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Battle Day!
Saturday 20th of February and CWUB is ones again live for coverage of todays games.
First stop the conflict Paphos vs Ekleptismenoi which will take place in the Pafiako Arena which hosts an average of nearly 8000 fans. Its not a surprise that the favourite team to win is non other than Ekleptismenoi. Talking of which, its top scorer is Nikos Chasodikis. A PG with an average of 17.7 points per game, FG% 0.452, 3FG% 0.391 and a total of 6.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists. Following in close distance is Erik Schnellboegl with 17.5 points per game, from which FG% 0.444 and 3FG% 0.351. Both players play as a guard position in contrast to Cellan Torres a center player with average rating of 11.1, 14.7 points per game despite the outside tactics of Ekleptismenoi, FG% 0.569 and 11.9 rebounds. In general the team consists of 6 first class players who tend to bring good results to the club week after week.

The second most interesting game of the day is surely Passif Agressifs vs Cyprus Fighters in the Gheddo Arena. Both teams are characterized as talented and strong but with totally different tactical approach to the game. Starting with Passifs, the manager tends to use outside attacking systems (such as R&G, motion and rarely base offense). In respect to the big guys, Passifs only possess one good center, Carlton Mitchell, as Pablo Revilla at the age of 24 is highly too rated for his skills. Weak in IS and ID surely is unable to compete with the monsters Cyprus Fighters keep in their squad! Best game planning would be to remain in an outside tactics with a 2-3 defensive scheme and hope for the best. Surely Passifs are the undedogs for this match and frankly I do not see them winning since their chances are very slim. Moreover Passifs fight for the 3rd position in the Big 8 is statistically unable to be achieved since only 5 games are left and thus in the best senario for Passifs they could reach 14 wins. My advise to the manager is think only enthusiasm for the playoffs.
Cyprus Fighters on the other hand tend to play a more inside attacking game, using its big and strong players to the max. Even so, the team possesses sensational outside shooters making it easy for the manager to change its tactics, to outside focus, and still get the win agaist strong teams. It is difficult to defend against a team like Cyprus Fighters but with a bit of luck and a strong squad, you never know what happens. Cyprus is our favourite team to win this conflict despite the away court disadvantage.
The rest of the games are straight forward as we anticipate the favourite teams to win with relative ease.

Since we started talking about the playoffs it is obvious that either Cyprus Fighters or BC Teammate would be most likely the team representing Big 8 to the finals. The senario in the Great 8 conference is not that straight forward as Ekleptismenoi and Bros are equal in wins. Close by, is the team of Pistoleroi, an upcoming team with a respectable squad. Who will represent the Great 8 in the finals? Nothing is for sure. Previous years favourite Megalonisos is not anymore the powerhouse it used to be. First place position in Great 8 surely will be capitalized by Megalonisos, but the second place is still open since both Ekleptismenoi and Bros are fighting over it. Let us remind our viewers that both the first and the second place have the advantage of home court matches in contrast to the third and fourth position.
Latest transfers achieved by Bros seem to have increased the strength of its team mainly underneath the basket. Bros has now transformed to a powerhouse capable of playing both outside tactics as well as inside ones with the same ease, thus becoming a headache to the opposing teams. On the other hand Ekleptismenoi have not included any new player in their squad for some time and surely its time to do so if they want to have a good chance of going to the finals.
Last but not least we unwrap a final scenario involving Pistoleroi. If the team manages to win all of its upcoming games, including the away match against Megalonisos, then the team could have a shot at the second place. Still is this the best planning for the team of Pistoleros? Should the team turn its focus to the second place or the enthousiasm? We are unable to guess whats going on in the mind of the managers but surely we can say that Pistoleroi is not our favourite team for the finals. Coming down to the end of the rope we are certain that the team who will eventually forward to the finals will be capable of tactical diversity to its way of playing. Who will it be? Our favourites are........Bros!

