NBA 2K - Georgiafan's 3 year realistic rebuilds / remasters

[georgiafan]

Analyzing the Trade Up For A PG

It was expected that Memphis would trade up in the draft with a deep roster and multiple picks in the 2nd round. They trade up to #20 in the draft giving up PG Tyus Jones (76 ovr), Xavier Tillman (73 ovr) and two 2nd round picks in this draft including the 9th pick in the 2nd round. The easiest way to say it Toronto moved back 19 spots and picked up Tyus, Tillman and another 2nd round pick.

Lets knock out the Toronto side first they were a team that greatly overachieved last year and overall their bench was one of the worst in the league. They even had 2 starters that needed to be bench players. Its expected they will lose Kyle Lowry in FA he wants to go to a more contending team. He is 36 so its time for them to get younger and shake things up.

They get Tyus Jones still young at 25 years old that is solid across the board and under a friendly contract. Him and Malachi Flynn (73 ovr) can split up the PG duty with FVV staying at SG. Xavier Tillman (73 ovr) was a guy that was taken in the early 2nd round last year and got little play time without much hope of getting any this year. He has already seen his overall go up 3 points since opening night. He will be the main backup at the 4 this year and get some minutes.

The key to the trade for them is Mo Ellis a knockdown shooter that graded out at A-. He isnt a complete player, but is the 3rd best shooter in the draft. They also got lucky with the other 2nd round pick and got a guy that is good enough to make the roster. Ken Wall (71 ovr) is another PF that at worst should be able to stick around for a few years at the end of the roster.

The surprise was that it was a PG who the target in trading up. Gheorge is a very unique player and we will get more into that later on. He was ranked higher on projections and fail as teams were afraid of him being only 5'9

For now lets take a listen to the interview with GM/President Bubba Davis where he also talks about the two rookies.




Q - What does Chris Mullin bring to the table and why draft him over so many other elite level prospects ?

A - Well everyone knows what he does the best that is shoot the 3. The others we looked at hard was Malone, Dumars and Schrempf. You can find shooters in this league but what sets Chris apart is he can drive to the lane and defend. Those area of his game still have room for improvement and maybe right away he relies mostly on his shooting. We think he will be a complete player and the goal we have set for him to shoot 40% from 3 his rookie year. Ja draws so much attention when he drives we think its the perfect pairing.

Q - What was the thought process behind trading up for a PG with Ja obviously being the leader of the team ? Do you think the two can play together ?

A - We think Gheorge is going to change this entire team when Ja rest you can no longer take a deep breath and relax. We had him as the BPA on the board and we were as they say looking to turn 4 quarters into a dollar. We still love Melton, but he is more of a combo G where Gheorge is a true PG. We do think they can play together its not going to be a combination we start though. If Ja can increase his 3% that would make it easier for them to play together. Now if Ja has to miss a few games or needs a longer break we don't have to panic or change the way we play.

Q - What was it about Gheorge that made you move up and draft him ?
A - He is such a unique player I haven't seen anything like him. When we brought him in for a private workout we were blown that's when we said we have to find a way to trade up and draft him. The first thing is his speed which is one of the best in league history the only player that has tested out better then him is De'Aron Fox. Its not just straight line speed its acceleration and speed with the ball. The other major factor was his shooting was father along then we anticipated. He is also a excellent defender with his speed and acceleration we think his help defense will be a game changer. His playmaking was also better then we expected and we plan on making that priority #1 for him.

Q - What is the game plan on offense and what changes will be made? How does the additions of the rookies change this

A - We are going to push the pace we want to be top 5 in the league in pace next year. We have so many shooters now not just at wings with our bigs as well. We are going to space the floor and shoot a bunch of 3's. We now have two PG that can distribute.

[marshdaddy]

Quote: Originally Posted by georgiafan

I would have loved to have Malone so much that I would like to use this draft class again sometime. Part of me wishes I wouldn't have got the 2nd pick so I wouldn't have had to pass on taking him. I expect him to put up monster stats for the Thunder. I enjoy posting up in the game so I know I would have liked using him. During this thought process I never thought about Malone on my team as I knew he would go top 2 and I figured I would be 11-14 and I wasn't trading up for him. Then when I jumped up I started thinking about it and become torn along with trading back a little and taking Dumars. One of the main reasons I decided against it is I'm not sure if JJJ can be the starting 5 in sims as the CPU struggles with him grabbing rebounds. His rebounding rating is awful like a D which I can get around when I control him. I also like the trio of bags I have with Clarke, JJJ and Jonas. I'll add a defense C in FA and then I'll be set in the front court. I also have Kyle Anderson at the 4 and I want to test out Winslow at the 4 this year. I guess I would have had to trade a big if i took Malone so it became easier to just take Mullin and plug him into the starting 3 and not play the Grayson Allen's of the world. Yea that's the plan this year I'm changing to pace and space and going to up the tempo. Since I traded up for the PG that will allow me to always have a PG that can play tempo. It should make for a lot of fun on my end.

