X's Bucks Dynasty *WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN*

[The X]

I preferred old one

Oh and actually I am using those score tables for my dynasty and I will also use the standings for my November recap. Did not know there were bugs, but I definitely like the feature.
2k is really great in terms of presenting a dynasty as you can upload pictures and replays decently. Sucks that there is no "complete" boxscore though, as I have to take ugly pics with my cam then.

There are not bugs in the blog as I suspected. The bug is actually in 2k Association. I checked the Association stats and Brandon Jennings is missing one game (the second one of stats). So the blog is correct (with exception of things like minutes per game and turnovers per game) per my Association. No biggie, just one game missing for Brandon. Around his averages anyways.

Yep, I like that you can upload pics and videos without requiring any equipment, so I'm definitely going to take advantage of it

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[Fresh8]

I preferred old one

Yeah, me too.

[The X]

RANDOM BULLETS
by The X

WHO's HOT
- The Atlanta Hawks (5-1) and the Dallas Mavericks (4-1) each have the best records in their respective conferences.
- Somebody forgot to tell the New York Knicks (3-1) that they aren't suppose to be any good. They are currently tied for first with the Philadelphia 76ers (2-0) in the Atlantic Divison.

WHO's NOT
- Out West, you don't have to look any further than the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, who have started the season 0-4, as they are struggling to integrate volatile forward Ron Artest into their system.

ROOKIE WATCH
- Warriors' guard Stephen Curry (22.0ppg and 4.7apg) looks like an early Rookie of the Year favourite as he has got out of the gates quickly and has picked up right where he left off at Davidson as he is shooting over 50% from the field and beyond the 3 point arc.

ROSTER SHUFFLE
- The Atlanta Hawks added more scoring to their already potent lineup with the signing of Wally Szczerbiak to a 1 year, $975,000 deal. The Hawks are hoping that this is one more piece in the puzzle as the team tries to establish itself as the cream of the crop out in the East.
- The Chicago Bulls are already trying to cover Ben Gordon's loss as they signed Jerry Stackhouse to a 1 year, $850,000 deal. The Bulls hope that Stack can provide some firepower off the bench, which has been sorely missing since Gordon signed with Detroit this past summer.

INJURY FRONT
- Suns' fans will be disappointed to hear that junkyard dog Louis Amundson has been lost for the season with a torn achilles tendon.

TRADE FRONT
- The Indiana Pacers are aggressively shopping PG T.J. Ford and his contract.
- Rumour has it that the Toronto Raptors have starting point guard Jose Calderon on the trading block. One team that may push for his services is the Sacramento Kings, who don't yet feel that Tyreke Evans is ready to carry an NBA franchise at PG. The Indiana Pacers, who are looking to deal Ford, are said to not be at all interested in trading for Jose Calderon.
- The Bobcats have been quietly shopping Raymond Felton prior to him straining his abdomen in practice earlier this week. Charlotte is expected to shop Felton until the deadline since he is an unrestricted free agent next summer.

[The X]

Hey all,

That's probably me for thread and blog updates (now has an additional 2 games blogged with a couple of pics including Paddy Mills for you Aussies out there) until at least the weekend. Feel free to suggest strategies you think I should incorporate to make the Bucks' a winner. What strategy would you use to build the Bucks? Draft? Trades? Free Agency? If you want to know any other random details that are going on in the Association then please fire away & I'll do my best to answer. I'll try to post a random video highlight here or there on the blog.

Enjoy,
X
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[kibaxx7]

It would have been a shame if you didn't defeat the Kings Good that Luc was there.

[Valor]

Great win over the Kings, love the fact that Luc Mbah a Moute's hustle plays helped the team get a game winner from Redd. Good Job
It's too bad Bogut had such a bad game and fouled out early though, hopefully he can get back into form soon

[hova-]

I like that youre giving some PT to Ilyasova (at least against the Blazers). This guy can play. Imho your goal must be to get a decent bigman and more firepower off the bench.
Redd and Jennings are a very nice combo as you can drive&kick very well with Jennings. Mbah A Moute does not really profit from that ability though, as his three ball sucks. I don't know, I just don't like Small Forwards who cannot shoot. For the bench, especially your frontcourt is very thing with Warrick and Gadzuric. I would try to move Ridnour. I'm not a big friend of early trades though, you know. Maybe you just play some games and find out who you really need and who you could give away.

