NBA2K10: Building the Bobcats

[Radii]

I'm trying to get back into the NBA IRL after about a decade away, and am loving the gameplay in the post-patch NBA 2K10, so I figure I'll give it a shot and see how Association mode plays out.

I have lots of questions about how this is going to work, and a bit of hesitance(is that a word? am I using it right?), but its not likely something that the OS Forums will magically answer for me in a day or two, I'm just going to have to dive into a dynasty and see if I like where it goes.

I'm not one for the roleplaying part of a dynasty universe, so lets just get straight into the technical details.


Platform: PS3
Roster Set: OS Real Sim Roster Vol 3 (the latest of what seems to be the top rated PS3 roster set, it appears to be based off Nogster's 360 roster info).
Slider Set: I'm using Pared's post patch sliders on pro difficulty. My next post will contain the slider set. If I make any further tweaks I intend to keep that post updated.

Draft Classes: CPU Generated. I looked over a few different draft class sets on 2K Share and am not really impressed, plus there's an age bug after the patch that I don't want to deal with in draft classes created pre-patch. If the game is good, and if it generates and progresses players well, it doesn't have to be John Wall coming in next year, I'll get immersed in the careers of John Doe just as easily.

Other Noteworthy Rules:

Trade Override ON

CPU Trading is on. I'll be monitoring this closely, though if the CPU Trade logic is so bad that this becomes a big issue that'll likely be a showstopper.


I intend to ignore practice and either ignore, or limit, development drills. All of this is subject to change at any time, but if I fundamentally change anything about how I play I will always make sure to note that.


With that, I'll be taking over my local franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats. I have no outside loyalty to the Bobcats. I'm not really a fan of any NBA team. I'm currently following Denver closer than anyone, entirely because of Ty Lawson. But Charlotte is bad and local, so its a solid appropriate choice for a dynasty such as this.

[Radii]

Slider Set

Pro Difficulty
12 Minute Quarters
Game Speed - 50 (This is important, lowering/raising alters game clock and other settings)

(User/CPU, anything not listed is default)

OFFENSE
Inside Shot Success - 46/47
Close Shot Success - 46/46
Mid-Range Shot Success - 50/49
3PT Success - 50/50
Layup Success - 48/50
Dunk Success - 49/50

DEFENSE
Help Defense Strength - 55/55

ATTRIBUTES
Stamina - 45/45
Hustle - 43/43
Ball Handling - 45/45
Hands - 45/45
On-Ball Defense - 50/80
Defensive Awareness - 50/58
Clutch Factor - 43/43

TENDENCIES
Commit Fouls - 55/55
Go for On Ball Steals - 50/43
Contest Shots - 50/55

FOULS
80 Charging Fouls
100 Blocking Fouls
70 Reach-In Fouls
65 Shooting Fouls
100 Loose Ball Fouls


As mentioned in the original post, these are Pared's sliders over on the OS forums.

[Radii]

Coaching Staff

The Staff Budget is currently set at $10 million, and we're currently using $7.55 million.

Head Coach Larry Brown

Heh, I just tried to fire him and I'm not allowed I forgot/didn't realize I'd have to pay out his remaining contract to do so. He makes $5 million/year for the next two years. There's a MUCH better coach available who only wants $5.4 million, but I can't buyout Brown and hire the new guy.

Offense: C
Defense: B
Teacher: B
Potential: D

Not bad, not worth $5m/year.

Assistant Coach Phil Ford

2 years/500k

Offense: B
Defense: D
Teacher: C
Potential: D

Ford needs to go but this year is a lost cause anyway, I'm going to let his contract expire most likely instead of buying him out, and focus my extra money on scouting.

NBA Scout Bryant Blount

Here is where I am eating some money. I had a scout with a D rating/C potential making $1 million/year for 3 years. I fired him and am going to have to fulfill the full contract anyway. Seems completely worth it.

$1.2 million/year - 4 years

Scouting Level: B
Potential: A

Prospect Scout William Nicholson

Level: D
Potential: C
Salary: 3 years/350k

This guy sucks, but there are three slots for prospect scouts. Since I'm going to have to eat the money anyway for the duration of the contract, I might as well keep him.

Prospect Scout Mark Page

Level: A
Potential: A
Contract: 4 years @ $1M/year

No brainer hire.

Prospect Scout Darren Bridges

Scouting Level: F
Potential: A
Salary: 3 years @ $100k/yr

Totally an experiment. This is the cheapest scout available. I'm curious how his ratings will rise if I just use him to scout players at the tail end of the draft class.

Trainer Ryan Payton

Level: B
Potential: C

Contract: 3 years @ $700k/yr

After hiring new scouts I can't afford better, and he's not bad anyway.


This leaves me with $9.85 million out of my $10 million staff budget in use. This staff will be in place for the next two seasons barring retirements. After two years I'll begin to have some decisions.

[Radii]

Scouting Note

So at the start of a new association I only have access to a letter grade high level overview of a player's abilities, and an OVR rating. to get detailed numeric ratings I have to scout them, even my own players. I have 8 scouting reports available initially, and more are made available on the 1st of every month starting Dec 1st.

I use my initial 8 scouting reports to scout my top 8 rotation players. Apparently higher rated scouts get more scouting reports each month than worse ones. It seems that all scouts will arrive at the same answers, but that better scouts allow one to scout more players. Interesting.

2009/10 Charlotte Bobcats Roster

Starters

PG Raymond Felton - 25 y/o - 6'1 198 lbs" - 74 OVR

Rated 80 or 81 everywhere but from 3, Felton can be an acceptable scorer. His handling and passing ratings are all in the 80-85 range which seems solid. Backup PG DJ Augustin handles the ball better, but Felton is a much better passer. I might have more to say once I've seen more ratings, its hard to know what to make of this so far. The fact that Felton is the 2nd highest rated player on the team seems a real bad thing.

SG Raja Bell - 33 y/o - 6'5" 215 lbs - 71 OVR

Bell is a fairly good 3 point shooter, rated 82 there. Not much of a scorer anywhere else. Bell's ratings are pedestrian to bad except for one thing. The guy can defend. 85 Defensive Awareness is the highest on the team, 99 hustle, and on ball defense of 87, also best on the team. Bell's job will be to shut down the other team's best player.

SF Gerald Wallace - 27 y/o - 6'7" 220 lbs - 80 OVR

Wallace is the star of the team. He's really only rated well inside, but he's rated extremely well there. He needs to attack the rim to be effective. Wallace has added value as a good rebounder and defender with ok awareness on both ends of the floor.

PF Boris Diaw - 27 y/o - 6'8" 235 lbs - 73 OVR

Diaw has a solid all around shot, strong inside but he can hit the 3 as well. His ball handling and passing ratings are acceptable too. 76 in the post on offense. He's brought down by very poor post defense and a total lack of rebounding ability. Awareness and on ball defense in the low 70s are about what's expected on this team.

C Tyson Chandler - 27 y/o - 7'1" 235 lbs - 70 OVR

So this is what $12 million buys you? Chandler is a good post defender, decent shot blocker, great offensive rebounder(96) and pretty good defensive rebounder. good defensive awareness, no offensive awareness at all. Chandler would be a great big man off the bench to eat up minutes and grab some boards, or a great compliment to say Tim Duncan at PF. But yeah, here he just eats cap space and makes the fans cry.


6th Man

PG DJ Augustin - 21 y/o - 6'0" 180 lbs - 70 OVR

Augustin is the best 3 point shooter on the team, rated 85. A good mid-range jumper and ok driving to the hoop as long as he doesn't get pushed around. Augustin is the best ball handler on the team by a lot, 93 hands/91 with his offhand, but his ball security and passing are a little suspect(both under 70). Defensive awareness is ridiculously bad(49!). Looks like a guy that can hit the 3 and handle the ball but can be a liability.


Role Players

C Nazr Mohammed - 32 y/o - 6'10" 250 lbs - 62 OVR

Offensively he is just as average as Chandler, and he's an ok rebounder, but his post defense is rather awful which accounts for the awful low rating. But we've got no depth inside so he'll be out there a bunch.

SG Flip Murray - 30 y/o - 6'3" 200 lbs - 68 OVR

Murray is actually unscouted for individual ratings. B- outside scoring, B- perimeter D, average athlete, average IQ. An acceptable backup on this team.


Prospects

SF Gerald Henderson - 21 y/o - 6'4" 215 lbs - 67 OVR

Henderson was originally slated to get like 3-4 minutes, I've pushed him up to 8th on the depth chart and want to get him double figures to get his progression going. He has some physical skills right now, speed/quickness/leaping, and that's really it. Depending on how much he is capable of growing, he could become Gerald Wallace, or Gerald Wallace light, a guy who can attack inside, dunk, and defend. But right now he has none of that.


Bench Players

SG Stephen Graham - 27 y/o - 6'6" 215 lbs - 56 OVR

Hopefully Never sees the court.

SF Derrick Brown - 22 y/o - 6'8" 227 lbs - 68 OVR

Depending on his ability to progress, Brown could be a good role player on the team. He has an ok outside game and is average elsehwere, he doesn't appear(without any scouting) to be a major liability. But I'm clearly pushing more minutes on Henderson, so Brown looks like he could eventually be ok, but probably isn't part of my plans as a result of that.

PF Vladimir Radmanovic - 28 y/o - 6'10" 235 lbs - 52 OVR

Best not ever see the floor.


C Desagana Diop - 26 y/o - 7'0" 280 lbs - 56 OVR

Some ability to rebound, he'll be the 4th option in the post.

C Alexis Ajinca - 21 y/o - 7'0" 220 lbs - 43 OVR

The #20 pick of the Bobcats out of France in 2008. Busto.

[Radii]

Contract Status

So from what I understand, NBA2k10 doesn't try to address the entirety of the real world NBA Contract Rules and instead institutes a Hard Cap as a shortcut. What I'm not entirely sure of is what i'm allowed to spend money on when I'm sitting in between the soft cap and hard cap given the shortcuts the game takes.

Salary Cap: $57.70 million
Hard Cap: $90 Million
Team Salary: $68.58 million
Soft Cap Room: -$10.88 million
Hard Cap Room: $21.42 million

I have no desire or intention to add to my cap this year, but I do need to figure out exactly how I'm allowed to spend here.


Player Salaries

PG Felton: $5.50 M/final year
SG Bell: $5.25 M/final year
SF Wallace: $9.51M/3 years remaining(plus a player option for a 4th year)
PF Diaw: $9.00M/final year(plus player option for a second year)
C Chandler: $11.7M/final year(plus player option for a second year)

PG Augustin: 2.38 M/2 years(+team option)
C Mohammed: $6.47M/final year(+player option)
SG Murray: $1.99M/final year
SF Brown: 458k/final year (+team option)
SF Henderson: 1.96M/two years (+2 team option years)

SG Graham: 500k/4 years
PF Radmanovic: 6.47M/final year(+player option)
C Diop: $6M/3 years(+player option)
C Ajinca: $1.37M/final year(=team option)


That's not presented cleanly at all, I'll work on that for the future. How about this?

Expiring Outright:

SG Murray
SG Bell
PG Felton

Expiring pending Player Option:

PF Radmanovic
C Mohammed
C Chandler

Expiring Pending Team Option:

SF Brown


That's a really, really ugly situation. Our bigs are just full of bad contracts given their talent level. I don't really trust the trade engine, diving in blind to an association like this, so I'm probably not going to try very hard to pawn off any of these contracts.

Bell and Felton seem like guys I want to re-sign, and Brown's option will be picked up, its under $1 mil. The rest probably puts us on a 2 year plan to being able to spend.

[Radii]

I think my end goal is to play 1/4 of my games out, and sim the rest. That'll come to about 20 games a year + playoffs. But for now, I'm going to play 1/8 of my games, I want to play 10 games this year to get a feel for progression/trades/league flow and all that and to get out of some of these contracts twice as fast.

[Radii]

October 28th, 2009

Charlotte (0-0) at Boston (0-1)

Team Ratings

CHA:BOS
77:89 OVR
68:89 OFF
82:89 DEF


Boston Scouting

PG Rajon Rondo - 86 OVR - looks like an average scorer but A+ ball handler, A+ defender.

SG Ray Allen - 79 OVR - His 3 point shooting is legendary. Not much on the defensive end.

SF Paul Pierce - 84 OVR - Highly rated inside, outside, on defense, good ball handler... a very good all around player.

PF Kevin Garnett - 89 OVR - stellar inside on offense and defense, decent ball handler for a 6'11" monster.

C Rasheed Wallace - 75 OVR - Good inside on both ends. A bit lacking in the rebounding department maybe?

Bench Players:

C Kendrick Perkins - 71 OVR - Good inside, very good rebounder(better than Sheed)

SF Marquis Daniels - 68 OVR - decent scorer inside but not so great anywhere else.

PF Glen Davis - 65 OVR - Rated lower than I would have expected. C+ inside and C on the boards, everthing else is C- or lower.


Boston's starting 5 blows ours away at every position, but their bench/depth is just average.



1st Quarter

Boston 24
Charlotte 19

Felton leads us with 6, Wallace and Bell have 4 each. Ray Allen has 7 for Boston. Pierce and Garnett both picked up 2 fouls in the first quarter, and the foul totals were 9 for boston/3 for Charlotte. A bit worrisome. Tyson Chandler has 2 of our 3 fouls.

