OUT OF CHARACTER BOARD

[J-Reb]

I'm probably going to pay for trading Bolak again but getting Hallmark without giving up a first round pick was too good of a deal to pass-up.

I had a couple of other irons in the fire but when all Shields wanted back for Hallmark was Bolak, I was sold.

[Jennifer]

I have no words for how BONKERS that was from a Virginia perspective.

Stop improving my rivals, eastern conference.

[Domingo]

Not to mention, Reb...Bolak was a Willie Davies guy. One of two he wanted on the team.

[Jon]

Well Hondo brought up some good points in the CB yesterday.

It's good trades in the POV of if Hallmark and Danberry jet for the SL. Then Shields gets nothing in return.

Now, I still think he should have tried to at least salvage the situation instead of just shipping them off. I mean, at the very least he owed it to Hallmark and Danberry to at least talk to them before he traded away from the franchise they helped build.

What happens with the fallout of these trades will be interesting though.

- Hallmark and Danberry could still jet to the SL to team with Conrad again.
- Jackson and Bolak could refuse to play for Virginia. Potentially could also jet for the SL.
- What will Mr. Hayes have to say about Shields dealing away the two faces of Virginia. Could it be his job?
- It could all be fine and Anchorage got their second scorer to go along with a sound defensive team. Pittsburgh got a steal for Danberry and will be immediate contenders for Season 13. And Virginia has good pieces to rebuild the team.

Interesting indeed.

[Jennifer]

The Creed trade was okay, the Bolak one just... okay Bolak IS one of the best defenders in the game, but Hallmark is one of the best PGs. Are PGs a little easier to come by than great defenders? Yes. A grade point guards? Not so much. I just don't think it was worth the potential fallout of trading away the 'pillars' of the team. Remember what happened last time someone traded away a player synonymous with their team?

I also think that Danberry is classy enough to announce if he was intending on leaving Virginia, as he's a very professional type of player, at least in my opinion. I think if Shields survives this, he will be on his last strike with the Colonials.

[Hondo]

It's kind of a "darned if you do, danged if you don't" type situation for Shields.

It's hard to fix player relationships in this game. Impossible? No. But hard to do. I've only ever actually done it once myself (GoGo), and ended up losing guys like Sheldon Day and Shakers Lee and Carl Cooper. Danberry's a good egg, but there's no guarantee he wouldn't have left after being disrespected. Hallmark was a much better bet to leave.

So consider, if Danberry and Hallmark had just left for the SL, his owner would have fired him stone dead on the spot. Do no pass GO, do not collect $200. At least this way, he's given himself a fighting chance, with two pretty good players and an extra draft pick to play with. Are Jackson and Huir as good as Danberry and Hallmark? Nope. But those two are better than having to sift through the FA Pool after the Expansion Draft for replacements. I'll take two "B" players over two "C-" players any day.

Of course, everything that Jon says rings true. It's still possible as we've seen in the past that those involved refuse to report to their new teams. And Shields' owner may still can him after the season. But I'll give the guy credit for not taking it lying down. Going out in a blaze of glory and all that.

[J-Reb]

I agree on Willie's affinity with Bolak, however, were talking about arguably the best PG in the game here.

[GM Franchise]

The Bolak deal was not good. If I were in the same situation I would've tried to make a trade for a top level point guard like a Rogers or a Gravin, basically a top level ball distributor and All FBL Team ballot regular point guard to make up for the loss of Hallmark. Bolak is a good defender but that was not a good deal from my perspective. As mentioned earlier Hallmark is an A level point guard. That s RARE. Not a good deal in my opinion.

It'll be interesting to see if Shields survives this too.

[Chris Shields]

I did those trades in part because I felt like it was all but a certainty that Hallmark and Danberry were gonna go, but also in part to get out of the shadow of Dorling. As long as I had "his players" and "his coaches", I was just gonna keep having people expecting me to do what he did. Now, I've got players I can work with and have my team. The only player that's gonna be the same from when I came in is gonna be Chik. I've saved the team some money, I've got younger, and I've made my own team.

[Hondo]

The Bolak deal was not good. If I were in the same situation I would've tried to make a trade for a top level point guard like a Rogers or a Gravin, basically a top level ball distributor and All FBL Team ballot regular point guard to make up for the loss of Hallmark. Bolak is a good defender but that was not a good deal from my perspective. As mentioned earlier Hallmark is an A level point guard. That s RARE. Not a good deal in my opinion.

It'll be interesting to see if Shields survives this too.

If you needed any justification that Bolak for Hallmark was a good trade, this is it.

[Jon]

I did those trades in part because I felt like it was all but a certainty that Hallmark and Danberry were gonna go, but also in part to get out of the shadow of Dorling. As long as I had "his players" and "his coaches", I was just gonna keep having people expecting me to do what he did. Now, I've got players I can work with and have my team. The only player that's gonna be the same from when I came in is gonna be Chik. I've saved the team some money, I've got younger, and I've made my own team.

When I tried doing that with Las Vegas to try and get out of the shadow of Blade, I got fired.

[GM Franchise]

If you needed any justification that Bolak for Hallmark was a good trade, this is it.

I'm not wrong about everything. Only when it involves my team, lol.

[Chris Shields]

If you needed any justification that Bolak for Hallmark was a good trade, this is it.

Yep. I am convinced now that this trade was pure genius.

[Mike Powers]

I think you could've gotten another player/draft pick out of the Bolak deal. The Creed deal was fine though. Cant wait to hear owner reactions.

[Chris Shields]

Probably, but a big part of the deal for me was the money. Creed's contract was basically the exact same as Hallmark's, so I just took that and replaced it when calculating cap space. Bolak's contract was 7 million and Danberry's was 11 million. So out of the deal, I got the SG I needed who happens to be one of the best defensive players in the league, a young talented center, another 1st round draft pick, and saved 4 million in cap space.