You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

[georgiafan]

Thanks for the tip on the previous post about about the contracts going forward. Since this is my first 2k of controlling the CPU teams I am still sort of making it up as I go along. I could never find out to change the positions in the offseason now I know.

Interesting blockbuster trade going forward with the warriors trading Durant. It makes sense as this should allow them to resign Klay as he goes back to the 2nd option. It will be interesting to see what kind of player they nab with the 4th pick. It also should strength the bench something that's a problem going forward with them.

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by georgiafan

Thanks for the tip on the previous post about about the contracts going forward. Since this is my first 2k of controlling the CPU teams I am still sort of making it up as I go along. I could never find out to change the positions in the offseason now I know. Interesting blockbuster trade going forward with the warriors trading Durant. It makes sense as this should allow them to resign Klay as he goes back to the 2nd option. It will be interesting to see what kind of player they nab with the 4th pick. It also should strength the bench something that's a problem going forward with them.

NP.


And, yeah, the Warriors desperately needed some youth and cheaper contracts moving forward -- as much as everyone wants to believe their owner will continue to foot a massive luxury tax bill, you only get about 3-4 seasons deep in cap trouble before the luxury tax cripples you. You've got to structure contracts with that in mind and be able to move on from guys when the time comes.



Every superteam lasts about 3-4 years before the inevitable breakup -- the Kobe/Shaq Lakers, the Big 3 Celtics, the Heatles, now the Warriors, that's the window you got with the contracts. After that, you have to reset.



More trades and such are on the way, as well as the 2019 draft. Stay tuned.

[trekfan]

2018 OFFSEASON NEWS II



Pre-Draft Trades:

















Tate's Take



The Suns moved on from Bender and Knight — and you really couldn’t blame them. Bender had never shot better than 34% from deep and could barely crack the rotation. Knight still had two years left at 15M each on his contract and wasn’t part of the future of that squad. So, the Suns found a willing trade partner in the Wizards — desperate to get out from under the useless contract of Mahnimi (one of the worst free agent signings in recent memory) and get some much needed youth back in Bender, the Wizards made the trade and walked away happy. This all but guaranteed the Suns would take Fuller and the Wizards had, basically, committed to two years left with this core before the team had to be remade.



The next trade was the Heat ... Whiteside had opted out of his deal and was dissatisfied with Miami and losing. He was likely gone. The Heat were still in cap hell thanks to overpaying Tyler Johnson (19M for a combo guard — what were they thinking?) and Winslow was their one, valuable trade chip. They called around and found that Chicago was willing to pick up the tab. The Bulls traded Ruffin, the 2018 3rd overall pick who got buried on the bench behind Bobby Portis and Jahill Okafor — the pick was questionable when it was made, but with Winslow on the squad the Bulls had solved their problems at the three spot. Miami was pretty much committing to growing some youth — Ruffin plus Bam looked appealing.






The Draft:










Tate's Take



Fuller went first overall and it was the “no *hit, Sherlock” choice of the draft. Of course Phoenix took him, he was the best talent — bar none — available in the entire draft. He was the only choice and him anchoring the middle, next to Ulis, Booker, Jackson, and Chriss? That was a young core that would get *hit done if the team could come together. Whether or not Fuller being drafted was enough for Booker to sign long term, that was another question, but the Suns hadn’t screwed up the draft.



The Magic had their choice of anyone else and went with a highly talented — and early number one overall pick favorite in the college season — Simmons, who showed real potential as a go-to-scorer in the league. Could Orlando actually build around him? Everyone assumed they couldn’t. The Knicks went with a SF named Fletcher, who had the best three-point shot in the whole class — lots of favorable comparisons to Ray Allen, but Knicks fans knew better than to put their hopes in a SF who could shoot the ball well. They had done that with ‘Melo and got a heap of disappointment and dysfunction.



At number five, thanks to the Durant trade to Seattle, the Warriors picked up the young SF Cotton. He was well-rounded, fundamentally sound, and was compared by many to be a better Harrison Barnes — certainly not a Durant, but this wasn’t the draft for that and at only 19 there was a lot of time for Cotton to get really good, if the kid put in the work.



