NBA 2K21 Franchise - Pistons GM

[MKnight82]

Welcome to my NBA 2k21 GM Mode franchise.  I previously ran franchises in 2k19, 2k18, 2k17, and 2k16. You can see them here:

And here:

https://forums.footballsfuture.com/topic/3368-nba-2k18-franchise-now-gm-of-the-pistons/

And here:

http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=586067 

And here:

http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=572757 

 

What happened to 2k20 you say?  That was the year they ruined MyGM mode, which was the mode I preferred to play.   I have never liked MyLeague, but that's what I will be playing this year unfortunately because MyGM has been ruined.  Why GM over League?  The scouting is way better in MyGM, you get like half the amount of scouting in MyLeague.  Plus none of your coaches or other staff have badges, limiting their abilities.  Also, you only get 2 end of the year workouts, in MyGM you can get it up to like 10.  So all around MyGM was better.  

I generally blow up rosters immediately with the intention of replacing the roster with as many PC generated players as soon as possible.  This year I'm going to try to go with a more realistic approach, keep most of the younger players around to develop and try to limit trades to ones that I think are actually somewhat realistic.  

I will not be playing any regular season games.  I'll play all odd numbered playoff games.  They have IMO the worst roster in the NBA.

 

League Results

Year 1 - Final Record 37-45, 10th Place in East.  No playoffs. 

Year 2 - Final Record 34-48, 11th Place in East.  No Playoffs.

Year 3 - Final Record 30-52, 15th Place in East.  No Playoffs. 

Year 4 - Final Record, 32-50, 14th Place in East.  No Playoffs. 

Year 5 - Final Record, 47-35, 4th Place in East.  Lost in First Round of Playoffs to 76ers.  

Year 6 - Final Record, 30-52, 13th Place in East.  No Playoffs.  

Year 7 - playing now

Edited February 18, 2021 by MKnight82

[MKnight82]

Opening Day Roster - Year 1
Position	Name	OVR	Potential	Age	Years Remaining	Badges	Current Annual Salary (mil)
PG	Derrick Rose	81	A-	32	1	25	$7.68
SG	Wayne Ellington	75	B+	33	1	4	$1.62
SF/PF	Jerami Grant	84	A-	26	3	15	$19.05
PF/C	Blake Griffin	80	A	31	2	28	$36.81
C	Mason Plumlee	79	B+	30	3	6	$8.00
PG/SG	Delon Wright	75	B+	28	2	12	$9.00
PG/SG	Killian Hayes	73	A	19	4	0	$5.31
SG/SF	Josh Jackson	76	B+	23	2	0	$4.77
SG/SF	Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk	76	B+	23	1	4	$1.66
SF/PF	Sekou Doumbouya	72	A-	19	3	7	$3.45
SF/SG	Rodney McGruder	71	B	29	2	2	$5.19
SF/SG	Deividas Sirvydis	69	B+	20	3	0	$898k
PF/SF	Saddiq Bey	74	A-	21	4	3	$2.69
C	Jahlil Okafor	76	B+	24	2	7	$1.88
C/PF	Isaiah Stewart	74	A-	19	4	0	$3.12
2-Way Contract Players
PG	Frank Jackson	71	B	22	1	3	$1.62
PG	Saben Lee	68	B+	21	1	0	$897k
EuroStash Players
	N/A

 

This roster is abysmal.  Their big offseason acquisition, Jerami Grant, is a PF playing out of position at SF because they have the broken down Blake Griffin at PF and they signed a million Centers.  I really need to find a way to trade Blake Griffin and move Grant to PF.  Derrick Rose is ok, but he's on an expiring contract and aging.  Griffin and Rose are my two main players I'm going to try to trade this year.  Ellington is also expiring but I don't think he has any trade value.  Mason Plumlee was a dumb signing IMO but I'm stuck with him on a 3 year contract.  

