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Ca y est!

Het is zover!

Finally!

season 17 is upon us. I've decided to kick off the first post with the info that i'm really looking forward to this season :D I won't deny having prefered to end up on the other side( so that i might have had the possibility of giving Joe another Silver trophee in the futur;) -- that was a joke, before people start thinking that i'm cocky or so-- )

Anyhow, I'm finally in the BBBL.

I (and not Joe for a change :P) will be providing the season preview later on ( once the assault on congratulating me on skype and msn has died a bitt). And i also intend on commenting on Giants Post here on the forum, rather than on his profile. I feel that i still have to say alot of things concerning that subject.

But first off, season 17 is upon us. Everyone is ecpecting Joe to repeat as champion (even tho he is using excuses to try to take the pressure of him, as he does each season ;)

a more detailed review will be available within the upcomming hours ( worst case scenario, upcomming day's)

Revo

I've moved Timop's post to a new topic (191646.1) in a way it doesn't interfere with our season 17 topic.
Please post your reactions in there! Thx!

Last edited by AnGi77 at 7/26/2011 9:11:42 AM

I'm nearly done.

With all the transfers that have happened lately, i've had to change a few things. I still have to do 3 more teams, and then it will be on the forum. So you'll get to see it tonight. Be patient ;)

Ladies and gentlemen,

sorry for the delay, but i'm satisfied with the preview. Please note that alot of transers still have to happen, so that would change the preview, but this is how i see things now, if nothing where to change anymore.

This season, the BBBL will be saying goodbye to Obira Dragons, B.Liege Basket, Tumasstars and KV Forever. Good luck in II and hope to see you back soon. The new faces are: Amenra (II.1), Tijuana Burrritos (II.2), Antwerp Angels (II.3) and The Mumu Boys (II.4)
the BBBL Preview: Season 17

I'll start off by the Big 8 conference


Amenra(37305)
Last seasons achievement: champion in II.1 division by beating Dexterity in PO finals.
salary: 347 726$ for 12 players
Information: For a team founded in season 9, this is a young team by BBBL standard. It proves that the manager is willing to improve his team at a fast rate, and has a good feeling for the game ( or he's one of those managers who, given a good mentor, learns fast and progresses fast in this game). His squad consists of 12 players, which includes young belgian player Jean Fradet as well as Amenra's Big 3 ( PG Anthony Dubois and the Belgian Frontcourt duo Mathias Lacroix (PF) and Axel Daenen (C) ). Unlike most young teams, Amenra has a big arena, so the cash revenue should be good which should allow them to buy some new players allong the season. Question is: can Amenra (relying on their Big 3) make a big enough impact to avoid regulation in this harsh enviroment of the BBBL? The cash generating should be good, but will the reinforcements arrive on time? Only time will give us that answer.
prognosis 7th position and Regulation games.


BBC Pokola(89663)
Last seasons achievement: 5th spot
salary: 614 160$ for 16 players
Information: Pokola is one of those teams that just refuse to get relegated. He's been around for 10 seasons in the BBBL, and has a strong allround roster. This allows him to play any tactic, which makes him a hard and unpredictable customer. Pokola's team hasn't got any particular strenghs, but it does rely on SG Petri Rohkimainen, SF Pawel Jasko and PF Alexandre Blary to score most of the teams points. Without any major roster changes, expect another steady season from versatile Pokola Team.
prognosis battling for 4th spot with BC Tienen, but should have the edge due to a more versatile team.


BC Tienen(37316)
Last seasons achievement: 6th spot, winner of regulation games against Tumasstars
salary: 688 955$ for 15 players
Information: Last season, BC Tienen strenghtend their team by acquiring NT C Steven Ballaert, who is considered by many one of the huge prospects of the belgian NT team. Tienen has immediately resumed changed Ballaerts attitude ( he had gotten very lazy with The True Team, where he was happy enough to only show up every once in a while to the training to take some Free throws) and has put him back on track. Tienen has some serious competition for his frontcourt players, but seems to lack some outside fire power. Many expect Tienen to move out one of the frontcourt players and replace him by an extra guard of small forward. Never the less, Tienen has a young team which, if managed correctly should shine brightly a few seasons down the road.
prognosis Battling for 4th spot, but with the lack of a bigger outside presence, will most probably fall shy of the 4th spot and end up 5th.