The Celtics took a PG in Bradshaw at number 7 — rated by some to be the best PG in the class — then followed that up with taking Kay at number 9, an SG who was like Marcus Smart with less defense and an actual shot. They grabbed the Fowlkes at 12 overall, a PF with limited upside but superb defense.



The Clippers made an interesting pick at 14, grabbing Kenneth Irving — a fourth cousin to Kyrie or something like that — betting that the kid could develop fast into a solid player, if not a starter, but at already 23 people weren’t really sure if he had more room to grow or was exactly what he was.



Way down in the draft order was us -- as world champs we got the last pick of the 1st round and we took a young kid named Doug Person. He was raw as hell — the kid had all the measurables in the world, speed, vertical, quickness, but his basketball skills (like shooting) were pretty much one note. We took him straight out of high school — he had offers from Duke and Kentucky, but passed those up for the pros — and he was going to be a project. I had no idea if he would turn out to be anything, but I liked the pick just for the fact that Person was so damned young. It showed we weren’t afraid of taking the long road if we needed to.



"We can’t just bet on free agents and trades," Gramps told me later. “Sometimes, you got to take them when they can barely walk and help them learn how to run.”



After the draft, the NBA announced one more trade -- Dante Exum was on the move again!

The Sonics wanted to clear the cap space of Exum for a run at a free agent and Philly was having none of Middelton’s contract demands (north of 28M) and so they needed an SG to hold down the fort at an affordable price. Exum was the guy — barely making 10M a year and just 24, he fit “the Process” just right. With the amount of cap space Philly was going to need for Simmons and Saric’s contracts, there was no doubt their ownership was looking to avoid serious cap issues. Their core was young and barely proven … if Philly was going to go into deep cap debt, the 76ers were going to need to really show up next postseason.

[jeremym480]

KD back in Seattle? Nice.

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by jeremym480

KD back in Seattle? Nice.

Total personal wish fulfillment, but yes. KD has his ring, but his heart (I contend) is still in Seattle. If they ever got a team back, I almost guarantee he'd find a way to make it back there and give them a few good years before retiring a Sonic.



It also worked from a story perspective as well -- he had a player option for 2020 and with the way the Warriors had been dealt with in the previous two postseasons, him leaving seemed logical.

[trekfan]

2018 OFFSEASON NEWS III

Trades







Tate's Take



Free agency was pretty active — with so many retirements and so many big trades (Durant going to Seattle had so many aftereffects), NBA teams were looking to restock and reload. The first trade of free agency was the Bucks dumping the contracts of Delladova and Henson on the Aztecs, who had so many one-year contracts on their roster it was crazy. The front office of Mexico City knew getting guys to play in another country would be hard and their strategy was to go for expiring deals, young players, and take advantage of their cap space — they did that, surprisingly. The Bucks needed the cap to go out and get the Greek Freak a legit number two star … Hassan Whiteside. Whiteside practically leapt at the chance to play with the reigning ROY and the marvel that was the Greek Freak. Milwaukee had pushed all their chips into the table for a playoff berth — Whiteside was signed to a lucrative 2+1(TO) deal.



The next deal was the Spurs, in a rare move, moving on from Patty Mills. Mills just wasn’t producing and his contract (2 years left at 23M total) was onerous. Chicago happily picked him up as new coach Sam Cassell wanted the veteran Mills to back up (and potentially start in place of) Kris Dunn, who continued to struggle to establish himself in the NBA (the Jimmy Butler trade was looking like a win for Minny at this point). The Spurs used the cap space to bring back George Hill and sign Dwight *ucking Howard to a veteran minimum. The Spurs, man.



Next up was us — we traded Yogi Ferrell away to a place where he could get real playing time. As much as I hated to see Yogi go, he simply was rotting on the bench and the front office found him a good landing spot. LA was nice, he could pump up his value before free agency, and we got back Thornwell (who looked like … well, a deep bench reserve) and a 2nd round pick.



