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I mean, I'm sure he's got good defense, but 11/9 JS/JR + 10DR +13 PA can't get him better looks than that, against a second-year player? I'm still a little surprised, although your explanation is probably the right one.

I'm going all-out to get Lucas on the U21 team, as you can see I'm sacrificing team success for Lucas's benefit. So hopefully in a U21 lineup he'll do better, and hopefully also when I sell Conanan I'll get enough to build a team around him.

Credit Smith though, holding Lucas to 10% shooting is a remarkable feat for any player, enthusiasm notwithstanding.

If you ever do sell Connan in the future, he might end up on my team. I'll need another guard when I do rotation training again -- esspecailly if I make DII, but I have another need to fill -- backup PF, possably a new Center, so it just depends.

Last edited by A-Dub at 6/11/2012 6:04:28 PM

Well, you're right. I would've expected more out of Lucas. The 8OD 7ID 4BLK on Smith would usually have a very hard time taking on a beast like Lucas. It's almost like when the Pistons invented "Jordan Rules" to be able to play against the Bulls. But without his Pippen or his Rodman, the rules worked.

Anyway... I looked at the advanced stats from the offsite and the play-by-play trying to figure out what happened in the game. And a big part of Lucas drying up was that he only got free for 13% of his shots. I think this is a factor of 1) R-n-G being a fast-paced offense (which lowers the threshold for deciding to take a shot), 2) the lack of good passing options, and 3) that a blowout will often make percentages worse for the losing team, since they take more and more desperate risks (worse shots) and more 3's (which are already lower percentage shots). I also wonder if the game engine switched tactics for you to outside isolation at some point. That's almost what the box score looks like.

Anyway, I hope Lucas gets on the U21 team. It would be cool to be able to say I know and am in the same league as the trainer of a USA U21 player. I think he has a great shot. The sacrifices in competitiveness look like they'll pay off.

@ Magus: I'm selling Conanan at the end of this season. If you want him I can put him up earlier, but right now he's good for splitting minutes with Lucas at PG. But next season when Lucas's salary gets somewhere from $40-50K and Conanan's goes up too, I won't be able to afford both of them.

@Simon: those stats are very interesting. I'm a little surprised Lucas only got free for 13% of his shots, but that does explain a lot. Because you're right, normally Lucas should do much better. I understand why his shooting percentages were down, but 10% just seemed kind of low regardless of the circumstances. We'll just have to move past it and at least be grateful he got his 48+ for training.

I used to run patient, but then switched to RnG last season when I was playing Lucas and Conanan together. I should switch my default tactics back to patient, I guess.

(220854.1)

For those who want to learn a little more about my team, or if anyone wants to help me decide if I should beat you this season or next season ; )

My top 7 power rankings:

1. Beez (3 losses: 1. strong team that disbanded immediately after 2. by 4 points to #2 with less effort and tactics mismatch 3. by 5 points to #3 with less effort and early injury to very key player)
2. P(i)MP (wins against both top 3, super close to #1)
3. Valhalla! (see below)
4. WHV
5. Murfs (slightly better record than WHV but PD is telling)
6. Ulderico
7. Clams (impressive team considering salary, could be playoff threat if cash reserves are high)


My team isn't higher than 3 because we have been extremely lucky so far this season. We're 3-0 in games decided by two points or overtime, and in my recent game against the Beez a very key player for them goes down in the opening minutes and it still comes down to the wire.

Nice. I think that your rankings are pretty spot on. The top three are pretty dead even right now. Playing out the season in my head, I think that LA's three losses will cost them HCA in the playoffs, which makes Valhalla! or P(i)MP (hilarious AKA, BTW) more likely to take the finals. In fact, the season outcome probably comes down to the VAL @ PRA game on 7/14. It's essentially a toss-up, but the winner of that game will have HCA through the playoffs. And, barring some serious rentals, that will be enough to give them the upper hand come August. What could throw a wrench in things is if the Great 8 teams beat the snot out of each other to leave only a crippled squad in the finals.

And, for that matter we should all take a note from Upsyndrome's performance last season – who went 8-1 after the All-Star break to nab a second seed from the stronger conference, upset the completely dominant Beez in the semis, and rode that train all the way to D3. The story of the season is by no means over. A team that was 6-7 before the break won the league. Who knows... we might all get Shocked or Rocked before the season is up.

