#TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

[orlegend0208]

I realized quickly in my Spurs Dynasty that it really wouldn't be much of a challenge to keep the Spurs in title contention, which made me lose interest due to it not being the challenge I thought it would be. And with basketball season in full swing right now, I'd really like to do an in depth NBA Dynasty that would hopefully be entertaining, but also rather challenging.

So for this dynasty, I'd like to try something rather different in terms of my writing style... By that, I mean I'd like to write similar to TrekFan. So basically, I will be telling the story and giving game write ups from a 1st person account. The reason for wanting to write a dynasty this way is because i absolutely LOVE TrekFan's St. Louis Dynasty and think it would be fun/very entertaining to write from a 1st person POV.

So, in this dynasty, I will write from the 1st Person POV of Nashville GM, Devin Sutherland.

But before I get into the perspective of Devin Sutherland, I will make a post giving the background behind how the team was founded, who the owner is, etc.

So, I hope you all enjoy the dynasty!

Console: PS4
Starting Point: 2016 Off-Season
Rosters: Default 2K
Sliders: Realistic Sliders (first option, not sure who makes them) and I've lowed the injury sliders just a bit (down to 45 instead of 50)
Games: 82
Draft Classes: EmbraceThaPace's Draft Classes
Goal for Dynasty: I'd like to go through at least a couple seasons with this Dynasty and win at least 1 NBA Title.

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Table of Contents

2016 Off-Season

2016-17 Season

2017 Off-Season

2017-18 Season

2018 Off-Season

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Season Results

2016-17: 46-36, 5th in the East, Lost in the 2nd Round of Playoffs
2017-18: 66-16, 1st in the East, Won the NBA Finals

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Transactions

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

It's Official: The NBA is Coming to Nashville

March 13, 2016

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Bridgestone Arena will be the home of the Nashville NBA Franchise

Nashville, TN -- NBA officials announced today that Nashville will be the second and final city to receive an expansion NBA Franchise.

Last week the NBA announced that the other city to receive an NBA Franchise would be Vancouver. So, the city of Vancouver will once again have an NBA Franchise. Yesterday, the franchise announced their team name will be the Vancouver Ravens. Their colors are purple and white.

Nashville was one of the six cities in contention for an expansion franchise due to the efforts of 67 year old billionaire Kendrick Price. Price, the franchises owner, is known around the Nashville-Davidson County area due to his role in the music industry.

The new franchise will now become Nashville's 3rd professional team along with the Nashville Predators of the NHL and the Tennessee Titans of the NFL. The city also has a baseball team, the Nashville Sounds, who are the Triple A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics.

The Nashville Franchise will share Bridgestone Arena with the Nashville Predators. Bridgestone Arena was built in 1996 when the NHL first expressed interest in giving an expansion team to the city. It was also built due to the possibility of the Sacramento Kings relocating to the city back in 1996. However, that deal obviously did not take place, so it has been used exclusively for the Nashville Predators and other big events like concerts for the past 19 years. It is estimated that the Arena will be able to hold 19,395 people in attendance for basketball games.

Now, despite having the Titans in Nashville since 1997 and the Predators in Nashville since 1998, neither team has won a major championship (Super Bowl or Stanley Cup). The closest either team has gotten to winning it all was back in 1999 when the Titans lost Super XXXIV to the St. Louis Rams.

The Nashville Franchise will begin play in the 2016-2017 season. An expansion draft will be held on June 21, 2016, which is just two days before the 2016 NBA Draft where Nashville will receive either the 4th or 5th pick.

A press conference will be held in Bridgestone Arena next Monday by team Owner Kendrick Price. Price will unveil the team name and logo.

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Coaching Search Meeting

One day after I was hired, March 17, a coaching search meeting was held with myself, assistant GM Ryan Jackson, and the owner, Kendrick Price.

First off, let me quickly give you some background behind both of them.

Kendrick Price is the classic story of being a billionaire thanks to his father. His father, Arlie Price, owned music studios in Nashville and he also made a killing off of stocks. One of the companies he invested in was Apple... You may have heard of them before. Anyway, once his father died in 2013, his fortunes were passed down to Kendrick, who was his only kid. And ever since then, Kendrick has been trying to bring the NBA to his hometown. Well, he definitely succeeded.

