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The best thing about morale is euro stash players have it as well. Almost all of them in my SG's mycareer have negative morale.
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Jul 16, 2020 12:43
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Largepotato posted:The best thing about morale is euro stash players have it as well. Almost all of them in my SG's mycareer have negative morale. This is the stupidest game in the world. ~~~ Chapter 15, Part 3, 2029-2030, First Half The 2029-2030 NBA season opens up with the Honu playing the elite basketball that, by now, we've all come to expect from the franchise.  Just a rote 22/10 and 4 blocks game to start the season. Ho hum.  Just a marginally better 26/11 and 7 For his effords in that particular game, Bol is named Western Conference Player of the Week.  For as dominant as Doncic has been, the West has so many stars. Dorell Mills has been balling it out for Miami, too, but they're still somewhat outside of the playoffs. But it's academic. Giannis is clearly the best player in the conference. For a look at what happens to Milwaukee when Giannis sits one out this year, here's their game vs the Honu:  52 points. That's ugly. That's real ugly. We've seen several individual players exceed that total during this thread. Although, none have this season, thanks to the enforced slowness era. This game marks a career high in rebounds for Donta Greene. When I took the screen shot, I also thought it was a career high in assists, but, somehow I missed that at some point this fucker got seven. D- playmaking. Tendencies are pretty important. Sometimes it's as simple as "being willing to actually pass". Harry Kelley is also a D- playmaker, but, again, likes to defer to his teammates when he thinks they have a better shot.  And one of our three meetings against the Ravens is just an all-around performance for Bol. This season also has, by far, the busiest trade deadline we've seen to date. Although, most of the moves aren't exactly earth-shattering, there's a few pieces of interest.  The aging Khris Middleton gets dealt to an old conference rival for an old-man rotational center and a shooting guard with a little bit of promise. Aaron Gordon is a decent pickup for the Pistons, as he's somehow still productive at his age, and can be a decent backup for Darius Bazley, the closest thing the team has to a star player. (Actually, they have a couple of bright spots.)  Michael Porter Jr. gives some more star power and scoring to the Thunder, who are still finding themselves, but seem like they could be real fun next year. The Celtics, meanwhile, want to have at one point signed everyone named "Frankie". Also note: the Clippers traded Brogdon already. You know, the guy they decided to give up Giovenco Paciani's RFA rights in order to sign. Still the dumbest move I've seen the AI pull. But, there's something to be said about sunk-cost fallacy. Getting Brogdon gone so they can properly develop Wil Ingram is clearly the right move. Hopefully he's ahead of TJ McConnell on the rotation.  The trade here that's of note is the Jazz/Rockets trade where the Rockets get an intriguing prospect of a point guard, but the Jazz get a proven capable pass-first point guard to come off the bench, and the better of the two picks. If only they'd have kept Baldwin, I'd have assumed Utah was one of the smarter teams in the league. Paciani's real good on his own, though. STANDINGS:    Perfidious New York continues to avoid the new Salary Cap on a technicality. God drat the Pacers got big fast. Bagley and Garland are making sweet music together. Toronto's mystery roster is poised to maybe make the playoffs, the Bulls have more continuity than I thought--they have a few more players than just Hakan Mansiz who are on their third year with the team--they just didn't sign until a couple of days into the season. Mansiz is a solid contender for MIP--the former second round pick is currently leading the league in Assists, and he kept the Bulls in the playoff hunt while Donovan Mitchell was out for a few weeks with Injury. Meanwhile, we get a vague idea of the impact of Ben Simmons. Let's solidify it.    O_O. To think, they almost got moved. A few years ago, this team won 5 games. Getting probably two of the top three available free agents in an offseason will do that, though. Utah is managing to be good even without Baldwin leading them--again, Giovenco Paciani is real good. The Rockets collapse is inexplicable to me. I honestly have no idea what happened to this team. Jokic was briefly in the lead for MVP, and then.... .....? Did he get injured? He's not injured currently. The All-star players are announced:  ~ Darius Garland made his first All-Star team after being good enough to be here for years, but only now being on a team that's any good. ~ Donte Bishop (1 time all star) was manually added to the game to replace Brook Teague. The one time the drat AI puts Teague into the All-Star game on its own, he's having an off season, and also the Spurs are pretty distant from the playoffs. Bishop is a shooting guard that wasn't on my "Big list of shooting guards that might have a breakout season", but apparently should have been. He's on the last year of his rookie deal and was drafted by the Wolves. Let's see if they salary match. ~ Giovenco Paciani was manually added to the game to replace Devin Booker, who is having a worse season and on a worse team. Also, he's keeping the Jazz in the playoffs somehow, even though they lost last season's best player. ~ Terence Teague was manually added to the game to replace Collin Sexton. Yeah, game, gently caress giving a 15-33 team two All-Stars. He actually is one of the players I assumed might have a breakout year. ~ Mfiondu Kabengele (picked by the AI) might have had a point. ~ Wayne Newton is finally here! (AI pick) The former #1 draft pick has always been very, very good, but until this season, the Knicks had been starting Dejounte Murray for whatever reason. First season they go the other way? All-Star.  