Boes(89649)
Last seasons achievement: 3rd spot, first round exit against Phoenix Suns
salary: 802 749$ for 11 players
Information: Boes has recently changed from a PO pretender to a PO contender. Having bought a new SG, the team is starting to look very nice. With former NT C Lex Francaart as the team captain, Boes is considered as one of the outsiders for the BBBL title. However, scotty p seems to want to turn his roster upside down, by selling some other players to reduce his high payroll. Will those players be sold for that price, and if so, who will be signed to replace them ( assuming that they will be replaced). If they don't get sold, will scotty P hold on to them, carrying a huge ammount of salary with him during the season and go for the title or will he try to sell them, hoping for a buyer a little futher allong the road? Never the less, Boes seems set for a great season and certainly is one of the teams to keep an eye out for.
prognosis 2nd seed in Big 8 behind favorit Phoenix Suns.


Phoenix__suns(89904)
Last seasons achievement: Losing Po finalist against Vottem Cowboys, after finishing second in Big 8 and eliminating Seatle SuperSonics in the conference finals
salary: 736 499$ for 14 players
Information: Their is a saying: Never change a winning team. However, Phoenix suns only just fell short of giving Vottem Cowboys a run for their money. 2 close defeats in the PO finales gave Vottem the title, but Phoenix can be proud of what his squad has accomplished. And, to futher improve his squad, Phoenix has added young Belgian and former U21 player Pierre-Alain Waterloot to his already very talented team which contains former NT player PF Sybrand Liessens, C Relja Vlajkovic, SF Francis Ivavicius, SG Dotan Yaacov and Master PG Albano Machado. He is expected to take the top seed in Big 8 conference, altho Boes (and Ventola) will probably challenge him for that spot. In the poll, Phoenix suns currently is considered to be the favorite to win the title this season.
prognosis 1rst in Big 8, with HCA through out the entire PO series ( presuming that he isn't surprised like SSS was in season 16).


Seatle SuperSonics(37410)
Last seasons achievement: 1rst Seed in Big 8 with best overall record, but his PO run ended in the Conference finals after a narrow loss against Phoenix Suns
salary: 371 355$ for 12 players
Information: After last seasons surprize ending for SSS, manager Sonics has decided to turn arround his entire roster, which resulted in the 'SSS Solden'. He currently still holds onto Former NT guard Leonard Wilczynski, aswell as Belgian guards C-V Verelst and J-G Hupez. He has added Chris Beckers ( former U21 PF) to his roster, tho it remains unclear how Sonics will combine the training for his 3 potential NT players. It also remains unclear if Sonics intends to add some other new players, or if he intends to go down to the IInd division, in order to give his trainee's a maximum ammount of training (Altho, 400k salary is all what a regular team in II can hold, so it's unsure how this all fits into his plans). Thus, it's unclear what the SSS fans can expect from their team this season, however one thing seems pretty clear. SSS won't be taking part in the PO's this season, unless he still adds a serious ammount of quality players. Most assume that Sonics will be retooling this season, tho, with only 4 top players, direct relegation is lurking just around the corner for the former 2 time BBBL champ.
prognosis Battle to avoid direct regulation unless some major players still join up his squad. projected seed: 7th spot.

the Mumu boys(89926)
Last seasons achievement: promotion from II.4 after beating Bavi Vilvoorde in the PO finals.
salary: 425 037$ for 15 players
Information: When looking at this team, it's pretty clear what this team needs: a set of guards that will be able to defend the opposing guards. Mumu boys has a decent front court, but with no guards to defend the long ball, this is a team that will be very vulnerable to outside orientated teams such as Seatle SuperSonics or to versatile teams such as Phoenix suns, Pokola, Boes or Ventola. Without an upgrade of the guard section, this team will be looking at direct regulation back to a IInd division. However, luckely for them, the other team that will be fighting to avoid regulation other than SSS ( which is Amenra) also is an inside orientated team. So the games against Amenra and SSS will be of vital importance if this team has any hopes of playing regulation games to avoid direct regulation. This said, Mumu boys also have some nice players, ammongst which PF Oli Georgiev ( Makedonian international), who will likely be mumu's boys go to guy for the start of his BBBL campaigne
prognosis Battle to avoid direct regulation with a high need of some guards to defend the longball. lucky for Mumu boys, they have 2 more weeks to find a pair of guards before playing the teams that will be fighting for those regulation spots, so manager mumu has the time to look at the market to find some extra guards.


