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What If?
A Utah Jazz MyLEAGUE
What if?
What if the NBA never shut down due to a global pandemic?
What if there was never a "bubble" for an NBA Restart?
What if the NBA didn't need to restart at all?
What If?
A Utah Jazz MyLEAGUE
What if?
What if the NBA never shut down due to a global pandemic?
What if there was never a "bubble" for an NBA Restart?
What if the NBA didn't need to restart at all?
Basketball, and the entire world as we know it, changed forever when the world was hit with a global pandemic, causing mass shutdowns, quarantines, etc..., you know the rest. But what if that never happened? How would things be different? How would the NBA be different if it never had to change? We're about to find out. Welcome to a new timeline of basketball.
In this timeline, the Coronavirus never hits. The NBA never has to shut down for 5 months before setting up a bubble campus at Walt Disney just to find a champion for the 2020 season. In this timeline, we start fresh. We start all the way back in October. At the start of the NBA season. No pandemic, no quarantines, no shutdowns, just basketball.
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The Utah Jazz had a very eventful offseason, kicking off the historic summer of 2019 with a bang as they traded for All-Star point guard Mike Conley. Conley is a long-time veteran in the league, having been with the Memphis Grizzlies ever since he was drafted out of Ohio State. Head coach Quin Snyder has been salivating at the thought of a guard with the skillset of Michael Conley Jr., a shifty guard who can make all the right reads on offense and finish in the lane, as well as show off his great touch from range.
He is expected to be a near-perfect fit with young up-and-coming star Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt. Mitchell, though an undersized SG, is an excellent combo guard that can play on either end of the floor. His hyper-athleticism and increasing skillset is a nightmare for opposing coaching staffs, and he can learn a lot from a seasoned vet like Conley. Mitchell expects to make his very first All-Star Game appearance this season in just his 3rd year in the league.
The Jazz didn't stop with the acquisition of Conley, though. They went out into free agency and grabbed perhaps their biggest free agency acquisition in the club's history, snagging Bojan Bogdanovic from the Pacers. Bogdanovic is a lights-out shooter with a sneaky good game, he really refined his abilities in Indiana and became a very well-rounded scorer for the Pacers. Although he's a great shooter, one of the league's best, his size will be of tremendous value for this Jazz team, as he stands just shy of 6'10" at either the three or the four spots. He's an ideal fit next to Conley and Mitchell as a lightning-quick catch and shoot man; his spacing will be incredibly vital for this Jazz team who look to break through this year.
Rounding it all together is reigning 2x Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. Gobert is going after a three-peat of the DPOY award, and he absolutely has the game to back it up. The league's best paint defender, and arguably best defender as a whole, Gobert is a walking double-double and an absolute nightmare to gameplan against. He takes away so much action in the paint that it forces teams to shoot the shot that they least want to take in the modern NBA; the midrange shot. While Gobert is hunting for his 3rd consecutive DPOY award, he's mostly focused on propelling the Jazz further up the food chain in a very tough Western Conference.
With the additions of Conley and Bogdanovic joining a proven duo of Gobert and Mitchell, the Jazz look to be major players this season in a Western Conference that has both LA teams hungry for a title, as well as a revamped Rockets squad that is extremely dangerous. Without further adieu, gentlemen, let's basketball.
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Editor's Note: I've been itching to start a new MyLeague after I've been just messing around in some offline files for awhile with Fantasy Drafts and Classic Rosters, all that jazz. Finally decided that I'd get back into doing a Dynasty here on OS, my last "real" one was extremely fun, but it is a bit of a time eater. I'm gonna be testing out some slider sets, I should finalize something here tonight and hopefully get started on this MyLeague! I think I'm going to do 30-team control, I'll have all the rosters updated as of today and will just not have any transactions (unless it's out of need due to injury) for the first season. I'm just mainly hoping I can get a good, challenging slider set where the CPU actually takes more than 20 threes a game; I want the modern league lmao.
I have been experimenting with some house rules in some of those prior MyLeagues where I've been messing around, and I think I've got some good base rules.
1) On defense, I only control one player each possession. This ensures that teambuilding is a priority, as poor defensive players will get exposed if I'm not controlling them. It also allows the CPU to take more three point shots as some of those poorer defenders are slower on closeouts. After each possession, I rotate down a position; So I start as Mike Conley for defensive possession #1, then possession #2 I'm Donovan Mitchell, #3 I'm Joe Ingles, #4, I'm Bojan Bogdanovic, then #5 I'm Rudy Gobert, then back up to PG for the #6 possession.
2) I will be using user shot timing (shots only, layups and FTs are Real %), but I won't be using the shot meter. This makes it a little tougher to make shots on a consistent basis. I would go Real % for everything, but I like the added element of myself as a user playing well or not well affecting the game.
3) To get through the seasons faster, I will only play 1 game a week, and I'll sim the rest. This will also give me injuries, as in-game injuries are (again) non-existent. I'll try to choose opponents based on narratives, team strength, or just simply if I have or haven't played them that season yet.
I figured since I'm holding off on 2k21 for PS4, and waiting for the PS5 edition, that I can hopefully get some good times out of this MyLeague until the next gen is upon us.
But I'm excited to get started guys. Wish me luck!
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