#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

GM Roy: Well we are all feeling much better than we were this time last year. Last season was difficult and watching the trades this offseason it made us feel we may have pulled the trigger too soon, as the trade market definitely heated up as opposed to one year ago. But we were able to bring in Jared Dudley during the season who we are really excited about. And the difficult season led us to our new franchise player and we couldn't be happier. The lotto fell our way again and we got the 2nd pick for the 2nd time in franchise history. We were ecstatic that one of the two Kentucky phenoms would fall to us whether it be DeMarcus Cousins or John Wall, secretly we always hoped it would be Wall. Not having a true floor general for close to a decade had made us appreciate how truly important a point guard can be. We were surprised when both were available at our pick.No disrespect to Boogie at all, because I'm a huge fan of his and felt like he could come in here and follow a long line of successful big men, but we stuck to our guns and took John Wall.



RFA came and LaMarcus Aldridge saw that he could have made this team truly special. His heart stayed here, but his body went back to Detroit once the Pistons matched the contract offer. We made some attempts to bring talent in during UFA, and we brought in a lot of projects, some of which took some steps forward in TC and some of which did not. But luckily our core 3 of Asik, Dudley, and Wall all had solid training camps. And with those 3 all being 25 and under we are pretty excited in the direction this team is headed. Last year we still had some talent on the roster and Dudley and Asik didn't really get a chance to shine, we are ready to turn the franchise over to these 3 and will continue to tinker with the roster to put them in the best position to succeed.

You're obviously a big fan of John Wall and made certain your franchise was not going to pass up on his skillset, despite others predicting the Celtics would grab Boogie to continue the tradition of big men.

You touched on this a little, but what did you see from John Wall while he was at Kentucky for that one season under Calipari? What do you see him being 5 years down the road for the Celtics?

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GWR: Your best players all seem to be defensive stalwarts. That's great for your defense. Where does the offense come from? What gameplan do you think would maximize your scoring?

Who do you feel is the Alpha on this team?

NOLa. wrote:You're obviously a big fan of John Wall and made certain your franchise was not going to pass up on his skillset, despite others predicting the Celtics would grab Boogie to continue the tradition of big men.

You touched on this a little, but what did you see from John Wall while he was at Kentucky for that one season under Calipari? What do you see him being 5 years down the road for the Celtics?

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The biggest thing that jumped out to us about Wall, was his speed and control with the ball that allowed him to have elite playmaking ability at UK. Coach Cal obviously knows what he's doing with point guards. Derrick Rose is already tearing up this league and will be heading a very talented Trailblazers squad this season. Another thing Wall did that impressed us was averaging almost 7 assists per game. In college, even as talented as that Kentucky team was, thats an impressive number.

In 5 years I see him being the face of the franchise, having us contending for a championship again.

JNR wrote:GWR: Your best players all seem to be defensive stalwarts. That's great for your defense. Where does the offense come from? What gameplan do you think would maximize your scoring?

I've always leaned towards wanting to have a better defense, so I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a focus of mine when going into rebuilding mode. Dudley will probably be our main 'scoring' option while Wall facilitates and Asik cleans up the offensive glass. Charlie Villanueva is an underrated power forward in our opinion (even by us at times) and will be able to score the basketball, from all over the court in an unconventional way for a power forward. Last year he shot 82% from the free throw line, 46% from the field and 35% from three. We think with Dudley stretching the floor and the threat of Wall driving Villanueva can thrive in our new offense.

That being said, we want to continue to improve our defense and get back in that top 5 range again.

Where do you fit in with the East's elite?

coltsguy510 wrote:Who do you feel is the Alpha on this team?

I'll have to continue with John Wall. It's definitely difficult for a rookie to come in, and have the weight of a franchise placed on their shoulders. But as evidenced by the way John handled training camp he's ready for the pressure. We also have the luxury of a slow approach to this rebuild. We were not expecting to be competitive this year, if we start off slow or struggle we won't be blaming anyone for this. But John Wall (who already had a triple double in the preseason) is definitely the alpha on this squad and will have the ball in his hands will be brought along with patience and allowed to learn from mistakes.

Nick Melon; The Advocate: What do you see Larry Hughes role being on this team with the youth movement you're currently emphasizing? Do you think there is a deal out there that you could convince some team to take on this large chunk of an expiring deal without giving up something of use along with it?

