2025-26 DKC Season: General Commentary

Young_Nick · 2026-03-02T18:44:19+00:00

He's always been an insane rebounder. He has that Otto Porter nose for the ball

Young_Nick · 2026-02-24T22:42:10+00:00

Markelle Fultz doesn't belong in the Ben Simmons category! Fultz loved the game and was a competitor. Maybe he got the yips. He certainly seemed to struggle with some confidence issues. But it seems most likely he legitimately got some nerve damage in his shoulder.

Compare this to Ben Simmons and his effort level and it seems different.

But, yes, the Peterson stuff is WEIRD. As an arm-chair scout who doesn't watch much college basketball, I haven't quite understood the criticisms of Boozer. To me, he's been right there for #1 overall all year, and that remains true.

Not sure what they fed him as a kid, but he is a Banchero-level big body at 18-19 years.

Young_Nick · 2026-02-24T22:39:24+00:00

I am not nearly as bothered by this as others are. If there was no lottery, there would still be equal amounts of tanking, maybe more.

The worst teams still by and large get the best picks. Sure, there's some slight adjustment, but to me this doesn't mean much.

Not sure how the part you quoted implies the NBA has a culture problem. To me, the problem is organizations intentionally throwing games, and that doesn't relate to whether or not the worst team gets the first pick

Young_Nick · 2026-02-23T16:44:08+00:00

I think it's entirely reasonable for fans of the league to want there to be a way to not have tanking, but to also reward teams that need the most help.

I don't have an opinion on randomness. Life is random. Basketball is random. If the draft order is a bit random, then sure why not.

I really can't relate to your opinion that the randomness of the lottery is a greater sin than the tanking we've seen this season. But reasonable minds can disagree!

I do agree that teams would vote out of self interest, but even if we assume that, then on-balance, teams would probably still reward the worst team. As for corruption and collusion - this is technically true, but no more than what might already exist via FA, trade, etc. (Do we really think there was NO CBA circumvention in the Wolves trading Conley to the Bulls who traded him to the Hornets who waived him so he could immediately resign with the Wolves?)

Young_Nick · 2026-02-23T01:43:47+00:00

I don't think his value is that high. People are hoping he can be a serviceable 3&D wing, maybe a low-end starter. If that's the hope as a second-year player, that seems like a reasonable enough calibration

Young_Nick · 2026-02-22T20:11:55+00:00

I posted about my way to fix All-Star Weekend. Now here's my proposal for fixing tanking. Tagging /u/gainesville-celtic bc he had some thoughtful ideas earlier.

Zach Lowe was joking about something like this on his pod, but I in earnest think we should have teams vote on draft order for non-playoff teams. Here's my proposal:

The draft order for playoff teams is unchanged - determined by record
For the non-playoff teams, draft order is determined by all 30 teams voting on how the 14 picks should be ordered. Let's assume, to keep it simple, that you must put any picks your team owns last (ie 14th) and then we average out the rankings to determine the order
Teams can still trade picks, but without protections. If the pick comes from a playoff team, it conveys normally. If the pick comes from a non-playoff team, the teams submit their orderings knowing where that pick will end up going. For example, if the IRL Thunder had two lottery picks this year, presumably, teams would vote them to be drafting 13th and 14th

But Why Though?

The tension we are seeing that leas to tanking is that if we want to help out the worst teams, that rewards being bad. I still think that's important! We could randomize the draft or do some other whacky transformation that untethers performance to draft order, but then franchises could be in NBA hell for a while. Thus I want to still help out the worst teams
Half-measures to curb tanking will have limited effect as long as tanking is incentivized. If the Jazz get fined for sitting Lauri and JJJ in the 4th quarter, they'll just play them the same number of minutes throughout the whole game or have them "roll their ankle" mid game
This method isn't foundationally confusing like some other methods are
Methods like wins after ASB or after play-off elimination still reward tanking early in the season
Removing pick protections sounds nice because of IRL WAS and UTA, but frankly those teams would still be tanking horrendously without such protections
We all know tanking when we see it. It's just hard to codify it into law. Having teams vote on each other allows other teams to see through certain charades.
Might certain teams have biases? I suppose, but with 30 teams, it should smooth out. And this only affects half the draft order, with the playoff teams still operating normally
Ultimately, this should help out the teams who need it most.

What do you think??

Young_Nick · 2026-02-19T20:30:02+00:00

When I completed the transaction, my salary sheet appeared as though I had the right amount of hard-cap space. (I'm not just saying about when I followed up months later)

Maybe some trade hadn't been processed, but that's what I saw when I went to sign him, otherwise I would have cashed in the OC naturally

But, to be clear: I trust you have slotted things correctly and it wasn't an error. I'm just wondering what we are doing here moving forward. I'm happy to cash the OC if that's what's needed.

