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1. C, keep Kabengele, let him walk (have the last home game of the regular season be Mfiondu Kabengele luau appreciation night)  2. A, add appropriate Honu to the All-Star team. I trust you to know who deserves a spot 3. A, the computer brain needs all the help it can get 4. Extend both guys. See if we can lock down Windler until he's at least 40. Filimon, go for another 2 years
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Jul 8, 2020 22:07
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Holy crap those scoring numbers, It's like we're back in the mid 2000's. For context, at this point last season in-game, Sacramento was scoring 95.7 points per game, the only team in the league below 108. This season that would be the third best offense in basketball. Between this and removing the salary cap I'm amazed at how committed the virtual owners are to killing their own game. 1. Package A looks good to me, I like the look of Craig Payton. 2. A, you've been reasonable about these sorts of things throughout the LP, I think it would be fine. 3.A, though I'm hesitant to ask you to do more work to fix the AI's failings. 4.Extend both, Windler for 3 years, Fillimon for 2
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Jul 8, 2020 22:40
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I doubt editing positions will be too bad. I can only think of a couple examples off hand where it came up.
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Jul 8, 2020 23:02
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Given how often you'll see the AI in a regular 2k game run down the clock to the last second, jack up a garbage shot and have it inexplicably go in, I wonder if the shot percentage drop is that bit of 2k magic being disrupted.Thordain posted:
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Jul 8, 2020 23:58
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The sentimental idea of keeping Kabengele for the rest of the season appeals to me but considering he wants to go somewhere else, I say let him. 1) A 2) A 3) A unless it burns you out 4) extend both for 2 years
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Jul 9, 2020 01:59
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Keep Kabengele A A Extend Floyd 3/4 years, Fillimon 2
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Jul 9, 2020 05:26
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1) A, assuming no injury concerns. With the team option, I'm guessing Payton will still be an RFA afterwards, and Payton could hypothetically be a part of the team for the next 4-5 years at least. 2) A if you think they deserve it. 3) A, if you think the AI deserves it. 4) Two year extensions for both seems like a good option.
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Jul 9, 2020 05:55
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1. A Kabengele will be missed, but if he wants to go he wants to go 2. A 3. A 4. Extend both, Windler for 3 years, Fillimon for 2
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Jul 9, 2020 13:23
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kirsus posted:1. A Kabengele will be missed, but if he wants to go he wants to go Agree
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Jul 9, 2020 15:38
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Chapter 13, Part 3, 2028-2029, End of Regular Season No hard feelings were had by anyone. Kabengele didn't demand a trade, and no one resented him for leaving. The door's open if you ever change your mind, friend. Well, presuming the giant pile of money I'm paying my star rotation doesn't get in the way.  Also pictured: The back half of Damian Lillard's career is just unspeakably sad.  Craig's first game with the Honu is not the most impressive of performances, but this was also the day he was traded. Hopping on a plane from North Carolina to Hawaii and then playing a 31 minute basketball game with a bunch of guys you've never played with before (and one you have!) is probably not going to leave you at your best. So let's call this one a wash and check out his second game.  OK, yeah, that's much more like it. Incidentally, here's what we're getting in Payton. It's a very different look than what we had in Kabengele. One thing I didn't know is that Payton is an SF|PF. I was under the impression he was an SF|SG. Being able to get minutes at the PF position, which is now alarmingly thin for the Honu, saves us a ton of grief. Given how frequently Donta Greene racks up a bunch of assists (somehow he only averages 2 a game?!), I have to think the Honu run some of their offensive sets through the high post.  Speaking of Donta Greene, here's how he's been doing:  That three point shooting is putrid, but luckily he almost never actually attempts them. Greene is one guy that transitioned well to the new slower game, although he's definitely getting minutes, as he's officially ran the gauntlet and is the last Power Forward standing. The main reason I posted Greene is for the biographical data up at the top of the screen. Both Greene and Payton are 2 year players from Texas, and Greene is only one year older than Payton. Greene and Payton were college teammates. Bol Bol gets a deep back bruise, and while he can play through it, he decides to skip out on the all-star game. He is replaced by Wendell Carter Jr. Jamal Murray is also injured, and is controversially replaced by Devonte Graham, who has had a fine season, but isn't in the same conference. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins the All-Star MVP  I also extend both Windler and Filimon. I waited until the deadline to do it, so that I could have a few games with Craig Payton starting, figuring that it might make Windler's price go down. Kind of doing him dirty, but I need those dollars. I am going to need all of the dollars. On that note, I feel like I might be overpaying Filimon a little here, but given how many of our team are just remorseless scorers, a guy who exists only to pass but also hits the three at an elite percentage is really valuable. He's probably worth more to us than he would be someone else. I had to manually edit Windler's contract---the game shat itself and decided he was signed for this season, had a 0 dollar team option for next season (  ), and then after that, he had three more years. So I had to slide it over using the player editor.Around this time, I notice that Bol Bol was complaining about touches, and nuh uh, no way, I am not having that happen. I'm totally fine adding a variety of scorers to this team, but if ya'll are going to eat into someone's usage, our best player and guy who is consistently in the top 5 of MVP voting at the end of the season isn't the guy you crowd out. I tell Coach in no small terms: Bol Bol is the team's first option on offense. Bol is placated. No one else complains about usage for the rest of the season. You're drat right. A thing I'm considering doing if usage becomes brought up again by either Payton or Floyd is turning on ball-handling duties for both of them. Floyd's pretty much re-earned my trust, and Payton is a very good distributor for a small forward. I am starting to picture the new look Honu as something like the 2008-2009 Lakers, with Floyd playing the Kobe role, Bol Bol being Pau Gasol, and Craig Payton hopefully developing into something of a Lamar Odom. But even better than those Lakers, because Windler is a rich man's Luke Walton and Eminescu is a very rich man's Sasha Vujacic. And I say this as, unironically, the world's biggest fan of Sasha Vujacic. I fuckin' loved that guy. I almost bought a jersey. I have a bad habit of getting drunk and talking way too long about Sasha Vujacic. He's my favorite bench role player of all time. But yeah, Eminescu is a lot better. What were we talking about? Oh, yeah. It took 8 years, but I finally told our best player he was our team's first option. He responds in Bol Bol fashion. He's never in the top 5 of MVP voting at the all-star break, but he is always there at the end of the season. Bol lives for the Playoffs. Which, hey, as successful as the Honu have been, why wouldn't he? Like, I don't know how to evaluate what's a "good" game in this stupid 30 second shot clock hell world:  But I think 21 and 8 with 6 blocks is probably pretty good in any era, really.  Or 28 and 22.  Or 40 and 11. It's also pretty reassuring that those are all playoff teams. So yeah, Bol Bol is great, you guys. And I think our team will be fine, even with the scoring options. Especially with the scoring options. We are gunners. And we have always been gunners. In this stupid hell era of trying to kill fan viewership immediately before striking a new TV deal, the Honu are the only team in the league that averaged over 100 points a game. Somewhat ironic that the league's fastest team is represented by a turtle. Even losing our second highest OVR player, and significantly changing up our game plan, we didn't even lose our seat at the table.  Still a top 4 team in the league.  WELP. That makes Seven. Luka Doncic now holds the record for most number of Most Valuable Player awards. Also, spy that he managed eight loving rebounds a game as a guard in this nightmarish new era. How in the hell? I want to say Bol only averaged 8.8.  This guy sort of emerged as the season went on, too late to put Miami into the playoffs, but giving them a small bit of light.  