Stauskas?

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Bro that's not why I'm calling it a scam. It's a scam because of micro transactions and selling you an unfinished game then patching it over and over without telling you what's been patched. Then after paying $60 you can actually pay ANOTHER $50 to boost your player from 60-85 rating. You don't do this? Invest hours and hours and hours not getting your player to 85+. The game takes that long to level up. Don't pay, don't ever see level 85.

I agree with you, though Maybe I’d use a different word, but semantics. I hope they back off of that crap, it totally has ruined that franchise for me. Maybe it’s because I suck but I also found that unless I was overall 82ish my players could never shoot, I’d have to be wide open and hit the shot meter perfectly to get points. Drove me crazy, running around in slow mo with a slow player who can’t do anything until I grind for days or pay a bunch more money.

 

[Harry's Raincoat]

Neal's decision to let Ed Davis go, was IMO to give more time to Collins (obviously) and also Swanigan, who's game is very , very similar to Ed's. Let's wait and see before crucifying him!

 

[Scalma]

Neal's decision to let Ed Davis go, was IMO to give more time to Collins (obviously) and also Swanigan, who's game is very , very similar to Ed's. Let's wait and see before crucifying him!

I agree about why they let Ed go, but Swanigan isnt really comparable to him, outside of maybe rebounding. Davis is a better defender, both isolated, and help. Swanigan theoretically is the superior shooter, who can space the court better.

This was discussed elsewhere, but I can actually buy into the theory that Layman will get first crack at a rotation spot, before Biggie.

So a second unit that looks something like

CJ
Curry
Turner
Layman
Collins

Not really my preference, but I could totally see that.

 

[Driew]

So a second unit that looks something like

CJ
Curry
Turner
Layman
Collins

Not really my preference, but I could totally see that.

That would fit with NO wanting to surround ET with shooters in the second unit.

 

[dviss1]

Neal's decision to let Ed Davis go, was IMO to give more time to Collins (obviously) and also Swanigan, who's game is very , very similar to Ed's. Let's wait and see before crucifying him!

I've seen nothing that warrants letting Ed go. Have you?

 

[Scalma]

I've seen nothing that warrants letting Ed go. Have you?

Yeah the series against New Orleans. It exposed how to attack Portland when Davis is in the game. Hes such a non threat offensively, you can just ignore him and blitz Dame, CJ, or whoever has the ball. The only thing Davis can do in a pick and roll is roll left. That’s it. No other moves. Can’t shoot. Not a passer. Portland could get away with it in the regular season because teams aren’t in sell out mode. That type of defensive pressure would take a toll on a players body if stretched out through 80+ games.

Zach is a much better basketball fit. The only problem I see is with Collins replacing Ed, who replaces Collins? Not sure that guy is on the roster. But I do know Ed isnt that guy either. Can question a lot of Neils decisions, shit I initially even questioned this one, but from a basketball standpoint, once you look at it honestly, with no emotion, it makes sense.

 

[hoopsjock]

Yeah the series against New Orleans. It exposed how to attack Portland when Davis is in the game. Hes such a non threat offensively, you can just ignore him and blitz Dame, CJ, or whoever has the ball. The only thing Davis can do in a pick and roll is roll left. That’s it. No other moves. Can’t shoot. Not a passer. Portland could get away with it in the regular season because teams aren’t in sell out mode. That type of defensive pressure would take a toll on a players body if stretched out through 80+ games.

Zach is a much better basketball fit. The only problem I see is with Collins replacing Ed, who replaces Collins? Not sure that guy is on the roster. But I do know Ed isnt that guy either. Can question a lot of Neils decisions, shit I initially even questioned this one, but from a basketball standpoint, once you look at it honestly, with no emotion, it makes sense.

Yeah, this has been mainly my stance too. I'm fine with giving Collins a bigger role but I don't think it is a great idea to only have a 3 man big rotation and expanding it to 4 means either Swanigan or Leonard is getting minutes. One of those guys could in theory step up a bit but I'd prefer someone a little more established in that role.

 

[dviss1]

Yeah the series against New Orleans. It exposed how to attack Portland when Davis is in the game. Hes such a non threat offensively, you can just ignore him and blitz Dame, CJ, or whoever has the ball. The only thing Davis can do in a pick and roll is roll left. That’s it. No other moves. Can’t shoot. Not a passer. Portland could get away with it in the regular season because teams aren’t in sell out mode. That type of defensive pressure would take a toll on a players body if stretched out through 80+ games.

Zach is a much better basketball fit. The only problem I see is with Collins replacing Ed, who replaces Collins? Not sure that guy is on the roster. But I do know Ed isnt that guy either. Can question a lot of Neils decisions, shit I initially even questioned this one, but from a basketball standpoint, once you look at it honestly, with no emotion, it makes sense.

I disagree that it makes sense. It's literally 85% of our toughness/heart gone. All those extra possessions gone. Plus, that roll to the left was wide open all series when they doubled dame.

