GM a Team - We're bored edition - Writeups

[koogiking]

Los Angeles Lakers


Depth Chart:
Steve Nash/Darius Morris/Andrew Goudelock
Iman Shumpert/Tyler Honeycutt
Carmelo Anthony/Ron Artest/Devin Ebanks
Kevin Garnett/Derick Caracters
Al Jefferson/Chris Andersen/Kosta Koufas


Roster Salaries:
Carmelo Anthony $20,463,024/$22,407,474/$24,351,924(Early Termination option)
Ron Artest $7,258,960/$7,727,280(Termination Option)
Chris Andersen $4,526,000/$4,818,000
Iman Shumpert $1,400,300
Darius Morris 418,000(Unguaranteed)/$800,000(Unguaranteed)
Andrew Goudelock 418,000(Unguaranteed)/$800,000(Unguaranteed)
Al Jefferson 14,000,000
Kevin Garnett $12,000,000
Steve Nash $6,000,000
Honeycutt(380,000)
Caracter, Derrick
Ebanks, Devin
Kosta Koufas


Write Up:


The Lakers team that I started off with was very good. But My main issues with them was the age of Kobe Bryant. Kobe was getting older and I wanted to retool around a younger star so that the team stays competetive in the future. So I trade the Lakers Big men for Carmelo. I then regained big man depth by trading Kobe for Monta Ellis and Al Jefferson. I added veterans Steve Nash and Kevin Garnett to the team to help round out the roster.

I have two lockdown defenders in Garnett and Iman Shumpert to cover the defensive flaws of my 1st two options on offense Carmelo Anthony and Al Jefferson. Steve Nash is the Maestro on my team offensively. Steve Nash and his passing/shooting helps make this team great offensively especially with all of the offensive options this team has.

Positional Upgrades

Steve Nash>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Derek Fisher
Iman Shumpert<<<<<<<<<<<<<Kobe Bryant
Carmelo Anthony/RonArtest>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ron Artest/Matt Barnes
Kevin Garnet=Pau Gasol
Al Jefferson>Andrew Bynum

I massively improved at the PG and SF position. I stayed equal at the PF position. And I slightly improved at the Center position. And I did this while making my building blocks 10 years younger Carmelo/Al Jefferson vs. Kobe/Pau) The only area I got worse at was the SG position. But I still have a promising athletic young player to fill in that position.

[Blazer50]

SamBone wrote:
KNICKS/HOUSTON: did not make me an offer all game, would have really wanted to trade with the starting team. Thanks for keeping your players on the sidelines. Your efforts have been justly rewarded.

Not particularly concerned about his "creative" ranking since I was not the only GM to point out his lack of participation in the game, but to clarify - On Sept 16th:
scott.ins: I would be intereted in JaVale McGee - Young around a Melo deal if you are serious. NYKs
scott.ins: I should be around quite a bit today. - NO REPLY NY Offer

On August 16th: HOU Offer
scott.ins: Would a pick help move Kirilenko - with Frye or Hill? If not - would you move him for Amir Johnson if I can get Denver involved?
SamBone: Amir doesnt interest me at all
SamBone: Boston had a few guys before, not sure who he has left
scott.ins: Humphries should be available - Tully has him listed - may be bait. Do you need help to facilitate a deal there? TOR has about 18 players so I don't know what they want, but I can send a Euro they could stash? Have you check with TOR?
SamBone: 'have not spoken to anyone in days
SamBone: have not been around my computer since thusday i think

There were other offers for Blatche Young and McGee, but I am not going to spend more time on this. If 2 trades (or 5) enhances this 2 month game, then I think a lot more GMs will share my opinion on this one. But I understand that the WA Wizard's are not a team that could be improved in this fantasy game.