This guy is an enormous part of why the Rockets are so good. He was very nearly an All-Star. He's also a 29 year old second year player that was drafted in 2022 didn't play a minute, then the Rockets scooped him out of obscurity from the G-league. The Rockets are also the team that discovered/gave Zach Norvell Jr. a contract, so whoever they have scouting the G-league does a pretty good job.  God drat Ike's numbers took a hit. The Points/Rebounds last season were 13.5/12.3  Very deserved. This guy's scoring went down, but so did a lot of people. His field goal and three point percentages went up something crazy, though, and he went from "good young player" to "among the league leaders in advanced metrics". He's a former #1 pick that now plays like one. Speaking of #1 picks?  Screw you, Michael Stauffer. You never had a day of adversity in your life. My dog could win 69 games coaching a team with four #1 picks.* (Wayne Newton, Bryant Lowe, DeAndre Ayton, and Zion Williamson) The Rockets have less wins but not many less, and I feel like their coach does more for their team. (Also, the Rockets' coach is Steve Kerr. I have no idea when that happened, but I would not be surprised if it coincides with them starting to do really well. Coaches matter. Ask the worst team in the league, the Vancouver Ravens. Life comes at you fast.) *(Ok, Just for a second, imagine having a team that consisted of Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown, Andrea Bargnani, and Anthony Bennett. If you won a team with those four guys on it, you can be coach of the year.) The teams: All-NBA First  Oh! I completely forgot Jayson Tatum was on the Trail Blazers now. If I had remembered, I wouldn't have removed Karl-Anthony Towns from the All-Star game. Also, Nikola Jokic put up a monster season. If Luka Doncic wasn't a demi-god, he'd have won MVP. Doncic is now doing the Jordan thing, where other players are just squeezed out. All NBA Second  Ciro Reyes finally gets some hardware for his woefully empty case. Andrew Wiggins might be good one day, if he ever learned how to score or play defense. All NBA Third  Yeah, Baldwin's season was pretty good. Paciani fell from All-NBA first team to not making an All-NBA team, but then again, he was still an all-star and is a higher seed in this year's playoffs. In the end, I did edit him to a shooting guard. Incidentally, this really, really isn't going to be trouble for me, guys. I just flash through the teams a few times a season to see if they're playing anyone out of position, and make a note. Then I'll check at the end of the season to see if they're still there. This season, only Paciani was given a new role. And, especially because he's so young, I edited him. Took me about two minutes, and not even on the same day/update. All Defense  I was wrong about Terry---he actually is griping about usage rate on the 76ers. So it's likely he'd have been unhappy here, too. Second Team All Defense  Man, Bilic was 5th in the league in steals. Even when he has the drat counting stats, the game doesn't seem to want to acknowledge him as an elite defender. Rookie teams:   What a dreadful draft class that was. a handful of these guys were from previous classes. Only the first nine actually qualified for the all-rookie team. I replaced a guy with literally 0 minutes played with Benjamin Howard, who played just 18 games. But, he averaged like 9 points, so..... I feel like maybe, just maybe Toronto should have played him more games. Unless he was injured or something. Only other thing really worthy of note going into the playoffs is that Dylan Windler got a season in the 50/40/90 club. ...maybe. He only shot 83 free throws, (and hit all of them!) so he didn't actually qualify for free throw percentage as far as league leaders. So I'll leave it to the great philosophers in the thread: Can you be a member of the 50/40/90 club without qualifying for one of the three? What if it's the one least likely to fall below the thresh-hold? Windler's career FT is pretty healthily above 90%. He'd have to shoot less than half of his remaining free throws to not make it. Does he make the club if he attempts 17 free throws in the post-season? After 9 seasons and no Honu ever scoring a triple double, I'd like some kind of arbitrary stat to crow about. EDIT:  Well, that settles it, Luka's the GOAT. Veryslightlymad fucked around with this message at 10:04 on Jul 10, 2020 |
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Jul 10, 2020 09:18
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Dallas and Milwaukee starting to slip down the seeding a bit. I wouldn't count them out as long as Doncic and Giannis still live.
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Jul 10, 2020 21:10
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beejay posted:Dallas and Milwaukee starting to slip down the seeding a bit. I wouldn't count them out as long as Doncic and Giannis still live. Same. And New York and Philly will absolutely plummet sooner than later. Most of their team is not on rookie deals. When they go into Unrestricted Free Agency, the devastation will be pretty enormous.
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Jul 11, 2020 01:13
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Chapter 14, Part 4, 2028-2029, Playoffs Going into the playoffs, there are not many injuries to note, but there are a few that need noting.    Zubac is one of the better rotational bigs for the Hawks, and they're honestly pretty thin in that regard. Simons being out for the Nuggets could have potentially cost them their series against the Lakers. In another universe where I accidentally hit "Sim to end of playoffs" instead of "simulate game", it actually did. Lauri Markkanen being out for the Suns is devastating for them, though.  They've still got a competent team. Schroder and especially Booker are not pushovers. Myles Turner is a fantastic defender. But without Markkanen, the Suns have to pretty much get all of their scoring from their back court duo. Coach recognizes this, and decides to start Eminescu over Floyd for this series, assigning him to Devin Booker, and letting the fleet-of-foot Cisse guard the similarly lightning quick Dennis Schroder. And this really was Coach's decision; I let the AI build the rotations without making any modifications.  One thing I like about Craig Payton is his excellent court vision. This feed he made to Donta Greene (you can tell they played together in college) is threaded between the two Suns players, Sebic and Baxter. He managed to get behind Baxter's back and hit Greene for an easy layup. And Greene, for his part, knew to take one step less. (You may notice/want to giggle at Hartenstein apparently running away from the basket, but if you'll also notice, no one was covering Bol Bol, so he's actually closing out on a lethal shooter.)  Jacque Cisse puts up a career high number in assists, and while Bol played this game very well, the Suns make an adjustment of some kind and Myles Turner really gives him a lot of problems for the rest of the series. Granted, with Eminescu needling Booker the entire time, the Suns don't get enough offense out of Dennis Schroder to win even a single game. Jacque Cisse averaged about 19 points per game at this part of the playoffs. The Spurs give the Rockets a near-heart attack and push them to a seven game series. They actually won in the alternate, better universe timeline. That's just a bad matchup for the Rockets, where they're lopsided big (but also have Jamal Murray), but the Spurs have probably the best starting back court in the league. The Nuggets, as said, beat the Lakers in five (instead of getting swept), the Jazz's dynamic duo isn't yet ready to smash the souls of the Gods, New York lets Atlanta win a game out of pity, the Philly/Milwaukee series that looked so good on paper was a bit of a dud in Philly's favor, Washington sweeps Detroit, and Memphis has too much firepower, even in this era, to be slowed by an Aging Andre Drummond.  The inevitable playoff match-up. By this point, appointment TV for everyone inclined to watch basketball. It's all but inevitable that one of these two teams is going to come out of the Western Conference. Without Kabengele, and with our young wing defenders still in development and unable to play very many minutes, there's a lot of talk that the Honu won't be able to take this one. What's a good analogy for it?  Oh, OK. That's a decent analogy. Trying to win that jump ball situation. Not having any better ideas, I decide to put the new guy, Craig Payton on Doncic. It turns out, Craig Payton can guard Luka Doncic. Pretty effectively, I might add. Well, he can't actually "guard" him, in the traditional sense of the word. Payton doesn't have anywhere near the speed or post defense, (or somehow, strength), to not get 30-40 points dropped on his head, but what he does do, is have long arms and excellent pass anticipation, and he was able to completely disrupt all of Doncic's playmaking, forcing an average of five turnovers a game out of Luka. This lets the Honu defend the rest of the Mavs honestly, and frankly, they're not very scary that way. What's usually a nail-biter that could go either way is rendered a 4-1 series in our favor. Oh, the Honu won that jump ball situation, so it's still a good analogy. (Cisse didn't win the tip, clearly. Kristaps got the tip and tried tipping it to Luka Doncic, so Bol obviously caught that laughable idea.)   