TRADING PERIOD
While making some progress in free agency, there are still some holes. Let's see if I could swing some trades.
AUGUST
Once the trading period started I concentrated on trying to secure a starting PG to lead the team to their first playoff berth. I first looked at getting Sonics' rookie PG Julian Nwanaka, as I noticed they had an excess of PG's on their roster. Unfortunately due to their lack of cap room and roster space I was unable to make a deal that worked for both teams.
I then shifted my attention to Washington and the hope that maybe I could get Larry Hughes after all. Unfortunately, no combination I offered worked, and I eventually threw in the towel on that idea. With hopes dwindling, the unexpected happened when I threw together a different trade offer for the Wizards....
Bobcats Pull a Rabbit out of the Hat to Snare Arenas
Once Larry Hughes was out of the picture, the Bobcats turned their attention to his backcourt buddy, Gilbert Arenas. I offered the Wizards the newly signed Ronald Murray, along with holdovers Jason Hart and Bernard Robinson for Gilbert Arenas. I was surprised when I received the following pda message back:
This deal was a huge coup for the Bobcats and it saved their off-season from being a disappointment. Gilbert Arenas is a fringe All-Star PG at present and has the chance to develop into one of the top few PG's in the league. Arenas combines big time scoring ability from the point with pesky defensive skills to give the Bobcats something they had been lacking from the PG position, some attitude. Arenas commented at the news conference that 'the Bobcats were gonna take the Southeast Division, and to mark his words on it'.
Before anyone says this is an unfair trade, you have to look at it from the Wizards' perspective. The immediate combined salary savings for the Wizards is $4 million. Once Hart and Robinson come off the books at the end of the season, the Wizards will have an additional $6 million of cap savings. A year later once Ronald Murray's contract is up, the cap savings are about $10.5 million. They will save this money for an additional 2 years that Arenas is under contract.
Arenas had not been the impact player that the Wizards had hoped for as they slumped to the 2nd worst record in the NBA and it was a time for change. Ronald Murray should make an impact at both guard positions, and Hart might get some backup minutes at PG. However this deal was made mostly due to financial reasons for the struggling Wizards.
The Charlotte Bobcats aren't complaining one bit. Whilst they gave up some depth, the only real loss is newly signed Ronald Murray. They have gained backed a PG who could make his first All-Star appearance, and who should make a strong 1-2 duo with 2nd year forward Emeka Okafor.
Check out below for full transactions for the month of August
SEPTEMBER
In September, realising I had very little cap space and flexibility, I tried to clear a little cap space for the future. My main target was to get rid of Primo Brezec. Why Primo Brezec you ask?!? Well, in the off-season Primo Brezec had declined from an overall rating of 50 to 47. I have no reason to believe that he will now be much better than a role player at best. He's probably going to continue to decline which is a shame. What's even more of a shame is that I dbf edited salaries to bring them into line with the NBA as at the start of the '04/05 season, which means that Primo Brezec has an extension of 3 years and $7.5 million dollars. I don't wanna be paying a declining player $2.5 mill per season so I decided to shop him.
There weren't too many teams interested in a C with a rating of 47. One team that was though was the perenially centre-thin Phoenix Suns, who had some mild interest. The guy I wanted off their team was rookie SG Ashon Camby, who I think could be a future star. Unfortunately, due to cap reasons and the Suns' lack of interest in any deals that I could make, this deal never got off the ground.
I continued to shop Brezec and finally found a taker in the Windy City....
Bobcats Move Brezec to Bulls in a Salary Cap Saving Move
Desperate to trade Primo Brezec and his 3 year deal, the Charlotte Bobcats dealt him to the Chicago Bulls for veteran sharpshooter Eric Piatowski.
With this deal the 'Cats unload Brezec's 3 year deal, $7.5 million deal for Piatowski, who only has 1 year and $2.95 million remaining on his contract. Whilst it was hard to deal Brezec, especially for Piatowski who will probably sit deep on the Bobcats' bench, it was a deal that team owners and GM thought was a good move financially.
