NBA2K Remix: Retro Stars in the Modern Era

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by RolePlayer

League looks like a lot of fun but also looks like my Hornets will still suck so theres that

The 2020 season looks pretty rough for them, their roster is a mess. However, they'll have money to burn in the summer of 2021 and the 1980 draft class has some nice pieces -- if they can land a high pick, they can take one of those pieces or flip the pick (plus one of their current mismashed players) for an upgrade.



They are going to need help though and a bit of luck.

[trekfan]

The High Post: 2020 Free Agency Recap
By Sam Gray



The moratorium period is over and the NBA is back in action, and so are the league front offices. It’s time to hand out grades for their free agent signings — good, mediocre, bad, or ugly. This summer didn’t see any big, franchise changing moves in free agency, but there are definitely moves that could aid a few teams in making a legitimate push for a dark horse title shot.



C Dwight Howard/SG Dion Waiters to PHI — Mediocre. Look, the 76ers didn’t have much room to manuever as they’re way against the cap and in the luxury tax, and relief for that won’t be coming till next summer (when Conley’s contract ends and he’s waived). Philly added some decent depth here, both Howard and Waiters can still play (as they proved with the Lakers last year), but neither is going to put Philly over the top.



PF Zach Randolph to BOS — Good. The Celtics don’t have anyone who can punish a team in the low post other than Kanter and Randolph can give them some old-school grit and toughness off the bench; after not finding any takers for his services last year, Z-Bo has joined a team that wants to contend for a title and he’ll be useful for them.



C Montrezl Harrel/PG Reggie Jackson/PF Marcus Morris to LAC — Good. The Clippers won a title last year, so running it back was (and is) the correct call; locked against the cap, they could only bring back their own players (and a few vets willing to take the minimum) and LAC did just that. Harrell is young enough (only 26) to get better and Jackson and Morris aren’t quite washed yet, so this shouldn’t hurt LAC’s longterm prospects at all.



C Marc Gasol to MEM — GOOD. That’s an all-caps one because Gasol has his ring already (thanks Toronto) and after the Raptors made it known they were looking elsewhere, Gasol decided to go back home. Sure, Gasol won’t be the franchise leader going forward (that’s Morant’s job now) but he will provide the young Grizzlies with much needed experience. Between him and Rudy Gay, Memphis might have enough to get into the playoffs this year.



PG Jeff Teague/PF Hollis-Jefferson to ATL — Good. They aren’t major, life-altering pieces, but ATL had two glaring holes at those positions and both players fill them. Can’t penalize teams for at least addressing their needs.



PF Bobby Portis/SG Garrison Matthews/SF Furkkan Korkmaz to CHA — Mediocre. The Hornets are a franchise with seemingly no direction other than “lets take the players other franchise don’t want anymore and give them long deals.” Each of their signings got 3yrs and though not a one of them is “bad” per say, they aren’t going to help Charlotte make the playoffs. The Hornets feel years away from getting back to a decent team, let alone a winning one, and will need to hit a home run in the draft or free agency to really raise their ceiling.



PG Kadeem Allen to UTA —Bad. Is Allen better than Mudiay? That’s the question the Jazz asked themselves and the answer was “Yes” and so here we are. Utah traded to get back Rubio and Allen certainly is a better defender than Mudiay or Rubio, but it’s tough to see this move as anything more than a missed opportunity. Of course, after last year’s disaster of a trade for Conley, maybe Utah doing just this little thing is them learning a lesson.



PG Emmanuel Mudiay to SAC — Ugly. The Kings went KANGZ here and signed Mudiay to backup Fox, but Sacramento needs more than Mudiay; rumors out of their organization indicate that Marvin Bagley is unhappy and the Kings are quickly on their way to losing the season before it even starts. I don’t know if we’ll ever see Sacramento good again in our lifetimes.






SF Alec Burks/PF Jabari Parker to NYK — Bad. The Knicks have money to burn and not a soul to spend it on; their reputation has had major damage done to it over the years and they can’t seem to get a good roster around their young players at this point. With a recent change in the front office, this summer was likely a lost cause for New York anyway and they picked up two youngish veterans on short term deals (2yr for Burks, 1yr for Parker). They’ll reset for next summer, hopefully with a better record, but for now Knicks fans should just bunker down and drink a lot of booze.



PF Anthony Davis/SF Carmelo Anthony/C DeMarcus Cousins/PG Darren Collison to LAL — Good. The Lakers had to get Davis back and did, giving him a large 5yr deal; the brought back Boogie Cousins for 3yrs, signed Melo and Collison to just 1yr contracts and the look to redeem themselves after their disappointing loss in the WCF last year to LAC.