I do have some young players on the bench I want to get minutes to.  Killian Hayes was the top Pistons pick this year and at 6'5" has nice potential as a combo guard.  Saddiq Bey is a legit shooter as a stretch 4, and center Isaiah Stewart rounds out their 3 rookie first round picks on the roster.  Stewart looks ok but at only 6'8" I'm not thrilled with his long term projection as a starter.  

Forward Doumbouya was their first rounder last year and is long and athletic with a lot of upside.  He's versatile enough to play either the 3 or 4 but really needs to work on his defense.  

The rest of the bench is a collection of former draft busts or journeyman.  

[MKnight82]

I usually make a lot of trades right away but I'm going for a more realistic approach this time, so I think I'll sim to around the trade deadline before making any moves.  (unless I get offered something interesting by the CPU).  

[MKnight82]

Current Staff - Year 1
CFO	Assistant GM	Head Coach	Assistant Coach	Head Scout	Trainer
Brandon Anderson	Eleftherious Aslanoglou	Dwayne Casey	Sidney Lowe	Oscar Fleming	Carlos Lopez
2 years - $575k	1 year - $254k	4 years - $9.59	4 years - $2.75	2 years - $415k	4 years - $494k
Business - C-	Contracts - C-	Offense - C	Offense - C-	Scouting - A-	Training - C
Potential - B	Trading - D+	Defense - C-	Defense - B-	Potential - D	Potential - D
	Potential - C	Potential - B	Potential - B-

I don't really like any part of this staff.  The Scout is decent enough (potential only means what potential the staffer has to increase his abilities, it has nothing to do with players).  I may end up firing the majority of these guys at the end of the year.  Btw I looked up Aslanoglou to see if this was a real person because that's a heck of a name.  He's a game developer at 2k.  

[MKnight82]

Current Draft Picks

2021 Pistons First (top 16 protected) - this is a bummer.  I assume I'll play poorly and keep this pick, but it means it will convey next year, meaning I won't have my own first next year.  

2021 Lakers Second

2021 Raptors Second

 

2022 Pistons First - only if I make the playoffs Year 1 and the Rockets get this pick in 2021.  

 

2023 Pistons First 

2023 Warriors Second

 

2024 Pistons First

 

2025 Pistons First

 

Wow.  The cupboard is pretty bare.  I don't have any other people's first and I don't have a single one of my 2nds for the next 5 years.  Plus I'll lose my pick once in the first two season.  This is a really bad situation for a rebuilding team.  

[MKnight82]

Major Injury

PG Derrick Rose has a broken leg and is out 2 months.  This is brutal because its going to push him beyond the trade deadline and keep me from getting anything for him.  He's on an expiring contract too.  

[MKnight82]

Player Mentors

SF S Doumbouva mentored by PF B Griffin - Putback Boss, Pick & Roller, Showtime

PF S Bey mentored by PG Delon Wright - Corner Specialist

C I Stewart mentored by C Mason Plumlee - no badges

[MKnight82]

Top 10 Prospects According to Draft Express - Year 1
DE Rank	Position	Name	Age	Height	Weight	Wingspan	School	Badges	OVR	Potential
1	C	Jamal Towns	18	7'1"	260	7'5"	Nebraska	6	85	A
2	SG	Brook Randolph	22	6'4"	220	6'9"	Texas	3	78	A+
3	SG	Tyronn Maggette	21	6'5"	195	6'6"	San Jose St	1	77	A
4	SG	Radoslav Bilic	20	6'5"	198	6'9"	La Salle	2	77^1	A+
5	C	Daniel Reeves	20	7'3"	247	7'8"	Georgetown	3	76	A
6	PG	Chuck Ingram	21	6'0"	183	6'3"	Illinois St	5	77	A-
7	PF/C	Rickey Stone	19	6'9"	202	7'1"	Syracuse	3	75	A-
8	PG	Ayrton Silva	22	6'2"	186	6'7"	Brazil	2	75	A
9	C	Jack O'Connor	22	6'11"	262	7'4"	Wake Forest	4	70	A+
10	SF/PF	Ian Lloyd	19	6'10"	235	7'3"	Villanova	1	75	A-

