Post by ucfinfan86 on Nov 4, 2019 19:26:26 GMT
Part 4 covering the Midwest Division from 2036 - 2045
| Team | 2036 | 2037 | 2038 | 2039 | 2040 | 2041 | 2042 | 2043 | 2044 | 2045 | Average Wins |
| Grizzlies | 29 | 53 | 58 | 44 | 56 | 56 | 54 | 54 | 61 | 58 | 52.3 |
| Nuggets | 28 | 54 | 58 | 61 | 54 | 50 | 45 | 59 | 58 | 53 | 52 |
| Spurs | 37 | 49 | 48 | 51 | 58 | 40 | 12 | 41 | 48 | 53 | 43.7 |
| Wolves | 46 | 43 | 22 | 22 | 54 | 58 | 49 | 41 | 42 | 30 | 40.7 |
| Jazz | 34 | 6 | 7 | 32 | 47 | 48 | 40 | 35 | 43 | 36 | 32.8 |
| Rockets | 20 | 23 | 25 | 40 | 14 | 24 | 26 | 37 | 49 | 53 | 31.1 |
| Mavericks | 34 | 44 | 31 | 33 | 22 | 13 | 13 | 31 | 29 | 28 | 27.8 |
-The (#) represents the league rank for that category
-Best Draft pick is a combination of best player and best value in the draft
-Best Draft pick is a combination of best player and best value in the draft
Vancouver Grizzlies
Most Wins: 61(9) Least Wins: 29(6) Average Wins: 52.3(5)
Playoff Appearances: 9 Conference Finals Appearances: 1 Finals Appearances: 1
Titles Won: 0 MVPs: 0 All Leaguers: 6 Best Draft Pick: SF Darius Bazely 1.22
The Grizz and Nuggets have been like mirror images of each other for the past 10 seasons consistently battling for the top seed with a few seasons where Spurs and Wolves pop in. Basically every statistic between the two teams is the same. The Grizz have won 54+ games for 6 seasons in a row and been a title contender for basically 9 straight seasons. Unfortunately for them, the Blazers and Clippers have basically owned the Western Conference Finals for the past 10 seasons. The Grizzlies 2044 team was very good. Their only team to make the finals won 61 games behind PG Trae Young, SG Frank Selvy, SF Tom Gola, PF Maurice Stokes, and C Clyde Lovellette but lost to the Nets in 5. Even though it didn’t win as many games I think the 2038 team was my favorite with PG Booboo McAdoo, SG Kareem Queeley, SF Jack Twyman, PF Maurice Stokes, and C Neon Boudeaux. That is potentially 5 Hall of Famers! The Grizz have barely had any draft picks over the years, but they did hit on one G-League player in SF Bazely who has turned into a borderline starting SF at pick #22.
Denver Nuggets
Most Wins: 61(9) Least Wins: 28(8) Average Wins: 52(6)
Playoff Appearances: 9 Conference Finals Appearances: 2 Finals Appearances: 0
Titles Won: 0 MVPs: 0 ll Leaguers: 15 Best Draft Pick: PG 1.4 Nico Mannion
For years the Nuggets have had my favorite roster. They build teams exactly like I would build them. Despite having not made the finals they are consistently title contenders. They’ve made the playoffs 9 straight seasons and have won 50+ games in 8 of them, although they only reached 60 wins once. They’ve had a lot of good moves this decade, but my 2 favorite where: 1. Trading Baylor/Jones for Oscar. Getting Oscar on his rookie contract allowed them to do so much around him. 2. Trading Dino for Cruz. Rog bailed a little early on Cruz in his attempt to build a win now roster and Cruz has developed into an absolute monster. Having Cruz/Oscar on the old rookie max contracts has given Van the freedom to add a Belov/Pazin/Pettit around the duo. Van’s best win total came in 2039 with PG Panagiotis Giannakis, SG Anfernee Simons, SF Oscar Schmidt, and C Dino Menghin. Van’s best draft pick was easily PG 1.4 Nico Mannion and I believe this is the pick that was the beginning of Van’s decade long title contention (He was later flipped for Schmidt/Giannakis, Schmidt later for Baylor, Baylor for Robertson)
San Antonio Spurs
Most Wins: 58(14) Least Wins: 12(22) Average Wins: 43.7(12)
Playoff Appearances: 8 Conference Finals Appearances: 0 Finals Appearances: 0
Titles Won: 0 MVPs: 0 All Leaguers: 5 Best Draft Pick: SF 1.2 Dave DeBusschere
Carmelo is the king of the tear it down and rebuild strategy. He’s had some very fun teams over the years, but always seems to pull the trigger a little too early and rebuilding. It seems that a majority of the best young players in the NBN find their way through San Antonio at some point, they just usually don’t stay there very long. SF Oscar Schmidt, SF George Yardley, SF Dave DeBusschere, PG Nico Mannion, PF Skinny Johnson, C Wilt Chamberlin, SG Miki Berkovich, and SF Jalen Johnson. Even though he tears it down so often, they always remains competitive having made the playoffs in 8 of the past 10 seasons. Because he rebuilds his teams so often there are a lot of different versions of his teams you can highlight. His 2040 team won the most games at 58 with PG Nico Mannion, SG Eddie Palubinskas, SF LeBron James, SF Tom Gola, PF Skinny Johnson and C Robert Bobroczky. I also really liked his 2044 team if they could have found another big man: PG Panagiotis Giannakis, Miki Berkovich, SF Jalen Johnson, C Neil Johnson. The Spurs haven’t made very many draft picks and really the only one who stood out was SF Dave DeBusschere whom he only kept for 1 season before trading him for Giannakis.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Most Wins: 58(14) Least Wins: 22(12) Average Wins: 40.7(15)
Playoff Appearances: 7 Conference Finals Appearances: 2 Finals Appearances: 1
Titles Won: 0 MVPs: 0 All Leaguers: 0 Best Draft Pick: PF 1.5 Evan Mobley
Matt and Guins pretty much split the decade for the Wolves, with them being open for the last season or so. The Wolves stats were one that really surprised me. They’ve somehow made the playoffs 7 times, which I really would not have guessed. They were never a consistently good team, but they always seemed to be in the 40 win range with 2 bad season (’38 & ’39) and a couple of great seasons (’40 & ’41). The Wolves just kind of seemed irrelevant and maybe that is evident by the fact they had 0 All Leaguers the past 10 seasons despite making 2 conference finals appearances. Their finals team was: PG Brooklyn Vick, SG Luguentz Dort, SF Bill Mlkvy, PF Vern Mikklesen, and C Clyde Lovellette. They also made the conference finals in 2036 behind PG John Roosma, SG Luguentz Dort, SF Jim Pollard, PF Gordon Aitchison, and C Bob Kurland. They have not had a lot of draft picks over the years, which also lead into their irrelevancy with their best pick being a rotation big in PF Evan Mobley.
