Post by Royal on May 3, 2020 0:03:06 GMT -8
2000 DENVER NUGGETS STARTERS
This article piece is a breakdown of our starting five. We will discuss the logic behind the pick, and plans for them with the team now and going forward.
The 2000 Denver Nuggets, are a group of old vets all looking to ring chase. We think we have strong sure fire playoff team, but to be considered a true contender we'll have to see how the season goes and address any issues we see arise. The Nuggets goal for this season and every year with Shaq on the roster will be the put the best five on the floor and compete. Scoring wise I am confident in the group I have chosen, but defensively they're are a few liabilities on the roster. This season we will be asking Shaq to do a lot for us and his work load will be heavy. The goes around him weren't on many teams radars due to age concerns, but when you have Shaq on your team, age ain't nothing but a number.
Introducing your 2000 Denver Nuggets...
SHAQUILLE O'NEAL
POSITION: CENTER
AGE: 28
BREAKDOWN: Shaq wasn't a player we drafted, but we saw the opportunity of making a defining franchise move in the second round of the inaugural creation draft. The Cleveland Cavaliers were on the clock, and Antonio McDyess who was very high on our target list was still available. We already had Kevin Garnett and Chris Webber on board, but after heavily weighing the pros and cons, trading the two ultimately made perfect sense for us. We were able to get The Big Fella, and quickly get our big man replacement in Dyess. Shaq as everyone knows is a player you won't see often in sim leagues, he is arguably the only player in the file unguardable. With A+ inside and A+ defense he is a force on both ends and will be the piece the team wants to build on for many years.
SHORT TERM EXPECTATIONS: We expect Shaq to immediately make us a contender. It is my responsibility to get the pieces need to support him. We expect him to compete for both the MVP and DPOTY awards.
LONG TERM EXPECTIONS: I'm not sure how Cavs GM stomached it, but moving Shaq is not in the franchise plans at all. At 28 he still has lots of good basketball left in him. We expect Shaq to have a BBS ring on his finger sooner than later.
ANTONIO MCDYESS
POSITION: POWER FORWARD
AGE: 26
BREAKDOWN: Mcdyess is a player we really love in Denver. He received a lot of criticism due to his 3 turnovers per game in Test Sims, but after Preseason we can see that won't be a issue. At 26 Dyess is a player we can really invest him and make him a household name around the league. Playing next to Shaq isn't a easy thing to do, but with averages of 20 and 10, its safe to say Dyess will hold his own. Defensively we're not asking a lot out of him, if he can maintain his averages and protect the ball he will have a home in Denver for a long time. We feel we have the best front court in the league with respects to talents and age, and that's a huge testament to Dyess' efforts.
SHORT TERM EXPECTATIONS: Short term we don't think Dyess will be up for any end of season awards, but we do expect him to be consistent and provide exactly what we need, scoring. He will be a primary focus early on for team Camps. We feel he is a season away from being in his prime, and were excited for what he is going to bring.
LONG TERM EXPECTIONS: This is a tough question, because as much as I like Dyess this is Shaq's team, and if he isn't the complimentary piece that we need him to be than no promises are made. We do value him a lot so a deal would have to be mind blowing as of now, to part ways with him. We expect him to improve his scoring and get stronger via camps, and hope it translates on the court.
MITCH RICHMOND
POSITION: SMALL FORWARD
AGE: 35
BREAKDOWN: When we were on the clock in the third round, we were looking heavy for a Point Guard, but due to the limited amount of quality ones available, we figured the drop off between a third round point guard and fifth or sixth wouldn't be too much for what we were looking for, so we turned our focus to proven outside scorer. After scouring through the test sim and seeing how well Richmond played, we didn't think he would be available. To our surprise he was and we jumped all over it. Finding a 20 PPG guy that "late" shouldn't happen, but due to his age its understandable why he fell. When you have Shaq on your team you don't need to be looking at age, you need to get the best supporting cast possible and Richmond's ability to spread the floor makes him a darling piece for us. During preseason his minutes appeared to limited some and he wasn't able to showcase himself, but we do think he will be a steady 18-20 PPG guy.
SHORT TERM EXPECTATIONS: Richmond is nearing the end of his career, and as long as he wants to play the game he will be in a powder blue uniform. His two year contract might be his final one, but if he decides to return we will be in heavy discussions to get him back for a deal on the lower end.
