ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

[J-Clutch1]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

I decided to restart my Nets Association.

So after the first 12 games, my team is 9-3.

My first loss came to against the Pacers. It turned out to be a shootout and they prevailed with a 1 point win because of a clutch 3 made by Granger with 1.2 seconds left. So my record then was 7-1 i think.

I won my next to games after that and was looking to face the young and talented Hawks in a back to back series. The first game was definitely a defensive battle and my scorers just didn't get into a rhythym. In the end, the Hawks won both games by a close margin.

Surprisingly my next game was against the Heat and i beat them by 1.

So i then decided sim the rest of my season and move into the offseason. The Nets made the playoffs at 44-38 but were defeated by the Magic in the first round of the playoffs. I chose to decline my options on some of my players which left me a big hole at the SF and PF/C positions.

In the draft, i managed to get the 7th AND 16th pick. The 7th came from a trade with the Grizzlies. I managed to draft Stephen Curry, who would bring me a decent scorer off the bench despite his size, and Demar DeRozan, who i think will be SF but has some ball handling and scoring problems.

My current rotation looks like this:

PG Devin Harris
SG Vince Carter
SF Jarvis Hayes
PF Yi Jianlian
C Brook Lopez

6th: Demar DeRozan
7: Chris Douglas-Roberts
8: Stephen Curry
9: Luc Mbah a Moute(signed him during free agency
10: Sean Williams
11: Keyon Dooling
12: Desmond Mason

[j-rod1326]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

I just posted this in the Bulls association thread and decided to post here as well. anyway...

I am 4 games away from the All-Star Break in early february. I am 26-23 with my Bulls. 3.5 games behind the Pistons (28-18) for the division lead and I am 4th in the conference. I made some trades to better my team in the long run as well as right now. Take a look

Starters

Rose
Gordon
Deng
Thomas
Gooden

Bench new additions bolded (the useful ones)

Hughes-gotta get rid of this guy eventually, I can't stand his jumpshot
Sabastian Telfair-backup PG upgrade and young player to improve and develop
Kevin Love-incredible rookie, will develop over time
Jamario Moon-great addition, plays wing and big man, I love to use him
Thabo Sefolosha-gets good minutes off the bench, skilled player
Joe Smith-bench player
Jason Collins-bench player


I gave up Nocioni, Hinrich, and Gray who I could not have cared less losing but the one player I enjoyed playing with who I dished off was Noah. I got rid of him because of his ridiculous attitude, but he was helpful with his rebounding and offensive ability.

[JBH3]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

Nice off-season,^^^

personally i would have preferred dunleavy to miller, i also think he would be a more likely candidate especially since minny would like the 2010 cap relif miller would have given them.

Dont ask my why but a really like the signing of jaque vaughn, i think hed be a great defensive backup pg for phx. I would have prefferred a big bodied centre over gooden though, being the basketball protaganist that i am, i feel gooden would only sign to be a starter and wouldnt be effective at C.

Are you gonna go after any more athletic SF's, and is jared dudley get much run in your rotation?

good post(s) btw.

Thanks.

I don't know how much actual cap relief Minny would've had since they've got a lot of guys under contract, a lot of young players' options to renew, and an $11+mil contract w/ Big Al.

I'm going to check up on that tonight just to see what there possibilities would've been pre-trade...for G/P. I didn't get a chance to get on 2K9 last night.

Besides...Minny has been devoid of a quality PG since Sam Cassell and/or Terrell Brandon were there. In Barbosa they get someone who instantly becomes a starter, w/ playoff experience, and great on both sides of the ball...and in addition a young PG to compete w/ Telfair...someone w/ much better size, Dragic is 6'4", higher potential, and better offensive ratings in shooting.

A trade w/ the Pacers was pretty much out of the question though since that would've left Indy w/ TJ Ford, Tinsley, Jarrett Jack, AND Barbosa.

Although Tinsley is on the outs IRL in Indy he's still been used effectively by Indy in the game. I would've liked him but I didn't want to take on Tinsley's contract, and didn't really have anybody to add to the deal to make the cap numbers match.

Regarding Gooden...To get Drew on my team, and signed under a 'role-player' role I had to overpay for him.

When other teams were giving him 4 yrs and $17-18 mil I had to jump to 4 yrs and $20.89 mil...in order to get his interest ALL the way up to land him. For his first year w/ the team he'll be used as a backup to Shaq and Amare, and a post option off the bench.

The next 3 years of his deal he could become my starting Center, or at the very least my 6th man - which he might be anyways at the end of the year.

Robin Lopez is progressing nicely so he could definitely be the starting C post Shaq...In my 1st game of the 2009-10 season he led Phoenix in scorng w/ 22 points off the bench in 26 minutes of action. He also had 7 boards and 2 blocks.

