The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

[studbucket]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Woah big things happening in Dragoville

I like the dynamic you're building between the two brothers. Oggy the careerist not afraid to burn a few bridges to get to the top and Dinko the family man who values building things. Of course, Dinko will move up when the right opportunity comes. Would be interesting if he sticks around Pennslyvania maybe landing a job at Pitt, Villanova, or Penn St.

For Oggy, I think he might've been better suited sticking around at Northern Colorado for another year or two. I don't think Stetson is quite the stepping stone to a power conference he thinks it is. However, Florida will give him more talent to bring into his program which should allow for long term success.

Yeah, Oggy is definitely taking the "greedy algorithm" approach (a computer science term that refers to taking the best immediate option without looking at the bigger picture), and it's not clear if Stetson was the right thing or not. However, with UNC finishing last in the conference, I think he wanted to take another opportunity and not repeat that again.

For Dinko, Duquesne is the "realistic dream", and Pitt is the biggest he's allowed himself to think. However, if a team like UNC, Kansas, or UCLA came calling, he may be willing to relocate his family. But I think he'd prefer to see if he can stay within a 2ish hour drive of Pittsburgh and be successful there. It'd be something if he can get St. Francis to be the "Gonzaga of the East".

[studbucket]

2021 NBA Playoffs: Round 1 Update

The first round of the NBA playoffs is in the books and there were two amazing series, two big surprises, and a lot of snooze-fests.

Milwaukee Bucks (4) vs Indiana Pacers (0)
Milwaukee won every game by 20+, including a 162-115 closeout win.

Philadelphia 76ers (4) vs Orlando Magic (0)
Embiid scored 31, 48, 25, and 33 points in the 4 games, absolutely eviscerating Vucevic.

Los Angeles Clippers (4) vs Phoenix Suns (0)
Monty Williams may be done in Phoenix. Kawhi had 46 in game 2, and Devin Booker didn’t get enough help to win any games.

Toronto Raptors (4) vs Brooklyn Nets (1)
Brooklyn has no real excuses, they just got whooped. None of the five games were closer than 15 points as the Raptors shocked Brooklyn.

Golden State Warriors (4) vs Houston Rockets (1)
The Warriors showed their quality and depth as Steph Curry, Eric Paschall, Klay Thompson, and DeAndre Ayton took turns leading Golden State to victory. They handled the Rockets easily without seeing Jimmy Butler score more than 17 points.

Boston Celtics (4) vs Atlanta Hawks (2)
The Hawks put up a good fight, but lost Trae Young in game 5 to a sprained knee and fell 4-2 after tying the series up.

Dallas Mavericks (4) vs Los Angeles Lakers (3)
This series was an Instant Classic. After going up 1-0, the Mavs fell behind 2-1 after a two-point and one-point loss despite Kristaps Porzingis scoring 49 and 65 points in those two games. Porzingis then scored 45 in game 4 to tie the series up 2-2 and then came back down to Earth as the two teams traded wins until the Mavs won game 7 by 27 points.

Denver Nuggets (4) vs Memphis Grizzlies (3)
Mike Malone saved his job. The Grizzlies, despite missing Valanciunas, found themselves up 3-2 after a game 5 that saw Ja Morant score 38 and Bradley Beal score 41. However the Grizzlies offense dried up as their youth exposed itself and they fell in 7 games.


Round 2 Preview

The Celtics played well in round 1, but Milwaukee is in a class above almost every team in the league. Unless Boston can start playing a level of defense we haven’t seen yet, this is another foregone conclusion. Prediction: Bucks in 5.

The Raptors turned heads with their round 1 drubbing of the Nets, but the 76ers are extremely hot as well. The 76ers own the season series 2-1 and have the best 2 players in the series. Prediction: 76ers in 6.

Los Angeles owns the season series 4-0, though only 2 of those games were after the mega-trade, and those were decided by a total of 3 points. It would seem that the Clippers defense and stars should win this series, but the Warriors are a very good and deep team. Prediction: Warriors in 7.

The Nuggets exceeded expectations in round 1, but the Mavs won the season series 3-1 and nobody is playing better basketball than Kristaps Porzingis right now. Prediction: Mavericks in 5.

[studbucket]

2021 Offseason Signing Period Preview

This is a big offseason for both brothers as they each need to replace a larger number of departing seniors. Dinko will be hoping to get a lot of complementary players to put around Mohamed Payne and he has 7 scholarships to use.