LONG TERM EXPECTIONS: He's 35, we don't expect anything from him than to just be healthy.
REGGIE MILLER
POSITION: SHOOTING GUARD
AGE: 35
BREAKDOWN: Reggie Miller is another guy we were surprised to see on the board when it was time to pick.
When you approach the late fifth round of a creation draft you're looking hard and scrubbing for possible sleepers and guys you could potentially exercise bird rights on and groom. For Reggie that wasn't the case a 18 PPG guy, regardless of age, should not have been there with this many competing teams. Playing as a non-option we don't expect much from him, maybe 10-12 PPG, but with Reggie you could bet he'll catch fire and give you a couple 20 pieces. Great shooter, but a defensive liability, his starting spot is his to start but he has some young competition looking to move up.
SHORT TERM EXPECTATIONS: Reggie scares us. He had that nice test sim, but he was also a option on a not so great team. We're hoping he translate well, but he's kind of a wild card for us. There is a contingency plan in case he sucks. We also see this as a one year farewell tour for him.
LONG TERM EXPECTIONS: No plans to return Reggie after his lone season with us.
TIM HARDAWAY
POSITION: POINT GUARD
AGE: 34
BREAKDOWN: TIM! The creator of the crossover, or so some say, Tim is honestly a nice sixth round pick up. I made a list of Point Guards I thought would fit well with Shaq , towards the end of the 2nd round, and Hardaway was second on the list
. Talent wise and youth wise, sure there were better options available, but we wanted a pass happy point guard that protected the ball. Hardaway has the make of a true point guard in BBS, and will play his role to perfection. During test sims he was at 1.9 turnovers and during preseason he maintained that. With this type of ball handling skill the whole team will be better. Scoring wise Hardaway doesn't look ugly, but he'll never be a option nor called upon to fill any scoring voids.
SHORT TERM EXPECTATIONS: I feel pretty confident I have a DC to make him amongst the league assist leaders, but that's as far as he'll get. Tim sadly is on a one year and we're hoping he chooses to stick around a couple more seasons with us to get us to the 2003 tank fest.
LONG TERM EXPECTIONS: Retire a Nugget. If he chooses to play past his one year deal, we want to retain him at any cost.
This article piece is a breakdown of our starting five. We will discuss the logic behind the pick, and plans for them with the team now and going forward.
The 2000 Denver Nuggets, are a group of old vets all looking to ring chase. We think we have strong sure fire playoff team, but to be considered a true contender we'll have to see how the season goes and address any issues we see arise. The Nuggets goal for this season and every year with Shaq on the roster will be the put the best five on the floor and compete. Scoring wise I am confident in the group I have chosen, but defensively they're are a few liabilities on the roster. This season we will be asking Shaq to do a lot for us and his work load will be heavy. The goes around him weren't on many teams radars due to age concerns, but when you have Shaq on your team, age ain't nothing but a number.
Introducing your 2000 Denver Nuggets...
SHAQUILLE O'NEAL
POSITION: CENTER
AGE: 28
BREAKDOWN: Shaq wasn't a player we drafted, but we saw the opportunity of making a defining franchise move in the second round of the inaugural creation draft. The Cleveland Cavaliers were on the clock, and Antonio McDyess who was very high on our target list was still available. We already had Kevin Garnett and Chris Webber on board, but after heavily weighing the pros and cons, trading the two ultimately made perfect sense for us. We were able to get The Big Fella, and quickly get our big man replacement in Dyess. Shaq as everyone knows is a player you won't see often in sim leagues, he is arguably the only player in the file unguardable. With A+ inside and A+ defense he is a force on both ends and will be the piece the team wants to build on for many years.
SHORT TERM EXPECTATIONS: We expect Shaq to immediately make us a contender. It is my responsibility to get the pieces need to support him. We expect him to compete for both the MVP and DPOTY awards.
LONG TERM EXPECTIONS: I'm not sure how Cavs GM stomached it, but moving Shaq is not in the franchise plans at all. At 28 he still has lots of good basketball left in him. We expect Shaq to have a BBS ring on his finger sooner than later.
