the red c's NBA 2K13 Association: Kobe and Shaq's Unfinished Business

[the red c]

Hello all and welcome to my first attempt at an NBA Association on Operation Sports. I've always wanted to report an NBA association but have always felt overwhelmed and never knew how I could simplify it. And there was always the struggle of figuring out if I wanted to do a 29 game schedule and play all games or do an 82 game season and pick and choose the regular season games I play. And then of course which team to control.

In the past few weeks I've gone back and forth on how exactly I wanted to do this. I flirted with the idea of putting some the historical players on random teams. I thought about doing some crazy trades before the association to shake things up (Melo to the Bulls for example). And I thought about controlling a team from the West and a team from the East in hopes of the two getting matched up in the finals (will probably come back to this idea down the road).

All in all here is what I've decided.. since this will be on 2k13 I started thinking about that era (even though its only been 6ish years it seems like a different era of basketball to me but thats another story). This is right around the time where the league was shifting to super teams. The Lakers acquired Howard. You had Miami's big three. And in the following years after most of the teams in the league have all tried to form their own super team in one way or the other. So what if one of the all time dominant duos, one of the all time greatest what ifs in sports, and two of the greatest players to ever play the game were inserted right as this era was getting underway? This will be the story of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O'Neal... what if they had stayed together and what if they had played in the new era to come?

the red'c Los Angeles Lakers Association

I plan to keep Kobe and Shaq together for as long as possible. That is goal number one. I wanted somewhat of a rebuild/project for this association, so I'm going to limit the way I handle free agents and trades. With already having Shaq and Kobe the team is set for the present. I'm controlling all thirty teams so I'm hoping I can shape the NBA to my liking as much as possible. As far as all 29 other teams, I will try to handle things as realistically possible while also making this fun. It's cool looking back at 2k13's rosters and seeing how the actual NBA played out from that point, and I'd like to try and form some really fun/tough teams around the league.

Notable pre association roster to moves to make this work:
1. Lakers trade Dwight Howard to the Magic for Al Harrington
- Magic get Dwight back and the Lakers get a player of similar position

2. 2013 Kobe for 1998 Kobe
- Simple enough

3. 2013 Pau Gasol for 1998 Shaq
- I didn't want a stacked front court to begin things - Shaq is dominant enough

4. Pau Gasol to the Rockets for Greg Smith
- Had to put Pau back in the league and now he can be a veteran presence to guide the upstart Rockets

30 Team Control
82 Games
Injuries - OFF
Difficulty - All Star
Quarters - 12 minutes
7 Game Playoff Series
I will play four games every month - 2 home & 2 away
I will play all playoff games

[the red c]

reserved 1

[the red c]

reserved 2

Anyone can post now. We'll do our best to imagine Kobe and Shaq somehow end up in the year 2013. If anyone wants to propose a trade or make moves for another team feel free. I think I'm ultimately going to try and assemble as many super teams as possible or at least try and get creative with the rosters for the other teams.

[the red c]

2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers

Roster
Point Guards
Steve Nash - 84 ovr - 38 yrs old
Steve Blake - 72 ovr - 32 yrs old
Chris Duhon - 67 ovr - 30 yrs old
Darius Morris - 66 ovr - 21 yrs old

Shooting Guards
Kobe Bryant - 79 ovr - 19 yrs old
Jodie Meeks - 71 ovr - 25 yrs old
Darius Johnson-Odom - 64 ovr - 23 yrs old

Small Forwards
Metta World Peace - 75 ovr - 32 yrs old
Devin Ebanks - 70 ovr - 23 yrs old
Earl Clark - 66 ovr - 24 years old

Power Forwards
Al Harrington - 74 ovr - 32 years old
Antawn Jamison - 74 ovr - 36 years old

Centers
Shaquille O'Neal - 96 ovr - 25 years old
Jordan Hill - 71 ovr - 25 years old
Robert Sacre - 65 ovr - 23 years old

On paper the Lakers have a playoff roster. They boast the league's best center and a young, hungry shooting guard on the brink of stardom. The problem is outside of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, it's an aging roster with no other real promising talent.

Steve Nash is thirty-eight and close to retirement. Al Harrington is thirty-two and holds an awful contract (21.45M over the next 3 years). Metta World Peace holds a player option and has seen his stats sharply decrease over the last five years.

