Trade advice needed

More trade advice needed, guys. This is for my Knicks Dynasty. The current roster is as follows (it no longer even comes close to looking like the actual Knicks roster I started with):

PG: Jason Williams, Moochie Norris, Pargo
SG: Kobe, Houston, Mo Pete
SF: Gerald Wallace, Josh Smith, Korver
PF: Okafor, Sweetney
C: Ming, Haywood, Mihm

I won the championship my 1st season and am a month into my 2nd season with this team. So this team can take it again as presently constructed...yet I always look for a good deal.

Here's the trade I wonder about...I can trade Gerald Wallace (my lowest ranked starter), Haywood and Korver to get Rashard Lewis. My starting roster would be better, but I lose a key backup at C (although I still have Mihm) and a solid backup SF (who can also play at SG and is one of the league's best 3-point shooters). Getting C's in a future deal to take Haywood's spot is always tough...teams guard their Centers zealously. The other thing is that Lewis is pricier than Wallace, who I just re-signed to a long-term deal for a little over $3M a season...so my cap is not necessarily helped.

What do you think...do the deal and get Lewis? Or stand pat?

Never win the championsip two years in a row. Rumor has it that it will mean game over. I think it's been comfirmed. Had to tell you that before I forget.

I would say go for the Lewis deal. Since he's still two years removed from the maximum contract he signed with Magic, he shouldn't be too pricey to warrant his 70+ rating. Of course, Korver is a little too easy to get back. Anyone over 50 rated and on minimum contract in FA should get him back. As for the backup C, that might be a bit difficult, but Yao can handle everything provided he doesn't get injured.

You might want to wait for Andrew's take on this first.

Really...they end the game on you if you win 2 championships in a row? How do they do it? Do they just end your game and you can't access your dynasty? Or do they force you to accept another job with another team?

I not too sure myself...I haven't bothered to win one championship, let alone two. Think it works the same way as being fired.

As far as I know it shouldn't end the game (unless there's a bug I'm unaware of) but if you want to be sure you can always run a test by simming ahead and winning the title and seeing what happens.

I'd do the Rashard Lewis deal. As JT said you can get Korver back if you really want but with Lewis and Josh Smith at small forward you've got decent depth there already. Okafor can also play centre, Josh Smith could probably fill in at power forward for a spell and you've got some quality swingmen so your lineup would still be flexible enough for trade three for one. You could pick up some cheap reserves from the free agents if you need guys for garbage time or to fill in when you're in foul trouble.

Thanks guys. I did the deal. I'd love to get Wallace back, but have not yet been able to. In the meantime, though, I did get Korver back and managed to get Haywood back too. Also added Steve Blake so I could have another young PG. And I shedded Moochie Norris' contract in the process. My team is now looking like this:

PG: Jason Williams, Steve Blake, Pargo
SG: Kobe, Houston, Mo Pete
SF: Rashard Lewis, Josh Smith, Korver
PF: Okafor, Sweetney
C: Ming, Haywood, Mihm

Pretty sweet. This is likely the team I will have for the next year or two and it is pretty solid all-around. I have 1 more year of Houston after the current season and then I can let him fall into free agency. In this upcoming offseason, I'll likely see what free agent SG I can add to take Houston's place in my lineup. I am going to try to move Jason Williams and acquire a younger, fast-developing talent, but J-Will's salary may be an impediment to that...for example, Hinrich is now ranked as high as J-Will, but his salary is 50%+ of J-Will's.

That roster's looking really nice. It would make shopping the free agent market a bit difficult of course but the talent at your disposal makes up for that and there's no luxury tax to pay in a video game.

Apparently, I the game doesn't end when you win two titles. I did a quick 29-game sim Mavs dynasty, and won two titles in a row. Nothing happened.

I didn't think it did, though I couldn't remember if there was a rarely encountered bug in NBA Live 2005 that I'd forgotten about.

