Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

The Conference Finals Postmortem

May 21st, 2017

By Vonny Lee



And now we're down to just two.

1. The Thunder

The fought as hard as they could. There were only two true blowouts in this series -- Game 1 (135-101, Thunder) and Game 7 (115-100, Sonics). Everything in between was a dog fight, violent, bloody and filled with a lot of dislike. The Thunder Got here and didn't have a ton of trouble -- the Pelicans were nuisances, the Clippers were sometimes a problem, but the Sonics were the ones they desperately wanted to sink. Beating Seattle, keeping them from another Finals appearance, was the best goal this Thunder team had.

And they failed. There's no other way to put it. The Thunder had chances in Games 3 and 5 to take advantage of the Sonics, but they couldn't close it out. They tied the series on multiple occasions but didn't have the man power to compete with Seattle's depth.

That's the damning takeaway and it's the takeaway that will likely end the Westbrook/Durant partnership. You could visibly see both players stressing on the court, their body language screaming frustration at their teammates and one another. Westbrook was a high-scoring, gunning savant in most of these games. Durant wasn't as effective as a league MVP should be, especially coming off the year he had.

With the Thunder eliminated, the team will now consider a future without Westbrook and it's a future that both parties probably need ... and secretly want. Westbrook wants to be paid like a superstar and he should get the chance; he also wants to be one of the league's all-time greats and he can be that on the Thunder, but any time anyone makes a statement Kevin Durant's name will be attached to him.

Ask Scottie Pippen how that feels, because he knows; anytime anyone mentions him, Jordan is mentioned soon after.

Where Westbrook goes, what the Thunder do with the money they'll have available, how they rebuild around Durant ... all that is up in the air. OKC enters the most important offseason in its short history.

2. The Wizards

They had every advantage. The Wizards had John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Brook Lopez anchoring their surprising team. They had battled through the Cavs and the 76ers to get to the ECF, their opponent was suffering from a crippling injury to their point guard, and the path to the Finals was clear.

But the Wizards looked overmatched in this series. They lost, 4-1, and they were only truly close in two of those games (Game 2 and Game 3). Bradley Beal and John Wall weren't efficient, as they forced up bad shots and their percentages weren't pretty because of it. Lopez performed as expected, the Wizards bench wasn't a factor, and the Raptors took this series based on their ability to force the Wizards into playing bad offense.

Washington now heads home, but they'll have some money to play with this offseason (nearly 20M) and they'll have questions at the three and the four, both positions of weakness for the Wizards (and places the Raptors took advantage of them).

Expect the core of Wall, Beal, and Lopez to be together for one more season, barring any injuries or horrible starts, but this year should be seen as a success. Washington may have missed a golden opportunity to make the Finals, but the experience its younger players got (Wall, Beal, and Oubre primarily) will help set this squad up for future success.

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

The Finals Preview

May 21st, 2017

By Vonny Lee



The entire season has led up to this.

1. Sonics vs. 1. Raptors

Seattle's return to the Finals was unexpected, but not wholly surprising. The Sonics went out and replaced Jarrett Jack with Brandon Jennings, replaced Thomas Robinson with Larry Sanders, sat Carl Landry for over half the year, but they're back on the greatest stage in the NBA for the second-year in a row.They've had to go through a gauntlet of Western Conference contenders, from the Spurs, to the Warriors, to their toughest test, the Thunder. They've survived each round but each one has was harder and harder.

But the Raptors might have had the tougher path. Toronto entered into the postseason a favorite out East, but a devastating injury to Kyle Lowry in the 1st round knocked him out for weeks, placing Corey Joseph in his place. The Raptors have had to adjust on the fly and nearly lost the 1st round series against the Magic, but pulled out a commanding victory in Game 5. In the 2nd round, the Raptors faced a determined and confident (and hot) SVG Pistons team, but survived to win in six games. In the ECF, they were though to be dead in the water against Wall, Beal, and Lopez, but beat the Wizards soundly in five games.

Now, both teams are in a place they've never been. Seattle is back in the Finals as a defending champion, something the franchise has never accomplished before (their prior championship in 1979 saw them lose in the WCF to the Lakers in 1980). For the Raptors, this marks their first ever appearance in the Finals, a feat the young franchise has sought since the days of Vince Carter and Chris Bosh.

The matchups are fairly even across the board, but Toronto has two distinct advantages: Corey Joseph (6'3" and quite fast) and Jonas Valanciunas. Joseph speed and six will be something Jennings will struggle to defend, while Valanciunas is much younger than Gortat and has a decent mid-range game. The Raptors bench and the Sonics bench are among the two best units in the league, so that should be a wash.