Ventola(89684)
Last seasons achievement: 4th spot, first round exit against SSS
salary: 574 556$ for 14 players
Information: Here is a team that struggled to get to the BBBL for a long time. However, now, they have become an outsider for the title. Home to Di Piano and Lahure, both potential ( and probable) NT players, allong with the Maltan Nt cornerstone ( and Maltan terror) Frank Terrible ( --he's a terribly hard guy to defend--) Ventola can really be a very though team to beat. Both belgian players are still being trained, and with the addition of rookie Jean-Romain Vanhecken this is a team that should shine very brightly in the futur. Looks out for Ventola, cause you underestimate him, you will experience the rage of his bulls running over your team!
prognosis 3rd spot in Big 8, closely behind Phoenix suns and Boes.

and now, the Great 8 conference

Antwerp Giants(89868)
Last seasons achievement: 6th spot and winner of the regulation series that send most unfortunate Obira Dragons back to II
salary: 773 227$ for 17 players
Information: When you have the 4th highest payroll in the BBBL, then you are expected to do better than a 6th spot. Either the players aren't worth their salary, in which case it's time to find some replacements for them, or the manager isn't using the maximum potential of this team. Whatever the reason may be, Antwerp Giants need to get better results. And with a team that is rapidly aging, it is time to weed out the players who just riding allong with the train. Each season that goes buy, the value of the players will decrease even more, but ofcourse, you don't want to throw away all the hard work that went into creating the team and staying the in BBBL. Whatever Timop decides to do, one thing is certain. If no changes are made, the making the top 3 is an absolute must for the Giants. Giants are a ticking time bomb that needs a serious youth injection to defuse it. The longer Timop waits, the harder it's going to get to get young players. It's time for manager Timop to make a some though decisions for the Giants futur. If teams with a payroll of merely 600k ( such as Mizu) have twice the ammount of victories as team with a payroll of nearly 800k, then something has to change, and the sooner the better.
prognosis Battle for the 4th PO spot, allong with Mighty Wizzards and Esterellas Absurdas. Despite having the higher payroll, the projected spot for the Giants is the 5th spot.


Basket Mizu Arlon(89902)
Last seasons achievement: 2nd spot with equal ammount of victories as Vottem Cowboys, but a less good point differential. Lost the conference finals against Vottem Cowboys
salary: 598 410$ for 12 players
Information: This is once again, a very versatile team. Each position is covered with a good strong player and a decent back up, turning Mizu Arlon into a very strong team. It still has a pretty large economical margin for growth thru training or by adding another player or 2 to this very nice looking roster. Expect to see Arlon ontop of their game while often giving their opponent more trouble than that they can handle.
prognosis Battle for the top seed with Vottem Cowboys. Vottem has the better roster, but has announced that this will be a training season more than anything else. Projected spot: 2nd behind whole else than Vottem Cowboys.

Estrellas Absurdas(89923)
Last seasons achievement: 3rd and PO first round exit against Basket Mizu Arlon
salary: 609 996$ for 17 players
Information: Estrellas Absurdas is one of the few teams in the BBBL to be managed by a girl. This charming lady, who answers to the name Angi, also is part of the U21/NT staff aswell as the BB staff (she's one of those GM's on who the burden falls to watch over this great BB game and weed out the cheaters. a highly unthankfull but necessary job). As for her team, she no doubt has the most allround team in the BBBL and has created that team, keeping the most important thing in mind being defense. Estrellas Absurdas are one defensif very though nut to crack. They have been around the BBBL for a long time already. They might not be the strongest team, but it sure is the team with the least defensif weakness (meaning that she isn't especially vulnerable to inside or outside tactic, as most teams are). Estrellas Absurdas fans can expect another exciting season, in which Angi hopes to lead the franchise once again to the PO's.
prognosis Battle for 4th PO spot allong with Mighty Wizzards and Antwerp Giants. Due to her very strudy defence and nearly double line up for each spot, Angi does posses the best chances to succesfully get that 4th spot due to the fact that she'll be able to manage her gameshape more easely that most other managers.


