jlmarines And The Cavs That Could

[greepleairport]

Since joining the league in 2038, jlmarines took the basically discarded Cleveland Cavaliers into his hands, and unwittingly traded his best players to his ‘friend’ for pennies in return. It was the kind of start that spelled curtains for reasonable GMs trying to get off the ground. It can be really disconcerting to experience defeat time and time again with little to show for your success.

But jlmarines persevered.

About 10 seasons ago, drkavarga and his Bobcats (New York Knicks at the time) went through their own renaissance, after decades of missing the playoffs most seasons out of the previous 20. The rise of the Cats was so unexpected, wily, and difficult to control that a league article was written on why they were so good (a great read, to be sure).

During that time, jlmarines was playing the best PBSL of his career, too, but to much lighter fanfare. After the most recent town hall, the underdog spotlight is now firmly on jlmarines and his Cleveland Cavaliers that could.

So, how did this happen? Allow me to mansplain, without consulting jlmarines whatsoever.

2047 was the Cavs first winning season under jlmarines. Their best player, Michael Sneed, had just come over from the Bulls, the previous season’s champion (again (I know, right?))...or, rather, the last champ before the ballshohard's Pistons’ legendary 4-peat title run. The 2046 Bulls had not completely torn their team down, but coming up with a record just over .500, garbageman knew it was time to sell.

And, after the Cavs first playoff berth in 2046, jlmarines decided it was time to buy. Jlmarines went after the still-purple Michael Sneed who immediately lost his color following the trade. He didn’t give up too much to acquire Sneed (Warley, #13 pick, 2pts), and Sneed still put up over 28 points per game for the Cavs.

Sneed didn’t quite have the support he needed, though. 34 year old James Wiseman, a league great, was in steep decline, putting up half the amount of points he did during the height of his career. 35 year old Chadwick Dangerfield, one of the best pure point guards the league has ever seen, was also washed, but not quite as disastrously as James Wiseman. These players were flanked by Mason Dixon, Cam Ron Fletcher, and Jere Bailey - three blue/blue players that were all long term Cavs that never met the potential that it seemed jlmarines had set for them. (Jeffrey Jackson gets an honorable mention for putting up 16.5 ppg as a g/g PF that no one remembers.)

It was a decent build, but not nearly good enough. The Cavs got swept by the aforementioned Pistons who were en route to their 2nd straight title. Jlmarines drifted back toward the loss column after this, finishing .500 in 2048, and no other winning seasons until 2055.

This year held much promise for Cleveland. Karlo Pearson had declined, but came over from the god-tier build of the LA Lakers. Jonathan Isaac was beginning to show his qualities, taking over star duties from the aging SG Raphael Gordon (whom I will never remember without the letters “SG” in front of his name). Chief Kickingstallionsims was still doing his thing and Devin Vassell was an exciting, developing prospect.

The 2055 Cleveland Cavaliers finished 44-38 and missed the playoffs, to the chagrin of many. We were all rooting for them to experience some success in PBSL, but their misfortunes prevailed. They earned a winning record in one of the toughest conferences and toughest divisions in PBSL history. The Cavs finished 4th in their division - 8th in the conference. Even the 9th seed in the conference finished with a .500 record.

Meanwhile, the other conference’s Atlanta Hawks matched the Cavs’ 44-38 and finished 7th. The runners up, the Nets, finished 33-49.

Sigh.

—-------------------------------------------------

GM jlmarines, not known for making huge roster changes, had still done enough to start developing a contending team. In 2056 they made the 1st round of the playoffs and finished the season 51-31.

Now, Jonathan Isaac is looking at his second straight scoring title after leading the Cavs to the playoffs last year. Devin Vassell is fully blue/blue and still developing. Their alternate caliber PG’s were getting the job done, to an extent, and Chief is not dead yet.

But the piece to pull everything together was still missing, until jlmarines took advantage of a buyer’s market and picked up Darius Garland for chump change.

Darius is 33 and declining, but still putting up over 17 points this year and nearly 10 assists per game. Coming from the tanking Phoenix Suns, Garland did not have a top-tier scorer to help out on the offensive end - certainly no one like Jonathan Isaac, let alone the surging Devin Vassell. After one sim together, they have a top 5 offense in the league, sharing space with the Lakers and Rockets who share 3 losses over a combined 62 games. Rarefied air. They stand behind the Pistons and Spurs, two more formidable teams, but with a Garland-ran offense I fully expect this team to pull into the top 3 by the end of the season.

There are an abundance of similarities between jlmarines last winning team and this one. Like Sneed, Garland was a top tier player acquired for very little capital. This strategy has not changed: wait for the market to work for you. Brilliant. Sneed took a 38-44 team and made them a 49-33 team with 25+ estimated wins added to the team. A needle mover for sure.

Darius Garland is not the same singular talent that Sneed was, but Darius Garland isn’t the greatest talent on the roster. Prior to his acquisition, Jonathan Isaac and Devin Vassell carried this team toward the top of the division and conference with - comparable to Garland - clowns running point. They took on some tough challenges and won most of them, but I’m sure jlmarines would have liked to have seen only one loss last sim, with Garland on board, to the 29-2 Los Angeles Lakers. Unfortunately he took an L to the 14-16 Bucks, and survived an uncomfortably close win over the comically bad Golden State Warriors.

But jlmarines will persevere. He has done better with much worse in his arsenal. Built a contender from scraps. Now that he has a full lineup of elite talent, I cannot wait to see how he will manage it and who he will upset along the way.

[greepleairport]

~1075 words, +5pts