Kendrick is rather old school with his approach with owning the team. He's real big into the importance of our team image. First and foremost, he wants us to be a classy, well respected organization. And with time, that will come. But I'm not sure why that is what he cares about most at the moment.

The thing that pisses me off the most, is he doesn't care about the morale for the franchise. All of his players could want out and he wouldn't care as long as he makes some money off of them. Hell, he doesn't really care for the success of the Franchise either... Neither of those stances make sense to me, but if you're a billionaire who is the majority owner of an NBA franchise, I guess you do things your way.

Now, let me tell you a bit about the assistant GM, Ryan Jackson. I'm excited to have the guy as an assistant. He's a fantastic negotiator and fantastic at striking trade deals. However, Jackson is young and inexperienced. He's never held a position this high up in an organization before and you can tell. It's his way for the highway... Which is not a good quality in this profession. Especially when you're not even the GM.

So, based on the fact that Mr. Price doesn't care about the morale of anyone associated with his franchise and how Jackson wants his way, you can imagine how these meetings went.

I was relatively quiet throughout the meeting because I already knew who I wanted to hire.

Nonetheless, Ryan and Mr. Price bickered back and forth for a good 30 minutes over the pros and cons of each coach they were interested in hiring. I would give a short opinion every once in a while, but besides that, I just sat back and listened.

Finally, Mr. Price turned to me and asked my opinion.

I responded by saying, "I want to hire Brad Stevens."

They both fell silent and just looked over at me.

Mr. Price asked, "Over Rick Carlisle, Steve Kerr, Tyronn Lue?"

Of course I do. Think about it. Brad Stevens took freakin Butler University. to back-to-back National Title games. Now at this time, you may think to yourself, "well yeah, Butler is a pretty good basketball school." Yeah, they are a pretty good basketball school... And that's because of Brad Stevens.

Before those NCAA Tourney runs, Butler was largely unknown school out of the Horizon League. So, Brad Stevens took a bunch of lowly rated high school players, developed them in college, and through fantastic in game coaching and execution of game plans, was able to advance to 2 straight National Championship appearances. Which is insanely hard for even the likes of Duke, Michigan State, Kansas, Kentucky etc.

After the first National Championship run, he lost his star player, Gordon Hayward. The very next year his team held a worse record, yet he still took a team whose best player was Shelvin Mack, back to the National Championship game. They upset #1 Pittsburgh, #4 Wisconsin, and #2 Florida along the way.

He then accepted the Head Coaching position for the Celtics for the 2013-14 season and only won 25 games... And that was with a very depleted roster. Like, that roster was straight trash.

In 2014-15 they won 40 games, 15 more than the previous season, and earned a playoff berth with just about the same team. Then last season they increased their win total by 8, as they won 48 games earning the #5 seed in the East. And each year, you can see how his young talent improves. That's the sign of a great coach... And that's exactly the type of coach we need with our strategy of signing young players in hopes of building for the future.

And finally, he's only 40 years old. Let's say he accepts the offer, we get the talent in place. Hell, we could have him as our coach for at least the next 20 years. And we'd have a damn good coach too.

After stating my case for Stevens, Mr. Price and Ryan were sold. Surprisingly.

"Call up Stevens and see if he's interested. If so, see when you can meet face to face and strike up a contract." Mr. Price said.

"Any limit on the salary?" I asked as I pulled out my phone.

"There is $6.45 million in the budget for a head coach, but don't you even think about spending all of that on Stevens," Mr. Price responded.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, I called up Brad Stevens and he was interested. Thank God.

A day later I flew up to Boston so we could meet face to face. And after talking for a couple minutes, I got right to the point.

Me: You know what, I'm going to get right to it. You're our guy. I would like to make you an offer to become the first Head Coach of our Nashville franchise.

Stevens: I really appreciate that. But why should I leave a playoff team, with cap space to spend on a a guy like LeBron, and go to an expansion team who may not make the playoffs for years?

