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Week One Power Rankings
Week One Observations
Week One is officially completed as we head into the first of the BBM round robin games. With Season 62 underway, there are 10 players averaging 24 PPG or more, with two of Las Vegas' crew hitting 28 (Gonzalo Charino) and 35 (Lutjen Zotke), though it should be noted, both players only played in one game this week. Six players are averaging 16+ RPG, with 209's Kálmán Nádas leading the pack at 20.5 with two games of 20 or more boards which currently ranks him 20th in the entire USofA. And 9 players are taking advantage of the improved assist rate from the game engine, hitting at least 6 assists per game, with Philly's Miguel Velasco and Tasty's Chik Wui Kwong hitting 7 APG.

Team-wise, only four teams are averaging more than 100 PPG and seven (well, eight, but Zubr hasn't had any statistical bearing on the season as of yet) teams are averaging less than 90 PPG.

I won't do this every week, but just pointing a few things from the first two games of the season.
-> My "preseason" 4th ranked team Mindless Zombies starting out 0-2 is a bit of a surprise, though effort played into at one of those games. It doesn't help they started out against two of the higher quality teams in the Great 8 and I'm sure they'll turn it around and get back to .500 by the end of Week Two.
-> I'm counting two upsets through two games - Saturday night 209's took it to San Dominica, jumping out to a 15-point lead after holding them to just 13 points in the first quarter and they simply held on the rest of the night to emerge with a 17-point victory. They didn't shoot particularly well in that game (35.5% from the field and 31% from three), but it was better than the Warriors managed to fare on the road. The second upset I'm calling was last night's VileOnes 9-point victory over Tasty on the back of a good game prep guess, increased effort and a Princeton tactic for the win. The free throw disparity seems to be at the heart of the victory for Vile, being granted 8 more total free throws and hitting 78% of them for seven more points than Tasty achieved from the charity stripe.

Other than that, no epic come from behind victories through two games. There's still a lot to settle down roster-wise, and as you'll see from this week's rankings, schedules have a lot to do with where teams land on the list. But before that - here's the transfer report.

Transfer Report
I've been keeping track of transfers in and out since the August 6th (the first day that transfers weren't eligible for last season's playoffs). In that timeframe, our league has had a total of 33 transfers (17 players brought in, 16 out). Average age of players sold is 26.9 with four 18-year-old rookies sold, while the oldest player (Mindless Zombie's former Mitar Vlahovic) hitting 37 years young. The average salary of players being sold age 25+ is $36.6k with those players selling for a grand total of $2.4M.

Honestly, that's pretty meek, overall...but boy do we know how to SPEND SOME MONEY. Of the 17 players transferred in so far, teams have collectively spent $10.06M. The average age of those players is 26.2 with an average salary of $38.4k. That's a sum total of 652,167 Buzzerbeater dollars being brought in on salary for this season!

Of all those transactions, southpaw army, Las Vegas High Rollers, and F.Day Internet Lovers Club lead the pack with 6 total transactions each. Vegas and southpaw were split at 3 purchases and 3 sales, while F.Day brought in 5 new players. There are (as of this writing) only three players transfer listed totaling just $41k in salary (here's looking at you Heikko Valgur and your $35k salary), with teams looking for a measly $352k in transfer fees. Now onto the rankings!

Week One Power Rankings

Week One Power Rankings
For those of you who are new, my power rankings are based on an average of Efficiency Per Game (EFFG) rank and their Opponents EFFG (OPP EFFG) rank. Ties are sorted by lowest OPP EFFG (ensuing weeks will take into consideration previous week's rankings to sort ties).

1. Lion Rebels
EFFG: 145.5 | OPP EFFG: 83.5
This marks two seasons in a row I've started these rankings out with my team in first...which is only fitting since I'm making the rankings. Truth be told, (and I've written this before), I cringe whenever my team is near the top. I'm like a New York Jets fan this year - it's gotta be too good to be true! Realistically, this is a result of an easier schedule to start, though I'm not going to start calling Linndale an easy victory quite yet. Lots of room and time for them to improve and come back to bite me in the butt when the Lion Rebels visit Linndale after the interconference play is done.