Second Quarter

Boston 44
Charlotte 42

Fouls are definitely standing out. We've made 21 free throws and drawn a ridiculous number of fouls. Wallace has 12 to lead us, Felton 10, Bell 8. Ray Allen has 10 for Boston on 4-11 shooting, he's a bit cold. Allen, Garnett, Pierce all have 3 fouls, I've done nothing to intentially go after those guys, just way too many fouls in general from casual contact in the lane. Chandler has 3 for us but we have far far fewer fouls.

3rd Quarter

Boston 70
Charlotte 67

Boston built a lead as big as 8. Paul Pierce is the story as he made up for the minutes he missed with foul trouble in the first half. He scored 16 in the 3rd and has 18 total. Allen has 13. On our end Wallace is putting up solid, consistent numbers, he's got 18. Raja Bell has an unexpected 14, 2-5 from 3. Felton 10, and another surprise with Gerald Henderson scoring 9.

Garnett picked up his 4th foul in the 3rd quarter but no one else has more than 3.

4th Quarter

6:00 4th - Boston goes up 10 as Wallace is really having a hard time scoring and Pierce and Garnett are just not missing anything.

With two minutes left we're still down 10 and haven't cut it back into single digits yet. Boston has 4 offensive boards that I can remember and appear to have actively decided that Gerald Wallace isn't going to beat them.

Boston 98
Charlotte 88

Not bad for 3 quarters. Paul Pierce is the player of the game with an explosive second half.


Wallace: 27 points/11 boards (8-13 FG)
Bell: 16 points
Felton: 12 points/4 boards/7 assists
Henderson: 9 points/2 boards
Chandler: 8 points/3 boards
Diaw: 7 points/8 boards

One big problem is that DJ Augustin, best as a pure jumpshooter for me, has an insta-release shot motion that I will need to practice with. I was 0-5 from 3 with him, I blame the release for him not hitting a couple.

For Boston:

Pierce 28
Allen 15
Garnett 15/9 boards
Perkins 9/11 boardas
House 7 points/7 assists

Rondo also with 7 assists.

[Radii]

October 30 - New York(0-1) at Charlotte(0-1)

Charlotte leads 23-8 after a quarter and appears to sail to victory from there. Diaw scores 18 with 10 boards, Bell 17, Augustin 14, Wallace 13 points/16 boards, Felton 12/9 assists. Harrington has 13 and is the only Knick in doublefigures.

Charlotte 86
New York 61


October 31 - Charlotte (1-1) at Cleveland (3-0)

After a close first quarter Cleveland dominates the 2nd. The final margin is only 9 points but we outscored Cleveland by 9 to make it close.

Lebron only has 16 in the win, Mo Williams leads them with 20. Felton dominates the game for Charlotte with 25 points. Wallace has 10 points/10 boards, Augustin 10.

Cleveland 80
Charlotte 71

Minnesota Free Agent Signing

I knew he was out there but there's no point in dumping more cash into an aging vet, so I waited to see where he'd end up. Allen Iverson, rated 84 OVR in this roster set, signs with the Timberwolves. He immediately becomes the best player on the team.

[Radii]

November 2 - New Jersey (3-0) at Charlotte(1-2)

Close all the way through, tied up after 3 quarters, we play well in the 4th to win.

Raja Bell 25 points, Felton 17, Wallace 15. Devin Harris leads all with 27 for New Jersey. Brook Lopez has an impressive line with 16 points and 17 boards.

Charlotte 110
New Jersey 103


Player Injury

Tyson Chandler has broken a finger in a simmed game. His OVR rating falls to 61, still as good as Nazr Mohammad, so out of pure lazy I'm leaving him in as my starter. Its a day to day injury obviously.



November 6 - Atlanta (1-2) at Charlotte(2-2)

Its a blowout. Wallace has 21, Felton 15 points/10 assists, Bell 14. Jamal Crawford leads Atlanta with 15.

Charlotte 100
Atlanta 77


November 7 - Charlotte (3-2) at Chicago (3-2)

Our overall team ratings are similar, 74 for us, 73 for them, but I didn't expect to beat Chicago on the road. Its an embarrassing 57-32 at the half. We come back to make it respectable, but yea, not really.

Bell 16, Felton 15, Diaw 13. Rose leads all scorers with 20 for the Bulls.

Chicago 89
Charlotte 80


November 10 - Orlando (4-3) at Charlotte(3-3)

Orlando leads by 9 after a quarter, we claw to within 2 after 3, but they pull away to win as they're supposed to do.

Diaw leads us with 18, Wallace 17, Bell 16. Dwight Howard puts up 25 and 11 to lead Orlando.

Orlando 99
Charlotte 89

November 11 - Charlotte (3-4) at Detroit (3-4)

And here we pull a nice little upset on the road. Detroit leads by 9 after 1. We lead by 2 at the half, by 12 after 3 and hang on for a 5 point win.

Felton leads us with 18, Augustin 14, Wallace 13. I'm watching my rookie closely, and Gerald Henderson gives us 10 today

Charlotte 89
Detroit 84

[Radii]

November 14, 2009

Portland(6-4) at Charlotte(4-4)

Well, this was the game I played out, sort of. I ended up quick simming at the half and lost the writeup before I could finish it. Brandon Roy is rated 88 OVR and is a monster, and Greg Oden is a defensive stud. I couldn't drive inside without Oden altering a shot(or I was just super cold). I was down 23-17 after 1, and down 63-34 at the half. Roy just went off in the 2nd quarter, he had 27 at the half and I simmed it out.

Wallace ended up with 22 points/15 boards, Felton 12, Bell 12. Roy scored 44 on 18-23 shooting for Portland. Oden had 19 boards.

Portland 117
Charlotte 76


Slider Change

Fouls again seem ridiculous. I remember that I shot 14 free throws in the 1st quarter alone. Just too many shooting fouls on out of control contact inside and too many petty reach-in fouls while I'm standing at the top of the key setting up a play. Since its one sided though I'm changing the player tendencies instead of overall foul sliders.

"CPU Commit Fouls" lowered back to 50 from 55. I don't want to go nuts and overadjust. We'll see how that works.



November 16 - Charlotte (4-5) at Orlando (6-4)

Easy one for the defending Eastern Conference Champs. Wallace with 21, Bell 18, Felton 8. Howard has 21 and 14 for Orlando, Vince Carter 17.

Orlando 93
Charlotte 73



November 18 - Charlotte(4-6) at Philadelphia (6-4)

Charlotte leads 38-21 after a quarter and slowly gives away that lead throughout the rest of the contest, falling by 7. Bell leads us with 24, Felton 20, Wallace 19. Iguodala scores 23 for Philly, Thaddeus Young and Elton Brand both put up 20.

Philadelphia 107
Charlotte 100



November 20 - Charlotte(4-7) at Milwaukee(3-6)

Up by 8 at the half, up by 7 after 3, collapse in the 4th. Wallace with 14, Augustin 12, Chandler 10. Brandon Jennings scores 21, Michael Redd 19 for Milwaukee. Jennings is averaging 15.8 ppg so far this year.

Milwaukee 76
Charlotte 74


November 22 - Indiana (6-4) at Charlotte(4-8)

Wow. 33-17 after 1. 62-22 at the half... yup, Indiana scored 5 second quarter points. We don't blow this one. Felton with 21, wallace and Diaw both score 19 and both get double doubles. Danny Granger with 23, no one else in double figures for the Pacers. Tyler Hansbrough has the 6th man role and is averaging 10.2 ppg so far. He had 7 points/7 boards in this one.

Charlotte 95
Indiana 61


November 25 - Toronto (6-9) at Charlotte(5-8)

No winning streak here. Toronto blows us out behind 25 points from Andrea Bargnani and 18 from Chris Bosh. Wallace has 27, Bell 12, Felton 11.

Toronto 107
Charlotte 80


November 27 - Cleveland(11-4) at Charlotte(5-9)

No surprise here. James with 21 points, 10 boards, 8 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Felton leads us with 21, Wallace 15, Bell 15.

Cleveland 92
Charlotte 83


November 28 - Charlotte(5-10) at Washington(7-7)

We end the month with a win. Bell 17, Wallace 17 and 15 rebounds, Felton 16. Jamison leads the Wizards with 22. Gilbert Arenas was 2-12 from 3.

Charlotte 91
Washington 74



Heh, my next game, the one I'd normally play, is against the Celtics. If I'm only going to play 10 games this season, I'm not going to play two against them. I'll sim this one and play out the next.

December 1 - Boston (10-7) at Charlotte (6-10)

Well I'll be damned. We lead 39-27 at the half. Boston wins the 3rd and 4th quarters but can't quite close the gap all the way down and we get the victory. Bell with 22, Wallace 15, Felton 9. Garnett had 22 for the Celtics, Pierce 19.

Charlotte 80
Boston 76

[Radii]

The first CPU trade that I look at really closely rolls by... Boston trades Ray Allen straight up for Houston's Tracy McGrady. They'd never do it in the real world, but its not terrible enough for me to reverse. Allen is 34 years old and averaging 18 points/game. McGrady is only 30, averaging 15.5/game. Allen rated 79 OVR, McGrady 77. Both are in the final year of their respective contracts. Allen is better but McGrady younger, I'll allow it!



The Knicks just traded PF Al Harrington to Denver straight up for Nene. Both players are rated about the same in game.

[Radii]

December 4, 2009

Charlotte(7-10) at New Jersey(7-11)

CHA:NJ
74:78 OVR
65:81 OFF
78:86 DEF

New Jersey Scouting

PG Devin Harris - 86 OVR - 25.1 ppg/5.8 apg - Great ball handler, very good defender, obviously a good scorer. The last game I played Brandon Roy destroyed me singlehandedly. I'll have to make sure Harris doesn't do the same.

SG Keyon Dooling - 73 OVR - 9.3 ppg - Dooling is an ok starter, not a go to guy but a guy that can defend well, won't turn the ball over and can score a little.

SF Terrence Williams - 73 OVR - 13.2 ppg/7.3 rpg - The #11 pick in last year's draft out of Louisville is off to a great start for the Nets.

PF Eduardo Najera - 64 OVR - 4.2 ppg/3.3 rpg - Clearly the weak link in the lineup. Average at best.

C Brook Lopez - 76 OVR - Lopez is averaging a double double, 14.3 ppg/10.8 rpg. He's not a superstar but he's solid in the post on offense and defense and on the glass.


6th man Rafer Alston is a good guard off the bench, scoring 9 points/game, rated 76 OVR. No one else on the team is rated over 70.

Their big men outside of Lopez are really really poor. Too bad I don't have quality bigs to go after them. But hopefully this is a sign that Gerald Wallace can attack hard and have a big game inside.


First Quarter

New Jersey 35
Charlotte 19

ugh. One thing I noticed here... in college hoops 2k8 if you're playing "lock-on" defense with L2 or whatever, when your man goes up for a shot you contest it automatically. In this game you do not. Im not used to this yet and the Nets hit 4 or 5 shots where I didn't even put a hand up in the shooter's face. I'll have to work on that.

Diaw leads Charlotte with 6, I was going after Najera specifcally there. Harris and Lopez both have 8 for New Jersey and I'm struggling against both.

2nd Quarter

New Jersey 55
Charlotte 48

Just a great second quarter for us. We score the first 8 in a row in the quarter, the Nets push it back ahead by a bit but Gerald Wallace gets matched up against Eduardo Najera for a few minutes and just completely abuses him. Wallace ends the half shooting 6-8 from the field, adding a few free throws for 16 points total. Our scoring is balanced elsewhere, no one else has more than 6. Courtney Lee hits two threes and has 11 for New Jersey. Lopez and Harris have 10 each.


Third Quarter

At the 6 minute mark we tie the game up for the first time in forever, 63-63. Open shots, and even some moderately contested ones just stopped going in as often for New Jersey. Its 67-67 when New Jersey goes on a 7-2 run, but we reel them back in, and its just a 2 point game after 3.

New Jersey 76
Charlotte 74

Wallace leads all scorers with 23. Diaw and Felton with 10 each. Lopez with 14 for the Nets. Harris only has 10. Fouls started adding up again in the 3rd quarter though. Harris has only played 22 out of 36 minutes so far, he's got four fouls. I should point out, 12 assists too, so its not a bad day for him or anything.


Fourth Quarter

10:00 - Devin Harris takes over. He hits a jumper and draws the defense before making two great assists... Wallace is blocked by Lopez on a drive and its 86-76 Nets very quickly.

Heh. The Nets just don't miss for a long time... the get the lead up to 18, 98-80 and the 4th quarter is far less interesting than I would have wanted it to be.

New Jersey 110
Charlotte 95

I played really poorly in the 1st quarter, the 4th though, New Jersey just took over in impressive fashion.

wallace: 29 points/7 boards
Diaw: 14 points/7 boards
Felton: 12 points
Henderson: 9 points
Chandler: 7 points/10 boards

Bell had a very bad shooting day, scoring only 6 points on 3-9 shooting.

For the Nets, Lopez had 21 points/14 boards. Harris had 17 points/17 assists. Dooling 16, Najera 14(I kept trying to leave him to double Harris when he'd start to drive. I learned eventually that Harris would just find him for an open 15 footer every time).

