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Post by John on Mar 23, 2008 23:01:07 GMT -4
I'm starting a solo play league which I should have done a long time ago with Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball, a game by Wolverine Studios. I got permission from Nate that a thread like this would be ok even though it's not STB/FBB/FBCB themed.
I haven't played it hardly at all outside of being in an online multiplayer league, so I'll start off on rookie level and then see what happens and hopefully if I get past several seasons, I can reassess it.
No real house rules since I don't know the game - I'm just going to operate within the game rules as they are.
I've made all fictional rosters to start out so there is no history whatsoever. All franchises start at 0-0. There will be 22 franchises in the league I am starting, appropriately called "TestLg".
I'll add things as I think of them. I think I've only started one dynasty thread in my life but I like reading all of the other dynasties in this thread, so I got inspired. Maybe you'll follow along.
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Post by John on Mar 23, 2008 23:02:40 GMT -4
Here is the layout of the franchises in my league. Like the ABA Fake Hoops league, it is a mixture of ABA franchises, renamed NBA franchises, relocated NBA franchises and current NBA franchises. In the main league, there are only several current NBA franchises.
ATLANTIC New York Nets (ABA & NBA) Washington Bullets (NBA) Boston Celtics (NBA) Philadelphia 76ers (NBA) Baltimore Claws (ABA)
CENTRAL Carolina Cougars (ABA) Kentucky Colonels (ABA) Spirits of St. Louis (ABA) Indiana Pacers (ABA & NBA) New Orleans Jazz (NBA) Virginia Squires (ABA)
MIDWEST Denver Nuggets (ABA & NBA) San Antonio Spurs (ABA & NBA) Kansas City Kings (NBA) Phoenix Suns (NBA) Houston Rockets (NBA)
PACIFIC Seattle SuperSonics (NBA) Los Angeles Stars (ABA) San Diego Clippers (NBA) Golden State Warriors (NBA) Anaheim Amigos (ABA) Portland Trail Blazers (NBA)
In the minor league, the Developmental League, there are a few others:
EAST Memphis Sounds (ABA) Pittsburgh Condors (ABA) Buffalo Braves (NBA) Charlotte Hornets (NBA) Milwaukee Bucks (NBA) Orlando Magic (NBA)
WEST Dallas Mavericks (NBA) Miami Floridians (ABA) Minneapolis Lakers (NBA) Atlanta Hawks (NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA) Vancouver Grizzlies (NBA)
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Post by John on Mar 23, 2008 23:03:24 GMT -4
To start out, I'm the GM of the Boston Celtics, but I activated GM firing, so who knows, maybe I'll only last a season. I'll try to include some screenshots as I go along of key things. Here is my GM profile:
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Post by John on Mar 23, 2008 23:08:32 GMT -4
Well, the team I inherited isn't bad, but isn't great. They aren't a great defensive team from what the ratings tell me, but they can score and handle the ball. So while rebounds may not be plentiful, this team will probably have to push it up the floor and have some trapping and pressing on defense to try and create some turnovers and transition baskets. Since the team is so far over the salary cap, hopefully the draft can yield a good prospect as the team could use a starting power forward. Next up is bringing eligible draftees in for workouts to try and look at them more closely for the impending draft.
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Post by John on Mar 23, 2008 23:17:05 GMT -4
I think I was a beneficiary of starting the league off with totally fictional rosters because the Celtics have the #4 pick in the draft and the team that I inherited, I feel, at least on first glance, is more talented than that. So a good prospect should be coming to the Celtics which will be nice. the mock draft is pretty spot on, as it shows the Celtics being projected to take a power forward. there seem to be some pretty good big men available, so the Celtics are bound to be able to get someone pretty talented and ready to step into the starting lineup. the team doesn't need a big scorer - just someone who can plug up the lane, cover up mistakes and haul in rebounds.
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Post by traveldude50 on Mar 23, 2008 23:23:09 GMT -4
o thats you on the total sports world board? very nice ill be following on there
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Post by John on Mar 23, 2008 23:37:05 GMT -4
o thats you on the total sports world board? very nice ill be following on there hey thanks, travel. wanted to put it on here too to maybe attract people to DDSPB but maybe it can work for DDSCB too.
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Post by traveldude50 on Mar 23, 2008 23:41:33 GMT -4
hmmmm maybe i can start up a College one... intresting, ill think that over
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Post by John on Mar 24, 2008 0:29:32 GMT -4
well, looks like the mock draft was right as we got our man, tommy grandison with the 4th pick in the draft: grandison was 2nd highest on my draft list and while he doesn't have a great personality, he has a good work ethic and is immediately one of the best defenders on the team and will start right off at power forward. his ratings, at least from our staff, are interesting: i was hoping he'd be better at rebounding, and be able to get better, but at least he'll be pretty good and hopefully he can surprise, but at least the team doesn't have any real glaring holes coming into free agency except for a backup big man. i was thinking of taking another big man to be a backup in the 2nd round, but my team's scouts as well as pundits both felt cory campbell could be a pretty good player: he looks like he could become a gifted offensive player in the future, though defense will never be his calling card. he may get some time as a backup swingman on this team.
