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

[studbucket]

The Inside Scoop – 2022 Preseason Edition

The Inside Scoop is based on TheDominator273's awesome spreadsheet to add random events to your MyLeague.

Vytas Kowalczuk wants to be the best perimeter defender in the NBA
The third year sharpshooter from Tennessee was already a solid defender and valuable contributor for the Thunder, but he seems to have been great motivated by the drafting of Milos Jeffers and has put in extensive amounts of work this offseason.

Jalen Brunson is going hard in the paint
The 26 year old point guard for the Mavs is committed to being a better contributor for the Mavs and spent a lot of time this offseason working on his finishing around the rim and will be even more aggressive in attacking the basket this season. Hopefully this helps lead to a rebound for the Mavs, who had a disappointing 2021-22.

Harry Giles III wants to be a more versatile defender
With more and more teams hunting for mismatches, Giles has decided he doesn’t want to be a liability for the Kings and spent the offseason working on his ability to effectively guard perimeter players when he gets switched into unfavorable matchups.

Meyers Leonard is getting lax
Contrasted with Harry Giles III, the Clippers Meyers Leonard looks sluggish and a bit worse at defending on switches. He was already bad, but reports out of camp are saying that he may be the worst perimeter defender the coaching staff has ever seen.

Charlie Holloway is fed up with being a bench warmer in the Bay
The third year power forward from Creighton may be on a great team, but he is sick of not playing. He’s the 4^th power forward on the team (behind Eric Paschall, Tyler Cavanaugh, and Alen Smailagic) and has told the team he has no interest in re-signing. After a brief conversation, the Warriors decided to release Holloway, preventing any locker room issues.

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...E0MklGQkpRVy4u

[studbucket]

Pre-Season Recruiting Update

This is the beginning of the 4^th recruiting season for the brothers and, while they aren’t experts, they are getting better at it. Oggy will have 7 scholarships to fill, so this is a very important class. Dinko has 3, so he’ll be looking to round out his roster and set himself up well for when his current sophomores and juniors graduate. While the last two classes have been solid, neither brother has found a star so far. Oggy has missed out on two, having recruited one to Northern Colorado (Jayce Fisher) before he left and losing out on Michael Rost to rival North Florida. Maybe this will be the year the brothers will get a player who could play in the NBA.

Stetson
The Hatters have 4 seniors graduating, but transfer Deron Wagner is the only major contributor that Oggy is losing. He also gets 3 scholarships back from players he cut last season in his first season at Stetson. He’ll want to get depth at every single position and another starting big man with this recruiting class.

Oggy has aggressively offered out all 7 of his scholarships already, knowing that many will end up being declined but hoping to get an early jump on some of the prospects. His top two prospects are sharpshooting guards and are the two players he’s going after most heavily.

1. Abdul Moreno, PG, *** - Moreno is short but a good athlete, good shooter, and a smart player. Oggy may have two point guards already, but if he can get an upgrade he certainly will. He could even play Moreno off the ball to get him more open looks. Moreno has a scholarship offer from Florida Atlantic as well, but Stetson is neck-and-neck with FAU.
2. Erwin Willingham, SG, *** - Willingham is from Oak Park, Illinois and is being sought after by a variety of teams thanks to his size (6’6”) and shooting touch. Ranked as the #182 prospect and 44^th SG, his top choice is currently Iowa State. Both brothers have offered him a scholarship and both seem to be in the running for his services.
3. Jarrett Snow, SG, *** - The Atlanta native has a scholarship offer from Georgia State and looks like he may commit to them. He’s a shorter version of Willingham, sitting at the #49 SG in the nation.
4. Stevin Popoola, SF, *** - Despite looking like a reasonable option early on in the process, Popoola now looks fully committed to Central Florida and will likely leave Oggy’s radar soon.
5. Jean-Baptiste Akingbala, SF, *** - Jean-Baptiste hails from Lakeland, FL and has 16 teams interested in his services. Stetson is the only team to offer a scholarship so far, but he seems most interested in South Florida and Central Florida. The 6’7” wing’s best skills are dunking and rebounding.
6. Randolph Birley, C, ** - Oggy decided not to offer a scholarship to any 2* prospects yet, but Birley would likely be the first one he pursues. The native of Chula Vista, CA is 7’2” and the 67^th ranked center in the nation. He currently seems to favor UNLV and Arizona, but Stetson is sitting at 6^th on his list.
7. Maarty Goode, SG, ** - The 6’6” SG from Columbus, OH could be a better shooter, but you can’t ask for much better size. His favorite schools are all in the Ohio area, so Oggy (sitting at 8^th on his list) will have an uphill battle to sign him.
8. Geoff Soto, SG, ** - Soto takes “tall shooting guard” to the next level, checking in at 6’8”. The Aurora, CO native’s top schools are all in the Southwestern US.
9. Keonta Riddle, PF, *** - Riddle is a JuCo sophomore who is strongly considered Stetson. Oggy has offered the 6’10” PF a scholarship and sits second on his list. Stetson is still evaluating his game, but he’s a solid post defender and has quick hands.
10. Brett Webber, C, *** - Stetson is the only school to offer a scholarship to the 6’11” JuCo freshman from Jacksonville, but he has a strong preference to attend Florida State, Miami, or South Florida.
11. Elton Brooks, SF, *** - The Baltimore native has no scholarship offers, but both St. Francis and Stetson are in his top 5 schools.
12. Kyle Coulibaly, SG, *** - Oggy continues his trend of considering international prospects, with the Senegalese SG.
13. Floyd Klein, SG, *** - The 6’6” JuCo shooter seems all but committed to High Point and Oggy will likely stop his pursuit soon.
14. Ian Schiffner, C, ** - Schniffner is a 7’1” giant from Houston. Very few schools are pursuing him currently.

