The Evening Dynasty Challenge #1: The Cheapskate Owner

[Young Drachma]

I love doing dynasties but it get harder to do them for a long period of time as life gets in the way. So I'm trying to do a short dynasty thing where I just work on something for a night. Sometimes, using an existing league -- so I don't waste all night building it out -- and other times, not.

My NBA league is in 1997, it has real NBAers coming in during their draft years, along with players from my college league(s) though for this purpose I'm not going to import anymore because I take too much time to sift through all of that.

So with that backdrop...here's our story.

INTRODUCTION
NBA has 26 teams currently, the league opts to expand by one to a 27th team. The owner of the new club is a coal billionaire by the name of Zeb Kotche, whose network is somewhere around $14 billion dollars. He's not a huge basketball fan, but wants a team as part of his empire and the NBA is happy to oblige.

The Eastern Kentucky native acquired an expansion team that he hoped to put in his home state, but the city of Louisville tried to amend the deal at the last minute and instead, he opted to put the team in Pittsburgh, which is a much bigger market anyway and has the side effect of capturing all of western Pennsylvania, parts of western New York.

But ol' Zeb is ol' school and he didn't get rich paying entitled basketball players. So here are our house rules for tonight:

- Will always have a self-imposed salary cap of half the league salary cap.
- Will always decline to sign players after the end of their rookie deal.
- Cannot sign anyone as a free agent between the ages of 26-34.
- Ratings off, play stats only.

The problem is, Zeb is delusional and thinks the team should be able to make the playoffs within ten years. He's promising championships, while keeping his miserly ways a secret to anyone but management.

ZEB'S GOALS
- Team must make the playoffs at least five times in the next decade.
- A NBA championship

I won't edit any ratings for the entirety of this story, so you don't have to worry about that.

[Young Drachma]

1998-99
The expansion Pittsburgh Condors are about to begin their first NBA season as the league's 27th team.

SALARY CAP: $52.54 million (Condors spend: $26.27m)

The owner has instructed us in the expansion draft to go for talent, but without breaking the bank. We're not allowed at any point in this dynasty to break any of the house rules or to amend them. We're stuck in this binary come hell or high water.

I'm almost certain we'll trade our 1st round draft pick this year, because I'm not interested in this draft class. That said, we're slotted with the 4th overall pick in this draft.

Spoiler

1998 Draft Lottery: Lottery Order

  Pick Team                           W / L
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    1.Denver Nuggets (From DAL)       34-48
    2.New York Knicks                 20-62
    3.Charlotte Hornets               28-54
    4.#Pittsburgh Condors               0-0
    5.Detroit Pistons                 20-62
    6.Anaheim Amigos                  22-60
    7.Seattle SuperSonics             26-56
    8.Chicago Bulls                   29-53
    9.Brooklyn Nets                   35-47
   10.San Jose Warriors               36-46
   11.Houston Rockets                 38-44
   12.*Phoenix Suns                   38-44
   13.*Los Angeles Stars              38-44
   14.*San Antonio Spurs              42-40
   15.*Cleveland Cavaliers            43-39
   16.*Hartford Whalers (From MIA)    44-38
   17.*Denver Nuggets                 45-37
   18.*Portland Trail Blazers         46-36
   19.*Washington Bullets             49-33
   20.*New Orleans Jazz               50-32
   21.*Indiana Pacers                 50-32
   22.*Philadelphia 76ers             51-31
   23.*St. Louis Hawks (From HFD)     53-29
   24.*St. Louis Hawks                54-28
   25.*Minneapolis Lakers             56-26
   26.*Anaheim Amigos (From UTA)      59-23
   27.*Boston Celtics                 60-22
   28.#Pittsburgh Condors               0-0
   29.Detroit Pistons                 20-62
   30.New York Knicks                 20-62
   31.Anaheim Amigos                  22-60
   32.Seattle SuperSonics             26-56
   33.Boston Celtics (From CHR)       28-54
   34.Chicago Bulls                   29-53
   35.Dallas Mavericks                34-48
   36.Brooklyn Nets                   35-47
   37.San Jose Warriors               36-46
   38.Houston Rockets                 38-44
   39.*Phoenix Suns                   38-44
   40.*Los Angeles Stars              38-44
   41.*Boston Celtics (From SAS)      42-40
   42.*Cleveland Cavaliers            43-39
   43.*Miami Heat                     44-38
   44.*Denver Nuggets                 45-37
   45.*Portland Trail Blazers         46-36
   46.*Washington Bullets             49-33
   47.*New Orleans Jazz               50-32
   48.*Indiana Pacers                 50-32
   49.*Philadelphia 76ers             51-31
   50.*St. Louis Hawks (From HFD)     53-29
   51.*St. Louis Hawks                54-28
   52.*Minneapolis Lakers             56-26
   53.*Utah Raptors                   59-23
   54.*Boston Celtics                 60-22

EXPANSION DRAFT:
With the rules being how they're setup, we have to find the best value we can. That said, technically according to the house rules we just can't sign any free agents who are 26-34, so if I wanted to expansion draft people in that age group we could. But the other consideration is our salary cap and not wanting to bust that. We only have $26m to spend and I'd prefer not to spend it on guys unwanted by their own teams.

In some cases, you won't know who these guys are or care. So I'm just gonna do my thing since it's an evening dynasty and then just report back after each year with whatever interesting stuff I find worth sharing. We gotta get through 10 seasons and I haven't even done one yet.

[Young Drachma]

I didn't realize 1998 was the Dirk draft. All of a sudden, I'm a lot more interested in the 4th overall pick.