[Radii]

Dec 5 - Philadelphia (11-8) at Charlotte(7-11)

Blowing another lead in the 4th here, we're up 8 after 3 and lose by 6. Bell 19, Diaw 15, Wallace 13. Young has 16 to lead Philly.

Philadelphia 80
Charlotte 74


December 8 - Denver(12-8) at Charlotte(7-12)

A nice surprise over a better team here. Felton 19, Wallace 17, Augustin 16. Carmelo with 19 for Denver. Lawson is hurt and out for 4-6 weeks and didn't play.

Charlotte 95
Denver 92



December 11 - Charlotte(8-12) at San Antonio(15-4)

As expected. Wallace 20, Augustin 13, Diaw 12. Ginobili puts up 28 for San Antonio.

San Antonio 99
Charlotte 84


December 12 - Charlotte(8-13) at Dallas(12-11)

We're behind the whole way, close the lead down at the end but fall just short. Wallace 19, Felton 16, Bell 15. Josh Howard scores 18 in 24 minutes to lead the Mavs.

Dallas 88
Charlotte 86


December 15 - New York(8-15) at Charlotte(7-15)

Always frustrating to lose to teams that we're better than. Bell 24, Felton 24, Wallace 23. David Lee kills us for 32.

New York 110
Charlotte 106


December 16 - Charlotte(8-15) at Indiana(11-11)

We'll be taking a 4 game losing streak into our next played game. Granger with 36... Hansbrough double-double, 13 points/15 boards. We get 19 from Diaw, 16 from Augustin.

Indiana 110
Charlotte 84

[Radii]

I sim one more game so I can set up to play against a bad team, I want to win one this year as much as I want to just get some progress made after all

December 19 - Utah(14-12) at Charlotte(8-16)

And like last time, we pull off an upset win against a far better team. Felton 18, Murray 15, Wallace 13. Deron Williams with 25, Boozer with 24.

Charlotte 95, Utah 93



December 20, 2009

Charlotte(9-16) at New York(x-x)

CHA:NYK
74:75 OVR
66:75 OFF
78:75 DEF

New York Scouting

PG Nate Robinson - 77 OVR - 13.7 ppg/4.8 apg - Robinson scouts out as a pretty good ball handler for a PG, an above average scorer outside and an above average defender.

SG - Larry Hughes - 74 OVR - 13.3 ppg - Currently hampered by a strained quad, Hughes is a decent outside shooter and defener.

SF Wilson Chandler - 72 OVR - 12.7 ppg/5.9 rpg - B- inside, B- outside, a below average defender.

PF Nene - 75 OVR - 11.3 ppg/8.2 rpg - Traded from Denver earlier in the year, Nene gives the Knicks a pretty solid frontcourt. A better scorer inside than Lee according to the ratings, but not quite as good on defense.

C - David Lee - 75 OVR - 15.2 ppg/10.2 rpg - Lee is pretty good inside, pretty good on D, pretty good on the boards, he's smart and a decent Athlete as well.


The Knicks starting 5 doesn't rate out all that badly, they just lack a star.

Chris Duhon is the 6th man, a 70 rated PG averaging 9 ppg. Rookie Toney Douglas is rated 68 OVR and is averaging 5.2 ppg in just 12 minutes/game. Eddie Curry and Jared Jeffries are rated in the low-mid 60s and are the bigs off the bench.


First Quarter

Charlotte 23
New York 21

I seem to struggle out of the gates every game, we fall behind 8-0 here in the first 3 minutes before waking up. Wallace has 11 and is looking very good early. Nate Robinson has 7 to lead the Knicks, he's 3-9 from the field though, he seemed to force up a lot of shots.

2nd Quarter

Charlotte 50
New York 41

One of the best quarters I've played so far. We're holding the Knicks to 37% from the floor, we're at 48% ourselves. The Knicks tied it once early in the quarter but we led by 6 or so most of the way. Wallace and Felton rested most of the quarter. Bell has 11, Wallace 11 for us at the half. Diaw with 8. Their starting SF Chandler has 10, Toney Douglas with 7 and Nate Robinson still has 7, he sat most of the quarter too.

3rd Quarter

New York 77
Charlotte 62

what? Jesus. We go totally cold and New York doesn't miss a damn thing... holy crap. Wallace 15, Bell 14. Their man Chandler, their worst starter by far, has 22 points.


4th Quarter

6:25 to go - We cut the lead down to 10 in what has become a very high scoring quarter. Its 94-84. New York started the quarter off with two 3's and a 3 point play, just ugly for us. Fouls are out of control, the Knicks have 9, we have 5. Augustin just hit a 3 to cut it to 10.

5:25 to go - 94-89! Augustin gets Darko on him and blows by him, drawing a foul and hitting two free throws. Darko then misses a hook on the other end and Augustin is out on the break for a 3 point play. He's got 8 in a row for us in a 60 second span.

3:15 to go - 99-96 Knicks. Eddy Curry throws a pass out of bounds, Chandler(their chandler) sinks a 3, and Tyson Chandler for us has a couple free throws. This game is a sign to change the foul sliders more hah.

2:25 to go - 102-98. Another 3 for the Knicks, a pretty nice looking play where a guy comes off a screen and I can't get out in time on him. Bell with a drive for 2 on our end. Timeout Knicks.

1:50 to go - 102-100! Curry misses a shot in the post and Gerald Wallace gets a smaller guy on him and takes it inside for a bucket. Wallace has been a big part of this giant 4th quarter, he's up to 30 for the game.

1:08 to go - 106-104. Each team scores on two straight possessions. Knicks ball, up 2 with a minute left.

0:46 to go - 106-104. Turnover Knicks! I'm not sure exactly what happened here, just a bad pass, or we tipped a ball but it ended up going off of Nate Robinson... either way, our ball with a shot to tie.

0:35 to go - 107-106 Charlotte!! Raja Bell gets a step on Nate Robinson and makes it to the basket,he's hammered by Darko and gets the ball into the net!


Nate Robinson goes up in the air but kicks it back to Duhon who misses an open 3. They get the offensive board, Robinson goes one on one against Bell and takes a shot from 18 feet out, its off the rim, we rebound with 2 seconds left and hold on to win!!

Charlotte 107
New York 106


So we get the win but its kinda ridiculous. Charlotte commits 17 fouls. New York commits 35. About 15 of those were in this insane 4th quarter. More adjustments coming there. We shot 45% from the field compared to 47% from the Knicks. We were terrible from 3 though(3/14).

Wallace: 32 points/4 boards
Bell: 21 points
Augustin: 15 points/3 assists (2-4 from 3)
Diaw: 11 points/5 boards
Felton: 10 points/4 assists
Chandler: 8 points/11 boards


The Knicks' Wilson Chandler scores 36 on 13-21 shooting. Hughes 15, Duhon 13, Toney Douglas with 10. Nate Robinson has 9 points/7 assists.

[Radii]

ah hell, I am an idiot. I had shooting fouls at 100 in game, they're "supposed" to be at 65. So I'm dropping that to where it should be and that'll be my only tweak for the next couple games.

[Radii]

There have been two trades that I haven't mentioned:

Pacers get: Marcus Camby
Clippers get: TJ Ford

This is a terrible trade for Indiana. This leaves them with 65 rated Earl Watson as their starting PG, while Camby doesn't really add a lot to the Pacers interior. The problem is that Camby got hurt in the next game after the trade, and the game won't seem to let me trade the two of them back while one player is injured.


Also:

Phoenix gets: SF Carlos Delfino
Milwaukee gets: SF Grant Hill

I can't say this makes a lot of sense either. Hill is rated 71, Delfino 61. Both have short, small contracts. The only reason Phoenix might do this is to get more playing time for rookie SF Earl Clark, who is rated 63 OVR, but Phoenix has a lot of talent and should be a playoff contender. Without any way to justify this one for the Suns, I reverse it.


Finally, Memphis has fired their head coach.

[Radii]

December 22 - Detroit (11-16) at Charlotte(10-16)

We scored almost as much vs the Knicks in the 4th quarter of that last game as we did vs Detroit today. Bell 13, Augustin 11, Felton 9. Rodney Stuckey leads Detroit with 20.

Detroit 85
Charlotte 67


December 26 - Charlotte(10-17) at Oklahoma City(13-14)

Tied after 3, OKC wins a close one. Bell 21, Diaw 20, Wallace 14. Westbrook leads the Thunder with 21. Durant 16.

Oklahoma City 84
Charlotte 80


December 28 - Milwaukee (9-19) at Charlotte (10-18)

Another one that isn't even close. Felton 15, Wallace 14, Diaw 8. Michael Redd with 17 to lead the Bucks.

Milwaukee 92
Charlotte 65


December 30 - Charlotte(10-19) at Toronto (12-20)

We win our last game of the calendar year. Wallace 18 points/16 boards, Bell 15, Diaw 15, Felton 14. Bargnani 23, B osh 21 for the Raptors.

Charlotte 91
Toronto 75


January 2 - Charlotte(11-19) at Miami (14-15)

Two in a row! Bell 18, Murray 13, Diaw 12. Wade with 20 for the Heat.

Charlotte 81
Miami 79


January 3 - Charlotte (12-19) at Cleveland(23-12)

Yeah... no way in hell we're winning this one. Bell 16, Wallace 14, Felton 11. Varajao 18, James with 15 points/8 boards/7 assists, only shot 6-19.

Cleveland 94
Charlotte 58


And with that time to play our next game against a similarly rated and similarly struggling Chicago team. I'll take a break at the All Star break to review the standings and stats and all that jazz.

[Radii]

I doublecheck the foul sliders to make sure I adjusted the shooting fouls correctly before getting into this one.

January 5th, 2010

Chicago (11-21) at Charlotte(12-20)

CHA:CHI
72:73 OVR
64:71 OFF
77:71 DEF

Chicago Scouting

PG Derrick Rose - 79 OVR - 17.1 ppg/6.8 apg - Good scorer, very good ball handler, average at best defender.

SG Kirk Hinrich - 78 OVR - 10.6 ppg - An outside shooter who is no threat to go inside, above average defense, above average ball handling.

SF Luol Deng - 73 OVR - 15.4 ppg/5.9 rpg - A threat to score both inside and outside, but not so much on the defensive end.

PF Tyrus Thomas - 67 OVR - 9.8 ppg/7.6 rpg - Thomas scouts out as a 'C' everywhere. Just not a lot to say about him.

C Joakim Noah - 68 OVR - 11.4 ppg/13.1 rpg - No skills, all hustle. Good post defense. Awful offensive ratings.


Scouting teams with only 12 scouting reports a month is pretty damn hard heh. Generalized grades don't really give a lot of info to go on here.


70 rated SG John Salmons scores 11.8 points off the bench, Brad Miller is good for 5 points and 4 boards and gives the Bulls size off the bench.


First Quarter

Charlotte 25
Chicago 23

Yeah, its a totally different game with that foul slider adjusted. This was great. We commit 5 fouls and Chicago commits 3. Derrick Rose scores 9 for the Bulls playing all 12 minutes. Wallace is the star though, Luol Deng is just slow by comparison. Wallace's first step is explosive and he blows by Deng with ease. He scores our first 7 points and our last 5 points, add a couple in the middle and he's got 15 points on 6-7 shooting. Felton has 2 fouls for us.


Second Quarter

Chicago 48
Charlotte 42

Chicago goes on a little run and leads by as much as 7. Tyrus Thomas is the player of the half with 10 points/6 boards/4 assists. Chicago has 11 free throws to our 5, the change in shooting fouls has made all the difference in the world towards evening this out. Rose leads Chicago with 15, Hinrich 11, Thomas 10. Wallace still has 15, he only played 3 minutes before sitting out the rest of the 2nd quarter. Tyson Chandler with 7, Henderson with 6, he burned Deng once and Thomas once for some very nice drives to the hoop.


Third Quarter

Chicago 71
Charlotte 63

Gerald Wallace missed a layup that could have cut the lead down to 4 with about 3 minutes left and triggered a Chicago run to push the lead up to double digits. Gerald Henderson gets it back down to 8 but we are in some trouble going into the final quarter. Rose is dominating the game with 24. I had felton on him most of the game, that's switched to Raja Bell now. My mistake for not doing so sooner... Rose is impressive to watch though. Wallace has 21 poitns/7 boards for us. Chandler 11, Henderson 10. Henderson has had a little bit of a breakout today with 10 points in just 11 minutes, a solid showing.


Fourth Quarter

8:40 to go - Chicago's last four points are after offensive boards, always frustrating. Its 75-69 Bulls.

5:10 to go - We're still down 6, the starting 5 is back in for both sides likely for the duration.

4:40 to go - Ugh, 85-75 Bulls. Felton just got stuffed big time driving to the basket by Noah.

2:35 to go - 87-81 Bulls. Noah with a followup jam that is very impressive looking but we get the lead down to 6 with a couple good looks to players cutting inside.

1:25 to go - God I hate Joakim Noah. Key blocked shot by him and its still 87-81, we had a good chance to cut it to four. We have the ball though, still down 6.

1:12 to go - Bell goes right by Hinrich and makes a layup. 87-83 Bulls, their ball.