I can't fault that logic. I do think Mullin is a good fit for an uptempo team, especially next to Ja. I'm a big proponent of drafting best available and figuring out the fit later, because passing on a future HOFer in favor or a starter-level player never looks good in retrospect. That being said, I do think Mullin is still a good pick here.

[georgiafan]

Quote: Originally Posted by marshdaddy

I can't fault that logic. I do think Mullin is a good fit for an uptempo team, especially next to Ja. I'm a big proponent of drafting best available and figuring out the fit later, because passing on a future HOFer in favor or a starter-level player never looks good in retrospect. That being said, I do think Mullin is still a good pick here.

You can never fault going BPA. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out and see if I made the right or wrong call. It’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to use the retro draft classes over the upcoming ones. I think it’s easier to have a opinion on this stuff.

A few years back in a offline career I used this draft class in 2k. I ended up taking someone else over mullin and the cpu went off with him from day 1. So that decision still haunts me so let’s hope they still like him.

One main thing that Chris has helped me is to fully figure out the play calling. It sort of confused me at first as it was different then before so didn’t use it as much as I should. I now have it figured out after testing it out in summer league. So i can now call specific plays to get him open I may not have done that with a big guy I would have just done the post up thing.

[georgiafan]

Summer League Playoffs

Memphis won the first two games of the summer league playoffs with ease after going 2-1 in the regular games. You will see the box scores for the first two rounds below. Incase you need a reminder the summer league playoffs are one and done if you lose.

Memphis ended the first quarter up 7 and held on to that lead at half despite shooting just 25% from 3. The star of the show in the 3rd quarter was Will Guerrero a undrafted rookie that is a 6'7 SG/PG. He controlled the game while the starters rested allowing them to be fresh for the 4th quarter. Memphis would pull away in the 4th holding Utah just 17 points.

Scoring 111 points is nice to see even in summer league it was led by Chris Mullin's 22. John Konchar continues to impress going 4 of 7 from 3 and scoring 19. We mentioned Will Guererro a impressive stat line 15 points, 4 rebounds and 11 assist. The rookie PG Stefan didn't shoot the ball well, but was able to draw a lot of fouls and dished out 12 assist. Not a big game for any of the big men. Desmond Bane also struggled bad going just 1 of 11.

Spoiler

First two games

[georgiafan]

Summer League Playoffs - 4th Round

Mullin started hot then got cold so Memphis went to the locker room down 2. The 3rd quarter was back and forth with New York mostly having the lead. Things were not looking with the starters all tired and down 8 with just 6 minutes to go. The final nail in the coffin was a Obo Toppin putback layup.

Memphis had a good run in the summer league so nothing to be ashamed of falling one win shy of the championship game. Chris took a lot of shoots and was a little underwhelming with his shoot %. None of the other player stepped up all were just decent. Bane again struggled going 4 of 12 from the field on 10 three point attempts

[georgiafan]

Grading Summer League Players

Chris Mullin = A+
While he probably doesn't get the 16 to 22 shot attempts in the regular season for now the stats don't lie and we had to rate him A+. He averaged 27.8 points per game and shot 47% from 3. This is a great first impression after going 2nd overall.

Gheorge Stefan = B+
He had the biggest learning curve of anyone adjusting to the NBA game as a 5'9 19 year old. It was a big showcase for him with some pressure after Memphis traded up to take him. He didn't disappoint finishing with 15.1 points, 8.8 assist on 50% shooting. You can see where its going to be hard to judge his game on stats because he does so many things that will not show up like getting the fast break started and playing help defense. A lot of his points came from the FT line. It seems like people are anxious to block his shots. He also played excellent defense. His wide open fast style lead to a lot of stamina issues.

Brandon Clarke = A
We are grading the 3rd year big harsher since he has so much experience. He played great though 19.1 points, 9.2 rebounds while shooting 37% from 3 and 50 % from the field.

Jontay Porter = B
He was solid 10.7 points and 11.5 rebounds while flashing some shooting skills. This is enough for him to keep the 15th spot on the roster. Just not enough to get him any minutes or prevent the team from signing someone at his position. His low post defense is still nothing special.

Desmond Bane = B-
He struggled the most this was a big showcase and opportunity for him to nail down the starting 2 guard spot and he didn't do it. He wasn't bad scoring 12.1 points while shooting 40% from 3. The problem was he also only shot 40% from the field.

John Konchar = B+
When your a 3 point specialist that doesn't do much else you have to shoot the ball well and he did at a 48% clip. His 12.4 points per game was basically the same as Bane's was. After shooting over 40% from 3 last year in limited minutes its time to start taking his shooting seriously

Killian Tille = C-
He was on a 2 way all of last year and has potential as a stretch big. We don't have stats for him, but he didnt do much to impress. Many think he is still mad about spending last year in the G league.

[RMJH4]

Mully is gonna light it up in the new NBA!!

[georgiafan]

Quote: Originally Posted by RMJH4

Mully is gonna light it up in the new NBA!!

I sure hope so I need him to be as I need a #2 scorer to get about 20 a night. The summer league stats were a mixture of me and the CPU with the CPU playing a little better with him then me. He has a slow left handed release so I'm still getting the hang of it. He is def a great fit in the modern NBA.