Rebirth: A 2K19 MyLeague

[trekfan]

System/Game: PC/NBA 2K19
Mode: MyLeague
Rosters: 2K official as of September 2019
Sliders: All-Star, basically ShadyMikeGaming's first set (called #ShadyExperimental). Will likely adjust as I go along, but these are the sliders I booted up, played with a few games, and liked.

Quarter Length: 12 Minutes
Sim Quarter Length: 12 Minutes


Player Progression: 50
Player Regression: 76
In-Season Training Effects: 62


Setting Regression high overall while giving 5-10 boosts to the IQ traits, while cutting some of the -25 attributes to just -12. So far looks promising.


Draft Class Quality: 47


I've set the quality to 47, will lower/raise depending on my needs -- general rule is to have a crappy class in 1 out of every 4 years, average classes (1-3 80 overall in class, top heavy or an average class with a bunch of mid-70s guys) and one super-good class (3-5 80 overalls in classes).

I'm doing something different this year and diving head-first into the historic draft classes EXCEPT I'm not using them fully -- I'm selecting certain players and adding them into other classes. The qualifications for these added in historic players are as follows:


1. Must be alive — can’t revive dead legends


2. Will qualify if they missed many games in career, have no titles/playoff appearances, or are party to “What if…?” questions regarding their career.



3. Legends get drafted per regular rules, but DON’T have to do qualifying offers for restricted free agency — after their first four, they’re free to sign where they want.



4. Max of 6 per year





Will consider bringing in other legends as I go along, but the rules above are the ones I've used for my initial batch of historic+user created classes. Player DNA has made recreating missing legends fun.




Season Length: 82 Games
Regular Season Rules: 20-24 played, rest simmed.
Playoff Rules: 2 playoff games (randomly determined by number generator, one must be in first four games) per series.
2 games allowed in NBA Finals (randomly determined by number generator, one must be in first four games)
Playoff Format: 7-7-7-7
Injuries: On (Frequency for both CPU and User at 34, effects at 35)
Progressive Fatigue: Off (personal preference)
Team Chemistry: On
CPU Trades: Off
CPU Trade Approval: Off
Trade Override: Off
Control: 30 Teams, CPU automation for lineup/coaching tasks on every team but my primary; total control otherwise (roster moves, drafting, free agency, G-League, etc).




Whew, okay, welcome to my newest dynasty thread! I'm happy to report I caved and bought 2K19 and have been really impressed with the amount of stuff in MyLeague -- my only gripe is that there's no good place to get a full view of the roster (unlike last year, which had the team salary list screen which was very helpful) but other than minor UI complaints, I really like what they've brought to the table this year.




The basic idea of this story is something I've always wondered: if given the chance to redo their careers (not add to it), would past NBA players -- legends, scrubs, role players, busts, etc -- roll the dice and try their luck again? Would they risk wiping out their legacy (good or bad) and subject themselves to the rigors of the NBA once more? Would they benefit or suffer from the modern era?


How different would those careers be?


So, with the addition of the historic draft classes this year, I now have the chance to explore that and after a very coffee intensive weekend, I've come up with a story that is definitely fantasy, but is just enough believable enough that it doesn't seem too farfetched.






This dynasty will be told in the traditional 3rd POV, past tense (returning to my roots) and will feature a few characters (undecided how many -- I have two definitely and it may just be them) that we'll see these events unfold with.




As always, any and all comments are welcome. I hope you guys enjoy.

Now, with all that out of the way ... let's begin.




(Disclaimer -- all this is FICTION so don't assume any of it is real in any way, other than the game results anyway.)

[trekfan]

2018-19 Awards+Final Standings+Lottery Results



Awards:

Final Standings:




















Retirements:












The Lottery:

[trekfan]

Ch. 1




He had less than 36 hours before the biggest moment of his life and here he was, staring at a screen, obsessing over words in an email. An email.




He scratched at his cheek — unshaven, at least two days — and glanced up at the ticking countdown timer above his desk. He’d had it put up there to remind him of this day. Every time he looked up, he’d seen the seconds counting down in bright red, like a doomsday timer … except, it wasn’t doomsday it was counting down towards.




It was a day of joy, hope, doubt, and anxiety. A day known as draft day. As a fan of the NBA, he’d watched this day from afar about 24 times. He would sit there and analyze the picks, arguing with his older brothers about the decisions, all while their parents smirked at them with amusement. Their house — every summer it seemed — became a war room on draft day.




Now he was part of the room. He was going to have a voice. He wouldn’t have final say — he was just the assistant GM, the vice president of basketball operations — but his input was going to be a large deciding factor. He had been hired, specifically, to evaluate this draft and the new prospects that entered in late.