What do you feel is the biggest hole on your team and how do you plan to address it?

GWR: Follow-up, I see Bill Simmons in the crowd and I would love to hear his opinion on the team.

ballsohard wrote:Where do you fit in with the East's elite?

On the outside looking in. I'll keep to the Atlantic Division specifically, our PG is a rookie, Dudley has been on 3 teams in 3 years, and Asik is also still learning there are things to do in basketball other than play defense. For a young core of 3 players 25 and under and how they mesh together we are thrilled with that. But as far as being an elite team, we don't think it puts us up with complete teams like the Magic with a powerful starting 5, the 76ers with guys in their primes and experience, the Nets with perhaps the best player in the league, or the Heat who have had monsterous training camps and an amazing roster who are young at that too.

NickMalone77 wrote:Nick Melon; The Advocate: What do you see Larry Hughes role being on this team with the youth movement you're currently emphasizing? Do you think there is a deal out there that you could convince some team to take on this large chunk of an expiring deal without giving up something of use along with it?

Larry Hughes has had a bit of an enigmatic stint here in Boston. He was brought in as the missing wing defender, on a pretty good team. And in his second season he played a major role on a team that made it to the finals. He then had a bad traning camp and followed that season up with his worst of his career and was essentially written off as an overpaid underperforming scrub. He had quite the bounce back season last year and already in the preseason is averaging 22 ppg. We may have taken for granted how important it was for Hughes to have a strong point guard, it appears we may have discovered this too late. He hasn't outright asked for a trade yet, but he doesn't exactly resonate with the youth movement here. He will continue to start at shooting guard for us and we hope he can show the young guys what it takes to be a professional and get to the NBA finals something he's done multiple times.

IamQuailman wrote:What do you feel is the biggest hole on your team and how do you plan to address it?

I would say a traditional scoring big man. Charlie Villanueva can score the ball from the PF position but kind of an untraditional way. Ideally I'd like for him to come off the bench and provide a scoring punch for the second unit, and have a starting Power Forward with an offesnive focus. I'm also hoping to find a lockdown defender on the wing. Wall can play defense from the PG position and Dudley is no slouch, but I'd love to find a player with versatility that can lockdown a player on the wing.

My phones are always open for a trade, and I'm willing to use all of my picks, otherwise we should have a lot of cap space and will continue to have our scouts pour over the incoming draft class to find someone ready to score the rock.

Omer Asik has had a hard time staying on the court due to foul trouble - do you feel he'll be able to contain himself this season with no other rim protectors on the team?

So here we are. Gifted another OP by the SIM Gods. Some are simply blessed that way.

So do you foresee yourself being able to turn that OPness into more rings this time around? I don't.

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WigNosy wrote:Omer Asik has had a hard time staying on the court due to foul trouble - do you feel he'll be able to contain himself this season with no other rim protectors on the team?

Yes he has, but I'll take the blame for that last year. We did not put him in a position to succeed. We played a fast pace, we had nobody on the perimeter to slow down guards getting into the paint, and played a SF/SG in John Salmons as PF next to Omer down in the paint to help him. He was constantly trying to help and do too much. Now we have Wall slowing down the guards, a full season of Dudley out on the wing, and are committing to Villanueva as a full-time starter in the post, who is a capable defender.

JNR wrote:GWR: Follow-up, I see Bill Simmons in the crowd and I would love to hear his opinion on the team.

Bill Simmons: Well you know me I don't let things go and I'm a homer. I'm still fuming about how last offseason went down. I'm happy for Boozer the person but the basketball fan in me can't help but think what him and Hunter could have continued doing here. But he seems to be doing well in Minnesota and scoring the ball well. Then Hunter, I get why we had to trade him, but to see the trade market completely flip this offseason compared to what it was last year kills me. I had sources tell me we had offered to take back Antwan Jamison from the Blazers AND send back Hunter for one of their young guys and the response we get was sure but the young guy is going to be Adam Morrison or some Russian Khryapa dude. Now another year on Hunter and all of a sudden he's worth Blake Griffin? I don't get it....BUT all of that led to John Wall, I tried to convince Roy that Boogie was the guy to pick because who doesn't love Boogie. But after seeing what Wall has done in the preseason, I can't help be but excited he's going to be the next great PG in this league.