ANTONIO MCDYESS
POSITION: POWER FORWARD
AGE: 26
BREAKDOWN: Mcdyess is a player we really love in Denver. He received a lot of criticism due to his 3 turnovers per game in Test Sims, but after Preseason we can see that won't be a issue. At 26 Dyess is a player we can really invest him and make him a household name around the league. Playing next to Shaq isn't a easy thing to do, but with averages of 20 and 10, its safe to say Dyess will hold his own. Defensively we're not asking a lot out of him, if he can maintain his averages and protect the ball he will have a home in Denver for a long time. We feel we have the best front court in the league with respects to talents and age, and that's a huge testament to Dyess' efforts.
SHORT TERM EXPECTATIONS: Short term we don't think Dyess will be up for any end of season awards, but we do expect him to be consistent and provide exactly what we need, scoring. He will be a primary focus early on for team Camps. We feel he is a season away from being in his prime, and were excited for what he is going to bring.
LONG TERM EXPECTIONS: This is a tough question, because as much as I like Dyess this is Shaq's team, and if he isn't the complimentary piece that we need him to be than no promises are made. We do value him a lot so a deal would have to be mind blowing as of now, to part ways with him. We expect him to improve his scoring and get stronger via camps, and hope it translates on the court.
MITCH RICHMOND
POSITION: SMALL FORWARD
AGE: 35
BREAKDOWN: When we were on the clock in the third round, we were looking heavy for a Point Guard, but due to the limited amount of quality ones available, we figured the drop off between a third round point guard and fifth or sixth wouldn't be too much for what we were looking for, so we turned our focus to proven outside scorer. After scouring through the test sim and seeing how well Richmond played, we didn't think he would be available. To our surprise he was and we jumped all over it. Finding a 20 PPG guy that "late" shouldn't happen, but due to his age its understandable why he fell. When you have Shaq on your team you don't need to be looking at age, you need to get the best supporting cast possible and Richmond's ability to spread the floor makes him a darling piece for us. During preseason his minutes appeared to limited some and he wasn't able to showcase himself, but we do think he will be a steady 18-20 PPG guy.
SHORT TERM EXPECTATIONS: Richmond is nearing the end of his career, and as long as he wants to play the game he will be in a powder blue uniform. His two year contract might be his final one, but if he decides to return we will be in heavy discussions to get him back for a deal on the lower end.
LONG TERM EXPECTIONS: He's 35, we don't expect anything from him than to just be healthy.
REGGIE MILLER
POSITION: SHOOTING GUARD
AGE: 35
BREAKDOWN: Reggie Miller is another guy we were surprised to see on the board when it was time to pick.
When you approach the late fifth round of a creation draft you're looking hard and scrubbing for possible sleepers and guys you could potentially exercise bird rights on and groom. For Reggie that wasn't the case a 18 PPG guy, regardless of age, should not have been there with this many competing teams. Playing as a non-option we don't expect much from him, maybe 10-12 PPG, but with Reggie you could bet he'll catch fire and give you a couple 20 pieces. Great shooter, but a defensive liability, his starting spot is his to start but he has some young competition looking to move up.
SHORT TERM EXPECTATIONS: Reggie scares us. He had that nice test sim, but he was also a option on a not so great team. We're hoping he translate well, but he's kind of a wild card for us. There is a contingency plan in case he sucks. We also see this as a one year farewell tour for him.
LONG TERM EXPECTIONS: No plans to return Reggie after his lone season with us.
TIM HARDAWAY
POSITION: POINT GUARD
AGE: 34
BREAKDOWN: TIM! The creator of the crossover, or so some say, Tim is honestly a nice sixth round pick up. I made a list of Point Guards I thought would fit well with Shaq , towards the end of the 2nd round, and Hardaway was second on the list
. Talent wise and youth wise, sure there were better options available, but we wanted a pass happy point guard that protected the ball. Hardaway has the make of a true point guard in BBS, and will play his role to perfection. During test sims he was at 1.9 turnovers and during preseason he maintained that. With this type of ball handling skill the whole team will be better. Scoring wise Hardaway doesn't look ugly, but he'll never be a option nor called upon to fill any scoring voids.
SHORT TERM EXPECTATIONS: I feel pretty confident I have a DC to make him amongst the league assist leaders, but that's as far as he'll get. Tim sadly is on a one year and we're hoping he chooses to stick around a couple more seasons with us to get us to the 2003 tank fest.
LONG TERM EXPECTIONS: Retire a Nugget. If he chooses to play past his one year deal, we want to retain him at any cost.