Chicago gets a 3 point play on the next possession. Hinrich attacks but misses inside, Deng with the rebound and putback, fouled by Felton and his free throw puts them up 7 with less than a minute to go. That pretty much seals it.

Chicago 95
Charlotte 88


Derrick Rose only scores 2 in the 4th quarter, and I have to wonder if I would have won had I put Bell on him earlier.

Wallace: 27 points/9 boards
Bell: 17 points/5 assists
Chandler: 13 points/11 boards
Henderson: 10 points
Felton: 9 points/10 assists

Augustin was cold today, 0-4 from 3.

Rose led Chicago with 26 points/8 assists. Hinrich 16, Deng 13. Noah only scored 8, but he got 13 boards and it seemed like he was everywhere in the final 6 minutes or so.


Each team shot 45% from the field. Chicago was 20/25 from the line, we were 10/15. This game felt *much* better with that foul slider corrected. Big time whoops there from me.

[Radii]

January 7 - Charlotte (12-21) at New York(15-19)

The Knicks lead by 18 at the half and we don't stand a chance. Bell with 26, Felton 12, Wallace 9. David Lee has 26 points/14 boards for New York.

New York 100
Charlotte 79


January 9 - Memphis(11-23) at Charlotte(12-22)

Its a 1 point game after 3 and Memphis pulls it out at the end. Bell with 27, Mohammed 11,Wallace 9. Rudy Gay has 27 for the Grizz.

Memphis 88
Charlotte 82


We lose 3 straight to 3 of the worst teams in the league. Embarrassing!


January 12 - Houston (15-22) at Charlotte(12-23)

Breaking a 4 game losing streak here. Felton 26, Diaw 16, Wallace 12 points/18 boards. Ray Allen with 18 for his new team.

Charlotte 84
Houston 71


San Antonio (30-6) at Charlotte(13-23)

Just the fact that its a close game vs the Spurs is good enough for me at this point. felton 17, Diaw 12, Wallace 11 points/18 boards. Ginobili 19, Duncan 14.

San Antonio 81
Charlotte 75


January 16 - Phoenix (13-27) at Charlotte (13-24)

Ugh, 1 point loss in OT after an 8 point 4th quarter comeback. Bell 23, Diaw 17, Augustin 16. Nash with 23 for Phoenix.

Phoenix 110
Charlotte 109
OT


January 18 - Sacramento(14-25) at Charlotte(13-25)

January is turning into a disaster even by Bobcat standards. Felton 20, Wallace 15, Diaw 12. Spencer Hawes leads Sacramento with 13 points in 9 minutes... Tyreke Evans with 12.

Sacramento 85
Charlotte 78


January 20 - Miami(14-25) at Charlotte(13-26)

Miami has lost 10 in a row after a Dwayne Wade injury. We take advantage ourselves and get a convincing win. Wallace 25 points, Augustin 17, Bell 16. Wade leads Miami but only has 14, he shoots 6-21.

Charlotte 100
Miami 68



That's our 40th game played. I'll play our next one, a road game in Atlanta, and we'll be at the halfway point on the season, though the all star break isn't until mid-February.

[Radii]

After that last series of games, Raja Bell and Boris Diaw both have small injuries nagging at them, keeping them from playing at 100%. Additionally, Flip Murray and Derrick Brown both feel like they ought to be getting more playing time, knocking their effectiveness down a bit. Most everyone else on the team seems to be taking a small hit from Chemistry or sucking or something, so that's problematic. But we're not likely to jump up into the playoffs or anything so its not a big deal this year i'd imagine.

January 22th, 2010

Charlotte(14-26) at Atlanta(23-18)

CHA:ATL
70:81 OVR
62:85 OFF
76:81 DEF

Atlanta Scouting

PG Mike Bibby - 78 OVR - 11.4 ppg/6.2 apg - a solid backcourt mate to Joe Johnson, a good outside shooter and defender.

SG Joe Johnson - 84 OVR - 19.9 ppg/5 rpg/4.4 apg - The star on a well rounded Atlanta team, he's pretty much solid everywhere, attackign the basket, shooting outside, defending and handling the ball.

SF Jamal Crawford - 75 OVR - 16.9 ppg - A 3 guard offense, Crawford looks like a soid outside shooter and an athletic type who might do ok keeping Wallace from the basket.

PF Josh Smith - 78 OVR - 15.4 ppg/9.0 rpg - Smith shoots over 50%, he's not a star by any stretch but he's adequate inside, on the boards and as an all around defender.

C Al Horford - 77 OVR - 10.3 ppg/11.8 rpg - More of a rebounder than a scorer, though he grades out very well inside on offense.

70 rated SF Marvin Williams should have stayed at UNC an extra year, eh? :P He's averaging 8 points/game off the bench. Top pick in this most recent draft, PG Jeff Teague, is hurt, but he's rated 66 OVR when healthy and putting up about 4 points/game. No one else off the bench seems to make a huge impact.


Johnson is a solid second tier star and the rest of their lineup is a noticible nod ahead of what we've got, so this looks pretty bad on paper.


First Quarter

Atlanta 22
Charlotte 19

Gerald Wallace picked up two very quick fouls and spent almost the entire quarter on the bench, so I'm very pleased we were able to find enough ways to score to keep this one close without him. Diaw has 6, Chandler 4, no one else more than 2... Josh Smith has 8 to lead Atlanta, Johnson was cold in the 1st(2-6) and has 5 points.


Second Quarter

Atlanta 54
Charlotte 44

It was 28-27 Hawks when Atlanta scored 14 straight and exploded to a double digit lead. Raja Bell again plays great D on the opponent's star, Joe Johnson only has 9. But Josh Smith is just an insane athlete and is all over the place. He's 8-10 from the field for 18 points. Bibby has 11 and Marvin Williams actually has 10. Gerald Henderson leads us with 8, Murray 7, an odd case of our guys off teh bench being the most effective by far. Wallace has only 4, Felton 4, Augustin 3.


Third Quarter

Atlanta 67
Charlotte 61

At the 6 minute mark in the 3rd we're on an 8-2 run... for the entire quarter that is. 56-52 Atlanta. We eventually go up 60-58 before Atlanta scores 9 straight to take the lead back. We trail by 6 going into the final quarter. Gerald Wallace has a good quarter and now leads us with 13. Henderson is still 2nd with 8, Felton is up to 7 now. Jamal Crawford got up into double figures for the Hawks, but Josh Smith still has 18 and still leads all scorers there.


Fourth Quarter

6:30 to go - Atlanta came out hot and went up by 10 but we've got it back in sight again... Felton burns Jeff Teague three times in a row, coming away with 5 points(getting blocked on one attempt and earning a 3 point play on another). Its 78-72 Atlanta and we're down 6, still within striking distance.

4:40 to go - Atlanta up 8... 82-74, I get a timeout and both teams have their starters back in for good now.

1:45 to go - Raja Bell with a 3, but we've just been trading baskets for awhile. This gets it down to 5... 90-85.

1:15 to go - We get a big stop on defense as Joe Johnson misses a contested 3, and Felton finds Wallace going to the basket for a layin in traffic, 90-87 Atlanta. Atlanta takes a timeout.

0:26 to go - Trading baskets, most frustratingly Al Horford misses a jumper, we have a chance to rebound down 3 with 38 seconds left. I'm controlling Tyson Chandler and leap for the board, it takes an extra bounce on the rim though and I end up goaltending. URGH! We trail 94-91 and have to foul.

0:13 to go - Bibby misses one of his two free throws. Raja Bell misses a 3 on our end, but Wallace is there for the offensive board and putback. Its 95-93 Atlanta. We need them to miss another FT.

0:11.6 to go - Bell is exhausted, I get Augustin and Flip Murray in for 3 point shooting. Joe Johnson only goes 1 of 2 from the line and its 96-93 Atlanta, we get a timeout.

I want to get it to Augustin but can't, Flip Murray ends up takign and missing a 3. We foul one more time but its too late.

Atlanta 98
Charlotte 93


Wallace: 23 points/7 boards
Felton: 12 points/10 assists
Chandler: 10 points/14 boards
Henderson: 10 points
Bell: 10 points

Josh Smith leads atlanta with 22, Jamal Crawford 17, Marvin Williams 16, Joe Johnson 14.

I'm extremely happy with the feel of these last two games after fixing the shooting foul slider, these games have flowed great and felt really really solid.

[Radii]

Jan 23 - Orlando(31-12) at Charlotte(14-27)

We actually take a lead into the fourth quarter here but Orlando isn't about to lose a game to us, they hold us to 10 points in the 4th quarter and win by 7. Wallace 19 points/17 boards, Bell 15, Augustin 14. Jameer Nelson 19, Howard 16 points/17 boards.

Orlando 89
Charlotte 82


Jan 25 - Charlotte(14-28) at Denver(23-20)

Denver with the easy win, we're out west for a little while. Bell 19, Felton 15, Wallace 14. Al Harrington, who came to Denver in an early season trade, scores 30 points, Carmelo 29, Billups 22... impressive numbers from the Nuggets stars.

Denver 118
Charlotte 96


Jan 26 - Charlotte(14-29) at Phoenix(17-29)

We win the 4th quarter by 17 points... and still lose by 9. Bell 21, Diaw 18, Wallace 15. Nash and Amare both put up 27.

Phoenix 115
Charlotte 106


Jan 29 - Charlotte(14-30) at Golden State(23-20)

What a January, ugh! Felton 16, Chandler/Augustin/bell 10 each. Kelenna Azubuike puts up 23 on us, Monta Ellis 20.

Golden State 98
Charlotte 71


Jan 30 - Charlotte (14-31) at Sacramento(16-29)

We go 3-13 for the month. Bell 23, Wallace 13, Augustin 12. Kevin Martin with 21 for the Kings.

Sacramento 93
Charlotte 86


With the horrific end to January we actually have the worst record in the NBA, go-go most ping pong balls?


Feb 1 - Charlotte(14-32) at Portland(31-18)

Well one can only lose for so long. We win by 8 after the ugliest 4th quarter ever, we outscore portland in the 4th 14-7. Augustin 22, Diaw 15, Bell 14. Lamarcus Aldridge leads Portland with 15.

Charlotte 77
Portland 65


Feb 3 - Charlotte(15-32) at LA Lakers(35-14)

Well what is this? Who wants #1 picks when you can upset the top teams in the West on the road! Diaw 22, Felton 20, Augustin 18. Kobe scored 29 for the Lakers.

Charlotte 102
Los Angeles 82


We'll be playing the Hornets in our next game, All Star break is in a about a week.

[Radii]

February 6th, 2010

New Orleans(21-29) at Charlotte(16-32)

CHA:NO
74:76 OVR
66:72 OFF
78:74 DEF

New Orleans Scouting

PG Chris Paul - 93 OVR - 24.9ppg/8.3 apg - Paul is a bona fide superstar in the NBA. Raja Bell will be on him all game and we'll pray he can be slowed down.

SG Julian wright - 59 OVR - 8.6 ppg/4.5 rpg - Wright just looks out of place here. Rated poorly, he's hurt and playing even worse. He's getting about 20-25 minutes a game though and may not see the floor a ton.

SF James Posey - 71 OVR - 7.0 ppg/4.9 rpg - Posey is an ok perimeter defender but just an average overall player.

PF David West - 77 OVR - 15.9 ppg/7.0 rpg - West is a better offensive plaer than Okafor, Okafor is stronger defensively and on the boards.

C Emeka Okafor - 79 OVR - 13.7 ppg/10.8 ppg - Okafor is the 2nd highest rated player on the team, shooting 54.9% from the field, a great rebounder, he'll be a force inside compared to our bigs.

SF Peja Stojakovic is rated 62 OVR and is the Hornets 6th man. He's averaging 11 points/game.

No one else off the bench is putting up over 4 points/game. Darren Collison, the Hornets first round pick out of Kansas, is rated 62 OVR and is backing up Chris Paul.

It seems like we ought to have a shot here. We have a shutdown defender and hopefully we can force someone other than Paul to beat us.


First Quarter

New Orleans 22
Charlotte 16

Second Chance Points... New Orleans has 5 offensive boards, we have none. They have 7 second chance points. James Posey has 10 points, one of the weird things that happens when you shut down Chris Paul I guess. Chandler has 7 to leas us early.


Second Quarter

Charlotte 51
New Orleans 42

New Orleans takes a timeout around the 9 minute mark as we start the quarter on an 11-2 run, leading 27-24. Gerald Wallace picks up a charge and a shooting foul and sits with 3 fouls pretty early on in the quarter. Emeka Okafor ends the quarter with four fouls, he seems to pick one up any time we go near him. We dominate the quarter, 35-20. Paul only has 3 points and 5 assists. It seems like when he can't shake Bell he wont' follow through and try to score anyway, instead passing the ball out(which is pretty common for the CPU in general but a star would presumably find more ways to shoot). Posey still has 10, Stojakovic has 8, West 7. on our end, Gerald Henderson is the major beneficiary of Gerald Wallace's foul trouble. Henderson leads all scorers with 11 points in 12 minutes. He's shooting 5-6 and is basically more athletic than anyone the Hornets can put at SF. Chandler and Augustin both have 7, wallace 6.