Ed only played 17 minutes a game that series... That's not what created our loss...

I think it's bullshit that Neil (and others) basically blamed the loss on him.

 

[BonesJones]

I don't think so.

Regular gameplay is severely flawed. From playing online My Player, playing GM, My Team ect, I've played all the modes. There's problems everywhere. 2K has become a bad company. EVERY year they put out a half finished product then patch it 100x. They don't give proper patch notes EVER. They sneak Nerf/Buff shit without informing you. At least EA listened to their customers, 2K? Nope. You still don't even get to preview haircuts before you pay. And they do this because people will just go out and blindly purchase it. Fuck that. They're not gonna piss on my leg and tell me it's raining anymore.

My league is what I play. There's some problems but you can create makeshift fixes.

 

[BonesJones]

Yeah the series against New Orleans. It exposed how to attack Portland when Davis is in the game. Hes such a non threat offensively, you can just ignore him and blitz Dame, CJ, or whoever has the ball. The only thing Davis can do in a pick and roll is roll left. That’s it. No other moves. Can’t shoot. Not a passer. Portland could get away with it in the regular season because teams aren’t in sell out mode. That type of defensive pressure would take a toll on a players body if stretched out through 80+ games.

Zach is a much better basketball fit. The only problem I see is with Collins replacing Ed, who replaces Collins? Not sure that guy is on the roster. But I do know Ed isnt that guy either. Can question a lot of Neils decisions, shit I initially even questioned this one, but from a basketball standpoint, once you look at it honestly, with no emotion, it makes sense.

If only we could run more side pick n roll (can't trap off a roll guy there so there's no one on his side of the floor to recover), run lower top pick n roll so Dame has options to relieve pressure, run in transition so they cant set up and trap (maybe play more aggressive defense to try to create those opportunities), use Dame and CJ off the ball more especially utilizing them in off-ball screens (harder to trap), let Dame ISO a little bit more where he can go 1 on 1 instead of 1 on 2, or simply use more ball movement to relieve and beat the over-pressuring defense.

But nah, it was Eds fault. Or the matchups fault. Or Dames fault. Or it was because AD is a God and there's no way to score against him....

 

[e_blazer]

If only we could run more side pick n roll (can't trap off a roll guy there so there's no one on his side of the floor to recover), run lower top pick n roll so Dame has options to relieve pressure, run in transition so they cant set up and trap (maybe play more aggressive defense to try to create those opportunities), use Dame and CJ off the ball more especially utilizing them in off-ball screens (harder to trap), let Dame ISO a little bit more where he can go 1 on 1 instead of 1 on 2, or simply use more ball movement to relieve and beat the over-pressuring defense.

But nah, it was Eds fault. Or the matchups fault. Or Dames fault. Or it was because AD is a God and there's no way to score against him....

All of that is good, but you have to at least acknowledge that Davis is kind of a unique specimen who made it possible to shut down the offense that the Blazers were comfortable running.

 

[BonesJones]

All of that is good, but you have to at least acknowledge that Davis is kind of a unique specimen who made it possible to shut down the offense that the Blazers were comfortable running.

Seriously? The dude who played a third of a game was a problem? How the hell was Davis the reason they were able to shut down our offense? Nobody was saying any shit like that until he left. How does he stop all those adjustments from being made?

 

[e_blazer]

Seriously? The dude who played a third of a game was a problem? How the hell was Davis the reason they were able to shut down our offense? Nobody was saying any shit like that until he left. How does he stop all those adjustments from being made?

Uhh....wrong Davis. I’m talking about Unibrow. He’s the main reason they were able to shut down our offense.

 

[dviss1]

My league is what I play. There's some problems but you can create makeshift fixes.

That's what I play too. The defensive AI is horrible. There are just too many problems for me to name. I play it only because I paid for it. I'm really gonna give Live 19 an honest look this year.

 

[BonesJones]

Uhh....wrong Davis. I’m talking about Unibrow. He’s the main reason they were able to shut down our offense.

It was a combination of Davis trapping with Holiday, which could've been neutralized by all the things I've mentioned.

 

[e_blazer]

It was a combination of Davis trapping with Holiday, which could've been neutralized by all the things I've mentioned.

You don’t have to convince me. Sell Paul Allen on your ideas and maybe you have a coaching job in your future.

 

[BonesJones]

You don’t have to convince me. Sell Paul Allen on your ideas and maybe you have a coaching job in your future.

Paul Allen should know basketball enough to come up with them on his own... It's basic stuff for an NBA team to have knowledge of. I'm just not a Stotts fan for that reason. Schematics and adjustments aren't his strong suit.

 

[tester551]

I disagree that it makes sense. It's literally 85% of our toughness/heart gone. All those extra possessions gone. Plus, that roll to the left was wide open all series when they doubled dame.

Ed only played 17 minutes a game that series... That's not what created our loss...

I think it's bullshit that Neil (and others) basically blamed the loss on him.

