SuperCoach NBL: How to play, who to pick, what you can win in 2023-24

SuperCoach NBL is live! Here’s everything you need to know to pick your own team of basketball stars and chase big prizes including a brand-new Mitsubishi ASX GS.

Bryce Cotton will be a popular pick in SuperCoach NBL. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

SuperCoach NBL is now the official fantasy game of the NBL.

The game is open and the countdown is on to the first game of the season on September 28.

Here are some of the fundamentals for you to get a handle of before taking your shot at the amazing prizes available as part of the inaugural season, including a brand new 2023 Mitsubishi ASX GS 2WD for the top SuperCoach and prizes for the top scores each week.

SuperCoach NBL is free, easy and fun. Here’s everything you need to know from the experts at The Basketball Blokes.

SELECTING A TEAM

With a salary cap of $2 million, you will build your roster of five starters and five bench players made up of guard, forward and centre eligible players. What makes SuperCoach NBL different from most fantasy games is that 50 per cent of your bench players’ fantasy points contributes to your total score.

How much you choose to invest in your bench will be the biggest strategic decision you will make with your initial roster. Do you select a few returning college players like Josh Bannan or Lachlan Olbrich ($69,000)? Or perhaps you like the amazing crop of next stars such as Rocco Zikarsky ($115,000)? Or perhaps a returning local pro such as Jonah Bolden ($232,000)? You may even elect to pick up a fresh new import ($277,000) who will only score half points on your bench – but can be substituted in a week where he plays more games in a round than your initial starter.

You want your bench players to be contributing to your score as well as increasing in value. Player price increases will happen after the player has played three games in SuperCoach NBL; SuperCoach Plus subscribers will have access to Break Even information for every player to make sure they have the best cash cows in the game.

As each player is contributing to your overall score (and hopefully increasing in price) this makes using a captaincy loophole an unadvisable strategy in SuperCoach NBL. If you do have a non-scoring player on your starting court, your lowest-scoring bench player of any position will score at 100 per cent for that round. If the non-scoring player is your captain, your vice-captain will score double points for the round.

“I’m pumped to be associated with SuperCoach NBL because I’m excited about anything that makes the game even more engaging for fans.”

Giddey will contribute a series of pre-season and in-season articles to https://t.co/db2pI8lkSU providing his predictions of players to watch and… pic.twitter.com/9bJ3YLZ323

— Basketball Blokes (@BBall_Blokes) August 9, 2023

If you want to get across the game in an audio format, check out the Basketball Blokes fantasy fundamentals podcast here:

POINT SCORING SYSTEM

Before we worry about who is scoring double points for us, it is best that we first take a look at the points scoring system.

The SuperCoach NBL scoring system is simple to understand, making it easy to follow along when you are watching the NBL action this season.

A good fantasy scoring system should reward the best players in the game, and the starting prices for the first year of SuperCoach NBL – based on stats from the past two NBL seasons – clearly reflect this. The top two scorers in the league last season are the two highest-priced players in SuperCoach NBL.

In SuperCoach NBL there are no negative impacts of missed field goals or free throws, so you should look to select high volume/usage players. There is nothing worse than having a player like Chris Goulding get hot and be the most influential player in the game; and to see that he is nowhere near the topscoring fantasy point scorers. By not penalising volume shooters, this should increase the viable player pool that you can select your team from.

A good scoring system will also reward a variety of types of players that can score well. Included in the top-priced players are big men like Alan Williams and Keanu Pinder, wing players like DJ Hogg and Taj McCall and even pass-first point guards like Will McDowell-White and Gary Brown.

Now that I have mentioned some of the top scorers, here are a few potential captaincy options for round 1 – and names you should thinking about throwing straight into your squad.

Bryce Cotton is the most expensive player in SuperCoach NBL. Picture: Steve Bell/Getty Images

GUARD OF HONOUR

Bryce Cotton (Perth Wildcats – Guard) $466,300

The most expensive player in the competition and for good reason. Based on his statistical output last season he would have averaged 40.19 SuperCoach points per game. This is a whole four points per game better than the next highest averaging player based on last season’s statistics. In a game that does not subtract points for missed field goal attempts volume is king, and Cotton sits on the throne as the highest priced player in the inaugural SuperCoach NBL season. Tai Webster is starting this season with the Wildcats, which could take some reliance on Bryce when compared to Tai’s injury interrupted stint with the side late last season. Will Bryce be able to reproduce his numbers from last season? If you think so, pick him and make him your round 1 captain.

