Mocking SLOE: Expansion Everythang!
Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 12:19 am
Note: I've been holding this to put up after the trade deadline in case any of this changed, but seeing that LMessi put up his, might as well post mine too.
Hello and welcome to Mocking SLOE, an article where we take a look at the future of SLOE and talk about some things that could potentially happen. During the beginning of the season, the league was hit with a bit of news and a massive proposal. First, the news, DarthVegito, previous long-time GM of both the Mavericks and the Supersonics was back in the market to manage a team if a current GM left. He wouldn't have to wait long however, as Commissioner WigNosy hit the league with a massive proposal. He proposed the long talked about idea of League Expansion & Re-Alignment for the proposed 30 team league. Today, we're gonna go through how the expansion draft and surrounding events will work and how they could unfold.
So first things first, this proposal has to pass for any of this to matter. But with league-wide OCD about having only 29 teams and the potential of having a strong GM such as Darth leading it, I believe it will pass. If it does, we already know that the New Orleans Hornets want to move their team to the Western Conference, stay in the city of New Orleans, and change their name to the Pelicans to reflect their commitment to that city. This leaves the new potential team in the Eastern Conference and returns a team to the city of Charlotte, 10 years after their move to New Orleans. They will have a choice between bringing back the Hornet name or having the new name of the Bobcats. The Hornets had their time in Charlotte and New Orleans, and will likely forever be associated with NickMalone77. May as well begin anew with a fresh franchise. Therefore for this mock, I'm going with the Charlotte Bobcats. I'm also picking the orange Bobcat version so I get some sweet, sweet orange unis.
There have been a lot of questions surrounding the players eligible for the draft, so I'm gonna try to simplify the proposed rules:
Let's talk strategy, a lot of teams can go a couple of ways with their selections. I'll try to give a blurb on why I picked who I picked, but my idea was that teams probably weren't gonna give up significant talent unless they wanted to give them up for some reason (expensive, old, bad). So with that, lets look at some candidates that I’m picking for each team:
Thoughts After: I hate hate hate that the first pick is the player I think is least likely to be exposed. I just can see Eazy starting to pack it up. If Hills not there, its gotta be Omer as the Center. The forwards as Jerbko and Jae could be an interesting pair. Morrison does his thing and Augustine can do ok at getting them the ball. I guess. There weren't alot of PGs, ok? For young talent we nab alot of big men and Dimwiddie. Vonleh has solid potentials even though he's pretty far from them. Muscala and Withey also have decent potentials and you just hope one hits. Covington, McDaniels, Brown are all flyers on the wing. It's not a great team, but it's the first one for Charlotte in 10 years, I don't think they'll be picky.
That's all for now, I cannot wait to see how wrong I actually am, especially after putting entirely too much time into this
Naming the Team
Selecting the Players for the Expansion Draft
- Only players under contract for at least next season are eligible
- Every free agent still gets their rights (Bird,RFA) retained by their current team
- Every team can protect up to seven contracted players
- Player exposure goes as follows 4 contracted: Can expose none, 5-9: at least one exposed. Every additional player on roster adds 1 exposure
- 12 Players selected have contract moved to the Charlotte Bobcats
- Players not selected in the draft remain on contracted team
Let's talk strategy, a lot of teams can go a couple of ways with their selections. I'll try to give a blurb on why I picked who I picked, but my idea was that teams probably weren't gonna give up significant talent unless they wanted to give them up for some reason (expensive, old, bad). So with that, lets look at some candidates that I’m picking for each team:
| Team | Number of Candidates | Players Selected | Reasoning |
| Zardos | 3/5 available | Furkan Aldemir | He's pretty Furkan bad compared to everyone else |
| Hawks: | 6 available | Aaron Gordon | I figure Atlanta is still pretty good and while Wig has a couple of expensive players under contract and Noah enters FA, I'd be surprised if he was willing to move anyone that he can get value out of |
| Bulls | 7/8 available | Jae Crowder | I thought this was easy. Trillsap is on a decent deal and shouldn’t just be given away and Bev still has nice potential. |
| Heat | 6 available | Justin Holiday | The Heat's Lux Tax woes have been discussed every which way. So while it’s fun to think Serge might be thought about here, I don’t see it. |
