*The Running of the Bulls* '10-11 || Player Resignings

[Mark.]

Settings
Season Length: 82 Games
Playoff Formatt: 7-7-7-7
Rosters: Living Rosters with my own tweaks
Level: Super Star
Sliders: Alby's but tweaked to my own (Will probably try others as I go)
Quarter Length: 12mins
Sim Quarter Length: 12mins
Substitutions: Rotation
Trade Override: Off
Play Formatt: Usually I will play one game per in game week, sometimes more.
Recap style: I will recap each week with short summaries for the simmed games and a little more in-depth for the played games.
NLSC Players: These will be done in a similar way to how I did for my Pistons dynasty which can be found here. More details on this to come.


Ok so here I am back with the replacement for my Magic Dynasty. Really dissapointed about that one as I was really enjoying it and the recapping was working well for me. This one will follow a similar recapping format for the games although I may shorten things up a bit in some areas, it will also follow a sort of blog site format overall to some extent.
Not that happy with the Banner to be honest, but its only the main banner which will only be used once so meh.
You will notice the banner says "Season 2010-2011" and that is not an error. I thought to make things a little more interesting I would sim the first season, with a few deadline trades etc and then pick up at the offseason. I picked the Bulls as I saw them as a roster that had a lot to work with (one flaw that I found of doing Magic dynasty) yet they aren't entirely rebuilding so I had to make a few choices in the first season as to who was going to stay around etc, obviously sim results would help me choose my direction for the offseason.
Since many will be wondering what went down in the 09-10 season I will give a quick recap of major events etc to get everyone up to speed and then we will hit the offseason and get underway from there.

P.S. See if you can figure out some of the new faces to the Bulls from examining the banner


Up Next: Season 2009-2010, where did it go?

[buzzy]

Good luck with it.
I can see LaMarcus Aldridge and T-Mac.

[Mark.]

You could be right, we will see in the next update perhaps Nice Sig by the way, simple but effective

[newc]

great to see a dynasty with my favourite team Good luck

[Rta]

good luck man. i will follow that story

[Valor]

CHICAGO BULLS!!! GREAT TEAM SELECTION MARK!!

[hova-]

Good team choice. I've been waiting for someone who gets the Bulls back to were they belong for some time (actually since Andrew's last long Dynasty).

Good luck!

[cavs4872]

I think I see Brandon Roy above the E in the first THE, and can clearly see Shaq in there too. Good luck with this one. I will surely be following it.

[kibaxx7]

I saw LaMarcus Aldridge and T-Mac, if true, great players. Also great team selection bro! Good luck!

[Lamrock]

Cool banner leaking your new roster. I'll be pissed if you got Roy though.

[Martti.]

It looks like Noah-Aldridge-Deng-T-Mac-Rose.

That's great. Good luck! I assume you lost Tyrus? He doesn't usually want to stay.

[Rip32]

I see Shaq too! Good Luck Mark!

[The X]

Interested to see what moves you have made

[el stevo]

Must be cool! Nearly your whole team has changed good luck in this!

[Mark.]

Update coming tonight guys, most or some will be revealed

[dare]

How about are old predictions? does it going to count?

[Mark.]

Yeah hell why not, ill carry over the Magic predictions as well. They will be posted once the season is about to start.

[dare]

Thanks man, and I noticed the banner is that Shaq and Tmac?

[Mark.]

Season 2009-2010, where did it go?

Key Trades and Deadline Deals

Magic and Cavs Swap Guards

In a seemingly pointless trade for the Magic the team shipped off lockdown defender and energizer Mikael Pietrus in exchange for troubled Cleveland guard Delonte West.
While West has proven on occasion that he can turn a game, his off court troubles seem to affect his on court performance far too often. Replacing the ever calm and chemistry building Pietrus with this wildcard did not seem logical for the Magic.
While Orlando potentially saved roughly $5m in the 2011-2012 season it was probably not worth it considering that cutting back luxury tax was probably not on the owners win-now mind at the time.
Cleveland meanwhile continued to gather the pieces they needed to make a championship bid, adding another wing scoring option as well as a top defender to play alongside James.

Bulls take gamble on McGrady


Could T-Mac be the answer for the Bulls trounbles? Or is this just another stop on his tour of the NBA?

