NBA SIMS LEAGUE
NSL Insider - Team by Team: New Orleans Pelicansby Vitticus, updated on Monday, October 25 2021, 12:10 am EST New Orleans Pelicans Team Preview 2020-21 Finish: 55-27 Season Highlight: The Ascendence of Ja Morant This is major. In the past, rookies took forever to create substance. In the past, we always had to create rookies with dummy tendencies and incorrect skins and import the attributes to the character. In year 2, the rookie would finally get his skin, but he still wouldn’t have his tendencies. Year 3, if you got lucky, you got the tendencies. But with Ja, it only took 1 year. After 1 year, he was already a playoff player for Leeroy. With Ja getting his 2k tendencies so fast, the New Orleans Pelicans jumped from the 4th worst team in the Western Conference in 2019 to 3rd best team in the Western Conference in 2020. Season Lowlight: Facing Dame in the 2nd round of the playoffs Here, Leeroy could see that it didn’t matter that he had a deeper team. His star was not as good as Dame. Current Lineup Starters PG Ja Morant SG Donovan Mitchell SF Mikal Bridges PF John Collins C Robert Williams Bench PG Trey Burke SG Terry Rozier SF Keldon Johnson PF Patrick Williams C Brook Lopez Farm Paul Reed Isaiah Todd Joe Wieskamp Patrick Williams might be the only non-vetted player in the rotation. Although he has star potential, he still has the tendencies of a rookie. Then you have 3 guys in the farm who are unplayable at the moment. Paul Reed will get minutes in the NBA, but it might take a year before he’s usable in 2k. Isaiah Todd and Joe Wieskamp will spend the year in G League. Team Leaders Scoring
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Best Trade Pelicans send: Svi Mykhailiuk and POR 2023 2nd round Pelicans receive: BKN 2023 2nd round and PHO 2024 2nd round Essentially gave up Svi Mykhailiuk for a 2nd. This seems about even to me. Worst Trade Pelicans send: SA 2023 1st round, NOP 2022 2nd round, and NOP 2023 2nd round Pelicans receive: Brook Lopez Think it’s a little over for Brook Lopez, but not by a lot. Brook Lopez was a starting center in the NBA but mainly served backup minutes for Leeroy. Free Agency John Collins and Keita Bates-Diop are RFA. Raul Neto is a return. Leeroy has an extra roster spot to fill. If he decides to bid on an extra player, Keita Bates-Diop seems to be the one to go. Stars Donovan Mitchell  Donovan and Ja were a product of the infamous Kawhi trade at the beginning of the league. These guys were originally on Phoenix Suns. Mitchell still had some rookie tendencies when Leeroy got him, but it only took a year for him to get refined into a 2k superstar. Mitchell averaged 32 points per game last season. I think that will stay the same this season. Think the only thing that changes with Mitchell this year is his defense. It won’t be noticeable in 2k. Ja Morant  Leeroy received Ja as a rookie. And back then we used custom roster skins for rookies. Ja’s skin was Danny Ainge which was pretty hilarious. And even though he was fairly rated in 2k, he was pretty bad in 2k because he didn’t have any legit tendencies. I’m sure Laddas traded him because in the past, it took rookies forever to receive their tendencies. But not Ja. Ja got vetted in just a year. And just like, the New Orleans Pelicans became dangerous in year 2. Ja got up to 23 points per game last season. I think his shooting takes a hit this year since it’s more under the microscope, but his scoring numbers should go up as Ja pushes further to becoming a league top PG. He is still considered injury prone due to his wreckless playstyle. So there is always a caviat that he could be one of the greatest players of the game if he can stay healthy. John Collins  Think Leeroy got John Collins fairly cheap due to the narrative that Collins is a terrible defender. I cannot attest to whether he is a bad defender in the NBA or not. I hear people say things like he’s getting better at it. But in 2k, I don’t think it’s even noticeable. Collins is a top power forward in 2k. And it’s kind of weird seeing him only averaging 14 points per game. I think Collins should be scoring more than that. Collins is one of the best scoring power forwards in the NBA. Maybe there was a tendency update that I missed, but I feel Collins should be a lot better in 2k than this. Draft  Isaiah Todd – Not sure what Leeroy saw in Todd. He wasn’t ranked very high on a lot of boards. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s 6’10 and can shoot threes. To me it seems like a reach to take him at 25. He was a bench player for the G-League Ignite team. He’s in a bad organization. Nobody has really hit on that team since Bradley Beal. He’ll probably spend another season down in the G League. Joe Wieskamp – This wasn’t such a bad pick. Wieskamp was the best shooter available at pick 42. He’s 6’7 with a 6’11 wingspan. He has a little playmaking upside. He’ll spend most of the year in G League. Trade Currently, Leeroy is listening to offers for Brook Lopez. Supposedly, it is to clear salary, but the Pelicans are in good financial standing. Lopez is owed 13 million dollars over the next 2 years. If Brook goes, Pelicans could take a slight hit for not having another veteran center. Maybe he’s aiming for a veteran center in free agency. The Future Donovan is already very good. Ja Morant, Mikal Bridges, John Collins, and Robert Williams will get upgrades this year after showing improvements in the NBA last year. I think the Pelicans were pretty high as it was. I’m fairly certain Leeroy is after a veteran center in free agency. If not, then he will probably announce to the league next week that Brook Lopez is staying in New Orleans. I see the New Orleans Pelicans jumping up to 61 wins this year. Championship is a possibility, but it really depends on the health of Philadelphia Sixers, Portland Trailblazers, and Denver Nuggets. Those are the only teams with similar or better depth and a superstar that is better than Donovan Mitchell. The move for Leeroy isn’t obtaining a better star, but waiting for his stars to becoming those better stars. Even Patrick Williams has star potential, but his time is a little longer than the rest of the crew. |
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