Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

[Stout]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Yeah, did Orlando give up too much Ibaka, or what? Oladipo is almost as good as Ibaka is now and he's got way more potential to flourish ... Ibaka looks like a shell of himself, honestly. At least here, Oladipo can thrive and be used to his full potential.

That's the Brooklyn way: we take failed assets and use them well! Well, that and trading away all our picks. It's good to see Favors back too, especially after the trade that backfired (though I still don't regret as a Nets fan because Deron wasn't the problem until the last season, but that's another convo entirely...)


This should go without saying but great work so far. Let's hope season 3 continues the development made in season 1 and 2...

[Slyone14]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Yeah, did Orlando give up too much Ibaka, or what? Oladipo is almost as good as Ibaka is now and he's got way more potential to flourish ... Ibaka looks like a shell of himself, honestly. At least here, Oladipo can thrive and be used to his full potential.

Hey, don't quit on me now, I love this dynasty

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Hey, don't quit on me now, I love this dynasty

No, no, not quitting. Work is insane this week, boss is out of town and I'm swamped, so my time is limited till we hit the weekend. Got a few updates in the can, working on some new uniforms for the Knights and the Knicks -- they need a refresh.

As always, stay tuned.

[Schrankwand]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Read your great NBA2k16 Sonics Dynasty silently. Always come back for this one as well to get myself pumped up for my own MyLeague.

Great read, trek! Big love from Germany!

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story



Ch. 45

Free agency for us was saying goodbye to Jordan Mickey — he signed with the Grizzlies and, though he didn’t have a good chance at starting, he had a chance to be a big player for them off the bench. Memphis was starved for youth and Mickey signing there was a good grab for them; I was going to miss him, but with him gone that meant we could devote our attention to retaining Gbinije. Surprisingly, he gave us a very team friendly deal and I signed him for three years; if we suffered an injury or anything, I knew he could step in and provide.

Once that was handled, we had to solve our shooting guard woes. Wright was serviceable the season before but, like Eric Gordon before him, he just wasn’t a good fit for what we needed to surround Noel and Thon with. Jackson could make or create his own offense, but Noel and Thon needed some spacers. We lucked out as the Heat, suffering from cap woes, let Josh Richardson onto the market and renounced their rights to him.

With Richardson free, we pounced and offered him a three year deal, worth a bit over 8M a year. Richardson signed with us the next day, didn’t even bother taking meetings with other teams; we had guaranteed him a starting job, at least in year one, and McHale was thrilled to have him. Richardson was a sharpshooter, a guy we could rely on to knock down his open shots — unlike Wright who was hot or cold depending on the night. At only 25, he fit in with our young culture, too, and since he was coming from the Heat, we knew he would be hungry for wins.

Across the state, Marshall continued to do something with the Knights; he got rid of Rivers for Michael-Carter Williams, a downgrade at the position in my opinion, but Marshall and the Knights wanted to play big. A lineup of Fultz, MCW, Chandler, Millsap, and Nurkic looked good on paper, but the Knights were spinning their wheels. He also attempted to redesign their uniforms, but didn’t get the designs submitted to the league office in time, so they’d have to wait another season before the big unveiling.

The Knicks, though, decided to do a refresh on their design and it went live that year.





As for us, we liked where we were. Garrett was working on some minor sprucing up, but overall we had no major alterations — or even minor ones — to the uniforms. We got to the playoffs wearing them and, superstitiously perhaps, we didn’t want to *uck around with a good thing.

Our first game of the year was, once again, an unfavorable one: the Lakers, in LA, on national TV. The Lakers looked really good with Boogie Cousins at the end of the year and I was sure they would be a playoff team. If we could grab an early win against them, it would be important for our squad. As a team, we looked good — we were deep, we had youth, we had accomplished guys, but we weren’t fully formed yet.

Delly was a free agent at the end of the year and there was every indication that he would test the market. Junkyard Dog was a free agent too and I hoped he’d sign on for another tour, but he wasn’t telling our front office anything at the beginning of that season. The team, the fans, the organization, everyone was cautiously optimistic.