2. southpaw army
EFFG: 139 | OPP EFFG: 91.5
So, Buzzer Manager, for some reason, lists our teams in alphabetical order in team stats with southpaw listed below VileOnes, which I didn't realize at first as I was entering in numbers to my nerdy spreadsheet...which meant that my numbers were off and VileOnes was ranked 2nd...I started to investigate why a 1-1 team (with a great win on Tuesday!) could possibly have managed 139 average EFFG with their scores being close in both games and that's how I discovered that I'd botched it. All that is to say, the only reason southpaw is #2 and not #1 is strength of opponent so far. I have full confidence they'll be #1 from here on out.

3. Super Sonics
EFFG: 127 | OPP EFFG: 96
Handling Mindless at home by 10 before then being gifted the vacated Zubr squad, Super Sonics are biding their time for some competition to come their way. While Miami sticks out the most, Tasty probably wants a taste of that as well. But until then, they're hosting Fort Wayne this weekend before taking on VileOnes at Return the day after Labor Day on television.

4. San Dominica Warriors
EFFG: 138 | OPP EFFG: 107
Well, a first game stumble trying to be tricky still lands them in 4th after decimating Las Vegas last night, though their 3-point shooting leaves a lot to be desired. But Jerome Bégin doesn't care about that because he doesn't mind it padding his OR stats. Up next comes a road trip to the "We're Figuring It Out" Linndale before hosting Philly Dribble. Historically, this would've been a buzzsaw type of week, but the way things have been stacking up, it might be more of a cakewalk.

5. F.Day Internet Lovers Club
EFFG: 99 | OPP EFFG: 91
While they're middle of the pack in EFFG, their OPP EFFG lands them in the top four of the league, which pushes them to the top of those whose average rank leaves them at 6 on the scoring chart (three-way tie with the next two teams in the rankings). Defense wins championships, but you've got to have some offensive fire power to hold up in this league. A game one loss to Philly saw them up by 6 points after one quarter, only to see it all fall apart, scoring only 33 points in quarters 2 and 3 after scoring 30 in the opening quarter. By that point, there wasn't much they could do. But in Game 2, they took advantage of 209's spent enthusiasm and despite not having as high of ratings across the board, they snuck out a victory after being down 12 at the half by holding MostWanted to 4 points in the third quarter (speaking of mug shots), and then rocked them in the 4th with a 13 point quarter difference to win by 10. They take a trip to Las Vegas before hosting Linndale in Week Two.

Week One Power Rankings
Power Rankings Continued
6. Miami Cleo
EFFG: 109 | OPP EFFG: 93
Our second 6 score in average rankings for the week, Miami comes to us with an undefeated record, holding off VileOnes last weekend by 12 before holding off Mindless Zombies to win by 5 thanks to a bit of effort difference. Fun fact: Miami hasn't purchased a new player since the start of Season 57 when they brought on Patrick Cheatle. Miami plays host to Zubr before heading out for Fort Wayne next week.

7. Tasty Tardsicles
EFFG: 123 | OPP EFFG: 102.5
Tasty enjoyed a 15-point victory over Fort Wayne last weekend on TV before succumbing to VileOnes on the road. They certainly looked good in the Low Post victory on Saturday, dominating the boards and assists enroute to 111 points. While they held the advantage again on Tuesday night, they weren't able to overcome VileOnes trio of Bover, Brinkman, and Ramazan who combined for almost 2/3rds of their points on the night in that Princeton offense. Next comes the Zombies, who are probably quite vengeful and then they get to travel to the evacuated Bialystok.