[Young Drachma]

Clearly an evening dynasty turned into "several evenings" dynasty but...so it goes.

[Young Drachma]

1998 NBA Standings

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ATLANTIC              W   L   PCT  HOME   DIV  CONF
----------------------------------------------------
 Celtics              66  16  .805  34-7  25-5  47-9
 Whalers              56  26  .683  34-7 18-12 39-17
 Heat                 50  32  .610 29-12 14-16 33-23
 76ers                50  32  .610 31-10 20-10 38-18
 Bullets              43  39  .524 28-13 12-18 31-25
 Nets                 39  43  .476 26-15  9-21 26-30
 Knicks               28  54  .341 20-21  7-23 20-36

----------------------------------------------------
 CENTRAL               W   L   PCT  HOME   DIV  CONF
----------------------------------------------------
 Hawks                61  21  .744 30-11  28-2 42-14
 Pacers               45  37  .549 28-13 18-12 28-28
 Cavaliers            36  46  .439 23-18 20-10 25-31
 Bulls                31  51  .378 21-20 11-19 19-37
 Pistons              30  52  .366 19-22 14-16 20-36
Condors              21  61  .256 11-30  9-21 15-41
 Hornets              14  68  .171 10-31  5-25  9-47

----------------------------------------------------
 MIDWEST               W   L   PCT  HOME   DIV  CONF
----------------------------------------------------
 Raptors              67  15  .817  35-6  20-3  45-9
 Jazz                 57  25  .695 29-12 12-10 38-16
 Lakers               54  28  .659 28-13  14-9 34-20
 Rockets              47  35  .573 29-12  12-9 33-21
 Spurs                45  37  .549 25-16  8-14 28-26
 Mavericks            29  53  .354 20-21  1-22 19-35

----------------------------------------------------
 PACIFIC               W   L   PCT  HOME   DIV  CONF
----------------------------------------------------
 Warriors             51  31  .622  32-9  22-4 36-18
 Nuggets              48  34  .585 29-12 17-12 32-22
 Suns                 38  44  .463 23-18 14-12 24-30
 Stars                33  49  .402 19-22 13-13 22-32
 Trail Blazers        28  54  .341 19-22  9-16 14-40
 Amigos               24  58  .293 16-25 11-17 17-37
 SuperSonics          16  66  .195 10-31  8-20  9-45

Took Paul Pierce in the 1st round of the draft, after trading to move up hoping I could get Dirk.

Pittsburgh Condors Averages

 Player             Pos  Gm  Gs   Min   Pts  Orb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   To  Fls   +/-test  test  test  test  test  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Paul Pierce         SF  82  82  31.5  26.1  1.3  3.8  2.0  2.1  0.1  2.9  2.9  -5.5                              
 Carlos Colon        SG  82  82  28.2  13.9  1.6  5.4  3.6  1.6  0.2  2.9  2.3  -5.1                              
 Ezra Kay            PF  80   0  20.3  10.5  1.0  3.4  1.5  1.0  0.2  1.5  2.2  -4.0                              
 Y. Guznishcheva     PG  82   0  27.5  10.0  0.5  2.0  2.4  0.5  0.1  2.1  1.7  -6.4                              
 Parsa Najafi        SF  82   0  23.5   8.3  0.9  3.1  1.6  2.0  0.2  1.3  2.2  -4.7                              
 John Stockton       PG  82  82  18.4   7.6  0.5  1.6  4.6  1.5  0.0  1.5  1.4  -4.0                              
 Charles Oakley      PF  82  82  22.6   5.9  1.7  4.8  1.6  0.7  0.1  1.2  2.1  -6.6                              
 Von Foreman         PG  82   0  11.8   4.9  0.5  1.4  1.7  0.3  0.1  1.0  0.9  -3.0                              
 Greg Ostertag        C  82   1  22.9   4.5  1.9  5.8  1.0  0.3  1.4  1.3  2.9  -5.0                              
 Paul Graham         SF  82   0  10.7   4.3  0.4  1.2  0.6  0.8  0.1  0.6  0.9  -3.7                              
 Stepan Tchesnov      C  82  81  23.0   4.0  1.3  4.0  0.9  0.3  0.1  1.6  4.0  -4.5                              
 Lionel Silver       PF   1   0  17.0   2.0  2.0  5.0  2.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  4.0  -2.0                              
 Helfried Panigl     SG  12   0   1.8   0.2  0.0  0.3  0.1  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.2  -1.1                              
 Evyatar Rokah       SG   0   0   0.0   0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0   0.0                              
 Dorian Poliwka      PG   0   0   0.0   0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0   0.0                              

As for salaries, it wasn't hard to achieve that goal. As for trying to build a winning team on the other hand? That's a bit more difficult with the constraints in place.

Pittsburgh Condors Contract

          Player                          1998        1999        2000        2001  2002  2003  2004
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Paul Pierce               $3,561,931  $3,953,744  $4,416,795  $4,915,465    $0    $0    $0
          Charles Oakley            $1,759,435          $0          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Parsa Najafi              $1,727,368  $1,779,189          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          John Stockton             $1,399,202          $0          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Paul Graham               $1,255,880          $0          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Yermolai Guznishcheva     $1,097,493          $0          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Helfried Panigl           $1,086,594  $1,213,853  $1,350,900          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Greg Ostertag               $935,615          $0          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Lionel Silver               $793,665          $0          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Dorian Poliwka              $758,391          $0          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Ezra Kay                    $758,391          $0          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Von Foreman                 $652,569          $0          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Carlos Colon                $446,804    $652,569          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0
          Stepan Tchesnov             $446,804    $652,569          $0          $0    $0    $0    $0