The Charlotte Bobcats would like to thank Primo Brezec for a great 2004/05 season in which he led from the front with career highs in most categories.
Primo Brezec's 2004/05 Season:
10.8ppg, 8.6rpg
8.07 Raw Birdie Pts
7.94 Weighted Birdie Pts
Check out below for full transactions for the month of September
After the trading period the roster looks like this:
Salary Cap Info:
NBA Salary Cap Limit = $44.34m
Charlotte's Salary Cap Limit = $33.26m
Charlotte's Current Salary Cap = $31.25m
Charlotte's Remaining Cap Space = $2.01m
As can be seen by the roster, the starting lineup is an improvement over last season, although the roster is now not very deep. I need another backup C/PF although I can see Luke Walton getting a little time at the 4 until I shore up the depth issue. Backup PG's and SG's are a must.
What's on the books for the rest of the Roster?!?
Well first things first, I am going to definitely use that $2 million cap space to sign a SG. I will probably go with one of the combo guards below, Dejuan Wagner or Willie Green, who are both after about $2 million a season. I have made an offer to Wagner of 1 year, $2 million. I chose to offer Wagner first as I think he has a few more PG skills than Green and can help out there if needed. If Wagner knocks back my offer, I'll pick up Willie Green, who's asking for a little less.
To fill out the final 3 roster spots, I am going to sign players to minimum contracts, which is the only way in Live 2005 to do so to go over the cap (due to there being no mid-level exceptions). I will keep an eye on the waivers that come available in the first week or so of the season. At the moment I'll probably sign a big guy like Michael Bradley or something, as well as whatever PG is going.
Well that's all folks, that's the end of my off-season coverage. I can finally get back into season action.
I am really looking forward to see how Gilbert Arenas fits in. Let me know what you think of my off-season coverage and transactions. It wasn't smooth sailing, but I believe my roster to be better than last season, and I have maintained pretty decent cap flexibility as well. If you have any queries, tips, trade advice, etc then just post away. I'm also keen to see what you guys think of the Arenas trade. I know some of you will think I ripped them, but I think I've helped them salary cap wise.
Anyway, I'm out....
X
guys, I can finally have a 
....
I guess it means that my effort on doing off-season coverage paid off....now that off-season is over, I'll just be back to another same old, same old dynasties until off-season time next season 
)
I was hoping I could sign the other free agents first and then get him cheap, but I didn't give him the respect he probably deserved....it's alright though, as you will see below, I signed Steve Blake to league minimum....he'll be the backup PG and should fit in nicely....and I think that Tshibaka kid (undrafted rookie) will develop into a solid PG, but I'm going to give him time....
The 'Cats originally set their sights on DeJuan Wagner but the 'Cats didn't have the cap space to sign him so they set their sights on ex-Detroit Uni star and ex-76er combo guard Willie Green. After trying to get him to sign a 2 or 3 year deal to no avail, I finally relented and gave him a 4 year deal (he was after a 5 year one) at $1.9 mill per year.
Steve Blake will resume his role that he had with the Wizards in his rookie season, the primary backup PG to Gilbert Arenas. While he won't jump out at you, I think Blake will be steady off the bench, make his open shots and not make too many mistakes. That's all I really need at this point and on this budget, so he fits in well with my gameplan.
Harrington has been brought in to provide solid play off the bench at the PF and C positions. I think the team needed a veteran to help all the youngster on the roster. Harrington should be the 2nd or 3rd big man off the bench, depending upon the starting lineup I use.
Bradley is on the roster purely as insurance in case of injury to one of the big men. He likely will sit the majority of the season on the IR. I flirted with the idea of signing SF Trevor Ariza, but eventually decided to add extra depth upfront. If however, one of my SF's goes down with injury, I'll definitely consider releasing Bradley and signing Ariza.
......but very good coverage on the off-season.....ive really cut down on watching dynasties/following dynasties and become addicted to general/nba talk.....but its prolly cause at one time their were just too many dynasties popping up.....but its dynasties like yours, micchy_boy's, jae's and sit's(not even sure if Mafia and Cocobee still have running dynasties)....that make someone wanna come and post here. 