Third Quarter

Charlotte 69
New Orleans 65

Well, Chris Paul decided to take more interest in the offense, and he's got 12 points now, 9 in the 3rd quarter. Wallace picked up foul #4 real early in the 3rd and sat, and Gerald Henderson took over again for a short while, he's now got 18 points to lead all scorers. But Paul waking up has allowed them to cut it to four.


Fourth Quarter

7:30 to go - The Hornets take the lead for the first time since early in the 2nd quarter.. a Chris Paul mid-range jumper makes it 75-73 Hornets.

3:40 to go - We'd cut it back down to 1 before Chris Paul drives and draws a foul, he hits 2 at the line and its 84-81 Hornets.

1:20 to go - Gerald Wallace gets stopped twice in a row tryin gto attack the rim, and Chris Paul shows us why he's the star here, scoring twice in a row. Its 90-83 Hornets.


Yep, the star power of Chris Paul, and really their interior defense, takes over when it counts and New Orleans gets the win. Early in the quarter we were attacking the rim very successfully, later on we were having shots blocked, occasionally having the ball stolen, and just not getting all the way to the rim with success when we needed to. New Orleans wins the 4th 27-16 and wins by 7.

New Orleans 92
Charlotte 85

Henderson: 18 points
Wallace: 16 points/7 boards
Diaw: 11 points/8 boards
Augustin: 9 points
Chandler: 9 points/11 boards


Bell 6/Felton 5, they combine for 4-21 shooting while the guys inside have a lot more success.

Paul scores 22 in the 2nd half and finishes with 25 points/9 assists. Posey has 14, Stojakovic 13, West 11 points/16 boards.

[Radii]

Just a couple games til the All-Star Break, I am going to go through it this year just to see how the game handles All Star festivities.

Feb 9 - Washington(26-24) at Charlotte(16-33)

We've won 3 out of 4! This one handily. Bell 20, Felton 17 points/12 assists, Diaw 16. Jamison puts up 24 for Washington.

Charlotte 113
Washington 85



Bobcats Trade

Its a small one, but it fits.

Utah receives: SG Flip Murray (rated 68 OVR at his best)

Charlotte Receives: PG Ronnie Price (undrafted 5 year vet, rated 65 OVR)
C Kyrylo Fesenko (rated 46 OVR, total garbage)


Reasons for Trade:

1) Murray's Morale is slipping, he's got a -3 to his rating as a result. I would expect it to only get worse
2) I want to up Gerald Henderson's minutes. This frees some up.
3) I would like to see more time with Felton and DJ Augustin on the court at the same time. This allows for that more easily too.

I don't really know if an individual player's morale has an effect on the rest of the team, I need to figure that out. But getting rid of a guy whose about to be pissed off can only help.

Murray was set to get 6 minutes a game in my rotation. I gave Gerald Henderson 4 of those minutes(pushing him up to 14/game) and Augustin the other two(pushing him up to 25/game).


Dec 10 - Charlotte(17-33) at Minnesota(25-27)

We've won 4 out of five! Felton with 19, Augustin 15, Bell 15. Johnny Flynn puts up 19 for Minnesota.

Charlotte 87
Minnesota 75


And that brings us up to the All Star Break.

[Radii]

NBA Rookie vs Sophomores Game

Rookie Lineup

PG Johnny Flynn (75 OVR)
SG James Harden (74 OVR)
SF Terrance Williams (73 OVR)
PF S. Ibaka (69 OVR) <-- I have to admit to having no clue who this is without looking him up. Undrafted from the Congo according to the game.
C David Anderson (57 OVR) <-- Drafted in 2002 but playing for the first time in the NBA

Bench:

PG Tyreke Evans (68 OVR)
SG Demarr DeRozan (64 OVR)
SF Gerald Henderson (67 OVR)
PF Taylor Griffin (62 OVR)
C Hasheem Thabeet (57 OVR)


Sophomores

PG Russell Westbrook (78 OVR)
SG OJ Mayo (79 OVR)
SF Michael Beasley (70 OVR)
PF Anthony Randolph (71 OVR)
C Brook Lopez (77 OVR)

Bench:

PG Mario Chalmers (73 OVR)
SG Eric Gordon (72 OVR)
SF Joe Alexander (62 OVR)
PF Kevin Love (72 OVR)
C Marc Gasol (74 OVR)



And yeah I have no interest in playing this game.

Sophs 77
Rookies 79

Rookies

Evans 20 points
Flynn 14 points/7 assists
Williams: 13 points
Harden 12 points

Henderson has 0 points but 6 boards in 18 minutes off the bench.

Soph's

Westbrook: 14 points
Mayo: 11 points
Gordon: 11 points
Love: 9 points/10 boards

[Radii]

All Star Game

East

Starters

PG Gilbert Arenas (85 OVR)
SG Dwayne Wade (95 OVR)
SF Lebron James (98 OVR)
PF Kevin Garnett (91 OVR)
C Dwight Howard (89 OVR)

Bench

PG Devin Harris (87 OVR)
SG Joe Johnson (85 OVR)
SF Danny Granger (85 OVR)
PF Chris Bosh (83 OVR
C David Lee (75 OVR)
PG Jameer Nelson (81 OVR)
SF Gerald Wallace (79 OVR)

Woohoo! Wallace makes the team, though seemingly as the last player.


West

Starters

PG Deron Williams(88 OVR)
SG Kobe Bryant (98 OVR)
SF Carmelo Anthony (89 OVR)
PF Tim Duncan (90 OVR)
C Chris Kaman (74 OVR)

Bench

PG Tony Parker (85 OVR)
PG Chauncey Billups (85 OVR)
SF Kevin Durant (82 OVR)
SG Brandon Roy (89 OVR)
PF Amare Stoudamire (82 OVR)
C Andrew Bynum (75 OVR)
PG Baron Davis (82 OVR)


The western centers are awesome.

East 99
West 94

East:

Johnson 13 points
Arenas 12 points
Nelson 12 points
Bosh 11 points
Harris 10 points

Gerald Wallace has 8 points/4 boards.

West:

Roy 16 points
Durant 13 points
Anthony 12 points
Bryant 12 points
Duncan 11 points


That's all for all star weekend, we'll sim straight through for sure from now on. I guess I was wondering if they did any sort of skills competition... nope.

[Radii]

Midseason Update

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland 39-15
2. Orlando 37-17
3. Boston 30-20
4. Indiana 30-22
5. Philadelphia 28-24
6. Atlanta 28-24
7. Washington 26-25
8. New Jersey 25-25
9. Detroit 22-29
10. New York 22-29
11. Toronto 20-32
12. Miami 20-33
13. Chicago 19-32
14. Charlotte 18-33
15. Milwaukee 16-35


Western Conference

1. San Antonio 40-11
2. LA Lakers 37-17
3. Portland 35-20
4. Utah 28-23
5. Golden State 28-23
6. Houston 27-24
7. Denver 27-26
8. Dallas 26-26
-----
9. Minnesota 25-28
10. Oklahoma City 22-29
11. New Orleans 23-30
12. Memphis 21-30
13. Sacramento 21-31
14. LA Clippers 21-31
15. Phoenix 18-35


Golden State being a playoff team is probably the most shocking thing here. That and Phoenix being so bad I suppose, they seem to have talent and do not appear to have tons of injuries. Grant Hill did suffer a bad injury right after i reversed a trade for him awhile back.


A couple noteworthy injuries in the last couple weeks as well... i see the first season ending injury that's been reported, and its a big one. Chris Paul is done for the year.


League Leaders

Points

Carmelo Anthony - 28.8
Dwayne Wade - 28.5
Kobe Bryant - 28.4
Danny Granger - 27.6
Gilbert Arenas - 27.5

18 players averaging 20 or more a game. Lebron is 7th on the list.


Rebounds

Joakim Noah - 12.8
Dwight Howard - 12.6
Tim Duncan - 12.6
Chris Bosh - 11.7
Al Horford - 11.7


Assists

Deron Williams - 10.2
Steve Nash - 9.5
Jose Calderon - 8.8
Baron Davis - 8.5
Chauncey Billups - 8.4

[Radii]

Bobcats Stats

Felton: 13.6 ppg/3.0 rpg/6.6 apg
Bell: 14.6 ppg/2.9 rpg/1.3 apg
Wallace: 16.4 ppg/10.6 rpg/1.1 apg
Diaw: 11.2 ppg/5.1 rpg/2.4 apg
Chandler: 6.3 ppg/9.1 rpg/0.8 apg

Augustin: 9.2 ppg/1.4 rpg/2.6 apg
Henderson: 4.5 ppg/1.1 rpg/0.4 apg


Gerald Henderson leads us in FG % at 53.2%. Chandler is shooting 52.7%. Wallace is at 47%. Bell 43%, Augustin 42%, Felton 41%.

Bell is at 39% from 3, Augustin 35.7%, Wallace and Felton both at 30%.

[Radii]

Ok, back to it, I know this doesn't really get interesting until my first offseason.

Feb 16 - New Jersey (26-26) at Charlotte (18-33)

This kind of winning is going to come as a shock to my players. Bell 21, Wallace 19 and 10 boards, Felton 19. Terrance Williams with 23 for the Nets. Devin Harris has 16 on 7-17 shooting.

Charlotte 87
New Jersey 84

Trade Deadline

Boring, I'm sorry to say. Vinny Del Negro is fired from the Bulls. There are no trades made.


Feb 19 - Cleveland(39-15) at Charlotte(19-33)

Yeah we just ended a 10 game Cleveland win streak. Bell 26, Diaw 15, Wallace 11. Lebron with 20 for Cleveland.

Charlotte 98
Cleveland 88


Feb 20 - Charlotte(20-33) at Milwaukee(16-37)

Our first 5 game win streak. Felton 24, Bell 21, Wallace 20. Michael Redd with 17 for the Bucks.

Charlotte 108
Milwaukee 72


I'll play out our next game against the Clippers.

Contract Negotiation

Raja Bell loves his starting job in Charlotte. He looks like he came to the Bobcats via a MLE, making $5.25 million/year. I love my defensive stopper and want to keep him, and he's willing to accept a lot less. He'll make 1.69M next year, 1.85M two years from now, and we have a team option for a 3rd year at 2 million even.

He's 33 years old, so he'll be an experiment into how player progression/regression ends up working in this game.


Ray Felton is another guy I want to re-sign but he isn't ready yet, he tells me he will almost certainly want to re-up with us but isn't ready to talk yet.

[Radii]

February 22th, 2010

Charlotte(21-33) at LA Clippers(22-33)

CHA:LAC
74:60 OVR
66:77 OFF
78:65 DEF

LA Clippers Scouting

PG Baron Davis - 81 OVR - 15.8 ppg/8.5 apg - Great ball handler, good defender, decent outside scorer.

SG Eric Gordon - 72 OVR - 15.5 ppg - Gordon looks like a very good shooter who is average at best at everything else.

SF Al Thornton - 68 OVR - 9.9 ppg - suffering from an injury that knocks his rating down into the 50s. Might be ok going inside but looks like a liability.

PF Craig Smith - 62 OR - 6.3 ppg/3.6 rpg - B inside, awful elsewhere. Starting temporarily due to a Blake Griffin Injury.

C Chris Kaman - 73 OVR - 17.5 ppg/10.5rpg - Your all star starter! A- INS, B post D, B+ rebounder, pretty solid actually.

TJ Ford is the backup PG(I never could get that trade reversed). He's averaging 13.8 ppg. How often do ou see a team's star player not lead the team in scoring? Kaman has been better than Baron so far this year. Blake Griffin only recently got hurt. He's put up 12 points/8.5 boards in 48 games.


First Quarter

Charlotte 23
Los Angeles 21

Baron Davis gets two fouls, as does Tyson Chandler. Advantage: Charlotte, hah. Wallace and Diaw both score 6 for us. Kaman has 9 for the Clippers and has great post moves.


Second Quarter

Charlotte 49
Los Angeles 49

Kaman owns us inside, he gets 3 fouls on Diop in about 4 minutes. He finally has to rest some and has 14 at the half(6 boards too). On our end, Augustin is much faster than TJ Ford and dominates him. Felton and Augustin both have 10 points each, Wallace 8. Kaman 14, Al Thornton 11 for the Clippers.


Third Quarter

Charlotte 69
Los Angeles 65

LA led by 5 early in the quarter, and we led by 6 late in the quarter. We'll go into the 4th up four. This was Gerald Wallace's quarter. For the last 5 minutes I think he was listed as hot the entire time. He scored 12 of our 20 points in the quarter, and has 20 total. Felton 12, Diaw 10. Raja Bell is having a horrid game, he's only got 6, on 2-11 shooting. Eric Gordon now leads the Clippers with 17, thanks to being a massive ball hog. He's 7-20. Baron Davis has just been non-existent. He has 3 points/6 assists in 20 minutes, 1-6 shooting. This isn't like Chris Paul, Davis isn't that level a star, I don't expect him to score 15 and win the game here necessarily. We'll see though!

Fourth Quarter

9:00 to go - We lead 77-71, Gerald Wallace has 6 of our 8 points this quarter(Felton with the other two).

6:00 to go - Its 79-76, and the Clippers have the ball.

4:40 to go - 80-79 Los Angeles. We took Wallace out for about 2 minutes to make sure he's rested for the rest of the game, and he's back in now. But we need someone else to be able to score too.

