NBA2K10: Building the Bobcats

[Radii]

Mar 31 - Golden State(39-34) at Charlotte(37-36)

Tough home loss. Wallace 18 points/12 boards, Allen 16, Augustin 16. Maggette and Ellis each have 15 in a balance Warrior attack.

Golden State 97
Charlotte 90


April 1st Playoff picture:

6. Washington (39-35)
7. New York (38-36)
8. Charlotte (37-37)
--------
9. Detroit (36-38)
10. Boston (36-38)
11. Chicago (36-39)


Apr 2 - Charlotte(37-37) at Milwaukee(23-52)

Gotta beat the Bucks... and we do. Allen 27, Diaw 18,Wallace 16. Jennings 30, Redd 21 for the bucks.

Charlotte 100
Milwaukee 89



That puts Charlotte in a tie with the Knicks for 7th place. We're 1 game ahead of Detroit in 9th. Our next game is hosting Detroit, I'll play that one out and it'll be the last regular season game I play.

[CleBrownsfan]

Nice win vs. the Bulls! Had to be a pretty exciting game. Good luck down the stretch...

[Radii]

Key game in the final 10 days of the playoff race.

April 3, 2011

Detroit (37-38) at Charlotte(38-37)

CHA: DET
76:78 OVR
73:81 OFF
77:78 DEF

Detroit Scouting

PG Rodney Stuckey - 77 OVR - 15.7 ppg/6.5 apg - B+ hands/B+ outside/B perimeter D, Stuckey looks like a pretty solid, but not spectacular all around PG.

SG Ben Gordon - 82 OVR - 22.6 ppg/40% 3pt - B hands/A outside/B- perimeter defense. We just need to contest all his shots.

SF Tayshaun Prince - 77 OVR - 12.9 ppg.6.3 rpg - B- inside/B+ outside/B- perimeter D, prince is 31 and a bit tired coming into this game.

PF Jason Maxiell - 69 OVR - 3.9 ppg/4.1 rpg - B Rebounding/B- inside/C+ post D - they normally start Bargnani and Faulk I think, Maxiell usually comes off the bench.

C Rolando Faulk - 74 OVR - 3.4 ppg/10.1 rpg - B+ rebounding/B- post D/B inside, Faulk was the #9 pick in the draft this year, already 24 years old though. 7'3" giant inside. This'll be an issue for Padgett I think.

Richard Hamilton is rated 75 OVR and is a very good ouside shooter, averaging 13.9 points/game off the bench.

Andrea Bargnani has a broken wrist and is out for this game. No other Pistons are rated over 62 OVR.


First Quarter

Charlotte 23
Detroit 19

Wallace picks up 2 early fouls and we end up having to put in a full contingent of backups. Two games in a row, Allen tiring frequently, and Wallace in early foul trouble is gonna make this a nasty game. Gordon has 6, Stuckey 6, Faulk 6 for the pistons. Diaw has 9 for us, he hit a 3, a layup and a few free throws. Padgett 6, Henderson 4.


Second Quarter

Charlotte 40
Detroit 38

Detroit's big center, Faulk, is the player of the half, 6 points/4 boards/3 blocks. Prince with 9, Gordon, Stuckey, and Hamilton all with 6 as well. On our end Padgett has 10 to lead all scorers. Diaw still with 9, Augustin 7, Wallace 6. We're shooting 44%, they are shooting 38% from the field. We led briefly by 7, 28-21, but its been within 5 almost the entire way.


Third Quarter

Detroit 67
Charlotte 65

Couple big runs this quarter. We went up by 10 points and they came back and went up by 6, and its a close 2 poitn game going into the final quarter. Ben Gordon has 18, Prince 13, Austin Daye has 12 on 3-4 from 3 in 8 minutes. Padgett is having a great game for us, 7-7 from the field, 17 points/7 boards. Diaw 12, Wallace 10, Allen and Augustin 9 each.


Fourth Quarter

6:50 to go - We trail 72-71, but we've had all our backups in most of the quarter. Our starters are all in for the duration now with under 7 minutes left.

5:00 to go - 78-73 Detroit. padgett with two bad misses on the secondary break, should be closer.

3:40 to go - 80-78 Detroit. Gordon is trying to take over the game for Detroit. He puts them up 7 before we get a big time 3 from ray Allen. We get Gordon to miss a jumper, and Wallace with a layin on our end.

3:00 to go - 80-80! Faulk misses a turnaround, we get the board and Padgett gets a dunk on our end after getting Tayshaun Prince stuck on him inside.

1:40 to go - 84-80 Detroit, ugh. Gordon hits a shot on their end, I get a wide open 3 from Wallace very early in the shot clock and it didn't go in. We get a stop but Faulk shuts us down inside(Diaw misses a runner inside, Wallace picks i t up and Faulk rejects the hell out of him). They get another bucket and its a 4 point game.

1:05 to go - 84-82. Padgett draws a foul inside and hits two free throws. Padgett and Allen are wearing down though.

0:16 to go - 88-84 Detroit. we trade buckets, Prince misses a wide open 3 but Jason Maxiell gets the offensive board with about 25 left... we foul and they hit two free throws. That offensive board is going to kill us.

0:14 to go - 88-87. DJ Augustin baby! Big time 3.

We foul, they make two shots. They foul before we can tkae a 3(or it was a freak accident, either way). Augustin hits two. We foul, they hit both again. On our end with under 5 seconds to go Diaw misses a 3 and that's the game.

Detroit 93
Charlotte 89

Close game, we just quite couldn't pull it out in the end. That offensive rebound with about 25 seconds to go was the killing blow really.

Padgett: 23 points/7 boards
Allen: 14 points/7 boards/6 assists
Augustin: 14 points
Diaw: 14 points/6 boards
Wallace: 12 points/5 boards


Gordon leads all scorers with 26. Prince 15, Day 12, Stuckey 11 for the pistons. Turnovers are the big story here, we turn it over 12 times to just 1 for Detroit. One is slightly low heh. This will make the rest of the playoff race super exciting. We're tied with Detroit for the last playoff spot now.

[Radii]

April 6 - Charlotte(38-38) at Miami(41-35)

Huge win! Wade 28, Beasley 24 for the Heat. Allen 21, Augustin 20, Diaw 15.

Charlotte 96
Miami 90


April 7 - Charlotte(39-38) at Detroit(38-39)

For the second time in a week Detroit bridges a 1 game gap with us, they tear us apart here. Hamilton 29, Gordon 20 for the pistons. Wallace 18, Allen 18, Henderson 12.

Detroit 104
Charlotte 77


Playoff race with 4 games to go:

6. New York (40-38)
7. Washington (40-38)
8. Detroit (39-39)
------------------------
9. Charlotte (39-39)
10. Boston (38-40)
11. Chicago (37-41)


April 9 - Boston (38-40) at Charlotte(39-39)

We win every quarter and blow out the 88 rated Celtics. Augustin 22, Allen 21, Padgett 12. Pierce 19 for the Celtics.

Charlotte 103
Boston 76



3 games to go... charlotte, new york, washington all tied for 6th/7th/8th in 40-39. Detroit is 39-40, Boston and Chicago 38-41 are 2 games back.


April 10 - Charlotte(40-39) at Washington(40-39)

Washington beats us and that probably clenches the playoffs for them. Butler 23, Arenas 22. Allen 23, Bell 17... Stephen Graham 11 in 11 minutes off the bench.

Washington 102
Charlotte 82


2 games to go:

5. Miami (41-39)
6. New York (41-39)
7. Washington (41-39)
8. Detroit (40-40)
---------------------
9. Charlotte (40-40)
10. Boston (39-41)


April 12 - Charlotte(40-40) at Cleveland(47-33)

Perhaps Cleveland has packed it in, eh? Mo williams 25, Lebron 20. Wallace and Augustin 15 each.

Charlotte 90
Cleveland 77


Our last game matters and i should probably play it, but building the franchise over multiple years means a lot more than whether I sneak this barely able team into the playoffs in a league where over 50% of the teams make it in. So sim it is!

April 14 - Milwaukee(24-57) at Charlotte(41-40)

And we're in! Diaw 24, Allen 23, Augustin 19. Jennings 29, Redd 23 for the Bucks.

Charlotte 94
Milwaukee 84

[Radii]

Eastern Conference Final Standings

1. Orlando (50-32)
2. Atlanta (48-34)
3. Cleveland (47-35)
4. New Jersey (46-36)
5. Charlotte (42-40)
6. New York (42-40)
7. Miami (41-41)
8. Detroit (41-41)
----------------
9. Washington (41-41)
10. Boston (40-42)
11. Chicago (39-43)
12. Philadelphia (39-43)
13. Toronto (35-47)
14. Indiana (29-53)
15. Milwaukee (24-58)


Western Conference Final Standings

1. LA Lakers (49-33)
2. Denver (49-33)
3. Portland (49-33)
4. San Antonio (43-39)
5. Sacramento (47-35)
6. Oklahoma City (46-36)
7. Golden State (43-39)
8. Houston (42-40)
----------------------
9. LA Clippers (42-40)
10. New Orleans (39-43)
11. Utah (38-44)
12. Dallas (38-44)
13. Memphis (34-48)
14. Minnesota (34-48)
15. Phoenix (33-49)



San Antonio being 4th in the West b/c they're a division winner i assume, I forget how those rules work in the NBA these days.

Us being 5th is just a giant, massive joke. 5th it is, HAR! But this is why I'm not playing out too many more games in the regular season, I'll want to play out the entire playoffs, so I'm in for at least 4 more games, maybe more.

