Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Restoring the Glory: A Modern-Day New York Knicks Dynasty (DDS:PB)

Izulde · 10-08-2008, 12:07 AM

Seattle Supersonics receive
PG Craig Shehan

L.A. Clippers receive
SG Angelo Mascoe

What this means for the Sonics
Shehan can play PG and that's it. He's a horrible defender with mediocre passing skills and has absolutely nothing to recommend him in the four and change seasons since he was drafted 18th overall by the Grizzlies in 2012. Worse yet, this acquisition takes away playing time from 19 year old Belgian rookie Louis Mertens, who while also being awful at defense, has potential to develop into a solid backup PG, maybe even a starter at some point.

What this means for the Clippers
The 25 year old Mascoe, in his 3rd season after being drafted 12th overall by Seattle in 2014, has a great outside shot and free throw shooting. He's a terrible ballhandler for a guard, but he could turn out a pretty decent player. Getting him turned out to be a real blessing for the Clippers after Baron Davis went down with a broken ankle two weeks after this trade.

Advantage: Clippers
The Red and White actually improved their team with the deal while Seattle actually took a step back, both for their present and their future.

Orlando Magic receive
PF David West

New Orleans Hornets receive
PF David Lee

What this means for the Magic
West has a great inside shot and some scoring insticts, but is average in every other respect. He's owed $9.6 million next season as well, so he's a bit of a cap hog. That said, Orlando had no one that could get points inside, especially not on the bench, so West fills a large hole that way.

What this means for the Hornets
Lee's got good rebounding skills and is $2 million cheaper than West. Those are the only advantages he gives New Orleans over their former player.

Advantage: Orlando
The Magic get more bang for their buck here than the Hornets and that's enough to decide who has the edge.

I'm tempted to make a deal myself and it's not just because I'm notorious for making trades. There's still the cap trouble looming ahead next year. Sure I could promise a championship and sure I could tough out one year of being over B.B. Dyer's financial expectations, but the Knicks experience still haunts me and I love this Nuggets team and don't want to leave it.

It doesn't take us long at all to make a deal.

Denver Nuggets receive
PG Marcus Williams
Atlanta Hawks 2019 2nd round pick

Atlanta Hawks receive
PG Javaris Crittenton

What this means for the Nuggets
Williams has much more offensive punch than Crittenton and the two are about equal in terms of passing skill, but the key for the Nuggets is really that Williams' contract expires after this season, freeing up vital cap room for Denver to make a play at retaining Zelipe Gama. Incidentally, Williams also played for the Nuggets in 2013, coming to Denver as part of the Paulinho Buboltz/Mateen Yeaton deal.

What this means for the Hawks
Crittenton was the starting PG last year for the Hawks and now he's right back where he was last season, resuming his role as the starter at the point for Atlanta. This may not be a good thing, as Atlanta was 30-52 last year and they're 7-7 so far this season. On the other hand, Crittenton is a much better ballhandler and defender than Williams.

Advantage: Draw
Both teams appear to benefit by it, although it's costing Atlanta a 2nd round pick and some payroll flexibility next year to get their old starting PG back.

Personally, I think we won the deal. We got some trade bait in addition to some payroll relief and I wanted more scoring off the bench anyway, as I don't expect Kirk Hinrich and Steve Neal especially to maintain their current pace.

December starts with a chilly clunker, a 103-98 loss to the Heat for just our second loss of the year. Ron McPherson scored 28, Mateen Yeaton 21 and we got 10 points and 10 rebounds out of Emeka Okafor and 12 bench points from Kirk Hinrich, but our newest Nugget, Marcus Williams, shoots a piss-poor 1 for 6, which didn't help matters.

Mateen Yeaton scores 32 points and Zelipe Gama summons up 14 points and 19 assists as we dispell the Magic 115-96 in our next game. Good to see us regroup, particularly since the annual East Conference Road Gauntlet is up next.

The nation's capital hosts our 97-87 victory over the Wizards as Zelipe Gama plays the role of a dastardly Spanish conquistador with 20 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 blocks and a steal. Ron McPherson adds 25 points and Emeka Okafor completes the torching with 17 points and 18 rebounds.