St. Francis
Dinko only has 1 player graduating: Gerardo Bethel. It will be a meaningful loss for the Red Flash and they will need some additional shooters and ball-handlers as he has ably filled both roles for St. Francis.

With just 3 scholarships, Dinko is looking for a few more shooters and a bit more size. His three scholarships are out to two good shooters and the #17 center in the nation.

1. Erwin Willingham, SG, *** - Oggy is also targeting Willingham, but Dinko has the inside track and is #4 on the 182^nd prospects board and just a smidge behind Iowa State on Willingham’s interest. Loretto isn’t in Chicago’s back yard, but for a prospect that wants to be close to home and get playing time, the Red Flash are not a terrible option.
2. Wilson Barrow, SG, *** - Dinko is the only coach to offer Barrow a scholarship, but the 6’1” shooter has a preference for Murray State, Yale, and Long Island currently.
3. Louis Krymski, C, *** - Krymski has great hands and a soft shooting touch to complement his 6’10” frame. St. Francis are currently his only offer and they sit 6^th on his board, with slightly more interest in George Washington, Penn State, Eastern Carolina, Bucknell, and Towson.
4. Jairus Moye, PG, *** - Moye seems strongly committed to Ohio, Wake Forest, or Akron so Dinko is likely out of the running here for the #83 point guard.
5. Isaac Cruz, PG, *** - The New Britain, CT distributor will also likely fall off of Dinko’s board as he is far more interested in schools close to home.
6. Jarron Cottrill, C, *** - Cottrill is from Philly and his top priority is being close to home, which gives Dinko a chance even though he’s currently slotting SFPA as team #9 on his board. The 6’11” center’s home is just a 4 hour drive from Loretto and Dinko knows how to coach bigs.
7. Timothy Okosa, C, ** - Okosa is the first two star on Dinko’s board, but is 7’1”. However, he has an offer from Monmouth and seems likely to accept that.
8. Tariq Pompey, SG, *** - The JuCo sophomore looks all but committed to hometown Towson.
9. Elton Brooks, SF, *** - Brooks is also a JuCo sophomore out of Baltimore, but is far more undecided as to where he wants to end up. Dinko sits at #3 on his list, just behind UMBC and American.
10. Von Bosley, PF, *** - Despite being undersized at 6’7”, this JuCo freshman has 10 teams interested in him currently.

Top 20 Recruits
It’s the year of the guard with only 2 big men in the top 20 and no centers. Guards make up 9 of the top 10 prospects and 15 of the top 20. Of those 15 guards, 10 are point guards.

