History in the making - Season opener

Breaking Down Possible Expansion Picks

With expansion draft coming soon we take a look at possible picks for Carolina Flash.

Milwaukee Players


Expansion draft rules allow Carolina Flash to spend 17 million dollars on Milwaukee players. It's tough to say whether Flash
will take Michael Redd (15.86M/Yr) and Ramon Sessions, whose annual salary is low (776k/Yr) or they will take 3 Bucks
players in Jennings, Bogut and Sessions. If they want leader and former all-star they should take Redd. But if they are
looking for yound forces they should take Session, Jennings and Bogut pack. Sources close to Carolina team report that
second option looks more likely to happen. But question is how will Sessions and Jennings fit together as key players
of the team. Much more likely Carolina will trade one of those players and aquire a solid forward. Bogut, was solid force
for Bucks in the past and should be able to play on higher level if he gets more touches on nightly basis. Jennings could
be a problem because of his attitude. Last year, he played in Lottomatica Roma but hasn't been effective as expected.
Many people believe he fits much better in NBA style, not the european one.

Unprotected Players

There haven't been many surprises. Every team protected their best players witn no exceptions.
We take a position by position look at possible picks for Carolina.

Point Guards

Jerryd Bayless (Portland Trail Blazers)
Bayless has a lot of potential but while playing for Portland he had no chance to prove his quality. He' s athletic and
has good ball handling. He could be a good player for future.

Daniel Gibson (Cleveland Cavaliers)
One of few surprises to be left unprotected by his team. He is a good shooter but has too many ups and downs in his
game. Maybe that could change if he gets more minutes.

Patrick Beverly (Miami Heat)
Patrick Beverly is super-athletic, can be a lockdown defender, and can play both the 1 and the 2. He could be a great fit
alongside Sessions or Jennings. Chris Quinn is also Miami Heat unprotected player but probably Carolina will look for
youth.

Worth of notice: Ronnie Price, Anthony Carter, Lindsay Hunter

Our Look : Flash is searching for a reserve point guard as they will definitely take either Sessions or
Jennings as first options. The best pick would probably be Patrick Beverly who can really become a certain player if he has
some playing time early in his career.

Shooting guards

Martell Webster (Portland Trail Blazers)
Although Webster had predicted a stellar career he couldn't get anything going in Portland. He has a good basketball IQ
and has a decent outside touch.

Terrence Kinsey (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Cavaliers had to risk some young players. Kinsey could be a good backup shooting guard in Carolina. He had small amount of
minutes in Cleveland and could explode in Carolina. Although that's not likely to happened.

Jerry Stackhouse (Memphis Grizzlies)
The biggest surprise. Memphis didn't risk any young players and rather put Stackhouse on unprotected list. He is 34 but could
present some veteran leadership for this team.

Tony Allen (Boston Celtics)
Great athlete and perimeter defender. It's very likely that he will and up in Carolina.

Rashad McCants (Sacramento Kings)
McCants is a former North Carolina student so he could return home to play for Flash. He has a good outside touch and is a
solid athlete

Francisco Garcia (Sacramento Kings)
Garcia is a good outside shooter and a very solid defender. His chances to land in Carolina are lower as his team is already
offering a shooting guard in Rashad McCants.

Brandon Rush (Indiana Pacers)
Brandon Rush could be a backup shooting guard but not a starter he's lacking qualities to start for an NBA team. That was
also the case in Indiana.

Arron Afflalo (Detroit Pistons)
At 23, Arron Afflalo was very good player for Detroit Pistons. His ability to hit shots would be a valuable addition to
Carolina Flash.

Worth of notice: Quinton Ross, Marko Jaric , Fred Jones, Ricky Davis, Maurice Evans, Luther Head, Devin Brown,
Morris Peterson, C.J Miles, Michael Finley, Brent Barry.

Our look : Definitely the toughest position to decide. Many players here could play on a high
level for Flash. Our picks : Afflalo and Stackhouse.

Small forwards

DaJuan Summers
Definitely the biggest potential out there. He is rookie but could be an immediate contributor. At 6'9'' he is a good
defender, but the question remains if he would fit in NBA style.