I wish I could like this x100

 

[BonesJones]

That's what I play too. The defensive AI is horrible. There are just too many problems for me to name. I play it only because I paid for it. I'm really gonna give Live 19 an honest look this year.

By MyLeague I mean I don't even play games. I simulate and manage all 30 teams. I use a random number generator to decide players decisions in the off-season such as free agency and if they want to be traded if their situation isn't ideal. I use a 0-101 dice roll after each off-season to randomly progress/regress players. 101 is super-rapid improvement. For young players, they're improve more with a high roll than lesser players. For young players who have a ton of raw potential, they're improve more with a high row than someone with a lower ceiling. Been making makeshift draft classes up to 2023 (which has players straight out of high school, including Bronny.)

Portland's got a ton of luck. I've been consistently rolling in the 80s-90s.

I've been doing one simulation for a month. Here's how things have progressed (as far as I can remember):

2019 Trade Deadline:
-- Atlanta, who had a surprising season traded Bazemore, filler, and picks for Drummond. They trading a pick or two and cap space for Mike Conley.
-- Charlotte, who had Kemba expiring, tried to impress him by trading Batum and picks for Blake Griffin. Detroit blew it up.
-- Jimmy Butler trade rumors were ramping up, and with Minnesota not being confident in him resigning, traded him to Boston for a huge package of picks, Rozier, and filler. Boston did this because they were worried about Kyrie leaving at the end of the 2019 to play with Jimmy Butler in Brooklyn or New York.
2019 Champion: Boston Celtics over Golden State in 7 games
2019 Offseason:
-- Portland landed Otto Porter Jr. for two draft picks in a 3-team trade in the summer of 2019. Washington traded him for space (Brooklyn took on a lot of salary for one of our picks Harkless, Mahinmi, and Leonard. I forget the logistics, but Washington did it to have the cap space to sign DeMarcus Cousins (played college ball with Wall) and it cleared room for Oubre to start.
-- Tyreke Evans signed with Chicago to be their starting PG.
-- Isaiah Thomas had a bounce back season in Denver and signed on with Indiana. The Pacers also signed DeAndre Jordan.
-- Kawhi resigns in Toronto.
2020 Trade Deadline:
-- San Antonio traded DeMar Derozen back to Toronto for a package centered on Delon Wright and OG Anunoby. They also traded Aldridge to Pheonix for a package of Chriss, Bender, and filler.
2020 Champion: Chicago Bulls (GS was injured, Chicago had some flukey shit happen)
2020 Off-Season:
-- Draymond leaves GS (had a 15% chance of happening) for Miami, who also acquires Malcolm Brogdon for Hassan Whiteside. GS signed Marc Gasol this off-season or next (I can't remember)
-- Bradley Beal was traded to Philadelphia for a package surrounding Dario Saric.
-- Toronto trades Serge Ibaka, Norman Powell, and picks for Kevin Love to pair him with Lowry, Derozen, Leonard, and Valancuinas.
2020-2021 Season:
Lonnie Walker was averaging 23ppg, but tore his ACL. He wouldn't be the same afterwards. Alize Johnson was an 85 OVR averaging 14ppg, 8reb, and 6apg with high level defense. Mitchell Robinson turned into Clint Capela 2.0, and NY had Cameron Reddish and Kevin Knox who were developing quite nicely.
2021 Trade Deadline:
-- The Washington expirement was failing big time, so they blew it up by traded John Wall to Detroit and DeMarcus Cousins to Charlotte (to pair with Kemba and Griffin, this wasn't that successful though).
-- The Lakers weren't competitive enough, so LeBron demanded a trade to New York. New York traded some other good young prospects they had as well as a boatload of picks.
2021 Champion: Portland Trail Blazers over New York Knicks in 7 games (Portland had Lillard as a 93, McCollum and Porter as 87s, Nurkic as an 86, and Collins as an 80.
2021 Off-Season:
-- Giannis signed on in New York, who had to sign-and-trade for him. Giannis wanted Milwaukee to be compensated well, so MIL received Kevin Knox (who would become a 90OVR and average 25ppg the next season) as well as Frank Ntilikina and filler salary. New York had a Big 3 of LBJ-Giannis-Porzingas, with very good role players in Reddish and Robinson.
-- Indiana sign-and-traded for Anthony Davis, sending Myles Turner and filler back to New Orleans. Davis joined Oladipo, Jordan, Thomas, and Alize Johnson to form a powerhouse.
-- Portland let Seth Curry walk and moved forward with a bench of Anfernee Simons, Gary Trent Jr., Al-Farouq Aminu, and Mason Plumlee.
-- Miami blew it up, trading Draymond to Detroit and Brogdon (now a 20ppg scorer and 87 OVR) to Chicago.
-- With Giannis leaving, Milwaukee traded Khris Middleton to Utah.
2021-2022 Season:
-- The East was much better than the West. All players listed were 80OVR+: New York (Giannis, LBJ, Porzingas), Boston (Kyrie, Butler, Tatum, Horford), Indiana (Davis, Oladipo, Johnson, Thomas, Jordan, Bradley), Philadelphia (Beal, Fultz, Simmons, Embiid), Detroit (Wall, Williamson, Little, Green), Atlanta (Conley, Drummond, Collins, T.Evans, Huerter), Chicago (Brogdon, Markkanen, Carter Jr, Parker), Charlotte (Walker, Griffin, Cousins, Bridges) compared to the West who had Portland (Lillard, Porter, McCollum, Nurkic, Collins), Houston (Harden, CP3, Capela, Melton), Golden State (Durant, Curry, Thompson, Bell, Gasol), San Antonio (Wright, Murray, Poeltl, Anunoby, Walker), Pheonix (Ayton, Booker, Bridges), and Memphis (Jaren Jackson Jr. [top 10 player], Cole Anthony, Grimes).
2022 Champion: Philadelphia over Houston in 6 games
2022 Off-Season:
-- Chris Paul signs with New York for the tax-payer MLE to play with LeBron and to try to win a championship in what will be his final season. Houston has De'Anthony Melton (83 OVR) ready to take over, and they trade for Buddy Hield to start at SG (sliding Harden over to SF).
-- Kevin Durant returns to Oklahoma City to pair up with an ageing Russel Westbrook and Paul George.
-- Pheonix trades Josh Jackson (who's had injury issues), Ashton Haagans, and other picks/prospects to MIN for Karl-Anthony Towns (who requested at trade with one year remaining). They also signed an ageing Mike Conley to be their starting PG and form a lineup of Conley-Booker-Brigdes-Towns-Ayton.
-- Lots of very good RFAs. Market barren otherwise.
-- League expanding to 32 teams in the following season with the additions of Seattle and St. Louis. The Clippers move to San Diego.
2022-2023 Season:
-- Orlando finally turns into a powerhouse as Bamba makes a case for best C in the league (17/10 w/ 3.5blks) with R.J. Barrett, Jalen Lecque and Aaron Gordon forming a solid big 4. The East is a bloodbath.
-- LeBron breaks all-time scoring record, quickly approaching 40K points.
-- New York is the best team in the league.
-- Golden State likely to miss playoffs.
-- Portland, Oklahoma City, and Pheonix are 1-2-3 in the West at the deadline. OKC has the colors of Deep Blue and Orange after an off-season rebranding.
-- Rumors about Cleveland (who've recently been sold) willing to do anything in its power to draft LeBron James Jr., hoping to bring LeBron James Sr. back to Cleveland to play with his son in his hometown. Rumors stating that, if LBJ Sr. wins a championship with NY, he will go wherever his son is drafted. Cleveland has a ton of young talent in Sexton, Jalen Green, Pat Baldwin Jr. to go along with Julius Randle, so they could contend with LeBron, who hasn't slowed down.

