X's T'wolves (NBA 2K11)

[shadowgrin]

A Darko Challenge is completed! Woohoo! Darko is so happy he's going to celebrate with the refs' wives and daughters!
Darko fouled out! Darko is so angry he's going to do things with the refs' wives and daughters!

That's how Darko rolls.

[The X]

OBJECTIVES

1. Double Trouble: 10+ points, 10+ rebounds in a winning effort [COMPLETED 15/02/2011]
2. Darko's Block Party: 5 blocks (nominated by Sit) [COMPLETED 15/02/2011]
3. Thanks for Nothing Larry: Beat Charlotte by 10+ points (nominated by shadowGrinch)
4. Darko the Impenetrable: Hold an opposing team's star centre (Dwight Howard, Yao, All-Star level) to less than 10 points (nominated by shadowGrinch)
5. No Harm, No Foul: 30+ minutes, 6+ rebounds, 2+ blocks, 0 fouls (nominated by shadowGrinch)
6. From Serbia with Love: Beat Milwaukee, outscore, outrebound and outblock Croatian-blooded Aussie Andrew Bogut
7. Darko's a Triple Double Waiting to Happen: 10-10-10 game (nominated by Sit)
8. All for Nothing: Back-to-back-to-back 20 point games in losing efforts
9. Mr Versatility: 5-5-5-5-5 game (nominated by Sit)
10. The Perfect Storm: Score 23+ points, 16+ rebounds, 5+ assists, 6+ blocks, 2+ steals, 2 or less turnovers, 55.5%+ FG%, 100.0% FT with at least 2 taken in 40 or less minutes

phpBB [video]

[Valor]

As they say, good things come in packages. Awesome win and congrats on the double Darko achievement!!

[kibaxx7]

Double success, great news man "Ricky who?"

[Lamrock]

Multiple wins and 2 Darko challenges completed! Perhaps a 2012 all-star berth is imminent for the Manna from heaven.

[hova-]

Wow, finally fulfilling the calls of the challenges. Darko's the man right now. Don't win too often, you need a solid pick in the draft

[Martti.]

Getting 2 out of the way is great.

[Fresh8]

Good to see Darko is doing his thing.

[The X]

Darko's been solid but surprised nobody noticed that the backcourt 'Cuse connection of Jonny Flynn & Wesley Johnson are ripping it up. They're the main reasons we've won 4 in a row.

hova, winning makes playing with Turri-wolves bearable. They're much more fun to play with at the moment. Jonny Flynn is growing on me. Should be interesting next season if Rubio does come over. Starting spot will likely be Flynn's to lose.

Darko Challenge is only going to continue for the rest of this season. I see a few other people are starting to put up chump watches & all that so can see myself losing motivation for something that will no longer be unique. I'll probably dump it onto page 1 at end of season in one of opening threads & maybe only provide updates if I beat any of the challenges. Then again, I guess the Darko Challenges only were really to make rest of this season more interesting, but rest of team seems to be providing that also

[The X]

Sorry about lack of updates, but now on holidays so 2nd trimester updates should start coming in the next day or so.

hova, if you are reading, PM me your details. I probably won't get you in this draft class but can get you in the next one, per the sig.

[shadowgrin]

Dammit X. Screw updates and enjoy the holidays with your family. Even Darko gets to enjoy the holidays, you should too.

[The X]

2010/11 2nd TRIMESTER UPDATE (PART ONE)


If you had of asked me two weeks ago how the second trimester had gone for the Minnesota Timberwolves, I would've told you pretty shite. That was until Jonny Flynn returned from about a month's hiatus and spurred the team onto a highly improbable 11 game win streak to enter the All-Star Break with a pro-rata 23-40 (0.364) record. This very strong play of late propelled them to a pro-rata 17-20 (0.459) record over the trimester, which is pretty good for such a young team. Minnesota currently sits 13th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference, ahead of only the Los Angeles Clippers and the disappointing Utah Jazz. Obviously making the playoffs are out of the question, but realistically they have been since the New Year.