Prospect	Pos	Rank	Hometown	Top schools
Michael Coles	SG	1	Fort Worth, TX	Louisville, Michigan St, Memphis, Texas, Indiana
Bernard Cuffle	PG	2	Lubbock, TX	Texas, Baylor, Wisconsin, Kansas, Arkansas
Isaac Evtimov	SG	3	Charlotte, NC	Duke, Louisville, Charlotte, Tennessee, Clemson
Romas Willie	PG	4	Wyoming, MI	Michigan State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Michigan
Darold Santiago	PG	5	Los Angeles, CA	UNLV, UCLA, USC, Oregon, Arizona
Alfredo Mbaha Moute	PG	6	Modesto, CA	Oregon, USC, California, Arizona State, UCLA
Ben Barker	PG	7	Philadelphia, PA	Villanova, West Virginia, Providence, Syracuse, Duke
Jarrad Killingsworth	PG	8	San Antonio, TX	Kansas, Texas, Southern Miss, Miss St, Baylor
Dwayne Bey	PG	9	Hempstead, NY	Boston College, Villanova, Georgetown, Duke
Geoffrey Slater	SF	10	High Point, NC	UNC, Duke, Louisville, Virginia, Villanova
Adam Webber	SG	11	Lancaster, PA	Syracuse, West Virginia, Temple, Duke, Villanova
Silver Chatman	PG	12	Boston, MA	Boston College, Georgetown, Villanova, UConn
Roland Price	SG	13	Shreveport, LA	Louisville, Texas A&M, Alabama, Tennessee
Justin Carrington	PG	14	Cincinnati, OH	Duke, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State
Ime Kelly	SG	15	Johnson City, TN	Duke, Indiana, Clemson, Michigan State, Tennessee
Bruce Wise	PG	16	Little Rock, AR	Kansas, Villanova, Southern Miss, Florida, Illinois
Clarence Defares	PF	17	North Charleston, SC	Clemson, Georgia, Duke, NC State, Florida
Marvin Rowe	PF	18	Chicago, IL	Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Central Mich, Eastern Mich
Filiberto Weisse	SF	19	Berkeley, CA	Washington, Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Washington State
Eric Graham	SF	20	Queens, NY	Hofstra, Seton Hall, St Johns, UConn

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...E0MklGQkpRVy4u

[georgiafan]

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

Interesting to see both schools going after Willingham. I'm a sucker for tall C's so I would offer the 7'2 guy

[studbucket]

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

Interesting to see both schools going after Willingham. I'm a sucker for tall C's so I would offer the 7'2 guy

Not a lot of players that are:

1. 6'6"
2. Can shoot
3. Can handle the ball
4. Reasonably interested in small schools

Seems to be a few guys like that each year as the brothers hunt for similar players. At least they are pretty far apart geographically.

Both brothers love size on the interior as well, but Dinko learned a bit of a lesson with 7'3" Geary Doss...he is not good

[marshdaddy]

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

A little late to the trade party but I liked the deals. I'm a little concerned about Indiana's backcourt with Kemba and CJ. Offensively, that's a pretty talented tandem. But defensively? Holy hell, if I had an even halfway decent point guard I would be circling every Indiana game knowing he's likely to pop off. It'll be interesting to see if they can manage to stop anyone if they make the playoffs.

Love the Dame to Boston deal. JT and Dame is a great pairing, if they can fill in with some good defenders next to them they'll be potent. The Reddish deal, if he is developing the way he has in my league, is a good one to do that. One of the better wing defenders in the NBA.

I'm surprised to see Portland end up with no draft picks in the deal, but JB, Sabonis and Brogdon is a pretty good trio. Also absolutely love the storyline of Sabonis going to the same team his dad played for, hopefully you ensured he stayed as number 11 there.

Good move to get Oladipo out of Indy too. Would've been a little cool to see them try to do a three-guard lineup though, but I don't think there are enough shots for those three guards. And Winslow and Adams should anchor the defense.

Atlanta landed Vooch is an exciting move offensively, but defensively I'm nervous. Not nervous enough to care though, him and Trae is a great PnR combo, especially on the pick and pop.

If I were to rank the best outcomes from all deals regarding in-game, I'd probably go:
Boston - got the best player
Portland - got deeper
New Orleans - added a guard scorer
Atlanta - offensive upgrade but defense is still a concern
Indiana - that defense still really concerns me, and they are 32 and 31 years old in the backcourt

Unranked - Orlando. They got a first, but the players back are meh. Would've liked if they got another pick out of the deal.

As far as your work on them, great job. I feel like all those are fair and legitimate and don't think any are a stretch in terms of value or timing of the trades. Tough to pull that off and still keep the world intact. Nice work.

[studbucket]

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

A little late to the trade party but I liked the deals. I'm a little concerned about Indiana's backcourt with Kemba and CJ. Offensively, that's a pretty talented tandem. But defensively? Holy hell, if I had an even halfway decent point guard I would be circling every Indiana game knowing he's likely to pop off. It'll be interesting to see if they can manage to stop anyone if they make the playoffs.

Love the Dame to Boston deal. JT and Dame is a great pairing, if they can fill in with some good defenders next to them they'll be potent. The Reddish deal, if he is developing the way he has in my league, is a good one to do that. One of the better wing defenders in the NBA.