Jodie Meeks and Jordan Hill could turn into solid role players. Steve Blake should be steady as a back up point guard.

All in all it will be Shaq and Kobe leading the way. The two should be able to power their way through the regular season and finish in the top eight out in the Western Conference. How they fare in the playoffs will be an interesting story considering the players surrounding them.

[the red c]

Lakers open 2012-13 season with convincing win over Mavericks 127-107

DAL - 26|29|24|28|107
LAL - 30|29|32|36|127

Kobe Bryant recorded a near triple-double with 36 points, 9 rebounds, and 11 assists. Bryant opened the game up with 14 in the first quarter and the Lakers would never look back, controlling the lead from the opening tip. Shaq dominated down low to the tune of 29 points and the big guy had 6 assists as well. Together the two made a statement to the Western Conference and the rest of the NBA: these guys are All-NBA talents.

Steve Nash had a solid opening night performance recording a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists. He went 2-6 from behind the line. Antawn Jamison and Jordan Hill were serviceable down low with a combined 24 points and 12 rebounds.

It was a solid win for the Lakers but there were a couple of weak points. The Lakers lost the rebounding battle, Steve Blake was disappointing in the 13 minutes he played (0 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists), and when one of Shaq or Kobe was on the bench, the team's lack of depth was shown. But it's a season of 82 contests. In other words, the grind has just begun.

Los Angeles Lakers 1-0

[R1zzo23]

Interesting idea. I loved the Kobe & Shaq Lakers so I’ll keep an eye on this one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[the red c]

San Antonio Spurs 3-4 @ Los Angeles Lakers 4-3
11/13/2012

The Spurs go on the road and outlast the Lakers 97-84

SAS - 22|23|23|29|97
LAL - 15|25|18|26|84

Greg Popovich brought the Spurs to the Staples Center ready to play from the opening tip. The Spurs treated the early season match up between the two Western foes seriously and it showed. The Spurs brought their A-game defensively, recording 13 steals (Lakers had 2) and 5 blocks (Lakers had 1).

Tim Duncan limited and at times shut down Shaq down low. O'Neal would wind up with 29 points and 7 rebounds, but he was not effective against Duncan. Kobe shot the ball nicely and had 17 points off of 7-14 shooting from the floor. Nash record his second double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 assists.

But it was the rest of the Lakers who fell through. Jodie Meeks along with Al Harrington and Antwan Jamison were the next leading scorers with 6 points. Jamison had to shoot the ball 9 times to reach this total. Metta Wolrd Peace had the most disappointing performance tallying 1 point, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist.

This was ultimately a bad game by the Lakers bench. San Antonia did just a little more than the home team and ended up winning comfortably. These two teams are probably a little closer than this score indicates, but it does put more emphasis on the players behind Shaq and Kobe.

Los Angeles Lakers 6-6 @ Memphis Grizzlies 4-7
11/23/2012

Shaq and Kobe combine for 52 points; Lakers roll behind big 2nd quarter

LAL - 19|29|23|15|86
MEM - 18|15|21|20|74

The Lakers had little trouble beating Memphis and getting one game above .500 at 7-6. Once again it was the dominant inside-out duo of Kobe and Shaquille. Shaq had 28 points and 12 rebounds. He bullied Memphis' own formidable duo down low of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. The two combined were held to 20 points and 14 rebounds. Rudy Gay led Memphis with 20 points along with 6 rebounds.

Kobe continues to shoot the ball well and is showing he can be proficient as a volume scorer. The 19 year old SG went 11-20 from the field, 2-5 from 3PT, and had 24 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. He's showing he can score in all kinds of ways: driving to the basket, pull-up jumpers, he can score with his back to the basket. Kobe's really coming into his own this year.

The Laker would have three games to close out the month of November:

@ Dallas - W 98-97
vs Indiana - W 98-83
vs Denver - L 89-97

Los Angeles Lakers 9-7 - 5th in the Western Conference - 12/01/2012

[the red c]

Quote: Originally Posted by R1zzo23

Interesting idea. I loved the Kobe & Shaq Lakers so I’ll keep an eye on this one. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks for checking in R1zzo. Those Lakers were just before I started watching basketball, and they were before my time in general haha so it'll be fun to play with them and see where it leads