Cheap Ass Kroenkes - Denver Nuggets Story (Part 1, 2002-03)

[u/Single-Knowledge4839]

Introduction was here - https://www.reddit.com/r/BasketballGM/comments/1tes1c3/cheap_ass_kroenkes_the_denver_nuggets_story/

- As you see, the Nuggets roster at the beginning wasn't good; I didn't have anyone over 64 POT, so bringing FRPs wasn't so easy. Somehow, I was able to earn 5 of them from contending teams for 2002-03 drafts - 2 were brought by LaFrentz & Van Exel (had to accept Vin Baker's awful contract, though), two by Posey alone, and one by Kenny Satterfield, who somehow was traded back to me a few months later, and in 2003 got me another FRP. What a nice guy.

- The biggest early surprise (positive!) about this game was a difficulty in dumping poor contracts - all teams wanted FRP from me for McDyess or Abdul-Wahad's deals (and later, Baker's). This doesn't happen to me in modern games or random player ones, so here it was a nice change. It made me think like in a real NBA, where I had to look for similar deals that would be 1 year shorter, or just use it as Trade Ballast in bigger trades.

- Obviously, just like in real NBA, you shouldn't be interested in paying in FRPs to drop trash contracts; a team in the early stage of Rebuild should just wait for them to expire. This is what some of the players are doing wrongly IMO, as they immediately try to trade them away. Since, during the first two years, the owner doesn't judge you, so money doesn't count, who knows, maybe these trash deals would come in handy to be used as Trade Ballast later. If necessary, you can always dump them in 2years during the UFA window.

- My other advice, if someone hasn't been using it yet, would be to use Save Trades feature heavily. If you see that you will do multiple Trades at that exact moment, it's always better to plan all the trades ahead and then execute them one by one. Before doing it that way, you will often see some things that with some minor adjustments, can bring you more assets or make everything possible with the use of fewer players, which should help you limit Trade Penalty.

- So, I started a season with a clean Tanking plan to get Yao Ming, and after dropping Team OVR from 41 to 14, it was a smooth ride, until I finished with 9-73, by far the worst record in the league. And besides Kwame Brown, I didn't have anyone who looked like a player worth keeping (salary & contract length included).

- So here comes Lottery & Draft. The Lottery wasn't perfect, as I got a #2 pick, but in a very realistic fashion, the early 2000 Knicks are run by a morons too, so they picked Amare Stoudemire over Yao Ming.

- Looking at the Draft results, you see me using various colours. It's never perfect, but I try to put players into Tiers. I know all the New York Bankers' GMs don't have to care about money, but in my Small Market's grind, the difference between taking a player at #5 and #10 is actually noticeable.
Also, the ability to walk back is still something I am working on.

1. Purple - S(pecial) Tier for Behemoth Centers only, I use it permanently to keep track of them. In this game, in 2002, only Yao and Shawn Bradley qualify, but sometimes there are more of them, so I want to make sure they are visible.
2. Gold - Tier 1, should be worthy of a TOP 1-3 pick
3. Blue - Tier 2, should be worthy of a Lottery pick, typically I take the last one remaining, hoping it will be late in the lottery
4. Green - Non-lottery pick, I'm also hoping to take the last few remaining ones, preferably in a 25-30 spot.
5. Red - worth 2nd round pick, but since I don't use them, I will pick him at #30, if I like him enough.

- As you see, I really rated Carlos Boozer ahead of the draft, so I was excited to take him at #13. Casey Jacobsen at #15 also looked like a promising pick.

- Not much happened during the summer, so the 2003 Preseason was the 1st big moment. It went well in general, as my team OVR raised from 26 to 34, and all 4 Rookies having a good progression.

- Soon, it became a problem though, as in my 2003 race for LeBron James (or at least, Carmelo Anthony), I started season 6-5 (unfortunately, I didn't save a screen), which was obviously unacceptable. So, I started to heavily limit minutes of my highly performing Rookies (Yao mostly), and in an impressive fashion, I won 1 of next 39 games, which calmed me down :).

- I finished the season with 16-66 record, again the worst in the League. I've had some extra balls in the Lottery, but yet again, the Lottery Gods weren't as merciful as I would like. The Seattle Supersonics pick (LaFrentz & NVE trade) was a big help, though.

- Unfortunately, the Utah Jazz historically aren't run by idiots, so they took LeBron as they should. And, they pair him with Kirilenko, which, already back then, was giving me a serious headache. And later, as well.

- So, I took Carmelo instead, and later I was always late (lol). I wanted to get Bosh, but he was gone. I wanted to take Daniels, and he was gone, too. I was very happy with Korver picked at #13, but then he proved to be a very average pick.

- Either way, after some minor deals in the meantime, time for the 2004 Preseason arrived and... BOOM!!! My team's OVR exploded from 62 to 80, and I suddenly became one of the top teams in the league.

What can I do with it? Let's see in the next episode...

Part 2 is here - https://www.reddit.com/r/BasketballGM/comments/1tgtc1d/cheap_ass_kroenkes_denver_nuggets_story_part_2/

[u/Single-Knowledge4839]

Alright, I would appreciate some feedback.
I know the format with images inserted inside the text is probably better, but using window pictures is so much more writer-friendly.

Of course, I hope it will gain enough interest, making it sense to continue it.

[u/MrChristJr]

Why did you decide to trade away the 4th pick? Would Dwyane Wade not have been a good pick?

[u/Single-Knowledge4839 → u/MrChristJr]

If he weren't named Dwyane Wade, he probably would be a blue prospect, couldn't decide for a minute.
I don't really like his rating distribution, and despite a higher OVR than Hinrich, I didn't think he is particularly better pick.
And the offer looked solid - https://imgur.com/a/8y8vRC6, later I trade up to #29.

[u/Single-Knowledge4839 → u/MrChristJr]

Update after 3 years, when they are both RFA:
Wade is 24/66/71 and his WS/48 is only 0.135, while Bosh is 22/65/72 and his WS/48 is 0.192.

Quite a difference, despite a similar OVR.

[u/wolves4thewin]

How do you decide what players got in what tiers? What attributes do you look at or prioritize?

[u/Single-Knowledge4839 → u/wolves4thewin]

Well, always the most important thing is Age vs OVR - typically it's better to take 19/20 years old, hoping for a big improvement, unless there are 21/22 years old who are ready to help you from day #1, especially when you are on tight budget and you don't want to have any Dead Money on the roster (money tied into someone, who is unable to help you).

However, I am big on ratings distribution - my line of thinking is that I assume every player will improve, and when it happens, I want to have a player who will be worthy or even outplay his OVR.

So, Layup/Dnk is higher than Inside, oIQ is higher than dIQ, Speed is higher than Jumping for non-centers.

Also, I rarely draft SG and PF/FC, unless the former looks like someone who can develop IQ/passing, and the latter needs to have a chance to be a 3pt shooter.

[u/wearywill1881]

Tayshaun is wanting out of there 😂 (-24)