[Radii]

Awards are out at the end of the regular season, so we'll go through those first:


League MVP: Lebron James, Cleveland - 31.3 ppg/8.0 rpg/6.9 apg

Coach of the year: Stan Van Gundy, Orlando

Rookie of the year: Marion Brand, Philadelphia - 10.5 ppg/4.0 rpg/6.5 apg

6th Man of the year: Ramon Sessions, Minnesota - 9.1 ppg/6.7 apg

Defensive player of the year: Josh Smith, Atlanta

Most Improved Player: Stephen Curry, Golden State - 12.0 ppg/4.9 apg


All NBA 1st Team

G Gilbert Arenas, Washington - 24.8 ppg/7.3 rpg/7.5 apg
G Dwayne Wade, Miami - 29.5 ppg/7.8 apg
F LeBron James, Cleveland - 31.3 ppg/8.0 rpg/6.9 apg
F Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas - 23.8 ppg/9.6 rpg
C Dwight Howard, Orlando - 23.7 ppg/12.9 rpg


All NBA 2nd Team

G Joe Johnson, Atlanta - 25.0 ppg/5.2 rpg/6.5 apg
G Deron Williams, Utah - 27.3 ppg/9.4 apg
F Caron Butler, Washington - 19.8 ppg/7.1 rpg/5.2 apg
F Chris Bosh, Toronto - 23.2 ppg/12.4 rpg
C Al Horford, Atlanta - 13.9 ppg/12.1 rpg

All NBA 3rd Team

G Tony Parker, San Antonio - 25.4 ppg/7.7 apg
G Brandon Roy, Portland - 25.3 ppg/5.1 rpg/5.8 apg
F Carmelo Anthony, Denver - 27.9 ppg/8.9 rpg
F Pau Gasol, LA Lakers - 18.2 ppg/9.9 rpg
C Brook Lopez, Houston - 19.4 ppg/9.9 rpg


All-Rookie 1st Team

G Marion Brand, Philadelphia - 10.5 ppg/4.0 rpg/6.5 apg
G Damien Fulton, New York - 11.6 ppg/5.1 rpg/3.9 apg
F Gary Oakley, Sacramento - 8.5 ppg/4.9 rpg
F Samuel Padgett, Charlotte - 6.8 ppg/8.8 rpg
C Rolando Faulk, Detroit - 3.5 ppg/10.2 rpg


All Rookie 2nd Team

G Jordan Price, Chicago - 9.7 ppg/4.7 apg
G Evan Dailey, New Orleans - 7.0 ppg
F Malik Sparks, Toronto - 5.5 ppg
F Genwei Yee, Milwaukee - 5.0 ppg/7.5 rpg
C Leo Wilcox, Denver - 5.2 ppg/10.3 rpg

[Radii]

Playoff Preview

4. New Jersey Nets (46-36) vs 5. Charlotte Bobcats (42-40)


New Jersey Scouting

New Jersey Scouting

PG Devin Harris - 88 OVR - 20.1 ppg/7.0 apg - A+ hands/B- inside/B+ outside, A- defense, great athlete, smart on the court.

SG Larry Hughes - 74 OVR - 10.0 ppg - B hands/B+ outside/B+ perimeter D. He was with the knicks last year. His shooting is down noticibly this year, from 45% down to 40% from the field and down about 5% from 3 as well.

SF Terrence Williams - 74 OVR - 12.5 ppg/7.0 rpg - B- hands/B+ perimeter D,not a bigtime scorer, D+ inside/C+ outside. An 'A' athlete though, that's kinda how Gerald Wallace looks, not a great shooter from any spot, but a great athlete who can find a lot of ways to score.

PF Travis Outlaw - 70 OVR - 10.0 ppg/5.2 rpg - terrible rebounder, B- inside/A- outside, not a defender either. Outlaw looks like more of a natural SF than PF.

C Yao Ming - 82 OVR - 14.9 ppg/9.0 rpg - A inside/B+ post D/B+ rebounding. Smart but a poor athlete. Yao is 30 and a bit tired. Oh yeah, and he's 7'6". Yao is playing 30 minutes per game and pissed off about it. He's normally rated 86 OVR but so unhappy about his PT that he's performing worse.

Backup SG Courtney Lee averages 5 points off the bench(72 OVR), backup PG Kyle Lowry picks up about 6.5(71 OVR). Jianlian Yi is a 7 footer off the bench for the Nets.


Devin Harris has a dislocated finger and is day to day. His overall rating drops from 88 to 77 for the duration of that injury. I've played New JErsey a couple times now in the last two seasons and Harris always does real well against me.


Yao comes into the series tired. He is worn down from the long season. Ray Allen will be the main focal point of fatigue for us, though Padgett tires when he gets a lot of work in a game too.

[Radii]

First Round - Day 1

(1) LA Lakers 87, (8 ) Houston 82 - LA leads 1-0

--Kobe 26, Bynum 25 points/13 boards. Brooks 24, Lopez 10 points/11 boards.

(6) Oklahoma City 103, (3) Portland 95 - OKC leads 1-0

--Roy 34, Aldridge 19 for Portland. Westbrook 28, Durant 22 in the win.

(8 ) Detroit 101, (1) Orlando 100 - DET leads 1-0

-- Carter 22, Nelson 21. Prince 24, Gordon 19 for Detroit.

(6) New York 91, (3) Cleveland 90 - NY leads 1-0

-- Mo Williams 25, Lebron 24. Wes Chandler30, David Lee 13 points/13 boards.



** Dwight Howard tore his ACL in the last 2 weeks of the season. He's done for the playoffs and very likely the start of next season.

[Radii]

First Round Day 2

Charlotte(42-40) at New Jersey(46-36)

CHA:NJ
76:81 OVR
73:88 OFF
77:84 DEF


First Quarter

New Jersey 31
Charlotte 23

tough start for us, Wallace and Diaw both start out cold. Augustin has 7, Diaw has 6 after a couple late buckets. Lots of guys have 2 after that. Outlaw has 8 points/5 boards to lead the Nets.


Second Quarter

New Jersey 53
Charlotte 42

We're shoting 38% from the field, they're shooting 54%. But the fouls are a huge deal, 13 fouls for the Nets/8 for us, but we have twice as many FTs. They go for steals like crazy and there are a lot of reach in fouls, way more than any other team it seems. Augustin leads us with 8, Diaw 7, Henderson and Nazr Mohammad 6. That's not a winning formula. We need way more from Allen/Wallace/Padgett, none of whom have more than 4 points. Yao has 12 points, hughes 11, Outlaw 10. Devin harris is the king of the reach-in foul and only has 2 points in 13 minutes.



I didn't want to have to use the 'sim to end' option in the playoffs... Yao Ming is just unstoppable. I tried a few options, Padgett at Center is just terrible b/c Yao walks all over him and he can't score over Yao. That leaves Padgett at PF and Kurt Thomas/Nazr Mohammad/Diop at Center... that doesn't help either. We were down by 27 and Yao had 23 when I simmed it out.


New Jersey 104
Charlotte 75


Diaw: 13 points/7 boards
Henderson: 11 points
Wallace: 10 points
Allen: 9 points
Mohammad: 8 points
Padgett: 8 points/6 boards

Yao Ming has 30 points/11 boards/4 blocks. Hughes 18, Outlaw 11, Harris 8 and down from there.


It'll be interesting to see if we can do anything at all to slow down the 7'6" dude this series.

[rjolley]

Congrats on getting to the playoffs and a great rookie season from Padgett.

[Radii]

First Round Day 2

(5) Sacramento 102, (4) San Antonio 90 - SAC up 1-0

--Kevin Martin 30, rudy gay 23. Richard Jefferson and Tony Parker both w/ 21.


(2) Denver 120, (7) Golden State 87 - DEN up 1-0

--Carmelo 43 points/16 boards!


(2) Atlanta 86, (7) Miami 78 - ATL up 1-0

--Joe Johnson with 40, almost half Atlanta's points, WOW.

[Radii]

First Round Day 3

(1) LA Lakers 91, (8 ) Houston 82 - LA leads 2-0

--Kobe 33 points/10 boards/5 assists. Brooks 21 for Houston.

(3) Portland 90, (6) Oklahoma City 88 - Series Tied 1-1

--Roy 20 points/7 assists, Aldridge 18 points. Durant 22, Westbrook 20.

(1) Orlando 121, (8 ) Detroit 109 - Series Tied 1-1

-- Rashard Lewis 40 points/7 boards! Ben Gordon 41 for the pistons, crazy.

(3) Cleveland 82, (6) New York 71 - Series Tied 1-1

--Lebron 22 poitns/9 boards/7 assists.

[Radii]

First Round Day 4

Charlotte(42-40) at New Jersey(46-36)

New Jersey leads 1-0

CHA:NJ
76:81 OVR
73:88 OFF
77:84 DEF


First Quarter

Charlotte 32
New Jersey 23

We play an outstanding first quarter. Padgett has 8 points for us, Wallace and Augustin both have 6, Diaw 5. yao leads the Nets with 10 points/4 boards and is the biggest force on either side once again. We're 2/5 from 3 and both teams are shooting great, 11/18 for us, 10/18 for them.


Second Quarter

Charlotte 58
New Jersey 50

It took New JErsey 3 minutes to tie the game up... it was 34-34 with 9 minutes left in the half. We never did let them take the lead though. With about a minute left its 52-50, and Boris Diaw takes Jianlian Yi to the hole for a 3 point play, and then hits a 3 pointer in the final seconds, giving us an 8 point lead. Diaw leads us with 15 points. Padgett has 11, Augustin 10, Wallace 8. Yao has 20 points/6 boards. Devin Harris just cannot stay on the court against us, allowing top pick Chad O'Connor(1.14 in last year's draft) to score 11 points in the half.


Third Quarter

Charlotte 92
New Jersey 69

Just an explosion. We finally cooled off Yao for a period of 5-6 minutes. This is the best shooting game I've ever seen, to an almost unreasonable level(if this happened a lot I'd be worried). We're shooting 64% from the field, and 8/14 from 3. 57% from 3 isn't normal for me at all! Our scoring is balanced, solid, and consistent. Wallace 20 points/8 boards. Diaw 18 points, Padgett 17 points, Augustin 13 points, Allen 13 points. Yao has 28 now but no one else can keep up for the Nets.


Fourth Quarter

We never let them cut it under 20. Wallace scores the first 8 points of the quarter for us and we go up by 25+ and our backups play the final 7ish minutes of the quarter.

Charlotte 113
New Jersey 89


Wallace: 28 points/8 boards
Diaw: 18 points/4 boards (3-4 from 3)
Padgett: 17 points/7 boards
Allen: 13 points/6 assists (3-6 from 3)
Augustin: 13 points/4 assists (1-1 from 3)
Bell: 10 points (2-4 from 3)


New Jersey shoots 48% from the field but we hold up at 60%, 52% from 3(10/19). Just a dominant performance.

Yao with 32 points/9 boards leads all scorers. No one else has more than 15 points.

Great win, series tied up!

[Radii]

First Round Day 4

(5) Sacramento 100, (4) San Antonio 91 - SAC up 2-0

--Rudy Gay dominates with 39 today. Jefferson with 22, Duncan 21 and 10.

(2) Denver 106, (7) Golden State 103 - DEN up 2-0

--Golden State wins the 3rd quarter 35-9. Denver wins the 4th 38-17.


(2) Atlanta 99, (7) Miami 78 - ATL up 2-0

--Josh Smith 21, Joe Johnson 21. Wade 34 for Miami.




First Round Day 5

(1) LA Lakers 93, (8 ) Houston 92 - LA leads 3-0

--Lopez 21 and 12 for Houston. Kobe 23 for the Lakers.

(3) Portland 100, (6) Oklahoma City 92 - POR leads 2-1

--Roy with 46 for Portland, Durant 33 for OKC.

(8 ) Detroit 102, (1) Orlando 94 - DET leads 2-1

-- Stuckey and Gordon both have 21. Carter 25/Lewis 24 for the Magic

(3) Cleveland 121, (6) New York 87 - CLE leads 2-1

--Lebron 37 points/12 boards/9 assists. David Lee 21 and 12 for the Knicks.

