Oklahoma City Thunder - Post-Durant Era

[GodOfNugget]

Oklahoma City Thunder - Post-Durant Era

SYSTEM/GAME: PS4/NBA 2K17

TEAM: Oklahoma City Thunder. One of my newfound preferred things to do with a franchise mode is to choose a team that's slightly in win-now mode. I've had too many years completely selling house, 76ers-esque, and finally contending in 2022 with kids that are just entering high school now. On the contrary, playing with teams that are contending now doesn't really leave much to do in the present. Contending teams can be fun with trying to figure out how to maintain their success into the future, which is what I did with my Toronto Blue Jays in MLB The Show 16... and also collected all Blue Jays in Diamond Dynasty mode... and also watched 162 games+playoffs of Blue Jays on TV... Needless to say I'm avoiding my own fandom team (Toronto Raptors) to avoid that sort of tiredness from constantly seeing the same players over and over again. I was looking for a team that is transitioning between two different states. Another big factor was a nice looking arena to play in, and I eventually settled between the Knicks and Thunder. The prospect of playing with Russell Westbrook was just more than that of Rose-Melo-Porzingis.

MODE: MyLeague. NOT 30-team control, just controlling Thunder. Will this be a problem? I hope not.

ROSTER: 2k Official as of 2016-11-18. Transactions reversed to reflect opening day.

DRAFT CLASS: "2017 w/Accurate Faces+Ratings" from PS4 user "EmbraceThePace". The main thing I'm focused on here is the faces. I looked at a few of the top downloaded draft classes on the PS4 database and, while I wanted to use one that had a matching 2018/2019 draft classes from the same user, the faces from EmbraceThePace were just too good to pass up. The only thing I did was download and edit it to make Josh Jackson's hair look a little shorter.

SLIDERS: Custom sliders, pretty much identical to these ones listed on this thread from NLSC. Easily the best sliders I've used in NBA 2k. Realistic stats/foul numbers aside, one of the things I like the most with these sliders are the tendencies. The CPU is decisive and looks to attack the basket often. No passing around for 24 seconds every possession. They are from 2k14 but from what I've played with so far they actually seem pretty good! Open to changing these though if they don't work out.

SETTINGS

Season Length: 82 Games

How many games will I play?

A bunch. Definitely not all 82. As I mentioned earlier I like to play at home because OKC's arena has a great atmosphere. I'll probably play a chunk, if not all, home games and big away games.

Quarter Length: 12 Minutes
Sim Quarter Length: 12 Minutes
League Expansion: On (Not expanding 1st season, open to it in future)
Protected Players: 8

Everything is regards to trading is as NBA-like as possible. CPU-CPU trades are on but I'll be policing them with Trade Approval.

MYLEAGUE SETTINGS



Player Progression Rate: 80
Player Regression Rate: 70
In-Season Training Effects: 70
Player Non-Financial Ambitions Factor: 60

One thing I really like in franchise modes of sports games is when overalls change throughout a season. I like the idea that a player who entered the season an 81 overall can be an entirely different player (better or worse) come the end of the season, or even a slightly different player by the all-star break. I hope the morale/chemistry slider changes reflect that.

As far as trades go, I've always been a pretty realistic trader. I've gone through enough years of completely dismantling NHL, 2k, and MLB The Show AI while trading franchise modes. That being said, I'm pretty lenient on the CPU-CPU trades. If I see a big trade, and I even slightly like it, and it doesn't completely screw over 1 team, I'll let it pass. Last year in MLB The Show 15 I let a trade go through between the Giants - Dodgers which involved swapping Kershaw/Bumgarner. In my opinion, even real-life trades have winners and losers sometimes, so there's no problem with that happening in the game too.

COACH SETTINGS



So here's my philosophy with this. I want to give my coach (Billy Donovan), the ability to "make his own decisions" consistent with the other AI coaches. I don't think coaches in 2k make different decisions (timeouts, substitutions) really different from one another to form a unique coaching style. I feel they're just a representation of their coaching grades and coaching sliders. One big thing I try to do is keep things (somewhat) consistent with the AI. Meaning that any advantage I can get for doing something manually, simply because I'm doing it manually, I want to erase. Which brings me to...