Me: Because I'll make sure we acquire the talent necessary to make a playoff run immediately. And I'll make sure you're successful. On top of that, once we're successful, you'll go down in history as the coach that led us to multiple championships.

Stevens: Well then, I have a couple demands of a possible deal. First of all, I would like you to be sign an Assistant Coach who I want to bring in.

Me: Done. Who is it?

Stevens: Elijah Nelson.

Damn. Nelson is a good, but he's not my top choice. My top choice was Tim Duncan. The greatest power forward in NBA history. Duncan decided he was bored in retirement and wanted to get into coaching. Could you have imagined the fan appeal that would bring in?

Me: I'll get Nelson on the phone right after this meeting.

Stevens: I'd also like just a 2 year deal to start off with. I want to see how things go at first.

Me: Done. Now, what's your price?

Stevens: I'd like $4.10M per year.

Oh boy... That was pushing it a bit... But, I was ready to match that and offer even more if it meant getting our guy. I'm 100% sure Stevens will lead us to the promised land.

Me: You know what? Not only will I match that offer, but I'll give you up to $4.35M per year.

Stevens: Wow...

He paused for a moment.

Stevens: I think we have a deal.

We then shook hands after he verbally agreed to the deal.

Me: Great! I'll have my people write up a contract, and we'll get it to you ASAP.

Stevens: Looking forward to the opportunity. Let's take the league by Storm.

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Staff Update

We worked tirelessly over the next 3 days to complete our staff. And I'm pleased to say, we have one of the best overall coaching staffs in the NBA.

Here is a look at our completed staff:

Coaching Staff Hires.PNG

And real quick, I'd just like to say a couple words on each of them:

CFO, Robert Hamilton: One of the best CFO's in the NBA. Hamilton's "A" grade on the business aspect of things will really help with the organization moving forward.

Assistant GM, Ryan Johnson: Like I've said before. He's a fantastic negotiator and fantastic at striking trade deals. Between the two of us, we're going to make some great deals over our tenure.

Head Coach, Brad Stevens: We got our guy. Stevens is a great coach who develops his young players very well. We're very confident he'll lead us to multiple championships once we get the core of the team in place.

Assistant Coach, Elijah Nelson: Brad Stevens really wanted Nelson on his staff, so we got a deal done ASAP. Nelson is definitely offensive minded, which will really help this team going forward. He's an average defensive coach, with solid potential.

Head Scout, Don Carter: One of my goals put in place by Mr. Price was to hire one of the best Scouts in the game as we build up this franchise. He gave me 3 years to get it done, so I got it done in a couple days. Carter is easily one of the best at evaluating talent in the NBA. He's a very good addition to our organization.

Trainer, Scott O'Gallagher: O'Gallagher is also one of the very best at his profession. With the uncertainty of players we'll be able to get, as we try to win now, some players may have a history of injury problems. So, signing a great trainer is definitely huge for our organization.

Mr. Price was also very pleased with the fact that after we had completed our coaching staff, we were $2.5 million under the budget he put in place.

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

The Press Conference

Thankfully, we were able to get the staff in place just in time for the big Press Conference.

The Press Conference, more like a massive pep rally, was held in Bridgestone Arena on the court floor. The staff was split up on two sides of the stage, with the podium being in the middle. On the left side of the podium, sat the front office members. So that included Mr. Price, myself, CFO Robert Hamilton, and Assistant GM Ryan Johnson.

On the right side of the stage, were the coaches: Head Coach Brad Stevens, Assistant Coach Elijah Nelson, Head Scout Don Carter, and Trainer Scott O'Gallagher.

Media members sat in foldable chairs on the court. The event was open to the public as well. So, thousands of eager fans filled the seats of the arena for the introductory press conference of our staff and the unveiling of the team name, logo, and court design.

Of course, Mr. Price spoke first by introducing himself and trying to make himself likable to the fans in attendance. He figured if he seemed likable, people would be more willing to support the team... Whatever floats your boat Mr. Price...

After he spoke for about 5 minutes, he then said, "And I'm pleased to introduce to you the first General Manager of your Nashville Franchise, Mr. Devin Sutherland!"

Thousands of fans cheered after I got up and walked over towards the podium. I shook Mr. Price's hand and we stood for a second for a photo op. He then patted me on the back and took a seat as I stepped up to the podium.

"Isn't this incredible?" I began as the crowd cheered.

"First off, I'd just like to thank Mr. Price for this unbelievable opportunity. I'd also like to thank all the previous coaches I've worked for and with over the years for helping me get to the place I'm at today. I'd also like to thank R.C. Buford, the Spurs' GM for the opportunity to work as a Scout for their organization for the past 7 years. It truly was an honor to work for such a classy organization.

I'd just like to tell you all a little about myself. I grew up in East Tennessee. My junior year in high school killed my hopes of playing pro ball as I suffered a rotator cuff injury that really damaged my right shoulder. So, I went into the next best thing, coaching. After coaching for a couple years, I decided I wanted to help NBA teams evaluate talent. So, I took a low position within the Scouting Department for the San Antonio Spurs. Over the past 7 years I worked my way up in their organization and became one of their main scouts for the southeast region of the U.S.

But, enough about me, I know exactly what you all are wondering... How long until we win?

Well, I'll promise you this. We're going to make some surprising moves this off-season that will help us win immediately."

The crowd cheered.

"We'll think outside the box in making deals that bring the best talent we can acquire to Nashville. And with Brad Stevens as our coach, winning immediately isn't very far fetched. Ya know, how about we hear from him now? I'm proud to introduce to you the first Head Coach of your Nashville Franchise, Brad Stevens!"

The crowd went wild as Stevens walked up to the podium he then spoke for about 10 minutes. The entire staff stood up once Stevens was done and stood side by side for a photo op.

Then, Mr. Price walked to the podium.

"And finally, I'd like to end this press conference by unveiling our team name, logo, uniforms, and court design," Mr. Price began. "I'm proud to introduce to you, the newest team in the NBA, the NASHVILLE STORM!"

Just then on the jumbotron, the logo came up, followed by the court design. The crowd went absolutely nuts.

Logo.jpg
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Now came the really challenging part... We had to draft an entire roster.

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Unveiling Our Uniforms

Mr. Price, CFO Rob Hamilton, and I had been on the phone with representatives from Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour as we inquired about uniforms.

We went through many different designs since this was obviously a huge decision for us. Because we had to generate some good publicity in not only the local media, but also the national media to get even more excitement towards our inaugural season.

So, we really were going for something unique. Ultimately, we decided on not wearing white uniforms at home. Instead, we're wearing all blue uniforms at home and all black uniforms on the road. Both uniforms have a lightning bolt down the side of the uniform which I think is the cherry on top for these great looking uniforms. But, with the all blue and all black uniforms, that leaves room for possible all white alternate uniforms in the future...

Anyway, it was June 16, 5 days before the Expansion Draft when we finally struck the deal… We ended up going with Nike’s Jordan Brand after narrowing it down to Jordan Brand. We will be the first team in the league to have the “Jumpman” logo on an NBA uniform. Which will definitely give us some great publicity.

So, on the afternoon of June 18th we unveiled the uniforms to the world. Only in a much smaller setting. By that, I mean there weren’t thousands of fans in the seats of Bridgestone Arena. It was just your typical press conference with team representatives and media members only.

Uniform Reveal

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After we unveiled the uniforms, we took to social media to see if the fan’s liked the uniforms as much as our front office did. Thankfully, they did.


So far this off-season has been a success. We hit a home run in hiring our staff and getting some bada** uniforms… Now we had to worry about what really matters. The talent you put out on the court.

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Expansion Draft Night

Here it was. The big night. We have had a strategy in place for quite some time about the type of players we’d select.

The goal put in place was to draft players for the team with an average age of 25. Actually, Mr. Price said he’d be pretty damn pissed if we didn’t stick to the plan… But, there is a twist.

