NOTE - Using default rosters, Euroleagues activated. And I happen to be a fan of run-and-gun basketball, even if my character here prefers it the other way around. Jerry Palms is the name of the Sacramento owner in the game, while "Pedro Campana" (Pete Bell from "Blue Chips" literally translated in Spanish/Filipino) is my character. You may remember him from one of those DDSCB dynasties I tried to run before deciding to wait till the new version...
6/20/2010
They literally pulled me off the streets. I was literally that random drunk at the bar chosen to run a sports team. A few nights ago, I was nobody. I was just some random Filipino guy visiting relatives in California and relaxing over a few beers at a bar in the Sacramento area. And it just so happens that I was arguing about basketball with the normally mild-mannered bartender.
I was telling him how we play basketball back home in the Philippines. We like our basketball physical, with players grinding it out and milking the clock as necessary. We like games that end with scores of 57-56 over 48 minutes, though most professional teams average around 80 to 85 without American reinforcements. And he told me I was crazy.
I told him that I was going to thrash the damned bar and fly back home to my homeland when a couple of distinguished gentlemen entered the bar. Apparently they had heard the commotion from outside and decided to see what the heck was going on...
Then the older one extended his hand. "Hi, I'm Jerry Palms, owner of the Sacramento Kings. And your name?"
"My name is Pedro Campana, but everyone calls me Pete. I-i-it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Palms." I wanted to cower in embarrassment after making that scene earlier...
"Call me Jerry. Listen, our basketball team needs a general manager, and judging by how worked up you were earlier, I think you may have something up your sleeve."
I was stunned, to say the least. A few seconds ago I was about to have my wallet emptied by yet another temper tantrum. Now I'm being asked to manage an NBA franchise?
"You see, Pete, we've decided to hand over the reins to a common man, instead of a known basketball or business personality. We want to get opinions from people like you, the fans, and see if you can do a better job running the Kings than the jokers before you."
"But I'm not even from around here...I'm from the Philippines, and..."
"Relax, Pete. We'll have all your papers sorted out in no time and we'll have you start work immediately. Sounds good?"
I was still amazed that Jerry Palms wanted to give the GM job to this average Joe who was cut from his high school basketball team and didn't do much in his college time except skip class and play in a band. But I thought...the money sounds good, I'll be working with NBA players and probably teaching them a thing or two about defense, which is the name of the basketball game where I'm from, and it'll be one of those dreams come true that I hadn't dreamt of yet, if that makes any sense.
"All right, Jerry. I'll take the job. Just give me a couple days to let my folks back at home know and maybe buy my girlfriend a plane ticket over here..."
"I'll take care of that as well. Welcome to the Sacramento Kings organization, Pedro 'Pete' Campana..."
6/24/2010
First decision as GM? Fire Paul Westphal. He's a nice guy, was a great player back when I was a little kid (and even before that), but not the coach we need if we want to introduce scientific, physical and defensive-oriented basketball to SacTown. We need someone who preaches tough D, deliberate offense and focuses on the three-point shot.
And after sorting through the different coaches without an NBA job, we settled on the man who kept Cleveland competitive in the '90s by taking Pat Riley's Uglyball to Elephant Man levels. We hired Mike Fratello to be the new coach of the Sacramento Kings - three-year deal for $4,400,000 annually. Yeah, he may be 63 years old and may not have had much success in his last NBA job, but I'm confident he can teach the boys a thing or two about how basketball was played back in my youth. Yeah, the mid-to-late '90s were an even lower-scoring time back home...