MYLEAGUE AUTOMATION



Anything to do with lineup, minutes, rotations, is also handled by Billy Donovan. Everything you don't see on that screenshot is Manual. In essence, I am sort of taking the role of the GM. On this screenshot you can also see I set Prospect Scouting to Auto. I know in MLB The Show if you manually scouted prospects, and you did so whenever you could, you would end up with more scouting knowledge than any of the AI, putting them at a disadvantage come the draft. I don't know if it's like that in this game but I'll just defer scouting to my "scouting team" until the draft comes, then I'll take the reigns. Besides, how do you even scout prospects in this game manually?

And that’s pretty much it for the outline. If anyone has any advice for post formatting, gameplay tuning, MyLeague settings, or anything else, please feel free to share. Also questions are encouraged. Enjoy!



Author's note

Hey all,

So... this is my first dynasty thread. I've poked around on the OS forums for a few years now, mostly lurking in MLB The Show threads and NBA 2k threads. A few months back I helped a group make a re-rated roster for MLB The Show 16 and since then was introduced to a few baseball dynasties. As someone who always dove into the franchise mode of every sports game I could get my hands on since NHL 06, I thought this idea was fantastic. I've always envisioned keeping a blog-like record of my franchises, filling in every small detail with imagination. Originally I was planning to wait until next year to start a baseball franchise but after messing around with 2k's MyLeague mode I decided to try out an NBA dynasty.

With this being my first dynasty thread/first thread ever created on these forums, I look forward to learning more about the site and following everyone else's dynasties. If you haven't yet, please go check out Vtcha's Dallas Mavericks Dynasty thread. One of the things I'm adamant about is to try and create my own style for a dynasty page, but if there's one blog I'll be actively following and trying to emulate the level of quality, it's Vtcha's. I also checked out many of the recently posted threads. I love it. The content that everyone puts out is amazing. I can't wait to keep following, learn more, and develop my own great dynasty thread.

As far as what to expect, I'm going to try and keep things fairly first person. Instead of role-playing the GM, I'm more or less going to be role-playing an owner/ President of Basketball Operations/ guy playing an NBA 2k franchise mode and blogging about it. That being said I'll still try to create articles and update the thread with what's going on around the league. My photoshop skills are completely non-existent and my HTML skills are very lackluster. For the most part, I'm creating this thread for me. Keeping a dynasty thread will help me stay active with my franchise, develop writing/HTML skills, and give myself a place to blog all those little in-between details that you imagine when immersing yourself in a franchise mode. That being said, I'm super open to/requesting advice from other franchisees, and can't wait to develop this dynasty.

[GodOfNugget]

[RESERVED FOR INDEX]

[JackNCoke]

Good luck. I've been messing around with my league to try to find a team I really like. Thunder are definitely an interesting team to roll with having Russ. I really like Oladipo. Are you planning on starting Roberson or Morrow. I guess it segues with what you're doing at PF. Lots of only offensive players and only defensive players on the squad.

[GodOfNugget]

Quote: Originally Posted by JackNCoke

Good luck. I've been messing around with my league to try to find a team I really like. Thunder are definitely an interesting team to roll with having Russ. I really like Oladipo. Are you planning on starting Roberson or Morrow. I guess it segues with what you're doing at PF. Lots of only offensive players and only defensive players on the squad.

I'm actually playing with Lineup Management and Substitutions on Auto and so far it looks like head coach Billy Donovan is going with Morrow at SF and Ersan Ilyasova at PF. While I like the idea of all that shooting around Westbrook/Adams, that lineup is really missing a defensive player to shutdown opposing scoring wings (KD, LeBron, etc). That's exactly what Roberson is but maybe Oladipo can fill some of that role too.

[Stout]

This looks good. Like, really good. Make sure to take care of former Net Anthony Morrow

But it's interesting you call the Thunder win-now because here's what I'm wondering: if you guys get off to a bad start despite having a pretty solid roster without KD, is Billy Donovan's job at risk? I'd hope not and I know you guys are coming off a really good year, but there is also that part of me that thinks too bad of a start could mean bye bye, Billy..

[GodOfNugget]

Quote: Originally Posted by Stout

This looks good. Like, really good. Make sure to take care of former Net Anthony Morrow But it's interesting you call the Thunder win-now because here's what I'm wondering: if you guys get off to a bad start despite having a pretty solid roster without KD, is Billy Donovan's job at risk? I'd hope not and I know you guys are coming off a really good year, but there is also that part of me that thinks too bad of a start could mean bye bye, Billy..