Decisions Q1: Bol Bol Bol Bol has another year after this one remaining on his contract. As a bit of a "team policy" the Honu have not been extending players until they're in the final year of their contract. However, Bol also has been having an off-year, largely because he doesn't have to take on so much of the scoring load. This is sort of a no-brainer decision, but I'm trying to be a bit transparent about extensions when possible. Because his season has been bad, he's asking for probably less money than he would next season. On the flipside, Bol is also 31 and may begin declining, in which case, firstly,  , but secondly, he'd ask for even less money next year if that's the case, and with the new cap not increasing by much at all, money is relatively tight. I sort of doubt it, but you never know. Anyhow, an Extension would go into effect not next season, but the season after that (Bol's Loyalty is also an extremely bright spot, here.) The only valid extension I can give him is for 3 years, for that reason.A)Extend Bol even though it's Early B)Wait and See (since we have a free season, and unless we really gently caress up, he's not going to change his mind) Q2: Staff Signings Lebron James and Vince Carter have vanished forever. You may remember I was a little miffed earlier, because I wanted to make Vince my assistant GM but he was only interested in being a coach or assistant coach. This is broken. Staff outside of Trainers and CFOs all have stats for coaching, scouting, and management, but for whatever reason, they won't move between the roles like they're supposed to. For the sake of keeping veterans in the league, I can edit retired players who are better at being an assistant GM (like Carter was) or a Scout to those roles---this gives a better chance of them sticking around the league, but we probably wouldn't ever interact with one, you know? A)Sure, edit staff B)Nope, players only .....................................this actually informs me how I can fix Jared Henderson. I'll just edit him to a scout or GM, whichever he's better at, and then I won't have to worry about firing him from every team in the future. Huzzah! Q3: Craig Payton: I'm probably never going to get proper value out of this guy. Don't get me wrong: He's quite good for us right now. He's going to be better. I can contract match him, but he wants something insane like 35 million dollars a year, and he's, frankly, not doing anywhere near 35 million dollars of work on the Honu. Worse, every team is gun-shy about taking him in a trade because he's in the last year of his contract---even though he'd be an RFA for the next season, he's wanting a lot of money. No one knows how much anyone else is willing to actually pay him. So if I want to trade Payton, it almost always costs me another player I don't want to trade. Or it gives me a player with an albatross of a contract I don't want to take on, or it wants to take Payton and some of my future, good picks. We're eventually going to need to draft actual basketball players and not these second round power forwards I'm too incompetent to develop at some point. I'm starting to think it might be worth it to just accept the loss and say "hey, at least it's nine and a half million dollars off of payroll." Let the Honu stay the Honu, and more-or-less stay the course that we had been on. I feel pretty stupid giving up Dedric Wesley, but we were never going to keep Kabengele, and even if we didn't make the trade, I wasn't about to pay him 33 million dollars like the Thunder did. Payton at least got us to the Finals, even though we didn't win. .....it's frustrating, is all. We're currently second in the West, and it's very possible someone on the AI manages to deal with the Knicks before the finals, but definitely not a sure thing. There's two trades I would consider, but one significantly damages the present iteration of the Honu, but has quite a lot of future potential, and one completely destroys the future, but, I loving guarantee you, would let us compete with the Knicks. These would both be very disruptive to the Honu's future. Trades involving Craig Payton are high stakes poo poo. Apparently. A)No, deal with Payton Later: We have a very good chance at the championship as is, and really, a 9.5 million dollars going toward the "please let me keep Harry Francis" fund is pretty good, honestly. B)SHOW US THE TRADES YOU COWARD
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Jul 16, 2020 18:58
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B A A
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Jul 16, 2020 20:50
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B A B Let's begin to plan for a post-Bol future. Also I'm curious what you would want in place of OVR in a hypothetically improved version of 2K. Would it be a Football Manager style of highlighted ability scores based on role?
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Jul 16, 2020 20:54
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B. Curious how much of a pay raise/cut it would be from his current salary though. A. B. We can always choose to not go with one of the available trades. We're probably going to go with one of the available trades.
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Jul 16, 2020 22:38
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whowhatwhere posted:B Ideally, I would like it split up. OVR sort of represents an idea of raw talent, but it's weighted incredibly badly. And ot informs almost every decision the AI makes, and it makes things much more difficult for the player, since it's so inaccurate. I'm fine with having a quick grade snapshot of talent, but I would like one that actually measures production, and the AI should especially lean into production for decisions. The Johnathan Isaac signing is an example of the game being busted. Tendencies are such a huge part of productivity, but have literally no bearing on OVR. Donta Greene is a poor playmaker by ability, but an excellent one in reality because he tries. Mykhailiuk was an excellent defender for us because he TRIED. In the real world, this would have bearing on someone's value. If I took Greene and put him against a guy who had an A+ playmaking and all passing tendencies set to 0, Greene would be like ten points worse OVR, but would still beat the other player in assists. I just want a performance snapshot that's user friendly and I want the AI to look ay that instead of OVR, especially for older players. OVR is a young man's stat. As it stands, I gotta painstakingly comb literal stats, PER, EFF, EWA, etc..... It's literal work. It's archaic and broken.