Our biggest win of the season comes next in Toronto as we stun the Raptors 124-118 behind 42 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and a steal from Mateen Yeaton, 14 points and 15 rebounds from David Jackson and hot bench scoring from Mike Nooner (12 points) and Thabo Sefolosha (11 points). The boost to our morale from this victory simply can't be overstated.

The party continues in New York, Mateen Yeaton the MC with 33 points in a baller 118-95 whipping of the Knicks. A shoutout goes to Emeka Okafor with 11 points and 12 rebounds and to Thabo Sefolosha with 13 points to bust out with the second team. But the real macdaddy of the evening is David Jackson who showed some real playa skills in rolling the Knickies up for 22 points and 12 rebounds. The thought of a Jackson/Tim Davis frontcourt over the next several years is a delicious one and I can already hear opposing coaches' brains blowing out in aneurysm trying to solve that riddle. That pairing would be even more brutal than the Raptors' frontcourt, who, while they got game, they don't have the physical brutality that our big boys can engineer on the D.L.

The doubleheader in Philadelphia and Boston are the toughest two-game stretch we've all had year. Mateen Yeaton scores 26 points as all five of our starters score 11 points or better in edging the 76ers 93-85. Zelipe Gama was key with 12 points and 13 assists and Kirk Hinrich contributed 10 points off the bench. The Celtics ambush us in a stinking 1-point 100-99 loss. Our bench played like shit all game, negating 26 points and 12 assists from Zelipe Gama and 22 points from Ron McPherson. This does not make me happy in the least.

I'm even less happy when we lose 115-108 to Miami on the front end of a back-to-back. Dwayne Wade scored 31 on us the first time the Heat beat us this month and he scores 33 in this rematch. We absolutely waste 46 points from Mateen Yeaton and 20 points and 16 rebounds from Emeka Okafor. Our bench sucked again and David Jackson scored a goose egg, as in 0 points. We grind out an 87-73 victory over Orlando the next night to break the mini-losing streak. Steve Neal and Lindsey Williamson finally end the subs' streak of suck with 11 points and 10 rebounds respectively and Mateen Yeaton and Ron McPherson step up with 20 points a piece on the nose.

So not a good road trip at all, not with the way we'd played in November.

But it is what it is and we have a homecoming party by beating up the Suns 106-89. Ron McPherson punches Phoenix for 25 points, Mateen Yeaton helps out with 21 points, Zelipe Gama collects 10 points and 11 assists and Steve Neal rises out of the second team for 11 points.

Zelipe Gama plays an early Santa Claus with 21 assists, Mateen Yeaton scores 28, Ron McPherson 22 and we get 16 points and 15 rebounds out of Emeka Okafor to smack the silly Sonics 112-97 in Seattle. Kirk Hinrich added 10 bench points, but we still need more firepower in my opinion. Then again, we'll get a big boost when Tim Davis comes back sometime in February.

Dallas may suck these days, but Jonte Jones always keeps games respectable and our 108-102 victory over the Mavericks on Christmas Eve is surprisingly tough as a result. Fantastic game from our starting five, though. Zelipe Gama had 11 points and 15 assists, Mateen Yeaton scored 19, Ron McPherson just missed a double-double with 23 points and 9 assists, Emeka Okafor got the double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds and David Jackson rounded things out with a matching 21 points. Golden State is much less of a challenge on Christmas Day, falling 115-87 before the might of Mateen Yeaton's 33 points, Zelipe Gama's 18 points and 14 assists and Steve Neal's 14 bench points.

We nerf the 76ers, holding them to 26.9% shooting and all 5 of our starters scored 12 points or more in a 90-57 pasting. Zelipe Gama -just- missed the triple-double with 12 points, 9 assists and 9 rebounds.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are even more fun than their Christmas equivalents as we win both games handily. The Lakers can't do jack against us in Los Angeles and we beat them 95-78 as Mateen Yeaton scores 28 and David Jackson has 10 points and 13 rebounds. Mateen Yeaton the lead scorer again with 26 points against the Clippers on the first day of the New Year, nearly every one of the rest of the starters playing great as well. Ron McPherson with 22 points. Emeka Okafor with 17 points and 13 rebounds and Zelipe Gama with 16 points and 13 assists.