Hey guys...been a while. Hope you are all well. It's been equally long for me in terms of playing Live '05, but I had a chance to get kicking again yesterday. Made some more nice moves with my Knicks Dynasty.

- I traded Okafor and Jason Williams to Memphis for Gasol and Battier
- I signed Darvin Ham
- I traded Battier and Ham to Orlando for Dwight Howard
- I signed Corie Blount
- I traded Sweetney and Pargo to Chicago for Hinrich
- I signed Anthony Peeler
- I traded Blount and Peeler to New Orleans for David West
- I traded David West to Phoenix for Barbosa

Now my team looks like this:

PG: Hinrich, Barbosa, Steve Blake
SG: Kobe, Mo Pete, Houston
SF: Rashard Lewis, Josh Smith, Korver
PF: Gasol, Howard
C: Ming, Haywood, Mihm

Essentially, I moved from Okafor and Sweetney to Gasol and Howard...a good upgrade. I also got younger by losing J-Will and replacing him with Hinrich...I also improved at backup from Pargo to Barbosa. I didn't do much for salary cap with these moves...Gasol was at $10M...but the team is even better. I just need to improve Hinrich's steals, speed and quickness, as I got used to good stats in those areas with J-Will.

Ah, yes. Welcome back.

Thinking of getting '08? Just came out a day or so ago.

Again, great trades you made. Now your team has no one under 74-rated (Hinrich got is 74 now isn't he?), and got even younger. Try and find a better backup C now, shouldn't be too hard. But your team doesn't need anymore starter upgrades, just insurance in case someone goes down.

Those were some awesome deals, you've put together quite an imposing lineup. My only concern playing with that team would be trying to divide up the minutes; I usually find that when the talent pool is too deep it can get a bit boring.

Would love to get Live '08, but my graphics card can't support anything beyond Live '05. Have to work on that one.

I like Haywood and Mihm as backups, but if Ming got hurt, I wouldn't love them so much as starters. In a straight deal, I could trade Haywood and Mihm for Ilgauskas...Ilgauskas is older by several years, but his contract is now more reasonable and his stats are presently better than Haywood's or Mihm's. I just don't know if it's worth getting older at the backup spot. What do you think about that trade?

Andrew, I've played 2 games so far with this new roster and it's actually pretty cool. I play my starters as much as I can (although I make sure everyone gets a basket so I can add up the dynasty points), but know I have solid relief when fatigue sets in or if someone is in foul trouble. For example, in the most recent game, Hinrich got into foul trouble, so Barbosa got a ton of time. Mo Pete and Josh Smith get decent time behind Kobe and Lewis, while Houston gets very little time. Gasol fatigues a bit (surprisingly), so Dwight Howard is getting good PT. And Haywood gets some nice PT behind Ming too. It's really the 3rd-stringers who I slight on PT...Blake and Korver are presently in the IR spots and Houston and Mihm get enough PT each game to net them at least a basket or two. Most of my starters end up with at least 15-20 points and the lead point-getter in each game varies depending on the D I play against...so there are games when I just keep dishing down low to Ming, but in the last game, Mourning did a decent job against Ming and so Gasol and Kobe led my team in scoring. Also, in some games, the players are shooting well and in others they slack off, so in the last game, Lewis couldn't hit a 3-point shot and his points were lower, but in the prior game, he was 6 for 6 from downtown and was among my better scorers. I just play each game with an eye on being flexible so that when it becomes clear who is going to be my main point scorer for that game, I can keep going to them. That variability keeps the games interesting for me.

Yeah, same here. Have to buy a new computer soon.

No, not the Ilgauskas trade. Especially a few years down the road cause he's old. His salary is okay, but I always encourage the youth movement (don't know why; I never get a Dynasty past the third year).

You can fit the playing times just right, but if you're aiming for player development (like for a prized rookie; but you won't get one anyway) better give the guy a ton of the ball. Aside from playing time, scoring and getting the ball factors in player development. Example: In default roster simmed season, Prince gains 5 in one season. Put him in my 99 rated team, he only gains three. Both times he's a starter, so his playing time is still the same.

