Vegas welcomes the NBA! (Simworld Fictional League)

[raiderz4eva]

Glad to be included in the story man! But you must have texted the wrong raiderz4eva number because i def would have been interested in some trump money. But yeah those injuries can pile up, especially towards the end of the season. . But like you said its not how you start, its how you end. Im not sure how you feel about your bench, but their might be some hidden Gems in free agency that could make a difference if you feel like you are lacking.

I do enjoy the Shawn Wright pick up. Despite being a vet, he can still shoot the lights out. Glad you are sticking with this man!

[darkwolf80]

Hello to everyone gathered today. We'll keep this short and sweet. Good to see some of you that I haven't seen in awhile. First off today is going to just be me running my mouth and making some announcements. Questions will be handled at another time. I know this doesn't make many of you happy, but in the future there will be time for questions.

Now as for the announcement of the new coaching staff. I have appointed as the new assistant coach, Jimmy Dolan. Jimmy is known for his teaching skills. He was able to recruit and guide an African native, Saleh, to a distinguished college career. Jimmy is also known for the "Jimmy Dolan Shake and Bake", which we are hoping he can maybe show Harmon. We are looking to Jimmy to help these guys reach their full potential. There are already some great players on this team, and a core of guys that are title ready now. We just need to get healthy and make that final push.

For the hire of Head Coach, I dug up Indiana High School Basketball Hall of Fame coach Norman Dale. It's true that Norman doesn't have coaching experience past the high school level, but I believe he has the message that this team already follows just needs to have reinforced. "Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team - no one more important than the other."

I know these hires might be a little unorthodox, but this team has the talent right now to win the title. They just need the right message and push to reach that potential. The wheels on this ride are a little loose right now, hence the 1-12 record in December, but with a little elbow grease and unified direction from the whole organization, we can tighten those wheels and take this ride all the way to the top.

Ok. That is enough cliches for one meeting. I appreciate all of you coming on such short notice, and in the future there will be more time to talk and ask questions. Thank you.

[darkwolf80]

Ownership of the Las Vegas Aces are starting to look like geniuses, as the Aces have taken off since the change in the front office and coaching staff. Of course it didn't hurt that Harmon returned from his knee injury.

The Aces ended their 7 game losing streak by beating the Thunder 126-125 on the evening of the new GM and coaching hires. Harmon surprised everyone by returning for the game, and quickly showed he was fully healed by going for 34pts and 20rebs. Bethea hit the game winning shot with 2 seconds left driving to the basket after a screen from Harmon. The team as a whole was just energetic and playing team ball the whole game.

Since that night the Aces have went on to a 14-4 record, with a current 10 game winning streak, headed into the All-Star break. The locker room has been a very happy place lately.

Bethea was asked how the new coaches and GM have been fitting in and what has led to this turnaround. "Well first off Norman is awesome. He's like a grumpy grandfather, but with a basketball mind of a genius. He knows his stuff man. And he treats the players like men and like family. So far it has been a perfect fit. As for Jimmy, he's a hoot man. He's trying to teach Harmon the "Jimmy Dolan Shake and Bake", and watching that is just hilarious. But he is the opposite of Norman, in that he is all over the place and always happy. They both complement each other perfectly. The turnaround is all me man, naw just kidding. One big factor was getting Harmon back healthy. Once he came back it seemed like the family, team, was whole again and nothing can stop us."

What about the new GM? Is he as mysterious as he seems? Bethea,"Mr. Earley hasn't been around much. But he pops his head in every now and then. So I haven't had much interaction with him yet. I think he is sitting back trying to not rock the boat and let this team do what he knows we have the talent to do. Course, there are also rumors he's off being a secret agent when he is not around. lol That's what we think he was off doing for those years he disappeared."

The Aces now get a break to recharge and load up for the end of season push. As of now they are 29-24 and in 5th in the western conference.

This reporter believes that as long as they stay healthy, the Aces should make a deep run into the playoffs.

[darkwolf80]

The All-Star weekend was entertaining as always.

TreShawn Parker was named to the Dunk Contest. However, Treshawn didn't have much success in the contest though and finished last out of the four contestants. (Editor note: It's cause I absolutely suck at the dunk contest in 2k, not parkers faults. lol) J.R. Stafford won the dunk competition.

Dunk contest highlights:

Andre Holland won the 3 point contest.

Bethea was named to the starting five of the Western Conference team and had 12pts/4rebs /8assts. The Western Conference won 124-102, with Rasheed Ramsay gaining MVP honors going fr 30pts and 4 rebs.

All-Star Highlights:

[BlindSideNZ]

Nice! Love the references to the crew but also to the old stories.

This is certainly shaping up beautifully.

Making me want to bring mine back too lol

[darkwolf80]

After some turmoil and injuries slowed the Aces down in the first half, the team really picked things up just before the All-Star break going on a 8 game winning streak. The second half had its share of losing and winning streaks, but much more of the winning ones. The Aces were able to climb out of the hole they dug in first part of the season to finish 6th in the Western Conference with a 44-38 record. This gave them a first round matchup with the Phoenix Suns who had given them some trouble in the regular season, so it was going to be interesting to see how they responded in the playoffs. If they wanted to ultimately avenge their showing against the Warriors in 2015, they were first going to have to get by the Suns and their potent offense.