The relatively fresh Nuggets sweep the exhausted Rockets. Memphis doesn't struggle much in a 5 game series with Washington. Philly and New York is probably the best series of the entire playoffs, going to seven games with two overtimes, the two titans realizing that now that their limitless purse strings are finally about to be cut, pouring everything they have into a "now or never" battle. A bloodied New York emerges from the crater left behind.  I'm not going to lie, I've been looking forward to a playoff series against these guys for a number of reasons. Playing against my own former defensive ace, Sasha Bilic, is one of them (and, as it turns out, gently caress playing against that guy). The other reasons are that Mitchell Robinson is a pretty good defender that might give Bol trouble over a lengthy series, but the main reason is, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is constantly a threat to win MVP (and never does because Luka Doncic is alive), and I would like to see how he plays. And the Honu do struggle against the Nuggets in the first game, having no answers and losing by about 20 on the Honolulu court. Oh, dear. I pull out of the series and examine rotations, and after some consideration, remember that I have Frankie Lambert still on my roster, and if there's ever been a time to call his number, it's now. A good 12 minutes of dealing with Lambert, on top of increased responsibility to Eminescu over Floyd is enough to snuff out any hope the Nuggets had of defeating the Honu ever again, and the series winds up 4-1 in our favor. We have a relatively fresh squad going into the Finals. .....against New York. And, I accidentally deleted my comparative match-up screen, but I'm sure you've heard me talk about them before. They're the Knicks.     You know. THESE guys. Seeing it all spelled out like that is terrifying. That's... ...OK, if they started only their backup at every single position, their starting roster would be 93/88/83/85/90 and they would have still have a bench that had an 82, an 83 and an 84. Their thirteenth man is an 82. So when I see this:  Going into the finals, I'm not as encouraged by the news as you might think. And we lose the first two games in Madison Square Garden. And that's OK. That's fine. It's all fine. The Honu are a deep team too. Not that deep, but there's more to a player's value than OVR (And honestly, the stat has outlived its usefulness to franchise modes and should probably be either deleted or split into two stats, but I digress), and everyone on the Honu is a valuable piece. And yeah, most of our rotation could be starters, too. A starting five of Filimon/Eminescu/Windler/Bradley/Francis could make the playoffs with a decent bench, and Lambert and Steele would be a good start to that bench. And we have Cisse/Floyd/Payton/Greene and Bol, still. Always Bol. We have an MVP Caliber player in the prime of his career. We have a chance.   
Veryslightlymad fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jul 12, 2020 |
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Jul 12, 2020 20:00
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Chapter 15, Part 1, 2029-2030, Early Offseason First, an announcement. As an entire decade of basketball has passed, I am going to post a "state of the league" update following the offseason moves. I'll include a look at every team, as well as a little reminder of things like awards or the things I feel might not be encapsulated by the team's current roster. ~~~~ Alas, dear Honu. Don't think about the loss too badly. Focus on the good times.  (I forgot to put this shot in the playoff update. I didn't have to split the update into two parts, but I thought it read better the way I wrote it. Also, check out the smirks on Greene and Payton. They even act like old friends. Also, the attractive Dylan Windler lets himself be obscured, but Frankie Lambert is front and center) The old guard of the NBA is almost gone, now.  It's going to feel really weird when Victor Oladipo retires. I remember having a discussion about his draft class with a co-worker when I had one of my first jobs after college. Since I had just finished college, and, frankly, spent way too much time trying to make college work for me, I clearly remember thinking, "Man, he's just a kid. The thought of all that money to come must be nice, but he's got to be under an unbelievable amount of pressure." Well, that kid is 37 now.   Old guard Honu guys are retiring too. Gobert and Bogdan Bogdanovic hang up their sneakers for good. And Bryn Forbes, I guess. I mainly grabbed him so the screenshot came out better.  Eric Spoelstra retires, too, having two NBA championships and, unless I'm forgetting one, five trips to the NBA Finals. (The Spurs and Mavs series in real life, as well as an extra Mavs series in this thread. He never left the Heat)  James Harden and Paul George are named to the Basketball Hall of Fame. The game doesn't model coaches, but I have to assume Spoelstra also was.  Not Jimmy Butler, though. And I've made the case for some fringe guys here before, but Butler is not a fringe case in this universe. His accolades are almost exactly the equivalent of Paul George, but on a shorter career. Currently, Basketball Reference says his odds are at about 43% for making the hall of fame, but that's assuming he retired now and didn't go on to two more all star games, be named All-NBA one more time, and make three more all-defense teams. He also doesn't have the notoriety of the worst contract of the 2020s hanging around his neck.  The league votes against expansion. So, I guess a bunch of 80+ players in the primes of their career are a bit more likely to retire.  The Spurs acquire Nick Nurse, shoring up the main weakness on their team after Pop retired and hosed off to the vice presidency. (At the all star break in Dallas last year: "I was never going to be a candidate for president. I'm over 80 years old. I'm only here to offer support and encouragement to an intelligent young woman that doesn't actually need it, and to talk to the media about as much as I did as a coach. On that note--" Pop was not seen again in public four months.)  Spurs are kinda doing Timmy dirty, though. You'd think he'd be their assistant. (I'm really wondering which player that retired in this thread becomes the first actual head coach, and then, which ones become good coaches)  OH FOR gently caress'S SAKE.  Voting Time Coaches in this game are unbelievably sticky. (For example, after the Spurs stole Nick Nurse, the Clippers immediately signed Doc Rivers again.) Jared Henderson is the idiot that had the 6 man rotations. They fired him in January and replaced him with Kaleb Canales. Question 1) Staff Signing is over, but Staff can be hired/fired/whatever during any point during the regular season. Once the season starts, I have the option of firing Henderson (preferably into the Sun, but I can't actually delete him) and hiring a real coach to the Ravens. Do I do so? A)Yes, fire the living basketball warcrime B)No, it's their choice, no matter how asinine If B, please specify whether I am hiring Kaleb Canales or someone else. (If someone else, I'll be hiring the best coach or assistant available that uses a system the Ravens are suited for, probably balanced) Question 2) Jacque Cisse and Donta Greene have contracts up and are going to be Restricted Free Agents. So I'm definitely signing at least one of those two, preferably both, since I don't have a starting power forward and can't really afford one. The Honu also currently have one (1) Power Forward on their team, at all (and a bunch of guys willing to play out of position). And that's Greene, which is why I think we should re-sign him. One move that could free up 10 million dollars for the Honu and net us a quality rotational Power Forward is this one for a familiar face:  Harry Kelley is still Harry Kelley. He only scores about as frequently as the Knicks win a championship, but he rebounds and defends, and he is one of the better passing big men in the league. Playing behind Greene, who weirdly passes a lot, the Honu could solidify the PF spot on this team as a bit of a secondary playmaking spot. It would cost us a first round draft pick, but likely a weak one, because I certainly intend to be good next year. A)Do the Trade B)Don't do the Trade Question 3) Jacque Cisse and Donta Greene are RFAs. We'll be going over the cap if we sign either of them, let alone both. I certainly intend to sign at least Cisse. That leaves Greene, who wants about 20 million dollars a year. You may recall his numbers are this: So.... that's a bit high. I'd like to keep him if possible, because he is valuable and still has a long way to develop, but.... yikes. I also basically have to rely on the AI offering him a contract anyhow, since my own offer is going to be anemic based on my cap situation. Name a per year dollar figure for Donta Greene I'm not going to be able to offer that, but I'll try to match something close to what the thread wants me to match. Veryslightlymad fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Jul 12, 2020 |
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Jul 12, 2020 21:25
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Let us know how badly the Knickerbockers get gutted, because that ridiculous roster of theirs has to be ludicrously expensive and now they can't just outspend the rest of the league. Seriously, that roster looks like something that one would see as one of those teams in 2K games that is all of the best players from the entire history of the franchise.
