Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

[daweism]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

Does anyone have a good custom roster update that compensates for the inaccurate stats from simulated games to make them as close to realistic stats as possible?

Field goal % are WAY too high and Free throws attempts are extremely low just off the top of my head.

[southernbelle]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

Need Help!

Here is the situation - I am in MyGM mode with the 76ers. I am in year 4 and we are tanking! 0-5 start.


Long story short we traded the Process for multi picks and got Baldwin.

Year three we had injuries to Fultz and Simmons, but still have a great run. Also the team even with injuries plays strong, chemistry is high! We got knocked out of the playoffs. by IT led Magic, but it was close. This team was set. We did trade a few players but we kept the core:

Fultz
Baldwin
Heild
Simmons
Sairic
Holmes

Here where I think I made the big mistake. I did not rehire Brett Brown... I went with a guy with high potential etc.

But we now have a chemistry in the 40s. And I cannot play with this team! I don't know what happened but I run the same sets (Flow and Horns) but the team just does NOT play the same. shots aren't falling bad passes, defense is lazy.

Ok, so advice on how to auto correct. I won't start simming until I can actually play well with this team again. Is chemistry that important?

[itsmb8]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

Need Help!

Here is the situation - I am in MyGM mode with the 76ers. I am in year 4 and we are tanking! 0-5 start.


Long story short we traded the Process for multi picks and got Baldwin.

Year three we had injuries to Fultz and Simmons, but still have a great run. Also the team even with injuries plays strong, chemistry is high! We got knocked out of the playoffs. by IT led Magic, but it was close. This team was set. We did trade a few players but we kept the core:

Fultz
Baldwin
Heild
Simmons
Sairic
Holmes

Here where I think I made the big mistake. I did not rehire Brett Brown... I went with a guy with high potential etc.

But we now have a chemistry in the 40s. And I cannot play with this team! I don't know what happened but I run the same sets (Flow and Horns) but the team just does NOT play the same. shots aren't falling bad passes, defense is lazy.

Ok, so advice on how to auto correct. I won't start simming until I can actually play well with this team again. Is chemistry that important?

What does the system proficiency look like with what your coach wants to run compared to what your players' types are?

[OldHossRadbourn]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

Finished my first season of MyLeague as the Bulls.

-Rotation ended the year as:


PG: LaVine, Dunn, C. Randle, J. Grant
SG: M. Richardson, J. Holiday
SF: Caboclo, Ojeleye
PF: Lauri, Portis, Christian Wood
C: M. Leonard, D. Stone


-Finished the year 17-65. Dead last in the NBA.


-Fired Hoiberg and brought on one of the highly rated generic coaches. Made some upgrades to scouting and Asst Coaches.


-Warriors beat the 76ers in the NBA Finals 4-1


-Steph was MVP and Finals MVP


-The Sonics missed the playoffs despite having two players make the All NBA 1st Team (A. Davis/D. Cousins)


-I got the first pick in the draft and took Porter Jr. I also had the 14th pick from a trade with the Blazers and took Nick Richards, C, Kentucky. In the 2nd round I picked up Trevon Bluiett, SG, Xavier.


-No real big moves in free agency for the rest of the NBA. All the major players re-signed with their current team.


-I signed Nerlens Noel, Brandon Paul, Bonzie Colson(UDFA), and Vince Edwards(UDFA) to add some roster fodder.


Rotation heading into the summer league:


PG: Dunn, Randle
SG: LaVine, Richardson, Paul
SF: Porter Jr. Ojeleye
PF: Lauri, Portis, Wood
C: Noel, Leonard, Richards


Reserves: Colson, Edwards, Bluiett


I'll have some interesting cuts to make prior to the season. Bluiett is like the guy getting cut with Paul becoming a reserve. Might try to move Meyers Leonard for a draft pick to free up room for Richards at some point. I'm a bit heavy at PF/C


Goal is to tank and get a shot at RJ Barrett after this season in the draft then maybe splurge on some free agents.

[itsmb8]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

Finished my first season of MyLeague as the Bulls.

-Rotation ended the year as:


PG: LaVine, Dunn, C. Randle, J. Grant
SG: M. Richardson, J. Holiday
SF: Caboclo, Ojeleye
PF: Lauri, Portis, Christian Wood
C: M. Leonard, D. Stone


-Finished the year 17-65. Dead last in the NBA.


-Fired Hoiberg and brought on one of the highly rated generic coaches. Made some upgrades to scouting and Asst Coaches.


-Warriors beat the 76ers in the NBA Finals 4-1


-Steph was MVP and Finals MVP


-The Sonics missed the playoffs despite having two players make the All NBA 1st Team (A. Davis/D. Cousins)


-I got the first pick in the draft and took Porter Jr. I also had the 14th pick from a trade with the Blazers and took Nick Richards, C, Kentucky. In the 2nd round I picked up Trevon Bluiett, SG, Xavier.


-No real big moves in free agency for the rest of the NBA. All the major players re-signed with their current team.


-I signed Nerlens Noel, Brandon Paul, Bonzie Colson(UDFA), and Vince Edwards(UDFA) to add some roster fodder.


Rotation heading into the summer league:


PG: Dunn, Randle
SG: LaVine, Richardson, Paul
SF: Porter Jr. Ojeleye
PF: Lauri, Portis, Wood
C: Noel, Leonard, Richards


Reserves: Colson, Edwards, Bluiett


I'll have some interesting cuts to make prior to the season. Bluiett is like the guy getting cut with Paul becoming a reserve. Might try to move Meyers Leonard for a draft pick to free up room for Richards at some point. I'm a bit heavy at PF/C


Goal is to tank and get a shot at RJ Barrett after this season in the draft then maybe splurge on some free agents.

Gotta have that Chicago suburb loyalty by signing Paul, right?

[southernbelle]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

What does the system proficiency look like with what your coach wants to run compared to what your players' types are?

I think you were right here - old coach ran balanced. after 0-5 I decided to fire him. I promoted Paul Pierce to head coach, Dwayne wade now the assistant. Pierce likes the grit and grind, which I activated. We immediately started winning... and winning strong. now Chemistry is at 74%. Holmes just got hurt -

as an aside massive annoyance in that players get hurt decent frequency on any sim, but no in game injuries!

Anyway - lesson is don't fire coach unless necessary as Chemistry gets smoked and you lose the way

[bliz11]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

Got a few questions if anyone can help with:

- I play on player lock on myleague
- Rebuilding the kings

1. Does anyone have any adjustments I should make on game plan to get more quality production out of my bench on player lock when my player is out of the game?

I seem to keep the game competitive til my 3rd qtr to 4th qtr rest, then I have an insurmountable deficit when I re-enter the game.

2. I understand the system proficiency (a little) with the kind players I have but should I change coaches that better suits my future talent?

2a. And how do you know what system a potential coach uses if making a switch?

3. Also i cant seem to post from my phone on the os app

Thanks!

[Number999]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

2017/2018 Miami Heat Season Summary

Synopsis: So I haven't done a serious NBA2k franchise since NBA2k15 which was right after LeBron left Miami... but since a few years have passed and now there's a core established, it'll actually be pretty fun trying to see what this core can do. I placed a rule that no roster changes were allowed through the first season since that seems unlikely given has locked in this current core is, at least for the 1st season. Overall I feel like it went pretty decent.

Roster Summary:
PG: Goran Dragic (83, 31)
SG: Dion Waiters (80, 26) | Wayne Ellington (77, 30) | Tyler Johnson (76, 25)| Rodney McGruder (75, 26)
SF: Justisie Winslow (76, 22) | Josh Richardson (75, 24) | Okaro White (70, 25)
PF: James Johnson (78, 31) | Jordan Mickey (74, 23) | Udonis Haslem (71, 37)
C: Hassan Whiteside (88, 28) | Kelly Olynyk (78, 27) | Bam Adebayo (74, 20)

Summary: This is the roster that we've tied ourselves to... it's okay. Hassan Whiteside cannot be your best player and you expect to go anywhere meaningful but he is an asset. Beyond this year he's locked up for 2018 and has a player option for 2019. The same goes for Goran Dragic. Dion Waiters is probably the most intriguing considering his potential if he were to ever attain that glory of being a former Top 5 pick. But his ceiling may be capped. James Johnson is a team leader and very versatile at the 4, but it's fair to question whether or not he'll live up to the hefty contract he was given. Kelly Olynyk is a stretch big off the bench while Ellington provides a 3-point threat. The growth of Justise Winslow moving forward will be intriguing. Can he be a legitimate piece to this organization and develop his offense or not? Can Tyler Johnson make up for the boatloads of cash he's gonna be making the next 2 seasons? Josh Richardson also has a new contract extension, McGruder has some defensive prowess, and Bam is an energy big off the bench. Everybody else is just about scraps at this point.