2015-2016 Regular Season
Award	Player	Pos	Team
Most Valuable Player	Christopher Bishop Jr.		Wizards
Rookie of the Year	Aaiden Blackshear		Hornets
Sixth Man of the Year	Raymond Dawson		Lakers
Defensive Player of the Year	Zaire Mutombo		Celtics
All-NBA 1st Team
All-NBA 1st Team	Jameel Bethea		Aces
	Whakil Blackshear		76ers
	Christopher Bishop Jr.		Wizards
	Ray Ray Francis		Clippers
	Ryan Stafford		Warriors
All-NBA 2nd Team
All-NBA 2nd Team	Marcus Domino		Lakers
	Brandon Lewis		Spurs
	Gabriel Stevens		Jazz
	Adam Cameron		Warriors
	Rasheed Ramsey		Nuggets
All-NBA 3rd Team
All-NBA 3rd Team	J.R. Williams		Spurs
	Ao Long		Knicks
	Stephen Braithwaite		Heat
	Dante Brown		Suns
	Rameek Toole		Nets
All-Defensive 1st Team
All-Defensive 1st Team	Rasheed Ramsey		Nuggets
	DeVon Richards		Bulls
	Christopher Bishop Jr.		Wizards
	Zaire Mutombo		Celtics
	Whakil Blackshear		76ers
All-Defensive 2nd Team
All-Defensive 2nd Team	Juan Fernandez		Blazers
	Jacoby Ross		Hornets
	Cameron McKinney		Lakers
	Adam Cameron		Warriors
	Jerome Sims		Raptors
All-Rookie 1st Team
All-Rookie 1st Team	Raymond Dawson		Lakers
	Chris Valentine		Pistons
	TaShawn Sullivan		Nets
	Crash Thompson		Cavaliers
	Aaiden Blackshear		Hornets
All-Rookie 2nd Team
All-Rookie 2nd Team	Rahim Simpson		Mavericks
	Matias Honka		Spurs
	Rashard Wallace		Jazz
	DeAndre Gervin		Bucks
	Eddie Porter		Rockets

Las Vegas Aces Stats - 2015-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Jameel Bethea			28.3	7.5	5.5	2.1	0.8
Ahmad Harmon			20.9	12.7	3.8	0.7	2.5
Ernest Jeffries			14.1	2.2	8.1	1.8	0.1
Jarvis Martin			13.4	8.1	0.7	0.2	1.6
Shawn Wright			12.5	3.5	4.0	1.3	0.5
Andre Whittaker			7.5	6.4	0.3	0.3	1.1
Treshawn Parker			6.2	2.7	1.4	0.7	0.5
D'Shaun Aikens			5.0	4.3	0.3	0.3	0.5
J.J. Jacobsen			4.0	0.9	3.1	1.0	0.1
Ibeamake Eze			3.9	4.5	0.3	0.3	0.8
Chip Kelly			2.7	0.4	0.4	0.9	0.0
Drake Faulk			1.8	0.2	2.4	0.4	0.0
Phil Harrington			0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

[darkwolf80]

The aces showed their offensive firepower against the Suns in the first round taking them down in five games (4-1). This series was as an absolute blast to watch if you love offense.

Game 1 @Suns
122 - 108 Aces win (1-0) Jarvis Martin goes for 30/20

Game 2 @Suns
158-148 Suns win in Triple OT thriller(1-1) Novoselec has Monster Triple double 20/17/13 to lead Suns in a classic

Game 3 @Aces
124-92 Aces Take pivotal game three (2-1) Jarvis Martin close to triple double 30/18/8

Game 4 @Aces
124-106 Aces take control of series (3-1) Jameel Bethea explodes for career high 54pts on 18/30 shooting.

Game 5 @Suns
114-94 Aces take series (4-1) Ernest Jeffries leads the charge in closing Suns out with 38/6/10.

The offense output in this series from both teams was just staggering. From the get go Jarvis Martin showed the Suns had no one to contain him and just battered them from the inside. Martin averaged 18/16 for the series. Bethea provided the majority of the offense averaging 32.2 a game, and that was with only scoring 8 points in game 5. Harmon was his steady self providing 23/6 a game. Even the bench put in some nice numbers with Whittaker/Aikens/Parker each having at least one good game in the series.

The turning point of this series seemed to be game three, as it followed the instant classic triple OT game two. The Aces lost game two after repeatedly coming back time and again in each period. Ultimately they made too many mistakes in the third OT and the Suns pulled away. Everyone was anxious to see how the Aces would respond for game three after that heartbreaker. And respond they did. Coach made a few defensive changes in putting Bethea on Dante Brown, and Harmon on Novolesec to slow his onslaught of triple doubles. From game three on, Jarvis Martin was a man among boys underneath. The Suns just didn't have an answer for him. Once The aces took game four after Bethea exploded for 54, it was all over. You could see the Suns were just deflated. Game 5 was more of a formality than a contest.

