Andrew wrote:Hell of a second half for him, but great team effort in the second quarter!
wdt92 wrote:Foul trouble or not for Rus, Paul George must have been an easy target in the 2nd for Westbrook. 39 points for PG and 17 assists for Westbrook! Noel was awesome also shooting 80% and anchoring the defense with his 3 blocks. Very good game edging closer to the Playoffs!
OKC | 35 | 25 | 36 | 28 | 124 |
HOU | 14 | 29 | 29 | 44 | 116 |
Player of the Game: Paul George
(37pts, 2reb, 2ast, 5stl, 1blk)
(16-26 FG, 1-2 3PT, 4-5 FT)
Simmed Game
MIL | 10 | 34 | 16 | 28 | 88 |
OKC | 14 | 31 | 22 | 26 | 93 |
POTG: Russell Westbrook (28pts, 8reb, 7ast, 2stl, 2blk)
Record: 65-17
Andrew wrote:Good job securing the second seed. Hell of a run by the Rockets after that first quarter, though.
wdt92 wrote:Great game by all the guys. I am growing fond seeing Noel start pushing the score up and rebounding well. While his blocks aren't there in comparison to the Big Kiwi, but if Noel continues to produce well, are you considering moving Adams' contract?
Phil89 wrote:I have thought about trading Adams for a wing scorer and using Noel as a starter. But it would have to be for a good player. My ideal target would be Bradley Beal, although I'm not sure I have enough assets to get him.
Any trade would probably have to wait until a few months into next season though because I'm gonna try to stick as close to real life as I can this off-season. After that point I'm probably going to move away from copying real life transactions and create some original narratives.
Transactions
04/03/19 - Milwaukee re-signed Eric Bledsoe (4yr/$70m)
08/03/19 - Atlanta signed Jordan Crawford (1yr/$1.5m)
08/03/19 - New York signed Sean Kilpatrick (1yr/$1.5m)
08/03/19 - Toronto signed Al Jefferson (1yr/$1.5m)
19/03/19 - Detroit signed Joe Johnson (1yr/$1.5m)
wdt92 wrote:Phil89 wrote:I have thought about trading Adams for a wing scorer and using Noel as a starter. But it would have to be for a good player. My ideal target would be Bradley Beal, although I'm not sure I have enough assets to get him.
Any trade would probably have to wait until a few months into next season though because I'm gonna try to stick as close to real life as I can this off-season. After that point I'm probably going to move away from copying real life transactions and create some original narratives.
The interesting thing will be if you're forced to trade him, Roberson, or Schroder. I don't know if you've kept up with it, but OKC has been reportedly shopping those guys to drop salary. So, we'll have to see, but you may be making that trade you want soon enough.
seaboh13 wrote:Hell of a season man. Just caught up on it. Great to see PG13 beasting still. Yeah I'd move Adams as Noel seems to be doing quite well for you. I'm always torn with draft picks etc when doing a modern season. I live on hoopshype and realgm so hard not to want to integrate any new transactions etc!
Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook was named the 2018-19 Most Valuable Player at the NBA awards show on Monday night.
The annual awards show was moved up to April this year after negative feedback from fans. Many had voiced their opinion on social media that it was absurd to have to wait until after the playoffs were over before learning who had won the regular season awards.
Westbrook, 30, narrowly came out on top of James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Stephen Curry in a four-way race to win the most coveted individual award on offer.
The voting was the closest in recent memory. Voters were in agreement that those four were the top four players in the league, just not as to which order they were.
James Harden will be feeling quite unlucky. This is the second time he has finished runner-up to Westbrook in this award, after 2017. He also finished second to Curry in 2015, but won it in 2018.
Westbrook couldn't quite match his triple-double average from the past two seasons this time around. But his efficiency increased and he led his team to 65 wins, which earned them second place in the extremely competitive Western conference.
It was perhaps the best season of Westbrook's career to date. In addition to winning his second MVP, he was also selected on the All-NBA First team for the third time and the All-Defense First team for the first time. He also participated in his eighth All-Star game in February.
The fact that Oklahoma City won so many games and pushed the overwhelming championship favourites Golden State right down to the wire in the race for the first seed really cemented Westbrook's claim.
