A Nets Dynasty

[j0rdy1]

New Jersey Nets
Difficulty: All-Star
Quarter Length: 10 Mins
Sim Quarter Length: 12 Mins
Season Length: 29
Game: NBA Live 2006 with 09/10 rosters.

Current Roster:
C. B.Lopez / J.Boone
PF. J.Yi / K.Humphries
SF. C.Douglas-Roberts / J.Hayes / T.Hassell / B.Simmons
SG. C.Lee / T.Williams
PG. D.Harris / K.Dooling
IR: C.Quinn
T.Battie


Breaking News…
“Welcome to NBA News weekly, I’m Ron Howard” said Howard. ”And I’m Thomas Peters, and we have a special announcement that has just come through today” said Peters. “New Jersey Nets General Manager Ernest “Kiki" Vandeweghe has been sacked of 2 o’clock today and the team is already on the search for a new GM” said Howard.
“We cross live to Charles who is outside the Nets training facility” said Peters. “Thanks Tom, there hasn’t been any movement around the facility but we do know the players and the coaching staff are inside” said Charles. Two big SUV’s pull up in front of the facility and two men in suits step out of the cars. “There seems to be two suits coming towards the training facility, I will try and get an answer to what is happening. Sir! Can you tell me what’s going on? Have you found a replacement already?” said Charles. One of the men stopped, and turns straight to Charles “This sacking has been in the works since the start of the pre-season and we had already had a replacement planned since then. I can’t tell you who the replacement is, you’ll find out tomorrow I guess.” “Well Tom and Ron it’s back to you in the studio”




PS: Will probably change the diffucuilty soon as All-Star is getting to easy, and maybe tweak my sliders even further.

[Dee.]

You should increase your simulation quarter length.

[j0rdy1]

Yeah i was thinking of doing that but then my players would have a dis-advantage to winning the awards and stuff, plus I don't really have the time to play 12 minute quarters.

[j0rdy1]

New General Manager Signs for Nets
“Hello everyone, we will be announcing the new General Manager as soon as he gets here, in the mean time if you have any questions, feel free to ask.” Said Bruce Ratner. The room goes silent. As time goes by one of the journalist gets up “Is the new General Manager someone the Nets fans should be familiar with?” said the journalist. “I would say all Nets fans would know this player, some might hate him and some might love him, but at the moment that doesn’t matter he has a vision for this club and I feel with the financial backing from Forest City Enterprises anything is possible” said Ratner.

Has soon as he finishes speaking a big man walks through the door, “And here he is… everyone I introduce the new General Manager of the New Jersey Nets, Patrick Ewing” said Ratner. Patrick takes a seat next to Bruce. “Sorry I’m late everyone, and thank you to Bruce and everyone involved in the Nets that made this opportunity possible for me, now you guys must be dying to ask me some questions?” said Ewing. “Firstly Patrick congratulations on your position, but how do you plan on putting the Nets back in the play offs?” said a journalist. “Well firstly the list we have right now I believe could contend for a playoff spot, but the team just does not gel well, so that will be my first challenge is getting the team to gel and getting the starting 5 settled and playing as one” Patrick said.

“Do you plan on getting any big name players in trades on from the free agents?” said another journalist. “At the moment my mind is not made up on the situation as I believe that a team does not go well if you bring in and get rid of players on a regular basis, I like to believe that a team should be built from a core of 6 to 7 younger players and that they should play together for their career or the most part of it. I feel that all the great teams of the NBA haven’t been built in a season and that they have been built over many seasons, my induction into this team will not fix the problem at hand immediately but I do have a 5 year plan” said Ewing. “Sorry guys but we are out of time, Patrick can’t answer any more of your questions but we will be holding a press conference this weekend after the pre-season match against the Knicks” said Ratner.

[j0rdy1]

Nets face off against Rival
This Pre-Season matchup won’t just be about what is going on the court but also what’s going on off the court with the Knicks fans and Patrick Ewing, we still don’t know how the Knicks fans will handle Ewing joining the Nets but one thing is for sure the Knicks would love a win against the Nets to silence the New Jersey fans who have shown positivity towards the Ewing signing and his plans for the play offs.

