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+---- Thread: *From the Desk of a DSFL GM (/showthread.php?tid=7865)
*From the Desk of a DSFL GM - PDXBaller - 03-12-2018
As I end my short 3 season career as a DSFL GM and (hopefully) move on to bigger and better things, I wanted to reflect on my time in the league from that perspective and share some of my experiences to maybe impart some wisdom to other DSFL GMs as they start ramping up themselves.
I took a 5-9 team from DSFL S3 that was tied for last place and turned it into a perennial playoff contender and set a few records along the way with a DSFL Championship my first season. If there was one thing I wanted to do, it was to create a competitive team and an active locker room that would become one of the top TPE earners. I put a lot of time and energy into these seasons and I can see that @speculadora has the same kind of hustle and enthusiasm I had starting out. Let’s take a trip down memory lane for the first of my three part media series...
History
The first step was to rebrand and separate ourselves early on. We went through a logo change, but found out that Enigmatic created the original logo and was able to reach out and get a color scheme change so that we could keep the original look and feel. We also got some help from @RainDelay early on with the end zone graphics and he was a great Pythons Ambassador for us that is still in our discord today (maybe he doesn’t realize it lol!). After that was set, @cosbornballboy helped broker a few trades that ended up paying off really well for us to help us get into win-now mode. I believe @cosbornballboy helped out our organization a lot by setting up our first few trades and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m terrible at negotiations so I’m glad that this turned out as well as it did.
S4 Trades
Pythons Traded:
S4 R3 S4 R4 S5 R2 S5 R3 S5 R4Josh Ortega - DT (Inactive)
Marshals Traded:
S4 R4 S5 R4Jameis Christ - QB (inactive)
Our starting quarterback at the time was Mitchell Stars who was an inactive QB with the Mobile archetype. This definitely wasn’t going to cut it for us so we needed a true passing archetype QB to lead the team and the Marshals got a plethora of picks and an inactive DT in return. Those picks ended up being Gregory Fletcher - CB (@The_Hero), and Ben Urlacher - LB (went inactive) in the S4 draft. I think this trade worked out well for both teams because San Antonio got a selection of talent despite two of them going inactive. Just think @The_Hero, you could have been a Python like your brother! The S4 R4 pick from the Marshals ended up being Cameron Taylor (@CDub2) who became one of the big 3 active players I had that season.
The S5 R2 pick ended up getting traded in a pick package deal along with Portland’s S5 R3 to Tijuana to be used for Lil Bot as a GM pick and the Marshals got Tijuana’s S5 R2 and R4. Those became Gustav Rodriguez and Grey Slax for the Marshals in the S5 draft. We would end up getting our own S5 R4 back in another trade next season.
Trade Reflection: Worth it. Got Jameis Christ to lead our passing game and ended up with Cameron Taylor in the S4 draft.
Pythons Traded:
S4 R5Jack Stats - RB (inactive)
Marshals Traded
John Goose - RB (inactive)
This was an attempt to bolster our run game since we didn’t have a great runningback in Stats and needed a more run based offense early on. We knew we were going to draft a receiver, but wanted to slowly introduce the passing offense so getting Goose was a great move and he became a starter/backup for every season we’ve had him. I’ll be sad to lose the Goose even though he’s an inactive player. The S4 R5 pick ended up being Thomas Mango - RB (inactive) who helped the Marshals quite a bit during their season 4 campaign, but has since been dropped from the lineup.
Trade Reflection: Worth it. The Goose got loose in Portland to help us win our first championship.
Pythons Traded:
S6 R3 S6 R4Luchadores Traded:
Hingle Mcringleberry - LB (inactive)
This is definitely a trade I regret since I think loco would have easily accepted less for this inactive LB. Mcringleberry did end up working out for us well since we were weak at the LB position and did put up decent stats since joining the Pythons. I used him as a WLB really well and he fit in the lineup easily. Unfortunately for the Luchadores, the S6 draft was thin and they picked up Kevin Kendrick - RB (inactive) and Dae-Jung Jo - DE (inactive). Would I have loved a few decent TPE inactives on my roster for the future? Definitely, but I’m not so heartbroken about this trade anymore after seeing how those picks turned out.
Trade Reflection: Worth it considering how those picks turned out, but word of advice for GMs...don’t trade middle round picks for inactives unless you are very confident in the number of players in the respective draft class. Don't underestimate middle round draft picks like I did!
S4 DSFL Draft
We had the second overall pick and it was very evident early on that John Wachter would become an active player. We all know about the Andre Bly Jr. drama and we certainly considered picking him, but we wanted to focus on an offensive identity for the team and trading for Christ meant that we needed to give him reliable targets down the stretch. John would become a DSFL legend becoming MVP, Outstanding Player, Offensive Player of the Year, Offensive Rookie of the Year, a Triple Crown recipient, and setting the DSFL Single Season Receptions record with 95. I’m probably missing a few more awards, but you get the idea.