 

WOW!  What a first draft class, like seriously an epic class based on what I've seen in previous versions of 2k.  There's 3 possibilities here.  One, this is just an epic class.  Two, 2k finally fixed the draft classes to make them better.  Or three, my Scout is terrible and these guys aren't as good as shown.  I'm going to choose to be optimistic though lol.  There's a legit franchise player with Towns.  Every player in the top 10 has at least A- potential.  There's a good mixture of Guards and big men.  The only critiques I would have is that its short on wings and some of the prospects are older but that isn't killer.  I really could use a top 10 pick this year.  

[MKnight82]

All Star Participants - Year 1
Team Harden				Team Lebron
Starters				Starters
Player	Position	Team		Player	Position	Team
Damian Lillard	PG	Trailblazers		Luka Doncic	PG	Mavericks
James Harden	SG	Nets		Bradley Beal	SG	Wizards
Kawhi Leonard	SF	Clippers		Lebron James	SF	Lakers
Joel Embiid	C	76ers		Kevin Durant	SF	Nets
Nikola Jokic	C	Nuggets		Giannis Antetokounmpo	SF	Bucks
Reserves				Reserves
Stephen Curry	PG	Warriors		Anthony Davis	PF	Lakers
Jimmy Butler	SG	Heat		Zion Williamson	PF	Pelicans
Russell Westbrook	PG	Wizards		Kyrie Irving	PG	Nets
Ben Simmons	PG	76ers		Jayson Tatum	SF	Celtics
Karl Anthony Towns	C	Timberwolves		CJ McCollum	SG	Trailblazers
Nikola Vucevic	C	Magic		Brandon Ingram	SF	Pelicans
Trae Young	PG	Hawks		Domantas Sabonis	PF	Pacers

[MKnight82]

TRADE DEADLINE UPDATE

So I'm currently 25-31, which is 11th in the east and 21 games out of first place.  I'm only 3 games behind the 8 seed though.  

I really need to try to tank the rest of the season as much as possible so that I hang onto my pick in this strong draft class.  I also need to see if I can make any moves at the deadline here.  

Unfortunately Plumlee got hurt right before the deadline too and can't be traded either.  

 

Wow there are literally no offers worth anything of value for Blake Griffin.  The Heat have offered me basically a salary dump by trading him for two expirings but I don't know if that's worth it.  The only other offers are suboptimal guys like Harrison Barnes or Buddy Hield, both of who are expensive and on longer contracts.  It looks like I'm going to have to ride out the Blake Griffin contract (he actually has a player option this year so I guess its possible he opts out).  

 

*TRADE*

Nets Receive

SG Wayne Ellington (75)

 

Pistons Receive

C Norvel Pelle (72)

2025 Warriors 2nd 

 

This obviously isn't a big trade but Ellington is expiring so why not.  This gives the Nets another shooter off the bench and starts to fill back in my 2nd rounders.  Pelle is filler and is expiring.  

 

*TRADE*

Trailblazers Receive

SG Sviatoslav Mykhailuk (76)

2025 Warriors 2nd

 

Pistons Receive

2025 Bucks 1st (unprotected)

PF Wenyen Gabriel (70)

 

Yes I just flipped the 2nd round pick I just got.  Mykhailuk is on an expiring contract and gives the Blazers wing depth for the playoffs.  This first is from the Bucks, so this probably only will drop them like 15-20 spots in the draft all the way out in 2025.  PF Gabriel has another year left on his deal and could be trade bait next year (he's only 23).  

 

*TRADE*

Knicks Receive

PG Delon Wright (75)

 

Pistons Receive

SG Reggie Bullock (72)

2021 Pistons 2nd

 

This trade gets me my 2nd round pick back and gives the Knicks a veteran backup Guard.  Its also some salary cap relief because Wright was making like $9 mil a season and Bullock is expiring with only like $4 mil.  