[5th pick sucks]

N.O. – unrealistic, because I do not believe that Dwight would want to play on that team. He has been on the record saying a “Dream Team” is not what he would want and he would rather beat the “dream Team” then play with them, and I also think DWill would not want to play with DWade because of DWill ego, that said, it is a better fit then the Miami Trio in real life. A PF could make this team unbeatable

DENVER: Literally did nothing wrong, a lot of bad moves which is quite rare, but also some tradional ICE Magic done. Just did so much, couldn’t justify giving the top spot. Blake and Hibbert are a great pair and that CP guy is ok. Should be the 2018 champ if all stay and ICE does not completely redo the team by then

PHILLY – Like this team a lot. Not sure trusting ET is a good thing, but love the position this team is in for the future and will win a lot of games in the current, good job

BUCKS: great job, had a team of crap contracts and now has flexability and hope. Love Perry Jones and Lamb in the draft, and George and Jennings as cornerstones in pretty solid. Great job man

BULLS: made too many moves for my likeing, lol. But like this team. Wish they had a post presence, I am not a fan of Boozer at all, but actually think Boozer fits better then the much better player (Bosh), but that’s just a personal opinion of fits/not fits. But Bosh was a great addition, and JJ stuck under the radar, and should be great fit

MAGIC: turning a laim duck Dwight and some overpaid players into Cousins and Favors is pretty good job. Not sure how Beasly/Thorton/Jeff Green will play together, but some nice talent here. Paying RoLo that sort of cash to be a bench player, may hurt

CHARLOTTE: Nothing bad, but nothing amazing either. Adding Salmons was the worse move, but still lack a proven NBA scorer. You might be able to get one in next year's draft, but that seems to be the only issue. I do like the pairing of Henu and Wes Johnson, both should work of eachother nicely, not sure Kemba works with those 2 (I would invision a better shooter next to Hendu who has negative range) But I d think Kemba could be a star, personally I think Sullinger will not be good in NBA, but a very solid team

CAVS: potential!, but best proven NBA players are Bass/Hansbrough with is not saying much, really hard to rank this team, Drummond, Irving, Barnes COULD all be great, or could be busts. Again, like the prospects, but have no clue if they will live up to hype. more proven players would have moved you up, but then again, that did not work for me.

OKC: I think an aging Kobe would actually work next to KD, that may be crazy, but I do not see the issues happening that others think. The “older” guys here (Kobe, EB, DWest, Kirk) could work well with the top scorer in the game. Tyreke in the 6th man role is awesome for this team. Wish they had more of a true C, but team should still pile up a lot of W’s.

GS : turned some OK pieces into a young star in Harden and Love. I would have liked this team much better if it had moved out Epke and Reggie Williams and gotten some talent in return, though. But like the squad

TORONTO: Added some good young players, but otherwise made mostly lateral moves. Like Beal and DeRozen going forward, but taking on RJ hurts a lot

NJ: like what this team turned into

BOSTON: gutted the place, building around Brook and Dwill has hope. Rubio could keep the fans interested, but not a fan of the “prospects” that this team has, but that’s me, all are rated well, I personally just don’t think they will be good. Team really needs rebounding, especially since I see DWilliams as more of a Beasly then a Griffin.

SUNS: did not start with much of anything, and still landed Horford, just not sure this team can win many games, but then again, had not much to work with when started

Dallas: PP is a good addition; the remainder of the team is in tact which is not necessarily a bad thing but in the long run I'm not sure how a team well over the max salary cap could be put together. Sort of the reason the players will not accept the owners proposal for a real hard cap

MINNY: not sure what he was trying to do here, but then again, losing unjustly losing Dwight will cripple any franchise

ATL: not a fan of this team, sorry

SACTOWN: Don't know what to say, traded maybe the best future BIG in the game and ended up with a criple. Not sure this team could score 50 ppg. And Batum has a solid career ahead of him, but doubt its as a near MAX player and a #1 scoring option. But that’s me

JAZZ - Mainly status quo,

CLIPPS: Should have traded Jordan

MIAMI:

KNICKS/HOUSTON: did not make me an offer all game, would have really wanted to trade with the starting team. Thanks for keeping your players on the sidelines. Your efforts have been justly rewarded.

Lol Knicks/Rockets were the most active team in this I don't know what kinda crack you're smoking

[roc]

^that would be called sarcasm by SB

[The J Rocka]

1. Denver Nuggets: To go from what started as Afflalo, JR Smith, and K-Mart to a CP3 + BG combo is the scariest thing to happen. Also, they have a great supporting talent and a very solid bench. I'm deeply saddened I have to be in the same division as the Nuggets. Bravo my friend.

2. Houston Rockets: Yao is gone. To turn Lowry, Martin, Budinger, and Hayes into Nene, Rondo, Thad, Crawford, Jet, while keeping Scola. Outstanding work.

