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East: #1 Cedar Rapids Minutemen vs #8 Netherhill Nightmares. 45-7-2-26 151pts / 32-10-10-28 126pts Regular season stats: Minutemen / Nightmare Goals for: 255 (4th) / 237 (13th) Goals against: 191 (3rd) / 220 (12th) PP: 21.8% (8th) / 21% (11th) PK: 86.1% (3rd) / 78.5% (18th) Shooting %: 9.8% (1st) / 7.8% (18th) Save %: 92.7% (4th) / 92.3% (12th) PDO: 1.025 (1st) / 1.002 (12th) CF: 1245 (24th) / 1342 (14th) CA: 1151 (3rd) / 1321 (13th) Corsi %: 52% (8th) / 50.4% (14th) Season match up: 3 wins Minutemen, 1 OT win Nightmare. Statistically this was a close match up during the regular season with only one game being decided by more than one goal. As a result, I expect this match up to be a lot closer than the statistics may otherwise say. The Nightmare are a solid overall team that aren't to be discounted due to their 8th seed. Combine that with the fact that the Minutemen played well above expectations for the season (especially with a shooting% and PDO so abnormally high when CF is taken into account) and I would give this match up a serious consideration for upset alert. #2 Slaughterville Red Tide vs #7 Lake Valley Bulldogs 46-4-3-27 149pts / 35-10-4-31 129pts Regular season stats: Red Tide / Bulldogs Goals for: 266 (2nd) / 255 (5th) Goals against: 200 (6th) / 245 (21st) PP: 19.8% (16th) / 22.8% (5th) PK: 79.1% (16th) / 81.1% (12th) Shooting %: 9.2% (4th) / 9.7% (2nd) Save %: 93.2% (1st) / 91.2% (24th) PDO: 1.024 (2nd) / 1.008 (10th) CF: 1535 (1st) / 1302 (19th) CA: 1202 (7th) / 1420 (21st) Corsi %: 56.1% (2nd) / 47.8% (21st) Season match up: 3 wins Red Tide, 1 win Bulldogs. The season series was notably in favor of the Red Tide as one game was on the verge of a blowout while another was an out right blowout. The Bulldogs are going to have to find a way to improve their 5 on 5 play defensively or this could be a short series. The middle of the pack special teams for the Red Tide could potentially keep the Bulldogs in the series and appears to be the most likely reason for the series to drag on. #3 Sheshegwaning Dragons vs #6 Big Delta Stealheads 44-3-11-22 149pts / 36-7-7-30 129pts Regular season stats: Dragons / Stealheads Goals for: 263 (3rd) / 239 (12th) Goals against: 205 (8th) / 199 (5th) PP: 24.9% (2nd) / 16.6% (22nd) PK: 86.3% (2nd) / 83.9% (6th) Shooting %: 8.9% (7th) / 8.8% (8th) Save %: 92.4% (9th) / 92.3% (10th) PDO: 1.013 (4th) / 1.012 (5th) CF: 1466 (3rd) / 1313 (18th) CA: 1261 (9th) / 1098 (2nd) Corsi %: 53.8% (4th) / 54.5% (3rd) Season match up: 1 win Dragons, 3 wins Stealheads. This matchup is my official upset alert for the East. Outside of the poor powerplay of the Stealheads these two teams are statistically near mirror images. The question is if the current goaltending for the Dragons can hold up to the quite potent offense of the Stealheads? The Dragons shipped out the goalie they had as their starter for most of the season. This is going to be either a lopsided series due to poor goaltending or one heck of a close series. #4 Sault Ste Marie Battlin Bears vs #5 Mango Duhawks 43-4-3-30 140pts / 37-7-6-30 131pts Regular season stats: Battlin Bears / Duhawks Goals for: 232 (14th) / 226 (16th) Goals against: 209 (9th) / 216 (11th) PP: 19.1% (18th) / 19.8% (17th) PK: 85.9% (4th) / 77.1% (23rd) Shooting %: 7.9% (16th) / 8.1% (13th) Save %: 91.8% (16th) / 92.1% (15th) PDO: .997 (17th) / 1.002 (13th) CF: 1388 (9th) / 1382 (10th) CA: 1293 (10th) / 1323 (14th) Corsi %: 51.8% (9th) / 51.1% (10th) Season match up: 2 wins Battlin Bears, 2 wins Duhawks. This is very likely to be a close series. The regular season games were. Based upon the regular season stats I think it is most likely to be decided by the PK of each team. The Battlin Bears had one of the best. The Duhawks had one of the worst. In every other way these teams are very close statistically. It could be a short series due to the PK difference but the Battlin Bears PP is too iffy for me to fully buy into the poor PK of the Duhawks as being as significant a drawback as it likely should be. West #1 Kegashka Prairie Stars vs #8 Eastern Outlaws. 