Our fifth year using draft slots! If you have questions about how this was calculated, these links should help: Draft Slots in RD1. Remember, RD2-6 are slotted in Power Ranking order #1-16, with snaking from RD3 and on. [ New Post-Season 2.0 | Power Ranking 2023 | Draft 2024 Sheet ] *Note these draft slots and picks don't account for trades.
This title run was a real nail-biter, as SOUR eked by SWMP in round one by only one three-pointer (and six points), and then followed that up by sneaking past the higher-seeded SCRM in the semis, winning that matchup by only a handful of points on the last day. Whatever lucky charm SOUR was working with in 2023, it worked out amazingly! And then in the Finals versus FJUB, SOUR unleashed their sharp shooting, dropping forty-one three-pointers to their opponent’s eighteen, as SOUR shot a blistering 51.7 FG% for the week while still winning TOs.
On the year, SOUR wasn’t showing many signs of dominance, as their combined ODE was middle of the pack, and their strong categories only consisted of a top ranking in FG% and a top-three in REB. But when the time comes to push for a title, Trieu never disappoints. GM Trieu acquired Butler mid-season for Wendell Carter Jr. and Christian Wood, and had gotten Fox the season prior in exchange for then rookie Scottie Barnes.
Even with Curry, Siakam, Butler, and Fox, SOUR needed all the help it could get from their bench, as Jerami Grant, Josh Hart, Deni Avdija, and Lakers super-hero Austin Reaves proved instrumental in their playoff appearances. All in all, it was an incredible postseason run for SOUR, and congrats to Trieu once again!
SOUR’s accolades:
CHMK escaped a near upset in round one versus TRUO—winning by a mere two assists— but took care of business against SQSQ with a huge defensive effort. The actual Toilet Bowl matchup was an easy win versus the already celebrating SPDE—who had already locked up the 2024 first pick due to the “SWMP Rule”—and overall it was a hugely successful rebuild season for CHMK.
GM Evan traded away James Harden early on, and then stacked talent, unearthing rookie Jalen Williams, the sudden offensive force that was Brooklyn Mikal Bridges, and adding 2023 first overall pick Jabari Smith Jr. to the roster as well. And then there’s that defensive backbone of Bam Adebayo, Nic Claxton, and Evan Mobley. Offensive powerhouses Desmond Bane and Jordan Poole were in the backcourt, giving CHMK good balance all around.
Moving forward, CHMK will be flush with young talent, and another high pick—2024’s RD1.3—to launch them (hopefully) out of the Toilet Bowl. Congrats to CHMK, our third back-to-back Toilet Bowl champion!
SPDE pulled off two upsets on their way to the TB Finals—versus BUFF and MELO—thus securing their first ever number one overall pick. And at just the right time too, as Victor Wembanyama is a generational prospect and now Randall will have Wemby and last year’s RD1.2 Chet Holmgren to jump start his rebuild. Congrats to SPDE!
How did we get here?! I don’t think any prognosticators would have picked this Finals matchup heading into the playoffs but here we are, an epic matchup for the ages. SOUR is the winningest franchise in Slam history while FJUB is the third. SOUR has five titles under their belt--in seven appearances—while FJUB is two for two in their Finals appearances and subsequent wins. This is a true battle for the ages!
FJUB last won the title in 2021, while SOUR’s last ring was in 2019. They’ve never faced off against each other in a Finals before, but SOUR actually has an undefeated record against FJUB in the playoffs, dispatching FJUB in the first round in 2010, 2013, and 2019. As the third seed this season, SOUR may hold the advantage yet again.
If last week’s stats mean anything, SOUR would have won six categories to FJUB’s three—FT%, REB, BLK—so we’ll go ahead and name SOUR the favorites. It’ll be up to FJUB to fend off the quartet of Steph Curry, De’Aaron Fox, Jimmy Butler, and Pascal Siakam. It’ll be a tall task for Fred VanVleet, Chris Paul, Myles Turner, and hopefully new trade acquisition Terry Rozier (currently a tad injured). Good luck gentlemen!
Playoffs Consolation RD3
In the playoff consolation games, FUNK took a clean upset versus SWMP while ILCN took care of business versus SBUK, nudging last year’s champs out with the return of Luka Doncic.
Toilet Bowl Finals
Our Toilet Bowl finals doesn’t have any draft implications, as SPDE and SQSQ have locked in the first and second picks for the 2023 draft—thanks SWMP Rule—but there is history at stake, as CHMK can become the third back-to-back Toilet Bowl winner with a victory here, as well as increasing their total Toilet Bowl wins to three. As for SPDE, they’ve already won the Wembanyama sweepstakes so it’s already party time in Spade-land!
