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Week Five Power Rankings - Part III
11. 209's Most Wanted (11)
Here's a peek inside the rankings to show you how a 4-6 team with a positive PD (+54) can be ranked behind a 2-8 team with a negative PD (the aforementioned Fort Wayne): Fort Wayne has a season EFFG of 125.3 which is good for 6th. 209's has an EFFG of 112.3 (nearly 4-point increase from last week) which is good for 11th in the league. So just 13 points separate 6th and 11th. In terms of OPP EFFG, the Pistons sit at 128 dropping from 11th last week to 14th while 209's has a much better OPP EFFG of 103.3 which is still only good enough for 9th. And here's where the first tie breaker takes hold:
Fort Wayne: 6th+14th=20/2=10
209's Most: 11th+9th=20/2=10
First tie breaker, because we're prisoners to recency bias, is last week's average ranking where Fort Wayne scored 7.5 while 209's was back at 10.5. Is it fair? No. Is it fun? Definitely. I'm a terrible guesser, but my supposition is that Alex's crew will supplant The Mechanic in these rankings soon, especially by the All-Star break.

12. Linndale (13)
Speedtraps' free fall seemed to be continuing with a 9-point loss to VileOnes on the road last weekend, but they turned around and finally were able to take advantage of the effort difference to gain an 11-point victory, their second of the season. And that was in spite of Kyle Knowles shooting just 33% on 12 shots, missing two free throws, but still scoring 16 points thanks to half of them coming from the free throw line. But fortunately for them, recently acquired Ireneusz Koncki, the 23-year-old Polish super star was flawless on the night and Josh MacNeur, the 24-year-old dual citizen Scottish/Utopian super star joined him with a double-double to show off their refreshed starting lineup. This week they get the gift of the Zubr Effect before facing off against Fort Wayne at home in the hopes of getting two more wins which could lead to a four-game winning streak heading into the break.

13. Las Vegas High Rollers (14)
Las Vegas gets to take advantage of Miami Cleo's live action parachuting into the abyss and moves up a spot this week. But they also had a decent increase in EFFG and OPP EFFG for an average of 7.5 points improvement in both categories. Despite the 14-point loss to Super Sonics on Saturday night, they improved slightly on their season average in EFFG that game and then took advantage of Twotone Touloose's missed game day prep guesses for a dominant victory after starting out down 8 after the first quarter and then holding them to just 8 points in the 3rd quarter at which point they exploded for 41 points enroute to their third victory on the season. This next week doesn't look as promising, with a game against the #1 Great 8 in Tasty before hosting VileOnes on Tuesday.

Week Five Power Rankings - Part IV
14. Miami Cleo (12)
My punishment for Miami has increased as my manual calculation of their scores had doubled this week, settling them at a 58.7 EFFG and a 126.7 OPP EFG. That punishment shall increase until they're at least 15th in these rankings. But maybe packer_22 will make another reappearance and we'll be forced to adjust.

15. Twotone Touloose (15)
It's getting to be a long season since Twotone's walk over victory against Zubr, which means, they won't feel the Zubr Effect until after they finish their tour of the Big 8. Their 80 points against Las Vegas this week was enough to move their average PPG up two whole points to 63.7 and they're giving up just over 100 PPG for a much worse than everyone else (except Zubr and now Miami though we can't quite calculate that) -40.4-point differential per game. Delightfully, however, they're still in the Cup with a matchup tonight on the road against #244 WildTipatinas, another Div III team who is just 4-6 on the season, but their starting 5 more than double Twotone's top 5 players in salary. But it looks like there could a game shape advantage - so there's hope!

16. Żubr Białystok (16)
Bot Fun Fact: Żubr Białystok's leading scorer (Wayne Bonner) averages 8.3 PPG and a 2.1 rating on the season, which makes him the worst player in the league this season.

Good luck to those of you still in the Cup, and good day!

*Editor’s note: After my visit to the ER Tuesday, my daughter went back Wednesday afternoon and has been re-admitted. If this seems a bit distracted, my apologies.*

Pio Reina: “Air, we got Zubr om Saturday. I’m giving you the lineup making duties for this one. Keep in mind your training needs. I’ll give you a few minutes to plan things out.”

Byron Helm: “MacNeur and Koncki are out.”