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Jul 12, 2020 22:16
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I'll keep tabs on it, but frustratingly, most of their roster is on longer term deals. Both centers are up this season, though.
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Jul 12, 2020 22:32
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votes! 1. B 2. A 3. 13mil/year
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Jul 12, 2020 22:54
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B. Maybe the Ravens are just run by idiots; let them have their poo poo coach if they really want. A. Do that trade, bring back the fan favorite. The 10 to 15 range seems fair. He’s not worth the 20 he’s asking, but he’s good enough to be worth a bit of cash.
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Jul 12, 2020 23:41
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The craziest part to me about Luka breaking the MVP awards record is that in game I think he just turned 30. 1:A, get Duncan in there, it's Timmy Time. 2:A, We're not gonna be able to bring back Donta, so Harry Kelley should be a solid pickup 3:15 million, we won't be able to keep him for long since Payton needs to get paid at some point, but still better to have him and move him later.
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Jul 13, 2020 00:31
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1. A, give them Tim Duncan or another former player, and give Henderson to the Knicks (cue Stephen A Smith scream) 2. A 3. 13-15 mil a year
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Jul 13, 2020 00:56
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1) A - Duncan would be cool but that's rough on the Thunder I guess. Another former player would be fun. 2) A 3) Agreed, 13-15 mil
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Jul 13, 2020 01:04
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If the Ravens are gonna get a former player as a coach, then I suggest Z-Bo
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Jul 13, 2020 02:25
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This game is a horseshit pile of flaming garbage and the designers should be publicly shamed. If there wasn't an ongoing global pandemic, I would say "spat upon", and hell, I still might. League votes down your expansion team? Guess what? It's loving deleted. I had to re-download both. That is the most egregiously anti-user content I think I've ever seen in a video game in at least twenty years. Someone needs to be loving fired for that decision.
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Jul 13, 2020 06:13
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1) B. Honestly, that feels about right for some real world owners and their coaching philosophy. I think their fans might riot though, or at least start throwing jerseys onto the 2) A. 3) 13-15 feels like an agreeable range. As for the finals, at least it was a gentleman's sweep. Anything that can be built on in the one win? Did the Honu run into the New York buzzsaw in the alternate reality, or did the alternate reality not get that far? Edit: Veryslightlymad posted:This game is a horseshit pile of flaming garbage Guthix Curnir fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Jul 13, 2020 |
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Jul 13, 2020 06:14
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When you watch these games, do you notice the CPU having issues with layups? Apparently layups are somehow less likely in basketball than sinking a shot from full court, with your back to the basket 100 times in a row.
Armitage fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Jul 13, 2020 |
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Jul 13, 2020 19:19
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Armitage posted:When you watch these games, do you notice the CPU having issues with layups? Apparently layups are somehow less likely in basketball than sinking a shot from full court, with your back to the basket 100 times in a row. I am not using default sliders. I won't have an update until tomorrow or Wednesday depending on how long some errands take me and how exhausting work is. I simulated the offseason, though. Jared Henderson, the coach, is literally bugged. I'll show a screenshot on the update, but it's worse than I thought. He has been replaced by a former NBA player, because why not. Also, they're one of the better available coach or assistant coaches, based on pure stats. I didn't do a championship in the alternate reality, but the Knicks got knocked out by the Sixers before I stopped the simulations. I did a few trades and got both my guys. Schedule should be real update followed by a state of the league update, just not sure when.
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Jul 13, 2020 19:44
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Chapter 15, Part 2, 2029-2030, Offseason A couple of longterm Eastern Conference playoff stalwarts disintegrated this offseason, and it remains to be seen who will take their place, but in the West, a new power forms just as suddenly. But first!  I swung the trade for Kelley, but as it was a bit lopsided in favor of the CPU, I get the Bulls to agree to let me swap picks with them in 2033. This will give me the better of the two picks. (But, for those of you familiar with this game, if you select it on the "select picks" screen, you select "Swap best", and then, when you go to the negotiations screen, you'll have your offered pick being listed as "(HON) swap Worst", which is what you want to be giving to the other team, which then, when you look at your assets, will say "Swap Best Bulls". 2k programmed this to be almost as confusing as humanly possible. I had to watch youtube videos to make sure I got it right. This game is a garbage fire on almost all levels) I didn't solicit opinions on the draft because I have a clear need: Functional bigs. So, as I'm in the second round anyhow, I swing for whatever stands out, either in potential or in OVR.  Los Angeles selects this guy with the first round pick, which is considered a bit of surprise, but only a little bit. He's not the most promising option, but he is the most promising point guard, and the Clippers are sorely lacking at that position.  So the consensus #1 prospect in the country falls to Indiana. Michael Torres here was on the top of everyone's boards. Although, I check him after the draft and see his strengths/weaknesses and stats and I find:  That description. And you know, if I'm the Clippers in this situation, I think I take Torres and give him a trial run as a point guard. But hey, maybe Wil Ingram develops into a monster in his own right.  Cleveland trades two of its better players to the Ravens for their pick  But that's not anywhere near as surprising as what Golden State is willing to give to Toronto. KAT still exists, I guess, but he just lost most of his support.  No pressure or anything, Ryan.  Cleveland continues to deal its starting lineup away.  This trade feels like it should be bigger news than it is, but Dana Cox was one of the older generated players before I started adjusting ages, and he peaked really early in his career, sadly never making an all star game, so both dudes are on the decline. This is about as close to even (and thus pointless) as a trade can get.  San Antonio trades its Center to Boston, a playoff team giving up that kind of value has something in mind:  I guess the last time they drafted someone named Duncan it worked out pretty OK.  They surround their new piece (and Brook Teague and RJ Barrett) with some more of Cleveland's playoff-tested rotation.  Cleveland drafts this "Name of the Draft" player. (Who I was hoping to snag with my 34th pick. Alas.) Story goes, someone once asked him how he felt about his rivals in college referring to him as "Footie PJs", and he responded "Call me whatever you like. I'm just here to play. But if you think you're putting me down, just remember; anyone who has experience with footie PJs will tell you, if you ain't careful around them, you're gonna get your *#$* cut off."  Boston is a bit overloaded at Center with the acquisition of Chriss, so they trade their starter to Memphis for the Grizzlies' pick  I selected this guy with my first of two second round picks, and was pleasantly surprised by the factoid that came up afterward. "Best rebounder in college", well, that's encouraging.  And for the second consecutive year I use a second round pick to select a guy named B. Lawrence.  Mr. Irrelevant2029 is Shannon Richardson from Florida, who does not make the Knicks' roster. For those of you keeping score, Cleveland ended with four first round picks:  Also, Andre Drummond left. The Cleveland Cavaliers, a frequent playoff team, but usually a second or first round exit, have completely blown up their roster. Player/team options roll around and I pick up the team option I have on every player I have one for.  