I should make this into a YouTube series on my channel. Might do it for 2K19.

 

[Scalma]

If only we could run more side pick n roll (can't trap off a roll guy there so there's no one on his side of the floor to recover), run lower top pick n roll so Dame has options to relieve pressure, run in transition so they cant set up and trap (maybe play more aggressive defense to try to create those opportunities), use Dame and CJ off the ball more especially utilizing them in off-ball screens (harder to trap), let Dame ISO a little bit more where he can go 1 on 1 instead of 1 on 2, or simply use more ball movement to relieve and beat the over-pressuring defense.

But nah, it was Eds fault. Or the matchups fault. Or Dames fault. Or it was because AD is a God and there's no way to score against him....

None of those things forces a guy to guard Davis. ISO? Teams would still send a double even if Dame didn’t call for a screen. Davis is that much of a liability. It’s only compounded by having to share the floor with another non shooter in Turner.

Dame off the ball only works if you have someone you trust to handle the offense and make reads. Napier was an awful playmaker. CJ? Won’t even get into that one. It could theoretically work with Baldwin next year. And it’s not like Stotts hasn’t done it before. When Maynor was here Dame would consistently play off the ball. Same with Mo Williams. Stotts just hasn’t had anyone trustworthy since.

 

[Scalma]

Ed only played 17 minutes a game that series... That's not what created our loss...

I think it's bullshit that Neil (and others) basically blamed the loss on him.

Our second unit is what lost most of the games against the Pelicans, not the starters. I can’t even remember one good or even decent game by any of our bench players outside of maybe Zach and Moe in game two.

 

[BonesJones]

None of those things forces a guy to guard Davis. ISO? Teams would still send a double even if Dame didn’t call for a screen. Davis is that much of a liability. It’s only compounded by having to share the floor with another non shooter in Turner.

Dame off the ball only works if you have someone you trust to handle the offense and make reads. Napier was an awful playmaker. CJ? Won’t even get into that one. It could theoretically work with Baldwin next year. And it’s not like Stotts hasn’t done it before. When Maynor was here Dame would consistently play off the ball. Same with Mo Williams. Stotts just hasn’t had anyone trustworthy since.

