Tell Me About Your Sports Franchises!

[Chris2K]

1988 season done, and the Trail Blazers dynasty continues as they win their third NBA championship in a row, with Hakeem Olajuwon picking up Finals MVP once again. MVP went to Magic Johnson, Rookie of the Year to David Robinson of the Knicks, 6th Man to Paul Pressey, Defensive Player of the Year to Michael Jordan of the Pacers, and Hot Rod Williams was the Most Improved.

Whilst the Blazers were dominating, the rest of the league went a little crazy. The Knicks, after four seasons not making the play-offs, went all the way to the NBA Finals (although did get swept), and the Nuggets, 3rd worst record in 1987, made it to the Western Conference Finals, despite not really improving their team in the off-season. Not such great news for the Clippers who went from 4 straight play-offs to the worst record, and the Nets and Bullets continued to struggle, with the Bullets losing Reggie Miller for the season after just 21 games.

Perhaps the most shocking news is that Doc Rivers, at the age of 26, has been forced to retire after a devastating ACL injury, leaving the Hawks without their All-Star Point Guard, and inflicting his coaching and commentary on the league earlier than in reality. Artis Gilmore was the only major retirement due to age, and he didn't even get his jersey retired.

We welcome the Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets to the league, meaning we have an Expansion Draft to deal with. We also get the hilarity of the Heat being allocated to the Western Conference, because they're more geographically west than Charlotte. I'll just give you the top 5 picks for each.

Spoiler

Hornets

1. Kelvin Ransey
2. Buck Johnson
3. Bill Walton
4. Rick Mahorn
5. Trent Tucker

Heat
1. Ed Pinckney
2. Sam Bowie
3. Rpbert Reid
4. Phil Hubbard
5. Jerry Eaves

TL;DR - Both teams are terrible.

The #1 pick went to the Spurs thanks to the lottery, the Bullets finally got a high pick with #2, the Suns #3, and the Clippers fell to #6 behind the expansion teams. First round is below:

Spoiler

1. Danny Manning (PF) - Spurs
2. Rik Smits (C) - Bullets
3. Mitch Richmond (SG) - Suns
4. Hershey Hawkins (SG) - Hornets
TRADE - Pistons send Antoine Carr and Wes Matthews to the Heat for the #5 pick and Blair Rasmussen.
5. Willie Anderson (SF) - Pistons
6. Chris Morris (SG) - Clippers
7. Rony Seikaly (C) - Nets
8. Rod Strickland (PG) - Cavaliers
9. Charles Smith (PF) - Kings
10. Kevin Edwards (PG) - Bulls
11. Rex Chapman (SG) - Rockets
12. Dan Mejerle (SG) - Pistons
13. Tim Perry (PF) - Pacers
14. Michael Williams (PG) - Celtics
TRADE - Bullets send Dan Roundfield and their 2nd round pick to the Mavericks for the #15 pick.
15. Harvey Grant (PF) - Bullets
16. Grant Long (PF) - Jazz
17. Gary Grant (PG) - Hawks
18. Vernon Maxwell (SG) - Warriors
19. Brian Shaw (PG) - SuperSonics
20. Will Perdue (C) - Lakers
21. Steve Kerr (PG) - Knicks
22. John Starks (SG) - Nuggets
23. Mark Bryant (PF) - 76ers
24. Tom Tolbert (PF) - Bucks
25. Winston Bennett (SF) - Trail Blazers

Major Free Agent moves:
Dennis Rodman to the Clippers
Terry Porter to the Nuggets
Hot Rod Williams to the Lakers
Mychal Thompson to the Warriors
Kelly Tripucka to the Celtics

[DMN in the House]

Finally upgraded to 2k24, and settled on a Jordan era (1991) Lakers team. Magic is out with HIV, but he's on the roster, so I might have him return next season, we'll see. Just started, so I don't have much to say yet, but, man, having the 'NBA on NBC' music for the quarter and half music of games really hits different. Brings back a lot of memories of watching 90s basketball.

[Toe]

 

[Chris2K]

My 2K24 sim continues, but has been getting a bit repetitive. The Lakers or Trail Blazers have won the championship in 8 out of 9 years, and the Lakers have just reached another finals.

They're about to go up against rookie Shaq's Cleveland Cavaliers, because Shaq in this game is OP beyond belief. I fear Manute Bol will have some difficulty stopping him.