Finally, the Celtics pulled the trigger on trading one of their guys — and it was Smart. Smart was shipped off to the Grizzlies for Reggie Jackson’s expiring contract and a 2nd rounder. Could Boston have gotten more? Probably, but Irving had agreed to sign back with them for five years at 27M each and the Celtics desperately needed to clear some cap space for next season as Jaylen Brown was up for a new contract — and he was going to be expensive. Boston had one more season of cap hell to get through, but if they started slow rumors were flying they might move Horford for relief.



Notable Signings



Stanely Johnson (MEM), Malcon Brogdon (MIL), Emmanuel Mudiay (DAL) all sign their qualifying offers
Eric Bledsoe back to CLE on 3yr/28M per deal, Melo on 2+1(TO) deal for 19M each.



Hassan Whiteside to MIL on a 2+1(To) for 30M per



Faried to ATL on 3yr/5M per deal, Terrence Ross on 2+1(TO) for 4M per, Cameron Payne for minimum



Kris Middelton to MIA on a 3yr/27M per deal, Nikola Vucevic on a 3yr/9.5M per deal, Noah Vonleh on a 2+1(TO) for 2.5M per



Kemba Walker to CHA on a 4yr+1(TO)/28M per deal



Darren Collison to NYK on a 2+1(TO)/7M per deal, Dwayne Dedmon on a 3yr/2M per deal



Greg Monroe to DAL on a 1yr/12.5M per deal



Mike Muscala to BKY on a 2+1(TO)/3.7M per deal



Trey Lyles to DEN on a 4yr/20.9M per deal



Robin Lopez to IND for the minimum



Terry Rozier to DET for 2+1(TO)/2.6M per, Justin Anderson for 2+1(TO)/2.3M per, Tyson Chandler for minimum



Zach Randolph to TOR for 1yr/3M per



Mario Hezonja to HOU for 3yr+1(TO)/3.9M per, Nikola Mirotic for minimum



George Hill to SA for 2+1(TO)/13.5M per, Dwight Howard for minimum



Devon Booker to PHX for 5yr/25M per, Wesley Matthews for minimum, Markieff Morris for 2+1(TO)/6.7M per



Nate Wolters to OKC for 3yr/2M per, Taj Gibson for minimum



Jamychal Green to MIN for 2+1(TO)/3.2M per



Shaun Livingston to GS for minimum, Jerian Grant for minimum, Adrien Payne for 2+1(TO)/1.7M per



Wayne Ellington to WAS for minimum, Gortat for minimum, Marcus Morris for 3yr/2.2M per, Marjanovic for minimum



Jamal Crawford to SEA for minimum, Jordan Bell for 4yr/18M per



Paul Millsap to MEX for 1yr/23.4M per



Tate's Take



It was a crazy offseason in the NBA. The expansion teams, the upcoming (loaded) 2020 draft, and the knowledge that the path to the Finals was wide open in both conferences emboldened teams. The Warriors had broken up and it was like a divorce — Durant went to Seattle and stole Jordan Bell away with a rich offer that the Warriors just couldn’t match without committing themselves to the worst repeater tax since the Nets with Pierce and Garnett.



The Cavs had brought back the band and were betting year two with Bledsoe would be better … assuming Wade, Melo, Rose, Speights, and the rest of the veterans could stay alive that long. The Heat — with a first rounder in 2020, their last one till 2022, went out and picked up guys they thought could turn into stars like Waiters, like Whiteside. It was a bold move by Riley, who had plenty of money free next summer thanks to expiring contracts, and he was angling to return to the playoffs.



The Celtics got Irving back, but which Irving? The superstar from 2017-18, or the guy who missed 30 games in 2018-19? They were betting big that Irving could stay healthy and get them back to the Finals. The Bucks were betting big on Whiteside, whose Miami tenure ended in inglorious fashion — lots of “anonymous quotes” that called him a petulant child. Would Whiteside be the star that got the Greek Freak into the postseason regularly?



The Hornets got back Kemba and basically rolled back the same team, minus Dwight — addition by subtraction, like the rest of the Dwight teams perhaps. But then the Spurs went out and grabbed him, brought back George Hill (good for George to get to a team that knew how to use him), and had a good, veteran squad with youth in key places (Harry Giles was breathing down Dwight’s neck for the starting job).



