The Flight That Saved Pittsburgh? - A Pittsburgh Condors Expansion MyLeague

[FSanchez12]

Professional Basketball Comes Back To Pittsburgh

(AP) Pittsburgh, PA -

The "City of Champions" has a new franchise calling newly-named PPG Paints Arena home, as NBA commissioner, Adam Silver announced the formation of two new NBA Franchises to be added to the league starting in the 2017-18 NBA Season. This fulfills the 2011 remark by former commissioner David Stern that Pittsburgh may be a landing spot for a future NBA franchise. The other city that is receiving an expansion team? The city of Seattle, Washington.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto introduced the ownership group which hinges around owners who already have a stake in the city's other franchises in Ron Burkle (Penguins) and David Tepper (Steelers) among others. "We're very excited to bring the NBA to the wonderful citizens of Pittsburgh" said Peduto. Burkle, who once attempted to purchase the Sacramento Kings added "Our goal is to bring a competitive, championship winning franchise that will foster a new fellowship of basketball for years to come in Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities".

This decision does not come without backlash however, studies through Scarborough market research point to Pittsburgh not being a feasible location for a professional basketball franchise. In fact, many unnamed league insiders are doubting that this franchise will last long, and will move to another city or completely fold before too long. This is in quite the contrast to the jubilation and bedlam that is filling the Seattle suburbs as the city has finally regained the NBA franchise that many felt was stolen away from them and relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008. The general consensus there (Seattle) is that the interest is at a fever pitch.

It should be noted, that neither Seattle, nor Pittsburgh have announced a team name, or logo at this time. In the coming days both teams are expected to evaluate which direction they want to head in terms of nicknames. The Seattle franchise is expected to revert back to the "Sonics" or "SuperSonics", however reports are suggesting that the ownership group has been in talks with the AHL's Ontario Reign, a LA Kings affiliate, about the possibility of naming the expansion team the same name. Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, a name contest has already started and at press time the leading candidates were "Ironmen", "Pisces", "Bridgers", "Condors", and behind a heavy social media campaign "Harambes".

The Pittsburgh team is expected to announce its front office leadership team later this afternoon, and from there, they will be tasked with scouting players for the upcoming draft, as well as pending free agents, and expansion targets for the upcoming season. League sources are reporting that the Pittsburgh hiring may be a bit of a wild card, and is expecting a heavy media presence because of it. Time will tell if this franchise will be able to sustain a local affinity and grow a fanbase that is capable and worthy of having an NBA Franchise.



*Author's Note* - It's always been my goal to bring an NBA Championship to Pittsburgh, as I've been able to do in other sports games with the Penguins, Steelers, and Pirates. I plan to mix in both first hand accounts from those within the organization as well as third person accounts such as this update itself. Obviously I'll be going with the Condors as a team name, but I felt the post might write better set up this way. I'll provide difficulty and league set up information in future updates. My goal isn't to play every game, but it is to build a franchise that I can play multiple seasons with. I only upgrade my titles onice every few years, so it is my expectation that I'll be playing 2k17 for some time moving forward.


#BringTheNBAToPittsburgh

[FSanchez12]

New Hire Shocks NBA and Sports World

Post-Gazette Contributors/ Pittsburgh, PA -

Move over Rob Hennigan, there's a younger kid on the block.

In a surprising move, the unnamed Pittsburgh Expansion franchise has named 23-year-old Brett Gray as their first General Manager, making Gray the youngest GM in NBA history. This obviously shocked much of the media assembled into PPG Paints Arena for the announcement this afternoon, as well as much of the sports world. Within minutes, pundits were calling the hiring a complete and utter failure, as well as a step in the complete wrong direction for the fledgling franchise.

Gray, who had just completed his schooling at the local Robert Morris University not even two years ago, was still working as a ticket rep for the Utah Jazz at this time a year ago. Since then, he's moved back to the Pittsburgh area and at the current time was working in some capacity with a local logistics company, but the specifics were not disclosed to the media during the press conference.

