So I love sports games. My main three go-to games are NBA2K (Xbox 360), MLB The Show (PS3), and Madden (Xbox 360/PS3). I've been playing NBA2K10 a lot lately which means the boredom is beginning to set in. My favorite game mode by far is the Association. Although I love the idea of drafting my team in Fantasy Draft, this seems to be the part of the game that I get the most bored with and usually only make a few games into the first season. My other preference is playing an association in 2K with my loaded up Miami Heat (Yes I am a Miami Heat fan and always have been!). You can play at least a season, maybe several, depending on how into the game you are when you get to play with King James, D-Wade, and Bosh. The new thing I am now trying is playing an association with a young team that requires building to be a contender. To do this I have chosen to play with the New Orleans Hornets. Not only do they have A LOT of young talent worth building a team around, but they are also the only NBA team without an owner which makes it even more fun and puts kind of a realistic fantasy spin on things as you get to act like you have just bought the Hornets. Of course even though I will be playing games as the Hornets and they will be my main focus, I obviously had to control all 30 teams to make the offseason more realistic by controlling player contracts for all teams. I had the choice of playing with a team with virtually no talent (Orlando Magic, Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers) or an above average aging team that will need to be rebuilt in a season or two (Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, LA Lakers) but the Hornets were my choice. The Hornets offer three of the elite young talents in the game to build around along with a huge salary cap to spend in the upcoming offseason.
Here is the Hornets default roster that I began the season with:
PG- Jrue Holiday
SG- Tyreke Evans
SG- Eric Gordon
SG- Anthony Morrow
SG- Trey Johnson
PF- Lou Amundson
PF- Pops Mensah-Bonsu
PF- Ryan Anderson
PF- Jason Smith
PF- Lawrence Roberts
C- David Andersen
C- Alexis Ajinca
After a few trades and free agent signings before the first game of the season this is the roster I am going with:
Starters:
PG- Jrue Holiday
SG- Eric Gordon
SF- Tyreke Evans
PF- Jordan Hill (Received along with a '10 2nd Rd Pick from the Lakers for Amundson)
C- DeAndre Jordan (Received for Mensah-Bonsu in a trade with the Clippers)
Bench/Reserves:
PF- Ryan Anderson
C- Brad Miller (Signed to a cheap 1 year deal in Free Agency)
SF- Peja Stojakovic (Signed to a cheap 1 year deal in Free Agency)
SG- Morris Peterson (Signed to a cheap 1 year deal in Free Agency)
SG- Anthony Morrow
SG- Trey Johnson
SG- Sonny Weems (Signed to a cheap 1 year deal in Free Agency)
PF- Jason Smith
C- David Andersen
C- Alexis Ajinca
I signed Miller, Stojakovic, and Peterson because they were all among the best players I could have signed for under $1M from Free Agency (I set my budget at $1M per each player to save money for the offseason and did not offer more than 1 year because of their age). These were three key veteran players that I feel can help my team win some games by providing valuable minutes off the bench, help my team chemistry, and possibly help lure other good players to my team. I signed Sonny Weems because he is a cheap young player with potential to develop, though he won't be seeing many minutes. I am already looking ahead to my plans for the offseason as I am not expecting to make the playoffs in a very difficult Western Conference and if I do happen to barely get in, then I'm not counting on being able to make a deep run for a shot at the championship. So instead of focusing on a championship in my first season, I am looking at how I can improve my team in my first offseason.
Miller, Stojakovic, Peterson, and Weems will all be unrestricted free agents after the first season and I have no plans of re-signing any of them. Instead I will just add the $2.5M to my offseason spending budget in Free Agency. Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, and Alexis Ajinca will all have team options. I plan on accepting Gordon and Anderson's options and may accept Ajinca's option as well since it will only cost me roughly $500K and will fill out a roster spot. This will leave me around $35M to spend in Offseason Free Agency. I really like my current starting five. The one thing I feel I am really lacking is someone that can come in and score off the bench and fill the sixth man role. So my plans are to land a sixth man in the draft or if I get a good enough draft pick I may insert that player into my starting lineup and move either Gordon or Evans to my bench for some firepower when my starters need a rest.
