NBA2K10: Building the Bobcats

[Radii]

I really appreciate the kind words everyone, always nice to know people are reading


2012/13 Initial Power Rankings

1. LA Lakers
-- Kobe(97) and Gasol(90) make this team. They hung on to Bynum(84) and still have Artest (77). Jordan Farmar (71) is the poorest starter. They signed Boris Diaw in the offseason


2. Minnesota
-- Tons of talent but its not fit perfectly. Flynn(86), Love (79), Howard(93) and Jefferson (90) are all solid, but 3 of the 4 are bigs. They signed Rudy Fernandez(78) at SG and have Corey Brewer(74) at SF. They have fairly good depth too.

3. Boston
--Still tons of talent but they've underachieved so much the last couple years. Rondo(91), McGrady(77), Pierce(84), Garnett(85), and Perkins(79) is a great lineup. a weak'ish bench, Hansbrough(71) is their 6th best player.

4. Oklahoma City
--Westbrook(88), Harden(83), Durant(93), Odom(76), Noah(72) is a ridiculous lineup. 2010 1.7 pick Bradley fleming is rated 82 and comes off the bench. A clear threat to repeat.

5. Chicago
--Price (91), Rose(90), Boozer(91), Deng(78), Oden(77) rivals Oklahoma City. Assuming they start those 5 and don't stuff Rose on the bench behind Price they should be a force.

6. Washington
--Arenas (93), Butler(87), 1.20 in the 2010 draft Bill Carroll(75), a fading Jamison(73), they are weak at center, 2011 1.13 pick Stefan Schumacher is rated 69 and will start there. Randy Foye is rated 80 off the bench behind Arenas. I don't like them nearly as much as some of the other top teams.

7. Detroit
--Signing Tim Duncan makes Detroit interesting. STuckey(82), Gordon(84), Prince(76), Duncan(85), and Faulk(83, 2010 1.9) with Bargnani(78) off the bench looks really solid. Duncan can't carry a team anymore I'd assume though.

8. Atlanta
-- joe Johnson(91), Neil Grady(78, 2011 1.16), Marvin Williams(77), Josh Smith(84), Al Horford(84) still strikes me as one of the best lineups in the league. Not a lot of depth, but I would expect them to be as good or better than Washington in our division again.

9. Utah
--Deron Williams(94), Jeff Green(78), Brook Lopez(85), Anthony Randolph(82) are a very very solid core but they lack a solid SG and really lack guard depth. Too many bigs here.

10. Philadelphia
-- rookie Tyson Cassel makes this team interesting(83, 2012 1.12), going along with Iguodala(88) and new signing Nene(80). 2010 1.6 PG Gary Hood(75) and Spencer Reid(75) round out the lineup. That's not bad at all, not elite but Cassel and Nene should make them a playoff team.

11. Phoenix
--Amare(90), Laurence Flowers(81, 2010 1.5), Barbosa(80), Leo Newman(78, 2011 1.4) is a solid core. They signed Augustin(76) in free agency and have a solid lineup. Very poor depth though.

12. Cleveland
--Lebron(98), Mo Williams(81), new signing Eric Gordon(81) give them an awesome top 3, but their bigs aren't good, all in the low 70s/high 60s(Verajao is rated 68, so is Roy Hibbert).


13. Portland
--Roy(94), Bayless(74), Wilson Chandler(78), Tyrus Thomas(78), and Aldridge(82) is a solid starting 5, they'll obviously go as far as Brandon Roy can take them.

14. Miami
-- Wade just doesn't have enough help. Chalmers, Derozan, Jermaine O'Neal, all rated in the mid to high 70s, not bad by any stretch but the guards playing with LeBron are much nicer.

15. Golden State
--Ellis(85), Curry(82), Hinrich(78), Biedrins(79), Villaneuva(75) are pretty solid and well rounded. Curry and Ellis are both PGs and Curry is actually coming off the bench. He's developed nicely though and is probably not going to be willing to do that a lot longer. So far he seems happy though.

16. San Antonio
-- Parker(90) and Ginobili(82) are still around, the 6th pick in the draft this year was the 3rd best player in the draft(80 OVR, Max Soto), but they don't have talented bigs and just can't compete anymore I would not imagine.

17. Denver
--Melo (93), Billups(82), Leo Wilcox(79, 2010 1.13), Thaddeus Young (78) and Michael Redd(73) make for a pretty solid, balanced lineup. Lawson is rated 74 and is the best guy off the bench. The only problem here I think is that Billups is 36 and still has 3 years/$33 million on his contract. He's got to start fading soon.


18. Memphis
-- There's no way in hell Memphis is better than us, stupid ratings. Yao is rated 88 OVR, no one else on the team over 80.


19. Milwaukee
--Jennings(76), Vince Carter(79), Bogut(80) and David West(84) are ok, but not overwhelming. Surely Milwaukee gets out of the top 5 of the draft this year though?

20. Charlotte
--You won't convince me that Felton(79), Mayo(89), Wallace(81), Padgett(85), and Chandler(75) isn't a guarenteed playoff team and very possibly competitive with the teams in the top 10 here.

21. Dallas
--Some good drafting has Dallas with PG Arif Demunyck(80), SG Gabe Wesley(81), and PF Mo Law(83) all as new additions here, but other than those 3 and Dirk(82) there isn't anyone on the team rated over 73. Four very good players but can any carry the team?

22. LA Clippers
--Baron Davis(76) is 33 and fading some, Nathan Glover(76)2011 1.11), new signing Michael Beasley(82), Blake Griffin(88) and Chris Kaman(78) is pretty good, but its the Clippers, something will go wrong.


23. Sacramento
--Another team ranked terribly wrong. Evans(83), Martin(83), Gay(87), Gary Oakley(88, 2010 1.3) are great players. They're a bit weak inside with Spencer Hawes(75) and guys rated in the 60s, but there's so much talent here its crazy.

24. New Orleans
--Chris Paul(95) and no one else rated above 80. JR Smith and Okafor in the high 70s at least, but yeah, similar to Miami, no help for hte star.

25. Toronto
--Bosh(91), SF Malik Sparks(78, 2010 1.11), a couple guys rated 77, and the rest in their 60s. Toronto sucks.

26. Orlando
--Orlando has fallen far. Nelson re-signed and is rated 81, Rashard Lewis 79, and nothing else. No one over 75. No wonder Howard didn't want to come back.

27. New Jersey
--The defending Eastern Conference Champs don't look to repeat. Though hell, they have the same Devin Harris(91) + crap lineup they had last year


28. Indiana
--Granger(92), Randolph(80) and no one rated over 74.

29. New York
--Nate Robinson(80), David Lee(79) and no one rated over 74. Some of these teams just have no chance at all.


30. Houston
-- Wow, Houston's best player is Trevor Ariza, rated 77 OVR. Second best is 73 OVR Jarret Jack. They're going to lose so many games.

[Radii]

My own predictions for the top of each conference after reviewing the rosters:

West:

1. Oklahoma City - too much depth and talent here to ignore
2. LA Lakers - Kobe + other talented players, dunno how they fell to 7th last season.
3. Minnesota - If they avoid catastrophic chemistry problems with Howard and Jefferson, they have a ton of talent.
4. Utah - Deron Williams + signing two quality bigs vaults them way up in my mind. But it seems those top 3 are the class of the west, Utah, Phoenix, Golden State and maybe Sacramento are step behind.


East:

1. Chicago - With Rose playing SG this team is the best in the NBA IMO.
2. Atlanta - Joe Johnson, their big men and decent play at the other spots is a great combo
3. Cleveland - even without great big men,LeBron and Mo Williams have been able to take the team a long way. Now they have Eric Gordon.
4. Washington - Its impossible to ignore Arenas and Butler, even if the talent around them is dissapating a bit.

I'd have Boston and Charlotte next. Boston is better than Washington based on talent alone but 3 years in a row of underachieving has me assuming Boston will fail. I would not be surprised to see us earn the 5 seed for a 3rd year in a row.

[Radii]

Oct 28 - New York at Charlotte

We win our opener. Mayo has 31 in his first game, Wallace 21, Felton 18, Sparks(!!) 13.

Charlotte 112
New York 108


And that's it. I want to play out an early game and we've got a good one right away, up next, at Boston!

[Radii]

Oct 30, 2012

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

CHA:BOS
86:95 OVR
77:95 OFF
89:94 DEF

Boston Scouting

PG Rajon Rondo - 91 OVR - Rondo averaged 16 ppg/9.7 apg last year. He's taken over as the star of the team, A+ hands, A+ defense, B outside shooting.

SG Tracy McGrady - 77 OVR - 14.2 ppg last year - McGrady is 33 years old, A- hands, B+ defense, B- inside/B+ outside. He's not much of an athlete anymore, just a C.

SF Paul Pierce - 84 OVR - 20.7 ppg last year - A- inside/A- outside, still a B rated defender. 35 years old, he's starting to fade some.

PF Kevin Garnett - 85 OVR - 13.9 ppg/9.2 rpg last year - 36 years old, B- rebounder, A- inside, A- post D. Pretty similar to Padgett, they should have a good battle

C Kendrick Perkins - 79 OVR - 9.7 ppg/9.8 rpg last year - A rebounder, A- post D, B+ inside.

They have a very strong lineup but three guys that are starting to show some age. Tyler Hansbrough at 71 OVR is their top bench player. Undrafted 24 y/o PG Anthony Riley is rated 67 OVR and is their best guard off the bench.

First Quarter

Charlotte 28
Boston 26

Mayo has a beautiful shot, a smooth stroke and it goes in a lot, at least so far! Mayo is 5-7, 2-2 from 3, 12 points. Padgett has 8, Wallace 6, Felton 2 and that's our 28 points. Pierce 8, Rondo 7(with FOUR steals... we have to be careful of that). Hansbrough got a 3 point play and has 3, a few others have 2.


Second Quarter

Boston 49
Charlotte 48

Such a close game, we went ahead by 5, Boston led by as much as 3, its been close the whole way. Mayo cooled off but Padgett and Wallace picked up the slack. Mayo has 17, Padgett 15, Wallace 10, no one else has more than 2. Pierce has 12 for Boston, Hansbrough(!!) and Rondo have 7 each. Garnett 6 in only 12 minutes with foul trouble.

Both teams are shooting slightly over 50%. We have 7 turnovers, Boston only has 2. Rondo is just a beast on defense.

Third Quarter

Charlotte 79
Boston 70

We start to wear boston down, or at least it seems that way, perhaps we just had a good quarter. Padgett leads us with 24 now, a great quarter for him. Mayo adds a few more and has 22. Wallace has 18, and no one else has more than 5. Pierce 18, McGrady 10, Garnett 10 for Boston.

Both teams are still shooting over 50%.


Fourth Quarter

8:00 to go - After going up 83-73, Boston scores 7 straight and our lead is only 3.

6:15 to go - We go up 85-80 and at a stoppage get all our starters back in.

3:00 to go - With the help of a Mayo 3 point play we get ahead by as much as 9 again. Right now its 93-86.

Yeah, this is what's wrong with Boston. They just can't go for 4 quarters with 3 aging guys on the roster.


Charlotte 102
Boston 89

Mayo: 34 points (11-19 FG)
Padgett: 27 points/7 boards (11-18 FG)
Wallace: 18 points
Felton: 6 points/5 assists
Henderson: 4 points
Sparks: 4 points/4 boards
Chandler: 4 points/9 boards


Pierce leads Boston with 26, and no one else is even close. McGrady has 12, Garnett has 12, backups Tiggs(11) and Hansbrough(9) are next. Rondo had 7 points/11 assists.


The 34 from Mayo I think is the most I've had a guy score in a game I played out.

[Radii]

Based on comments in the NBA2k10 Impressions thread, I'm lowering the "hustle" slider down from 50 to 43 for me and the CPU. Apparently the stars w/ super high hustle would tire much quicker and this should help that out. I wonder if we'll see a resurgence of the Lakers and Celtics, who have both been down a bit the last year or two despite lots of talent.

[Radii]

Nov 1 - Charlotte(2-0) at Philadelphia(1-1)

We pick up our first lost against a much improved Philly team. Iguodala has 32 for the 76ers. Mayo 25, Wallace 22, Felton 16.

Philadelphia 103
Charlotte 95


Nov 3 - Charlotte(2-1) at Cleveland(3-0)

New Cavalier Eric Gordon has 28, Lebron has 20 points/11 boards/8 assists in a big win for the Cavs. Felton 29 points/8 assists for Charlotte.

Cleveland 108
Charlotte 92



We seem to be getting a lot of big games early. hosting the lakers, hosting cleveland in our next two games, boston next week, philly/washington/chicago later in november. I'm gonna play the Lakers.

[Young Drachma]

Nice signing of Mayo. I like your bench too, actually. Seems like you should be able to improve on last season's playoff run, with that squad and make a bit of noise in the East, provided some of those vets of yours hold up a full year.

[vex]

Good read! Nice to see my Thunder win it all!

