Reborn: A Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty (MyLeague NBA 2k15 PS4)

[BraedenG33]

Hello readers! This will be my dynasty for NBA 2k15. It's gonna be a bit, different, I guess, from most of the other dynasties out there. It's a storyline dynasty, like some of my previous dynasties, and like Trekfan's work, however, it's written from a different perspective. While most dynasties take an inside look at an organization, either from a player, coach, or exec's perspective, I hope to take a different approach to this. I'm gonna be writing from an outsider's perspective, from a fan's perspective. When it comes down to it, we are all fans, the reason we all are so invested in the game is our unwavering passion for our favorite game, our favorite team, and our favorite players. I want to show that in this dynasty. In 'Reborn', we will follow the life of a Lakers fan, from his high school days in the late 90s and early 2000s, watching Shaq and Kobe rip it up, all the way to today, when the Lakers are in a transitional phase, and he now lives as a well known columnist for the LA Times, writing about the team he loves.

Now, I don't actually have NBA 2k15 yet, but I will be getting it soon (hopefully tomorrow) so I can't go into the details of settings and all of that yet, but this post will be updated when the time comes.

Welcome to the story of Parker Young, a freshman at Irvine high school (Irvine California, about an 45 minutes outside of LA, not accounting for traffic) who's story begins in 1999, the same year Phil Jackson is hired, and the Lakers move into staples. However, the actual basketball in the game will pick up in 2014 (yes, I know that it seems like 15 years back is a long way, but we'll blaze through it and get to the nitty gritty soon enough, just establishing the character first, since it's a character driven story).

Any feedback, positive, negative, constructive or destructive, is always welcomed. Every comment has the ability to impact the story, I like to listen to you guys and tweak things, its a fluid thing.

Also, special thanks to Trekfan, I probably wouldn't be here right now writing dynasties on these forums had I not initially been inspired by some of his work, and he's been a great source of advice for me as I've continued to grow as a writer on these forums. Also, he's a Lakers fan, and was an excellent source for insight on fan mood for the Lakers, since I'm not a Laker fan myself.

Now with all this out of the way, it's time to flash back to 1999, and begin.

[BraedenG33]

November 3rd, 1999

—BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—

Why does school have to start so early? Parker thought. He slid out of bed with a yawn and got dressed.

“Good morning, Parker.”

“Morning, Mom.” he said. She ran up and grabbed him in a big hug. “Mom!”

“What, I can’t even hug you on your birthday?” She said. He groaned at that. “Oh, I have a surprise for you.” She said.

“Surprise?”

“Yes. Now here, take this.” She handed him an envelope. He ripped it open, and practically jumped for joy when he saw what was inside.

“Tickets to the Laker’s game!”

“Happy Birthday. There’s two tickets in there, but I have to work late tonight, so feel free to invite a friend. Aunt Jenny will drive you.”

“Thank you so much, how did you even get these? It’s the home opener and they’ve been sold out for weeks and they must have been a fortune!”

“It was a favor from a friend of mine, she has season tickets but she can’t go most nights because she just had a baby. She said she’ll give us a call on any other night that she can’t go. Now hurry up, you’re gonna miss the bus.”

“Alright, bye mom!”

“Love you sweetie, have a good day!”

“You too!” He called as he walked out the door. Lakers tickets, he thought, Oh man, this is the best birthday ever.

—————————————

“Hey, Park, what’s up? Happy Birthday.” Parker’s friend, Jack

“Hey Jack, not much, thanks. So guess who’s got tickets to the game tonight.”

“No way! How did you get tickets?”

“My Mom’s friend has season tickets but can’t go she’s got a kid to take care of.”

“Yeah that’s awesome. Where are the seats?” Jack asked.

“Half court, front row.” He said with a hint of satisfaction in his voice.

“Sh*t man.”

“I know. I’ve got an extra ticket by the way, if you’re interested.”

“Man, you’re killin me. I’d love to go, but I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve got a big test in english tomorrow on this book we’re reading and I’ve still got half the book to read. F*cking english.”

“That sucks.” Parker said.

“Yeah it does. You could sell that ticket, make a lot of money.”

“Yeah, I guess. Whatever I’ll figure it out. It’s the home opener though, this is nuts.” Parker said.

“Hey, I have to get to class, I’ll see ya later, happy birthday."

“Alright.”

Parker headed to class, still beaming about the game.

“Hello class, today we will be talking about the origins of life. More specifically—“ Mr. Benson began his lecture, but Parkers mind, and eyes, had already wandered. Two seats in front of him and a row over, was Melanie. He met Melanie at a party that summer. Melanie was a brunette, and had blue eyes. He thought she was the hottest girl in their grade, and she was single too. Hey, this is my chance, he thought, I should invite her to the game, and try to make a move while we’re there. Parker started to daydream about going to the game with her. He figured if she was free there would be no way she’d say no, since one of the interests they shared was a passion for the Lakers.

“Ahem… Mr. Young.” Mr. Benson said.

“What?” Parker said, startled out off his reverie.

