NBA 2k13: Association Check In

I just finished my second season of my association mode. I went 21-8. (26-3 in my first season) I repeated as NBA champions with League MVP, Most Improved player, and Final MVP, James Harden (27.8ppg/6.0apg/5rpg) Last season, league MVP/Finals MVP was Derrick Rose.

Starting 5

 Derrick Rose               James Harden                   Rudy Gay                 Carl Landry             Andre Drummond

Season 3 (Current)
PG Derrick Rose, 98    $18mil
SG James Harden, 90   $15mil
SF Rudy Gay, 93      $18mil
PF Carl Landry, 80        $7.5mil
C Andre Drummond, 69       $2.6mil

Bench
PG Eric Maynor, 72      $2.5mil
SG Jeremy Lamb, 80        $2.5mil
SG Corey Brewer, 74      $1.5mil

PG Josh Selby, 65             $884K
SF Adam Morrison, 58      $494K
PF Fab Melo, 61               $494K
C Joel Pryzbilla, 58           $490K

Season 2
PG Derrick Rose, 96    $18mil
SG James Harden, 86   $14mil
SF Paul George, 84      $12mil
PF Josh Smith, 88         $12mil
C Chris Kaman, 75       $3mil
Bench
PG Austin Rivers, 72       $2mil
SG Jeremy Lamb, 75        $2mil
SF Kenneth Faried, 77      $1.5mil
PF Fab Melo, 59               $494K
C Joel Pryzbilla, 60           $490K
PG Josh Selby, 63             $884K
PF Brian Scalbrine, 44      $494K

In the original fantasy draft (season 1):
Rd. 1 Derrick Rose
Rd. 2 Roy Hibbert
Rd. 3 Paul George
Rd. 4 Kenneth Faried
Rd. 5 Jeremy Lamb
Rd. 6 Courtney Lee
Rd. 7 Austin Rivers
Rd. 8 Yi Jianlian
Rd. 9 Josh Hamilton
Rd. 10 Robin Lopez
Rd. 11 Josh Selby
Rd. 12 Brian Scalabrine
I immediately made a move to secure me a #2 player, James Harden. I traded Roy Hibbert and draft picks.
To fill the hole I created at Center, I moved Courtney Lee and draft picks for Chris Kaman.

So, just finished my second season in association mode. As I mentioned last check-in, I increased the difficulty to Superstar, and as such found myself in much lower scoring games. The games have been much tighter. I relied much on the passing game, making Josh Smith and James Harden my go-to scorers (Harden 28ppg/Smith 22ppg) while Derrick Rose drastically dropped to 14ppg, but increased in assists (9 to 13apg)

While my team has been very well-rounded and has won back-to-back championships, I find the lineup getting stale. I've gotten kind of bored playing games, so I thought I would shake up the roster.

In the offseason, I made a few big moves, with the biggest being the trade of Paul George and Josh Smith for Rudy Gay and Carl Landry.

Under normal circumstances, I would never in my life make that trade. I love Prince George and Josh Smith way too much. But, in the NBA finals the last two seasons, I faced the 76er's and their franchise guy was Rudy Gay. He would tear me up left and right; his inside game is disgusting and he can hit the 3 pointer need be. I thought it would be fun to nab him in exchange for 2 cornerstones of my team. I like to think I created some elaborate storyline in this alternate NBA universe.

New franchise player. Part of my new big 3 along with Rose and Harden

While Gay was the focus point of the trade, Landry was almost as important. He had a very cap-friendly contract for his rating (80) and he had the player skills/inside game that would still give me a scoring presence inside, with Smith gone (Hibbert was my guy in season 1.) I may move Landry for draft picks for cap relief, though. With 3 large contracts in Rose, Harden, an Gay, I'm strapped for cap room.

For my next move, I traded Kenneth Faried for Andre Drummond and a 1st Rd. Pick. 