[j0rdy1]

Nets Comfortable Winners in the Big Apple
Nets: 21 22 19 26 88
Knicks: 18 18 23 18 77
The Nets came off 11 point winners against the struggling Knicks with Jian-Lian Yi top scoring with 22 points, 5 boards and 4 assists but he was out done for “Player of the Match” with that honor going to Lopez who chipped in with 21 points, 6 rebounds and two blocks. “I have to say our two big men played really well tonight with just under 50% of our score coming from those two guys, overall the team did very well” said Ewing after the game. The Knicks now head to Miami for their last game of the pre-season hoping for their first win. “Our defense was really poor tonight we allowed the Nets to waltz into the paint and score with ease, it’s just not acceptable at this level.” Said the Knicks coach. This poor defense led to the Nets shooting well above 50% for the game, they were shooting at a pre-season high for any team with 61.7% from the field, but only 16.7% from beyond the arc. While the Knicks offense was at its best for the pre-season shooting at 50% from the field and 41.7% from beyond the arc. They just couldn’t get many shots off, as the Nets defense played extremely well on defense the whole night with only a 2-3 minute patch in the 3rd were the Knicks looked to be mounting a comeback, but the defense was the turning point for this game causing the Knicks to turn the ball over 16 times with 5 of them coming in the 1st quarter alone.


Contributors:
Nets:
J.Li-22 points,5 assists
B.Lopez-21 Points, 6 rebounds
K.Humphries-12 Points
D.Harris-9 Points,6 assists
C.Douglas-Roberts-8 points,7 assists

Knicks:
Duhon-20 Points
W.Chandler-12 Points
Gallinari-11 Points
D.Lee-9 Points
L.Hughes-8Points

[j0rdy1]

Exclusive Interview with Nets GM
“Welcome Patrick, and thanks for your time, shall we get right into the questions” said the Interviewer. “Sure, ask away” said Patrick.
“Firstly how do you think the team has gone so far this pre-season?” the interviewer said. “The team has done great so far this pre-season, the new guys have gotten on really well with the older guys and everyone has been developing their skills further” said Patrick.
“Do you think the team can perform like they did against the Knicks, day in day out?” said the interviewer. “I think with the inexperience in the team I don’t think consistency will be at a 100% but I do believe we will have several purple patches throughout the season, hopefully leading to a play-off spot” said Patrick.
“A lot of people have been talking about your heavy reliance on your big men in the game against the Knicks were they scored 43 of the 88 points, do you think this statement is correct and if so is it an advantage or disadvantage?” said the interviewer. “At this moment in time I would say we rely on our big men too much but when they can put up numbers like that I don’t see it has a disadvantage. When we come to versus teams with a big front court we might struggle if we rely on our big men to much but at this time there is no need to worry.” Said Patrick.
“Now the Nets go out to LA to versus the Lakers how are you going to stop the likes of Kobe, Bynum, Odom and co.” said the interviewer. “Sorry but I’ve run out of time. I hope to speak to you soon.” said Patrick.

[j0rdy1]

Lackluster Lakers
Nets: 21 26 19 16 82
Lakers: 25 13 16 21 75
The Lakers came out of firing in the first quarter, quickly going to a 12 point lead with 4 minutes left in the quarter, but a scoring run of 12-2 got them back in the game, led by Dooling and Yi. A buzzer beater from Humphries got the Nets within 4 at the end of the 1st. The 2nd started off how the 1st finished with Nets going on a 10-0 run from the onset, with help from a few from beyond the arc. The Lakers at one stage were down by as many as 16, before Gasol got on a roll getting them within 9 at the half.
The 2nd half started with both teams struggling offensively while both teams played brilliantly on D. Before Harris was put back onto the court the quarter looked to be a low scoring quarter, Harris scored a couple by himself and helped with a couple as well. With the Lakers missing easy shots late in the 3rd it allowed the lead to be extended to 12 at the break. Lakers needed a big 4th quarter to even get back into the game, and it didn’t seem to be going that way before Bryant, who was relatively quite in the 1st half, came alive and put back to back threes down and got it within 6 with 3 minutes left to go, but that was all Bryant and his Lakers had in them on the night and went down by 7.
There wasn’t major difference in the shooting percentages of the two teams, Nets shooting at 56.1% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc, a big improvement in this area from the Knicks game. While the Lakers shot at 55.8% from the field and 23.1% from beyond the arc, defensively the two teams were very similar also with the Nets bringing down 22 rebounds and 3 steals to the Lakers 24 rebounds and 4 steals.