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Jul 16, 2020 22:41
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B A B
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Jul 17, 2020 02:38
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WELP. I discovered that you -can't- edit staff, you can only edit staff that you already employ, and you can't change their default position. So whether or not a player accepts a position as anything other than an assistant coach, regardless of their talent is a crapshoot. Carmelo Anthony rolled stats to make him a lovely coach, but a surprisingly good assistant GM. BUT! He's just not interested in being an Assistant GM, and I can't force him to be one. So, he's doomed to vanish, probably. This is almost exactly as true for Blake Griffin. LaMarcus Aldridge will accept a position as Head Scout, even though he's even shittier at that position than coach, and if I fire him, it'll change over his position to head scout----but that's it. I can hire/fire guys into positions but only if they feel like it. Editing only works on your own staff. To put it another way, you can't set up the league, but you're allowed to cheat. 2k gets another gameplay design decision as wrong as possible. Actually, just eyeballing what's up with staff when you look at their stats, you can see that retired players have both a potential, their actual stats, and a hard cap on what they can develop their stats into. Including for skills like Finance or Training, which don't even use the same pool of guys. It's like there's this weird skeleton inside the game of a system that was planned to exist. Like part of the game is still in some kind of pre-alpha state. Mother of god. Looking upon the ruins of this civilization, I wonder, when was the foundation of this unbuilt house laid down? How many lifeless years has nothing save a cold wind blown through where walls and ceiling were once planned to be? I'm not sure it affects anything, but Coach's two "styles" (of which, apparently, they can have 3, and they are distinct from the coach's sytem)... are "Two-Way" and "Transition", and we do seem to have/favor players that fit that mold, so maybe there is something to it. Or maybe I also value those types of player. We'll never know. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Question 3, Craig Payton: I am not sure if I advocate for trading Craig Payton, even as I know we almost certainly can't re-sign him this off season unless we want to overpay him by about 20 million dollars. He's really drat good, and might be worth that much money to the right team. To us, I can't justify paying him much more than what I currently pay Windler. Hell, knowing Bol is getting older, I can even spring for "Double a Windler", figuring I could transition to Payton. But "Triple a Windler"... I balk. As valuable as a trade piece as Payton is, he's able to open some pretty crazy Pandora's boxes. The problem is, a lot of what's available doesn't have enough in my favor to even feel fair, let alone equitable. Even some of the.... more interesting deals aren't as good as they may appear. Nonetheless. PACKAGE A:  Craig Payton and Gheorghe Eminescu to the Ravens for Terrance Stuart and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson The closest thing on the table to an equitable deal comes from our thread rivals, who, to be fair, the AI doesn't know are supposed to hate us. This is pretty square. Despite the "one year" listed on Terrance Stuart's contract, he's actually only on the second year of his rookie contract, so he has team options for two more years, at a very delicious price. Stuart is almost certainly in the top 5 most valuable players under the age of 25. He's got an awful long way to grow, is good right now, and would fill a position of need on the team, especially if I can't talk Donta Greene's contract down. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson's expiring contract lines up pretty nicely with what Harry Francis (or Donta Greene) is going to ask for in the offseason. Plus, there's something vaguely poetic about Vancouver trading for the kid they waived without giving a chance, and him returning a champion. On the flipside, I'd like to keep that kid. He has a nice contract. But I'm not married to him. He's not untouchable, you know? PACKAGE B:  Craig Payton and Harry Kelley to the Lakers for Dedric Cummings and Jeremy Hudson This gives us a couple of useful rotational guys on good contracts. Hudson, an undrafted G-leaguer who clawed his way into the league, would be nice insurance to have if I had to move Gheorghe Filimon, who, despite definitely declining, is having one of his better years. (He's probably our second-best player this season) I don't know how long that will last. Dedric Cummings has two years on his contract and would both be an upgrade (possibly) to Kelley, and would buy us a little time if Donta Greene left. I would try to finesse a little extra out of the Lakers if possible. I'm not sure how much they're willing to budge from this offer, since the stars are actually even. PACKAGE C:  Craig Payton and Joshua Carr to the Kings for Charlie Anderson and Matthew Young. I'm a bit adverse to this deal, even though, of all the deals, it gives me the thing I want the most---a cheap alternative big man to Harry Francis/Donta Greene. Young is tremendous value at 6 million a year, and Charlie Anderson's contract frees up a bit more money to maybe sign Greene (or gently caress it, Francis anyhow. He's been good for us. I could always slide Bol to PF again....) And hell, at 33 years old, maybe Anderson would decide he likes living in Honolulu and sign for less next season. Probably not, but a rental on a competent 3rd string point guard for a season ain't bad. However, the Kings are #1 in the West, and this is like giving a loaded gun to a known enemy. There's a very good chance he doesn't mesh with Daryl Baldwin at all, but what if they do? Carr has become something of a long-term development project for me, and at 19, I'm loathe to give up on him. PACKAGE D:  Craig Payton, Gheorghe Eminescu, and Harry Kelly to the Pistons for Everett Woods, Casey Fletcher, Darius Bazley, and a lottery protected 2031 first round draft pick. Likely that pick will be for 2032, as the Pistons are poised to be a lottery team, but then again, I'd be giving them three guys that could theoretically make the playoffs with a competent point guard (which they'd have in Mo Pope) and another competent big man (Which they actually have two of, in Danny Roy and Wilfred Wilson). So I could get that pick immediately, too. Woods and Fletcher are both expiring, but are also both RFAs that I could decide to salary match if the price was right. Regardless of the cap. If not, it's 10 million off the books. It gives us options. First round draft picks are always good. Darius Bazley is only 29 and is quite productive, he might be an interesting guy to stuff next to Bol. We'd have him on the hook for 3 years, so I wouldn't need to sweat how to keep him, like I have been for Greene/Francis. Originally, I had only taken screen caps of this trade and the next one---a trade that looks toward the future, (here) and a trade that looks toward the now. .... PACKAGE E:  Craig Payton, Jacque Cisse and the Pacers' 2030 second round pick to the Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boyd Mitchell. Remember when I said I could take a shot at the Knicks? Yeah, I can take a shot at the Knicks. On paper, this seems like a no brainer, right? Antetokounmpo is currently playing better than anyone in the league (including Doncic---for now). But: 1)He's already declining. See that 97 OVR? He was 99 last year. The clock has begun ticking. 2)He's on the hook for three more years after this one. He'd be making 49.8 Million dollars in the last year of that deal. Bol would want about 40 for that season if we extend him now, when he's likely to be at his cheapest. That's 90 million dollars wrapped up in two guys. According to projections, that would give me only 30 million dollars to assemble an entire team. The Honu do not have a luxury of draft picks, and, if I'm being honest with myself, other than Bol, the only player I have successfully developed has been Jacque Cisse, who, by the by, I would be giving up as part of this deal. This would be a huge gamble to try to win a championship right now and cause us a lot of problems in the future. Both of the Knicks' centers have expiring contracts after this season (for realsies this time!). After next season, Zion Williamson, Bryant Lowe, Zach LaVine, Brandon Clarke and Wil Gaines will have their contracts expire. The Knicks will be hurt next year, and the year after that they will face a reckoning, regardless of anything the Honu do or choose not to do. How much could one player possibly be worth? Oh, I guess not one player. Boyd Mitchell is a 30 year old professional basketball player currently employed by the Milwaukee Bucks. At least he plays Point Guard so Filimon would have a backup. PACKAGE F: Close Pandora's box, Keep Craig Payton. Stay the course. VOTING 
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Jul 17, 2020 05:59
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Voting E. Win a championship, gently caress future you.