Expectations: Make the playoffs, be competitive. That's it.

Regular Season Summary: The Miami Heat went 42-40 in their 2017/2018 NBA Season. A decent record, respectable enough to achieve them the #7 seed in the Eastern Conference. Throughout the year, the Heat distinctly fought off against the New York Knicks for one of the last remaining playoff spots and finally managed to leapfrog the Toronto Raptors to dodge the #1 seeded Philadelphia 76ers. The Heat were nothing special in the regular season. They had their ups and downs as does any team, they finished 24-17 at home and 18-23 on the road. They had a respectable 11-5 record in their division, yet their overall point differential was a measly 0.7 on the year. Overall, this is just a 1-win improvement on a core you hoped would get to the mid-to-upper 40-win portion but things don't always plan out as you'd like. There were some epic affairs in the regular season such as feature games against the Knicks, Thunder, and Raptors, but those are history now.

2017/2018 NBA Standings:

Spoiler

Western Conference:
#1. Z - Houston Rockets (67-15)
#2. X - Golden State Warriors (65-17)
#3. X - Oklahoma City Thunder (54-28)
#4. X - Denver Nuggets (46-36)
#5. X - Portland Trail Blazers (45-37)
#6. X - Los Angeles Clippers (44-38)
#7. X - San Antonio Spurs (44-38)
#8. X- Minnesota Timberwolves (41-41)
#9. New Orleans Pelicans (40-42)
#10. Utah Jazz (33-49)
#11. Memphis Grizzlies (32-50)
#12. Dallas Mavericks (31-51)
#13. Los Angeles Lakers (31-51)
#14. Sacramento Kings (28-54)
#15. Phoenix Suns (23-59)

Eastern Conference:
#1. Z - Philadelphia 76ers (57-25)
#2. X - Boston Celtics (51-31)
#3. X - Cleveland Cavaliers (48-34)
#4. X - Washington Wizards (47-35)
#5. X - Milwaukee Bucks (45-37)
#6. X - Detroit Pistons (45-37)
#7. X - Miami Heat (42-40)
#8. X - Toronto Raptors (40-42)
#9. New York Knicks (39-43)
#10. Indiana Pacers (39-43)
#11. Orlando Magic (35-47)
#12. Charlotte Hornets (31-51)
#13. Brooklyn Nets (30-52)
#14. Chicago Bulls (29-53)
#15. Atlanta Hawks (28-54)

Regular Season Stats

<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><link href="http://dynasties.operationsports.com/css/osdyn.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></head><body><table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" class="osdyn" width="575"><tr class="masthead_alt"><td bgcolor="#A10000" colspan="10"><span style="color:#FFFFFF">Miami Heat Stats - 17/18</span></td></tr><tr class="stathead"><td width="28%">Player</td><td align="right" width="8%">GP</td><td align="right" width="8%">MIN</td><td align="right" width="8%">PPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">RPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">APG</td><td align="right" width="8%">SPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">BPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">TPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">FPG</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Hassan Whiteside</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">33.0</td><td align="right" class="active">17.7</td><td align="right">12.9</td><td align="right">1.5</td><td align="right">0.9</td><td align="right">2.0</td><td align="right">1.7</td><td align="right">3.4</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Goran Dragic</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">32.9</td><td align="right" class="active">17.6</td><td align="right">3.6</td><td align="right">6.5</td><td align="right">0.9</td><td align="right">0.1</td><td align="right">1.9</td><td align="right">2.4</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Dion Waiters</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">30.8</td><td align="right" class="active">15.5</td><td align="right">2.8</td><td align="right">3.5</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">2.0</td><td align="right">1.9</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>James Johnson</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">29.4</td><td align="right" class="active">10.0</td><td align="right">6.0</td><td align="right">4.3</td><td align="right">1.1</td><td align="right">1.2</td><td align="right">1.6</td><td align="right">2.9</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Josh Richardson</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">25.5</td><td align="right" class="active">10.0</td><td align="right">2.6</td><td align="right">2.2</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">1.8</td><td align="right">2.0</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Tyler Johnson</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">19.5</td><td align="right" class="active">8.7</td><td align="right">1.7</td><td align="right">2.5</td><td align="right">0.7</td><td align="right">0.4</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">1.9</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Kelly Olynyk</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">22.3</td><td align="right" class="active">8.4</td><td align="right">6.5</td><td align="right">3.5</td><td align="right">0.6</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">1.3</td><td align="right">2.1</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Justise Winslow</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">27.8</td><td align="right" class="active">8.2</td><td align="right">5.8</td><td align="right">2.5</td><td align="right">1.1</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">1.6</td><td align="right">2.3</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Wayne Ellington</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">15.7</td><td align="right" class="active">8.0</td><td align="right">1.5</td><td align="right">1.4</td><td align="right">0.3</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">0.7</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Rodney McGruder</td><td align="right">2</td><td align="right">2.0</td><td align="right" class="active">2.0</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">0.4</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.0</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Bam Adebayo</td><td align="right">61</td><td align="right">5.2</td><td align="right" class="active">1.2</td><td align="right">1.6</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.1</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">0.4</td></tr></table></body></html>

Analysis: Hassan Whiteside built upon his strong 2016/2017 season and remained at the center of everything the Miami Heat did as a squad this season. He'll likely never be a 20PPG scorer but his 55% shooting from the field and 65% shooting from the free throw line are signs of him improving as a scorer even as he is in the midsts of his prime. As an added bonus, he was the leagues leading rebounder for a second consecutive season edging out the likes of Andre Drummond and DeAndre Jordan. Whiteside can officially say he was the leading scorer on a team that made the NBA Playoffs, that's something note worthy. Behind him you have Goran Dragic who did not build and continue to improve scoring wise from his 2016/2017 self. His assists went up but efficiency with the exception of free throws went downwards. Still, Dragic proves he's certainly capable of facilitating the offense and is expected to be back here all throughout next season.

Moving on from the main duo, you have Dion Waiters who for the most part replicated what he did the year prior. 15.5PPG but now on 47/38/75 splits isn't the worst thing in the world. Maybe you hoped he'd creep into the 18-19PPG range but he is still just 26-years old so that could happen. James Johnson averaged double digits once again and remains a crucial part of the Heat's lineup, but his 3-point shooting regressed hard which may not be the best sign if he can't get that back moving forward. Josh Richardson seeing a jolt in efficiency while retaining the same volume is promising. Tyler Johnson fell back down and saw a reduced role, we'll see if that happens again next year. Kelly Olynyk averaged a career high in rebounding per game off the bench. Winslow was the player everybody had their eye on and from one year his shooting % went from .356 to .451 so... progress. Can he initiate the offense? Wayne Ellington was poor defensively but he gave what the Heat needed from range. Beyond that the Heat didn't get much more help, and Bam was extremely limited in how he was able to contribute in his first year.

