TheBigEasy's Hornets Dynasty

Hi Folks ...

finally I decided to start my Hornets Dynasty on NBA Live 2005. I had to wait til Andrew released the updated ratings version of his rosters (thanks for that mate) ... well and til the WoW Beta was finished

Anyways ... lets get started.

Settings:

Difficulty: Superstar
Quarterlength: 12 Minutes
Seasonlength: 82 Games
Playoffs: 7-7-7-7
Sliders: well ... I actually don't quite remember whose sliders it is, but I believe mp3's ... slightly tweaked.
Roster: NSLC v1.1 ... uninjured

I wanted to shake up the team considerably and thought about making some big trades, even involving Baron Davis and/or Jamaal Magloire. I wanted to have a dominant big man, so I played some exhibition games with Amare Stoudemire, Jermaine O'Neal and Dirk Nowitzki on the roster.

I then simmed a dynasty a bit, in order to find out if my desired trades would be possible in dynasty. Well ... nothing worked, so I had to make the deals before I started the dynasty.

1. Trade

Jamaal Magloire - 69 overall - Center - $5 Mill. p.a.
PJ Brown - 64 overall - Power Forward - $8 Mill. p.a.
Jamal Mashburn - 66 overall - Small Forward - $9.3 Mill. p.a.

for

Jermaine O'Neal - 84 overall - Power Forward - $14.783 Mill. p.a.
Austin Croshere - 58 overall - Power Foward / Center - $8.25 Mill p.a.

I desperatly wanted to get rid of Mashburn, I haven't used him a single minute so far in all my games with the Hornets and just like in real life he has to go. His and Mags salary would make up for O'Neal, but I thought it would be nice to get rid of PJ Brown in the process too, so I included him and Austin Croshere in the deal. As I have made this deal outside of Dynasty mode, of course it went through.

2. Trade

Darrell Armstrong - 65 overall - Point Guard - $3.25 Mill. p.a.
Rodney Rogers - 64 overall - Power Forward - $1.1 Mill. p.a.

for

Andre Igoudala - 67 overall - Small Forward - $1.9 Mill. p.a.
Samuel Dalembert - 57 overall - Center - $1.6 Mill. p.a.

Well ... after Magloire was gone I needed a new center and ever since the draft I am intrigued with Igoudala, so I decided to deal for him. This deal also went through before the Dynasty. It may not work salary wise and well ... I am screwing Philly in this deal, but I did it anyway . I also wanted to get rid of Rodney Rogers, who is absolutely useless.

Other moves

I released Tim Pickett and Alex Garcia. I then created myself, 5'8'', 175 lbs, 60 overall, Point Guard. In the creating process I found out, that the templates for players are worthless. I used the "Passing PG" template and the player turned out 98 overall . So I tuned it down. I am a good passer, good 3 point shooter and quite quick ... judging on the ratings .

I have also an eye on 7'5'' russian Center Pavel Podkolzin of the Mavericks, I might trade Lee Nailon for him later in the season. I will also look to get rid of David Wesley, hopefully I can get a draft pick for him.

Lineup

Starters:

C - Samuel Dalembert
PF - Jermaine O'Neal
SF - Andre Igoudala
SG - Junior Harrington
PG - Baron Davis

Bench:
PG - Frank Richter (myself)
SG - David Wesley
PF - David West
C - Chris Andersen
PF - Austin Croshere
SF - George Lynch
SG - JR Smith

IR:
SF - Lee Nailon



Next post ... Game No. 1 ... Dallas Mavericks @ New Orleans Hornets

TBE

good luck

good to see you back! I really like your trades and your team! You are in a similar situation to the way I was when I started my 2005 Nets dynasty. I had Kidd (like you have Davis) and my created player as backup PG. At the trade deadline, I unloaded Kidd to the Bulls and my player stepped in.

While your trades aren't exactly 100% NBA-realistic, who gives a damn. And I really like that you gave a bit too much to the other team in terms of just looking at overall ratings- that helps with realism quite a bit.

Well, in closing, welcome back to Dynasty-Land!

yeah nice to see you back. Good luck bro.

Looking good but, Why are you starting Junior Harrington instead of JR Smith?

Thanks guys ... I'll post updates soon. I have already the first two games in the books and so far its great.