To my horror, I realize that the two Centers from New York I thought were leaving, are instead on player options, and, as loving no one has 40-50 million dollars to throw around, both young men wisely opt in for another year. Also pictured: Kabengele already peace-ing out with the Hornets.  At least Dedric Wesley seems to be doing OK for them.  Listen, Donovan, baby, if you want, you can totally come back for another year at 0 dollars. Just.... just think about it, OK? No? You're gonna opt out? Well, I can't say I blame you.  Yeah, ok, that contract was a bit better. You're right.  This is eleven players. With their four rookies, the Cavs might have an entirely new squad from last season. (Some of the 1 year guys might have been Qualifying offers) Damon Rose here is a welcome sight---For the last several years, he's been the Dallas Mavericks' bench Center, and one of the higher bench players on their rotation. I've seen this guy a lot in the playoffs.  The Miami Heat, whose best player is Ciro Reyes, a Small Forward, use their off-season to sign Four Small Forwards. (Good ones, too. At least three of those guys are going to be pissed  ) Not to be outdone in stupidity, the Jazz, previously thought to be intelligent, do not match an offer sheet to Daryl Baldwin, their former #1 pick and star player in the dynamic duo of Baldwin and Paciani. No, they loving renounce his rights to sign the shambling corpse of Jonathan Isaac. And this, THIS loving nonsense right here, is why I think Overall, as a stat, is a big steamy, smelly piece of poo poo that has outlived its usefulness when it comes to sports simulators. Because it's inexcusable to have AI this dumb. No one, anywhere, ever would be stupid enough to go out of their way to sign this:  Over this:  No one. That's just a fundamental failing of a major game system. And the culprit is OVR being a thing. Not even "How OVR is calculated", literally, there should not be any one loving stat that the AI values so much that it ignores every single performance metric because one dude is a measly 3 points, or 3 and a half percent better at it. This is a damning indictment of this style of game in general. OVR has outlived its usefulness. Kill the loving stat, game designers. You loving cowards.  Lauri Markkanen is good and all, but he's aging, and really, the long term deals the Pistons should have offered should have been to Danny Roy (whom the Bulls are loving crazy for letting walk) or to Wilfred Wilson, or hell, given that they are being paid a combined figure less than Markkanen, both. You rent the old fart and you lock down the young dudes. Nonetheless, the addition of all three gives the Pistons a rather formidable variety of looks in the front court.  The Thunder win the sweepstakes for Mfiondu Kabengele. You're the highest OVR on their team, Yondu, let's see what you do as the big dog. The two biggest winners in free agency, though? Second place goes to the Indiana Pacers  Who get a major fixture in the race to the MVP voting, and one of the best two free agents available. And Tomas Goodrich isn't a pushover, either. And people say no one wants to come to Indiana in free agency. First place? Would you believe the Sacramento Kings?  Aside from overpaying Marcus Smart, who can probably still be traded at some point, I would say the Kings' free agency was a roaring success. Not only did they get the most promising young player in Baldwin, but Philadelphia just couldn't afford to pay its biggest star anymore. Oh, well. Bad time for the cap to come back, eh, Philly? Well, at least you still have Esteban Barea on the hook for about 20 million dollars a year. Honolulu more or less wanted to stand pat. We had two guys to sign. I give Jacque Cisse a four year deal that comes out to about 30 million per, but it's "only" about 27-28 million this year. As for Donta Greene, thread directive was he was asking for too much money, and to consider matching him to a contract for 13-15 million per year. No one offered him one on the last day of free agency, so I floated him an offer for 3 years with his bird increases, starting at 13 million, and ending at 15 million. It seemed fairly elegant.  He took the qualifying offer instead. Well, hey, even better, maybe. I was honestly not expecting to be able to keep Greene, so this left me in the awkward position of having 16 players. (Since I promoted last year's second round pick Bernie Lawrence from the G-league to the actual roster) I look around to see if anyone's willing to take the bottom guy on my rotation, which, sadly, is Dick Steele.  The Spurs offer me a couple of second rounders for him. I now have my own, Indiana's, and San Antonio's second round pick in next year's draft, and I realize there's no way in hell I'm going to want that many second round guys, so I float various packages of them to see if I can maybe get a more valuable draft position somewhere.  And, I'll have to wait a while for it to pay off, but the Lakers are willing to give me a 2033 first round pick in exchange for two of them. The ones I gave up our my own and San Antonio's, and, in the process of making this post, I realize I probably should have kept San Antonio's pick and traded Indiana's, because they're likely to actually be good. I completely forgot at the time that they had acquired Bagley. Progression rolls around and Harry Kelley immediately goes into hard decline and loses about 3 points OVR. A few of my players are getting to an age where they're losing athleticism and making small gains in fundamentals. I have progression sliders set up so that the mental part of basketball is actually improved into your declining years. You don't play in the league for like, 10 years without learning rotations and poo poo. Physical penalties are somewhat harsher than default. This is part of why guys like Delon Wright haven't gone down as badly. Guys who are suited to an old man game of rear end Fundamentals don't give too much of a poo poo about age and stick around forever. Guys who learn how to shoot can be productive forever. Guys who never really pick up much past "ridiculous athleticism" get really old, really, really fast.  It's why Filimon can lose four points on things like dunking and post fade/control at a time, but only lose one point overall. Those things are such a small part of his actual game, they don't really go into his rating. Meanwhile, the things he does use are holding firm or maybe even growing, so it winds out making his age more graceful, although, he's declining a bit earlier in his life than I would like. Meanwhile, loving Dylan Windler once again managed to improve despite having hit his previous potential cap (his potential, for the second year in a row, inexplicably went up). What in God's green earth is going on with thus guy? How the hell did Layup go up?! Finally, per thread directive (I started work on this update before Guthix Curnir posted what would have been a tie vote), I decide to take control of Vancouver and fire their coach, and since it was popular, hired a former player (who, honestly, was one of the better candidates available anyhow, so why the hell not?) I discover, horrified, that their coach was worse than I thought.  Look at this poo poo. That's not a coach. That's a glitch. No bench rotation at all, just play the starting five for 48 minutes a game. No help defense, no zone defense, no playcalling. Just telling 5 guys to "figure it out" and then loving off for two hours. Effective immediately, I am banning Mr. Henderson, for life from any association with the Ravens organization, or the NBA. Mr. Henderson may not attend any NBA games or practices. He may not be present at any Ravens facility. Any he may not participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team. (Reference) I find the best candidate from former players (the game does not let me interview Chris Paul, Steph Curry, or Tim Duncan, who are active assistants. I have no idea what happened to Lebron James) The first full-time coach from players who retired during the course of the thread is Kevin Durant.  A pace and space specialist coach who has a good head for defensive schemes and room to grow. Better still:  He actually loving coaches. Vancouver rejoices. New York fends off the reaper for another year, but Cleveland, Philadelphia, probably Utah, and Golden State are mercilessly culled. A new era of basketball is at hand.  The Honu endure. Veryslightlymad fucked around with this message at 07:44 on Jul 14, 2020 |
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Jul 14, 2020 07:40
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 In the 3rd season of MyCareer and I noticed a familiar face had just won his first Player of the Week award.
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Jul 14, 2020 15:49
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So Lebron just... vanished?
