Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story



Ch. 21

The draft day trades shook up the office and we were bracing ourselves for someone to trade with the Knights, blow them away with an offer, and take Jackson. Even if that had happened, we were more than ready to take Fultz or Tatum or Ball or Issac. We had contingency plans for our contingency plans, but the Knights didn’t trade out.

Marshall would only have if the Warriors offered him Durant and Curry. That was how sure he was that he had a star at that first pick and he bet his team’s future on Fultz.

I bet a good bit of my team’s future on Jackson. We had scouted him thoroughly and we took him without a moment’s hesitation. Some guys around the league thought he was unpredictable, but the kid had a high motor and was just looking to win. That’s all he cared about and he didn’t give a damn how he did it, he just wanted it done. He had a bit of an edge to him that developed while he was in college and that edge was going to be hugely helpful to our team.

In the 2nd round, we traded away Dudley to the Grizzlies for their 2nd round pick. We had two picks and so we took a chance on a little-known player from Japan, Hanamichi Tokoto. But Tokoto, the little *uck, wouldn’t play for us and left to play back in Japan. We never saw him again.

We then used the Grizzles 2nd rounder to grab a small forward from Clemson, Blossomgame. But Blossomgame failed his physical and the doctors told us to avoid signing him, he just wouldn’t hold up in the pro game.

So we struck out in the 2nd round as both our picks — high ones too — blew. It sucked, to put it mildly, but it only increased my determination to sign some guys in free agency that didn’t blow.

But who to target? The list of potential players was staggering. We needed help in a few spots, namely at center and definitely at shooting guard. We had holes at the two as big the grand canyon and we needed it filled with a quality starter. Wright probably wasn’t that guy, despite how much I liked the player, so I had to turn my sights elsewhere and keep an ear to the ground in the trade market.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Man, there are guys in free agency who want some CRAZY money. KCP of the Pistons is asking for 22M as a guy who's rated an 80 and scored 10.9 PPG last year on .399 from the field, .350 from deep.

Heads up, it's the intangibles rating that really controls the contract (and lower the overall attributes by a a point or two depending on how high it was). Having to edit it down for some guys so they don't bankrupt teams and break free agency down the line.

[SkyFlyer]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Man, there are guys in free agency who want some CRAZY money. KCP of the Pistons is asking for 22M as a guy who's rated an 80 and scored 10.9 PPG last year on .399 from the field, .350 from deep.

Heads up, it's the intangibles rating that really controls the contract (and lower the overall attributes by a a point or two depending on how high it was). Having to edit it down for some guys so they don't bankrupt teams and break free agency down the line.

Wonder how much Lebron would go for.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Wonder how much Lebron would go for.

Max offer I can make anyone in year one salary is 31.39M, their final year max being 35.63M. That's as far as I can make it go, so that's how much LeBron would go for. I got him to sign with the Cavs for 30M a year last year, so he'll get a slight pay raise next time around.

[studbucket]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Loved the draft lottery experience and the crazy rule change. No comments from the family on that rule? I look forward to this next season. Can't believe you basically did a season in a week though. Wow.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Loved the draft lottery experience and the crazy rule change. No comments from the family on that rule? I look forward to this next season. Can't believe you basically did a season in a week though. Wow.

^I can't believe it either. This week was CRAZY and it helps when I don't have to account for playoffs ... cause we're an expansion team. I basically figured that I should play 20 games a game in the regular season to really challenge myself and, should I make the playoffs, do an every-other deal (no closeout game special rules, so if I go up 3-2 in a series, game 6 has to be simmed; if we hit a 7, then it's on me to win it). But the way MyLeague is set up this year and the way I'm telling this story makes doing a season in a week possible.

Plus, the game is so damned fun to play it's hard to put down.

As for the rule change -- honestly, I really don't think it'll affect things much. Full-court passing is difficult in-game anyway because of the pass accuracy sliders, but if a ball does end up having to be passed back, at least no more stupid backcourt violations. I really hate that rule so to have it be the first one to come up to be approved, I literally applauded.