[Radii]

Nov 4, 2012

LA Lakers (4-0) at Charlotte(2-2)

CHA:LAL
86:97 OVR
77:96 OFF
89:98 DEF


LA is rated incredibly well, hopefully we can find an edge at home though.


LA Lakers Scouting

PG Jordan Farmar - 71 OVR - 9.90ppg/5.0 apg last year - B+ hands, B defense, B- scoring from the outside. Not the best player in the world by any stretch.

SG Kobe Bryant - 97 OVR - 26.8 ppg last year - Kobe is a stud, he is 34 years old by now but he can still play and is still one of the best in the league.

SF Ron Artest - 77 OVR - 12.7 ppg last year - Artest is still a solid defender, A- perimeter D, B- post D. A B rated outside scorer, and not a rebounder at all. 32 years old.

PF Pau Gasol - 91 OVR - 18.6 ppg/11.3 rpg last year - A- rebounder, A- post D, A+ inside, a monster, the big star on most teams and an amazing compliment to Kobe on this one.

C Andrew Bynum - 84 OVR - 15.9 ppg/10.7 rpg - A rebounder/A post D/A inside, Bynum is a great 3rd option and gives the Lakers a very very formidable inside defense.

backup center Melvin Tiner(2010 1.25) is rated 73 OVR and is the top player off the bench, not a scorer but he's grabbing 8 boards a game. Their backup at the 4 spot is Boris Diaw, rated 73 OVR.


First Quarter

LA Lakers 25
Charlotte 18

Mayo shoots 1-6 in the quarter and we get off to a very rough start, falling behind 12-4 and staying behind the entire way. Kobe is 4-8 and has 11 points. Bynum has 4 points/5 boards and 2 fouls. On our end, Sparks and Chandler both have 5 points(each has a 3 point play on one of Bynum's fouls). No one else has more than 2. Padgett, Wallace and Mayo are all a bit off.


Second Quarter

LA LAkers 59
Charlotte 38

Oh boy... I haven't played Kobe post patch et, he's a little better now that he doesn't pass out of every drive!! He has 27 points and is dominating OJ Mayo in an embarrassing way. Farmar has 10, Gasol 7 for the Lakers. On our side, PAdgett has 10, he had 8 in the 2nd quarter. Chandler 7, Sparks 7, Wallace 4, Mayo 4... Mayo is 2-12 now, his second 1-6 quarter in a row. This must be that Lakers resurgance with the hustle ratings down, sheesh.


Third Quarter

LA Lakers 81
Charlotte 54

We don't have it today. Kobe does, he has 35. Padgett 14, Sparks 11, wallace and Mayo 6 each, epicly bad.



Fourth Quarter


LA Lakers 110
Charlotte 78


Padgett: 18 points/6 boards/2 blocks
Chandler: 13 points/9 boards
Sparks: 13 points/7 boards
Mayo: 12 points (5-21... had at least 5 shots blocked driving to the rim)
Wallace: 10 points/9 boards
Felton: 4 points/7 assists
Henderson: 4 points


Kobe had 37 points, he hardly played in the 4th quarter. Gasol had 13 points/7 boards.


If this is the result of dropping the hustle slider then our ascent may be appropriately delayed. Lets face it, the lakers are better than us, the should win. Its a long season though, but we've improved greatly with the addition of Mayo but may end up in a similar spot this year.

[Radii]

Nov 6 - Cleveland(5-0) at Charlotte(2-3)

Closer than the last contest but we've now lost 4 straight. Mayo 23, Felton 18, Wallace 13. Lebron had 21 points/7 boards/7 assists, Mo Williams leads thm with 22.

Cleveland 87
Charlotte 81



Nov 8 - Charlotte(2-4) at Utah(1-4)

Wow, we're leading after 3 but Utah beats us 23-16 in the 4th to pull off a 4 point win. Mayo 32, Felton 18, no one else in double figures. Deron Williams 25 points/13 assists, Brook Lopez 21 points/12 boards.

Utah 91
Charlotte 87


Nov 10 - Charlotte(2-5) at Orlando(2-4)

Well... we win, but ugh. Wallace hurt(more on that in a sec). Mayo has his best game yet, 46 points. Felton 15 points/7 assists. Henderson 10. Mareese Speights(74 OVR) scores 27 for Orlando, Nelson 21.

Charlotte 105
Orlando 101


Injury Update

Gerald Wallace has broken his hand and is going to be OUT for 4-6 weeks. He's putting up 13 points/7 boards for us so far, his scoring is obviously down with Mayo on such a roll.



Nov 11 - Indiana(2-5) at Charlotte(3-5)

Ahh, winning again. We're down 7 at the half but control the second half for the win. Mayo 28, Felton 22, Padgett 16 points/11 boards. Granger scores 27, Randolph 26 for the Pacers

Charlotte 104
Indiana 95



Nov 13 - Boston(5-3) at Charlotte(4-5)

We lead by 1 after 3 but fall by 5, Boston is gonna be a big beneficiary of the hustle slider I bet. Felton 24, Mayo 20, Chandler 10 points/11 boards. Pierce 23, Rondo 19 for the Celtics.


Boston 89
Charlotte 84


Nov 16 - Orlando (3-6) at Charlotte(4-6)

We pick on Orlando for the second time in a week. Mayo 46 points/9 boards/3 steals, 17-30 and 10 free throws. Felton with 24/8 assists. Rashard Lewis with 23 for the losers.

Charlotte 110
Orlando 89

[Radii]

Nov 18 - Utah (3-7) at Charlotte(5-6)

We use a 29-18 4th quarter to pull of a 3 point win. Utah is rated quite well but off to a real bad start. Felton 26, Mayo 22, Vujacic has 15. Utah has 6 guys score between 10 and 15.

Charlotte 93
Utah 90



Nov 20 - Charlotte(6-6) at New Jersey(5-7)

Wow, we're behind by 17 at the half and cannot close the gap. Devin Harris puts up 37 to crush us. Mayo 28, Felton 13, Padgett 12 points/12 boards.

New Jersey 94
Charlotte 80


Nov 22 - Charlotte(6-7) at Philadelphia(5-8)

This one seems like a pretty big win for us against an improving Philly team. Mayo with 30, Felton 19, no one else in double figures. Iguodala has 19. Spencer Reid(2010 1.12), Calvin McCloud(2011 1.11) and Tyson Cassell(2012 1.12) with 18, 16, and 10 behind Iguodala, a fun looking young team, not Oklahoma City good but they should improve.

Charlotte 93
Philadelphia 87



Nov 25 - Washington (6-7) at Charlotte(7-7)

We don't want to drop division games at home like this, but Washington puts a beatdown on us. Mayo 30, Padgett 9, Felton 9, oof. Arenas 36 points/8 rebounds/7 assists/4 steals.

Washington 107
Charlotte 72


Nov 26 - Charlotte(7-8) at Miami(7-7)

Another close loss, we're fighting for .500 so far here. Amazing 29 points/18 assists game from D-Wade. Felton has a big 36 point game, Mayo with 31.

Miami 114
Charlotte 111



Some surprising early results:

Eastern conference Standings

1. Toronto (12-4)
2. Detroit (10-4)
3. Cleveland (11-5)
4. Boston (10-6)
5. Washington (8-7)
6. New Jersey (8-8)
7. Miami (8-8)
8. Orlando (7-8)
9. Charlotte(7-9)
10. Milwaukee (6-8)
11. Chicago (6-8)
12. Indiana (6-10)
13. Philadelphia (6-11)
14. New York (5-11)
15. Atlanta (4-10)


I would have expected Atlanta on top and Toronto in dead last, this is a shocker for those two so far. Atlanta doesn't seem to have any injuries either.

[Radii]

When last season started I looked to see in general how many 80+ rated players there were in the league. I forgot to do that before the season started but want to before we get too far in.

80-84: 33 (was 24 last year)
85-89: 14(was 15)
90-94: 17(was 11)
95+: 4 (Paul/Wade/Kobe/Lebron)


The number of players rated between 90-95 has gone up quite a bit, without the number of guys in the high 80s dropping much. Interesting trend, we'll continue to montior, just out of curiosity as far as league development goes.

Arenas, Price, Rose, Boozer, Rondo, Joe Johnson, Deron Williams, Gasol, Devin Harris, Carmelo, Granger, Bosh, Parker, Durant, Howard, Al Jefferson, Roy.

[Radii]

Nov 28, 2012

Charlotte(7-9) at Chicago(6-8)

CHA:CHI
85:94 OVR
79:98 OFF
85:88 DEF

Chicago is another team rated noticibly higher than us but struggling.


Chicago Scouting

PG Jordan Price - 91 OVR - 11.6 ppg/6.8 apg - His scoring has not increased yet this year, which seems odd. A hands, A- defense, B inside/A outside. A serious threat.

SG Derrick Rose - 90 OVR - 17.2 ppg/8.5 apg - A+ hands/B+ inside/B+ outside, Rose may actually play the point since he gets more assists, thoguh both are natural PGs.

SF Luol Deng - 80 OVR - 18.3 ppg/5.9 rpg - Deng may be the reason Price doesn't score as much, he's rated a lot lower but is a serious offensive threat so far, he's shooting 51% from the floor. B inside/A- outside, he's not a good defender or rebounder.

PF Carlos Boozer - 91 OVR - 15.7 ppg/10.6 rpg - great rebounder, ok defense, good scorer, Boozer is 31 y/o but showing no signs of slowing.

C Greg Oden - 79 OVR - 9.7 ppg/8.6 rpg - A+ rebounder, good defender, decent scorer.

2011 1.10 pick SG Danny McMillen is rated 76 OVR, but slowed by a sprained wrist and rated lower currently. He's getting 7 points/game in 20 minutes. SF Will Richardson(2012 1.15) scores 3 a game and Drew Gooden(70 OVR) gets 5 a game as well.


Boozer and Oden give Chicago two A+ rated rebounders in the post, and we dont' have Gerald Wallace today to help counter that with an extra rebounder on the floor.


First Quarter

Chicago 28
Charlotte 25

Gerald Henderson picks up 2 fouls in the first 1 minute 5 seconds and we end up with Vucacic and Stephen Graham on the court an awful lot. Padgett has a great quarter, 5-5 and a couple free throws for 12 points. Mayo is only 1-5 but got to the line some and has 6 points. Felton 5, Jordan Hill 2 and that's it for us. Boozer picks up 2 fouls for Chicago about 5 minutes in and sits. Deng 8, Price 8, Rose 6. Oden has 2 blocks early.


Second Quarter

Charlotte 59
Chicago 52

Outstanding quarter for us. OJ Mayo catches fire, scoring 12 in the quarter to get to 18. Padgett has 16, Henderson 8. At one point in the middle of the second quarter all three of those players were heating up and couldn't seem to miss. Chicago's guards just don't do it this quarter. Drew Gooden ends up with 10 points in 12 minutes off the bench. Price 10, Rose and Deng 8 each. We haven't won this by any stretch but we just had a spectacular quarter.


Third Quarter

Charlotte 85
Chicago 77

Padgett and Price are carrying us as expected, but Gerald Henderson has seriously stepped up and hit some shots this game. Padgett has 20, Mayo 20, Henderson has 13. Felton is in double digits and with 3 assists could put up a double double. Jordan Price had a strong 3rd quarter to keep it within striking distance, he has 20 now. Rose 13, Gooden 12, Deng 10. Boozer has stayed in foul trouble and has only played 15 minutes so far.


Fourth Quarter

8:15 to go - After a slow start(it was 87-83 just moments ago) we go up 91-83 with two free throws from Mayo. The starters played most of the 3rd though and I have to sit Padgett and Mayo. Right now I have Felton/Vujacic/Henderson/Hill/Sparks in the game.

5:55 to go - Felton carries us for a couple minutes here, a great jam and a layup in transition. Gerald Henderson gets a monster 3 point play on a dunk and we are just doing great with Mayo and Padgett on the bench. We have pulled out to a 13 point lead, 100-87.


We roll from there. We win by 14 and that's after going up 18 and screwing around a little to get Felton his double double. Raymond Felton just came out of nowhere to dominate the entire fourth quarter.


Charlotte 111
Chicago 97

Mayo: 24 points/4 boards/5 assists
Padgett: 22 points/10 boards
Felton: 21 points/10 assists
Henderson: 18 points
Hill: 10 points
Chandler: 8 points/8 boards
Sparks: 4 points/8 boards


Jordan Price ends up leading the Bulls with 22, Rose has 13 and 8 assists, and a hodgepodge of players put up 10-12 or so. I'm really really pleased with our performance today, I expect Mayo and PAdgett to do this in games I play out and they come through, and Felton and Henderson really picked it up to put us in a great spot to win going away.

[Radii]

This is from a couple games ago during the blowout loss to the lakers, but I finally set up a 2ksports account and uploaded a video. What prompted me to do all of this? A chance to show everyone Samuel Padgett coming from behind to swat the shit out of a Kobe Bryant drive.