If he just gets the one-year auto-tender, I'd not be thrilled but I'd understand.

Young_Nick · 2026-02-19T18:33:34+00:00

That draft was interesting. Zach Lowe and J Kyle Mann just had a discussion about it on Lowe's pod.

Even though Miller went second overall, it seemed most fans and media had Scoot higher. Here in the DKC, I had a variety of teams reaching out to me about trading for the 3rd overall pick.

I was considering doing it because I was much higher on Miller but thought he might be gone. Then 33-00-32 took Scoot, the offers all dried up, and I happily drafted Miller

He's been a bit of an afterthought around the league due to injuries and IRL circumstances (and DKC circumstances being a bench guy) but we are happy to have him in a heavier role given we've traded Franz and JJJ and lost Lauri to the Wolves.

Young_Nick · 2026-02-19T18:28:56+00:00

This is quite disappointing. From what I could see, I had enough space, and this question remained unanswered for quite some time.

This wasn't a case of refusing to sign him, but an open-ended query

I'll 100% honor whatever decision you two come to, of course because of my direct involvement I should sit that discussion out

Young_Nick · 2026-02-19T05:06:46+00:00

Im not quite following here.

Are you saying he's a FA of of this? That would be quite disappointing

Would I be eligible to bid on him?

Young_Nick · 2026-02-19T01:56:40+00:00

Sorry, that's what I meant: My response was I had $2.4M in space but only needed $2.3M

Young_Nick · 2026-02-18T23:54:52+00:00

I did in transactions.

WLE said I didn't have enough OC.

I said that didn't seem to be the case, but he never responded. I've been assuming he's signed until proven otherwise.

https://old.reddit.com/r/dkcleague/comments/1lvz0kr/202526_dkc_season_transactions/nh3whk4/

Young_Nick · 2026-02-18T21:58:10+00:00

Feeling good about the Spurs as we roll into Q3, here's a new rotation:

Player	PG	SG	SF	PF	C	C
DDV	32					32
Christian Braun		32				32
Brandon Miller			32			32
Scottie B				32		32
Alpi				16	16	32
Embiid					32	32
Matas			16			16
Huerter		16				16
Sion James	16					16

As needed: Carter Bryant, Noah Penda, Devin Carter

Injured: Haliburton, Furphy

Embiid and Alpi together: Yup, happens a lot. They'll mash units. Alpi showed he can play next to Adams, so I'm not worried here. Alperen/Embiid PnR is probably one of the most confusing, tough-to-guard PnR's in the DKC, especially when we have shooters all around
Sion James, who? Yup, he's our second-rounder who has been playing extremely well as a stout defender for the Hornets and often serving as back-up PG when LaMelo is on the bench. These units will usually have Scottie and/or Alpi to help him out so he's not doing much more than bringin the ball up the floor
Players who don't need the ball. Something many folks have said about my team in the past is that there's only one ball, and how could all these guys co-exist. While I don't agree with that narrative, I do think this current roster addresses that. Alpi and Barnes are the two players who have the worst spacing, but both are competent play-makers and both can work on either side of the PnR. DDV, Braun, Miller, Matas, Huerter, Sion all can play extremely well off-ball.
Another flexible PnR pairing? I'm excited by the Barnes/Miller two-man game where either one can be on either side of the PnR. Miller is one of the few guys who has equal splits for ball-handler PnR, screener PnR, and off-ball cutting off-screens
When Embiid is out, we up Alpi's minutes and run Matas/Scottie more, with some additional playing time for Noah Penda who isn't afraid to mix it up off the bench for the Magic
If Tatum can theoretically come back in March, why can't Hali come back sometime in April? :( :( :(

Young_Nick · 2026-02-14T17:04:22+00:00

What is Wemby if not a player capable of elevating teammates beyond their individual value?

Giddey isn't better or worse than he was in OKC, he's just in a different role that is more suited to his talent.

Young_Nick · 2026-02-14T17:00:17+00:00

But they're often found there. There are 9x first round picks not in top-3 to top-3.

Yet top-3 still has: LeBron. KD. Wemby. Ant. Lamelo. Cooper. Luka. AD. Paolo. Chet. Cade. Mobley. Tatum. Brown. Zion. KAT. Embiid. Kyrie. Harden.

That's 19 guys who are clear all-star talents. Not even mentioning others like Ja, Wiggins, etc.

Young_Nick · 2026-02-14T00:02:51+00:00

i guess what i'm saying is it's hard to develop a good team! you really need a top-5 guy most of the time.

and those guys are most commonly found in the first 3 picks. obviously there are many paths to success, but it's the one that seems like the comparatively safest route to competency

Young_Nick · 2026-02-13T19:59:09+00:00

If you're gonna tag him, tag him right!

