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Pio Reina addressed his team. “I’m feeling like trying something different tonight. I’m not going to yell or scream or anything like that. I’m going to tell you if I like something or not about your game tonight. Don’t think that just because we won I didn’t see things you guys need to work on. Wilson and McCain you guys did a nice job on the bench.” Laughter followed. “Good to see you guys brought your sense of humor. We’ll see who still has it at the end of this.”

If that statement couldn’t chill the room, nothing would.

“Mr. Guyton”, Pio began, “I have to put some respect on your name. Sir, you are on quite the roll. You are as close to unstoppable as I’ve seen anyone here!”

“Thanks, coach, and thanks to my teammates for making me look good.” Guyton seemed to sense a storm was coming for his teammates and tried to mitigate it a bit.

“Kyle, you’ve been pretty darn good yourself! I‘ve noticed. I see the sacrifice you’ve been making.” Knowles smiled and nodded. “Floyd, that was a great performance out there! I see the work you put in on expanding your game!” “Team effort, Coach!” Floyd was happy with his performance, but he also sensed the storm coming for his teammates. Right before he called the next name, Floyd saw the look on his coach’s face change.

Guyton saw it too. Both knew there was nothing they could do to save their teammates from what ws to come.

“Sokmen, there was once a guy who played here who was called ‘Invisible Man’. He did a lot of things that don’t always seem important, but teams don’t win without guys like that. Every so often, he explode with a big all around game that showed off his varied skills. You were not invisible. In fact I saw you playing for the opposition tonight. How else can you explain 6 turnovers?” Guyton recoiled along with Sokmen. Rod made a mental note to chat up Sokmen later.

“Mantas, you have much more in you. We need to see it. Nice game, but far too passive. We need you to be aggressive off the bench. Ramon, you seem comfortable. I don’t like it. Assert yourself more. You’ve found a role and fill it well, but you are capable of much more. We want to see you be much more.” Ramon rarely showed emotion. This time was no different.

“Reese, I’m yanking your playing time Tuesday. We need more offense off the bench. Rolland is taking your minutes. You know what you’ve got to do if you want them back. Rolland, you know what to do if you want to keep those minutes. I will not have a defensive liability on the court.” Reese and Rolland were both fuming. Floyd was already sitting with those two, Guyton noted. They’re in good hands, he thought. Still, gotta talk to those guys.

“Mann, I still don’t see it. Even when the metrics say you’ve improved. I’ll allow that I appreciate the turnover free game. Do that again.” Mann didn’t seemed bothered, but Pio knew better.

“Nguyen, decent job out there. You’ll get another chance to build on that. Show me something. Hatfield, I cannot abide a big man with more turnovers than rebounds. That’s a problem and you need to fix it.”

“Gentlemen, the Zombies shot very well. They moved the ball well. On offense, they did what they wanted. On the other hand, we gave them the basketball too many times and let them hang around way too long in this game. We showed we still have a lot to clean up. We are not where we want to be yet. We’ve got time to clean these things up. Get it done.”

Pio turned and stepped toward his office. He paused. "If anyone has a problem with anything I've said, as I have consistently told you from day one, my door is open. Except for you, Harrison. I'm tired of talking to you. Show me."

Tonight looked a lot better than season 47 where my team was dominated from beginning to end. Tuesday a lost for my team too. I just got a feeling.

I had to go back and look at that. I looked at my roster and cringed. The best part of that unbalanced team was the backcourt. As far as Tuesday goes, it would appear we both have our hands full.

The thing that kills me is how Freeman perimeter defense is an 18 but he allowed everyone and their little sister big 3 pointers throughout the game.

Day 11 (Saturday 24 June 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Tasty Tardsicles 86 - San Dominica Warriors 106
The Beer Bellys 84 - Lion Rebels 103
Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️ 101 - Linndale 114
Żubr Białystok 102 - 209’s MostWanted 104
Miami Cleo 81 - Philly Dribble 93
BKDogs 61 - Carolina Rebels 127
Super Sonics 120 - FR-S 93
LionPride 0 - Las Vegas Silver Stars 50

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 127 : Carolina Rebels
Rebounds : 67 : Carolina Rebels
Assists : 31 : Super Sonics
Steals : 10 : Lion Rebels, Linndale, Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️
Block Shots : 8 : Linndale