8. 209's Most Wanted
EFFG: 86.5 | OPP EFFG: 89.5
Alex's crew is tied at this spot with #9, but thanks to their defensive 3rd ranking, find themselves at #8 instead. They took advantage of a too patient Warriors team to get a victory at home before then stumbling on the road against Lovers Club. Their rebounding has been phenomenal, but historically, their OPP EFFG hasn't been this good - if this is a real turn around, they've more than got a chance to compete in the Big 8. A visit from the southpaw army is on the horizon (on TV nonetheless), before they travel to Daylis for a rendezvous with the Lion Rebels.

9. Fort Wayne Pistons
EFFG: 116 | OPP EFFG: 113.5
The Mechanics group is the opposite (almost exactly) of 209's. While they're ranked 5th in EFFG, their 10th place OPP EFFG leaves them at 9th on this list. As mentioned earlier, the Pistons got pummeled by Tasty before hosting TwoTone and getting to decimate them in turn. Despite being down by 3 after one quarter, they turned it on for a 12-point separation in the 2nd and never looked back enroute to 27 assists and 54% shooting from the field. Their rebounding, however, is suspect.

10. Philly Dribble
EFFG: 108.5 | OPP EFFG: 117.5
Going up against what, for all intents and purposes, is a Div II team will put your team in a funk, as both Linndale and Philly found out this week. Paride Fasselli go the rare start on Saturday and showed off like he usually does off the bench, scoring 32 points on 24 shots. He started the second game as well, but southpaws bully new point guard Nivaldo de Moraes somehow infected Fasselli with a stomach virus one minute into the game. (I guess it's been since last season that Paride began starting regularly...I just remember him torching me off the bench my first several seasons - nightmare!). While they're at 6th in the Big 8 and at .500, they'll find ways to make it up. This week they host the Lion Rebels before traveling to Shaw Memorial Gym to take on the Warriors.

11. VileOnes
EFFG: 94 | OPP EFFG: 104
Man, I would've felt stupid if I had just rolled with VileOnes at #2 on this list. But I'm sure Vile Returns would've loved it. Seems like the evil type to enjoy a bit of chaos. And chaos they inflicted with their 9-point victory over Tasty at home following their twelve point "if-not-for-that-3rd-quarter-melt-down" loss to Miami the game before. But seriously, Bover, Ramazan, and Brinkman look like an epic trio - and they're all young! They take their three-ring circus to Twotone's Pavilion before hosting Super Sonics on TV next Tuesday.


Last edited by Baine at 8/30/2023 2:15:13 PM

Week One Power Rankings
Power Rankings Continued (again)
12. Mindless Zombies
EFFG: 99 | OPP EFFG: 116.5
99 probably looks like a decently high EFFG number, but it's only good for 9th on the list. Definitely a tough start for their schedule, but the thing that will make them feel better is ending the season with a matchup against Zubr 2nd to last, which might help push them over the top. Tough to find much fault with either of their losses, though missing 19 from three against Super Sonics is a pretty damning statistic, especially since they only lost by 10 on the road. Upon further inspection, they did take an 8-point lead into the final frame before getting wholly dusted by 18 points, giving up 38 total points in that quarter.

13. Linndale
EFFG: 84 | OPP EFFG: 128
Both of their EFFG ranks stand at 13, which is...not good. But starting out against southpaw and then the Lion Rebels isn't easy. To make matters worse, they host San Dom this weekend before hoping for a reprieve against F.Day on the road. But, ominously, F.Day's arena is nicknamed Graveyard, so...

14. Twotone Touloose
EFFG: 77 | OPP EFFG: 131
Tee665's group getting an early benefit of the unencapsulated whitestok crew to start the season grants them win #1 and with the benefit of the automatic 50-point victory a temporary reign in the Great 8 at #1 in the standings. But that was short-lived as reality came crashing down in the form of Fort Wayne's thrashing in an epically Patient battle. They did manage to be up 3 after one quarter, but that was short lived, and they trailed the rest of the game. Twotone host Vile on Saturday before traveling to The Headstone Arena (what's with all the death focus, guys?!) to take on the Zombies in what should be apocalyptic.

