Observations and calculations from pre-season and Week One.
The league by the numbers:
72 players
7 point guards
3 true centers
And 62 players who across their years and through their memories have been slashing scoring guards, spot up shooters, cut and curl scorers, back to the basket Bernard King types and, by default, defensive specialists.
36 players who have taken the Never Too Late Basketball Weekly Practice Programs (many for years-the ones you want on your team!)
36 players who have not
3 father/son combos (waiting for Dave Hartjes to come back from ankle injury to make it 4)
12 players who have never played PFL (60 who have)
League cumulative percentages, Week One:
Three pointers: 28/96 = 29.2%
FG: 143/404 = 35.4%
FT: 33/63 = 52.4%
Observation:
Lilla Zollei (new player, #11 on the Wollongong Hawks), as have many of the women who play and have played PFL, poses a challenge for her team. If you watch her (or if you watch Sandy Kendall or Siobhan Kelley or if you watched Mara Schanfield or Khalilah Ummah, a couple years back, and many others) you will notice right away that she and they 1. know how to play, really know how to play and 2. that the more their teams play helter-skelter, mindless basketball, the less their talents and knowledge and skill is put to use. Watch them: they maintain spacing; they screen and use screens that ball handlers almost never see or recognize; they position themselves perfectly and talk on defense; in rhythm they make shots. Khalilah’s team finally figured out that she was unstoppable in the post, the best post player PFL has ever had. They finally figured out spacing when she caught the ball allowing her to go to work. This helped her team flourish. It was awesome to watch and everyone in the PFL stands back then appreciated it for what it was: good basketball. Will Lilla’s team figure this out? Will Sandy and Siobhan’s teammates ever start seeing the floor and the game as they do? If they do, the basketball on Saturdays will get a whole lot better.
Early season shout-out to Edison Tam (#12), Adelaide 36ers, for his hustle and no-quit play (and for his lefty reverse Mikan finish – NTL Youtube video link coming soon!- in Game 4)!
Week One, November 2, 2013
Game One /Townsville Crocodiles (1-0) 46 – Wollongong Hawks (0-1) 28
(Players missing: TC: Greg Herr; WH: Cameron LaHart, Marty Bitner)
Game Two / Melbourne Tigers (1-0) 45 – New Zealand Breakers (0-1) 37
(Players not there to help their teams this week: MT: Evan Pepe, Scott Lieber; NZB: Erik Morales, Chris Railey)
Game Three / Sydney Kings (1-0) 50 – Perth Wildcats (0-1) 44
(Absent players: SK: Josh Pepin, Jim Duane; PW: Keith Storrs, Mina Makarious)
Game Four / Cairns Taipans (1-0) 55 – Adelaide 36ers (0-1) 42
(Maybe at the parade? CT: Gordon Vidaver, Jean Millette, Jordan Carroll; A36ers: Michael Peerless, JR Morris)
Playing the percentages: If the shooting percentages from Week 1 were to remain steady for the entire season, no one should ever take anything but 3-pointers. (Unless, that is, our team stops playing “helter-skelter, mindless basketball” and instead plays a game that Lilla can recognize.)
I agree with Tim – The recap and observations are terrific. I hope they become a weekly feature.
Re: Your line about people recognizing good basketball – One of the really great things about the PFL is how not only your teammates but your opponents and those in the stands as well, compliment you for a nice play. Good hoop is a thing of beauty.