[22-5] Chicago Sharks - Boxing Day Beatdown

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Postby Valor on Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:25 am

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Training Camp Report: Chicago Sharks
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Boban Marjanovic has stood out in camp and looks to be a lock for the starting job

As training camp wraps up and the regular season just around the corner, let’s take a peak and see how the NBA’s newest franchise is looking like as they get ready for their inaugural season in the league.

Three things you need to know about the Sharks:

1. Blatt is running triangle. Having never actually gotten a legitimate chance to coach with his system in Cleveland, Blatt is taking the opportunity here with a new expansion club to instill his offensive philosophies into the foundations of the team. Namely, an equal opportunity offense. Judging from the half court sets that the Sharks ran again and again during training camp, it appears to be a slightly altered version of Tex Winter’s triangle offense, a system that won Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson 11 NBA titles, 6 of which was won here in Chicago. It’s not what he ran in Europe, but the philosophy is the same, and we’ve all seen how effective the triangle and triangle concept variations have worked in the league in the past (if one ignores the Knicks, that is).

2. Position battles are still ongoing. As one might expect from an expansion team, there is no clear cut stars or even a clear cut lineup and rotation on paper. Despite all the competition in camp, head coach David Blatt says he’ll have to tinker as the season progresses, and might go with an 11 or even 12 man rotation to start the season. Right now, the preliminary starters appear to be Patty Mills, Tony Allen, Jeff Green, Taj Gibson, and Boban Marjanovic.

3. Boban impresses. Coming into camp, the anticipation was on first pick [of the expansion draft] Patrick (Patty) Mills to lead the way. Instead, it was another former Spur – 7 foot 3 Serbian center Boban Marjanovic – who really impressed the coaching staff, dominating defensively from start to finish, blocking shots and crashing the boards with impunity against his front court teammates.

Key Factor for Success: Generating turnovers on defense. Chicago is a team with marginal offensive talent, and it showed in camp. Scrimmages were often low scoring slugfests, more so due to the inability to make shots rather than good defensive pressure, which they can apply with their incredible length - four 7 footers in the front court and a bunch of players over 6-6 on the wings – but against other teams this will be a problem. The Sharks will have to get (lots of) points in transition in order to score enough to win games. Can they do it? That’s the million dollar question.

Player I saw and really liked: Briante Weber, second year guard from VCU. He may be third on the depth chart behind Patty Mills and Ty Lawson, but if he ever gets on the floor, watch out. Weber possesses tremendous energy and a nose for the ball on defense, and could spark a lot of those fast break opportunities that the Sharks really need. At VCU, Weber was only 12 steals away from becoming the NCAA’s all-time leader. The man is a ball hawk.

Gut feeling: Expectations are low for expansion clubs, and it will take a while for the team to grasp the offense. Blatt’s job is to keep the team competitive and instill a positive culture into the foundation of the franchise. The Sharks open up the season with 3 of their first 4 games against the defending champions, and the other one against the Spurs. It’ll be a struggle, but if they get through it, they have a much softer schedule later on that should make their record respectful, finishing around the 30-35 win range.
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Re: Alternate Reality - Last Min FA Signings

Postby Valor on Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:27 am

Lamrock wrote:Jerseys and court look good, man. If you're gonna lose 60 games, might as well look good doing it. ;)

Ouch, but agreed :lol: Hopefully it's closer to 50 losses instead of 60, but yeah, not holding my breath on that one
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Postby Valor on Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:41 am

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Sharks Announce Opening Day Roster

The Chicago Sharks today announced the team's 2016-17 Opening Day roster. After signing Briante Weber and Metta World Peace prior to training camp, the Sharks roster stood at the maximum number of 15 and opted to keep everybody heading into the season opener.

The Sharks will open their inaugural season in the NBA on Tuesday, October 25 at the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers. The team's home opener is the very next night, also against the Cavaliers.

Chicago's full 2016-17 Opening Day roster is below.

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Re: Alternate Reality - Training Camp Report

Postby Lamrock on Thu Oct 27, 2016 11:14 am

Oof, Cavs in Cleveland. Good luck. Hope you at least do better than the Knicks did against them irl.
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Re: Alternate Reality - Training Camp Report

Postby Valor on Mon Oct 31, 2016 1:15 pm

Lamrock wrote:Oof, Cavs in Cleveland. Good luck. Hope you at least do better than the Knicks did against them irl.