| Raptors | 9/10 available | Mike Muscala, Terrence Jones | Neither of these guys are spectacular especially with the team Soundwave has built. Capela is the other choice, but with better Athletics and Potentials, I think you expose MM. Even with his superior JPS. |
| Celtics | 6 Available | Shabazz Napier | Bazz is orange. Easy choice |
| Pacers | 7 available | James McAdoo | Got talent around Deron finally this year  . McAdoo is orange. Sometimes it’s that easy |
| Nets | 5/6 available. | Jabari Brown | If the Nets wanna move on from Kaman, they can decline his Team Option. Everyone else besides Brown is young and at least ok. Except Bled. He might have TC Final Destination Syndrome. But I don’t wanna see him teamless. SO BROWN IT IS |
| Cavs | 4 available | Evan Fournier | Another easy one given how few he has. I think Tyler Johnson has better potentials but he’s the other choice here |
| Magic | 9 available | James Anderson | If false9 likes Anderson he could expose Teague. But I think Jeff Teague is a solid backup on a nice deal for one. |
| Bucks | 8 available | Jeff Withey | I like Seraphin a tad more. Coin toss between the two though. |
| Knicks | 8 available | Gorgui Dieng | Teams with a ton of young guys were tough. I think everyone else is at least more interesting than Gorgui. |
| Hornets | 6/8 avaialable | Timofey Mozgov | If he declines his option even better for NM77. Now pause as we all throw our heads back and laugh at that prospect ;D. SO if we’re being realistic… Mozzy it is |
| Sixers | 7 available | Julyan Stone | Orange. Orrrrrrraaaaannnnnnggggeeee |
| Pistons | 8 available | Cory Jefferson | Probably the least interesting of his guys |
| Rockets | 4 available | Grant Jerrett | New rule on top of the Orange Rule. It’s the “Never Heard of You Rule”. Welcome Patient Zero for this… Grant Jerrett |
| Nuggets | 6 available | Spence Dinwiddie | Trying to figure out what Ryan is doing a season from now is an exercise in futility. If Spence was a bit better I could see him sticking with him. But he’s not so he won’t. |
| Mavericks | 6 available | Steven Adams | Nothing that I can even talk myself into on this one |
| Jazz-ercise | 6 available | Bob Covington | There could be some lingering IRL feelings for keeping him *coughPhillyFancough* but it’s fairly easy. |
| Grizzles | 5 available | Omer Asik | The only team I can really give insight on, he’s like Mozgov, but makes like half. Like if youre thinking about Mozgov, YOU SHOULD FOR SURE CALL ABOUT ASIK INSTEAD |
| Spurs | 5 available | Jordan Hill | I hated trying to make this choice. I could also see Randle and Schroder here, but their rookie deals help them to stick around and with Josh Smith already on the block, maybe Eazy tries to reset |
| Timberpups | 9/11 available | Nick Calathes, Langston, Noah Vonleh | Christ on a cracker, the other team I was dreading. This draft is gonna be weird with interesting young talent. Side note I swear to Christ it better not be Toney |
| Suns | 7 available | Festus Ezeli | This one might just be personal preference, but I feel like ok bigs are a dime a dozen. Also I have a residence on Waiters Island. |
| Warriors | 4/6 available | KJ McDaniels | He’s just not doing anything right now for the Warriors. Shrug. Sorry. |
| Clippers | 5 available | James Adams | My second choice is Delonte and its strictly a money thing. 94 points were spent between Adams and Roy Hibbert so I'm sure it's a gut punch to expose Adams but its the right choice |
| Sonics | 7 available | Adam Morrison | Blame the podcast guys. |
| Blazers | 2/5 available | Jonas Jerebko | Ish is my second choice. But Jonas is kinda meh and probably won’t figure into the Blazers plans as much |
| Kangz | 2/4 available | DJ Augustine | Look if you’re gonna burn it down, you may as well burn it all the way down. I mean I guess you could put up no one. But 9 million. |
| Lakers | 9/11 available | CJ Miles, Andrew Bynum, Mouhammed Sene | I’m sure Tray will be torn about putting CJ Miles and Bynum up for the draft. But he will endure. Henry Walker if he declines Mouhammed |
EXPANSION DRAFT!!!
Thoughts Going In: Darth is his own GM but if I were doing this, here's my two rules: 1) Good Players. I'm locked in for 2 years so might as well pick BPAs. 2) Young Talent. If there's young talent that's exposed it should be snatched up. Other than that this talent pool blows. With that HERE WE GOOOOOOoooooOOOOOO| Round | Player | Originating Team | Position |
| 1 | Jordan Hill/Omer Asik | Grizz/Spurs | C |
| 2 | Jonas Jerbko | Blazers | PF |
| 3 | Jae Crowder | Bulls | SF |
| 4 | Adam Morrison | Sonics | SG |
| 5 | DJ Augustine | Kings | PG |
| 6 | Jeff Withey | Bucks | C |
| 7 | Noah Vonleh | T-Wolves | PF |
| 8 | Mike Muscala | Raptors | C |
| 9 | Robert Covington | Jazz | SF |
| 10 | KJ McDaniels | Warriors | SF |
| 11 | Jabari Brown | Nets | SG |
| 12 | Spencer Dimwiddie | Nuggets | PG |
That's all for now, I cannot wait to see how wrong I actually am, especially after putting entirely too much time into this