 

That's it.  Nothing crazy, but picked up a future first and got my 2nd round pick back for this upcoming draft.  Really sucks Derrick Rose was hurt he was my most valuable trade asset (except for Jerami Grant which I don't think is realistic).  

 

[MKnight82]

End of the Season – Year 1

Final Record 37-45, 10th place in East, and 26 games out of first place.  Way better than my record should have been with these scrubs.  

 

Season Stats

Season Stats - Year 1
Points Per Game		Rebounds Per Game		Assists Per Game		Steals Per Game		Blocks Per Game
SF Jerami Grant	22.3	C Mason Plumlee	9.5	PG Derrick Rose	5.8	PG Derrick Rose	1.1	SF Jerami Grant	1.6
PF Blake Griffin	16.0	SF Jerami Grant	6.2	PG Killian Hayes	4.8	C Mason Plumlee	1.1	C Mason Plumlee	1.0
PG Derrick Rose	14.4	PF Blake Griffin	5.5	PF Blake Griffin	3.9	SF Jerami Grant	1.1	SG Josh Jackson	0.7

 

Stats weren't great across the board.  No one was rebounding, Rose's assists are terrible and I have no rim protector.  

 

Final Standings

End of the Season Standings - Year 1
West			East
Seed	Team	Record	Seed	Team	Record
1	Pelicans	57-25	1	76ers	63-19
2	Clippers	55-27	2	Bucks	49-33
3	Jazz	50-32	3	Celtics	48-34
4	Suns	48-34	4	Heat	47-35
5	Lakers	48-34	5	Raptors	47-35
6	Mavericks	47-35	6	Nets	45-37
7	Trailblazers	43-39	7	Magic	43-39
8	Timberwolves	42-40	8	Bulls	41-41
9	Nuggets	40-42	9	Hornets	37-45
10	Warriors	39-43	10	Pistons	37-45
11	Grizzlies	34-48	11	Hawks	36-46
12	Kings	33-49	12	Cavaliers	35-47
13	Rockets	31-51	13	Wizards	34-48
14	Spurs	29-53	14	Pacers	27-55
15	Thunder	19-63	15	Knicks	26-56
*Indicates I have their first round pick

Wow the Pelicans went nuts.  Not sure what happened to the Lakers, Dennis Schroder was out for the year but that shouldn't have made that big of a difference.   

 

Award Winners

MVP – Luka Doncic, Mavericks

ROTY – Lamelo Ball, Hornets

6^th Man of the Year – Devonte Graham, Hornets

Defensive POTY – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks

Most Improved Player – Chris Boucher, Raptors

Coach of the Year – Doc Rivers, 76ers

 

1^st Team All NBA

G – Luke Doncic, Mavericks

G – Damian Lillard, Trailblazers

F – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks

F – Lebron James, Lakers

C – Nikola Jokic, Nuggets

 

2^nd Team All NBA

G – Trae Young, Hawks

G – Russell Westbrook, Suns (Suns?, it looks like the Suns and Wizards traded Chris Paul for Russell Westbrook)

F – Kawhi Leonard, Clippers

F – Anthony Davis, Lakers

C – Karl Anthony Towns, Timberwolves

 

3^rd Team All NBA

G – James Harden, Nets

G – Bradley Beal, Wizards

F – Jayson Tatum, Celtics

F – Kevin Durant, Nets

C – Joel Embiid, 76ers

 

All Rookie 1^st Team

G – Lamelo Ball, Hornets

C – James Wiseman, Warriors

G – Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves

C – Precious Achiuwa, Heat

F – Obi Toppin, Knicks

 

All Rookie 2^nd Team

G – Tyrese Haliburton, Kings

C – Onyeka Okongwu, Hawks

F – Deni Avdija, Wizards

G – Tyrese Maxey, 76ers

F – Devin Vassell, Spurs

[MKnight82]

Offseason Happenings

The #5 seed Lakers won the NBA Championship over the #6 seed Nets. 

