Way Too Early Power Rankings

Nuggets – I think we can all agree that the defending champs are the preseason favorites to win the Season 22 Championship. Not only do they have the reigning MVP returning in @OG GrandPoppa , they also added former Finals MVP and arguably one of the best LGBA players ever, @th4 x w4ll , as GM this offseason. They now have a former MVP and 2 former Playoff MVPs with their deadly trio of @OG GrandPoppa GrandPoppa, @th4 x w4ll , and @Raynor . Safe to say, they are already head and shoulders above any other team in the league right now. It would take a historically bad bidding period in order for the Nuggets to not be the championship favorites, and even then their Big 3 could probably carry them to the championship.​

Heat – Deciding between the Heat and the Hawks for 2nd was tough. Overall, I think both management teams are very good players. The Hawks have more management experience between the two teams but I ultimately went with the Heat because both @Flems506 and @xRICKOSHAY can both be primary ball handlers if needed. Point guards in this league are a hot commodity and the Heat won’t have to spend a lot for a first line PG like the Hawks will. Having this flexibility will allow the Heat to spend more money on secondary players like a top tier center or a lockdown defender. When playing together last season, @Flems506 and @xRICKOSHAY had a record of (combined record). If they can bid well, I think the Heat will finish first in the East.

Hawks – This management team was part of the Season 21 runner up Raptors. @Easy Macaroni and @Witman x 19 are both very good players. Last season they both played key roles for the Raptors who were contenders all season long. @Easy Macaroni has a 2 Way Playmaking center which will allow the Hawks to be flexible when it comes to what build their point guard will be. @Witman x 19 has a 2 Way Sharpshooter that he has proven to be efficient on. With their management and league experience, I expect them to do well in bidding. If they can land a top point guard, they will start the season as one of the better top lines in the league.​

Celtics – Next up is the pairing of @HBB Rise and former MVP, @Beta Dreams . Last season wasn’t pretty for @Beta Dreams and his Bulls. Finishing the season at 10-26, the Bulls were tied for the worst record in the league. Early on they showed promise starting the season 4-2 with a win over the Raptors first line and a blowout victory against the Thunder. It was a season to forget for Dreams, but with how skilled he is at PG I would expect a big turnaround. The other half of this management team is Owner of the Year runner up, @HBB Rise . Through the first 2 weeks of Season 21, Rise’s Timberwolves were struggling with a 4-8 record. Rise started making some trades and flipped the season around. The Timberwolves finished 3rd in the West with a 22-14 record. With Rise’s managing ability and Dreams top tier PG skill, this team should be a threat to make a run in the playoffs.

Kings – I believe that the Sixers have the better start, management and skill wise, but the Kings are in the seemingly lesser conference right now. Both current Kings’ managers appeared last season in the All-Star game but had teams that ended up being disappointing. @LockDownJesus and the Kings started the season HOT. They were the team to beat. Being a great 2 Way team, a lot of people thought they had a good shot to be in the championship. However, during the week off for Thanksgiving, @LockDownJesus made moves that ultimately ruined their season. Trading away their best ball handler, @EveryThingNike1, left them vulnerable at the point guard position. Their locker room got out of hand and they ended up getting swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Timberwolves. @SuBpeRBzSkiLLz and the Bulls also had a rather disappointing season. They started the year 4-2 and it quickly went downhill from there. After week 1, they went 6-24. Questionable moves by Sub may have caused their GM to take a leave of absence for 2 weeks but we may never know the whole story. At the end of the day, both of these players are good skill-wise. Along with them not having a ball handler, I worry about their ability to control the egos in a locker room which is why I have them at number 5.​

Sixers – Like I said, the Sixers have the better duo in @im just a squid and @ThankYouHinkie , but the East looks to be the harder conference. After last season, @im just a squid needed help carrying home his hardware. He won Defensive Player of the Year, All LGBA 1st Team, and All LGBA Defensive Team. Squid carried his team to the playoffs with a 14-7 record when the team only had 19 wins total. His ability to score matched with his ability to play defensive is a scary combination. @ThankYouHinkie also had a good season, improving just about all of his numbers. His record went from 5-17 to 13-10, his PPG went up 3.7, APG up 2, and his shooting percentage increased around 1.5% from the field and 11% from the 3pt. If they continue their pattern of bidding on all of their friends I expect them to have around the same record as last season. However, if they can bite the bullet and spend their money wiser in bidding, I see this team making a huge improvement.

