Cleveland (Will) Rock Again!

[King Zolewi]

We all know the story. Almost a year ago the best player in the league and the best player in Cavaliers history took his talents to South Beach in a nationally televised show. Despite the outrage from the fans and the blustering from the owner, the Cavs predictably free fell, going from a 60-win team to a 60-loss team, including a historic 26-game losing streak. I think its time I attempt to bring this franchise back from the dead.

(Played with 99.9% accurate rosters at the end of the 2011 season. No player edits)

I have several base rules:

1. I do my best to keep transactions to a minimum, usually only making trades if I have a serious roster need or I have a playoff-caliber team that's been impacted by a serious injury. If I have a team well over the salary cap and well under .500 I will not hesitate to hold a fire sale.

2. I honor coaches contracts. In NBA 2K11 you are responsible for your coaches salary if you fire him. This is not implemented in DDSPB2, so its possible to hire a new coach for every game if you chose to do so. I only want at worst two coaches under contract at once (the fired one and his replacement)

3. I will set the salary cap every year based off of my modified formula which closely resembles the NBA's: 51% of BRI divided by the 30 NBA teams. The luxury tax formula is 61% of BRI divided by 30 NBA teams.

4. Concerning the issue of the CBA, I will play my first season by the current rules, but my next season I'll change things up (like implementing a hard cap, allowing high school players to be drafted, changing the rules so that foreign players can be signed instead of drafted, etc.) Every five years I'll randomly change it up to mirror real life CBA changes.

5. I turn-off the "Allow Yourself to Be Fired" option. I tend to take the Jerry Jones style owner-GM role. My goals are simple: I want to win titles, and I'm willing to spend whatever I have to in order to do so.

[King Zolewi]

Cavaliers Team Preview

Point Guards

Baron Davis: The previous GM brought Davis in to try to re-energize the team. Didn't work. Davis is a chucker, with poor percentages. He can still get to the basket, but will probably never reach the level he was in Golden State again. Good passer. I'll probably trade him.

Ramon Sessions: I don't know what to make of Sessions. He's not a facilitator, but he's not a prime scorer either. He doesn't play good defense. He appears to be the prototypical "great athlete with no skills" player.

Daniel Gibson: Once a playoff star, now nailed to the bench. He's nothing but a 3-point specialist.

Shooting Guards

Anthony Parker: Another 3-point specialist, he's also our best 2-guard which spells trouble.

Manny Harris: Raw guard out of Michigan with no NBA-ready skills. Pure developmental player.

Christian Eyenga: Extremely raw project player who probably won't pan out.

Small Forwards

Luke Harangody: Kid out of Notre Dame that would be on the bench elsewhere but figures to get time here.

Joey Graham: No stand-out skills at all.

Power Forwards

Antawn Jamison: Our best player. I feel sorry for what he's been put through and I plan on trading him to a contender ASAP. He's always been a class act and he deserves better than this.

JJ Hickson: Probably our best prospect. A lot of pressure will be put on him when Jamison is gone.

Samardo Samuels: No NBA ready skills

Jawad Williams: Plays more like a guard with decent ball handling a good touch from outside

Centers

Anderson Varajao: Energy guy who crashes the glass and plays tough defense.

Ryan Hollins: Pretty much a pure defensive center

Semih Erden: My advice? Go back to Europe...

[King Zolewi]

This is going to be a supreme rebuilding effort, since I'm basically fielding a D-League team, so I let Coach Byron Scott out of his contract to pursue greener pastures (like LA) and promote Chris Jent to guide the team through this season.

[King Zolewi]

Cleveland: G Jason Terry, G Deshawn Stevenson, '11 & '12 2nd rounders
Dallas: F Antwan Jamison

As promised I send Jamison to a contender, back to Dallas where he was once 6th man of the year. "Jet" Terry will have the green light to shoot all the time. Stevenson brings aggressive defense. Note the irony of Stevenson in a Cavs uni after the many battles between the Cavs and Wizards several years back.