Coach Donovan has him starting and, from what I've seen in training camp, his release is lightning quick and he's hit enough shots to really put himself above Roberson and Singler for a starting wing spot. His Defense on the other hand...

I wouldn't call the Thunder "contenders", but I think the 2k Team Intel screen fittingly names them "buying". I think Westbrook's prime is too valuable to waste at 27, but I wouldn't go as far as to trade away too many future assets/picks to go all in. A lot of the Thunder's better players like Kanter, Oladipo, Roberson (24), and Adams (23), are still young and have room to improve.

I think the departure of KD and the prospect of those young players would lead me to give Billy Donovan has a good amount of slack before getting fired. That's only my opinion though. As for the real-life Thunder? It's interesting to think about because they've only had 1 losing season (their first) since moving from Seattle. If they look like a lottery team by December, fingers will obviously be pointed and I don't know if Durant will take 100% of them.

Also highjacking this comment for another author's note,

I was originally planning on submitting the 16-17 season preview tonight but then teams starting cutting guys left and right, including the Thunder. I like how the 2k official roster sort of projected guys to make the 15-man based on their big offseason rosters, and anybody looking at the offseason 20-man would assume paying Ronnie Price that much money would mean he makes the 15-man, especially with the injury to Payne. Nope.

I'm probably going to wait until tomorrow or the day after to download a roster. If anybody can recommend or has/will have a roster with no re-rates, accurtate 15-man rosters and pre-existing injuries, that would be dope. Maybe 2k will release one too. I wish there was a way to somehow to invoke Price's guaranteed $5M to my cap when I start MyLeague, but if not I guess it's no big deal.

NBA Season starts tomorrow! Who's pumped?

[GodOfNugget]

2016-2017 Season Preview



Franchise History

08-09: 23-59
09-10: 50-32
10-11: 55-27
11-12: 47-19 (lockout)
12-13: 60-22
13-14: 59-23
14-15: 45-37
15-16: 55-27

I won't go too in-depth on the history of the franchise. Formerly the Seattle Supersonics, the Oklahoma City Thunder played their inaugural season in 2008 after the franchise was bought by a group of Oklahoma City investors. It didn't take long for a skinny #2 overall pick, a bearded #3 overall pick, and an electric #4 overall pick to establish a dynamic young core and lead the franchise to the NBA finals in their 4th season. Eventually, the franchise decided not to resign their star shooting guard James Harden, trading him to the Houston Rockets just before the 2012-2013 NBA season. The Oklahoma City Thunder have continued amongst the elite in the Western Conference, just as they have since their 2nd season in the league. Just this last offseason, Oklahoma City's star player Kevin Durant signed a two-year $54.3 million dollar contract with the Golden State Warriors. All eyes are now on the last remaining member of the young starting core that took the Thunder to the finals in 2012. Russell Westbrook will look to take control of the team and sustain the success the Thunder have experienced in the past.

Coaches

2008: P.J Carlesimo
Coached for 13 games of the 2008 season before being fired.

2008-2015: Scott Brooks
Coached 545 games for the Thunder over 7 seasons with a .620 win percentage which ranks 5th amongst active coaches with more than 1 season of experience. Won the NBA Coach of the Year award in 2010.

2015-Present: Billy Donovan
Donovan is the current head coach of the OKC Thunder. He has coached 1 season for the Thunder taking over in April 2015.

General Manager: Sam Presti
Presti has been the General Manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder since 2007. He is responsible for the drafting of James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, amongst others.

Roster

Oklahoma City Thunder 2016-17
#	NAME	POS	AGE	HT	WT	SALARY
Zero	Russell Westbrook	PG	27	6'3"	200	$26.54M
11	Enes Kanter	C	24	6'11"	245	$17.15M
7	Ersan Ilyasova	PF	29	6'10"	235	$8.40M
5	Victor Oladipo	SG	24	6'4"	210	$6.55M
8	Alex Abrines	SG	23	6'6"	190	$5.99M
15	Kyle Singler	SF	28	6'8"	228	$4.84M
4	Nick Collison	PF	35	6'10"	255	$3.75M
2	Anthony Morrow	SF	31	6'6"	210	$3.49M
12	Steven Adams	C	23	7'0"	255	$3.14M
3	Domantas Sabonis	C	20	6'11"	240	$2.44M
21	Andre Roberson	SF	24	6'7"	210	$2.18M
22	Cameron Payne (Fractured foot, 2-4 weeks)	PG	22	6'2"	180	$2.11M
77	Joffrey Lauvergne	C	25	6'11	220	$1.71M
34	Josh Huestis	SF	24	6'7"	230	$1.19M
6	Semaj Christon	PG	23	6'3"	190	$543k

