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Ok guys, I have so much that I have to do it in parts!

PART A:

BIG 8

The Mighty Oaks

Country rank: 193
Roster Size: 14 players
Predicted Finish: 1st
Evaluation: The Oaks are red hot favourites to take out the title of league III.3 this season, and for a good reason to. Not only does their roster have depth, but experience as well. Manager, Mr Green has decided to shock everyone by putting star player Johnny Dogan on the transfer list, as well as veteran power forward Peteris Brazuns and rookie guard Cecil Hammersley. It will be interesting to see what he decides to do with the money. The Oaks have no real prolific scorer or rebounder, with their top scorer averaging just over 16 PPG, and top rebounder having just under 9 RBG this season, a star man inside seems to be what the Oaks are lacking! Another problem area for the Oaks is the average team FT shooting percentage, shooting at just 61%, free throws is what it comes down to in some games and I think that would be a main worry area for Mr Green. Some positives are…. They are an outstanding passing team, averaging over 23 APG, and also a solid shooting team averaging 47% as a team this season. Eliseo Guzman is the man to look out for on this team, averaging 13.7 PPG, 7.2 RBG and he is also a deadly accurate shooter, shooting at 75% from the field this season. Nevertheless everyone can put the ball in the hoop which makes them one of the toughest teams to play in the league, and with a solid balance of young and experienced, they will be eyeing the championship and promotion back up to division 2!

Flames

Country Rank: 101
Roster Size: 14 Players
Predicted Finish: 2nd
Evaluation: The Flames will most likely be second fiddle in the big 8 conference this season behind the Oaks, although I do genuinely believe that they could mount a title run at some stage this season if things go their way! The fact that they have been struggling to get good crowds lately is not helping their cause. The Flames will mainly look to key big man Danny English and prolific scorer Martinus Halper this season, Martinus is dangerous from outside having nailed 17 triples this season, the most in the league! Danny is averaging a double double per game this season with 12 points and 15 rebounds per game. He is one of the most dynamic big men in the league and the 22 year old is perfectly capable of leading his team to division 2. A 3 week injury to back up center Skjalg Brandvik might hold the flames up a bit, but once again a nice balance of depth and experience will help get them through the next 3 weeks without him. Overall there is a nice balance of minutes on this team, with no one averaging over 38 minutes per game, another solid rebounding team in the league pulling 48 boards per game, and a team with a ton of scoring options, averaging over 110 points per game this season meaning that the Flames should be another team to fear this season!


Last edited by Lazz40* at 7/1/2013 9:18:05 PM

BIG 8 (Part B)

Rampaging Marmots

Country Rank: 243
Roster Size: 13 players
Predicted Finish: 3rd
Evaluation: The Marmots are another solid team in this league; one that is going to battle hard all season for the second spot, but in the end will just fall short. More than half of the roster is over 30, so the Marmots won’t need to worry about experience, but they will have to worry about skill drops! Get ready for a bit of a late season slump from the marmots, one that will cost them second place! Those old men probably won’t last the whole season without some drastic skill drops. On the plus side, these old men are still some darn good players for their mid-30s. Italian center Angelo Durso is an absolute star, 3rd in the league on points per game with 28.6 and 6th in the league on rebounds with 16. This man is also money from mid-range shooting at 56% and a decent FT shooter at an average of 71%. There is also SF Gerlando Bachini averaging 12 points and 5 rebounds per game, as well as Filip Niedolak with 13.4 points and 4.4 assists per game. The Marmots clean the glass on defence and offence, averaging 53 defensive rebounds, and 13.8 offensive rebounds! They also pass the ball well with over 25 assists per game! With a decent balance of skill in and out of the key and some quality leadership, the marmots are not to be taken lightly, but then again they are not to be seen as genuine title contenders!

HawthornFC

Country Rank: 153
Roster Size: 13 Players
Predicted Finish: 4th
Evaluation: The Hawks are coming off an outstanding season 23 with a 17-5 record finishing 3rd in their respective conference. The hawks have the perfect mix in terms of age, but not the perfect mix in terms of talent in and out of the key. They have 3 key players, 2 of them being big men, and the other being a guard. The Hawks have most if their strengths inside, and so they could probably be easily defeated using a 2-3 zone. Having said that, these 3 key players are still very good and in my opinion, can get the hawks yet another finals berth. Center Enzo Paolo Battaglino is part of the big three, and is giving the hawks a double double per game this season on points and rebounds while guard Arthur Gallais helps out with consistency in passing, scoring and stealing. Shooting guard Ayoze Comyn has been the surprise package in the scoring department averaging 18 points per game! Overall the hawks are consistent in delivering impressive stats in all the main areas such as rebounds, assists and steals. A healthy FT percentage of 78% is helping out nicely as well. A serious problem area though is the shooting and scoring department as a unit, shooting at just 40% as a team from the field and only 20% from downtown! This has led to an average of just 88 points per game, which is just not enough in division 3. The hawks also turn the ball over 15 times a game! Overall, there are some areas for improvement, and I do believe they have taken a step back since last season, but I still think they have enough in them for a finals beth!

