Slowly making this Knicks dynasty work

[asgsjb]

I still need to figure out sliders a bit better so I don't keep blowing out the CPU in Starter and keep getting blown out if I move to All-Star.

But in the meantime, I was focused on 2 things for my Knicks dynasty...winning (of course) and at the same time figuring out how to get out of the salary cap mess this team started with. It's slow and steady, but I'm making things happen.

Early in the season, I traded Crawford/Sundov to Memphis for Jason Williams/A.Burks. While this added a bit of salary, it left me open to trade Marbury.

I then traded Marbury straight up to the Lakers for Kobe. This added 2 years of contract and only chopped off less than $1M in cap space, but I preferred aguard tandem of J-Will and Kobe to Marbury and Crawford. I've become a very guard-focused team and am kicking serious can with my guards.

I then wanted to add a better center than Baker/Mohammed. So I trade Tim Thomas' 2 year contract ($12.90M) for Ilgauskas' 1 year contract ($14.63M). Again, this added a bit of salary, but if need be, I can get out of Ilgauskas' contract this year rather than next...and I have his skills to use in the meantime. And he has been dominating...quite often giving me 7+ blocks, especially against smaller teams.

Now starts the salary chopping part. I want to trade for Okafor's $3.74M, 4 year contract, but he got hurt (coincidently while playing my Knicks), so the CPU is making me wait until he gets better in a week or so. In the meantime, I got rid of Kurt Thomas' $5.89M, 3 year salary to Charlotte for Gerald Wallace (1 year, $1.38M). Don't know how much Gerald will ask for after this year, but I hope it is less than Kurt was getting, and if not, I have a 22 year old SF being signed rather than having a 32 year old PF on the roster.

I'm then going to hold off on dealing with Charlotte further until Okafor is back. Charlotte really wants Shandon Anderson (for some reason), so I may try him first. But as Anderson's oversall rank is not close to Okafor's, I may have to trade Ilgauskas' huge contract to Charlotte for Okafor and then use Anderson or Jerome Williams to go after a young, cheaper center who may not score as much as Ilgauskas, but who will be huge in rebounds and blocks....like Diop, maybe. This could work, because I'd lose $11M+ by trading Ilgauskas for Okafor and I'd be better off anyway with a stronger PF than C and rely on the C for defense more than anything.

Also, I have been scouring rosters to track down young talent with cheap, longer-term contracts. Not many out there, but they do exist. As I have 3 centers, including Ilgauskas, I am likely to offer Baker (57 rank, 2 years, $3.45M) to the Celtics (who need centers) for the combo of Jefferson (56 rank, 4 years, $1.41M) and Perkins (45 rank, 3 years, $1.41M).

Tough moving Houston due to his $17M+ salary and 65 rating. I would move him for a young cheap talent I want plus an expiring contract. But there's a smaller number of expiring contracts that are over $10M and where the ranking works with Houston's relatively low ranking (for such a high salary). For example, the Clippers like Alan, but Kittles (1 year, $10.27M) is the only expiring contract over $10M, and there is no other $5M+ contract to add to it other than Maggette, whose 74 rank will never let him and Kittles (64 rank) get traded for Houston's 65 rank. Not sure I am going to be able to get rid of him before his 3 years are up.

Anyway, right now, I've reduced my salary cap a drop by trading for Wallace, moving from $56.81M to $53.90M...a slight move, but a start. I then lose Hardway's $14.63M contract after this year, bringing me down to $39.27M. If I can move Ilgauskas for Okafor, that would save me another $10.89M (although some would have to go to a new young C) to bring me to $28.38M. Although I would need to bring in young talent, paring the salaries of Mohammed ($5.25M), Baker ($3.45M), Jerome Williams ($5.60M), Anderson (7.30M) would chop off another $21.6M. Alan Houston's $17.53M contract would be the last real need elimination.

I can then focus on getting young talent, preferably with longer contracts. I could move Jason Williams to Chicago in a deal that nets me Hinrich (younger and lower ranked) and either Chandler or Curry (letting me trade older, more expensive players at PF or C). Del Harris, TJ Ford, Barbosa, Telfair and Rodnour are good examples at PG, Childress, Gordon, Josh Howard, Petrius, Battier, JR Smith and Iguadala are examles at SG, Josh Smith, Deng, Nocioni and M.Daniels are good SF examples, Jefferson, Perkins, Okafor, David West, D.Howard and Etan Thomas are good PF examples, and Kaman, Mihm, Harrison, Gadzuric, Magloire and Bosh are great C examples. It may take some time, but I think I can make it work.

