Sim League Nirvana

Hey all, and welcome to the inaugural GMOTY with our new process! Voting will remain open until EOD Friday, 5/30

As a reminder, here is the process:

- Our esteemed GMOTY committee has selected 5 GMOTY Finalists
- To submit your vote, text your RANKED TOP THREE choices to the GMOTY Committee Chair (Matt, 773-322-8777). All voters will earn 100 RP, just as they did in the prior format.
- After votes are tallied, I'll post the winner in this thread (or will post a runoff in the event of a tie). After the winner has been posted, feel free to post your voting rationale in this thread for the bonus 200 RP
- Feel free to refer to the rule change thread here https://simleaguenirvana.com/posting.ph ... it&p=43976

Winner Gets:

-1,000 RPs
-Ability to add or subtract a year to any player's contract on your team. Must be done within one season.

Must apply removal year (if only year) prior to Day 1 of FA. If you do it during FA, it will remove "Last Team" and bird rights and FBB will not let Ashes change that.

GMOTY Finalists (in no particular order)

Merv

• Team Performance: 56-26, +5.9 (2024: 61-21, +8.4)
  
• Trades Made:
  - 5/07/25: Orlando Magic trade Kobe Bufkin & 25RP; San Antonio Spurs trade Cap Space
  - 5/22/25: Orlando Magic trade Cory Joseph, Terence Davis, Jaylin Williams, Tre Johnson, Yaxel Lendebourg, ORL 31 FRP, 800RP; Charlotte Hornets trade Jamal Murray and Keldon Johnson.
  - 5/22/25: ORL trade Moses Moody & 25RP; POR trade Colby Jones.
  Net Assets Out: Kobe Bufkin, Cory Joseph, Terence Davis, Jaylin Williams, Tre Johnson, Yaxel Lendebourg, Moses Moody, 850RP, ORL 31 FRP
  Net Assets In: Jamal Murray, Keldon Johnson, Colby Jones
  
• Relevant FA Signings: Montrezl Harrell ($15,935,938 over 3 years).
  
• Depth Chart: 80% Outside / 20% Balanced. Rui Hachimura was the 1st option all season. Kevin Durant 2nd for 80% of DCs until the Murray trade. Low experimenting, but did mostly run Rui(#1 option) as a backup 3-5. Settled on a thiccer front court with Edey at C and Powell at PF. KD rocked SG minutes most of the season. Kept the same pace, trap, & press for the entire season.
  
• Overall Value Added:
  Orlando walked into this season the kings of the east. KD went -2 in TC(-1 def, -1 reb), Edey went +3(+2 def, +1 reb), Trez went +1(+1 reb), and Rui held the line. It would prove to be difficult to repeat the same regular season as 2024 with an aging Durant. Merv kept the same core but could tell he needed more juice if he wanted to compete for a championship. True to the GM he has consistently been he swung for the fences by trading for a perennial All-SLN guard in Jamal Murray. In the second half the season, before the trade, the Magic sported a 14-5(74% wp) record. After the trade they went 9-3(75% wp) before Murray went down after a Celtics player poked him in his eye. Murray is slated to miss the first 18 days of the playoffs, possibly ruining any chance of the Magic escaping a first round matchup against Luka and the Bulls.
  Overall Orlando did well at staying near the top the East this year and added Murray at the correct time. Without injuries, Merv set his team up to compete at a high level during the playoffs and make another run to win the East. Dealing with the decline of KD and non movement from Rui during TC, the Magic did well to stay the course and buy their PG of the foreseeable future in Murray(28yr old). They got to hold onto most of their future picks and were able to keep their young front court stud in Edey.

Jwoo

• Team Performance: 54-28, +8.7 (2024: 43-39, +0.1)
  
• Trades Made:
  - Traded Kenneth Loften Jr and 200 RP for Anfernee Simons
  - Traded Brandon Clarke, Jose Alvarado, Better of NYK/SAC 2026 FRP, and DET 2027 FRP for Lonzo Ball, Thomas Robinson, and 200 RP
  - Traded Anfernee Simons, Worse of SAC/NYK 2026 FRP, and 300 RP for Chuma Okeke and Arthur Kaluma
  - Traded Devin Booker, Isaiah Jackson, J’Wan Roberts, and POR 2026 FRP (1-6 protected) for Nikola Jokic and Terry Rozier
  - Traded Peyton Watson, Gary Trent, and 1000 RP for Trey Murphy
  