Here are the seven players that St. Francis has offered a scholarship, along with the likelihood that each will sign.

Recruit	Pos	Height	Home	Sign Chance	Sign Notes	Prospect Notes
Vern Quick	SG	6’6”	Philadelphia, PA	High	Only offer. Very high interest in Loyola (MD)	3* HS SR. #326 overall.
Cassiano Alujevic	PG	6’3”	Serbia	Medium	Only offer. Only some interest, but high interest in Pittsburgh.	3* HS SR
Gerardo Bethel	SG	6’4”	Euclid, OH	High	Only offer. High interest in Robert Morris.	3* JuCo Sophomore
Stephane Diakite	SF	6’7”	Mali	Medium	Only offer, only interested school. May choose to stay overseas.	3* HS SR
Fernandez Markovic	SF	6’5”	Montenegro	Medium	Only offer, only interested school. May choose to stay overseas.	3* HS SR
Geary Doss	C	7’2”	Kansas City, MO	High	Only offer. Some interest in Southeast Missouri.	2* HS SR
Fernando Santos	SG	6’2”	Brazil	Medium	Moderate interest. Also offered by Northern Colorado. May stay abroad.	3* HS SR

Oggy came in with one player already committed, three outstanding scholarship offers, and one available scholarship. He was grateful to see Brendan Pocius committed, but was less thrilled about the other players offered to. He had 5 weeks to see if he could work some magic to get better prospects signed.

Recruit	Pos	Height	Home	Chance	Sign Notes	Prospect Notes
Brendon Pocius	SF	6’6”	Miami, FL	Lock	Committed	3* JuCo Freshman, committed to previous coach
Cornell Palmer	PF	6’8”	Fort Myers, FL	Lock	Only offer	1* HS Sr. Offered by previous coach
Qumar Lampley	PF	6’9”	Tampa, FL	High	Only offer. Charleston also interested.	1* HS SR. Offered by previous coach
Ibrahim Pilgrim	SF	6’5”	Sunrise, FL	High	Only offer. BCC, FGCU interested.	2* HS SR. Offered by previous coach
Jerimie Scott	C	7’0”	Detroit, MI	Low	No offers, but significant interest in Kent State and closer schools.	2* JuCo freshman
Floyd Jacobsen	PG	6’0”	Bolingbrook, IL	Medium	No offers. High interest in EIU.	2* HS SR
Renardo Rodriquez	C	6’11”	Venezuela	Medium	No offers. Moderate interest.	2* HS SR

[studbucket]

2021 NBA Playoffs: Round 2 Update

Round two was absolutely shocking out West and somewhat expected in the East. The giants have fallen out West and it seems like our mid-season mega trade has paid off as we have a conference finals matchup involving two of those teams.

Golden State Warriors (4) vs Los Angeles Clippers (0)
Jimmy Butler looked more like the DPoY than Kawhi, causing the superstar to struggle all series, including an 8 point outing in the 4^th game. The Warriors continued their trend of having different players carry the load as Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, Jerrett Pressley, and DeAndre Ayton all stepped up in big ways.

Milwaukee Bucks (4) vs Boston Celtics (2)
Milwaukee was up 3-0 and Giannis was averaging over 38 a game before Boston made it look like it might be a series, but Milwaukee closed it out in game 6.

Denver Nuggets (4) vs Dallas Mavericks (2)
I don’t know what Mike Malone’s playoff meal routine is, but he shouldn’t change. After defeating the spunky #2 seed Grizzlies, the Nuggets won by letting Kristaps get his but by getting even more themselves. Denver was up 3-1 after scoring 147 in game 4 and closed it out with a close victory at home in game 6. Porzingis scored 42, 32, 30, 24, 36, and 27 in the losing effort.

Philadelphia 76ers (4) vs Toronto Raptors (3)
Philadelphia took a 3-1 lead back home, but lost two straight as the combo of Marc Gasol and Hassan Whiteside mostly outdueled Joel Embiid. However, Philly completely throttled Toronto in game 7, holding them to 76 points (only 43 from starters) on 36% shooting.


Conference Finals Preview

The 76ers were only 1-3 against Milwaukee this year, but they won the only game played since January. These are two teams with extreme length, two-way players, and freaks of nature. Prediction: Bucks in 7.

