GSW·2012-13| WEEK 6: Dec 2- 8, 2012 + Player Profiles

[Axel The Great]

Hinrich out of the Bulls just doesn't look right. Anyways good luck against the Spurs.

[kibaxx7]

Valor's gonna like that trade me thinks despite Hinrich leaving.

[Andrew]

Interesting trade by the Bulls. Who else have they got at guard now apart from Rose?

[Clutch]

thx for the feedback and sorry guys I know it's tough to get a big picture on trades since I've not done all the team overviews at the start of the season, partly because 1) it's a time sink and there's enough team-specific things to cover already in the off-season and sometimes you just wanna get started; so doing the previews before each "new" team we face helps space things out a bit; 2) by spacing it out I get to evaluate what's happened more thoroughly regarding rosters, off-season moves, expiring contracts etc.

Anyway, the thing with Chicago is that they picked up SG/SF Mike Miller (78 overall) from free agency last off-season and he still has 2 yrs remaining on contract:

7/30/10
Clippers sign B. Miller for 17.34M for 2 yrs
Clippers sign D. Wright for 5.15M for 1 yr
Bulls sign M. Miller for 31.88M for 3 yrs

behind him is Devin Brown (74 ovrl; currently starting in Miller's absence; 2 yrs remaining); this season Chicago signed Ronald 'Flip' Murray (73 ovrl, 6 yrs remaining) and Danny Green (67 ovrl, 4 yrs remaining); meanwhile the Bulls had Hakim Warrick (75 ovrl) leading a pair of low 70's youth at PF. They had Big Z for a season but he retired just this past off-season; and of course Noah's ark set sail for, well, Golden territory

Cavs have David Lee (82) and last year's RotY Haywood Faust (76) who both have secondary position of PF; their new starter is Carl Landry (79) with J.J. Hickson (77) behind him. They could afford to move Jamison (82).

a few things I try to keep in mind regarding trades:

Re-Balancing. First I look for teams that are heavy at one position yet depleted in another (Cavs having many bigs and few guards for ex) which tends to happen in Live 06; teams can easily stack with point guards or forwards or centers over some seasons since the CPU drafts the best player available and doesn't consider team needs;

Expendables. If I spot a team with overflow in a certain position, I look to see who is the most expendable, which players the team might be building a future around, what position is missing/needed most, and which other team(s) fit best with complementary needs. Looking at the Cavs with Lee/Faust at center, Landry/Hickson at PF, Jamison, the oldest of the lot, became odd man out; Bulls needed a senior bigman and could sacrifice a guard;

Age, Contracts & Salaries. Pretty self explanatory; teams will be less likely to part with young promising talent than a past-prime, uber expensive has-been;

Conference. Generally I try to move players cross conference and not just to rivals ie., East to West and vice versa; but sometimes the above conditions still benefits both teams enough to matter so the deal still goes through

Anyway, just general guidelines I try to adhere to re: trades that might occur in Clutchworld ; of course crazy nonsensical trades do happen IRL and are part the fun/appeal of 'virtual' dynasties too


Side note: Martti, found a "3-pointers attempted" rating that I've made the below adjustments to; basically it's the likelihood of launching a 3 as opposed to normal field goal attempt:

Curry: no change (left at 25%)
Morrow: no change (left at 40%)
Carter, Azubuike, Wafer: +5% (was 20, now 25%)
Mason: +1% (was 39, now 40%)

nothing too radical; don't want my boys to sling 40+ treys a night... afterall, Nellie doesn't live here anymore

[Martti.]

Like that trade for the Bulls. And Hinrich has been mentioned in trade rumors ever since Rose arrived so makes sense.

Nice job though from Paxson giving Miller such a contract.

[Cleveland wins]

J.J. Hickson 77 now, he really improves in live, and i like Hinrich playing for cleveland, i think that's the kind of trade that the cavs should make in real life except, trade Mo Williams for Kirk Hinrich.

[Clutch]

Martti - agreed; CPU Paxson came through signing Mike Miller;

CLE wins - Hickson is solid; i definitely had/have my sights on him but parting with Anthony 'Meal Ticket' Randolph would've been the only way to swing the deal; think he's a free agent in a year or two so i'm keeping an eye out for him

[Clutch]

Azbuike finished strong when needed but did most of his damage distributing the ball

Carter's deep trey, part of the Warriors' late surge to help pull away from the Spurs

Desperate to slow the Warriors down, San Antonio went to a more physical style of play

Noah goes down with Golden State clearly in control | A little pay back served to Duncan (even though he ended up making the basket)

[Cleveland wins]

Too bad about Noah's injury, how long will he be out? And can you keep on winning without him?

