Now that the Season 18 team has been established as the franchise's finest, let's take a look at the roster from that season and compare it to the current team.
Season 18
PG: Gerry Stavridis
SG: Mauro Da Ros
SF: Essa Abu-Kaleel
PF: Waldemar Hielscher-Uhl
C: Engelbert Howingsbrook
6th (and 7th) man: Mauro Ariél Campi (PG/SG), Geoff Abbott (SF/PF)
The Bench: Tan Benek (PF), John Diaz (PG), Xisco Preses (C)
Season 21
PG: Gerry Stavridis
SG: Mauro Da Ros
SF: Essa Abu-Kaleel
PF: Waldemar Hielscher-Uhl
C: Glenn Richards
6th man: Geoff Abbott (SF)
The Bench: Manuel Portillo (PF/C), Dominicus Hilling (PG)
Comparison
A casual observer might be quick to point out that both rosters are pretty similar, and on the surface level, they wouldn't be wrong. Apart from the starting center and some of the bench pieces, this modern day lineup appears to be much the same as the one that took to the court in Season 18. Although there are strong similarities between the two, a closer examination reveals that these are two distinct teams, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.
Probably the most noticeable difference between the Season 18 roster and the current one is the loss of depth from then to now. That's quite telling when you consider that the S18 roster wasn't exactly loaded when it came to second options. The old lineup featured veteran guard Mauro Ariél Campi and veteran forward Geoff Abbott as the two main impact players coming off the bench. They were both quality players that were capable of subbing into the starting lineup if the need arose. Behind them you had two serviceable big men in Benek and Preses, as well as captain John Diaz at the point. None of these last three were particular good players, but they were at least semi-capable of giving the key players a few minutes to catch their breath.
The Season 21 roster suffers from Campilessitis, or in layman's terms, the lack of a quality guard off the bench. The newly acquired twenty-two year old Dominicus Hilling will be forced to serve as a backup guard. At best, his skillset puts him just slightly above the Season 18 version of John Diaz. The same John Diaz who didn't actually log a single B3 minute that season despite being bandied about as a dire fallback option. In case you were wondering, Diaz is still on the team but his age has more than caught up with him. He would no longer be suited to start for any team playing in a division III league or higher; at this point in his career he merely serves as a veteran presence in the locker room. As far as the backup bigs go, Manny Portillo is every bit as good as Benek or Presses was, but he's outnumbered two to one. Lastly, Geoff Abbott who is on the tail end of his prime will be required to log plenty of minutes as the team's sixth man and serve as the team's only quality backup option.
Last edited by RiP at 9/11/2012 11:20:52 PM