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Jul 17, 2020 07:13
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JustJeff88 posted:He retired, age 39, some in-game years ago. VSM made mention of it. Yeah, my post was more in shock that he was never even picked up as an assistant. Edit: also I’m happy that Vince Edwards is doing ok with the Mavs. Helps that he’s with Doncic. And voting F, I like our squad and adding Giannis will give us two aging superstars to worry about. FartingBedpost fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Jul 17, 2020 |
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Jul 17, 2020 07:36
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Whichever of A or D sets you up better for the future.
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Jul 17, 2020 07:51
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I have to vote E, I love Giannis!
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Jul 17, 2020 09:13
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FartingBedpost posted:And voting F, I like our squad and adding Giannis will give us two aging superstars to worry about.
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Jul 17, 2020 12:15
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MagusofStars posted:Seconded. thirded
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Jul 17, 2020 14:07
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LobsterMobster posted:thirded Fourthed.
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Jul 17, 2020 14:12
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F Giannis trade may have worked if there was still no cap.
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Jul 17, 2020 14:39
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F Honestly I think Giannis would still be a game breaker for three more seasons, but he doesn't fit with a Honu swansong
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Jul 17, 2020 15:11
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I'll throw in a vote for F as well. If the Bucks were in a poor position, I'd have went with E.
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Jul 17, 2020 16:26
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I'm calling it for F. I'm glad. I think we'd be solid contenders with Giannis, but I also think we are solid contenders now, super-NY be damned. It ain't like they're undefeated. My personal preferences, since the vote is over, were F -> A -> D -> E. (*) Also, when you use the arrows like that, "fade" looks super cool. Slap on a color gradient and that could be a killer logo for something. I digress. Anyhow, remember, Payton is a big part of what leapt us past Doncic, so I'd rather have the rental with him then workshop something else. Giannis and Bol is a super pairing, but in the end, that's a lot of salary tied up in just two guys. On that note, I'm a little concerned about all the money I gave Cisse, if I'm being candid, but he's still growing, even at 29 (I hate super-old rookies. At least he was a Euro-stash, which partially explains it). Also, the way I discovered the Giannis trade was by selecting both Payton and Cisse and plugging them into the trade finder. I didn't even get offered that deal (or a similar "holy poo poo" deal) when I tried plugging in Bol Bol. Jacque has had an off year, but he's apparently got a lot of value. Will begin simming shortly. *EDIT: whowhatwhere posted:Whichever of A or D sets you up better for the future. My preference for A over D notwithstanding, I'd have counted this as a vote for D if the two were tied. The D package was really flexible. Veryslightlymad fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Jul 17, 2020 |
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Jul 17, 2020 21:33
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Boo, I missed voting, but I can’t believe E didn’t have more support, for 3 reasons. First, giannis is awesome. Second, it’s totally the type of move that no real GM would say no to. And lastly, even if it crashed and burned, that would have been really interesting. Gotta keep things fresh.
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Jul 18, 2020 04:44
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Chapter 15, Part 4, 2029-2030, End of Regular Season One thing I didn't mention because I didn't actually notice it, is that Bol's 15/16/3/2/4 game I posted, and a couple others that week where he had 4 blocks were enough to earn him the Western Conference Player of the Week for the end of January.  Porzingis has very quietly been having a good year, but the real surprise on this list is Steve Dunn, who is a rookie. He's apparently the starting point guard for the Heat. While the Honu made no moves at the trade deadline, other teams did, and former Honu were involved in two of them:  That third trade (technically first).... just... for gently caress's sake. Somehow this deal (and the asinine Isaac signing) works out for Utah, so I won't knock them too hard, but... imagine having two of the best wings in the league and turning them into Jonathan Isaac and Kyle Kuzma. On the Rockets' end.... one consequence of me changing guys' positions is that now other teams actually see the player as of that position instead of just "they can possibly play that position", which I dunno if they factor that into decisions or not. Houston badly needed a good shooting guard, and Paciani is now one of those. That Doug Simms guy I took the "Turnover!" picture for wins the Dunk contest. I dunno why that feels as perfect as it does. Bol's team wins the All-star game and Giannis is named All-Star MVP. In other news:  For the first time in a while, one of our rookies is actually good enough to make the Rookie/Sophomore game. B.J. Lawrence, the later of our two second-round picks, shows a lot of promise, and got quite a bit of burn for the Honu this season. He's very solid. He's the first draft pick I'm actually happy about since Jacque Cisse.  And he's about to get even more playing time. What I love about this team, is that seems like it ought to be a disaster, and, if it were in the playoffs, then maybe it would be. But for a random stretch in the middle of the season? I barely notice. Honolulu has a lot of weapons.  For instance, Bol's immediate backup is pretty good.  This Payton guy is going to be something in the league, too.  Check out this madness from Dylan Windler: 20/8/3 with 2 blocks in less than twenty minutes. Also, look at B.J. Lawrence with his 4 blocks. Oh, yeah, I like this kid.  Donta Greene comes the closest a Honu ever has to a triple double. (His season high for assists would wind up being 10.) So, on the whole, this stretch without our best player where we still win most of our games somewhat illustrates my philosophy of building toward depth using undervalued players. Of course, it also helps that none of these are playoff teams. We play 18 games without Bol, who returns in time for the playoffs. There's one last game I want to highlight from after his return:  This might be the rarest of game snapshots from me. The other team's stats when they're the losing team. But Courtney Baldwin has appeared in the thread before. Veryslightlymad posted:
Awards  Still no regrets.  This seemed inevitable since seeing him in the Player of the Week. Not the assists you want from your starting point guard, but otherwise really solid numbers. Two in a row for Miami.  Probably his award until either him or Jokic leave the Rockets.  Ike's reign of terror continues  Mansiz here came out of nowhere to lead the league in assists. The first player in this thread to do so other than Doncic and Lonzo Ball. FUN FACT 8.2 is the lowest assists per game total for a league leader since 1974-1975, when Slick Watts had 8.1  The technicality-era Knicks break Golden State's win record. We put the salary cap back in to break this team. It sort of burns me that they're somehow still together, because everyone was signed long-term. The cracks will appear this summer, and by next summer, they will be as dust. All-NBA 1  2  3  All-Defense 1  2  Rookies 1  Rookies 2  This was a really good draft class, for once, unlike last year where the top rookies were largely Euro-stash players from other drafts. Let's get this party started.  Lotta new faces this year. Minnesota, historically the worst team in the league, makes a rare appearance, Utah somehow manages to be good, despite their questionable decision making. Jokic coming back and trading for Paciani is enough to get Houston back here, Back-to-back rookies of the year and also Dorrell Mills are enough to pull Miami into the playoff picture. Cleveland turned their entire team around from last season's playoff team, and managed to make the playoffs. Just a fantastic rebuild. Shame they have to face the cheaters. But the real story is Sacramento. What a turnaround couple of years that franchise has had. Rumor has it that one of their best players, the Hungarian Todor Szomory, wants out, but Ben Simmons and Daryl Baldwin would probably still get to the playoffs next year. Indiana's turnaround in the East is almost as dramatic.
