SuperCoach NBL: To Bryce or not to Bryce?

The Basketball Blokes are hard at work providing you the most in-depth, beneficial analysis ahead of the new season of SuperCoach NBL. The boys are there every step of the way to help you select your final roster. 

As the countdown continues to HoopsFest in Perth, Boydie, Banksy and Ben took questions from SuperCoach fanatics about their teams.

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FSTOS: Despite the poor schedule is Rocco a must have cash cow?
Patrick: Similarly, thoughts on Prather as well? 
Answer: Both Rocco Zikarsky and Casey Prather have the single worst starting schedule in the league and yet they remain good cash cow options. For differing reasons individually, we think neither of them fit the category of being must-own. Rocco has a locked in role as the backup big man behind Tyrell Harrison and is the second best bench center bench option behind Lachie Olbrich. If you have Olbrich, in your forward positions go ahead and lock Rocco in. Prather on the other hand has performed very well, but looks to be behind Deng Adel for opportunity at the moment. With Sam McDaniel and Josh Bannan set to return, this may limit Prather’s opportunity further. The good thing is that that the Bullets will not change price until the conclusion of Round 3, so we can have a look at the season proper and bring them in when their schedule improves or before they get too expensive.

Mark: What were the best learnings you had from last season?
Answer: We have learnt not to force our teams into having two pre-prepared trades each week in order to follow the schedule. We have already seen the entire point guard group of the Cairns Taipans ruled out through injury and suspension this pre-season. Things always seem to come up when you are playing SuperCoach NBL, so it is important not to completely lock your self into two set trades per week. For example, our next two questions are:

Ruby: to Bryce or not to Bryce?
FSTOS: How many Melbourne United players should teams have for Round 1? 
Answer: Yes, it is great to have Bryce Cotton! However, if that means you are planning on trading him out to someone who plays two games in Round 2; you need to be aware that there is some risk in needing those other trades elsewhere. We ideally don’t want to be using our trade boosts too early in the season.

Apart from Jack White, the likes of Rob Loe, Marcus Lee, Matthew Dellavedova and Shea Ili have not forced their way into our sides as must own. However, given their perfect schedule of double game rounds for the first three rounds to start the season, they remain legitimately viable. The benefit of these players is that they can stay in your side for those initial three rounds without requiring a trade to be used on that position, freeing up trades which is something we learned to be beneficial from last season. I think most of the blokes will have two players from Melbourne United.

Mark: Should your starting five all have double-game rounds?
Bucks: What players do you trust on a single game (apart from Bryce Cotton)?
Answer: We think you should be aiming for four or more of your starting five players to have two games in Round 2. This means that by Round 2 you need four starting-quality players from Melbourne United, South East Melbourne Phoenix, the Illawarra Hawks and the Sydney Kings. You will also have two trades at the conclusion of Round 1 to achieve this goal.

One player that we are okay starting on a single game in Round 2 is Adelaide 36ers' guard Kendric Davis. This is particularly the case because we think he is probably must own in Rounds 3 and 4 where he has consecutive double-game rounds.

Shane: Best cheapie?
Alex: Is Henshall a legitimate option or are we going to get burnt like last season?
Doddy: Who is the best cash cow in each line?
Answer: On the topic of bargain players, we are absolutely spoilt for choice this season. We would legitimately tick off the following options if they worked for your team structure: Nick Marshall (ADL), Rocco Zikarsky and Casey Prather (BRIS), Will Hickey and Lachlan Olbrich (ILL), Izan Almansa and Ben Henshall (PER), Angus Glover (SEM) and Keli Leaupepe (SYD).

We think Olbrich is the best forward eligible cash cow, which leaves Zikarsky eligible for your center position and Hickey is our favourite guard eligible cash cow.

Despite Ben Henshall not being our number one option at guard or forward, we all think he is better placed as a cash cow option this season. Every opportunity that Henshall has been given, he has delivered; and this includes his performance in the NBL Blitz. His performance on the court was excellent, but off the court he received his endorsement from teammate Bryce Cotton who singled “Henny” out for some greater opportunity this season. We think he is the third guard option this season and may challenge Tai Webster for that starting role during the season. We think that the 40 per cent of the competition is making a good selection in picking Henshall.

Charlie: Who are the best five new imports (277k starting price) this season, irrespective of schedule?
Answer: It is very important to consider the schedule when building your starting side. However, we are most excited about Kendric Davis, Darius Days, Cam Oliver, Montrezl Harrell and Matthew Hurt. Others in the mix include James Batemon, Matt Mooney and Cairns imports Tanner Groves and Pedro Bradshaw. We certainly have an exciting crop of new imports this season.

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