  Net Assets Out: Devin Booker, Isaiah Jackson, Brandon Clarke, Jose Alvarado, NYK 26, SAC 26, DET 27, POR 27, 1000 RP
  Net Assets In: Anfernee Simons, Lonzo Ball, Chuma Okeke, Nikola Jokic, Trey Murphy
  
• Relevant FA Signings: N/A
  
• Depth Chart: Ran balanced for mostly the whole season with some experimentation
  
• Overall Value Added:
  Jwoo had a great season increasing his win differential by 11 wins while losing his top 3 pick from 4 seasons ago Scottie Barnes in FA. He was able to keep the rest of his core young assets (Wemby, Amen, CMB, and his almost certain lotto picks) while trading for potentially the best player in the league in Jokic. Jwoo has as much championship equity as anyone in the league with the roster he had to start the season, and by adding Jokic, he pairs a locked up veteran to a cost controlled roster full of young studs and keeping his most valuable picks. I don’t think there was better timing than the trades Jwoo made this season.

Nolan

• Team Performance: 51-31, +8.3 (2024: 43-39, -2.6)
  
• Trades Made:
  - Traded Obi Toppin and Cap Space for Paul George
  - Traded Issac Okoro, Deandre Hunter, LAL 26 & 27 FRP for Josh Okogie
  - Traded Zaccharie Risacher, Bones Hyland, Omar Yurtseven, and DAL 26 FRP for Gary Payton II and Rudy Gobert
  - Traded Noah Vonleh for Isaiah Wong, Matthew Cleveland, and 200RP
  
  
  Net Assets Out: Obi Toppin, Zaccharie Risacher, Issac Okoro, Deandre Hunter, Bones Hyland, Omar Yurtseven, Noah Vonleh, DAL 26, LAL 26, LAL 27
  Net Assets In: Paul George, Josh Okogie, Gary Payton II, Rudy Gobert, Isaiah Wong, Matthew Cleveland, 200RP
  
• Relevant FA Signings: N/A
  
• Depth Chart: Started out the season running outside where Embiid was not living up to his career averages, Flirted with inside for a sim before going to balanced for the second half of the season, Embiid started off playing PF before moving to C for the balanced offense. Decent amount of tinkering but nothing special. Overall options stayed relatively consistent with some small adjustments. Switching to balanced offense vaulted them to the top of the west.
  
• Overall Value Added:
  Nolan had a tough go last season with Embiid, going 4 games above .500 with a negative 2.6 differential. Nolan started off this season with a lot of trades for star caliber players without leveraging his own picks. All the players Nolan traded for were starting caliber guys in PG, Okogie, and GP2. No real FA signings to help catapult him up the standings.
  Nolan's season was truly defined by the trades he made, with the string of trades mentioned above he added 8 more wins and increased his differential by ~10 PPG. Now the most efficient scoring team in the league heading into the playoffs and what seems to be a relatively stable roster moving forward

Tyler

• Team Performance: 51-31, +5.9 (2024: 50-32, +8.2)
  
• Trades Made:
  - Traded Nikola Jokic and Marcus Smart for Domantas Sabons, Dylan Harper, and Frank Ntilikina
  - Traded Sabonis and Frank for Ben Simmons and 900 RP
  - Traded Robin Lopez for Thomas Robinson and 400 RP
  - Traded Brandon Clarke and Jose Alvarado for Jabari Walker, Jabari Smith, vet mins and PHX 26
  - Traded Joan Beringer, Jabari Walker, Jabari Smith, better of SAC 26 / NYK 26, DET 27, PHX 27, PHX 29, DAL 30, DAL 31, 1000 RP for Markelle Fultz
  Net Assets Out: Nikola Jokic, Robin Lopez, Brandon Clarke, Jose Alvarado, better of SAC 26 / NYK 26, DET 27, PHX 27, PHX 29, DAL 30, DAL 31
  Net Assets In: Ben Simmons, Dylan Harper, Markelle Fultz, PHX 26, 300 RP
  
• Relevant FA Signings: N/A
  
• Depth Chart: Normal inside / balanced, lots of tinkering / experimentation
  
• Overall Value Added:
  Tyler moved on from Jokic as he hit age 30, just before a -2 TC, in order to bring in youth and sustainability. His team won more games this season than last despite trading away his best player, and he’s better set up for success moving forward with a young core of Fultz, Harper, and Essengue in the backcourt and Ayton, Simmons, and Bagley banging in the front court. Overall, the Suns cashed in on their coffer of FRPs to extend their window without sacrificing team success in the short term.