Faried's morale has been quite low all season, with many minutes going to Jeremy Lamb. At one point, I was going to trade him, but as HUGE Kenneth Faried fan, I couldn't pull the trigger. Well, I finally did after it seemed he was inconsolable. The move didn't do much for improving my team, but it did create a challenge for me:

New project. Code-named Operation Big man, bigger stick.

Andre Drummond was the 9th overall pick (in real life) by the Pistons this past year and while he is raw and has tons of upside, his 2k13 rating is piss-poor. (59) He possesses the 'Eraser' player skill and has a very high dunk rating (87) and solid rebounding. I thought it would be a real challenge to take the 19yr. old, 6'10" C and make him great. He has a decent potential (B) and I increased it in camp with the 'Unlock Potential.' The move saves me lots of money (signed him to a 5 year deal, 2mil/yr,) too.

I also let Chris Kaman and Austin Rivers walk because of cap reasons. Very, very sad to part with Rivers.

Brian Scalabrine retired and I brought in Adam Morrison (Just need someone who won't be angry sitting on the bench.) I picked up Corey Brewer and Eric Maynor is Free agency. The latter was a pick made before the Gay trade to replace Rivers and save 1mil/year. His 2.5mil cap hit is a bit too much for me. I may trade him and bump Selby to backup PG.

I am currently under the cap $875k

While the roster shakeups weren't necessary, it keeps it fresh. It's fun to explore more players. The only mainstay will be Derrick Rose. That guy isn't leaving my team ever! Cheers fellow 2Kballers!

Things Found In James Harden's Beard: Nov.2012

James harden has had a busy November.

NBA's Fireballs and Ice-Cubes: Nov.2

FIREBALLS

James Harden 45pts, 7reb, 2ast
Harden is managing to outplay his max contract. Thunder looking foolish. Harden/Lin have chemistry.

Chris Paul 18pts, 15ast, 6reb
Despite Kobe's 40pt performance, Paul leads the Clips past the struggling Lakers. 

Glen Davis 29pts, 10reb, 2blk
Did Glen Davis seriously put his name in consideration for the Magic's best player?

Brandon Jennings 21pts, 13ast, 6stl
Jennings drives and dimes his way past one of the East's best.

ICE-CUBES

Kyrie Irving 15pts (6-15), 4TO
Irving fails to get the team into a rhythm, only connecting with 4 assists. 

Nicolas Batum 3pts (1-11), 1reb
An awful game for Batum. The Thunder are atop the west, Portland nowhere near. Lillard impress though.

Tyreke Evans 6pts (3-14), 2TO
Tyreke continues to struggle in SAC's offensive system. He desperately needs a change of scenery. 

Ray Allen 5pts (2-5), 2TO
Miami's bench as a whole underperformed. Allen played 27min and had no impact.

Who Be Ballin? James Harden 10-31-12

James Harden (I know, I know, not again) was lookin good in a game against the Pistons with 37 points, 6 boards, and 12 assists.  He had a hot hand and his teammates knew it.  There were a lot of good lines out there today, but to put up these numbers in a system that you JUST joined.  I mean, its like he just stepped off the bus then put up almost 40 points.  He basically played point and Jeremy Lin kind of disappeared (Im calling this out Linsanity snobs).  Althooooooooooooough, I do hafta give a shout out to Dwight Howard who put up 33 points, 14 boards, and 5 assists.

Hard On For Harden

I admittedly got caught up in the Harden to Houston excitement.

Houston, We Got a Swingman

Houston is slowly molding a team together down in Texas. After they did everything they could to make a move for Dwight Howard and it failed, they again made headlines by officially snagging reigning Sixth Man of The Year from the Oklahoma Thunder.

Alongside PG Jeremy Lin, who they stole from New York with their backloaded offer sheet this past summer, it seems Houston will be looking to make their franchise revolve around their 2 backcourt additions.