We're still the kings of the NBA by a huge margin as the closest team to our 27-4 record is the 23-9 Spurs. We enjoy a 10.5 game advantage over the Jazz in the Northwest, while San Antonio's up by 9 in the Southwest.

But the West overall is the weakest it's been in years, maybe even decades. Just 4 teams in the West Conference have winning records right now and it's not even close.

Denver 27-4
San Antonio 23-9
Utah 17-15
Sacramento 15-13

That's it. No wonder we have a 16-0 conference mark.

Therefore, it shouldn't surprise you that the East has 11 teams with winning records at this juncture. The Raptors and Bucks are in a virtual tie for the top seed, but both of them are behind us and the Spurs. Because of all this winning madness going on, only the 4-25 Nets are way out of it. In fact, with the exception of New Jersey, the worst last place team in a division is only 5.5 out. That'd be the Bulls, who are 13-15 in the Central, with the Bucks at 18-9.

Good thing I don't have the Cavs pick this year. They're 17-13. Conversely, the pick we do have, the Hornets, are presently 5-24.

But the conference inequality isn't even the most shocking story to me.

It's that the Knicks are in 2nd place in the Atlantic, just 2 games out on the Raptors at 18-12.

What a strange, strange NBA world we live in so far this season.

Paulinho Buboltz-Mateen Yeaton Comparison

Paulinho Buboltz
2013 Stats: 82 games/77 starts - 17.0 PPG 9.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.2 SPG
2014 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.1 PPG 8.7 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.4 SPG
2015 Stats: 55 games/48 starts - 14.1 PPG 8.3 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.2 SPG
2016 Stats: 28 games/28 starts - 19.9 PPG 8.8 APG 3.6 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.5 SPG

Mateen Yeaton
2013 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.4 APG 5.2 RPG 1.8 BPG 1.6 SPG
2014 Stats: 82 games/80 starts - 23.2 PPG 3.6 APG 5.2 RPG 1.7 BPG 1.3 SPG
2015 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.6 PPG 2.4 APG 4.5 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.5 SPG
2016 Stats: 31 games/31 starts - 26.4 PPG 3.3 APG 4.5 RPG 2.2 BPG 2.0 SPG