Lebron James won Finals MVP. 

Notable Retirements: Tyson Chandler, Pau Gasol, Andre Iguodala

Staff Retirements: Gregg Popovich (wow)

HOF Inductees: None

Jersey Retirements: None

League Meetings: Shot Clock has been changed to 35 seconds.  Its currently at 24 seconds.  Uhhh yeah, lets slow down the game for no reason.  WTF? 

 

[MKnight82]

Draft Lottery

I have the #11 odds in this draft.    The top 5 odds are:

1.       Thunder (14.0%)

2.       Knicks (14.0%)

3.       Pacers (14.0%)

4.       Spurs (12.5%)

5.       Kings via Rockets (10.5%) 

Who’s it going to be…..

My pick held at 11.  Thunder fell to #4, Wizards jumped up to #3 from way down in the lottery, the Knicks held at #2, and the Cleveland Cavaliers have landed the #1 overall pick for like the millionth time.  

[MKnight82]

Staff Hirings/Firings

Current Staff - Year 2
CFO	Assistant GM	Head Coach	Assistant Coach	Head Scout	Trainer
Brandon Anderson	Owen Masters	Logan Schmidt	Sidney Lowe	Kuba Gooding	Sean Lee
1 year - $575k	4 years - $750k	4 years - $5.25	3 years - $2.75	4 years - $500k	4 years - $400k
Business - C-	Contracts - A-	Offense - B-	Offense - C-	Scouting - A	Training - B
Potential - B	Trading - B	Defense - B+	Defense - B-	Potential - A+	Potential - A
	Potential - C	Potential - A	Potential - B-
Previous Staff
CFO	Assistant GM	Head Coach	Assistant Coach	Head Scout	Trainer
Brandon Anderson	Eleftherious Aslanoglou	Dwayne Casey	Sidney Lowe	Oscar Fleming	Carlos Lopez
2 years - $575k	1 year - $254k	4 years - $9.59	4 years - $2.75	2 years - $415k	4 years - $494k
Business - C-	Contracts - C-	Offense - C	Offense - C-	Scouting - A-	Training - C
Potential - B	Trading - D+	Defense - C-	Defense - B-	Potential - D	Potential - D
	Potential - C	Potential - B	Potential - B-

 

Casey had to go.  Brought in a higher end Scout and Trainer too.  

Edited February 4, 2021 by MKnight82

[MKnight82]

2021 NBA Draft

Draft Picks

Round 1 – 11 overall

Round 2 – 42 overall

Round 2 - 50 overall

Round 2 - 53 overall

 

So I'm heading into this looking at BPA all the way.  I basically need everything and I'm just looking for talent anywhere.  

 

Cleveland makes the obvious pick and takes franchise player C J Towns (83) #1 overall.  PG Ingram (79) goes #2 to the Knicks, that feels like a reach I think there were players with higher upside.  The Wizards luck out by the Knicks being stupid and take SG Randolph (79) who is definitely the 2nd best player in this class.  The Thunder have back to back picks at 4 & 5 and take C D Reeves (77) and PG A Silva (74).

Lets sim to 11.  

Here are the top players available at 11:

 

DE Rank	Position	Name	Height	Weight	Wingspan	School	OVR	Potential
7	PF/C	Rickey Stone	6'9"	202	7'1"	Syracuse	76	A-
INS	MID	3PT	INS D	PER D	PLMK	REB	IQ	PHYS
A	B	C	C+	C-	D-	D-	C	B+

 

Stone has good athleticism for his size (77 LQ, 89 SPD, 67 ACC, 95 VERT).  He also has the Lob City, Pick Dodger and Trapper badges.  The problem is he's an interior player and he's an abysmal rebounder.  He's basically a rim running scoring PF that can't rebound.  Not sure what value that has. 