The big news was the series of the two opponents that the Aces would have to meet in the 2nd round. Warriors versus the Pelicans. The Warriors fell down 3-1 to the Pelicans but were able to claw back and win in 7. And that was after losing Stafford to a broken hand at the end of the regular season. It seemed they were lost in the beginning of that series learning how to play without him. But ultimately Cameron showed his leadership and brought the Warriors back to win.

That meant that revenge was now on the minds of the Aces. They now had the chance to avenge their sweep at the hands of the Warriors from the year before.

On the injury front heading into the next round, the Aces had Martin fighting some nagging injuries with a bruised back and strained calf; Bethea had bruised his back on a hard foul in game 4, and Parker wasn't fully back from his twisted knee in the regular season. All were day to day, but it was all hands on deck for this series. As for the Warriors, they were missing a big piece in Stafford still recovering from his broken hand. The rumors were that he would be able to return by game 3 or 4 at the latest. Westbrook also had a slight ankle sprain that was slowing him down a little, but wasn't going to keep him out of the games.

It's going to be hard for the Aces to top how they played this first round, but with the opponent being the Warriors I don't think things will be boring.

[darkwolf80]

The series against the Warriors didn't end up being the knock down drag out fight that everyone thought it would. The Aces ended up taking the series in game 5 (4-1). But either way for the Aces it was sweet to get some revenge for the embarrassment of last year's matchup against the Warriors.

Game 1 @Warriors
106-78 Aces blow out Warriors sans Stafford (1-0) Bethea comes out firing going for 40pts, 8ast, 6stls, 2blks.

Game 2 @Warriors
108-84 Aces continue dominance. Warriors look lost without Stafford (2-0) Harmon, Jeffries, Bethea all score 24 to lead the blowout.

Game 3 @Aces
101-95 OT Stafford returns to lead charge, but not quite enough as Aces hold on for OT win to take commanding lead (3-0) Bethea with 36, Harmon with 30 and Martin with 20 rebs

Game 4 @Aces
110-100 Warriors break through and avoid sweep (3-1) Lucas goes for 20/20 and Stafford for 28/8 to show they haven't given up yet.

Game 5 @Warriors
100-96 Aces close out Warriors to get revenge (4-1) Harmon 24, Bethea 20, Wright 20 lead balanced attack

The Aces got their revenge, but the fact the Warriors had to play games one and two without Stafford seemed to give the Aces a big advantage. Any team is going to have a hard time replacing the output of a MVP type caliber player like Stafford. With the way the Aces came into the series rolling offensively, it appeared that the Aces were really going to return the favor from last year and sweep the Warriors. However, Stafford refused to sit out game three and even though they lost again to go down 3-0, it was a much more competitive game and gave the Aces some pause that they had things in hand. The Aces came out tight in game four and never found their rhythm. They fell behind by 22 at one point before making it respectable in the end. Still up 3-1 the Aces did not feel comfortable heading back to the Bay for game 5. Game five was a back and forth affair with the Aces pulling it out in the end by hitting crucial free throws down the stretch. The pressure of going up 3-0 and then losing game four had led to some trepidation that the Warriors were waking up and the Aces were going to blow it. So after winning game five and closing the Warriors out there was more of feel of relief then excitement in the locker room afterwards.

The two big stories of this series, other than the revenge angle, was coach made a decision to put Bethea on Cameron from the get go, and Martin holding the league leading rebounder Lucas on the boards. Coach stated he didn't feel Jeffries had the size to handle Cameron and wanted his best defender on him. The hope was that Bethea's offensive game wouldn't suffer with taking on the All-Star Cameron. And that hope was proven right as Bethea showed he was not only an elite scorer but could play some very good defense as well. Bethea averaged 29/3/5/2 for the series. As for Martin he had shown his prowess on the boards in the first round, and didn't slow down as he faced Lucas. Coach stated that he thought the series ultimately would turn on whether Martin could hold Lucas in check on the boards and not give the Warriors all the second chance opportunities they were used to. And Martin responded. He averaged 12/11. The one game that Lucas went for 20/20 was the game four loss. Martin continued to get the big boards and hit the big shots in late game situations. As far as this reporter is concerned, Bethea might be scoring all the points, but Martin has been the MVP of the playoffs for the Aces so far.

As for the other players, Harmon steady as always averaged 26/6 for the series; Jeffries 10ppg/9apg; Parker was fully healed from his injury and provided some explosiveness off the bench with 11ppg. Parker was starting to put things together and show off his athleticism in all the right manners. He had a few dunks on the fast break that were of the dunk contest variety. He more than once brought the fans to their feet. It was a welcome sight for the Aces coaches as the bench had been an issue all season long. Whittaker/Aikens continued to provide solid minutes in the front court by cleaning up the boards and putting in second chance points. Wright also continued to show his shooting touch by averaging 12ppg.

The next round was going to be another offensive matchup as the Lakers had pushed through the Rockets in seven games. The Aces were now going to have to matchup with Mckinney and Domino. So the march continues...