As for Dudley...he still has a 'Role-Player' role which was given to him by Charlotte. He played a lot of minutes in my first gm of the new season, but he doesn't really factor into my rotation and I can only see him getting minutes off the bench if I get hit by injuries or players get into foul trouble.

I've got him on the block, and I'm trying to move him for another PG.

Jacque Vaughn's first game surprised me. I was playing off ball and guarding Roy, and the CPU controlling Vaughn came up w/ a BIG steal in the 3rd qtr on Steve Blake. Vaughn was speedy enough to get out on the break and get a lay-up. I do like his defense, and if that steal is a pre-cursor to his D then I can see him getting more minutes than expected.

I don't really want to play my rookie PG all that much in his 1st season, and the backup I want to get in exchange for Dudley is more to find a replacement for the minutes I'm giving to the rook than for Vaughn.

love the off season as well. I might have to sim my season to the playoffs and see what happens and then play in the off season. I might enjoy the 09-10 Suns instead of this team. After I read yours, I was thinking that I might have to start the sim!!! Damn Portland and the matrix.

I really like my 2009-10 Suns.

I want to get through even more offseasons so a plan I've come up w/ is playing one game a week and simming the rest of the games that week.

I call it ... my "Game-of-the-Week" ... So essentially I'd play 24-25 games, or a quarter of the season this way.

I'd typically play the team that would pose the toughest matchup, or if on a losing/winning streak the next game which would break/extend that streak.

If I make the playoffs then I play every game of every series I'm a part of.

I would still be scouting, developing my players who fit my house rule of not exceeding 22 yrs of age to be developed, and this way I would be able to get through more seasons to get deeper into the association mode - which is what I want to do.

It also puts a HUGE importance on the user games I play...Obviously if I win all those matchups then I'm probably half way to the playoffs in terms of wins.

I really like this idea...So far... as a user in my 2009-10 season, I'm 0-1 after losing to Portland.

There was one other game my first week against LAC and I lost that one too so my 2009-10 Suns are 0-2, and riding a two game losing streak.

Interestingly enough my next game is against Minnesota. That will be my game of the week, and hopefully I can end this two game losing streak. It will be interesting to see how this Minny team will play now in the Leandro Barbosa era too.

[JBH3]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

When I get home I can post the FA acquisitions the CPU made...

And here they are...In alphabetical order by team.

Ike Diogu signed w/ Atlanta
Nate Robinson signed w/ Atlanta
Marvin Williams signed w/ Atlanta

Richard Hendrix signed w/ Charlotte

Channing Frye signed w/ Chicago

Brandon Bass signed w/ Dallas

Grant Hill signed w/ Denver
Joe Smith signed w/ Denver

Ramon Sessions signed w/ Detroit

Michael Finley signed w/ Golden State
Bobby Jackson signed w/ Golden State

Jamaal Magloire signed w/ Houston

Ben Gordon signed w/ LAC
Chris Wilcox signed w/ LAC

Chris Mihm signed w/ LAL

Trevor Ariza signed w/ Memphis

Carlos Boozer signed w/ Miami
Jerry Stackhouse signed w/ Miami

Steve Francis signed w/ Milwaukee

Stromile Swift signed w/ New Orleans

Jamal Crawford signed w/ OKC
Adonal Foyle signed w/ OKC
Dwayne Jones signed w/ OKC
Andre Miller signed w/ OKC
Jameer Nelson signed w/ OKC
Charlie Villanueva signed w/ OKC

Ryan Bowen signed w/ Orlando
Brevin Knight signed w/ Orlando
Anderson Varejao signed w/ Orlando

Drew Gooden signed w/ Phoenix
Awvee Storey sigend w/ Phoenix
Jacque Vaughn signed w/ Phoenix

Luther Head signed w/ Portland
Shawn Marion signed w/ Portland

Michael Doleac signed w/ Sacremento

Hakim Warrick signed w/ Toronto

Paul Millsapp signed w/ Utah
Chris Quinn Signed w/ Utah

As you can see the Thunder loaded up on guards w/ Crawford, Miller, AND Jameer Nelson signing w/ them...when they've already got Earl Watson and Russel Westbrook; although Watson has an expiring contract.

I made Jamal Crawford a SG (was a PG w/ GSW), and I moved Jeff Green over to PF to spread their talent around. Charlie V is a role player for them, and Nelson is thier 6th man w/ Andre Miller starting at the point and Westbrook being a RP too.

I'll look to make a 3-team trade to send out Earl Watson (and maybe another guard) to a CPU team in need. Although I would like to have Watson for myself...I just don't have a $6mil contract to offer.

I think that the Heat, Thunder, Blazers, Hawks, Clippers, and myself (PHX) had the best signings.