I'm surprised to see Portland end up with no draft picks in the deal, but JB, Sabonis and Brogdon is a pretty good trio. Also absolutely love the storyline of Sabonis going to the same team his dad played for, hopefully you ensured he stayed as number 11 there.

Good move to get Oladipo out of Indy too. Would've been a little cool to see them try to do a three-guard lineup though, but I don't think there are enough shots for those three guards. And Winslow and Adams should anchor the defense.

Atlanta landed Vooch is an exciting move offensively, but defensively I'm nervous. Not nervous enough to care though, him and Trae is a great PnR combo, especially on the pick and pop.

If I were to rank the best outcomes from all deals regarding in-game, I'd probably go:
Boston - got the best player
Portland - got deeper
New Orleans - added a guard scorer
Atlanta - offensive upgrade but defense is still a concern
Indiana - that defense still really concerns me, and they are 32 and 31 years old in the backcourt

Unranked - Orlando. They got a first, but the players back are meh. Would've liked if they got another pick out of the deal.

As far as your work on them, great job. I feel like all those are fair and legitimate and don't think any are a stretch in terms of value or timing of the trades. Tough to pull that off and still keep the world intact. Nice work.

I think that is a really good and fair analysis, and thanks for thinking I did well with the trades.

I initially had a draft pick to Portland as well, but when I added up the stars and figured that Portland got a) the 2nd and 3rd best players and b) got 3 new starters, I figured that it was a good enough deal.

I agree on Indiana losing the trade. Are they worse than they were before? Maybe? But they were treading water at the 40-46 win mark. They probably could or should have gotten another draft pick from Boston, you're right about that. For Indiana, I just did their rotations, and I'm not sure Winslow even plays much, so he may have been window dressing on that trade :/

NOP won't have much defense, but hopefully they can be an interesting team this year. There are only 2 bad teams in the West: Sacramento and San Antonio (and sort of OKC). I could see every other team making a run at the playoffs, so there are bound to be very disappointed franchises.

Atlanta was awful last year, but should be a contending playoff team. I agree their defense is bad, but I'm hoping that this helps them get back to ~50 wins.

[studbucket]

2022-23 NCAA Season Preview

All of the “Midnight Madnesses” have wrapped up and the tip off for this year’s college basketball season is just around the corner. Here’s the season preview from Clark and Greg as well as the top 25.

Note – something messed up with the audio settings and this season preview is video only.

Top Teams
Unsurprisingly, Florida tops the polls. They are loaded with NBA talent and a veteran team that is ready to take the next step. They may be the greatest shooting college team we’ve ever seen (team shooting rating of 100). What is a bit more surprising is that Maryland and Michigan State are 2 and 3 over the defending champion Duke Blue Devils. Duke may have lost 4 players to the draft, but you have to be shocked to not see them in the top 2 with their talented roster and as returning champs.




Top 25

All Americans
Duke manages to get their entire starting 5 on the first or second All-American teams, which is a crazy feat even before considering that they lost 4 key contributors to the NBA draft. Coach K’s team is absolutely stacked and I think everyone is looking forward to a Florida – Duke game.

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...E0MklGQkpRVy4u

[kibaxx7]

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

Oh, just read that the Blazers got Domantas! My plan is to add both father and son down the road as well. That would be amazing.

[marshdaddy]

Re: Introduction

Really liked the snapshot of the team roster, helps a ton in seeing what guys are good and what aren’t. Feels like Maryland is destined to disappoint, going purely off their overalls. How does CHoops do with that? Is the overalls of the players indicative of how good the team will be?

[RolePlayer]

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

How is Duke ranked number 4 when they have five all Americans, what a squad.

[studbucket]

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

Oh, just read that the Blazers got Domantas! My plan is to add both father and son down the road as well. That would be amazing.

Yeah, it wasn't why I made the trade, but then I realized it would be fantastic to do

Really liked the snapshot of the team roster, helps a ton in seeing what guys are good and what aren’t. Feels like Maryland is destined to disappoint, going purely off their overalls. How does CHoops do with that? Is the overalls of the players indicative of how good the team will be?

Thanks, I am glad I did the roster snapshots as well.

In CHoops, overalls generally correlate to success, but it really depends on their type of game and their year. Freshman are very up and down, and you can have players like Mo Payne (who was only 71/72 overall) who lead their conference in scoring and drop 30+ on good teams.

I agree Maryland will likely disappoint. Not having Florida and Duke 1 & 2 is confounding to me.