Last edited by Lazz40* at 7/1/2013 9:24:15 PM

BIG 8 (Part C)

Jack Hammers

Country Rank: 233
Roster Size: 14 Players
Predicted Finish: 5th
Evaluation: The Jack Hammers are another team that in my opinion, have made not enough progress since last season. The hammers had a 14-8 record in season 23; a record that I think will be hard for them to improve on. They are going through the problem that won’t allow them to do so right now. The Hammers like many teams lack talent inside the key, apart from one player, who is INJURED! This is why the hammers need to look to add depth to the paint. Andre Autran is the gun inside, but now that he is injured all the hammers have is a couple of other players who have stepped up to the plate inside, such as Jorg Hexlicht who is averaging a DD on points and rebounds and Tian Xiaonong 10 points and 5 rebounds. But when the hammers come up against the teams with stronger players inside, they just won’t make the cut. Starting shooting guard Daniele Galazzi is in some average form averaging just 14 points and 2 assists per game. They do have multiple scoring options which has helped them to over 100 points per game, but they don’t really have a star player, we will have to wait until the end of the season to find out whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. As a team, the hammers are accurate shooters, shooting at 49%, and are solid defenders, averaging 6 steals and 5 blocks per game. Another thing that shows their lack of big men is their poor rebounding averaging only 43.6 total rebounds as a team. Overall the Jack Hammers have a good mixture of talent in their team, but I’m afraid it’s not going to be enough to get them a playoff berth!

Serial Thrillers

Country Rank: 176
Roster Size: 6 Players
Predicted Finish: 6th
Evaluation: The Thrillers have just six players on their team this season, and that could cause some problems, we all know the risk of having only one sub on the bench. The thrillers just missed out on playoffs last season, and it was probably due to the fact that they just don’t have enough players to deal with injuries and foul outs. The skill of all of these 6 players is excellent, and they are all worthy of division 3 basketball, but if timmyd could just think about picking up a few more roll players to help these other guys out, then that’s when the thrillers will become title contenders. There are some excellent talents on this team such as Peter Clune (28.2ppg) and Antoine Rossi (24.5ppg) but there is no supporting cast. There are many flaws in this team as a result. The thrillers only shoot at 39% from the field and commit close to 15 turnovers a game as a result of their small roster size! They still manage to somehow pull down a respectable amount of rebounds though (46.6rpg) with Jamie Hilton doing most of the damage at 16.2 rebounds per game. It’s scary to think how good this team could be if the right management was applied. As a result, the thrillers will have to fight to stay in the league in the relegation series.



Last edited by Lazz40* at 7/1/2013 9:28:34 PM

BIG 8 (Final Part)

Valley Eagles

Country Rank: 245
Roster Size: 15 players
Predicted Finish: 7th
Evaluation: The Eagles carry last year’s scoring champion and veteran power forward Leszek Aniolowski who unfortunately has not had the same start to this season as he did last season. And the fact that the eagles are so low on my predictions is because they lack players like Aniolowski….. Veterans! This team is full of young and bright talent, but there are no older players to mentor them. 2 players over 30 on a 15 man roster are just not going to cut it in this league. The eagles have a lot of good young players, and with the right training they are going to be absoloute stars when they get older, but now the eagles should just look to train. They are not really a massive threat to any team, but they can really put up a fight, they will probably be looking at a tight promotion battle that they might possibly win with the right tactics. Surprisingly enough, Vilmaris Kygoulis is the team’s leading scorer at the power forward spot, with an impressive 30 points per game for the 28 year old. Unfortunatley Vilmaris currently has an injury and will out for 1 week. Other players such as Sebestyen Regoczi (20.4ppg) and Jovan Dordevic (11.8ppg and 6.4rpg) have been impressive. As a unit, the eagles put a lot of points on the board; they average 108 points per game as a team, as well as an impressive 15.2 offensive rebounds per game! You don’t have to worry about their shocking 23% 3 point shooting. They also pass incredibly well, with over 24 assists per game and dominate on defence forcing an amazing 15.2 turnovers per game! This team is heading in the right direction, and has a lot to look forward to……… Just not this season! 

St. George Illawarra Dragons

Country Rank: 399
Roster Size: 13 players
Predicted Finish: 8th
Evaluation: The dragons are a very new team, they came in to replace the Los Coolfreakz, who quit late last season, and against all odds, managed to defeat Westies Brookes in the relegation series to earn another season in division 3. But now they are fighting harder than ever, and are most likely facing relegation. Once again, a very young side that has a long way to go, in terms of development. A few purchases late last season allowed them to defeat only the Brookes and now that they have to compete with some of the best of the whole division, the dragons are going to find this season hard. The only man who is really doing well at this club at the moment is Canadian small forward Rico Haineault who is leading the scoring with an average 14.6 points per game. There is not much happening in the team stats either with a shocking 26% field goal percentage, and a mediocre 56.4 points per game they also turn the ball over more than any other team in the conference with 17.6 TO per game. It’s going to be a tough season for the dragons, one where all the trainees will learn heaps. I suppose that’s the best way of looking at it!

Hope you liked it guys, It took a long time to make...... OVER 2000 words! Great 8 predictions will be out over the next couple of days!




Last edited by Lazz40* at 7/1/2013 9:31:06 PM

Gold Lazz, bloody brilliant mate! If you are 16 i would give you a stamp on your hand and an A+ on your paper!!!! lol

Great detail too. I'd bet you love the NBA and study every team and player???

Gold Lazz, bloody brilliant mate! If you are 16 i would give you a stamp on your hand and an A+ on your paper!!!! lol

Great detail too. I'd bet you love the NBA and study every team and player???

I have to agree...great work, mate. +1 Not sure if I agree...completely...though...lol

Absolutely worth a ball - but I must say I don't agree either, I think you'll find the Marmots are, at worst, #2 in our conference ;)

Absolutely worth a ball - but I must say I don't agree either, I think you'll find the Marmots will be, at worst, #1 in our conference ;)

Fixed

;-)

Pretty much lewie! lol..
Sorry for not talkin much lately, im on holiday so i been a little busy.
I promise great 8 out soon, im currently working on it as we speak, and i must say lewie, I think ill be happy with your review! :)

Well we will find out whether im right or not when we watch you and the mighty flames battle it out on nationally televised saturday night basketball tomorrow! you have HCA so flames will have to fight! should be good!

I normal'd it, he TIE'd it, haha. Would have been close if we both normal'd!