#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

S50 CAST OF CHARACTERS

RICHARD COOK - C
-Seasons with Bulls: 1
-Championships with Bulls: 1 (2038-2039)
-Biggest achievement: Still technically a rookie, Richard Cook has managed not to get cut yet.
-Fun Fact: With one Bulls championship ring in 0 games played, Richard Cook leagues the league in terms of championships per game with infinity.

KYLE KUZMA - SF/SG/PG
-Seasons with Bulls: 2
-Championships with Bulls: 1 (2035-2036)
-Biggest achievement: Though his 20 PPG days were over by the time he joined the Bulls, Kuzma played an instrumental 6th man role for the team in their championship run.
-Fun Fact: The Bulls gave up Adam Mokoka for Kyle Kuzma, and the Knicks gave up Adam Mokoka even though there was a bunch of dead money left on his contract. Advantage: Bulls

PATRICK EDMUNDS - SF/PF/SG
-Seasons with Bulls: 8
-Championships with Bulls: 1 (2031-2032)
-Biggest achievement: Patrick Edmunds nailed a buzzer beater 3 in game 7 of the 2031-2032 Finals that delivered the series to the Bulls by a mere point.
-Fun Fact: Immediately after hitting that 3, Patrick Edmunds taunted the Magic bench.

BOBAN MARJANOVIC - PF/C
-Seasons with Bulls: 1
-Championships with Bulls: 1 (2038-2039)
-Biggest achievement: Though Boban's had a hall of fame career, and he's pretty old now, he managed to win player of the game honors during last season's finals.
-Fun Fact: At 9.6mm, Boban is the third highest paid y/y player behind Arthur Lujan and Bertram Pugh

WANDERLEI SILVA - C/PF
-Seasons with Bulls: 8
-Championships with Bulls: 2 (2031-2032, 2038-2039)
-Biggest achievement: Wanderlei was the playoff MVP in his first championship with the team, and he's the first person on this list to win 2 championships with the Bulls
-Fun Fact: I was in New Orleans when I traded for Wanderlei Silva

KIRBY WEBB - C/PF
-Seasons with Bulls: 8
-Championships with Bulls: 1 (2038-2039)
-Biggest achievement: Though Kirby didn't see the court too much, his limited minutes in the playoffs were much more productive than his limited regular season minutes.
-Fun Fact: None

RICHARD LARSON - SF/PF
-Seasons with Bulls: 2
-Championships with Bulls: 1 (2038-2039)
-Biggest achievement: While Larson didn't play much in the regular season, his versatile defensive play as a starter in place of the injured Burt Gibson in the Conference Finals was key in the matchup against the Pelicans, who had Jordan Johnson and Ben Franklin. It's arguable that had Burt been healthy, he might not have been as effective against JJ.
-Fun Fact: He'll have full bird rights following this season. Ironically, a Larsen Trap (no relation) is a device used to catch wild birds.

SILKY JOHNSON - PG/SG
-Seasons with Bulls: 8
-Championships with Bulls: 2 (2031-2032, 2035-2036)
-Biggest achievement: Silky was unstoppable and offensively dominant in the 2035-2036 playoff series, shooting lights out from three point land and taking on more of a scoring than facilitating role for about the only time in his career. It earned him Playoff MVP.
-Fun Fact: Silky Johnson was named by Gary

MIGUEL THOMAS - PF/C
-Seasons with Bulls: 2
-Championships with Bulls: 1 (2038-2039)
-Biggest achievement: Miguel's game is more hard-hat lunchpail than anyone else on the team, but he was also the only player to earn a season award last year for his defense.
-Fun Fact: Miguel is Spanish for Michael

BURT GIBSON - SF/SG
-Seasons with Bulls: 1/2
-Championships with Bulls: 1 (2038-2039)
-Biggest achievement: Rehabilitating a torn ligament just in time to win a championship with the team.
-Fun Fact: Burt will be entering his first season as the only purple/purple player on the Bulls after Chris Ridley got dinged in TC.

RICHARD HUNT - PG
-Seasons with Bulls: 1
-Championships with Bulls: 1 (2038-2039)
-Biggest achievement: Being a PG in a league where having an A potential in a draft file is just as illegal as dancing was in the town from Footloose.
=Fun Fact: By moving the space in his name, you can call him Ric Hardhunt, which I think is a better adult film name than Dick Hunt.

CRISTIANO FELICIO - C/PF
-Seasons with Bulls: 5
-Championships with Bulls: 2 (2035-2036, 2038-2039)
-Biggest achievement: Getting hit in TC in consecutive years
-Fun Fact: In real life, Cristiano Felicio grew a chinstrap beard, and it's incredible.

CHRIS RIDLEY - SG
-Seasons with Bulls: 2
-Championships with Bulls: 1 (2038-2039)
-Biggest achievement: Despite Richard Hunt winning player of the game in more playoff games and finals games, Chris Ridley won the 2038-2039 Playoff MVP award.
-Fun Fact: It's really fun to say his name like Chris...rrrrrrrrrRRRRRIDLEHHHHHHHH



There you have it, folks. That's who's on the roster coming into this year for the Chicago Bulls: all Bulls champions from the last 10 years. But the celebrating good times is almost over, and it's time to get back to work and win another championship. To quote Bulls owner Samuel Moe in the heartfelt email he sent out after we won:

"Congratulations on winning the The People's Basketball Sim League championship. This is the 4th time our franchise has accomplished this amazing feat. Personally, this is your 4th ring. Let's try and win another one next year. Good luck."

Anyway, have at it with the questions.

After acquiring Gibson, most in the league knew that he was the one player that put your team over the top and really the favorites in the league for the next title and you accomplished that. When he went down with his injury, was there a doubt of how this team would play to form or drop from those raised expectations?

NickMalone77 wrote: Wed Feb 03, 2021 1:23 am After acquiring Gibson, most in the league knew that he was the one player that put your team over the top and really the favorites in the league for the next title and you accomplished that. When he went down with his injury, was there a doubt of how this team would play to form or drop from those raised expectations?

When Burt went down, I was almost certain I wouldn't make it to the finals. I couldn't beat the Pelicans in the regular season with Morley or with Burt. If I had either during the regular season, I'd probably be sending a congratulatory fruit basket to New Orleans right now.

As good as Burt was on offense, he would have had a tough assignment in Jordan Jackson. Meanwhile, with Hunt and Ridley also needing touches, having Burt out allowed us to add some inside presence to our game with Felicio's very tall paint game. Larson gave us superior defense as possibly our best all around defender without demanding the ball on offense, where there are already a lot of cooks in the kitchen.

Once we got comfortable with that lineup, it had me debating how quickly I really had to easy Gibson back in against the Bucks...but initially, when I saw Gibson went down, I thought my chances got real grim.

What were the conversations with Silky like while courting him in free agency? It seems your backcourt is all locked up so presumably he'd be a super-sub. Was developing a clear role for him a key discussion point?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Can you walk us through your thought process behind Division draft?

MexicanMamba wrote: Wed Feb 03, 2021 7:21 am What were the conversations with Silky like while courting him in free agency? It seems your backcourt is all locked up so presumably he'd be a super-sub. Was developing a clear role for him a key discussion point?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

He was one of five players who I offered the full MLE to, but at the time, he had a 10 million dollar better offer from the Lakers. Unfortunately for both sides, Delmar Lopez and Bjorn Ironside signed first, and Silky missed out on that extra cash. Then he told us the Magic also offered him the full MLE, and he said he was leaning towards their offer but it was close. Ultimately, what it came down to was having a real shot at winning a third championship with us.

As for his role with the team, he's pretty clearly going to be the head of our 2nd unit. We might even roll out a throwback 2nd unit with Silky, Wanderlei, and Patrick Edmunds. It might not be permanent, but it's at least something we can try.

false9 wrote: Wed Feb 03, 2021 8:19 am Can you walk us through your thought process behind Division draft?

I liked the idea, but I probably would've preferred not to draft personally. I didn't have that much of a strategy, other than pick good GMs who would make a division competitive, and I picked the Timberwolves first because they seemed to always injure my guys...which is antithetical, but it's the makings of a rivalry. I picked the Magic because we hadn't faced off in the playoffs outside the Finals, and the history of our teams having the 1st and 2nd (T) best seasons in the same season was pretty cool. By that point, Pauly had selected the two rookie GMs to his division, and both Doug and I seemed to have the same thought--if we don't mix it up, the divisions might be severely imbalanced. So I grabbed the Knicks because it's entertaining to watch Dr. Kavarga to talk trash and make moves where I genuinely have no idea what he's doing. Then I grabbed the Nuggets so the Bulls could try to thwart any of their attempts to increase their lead in ring collecting. Finally, I took the Heat, noting that Logan was in the tax, and since we're going for it this season, by the time he's out and reconstructing a team, we'll probably have to reset our tax.

If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have worried about what Pauly was doing and probably drafted the division to be even tougher.

Can you take us through some of the challenges of defending your title? Does the team have the same amount of hunger and desire after achieving so much the season prior?

You have...quite a projected tax bill. What are your thoughts about how to manage that now and in the seasons to come?

PaulyP wrote: Wed Feb 03, 2021 2:55 pm Can you take us through some of the challenges of defending your title? Does the team have the same amount of hunger and desire after achieving so much the season prior?

I think the main challenge isn't our team getting any less hungry, but other teams and other GMs getting hungrier. There have been a lot of offseason moves that have strengthened a lot of teams, and we'll have some changes to make if we want to keep up, and with our cap situation, we'll have to get really creative as to how we pull those off.

TheSyndicate wrote: Wed Feb 03, 2021 4:29 pm You have...quite a projected tax bill. What are your thoughts about how to manage that now and in the seasons to come?

We obviously can't keep everyone on our roster, so there will be some cuts to knock it down into a range that we'll be able to pay off this season. We'll collect more than enough points to pay it off, so I'm not worried at all about it.

I know the NBA All-50 were not ranked, but if you had to rank the greatest Bull from the past 50 seasons, who would it be and where they would slot?

And do you have any SLOE bucket list items that you want to accomplish this decade and beyond, apart from winning more titles?

K-100 wrote: Wed Feb 03, 2021 4:36 pm I know the NBA All-50 were not ranked, but if you had to rank the greatest Bull from the past 50 seasons, who would it be and where they would slot?

And do you have any SLOE bucket list items that you want to accomplish this decade and beyond, apart from winning more titles?

I've only been here since the 2010 season, but I understand the Bulls were shit for the first 20 seasons anyway. And since I grabbed all of the best players from my earlier runs this season. It's probably someone on my team. I'd say it's probably Wanderlei Silva with Silky in a close second.

As for Bucket List items...I don't really have any that aren't about winning titles. There's not much else in terms of goals here. I guess I'd like the league to last in some form longer than I'm commissioning because I'd love to, at some point, just be a GM again without having to worry about running things.

Random Reporter: Has Kirby Webb's performance in preseason earned him the right to be the primary post backup, or will you be relying on the veteran experience of Boban and Silva to anchor the 2nd unit?

Xist2Inspire wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 3:51 am Random Reporter: Has Kirby Webb's performance in preseason earned him the right to be the primary post backup, or will you be relying on the veteran experience of Boban and Silva to anchor the 2nd unit?

Great question! It's definitely earned him more playing time than last season. We didn't look much at Boban and Silva in the preseason, but we know what either of them can bring to the table, even if they'll require a little more rest as they age. Kirby is super-effective at scoring in short bursts, but on the defensive end, he'll need to work on controlling his fouls and being a more solid post presence. With Silky Johnson leading the second unit, it's important to have scoring since Silky is such a strong facilitator, but he's also played so many seasons with Wanderlei Silva that those two know each other's game inside and out.

Richard Larson also should see some minutes as a combo forward off the bench. As we saw in the playoffs last season, his versatile defense and his athleticism for his size allow him to cover multiple positions. We thought his offensive production in preseason looked better, too.