[Rocket32]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Just binge read this whole thing. Enjoying this dynasty so far and loved your Sonics one last year as well. A bit disappointed you ended it though but definately can't blame you for moving to 2k17 and the only reason is just because I really liked the characters you had in that dynasty. Definately will be following this one.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Just binge read this whole thing. Enjoying this dynasty so far and loved your Sonics one last year as well. A bit disappointed you ended it though but definately can't blame you for moving to 2k17 and the only reason is just because I really liked the characters you had in that dynasty. Definately will be following this one.

Much thanks for the follow!

I really enjoyed that Seattle one, too, and I'm surprised to see no one else has started Sonics dynasty yet here on the boards. The characters in that one were among my favorite sets to write.

But I'm enjoying this one, too, and the 2017 offseason is CRAZY. Update on that coming later this afternoon.

[TheGame8544]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Never been a fan on things like this, but can't stop reading this one. I'll have to check out your Sonics dynasty as well. If it's anything like this, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Honestly, this has been entertaining enough a movie could be written about it. The rise of a franchise.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Never been a fan on things like this, but can't stop reading this one. I'll have to check out your Sonics dynasty as well. If it's anything like this, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Honestly, this has been entertaining enough a movie could be written about it. The rise of a franchise.

Thank you, sir! This one has been done in a different style than the rest (this one is 1st person/past tense, while the others have been 3rd person/past tense) but I appreciate the compliment and hope you'll find the rest just as enjoyable.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story


Ch. 22

The 2017 offseason wasn’t like the year before. In 2016, two expansion teams were added to the league and caused the majority of teams to play it safe. We were unknown variables and we got treated like it; agents steered most of their clients away from us and our very existence was questioned.

In 2017, that wasn’t the case. We’d had a year in the league and, after the Thunder’s unexpected championship (and their dispatching of the super-team Warriors), the rest of the NBA decided to go balls-to-the-wall. Free agency, trading, the draft … every team took a crack at trying to get to the promised land ...

The playoffs. With two new teams in, the league’s structure was upset and now only half the NBA had a shot at the postseason. The playoffs — and a chance to get there and do some damage — were the first step to getting a title. Get there and anything could happen, as the NBA liked to say.

And the team to make the biggest waves after the draft wasn’t the Lakers, the Knicks, the Celtics or any of the usual suspects; it was the Milwaukee *ucking Bucks. The Bucks of course put a high offer in for the Greek Freak, which he of course accepted, but they didn’t rest on their laurels there; they bought out Greg Monroe, sending him on his way (he signed with Dallas, desperate as they were).

They approached Kyle Lowry’s camp and told him they were prepared to offer max money and years if he joined them, stepping all over the Raptors carefully laid plans to preserve what cap space they had until they filled out their roster. Locked in cap-hell thanks to DeMarre Carroll and panicking that Lowry could leave, the Raptors needed to dump the ugly contract they had awarded to Junkyard Dog.

You better believe I told Graves to take that call and make that deal. Carroll had played at Missouri and had been one of my favorite players to watch. You wanted grit? He had it in spades. You needed someone laid out? He’d send *uckers into next week. He was a tough SOB, someone who had worked his way up from the bottom, had been given up on by multiple organizations, and the Raptors were about to join that list.

“You’re serious?” Graves was irate. He hated the idea of Carroll, thought he’d just be another veteran who’d complain about how often we lost.

“Get the deal done; as long as we get him and a pick of some sort for taking on his deal for the next few years, yes, I’m *ucking serious. Do I need to say pretty please?”

Graves swung the deal and we got our man, and a pick to be conveyed either next year or the year after. Not bad.



The Raptors, having cleared away Carroll (and his admittedly low production), went back to Lowry, offered him more money per year, but did it for only three years — they were concerned they’d lock the team into cap-hell again if they locked him up longer.

Lowry came back to the Raptors. Meanwhile, the Clippers got back Paul and Blake without much issue, but then were approached by — you guessed right, the *ucking Bucks. Having struck out on Lowry and hating Rondo (can’t blame them), Milwaukee wanted DeAndre Jordan to pair with Parker and the Freak.