Jason Kapono (Philadelphia 76ers)
One of the best shooters of th league could be great contributor off the bench. He has problems defending players
on perimeter and he probably reached his maximum potential.

Nicolas Batum (Portland Trail Blazers)
French man is yet anothe rookie Small forward. His athleticism is by far his best ability, but he can also play defense
and shoot the ball.

Rasual Butler (New Orleans Hornets)
Won't get any younger and won't get much better, but he could be a good contributor right from the start.

Kyle Korver (Utah Jazz)
Korver is another great shooter. But thats pretty much everything he can do. Could be a very good addition, coming
off the bench.

Adam Morrison (Los Angeles Lakers)
A guy who has to reach his potential. 3. pick of 2006 draft is a bad defender and athlete but he can shoot the ball.
He might be a reserve small forward as Michael Jordan likes him.

Worth of notice: Omri Casspi (Europe?), Danilo Gallinari, Donte Greene, Luke Walton, Jarvis Hayes, Renaldo Balkman,
Ime Udoka, Matt Harpring, Darius Miles, Tim Thomas

Our look : Carolina should look to take Summers and than look at best possible bench guy. Nicolas
Batum, Jason Kapono or Donte Greene could be a good fit.

Power Forwards

Taj Gibson (Chicago Bulls)
Good rebounder and post defender. Yet another rookie left unprotected by his team.

Leon Powe (Boston Celtics)
After aquiring Wallace Celtics risk Powe. Flash is reportedly interested in Tony Allen and that could mean tht Powe will stay
with Celtics. He's problem is height at 6'8'' he is a bit short to play startin power forward in this league.

Hakim Warrick (Memphis Grizzlies)
Guy whose basketball skills are not special but he can be effective bench player.

Jeff Pendergraph (Sacramento Kings)
Young player who could become a double-double player. But his potential is limited and he won't reach all-star quality in
his career.

Jianlian Yi (New Jersey Nets)
At 6'11'' he is by far the best choice for Flash. He can rebound and score (inside, outside) but may not improve much in next
seasons.

Worth of notice: J.J Hickson, Raef LaFrentz, Vladimir Radmanovic, Mikki Moore, Kenny Thomas, Josh Powell,
Kris Humphries.

Our look:
Taj Gibson is a risky pick. He may be a good player, very good player but he may also be a missed pick for Flash.
Powe would probably be the best pick but his height concerns Flash will need to trade some players to bring in decent
Power forward. Jianlian Yi is definitely first choice.

Centers

Rasho Nesterovic (Indiana Pacers)
Veteran center could be a good backup for Bogut, but his contract is too big and probably he won't get any interest
from Flash.

Marcin Gortat (Orlando Magic)
Orlando shocked plenty of people after risking Marcin Gortat. His defense is great and he is very aggresive at the rim.
He could be the biggest steal of this expansion draft.

Chinemelu Elonu (Los Angeles Lakers)
21-year old is great rebounder but not much more. He could improve and become a good backup center for any NBA
team.

Zaza Pachulia (Atlanta Hawks)
Pachulia was great fit in Atlanta but last two seasons his performances dropped drastically. He can rebound and he can
score but he cannot become a starter anytime soon.

Worth of notice : Aaron Gray, Chris Mihm , Joel Anthony, Kosta Koufos, Darko Milicic, Adonal Foyle, Jeff Foster,
Fabricio Oberto

Our look : Gortat is the best they can get. Bogut and Gortat seems OK.

Last edited by Hinto on Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Carolina team selects team name, becomes Flash

Carolina Flash is official name of new NBA franchise that will replace Milwaukee Bucks in new NBA season.
Although they had many names in mind they decided to select Flash as their team name. Next step for Carolina Flash
is expansion draft in two days.

Chapter 3

New York
Saturday, 27.July 2008
Few hours before expansion draft

MJ was nervous. He wasn't sure about his picks. Maybe Redd would be a better fit. Spike was looking at the clock.
Who's next ? Michael took the papper back into his hands and started thinking. Jordan had no idea what to do.
Jack Nicholson was watching thru the window. He had an idea. “ Mike, let's take this guy !”

And suddenly they realised they will create a very young team with no leader. Michael was angry.
“ We can't play with this roster. It's going to be disgusting. We can't win a game with this guys !”
Spike tried to calm him down. “ Mike we can still trade players. It's just the start of our team building.”
“Okay, but there will be plenty of trades. You should know that.

