#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

GM Inner_GI enter press room for the first time in 5 seasons...

Inner_GI: Good morning everyone. This past year was a difficult season. We felt obligated to start the long and arduous process of restarting the rebuild we started 2 seasons ago. That started with trading Kenneth Faried and our First Round pick in 2013 to drop Mike Conley's contract. At the time this deal was looked at as a failure. We will always root for Faried. He had a great rookie season with us, but last year we could not find a position for him to play, and we made the move. The Faried trade saga ended with another trade this offseason with the bucks that kickstarted our focus to get young and restart. In the grand scheme of the Faried trade this the end product:

We sent:

Kenneth Faried
Shaun Livingston
2013 First (6th pick)

for

Brandon Bass
Khris Middleton
Kentavius Caldwell-Pope(9th pick)
Andris Biedrins
2014 Bucks first

At the end of the day, I think we came out with a much better roster from the Faried trade.

Inner_GI: Now after the trades with the Bucks we set our sights on trading Ryan Anderson, Brandon Bass, George Hill. I'm extremely exciting with the return we got for these players. We acquired 5 picks in the next 3 years and a couple big men prospects in Jared Sullinger and Gorgui Dieng.

Inner_GI: Going into this season we are looking for our young guys to get a lot of run on the court together. After a very successful training camp for Vucevic, Bazemore, and Middleton, we are extremely excited to see those guys play together.

Inner_GI: Any questions?

GWR: You've done a great job selling your assets for picks. Are you done wheeling and dealing, or are you going to use the batch of picks you received as bait for young talent?

JNR wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2017 11:58 am GWR: You've done a great job selling your assets for picks. Are you done wheeling and dealing, or are you going to use the batch of picks you received as bait for young talent?

We are done dealing for now, but this upcoming season/offseason we will be looking at any available young promising players to use our picks and/or players to acquire. Long term, we question whether Middleton, Bazemore, and KCP can actually share the court together long term, but right now we are willing to give these young guys the opportunity to figure it out, and most importantly, have fun on the court again.

Impressive job this offseason in trades and training camp setting your team up for the future. While your core is still young and has more to develop this year, what do you think is the most reasonable timeline for your team to become title contenders in the future?

garbageman wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2017 12:23 pm Impressive job this offseason in trades and training camp setting your team up for the future. While your core is still young and has more to develop this year, what do you think is the most reasonable timeline for your team to become title contenders in the future?

Our goal is 2 years. That will greatly depend on draft position and training camps(which this year's TC was easily my best and first positive camp in nearly 5 seasons).

The goal is to build a strong team via the draft this year and FA next offseason, and use the 2015 and 2016 picks to supplement our growing team.

You have kind of a log jam of big men. Do you expect to deal some of the older ones (maybe Bass or Biedrins) to clear the way for the younger guys?

kucoach7 wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2017 11:39 am You have kind of a log jam of big men. Do you expect to deal some of the older ones (maybe Bass or Biedrins) to clear the way for the younger guys?

Bass was moved to the Rockets for Dieng and Rockets 2015 first yesterday.

Biedrins is tentatively in a deal with Washington (day 60) for Javale McGee and Wizards 2016 first.

Lack Zowe, Landgrant:

Will there be a concerted effort to put a greater offensive load on Khris Middleton's shoulders?

Inner_GI wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2017 11:52 pm

kucoach7 wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2017 11:39 am You have kind of a log jam of big men. Do you expect to deal some of the older ones (maybe Bass or Biedrins) to clear the way for the younger guys?

Bass was moved to the Rockets for Dieng and Rockets 2015 first yesterday.

Biedrins is tentatively in a deal with Washington (day 60) for Javale McGee and Wizards 2016 first.

Guess I haven't been paying enough attention...

Who do you expect to hold down the point guard position for this season?