Easily the biggest steal of this draft was Carlito Crush and we were fortunate enough to get him in R2 at number eight overall. You should have seen my face as I saw all the names announced before him. I kept thinking “Crush is going to go in the first round. I bet the Tijuana takes him…” As more names were announced and the draft kept moving I was in disbelief. By the time it was the second round I was praying that Tijuana wouldn’t pick him. After they selected Ryan Sierra I didn’t even hesitate with taking Crush. We spoke before the draft and went back and forth a few times and I could tell that @JKortesi81 was a sim league vet that I wouldn’t have to work with as a rookie early on because he picked up all the TPE related activities and Update Pages very quickly. To this day I’m still amazed that he fell to us in R2 and I’m glad that I scouted him early on in the draft process.
The R4 pick at 23rd overall wasn’t an easy one since many of the top guys on our board were gone and we were debating on what we needed next. After the Marshals picked Darren Morris (@Roly) we were in a tight spot, but wanted a defensive player and Cameron Taylor was still on the board. @CDub2 was one of the few defensive players that responded to me on the forums, so I felt pretty confident in this pick. In looking back at the draft, the only player that remained active after him was the great Dean Jackson (@run_CMC). We were aiming for him in the 6th round, but Tijuana got to him soon after our pick.
Jakob Andrews and Boston Ooty would end up being inactive for most the season, but having those inactives were great for us in the long run and they had some highlight plays because of sim luck!
Scouting is incredibly important and any DSFL or NSFL GM should keep this mind throughout the entire length of the season. Pay attention to new players who join up and give them as much attention as they need to succeed.
Season Review
We set the best record the DSFL had ever seen with an 11-3 overall having only lost to the Blues (damn you Jiggly!!!). I started the season using the Spread playbook and ended up with a West Coast/Balanced strategy in the last half of the season. Surprisingly, the 3-4 defense worked for us as well and was used all season long. For the Ultimini, I thought the Marshals and Luchadores would be tough teams to face and gameplanning for either team wasn’t going to be easy. I was actually rooting for the Luchadores to win in the playoffs to face us in the Ultimini since I had already started gameplanning for both teams ahead of time and figured out a better strategy to beat them about 70% of the time compared to my strategy against the Marshals only working about 60% of the time. Fun fact! Carlito Crush ended up being the primary receiver for the last 4 games of the season and into the playoffs. I found that teams with good cornerbacks (like the Marshals), were covering Wachter well and Crush had built up his hands and speed to the point where he was an effective receiver by the later part of the season. Winning my first DSFL championship was an incredible experience and it was amazing to see all the hard work paid off in the end. I spent lots of hours working with onboarding new players, testing strategies, and figuring out how best to utilize every player on the roster. It was sad to see those guys get called up to the NSFL so I definitely appreciated my time with them on the team and they are all apart of our wonderful locker room still.
Next up is S5! Maybe next week when I have time this weekend...
*From the Desk of a DSFL GM - Roly - 03-12-2018
Great write up PDX - love hearing different viewpoints on things, and the reflection of your GM time with Portland. Crazy to look back upon some of those drafts, especially the one of my cohort.
Sad to see you move on, though exciting it’s onto better and bigger things.
*From the Desk of a DSFL GM - bovovovo - 03-12-2018
This is awesome. Love seeing some of this "behind the curtain" stuff :cheers:
*From the Desk of a DSFL GM - Ramero - 03-12-2018
This is a super cool article!
*From the Desk of a DSFL GM - SwagSloth - 03-12-2018
This is news to me as I wasn't aware that you were moving on. Definitely a major blow to the DSFL. Hopefully, you'll get to take on a larger role (if you're interested) as you have more than earned it.
*From the Desk of a DSFL GM - Supersquare04 - 03-12-2018
S5 Pythons > S6 Pythons (bots are op)
in all seriousness though I think we should do a S5 Pythons vs S6 Pythons off season game
*From the Desk of a DSFL GM - The_Hero - 03-13-2018
Sad to see you leave the GM spot man I know a ton of guys love ya! As far as not being on the Pythons well..... It's more fun against my brother than with him! Lol
*From the Desk of a DSFL GM - nunccoepi - 03-13-2018
(03-13-2018, 08:45 AM)The_Hero Wrote:It's more fun against my brother than with him! Lol
Penningtons take note
*From the Desk of a DSFL GM - iamslm22 - 03-13-2018
This S4 and trades leading up is wild to remember. Crazy to think how those trades were me and kckolbe trading with you and cosborn. We the only ones left and after this season neither are GMs.
*From the Desk of a DSFL GM - PDXBaller - 03-16-2018
(03-12-2018, 11:06 AM)SwagSloth Wrote:This is news to me as I wasn't aware that you were moving on. Definitely a major blow to the DSFL. Hopefully, you'll get to take on a larger role (if you're interested) as you have more than earned it.
We'll see this off season!