How is Duke ranked number 4 when they have five all Americans, what a squad.

Absolutely stacked. And Florida has a strong argument to be made that they got jobbed as Britton Wainright has been their best player and didn't make either team. He's definitely been a better play than Sheldon Newman. I think this is a coach K love affair from the media.

[studbucket]

Top NBA Draft Prospects

The 2K Hoops summit took place, giving us our first glimpse at some of the top prospects in next year’s NBA draft. The draft is headlined by Kansas State’s Jameer Trammell, who is widely considered to be the best player in this draft, though the initial DraftExpress rankings have Kentucky PF Horace Wolfe ranked at the top. This draft has a lot of tantalizing potential, but it remains to be seen how well these players will be able to step in and contribute at the next level.

In the 2K Hoops Summit, we saw the heavily favored Team USA lose to Team World after falling behind by 9 in the first quarter. Team USA was down by 10 with 5 minutes left, tied the game up, then managed to lose by 8. Michigan State’s Viti Hite led the World Team by getting to the free throw line for 11 shots and finishing with 22 points. Romania’s Tudor Filimon and Australia’s Artie Tyler both scored 21 points as well. USC’s Raynell Ere showed off his well-rounded game with 14 points and 13 rebounds, shooting 2-2 from deep.

Here are DraftExpress’ top 5 prospects at each position, which will likely change meaningfully over the next 9 months.

Point Guards

Player	Rank	School / Country	Age	Height	Weight
C.W. Wente	3	Michigan State	20	6’1”	188 lbs
Roland Mayes	9	Arizona	18	5’11”	158 lbs
Tudor Filimon	15	Romania	22	6’1”	203 lbs
Devonne Shakur	21	USC	21	5’8”	185 lbs
Kentrell Werch	26	Florida	20	6’4”	190 lbs

Shooting Guards

Player	Rank	School / Country	Age	Height	Weight
Jerald McLaren	5	Duke	19	6’1”	195 lbs
Malcolm Nahra	6	UCLA	20	6’3”	193 lbs
Artie Tyler	13	Australia	22	6’4”	209 lbs
Matthew Carroll	19	Alabama	22	6’3”	186 lbs
Sheldon Newman	20	Duke	21	6’4”	231 lbs

Small Forwards

Player	Rank	School / Country	Age	Height	Weight
Jameer Trammell	2	Kansas State	20	6’6”	234 lbs
Ndudi Colter	10	Oklahoma State	22	6’6”	204 lbs
Troy Jameson	14	Duke	21	6’6”	248 lbs
Shawan Guzman	16	Arizona	19	6’8”	215 lbs
Enrique Rivera	23	Argentina	19	6’7”	203 lbs

Power Forwards

Player	Rank	School / Country	Age	Height	Weight
Horace Wolfe	1	Kentucky	21	6’10”	247 lbs
David Bruff	7	Duke	20	6’10”	252 lbs
Roy Grady	12	Texas	21	6’8”	268 lbs
Keston Mendoza	18	Stanford	18	6’8”	205 lbs
Jave Ibikunle	24	Florida	21	6’10”	219 lbs

Centers

Player	Rank	School / Country	Age	Height	Weight
Raynell Ere	4	USC	22	7’1”	249 lbs
Delvon Archie	8	Texas A&M	20	7’0”	271 lbs
Lamar Olson	11	Ohio State	21	7’0”	281 lbs
Stephan Maclies	17	NC State	21	6’9”	272 lbs
Lou Park	28	Kansas	21	6’11”	261 lbs

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...E0MklGQkpRVy4u

[studbucket]

2022-23 NBA Season Preview

Before we get into preview the teams and divisions, here is a quick update on some of the players who remained unsigned due to vaccine hesitancy. Several have changed their minds and have signed deals with teams.