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 39 : R. Guyton (Linndale)
Rebounds : 24 : F. Hearn (Linndale)
Assists : 9 : S. Hollins (Lion Rebels), T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), T. Rumin (209’s MostWanted)
Steals : 5 : W. Acevedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️)
Block Shots : 6 : G. Locus (Miami Cleo)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : R. Guyton (Linndale) (39 Points, 2 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 39
Shooting Guard : T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️) (15 Points, 5 Rebounds, 9 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 22
Small Forward : M. Granja (San Dominica Warriors) (22 Points, 6 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots), M. Craig (Super Sonics) (15 Points, 4 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 23
Power Forward : F. Hearn (Linndale) (23 Points, 24 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 1 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 45
Center : G. Locus (Miami Cleo) (13 Points, 16 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 6 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 29

MVP of the evening
F. Hearn (Linndale) (23 Points, 24 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 1 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 45

The bad performance of the evening
D. Santana (Miami Cleo) (8 Points, 2 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots)G. Bolcioni (BKDogs) (4 Points, 1 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -8

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : S. Sökmen (Linndale) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : W. Acevedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), F. Ferrandis (BKDogs) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : S. Hollins (Lion Rebels), M. Grimm (Żubr Białystok) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : R. Guyton (Linndale) : 5 Three points

The best performer : T. Armstead (Lion Rebels), R. Guyton (Linndale) : Rating : 17.5

The worst performer : R. Mukhopadhyay (FR-S) : Rating : 4.0

I hate to break it to you, but 3 pointers are kind of our thing. We've got some shooters, snipers, and marksmen. We tend to have a minimum of 2 on the floor at all times. When our bigs get into the act like Hearn did last night, good luck with that.

Freeman can't cover them all by himself. Guyton is shooting .457 from outside and Knowles .438 fron deep. Freeman was matched up on Knowles, an 18 jump shooter. That still leaves Hearn, Petriukstis (off the bench) and Sokmen of whom the worst shoots .438 from downtown (minimum 10 attempts).

Minimum 10 attempts, Petriukstis is shooting .727 (8-11). Minimum 15, Hearn is .467 (7-15). When Tovar gets back, we gotta get him going.

My friend, defending the three ball against us is a TASK. Guyton is probably the best overall shooter. Knowles is 2nd best. This time next season, it's VERY possible Tovar is the best pure shooter on the team; the difference between 1 and 3 in these rankings isn't as big as their shooting stats would indicate.

Lest anyone think our bigs shooting 3's isn't worked on, I'll remind of the late season heroics of Ramon Sanz Garcaa. 7 of 11 on the season, who went 3 of 3 in a late season game we had to win to keep playoff hopes alive, and then 2 weeks later in the playoffs to lead us to a win. It's becoming what we do.

*returns to hunt for the elusive unicorn in my price range...

God, the Big 8 is a nightmare. Look at all those 7-3 records!

Gonna update that to 8-3. Much like last season, a really good team is going to miss the playoffs. I said it last year, when I insisted we'd make the playoffs. No one had better be comfortable; there's way too much basketball left to play. This is going to be a war of attrition. Injuries and depth are going to be key.

Harrison Mann was angry. He was angry at himself. He was angry at his coach. He was angry at his organization. He was angry because he was summoned to the office of the team’s General Manager. This is not the way he wanted to spend his rest day.

He would have knocked on the door, but it was open. He walked in to see the GM and his coach looking at video. Whoever that was has a good stroke, but isn’t all that impressive in the paint, he thought.

“Who is that guy?” Harrison was curious.

“You got here pretty quick. That is Pascal Michel Pemweiser. He’s either your teammate or replacement.” The GM wanted to get right to it. Pio never even looked away from the video.

“Harrison, we brought you here expecting to have to develop you a bit, and we have. Your inside game and rebounding have improved. You’re young enough that we’d hate to move on from you. The problem is there is no production or growth from you.”

Harrison flashed his anger. “Wait a minute! How can you say there’s no growth at the same time you say my inside game and rebounding have improved? That’s ridiculous!”

The GM responded. “We put you in a role where you could succeed. You defend the paint well. Your inside offense has improved. Your rebounding has improved. You possess skills that lead us to think there is a shot blocker waiting to come out. We primarily want bigs who can defend, rebound, knock down free throws, and protect the rim. You show the ability to do those things. You just don’t do them in games. Nobody cares about scrimmage stats. June 17th, 36 minutes, 10 and 8. Tasty Tardsicles owned you. June 6th, 34 minutes, 6 and 11 with 5 turnovers. Except for the turnovers, that game wasn’t so bad. You did a nice job on Terry Armstead. Those are the only two times you were given significant time in a regular season game.”

