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

[R1zzo23]

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

Konare is available and playing this year (it's his 3rd NBA season). It's first round pick Artie Tyler (of Australia) that is 1 year away.

Ahh yes, thanks for the reminder!

Love that Dinko is using his staying power to go big game hunting for a 4* player while Oggy, more of the mercenary type, is recruiting in good faith for Stetson while both sides understand the likely outcome of this season.

[studbucket]

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

I was waiting for the 4-star recruits to start taking notice of the brothers -- I feel like Dinko has a good shot at nabbing his first 4-star. He's in a stable environment, he's shown commitment to the school repeatedly, and he's not looking to jump to another program; if I'm a recruit, I've definitely taken notice of that.

Love that Dinko is using his staying power to go big game hunting for a 4* player while Oggy, more of the mercenary type, is recruiting in good faith for Stetson while both sides understand the likely outcome of this season.

Yeah, it's cool to see the brothers finally have chances at 4-stars. Even though Oggy has a reasonably higher charisma score, it's interesting to see better prospects on Dinko's list. Likely has to do with his coaching scores and the bit more success that he's had.

[studbucket]

2023-24 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.

Top Teams
With Duke, Florida, and Michigan State having lost numerous players to the NBA, there are no obviously dominant teams this year. This has opened the door for Marquette and Wisconsin as the residents of the Badger State get excited that schools from Southern Wisconsin start the year ranked first and second. However, they are just barely ahead of the dangerous and exciting Kansas Jayhawks and Villanova Wildcats. Michigan State will hope they can still succeed without Viti Hite, C.W. Wente, and Rudolph Butler, and Arizona will be heavily reliant upon the playmaking of senior PG Roland Mayes.

Two teams I wanted to call out because they are worth tracking are the Duke Blue Devils and Florida State Seminoles. Duke has turned over nearly their entire starting 5, except for Marcello Barber. Florida State has two NBA prospects in SF Joey Robbins and PG Cliff Mascoll and may finally be able to get all of their talented recruits to turn into post-season success.

Top 25

All Americans

Florida is only ranked 17^th, but has two preseason All-Americans, just like Kansas and Marquette. Many were shocked at Gillingham getting first team honors over Lovelace.



Please take the Bulgarian brothers 2023 survey. Your responses will help shape the future of this dynasty! https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAA AAAAAMAAII8-q9UM0FHNko3RkZWNE8yOVg5MzRaQkU2Q0lYNS4u

[trekfan]

Re: 2023-24 NCAA Season Preview

Yikes, Florida's roster got decimated by graduations and the NBA draft. I'm not hopeful for a magical run this year to win it all ... I think out of everyone, Villanova looks dangerous. I'm gonna call them my preseason pick to win the whole deal, but we'll see how crazy March Madness gets this year.

[studbucket]

Re: 2023-24 NCAA Season Preview

Yikes, Florida's roster got decimated by graduations and the NBA draft. I'm not hopeful for a magical run this year to win it all ... I think out of everyone, Villanova looks dangerous. I'm gonna call them my preseason pick to win the whole deal, but we'll see how crazy March Madness gets this year.

Florida went from stacked to rebuilding in the blink of an eye. They are still good, but I think they are in store for a 4 seed this year.

Villanova won the title in year 2 (it's year 5 now) of the dynasty and their seniors (like Antone Goss) were on that team, so they have the pedigree to win again.

I feel like Florida State and Michigan State will somehow manage to be very good this year, riding Smackey Krayl and Joey Robbins to success.

Marquette is fascinating because they are mostly juniors. Will they all return for next year as well? Or go pro?

[studbucket]

Top NBA Draft Prospects

The 2K Hoops summit featuring the top prospects from next year’s draft has just completed, and it was a relatively even game between Team USA and Team World. Fans got to see an exciting set of players for Team USA that included Florida State SF Joey Robbins and Kansas PF Kordell Cleaves and they faced off against Aussie sharpshooter Ashton Uthoff.

