#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

*clears throat*
I know.

I know that 4 years ago we stood here and said, 'fans stay patient with us while we go through a rebuild around Jerry West.' and then swung a trade for Bagley and Jackson that sent us through to the Conference Finals (losing in 7 games to a very good Bulls team).

I know that 3 years ago we stood here and said, 'sure, Jerry West is a top-5 player in the game, but the time has come to rebuild and we must work to get younger, please be patient with us.' And then we not only kept him, but brought in Domantas Sabonis, Carlton Gamble, and Laurence Curtin to pair with him and Bagley for yet another playoff birth.

I know that 2 years ago we stood here and said, 'we're not getting any younger, the time is NOW to trade Jerry West at the height of his powers and start a youth movement, but you gotta stick with us through the lean times.' and then once again kept him, swung some trades, and made a valiant 2nd half surge toward the playoffs, narrowly missing, adding Oliver Dennis, Mo Bamba, AC Williams, and Randy Abney to the mix.

I know that last year we stood here and said, 'okay, finally you get to be patient with us. We traded Jerry West for an upstart named David Leiker, who at 25 will become a cornerstone of this franchise to build around through some tough lean years ahead, starting with this one.' And then brought in Carl Howard, James Kirkendall, and James Barton, won 61 games, and made it to the Conference Finals, once again - where some injuries, and facing a brilliant gameplan, we fell just short of a championship matchup with the other LA team.

I know that in our end of season email to season ticket-holders, we said 'We see some opportunities in the market and in the draft to make some moves to get younger. Our intention is to switch gears, trade David Leiker and Barton (the only two players on the roster at the time) for a package of prospects and picks that will make up our core for the next decade. Please be patient with us during this upcoming season which is likely to be a really tough one for you fans.'

And then in the course of 4 days we signed: Bjorn Ironside, Michael Garvin, John Stoll, fan favorite Carl Howard, and James Kirkendall for a grand total of just shy of $485m. So I guess what we meant is 'be patient, we'll eventually rebuild, we swear' because we can't help ourselves from competing, I guess.

So what makes this time any different? Well, this time, we're actually rebuilding - even if it doesn't exactly look like it. One - we still have that cornerstone young point guard - 26yo John Stoll who we expect to be part of the next great championship core in Denver. Two - We have young up and coming players with massive potential in Danny Campbell, Marcel McAlister, and Ken 'The Mighty Duck' Quackenbush in addition to those excellent vets. Three - Outside of this coming season, we have our future first-round picks. And four - we don't intend to do what we've done in other years and go 'all-in' if it means mortgaging the future build we've worked hard (and traded great players) to curate.

So expectations? Sure, we'll compete this year, expect to win a ton of games, and depending on some breaks, potentially make a run in the playoffs on the backs of the right combination of: some undeniable talent, good coaching, and a little luck that it always takes to win the big prize. So we're looking to the future, we'll have fun in the present, and everything else is gravy, baby.

Now - I think I've been comprehensive, but if you have questions - I'll (lyingly) answer them now.

Random Reporter: It's nice to claim that you're still rebuilding, but Stoll is 26 and a clear downgrade from Leiker outside of scoring ability, and Bjorn, while still a top wing, was signed to a massive contract that will only get harder to move as the years pass. Realistically, you won't be able to substantially move forward until after next season - where Stoll will be 28, Bjorn 34, and the little cap space you'll have would be better served getting ready to pay Marcel if he pans out. You'll probably be fighting the tax throughout as well. Wouldn't it be better to take full advantage of your good fortune and focus your energy on taking home yet another title rather than attempting to keep a foot in both worlds?

Xist2Inspire wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 1:19 pm Random Reporter: It's nice to claim that you're still rebuilding, but Stoll is 26 and a clear downgrade from Leiker outside of scoring ability, and Bjorn, while still a top wing, was signed to a massive contract that will only get harder to move as the years pass. Realistically, you won't be able to substantially move forward until after next season - where Stoll will be 28, Bjorn 34, and the little cap space you'll have would be better served getting ready to pay Marcel if he pans out. You'll probably be fighting the tax throughout as well. Wouldn't it be better to take full advantage of your good fortune and focus your energy on taking home yet another title rather than attempting to keep a foot in both worlds?