I can also leverage my backup centers into deals for higher ranked players like Van Horn or Andre Miller, but they don't interest me. But here's something for your opinion...

I can trade Haywood and Mihm for Zach Randolph. I can also then trade Randolph for Bosh and Whitney (an expiring contract) if I want a center rather than a PF. If I trade for Randolph, I will have 3 PF's (Gasol, Howard and Randolph) and only 1 C (Ming). If I trade through for Bosh/Whitney, I'll have 2 PF's (Gasol/Howard) and 2 C's (Ming/Bosh) and no added depth.

What do you think about those moves for Randolph or Bosh?

I say take the Bosh trade. The Randolph trade looks good, but just leaves you with only one C, which is worse than what you started with. You also don't want a logjam at any position, with so much talent, it'll be worse trying to divide minutes.

And you have 100 posts! A bit off from my prediction of mid-July, but you made it!

Wow...100 posts came pretty quickly. I'm gpoing to be an all-pro poster soon.

So you like the move for Bosh. Cool. Do you feel having Bosh as the sole backup at C is better than having Haywood AND Mihm as backup C's? Won't depth be somewhat compromised?

Also, Randolph is a 74 overall rank, while Bosh is a 69 rank...I am not sure how both develop going forward, but I'd be jumping up to a 74 and then back to a 69.

Furthermore, Haywood and Mihm are taller AND have better blocking stats than Bosh. Will having Bosh be better for my defense?

Oh. I haven't played live for a while so I forget. Well, can you get a 74+ rated C to trade for Randolph? but all of them are pretty old, like Wallace, and....I don't know. Still, depth isn't much of a problem if you get Bosh (not recommened now I know his rating, but still) because it's only too easy to get Mihm (or someone better) back.

Another alternative is to look for a tall PF, as to shift him to C.

Well, it still may be worth it. The questions come up like this:

- Is a 69 rated C (Bosh) under 7'0" and with OK, but not top, blocks better than 2 C's rated 59 (Mihm) and 60 (Haywood) who are 7'0" and who have good blocks?
- Is a 69 rated C (Bosh) better to have as a backup C than to have a 74 rated PF (Randolph) and no backup C (using Gasol or Howard as the backup C rather than at PF)?

You're right that all the C's ranked at 74 or so are older players (Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace, Brad Miller, etc.). I have the best C (Ming) and just want to protect my team in case he gets hurt.

Well, Bosh is better in other areas, like offense and speed. You already have one of the best blocker in Yao.

I think you can try maybe a big-man rotation with four guys (Yao, Gasol, Howard, Randolph) and see how it works. I never tried one before, so...

Andrew, I've played 2 games so far with this new roster and it's actually pretty cool. I play my starters as much as I can (although I make sure everyone gets a basket so I can add up the dynasty points), but know I have solid relief when fatigue sets in or if someone is in foul trouble. For example, in the most recent game, Hinrich got into foul trouble, so Barbosa got a ton of time. Mo Pete and Josh Smith get decent time behind Kobe and Lewis, while Houston gets very little time. Gasol fatigues a bit (surprisingly), so Dwight Howard is getting good PT. And Haywood gets some nice PT behind Ming too. It's really the 3rd-stringers who I slight on PT...Blake and Korver are presently in the IR spots and Houston and Mihm get enough PT each game to net them at least a basket or two. Most of my starters end up with at least 15-20 points and the lead point-getter in each game varies depending on the D I play against...so there are games when I just keep dishing down low to Ming, but in the last game, Mourning did a decent job against Ming and so Gasol and Kobe led my team in scoring. Also, in some games, the players are shooting well and in others they slack off, so in the last game, Lewis couldn't hit a 3-point shot and his points were lower, but in the prior game, he was 6 for 6 from downtown and was among my better scorers. I just play each game with an eye on being flexible so that when it becomes clear who is going to be my main point scorer for that game, I can keep going to them. That variability keeps the games interesting for me.