RUSSELL WESTBROOK

Westbrook heads into his 9th season as member of the Thunder and seems ready to take control of the team after the departure of Kevin Durant. Many predictions have Russell as a front-runner for the MVP race. In 15 games without Kevin Durant last season, Russ averaged 30.2 points, 8.6 assists, and 6.4 rebounds on 46.3% shooting.

His A+ playmaking, A+ Athleticism and A+ Inside Scoring make him one of the most potent offensive guards in the game. One thing notable 2k did this year was make Steph Curry actually play like Steph Curry, or a lot closer to his real life counterpart. Anyone who's played with Curry will notice a lot more deep/contested threes going in. Personally, and I don't know how, I think 2k needs to do this with Russell's explosiveness. While he's still super fast in the game, you never get those jaw-dropping lightning quick drives that he pulls off in real life. I think 2k's willingness to bend the "fairness" of the video game to capture the real life dominance of Curry's shooting, alongside the fact that Westbrook is primed to have an MVP-like season, makes me fairly optimistic they'll try to capture his athleticism accurately in 2k18.

Russell Westbrook Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Russell Westbrook	80	34.4	23.5	7.8	10.4	2.04	0.25	4.3	2.5

ENES KANTER

In his 6th year out of Kentucky, Kanter is a skilled big looking to play a role in the Thunder's upcoming season. Enes is only 24 and will hopefully continue to develop his skills along with the benefits of being 6'11".

I'll be looking for his A+ Rebounding and B+ Mid-Range Scoring (!) to get him in positions to be effective. Kanter only took 21 threes last year and made 10. This was down from the year before taking 45 but only making 16. If there's a place I see this Turkish big man developing further, it's beyond the arc. There have already been reports of Kanter working on his outside shooting with trainers during training camp and pre-season.

Enes Kanter Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Enes Kanter	82	21.0	12.7	8.1	0.4	0.32	0.40	1.4	2.0

ERSAN ILYASOVA

Coming in as one of the more veteran players on the Thunder, Ilyasova played the beginning of his career with the Milwaukee Bucks. After playing for the Pistons and Magic last year, he signed a 1 year $8.40M deal with the Thunder. His B 3PT Scoring and B- Rebounding make him a very adept stetch big, which is a very important piece in today's NBA.

Ersan Ilyasova Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Ersan Ilyasova (DET-ORL)	74	25.4	10.4	5.4	0.9	0.7	0.4	1.0	2.3

VICTOR OLADIPO

Oladipo is a former 2nd overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. The 4-year man out of Indiana is a recent signing of the Thunder during this past offseason, also going for a 1 year deal for $6.55M.

Personally, Oladipo has been one of my favourite players since entering the league. His 2-way game is reflected in the grades. B+ Mid-Range Scoring and B Playmaking make him a great combo guard, while a B Perimeter Defense and B+ Athleticism highlight his defensive capabilities. And he’s only 24!

Victor Oladipo Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Victor Oladipo (ORL)	72	33.0	16.0	4.8	3.9	1.6	0.8	2.1	2.4

ALEX ABRINES

Have I heard about this guy since before I loaded up OKC into MyLeague? Nope. Abrines was a 32nd overall pick by the Thunder in 2013, and after 3 seasons playing overseas he is opting to come to the NBA for this season. The Spaniard is 23 and will be the highest paid rookie this NBA season, beating out Ben Simmons by around 900k.

Do his European league stats blow me away, even considering European league basketball is a level of competition below the NBA? Not at all. But his grades aren’t half bad. B- PT Scoring, C+ Playmaking, B- Athleticism look good. C- Perimeter Defense seems… not so good.

Alex Abrines Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Alex Abrines (FC Barcelona Lassa)	52	19.6	9.6	2.2	1.1	0.7	0.2	0.6	1.8

KYLE SINGLER

Singler has played 5 seasons out of Duke and will be 28 this NBA season. He is consistently below-average at everything except Basketball IQ where he gets a B-.