[Radii]

Nov 29 - Charlotte(8-9) at Toronto(12-4)

We fall behind early but hold Toronto to 32 2nd half points in a close win. Mayo 31, Felton 16, Stephen Graham 11 in 9 minutes. Malik Sparks(2010 1.11) puts up 16 points to lead the Raptors. Bosh only has 10.

charlotte 85
Toronto 82


Dec 2 - Toronto (12-5) at Charlotte(9-9)

We get Toronto in back to back games and get a sweep. Mayo with another 40 point game, he puts up 44. Hill has 13 points/11 boards in only 17 minutes, Felton has 12.

Charlotte 97
Toronto 93


That was Mayo's 3rd 40 point game of the year already. He has scored 30+ in 5 of our last 6 games and is second in the league in scoring behind Danny Granger.



Dec 5 - Charlotte(10-9) at LA Clippers(7-11)

We pull out another super close game, this one on the road. Mayo has another huge game with 37, Felton 17, Henderson 9. Blake Griffin leads the Clippers with 22.

Charlotte 91
LA Clippers 89



Dec 8 - Charlotte(11-9) at Golden State(13-7)

Golden state ends our 4 game win streak. Mayo puts up 31 points/9 boards/6 assists/3 steals. Chandler 15 points/12 boards, Felton 14 points/8 boards/8 assists. Monta Ellis leads everyone with 35.

Golden State 105
Charlotte 93


Dec 10 - Charlotte(11-10) at Denver(8-12)

Our last 4 wins have all been by 4 points or less. Mayo scores 26, Felton 21 points/11 assists, Padgett 17 points/13 boards. Melo scores 29, Michael Redd, set up to end his career a Nugget, scores 19.

Charlotte 98
Denver 96



Dec 11 - Charlotte(12-10) at LA Lakers(16-6)

WOW. LA makes us look like a high school team in all four quarters. They beat us by 49. Mayo scores 20, no one else is over 10. Bynum 27, Kobe 26, Gasol 20.

LA Lakers 114
Charlotte 65



INJURY HEALED

Gerald Wallace comes out of his '4-6 week' injury sooner rather than later. 4 weeks and 2 days after breaking his hand he's back and ready to go again.


Dec 14 - Milwaukee(9-12) at Charlotte(12-11)

Ugh, we just cannot lose this game.. for the second game in a row we put up less than 80 in a loss. Mayo 24, Felton 15, Wallace and Padgett both have 9 points/10 boards. David West has 19 points, Jennings 17 for the Bucks.

Milwaukee 80
Charlotte 79



Dec 16 - Philadelphia(8-18) at Charlotte(12-12)

Another really close win. Felton 22, Mayo 21, Wallace 15. No one else has more than 6. Iguodala has 32 for the 76ers, the only guy to really show up on their side.

Charlotte 87
Philadelphia 85



Next up is a division rival that I want to play, we're going to washington to play the wizards.

This will be my 4th game played in only 26 total. I'm aiming to play between 8-10 games during the regular season, so I'm way ahead of schedule here. At some point I may end up simming a full month's worth of games. Maybe next year I'll sim my first 20 games and then pick and choose based on how things begin to shake out.

For now though, I have a list of teams that I prefer to play. LA is the only team out west I care about currently(though maybe I should play Oklahoma City to check them out). Atlanta and Washington are the big teams within my division, and Cleveland, Boston and Chicago all intrigue me so I look for them once.

[CleBrownsfan]

Nice video of Padgett blocking Kobe. I can't believe Atlanta is playing that poorly with that lineup. Maybe they'll kick it into gear and make the playoffs as an 8 seed - imagine being the #1 having to play Atlanta...

[Radii]

Dec 17, 2012

Charlotte(13-12) at Washington(12-11)

CHA:WAS
88:94 OVR
80:99 OFF
91:89 DEF

Washington remains one of the top offensive rated teams in the league, but the don't play the same defense that LA or Cleveland do.


Washington Scouting


PG Gilbert Arenas - 93 OVR - 25.9 ppg/6.2 rpg/7.3 apg - Arenas continues to be a star, having not pulled any guns on anyone in the fake NBA. He's 30 now but his rating improved from last year still. A+ hands/B- inside/A outside.

SG Bill Carroll - 75 OVR - 7.5 ppg - 2011 1.20 pick(by the spurs). He's taken the starting job from Nick Young, only 21 years old. B- hands/B- defense/B- inside/B+ outside.

SF Caron Butler - 87 OVR - 19.6 ppg/5.7 rpg - Butler is 32 years old now, B hands, B+ inside/A- outside and he can defend the perimeter. This is a really tough matchup for Wallace. Luckily we have a 2nd year man on Mayo

PF Antawn Jamison - 73 OVR - 13.5 ppg/7.5 rpg - B- rebounding/A- inside, he's really fading now at 36 years old. My favorite Tar Heel of the 90s without question.

C Stefan Schumacher - 69 OVR - 2011 1.13. Washington had Marc Gasol last year, Schumacher is a step down but he's only 22 and will develop into a better player in a couple years... at least Washington is counting on that. Only 2.8 points but 8 boards a game.


Randy Foye remains one of the best backups in the league, rated 79 OVR now and Arenas' backup at the point. He averages 11 points/game in 23 minutes. Valmilton Saramago(2011 2.1) is rated 74 OVR at SF, and Nick Young is at 71 OVR as a backup SG. A very respectable bench.


First Quarter

Washington 29
Charlotte 24

Felton picks up two fouls early and Bibby gives us 7 minutes at PG. Padgett and Mayo both struggle, they're a combined 3-10 from the floor. Padgett has 6, Mayo 2. Wallace saves our quarter putting up 10 points. We were down 23-14 with just a few minutes to go and went on a scoring run. Arenas scores 7 and has 4 assists. Butler and Jamison have 6 each.


Second Quarter

Washington 51
Charlotte 41

Wallace is keeping us in it all by himself. He has 18 points, 8-10 from the floor, he's getting to the rim and dominating. No one else has more than 6 points. Arenas has 13, Butler 12, Jamison 9. We absolutely have to get Padgett and Mayo going, Wallace is doing great but we need a second option. PAdgett has 6, Mayo 2, neither scored in the 2nd quarter.


Third Quarter

Washington 79
Charlotte 66

We're actually relieved to see a 13 point game after this quarter. At the 6 minute mark Washington went up by 21. We just cannot get it going, and cannot slow them down any. Wallace has 22, Mayo and Padgett both did get going a bit for us, Mayo 12, Padgett 11. But we have no way to stop these guys, Arenas 19, Butler 17, Jamison 13. Washington is killing us on the boards, with 8 more total rebounds, and 6 offensive boards to our 2. They had two trips where they got a cheap offensive board and kickout for 3. That's 6 free points that we shouldn't allow if we box out better.


Fourth Quarter

9:00 to go - Our starters needed some rest, outside of FElton who had a ton of foul trouble in the first half. We trail 88-72 as we bring all 5 starters in.


No need to write any more here. We just could not stop their offense.

Washington 109
Charlotte 88


Wallace: 22 points
Mayo: 21 points
Padgett: 14 points/6 boards
Felton: 9 points
Sparks: 6 points/4 boards
Henderson: 4 points
Chandler: 2 points/7 boards

a couple others with 2 and 4 points in Vujacic, Bibby and Hill.


Butler and Arenas both scored 21 for Washington who shot over 50% for the game. The shooting %'s still seem too high on both ends of the floor. Jamison had 16, Carroll 14, Schumacher 8 points/9 boards to round out the Wizards dominant victory. They've beaten us twice this year now.

[Radii]

Dec 19 - Portland(18-9) at Charlotte(13-13)

We lose another home one to a west coast team, this is a good team of course but still... Mayo 32, Wallace 19, Felton 12. Aldridge led the Blazers with 28.

Portland 96
Charlotte 83


Dec 21 - Denver(8-19) at Charlotte(13-14)

Ahh, here's a big win finally. Mayo has 31, Felton 26, Wallace 14, Padgett 13 points/15 boards. Anthony leads Denver with 26.

Charlotte 125
Denver 89


Dec 23 - San Antonio(12-15) at Charlotte(14-14)

We lead by 6 going into the 4th but lose by 5. Mayo 26, Felton 15, Wallace 14. Ginobili has 27 and Parker 26 for the Spurs.

san Antonio 103
Charlotte 98


Dec 25 - New Jersey (14-13) at Charlotte(14-15)

Wow, what's going on here, come on guys! Mayo 17, Wallace 16... Devin Harris scores 23.

New Jersey 102
Charlotte 79



Dec 30 - Chicago (13-16) at Charlotte(14-16)

We're now 3-7 in our last 10, this has been a horrible stretch at home. Mayo 33, Wallace 13, Felton 11. Boozer leads the Bulls with 20.

Chicago 92
Charlotte 86



At the end of December Toronto remains inexplicably good:

1. Toronto (24-8)
2. Cleveland (22-10)
3. Detroit (18-12)
4. Washington (17-13)
5. Indiana (19-15)
6. Miami (17-14)
7. New Jersey (17-14)
8. Boston (17-15)
9. Chicago (14-16)
10. Milwaukee (14-17)
11. Charlotte (14-17)
12. Orlando (13-17)
13. Atlanta (12-18)
14. Philadelphia (10-23)
15. New York (9-23)


Out west, Oklahoma City(24-8), Portland (23-11) and the Lakers (21-12) are way ahead of the rest of the league. The Clippers and Nuggets are at the bottom, 9-22 and 9-23, 3 team race for the 1st pick so far!

[Radii]

Jan 1 - Charlotte(14-17) at Minnesota(17-16)

Not even close. Mayo has 26, Wallace and Felton 11 each. New center Dwight Howard scores 20.

Minnesota 97
Charlotte 78


Jan 2 - Charlotte(14-18) at Detroit(18-12)

We break our losing streak in a tough environment, good win. Mayo has 34, Felton 26, Wallace 24. Tayshaun Prince scores 22, Ben Gordon 21.

Charlotte 115
Detroit 111



Jan 5 - Charlotte(15-18) at Milwaukee(15-18)

A big win here and we pick up two in a row. Mayo 27, Jordan Hill 15 points in 8 minutes. David West 13, Jennings 12 for the Bucks.

Charlotte 98
Milwaukee 71


Jan 6 - Philadelphia(11-24) at Charlotte(16-18)

Again we take a 6 point lead into the 4th and lose. This one looks like a double OT thriller. Mayo 30, Wallace 22. Padgett had 10 points/18 boards. Iguodala 30, Cassell (this year's steal pick at 1.12) has 21.

Philadelphia 108
Charlotte 107
2 OT


I'll play our next game at the struggling Hawks and then will probably sim the next 10-15 games to get to the all star break. We are currently 10th, 2 games out of 8th in the East. We have somehow lost our home court this year. We're an awesome 9-9 on the road but 7-10 at home.

[Radii]

Jan 8, 2013

Charlotte(16-19) at Atlanta(13-20)

CHA:ATL
88:95 OVR
80:94 OFF
91:94 DEF

All these teams are just rated way above us. I may play the second half against the other teams at the tail end of the playoff race regardless of rivalry/ratings.


Atlanta Scouting


PG Neil Grady - 78 OVR - 11.1 ppg/4.5 apg - Grady had a huge jump after starting as a rookie. He improved 5 points OVR from the last time we saw him. B+ hands/B- inside/B+ outside, and he can defend a good deal too.

SG Joe Johnson - 91 OVR - 23.1 ppg/6.2 apg - Johnson's scoring is down slightly but he's still a superstar at age 31. A- hands/A- defense/A- inside/A outside... no weakness.

SF Marvin Williams - 77 OVR - 13.3 ppg/6.7 rpg - Williams shooting is way down this year, he's under 40% from the field. Average defense, average rebounding, B inside/A- outside.

PF Josh Smith - 84 OVR - 16.5 ppg/8.6 rpg - Improved 2 points OVR from last year, B- rebounder, B- post D, B inside, he can play and guard outside too.

C Al Horford - 84 OVR - 14.0 ppg/10.1 rpg - A solid all around big man, A- rebound, A- defense inside, A inside scoring.


Atlanta's bench is not good. backup guard Jess Nelson is rated 72 OVR and scores 7 a game. C Zaza Pachulia is rated 69 OVR and scores 5 a game. No one else off the bench is rated over 67.


First Quarter

Atlanta 29
Charlotte 25

Felton blows by Grady a couple times and totally owns their backup. Felton has 8. Wallace 5, Padgett and Mayo 4 each. Joe Johnson is killing us, he has 11. Josh SMith 9, Grad 5. Atlanta is 4/5 from 3... we're 0/3. We just cannot give them open shots, they aren't going to miss.


Second Quarter

Atlanta 57
Charlotte 53

We score the first 8 of the quarter and lead most of the way. Atlanta finishes strong though and they go back up before halftime. Padgett has a MONSTER quarter. After just 4 in the first he now has 19 total, 15 in the 2nd quarter. 6 boards too. Felton 10, mayo 9, Wallace 5. Smith leads the Hawks with 18, we hold Joe Johnson down a bit and he only has 13. Horford has 10 points/8 boards and is having a strong game inside.


