SMOKY MOUNTAINS MIST

[GM Adam Wrong]

Deal. Let's speak to my coaching staff if you don't mind

[GM Lucas]

"Robert Murray here, McSwine said you wanted to see the entire coaching staff. We are all here but when you speak to me, we speak one on one man to man. So right now, if they all want to come together when we are done that's on them. Now, what did you want to speak about?"

[GM Adam Wrong]

I wanted to speak about your view on our current squad and your overview if you don't mind

[GM Lucas]

"We got guys who can play. Merton has always been a professional and a damn good ball player. Holden surprised all of us and has officially worked himself into the starting line up. Mcswine's kid, Higgins, he turned out to be something special. He was always good in high school and I'm not sure why he didn't pursue college. The problem is that kid has his daddy pulling strings so he thinks he can just do what he wants. Honestly, I don't care how talented you are you need to know your place and understand there is a coach for a reason. These new kids coming up think talent is all they need but they don't understand the game and they don't like following orders this is why I'm not in favor of young guys or teaching rookies. I need veterans and professionals."

[GM Adam Wrong]

Of the current squad we have some hefty wages on certain players. Are they worth the money we are paying?

[GM Lucas]

"Yes, hell. I would say they are a bargain for they what they bring to the team."

[GM Adam Wrong]

The way I operate, I like the energy that young players bring to the table. There's  value in experience but I enjoy building for the future. Are you happy to accept some level of youth here?

[GM Lucas]

"Am I happy, no! I'm never happy to bring in knuckleheads who are wet behind the ears, playing their video games and Snap Toking, or Tik Snapping or whatever the hell these young kids do these days that piss me off. So if you gonna bring in some whippersnappers then make sure they got their head on straight. Don't go bringing in no Fender Esquires or no Dwayne Faulkner's. Bring in some young bucks with a head on their shoulders who want to listen, learn and play the game the right way. Guys who can keep their nose clean and not be out late night with the hooches. Get some of those and make sure they have some talent and we'll be fine"

[GM Adam Wrong]

Guys with haircuts you can set your watch to?

Your Johnny Unitas?

Yeah, I'm gonna bring in the absolute best I can for this team. They will adopt the mentality of this team.

[GM Lucas]

"I already put Higgins boy on the roster, that young man surprised me last year. I didn't have an inkling of kind words for that boy. he run around town acting a fool. BUT! when he came on board and laced them up, he was a true professional. Boy cleaned up his act. I can stand behind that, his daddy is a goddamn fool for all I care, but his boy Higgins has my respect. Anway, if you can bring in some good young men, we'll do just fine but don't forget to get talent, like real talent. Merton can't do it alone"

[GM Adam Wrong]

Deal and in terms of protected players, anyone important to you?

[GM Lucas]

"Nope, matters of. We have some dead weight I would like off this team. Now I'm not in the business of taking food out of anyone's mouth and this will be the one and only time I give you this advice, you know, the entire "you are the GM and I'm the coach" thing. Those kids we got last season; Barron, Wesley and Howard are just wasting space and breathing up our fresh air. You have three amnesties you can use before the season starts, I say use it and start fresh and get some real talent on this team"

[GM Adam Wrong]

Coach, Rookies are in.

Can I get your thoughts?

[GM Lucas]

"Well, it's almost like, we didn't have this here conversation about knuckle heads, but then, you still heard the last part of it at the same time. Listen, This Octavious kid, Oh boy. Can't deny his talent, but MAaaaan he's like a rattlesnake holding the winning lottery ticket in his mouth. That stunt at the high school pissed me off and I don't even work there. This kid is gonna have to shape up or he's gonna have a hard time. I'm gonna try and be patient with the young man and that's as much as I can promise, TRY!. Now, you sort of made up for with this Kid London. That kid is everything you want in young man. Does a bit of everything. He listens, takes advice, hell on draft night he called me, don't know how he got my number, BUT!, he called me and asked if there is anything he should prep for before come down to the facility. Now, that right there, that's young man who has his head on straight"

[GM Adam Wrong]

I wanted to balance up the talent and I was hoping that London would be able to be a positive influence on Octavius. Sometimes we have to balance to crazy / talent Chart and between your coaching and my man management, we will achieve good things.

So are there any preferences on what we do with them both at Camp?