Kyle Singler Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Kyle Singler	68	14.4	3.4	2.1	0.4	0.4	0.1	0.5	1.8

NICK COLLISON

Collison is a 35 year old veteran playing his 13th season in the NBA, all of which he has played with this franchise. Nobody embodies the very limited role player more than Nick Collison. He is third all-time in career games played for the Sonics/Thunder and has never surpassed 10.0 Points per game in his 13 seasons. While his minutes have been sharply declining in recent years he’s still a capable rebounding big.

Nick Collison Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Nick Collison	59	11.8	2.1	2.9	0.9	0.3	0.3	0.8	1.8

ANTHONY MORROW

Morrow is in his 3rd season as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. While his minutes declined into last year, he is always threat from deep with a B Mid-Range and B 3PT shot. A D- Perimeter Defense shows why he’s a one-way player and someone to hide on defense.

Anthony Morrow Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Anthony Morrow	68	13.6	5.6	0.9	0.4	0.3	0.1	0.3	0.9

STEVEN ADAMS

The Big Kiwi! Adams, born in Australia and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, is a 2013 lottery pick entering his 4th year pro. When he’s not getting his little Kiwi’s kicked by Draymond Green in the NBA Playoffs, his A- Post Defense and B+ Rebounding make him a very formidable post presence. He has an A- basketball IQ and is only 23! Going to look to develop his offensive game in the coming years.

Steven Adams Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Steven Adams	80	25.2	8.0	6.7	0.8	0.5	1.1	1.1	2.8

DOMANTAS SABONIS

Domantas Sabonis is the 11th overall pick out of Gonzaga from the most recent NBA Draft. At 6’11”, 20 years old, with A- rebound, he looks like a solid prospect to develop in the coming years.

Domantas Sabonis Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Domantas Sabonis (Gonzaga)	36	31.9	17.6	11.8	1.8	0.6	0.9	2.6	3.2

ANDRE ROBERSON

A 26th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Roberson has carved himself a role in the NBA as a formidable wing defender. With B Perimeter Defense and C Post Defense, and only at 24 years old, Roberson can continue to develop his offense while refining his defensive skills.

Andre Roberson Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Andre Roberson	70	22.2	4.8	3.6	0.7	0.8	0.6	0.5	1.9

CAMERON PAYNE

Payne is in his 2nd year out of Murray State was stated to be the OKC backup point guard before going down with a fractured foot. Hopefully he can recover and continue to develop as a 22 year old point guard with B- Playmaking and C+ Mid-Range Scoring.

Cameron Payne Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Cameron Payne	57	12.2	5.0	1.5	1.9	0.6	0.1	0.8	1.4

JOFFREY LAUVERGNE

Joffrey Lauvergne is a 6’11” big man out of France. He is another great overseas find from the talented Denver Nuggets scouting staff. Drafting a player 55th overall, you just hope at some point he can see the floor and become a solid bench player in the NBA. Lauvergne has done just that with B+ Rebound and B- Mid Range Scoring.

Joffrey Lauvergne Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Joffrey Lauvergne (DEN)	59	17.6	7.9	4.9	0.9	0.2	0.3	0.9	1.9

JOSH HUESTIS

Huestis is a 29th overall pick out of the 2014 NBA Draft from Stanford. At a glance, he seems very similar to Roberson; B- Perimeter Defense, C Athleticism. At 24, Huestis will look to develop further before seeing NBA action.

Josh Huestis Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Josh Huestis	5	11.0	2.8	2.0	0.0	0.2	0.4	0.6	0.6

SEMAJ CHRISTON

The Thunder recently waived guard veteran PG Ronnie Price in favour to keep Semaj Christon. Looks like he will stand as the clubs backup PG until Cameron Payne is ready to play.

The 6'3 guard was selected with the 55th pick in the 2nd round of the 2014 draft. Christon played a year in the summer league/d-league before playing 30 games last year in Serie A overseas.

Semaj doesn't turn any heads with his stats but his B Playmaking is promising at 23.