If we made the playoffs again, we’d prove to the league that we weren’t some fluke team, that we were the real deal. If we failed, it could mean we’d lose what little credit we’d established with the players and the league already.

The game against LA was a barnburner. Defense was optional and, frankly, I rank that game as a classic regular season matchup in my mind. We were both young Western Conference teams, ready to end anyone that *ucked with us and the play of both teams proved that from the beginning. Thing were heated and chippy; players were jawing at one another, fouls were being exchanged, and we were hyped.

In the first, both teams came out gunning. Triples were falling, turnaround jumpers in the paint were wet, and there was no resistance to speak of. It was the first game of the season and defense wasn’t there for either squad; not a problem for the Lakers, they didn’t mind getting into a shootout. Remember, this is Luke Walton running the team then, so he’s a disciple of Golden State and he’s fine with playing offense first.

McHale was less pleased at the effort, especially at Thon, who was getting abused by Larry Nance Jr. Nance, for LA, was a huge improvement over Randle and he just fit better for the team. He was mucking things up and he was grabbing boards over Thon like our guy wasn’t there. At the end of the first, Thon had two fouls already and had been close to getting number three. McHale pulled him and stuck in Lauvergne, who showed up in a big way as our first tree off the bench.

Lauvergne forced Nance to get more creative with his shots — AKA, taking them off the dribble — and Nance couldn’t hit for *hit that way. The Lakers, in the second, went with their deep bench and started trying to bury us with triples. We responded back with Richardson and Jackson, the two forming a connection in that quarter that led to this beautiful play.



After two, we were tied 64 all. No team had gotten more than a five-point lead, defense wasn’t happening, and fouls were everywhere. Early season jitters? Maybe. Whatever the hell it was, McHale was stressing fundamentals at halftime and he had to muck with the rotations even more, because Thon got foul number three right before the half. So, in the third, we started out with Joe Young, Richardson, Jackson, Carroll, and Lauvergne. It wasn’t a bad lineup and it gave both Carroll and Lauvergne a chance to establish themselves.

They stepped up, but we were still getting killed by Cousins and Russell. The dynamic duo was just murdering us inside; if it wasn’t Russell dishing off to Boogie, it was Russell blowing by our guys to get to the rim. If it wasn’t Boogie eating souls in the post, it was Boogie being a decoy for the rest of his team. It was both impressive and infuriating to watch as we tossed every defender we had at Boogie and Boogie just casually beat them.

It was like he wasn’t trying that hard, which is *ucking scary to think about considering how close the damn game was.

Thon got inserted back into the game midway through the third and, promptly, picked up foul number four as he got switched onto Cousins. Out he went, again. He was pretty upset and he parked himself on the end of the bench. McHale subbed in Hammons off the bench, our reserve, and he gave us three minutes of decent defense so Noel could come back in.

At the end of three, we were tied yet again — 95 all. George Hill was abusing us off pick and rolls, Lou Williams was finding his stroke, and we couldn’t get Delon Wright going to save our lives. This was going to come down to the final minutes and, sure enough, it did.

We spent the quarter trading leads and fouls; Boogie was getting ref whistles almost every time he touched the ball and our fouls were piling up. Jackson and Delly stepped up, hitting timely triples and getting great and-1s inside to keep the Lakers at bay, but we only managed a three point lead that they wiped away with a Brandon Ingram triple. Thon played most of the fourth but then fouled out with 5:21 to go.

It was disappointing to say the least and concerning for sure, but Boogie had always given him trouble — with Thon out, we turned to Lauvergne, who himself had accrued three fouls already, but he was just pesky enough to make Boogie work for it without getting a whistle. Still, the game came down to the last minute.

With about 23 seconds left we managed to get a big shot to fall inside from Jackson, who was double-covered yet somehow manged to get the ball in, and get the foul. He sunk the shot and we were up by three.