[kibaxx7]

Ah, sucks to see Noah down with injury. Don't know if you can have the same effect without him... I doubt it...

[Axel The Great]

Good win, and Curry and VC didn't fail to impress. With Noah out, it's Andris Biedrins turn to step up.

[Andrew]

The Carter trade is looking pretty good so far, tough break with Noah's injury though.

[megarover]

Noah has been coming on strong as of late so it muck sux to see him go down.

[dare]

Nice game, too bad about Noah though. Why does Carter wearing no.5? Any reasons?

[Andrew]

Biedrins wears 15, so I'm guessing Clutch just decided to have Carter wear a new number as the newcomer on the team.

[Clutch]

dare, more info on VC's # at a later time but pretty much what Andrew mentioned

thx for the comments guys; also more on Noah in just a bit

[Clutch]

TEAM PREVIEW


Draft 2011


Off-Season Moves


Current Record: 4-11

Breakdown

Early indicators show that the Los Angeles Clippers could be in for another long season, even after convincing bigman Chris Kaman to re-sign to a 4-year, 53.29M contract.

This off-season the Clippers took a gamble securing free agents Gerald Green and Dorell Wright to long-term deals. But so far, collectively averaging less than 12 points a game, the duo have not exactly been the kind of support veteran Baron Davis had hoped for.




To make matters worse, now with Kaman, Gooden, Wright, Outlaw and Green all locked into long-term contracts, plus the 2 years remaining for Davis and Blake Griffin worth approximately 20M of LA's annual payroll, the Clippers may have made a tactical financial error - LA is no longer in position to re-sign young stud Eric Gordon, who becomes a free agent at the end of the season.

Only 22, Gordon has stardom written in his future; look for the Clippers to get creative before the trade deadline in February in an attempt to free cap space and keep Gordon in LA.

Injury Status for 11/26/11: LAC @ GS
GOLDEN STATE - None
LOS ANGELES


Starting Lineups

______

Noah, "Good To Go"

Nov 26, 2011 Oakland, CA (AP) - MRI and X-Ray results came back negative for Golden State center Joakim Noah, great news for bay area Warriors fans.

"It's a little sore but nothing serious; I'm good to go for tonight," said an enthusiastic Noah who received the green light from team doctors after tweaking his left knee during the 4th-quarter of last night's victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

Head coach Avery Johnson announced Andris Biedrins will start in tonight's match against the Clippers, "Just a precautionary measure really. We plan to limit Noah's minutes tonight to give his leg some rest, so expect (Sean) Williams and (DeAndre) Jordan to see more playing time as well."

Clippers' star Blake Griffin and center Chris Kaman are both nursing lingering injuries but expected to play.

[Axel The Great]

Chris Kaman looked pretty creepy back in the day.
Good to see Noah's injury wasn't as serious as it could've been. Good luck against the Clippers.

[cavs4872]

Even though Joakim is still in the recovery process, you should try your best to attack them inside and exploit their injured big men. Its' also pretty funny that Hinrich was traded yesterday in RL too.

[Clutch]

Gordon too quick & strong for Carter on this vicious slam | Injury-free Miller playing some of the best ball of his career

Williams rattles one hard off 1st-year pro Jeff Marshall's forehead | Azubuike earned Player of Game honors for his all-around game

[Clutch]

Ax, agreed about Kaman man "creepy" is a fitting word;

Hype, as you can see, the boys did alright w/o Noah also, didn't even know about the Hinrich trade til you mentioned - how trippy! ironic thing is in here, Kirk was moved to CLE to play with Lebron; IRL Bulls moved Kirk in order to make room for LeBron! go figure

[Andrew]

No Noah, no problem indeed. Hope to see him back soon, nice idea sitting him out anyway for a bit of realism.

[megarover]

Good job getting them to commit so many turnovers. Who is your best perimeter defender anyways?

[Martti.]

Williams had a good outing off the bench.

[Axel The Great]

Pretty low numbers by Curry. But still, nice win against the Clippers and you showed that "creepy" Kaman how it's done.