Rate my Squad?

[StraightBaylien]

So I started an offline association with Portland, traded away Crawford, 2nd round pick and a forgotten bench warmer to Toronto for Demar DeRozan, then simmed the first year.

I expected to be a pretty poor team due to my team ranking and rating. OVR 69, OVR rank 27th ewwww. But when I simmed, I got in the 7th seed in the playoffs and upset San Antonio in the first round! But fell short when getting Swept by the Lakers, who in turn got swept by the Thunder, then MIA beat OKC in 5.

So the draft comes, and with the 17 pick or so, I didn't know who to take, so I let my ASST Coach handle it, we drafted Mayers Leonard (OVR 69, bumped to a 70 after rebounding drills) in the first round. (Traded my 2nd rounder during the reg season)

So, after the draft, up comes the free agency. I was aiming for a few higher names (Brook Lopez, OJ Mayo) yet I wanted to resign Raymond Felton as he had a great simmed season (19.0 PPG, 9.0 AST, 2.5 STL) but he refused and went to play back up in Boston. Lopez and Mayo refused my offers as well, but I did get a few key acquisitions:

Jeremy Lin - 2 YRS/$4.9M (Player option)
Ryan Anderson - 3 YRS/$12.09M
Devin Ebanks - 2YRS/$3.94M (Team option)
Ben Wallace - 1YR/$480K

Also, some key resignings:
Nicolas Batum - 4YRS/$18.45M
J.J. Hickson - 3YRS/$8.74 (need to trade him, I think.)

So now I'm 16 games into my season, playing every one, and I'm 9-7... I love the feel of this team with Lin at the helm, and really think I'm gonna try and make him a landmark in Portland, so far him and Aldridge are a dealy combo... here is my lineup as it stands...

OFF 26th
DEF 17th
OVR 23rd

(#) - indicates minutes assigned to player
PG Jeremy Lin OVR 70 (33)
17.1 PPG, 6.4 APG, 1.7 SPG .487% FG

SG Demar DeRozan OVR 79 (32)
16.1 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 2.6 APG, 87% FT

SF Devin Ebanks OVR 67* (21) / Nicolas Batum OVR 74^ (25)
* - 3.6 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 1.0 BPG
^ - 10.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.0 SPG, .525% 3PT

PF Lamarcus Aldridge OVR 82 (35)
22.4 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 1.9 BPG

C Meyers Leonard OVR 70 (26) - ROOKIE
9.4 PPG, 6.6 RPG, .9 BPG

- I had Ben Wallace starting for the first ten or so games, but Leonard was AVG almost 7 REB in just under 20 mins so I made the switch

6 Wesley Matthews OVR 76 (24)
7 Nicolas Batum OVR 74 (25) / Devin Ebanks OVR 67 (21)
8 Ryan Anderson OVR 70 (19)
9 Jonny Flynn OVR 66 (15)
10 Ben Wallace OVR 61 (10)
11 J.J. Hickson OVR 69 (0)
12 Shawne Williams OVR 64 (0)
IR Joel Przybilla OVR 59
IR Craig Smith OVR 63
IR Elliot Williams OVR 64

I alternate Ebanks and Batum in the lineup depending on whether I feel I need defense, or scoring out of the gate but always keep Batum playing a few more minutes a game, I might find a way to get Batum even more, since I wanna see if average close to 15 PPG

So last year I had almost no trade value on my team, aside from Aldridge and Crawford... now my value is as followed:

Aldridge ***
Matthews **
Leonard **
DeRozan **
Lin **
Batum * 1/2

Plus I have my current year's 1st and 2nd rounders, plus Toronto's 2nd round next year. Which should bode well in trades, I'm sure.

So there it be. I know I need a solid scoring option besides Aldridge, but FA was pretty tight for me, and now with Derozan's 6YR/41.39M contract, it looks like he's gonna be that option somewhere down the future. If you have any suggestions on how to make this team better, feel free to get in depth, or just drop an OUTOF10 rating, either way! Thanks for reading!

EDIT: I'm thinking of taking Ben Wallace out of my lineup and replacing him with Przybilla. Joel is one of the more underrated rebounders in the league and I feel we could utilize that. What do you guys think?

