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Week Four Power Rankings & Notes
Well, we've hit the 36% mark of the season and while in Season 58 things seemed to have settled in, thanks to the transfer list movement, we're seeing some bumps along the way, at least in the upper portions of the conferences, making for some topsy turvey-ness. This week's rankings will look back to where teams were after one week in the rankings to see how things have changed since the dawn of the season.

We are down to only one remaining undefeated team as Philly Dribble suffered their first defeat at the hands of the recently reformed Philadelphia Spartans, while Hustlas is holding strong and wheeling/dealing their way to the top of the standings. Linndale with some good movement, too, while BKDogs has had a few departures.

Week 4 Player Notes & Stats
As we round into the interconference play, here are the current league leaders. Carolina's Trent Begley is neck and neck with Miami's Marko Maurin for the scoring title so far, sitting at 23.8 & 23.7 PPG, respectively. That's about 4 points less than last season's scoring leader at this time. Hustlas' Slawek Klin leads by one whole rebound over San Dominica's Jérome Bégin, with 15.6 RPG, and Trent Begley is also leading the way in assists, with 7.2 - just over 1/2 an assist more than Härmo Vaarandi of Spartan lore. Żubr Białystok's Clark Riggins leads the league in FG% with 71.1%, while Carolina's Thomas Plummer is averaging 57.9% on threes (though with only 19 shots attempted, I'd be remiss to not point out Juljonas Gilcas's (Philly Dribble) 36.4% on 20 more shots). We've got four players who've been perfect from the charity strip, but it's Zubr's Domantas Apvinis with the most at 18, though recently departed Čamil Grbac from BKDogs was on a pretty incredible run with 30-31 FT made.

With that, we'll get on to the rankings. This week's rankings will include week one's rank in parenthesis behind the team's name.

Week Four Power Rankings
1. Hustlas (7)
As mentioned, the lone undefeated team in the league, Hustlas has only one loss in all of their official BB games (we're excluding personal league games here), finally losing by 12 in BBM to a lower ranked opponent (as detailed in Reece's excellent post earlier). Three of their wins have been blow outs, but this week's matchups were closer as they defeated then seeded #5's in both conferences Żubr Białystok by 9 and 209’s MostWanted by 14. We get our epic matchup of the season this Saturday as they travel to face Philly Dribble before then playing host to the pleasantly surprising 2nd seed in the Big 8, Carolina Rebels. Depending on tactics, enthusiasm, and game shapes, both of these matchups could be tight. But all in all, Reece is proving savvy at bringing in players to compete at a high level and edge out some wins.

2. The Beer Bellys (3)
Listen. I don't know what to tell you. Yes, I know they have a 5-3 record. Yes, I know that they lost to Miami (who made an incredible leap in OPP EFFG this week), but this is how the numbers play out and as we learned in Moneyball, the numbers don't lie (they just might not win championships). This week's rankings are going to be interesting because of the effects of some of the games this last week. Because of that, the 3rd ranked EFFG & OPP EFFG team averages out to be 2nd overall according to my impeccable formula. Don't @ me. With a challenging loss to The Ashkickers (losing by 15 and scoring only 64 points against their vaunted defense) and a pleasant walk in the park blow out win against BOBBBS, they find themselves facing the suffering Lion Rebels on the road before hosting BKDogs. Am I ranking them this high so that I can cackle manically and make myself feel better about my terrible team on Saturday if my Rebels somehow win? Maybe. I'm mostly just disappointed to not be getting a free keg by being the visiting team at The Keg.

3. Philly Dribble (1)
Philly took care of business against the upstart Carolina Rebels, winning by 13 on the road and then had to "travel" across town to face the Spartans where they were upset by 6 and held to only 76 points despite technically out-rating them on the night (130-123). They appear to have suffered on the boards with a 16-rebound deficit for the game, thanks in part to new addition Sorin Nitã bringing down 18 by himself. Then the aforementioned Face Off of the Season Saturday night before traveling to take on Żubr Białystok. Despite the surprising defeat, Philly still sits pretty according to the numbers.

4. The Ashkickers (2)
Having only lost one game so far to the Hustlas, they've been fairly dominant averaging a 26-point advantage over their 7 wins and only losing by 7 in their lone loss. This last week, they beat whom I have ranked 2nd before dismantling the Lion Rebels. They take their show on the road to the DogPound to face BKDogs before heading back home to play host to 209, in what could be an interesting matchup depending on tactics.