He tapped his thumb against his keyboard and reread the answer he gave to the columnist who was covering this:

“I went to school for a degree in sports management … my big idea, my dream, was to become an agent. Get a few notable players, build out my empire, and roll in success. Coming out of high school, that was the dream … coming out of college, the reality was much, much harsher — I was broke, in debt from student loans, and desperately trying to get a job at an agency. I failed. For three years.



It was a long three years … I bounced around multiple temp jobs in that, going so far as to work for Target for a year. I had a major in sports management and a minor in computer sciences, which was my saving grace as I managed to turn that into a steady gig as an IT guy for a little genetics lab. It wasn’t a ton, but it was enough to rent a decent place, start paying off my loans, and live a quiet, solid life.



Then — in 2016 — my boss, the geneticist in question, completed his life’s work; he came up with a treatment to literally reverse the aging process … to a point, anyway, able to roll back a person’s odometer to their early adulthood. It was insane, incredible, and highly dangerous … and probably illegal. In the US, his research was strictly for scientific purposes according to the papers, but he knew the potential it could have if human experiments were allowed.



It wouldn’t be in the US. So, he moved to Brazil and sold the company — including my employment contract — to a genetics corporation based in that country, RioCorp. They took over from that point, my boss checked out with a fatter bank account. I was given the choice to stay on or get bought out … I stayed on. Best decision of my life.



RioCorp kept me in America, not for the data, but for my major … they connected me with some local prospects and I became their representative pretty quickly. I used those local prospects to make inroads in the basketball community, all while RioCorp worked on the treatment — codenamed “Rebirth” — and ran human trials. Was it legal? Was it moral? I don’t know.



I just know that I was 28, thrilled to be working in my dream field after years of not, and I was getting paid really well. The fact is, human advancement was happening and I was a part of it … whatever qualms I had, I buried. I drowned myself in the basketball life, became a human whirlwind in that realm, and I made connections left and right. None of my local prospects ended up in the first round of the NBA draft, but they worked their way into the second round and as UDAs; not bad.



They also caught the attention of NBA veterans, current and retired, and once I got into that club I refused to leave. We were midway through 2017 and RioCorp contacted me, telling me that they had the treatment working safely — that with it, it would change the destiny of humanity. It wasn’t a cure all for everything, but what it unlocked could very well lead to it.



I began to put out feelers for certain retired NBA players, taking their temperature on how they felt about their careers … a lot of them were satisfied, happy to have done what they did. RioCorp wasn’t interested in giving this to everyone at first, it just wasn’t financially feasible — the costs of this treatment was in the millions for just one person — and they didn’t want to exclusively offer it to just any rich and famous person.



They had their eyes set on pro basketball, a unique sport that both celebrated the team and the individual all at once; with the money going through the NBA and the good PR it would engender, it was an easy avenue to pursue. It wasn’t going to be a fun process … from what had been described to me, the treatment was brutal on the subject initially. The first week was hell, and it would take a person of serious fortitude to withstand it.



Whomever underwent it would have to have the money and the mental capacity to handle it. With that knowledge and my deep understanding of basketball history, there was a short list of guys I wanted to pitch this too. Obviously, I could have started with the all-time greats — Magic, Bird, Jordan — but they had already proven so much and no one questioned their legacy.



No, I needed players who had regrets from their career and had something to prove, to themselves or everyone else or both. I knew I had to get a big name to sign on to really have a chance at this becoming something great … but I managed to snag guys who were, in their careers, role players or solid starters. Not memorable, not well-known, but important.



The first big name to sign on was someone I hadn’t expected to hear me out … but he said yes, resigned from TNT, and Charles Barkley became the big name I and RioCorp needed.



In September of 2018, Barkley underwent the treatment in Brazil. I wasn’t there — I was pitching other former greats, guys I suspected had an appetite for a second chance at the NBA. From what I heard, Sir Charles had as rough a time as they predicted, one week of hell, and then he emerged from that hellish week as a young man again. Barkley was reborn, essentially.



After a month of testing, RioCorp announced what they had done to the world. The *hitstorm, you wouldn’t believe — human rights groups, the UN, the US, multiple other organizations all screamed at the top of their lungs that RioCorp had done something awful. Barkley — as was his nature — didn’t back down from the accusations, he barked back and barked back with his patented honesty.



