#TrustTheProcess - Philadelphia 76ers MyLEAGUE

Hi all, in all my efforts to actually stick to a franchise/association/MyLeague over most of my life, I have always struggled. Much like Andrew, who documented it only a few weeks ago when he went back and played over his Sacramento Kings franchise in NBA Live 2002, I start but never finish these modes, and over the past couple of years I've really struggled to attach myself to a game mode which I consider to be the best in basketball games.

In a way to combat my inconsistency with MyLeague, I thought that documenting it through avenues such as the NLSC and OperationSports forums in a way to stay motivated. I have done a few of these before, in 2K10 and 2K12, but since then haven't really been committed to a single franchise mode.

So, this is my attempt to re-invigorate my love for the mode with a team who, just my luck drafted the no.1 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Ben Simmons, the team I support, the Philadelphia 76ers.

I'm not sure how consistent I will be in updates, I plan to play 2-3 games before making a new post in the forum. I'm no pro at the game, even after over 16 years of playing basketball games I won't be playing HOF. This is simply a test currently, as I have University Exams in a few weeks so posts will be scarce, but soon after I should have a lot more time to play more games and progress further.

I hope it's entertaining for some, it won't be to everyone's taste I suppose, but I thought in a way to make it more enjoyable for myself, sharing it with others may help to keep me motivated to play.

Hope you guys want to join me on this journey!


SETTINGS
Games: 58
Quarter Length: 6 Mins (Stats/Posts to be normalised to sim quarter length of 12 mins)
Injuries: On
Playoff Sequence: 3-3-3-3

START OF SEASON

EXPECTATIONS

Seeing as this was the worst team last season, expectations won't be too high in the first year. Experience and growth will be key, with the core of Noel, Okafor, Embiid, Saric and Simmons all set to only get better with age. Though we are young, the pure talent of our front court should be able to carry us, with inside scoring being dominant due to our limited perimeter threats(which I am possibly looking to change early in the season). Playoffs will be the goal, and with such a youthful team the sooner I can get them playing competitive basketball the more chance we have to win some games. I expect us to finish somewhere around 6th-10th in the East, 6th being the best case scenario, anything above that would be a booming success.

TEAM SCRIMMAGE

I played around with the team a bit in scrimmage just to get a feel for this years team, and decided to trial something that has been discussed for the Sixers in real life, starting Ben Simmons at the PG with his exceptional passing skills. He was challenged, but mainly outplayed Jerryd Bayless in the time I played, and makes me wonder if the signing of Sergio Rodriguez may not last in Philadelphia, and trading for some more depth at SG may be a better option.

Timothe Lawawu Cabarott is raw, very raw, so raw I think I may need to acquire someone to start over him in order for us to be able to contain anyone at that position on the defensive end, as Nik Stauskas was running rings around him.

In the battle of the bigs, it's no question all four of Okafor, Embiid, Saric and Noel are worthy starters, and in order to really capatilise on our depth I've decided to change Noel's primary position to PF, which actually raised his overall by +1. Saric is a beast outside of the key, which will help immensely in improving our game from outside. The rebounding caliber of Embiid, Noel and Okafor will guarantee that no rebound will be easy for the defense, and I expect a lot of second chance points against teams without an elite front court.

LINEUP

I'm willing to trial Ben at the PG to begin the season, and run with Luwawu for now. I did get an offer of Noel for Khris Middleton, but would rather save the contract space and grow Luwawu to become more consistent and learn how to play with him. Picking between Embiid and Okafor to start at center is tough, but with Okafor already having a season under his belt and Embiid's durability still in question, I figured to keep Embiid limited to begin with and possibly mix him in with Noel later in the season. Robert Covington will get the starting role over a personal favourite of mine in Jerami Grant, just simply due to versatility on offense and ability to stretch the floor and hit outside shots, something that Luwawu and Simmons are still improving on.

I'm hoping to have the first game up tomorrow, but like I said University exams aren't too far away so my posts will be limited for the time being!

With so much young talent, you might want to give them some personalized training to shape them a bit for your needs.

With so much young talent, you might want to give them some personalized training to shape them a bit for your needs.

Yeah for sure, I think first and foremost is Luwawu, there's nothing really out there in terms of trades that are actually beneficial for the team that can improve the 2 position, so if I really focus on getting his perimeter D better and improve his outside shot even more I'll have a great asset.

With so much young talent, you might want to give them some personalized training to shape them a bit for your needs.

Yeah for sure, I think first and foremost is Luwawu, there's nothing really out there in terms of trades that are actually beneficial for the team that can improve the 2 position, so if I really focus on getting his perimeter D better and improve his outside shot even more I'll have a great asset.