5. San Dominica Warriors (5)
San Dom pushed up above Linndale with their 5-3 record thanks to point differential, with an impressive and curious 213 PD with 3 losses on their resume. A solid 10-point victory over Linndale last Saturday (which wasn't exactly as close as it wound up looking thanks to holding Linn to 17, 18, and 11 points in each of the first three quarters), followed by decimation of Motor City on the road again leads them into a nice easy game on Saturday against Sweaty Socks before playing host to the Spartans who bring their new entourage to town. Should be a good matchup!

6. Miami Cleo (8)
packer_22 is putting together a nice little season going 5-2 in conference, including a 50-point smackdown of Motor City last Saturday before then somewhat surprisingly beating Linndale in a game that I would've thought would've been closer than 18 points, finding themselves up 19 at the half and never letting up. While they're out of the Cup, they find a welcoming venture to BOBBBSBURGS before then playing host to my sad sack of a squad. They should be standing tall after this week, and moving up this list if all goes well.

7. Linndale (6)
Tough week for Linndale who started 5-1 before losing their third-round Cup matchup to start a string of losses that reached four (counting BBM). They dropped both league games this week in a close one against San Dominica on TV and then getting drubbed by Miami on the road. Fortunately, they see some light as they face both Motor City and Sweaty Socks this week, so they should be sitting at 7-3 and still positioned to battle for a playoff spot. They did just bring in a new, young Center, Spanish-born Ramón Sanz Garcáa, who stands 6'10 and is still just 21 years old. He's averaged a rating of 12 with 11.9 RPG and 8.3 PPG for Spain's Olimpia Dantesco in Div IV.26. He's most likely a bit of a project still, but I'd guess Speedtraps has some specific plans in mind. The bigger purchase comes in the form of Estonian SF Daniil Kamp who should be a solid improvement for them.

8. Carolina Rebels (9)
It does feel a bit blasphemous to have the 2nd seed in the Big 8 with a 6-2 record this low on the charts, and kudos to Daisy Merollin who has managed tactics to their advantage in several ways this season. They finally lost their second game, unsurprisingly to Philly Dribble before getting Sweaty Socks served up on a platter for them. They're also still alive in the Cup, but now face the 26th ranked US team. They face the turned around Philadelphia Spartans at home before traveling to take on Hustlas. Carolina ranks 5th in EFFG (122.9), but they rank 10th in OPP EFFG (96.9). Now that last number isn't terrible, but we've got 11 teams averaging less than 100 OPP EFFG and 8 of those teams are averaging 76 or less. Defense is stingy this season, and I think we're seeing that in the offensive production of each team.

9. 209's MostWanted (4)
209's settled into 4-4, and look to be a difficult matchup in most situations. They have been a bit up and down, losing to Linndale to start the season before dominating Lion Rebels and the Warriors and then losing to Carolina. Still, they're sitting at 5th after beating out BKDogs and then losing on the road to Hustlas. They had a nice Cup win last night to stay alive to the 256 round and face Żubr Białystok at home before traveling to face The Ashkickers next Tuesday. I say a chance for 1-1 to stay at .500 on the season. What say you?

10. Żubr Białystok (10)
whitestok's .500 season, landing them on the other side of the league in 5th place has been another tale of up and down. They're beating those they should clearly beat, but losing games they need to win to compete for a playoff spot (they did beat the Spartans, but that was pre-purchases). They're going to have to perform well to hold on to at least 5th, if not a playoff spot. Games this week against the aforementioned 209 before playing host to Philly Dribble. Will they land at 5-5 after this week?

11. Lion Rebels (11)
I'm really sick of training plans. I was hoping to be able to stick around in Div III while I got some new blood up to speed, but my hopes of that are waning. 2-6 feels like an injustice to Terry Armstead who’s nearing the final stages of his prime before old age takes effect (anyone have any Tom Brady serum?). It was nice to face BOBBBS this week, but I had to treat them like a Cup game to ensure I advanced to the 256 round. I knew I'd lose to The Ashkickers, but losing like that hurt (11 first quarter points and missing on GDP). We take on The Beer Bellys and Miami Cleo - games I'll need to salvage this season, but I don't know if my boys are up for it. They might just be looking ahead to Week 6.