Yi dunking between Bynum and Artest


Player of the Game:
Devin Harris:
Points: 13
Assists: 7
Rebounds: 2
Steals: 1
Turnovers: 2
Field Goals: 3/9
FG%: .333
3P: 1/5
3P%: .200
FT: 6/6

Other Contributors:
Nets:
B.Lopez: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists
J.Yi: 13 points, 4 rebounds
C.Douglas-Roberts: 11 points, 3 assists
T.Williams: 9 points, 2 rebound, 2 assists

Lakers:
A.Bynum: 12 points, 11 rebounds
P.Gasol: 16 points, 4 rebounds
R.Artest: 11 points
K.Bryant: 15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists

[j0rdy1]

Nets Hold off a Gallant Dallas
The Nets held of a gallant Dallas comeback to win 77-73. The win was spearheaded by a dominant performance by the big man Yi with 20 points and 8 rebounds. Scores were close the entire game, with the scores leveling with under two minutes to go in the 4th, although the Mavericks were never in the lead since 6:36 to go in the 1st, the lead never got out beyond 6 points and that lead came early in the 2nd quarter. Dallas only stayed in the game by the hands of Dirk Nowitzki and John Terry both with 15 and 11 respectively.
Jason Kidd had a pretty average night for the Mavs with 11 points and 6 assists but turned the ball over 6 times during the course of the game, not to be outdone Terry was able to turn the ball over 6 times also, these turnovers probably cost the Mavs the win and will send them into the season proper still looking for a win, with losses to the Clippers and Oklahoma City.
Nets could off put the game away in the 1st half if they shot well from the field but they could only manage 40% from the field in the half, by games ends they lifted that to 49.3% but were outdone by the Mavs with a field goal percentage a touch over 50%.

Yi blocks the Mavs Dirk Nowitzki
Player of the Game: Jian-Lian Yi

Points: 20
Assists: 1
Rebounds: 8
Blocks: 0
Steals: 1
TO: 2
FG%: 56.2%
FGA: 9/16
FT%: 100%
FTA: 2/2

Kidd looks on has another of his turnovers leads to Nets points

Other Contributors:
Nets:
B.Lopez: 18 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists
K.Dooling: 12 points,5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals
D.Harris: 2 points, 5 assists
K.Humphries: 6 points, 4 rebounds

Mavs:
D.Nowitzki 11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks
S.Marion: 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals
J.Terry: 15 points, 6 assists, 6 turnovers
J.Kidd: 11 points, 6 assists, 6 turnovers

[j0rdy1]

Nets sign new Assistant Coach
The New Jersey Nets have signed Toby Shand to a two year deal worth upwards of 1m. Hopefully this quality signing can help the Nets improve this season, also in the news is the Memphis Grizzlies have finished talking with Damien Teal and successfully signed him to a 2 year deal worth around 950k a season, Grizzlies were lucky to get this quality Assistant Coach as Boston, Chicago and Phoenix all put in bids to have his services.

[dare]

wow Nets 3-0, beating Dallas and Lakers do you think of moving up the difficulty level?

[j0rdy1]

Yeah i've moved up to super-star for the actual season

[j0rdy1]

Training Camp over for the Nets
The Nets training camp ended this Sunday, and with that the season proper has begun. Toby Shand has told us “Patrick got me to work on the team’s athleticism and on the team’s defense, showing that he must be comfortable with the team’s offensive capabilities” only time will tell if this move of training up on defense will help or hinder the Nets goal for a play-off spot this season.

