Volume 2 Issue 53 March 1999
FROM COMMISSIONER SCOTT ELLIS, 2ND AMER. BASKETBALL LEAGUE
1998-99 SABL regular season is complete!
The games are finished and the playoffs are on their way! Thanks to everyone for our best regular season ever and now let's make our playoff season the best ever!
Final stats are posted for SABL posterity
Enjoy the statistics for all the teams and league leaders. You all did a great job and I hope you had as much fun as I did playing in the SABL this season.
Finney's Michael Jordan (27.6 ppg) did not lead the SABL in scoring this season. Jammer Glen Rice did at 27.8. The top three in FG percentage were all Aces (Shaq, Payton & Rod Strickland). Three other Aces (The Admiral, Grant Hill and Pippen) made the FG percentage top 10.
The Aces also lead the league in points per game (121). The best defense belonged to Brooklyn (99 points per game against). Check out all our stats for more great info.
1998-99 SABL playoffs matchups
Check out the chart below and start making your playoff instructions. The playoffs are not scheduled to start until May 5, but I strongly urge everyone not to wait! Go ahead and start scouting your opponents and making your instructions and send them out as soon as you can.
It's OK with me if you want to play your playoff games face-to-face or if you want to play them by mail as we do our regular season games. The following is taken directly from the SABL Constitution and tells you how our playoffs work:
"Playoff games are to be played by impartial owners decided on by the commissioner. If both coaches agree, they may play their playoff games themselves as per regular season rules. Divisional winners make the playoffs along with the teams with the next four best records (wild cards) in the Royal Conference and the next four best records in the Classic Conference, for a total of 12 teams.
The Royal Conference wild card teams, seeded by won-lost records, will play each other, with the winning two teams taking on the conference divisional winners in Round Two. The same thing will be going on the Classic Conference.
Round Three will be the Conference Championships and Round Four will be the SABL Championships. All series are 2-3-2.
Divisional winners are always given home court advantage. If divisional winners play each other, the team with the best regular season record gets home court advantage. In all other cases, teams with the best regular season records get home court advantage.
Tourney brackets are setup with the best regular season record divisional winners on the top brackets and the second-best divisional winners on the bottom. The same thing applies to the wild card brackets. Regular season won-lost records determine who plays who."
Current 1999 SABL draft order
Here's how our draft stacks up now, before the playoffs. Remember that our league champion will draft last, so until we know who that is, nothing is final. It's only for sure that Great Lakes and Holcomb, who are not in the playoffs, are drafting one-two. It's possible that Tulsa, who is drafting third because of other teams' penalty points, could win the championship and draft last:
1. Great Lakes (final) 2. Holcomb (final) 3. Tulsa 4. Chapel Hill 5. Blocher 6. Bettendorf 7. Memphis 8. Meade 9. Davenport 10. Tri-City 11. Garden City 12. Akron 13. Carolina 14. Galactic 15. Deerfield 16. Miles 17. Richmond 18. Brooklyn 19. Finney 20. St. Lucie
More SABL Trade Talk
Brooklyn Coach Steve Feldheim has informed the SABL office that every player on his team is available for trade.
Who's trading?
Heat sends Austin and Galactic's 2nd pick to Garden City for Laettner & Garden City's 1st pick.
Aces send A. Houston to Chapel Hill for G. Rice.
Finney sends Keefe & S. Anderson to Heat for C. Henderson & T. Best
These deals take effect next season.
Finney, Meade, Druids, Great Lakes, Gladiators & Tulsa finish regular season!
Dennis Derby's Great Lakes Magicians will have the first pick in the SABL draft this fall as they finish the season with our worst record this season, 16-66. The Holcomb Heat will draft second. The rest of the draft order and all our playoff assignments are still up in the air until everyone finishes their regular season games, so if you haven't finished your season yet, get going so we all know! Check out our Team Summaries link for some new analysis. Some games have been autoplayed, so check our Standings link for official standings. Final 82-game stats for all teams that have finished their regular season have been posted.
SABL Trade Talk
Chapel Hill Coach Tommy Field is putting Glen Rice on the trading block. Give an email or a phone call.
Records are set this season by several teams
Steve Walters' Galactic Thunder did something I thought was impossible in SOM Basketball - his team scored more than 170 points in a game. 174-107, to be exact, at his arena vs. the Bettendorf Druids. He also beat the Druids 162-125 and 153-115, averaging a league series team point record of 163 points.
When the SABL had dice play, I once saw a team score 167 points. I used to think you could score more points in the dice game rather than the computer game, but not anymore. In the Druids-Galactic series, Bettendorf and Walters pressed each other the entire series and the Thunder ran the fast break the entire series. I think the Druids gave us a textbook example of how NOT to play Galactic.
Other records have also been made this season:
Fewest turnovers by a team, 2, by Bettendorf against Tulsa
Highest individual free throw percentage, .931, by Davenport's Chris Mullen
Most individual free throws made in a game, 28, by Galactic's Chris Crawford vs. the Aces
Most individual rebounds in a game, 21, by Tulsa's Dennis Rodman (twice), Great Lakes' Jayson Williams (twice) and Galactic's Antoine Walker
Most individual assists in a game, 21, by Galactic's Terrell Brandon vs. Bettendorf
Most individual blocks in a game, 11, by Garden City's Tim Duncan vs. Brooklyn
Most individual steals in a game, 8, by Miles' Mookie Blaylock
Most individual turnovers in a game, 10, by St. Lucie's Shaquille O'Neal (twice)
Most team points in a quarter, 50, by Bettendorf vs. Carolina
Fewest team points in a quarter, 4, by Garden City vs. St. Lucie; Fewest team points in a half, 26, by Tulsa vs. Richmond
Most team points in a half, 88, by Galactic vs. Bettendorf; Most team three-pointers, 25, by Bettendorf vs. Carolina
Most team free throws in a game, 51, by Brooklyn vs. Miles
Fewest team free throws, 0, by Holcomb vs. Finney
Most team rebounds, 68, by Miles vs. Bettendorf
Most team assists, 46, by St. Lucie & Galactic
Most team steals, 20, by Finney vs. Holcomb
Most team blocked shots, 15, by Richmond vs. Deerfield
Fewest team turnovers, 2, by Bettendorf vs. Tulsa.