12. The Philadelphia Spartans (14)
I expect this group to continue to rise, especially after their defeat of Philly Dribble at home this week after their dominance of Sweaty Socks. While they're still the 6th seed at 3-5, I'm guessing that will change with a tear through the Big 8. Everyone has to recalculate now, starting with Carolina and San Dominica. While they've seen a modest improvement in EFFG (13.3 points up), it's their OPP EFFG that's really moved the needle going from giving up 124 EFF in the first week down to 97.9. That's still only good for 11th in OPP EFFG, but I expect that trend to continue. Sorin Nitã has proved dominant down low in just 3 games and Florian Taylor is proving to be fairly effective at the 4 position for them, but it's Gilberto Romão who's been a delight, averaging 22.9 PPG as their scorer at the SF position which was a shift with the arrival of Taylor.

13. BKDogs (13)
Wisdom sold off SG Čamil Grbac who was averaging 17.6 PPG, but had some pitiful Russel Westbrook like attempts from three, going 7-41, which had to be maddening because every once in a while, he'd shoot 8-9 but then the next night goes out and shoots 0-8. While his free throw shooting was top notch, I think they'll be better off in the long run. They also shipped off German SG/SF Lorenz Papenmoor who was averaging 18.7 PPG. Those moves drop their roster to 6 players, though they still have $177k worth of payroll. Their biggest problem will be game shape, but maybe they'll be able to bring in some scrubs to balance that out a bit. Still, with over a third of the season over, they'd have to go on quite a tear to get to the upper side of the relegation matchups for a chance to stick around.

14. Motor City Waddupdoe (12)
It's been a rough stretch for brandonfy2, as their losing streak has now reached six. They averaged only 47 points per game this last week against Miami and San Dom and now travel to face Linndale before playing host to BOBBBSBURGS, which should net them a second win. The Aussie Center Paul Cater has been a nice addition this season, sitting at #3 in REB/game, and #2 in Offensive Rebounds/game (39th in all of Division III). He's averaging a double-double on the season, but seems to be their only real light.

15. Sweaty Socks (15)
It's been a rough venture for Foot Sniffer as well, who've actually experienced a decent downturn in EFFG (down 10 points to 19.8) and a big jump in allowed OPP EFFG (up 30 points to 151.8). If not for BOBBBS, they'd easily be at the bottom, giving up more than 100 points per game. Even Motor City had their way with them at the start of the season. Fortunately for them, they've only got two more games before getting their key game of the season to not go undefeated as they travel to BOBBBSBURGS, where they should pick up a win in Week 6. But for now, they travel to San Dominica before hosting Linndale in what should be another two losses to end up 0-10 on the season. Give credit, where credit's due, they're doing all this with the exact players they were given when they started. That's what I call a home-grown team!

16. BOBBBSBurgs (16)
It is with a heavy heart that I announce BOBBBS has gone BOT. I don't think BOTTTSBURGS will be as delicious, but they might actually improve on EFFG and OPP EFFG, which is good because BOBBBS was on a steady rise to hit 200 OPP EFFG. Their new roster features 21 players, with 28-year-old Michael Spain looking to be their best player, but not seeing the floor. Looking back, I don't know exactly when they went bot, just that I noticed it today.

With that, good luck to ya'll, except for thatguy and packer22 - I hope you both suck.

"It's time guys. Today is the day we play the top team in the league. We have never beaten Philly Dribble. We've played them one time, and it was after the destruction of our team last season. We must find a way to give them a run for their money this season. Is the team ready?" Asked John Walton.

"The team is in good spirits. That loss in Cup play really helped. We gave them a run, and almost won it. Should have if Denkovic did not get injured. We will be running a good game plan I think. We should give them a fight, says coach Boone.

"How are the new guys?" Asked Walton. "Well, Mauro is coming along fine. He is still suffering a bit in game shape, but the hope is that it doesn't affect him too much and he can contribute. The big isn't ready. As you know, he is for the second half of the season. So he will be out. But my worry spots is Mauro, and Ozakan. Ozakan has been struggling. He actually is one reason for our defeat in that cup match. But we are hoping he comes around soon. Now that we are out of the cup match, we will experiment a lot with him."

