!)

�New rules cause even more controversy�

�The eventual Champ will come from the East�

�12 teams from the East could make playoffs, if we didn't have separate conferences�

�There will be an emergency admin meeting early in the season when teams regularly start putting up 90+ Points in the Paint�

�LeBron will play 70 games�

�We have a first-time winner of the NSL�

�A dynasty team blows it up for youth�

�Ben Simmons could play some Basketball ;)� (Imagine!)

�Ja Morant MVP� (Dis you Leeroy?)

�Hawks go to the ECF!�

 

One of the key themes coming through in the bold predictions was that there is hope in the EAST. After being an afterthought in NSL for its entirety, it seems the East is on the up. The conference is getting deeper with risers such as New York, Atlanta and Toronto being just a few. It seems pundits also believe the Washington Wizards are the real deal with a loaded squad featuring young stars and an MVP candidate Joel Embiid. If the East could take out the NSL championship, it would be the first title going that way since league inauguration. The ledger would be West 3 to East 1.

In the West, Portland still look at formidable as ever with Minnesota, Memphis, Denver, New Orleans and San Antonio all looking to have potential to take it up to the title favourite. That makes 6 really good teams in the West by my count with 1 being the stand out.

 

What prediction stands out as your favourite? We will have to check back in later in the season to see if any come to fruition. That concludes the GM Survey- for sure now. Thanks to all GMs for submitting their responses and making this year�s another one to remember. Good luck to all teams for the upcoming season. We look forward to finding out who the oracles were in the bold predictions section.