The Lakers called a timeout, inbounded the ball to Russell and he sunk a mid-range shot so open you’d think it was Wal-Mart. We were only up by one, but we inbounded to Delly and they started fouling.

The last 20 seconds of that game was spent with us going to the line and the Lakers missing their shots; in the end, Delly and Jackson put them away with their free throws. We escaped LA with an early win, and it was only the first game of the season.

[Jaiveer]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Thread still alive? By far the most entertaining, want to see how far this goes.

[Huskers08]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

I know I'm a bit late but I just power read this thing in 2 days, after 2 seasons, will you give Rose a chance to appeal his suspension, if he didn't get jail time of course


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dddagawd]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

I know I'm a bit late but I just power read this thing in 2 days, after 2 seasons, will you give Rose a chance to appeal his suspension, if he didn't get jail time of course


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Especially since he beat his case
Bring back d rose maybe just lower his rating

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Thread's still kicking, folks, just got sucked into work; boss is leaving town for another big business meeting this week so we're working on wrapping up as many projects as we can, while also training a new employee, so it's hectic.

D-Rose is definitely not coming back to the NBA. His career probably continues over in China, but the league issued him a lifetime ban and they stood by it within the story.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story



Ch. 46

Our season started off about as well as you could have hoped for that year. We went into Toronto and won a close one, 96-95. We then traveled to Golden State and snuck past the Warriors, 116-114. Draymond Green went out with a sprained knee and he was going to miss the next 6-8 weeks. We lost to the Thunder in an ultra-close 111-101 game, then played in San Antonio against the Spurs.

The Spurs were 1-3 coming into that game and left 1-4; we won, but we lost Delly to a torn MCL; he was out 6-8 weeks, which meant we had to go to our bench till then. We were 4-1 and we had a home tilt with the New York Knicks.

The Knicks were 2-2, but super-competitive and were actually giving their fans a reason to cheer. Porzingis was lighting up the board and their rookie, Trenton Duval, looked like the real deal. With their new uniforms (to wipe away the stench of the Derrick Rose experiment) and new players, the team had hope again — inevitably that hope would get tossed into the New York subway and run over multiple times before finally having its charred corpse pulled from the rails, but it was early in the season and the hope was still there.

Beating the Knicks meant little in terms of our conference, but in terms of pride … it meant something. They were among the longest established teams in the league and beating them, even if they were down, was still a worthy goal. With Josh Jackson, Thon, Noel, and Josh Richardson, we were locked and loaded.



In the first, it was a dog fight. Defense was the flavor of the game and neither team was shooting well; the Knicks were shooting threes, though, and those triples got them out to an 8-2 lead after a a few minutes in the first. We were canceling out Porzingis with Thon, but James Young — he cut by the Celtics — was lighting us up from everywhere on the floor. Richardson was getting beat to spots and Young was letting loose.

We switched Jackson on him and Josh did exactly what we wanted: he shut him down and his defensive stops got him fired up on offense. Jackson started getting inside, taking some shots, and forcing it down their throat. The crowd got into it and we started inching away.

But at the end of one, we were only up 27-24. In the second, the bench units started getting involved and we started to see some breakdowns on both sides. Mighty Joe Young had been held scoreless throughout the first and in the second he still couldn’t hit a shot to save his life; he was getting rejected inside, his confidence was MIA from outside, and he just looked a bit overwhelmed. McHale tossed in Gbinije at the point, and that opened up our offense.

Gbinije continued to prove then just how valuable he was to us — a guy who could play 1-3, someone who didn’t complain about his minutes or his stats, the kid was a true team player. As happy as I was about picking Thon in the 2016 draft, I was absolutely ecstatic about how well Gbinije turned out — you don’t nail 2nd rounders all that often in the NBA, but when you do you best hold onto them.

We were lucky enough Gbinije decided to stay with us and his play in the second helped keep the Knicks at bay. When Joe Young came back in, he had calmed down and he drained back-to-back triples to give us an 8-point lead — the Knicks answered with a triple of their own before the end of the half, but we were up 54-49 and feeling confident.