The Clippers, the Bucks, and Pistons worked out a deal that helped everyone.



And that’s when *hit got crazy, because Jordan hadn’t been firm in committing to LA in the past and was making noise he might test the market again, the Clippers got rid of him and used the cap space to get Harris and Rondo. Jordan was livid and, worse yet for him, the trade had been approved by Paul and Griffin, who essentially sold his *ss out after considering the odds of them winning a title without a solid bench.

Milwaukee then went and stole Shaun Livingston from the Warriors to be their starting point guard, and their offseason was considered a win by everyone.

As for the rest of the league, the Bucks panicked some people into some desperate moves — us included. I didn’t approve anything, I was planning to wait out the first few days of free agency and see where things lay, but Graves had other ideas. Without my knowledge, he went and offered Nerlens Noel a mega-deal — 20M a year for three seasons. It was ludicrous.

He brought it into my office, plopped it down on my desk, and told me he was doing the right thing, that we needed a better big at the five than Lauvergne. Looking back on it, he was right — Lauvergne was too soft on the inside — but at the time I was a believer.

More than that, I was pissed as hell that he had gone behind my back and made a deal I didn’t approve of. We started arguing, like we did, and then things got physical. I got in his face, he pushed me, and I lost it.

I broke his jaw, nearly blinded him in his left eye, and left him a bleeding mess on my floor. The only reason he lived was because my brother, Tony, decided to stop by and ask me to lunch. Tony stopped it before it got to far, and I honestly wish he didn’t have to. I wasn’t a violent man, I didn’t have a terrible temper, but something about what Graves did sent me over the edge. I don’t really remember what exactly I did to him, but I remember what he looked like before Tony got there and what he looked like after.

I had my carpet replaced and my hand fixed up, cause it was pretty broken after the beating. Graves was sent off to a private hospital and well-taken care of. He was fine in about six months, but that offseason he “retired” from the league due to health issues. The family wasn’t pleased with him, but we didn’t bury him in a desert or anything like that. *hitty movie cliches wasn’t how life worked. We made him our unofficial long-distance scout till he actually retired.

But there was still the issue with Noel. We had offered him the mega-deal, the Sixers had refused to match, and no-one else was going to give him that money. He accepted our deal and, grudgingly, I had to honor it. His wasn’t the craziest deal, though.

Two days earlier, the Knights signed Paul Millsap for over 30M a year, for three years. Marshall’s plan was to stop tanking apparently. He had his guys and he wanted a taste of the playoffs. He had gotten the first overall pick, had gotten his player, and he was ready to make some noise.

So were we.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

2017-18 Regular Season Rosters

[studbucket]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

The Rockets, Pistons, and Nuggets have interesting teams. A lot happened.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

The Rockets, Pistons, and Nuggets have interesting teams. A lot happened.

Oh yeah. Denver made a move to make the playoffs this year ... if they don't, the axe if going to fall on their head coach, Mike Malone, and maybe even Mudiay (who's not putting up pretty stats at all).

The Rockets got James Harden a #2 who's really going to take a lot of the scoring load off him. The team again lacks defense outside of Clint Capela, but if they score enough they don't have to worry about stopping others. Rockets are all-in for offense.

The Pistons swung a trade to shore up their SG spot as KCP was abysmal there (and yet, thanks to the Kings, still managed to get a really good contract for his limited production). With Tobias Harris gone and Kris Middleton in place, the two-guard spot is solidified for the next few years.

The Central and Northwest divisions are going to be bloodbaths; the Pelicans might be the dark horse, they drafted really well and that trade for Bledsoe, I think, is going to do them a lot of good this year. Took him and the Brow some time last year to get on the same page but they should be able to carry the team into the playoffs and beyond now.

The most interesting thing might be Charlotte with Boogie Cousins, though. Will Boogie reward the faith of Jordan and company and FINALLY lead a team to the playoffs? Charlotte bet an awful lot on him and if he leaves in free agency, he'll severally set them back years.

Lots of great storylines this season.

[TheGame8544]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Hey man what's the name of your channel? I can't get any of your YouTube videos to load in Tapatalk.