Saturday, 27.July 2008, 7.00 PM
EXPANSION DRAFT

David Stern stepped in front of the audience. He looked around and started speaking. “ The new franchise from
Carolina picked Flash as their name. Today they are making another big step aquiring first players on their roster.”
Stern took papper from his pocket and started reading. “Flash selects Ramon Sessions, Brandon Jennings and
Andrew Bogut from Milwaukee Bucks.”

What about Michael Redd ? Everybody in the arena was talking. It was very loud. It was clear that leaving Redd
out of this team was a big surprise. Where will he end up?

Stern asked for silence.“Flash also selected 12 players that were unprotected from their teams. Martell Webster
from Portland Trail Blazers, Brandon Rush from Indiana Pacers, Adam Morrison from Los Angeles Lakers, C.J. Miles
from Utah Jazz, DaJuan Summers from Detroit Pistons, Omri Casspi from Sacramento Kings, Jianlian Yi from New
Jersey Nets, Leon Powe from Boston Celtics, Taj Gibson from Chicago Bulls, Marcin Gortat from Orlando Magic,
Hakim Warrick from Memphis Grizzlies and Daniel Gibson from Cleveland Cavaliers. Players have the same contracts
they had with former teams. Flash can now start trading players and aquire coaching staff.”

Michael left the room and took phone in his hand : “ Let's see what I can do... ”

nice expansion draft, you have a pretty decent team now, but have to trade for a leader

Flash busy before new season
Carolina, CA- Michael Jordan, Flash GM and owner started to build the team for 1st nba season of new franchise from Carolina.




Yesterday Michael Jordan aquired Howie Madsen as new head coach. Madsen signed a 3-year deal.
Jordan believes Madsen was right choice. “ He's young but very talented. He will help us a lot with this young team,
and we are really happy to have him here.”

Following that Flash aquired 6 new players in about 8 hours. First they traded Ramon Sessions,DaJuan Summers and
C.J.Miles to Houston and Brandon Rush to Chicago in three team deal in which they aquired Trevor Ariza, Tracy McGrady
and Lindsey Hunter. McGrady was quickly moved to Cleveland in exchange for Shaquille O'Neal. Than Shaq was traded
forward with Brandon Jennings and two first round picks in exchange for Blake Griffin, Baron Davis and Al Thornton.
In seperate trade Flash sent Leon Powe and Taj Gibson to Clippers in exchange for Eric Gordon. To finish the busy day
Flash aquired Greg Oden, whose knee was bothering everyone in Portland for Al Thornton, Andrew Bogut and 09' second
round pick. Flash even got 1st pick of next draft from Portland.

Flash now has very promising starting five : Davis, Gordon, Ariza, Griffin , Oden, but the bench is very short and Flash
lost 1st round picks for next two years. Spike Lee, co-owner of Flash was delighted. “ We aquired 5 extremely
talented guys. This guys are our future and our present. We are delighted and ready to go. ”

“Blake Griffin is great force inside, Greg Oden could finally become an all star, Gordon is talented shooter, Ariza can play
great defense and Baron Davis gives us veteran leadership we needed. We are young and we are patient. Our goal this
season is the same. Build for future and I think we did that so far. I think we aquired guys we needed.” New coach Madsen
said.“Lindsey Hunter is another veteran player who will definitely help us with his experiences.”

Although it's unlikely this team might be able to catch playoffs this first season. But they have to grow together and play
together. Michael Jordan did his best. Now it's their turn to prove him right. Flash might add some other players after 9th
November when they can begin talks with free agents.