“Mr. Young, I asked you a question. What is a protobiont?”

“A what?”

“A protobiont. Maybe you would know these things, if you weren’t too busy staring into space, and you would actually pay attention in class.”

“Oh, uh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t let it happen again, Parker.”

Class ended uneventfully from there, but it was after class that Parker was worried about.

“Okay, you can do this. Just walk up, and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got an extra ticket to the Laker game tonight, wanna come?’ It’s easy, Parker.” He whispered to himself as reassurance.

He walked up to Melanie, and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Oh, uh, Hey Parker, what’s up?” She said with a smile.

Parker’s heart was pounding, alright, you can do it. Just ask, it’s easy. “Uh, hi, Melanie. I was wondering, uh, I mean, I have an extra ticket to the Laker game tonight, and I was wondering if you’d like to, to um, to go with me?”

“Yeah that sounds great! How did you get tickets? I was trying to get one but they were sold out.”

“They were a birthday present.”

“Oh is today your birthday? Happy Birthday.”

“Thanks. So, I’ll pick you up at six?”

“Yeah, that sounds perfect. Do you need my address?”

“Yeah, that’d be nice.”

She scribbled something on a sheet of paper and handed it to him.

“Alright. Well, uh see you at six.” He said.

“It’s a date. Bye, Parker.” She said and walked away. He watched her walk off.

A date? A date! She called it a date!

[BraedenG33]

Later that Day

“Okay, so, do I wear a jersey?” Parker said to himself. “Well I mean, it’s a laker game, obviously I should. But also it’s a date, so maybe I should dress more nicely.” He groaned. “If only I knew what she was wearing…” He decided to wear the jersey, with jeans and a t-shirt under it. “Alright, it’s 5:30, Mom left some money for me on the counter, and Aunt Jenny will be here soon. Let’s just calm down. You can do this. It’s just a date with the hottest freshman at the school. No big deal, right?” He took a deep breath.

He was ready to go and grabbed the money off the counter when he heard his Aunt honk her horn outside.

“Hey Aunt Jenny.”

“Oh there’s the birthday boy. 15 years, sheesh it feels like you were just learning how to talk yesterday. Now you never stop!”

“Heh, yeah time flies, huh?”

“And look how tall you are! I’m in heels and you’re still towering over me.”

“Yeah. Oh! Hold on, I forgot something.” Parker ran inside and grabbed my notebook. He always had that book with him when he watched basketball. He wrote down everything. His dream was to be a sports journalist.

“Alright I’m ready to go.”

“Okay, so I understand we have to pick up a friend.”

“Uh yeah, here’s the address.” He handed her the slip of paper Melanie had handed her earlier.

“So I hear you're going with a girl? Who is she?”

“Oh, uh, her name’s Melanie. She’s in my Biology class.”

“I don’t care about that. Tell me the good stuff.”

“I don’t think I understand?”

“Is she your girlfriend?”

“What? N-no.”

“You’re not a very good liar.”

“She’s not! I swear.”

“Whatever you say, Parker.”

“Just, try not to embarrass me, okay?”

“Me? Embarrass you? C’mon I’m the cool aunt remember? You know I’d never embarrass you.”

He laughed at that. “Okay then.”

He got in the passenger seat and we drove to Melanie’s.

———————————————

Parker walked up, took a deep breath, and rang the door bell.

“Hello, who are you?” An imposing man with a deep voice answered the door.

“I—I’m Parker.” He stuttered, terrified at the mountain of a man who stared back at him. This is Melanie's dad? Oh god... he thought.

“Okay, what are you doing here, Parker?” He said.

“Melanie and I are supposed to go to the Laker game together tonight.”

“Oh, you're the boy... She’s in her room, wait here.” He sized me up for a second, and then shut the door.

“Phew, crisis averted…” He mumbled The door reopened and a much friendlier face appeared from behind it.

“Hey, Parker. Sorry about my dad, he’s a little—“

“Scary?”

She laughed. “Sure, scary. Anyway, should we get going?”

“Yeah, we should, you know, beat LA traffic and stuff.”

“Yeah.” Melanie and Parker walked back to the car.

“Hi, you must be Melanie, I’m his Aunt, Jenny.” Jenny said.

“Nice to meet you.” Melanie said.

“So let’s get this show on the road, then.” Aunt Jenny pulled out of the driveway and headed to the new arena, Staples Center. Parker practically couldn’t contain his excitement, he’d get to see the new look Lakers, under Phil Jackson, in the new look arena, Staples Center. Kobe wasn’t playing tonight, but it wasn’t a big deal, because Shaq was playing, and he alone made this a must see game as a Laker fan.

“So, Parker, How do you think we look this year?” Melanie asked.

“I mean, we have Shaq and arguably the best coach in the league, and then there’s Kobe, who I think is gonna be a stud, especially in the triangle with Phil, so I think we have a shot this year to be interesting, contend even. But getting past San Antonio won’t be easy. Stockton and Malone are still around too, the West looks really tough this year. Though I have to say, with MJ gone, and the whole lockout from last year, it’s hard to get as excited for this season. But hey, it should be a fun year and you never know.”