Joey Robbins partnered with big man Taquan St. Fort to lead Team USA to the victory. Robbins had 27 points and 10 rebounds and St. Fort added 15 points and 15 boards. Romanian PG Liviu Erhan scored 27 points in the loss.

One thing this game didn’t do is provide clarity on who the top prospects are and how deep this class is. Some people feel there is no top 1-2 players, while others seem to think that Kordel Cleaves is in a class of his own. Others feel this may be the worst draft in years. However, everyone can agree that if there’s one area of relative strength in this draft it’s the power forwards.

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
Roland Mayes	2	Arizona	20	5’11”	154 lbs
Dan Diaz	9	Arizona State	20	6’3”	220 lbs
Liviu Erhan	13	Romania	23	5’9”	160 lbs
Nathan Sneed	22	Nevada	20	6’2”	215 lbs
Dmitri Nevsky	24	Russia	18	5’11”	195 lbs

Shooting Guards

Player	Rank	School / Country	Age	Height	Weight
Kim Pait	5	Pittsburgh	21	6’4”	204 lbs
Ashton Uthoff	11	Australia	22	6’4”	205 lbs
Samuel Pilgrim	15	Maryland	21	6’6”	201 lbs
Curtis Bittee	16	Kansas State	18	6’1”	207 lbs
Fab Pratt	21	UCLA	20	6’5”	211 lbs

Small Forwards

Player	Rank	School / Country	Age	Height	Weight
Joey Robbins	12	Florida State	19	6’9”	231 lbs
J.B. McCroskey	14	Hartford	22	6’5”	218 lbs
Enrique Radenovic	20	Wisconsin	22	6’7”	234 lbs
Can Maldonado	31	Oregon	18	6’6’	224 lbs
Radu Stefan	32	Romania	21	6’10”	237 lbs

Power Forwards

Player	Rank	School / Country	Age	Height	Weight
Kordel Cleaves	1	Kansas	18	6’7”	236 lbs
Angelo Braswell	3	UNLV	21	6’11”	248 lbs
Keston Mendoza	4	Stanford	19	6’8”	215 lbs
Marcello Barber	6	Duke	21	6’7”	222 lbs
Regis Matela	7	Louisiana-Lafayette	21	6’6”	252 lbs

Centers

Player	Rank	School / Country	Age	Height	Weight
Taquan St. Fort	8	DePaul	22	7’0”	280 lbs
Eric Valencia	10	Wisconsin	22	7’2”	267 lbs
Darius Lovelace	17	Washington	18	7’1”	260 lbs
Andre O’Hara	27	LSU	18	7’0”	256 lbs
Malcolm Logan	-	Vanderbilt	20	7’0”	245 lbs

Please take the Bulgarian brothers 2023 survey. Your responses will help shape the future of this dynasty! https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAA AAAAAMAAII8-q9UM0FHNko3RkZWNE8yOVg5MzRaQkU2Q0lYNS4u

[R1zzo23]

Re: Introduction

Uthoff seems like he’s destined to be a member of the Honu lol.


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[studbucket]

Re: Introduction

Uthoff seems like he’s destined to be a member of the Honu lol.

I think he's an Artie Tyler clone. They need to show some self control!

[marshdaddy]

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

Had some catching up to do:

Why did Jimmy sign for $5 mill in Golden State? Did they not have bird rights for him?

Love the gifs but also love those animations. The and-one on the reverse layup was *chef's kiss*

The top 20 recruiting class is PG heavy as hell, my goodness. Feel like there is both no way they all pan out and no way to predict who will. That's an insane class.

Love that both guys are getting some big name recruits. Why is it that no one else is going after the four-star JUCO soph? Feels like that'd be a steal? Also, would love to see the Palm Bay Juco freshman end up in DeLand, would just make sense.