Third Quarter

Charlotte 85
Atlanta 83

Samuel Padgett is having the game of a lifetime here. Well maybe not for a star, but he's having his best NBA game. He's all over the floor again in the 3rd, and now has 30 points/9 boards on 12-16 shooting. Mayo has 21, Felton 15. Josh Smith is having an equally strong game for the Hawks, he has 27 points. Horford 14 and 10, Johnson picked up a coupel fouls and now has 4 fouls and sat a bit that quarter.

We had Felton and Mayo hit back to back 3's towards the end of the quarter. We were down 81-75 and ended the quarter on a 10-2 run. We had a chance to hit 3 treys in a row but Mayo missed a wide open one on our last shot.


Fourth Quarter

8:45 to go - We go up 94-89 and Atlanta takes a timeout. Padgett has 5 of our 9 points this quarter and he now has 35. He's understandably gassed though, and here's the tough decision to keep the hot guy in the game or sit the super tired guy... I leave him in for now though.

5:45 to go - Padgett is just having a legendary game He's scored 6 straight, Chandler just hit him after drawing a double team with a nice interior dish and Padgett has 41 points now!

5:15 to go - Joe Johnson is up to 20, he's having a strong quarter too. Its 100-98. we finally sit Padgett after he is outmuscled for an offensive board by Josh Smith and then loses the ball on offense.

3:35 to go - We go up 4, get a stop, have a chance to go up 6 but Felton has a shot blocked. Marvin Williams drains a 3 and its 102-101.

2:50 to go - After empty trips for each offense, Felton gets to the rim and hits a layin, we lead 104-101.

2:00 to go - Padgett is doubleteamed on our end and we turn it over, Joe Johnson gets a dunk in transition. We get Felton another good look and he's fouled, hitting both. 106-103 Charlotte.

1:20 to go - Grady misses a jumper on their end, but Horford gets the offensive board. Johnson drives, kicks it to Marvin Williams who misses a long three. On our end Padgett is doubled again and I take a timeout.

1:10 to go - We get lucky. Chandler tries a crosscourt pass from the post to Mayo, its tipped, but Mayo is able to pick it up and hits a 15 footer. 108-103.


We get another stop and Felton catches Grady way out of position and gets to the rim for yet another easy bucket. That puts us up 7 and we aren't losing now.


Charlotte 112
Atlanta 105

Padgett: 41 points/11 boards (17-22 FG)
Mayo: 25 points
Felton: 23 points/4 boards/6 assists
Sparks: 6 points/5 boards
Wallace: 5 points/4 boards/7 assists
Chandler: 4 points/10 boards
Henderson: 4 points

Its again a 3 man effort, but this time its Felton instead of wallace. And while Felton had a great first and did a great job at the end of the 4th, Padgett really took over the game for long stretches to get this victory for us. Wallace struggled to get good shots but he did dish out 7 assists.

Josh Smith had 27 points/6 boards/5 assists. Johnson with 22, Horford 16 points/14 boards. Grady was not bad either with 11 points/9 assists but this was one of the few PG's that I've been able to just dominate with Felton.

A much needed win on the road!

[RealDeal]

You seem to be struggling this year, when it seemed you would be a lot better after adding Mayo. Do you know what the issue is?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by RealDeal

You seem to be struggling this year, when it seemed you would be a lot better after adding Mayo. Do you know what the issue is?

I think I'm struggling in the games I play a bit more b/c of slider changes. I don't think we should have been as successful last year. I lowered my shooting sliders a bit and the change to the hustle sliders seem to be having the proper effect(superstars w/ super high hustle ratings not getting tired as easily), so when I play the Lakers Kobe is capable of dominating the game, etc.

As for our struggles in simmed games, I have no answer. Last year we were one of the best 2 or 3 home teams in the league. This year we are something like 7-10 at home. My starting lineup is nearly the same as it was last year but I made lots of other changes in free agency, and I brought in new coaches. I don't know if those two things are having some sort of unintended effect, or if we were just very lucky last season and very unlucky this season.

I didn't expect us to compete for a top seed against Cleveland just yet, but I didn't expect to struggle to make the playoffs either. Perhaps there is a high amount of variance in simmed results, much higher than I was used to in college hoops, etc... see Toronto leading the East early on, their team is awful on paper.

[Radii]

Jan 9 - Miami(18-17) at Charlotte (17-19)

We win on back to back nights, this is a big one against a team near .500 like us. Mayo 32, Felton 19, Wallace 13. Wade scores 26 for the Heat.

Charlotte 98
Miami 92


We have a scary stretch coming up with 7 of our remaining 10 games in January on the road.

Jan 12 - Charlotte(18-19) at Sacramento(18-18)

And our road stretch begins badly. Felton 20, Wallace 19, Mayo 17. Padgett has 13 points/16 boards. Gay 22, Martin 21 for the Kings.

Sacramento 97
Charlotte 93


Jan 13 - Charlotte(18-20) at Oklahoma City(30-8)

This went pretty much as expected. Mayo 24, Felton 22, no one else over 10. Westbrook has a big 31 point game Durant 18 points/11 boards.

Oklahoma City 109
Charlotte 88


Jan 15 - Charlotte(18-21) at Portland(26-14)

Yeah back to back games against the two best teams out west. Wallace 28 Mayo 22, Padgett 19 points/9 boards. Aldridge 27, Roy 22 for the Blazers.

Portland 103
Charlotte 95



Jan 18 - Charlotte(18-22) at Phoenix(21-19)

And we lose our first four straight on the road. Mayo 29, Felton 20, Wallace 18. SG Laurence Flowers(2010 1.5) scores 28, Barbosa 24, Augustin 16!

Phoenix 105
Charlotte 89



So here's how the east is shaking out about 40 games in:

1. Toronto (29-12)
2. Cleveland (28-12)
3. Washington (24-16)
4. New Jersey (23-16)
5. Detroit (23-16)
6. Indiana (23-20)
7. Chicago (20-19)
8. Boston (20-20)
9. Milwaukee (19-22)
10. Miami (18-22)
11. Atlanta (18-22)
12. Charlotte (18-23)
13. Orlando (16-23)
14. Philadelphia (15-27)
15. New York (12-28)

So we are just doing terribly really. We are 8-10 at home and 10-13 on the road. We have two coming up at home then 3 on the road to end January. At that point *if* we can get it going at home we'll have 6 more home games than road games the rest of the way which in theory should be a small advantage.

[Radii]

Jan 20 - Milwaukee (19-22) at Charlotte(18-23)

The records are close but we really have a lot more talent than the Bucks, we get a win that we pretty much expect to get every time. Mayo 33, Felton 28, Wallace 13. Jennings 23, Vince Carter 19.

Charlotte 108
Milwaukee 104


Jan 22 - Sacramento (21-20) at Charlotte(19-23)

A frustrating home loss, urgh! Mayo scores 38, no one else showed up at all. Martin 22, Gay 18 for the kings.

Sacramento 85
Charlotte 81


Jan 23 - Charlotte(19-24) at Orlando(16-25)

A 2 point loss on the road. Mayo 29, Felton 23, Padgett 15. Nelson scores 20 for the Magic.

Orlando 97
Charlotte 95


Jan 25 - Charlotte(19-25) at Memphis(15-27)

Man... frustrating. Wow. We lead by 17 at the half, by 14 after 3 and fall by 1. Mayo 35, Wallace 22, Felton 17 points/13 assists, Padgett 14 points/10 boards. TJ Ford scores 22, so does Yao for the Grizz.

Memphis 103
Charlotte 102


Jan 28 - New Jersey(23-19) at Charlotte(19-26)

I miscounted earlier, here is another home game for us, and we pull off a 2 point win. This time we trail by 18 after 3 but win the 4th 32-12. Felton 28, Mayo 20. Devin Harris has 36 for the Nets.

Charlotte 96
New Jersey 94


Jan 30 - Miami (21-24) at Charlotte(20-26)

Miami beats us handily. Mayo 31, Felton 19. Wade has 35 and 11 assists to lead the Heat.

Miami 109
Charlotte 93


Jan 31 - Charlotte(20-27) at Cleveland (32-13)

January ends on a sour note. Mayo 34, Wallace 23, Henderson 15. James has 35 points/12 boards/9 assists. Gordon had 34.

Cleveland 116
Charlotte 101


We go 2-9 in our final 11 of the month.

The 8th playoff spot is currently held by the 23-25 Bucks. We are 20-28, 4 games out of 8th, and in 12th. Miami/Boston/Atlanta are in between us and Milwaukee.


We would currently be looking at the 7th pick in the draft if the lottery held up and was held based on today's standings.

[Radii]

We've got 6 games before the all star break, and 6 after. I'll probably sim all of february and decide what games to play the rest of the way if we have a shot at the playoffs still.

I changed some of the "coach profile" tendencies for Byron Scott, upping "attack the basket" from 40 to 50 and increasing close and midrange shots("take close shots" was down in the 40s for some reason). The coach last year was very heavy into being a jump shooting team, Scott is more balanced, which I like b/c I want to use my bigs and Mayo/Felton/Wallace are still getting their shots. But I try to balance things slightly just because I feel like I ought to change *something* at this point in the season.


Feb 2 - Chicago (23-22) at Charlotte(20-28)

Well then, this blowout was unexpected. Mayo 46!! Wallace 23, Felton 21. Price 20, Rose 18 for Chicago.

Charlotte 123
Chicago 91


Feb 5 - Atlanta(22-26) at Charlotte(21-28)

Wonder if my semi-random tweaks magically made us good again. Mayo 30, Felton 18 points/13 boards, Chandler 17. Johnson and Smith both score 19 for Atlanta.

Charlotte 104
Atlanta 86


Feb 7 - Charlotte(22-28) at New Jersey(27-21)

Defense! The month hits February and we can play again! Mayo 26, Wallace 21. Harris has 17 points/8 assists for the Nets.

Charlotte 81
New Jersey 68


Feb 8 - New Orleans(24-27) at Charlotte(23-28)

We rack up yet another double digit win. Felton 26 points/11 assists, Mayo 25, Wallace 17. Chris Paul scores 25, JR Smith has 24(he came to NO two years ago in free agency).

Charlotte 103
New Orleans 89


Feb 10 - Charlotte(24-28) at Detroit(30-19)

Well, that's an abrupt and embarrassing end to our winning streak. Mayo 17, Felton 12... Padgett grabs a career high 22 rebounds to go with 10 points. Stuckey leads Detroit with 22.

Detroit 76
Charlotte 57

That's right, 57. We scored 19 first HALF points.


Feb 11 - Charlotte(24-29) at Indiana(29-24)

We drop 2 straight heading into the all star break but winning a few in a row was nice. Mayo 31, Wallace 12, Felton 11. Granger leads Indiana with 40.

Indiana 103
Charlotte 92


All Star Break Standings

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland (37-14)
2. Toronto (35-16)
3. Detroit (31-20)
4. Indiana (30-24)
5. Washington (29-24)
6. New Jersey (27-23)
7. Chicago (26-25)
8. Miami (25-27)
9. Milwaukee (25-27)
10. Boston (24-28)
11. Charlotte (24-30)
12. Atlanta (22-29)
13. Orlando (20-31)
14. Philadelphia (20-32)
15. New York (19-33)

We have improved our situation over this short stretch. Miami and Milwaukee are tied for 8th, Boston is 1 back and we are 2 back.


Western Conference

1. Oklahoma City (40-13)
2. Portland (33-22)
3. LA Lakers (31-22)
4. Dallas (28-23)
5. Phoenix (28-26)
6. Minnesota (27-26)
7. Sacramento (26-26)
8. Golden State (25-27)
9. New Orleans (25-28)
10. San Antonio (22-29)
11. Utah (22-29)
12. Houston (22-30)
13. LA Clippers (19-32)
14. Denver (19-32)
15. Memphis (19-32)


There are 6 teams at the bottom(memphis/denver/clippers/orlando/philly/new york) all within 1 1/2 games for the worst record. Based on past drafts if there are going to be any instant stars there are likely only going to be 2 or 3 at the top of the draft so that's a pretty big difference.

[Radii]

Rookies vs Sophomores

The 2nd year players just have such a huge development edge here it seems.