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Jul 14, 2020 16:06
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I have to wonder what a post-game press conference would have looked like for Jared Henderson. Would he even show up? If he did, would he have nonsense answers for any press questions, or would it be 'On to Cincinnati' for each question?
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Jul 14, 2020 16:11
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Guthix Curnir posted:I have to wonder what a post-game press conference would have looked like for Jared Henderson. Would he even show up? If he did, would he have nonsense answers for any press questions, or would it be 'On to Cincinnati' for each question? I also am loving imagining the insanely dumb think pieces that would have come out if his team started well before everyone died. “They said you need depth to win in this league. Jared Henderson disagrees, and his aggressive rotations might just be the next moneyball revolution in basketball.”
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Jul 14, 2020 21:48
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JackBandit posted:I also am loving imagining the insanely dumb think pieces that would have come out if his team started well before everyone died. “They said you need depth to win in this league. Jared Henderson disagrees, and his aggressive rotations might just be the next moneyball revolution in basketball.” Meanwhile, the Honu coach will frequently bench players for trivial injuries, including ones that cannot be aggravated, if we're winning and not in the playoffs. "Oh, you bruised your hip? Take a few days off and play some video games. I'll just activate one of the kids." I could choose to ignore these, and sometimes do, but I try to let coach build the rotations. So what happens is I get a trivial injury I can ignore, but another player will get a big one I can't or be returning, and when I have rotations rebuilt, the trivial injury is benched.
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Jul 14, 2020 22:32
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JackBandit posted:I also am loving imagining the insanely dumb think pieces that would have come out if his team started well before everyone died. “They said you need depth to win in this league. Jared Henderson disagrees, and his aggressive rotations might just be the next moneyball revolution in basketball.” In a league where everybody analyzes every minute detail of the game, you can lose the big picture and miss the forest for the trees. The best innovations are simple and Jared Henderson has one that has stunned the league in racing to a 23-6 start to the season. It's all based on identifying a longtime NBA inefficiency, one so commonplace that no NBA watchers even realized it exists. Think of the third quarter of the last NBA game you watched, even among championship contending teams like Dallas, Honolulu, or the Knicks. Who was in the game at that time? You likely struggle to even remember who was on the floor; not future Hall of Famers like Luka Doncic or Bol Bol, it was likely a team of players who even an NBA diehard might struggle to recognize. This has been the pattern for decades in the NBA - in the 2010's LeBron would give up third-quarter minutes to Sasha Pavolovic, in the 1990's, Jordan would give up third-quarter minutes to Jason Caffey would play, in the 1970's, Kareem would give up third-quarter minutes to Bob Boozer. To the normal person, this is just an acceptable plan, but to Jared Henderson, the immediate question was: Why? Games are 48 minutes long, yet every single NBA team chooses to voluntarily give up ten or twenty of those precious minutes by playing inferior bench players and leaving their stars on the bench. Points scored with two minutes left in the third quarter count the exact same as points scored with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, but coaches treat the latter as far more important than the former. Nobody would even consider sitting a Doncic or Bol in the fourth quarter, yet nobody questions doing it in the third quarter. This is basketball's equivalent to football's long-time obsession with punting, a foolish tradition where you are voluntarily crippling your own team by not producing your best effort. Jared Henderson has changed this paradigm. By playing his best players all game and only his best players, the Ravens really take advantage of those times when other teams are punting on the third quarter. A quick check of the standings shows the results - the Ravens are scorching hot and far exceeding the modest expectations placed on them by gamblers and the media. But those expectations were set assuming the Ravens would play by normal NBA rules, having their Ravens second string would play opponent's second string and effectively ignoring a third of the game if not more. Under the new Henderson Rules, where the Ravens are allowed to brazenly pilfer an advantage over less competent coaches by playing their first string against others' second team? The Ravens might need to clear space on their trophy shelf, because the new paradigm is in Baltimore thanks to Jared Henderson's ahead of the curve strategies.
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Jul 14, 2020 22:36
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MagusofStars posted:Under the new Henderson Rules, where the Ravens are allowed to brazenly pilfer an advantage over less competent coaches by playing their first string against others' second team? The Ravens might need to clear space on their trophy shelf, because the new paradigm is in Baltimore thanks to Jared Henderson's ahead of the curve strategies. Lol. But maybe not enough pearl clutching about those lazy players and their 30 minutes a game expectations.
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Jul 15, 2020 04:06
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I realise that it's "realistic", but Kagenbele (sp?) deciding to leave a very consistent and successful franchise because he wasn't enough of a special sunflower just loving irritates me. I know that real-life players do this, and it's just as contemptible then. I am bloody sick of multi-millionaires who talk about team and winning and so on, but then leave a golden situation in order to let their balls feel big. I must be missing a selfish gene. FartingBedpost posted:So Lebron just... vanished? He retired, age 39, some in-game years ago. VSM made mention of it.
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Jul 15, 2020 05:23
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I can see the appeal of trying to figure out if you are playing at the best of your ability or coasting along on your teammates' successes. Not necessarily a move for fame.
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Jul 15, 2020 06:17
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JustJeff88 posted:I realise that it's "realistic", but Kagenbele (sp?) deciding to leave a very consistent and successful franchise because he wasn't enough of a special sunflower just loving irritates me. I know that real-life players do this, and it's just as contemptible then. I am bloody sick of multi-millionaires who talk about team and winning and so on, but then leave a golden situation in order to let their balls feel big. I must be missing a selfish gene. To be fair to the fictional iteration of Kabengele, "Play for winner" was not listed as one of his important goals anymore (nor is it for most of the Honu) but "Financial Security" was listed as extremely important, and I was underpaying him for years. There are thirty two teams in the league and less than 30 players right now who are a 90 OVR or above, and Kabengele was one of them. So he could absolutely go to a team and be the best player on it (well, if OVR were an accurate measure of how good a player is). There's a couple of rare achievements that a basketball player might be able to earn in their lifetime. A championship is generally regarded as the big one, but it's not the only one. Maybe the dude had a dream of playing in the all star game one day. He might achieve that dream somewhere else, but he wouldn't on the Honu. If this were a real world player/GM situation, I might feel bad for him, honestly. He had been complaining about touches/usage for quite a while, but winning games was enough to placate him in the short term. He knew he was good enough for a bigger role---indeed, any time Bol or Gobert or whoever the hell was injured, the bulk of the extra minutes went to Kabengele, and he tended to shine in this situations. He always got the garbage jobs. I probably took him for granted and got burned. quote:He retired, age 39, some in-game years ago. VSM made mention of it. He was in the coaching pool for a while too, though and vanished from that. I guess staff vanishes after so many years if no one is interested in signing them. It's a pity, he had pretty good stats for an assistant coach. Maybe it was because no one was interested in using the Triangle, which was apparently his system of choice. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INTERMISSION: State of the League and 2020s Retrospective How would one go about defining the 2020s as a decade in basketball terms? The most concise answer, and certainly the one that resonates with casual basketball viewers the most, would be to call it, "The Luka Doncic Era"  Starting to win MVP awards at a very early age and just not stopping, Doncic would go on to win the trophy seven times in just eight seasons to break the previous record set by Kareem Abdul Jabbar. His dominance would, at a glance, only occassionally be contested by Giannis Antetokounmpo.  