I see what you mean. I'm also probably thinking of them in terms of their ratings in more recent games which are higher than they were in NBA Live 2005, which probably makes the rosters seem more stacked than they are for you while you're playing. Good to know it's working for you as you've done a fine job of assembling a team with depth.

Hey guys. Hope all's well. So I've continued to work on my original Knicks dynasty. Believe it or not, I've improved the team even more, adding Curry and Bosh at C. It took a bit of maneuvering to make it happen. But anyway, while the team is terrific, I did nothing for my salary cap and did little to address youth. Every draft, I focused on wining now by going after free agents and forfeiting my draft picks. So I decided to try a new Knicks dynasty and this time try to whittle down the cap better, even if it means I don't have 70+ or 80+ rated players at each position. So check this out:

I started with the original Knicks team, which is $56.81M over the cap. It starts Marbury, Crawford, Tim Thomas, Kurt Thomas and Vin Baker, with Norris and Brewer as backup PG's, Penny and Houston as backups SG's, Shandon Anderson and Ariza as backup SF's, Sweetney and Jerome Williams at PF, and Mohammed and Sundov as backup C's. Many of these guys are getting old and are overpriced.

I made these moves (a ton of them):

- As Brewer and Sundov are wastes, I dropped them for roster room.
- I added Anthony Carter, knowing the 76ers like him.
- I traded Marbury to the Lakers for Kobe. This does little for cap, but I love using Kobe.
- I traded Tim Thomas to Cleveland for Ilgauskas, knowing centers are easier to trade.
- I traded Carter to the 76ers for Korver because I like Korver's ability with 3's.
- Wanting to lose Houston's contract soon, I traded him to Portland for Damon Stoudamire, as Damon's contract expires this year.
- I signed Bryce Drew, as PG's also are in demand.
- I traded Ilgauskas and Ariza to Charlotte for Okafor and Brezec, getting me a top young PF and cutting a ton of salary.
- I then dropped Brezec, as he was taking up roster space.
- I signed Lonny Baxter.
- I then cut more salary by trading Kurt Thomas to Charlotte for Gerald Wallace.
- I then cut more salary by trading Shandon Anderson to Charlotte for Eddie House. Charlotte now has little cap room.
- I then traded Vin Baker and Baxter to Atlanta for Josh Smith, another young talent.
- I then traded Mohammed to the Jazz for Raja Bell, cutting more salary.
- I then signed Monty Williams.
- I then traded Bell to the Spurs for Horry.
- I traded Horry, Sweetney and Monty Williams to Orlando for Howard and Stevenson, giving me another top young PF.
- I traded Stevenson to Denver for R.White.
- I traded White to Indiana for Tinsley, giving me a 26 year old PG who has the skills I like in a PG. He will replace Stoudemire when the season is done.
- I then traded Eddie House to Indiana for David Harrison, a young, tall, strong and cheap center.
- I traded Jerome Williams to Philly for McKie.
- I traded Mckie to the Lakers for Divac.
- I signed C.Blount.
- I traded Divac, Blount and Drew to Chicago for Curry, Trybanski and Wilks. The latter two are wastes to me, but Curry was the goal, so he can start at C for me.
- I traded Wilks to Philly for Willie Green.
- I traded Moochie Norris to Atlanta for Drobnjak.
- I traded Drobnjak to Cleveland for Wagner.
- Finally, I traded Green and Wagner to Phoenix for Barbosa and Voskuhl, giving me the backup PG I want when I let Stoudemire go after the season.

So I did a lot of work to change the team around. My Knicks team now looks like this:

PG: Damon Stoudemire (starting for now, but his $15.75M salary ends after this season).
PG: Tinsley (will start for me next season). $1.55M
PG: Barbosa (will backup Tinsley next season). $870K

SG: Kobe (starting for me for the next 7 seasons...one of my favorites to use in Live '05). $14.18M
SG: Crawford (one of the few holdouts from the original crew. I like him, but he is a bit pricey for a backup SG). $5.80M
SG: Hardaway (his $14.63M contract ends after the season).