Performance-wise, rookie Wesley Johnson continues to impress as he now owns the starting 2 guard spot and it won't be lost. The second trimester saw slightly more consistent play from Kevin Love and Michael Beasley, as well as some standout play from second year guard Jonny Flynn, once he returned from a lower back strain that kept him out of the lineup for the month of January. Other than that, the real surprise of the second trimester as to me journeyman centre Darko Milicic. Serbian Milicic, who has long been labelled a bust, managed to put together the best two month stretch of his career and has upped his averages across the board and has helped the team win some games with a hard nosed approach in the middle. It will be interesting to see if Darko can continue his strong play of late and proved his many doubters wrong.

The Wolves didn't stand pat during the trimester, sending point guard Luke Ridnour and young Greek-American centre Kosta Koufos to Houston for young bigman Jordan Hill and the enigmatic Stephon Marbury. It was a surprise to see the Timberwolves deal Ridnour after signing him to a 4 year deal in the off-season, but such was his trouble of finding his shot in Minneapolis that he was sent packing, even if it meant returning previously disgruntled Stephon Marbury back into town. The real prize in the trade for Minnesota was obviously Jordan Hill, who is now with his third team in only his second season and is getting a tough introduction to the cold business side of the NBA. Minnesota is probably a great place for Hill to be at this point in his development as he will get playing time straight off the bat with the ability to earn more if he proves himself.

I think the aim for the team in the last trimester is to continue to build on the solid play of late, finish the season on a strong note, continue to develop its young players and hopefully that translates to a possible playoff berth next season.


PLAYER STATS

F/G- Wesley Johnson: 13.0ppg, 5.0rpg, 1.0spg, 49.3% FG, 38.5% 3Pt (PER: 16.93)
G- Jonny Flynn: 12.5ppg, 6.4apg, 38.3% FG, 39.0% 3Pt (PER: 12.88)
F/C- Kevin Love: 12.4ppg, 9.7rpg, 44.6% FG, 23.7% 3Pt (PER: 13.91)
F- Michael Beasley: 12.0ppg, 6.2rpg, 41.7% FG, 28.1% 3Pt (PER: 12.80)
G/F- Corey Brewer: 11.5ppg, 1.0spg, 56.1% FG, 30.8% 3Pt (PER: 16.82)
F/G- Martell Webster: 10.4ppg, 53.3% FG, 41.3% 3Pt (PER: 13.84)
G- Wayne Ellington: 8.1ppg, 44.9 FG%, 47.1% 3Pt (PER: 14.08)
C- Darko Milicic: 7.1ppg, 6.9rpg, 1.3bpg, 52.6% FG (PER: 10.91)
G- Stephon Marbury: 4.0ppg, 3.0apg, 41.7% FG, 26.3% 3Pt (PER: 13.77)
C- Nikola Pekovic: 3.7ppg, 1.9rpg, 61.3% FG (PER: 16.17)
F/C- Jordan Hill: 3.3ppg, 2.5rpg, 52.1% FG (PER: 10.34)
G- Sebastian Telfair: 3.2ppg, 2.2apg, 42.2% FG, 35.7% 3Pt (PER: 10.54)
F/C- Anthony Tolliver: 2.4ppg, 3.2rpg, 29.8% FG (PER: 6.65)
F/G- Lazar Hayward: D-League

PLAYER PICS


Rebound? Rebound? This is how you rebound!!!

[The X]

Dammit X. Screw updates and enjoy the holidays with your family. Even Darko gets to enjoy the holidays, you should too.

With a 7 month old, holiday will mostly be around home for this year. Enough stuff planned for next week. Some of these updates I wrote earlier in week, just didn't get around to posting.

But yes, I will be enjoying holidays, a few drinks. No 6 hour-a-day updates. I'll probably just do the above trimester update, around the league plus scouting college prospects. Then I can actually play some games. My daughter likes watching NBA 2k11, it fascinates her

[shadowgrin]

No 6 hour-a-day updates.

[Lamrock]

11 game winning streak. Nice to see the team doing far better than their real-life counterparts. Love and Beasley have underwhelmed though.

Something about the very simple approach really appeals to me. Your dynasties are always the ones that make me want to go out, find a turrible team and start an association.