Mr. Price, Coach Stevens, and I all agreed that when we would draft these players, we may not accept all of their team contracts… Basically, we were going to risk it all in Free Agency. You could call it gutsy, maybe even stupid… But we were convinced that we could assemble a strong roster through Free Agency.

Luckily, we were handed the first pick in the expansion draft, so we could choose whoever we wanted… Well, ya know… Out of the handful of players that were told they weren’t good enough to be protected by their original teams…

Anyway, with the first pick in the expansion draft, we chose C, Joffrey Lauvergne… A 24 year old center who was originally on the Oklahoma City Thunder. First of all, he fit age wise being only 24. And to be completely honest, he was the best player available.

With our next two picks (Round 2, Pick 2 and Round 3, Pick 1), we went backcourt as we drafted PG, Shelvin Mack and SG, Archie Goodwin. Both players are young with good potential.

As our 4th and 5th Picks rolled around, we filled out the remaining two positions we had not addressed yet… SF and PF. First we went with SF, Hollis Thompson and then we drafted PF, Kevon Looney. Once again, going VERY young in hopes of developing them and hopefully signing them to a rather cheap long term deal in the future.

So think about that starting lineup for a second…
C, Joffrey Lauvernge: 75 Overall
PF, Kevon Looney: 70 Overall
SF, Hollis Thompson: 72 Overall
SG, Archie Goodwin: 72 Overall
PG, Shelvin Mack: 74 Overall

And now you see why our plan is to go all out in free agency.

Here are the full results of the rest of the draft:

Round1-5.jpg
Round5-9.jpg
Round 9-13.jpg

But, our biggest move came right after the draft.

Not only did we beat out Vancouver for the 1st pick in the Expansion Draft, but we held the 4th Pick in the draft while they held the 5th. Anyway, there were 3 guys who we really wanted: Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, and Jamal Murray. And Brad Stevens REALLY wanted Simmons.

Well, they were projected to go 1, 2, and 3… And we had nothing to give to trade up. Because in order to trade up, I would have had to give up at least our 2017 1st Round Pick too… And that definitely wasn’t an option as of right now.

Sure, Jaylen Brown was an option at #4 and he will be a great player in the future… But his offensive game is not where we’d like it to be at the moment. After those 4 players, the only other guys we felt slightly comfortable with taking at #4 was Buddy Hield (23 years old) and Kris Dunn (22 years old)… Both of them were a couple years older than we would have liked. So, I had an alternate solution.

What if there was a player who was, oh lets say 20 years old, a rising star in the league, and had great potential? And I had one name in mind...

So, I made a massive trade.

Trading for Myles Turner.jpg

I sent our 4th Pick and our 2017 2nd Round Pick to the Pacers in return for C, Myles Turner (20 years old, 79 overall) and SF, C.J. Miles (29 years old, 77 overall).

Turner is one of the best young frontcourt players in the league. He’s only 20 years old and has the potential to be an absolute star in this league for years. He can play the 4 or the 5… And depending on who we can get in Free Agency, we may move him to the 4. He’s a great rebounder and great interior defender. On top of that, he has an outstanding low post and mid range offensive game.

The second player we acquired was C.J. Miles. I’m a huge fan of C.J. Miles. I love his game and his shooting motion. Miles will come in and immediately play a huge role for our team at SF. He can also play Shooting Guard too as he is a solid perimeter shooter.

Up next is the NBA Draft where we hold the #34 pick.

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Draft Night Recap

As you know, I traded the #4 pick in the Draft for Indiana Pacers big man Myles Turner and SF C.J. Miles. So, our only pick was the 34th pick in the draft.

After failed attempts to move up into the first round, I gave up and finally just hung onto that 2nd Round Pick.

And with that #34 pick in the NBA Draft we selected Center, Skal Labissiere from the University of Kentucky.

I really liked this pick. Labissiere is a 7'0", 246 lbs. Center who is only 20 years old. He's got great athleticism and a solid mid range jumper. He's still raw when it comes to low post offense. But in a year or two, we think he can be a big contributor for us on both ends of the floor.

