Playing with Names

With the silly season in full effect I thought I would do something a little silly and rank the best teams in the NBL.  “That’s not really silly” you say but I’m ranking the best teams made up of players with the same first letter in the last name.  As the NBL doesn’t have as many players as other leagues there are only eight letters with enough players to compete and six with no players at all (E, O, Q, W, Y and Z).  Starting off I will rank the best teams that have less than five players:

Line-up (Point Guard/Shooting Guard/Small Forward/Power Forward/Centre)

1.       J.  Cedric Jackson/?/?/Daniel Jackson/Daniel Johnson

Only have three players is tough but the combination of Jackson and Johnson would be deadly.  Can you imagine a pick and roll between these two players?

2.       K.  ?/?/?/Matthew Knight/Julian Khazzouh

This team has even less players but the big man team of Knight and Khazzouh would create matchup nightmares for all other teams.

3.       S.  ?/?/Glen Saville/Jarrad Scoines/Diamon Simpson/Luke Schenscher

Even though Scoines hasn’t played a game at least he would be a body helping out the big three as Simpson and Schencher which is nearly on par with Knight and Khazzouh.

The other letters had only a few players or even one person but were nowhere near as good as these combinations.

Onto the letters with enough players to field a team and they range from good outside teams to big man heavy squads and even one with three point guards.

1.       W.  Chris Warren/Andrew Warren/Jamar Wilson/Mark Worthington/Gary Wilkinson

(Jesse Wagstaff, Lucas Walker, Stephen Weigh, Kerry Williams, Drew Williamson)

The letter with the highest count with 13 players is the team that would sweep all other teams.  Four imports make up the starting five while the bench is also quite good.  This team has firepower everywhere and has the stars to make it happen.

2.       C.  Daryl Corletto/Peter Crawford/Tim Coenraad/Joevan Catron/Ian Crosswhite

(Jason Cadee, Matt Campbell, Mitch Creek, Nathan Crosswell, Luke Cooper, Michael and Chris Cedar)

With massive depth and massive size this group will dominate other teams.  The C’s have talent all through the squad and even though they have less big men depth than other teams the starters can rotate as Peter Crawford and Tim Coenraad can both play power forward if needed.

3.       H.  Nathan Herbert/James Harvey/Brad Hill/Jacob Holmes/Will Hudson

(Wade Helliwell, Leon Henry, Russell Hinder, Greg Hire, Stephen Hoare)

I have always had a soft spot for James Harvey and his ability to light it up from anywhere and the combination of Holmes and Hudson is a potent one.  The bench is also decent but I’m a bit iffy on Brad Hill’s game and will need to pull his weight on this squad for it to be effective.

4.       B.  Aaron Bruce/CJ Bruton/Anatoly Bose/Adam Ballinger/Matthew Burston

(Dillon Boucher, Todd Blanchfield, Dean Brebner)

This team is full of shooters and will bomb from everywhere.  They also have great balance with two decent players off the bench as well.  I would be happy if this was my team in real life (apart from Boucher being on the team).

5.       G.  Adam Gibson/Eddie Gill/Chris Goulding/Tom Greer/Jerai Grant

(Aaron Grabau, Tom Garlepp, Deba George, Dave Gruber)

I was tossing up between the G’s and the B’s but the latter wins out because of their size and depth.  The G’s basically have only Grabau off the bench but the Gibson and Gill backcourt will blow past most opposing guards.  Greer and Grant are up and coming and would be the X-Factor for this team.

6.       R.  Brad Robbins/Kevin Ratzsch/Liam Rush/Shawn Redhage/Dusty Rychart

What’s incredible about this team is there are only five players with their last name starting with R.  They scrape in with the minimum amount and have a very decent team.  Rychart is a question mark but if he can be close to his old best then this team can cause headaches.

7.       D.  Daniel Dillon/Adris Deleon/Ron Dorsey/Graeme Dann/Larry Davidson

(Tyson Demos, Jeff Dowdell)

Their big men stocks may be limited but the Dillon-Deleon-Dorsey trio will prove difficult for most oppositions.  If Davidson and Dann can hold their own and play defence then this team could make some noise.

8.       M.  Rhys Martin/Luke Martin/Damian Martin/Ben Madgen/Elvin Mims

As you can probably tell this team will want to run and run and run.  Having three point guards and a shooting guard on the roster makes them very susceptible to getting out-muscled but if they can push the tempo and get easy baskets then they could stay in games.