2017/2018 NBA All-Stars:

Spoiler

Eastern Conference All-Stars:
#1. Kyrie Irving (94 OVR, 26, Celtics)
#2. DeMar DeRozan (91 OVR, 28, Raptors)
#3. LeBron James (99 OVR, 33, Cavaliers)
#4. Giannis Antetokounmpo (97 OVR, 23, Bucks)
#5. Kristaps Porzingis (92 OVR, 22, Knicks)
#6. Kyle Lowry (86 OVR, 32, Raptors)
#7. Bradley Beal (89 OVR, 24, Wizards)
#8. Gordon Hayward (90 OVR, 28, Celtics)
#9. Ben Simmons (87 OVR, 21, 76ers)
#10. Andre Drummond (90 OVR, 24, Pistons)
#11. John Wall (91 OVR, 27, Wizards)
#12. Hassan Whiteside (89 OVR, 28, Heat)

Western Conference All-Stars:
#1. Damian Lillard (89 OVR, 27, Blazers)
#2. Chris Paul (92 OVR, 32, Rockets)
#3. Kevin Durant (98 OVR, 29, Warriors)
#4. Anthony Davis (95 OVR, 25, Pelicans)
#5. DeMarcus Cousins (93 OVR, 27, Pelicans)
#6. Klay Thompson (91 OVR, 28, Warriors)
#7. Kawhi Leonard (95 OVR, 26, Spurs)
#8. LaMarcus Aldridge (89 OVR, 32, Spurs)
#9. Marc Gasol (87 OVR, 33, Grizzlies)
#10. Nikola Jokic (90 OVR, 23, Nuggets)
#11. Devin Booker (87 OVR, 21, Suns)
#12. Draymond Green (89 OVR, 28, Warriors)

2017/2018 NBA Awards:
MVP: (HOU) James Harden (25.6PPG, 8.7APG, 5.9RPG)
ROTY: (PHI) Ben Simmons (14.9 PPG, 6.7 APG, 8.0RPG)
6MOY: (HOU) Eric Gordon (18.1 PPG, 5.0APG, 1.7RPG)
DPOY: (MIL) Giannis Antetokounmpo (25.1 PPG, 5.4APG, 10.0RPG)
MIP: (ORL) Aaron Gordon (18.4PPG, 3.2APG, 8.4RPG)
COTY: (HOU) Mike D'Antoni (67-15 Record)

[Talentoso23]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

Does anyone know if created players develop? Thinking about starting a my league with a created version of myself to do a my career like my league for a rebuild for my player. I created him with a 75 overall PG. I know NBA live 18 has this, wondering if the same applies to 2k18 as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[bliz11]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

Does anyone know if created players develop? Thinking about starting a my league with a created version of myself to do a my career like my league for a rebuild for my player. I created him with a 75 overall PG. I know NBA live 18 has this, wondering if the same applies to 2k18 as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Yes, created player will develop. I created a player and put him in a draft class. Drafted him and in my 1st season he is progressing already.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Operation Sports mobile app

[Number999]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

2017/2018 Miami Heat Playoffs Summary

2017/2018 NBA Playoff Picture:
#1. Philadelphia 76ers vs #8. Toronto Raptors
#2. Boston Celtics vs #7. Miami Heat
#3. Cleveland Cavaliers vs #6. Detroit Pistons
#4. Washington Wizards vs #5. Milwaukee Bucks

#1. Houston Rockets vs #8. Minnesota Timberwolves
#2. Golden State Warriors vs #7. San Antonio Spurs
#3. Oklahoma City Thunder vs #6. Los Angeles Clippers
#4. Denver Nuggets vs #5. Portland Trail Blazers

Summary: The Miami Heat just got into the playoffs with a 42-40 record and now must face the mighty Boston Celtics to try and keep their NBA Playoff hopes alive. In terms of what the Celtics bring to the table, they finished with the 2nd best record in the East with a record of 51-30 and have an abundance of talent on their roster. Kyrie Irving is easily the catalyst of their team averaging 26 points per game. Behind him, you have Gordon Hayward with 19/6/5, and Al Horford averaging 11/8. Of course, supplementing that trio is the Celtics two young wingers in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Each of them averaging 11 points per game, it's no wonder why so many people are optimistic about their future potential. Even beyond those guys, the likes of Marcus Morris, Marcus Smart, and Aron Baynes all also serve as plus assets. In order for the Heat to pull off a stunner, they're going to need to contain Kyrie's offensive prowess, take advantage of Whiteside against Horford matchup, and make sure their 3-pointers are falling.

Without further ado... let's get on with Round #1!

#2. Boston Celtics vs #7. Miami Heat

Game #1: Going on the road for thee first two games, the Miami Heat needed to establish their tempo in a hostile environment. They accomplished that goal taking a 46-40 lead entering the 1st halftime break.... and then the Celtics got hot. Out-scoring Miami by a total of 35-22 in the 3rd, and then 40-34 in the 4th the Celtics simply proved too much to handle winning Game #1 by a margin of 115-102. For the Heat, Goran Dragic played well with an incredibly efficient effort producing 28/5/5 across the board filling his statsheet. Hassan Whiteside also performed well attaining 20/13 against Al Horford. The problem? Dion Waiters shot 6/19 from the field and the Heat as a whole shot 8/36 from 3-point range. On the other end, Kyrie Irving was scorching hot for Boston dropping 41 points on 15/22 shooting. Hayward, Horford, Brown, and Tatum all chipped in as well and a sizable free throw disparity of 33 for Boston and just 12 for Miami was another major contributing factor. This was a game Miami could have won since it was a 5-point game in the final 3 minutes, but nobody had stops needed to pull off the upset.

Game #2: Oh my.... the pain.... the agony... Celtics win 118-117. The Miami Heat put together one of their best 4th quarter efforts of the entire year trying to rally late on the road in Boston. They scored Boston 37-29, and it was Dion Waiters doing the carrying all the way down the stretch. Sadly, when it mattered most, with 2.9 seconds remaining following a miss by Gordon Hayward the Heat just needed any sort of bucket to win. After a timeout, Miami gave it to their hot-hand in Dion Waiters trying to catch him rolling off a screen to the rim for the win. Instead he was halted in his tracks by Jaylen Brown and had to have a heavily contested mid-range 2... no good. Boston wins. It's a ball buster considering how close you got and how much you closed the gap. Dion Waiters had 32 points and was remarkably efficient. Hassan Whiteside had 24/17 of his own. Dragic had his own Waiters-equivalent game shooting 6/19 while Josh Richardson shot a pitiful 4/15 from the field. Yet you still had a shot to win at the end, due in large part to Kyrie looking more human scoring 26/13 and you getting more depth scoring. Yet now, you head back home down 0-2 with your backs against the wall for all intensive purposes.

Game #3: That's more of what I'm talking about! The Miami Heat take Game #3, 115-82! Not many people expcted the Heat to respond the way they did after losing a heart-breaker in Game #2. Yet they came out of the gate firing and it paid off. As a team, they shot 50% from the field and 15/35 from range which goes back to what I said earlier about needing that shooting from range to upset the Celtics. Dion Waiters had back-to-back sensational games this time going for 31 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. Whiteside continues to dominate the glass with 20/17, JJ had 14, J-Rich had 24, Dragic had 11/13, even Olynyk scored 11! Kyrie Irving had that Miami night life haunt him going a miserable 4/18 with just 11 points total, and it seems the South Beach hangover got to most players on the Celtics shooting a collective 30/92 from the field. This was a game the Heat needed to have and they achieved that goal, well done!

Game #4: Holding onto a 91-84 lead in the final 6 minutes, many felt that the Heat were going to knot up this series at 2-2. That's what everyone thought, of course. Instead, Boston rallied on the back of yet another incredible Kyrie Irving effort and an unexpected offensive explosion by Marcus Smart to steal a game late, 103-98 Boston. If you thought Game #2 was brutal, Game #4 was the twist and dagger in the Heat's playoff hopes and dreams. The offense got congested, you can't shoot 5/32 from 3 in a playoff game in this modern age and expect to win. Wayne Elington went 0/5, all misses from deep. Goran Dragic went 0/2, and Josh Richardson had some bad open misses and shot 0/5 from deep as well. Waiters had 21 points, Whiteside had his 13/22, but it simply wasn't enough to topple Boston. The Celtics have a true star in Kyrie Irving, and though he got demolished for his performance in Game #3 he scored 35 points tonight and hit 6 3's which truly killed the Heat. Marcus Smart of all people had 15 points and shot 3/4 from downtown as well. You could most certainly make the argument that Miami could be up 3-1 right now, and instead it's Boston looking to finish the job on their home floor.

Game #5: That'll be the bow on a truly up-and-down Miami Heat season... Boston wins 125-115. The Heat actually were phenomenal from range even on the road and put together a damn solid offensive effort, but this time it was everybody else on the C's who carried them. Kyrie Irving wasn't even a top 4 scorer on a night they won by double digits. Al Horford with 25/15/9, Hayward with 21, Morris with 20/8/6, Brown with 17/9, it was everybody else who killed the Heat. Waiters had 26 and Dragic with 18/11 isn't so shabby either. But Hassan Whiteside who has been a rock all series had his worst game shooting 6/21 and collecting just 11 rebounds... it's simple. The Boston Celtics are simply better than the Miami Heat. They have superior talent, the regular season proved that, and the playoffs validated it. The Heat were competitive, and you figure they can give most NBA teams a pretty competitive series like this one was, but with the exception of occasional Dion Waiters magic they don't have a true star and don't have enough depth to compete with Celtics of this world. Sucks, but it's the truth.