“Kid, you either get better or get gone. Pemweiser is going to be here. We think we can develop him, and he has a skill set that frankly we don’t have here. He’s not the defender you can be, but you ain’t in his league offensively. He’s serviceable on defense, and we can make him better. Same on the boards. He’s going to be a part of this team. With Damian Hatfield developing, we have to ask if there’s room for you. Is there?”

Harrison answered with a question of his own. “Who do you have that can do what I can do?” He was offended by the question asked of him. The GM replied succinctly.

“Floyd does, Ramon does, Serkan does. Pemweiser isn’t far behind you. Hatfield isn’t either. You’ve become a want, not a need. I want to see you succeed, but not to the detriment of this team. It’s your call. Show us you belong. Show us you’re indispensable. Make the case. You’re either indispensable or you’re expendable. You decide which it is.”

Gordon Long had to admit he was a bit surprised to see his boss in his open doored office sitting with a root beer float near his right hand and the sound of 80's music.

Gordo:
"I see the win against the Tarts have you in a good mood."

Coach:
"Yes and no, it was good to get that win Saturday but Saturday just added to the good mood I've been in since Friday"

Gordo:
Friday?

Coach:
Yep

Gordo:
The day after a loss that costed us a potential 50 grand?

Coach:
Bah, we had a good cup run. That should be enough to shut up the potential grumbling from the emperor

Gordo:
Speaking of that. They are not thrilled with how you have been dealing with the media ...

Coach:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But more importantly Gordo we can now train! Like we've been wanting to

Gordo:
I see

Coach:
We have the four interdivision games left before the final conference home stretch. And we both know we are not where we wanted to be with our training goals.

Gordo:
Big Turk has been making good progress as has Tercero. Manley and Marquez have shown improvement and Maid has done his job, he's lit a fire in Blanchet and Ali Baba

Coach:
Yes but the rate is too slow. No, we need to improve our silverbacks or we're not going to come out with a winning record against our Fearsome Four and the West End Boys from Cali and Vegas are moving up from meddlng kids to hungry contenders. Nah Gordo, we got to get better on the inside and we got get better fast.

Gordo:
Well I'm sure you have a plan, what is it?

Coach:
I have an interesting lineup I was thinking about showing the Germans when we fly in but first I wanted to get your thoughts on this line up against the Drunken Masters

Gordo:
Do you have a nickname for every team, boss

Coach:
Of course I do. But right now that's not important what do you think of this frontcourt?

Last edited by Coach Stephenson at 6/26/2023 2:27:02 PM

Day 12 (Tuesday 27 June 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

After putting up a combined 67 points in the first half, not sure either Zombies or the Lion Rebels deserved to win, but for once when watching a match I was down in, I got to watch us steal a game on the road. Woof.

Night results
San Dominica Warriors 116 - The Beer Bellys 102
Lion Rebels 77 - Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️ 76
Linndale 77 - Żubr Białystok 97
209’s MostWanted 96 - Miami Cleo 90
Philly Dribble 116 - BKDogs 97
Carolina Rebels 103 - Super Sonics 95
FR-S 107 - LionPride 85
Las Vegas Silver Stars 76 - Tasty Tardsicles 119

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 119 : Tasty Tardsicles
Rebounds : 63 : Tasty Tardsicles
Assists : 35 : San Dominica Warriors
Steals : 16 : FR-S
Block Shots : 8 : Lion Rebels, LionPride, Tasty Tardsicles

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 48 : L. Filippelli (The Beer Bellys)
Rebounds : 20 : M. Coedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), C. Riggins (Żubr Białystok), R. Raich (209’s MostWanted)
Assists : 9 : É. Blanchet (San Dominica Warriors), F. Alidori (San Dominica Warriors)
Steals : 4 : J. Glicas (Philly Dribble), E. Jacobs (FR-S)
Block Shots : 4 : M. Watkins (Lion Rebels)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : L. Filippelli (The Beer Bellys) (48 Points, 4 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 41
Shooting Guard : T. Plummer (Carolina Rebels) (22 Points, 2 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 2 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 30
Small Forward : M. Granja (San Dominica Warriors) (46 Points, 9 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 43
Power Forward : C. Holley (LionPride) (30 Points, 16 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 2 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 39
Center : M. Coedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️) (28 Points, 20 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots), C. Goldsmith (Super Sonics) (24 Points, 18 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 34