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Jul 18, 2020 20:43
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Can you post the final win/loss tables for this year? They were 31-16 at mid-season and I'd like to see how the (slightly-less-than) second half went. Nobody was going to catch the Knicks or even the Pacers for best record and home-court throughout the playoffs, but I am curious nonetheless.
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Jul 18, 2020 21:21
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The Courtney Baldwin story made me smile.
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Jul 18, 2020 21:22
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Honu are the number 1 seed but we have nobody on the all nba teams? What gives?
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Jul 18, 2020 21:52
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JackBandit posted:Honu are the number 1 seed but we have nobody on the all nba teams? What gives? Our best player was injured for almost 20 games, and also plays a position where only three guys get selected. Bagley and Jokic (although he also missed games) were in MVP contention, and KAT put up numbers like the shot clock was still shorter. We're pretty absurdly deep and get production from an entire rotation, but the flipside is, only Bol and Floyd have ever really threatened to be named all NBA. I think a few of our guys have the potential to, though. JustJeff88 posted:Can you post the final win/loss tables for this year? They were 31-16 at mid-season and I'd like to see how the (slightly-less-than) second half went. Nobody was going to catch the Knicks or even the Pacers for best record and home-court throughout the playoffs, but I am curious nonetheless. Sure.
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Jul 18, 2020 22:33
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As promised, here are the standings at the close of the regular season. West    East    That's some gorgeous league parity right there. No one team is truly bad, and some absolute dogfights for those last playoff spots in both the East and the West. Re-establishing the Salary Cap did a lot to level out the league. The sole exception of course, being the perfidious Knicks, who are still using a no-salary cap team. Bastards. Does anyone actually know what the NBA does with Luxury Tax money? Because they're getting a lot of it from the Knicks. (Up to 50% of it is given to non-luxury tax paying owners in an attempt to make smaller market teams more profitable. The rest is used for vague "league purposes") Maybe give the refs a raise or something? I dunno. At any rate, the scramble for the last spot in the East was actually pretty nuts. As you can see, Cleveland has no actual tie-breaking records, they hold literal tie-breakers over the Raptors and Magic, and in literally the last day of the season the Raptors got unexpectedly run off the court by the Ravens:  AND Cleveland beat one of the top teams in the East in overtime.  I'm digging the heart on that young squad. And I know I'm of the "never tank" mindset, but that's a lot of energy to expend to be blown out by 20-30 points a game in a four game sweep by the cheating Knicks. There's something to be said about "playing against better competition ultimately makes you better" so maybe they'll learn something from this.
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Jul 18, 2020 23:50
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Morbid curiosity... About how are out are you from having no real-life players in the game? I presume that the game does not model any high-potential college players, so I assume 8-10 years? Edit: Just wanted to share this humorous link that is related to the thread. JustJeff88 fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Jul 20, 2020 |
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Jul 20, 2020 01:41
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JustJeff88 posted:Morbid curiosity... About how are out are you from having no real-life players in the game? I presume that the game does not model any high-potential college players, so I assume 8-10 years? About 8 or less. I think the youngest ones are 32.
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Jul 20, 2020 03:02
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Chapter 15, Part 5, 2029-2030, Playoffs This playoffs starts with quite a few injuries to note:      So that's the starting small forward for the Grizzlies, but they have at least two more who are just as good, the starting point guard (and only remaining player capable of offense) on the Jazz, Sasha Bilic's excellent defense, the leading scorer for the Pelicans, and a rotational player for the Wizards. Just eyeballing that, you'd think the 7th seeded Pelicans are completely hosed. Anything can happen in the playoffs.  It's been quite a while since this team got anywhere near the playoffs. And again, glad Courtney Baldwin got to be a thing. Tyus Jones has grown into a pretty decent point guard, but the big threat on this team is Donte Bishop, who can shoot the lights out from basically anywhere on the court.  I can't overstate how much I love Playoffs Bol, or that Playoffs Bol is a thing that is real and not just my imagination. This dude lives for the off-season. Now, you'd take that image and that performance and be inclined to think that Minnesota didn't stand a chance, but you'd be very wrong. Minnesota's team runs an absolutely suffocating team defense, that give my roster fits trying to break open. All the while, I'm just getting a steady stream of points hosed onto me from Bishop. These guys put an honest scare into me.  Like, a really honest scare. Respect hugs, handshakes, and fist-bumps are given to a squad that has absolutely earned it. Meanwhile, I'll cover the East later, but Denver Sweeps the Jazz because of course they do. Dallas easily handles the Rockets, and, amazingly, the Pelicans manage to pick apart the higher-seeded Kings in just five games without their leading scorer. Sorry, Sacramento. Come back next year when your chemistry is sorted out.  I'm not looking forward to this. Last time, we relied pretty heavily on a player that is no longer on my squad in order to contain Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Coach decides its a good idea to start Eminescu, probably hoping to match him against Shai, but then Denver's coach surprises me by sliding Shai from off-guard to point. Bilic is already back, but starting on the Bench behind Alec Tyler for a bit more starting offense, or maybe to tighten the defense of the bench. Did I mention I hate trying to score against Bilic? Well, Denver comes out and storms through game 1, because Denver is no joke, and I think, outside of New York, they've become my most panic-inducing match-up in the playoffs. I'm in the middle of a fight for my life, and while basketball lovers are tuning into our games, the media isn't sparing any attention for us. They're all glued to the battles out East, or to the other West series between the Pelicans and the Mavericks. Presumably, Gayle Benson managed to find, but peacefully release a leprechaun:  1-2 weeks isn't enough for an entire series, and Doncic returns after just a couple of games.  