Five SuperCoach NBL tips for beginners from inaugural winner

New to SuperCoach NBL? Here are five tips from last year’s winner to get you started – and get the edge on your mates in the biggest fantasy game in town.

Don’t miss out on the fun and excitement of SuperCoach NBL. Picture: Will Russell/Getty Images

The wait is almost over – the 2024-25 SuperCoach NBL competition is just days away!

You know those nervous tingles you get in the lead-up to a big sporting event? I have had those tingles for the past six weeks. The anticipation of this upcoming season has been palpable.

Being crowned the inaugural SuperCoach NBL champion is something I am very proud of. While I am under no illusion that luck played its part (as it does in any SuperCoach success), I did invest a lot of time in the lead-up to last year’s competition to give myself the best possible chance for success.

Here are my five tips for SuperCoach NBL beginners.

1. BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THE NBL

To have some sort of success in SuperCoach, you need to have a certain level of insight and knowledge on the code you are competing in.

Prior to the start of last season, I didn’t know a lot about the NBL. In a bid to become more familiar with the code, I found myself reading numerous articles and listening to pre-season interviews.

Before I knew it, I was totally hooked. By the time tip-off came for the first game of the season, I found myself in front of the TV ready to watch all the players I had been reading about in the pre-season.

Aside from the knowledge I gained from watching all the games, I personally found the post-game interviews an extremely valuable source of information. Last year, I based many of my SuperCoach trade decisions on the back of comments/discussions that occurred in those interviews.

The NBL experienced record-breaking growth last year and it is easy to see why – I really enjoyed the product. If you love your sport, I guarantee you will enjoy what the NBL has to offer.

>> PLAY NOW AT SUPERCOACH.COM.AU/NBL

Get your friends involved to share the SuperCoach journey. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

2. GET TO KNOW THE NBL SCHEDULE

Getting your head around the NBL schedule is vital to SuperCoach NBL success.

Every NBL team has nine DGWs (double-game weeks) this season EXCEPT the New Zealand Breakers, who have 11. The reason the Breakers have 11 DGWs is due to the fact they have byes in rounds 3 and 4 of the NBL season.

We need to identify which teams have the best DGW stretches at various points of the season so that we can maximise our exposure to those teams in our SuperCoach squad.

If we run our eye over the NBL schedule, we can identify certain things, such as:

MELBOURNE United having arguably the best early schedule with DGWs in rounds 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8.

THE Brisbane Bullets being totally irrelevant DGW wise in the early part of the season. Their first DGW does not appear until round 9. However, their DGW schedule to finish the season is nothing short of insane – eight consecutive DGWs stretching from rounds 11-18!

In my opinion, the maths on this is simple: Greater number of DGW players each week = more chances of accumulating SuperCoach points.

Click here for a quick guide to the teams with the best and worst schedule.

3. BUILD THAT CASH

There is a fine balance in SuperCoach between chasing points and building your team value. Early in the season, it really is important to focus on building that cash within your SuperCoach NBL squad. The more value you generate, the nimbler you can be with your trade decisions as the season progresses.

From a SuperCoach perspective, the maths on this one again is simple: More money = more flexibility.

We have two guaranteed trades each week in SuperCoach NBL. Early on last year, I developed a mindset that at least one trade decision each week would be based on cash generation.

Everyone will develop their own trade methodologies on the journey, but I can’t emphasise how important it is to keep track of Break Evens in the early rounds. If you have a player in your squad with a high Break Even that is set to lose significant value, press that trade button and target a player with a low BE (preferably one that has a good DGW schedule).

Rebounds are a key part of the SuperCoach NBL scoring system. Picture: Phil Walter/Getty Images

4. UNDERSTAND THE SCORING SYSTEM

Understanding how a player accumulates their SC points will help your decision-making process.

SuperCoach NBL has a very simple scoring system which is outlined below:

Two-point field goal scored: 2 Points

Three-point field goal scored: 3 Points

Free throw scored: 1 Point

Rebound: 1 Point

Assist: 2 Points

Block: 3 Points

Steal: 3 Points

Turnover: -2 Points

Double-Double: 5 Points

Triple-Double: 10 Points

One vitally important thing to note regarding the SuperCoach NBL scoring system is that ALL your squad contribute to your weekly score.

Points scored by your team each round are based on the performance of the starting line-up of your five players for each round, who contribute their FULL points towards your team total.

The remaining five players on your bench contribute 50 per cent of their points to your overall team score. If any of their individual scores are fractional (as a result of an ‘odd’ score being halved) those players’ scores will be rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Why is this important?

Anyone in your squad that does not end up taking the court on any given week will score 0 points. If someone in your squad is injured or suspended, you need to consider whether it is worth holding that player.

This also is very important regarding any New Zealand Breakers players you have in your squad during their byes in rounds 3 and 4. Potentially it is better to totally ignore Breakers players to start the season?

Click here for more on the SuperCoach NBL scoring system.

5. GET YOUR FRIENDS INVOLVED – START UP A LEAGUE

One of the best aspects of SuperCoach is being able to share the journey with your mates.

You don’t need to have a focus on overall standings to enjoy the SuperCoach platform. The competitive juices begin to flow once you get a group of friends together in a league. I know my mates are jumping out of trees to take me down in our private league this year – and I can’t wait.

Best of luck for the 2024/2025 SuperCoach NBL competition. First game of the NBL season is Thursday September 19 – it cannot come quick enough!

Play now at supercoach.com.au/nbl.

Originally published as Five SuperCoach NBL tips for beginners from inaugural winner