[Radii]

First Round Day 6

New Jersey(46-36) at Charlotte(42-40)

Series Tied 1-1

CHA:NJ
76:81 OVR
73:88 OFF
76:84 DEF


First Quarter

New Jersey 24
Charlotte 21

It looked like we were both going to score 30+ early on here, with 7 minutes left in the quarter it was 17-15. Things cooled off badly, luckily on both sides, and its a close game after 1. The first quarter once again belongs to Yao. 13 points for him, Hughes 5, Harris 4. Allen 7, Augustin 5, Wallace 5 for us. Padgett picked up two very early fouls and sat.


Second Quarter

New Jersey 49
Charlotte 35

Yeah, that's a 14 point quarter, ugh. Yao Ming has 17 points/7 boards at the half and is the player of the half. Outlaw has 14 and they are crushing us inside. Wallace has 10, Augustin and Allen have 7. Because of the inside dominance, New Jersey is shooting a crazy 20/34 from the field, 58%. We're at 41%. We need to do something inside.


Third Quarter

New Jersey 77
Charlotte 62

We play this quarter pretty much even, which isn't anywhere close to good enough. I pushed my starters as much as I reasonably could to try to get back in it in the 3rd and I wasn't able to. Outlaw 24, Yao 22 points/10 boards. Allen 16, Wallace 16 for us...


Fourth Quarter

8:15 to go - We've scored a real quick 6 points here and have the lead down to 9, 82-73.

5:15 to go - 89-82.. we've got it down to 7, Yao was out for awhile but he's back in now and things have evened back out.

3:00 to go - 96-86, on a Yao Ming 3 point play, we can't do it if he's on the court.


The comeback basically ends the second Yao Ming comes back in.

New Jersey 102
Charlotte 91


Wallace: 29 points
Augustin: 16 points
Allen: 16 points
Padgett: 9 points/10 boards
Bell: 6 points
Diaw: 6 points

Yao scores 31 points, pulls down 12 boards, and blocks 5 shots. Outlaw 26 points and their inside game just crushed us.

New Jersey back up 2-1.

[Radii]

First Round Day 6

(5) Sacramento 103, (4) San Antonio 101 - SAC up 3-0
--Kevin Martin 32, Tyreke Evans 24 and the Kings are about to sweep the Spurs.

(7) Golden State 105, (2) Denver 103 - DEN up 2-1
--Randolph with 20, balanced scoring for golden State. Anthony and billups have 26 and 24 for Denver.

(2) Atlanta 103, (7) Miami 93 - ATL up 3-0
--Josh Smith 27, Joe Johnson 21.

[Radii]

First Round Day 7

(8 ) Houston 98, (1) LA Lakers 93, - LA leads 3-1
--Houston staves off elimination for now. Jermaine Taylor(who?) leads Houston with 21 points in 26 minutes(Taylor was a 2nd round pick last year)

(6) Oklahoma City 88, (3) Portland 84 - Series Tied 2-2
-- Durant with 38 points/9 boards/5 steals to tie it up with portland.


(8 ) Detroit 101, (1) Orlando 82 - DET leads 3-1
-- Orlando apparently isn't good without Dwight Howard. Ben Gordon 29.

(6) New York 105, (3) Cleveland 89 - Series Tied 2-2
-- Lee with 27, Nene 25. Lebron not finishing!

[Radii]

First Round Day 8

New Jersey(46-36) at Charlotte(42-40)

New Jersey up 2-1

CHA:NJ
76:81 OVR
73:88 OFF
76:84 DEF


First Quarter

Charlotte 28
New Jersey 24

Yao doesn't get off to a hot start and that's really been the difference all series, so we've got a shot. Outlaw has 9, Harris 6, Yao 5, but on 2-7 shooting. Gerald Henderson scores 6 for us in 4 minutes at the end of the quarter. Diaw with 6, Allen 5, Wallace 4. Pretty balanced on our end.


Second Quarter

Charlotte 45
New Jersey 42

Yao heats up big time, he's got 14 now(9 in the quarter). The rest of the Nets points are garbage type buckets, Outlaw and Harris still have 9 and 6. Allen leads us with 9 at the half. Henderson and Wallace have 8. Padgett scored the first 5 of the quarter for us and has 7. Our scoring remains balanced. Augustin is the big outlier. He's cold as ice. 1-7 from the field, 0-3 from 3.


Third Quarter

Charlotte 63
New Jersey 62

We score 4 points in the last 20 seconds to take a lead into the fourth quarter. We didn't score for the first 5 minutes of the quarter,it was 51-45 when Padgett finally got us going. Yao 18, Outlaw 17, Harris 9, that's 2/3 of the Nets points. Gerald Henderson has had a few athletic explosions and leads us with 12 points in 13 minutes. Allen 11, Padgett 11, Wallace 10.


Fourth Quarter

We ran our starters hard in the 3rd since we got behind and struggled so much to score. I've got 5 backups in to open the 4th.. Graham, Bell, Henderson, Diop, Thomas. Not all that imposing.

8:00 to go - We lead 71-67, Raja Bell with a random 3 helps out. Wallace and Padgett get back into the game.

6:20 to go - Padgett pulls off a 3 point play to put us up 76-70 as we get all of our starters in.

4:15 to go - 7 straight for the Nets and all of a sudden we trail by one. Diaw got stuffed by Yao and the Nets hit a 3 on their end fora quick swing.

3:15 to go - 78-77 Charlotte leads. Diaw gets a layin to give us the lead after Augustin misses two open shots.

2:10 to go - 82-82, Padgett has our last 4 points, the Nets get a 3 from Hughes and a 10 foot jumper from Yao.

1:45 to go - 85-84 Charlotte. All of a sudden there's no defense, a 3 point play by Wallace puts us up 1, Nets ball.

1:07 to go - 87-86 Charlotte. Easy bucket for the Nets. We have to work for it but Padgett gets a loose ball(following a bad pass by Augustin) and a layin.

0:45 to go - No defense! 89-88 Charlotte. A drive from Ray Allen after another easy New JErsey bucket.

0:32 to go - DEFENSE! Devin Harris tries to do it all himself and commits a charge.


We run the clock, Gerald Wallace misses a long jumper and the nets rebound with 6 seconds left. They get the ball up the court but end up with a very long contested 3 by Devin Harris. its an air ball and the game is over!


Charlotte 89
New Jersey 88

After a number of stretches where there is just no offense at all, including the start of the 3rd quarter where we didn't score for literally 5 minutes of game action, we end things on a tear, scoring on 6 straight possessions and hold off the Nets to tie up the series!


Padgett: 20 points/9 boards
Allen: 13 points/5 assists
Wallace: 13 points/8 boards
Henderson: 12 points
Bell: 11 points


Diaw 8/Augustin 4 to round out our starters. Kurt Thomas pulled down 7 boards off the bench.

Yao leads all scorers with 24 points and 13 boards. Outlaw with 17 points/5 boards/5 assists. Devin Harris only scores 9, on 4-13 shooting, but does have 10 assists to go with it.

An exciting game that guarentees this series will be going 6 games at least. Things get really interesting with Orlando getting killed by the Pistons too. The winner of this series is going to be playing the 8 seed in all likelyhood.

[CleBrownsfan]

Nice win... get past this round and hopefully you'll be playing Detroit if they continue their upset run. What was your record this year against Detroit?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Nice win... get past this round and hopefully you'll be playing Detroit if they continue their upset run. What was your record this year against Detroit?

Oh, not so good. Detroit beat us 4 times, we didn't beat them at all. I actually played them twice this year, once very early and once as we were trying to lock up a playoff spot. The first game was a 20 point loss, the second one was a 4 point game.

[Radii]

First Round Day 8

(5) Sacramento 108, (4) San Antonio 90 - Sacramento Advances - 4-0
--Rudy Gay 26, Kevin Martin 20. This is the only sweep of the first round.

(2) Denver 97, (7) Golden State 83 - DEN up 3-1
--Carmelo has 32 points/10 boards. Al Harrington with 30. Denver with a 25-6 third quarter.

(7) Miami 111, (2) Atlanta 101, - ATL up 3-1
--Miami staves off elimination for another day at least. Beasley 27, Wade 26, Jermaine O'Neal 24. Joe Johnson with 41 for the Hawks in the loss.

[Radii]

First Round Day 9

(1) LA Lakers 97, (8 ) Houston 85 - LA WINS 4-1
--Kobe 22, Jeff Green 22, Bynum 17 points/18 boards and LA puts it away.

(3) Portland 105, (6) Oklahoma City 87 - Portland up 3-2
-- Roy 27, Rudy Fernandez 18. Durant with 28 in the loss.


(1) Orlando 104, (8 ) Detroit 94, - DET leads 3-2
-- Orlando isn't going away quite yet. Jameer Nelson 31 points/11 assists Rashard Lewis 28.

(3) Cleveland 101, (6) New York 64 - Cleveland up 3-2
-- Lebron 44 points/10 boards/5 assists/3 steals/2 blocks... yeah.


Only two series end in 5 games or less.

[Radii]

First Round Day 10

Charlotte(42-40) at New Jersey(46-36)

Series Tied 2-2

CHA:NJ
76:83 OVR
73:91 OFF
77:85 DEF


First Quarter

New Jersey 30
Charlotte 23

New Jersey only had 5 fouls all quarter... 2 on Yao, 2 on Devin Harris. Yao plays 8 minutes still but is only 1-2, he has 6 boards. Travis Outlaw dominates the quarter though, which he's done to us before. He scores 11. Larry Hughes is 4-5 for 8 points. On our end, we only had 4 fouls all quarter, but Gerald Wallace picked up 2 in the first 3 minutes. Gerald Henderson gets 7 minutes and scores 6. Padgett 5, Diaw 4.


Second Quarter

New Jersey 60
Charlotte 55

Travis Outlaw is the player of the half with 18 points, a great half for him. We stay in the game with the jump shot. Our scoring is quite balanced, Allen 10, Diaw 9, Padgett 9, Henderson 9. Allen is 2-5 from 3, Diaw 1-1, Bell 1-1. We also hit a few open midrange jumpers after doubleteams, shots I don't usually take but that were so open I couldn't resist here. Larry Hughes has 14, Yao only has 4 points but 12 boards.

With our lack of depth(due to Felton and Chandler's injuries) we have some dead points where we just can't keep this scoring pace going I don't think.


Third Quarter

New Jersey 85
Charlotte 76

We're really lucky to only be down 9 here. One of the consistent problems I've had is opening up the 3rd quarter very poorly. That happened again today, New Jersey was on a 14-4 run in the quarter at the 6:30 mark. We go on a nice tear to get it back down under 10(the lead was 19 at its worst).