MVP of the evening
M. Granja (San Dominica Warriors) (46 Points, 9 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 43

The bad performance of the evening
R. Descarpentries (The Beer Bellys) (2 Points, 8 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots)G. Solórzano (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️) (0 Points, 0 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots)A. Braka (Miami Cleo) (0 Points, 0 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -5

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : R. Stinson (LionPride), L. Jackson (LionPride) : 5 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok), G. Luongo (LionPride) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : R. Sedonio (Lion Rebels), G. Bolcioni (BKDogs) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : L. Filippelli (The Beer Bellys) : 9 Three points

The best performer : C. Holley (LionPride) : Rating : 19.0

The worst performer : F. Fung (The Beer Bellys), R. Mukhopadhyay (FR-S) : Rating : 5.0

Air Allnite: “After a 97-77 loss, I don’t want to hear any excuses. I don’t care that Hearn and Sanz Garcaa got hurt and left the game. I don’t care that Kyle Knowles was off the bench in this game. That Zubr Bialystok defense is for real, and your favorite basketball team is soft. Is Rod Guyton soft. Your so called MVP struggled in a game when you needed him to step up, specifically after the bigs went down. Let’s stop that conversation full stop.”

Marshall Richards: “So that’s how we’re going to do this? Not even an intro?”

Air Allnite: “They know who you are and what you do. Folks, the suck up session starts now. Tell the soft people something good to take away from this debacle, Marshall.”

MR: “The 3 point shooting flashed. 7 of 18, with Guyton going 4 of 7. Guyton is being that guy, but even Batman had Robin, and no one stepped into that role tonight. Harrison Mann had 9 rebounds. Damion Hatfield had 12. The rebounding was there. Sokmen had 8 and Sanz Garcaa had 8 when he went down. On the injury front, both Hearn and Sanz Garcaa are ok and expect to miss no time. Trenton Tovar should be back also. So Pio is going to get to play with different combinations. If you see Kyle or Guyton on the bench, I’d assume that it’s training related. If you’re looking for the good, there it is.”

AA: “This team appears to have everything they need to play fast, Marshall. Yet they consistently suck at it. Is this a Pio Reina coaching fail or is something different at play?”

MR: “It’s something different at play. Pio can’t play for the guys. Pio can’t take care of the ball for them. The only way to fix that is to work on that. Pio can help by changing the tempo. He knows that. That he tries to play fast more often than he should indicates he’s trying to hammer this point home to the team.”

AA: “Or he’s a stubborn coach who’s out of touch with his team.”

MR: “Or maybe you just don’t know Pio’s basketball philosophies as well as you think. Of the 3 point guards on the roster, Christophe Nguyen is the closest to playing defensively how Pio wants to play. Offensively he is not ready. McCain isn’t far behind Nguyen on the defensive end, but he’s far behind offensively. Elijah Wilson is going to be a while, but he has promise. The only 2 shooting guards who can play the way Pio wants to play are Kyle Knowles and Mantas Petriukstis. Both lack that certain something to be the point guard that Pio is looking for. Rod has it offensively, but lacks a bit defensively in what Pio wants to see. The small forwards who can play defensively are Sokmen and Reese. The only big who can play his preferred style is Danian Hatfield. Out of 15 players on this roster, only 5 players can play the way Pio wants to play. The fact that he doesn’t play that way says he knows this, and is trying to find a way to play to his players’ strengths. That’s not a coach out of touch with his players.”

AA: “So tell me what his players do well, Marshall? Your $100,000 man has done 20 and 10 only 4 times. That’s sad. His sidekick up front has only done it once. There’s another $46,000 wasted. Harrison Mann is a role player at best. That’s $20,000 wasted. Your $19,000 small forward has only scored 20 in a game 3 times this season. Then that collection of 2 guards you have there… Petriukstis has only scored double figures in 2 games. $15,000 there. Trenton Tovar, your precious shooter, is shooting .356 from the floor, .283 from three, and only has 2 20 point games. Another $16,000 waste. Kyle Knowles, at $58,000, has 4 20 point games. Is he really 3 times as good as Tovar? He doesn’t seem like it to me. And then there’s Rod Guyton, your prospective MVP. When you needed him to have a big game last night, did he? Nope. That’s $68,000. The only thing this team is good at is spending money. The numbers speak for themselves."

MR: "And with that, the guy you love to hate is back. More of him after the break!