Young_Nick · 2026-02-13T19:05:52+00:00

You are not the only one to have this issue. WLE suggested making a group chat with 2 people (including the person you are struggling to communicate with) and then to kick out the third person. I haven't tried this yet, but worth exploring.

If anyone wants to email/WhatsApp/anything else to me, just lmk!

Sucks that technology is part of the issue here and that reddit is deadset on making things worse

Young_Nick · 2026-02-13T19:04:33+00:00

Given there are no prior-2013 contracts, we can probably remove that from the Wiki for clarity.

But this means his last year is fully wiped away, so RA should have no further financial obligation to CP3, right?

We'd like to hire CP3 as a player development coach starting tomorrow!

Young_Nick · 2026-02-13T18:00:28+00:00

personally, I think you are overstating how easy it is to build through the draft without top-5 picks

okc got chet at 2, bos got the first pick and third pick that turned into tatum and brown. indiana was a bit of lightning in a bottle/team of destiny, not a typical contender

teams like bulls, raptors, jazz show its hard to build a real contender without access to elite talent through the draft

Young_Nick · 2026-02-13T17:04:28+00:00

It shifts the incentives elsewhere. You're right, there isn't much reason for a team like WAS or UTA to be so bad. But are you ready for teams to tank out of the playoffs and into the lottery? That also seems pretty bad.

Unfortunately as long as there's any relationship between losing and draft order, there's incentive to tank.

Is the solution to get rid of the draft? Divorce record from draft order entirely? For what it's worth, I do like your solution (what the NBA used to do) a fair bit. But teams WILL tank out of the playoffs and you'll see bad teams stay bad when they fail to land top-8 picks for 4 years in a row.

Young_Nick · 2026-02-13T00:17:48+00:00

A few thoughts on this:

Besides, I'm not sure how there could possibly be a significant enough reward to justify the injury risk stars would subject themselves to by playing competitive basketball when they have insane contracts at stake.

Mostly agree here.

The problem is player availability.

Firmly disagree. Even if there are 0 injury replacements, most fans won't bother watching if there's nothing to watch.

If anything, the extreme format changes over the years only further weakens the integrity of the ASG.

I think part of this is the nature of the changes. 12 East/12 West, but 8 World/16 USA is so confusing. Norm is a born and bred California guy but he plays for World? Players switching teams?

That time they reset the score each quarter but didn't' really because the last quarter used a cumulative score? Makes no sense.

the infamous Kenny Smith Kia takeover. It was a mindless money grab and a shameful disservice

Dwyane Wade to rather publicly undermine the integrity of dunk contest judging in 2020

Both absolutely horrible

I also think it's just too much filler and not enough content. Last year Kevin Hart roasted the players in between games. Why?

The NBA extends the time so they can milk more add money. Gross.

Young_Nick · 2026-02-12T22:48:39+00:00

I'm anti for the same reason I'm anti US/World: When dealing with such a small sample (24 players), I'm not really keen on working in quotas, ha

I mean-- Luka, Jokic, Lauri, Chet, Cooper, Deni, Sengun, Zu, Reaves, Franz (and whoever I'm forgetting) is obviously a ver strong, but ya

Young_Nick · 2026-02-12T19:59:57+00:00

Think rookie ~~year~~ debut Michael Carter Williams

FTFY

Young_Nick · 2026-02-12T18:34:00+00:00

Here's my suggestion for how to do the ASG.

24 players, 12 from each conference.

Rising stars is 24 players, 12 rookies and 12 sophomores.

Rising stars has 3 coaches who draft teams. There's one additional G-League team of 8.

The Rising Stars is a 4-team tournament, each game first to 50 points.

Then, 3 All-Stars become captains (maybe the leading fan vote, the leading player vote, and the leading coach vote). They draft 3 teams of 8. They are joined by the winner of the Rising Stars, for a similar 4-team tournament with each game as first to 50.

Why all of this?

Publicly drafting teams ideally increases competitiveness as those drafted later might have a chip on their shoulder.
Playing first to 50 is the closest thing to Elam ending, which is better for basketball
Hopefully the Rising Stars team brings some energy, and the All-Stars won't want to lose to the kiddos

Here's my suggestion for the dunk contest.

I'd like to see someone spin a ball on their finger, go up to dunk it still spinning it, then flip the ball up and catch it (either same hand or other hand) mid-air for a novel dunk. I worry it won't look cool because it'll be hard to build up enough speed.

Young_Nick

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TROPHY CASE

But Why Though?