 

DE Rank	Position	Name	Height	Weight	Wingspan	School	OVR	Potential
9	C	Jack O'Connor	6'11"	262	7'4"	Wake Forest	70	A+
INS	MID	3PT	INS D	PER D	PLMK	REB	IQ	PHYS
B-	B+	C-	B+	F	D-	B+	D+	D

 

O'Connor has the best Potential Rating left in the draft, plus I like that he's strong in rebounding and interior defense for a Center.  Plus, he has the Downhill, Moving Truck, Post Move Lockdown and Rim Protector Badges.  His badges project him as an elite interior defender.  His downside is that his athleticism is awful (48 LQ, 40 SPD, 25 ACC, 45 VERT).  Like those are unplayable athleticism stats.  

 

DE Rank	Position	Name	Height	Weight	Wingspan	School	OVR	Potential
10	SF	Ian Lloyd	6'10"	235	7'3"	Villanova	75	A-
INS	MID	3PT	INS D	PER D	PLMK	REB	IQ	PHYS
A-	D+	B-	C	C+	D-	D-	B-	B-

 

Lloyd has great size and could end up at the 3 or 4.  His athleticism isn't elite but isn't awful (67 LQ, 68 SPD, 81 ACC, 70 VERT), but they probably put him more as a 4 than a 3.  He can't rebound though, although he's a semi decent shooter.  He only has the Pick Dodger Badge.  

 

DE Rank	Position	Name	Height	Weight	Wingspan	School	OVR	Potential
17	PG	Jessie Powell	6'2"	186	6'10"	Utah	74	B
INS	MID	3PT	INS D	PER D	PLMK	REB	IQ	PHYS
B	C-	B-	D-	B+	C+	F	C	A-

 

Then there's Powell.  He has the following athleticism (89 LQ, 96 SPD, 99 ACC, 80 VERT).  He's one of the best athletes in the draft.  The issue is his potential rating isn't ideal.  He also only has 1 badge, Interceptor.  I really wish I had 2 first round picks because Powell would be a great 2nd player to take.  

 

None of these guys are perfect.  End of the day I'm going to go with upside and athleticism.  

 

With the 11th Pick in the 2021 NBA Draft the Detroit Pistons Select:

PF/C Rickey Stone, Syracuse

 

 

I feel like he has the most upside.  He's kind of like a poor man's Blake Griffin.  Can shoot a little, good athleticism for his size.  Can play minutes at the 4 or 5.  He should be able to run the floor.  Just need to work on that rebounding.  

 

I'm not on the clock again until the 2nd round.  

 

SF Lloyd goes with the very next pick at 12.  Powell Goes at 15.  Wow O'Connor fell all the way to 21.  

 

I'm on the clock again in the 2nd.  So I'm not going to go over guys again.  In fact I only have 1 prospect scouted at this point.  He's pretty much going to be my pick.  

 

With the 42nd Pick in the 2021 NBA Draft the Detroit Pistons Select:

SG Damien Jones, Kentucky

 

DE Rank	Position	Name	Height	Weight	Wingspan	School	OVR	Potential
26	SG	Damien Jones	6'5"	208	6'9"	Kentucky	72	B+
INS	MID	3PT	INS D	PER D	PLMK	REB	IQ	PHYS
A-	B+	D	D-	A-	D-	F	C-	B

 

He's not going to score, like at all.  But he's a decent athlete (76 LQ, 75 SPD, 90 ACC, 90 VERT) with length.  And he's an insanely gifted perimeter defender.  This late a role player like that is valuable.  

 

*TRADE*

Magic Receive

#50 overall

#53 overall

 

Pistons Receive

2023 Magic 2nd

2025 Magic 2nd

 

I don't have anyone else scouted so I'm punting these to future picks.  

 

That wraps up this first class.  Not sure this will be an impactful class but I got a big with upside and an elite perimeter defender.  Could have gone worse.  

Edited February 4, 2021 by MKnight82