#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Bow Bill: It's been a while since we've had one of these in Oakland, and I'm excited to have one now. These are trying times for this franchise that just suffered its 4th losing season in a row, the third since I took back over. Now this blame falls on no one but myself. I lost focus, and it set the team back. We didn't get to trade our stars, and we were without a pick for our first losing season. Again, I take full responsibility, but we're moving on now.

Bow Bill: One of the most important qualities for a GM in this league is the ability to tune out all the noise. When you're bad for a long time, people start talking and wondering if you have the ability as a GM to put together a good team. Hell, even if you are good, people still wonder that if you are viewed as being "gifted" a star player. I of all people should know that. So I'm sure there are people out there right now who are using my team as an example as to how I am a Kemp-made GM. But we're going to stay our course. There's no need to rush into an 8 seed or even to mortgage the future to become a 4-5 seed. Last time, yes with Kemp, I was able to make the playoffs for 13 straight years (the computer made it the 14th year as well). While that sort of sustained success might be unreasonable, I would rather be bad for an extra season to ensure a lasting stay on top. And I'm confident in our direction.

Bow Bill: This offseason, we took a huge huge step to getting to where we want to go. For the second year in a row, the team we tied with for the 5th worst record jumped into the top 3. The Suns jump pushed us all the way down to #7. Not only were we missing out on the big 4 in this draft, we were going to miss out on the big 6 too, something I'd hardly even considered. Then we caught lightning in a bottle when the Magic selected Goran Dragic, and the Heat traded the 5th pick to us so we could select DeAndre Jordan. Having to give up Jared Dudley wasn't ideal, but, while Dudley and Ibaka are fine players, you can find guys who can give you 80% of what those guys give you on the free agent market fairly easily. DeAndre Jordan is a future star in this league, and we're incredibly excited to have him on our team. We see Jordan leading the league in rebounding and winning at least one DPOY as a Warrior.

Bow Bill: Other moves this offseason included bringing in Demarr Johnson, a guy we hope can help us get on our feet with Jordan and our draft picks this year (more on this later). Johnson is a prototypical Small Forward: an elite 3 point shooter and a very good defender both down low and on the perimeter. The other noteworthy move this offseason was bringing in Ike Diogu who has been turning heads after training camp. We're really excited to have added another piece to our young core.

Bow Bill: This season will be rough, but it will hopefully be one of our last rough seasons. And boy, might it pay off. We have both our own pick and the Magic pick this year from the Ben Wallace trade. We are looking at adding 2 more picks to our core with Jordan, and that's extremely exciting. As for what we want to see from this year, I'm excited to see what Jordan looks like as a rookie. I'm also excited to see how Bass and Diogu play. I know what Johnson will give us, but I want to see how Novak and Belinelli have progressed. Our goal is to figure out how some of our future pieces fit together and to be a fun team.

Bow Bill: With that said, we will now open the floor to questions.

do you ever start wondering if you have the ability as a GM to put together a good team?

Random Reporter: Lost in all the noise is the fact that you've consistently overachieved with sub-par teams. With the new influx of talent, where do you see your ceiling for this season? Also, Carlos Delfino moved on to Philly despite coming into his own in Golden State. What are your thoughts on that?

ballsohard wrote:do you ever start wondering if you have the ability as a GM to put together a good team?

Obviously, nothing good will come out of anything I say here. There will always be doubters until I win another championship. And I'm sure there'll be a problem with that championship too. So I'll just say that I'm excited to put together a good team. It's my first ever rebuild, and I'm excited to see it through to another contending team.

Xist2Inspire wrote:Random Reporter: Lost in all the noise is the fact that you've consistently overachieved with sub-par teams. With the new influx of talent, where do you see your ceiling for this season? Also, Carlos Delfino moved on to Philly despite coming into his own in Golden State. What are your thoughts on that?

The past couple of seasons, I've tried to build teams centered around my young guys, and I've surrounded them with real-life NBA players: guys who can actually play and have a role in this league. It's led to some solid teams, so we actually had to "fix" that for this season. This season's ceiling? I'm thinking maybe 25 or so wins. For what I'm aiming for, I would like to see Jordan compete for leading rookies in rebounding. I want to see him stay on the court and out of foul trouble. I want to see Novak thrive in his future role as a 3 point shooter off the bench. And I want to see Demarr thrive in his new role as a scoring option. I want to see him score efficiently.

Do you think Ike is next in line this upcoming RFA to be a max contract?

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GWR: DerMarr Johnson and Steve Novak, perhaps your two best scorers, both play the same position. Are you planning on moving one of them to PF, and if so which one?