• Chris Paul (PG, 81 ovr) to the Lakers on a 1 year minimum deal.
• Lance Stephenson (SF, 76 ovr) to the Nuggets on a 1 year minimum deal.
• 3^rd year PG Dan Vignale (78 ovr) out of Florida State has agreed to a 4 year deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
• The Wizards signed Isaiah Whitehead (PG, 81 ovr) to a 4 year contract and Antonius Cleveland (SG, 77 ovr) to a 1 year minimum deal.
• The Suns have signed Nik Stauskas (SF, 78 ovr) to a 1 year veteran minimum contract.
• Jae Crowder (PF, 77 ovr) has joined the Milwaukee Bucks for the next 2 seasons.
• Malik Beasley (SG, 78 ovr) has signed with Charlotte.
• Devonte Graham (PG/SG, 83 ovr) has agreed to a 2 year deal with Toronto.
• The Rockets have decided to sign some competition for LaMarcus Aldridge in the form of Isaac Humphries (C, 79 ovr).
• Juan King (C, 81 ovr) is on his 3^rd team in his 3 year career as the Georgetown big man joins the Spurs.
• The Timberwolves have rounded out their starting 5 by signing Lonnie Walker IV (SG, 78 ovr) to a 3 year deal.
• Ronni Eppenhimer (PG, 76 ovr) also joins his 3^rd team since being drafted out of Pittsburgh as a backup to Brogdon in Portland.
• Collin Sexton (SG, 83 ovr) has joined the motley crew in Los Angeles as the starting 2 guard for the Clippers.

Atlantic Division

This may end up being the most competitive division in all of the NBA, with 4 teams ranked into the top 10 of the power rankings. Shockingly, the defending champion Nets are only 7^th in the power rankings and the refreshed Celtics are 10^th. Leading the preseason polls are the Toronto Raptors, which has been a very controversial pick among NBA fans. Is the addition of Devonte Graham and the bumping of Kyle Lowry to 6^th man really enough to push them ahead of the Nets, 76ers, and Celtics? Many don’t think so.

In Brooklyn, it’s a blending of the old with the new, as Kyrie and Durant enter the final phase of their careers while top draft picks Ernesto Parkinson and Stewart Mobley enter the starting lineup. Will Mobley struggle to adapt in the NBA in a division that feature Whiteside, Embiid, Turner, and Jordan? He’s certainly going to be baptized by fire in his first year.

Philly and Boston are desperate to take the next step as franchises. The 76ers can likely rely on this core for a few more seasons, but they desperately want to get out of third place in the East. Boston made major changes this offseason and are hoping that Lillard and Tatum work much better together than Tatum and Brown did.


Central Division

This is Milwaukee’s division, no doubt about it. The Bucks lost some depth in the offseason, but are still extraordinarily talented and feature the NBA’s best player in Giannis Antetokounmpo. It’s only a matter of time before Matt Forney takes over the starting point guard job from Eric Bledsoe, and he looks to feature heavily for the Bucks this year, possibly as a 6^th Man of the Year candidate, similar to what Jarrett Pressley has done in Golden State.

Outside of Milwaukee, it’s 4 teams who are trying to break through to become contenders. Indiana re-arranged their deck chairs this offseason, though it’s unclear how much their record will change after shipping off Brogdon, Oladipo, Sabonis, and Turner and bringing in Walker, McCollum, and Steven Adams. Chicago looks like a mess, but perhaps their focus on big men and giving up on the Zach Lavine era will work out?

More intriguing are the Cavaliers and Pistons. Cleveland has a team of smart and talented players around the constantly improving Andre Drummond. They were .500 last year and will be looking to push for a top 6 seed in the East this year. The Pistons are young and have decided to pair young star Trevor Merchant with Kings castoff Marvin Bagley III. On paper this could work, but we will need to see it in reality.


Southeast Division

This division is putrid. The best team in the division, Atlanta, managed to only win 33 games last year and looked discombobulated. They reacted by trading for Nikola Vucevic, which gives them a starting lineup that can score anyplace, anytime and cannot stop a high school team from scoring. Perhaps they’ll return to their highly competitive form of 2 years ago under new head coach Frank Vogel.

This division also features “The Internet’s Second Favorite Team” in the Charlotte Hornets. They were bad last year, showing that their experiment of rely on Jerry Sparks and 4 combo guards was a bad idea. They let Devonto Graham and Collin Sexton walk, signed Zach Lavine (who is out for 2-4 more months with a torn achilles), and drafted athletic freak Jesus Brand out of Iowa State. Jerry Sparks and De’Aaron Fox are talented enough that this team should make the playoffs without issue, especially once Lavine comes back and pushes Beasley to the bench.

That leaves us with three teams who have tanked hard the last few years, though it’s not clear they’ve been especially good at it. Miami racked up draft picks and grabbed a lot of speculative talent, but are still starting John Wall, Otto Porter, and Jusuf Nurkic. Washington has no young talent at all and has a frontcourt of Chandler Hutchinson, Kevin Love, and Jahlil Okafor – that screams of desperation. Then there’s the Magic who are still running the Jonathan Isaac and Mo Bamba experiments and are hoping that by adding Erroll Reaser and Jaan O’Donnell to the mix that they can finally be a winning team.


