Season 66 Preview!
Before jumping into team tiers, a few facts about the league / teams
- We are welcoming the longest tenured manager in the USA to our league (In Your Face). They have been playing since season 2 and join a league with a lot of old heads; NY Chunks (season 4), 10 Inch Vert (season 7), and BU Terriers (season 19). Apologies if I missed any other buzzerbeater OGs
- The league only has 2 teams with unfinished arenas, so almost everyone is on an even financial playing field. The 2 teams are White Mambas who would need to spend about $1.5M to complete their arena and Maine Lobstahs, who need another 1.5-2.5K lower tier seats. The small arena did not stop Mambas from making the playoffs last season though...
Now on to my personal predictions. Ive done a tier rankings and placed all teams into 1 of 5 tiers; Contenders, Playoff Teams, Playoff Bubble, Likely to Demote, and Tanking. I based these on everyone's current teams (minus listed players who will definitely sell) using a mixture of salary, DMI and TL prices to estimate team quality. I will definitely be wrong about a lot of teams so don't take offense if I rank you low!
High-level thoughts, the Big 8 is stacked. There will be very few easy games and most nights will truly have a "any team can win on any given night" vibe.
Contenders: Mill City Thunder, HumanFund, Stark Contrast, and BU Terriers
We've got a lot of really good teams running > $550K salaries. All of these teams have dropped some serious dough on high-quality players on the TL and have killer starting 5s. It's shaping up to be a real bloodbath in the Great 8 to get home court advantage for the playoffs. BU might coast to the 1 seed in the Big 8 if they keep their current team all season, but they have the highest salary and it might not be sustainable. Their 2 NT players may reduce their deficit though with their extra merch. HumanFund runs an all-American team so also makes his salary a bit more sustainable.
I have mixed feelings about having to play against my old trainee, Dallas Abernathy, when matching up against HumanFund. Glad he is in good hands at least!
Playoff Teams: LA Lions, EDH Wolves, NY Chunks, and 10 Inch Vertical
Yes, I am aware that I have ranked 5 teams in the Great 8 as playoff-caliber and only 3 from the Big 8. While this isn't possible, that is how I view the quality of these teams and their respective conferences. LA Lions has an argument for being in the Contender tier but I had to draw the line somewhere. They have better depth than some of contenders but not quite as strong of a starting 5, and I think that could be the difference. NY Chunks runs back a very strong 2-seed from last season while EDH and 10 Inch both finished the season strong and should keep that momentum going.
Playoff Bubble: Kirkwood Hawks, White Mambas, Fighting Kelts, and Puff Puff Pass
These teams could break into the playoffs if they add a strong player or pull off some key wins. But I think they are likely headed to a relegation series that they should probably win.
Likely to Demote: Maine Lobstahs, In Your Face, and Hayward Lumberjacks
These 3 teams are rocking much lower salaries and DMI than the rest of the league and are the early favorites to be demoted. Lots can change between now and the end of the season, so I'm sure I will be eating crow about at least 1 of them. If I had to guess, In Your Face has the best chance of staying up as they have not yet dipped into their promotion bonus and likely have some funds to play around with on the TL.
Tanking: Alaska Alphas
RIP to Nick, he made an honest push for NBBA and unfortunately came up short the last 2 seasons. Good luck with the rebuild and we hope to see you back up here soon.
Good luck to all teams, should be a fun season!