PF Noah Vonleh to BKL — Mediocre. The Nets are up against the cap and have to figure out what to do with the Jordan/Allen center battery they have; both are good enough to start on their own, Allen is quite a bit younger but Jordan is a friend of Irving and Durant … its likely Allen gets shipped out sometime before the deadline. Vonleh is a decent PF to sign here, especially in a market not full with them, but he won’t really move the needle or be a third piece for the Nets — its still the Irving and Durant show.



PF Paul Millsap to DEN — Good. Denver could offer him the most money and he took that deal. It’s only a year, but the Nuggets may be close to making a dark horse run … Millsap could be the difference between an early playoff exit and a deep run, letting him walk was not an option for a Denver team trying to get to the next level.



SF Brandon Ingram/C Derrick Favors to NOLA — Good. NOLA wasn’t going to let Ingram walk and they came to an agreement to a big 5yr deal. Favors was well-liked in the locker room and his re-signing as the veteran of that team makes sense; NOLA may end up a playoff team soon and how far they go will depend on Zion and Ingram’s growth.



C Hassan Whiteside/SF Joe Harris/PG Elfrid Payton to DET —Mediocre. The Pistons simply didn’t have a lot of room to do much this year, at least in terms of fit. Whiteside is signed to a 1yr balloon deal, so he’ll take the money and chance to pad his stats, and likely be gone next year. Harris and Payton each got 2yr, so they may be pieces that are useful but they’re just as likely trade bait. What happens with Rose and Griffin next summer (Griffin as a PO he’s not likely to decline) will determine how long Detroit is in limbo.



PG Fred VanVleet/C Serge Ibaka/C Chris Boucher to TOR — Good. The Raptors are keeping most of the band together (minus Marc Gasol) and with the return of DeRozan, they should be set to be a good team this year. Will they be contending for a title again? Maybe, it’ll require Siakam to continue to improve, but Toronto should feel confident they’re at least a good playoff squad — a couple of good breaks and they could be in the Finals again.






C Jordan Bell/PF Meyers Leonard to HOU — Good. The Rockets are up against the cap but used their MLE for a 4yr deal for Bell, who thrived as an undersized center in Golden State before he fell out of favor; the Rockets will rely on him to hold down that five spot as PJ Tucker moves back to SF to help lock down opposing wings. Leonard is there on just a short 1yr deal but should provide good shooting off the bench.






C Aron Baynes/PF Marquese Chriss to SA — Good. San Antonio needed to find a solid backup center to fill in for Aldridge and Baynes can do that nicely; as a former Spur, he’s familiar with the Spurs culture. Chriss had a solid year with Golden State last year (12-8 on 48-32-88 shooting) and in San Antonio he’s there for the long haul, a 4yr deal. Coach Vanderbilt was very high on Chriss coming out of the draft and the former Sun should have an ax to grind against a few teams San Antonio dislikes (Houston, Phoenix). Chriss’ fit with Bird as his uber-athletic counterpart should be fun to watch.



SF Derrick Jones/SG Andre Roberson/PF Danilo Gallinari to OKC — Good. The Thunder were surprisingly good last year (49 wins, better than Houston) and brought back two big pieces of that run in Gallo and Roberson. Derrick Jones will provide them some bounce at the SF spot, a guy who can finish plays and on a 3yr deal he fits on the Thunder’s timeline.






PG Shabazz Napier/SG Malik Beasley/C Tristan Thompson to MINN — Good. The T’Wolves addressed some needs in free agency, notably a backup to Russell and KAT. Beasley accepted his QO, turning down a longer term deal, and he’ll be an UFA next year but Minnesota knew that was a possibility (which is why they took Jim Paxton). The Wolves may end up in the playoffs at this rate out West.



PF Nikola Mirotic to POR — Good. The Blazers needed someone to take over that PF spot and Mirotic is that man; after a year overseas he’s back in the NBA and will be handed that starting job in Portland. Whether that’s enough for the Blazers to actually get anywhere in the postseason (or even get into the postseason because the West is brutal this year) is unknown, but Portland didn’t have much room to do a lot and made the most of their MLE here.



C Willy Hernangomez/PG Rajon Rondo/SG Damion Lee to GS — Bad. Golden State has is deep into the cap and the luxury tax, the Draymond Green deal looks really bad, and the Warriors will likely need to unload Draymond sooner rather than later. Hernangomez is a decent young big who can play big minutes for Golden State, Rondo is ring hunting with Lee, but none of these moves do anything more than tinker with a team that needs a mini-reboot.