Anyhow, I think it's doable. And if I can use J-Will and Kobe as the focal points of a championship team, while eliminating salary for cheap young talent, then I think I can win and beat the salary cap. As I plan to play for at least a few "seasons", I think it's a good goal to shoot for both...if I was just playing this 1 season, I wouldn't care about the salary cap at all.

[asgsjb]

Tried working a bunch more deals and was getting rejected right and left. Then I read an interesting post here about picking up a free agent and trading him. So I thoguht I'd give it a try.

I picked up Anthony Carter (point guard with an overall 51 rank) for $745K. I then traded him to Philly for Kyle Korver (SF, 50 overall rank, 23 yrs. old, 1 year left, $620K). That gave me a 3-point shooting SF I wanted.

Then Okafor got healthy for Charlotte, and I traded Shandon Anderson (30 yrs. old, 58 overall rank, 3 yrs left, $7.3M) and Jerome Williams (31 yrs. old, 58 overall rank, 3 yrs. left, $5.6M) for Okafor (22 yrs. old, 70 overall rank, 4 yrs. left, $3.74M).

This has now brought my cap from $53.90M over the cap to $45.36M over the cap and cut some age from my team.

I now start Jason Williams (PG), Kobe Bryant (SG), Gerald Williams (SF), Emeka Okafor (PF), and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C)...a sweet starting lineup that took a lot of work to get. At backup, I have Moochie Norris and Jamison Brewer at PG, Houston and Penny Hardaway at SG, Korver and Ariza at SF, Sweetney at PF, and Baker and Mohammed at C. I have been using dynasty points to build up my young players like Sweetney, Ariza and now Wallace and Okafor. And I am still trying to trade baker, Mohammed, Houston, Hardaway and Norris for younger, cheaper players.

I am really starting to like this team.

[asgsjb]

Making some new moves as I get close to the trading deadline.

1. I added Adrian Griffin (SF), knowing that Charlotte still wants to add SF's (despite my already having traded them Shandon Anderson in the Okafor deal). I then traded Griffin and Jamison Brewer (who I was going to drop anyway for a better PG in free agency) to Charlotte for Kapono (SG). I look for SG's who can hit the 3, shoot well overall, have decent hardiness, and have some speed...defense is gravy, if I can get it. Kapono is young (23), cheap ($620k), likely can be resigned for a decent price (this is his last year of his contract), has a 66 rating for FG and an 83 rating for FT along with an 82 rating at 3's (better than Kobe or Alan Houston). His speed is modest, but I can work on that in training sessions over time...defense too. And with a 64 rating at hardiness, he won't totally fall over. Getting Kapono (I already have Kobe, Houston and Hardaway) gives me complete freedom now to let Hardaway's contract expire, knowing I have Kapono for the future as a nice, cheap backup to Kobe. If I could then trade Houston's 3 yr. contract for an expiring contract and add another cheap young SG, all would be perfect.

2. I was a little less certain about this next deal. With Ilgauskas being 29 and in the last year of a pricey ($14.63M) contract, with Baker being 32 and with 2 years left of a $3.45M contract, and with Mohammed being 27 and with 2 years left on a pricey (for him) ($5.25M) contract, I wanted to get younger and hopefully cheaper at C. With Baker and Mohammed also being poor at blocks, I want to focus on better defensive centers. I cannot get a good deal going for young C's like Diop, Harrison, Gadzuric, Dalembert, Hunter, Swift, Haywood or Ramos...their teams are not letting them go and the salaries are tough to match up. But I was able to ID that the Lakers want SG's (they don't have the right contracts for me to give them Houston or Hardaway), so I added Courtney Alexander from free agency and even though Baker has a better overall rating and is better offensively, I traded Baker and Alexander to the Lakers for Mihm. Mihm is not much cheaper than Baker (Mihm is $3.38M to Baker's $3.45M) and adds an extra year to the contract, but Mihm is younger (25) and is better at FG's, rebounding, jumping, strrength and especially at blocks. His hardiness is worse than Baker's (Mihm is ranked a 45 there, and I prefer much higher), but the defensive possibilities made it a good risk, I think.