Thats all we have time for today. Let me remind everyone that there is a meeting tonight at Platos the Pub for all the managers of the league. Hope to see you all there!
Next week we unwrap the true story of our NT coach Steve Makis as he has accepted to give a one to one interview with our channel. The questions have already been sent to Steve and we await for his answers. Until next week, may the best teams win!

Good morning everyone. To start with I would like to apologize for not being able to attend the meeting last night at Babylon. Unfortunately my medical Knowledge were needed as my sister had nearly an asthma attack from all the dust that its in the air these days. I hope everyone had a good time. Next time around the drinks are on me!

Back to business ass usual! Last nights games came out exactly as predicted.
1. Cyprus Fighters ones again dominated the court and crushed Passif Agressifs in the last quarter. Good defensive tactics by Passif playing 2-3 since its big guys defensive ability is not up to the standard. We applaud the attempt of Passif regardless of the fact that Cyprus Fighters played R&G. Same goes with Johnnys team in respect to the defensive part. Initially we disagreed with the offensive tactics of Cyprus Fighters and the reasoning behind our statement was as follows:
A. Crucial game for the chase of the first place in the Big 8
B. Respectable opponent who plays with a home advantage
C. Weak defensive ability of Revilla
D. Surely an outside attacking plan by Passifs. Most likely either motion or R&G
E. Much stronger big guys by Cyprus Fighters in respect to the inside defense of Passifs

The plan that we would have followed, based on our first impression of the game, would be a 3-2 zone, just like Joghnny decided to play, and a more like look inside attacking scheme. The reasoning? All the above. What we would expect? Passifs big guys to end up with 5 fouls really quick, somewhere in the 3rd quarter, and thus afterwards making the game a walk in the park. This was our first impression of the match tactics.
After watching the game and the stats a little bit more carefully we decided that perhaps the attacking plan of Cyprus Fighters was dead on. The reasoning?
A. Good outside shooters Leberecht and Delpeuch
B. Surely Passifs would play 2-3 zone
C. Apparently Cyprus Fighters big guys have a respectable outside shooting in contrast to the fairly bad outside defense of Passifs PF and C.
Coming to our final conclusion we tend to agree with Johnnys tactics but with a bit of scepticism as the game was won mainly in the last quarter. Could it be that Passifs players are weak in stamina? If so, what would be the outcome if they were not? What would be the result of the game if Passifs had decided to play crunch time? The sure thing is that if the two teams come across each other in the play offs, more planing and clever thinking will be needed from both sides.

2. Ekleptismenoi, Bros, Pistoleroi, Megalonisos, BC Teammate, Keraynos and even Valentinos came victorious from last night games wth no surprises.

A few days ago we promised, our viewers, a one to one interview with Steve Makis our current NT manager. CWUB always delivers so here you have it!!!

1. How long have you been playing the game buzzerbeater, and how long have you been Cyprus NT manager?

I play since season 3, but only after season 5 I've spent more time for BB on understanding the game and grow up a better team. I'm the Cyprus NT Manager since season 7, so this is my 5th season and after 3 mandates I think I'll leave this fascinating position!

2. Why have you decided to become a NT coach? Why did you pick Cyprus?

I really don't know why! I wanna try a different experience with the game and Cyprus community gave me this possibility and I thank Cyprus for that. I like Cyprus flag since I was 8 y.o. and I loved to memorize every flags all around the world!

3. What position players does our NT need the most?

Center... but mainly we need 2-3 big centers. We need more OD, for every perimetrical player except for Atmatzidis and a competitive Outside Small Forward... a skilled Point Guard too doesn't waste... too much? Oh sorry!

4. Should we expect any changes in the NT in season 12 regarding the players and the game plan? Tactics?

Yes, Papanikos, Gkavoyiannis, Kakarnakis, Fasoulis, Yiannakakos and Karayiannidis could be interesting players for season 12. We are looking to find a solution to play an important Look Inside and we will try for Princeton during this scrimmage in order to understand our Match Ratings with this offense.