15. Las Vegas High Rollers
EFFG: 65 | OPP EFFG: 143
Bimpy's start has not been fun, though they did get to score 91 points in their game one loss to the Rebels. But San Dominica was not so nice as hosts, granting them only 64 points across four quarters, though they didn't have anything too embarrassing in terms of point totals in each quarter, and their perimeter defense showed up. Here comes the Internet Lovers before Vegas takes their show to southpaw for what will surely be decapitation.

16. Żubr Białystok
EFFG: 0 | OPP EFFG: 0
Technically a 0 OPP EFFG would be the best score...but that's definitely not the case. I'm always a little saddened by managers who go AWOL - here's hoping whitestok shows back up and picks up where he left off with his tremendous training job of Shaun Hatch.

That is all for this week - good luck in the Cup and let's see what Week 2 brings us!

Hope you do more of this.

This was really fun! I echo the ask for more.

Between the power rankings and post-game interviews this is the leader in the clubhouse for the most fun I've had in a league thread!

I'll do my best. It takes a fair bit of time - mostly depends on my work load. Thanks for the good feedback though!

Warriors - Linndale Kickoff Show: The Speedway Part 1

Charles
This is Charles Sanborn and yes that new voice you’ve heard, Brian Sanborn is related. But the analysis skills stops there. We are here at the kickoff show. Here with me is one of the best to ever take the hardwood for the San Dominica Warriors, the iron man himself Douglas Diamond. Welcome DD!
Douglas
Thanks Charles, good to be here on the other side of the booth. Funny now I’m the one who gets to do the talking about instead of being the one talked about.
Charles
Surprisingly in this intense rivalry that goes back to season 37, you have never played a game in it.
Douglas:
No surprisingly hmm that is something because probably if you ask most San Dan fans who their most intense rival or who is the Celtics to their Lakers or the Auburn to their Alabama, most of them will say either Linndale or the Lion Rebels.
Charles:
Okay, last season, intense game between these two and it made perfect sense for it to be because almost everyone in the Big 8 saw this as a play-in game. Basically the winner would have an inside track to the playoffs while the other was likely going to outside looking in. The Warriors go in to the Speedway. Are ahead in the 4th with just a little under two minutes Warriors are up by 9 and then Linndale just mounts this amazing come back cutting it down to 3 with 22 seconds. Granja make the defensive play on the 3pt shot by Valgur but neither Big Turk nor Bermudez blocks out Genipalu but Geni can’t finish the dunk and Bermudez corrals the shot. Warriors hang on to win. Warriors make the playoffs, Linndale ends up outside looking in.
Douglas:
So yeah, I’ll just chime in because I think I know where you’re trying to go with this. Oh yeah, if there is a snapshot of a Linndale calender, this date is very likely to be circled. Look these two have had some classic games between them over the last 5 seasons. I’m not expecting it to be any different as the Warriors once again right after that final meeting last season. On top of the three games the season before when Linndale broke the hearts of 20,000 fans in the SMG! This game is going to be nasty.