[j0rdy1]

Eastern Conference Predictions
1. Cleveland-If the team can do anything like it did last year, it should come away on top.
2. Boston-Had a great season last year, and with its list it could be able to go one better.
3. Orlando- Obviously the runner-ups to the Lakers, but I don’t think as good as Boston or Cleveland.
4. Philadelphia- The bottom 4 seeds could easily be taken by just about any other team in the conference
5. Atlanta- If Josh Smith can have a good season so will the Hawks
6.Detroit- With Gordon hitting his prime and the rest of the team doing well anything is possible.
7. Chicago-With the loss of Gordon, Derrick Rose will be taking on a whole lot more of the load, will he be able to cope?
8.Miami- With Dwayne Wade carrying the team a top 4 seed isn’t out of the question but Wade can’t do it all by himself.
9. Toronto- This team is my dark horse, with Bosh and Türkoğlu absolutely anything is possible.
10.Indiana-T.J Ford playing his best basketball last season he can only get better look for him to be leading the Pacers.
11.Milwaukee-Another of those maybe teams for one of the bottom 4 seeds, Bogut and Ridnour will be the key players for their sucess
12.New York- Maybe team for play-offs, with their roster they can make the play-offs but I can’t see them getting into the 2nd round.
13. Charlotte-Another of those maybe teams, if Felton,Wallace and Chandler can stay fit and play well a play-off spot isn’t out of the question.
14. New Jersey-Did alright last season but with their losses over the off-season they will look to slide down the ladder.
15. Washington-On paper they don’t seem to have gotten any better, so I guess they’re going to the lottery.






Atlantic Division Review


Boston Celtics
Lineup:
C: Kendrick Perkins
PF: Kevin Garnett
SF: Paul Pierce
SG: Ray Allen
PG: Rajon Rondo

Bench: Tony Allen , Marquis Daniels , Glen Davis, J. R. Giddens, Eddie House, Brian Scalabrine, Bill Walker, Rasheed Wallace, Shelden Williams

Review: With the Big 3, Pierce, Rondo and Garnett anything but first in the Atlantic Division would be a disappointment, also with Allen and Perkins chipping in, this team could just about be unstoppable as any one of their starters could win a game by themselves.



New Jersey Nets
Lineup:
C: Brook Lopez
PF: Yi Jianlian
SF: Chris Douglas-Roberts
SG: Terrence Williams
PG: Devin Harris

Bench: Tony Battie, Josh Boone, Kenyon Dooling, Trenton Hassell, Jarvis Hayes, Kris Humphries, Courtney Lee, Chris Quinn, Bobby Simmons

Review: With Devin Harris coming off a great season he will look to lead this team this season with help from Brook Lopez who has shown great potential. Also Douglas-Roberts should do well this season but if he doesn’t he could be trade bait. With this developing list the top spot in the Atlantic would be pushing it, but fighting for 2nd spot is realistic if they perform well.



New York Knicks
Lineup:
C: David Lee
PF: Al Harrington
SF: Wilson Chandler
SG: Danilo Galinari
PG: Chris Duhon

Bench: Nate Robinson, Jared Jeffries, Eddy Curry, Toney Douglas, Jordan Hill, Larry Hughes, Darko Milicic,Marcus Landry

Review: Chris Duhon, Al Harrington and Nate Robinson will be the three key players for the Knicks this season. If these three don’t play well or can’t stay fit they will make this Division a walk in the park for most of its teams. If these three can perform they are in the running for 2nd but are going to have to fight the rest of the division for it.


Philadelphia 76ers:
Lineup:
C: Samuel Dalembert
PF: Jason Smith
SF: Elton Brand
SG: Andre Iguodala
PG: Allen Iverson

Bench: Primoz Brezec, Rodney Carney, Willie Green, Jrue Holiday, Royal Ivey, Jason Kapono, Marreese Speights, Louis Williams, Thaddeus Young

Review: Sixers starting 5 is strong with great players at every position. But their bench could be their weakness. If their starting 5 can stay fit they should be the top contender for the 2nd spot in the division.


Toronto Raptors:
Lineup:
C: Andrea Bargnani
PF: Chris Bosh
SF: Hedo Turkoglu
SG: DeMar DeRozan
PG: Jose Calderon

Bench: Marco Belinelli, Jarrett Jack, Quincy Douby, Marcus Banks, Sonny Weems, Antoine Wright, Reggie Evans, Amir Johnson, Patrick O’Bryant, Rasho Nesterovic

Review: If Bosh can perform to his standards and Türkoğlu lifts his game to his best they could well be the 2nd favourite for the divisions 2nd spot, but they could also make a push for 1st if they can make Bargnani, Calderon and DeRozan star players. If this team doesn’t make the play-offs they will be disappointed.