Utah Jazz
Most Wins: 48(23) Least Wins: 6(29) Average Wins: 32.8(23)
Playoff Appearances: 5 Conference Finals Appearances: 0 Finals Appearances: 0
Titles Won: 0 MVPs: 0 All Leaguers: 3 Best Draft Pick: 1.1 Wilt Chamberlin
The Jazz have had a few GMs during this timespan. Kipper left team in a great rebuilding spot and Walker took over in 2040 who lasted a few seasons before Zheld took over for a few seasons. The team has basically been open since zheld disappeared. In 2037 and 2038 Jazz teams might go down as the worst 2 year stretch in NBN history winning a total of 13 games. During this time they nailed the lottery though. They had #1, #2, #1 pick in the 3 year stretch and landed SG Jalen Green, PF Rudy LaRusso, and C Wilt Chamberlin. A few years later they won the lottery again and selected C Nate Thurmond. For the past few seasons I’ve loved the Jazz rebuilding roster, but unfortunately a lack of GM continuity has kept them from realizing their potential. They have made the playoffs 5 times in the last 6 seasons with my favorite roster being their 2041 team that won 48 games with a lineup of PG Milos Teodosic, SG Jalen Green, SF Musa Jallow, PF Rudy LaRusso, C Goga Bitadze, and C Wilt Chamberlin.
Houston Rockets
Most Wins: 53(18) Least Wins: 14(18) Average Wins: 31.1(24)
Playoff Appearances: 3 Conference Finals Appearances: 0 Finals Appearances: 0
Titles Won: 0 MVPs: 0 All Leaguers: 3 Best Draft Pick: PG 1.8 Dior Johnson
It’s been an interesting decade for StayMe7o and the Rockets. They were extremely inactive the first half and were almost replaced on a couple of occasions. It’s hard to mention their early stint without discussing the lack of camping of their 2 legends C Bill Russell and C Willis Reed. Russell was only camped 3 out of a possible 8 times and to this point Willis Reed only 3 out of a possible 6 times (and none yet in 2047). Imagine their current roster if those guys were fully camped. That being said the past 2-3 seasons they have “tried” and have pushed the team to among the top teams in the West. Their best roster is the one they had last season that won 53, but unfortunately lost a round 1 game 7 at home to the eventual champs. It’s mostly a home grown team around PG Al Attles, PG Dior Johnson, SG Anthony Edwards, C Bill Russell, and C Willis Reed. Another thing that has propelled the Rockets recently is that they’ve had a lot of success in the draft. Russell/Reed were no brainer #1 picks, but landing PG Attles at 1.14, SG Anthony Edwards 1.7, and PG Dior Johnson at 1.8 were great picks who’ve all turned into really good NBN players (and all were minimally camped!)
Dallas Mavericks
Most Wins: 44(26) Least Wins: 13(21) Average Wins: 27.8(27)
Playoff Appearances: 3 Conference Finals Appearances: 0 Finals Appearances: 0
Titles Won: 0 MVPs: 0 All Leaguers: 3 Best Draft Pick: PF 1.2 Gus Johnson
It’s been a rough decade for the Mavericks. They made some win now moves in mid/late 2030’s that were ill advised. They also ended up trading their picks for players on secure salaries heading into the new salary cap rules a few seasons ago, but ended up with a mediocre at best team and without their picks. Lynch is back at it again with what I will call his 3rd attempted rebuild of the decade. Hopefully he can build this one right. The Mavs have had the 3rd lowest average wins of this time frame. He’s made the playoffs 3 times, but only once has the team broken 40 wins. The 2037 44 win team lost in the first round behind a in their prime duo of PF Jayden Nicholson and PF Vern Mikkelsen and PG Sonny Johnson, PG Nigel James, SG Jacob Gilliam, and SF Otto Stangel. With how bad the Mavs have been, it’s surprising at the lack of draft picks they’ve made. They’ve only made 1st round selections in 10 seasons. PF Gus Johnson at 1.2, 28yo 1.8 PF Ferenc Nemeth , and 1.20 SF Tom Hawkins.
*
