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All-stars! Due to a very effective LI offense which resulted in no single player taking more than 9 3-point attempts on the year, no Tornadoes players made the 3-pt competition. However, we have a whopping 8 of 10 all-stars, including:

Starting point guard Len Smiley. Go rookie!
Backup swingman SG Jose Himadas.
Starting SF Rafael Faina. Missed significant time with injuries, but such a deadly offensive weapon when healthy that the fans voted him in anyway.
Backup SF Antonio Astudillo. Filled in very capably when Faina was out and was very efficient on the year.
Starting PF Angelo Iriarte. He was actually the backup on the depth chart, but because of blowouts where McNeill would sit the whole 4th quarter he played as many if not more minutes than the nominal starter. And BOY was he effective, averaging 9.2 rebounds, 7.4 assists, and 13.5 ppg on .598% from the field in just under 26 minutes per game. Can't argue with that production.
Backup PF Rich McNeill. Some would say a poor man's Faina, but still a very capable offensive weapon and a better defender and passer. Iriarte outshone him but he still performed very well.
Starting C Simon Zoric. Zoric started over the more talented Catapang due to his better passing/FT shooting and also to keep Catapang's minutes low. Hence his stats were better, giving him the starting job.
Backup C Lorenzo Catapang. 11 IS+13 ID = ∞ domination in an almost entirely bot league.

Also, Li Zhizhi was 3rd in voting among PGs, despite missing time with injuries and backing up Smiley all season. Damian Aldridge, the backup SG, was 4th among SGs. So all my starters and backups appeared in the voting, and 8 of them were all-stars. Is this some kind of record?

With an eye toward the future, the Kittanning Tornadoes have acquired rookie Brazilian guard Leandro Palma (23815630) for $25000. Although not blessed with awesome potential like fellow rookie Len Smiley, Palma has great height for training purposes at 5'11" and solid outside skills, specifically in JR, OD, and DR. As you might expect from a rookie, he has a lot of improvement and it's a shame that he missed half a season of training. Still, with his height and consistent single-position training, he should be a contributor for many seasons either backing up or starting alongside Smiley in the backcourt. He does rebound the ball very well for a guard, something Smiley doesn't do, but otherwise his inside skills are mostly lacking. Still, players like him are not easy to come by and he was well worth the money.

I look at the game at halftime, see Choy Soo Jung injured, my team's first injury of the season and Pringle with 4 fouls...I knew I shouldn't have scrimmaged you...

I just got back and looked at the game and I see my new trainee Palma with 3 fouls and Faina (who needs 48 minutes this game, having played none in my league game) with 4 fouls and a horrible offensive performance, and I too think...I knew I shouldn't have scrimmaged you...You're going to completely destroy my training for the week if either or both of them were to actually foul out, of course.

It's also kind of perversely funny that my team was the first this season to injure one of your players. Of course it's not any of the other teams in your league, nor any of the other teams you scrimmaged, but it would be me. Evidently the GE has decided that last year's rivalry means there there needs to be bad blood and excessive physicality between the teams or something. Either that or it's my charming demeanor carrying over to my players on the court...

Never again, will I scrimmage you.

Well I told you you were going to ruin my training for the week. Only Smiley popped this week from JS-forwards. He did double pop in JS/JR, which is nice. Overall he's now 7/8/8/7/5/8 3/4/3/3 for a total of 9 pops on the season, which is ok especially given his height I guess.

Over 1000 PD...+1009 Oh yeah!

And it only took 16 games too.

Last edited by T.M. at 1/1/2012 1:46:18 PM

I was going to tell you to start preparing for D4...but I made like millions of changes when I was actually in D4, hopefully you don't come into my league because it is pretty hard..but I do get a pretty large league TV Contract boost.

My preparation for D4 pretty much concists of expanding my arena and training Smiley and Faina in particular. Beyond that, I'm waiting to see what I need for D.IV, who's available at the beginning of next season, etc. before adding a player. I also want to get the promotion $200K before buying a new player, but I already have some ideas of what I'm looking for.

I've looked at your league and some other D.IV leagues and yours does seem pretty tough. I'm impressed that your team is doing really well despite that.

Well after last weeks' minutes snafu, I ended up giving Smiley too many minutes and Faina none at all, which sucked. On the bright side, we still got a lot of pops: Iriarte and Astudillo in JS, McNeill in driving, and Smiley in handling and passing (the first time I've seen a passing pop from 1v1 forwards). This brings Smiley up to a whopping 13 pops on the season (5/7/6/6/4/7 2/3/2/3 at the start of the season to 7/8/8/8/5/9 3/4/3/3 as of today). I'm pretty satisfied with him so far. Apparently the 13 pops gets him no love though, as I'm told his current salary estimate ($6695) does not reach the salary/potential criteria. I'm hoping to get Len another OD, driving, and JS pop this season, so if he can get those we'll see if he gets reconsidered.

I find it funny how you won your latest game. Faina is a beast! Thank god I don't have to deal with him anymore.

Just noticed that he actually broke the record for scoring in the league!

Last edited by Lemony at 1/7/2012 10:39:51 PM