Our scoring remains balanced, Wallace now leads us with 15, Diaw 13, Padgett 13, Allen 10. Outlaw leads all with 25, Yao had a huge 3rd quarter scoring 10 and pulling down more boards. He has 14 points/18 boards going into the 4th. Our starters played most of the third so we're going to be tired as we try to come back in the 4th.


Fourth Quarter

8:00 to go - Its 89-82 New Jersey. Augustin, Allen and Padgett have put in some minutes here. Padgett is sitting now and Diaw is back in.

6:45 to go - we've got it down to 6, 92-86. For a very brief time i put all my backups in, getting diaw and Augustin another last minute of rest, the idea being to get all the starers in for the last 5 to 5 1/2 minutes and to have rested stars into the final minute.

5:55 to go - I queue up my starters at the 6 minute mark. 5 seconds later there's a stoppage and they're in. Its 94-88.

4:40 to go - Its 98-90 as New Jersey calls a timeout.

3:00 to go - 99-92. We've missed a couple shots inside where we get by the perimeter man but Yao alters everything inside and we've gotten unlucky here.

1:50 to go - 101-95. We're in striking distance, after a couple empty trips on each side, we trade 3 for 2, Allen just hit a 3 for us.

0:55 to go - 105-100. Another 3 for 2 trade as Padgett draws a foul on Yao and gets a shot to go.


New Jersey scores again and this game we're not able to stop them when we need to down the stretch. We miss a trey trying for another 3 for 2 trade and that's pretty much it.

New Jersey 111
Charlotte 100


Wallace: 19 points/6 assists
Padgett: 18 points/11 boards
Henderson: 13 points
Diaw: 13 points
Allen: 13 points

DJ Augustin scores 8 and has 10 assists.


Travis Outlaw has a monster game with 30 points, but its Yao Ming earning player of the game honors. He just got EVERY board it seemed. 18 points/24 rebounds. Sheesh. Devin Harris really hasn't been a factor in this series, but he does have 11 points/11 assists today.


New Jersey takes a 3-2 lead in the series. We'll be back in Charlotte for game 6.

[Radii]

First Round Day 10

(2) Denver 118, (7) Golden State 96 - DEN WINS 4-1
--Billups 30 points, Melo 21 poitns/19 boards as Denver closes out the Warriors.

(2) Atlanta 111, (7) Miami 85 - ATL WINS 4-1
--Al Horford 25 points/18 boards. Joe Johnson 22 points/7 boards/10 assists. Wade and Beasley both put up numbers in the 20s but its not enough.

[Radii]

First Round Day 11

(3) Portland 105, (6) Oklahoma City 95 - Portland WINS 4-2
-- Roy 38, Aldridge 25 as Portland puts away Oklahoma City. Durant scores 32 and OKC is presumably on the way up still.


(8 ) Detroit 121, (1) Orlando 101 - DET WINS 4-2
--Stuckey 33, Gordon 23. Rashard Lewis 28, Nelson 22 as Detroit finally does put this one away.

(3) Cleveland 83, (6) New York 80 - Cleveland WINS 4-2
--Lebron with 22 points/13 boards/6 assists/4 blocks. No one else on either side tops 20 points.


All three of these series end in 6 games, the Charlotte/New Jersey series is the only one still going now.

[Radii]

Our backs are against the wall as we come back to Charlotte trailing 3-2. I didn't think we would even do this well in the series so I'm pretty pleased. I'd like to send it back to New Jersey and give us a shot to advance.


First Round Day 12

New Jersey(46-36) at Charlotte(42-40)

New Jersey leads 3-2

CHA:NJ
76:83 OVR
73:91 OFF
77:85 DEF


First Quarter

With 4:15 to go in the first quarter Yao Ming takes a pass and lays the ball in from the right block over Kurt Thomas. This was the Nets first bucket. Samuel Padgett is playing out of his mind, he scored our first 12 points, DJ Augustin drains a 3 and we score the first 15 points of teh game. Its 15-2 with 4:15 left in the first.

Charlotte 24
New Jersey 13

Of course New Jersey wakes up a bit, but we finish off a great quarter with an 11 point lead. Padgett 12 points/5 boards. Augustin 8 points/3 assists. Chris Douglas-Roberts leads the Nets with 5. Yao and Devin Harris have 4 each.


Second Quarter

Charlotte 49
New Jersey 42

New Jersey briefly cuts the lead down to 4, we push it back up to 12, as the half ends we're in between those two and its a 7 point game. Padgett doesn't play a lot this quarter and doesn't really play well while he's out there. But he'sstill the player of the half with 12 poitns and 5 boards. Augustin still has 8, Ray allen and Boris Diaw got in the mix this quarter, 8 and 7 for them respectively. Gerald Wallace has only taken 1 shot, he has 3 points on a 3 point play. Yao has 8 points to lead the Nets. Terrance Williams 7, but he got stuck in the 4 spot for awhile and couldn't do it without fouling, he has four fouls.


Third Quarter

Charlotte 81
New Jersey 66

Just a great quarter. As I mention every game, the start to the third quarter is a dangerous time for us, and here New Jersey scores the first 6 points, but instead of falling apart we take control back and go on a big run. Ray Allen is the catalyst and is our leading scorer after the first few minutes of the 3rd. Padgett gets going again for a bit and Padgett and Allen drive most of the quarter. We led by 15 for awhile, New Jersey cut the lead to 10, but we score 5 points in the last 30 seconds, including a 3 in transition from Diaw with 3 seconds to go in the quarter, and its a nice 15 point lead.

Padgett and Allen both have 17, Augustin 12, Diaw 10, Wallace 8. Travis Outlaw leads the Nets with 17, Yao has 12, no one else more than 10 so far.


Fourth Quarter

10:30 to go - 85-68, I put all 5 backups in.

7:15 to go - some starters come back in(CPU Subs, whee), we lead by 19 and are doing great.

We roll easily the rest of the way.

Charlotte 100
New Jersey 86


Padgett: 19 points/8 boards/3 assists/2 blocks
Allen: 17 points (3-4 from 3)
Diaw: 14 points (1-4 from 3)
Augustin: 12 points/3 assists(2-2 from 3)
Wallace: 10 points/9 boards/6 assists
Henderson: 8 points

Our scoring is pretty balanced, but Padgett and Allen both had a couple spots where they were on fire and taking over the game.

Outlaw leads the Nets with 23 points/16 boards. Yao with 14 points/6 boards. Devin Harris only scores 6 but has 10 assists.

We played a great game from start to finish here, shooting 51% from the field, 7/17 from 3, turnovers and rebounds are even, a solid game.


Back to New Jersey, we've forced the only game 7 of the first round!

[Radii]

Game 7!

First Round Day 14

Charlotte(42-40) at New Jersey(46-36)

Series Tied 3-3

CHA:NJ
76:83 OVR
73:91 OFF
77:85 DEF


First Quarter

Charlotte 23
New Jersey 17

We play another solid quarter. Padgett is 4-4 inside and has 8 points/6 boards. Diaw has 4 and Wallace has 4. Yao is scoring well today which always worries me, he has 8 points as well. Hughes with 7. Devin Harris is scoreless in 12 minutes, its amazing how ineffective he is in the games we play out.


Second Quarter

New Jersey 44
Charlotte 40

We led most of the quarter but Larry Hughes has just been deadly. Padgett has been a beast inside for us and has kept up. PAdgett is 8-8 now and has 17 points/8 boards. Wallace 8, Diaw 6 Hughes has 3 3-pointers and 15 points. Terrance Williams has 12, Yao didn't score this quarter. Lots of driving and dishing really to set up lots of open jumpers on the Nets side.


Third Quarter

New Jersey 71
Charlotte 62

It was tied at 56 and we fell apart for a brief time, almost entirely due to the prescence of Yao Ming. If we doubled down on him he hit open shooters, if we didn't, he scored, every time for 5 straight trips down the floor for them. Padgett sat for a bit this quarter, still on 17 points. Wallace 14, Diaw 10. Hughes 19, Williams 14, Yao and Outlaw 12 for the Nets. We can certainly come back but our defense has just not been good enough, way way too many easy shots for the Nets today. If we can buckle down for a quarter we have a shot. Our outside shooting hasn't been good today either, Augustin was a spark in the last game, here he's 0-5 from 3.


Fourth Quarter

8:15 to go - We're pushing a little and its not working well. 79-67 Nets. We had one shot to cut it to 5, missed an open 3 and they scored to make it 10 on their end. Allen and Diaw rest, Augustin/Wallace/Padgett are out there and fresh.

5:50 to go - Its 83-71 Nets, we are just struggling to score from anywhere right now.

4:40 to go - 85-73 Nets, I call a timeout, all 5 starters are on the floor but not really rested since I've been rotating them all quarter. This is going to be tough.

We get the lead down to 10 with 29 seconds to go... its just not happening, Padgett and Allen were ice cold when I was trying to get them to trigger the comeback, Wallace was struggling to get to the rim, and Yao got blocks and buckets inside when he needed to late.


New Jersey 95
Charlotte 83

Padgett: 19 points/11 boards
Wallace: 16 points/6 boards/5 assists
Henderson: 11 points
Allen: 11 points
Diaw: 10 points
Augustin: 9 points/4 asssits(0-7 from 3)


Larry Hughes scores 23, Terrance Williams 22, Yao Ming 19 in the deciding victory.


It was a better season than I anticipated, and Wallace/Padgett provide a fun combination to build around. I have some contract decisions to make with Ray Allen and Tyson Chandler and others, but I have 27 million in cap room for next year so this will be the offseason where we can really try to make something happen.

[CleBrownsfan]

Congrats on a good season. Looking forward to Padgett's career.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Congrats on a good season. Looking forward to Padgett's career.

Thanks! Me too, I'm hoping his shooting tendencies develop so that he becomes more of an offensive threat in simmed games. He was very good in the post when I controlled him but only averaged something like 8 points/game because he rarely shoots in CPU games. As long as that develops, he'll be great for me.

[Radii]

Second Round Day 1

(1) LA Lakers 103, (5) Sacramento 89 - LA Leads 1-0
-- Kobe 29, Gasol 21 and 10. Rudy Gay 23 for the Kings.

(8 ) Detroit 105, (4) New Jersey 91 - Detroit leads 1-0
--Devin Harris 33 for the losers, Gordon 33 for the winners.


Second Round Day 2

(3) Portland 96, (2) Denver 90 - Portland leads 1-0
--Frenchman Nicholas Batum(1st round/2008) leads Portland with 21, Roy 17. Billups 27/Anthony 25 for Denver.

(3) Cleveland 104, (2) Atlanta 95 - Cleveland leads 1-0
--Lebron 47 points/11 boards/12 assists for yet another triple-double.



Second Round Day 3

(5) Sacramento 118, LA LAkers 87 - Series Tied 1-1
--Kobe 35, Gasol 13 points/14 boards in the loss, Sacramento has 3 players over 20, Spencer Hawes, Rudy Gay, Kevin Martin with 26/26/20.