3. Brooklyn Nets: Deron Williams with Brook Lopez and missing out on Dwight didn't look so good for the future. You were able to get one of the top PFs to be in LMA and you were able to lockup a younger all-star PG in Westbrook. Also added Afflalo and Gallo, what a squad.

4. Cleveland Cavaliers: The LeBron era left you with pretty rugged roster. Having Irving and Thompson as your main guys isn't leaving you with much to work with. To have Drummond, Barnes, while keeping Irving is an excellent young core, one of the best. Cavs are going to be a great team as the years progress. Outstanding GM work.

5. Golden State Warriors: A team that had Ellis, Curry, Lee that transformed into Love + Gortat + Harden is excellent work. You have a lot of great younger talent and will be a great team to watch grow into a top team in the West in the near future.

6. Chicago Bulls: They get the true Robin (Chris Bosh) to help out Batman (Derrick Rose). They also add SGs with Redick & VC. Pretty much filled the areas of need to advance to fight for Championships.

7. Boston Celtics: The Big 3 was at the end of the road. Rebuilding is never easy but you transformed the team into Rubio (stud---potentially fills in perfectly for Rondo), Derrick Williams (stud), Brook Lopez, Anthony Magic Randolph (stud), and Jimmer. All are great players for the future that was once looked cloudy.

8. Orlando Magic: For a team to go from horrid contracts + Dwight moved to come out Favors, Cousins, Green, Beasley, Thornton, etc. is pretty awesome. If the team reaches their full potential, this could be a scary team in the future.

9. Philadelphia Sixers: Building around Jrue & Turner was a no-brainier. To add players like Bynum, Chandler, and Paul Milsap was very good. Also, your bench is very nice. If Bynum stays healthy and Turner "gets it" this team will be fun to watch.

10. New York Knicks: I wasn't feeling the Melo-Amare connection and I'm glad this was addressed. Keeping Billups (he still has it), J-Smoove, adding Wes Matthews for the present and future was an excellent move, keeping Amare, and adding a defensive center in Haywood to pair up with Amare is very underrated. You also have a far more better bench than you inherited.

11. Toronto Raptors: Augustin, Beal, DeRozan, Davis, Jonas is a great young team. Over 18 mil is on your bench and if you are borderline rebuilding to building, I would look to flip Thomas & RJ for pick + young talent. Great starting 5.

12. New Orleans Hornets: Trading for Wade was a great move. Being able to convince D-Will and Dwight to New Orleans wasn't realistic at all. Lots of money tied up with those three players with a cheap bench.

13. Oklahoma City Thunder: Well...your backcourt is Durant/Kobe/Evans, impressive. Personally, I'm not sold on Evans being the PG of the future. I would have looked to get a more traditional pass first PG to pair with Durant, Kobe, Ibaka, etc. Nonetheless, your team is stacked and is ready to go for the title.

14. Miami Heat: Something had to be done with the original roster. You now have two great combo guards in Gordon and Ellis, but will definitely hurt you defensively. You added great front-court help with Pau + Okafor, solid bench, and you managed to keep LeBron throughout this entire process. Great work.

15. Dallas Mavericks: Can't argue with the squad you have. You were able to add upgraded pieces to an already deep Mavs squad. 2011 & 2012 Champions was in fact achieved. I'm a bit concerned about your future. No younger talent and most of the team will slow down. Your window is for sure closing within the next year or two. In the meantime, go for the 2013 trophy and look to rebuild.

16. Washington Wizards: Didn't make too many moves but your team is improved. Wall, Young, Rivers, Thompson, and McGee is great talent. Hopefully they can all work together and win games. Wall, Young, Rivers might not be enough ball to go around for all of them to blossom into their full potential.

17. Milwaukee Bucks: A team with lots of talent. No real answer at C I liked Jordan for your team a lot. If George, Jones, and Lamb can all successfully play together and win some games your team will be on the rise.

18. Atlanta Hawks: Moving Horford was a mistake. Out of all the players to move, that would have been the last player I would have moved. Felton, Wallace, Boozer, Perkins screams out mediocre and you definitely need a young player with some kind of potential for your future. Your team is still solid for 82 games but I wouldn't expect any championships coming your way.

19. Phoenix Suns: Whatever you did to turn Nash into Horford was some underrated work. The rest of your roster I am not sold on. I would have looked to completely rebuild around Horford.