Davis was a very good finisher and very good diving to the rim. It's funny how Portland fans underrated their players after they leave.

It's much easier to handle a double team when you're already seeing the court in an ISO situation and can see the guy running at you instead of running laterally away from the action into a brick wall. Since Dame could see it coming, I think he could stretch it out on purpose and be able to time whatever he does to handle it better compared to running sideways into a wall. Have Davis flash to the high post and Turner diving to replace him, where Davis would have a quick drive left and score option, or pass to the diving Turner or a shooter on either wing (FT line extended). If the defense recovers, the should be scrambling and good ball movement would be able to take advantage of that. We don't need 4/5 shooters on the floor to handle a team trapping pick n rolls. That's rediculous.

You realize Dame could still bring the ball up and play off ball, right? They weren't trapping him on anything except pick n rolls or when the big got close. He could easily bring it up, pass off to anyone, then run some off ball motion or utilize screens. The player with the ball doesnt have to do anything except make the right pass. A pass into a flare screen/cut option is simple and works. You don't need a player going 1v1 and attacking to create shots for Dame. Ball movement would also create bigger passing/driving lines due to a scrambling defense, which would make plays easier for mediocre playmakers. It doesn't have to be "Someone other than Dame brings it up, does something 1v1, to hopefully create something for Dame".

 

[BonesJones]

Our second unit is what lost most of the games against the Pelicans, not the starters. I can’t even remember one good or even decent game by any of our bench players outside of maybe Zach and Moe in game two.

It was both units.

 

[Scalma]

Davis was a very good finisher and very good diving to the rim. It's funny how Portland fans underrated their players after they leave.

It's much easier to handle a double team when you're already seeing the court in an ISO situation and can see the guy running at you instead of running laterally away from the action into a brick wall. Since Dame could see it coming, I think he could stretch it out on purpose and be able to time whatever he does to handle it better compared to running sideways into a wall. Have Davis flash to the high post and Turner diving to replace him, where Davis would have a quick drive left and score option, or pass to the diving Turner or a shooter on either wing (FT line extended). If the defense recovers, the should be scrambling and good ball movement would be able to take advantage of that. We don't need 4/5 shooters on the floor to handle a team trapping pick n rolls. That's rediculous.

You realize Dame could still bring the ball up and play off ball, right? They weren't trapping him on anything except pick n rolls or when the big got close. He could easily bring it up, pass off to anyone, then run some off ball motion or utilize screens. The player with the ball doesnt have to do anything except make the right pass. A pass into a flare screen/cut option is simple and works. You don't need a player going 1v1 and attacking to create shots for Dame. Ball movement would also create bigger passing/driving lines due to a scrambling defense, which would make plays easier for mediocre playmakers. It doesn't have to be "Someone other than Dame brings it up, does something 1v1, to hopefully create something for Dame".

No, I didn’t. Thanks for the lesson, coach.

Still requires a competent playmaker.

 

[BonesJones]

No, I didn’t. Thanks for the lesson, coach.

Still requires a competent playmaker.

Requires someone who can make a basic pass. We have those guys.

Funny how Stotts is just so powerless to make any change to help the team whatsoever. He can't do anything wrong...

 

[BonesJones]

By MyLeague I mean I don't even play games. I simulate and manage all 30 teams. I use a random number generator to decide players decisions in the off-season such as free agency and if they want to be traded if their situation isn't ideal. I use a 0-101 dice roll after each off-season to randomly progress/regress players. 101 is super-rapid improvement. For young players, they're improve more with a high roll than lesser players. For young players who have a ton of raw potential, they're improve more with a high row than someone with a lower ceiling. Been making makeshift draft classes up to 2023 (which has players straight out of high school, including Bronny.)

Portland's got a ton of luck. I've been consistently rolling in the 80s-90s.

I've been doing one simulation for a month. Here's how things have progressed (as far as I can remember):