Semaj Christon Stats - 15-16
Player	GP	MIN	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	FPG
Semaj Christon (Consultinvest Pesaro)	30	33.2	14.3	3.3	3.7	1.6	0.2	2.8	2.9

Lineups/Rotations





Interesting to see the rotation that coach Billy Donovan is going with to start the season. I don’t know if I would personally roll with Morrow at the starting SF spot, getting close to 30 minutes a game, but taking the role of the GM I have to leave this one up to the coach. The interesting thing about that starting lineup is the perimeter shooting. Oladipo/Morrow/Ilyasova offer skillsets that space the floor to open things up for Westbrook/Adams, and have the outside scoring ability to punish the defense if they collapse.

I can already say that defensively this lineup is a disaster. Morrow has a D- Perimeter Defense rating and I’m honestly surprised that isn’t an F. What isn’t shown in these few training camp gifs I have attached to my posts is the constant wandering around on defense by Anthony Morrow losing his man. I don’t know if I want to break my GM role by not touching any coaching options but if he’s matched up against an elite scoring small forward I may have no choice to slide over Oladipo on defensive matchups.

I think this lineup will shine with it’s depth. Whether or not Coach Donovan will use it based on the images above is still to be determined. Enes Kanter is (and was) a prominent candidate for Sixth Man of the Year if he stays in his current role. Lauvergne is surprisingly high-rated with a decent inside/out game. Looks like Collison will get minutes over Sabonis as he continues to develop, which I don’t mind at all. Roberson is an interesting wing player who can defend well but needs to develop his outside game. I might actually get Anthony Morrow and Andre Roberson to line up on opposite sides of the practice gym and run into each other really fast and hopefully they fuse and create a great two-way small forward.

Also interesting to note: Semaj Christon and Cameron Payne at 0 minutes. Is Coach Donovan expecting to have Enes Kanter play backup point guard? In all fairness I guess Victor Oladipo can run the show when Westbrook (briefly) gets his rest, but still a puzzling move nonetheless.

I guess we'll see how things play out in game 1. Hopefully Coach Donovan will substitute effectively and put 5 players out on the floor at a time that will flow well together and cancel each other’s inefficiencies (Spoiler: He probably won’t).


Schedule



So here’s our schedule for the first month of play. I said I’d pick and choose games that I play and that’s exactly what I plan to do. I’m likely going to sim the first game @76ers, play the home opener vs Suns, sim home to LA, and then play that juicy back to back against the Clippers and Warriors on the road. I’ll decide further as I keep going.

On the first day of every month (including Nov 1st), I’ll have on update post on the state of the league including standings, outstanding players, transactions, etc.

And that does it for the 16-17 preview for the Oklahoma City Thunder! Overall, I have high hopes for this team. I think the departure of Durant will take a toll but I don’t think it derails things completely. Under Billy Donovan I foresee the Thunder becoming a more 3pt-shooting team with a higher-paced motion offense, as opposed to the Durant/Westbrook iso-heavy Thunder under coach Scott Brooks. Defensively I’m worried. Sometimes I’ll hope Ilyasova and Morrow switch jerseys on defense and we just play 3 on 7. I hope the bench depth and specific players’ defensive skills make up overall shortcomings. Mostly though, I’m excited for video game Westbrook to do video game Westbrook things. I honestly think Westbrook has to be a favourite for MVP with his own skillset and the offensive-minded players he is surrounded by. Westbrook is probably 65% of the reason I chose the Oklahoma City Thunder and am excited to see if he causes the same carnage in NBA 2k that he does in real-life.

Westbrook gets the tough jumper to go off-glass in training camp and the regular season is set to begin...



__________________

So I revived this after around a month(?) of inactivity. I’ve been distracted with other things and when I finally sat down to play NBA 2k I’ve played other game modes (Pro-am, MyTeam). Last post I made I believe I was waiting for patch 1.05 with the first roster update.

I eventually decided to bring this back up and had to deal with finding a good opening day roster. I’m pretty disappointed 2k didn't release an official opening day roster, so I decided to make my own. The roster I am using is one as of 2016-11-18, and I have reversed all the transactions back to opening day accuracy. This is why Jerami Grant is not on OKC, as well of all of the big contract extensions have been erased with those guys back on 1-year deals. The only player I didn’t reverse is Ryan Kelly to the Atlanta Hawks because I couldn’t find his replacement in the free agency pool.

2k’s “Injury free roster” is also not available for download on PS4, so I decided to keep all the current injuries that are in today’s roster (2016-11-18). The only downside is players will be back from injury ~20 days early but I really didn’t want to go through the roster and redo all of those injuries.

