#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Hello hello Laker Nation! We have a big season ahead of us- one that will set our sails in motion for the next decade to come. We are very excited in the home office and very excited at our preseason practices. We cannot wait to show you what we have done once preseason begins!

First, we must address the emptied lockerroom of our Danny Campbell era, first marked by Danny’s departure to the team down the hall, the LA Clippers. We wish him a bright future and terrific season there where he has a much better chance of getting his first ring than he did with the Lakers. We love him, we miss him, we want him to win! Another notable absence were our unrestricted free agents Bradley Connell and Ferguson Olney. Bradley got an offer he could not refuse and we do not begrudge his decision to head down to Miami. Olney left in what our front office deemed a strategic move, sending him out along with Mason Dixon, who has served our team admirably as such a young, rapidly developing talent. We decided our future needed a bit more offense at the 5 and brought Luigi Leathers back to LA where he was drafted before collecting rings in Chicago. We are confident his experience will lend itself well to our budding young talents…specifically Darius Garland.

Ever since we said goodbye to Alex Caruso, we have anxiously awaited the growth and development of Garland, to the point that we have staked our future on him. We believe we are able to surround him with the right players to make serious title runs in LA (Leathers, Hodges, and #7 draft pick Jordan Poole). While the DC era had much focus on defense (we were one of the best), we did not have a floor general like Garland running an efficient offense, and we are letting loose our reigns on him to flourish this season. He IS our PG from now until 2055 at least!

Our core of 4 will see plenty of minutes this year, minus Poole who is still developing. Jordan, with that TC, you are redshirted, sir! Better luck next year. Our other red shirt? Rich Stark, who had an even WORSE TC than Poole. Sir, you are a bum of epic proportions. Get it together for crying out loud.

Rounding out our talented roster are seasoned vets like Cristiano Felicio, Ken Quackenbush, Jessie Kavanaugh and Jordan Johnson. We are thrilled to have Jordan back in a Lakers uniform in his twilight years of his career. If Frechette stops whining like an unhappy baby he might get more floor time too, but he, along with Fontaine, did absolutely nothing to convince the front office they are worth a damn this year compared to these aforementioned vets. So shut up, Earnest. Shut your freaking mouth.

We’ll be switching up our lineups almost every sim I bet, but expect Poole and Leathers to hold it down at the 1 and 5 in each one. And with that, who has any questions?

What is it about Hassan Hodges that made him the right piece to finally move on from Campbell for? How does he fit in with Garland?

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Great question - not a simple answer. Hodges alone wasn't the right piece; a deal that also netted us Jordan Poole on the other hand was the best we could get when we knew as an organization DC's talents would be better served elsewhere on a championship caliber team which, sadly, today, we are not.

Two prospects in return for one of the best players in the league was a fair deal to us, so we moved on it.

With Hodges, and a recent history of defensive excellence on this side of the Crypto.com Arena, he seemed to be a proper fit in the backcourt with Garland. He would be horribly undersized but athletic enough to swing to the 3 if we wanted, where he could outrun most of the fools over there. Lastly, over the next several seasons, he will be creating his own offense we think, diversifying our offensive approach to get other teams tripped up come playoff time.

When we closed the deal, we were not sure we would get Jordan Poole, but he was the player we traded up for. He will have a lot of the same talents as Garland with a bit more size and thus ability to play shooting guard. If we have a backcourt consisting of two strong PGs helping run offense, we might have the Splash Brothers 2.0 in 2050!

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: With the possibility to keep the books open next season with only about 40 million guaranteed and over 55 million in team options, how do you navigate cap space filling quickly with Hodges and Garland scheduled to get paid in RFA before UFA hits to build around them for the future?

garbageman wrote:Sham Smith, Bulls.com: With the possibility to keep the books open next season with only about 40 million guaranteed and over 55 million in team options, how do you navigate cap space filling quickly with Hodges and Garland scheduled to get paid in RFA before UFA hits to build around them for the future?

Yes, money management is key and I don’t have a definitive answer. We’ll have to see how much these guys get paid and reevaluate from there. It’s been a long time since I had players in the same ballpark of development, but to actually make a run with depth is the challenge we face in the Lakers front office, so we don’t have elite talent like Delmar and DC go uncrowned in a Lakers uniform.


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We know Darius Garland wants to be known for his own merits in sim league, instead of being the "Next XYZ" but do you see him resemble any former PG either from his skillset or his potential trajectory, from any of your previous teams or the league as a whole?

K-100 wrote: Tue Mar 15, 2022 9:40 pm We know Darius Garland wants to be known for his own merits in sim league, instead of being the "Next XYZ" but do you see him resemble any former PG either from his skillset or his potential trajectory, from any of your previous teams or the league as a whole?

Yo, interesting question I haven't thought about yet. I'd have to research to be honest. Garland is unique and welcomed onto the Lakers roster for his speed, handling and passing. His ability to score is also a plus. Until we get more training in, though, he's not yet projected to be an elite two way player.

For now, let's say a fast David Leiker who can actually shoot threes. Or more appropriately a Tony Cucone with (a) 3 ball(s). Read that however you like.

We are ready for Garland to create his own path, though, not necessarily replicate others.

With the departure of Campbell and some young players getting some run this season, what's a realistic view on success for your team?

ballsohard wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:23 am With the departure of Campbell and some young players getting some run this season, what's a realistic view on success for your team?

Success is based on Garland's performance. All of our season is about Garland. It's a lot of pressure for his first your on the pro PBSL floor, but based on what we've seen in practices over the years and scrimmages this offseason, we know he's ready to go opposite the finest PGs in the league. Hopefully his stats reflect this throughout the year.

It doesn't seem impossible for us to land another 7th seed spot in the playoffs this year, so if we do, great! If we don't, we'll take another lottery pick next year, no problem, especially if we have talent like we did in this year's draft. Either way, the goal is and almost always is to win, and we'll do our best all year long.

Random Reporter: With all the talk around Garland, what kind of production are you hoping to see from him in his first season? Is his preseason production more or less what you're expecting?

Safe to say that, yes, his preseason production is more or less what I was expecting. I would like to see him pull a double double in his rookie season, which is not impossible with his assists avg'ing at 9.7 after the preseason, but he will have to kick it up a notch as we move forward to maintain that.