#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

There's a small stage and a podium. The reporters are gathered around, anxiously waiting for Darth to arrive. He finally walks out.
Instead of stepping up to the podium, he instead walks around to the front of it.
You can see some of the newer reporters confused faces. But the vets are all to used to Darth's odd and sometimes strange pressers so they expect anything.
Darth kneels down and plops his legs over the front of the stage. He seems rather relaxed. He leans back against the podium that is directly behind him.

Darth: Well it has been one hell of an off-season hasn't it. I won't keep all of you too long in here today. I'll hit the main points and give it to y'all to ask questions. As you all know, we were excited about this off-season and upcoming season. We had a master plan going into the off-season and knew that if we pulled it off that the rest of the league was in trouble. It started with RFA. We knew that the best chance at adding talent before we had to pay our players in UFA was to overpay a few guys in RFA. So we scoured the list and picked out 3 players that we thought we had the best shot at. We landed on 2 of them and forced their respective teams to decline the contracts we offered. Enter Phil Milburn and Gary Perez who we are very excited about. Phil has some stamina issues but he's been working thru those and we are expecting him to be a big contributor this season.

After RFA, we had a monster trade waiting in the wind for DPOY DeAndre Jordan. The rest was the easiest and most slam dunk part of our master plan. Resign our 2 free agents to 2 5 year super max contracts. It was clear that this team was going to be a heavy favorite for the title this season. Our thoughts was only a complete moron would turn down a 5-year super max offer from the team that had a 102.342% chance at winning several championships. Well to keep it simple, we underestimated the intelligence of one of those free agents. That free agent took another offer from some other team and that was that. Did it set us back? Sure. But we have moved on and we will go to war with the squad we have.

As far as predictions for the season go...I'm not that sure to be honest. I predict we will have one of the most potent defenses in the league. I do believe our offense will struggle a bit. I think if we can match the league's best defense with say the 13th best offense, I think that could look pretty good. I expect our rebounding to be solid as well. We learned nothing from pre-season since as usual the settings were absurd and not even close to how we will run our team. One thing we do know, Klay Thompson is excited and MORE than ready to carry the offensive load for this team. His leadership impact on the team was almost immediate when they came into training camp. John Wall is back and in shape and ready to roll as always. He is a top 3 point guard in this league and is always overlooked by the more flashy points. But he is fine with that, he keeps his head down and dishes more dimes than that other player's IQ. So I think we are ready to get this season started.

I will now open the floor to questions. Warning though, I will NOT be answering any questions about players that are NOT currently on this roster. Thanks for coming!

A lot of people overlooked the Monta Ellis pickup. How dynamic a scorer do you think he will be off the bench for you?

WigNosy wrote: Sat Feb 24, 2018 4:53 pm A lot of people overlooked the Monta Ellis pickup. How dynamic a scorer do you think he will be off the bench for you?

I was very excited to be able to grab him. The main concern after the first round of UFA was "will we have enough offense?". The front court is and was set. I think we have the best and deepest front court in the league. DJ and Gobert backed up by Chandler and Perez/Milburn. Now we are hoping Milburn can start and play significant minutes at the 3 but that remains to be seen.

I will say don't be shocked that at some point Klay is back at the 3 and Monta is starting at SG. Whether he ends up with a starting role or comes off the bench we are expecting a decent offensive showing from him.

With Gobert and Deandre Jordan on the same team again, the Bobcats are looking a little bit to the 62-20 Golden State Warriors from 2016. How would you contrast the 2019 Bobcats with the 2016 Warriors?

Do you have a hard time not calling Herbert Shoop, Sherbet Hoop? That would be really hard for me.

Your core is locked in for the next few years, but obviously, that tax bill will be enormous. Out of Jordan, Gobert, Thompson, and Wall, which one is least likely to open the 2020 season with the Bobcats?

garbageman wrote:With Gobert and Deandre Jordan on the same team again, the Bobcats are looking a little bit to the 62-20 Golden State Warriors from 2016. How would you contrast the 2019 Bobcats with the 2016 Warriors?

Actually I'd say it's pretty comparable. I can only hope that our defense can match that warriors team. I can't expect DJ to be the exact same, he has lost a step. But as a while team in thinking it should be the same or a little better. But with that being said the amount of offense in this league gets better every year. And the this league has also become a 3 point shooting league. So yeah I'm still a little concerned but we will see. The league has changed since then.


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kucoach7 wrote:Do you have a hard time not calling Herbert Shoop, Sherbet Hoop? That would be really hard for me.

That's not a huge problem BUT I do have to resist playing Salt-N-Pepa "Shoop" every time he steps on the court.

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Bowtothebill23 wrote:Your core is locked in for the next few years, but obviously, that tax bill will be enormous. Out of Jordan, Gobert, Thompson, and Wall, which one is least likely to open the 2020 season with the Bobcats?

Honestly it depends on how this season goes. I'm totally ready to rack up a tax bill of 1000 points and then roll out of the league in a blazer of glory never to be seen again.
#grizgotnuthinonme

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Random Reporter: What in the name of whatever deity you serve made you give Gary Perez that kind of cash, and what contributions do you expect to see from him?