10-08-2008, 12:07 AM	#248
Izulde Head Coach Join Date: Sep 2004	Seattle Supersonics receive PG Craig Shehan L.A. Clippers receive SG Angelo Mascoe What this means for the Sonics Shehan can play PG and that's it. He's a horrible defender with mediocre passing skills and has absolutely nothing to recommend him in the four and change seasons since he was drafted 18th overall by the Grizzlies in 2012. Worse yet, this acquisition takes away playing time from 19 year old Belgian rookie Louis Mertens, who while also being awful at defense, has potential to develop into a solid backup PG, maybe even a starter at some point. What this means for the Clippers The 25 year old Mascoe, in his 3rd season after being drafted 12th overall by Seattle in 2014, has a great outside shot and free throw shooting. He's a terrible ballhandler for a guard, but he could turn out a pretty decent player. Getting him turned out to be a real blessing for the Clippers after Baron Davis went down with a broken ankle two weeks after this trade. Advantage: Clippers The Red and White actually improved their team with the deal while Seattle actually took a step back, both for their present and their future. Orlando Magic receive PF David West New Orleans Hornets receive PF David Lee What this means for the Magic West has a great inside shot and some scoring insticts, but is average in every other respect. He's owed $9.6 million next season as well, so he's a bit of a cap hog. That said, Orlando had no one that could get points inside, especially not on the bench, so West fills a large hole that way. What this means for the Hornets Lee's got good rebounding skills and is $2 million cheaper than West. Those are the only advantages he gives New Orleans over their former player. Advantage: Orlando The Magic get more bang for their buck here than the Hornets and that's enough to decide who has the edge. I'm tempted to make a deal myself and it's not just because I'm notorious for making trades. There's still the cap trouble looming ahead next year. Sure I could promise a championship and sure I could tough out one year of being over B.B. Dyer's financial expectations, but the Knicks experience still haunts me and I love this Nuggets team and don't want to leave it. It doesn't take us long at all to make a deal. Denver Nuggets receive PG Marcus Williams Atlanta Hawks 2019 2nd round pick Atlanta Hawks receive PG Javaris Crittenton What this means for the Nuggets Williams has much more offensive punch than Crittenton and the two are about equal in terms of passing skill, but the key for the Nuggets is really that Williams' contract expires after this season, freeing up vital cap room for Denver to make a play at retaining Zelipe Gama. Incidentally, Williams also played for the Nuggets in 2013, coming to Denver as part of the Paulinho Buboltz/Mateen Yeaton deal. What this means for the Hawks Crittenton was the starting PG last year for the Hawks and now he's right back where he was last season, resuming his role as the starter at the point for Atlanta. This may not be a good thing, as Atlanta was 30-52 last year and they're 7-7 so far this season. On the other hand, Crittenton is a much better ballhandler and defender than Williams. Advantage: Draw Both teams appear to benefit by it, although it's costing Atlanta a 2nd round pick and some payroll flexibility next year to get their old starting PG back. Personally, I think we won the deal. We got some trade bait in addition to some payroll relief and I wanted more scoring off the bench anyway, as I don't expect Kirk Hinrich and Steve Neal especially to maintain their current pace. December starts with a chilly clunker, a 103-98 loss to the Heat for just our second loss of the year. Ron McPherson scored 28, Mateen Yeaton 21 and we got 10 points and 10 rebounds out of Emeka Okafor and 12 bench points from Kirk Hinrich, but our newest Nugget, Marcus Williams, shoots a piss-poor 1 for 6, which didn't help matters. Mateen Yeaton scores 32 points and Zelipe Gama summons up 14 points and 19 assists as we dispell the Magic 115-96 in our next game. Good to see us regroup, particularly since the annual East Conference Road Gauntlet is up next. The nation's capital hosts our 97-87 victory over the Wizards as Zelipe Gama plays the role of a dastardly Spanish conquistador with 20 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 blocks and a steal. Ron McPherson adds 25 points and Emeka Okafor completes the torching with 17 points and 18 rebounds. Our biggest win of the season comes next in Toronto as we stun the Raptors 124-118 behind 42 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and a steal from Mateen Yeaton, 14 points and 15 rebounds from David Jackson and hot bench scoring from Mike Nooner (12 points) and Thabo Sefolosha (11 points). The boost to our morale from this victory simply can't be overstated. The party continues in New York, Mateen Yeaton the MC with 33 points in a baller 118-95 whipping of the Knicks. A shoutout goes to Emeka Okafor with 11 points and 12 rebounds and to Thabo Sefolosha with 13 points to bust out with the second team. But the real macdaddy of the evening is David Jackson who showed some real playa skills in rolling the Knickies up for 22 points and 12 rebounds. The thought of a Jackson/Tim Davis frontcourt over the next several years is a delicious one and I can already hear opposing coaches' brains blowing out in aneurysm trying to solve that riddle. That pairing would be even more brutal than the Raptors' frontcourt, who, while they got game, they don't have the physical brutality that our big boys can engineer on the D.L. The