Yeah, first five games of my schedule is back to back vs Cavs, Spurs, Cavs (yeah, again), and Kings. Not ideal at all. :facepalm2:
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Re: Alternate Reality - Training Camp Report

Postby Phil89 on Tue Nov 01, 2016 4:35 pm

That is a brutal schedule to start with. Hopefully you can at least grab a win against Sacramento.

You do have a lot of solid veteran role players though, so you should be okay this season. How is your cap room situation looking for next season?
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Re: Alternate Reality - Training Camp Report

Postby Valor on Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:51 am

Phil89 wrote:That is a brutal schedule to start with. Hopefully you can at least grab a win against Sacramento.

You do have a lot of solid veteran role players though, so you should be okay this season. How is your cap room situation looking for next season?

Cap room is excellent, since only Boban and Ajinca are signed to muti-year deals (unless I pick up the team option for Weber) I'll have 80+ million in cap space to make it rain :xmas:
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Re: Alternate Reality - Training Camp Report

Postby Phil89 on Sat Nov 05, 2016 4:57 pm

Cool. It's gonna be interesting to see if you go full Miami 2010 or go the other way and create a deep and well-balanced team.

That's all fun for another day though. I wanna see how you handle that tough opening stretch (Y)
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Re: Alternate Reality - Training Camp Report

Postby Valor on Fri Nov 11, 2016 7:06 pm

Phil89 wrote:Cool. It's gonna be interesting to see if you go full Miami 2010 or go the other way and create a deep and well-balanced team.

That's all fun for another day though. I wanna see how you handle that tough opening stretch (Y)

Cheers mate, with exams out of the way I'm finally gonna be able to play some games and push some updates out, stay tuned! :P
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Postby Valor on Sun Nov 13, 2016 1:38 pm

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Sharks fall to Cavaliers in Debut
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Boban Marjanovic slams home the first basket in Sharks history

Cleveland, OH -- The Chicago Sharks stood courtside and watched as the Cleveland Cavaliers raised their championship banner and received their rings in an elaborate pregame ceremony filled with joy and celebration for the entire 20,562 capacity crowd at the Quicken Loans Arena, thinking to themselves that one day that will be them.

They then went out onto the floor with an impossible task – upset the defending champs with the first game in franchise history.

Now, they didn’t quite get there, but the Cavaliers got more than they expected, as the Sharks announced their arrival into the league with an entertaining and hard fought 106-94 loss to the defending champions.

Hot shooting Ty Lawson led the way for Chicago with 17 points and 6 assists from the bench on 7 of 12 shooting, including 3 of 4 from deep, he also had 4 steals. Roy Hibbert also produced 17 off the bench.

But the story of the night was the production of starting center Boban Marjanovic, who not only scored the first basket in Sharks franchise history with a two handed jam to begin the contest, but filled it up in every statistical category, narrowly missing out on the elusive 5 by 5 (he did end up with a 5 by 4) with a stat line of 9 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals and 4 blocks in just 24 minutes of play.

Only 10 players in NBA history have achieved a 5 by 5.

“Boban was fantastic for us tonight, he was just everywhere.” said Sharks head coach David Blatt, who also received a championship ring from the Cavaliers in the pregame ceremony.

However, it was ring night, and the defending champions weren’t about to let anyone spoil it for them.

J.R. Smith led the way with 24 points, Kevin Love had 18-7-6, while LeBron James added 15-6-7 as the Cavaliers overcame a Kyrie Irving injury (11 points, 4 assists in 17 minutes) to hold onto their 16 point first half lead and pull off the opening night victory over Chicago.

Irving was diagnosed with a broken right toe and is expected to miss up to four weeks.

“Losing Kyrie was obviously huge, but I’m proud of the way the guys hung in there and got the result in the end.” said Tyronn Lue.

The Sharks and Cavaliers will play again tomorrow night in Chicago.


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Re: Alternate Reality - Season Opener!

Postby Phil89 on Sun Nov 13, 2016 3:54 pm

Solid effort in your first game as a franchise. Hopefully you can get closer in the next game with Kyrie out.