[GM Lucas]

"Depends what you want, if you want to help develop their defense then when it comes to London I would work on Ball defense to help develop his ability to position himself to lock guys down, or his rebounding. And Octavious, maybe his shot blocking, from tape, the kid doesn't like to put his hands up unless he's calling for pass or dunking. Now, if you want to work on offense, then it never hurts to work on Octavious outside shooting, the kid can already score anytime down low, but also has a poor jump shot. With London I may want to work on his overall shooting or ball handling"

[GM Lucas]

"Camp wasn't bad, the kid showed something. Octavius did well. Now we head to preseason. Are you get this stable ready or am I going to do it. I'm ok either or but don't forget to tell me which 3 players you want me to target my attention"

[GM Adam Wrong]

Let me put something together and we will go from there

[GM Lucas]

"Very well, let's skip to it. The boys are starting to pile in. don't want them to get too comfortable"

[GM Adam Wrong]

Starting Five - Coach To Distribute Minutes
PG - Mila Pires
SG - Higgins McSwine
SF - Marques Merton
PF - Da'youngster Octavius
C - Damian Darko
------(If you are choosing your teams minutes, the bench will be organized by minutes)
B - John Holden SF
B - Gregg London PF
B - Zac Norvelle PG
B - Andy Thomas SG
B - Mike Stoneking PG
B - Wesley Ramsey PF
B -Barron Morris C
------ (This will be the guys who do not play)
B Ron Howard PF
B
B

Captain: Marques Merton


Preseason Training
1. Da'youngster Octavius
2. Gregg London
3. Damian Darko

[GM Lucas]

"So I'm living in some goddamn bizzarro world. So first off, we need to settle this stupid number, jersey nonsense between McSwine and Darko. It was ridiculous. I didn't expect that form of nonsense from those two, but on the flip side of skillet, Da'Youngster came in and was professional, didn't even bitch when I sat him the second game. There may be hope for the kid. London didn't impress me. He's full of energy and doesn't know how to expel it. He was just running around, breaking the plays, scoring when we had to hold the ball and passing when no one was looking. I'm going to chalk it to butterflies. But if he keeps that up he will find himself playing in garbage time. Now back to Darko. That guy can be something special, but the arrogance is astounding considering he hasn't done a lick in the WBS. A little confidence is good but he's going to write checks he can't cash and it's going to hurt us so we are going to have to set somethings straight. now that number thing, That was Mcswine's high school number, good luck with that".

[GM Lucas]

"Listen up chief, figure out who is wearing number 1 or we are going to head out and if a fight breaks out, well, then that will be what happens. Please address this because we are getting ready."

[GM Adam Wrong]

Right boys

Let's not fuck around. McSwone, you were here first, you get the 0. I won't have petty bollocks around a shirt number get in the way of a great team. Understood?

[GM Lucas]

"First off, who the hell is McSwone?, second, if I was here first, then I wear number 1 and give that asshat number 0 or 2 or whatever the hell fits in his ass. Look, this right here ain't about no number. If he would have asked, we could have worked something out, it's a goddam number for crying out loud. The only number I care about are the numbers on my check. So there seems to be a lot of disrespect being unchecked here. So because he didn't ask he can kiss my ass. Now, if you want to settle this, he either pays me for my number or you pay me to give it to him 1 million bucks. All of this could have been settled with a bit of respect and a handshake."

[GM Adam Wrong]

Apologies, I've just finished drinking and I'm a little woozy...

Right, HIGGINS... you get the 1. Apologies for the slip of the tongue.

Darko, you can find a free number. Any other vacant number. There's a lot of them. 88 of them in fact!

If we can draw a line under this, I'll make it worth both of your whiles financially.

[GM Lucas]

"FINE, but this is crap, I'll show you who the true #1 is. Let's move on"

"Sounds good, let's put this behind us and play."

[GM Adam Wrong]

Cheers boys.

Honus, Coach... if they get through this week with no drama about the numbers, both will be financially rewarded for their behaviour.

Coach, are you happy with the line up as it is?

[GM Lucas]

"Yup, just tell me who the captain is and we'll head on out"

[GM Adam Wrong]

We'll stick with Marques Merton for now...