Last edited by Coach Stephenson at 9/2/2023 6:38:00 PM

Warriors - Linndale Kickoff Show: The Speedway Part 2

Charles:
These are two teams that know each other obviously well. Stevenson and Pio Riena are two of the longest tenure coaches in the Big 8. What are you thinking about if you’re either of these two guys.
Douglas:
If I’m Stevenson, my first thought is contain the three. I know most people don’t think of that because they’re so use to the highlight reels of Guyton driving and dish and Hearn on the inside but Linndale is a dangerous three point shooting team. San Dan loves to go zone and despite them being one of the more proficient 3-2 zone teams in the Big 8, they have been burned on the outside by Linndale before. If I’m Pio Riena, the big concern has to be winning the Battle of France. Christophe Nguyen has to win out over Etienne Blanchet, who is probably the weak link in this high tempo San Dominica offense. Etienne seemed to turn a corner earlier last season in terms of finally becoming scorer but kind of regressed as the season went on. I’m looking for Pio to try to defensively force the Warriors to making Blanchet have to be a scorer rather than live with him just being a dime dropper.
Charles:
To me it’s the battle of the inside. Begin is going to get his, but can Big Turk somehow stay out of foul trouble. He’s number 1 in fouls in the Big 8 and that can’t be good being that when he is in the game he is a beast on the boards. But being a silverback as Coach likes to put it, doesn’t help if you can’t stay on the floor. I know Coach has been trying to go young, but I’m hoping that he goes with the veteran Bermudez over Manley. Manley is good player but he seems to lack the desire to take it to the next level. Bermudez paired with Tercero gives that Warriors’ bench an edge defensively that could be the difference maker between the Warriors breaking Linndale fans’ hearts or the Warriors leaving the Speedway 1-2
With that our lines are open. We’re curious about your expectations for this game and any other questions regarding the Linndale/Warrior rivalry when we come back from this commercial break.

Air Allnite: “Pio, short version is the kids need a crapload of work. Nguyen is not gonna be what you want until he starts to tighten his handle up and gets range on his shot. He’s better driving. McCain tightened up his handle, but can’t drive. Gotta figure out how to get Donny time on the court. Kyle tightened his handle up some more; the best all around guard on this team just keeps getting better. Shooter got better getting to the hoop; if he ever learns to finish at the rim he might be almost unguardable. The best backcourt is Kyle and Shooter.”

Pio Reina: “Air, the problem with that is we cannot play Mantas with McCain or Nguyen. Neither is ready or capable as an offensive threat to counter Mantas’ lack of aggressiveness. If he’s going to shoot, that’s one thing. If he doesn’t the second unit is trash. Mantas and his defense plays well with Kyle, and Shooter’s gonna shoot. Let him blaze away off the bench. Marshall, Reynolds or Reese? What’s the early line on that battle?”

Marshall Richards: “Too close to call. If Pemwieser could play on the perimeter defensively, I ‘d say go with him as the backup 3. I can even see Hatfield as an option there. The idea of Reese developing and playing with Pemwieser on the second unit would be nice if we think Reese can develop. The reality is one of those guys is gonna be the backup 3 and we may not know who it is until the end of the season. If Reese or Reynolds take their time developing, do not be surprised if Hatfield steals that job.”

PR: “Byron, how are the bigs looking?”

Byron Helm: “I’m working with Pemwieser to improve his decision making ability. He can play pick and roll or pick and pop, but if he improves his passing, he’s more dangerous in both. Floyd wants to continue his work on shooting, but I think he may be re-emphasizing the inside game some. Leo is much the same. Hatfield as well. This group will be fine.”

PR: “On to tonight. Coach Stevenson is going to have his team ready. We know them. They know us. You know the drill. Be ready for a fight.”

BH: “The boys know. Floyd says the inside game will carry the load.”

AA: “Funny; Kyle says he’s ready to go for 40 tonight.”

MR: “Kyle always says that. So does Shooter.”

AA: “You doubting my guys?”

MR: “Nope. I know them. I don’t doubt them. I know you too, and that’s the problem.”

BH: “Are we having a problem here? Do I need to enforce some etiquette around here?”

PR: “Easy, big man. Marshall, Air, is there a problem?

Both, in unison: “No.”

PR: “Good. Now back to tonight. We’ve got to get these kids some time. McCain and Nguyen have to learn at some point.”

AA: “These kids are not ready!”

PR: “We’ve already gone over the rotations to account for that. The kids need to play. Better they learn how we want them to. They’ve seen how we do things. It’s their turn. Our job is to make it easier for them. Are you saying you can’t do your job, Air?”

