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

Year 3

Offseason Review

This offseason went by quick as I didnt have to make any changes to the staff and we had no picks use in the upcoming draft. Our first duty was bringing back Wade Baldwin IV on his team option. Thaddeus Young declined his player option, but our No. 1 goal was to bring both Young and Bradley back at whatever price it took. In free agency I targeted players that would improve scoring and rebounding and came away with signing Michael Beasley, Boban Marjanovic, Robert Covington, and Ish Smith to cheap multi year deals. Avery Bradley came back with a 4 year deal costing us $111.29 million which may have been a lot, but we needed him back if we were going to contend. We missed out on Young although, but signing a similar player like Beasley to an extremely cheaper deal, felt like a better option for our cap flexibility in the future.

Midseason Review

Year three started out rough with a poor 20-24 record, but when the Heat gave us an offer that was very intriguing, we decided to make some moves. Their team was struggling and wanted to ditch Justice Winslow’s expiring contract while also offering Hassan Whiteside for Mike Conley essentially. Knowing I needed a point guard if I accepted this deal, I decided to see if we could make a three team deal in which I would ship Marc Gasol for a point guard. After spending more time than I wouldve liked looking for the right deal, I finally came upon the Raptors, who had just traded Jonas Valanciunas for Jordan Clarkson. They needed a center to replace Valanciunas and also had an aging veteran who had a large deal similar to Gasol’s that wasn’t going to cost much to get. This veteran was the Grizzlies; former point guard, Kyle Lowry.

"Justice Winslow"

The deal ended up being Marc Gasol, Robert Covington, Iman Shumpert, Mike Conley, and 2019 Warriors first for Hassan Whiteside, Trey Burke, Justice Winslow, and Kyle Lowry. Losing Gasol and Conley was tough, but I feel like if the Grizzlies are in a similar scenario in three years, one of those guys may be shipped away. If I wasn’t trying to win the championship, I would’ve rather rebuilt the whole team, but since the goal is to win, I needed to take a risk. The deal helped soften the blow of losing Young in the off-season by allowing us to play Parsons at power forward and open up our offense more. Beasley wasn’t offering enough of an offensive punch to cover up his lack of defense and rebounding. The deal also ended up propelling us to a 32-26 record at the break and a seventh place position in the Western Conference

Postseason Review

All the momentum and excitement of the big deal didnt last long as we limped into the playoffs with a 46-36 record that got us only the eighth seed. Playing the Trailblazers, still led by Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, we were eliminated in five games. Our starting lineup all averaged double figures, but playing Parsons out of position may have led to too many mismatches for opponents to take advantage of. We still finished in the bottom five for points per game, top five for points against, and below the league average for rebounds per game. One new problem that I felt needed to be addressed was that we were bottom three in bench points.

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Season Notes:

• LeBron finally won MVP, Dwayne Wade won Sixth Man of the Year, and Shareef O’Neal was ROY
• Warriors were the two-seed, whereas LeBron was now a one-seed again
• Warriors beat the Cavaliers in six games to take third straight title