[Fresh8]

10-29 for Redd? Wow...

and I really like that blogsite. It's very very awesome. Kudos to 2K for that

[TomCat]

2-2 not bad for the Bucks.. That 2K Blog thing is awesome, I have just started using it in my game recaps for full box scores..

Hopefully you can make the playoffs

[The X]

I like that youre giving some PT to Ilyasova (at least against the Blazers). This guy can play. Imho your goal must be to get a decent bigman and more firepower off the bench.
Redd and Jennings are a very nice combo as you can drive&kick very well with Jennings. Mbah A Moute does not really profit from that ability though, as his three ball sucks. I don't know, I just don't like Small Forwards who cannot shoot. For the bench, especially your frontcourt is very thing with Warrick and Gadzuric. I would try to move Ridnour. I'm not a big friend of early trades though, you know. Maybe you just play some games and find out who you really need and who you could give away.

Sounds exactly like me. I like to suffer through the crud roster for at least first season to replicate what's happening IRL, as well as to give the roster & players a chance to prove themselves. I'm probably going to eventually just call Joe Alexander & Jodie Meeks back from D-League & try to survive with the guys I got.

But then there is the Michael Redd dilemma. He's getting paid about $20 million this season & has a $20 million player option for next season. He is almost guaranteed to exercise that option given he would struggle to get half that value anywhere else. I want to be loyal to him but at the same time if I can get rid of him at the trading deadline then it makes me a player (not a big one) in free agency. Maybe I'll plan around 2011 free agency class rather than 2010, although the Bucks could definitely use a star forward like Bosh.

At the moment I am not that happy with my starting forwards. At present they are just makeshift players. At the moment Bogut & Jennings are the only two players I have that are presently highly unlikely to be moved unless a great deal comes along that I couldn't pass up.

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[hova-]

Getting rid of Redd would definitely not be unrealistic. There have been talks about moving him for almost a year now. I could truely understand if you moved him because he is not the go-to-guy you wanna give a Shaq/Kobe/Dirk- like contract. I don't know though, wether it would be better to get back expiring contracts or young talent. You already have many gifted players, but I do not see you having a shot at a guy like Bosh (nobody wants to go to Milwaukee). A mixture would be great i.e. getting one or two expiring contracts and a talented player in return or the other way around.

For the 2010 FA class, I would not count on that. Most guys pull their options (lil clue: change their roles to benchwarmers before offseason and changer their personality to unpredictable -> bigger chance to see guys like Bosh leaving) and thus you could have a lot of cap room and no one to sign.

[Mark.]

Yeah I would deffinately look to offload Redd if the right offer comes in. Without going into contract details at all, a trade that appealed to me that I saw happen in 2k10 was Redd for Brand, to me that works well for the Bucks solely on a talent basis. However i'm pretty sure Brand's contract still has some time to run so this wouldn't help your cap situation at all. I think if Redd is moved you really need to bring in a decent wing player just to open things up a little.

[The X]

For the 2010 FA class, I would not count on that. Most guys pull their options (lil clue: change their roles to benchwarmers before offseason and changer their personality to unpredictable -> bigger chance to see guys like Bosh leaving) and thus you could have a lot of cap room and no one to sign.

Don't know if I want to do that. I don't mind if players stay put. I do have trade override ON just in case CPU does anything stupid (except for Grizzlies, I'll just let them do what they do ) like stocking up three starting PG's. Hopefully I don't have to use it much (or at all). Might be handy to use to do some re-jigging of future draft picks to match real life though.

Yeah I would deffinately look to offload Redd if the right offer comes in. Without going into contract details at all, a trade that appealed to me that I saw happen in 2k10 was Redd for Brand, to me that works well for the Bucks solely on a talent basis. However i'm pretty sure Brand's contract still has some time to run so this wouldn't help your cap situation at all. I think if Redd is moved you really need to bring in a decent wing player just to open things up a little.