These trades did little to my cap, but it does enable me to get younger. I get rid of a 32 year old center (Baker) for a 25 year old center (Mihm) who is locked in for 3 years, and I get a 23 year old, sweet-shooting SG (Kapono) to enable me to get rid of a 33 year old Hardaway.

I still am trying to get rid of Houston's contract, especially now that I have Kapono, but while Milwaukee once was ready to trade me Van Horn's expiring contract for Houston, they no longer are willing to do so. Every other expiring contract that is at the $13.8M - $17M range) is either with players who are higher ranked than Houston (so it's hard to get the CPU to bite on those) or are with teams that don't want Houston to begin with.

Mohammed's contract is also tough...a center with a 53 overall rank who is at $5.25M for 2 years. Moochie Norris is similar...a PG with a 54 overall rank who is at $3.85M for 2 years. But these are some of the last pieces I am trying to get rid of.

Interesting note...while Chicago seems to like Jason Williams, I could not get them to bite on accepting J-Will (71 overall rank) for Hinrich (67 overall rank) and Gordon (66 overall rank). The money would have worked and they seemed to have the interest in J-Will, but I guess this time the rankings won out and they didn't want to part with 2 players ranked in the mid-to-high 60's. Not sure if I can do this, but another alternative to improving at C and getting younger and cheaper would be to trade J-Will to Toronto for Alston and Bosh...Alston is not younger than J-Will, but his key stats are pretty similar and he's half the price, while getting Bosh would enable me to let Ilgauskas' contract expire. I would then be losing Ilgauskas' ($14.63M) and Hardaway's ($14.63M) contracts this year while adding Alston's and Bosh's $6.63M combined salary, meaning a $22.63M savings this year and taking my cap down to -$22.73M. IN 2 years, I'd get Houston off the books (17.53M), taking my cap down to -$5.20M. The rest of the cap savings would come from losing Norris' $3.85M and Mohammed's $5.25M contracts. It could work. But I think I might wait until the offseason for that so I can see what contract demands Ilgauskas has...if he's dramatically reduced, I might consider resigning him.

[Ty-Land]

Going to move this to Dynasty Stories as it is more suited there. Seems very in depth, and while the trades aren't very realistic, it looks like the team is doing well.

[asgsjb]

Yes, it seems like for some reason trades that should make sense are not accepted by the CPU while unrealistic trades are accepted. No rhyme or reason to it.

But, while the deals may not make sense, they are being accepted and, fortunately for me, it's allowing me to keep a competitive team while trying to play GM and get under the cap and setting the table better for future seasons with young, cheaper players.

As of the date of this edit, my Knicks are in February and approaching the trade deadline, so I am making some fast and furious moves. For whatever reason, the CPU is not allowing me to trade Griffin for Kapono. So I had to move on. Here are the moves since the last posting:

1. Picked up Courtney Alexander (SF) and traded him and Vin Baker to LA Lakers for Chris Mihm (C). This gets me younger and more defensive at C.

2. Added Desmond Ferguson (SF) and traded him to Miami for Haslem (PF). I wanted to add a PF since, despite an 80 hardiness score, Okafor keeps getting hurt and I only have Sweetney behind him. But Haslem needs more development than I want to put into him.

3. Picked up Horace Grant (C), and knowing the Nets needed big men, I traded Grant and Haslem to NJ for Krstic (PF) and Hubert Davis.

4. I then dropped Davis and picked up Dial (SG). As Krstic is way too raw right now (especially at shooting) to be useful, I traded Dial and Krstic to Utah for Moiso (PF). This gives me a new PF who can rebound and defend (blocks) and who also has a decent FG%.

This now leaves me with:

PG: Jason Williams
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Gerald Wallace
PF: Emeka Okafor
C: Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Backups: Moochie Norris (PG), Allan Houston (SG), Anfernee Hardaway (SG), Trevor Ariza (SF), Kyle Korver (SF), Mike Sweetney (PF), Jerome Moiso (PF), Chris Mihm (C), and Nazr Mohammed (C).

I discovered that if I want to add some more youth and size to my C position, I can swap Moiso with Haywood (Washington). The only down sides are that (1) I woudl again be short at C, and (2) Haywood is in the last year of his contract and may ask for too much money while Moiso has 6 years to go in his contract. Any thoughts on a Moiso for Haywood deal?