The Basketball Blokes’ guide to putting a SuperCoach NBL team together for NBL25
Playing SuperCoach NBL for the first time or need a refresher? Check out this simple selection guide from the gurus at The Basketball Blokes with all the names you need to know.
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So, you’ve signed up for SuperCoach NBL! Perhaps it’s your first time? Or maybe you made a side last year but gave up after a round or two due to your teams’ average start?
Well, you’ve come to the right place. We are going to steer you through making a team in five minutes, hopefully getting you off on the right foot!
Starting salary cap – $2,000,000
You start with a salary cap of $2 million, but with 10 spots to fill that all count towards your score, including your bench, every pick counts!
To get you started, we suggest you look to target three new imports – all priced at $277,000 – to anchor your team in each position. These positions are not just important for SuperCoach points, but also for value increases to help with improvements to your team in future rounds.
You want imports that are going to come in and be elite from the start.
Some names to consider for these positions are Cam Oliver (SYD, FWD/CTR), Kendric Davis (ADL, GRD), Darius Days (ILL, FWD), Pedro Bradshaw (CRN, GRD/FWD), Joe Wieskamp (SEM, FWD/GRD) and Matt Hurt (SEM, FWD/CTR) and James Batemon (BRIS, GRD).
The Adelaide 36ers have just scored a major coup by signing the 2020 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell (FWD/CTR) as an injury replacement player.
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Salary cap remaining – $1,169,000
Now we have spent some cash with only three players picked, it’s time to look for some cheaper players to start stocking up your NBL SuperCoach bench. College returnees are a good place to start here as they come in at $69k, so are ideal for bench stacking.
However, the key thing here is that you want these players to be getting some minutes so they provide SuperCoach point production, as well as going up in value.
One player to watch is Elijah Pepper (PER, G). He averaged over 20 points per game over his last two seasons at UC Davis. However, he looks to be sitting behind Bryce Cotton on Perth’s depth chart, so minutes will be the big question again. Pepper was outscored at the NBL Blitz by teammate Ben Henshall (PER, FWD/GRD), who also comes in at the bargain basement $69k price tag.
Selecting one of these cheapies leaves us with $1.1m to work with from here.
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Cap remaining – $1,100,000
Next, we need to start playing the schedule game. The schedule is an important element of the SuperCoach NBL game – target players who play two games in a round to double your scoring potential.
Melbourne United has the perfect schedule over the opening three rounds – playing twice in rounds 2 and 3 – and arguably the best schedule over the first eight rounds of NBL25.
A player we like from Melbourne United is Jack White (MEL, FWD) who is priced at $232k. He returns to the NBL after an NBA Championship with Denver in 2022-23 and looked fantastic at the NBL Blitz, averaging 35.3 points over his three games.
Jack last played in NBL for Melbourne United in NBL22 and had 9.3 points and 6.9 rebounds in that season, but we are expecting him to go above and beyond those stats with Luke Travers not returning for Melbourne United for NBL25.
Jack can be a starting spot option on your SuperCoach NBL side with that favourable schedule and his predicted production.
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Salary cap remaining: $868,000
We think at this time it is prudent to select a great round 1 captain from the choice of premiums, even better if that captain choice can hang around for round 2 or 3 depending on their schedule.
The ever-popular Bryce Cotton (PER, G) is priced at $448,500 based on his league leading SuperCoach NBL average of 36.8 for NBL24. Bryce will continue to be the man at the Wildcats and that should correlate with great SuperCoach production to start you off as your captain
Parker Jackson-Cartwright (NZL, GRD) was the second-highest SuperCoach NBL averaging player last season and was a great captain choice at times last season. However, be aware that while New Zealand plays one game in round 1 like every other team, they have two bye rounds for the NBLxNBA matches shortly thereafter, starting in round 3. You must have a trade planned for round 2 if you want to roll with PJC as your round 1 captain.
Other options for a Round 1 premium captain choice are Derrick Walton Jr (SEM, $356,900 GRD), Xavier Cooks (SYD, $365,500 FWD) and Cam Oliver (SYD, $277,000 CTR/FWD).
Depending on who you have selected as your premium round 1 captain choice, you should have $400-500k remaining to fill out the four spots left on your bench.
Illawarra’s Lachlan Olbrich ($121,400 CTR/FWD) is the most-owned player in SuperCoach NBL after dominating the Blitz. He averaged 10 points a game last season but looks like he can go well above that as he graduates to a key role on court for the Hawks.
Brisbane teammates Casey Prather (BRI, $139,200 GRD/FWD) and Rocco Zikarsky (BRI, $95,700 CTR) should both score well above their price points, although the schedule doesn’t do them any favours – the Bullets don’t have a double-game week until round 9. Will Hickey (ILL, $106,000 GRD), on the other hand, will experience his first price rise after round 2 thanks to a double that week.
Other bench options include Perth Next Star Izan Almansa (PER, $115,000 FWD, Angus Glover (SEM, $110,500 GRD), Keli Leaupepe (SYD, $69,000 FWD) and Nick Marshall (ADL, $105,100 FWD). If you have enough cash in the bank, Alex Toohey (SYD, $191,900 FWD) is shaping as a great SuperCoach cash cow.
Stop the clock! Was that under five minutes?
We think that this will give you a solid SuperCoach NBL line-up to get you going for NBL25.
Get more pre-season intel by listening to The Basketball Blokes podcast, following us on social and checking out the articles across News Corp mastheads and at nbl.com.au.
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Originally published as The Basketball Blokes’ guide to putting a SuperCoach NBL team together for NBL25
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