(8) Detroit 99, (4) New Jersey 98 - Detroit leads 2-0
--Ben Gordon with 25, Pince 19, Hamilton 18. Harris with 32 for the Nets, Yao 17 points/18 board


Second Round Day 4

(3) Portland 114, (2) Denver 99 - Portland leads 2-0
-- Roy 30, Oden 22/12. Carmelo 34 for Denver in the loss.

(3) Cleveland 119, (2) Atlanta 87 - Cleveland leads 2-0
Lebron with 36, Mo Williams 26. Joe Johnson with 20 for the Hawks. seems that Atlanta cannot stop Lebron.

[Radii]

Second Round Day 5

(1) LA Lakers 111, (5) Sacramento 101 - LA up 2-1
-- Kobe 31, Gasol 24, Bynum 19 points/19 boards.

(8 ) Detroit 101, (4) New Jersey 98 - Detroit up 3-0
-- Stuckey and Hamilton have 21 each and appear to be on their way to the conference finals.


Second Round Day 6

(3) Portland 104, (2) Denver 94 - Portland up 3-0
-- Roy with 31 points/5 boards/9 assists. Melo tries to keep Denver alive with 47 points and 12 boards, one of the highest scoring games I've ever seen in a box score, but Portland looks ready to advance.

(3) Cleveland 95, (2) Atlanta 85 - Cleveland up 3-0
-- Lebron 44 points/10 boards/5 assists, such a stud.


Second Round Day 7

(1) LA Lakers 103, (5) Sacramento 95 - LA up 3-1
-- Artest 28, Kobe 24. Rudy Gay with 19, Kevin Martin 18 for the Kings.

(8 ) Detroit 105, (4) New Jersey 88 - Detroit WINS 4-0
-- Gordon 31 for the Pistons as they pull off the sweep.


Second Round Day 8

(3) Portland 117, (2) Denver 66 - Portland WINS 4-0
-- Denver gives up completely in the final game it appears. Aldridge 33 points, Roy 24 points.

(2) Atlanta 117, (3) Cleveland 114 - Cleveland 3-1
-- Joe Johnson has 33, Bibby 23 as Atlanta holds off the Cavs for one more day. Lebron with 31 points/10 assists in the loss.


Second Round Day 9

(1) LA Lakers 113, (5) Sacramento 84 - LA WINS 4-1
-- Kobe has 25, Gasol 23 points. LA advances easily.


Second Round Day 10

(3) Cleveland 100, (2) Atlanta 78 - Cleveland WINS 4-1
-- Lebron 34 points/13 boards/8 assists, Mo Williams adds 30.


None of the conference semis are close at all. I didn't expect to beat Detroit if I had advanced myself but New Jersey didn't stand a chance.

[Radii]

Western Conference Finals

GAME 1: (1) LA Lakers 106, (3) Portland 97 - LA up 1-0
-- Kobe 29, Jeff Green 20. Aldridge with 17 points/13 boards to lead Portland.

GAME 2: (3) Portland 103, (1) LA Lakers 100 - Series Tied 1-1
-- Aldridge 29, Roy 23. Kobe with 22 for LA, Bynum has 18.

GAME 3: (3) Portland 104, (1) LA Lakers 75 - Portland up 2-1
-- Aldridge seems to be dominating this series, 30 points/9 boards. Roy only scored 15 today. Kobe 18/Gasol 16.

GAME 4: (3) Portland 106, (1) LA Lakers 88 - Portland up 3-1
-- This is turning out to be a big surprise. Aldridge with 27 points, Roy 25 points/6 boards/8 assists. Kobe only had 16, 6-18 shooting.

GAME 5: (1) LA Lakers 105, (3) Portland 72 - Portland up 3-2
-- LA stays alive for another day. Kobe 26 points/8 assists. Aldridge 17 points to lead Portland.

GAME 6: (3) Portland 106, (1) LA Lakers 88 - Portland WINS 4-2
-- Balanced scoring for Portland, 19 from Roy, 15 from Aldridge and Miller,14for Oden. Kobe was way cold again today, 7-25, 19 points.


Eastern Conference Finals

GAME 1: (8 ) Detroit 101, (3) Cleveland 93 - Detroit up 1-0
-- Lebron 35 points/8 boards/6 assists. Gordon 27, Prince 20. Detroit again, really?

GAME 2: (3) Cleveland 107, (8 ) Detroit 64 - Series Tied 1-1
-- Lebron 43 points/13 boards/9 assists/5 steals in a absolute dominating win.

GAME 3: (3) Cleveland 109, (8 ) Detroit 94 - Cleveland up 2-1
-- Lebron 32 points/9 boards/9 assists. Varejao 17 points/21 boards.

GAME 4: (3) Cleveland 114, (8 ) Detroit 99 - Cleveland up 3-1
-- Lebron 37/4 boards/6 assists. Stuckey with a strong 29 points/9 assists for the Pistons in the loss.

GAME 5: (3) Cleveland 114, (8 ) Detroit 75 - Cleveland WINS 4-1
-- Lebron blows up the joint, holy shit. 59 points/13 boards/3 assists/6 steals. 21-34 from the field, 10-11 from 3(what???), 7-10 from the line.



We miss out on the seemingly inevitable Kobe/Lebron finals, it'll be Lebron/Roy and Aldridge instead I guess!

[Radii]

NBA Finals

GAME 1: Portland 95, Cleveland 85 - Portland up 1-0
-- Roy with 30, Aldridge 13 points. Lebron with 30 points/13 boards, Varejao with 20 as Cleveland drops game 1.

GAME 2: Portland 94, Cleveland 84 - Portland up 2-0
-- Roy with 39, he's really carrying Portland early. Oden with 19 points/14 boards. Wow, crazy crazy distribution from Cleveland. Lebron with 39 points, Mo Williams 30, no one else on the team with more than 3.

GAME 3: Portland 90, Cleveland 76 - Portland up 3-0
-- Lebron 28 points/8 boards/6 assists but he's getting no help all of a sudden. Oden leads the Blazers today with 22 points, Roy 18.

GAME 4: Portland 91, Cleveland 80 - Portland WINS 4-0
-- Lebron 27 points/14 boards/5 assists/4 steals. Roy 19, 5 players in double figures for Portland.


Portland wins the NBA Title with an impressive sweep over Cleveland.

[Radii]

2010/11 Charlotte Bobcats Stats

Pos	Name	Age	Points	Reb	Assists	FG %	3P %	FT %
SG	Ray Allen	35	17.2	1.7	1.0	46.7	42.0	88.4
SF	Gerald Wallace	28	15.0	9.1	1.3	50.2	30.1	81.9
PG	Raymond Felton	26	14.7	2.7	6.6	42.0	33.0	81.5
PF	Boris Diaw	29	12.4	4.3	3.3	44.6	37.8	70.5
PG	DJ Augustin	23	11.9	1.7	3.2	43.8	39.9	90.6
C	**Tyson Chandler	28	8.4	7.5	1.3	56.3	--	56.6
PF	Samuel Padgett	21	6.8	8.8	1.2	50.3	--	71.1
SG	Raja Bell	34	6.6	1.3	0.8	41.0	35.4	80.7
SF	Gerald Henderson	23	5.9	1.7	0.8	43.1	34.6	78.3
SG	Stephen Graham	29	3.6	0.7	0.2	44.8	46.8	87.8
C	Nazr Mohammad	33	1.9	2.5	0.3	44.5	--	55.9
C	Kurt Thomas	38	1.6	5.2	0.6	41.2	--	71.1
C	DaSagana Diop	28	0.4	0.8	0.1	56.0	--	25.0

Tyson Chandler only played 8 games so I included his stats. Felton played 60 games.

[Radii]

As we advance, the Finals MVP goes to Brandon Roy. No surprise there. he played in 20 playoff games, averaging 25.4 points and 5.8 assists per game.



Retirements

3 noteworthy Charlotte retirements:

C Kurt Thomas
SG Raja Bell
C Nazr Mohammad


Other league retirements:

Ben Wallace (36 y/o, Cleveland)
Allen Iverson (36 y/o, LA Clippers)
Antonio McDyess (36 y/o, Miami)
Derek Fisher (36 y/o, Lakers)
Jerry Stackhouse (36 y/o, San Antonio)
Grant Hill (38 y/o, Phoenix)


A few other lower name guys(Erik Dampier, etc) but these are the ones that stood out the most to me.

[Radii]

Hah. Coach Larry Brown has decided to retire too. I had no intention of retaining his services anyway.

[Radii]

Staff Hiring

Wow. There's jack shit out there. Paul Westphal is rated A on offense and C everywhere else. But we can't afford him. No one else is anywhere close. The second best coach on the list is a teacher and nothing else... D offense/C Defense/A teaching/A potential. I'm going with an offensive coach and a defensive assistant, but I'm going for short contracts here.


Head Coach

Edgar Posey: 1 year/$4.63 million

Offense: A
Defense: D
Teacher: F
Potential: B


Assistant Coach

Horace Parker: 1 yr/$1.24 million

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


I'm not happy at all with my head coach. We'll see how it goes though. I only hired these guys to a 1 year deal,wanting to see what's available next offseason.

[Radii]

Contract Options

My second round pick from last year, 7 footer Phillip Walters is gone. rated 58 OVR, but so untalented there's just no reason at all to keep him.

SF Gerald Henderson: 71 OVR, I believe he was at 68 OVR when I took over the team. He may never be a starter(especially on a team with Gerald Wallace), but he's pretty well solidified as my 7th or 8th guy getting time every game. I pick up his $2.25 million team option.


PG DJ Augustin: rated 75 OVR, a solid shooter and decent PG. He turned it over a bit much when he had to start, but he's a guy that I like a lot b/c of his shooting ability and speed. I pick up his $3.24 million option as well.


PF Boris Diaw: rated 74 OVR, Diaw had a $9 million player option that he accepted. I like him a lot but would never pay him $9 million obviously. But he is at least a productive player so it could be worse.


Around the League

Carmelo Anthony (92 OVR) has an $18.52 million player option that he accepts to stay with Denver.

Tim Duncan, 35 years old but still rated 85 OVR, picks up a $21.30 million player option for another year in San Antonio.

Team options on recent top draft picks are picked up everywhere with no surprises.


Declined Options

Three noteworthy players(noteworthy to me is rated 70+, potential guys to get significant minutes) that could have stayed with their current team are heading back out into the market. All three are actually rated 80+ and are low-mid level star players.

PF David West - Rated 84 OVR, he declines a $7.53 million option to stay with the Hornets. He scored 20 points/game this year and will be a great pickup for someone. He's 30 years old and has a number of good years left I assume. He wouldn't fit with me though I don't think, as Padgett/West would be a small frontcourt.