I'm nervous if the moves are enough to change the direction of the team, however. It's a step in the right direction, for sure, but I feel both players will have a difficult time performing in their new roles. Both flourished with their former teams in smaller roles, where emphasis was put on other players while they more than successfully accented their play. Lin did shine when he took over the the Knicks with Amare and Melo out back during that magically run earlier in the year, but I think its going to be rough for Lin to do it again with so much expected out of him. Harden is a similar situation. He came off the bench with OKC. He swung games but he was never asked to do what Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook had to do every night. 

Can Harden put up 22+ pts a game as a starter next to Lin? Can Lin get double digit points and assists, without constantly turning over the ball?

The Rockets are going to be locked into huge contracts with Harden (most likely signing a max contract in coming days), Lin, and Asik. Can they afford to surround him with another superstar? Josh Smith, maybe, next summer? 

2012 rookies F Royce White and F Terrence Jones will need to defy expectations, while former Houston Rocket 1st Rd picks F Patrick Patterson (2010) , F Chandler Parsons (2011), and Marcus Morris (2011) need to step up their games. Big man, Asik will need to prove he wasn't extremely overpaid this summer, too. 

Harden Out.

     Shocked.  Eh, maybe slightly less than shocked. More surprised, really.  Yes. Surprised.  I am surprised that the Thunder traded off Harden.  I am not surprised that they would trade him, that seemed inevitable with the new stricter stipulations on salary caps, but I am amazed that they did it so early.
     The early trade has eliminated a lot of potentially more beneficial offers in the future.  Possibly.  Not only that, but pulling the trigger so prematurely also means that all the players involved in the trade will have almost no experience with their new teams before the beginning of the season.    
     This move for sure is going to have a huge impact on The Thunder in the short term, most certainly more of a negative one than a positive.  Durant, Westbrook, and Harden have basically been the big three at Oklahoma city for years now.  The three have played together through some rough times early on, and grown into an efficient workhorse of a team.  This trade could severely impact the fluidity of their game, not only because of how little experience Martin will have in this system, but also because those three have openly expressed just how much they love playing together.  There is nothing quite so gripping as playing basketball with someone for so long and developing a play style that reflects your identities, just to be ripped apart.
   

     Kevin Martin has been a scorer his whole career but has never really developed into that next level that would make him a star.  Harden and Martin both have a similar impact on that level of the game, but not in defense.  Not even close. Harden is much more of a lock down perimeter defender and is more efficient with the ball in his hands, whereas Martin tends to hack and slash and jack up shots on a whim.
     On the long term side of things however, the Thunder seem to have it figured out.  They got a LOT for Harden.  Too much in my opinion, but tell that to a Houston team who would have been lucky to cap .300 this season.  Real lucky.  So now the Thunder have a guard that looks to have a high potential, as well as a fill in shooting guard who can put up points when hes called on.  Oh ya, and also some first round picks from teams that are almost guaranteed to be high.  
     The Rockets don't seem to have things so figured out.  After trying to claw their way into the Dwight Howard trade talks, they jumped ship and started fresh.  So, they dumped off a lot for a piece they think might bring them a building block for a team that I thought was supposed to be rebuilding.  And that building block is used to coming off of the bench and has said many times he prefers it.  I'm not saying that he cant start, but I'm not sure if hes "that guy".  I am also amazed that they dumped off Jeremy Lamb in the deal.  Lamb has shown in the summer league that he can be a more than potent threat with the ball in his grip and has a ton of potential. Come on, guys.
     Well, in the long run, another smart move by the Thunder, another questionable move for the Rockets.  Who would have thought?

       

Harden Traded to Rockets

The Thunder couldn't afford James Harden. So they moved him.

Thunder trading James Harden to Houston for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, a protected first-round pick from Toronto, a protected 1st-round pick from Dallas & a 2013 Charlotte second rounder.

Holy Hell.

Per @darnellmayberry

Things Found In James Harden's Beard: Oct.2012

James Harden has had a busy October.

Cyhi Da Prince - James Harden

The beard has inspired a new rap song!

Give it a listen!