Nav

• Team Performance: 60-32, +8.7 (2024: 49-33, +5.9)
  
• Trades Made:
  -Traded Tyus Jones, Caleb Martin, and 28 FRP for Kyrie Irving and GRJ
  - Traded John Konchar, Tomas Satoransky, and 27 FRP for Caleb Martin
  Net Assets Out: Tyus Jones, Caleb Martin, NYK 27, NYK 28
  Net Assets In: Kyrie Irving, Glen Rice Jr.
  
• Relevant FA Signings: John Henson, Bismack Biyombo, Malik Beasley
  
• Depth Chart: Normal outside
  
• Overall Value Added:
  Nav made a big move flipping Tyus and Martin (plus essentially 2 FRP) for Kyrie as he tries to win a title in Turner’s prime. While getting older, his team this year clearly got far better. He also successfully retained Henson and Biyombo in FA. Realistically it all comes down to how they do in the playoffs but a 60 win season and a one seed in a brutal East is exceptional on its own and considering he only had Kyrie the final ~20 days of the season. Following the trade Nav went 14-2 to end the year. Hard not to love this massive win-now addition of Kyrie in Turner’s prime. In terms of win-now moves, this could prove the move of the year (unless Kyrie gets banned by Dolan from the Garden). If Kyrie retires after winning a championship but Nav wins the title it was all worth it.

Noah Vonleh for 200 RP might just be the straw that broke the camel’s back for Nolan’s GMOTY candidacy

vote

Matt wrote: May 28th, 2025, 4:30 pmvote

Vote AND die! Diddy ghostwrote that

Results:

Congratulations Nav! Here was the points break down (5 points for 1st place, 3 points for 2nd place, 1 point for 3rd place

Nav: 73 points
Jwoo: 55 points
Tyler: 50 points
Nolan: 28 points
Merv: 10 points

Feel free to post below with rationale for why you voted the way you did for an extra 200 RP.

Here is the list of voters for RP purposes:

Wes
Scoops
Tong
Matt
Jesse
RB
Nav
Jwoo
Heimer
GX
Mantypas
Hoff
Tyler
Merv
Clint
Joe
Quady
Steven
Kipke
Nick
Josh
Dmo
Bobby
Nolan

I voted for TPeetz. He tore down a very safe and consistent title contender while getting great value. Of the 3 Jokic deals this year I think I preferred his the most. The AG trade which isn’t mentioned here but led to Cooper and other stuff was also a good deal.

The amazing part to me is if he just flipped into a tank it’d be a solid year, instead Phoenix dominated the west out of the gate and he convinced Bobby to trade Fultz while still keeping and Harper is pretty incredible. Fultz is signed for a long time and will be the cornerstone moving forward.

This is a regular season award and I think Tyler had the best combo of moves and year. The playoffs didn’t go his way, but sometimes the RNG gods hate you.

I voted (1) JWoo, (2) Nav, (3) Merv

Coming off of a tough FA losing Scottie, Woo made awesome moves to change his team's play style to maximize Wemby and bring in Jokic and Lonzo. May take some work to keep the core together next year with Wemby presumably jumping to a rookie max and having to resign Lonzo but love the team and think it will continue to be scary.

Tyler got my vote - while I didn’t necessarily agree with his decision to pivot off a contending roster, he did it in such convincing/successful fashion that it was hard to argue with the thinking. Landing Fultz without trading anything he cared about from his core roster was the single biggest trade coup of the season for any one team in terms of both short and long term impact. He traded away Jokic and Gordon, and still won the division and tied for first in the conference! He also did it while playing two rookies a lot of minutes (feel like we never really consider drafting well as part of this for whatever reason but for me it matters)

The west sucked, true, but the totality of Tyler’s moves was the most impressive and I voted with that in mind

I voted Nolan 1 overall. I thought his turnaround, even though he made the playoffs last year, his team was wildly better this year based on plus minus and being an absolute defensive unit. The acquisitions of GP3 and Paul George seemed like relatively cheap great moves for someone without his picks and stacking Gobert into his big lineup
Was really impressive

nav’s trade was maybe the best ever value wise and in practice won the ship so clearly he elevated his championship chances from possibly to likely. Nav won 60 games in the most competitive eastern conference landscape ever. Congrats Nav on the much deserved GMOTY!