I know the trades are not that realistic ... but I wanted big changes. The real Hornets haven't changed the roster much, so to play with basically the same old team didn't do it for me. And just adding a bunch of roleplayers like last year wasn't it either. So I decided to give up Magloire and get a dominant big man. Duncan and Garnett were a bit too much, so I went after the next best available ... and those were Nowitzki, O'Neal and Stoudemire. O'Neal finally ended up in New Orleans and so far he is doing great.

Looking good but, Why are you starting Junior Harrington instead of JR Smith?

Cause with 61 Junior Harrington has the better overall rating than Smith (57). But I have to find a solution for the 2Guard. So far the rotation isn't quite where I want it. And I still have a problem with substituting players ... sometimes even if I clearly click a certain player, another player gets subbed in, sometimes screwing my rotation before I see the error. At one time I even had David Wesley subbed in at Center before I realized the mistake ...

For now Smith isnt getting a lot of minutes, but that will change. Especially in the early games he will get some minutes to show what he can do.

TBE

Well ... now its time for the first game review. I played the Dallas Mavericks at home in my season opener.

Hornets 98 - Mavericks 105

My totally revamped team saw its first real action of the season and to my surprise could stay with the Mavericks throughout the game. I lead by 7 at halftime, but in the third they started a comeback and pulled away in the fourth. In the end the Mavs turned to Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley to beat me.

Here is the score:

Code:

Game 5/13         1st     2nd     3rd     4th     TOTAL   
Dallas            20      25      25      35      105     
New Orleans       23      29      19      27      98     

Player of the Game:

Code:

Player            POS     MIN     FGM-A   3PM-A   FTM-A   OFF     REB     AST     STL     BLK     TO      PF     PTS     
D. Nowitzki       F       35      11-17   0-0     3-3     3       10      1       1       3       4       4       25     

But the Hornets weren't bad. New players Jermaine O'Neal and Samuel Dalembert did a very good job of filling in for departed PJ Brown and Jamaal Magloire. Andre Igoudala though hadn't had a very good first game, scoring only 2 points in 37 minutes. Due to the scoring Jermaine O'Neal provided, Baron Davis didn't have to do as much on the offensive end as in years past.

Here are the complete boxscores for both teams:

Hornets:

Code:

New Orleans       
Player            POS     MIN     FGM-A   3PM-A   FTM-A   OFF     REB     AST     STL     BLK     TO      PF     PTS     
S. Dalembert      C       29      6-13    0-0     1-2     3       13      4       3       0       3       2       13
J. O'Neal         F       38      15-23   0-0     2-8     2       10      2       0       2       2       3       32
A. Iguodala       F       37      1-5     0-0     0-0     1       1       1       0       0       3       3       2
J. Harrington     G       21      2-3     0-0     0-0     1       2       3       1       0       1       0       4
B. Davis          G       37      10-22   3-5     0-0     0       2       5       1       0       1       3       23
D. Wesley                 13      1-3     0-0     1-2     0       2       1       0       0       0       0       3
F. Richter                16      3-7     1-4     0-0     0       0       0       0       0       0       0       7
G. Lynch                  14      0-2     0-1     0-0     0       0       0       0       0       0       2       0
A. Croshere               5       2-3     0-0     0-0     0       1       0       0       0       1       0       4
J. Smith                  9       0-2     0-0     0-0     0       1       0       0       0       1       0       0
D. West                   6       1-1     0-0     0-2     0       3       0       1       0       0       0       2
C. Andersen               20      4-7     0-1     0-0     2       7       3       0       0       3       0       8
TOTAL                             45-91   4-11    4-14    9       42      19      6       2       15      13      98
                                  .495    .364    .286   

Mavericks:

Code:

Dallas           
Player            POS     MIN     FGM-A   3PM-A   FTM-A   OFF     REB     AST     STL     BLK     TO      PF     PTS     
E. Dampier        C       38      2-3     0-0     0-0     1       9       0       0       4       0       0       4
D. Nowitzki       F       35      11-17   0-0     3-3     3       10      1       1       3       4       4       25
J. Howard         F       36      2-7     0-0     2-2     0       2       4       1       1       0       1       6
M. Finley         G       36      14-25   1-3     2-2     0       2       2       1       1       0       1       31
D. Harris         G       32      4-9     1-1     2-2     0       2       4       1       0       4       3       11
J. Stackhouse             17      4-9     1-1     1-2     0       2       0       0       1       1       0       10
J. Terry                  17      5-9     0-1     0-0     0       0       3       2       0       2       2       10
M. Daniels                7       2-3     0-0     2-2     0       0       1       0       0       0       0       6
A. Henderson              13      0-1     0-0     0-0     1       3       0       0       1       0       2       0
S. Bradley                10      1-3     0-0     0-0     1       2       0       0       3       1       0       2
D. Dickau                 DNP -- Coach’s Decision
C. Booth                  5       0-0     0-0     0-0     0       0       0       0       0       1       2       0
TOTAL                             45-86   3-6     12-13   6       32      15      6       14      13      15      105
                                  .523    .500    .923

All in all a pretty good start, the game was intense throughout and I had a chance to win it til the final minute, so it doesnt bother me that much that I lost.

Next post ... Orlando Magic @ New Orleans Hornets

TBE

And here is the next one. This time against the Magic.

Hornets 103 - Magic 91

Oh what a game. This one was even more intense than the Dallas game. In the first couple of minutes Jermaine O'Neal got injured and had to sit out the rest of the first quarter. Midway through the first quarter I had to take out Baron Davis, as he had already picked up his second foul. But although both my best players were out, I only trailed by 3 at the end of the first.

In the second quarter O'Neal got back and I tried to narrow the gap, but couldn't succeed. Orlando slowly increased the lead and led by 8 at halftime. I nearly quit there and thought this one was over already.

Midway through the third the Magic had built up a 15 point lead for a 63-48 score! But I didn't buckle and started a huge comeback. 14 unanswered points later and near the end of the quarter I was within 1 point and the game was open again.

In the fourth now I didn't give up and again attacked relentlessly. It worked and I was able to take the lead and didn't give it up. In the end I won 103-91. This score is pretty amazing, cause I play 12 minute quarters. In Live 04 I wouldn't have managed such a low score in 12 minutes.

Code:

Game 4/4          1st     2nd     3rd     4th     TOTAL   
Orlando           22      26      17      26      91     
New Orleans       19      21      26      37      103

Here you see 3 Magic players, who try to prevent Baron Davis from scoring. Needless to say, they weren't able to slow him down .



Despite the early injury, Jermaine O'Neal got POG Honors.´

Code:

Player            POS     MIN     FGM-A   3PM-A   FTM-A   OFF     REB     AST     STL     BLK     TO      PF      PTS
J. O'Neal         F       31      12-15   0-1     2-2     4       11      2       0       4       2       0       26

He also posted the second double-double in as many games. As did Samuel Dalembert. I am really pleased how Dalembert works out as Magloires replacement so far.

Myself hasn't done much so far. In two games I have only scored a combined 18 points in a total of 30 minutes. No rebounds, no assists, no steals or blocks. But I hope that will change.

Here are now the boxscores for both teams:

Code:

New Orleans       
Player            POS     MIN     FGM-A   3PM-A   FTM-A   OFF     REB     AST     STL     BLK     TO      PF      PTS
S. Dalembert      C       33      5-11    0-0     2-6     1       12      3       0       2       4       1       12
J. O'Neal         F       31      12-15   0-1     2-2     4       11      2       0       4       2       0       26
A. Iguodala       F       28      3-9     0-1     0-0     2       5       3       0       0       2       1       6
J. Harrington     G       31      5-10    0-1     0-2     0       2       3       1       0       0       0       10
B. Davis          G       34      12-24   4-9     1-2     0       2       4       2       0       3       3       29
D. Wesley                 13      0-2     0-1     0-0     1       5       1       0       0       0       0       0
F. Richter                14      4-6     0-0     3-6     0       0       0       0       0       0       0       11
G. Lynch                  21      0-1     0-1     0-0     0       5       2       1       0       0       0       0
A. Croshere               10      3-7     1-1     0-2     1       3       0       0       0       0       0       7
J. Smith                  7       0-0     0-0     0-0     0       1       0       0       0       0       0       0
D. West                   8       0-2     0-0     0-0     1       3       0       0       0       1       0       0
C. Andersen               16      1-5     0-0     0-0     0       6       0       0       1       1       0       2
TOTAL                             45-92   5-15    8-20    10      55      18      4       7       13      5       103
                                  .489    .333    .400