Toilet Bowl Consolation RD3
As for the consolation games, SQSQ put up a good fight versus CHMK--almost putting them into a battle with SPDE for the top 2023 pick--and should secure a victory versus MELO, who only managed a putrid twelve Games Played last week. Going this far does net SQSQ the 2024 RD1.2 selection, which will be a huge boon to this proud franchise. On the other side, BUFF and FOBS also went under the GP cap last week, at twenty-one and fifteen games respectively, so this week's matchups could be a case of teams simply winning if they can get anywhere near a full lineup. C’mon guys, we can do better!
It was a very exciting first week of playoffs as many matchups came right down to the wire!
Playoff Recap & RD2 Matchups
1 KSKT vs 5 FJUB
Both teams here escaped by narrow margins as a Tyrese Haliburton-less KSKT survived a near upset by just one assist. We don’t know who Spurs center Sandro Mamukelashvili is, but he came up with five huge assists to get KSKT past defending champs SBUK.
As for FJUB, they had to fend off a Luka Doncic-less ILCN team that still threatened to take the win. It was a matchup frenzy on Sunday as FJUB and ILCN both adjusted their rosters multiple times. In the end, it was Devin Vassell’s five threes—not to mention Fred Van Vleet’s seventeen during the week—that helped secure the upset win for FJUB.
Heading into a big matchup, FJUB is cruising along at full health while Haliburton is out at least until mid-week, giving the edge to FJUB in another possible upset victory.
2 SCRM vs 3 SOUR
After a close back and forth for most of the week, SCRM also avoided an upset by taking AST by two and BLK by one over FUNK. In the end, DeMar DeRozan’s ten assists on Saturday was a difference maker—making SCRM happy to have acquired him (I hope). Don’t look now but the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, James Harden, and Anthony Davis trio might be in the driver’s seat for the title.
In yet another game that came down to the wire, SOUR outlasted SWMP, winning 3PT by one—while tying in STL and BLK. At one point, SOUR versus SWMP had the incredible late Sunday line of 3-3-3 in categories. Instead, Austin “White Kobe” Reaves dropped in thirty-five points on 9/14 FG shooting, and 16/18 FT, along with six key assists. While Jerami Grant is still ailing for SOUR, it’s looking like Steph Curry and crew have just as good a shot at returning to the Slam Finals as any team. This is definitely gonna be the match of the week!
Playoff Consolation
4 ILCN vs 8 SBUK
With all four teams nicked by close victories, the battle for a few draft positions commences. ILCN is looking a little injury ravaged, but SBUK also could be dealing with a dinged up Kyrie Irving and Rudy Gobert. At stake here is a slightly higher draft pick for next season.
6 SWMP vs 7 FUNK
As for SWMP versus FUNK, it should be another battle of big versus small as FUNK will try to steal this game against Nikola Jokic and crew. The only thing making this exciting might be a side bet between SWMP and FUNK? What say you fans of SWMP?!
Toilet Bowl Recap & RD2 Matchups
9 MELO vs 13 SPDE
The dream of Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama is still alive as Tyler Herro delivered exactly what was needed for SPDE to take a nail-biter against BUFF—winning STL and TO by just one each. Who needs Kawhi?!?
MELO will face a much tougher matchup for them this week, after wiping FOBS with relative ease in round one of the Toilet Bowl. With the career renaissance of James Wiseman in full effect, MELO would love to add a top pick to their rebuilding cache, even as they’ve already secured a top-four pick in next year’s draft.
10 CHMK vs 11 SQSQ
CHMK went through a stress-filled Sunday as well, as they were down pretty big to TRUO, who had maxed out their roster on Saturday. CHMK snuck out the victory by a mere two AST, with Bam Adebayo and Jalen Williams contributing five each. Whew!
Now CHMK will face off against SQSQ, who had an easy win versus ABCX—who maxed out at twenty-one games. As noted before, LeBron James and Began Bogdanovic are both hurt, so for SQSQ to secure a Toilet Bowl finals, they’ll really need Giannis Anteokounmpo and Jrue Holiday to come up big versus CHMK’s deep and healthy roster.
Toilet Bowl Consolation
12 BUFF vs 16 FOBS
After such a narrow loss, BUFF can still aim for the fifth pick in next year’s draft, as they should be the strongest team left in the TB consolation bracket. Damian Lillard might put up a fight but FOBS is looking a little defeated at this point.
14 ABCX vs 15 TRUO
Does ABCX field a full roster here against TRUO? Or do they hand a free win over? TRUO came this close to taking out CHMK so we have to favor them in this matchup, especially as ABCX is down all their major players.
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