NOLa. wrote:Do you think Ike is next in line this upcoming RFA to be a max contract?

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Well the first thing you gotta look at is which teams have cap room for next season. I see some big spenders are strapped for cash, but I see a few GMs that've thrown out their share of horrendous contracts that have cap space next season. So I can't rule it out.

JNR wrote:GWR: DerMarr Johnson and Steve Novak, perhaps your two best scorers, both play the same position. Are you planning on moving one of them to PF, and if so which one?

It's definitely not ideal that our 2 best scorers both play the same position. But, honestly, I'm not too worried about it. I'll probably give each of them some time at the 4, but for the most part, I want to see how they'll look in the roles I see them in for the future. I want to see if Steve can come off the bench at the 4 as well as the 3. I have my doubts, but I'm interested. I want to see how those 2 fit together as a small forward pairing. It might not result in the most wins this year, but I think it's extremely beneficial for the next 2 years when we might be competing for playoff spots.

Seattle Beat writer: So you're tanking this year. But it sounds like you'd like this to be the last tank. How do you see being competitive the next few years with one offensive player and a "Future DPOY" who is at least 3 seasons away from being just a decent defender?

DarthVegito wrote:Seattle Beat writer: So you're tanking this year. But it sounds like you'd like this to be the last tank. How do you see being competitive the next few years with one offensive player and a "Future DPOY" who is at least 3 seasons away from being just a decent defender?

I mean I'd like never to tank again. I'd like to win 60 games every season and be in contention every season never hitting the lottery and never hitting the luxury tax. If everything went our way and the Magic got injured or something and we lucked into two top 3 picks or something along those lines, then yeah, maybe we're more aggressive in FA and can go after a playoff spot next year. DeAndre Jordan started out with practically the same potentials as Tyson Chandler (only Chandler had B PSD and Jordan A), except Tyson started out way more raw than Jordan. And Tyson's second season, they made the playoffs with him starting 52 games and playing 24 minutes. So yes, there's a chance we are competitive within a year or 2, but a lot of that depends on the lottery, but we feel we're in as good a position as anyone for that.

ballsohard wrote:do you ever start wondering if you have the ability as a GM to put together a good team ?

Bowtothebill23 wrote:When you're bad for a long time, people start talking and wondering if you have the ability as a GM to put together a good team.

...

You signed Barbosa for a 4 year deal. How were you planning to use him and how hard was it to see him have a bad camp and does he still have a role long-term on this team?

78# wrote:You signed Barbosa for a 4 year deal. How were you planning to use him and how hard was it to see him have a bad camp and does he still have a role long-term on this team?

He was my backup SG of the future. He figured to be a quick shooting guard with a great ability to shoot who was a decent defender. We thought he could be 80% of Dudley for about the same price. Having him locked up at under 4 million for 4 years was huge because that's such a small portion of the cap, and I felt he would thrive in his role. Now that he's taken a step back, it hurts, but it's still not a bad deal. He can still shoot well, but I doubt he'll make it a 4th year here anymore. And I view him now as more of a 10th man than an 8th man.

Bowtothebill23 wrote:

78# wrote:You signed Barbosa for a 4 year deal. How were you planning to use him and how hard was it to see him have a bad camp and does he still have a role long-term on this team?

He was my backup SG of the future. He figured to be a quick shooting guard with a great ability to shoot who was a decent defender. We thought he could be 80% of Dudley for about the same price. Having him locked up at under 4 million for 4 years was huge because that's such a small portion of the cap, and I felt he would thrive in his role. Now that he's taken a step back, it hurts, but it's still not a bad deal. He can still shoot well, but I doubt he'll make it a 4th year here anymore. And I view him now as more of a 10th man than an 8th man.

Did you just say..... Backup SG of the future?!@!!


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ballsohard wrote:

Bowtothebill23 wrote:

78# wrote:You signed Barbosa for a 4 year deal. How were you planning to use him and how hard was it to see him have a bad camp and does he still have a role long-term on this team?

He was my backup SG of the future. He figured to be a quick shooting guard with a great ability to shoot who was a decent defender. We thought he could be 80% of Dudley for about the same price. Having him locked up at under 4 million for 4 years was huge because that's such a small portion of the cap, and I felt he would thrive in his role. Now that he's taken a step back, it hurts, but it's still not a bad deal. He can still shoot well, but I doubt he'll make it a 4th year here anymore. And I view him now as more of a 10th man than an 8th man.

Did you just say..... Backup SG of the future?!@!!


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Don't hate just cause you ain't got one.