Haha "only" 252 PD. That's pretty much because your team was defensively oriented, so you locked down the opponents but didn't really run up your own score. And these teams are so bad that my defense, while not as good as yours, still holds them to similarly low levels of output. But my team is much more offensively-oriented and thus better suited to inflating my own score, hence the larger point differential. I was also helped by two bot teams rolling over and dying and allowing scores of 118-34 and 111-27. What makes me happier than the PD is that in addition to the easy league games, I started off facing two bot teams and I'm facing a third this week (you're probably jealous, I know), so I get to build up super-high enthusiasm while making money to expand my arena for D.IV.
As for why my players pop so fast, remember 1v1 forwards is probably the thing that will get you the most number of pops. This is because its main skill is driving and its secondary skills are handling, jumpshot, and inside shot. DR, HA, and JS are from what I've read the skills that pop the fastest. The most valuable skills that Smiley will need (PA, JR, OD) are the slowest. So his training speed will slow down later. Plus both Smiley and Faina had high sub levels. Faina had trained for several weeks last season without popping in those skills, so I'm not surprised he triple-popped. Smiley evidently just started with high sub levels.