What if Shaq stayed in Orlando?

[dietpleh]

Starting in the year 1995, trying to keep Shaq in Orlando...
Competing in a period with a couple of the best teams ever.
It will be hard to beat MJ & his Bulls.
But I'm looking forward to battle with Shaq, in an era filled with strong bigs (something I miss in these days...guys like Robinson, Ewing, Shaq, ...)

[dietpleh]

1st game against Cleveland, and I already saw Shaq dominate like in real life...
We won 111-88, with ease, playing inside-out basketball.

Shaq had a huge game with 37 PTS & 15 REB (on 14/18 FG's and 9/21 FT's).
It's nice to see him get fouled alot like in real life, because they can't stop him...and even nicer to see him shooting bricks from the line as well :-)

Penny on the other hand flirted with a triple-double.
Posting 23 PTS/11 AST/9 REB, but he did have 5 TO's (we need to work on that).

[CatKnight]

Nice start. Shaq was definitely one of the greatest players of his era.

Good luck!

[dietpleh]

What do you guys think about the 1996 draft?

I was wondering who I should target or try to pick up...

In real-life the draft went like this:
-Iverson
-Camby
-Abdur-raheem
-Marbury
-Ray Allen
-Antoine Walker
-...
-...
-...
-Dampier
-...
-...
-Kobe Bryant (only picked 13th...)
-Stojakovic
-Steve Nash
-...
-Jermaine Oneal
-...
-Big Z
-...
-Derick Fisher


In my eyes, the best fits for my team would be: Allen, Walker, Stojakovic.
Players that stretch the floor is what I need, to give Shaq the paint for himself.

What do you guys think?

[Rizzo]

How about Steve Nash to distribute the ball to Shaq's and Penny?

[dietpleh]

How about Steve Nash to distribute the ball to Shaq's and Penny?

Shifting Penny to SG you mean?
Could be an option as well...didn't think about that, thx!

Gonna check the scouting to see who is te better defender (and who is available when it's my turn)

[dietpleh]

In the 3th game of the year, Shaq exploded against the Washington Bullets!

With their starting C injured, they got nobody to stop Shaq.
So the big guy got to work, really abusing them in the paint.

He ended up with 70 PTS/13 REB/6 BLK (25/37 FG, 20/31 FT)

I really like how they can't stop Shaq...fouling him alot...great game!

[dietpleh]

First game against Chicago

So starting the season 6-0, we meet with the Bulls for the first time in Orlando.

We were confident in our game with Shaq dominating the paint, Hardaway doing his thing running the offence & Scott being the threat from outside.

But, after the game we have to admit that Chicago simply is a better team...
More complete as a team & Jordan dominating everthing outside the paint.

Shaq had a good game, 31 PTS/15 REB/4 BLK. Penny & Scott contributed. But the story ended with those 3, which isn't enough against Chicago.

Jordan made 42 PTS/11 REB/5 AST.
Longley, Pippen, Kukoc, Kerr & Harper contributed.
Rodman was beasting the boards.
They played good team-D on us...


So we can conclude that we are a very good team against the 'average' NBA teams.
But at the moment, we come up short against the very best.

[dietpleh]

Simulating the regular season

So after playin a couple weeks I simulated the rest of the season.
We did pretty good with 60W-22L.
3th seed in the east (5th place in NBA).

It's like I said before, we are unstoppable against the 'average' NBA team.
But against top-level teams (Chicago, Utah, Seattle, New York, Portland, San Antonio) we lost alot.

Chicago finished with 65-17 (1st in the east) and Seattle had a great season with 69-13 (1st in the west).

Shaq averaged 37 PTS/1,5 AST/14,5 REB/0,8 STL/2,4 BLK, posting a league high in points and rebounds.
He is my go-to guy, I'll do everything to give him the best opportunities possible

Horace Grant on the other hand did disapoint me. Don't know if I am going to resign him.

AWARDS
MVP: Shaq
Defensive: David Robinson (13 REB/3 BLK/1,7 STL)
6th: Hornacek
Rookie: Sabonis
Coach: George Karl (Seattle)

[dietpleh]

Playoffs 1996

1st round:
[color="Red"]EAST[/color]
Chicago Bulls - Boston Celtics 4 - 0

Atlanta Hawks - Indiana Pacers 2 - 4

Orlando Magic - Washington Bullets 4 - 1
one of those teams I'm unstoppable against... with Shaq averaging 40 PTS/16 REB

New York Knicks - Cleveland Cavaliers 4 - 0

No suprises here, top teams have it easy in the first round

[color="red"]WEST[/color]
Seattle Supersonics - Los Angeles Lakers 3 - 4

Portland Trailblazers - Golden State Warriors 3 - 4

San Antonio Spurs - Phoenix Suns 4 - 3

Utah Jazz - Houston Rockets 4 - 1

Hard fought battles in the west, especially Seatle V LA is final-worthy as a series

2nd round:
[color="red"]EAST[/color]
Indiana Pacers - Chicago Bulls 0 - 4
2nd sweep in a row...Bulls are unstoppable so far

Orlando Magic - New York Knicks 0 - 4
Just like in the regular season, Shaq alone was not enough to beat an experienced and very good team. Oakley & Ewing took care of Shaq, limiting him to "only" 18,5 PTS/game. While in offence all the starters of the Knicks scored in double ditgits...

[color="red"]WEST[/color]
Los Angeles Lakers - Golden State Warriors 4 - 2

San Antonia Spurs - Utah Jazz 1 - 4

Great finals in both conferences, history in the (re)making

Conference Finals
[color="red"]EAST[/color]
Chicago Bulls - New York Knicks 4 - 3

[color="red"]WEST[/color]
Los Angeles Lakers - Utah Jazz 4 - 3

Epic series!

Finals
Chicago Bulls - LA Lakers 4 - 0
Move aside Magic Johnson, there is a new top dog in town: Michael Jordan, MVP of the finals averaging 33PTS/6 AST/ 4 REB
on a sidenote, Pippen averaged 25 PTS/4 AST/7 REB/2 STL