Code:

Orlando           
Player            POS     MIN     FGM-A   3PM-A   FTM-A   OFF     REB     AST     STL     BLK     TO      PF      PTS
K. Cato           C       33      3-8     0-0     0-0     5       11      1       1       2       0       0       6
D. Howard         F       27      8-13    0-0     0-0     8       15      1       1       0       2       5       16
G. Hill           F       34      6-16    0-0     0-0     0       4       1       3       0       5       3       12
C. Mobley         G       42      11-31   3-8     0-0     0       5       1       2       0       0       4       25
S. Francis        G       35      8-17    1-5     0-0     0       1       1       0       0       3       4       17
H. Turkoglu               14      4-6     1-1     0-0     0       0       0       0       0       2       0       9
J. Nelson                 14      2-5     0-0     0-0     0       2       4       0       0       0       1       4
P. Garrity                19      0-2     0-1     0-0     0       7       2       0       0       0       0       0
D. Stevenson              6       0-3     0-2     0-0     0       1       0       0       0       0       0       0
T. Battie                 14      1-4     0-0     0-0     2       5       0       1       1       0       1       2
S. Augmon                 6       0-3     0-0     0-0     0       1       1       0       0       0       0       0
M. Kasun                  2       0-0     0-0     0-0     0       1       0       0       0       0       1       0
TOTAL                             43-108  5-17    0-0     15      53      12      8       3       12      19      91
                                  .398    .294    .000

Next match is ... New Orleans Hornets @ Minnesota Timberwolves

Thoughts ...

I think the trades really worked out for me. Jermaine O'Neal is just a beast in the paint. Samuel Dalembert is a pretty good replacement for Jamaal Magloire. Andre Igoudala ... well, I'll see how he pans out over the season, but I have some hopes for him. As I have traded Magloire, Brown and Mashburn to the Pacers, Indiana has got quite the same shakeup the Hornets did. But that didn't stop them from totally destroying the Cavaliers in their season opener ... 127-72 was the final score .

The scoring is quite ok, given the fact, that I play 12 minute quarters. I try to really use the clock and make my opponent use the clock. And it seems to work. In both games the score didn't go much over 200 points total, which is good I think.

I have to get better at the charity stripe. A total 12-34 is definitly pretty bad . But that will come ...

TBE

ugh...love ya, love the dynasty....but the boxscore coding has to go

ugh...love ya, love the dynasty....but the boxscore coding has to go

Ahm ... why that?

TBE

I don't think they have to go...but perhaps just take a screen shot of the box scores and that should suffice...

Looking forward to reading up on your dynasty, after your 2004 stint. Let me know when you get halfway through your season(or a quarter of the way if you're playing 58 or 82) so I can birdie you up.

Thanks by the way for supporting 2004 B-Board when it was up and running(I hope you now know why I never used excel for my calculations )

Keep up the good work!

I don't think they have to go...but perhaps just take a screen shot of the box scores and that should suffice...

That's what I meant - It's a pretty common opinion throughout the dynasties

but if you like it that way- more power to ya!

That's what I meant - It's a pretty common opinion throughout the dynasties

but if you like it that way- more power to ya!

Well ... taking screens means putting pictures up here ... meaning bandwith. I think I'll go back to the "Top Performers" thingy from last year.

And here are the next two games ... @ Minnesota and vs. the Lakers.

Hornets 106 - Timberwolves 115

I actually can't remember much about this one, other than I kept Kevin Garnett pretty much out of the game with foul trouble. He wasn't much of a factor. But others, namely Latrell Sprewell, Wally World and Sam I Am stepped up and filled the void.

This was the first (and I guess only) game, where I used the alternate uniforms of the Hornets. From here on out I'll only use the blue 97/98 alternates and the practice uniforms. I just hate the teal.

Here is the boxscore of the game. I pretty much owned them in the first, but later on I got owned .

Code:

Game 3/3          1st     2nd     3rd     4th     TOTAL   
New Orleans       26      33      25      22      106     
Minnesota         19      35      32      29      115     

Here you can see my created self escaping 3 Minnesota players and scoring. My appearance isn't finished yet, I will refine all the details.