Northwest Division

Last season, “The Internet’s Favorite Team” – the Oklahoma City Thunder – were sitting second in the West halfway through the season and threw it all away. They finished 4 games below .500 and missed the playoffs. Chris Paul is gone, replaced by Derrick Rose, but it’s easy to understand why this is among the most popular teams on Reddit or for MyLeague modes on NBA 2K. They have 3 of the best young shooters in the NBA with Vytas Kowalczuk, SGA, and Milos Jeffers (SG/PG, 78 ovr) in their rotation, weird and exciting Dana Bright at power forward, and Seth Valsin (PG/SF, 80 ovr), Dan Vignale (PG, 78 ovr), and even Ben Long (SF, 74 ovr) on the bench. The power rankings have the Thunder ranked 21^st in the league, which feels about right, but this team could be very dangerous in 2 years.

What’s fascinating is how poorly the Timberwolves are viewed in these rankings, as the analysts don’t view the addition of McNurlin and Walker favorably, or perhaps they don’t trust Russell and KAT to ever actually be winners. What is for sure, is that they are running a fascinating experiment with Vince Carter as head coach and Carmelo as his primary assistant.

At the top of the division, we’ll see the Jazz and Nuggets fighting it out, with both teams struggling to find meaningful contributors at the 3 and 4, but have stars at the 1, 2, and 5 spots. The Nuggets have been good but slightly disappointing the last few years, while the Jazz are up and down, alternating between meeting expectations and greatly disappointing. With Bradley Beal re-signed to huge money for many years, The Nuggets likely have a 2-3 year window to win a title with their “big three”.

We’ll wrap up this division by looking at the team that may be the most fascinating team in the Northwest: Portland. Gone are CJ and Dame and in come Malcom, Jaylen, and Domantas. Many analysts were praising the moves and think that 2^nd year players Cousinard and Perben make great complements to the 3 stars that were brought in. Sabonis prefers the power forward role, but coach Melvin Hunt thinks he can be successful at the 5, which allows him to keep the Western Conference’s best rookies in the starting lineup. With Jaylen Brown, Malcolm Brogdon, and Gordon Cousinard, the Blazers may have the league’s best perimeter defender trio.


Pacific Division

The power rankings believe in the Lakers. Their performance the last 3 seasons has left a lot to be desired and many are thinking LeBron is no longer good enough to carry a team to a title. However, they now have four Hall-of-Famers in their starting lineup and some OK talent around them. Paul George, Anthony Davis, and Chris Paul have all never won a title and have hitched their wagon to the LeBron train. If the Lakers can’t win with this group…is there even a reason to run it back? That’s something to look at later in the year. For now, the power rankings have them as the #2 team in the league.

Just behind them are the Warriors, who greatly missed DeAndre Ayton (C, 90 ovr) in the playoffs last year and he’ll miss the first month of the season and the big man continues to recover from his dislocated patella. Once he is back, the team becomes scary once again as their team of old, wise shooters should compete with anyone. Their bench unit is led by the reigning 6^th Man of the Year Jarrett Pressley.

The Clippers enter their first full season with the core of Kawhi and Ingram, having added Collin Sexton recently as well. The power rankings view them as the 4^th best team in the league, though we’ve never really seen Schroder, Ingram, or Sexton play on winning teams so many people are skeptical. However, their talent cannot be doubted and reports out of LA are that the team is energized by new head coach and former Lakers assistant Benjamin Walker.

Feeling underappreciated are the Phoenix Suns, who have been solid contenders the last few seasons and have a deep and talented team, with players like Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green (PF, 78 ovr) coming off the bench. Bringing up the rear are the Kings, who once again don’t really have any players that excite the fans.


Southwest Division

I think the guy who runs these power rankings may have been drunk and/or exhausted when doing the Southwest division as the teams seem to be ranked backwards. Nobody believes that the Spurs are one of the 8 best teams in the NBA and many folks are skeptical that the Pelicans can take the leap to be a contender this season despite their exciting offseason.

The Memphis Grizzlies are fresh off of taking the Brooklyn Nets to 7 games in the NBA finals and have much of their roster unchanged this season, as they look to improve on their 90 win campaign. The Houston Rockets run it back again, and despite the disappointing season last year, there’s no reason to think that they aren’t a playoff team. However, their average starter is nearly 34 years old and there are many questions about how well this team will hold up as the season goes on.