SG Vince Carter - 34 years old now, Carter is still rated 81 OVR and averaged ~17 points/game in each of his two seasons in Orlando. He had a team option but it was for nearly $19 million/year. Just too much for the Magic.


SG Leandro Barbosa - 28 years old, Barbosa is rated 81 OVR and turned down a $7.60 million player option. He averaged 17.1 ppg this season for Phoenix


I don't know what other big FA's are out there, these are the noteworthy guys who had options and will end up in FA instead.

[Radii]

Player Re-Signing

I have 3 expired contracts. One is Phillip Walters, whose option I didn't pick up. the other two are noteworthy:

SG Ray Allen - 75 OVR - 35 years old - Allen is rated the 10th best SG in the league according to his player card and is someone I'd be quite happy to have starting again.

C Tyson Chandler - 74 OVR - 28 years old - A 7 footer, not an offensive threat but I feel like having him allows me to put Padgett at PF and Chandler at center and makes me a much better team.


I really have to decide if I want to commit money to these guys or if I want to take a risk and try to pick up a name FA instead.

Here's who I have currently under contract:

PG Felton (78 OVR)
SG ??? Allen(75 OVR)/Open
SF Wallace (81 OVR)
PF Padgett (83 OVR)
C ??? Chandler(74 OVR)/Open

PG Augustin 75 OVR
PF Diaw 74 OVR
SF Henderson 71 OVR
C Diop 58 OVR
SG Graham 55 OVR


Allen is willing to sign for about $3.6 million/1 year

Chandler is looking for a 4 year deal starting at about 5.5 million.


I end up deciding that I want my 7 footer and that Ray Allen was my leading scorer last year. I want both of these guys back, I'll still have enough money to go after someone who will make an impact, just perhaps not a star level player.


I end up working with Chandler a bit, giving him a no trade clause to get his monetary demands down,and getting him down to 2 years + a player option from his original 4 year demand.


Chandler: 2 years/10.71 million + $6.12 million player option.

Allen: 1 year/3.55 million


With this I'm dropping some dead weight off the back end of the roster, getting Chandler down to a reasonable contract and giving myself some money in FA.

I still have about $7 million/year in total dead money in DeSagana Diop. He has 1 year left + a player option. I don't play him often, about 3 minutes/game, so I'm hopeful he'll decline his option next year.

[Radii]

2011 NBA Draft Order

Oh, I skipped to the end of the lottery. Here's the draft order:

Dallas wins big here, they were slated for the 7th pick in the draft and got up to #1. Indiana had the 2nd worst record in the league. For the second year in a row Milwaukee has the worst record in the NBA and falls in the draft, this year getting the 3rd pick.

1. Dallas
2. Indiana
3. Milwaukee
4. Phoenix
5. Minnesota
6. Memphis
7. Toronto
8. Utah
9. New Orleans
10. Chicago
11. Philadelphia
12. Boston
13. Washington
14. LA Clippers
15. Miami
16. Detroit
17. New York
18. Houston
19. Charlotte
20. San Antonio
21. Golden State
22. Houston
23. Oklahoma City
24. Sacramento
25. Cleveland
26. Atlanta
27. Portland
28. LA Lakers
29. Denver
30. Orlando

[Radii]

I leave the pre-draft workouts up to my staff, I should probably put a lot more time into that phase of the game but with scouting reports on tons of guys listed as "mid to late 1st rounders" I skip over it.


This seems like an awful draft class compared to last year, at least at the top.

2011 NBA Draft Results

1. Dallas - PF Mo Law - 78 OVR
2. Indiana - SF Tom McKnight - 70 OVR
3. Milwaukee - SF Ben Sloan - 71 OVR
4. Phoenix - C Leo Newman - 75 OVR
5. Minnesota - PG Daniel Jones - 71 OVR
6. Memphis - SG Abe Hickman - 71 OVR
7. Toronto - C Fred Hobbs - 68 OVR
8. Utah - SF Brett Drew - 69 OVR
9. New Orleans - PF Jesse Elliot - 69 OVR
10. Chicago - SG Danny McMillan - 71 OVR


So Dallas gets an immediate starter and a guy who could well turn into a mid-level star in a few years. The Center Phoenix got at #5 seems the clear 2nd best player in the draft. Last year there were 3 guys rated in the low 80s that went 1/2/3 in the draft. This is a big step down.


Detroit gets a big of a steal at #16, a PG rated 73 OVR, quite possibly as good as any other guard in the draft.

Charlotte Pick

With Gerald Wallace and Gerald Henderson at the 3, SF's are out. I want a big or a guard. Last year I had a number of guys that I'd scouted 2 or 3 times, this year since I had such a wide range where I could have ended up I have a lot of guys I scouted only once.

There are a couple guards that look like decent outside shooters, and then there's a 7'3" Center. I tend towards size from my College Hoops 2k8 days. Also, I just played a playoff series where if Yao Ming caught the ball within 5 feet from the basket he would just reach out and drop the ball in. Also, having a 7'3" backup big lets me push DaSagana Diop even further back in my depth chart.

19. Charlotte - C Dell Sparks - New Mexico - 7'3" 295 lbs - 69 OVR


That pretty much lines up with the rest of the picks around this range. Lots of guys rated in the 68-70 range. I'm thrilled to get a guy this size rated reasonably well. I'll obviously scout him out before the season starts, his general ratings:

Inside Scoring: C+
Post Defense: C+
Basketball IQ: B-
Rebounding: A-

He's a poor ball handler, like most bigs, an average/below average athlete, like most centers. My scouts had him rated about like this already... average offense, above average defense, good rebounding. And for a big guy off the bench I'm perfectly happy with that.


The first pick of the 2nd round by Washington(trade I assume) is a SF rated 70 OVR. That's where the big drop occurs, its down to 60-62 OVR ratings from there on out. We take a flyer on another center in the second round and he comes out rated 56 OVR. Again, I'll make sure he's above Diop in the depth chart. 7'1" Gus Meredith.

[Radii]

I sign my rookies to rookie type contracts. I only have $5.87 million available for free agents(I thought I would have around $9 but I forgot about the rookies).

Oh wow, lookie at these available free agents. 97 rated Kobe Bryant, 90 rated Kevin Durant, 90 rated Tony Parker, 88 rated Yao Ming, 84 rated David West, 81 rated Vince Carter, etc etc.

Last year I think Lebron was a free agent but immediately resigned with Cleveland, so we'll see what happens there.


The amount of money i have available seems to give me a shot at someone rated in the mid-70s only. Vince Carter wants 1 year/9 million, which I would have loved to have been able to offer, alas.

I end up opting to go after an athletic guard type, offering JR Smith a 3 year contract. He's rated 76 OVR with a decent outside shot, coming off 3 straight years of 15 points/game seasons.


About 15 days into the FA period JR Smith decides to sign with the Hornets. I next go after SF/SG Richard Jefferson, offering him a two year deal, but he ends up with the Thunder. Those were really the two top guard options at a level i can afford.


There are two other guard depth options that I look at, Sasha Vujacic is rated 66 OVR and is a decent outside shooter and average defender. SG Smush Parker is a guy who is not at all a scorer but an above average perimeter defender. I end up offering deals to both, both accept but i only bring on Vujacic. Parker goes back into the FA pool


So that was a bit of a letdown, hah! But we still should be better this year than last with development I hope.


Free Agent Results

PF David West - Milwaukee - 4 years/$56.5M
Zach Randolph - Indiana - 4 years/$45.7M
SG Vince Carter - Milwaukee - 3 years/$32.35M
PG TJ Ford - Memphis - 4 years/$42.8M
C Greg Oden - Chicago - 4 years/$39.65M
SF Thaddeus Young - Denver - 4 years/$27.2M
SF Jeff Green - Utah - 4 years/$28.2M
SG Kobe Bryant - LA Lakers - 4 years/$89.3M
SF Kevin Durant - Oklahoma City - 4 years/$64M
C Yao Ming - Memphis - 4 years/$75.8M
PG Tony Parker - San Antonio - 6 years/$136.8M
SG Richard Jefferson - Oklahoma City - 4 years/$21.7M
SF Wilson Chandler - Portland - 4 years/$29.5M
SG JR Smith - New Orleans - 4 yeras/$26.1M
PF Troy Murphy - Miami - 4 years/$17.9M


WHEW!

Kobe and Durant are star level guys that can probably only be afforded by those teams due to the Bird Exception. Oden isn't a superstar but he's a great, great rebounder and is off to Chicago. Milwaukee makes two huge signings and surely won't be last in t he league next year.



I don't have anyone who I could risk letting go to FA under the idea that I could sign them back more easily due to the Bird exception, if i didn't have a couple guys still quite overpaid(Diop and Diaw making way more than i'd ever pay them) then I could have an extra 10 million available. I guess I wasn't as close to being in position to make a big splash as I thought.


Training Camps

so you earn "Reward Points" based on completing goals in season. Last year as bad as I was I didn't have anything available. This year I had enough points to send a few people to camps, I don't know if I should avoid this or not in the future... but I went ahead and did it this year, getting Padgett a boost to his inside scoring, and Felton and Augustin outside shooting.

[Radii]

2011/12 Charlotte Bobcats Roster

Starters

PG Raymond Felton - 27 y/o - 6'1 198 lbs - 79 OVR (+3 from last year)

14.7 ppg/6.6 apg last year. He tore an ACL after 60 games and actually will start the year hurt. Augustin will start for now but Felton will be back in the lineup as soon as possible.

SG Ray Allen - 36 y/o - 6'5" 205 lbs - 77 OVR (-2 from last year)

Allen is fading a little for sure, but he's still a shooter. He's getting older and will tire more easily, and this was the big reason we focused entirely on guards in the offseason. Allen led the team with 17.2 ppg last year, I expect less this year though.

SF Gerald Wallace - 29 y/o - 6'7" 220 lbs - 81 OVR (Same as last year)

Wallace's numbers were down slightly last year(we brought in Allen and demoted Raja Bell, so that was expected. Still, 15 points/9.1 boards per game is great for us, and we expect the same from him this year, great athleticism.

PF Samuel Padgett - 21 y/o - 6'10" 261 lbs - 84 OVR(+3 from last year)

Padgett had improved to 83 OVR on his own, his training camp gained him another point. Padgett only averaged 6.8 points/8.8 rebounds a game last year. Padgett's "Shot Tendency" is up to 33 from 26 in his rookie year. That's still very, very low. Average for PF's in the league is 66. So I hope he scores more for us this year but in the end I expect him to be an absolute beast in games we play and just a 10 points/10 boards guy in CPU games.

C Tyson Chandler - 29 y/o - 7'1" 235 lbs - 74 OVR (no change)

Chandler was scoring 8.4 points/7.5 rebounds a game when he got hurt last year. Kurt Thomas was a nice fill in, and Diaw is a decent starter but this specific lineup makes me much, much more excited than one with Diaw at the 4 and Padgett at center. Padgett + Chandler gives me a real defensive prescence inside that I simply didn't have last year.