Top Performers:

Hornets:
Jermaine O'Neal - 33 pts, 13 reb, 4 ass, 1 blk
Baron Davis - 29 pts, 2 reb, 7 ass, 2 stl
Samuel Dalembert - 15 pts, 11 reb, 3 ass

Timberwolves:
Sam Cassell (POG) - 20 pts, 3 reb, 6 ass, 3 stl
Latrell Sprewell - 29 pts, 1 reb, 4 ass, 1 stl
Wally Szczerbiak - 22 pts, 4 reb, 1 ass, 1 stl

David Wesley got his first DNP-CD and other than the three Top Hornets, nobody really did much ... I guess, thats why I lost .

Well ... on to the next one ...

Hornets 125 - Lakers 113

This one was much closer throughout. The Lakers, despite losing Kobe early to foul trouble, led after the first quarter. But with hard defense and some very good offense I bounced back and took a 8 point lead at halftime. Most of my offensive plays ran through O'Neal of course. He put on his usual spectacular performance ... In the third I extended the lead to 15 at some times, but suddenly Kobe got hot, took over and turned the game. Point after point they came closer until they took the lead early in the fourth. But I didn't buckle and stayed with them. Samuel Dalembert also got some nice looks and converted ... In the end even my really, really bad FT shooting couldn't keep me from winning the game. Jermaine O'Neal got his second POG Award in a Hornets Uni.

David Wesley got just his second DNP-CD, and Austin Croshere also didn't get on the floor in this game.

Boxscore:

Code:

Game 2/2          1st     2nd     3rd     4th     TOTAL   
LA Lakers         32      24      31      26      113     
New Orleans       27      36      27      35      125     

Top Performers:

Hornets:
Jermaine O'Neal (POG) - 39 pts, 13 reb, 4 ass, 2 stl,
Samuel Dalembert - 23 pts, 15 reb, 3 ass, 2 stl, 1 blk
Baron Davis - 19 pts, 6 reb, 7 ass, 1 stl

Lakers:
Lamar Odom - 18 pts, 10 reb, 1 stl, 3 blk
Kobe Bryant - 30 pts, 1 reb, 2 ass, 1 stl
Vlade Divac - 12 pts, 7 reb, 1 ass, 2 stl, 1 blk

Thoughts ...

Well ... this season certainly starts better then the season for the real Hornets . I am extremely pleased with the play of Jermaine O'Neal, but on the other hand, that was somewhat expected. Samuel Dalemberts stellar play wasn't quite expected. In every of the first 4 contests he posted a double double, leading the league in rebounds with 12.8 a game. He is certainly a worthy replacement for Jamaal Magloire.

Because of the strong offensive output of Jermaine O'Neal, Baron Davis' numbers have diminished, as he doesn't have to do everything by himself anymore, which is basically a good thing. I need to up the assists per game and I need to get myself to accomplish more than just score a couple of points.

This season I am trying to shorten the rotation, letting the starters get the bulk of the minutes and let others only get garbage minutes. So far it kinda worked ...

Andre Igoudala has to become better ... so far he wasn't worth the trade. On the other hand, I got Dalembert in this deal and got rid of Rogers and Armstrong, so I ain't complaining .

Next match is vs. the Atlanta Hawks.

TBE

Very clean re-cap. Good job…on the stat lines you know you can also use the new Birdie BoxScore tool to post the player's Efficiency rating for the game(hint hint hint)
I really like the layout design of your re-cap. If only our local newspapers were that 'tight' with their game results.

However, you gave me a great idea! Hopefully I can get it done...within the next three weeks.

looking foward to seeing your CF
and i understand that bandwidth thing, but the coding scorecard is not working because everything is jumbled.

looking foward to seeing your CF
and i understand that bandwidth thing, but the coding scorecard is not working because everything is jumbled.

Well ... thats because of the resolution you are running. I run a 1280x1024 resolution on my machine, and for me it looks perfectly fine . But I'll just go back to the "Top Performers" like in the past. No more Boxscores (except the quick quarter-by-quarter overview).