47-11-2-20 165pts / 34-7-7-32 123pts Regular season stats: Prairie Stars / Outlaws Goals for: 246 (10th) / 214 (18th) Goals against: 164 (1st) / 204 (7th) PP: 22.3% (7th) / 18.5% (19th) PK: 82.6% (8th) / 77.8% (20th) Shooting %: 8% (15th) / 7.7% (19th) Save %: 93% (3rd) / 93.1% (2nd) PDO: 1.010 (7th) / 1.009 (9th) CF: 1403 (6th) / 1344 (13th) CA: 1223 (8th) / 1181 (5th) Corsi %: 53.4% (5th) / 53.2% (6th) Season match up: 2 wins and 1 SO win Prairie Stars, 1 wins Outlaws. The Outlaws are a solid team with very good goaltending and team play. Everything else about them is below average. On the other side is the Prairie Stars with the best record in the league but rather underwhelming stats for a team that more or less ran away with the best record by 14 points. Almost everything about them is good but only the 5 on 5 goals against is truly great. I would have expected more statistically with such a record. In terms of the match up the big question is can the Outlaws score and can their special teams be better than it was in the regular season? Against the Prairie Stars it is going to be tough as their two wins were big ones over the Outlaws. #2 West Chicago Hawks vs #7 Scandinavia Steelers 42-7-8-23 148pts / 35-9-5-31 128pts Regular season stats: Hawks / Steelers Goals for: 249 (8th) / 200 (25th) Goals against: 183 (2nd) / 194 (4th) PP: 24.1% (3rd) / 20.2% (15th) PK: 82.5% (9th) / 87.2% (1st) Shooting %: 7.6% (20th) / 7.4% (22nd) Save %: 92.5% (6th) / 92.5% (7th) PDO: 1.001 (14th) / .999 (16th) CF: 1448 (5th) / 1184 (25th) CA: 1389 (16th) / 1160 (4th) Corsi %: 51% (11th) / 50.5% (13th) Season match up: 4 wins Hawks. The Steelers are a bit of a mystery to me. They have a very good group of forwards but the team struggles mightily offensively. They didn't do well against the Hawks in the regular season because of it losing all four games. On the same token the Hawks offense under performed as well 5 on 5 with a very poor shooting percentage themselves. This could be a series dragged on by the stingy defense of the Steelers facing off against the lackluster 5 on 5 offense of the Hawks but the Steelers have to find a way to score to do it. This series is going to come down to if the Steelers can find some offense or not. #3 Enigma Rage vs #6 Vauban Tomahawks 42-5-5-28 141pts / 36-9-6-29 132pts Regular season stats: Rage / Tomahawks Goals for: 248 (9th) / 253 (6th) Goals against: 230 (15th) / 222 (13th) PP: 22.9% (4th) / 17.7% (21st) PK: 83.3% (7th) / 81.8% (11th) Shooting %: 8.8% (9th) / 9.5% (3rd) Save %: 92.1% (14th) / 92.3% (11th) PDO: 1.009 (8th) / 1.018 (3rd) CF: 1354 (12th) / 1319 (16th) CA: 1198 (5th) / 1313 (11th) Corsi %: 53.1% (7th) / 50.1% (15th) Season match up: 1 win Rage, 2 wins and 1 SO win Tomahawks This series is my upset alert for the West. The Rage are a very good statistical team overall. Its one statistical blemish is its 5 on 5 goals against. The Tomahawks are a good team themsleves with one very good strength. 5 on 5 goals for. It is the biggest weakness of one team against the biggest strength of the other team. This has the potential to be a very close series that could also go heavily one way or the other. If the Tomahawks can continue their 5 on 5 excellence it will be trouble for Rage. The Rage have the special teams to otherwise win the series if not keep the games close. #4 Ithaca Ricochet vs #5 Yonker Wolverines 40-7-4-29 138pts / 41-4-3-32 134pts Regular season stats: Ricochet / Wolverines Goals for: 253 (7th) / 269 (1st) Goals against: 213 (10th) / 241 (20th) PP: 21% (12th) / 22.8% (6th) PK: 80% (14th) / 75.2% (27th) Shooting %: 8.4% (11th) / 9.1% (5th) Save %: 91.6% (18th) / 90.6% (27th) PDO: 1.000 (15th) / .997 (19th) CF: 1452 (4th) / 1474 (2nd) CA: 1503 (25th) / 1541 (27th) Corsi %: 49.1% (17th) / 48.9% (18th) Season match up: 3 wins Ricochet, 1 win Wolverines This is the series that I am most looking forward to. It has the greatest potential for some wild games. Each of the four games in the regular season was. For one team you can forget about defense. It doesn't exist. Its not a thing. The other team is a team that plays a high tempo style of play given the lot of shots for and against 5 on 5. I'm excited for this series simply because it is very likely going to be a lot of speed, shots and general back and forth, high tempo action. Who is going to win? Who cares? It is going to very likely be one heck of a show.