On his opening statement, the young Gray explained how he ended up as the new GM of the Pittsburgh franchise:

"Well, I had a friend in the ownership group put in a good word for me for the position, not expecting anything other than an offer to sell tickets, but when one of the candidates missed their flight into Pittsburgh, they said they'd give me a shot to fill the time. I thought it went well considering I'd never been in such a high leverage interview before. I just basically laid-out my plans to run the team for the next five years if I were in charge. I guess I said something right, you know? It still hasn't sunk it yet, I'm sure once it will, it'll be like a kid in a candy store. At this point I'm just focused on scouting the talent that we'll be bringing in to help build this franchise into a perennial contender that this city can be proud of. Growing up a fan of the other Pittsburgh franchises, it is very important to me that we build a team that can be uttered in the same breath as the Pirates and Steelers of the 70's, as well as the Steelers and Penguins of this new generation."

Gray was then barraged with questions from the media similar to how University of Pittsburgh coach Kevin Stallings was when he was first announced as the new Head Basketball Coach earlier this year. The ownership contingent deflected many of the questions, and reiterated their support and trust in their new GM. The young Gray has a lot of work to do moving forward in composing the remainder of his front office staff. Building a staff underneath him will not be easy with his inexperience, and he may have trouble bringing on experienced individuals to build his first staff.

Several unnamed execs have already reached out to him to express that they would not be comfortable working with him in a capacity at the moment, but could be swayed with how the rest of the staff is built. Fans have already pointed their fingers towards local coaching options from the collegiate level in John Calipari, a graduate from the local Moon Area, as well as the Miller brothers in Archie and/or Sean, Blackhawk graduates, of Dayton and Arizona respectively. Others are praying for an industry veteran where Kevin McHale or Scott Skiles top their lists. However, with the surprise hiring of Gray, it cannot be understated how unpredictable that this impending search may be.

Next up on the docket for the Pittsburgh franchise? An official name and an official logo. The search for a name has been narrowed down to three choices, the "Condors", the "Ironmen", and the "Phantoms". The "Harambes", despite getting the most social media votes, was dismissed by the ownership and NBA jointly prior to the announcement of Gray's hiring. All three names still in consideration pay homage to team names that have been used by professional/semi-pro basketball franchises in Pittsburgh previously.


#BringTheNBAToPittsburgh

[SilverDay]

Great start. Definitely interested to see how you're launching the franchise?

I'm curious. How're you doing an expansion for the 17-18 season? And are you going to provide a recap of the 16-17 season? I'm doing a similar thing soon and am interested how you pulled it off.

[FSanchez12]

Quote: Originally Posted by SilverDay

Great start. Definitely interested to see how you're launching the franchise? I'm curious. How're you doing an expansion for the 17-18 season? And are you going to provide a recap of the 16-17 season? I'm doing a similar thing soon and am interested how you pulled it off.

Pretty much what you just described, except I'm going to "Start Today" with control over some team in the NBA, probably some lowly team, just so I can try to be as unnoticeable as possible. Import the two expansion teams, and they go into the league to start the 17'-18' season. Doing "Start Today" just makes it easy because that keeps it as realistic as possible. I mean if I really wanted to, I could do a copypasta of the most recent ESPN NBA Power Rankings to update to this point in the seaosn. Once I get everything set up (probably tomorrow night/late Friday), Everything up until that date in the MyLeague file will have happened in real life on the calendar, everything after that, well that's an open book

[SilverDay]

Quote: Originally Posted by FSanchez12

Pretty much what you just described, except I'm going to "Start Today" with control over some team in the NBA, probably some lowly team, just so I can try to be as unnoticeable as possible. Import the two expansion teams, and they go into the league to start the 17'-18' season. Doing "Start Today" just makes it easy because that keeps it as realistic as possible. I mean if I really wanted to, I could do a copypasta of the most recent ESPN NBA Power Rankings to update to this point in the seaosn. Once I get everything set up (probably tomorrow night/late Friday), Everything up until that date in the MyLeague file will have happened in real life on the calendar, everything after that, well that's an open book

I didn't even realise you could take control of an expansion team if they come into the league after you've started. That would've saved me so much time. Oh well.