Air Allnite: “Why are you trying to cripple me?”

Marshall Richards: “Sokmen is only playing power forward for this one.”

AA: “OK, now Marshall I expect this from. Good grief!”

PR: “Air, what makes you think no one has a say in the training rotation. I GAVE you the easy week.”

AA: “Is anyone else unavailable?”

MR: “Just reminding you Mantas Petriukstis is only playing small forward for now.”

AA: “Game plan?”

PR: “Depends on the final training discussion. Right now, we only know we’re training guards.

Air Allnite puts the lineup plan on onscreen.

AA: “Any changes?”

PR: “No. We’re good here. Training thoughts?”

AA: “It’d be easy to say range or shooting. We need to go outside defense this time.”

PR: “Defend your position.”

AA: “McCain needs it. So does Donny. Behind those two, there’s Shooter and Farley. Knowles and Cerri not so much, but if they benefit from it that only helps us. I want the two youngsters to improve, but I need Shooter and Farley to also.”

MR: “With Mantas on the wing it helps the perimeter a lot when they improve.”

BH: “Anything that makes life easier on the bigs, I‘m all for. When are we getting the guards some rebounding work?”

MR: “Yeah, when do we get to bang them around?”

PR: “The schedule and won-loss record will tell us when. We also need to run a passing camp for the bigs, shooting and range work for the bigs, ball handling work, and the guards need range and shooting work also. Full plate gentlemen.”

AA: “Pio, you’re never satisfied, are you?”

PR: “If you are, then you need to resign immediately. I won’t speak for the others, but I know they aren’t satisfied. We always want to get better and be better. Satisfaction can wait until the job is done.”

AA: "Game plan?"

BH: "We go big or go home. This is not a home game, so we go big."

MR: "Let the bigs do the work and have a 2nd unit that can support them? Cool."

PR: "Just remember the objectives: get out with the win, get out healthy, and set up the young guys to get the training minutes they need. Gentlemen, let's get ready to hit the practice court. Air, not a bad job at all. If you want to get really good at this, you can. You just have to put in the work. You CAN be a head coach if you want. Everyone on this staff can. Nice job."

These still have never missed. Great stuff.

Once again - good vibes y'alls way!

Day 11 (Saturday 30 September 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Las Vegas High Rollers 85 - Tasty Tardsicles 118
209’s MostWanted 124 - VileOnes 120
Philly Dribble 85 - Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️ 118
Linndale 133 - Żubr Białystok 54
Lion Rebels 131 - Fort Wayne Pistons 104
San Dominica Warriors 50 - Miami Cleo 0
F.Day Internet Lovers Club 97 - Super Sonics 85
southpaw army 141 - Twotone Touloose 48

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 141 : southpaw army
Rebounds : 70 : southpaw army
Assists : 42 : Linndale
Steals : 22 : Linndale
Block Shots : 16 : Linndale

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 42 : K. Brown (Lion Rebels)
Rebounds : 23 : K. Nádas (209’s MostWanted)
Assists : 12 : M. Stott (Lion Rebels)
Steals : 5 : S. Kunyan (southpaw army), Z. Vercammer (southpaw army)
Block Shots : 4 : D. Hatfield (Linndale), E. Donny (Linndale)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : T. Rumin (209’s MostWanted) (34 Points, 3 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 31
Shooting Guard : N. de Moraes (southpaw army) (25 Points, 5 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 30
Small Forward : K. Brown (Lion Rebels) (42 Points, 3 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 41
Power Forward : S. Sökmen (Linndale) (26 Points, 15 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 4 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 40
Center : E. Dickens (Tasty Tardsicles) (24 Points, 18 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 44

MVP of the evening
E. Dickens (Tasty Tardsicles) (24 Points, 18 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 44

The bad performance of the evening
A. Reese (Twotone Touloose) (2 Points, 4 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -9

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : W. Bonner (Żubr Białystok), A. Reese (Twotone Touloose) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : A. Messineo (VileOnes), J. García de la Vega (VileOnes), R. Reynolds (Linndale), E. Donny (Linndale) : 5 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : W. Bonner (Żubr Białystok), I. Tabrizi (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : M. Blanco (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) : 6 Three points