[studbucket]

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

Had some catching up to do:

Why did Jimmy sign for $5 mill in Golden State? Did they not have bird rights for him?

It was from the "random events spreadsheet" - veteran free agent signs for cheap with a contender. Jimmy's name came up, figured going back to GSW for cheap made the most sense instead of moving elsewhere.

Love the gifs but also love those animations. The and-one on the reverse layup was *chef's kiss*

The top 20 recruiting class is PG heavy as hell, my goodness. Feel like there is both no way they all pan out and no way to predict who will. That's an insane class.

It's quite frustrating, CHoops 2K8 has way more PGs and SGs come in at high quality than other spots. Luckily it seems to balance out long term as the sim engine loves height, but there's nothing I can really do about it. Maybe I should change to highlight the top 5 at each position instead?

Love that both guys are getting some big name recruits. Why is it that no one else is going after the four-star JUCO soph? Feels like that'd be a steal? Also, would love to see the Palm Bay Juco freshman end up in DeLand, would just make sense.

There are so many recruits that some always fall in between the cracks. If I were to guess, it's because he's a JuCo Sophomore so he'll only get two seasons.

It would be huge for Oggy to get him though.

[studbucket]

2023-24 NBA Season Preview

Giannis is partway into building a dynasty for himself in Milwaukee. He’s got personal accolades and now has two NBA titles to go with those. He’s got a new coach, a tougher Eastern conference (with the addition of Memphis), and teams that are desperate to overtake the Bucks and get their own titles. Boston, Brooklyn, Toronto, Philadelphia, Memphis, and even Atlanta and Detroit want to dethrone the Bucks and get a title. The East is very talented and deep and there will be some very talented teams that miss out on the playoffs this year. 10 of the 16 teams in the East feel like they should be a playoff team this year, which means that there are going to be at least two very disappointed teams in the East. If Miami, Indiana, or New York can surprise this year, competition will be even stiffer.

Out West, the conference isn’t as talented, but there are 11 teams that feel they deserve to make the playoffs with their rosters, even if there are fewer title contenders out West than in the East.

The power rankings think that we’ll have a Lakers-Bucks finals, but this author things that the Power Rankings are drunk and the Lakers are destined to underwhelm again. A Bucks-Warriors finals or maybe Celtics-Nuggets is far more likely.

Atlantic Division

The Boston Celtics topped this division last season, and they only got better this offseason. Bruno Radja (PG, 90 ovr), Boston’s 24^th pick in the 2020 draft, is finally joining Boston after spending three seasons in Europe. The 26 year old Croatian has impressed in camp and may relegate Damian Lillard (PG, 87 ovr) to 6^th man sooner rather than later. The Celtics made the Eastern Conference Finals last year and bring back much of the same team.

The 76ers, Nets, and Raptors are all facing questions.

• Can the 76ers finally push the Bucks and make the Finals? Joel Embiid (C, 90 ovr) is 29 and this window won’t last forever.
• Will we get the world champion 2022 version of the Nets or the playoff-missing 2023 version of the Nets? Their backcourt is still the best in the NBA, but their frontcourt is younger and shallower than in past seasons.
• Is Kawhi Leonard (SF, 93 ovr) good enough to bring another title to Toronto? His Los Angeles and Toronto teams the last few seasons have not performed well. He, Pascal Siakam (PF, 88 ovr), and Devonte Graham (PG, 81 ovr) hope to lead the Raptors back into contention.

The Wizards seem relatively hopeless at this point, but the Knicks are an interesting team. They have decided to build around Brandon Ingram (SF, 85 ovr), marking the first time in his career that he will be the focal point of a team’s offense. The players around him are competent, but the only way the Knicks make the playoffs is if Ingram becomes a superstar.