Just in time for this. Without their leading scorer, New Orleans has turned into a bona-fide Cinderella Story. Infuriating articles about Ewing Theory start plaguing the Internet once again. God help us.  Dallas is ousted in six games, with a familiar face leading the way for the shorthanded Pels. New Orleans was actually waiting on us.  And we squeak by off another monster performance from Playoff Bol. 2 points in a game seven. Goddamn, I'm just being ground down in these playoffs by unexpected monsters en route to an inevitable showdown with the Cheating Knicks or maybe an outside shot at Giannis again. I'm happy to advance, but also demoralized.  Hey, cool, they also have Jackson Jackson. This is actually a fairly nasty squad. That Rabiu Udoh guy? He's a real tough cookie, Sadly, I believe he's already declining, but he's a second-round success story, and an 8 year player out of Nigeria, that has decent offense and manages to be a real pain in my rear end on defense. Lonzo Ball is an excellent passer. Jackson Jackson is a legitimate threat from range. Ralph Miller is one of the league's best rebounders, and has shored up his problem with shooting the ball.  I still manage to get real rotational minutes for BJ Lawrence in the playoffs, who comes out as a modest net positive for the Honu. (Like, an EWA for the playoffs of .1. Averaging about 4 points and 4 rebounds on roughly 50% shooting. None of that sounds super impressive, but that's good. When you're on a team going deep into the playoffs, and you are a rookie, "not loving it up" is a ringing endorsement. I'm currently high on Lawrence.) Anyhow. The real problem with the Pelicans is the rotations. I won't say anything about the real life Lloyd Pierce, but against the Honu, he makes an absolutely crucial mistake in not changing his rotations. Let's talk about Harry Francis in depth for a moment, because I haven't talked at length about the team for a while, and folks might not really have an exact idea of what he brings to the Honu. Harry Francis is, for lack of a better explanation, a type of player that's frequently called "extinct" in today's NBA. He's a supremely skilled low post big man with absolutely 0 range. He's a muscular 7'2, and can only score from the restricted area, but he's got a sweet little hookshot (despite no badges and only a 77 in "Post Hook"), that is very workmanlike in its dependability. Francis gets himself settled into position, and he is scoring on you. He might not have the perfect touch, but he's got an overwhelming physical advantage on just about everyone. This is the type of player that entire franchises used to be built around. They're only "extinct" because truly skilled bigs of this variety are hard to find. If Shaq were in today's NBA, he'd still be really fuckin' good, it's just there aren't many guys who are built in that mold. Francis ain't Shaq, but he's not a stiff, either. (Plus, he actually hits like 80 percent of his free throws) If Bol Bol got a "retirement" level injury, I could build around Francis. Why am I telling you this? Well, Francis, as good as he is, which is "very, very good", he's still the Honu's backup Center. We rely heavily on Bol Bol, who has morphed into a generational talent. So Francis comes off the bench at certain times. And the Pelicans could have, at any time, decided to play extra minutes, or go outside their rotation or whatever, and stuff Rabiu Udoh on Francis, but they don't. For the entire series, New Orleans decides to leave their first string back-up center, the guy tasked with guarding Harry Francis, as Yante Maten. Technically a Power Forward. No shade thrown at Yante Maten, I hope the real guy has a successful career. Yante Maten is 6'7 in real life and 6'8 in NBA 2k.  That ain't gonna work.   So, after scraping by the first two rounds by the skin of our teeth, the Honu finally get some much needed rest before the Finals. So, which rematch are we in for? Are we heading into the super team with the best regular season record of all time, or are we facing the unstoppable demigod we declined trading for that just won his fourth MVP.   What happened in the East? Well, clearly the Knicks swept the Cavs. Miami got all its young pieces clicking together just in time to get a good blitz in against the second seeded Pacers, winning in Six. Memphis swept Brooklyn. Milwaukee had a long and difficult series against the Wizards. The Grizzlies had no problems with the Heat, but only managed five games instead of four. Giannis balled out of his mind against New York, and the MVP just embarassed the Knicks. Best record ever, and he absolutely crushed them in just five games. But then, the Grizzlies, who are constantly in the playoff mix, almost always a top 4 team in the East since they moved there, handled Giannis almost as easily. And scan that starting 5 for a weakness. Take your time. Remember when I said their starting small forward was injured? It turns out, The Grizzlies are a really loving good team in their own right. They have a third small forward who is just as good as Carney still coming off the bench. Coby White was second place in "Sixth Man of the Year" voting backing up Morant and Hampton. I've written these guys off as "a dynamic duo" in the past, but that's underselling their whole bench, Isaac Humphries, who is pretty drat efficient, and Stewart Hampton, a ridiculously skilled shooting guard in exactly the mold that's slowly taking over the league. This isn't a team that will roll over and die. And, in fact, they push me to overtime in game 1, which Honululu barely escapes, and they take game 2 on our floor to temporarily steal home court advantage. Honolulu matches up pretty well with the Grizzlies, for all that. It helps that we have one of the only point guards in the league capable of staying in front of Ja Morant on defense.  (What is with this guy blocking MVP caliber players in the NBA Finals?!) Bol Bol always helps. Greene plays some of the best basketball of his young career, getting some great cuts and looking real aggressive out there. William Floyd, who has had a very quiet playoffs, also starts lighting 'em up. They played tough, but honestly, it feels like we had our playoffs in reverse. The Wolves and Nuggets were the real scares.  Can we call ourselves a dynasty yet? No consecutive championships, but going to the finals 5 times in 7 years and winning 3 is a pretty distinctive mark on NBA history.   (Why is it always Floyd? I wonder what weird system determines these cut scenes)  A bittersweet final picture of Craig Payton... gonna be haunting for one or both of us, one day. Hey, remember when I said Harry Francis was tall?  Harry Francis is really, really tall. Does this sort of give you a better idea of his overwhelming size advantage? Craig Payton (on the right) is, himself, 6'8, the size of the dude assigned to guard Francis in the Pelicans series.  