2017/2018 Miami Heat Playoff Stats

<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><link href="http://dynasties.operationsports.com/css/osdyn.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></head><body><table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" class="osdyn" width="575"><tr class="masthead_alt"><td bgcolor="#7F0110" colspan="10"><span style="color:#FFFFFF">Miami Heat Stats - 17/18</span></td></tr><tr class="stathead"><td width="28%">Player</td><td align="right" width="8%">GP</td><td align="right" width="8%">MIN</td><td align="right" width="8%">PPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">RPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">APG</td><td align="right" width="8%">SPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">BPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">TPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">FPG</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Dion Waiters</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">31.8</td><td align="right" class="active">25.0</td><td align="right">3.2</td><td align="right">4.6</td><td align="right">0.6</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">1.6</td><td align="right">1.2</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Hassan Whiteside</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">35.0</td><td align="right" class="active">18.2</td><td align="right">16.0</td><td align="right">1.2</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">1.8</td><td align="right">0.6</td><td align="right">3.6</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Goran Dragic</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">33.8</td><td align="right" class="active">17.0</td><td align="right">4.6</td><td align="right">7.4</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">1.4</td><td align="right">2.8</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Josh Richardson</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">26.2</td><td align="right" class="active">10.4</td><td align="right">2.2</td><td align="right">1.6</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">0.4</td><td align="right">1.6</td><td align="right">2.4</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>James Johnson</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">30.4</td><td align="right" class="active">10.4</td><td align="right">5.2</td><td align="right">4.6</td><td align="right">1.2</td><td align="right">1.2</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">2.6</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Tyler Johnson</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">18.0</td><td align="right" class="active">8.2</td><td align="right">2.2</td><td align="right">3.0</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">0.4</td><td align="right">1.4</td><td align="right">1.8</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Kelly Olynyk</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">21.4</td><td align="right" class="active">8.0</td><td align="right">4.8</td><td align="right">4.2</td><td align="right">0.6</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">1.2</td><td align="right">1.4</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Wayne Ellington</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">15.4</td><td align="right" class="active">6.6</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">0.6</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Justise Winslow</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">28.0</td><td align="right" class="active">5.6</td><td align="right">6.2</td><td align="right">3.6</td><td align="right">0.6</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">2.0</td><td align="right">2.4</td></tr></table></body></html>
Analysis: Dion Waiters became the star you sorta hoped he'd become when he came into the NBA. He had that sense about him, and in Games #2 and #3 he certainly went head-to-head with Kyrie Irving and sort of proved that. Waiters shot 55/42/82 in this playoff series, that's pretty freaking stellar. Whiteside overall is not somebody you can scrutinize too much... in fact, he had some comments after Game #4 that he felt he should get the ball more based on how much he was dominating and you saw what happened in Game #5 when he got that opportunity. Goran Dragic was okay, though his 3-point shooting fell apart when it mattered most. Josh Richardson could have the same said about him. James Johnson played well as did Kelly Olynyk while Wayne Ellington sort of flamed out ala Joe Johnson vs the Raptors when the Heat last made the playoffs a couple of seasons ago. If you're the Heat, you see what happened this year and say if you just did a little bit better in the regular season and got an easier 1st Round opponent you could have easily been through to the 2nd Round. A 1st Round Exit in 5 games doesn't look pretty on paper, but this is now the 2nd season this core has been given a chance to show what they can do and Pat Riley will make the proper adjustments where needs be to either improve or tear this down.

2017/2018 NBA Playoffs (1st):
#1. 76ers (2) - #8. Raptors (4)
#2. Celtics (4) - #7. Heat (1)
#3. Cavaliers (3) - #6. Pistons (4)
#4. Wizards (4) - #5. Bucks (3)

#1. Rockets (4) - #8. T-Wolves (0)
#2. Warriors (4) - #7. Spurs (1)
#3. Thunder (4) - #6. Clippers (0)
#4. Nuggets (4) - #5. Blazers (3)

2017/2018 NBA Playoffs (2nd):
#4. Wizards (2) - #8. Raptors (4)
#2. Celtics (4) - #6. Pistons (3)

#1. Rockets (4) - #4. Nuggets (0)
#2. Warriors (2) - #3. Thunder (4)

2017/2018 NBA Playoffs (CF):
#2. Celtics (4) - #8. Raptors (1)

#1. Rockets (2) - #3. Thunder (4)

2017/2018 NBA Finals:
Game #1: Celtics 108 - Thunder 100
Game #2: Thunder 116 - Celtics 88
Game #3: Celtics 124 - Thunder 110
Game #4: Thunder 121 - Celtics 119
Game #5: Thunder 125 - Celtics 89
Game #6: Celtics 109 - Thunder 108
Game #7: Thunder 106 - Celtics 102

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the Boston Celtics, 4-3, to become NBA Champions!

FMVP: Russell Westbrok (25.1PPG, 9.1APG, 9.1RPG, 2.1SPG, 56/36/78)

Summary: Holy crap what a playoffs! Okay so first of all in the Eastern Conference you had the lowly but playoff experienced Raptors stun the 76ers, DeRozan was a frigging beast all series. Wizards beat Giannis in 7, and stunningly LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers flame out of the playoffs against Detroit in the biggest stunner of this entire postseason. Just crazy. In the 2nd Round, the Raptors manage to become the first #8 seed ever to make it to the Conference Finals after taking care of business against the Wizards who still can't make it to the ECF. On the other end, the Celtics fought hard and nearly slipped up against Detroit but managed to fend them off in 7. In the Conference Finals, you bet the entire Canada territory talked themselves into thinking that the Celtics were beatable but Kyrie Irving scorched Kyle Lowry all series and it was a fairly close series sorta like the one they had vs Miami but they finished them off at home in 5. Incredibly, the Boston Celtics would be representing the Eastern Conference in these NBA Finals.

Over across in the Western Conference, you had all the favorites winning their opening round. The Rockets were comfortably the best team in the regular season led by a trio of James Harden, Chris Paul, and Chris Bosh(YEAH, he's BACK!) and the young T-Wolves had no response even with their abundance of talent getting swept. The mighty Golden State Warriors cleaned for the floor with the Spurs with Steph Curry and Kevin Durant leading the way. San Antonio could only pluck 1 game away from the defending Champs who were the heavy favorites to win it all. The Thunder wiped the floor with the Clippers in a series so uncompetitive Carmelo Anthony likely wouldn't have even needed to play and they would have won. Finally, you had the Nuggets besting the Blazers in 7 in the least important series of the entire 1st Round. Moving on, the Rockets dusted off those same Nuggets in 4 games to attain a clean 8-0 record through the first two rounds. All of the attention of this round though went to Warriors vs Thunder. Westbrook vs Durant. You know the deal... AND HOLY BLEEP THE OKC THUNDER WON!!?!!?! Yup. GSW took Game #1 handily 128-111, but in Game #2 KD only had 17 while the Thunder bested them 114-109. Game #3 GSW won handily again, 113-86 and you figured this would end in 6 going the other way but instead... Westbrook had 36/10/8 to defeat them at home, and fantastic efforts by PG13, Melo, Westbrook, and Jerami Grant of all people led to them stunning the Warriors in Game #5. Backs against the wall in Game #6, KD shot just 6/14 from the field for 16 while Westbrook had 21/12/18, both PG13/Melo scored 30+, and they stunned the entire NBA universe taking the series and moving onto the Western Conference Finals.

Yeah... pretty epic. In those Western Conference Finals, you had Westbrook slaying his former teammate in KD and now he had to face his other friend, James Harden. OKC took a 3-1 lead after smashing the Rockets 136-87 on their home floor, and the Rockets barely stayed alive with a 108-107 OT victory in Game #5. But in Game #6? Talk about a scoreline... 154-133 Thunder. Harden had 41/8/16, CP3 had 30/6/11, but it was Russell Westbrook who stole the show scoring 43 points to advance back to his 2nd ever NBA Finals. As you can imagine, Brodie was kind of the star these entire playoffs. From there they played the Boston Celtics in a constant back-and-forth series. They failed to finish them off in 6 on the road, but in Game #7 while Westbrook didn't have it his teammates helped save him and they became NBA Champions for the first time in franchise history. Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony now all have rings. Kyrie Irving meanwhile suffers a 3rd Finals loss in the last 4 seasons. What a season!