"Okay, good," says John Walton. "And our chances?"

"Well, knowing Philly Dribbles history, I'd say 45-55 in their favor. If we had our new big ready and activated, I'd give the edge to us. Philly has a team that plays well together. I don't know how they lost that last game. Philadelphia Spartans did what we do. And they are a fire team now. But, we are still unique, and if everyone plays the way they can play, I don't see us losing. But going off of all 50/50 balls, and team history, we will give a good showing hopefully, but may not come out on top. You must remember, Ashkickers is the best in our conference, though the record says we are. We are third, maybe fourth in this league. If we keep fighting though, we may pull through and win the championships," finished Coach Boone.

Last edited by Reece at 12/3/2022 5:57:08 PM

Happy: "Happy Ourer and Marshall Richards here on the Linndale Basketball Pre-Game Show, and there is a lot to cover tonight!"

Marshall: "There sure is! There are questions surrounding the team and direction, and those questions need answering!"

Happy: "Questions like, who's playing up front? Where is the bench scoring? What's happened to Paul Lutz? Why can't the guards score?"

Marshall: "Will the new guys make their presence felt? What is this team' signature style this season? And, my favorite, what is going on here?"

Happy: "We'll try to get you the answers so stick around!"

*commercial break*

Happy: "And we're back, so let's get to it. Marshall, let's look at what's going on with the team and where they are going?

Marshall: "You have to start with the roster additions. Daniil Kamp was a heralded addition and while you can see the skill set he brings, the production hasn't quite matched yet. I believe that's because he's being used at power forward instead of his natural small forward. I believe they are trying to get him on the floor and maximize his talents with the front court and that may be a bit problematic given the flux up front."

Happy: "That brings us to the other addition, Ramon Sanz Garcaa. As an upgrade over the out of position Cyozo Gzagala, the improvement on the boards is evident. So now the team is trying to figure the combinations of who at power forward and when. Do you put Czagala at power forward or bring him off the bench?"

Marshall: "You also ask the same question of Lutz and Kamp. From a talent standpint, you might think Czagala and Kamp start, but you have to look at the fit. Do Guevara, Lutz, and Datler help the second unit get stronger? What you have is 2 new additions that are affecting the rotations of the starter and backup minutes at small forward, power forward and center. That has to get fixed."

Happy: "Once it does, we should see positive results."

Marshall: "That makes sense, but it does not account for working in young guys inthe rotation. Recently we've seen an increase in playing time for Art Reese at the small forward position. They think he has a bright future but he needs court time to develop. Defensively, he can play right now. It's the rest of his game that needs to improve."

Happy "Well, you how Coach and Pio are. If you can't play defense, you won't get on the court much. So it stands to reason he's earned a level of playing time just on defense alone."

Marshall: "Expect that to be a matchup thing. He'll get time when it benefits him AND the team. As for the bench scoring, the second you get the lineup and rotation set, that's when you'll see the bench scoring improve. You're already seeing an improvement on the boards. That's no accident. We knew after losing Coronado and Klimenkov last season it would be a step back rebounding, but things are trending inthe right direction with further room to grow."

Happy: "Sounds like you're saying just give it a bit of time."

Marshall: "They'll be fine. Just let them work things out. You can see the improvement already, and more's on the way. Linndale's best basketball is ahead of them."

Happy: "We'll have more on Daniil Kamp and Ramon Sanz Garcaa after the commercial break!"

"Well, we lost every battle in that game. Bad game plan, better game plan by them. And they had strong offensive flow, and won every position possible. And on top of that, outscored us by 13 in the final period," said Bobby Sparks.

"We have more work to do it seems. But I think we already have the solution in our other injured big man. We could use a very good young pg to help Denkovic. But other than that, I still think we should be able to beat them the next time we play them," said John Walton.

"That would be in the finals. If we get there that is," said John Walton.

"Well, I hope we get better. We lost to the top seed in this division. We have the second seed next. We have to plan better. And that's on me. He used our own plan against us. And not only that, because we planned the way we did, he had it easy. So, I will keep working with the guys. We will rebound from this," says Coach Boone.

"Good. See how the guys are doing. And let's make sure we are ready next game," said Bobby Sparks.