And looking at the decade point leaders would also seem to indicate this statement as true. But it doesn't really give the full picture as to what the league was like. By another count, the 2020s as a decade had six truly dominant teams, although only four were active for the bulk of the decade.  By looking at championships, we see that the early 2020s Nets and the late 2020s Knicks were elite teams that got to the finals multiple times, but practically the entire decade, you'd see one of Milwaukee, Dallas, Honolulu, and Philadelphia. While the former two teams were almost entirely supported by a single, transcendent superstar and a bunch of high value role-players, Honolulu and Philly tended to dominate by depth. Thread followers have seen what kind of depth Honolulu has, but remember Andre Petersen? The Eighth man on those Philadelphia finals teams would go on to be an all star. And it would be folly to claim neither team had their own generational talent. Honolulu was, of course, carried during this period by Bol Bol, a sweet shooting seven footer with change in the mold of Dirk Nowitzki, but with much better defense, and Philadelphia, though they would pay ridiculous sums of money for superstars, got the best years out of Ben Simmons, a 20/7/7 guy with the best inside game ever. (Seriously, he's been averaging something ludicrous like 65% shooting on his career. He's attempted 17 threes and hit zero.) But even these measurements are inadequate. We know that Memphis and Cleveland were dominant teams in their own right, too. They made the playoffs nearly every year for an entire decade. Atlanta was also a frequent customer. Phoenix, in the West. Truly great teams that local fans will remember, but to almost everyone else, will be nothing more than a footnote in history.  There's clear eras in defense, too. But we all know how hard I relied on 0-time all-defense player Sasha Bilic (and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk) We all know how much I relied on Mfiondu Kabengele. The record books never tell the whole story.  Assists are a question of "how many players does Lonzo Ball have on his team that can score?" If the answer is "1. Sasha Golob", then Doncic wins the assist trophy. If there's so much as a second scorer on New Orleans, Ball has been able to surpass him.  Rebounding tends to be another stat that has "eras", although, the Wendell Carter Jr. era is one of fraud.... dude shoots less than 40% on his career, and for the three seasons he ruled the rebounding roost, he was playing close to 48 minutes a game.  If there's useful information on the Steal Leaders board, I've yet to figure out what it is.  I'm actually amazed that Milwaukee didn't go deeper in the playoffs last season with an elite defensive center starting next to Giannis. Jaxson Hayes managed to get a lot of money out of that one great defensive year.  Sixth men were largely guys that could have been starters had they been in any other situation. Everyone here other than Rozier and Montrezl Herrell have been all-stars. Well, not Dourekas yet, but he probably will be, mark my words. He came close last year, despite being a bench guy  Running up the list: Ja Morant is regularly an MVP candidate for the Grizzlies, one of the best teams in the league during this era with nothing to show for their greatness, not even that MVP award. Wayne Newton is the sixth man for the championship Knicks. He could just as easily start, but they seem to like running Dejounte Murray there. Bryant Lowe is the best player on a team that may as well be the dream team. Dimitris Dourekas found himself as the sixth man and one of the major scoring options for the Denver Nuggets, Shamorie Ponds was a big part of the Cleveland teams that always made playoff runs. Andre Whitney (a #1 pick), was doing good things as a sixth man for the Hawks (Well, a seventh man---playing the same position as Collin Sexton) before they decided they had too many good Shooting Guards and he signed with the Hornets. Mo Pope is a very good point guard, the second best one on the Pistons, who are rich at the position. Craig Payton is the fourth option on Honolulu's offense, and a do-it-all small forward that could easily have a bigger role, and honestly, I might give him a bigger role to keep him happy. Oscar Knox is a productive point guard for the Celtics, Wendell Park might finally be the help Ciro Reyes desperately needs in Miami.  For MIPS: Bam Adebayo is the star of the Washington Wizards, a frequent playoff squad. Bol Bol is Bol Bol. Christian Boyd became a journeyman, never figured out how to properly shoot, and might bounce out of the league soon. Brook Teague is the first generated character to become a true superstar, not just 90+ overall, but a fringe MVP candidate and all star, depending on how good the rest of the Spurs are. He's a 5'11 point guard. Coby White was mired in misery in Chicago for years before becoming one of the main rotational pieces on the excellent Grizzly teams. Lawrence Miller never had a season close to his career year in Cleveland, and is now a productive role-player for the Clippers. Johnnie Phillips suffered a major elbow injury and his shooting has never been right since. Nonetheless, I expect he'll be starting over Jonathan Isaac on the Jazz before the year is out. Giovenco Paciani is the de facto leader of the Jazz. After adapting his game to shooting guard, the franchise traded away (rather, they didn't contract-match) the reason he switched positions in the first place. CJ Sloan was briefly on the Bucks, didn't fit in with their team at all, and is hoping to turn it around on the hapless Bulls. Daryl Baldwin is going to do real big things in Sacramento. I would not be shocked if this is the year Ben Simmons finally wins MVP. Jonathan Isaac. Mother of god, Utah. And now, a selected state of the league. Please note, I could only fit four players on the screen at a time, and I didn't necessarily choose the best four for each team, just whoever I felt like talking about. I've noted in an earlier post that we were in a bit of a golden age for small forwards, but I think we're set to see an era of shooting guards. I could be wrong. But looking at who had successful years last year, shooting guards with a touch of passing in their game tended to be some of the best players last year. Accordingly, there are quite a few shooting guards you will see me state might have a breakout year. I'll only feel stupid if none of them do.  The 76ers are still a pretty OK team, honestly, even losing Simmons and Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid getting super old and broken down. Unfortunately for them, De'Aaron Fox is going to want a lot of money for his next paycheck, and I don't think the -76(irony!) million dollars they'll have in capspace they'll have next year is going to be a tempting offer. Barea is more productive for them than he ever was for us. Remember, when he came into the league, I said he was a "genius" player. In another lifetime with a system that suited him, he could have been truly elite.  Devonte Graham has really come into his own, and Claudio Navarro is a small forward with a ton of promise. Giannis once again has an excellent defender starting at Center, in Steven Washington, a guy we almost drafted (not shown)  Man, that pose Doug Simms has comes up a lot, but something about the expression on his face, and the fact that they're the Bulls, makes it scream "Turnover!" in my head, whenver I see him. Fun fact! Hakan Mansiz is the longest tenured Bull. This will be his third season with the franchise.  Samuel Soto has been a capable backup for years, and is finally getting the keys to a team. Zach Norvell Jr. is still quite good, and there's a lot of promising young talent on this team. I don't expect them to mire in misery forever like the Bulls and Hornets.  Here, I chose to highlight the depth of the Celtics' front court. I expect Porter Jr will be starting soon, but they would still have one of the best big bench mobs in the league.  Wil Ingram is going to struggle to develop if Los Angeles insists on making him their third string point guard. He's even playing under Brogdan, who has regressed significantly, and really just illustrates how stupid this team was to let Paciani walk. Jens Schumaker is poised to have a breakout season, being one of the more promising young power forwards in the league.  The Grizzlies' excellence has been, and will continue to be centered around the best two-man tandem in the league, Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. They have a collection of different looking wings to compliment these two, but it's academic.  Julio Jordan also could have a career year, despite the hellscape enforced slowness era. Trae Young and Collin Sexton (finally starting) are arguably the best backcourt in the league. They're certainly the most decorated.  Dorell Mills was the former best player of the Chicago Bulls and one of the players who adjusted the best to the slower game. If he can adjust to the bench as effortlessly, or if Wendell Park continues to develop, then they might finally be the pieces Ciro Reyes needs to get back to the playoffs. A workhorse garbageman like Stanley Johnson is an excellent pairing for a volume scorer like Reyes. (I am shocked he has never been the scoring leader.)  