If that deal was Brand 2 years ago I'd do it in a heartbeat. Now with he's on downwards slide (like Redd) & also being paid max money I probably wouldn't want to do that deal & mortgage my future.

Getting rid of Redd would definitely not be unrealistic. There have been talks about moving him for almost a year now. I could truely understand if you moved him because he is not the go-to-guy you wanna give a Shaq/Kobe/Dirk- like contract. I don't know though, wether it would be better to get back expiring contracts or young talent. You already have many gifted players, but I do not see you having a shot at a guy like Bosh (nobody wants to go to Milwaukee). A mixture would be great i.e. getting one or two expiring contracts and a talented player in return or the other way around.

I agree with you on Bosh. He's not going to come to Milwaukee. Super elite guys like Bosh won't come, but second tier guys like Monta Ellis, Gilbert Arenas, etc would. It's just about finding the right pieces and making them fit. Might not happen overnight, but hope it can happen.

I'm thinking with Redd that it will come down to how the team is performing. If I'm in the hunt for a playoff berth then I think I would owe it to the loyal fan base to give the team a chance to create its own destiny. If I'm out of playoff contention come All-Star Weekend then a deal could be a strong possibility. Especially if he keeps shooting 10/29!!!

I guess exciting thing is that I don't feel I have to go in any certain direction. Although I'd say due to its market size, I do need to factor in whether a free agent would want to come & not exceeding salary cap by much unless I have legitimate shot at competing for a title. If I strike it lucky in draft or trade or free agency then it can really change the future of the Bucks' franchise.

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[Fresh8]

Time to dump Redd and make Bogut the face of this franchise. I know in real life, Bogut is not a franchise center, but video game Bogut might be!

[The X]

Time to dump Redd and make Bogut the face of this franchise. I know in real life, Bogut is not a franchise center, but video game Bogut might be!

I actually was tempted to make Bogut the star of the team but for morale purposes I thought it best to just let it play out & see who steps up. At the moment all 3 "stars" (Bogie, Compton & Reddy) have been equally inconsistent

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[dare]

Nice OT win despite Redd's bad shooting, BTW i noticed the standings and was shocked that NY Knicks is second in the East, what is their line-up do they get Lebron James or something their playing pretty good

[Mark.]

Yeah I agree on the Brand thing, the only way I see it as a viable move is sort of a sideways move but at the same time to fill a need, ie you are getting decent enough performances from your other guards but are too weak up front but still not far off a playoff spot so moving for a player that is a similar talent level (lets not forget in game Brand will likely play better than RL Brand), age and contract burden may just give you that extra kick your team needs. Once again though im not sure the contracts or Redd and Brand are the same or not.

[hova-]

For the 2010 FA class, I would not count on that. Most guys pull their options (lil clue: change their roles to benchwarmers before offseason and changer their personality to unpredictable -> bigger chance to see guys like Bosh leaving) and thus you could have a lot of cap room and no one to sign.

Don't know if I want to do that. I don't mind if players stay put. I do have trade override ON just in case CPU does anything stupid (except for Grizzlies, I'll just let them do what they do ) like stocking up three starting PG's. Hopefully I don't have to use it much (or at all). Might be handy to use to do some re-jigging of future draft picks to match real life though.

I understand that, for me it's just like, if the Raptors don't make the Playoffs, I will change his role and personality and look what happens. Maybe he will pull his option, would not be too unrealistic, but if he leaves that wasn't unrealistic either with the Raptors not making the Playoffs once again.
I would not change it if I felt there should be no reason for the guys to leave.

For the trade thing, I have override on, too, but I also have CPU trades off for 27 days per month. The CPU does silly deals all the time. So if they want to trade they get 3-4 days per month where they can do whatever they want. This limits the trades very well for me.

