#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

In many other seasons, falling short of the grand prize of a season would be disappointing. Losing to the Kings in my first finals and to the Bulls in game 7 in Los Angeles? Heart breakers. However, taking out the Lakers, Spurs on the way to losing in 6 to this Pistons team? Pretty much as good as I expected or could hope. Congrats to Detroit on the creation of a nuclear weapon. We did everything that we could, even with a late series injury to MVP, Lu Dort.

Afterwards we had some decisions to make. I chose to work towards tax resetting and prepping for life surrounded by our budding star, Safi Fino-A-Laself. In free agency we did bring back Campbell and Dort, but quickly traded them to other places for youth and future considerations. We appreciate everything they brought to Clipper Land and wish them nothing but the best. Also coming back was Raiquan Gray but also a handful of new players, highlighted by young blood Ousmane Dieng, who we have high hopes for this season.

Training Camp was very fruitful in L.A., in particular Safi having yet another league leading camp explosion, making it a very real likelihood that he'll not only get on the court for the first time in his career, but have a big role. Newcomer E.J. Liddell, David Lomas, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Al Jones all had strong camps as well, and should all contribute in their own ways.

Obviously, Karlo Pearson is back as is Dong Bone, though we certainly received interest from teams in acquiring the latter.

I'll be open-minded and flexible in who stays or goes this season, so hit me up if you have ideas. The priority is maximizing Safi's incoming prime years. Otherwise, while we do not expect a championship type run, I do believe this is an intriguing collection of talent that'll raise some hell.

Early thoughts on the lineup to begin the season:

C: Damien Bailey
PF: Raiquan Gray
SF: Ousmane Dieng
SG: Dong Bone
PG: Karlo Pearson
6: Safi Fino-A-Laself

Feel free to hit me with questions and I'll answer when I'm not snorkeling with whale sharks, scuba diving with sea turtles, eating tacos or getting drunk off of Licor 43 infused drinks.

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Sham Smith, Bulls.com: We know Safi will finally see minutes this season. What would it take for him to crack into the starting lineup or be a focal point of the offense?

garbageman wrote:Sham Smith, Bulls.com: We know Safi will finally see minutes this season. What would it take for him to crack into the starting lineup or be a focal point of the offense?

Coming into the off-season, I had intended to do some individual training with him to get his passing and QKN up, which I was hoping would make him a viable option to start at PG this season. Obviously TC had other plans. So, since he's not quite as evolved as I'd like, I'll test preseason with him as the 6th man. Injury would obviously get him bumped to the starting 5 but I also could decide to simply swap him and Dieng for the regular season, depending on how pre-season goes. If he has a nice preseason as a reserve or Dieng has some struggles vs starters, May give Safi the nod just to go all-in on him.

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Dieng was a great pick up this offseason, do you see him making a immediate impact on your team?

Eazy P wrote:Dieng was a great pick up this offseason, do you see him making a immediate impact on your team?

Hes going to get the opportunity to be an impact player since I'll be starting him at the 2 or 3 off the rip. I think he'll be a helpful player but he's only 23 years old, so still has a few more seasons of growth to get through before high impact. If he sticks that long. I'll always be looking for ways to turn guys like him into better players.

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Is there any other outcome from this season you're seeking besides gauging the capabilities of safi? Do wins and losses have any impact on that plan?

What did you learn last season that you didn't know previously ?


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greepleairport wrote:Is there any other outcome from this season you're seeking besides gauging the capabilities of safi? Do wins and losses have any impact on that plan?

Besides Safi, my only real goal is to get a gauge on how these players I have jive when there's not an MVP steering the ship. I genuinely don't care about the wins and losses this season, just want to see effective and efficient play from my high rollers. And maybe find some fun trades to take part in.

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ballsohard wrote:What did you learn last season that you didn't know previously ?


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That Frank Daily was capable of being a 20 point per game scorer with the right guidance.

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One for the Commish and another for the GM

GM: With a potential division reorg on the horizon, which team do you least want to face off against in the Conference Finals for the next 10 seasons?

Commish: How would you pitch a prospective GM to take over the Dallas Mavericks?

K-100 wrote:One for the Commish and another for the GM

GM: With a potential division reorg on the horizon, which team do you least want to face off against in the Conference Finals for the next 10 seasons?

Commish: How would you pitch a prospective GM to take over the Dallas Mavericks?

GM: Well, the two teams that seem to have the brightest futures are already in my division, Bulls and Nuggets. In general though, that stuff doesn't concern me. Gotta play those teams eventually to do anything worthwhile. So, my answer is ... whichever team is always inactive and boring.

Commish: That the Mavs are just about a complete blank slate and you'll be able to begin crafting it into your image in no time. Yes, that'll mean being bad for a little bit but there's already one blue pot rookie contract on the squad and tons of upcoming available cap space. Trading Kuyekendall's expiring contract might net something fun too.

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Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: I like what K100 did so I am going to try to mimic it

GM: EJ Lidell has all the makings to be a great post player for years to come. However, his height of 6'8" for sure gets in the way of truly becoming a player you could build around. Do you plan to develop EJ in any sort of way, or is he going to be a player you eventually move to get better?