The biggest matchup is likely to be between Lance Stephenson and DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan is scoring a sick 26 points on 47 percent shooting (42 percent from deep) in the playoffs and he's stepped up his game in every round. Stephenson will have to slow him down and force the Raptors to rely on someone else for that scoring load -- it won't be easy and might requite Hollins to switch Hollis-Jefferson onto DeRozan (leaving Stephenson on the taller DeMarre Carroll).

The Raptors might have an ace in the hole in Kyle Lowry, however -- Lowry has been trying to come back to help his team in the playoffs and is reportedly willing to try if the Raptors medical staff give him the go ahead, but Toronto is hesitating -- they've found a winning formula without Lowry and it's likely his reinsertion back into the lineup would disrupt the chemistry the team has. If things get desperate, don't be surprised to see Dwayne Casey to break out Lowry and hope for the best.

Prediction: The Raptors have been predicted to lose the last two rounds of the playoffs and continue to defy expectations. Seattle wasn't supposed to survive the West, especially with the matchups they drew, and is coming off a draining seven game series with their arch rivals. It's a tough call, but I'm taking the Sonics in six.

[JazzMan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Looks like Lowry could be the X-Factor if he does end up playing, whether he's in the starting lineup or on the bench. Him and Joseph will definitely keep Jennings busy all series.

[AC]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Raptors in 4

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Raptors in 4

HAHA! That cracked me up.

Game 1 recap coming up.

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return



You might want to get the brooms ready. The SuperSonics lived up to the "super" part of their name and demolished, demoralized, and destroyed the Raptors in Game 1. There's really no other way to put it -- Toronto came out and fell flat on their faces.

Things got out of hand early for the Raptors and after one quarter, they were down by 11 points. Kyle Lowry entered the game and played the bulk of the rest of the game as the Raptors struggled to stay out of foul trouble (Valanciunas had two fouls before the end of the first and saw a lot of pine in the second), and get back in the game.

But Seattle was absolutely locked in defensively, pickpocketing the Raptors on multiple occasions in the first half, coming up with steals, blocks, and unforced errors. The Raptors composure just gave away as the game progressed and by halftime they were down by 21 points.

The third quarter was more competitive for the Raptors as they came out with a renewed sense of defensive purpose. They forced their own turnovers and began trapping Seattle's players, sending double-teams at multiple Sonics.

But the Sonics managed to withstand the storm, didn't let the Raptors get closer than 14 points, and put them away calmly in the fourth quarter. The lead was so big that Lionel Hollins played Malik Newman (MALIK!) and Chris McCullough (he's still on the team?) the last two minutes of the fourth, letting the younger players finish off the Raptors.

Toronto was embarrassed this game and Coach Casey wasn't pleased at all.

"We came out and forgot to play defense. I'm not sure what happened, not sure why not a single person on this team could communicate with one another out there, but we have to fix it. It starts with everyone, from the coaching staff to the guys on the floor, but we've got to get on the same page. This can't happen again," said Casey.

For the Raptors sake, they better hope it doesn't happen again. Otherwise, this series will be over fast.

Go Sonics.

[Jogo]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Sweep inbound! You best be raising that banner already

[vinaa23]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Hey trek, regarding the whole debate of raising the difficulty level/playing just some games in the playoffs... why don't you switch teams and face the monster you created? I know it will be somewhat harder storyline-wise but I think that would be pretty cool if Max or any other character built a juggernaut from the ground up to clash against the Sonics.
Even if you won't do it right now, I have to ask: are you planning on switching teams at some point during the 80 years or will you just stick with Seattle?

Also, your thread is really really good (as usual). Nice job handling the Thunder, seems like Westbrook's time in OKC is up now. And I don't think the Raptors sans-Lowry is enough to deny these Sonics of the repeat. Keep up with the good work, my friend. I'll be surely following as always

[gotvtec_3]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Hey I love this thread from your franchise to everyone's input! I restarted my nuggets myleague and I'm at the trade deadline and not one trade I could approve of cause that lack fair or realism.. Any ideas I could make between all these teams and could benefit? Also any input of gettin rid of my trio of contracts Iike chandler Gallo or faried?? Would prefer to keep chandler but have no problems get the other guys. Most of all Danilo gallinari! Help please!! Thank you guys so much!

