New Jersey - Out of the Shadow

[zanner]

The goal is to turn around the Nets and bring them to prominence as quickly as possible. Going into the season, the owner asked the expectation of the season and I low balled to rebuilding. The owner was having none of that and demanded a playoff birth. When asked where we would come in at the salary, I let him know that we could be over 5-10million since playoffs were required.

Going into the draft, PF and SF were my biggest needs. Utah came in quick with a trade attempt of the #23 pick and PF-Kostos Koufos for SG-Courtney Lee at which I rejected; however it opened up the trade talks for another deal.

With the #3 pick I decided to go with Derrick Favors. I felt like he was going to be the most stable young man to have on this team, and would serve use well for years and years to come. I didn't believe Yi Jainlian was the future so I used that opportunity after Derrick to try and sure up some draft picks and a dominate PG

Utah Jazz agreed to trade
#23 Pick, Deron Williams, and 2011 Second round pick in exchange for Devon Harris, Yi Jainlian and 2012 First Round -- While we probably gave up a little too much, I think the pick worked for use to give us another first round pick this year to try and work on the SF position before free agency.

With the #23 Pick decided to go with De'Sean Butler over Quincy Pondexter due to the 3point shooting ability that I felt De'Sean would have. Especially after getting Deron Williams running the point.

I got the #31 pick in round two and I didn't hesitate to go ahead and get Pondexter who was still there although a PG to backup Williams would have probably been the best choice. However, having 0 SF on roster I couldn't put all my eggs in the Lebron James free agency basket.

Picked up Brook Lopez Rookie Option and SG Courtney Lee

Going into FA
PG - Derron Williams
PG - Keyon Dooling

SG - Courtney Lee
SG - Terrance Williams

SF - De'Sean Butler
SF - Quinicy Poindexter

PF - Derrick Favors

C - Brook Lopez
C - Kris Humphries

Team Salary - 36,391,046
Cap Room - 23,437,354

[zanner]

Going into Free Agency, Lebron James was definitely Priority #1. We also had to get some PF's to give the Rookie Favors support and a PG who could be a serviceable backup for Deron Williams

In Free Agency I managed to Sign the following
Lebron James -Max Contract
PF - Tim Thomas
PF - Brian Scalibrini
PG - Chris Duhon
PG - Mario Chalmers

When it was all said and done, my roster for opening day looked like this

Opening Roster
PG - Derron Williams/Chris Duhon/Mario Chalmers
SG - Courtney Lee/Terrance Williams
SF - Lebron James/Quincy Pondexter
PF - Derrick Favors/Tim Thomas
C - Brook Lopez/Kris Humphries

De'Sean Butler - D-League
Brian Scalabrini - Reserves

51,842,606 in Salary leaving us with $6,837,394 in Salary Cap

Some notable signings :
Dwayne Wade to New York : This will prove to be a huge rivalry for years to come.

Chris Bosh went west coast to Sacramento

Washington Wizards sign Josh Childress to a 3-year contract worth $19,783,776

Ray Allen, Dirk, Paul Pierce, and Boozer all resigned with their clubs.



League Preview
1. Nets
2. Knicks Gooden/Wilson Chandler/David Lee/Xavier Henry/Dwayne Wade
3. Bulls Noah/Deng/Gibson/Joe Johnson/Rose
4. Celtics Hawes/Pierce/Garnett/Allen/Rondo
5. Bucks Bogut/Magette/Ersan Ilyasova/brandon Jennings/John Salmons
6. bobcats Anthony Tolliver/Gerald Wallace/Diaw/Stephen Jackson/Raymond Felton
7. 76ers Marreese Speights/Iguodala/Brand/Turner/Louis Williams
8. Hawks Horford/Williams/Smith/Crawford/Bibby


It really looks like it's going to be a Nets and Knicks fight to the finish : From here I'm going to sim up to about 20 games or half the season and then do more week by week/game by game synopsis.

[Tim Moungey]

That's a very good looking starting lineup and I'm intrigued to see how it pans out. I think the Bulls are underrated, though.