Cleveland: '11 2nd rounder
Chicago: G Christian Eyenga

Eyenga is traded to bring the roster back to 15

[King Zolewi]

1: @ Boston: L, 108-105, 0-1
Boston led by as many as 17, led by Rondo's 21 and 11 assists. Jet scores 26 in his debut, and Sessions dropped 23 off the bench. Baron Davis fouled out in 22 minutes, then had the audacity to blast Coach Jent over playing time

2: vs Charlotte: L, 102-94, 0-2
Terry led the way with 20. Davis fouled out for the second straight game.

3: @ New Orleans: L, 108-81, 0-3
Three players (Hickson, Sessions, Parker) lead with 11 points as we shoot 39% from the field. Jet is held to 4 points.

4: @ Dallas: L, 103-76, 0-4
Jet leads with 13 points in his return to Dallas. Jamison is starting at the 3 next to Dirk and scores 13. Haywood was nuts with 26, 17 and 5 blocks.

5: vs Chicago: L, 107-87, 0-5
Winless through our first five. 3 Bulls with double-doubles (Rose: 14 and 15 assists, Boozer 23 and 10, Noah 16 and 20 with 5 blocks)

[King Zolewi]

6: vs Indiana: L, 118-74, 0-6
20 for Davis.

7: @ Chicago: L, 106-81, 0-7
23 and 12 for the ex-Cav Boozer. Varejao pulled his hamstring and is day-to-day.

8: vs Milwaukee: L, 103-96, 0-8
Eight straight losses to start the season. Another former Cav big man slaughters us as Drew Gooden goes for 26 and 11.

9: vs Denver: L, 119-106, 0-9
And the beat goes on. Despite 25 from Jet Terry, 21 from B Dizzle and 20 off the bench from Ryan Hollins, we can't slow down the frenetic Nuggets offense.

10: vs Utah: W, 110-97, 1-9
It took ten tries to finally crack a win. Terry drops 29 and goes 5-7 from downtown.

[King Zolewi]

11: @ New Jersey: L, 109-93, 1-10
25 and 12 for Brook Lopez.

12: @ Detroit: L, 117-82, 1-11
Ben freakin Wallace goes for 21 and 11!

13: vs Atlanta: L, 104-86, 1-12
28 for Jamal Crawford, 22 for Josh Smith. Atlanta off to a rough start at 4-9. I wish I had that record

14: @ New York: L, 112-106, 1-13
Tough game but we can't stop Carmelo down the stretch as he pours in 31

15: vs Oklahoma City: L, 110-96, 1-14
We blow a 13 point lead. Parker hits 7 threes for 27 points, Davis gets 25 and 9, Jet gets 20, but we still lose. Afterwards I tell the media that despite the rough start Coach Jent is safe.

[King Zolewi]

November Review

In the East Boston has rolled to a 14-2 start, trailed by 13-2 Miami. The surprise team is Philadelphia, which has matched Miami's 13-2 record. Our 1-14 record is worst in the conference.

In the West both Dallas and New Orleans are 12-2. Minnesota is winless in 13 tries.

PPG:Kevin Durant, OKC 30.4
RPG:Marcus Camby, POR 12.9
APG:Jason Kidd, DAL 12.1
SPG:Chris Paul, NO 2.4
BPG:Josh Smith, ATL 3.2

MVP: Durant
DPOY: Yao Ming, HOU
ROY: Evan Turner, PHI
6th: Jared Dudley, PHX
Coach: Doug Collins, PHI
MIP: Anthony Morrow, NJ

Seven games into the season Bucks C Andrew Bogut tore his MCL and is out for the year.

The big shocker of the season came 4 minutes into Orlando's season opener when Dwight Howard tore his Achilles, ending his season. The Magic are somehow 8-8 without him.

[zike_42]

Tough start but if you can get a high draft pick and some good free agents it will turn around quickly.

[Tim Moungey]

Smart move to deal off a lot of those players for a barrel of 2nds. As much as I myself view seconds as little more than trade chips, for a team in Cleveland's position, they're lottery tickets to try and snag an underrated gem who turns into a productive player.