Looking forward to some more updates. Enjoy the break.

[The X]

11 game winning streak. Nice to see the team doing far better than their real-life counterparts. Love and Beasley have underwhelmed though.

Something about the very simple approach really appeals to me. Your dynasties are always the ones that make me want to go out, find a turrible team and start an association.

Looking forward to some more updates. Enjoy the break.

Thanks....I think

As for Love and Beasley, it's all has to be taken in perspective. Let's compare their cumulative stats at the end of the 1st and 2nd trimesters:

2010/11 1st TRIMESTER UPDATE (PART ONE)


PLAYER STATS

F/C- Kevin Love: 11.1ppg, 8.8rpg, 42.0% FG, 17.6% 3Pt (PER: 13.60)
F- Michael Beasley: 10.1ppg, 5.3rpg, 1.0spg, 39.6% FG, 8.3% 3Pt (PER: 13.39)

2010/11 2nd TRIMESTER UPDATE (PART ONE)


PLAYER STATS

F/C- Kevin Love: 12.4ppg, 9.7rpg, 44.6% FG, 23.7% 3Pt (PER: 13.91)
F- Michael Beasley: 12.0ppg, 6.2rpg, 41.7% FG, 28.1% 3Pt (PER: 12.80)

I know still a bit underwhelming but still headed in the right direction, no?

[Lamrock]

It was most certainly a compliment. My favorite dynasties are rags->riches, turrible->contender stories. I suppose 14/11 and 13/7 isn't bad, but irl they are putting up numbers that would make them all-stars if their record were reversed.

[The X]

Yep I know. Unfortunately sim engine kills both, especially Love. Beasley is just inconsistent. Remember game patterns him off Heat years. I improved his ratings ever so slightly but they were pretty much where they should've been. Some people just don't perform. But team is winning.

[shadowgrin]

Try changing his consistency rating or something in his tendencies.

[Lamrock]

Upping his shot tendency to 100 would do the trick

[The X]

I'll adjust slightly & within reason, but I just don't want to mess too much. I'm going to pump up Blake Griffin a bit. Already have but I want him getting better than 12 & 8

[shadowgrin]

lol at Lamrock.
Try checking Beasley's Foul Tendencies. That's the first thing I check when a player is inconsistent with his production, foul trouble. If it's in the 60 above range, try lowering it to 50 as not to make a drastic change.
As for Blake, if his rebound ratings are already good enough, try increasing his Hustle ratings which also affect rebounding. I think there's a Tendency too for rebounding.

[The X]

I made slight adjustments to Kevin Love's tendencies, didn't touch Beasley's. Had to ramp up Blake Griffin's rating, from 76 to 82. They only gave him dunk & jump rating of 79 & speed & quickness ratings in the mid 50's in the game's release default rosters. No wonder he is only averaging 9 & 6 as a starter Will be too late to get him anywhere good, but moving forward he should be a factor

Darko Challenge has been fun, but realistically it's a gimmick that a few others have jumped on already. I will continue to try to achieve great things with Darko, but I don't have the time or will to do updates every game. Maybe when he breaks each challenge I will do an update, otherwise will not. In the meantime I have dumped it in the Wolves Den on the first page (http://forums.nba-live.com/viewtopic.php?p=1267439#p1267439), so it can still be followed by the hardcore Darko fans. In the meantime, this will go back to trimester updates & pic of the day. It's just easier that way & a better Association/work/family life balance. Thanks for the support guys, I'll get part two of trimester update up tomorrow. I wrote it up earlier this week, just need to take a pic & it's all done.

And to all my viewers, all five of you, if I don't say it again, have a very Merry Serbian Christmas as only Darko would.

[shadowgrin]

Darko would rip Santa's jacket before hugging him.

[Axel The Great]

And to all my viewers, all five of you, if I don't say it again, have a very Merry Serbian Christmas as only Darko would.

You have more than five viewers, just don't take the time to comment. Merry Christmas to you too.

Having four players at around 12-13 ppg is pretty odd. Someone's gonna need to step their game up, better be Wesley. Team's been good though, that 11-game winning streak.