May as well dust off this thread.
Was really bored last night, so decided to rebuild a team in myLeague. I wanted to pick the most directionless team I could think of so I chose the Hornets. Started from yesterday's date and went to work.
First move I made was fire Steve Clifford, which might happen soon. It would have been realistic to hire an interim, but couldn't be bothered so I went ahead and hired Fizdale. Also revamped the whole staff with the best people because I could afford to. Simmed out the season and finished with like 34 wins and the 11th pick. Ugh. Rockets beat the Celtics in the Finals (Draymond Green was injured)
Made a bunch of draft-day trades, shipping out guys like MKG, Kaminsky and Marvin Williams. Got a late round pick, Mahinmi's albatross contract, Willy Hernangomez, Abrines, Singler, PatPat and some other junk. Drafted Troy Brown Jr. (SF, 71 OVR) and Robert Williams (PF/C, 74 OVR). To make things interesting, I decided not to tank the 2018-19 season - I held on to Kemba and Dwight, and made sensible signings in Ilyasova and Yogi Farrell. Big baller moves right here. LeBron stayed in Cleveland, DeAndre went to the Lakers (with a re-signed IT), Melo signed with Indiana, and the Grizzlies acquired Whiteside for some reason.
2018-19 Starting Five: Kemba Walker / Jeremy Lamb / Nicolas Batum / Ersan Ilyasova / Dwight Howard
Bench: Malik Monk, Willy Hernangomez, Yogi Farrell, Troy Brown, Patrick Patterson, Robert Williams, etc.
Things looked promising at first, but after some injuries, things went downhill. Suns offered T.J. Warren for Lamb and some other junk which I accepted. The team continued to battle through injuries, and I really tried to flip Dwight and Batum. Wasn't able to get anything good though. When I saw that Kemba was going to test free agency, I decided to bite the bullet and trade him. Packaged him with Batum's albatross contract and sent him to the Cavs for Tristan Thompson (and his slightly smaller deal), George Hill (19-20 team option), and a 2022 unprotected first. Not the best return, but Kemba was gone anyway.
Still managed to win 35 games, which was frustrating and left me with the 11th pick. Houston once again beat the Celtics in the finals, with CP3 winning Finals MVP for the second time! On the bright side, Malik Monk won most improved player, earning the starting spot with the Lamb trade.
Took some PG named Lamar Peters with the 11th pick - maybe a reach but he has good potential. Also sent Thompson's expiring and a 2nd rounder to the Lakers for Deng and the 20th pick, which I used on Center Nick Richards. I opted to pick up George Hill's option because why not, but renounced Dwight and Yogi Farrell. Signed Terry Rozier to about $10M/year, which Boston shockingly didn't match, and that was about it.
Going into next season, I'm fielding maybe the league's worst roster. With T.J. Warren being the highest-rated player. Hoping that some of the young players turn out to be diamonds in the rough. Robert Williams in particular I'd like to see become Ben Wallace-lite. Either way, we'll be looking at a lottery pick and a lot of cap room next Summer. Can't wait to give UNC alum Harrison Barnes $30M/year.
2019-20 Starters: George Hill / Malik Monk / Troy Brown / T.J. Warren / Robert Williams
Bench: Terry Rozier, Willy Hernangomez, Ersan Ilyasova, Lamar Peters, Nick Richards, Patrick Patterson, Ian Mahinmi, Luol Deng, etc.
Maybe I wouldn't be a good GM...
----------
Update: The season predictably started out rough. Heading into January, it was clear that the only thing we would be competing for is a top 3 pick. Yet looking at the prospects, it was clearly 83 OVR SG Lucas Ferrell or bust. Rather than take my chances with a weird generated rookie, I opted to deal my pick, along with expiring contract George Hill and center Robert Williams, to the struggling Pacers for Myles Turner and some filler. Rozier was promoted to starting PG, and Peters to backup.. Turner showed promise but the team ended up winning only 29 games - the Pacers would end up with picks 3 and 5 in the draft. Lakers end up winning the title, led by Finals MVP Lonzo Ball. #neverlost
The Phoenix Suns traded their 2018 lottery pick (Michael Porter) to Utah for Donovan Mitchell on draft night, a baffling move that led to Devin Booker playing on his 5th year qualifying offer option. They somehow made it to the 2020 WCF, but were swept by the eventual champ Lakers. And so with Devin Booker an unrestricted free agent, it was clear what our off-season goal was going to be..
On draft night, we traded Hernangomez to the Hawks for a late first in a salary dump. Picked some Asian dude - he's not very good. With a max slot and change, we offered Booker a max contract with a player option and all that good stuff. With a lot of teams being capped out, we somehow had the best pitch (Michael Jordan was at the meeting I'm guessing), and he agreed to sign with us! We still had some cap space left, so we rounded out the team with the likes of Pascal Siakam, Al-Farouq Aminu and Reggie Bullock. We got a fuckin' squad now!
Starting five going into the 2020-21 season was Rozier, Booker, Troy Brown, Siakam and Turner. T.J. Warren and Malik Monk headlined a bench that also included Aminu, Peters and Bullock. While the team was clearly better than last year's, a 12-17 start was very disappointing. And so it was time to make another trade! Fourth year player Dennis Smith was putting up big numbers for the Dallas Mavericks, making the all-star team. However, Dallas has continued to be one of the league's worst teams, and Smith's efficiency was disastrous to put it kindly. So we cashed in some of our chips, trading Terry Rozier, T.J. Warren, Nick Richard, our 2021 first rounder, and Cleveland's 2022 first to Dallas for Smith and expiring contract/solid backup Center Nerlens Noel. Boom.
It took some time to adjust to the addition of DSJ, but a twelve game winning streak spanning February and March led to us finishing 47-35, and earning the fifth seed in the East. Oddly, our team was 27-14 on the road, but just 20-21 at home. Weird, but that probably won't be a factor some playoff-time. Other than Pascal Siakam (replaced by Aminu in the starting five), we were completely healthy going into the post-season. Unfortunately, our first round opponent was the stacked 76ers, led by their trio of 90+ OVR guys in Embiid, Simmons and Fultz, who were also healthy.
Anyway, we somehow blew them out in game 1, with Myles Turner forcing Embiid into foul trouble. Game 2 saw us overcome a 7 point deficit late to win that as well, despite Marcus Smart (who they maxed for some reason) playing very well. 2-0 lead going home. That's pretty good, right?! Well... Sixers blew us out in game 3. Not shocking, but still a bummer. Then in game 4, Embiid could not be stopped down the stretch as we narrowly lost that one too. Going back to Philly, it looked like the home team would finally win one - they had the ball, up 1 with 6 seconds to go. However, Malik Monk stole the inbounds pass, and made the game-winning layup. Oh snap... Philadelphia led for most of game 6, and they ended up winning it. 6/6 for the road team. Looks like Charlotte's got game 7 in the bag, right?
Philadelphia 125, Charlotte 98 | PHI wins series 4-3.
Oh well. The Sixers actually made it to the NBA Finals. They took on the 7 seed Spurs, who were missing Kawhi for most of the regular season but were finally to full strength. PHilly went up 3-0 (!) but managed to pull off the greatest choke job in NBA history, losing four straight in the Finals to lose to the Spurs. Yikes...
And so the Hornets head into the off-season with three young second-tier stars. If our big three develops, the strategy of trading the farm for good young stars will pay off. If not, we're capped out with few draft picks to look forward to. Should be an interesting off-season (well, not really, but idk)