SF: Gerald Wallace (starting for me). $1.38M
SF: Josh Smith (has similar qualities as Wallace). $1.27M
SF: Korver (love his 3's. Can play SG too). $620K

PF: Okafor (starting for me). $3.74M
PF: D.Howard (interchangeable with Okafor). $4.18M)

C: Curry (starting for me. Average D, but a force on offense thanks to his strength). $3.90M
C: Harrison (I will be developing him. He has good stats to start and should be a force once developed). $643K
C: Trybanski (I will likely not re-sign him after the season). $1.76M
C: Voskuhl (I am stuck with him for another season, so I will try to trade him in the offseason). $1.74M

The team has nice flow and plays well. I get great 3's from a ton of players, I have speed, I have steals, and I have strong front-court players who can pound opponents on both ends of the court. After these moves, I am now only $31.47M over the cap, so I chopped off $25.34M, much of it thanks to Charlotte and Utah. And after the season, while some players' salaries will go up slightly, I will be losing Stoudemire's and Penny's salaries, being another $30.38M. A little more maneuvering, possible by getting a cheaper backup to Kobe than Crawford, and a focus on youth and I should be in good shape...with a competitive team and a controlled cap. Very cool.

By the way, do you have any advice on how to do contracts for re-signing players. I don't mind renewing Korver for 1 year at $700K+, but when a player like Bosh asks for a 1 year contract and I want to lock him in for a longer term, I'm having trouble. I tried increasing the money for a 5 year deal, but the response is that the money is fine, but he wants a shorter term. I then try the same increased money for 3 years and get the same message about a shorter term. I don't want to keep doing 1 year deals with some of these players like Bosh. When they say the focus is on a shorter contract term, how do you structure the deal so that they agree to a longer term? Is it just a matter of adding even more money?

I suppose it's random. One off-season when Kapono was asking for a 3-year deal, the game crashed, and I had to restart it. Same Dynasty, he asks for a 5-year deal this time, and not too much more money either. I usually just give 'em what they want.

I can barely keep track of all your trades, so many.

Wait a minute...where did Yao go?

You got me hooked on moves with your good advice...it's been very successful and is addictive. :)

Yao was on my 1st Knicks Dynasty. That was the one where I went for quality and started to forget about cap room. So in that one, I have Hinrich, Barbosa and Blake at PG, Kobe and Battier at SG, Rashard Lewis, Josh Smith and Korver at SG, Okafor and Howard at PF, and Ming, Gasol and Bosh at C...don't recall who my other 2 player are on that team. That's a team that cannot be beat, but it sucks for the cap.

The team above is my 2nd Knicks Dynasty. The focus is on trying to reduce the cap while having a competitive team...my original focus that I am now trying to act upon. This team is not as good as my 1st Knicks Dynasty (how can you beat a starting lineup of Hinrich, Kobe, Lewis, Howard and Ming?), but the salary cap thing is working. With increases in salaries for the players I keep, but taking out Penny, Stoudamire and Trybanski's salaries, I should be about $6-7M over the cap after the season. That's a huge reduction from the $56.81M cap mess I started with. And if I can trade away Crawford's salary for a quality cheaper SG like Josh Howard and lose Voskuhl, I may get under the cap yet. In any event, I'll be more cap friendly than most other teams in the league at that point. It's a fun exercise...plus, the games become more challenging anf fun when I don't have the all-star team of all all-star teams (like my 1st Knicks Dynasty).

Anyway, the trade deadline has passed, so I am done trading in the above dynasty until after the season. I am now playing a few games so I get dynasty points. I want to develop a few players more (i.e. Harrison's strength and D, Howard's strength and D, Korver's speed and quickness, Curry's dribbling, etc.). I also want to do good scouting, as I will at least develop 1 rookie C next season. There are a few over 7'3" with some reasonable defensive projections...pretty good for a "weak" draft.