6th Man

PG DJ Augustin - 23 y/o - 6'0" 180 lbs - 76 OVR (+3)

Augustin has gone from 70 OVR to 76 OVR in his last two seasons. I sent him to training camp for his outside shot and he's now a true stud from behind the 3 point arc(training camp improved his midrange and 3 point shot by 4 points each). Augustin averaged 12 points/3 assists last year. He'll start until Felton is ready to come back and then will be back on the bench, but he'll get a ton of minutes off the bench anyway.

PF Boris Diaw - 29 y/o - 6'8" 235 lbs - 74 OVR (No Change)

Diaw was a starter last year but I really prefer him playing the 4 off the bench as a change of pace. He can play inside some but he also can pull a big man out on the perimeter and hit the 3, creating some matchup problems. He averaged 12.4 ppg this year. Diaw makes $9 million this year and will be a free agent next year.


Role Players

SG Sasha Vujacic - 27 y/o - 6'7" 205 lbs - 66 OVR

We're paying him for two years, 1.6 million this year, 1.75 next year. He essentially is Raja Bell's replacement. He'll see significant minutes until Felton comes back, his minutes will go down a good deal once Felton is back though. He averaged 3.7 points/game last year for the Lakers. He did average 9 points/game for them once upon a time, but I don't expect that at all here. He is an 80 rated 3 point shooter, an average ball handler and an ok defender.

Prospects

SF Gerald Henderson - 23 y/o - 6'4" 215 lbs - 71 OVR (No Change)

Henderon averaged 5.9 points and 1.7 boards off the bench last year in about 18 minutes/game. He only shot 43% from the field, and didn't improve nearly as much as I'd hoped. I still like him as an athlete off the bench but I had higher hopes for him than what he's shown so far.

C Dell Sparks - 22 y/o - 7'3" 295 lbs - 69 OVR

Sparks is a fairly exciting rookie. Like Padgett, Sparks doesn't come in with much of a shot tendency, but for him that's probably good. Sparks has a post rating on offense of 68, 69 on defense in the post. Those are average at best ratings, Chandler and Padgett are both in the mid-80s in post D. He is a good rebounder, 87 offense/78 defense, and that + intimidating size will be enough to give him serious value off the bench. Last year we had a collection of bigs, Kurt Thomas/Nazr Mohammad/Diop/Walters all getting minutes off the bench. Thomas/Mohammad/Walters are gone and i want to limit Diop's minutes, so Sparks is going to likely get 25 minutes/game right off the bat and will get every chance to develop.

C Gus Meredith - 21 y/o - 7'1" 251 lbs - 56 OVR

Meredith has little talent but he's big and is an ok rebounder. I'll make sure he's ahead of Diop in the rotation but that will likely be his only purpose on the team. I suspect he'll play 4-5 minutes a game max.


Bench Players

SG Stephen Graham - 29 y/o - 6'6" 215 lbs - 55 OVR

Graham eats up some minutes but that's all. He played 6.1 minutes/game last year, only because of the Felton injury and our depth issues, and he's thrilled with that role.

C Dasagna Diop is rated 58 overall and I want him pissed off about his playing time so that he maybe, just maybe, doesn't take his player option next year.




Some of these designations(Diaw as a 6th man instead of a role player) are for morale reasons. Diaw is a guy who has started for 2 years basically for me and who i might end up having to trade for a guy with a lot less talent to make my team happy.

[Radii]

I sim through the preseason, Felton is now listed as having "1-2 months" left on his injury.

Preseason Power Rankings

1. Chicago
-- Last year's #1 pick in the draft has skyrocketed, he's now rated 88 OVR(I believe he came in last year rated 83 OVR). Boozer(90 OVR), Rose(87 OVR), and Jordan Price(88 OVR), plus Luol Deng(79 OVR) and Greg Oden (78 OVR) give Chicago a hell of a roster.

2. Atlanta
-- Joe Johnson (90), Josh Smith(82), Al Horford(82) and decent depth give Atlanta a great chance again this year.

3. LA Lakers
-- Kobe(97), Gasol(90), Bynum(82) mean that the lakers are going to challenge for a title every year. They have less depth than Atlanta or Chicago, but they have Kobe, so it all evens out I assume.

4. Oklahoma City
--Durant's new deal is for 4 years, only $14 mil this year, hehas a player option in year 5 for $19.5 mil and he'll only be 28. For a guy of his talent this seems outstanding. Durant(90), Westbrook(86), Harden(82) and some fairly solid depth make Oklahoma City a very attractive team.

5. Portland
-- The defending NBA Champs add a 24 year old SF (wilson Chandler) rated 77 OVR but lost Greg Oden(rated about 76 I think). I call it a net loss, Oden was a monster on the boards. But still, Roy(93) and Aldridge(82) can carry this team a ways.

6. Minnesota
-- Minnesota was 34-48 last year and didn't really make any changes to their roster. Maybe they had injuries, we'll see. Al Jefferson(89), Johnny Flynn(83) are great looking players, and they have some solid depth in guys like Kevin Love,but I have my doubts about this level of talent...

7. Boston
-- Rondo(90), Garnett(88), Pierce(84) still give them a chance to beat anyone. They might be rated higher if Kendrick Perkins was healthy(78 OVR for their center). McGrady is hurt too. This might be the best starting 5 in the league with Rondo/McGrady/Pierce/Garnett/Perkins when healthy.

8. Miami
--Wade (97), Beasley(80) and Chalmers(78) star the team, they have a solid, balanced starting 5 but seem to lack depth. They have more balance than Cleveland which i guess earns them their lofty standing.

9. Cleveland
-- Lebron at 97 OVR and Mo Williams at 83 OVR, Delonte West just under 80 and really nothing after that. No size inside, Lebron can only carry them so far. The supporting cast looks weak this year.

10. Golden State
--Ellis(83), Randolph(79), Curry(78), Andris Biedrins(78), and Stephen Jackson(75) provide a very balanced starting lineup. Its lacking a bit in star power perhaps but its a solid, well rounded lineup. They come into the year with great chemistry as well and everyone is playing about 2 points above those ratings.

11. LA Clippers
-- Blake Griffin(85) and Baron Davis(80) provide some star power, there's a whole lot of "pretty good" behind that. My PF Padgett really looks a lot like Griffin, a guy with tons of talent only getting about 10 points/game.

12. Washington
-- Probably deserves to be rated a bit higher, but Caron Butler is hurt with a nagging injury that drops his rating way down. Arenas(91) and Butler(87) drive the team, Foye and Jamison are still solid and they have more guys rated in the 70-80 range than most teams.

13. San Antonio
--Parker(90), Duncan(87), Ginobili(82) give San Antonio a great top 3, but there's a huge gap after that, a gap we're seeing in a lot of teams where they have some stars and then guys in the low 70s and no mid-range starter quality players.

14. Denver
-- Melo(92) and Billups(84) are great. Thaddeus Young(77) was a good signing in the offseason. They do seem like an average playoff team that will live and die with Carmelo now.

15. Philadelphia
-- Its a small team without a PG. Eric Gordon(79 OVR) and Andrew Iguodala (87 OVR) run the backcourt. Not much else past that. Iguodala is a legit star but the inside game here is so weak that i can't imagine them going far.

16. Sacramento
-- Gary Oakley, the 3rd 80+ rookie in last year's class(along with Price from Chicago and Padgett in Charlotte) is rated 86 OVR. Kevin Martin(83) and Rudy Gay(85) give them 3 very very good players. Tyreke Evans at 80 OVR and they have 4 guys on the team that are just very very good. None of the 4 can bang inside though, so one of them gets pushed to the bench and ends up pissed off. If they could swing a trade of Oakley or Gay for a quality big they might have the best starting 5 in the league.

17. Utah
-- Deron Williams is a stud(92) but there isn't anything behind him. Paul Millsap and Jeff Green are good(77 OVR for both) but not enough depth after that. Deron Williams has an expiring contract with a player option.

18. Detroit
-- Gordon(84) and Stuckey(81) anchor the team. One of the top guys out of the middle of the first round of last year's draft, 7'3" Rolando faulk is at 79 OVR already and gives them a pretty good starting lineup.

19. Toronto
-- Bosh is rated 89 OVR, no one else over 80, and Bosh's contract(6 years/125M still to go) might hamstring them for some time.

20. New Orleans
-- Paul (95) is it. Okafor(79) and JR Smith(76) are the only other gus that are good enough to start for more teams here. Chris Paul's contract expires after this year, he has a player option, and this will be a huge test of the "Play For Winner" desire. He says its extremely important. If he leaves it decimates the Hornets.

21. Memphis
--The offseason addition of Yao(88 OVR) and TJ Ford(79 OVR) gives Memphis two quality starters to go with OJ Mayo(87 OVR). There's no depth here but they'll be a threat to beat anyone when the starters play well.

22. Milwaukee
--Carter has a nagging injury or I think they'd be rated higher too. They look a lot like Charlotte right now, with two guys(David West and Vince Carter) in the low 80s and a number of other guys in the mid 70s. A playoff contender for sure which is a step up for them.


23. Charlotte
-- I think we would be rated a bit higher if Felton were healthy. Two guys rated just above 80 and a few in the mid-70s will hopefully get me to the playoffs again, but I don't think its a recipe to advance far.


24. Orlando
-- Howard is out for 2-4 more months which is killing their ratings I assume. Nelson(81), Rashard Lewis(79) with Howard(94) would give Orlando a very good top 3, but without Howard they are no better than Charlotte to be sure.

25. New Jersey
-- After not re-signing Yao, New Jersey goes to shit. Devin Harris is rated 90 OVR and that's all they've got. Forget it.

26. Houston
--Brook Lopez is a solid center(83 OVR), Aaron Brooks is ok, Ariza isn't bad, but wow that's it. Totally devoid of talent.

27. Phoenix
-- Amare(89) and Barbosa(81) are good. Nash is fading fast and eating $11 million though. Nash/Amare/Barbosa eat up $36 million this year, Barbosa has 4 more years and Amare 5 more years. Damn, in 2016, Amare Stoudamire will be 34 years old and making $25 million in the final year of his contract.

28. Indiana
-- Granger is rated 90 OVR, new signing Zach Randolph 80 OVR, and no one else over 71.

29. Dallas
-- Dirk at 82 OVR, rookie Mo Law at 78 OVR, and nothing else. Wow Dallas fell fast.

30. New York
-- Nene, Lee, Robinson all at 80 OVR(robinson is hurt at the moment) but nothingat all else, next best player is rated 70 OVR and wouldn't start for 25 of the other teams in the league.



