Motor City Basketball: Restoring the Pistons' Glory

[Myles Nelson]

Man, you have no idea how upset I am about the Washington series. They've really pulled their ish together. Wall is going to be dangerous for years to come.

[Myles Nelson]

That exciting moment when you realize you have a pick in the top 10. I totally forgot I had the Blazers pick this year and they ended up as the 9th worst team in the NBA. Solid.

Chris Paul was the MVP, his first time winning the award and taking it away from Dwight Howard. Dwight Howard did take home Defensive Player of the Year though, with his 3.6 BPG. Our own Tiago Splitter won 6th Man of the Year, thank god because he is one expensive as hell 6th man. Robb Bryson (PG, Atlanta Hawks, 4th pick) was Rookie of the Year, with 16.8 ppg, 5.3 apg, and 1.0 spg. Flip Saunders in Washington won Coach of the Year. Evan Turner was named All-NBA 3rd Team, and Micah Mills was all D-League 2nd Team.

Bill Adamson (the owner) was very pleased with my performance and decided to keep me around. What a nice guy. I was 15M below the salary cap and went 58-24, so it should be expected.

ALSO! Let's catch up on the young players I've traded away, yes?

Paul George - 14.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.3 spg, 39.6% FG
Ed Davis - 10.2 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2.2 bpg, 49% FG
Taj Gibson - 8.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.4 bpg, 48.9% FG
Tyler Honeycutt - 9.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 45.4% FG
Rodney Stuckey - 14.8 ppg, 3.6 apg, 1.3 spg, 38.4 FG
Jordan Crawford - 12.6 ppg, 44.4% FG, 39.7% 3PT

I'm really glad I traded away Stuckey and got the value I did, though Honeycutt has turned out well for the Sixers. Gibson is a good role player, and Ed Davis has really developed well, I'm surprised. George has gotten better at creating a shot for himself but still can't finish unfortunately. His defense is great though. Crawford has become quite the gunner for the Hawks now.

Told my owner we'd take the division and would be around the cap. Probably won't need that much money, and we should do better, but its always better to set the expectations low.

Nothing big to report in the coach hiring phase.

Thank god. Looks like a really deep draft. I'll draft literally any position. I already have my young core intact but it never hurts to add another.

PG Rondo
SG Turner
SF Batum
PF Williams
C Oden
6. Splitter
7. Jerebko

A guard or a wing will be good, but a big man won't hurt either. And I'll consider trading the pick for a good veteran, but the draft class looks solid.

Torn between PG Tristan Aspe (B scoring, A passing, A handling, B stealing, C defense) and SF Robert Johnson (A scoring, B stealing, B defense). From a need perspective, Johnson makes more sense. But Aspe just looks better.

I picked Aspe. IMO, with my roster, I have the luxury to be able to just pick the best player available, who is Aspe, IMO.

Portland's pick, which used to be our pick, is 29th. Sucks to be them!

I now have 5 second round picks. 34, 36, 45, 55, 56. I'm awesome.

PF Antone Preston - North Carolina
C Waitari King - Syracuse
SF Brad Robinson - Georgia
SG Marco Kerlin - Michigan State
PF Cameron Thomas - South Carolina

[Myles Nelson]

Crazy crazy offseason.

Traded away all of my second round picks except for Waitari King, because he was the only one I saw any kind of value in.

Signed Stephen Curry to a 5 year, 72M deal. This made Rondo expendable, so I traded him.

Traded Rondo and Micah Mills for OJ Mayo and picks. The big thing here was finances, as I was set to have a payroll in the 80M range next year, but by trading way Rondo I could bring that number down to a manageable 71M.

New lineup of

Curry
Mayo
Turner
Williams
Oden

Splitter
Jerebko
Afflalo
Aspe
Batum
Przybilla
Mozgov

My roster is so incredibly deep.

[Myles Nelson]

33-11 on February 1st, 2nd place in the East. We're much better offensively than we were last year but our defense has gotten suspect, which doesn't make me happy.

Curry leads the team with 19.3 ppg and 8.8 apg, and 1.2 spg.
Turner is at 16.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.1 apg, and 1.9 spg.
Mayo's next with 15.6 ppg, 2.6 apg, and 1.3 spg.
Oden's holding down the paint wiht 14 ppg, 8 rpg, and 2.1 bpg
Williams is pitching in at PF with 13.4 ppg, 8.0 rpg, and 1.6 bpg.
Splitter continues his contributions off the bench with 9.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg.
Batum is handling coming off the bench well, scoring 8.5 ppg.
Aspe is doing well for a rookie, scoring 5.3 ppg, 4.6 apg, and only 1.4 topg in 14.3 minutes.
Afflalo, Przybilla, Mozgov, and Jerebko all hardly play.

38-13 at the All-Star Break. Batum and Curry both participated in the 3 point shootout, Curry went to the finals but lost. The Rookies killed the Sophomores, 113-89. Aspe played 16 minutes and notched 7 points and 5 assists and only 1 turnover. Curry also played in the All-Star game, a 184-177 win for the East in double overtime. Curry went 6/9 from the floor for 12 points, 5 assists and 1 steal.