End of season thoughts 2023/24

[spacejammer]

Although their has been alot of talk about the 777 situation and the recent finals.

I wanted to start a thread where we can discuss how we felt our teams have done over the course of the season and what we are hoping for next season.

Feel free to share what you thought was good, bad and surprising for you throughout the season?

[tallerman]

Its been brilliant really.

London put out a high quality of basketball

Newcastle made the steps to success back up the ladder

Cheshire were excellent and won a trophy

Caledonia moved into a new basketball venue owned by the club

Surrey became a playoff team, something that feels like hasnt happened since they were called Guildford

Leicester continues to get worse in every aspects from league form, wins, revolving door of players etc

Paul James got 600 career wins

Evan Walshe became a joy to watch in a small budget rubbish team

4 teams played in european competition

777 may have cost the league everything but its had huge individual club successes

But, ab0ve all else, The Raiders are back!!!

[johnjack]

£ions did as expected but not by as much as they should have. A-

Phoenix had their best season since the old Jets days, recruited some real talent on a shoestring a brought a different style of basketball. A+

Eagles proved you can’t win by just buying everyone else’s good players without having a bit of balance C+

Sharks seemed to find something in the late season and hit form at just the right time. Requires a bit more offensive aggression B

Giants are well, sleeping Giants D-

Riders struggled all year compared to last year, didn’t get lucky with recruitment before Allen came in, then got found out a little C

Flyers kind of the same. Play better without Brad Green tho C-

Glads we didn’t see enough of Quade Green but overall lacked a spark, had a good regular season then sort of fizzled and disappeared in the play offs B-

Patriots every bodies second fav team, got so close to not finishing last. We love you Paul James. To come out and do an interview after every game for the social media is tough when you can’t buy a win. C-

Heat got into the playoffs C

Managed to travel a bit this year to. Giants,Flyers,Sharks,Riders

Flyers really is that small (sorry guys), Giants has a decent setup, Sharks love your new arena but your doormen are idiots, Riders all the home support around us was drunk and not really watching the game

[naenia]

Scorchers won more than double the number of games they won in the two previous seasons combined. As a result, the feeling in the arena has been very different for us so really I don’t think as fans we can have a single complaint.

Hard to know what to expect next year (and that’s assuming the league is in a similar shape). The recruitment was uncharacteristically good last year so hoping for more of that this Summer.

[massiveridersfan]

It's been a frustrating year for me as a Riders fan. Many of our best players left the club so we knew it would be difficult to repeat the success of previous years. However, I thought we'd managed to recruit very well early on, except for Braelen Bridges, but once we lost him, Asberry and Pinson in the same week things went downhill pretty quickly. From defence being our biggest strength, we suddenly looked clueless about how to prevent the opposition from scoring in many games. Naturally, it was going to take time but we never became that team which opponents feared to play at our arena. Our inside players weren't athletic or good enough and only Idowu seemed to have any real success in the paint. Thomas was exciting sometimes but wasn't consistent enough across games. That hampered the team quite a bit but we also entered the playoffs without Mackenzie, which really sealed our fate. We effectively didn't have a PG who could create for the rest of the players. So, we'll need to recruit new bigs and guards. I would be delighted but really surprised if Mackenzie returned and losing him would be a massive loss. From our roster the only ones I'd want back for certain would be Idowu, Lall, Mackenzie and possibly Thomas. Everyone knew we'd have a completely different team this season but I reckon 2024-25 could see even bigger changes for Riders.

[spacejammer]

Was only expecting a breakdown of everyone's individual team but I like th brief summary of all the teams.
So I thought I would add my own...

LIONS-Did well but also no secret that they bought the league.
Apart from the Trophy final slip an all round fantastic season.

NIX- Also fantastic and a team that most fans completely underestimated and deserving Trophy champions.
I hope they can retain this team next year but if not I trust BT can rebuild.

GLADS-A good season except for the playoffs and were competitive.
The new arena looks good on them but from the sounds of things the location might be a challenge for the fans.

SHARKS- Hot and cold this season but became stronger once they got the new arena.
Would have liked to see them challenge Nix a little more in the playoff semis and go to a game 3.
But on there day Sharks are a tough team.

RIDERS- Unusual season for Riders but not a suprise since they lost Whelan and Henry.
Didn't expect the early season change ups but also think Riders did well to finish mid table despite this.
And they did finish higher and defeat the Eagles this season despite the challenges.
Expect Rob to comeback with a stronger game plan next season.

[spacejammer]

EAGLES-Better season then the past 2 seasons with the added excitement of ENBL and finished 2 spaces higher.
But was a little disappointed we didn't atleast make top 4 considering the beginning of the season we recruited a superstar team.
Next season will be interesting to see if we retain this roster and whether we climb or drop next season.