[j0rdy1]

Nets vs. Lakers in Opener
The visiting Lakers will be hoping to easily account for the Nets in this opening clash for both teams. The Lakers were defeated through the pre-season by the Nets. Still the Lakers are heavy favorites to win the game at a $1.27 to win while the Nets are out to $2.85.
Lakers key players Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest averaged just under 30mpg with an average of 16ppg, so if the Nets can’t stop these three guys I can’t see the Nets having any chance at winning this game, but that said the Nets have their two big men Lopez (17.6ppg, 7rpg, 3apg) Yi (18.3ppg,5.6rpg,2.3apg) both performing well over the pre-season also with Devin Harris ( 8ppg, 6apg, 1spg) performing well they do have a chance if these three can fire and put the ball in the basket.

[j0rdy1]

Nets overcome Lakers in a Thriller
NJN: 28 25 25 29 107
LAL: 26 30 22 27 105

The Nets came out tonight as massive underdogs, and just one minute into the game it looked all over for the home side with Jian-Lian Yi going down with a leg injury, scores at the time were 6-0, but Bobby Simmons was able to help his side with 9 points in the 1st, to get back into the game and get the lead at quarter time.
Lakers after quarter time looked to put the game away with Kobe going on a scoring spree putting up 10 points in the quarter and the Lakers putting a 16-2 scoring run down in the first three minutes of the 2nd. But again the Nets found someone to bring them back into the game and it was Yi’s replacement Battie with 8 points in the 2nd to keep the Nets within three at the half.
Again the Lakers put on a show early in the 3rd getting away to a flyer, 8-0 scoring run, and getting out beyond a 10 point lead, but somehow the Nets worked their way back into the game through Harris who put up 6 points and dished out 4 assists in the quarter, and the game was back on.
The 4th started evenly with both teams going to the rim with ease, defense was not on the agenda in this match, Kobe again putting up mammoth points helping the Lakers to a 7 point lead with three minutes to go in the 4th, but again the Nets worked their way back into the game with Harris and Lopez scoring the points, down by 1 the Nets brought on Yi and with 1:12 left on the clock the Nets were in front 101-100, both teams went back and forth scoring a basket each in the next 50 seconds of play but with 24 seconds left Lopez made a big block on Gasol and Harris threw the ball down the other end for Yi to lay it up in traffic for the 105-102 lead. Quickly the Lakers got it back in play and Gasol took a long 3 pointer and drilled it home to level the scores with 13 on the clock. Harris calmly took the ball down the court and just waited for the opening and bounce passed it to the driving Lopez for the glorious dunk with 2.3 left on the clock. Lakers with no timeouts left had to lob it up the court where Shannon Brown was waiting and he drove down the lane and it was looking like an easy layup when out of nowhere Williams comes across and forces Brown to adjust his shot and it rims out. Nets win 107-105.


Devin Harris sinks an open 3 early in the game
Player of the Game:
Devin Harris
Points: 20
Rebounds: 3
Assists: 10
Blocks: 0
Steals: 1
TO: 6
FGA: 8/17
FG%: 47.1%
3PA: 2/7
3P%: 28.6%
FT: 2/2


Artest misses two freethrows late in the game
Other Contributors:
Nets:
B.Lopez: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists
J.Yi: 12 points, 4 rebounds
B.Simmons: 11 points, 5 assists
T.Williams: 17 points, 5 assists
T.Battie: 16 points, 9 rebounds

Lakers:
Gasol: 17 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks
Artest: 13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals
Bryant: 27 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals
Fisher: 9 points, 11 assists
Odom: 17 points, 3 rebounds





In Other News...
DeRozan In- Lee and Quinn Out
Today we got confirmation that Toronto Raptors player DeMar DeRozan will be traded to the New Jersey Nets for Courtney Lee and Chris Quinn. DeRozan the 6’7 200lbs rookie out of USC will be the back-up shooting guard for also rookie Terrence Williams. Hopefully this trade can help both teams out for the season.