Central Division

It’s hard to imagine this not being Milwaukee’s division again this year. They bring back their entire rotation and have moved Matt Forney (PG, 82 ovr) into the starting point guard role, putting Eric Bledsoe (PG, 81 ovr) at 6^th man. If Milwaukee were to lose their grip on the Central Division, it will likely be because of a pair of 24 year olds in Detroit.

The Pistons have an exciting team built on Trevor Merchant (PG, 88 ovr) and Marvin Bagley (C, 85 ovr), with a very solid supporting cast in Andrew Wiggins (SF, 84 ovr), T.J. Leaf (PF, 84 ovr), and Kevin Huerter (SG, 81 ovr). They also have Elfrid Payton (PG, 79 ovr), Darrall Gosley (PF, 79 ovr), Nik Stauskas (SF, 79 ovr), and Serge Ibaka (C, 78 ovr) coming off the bench. Merchant is already a superstar, making first team All-NBA last year and has averaged 28+ points for 2 straight years.

Cleveland will be very solid again, as they have no weaknesses and Andre Drummond (C, 90 ovr) and Blake Griffin (PF, 81 ovr) have made for a much better frontcourt pairing than many expected. In addition to their veteran leaders like Spencer Dinwiddie (SG, 84 ovr), the Cavs have a bunch of talented youngsters on the bench: Jaxson Hayes (C, 82 ovr), Dor Pettyjohn (SG, 81 ovr), Kurt Gibbs (SG, 80 ovr), and Freie Holt (PG, 79 ovr). It’s unlikely this team can make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, but maybe this is the year things click.

The Pacers and Bulls are not awful teams, but in a stacked East it’s unlikely they have much of a chance to make the playoffs.



Southeast Division

The Southeast Division has a new bully on the block: the Memphis Grizzlies. While Memphis will appreciate the reduced travel and ability to play against more natural regional rivals, the rest of the East can’t be thrilled with their addition. It was just two years ago they made the NBA Finals and took the Nets to 7 games. Now they have to go through teams like the Bucks and Nets to get there, but they have the talent and swagger to think they can do so.

The Hawks are supremely talented on offense, but haven’t been able to put it together defensively yet, which is even more true for the Charlotte Hornets. Defense seems to be optional for those two teams as they rely upon their stars for scoring and hope that the supporting casts can be more consistent.

The Heat and Magic both seem to be exiting their rebuilding phases and are looking to build up teams that can contend in the future. Miami went out and signed SGA (SG, 85 ovr) and Jawun Evans (PG, 85 ovr) in free agency, looking to them as veteran leaders to inspire the rest of the young roster. The Heat’s bench is much better than in year’s past, with Otto Porter (SF, 81 ovr), Bobby Portis (PF, 81 ovr), Nikola Pattrick (C, 78 ovr), J Lamkin (SG, 77 ovr), and Regis Hobbs (SG, 77 ovr) all available for Erik Spoelstra.

The Magic have a trio of talented young players in Erroll Reaser (PG, 78 ovr), Jameer Trammell (SF, 81 ovr), and Jaan O’Donnell (SF, 80 ovr). Those 3 players, plus the addition of Gary Harris (SG, 81 ovr) and Monte Morris (PG, 78 ovr) in the Jonathan Isaac trade has given the Magic a solid roster and their fans some hope for the first time in years.



Northwest Division

The Nuggets had the NBA’s best record last year but lost in the first round of the playoffs. Anything less than a deep playoff run will be completely unacceptable for them this season, and they’ve gone all in after trading for Jonathan Isaac (SF, 86 ovr). This gives them their best starting five of Jokic’s entire career and a great defensive stopper to complement Jokic (C, 90 ovr) and Bol (C, 83 ovr). The Nuggets bench is a little shallow and they’ll be relying on Bryan Wade (SF, 77 ovr) and Meyers Leonard (PF, 77 ovr) for key minutes.