Once the news hit, the other big fish I was after called me up and told me he was in. Just like that, Bill Walton became RioCorp’s second big name. Walton flew down in October, underwent the procedure, and he spent two months going through multiple tests. Years of surgeries and injuries had riddled his body, but the treatment had given his body the boost it needed to heal a lot of that. Walton wasn’t going to be exactly the same player he was, but he was going to be able to play — thanks to modern medical advancements made in the decades since he last suited up, Walton had a good shot at having a long career.



Barkley was waging a one man war on the media, the various naysayers, and governments of the world. In January of 2019, he declared he was going to go back into the NBA as a free agent.



Bill Walton was on the scene now and backed Barkley up. Two people — and players — you wouldn’t ever believe could unite for the same cause were leading the way for the rebirth treatment.



The NBA, up to this point, had remained quiet on it all — players, coaches, executives, all of them were told this was a blacklist subject until the legal ramifications could be sorted out. But, Barkley and Walton pushed the NBA into the conversation by declaring their intentions. So, the NBA had to respond and very quickly the players’ association and owners came to an agreement — if the players were ruled as being within their legal rights in taking the treatment, the NBA would allow them back into the league but only in the NBA draft, subject to the same rules as regular rookies minus restricted free agency (meaning that, if the “second-chancers” made it through their rookie contracts, they would be unrestricted free agents).



The owners and players’ association figured this would be a major turn-off and neither Barkley or Walton would accept those terms — why would legends like want to be stuck on likely-terrible teams for four years?



Barkley called their bluff immediately, releasing a sizzling article in the Players Tribune called “I’m Back, A-holes”, parodying the famous Jordan fax.



Walton just sent out a series of tweets but the effect was the same; bluff called.



The case against RioCorp was fast-tracked and the result was … nothing. The legality of what RioCorp did was, according to the court, “beyond the judgment of this or any court upon this planet” but the judge still ruled nonetheless; RioCorp was ruled not guilty. The company had taken extra care to put all their affairs in order and had hired the best damned lawyers they could … they won the case in March of 2019.



Barkley and Walton, along with Adrian Dantley, Campy Russell, Willie McCarter, and Rick Roberson, were legal and officially submitted their names for the 2019 NBA draft, throwing off years of scouting and planning by multiple front offices.



How capable were they? How good were they? How good could they be? The game had changed so much since these legends last played, could they really succeed in this era? Could their newfound youth really last?



There were a lot of unknowns. A lot of questions, but not a single second-chancer was going to be scared off.



Of course, the introduction of all these former, renewed players, made for an opportunity for myself — I was the agent leading the way in this, I was the guy RioCorp had deployed to get these guys to sign on the dotted line. I had a choice myself to make, as RioCorp was more than willing to keep paying me good money to recruit retired players, but I knew that those players who hadn’t signed on yet would be watching the NBA to see how our second-chancers did.



I had a few teams offer me jobs with them, but I wanted to be in the front office— serious roster input — and even fewer teams were willing to offer that … but one in particular did, the Mavericks, which turned out to be a perfect fit for me. I had always had a high level of respect for the Mavericks and their organization — Mark Cuban is one of the best owners in sports, unafraid of making a big, bold move to get his team into contention — and he jumped on the chance to hire me as an assistant GM, an evaluator of talent and someone who knew what these second-chancer players were capable of.



In truth, I didn’t exactly know. I mean, sure, I had an idea, I had seen the data and the test results — it all looked really good and really true, but who could really know? No one, not me, not the doctors, not the players, and certainly not the fans. The draft was always a crapshoot, anyone would tell you that, but there’s an art to it.



Cuban wasn’t afraid of me, or the draft, or the second-chancers, or the perception of the public. He just wanted to win.”



He pursed his lips, selected the entire novel he had written, and deleted it.



“Too much information,” he mumbled to himself. His office phone buzzed and he quickly answered it. “Jim Harris.”



“Mr. Harris, Mr. Nelson is here for your meeting.”



“Thanks, Sandra. I’ll come out to meet him.” He hung up, stood from his chair, and stretched. This was the day they needed to make a decision.

No pressure.

[RolePlayer]

Here we go, another Trekfan classic

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by RolePlayer

Here we go, another Trekfan classic

I appreciate the high praise -- I feel this story is going to be fun. Lots to get to, but I've got a good portion of the offseason done and things are going to be fascinating, I'm sure.

[EasyMoney598]

Can you list your IQ traits and attributes? Thanks

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by EasyMoney598

Can you list your IQ traits and attributes? Thanks

In terms of the Regression? Yeah. I only changed a handful of them form the default -- here's the list of ones I altered.