[BullsMystique]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

Hopefully I'm posting this in the right thread.

I was simming through MyLeague last night and I noticed that players weren't earning badges the way they should. After simulating 6 years, a rookie I created went from a 77 overall to a 94 overall, but only gained 2 badges. I began looking at other players and noticed they didn't earn many badges either, if any at all. It's not a game breaking issue, but an issue nonetheless. Is it something I'm doing wrong or is this something the devs have to adjust?

[Number999]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

2018 Miami Heat Offseason Summary

Recap: With the playoffs all wrapped up, it was time for teams to reflect on all that had transpired and determine where to go moving forward. Contend, compete, rebuild, or tank. There were no major retirements other than some major stars calling it quits such as Dirk Nowitzki and Manu Ginobili. For the Heat, Udonis Haslem finally decided to hang up his jersey and enjoy retirement in the 305. Other than that some small staff adjustments were made but otherwise the Heat just focused on figuring out what their gameplan would be moving forward. How were they going to either take this team to the next level, try and stay the course with the current core they have, or hell blow it up and say that you made a mistake signing all these guys to contract extensions in the first place. The first step to making those adjustments would come at the 2018 NBA Draft, a draft where the Heat had zero selections. Their 1st Round Pick was #17 and was held onto by the Phoenix Suns, and their 2nd Rounder was with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The likes of Michael Porter and Michael Bagley III went off the board early... and then, a stunner!

The Heat have made a trade with the Phoenix Suns!

Miami Heat Trade:
SG Tyler Johnson (76 OVR)
SF Josh Richardson (75 OVR)
C AJ Hammons (70 OVR)

Phoenix Suns Trade:
2018 1st Round Pick (#17)
2021 Miami Heat 1st
2022 Atlanta Hawks 2nd
Tyson Chandler (76 OVR)

Analysis: Let's break this trade down from the Suns perspective first. From their end, they had already made 3 selections in the 1st Round. They got the #1 pick and took Porter, and also had two later lottery selections one picked up from moving TJ Warren. They have an over-whelming amount of young talent on that roster budding with potential. They don't need any more 1st Round picks if we're being completely honest. Thus, they decide to send a package deal to Miami. They're giving them back their years and 2021's 1st in exchange for Tyler Johnson and Josh Richardson. TJ has 2-years remaining on his deal at a monster rate, while J-Rich is locked in for 4 on a relatively fair price. The Suns front office executives believe that being able to dump Chandler's expiring 13M deal while picking up two solid wing candidates in the meantime that all their young-ins develop is a fair price. They have Devin Booker, Michael Porter, Josh Jackson, along with their bigs in Bender and Chriss. Getting some culture from the Heat and hoping those guys can help push Phoenix to try and attain the 40-win mark next season.

As for the Miami Heat, this deal makes all the sense in the world. Tyler Johnson is not a big enough part of this team to justify his salary anymore. He's well behind Dion Waiters and with Rodney McGruder likely having his team option picked up, he even falls behind him potentially. The hard part of this deal is moving Josh Richardson since you locked him up and he's a solid defender who can shoot from range. Still, look at what you're getting back. Sure you have to live with an essentially dead contract in Chandler for a year who'll never see the floor, but you could even flip that potentially. Then you pick-up a 1st this year who you can choose somebody, and most important you get back your 2021 1st! This is such a big deal because you do not currently own your 2020 1st. Imagine losing Whiteside and Dragic and having to spend the next two seasons basically in a Brooklyn Nets state of mind. Instead, you only have to float for one year if you so badly want to. This is not totally nuking your core either. You didn't move anyone who was in your starting lineup either and now you can focus on hopefully getting a complimentary young asset to pair with Bam Adebayo who you took in the lottery the year prior.

2018 Pick #17 Selection: Kostja Mushidi

Analysis: Before we breakdown who the Heat took, let's take a look at a few of the other options they were looking at. The first of them being SF Issac Bonga. Bonga is an intrnational prospect out of Germany who provides a more modern twist to your typical forward with a 6'9" frame and being just 20-years old, his preferred starting spot is at small forward though his ball-handling ability suggests if he makes a major improvmenet he could even take full control at the point guard spot, ala Giannis Antetokounmpo style. Bonga has a stronger inside game but weaker outside from a shooting perspective, he lacks a lot of physicality to play his position as of right now but he could fill into his frame. We'll see how he does with the Utah Jazz moving forward. In terms of two other guys the Heat were looking at intently, you're talking about Garry Trent Jr. and Rawle Alkins. Trent Jr. was taken by the LA Clippers, and his form fits sort of what you'd expect from a Duke Blue Devil. He lacks an inside game greatly and isn't overly athletic, but he can step in right away and knock down 3's off the bench sort of like Luke Kennard. Ultimately the Heat decided that combined with his lackluster defense was not worth investing in. Finally you have Rawle Alkins who was taken by the Golden State Warriors. Super raw athletic player with potential... he would have been on the bench at least 2 straight years, and at the age of 22, the Heat would rather have somebody can play right now rather than later.

So those were all of the other options the Heat were looking at... and the reason they didn't take any of them was because they loved the potential they saw in Kostja Mushidi! So let's break him down physically. He's 21-years old, is 6'5" and weighs 225 pounds. He's from Belgium which means he played internationally, and is someone who was projected to go far higher than he ended up going considering he was a mere lock for a lottery selection. The biggest pluses to Mushidi's game? He can hit 3's right away. Above average even for guys who've been in the league for awhile. His attacking game needs some work and his mid-range game is subpar, but his ability to create and be a slightly above average defender is what the Heat liked the moment they saw him. Ideally, the Heat would like to see Mushidi grow into being one of the better off the bench scorers in the NBA, and be an overall jolt even when starters step off the floor. Whether he'll be able to do that in his rookie season is another question entirely. Still, the Heat have been patient in recent years with rookie development(look at Winslow)

That's all from the draft side of things! Miami did not make anymore moves and while a few major names shifted teams (Kemba Walker and Rudy Gobert) it's time to move on to easily the most exhilarating part of every offseason as an NBA fan. Free Agency! Now, there weren't any massive names expected to move. While LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, and DeMarcus Cousins are all FAs they all signed back with their respective teams. Some names that switched teams were the fact Isaiah Thomas had his market dry up on him and had to sign with the Atlanta Hawks on a 1-year deal. Carmelo Anthony left the championship OKC Thunder to go and get paid one last time with the Utah Jazz on a 3-year/85M deal. Chris Bosh left Houston to sign a 3-year/68M deal with the Dallas Mavericks. Besides, that, not major massive changes. But let's get into the biggest free agent signing the Heat made...

The Miami Heat have signed Dwyane Wade!

Analysis: You read that right. The 36-year old from Marquette has spent the last two seasons away from South Florida. The first season with the Chicago Bulls and last year with the Cleveland Cavaliers. While it may have pained many Heat fans to see it, you simply had to accept it and move on. With the Cavs last year, Wade averaged 11.1PPG, 4.9APG, 4.0RPG on 46% shooting. Not horrible. Still, following that disastrous 1st Round Exit and a somewhat acceptance that they won't be winning another title as LeBron decided to stay one more year in Cleveland, Wade felt like he had to do what was right for him, and James understood that. Looking at his options, there were two main contenders Wade could sign with. The San Antonio Spurs or Miami Heat. With Manu Ginobili retiring, Wade felt he could go over there and be a fantastic asset off the bench knowing that Pop would utilize him wisely and conserve him when needed. The other option was returning home, but now as a bench player rather than as the superstar he once was. The decision was extremely difficult for Wade, but ultimately he decided he wanted to retire the place he started his career. Both sides inked a 2-year/9.63M contract and were thrilled to be re-united with one another.

While D-Wade was easily the biggest signing of this Free Agency, the Miami Heat did have a few names they wished they could have signed that slipped right past them. One of those being named JJ Redick, who signed a 2-year/11.99M deal with the Spurs rather than going to Miami. The Heat would have loved his 3-point ability as a compliment off the bench but Redick figured otherwise. Another name that slipped through the cracks was Bojan Bogdanovic who signed a 2-year/12M deal with the Utah Jazz. A Croatian who could have provided a differing value to what Justise Winslow brought with his range, Bogdanovic didn't feel the money was there to sign with the Heat. Finally, you had Nikola Mirotic who signed a 2-year/13.3M deal with the Milwaukee Bucks. This was somebody who was surprised to see the Heat gather interest about. With James Johnson and already far too many bigs in Whiteside, Bam, and Olynyk it seemed strange that Miami would want such a lackluster defender in Mirotic but it was there, he just decided to sign elsewhere.