In the third, that confidence showed up in a big way. Thon and Noel started feasting on the inside, our fast break started throttling the Knicks, and we started hot — and just kept getting hotter. The third was where it all fell apart for New York as they were subjected to the freakish play of one Thon Maker.



And that, as they say, was that. The fourth was garbage time for us, McHale played the deep bench and only kept Jackson out there — if this kid really was the superstar we thought he was, he should have been able to hold onto a 20-point entering the fourth. The kid did just that — entering the fourth, he only had 11 points and wasn’t shooting particularly well, but he carried the deep bench in the final frame, working for them as much as working with them. It was an impressive display at the end for Jackson and we got a big home win.

Despite being down Delly, we were confident we would survive.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story


Ch. 47

After beating the Knicks, we dropped the next two games against the Raptors and Pelicans by a combined seven points. Tough losses, but not a deal breaker. We entered the game against the Knights at 5-3, looking to get back to winning and getting a nice home win.

Kansas City, for all of Marshall’s trades and posturing, was still a team in need of some sort of direction. Fultz — Marshall’s pride and joy — was out for the game with a sore neck, brought on by a collision the night before. The Knights were 3-4, having just been demolished by the Pistons, and they were looking for a win if they could get it.

We gave them a chance in that opening quarter. Paul Millsap came to play and wanted to let everyone know that he was trying to win. And he had a big opening quarter, scoring seven points and harassing Thon into some early fouls. That only translated to a four point deficit for the Knights and the embarrassment would be on from that point as we throttled them in the second, our defense swallowing up any chance they had.



It was a rout from then on. Marshall didn’t even bother to make the trip down, which said as much as I needed to know about how he felt about his team. Despite all the moves and trades, despite giving up on Brown (kid got screwed), despite drafting Fultz and McCoy, despite signing Millsap, the Knights were still trying to get out of the *hit they started in.

You don’t build a team by constantly switching parts, these were people and they — like most people — needed to trust those they worked with. Marshall and the West Coasters didn’t get that; it wasn’t in their nature to get it. Which is why, in year three, the Knights looked as good as the Charlotte Bobcats at their worst.

[Stout]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Ch. 47

After beating the Knicks, we dropped the next two games against the Raptors and Pelicans by a combined seven points. Tough losses, but not a deal breaker. We entered the game against the Knights at 5-3, looking to get back to winning and getting a nice home win.

Kansas City, for all of Marshall’s trades and posturing, was still a team in need of some sort of direction. Fultz — Marshall’s pride and joy — was out for the game with a sore neck, brought on by a collision the night before. The Knights were 3-4, having just been demolished by the Pistons, and they were looking for a win if they could get it.

We gave them a chance in that opening quarter. Paul Millsap came to play and wanted to let everyone know that he was trying to win. And he had a big opening quarter, scoring seven points and harassing Thon into some early fouls. That only translated to a four point deficit for the Knights and the embarrassment would be on from that point as we throttled them in the second, our defense swallowing up any chance they had.



It was a rout from then on. Marshall didn’t even bother to make the trip down, which said as much as I needed to know about how he felt about his team. Despite all the moves and trades, despite giving up on Brown (kid got screwed), despite drafting Fultz and McCoy, despite signing Millsap, the Knights were still trying to get out of the *hit they started in.

You don’t build a team by constantly switching parts, these were people and they — like most people — needed to trust those they worked with. Marshall and the West Coasters didn’t get that; it wasn’t in their nature to get it. Which is why, in year three, the Knights looked as good as the Charlotte Bobcats at their worst.

Dude I'll give you credit for sticking by your guns with the Rose banishment. When you first said "I'm going to do this," was the plan to always keep Rose banned regardless of the real-life decision or did you have to think on it when the verdict was announced?

