Heartland Hoops: Kansas City Revival | MyLeague Relocation Story

[hoopla32]

2015-2016 Season Recap

Eastern Conference Standings



The East produced a formidable top four with Cavs, Bulls, Pistons, and Heat all winning 50+ games. The Pistons were already a top four team before trading Brandon Jennings for Victor Oladipo, and Oladipo's play for Detroit 14.2 PPG, 5.7 APG, 3.8 RPG, and a .462/.373/.825 shooting slash line after he got traded paired well with Reggie Jackson in the backcourt.

The Cavaliers finished the season 17-3 in their final 20 games which included a 12-game win streak and a stretch where they won 15 of 16. The Bulls also closed strong, winning 8 of their last 10 and 13 of their last 15 games. There are some very intriguing potential second round matchups looming.


Western Conference Standings



Once again the West proved to be a bloodbat with two 60+ win teams, five 50+ win teams in total, and two other teams that won 45+ games. The Thunder fell just shy of history with their 71-11 record, just one game worse than the Chicago Bull's NBA best 72-10 record in 1995-1996. The Thunder had a dazzling 16.7 point-differential per game for the season and had a season high win-streak of 20 games and had two other 13-game win streaks. The Thunder opted to not go for a record tying 72-10 season the last game when they faced the Spurs in San Antonio. With the conference wrapped-up, OKC rested all five starters plus Enes Kanter and, predictably, lost in embarrassing fashion, 115-71.

The Spurs 63-19 record would be good enough for a first place finish most seasons. The addition of LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard taking "the leap" from star to superstar has turned them into a beast once again. The defending champs finished two wins shy of a 60-win season. After a 10-game win streak, the Warriors finished the season 1-3, including two blowout losses to the Spurs.

The obvious surprise in the West is the Lakers making the playoffs. Their 38-44 record isn't impressive, and they should be quick playoff fodder for the 71-11 Thunder, but Kobe Bryant and his supporting cast of young pups will get a shot to compete in the playoffs.

Awards

[hoopla32]

April 25, 2016

The season was over and it had a bitter-sweet feel to it. On the one hand, the Orlando Magic were now, officially, the Kansas City Knights. The vote on the team nickname had passed yesterday afternoon. It was between the Knights, Monarchs, Greyhounds, and Outlaws with the Knights narrowly edging out the Monarchs. The Monarchs would've been more of a spin-off of the Kings, which is what Harvey was probably rooting for the most deep down, but he liked the Knights and he liked the potential branding/logo concepts he had seen in the last month or two in relation to the Knights more than any other nickname.

But the season itself had brought more bad than good. The Magic finished 25-57, the third worst record in the league, and Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris hadn't quite lived up to expectations. Nikola averaged 14.2 PPG and 10.9 RPG, which was very good, but Harvey had hoped for a 20 and 10 season from him. Tobias put up solid all-around numbers with 14.8 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.4 BPG, but again, Harvey thought he might be a 16-18 PPG player. The Brandon Jennings audition had gone off fairly well, but not spectacularly. Brandon averaged 12.3 PPG, 7.2 APG, 2.1 RPG, and 1.2 SPG in his time with the Magic but shot just 41.8% from the floor and 36.4% from three. He and Troy had to decide if he wanted to re-sign Jennings or let him walk in the summer. It would not be an easy decision.

The biggest bright spot on the team was rookie Mario Hezonja. The Magic selected Mario with the fifth pick in the 2015 draft and by trading Aaron Gordon to the Clippers and moving starting PF, it opened up the starting SF role for Mario who made the most of his opportunity who averaged 12.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.1 APG and shot 38.4% from three while being named the NBA's All-Rookie second team. He was particularly strong in March, averaging 13.8 PPG and shot 39.5% from three.

Harvey also had lost plenty of sleep over trading Victor Oladipo who played an integral role in helping push the Pistons over the top en-route to the third best record in the East at 53-29. Maybe they should've kept Victor, but he had become unsettled in Orlando and wasn't happy about the team being sold and moved to Kansas City. It seemed pretty obvious, to Harvey at least, that re-signing Oladipo before or after next season would not be easy.

But Harvey was not one to dwell on the past, and the season was just that: over. It was time to focus on the upcoming draft and free agency. The Magic had a great shot of getting a top three pick and possibly number one overall if the ping pong balls bounced in their favor.