Other than that, I’m really excited to get this back and going. If this gets any feedback I’ll try to communicate and ask in the thread for any advice on roster moves to make. I’m going to try to update things every couple games. I’m unsure if I’ll include full box scores on simmed games or just notable stat lines with small paragraphs for each game. For played games I certainly want to have GIFs amongst other things. Hope anyone who reads this enjoys it and please leave comments/questions/criticism.

[GodOfNugget]

Game 1 - Oklahoma City Thunder (0-0) @ Philadelphia 76ers (0-0) - SIMULATED



Thunder box score:

Spoiler

76ers box score:

Spoiler

Notable statlines
Russell Westbrook - 27 Pts, 8 Reb, 10 Ast, 7 Stl (!), 0 Blk, 8 TO (!!!), 10-24 FG, 0-6 3pt
Joel Embiid - 25 Min, 24 Pts, 10 Reb, 0 Ast, 0 Stl, 2 Blk, 2 TO, 11-21 FG, 0-4 3pt
Anthony Morrow - 6 Pts, 1 Reb, 0 Ast, 0 Stl, 0 Blk, 1 TO, 3-8 FG, 0-3 3pt

Not much to say about this one. Disappointing to lose the opening game of the season to one of the historically worst teams of all time, of course. Looks like a textbook example of the problems this team will have generating offense when Westbrook is locked up. Wouldn’t be surprised to see more results like this unless the GM acquires more talent.

Westbrook was 2 Reb and 3 Stl away from a quadruple double! The 8 turnovers are ugly but alongside the 0-6 3pt this showed that the 76ers had no problem sending bodies at Westbrook and forcing the other Thunder players to make shots.

Embiid had an excellent debut to the season. Impressive double-double in only 25 minutes against a Thunder frontcourt that has some big paint presences. Hopefully he can have a healthy season and put up more lines like this.

Anthony Morrow showed poorly in the first game of the season. 0-3 3pt and that low FG% is frustrating considering he doesn’t offer much else unless he’s scoring.

Game 2 - Phoenix Suns (0-1) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (0-1) - PLAYED



Suns box score:

Spoiler

Thunder box score:

Spoiler

Notable statlines
Russell Westbrook - 40 Pts, 2 Reb, 11 Ast, 4 Stl, 1 Blk, 8 TO, 15-28 FG, 2-8 3pt, 8-9 FT
Dragan Bender - 32 Pts, 10 Reb, 5 Ast, 5 Stl, 1 Blk, 0 TO, 12-19 FG, 3-6 3pt, 5-5 FT
Andre Roberson - 10 Pts, 2 Reb, 3 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 3-10 FG, 3-10 3pt, 1-2 FT

Before starting this game I was offered this trade from the Clippers…



Yeah that’s gonna be a no for me, dawg.

The story in the first half of this game was Dragan Bender. Steven Adams refused to step out and guard him on the 3-point line and the Thunder paid dearly.



Man, this kid can score. And he’s only 19 years old! The Suns took a modest lead into halftime.



Bender showed that he can also get it done on both ends with this stuff on the Steven Adams putback layup attempt during the 3rd quarter...



But Russell Westbrook was not to be missed. He showed he could play a little defense as well by stealing the entry pass, then proceeding to go coast to coast before dribbling through the refs legs and dunking all over Joffrey Lauvergne. (Couldn't resize this GIF so it's really big)

Spoiler

Bender cooled down in the 4th and the Thunder we’re able to go on a Westbrook-fueled run to take the lead. Anthony Morrow iced it with some late-game free throws and the Thunder get their first win of the season.



Westbrook had another phenomenal performance and showed just how lethal he can be on both sides of the court. Another 8 turnovers doesn’t look good but that’s to be expected when he’s dominating the ball so much.

Dragan Bender was deadly from range and almost just as deadly cleaning the glass, getting extra chances for his offense. Again, only 19 years old. Excited to see what sort of season he puts together and how he progresses.

Andre Roberson is by no means a marksman from beyond the arc but I could not help but fire away because the defense would not get close to him on the perimeter. 3-10 from 3pt isn’t good, but if he can continue to develop and convert 2-3 more of those absolutely wide open looks that would be very advantageous for the Thunder offense.

Upcoming schedule
vs Lakers
Nov 1st Monthly Update
@ Clippers