Yet another season is upon us, so I'm going to try give insight into how I think this season will go. This has been, by far, the hardest season to write previews for because there are so many good teams this season, but not so many great teams. Anyway, there are power rankings, MVP candidates and random predictions here, but feel free to ask questions in here about how I think you may go etc. Feel free to debate what I've said too, don't take it as gospel. POWER RANKINGS The Contenders 1. Tigers While they lost Ames during the off-season, the Tigers head our preseason power rankings because of the talent they retain. Lee, Morgan and Hall are All-BBallSim teamers and Bakkum is coming off a Sixth Man of the Season award. They have the offensive power to trouble any team, and also possess the stingy defence of Morgan, Hall and Starris. Although they faultered in the Finals last season, remember this team went 12-1 and lost perhaps their least efficient shooter. 2. Colts The Colts enter Season 6 with optimism, despite putting up a less than impressive conference finals display. Diggler returns to lead McDougal and co. back into the thick of contention. The Colts bring to the table two genuine stars and a host of valuable starters to form a cohesive squad. Able to hurt you inside and out, the Colts run a deadly offence that keeps them in most games. 3. Parrots As the winners of the Downes Crowns, the Parrots look to be the biggest improvers of the off-season. With a frontcourt of Downes, Howe and Chewie, most teams will struggle to score much in the paint, and a barrage of bombers from the deep, these Parrots look to be playing a game style that wins basketball games. The only issue could be spacing in the backcourt, but that wasn't an issue for Downes' previous club. 4. Pandas You may be asking, "perennial disappointments that have lost a former MVP and an all-defensive mainstay in the contenders?". Well, these Pandas look poised to finally make their first mark on the competition since their Finals appearance in Season 3. The replacements of Matty James and Ivan Ryabovol may not seem like big replacements, but they were quietly among the most valuable role players last season. Despite the hit to their depth, the Pandas should be up there come season's end due to the play of Schaw and Hunt. The Experimentals 5. Hurricanes The results have so far been positive, but it's just preseason. The dual point guard lineup has not been seen on a permanent basis in this league before - teams adapting a wing into their primary handler has been the vogue - so the long term sustainability of it is yet to be determined. Ames, Cambridge and Dyer are a fearsome trio however, and the tough defence served up from Himann will be invaluable - especially to this squad. The One-Piece Away From Contenders 6. Hammerheads Losing Narang is a big blow to this team. Like, massive. This squad was supposed to be a contender this year, but now they sit out of place. They have a top 5 player in Son, a top 5 centre in Warrington, but the rest of team is still developing. Perhaps Ridd or Wheelson takes the step into All-Star status, but until then they're a peice behind the rest. 7. Moustaches It doesn't take long for the Moustaches to turn it around. It looked like another offseason was wasted for the Moustaches, but out of thin air they snagged (or reclaimed) a star in Boland from the hapless Seahawks, signed what could be the bargain signing of the summer in Lukic and bought back Jacobs from nowhere. An immense couple of weeks for a historic franchise on the brink. A Torres return to form/Perry All-Star leap/Lukic and Jacobs renaissance is what this team needs to contend. 8. Ocelots The missing piece for the Ocelots is Downes. A big a loss any single player could inflict on a team. Everyone gets worse from this - despite how much their numbers may increase. Look for lower shooting percentages all round and some straight up awful nights from some players. Downes is so much the focus of the scouting report the flaws players didn't even knew they had will be exploited. It seems glum, but I can't see this team scoring enough without him, a Tyson explosion aside. The Building to Somethings 9. Mustangs I intended to have more teams in this section but realised upon writing this that the Mustangs are in a unique position. They're the only team to retain it's entire roster of players. They're all in on their current group and are just waiting for them to develop. Welker is a bona fide superstar, Vince seems to be finding his role, and players like Astele, Dforum and Read are making great strides toward becoming valuable all round starters. They still need a little more star power - Vince needs to become that 2nd guy we thought he'd be, or at least an extremely good 3rd guy - but they've got the pieces here, unlike some teams. The Write-offs 10. Sabres You know when I said that Downes was the single biggest loss a BBallSim franchise could suffer? I lied. Tiger was the Sabres. The Sabres lost their best offensive and defensive player, to retirement. Ouch. Deen and Evans plates just got a lot fuller. Cribb is a valuable signing, but we've already seen that he's no franchise player - he's a piece to the puzzle though. Give the Sabres another season and offseason before giving them a championship shot. 11. Seahawks Yeah, they went 1-1 in the preseason, including a win against the Colts, but they'll be awful this season. Like, truly awful. When du Toit is now your best player you know you're in some serious trouble. No offence to the big man, but he can play defence and grab offensive boards - that's about it. DeAndre Jordan is this team's best player. It'll be 16 round of hell. Well, maybe 15 - they get to play the next team once. 12. Polar Bears They actually have a better best player than the Seahawks (Force), but he'll be ganged so bad he'll look like he's having a much worse season than he is. Someone needs to sort out this train wreck quick. The intentions were good - sign some young and talented players and build together - but the reality is that the players aren't all that flash and their work ethic is poor. If this was the NBA you'd be blowing this up even more than it already has. MVP CANDIDATES The I've Done This Befores 1. Charlie Downes (Parrots) He's coming off an MVP season out of position. He's an all round offensive threat and a Defensive Player of the Season winner. Best player in the game, bar none. 2. Alistair Son (Hammerheads) Season 5 winner playing on a team with better parts around him. Potential to games off his own back. On a team who'll collect enough wins to get him 3 point performances. A recipe for another Top 5 finish at least. The Proud Provincial Performers 3. Wes Welker (Mustangs) The Provincial Tournament MVP will attempt to replicate his form in the regular season. He's without a genuine post threat to kick it to when needed, but his collection of shooters should allow him to make the right play all the time. Potential LeBron season incoming. 