Here are the results of the 2016 NBA Draft:

2016 NBA Draft - Round 1 Recap
Pick	Team	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt
1	Minnesota Timberwolves	Kris Dunn	PG	6'4	205
2	Phoenix Suns	Ben Simmons	SF	6'10	239
3	Los Angeles Lakers	Brandon Ingram	SF	6'10	196
4	Indiana Pacers	Buddy Hield	SG	6'4	214
5	Vancouver Ravens	Jamal Murray	SG	6'5	201
6	Philadelphia 76ers	Jaylen Brown	SF	6'7	223
7	Boston Celtics	Dragan Bender	C	7'1	225
8	New Orleans Pelicans	Thon Maker	C	7'1	220
9	Denver Nuggets	Liviu Constantin	SG	6'6	238
10	Sacramento Kings	Malachi Richardson	SG	6'6	200
11	Toronto Raptors	Taurean Prince	SF	6'8	220
12	Milwaukee Bucks	Domantas Sabonis	C	6'10	231
13	Orlando Magic	Denzel Valentine	SF	6'6	210
14	Utah Jazz	Dejounte Murray	PG	6'5	170
15	Phoenix Suns	Georges Hopkins	SG	6'5	181
16	Chicago Bulls	Henry Ellenson	C	6'11	242
17	Denver Nuggets	Wade Baldwin	PG	6'4	202
18	Boston Celtics	Deyonta Davis	PF	6'10	237
19	Memphis Grizzlies	Caris LeVert	SG	6'6	185
20	Detroit Pistons	Timmy King	PF	7'0	253
21	Denver Nuggets	Malcolm Brogdon	SG	6'5	215
22	Indiana Pacers	Marquese Chriss	PF	6'10	233
23	Atlanta Hawks	Malik Beasley	SG	6'5	190
24	Charlotte Hornets	Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot	SG	6'7	205
25	Boston Celtics	Patrick McCaw	SG	6'7	185
26	Philadelphia 76ers	Tyler Ullis	PG	5'9	160
27	Los Angeles Clippers	DeAndre Bembry	SF	6'6	210
28	Philadelphia 76ers	Juan Hernangomez	PF	6'9	230
29	Toronto Raptors	Helmut Klein	PF	6'8	230
30	Phoenix Suns	Pascal Siakam	PF	6'9	230
31	San Antonio Spurs	Herman Roy	SG	6'4	194
32	Golden State Warriors	Cheick Diallo	C	6'9	220

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Re-Signing Players Recap and Free Agency Top Targets

As I said previously, we had already decided to test our luck in Free Agency…

So, we only accepted the team options on Joffrey Lauvergne, Hollis Thompson, and Archie Goodwin. That left us with seven players on our team. Which meant we had to sign 5-7 players, with $82 million to play with.

We accepted Joffrey Lauvergne's team option of 1 Year, $1.71M, Hollis Thompson's team option of 1 year, $1.02M, and Archie Goodwin's team option of 1 year, $2.09M.

Team Options.jpg

And heading into Free Agency, I got together with Coach Stevens, Coach Nelson, and Mr. Price and we put together a list of players they wanted me to target. This is the list we came up with:

Free Agency Targets.PNG

We fully understand that LeBron, Durant, Drummond, DeRozan, and Whiteside probably won't sign with us, due to us being an expansion team... But, it won't hurt to try and pursue them.

Hopefully if we don't sign one of the guys listed above, we'll be able to snag a couple of guys like Jordan Clarkson, Bradley Beal, Harrison Barnes, or Evan Fournier. All of them are young guys who fit the type of team Mr. Price wants me to put together... Young with potential. If we can land a couple of these guys, our plan to go all in on Free Agency won't be such a bad idea after all.

Just so you get a sense of the roster and what our needs are, here is a look at our roster entering Free Agency.