5. U21 NT. What is your opinion on the work of Thecippis?

He worked very well in the first two seasons (incredible match against Turkey!!!) with a team that wasn't incredible. I think that on his last mandate he was less involved with the game, but he reach the pass for next round with a interesting team.

6. Are you leaving at the end of season 12? If so why?Do you have a favourite manager that would be good for our NT? Will you provide your information on the Cyprus players to him?

Yes, I'm leaving... why? Because I led a team from "atimos valuations" to a team that finish 5-2 in Europe pool. I think that now Cyprus has a team and a project that I could leave to its community. As I always told in my speech, I wanna give Cyprus to cypriots, that's why I'm leaving. Favourite manager? No, only a cypriot manager that can involve himself in the community... I can't do it too much, because I used only a vehicular language (english) for my news.
My information? It depends... who will be elected?! Will this new manager contact me for Cyprus future? I'm open to collaborate anyway...
Thank you so much for this interview and your interest in the game and the community.

You have read the story of Steve Makis, first on CWUB, the channel that break all the news into their fundamental elements and with patients rebuilds all the building blocks!

From your host, Melis, have a nice week!

I just asked Steve to stay for an other 2 seasons. We need him to prepare the next generation. He said that he will not change his decision, so we have to take our responsibilities. I guess that we are 4 persons at least that we care. Maybe we should share the work...

Is Steve's decision definate..? He won't change it no matter what..?

Thats what he told me...i guess its final.

Steve Makis will try for the position of NT of Italy, his home country, and from what he has written to us, many time, is that his plan is to return the Cyprus NT back to Cypriots.
Yes, like Johnny said I too believe his statement of leaving is final. What we have to do is try to walk in his shoes as respectively as possible. Johnnys idea of having more than one people working on the NT I think is wise. This way we can cut down the burden to smaller fragments. I believe the future NT manager should have one face but many hands. Surely there will be different opinions on matters of the NT by the involved people but then again through arguments and conversations I am sure we will keep the NT in high levels.
Dont think of it like we shall start from the bottom. Thank God Steve has done a wonderful work so far and if we ask for his advise or help I am sure he will not turn his back.

I'm sure your NT is lucky to be taken by Steve. He built a strong team with great prospects. I haven't seen such an enthusiastic NT manager yet, especially coaching a non-home country without any activity at the very beginning. I guess his methods are the best in the world and if Italy gets him they will be even more powerful! As for Cyprus, I suppose you have already had some good managers who can continue his excellent work. As for me, luckily, I studied some ways of managing from Steve which I actively use in my home Russia NT.
Well, good luck Steve in your future job and good luck Cyprus community! I'll follow your progress..

I was a strong candidate for the NT, but my promotion as a GM makes it hard time wise...

A year ago, I wrote something and I will write it once again.
The work of a NT manager is by far the hardest. Not only do you have to built a strong team and convince team managers to train their players but mostly you have to answer to the other managers whose players did not make it in the NT with rational answers so that they can understand the reasoning behind your actions. Getting results is by far the best answer but is not the only one.
Steve made a clever move, in my opinion, when he posted a table board saying what are the expected skills, based on the age of a player, in order to be a candidate for a possible entrance in the NT squad.
Surely the work of the new manager will be hard at first and perhaps by the time he starts getting positive results the end of the season will come and he might get replaced. The right attitude by all the Cyprus managers is to give the new NT manager a chance of more than one season to set in and get the hang of its new position. This is my opinion. Surely some people will disagree with my way of thinking, and surely they will disagree with the NT managers way of thinking.
The key point is to help the NT manager and not sabotaz its work. No comparison to Steve should be made regarding his tactics since each one sees the game in a different way, but we should advise the new NT if we can.
That is why I said before that the NT manager should have one face but many hands. The more the hands that help him (hands=other managers) the earlier the NT will come back to positive results and the better the future.
I believe I said my part. These are my opinions.