[hoopla32]

Playoffs Recap

As expected, the Oklahoma City Thunder cruised through the playoffs on their way to the championship. They were taken to the limit by the Spurs in the WCF, but none of their other three series went longer than five games. MVP Kevin Durant was nothing short of brilliant in the playoffs. In OKC's 20 playoff games, Durant averaged 31.1 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 5.8 APG, 2.8 SPG, 1.0 BPG, and had a .521/.441/.875 shooting slash line. Durant had three 40-point games and had a spectacular 49 point, 9 assist, 8 rebound, 3 steal game in the 1st round against the Rockets.

[hoopla32]

Kansas City Knights Unveil Logo, Uniforms, and Court Design

June 10, 2016

It was official, the Kansas City Knights now had their nickname, logo, color scheme, uniform design, and court design. It was time to unveil the new brand of the Kansas City Knights to the rest of the league and country.

Court Design








Jersey Design

[hoopla32]

League Announces Re-Alignment

June 20, 2106

The NBA has been long overdue for realignment ever since the Grizzlies moved from Vancouver to Memphis 15 years ago. With a handful of Eastern Conference teams being further west than the Grizzlies, and the Magic moving from Orlando to Kansas City, now was the time to do something about the NBA's division alignment.

The first move was simple enough. With the Magic moving from Orlando to Kansas City and becoming the Knights, they went from being a perfect fit for the Southeast division to a perfect fit for the Central division. This opened the door for a natural move from the Grizzlies from the Western Conference's Southwest Division, always an odd fit geographically speaking, to the Eastern Conference's Southeast Division.

That now left one spot open in the Southwest and division and too many teams in the Central Division. The league first decided it was time to move the Thunder from the Northwest Division, another geographically awkward fit, to the the Southwest Division to fill the void left by the Grizzlies. That left four teams in the Northwest and six in the Central, so the time came to decide which Central team would move to the Northwest? None really made sense, but league re-alignment would never be perfect. Two teams seemed like a natural choice, both of which used to be in the Western Conference as late as 1979: the Bucks and the Bulls.

With Chicago being further south than Milwaukee, the final verdict landed on the Bucks. They did share a border with on team in the Northwest Division in the Timberwovles, so no matter how awkward the fit seemed, it was still the best choice of a tough decision. Of course with the decision came plenty of backlash, mostly because the Northwest Division was now an even bigger joke and the Southwest Division was now even more brutally tough. The Southwest now featured four teams that won at least 45 games last season and made the playoffs, including the Thunder who finished with the league's best record at 71-11 and the Spurs who finished with the league's second best record at 63-19. The Rockets won 53 games and finished fourth in the West and the Pelicans, with young superstar Anthony Davis, won 46 games and finished 6th in the West.

Regardless, the decision was made. The NBA now had a team located in Kansas City and would have a new look to it for the 2016-2017 season.

[hoopla32]

Does relocation mess with the draft lottery? Is there something I'm missing?

- Because somehow the Bulls, who finished second in the East at 56-26, ended up with the 1st overall pick.

- The Spurs, who went 63-19, somehow got the 6th pick.

- The Nuggets, with the Rockets 1st round pick who finished with 53 wins and 4th in the West, ended up with the 1th pick.

- The 71-11 NBA Champion Thunder got the 24th pick.

- My team, the Knights, have the 28th pick despite finishing with the leagues third worst record.

- The 58-24 Warriors got the 7th pick.

- The league worst 76ers got the 18th pick.



Since I'm doing 30-team control, I'm just going to trade everyone's picks around to better reflect what actually happened in the regular season and I'll give the Knights the 3rd or 4th pick.

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by hoopla32

Does relocation mess with the draft lottery? Is there something I'm missing?

It does, yes. It's annoying, because at the end of every year you have to double-check to make sure it all looks right. I got caught napping one time and had a 2nd overall pick go to NOLA (but it belonged to Memphis really, I had moved the two around) and I didn't catch it till well after I had done the offseason. It's dumb, but it is what it is.

[hoopla32]

Quote: Originally Posted by trekfan

It does, yes. It's annoying, because at the end of every year you have to double-check to make sure it all looks right. I got caught napping one time and had a 2nd overall pick go to NOLA (but it belonged to Memphis really, I had moved the two around) and I didn't catch it till well after I had done the offseason. It's dumb, but it is what it is.

Thanks. I fixed it the best I could, but I'm sure I overlooked something. Good thing about 30-team control is that even if I did forget or overlook something, and someone that finished with a top 5 record in their conference pops up with the 3rd or 7th pick, I can just give them a low 1st round pick caliber player.