Your 2029-2030 NBA Champions, the Honolu Honu Pictured, Top Row: Jacque Cisse, Gheorghe Filimon, Gheorghe Eminescu, Dylan Windler, Delon Wright Bottom Row: Harry Francis, Craig Payton, William Floyd, Finals MVP Bol Bol, Donta Greene Not Pictured: B.J. Lawrence, Bernie Lawrence, Joshua Carr, Zach Chase ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Some big name players retire, legends in their own right, perennial all-stars or other award winners.  Previous members of the Honu also find themselves at the end of a long, strange road. (Norman Powell also retired)  And Nate McMillan, I guess.  I guess eight time all star Khris Middleton didn't quite bring enough to the table to go into the hall, but Damian Lillard was a rare breed that deserves this spot. Especially after his epic, feel-good-of-the-decade story of returning from a career threatening injury, only to win a championship. Just don't scrutinize the end of his career too hard.  Five teams in four years? That's... oof. Just go out a Blazer next life.  Jersey retirements are almost, almost, good for once. I looked at these, and thought, "Oh, good, they got it right", because, obviously, Middleton is getting his hoisted for the Bucks, and in our Universe Drummond got the Cavs into the playoffs nearly ever year he was there, and Vucavic had a ten year stint with the Magic and then two additional, non consecutive stints. Yeah, you retire those nu----- where the gently caress is Damian Lillard? And I knew instinctively what went wrong, and how 2k is a garbage fire this time. I called it.  The Blazers already signed a new #0. That's right, 2k Logic as always takes the easy solution instead of the best solution. So, instead of assigning a new number to Tatum, like they would if he were to join the team after a number was retired, the game decides to just not retire the number for the single most important player in franchise history instead. gently caress you 2k sports. gently caress. You. And he would be the most important in Blazers' History after the return and the championship. Drexler never got 'em one, and Bill Walton wasn't around for nearly as long. LeBron James does literally nothing for the Lakers (I guess he won an MVP and went nowhere in the playoffs), and gets a number retired? Sure. For the Lakers. I'm very sure. Damian Lillard gives a team thirteen years of service, and wins them their first championship in forty five years, and gets nothing. And it's one part of gameplay you can't override the AI's decision in. In either direction. Can't retire a jersey, can't declare "no, that's stupid." Just the game making a choice for you. Often a wrong one. My blood just boils at this. I was pretty tempted to go into an old save file, change Tatum's number, and then re-do the playoffs, possibly even losing them, to fix this just unbelievably insulting mistake. Drink piss, 2k. Pay a loving day's worth of attention to MyLeague. It's not important to the majority of your player base, but for this type of gameplay, where you're trying to simulate history, this sort of detail is the heart and soul of sports. You either get it or you don't. And you loving clowns don't get it. Someone will replace you the way you replaced NBA Live, and for the same reason. You shortsighted idiots.  OH, great. And you're going to loving delete my expansion teams again. AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH ~~~~~~~  VOTING TIME Question 1: League Expansion Every time the league votes to not expand, it deletes the expansion teams I had queued up and I have to re-download them. There's enough talent in the league for some expansion teams, but there's also an almost unprecedented amount of league Parity, which is pretty groovy, too. I can understand if folks don't want to expand just yet. We have, as I see it, a few options: A)Override the Expansion Vote ~ I know it's less realistic, but why the gently caress should the game vote on this over the player? Also, it's just insulting, that it deletes the team and I have to find and then download them every time. The game design is universally horrible. B)Let the Vote Stand, Queue up the teams again ~ It's more work for me, and one of the harder random tasks I take on, but ultimately, not all that much work. Maybe about 10-15 minutes depending on how many superfluous copies of the same thing some idiot decided to upload on any given week. Eventually, the league will organically vote to expand, and it'll cease to be a problem until next time. (If there is one) C)Let the Vote Stand, Queue up one expansion team ~ Specify which. It's roughly half the work, and the AI might vote for the expansion faster. Then again, I'm not convinced at all the AI makes rational decisions on votes, and it's just all random, all the time. The Salary Cap votes seemed to support the idea that nothing loving factors into league votes anyhow. D)Let the Vote Stand, Table Expansion for now ~ Quite a bit of talent will go to waste, but, again, there's decent league parity. It's less work for me now, but might be quite a bit more work for me in the future once we do decide to expand--I don't intend on leaving the league the same for 70 years The Draft The Honu have the 32nd (being the champs, we get the last pick in the first round, regardless of our record) and the 63rd pick in the draft. (OOF. I really should have kept the Spurs' pick. That'd have been 39th) Question 2: Pick 32 A)Best Available Guard B)Best Available Wing C)Best Available Big D)Try and stash for value or to save money E)Try shopping the Pick ~ We might also consider shopping Harry Kelley, who is in rapid decline, or Gheorghe Filimon, who I'm worried might enter that point. F)Draft for a Skill ~ Specify the skill Question 3: Pick 63: A)Best Available Guard B)Best Available Wing C)Best Available Big D)Stash and Save E)Defer Pick F)Draft for a skill G)Best Name Available ~ not sure there are any, but hey, why not? Veryslightlymad fucked around with this message at 05:57 on Jul 21, 2020 |
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Jul 21, 2020 05:23
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AAB
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Jul 21, 2020 05:51
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I have no opinion on the draft, but absolutely force the expansion that adds the Sonics and les Voyageurs. I was going to ask last in-game year if you could do that, but I didn't want to be pretentious. On that note, can you force other rules changes? I think that the league was too fast-paced before they changed the backcourt rule and shot clock, but now I think that the pendulum has swung the other way. As for the playoffs, that was mad. If I were a betting man, I would say that the Pelicans would not have advanced without the "timely" injuries to Dallas' two top players. I am torn between the continuation of your rivalry and the novelty of Nola's underdog run. As for the East, that was mad. I've always resented people who act like Golden State's 73-9 was totally invalidated by losing game 7 of the finals, but if this had happened in real life I would have had to agree. I am one of those people who likes a very high degree of parity, both financial and competitive, and doesn't like dynasties in sport. I seem to be in the minority on that.
