Editors Note: NBA 2K11 is the best sports game that I have ever had the privilege of playing. Last year, nostalgia hit me in the face and I decided I wanted to relive the memories of it. I picked up a copy and started up an association. A season and a half later, here I am wishing I had done something like this from the beginning. I figured better late then never though so I will catch everyone up with a brief synopsis of what has happened to this point. I lean heavily into realistic gameplay and play every single game on player lock, rotating positions each quarter. I found this to be the most enjoyable experience for me while still maintaining as much realism as possible (this game makes that pretty easy fortunately). This is also the first dynasty I’ve ever logged so please chime in with any advice you have or things you’d like to see! Hope you guys enjoy.
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2010-11 Season Summary: The Hornets got off to a brutal 0-9 start that in large part could be attributed to my rustiness with the controls. Once I was able to settle in with this team, they proved to be mostly a middle of the pack squad finishing 38-44, good for 9th in the West. We made a strong push late in the season and could have been a dangerous team in Round 1 against the top seed I think but ultimately fell just short. The main thing that hurt this squad was the fact that I could never get Chris Paul, our best player, going. He dealt with multiple injuries during the season and when he was on the court, struggled mightily with basically every aspect of his game. One of the bright spots of the team was Marcus Thornton, who filled the role of lead guard when Paul was injured. Thornton was a go to guy late in games when we needed a bucket. Complimenting him perfectly at the shooting guard sport was Marco Belinelli, a sharpshooter who had his best season as a pro. Also solid was David West, providing steady rebounding and post scoring.
Off-season: The main goal for the offseason was to move Chris Paul. After playing enough games with him, I knew it just wasn’t going to work but he still had a ton of value. My plan was to trade him for another star or a package of young players and picks and use the cap space freed by trading him to sign a big name. The focus became clearer when I ended up with the second pick in the draft lottery. This was an extremely lucky break admittedly, but one that I would use to my advantage. There were two elite point guards at the top of the board so I knew I could take one to replace Paul, ultimately selecting Jeffrey Goodwin out of Michigan State. Now it was time to make the trade. I found the perfect trade partner in the Knicks, as they had just acquired Kevin Love the previous season to pair with Amare Stoudemire in the frontcourt. While this improved their team, they still had a glaring hole at PG. At 29 yards old, acquiring Stoudemire seemed a little risky. Was his best basketball behind him? I knew that he was exactly the athletic big man I wanted to play with though. So I packaged Paul and West for Stoudemire, Danilo Galinari and a pick. This trade allowed me to still be competitive but also was forward looking. Unfortunately, I lost Marcus Thornton to restricted free agency (I still don’t understand how this works, I never got an opportunity to resign him!) but was able to bring back Bellineli (hello Italian bros w/Gallo). I also drafted a center, Jimmie Givens, with another first round pick I had from a prior trade. After a few other small additions to my bench, here was the roster going into the 11-12 season.
Starting Lineup:
PG: Jeffrey Goodwin - super athletic player who likes to get his own shot (sometimes too much)
SG: Marco Belinelli - Should be relied on less this season
SF: Trevor Ariza - Love his Swiss Army knife capabilities, want to see if he can grow as a third scorer this season
PF: Amare Stoudemire - Expecting a lot from him, he’ll be the focal point of the team
C: Emeka Okafor - Defense first center who was solid last season but I’m not sure he’s worth his contract
Sixth Man: Danilo Galinari - Slots in perfectly to provide shotmaking off the bench and can slide up to the 4 spot to stretch defenses
Key Bench Depth:
Jose Calderon - Backup PG who should be the perfect guy for Goodwin to learn from
Quincy Pondexter - Got quite a bit of run last year on the wing, was reliable but still trying to figure out when he can make his biggest impact
Jimmie Givens - Pretty raw center, figures to learn behind Okafor at least for this season
Mikael Pietrus - Signed in the offseason for cheap after no one wanted him, should provide shooting and perimeter defense off the bench
2011-12 Season Update: Nearly halfway through the season, the squad is 21-18 which actually has us 9th in the west again. This team is much different though and overall I’m happy with how we’ve played. Stoudemire has been a smashing success, having one of the best years of his career and in the league this season. The only problem is he’s missed 12 games with multiple injuries and is currently dealing with a separated shoulder for 1-2 weeks. We’ve treaded water without him, but there’s no doubt that this team would have a better record if he hadn’t missed any time. Galinari has also proven to be a solid addition, providing more than just strong shooting. Goodwin has been a TON of fun to play with. He’s averaging 20 ppg along with 8 apg and carrying the load while Amare is out but is extremely inefficient at this point in his career. He has shot us out of a few games. This isn’t helped by the poor play of Calderon, who is having a miserable season and is probably making too much money to trade. Overall though this team doesn’t have a ton of weaknesses. I’m looking forward to getting Stoudemire back so we can find some momentum again because this team can put together really good stretches when it is clicking.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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2010-11 Season Summary: The Hornets got off to a brutal 0-9 start that in large part could be attributed to my rustiness with the controls. Once I was able to settle in with this team, they proved to be mostly a middle of the pack squad finishing 38-44, good for 9th in the West. We made a strong push late in the season and could have been a dangerous team in Round 1 against the top seed I think but ultimately fell just short. The main thing that hurt this squad was the fact that I could never get Chris Paul, our best player, going. He dealt with multiple injuries during the season and when he was on the court, struggled mightily with basically every aspect of his game. One of the bright spots of the team was Marcus Thornton, who filled the role of lead guard when Paul was injured. Thornton was a go to guy late in games when we needed a bucket. Complimenting him perfectly at the shooting guard sport was Marco Belinelli, a sharpshooter who had his best season as a pro. Also solid was David West, providing steady rebounding and post scoring.