I am planning on having a decent draft pick (at least a mid-round if not better), however, I just blew the Orlando Magic out by 30 points in my first game. Orlando is one of the weakest teams in the league so it's hard to tell if I am really one of the top eight teams in the West that will make the playoffs or if this game was just a fluke with Orlando being so bad.
Update after first 5 games:
4-1 (5th in the West)
vs Orlando W 87-53 (3-8)
vs LA Lakers W 98-96 (6-1)
vs Atlanta L 65-55 (5-4)
@ Milwaukee W 88-68 (2-6)
vs Phoenix W 97-92 (2-4)
Although I am 4-1 to start the season off I still am not very confident that I will be much higher than a 7 or 8 seed in the West. It seems that the Hornets have one of the easiest schedules at the beginning of the season. The Lakers and Hawks are the only two teams I have played so far with winning records and the five teams have a combined record of 18-23 with the Lakers being 6-1. Until I string together some wins against big opponents I will not be convinced that my team actually has a shot at being a championship contender. Here are my stats through the first five games of the season. This is with 10 minute quarters.
Jordan Hill 16.4ppg/5.0rpg
Jrue Holiday 14.4ppg/8.0apg/1.4spg
Eric Gordon 13.2ppg
Tyreke Evans 12.2ppg/4.2apg
DeAndre Jordan 8.0ppg/11.4rpg/3.0bpg
Peja Stojakovic 5.8ppg
Morris Peterson 4.2ppg
Brad Miller 4.2ppg/4.2rpg
Ryan Anderson 3.6ppg
Trey Johnson 3.0ppg
Anthony Morrow 2.4ppg
Sonny Weems- hasn't made an in-game appearance yet
As a team, I am second in the league in FG% (52.2%), third in assists (20.2), second in block (7.6), and first in turnovers (8.8). I am also the ninth highest scoring team in the league (85.0 ppg) and the fourth best defensive team giving up 74.8 ppg. My one weakness seems to be rebounding as I rank in at 22nd in the league with 32.6 rpg.
Evaluation after five games:
I had no idea Jordan Hill would have been one of my top five scorers, well alone my LEADING scorer! He is a much better post player than I had expected. DeAndre Jordan is a beast on the boards averaging over 11 rebounds per game and swats everything within reach of him in the paint. Eric Gordon and Tyreke Evans can be very streaky shooters. If they are struggling it's time to look for other options but if they catch fire then watch out! Jrue is definitely the leader of this team as he is great at controlling the tempo and creating offense for himself as well as his teammates. In my opinion, Jordan and Holiday are playing at an all-star level and could be receiving max contract offers in the near future.
Update after 10 games:
9-1 (1st in West)
Next 5 games:
@ Washington W 88-67
@ Charlotte W 96-77
vs San Antonio W 78-73
@ Sacramento W 80-75
@ LA Clippers W 90-70
I am now starting to believe I may be one of the better teams in the West with an actual shot at winning the title despite how youth and inexperience on my team. I won two key games against title contenders in the Spurs and Clippers.
Here are the stats after 10 games:
Eric Gordon 16.8ppg/1.2spg
Tyreke Evans 14.2ppg/3.0rpg/4.6apg
Jrue Holiday 13.9ppg/7.9apg/1.2spg
Jordan Hill 13.6ppg/4.8rpg
DeAndre Jordan 7.9ppg/9.5rpg/2.9bpg
Brad Miller 5.7ppg/3.3rpg
Peja Stojakovic 4.2ppg
Ryan Anderson 3.7ppg/3.0rpg
Morris Peterson 3.3ppg
Anthony Morrow 2.1ppg
Trey Johnson 1.5ppg
Sonny Weems- hasn't made an in-game appearance yet
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