2019 Trade Deadline:
-- Atlanta, who had a surprising season traded Bazemore, filler, and picks for Drummond. They trading a pick or two and cap space for Mike Conley.
-- Charlotte, who had Kemba expiring, tried to impress him by trading Batum and picks for Blake Griffin. Detroit blew it up.
-- Jimmy Butler trade rumors were ramping up, and with Minnesota not being confident in him resigning, traded him to Boston for a huge package of picks, Rozier, and filler. Boston did this because they were worried about Kyrie leaving at the end of the 2019 to play with Jimmy Butler in Brooklyn or New York.
2019 Champion: Boston Celtics over Golden State in 7 games
2019 Offseason:
-- Portland landed Otto Porter Jr. for two draft picks in a 3-team trade in the summer of 2019. Washington traded him for space (Brooklyn took on a lot of salary for one of our picks Harkless, Mahinmi, and Leonard. I forget the logistics, but Washington did it to have the cap space to sign DeMarcus Cousins (played college ball with Wall) and it cleared room for Oubre to start.
-- Tyreke Evans signed with Chicago to be their starting PG.
-- Isaiah Thomas had a bounce back season in Denver and signed on with Indiana. The Pacers also signed DeAndre Jordan.
-- Kawhi resigns in Toronto.
2020 Trade Deadline:
-- San Antonio traded DeMar Derozen back to Toronto for a package centered on Delon Wright and OG Anunoby. They also traded Aldridge to Pheonix for a package of Chriss, Bender, and filler.
2020 Champion: Chicago Bulls (GS was injured, Chicago had some flukey shit happen)
2020 Off-Season:
-- Draymond leaves GS (had a 15% chance of happening) for Miami, who also acquires Malcolm Brogdon for Hassan Whiteside. GS signed Marc Gasol this off-season or next (I can't remember)
-- Bradley Beal was traded to Philadelphia for a package surrounding Dario Saric.
-- Toronto trades Serge Ibaka, Norman Powell, and picks for Kevin Love to pair him with Lowry, Derozen, Leonard, and Valancuinas.
2020-2021 Season:
Lonnie Walker was averaging 23ppg, but tore his ACL. He wouldn't be the same afterwards. Alize Johnson was an 85 OVR averaging 14ppg, 8reb, and 6apg with high level defense. Mitchell Robinson turned into Clint Capela 2.0, and NY had Cameron Reddish and Kevin Knox who were developing quite nicely.
2021 Trade Deadline:
-- The Washington expirement was failing big time, so they blew it up by traded John Wall to Detroit and DeMarcus Cousins to Charlotte (to pair with Kemba and Griffin, this wasn't that successful though).
-- The Lakers weren't competitive enough, so LeBron demanded a trade to New York. New York traded some other good young prospects they had as well as a boatload of picks.
2021 Champion: Portland Trail Blazers over New York Knicks in 7 games (Portland had Lillard as a 93, McCollum and Porter as 87s, Nurkic as an 86, and Collins as an 80.
2021 Off-Season:
-- Giannis signed on in New York, who had to sign-and-trade for him. Giannis wanted Milwaukee to be compensated well, so MIL received Kevin Knox (who would become a 90OVR and average 25ppg the next season) as well as Frank Ntilikina and filler salary. New York had a Big 3 of LBJ-Giannis-Porzingas, with very good role players in Reddish and Robinson.
-- Indiana sign-and-traded for Anthony Davis, sending Myles Turner and filler back to New Orleans. Davis joined Oladipo, Jordan, Thomas, and Alize Johnson to form a powerhouse.
-- Portland let Seth Curry walk and moved forward with a bench of Anfernee Simons, Gary Trent Jr., Al-Farouq Aminu, and Mason Plumlee.
-- Miami blew it up, trading Draymond to Detroit and Brogdon (now a 20ppg scorer and 87 OVR) to Chicago.
-- With Giannis leaving, Milwaukee traded Khris Middleton to Utah.
2021-2022 Season:
-- The East was much better than the West. All players listed were 80OVR+: New York (Giannis, LBJ, Porzingas), Boston (Kyrie, Butler, Tatum, Horford), Indiana (Davis, Oladipo, Johnson, Thomas, Jordan, Bradley), Philadelphia (Beal, Fultz, Simmons, Embiid), Detroit (Wall, Williamson, Little, Green), Atlanta (Conley, Drummond, Collins, T.Evans, Huerter), Chicago (Brogdon, Markkanen, Carter Jr, Parker), Charlotte (Walker, Griffin, Cousins, Bridges) compared to the West who had Portland (Lillard, Porter, McCollum, Nurkic, Collins), Houston (Harden, CP3, Capela, Melton), Golden State (Durant, Curry, Thompson, Bell, Gasol), San Antonio (Wright, Murray, Poeltl, Anunoby, Walker), Pheonix (Ayton, Booker, Bridges), and Memphis (Jaren Jackson Jr. [top 10 player], Cole Anthony, Grimes).
2022 Champion: Philadelphia over Houston in 6 games
2022 Off-Season:
-- Chris Paul signs with New York for the tax-payer MLE to play with LeBron and to try to win a championship in what will be his final season. Houston has De'Anthony Melton (83 OVR) ready to take over, and they trade for Buddy Hield to start at SG (sliding Harden over to SF).
-- Kevin Durant returns to Oklahoma City to pair up with an ageing Russel Westbrook and Paul George.
-- Pheonix trades Josh Jackson (who's had injury issues), Ashton Haagans, and other picks/prospects to MIN for Karl-Anthony Towns (who requested at trade with one year remaining). They also signed an ageing Mike Conley to be their starting PG and form a lineup of Conley-Booker-Brigdes-Towns-Ayton.
-- Lots of very good RFAs. Market barren otherwise.
-- League expanding to 32 teams in the following season with the additions of Seattle and St. Louis. The Clippers move to San Diego.
2022-2023 Season:
-- Orlando finally turns into a powerhouse as Bamba makes a case for best C in the league (17/10 w/ 3.5blks) with R.J. Barrett, Jalen Lecque and Aaron Gordon forming a solid big 4. The East is a bloodbath.
-- LeBron breaks all-time scoring record, quickly approaching 40K points.
-- New York is the best team in the league.
-- Golden State likely to miss playoffs.
-- Portland, Oklahoma City, and Pheonix are 1-2-3 in the West at the deadline. OKC has the colors of Deep Blue and Orange after an off-season rebranding.
-- Rumors about Cleveland (who've recently been sold) willing to do anything in its power to draft LeBron James Jr., hoping to bring LeBron James Sr. back to Cleveland to play with his son in his hometown. Rumors stating that, if LBJ Sr. wins a championship with NY, he will go wherever his son is drafted. Cleveland has a ton of young talent in Sexton, Jalen Green, Pat Baldwin Jr. to go along with Julius Randle, so they could contend with LeBron, who hasn't slowed down.