After striking out on those three guys but retaining D-Wade, Miami decided to go bargain hunting. Either looking for young players to give a second chance(worked with Waiters) or going after veterans who believed they could revive their careers(worked with Johnson). The first of those targets the Miami Heat honed in on was Kay Felder! Yes, the 5'9" point guard who has spent the last few seasons with the Cavaliers struggling to get on the floor. The 23-year old hardly had a market despite his offensive abilities due to his size and his scoring not justifying his other weaknesses. Still, due to the fact that the Heat had no one who could serve at the point other than Dragic last year, the Heat were intrigued. They saw what the Boston Celtics did with Isaiah Thomas after nobody wanted him. That's doubtful to reoccur with Felder, but the possibility is always there. Thus, the sides agreed to a 1-year/2.3M deal. If Felder can come off the bench and provide an offensive jolt while not performing too horrifically on defense, both sides would benefit greatly.

The next three signings the Heat made were rather curious ones. They signed James Ennis to a 1-year/1.48M deal(minimum), 32-year old Luc Mbah a Moute to the same minimum deal for one year, and finally none other than Nick "Swaggy P" Young himself to a minimum contract. Let's break this all down. Ennis was somebody who seemingly flamed out with the Heat and was traded after his inability to dribble was uncovered in the NBA. He spent the next few seasons in Memphis honing his skills, and has actually developed a fairly nifty 3 while he lacks in other areas. If an injury were to occur to Winslow or JJ, he could step in. Mbah a Moute is your classic PF at this point with his lack of shotm but his perimeter defense was what intrigued the Heat to take a flyer on him. How much of you see of him will be questionable due to the backlog of bigs, but don't be surprised if he contributes. Finally, you have Nick Young who did decent in his 1 year with the Warriors but not enough to justify being re-signed. I know it may seem repetitive to have both Waiters and Young on the same team, but as a spot-up shooter Young does have value in todays NBA.

So there you have it in terms of signing guys who will be playing in the NBA. Miami also signed a number of guys to two-way contracts. PG Briante Weber who's 25-years old and has been with the Heat before is back, and he could get called up in case of injuries. Another curious signing the Heat made was to 25-year old Latvian Davis Beterans, formerly with the Spurs. His market was quite bare due to his bad defensive skills but on a 2-way deal you can't really go wrong with him playing on your G-League team. In the Summer League, the Heat were carried by that nucleus combined with Felder and Mushidi to go 3-0 in the regular season of games and achieve the #1 seed. They then defeated the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves before falling to the Indiana Pacers in the Semi-Finals, one short of the tournament final. Still, a 5-1 record is a great showing from all the rookies and you hope to see them carry that to the games that matter later on in their careers.

2018/2019 Miami Heat Staring Rotation and Bench

Roster Summary:
PG: Goran Dragic --------> (82 OVR | 32 | 32 Minutes)
SG: Dion Waiters --------> (79 OVR | 26 | 31 Minutes)
SF: Justise Winslow -----> (76 OVR | 22 | 29 Minutes)
PF: James Johnson ------> (78 OVR | 31 | 29 Minutes)
C: Hassan Whiteside ----> (88 OVR | 29 | 32 Minutes)
6th: Dwyane Wade ------> (77 OVR | 36 | 23 Minutes)
7th: Kelly Olynyk --------> (77 OVR | 27 | 21 Minutes)
8th: Kay Felder ----------> (74 OVR | 23 | 15 Minutes)
9th: Bam Adebayo -------> (74 OVR | 21 | 10 Minutes)
10th: Kostja Mushidi -----> (73 OVR | 21 | 10 Minutes)
11th: Luc Mbah a Moute -> (73 OVR | 32 | 8 Minutes)
12th: Nick Young ---------> (74 OVR | 33 | 0 Minutes)
13th: Rodney McGruder --> (75 OVR | 27 | 0 Minutes)
14th: James Ennis --------> (74 OVR | 28 | 0 Minutes)
15th: Tyson Chandler ----> (74 OVR | 36 | 0 Minutes)

Analysis: Yup... there you have it. Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside are expected to be the catalysts of this team. If Dion Waiters could make that leap and become a 18-19PPG scorer that would be fantastic. Winslow needs to also continue developing. James Johnson needs to stay a glue portion of this team. You really hope D-Wade can provide a nice scoring and complimentary role off the bench but there are some doubts that situation could become a disaster if he plays poorly. Kelly Olynyk is somebody to watch since if he performs poorly he could be on the chopping block to make room for Bam Adebayo. Kay Felder and Mushidi both have to prove they can either make it at the NBA level or this very well could be the last stop for Felder and Mushidi could get buried if D-Wade performs, he could find himself riding the pine or even in the G-League.

Expectations: 45 wins and a 2nd Round appearance. That's it.

[georgiafan]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

2018 Miami Heat Offseason Summary

.

good stuff, you should keep on posting updates and join us in the dynasty section thread here

[Number999]

Re: Official NBA 2k18 MyLeague/MyGm Thread

2018/2019 Miami Heat Regular Season Summary

Introduction: The Miami Heat went through a relatively minor re-tooling following their 42-40 season including a 1st Round Exit in 5 games to the ECF Champions in the Boston Celtics. They got rid of a few names such as Tyler Johnson, Josh Richardson, and Tyler Johnson but they replaced them fairly adequately. The goal for the regular season is to be a mid-tier seed and achieve 45 wins, as well as make at least some minor noise in the postseason. Supposing that could be accomplished, the Heat could either try and retain this current core and continue adding to it or blow it up and either go for the tank with no 2020 selection and focus on re-tooling. Regardless, let's get on with how the regular season went!

Early on, the Heat's season was defined by injuries. In just the 3rd game vs the season vs Milwaukee, Hassan Whiteside suffered an injury that would sideline him for 1-2 weeks. Not long thereafter, Kelly Olynyk would also have one that would sideline him for a week. Through essentially the first 5 weeks of the season the Heat had mustered up just 3 wins. That's right. They had a record of 3-11 and were ranked dead last in their conference. Far from the ideal start to the season they would have liked to chase after that 45-win mark. Hell, with all the injuries it's not even like you could blow up the team since everyone was hurt. It got worse from there too because with a 9-15 since a blowout 40-win over the awful Chicago Bulls turned out to be devastating as Dion Waiters suffered a hyperextended shoulder injury that would sideline him for 4-6 weeks. At every turn there was just one injury or another that kept this team from playing at their full strength, and even with Whiteside/Olynyk back you now had a 36-year old Dwyane Wade re-emerge in your starting lineup!

Still, Miami maintained their focus despite all that surrounded them. It appears as though D-Wade getting a shot to start again jolted the offense in a way that was extremely unexpected. Most distinctly, this was seen on December 24th. The Heat had a record of 11-18 and were facing the 25-4 Boston Celtics at home, the team who defeated them last year in the playoffs and now held the best record through the season thus far. In a monster upset, D-Wade lead the way in scoring with 17 points as Boston's young-ins struggled in the hostile atmosphere. That win would seem to propel Miami who rattled off 6 wins in their next 8 games. Half of that being without Dwyane Wade who naturally suffered an injury involving his toe. With both Waiters and Wade out, that left none other than Kostja Mushidi forced to start! How did the rookie fair in baptism-via-fire level training? Surprisingly well. His best effort coming on the road against the atrocious 5-29 Phoenix Suns. Tied game at 77-77 late, the Heat were on the brink due to former Heat member Tyler Johnson going off from 3. Kostja Mushidi responded with a monster 3 and a couple clutch baskets at the rim to preserve victory, and the Heat would remember that going forward.