Nashville Storm Roster Entering Free Agency
#	NAME	POS	AGE	HT	WT	SALARY
33	Myles Turner (79)	C	20	6'11	240	$2,460,000
0	C.J. Miles (76)	SF	29	6'6	222	$4,580,000
77	Joffrey Lauvergne (75)	C	24	6'11	220	$1,710,000
18	Omri Casspi (73)	SF	28	6'9	225	$2,960,000
31	Hollis Thompson (72)	SF	25	6'8	206	$1,020,000
20	Archie Goodwin (72)	SG	22	6'5	198	$2,090,000
36	Kevon Looney (70)	PF	20	6'9	222	$1,180,000
28	Skal Labissiere (70)	C	20	7'0	246	$798,000

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Free Agency Recap: Part 1

Day 1 Recap

Day 1 was an extremely busy day. I offered 17 players contracts. Yes, you see that correctly. I went out and offered all SEVENTEEN players on our target list. Here are the offers I handed out:

Initial Offers.PNG

We immediately got bad news. Yet, it was expected. DeMar DeRozan, Andre Drummond, and Bradley Beal immediately resigned with their current teams.

However, we made our first Free Agent signing as SF Terrance Ross put his faith in our vision for our organization, and he decided to jump on board. We agreed to a 2 year deal worth $5.40M. A pretty solid deal for us.

Ross is a welcomed addition to our squad. He’s 25 years old, which is the average age Mr. Price wanted for this roster. Ross is a very athletic SF who is also a very good perimeter shooter… Thank God. Cause as it stands, Ross will be our best 3 Point shooter.

I don't feel confident at all about our chances to land LeBron, Durant, or Whiteside. I think we probably could have made a run at guys like Al Horford or Dwayne Wade. But they both want deals that would give him $30+M per year... And I’m not willing to offer that and I made that very clear in the meeting with the coaches and Mr. Price.

So here was our Target List after the first day of Free Agency:

Day 1 Results.PNG

Day 2 Recap

The NBA got a helluva lot more interesting today.

LeBron James signed a 4 Year deal with Boston (sorry Brad...) and Kevin Durant signed a 4 year deal with Atlanta.

Other big signings were: Pau Gasol signed a 3 year deal with Golden State (what the hell were the Warriors thinking with that contract length?), Rajon Rondo signed with New Orleans, and Hassan Whiteside resigned with Miami.

Despite officially losing out on our top 5 targets, we got some FANTASTIC news today. We signed SG Evan Fournier to a 3 year deal worth $55.01M and we signed C Festus Ezeli to a 3 year deal worth $8.04M.

After DeRozan and Beal signed elsewhere, Fournier was our top SG target. Fournier is 24 years old and still has potential to become a really good all around SG. Currently, Fournier is a sharp shooter and that’s about it. He’s money as a spot up shooter but he’s not real good defensively. But, with him being 24 years old, he has room to improve in that area.

There aren’t a lot of guards on the Free Agent market who are good defenders. So, we wanted to go after post guys who are good defensively in case opposing guards drive into the paint easily. So, Festus Ezeli gives us exactly what we wanted. A solid Center who is a great rebounder and a great defensive presence. With the signing of Ezeli, Myles Turner will officially play PF for us.

After these signings, this is what our target list and roster looked like:

Day 2 Results.PNG

Nashville Storm Roster After Day 2 of Free Agency
#	NAME	POS	AGE	HT	WT	SALARY
33	Myles Turner (81)	PF	20	6'11	240	$2.46M
10	Evan Fournier (78)	SG	24	6'7	200	$17.55M
0	C.J. Miles (76)	SF	29	6'6	222	$4.58M
33	Festus Ezeli (76)	C	27	6'11	255	$2.56M
34	Terrance Ross (75)	SF	25	6'7	195	$2.64M
77	Joffrey Lauvergne (75)	C	24	6'11	220	$1.71M
18	Omri Casspi (73)	SF	28	6'9	225	$2.96M
31	Hollis Thompson (72)	SF	25	6'8	206	$1.02M
20	Archie Goodwin (72)	SG	22	6'5	198	$2.09M
36	Kevon Looney (70)	PF	20	6'9	222	$1.18M
28	Skal Labissiere (70)	C	20	7'0	246	$798K

So going into Day 3 of free agency, we desperately wanted Jordan Clarkson and Harrison Barnes.