I should make this into a YouTube series on my channel. Might do it for 2K19.

At the 2023 Deadline:
- Houston lost Buddy Hield for the year so they trade picks, Jerami Grant, and Kyle Oquinn for Bogdon Bogdanovic and Skal Labissiere.
- Nuggets trade Justice Winslow to the Clippers for Dennis Schroder
- To try and help their bench, OLC trades Evan Mobley, Willy Hernangomez, and Terrance Ferguson to Milwaukee for Malik Monk Hassan Whiteside, and Stanley Johnson.

 

[dviss1]

By MyLeague I mean I don't even play games. I simulate and manage all 30 teams. I use a random number generator to decide players decisions in the off-season such as free agency and if they want to be traded if their situation isn't ideal. I use a 0-101 dice roll after each off-season to randomly progress/regress players. 101 is super-rapid improvement. For young players, they're improve more with a high roll than lesser players. For young players who have a ton of raw potential, they're improve more with a high row than someone with a lower ceiling. Been making makeshift draft classes up to 2023 (which has players straight out of high school, including Bronny.)

Portland's got a ton of luck. I've been consistently rolling in the 80s-90s.

I've been doing one simulation for a month. Here's how things have progressed (as far as I can remember):

2019 Trade Deadline:
-- Atlanta, who had a surprising season traded Bazemore, filler, and picks for Drummond. They trading a pick or two and cap space for Mike Conley.
-- Charlotte, who had Kemba expiring, tried to impress him by trading Batum and picks for Blake Griffin. Detroit blew it up.
-- Jimmy Butler trade rumors were ramping up, and with Minnesota not being confident in him resigning, traded him to Boston for a huge package of picks, Rozier, and filler. Boston did this because they were worried about Kyrie leaving at the end of the 2019 to play with Jimmy Butler in Brooklyn or New York.
2019 Champion: Boston Celtics over Golden State in 7 games
2019 Offseason:
-- Portland landed Otto Porter Jr. for two draft picks in a 3-team trade in the summer of 2019. Washington traded him for space (Brooklyn took on a lot of salary for one of our picks Harkless, Mahinmi, and Leonard. I forget the logistics, but Washington did it to have the cap space to sign DeMarcus Cousins (played college ball with Wall) and it cleared room for Oubre to start.
-- Tyreke Evans signed with Chicago to be their starting PG.
-- Isaiah Thomas had a bounce back season in Denver and signed on with Indiana. The Pacers also signed DeAndre Jordan.
-- Kawhi resigns in Toronto.
2020 Trade Deadline:
-- San Antonio traded DeMar Derozen back to Toronto for a package centered on Delon Wright and OG Anunoby. They also traded Aldridge to Pheonix for a package of Chriss, Bender, and filler.
2020 Champion: Chicago Bulls (GS was injured, Chicago had some flukey shit happen)
2020 Off-Season:
-- Draymond leaves GS (had a 15% chance of happening) for Miami, who also acquires Malcolm Brogdon for Hassan Whiteside. GS signed Marc Gasol this off-season or next (I can't remember)
-- Bradley Beal was traded to Philadelphia for a package surrounding Dario Saric.
-- Toronto trades Serge Ibaka, Norman Powell, and picks for Kevin Love to pair him with Lowry, Derozen, Leonard, and Valancuinas.
2020-2021 Season:
Lonnie Walker was averaging 23ppg, but tore his ACL. He wouldn't be the same afterwards. Alize Johnson was an 85 OVR averaging 14ppg, 8reb, and 6apg with high level defense. Mitchell Robinson turned into Clint Capela 2.0, and NY had Cameron Reddish and Kevin Knox who were developing quite nicely.
2021 Trade Deadline:
-- The Washington expirement was failing big time, so they blew it up by traded John Wall to Detroit and DeMarcus Cousins to Charlotte (to pair with Kemba and Griffin, this wasn't that successful though).
-- The Lakers weren't competitive enough, so LeBron demanded a trade to New York. New York traded some other good young prospects they had as well as a boatload of picks.
2021 Champion: Portland Trail Blazers over New York Knicks in 7 games (Portland had Lillard as a 93, McCollum and Porter as 87s, Nurkic as an 86, and Collins as an 80.
2021 Off-Season:
-- Giannis signed on in New York, who had to sign-and-trade for him. Giannis wanted Milwaukee to be compensated well, so MIL received Kevin Knox (who would become a 90OVR and average 25ppg the next season) as well as Frank Ntilikina and filler salary. New York had a Big 3 of LBJ-Giannis-Porzingas, with very good role players in Reddish and Robinson.
-- Indiana sign-and-traded for Anthony Davis, sending Myles Turner and filler back to New Orleans. Davis joined Oladipo, Jordan, Thomas, and Alize Johnson to form a powerhouse.
-- Portland let Seth Curry walk and moved forward with a bench of Anfernee Simons, Gary Trent Jr., Al-Farouq Aminu, and Mason Plumlee.
-- Miami blew it up, trading Draymond to Detroit and Brogdon (now a 20ppg scorer and 87 OVR) to Chicago.
-- With Giannis leaving, Milwaukee traded Khris Middleton to Utah.
2021-2022 Season:
-- The East was much better than the West. All players listed were 80OVR+: New York (Giannis, LBJ, Porzingas), Boston (Kyrie, Butler, Tatum, Horford), Indiana (Davis, Oladipo, Johnson, Thomas, Jordan, Bradley), Philadelphia (Beal, Fultz, Simmons, Embiid), Detroit (Wall, Williamson, Little, Green), Atlanta (Conley, Drummond, Collins, T.Evans, Huerter), Chicago (Brogdon, Markkanen, Carter Jr, Parker), Charlotte (Walker, Griffin, Cousins, Bridges) compared to the West who had Portland (Lillard, Porter, McCollum, Nurkic, Collins), Houston (Harden, CP3, Capela, Melton), Golden State (Durant, Curry, Thompson, Bell, Gasol), San Antonio (Wright, Murray, Poeltl, Anunoby, Walker), Pheonix (Ayton, Booker, Bridges), and Memphis (Jaren Jackson Jr. [top 10 player], Cole Anthony, Grimes).
2022 Champion: Philadelphia over Houston in 6 games
2022 Off-Season:
-- Chris Paul signs with New York for the tax-payer MLE to play with LeBron and to try to win a championship in what will be his final season. Houston has De'Anthony Melton (83 OVR) ready to take over, and they trade for Buddy Hield to start at SG (sliding Harden over to SF).
-- Kevin Durant returns to Oklahoma City to pair up with an ageing Russel Westbrook and Paul George.
-- Pheonix trades Josh Jackson (who's had injury issues), Ashton Haagans, and other picks/prospects to MIN for Karl-Anthony Towns (who requested at trade with one year remaining). They also signed an ageing Mike Conley to be their starting PG and form a lineup of Conley-Booker-Brigdes-Towns-Ayton.
-- Lots of very good RFAs. Market barren otherwise.
-- League expanding to 32 teams in the following season with the additions of Seattle and St. Louis. The Clippers move to San Diego.
2022-2023 Season:
-- Orlando finally turns into a powerhouse as Bamba makes a case for best C in the league (17/10 w/ 3.5blks) with R.J. Barrett, Jalen Lecque and Aaron Gordon forming a solid big 4. The East is a bloodbath.
-- LeBron breaks all-time scoring record, quickly approaching 40K points.
-- New York is the best team in the league.
-- Golden State likely to miss playoffs.
-- Portland, Oklahoma City, and Pheonix are 1-2-3 in the West at the deadline. OKC has the colors of Deep Blue and Orange after an off-season rebranding.
-- Rumors about Cleveland (who've recently been sold) willing to do anything in its power to draft LeBron James Jr., hoping to bring LeBron James Sr. back to Cleveland to play with his son in his hometown. Rumors stating that, if LBJ Sr. wins a championship with NY, he will go wherever his son is drafted. Cleveland has a ton of young talent in Sexton, Jalen Green, Pat Baldwin Jr. to go along with Julius Randle, so they could contend with LeBron, who hasn't slowed down.

I should make this into a YouTube series on my channel. Might do it for 2K19.

You are part of the .5% that play the game like that.

 

[BonesJones]

You are part of the .5% that play the game like that.

True.

 

[BonesJones]

At the 2023 Deadline:
- Houston lost Buddy Hield for the year so they trade picks, Jerami Grant, and Kyle Oquinn for Bogdon Bogdanovic and Skal Labissiere.
- Nuggets trade Justice Winslow to the Clippers for Dennis Schroder
- To try and help their bench, OLC trades Evan Mobley, Willy Hernangomez, and Terrance Ferguson to Milwaukee for Malik Monk Hassan Whiteside, and Stanley Johnson.

2023 Playoffs:
ECF - NYK over DET in 4 games
WCF - SAS over HOU in 6 games
Finals - NYK over SAS in 6 games

LeBron gets his 4th ring, CP3 finally gets his in his last season.

 

[dviss1]