With a record of 17-20 on January 10th, the Heat now took a step back to analyze their situation. They were actually in the thick of the pack for the #8 seed in the Eastern Conference amongst the likes of the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and so on. The bottom of the East was performing poorly enough that despite the Heat had to go through those plague of injuries, they were hopefully coming out on the other side of it now and could hopefully finally get going. As a result of their success since that 3-11 start, the Heat made a major decision. They decided to re-up one of their core duo members in Goran Dragic who had a player option he could opt out of at the end of the year if he felt his time in Miami was meant to be over. Instead, he's enjoyed it here in South Florida, and thus the Slovenian decided to re-up with the Heat on a 2-year/32.24M extension. Seemingly a bargain for the 32-year old, it now insures Miami that the contracts of both him and Waiters will expire the same offseason. We'll explore more later on about why that's so significant.

The Heat even as they got healthy and got Dion Waiters back from injury and Wade became a consistent part of their rotation and the main 6th man off the bench again still couldn't rattle the injury bug. It would be one win here, 2 losses there, and then a key 5-win stretch at the end of January that propelled them to a 23-22 record following a monster 5-point win over the Golden State Warriors down 81-91 in the 4th where they were carried by Waiters and Dragic late. The reason they were snake-bitten? Kay Felder suffered a broken vertebrate during that little win streak and had his season ended prematurely. He was averaging 6.2 PPG on 42/29/76 splits off the bench in around 15 minutes per game. Nothing special, and his defense was still predictably terrible. The Heat would have to make up his minutes with the likes of Rodney McGruder and Nick Young in other ways. But that wasn't the part to get down about, the Heat made another extension signing soon after re-upping Dragic! They got the big man locked in... Hassan Whiteside! 2-years/57.62M for all 7 feet of him. The 29-year old has proven he didn't let his previous contract affect his play, and now with the team above .500, it could count on the team finally playing to the level they were expected to be at at the start of the year.

But then mediocrity settled in. Just a few weeks before the All-Star Break, Miami couldn't carry that momentum of the Warriors victory over to other games. Loss to Memphis, win over Washington, loss to Atlanta, Detroit, and Washington then a win over the Pistons, only to follow it up with back-to-back ugly performance against the Kings and Nuggets, both being losses. One small bright spot in that time span was a 99-95 victory over the OKC Thunder. The defending Champions, though they were without Carmelo Anthony they still had Russell Westbrook and Paul George as the core catalysts of their team. A 97-95 lead late, Westbrook attacked the rim after getting past Dragic and was BLOCKED AT THE RIM BY WHITESIDE! FOUL! HEAT ARE GONNA WIN THE GAME! I know it's just another regular season game but you gotta get up for that when you're playing the defending Champs. Whiteside with 20/17 and that block after signing that contract? That will ease the minds of many as people have their doubts about him as he enters his 30's.

With a 27-30 record at the All-Star Break, it was starting to become fair to wonder whether or not the Heat would just stay at this mark all year, fall off, or rise above. Pat Riley and the entire Heat front office wanted to see it as well. Thus, they made 0 changes at the trade deadline and did not seek to give this team any additional reinforcements. If they were supposed to make the playoffs, they'd find a way. If they didn't, sweeping changes would come in the offseason. Until April, things pretty much stayed the same way. 37-37 at the start of the final month of the regular season. They did have a few big wins in that mix, but how they played down this final stretch of games would define their entire season. The Wizards and Bucks were essentially in a deadlock with them, and you can't count on other teams to lose for you in these spots. The last two times the Heat missed the playoffs both had opportunities to get in if some specific teams lost, they didn't, and they missed out on the postseason because of it.

First game against the highly ranked Boston Celtics... is a victory! Out-scoring Boston bigtime in the 2nd half, a 24/12 game by Whiteside and 17-point effort by Winslow was enough to propel them past the evil Boston giants. The next game was against the Cleveland Cavaliers who were shockingly riding a 8-game losing streak as their season began to fall apart around them. The addition of Mike Conley in the offseason was not nearly as helpful as they'd thought. Still, they fended off the Heat in a 103-96 victory to send Miami back to .500 with a 38-38 record. 45 wins was no longer possible. The next 6 games would define how well this year went.... how would they fair?

Try 6-0 on for size. That's right. Miami swept their way tot he end of the regular season. First featuring a narrow 2-point win over Orlando by a score of 84-82, it took them holding the Magic to just 13 points in the 4th to make that happen. Everyone chipped in to make it happen. The next was a 14-point win over Brooklyn, a 29-point win over Chicago, and a 18-point win over Charlotte. All of these were non-playoff teams and to the neutral eye it may seem like nothing, but considering how much Miami had struggled in the past with these teams, it showed how badly the Heat knew they needed to perform and how well they did under that pressure. Just tremendous. The final 2 games of the season would be played vs Detroit, who held the same record as them at 42-38 and had the tie-breaker over them for the 6th seed. If they wanted to avoid Philadelphia(#2 seed), they needed to win both. The first game at home was breeze even with Detroit out-scoring them by 16 in the 4th. The Heat still won 109-92. The 2nd game though? My goodness. Talk about a classic. Down 99-104 with 1:48 remaining, Miami trusted in their big man to carry the load. Some big layups off pick-and-rolls from Dragic as well as big free throws at the line meant the Heat held a 106-104 led late. Detroit had the ball last and was going to Tobias Harris on James Johnson... fadeaway... NO GOOD! BUZZER SOUNDS! HEAT WIN! That's right, the Miami Heat actually finished the season just 1-win shy of their wanted total set out of the gate. With a record of 44-38, they now went from fighting just to make the playoffs to finishing with the 5th seed in the East!

2018/2019 NBA Standings:

Spoiler

Western Conference:
#1. Z - Houston Rockets (57-25)
#2. X - Minnesota Timberwolves (56-26)
#3. X - Golden State Warriors (54-28)
#4. X - Oklahoma City Thunder (52-30)
#5. X - Sacramento Kings (49-33)
#6. X - Portland Trail Blazers (43-39)
#7. X - Los Angeles Lakers (41-41)
#8. X- New Orleans Pelicans (40-42)
#9. San Antonio Spurs (39-43)
#10. Los Angeles Clippers (39-43)
#11. Memphis Grizzlies (35-47)
#12. Denver Nuggets (35-47)
#13. Utah Jazz (34-48)
#14. Dallas Mavericks (28-54)
#15. Phoenix Suns (21-61)

Eastern Conference:
#1. Z - Boston Celtics (60-22)
#2. X - Philadelphia 76ers (53-29)
#3. X - Toronto Raptors (49-33)
#4. X - Orlando Magic (49-33)
#5. X - Miami Heat (44-38)
#6. X - Cleveland Cavaliers (43-39)
#7. X - Detroit Pistons (42-40)
#8. X - Milwaukee Bucks (42-40)
#9. Washington Wizards (41-41)
#10. Indiana Pacers (37-45)
#11. New York Knicks (33-49)
#12. Brooklyn Nets (31-51)
#13. Chicago Bulls (30-52)
#14. Charlotte Hornets (28-54)
#15. Atlanta Hawks (25-57)

Analysis: In the West, you had a lot of familiar faces doing well. Houston(though they got 10 wins worse), Golden State, Oklahoma City, Portland, and Minnesota who saw a surge in play due to Towns/Wiggins/Butler all playing together a 2nd year. The surprises? I cannot explain the Kings success. They have 3 guys scoring double digits. Buddy Hield leading PPG scorer at 13.8, then Kenneth Faried at 10.9, and finally Skal Labissiere at 10.4 it's just bizarre. Their point differential is also shockingly low at 0.9, despite a 49-33 record. The reason they're ranked #1? #1 in the NBA in terms of least points allowed per game. They also turn the ball over a very small amount. But even looking at players individually, there's no one on their team that you say "he's a great defender!" so they're kind of an enigma. The Lakers were decent this year, led by Jordan Clarkson and Lonzo Ball but both have injuries as the playoffs come around which I imagine will plague them. Still, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma can do some damage. Pelicans finally made the playoffs with their monster bigs. They kept out the Spurs who for the first time since 1996/1997. Aldridge missed 20+ games, as did Gasol... but kind of inexplicable besides that. Mavs and Suns still both suck.