The best performer : C. Wui Kwong (Tasty Tardsicles) : Rating : 19.0

The worst performer : W. Bonner (Żubr Białystok) : Rating : 2.0

Day 12 (Tuesday 3 October 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
VileOnes 108 - Las Vegas High Rollers 91
Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️ 110 - 209’s MostWanted 98
Żubr Białystok 73 - Philly Dribble 136
Fort Wayne Pistons 131 - Linndale 145
Miami Cleo 0 - Lion Rebels 50
Super Sonics 89 - San Dominica Warriors 86
Twotone Touloose 44 - F.Day Internet Lovers Club 102
Tasty Tardsicles 59 - southpaw army 104

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 145 : Linndale
Rebounds : 61 : Linndale
Assists : 47 : Philly Dribble
Steals : 16 : Fort Wayne Pistons
Block Shots : 12 : Philly Dribble

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 39 : T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️)
Rebounds : 17 : M. Farnsworth (Philly Dribble), C. Goldsmith (Super Sonics)
Assists : 13 : M. Cerri (Linndale)
Steals : 5 : S. Brinkman (VileOnes), G. Reinhardt (Fort Wayne Pistons)
Block Shots : 3 : J. García de la Vega (VileOnes), J. Smug (209’s MostWanted), M. Cerri (Linndale), M. Davies (Super Sonics), S. Kunyan (southpaw army)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : M. Cerri (Linndale) (22 Points, 4 Rebounds, 13 Assists, 2 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35
Shooting Guard : S. Aranda (Fort Wayne Pistons) (38 Points, 5 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 4 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 47
Small Forward : V. Abat (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) (28 Points, 9 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 4 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35
Power Forward : F. Kang (southpaw army) (21 Points, 13 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 2 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 38
Center : M. Farnsworth (Philly Dribble) (16 Points, 17 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35

MVP of the evening
S. Aranda (Fort Wayne Pistons) (38 Points, 5 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 4 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 47

The bad performance of the evening
A. Sloan (Twotone Touloose) (5 Points, 0 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -8

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : A. Jänes (Las Vegas High Rollers), C. Baer (Las Vegas High Rollers), D. Boyce (Super Sonics), B. Corbett (Twotone Touloose) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : J. García de la Vega (VileOnes), A. Gorman (Tasty Tardsicles) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), W. Acevedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), W. Bonner (Żubr Białystok), V. Abat (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️) : 7 Three points

The best performer : N. de Moraes (southpaw army) : Rating : 17.5

The worst performer : W. Bonner (Żubr Białystok) : Rating : 2.0

New fun toy for y’all to play with! Saxby a monster

how can southpaw army afford those salary and the amount of money to get them.

I have fun discussing these kinds of things. Two part question so I’ll answer both.

How can I afford the salaries - I’m currently losing 100k with some overextension tax each week. Once my guy sells Monday that helps get me down a decent bit but still negative each week. Part of my buying this player was it should position me as the favorite for my BBM group which IF I win that the above deficits gets made up for between now and the end of the season.

How do I afford to buy these players - if you look at my team history I either promote or demote every season. Through that strategy since I took over this squad coming into this season I was sitting on $10MM. After buying this guy I’m at 7.3ish left in the bank. So money isn’t too much of an issue for me. My goal though is to go up and win the NBBA so I don’t want to be TOO loose with it on the way back.

Last note here I’ve been watching the market for a player like this for awhile and there aren’t too many. The ones I have found typically are between 120-140k in salary and never get listed for <$2MM. I reached out to the manager and told him I’d snap bid if he listed for $1.5MM. Was looking great at the number until a D IV team got into a bidding war with me. So between price I got him for, salary for how balanced dude is, and BBM tourney economics helping offset losses I pulled the trigger now.

Week Six Power Rankings
With the league in full interconference play at the all star break, we're seeing a couple of things play out on either side of the conference. The Big 8 is taking advantage of the clear separation of the Great 8 between the top 4 and the bottom 4 and is enjoying a .700 win percentage over the Great 8. But there's been several Great 8 righteous victories in the middle of that, unlike a few seasons ago where the difference between the leagues was so stark, I think the Great 8 only won 12 games of the possible 64 interconference games. At any rate, not a lot of time to post these, so I'll make it brief with each team's potential all stars listed. Last week's ranking is in parenthesis again.