The Hornets are basically always a young team full of potential that always fizzles out or decides to play somewhere else. Casey Daniel has a potential of like, 96, and will probably leave the team the instant he's actually good. Donald Powers was leading the rookie of the year race before getting a season-ending injury last year, so it'll be interesting to see if he picks up where he left off. Andre Whitney could easily take the starting spot on this team, and probably should. The former #1 pick has it in him to lead a team. Ellis Frazier also is a valuable wing I expect will continue to develop and then gently caress off.  I wonder if it's possible to average 30 points a game in this league. At least Mitch Bradley there is competent. Jonathan Isaac. I just..... I don't even know, man. gently caress OVR. gently caress the very concept of OVR.  They had to give up Andre Petersen (still not signed. I might waive someone and give him the trade exception money I have from the Harry Kelley deal if he's not grabbed by the all-star break) to get these guys, but Simmons and Baldwin is an absolutely disgusting pairing. Reggie Floyd has already had a breakout year, and is one of the big success stories from my policy of making teams sign second-round picks. Szomory (not pictured) is also with this team. I will be shocked if they don't make the playoffs, even if they're really thin at PF without Petersen.  Sadly, Lowe and Zion have two years left on their deals, and sadly, the two centers had player options for this year. But next year, barring an actual miracle, both are going to leave, and that's delightful.  Another reason why OVR is a stupid, lovely concept that has outlived its usefulness? Courtney Banks is the lowest rated of these four guys, and is easily, easily the best player on the Lakers. Here, we see Jaylen Brown scootching over to SF---in recent seasons, there's been a lot of Banks being forced into the point. Despite being the one usually playing out of position and being 5 points lower OVR, Banks has always had better seasons. Ironically, the team LeBron retired on could have actually used his services as a coach. The Lakers could once again benefit from the triangle offense.  Oh, that's where Davis wound up. He's regressed a lot. Add Terence Teague to the big list of "guys due for a breakout season"  Luka would be good with just about any teammates, but the Mavericks have a ton of depth. Parker trades starting roles with Julius Randall, and tends to play worse, but having both is just a gross luxury. Beal has retained a lot of his game in his age. You'd have to try to lose with this team.  This is a three time coach of the year, ladies and gentlemen. His main value is not getting in Luka's way.  Ike's got his work cut out for him. Luckily, Jonathon Mills is another one of those shooting guards I expect to have a career year.  The Nuggets are an elite team, no two ways about it. That's an MVP candidate, a high scoring pivot, an elite wing defender (who actually shoots now, the big rear end in a top hat.  ) and an elite paint defender. They have quite a few good scoring options on the bench, too, including Dimitris Dourekas, who would start on almost any other team in the league. A regular MVP candidate, the likely-best player in this year's draft, and one of the most underrated small forwards in the league is a really great start if you're Indiana. They have Darius Garland (not shown) as their starting point guard, and he's become very good in his own right. I expect them to make the playoffs. Actually, looking at the power rankings, everyone expects them to make the playoffs.  Remember what I said earlier? I expect Luka Doncic to lead the league in assists.  The Pistons have a really great young team. Casey Fletcher there is one of the best young point guards around, even better than Mo Pope, who is his immediate relief player. Marcus Sheldon is rapidly turning into something pretty special, Darius Bazley is already one of the best power forwards in the league, and wouldn't surprise me if he was an all-star soon. They also got Danny Roy (but only for this season, so far) who is probably the best center prospect in the league. These guys could stick around the playoffs for years if they manage their roster right.  The Raptors got the last two productive Warriors other than Karl-Anthony Towns. Pascal Siakam has aged, but is still productive. Spencer Person is yet another "poised to break out, I promise" shooting guard.  Shannon Caldwell is another of my second round success stories, Marshall Chandler is a former #1 pick and Terrence Stewart out of England is a pretty solid offensive player. Munoz's overall is terrible and they'll have some growing pains when their best point guard is a 73, but he's the guy who had the ceiling of "Chris Paul -- All NBA", so here's hoping that the ticket to developing fast as a point guard is having three very talented young scoring options to practice passing to.  The Rockets' excellence has come from the bench. Dourekas there has the misfortune of playing with one of only four centers that are actually better than him in the entire league. (Maybe five. John Collins is pretty good, too.) Meanwhile, players like Jose De La Rosa and Jamie Rider are definite roleplayers that just happen to excel at their role. FUN FACT: Jamie Rider's younger brother, Bryce, is also on the Rockets. (They look alike, are similar sizes and both went to colleges in Kentucky. Since 2k doesn't have this feature, I'm declaring narrative privilege)  One of the better back courts in the league, the Spurs have quietly been getting better based off the development of Sebastian Beasley. Cody Doyle is the first A+ potential guy to be drafted in the thread. Way, way back, when I said "Indiana also drafted an A+ potential guy". Unlike the guy I had a screenshot of at the time, Doyle has managed to stay in the league, although, he never quite lived up to his ceiling. This will be his first year with the Spurs and he's a significant addition to a squad that gave the #1 seed a fit in the playoffs.  Almost a 180 from their glory years where they had a wealth of talent up front, the Suns are a team that's essentially just two guys: Schroder and Booker. And they're both really good players, it's just, they are at best the second best starting backcourt in the league, and probably more like the fourth best. (Watch these fuckers make the playoffs anyhow.... don't count them out)  Here's Kabengele's new team. As all four of these guys are guys that never quite had a chance to lead a team, this is a pretty fascinating squad. I wouldn't be surprised if anyone pictured here has a breakout year. I'll be watching them for sure. Also, because I might have to change Lowry over to SG if he plays the season there. I've seen him spend time there before.  The Timberwolves have the bold approach of having all their best players come off the bench. (no one is injured)  Cole Ingram could break out, but that front-court duo of Jayson Tatum and John Collins is terrifying. Their starting point guard, Warren Ellis (not shown) is one of the best young point guards in the league. I have no idea how they missed the playoffs last year. Well, this is only the second season of the three playing together, so maybe they just needed to build chemistry.  Poor KAT. The shambling corpse of Klay Thompson is the second best player on this team.  The one-two punch of Adebayo and Ingram has proven pretty damned effective. Dorrell Purdue used to be one of the only good things about the Timberwolves over the last few years, and could start on most teams that don't have Ingram. He's an early prediction for sixth man of the year. (Stelios Dourekas and Tyler Herro are my other predictions) Veryslightlymad fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Jul 15, 2020 |
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Jul 15, 2020 09:28
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Thanks for that big rundown. That is fascinating stuff to me. I have a question about the operation of your league - you mentioned earlier you tweaked sliders I think to make older players decline less mentally, where can you find those settings? I wasn't able to find them in my current franchise.
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Jul 15, 2020 21:46
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beejay posted:Thanks for that big rundown. That is fascinating stuff to me. In game the sliders are under "progression sliders". It allows you to determine how a player grows as a prospect, in their peak, and after their peak. You can do some weird poo poo there.... If you wanted, you could have guys grow more athletic with age. You could make guys rapidly lose all skills during their peak, etc. I can't find mine on my phone.... I can check when I get home where I copied from. Since the simulation started, I tweaked a few more, making free throws harder, and making morale difficulty much, much lower, since the G-league thing is so incredibly off base and ridiculous. No fuckin' rookie should complain about that, especially a dude taken in the second round.....
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Jul 15, 2020 22:30
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It's all good, that's what I needed to know! Thank you.
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Jul 15, 2020 22:57
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