Last edited by Hinto on Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Season Preview
Carolina Flash

Nba Season no. : 1
Last year record : /
Year established : 2008

Team Roster
as of 11/1/2008

Player Name, Years pro

PG - Baron Davis (10)
SG - Eric Gordon (1)
SF - Trevor Ariza (5)
PF- Blake Griffin (R)
C- Greg Oden (1)
-------------------------------------------
6- Hakim Warrick (4)
7- Martell Webster (4)
8- Jianlian Yi (2)
9- Daniel Gibson (3)
10- Marcin Gortat (3)
11- Omri Casspi (R)
12- Adam Morrison (3)
I1- Lindsey Hunter (16)

Head Coach : Howie Madsen (R)

Season preview

Expansion team was poor, but with some deals Carolina Flash has a very solid group of guys. It's too early to predict
what can this team do. But with 1st pick of last NBA draft Blake Griffin, Greg Oden and young shooter Eric Gordon
this team has bright future. The problem is of course how young this team is. The only players with some experinces
are Baron Davis and Lindsey Hunter. Hunter will probably play only when team will get hit by injuries as coach Madsen
already stated that Casspi, Morrison and Gortat will have some minutes every game.

Baron Davis will be team leader. With 29 years he is the oldest player on Flash active roster. His court vision and
passing should help other youngsters learn quickly on the court. Only concern for Flash is that Baron might be running out
of gas as his career stats were falling down ever since he was aquired by Clippers.

Eric Gordon is starting shooting guard. Potential is there and he should be a great shooter in future. 19-year old may not
be prepared for NBA yet most of coaches think. Madsen thinks otherwise: “ I am confident he can start right now and
be a good contributor for this team. Time will tell how good he will be, but I must admit that I see all-star potential in
this guy. ”

Trevor Ariza is heading into his fifth season as NBA player. He is great athlete and good offensive force. “It's a great chance
for me to prove myself. I dreamed about this opportunity. ” Stated former UCLA player.

Blake Griffin could be the best player on this team. 1st draft pick could become a double double player right from the start.
He has great potential and rebounding ability. “ When I watched him play I was amazed. I think he is ready to play anyone in
this league right now. He's quick, he can jump, shoot. He can do everything: ” stated Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Lakers coach.
Griffin is happy with situation and believes in new team. “ I think we have great years infront and I am happy to be part of
this. I think this team is playoff caliber team.” Michael Jordan would not agree.

Biggest question is Greg Oden. Oden, 20-years old center didn't play his first NBA season because of knee injury. Aquiring
Oden is big risk for Flash. But if Greg comes back and becomes what everybody expected from him he could be the biggest
steal of the century. Oden knows his weakness but wants to have a new start. “ It's great to be on a tottaly new team.
It's new start for me and this franchise. I have to thank Portland for threating me well last year. I wish them all the best in
the future.” Oden said.

Flash bench is practically the same a it was following the expansion draft. Full of young players who combine for 19 years pro.
Martell Webster should be a good backup for Gordon and might start in some games if Gordon doesn't satisfy. Warrick is solid
forward but is already linked with other teams. Reportedly he might leave already next week when Flash can begin free agent
talks. Jianlian Yi and Marcin Gortat provide solid substitutions for Oden and Griffin. Gibson, Casspi and Morrison will be used in
rotation with Gibson probably playing biggest minutes out of this trio.

Flash will debut in NBA next week against New Orleans. This team may be close to playoffs but probably they will fall just short
by win or two. “ It's not that important this season. But future matters. We have some building stones now. We want to get
better every season and continue to grow.” Michael Jordan stated.

Hornets beat Flash in their first ever NBA game

12 November 2008

Carolina, CA - Carolina Flash started the game on a high note but late in the game they ran out of gas.
Hornets won 99-94.

20.875 people attended Flash debut in NBA. Most of the fans were satisfied with great basketball performance from both
teams. David West opened the game with two free throws and Eric Gordon answered with the three-pointer on the other end.
Carolina than played a very good first quarter thanks to Martell Webster who scored 11 points in the first quarter. After first quarter
Flash was up by 8 by hornets were on the poor 33% shooting from the field in the first.


Blake Griffin throws it down

In the second Hornets outplayed Flash and started hitting some shots. “We were out of the rhytm totally in the first. But in the
second shots started to fall end we became very comfortable.” said James Posey who scored all of his 9 points in the last quarter.
Flash was up by 2 at the half.