RE-EDIT: Jeremy Lin was injured taking a charge in my previous game vs Denver, chest injury, out for 6-8 weeks. So I traded Craig Smith and the Raps 2nd round pick to the Clippers for Eric Bledsoe and their next year's 2nd round pick to get a PG-by-comittee able to happen with him and Jonny Flynn.

[seawolves9]

Re: Rate my Squad?

I like the squad. Seems pretty well thought out on your part. I don't understand how you score though haha. Specially with Lin out. Aldridge is solid, and Batum is too, but outside of that, you have no one who can really create for themselves to score. I like that though.

Not the best squad, but as long as you know how to play with them and have a direction, I think that's good. Not sure about trading for Bledsoe though because you do have Flynn and Elliot Williams. I woulda tried to find someone in free agency first. Like a solid old timer or something. I just don't like Bledsoe's game a whole lot though.

I'd say a 6.5/10 right now but if you can keep the same core of starters plus Wes Matthews as the bench firepower, it'll be a 10/10 in about 2 years or so.

EDIT: I'd give Hickson some more minutes. He came on really strong for the Blazers late in the season. I see a lot of upside in him. Athletic and has a nice mid range game. A little undersized for the 4 I think, but still worth giving him the minutes to maximize potential there.

[StraightBaylien]

Re: Rate my Squad?

I like the squad. Seems pretty well thought out on your part. I don't understand how you score though haha. Specially with Lin out. Aldridge is solid, and Batum is too, but outside of that, you have no one who can really create for themselves to score. I like that though.

Not the best squad, but as long as you know how to play with them and have a direction, I think that's good. Not sure about trading for Bledsoe though because you do have Flynn and Elliot Williams. I woulda tried to find someone in free agency first. Like a solid old timer or something. I just don't like Bledsoe's game a whole lot though.

I'd say a 6.5/10 right now but if you can keep the same core of starters plus Wes Matthews as the bench firepower, it'll be a 10/10 in about 2 years or so.

EDIT: I'd give Hickson some more minutes. He came on really strong for the Blazers late in the season. I see a lot of upside in him. Athletic and has a nice mid range game. A little undersized for the 4 I think, but still worth giving him the minutes to maximize potential there.

Thanks for the feedback! I did think out a lot of stuff a ton before I did it, I like realistic-like teams. I hate when people abuse the stupid CPU. For example, when I put Crawford on the block, they offered me Durant and Perkins for Crawford, Hickson and my first round pick. I just couldn't do it to OKC. haha.

And it is sooo difficult to score. I am the last in the league in scoring with like 88 PPG, but my defense always seems to hold teams. Though scoring does come pretty easy to DeRozan when he gets hot. Jams everything in.

And for Hickson, he has been given minutes as of late, really doing solid rebounding and scoring for me. I took some minutes away from Ryan Anderson and Przybilla to get him some playing time. Just hated seeing that I had a OVR 59 with mins and a OVR 69 with none. haha.

Overall, I'm glad it is a believable squad, that's really what I wanted. Just a solid, role player filled team to try to work together and play smart ball to win. I've started so many associations with my main team, LAL, and just dominate whether I play or sim. First or second place every time.

Right now I'm on a skid since Lin has been out (4-6, L10, 13-13 OVR). I might take your advice and switch out Bledsoe for Williams since Bledsoe is a hustle machine on here, but no offense really and his defense is sub par. And god knows I need offense! Haven't really given Williams a shot since I don't know the Blazers too well.

I appreciate the feedback though! I'll post some updates when they happen.

[seawolves9]

Re: Rate my Squad?

Yeah, it's fairly easy to rip off the CPU if you use trade finder. That's why it was nice to see the squad you put together. Nothing too drastic, most of it actually realistic.

I like the teams that play as a team more than the teams just loaded with stars. A solid bench is a real nice luxury to have. I can appreciate the thought process you used to put the team you have together.

I'm not sure how much better Williams would be than Bledsoe at the point. I just am not a huge fan of Bledsoe. I can never seem to do anything with him. I just remember taking a look at Williams' ratings a while ago and thinking he'd be serviceable if I ever wanted to start an association with the Blazers. Or if I needed a backup combo guard. Plus I think he's like 6'4. And fairly athletic, so defensively I think he'd be an upgrade.