The Forgotten Ones: An Underdog Dynasty

[Byrne]

Breaking News!

The Milwaukee Bucks have relocated to Cincinnati and have been restarted as the Cincinnati Royals! A group of ragtag NBA players that were fed up with their reserve roles have banded together and are looking to start this new franchise off in a big way!

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Hello, and welcome to my NBA Dynasty. I decided to make a team of nothing but players that I personally believe are underrated in the NBA, and I'm going to play through several years with them.

The Rules:
-Only players that are rated under 80 overall can be picked for the team. I'm going to adjust some of the players I pick, but even after the adjustments the players must be 79 overall or lower.
-82 game season, but I will only be playing every 8 or so games. I will pick out key games that I want to play.
-7 game playoff series like normal

Alright, enough about rules and silly introductions. Let's meet the starting lineup:

PG: Jeff Teague - 76 Overall
This guy has grown into a seriously underrated point guard in my opinion. He can make great passes and is really quick and can often run the length of the floor on fastbreaks for easy layups or passes. He will be playing about 31 minutes a game.

SG: Gordon Hayward - 78 Overall
He can easily function as a small forward and even a stretch four, so having him at the shooting guard position gives us a lot of length. This dude is a budding star, frankly, and he can score with almost anybody. Given the logjam we have at the shooting guard area, Gordon will only be playing 29 minutes a game.

SF: Gerald Green - 73 Overall
If you watch Chris Smoove, you know this dude throws down jams as good as anyone in the NBA. He's really fast and can do a lot for a team, mostly using his athleticism to make plays happen by himself. Given the aforementioned large amount of SG/SF type players on the team, I'm only giving Green 29 minutes as well.

PF: Chandler Parsons - 79 Overall
The highest rated player on the team. I like to call him LeBron lite, because he can play any position besides center, score in a variety of ways, pull down boards, and defend almost everybody while also distributing at an above average rate for his position. Chandler here is a stretch at the power forward position, but given the extra length we have elsewhere in the lineup along with several capable big men that can take the position if Parsons is outmatched, I think the team will be fine. Chandler is being given 31 minutes.

C: DeAndre Jordan - 77 Overall
I think DeAndre is the key to our starting lineup. He's a superb rebounder and finisher, and provides great defense to hold everything together like a super glue. Jordan has some capable backups, however, and is being given 30 minutes.

The Bench

6. Avery Bradley - 78 Overall
Bradley is a fantastic sixth man. Excellent perimeter defense is his forte, and I will not hesitate to play Bradley huge minutes if I know we need him guarding the likes of a Westbrook or Curry. He's being given 24 minutes.

7. Anderson Varejao - 78 Overall
Varejao would definitely start on most NBA teams. He's not the most gifted player, but his huge size and tenacity has resulted in him becoming one of the best rebounders in the NBA. There's never a time when having Varejao on the floor is a bad thing. He has 20 minutes a game.

8. Nikola Vucevic - 74 Overall
Another huge dude that can rebound with the best of them. His defense is rough, but being a 7 footer means he can disrupt plays just by existing. He's getting 13 minutes behind Jordan and Varejao.

9. Jimmy Butler - 76 Overall
He's really similar to Avery Bradley, but that's not a bad thing. Strong defense and he can let it fly from 3 all day. 13 minutes for him.

10. Tyler Hansbrough - 72 Overall
A scrappy dude that doesn't do much else other than defending and rebounding. Don't expect big scoring numbers from this guy, but I love his hustle stats and feel great having him giving us 9 minutes a game off the bench.

11. Patrick Patterson - 74 Overall
A strong three point shooter, but he struggles to do much else. I like having a big guy that can stretch the floor though, and Patterson gives that to the team. He's getting 8 minutes a game.

12. Tony Allen - 75 Overall
A defensive specialist for sure, but I love having a player I can throw out at any time and know he's going to contribute positively by providing some of the best perimeter defense in the league.

I'll update with the first game of the season soon!

[TheBusinessHarp]

This is a good idea! But I wouldn't consider these guys as forgotten, most of these guys are NBA starters. If you want to make it more interesting you should only use back ups

[Byrne]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheBusinessHarp

This is a good idea! But I wouldn't consider these guys as forgotten, most of these guys are NBA starters. If you want to make it more interesting you should only use back ups

Yeah that's a valid point, I just couldn't come up with any catchier names haha. There are definitely some very solid players on the team, I just didn't want anyone that could be considered a real star, which is around 85+ overall in my book, for example. This team is basically an all-star team of third or fourth options.

The game actually still ranks us as 30th overall in the power rankings, which I found interesting. I'm in the middle of playing the first game right now and will post results and stats soon.

[Byrne]

Green and Royals come out red-hot to dominate Knicks, start out 1-0
Final Score: Royals 105 - Knicks 83

Stats and Grades:

Player of the Game: Jeff Teague: 26 points, 2 rebounds, 10 assists, 0 steals, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers; 9-15 FGs, 3-4 3PT, 5-5 FT
Grade: A+

Wow, I did not expect Teague to be so effective. He was devastating on the pick and roll with DeAndre Jordan, starting the game out with a couple sick floaters and then later using all the attention he was getting to get DeAndre going. Just a masterful display of how to play the point guard position.

Gerald Green: 23 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks, 1 turnover; 8-10 FGs, 3-3 3PT, 4-4 FT
Grade: A+

Are you kidding me? The Knicks had no answer as Green set the tone early. Green was a perfect 7-7 from the floor until late in the third quarter. He was scoring in every way possible, with a flurry of daggers mixed with some ferocious slams, he was just unstoppable.

