Meet the squad for season 51. We'll start with the part of the squad I found easier to select, The Smalls (though some are not that small, we got some modern style Big Wings too):
Phil Marichal, 32, current team: Stinkilemons (EBBL) - homegrown drafted and trained. 53 previous NT games, 28 NT scrimmages, 15 U21 games. 9th in all time points and 8th in assists (if we trust this page), will move up the rankings in both during the season.
Aarumughasami Lal, 31, SkyLimits team, (Chinese CBSL, their top division), owned since bought at 18 – actually helped take them from division 3 to the top. 36 previous NT games, 27 scrimmages, 8 U21 games.
Mathew Dupre, 31, Cambois Donkeys (England II.4), been transferred 6 times in career already so no 1 team can take training credit really. 32 NT games, 16 scrims, 2 U21.
Ian Needham, 29, Stinki Tomatoes (Utopia Heaven), bought at 18. 26 previous NT games, 20 scrims, 8 U21 games.
Kim Bujalska, 29, Optic Fibres (EBBL), bought last week, mostly trained by Grandma of team Porzigod. 22 NT games, 24 scrims, 7 U21s.
Ken Greene, 28, Midnight Stallions (EBBL) – homegrown. 7 NT games, 11 scrims, 6 U21s.
Alexey Sanders, 26, Folgado Lakers II (Utopia II.3) – bought last season, previously trained in China and Hong Kong. In good hands now, owned by Darkonako (winner of many titles and the B3 with both teams). The rookie. 7 U21 apps.
We're going with just 7 initially, there's enough versatility in this group to cover the 3 positions and a few different tactics. My watchlist of 5 potential callups is (in nothing but salary order): Mahoney, Redding, Cummins, Stoker, Tewari. Monitoring them based on game shape, etc. Redding was injured recently so the current GS not a fault of the manager.
The Bigs:
Wayne Edgington, 32, Leipzig Lakers (German Bundesliga), bought a few seasons back from Reds BC (Bakseris) who drafted + trained him. 28 NT apps, 24 scrims.
Jody Hobbs, 31, Doncaster Hawks (EBBL), bought from Extremadabra (who are homegrown themselves – I wonder what made them get rid of a HOF draftee?) as a youngster. Played in one U21 scrimmage, but otherwise this will be his first involvement – does this make it my riskiest selecton?
Hank Easton, 30, Durham Wasps (EBBL), homegrown. 10 NT apps, 11 scrims & 5 U21 games.
Dexter Barral, 27, London Whales (England II.3), another who's homegrown. 20 NT games, 22 scrims, 17 U21 games.
This lot...well, they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. I almost selected Allan Elphinstone (34) – currently in Lithuania and recently bought for 1k(!) but there's quite a few younger bigs I'd like to select once in better GS – I've got a plan to use the 4 above in game 1, so just want to keep my options open. Along with Elph there's 5 others on a shortlist of potential callups, but I don't fancy naming them.
That's largely factual stuff and not too exciting, but anything that'd add flavour to it might also give away info to the opposition. I'd quite enjoy giving everyone an NBA player comparison, but again...So, let's crowdsource nicknames for everyone instead!
It is young overall, mostly exciting, slightly worrying? Players like Bujalska, Needham, Barral already have 20 NT appearances and have 4 more years before hitting the dreaded 33. If we view this as a 2 year period only Marichal and Edgington might start dropping skills next year.
I've got a half-written preview of our group this year done too, depending on how busy/boring work is today I might get it up before the game. If not, 16.55 our time, be there! I’ll mostly likely be in chat but possibly not on discord.
Last edited by Bergkamp at 09/21/2020 06:02:37