Lakers – This could be one of those sneaky teams that shock people during the season. @HBB TONE was one of the best traditional centers in the league last season. He averaged 14 PPG and 14 RPG while shooting just a little under 50%. His record was respectable until he got traded to the Kings where he went 0-5 at the end of the season. I see that a lot of HBB players signed up this season so my guess would be that Tone and @Zero Choice are planning to get some, if not all of them. In @Zero Choice first season since season 12, he proved that he could be a good scorer. He averaged 15 PPG shooting over 50% from the field and just under 50% from the three point line. If these 2 can find themselves a good point guard in bidding, they have a solid 3 man team to start.​

Pistons - @Texans80mvp and @Xxshock242xX look for redemption after getting swept by the Raptors in the conference finals last season. @Texans80mvp is already off to a better start than last season after choosing Shock to be his GM. Shock proved last season that he can handle himself in this league. He averaged around 18 PPG and 9 assists. He was the Bucks leader in assists and was 6th in the league amongst relevant players. Most people didn’t believe in the Bucks last season but Texans ended up building a good team and stunning the Nets in the first round 3-2. After surprising the league last season, I would look for the Pistons to build another competing team in Season 22.

Hornets – Both @FREE MEL0 and @CPT84 were on the Nuggets championship team last season where they were both second liners in the playoffs. @FREE MEL0 was an impressing 15-5 with the Nuggets and 14-6 with the Suns in Season 20. During the playoffs, Melo was 4-0, averaging 11.5 points, shooting over 60% from three. While his record wasn’t as good as Melo’s, @CPT84 averaged over 17 points, shooting well over 50%. These two have been teammates since their days on the Suns in Season 20. The chemistry and the talent will no doubt be there. The only question is, can they build a team?​

Spurs - @justdonni3 2 was supposed to be management last season but decided to step down when the league decided there were too many teams and too little sign ups. Donnie is no rookie when it comes to LGBA but his record isn’t the greatest. After 3 seasons, he holds a record of 10-25. I’m guessing this is a big reason as to why he decided to take management. He chose @Savage5279 to be his GM. After being backcourt last season, Savage switched it up and will now be frontcourt. Both of these managers will be centers, playing on separate lines I would assume. They may both be looking to build their own lines in bidding. I’m not sure if this is the best strategy since they will have to spend a lot of their cap on guards but only time will tell.

Mavericks – The man who greens almost everything, @Swift Solstice, decided to take matters in his own hands after his first season didn’t go as planned. Swift has a pretty active scouting discord with players that I’ve never heard of before. This could either be really good or really bad. Some of these players aren’t in any other discords so there may be a few gems that he has to pick from. One thing that Swift has going for him is that he played on 4 teams last season. This gave him the opportunity to play with a lot of different players so he may know something that other owners don’t. I’m a little curious about his decision to make @Adrew2424 his GM. I’m not saying he isn’t a good player because I have only played against him once that I know of, but he only played in 5 total games last season in which he was 1-4. Individually he had decent stats so maybe it was just his teammates.​

Warriors – The Warriors are the last team because as of right now, @SIimeworl still doesn’t have a GM and it is the day before bidding. I have played with SIime a few times and he wasn’t a bad player but I think he may still be too green to field a contending team. Last season for the Knicks, he average around 7 points and 6 rebounds. He started off hot as his first 6 games were all wins. Being a shooting big, it’s tough to control the outcome of the game so you can’t blame him that his team then lost the next 6 games. However to go along with that, he is a shooting big that probably won’t be able to control the outcome of the game, without a GM. I wish him the best but it already isn’t a good start for SIime.

Via Two Lag Shots​

 

Good write up. Appreciate the genuine content and time this took @JEFFERS426

A side note for next time the very dark colours (Heat, Celts, kinda Pistons) we’re hard to read with the background but the flip side Good shit trying to colour coordinate the teams and colours. Love detail like that

 

good job man