Sophs 110
Rookies 86


Rookies

Cassell: 19 points/4 boards/4 assists/5 steals (PHI - 1.12 - 83 OVR)
Samuels: 15 points (HOU - 1.11 - 71 OVR)
York: 15 points (MIL - 1.4 - 69 OVR)
Demunyck: 12 points/9 assists (DAL- 1.1 - 80 OVR)
Soto: 9 points (SAN - 1.6 - 79 OVR)
Richardson: 7 points (CHI - 1.15 - 71 OVR)


Sophomores

May: 18 points (GSW - 1.21 - 74 OVR)
Hickman: 17 points (MEM - 1.6 - 75 OVR)
Grady: 17 points (ATL - 1.16 - 78 OVR)
McCloud: 16 points (PHI - 1.11 - 75 OVR)
Bass: 14 points (HOU - 1.18 - 73 OVR)
Law: 10 points/9 boards (DAL - 1.1 - 83 OVR)
Haywood: 7 points/8 boards (NYN - 1.17 - 74 OVR)
Newman: 6 points/8 boards (PHO - 1.4 - 78 OVR)

[Radii]

All Star Game

East 97
West 72

WEST

Anthony Randolph: 11 points
Bynum: 10 points
Monta Ellis : 9 points
Laurence Flowers (2010 1.5 - PHO): 9 points
Anthony: 7 points
Parker: 6 points
Howard: 5 points/7 boards

The recently drafted players are slowly starting to creep their way into the all star game.



East

HAH!

Mayo: 32 points
Bosh: 12 points
Harris: 10 points
Arenas: 8 points
Rondo: 8 points
James: 8 points/8 boards/6 assists
Zach Randolph: 6 points


Huh, its like the guy from my team had his rotation minutes kept from Charlotte's settings while everyone else had special all star settings. Mayo played 42 minutes, no one else on either team played more than 24.

[Radii]

Feb 17 - Cleveland (37-15) at Charlotte(24-30)

We drop a close one, something I'm ok with against the best team in the East. Mayo 19, Felton 16, Wallace 13. Gordon 25, Mo Williams 22, Lebron 17 for the Cavs.

Cleveland 96
Charlotte 92


Feb 19 - Houston (23-31) at Charlotte (24-31)

I remember Houston being one of the worst couple teams in the league in the initial power rankings, I'm surprised they have 23 wins, and we do beat them here. Mayo 28, Wallace 19 points/15 boards, Felton 17 points. Aaron Brooks leads Houston with 18.

Charlotte 93
Houston 83


Feb 21 - Indiana(31-25) at Charlotte(25-31)

This month is looking so much better than last. Mayo 28, Sparks 14 points/8 boards(!!), Wallace 14 points/10 boards. Granger leads Indiana with 21, Zach Randolph 17 points/19 boards.

Charlotte 89
Indiana 85



The trade deadline comes and goes. I fielded many trade offers, most amusingly an offer of DJ Augustin + Phoenix's first rounder for Raymond Felton. A number of reasonable offers came in for Tyson Chandler that I half considered, they were all of the "I can upgrade two of my backups and get Dell Sparks into the starting lineup if I give up Chandler" but in the end decided that keeping Chandler around while Sparks continues to develop will work out better.


There were a lot more trades this year than usual, and I'm going to turn off trades until Feb 1 in future seasons, just b/c there is a lot of annoying minor shit going on here that slowly mess up depth charts and I don't care to have to review every trade for the entire season. There is one really noteworthy trade:


Atlanta Receives: Al Jefferson
Minnesota Receives: Al Horford, ATL 2013 1st rounder

Jefferson is rated 90 OVR and is 28 years old. This is quite the upgrade over Horford. Jefferson has been a 20 and 10 guy for a number of years now. His numbers are down this year due to the dumb roster management in Minnesota, picking up Dwight Howard when they already had Jefferson.

Horford is rated 84 OVR and is 26 years old. He'll back up Dwight Howard and will likely be the best backup in the league as a result. If Minnesota didn't get a first rounder out of it this would be really really dumb. I still would have preferred Minnesota try to pick up a star at another position, say an 85 rated SF + a first rounder for Jefferson? But at least they got what is quite possibly going to be a lottery pick out of it. And really Horford isn't bad trade bait either.

I wonder if this pushes Atlanta into the playoffs. I hope not b/c I'm competing with them for one of the tail end spots. But how could it not make them noticibly better?

[Radii]

Three more games after the trade deadline to finish off February and we'll review where things stand.

Feb 24 - Charlotte(26-31) at San Antonio (25-30)

We lose a tough one by 1 on the road. Mayo 31, Felton 13, Padgett 9 points/10 boards. Dell Sparks has 15 boards off the bench. Parker 22 points, Ginobili 21.

San Antonio 84
Charlotte 83


Feb 26 - Charlotte(26-32) at New Orleans(28-30)

Not as close, but another annoying road loss. Mayo 24, Felton 16, Padgett 12. Paul scores 25, grabs 9 boards and has 7 assists, close to the triple double.

New Orleans 86
Charlotte 78


Feb 28 - Washington(30-28) at Charlotte(26-33)

And we lose 3 to end the month. Mayo 29, Vujacic 201!!, Wallace 11. Butler 25, Arenas 22 for the Wizards.

Washington 100
Charlotte 94


With that 3 game stretch we have a 6-6 February and are once again 8 games under .500.

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland (42-17)
2. Toronto (39-19)
3. Detroit (34-25)
4. New Jersey (31-26)
5. Indiana (32-28)
6. Washington (32-28)
7. Milwaukee (28-31)
8. Boston (28-31)
9. Miami (28-31)
10. Chicago (28-31)
11. Charlotte (26-34)
12. Atlanta (25-33)
13. Philadelphia (22-36)
14. Orlando (21-36)
15. New York (21-37)

There's a 4 way tie for the last two playoff spots between Milwaukee/Boston/Miami/Chicago and we are 2.5 behind all of them.

[Radii]

Mar 1 - Charlotte(26-34) at New York(21-37)

It always helps to play the worst team in the conference. Mayo has 47, Felton 17 points/16 assistss Wallace 14. Turkoglu with 15 for the Knicks, a number of others in the 10-13 range.

Carlotte 106
New York 99


Mar 3 - LA Clippers (22-36) at Charlotte(27-34)

Must win... and we didn't. This one stings. Felton 35, Mayo 27, Wallace 15 points/10 boards. Blake Griffin 26 points/12 boards for the Clippers. Kaman and Beasley had 20+ as well.

LA Clippers 110
Charlotte 102


We play two games this month against those 4 teams that we're primarly trying to catch for the playoff spots. The first one is against boston, this will be the second time I've played them this year. That game comes up next. At the end of the month we'll play Miami.

[Radii]

March 5, 2013

Charlotte(27-35) at Boston(29-31)

CHA:BOS
88:96 OVR
80:97 OFF
91:95 DEF

This game is huge, we have 35 losses and would have to go 14-6 to finish .500. Basically our playoff hopes are fading very very quickly.

Boston Scouting


PG Rajon Rondo - 91 OVR - 13.8 ppg/9.2 apg - He's taken over as the star of the team, A+ hands, A+ defense, B outside shooting.

SG Tracy McGrady - 77 OVR - 13.9 ppg - McGrady is 33 years old, A- hands, B+ defense, B- inside/B+ outside. He's not much of an athlete anymore, just a C.

SF Paul Pierce - 84 OVR - 20.2 ppg - A- inside/A- outside, still a B rated defender. 35 years old, he's starting to fade some.

PF Kevin Garnett - 85 OVR - 11.9 ppg/8.5 rpg - 36 years old, B- rebounder, A- inside, A- post D. Pretty similar to Padgett, they should have a good battle

C Kendrick Perkins - 79 OVR - 10.2 ppg/9.5 rpg - A rebounder, A- post D, B+ inside.


First Quarter

Boston 18
Charlotte 16

We lead 11-10 with 6 minutes left and things slow down dramatically. We shoot 35%, Boston shoots 40%. Chandler scores our first 4 points and leads us with 4. Bibby hit a 3, Mayo got a 3 point play. A few others have 2 each. Mayo was really cold here again, 1-5 from the field, 0-2 on two wide open 3's. Boston gets 8 from Garnett, 7 from McGrady, 3 from Pierce, accounting for all 18 of their points.


Second Quarter

Charlotte 46
Boston 39

The scoring sure does pick up. And OJ Mayo just totally went off. He scores 18 second quarter points and now has 21. Padgett has 6 points/5 boards, Wallace 6. Garnett has 14 points/7 boards and has really had a strong game on both ends against Padgett. Pierce 9, McGrady 7, Rondo 5 for the Celtics. Mayo was 6-10 from the field, hitting a 3 and getting to the line 6 times, making 5 of them in the quarter. If he has another quarter like this one he could be on his way to an epic performance.


Third Quarter

Charlotte 70
Boston 67

We lead by as much as 9 during the quarter but Boston ties it up at 61 with 3 minutes left. We end up pulling ahead slightly and will take a 3 point lead into the 4th.

The big story of the quarter is Paul Pierce, he has 11 for the Celtics and seemed to be everywhere. Garnett has 16, backup forward Tiggs has 10, Rondo 8. Mayo has 7 this quarter, he was mostly quiet but scored 5 straight once Boston tied it at 61. Padgett 9, Chandler 8, Wallace and Felton 6 each.


Fourth Quarter

9:30 to go - We lead 70-68, just a Garnett free throw so far. Wallace and Padgett were the only starters out there and I just pulled those. The opening of the fourth quarter is always a difficult time for me as far as managing fatigue. I always want to get my backups out there so i can have my starters as fresh as possible for the stretch run.


6:20 to go - We get 4 from Henderson and 4 from Hill and lead 78-74, giving our starters a good rest. They all come back in now to play out the rest of the game.

4:30 to go - a McGrady 3, Tiggs jumper, and two free throws make it 7 in a row for the Celtics. 81-78 Boston.

2:45 to go - Mayo and Padgett get buckets for us(Mayo has 30), but we can't seem to stop Boston at all. They lead 86-82.

1:50 to go - We get two looks that I thought were quite good but miss them both. Boston only has added a free throw though. I call a timeout trailing 87-82.


1:20 to go - We get two free throws from Sparks, they get one from Garnett. I end up calling my last timeout after getting stuck in a doubleteam. We trail 88-84 with the ball.

0:56 to go - I get it to Mayo who drives but misses. Boston tries a fast break and cannot finish. We rush it back up and Mayo hits a 10 footer. We trail 88-86 now.

0:36 to go - Pierce goes into the lane but loses control of the ball down low. Sparks picks it up, outlets to Mayo who hits felton underneath the basket for a layup. TIED UP! 88-88, Celtics ball.

0:26 to go - Rondo gets it to Pierce in the paint who takes a ridiculous circus shot under the basket, but he finds a way to make it go in... 90-88 Boston.

0:12 to go - Felton gets by Rondo, draws a doubleteam, hits Mayo for a completely wide open 3... that's no good. Sparks gets the rebound and tries to go back up, but he can't finish either. Boston rebounds, we foul.

0:04.3 to go - Amazingly, Rondo misses both free throws, but Perkins grabs the offensive board over Sparks. We foul him, and even more amazingly, HE misses both free throws! I push it up the court hard, catch Padgett in the lane, he goes up, is fouled by Rondo, and the ball just rims out.

0:04.3 to go - Padgett isn't the best free throw shooter in the world, so I'm pretty nervous about this. First shot... SWISH. Second shot... off the back rim Boston rebounds and we try to foul but the are able to pass the ball away. We finally foul but there's only 0.6 seconds to go. Rondo misses the first ,makes the second. I'm out of timeouts so i can't do anything to move the ball. I try a long outlet pass in to Mayo but its thrown away. That does it.


Boston 91
Charlotte 89

Really exciting game, we just couldn't make enough shots late in the 4th. Padgett was really, really close to a possible 3 point play, but once his FG didn't go in I dreaded the free throws, and he just couldn't make both.



Mayo: 32 points/3 assists/4 steals
Padgett: 12 points/11 boards (3-9 shooting)
Chandler: 8 points/6 boards
Felton: 8 points (4-12 shooting)
Henderson: 8 points
Wallace: 6 points/7 boards/5 assists (2-9 shooting)

So Mayo was great but Padgett/Felton/wallace combine to shoot 9-30. Mayo did miss one wide open 3 in the final two minutes but he carried us most of the way here and we just couldn't find anyone else to step up at all.

Pierce scored 25, Garnett 22 points/15 boards. A nail in the coffin of our playoff hopes.

[Radii]

Chicago is in the 8 seed spot with a 29-32 record. Milwaukee is 1/2 game back, Miami 1 1/2 back, Atlanta 2 1/2 back, and Charlotte is in 12th place, 3 games out of the playoffs. We would actually be in line for the 6th pick in the draft were the lottery held today.

I may just sim out the rest of my games if we don't get on a run here and have a legit shot in the final couple weeks. The NBA is about the playoffs, if we're not going to make the playoffs then I don't really care about playing a bunch of regular season games for no purpose.


And speaking off the offseason that we might have ahead, reviewing the potential free agent market really helped going into the last offseason. So I am going to take some time to do that now.


Charlotte Contract Issues

According to our team budget, we are going to have $27 million free next year. Lets see if there is anyone we need to look at re-signing.

PG: Felton - Signed through next season (2 years/$17.31M)
PG: Bibby - FA after this year. Rated 67 OVR and 34 years old, he's not willing to re-sign right now but says he likely will during the offseason. We have him for $1.34 million this year, I might like to keep him around as a cheap backup.