Xist2Inspire wrote:Random Reporter: What in the name of whatever deity you serve made you give Gary Perez that kind of cash, and what contributions do you expect to see from him?

Well see what had happened was....in RFA you have no chance of getting anyone unless you overpay. I targeted only 3 players. I got two of them. I thought Milburn was a slight overpay and someone who I could turn into a true max guy. And Perez I also didn't think was that much of an overpay. I suspected he was a few points away from blue potential and thought 14 mil was enough to pry him away. I was right. But then we forgot to use the FREE insurance we were so excited about on any of our guys. Perez was smote. So now he'll probably be a heavy paper weight on the desk that is this disaster of a season.

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Is It title or bust for this current Bobcats Team? In The East its going to be a Sluggfest again do you see your team representing the conference in the finals once the sluggfest is over and the dust settles? I feel that your front court is by far the best defensively in the league with a player like AD you need guys like Rudy and DJ to try and at least contain him.

Klay is a monster, sure. But given how the offseason has unfolded, and his awesome training camp, any regrets making the Klay/Chet swap?

TheSyndicate wrote:Klay is a monster, sure. But given how the offseason has unfolded, and his awesome training camp, any regrets making the Klay/Chet swap?

Oh no not for one second. Klay is someone who can lead a title contending team, Chet isn't. On a contending team Chet should probably be the 3rd best player. We traded that for a #1 guy who can hopefully lead us to the promised land. I like Chet and still do. But I never had any intention on moving away from Wall. Wall is a top PG and any comparisons to Chet are pretty ludicrous, no offense. Wall is the best in the league imo. Rubio is aight, but I'd never swap Wall for Rubio. Wall is my guy.

Also it was pay Chet a max or Milburn...I was much more comfortable paying Milburn. I know we dunno what he can do yet but I think he'll be great. He's versatile, can play multiple positions and I think he can be a monster in the paint, also he is FOUR YEARS YOUNGER than Chet. That is probably the biggest reason I'd rather give Milburn that max.

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DarthVegito wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 1:32 pm

TheSyndicate wrote:Klay is a monster, sure. But given how the offseason has unfolded, and his awesome training camp, any regrets making the Klay/Chet swap?

Oh no not for one second. Klay is someone who can lead a title contending team, Chet isn't. On a contending team Chet should probably be the 3rd best player. We traded that for a #1 guy who can hopefully lead us to the promised land. I like Chet and still do. But I never had any intention on moving away from Wall. Wall is a top PG and any comparisons to Chet are pretty ludicrous, no offense. Wall is the best in the league imo. Rubio is aight, but I'd never swap Wall for Rubio. Wall is my guy.

Also it was pay Chet a max or Milburn...I was much more comfortable paying Milburn. I know we dunno what he can do yet but I think he'll be great. He's versatile, can play multiple positions and I think he can be a monster in the paint, also he is FOUR YEARS YOUNGER than Chet. That is probably the biggest reason I'd rather give Milburn that max.

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GFY. jaykay

Yeah with a tax bill of about 270 points this year Its without a doubt title or bust. With the "player" who decided to leave, I would have bet large amounts of money that Charlotte would have won the title this year. Now that has changed yet we are in the same circumstances tax wise. We have no 1st rounders. I'm not really interested in handing other teams top picks. So when ppl talk about how ridiculous it is for me to run up this tax, it's either that or give the Pistons, Knicks, and what ever other team has my pick the best player in the upcoming drafts. So rather than that, I'll contend and rack up this tax bill to the likes that this league has never seen.

The Hawks and the 76ers are the two top teams imo. Those are the two we have to worry about. Hawks are always a threat and they are still contending, the 76ers I'd say are the favorites in the league this season. So yeah it will definitely be a dog fight. Also I noticed that those two teams have great cohesion before the season even starts. Our cohesion is poor as of right now, so it may take us a little while to pull it together. Add that to a crazy opening SIM that has me playing the Sixers twice, @Pistons, and the Timberwolves. We may come out of the gate limping.

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TheSyndicate wrote:

DarthVegito wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 1:32 pm

TheSyndicate wrote:Klay is a monster, sure. But given how the offseason has unfolded, and his awesome training camp, any regrets making the Klay/Chet swap?

Oh no not for one second. Klay is someone who can lead a title contending team, Chet isn't. On a contending team Chet should probably be the 3rd best player. We traded that for a #1 guy who can hopefully lead us to the promised land. I like Chet and still do. But I never had any intention on moving away from Wall. Wall is a top PG and any comparisons to Chet are pretty ludicrous, no offense. Wall is the best in the league imo. Rubio is aight, but I'd never swap Wall for Rubio. Wall is my guy.

Also it was pay Chet a max or Milburn...I was much more comfortable paying Milburn. I know we dunno what he can do yet but I think he'll be great. He's versatile, can play multiple positions and I think he can be a monster in the paint, also he is FOUR YEARS YOUNGER than Chet. That is probably the biggest reason I'd rather give Milburn that max.

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GFY. jaykay

Knew you'd love it baby!

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