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Jul 21, 2020 06:16
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JustJeff88 posted:I have no opinion on the draft, but absolutely force the expansion that adds the Sonics and les Voyageurs. I was going to ask last in-game year if you could do that, but I didn't want to be pretentious. On that note, can you force other rules changes? I think that the league was too fast-paced before they changed the backcourt rule and shot clock, but now I think that the pendulum has swung the other way. Nothing pretentious about it. If I'd have known that not-expanding was going to delete my expansion teams, I would have held the vote last year. Like, if it just saved the proposed expansion teams and kept them queued up, or saved the teams to my User content, then I'd have been OK with just letting the league decide when it was ready, since, if you have teams queued up, one of the proposals is forced to be a proposal to expand by that many teams. But the game really surprised me (somehow) with how bad it is. By the time I saw that the expansion teams were deleted, it was too late to override the AI's decision to not expand. My earlier save was from around when Bol got injured, so I wasn't save-scumming that out. Unless there's a major vote for undoing/changing rule changes, I'm keeping them in. A few years back, I asked if I was to let crazy rules stand or override them, and the thread voted to let them stand-- outside the abolished salary cap, which got batshit, and then even more batshit after it came back, the rules changes we've had are quite a bit less insane than some of the ones that get brought up. "Abolish the Shot Clock" "Sudden death overtime" and "Abolish Goaltending" are probably the craziest possibilities. The shot clock, in addition to being able to be removed entirely, can go as high as 45, and I want to say as low as 20. Most seasons there's been 5 proposals proposed, and 5 proposals rejected, so.... Hopefully nothing too crazy ever comes up. I don't think I'd like to play in a "no shot clock at all" era for more than a year or two, just to witness the 8 point, 6 rebound MVP. The Slow games are harder to figure out which ones to post, but they're interesting in how they've evolved the league. Really smooth shooting, erm, shooting guards are currently en vogue (and also super cheap to replicate. Sort of like how we've had a swiss army knife Small Forward and been able to pay him like 8-10 million dollars a year instead of 30 back when they were a thing. There's like a million do-it-all small forwards, we just found one that's heavily undervalued) I have to assume traditional low-post centers like Francis will also slowly come back---30 seconds is a long time to be able to establish great post position. drat it, LeBron, why did you have to give up on being a coach! Now is clearly the time to re-introduce the league to the Triangle Offense. It's also possible that the shooting guard phenomenon is just coincidence and they're actually everywhere and having great seasons all around the same time, because the draft classes were heavily favoring that position for a while. I honestly don't know, which makes it fun for me to think about. We can start to debate soon about whether players from this coming era would have survived the earlier one. I like parity and competitiveness too. I essentially stopped watching basketball during the period Kevin Durant was on the Warriors, because why would I want to watch the Warriors, unless I figured they might lose. I love teams that build up a complete squad, or do something completely unorthodox or against what everyone else is doing. I also appreciate teams that are flexible, and willing to move rapidly to correct mistakes instead of buying into a sunk-cost fallacy.
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Jul 21, 2020 08:48
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AAG What does the Possession Arrow rule mean? Does some official pop up and shoot a player with a bow and arrow and that decides who has the ball? quote:Let's talk about Harry Francis in depth for a moment, because I haven't talked at length about the team for a while, and folks might not really have an exact idea of what he brings to the Honu. Harry Francis is, for lack of a better explanation, a type of player that's frequently called "extinct" in today's NBA. He's a supremely skilled low post big man with absolutely 0 range. He's a muscular 7'2, and can only score from the restricted area, but he's got a sweet little hookshot (despite no badges and only a 77 in "Post Hook"), that is very workmanlike in its dependability. Francis gets himself settled into position, and he is scoring on you. Hook shots are one of the few skills in the game that aren't overwhelmingly improved by badges. Player height and Post Hook are just as important as any badges. Deep Hooks only helps on hooks from 8-10+ feet. Pro Touch helps on good timing and Consistent Finisher helps with poor timing. Backdown Punisher helps with positioning. Quick Draw from Shooting speeds up release. Giant Killer possibly would help, but making a short hooks based player would be awful. The badges all help, but none are absolutely vital unlike those for most other skills in the game.
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Jul 21, 2020 12:23
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AEG
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Jul 21, 2020 12:32
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AAB.Largepotato posted:What does the Possession Arrow rule mean? Does some official pop up and shoot a player with a bow and arrow and that decides who has the ball? The NBA, WNBA, and Euro League usually don't use it, but basically every other level of basketball does - college basketball, high schools, other overseas leagues, etc.
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Jul 21, 2020 12:36
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My PA rule is better.
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Jul 21, 2020 13:55
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AAB I just don't understand why they'd make it so it deletes the teams that are voted down. The player clearly wants those teams in if the league expands so there doesn't seem any reason to not keep them there aside from incompetence or hatred towards your player base.
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Jul 21, 2020 14:08
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AEG I was looking forward to a potential Finals matchup against the Knicks, but this was awesome.
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Jul 21, 2020 15:47
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How many real life players are still on their original team? I see Ball, Morant & Jackson jr are still on theirs. Have any of them left and come back?
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Jul 21, 2020 15:58
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AAG
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Jul 21, 2020 16:30
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