SG: Mayo - long term deal obviously
SG: Vujacic - expiring deal - willing to re-sign - 66 OVR but cheap like Bibby
SG/SF: Lindsey - 2 years + team options, this is our first round pick rated 60 OVR. He's not happy, I may D-League him.
SG: Stephen Graham - freeing up 500k


SF: Wallace - long term deal
SF: Henderson - expiring deal, making $3.1 million right now. Hasn't developed as I'd hoped but is rated 71 OVR and is a serviceable backup. If he's willing to re-sign for around the same amount I will likely try to keep him. I might even drop Vujacic and give Henderson some more minutes, he can play SG too.

PF: Padgett - one more team option year, he is happy but he's still talking about testing free agency. He's not the most loyal guy.
PF: Hill - $1.58 M epiring deal - He's been ok and could still improve a bit but he wants more playing time and isn't going to get it. I may dump him and sign someone else similar to Hill in the offseason.

C: Chandler - Has a $6.12 player option next year
C: Sparks - We've got him super cheap for 2 more years w/ team options
C: Diop - Thank god our $7 million committment to Diop ends.


We have a few team options and Chandler's player option that will eat up some of that $27 million. We also have 4 backups with expiring deals. If we lose them we'll need to replace them anyway. Realistically, The $7 million I'm losing in Diop may well be all we have to spend in free agency. And our roster is pretty well fleshed out, so its unlikely we'd try to make a big splash in free agency this year anyway.


Potential Free Agents

PG Chris Paul - 95 OVR - New Orleans - Paul is 27 y/o now, he wants to stay with the Hornets despite them having no success at all.

PG Deron Williams - 94 OVR - Utah - 28 y/o - Wants to stay in Utah

C Al Jefferson - 90 OVR - Atlanta - 28 y/o - Not ready to commit to re-signing. He's be as interesting a free agent as Howard was last year.

PG Devin Harris - 89 OVR - New Jersey - 30 y/o - would like to re-sign

SG Andre Iguodala - 88 OVR - Philly - 29 y/o - He has a $15.9 million player option but claims to plan on testing free agency.

PG Johnny Flynn - 86 OVR - Minnesota - 24 y/o - Just finishing up his rookie contract, he plans on testing free agency!

PF Blake Griffin - 88 OVR - LA Clippers - 23 y/o - Feels that testing FA is good business sense. So is signing with anyone not named the clippers.

PG Monta Ellis - 85 OVR - Golden State - 27 y/o - Plans on testing free agency despite an $11 million player option

SG Ben Gordon - 84 OVR - Detroit - 29 y/o - Might re-sign with detroit but not before testing free agency

SG James Harden - 83 OVR - Oklahoma City - 23 y/o - Might re-sign but not before testing free agency

PG Stephen Curry - 82 OVR - Golden State - 24 y/o - Plans to stay at Golden State

PG Mo Williams - 81 OVR - Cleveland - 30 y/o - Wants to stay in Cleveland

PF Dirk Nowitzki - 82 OVR - Dallas - 34 y/o - wants to stay in dallas

SG Kevin Martin - 81 OVR - Sacramento - 30 y/o - Wants to stay in sacramento

PG Tyreke Evans - 81 OVR - Sacramento - 23 y/o - wants to stay in sacramento

SF Gary Oakley - 88 OVR - Sacramento - 24 y/o - Getting under 30 minutes a game for no reason whatsoever that I can see. He is pissed off and plans on becoming a free agent. HE was the 3rd pick in the 2010 draft behind Padgett.


The talent level in teh league overall appears to be growing a bit, but really this FA market has the potential to be huge. I love Felton, but I could see myself not picking up some of these backups and going a bit thinner if I could sign any of the PG's mentioned in this list. I don't know if I'll be able to afford any of them anyway, but Looking through this I'm most intrigued by the PGs, Johnny Flynn would be a dream come true.

[Radii]

Alright, lets get this abomination of a season over with, assuming we don't win 5 straight and get in the playoff mix for real.

Mar 7 - Phoenix (31-32) at Charlotte(27-36)

I expect to win this at home every time, and we come through today. Mayo 38, Felton 25, Padgett 12 points/13 boards. DJ Augustin comes to play in his old arena, scoring 36.

Charlotte 116
Phoenix 98


Mar 9 - Golden State(33-30) at Charlotte (28-36)

Another game I would think we should win, we're rated about the same and equally talented, earlier in the year we were dropping these all the time. Nice to get a win. Mayo 27, Wallace 20, Felton 12. Villanueva scores 20 for the Warriors.

Charlotte 85
Golden State 78


Mar 11 - Detroit (37-26) at Charlotte(29-36)

A good detroit team keeps us from 3 straight. Mayo has another monster game with 46 points. Felton 12 points/16 assists. Bordon scores 31 to lead the Pistons.

Detroit 106
Charlotte 91


Mar 13 - Charlotte(29-37) at Atlanta(28-35)

Atlanta embarrasses us in their house, ouch. Joe Johnson scores 44 for atlanta. No one else on either team has mor ethan 15.

Atlanta 92
Charlotte 68


Mar 14 - Orlando (25-39) at Charlotte(29-38)

These kinds of unacceptable losses.. Orlando is rated 12 points lower than our team... ugh. Mayo 30, Felton 16. Jameer Nelson has 24 points/8 assists for Orlando. Lewis has 24 too.


Orlando 92
Charlotte 90


Mar 17 - Dallas (34-31) at Charlotte(29-39)

We beat a solid Dallas team. Mayo 35, Wallace 10 points/12 boards. Dallas has 4 guys score 12 each.

charlotte 86
Dallas 81


Mar 18 - Charlotte(30-39) at Washington(38-30)

Caron Butler is out, putting our rating better than Washington's. And we pull off a 2 point win on the road. Wallace 23, Mayo 21, Felton 19. Arenas scores 26 but can't do it without Butler.

Charlotte 102
Washington 100


Mar 22 - Charlotte(31-39) at New York(25-45)

We beat the sorry Knicks to win 3 straight.

Charlotte 116
New York 102

Mayo 34, Felton 28, Wallace and Padgett 14 each. Harrington leads the Knicks with 21.



There's 3 1/2 weeks left in the season. Lets check out the standings and see if some of the other playoff contenders have fallen on their face for us or not.


Eastern Standings

1. Cleveland (46-25)
2. Toronto (46-25)
3. Indiana (40-31)
4. Detroit (39-31)
5. New Jersey (39-31)
6. Washington (38-33)
7. Boston (34-36)
8. Miami (33-37)
-----------------
9. Charlotte (32-39)
10. Milwaukee (32-39)
11. Chicago (31-38)
12. Atlanta (30-39)
13. Orlando (27-43)
14. Philadelphia (25-44)
15. New York (25-46)

WELL THEN.

Charlotte, Milwaukee, Chicago are all 1 1/2 behind Miami for the final playoff spot. Atlanta is 2 1/2 back. You'll never guess who we play next... @Miami. BRING IT ON. Its really sad looking at our 6-5 March record and seeing home losses to the Clippers and Magic that should just not ever happen, and our tough 2 point loss against Boston.

I'll play out our game against Miami tomorrow and we'll see if we can find a way to earn the right to be spanked by Cleveland.

Actually, its pretty interesting, I think Toronto is a completely fraudulent team and if we could find ourselves matched up against them I think we would have an incredibly good chance to win a playoff series.

[Radii]

March 24, 2013

Charlotte(32-39) at Miami(33-37)

CHA:MIA
87:83 OVR
78:81 OFF
90:76 DEF

Miami Scouting

PG Carlos Arroyo - 63 OVR - 6.5 ppg/2.9 apg - Only playing due to an ACL tear for Mario Chalmers. A huge weak spot, B+ hands and noting else even close. Maybe Felton can have a good game here?

SG Dwyane Wade - 98 OVR - 26.1 ppg/8.2 apg - A+ hands, A- inside, A outisde, A- defender, true superstar obviously.

SF Ben Sloan - 75 OVR - 8.2 ppg/4.9 rpg - 2011 pick 1.3 by Milwaukee, traded to Miami this season. Only 21, assuming he develops well he should be one of those mid-level star types by his mid-late 20s. Right now he's really just average everywhere, B- inside, everything else is a C+/C-

PF Troy Murphy - 72 OVR - 8.5 ppg/8.6 rpg - From Indiana to Miami to Oklahoma City back to Miami in the last few years. 32 years old now, A- rebounder, B- insdie/B+ outside. Poor defense that I will try to take advantage of with Padgett.

C Jermaine O'Neal - 74 OVR - 10.8 ppg/7.7 rpg - 34 years old, he hasn't been anywhere near 20 points/game since 2007 with Indiana. He's only average on the glass, B defense, B+ inside. Still a decent option.


backup center Charlie Galloway is rated 71 OVR (2010 pick 1.15) and scores 4 and grabs 5 boards off the bench. Richard Jefferson is a role player here with serious morale issues. He's averaging 10 points a game but real unhappy with his minutes.

It seems that Wade shoudl dominate the Wade/Mayo matchup, but that we have an edge at PG, SF and PF and hopefully get big games from Felton, Wallace, and/or Padgett.


First Quarter

Charlotte 29
Miami 29

SAMUEL PADGETT. Miami went out to a fast 7-0 start before Padgett scored 5 in a row and started to warm up. At the 7:09 mark Padgett hit a layup, and for the next 6 1/2 minutes Padgett scored all of our points, 15 in total. Sparks hit a couple free throws with 30 seconds left in the quarter to end that little run. Padgett 20, Felton 3, Sparks, Mayo, Wallace 2 each. Wade has 11 for Miami, O'Neal 6, Jefferson 5. Wallace and Sloan(Miami's SF) each picked up 2 fouls midway through the quarter and sat.


Second Quarter

Charlotte 56
Miami 46

Just a great quarter, we rushed out to an 11 point lead early in the quarter and don't let up. Padgett ends the half with 24 points/3 rebounds, he sat midway through the second to get some rest. Mayo hit a few shots and now has 8. Wallace 6, Vujacic 5, Sparks 4, Felton 3. Wade played PG most of the quarter and didn't score but now has 4 assists. Jermaine O'Neal has 12 points/8 boards. Sloan 7 and Jefferson 5.

Mainly we just hit everything we shot this quarter.

Third Quarter

Charlotte 87
Miami 73

After only scoring 4 in the 2nd, Padgett comes up huge again, he has a 17 point quarter and has 41 after only three! He's shooting 15-22 from the floor and has 11 free throws. Mayo has 17, no one else on the team has more than 6. Wade has 17, O'Neal 14, Sloan 9 for the Heat. They just cannot hang with our offense at all.

Fourth Quarter

8:00 to go - FIFTY!!! Padgett is still rolling, Troy Murphy just can't even come close to containing him. we lead 99-81, PAdgett has 51 now.

6:00 to go - I pull my starters for now, mostly b/c they need rest but also hopefully to keep them out for good. We lead 102-86.

3:40 to go - Wade scores 6 of 8 for Miami and cut the lead down to 12, its 106-94. We take a timeout and get some starters back in.


Miami doesn't get the lead down under 10 until there are 40 seconds left. They score once more and we win by 7 with relative ease.


Charlotte 109
Miami 102

Padgett: 54 points/9 boards
Mayo: 19 points
Sparks: 9 points/10 boards
Wallace: 6 points/7 boards
Felton: 6 points/6 assists
Vujacic: 5 points
Hill: 5 points

Sparks and Chandler are pretty much splitting minutes at this point, and Sparks seems to be doing better much of the time.


Wade does everything he can in the 4th but their defense just couldn't keep up. Wade scores 30 and has 8 assists(13 4th quarter points). O'Neal has 16 points/14 boards, Murphy 16 points/10 boards, and Arroyo 10 points

This win will make the playoff race ridiculously exciting for the next week or two. Our schedule gets pretty tough tho so we may fall right back off pace.

[Radii]

From the pressbook for the game, which I find annoying, seems you have to upload the entire thing, can't just pick one image. Anyway, this is Miami's PG Carlos Arroyo. Its the first time I've noticed this particular oddity in any of the CPU generated draftees/players:

[Radii]

The news for teh Bobcats informs me that Padgett's 54 is a Charlotte team record.

While i'm excited to be only 1/2 game out of the playoffs, the rest of the week is a bit troublesome... lets have it:


Mar 26 - Minnesota(39-33) at Charlotte(33-39)

Wow, stunning victory over a very good T'wolves team, GO BOBCATS! Mayo 31, Wallace 19, Felton 19(and 13 assists). Flynn 20 and 10 assists, Love 15 for the Wolves.

Charlotte 106
Minnesota 82



Mar 28 - Oklahoma City (54-19) at Charlotte(34-39)

We came damn close here, but cannot beat the best team in the NBA. Mayo 34, Felton 16, Chandler 14. Durant 29, Westbrook 28 for the Thunder.

Oklahoma City 99
Charlotte 96


that was our last game in March. We have 8 more to go.

