Hammer's NBL Supercoach thoughts | 04/09

The week that was....

Zylan Cheatham rocketing up the boards currently only 9.5% owned. After last nights Blitz Game against the Hawks I'm very bullish on the big fella. His 16 and 16 double double resulted in n44SC and it actually felt like he did more watching this game. Remembering too he has had 10+ assist games in the NBL. At 339k he is cheaper than cotton who scored 20SC in the same and frees up cash.

Flynn Cameron after a big year last year and an impressive Summer League final game has started off on fire here too. Adelaide is where I see lot's of value and it has nothing to do with Bryce. 

PJC currently the most popular Rnd 1 captain choice at 26.9%, followed by Mennenga and Cotton at 12% .... Nathan Sobey 3.4% and Skylar Mays 2.4% at time of writing looking very PODish. We get our first look at PJC in the Blitz tonight under legendary coach Geordie Herbert. What's the role? What's the fit? Does he play nicely with his new teammates? 

DJ3J is the other watch for New Zealand. His disappointing year last year where he fell out of the rotation just has me believing we now have a good player down on his luck ready to make some cash as the new starting shooting guard across the ditch. His price tag of $144k is beyond enticing for what we know he can do. Other cheapies getting some love for the breakers include Kout Noi who is currently 13.1% owned, although he is injured and wont suit up. Little word of warning on Noi is that he's heavily reliant on scoring the ball to accumulate SC Points - in fact 74.4% of his SC points 2 seasons ago came from actual points. Little risky when a poor shooting night can ruin your SuperCoach week. 

Mennenga is on a doiuble round 1 and priced at 300k is the most owned player at 50.5% followed by Hunter Goodrick at 45.2% (This is some serious fool's gold - I'm saying he's a better player than he is a supercoach player), Cole Anthony entering two single games and with no price rise imminent until after round 3 has me questioning why 32.6% already own him. Where do we sit on Mennenga? I'm finding myself making arguments either way - perhaps the question comes down to how many Breakers can you start with? Their schedule goes Double Single Double Single.... all the way up to round 9 where they have back to back doubles. Can we find another team that pairs perfectly and unlock to perfect pairs strategy? 

A few interesting players worthy of discussion: Dash Daniels at 115K next start price - another one that could be in for an expanded role. First Blitz game showed promise but I'm needing to see the role with a full squad. The dynamic between Skylar Mays and Nathan Sobey has been discussed at nauseum so far... Can they co-exist, do they streal stats from each other? Are their ceilings lowered? The answer to this will shape the direction of many a starting squad. More games needed to make a full assessment but buyers beware. My pick from SEM is Akech Aliir who at 125k is a phenomenal prospect with insanely high ppm production. His ability to impact the breadth of the box score has me excited. FWD/CNT eligibity is a bonus that provides coaches with much needed flexibility.

Pepper vs Dell'Orso vs New Import - So much to like and still so much to play out here.

Cairns - Great early schedule, Identical to both Illawarra and Adelaide - My pick is Shaun Bruce. Desperate to get a look at the new import PG Jaylon Brown though. A 277k PG is a lock to increase in price if he is as advertised. The downside is Cairns look a mess on both sides of the ball. Pinder again is frustrating - the potential and the inconsistency combine to make him a difficult prospect to pick with confidence. Rocks and diamonds with this one. Are you willing t risk it to get the biscuit? 

Hawks: Can the three headed backcourt of Hickey. Doyle and Harbey play nicely? Articles earlier in the week suggesting there may be some discontent from hickey didnt affect the Blitz game 1 with all performing strngly with minutes likely to mirror those from the season proper. Doyle hit the gamewinner on his way to 44SC and was well supported by Hickeys28SC . Miraculously there were only 3 turnovers between them. Kelan Martin debuted with 31SC behind 20 actual points. He was never on my radar but I may take a second look now given the favourable early schedule... maybe. 

Melbourne United is the team on everyone’s lips. The schedule will be nice come round 3 and the Henshall rule will help us lock in the projected price rises. A boost here is pencilled in already. Cole, travers, Oduro are all options. All under 300k and all ready to produce points and cash. Foresight in structuring your team to capitalise here will be crucial. I’m picturing a round 3 team with Cheatham, and Travers in the front court and Cole Anthony beside an Arnas Velicka or Jaylon Browne in the backcourt. The centre position would be Tyrell Harrison and Josh Oduro duo. Working on a little reverse engineering to see if we can generate the cash in the first 2 rounds to get here. Rough pipe dream at this stage. 

Tassie are a really great SuperViach team this year with a really annoying schedule. No back to back doubles for the first 12 rounds make it difficult to hold premium guys but my three picks here are Armstrong who showed in game one of the blitz that this team will run through him. Unlike other players, the addition of star players back from rest and injury should improve Armstrong numbers. Mathias is cheap but one dimensional and I’m keen to get a look at David Johnson as he, hopefully, takes off the robin costume and assumes the Batman role now Hamilton is sidelined. 

Sydney have the worst early schedule of any team and remain highly irrelevant u til round 4 when their season gets going. In saying that Jayden stone, a bargain priced Delly and cooks all remain relevant for forward planning. KD is expensive and should be avoided their run of doubles, hopefully seeing an early price drop to help us out. 

Hammer