As you can see, it was an eventful year in the SABL!
Finney, Brooklyn, Aces and Miles winners
Congratulations to our four divisional winners: West winner Finney Longhorns (48-34), East winner Brooklyn Tigers (67-11, so far), South winner St. Lucie Aces (77-5) and North winner Miles Bulldogs (55-27).
Kings, Garden City & Aces finish season!
Deerfield, Garden City and the St. Lucie Aces have finished their regular seasons and the Aces have set the SABL's all-time win mark at 77-5. Since a few teams have a few games left, playoff and draft positions are still not decided. Check out our Team Summaries link for some new analysis. Some games have been autoplayed, so check our Standings link for official standings.
Thought I'd left forever, didn't ya
Mardi Gras was fabulous, and so is the SABL! Our regular season is winding down, but playoff fun is coming. Thanks for all the stats you've sent. We're looking good. New standings and stats are now up. Check it out!
Miles and Davenport finish regular season!
First-year Coach Thomas Jargo has finished his regular season and won the North Division of the Classic Conference. Congratulations and see you in the playoffs Tom!
And that Dazzling Feeney, Kevin of Davenport, also has finished his season and made the playoffs, too!
Many other teams are approaching the finish line, including my Aces, who've clinched the South Division of the Classic Conference with a 71-5 record so far. Tulsa may make the playoffs after all, with a current record of 30-48. Memphis may not, however, at a current 22-56. Tri-City will at 39-40 so far.
A few of us are still having trouble staying on schedule, so I'm going to do something next year to help. I'll print out a schedule from the computer for each of you and highlight your individual schedules and mail it out to you at least a month ahead of time. You can do this yourself, of course, off the league disk, but hey, that's what you pay me dues for!
Glen has now tied MJ for league scoring lead, at 27.9 PPG. And a new single-game SABL assist record has been set by Galactic's Terrell Brandon with 21 in a game against the Druids. The old assist record was 20, set last season by Brooklyn's John Stockton.
Once I get (or autoplay) the rest of the regular season, I'll get into playoff matchups and analysis, along with a look at next year's draft. Please note that I do not allow any teams without coaches to be in the playoffs, so that disqualifies Blocher. Meade and Carolina are also temporarily without coaches and will be without them through the playoffs, so they are also out. That means 12 of the remaining 17 teams will be in the playoffs, so get your playoff instructions ready, you might make it!!!!
Autoplaying going on, check our standings
A lot of autoplayed games are happening, both here at league headquarters and by others. The official league records are what you see on this website. If you lollygag and if I or some other coach autoplays your team and those games get imported into our league data base before your late results reach me, tough noogies. The official league standings on this website are all that count. Stay on schedule (or better yet, get ahead of schedule) and let me know what's happening and you won't have to worry if someone is autoplaying you or not.
Penalty point report
Here's the latest point totals and explanations of why new points were assessed:
Richmond - 8. Jan. 5, Game 9. Frank still hasn't autoplayed Carolina. I'll do it for him. Another point. Still hasn't autoplayed Chapel Hill on Jan. 5, Game 12, either. I'd be glad to, but Frank gets another point. 2 more points for Day 96, Games 1-8, the Blocher vs.Richmond series. Blocher has been on autopilot instructions for the entire season. Frank is now knocked down two places in next year's draft.
Memphis - 7. Don't have Day 76, Jan. 20, Game 1, Bettendorf at Memphis. No point assessed because I do have the other games and it could have been a corrupt game file that wouldn't import. One point assessed for Day 106, Feb. 19, Games 4-6, Memphis at Carolina. Carolina is on autopilot. Memphis is down a couple of places in next season's draft.
Garden City - 7. Day 73, Jan. 17, Games 1-4, Garden City at Meade. 2 more points because it's over the 30-day rule and Meade's been on autopilot for weeks. Day 105, Feb. 18, Games 4-6, Akron at Garden City. Another point. Garden City's down a couple of draft notches.
Finney - 6. No game file for Day 64, Jan. 8, Game 9, Finney at Blocher, but no point assessed because I do have the other games for that series. Also no point for Day 80, Game 10, Akron at Finney. Must of been corrupt game files sent from Finney. 1 point is assessed for Day 104, Feb. 17, Games 10-12, Great Lakes at Finney. Is autoplaying so tough?
Akron - 5.
Bettendorf - 5.
Chapel Hill - 4. Two more points for Day 97, Feb. 10, Games 13-16, Tulsa at Chapel Hill. No gots. Day 105, Feb. 18, Games 10-12, Tri City at Chapel Hill. Another point. Chapel Hill is down one place in the draft.
Meade - 3.
Deerfield - 3. Day 64, Jan. 8, Games 1-4, Deerfield at Meade. I let everyone know long ago to autoplay Meade. 2 points. Day 104, Feb. 17, Games 4-6, Brooklyn at Deerfield. 1 point. Deerfield falls a place in the draft.
Holcomb - 2.
St. Lucie - 2. Another point for being late with results for Day 115, Feb. 28, in my series vs. Bettendorf.