[zanner]

Thus far in the season The Nets are sitting in first place with a 32-13 record; however, Derrick Favors suffered a broken toe and is out for 64 days (pretty much the rest of the regular season) and the Nets dropped the past 2 games since he suffered the injury.

League Leaders 45 Games in

PPG
1. Kevin Durant (OKC) 28.6
2. Lebron James (NYJ) 25.7
3. Danny Grainger (IND) 25.7
4. Dwight Howard (ORL) 25.4
5. Dirk Nowitzki (DAL) 23.9

13. Deron Williams (NYJ) 21.2

APG
1. Steve Nash (PHX) 12.0
2. Chris Paul (NO) 11.6
3. Rajon Rondo (BOS) 10.2
4. Russell Westbrook (OKC) 9.8
5. Deron Williams (NYJ) 9.4

25. Lebron James (NYJ) 5.3

RPG
1. Dwight Howard (ORL) 17.0
2. Marcus Camby (POR) 13.4
3. Joakim Noah (CHI) 13.1
4. Yao Ming (HOU) 13.1
5. Marc Gasol (MEM) 11.9

9. Brook Lopez (NYJ) 11.3


Note that in Blocks per game that Brook Lopez and Derrick Favors are in top 15 with 1.8BPG : So losing Derrick Favors is going to be tough. Lebron has 1.8 SPG ranking him 6th in the league.

Deron Williams is the only Net player with a triple double
As far as Double Doubles, Dwight Howard leads the league with 46 (all but one game)

Brook Lopez and Deron Williams rank 10 and 11 with 25 and 24 respectively.

Lebron James has only 6 - but has 18 Player of the Games

Eastern Conference Standings
1. New Jersey Nets (32-13)
2. Orlando Magic (32-15)
3. Boston Celtics (29-19)
4. New York Knicks (29-19)
5. Philadelphia (24-23)
6. Charlotte Bobcats (23-22)
7. Washington Wizards (23-23)
8. Chicago Bulls (23-24)
9. Atlanta Hawks (22-23)

Dallas Mavericks have the best record in the league at 35-12

[zanner]

Josh Childress (WAS) won the Slam Dunk Competition
Anthony Morrow (SA) won the 3 Point Competition Hitting 23 in the final round to beat J. Kidd (14) and Charlotte PG D.J. Augistin (14)

The Sophomores beat the Rookies 145-131
Stephen Curry was the Player of the game with 32 Points/17 Ast
Evan Turner led the Rookies with 29 points.

Western Allstars defeat the Eastern Allstars 155-115
Brandon Roy was the player of the game with 21 points
Lebron James led the East in scoring with 23 points

Deron Williams was the other Net to be named to the all star team.

[zanner]

I went on and simmed the rest of the season - This definitely was not that interesting or exciting of my first ever season because I smoked the league and won a championship. Lost like 14 games in the season and maybe 4 total in the playoffs defeating

Cavs, Bulls, Knicks and Hornets

The trade for Deron Williams and the signing of Lebron at the start of the season pretty much single handily won the championship at that time. I was still 6 MIL under the salary cap with this lineup

PG : Deron Williams, Chris Duhon, Mario Chalmers
SG : Courtney Lee , Terrence Williams
SF : Lebron James , Quincy Pondexter, De'Sean Butler
PF : Derrick Favors, Tim Thomas, Brian Scalibrini
C : Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries

I'm going to have to play a few more games and look at a couple more teams, maybe go in coach mode or something because I feel like I cheated in a way because there was no doubt at any time in the season and I had to do very little in terms of team/game management. Only had to press the sim button and watch the wins roll in. The second year will likely be easier than this so I'm likely going to kill this thread and may start a new one later once I decide on how/who I want to play this game with or continue with this team.

[PointGuard]

Hey Zorro...see, Lebron wins a ring! Now quit your sniping.

[Zorro]

Hey Zorro...see, Lebron wins a ring! Now quit your sniping.

ROFLMAO....................................Z