20. Charlotte Bobacts: You honestly didn't have much to work with. Keeping Walker, Henderson, BB, adding Johnson and Sullinger was great work no doubt. Salmons wasn't a great pickup and unknown talent of BB, Sullinger, and Walker has yet to be seen. More growing pains are coming your way but will be relieved when you get a few more top draft picks to upgrade the 2 & 3 spots (I feel Henderson & Johnson are great players off the bench). Keep up the great work.

21. Los Angeles Clippers: Moving Blake was the cause of the drop. I like your team a lot to win now but trading away Blake was something that should not have happened. Personally, the core going forward was Gordon, Blake, and Jordan. I would have handcuffed all 3 to the Clippers and added upgraded pieces from there.

22. Los Angeles Lakers: You move Gasol, Bynum, and Kobe to get back Nash, KG, and Al "Blackhole" Jefferson? Team would have been better off staying put or at least keeping Bynum to build around him.

23. Utah Jazz: Dumped most of your young up and coming talent. Moving forward with Kanter and Favors was something that should have stayed together. Kaman, Davis, and Arenas are guys I would not put with younger talent. Harris, Burks, McAdoo, Favors, Kanter would be the squad I roll with and watch grow together.

24. Sacramento Kings: You had your building blocks in place and tons of cap space. Adding Thompson, Batum, Patterson to team up with Cousins should have been the mission or at least to a add similar talent at PF, SF, SG to pair with C (Cousins). Having Oden as the franchise C is a major downgrade.

==============================================================================================

Minnesota Timberwolves: At first, I was looking to mix young talent with vets and superstar(s) to win Championships. I felt I got greedy after getting Bosh and wanting to add another star caliber player (Dwight Howard). I just felt having the opportunity to get Dwight Howard was a once in a lifetime deal where it could have locked me in for some great seasons ahead. As for moving Bosh, I didn't want to do it, but my bench was horrid and felt Boozer was still very solid and adding Ronnie Brewer and Taj Gibson would help the team more.

Losing EG was pretty much a given. Maybe I should have stuck with Bogut and Derrick Williams to give EG the max. I can't complain, I received a great return for him to build towards the future.

I really wanted to quit after losing Love, Rubio, Williams, Bogut, Bosh, Gordon, Howard, etc. But I was really determined after to give myself a challenge and see what I can pull out of the hat. Lawson, Fields, Miles, Landry, and Jordan is a great young starting 5 and also have a very solid bench considering I was left with Turkoglu and nothing in return for Howard.

I definitely need a star player, no doubt. I hope when Turkoglu and others come off the books I should have over $15 mil in cap space to add that final piece to help the team go further along with a high draft pick coming my way.

==============================================================================================

2013 NBA Champions: Denver Nuggets

2018 NBA Champions: Minnesota Timberwolves or Cleveland Cavaliers

[Crispy]

1. DEN: Besides NOH, I think this is definitely the biggest turnaround. Difference is the Nuggets pretty much strictly did it through trades. CP3 and Griffin is great.

2. NOH: It's not realistic that D-Will, Wade, D12 would team up to play in NOH, but hey, it happened. Great job, this team could win 65-70 games.

3. NJN: Big improvement here, I think. Managed to come up with a very nice young squad that can compete for a long time.

4. GSW: Harden, Miller, Love is an excellent young trio. Not to mention Lowry, Aminu, Gortat, Udoh, this team's stacked with young talent.

5. CLE: Irving, Drummond, Barnes is a great young core. Irving/Drummond have 1-2 punch potential, while Barnes has a chance to be a terrific 3rd option. Moving Thompson for value was smart, not too high on him.

6. TOR: This is a big improvement. Ended up with a few bad contracts, but having Augustin, Beal, DeRozan, Davis, Jonas V is pretty worth it.

7. CHI: Basically made the team even better than before. Unfortunately, not significantly better, which is why I can't rank them higher.