Since the mega trade, these two teams played twice with Denver winning both times. This series could be anyone’s, but it’s hard to bet against a Warriors team that has yet to lose. Prediction: Warriors in 6.

[studbucket]

2021 Offseason Signing Period Midpoint Update

We’ve now made it through two weeks of the offseason signing period and seen a few players sign for each of the brothers.

St. Francis

• Gerardo Bethel has committed to the Red Flash. The JuCo sophomore from Ohio is a decent shooter and will help replace the production lost by Tyler, Almond, and Roberson.
• Dinko has found a Casey Tyler replacement in 6’7” shooting guard Vern Quick. The Philadelphia native was the 326^th ranked prospect in the country and Dinko’s top target.

Dinko still has 5 outstanding scholarship offers and is getting nervous. He remembers the experience he and his brother had last year with many scholarships being unused and did not want a repeat this year. He began searching for some local 1 and 2 star prospects he could consider offering to in case it seemed like some of the more ambitious prospects were going to fall through.

Stetson

• 1 star recruit Cornell Palmer has signed with Stetson. He’s a 6’8” PF.
• 2 star recruit Ibrahim Pilgrim has also signed. He’s a 6’5” SF out of Sunrise, FL.
• Oggy rescinded the scholarship offer from 1-star PF Qumar Lampley and made an offer to JuCo Sophomore PG Uche Kounkorgo. With only 1 PG on the roster, Oggy desperately wanted a ballhandler.

Oggy has 1 scholarship offer left and decided to go all-in on Jerimie Scott, attempting to get a big man to play for him. He started out as an outside chance, but has been working doggedly and Scott is getting more and more interested.

[studbucket]

2021 Signings

Recruiting season has finished and the brothers are definitely in different moods, though both had their ups and downs. Dinko used 6 of his 7 scholarships to get a slew of talented players, while Oggy managed to use all of his scholarships but definitely looked back in envy at the haul Northern Colorado brought in.

St. Francis
In the last three weeks of the recruiting period, Dinko and his staff had a few hard decisions. Geary Doss, a 7’2” 2-star prospect from Kansas City signed with them, leaving them with 4 scholarships and 2 weeks to go.

Several of the prospects were showing reasonable interest and had no scholarship offers from anyone else, but he’d seen this fail in the past, especially with international prospects. And that’s exactly what he was dealing with, 4 players from Serbia, Mali, Montenegro, and Brazil. He and his staff decided to give it 1 more week to see who would accept.

That 1 week ended and nobody had signed. The Red Flash had 4 outstanding offers and walked through each one to see the level of confidence they had in those players signing with the team.

They kept their offers to Malian SF Stephane Diakite, Montenegran SG Fernandez Markovic, and Serbian PG Cassiano Alujevic. Dinko was the most nervous about Alujevic as he really needed a PG but struggled to get a firm commitment from the young man.

They also made the difficult decision to withdraw their offer from SG Fernando Santos, instead offering to Chicago area prospect Floyd Jacobsen. He wasn’t nearly as talented, but a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, so-to-say.

The final week came, and Diakite, Markovic, and Jacobsen all signed with the Red Flash, but Alujevic did not. The gamble didn’t pay off. However, it was still 6 new players, 4 of whom were three-star prospects. That’s as many three-star prospects as the rest of the Northeast Conference combined. Dinko and his staff were satisfied and looking forward to next season, though he would need to figure out his point guard situation.

Stetson
In the final weeks, Oggy managed to sign big man Jerimie Scott and PG Uche Kounkorgo to round out his new class. He wasn’t in love with this new class, but he’d been in a similar situation last year and was looking forward to setting up a foundation for the future.

Northern Colorado
Northern Colorado brought in four players, and all four were three-star recruits. Oggy was disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to coach them and he knew they’d be making a big difference in Greeley for the next few years.

National Top 20
Here’s where the top 20 recruits ended up. North Carolina rode last year’s title to nabbing three of the top 13 prospects.