Off-season: The main goal for the offseason was to move Chris Paul. After playing enough games with him, I knew it just wasn’t going to work but he still had a ton of value. My plan was to trade him for another star or a package of young players and picks and use the cap space freed by trading him to sign a big name. The focus became clearer when I ended up with the second pick in the draft lottery. This was an extremely lucky break admittedly, but one that I would use to my advantage. There were two elite point guards at the top of the board so I knew I could take one to replace Paul, ultimately selecting Jeffrey Goodwin out of Michigan State. Now it was time to make the trade. I found the perfect trade partner in the Knicks, as they had just acquired Kevin Love the previous season to pair with Amare Stoudemire in the frontcourt. While this improved their team, they still had a glaring hole at PG. At 29 yards old, acquiring Stoudemire seemed a little risky. Was his best basketball behind him? I knew that he was exactly the athletic big man I wanted to play with though. So I packaged Paul and West for Stoudemire, Danilo Galinari and a pick. This trade allowed me to still be competitive but also was forward looking. Unfortunately, I lost Marcus Thornton to restricted free agency (I still don’t understand how this works, I never got an opportunity to resign him!) but was able to bring back Bellineli (hello Italian bros w/Gallo). I also drafted a center, Jimmie Givens, with another first round pick I had from a prior trade. After a few other small additions to my bench, here was the roster going into the 11-12 season.
Starting Lineup:
PG: Jeffrey Goodwin - super athletic player who likes to get his own shot (sometimes too much)
SG: Marco Belinelli - Should be relied on less this season
SF: Trevor Ariza - Love his Swiss Army knife capabilities, want to see if he can grow as a third scorer this season
PF: Amare Stoudemire - Expecting a lot from him, he’ll be the focal point of the team
C: Emeka Okafor - Defense first center who was solid last season but I’m not sure he’s worth his contract
Sixth Man: Danilo Galinari - Slots in perfectly to provide shotmaking off the bench and can slide up to the 4 spot to stretch defenses
Key Bench Depth:
Jose Calderon - Backup PG who should be the perfect guy for Goodwin to learn from
Quincy Pondexter - Got quite a bit of run last year on the wing, was reliable but still trying to figure out when he can make his biggest impact
Jimmie Givens - Pretty raw center, figures to learn behind Okafor at least for this season
Mikael Pietrus - Signed in the offseason for cheap after no one wanted him, should provide shooting and perimeter defense off the bench
2011-12 Season Update: Nearly halfway through the season, the squad is 21-18 which actually has us 9th in the west again. This team is much different though and overall I’m happy with how we’ve played. Stoudemire has been a smashing success, having one of the best years of his career and in the league this season. The only problem is he’s missed 12 games with multiple injuries and is currently dealing with a separated shoulder for 1-2 weeks. We’ve treaded water without him, but there’s no doubt that this team would have a better record if he hadn’t missed any time. Galinari has also proven to be a solid addition, providing more than just strong shooting. Goodwin has been a TON of fun to play with. He’s averaging 20 ppg along with 8 apg and carrying the load while Amare is out but is extremely inefficient at this point in his career. He has shot us out of a few games. This isn’t helped by the poor play of Calderon, who is having a miserable season and is probably making too much money to trade. Overall though this team doesn’t have a ton of weaknesses. I’m looking forward to getting Stoudemire back so we can find some momentum again because this team can put together really good stretches when it is clicking.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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