“Yeah. Portland looks good this year too.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

—————————————————

Parker and Melanie got to their seats and patiently awaited tip off.

“Wow! These seats are insane!” she said.

“Yeah I know, I couldn’t believe it when I got them.”

“That’s gotta be the best birthday present ever, huh?” she said.

“Oh yeah. Hopefully Phil and Shaq can give me a gift of their own with a win.”

“For sure.”

The players were out on the court and the game was about to tip off.

“They’re a lot bigger than on TV…” She said.

“Yeah, for sure.” I responded.

—————————————————

“Ah C’mon, Fish! what kinda shot was that! Shaq had position! God d*mn it.” Parker cursed as Derek Fisher bricked another contested jump shot. He was playing awful tonight. He had already turned it over and was shooting terribly.

“This game is too close.” Melanie remarked. And it was. Halftime hit and the Lakers were leading by a slim 1 point.

“Your telling me.” Parker pulled out my notebook and started jotting down some notes of what he noticed from the first half.

“What’s that?” She asked, pointing to the notebook, which was filled with notes, notes, and even more notes.

“Huh? Oh, the notebook. I write down notes of what I see in the game. I like to write about the games, it’s what I want to do when I grow up.”

“Oh, that’s really cool. Can I see it?”

“Yeah, sure.”

She started to look through the book, which included high level insight like “Kobe seems to want to do too much, he needs to give Shaq the ball more, Shaq is more efficient.” to less smart sounding things like “What the F*ck is Lue doing? F*cking rookies… what a terrible shot…”

“Wow, you really know your stuff.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

“Do you wanna go get some food while halftime’s still going.”

“Yeah.”

—————————————————

“Shaq’s on fire!” Parker shouted as Shaq slammed down a huge dunk. LA had started to pull away in the third quarter and Shaq was just unstoppable.

“Yeah.” Melanie agreed. Parker glanced over at her, she was so pretty under the arena lights, he thought. He reached his arm out, putting it around her shoulder. She wasn’t bothered by it, she even laughed a bit and leaned toward me and rested her head on my chest.

“You know, Parker, you could have done that two quarters ago, and I’d have been fine with it.” She said.

He laughed.

—————————————————

“Hey, so I had a lot of fun, thanks for inviting me.” Melanie said.

“Of course. It was great going with you.”

“Yeah. Glad the Lakers won right?”

“Yeah.”

There was a bit of an awkward silence, then, unexpectedly, she leaned toward me and her soft lips touched mine. After a few seconds, we separated.

“I—“ Still stunned by the kiss, I couldn't find the words to respond.

“Happy birthday, Parker, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye Melanie,”

What a night... he thought.

[BraedenG33]

A small excerpt from Parker's game notes. Expect these after a few of the games I highlight from the earlier years until I get to present day.

Feel free to post feedback from here on.

[illWILL8455]

I really like the excerpts from the notebook idea! That will add a new dimension to this dynasty! I'm glad that Parker and Melanie had a great first 'date' Could this be the first of many, I wonder. I look forward to seeing how that develops!

Great updates so far! Looking forward to more!

[BraedenG33]

Quote: Originally Posted by illWILL8455

I really like the excerpts from the notebook idea! That will add a new dimension to this dynasty! I'm glad that Parker and Melanie had a great first 'date' Could this be the first of many, I wonder. I look forward to seeing how that develops! Great updates so far! Looking forward to more!

The notebook is an important plot point, especially later. Yeah, hopefully this is the beginning of a budding relationship between Parker and Melanie. I chose to start here in 1999 because it was what seems like a golden age for the Lakers. Phil Jackson, Shaq, Kobe, the opening of Staples. It's fitting that the beginning of this new age of Lakers basketball also marks the beginning of Parker's story. I've been waiting to write this story for a while, so it's great to finally get it out and to get it going.

Also, the game notes are a precursor, because when he's an adult and a reporter, all the news will be his articles for the LA Times.

[trekfan]

Nice chemistry and movement there between the leads.

Love the notebook/game notes stuff. Would like to see that carried on as the story progresses (maybe just personal observations or future column ideas) but it's a nice element. Looking forward to seeing what you're gonna do when the game gets here. Nice start.

[BraedenG33]

Quote: Originally Posted by trekfan

Nice chemistry and movement there between the leads. Love the notebook/game notes stuff. Would like to see that carried on as the story progresses (maybe just personal observations or future column ideas) but it's a nice element. Looking forward to seeing what you're gonna do when the game gets here. Nice start.

Thanks for the nice words. The notes will be an important part of the earlier story and still be featured, if a little less, later on. I wasn't able to get to Gamestop today but I will sometime this week. Working on another post right now, it'll be out later tonight. I'm glad you guys are all liking Parker and Melanie so far. I'm hoping I can blaze through all the stuff that takes place in the past quickly so we can get into the actual basketball in-game, because I have some big plans for the Lakers and for the league as a whole.