And I liked the thought of having Ezeli as our backup Center. But, that would require a slight upgrade over Lauvergne because I don't think he's better than Ezeli.

So I began making some calls…

[orlegend0208]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

Free Agency Recap: Part 2

Day 3 Recap

This is a HUGE day for us as we signed three more players.

The headliner of the three was definitely our most wanted target, PG Jordan Clarkson. Clarkson accepted a 2 year deal worth $21.65M. Clarkson creates a mismatch at 6'5"... But he isn't very quick... So staying in front of guards like Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving, etc. is going to be quite the challenge for him. What we like most about Clarkson is his ability to knock down perimeter shots.

We also signed SG Allen Crabbe to a 2 year, $11.00M deal. Crabbe was a HUGE addition for us and he will provide valuable minutes off the bench behind Fournier. Crabbe is another sharp shooter who also needs to work on his defense.

And our final addition was PF Thomas Robinson. We agreed to a 2 year deal worth $5.12M. Robinson doesn't have a good low post game at all, but he's an excellent rebounder and he hustles like no other. I'm excited to see if he can finally come into his own on this squad.

With the signing of these 3 players, we now have 14 guys on our roster.

In other news, other targets like J.R. Smith and Kelly Olynyk signed elsewhere. Smith signed with Atlanta, while Olynyk signed with San Antonio.

Day 3 Results.PNG

Day 4 Recap

Today we got two signings which was just the cherry on top of our Free Agency period.

We signed SF Harrison Barnes to a 3 year deal worth $65.72M. Some people think we may have overpaid for the Olympian. However, everyone in our organization believes that he can thrive in this offense. Barnes is a great mid range and 3 point shooter and will be exciting to watch on fast breaks with his acrobatic dunks. However, his defense is really lacking... Which seems to be the theme of our signings..

The second player we signed was PG, Brandon Jennings. Jennings signed a 2 year deal worth $6.28M. Jennings was brought in as the back-up PG since he's an experienced veteran and has a knack for making plays.

However, with the signings of Barnes and Jennings, we would have 16 players on our roster. So, I made a necessary trade...

Trading Omri Casspi to clear up cap space.jpg

I sent Omri Casspi and a 2018 2nd Round Pick to the Miami Heat for their 2017 1st Round Pick and a 2018 2nd Round Pick. We're swapping the 2nd Round Pick and we're going to get the worse pick of the two.

I still can't believe that Miami was willing to give up an unprotected 1st Round Pick for a guy like Omri Casspi.....

And now we were officially done signing players in Free Agency, after just 4 days. So, here is a look at our 15 man roster.

Nashville Storm 15-Man Roster
#	NAME	POS	AGE	HT	WT	SALARY
33	Myles Turner (81)	PF	20	6'11	240	$2.46M
40	Harrison Barnes (79)	SF	24	6'8	210	$20.96M
10	Evan Fournier (78)	SG	24	6'7	200	$17.55M
6	Jordan Clarkson (77)	PG	24	6'5	186	$10.59M
0	C.J. Miles (76)	SF	29	6'6	222	$4.56M
33	Festus Ezeli (76)	C	27	6'11	255	$2.56M
34	Terrance Ross (75)	SF	25	6'7	195	$2.64M
77	Joffrey Lauvergne (75)	C	24	6'11	220	$1.71M
55	Brandon Jennings (75)	PG	27	6'1	169	$3.07M
23	Allen Crabbe (75)	SG	24	6'6	210	$5.38M
41	Thomas Robinson (73)	PF	25	6'10	237	$2.50M
31	Hollis Thompson (72)	SF	25	6'8	206	$1.02M
20	Archie Goodwin (72)	SG	22	6'5	198	$2.09M
36	Kevon Looney (70)	PF	20	6'9	222	$1.18M
28	Skal Labissiere (70)	C	20	7'0	246	$798K

However, I had one last roster move to make...

[studbucket]

Re: #TheStormIsComing | A Nashville Expansion Story | NBA 2K17

This is really interesting orlegend. I like how you've taken a different approach to the expansion draft and I find myself very interested in the moves you are making and the team you are building. Keep it up!