I made a mistake trading Turney for Sabonis/Curtin/Gamble. There are no sure-fire championship teams, and you gotta avoid injuries/get lucky/etc to win one. So I won't make the same mistake twice. We'll make tweaks to improve if we can, either for depth or for fit, but we didn't expect to be competitive this year and we can't let our luck in Free Agency distract from the plan. Also, some might say it's a foot in both worlds, we'd say we're extending the window (much like our brothers in Chicago have managed to do with guys like Felicio and Turney while still competing). As for fiscally, we'll certainly pay a significant bill this year, and then we'll reset our repeater status next season or the following, and hope to build a contender in 2037 or 2038 as non-repeaters.

That said, we're still us. If we see opportunities to improve substantially both this season AND moving forward, we're certainly open to it, and if another team were to approach us with the right mix of young talent for one or two of our veterans, we'd certainly consider it.

Now that the preseason has happened, the Nuggets found success while taking a look at how some of their young talent is poised to perform. What did you end up learning about dudes like Danny Campbell and Marcel McAllister?

garbageman wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 3:28 pm Now that the preseason has happened, the Nuggets found success while taking a look at how some of their young talent is poised to perform. What did you end up learning about dudes like Danny Campbell and Marcel McAllister?

Honestly, I don’t know how much you can ever learn from preseason. But I don’t hate looking at an .895 FG% for Campbell, and no, that isn’t a typo.

Some may argue your team was overlooked heading into the playoffs last season. Do you think that was the case? If so, why? And heading into this season what do you think of the conference as a whole?

and from a dear friend in Scranton who is a diehard Sixer fan...

Keepit100 wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 4:12 pm Some may argue your team was overlooked heading into the playoffs last season. Do you think that was the case? If so, why? And heading into this season what do you think of the conference as a whole?

and from a dear friend in Scranton who is a diehard Sixer fan...

phpBB [video]

First of all, tell that fan he’s always welcome at Nuggets games and we’ll hook him up with some sweet Colorado weed on the low low.

I don’t think we were overlooked. I think if fully healthy, the Bulls and Clippers were a rung above us. The Pacers were really a story until obviously Fox went down. And the Lakers were a really tough matchup. So, we weren’t favorites, and given our injuries, we weren’t favorites in either series we won. Made the best lineups I could, and gritted out a couple game 7’s, but could just as easily been bounced in the first round.

This year in the conference? Man I don’t know. The Spurs are probably the cream of the crop. The Pacers will be right there. The Magic now have Boban and a nice supporting crowd. And until/unless they dismantle, BDJ and the Clippers are always a threat. So I think I’m up there with those 4 teams around the top of the conference. It’ll be interesting to see who over/underperforms. Outside those 5 teams there’s a bunch of teams that could be really good and jump into the conversation including the Bucks, 76ers, Lakers, Wizards, and Nets

A random reporter commented that Stoll was a huge downgrade from Leiker. Can you comment on that? As it stands, how does Stoll work better for these Nuggets than Leiker would have?

greepleairport wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 5:34 pm A random reporter commented that Stoll was a huge downgrade from Leiker. Can you comment on that? As it stands, how does Stoll work better for these Nuggets than Leiker would have?

I believe the quote was a ‘clear downgrade’ not ‘huge’. But sure, Leiker is a better player, and the team would be better this year if he’s on it. However, first and foremost, it’s not Leiker vs Stoll it’s Leiker vs Stoll, Campbell, and McAlister. I’ll take the latter. Secondly, Leiker is expiring and not guaranteed to re-sign wherever he is.

But also, Stoll brings a lot to the table and we think he can be the PG of a championship team. (Hell, he won 67 games with Indy last year).

What exactly did Bjorn say to you in your interview with him during the TAMPERING period?

IamQuailman wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:19 am What exactly did Bjorn say to you in your interview with him during the TAMPERING period?

He told me you blocked him on skype

You got a great haul in UFA which was great luck. What were your plans if Stoll and Bjorn both didn't sign? Was the plan to flip guys like Garvin and Howard to competing teams and completely blow it up to build around Campbell?

NOLa. wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 9:30 am You got a great haul in UFA which was great luck. What were your plans if Stoll and Bjorn both didn't sign? Was the plan to flip guys like Garvin and Howard to competing teams and completely blow it up to build around Campbell?

Oh yeah. All our FA targets were shots in the dark. We don’t have our pick this year, so the plan was to get some talent if we could, win some games, but ultimately build around Campbell et. al. That’s still the plan, just supercharged.