2019-2020 SEASON Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf purchased the team in 1985 and the franchised flourished in the 90s, winning six NBA Championships between (1991-1993 and 1996-1998). Unfortunately, it's been more than two decades since Michael Jordan and the Bulls reigned supreme and at the ripe old age of eighty-three, Jerry isn't getting any younger. If Jerry wants to live long enough to see the Bulls return to their former glory, it's time for some tough choices and some serious house cleaning, starting with the front office. Consequently, the first order of business was ridding the franchise of former mafia underboss, Gar Forman. Yes, I said Mob Boss. Seriously, look at him in that pinstripe suit and tell me he hasn't broken a few legs in his time. Wiki would also have you believe he has served the Bulls as a scout, director of player personnel and special assistant to executive vice-president of basketball operations (Whatever the hell that is). Please...if Forman doesn't have mob connections, then Joe Pesci is a catholic priest. Enter new bulls GM Troy Dalton...yours truly. As the new Bulls GM I waste no time in handing Jim Boylen and Roy Rogers their walking papers. Seriously, hit the skids boys and make room for new head coach Randy Wittman. Why Randy? I could afford him, that's why. Ole Jerry might be a billionaire, but he's a cheap bastard and if I was going to have any chance of turning this franchise around, I needed somebody, anybody, better than Boylen. No, Randy wasn't my first choice, but as I said, he's pretty much all I could afford and since he was unemployed he had some time on his hands. As his assistant, well...drum roll please...welcome back to the team Fred Hoiberg! Yep, former Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg returns as Wittman's right hand man. Hoiberg was a no brainer. He is a good judge of talent and an offensive specialist. I know what your going to say, "Why would he come back to a team that fired him one year ago?!?" That easy, money, money and being the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Seriously, who really wants to coach basketball in Nebraska? Guys named Elmer, Ewald, Ernest, Moe, Doc and five others who were so ashamed of their life choices that they were only known by their initials. Seriously, T.P., R.G., T.J., E.J, and L.F. were all coaches at Nebraska. I would have included their last names, but I chose to respect their need for anonymity. So, with Wittman and Hoiberg in the fold, it's time for some roster changes. A weeding of the herd, so to speak. Let's begin with the overpriced talent. PF Thaddeus Young, SF Otto Porter, SG Tomas Satoransky and C Cristiano Felicio are stealing money. Okay, Porter is a decent player, but there are better options in the $27 mil price range. Young isn't playing up to his salary level either, plus his name is Thaddeus and that is reason enough to ship him off. Obviously, moving all this high priced dead weight is a problem. The rest of the GMs in the association aren't likely going to want to absorb any this over paid talent with the trade restrictions in place. I'm going to have to get creative, but I'm a clever guy and I'm motivated. I'm not interested in going back to my day job, with all those OSHA locust hovering around...but I digress. My other problem, my owner insists on getting a four star talent and that isn't going to be easy. Before I get started wheeling and dealing, I immediately assign PF Daniel Gafford to the G-League. Why? Because he belongs there and he'll likely tole away there until his contract expires. He isn't NBA talent. He knows it, I know it, his parents know it and it's simply not going to work out; but some people just have to chase their dreams; so...off to purgatory disguised as a development league. Now it's time to get down to business and after burning the midnight oil and blowing up the phones, I pull off a deal that should be written on my epitaph. SF Otto Porter, PG Kris Dunn, SG Tomas Satoransky and our 2020 1st round pick to the Nets for C Jarrett Allen and PG Uncle Drew...err...Kyrie Irving! Seriously, no commish mode here, this was legit and I even managed to shave money to get us under the cap. Wow...Kyrie Irving on the Bulls! Man, Jerry is going to wet himself. Okay, I could stop there and rest on my laurels, but I'm really feeling it. Kind of like Kevin Costner in Draft Day. You know, that feeling he gets when he confuses incredible blind luck with misplaced talent, after he miraculously extricates himself from a monumental blunder that would have hamstrung the Browns for decades, if not for a favorable script...again I digress. My next move is to move "Thaddeus" and that boat anchor Cristiano Felicio. Some how, I manage to catch Wizards GM Tommy Shepard during happy hour and I take advantage of his drunken stupor, unloading both Young and Felicio for SF Rui Hachimura, PG Chris Chiozza, PG Isaiah Thomas and PF Davis Bertans...and...our 2022 1st round pick. See, I told you I was the channeling the ghost Sonny Weaver Jr.! Phew...that was very nearly better than sex. I don't smoke, but if having a cigarette post coitus is satisfying, releasing PG Shaquille Harrison was a good substitute. So, what to do next, well pour an adult beverage seems like the only reasonable thing to do. So, until next time.