In the big deadline deal of the year the Chicago Bulls decided they would be the ones to roll the dice and take a gamble on the once superstar, Tracy McGrady.
A day before the close of the trade deadline the Bulls aquired the 12 year pro in a 7 player deal which saw them send Kirk Hinrich, John Salmons and Tyrus Thomas along with Jerome James' contract in exchange for McGrady, Chuck Hayes and Othello Hunter.
With the Rockets actively shopping McGrady there was a lot of interest for the Bulls to contend with, however the Bulls were offering something that other teams weren't... Playing time.
Whilst the Rockets could have decided to send McGrady off somewhere else, they did right by their once go-to man and found him a home where he had a potential future and a chance to prove himself once again.
The Bulls were obviously looking to change things up and bring in another scorer to play beside Luol Deng and Derrick Rose, but they had to give up a lot to get their man.

Trade Analysis

Rockets
The Rockets finally managed to ship off T-Mac in a deal that benefited them at the time and into the future. Instead of seeing McGrady walk for nothing they got Hinrich, a solid PG who can start or come off the bench, another scoring swingman in Salmons, to help cover for Trevor Ariza's offnights and an athletic rebounding big in Thomas to put beside Yao.
They also only halved roughly half of their expiring contract total, with Jerome James' and Tyrus Thomas coming off the books at the end of the year they still looked to shed roughly $11m in salary as opposed to the $23m they would have shed from McGrady's salary, this will however reduce their chances of being a player in the offseason's big FA market.
Overall this trade was a mix of talent and exprirings for the Rockets and gave them a chance at making a push for the playoffs (25-26, 8th in the West) by adding depth and ability.

Grade: B (The Rockets added depth for a playoff push at the cost of being players in the up coming FA market)

Bulls
The Bulls had to make a move, either to try take on more expirings for the offseason or to try rescue a season that was quickly going down the drain (17-34, 15th in the East). In trading for McGrady they did both.
Bringing in McGrady's $23m contract and Hayes' $2m in exchange for the four out going players effectively saved them $14m going into the offseason but shakying up the roster also gave them a glimer of hope that the season could be resurected.
The Bulls were entrigued with McGrady and had heard on all accounts that he was 100% fit so decided that with the season in such dire straits they could afford to take a look at him for half a season and then decide whether to part ways or continue the journey together.
Admitedly the Bulls did lose a lot of depth, but they were never going to keep Thomas, James hadn't played a game all season and Salmons was being dangled around the league just waiting for a bite. Hinrich was the only player they were reluctant to let go, but in the end losing his large contract was an added bonus.

Grade: A+ (The Bulls effectively take McGrady on a half year trial, save $14m for the upcoming offseason really all for the loss of Hinrich and 3 players they were either looking to move or willing to lose anyway)

Anyway thats all the deadline deals. I disallowed CPU trades for much of the season just to keep the trade action down a little first time round. Probably a lot of errors in there, too tired to check extensively, plus it was a bitch trying to talk in past-tense the whole time. I will be looking to get the short recap of the playoffs done tomorrow night so I can then get the offseason recapped. I think I might do it in parts like how Jae has been doing his. Also apologies for the lack of graphics etc, I just couldn't be arsed getting round to making some new banners etc, just want to get onto the new season .

[Mark.]

I can see LaMarcus Aldridge and T-Mac.

I think I see Brandon Roy above the E in the first THE, and can clearly see Shaq in there too. Good luck with this one. I will surely be following it.

I saw LaMarcus Aldridge and T-Mac, if true, great players. Also great team selection bro! Good luck!

It looks like Noah-Aldridge-Deng-T-Mac-Rose.

That's great. Good luck! I assume you lost Tyrus? He doesn't usually want to stay

I see Shaq too! Good Luck Mark!

All will be revealed over the offseason recaps

Thanks for the comments guys, seems the banner worked out better than I expected I initially didn't even put the players in as a guessing game/teaser, just couldnt think of anything else to do

[The X]

That T-Mac pic is very pretty

EDIT: Nice trade btw

[Rta]

nice trade man but it's really gamble good luck

[hova-]

Good trade. Supersharp graphics, as I always mention. I don't see the trade as a B for the Rockets, because imho they have one of the most stacked rosters now. I mean:

PG Brooks Hinrich Lowry
SG Ariza Salmons
SF Battier Budinger
PF Scola Thomas
C Yao Landry Anderson

Maybe it's just me, who loves to have balanced, all-around rosters with deep benches, but I think this is a very good roster.
I hope that you do not resign T-Mac, but I guess you did because of your banner. It's just like he is not a star anymore and seeing him as a role player is tough to accept.

[J@3]

I like that you kept the deals somewhat realistic interested to see how McGrady goes for you.

[kibaxx7]

Hoping the T-Mac experiment comes out well. As always, superb pictures!