Lock in

[GM Adam Wrong]

Discuss your week 1 results. Who surprised you, good or bad. Any concerns?
A disappointment in our first week. I won't single any player out as we collectively shit the bed

3. Talk about changes if any you plan to make.
That's between me and my coaching team

4. After seeing your team play this first week, how are you going to approach next weeks opponents?
On paper obviously not confident but what we produced last week doesn't match the quality we actually have.

5. Discuss any other news from around the league.
I'll focus on my own team for now thank you

[GM Lucas]

"We lost games we should have won in my book. I'm not surprised that Higgins started so slow, it's who he is. I'm not worried about him"

[GM Adam Wrong]

I'm thinking we persist with the starting 5 then?

[GM Lucas]

"Yeah, we'll be better, no worries AT ALL"

[GM Adam Wrong]

Let's do this

Lock in

[GM Adam Wrong]

It's been a frustrating week but we got some wins on the board

Pires has been taken out of context. His and Holdens high level performances are inspiring his teammates to step up and I hope that has the desired effect.

Lots of owners with confidence in their team and its nice to see. Let's see if the teams can keep it up thought

[GM Lucas]

"We are playing better than we ever have but it ain't translating to wins. I ask you to give me the go ahead to make some changes if I need to."

[GM Adam Wrong]

What are you thinking?

[GM Lucas]

"Split Darko and Da'Youngster, but start Darko, he's a salty dude and I like it. He could be a solid tone setter and it may help smooth things over between him and McSwine. Norvelle is still a defensive force, so get him in early and often and at the end of the game, especially if we got the lead. We have to unleash McSwine and Merton. Last season they were the one two punch that carried this team."

[GM Adam Wrong]

Let's go for this then.

Any other issues to address?

[GM Lucas]

"At some point next week, try and address the room, or at least our captain. Other then that, Let's GET!"

[GM Adam Wrong]

Let's see how this weekgoes and next week I'll get them together

Lock in

[GM Adam Wrong]

Thank you and apologies I have been less than chatty recently.

Naturally we're over the moon to have such a good week and the fans have every right to be excited. We have an excellent team and the good times are coming.

Secondly, my thoughts go out to the Derion Williams and his family at this time. Losing a loved one is tough and I will keep him in my thoughts.

As for my focus? It's purely on this group of lads right now and nothing else.

[GM Lucas]

"Well goddman, I SAID GODDAMN. those were some mighty fine wins we put together if I say so myself. This team is riding high. Darko and McSwine look like they are putting their petty squabbles behind them. The kids are coming along so far, they are kids so I do expect the shoe to drop at some point but for now we'll take the good while the good is giving"

[GM Adam Wrong]

Sometimes kids need tough love and when that other shoe drops we'll give it to them. Sometimes they need to just let their creativity run wild. You're doing a great job of balancing that.

I'm gonna chat to a couple of them but is there anything you'd like to discuss first?

[GM Lucas]

"you go ahead now, them boys have been waiting for you to come along so I won't get in the way of that"

[GM Adam Wrong]

OK cheers!

let's start with Marques Merton.

Howdy sir, as captain how are you enjoying the season?

[GM Lucas]

"Howdy, don't get me confused with one of these cowboys down here. I like being here but I'm still from Chicago. Anyway, what's going on boss. You wanna know if I am enjoying the season, it's getting better. I'm glad Darko and McSwine cut the bullshit out."

[GM Adam Wrong]

Ah fair enough I respect that.

Did you have any influence on them drawing a line under their crap?

[GM Lucas]

"I pretty much told them, I've been here since the start, I was drafted here so if anyone was going to wear any number it would be me. So for two practices I wore the number they were fighting over, neither said a damn thing, afterwards they both asked me was I really taking the number, I said "Shit no", I pretty much told them I would rather have it then have those two making an ass of themselves and causing a distraction. After, I made them flip a coin, McSwine won, Darko accepted and that was that. Silly nonsense, childish. Anyway boss, we've been dicking around practice long enough. Thanks for the chat, I'll get with you after the next few games. Tome to head out, bus is warming up"

[GM Adam Wrong]

I'm glad the International League has started up and it looks to be a fun alternative. It's not my cup of tea though considering how well we are currently performing.

I had no doubt the coaching I brought in would be able to find a common ground with the players. He's firm but he delivers results and I couldn't be prouder