FLYERS- A team that I would have expected to finish a lot higher in the league but felt injuries and Europe did disservice too.
Team I felt was really strong so suprised to see it in the bottom half.
Would love to see Flyers get a new arena as the crowding round the court doesn't look great.

SCORCHERS- Bottom of the playoffs but a team that keeps on improving and making progress.
Had some exciting veteran players and if you underestimate them then they will make you pay.
A big win for them making the playoffs but I'm sure next season they will be wanting to keep progressing.

GIANTS- Dissapointing this season with Manchester.
How they took Lions to overtime I questioned as they weren't very competitive and were tough to watch at times.
Desperately need a new owner if they want to turn things around and a change in roster as I saw no real fight until the last week of the season from them.

PATRIOTS-And finally Pats finished bottom but I didn't feel like they deserved to be bottom of the pile as they really challenged teams this season.
Similar to Manchester a team that needs an owner and a more permanent home with the Pavillions situation.
I hope for the fans sake they will manage to stay in the BBL next season.

[reallyoldfeenixfan2]

Interesting how different people rated their team and other teams. It's regularly been said how well Phoenix performed and also how some teams fortunes have changed with new players arriving mid season. Allen,several Green(e)'s and others have all hit the headlines since arriving.

However no one as far as I can see has mentioned the Phoenix squad. Ben started with a full squad of 12, didn't release anyone, didn't add anyone and finished the season with a trophy and a number of end of season player awards. Thats with exactly the same 12 he started with. Now that's  good recruiting.

I think that deserves a mention.

[baldeagle]

May 26, 2024 17:45:15 GMT reallyoldfeenixfan2 said:

Interesting how different people rated their team and other teams. It's regularly been said how well Phoenix performed and also how some teams fortunes have changed with new players arriving mid season. Allen,several Green(e)'s and others have all hit the headlines since arriving.

However no one as far as I can see has mentioned the Phoenix squad. Ben started with a full squad of 12, didn't release anyone, didn't add anyone and finished the season with a trophy and a number of end of season player awards. Thats with exactly the same 12 he started with. Now that's  good recruiting.

I think that deserves a mention.

Completely agree. The two best-recruited squads this season were Phoenix (outstanding value for money) and £ions (just outstanding). Given the utter disparity of financial resources it’s difficult to argue that Cheshire’s recruitment wasn’t the best of all teams - and indeed I for one simply assumed that the £ions would simply steamroller their way to a clean sweep as their women’s team has. The fact that this didn’t happen is to the enormous credit of all at Cheshire.

[keithkr]

Some great games throughout he season, with only a few drab affairs ( that I saw anyway). As someone with no affinity to any particular team I was impressed with London, Cheshire, Newcastle and in sporadic doses Leicester. Although Caledonia didn't do too badly I thought they underachieved. Bristol also look a better side then the some of the results suggested. Looking forward to next season,just waiting to see what that will look like with all he talk of 777.

[robh92]

May 25, 2024 9:07:48 GMT naenia said:

Scorchers won more than double the number of games they won in the two previous seasons combined. As a result, the feeling in the arena has been very different for us so really I don’t think as fans we can have a single complaint.

Hard to know what to expect next year (and that’s assuming the league is in a similar shape). The recruitment was uncharacteristically good last year so hoping for more of that this Summer.

I completely agree with this. Considering the amount of injuries they had to contend with (always in the front court!) it was a really good effort by Lloyd Gardner and all the players. Watching Surrey was a joy, which it hasn't been very often over the years.

As you say, it's hard to know what next season has in store, but hopefully the good recruitment continues.

[robh92]

May 28, 2024 7:57:29 GMT keithkr said:

Some great games throughout he season, with only a few drab affairs ( that I saw anyway). As someone with no affinity to any particular team I was impressed with London, Cheshire, Newcastle and in sporadic doses Leicester. Although Caledonia didn't do too badly I thought they underachieved. Bristol also look a better side then the some of the results suggested. Looking forward to next season,just waiting to see what that will look like with all he talk of 777.

Agree with this and I think if London winning wasn't such a foregone conclusion then this wouldn't have gone under the radar as much. They had some real talent right throughout their roster, so to fall in the first round was a real surprise to me and presumably the owner as well.

[massiveridersfan]

Agree with the posters above who said that there were some great games during the season. Best tv coverage ever (except for two ghastly commentators) meant there was stuff every week to be enjoyed. The only fly in the ointment was the ridiculous distortion of having £ions strolling to win the league title. It was also the case that on their day practically any team could beat another and that unpredictability kept the league exciting.