The rest of the division is a conundrum. Aside from the Sonics, the other teams should all expect to make the playoffs but none of them are slam dunks and all three have had an unexpectedly bad season over the last 2 years. That won’t be acceptable this year:

• The Trail Blazers signed Tristan Thompson (C, 82 ovr) which will allow Domantas Sabonis (PF, 84 ovr) to play his preferred power forward position and gives them a very solid 6^th man in Frenchman Christophe Perben (PF, 82 ovr).
• It’s year two of the Arnold McNurlin (SF, 83 ovr) era, and year 1 was a clear success as his presence vaulted the T-Wolves from a frustrating also-ran into 44 wins and a playoff team.
• Utah struck gold with Markelle Fultz, but let him walk this offseason and unquestionably is worse this year. However, they still have Mitchell (SG, 92 ovr) and Gobert (C, 85 ovr) which should get them to the playoffs.

Seattle fans will be excited to watch the growth of Bobby Drake (SF, 78 ovr) and Norwegian Sagana Dupree (PF, 78 ovr) and hope they can learn from veterans Lowry (PG, 77 ovr), Rose (PG, 81 ovr), and Whiteside (C, 81 ovr).



Pacific Division

This is a division of haves and have-nots. The Warriors, Suns, and Lakers have an excess of talented stars, while the Clippers, Honu, and Kings could only hope to maybe have 1 star.

Based on performances the last few years, it’s hard to imagine anyone but the Warriors winning this division. The Suns have consistently been good, but not great and they will be hoping that Horace Wolfe (PF, 80 ovr) and Fred VanVleet (PG, 78 ovr) can vault them to the top of the West.

The Lakers are another matter entirely. Since winning 60 games in the 2019-20 season, they have won 44, 42, and 41 games and missed the playoffs last season despite having a starting lineup of Chris Paul, Paul George (SG, 86 ovr), LeBron James (SF, 89 ovr), Anthony Davis (PF, 97 ovr), and DeAndre Jordan (C, 82 ovr). This year they have let Chris Paul go and replaced him with Walter Lemon Jr (PG, 79 ovr) – who hasn’t played since 2018-19 for Chicago – but retained the other 4 and are hoping that head coach Doc Rivers and assistant coach Sam Cassell can get this team to perform to their talent level.

The Kings are relatively hopeless and don’t even have a young player to get excited about unless you count 7’3” Reid Ziri (C, 78 ovr). The Clippers and Honu stand in contrast to the Kings because of their interesting young talent. In addition to starters Sexton (SG, 83 ovr), Roberson (80 ovr), and rookie Sherman Turner (PF, 78 ovr), the Clippers have three picks from the 2021 NBA draft: 8^th pick Marquis Huffman (PG, 79 ovr), 20^th pick Donnie Conroy (SF, 78), and 27^th pick Dyron Frazier (PG 76 ovr). They also have this year’s 14^th pick, Duke’s Sheldon Newman (SG, 74 ovr).

The Honu are exciting, not just because of the Hawaii experiment, but also because of their roster. Markelle Fultz (PG, 83 ovr) scored 21.6 ppg for the Jazz last year and will be paired with Tyler Herro (SG, 81 ovr), Vietnamese-American Dave Tran (PF, 80 ovr), and third year pro Rashad Konare (SF, 79 ovr). The bench also features 2021 Jazz draft pick Uros Dragic (PG, 78 ovr) and 2022 Dallas draft pick Brant Toole (PG, 77 ovr). They should be a frisky team this year, though they will be fortunate to win 30 games.


Southwest Division

This is probably the best division top-to-bottom in the West, with all 5 teams thinking they are playoff bound. The NBA.com power rankings absurdly have San Antonio and New Orleans as the best two teams in the division, but we know that all paths to the playoffs go through Dallas and Houston.

After winning 56 and 52 games in their first two seasons with Luka (SG, 97 ovr) and Kristaps (C, 86 ovr), the Mavericks have now only won 42 and 41 games the last two years, though they did make the NBA Finals as an 8 seed last year. They would greatly benefit from getting a third scorer to supplement their two stars, but they are running it back with the same group again this year.