4. Siege Morgan (Tigers) We've seen he's got the ability to be a 30 point, 5 rebound, 5 assist guy, but he plays on a team with a lot of talent. We all know the talent pool has been little weakened (Skippos has told us like 29352452454 times), so the possessions are there for Morgan to take. The Perennial All-Stars 5. Aaron Hunt (Pandas) He's probably the most efficient player in the game, but still refuses to become the dominant post player he's supposed to be. Also a defensive monster. No Chewie means he'll move to C which could be good or bad for his career. 6. Dirk Diggler (Colts) We all know he'll give himself every shot at winning an MVP award. BBallSim's Terrell Owens, Diggler's as flamboyant on the court as he is off, so he - just like every other season - is a shot at the award. A big time stat stuffer. 7. Brett Hall (Tiger) Another two way force that is sure to collect votes. His consistency is sometimes an issue, but the MVP award doesn't punish someone for being bad. Has the post moves and the defensive IQ to make an impact on each game though. 8. Gareth Weaver (Moustaches) Had a difficult job last season carrying a very poor Mo's side. Should see better looks, less double teams and more wins. An equation like that equals more votes. 9. Steven Cambridge (Hurricanes) A move to a new club, but he recovered his MVP form last season. He's not quite in the "I've Done This Before" calibre, he's been down in between that time, but he'll be scoring and passing big numbers all season. The Rising Stars 10. Donald Boland (Moustaches) Had a breakout season as the undisputed guy at the Seahawks. He returns to his original club to play beside Weaver, a possible vote stealing situation. He's also playing point guard in a more permanent role. Those factors could lead to a drop in votes, but he's got all the talent in the world. 11. Lucas Schaw (Pandas) I usually tend to ignore preseason form, but Schaw's displays and his end to last season have me picking him as my bolter. Having Hunt will help him earn votes as Hunt will be finishing many of Schaw's looks. Should see more time with the ball in hand this season with Cambridge departing. 12. LeBron Ames (Hurricanes) Another preseason wiz, but I have my doubts about Ames' MVP credentials. He's more of a volume shooter, and his jumper has been getting progressively worse. His talent is evident however, and he'll be a double-double machine this season. Probably needs to improve his shooting and/or defence, but will be there abouts. The I Think I'm Good But I'm Just Not All Thats 1001. Sam Bakkum (Tigers) Yeah, you ain't that good buddy. 7 RANDOM PREDICTIONS No team will go winless The MVP will be from a team that does not make the playoffs Someone gets traded Another player will break the 50 point barrier The MVP winner will have more votes than multiple teams have in total A star from the above list takes a fall from grace (not Bakkum lol) Diggler and Skippos both miss the All-BBallSim first team... again I encourage you to post some of your own predictions ROUND 1 ROUND 1 [Interconference] Sunday night Hurricanes @ Polar Bears Tigers @ Ocelots Tuesday night Pandas @ Hammerheads Sabres @ Mustangs Thursday night Colts @ Parrots Moustaches @ Seahawks Get excited! Good luck for the season.
Reckon you've underrated the Hurricanes and Mustangs. I could well be in the top few for MVP this year. MVP for club and country last season and both should be collecting more wins this time around. Sadly I'm bound to end up behind Downes Edit: And yes, gun thread moosey
Pretty much haven't posted since last season except for once like a week ago ruing the loss of eds. Haven't flogged the horse Will be so shattered if the team struggle (but it looks like we'll go alright) and nearly as shattered if I can't make the second team let alone the first team
Nice stuff Mousey. Predictions: Hammers to finish 3rd yet again Force to be traded away at some point (to the Hammers :ninja: ) Son4MVP *Note the above may change if we can actually sign a decent big man. Like Force.
Thought we'd not be quite so bad but then again I can't justify placing us any higher. Maybe somewhere near the Mustangs as I reckon if Tiger rejoined we'd go through the roof. It's a shame though, I was showing such signs coming off the bench for the Mo's and since I've taken a starting jersey I've shot awfully. If I could get somewhere near back to where I once was in terms of development trajectory it'd help a lot. Playing out of position and matching up in D against much bigger blokes doesn't help. Gonna be a stiff ask.
Parrots are too high since we beat them :ninja: I could see a trade, potentially in the mo's actually. Easy first win against the Hawks too
How are trades supposed to work with these multi-season contracts anyway? Sorry if been mentioned before. Will comment on Sabres etc later
Trades would be far, far more interesting if there were some incentive to coming last rather than mid-table ala NBA. As it is everyone wants the best deal for themselves.
There could actually be incentives to coming last if you had a skill draft or some shit where Mousey puts up like 24 skill related choices and you can draft them similar to the nba. Each team has a 1st and 2nd round draft pick e.g 1. +10 distance shooting for 1 player 2. +7d/+3o rebounding for 1 player 3. +5 perimeter defense for 1 player
Also think the Mustangs may be higher than predicted. Reckon we have a better squad then the 'staches and Ocelots and we are one of the only squads built with alot of purpose rather then just "players"
This would be so awesome. Sell the idea as a "coach draft" though so you're trying to bring the best coaches into your franchise to train your players. Bigger increases in training throughout the year, different coaches have different strengths/weaknesses.