FORWARD THINKING

Mitch Creek (SE Melbourne – Forward) $418,900

The player that averaged four points per game fewer than Cotton based on last season’s numbers was Mitch Creek. Last season South East Melbourne suffered injuries to key personnel including Trey Kell and returning teammate Gary Browe on multiple occasions. This meant Creek was forced to do a little bit of everything for the Phoenix. Creek was top-two in points, rebounds and assists per game for the club last season. I think his team will be hopeful that they won’t rely on him in the same way, but SuperCoaches that have selected him in their side will be hoping for more of the same.

Strongly consider Mitch Creek for your starting line-up. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

Alan Williams (SE Melbourne – Centre) $381,600

The man known as ‘Big Sauce’ led the league in rebounding and sources say he is dunking this year!

Oh, and I’m dunking sh*t this year @NBLhttps://t.co/DxSiq4dhLW

— BigSauce (@alantwilliams) July 21, 2023

Having laid our own eyes on Big Sauce during pre-season games, he does look physically fitter than at any point last season and he even launched a three-point attempt.

@alantwilliams heard there’s a new scoring system 👀 #NBLSupercoachpic.twitter.com/fqp1Q2bZbp

— Basketball Blokes (@BBall_Blokes) August 13, 2023

With five bonus SuperCoach points for getting a double double (double figure numbers in two categories, for example 10 points and 10 rebounds), starting your side with the league’s best rebounder is always a good option.

What makes all of these players mentioned great options is that they start their season by playing two games in the first round. The schedule is the single biggest difference to a typical fantasy game, and planning around the schedule will be your key to success.

THE SCHEDULE

What makes SuperCoach NBL different is that the way you navigate the varied schedule will play a big part in your success. This is the case if you are looking at obtaining the highest overall ranking, or if winning your league is your priority.

Stay tuned for more on how to make the schedule work for you, and we discuss schedule strategy in more detail in this podcast.

Another good resource for your schedule planning is by visiting one of Mick Randall’s “top five websites”, where you can find the full scheduliser at basketballblokes.com/schedule.

In my top-five favourite webpages. https://t.co/bjxvYD2z9e

— Michael Randall (@MickRandallHS) April 20, 2023

If you look closely at the schedule you may notice that in round 7 every side only plays one game for the round. In all other rounds there is variation between the sides that play two games, one game or – most importantly at this early stage – zero games. Trying to optimise the number of players that you have playing two games per week (particularly on your starting court) is one of the most important elements of SuperCoach NBL.

It is also important to note that in round 4 New Zealand is on a break and the Snakes (Cairns Taipans) are on a plane over to the USA to take on NBA teams as part of the NBA pre-season preparations. We are recommending that you select a maximum of one Cairns player in your starting line-up, and that you do not select any NZ players. The NZ players will not change price until after the conclusion of round 4 when they have played three games. We can all get on the Cairns players from round 5 onwards.

Target Breakers stars like Will McDowell-White after round 4. Picture: Dave Rowland/Getty Images

TRADING STRATEGY

Your trading strategy will generally revolve around trading in players who have a good schedule, and trading out those who’s upcoming schedule is poor. You can also look to match players whose individual schedules allow you to substitute them for each other to make sure that you have good coverage of two-game players without the need to use trades.

Speaking of trades, these are something you will not run out of in SuperCoach NBL. Every week you will have two trades available on a use them or lose them basis. In addition to these, we each will have four Trade Boosts to fix up a rookie we miss, replace an injured player or to stock up on players who have a great schedule by using a third trade that round. You may even choose to keep some for your league finals but remember, you can only use one Trade Boost in any one round.

There are a wide range of strategies that can be used in SuperCoach NBL. For more on the fundamentals tune into the podcast above by the basketball blokes; and be sure to subscribe for a great range of SuperCoach NBL information as the pre-season progresses.

So, get your mates together to form a league, take full advantage of your SuperCoach Plus subscription and register for SuperCoach NBL now!

Originally published as SuperCoach NBL: How to play, who to pick, what you can win in 2023-24