I don’t think LBJ is best in slot at any position, but he might be close at PG.
I’ve kind of been interested in trying to reverse engineer the scoring function they use. Wouldn’t be that hard if it’s a linear combination of the inputs, but the site also claims they do era weighting, so probably not super easy.
Anecdotally it feels like pts and rebounds matter the most, PGs like Stockton or Nash that were more playmakers than scorers suffer a lot.
Yeah, there’s something non-intuitive about it.
For instance, 90s Larry Bird was on 82-0 tea–not 80s Larry Bird. He retired after the 91-92 season, so I was expecting a pretty significant stat hit. However, his 90s stats in the simulator were probably, I don’t know, 90-95% as good as his prime 80s run. Something like that.
I deduced that the simulator must include the 89-90 season in with the 1990s. Bird’s 89-90 was not his prime, but still quite strong. His last two NBA seasons, his stats slipped but not precipitously. I had thought that maybe the simulator averages the best three seasons, or maybe even the best two. In the end, Bird 1990s was good enough to be part of an 82-0 team.
Another clue that the stats are averaged somehow: in the simulator, Wilt Chamberlain’s 1960s stats with the Warriors (he also has 60s availability with the 76ers and Lakers) are something like 47 points and 25 rebounds, which looks something like averaging his 61-62 and 62-63 stats.
So far, it looks like a team can have low-ish assist numbers and still get north of 70 wins. But get stuck with two sub-20ppg guys on your squad–even with elite team stats otherwise–and your team will struggle to break 60 wins.
EDIT: My 82-0 team had Chris Paul I think at 19-point-some-odd PPG. Paul’s elite assist and steals numbers – plus Wilt’s 47 PPG – helped make up for it.
EDIT2: Another weird thing from my 82-0 team – I didn’t recall Adrian Dantley ever playing for the Pacers. But he did. Going into his second season, the Buffalo Braves traded (?) Rookie-of-the-Year Dantley to Indiana**. Dantley started off his Indiana stint like a house afire, putting up big stats across the board for 23 games. Then he was traded to the Lakers.
Anyway … the simulation used Dantley’s Indiana stats over those 23 games. Very much a cheat code, IMHO.
** Why? I can only assume the Braves were bleeding cash at that point, only a season before their move cross-country to become the San Diego Clippers.