TBE

nice dynasty,

now I demand u get a triple double with JR Smith and Chris Andersen

anyway good luck....but yeah just do like Stats Leaders...cause those boxscorer are unreadable unless your willing to copy and paste them each time onto notepad and take off wordwrap.

good luck yet again

And here we go ... the next two games ... vs. Atlanta and @ Milwaukee.

Hornets 97 - Hawks 85

This was a blowout from the beginning. Atlanta didn't have the slightest chance. It was also by far my best defensive game in NBA Live 2005. For the first time this season, I held an opponent to under 40 made FG in a game. And it was also the first time for me to hold an opponent under 90 points in a 12 minute per quarter game.

The scoring was evenly divided, with Samuel Dalembert and Chris Andersen scoring both 18 points. Chris Andersen grabbed also a season high 12 rebounds, Dalembert fell 1 rebound short of his 5th consecutive double-double.

Jermaine O'Neal got his 5th consecutive double-double with 15 pts and 15 rebounds. He also won Player of the Game.

Boxscore:

Code:

Game 4/4          1st     2nd     3rd     4th     TOTAL   
Atlanta           17      12      28      28      85     
New Orleans       30      25      18      24      97     

As you can see, I totally dominated them in the first half. Although they tried to make a comeback in the third and fourth quarters, I was able to hold them off and won it.

Top Performers:

Hornets:
Jermaine O'Neal (POG) - 15 pts, 15 reb, 2 ass, 3 blk
Samuel Dalembert - 18 pts, 9 reb, 2 ass, 2 blk
Chris Andersen - 18 pts, 12 reb, 1 ass, 1 blk
Baron Davis - 17 pts, 1 reb, 4 ass, 2 stl

Hawks:
Antoine Walker - 22 pts, 14 reb, 2 ass, 1 stl, 1 blk
Al Harrington - 17 pts, 3 reb, 1 ass, 2 stl, 1 blk
Kenny Anderson - 13 pts, 2 reb, 3 ass, 3 stl

Ego-Watch ...

I scored 8 pts, 2 reb, 4 ass in 27 minutes.

Hornets 103 - Bucks 98

Well ... this one was completely different. Almost from the tipoff the Bucks ran away. I couldn't stop them and I needed to sit Baron Davis in the first because of foultrouble. I tried hard, but they still made basket after basket and let by 18 at the half. Jermaine O'Neal kept me at least bit alive, scoring 12 pts in each of the first two quarters. But besides him, I got not much else from the rest.

At the beginning of the third they extended the lead to 22 before I started a comeback. Behind Jermaine O'Neals continued strong play (13 pts in the quarter) I rallied to turn it around. I managed to close the gap to 11 at the end of the third.

In the fourth O'Neal more or less dissappeared, at least offensively, scoring only 4 points. But Samuel Dalembert more than made up for this, scoring half of his career high 31 points in the fourth quarter. This helped me to tie the game at 91 with 3:30 to play in the game. I stayed calm and after some lead changes in the final minutes, I prevailed 103-98. This was a tough one.

Jermaine O'Neal picked up his third consecutive POG award with a stellar perfomance ... 41 pts, 23 reb, 8 ass, 1 blk.

Boxscore:

Code:

Game 9/9          1st     2nd     3rd     4th     TOTAL   
New Orleans       21      23      24      35      103     
Milwaukee         30      32      17      19      98     

The sad fact of this game is, that Jermaine O'Neal (41 pts), Samuel Dalembert (31 pts) and Baron Davis (19 pts) scored 91 of my 103 points. This has to get better. Andre Igoudala for example went scoreless in 44 minutes!

Top Performers:

Hornets:
Jermaine O'Neal (POG) - 41 pts, 23 reb, 8 ass, 1 blk
Samuel Dalembert - 31 pts, 11 reb, 2 ass, 1 stl, 1 blk
Baron Davis - 19 pts, 4 reb, 5 ass

Bucks:
Keith van Horn - 34 pts, 3 reb, 2 ass, 1 stl, 1 blk
Joe Smith - 10 pts, 13 reb, 2 stl
Michael Redd - 28 pts, 3 reb, 6 ass

Ego-Watch ...

I scored 2 pts, 2 reb, 4 ass in 20 minutes.

Next up is Phoenix @ the New Orleans Arena.

TBE