Free Throw, 0


Passing Vision, -6


Passing IQ, +5


Passing Accuracy, -6


Lateral Quickness, -25



Pass Perception, -10


On Ball Defense IQ, -10


Pick and Roll Defense IQ, -7


Help Defensive IQ, -7


Low Post Defensive IQ, +5


Acceleration, -17


Vertical, -18


Strength, -20


Hustle, 0


Shot IQ, +5


Hands, -5

[trekfan]

2019 NBA Draft Recap

By Sasha Williams

The NBA witnessed one of the wildest NBA drafts in recent memory last night, so let’s start from the beginning: the New York Knicks, for the first time since Patrick Ewing was in the draft, had the first overall pick. Everyone and their mother had an idea on what the Knicks should do with that very pick.

What the Knicks did was trade it.

In a blockbuster move, the Portland Trail Blazers — burned more times that any Blazers fan wants to remember by the draft — traded up to get Zion Williamson, sending their franchise star Lillard out for the next generation of Blazer.

While NBA twitter was losing its collective minds, the Grizzlies got on the clock but not before news of two more trades broke out — both involving the Suns.

Phoenix shipped out Ryan Anderson’s albatross contract, attached a future first to it, and Toronto gladly took it on, surely signaling to the rest of the league that they were in the process of blowing it up. The Suns then traded their 4th overall pick to the Kings, straight up, for Marvin Bagley — he who, on a disaster of a Kings’ team, put up 16.4 PPG, 8.8 RPG on 53% from the field and only 26% from deep. Bagley now joins an ultra stacked team who’s just missing a point guard, which the Suns are likely to pursue in free agency.

Once all that was done, it came time for the actual draft pick for the Grizzlies, who didn’t do anything wild.

Memphis took RJ Barrett, grabbing what they hope is a future all-star. Boston — thanks to the Kings — had the 3rd overall pick and took Bol Bol, the outstanding big man with NBA pedigree and someone who has the looks of a difference maker at the five.

4th overall, the Kings took Cameron Reddish, adding a true wing to the Sacramento roster at the expense of Marvin Bagley.

5th overall came the next big surprise of the night — the first second-chancer to be taken would end up being Sir Charles Barkley himself.

Barkley didn’t bother attending the draft for very clear reasons.

“I’ve been there, done that,” said Barkley. “I’m grateful to the Mavs organization, to Mark Cuban and that whole front office, for trusting in me; they ain’t gotta worry about me going anywhere, I’ll tell you that, and to all those teams that passed over me — I ain’t gonna take it easy on you, I will torture your *ss every time I see you, don’t doubt it.”

Barkley, as with the rest of the second-chancers, are a high risk, high reward bet. It seems appropriate it was Mark Cuban who would end up being the first owner to jump into these waters. But he wouldn’t be the last.

Michael Jordan — himself a former player, legend of the game — took a man who could be described that way in Bill Walton. Walton is most well-known for his injuries and his fabulous, but short-lived, peak play.

“My goal is to just play as much as possible, as well as possible,” said Walton. “I want to thank Michael for having faith in me and for giving an old soul a bit of hope.”

At 10th, the Clippers — with lots of input from Jerry West — took Campy Russell, formerly of Cleveland and New York in the 1970s/80s. Russell had his career cut short by injury. His addition to the Clippers should boost their offense and may give them the elusive wing they’ve been searching for since the Lob City days.

The Magic joined in on the second-chancer party and grabbed Willie McCarter, one of the best — and few — point guards in the draft. McCarter last played in 1972, his career ending prematurely after only three years due to injury.

It was the Pistons that took the next second-chancer, one Adrian Dantley — former Piston himself — and Dantley was beyond thrilled to be back in Detroit.

“Lot of good memories here … lot of good memories to make here,” said Dantley in a tweet.

In this range we saw the Blazers grab Jaylen Hands (likely Lillard replacement), the Pelcians take Romeo Langford (a high-upside talent for a team that desperately needs to keep Anthony Davis happy), and Miami take Hachimura (a likely admission of a mistake with Justice Winslow).

The last second-chancer in the draft was Rick Roberson, a man who played only six years in the NBA due to injury but was known as one of the 70s better defensive and rebounding centers, defending Kareem on many occasions to good effect. Roberson will join an already loaded Pacers roster and will be seen as a veteran voice in the locker room.

The Spurs and Jazz both invested in foreign players who won’t see US soil for a few years, an interesting long-term strategy by either team (Paven of the Jazz may end up replacing Rubio or becoming a trade chip down the line).

The final first rounders featured only one notable name, Nienyan Li, hailed as the Chinese Jeremy Lin, Li was taken by the Raptors — another sign that Toronto seems to be gearing up to move on from Kyle Lowry and their core.