Bringing Basketball Back to Jersey

[dmend19]

June 10th:
BREAKING: David Stern announces that the NBA has voted to expand the league by two! Bringing the NBA back to Seattle and New Jersey! The Seattle SuperSonics are back and the brand new New Jersey Force! The Force's colors will be White, Blue and Red, with an alternate Black uniform.

June 11th:
The next day, the brand new Owner of the Force announces the hiring of Dylan Manning to be the teams first ever General Manager. In his press conference, Dylan said: "It's going to be a long and tough road, but I believe with the group of great basketball minds we've brought in, we can bring this New Jersey team to the top, and win a championship. I guarantee a championship by 2016.".. Stunning comments by Dylan.

The NBA announces that the Expansion Draft will take place on June 20th.

June 20th:
The day is here! The expansion draft involving the New Jersey Force and Seattle Sonics is set to begin!

Force Draft Picks:
1. Nikola Vucevic
2. Ben Gordon - Cut
3. Wesley Johnson
4. Tobias Harris
5. Jan Vesely
6. Marcus Morris
7. Lance Stephenson
8. Nolan Smith
9. Luke Walton - Cut
10. Ryan Gomes - Cut
11. JaJuan Johnson
12. Chris Duhon

After the Draft our roster looks like:
Nikola Vucevic
Wes Johnson
Tobias Harris
Jan Vesely
Marcus Morris
Lance Stephenson
Noaln Smith
JaJuan Johnson
Chris Duhon

We have $19,645,597 in cap space, as well as the number 5, 33, 35 and 43 picks in this coming rookie draft. We are sure to be active on draft night.

[dmend19]

Coach Hiring Stage:
We are currently in the coach hiring stage of the off-season. After lots of negotiations SHOCKING news in the NBA: Larry Brown is hired by the SuperSonics on a 4 year, $8 million deal!

BREAKING: New Jersey has hired legendary coach, Phil Jackson to a 3 year contract worth $8,500,000 per year. Here's what Phil had to say: "I'm very excited to become the first ever Head Coach of this Force team. I see a lot of potential already on this team, and with the fifth overall pick, I feel we can do great things in the future." "We're thrilled to bring in a guy as legendary as Phil. We couldn't be happier with the hire." - said GM Dylan Manning. The Force have also hired Sam Mitchell, Patrick Ewing and Clifford Ray as assistant coaches.

Draft Day:
Draft day is finally here! The Force have four total picks throughout the draft, including the fifth overall. New Jersey is sure to be very active during the draft. Going into the draft GM Dylan Manning has told me, that the Force covet Weber State PG, Damian Lillard as well as Kansas PF Thomas Robinson, and would love draft one or the other in this draft.

Draft:
1. New Orleans: Anthony Davis
2. Charlotte: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
3. Washington: Bradley Beal
4: Seattle: Thomas Robinson
5: New Jersey: Damian Lillard
6: Cleveland: Andre Drummond
7: Sacramento: John Henson
8: Portland: Meyers Leonard
9: Golden State: Dion Waiters
10: Toronto: Harrison Barnes
11: Detroit: Jared Sullinger
12: New Orleans: Perry Jones III
13: Portland: Tyler Zeller
14: Houston: Arnett Moultrie
15: Phoenix: Austin Rivers
16: Milwaukee: Terrence Ross
17: Philadelphia: Royce White
18: Houston: Terrence Jones
19: Dallas: Fab Melo
20: Houston: Jeremy Lamb
21: Orlando: Kendall Marshall
22: Denver: Tony Wroten
23: Boston: Moe Harkless
24: Boston: Marquis Teague
25: Atlanta: Quincy Miller
26: Cleveland: Andrew Nicholson
27: Memphis: Furkan Aldemir
28: Indiana: Draymond Green
29: Miami: JaMychal Green
30: Indiana (Via Trade): Maalik Wayns
31: Chicago: Mike Scott
32: Golden State: Drew Gordon

We are thrilled to draft Lillard with the fifth pick. The first centerpiece to the New Jersey Force franchise.

Our 2nd round Picks:
Dee Bost
All others were traded.


Trades:
New Jersey Trades:
Tobias Harris
2012 2nd round Pick (#35)
2014 1st Round Pick

Philadelphia Trades:
Evan Turner

While this is a nice haul for Philly, I am a very big fan of Evan Turner and feel he is a very good fit on our roster.

New Jersey Trades:
Jan Vesely

Orlando Trades:
JJ Redick
2012 2nd round pick (53)

JJ Redick is one of the more underrated players in the league and we are thrilled to get him in a deal. We don't really believe Jan will be anything so this is an easy deal for us to make.

New Jersey Trades:
2012 2nd Round Pick (33)
2012 2nd Round Pick (53)

Boston Trades:
2013 1st Round Pick

No one we really like here so we pick up an extra first round pick for next year.

[IWWROCKS]

New Jersey owner has deep pockets! Good start and Lillard as your frachise PG of the future is great. It'll just be a case of getting the pieces round him by 2016

[dmend19]

Free Agency:
Here we go!
With just above $10,000,000 in cap space, we're going to into free agency very aggressive. We know who we would like to target and build around Lillard with. It should definitely be interesting!

Trades:
New Jersey Trades:
Wes Johnson
2015 First Round Pick

New Orleans Trades:
Gustavo Ayon

Purely a salary dump. Adding the pick was the only way any team would take Wes.

New Jersey Trades:
Chris Duhon

Indiana Trades:
Jeff Pendegraph

Another pure salary dump.

Signings:
BREAKING: Force signed Former Blazers Forward Nicolas Batum to a 4 years, $58 million max deal.

Did we overpay? Yes. But did we overpay for a great player? Yes. We pursued both Brook Lopez and Roy Hibbert. Lopez re-signed with Brooklyn. Hibbert had agreed with us but the offer sheet was then matched by Indiana. So Batum being our 3rd option, we're happy with him. Now to get a PF…

NJ Force sign Nazr Mohammed to a 2 year minimum deal.

NJ Force sign C.J. Miles to 2 year, MLE ($2,600,000) with a team option for year 2.

NJ Force sign Ivan Johnson to a 2 year minimum deal (T.O year 2).

NJ Force sign Allen Iverson to a 1 year minimum deal.

YUCK! Overall a pretty terrible free agency run for New Jersey, though we like the signing of Batum. Should make for an interesting, and pretty terrible first season for the Force.

Our projected lineup:
PG - Damian Lillard
SG - Evan Turner
SF - Nicolas Batum
PF - Gustavo Ayon
C - Nikola Vucevic

[Myles Nelson]

I think Lillard and Batum make a solid tandem for now, though I'm not high on Turner or Vucevic at all. Ayon is pretty efficient if I remember correctly, though not incredibly productive. I'm interested to see how Morris and Stephenson turn out for you.