[FSanchez12]

Quote: Originally Posted by SilverDay

I didn't even realise you could take control of an expansion team if they come into the league after you've started. That would've saved me so much time. Oh well.

I would stress that this can be done in MyLeague. I don't think you'll have the same success in MyGM.


#BringTheNBAToPittsburgh

[FSanchez12]

Same Name, New Era

ESPN.Com/Pittsburgh, PA - While most teams are finishing up their Preseason play in the NBA for the '16-'17 Season and fans are priming themselves for their very own Christmas Day, Opening Night, the Pittsburgh Expansion Franchise has found a name.

The Pittsburgh Condors.

Perhaps that sounds familiar to you? Well, then let's take a trip back to 1970, prior to the Steelers rise to a dynasty, and a year before the Pirates would capture their fourth World Series Title. The Pittsburgh Pipers who one year removed from a move back to Pittsburgh from Minnesota, struggling to build back the fanbase that they had lost, rebranded themselves as the Condors. Two years later, the franchise folded, without a peep. And who could blame them? The Steelers were in the midst of building a dynasty, the Pirates were fresh off a World Series and playing competitively year in and year out, and there was already winter entertainment in the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Flash forward to 2016, and majority owner, Ron Burkle,announced along with the remainder of the ownership group who wish to made public including David Tepper, the selected name and logo of the new Pittsburgh team, the Pittsburgh Condors.

Burkle said of the name "We feel as if this nickname will be a unique name that honors basketball's past in Pittsburgh, as well help grow a new generation of NBA fans in the area". Tapper added "Of course the team will wear black and gold. And not just any gold, Pittsburgh Gold. When fans see these jerseys, they will immediately think Steelers/Pens/Pirates. We are proud to continue the sports tradition here in Pittsburgh in which all teams wear the same main colors".



The crowd was then treated, with the help of Pittsburgh Penguins Defenseman, Trevor Daley, with modeling mock-up uniforms. It should be noted that with Nike taking over the production rights for the 2017-18 season, that the uniforms are subject to change. With that being said, the jerseys that were unveiled to the public yesterday employed a similar base to that of the Atlanta Hawks. The home whites included the team name "CONDORS" across the front with black and gold numbering on the front. The shorts also contained a "PGH" logo, seemingly an homage to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 90's. The black and gold trimming down the side of the jersey is dominated by black with gold piping, seen below:





The visiting uniforms, similar to many NBA jerseys in the league, has the city name of Pittsburgh across the chest, again flanked by black and gold reminiscent of the other Pittsburgh sports teams. This specific jersey seemingly taps its inspiration from the Steelers jerseys of the past, back to the Ernie Stauner days, a modernized version had been popularized during the Steelers 75th anniversary season. The shorts employ a similar "PGH" logo, as well as a mysterious possible third logo on the back of the uniform? Time will tell, but it seems like a Pittsburgh-ized version of the Warriors logo.





The logo has been rumored to be the official logo for the Pittsburgh team since the "Expansion Update" that hit the popular "NBA 2K" franchise. The teaser for the update displayed the following two screengrabs on a video that was quickly removed after being posted





Now the arena mockup had not been announced yet, and is not expected to until later next year. Reps from the company that produced the game, Visual Concepts, have denied reports of the leak and have attributed the screengrabs to user generated content. Nonetheless, the suspicion remains now with the mysterious 3rd logo appearing on the Condors away uniforms matching the screengrabs. Time will tell as to whether the leak was in fact accurate or not.

Also announced, GM Brett Gray is nearing the completing of his hiring search for the first coach of the Pittsburgh Condors. It appears with the search nearing an end, that the coach is not an active NBA Head Coach at this very moment. Rumors have been swirling with fans camped out at Pittsburgh International Airport that there have been sightings of the likes of George Karl, a Penn Hills native, as well as David Blatt. At press time, neither coach could be reached.




#BringTheNBAToPittsburgh

[Slyone14]

As a huge Pittsburgh fan, you best be right ill be following! Looking forward to updates and hope you get far