As far as the other four teams you mentioned:

I think the Jazz are really underrated. They were quite impressive in their loss to Valhalla last Tuesday, only allowing a PD of 14 while away and at an effort disadvantage. And they've been raking in the dough with an extra $50k/wk all season long from their cup wins. Once their interests are no longer divided between the league and the cup, they'll be a money-flush force to be reckoned with. The only catch is that they have a really tough stretch of games starting 7/10 when they host the Velvet, host Murfreesboro and then travel to LA.

And I think Murfreesboro is overrated as indicated by their low PD. They only beat the Jazz at the beginning of the season because they had an effort mismatch and the Jazz were running inferior tactics. Also they haven't put up the kinds of margins you'd like to see against teams like Inferno and Illiniwek (although ILL has shown some strength lately).

WHV has been a little confusing, hanging tough with conference teams, but getting absolutely curb-stomped by Murfreesboro and the Beez. So, I'm not sure what to think there.

I'll spare you the in-depth analysis of the Clams. But I will say that I've given up a number of unnecessary losses.

In any case, my crystal ball (as opposed to power rankings) has it like this:

Big 8
Finalist: Beez
Semifinalist: Jazz
PO's: Murfreesboro & Illiniwek

Great 8
Finalist: P(i)MP (Champion)
Semifinalist: Valhalla
PO's: Velvet & Clams

I figure these are the playoff teams, but the rest is as much conjecture as anything else. If your ranking pisses you off, I hope it spurs you on to try and prove me wrong. And if you like your ranking, your ass better prove me right! In any case, good luck to all!

Last edited by rhyminsimon at 7/2/2012 10:44:44 PM

And just to give a little perspective, as of the time of these posts, BB ranks our teams like this.

The number is the team's national rank.

1. LA - 310
2. PRA - 391
3. WHV - 431
4. VAL - 500
5. KNP - 551
6. MM - 598
7. ULD - 639
8. DCA - 792
9. ILL - 794
10. SUP - 819
11. STL - 829
12. NYC - 852
13. MAR - 984
14. NEV - 1008
15. COR - 1128
16. GRE - 1408

Good post, I agree with pretty much everything you said.

I actually almost put the Jazz at #4 but then decided it was harder to justify objectively. Kinda arbitrary that I put the Jazz at 6 but moved the Beez to #1 considering I feel have a somewhat similar relationship to the other teams in their group.

Interesting anecdote about Upsyndrome last season. I just looked at their transfer history and without selling any assets they bought 4m worth of players right before the playoffs started, to add to the 3 million they had already spent during the season. It would be a surprise if someone has those kinds of reserves this time around (to put it lightly), but it will certainly be interesting to see what happens close to the transfer deadline. A far lower total could sway the balance of power.

Last edited by w_alloy at 7/3/2012 3:26:43 AM

Yeah. Magus had a pretty gargantuan arena driving him: 21050 seats. And there isn't anybody who's got anything like that. The closest would be Cornballers or Murfreesboro. Maybe Murf's gonna rock the TL and take the league. I'm not sure Cornballers could dig themselves out of their 4-9 hole to make the playoffs, especially since they're training Conanan and Lucas.

Had the idea to check on what the changes were from the beginning of the season in comparative national ranking. Rankings from the first cup game of the season are in parenthesis followed by the change in league position:

1. LA - 310 (1st - 314) N/C
2. PRA - 391 (3rd - 426) +1
3. WHV - 431 (4th - 453) +1
4. VAL - 500 (10th - 857) +6
5. KNP - 551 (2nd - 340) -3
6. MM - 598 (5th -570) -1
7. ULD - 639 (12th - 982) +5
8. DCA - 792 (13th - 1045) +5
9. ILL - 794 (7th - 722) -2
10. SUP - 819 (6th - 673) -4
11. STL - 829 (8th - 791) -3
12. NYC - 852 (9th - 798) -3
13. MAR - 984 (11th - 925) -2
14. NEV - 1008 (15th - 1192) +1
15. COR - 1128 (14th - 1110) -1
16. GRE - 1408 (16th - 1461) N/C

Current League Avg Nat'l Rank = 752
Season Start League Avg Nat'l Rank = 791