3:00 to go - 83-82 Charlotte, we got a great one on one move from Felton for a layup, and a Diaw move for a bucket, 1 point lead.

2:05 to go - 85-84 Charlotte, and its our ball after a timeout.

1:45 to go - 87-84 after a great pick and roll between Bell and Diop.

1:11 to go - 89-86, Kaman with a jumper on the Clippers end, Wallace with a nice turnaround on our end.

0:40 to go - We trade misses, Baron and wallace for LA and Charlotte respectively. Its the clippers ball.

LA misses a shot and Felton gets the ball and is fouled. He ices it at the line. A 3 pointer as time expires makes it a 2 point game but Felton's FTs put it out of reach.

Charlotte 93
LA Clippers 91


Wallace: 32 points/7 boards (14-24 shooting)
Felton: 20 points/5 assists
Diaw: 12 points/8 assists
Augustin: 10 points
Bell: 6 points
Chandler: 4 points/11 boards

Chris Kaman puts up 22 with 11 boards for the Clippers. Eric Gordon with 19. Baron Davis scores 6 and has 10 assists on 2-10 shooting.


This was really a great game from start to finish. I don't think either team led by more than 6 at any point, and no one 'won' any quarter by more than 4. A tight, well contested game. Its a well contested game by two very bad teams of course, but it'll do.

[Radii]

Feb 24 - Charlotte(22-33) at Utah(31-25)

A loss here ends an inexplicable 6 game win streak. Bell 17, Diaw 11, Henderson 10. Boozer with 22 points/15 boards for the Jazz.

Utah 96
Charlotte 66


Feb 26 - Charlotte(22-34) at Memphis(24-33)

Memphis dominates all four quarters, not even close. Diaw 23, Augustin 14, Felton 13. Rudy Gay with 22, Randolph 21 for Memphis.

Memphis 104
Charlotte 76


March 1 - Dallas(27-32) at Charlotte(22-35)

Back to normal it appears, hah. Wallace 16 points/15 boards, Diaw 15, Augustin 12, Felton 12. Nowitski has 28, Jason Terry with 15.

Dallas 96
Charlotte 79


Mar 3 - Charlotte(22-36) at Boston (34-23)

We lose what looks like a heartbreaker in Boston. McGrady leads Boston with 18(Ray Allen trade earlier). Augustin 20, Bell 15, Felton and Diaw 13.

Boston 91
Charlotte 89


Mar 5 - LA Lakers(40-21) at Charlotte(22-37)

Its hard to come east apparently, the Lakers get crushed in the 4th quarter and we pull of a big win. Bell 20, Diaw 13, Felton and Augustin 12. Artest leads the lakers with 25. Kobe is off a bit, 12 points, though he does have 7 boards/6 assists. He had foul trouble and only played 28 minutes.

Charlotte 92
LA Lakers 85


Mar 6 - Golden State(32-29) at Charlotte(23-37)

A tough OT loss. Wallace 25, Augustin 21, Bell 21. Azubuike 25, Stephen Jackson 19 for the Warriors.

Golden State 118
Charlotte 114


Mar 9 - Miami (26-37) at Charlotte(23-38)

Another OT loss. Wallace 28, Diaw 15, Felton 13. Wade's healthy again and puts up 25, Beasley 22.

Miami 103
Charlotte 102


Mar 10 - Charlotte(23-39) at Philadelphia(33-30)

Philly looking like a playoff team here. Felton 20, Wallace19, Bell 16. Iguodala puts up 32 in the win.

Philadelphia 109
Charlotte 83


We've got about 20 games left in the season now.

[Radii]

Eastern Conference Standings

1. Orlando 45-20
2. Cleveland 43-22
3. Boston 40-23
4. Indiana 38-26
5. Atlanta 36-28
6. Philadelphia 34-30
7. Washington 32-30
8. New Jersey 31-33
------
9. New York 30-34
10. Toronto 27-36
11. Miami 28-37
12. Detroit 27-37
13. Chicago 24-39
14. Charlotte 23-40
15. Milwaukee 18-45

So we've got the Knicks 1 game out, Toronto and Miami 3 1/2 out, Detroit 4 out with a month to go in the season.


Western Conference

1. San Antonio 48-14
2. Portland 42-24
3. LA Lakers 41-24
4. Houston 35-28
5. Utah 34-30
6. Golden State 33-30
7. Denver 32-32
8. Minnesota 32-33
-----
9. New Orleans 31-34
10. Dallas 31-35
11. LA Clippers 27-38
12. Memphis 27-38
13. Sacramento 26-39
14. Oklahoma City 24-39
15. Phoenix 22-43


Out west we've got two spots more up for grabs in the east but fewer teams with a real shot at them, New Olreans/Dallas are right there on the outside looking in. Remember that Chris Paul is out for the year with a torn ACL too.

[Radii]

Mar 12 - LA Clippers(27-38) at Charlotte(23-40)

Wallace with 15, Augustin 14, Bell 12. A finally healthy Blake Griffin has 20 points/14 boards, Chris Kaman 19 points/10 boards.

LA Clippers 85
Charlotte 78


Mar 14 - Charlotte(23-41) at Orlando (46-20)

We use a 23-7 first quarter to throw a little wrench in Orlando's plan to take the 1 seed in the East. Bell 18, Diaw 16, Felton 15. Howard 24 points, Rashard Lewis 17, Carter 14.

Charlotte 93
Orlando 83


Mar 16 - Charlotte(24-41) at Indiana (38-28)

Indiana demolishes us. Bell 22, Wallace 17, Felton 16. Granger 39, Hansbrough 22 points/9 boards.

Indiana 127
Charlotte 87


I'll be playing my next game againt Oklahoma City, looking forward to seeing Durant in game.

[CleBrownsfan]

Nice dynasty Radii - been following it for a while. You have wanted me to start one up myself...

[Radii]

Thanks for the kind words CleBrownsfan

March 17th, 2010

Oklahoma City (25-40) at Charlotte(24-42)

CHA:OKC
70:76 OVR
63:73 OFF
75:73 DEF

Oklahoma City Scouting

PG Russell Westbrook - 78 OVR - 17.5 ppg/6.9 apg - Good handles, pretty good defense, he's not rated as much of a scorer, but there isn't a lot of scoring outside of Durant so it looks like he gets more than he would elsewhere.

SG James Harden - 74 OVR - 12.4 ppg - A truly exciting young team here. Harden rates out a B handling, B- perimeter D, B outside scoring. Assuming they don't blow up the team, Harden/Westbrook/Durant will be a hell of a combo in a few years.

SF Kevin Durant - 81 OVR - 27.2 ppg/6.9 rpg - One of the best scorers in the league. A- inside/A outside, he needs to improve on defense to become a more all around highly rated player.

PF Serge Ibaka - 69 OVR - 6.4 ppg/7.6 rpg - An undrafted rookie, ok inside, ok in the post, ok on the glass, they just have no better.

C Etan Thomas - 61 OVR - 3.7 ppg/6.1 rpg - B+ rebounding, can't really do much else.

SF Jeff Green is their 6th man, rated 73 OVR, he's averaging 12.6 ppg and 5 boards.

No one else on the team is rated over 63.


HAH,awesome. the overview at the start of the game has green all over it and they mention St Patrick's Day.

First Quarter

Oklahoma City 28
Charlotte 15

Wow, domination. James Harden 16, Charlotte 15. Harden is 7-9 and just all over the place. Felton has 4 and is the only guy on our team with more than 1 field goal.


Second Quarter

The level to which we need better inside play is just stunning. We cut the lead under 10 and OKC isn't hitting jumpers, but with 8 minutes left in the 2nd quarter Oklahoma City has 7 offensive boards. We have 0. They're outrebounding us 22-9 and are up by 17 as a result. We could win if we could rebound.


Oklahoma City 61
Charlotte 34

Yeah, screw this. Harden has 22 on 10-14 shooting. Durant scores 6 in the 2nd and is up to 8 total. Chandler, Henderson, Augustin with 6 for Charlotte. OKC leads the rebounding battle 29-13.

I quick sim this one to the end, just embarrassing.


Oklahoma City 103
Charlotte 69

Durant and Harden both end up with 27. Diaw 15, Augustin 12, Wallace 9 for Charlotte.

[Radii]

We've got 15 games left and I'm going to go ahead and end this dreadful first season, no more playing out games this year.

Mar 19 - Charlotte(24-43) at Atlanta(37-30)

Atlanta isn't giving up a game to us while they're fighting for playoff seeding. Crawford and Joe Johnson both put up 19. Augustin 14, Felton 13, Diaw 13.

Atlanta 92
Charlotte 85


Mar 20 - Charlotte(24-44) at Miami(31-38)

Miami controls the 2nd and 3rd quarter to get an easy win. Wade with 25. Felton 19, Augustin 15, Wallace 13.

Miami 111
Charlotte 94

[Radii]

Four weeks left in the regular season.

Eastern Conference

1. Orlando 47-23
2. Cleveland 46-24
3. Boston 45-24
4. Indiana 40-29
5. Atlanta 38-30
6. Philadelphia 37-33
7. Washington 35-32
8. New Jersey 33-36
----
9. New York 32-37 (1 game out of 8th)
10. Miami 32-38 (1.5 games out of 8th)
11. Toronto 29-39 (3.5 games out of 8th)


Western Conference

1. San Antonio 49-18
2. Portland 45-25
3. LA Lakers 43-26
4. Houston 38-29
5. Golden State 38-31
6. Utah 37-33
7. Minnesota 37-33
8. Denver 35-35
----
9. Dallas 34-35 (0.5 games out of 8th)
10. New Orleans 32-39 (3.5 out of 8th)
11. LA Clippers 30-39 (4.5 out of 8th)


The top 3 seeds in the east are interesting. San Antonio is dominating the west. Miami is trying to charge back into the playoffs after getting Wade back from injury, while Dallas/Denver looks to be a real exciting race too.

[Radii]

Mar 23 - Charlotte (24-45) at Washington(35-32)

Ouch. Jamison with a huge 34 point day for the Wizards. Wallace 20, Diaw 17, Bell 15 for us.

Washington 123
Charlotte 84


Mar 24 - Minnesota(37-34) at Charlotte(24-46)

A 31-13 3rd quarter seals our fate here. Wallace 17, Bell 17, Augustin 12. Iverson with 21 to lead the T-Wolves. Love 16, Flynn 15.

Minnesota 106
Charlotte 81


Mar 26 - Washington (37-33) at Charlotte (24-47)

We end a 6 game losing streak, finally. Wallace 15, Bell 13, Felton 10. Arenas 24, Butler 19.

Charlotte 84
Washington 72


Mar 29 - Toronto (32-40) at Charlotte (25-47)

Two wins in a row, this one against a team out of the playoff picture. Wallace 19, Bell 17, Felton 15. Turkoglu with 18 to lead Toronto.

Charlotte 93
Toronto 80


Mar 31 - Philadelphia (39-34) at Charlotte(26-47)

A tough 1 point OT loss today. Felton 18, Wallace 18, Augustin 14. Iguodala with 24, he's done well against us every time we've played.

Philadelphia 88
Charlotte 87
OT

[Radii]

Its April 1st now, and most teams have 7 or 8 games left to play. The top seeds in the East are real exciting for sure.

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland 50-25
2. Boston 49-25 (0.5 out of first)
3. Orlando 49-25 (0.5 out of first)
4. Indiana 42-33
5. Atlanta 41-33 (0.5 out of fourth)
6. Philadelphia 40-35
7. Washington 39-35 (0.5 out of 6th)
8. New Jersey 36-39
---
9. Miami 35-40 (1 out of 8th)
10. Toronto 33-41 (2.5 out of 8th)
11. New York 33-41 (2.5 out of 8th).
---
14. Charlotte 26-48




Western Conference

1. San Antonio 52-22
2. Portland 50-25 (2.5 out of first)
3. LA Lakers 48-27 (2 out of 2nd)
4. Houston 42-32
5. Utah 41-35(2 out of 4th)
6. Golden State 39-35 (1 out of 5th)
7. Dallas 39-36
8. Minnesota 39-36
----
9. Denver 35-40 (4 out of 8th)


Denver has lost 5 straight and basically collapsed, so the 8 teams that'll be in the playoffs from the West is pretty much set. Only a couple games separate 8th and 5th though so who plays who is totally up in the air.

[Radii]

Apr 2 - Milwaukee (23-51) at Charlotte (26-48)

Tied after 3, Milwaukee pulls out a win. Wallace 18, Felton 17, Bell 15. Jennings and Redd both put up 21 for the Bucks.

Milwaukee 90
Charlotte 87


Apr 3 - Charlotte (26-49) at Chicago (27-48)

Ping pong balls are up for grabs in this one! And apparently we hate ping pong balls. Augustin 22, Felton 17, Wallace 14. Rose and Hinrich both put up 20 to lead Chicago

Charlotte 99
Chicago 97



Cleveland/Orlando/Boston are all still within a half game of each other. Miami has tied New Jersey for the final playoff spot in the east. Portland has made the top of the west a race, they're only 1/2 game behind San Antonio.


Apr 6 - Atlanta (43-33) at Charlotte(27-49)

Atlanta outscores us 17-6 in the fourth quarter but we still win, crazy. Diaw 18, Wallace 16, Chandler 15. Joe Johnson with 31 for Atlanta.