Middleton is beneficial as hell. Incredible defender, great shooter and therefore important because it spaces the floor for your non shooting team. I mean think about it... none of your centers and powerforwards have any touch from outside, your PG/SF doesn't have a touch either and your have no one on the bench either... get Middleton. His contract is laughable for the current cap space. Trade Okafor away for a decent stretch big or a two way PG who can play off the ball as well. I would suggest someone like Clarkson, he has good size, can turn into a good defender and is a good shot as well as a good finisher around the rim and since you want to have Simmons bringing up the ball regulary Clarkson would be a good sidekick in that regard.

Saric is a good primary PF and backup Center. He is a decent rebounder and a decent post defender as well as a decent midrange scorer, 3 point shooter and a decent post offense player as well. The Philly Roster is a quarry tbh. I'd trade Noel as well... he is an alright defender and everything but he has no offensive game whatsoever so you absolutely clog the paint... think the Pistons with Drummond and Monroe. It's just not something that works well. Covington has bottomed out so he should be on the block as well. This team flat out stinks with the exception of Simmons, Saric and Embiid so anybody else should be fair game. The Frenchman is a decent backup for now but you need at least a competitive starting 5.

With so much young talent, you might want to give them some personalized training to shape them a bit for your needs.

Yeah for sure, I think first and foremost is Luwawu, there's nothing really out there in terms of trades that are actually beneficial for the team that can improve the 2 position, so if I really focus on getting his perimeter D better and improve his outside shot even more I'll have a great asset.

Middleton is beneficial as hell. Incredible defender, great shooter and therefore important because it spaces the floor for your non shooting team. I mean think about it... none of your centers and powerforwards have any touch from outside, your PG/SF doesn't have a touch either and your have no one on the bench either... get Middleton. His contract is laughable for the current cap space. Trade Okafor away for a decent stretch big or a two way PG who can play off the ball as well. I would suggest someone like Clarkson, he has good size, can turn into a good defender and is a good shot as well as a good finisher around the rim and since you want to have Simmons bringing up the ball regulary Clarkson would be a good sidekick in that regard.

Saric is a good primary PF and backup Center. He is a decent rebounder and a decent post defender as well as a decent midrange scorer, 3 point shooter and a decent post offense player as well. The Philly Roster is a quarry tbh. I'd trade Noel as well... he is an alright defender and everything but he has no offensive game whatsoever so you absolutely clog the paint... think the Pistons with Drummond and Monroe. It's just not something that works well. Covington has bottomed out so he should be on the block as well. This team flat out stinks with the exception of Simmons, Saric and Embiid so anybody else should be fair game. The Frenchman is a decent backup for now but you need at least a competitive starting 5.

I'd like to keep the team pretty stock to start off with, having such depth in bigs isn't great, but Noel would be the one I'd part with for sure. If I can get Rodriguez or McConnell shipped off with Noel for Middleton I'd take the deal. I think we are competitive with the team we have, for the most part every position bar the 2 guard has a solid starter/backup with Grant/Covington at the 3. If I make too many moves early I'll lose interest because it won't feel as real as I want it to feel. Appreciate the input!

TRADE UPDATE



So I've made some moves, parted ways with Nerlens Noel and gained Khris Middleton. The only way to get the deal done was to move out Luwawu, who i was very interested in growing, but felt Middleton would give us the outside presence we needed, as well as swapping out Robert Covington for C.J. Miles, giving our wings a lot more outside shooting to work with the dominant inside. I've also moved T.J McConnell for Tiago Splitter, simply to fill the gap of moving Okafor to the 4 to start with Embiid, which improved his overall +1 aswell, and McConnell was our third string point guard even without moving Ben Simmons to the 1. I don't plan on making many more moves at this stage, we're young and I want to develop the team before we get further in.

152(76)PHI - BOS 92(46)





Well, I guess All-Star Default won't be the difficulty to be played on. However, everything clicked for our offense from the get-go, and it was easy to abuse the size difference between Simmons and Thomas in order to get easy points. Saric was on fire in the second unit, hitting multiple triples as the D didn't respect him from that range, while Middleton kicked us off early with the first two buckets of the game. Going forward I'm going to put it on Superstar, and see how we go. This was the perfect game from me though, and after years of messing with this team in MyLEAGUE's I've learnt how to play to it's strengths. The Celtics couldn't get anything out of Horford or Johnson inside, with Embiid and Okafor limiting anything from coming into the lane. I've also decided to change the simmed minutes to 10 to try and stop this extremity from happening again with Simmons scoring 26 but being doubled due to 6 minute quarters.

120 PHI - PHX 85


Coming out dominant again, Middleton was on fire with 11 points in the first quarter. Scoring was much more shared in our second outing, with the defense being spread due to the sharpshooting of Miles and Middleton. Embiid and Okafor dominated the boards with 15 and 10 rebounds respectively





108 PHI - DET 86

Simmons struggled throughout this game, Drummond put up a fight against the dominant towers of Embiid and Okafor, however our second unit was much more effective than the Pistons, with Jerryd Bayless shooting at will against Ish Smith. Middleton carried the load scoring wise with 34.

You should try the HoF difficulty bro. You are killing it like this