He led the franchise to their greatest ever winning season, surpassing the 64 wins in 1995-96 when they were still based in Seattle. Or, if you like to keep that history separate, the 2012-13 season when they won 60 games.
Winning a second MVP trophy puts him level with Bob Pettit, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash and Stephen Curry. It's a truly great achievement for a player who for a long time was considered the 'Robin' to Kevin Durant's 'Batman' during their time as teammates.
Now Russell has twice as many MVP trophies as Durant and there has been a full reversal in how both players are perceived by fans. It used to be said that Durant was the golden boy in Oklahoma City, who had a streaky high-volume shooter in Westbrook as dead weight holding him back from greatness.
But ever since Durant left the Thunder and joined Golden State, Westbrook has taken his game to another level and demonstrated that he can effectively lead a team himself. Whilst Durant is constantly ridiculed for taking 'the easy path' to championships by joining a historically stacked team.
Statistically this was Westbrook's lowest scoring output since the the 2013-14 season. However, the points appear to have been sacrificed in favour of getting better shots and getting his teammates involved on offense.
His assist average remained in double figures for the fourth straight season, whilst his turnover numbers were the second-lowest of his career.
Most impressive was his shooting efficiency across the board. He shot a career-best 51% from the field and 34% from the perimeter. Strangely though his free throw shooting was significant down on his career average at just 62%.
Defensively he was also improved. His 2.2 steals per game was another new career best. He recorded an unbelievable 11 steals in a 138-115 win against the Chicago Bulls on December 17th.
They came as part of his incredible quadruple-double effort which also saw him score 31 points, grab 12 rebounds and dish out 20 assists. It was undoubtedly one of the best games he has ever played.
Chicago point guard Ryan Arcidiacono will be having nightmares about that game for the rest of his life. It was the first quadruple-double in the NBA since David Robinson logged 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and 10 blocks in a game against the Pistons back in 1994.
He also came incredibly close to a quadruple-double just a month earlier against Phoenix. He finished that game with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and 9 steals.
wdt92 wrote:I just watched Iso Joe vs. Greg Oden in the Big 3 League, so I may be biased in this, but it might turn out being a good signing by Detroit to get Joe Johnson. Though I wish he would have been signed by a championship contender just as another option off the bench. In the game, I imagine his ratings aren't great though.
Toronto getting Big Al is kind of meh to me. He's gained a bunch of weight, so his game has definitely slipped more than Joe. Also, with their big rotations (and I don't believe you've had any huge injuries to their squad), I don't think Al could really help them.
Back on our trade talk, I really like the Big Kiwi. I think Adams is great. It's primarily his contract vs. what he offers is what hurts the Thunder as you said. He is really good at what he does, but it is kind of like Capela for Houston. He's replaceable by someone who you could get for much less. I think given the right trade, even giving Noel $8 Million shouldn't hurt you too badly. I think even if need be, you could trade Roberson to make the cap room. If I recall correctly, you still have Grant and I know you have Ferguson who can offer a healthier production than Roberson in the 20 or so minutes you've given him. You actually are in a really good position moving forward (again, unless Presti throws a curveball this Summer ).
Andrew wrote:For sentimental reasons, it'd be great to hold onto Adams. In real life he's a class act and by all accounts a great teammate on top of being effective in his role. He's also had quite a few great games for you here, so it'd be hard to give him up. Tough decision with Noel and the contracts, though.
Andrew wrote:Good to see Westbrook pick up the MVP. I reckon the real awards ceremony should be between the regular season and Playoffs, as in 2K. It'd make a lot more sense.
wdt92 wrote:The late MVP voting also allows easy access to criticize the eventual winner. I already saw Max Kellerman have the "neither Giannis or Harden deserved it" take in real life. When we all know a few months back he was singing Giannis' praises. It then seeps into the fanbase, which hurts the credibility of the award. At least, in my opinion.
wdt92 wrote:Out of curiosity, did you have anyone else close to getting another award?
Andrew wrote:Averaging a triple-double is easier in MyCAREER, where the gameplay is anything but sim!
Still takes a bit of an effort, but in a way easier when you can focus on fudging your own stats.
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