As the Bananahorns demote to D3 for the 2nd time in four years, team president “Coach Shnuffy” sat down with us to discuss what has gone wrong, and what’s next for the franchise.
“When we acquired Elias [Bailon] four seasons ago, I had convinced myself that I already had the foundation of an NBBA team,” Shnuffy said with a clear hint of regret in his voice. “To this day, I still believe a core of a fully-developed Bailon, Lively, and Miles could anchor such a squad. The problem is I lost sight of the many other steps it takes to make it to the NBAA first.”
Indeed, a franchise that had prided itself on patience, roster balance, and financial flexibility leading up to its NBBA championship years suddenly threw it all out the window in a series of poorly managed win-now moves that eventually backfired.
Part of the allure of the Bailon signing - and why he commanded such a high acquisition fee - was that he was already a dominant big man at 22 years old but still had room to develop into an extremely well-rounded player. Management envisioned him maximizing his secondary skills while training with the 20-year old swingmen Lively and Miles. It’s a plan that made perfect sense - if it wasn’t for that contract.
Bailon’s contract was never going to be friendly, but it was especially prohibitive for a rebuilding D3 team coming off of two straight relegation seasons. “We were okay with Bailon’s contract as long as we made our way back to D2,” Shnuffy said. “Our mistake is that we tried to force it in his first year, before the team had really gelled. It caused a domino effect we just couldn’t escape from.”
The team stuck with its strict training regiment in the first half of Season 48, which cost them several wins and any chance at home court advantage in the playoffs. Miles and Lively were still too raw to be major contributors, so the team had to sign a couple costly veterans late in the year to make a playoff push. The ‘Horns managed two road wins in the conference playoffs, but ultimately got swept in the finals.
Their carefree spending left the team with no choice but to remain uncompetitive the following season while collecting enough cash to make their next push. The Bananahorns entered Season 50 as clear favorites to win their league and dominated throughout the regular season, but were knocked out in the 2nd round of the playoffs. The silver lining seemed to be that the team’s 21-1 record was still enough to earn a promotion.
“Sure, we were disappointed we didn’t win the D3 title outright, but we assumed our problems would be solved in D2. We believed we had the talent to avoid relegation, and it was a great opportunity to reset and start building our team properly again. Season 51 was supposed to be one where we finished our training program and really built up our financial reserves again. But that never happened.”
It was a rebuilding year, but the money never came. The payroll ballooned as the team’s trio of young stars earned raises and another class of patchwork veterans were signed. The roster was too thin to make a prolonged Cup run. And to make matters worse, fans displeased with the team’s backdoor promotion showed lackluster support as the team languished in D2. As the losses mounted, management abandoned training Bailon so the team could field a more traditional lineup. But ultimately the Bananhorns couldn’t win key games against opponents below them in the standings, and they fell to 8th place on the final day of the season. With it came automatic relegation, a return to D3, and Bailon’s return to the transfer market.
With Bailon out of the picture, there is no question that the team now belongs to the young duo of Miles and Lively and will only go as far as they can take it.
Last edited by Coach Shnuffy at 12/15/2020 10:17:19 PM