MR: “I don’t like having to trust kids that haven’t earned that trust.”

PR: “We don’t need to trust them right now. We need to be able to trust them in the postseason. Our job is developing them to get us there. Coach Stevenson is gomma kill these kids. The vets have to play ball for us to have a chance. You know it, I know it, and I suspect Coach Stevenson knows it. Tell Kyle and Shooter to go crazy. Floyd, too. We’re gonna need it.”

Happy Ourer: “This one started out okay, got real ugly by halftime, got even uglier when Kyle Knowles went down with an injury in the third quarter. Joshua, what do you take away from this beating?”

Joshua Doe: “Happy, I have nothing. Hearn was horrendous shooting; I guess it was that Luis Alberto Baiao didn’t kill us. There wasn’t much positive here.

HO: “We bring in our guest analyst, Linndale legend Roberto Gurgone. Roberto, tell the fans what you saw.”

RG: “Let me start with some general observations. Linndale’s defense wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great, but it could have been a whole lot worse. Despite Hearn and Genipabu’s efforts, we didn’t rebound well. Once again, we can’t take care of the basketball. Pio is going to be livid. 10 of the 17 turnovers were from his starters. Pio may not let this team run ever again!”

JD: “Roberto, what were your takeaways from the game.”

RG: “This is what I’m calling ‘The Season of The Point Guard’. Losing Rod Guyton hurt a lot, but now it’s time for Trenton Tovar and Mantas Petriukstis to show what they can do. Christophe Nguyen and Rich McCain have to show something. Of those 4, McCain and Nguyen are true point guards, and that’s the problem, because neither has shown they are ready for a bigger role. Petriukstis looks like he’s best served off the bench. I think they’re going to have to bring in a new point guard. One or 2 of those guys are going to have to change my mind, but this team needs a true point guard.”

HO: “Anything else catch your eye, Roberto?”

RG: “Happy, I’ll take the top 6 guys on this roster against anyone. Add Pemwieser and Hatfield; those guys are young and intriguing. They have promise and flash just enough to keep you intrigued. I don’t believe in Nguyen short term. Long term, he’s a backup point guard. I don’t believe in McCain long term at point guard. I don’t believe in Reese offensively. I just don’t know about Reynolds. What I’m saying is the back end of this roster needs an overhaul, or the team needs to make some changes and commit to the kids full time. You can’t do that with Hearn and Knowles on the roster. If they get a point guard, things get interesting.”

JD: “What, in your eyes, makes things interesting?”

RG: “The Hatfield-Pemwieser duo. They give you the opportunity to play then together on the second unit, ideally with Tovar, and grow from there. You can also split up Hearn and Genipabu and have Hearn start with Genipabu off the bench, allowing Hatfield and Pemwieser to get valuable playing time. Get a solid backup or upgrade at the 3, and all of a sudden this team is as deep and as dangerous as ever, but it has to start at the point guard. A second unit with Tovar, Petriukstis, Hatfield or Pemwieser, and Genipabu is tough. Put Sokmen on that unit or just a solid backup for him. Changes things a lot, doesn’t it?”

HO: “Roberto, are you saying this roster isn’t irretrievably broken?”

RG: “Yes. You had a great run with Guyton at the point, but people forget Guyton isn’t a point guard. Tovar and Petriukstis aren’t either. You don’t have anyone setting up the other guys on the floor for easy looks. You don’t have that coach on the floor who reads the defense and adjusts before the defense even knows what happened. This team doesn’t even have a serious drive-and-kick-or-finish threat. Teams know to guard against the 3 point shot. A drive and kick threat makes Hearn and Genipabu even more dangerous. It also opens up Pemwieser for the pick and pop. It gives you options. You already have the weapons; why not use them?”

HO: “We know the GM is not afraid to make a move.”

RG: “The move is point guard. Get one.”