Boozer in Miami is golden...The signing definitely puts the Heat back into serious contention in the East since they also got a nice Center w/ their lottery pick.

Nate Robinson as the Hawks 6th man is a nice addition to Atlanta.

Ben Gordon to the Clippers is a great sign too IMO, even w/ Gordon on board.

The moves didn't quite add up, but since the Thunder signed a lot of talented guards which can be traded for pieces of need you've got to say that thier signings were good too.

The Blazers are the team which I think got the best...Adding Marion makes them a pretty formiddable defensive team w/ Gregg Oden too. I've already lost to them by double digits in the first gm of the season.

Lastly, I like my signings a lot. Most of all the Drew Gooden one of course. Even though I offered $2mil over what other teams were willing to give him on a 4yr deal, he has paid dividends so far, and is a VERY important player in my rotation.

[JBH3]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

.................................................. .....................................

As far as the 2nd season of my association is going...

I played my 3rd game of the season last night which was a road game against Minnesota - the first time these teams face off post the Barbosa/Miller trade.

Minny got at me in the first qtr, and about midway through the 2nd had got out to a 23 PT LEAD! However, I would close the half out strong w/ 5:00 left w/ great shooting from none other than Mike Miller.

Minny would only be leading by 10 at the half.

The 3rd Qtr I played my best ball getting up by 13, and shutting Minny down in that qtr.

However, late in the game w/ under 4:00 minutes left they went on an 8-0 run and tied the game 102-102.

Minny ended up jumping ahead on 'none-other' than a Leandro Barbosa 3.

Minny had to sit Barbosa for a lot of this game due to foul trouble, and his shots weren't falling either as he finished 6-15 for 13 points.

Nevertheless, he hit a clutch 3 and got Minny the lead for the 1st time since somewhere midway through the 3rd qtr.

I was able to get the lead again, but w/ 7.7 seconds left and only up by 2 Barbosa got a laser pass to the paint which Al Jefferson layed up for an easy bucket. I quickly called a T/O and had 4.4 seconds left to score the game winning shot.

I inbounded to J-Rich who had a nice look on the right baseline, but bricked it...game ends in reg. tied 115-115...

O/T here we come...

I was able to get out to a slim lead early in O/T, but everyone went cold w/ about 1:30 left to go and Minny would end up winning 135-132 in O/T...

I only got to 132 thanks to a 3 I chucked w/ Steve Nash slightly past half-court so Minny really won by 5 in this one, IMO.

I was so pissed at this loss that I had to avenge it...BUT...Since I'm only playing ONE gm a week I simmed the only other game I had that week, being a gm w/ LAC, which resulted in my 4th straight loss to begin the 2009-10 season.

.................................................. .....................................

When the next week rolled around my first gm of the week was a hm gm w/ Memphis.

It was a tug-of-war through the first half w/ both teams exchanging leads, but I was able to get out to a double digit lead late in the 3rd and survive what "pushes" Memphis made from there on...,

AND FINALLY GOT MY 1st WIN OF THE SEASON...108-95.

I was also helped out by poor shooting by Memphis in the 2nd half as they finished the game shooting 38% from the floor.

My bench was almost a non-factor in this one as I only got scoring from Gooden (8pts), and Dudley (2pts).

Stoudamire almost single-handedly beat Memphis, as this was easily my best performance w/ him since playing games as the Suns.

Amare finished w/ 34 pts and 23 Rebounds. Going 16-25 from the field, and 2-2 from the line adding 3 blocks and 3 assists.

Mike Miller finished w/ 28 pts, and hit 4 3's and also got to the line going 5-5.

J-Rich had 19, and hit 3 threes...but wasn't very efficient shooting.

Nash also had a double double w/ 11 pts (two 3's) and 13 assists.

[bols8875]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

Just finished off my regular season with the Cavs, finished off 19-10 which was good enough to jump me ahead of the Magic for the 1st seed in the East.
I play the Heat in the first round.
Lebron won MVP averagin 27 /7/6
Vince Carter finished averagin 22 and Mo Williams at 17 ppg

I won the first game of the series againt the Heat 94-79 as our defense played phenomenal. Lebron dropped 33 followed by Mo's 22.

[asterisk]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

For those of you past the first season: How are the players progressing? How are the created rookies?

I simmed to the next season in my association to check if it was worth it to keep my draft picks, and the majority of the rookies were rated in the 60s and 70s, with the top rated player rated 80. Definitely not as good as the rookies in the game right now like Rose, Beasley, Mayo etc. I was just wondering if there are any good rookies in your associations.

[X-_-Facter]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

Unlike the 'Assoc. Plans' thread where everyone is mainly talking about trading/signings/etc...