Charlotte 83
Atlanta 78


Apr 7 - Charlotte(28-49) at New Orleans (33-45)

We had a good chance at the #2 pick, and we're playing our way right out of that in this last 10 days. Felton 23, Augustin 15, Wallace 12. David West (rated 77 OVR) puts up a career high 42 points for the Hornets.

Charlotte 98
New Orleans 94



With 4 games left, Miami now has a 1 game lead on New Jersey for the last spot in the East.



Apr 9 - Charlotte (29-49) at Houston (43-35)

Houston ends our 3 game win streak. Augustin 16, Bell 15, Wallace 12. Trevor Ariza 18.

Houston 88
Charlotte 79


Apr 10 - Detroit (33-46) at Charlotte(29-50)

We lead by 1 after 3 and dominate the 4th quarter to win. Augustin 18, Wallace 16, Bell 16. Charlie Villanueva with 15 for Detroit.

Charlotte 94
Detroit 83



Apr 12 - Charlotte (30-50) at New Jersey (38-42)

This game mathematically eliminates New Jersey from the playoffs. Miami is in. Felton 26, Wallace 16, Diaw 14. Devin Harris 15 points/11 assists.

Charlotte 86
New Jersey 68


Apr 14 - Chicago (28-52) at Charlotte (31-50)

A 2 point win and we end the season winning 6 out of 7. Something to build on? Felton 22, Bell 16. Rose 17 for Chicago.

Charlotte 84
Chicago 82

[Radii]

2009/10 Eastern Conference Final Standings

1. Boston 56-26
2. Cleveland 55-27
3. Orlando 53-29
4. Atlanta 46-36
5. Indiana 45-37
6. Washington 45-37
7. Philadelphia 43-39
8. Miami 39-43
---
9. New Jersey 39-43
10. Toronto 36-46
11. New York 36-46
12. Detroit 34-48
13. Charlotte 32-50
14. Chicago 28-54
15. Milwaukee 26-56


2009/10 Western Conference Final Standings

1. Portland 55-27
2. San Antonio 54-28
3. LA Lakers 52-30
4. Houston 47-35
5. Minnesota 44-38
6. Utah 43-39
7. Golden State 43-39
8. Dallas 42-40
---
9. Denver 39-43
10. LA Clippers 37-45
11. Oklahoma City 34-48
12. New Orleans 34-48
13. Memphis 32-50
14. Sacramento 31-51
15. Phoenix 30-52


So we're looking at the 5th or 6th pick pending lucky ball bounces in the Draft Lottery. I thought San Antonio had the top seed in the West locked up with like 20 games left. They really slipped.

Playoff Injuries

BOSTON - McGrady and Garnett are both OUT for 1-2 weeks going into the playoffs. Garnett was out for the last 10 games or so and they still won.


No players getting significant minutes are out for any other playoff teams. There are some injuries that can be played through(Manu Ginobili most noteworthy).

[Radii]

2009/10 Awards

MVP - Lebron James - Cleveland 28.0 points/8.1 rebounds/7.7 assists. Just ridiculous.

Rookie of the Year - Tyreke Evans - Sacramento - 16.5 points/3.4 rebounds/5.1 assists per game. 42% FG shooting.

6th Man Award - Jason Richardson - Phoenix 14.4 points/4.6 rebounds/1.2 assists per game.

Defensive POY - Ben Wallace - Detroit 1.9 steals/2.4 blocks per game.

Most Improved - Joakim Noah - Chicago 11.2 points/12.5 rebounds per game. 47% from the field.

Coach of the Year - Doc Rivers - Boston


All NBA 1st Team

PG Gilbert Arenas - 26.9 ppg/6.2 rpg/5.3 apg
SG Dwayne Wade - 29.9 ppg/5.3 rpg/6.8 apg
SF LeBron James - 28.0 ppg/8.1 rpg/7.7 apg
PF Tim Duncan - 20.2 ppg/12.5 rpg
C Dwight Howard - 20.5 ppg/12.9 rpg

Howard shoots 58.7% from the field.



All NBA 2nd Team

PG Deron Williams - 23.0 ppg/10.3 apg
SG Kobe Bryant - 29.3 ppg/5.3 rpg/6.3 apg
SF Kevin Durant - 26.9 ppg/7.0 rpg/3.2 apg
PF Chris Bosh - 24.5 ppg/11.8 rpg
C Chris Kaman - 17.8 ppg/10.7 rpg


All NBA 3rd Team

PG Devin Harris - 25.3ppg/6.2 apg
SG Andre Iguodala - 21.5 ppg/6.0 rpg/6.7 apg
SF Danny Granger - 27.2 ppg/5.4 rpg/2.7 apg
PF Dirk Nowitzki - 21.9 ppg/9.4 rpg
C Emeka Okafor - 14.9 ppg/11.0 rpg


All Defensive 1st Team

PG Jason Kidd
SG Dwayne Wade
SF Gerald Wallace
PF Josh Smith
C Ben Wallace


All-Defensive 2nd Team

PG Gilbert Arenas
SG Kobe Bryant
SF Shawn Marion
PF Tim Duncan
C Dwight Howard


[b]All-Rookie 1st Team[/b}

PG Tyreke Evans - Sacramento - 16.5 ppg/5.1 apg
SG James Harden - Oklahoma City - 12.4 ppg/3.3 rpg/3.1 apg
SF Terrence Williams - New Jersey - 13.9 ppg/7.7 rpg
PF Tyler Hansbrough - Indiana - 12.8 ppg/6.7 rpg
C Hasheem Thabeet - Memphis - 0.9 ppg/2.5 rpg

LOL Center?


All-Rookie 2nd Team

PG Jonny Flynn - Minnesota - 16.0 ppg/5.4 apg
SG DeMar DeRozan - Toronto - 4.8 ppg
SF Earl Clark - Phoenix - 3.5 ppg/2.6 rpg
PF Serge Ibaka - Oklahoma City - 6.3 ppg/7.8 rpg
C David Andersen - Houston - 6.7 ppg/5.7 rpg


Whew, that's a lot of awards.

[Radii]

2009/10 NBA Playoffs - First Round

West

1. Portland vs 8. Dallas
4. Houston vs 5. Minnesota
3. LA Lakers vs 6. Utah
2. San Antonio vs 7. Golden State

East

1. Boston vs 8. Miami
4. Atlanta vs 5. Indiana
3. Orlando vs 6. Washington
2. Cleveland vs 7. Philadelphia


Day 1

Portland 97, Dallas 97 - Portland up 1-0
LA Lakers 105, Utah 93 - LA Lakers up 1-0
Boston 117, Miami 89 - Boston up 1-0
Orlando 112, Washington 97 - Orlando up 1-0


Day 2

Minnesota 80, Houston 78 - Minnesota up 1-0
Golden State 108, San Antonio 101 - Golden State up 1-0
Atlanta 113, Indiana 112 - Atlanta up 1-0
Philadelphia 101, Cleveland 99 - Philadelphia up 1-0


Day 3

Portland 124, Dallas 97 - Portland up 2-0
LA Lakers 105, Utah 91 - LA Lakers up 2-0
Boston 95, Miami 72 - Boston up 2-0
Washington 114, Orlando 108 - Series Tied 1-1

Day 4

Minnesota 111, Houston 80 - Minnesota up 2-0
San Antonio 109, Golden State 85 - Series Tied 1-1
Atlanta 112, Indiana 105 - Atlanta up 2-0
Cleveland 105, Philadelphia 75 - Series Tied 1-1


Day 5

Dallas 91, Portland 77 - Portland up 2-1
Utah 118, LA Lakers 94 - LA Lakers up 2-1
Miami 99, Boston 83 - Boston up 2-1
Orlando 102, Washington 95 - Orlando up 2-1

Day 6

Minnesota 102, Houston 90 - Minnesota up 3-0
San Antonio 109, Golden State 89 - San Antonio up 2-1
Indiana 120, Atlanta 87 - Atlanta up 2-1
Cleveland 112, Philadelphia 107 - Cleveland up 2-1

Day 7

Portland 91, Dallas 76 - Portland up 3-1
LA Lakers 106, Utah 99 - LA Lakers up 3-1
Boston 98, Miami 86 - Boston up 3-1
Washington 101, Orlando 86 - Series Tied 2-2


Day 8

Houston 113, Minnesota 89 - Minnesota up 3-1
San Antonio 90, Golden State 78 - San Antonio up 3-1
Indiana 132, Atlanta 108 - Series Tied 2-2
Cleveland 93, Philadelphia 87 - Cleveland up 3-1


Day 9

Washington 110, Orlando 99 - Washington up 3-2
Portland 91, Dallas 84 - Portland WINS 4-1
LA Lakers 93, Utah 87 - LA Lakers WINS 4-1
Boston 105, Miami 82 - Boston WINS 4-1


Day 10

San Antonio 99, Golden State 78 - San Antonio WINS 4-1
Cleveland 111, Philadelphia 82 - Cleveland WINS 4-1
Indiana 116, Atlanta 112 - Indiana leads 3-2
Houston 96, Minnesota 88 - Minnesota leads 3-2

Day 11

Washington 108, Orlando 91 - Washington WINS 4-2


Day 12

Indiana 114, Atlanta 81 - Indiana WINS 4-2
Minnesota 117, Houston 102 - Minnesota WINS 4-2



Whew, that's a lot of damn games

West

1. Portland vs 5. Minnesota
3. LA Lakers vs 2. San Antonio

East

1. Boston vs 5. Indiana
6. Washington vs 2. Cleveland

Washington over Orlando clearly was a huge upset. The 5 vs 4 series, meh.

[Radii]

2009/10 Playoffs - Second Round

Day 1

Boston 104, Indiana 85 - Boston up 1-0

BOS: Pierce 30 pts, McGrady 21 pts, Wallace 14 points/13 boards
IND: Granger 27 points

Minnesota 108, Portland 100 - Minnesota up 1-0

MIN: Iverson 25 points, Al Jefferson 24 points/13 boards
POR: Roy 24 pts, Aldridge 18 pts


Day 2

LA Lakers 116, San Antonio 89 - LA Lakers up 1-0

LAL: Bryant 24 pts, Gasol 21 pts/11 boards
SAS: Duncan 27 pts/15 boards/6 assists, Parker 24 pts


Washington 97, Cleveland 80 - Washington up 1-0

WAS: Arenas 28 pts, Butler 25 pts, Jamison 24 pts
CLE: James 28 pts/9 boards/10 assists


Day 3

@Boston 108, Indiana 107 - Boston up 2-0

BOS: Pierce 22 pts, Rondo 21 pts/12 ast
IND: Granger 23 pts, Hansbrough 19 pts

@Portland 110, Minnesota 93 - Series Tied 1-1

POR: Aldridge 28 pts/9 boards, Roy 25 pts
MIN: Flynn 18 pts, Iverson 17 pts


Day 4

@San Antonio 92, LA Lakers 90 - Series Tied 1-1

SAS: Duncan 24 pts/15 boards, Parker 21 pts
LAL: Bryant 26 pts/7 boards/9 asts

Washington 106, @Cleveland 96 - Washington up 2-0

CLE: Williams 19 pts, Lebron 17 pts/8 boards/11 assists
WAS: Arenas 32, Butler 24 pts


Day 5

@Indiana 100, Boston 97 - Boston up 2-1

IND: Granger 28 pts, Murphy 15 pts/11 boards
BOS: Pierce 22 pts, McGrady 16 pts


Portland 101, @Minnesota 97 - Portland up 2-1

MIN: Love 20 pts/12 boards, Iverson 19 pts
POR: Roy 36 pts, Aldridge 21 pts


Day 6

San Antonio 122, @LA Lakers 81 - San Antonio up 2-1

SAS: Duncan 30 pts/14 boards, Parker 24 pts/18 asts
LAL: Bryant 17 pts, Farmar 15 pts


Cleveland 93, @Washington 84 - Washington up 2-1

CLE: James 39 pts/7 boards/11 asts
WAS: Arenas 28 pts, Butler 20 pts


Day 7

Boston 108, @Indiana 87 - Boston up 3-1

BOS: Garnett 25 pts/7 boards, Wallace 23 pts, Rondo 20 pts
IND: Granger 28 pts, Hansbrough 15 pts


@Minnesota 106, Portland 77 - Series Tied 2-2

MIN: Jefferson 24 pts/14 boards, Flynn 24 pts/6 asts
POR: Roy 18 pts/8 boards/4 asts, Miller 13 pts


Day 8

San Antonio 96, @LA Lakers 92 - San Antonio up 3-1

LAL: Bryant 31 pts/4 boards/6 asts
SAS: Ginobili 27 pts, Duncan 19 pts/7 boards/4 blocks


Cleveland 115, @Washington 91 - Series Tied 2-2

WAS: Arenas 30 pts, Jamison 17 pts
CLE: James 30 pts/10 boards/14 asts


Day 9

Minnesota 89, @Portland 87 - Minnesota up 3-2

POR: Roy 21 pts, Aldridge 19 pts/8 boards
MIN: Iverson 22 pts, Flnn 15 pts


Indiana 100, @Boston 98 - Boston up 3-2

BOS: McGrady 34 pts, Pierce 34 pts
IND: Granger 44 pts!!! Hansbrough 20 pts


Day 10

@San Antonio 109, LA Lakers 104 - San Antonio WINS 4-1

SAS: Parker 33 pts/9 asts, Richard Jefferson 22 pts
LAL: Bryant 32 pts, Gasol 19 pts/11 boards