Poor Delly. I'd have to think he's still keeping that locker room and club active though. I just love imagining Delly as the guy who breaks the silence after a loss by jumping around like a kangaroo or singing some Australian folk song. What a beast.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Dude I'll give you credit for sticking by your guns with the Rose banishment. When you first said "I'm going to do this," was the plan to always keep Rose banned regardless of the real-life decision or did you have to think on it when the verdict was announced?

Poor Delly. I'd have to think he's still keeping that locker room and club active though. I just love imagining Delly as the guy who breaks the silence after a loss by jumping around like a kangaroo or singing some Australian folk song. What a beast.

Once I came to the conclusion that he was banished, that was it. Didn't require much thought on my part even after the IRL findings -- as far as this league is concerned, he's done. From the game's standpoint, it makes my life easier because Rose consistently asked for a ton of money based on play that -- in my opinion -- didn't deserve that money. It was going to be increasingly difficult to find him a team that needed his talents, as seeing his biggest weaknesses (3pt shooting, durability) are things that most teams won't overlook.

As for Delly, love him to death. Really hope he'll re-sign with my squad in the next offseason, but we'll see. His injury sucks, but he's a veteran and champion, so I imagine he's providing much needed locker-room leadership as he's recovering.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story



Ch. 48

If anyone were to tell you that the NBA is a fair place, they’d be lying to you. The NBA is a fickle, moody *itch who you love and hate almost at once. It’s a *ucked up place but everyone knows it. Our season was going well — we won three out our next four and entered the game on November 23rd at 8-4, tied at 3rd in the conference with the T’Wolves. Already, injuries were taking a toll on NBA teams; we were down Delly, the T’Wolves were without Chriss (out 2-4 weeks with a bum back) and KAT (slightly sprained ankle and they held him out as a precaution).

But the T’Wolves weren’t going to let injuries stop them. They were coached by one of the league’s best in Thibs and Thibs extended double-birds to injuries on a regular basis. He didn’t give a flying *hit and I admired the hell out of him. Honestly, if he had been available, I’d have gone after him when we first started the team.

He was a rival, though, in another division but the T’Wolves, like ourselves, were an up and coming team. You could almost see us as similar … they had Wiggins, a former Kansas Jayhawk who could score; we had Jackson. They had a stretch big who was breaking the mold in KAT, we had Thon. They had a defensive big to patrol the paint in Dieng, we had Noel.

We weren’t so different, which made the games we played something to watch. This one wasn’t much different.

In the first, we played hard and we played fast; both teams decided that defense wasn’t a priority and the score showed it. Back and forth we went, triples being traded, fouls being traded, and easy scores being traded. Thibs was furious on the sidelines, the complete opposite of the chill McHale who took in the first quarter like he was watching a game of golf. After one, it was 31-30 in favor of us.

In the second, our bench unit really showed up — Gbinije continued to impress and I was half-tempted to give the man a pay raise based on this play alone.



But the second — despite how well we played — saw us lose Mighty Joe Young with an ankle injury. He had to be carried off the court and, with him gone, we were in a major hole.



We didn’t have our third PG active that night, one Lamar Warren, and frankly I was fine with that. Warren was a slow-footed project who wasn’t ready to see time, but we had to play Gbinije more than I would have liked and we had to play Wright some at PG. With our rotations out of whack, Thibs took advantage and Minnesota came at us hard in the third quarter.

Despite what the score says, Andrew Wiggins and Tyus Jones simply wouldn’t let the Wolves die, even at the end, and that kind fight was going to serve them well as the team grew. As for us, we pulled away and managed to avoid any further injuries, but I wasn’t pleased with how thin we were at the most important position on the court.

Down both Delly and Young, I went out and signed a free agent PG. I had my pick of what remained and it wasn’t much; between the barely functional vets in Jarrett Jack and Deron Williams and the potential never realized in Tyler Ennis and Spencer Dinwiddie, I went with the potential never realized in Ennis.