Post/discuss what success, or lack thereof, you're having in your association.

yo my team right now is roko uick(trying to trade)DWADE L deng David West Tyson Chandler and M redd(tadeing with roko)i had better players but my team was not good because their was o chemistry i think it was 12%LOL but yea every one wanted the all(just scored 62 points with DWADE in 5min things!!!!!)

[BamaBoy88]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

27-15 with the Orlando Magic no trades the roster is still the same.

[3rdAnswer]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

The other week I finished the first season in my Blazers association. I lost in the Western Conference Finals to the Lakers, the eventual Champions.

I've already been through all of the off-season stuff, Rudy Fernandez returned to my lineup from a torn achillies, and I picked up Marquis Daniels.

My lineup looks as so:

Jerryd Bayless
Brandon Roy
Travis Outlaw
LaMarcus Aldridge
Greg Oden
Steve Blake
Rudy Fernandez
Shane Battier
Channing Frye
Joel Pryzbilla
Nicolas Batum

I started the 2009 season 5-0, and Greg Oden has already won a Player-of-the-Week Honor.

I think we can win the championship.

[dazpoo23]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

Nice pickup with daiels, a very under-rated 2-guard (just cause he cant jack up three's!)

I was wondering, have you made any adaptations by implementing darius miles' salary into your assoication, or have any blazer users done this. It would definetly make thing harder, but technically more realistic.

[KLima878]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

I’m using the New Orleans Hornets. Right now my record is 20-17 and in 6<SUP>th</SUP> place in the conference. I just had a big win against the Detroit Pistons 92-80. Chris Paul is averaging 18 ppg with 9.6 assists. West is average about 17 and 8. I’m having trouble scoring on a consistent basis with anybody but Paul. Posey started for about 30 games but now comes off the bench. Julian Wright has started to play well at the SF and PF positions in limited time.<O</O
<O</O
My Lineup:<O</O
<O</O
PG: Chris Paul<O</O
SG: Maurice Peterson<O</O
SF: Peja Stojakovic<O</O
PF: David West<O</O
C: Tyson Chandler<O</O
Bench:<O</O
6: James Posey<O</O
7: Antonio Daniels<O</O
8: Rasual Butler<O</O
9: Juilan Wright<O</O
10: Melvin Ely<O</O
11: Hilton Armstrong<O</O
12: Devin Brown<O</O
IR:<O</O
Sean Marks<O</O
Ryan Bowen<O</O

[PsychoBulk]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

Following on from this ive won 8 straight and am now 27-13, really playing some good ball, but still chasing the 34-5 Cavs who have won 17 straight

1 more game and im officially halfway through the season.

Ive already decided i wont be re-signing AI (but probably will Sheed unless i can maybe get Boozer) so will have plenty of money to throw at the many juicy free agents in the coming off season.

Eventually ended up winning 14 straight until the Heat came to The Palace and led by Beasleys 26pts and 12rebs ended it.

Currently 34-14, 3 games left before the All-Star break.

Ive just signed Sheed to a 1 year extension, he only wanted $5.6m, worth every dime. I plan to go after Boozer with my $18m of free cap space as i will be letting AI go.

Im now playing the game more often in the hope of getting the season and playoffs done before MLB 09 The Show is out...dont know if ill do it.

[skitch]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

I have about 15 games to go with the Grizzlies. I'm 5 GB in the division and stand as the fifth seed in the West. O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay are definitely the heart and soul of my team, and as they go, we go. However, I really need to acquire some help on the block this offseason. I've cleared enough cap space by moving Darko and taking on some expiring contracts to really make a run in free agency for either Boozer or Al Jefferson. My lineup, as of now, is as follows...

PG - Mike Conley/Kyle Lowry/Marko Jaric
SG - O.J. Mayo/Kyle Weaver/Marko Jaric
SF - Rudy Gay/Marko Jaric/Antoine Walker
PF - Hakim Warrick/Darrell Arthur/Stromile Swift
C - Marc Gasol/Stromile Swift

All four of my big men play about the same amount of minutes per game, but none of them seem to be able to lock up opposing big men or grab enough rebounds. Arthur has really done well as of late, and has put up a couple of 15+ point games. I'm thinking about sending Warrick and Walker somewhere for another big in the offseason.

I'd also like more of a factor at PG. Conley has been solid, but he really doesn't bring much to the table besides his 5 APG. He botches layups frequently, and is very ineffective with his jumper. I don't exactly need a scorer at point guard, but it'd be nice to have somebody that can hit the open three and play lockdown defense. Any ideas?

[j-rod1326]

Re: ASSOCIATION PROGRESS

I have the Chicago Bulls up 1-0 in round 1 of the playoffs against the Pistons. I played the season on superstar, finished 43-39. I am playing on hall of fame for the playoffs.