[BlindSideNZ]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Hey I love this thread from your franchise to everyone's input! I restarted my nuggets myleague and I'm at the trade deadline and not one trade I could approve of cause that lack fair or realism.. Any ideas I could make between all these teams and could benefit? Also any input of gettin rid of my trio of contracts Iike chandler Gallo or faried?? Would prefer to keep chandler but have no problems get the other guys. Most of all Danilo gallinari! Help please!! Thank you guys so much!

Quite honestly this could be answered a 100 different ways. What direction are you looking to take the nuggets in?

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Hey trek, regarding the whole debate of raising the difficulty level/playing just some games in the playoffs... why don't you switch teams and face the monster you created? I know it will be somewhat harder storyline-wise but I think that would be pretty cool if Max or any other character built a juggernaut from the ground up to clash against the Sonics.
Even if you won't do it right now, I have to ask: are you planning on switching teams at some point during the 80 years or will you just stick with Seattle?

Also, your thread is really really good (as usual). Nice job handling the Thunder, seems like Westbrook's time in OKC is up now. And I don't think the Raptors sans-Lowry is enough to deny these Sonics of the repeat. Keep up with the good work, my friend. I'll be surely following as always

Switching teams? I never considered it, no, but it's definitely an idea. I know it feels like I made a monster, and in some respects I have, but I don't think I'll need to worry about it.

I do have plans to have some competition for the Sonics from other characters this upcoming season. I've been slowly laying the groundwork for that (as opposed to jumping straight into it) and an arms race is going to kick off out West between Seattle and OKC.

Further down the line (decades down the line, at least two) there are plans for some serious family drama.

Ultimately, my desire and want is to build a franchise with a rich legacy of championships and winners, much like the Celtics and Lakers. The closest any NBA team comes to that is the Jordan Bulls, but they only have six titles and haven't really been a threat since the MVP year for Rose. I'd like another franchise to rise up and join the Lakers/Celtics teams in that pantheon of great franchises.

Next season I will play less games and hopefully the league will take advantage of that, but we'll see. I hate to win so much, but its not like my roster is a world-beater -- it really isn't spectacularly great.

[Teleo]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Trek, I hope I'm not repeating redundancy with this question: I read that your sliders have no adjustments to them (simulation) and a majority of the cpu decisions are automatic, but what do you have the other MyLeague settings at? Thanks man!

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return

Trek, I hope I'm not repeating redundancy with this question: I read that your sliders have no adjustments to them (simulation) and a majority of the cpu decisions are automatic, but what do you have the other MyLeague settings at? Thanks man!

Most of my other MyLeague settings sit at the default level of 50, but I have a few that sit below that at 40.

1. CPU Injury Frequency is at 40 -- mostly because the CPU kept getting hurt a ton at 50.

2. User Injury Frequency at 40 -- same logic as above, though this one might need to be bumped up to 45 based on how uninjured my team has been for most of these two seasons so far. Only Noel, Landry, and Jennings have suffered any serious injuries and those lasted, as most, only about 8 weeks.

3. Career-Ending injury frequency is at 40 -- career enders so rarely happen IRL, I feel like having it at 40 might be too high, but no one has suffered one yet, so it stays at 40 until otherwise.

4. User injury effects at 40 -- just to keep it consistent with the injury frequency slider.

5. CPU injury effects at 40 -- same logic as above.

Everything else sits at the default 50. That said, I am considering raising the player progression rate (because guys progress by 2-3 points depending on the player and that seems slow to me). I think bumping that up to 60 might be the way to go, but I need to run some tests.

Also might bump up the in-season training effects, just because they don't seem to have any effect at the default level of 50, but how often do we see an NBA player progress dramatically at a skill in-season? I can't think of one, so leaving it at 50 is probably right for realism's sake.

I'm also considering raising the simulator difficulty to 55 or 60 next season if I continue to romp through the league. I'm hesitant to do it, simply because I feel like the simulator will punish me for not playing if I do, but we'll see.

I think those are the only adjustments I made, other than making the salary cap increase be slightly less that 50 (I think I said 45 on that slider) at the beginning of the dynasty, just because the CPU teams have money to burn already and the players don't generally ask for enough, so I kept it lower than 50 in order to offset that.

EDIT: I've decided to bump up player progression up to 60, which -- according to my tests -- gives most young players a bump of at least 2 points and a max of 4 (depending on their potential/age), which feels about right when you look at the jumps some guys in the league make. Most young players seem to really enter their peak by year 3 or 4, so you know what you have (mostly) by that point.

Still gonna keep regression at 50, to allow for the necessary drop off for the older players so the younger can take over.