Love the box scores btw (Y)
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Re: Alternate Reality - Season Opener!

Postby Andrew on Sun Nov 13, 2016 8:28 pm

Interested to see whether Lawson will remain on the bench, or whether he'll take over as the starter.
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Postby Valor on Mon Nov 14, 2016 3:37 pm

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Career Night For Boban As Sharks Nab First Win
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Not even the King is immune to a Boban Facial

Chicago, IL – As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the capacity crowd at Chicago Stadium went on their feet, cheering and applauding as confetti rained over their heads to celebrate the first victory in Chicago Sharks history.

It took a while, but it was here at last, and over the defending champions, no less.

After three straight defeats to begin the season, in which two came courtesy of LeBron James and his Cavs, this first victory was even sweeter to savour over.

Led by Boban Marjanovic, who had a career night with 21 points, 21 rebounds, 4 assist, 2 steals, and 4 blocks on 9 of 15 shooting; the Sharks held the Cavaliers to just 40 points in the second half after trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half, and came away with a 113-98 victory over their central division rivals.

It was the first 20-20 game in Marjaovic’s career.

Ty Lawson had 16 points and 5 assists off the bench for the Sharks, while Jeff Green added to the defensive charge with 3 steals and 4 rejections alongside his 13 points.

Thanks to the all-rounded efforts from LeBron James, the Cavaliers got off to an early lead and looked as though they were going to repeat the results of the teams’ first two meetings, ending the first half with a 10 point lead and dominating the Sharks in every team statistical category, but momentum quickly changed in favour of Marjanovic and the Sharks in the second half, emphasised by a facial served up by the Serbian center over LeBron James.

“That dunk changed the entire game around. The crowd got into it and the rest of the team fed off the energy.” said David Blatt. “It was an unbelievable play.”

After looking as if he was en-route to a triple double in the first half, James ended with just 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists on 7 for 17 shooting from the field.

Tristian Thompson had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Kevin Love also notched a double double with 12 points and 14 boards.

However, without the services of Kyrie Irving, who is still out with a broken toe, the Cavs just didn’t have an answer offensively in the second half, ending the game with a miserable 8 for 28 outing from deep.

“Give them credit, they fought hard and made their chances count.” said James. “Unfortunately there are going to be nights where shots just don’t fall and this is one of those nights.”

This marks the first loss for the defending champions this season, as they came in with a perfect 4-0 record; they will face the Bulls tomorrow night at the United Center.

The Sharks are now 1-3, and will look to add to their win total against the Kings on Thursday.

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Re: Alternate Reality - Season Opener!

Postby Valor on Mon Nov 14, 2016 3:43 pm

Phil89 wrote:Solid effort in your first game as a franchise. Hopefully you can get closer in the next game with Kyrie out.

Love the box scores btw (Y)

Cheers mate! I'm just using the boxscore generators at operation sports :)

Andrew wrote:Interested to see whether Lawson will remain on the bench, or whether he'll take over as the starter.

Yeah if he keeps this up (and Patty keeps stinking it up) I'll have to make a switch for sure (Y)
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Re: [1-3] Alternate Reality - Unleash The Boban!

Postby Phil89 on Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:15 pm

Congrats on the first win. Boban is a beast :bowdown2:
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Re: [1-3] Alternate Reality - Unleash The Boban!

Postby Lamrock on Wed Nov 16, 2016 10:56 am

BOBAN'S A BEAST
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Re: [1-3] Alternate Reality - Unleash The Boban!

Postby Valor on Wed Nov 16, 2016 3:54 pm

Phil89 wrote:Congrats on the first win. Boban is a beast :bowdown2:

Lamrock wrote:BOBAN'S A BEAST

That he is! Gobbling up rebounds and killing everybody inside the paint. The game did him a bit of an injustice though, his hands are way too small in it :lol:
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Postby Valor on Tue Nov 22, 2016 2:20 pm

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PATRICK MILLS OUT 6-8 WEEKS WITH ANKLE INJURY

Sharks point guard Patrick (Patty) Mills will miss approximately 6-8 weeks with a high left ankle sprain.

Mills suffered the injury during the third quarter of the Sharks’ 102-82 victory over the Miami Heat on Tuesday night. X-Rays were negative and he returned to Chicago for further diagnosis this morning. He will not be re-joining the team on their road trip to Detroit and Oklahoma City this weekend.