(Will finish later)

[CellarDoor]

Based on how I felt people performed in this game:

1. GSW-- Really impressed with the way this team ended up. I'll probably get flamed for this vote, but so be it.
2. Denver-- Lots of trades-- more than I like, but you can't deny the result. My only issue with this team is that much money tied up into an unimpressive center for that long.
3. New Orleans-- I find the result unrealistic considering the locale (and no, I wasn't in the running for any of them), but again, you can't argue with the results.
4. New Jersey-- Great turnover on a team full of guys either overrated or on their last year.
5. Minn-- Points for being bold and blocking my move for Dwight (argh) and still recovering when he left.
6. Orlando-- Great return on Dwight and a solid team when the dust settled.
7. Philly - Good job and disciplined approach in less than a full season.
8. Dallas- Pretty much the same as with Lukes other team
9. Cleveland - Pretty impressed with the way the team is being built for the future.
10. Toronto- Similar to some of the teams I've got ranked lower, I don't know a lot of these prospects, but I see what the plan is and appreciate it. The team looks improved from a financial standpoint as well.
11. Miami - Started with a lot of talent, and probably should've stopped trading a few different times. Still a great team, but mostly lateral moves.
12. OKC - See above. Love the depth though.
13 Phoenix - Good job building a team that's in trouble.
14. Boston - Lots of question marks, and lots of players I just don't like. I see the plan though, but I see the plan and can appreciate it some.
15. LAL - Mostly lateral moves, but did a bit worse for themselves as I don't see them as contenders now.
16. Washington-
17. Houston -
18. Indiana-
19. Charlotte-
20. Clippers-
21. Mil - Had a tough team to start with, still a tough team. I may be underselling prospects though.
22. Atl - Salary cap hell and not a championship contender. Lost some ground unfortunately.
23. Sacto- Lost two top level prospects and didn't replace them with any new blue chippers.
24. LAC- If you're going to move EG and Griffin there should be a lot more to show for them unfortunately.
25. Utah- Agreed with the general sentiment.

2013 Champs minus Chicago: OKC?
2018 Champs: New Orleans

[babyjax13]

I have started the Tally, results will be up by this evening, possibly earlier. BlackIce, you left New Jersey off of your rankings....anyone who does not have complete rankings needs to finish them quickly if they can....thanks!

[BlackIce]

NJ added, thanks for the heads up.

[babyjax13]

I am past the halfway mark on the rankings, don't want anyone to think it's not on my mind

[MJallday59]

1. Denver-- Amazing job BI! At one point I thought you went a little too far...but you made it work!
2. New Orleans-- Ugh...Deron, Wade and Howard tho? Disgusting
3. GSW-- Stern my man...I love it.
4. Minn-- Put together a solid team after losing Dwight. Props for not quitting the game. I know others would have...
5. Orlando-- As a Magic fan i'm very impressed. Favors & Cousins?! Shiiii....
7. Dallas - Ownage. Well balanced..great job Luke!
8. Chicago- Sometimes less is more. VC, Redick and Bosh. Subtle moves....
9. Cleveland - Irving, Barnes and Drummond....Should get Cleveland some TV time!
10. Toronto- Really young but extremely talented.
11. Miami - Trading Paul for Ellis and EG? Questionable. Nice job otherwise man!
12. OKC - Reke, Kobe, Durant looks good...
13 Phoenix - Great job adding Horford. How the hell did you do that?
14. Philly - If Evan Turner improves...scary.
15. LAL - Eh....not bad. Why trade Kobe?
16. Washington- SB, great draft man!
17. Houston - Nice job!
18. Indiana -
19. Charlotte - Sullinger gives you guys an identity.
20. Clippers- Trading Griffin hurt u a bit...

[babyjax13]

Results:
1. Denver
2. New Orleans
3. Golden State
4. Chicago
5. New Jersey
6. Boston
7. Philadelphia
8. Dallas
9. Minnesota
10. Cleveland
11. Orlando
12. Toronto
13. Miami
14. OKC
15. Houston
16. Milwaukee
17. Charlotte
18. New York
19. Washington
20. Phoenix
21. Atlanta
22. LA Clippers
23. Sacramento
24. Utah

Incomplete: LA Lakers > Would have finished between Phoenix and Utah with enough rankings. Bolded teams were extremely close.

[babyjax13]

2013 Champs: Inconclusive, New Orleans, Chicago, OKC, Denver all considered to have a good chance. Most for New Orleans.
2018 Champs: Inconclusive, Clevelend, Golden State, Denver, New Orleans all considered to have a good chance. Most for Cleveland.

[Warriorfan]

Thx commish and congrats Denver

[BlackIce]

Thanks! Also again, I'd like to thank babyjax for running the game and kudos for putting together an impressive team.

[CellarDoor]

Looks like my biggest variance from the norm was Boston.