In the Eastern Conference, the top stayed the same in Boston and Philadelphia. The Raptors went from barely making it last year(yet still ending up in the ECF) to snatching the #3 seed led by DeRozan/Lowry + Miles/Ibaka/Valancinuas. The biggest shock in the East must be the Orlando Magic who soared above and beyond all that was expected of them. 35-47 to 49-33? How? Evan Fournier was their leading point scorer at 19.6, on tremendous efficiency of 50/44/86. Aaron Gordon had 18.8PPG with 8.7RPG, and has added a 3-point game to his arsenal. Nikola Vucevic gets you 16/9, Jonathon Simmons courtesy of the Spurs has been a great asset with his defense, and Elfrid Payton despite the fact he can't shoot is a 13/8 guy himself. They have a lot of slightly above average assets that gelled enough to finally become a winning team this season, good on them. It's further validated by ranking Top 10 in PPG as a team and 8th in potential differential at +2.7. Cavs struggled, Pistons are aight, the only stunner who didn't make the playoffs was Washington and John Wall and Beal both got hurt so missing by a game isn't too stunning. Bulls and Hawks each stay sucking as well.

Regular Season Stats

<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><link href="http://dynasties.operationsports.com/css/osdyn.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></head><body><table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" class="osdyn" width="575"><tr class="masthead_alt"><td bgcolor="#A10000" colspan="10"><span style="color:#FFFFFF">Miami Heat Stats - 18/19</span></td></tr><tr class="stathead"><td width="28%">Player</td><td align="right" width="8%">GP</td><td align="right" width="8%">MIN</td><td align="right" width="8%">PPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">RPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">APG</td><td align="right" width="8%">SPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">BPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">TPG</td><td align="right" width="8%">FPG</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Goran Dragic</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">32.6</td><td align="right" class="active">15.7</td><td align="right">2.8</td><td align="right">5.6</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">0.1</td><td align="right">1.8</td><td align="right">2.8</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Hassan Whiteside</td><td align="right">75</td><td align="right">30.2</td><td align="right" class="active">15.5</td><td align="right">10.9</td><td align="right">1.3</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">1.7</td><td align="right">1.4</td><td align="right">3.0</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Dion Waiters</td><td align="right">67</td><td align="right">28.9</td><td align="right" class="active">14.9</td><td align="right">2.6</td><td align="right">3.2</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">1.4</td><td align="right">2.2</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>James Johnson</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">28.6</td><td align="right" class="active">9.7</td><td align="right">5.3</td><td align="right">3.7</td><td align="right">1.0</td><td align="right">1.1</td><td align="right">1.5</td><td align="right">3.0</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Dwyane Wade</td><td align="right">78</td><td align="right">21.9</td><td align="right" class="active">9.1</td><td align="right">2.6</td><td align="right">3.3</td><td align="right">0.9</td><td align="right">0.7</td><td align="right">1.2</td><td align="right">1.3</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Justise Winslow</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">31.0</td><td align="right" class="active">8.8</td><td align="right">5.3</td><td align="right">2.7</td><td align="right">1.3</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">1.4</td><td align="right">2.5</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Kelly Olynyk</td><td align="right">76</td><td align="right">22.4</td><td align="right" class="active">8.4</td><td align="right">5.5</td><td align="right">2.9</td><td align="right">0.4</td><td align="right">0.4</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">2.7</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Kay Felder</td><td align="right">42</td><td align="right">14.9</td><td align="right" class="active">6.2</td><td align="right">1.3</td><td align="right">2.3</td><td align="right">0.7</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">1.2</td><td align="right">1.2</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Kostja Mushidi</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">14.2</td><td align="right" class="active">6.0</td><td align="right">2.3</td><td align="right">1.9</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">0.6</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">0.4</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Nick Young</td><td align="right">24</td><td align="right">9.4</td><td align="right" class="active">4.9</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">0.4</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.3</td><td align="right">1.2</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Rodney McGruder</td><td align="right">54</td><td align="right">11.2</td><td align="right" class="active">3.4</td><td align="right">1.6</td><td align="right">0.8</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.3</td><td align="right">1.1</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Bam Adebayo</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">11.5</td><td align="right" class="active">3.2</td><td align="right">3.0</td><td align="right">0.4</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">0.4</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">0.8</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>Luc Mbah a Moute</td><td align="right">82</td><td align="right">10.6</td><td align="right" class="active">2.4</td><td align="right">1.4</td><td align="right">0.6</td><td align="right">0.4</td><td align="right">0.2</td><td align="right">0.5</td><td align="right">0.6</td></tr><tr class="evenrow"><td>Tyson Chandler</td><td align="right">7</td><td align="right">9.4</td><td align="right" class="active">2.0</td><td align="right">2.7</td><td align="right">0.1</td><td align="right">0.0</td><td align="right">0.1</td><td align="right">0.1</td><td align="right">0.3</td></tr></table></body></html>
Analysis: Interesting comparison to last year, everybody saw a sort of slight dip in their statistics due to the fact Spoelstra ran an even slower offense that ranks as 3rd worst in terms of points per game but 2nd best in terms of least amount of points allowed per game. Good for a point differential of +1.3 that has them ranked 11th in the NBA. Dragic efficiency this year was alright at 47/38/81 while Waiters was at 47/35/82, both of them being respectable. Neither of them saw the boost in terms of point per game but considering the mold of this Heat team, that's kind of expected. Hassan Whiteside did not lead the league in rebounding for a 3rd straight year, instead this time finishing 4th behind Drummond, DeAndre, and Towns. James Johnson saw his efficiency go up as his usage went down. Dwyane Wade for the first time in his career did not average double digits in points per game, but that's expected from the 37-year old. Winslow saw his efficiency rise again, and there's some slight optimism he can jump to 4th on this team in points per game next year.

In terms of the bench, Kelly Olynyk has done enough to warrant sticking around. We already discussed earlier what happened with Kay Felder and let's be honest, he probably doesn't deserve a 2nd season here. Kostja Mushidi was decent for a rookie. Was the efficiency there? Not really. But 39/40/76 is something that has potential. Especially that 3-point shoot. Other than D-Wade, many of the free agent signings did not make humongous contributions. Nick Young was decent when he played, but didn't get enough time. Rodney McGruder was a fill-in guard whenever somebody got hurt. Bam Adebayo has been stuck behind Whiteside and Olynyk, and thus you haven't really seen what he can do other than minor performances in short bursts. Overall, now the worst year statistically but no abberations or anything to get too excited about.

2018/2019 NBA All-Stars:

Spoiler

Eastern Conference All-Stars:
#1. Kyrie Irving (94 OVR, 27, Celtics)
#2. John Wall (90 OVR, 28 Wizards)
#3. LeBron James (98 OVR, 34, Cavaliers)
#4. Giannis Antetokounmpo (97 OVR, 24, Bucks)
#5. Andre Drummond (90 OVR, 25, Pistons)
#6. Kyle Lowry (85 OVR, 33, Raptors)
#7. DeMar DeRozan (90 OVR, 29, Raptors)
#8. Otto Porter (86 OVR, 25, Wizards)
#9. Ben Simmons (90 OVR, 22, 76ers)
#10. Joel Embiid (89 OVR, 25, 76ers)
#11. D'Angelo Russell (87 OVR, 23, Nets)
#12. Isaiah Thomas (91 OVR, 30, Hawks)

Western Conference All-Stars:
#1. Damian Lillard (90 OVR, 28, Blazers)
#2. James Harden (96 OVR, 29, Rockets)
#3. Kevin Durant (97 OVR, 30, Warriors)
#4. Kawhi Leonard (95 OVR, 27, Spurs)
#5. Anthony Davis (96 OVR, 26, Pelicans)
#6. Chris Paul (90 OVR, 33, Rockets)
#7. CJ McCollum (83 OVR, 27, Blazers)
#8. Paul George (90 OVR, 28, Thunder)
#9. Blake Griffin (87 OVR, 30, Clippers)
#10. Marc Gasol (87 OVR, 34, Grizzlies)
#11. Karl-Anthony Towns (92 OVR, 23, Timberwolves)
#12. Nikola Jokic (90 OVR, 24, Nuggets)

2018/2019 NBA Awards:
MVP: (OKC) Russell Westbrook (25.3PPG, 9.9APG, 9.2RPG)
ROTY: (UTA) DeAndre Ayton (14.8PPG, 1.2APG, 10.5RPG)
6MOY: (NYK) Willy Hernangomez (11.7PPG, 2.0APG, 8.6RPG)
DPOY: (DET) Andre Drummond (14.4PPG, 4.1APG, 12.3RPG)
MIP: (GSW) Jordan Bell (9.6 PPG, 2.6APG, 8.2RPG)
COTY: (HOU) Mike D'Antoni (57-25 Record)