Stonestars(37411)
Last seasons achievement: 4th and PO first round exit against Vottem Cowboys
salary: 811 300$ for 13 players
Information: Home to Belgian top frontcourt players Abu Hassam and De Neef as well as the very promissing PG Viktor Titeux, Stonestars is once again aiming for nice season. With the recent arrival of Andrus Loodus, who is expected to replace the leaving Abu Hassam, Stonestars will once again be aiming for PO participation. Question remains if their frontcourt, which with Abu and De Neef was known to be both injury prown and very agressive players ( they were violent and dangerous, and it wasn't an exception to see one of them throw a punch, or elbow their opponent, to much frustration of their manager NicoNam), which often got them in early faul trouble, will be able to remain on the court long enough to have a big impact in this upcomming season. Maybe the biggest reason that Abu was told to pack his bags, was that manager NicoNam was tired of his agressive temper. Anyhow, their are still a few changes that are expected to be made, but with calm and motivated Titeux at the point guard position, Stonestars have a very young, yet capable man to lead their offence. NT staff is extremely interested in his progress and already praise him for his great yet relentless working spirit. Some of the Nt staff refer to him as the little Derrick Rose from Belgium, yet Titeux still has a long way to go before being as good as DR.
prognosis 3rd spot in the conference, provided that Stonestars don't focus on the cup.


the mighty wizzards(89707)
Last seasons achievement: 5th position
salary: 529 312$ for 13 players
Information: With a much smaller payroll that most of the BBBL teams, this team is yet a pretty strong team to face. However, their exact strength is uncertain, after the roster overhaul during the offseason, which has given this team a whole new face. Some fear that their small bench could be a pretty big weakness for this team, considering that they added 3 rather agressive players to their roster, however, with the more than capable Fille coach ( another member of the U21/NT staff) as manager, this team should once again be in the running for the 4th spot.
prognosis Battle for 4th PO spot allong with Antwerp Giants and Esterellas Absurdas, but due to the lack of bench, Expectation: 6th spot

Tijuana Burrritos(89707)
Last seasons achievement: promotion in II.2 after beating BBC Miamus in the PO finales
salary: 375 881$ for 12 players
Information: TB is the only team ammongst the promovendi, who has already had past BBBL experience. Neither the Mumu boys, nor Amenra or the Angels have had past experience with the BBBL. Yet, from all the teams that promoted, TB still has the smallest arena. No offseason additions have yet been made, yet it is only a matter of time before TB will announce their new players. They seem to have a decent frontcourt, with some decent guards aswell. Things will be interesting to see how they handle themselves in the BBBL after having been here before. Question remains tho: is this squad strong enough to hold it's own against the other BBBL teams?
prognosis Battle to avoid direct regulation with as biggest opponent: Antwerp Angels. Will their experience be the X factor for this campaign? or will an extra player be able to provide the necessary aid for the Burritos in their fight against the Angels. Current expectation: 8th spot due to the slightely superior squad from the Angels.


Vottem Cowboys(37519)
Last seasons achievement: Succesfully defended their champions title for the 3rd consecutive time ( 4th consecutive title)
salary: 773 683$ for 13 players
Information: With 4 top belgian players ( PG Thys, SG Gilmont, SG/SF Vercaigne and SF/PF Mees) allongside with players such as Le quellec or Chorev, just to name a few, this is without dought Belgiums strongest team. Due to his greed ( of winning both the cup and the championship) he will be Belgians only repressentive in the B3 tournament. Altho manager JoeMaverick (the U21 headcoach, and yet another U21/NT staffmember in the great8 conference) has announced that this would be a training season and that his goal isn't the championship, many believe this to be hot air that Joe wishes to use to take pressure away from him and put some more pressure onto his rivals. VC remains to be the team to beat in the BBBL and hopefully, he will have a very succesfull season in the B3. the lesson to be learned? Just ignore Joe's words when he is saying that he ain't going for the championship. But do not mistake this statement that you should ignore Joe's advise, because more often than not, it proves to be very to be a very usefull advise. When facing him home or away, you better expect a defeat, and in the unlikely event that you would be lucky enough to win, then you might aswell celebrate it, because not many teams can hope to defeat VC's team. If anything, VC might have a weakness, but i'll leave that for the other managers to find out ;)
prognosis Battle with Mizu for the top seed in the conference. expectations: first in the conference and once again, BBBL champ after a rematch of seasons 16 finals ( but probably with HCA for Phoenix suns)