NBA 2K17: Playing GM of the Memphis Grizzlies for five years

Year 1

Preseason Plan

This is the only season where I wont be in charge of the decisions that had been made in the previous off-season. I’m going to stick with what Chris Wallace did and hope it works in year one. I will consider a small rebuild if things start out slow, but I know the window to win is now with Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and Chandler Parsons hitting their primes either currently or the upcoming seasons. I did make one off-season move and unfortunately cut Andrew Harrison to make room for Mario Chalmers. I think Chalmers filled in nicely last year with the Grizzlies and I prefer him backing up Conley over Wade Baldwin IV at the moment. Harrison did have potential, but I don’t see him making a real impact with the team now or in the future. My goal for the first half is to see how some of the younger players can play against the poor teams to see who I should play when the playoffs hit and what players will make an impact with future teams.

Midseason Overview

Going into the All-Star break in year one, Memphis had a 29-29 record and was the eighth seed in the Western Conference. I knew going in that the bench was weak and Chalmers wasn’t going to be enough to bolster it, but I thought we would still be contending with the best teams in the west. Since we weren’t contending, I decided to do a semi-rebuild and traded seasoned veterans in Zach Randolph and Tony Allen away to try to get some assets and younger guys that can grow with the team.

I ended up trading Zach Randolph to the Blazers for Myers Leonard and a lottery protected first rounder in the 2017 draft. The trades brings youth and a first rounder that could be an asset down the road. Tony Allen was tougher to trade away because of how much I like his game, but also because teams were declining many of my offers. Luckily I was able to trade him and a 2018 second round pick for Marcus Morris of the Detroit Pistons. Morris is a nice combo forward on a good contract that could help backup Parsons while also filling in at power forward until we find a replacement for Randolph. No Grizzlies made the All-Star Game, but Wade Baldwin IV and Deyonta Davis did make the Rising Stars Challenge.

Postseason Overview

Year one came to an end with a disappointing 39-43 record and a ninth place finish in the Western Conference. Obviously not where I would have liked to the team to finish, but with some development and acquisitions in the upcoming offseason, the team could definitely reach the playoffs next year and maybe make a run at the Warriors. Looking into the team stats, I noticed our defense and rebounding were below average. The stat that I felt really needed to change was the team leading the league in turnovers per game.

"2K Year 1 Grizzlies"

Season Notes:

• Russell Westbrook won MVP while leading the Kevin Durant-less Oklahoma City Thunder and LeBron James won DPOY
• Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers were one-seeds, while the process worked and the Philadelphia Sixers became a fifth seed
• Warriors won it all by sweeping the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals