Another season, another letdown. - darkwolf80's Blog

darkwolf80's Blog

Another season, another letdown.

Posted on February 4, 2014 at 06:32 PM.

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After Jordan reached out to me and convinced me to take over the Bobcats GM role, I had to get right to work. Since it was the middle of the year I only had two weeks before the trade deadline to make any moves. That put me behind the eight ball. The Bobcats were hanging onto 8th place, but losing ground with every game. So I had to make a decision. Make a move to bolster the team and hope to sneak into the playoffs, or trade away any valuable assets for an eye on next year. With the 2014 draft being pretty deep and having some possible future franchise players, I took the latter route. Michael didn't bring me in to do the same ol same ol.

I decided that Ramon Sessions was expendable. I put him out on the trade market to get some feelers. Right away you could tell other GMs were thinking they could fleece the rookie on my first deal. After sifting through some BS offers, I ultimately targeted in on a trade with the Magic for their 1st rounder. I had an inkling it would be a higher pick than mine.

I called up Rob Hennigan to gauge his interest.
"This is Rob"
"Hey Rob. This is Steven, the new GM of the Bobcats. How's it going?"
"Not bad. So you are the savior that Jordan has been talking about. Although he has said that before. What can I do for you?"
"I'm looking to move some assets around. Maybe something beneficial for us both."
"Talk to me."
"What do you think about Ramon Sessions? He's expendable with my glut at PG and I think he deserves a chance somewhere else. I know you have Jameer, but was wondering if you were looking for a good backup?"
"I'm not all that interested in Ramon really."
"What if I sweeten the pot with an original pair of Air Jordans? And we swap first rounders?"
"Using your Jordan ties already huh? The last GM should have thought about that. You got a deal."
"Awesome, nice doing business with you."

So there you have it I was able to swap 1st round 2014 picks with the Magic. I did lose my original Air Jordans, but I was willing to sacrifice them on the almost sure bet the Magic would finish worse than the Bobcats and give me a high pick in a loaded draft. Plus, I figured once I won a title for Jordan he would give me another pair.

As the season dragged on I almost ended up regretting that trade. The Bobcats continued to swirl the drain, while the Magic showed some mettle and started to win. At one point late in the season they got to within 3 games of us in the win column. Ultimately, the gamble worked out as we finished ahead of the Magic. They finished with the second worst record in the league. While we finished with the 6th worst. We missed the playoffs, but we did get the nice present of finishing with a better record than the year before. Which honestly wasn't hard to do when you only win 21 games. I mean my bar wasn't set exactly high to begin with.

So onto my first offseason I went. Remember that gamble I took with the swap of picks with Magic? It paid off big time. I won the lottery and got the first pick in the 2014 draft! By the way the pick that was traded to the Magic ended up being number 6. Now this was a good way to start the offseason.