PF David Bertrans to WAS — Good. Bertrans is one of the best shooting bigs in the league and it’s not like the Wizards had a lot of options in free agency. This is a deal that made sense from both sides and should, at the very least, give the Wizards a valuable trade piece if they decide to blow it up.

[RMJH4]

Did the Magic do anything worthwhile Trek?!

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by seaboh

Did the Magic do anything worthwhile Trek?!

Negative, they got Fournier to sign a contract extension in February, but otherwise are the same team that (surprisingly) won 48 games last year. They got waxed in the playoffs last year by Toronto and pretty much rolled back the same team -- it'll be up to Fultz to take that next step to raise their level, assuming he has a step to take.

[dfsJunkie]

Gasol back to Memphis, and so it continues lol

[trekfan]

The High Post: Bird gets Caged in First NBA Game

By Sam Gray



The Spurs and Hornets engaged in a game that was distinctly 1990 in tone and not 2020, as both teams struggled to score all game — it was a defensive, grind it out battle that saw the most recent first overall pick (Larry Bird) struggle to shoot consistently from deep.



But Bird and the Spurs still managed to get into the paint and get up solid looking shots.







Neither starting lineup of the teams had what you’d call a “superstar” in them, though the Spurs hope Bird (and to a lesser extent the other young talent on the team) become that. For Charlotte, their starting five is like looking at a desperate online dating profile — there’s only so much lipstick you can put on a pig, or in this case a hornet.



The Hornets played from behind all game and made some questionable switches on defense, allowing the Spurs to hunt mismatches and get their prized rookie easy buckets.







While Bird had to work for those buckets — putting concerns about his athletic ability and conditioning back in the spotlight — Dejounte Murray was scoring rather easily, due in no small part to the pressure the Hornets were bringing at Bird, which was leaving Murray relatively open.



By the half the Spurs had built up an 11-point lead and looked like the were going to run away with it.







But San Antonio went ice cold in the third as both teams struggled to score, and Bird was particularly bad as Charlotte threw double and even triple teams at him — Bird managed to fire off some ill-advised shots but overall didn’t make Charlotte pay for their pressure.



In the fourth, his shooting woes continued as Murray carried the scoring load (virtually the only Spur to score regularly) and the Spurs limped towards the finish in an ugly second half.








Bird was visibly frustrated with himself after the game and was late to the post-game presser, but he had his reason — he came out of the locker room with a bit less hair than when he entered the game.







Escorted by teammate Marquese Chriss (who had a solid night with 12 and 9), Chriss explained Bird’s new (less early 80s) look.



“He lost his vibe in that second half, man. He lost it and it was because he looked like a lost grandma in a supermarket,” said Chriss. “I told him during training camp and the preseason to trim that stuff, and he kept telling me he would when he played bad. Well, that was the second half and he was a man of his word, so I took the clippers — not Kawhi’s team, you know the hair ones — and did some cleanup. He’s looking good now.”



Bird cracked a small smile at his teammate, but mostly spent his time with the media praising his team and raking himself over the coals.



“I played like garbage. I didn’t get brought to this team to play the way I did tonight and I want to apologize to the Spurs fans and organization for how awful I was … there was no excuse for how selfish I was. I wasn’t looking to pass, I wasn’t looking to set my guys up, I just kept hoisting shots and that was plain stupid. My teammates saved this win, they deserve all the credit for it.”



Coach Jamal Vanderbilt was a bit kinder in his assessment of Bird.



“He obviously had a tough second half and part of that is just adjusting to the speed of the NBA … things are faster here and he’ll find his legs as we go. The important thing is that we won tonight and did so without playing great on offense as a team … if we can win ugly games like this, it’ll prepare us to win prettier ones down the line.”



Around the NBA:



The Bucks pummeled the Bulls 135-97 behind Giannis (24-11-9).



The Raptors won in OT against the Nets, 140-138 behind a spirited effort from Lowry (31 points and 7 dimes) and DeRozan (22 points and 6 dimes).



The Jazz lost against Houston (109-97) and lost Donovan Mitchell to a broke hand (4-6 weeks recovery).


(New Bird cyberface courtesy of a find by seaboh, thanks seaboh!)

[kibaxx7]

Good win but tough debut for Larry. It's still weird to see him in another jersey

[glenzariczny]

What a creative idea. Will be watching this closely for sure!