[The X]

Nice OT win despite Redd's bad shooting, BTW i noticed the standings and was shocked that NY Knicks is second in the East, what is their line-up do they get Lebron James or something their playing pretty good

I think Knicks just have their normal lineup but I don't know who they've played yet. If they're still near of top of East by midway point in season then I'll investigate

Yeah I agree on the Brand thing, the only way I see it as a viable move is sort of a sideways move but at the same time to fill a need, ie you are getting decent enough performances from your other guards but are too weak up front but still not far off a playoff spot so moving for a player that is a similar talent level (lets not forget in game Brand will likely play better than RL Brand), age and contract burden may just give you that extra kick your team needs. Once again though im not sure the contracts or Redd and Brand are the same or not.

I think Brand's contract is slightly less but Redd's contract will expire in 2011 (if he exercises player option) whereas Brands runs through to like 2013 (he's only in his 2nd year of a 5 year deal).

I understand that, for me it's just like, if the Raptors don't make the Playoffs, I will change his role and personality and look what happens. Maybe he will pull his option, would not be too unrealistic, but if he leaves that wasn't unrealistic either with the Raptors not making the Playoffs once again.
I would not change it if I felt there should be no reason for the guys to leave.

For the trade thing, I have override on, too, but I also have CPU trades off for 27 days per month. The CPU does silly deals all the time. So if they want to trade they get 3-4 days per month where they can do whatever they want. This limits the trades very well for me.

I'll take a note of this if CPU trading goes too nuts. I do like that 2k gives you the option of turning stuff on & off during the Association & not being locked into one option for the whole 25 years.

Thanks for pointers on the Bosh situation, I will look at it closer to season's end.

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[The X]

Hey Guys,

Updated blog for game against the Lakers & Bucks. Enjoy.

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[Lamrock]

that blog thing is awesome. Tough loss though. I watched (the second half of) my first Bucks game this season. They lost, but they almost recovered from a late 15 point deficit. Love the team's hustle, especially on D. Jennings was trash, but Ersan Ilyasova really impressed me. Really fun to watch.

[hova-]

Tough loss against LA and at least a win against the Pistons (even if it wasn't a beauty). Very realistic so far. The Pistons are the slowest team in the league I read yesterday, so the result is what you'd expect in real life.
For the Lakers game and your concerncs inside, I guess we are sharing the same problems here with the only difference being that you have Bogut whilst I have Wallace and Jackson who grab at least some boards per game. But regarding defence and inside scoring, I have the same problems. But it's tough to get a good inside scorer because these are usually the attributes which separate the stars from the good. Thus inside scorers are very expensive. Will be interesting who you plan to give up.

Nice writing by the way, always liked your recaps!

[The X]

that blog thing is awesome. Tough loss though. I watched (the second half of) my first Bucks game this season. They lost, but they almost recovered from a late 15 point deficit. Love the team's hustle, especially on D. Jennings was trash, but Ersan Ilyasova really impressed me. Really fun to watch.

Ersan is cool. Very talented just a bit of a powderpuff defensively.

Tough loss against LA and at least a win against the Pistons (even if it wasn't a beauty). Very realistic so far. The Pistons are the slowest team in the league I read yesterday, so the result is what you'd expect in real life.
For the Lakers game and your concerncs inside, I guess we are sharing the same problems here with the only difference being that you have Bogut whilst I have Wallace and Jackson who grab at least some boards per game. But regarding defence and inside scoring, I have the same problems. But it's tough to get a good inside scorer because these are usually the attributes which separate the stars from the good. Thus inside scorers are very expensive. Will be interesting who you plan to give up.

Nice writing by the way, always liked your recaps!

Cheers. Glad you like the recap. Lakers' loss wasn't tough, I didn't deserve it. But yep, lack of rebounding is a major concern but not enough to make me want to sign Michael Ruffin

[Its_asdf]

I didn't even know that they 2k had a blog site, but I guess it makes for an easy way to format recaps and stuff without having to spend too much time on it making fancy graphics and stuff.

What can I say? Not a fan of the team but definitely a fan of the person writing about them, so I guess I'll follow.

Looks like Redd is struggling mightily lately, hopefully you'll stick with him and he learns to coexist with Jennings. He's probably the only player that I truly like on that team.

[The X]

Cheers asdf, always good to see you around.

Don't know about Redd though. Am going to put him on the trading block to see what offers are out there, but am in no rush either way.