The Rockets had their best record in 4 years last season but once again couldn’t make an impact in the playoffs. Westbrook (PG, 87 ovr) and Harden (SG, 94 ovr) combined should get this team to 45 wins or more, but it’s not clear they have what it takes to do much more than that without major changes.

New Orleans and Oklahoma City are exciting teams with a nice mix of youth and veterans. New Orleans should have Kyle Kuzma (SF, 79 ovr) back from injury early in the season and Adrian Stewart (PF, 83 ovr) should take another step forward in his second season as he learns to play alongside Zion (PF, 93 ovr). The Thunder have added T.J. Warren (SF, 86 ovr), Lauri Markkanen (PF, 84 ovr), and Bogdan Bogdanovic (SG, 83 ovr) over the last year and they hope those are the veteran leaders they need to supplement their young talent. They are a much deeper team now, as they have 2021’s 2^nd overall pick Seth Valsin (SF, 81 ovr), 2020’s 7^th overall pick Dana Bright (PF, 81 ovr), 2022’s 14^th pick Milos Jeffers (SG, 79 ovr), and 2021’s 21^st pick Reece Campbell (PG, 78 ovr) all coming in off the bench.



Please take the Bulgarian brothers 2023 survey. Your responses will help shape the future of this dynasty! https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAA AAAAAMAAII8-q9UM0FHNko3RkZWNE8yOVg5MzRaQkU2Q0lYNS4u

[R1zzo23]

Re: Introduction

Wow didn’t realize the Celtics were sitting on a stud stashed overseas but I’m excited to see what type of impact he has for Boston!


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[studbucket]

Re: Introduction

Wow didn’t realize the Celtics were sitting on a stud stashed overseas but I’m excited to see what type of impact he has for Boston!

His ratings went through the roof the last 1-2 seasons. I think he was drafted at 70-something overall and jumped from 86 to 90 over the past season.

The biggest question for them is the rotation with Radja and Lillard and how they work together.

They should be a very good team this year, they are just competing with numerous other good to great teams. Philly, Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and Toronto are all "titles or bust" and Detroit thinks they belong there as well.

[studbucket]

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

That preview was relatively deep, so here are 5 possible (or not-so-possible) Finals matchups to consider.

You could bet this matchup and feel pretty good about the chances of it happening. These are the most talented and experienced teams in the league, and would you ever want to bet against Giannis and Steph?

These teams have the talent to compete and will be disappointed if they don't make the Finals. However, the recent track records have not been good for these teams and stars. Toronto missed the playoffs entirely and Kawhi hasn't led a team deep into the playoffs since they last time he was in town. Denver lost in round 1 last year after having the best regular season record. This is a reasonable pick if you don't look at history, but context makes this a very optimistic take.

Always the Bridesmaids, never the Bride. That's life for the Rockets and 76ers thanks primarily to Giannis, Steph, and KD. These teams are always competitive but never break through. They have the talent to do it, but will they actually do it? Nobody believes they can, which is why they are bridesmaids.

NBA media loves how these two teams are constructed. The players are analytics darlings, they've traded for the right scrappy players, and their draft picks have been lauded. But they need to actually win some games. If they do so, you'll have a whole lot of "I told you so" pieces written, but these teams haven't shown the ability to take that next step.

The internet would explode if we got this matchup. These are the teams everyone chooses in NBA 2K because of their young and exciting talent. The franchises believe they are finally ready to compete, but they need to bring it together and play well above their years.

[trekfan]

Re: Introduction

Man, those Finals match ups are all very appealing. I think the chalk match up is most likely BUT I will say my personal pick is gonna be Milwaukee vs. Denver - - The Greek Freak versus the Joker.

If Denver can stay healthy and avoid Golden State until the WCF, I like their chances. But that's a big if.

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