Third quarter was tightly contested. Both teams were scoring well and fans in the arena had great fun watching dunks and
some attractive blocks during third. In the fourth coach Madsen surprised everyone with Omri Casspi who didn't play a minute before.
While Casspi was on the floor Flash had tough times scoring and Hornets made a run. “ It was a total blackout in the start of the
fourth quarter. We didn't share the ball and thats the reason we lost tonight.” stated Greg Oden who had a very good debut with
20 points and 7 rebounds. “ My knee is OK now. I don't fell no pain or anything. I fell very good out there. ”

In the last minutes Flash managed to come back but Posey and Paul were simply too good and didn't let their team lose. Chris Paul
had 18 points and 9 assists. “ They are very good, I was surprised how they played. Carolina can be proud at their team.” stated
Paul who was 6-6 from the free throw line in the last minute.

Coach Madsen wasn't impressed : “ We did some things OK tonight but we were bad in some aspects of the game. Ariza deserves praise
tonight he was really agressive and was a key guy in our defense. It's a shame we weren't able to take this one.” Ariza caused plenty
of problems to Peda Stojakovic with his quick and long hands. Peda, however denied that Ariza was guarding him well. “ It was nothing
special (Ariza defense). I had a bad night.”

Griffin had a nice game, scoring 16 ponts and adding 10 rebounds. Flash had a bad night from the charity stripe missing 9 of their 21
attempts.

Flash player of the game :
Greg Oden 20 points, 7 rebounds

phpBB [video]

Game stats :

Last edited by Hinto on Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

WHOA! You made a LOT of trades. It worked in your favor though. But unless Shaq is back in his 1999-2000 Laker form, there is no way in hell that trade would ever happen. The same goes for Oden. I don't think the Blazers would give up on him that easily. I was hoping to see you start out small and develop the team through the time, like all expansion teams do. But oh well, it's your call. Anyway, Griffin and Oden came up big in the season opener, but it's too bad you lost. You have a pretty decent bench, but it could use a little more tweaking. Also, try posting box scores if you can. Keep it up!

I will post box score now. I think trading Bogut and Jennings for Oden was a good deal. Oden is a high risk player and Portland needs someone who will play every night. Thornton is playing well for them already and this trade might be good for both teams. The deal with Clippers was a big risk for me and I didn't want to take it but then I finally give up on those two first round picks. My bench will probably get better, I'm looking after one or two free agents but I'll see what happens.

Damn, from expansion team to contender

Also, your starting five looks "Clipper-ish"

This looks good, hope this will carry on for some time.

Well I doubt I can contend with this team. It needs some help. Although I might be able to catch playoffs.

Deja Vu in Carolina

Carolina team had another game in their hands but again they failed to stay in front and lost against Miami Heat.
Dwyane Wade had 22 points and 7 assists.

In what seemed a “Copy, paste” game for Carolina, Martell Webster had another huge first quarter and Flash was
up by 5 after one. In the second quarter Jermaine O'Neal had his moments and scored 12 points and added 6 rebounds
this quarter alone. After three quarters of play it was all tied and Carolina Flash started good going into the fourth,
but after 3 minutes of play Miami started an 27-9 run to close out the game up 92-80.


Ariza was working hard but Flash lose again

Flash suffered second straight loss and found themselves at 0-2 in the start of the season. “ The team is unexperienced
thats why we are losing in the last quarter. We will try to learn from our mistakes and hopefully we will be able to win
in next games.” stated head coach Madsen, who is criticized for his substitutions in last quarter when he put in Jianlian Yi
and Omri Casspi on two occasions when Flash was up by 6.

“ I think we did a good job tonight keeping them off the glass and somehow we were able to stop Oden and Griffin.” said
Miami Heat superstar Dwayne Wade whose performance was all-around tonight. “ When you watch him playing like that,
it's unbeliveble. He doesn't score so much but he does enough to secure victory to his team. That's what big players do.”
commented Eric Spolestra on another Wade night. Wade scored 34 points and added 9 assists in Miami season opener
against Dallas week ago. Heat is now 2-0 and it looks like Miami could contend for playoffs again.

Greg Oden had a poor night scoring 6 points and adding 8 rebounds. He did his part defensively, with 4 steals. Marcin Gortat
was the biggest surprise for Flash scoring 9 points in 8 minutes while Flash biggest run of the game. Flash trio Gordon, Ariza
and Griffin played well but it wasn't enough to beat Miami Heat.

“ I am not concerned. We are very patient with this group of guys. We'll come back I think. ” said Michael Jordan.

Shame that you lost.. nice team although