Prospect Name	Position	Rank	Hometown	School
David Bruff	PF	1	Brooklyn, NY	Duke
Kim Pait	SG	2	Buffalo, NY	Pittsburgh
Tamsir Lawson	PG	3	Baytown, TX	Louisville
Joey Robbins	SF	4	Montgomery, AL	FSU
Teddy Ali	PG	5	Chattanooga, TN	UNC
Daryl Siebrandt	SG	6	San Luis Obispo, CA	Stanford
Jazz Grace	SG	7	Houston, TX	Tulane
Rudy Chapman	PG	8	Yonkers, NY	Syracuse
Damond Conklin	PG	9	Rochester, MN	Marquette
Smackey Linebaugh	SG	10	Livonia, MI	Pittsburgh
Warren Mayes	PF	11	Philadelphia, PA	UNC
Jud Francis	SG	12	Bronx, NY	UNC
Lyle Cortez	SG	13	Elgin, IL	Marquette
Walter Bridges	SG	14	Aurora, CO	Kansas
Andre O'Hara	C	15	Memphis, TN	LSU
Evan Krager	PG	16	Atlanta, GA	Georgia Tech
Broderick Caporn	PF	17	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Florida State
Petie Murray	SG	18	Queens, NY	UConn
Dean Lawrence	SG	19	Milpitas, CA	California
Jimmy Tran	SF	20	Virginia Beach, VA	Duke

[studbucket]

2021 NBA Playoffs: Conference Finals Update

We had two reasonable series, but they ended up as many were predicting: Bucks vs Warriors in the NBA Finals. The team of the 2010s against what could be the team of the 2020s.

Milwaukee Bucks (4) vs Philadelphia 76ers (2)
Milwaukee absolutely demolished Philly in game 1 as Giannis did whatever he wanted. Antetokounmpo had the same stateline in game 2, but Philly got the victory. From there it was a Giannis and Embiid duel each game, but Milwaukee grabbed a 3-1 lead and then closed it out in game 6.

Golden State Warriors (4) vs Denver Nuggets (2)
Denver took a 2-0 series lead after winning the first two games on the road. Then Golden State got their act together and never looked back, led by Steph Curry who led the team in scoring each of the last 5 games.


Finals Preview
Yesterday’s league darling against today’s league darling. The two most exciting teams in the NBA. There isn’t much more the NBA could have asked for from this one. The best shooting duo in NBA history is still going strong, and Ayton is probably the best big man they’ve ever had and Butler is probably the best perimeter defender they’ve ever had. Both of those things mean that Klay and Steph don’t have to work as hard on the defensive end and can save the energy for making buckets.

For Milwaukee, it’s Giannis and everyone else. Except that everyone else is playing quite well, experienced, long, and very complementary to the Greek Freak. While the MVP stuffs the stat sheet, the length of Khris Middleton and Clint Capela make it tough to score in the paint, and their bench unit includes two more seven footers.

If Golden State wins this series, it will be because Jimmy Butler harasses Giannis just enough and Golden State feasts from three.

[studbucket]

Season 2 Survey

I’ve created a survey for your feedback after the second season (similar to what I did after the first season). This will be used in a few small ways in the narrative of this dynasty. It’s 6 questions and should be very quick.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAII8-q9UNlcyVkkxN09JMVkxRkg4MTJYNTNPUFVPNC4u

[RolePlayer]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Took the survey.

Man Dinko is building quite the squad at St. Francis with that recruiting class, that's a pretty impressive class for such a small school. I see a lot more NCAA tourney births in the future for him.

[asvpxhughuet]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Just took the survey. Smashed through all 41 pages of this in the last day! Really love the direction you're heading and I can't wait for one of the brothers to make the big time. I really enjoyed your Hornets dynasty and glad that you're continuing to use the NBA 2K/College Hoops direction on this. Will definitely continue to follow!

[studbucket]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Took the survey.

Man Dinko is building quite the squad at St. Francis with that recruiting class, that's a pretty impressive class for such a small school. I see a lot more NCAA tourney births in the future for him.

Just took the survey. Smashed through all 41 pages of this in the last day! Really love the direction you're heading and I can't wait for one of the brothers to make the big time. I really enjoyed your Hornets dynasty and glad that you're continuing to use the NBA 2K/College Hoops direction on this. Will definitely continue to follow!

Thanks so much for taking the survey, that means a lot.

I agree that Dinko is set up really well for the future. This year will be tough, as the time will likely be very inconsistent (with all the freshman) and he doesn't have any good big men. Doss is 7'3", but kinda sucks. Think of him like a far worse version of Hasheem Thabeet.

@asvpxhughuet - 41 pages in a day is a lot, but it's really cool that you've done that. I've definitely binged other dynasty threads, and I know how fun it can be. It's an honor that mine fit into that category.