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Post by John on Mar 24, 2008 1:48:37 GMT -4
Ok, so free agency has started, and in the third day of the nearly month long process in DDSPB, the celtics have signed their first player. or actually RE-signed... Joe Heard, a veteran star swingman, became a free agent as his contract apparently had expired and he was making $22 million in the last year of it. while the celtics are loaded with swingmen, i didn't renounce his contract in order to keep his bird years and when i saw that he had a lot of interest in re-signing, i thought that it couldn't hurt to re-sign him and then at worst, try my best to trade him to fill another need. i gave him a max contract - 6 years for well over $100 million. he better be a damn good player, right? he has a pretty good personality though fairly disruptive. that said... i didn't mean to make this post too crowded with pictures or too long, but i guess this shows that i'm pretty conflicted myself on this signing of heard. his ratings are very nice, but this team has some pretty good scorers already, so more and more, i'm thinking heard is the prime sign-and-trade candidate. i'll have to scour other teams and hope that they might be willing to make a trade. i'll have to hope they will since i invested a ton of money in heard, but i didn't want to take a chance and lose him when he was so willing to re-sign. i decided i should probably get something for him since he was willing to re-sign for a max contract. i figure some team would want him since he's just 29 years old. on other news, there are some pretty good big men, but since the celtics are $20 million over cap, i can't offer competitive contracts to the best big men, so i'm scrounging for some pretty good players. this is another big reason why heard might help a lot in a sign and trade, and that is where his best use might be for the celtics as i have several guards and forwards tied up in long term contracts who are also good scorers.
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Post by John on Mar 24, 2008 2:21:07 GMT -4
forgive me if i'm going too much in detail with this dynasty thread. i really haven't done any before to know what is too much or not. that said, the celtics could really use a veteran big man, and i have the perfect trade bait (so i think) in Joe Heard who i just re-signed. DDSPB has a great, great feature where you can do a leaguewide search in a split second for any player among many different ways - whether it just be by last name or by any ratings or by position. it's really awesome. this is the screen: i won't waste time with those sorts of things in the future. just wanted to give a frame of reference. the point of this post was to document a trade attempt that seemed to make sense...but didn't. here is the trade screen. this was a trade that i offered (one of three that i offered to different teams) and even though the advantage is going to the clippers, their reasoning for refusing the deal was that they didn't want to take on Chauncey Whitmore's contract, a guard of mine who has 3 or 4 more years on his deal, and is a guard where i have too much depth. this trade seemed to make sense, but i'm going to have to try harder apparently!
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Post by John on Mar 24, 2008 2:41:33 GMT -4
ok, finally did it. i traded Joe Heard to the San Diego Clippers for Anthony Lytle, a 2010 1st round draft pick and 2009 2nd round pick. Lytle is 32 years old, but has good ratings and fills a gigantic need even though i wasn't able to shed a contract and open up a roster spot. i'll have to keep trying with that. i may have panicked a little bit in trading Heard, but not even having played a game yet, i wanted to get the roster in better shape to start the season so it would be less to have to deal with. Lytle will at least be a good frontcourt man and can hopefully keep the seat warm for Tom Grandison, my recent top draft pick. The search function sure made that trade much easier though. And by the way, I'm not a paid Wolverine employee!
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Post by John on Mar 25, 2008 12:31:11 GMT -4
i was still on the market for a backup veteran big man and put out six offers. however, two of my last resorts signed filling all of my roster spots! i didn't mean for that to happen, so i went about trying to trade one of the two guys i signed, and luckily i was able to trade the player right away. i signed Richard Hines as a free agent, but to a small, one year $1.3 million deal, and the Denver Nuggets who had cap room, took him on for a 2008 2nd round pick. i'm glad i was able to swing that deal, because that allowed me to sign Petrick Evans to a 1 year, $7 million deal that brings the Celtics kinda close to the luxury cap, but he'll be a good reserve to have for the season, and he's a clear upgrade to Hines. the roster is pretty much set which is nice to see!
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Post by John on Mar 25, 2008 12:32:27 GMT -4
the month long free agency in game process is done, and extending rookie contracts is done. i re-signed a good swingman, John Newton to an extension for 5 more seasons at a pretty good rate - $46 million - as i think he'll be a good player. at 24, hopefully he'll be in the Celtics plans for a while. training camp is next...
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Post by John on Mar 26, 2008 12:07:04 GMT -4
ok, so the regular season is ready to start. training camp was completed and some players improved which was nice to see. sent the Celtics 2nd round pick Cory Campbell to the DL. i figure he won't get much playing time with the Celtics, so it's better if he starts for a DL team. here is the opening day roster: the Celtics starters will be: PG Paris Spruel SG Cameron Beasley SF John Newton PF Anthony Lytle C Roy Wooley i'm very curious to see how this team will do, so it's nearly time to get the first season, finally, underway!
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