by Sam Thayer and Max Melville
Villains
DHS
Nuge
Nathan
Willy B
Max (c)
Strengths: Depth, Scoring, Chemistry, Veteran experience
Weaknesses: Worst player in the league, no second superstar, too many mouths to feed
Trades to make
Nuge & Nathan for Henri & Rothstein
Aidan gets paired with Matt, his loyal companion of many years. This trade will be a result of tempers flaring within the killer bees, as Kenny starts to lose control of his team. After Henri continues his poor 2022 form, Matt will get frustrated and look to Kenny to even out his top-heavy team.
Dragons
Kyle
Eli
Zhang (c)
Kiernan
David R
Strengths: Arguably best duo in the league
Weaknesses: Depth, worst 3rd man, inexperienced, many players haven’t played together
Trades to make
Eli & Kiernan for John Ross & Tameek
Zhang doesn’t like how Eli is playing like the number one option and recognizes he needs more depth in order to win a ring. He turns to John Ross who brings a new dynamic while upgrading David with Tameek to resume the scoring Eli would be leaving off. Realistically, Zhang will have to ship Eli or Kyle to make any sort of meaningful change to his team.
Killer Bees
Matt
Henri
Idi
Kenny (c)
Rothstein
Strengths: Arguably best duo in the league
Weaknesses: Idi won’t show, Henri could be bad, Kenny may start himself
Trades to make
Rothstein for Dorval (after Dorv signs w the Horses)
We still have 5-6 months before the season starts, and Kenny is already fed up with Rothstein. He has already requested to drop him, and at some point it will be too much for KB to handle. Rothstein also likes to post up in the corner like Kenny, so KB may make a move for a different player, like Dorval. Zach plays a lot of pick up with Rothstein, and could have good team chem with him by the time summer rolls around
Blizzard
Thomas
Ryan
Brian
Charlie (c)
Erik
Strengths: Tallest team in the league, shooting
Weaknesses: Charlie thinks he's him
Trades to make
Thomas and Brian for Kyle and David R
If Charlie pushes to start himself over Brian, we could see tensions heat up, ultimately melting the Blizzard. Charlie could try to surround himself with a super duo of Ryan and Kyle, while getting rid of Brian. To do so, he is going to have to give up arguably the best shooter in the league
Roses
Soup
Pomp
Hano
Thayer (c)
Paul
Strengths: Starters complement Soup well
Weaknesses: No second superstar, Paul may request trade if overlooked by Sam again, Hano doesn’t score much and Pomp is a wildcard
Trades to make
Will Brown for Hano
Max likes Hano because he drafted him last year, and he will want to run it back with a similar crew this year. If Sam’s team struggles to shoot from beyond the arc, look for him to pair Soup with a sharpshooter from across the league. The rivalry between Sam and Max could make the a difficult trade to happen
Paul for Cooke
Similar to the trade above, this trade could happen if Sam needs more perimeter shooting. Paul could also look to get more playing time if his friend Max keeps buzzing in his ear
Stallions
Yagev (c)
Zach (c)
Cooke
Tameek
Ross
Strengths: Deep team, Ross will terrorize any 5th man, Zach and Yagev are an elite defensive duo, Cooke can shoot, Tameek one of the most athletic, Ross is a big body, if they can make it click they can be good
Weaknesses: No superstar, team chemistry (cooke lost captaincy and John Ross didn’t sign), a lot of big personalities, everyone on the team will want a bigger role than they should, Yagev can’t shoot
Trades to make
Cooke for Brian
Zach and Yagev want to move Cooke after their hostile takeover, Charlie sees himself as a starter according to the Captains chat. Brian won’t tolerate being benched behind a worse player and will want to team up with Meek. Charlie likes Cooke and both teams will want to keep a shooter on the roster. It happened last year and it will happen again.
Undrafted
Dorval
Could get picked up by Yagev after Yagev moves to Oregon out of the blue
Could get picked up by Max due to Max being scared of playing
Could sign with Killer bees if Idi doesn’t show up much. Dorv was on tropics with Kenny and Matt last year, may want to run it back
Could get picked up by the league as a stat taker/ref
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