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return



The Seattle SuperSonics walked into Canada up 2-0 in the series after a too-close-for-comfort 84-83 win in Game 2. The Raptors made that game ugly and found a spark off the bench from Kyle Lowry (18 points in 20 minutes), and nearly pulled off the upset. Coming into Game 3, Toronto was fully expected to put up a serious fight.

In the first quarter, the Raptors did just that. DeMar DeRozan picked up where he left off in Game 2 and was knocking down a ridiculous amount of shots. DeRozan was the thorn in the Sonics side all game and the Sonics were fine letting him score -- DeRozan carried the Raptors in the first quarter with 18 points, but Seattle still led 25-22 after one.

When DeRozan went to rest in the second, Seattle took off. The bench unit went flying into the Raptors and Toronto had no answer as Bogdanovic and Landry rushed all over the Raptors. The starters, once reinserted, took it to Toronto as well and the Raptors simply couldn't keep up. They went into halftime down 54-42.

In the third, Toronto would begin to mount a bit of a comeback, home pride coming into play. Once more, Kyle Lowry came off the bench and provided valuable minutes as Corey Joseph continued to struggle from the field. Lowry saw the bulk of the minutes in the second half, but it was too little too late for the Raptors.

The Sonics just kept at it, getting to the line 26 times (and scoring on 20 of those trips). Marcin Gortat was clutch in the second half as he scored the majority of his points there; not only that, he got Valanciunas in foul trouble, forcing the Raptors to play their bench bigs longer than usual, which only meant good things for the Sonics.

Seattle now has a 3-0 series lead and is looking for the first NBA Finals sweep since the 2006-07 Spurs did it to the LeBron led Cavs.

Go Sonics.

[trekfan]

Re: Second Coming: A SuperSonics Return



The Seattle SuperSonics are once again NBA Champions. Game 4 saw a stellar effort from all of the Sonics, but two primarily standout -- Nerlens Noel (named Finals MVP) and Jamal Crawford. The game was a rout from the beginning, but didn't stay that way for long.

In the first, the Raptors made the surprise move of starting Kyle Lowry -- Lowry, who was still dealing with lingering effects from his injury -- and the move looked to be a disaster. Toronto came out flat as Seattle ran all over them, bludgeoning them inside (again, Valanciunas had serious trouble defending the Sonics bigs) and getting out to a large 30-16 lead.

In the second quarter, the Raptors went to their bench for some sort of spark and found one in Delon Wright. Wright came in and immediately hit a triple to get the Raptors going -- the three would be the shot Toronto would cast up more often than not to get back in the game, and the strategy initially paid dividends as the Raptors shaved the Sonics lead to just nine-points at the half.

But the Sonics adjusted in the second half, as the third quarter became the Jamal Crawford show. Playing in his last season, in likely his last game, Crawford showed off all the moves that made him one of the most exciting (and underrated) players in the NBA. Crawford got inside, flipped up unlikely layups, drew fouls, grabbed boards, and-1s, and dished out some sick passes to set up his teammates.

And his teammates responded, feeding the old man on the roster and watching as he schooled his younger counterparts one more time.

"Special, it was real special," said Crawford after the game. "Couldn't have asked for a better way to finish, couldn't have asked for a better group of guys."

The Sonics ended the quarter on an 8-0 run, taking an 85-68 lead into the fourth in what looked like a cakewalk. But there was still time left on the clock and still time for the Raptors to mount a comeback.

And come back they did. The Raptors, after a turnover-prone third quarter, got a grip on their ball handling and went to work. Lowry, a virtual missing man throughout the first three quarters, finally found his stroke and the Raptors began to resemble the squad that lead the Eastern Conference all regular season. Toronto's offense was humming and the Sonics found themselves watching Lowry abuse them every which way -- in the post, from behind the arc, driving and dishing in the paint -- and the Raptors around Lowry responded by knocking down their shots.

The fourth quarter saw a complete reversal of fortunes as the Sonics couldn't stop a cold as the Raptors wiped away the majority of the Sonics lead, and the Air Canada Center awoke from its depressed slumber. The crowd was back and in it for the first time since the opening tip. The Sonics looked rickety out there and momentum was on the Raptors side.

With less than 1:25 to go in the game, Toronto had the inbound and was looking to pass the ball, but a lazy pass from DeMarre Carroll (responsible for two turnovers the entire game, but two egregious ones) resulted in an easy steal for RHJ, who promptly passed the ball to a streaking Lance Stephenson. Lance dunked the ball home, pushing the lead to 106-96 with 1:17 to go.

That proved to be the backbreaker and the Raptors never truly threatened again.

Seattle has now captured two straight NBA titles.

Go Sonics.