Taken second overall by Chicago in the 2016-17 NBA Expansion Draft after 5 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, the 8th year veteran has been averaging 10.6 points and 3.8 assists per game through 12 games so far this season as the Sharks’ starting point guard.

Ty Lawson is expected to replace Mills in the starting lineup.
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Re: [4-8] Alternate Reality - Injury!

Postby I Hate Mondays on Tue Nov 22, 2016 8:04 pm

Yeah, let's see Ty Lawson turning his career around this time (Y)
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Re: [4-8] Alternate Reality - Injury!

Postby Valor on Thu Nov 24, 2016 8:21 am

I hate Mondays wrote:Yeah, let's see Ty Lawson turning his career around this time (Y)

He's been putting in good performances off the bench so far, hopefully it'll be the same as a starter (Y)
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Re: [4-8] Alternate Reality - Injury!

Postby Andrew on Thu Nov 24, 2016 10:11 am

That might turn into an interesting battle for the starting spot once Mills is healthy.
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Postby Valor on Fri Nov 25, 2016 2:15 pm

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Oladipo’s Heroics Lead Thunder Over Sharks
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Victor Oladipo nails the game winning jumper over Sefolosha at the buzzer

After surrendering 8 straight points in a mere span of 36 seconds and facing the prospect of going into overtime, Thunder head coach Billy Donovan ripped into his players during the ensuring timeout, stating the importance of closing out a game properly.

Victor Oladipo got the message.

With just 3.7 seconds remaining on the clock and the game tied at 104 apiece, the fourth year guard from Indiana got the ball off a Steven Adams hand-off and subsequent screen, bypassed the outstretched arms of 6-7 Thabo Sefolosha, and fired away just before the buzzer sounded.

Nothing but net.

“Steve (Adams) set a great pick and got me enough room to put it up” said Oladipo, who ended the game with 20 points, “These are moments you dream of as a kid and I’m glad that we got away with a w.”

Led by Westbrook’s 31 points and 6 assists, the Thunder came out strong against the 4-9 Chicago Sharks, and was in command for most of the game, surviving a small rally in the third quarter for the most part, and took a seemingly insurmountable 104-96 lead with under a minute to go, but the visitors had other ideas.

Boban Marjanovic sprinted down the middle of the floor and received a nice dish from point guard Ty Lawson for a quick dunk after Oladipo hit his free throws, then after a questionable shot attempt early in the clock by OKC, Lawson pulled up and hit a three pointer. Another defensive stop on the subsequent possession eventually turned into another three pointer from the Sharks, this one coming from backup forward Yi Jianlian, and suddenly the game was tied with very little time remaining.

The rest was history.

Ty Lawson led the way for the Sharks with 18 points and 7 assists, starting once again with Patrick Mills side-lined, while Boban Marjanovic had another big night, finishing with 11 points, 17 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

“I thought our guys did a tremendous job never giving up and competing hard to make it a contest” said Sharks head coach David Blatt.

It just wasn’t enough to upset the Thunder in OKC.

The Sharks now drop to 4-10 for the season, and will return home to Chicago to face the Indiana Pacers on Monday.

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Re: [4-8] Alternate Reality - Injury!

Postby Valor on Fri Nov 25, 2016 2:19 pm

Andrew wrote:That might turn into an interesting battle for the starting spot once Mills is healthy.

For sure, as far as I'm concerned right now nobody's job is safe...


maybe except for Boban :P
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Re: [4-10] Alternate Reality - Thriller @ OKC!

Postby Phil89 on Sat Nov 26, 2016 3:08 pm

Really unlucky to lose like that. Still, it was a good performance against a strong western conference team.

Lawson played well in his expanded role. At least that's something positive.
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Re: [4-10] Alternate Reality - Thriller @ OKC!

Postby Valor on Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:32 am

Phil89 wrote:Really unlucky to lose like that. Still, it was a good performance against a strong western conference team.

Lawson played well in his expanded role. At least that's something positive.

Yeah I was happy with it, surprised we were even able to go on that 8-0 run to tie things up before Oladipo's shot, especially considering how offensively challenged we generally are.

Lawson needs to shoot better but it is encouraging. (Y)
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