Eastern Conference Standings

1. Cleveland (49-25)
2. Toronto (49-25)
3. New Jersey (42-32)
4. Indiana (42-33)
5. Detroit (41-33)
6. Washington (39-36)
7. Boston (37-38)
8. Miami (35-39)
9. Charlotte (34-40)
10. Atlanta (34-40)
11. Milwaukee (32-43)
12. Chicago (31-43)
13. Orlando (28-46)
14. Philadelphia (28-46)
15. New York (28-47)

Its pretty much a 3 team race now with Miami in the 8 spot and Atlanta and Charlotte 1 back. Milwaukee is 3 1/2 back with just 8 games to go, that seems unlikely.

[Radii]

Apr 1 - Charlotte (34-40) at Houston (35-40)

Inexcusable loss. Houston is rated so so poorly. Mayo 32, Padgett 12, Wallace 11. Brooks 26 and Jerryd Bayless 25 for the Rockets.

Houston 117
Charlotte 93


Apr 2 - Charlotte(34-41) at Dallas(39-35)

This one would have been less unreasonable but we pull off a solid 1 point win today. Mayo 27, Wallace 18, Felton 11. Top pick in this year's draft Demunyck scores 18 and dishes 9 assists for Dallas. Dirk scores 16.

Charlotte 87
Dallas 86


Apr 4 - Memphis (34-41) at Charlotte(35-41)

Huge home win agaist the Grizzlies. Mayo with a big 43 point night. Wallace 15, Felton 12. No one has more than 15 for Memphis.

Charlotte 102
Memphis 96



Here's the relevant standings:

8. Atlanta (36-41)
9. Charlotte (36-41)
10. Miami (36-42)

Atlanta and Charlotte currently tied, Miami 1/2 back. Atlanta is currently listed as the 8 seed. Atlanta/Charlotte have 5 games left, Miami 4. Guess who my next game is? Atlanta at Charlotte baby.


After the Atlanta game, we have vs Toronto, at Indiana, at Milwaukee, vs New York. I'll obviously be playing the Hawks, and then we'll sim the last four to see our fate.

[Radii]

April 7, 2013

Atlanta (36-41) at Charlotte(36-41)

CHA:ATL
89:96 OVR
81:99 OFF
92:92 DEF

We beat Atlanta by 7 at their place in a game I played out earlier in the year. They've upgraded from Al Horford to Al Jefferson at center, otherwise they look the same. The last time we played Padgett put up 41.

Atlanta Scouting


PG Neil Grady - 78 OVR - 10.5 ppg/4.1 apg - Grady had a huge jump after starting as a rookie. He improved 5 points OVR from the last time we saw him. B+ hands/B- inside/B+ outside, and he can defend a good deal too.

SG Joe Johnson - 91 OVR - 23.9 ppg/6.6 apg - Johnson's scoring is down slightly but he's still a superstar at age 31. A- hands/A- defense/A- inside/A outside... no weakness.

SF Marvin Williams - 77 OVR - 12.6 ppg/6.3 rpg - Williams shooting is way down this year, he's under 40% from the field. Average defense, average rebounding, B inside/A- outside.

PF Josh Smith - 84 OVR - 15.9 ppg/7.9 rpg - Improved 2 points OVR from last year, B- rebounder, B- post D, B inside, he can play and guard outside too.

C Al Jefferson - 90 OVR - 16.3 ppg/9.4 rpg - A+ rebounder, A+ inside, B- post D, we're obviously worried about Atlanta with Johnson and Jefferson in the lineup.

Backup guard Jess Nelson is rated 72 OVR and scores 7 points/game. Backup big man Zaza Pachulia is rated 69 OVR and scores 4.5 a game.

First Quarter

Atlanta 30
Charlotte 26

Atlanta leads pretty much the entire quarter. Joe Johnson and OJ Mayo have a pretty good battle, but Johnson definitely is ahead. Johnson has 12 points/3 boards/2 assists after 1. Mayo has 11 points. Felton 7, Wallace 4, Padgett 4. No one else on Atlanta has more than 4 yet.


Second Quarter

Atlanta 56
Charlotte 47

We just struggled a ton this quarter, with about 4 minutes left we actually were down 48-34 and went on a quick run to cut it back below 10. Joe Johnson still only has 12, backup guard Nelson has 8, Smith 8, williams, Jefferson and Grady 6 each. Atlanta is shooting 53% for the game. Mayo leads us with 16, Padgett and Felton both had good quarters and have 12 and 10 respectively. We're just shooting 44%.


Third Quarter

Atlanta 90
Charlotte 79

Defense? No, none of that here. Jesus, Atlanta is going to hit 125 today. Mayo and Padgett continue to lead Charlotte, each of them have 26. Felton has 12 points/9 assists. Wallace has been a non-factor. Joe Johnson continues to dominate and has 21 points and 4 assists. Four other Hawks are in double figures, Smith, Williams, Nelson and Grady. grady has 10 points/10 assists for a double double. This is yet another game where the shooting is just a little too good, 56% for Atlanta, 51% for us. I have to decide if I want to try to tweak those numbers or not.

We had the lead down to 6 at one point, 70-64, Atlanta went on a 11-3 run though and led 81-67 for their biggest lead of the game so far.

Fourth Quarter

8:45 to go - We score the first four fo the quarter and force Nelson to take a terrible shot, instead of getting teh ball with a chance to cut the lead to 5 or less, Atlanta gets the board, kicks it to Johnson for a 3 and they put the lead back up to 10. Its 97-85 right now, and things are looking a bit dim.

6:50 to go - A couple bad possessions, we had it down to 9 again but Atlanta has run off 6 in a row and leads by 15. I get a timeout and get all starters in, Padgett was resting.

5:40 to go - We score a pretty quick 6 straight, Mayo with two and Wallace with four, though he missed a free throw on a 3 point play. Felton just got a steal and hit Wallace for a breakaway jam. Its 103-94.

4:30 to go - Grady has hit a couple tough jumpers lately. Its now 107-97, our ball. I get Sparks in for the tiring chandler and call a timeout to rest everyone else up a bit.

2:40 to go - Its 109-101 Atlanta. We seem to be blowing chance after chance to cut it any closer than 7 or 8. Wallace misses an open jumper, we have a defensive lapse, etc. There's still time but we're desparate.

1:05 to go - We get it under 8 but not until we have TWO straight drives to the hoop blocked in impressive fashion. Felton and Mayo both get by their men and I am convinced I have a layup if not a thunderous dunk, and Jefferson comes out of nowhere and stuffs it. We play some D though and get a few stops in a row. Its now 111-105.

0:52 to go - Sparks fouls Jefferson, I'd hoped for a clean block but nope. Jefferson hits both, its 113-105.

Padgett hits a tough shot, but Williams matches it on the Hawks end. We can't score on our end and the game is going to end without us being able to mount a serious comeback.

Atlanta 115
Charlotte 107


Mayo: 33 points
Padgett: 32 points/6 boards/3 blocks
Wallace: 17 points/8 boards
Felton: 12 points/12 assists
Sparks: 6 points/4 boards
Chandler: 5 points/6 boards


For the high scoring Hawks, Johnson leads the way with 26. Grady has 18 points/10 assists, Williams 17 points/9 boards, Smith 16, Jefferson 14 points/11 boards/2 blocks. Atlanta has 7 blocks total on the game.


That doesn't completely seal our playoff fate, but down 1 game with 4 left, and I'm pretty sure Atlanta has secured the tiebreaker, we need lots of help.

[Radii]

Lets finish this thing up so we can either get ready to get stomped by Cleveland or rush to the offseason!

Apr 9 - Toronto (51-27) at Charlotte(36-42)

I'm still convinced Toronto will go out horribly in teh playoffs, but they beat us here. Mayo 38, Wallace 13, Felton 10. Bosh scores 23 for Toronto.

Toronto 97
Charlotte 92

I'm pretty sure we're now mathematically eliminated. Atlanta is 39-41 after another two wins. The best we can do is 39 wins if we win out.



I quickly sim through our last 3 games:

Indiana 110 - Charlotte 102
Milwaukee 96 - Charlotte 86
Charlotte 89 - New York 80


And thus ends the first truly disappointing season in this dynasty. I have no explanation for how we made so many seemingly super positive changes yet finished 37-45. I didn't expect us to have as good a record as last year but I absolutely expected a winning record and a playoff birth. There's clearly more work left to do.

[Radii]

I remember not to sim into the playoffs before looking at the final standings and such:

Eastern Conference Playoff Seeds/Final Standings

1. Cleveland (56-26)
2. Toronto (54-28)
3. Detroit (47-35)
4. Washington (44-38)
5. New Jersey (46-36)
6. Indiana (43-39)
7. Boston (42-40)
8. Atlanta (41-41)
------
9. Miami (39-43)
10. Charlotte (37-45)
11. Milwaukee (35-47)
12. Chicago (33-49)
13. Orlando (31-51)
14. Philadelphia (31-51)
15. New York (29-53)


Western Conference Playoff Seeds/Standings

1. Oklahoma City (60-22)
2. Portland (51-31)
3. Sacramento (44-38)
4. New Orleans (40-42)
5. Golden State (44-38)
6. LA Lakers (42-40)
7. Minnesota (41-41)
8. Dallas (40-42)
--------
9. San Antonio (40-42)
10. Phoenix (40-42)
11. Houston (38-44)
12. Memphis (37-45)
13. Utah (37-45)
14. Denver (36-46)
15. LA Clippers (32-50)


New Orleans earns the 4 seed thanks to a crappy division. Washington is bumped up a bit higher than they deserve as well.

[Radii]

2012/13 Charlotte Bobcats Stats

Pos	Name	Age	Points	Reb	Assists	FG %	3P %	FT %
SG	OJ Mayo	25	28.9	3.9	2.2	44.7	39.8	94.3
PG	Raymond Felton	28	16.2	2.8	8.0	45.5	34.5	83.9
SF	Gerald Wallace	30	14.1	7.6	1.6	46.0	27.3	77.5
PF	Samuel Padgett	23	9.8	9,3	1.2	49.4	27.4	73.9
C	Tyson Chandler	30	6.5	7.9	1.1	40.7	--	64.3
C	Dell Sparks	23	5.4	6.8	0.9	45.9	--	62.1
SF	Gerald Henderson	25	4.8	1.2	0.4	45.5	28.5	72.4
SG	Sasha Vujacic	29	4.1	0.8	0.8	37.3	37.0	81.5
PF	Jordan Hill	25	4.0	2.9	0.2	39.0	--	64.7
SG	Stephen Graham	30	2.0	0.3	0.1	41.6	--	85.7
PG	Mike Bibby	34	1.5	0.5	2.5	46.6	38.4	88.5
SG	Willis Lindsey	23	0.9	0.3	0.9	36.4	37.5	66.6
C	DaSagana Diop	30	0.3	0.6	0.0	33.3	--	38.8

I forgot to update this last year, here we got this season. We were very, very top heavy. I continue to hope that Padgett's shooting tendencies increase to make him a bigger weapon in CPU games.

[Radii]

Awards always come out before the playoffs start.

2012-13 Awards

MVP: Lebron James - Cleveland - 24.3 ppg/9.7 rpg/8.3 apg

Rookie of the Year: Tyson Cassell - Philadelphia - 13.2 ppg/3.1 rpg/4.9 apg

6th Man: Leandro Barbosa - Phoenix - 15.9 ppg


All NBA 1st Team

PG Gilbert Arenas - Washington - 93 OVR - 24.2 ppg/6.9 rpg/7.7 apg
SG Dwyane Wade - Miami - 98 OVR - 26.4 ppg/4.6 rpg/8.2 apg
SF LeBron James - Cleveland - 24.3 ppg/9.7 rpg/8.3 apg
PF Chris Bosh - Toronto - 91 OVR - 26.1 ppg/12.1 rpg
C Dwight Howard - Minnesota - 93 OVR - 17.6 ppg/11.1 rpg


2nd Team All-NBA

PG Chris Paul - New Orleans - 95 OVR - 27.3 ppg/7.2 apg
SG Kobe Bryant - LA LAkers - 97 OVR - 24.0 ppg/4.4 rpg/5.3 apg
SF Danny Granger - Indiana - 92 OVR - 29.3 ppg/6.7 rpg/4.4 apg
PF Dirk Nowitzki - Dallas - 82 OVR - 23.5 ppg/9.3 rpg
C Andrew Bynum - LA Lakers - 84 OVR - 16.3 ppg/11.3 rpg


All NBA 3rd Team

PG Devin Harris - Nets - 91 OVR - 23.4 ppg/8.2 apg
SG Andrew Iguodala - Philadelphia - 88 OVR - 23.7 ppg/5.6 rpg/5.0 apg
SF Kevin Durant - Oklahoma City - 93 OVR - 25.5 ppg/7.5 rpg
PF Zach Randolph - Indiana - 80 OVR - 21.2 ppg/11.1 rpg
C Yao Ming - Memphis - 88 OVR - 17.7 ppg/9.9 rpg


All Rookie 1st Team

PG Tyson Cassell - Philadelphia 13.2 ppg/3.1 rpg/4.9 apg
SG Max Soto - San Antonio - 79 OVR - 8.6 ppg/2.7 apg
SF Wesley Barlow - Phoenix - 70 OVR - 7.6 ppg/5.6 rpg
PF Alex Jeffries - New Orleans - 70 OVR - 3.7 ppg/3.6 rpg
C Marvin Jensen - Boston - 66 OVR - 0.9 ppg/2.0 rpg - LOL?