Happy: “Happy Ourer and Marshall Richards on the Linndale Basketball Post Game Show. Marshall. I understand we have Coach and Pio Reina both on via video, so let’s get right to it!”

Marshall: “Let’s go!”

Happy: “Welcome Coach and Pio! Congratulations after the win tonight. What were the keys?”

Coach: “Thank you Happy. We’re working through some adjustments, but tonight some things worked themselves out for us. We were +15 on the boards, had a 3 to 1 assist to turnover for the game, took care of the basketball, forced turnovers and takeaways and got after it defensively. We moved closer to playing our brand of basketball.”

Marshall: “Pio, Marshall Richards here. Regarding the rotations, what did you learn tonight?”

Pio: “At least for tonight, we saw the Kamp-Guevara pairing at the forwards was very efficient. We saw that duo along with Sanz Garcaa to be efficient. Off the bench, Datler and Czagala were effective on the boards. We’re looking for more bench production and that was a solid first step, but this does not mean roles today are cemented.”

Happy: “Coach, Pio, what about the shooting woes? Any answers there?”

Coach: “Happy, give the defense of the other team some credit. They are professional basketball players also. Having said that, we’ve got to get Coenen and Knowles both back on track. Earlier in the season I thought Coenen particularly needed to be more aggressive. Until we can get him back on track, we may need to dial back his shot attempts, but that means we need to find scoring elsewhere. There may need to be a shift in our playing style to make that happen.”

Pio: “There are definitely some adjustments we are looking at. We also need to find scoring off the bench. The key is to do that without sacrificing defense.”

Marshall: “Coach, Pio, the team looked strong attacking the rim on offense, and I noticed over half of the free throw attempts came from the second unit. Was there a concerted effort to attack the rim and is that going to be a thing moving forward?”

Coach: “That’s a good observation, Marshall. Attacking the rim is always something we want to do when possible, but I want our shooters to have the confidence to pull the trigger on the three ball, too. It’s a balance we’re working to achieve.”

Pio: “One thing I’ll add to that is, if you look at our shooting on the second unit tonight. It was 13 of 37. The second unit has to be more productive and efficient on offense. We still have a ton of work to do, but it will get done.”

Marshall: “Coach, Pio thank you both for your time. Again, congratulations on the win tonight, and good luck on your upcoming game Tuesday.

Coach and Pio: “Thanks Happy, thanks Marshall, have a great night!”

Happy: “More on the basketball talk on the WINO radio. We’re out of time for the Linndale Post Game Show. For Marshall Richards, I’m Happy Ourer. See you next time for the Pre Game show!

Last edited by Speedtraps at 12/4/2022 2:29:35 AM

Day 9 (Saturday 3 December 2022) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
The Beer Bellys 89 - Lion Rebels 71
Miami Cleo 139 - BOBBBSBURGS 44
Motor City Waddupdoe 46 - Linndale 105
Sweaty Socks 31 - San Dominica Warriors 137
The Philadelphia Spartans 75 - Carolina Rebels 88
Hustlas 69 - Philly Dribble 91
Żubr Białystok 90 - 209’s MostWanted 98
The Ashkickers 100 - BKDogs 41

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 139 : Miami Cleo
Rebounds : 80 : Miami Cleo
Assists : 42 : San Dominica Warriors
Steals : 12 : Miami Cleo, 209’s MostWanted
Block Shots : 15 : San Dominica Warriors

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 36 : J. Segovia (The Beer Bellys)
Rebounds : 24 : J. Bégin (San Dominica Warriors)
Assists : 12 : É. Blanchet (San Dominica Warriors)
Steals : 4 : D. Santana (Miami Cleo)
Block Shots : 4 : B. Pimentel (Philly Dribble), F. Taylor (The Philadelphia Spartans), V. Sesamo (The Ashkickers)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : D. Santana (Miami Cleo) (20 Points, 6 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 4 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 26
Shooting Guard : V. Sesamo (The Ashkickers) (23 Points, 1 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 2 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 26
Small Forward : M. Maurin (Miami Cleo) (23 Points, 3 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 3 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 28
Power Forward : J. Bégin (San Dominica Warriors) (21 Points, 24 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 1 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 47
Center : G. Locus (Miami Cleo) (26 Points, 23 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 2 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 50