I just started today and my farm system is pretty rough so i'm looking to bolster it but also keep my major league roster intact and competing for the playoffs

PLAYOFFS (Completing the 1st Round) The 76ers win game seven and both the Lakers and Clippers come back from 3-1 deficits to advance to the next round. Now I don't necessarily follow the other games as closely as my own, but I was very interested to see how the Lakers avoided getting bounced in the first round. I'm not a LeBron hater per se, but I must admit that I was routing for a Pelicans upset. When I glanced at the box score I noticed that LeBron put up 37 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds. Just one rebound away from a triple-double. Impressive...then I looked a little closer and noticed he made less that half of his 25 shots from the field and he was only 1-9 from three point range. How did he manage to score 37 points? I'm glad you asked. LeBron went to the free throw line no less than 19 times! NINETEEN! He was 12 of 19 from the charity stripe. The next closest player in the game was Zion Williamson who was 2-6 for New Orleans. For perspective, the entire Pelicans team only shot 16 free throws! That's three less that LeBron alone. Who said the NBA doesn't play favorites. [Insert eye roll here] The crazy thing, he isn't even the most fouled player on the team. LeBron is only averaging 9.0 FTA per game, while Anthony Davis is a whopping 10.4 FTA per game, which is highest in the league. As a matter of fact, way back on November 21st we played the Lakers, losing 132-123. Davis went to the line 24 times! He was 20-24 from the free throw line...yea...he scored twenty points from the line and that's not all. Rondo went 10-14, James 8-14, Howard 3-4 and McGee 1-2. The Lakers shot 58 free throws to our 29...Did somebody let Tim Donaghy back in the league!?! PLAYOFF TREE EASTERN CONFERENCE (1) BOS --- (4) (8) DET --- (0) (4) CHI --- (2) (5) CLE --- (4) (3) MIL --- (2) (6) NYK --- (4) (7) PHI 110 (4) (8) IND 101 (3) WESTERN CONFERENCE (1) LAL 131 (2) (8) NOP 104 (3) (4) LAC 127 (2) (5) POR 112 (3) (3) DEN 111 (3) (6) MEM 92 (2) (2) UTA --- (4) (7) SAS --- (0)

Part of the reason my Buzzer team started at the bottom was that it gave me the chance to play with that stuff. From that the conclusion that I have come to is don't bother worrying about it. Team composition and talent is so much more an important thing. Start of the season for my Cage team my WI was blue. Now it is green and I never made a trade. No clue as to why that happened. Don't care either as I don't see it as that relevant. Especially following me messing with it for 4 seasons with my Buzzer team.

Good series @Peekaboo Good luck in round 2.

whiskey

I don't know, but a wild guess would be a slight yes. I've noticed a difference between big games traits per line for sure. Have them all nervous and you can count that the line will freeze in the playoffs, but have a heroic, stable and nervous/anxious and it works like a dream. Balance seems to be the key. 3 x heroic doesn't work either.. they just falter and die to put it in an exaggeratingly dramatic form. My guess is that personality traits might and could work in a similar way. I guess the biggest thing is to not be all afraid of red traits. They are needed as well as the greens.