The Rockets — mired in cap hell of their own — just eeked out enough space to bring in quality guys … taking a shot on Super Mario (in that offense!) was a mad stroke of genius. Houston had plenty of cap space in 2020 and were positioning themselves to make a run at someone if they needed to. The Suns convinced Booker to sign long-term and were preparing to make a serious run at a playoff spot.



The hated Wizards kept the other Morris twin, brought back Gortat, were going to play Bender at the four, and John Wall was still really good (and still thought he was better than that). He called his team “championship contenders” and I nearly choked on a pretzel, laughing so hard at that BS.



The expansion teams were a tale of two strategies … the Sonics were going to compete right away and likely always would with Durant on their roster. The Aztecs were trying to establish something and brought in plenty of young guys, expiring contracts, and desperate veterans to cobble together a foundation. Millsap was their big signing and you had to feel bad for him … there really wasn’t anywhere else for him to go as teams just shrugged at him. He wasn’t as unique anymore.









Rest of the League







Everyone was preparing for the 2020 draft. Hailed as the deepest draft in three years, if you had a first round pick THIS was the draft you wanted to be in — sure, the top-end talent was nice, but the depth was crazy good and the bad teams were licking their chops at the top-ten.







At the top of the draft, there was a three-way race to see who would be first overall. Firstly, there was Edmund Finley — a classic, all-round center who was a diehard basketball addict and a vocal leader. He had led his high school team to two straight state titles and an undefeated season in his last year, and he was coming straight out of high school as the most hyped center since Dwight — except Dwight didn’t have the shooting touch this kid did. Finley didn’t wait for people to feed him the ball, he grabbed boards, hustled up court, and stuffed it down people’s throats or pulled up for a jumper. The kid was GOOD as hell.



Behind him was Damian Galloway, another high schooler who was rated the number one guard prospect in all the land. He was likely to declare for the draft and Galloway knew how to do one thing very well: get buckets. The kid was from Michigan and was a sensation in that state — some compared him to a shorter Penny Hardaway. Galloway was a bit of a show boater and could have games where he just flat out disappeared, but when he was on he was like a the jet turbine at the back of the Batmobile; en fuego.



Finally, the dark horse candidate for first overall — Gary “Sleepy” Potter. He was from England but had come over to the states and enrolled at St. John’s for the year. Potter was known to be as stoic, as cool-under pressure, as any player there was — the guy just didn’t get bothered by anything. He was 110% committed to basketball and would basically only engage with anyone outside his trusted circle about just basketball. It was hard to pry him open to talk — with the skills of a Kevin Love (with a better defensive upside) and the personality of a Kawhai Leonard, Potter made it look easy — like he was playing in his sleep.

Those were the three guys in the running for first overall and the 2020 draft would be a game changer for anyone in the top-three and maybe the top-ten. That’s how deep it was.

[georgiafan]

Jeremy isn't going to like the Celtics trade lol

The Bucks should contend for the east with that squad

I see my hawks have 16 million in cap space perfect spot to take on a bad contract for a draft pick

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by georgiafan

Jeremy isn't going to like the Celtics trade lol The Bucks should contend for the east with that squad I see my hawks have 16 million in cap space perfect spot to take on a bad contract for a draft pick

LOL, yeah, the Celtics had to sacrifice Smart -- they tried to run it back last season but Irving missing 30 games derailed them. Had to move on from Smart, might have to move Horford at the deadline if they stink again.


The Bucks SHOULD contend but damn it all, if it isn't difficult to get them to contend -- if not for the injury to their ROY Charlie Hart last year, they would have made the playoffs. Between Hart, Greek Freak, and Whiteside (with plenty of talent behind them), the team should really be good. We'll see.



And, yeah, the Hawks definitely are hording cap space. They have very movable contracts too, so the ATL could be a landing spot for an ugly contract+ a 1st or could trade for a star. We'll see what the Hawks do ... just one of those teams that don't seem to have a direction.