1. southpaw army (2)
EFFG: 149.5 | OPP EFFG: 68.1
Xavier McNair (Backup PG)
Nivaldo de Moraes (SG)
Freddy Kang (PF)
Song Kunyan (Backup C)

2. Lion Rebels (3)
EFFG: 149.5 | OPP EFFG: 80.1
Kurt Brown (Backup SF)
Terry Armstead (C)

3. Tasty Tardsicles (1)
EFFG: 130 | OPP EFFG: 82
Chik Wui Kwong (PG)
Algis Nikitinas (Backup PF)

4. San Dominica Warriors (4)
EFFG: 126.9 | OPP EFFG: 91.1
Mario Granja (SF)

5. VileOnes (5)
EFFG: 128.4 | OPP EFFG: 97.7
None (this one might come back to bite me).

6. F.Day Internet Lovers Club (6)
EFFG: 114.5 | OPP EFFG: 76.7
Igor Tabrizi (Backup PF)

7. Mindless Zombies (7)
EFFG: 122.3 | OPP EFFG: 97.6
Thomas Freeman (SG)
José Ledu (Backup C)

8. Philly Dribble (9)
EFFG: 125.5 | OPP EFFG: 119.1
None

9. Super Sonics (8)
EFFG: 112.9 | OPP EFFG: 102.9
Morris Craig (Backup PG)
Zoran Levin (Backup SF)
Daniel Lin (PF)
Chas Goldsmith (C)

10. Linndale (12)
EFFG: 116.3 | OPP EFFG: 114.1
Kyle Knowles (Backup SG)

11. Fort Wayne Pistons (10)
EFFG: 125.1 | OPP EFFG: 135.3
Simón Aranda (Backup SG)
Ulises Jaén (SF)

12. 209's MostWanted (11)
EFFG: 112.8 | OPP EFFG: 108.8
Tian Rumin (PG)

13. Las Vegas High Rollers (13)
EFFG: 85.7 | OPP EFFG: 125.5
None

14. Miami Cleo (14)
EFFG: 46.9 | OPP EFFG: 137.4
None

15. Twotone Touloose (15)
EFFG: 38.6 | OPP EFFG: 150
None

16. Żubr Białystok (16)
EFFG: -19.8 | OPP EFFG: 223.1
None

Full All-Star Predictions
Average Rating (AR) and Average Efficiency (AE)
Great 8
PG Chik Wui Kwong | AR: 16.6 | AE: 19.4
PG Morris Craig | AR: 15.8 | AE: 17.5
SG Thomas Freeman | AR: 16.0 | AE: 25.3
SG Simón Aranda | AR: 12.5 | AE: 21.4
SF Ulises Jaén | AR: 11.8 | AE: 24.7
SF Zoran Levin | AR: 13.2 | AE: 20.5
PF Daniel Lin | AR: 13.7 | AE: 20.9
PF Algis Nikitinas| AR: 13.5 | AE: 20.8
C Chas Goldsmith | AR: 15.7 | AE: 22.4
C José Ledu | AR: 14.9 | AE: 20.5

Big 8
PG Tian Rumin | AR: 14.3 | AE: 17.3
PG Xavier McNair | AR: 15.0 | AE: 16.8
SG Nivaldo de Moraes| AR: 17.2 | AE: 25.5
SG Kyle Knowles | AR: 16.0 | AE: 21.8
SF Mario Granja | AR: 13.4 | AE: 18.5
SF Kurt Brown | AR: 14.3 | AE: 15.6
PF Freddy Kang | AR: 14.6 | AE: 26.2
PF Igor Tarizi | AR: 12.8 | AE: 25.4
C Terry Armstead | AR: 16.6 | AE: 29.3
C Song Kunyan | AR: 15.0 | AE: 23.2

Great Big Snubs
There's always a handful of snubs - I'm counting 11 of them this season, with three of them being pretty big snubs based on AR/AE. This will be listed in order of their Overall Rank compared to both conferences.
8th: Floyd Hearn
11th: Phillip Huddleston
12th: Jérome Bégin
15th: Jaime García de la Vega
20th: Renzo Raich
23rd: Sjaak-Jan Brinkman
24th: Darren Le
25th: Ariel Ziółkowski
29th: Mario Watkins
30th: Ermenegildo Piana
31st: Paride Fasselli

All-star predictions are based on a