Shot clock: Quickfire guide to setting up your SuperCoach NBL team for round 16

Round 16 of SuperCoach NBL starts Thursday night – and every team plays twice. Here are the top trades and everything you need to know.

Welcome to the ‘golden rounds’ of SuperCoach NBL.

Ten games over eight days – and every team on the double.

That’s the schedule for round 16, which kicks off on Thursday night with the Kings hosting Melbourne United.

In most head-to-head leagues this is the last round of regular season clashes before league finals begin.

And round 17 – the first week of league finals – follows the same pattern, starting the day after round 16 ends.

Here’s everything you need to know to get the best possible score for your team.

ON THE DOUBLE

The schedule is the key to SuperCoach NBL success. Targeting players from teams that play twice in a round will give you twice as many opportunities to score points.

Every team is on the double for the next two rounds – so you can pick anyone you like!

You can still gain an edge by targeting players from teams that play twice in the final three of the season – when there are limited doubles and any player with two opportunities to score can give you a huge boost in a do-or-die finals match-up.

In round 18 four teams are on the double: Adelaide 36ers, Brisbane Bullets, Cairns Taipans and NZ Breakers.

The 36ers have another double in round 19, along with Perth Wildcats, SEM Phoenix and Tasmania JackJumpers.

In round 20, the final round of the season and SuperCoach NBL grand final week, Adelaide plays once while Cairns Taipans and Illawarra Hawks are the only teams on the double.

Something to keep in mind when planning your trades over the coming weeks.

Find the cash to bring in Bryce Cotton! Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

The player at the top of many shopping lists this week will be Bryce Cotton, who has had singles the past four rounds but put up scores of 51 and 59 in his past two games. Finding a way to pay the $485,300 required to bring him in is a little tricky, especially when popular GRDS like Trey Kell and Derrick Walton Jr are scoring so well and Kendric Davis is untouchable!

Could you gain more points by making a trade in another position, or do you sacrifice one of those big guns for the Perth Wildcats superstar? The ideal play if you can make it happen is to trade out Keandre Cook, who missed the second game of Brisbane’s round 15 double, and slide one of the other stars to the bench.

If you are happy with your guards, Tyrell Harrison (CTR), Montrezl Harrell (CTR/FWD), Casey Prather (FWD/GRD) and Xavier Cooks (FWD) are the guns to aim for in their respective positions.

If you don’t have that kind of cash, Alex Toohey (Kings, FWD) and Joe Wieskamp (SEM, FWD/GRD) are in great form, while Breakers Mitch McCarron (GRD) and Max Darling (FWD) are very cheap and coming off solid round 15 scores.

TRADE IN

1. Bryce Cotton (PER)

2. Montrezl Harrell (ADL)

3. Xavier Cooks (SYD)

4. Mitch McCarron (NZ)

5. Joe Wieskamp (SEM)

TRADE OUT

1. Keandre Cook (BRI)

2. Sam Froling (ILL)

3. Izan Almansa (PER)

4. Trey Kell (ILL)

5. Matt Mooney (NZ)

CAPTAIN CALL

With everyone playing twice you have the pick of the board, with super scorers Kendric Davis and Bryce Cotton at the top of the list. Davis’s 36ers face Tasmania and Illawarra in their two games this round, while Cotton also comes up against the JackJumpers plus the Bullets. If you like to be different Casey Prather is coming off a massive 118-point round. His match-ups this week are the Phoenix and Wildcats. The Phoenix plays last-placed Cairns in their second game – does that bring Derrick Walton Jr into the conversation?

Originally published as Shot clock: Quickfire guide to setting up your SuperCoach NBL team for round 16