Whew,I love looking at the state of the league but that takes some time

[Radii]

As I looked through the power rankings I noticed a lot of teams with a couple guys rated 80 OVR and then no depth at all. I held on to depth(Chandler/Allen) in the offseason and wasn't able to try to sign a star as a result. I'm not sure which is better in the end.

Also, We're seeing guys develop fairly well but through two draft classes only 3 guys have come into the league rated 80 OVR or better initially. Jordan Price, the #1 pick last year, looks like he may well turn into a bona fide superstar(87 OVR going into his 2nd year). But overall, I'm curious as to how the game is going to do with where the overall level of talent ends up.

I pretty much view an 80 OVR rating as the cutoff for what I refer to as a "mid-level star." Gerald Wallace and now Samuel Padgett for me, and most guys have someone like this. A team like Boston has their 3 stars, we're seeing that in other places too. Anyway, I'm going to start tracking the number of players rated above this rating when I do my season preview. It won't be perfect as i'm missing out on some injured players(I'm not going to go through every roster looking for guys who are rated 55 OVR but if they weren't hurt would be at 85), but if there is a major trend hereI should catch it.


80-84: 24
85-89: 15
90-94: 11
95+: 4 (Paul/Wade/Kobe/Lebron)


Another general comment... I found the "chemistry" rating by accident at the end of the year, Charlotte's Chemistry was in the 30% range, a lot of other teams had this too, while some teams(Boston) had a chemistry of 100%. Low Chemistry teams will cause everyone on the roster to suffer 1-3 points to their overall rating, while the high chemistry teams will all gain. Winning helps, but unhappy players seem to drag everyone down too.

I'm going to try a lot harder to make sure I don't have anyone unhappy on my roster this year(except for Diop). Basically for me right now that means that if Boris Diaw cannot be happy off the bench then he's gone quickly

[Balldog]

Great read, you have me really wanting to start an association!

[CleBrownsfan]

I do have to say this is probably my favorite dynasty read ever. You have put in a lot of time and it shows. I wish I had the dedication you have to run one of these myself. Good luck in the new season!

[Radii]

I appreciate the kind words I'm barely an NBA fan at all compared to many other sports... but a game that's 2 years fresher than College Hoops 2k8 is just a bit too much to pass up

[Radii]

Opening Day in Charlote!

October 28, 2011

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

CHA:BOS
82:91 OVR
74:94 OFF
83:92 DEF


Boston Scouting

PG Rajon Rondo - 90 OVR - Rondo almost averaged a double double last year, 13.4 points/9.2 assists, 5.5 boards on top of that, a great guard. A+ perimter D to go with great ball handling and a decent outside shot.

SG Anthony Riley - 67 OVR - Tracy McGrady is hurt to open the year so they're going to be hurting here. Riley was an undrafted FA last year, only averaging 1.4 points last season. Not a scorer at all, quite a weak link.

SF Paul Pierce - 84 OVR - Pierce is 34 now and still going strong. 19.2 points/game last year, a great scorer, decent defender and an ok ball handler for a SF

PF Kevin Garnett - 88 OVR - 35 years old but again still going strong. 17.2 points/game and 9.4 boards last year, still a superstar.

C Jim Baylor - 62 OVR - The 30th pick in the draft last year. Kendrick Perkins and rasheed Wallace are both hurt.


With McGrady, Perkins, and Wallace hurt the Celtics depth is non-existent. They are espicially weak inside, they'll likely be running a number of 4 guard sets as a result, whenever Garnett is out of the game we'll need to try to force it inside every time down. The big question will be whether our superior depth or their superstar players will rule the day. Later in the year I'd feel better about this as their older stars would be worn down, but on opening day I dunno.

First Quarter

Boston 27
Charlotte 18

I try to go into Padgett early and Garnett totally shuts him down, no go thre at all. Diaw gets hot once he comes in off the bench and helps out a bunch, but its not looking good at all. Garnett plays the entire quarter and has 10 points. Boston's top pick, SF Donny Tiggs, rated 71 OVR, has 6 points in the first quarter of his first game. On our side, Diaw has 8 points in 4 minutes, 4-4 shooting. Walace 4, Padgett 4 but only on 1-6 shooting(and two free throws). My first round pick, 7'3" Dell Sparks gets into the game and immediately hands the ball to Garnett the first time he touches it. Welcome to the NBA bud! He's big though. Damn big.


Second Quarter

Boston 54
Charlotte 46

We have a chance to take the last shot of the half and turn it over and allow a breakaway dunk instead. Turnovers and Kevin Garnett are the stories of the game. Garnett has 18 points and is dominating. Rookie Tiggs has 10, Pierce has 10 and 7 assists. Rondo has 4 points/4 assists. On our end Diaw has 12, Wallace 9, Chandler has 8 inside and is playing well. Padgett 6 points/4 boards on 1-7 shooting. But turnovers are killing us. Augustin has 3 turnovers and we have 10 total to only 2 for Boston. Limit the turnovers and we're right in the mix. When Garnett is out we do indeed domiante inside, which is why Chandler is doing so well.


Third Quarter

With 7 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter its 64-64, with Ray Allen leading the most explosive offensive charge i've ever had in a game i played out. Allen hits 4 straight jump shots, two midrange jumpers and two threes. He's got Paul Pierce on him and easily gets open and i've been finding him for some great catch and shoot opportunities. Gerald Wallace follows up that 10 point stretch(Boston did score 4 in that run btw, not a 10-0 run) with a monster dunk and 3 point play and we tie the game!

Charlotte 83
Boston 75

We keep it close for a couple more minutes and then explode for 7 straight and take the lead and don't look back. In my rotation, I limit Ray Allen to about 29 minutes a game. That's all he can go without spending a number of minutes on the court near exhaustion. He wants more minutes but he simply can't do it at age 35. Garnett has now played 33 minutes, and he only scored 4 points in the 3rd. I don't think its a coincidence at all. Pierce and Garnett went totally cold, missing wide open shots left and right. Garnett 22, Tiggs 13, Pierce 12.

We won this quarter 37-21. One thing I didn't mention yet is blocked shots. Chandler has 4, Allen 1, Padgett 1, Sparks 1. Many of thsoe were in the 3rd. Wallace was great in transition, Augustin and Allen were hitting jumpers. Wallace 16, Augustin 15, Chandler 12, Allen 10(he was scoreless before his 10-0 run. GREAT quarter.


Fourth Quarter

5:30 to go - We've had backups in the backcourt, Padgett/Chandler in the front court for the entire quarter so far. The clock hasn't stopped much and i haven't had a desire to see it stop really, we're up 14. I reverse the situation, subbing in my starting back court and backups up front.

3:40 to go - Boston has 5 straight and we lead 97-88.

2:55 to go - Boston cuts it to 7 and Augustin bails us out with a huge 3, 100-90.

We seal it pretty easily, Boston had one shot to cut it to 6 with about a minute left, a stop and a bucket at that point ended the game.


Charlotte 106
Boston 96

Chandler: 20 points/5 boards/5 blocks (10-12 shooting!)
Wallace: 18 points/5 boards/6 assists
Augustin: 18 points/9 assists
Padgett: 14 points/13 boards (5-15 shooting)
Diaw: 12 points
Allen: 10 points
Henderson: 6 points
Sparks: 4 points/6 boards/2 blocks


Pierce 27/5 boards/8 assists, Garnett 26 points/9 boards/5 assists. Rondo 8 points/11 assists. Their injuries just kill them. Pierce and Garnett are too old to do this really. Both played over 40 minutes and should probably be playing at most 35 to play near full effectiveness.

Chandler is 7'1". Garnett was the tallest Celtic on the court at 6'10". Tiggs, their rookie, is 6'9" but more of a SF who cannot hope to guard a strong center. Basically, any time anyone but Garnett was on Chandler, he could get a look from 5 feet or closer.

Sparks could too btw, and Sparks is 7'3". But Sparks offensive skills don't exist... hopefully they'll develop. Sparks can score if he catches the ball right at the basket and can just reach up and put it in, but he doesn't have any post moves. But he's huge, and he gets rebounds and blocks shots. I love him already as a backup center.

Last season, espicially with injuries, I had so,so many minutes where Gerald Henderson was my best scoring option. Even with Felton still hurt... I'm bringing Diaw/Henderson/Sparks/Vucacic off the bench, there was no point in the entire game where I didn't have 2 or 3 people that i was comfortable taking a shot if I got them a half decent look. MUCH improved over last year, barring new injury issues of course.

[Radii]

Oct 30 - Charlotte (1-0) at Philadelphia (1-0)

Philly beats us by 6 at their place. Iguodala 23, Chris Kaman??? 23, I'll check on that in a minute. Wallace 28, Augustin 21.

Philadelphia 106
Charlotte 100


Trade

LA Clippers get: SG Eric Gordon
Philadelphia gets: C Chris Kaman

well that's amusing. LA lost Gordon in free agency, but Gordon in Philly didn't really make sense with Iguodala at SG already. With Iverson retiring the Clippers are better with Baron Davis/Eric Gordon/Blake Griffin than they would be with Davis/Griffin/Kaman. Its actually a great trade for both teams I think.


Nov 1 - Charlotte(1-1) at New Jersey(1-1)

Even without Yao, we can't beat the nets. Allen 20, Chandler 14, Augustin 10. Augustin/Wallace combine to shoot 6-26. Harris 22 for the Nets.

New Jersey 95
Charlotte 86


Nov 3 - Charlotte(1-2) at Chicago(2-1)

Tough little road stretch to start the year. Allen 26, Wallace 24, Augustin 15. Deng, Oden, Price all score in the low 20s for the Bulls.

Chicago 113
Charlotte 105


Nov 4 - LA Clippers(0-4) at Charlotte(1-3)

Back on the winning track at home... for now. Wallace 25, Allen 18, Diaw 13. Gordon and Baron Davis both have 21 for LA.

Charlotte 98
LA Clippers 96


Nov 6 - Chicago (3-2) at Charlotte (2-3)

We crush the bulls at home to get to .500. Augustin 26, Wallace 21, Chandler 20(14 boards). Hinrich and Deng with 19 each for the Bulls.

Charlotte 119
Chicago 95


Injury Update

Gerald Wallace twists his ankle. He can play but will only be going at about 85% effectiveness. Felton's injury is now measured in weeks instead of months... though it went from "1-2 months" to "8-10 weeks" so I don't see how that is a good thing.


Nov 8 - Charlotte (3-3) at Minnesota (1-4)

We can't get our first road win. Wallace 25, Allen 17, Diaw 17. Al Jefferson with 25 for the T'Wolves.

Minnesota 98
Charlotte 95



Nov 10 - Charlotte (3-4) at Orlando (2-4)

Without Howard we're able to crush the Magic for that first road win. Ray Allen hits 8 threes and scores 38. wallace 19, Diaw 13. Nelson with 22 for the Magic.

Charlotte 118
Orlando 88



I'll play out our next game against Indiana.