doubleheader in Philadelphia and Boston are the toughest two-game stretch we've all had year. Mateen Yeaton scores 26 points as all five of our starters score 11 points or better in edging the 76ers 93-85. Zelipe Gama was key with 12 points and 13 assists and Kirk Hinrich contributed 10 points off the bench. The Celtics ambush us in a stinking 1-point 100-99 loss. Our bench played like shit all game, negating 26 points and 12 assists from Zelipe Gama and 22 points from Ron McPherson. This does not make me happy in the least. I'm even less happy when we lose 115-108 to Miami on the front end of a back-to-back. Dwayne Wade scored 31 on us the first time the Heat beat us this month and he scores 33 in this rematch. We absolutely waste 46 points from Mateen Yeaton and 20 points and 16 rebounds from Emeka Okafor. Our bench sucked again and David Jackson scored a goose egg, as in 0 points. We grind out an 87-73 victory over Orlando the next night to break the mini-losing streak. Steve Neal and Lindsey Williamson finally end the subs' streak of suck with 11 points and 10 rebounds respectively and Mateen Yeaton and Ron McPherson step up with 20 points a piece on the nose. So not a good road trip at all, not with the way we'd played in November. But it is what it is and we have a homecoming party by beating up the Suns 106-89. Ron McPherson punches Phoenix for 25 points, Mateen Yeaton helps out with 21 points, Zelipe Gama collects 10 points and 11 assists and Steve Neal rises out of the second team for 11 points. Zelipe Gama plays an early Santa Claus with 21 assists, Mateen Yeaton scores 28, Ron McPherson 22 and we get 16 points and 15 rebounds out of Emeka Okafor to smack the silly Sonics 112-97 in Seattle. Kirk Hinrich added 10 bench points, but we still need more firepower in my opinion. Then again, we'll get a big boost when Tim Davis comes back sometime in February. Dallas may suck these days, but Jonte Jones always keeps games respectable and our 108-102 victory over the Mavericks on Christmas Eve is surprisingly tough as a result. Fantastic game from our starting five, though. Zelipe Gama had 11 points and 15 assists, Mateen Yeaton scored 19, Ron McPherson just missed a double-double with 23 points and 9 assists, Emeka Okafor got the double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds and David Jackson rounded things out with a matching 21 points. Golden State is much less of a challenge on Christmas Day, falling 115-87 before the might of Mateen Yeaton's 33 points, Zelipe Gama's 18 points and 14 assists and Steve Neal's 14 bench points. We nerf the 76ers, holding them to 26.9% shooting and all 5 of our starters scored 12 points or more in a 90-57 pasting. Zelipe Gama -just- missed the triple-double with 12 points, 9 assists and 9 rebounds. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are even more fun than their Christmas equivalents as we win both games handily. The Lakers can't do jack against us in Los Angeles and we beat them 95-78 as Mateen Yeaton scores 28 and David Jackson has 10 points and 13 rebounds. Mateen Yeaton the lead scorer again with 26 points against the Clippers on the first day of the New Year, nearly every one of the rest of the starters playing great as well. Ron McPherson with 22 points. Emeka Okafor with 17 points and 13 rebounds and Zelipe Gama with 16 points and 13 assists. We're still the kings of the NBA by a huge margin as the closest team to our 27-4 record is the 23-9 Spurs. We enjoy a 10.5 game advantage over the Jazz in the Northwest, while San Antonio's up by 9 in the Southwest. But the West overall is the weakest it's been in years, maybe even decades. Just 4 teams in the West Conference have winning records right now and it's not even close. Denver 27-4 San Antonio 23-9 Utah 17-15 Sacramento 15-13 That's it. No wonder we have a 16-0 conference mark. Therefore, it shouldn't surprise you that the East has 11 teams with winning records at this juncture. The Raptors and Bucks are in a virtual tie for the top seed, but both of them are behind us and the Spurs. Because of all this winning madness going on, only the 4-25 Nets are way out of it. In fact, with the exception of New Jersey, the worst last place team in a division is only 5.5 out. That'd be the Bulls, who are 13-15 in the Central, with the Bucks at 18-9. Good thing I don't have the Cavs pick this year. They're 17-13. Conversely, the pick we do have, the Hornets, are presently 5-24. But the conference inequality isn't even the most shocking story to me. It's that the Knicks are in 2nd place in the Atlantic, just 2 games out on the Raptors at 18-12. What a strange, strange NBA world we live in so far this season. Paulinho Buboltz-Mateen Yeaton Comparison Paulinho Buboltz 2013 Stats: 82 games/77 starts - 17.0 PPG 9.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.2 SPG 2014 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.1 PPG 8.7 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.4 SPG 2015 Stats: 55 games/48 starts - 14.1 PPG 8.3 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.2 SPG 2016 Stats: 28 games/28 starts - 19.9 PPG 8.8 APG 3.6 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.5 SPG Mateen Yeaton 2013 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.4 APG 5.2 RPG 1.8 BPG 1.6 SPG 2014 Stats: 82 games/80 starts - 23.2 PPG 3.6 APG 5.2 RPG 1.7 BPG 1.3 SPG 2015 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.6 PPG 2.4 APG 4.5 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.5 SPG 2016 Stats: 31 games/31 starts - 26.4 PPG 3.3 APG 4.5 RPG 2.2 BPG 2.0 SPG __________________ 2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty)