#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

I am iron man…oh wait wrong presser

I know what you're thinking. We've seen this show before. We've seen the suns make a trade for an aging superstar and attempt to go all in, only for that superstar to fall off a cliff and leave the suns scrambling in the years after. Well you've seen that show before, but I think this is different. I think the Suns did a great job at being decent while also bad enough to secure some top 10 picks. I'd like to think this is how you build. I didn't have a vision when I decided to be bad for a few seasons. I even had a moment of actually wanting to quit. It felt pointless, and I felt like I had no shot to build a quality team. Well I took that energy and I sat in it for a little while.

We drafted, we traded, and we traded some more. I always knew gates for AB would be a blockbuster trade but my love for gates made me hesitant. He was the first purple potential player I was able ever to draft/build. I always thought Gates timeline would allign with Akins and Mahmoud. That's just not the case unfortunately. They're older and he needs time to develop. AB is the here and now and it's what makes the most sense to take the team to the next level. The question becomes, is it enough? Can the suns beat the Lakers in a 7 game series. I've never won a divisional titles so I expect that series to be on the road. Is this team good enough? Do we still need more? Is the lack of a pure point guard going to hurt the team's success? Does not having a defensive presence at the 4 limit the ability to guard Alleman and Mobley. I think I'm destined for a clash with the Lakers but I'm still unsure of the team.

I have to ask myself the same question I asked you all. Is this the same show? I've never advanced past the semis. It feels different, but will it be different? Is it championship or bust with this roster this season? The 5 best players are all under contract for years to come BUT is it enough? Does this team gel day 1 or does it take some time to get out the gates . Do I react to outside forces and make a day 60 trade if things aren't going well? One thing I'd like to say to my team…

AVENGERS! Assemble

Sham Smth, Bulls.com: Given the Avengers Assemble ending to this presser, if you had to liken each of your starters to an MCU superhero, who would be who, and why?

Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: Some would argue that 28 is not aging, but actually in the middle of their prime. Do you have anything to say about potential lack of depth of your squad?

With your team being loaded this season, are you worried that injuries could ruin your team’s path to glory?

garbageman wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 12:30 pm Sham Smth, Bulls.com: Given the Avengers Assemble ending to this presser, if you had to liken each of your starters to an MCU superhero, who would be who, and why?

Thanks for your question sham, You said MCU so that eliminates xmen for me but I'm still going to use xmen in addition to the MCU because it's my favorite.

AB- Professor X. I need AB to be the brains and the leader of this group while also being powerful in his own right. The facilitation needs to run through him.
Akins- Iron Man. I need akins to be the brains and play 2nd fiddle to AB. Akins can do multiple things like iron man. he has the brains, the power and enough leadership to help AB.
Johnston- Thor, thor wants 0 part of leadership, he's strong and just wants to be muscle and that's exactly leroy's role on this team. guard the best wings in the league and put pressure on them in scoring himself.
Hancock- Luke is falcon before the shield. luke is younger to the team but still has a role. he's the 2nd best rebounder and that's where i need him. in the air shooting and grabbing rebounds.
Mahmoud- Hulk....SMASH. just block shots, dunk and rebound. anchor the team against the bigs in the league.

AngryBanana wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 12:33 pm Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: Some would argue that 28 is not aging, but actually in the middle of their prime. Do you have anything to say about potential lack of depth of your squad?

I think i agree with you Chet, That's where AB is a bit different than the other stars we've traded for. AB is in his prime and will have 4 more years of top tier play. Depth is 100percent an issue. We'll be open for trades throughout the season because one can never have too many weapons. when you look at the team it has a very solid 8 man rotation that would be very hard to find upgrade able pieces. I think where depth may hurt is in games with foul trouble and in the case of any injuries.

drkavarga wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 1:08 pm With your team being loaded this season, are you worried that injuries could ruin your team’s path to glory?

you know, it's always a concern bobcats. the injury bug can strike anyone at any time. we don't build teams in this league based on an injury happening but we are all aware that it could happen. i mean look at last year, this team lost it's best player and 3 of it's 6 best players all for 20 plus games. that was something we were unable to overcome. this exact roster won 44 games without AB last year and with a younger Hancock whom got much better in training camp. we have to have faith this time around. we've talked to the condition coaches and we've tweaked some thing. we're going to play guys a little less and hopefully we can preserve them a bit for playoff basketball.

Have you thought about talking to the nets about how to physically impose your will on the Lakers in you inevitable playoff match up?

Seems like they have some inside secrets on how to throw them bows.

Have you at least looked at the film from those games and done a game by game break down of that series?

@LazyTitanSmash Yeah so we've definitely analyzed how best to beat the Lakers. I think what we're hoping to do is fall into one of their players knees and rack up some injuries.

I'm obviously kidding, but yeah the team was definitely built to be balanced to not just beat the Lakers. There are a lot of teams that are formidable out there. I pick on the Lakers as that's the division champs and the path to a championship starts with winning your own division. It's not necessary, but that's the first step in a successful season.

And if all else fails, we're prepared to go to war in the city of angels.