DeAndre Jordan: 14 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 steals, 0 blocks, 0 turnovers; 7-7 FGs, 0-0 3PT, 0-0 FT
Grade: A

It's hard to be mad at a guy that goes 7-7 while setting nasty picks all game and pulling down 9 boards. I want to see more blocks in the future, but overall a great start for DeAndre.

Avery Bradley: 10 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 0 turnovers; 5-11 FGs, 0-2 3PT, 0-0 FT
Grade: B+

Now we're getting back down to earth where players weren't playing out of their minds. Still, though, I'll take 10/3/7 from my sixth man any day of the week, and I especially love that he had 0 turnovers despite playing decent minutes at point guard while Teague sat.

Gordon Hayward: 9 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks, 2 turnovers; 3-4 FGs, 1-1 3PT, 2-3 FT
Grade: B

Hayward didn't do much, but he didn't have to given how well Teague and Green were playing. Hayward did a nice job distributing and taking good shots when they were given to him.

Jimmy Butler: 8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 1 turnover; 3-9 FGs, 2-6 3PT
Grade: C

Butler didn't provide much for us in this game. His shot was off and his defense wasn't as spectacular as it usually is.

Nikola Vucevic: 6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 0 turnovers; 3-4 FGs, 0-0 3PT, 0-0 FT
Grade: C+

I'd like to see more rebounding out of Nikola, but given his low amount of minutes, this was some solid production.

Chandler Parsons: 5 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 steals, 1 block, 0 turnovers; 2-5 FGs, 0-0 3PT. 1-2 FT
Grade: B-

Chandler was perfectly content letting Teague and Green dominate the game and Chandler proceeded to do what he does best: provide small amounts of production in almost every stage of the game. Don't expect Parsons to be averaging only 5 points a game, folks.

Anderson Varejao: 4 points, 6 rebounds, 0 assists, 1 steals, 1 block, 0 turnovers; 1-1 FG
Grade: B

He didn't play much, and there were stretches where he commanded the paint on defense. I was impressed.

Tony Allen: 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 0 steals, 1 block, 0 turnovers; 0-2 FG
Grade: C-

This was vintage Tony Allen: no offense whatsoever, but he played solid enough defense that I didn't feel like he was a waste of a spot.

Overall Team Grade: A

You can't perform much better than this. The offense was flowing and unstoppable, while the Knicks weren't able to get much going on the other end. I don't see us dominating every game like this, but it was awesome seeing us put together a great performance to start the season!

[Byrne]

News: Royals trade Patrick Patterson for Grievis Vasquez


Nov. 12th: Wade misses potential game winner as Royals win a nailbiter

Cincinnati Royals at Miami Heat
Nov 12,	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Cincinnati (3-3)	25	21	32	15	93
Miami (7-1)	20	25	24	23	92

Cincinnati Royals
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Jeff Teague	31	10-15	4-6	1-1	1	11	1	0	4	25
Gordon Hayward	27	5-11	1-2	2-2	2	2	0	1	1	13
Gerald Green	29	4-11	0-2	0-0	5	2	0	2	3	8
Chandler Parsons	26	5-13	1-4	3-4	4	2	1	2	0	14
DeAndre Jordan	23	4-8	0-0	0-0	11	1	0	0	0	8
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Avery Bradley	11	3-8	2-5	0-0	2	3	1	0	1	8
Anderson Varejao	13	2-2	0-0	0-0	7	1	0	0	0	4
Grievis Vasquez	6	3-4	1-2	0-0	1	5	1	0	0	7

Miami Heat
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Mario Chalmers	24	6-9	1-3	0-0	4	4	1	1	0	13
Dwyane Wade	23	7-12	0-0	3-4	3	4	1	0	0	17
LeBron James	31	9-19	0-0	5-6	3	10	3	0	2	23
Shane Battier	26	3-7	1-4	0-0	3	1	0	2	0	7
Chris Bosh	25	5-8	0-0	0-0	12	1	1	0	0	10

The Royals, coming off two rough losses in a row against the Cavaliers and Mavericks, went into Miami to face off the previously undefeated defending champions. The Royals came out to play and the Heat were frequently caught sleeping on defense. The game stayed close nearly the entire time. Cincinnati began to blow it open in the third, but poor play in the fourth let the Heat back in it. Untimely turnovers and missed opportunities resulted in the Heat having a chance to win it with 8 seconds left, down just one point. However, their play broke down, and Dwyane Wade was forced to take an off-balanced 20-footer in traffic that rimmed out, giving the Royals the surprising win.

The question on everybody's mind now is: are the Royals for real? Or were the coasting Heat simply caught off-guard? The Royals will look to build on the great win tomorrow night in Orlando.

Player grades:

Jeff Teague: A
I hesitate to give Teague the A+ because his defense was often shoddy, as he was beat multiple times by Mario Chalmers. He also committed a couple costly turnovers in the fourth that kept the Heat in it, but regardless, Teague was often dazzling on offense, scoring from afar and up close and making pinpoint passes all night as he was instrumental in the win. He has been excellent so far this season.

Gordon Hayward: C-
With the Heat storming back in the fourth and the Royals trying to hold on to the lead, the ball was continuously fed to Gordon, and he responded by shooting 1-5 in the fourth. He had his chances, but he couldn't make anything fall. Nothing went right for him as Dwyane Wade repeatedly beat him on the defensive side as well.

Gerald Green: D
Green looked lost on both ends against LeBron. He just couldn't get it going in any way, and LeBron had several easy drives to the basket where Green just plain couldn't keep up.

Grievis Vasquez: A
The new addition to the team had a remarkably efficient 6 minutes, as he posted 7 points and 5 assists to go with a rebound and a steal versus no turnovers. Talk about making the most of your minutes!

[megarover]

Impressive game by Teague especially going 4-6 from three with a guy who isnt exactly known for his long ball.