All Rookie 2nd Team

PG Arif Demunyck - Dallas - 80 OVR - 11.3 ppg/6.5 apg
SG Randolph Edwin - Miami - 71 OVR - 6.2 ppg
SF Donnell York - Utah - 69 OVR - 2.9 ppg/2.1 rpg
PF Elden Haston - Denver - 68 OVR - 2.2 ppg/4.3 rpg
C Dan Todd - Orlando - 57 OVR - 0.7 ppg????

[Radii]

We're going to roll through the playoffs faster this year since I'm not involved.

Eastern Conference First Round

1. Cleveland vs 8. Atlanta

GAME 1: Atlanta 98, Cleveland 70
GAME 2: Atlanta 82, Cleveland 74
GAME 3: Atlanta 103, Cleveland 90
GAME 4: Atlanta 102, Cleveland 95

Atlanta WINS 4-0


4. Washington vs 5. New Jersey

GAME 1: New Jersey 125, Washington 81
GAME 2: New Jersey 98, Washington 81
GAME 3: Washington 89, New Jersey 76
GAME 4: New Jersey 117, Washington 104
GAME 5: New Jersey 101, Washington 92

New Jersey WINS 4-1



3. Detroit vs 6. Indiana

GAME 1: Detroit 104, Indiana 77
GAME 2: Detroit 104, Indiana 63
GAME 3: Detroit 119, Indiana 112
GAME 4: Indiana 114, Detroit 75
GAME 5: Detroit 121, Indiana 109

Detroit WINS 4-1


2. Toronto vs 7. Boston

GAME 1: Toronto 111, Boston 85
GAME 2: Toronto 115, Boston 114
GAME 3: Toronto 109, Boston 95
GAME 4: Toronto 81, Boston 79

Toronto WINS 4-0



Western conference First Round

1. Oklahoma City vs 8. San Antonio

GAME 1: Oklahoma City 103, San Antonio 84
GAME 2: Oklahoma City 112, San Antonio 73
GAME 3: Oklahoma City 87, San Antonio 81
GAME 4: Oklahoma City 100, San Antonio 90

Oklahoma City WINS 4-0


4. New Orleans vs 5. Golden State

GAME 1: Golden State 109, New Orleans 82
GAME 2: Golden State 106, New Orleans 95
GAME 3: New Orleans 134, Golden State 93
GAME 4: Golden State 85, New Orleans 80
GAME 5: Golden State 101, New Orleans 94

Golden State WINS 4-1


3. Sacramento vs 6. LA Lakers

GAME 1: LA Lakers 90, Sacramento 72
GAME 2: Sacramento 109, LA Lakers 88
GAME 3: Sacramento 95, LA Lakers 68
GAME 4: Sacramento 118, LA Lakers 78
GAME 5: Sacramento 97, LA Lakers 84

*** Kobe Bryant Strained Groin, only playing at 85% this series

Sacramento WINS 4-1


2. Portland vs 7. Minnesota

GAME 1: Portland 95, Minnesota 81
GAME 2: Portland 109, Minnesota 77
GAME 3: Portland 100, Minnesota 97
GAME 4: Portland 101, Minnesota 93

Portland WINS 4-0




Atlanta dominating the Cavs is obviously the big shocker here. Cleveland improved greatly when they added Eric Gordon to the roster in addition to James and Mo Williams (who is a quality 80+ rated guy in this game now). Atlanta made a big step forward trading for Al Jefferson but they still struggled to make the playoffs. Someone, I forget who, mentioned this possibility though, with all the talent on the Hawks if they sneak into the playoffs who knows what happens.

[Radii]

2012/13 Eastern Conference Round 2

8. Atlanta vs 5. New Jersey

GAME 1: New Jersey 106, Atlanta 99
GAME 2: Atlanta 81, New Jersey 80
GAME 3: Atlanta 80, New Jersey 76
GAME 4: Atlanta 86, New Jersey 79
GAME 5: New Jersey 110, Atlanta 102
GAME 6: Atlanta 104, New Jersey 86

Atlanta WINS 4-2



2. Toronto vs 3. Detroit

GAME 1: Detroit 125, Toronto 106
GAME 2: Toronto 109, Detroit 100
GAME 3: Detroit 111, Toronto 85
GAME 4: Toronto 97, Detroit 85
GAME 5: Toronto 110, Detroit 105
GAME 6: Detroit 123, Toronto 84
GAME 7: Detroit 112, Toronto 93

Detroit WINS 4-3



2012/13 Western Conference Round 2

1. Oklahoma City vs 5. Golden State

GAME 1: Oklahoma City 85, Golden State 84
GAME 2: Oklahoma City 94, Golden State 90
GAME 3: Oklahoma City 101, Golden State 90
GAME 4: Golden State 90, Oklahoma City 71
GAME 5: Golden State 109, Oklahoma City 108
GAME 6: Golden State 117, Oklahoma City 98
GAME 7: Oklahoma City 98, Golden State 93

Oklahoma City WINS 4-3

Golden State led after 3 in game 7. Exciting series!



2. Portland vs 3. Sacramento

GAME 1: Portland 98, Sacramento 87
GAME 2: Portland 83, Sacramento 72
GAME 3: Sacramento 97, Portland 90
GAME 4: Portland 86, Sacramento 79
GAME 5: Sacramento 106, Portland 102
GAME 6: Portland 86, Sacramento 70

Portland WINS 4-2



The biggest surprise here was probably that Oklahoma City got pushed to 7 games. They seem to be a good bit above everyone else in the NBA right now.

[Radii]

Eastern Conference Finals

3. Detroit vs 8. Atlanta

GAME 1: Atlanta 108, Detroit 104
--DET: STuckey 26 points/9 assists
--ATL: Johnson 36 points, Jefferson 24 points/13 boards, Smith 20 points/12 boards

GAME 2: Detroit 103, Atlanta 93
--DET: Duncan 22 points/9 boards, Gordon 21 points (Tim Duncan, remmeber he moved in free agency)
--ATL: Johnson 22 points, Jefferson 20 points/10 boards


GAME 3: Atlanta 90, Detroit 88
--DET: Stuckey 22, Bargnani 18
--ATL: Johnson 20, Jefferson 15 points/16 boards


GAME 4: Atlanta 109, Detroit 98
--DET: Gordon 26, Stuckey 22
--ATL: Johnson 34 points, Jefferson 29 points/16 boards


GAME 5: Atlanta 108, Detroit 104
--DET: Stuckey 26 points/9 assists
--ATL: Johnson 34 points, Jefferson 29 points/19 boards

Atlanta WINS 4-1

Jefferson plays a huge role in the series.


Western Conference Finals

1. Oklahoma City vs 2. Portland

GAME 1: Oklahoma City 100, Portland 85
--OKC: Westbrook 23, Durant 23
--POR: Roy 29


GAME 2: Oklahoma City 101, Portland 79
--OKC: Durant 28 points/8 boards, Westbrook 21 points/8 assists
--POR: Roy 28


Game 3: Portland 75, Oklahoma City 71
--OKC: Durant 19, Harden 13, Westbrook 11
--POR: Aldridge 21, Roy 20


GAME 4: Oklahoma City 105, Portland 89
--OKC: Westbrook 35 points/5 boards/7 assists/4 steals, Durant 32
--POR: Roy 22, DeRozan 19


GAME 5: Oklahoma City 111, Portland 100
--OKC: Westbrook 33 points, Durant 21 points/13 boards/6 assists
--POR: Roy 27 points/11 assists, Aldridge 22 points


Oklahoma City WINS 4-1


Oklahoma City tries to win back to back titles against another lower seed out of the east(New Jersey last year).

[Radii]

NBA Finals

1. Oklahoma City vs 8. Atlanta

GAME 1: Atlanta 96, Oklahoma City 86
--OKC: Durant 23, Westbrook 17
--ATL: Jefferson 21, Williams 20


GAME 2: Atlanta 97, Oklahoma City 92
--OKC: Westbrook 23 points/10 assists, Durant 23 points/11 boards
ATL: Jefferson 22 points/7 boards, johnson 20 points


GAME 3: Oklahoma City 128, Atlanta 78
--OKC; Durant 39 points/9 boards/7 assists, Westbrook 20 points/10 assists
--ATL: Johnson 24 points/8 boards


GAME 4: Atlanta 95, Oklahoma City 90
--OKC: Westbrook 22 points/9 assists
--ATL: Jefferson 23 points/17 boards, Smith 20 points/10 boards


GAME 5: Atlanta 110, Oklahoma City 83
--OKC: Westbrook 22 points, Durant 19
--ATL: 26 points/10 boards, Smith 23, Johnson 22 points/8 boards/9 assists


Atlanta WINS 4-1


Playoffs MVP

Joe Johnson - 20 games, 24.9 points/game, 5.7 rebounds, 6.6 asssists.

Al Jefferson was just an amazingly key acquisition. Al Horford was good but Jefferson just took the Hawks to another level.

[Radii]

Barrelling forward into the offseason!


Retirements

C Zydrunas Ilgauskas - 38 y/o - Finished his career as a struggling backup for Philadelphia. Still averaged 11.2 points/6.6 boards a game ove a 16 year career.

SG Jason Terry - 35 y/o - Finished up in Denver, averaged 14.3 points/game over 15 years.

C Chris Andersen - 34 y/o - Only 11 years in the league and younger than most, he was only rated 61 OVR at the end. Only played 3 games for Denver this year.

C Shaquille O'Neal - 21 years pro - Was actually a member of the Thunder at the end. He was still rated 70 OVR but only got 13 minutes/game at age 41 for the Thunder. Shaq played 1440 nBA games, ending with a great career average given how long he hung around past his prime... 20. ppg/10.1 rpg over 21 years. Shaq finishes with 29,606 career points and 14,598 career rebounds.

Chucky Atkins calls it quits for Detroit, John Salmons retires at 33 y/o from Toronto,

[Radii]

I haven't really followed how coach development really works in this game, but four coaches retired too.

Paul Westphal , Nate McMillen, Flip Saunders, and Phil Jackson. Jackson was rated with perfect A's across the board in all categories. There isn't much info out there on coaches though so we cant see their coaching history or anything.

[Radii]

I did a lot of work hiring my staff last year, no changes are needed/available/made this year.


Player/Team Options

I pick up team options on Dell Sparks and Samuel Padgett. Tyson Chandler picks up his player option to finish up his contract in Charlotte.


Notable Options Around the League

PG Monta Ellis - 86 OVR - DECLINED $11 million option to stay in Golden State

SG Andrew Iguodala - 88 OVR - DECLINED $15.9 million option to stay in Philly

SG Ben Gordon - 84 OVR - DECLINED $13.2 million option for Detroit

[Radii]

Player Re-Signings

Here's the list of guys under contract that I'm not worrying about:

PG Felton
SG Mayo
SF Wallace
PF Padgett
C Chandler

C Sparks
SG Lindsey


Guys whose contracts have expired:

SF Henderson
SG Vujacic
PG Bibby
PF Hill
SG Graham
C Diop


I see different OVR ratings here so it appears we've already had some sort of experience/turnover to next season boost. Raymond Felton has moved up to 80 OVR, Dell Sparks is up to 77 OVR, Padgett to 86 OVR and Mayo to 90 OVR.

The only consideration that I had was whether I should thin out my bench and go for a bigger name PG. But Felton is still progressing and while obviously the ratings of the entire league are going up to the point that 80 isn't what it was when this dynasty first started, Sparks and Felton are going to round out a really, really nice lineup next year. I'm inclined to re-sign everyone but Graham/Diop if I can get them super cheap and if I do make any improvement in FA just trade someone.


SF Gerald Henderson - Henderson gets the 6th man role, and happily signs a 4 year/$12.28 million deal. He'll make 2.67 million next year and finish up at 3.47 million in 2016. He's a decent backup and a good athlete who occasionally gives me a spark off the bench, I'm perfectly happy with that.

PG Mike Bibby - Bibby is happy to accept the league minimum, he's 35 years old and rated only 6 OVR, but his skillset is fine for a backup PG. I give him a 1 year deal.


That's actually it. I decide against re-signing Sasha Vujacic. Willis Lindsey, my 1st round pick last year is rated about the same, and while his skill set doesn't look as useful(he can't shoot for shit) he's 23 years old and I might as well get him on the court more often next year. Also I can have Gerald Henderson get some minutes at SG and get my best backup out there more often.

PF Jordan Hill wanted more minutes than I would give him, he wasn't mad but he was slipping in morale just a bit, and I don't want that. So I'm letting him go too.