The Dallas Mavericks were just as disappointing as the Rockets last year, but are a very talented and scary team and should compete for a title each and every year. They let Markelle Fultz go (for vaccination compliance reasons), but Jalen Brunson took his demotion to the bench seriously last year and has improved his play and is hungry to get a title.

New Orleans and San Antonio are teams that have wildly varied opinions on their quality. There is no frontcourt more exciting than Zion and Adrian Stewart in New Orleans, and Rozier, Oladipo, and Kuzma are great complementary pieces on the perimeter. Can they succeed despite their youth? Despite being awful last year? The Spurs have added the perpetually unsettled Juan King to partner with second year man Andre Rice in the frontcourt and are hoping that MPJ and Dejounte Murray can step up and become the stars they are paying them to be.




Based on the Erick Boenisch pre-season power rankings, we’ll see Milwaukee-Toronto and Los Angeles Lakers-Golden State conference finals. On the other side, the top pick will come down to a coin flip between New York, Orlando, and Minnesota.




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...E0MklGQkpRVy4u

[studbucket]

November 7, 2022 St. Francis at Rutgers [Non-conference]

It’s the second game of the season for the Red Flash, as they come off a 72-64 loss at home against Bucknell. The Bison had a 14 point halftime lead as the Red Flash committed an astounding 26 fouls, including seeing Tanoris Houston foul out after 5 minutes and Willis Holman foul out after just 19. Vern Quick led the Red Flash with 18 points as they shot 3-17 from deep.

After that sloppy game, they will be looking to rebound in a big way as they visit Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights look like a solid team, though they have no stars. Their best player is senior point guard Alfonso Umeh, who is well rounded and very quick. They don’t have much height, but have several good shooters who will be a challenge for the Red Flash. The Red Flash play Villanova as part of a pre-season tourney the game after this, so they will want to get a win here to avoid starting the season 0-3.

It was a very tight game for much of the first half. At the midway point it was tied at 15 as both teams tried to find a way to pull ahead. It was clear that Dinko was still working out his rotations as he ended up with both Bethel and Quick on the bench at the same time, rolling out a super-tall lineup of Stephane Diakite at the 2, and a Willis Holman, Taj Hailey, and Floyd Akindele. It actually is effective as Rutgers has nobody taller than 6’8” and the length of the Red Flash clogs up the passing lanes and gives St. Francis second chance shots.

This leads to a 27-22 Red Flash lead with 15 seconds left, but as the Scarlet Knights are playing for the last shot a wayward pass is intercepted by Willis Holman who throws it forward to a streaking Gerardo Bethel who makes the layup and gets fouled – though he misses the free throw. St. Francis takes a 29-22 lead into half.

At half, both teams are shooting exactly 50%, but Rutgers has 6 turnovers to St. Francis’ 1, which is all the difference. Scoring is evenly spread out across Bethel, Quick, Chris Thompson, and Akindele. Dinko can see that his team’s height is really making a difference and wants to double-down on that in the second half.

Willis Holman celebrates as the Red Flash extend their lead

It works to great effect as the Red Flash own the offensive glass and spend the entire half leading by double digits, finishing the game with an 18 point win.

The Red Flash were led by the left-handed freshman Chris Thompson – nicknamed The Kiwi by the fans – as the power forward had a statline very similar to what we’ve seen from Mo Payne. He had 25 points on 9-10 shooting from the line and 8-11 shooting from the field. He has a soft touch from close and mid-range and shows why he won the starting spot at the 4 despite stiff competition.

Both teams shot 47% for the game, so how did St. Francis run away with the game? There are 4 key stats that make this clear.

• St. Francis won the turnover battle 2-12
• St. Francis won the assist battle 13-9
• St. Francis won the offensive rebound battle 7-0
• All this lead to the Red Flash outshooting the Scarlet Knights 51-34.

Vern Quick was only 3-10 from deep, but Dinko wants him to keep shooting. Stephane Diakite struggled off the bench as he was looking uncomfortable at the 3.

Around the NCAA

• Oggy and Stetson lost their opening game at home to Colorado State. The Rams outscored them 98-72 as the Hatters couldn’t slow them down.
• There are no losses in the top 25, though several teams have yet to play a game.
• #1 Florida opens their season with a 102-53 shellacking of Hawaii.
• #3 Michigan State invited American to their home opener and won 106-59. They were led by C.W. Wente’s 31 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.
• Atlantic Sun favorite Jacksonville is off to a 2-0 start with wins over Alabama State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

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...E0MklGQkpRVy4u

[georgiafan]

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

Lots of great info here. If the C Ere shooting is for real then at 7’1 he is going to be a threat looks like.