@Cleveland 89, Washington 84 - Cleveland up 3-2

CLE: James 26 pts/9 boards/9 asts
WAS: Butler 24 pts/8 boards, Jamison 20 pts/9 boards


Day 11

Portland 104, @Minnesota 100 - Series Tied 3-3

POR: Roy 39 pts
MIN: Iverson 21 pts, Jefferson 18 pts/9 boards


@Indiana 93, Boston 90 - Series Tied 3-3

IND: Murphy 23 pts/18 boards, Granger 21 pts
BOS: Pierce 16 pts


Day 12

Cleveland 113, @Washington 90 - Cleveland WINS 4-2

CLE: Williams 28 pts, O'Neal 19 pts, James 19 pts/12 boards/12 asts
WAS: Arenas 28 pts, Jamison 22 pts


Day 13

@Portland 111, Minnesota 101 (OT) - Portland WINS 4-3

POR: Roy 31 pts, Miller 14 pts
MIN: Iverson 26 pts/6 asts, Jefferson 16 pts/11 boards


@Boston 108, Indiana 104 - Boston WINS 4-3

BOS: Pierce 28 pts, Rondo 20 pts/9 boards, Garnett 20 pts/8 boards
IND: Granger 31 pts, Hansbrough 16 pts/7 boards

[Radii]

2009/10 Conference Finals

1. Portland vs 2. San Antonio
1. Boston vs 2. Cleveland


Day 1

@Portland 107, San Antonio 79 - Portland up 1-0

POR: Roy 34 pts, Oden 15 pts/15 boards
SAS: Parker 25 pts, Ginobili 13 pts


Day 2

@Boston 97, Cleveland 92 - Boston up 1-0

BOS: Pierce 28 pts, Garnett 22 pts/10 boards
CLE: James 26 pts/7 boards/9 asts, O'Neal 22 pts/9 boards


Day 3

San Antonio 109, @Portland 84 - Series Tied 1-1

SAS: Ginobili 26 pts/7 boards, Parker 22 pts/10 asts
POR: Aldridge 19 pts/7 boards, Roy 14 pts


Day 4

@Boston 106, Cleveland 76 - Boston up 2-0

BOS: Pierce 22 pts, Garnett 20 pts/11 boards
CLE: James 25pts/8 boards, Williams 17 pts


Day 5

@San Antonio 122, Portland 82 - San Antonio up 2-1

SAS: Ginobili 32 pts, Parker 30 pts/12 asts, Duncan 20 pts/8 boards
POR: Roy 21 pts, Oden 13 pts


Day 6

Boston 87, @Cleveland 81 - Boston up 3-0

BOS: Garnett 23 pts/10 boards/4 blocks, Pierce 18 pts/10 boards
CLE: James 22 pts/15 boards/7 asts


Day 7

@San Antonio 104, Portland 103 - San Antonio up 3-1

SAS: Parker 30 pts/7 asts, Ginobili 21 pts
POR: Roy 31 pts/6 asts, Aldridge 17 pts, Oden 16 pts/11 boards


Day 8

@Cleveland 114, Boston 93 - Boston up 3-1

CLE: James 43 pts/7 boards/10 asts, O'Neal 23 pts/12 boards
BOS: Rondo 21 pts, Pierce 15


Day 9

San Antonio 90, @Portland 88 - San Antonio WINS 4-1

SAS: Ginobili 31 pts, Duncan 14 pts/17 boards
POR: Roy 21 pts, Aldridge 15 pts/10 boards


Day 10

@Boston 76, Cleveland 73 - Boston WINS 4-1

BOS: Garnett 19 pts/12 boards, Pierce 17 pts
CLE: James 27 pts/12 boards/8 asts


Two boring series to set up the finals.

[Radii]

2009/10 NBA Finals

Game 1

@Boston 95, San Antonio 82 - Boston up 1-0

BOS: Pierce 27 pts, Garnett 16 pts/12 boards
SAS: Jefferson 20 pts, Ginobili 14 pts


Game 2

@Boston 95, San Antonio 92 - Boston up 2-0

BOS: garnett 17 pts/8 boards, Pierce 16 pts
SAS: Duncan 20 pts/15 boards, Jefferson 20 pts, Parker 18 pts/11 asts


Game 3

Boston 108, @San Antonio 87 - Boston up 3-0

BOS: Wallace 28 pts/12 boards, Garnett 22 pts
SAS: Ginobili 23 pts, Parker 18 pts


Game 4

Boston 95, @San Antonio 84 - Boston WINS 4-0

BOS: Pierce 20 pts/8 boards, Garnett 19 pts/13 boards
SAS: Ginobili 20 pts, Duncan 19 pts/15 boards


Boston sweeps San Antonio to win the NBA Title

[Radii]

I might have missed finals MVP or something, I'm up to the offseason stuff

Retirements

PG Lindsay Hunter - 18 years pro - 8 ppg average , retired from Chicago

PG Jason Kidd - 17 years pro - 1189 total games, 13.3 ppg/6.6 rebounds/9.1 assists per game. 15,802 points/10,812 assists

SF Michael Finley - 15 years pro - 15.3 ppg career average, 17,441 points. Retires from the Spurs

PF Juwan Howard - 16 years pro - 14.9 ppg/6.6 rpg - 15,520 points. Retires from Portland, only played 1 game in 2009/10 season.


Coach Retirements

Mike Dunleavy retires from the clippers
Jerry Sloan hangs it up with the Jazz
Rick Adleman retires from Houston

[Radii]

Coaching Staff

I make no changes to my coaching staff, due to having no budget room. Both Larry Brown and Phil Ford have their contracts expire after this upcoming season and that frees up 5.5 million(over half the staff budget).


Team/Player Options

C Alexis Ajinca - 44 OVR - $1.47M Team Option - DECLINED
-- Obvious. Player sucks.


SF Derrick Brown - 68 OVR - 762K Team Option - ACCEPTED
-- With my focus on bringing around Gerald Henderson, Brown's playing time suffered massively and he is unhappy. He wants a trade. If I can get a young, similarly rated big man in trade for Brown it'd be a good thing.

PF Vladimir Radmanovic - 53 OVR - $6.88M Player Option - DECLINED
-- He sucked, I'm really glad he declined obviously.

C Nazr Mohammed - 59 OVR - $6.88M Player Option - ACCEPTED
-- No Surprise, he got playing time, so of course he hangs around.

C Tyson Chandler - 74 OVR - $12.60M Player Option - ACCEPTED
-- Also no surprise, but sad. That's a lot of cash.


Noteworthy Options Around the League

Lebron James - $17.15M Player Option - DECLINED

Kobe, Wade, Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, Paul Pierce, Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitski all have player options of $17 million or more and all ACCEPT.

All recent draftees with team options(Durant, Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo, Westbrook, etc) were obvoiusly picked up.


Player Re-signing

Felton is the only guy I have outstanding. On day 1 of 8, Felton wants 4 years starting at just over 7 million, ending at around 9.25 million/year. His overall rating went up 2 points from 74 to 76, he's not a bad PG but I'm not sure about all that.

I don't want to lose my 2nd best player with the unknowns of my first offseason. I end up offering a couple contracts that get rejected before going with a 4 year deal that starts at $6.92 million and increases 10% each year, worth exactly 9 million 4 years from now.


This signing takes me about $1 million over the salary cap, but again, I'm keeping the known entity for now. Its next year that my big contracts start to come off the books and I have options.


Draft Lottery

We're the 5th worst team with an 8.8% chance at the #1 pick.

The worst 14 teams in the lottery:

1. Milwaukee
2. Chicago
3. Phoenix
4. Sacramento
5. Charlotte
6. Memphis
7. Oklahoma City
8. New Orleans
9. Detroit
10. New York
11. Toronto
12. LA Clippers
13. Denver
14. New Jersey


We end up as the luckiest team in the draft as far as moving up. We don't get the top pick but we bump up to #2 overall!

Draft Order

1. Chicago
2. Charlotte
3. Sacramento
4. Milwaukee
5. Phoenix
6. Memphis
7. Oklahoma City
8. New Orleans
9. Detroit
10. New York
11. Toronto
12 LA Clippers
13. Denver
14. New Jersey

WOO!

[Radii]

Three of the top 5 projected picks are big men. A PG out of New Mexico is projected to go to Chicago.

My choices:

6'10" Samuel Padgett - Providence

Overall: A+
Potential: A+
Athleticism: B-
Inside Game: A+
Outside Game: C-
Playmaker Ability: D-
Inside Defense: A+
Man defense: A+
Rebounding: A+
Intangibles: A+

Overall he's rated C+ on offense, A+ Defense, A+ on the boards


I scouted him twice, he compares to Pau Gasol, should be an all star "sooner rather than later" and is described as an intense player, good in late-game situations. His biggest weakness is questionable basketball IQ/Awareness.


Center Leo Wilcox out of Arizona State is projected to go 3rd, but my scouts didn't like him this high Overall we graded him a B+ with B potential, lower than the other top 5 picks.


Lastly we have 6'9" PF Genwei Yee from China. He scouts noticibly lower than Padgett as well.

Based on my scouting so far, it'll take something bad in the workouts to go away from him.



ERGH. I badly screwed something up in the pre-draft workouts. I dunno what, I scheduled a bunch and then either auto-simmed them or cancelled them or something. I dunno, but I didn't get a chance to do any of them myself and didn't get any added info. Oh well, I think it was pretty obvious where i was going anyway.

[Radii]

NBA Draft

The overall ratings are revealed when players ae drafted it looks like.

1. Chicago - PG Jordan Price - 83 OVR
2. Charlotte - PF Samuel Padgett - 81 OVR
3. Sacramento - SF gary Oakley - 82 OVR
4. Milwaukee - PF Genwei Yee - 70 OVR
5. Phoenix - SG Laurence Flowers - 71 OVR
6. Memphis - PG Gary Hood - 73 OVR
7. Oklahoma City - PG Bradley Fleming - 72 OVR
8. New Orleans - SG Evan Dailey - 72 OVR
9. Detroit - C Rolando Faulk - 74 OVR
10. New York - SG Damien Fulton - 71 OVR
11. Toronto - SF Malik Sparks - 70 OVR
12. LA Clippers - PF Spencier Reid - 69 OVR
13. Denver - C Leo Wilcox - 70 OVR
14. New Jersey - PG Chad O'Connor - 73 OVR
15. Miami - C Charlie Galloway - 66 OVR
16. Dallas - SG Gabe Wesley - 71 OVR
17. Golden State - SG JP Cannon - 61 OVR
18. Utah - PF Christian Baxter - 70 OVR
19. Philadelphia - PG Marion Brand - 73 OVR
20. Minnesota - SF Clyde Ford - 70 OVR
21. Washington - SF Abe Townsend - 71 OVR
22. Indiana - PG Darren Bradshaw - 60 OVR
23. Atlanta - PG Wayne Law - 62 OVR
24. Houston - SF Peter Andersen - 61 OVR
25. LA LAkers - C Melvin Tiner - 67 OVR
26. Orlando - PG Edgar Bowden - 61 OVR
27. San Antonio - SF Lonny Graham - 61 OVR
28. Cleveland - C Johnny Richmond - 57 OVR
29. Portland - PG Duane Graves - 62 OVR
30. Boston - SG Conrad Cooper - 60 OVR


In the second Round I take 7 foot center Phillip Walters who comes in at 56 OVR, one of the lowest rated players in the entire draft. Based on these early ratings(do they all pan out exactly as seen here or are there booms/busts??) there aren't really any steals in round 2 at all.

We'll have to see more on that later. For now it looks like I hit big on Padgett.

[Radii]

Rookie Signings

I give both of my players what they want. I designate Padgett as a key starter on the team. He does come in as my single highest rated player after all.


Free Agency

I'm now 6 million over the cap going into free agency. I can use my MLE to sign a player but that's the only way i'll be adding anyone it appears.

Lebron James ended up re-signing with Cleveland, he's got a 6 year deal worth $123.5 million.

The top free agents in this class end up being:

PF Carlos Boozer - 88 OVR
SF/SG Rudy Gay - 83 OVR
SG/PG Allen Iverson - 82 OVR

Shaq(79 OVR), Ray Allen(79 OVR) are aging stars that are out there, Tracy McGrady is 31 years old and rated 77 OVR.

No one else in free agency is rated over 75 OVR.

I end up offering my MLE to Ray Allen, hoping to bring in a shooter for one year.

On the 19th day of free agency, Ray Allen decides to sign with Charlotte.

I can't tell where anyone else went until I leave free agency, hah!

Larry Hughes - New Jersey - 4 years/$17.06 million deal
Tracy McGrady - Boston - 5 years/$32.30 million deal (he's 31.. really?)
Carlos Boozer - Chicago - 4 years/$69.45 million
Rudy Gay - Sacramento - 5 years/$66.52 million
Shaquille O'Neal - Cleveland - 1 year/$2.26 million
Allen Iverson - LA Clippers - 2 years/$11.98 million


I'll see if there isn't a better way to track all that next year instead of "uhh yea here is where some guys went"