I signed him to a 1yr/$1.26M deal and crossed my fingers. Sure, I could have went with Jack or Williams, but I needed someone who wasn’t going to get injured … at least until Young got back. I figured Ennis was the safest bet and with McHale elevating Gbinije to a starter, Ennis wasn’t going to have to come in and be great.

He just had to be decent — hell, passable. If he could do that, he’d earn every cent. All I cared about was that he was young and healthy; everything else was gravy.

[Stout]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Ch. 48

If anyone were to tell you that the NBA is a fair place, they’d be lying to you. The NBA is a fickle, moody *itch who you love and hate almost at once. It’s a *ucked up place but everyone knows it. Our season was going well — we won three out our next four and entered the game on November 23rd at 8-4, tied at 3rd in the conference with the T’Wolves. Already, injuries were taking a toll on NBA teams; we were down Delly, the T’Wolves were without Chriss (out 2-4 weeks with a bum back) and KAT (slightly sprained ankle and they held him out as a precaution).

But the T’Wolves weren’t going to let injuries stop them. They were coached by one of the league’s best in Thibs and Thibs extended double-birds to injuries on a regular basis. He didn’t give a flying *hit and I admired the hell out of him. Honestly, if he had been available, I’d have gone after him when we first started the team.

He was a rival, though, in another division but the T’Wolves, like ourselves, were an up and coming team. You could almost see us as similar … they had Wiggins, a former Kansas Jayhawk who could score; we had Jackson. They had a stretch big who was breaking the mold in KAT, we had Thon. They had a defensive big to patrol the paint in Dieng, we had Noel.

We weren’t so different, which made the games we played something to watch. This one wasn’t much different.

In the first, we played hard and we played fast; both teams decided that defense wasn’t a priority and the score showed it. Back and forth we went, triples being traded, fouls being traded, and easy scores being traded. Thibs was furious on the sidelines, the complete opposite of the chill McHale who took in the first quarter like he was watching a game of golf. After one, it was 31-30 in favor of us.

In the second, our bench unit really showed up — Gbinije continued to impress and I was half-tempted to give the man a pay raise based on this play alone.



But the second — despite how well we played — saw us lose Mighty Joe Young with an ankle injury. He had to be carried off the court and, with him gone, we were in a major hole.



We didn’t have our third PG active that night, one Lamar Warren, and frankly I was fine with that. Warren was a slow-footed project who wasn’t ready to see time, but we had to play Gbinije more than I would have liked and we had to play Wright some at PG. With our rotations out of whack, Thibs took advantage and Minnesota came at us hard in the third quarter.

Despite what the score says, Andrew Wiggins and Tyus Jones simply wouldn’t let the Wolves die, even at the end, and that kind fight was going to serve them well as the team grew. As for us, we pulled away and managed to avoid any further injuries, but I wasn’t pleased with how thin we were at the most important position on the court.

Down both Delly and Young, I went out and signed a free agent PG. I had my pick of what remained and it wasn’t much; between the barely functional vets in Jarrett Jack and Deron Williams and the potential never realized in Tyler Ennis and Spencer Dinwiddie, I went with the potential never realized in Ennis.

I signed him to a 1yr/$1.26M deal and crossed my fingers. Sure, I could have went with Jack or Williams, but I needed someone who wasn’t going to get injured … at least until Young got back. I figured Ennis was the safest bet and with McHale elevating Gbinije to a starter, Ennis wasn’t going to have to come in and be great.

He just had to be decent — hell, passable. If he could do that, he’d earn every cent. All I cared about was that he was young and healthy; everything else was gravy.

Ah man, I was so high on Ennis (huge Cuse fan) and honestly thought he was one of the better PGs in that 2014 draft. HA. I didn't learn my lesson with Wesley Johnson or Dion Waiters about those one year wonders for Cuse.

That's a nice win right there man. Says a lot about the team you have that even without your PG and real depth that night, you can still come out and hold on against a talented Wolves team - even if KAT is in a suit. I'd say I hope Ennis kicks butt for you, but let's be honest: the best way he can do that is not having to play major minutes.