[studbucket]

2021 NBA finals Recap

(sorry, I neglected to get a screenshot of the playoffs bracket this time)

Warriors Win 2021 NBA Finals 4-3

After game 1, you’d be easily forgiven for thinking that this series belonged to Milwaukee. The Bucks won game 1 by 50 points: 144-94 and then won game 2 by 30. However, everything turned in game 3. Khris Middleton tore his ACL and the Bucks lost the game by a single point.

In game 4, Sterling Brown started at small forward in place of Middleton and Golden State eeked out another victory thanks to 8 players scoring in double digits (with none scoring more than 19).

After the Bucks pulled one back in game 5, Steph Curry said “no sir” and dropped 60 points in game 6, outshining Giannis’ 40 points. Game 7 was anti-climactic as the Warriors coasted to a 143-117 victory. Steph Curry was the clear MVP, though many fans were disappointed to see the Khris Middleton get injured so severely.

Reminder: please fill out this offseason survey. The answers will be used in storylines and impact the dynasty in small ways. https://forms.office.com/Pages/Respo...JYNTNPUFVPNC4u

[studbucket]

NBA Coaching Changes and Player Retirements

The offseason is a time of change, and that’s very true among the NBA coaches. There were no head coaches that retired this year, but there were 6 coaches who were fired or did not have their contracts renewed.

• Kenny Atkinson, Nets – an embarrassing first round exit did in Kenny, as the Nets will be looking to get someone that allows them to thrive with KD, Kyrie, and Ernesto Parkinson.
• Monty Williams, Suns – After several years of little growth, the Suns decided to go all-in and grab talent in the form of Bam Adebayo and veteran leadership from Draymond Green. Their trajectory changed very little and they went out in the first round without winning a single game. With a roster this talented, leadership expects more.
• Quin Snyder, Jazz – Last year the Jazz started terribly but rebounded and made the playoffs…where they were immediately eliminated. This season they missed the playoffs entirely and they’ll be looking for a new coach as a result.
• Luke Walton, Kings – The Kings are not a good team or franchise, but Walton has had very little impact in his time there and the franchise is moving on.
• Jim Boylen, Bulls – The Bulls have been bad for years and had the 2^nd worst record in the league this year.
• James Borrego, Hornets – Like the Bulls, but even worse. They’ll have a top pick in the draft and a new coach to help lead the team.

Replacing those departed coaches are some fresh faces and some re-treads.

• Brooklyn Nets: Mike D’Antoni – D’Antoni was out of contract and left Houston and the drama of their ownership to try his hand with the talents of KD, Kyrie, and Parkinson.
• Houston Rockets: Trent Pederson – With D’Antoni gone, the Rockets signed young offensive mind Trent Pederson from the 76ers.
• Phoenix Suns: Logan Schmidt – The Suns grabbed Logan Schmidt from Europe, hoping his balanced approach would do the trick.
• Utah Jazz: Otis Newman – The Jazz reached out and grabbed Pace & Space maestro Otis Newman (assistant coach) from the Spurs.
• Sacramento Kings: Aiden Anderson – After striking out on several NBA assistants, the Kings went for a college hire.
• Chicago Bulls: Oliver Gordon – Hired from the college ranks, Gordon hopes to bring some life to Chicago.
• Charlotte Hornets: Hunter Wilson – Wilson is credited for much of the development of the Nuggets offense and helping their team jell in the playoffs, but has nearly zero defensive acumen. So…perfect for the Hornets?

We saw a number of players retire, including these 4 veterans:

• Vince Carter, age 44, 21 years in the league
• Tyson Chandler, age 38, 18 years in the league
• Nene, age 38, 16 years in the league
• Carmelo Anthony, age 37, 16 years in the league.

Vince Carter and Carmelo Anthony made the NBA HoF, with Carmelo also seeing his #15 retired by the Nuggets.

Reminder: please fill out this offseason survey. The answers will be used in storylines and impact the dynasty in small ways. https://forms.office.com/Pages/Respo...JYNTNPUFVPNC4u

[RolePlayer]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Wonder how Jokic feels about the Nuggets retiring his number lol. Does the game force him to change it?

[studbucket]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Wonder how Jokic feels about the Nuggets retiring his number lol. Does the game force him to change it?

LOL, I didn't even think of that. Let me check later.