MVP of the evening
G. Locus (Miami Cleo) (26 Points, 23 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 2 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 50

The bad performance of the evening
W. Westmoreland (Sweaty Socks) (5 Points, 7 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots)L. Adams (Sweaty Socks) (0 Points, 1 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -13

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : J. Moore (BOBBBSBURGS) : 8 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : G. Blair (BOBBBSBURGS) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : G. Locus (Miami Cleo), I. Gamón (Motor City Waddupdoe), D. Harden (Lion Rebels), L. McKnight (Lion Rebels), S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok), Z. Elsneris (BKDogs), D. Švarplys (BKDogs) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : G. Gattoni (The Ashkickers), J. Segovia (The Beer Bellys) : 4 Three points

The best performer : T. Armstead (Lion Rebels) : Rating : 17.5

The worst performer : J. Moore (BOBBBSBURGS) : Rating : 2.0

BF: "This is Bill Funk with the coach of the Carolina Rebels before their big matchup with the Hustlas tomorrow. Coach, this is a huge game, how can you come out of Smackdown Arena with a win?"

C: "Score more points. Simple enough but it's easier said than done."

BF: "Coach you're certainly living up to your reputation as an open book. Mind giving up a little more detail?"

C: "Well we're going up against one of the top teams in the league at their house. We didn't play there last season but I've talked to some of the other coaches and they have told me it's a very difficult place to pull out a win. I'm just hoping those fans aren't as crazy as the fans at The Keg. Last thing we need is a tough game and to have the fans throwing beer at us. Then again I could use some beer if we end up losing."

BF: "How has the preparation for this game been going?"

C: "Well it's been a tough one. We are trying to balance a lot of things right now. A win here would be huge but we would have to play perfectly to even have a shot to win this game. Our staff is also trying to balance the team's run in the cup and training the younger players. We've been trying to pick our battles wisely but this may be a game we can't pass up. To beat a team of this caliber would do wonders for our postseason goals and for the fan base."

BF: "Is the team ready?"

C: "We've had home court advantage in most of our tougher match-ups this season so our team isn't used to fighting to fighting in a tough environment. I expect the Hustlas to get out there with energy and look to defend their home court. Our guys will have to be ready to fight to get out of there with a win. We'll find out if they're ready tomorrow."

BF: "That's all the time I have for you coach, thank you!"

C: "Yeah, sure."

...inside the GM office…

Pio Reina: “Look, we have a big problem here and no clear way to solve it. Our starting guards are far and away our best players, but they’re just not effective enough. We need them to make the game easier for the younger guys and that’s just not happening.”

Coach: “We lack scoring on the second unit. I know Sutori had to be moved, but man we miss him.”

GM: “I know the feeling; guys. Lutz seems like he’s having a down year, but… he’s not. We’ve got to figure out how to better integrate Kamp into things. He and Lutz are the keys to this team.”

Pio: “We also have to keep working the bigs. There’s more in the tank for all of them, we just have to find how to get it out of them.”

Coach: “Czagala, Datler, Guevara are trending fine, and will be better when Garcaa gets better integrated. I especially like the center rotation right now; we might be on to something there. We just need to see Nick and Czagala keep up what they’re doing.”

Pio: “I think Garcaa and Guevara have to be on the floor together right now, but that could change next season if Czagala can improve his shooting.”

Coach: “To see Nick off the bench with Datler would be something, but I think that’s about 2 years away. Nick is clearly the better perimeter player over Czagala; it’s the inside game where Nick is a bit behind him.”

GM: “I’m hearing you guys want to stay the course with the bigs and we gotta get more out of the guards. Is that right?”

Pio: “I think we’re in agreement there. I also think we’re in agreement that we may have to sacrifice a game or two in order to develop the rookies. Gross needs to play more. Jung needs minutes. I really want to see what we can do with Reese.”

Coach: “You know, Pio and I have been thinking about how to get more out of Brown and Teti…”

Pio: “...but before we do anything we need to know are there any surprises coming?”

GM: “I can’t say for sure; you guys know the guys we got weren’t exactly planned, but when an opportunity presents itself I’ll take it.”

Coach: “You’re still not a good poker player.”

GM: “Good thing we’re not playing poker, isn’t it?”