Post by Portland on Apr 4, 2015 18:59:44 GMT -6
The 2025 regular season was a successful one in Harlem. We increased our win total over 2024 by playing our traditional Harlem hard-nosed help defense. Rimas Kurtinaitis became a legitimate scoring threat at SF, joining Dennis Johnson and Sidney Moncrief in our three-pronged outside offense which was efficient enough to get us two more points per game than the year before. Down low we weren’t very muscular but got pretty good service out of Fred Roberts and Kresimir Cosic. Rebounding was a problem all season and for a good defensive team we didn’t block many shots. But on balance we were very pleased after 82 games. When the post-season rolled around, however, the feel-good ended abruptly when we were swept aside (again) by Buenos Aires, with DJ and Moncrief nursing dislocated fingers in the latter part of the series. Our final takeaway on the 2025 season was: (a) this particular group of mostly-defensive players is not going to challenge for a championship; and (b) we might as well experiment with different styles of play and stay quasi-competitive one more year, while planning for the 2027 rebuild we always knew was in the cards.
So, on the eve of the new season – our third and probably most difficult as GM in Harlem – we present the key 2026 Globetrotters.
Dennis Johnson (point guard/shooting guard): DJ broke twenty ppg for the first time in his career last season, and at the age of 29 posted several other career highs: 6.1 rebounds (1.4 offensive), .464 shooting percentage, 1.15 pps, and .534 TS%. His 92.8 defensive efficiency mark was dramatically lower than he’d ever posted previously, and that’s saying a lot. DJ is the heart and soul of the Globetrotters, the Indispensible Man, and yet we know his time in Harlem is drawing to a conclusion. It is likely DJ will be traded at some point this winter to a team he can lead to another deep playoff run. Until that happens he’ll stay the face of the franchise.
Rimas Kurtinaitis (starting small forward): Rimas was acquired from San Miguel Beermen for Vernon Maxwell a season ago and it’s probably the best trade I’ve made. The Lithuanian has made substantial strides in Harlem, seizing the SF role and not letting go while responded exceptionally well to the camps to which we’ve sent him. At age 26 he established career highs in ppg, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, fg%, ft%, 3p% (.447!), PER, TS%... you get the idea. He can shoot from anywhere on the floor, which makes him the perfect small forward in system. He’s not elite, but we like him a lot.
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Thurl Bailey (starting power forward): Thurl came to Harlem two years ago as a versatile defensive swingman who’s typically done better off the bench than starting. His minutes were way down last season and his efficiencies all sky-rocketed. Despite that we think he’ll start for us this year, supported by Tom Chambers off the bench and a pinch of Alton Lister here-and-there. He’s one of our defensive lynchpins, more valuable than he sometimes appears on that stat sheet. He has many detractors around the ABCA but we’re not hearing much these days about how he was never worth the loss of Dikembe Mutombo (cough cough… another one of my good trades.)
Tree Rollins (starting center): We coveted Tree for a long time before a serious chance came to get him in our uniform. Planting a Tree in Harlem cost us Sidney Moncrief, but his hulking presence in the middle of the lane changes the complexion of our team greatly with his history of 3+ blocks per game. We see him as a great low-touch post player who will fit in well with our other pieces.
Eric Beugnot (sixth man): Last year’s sixth man was Thurl who wasn’t capable of giving us much offense off the bench. Beugnot doesn’t have a history of being a scorer but we think if we involve him properly in the offense he’ll give us needed points and acquit himself well in all other phases of the game. He’s started on some very good teams the past two seasons, he camped well this offseason, and now we see him as a key piece of our team.
Alton Lister (backup big man): Alton also started in the past and gives us a veteran presence off the bench. We think he’s better than most teams’ backup center so we expect quality minutes from him pitching relief for Tree.
Sedale Threatt (off-guard to DJ): Sedale camped very well. While historically he’s not a great shooter we see signs he’s capable of turning that around, so we’re going to let him get a chance to take the next step and start some games for us the first sim. Worst case he reverts to our backup PG where he’ll be more than adequate.
The best of the rest: Small Forward Derrick McKey took a reduced role last season and did well with it. He’s another guy that is best when not over-exposed but we’re not afraid to run him out there. The enigmatic Tom Chambers brings his unusual talents to Harlem having worn out his welcome in the Motor City (and Berlin before that.) Tom had a good off-season and could contribute for us in a limited role. Ratko Radovanovic has been signed as an emergency big man who can rebound and play a little defense if called upon. Tim Hardaway looked good coming out of camp but it turned out to be a mirage; his 2025 TC death would need Miracle Max to restore him to anything remotely like an asset for us. He’ll probably not venture off the IR for us this season.
The Globetrotters are on a six year playoff run and a six-year 50-win season run. Both streaks are in jeopardy this season. Our goal this year is to make an early run at respectability but the American is going to be a battle royale with some hungry outsiders looking to unseat the old guard. I don’t know how long we’re going to be able to live on our reputation, quite frankly. We’ll give it a shot but at some point we’ll need to move assets and prepare for the 2027 draft.
So, on the eve of the new season – our third and probably most difficult as GM in Harlem – we present the key 2026 Globetrotters.
Rimas Kurtinaitis (starting small forward): Rimas was acquired from San Miguel Beermen for Vernon Maxwell a season ago and it’s probably the best trade I’ve made. The Lithuanian has made substantial strides in Harlem, seizing the SF role and not letting go while responded exceptionally well to the camps to which we’ve sent him. At age 26 he established career highs in ppg, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, fg%, ft%, 3p% (.447!), PER, TS%... you get the idea. He can shoot from anywhere on the floor, which makes him the perfect small forward in system. He’s not elite, but we like him a lot.
Tree Rollins (starting center): We coveted Tree for a long time before a serious chance came to get him in our uniform. Planting a Tree in Harlem cost us Sidney Moncrief, but his hulking presence in the middle of the lane changes the complexion of our team greatly with his history of 3+ blocks per game. We see him as a great low-touch post player who will fit in well with our other pieces.Eric Beugnot (sixth man): Last year’s sixth man was Thurl who wasn’t capable of giving us much offense off the bench. Beugnot doesn’t have a history of being a scorer but we think if we involve him properly in the offense he’ll give us needed points and acquit himself well in all other phases of the game. He’s started on some very good teams the past two seasons, he camped well this offseason, and now we see him as a key piece of our team.
Alton Lister (backup big man): Alton also started in the past and gives us a veteran presence off the bench. We think he’s better than most teams’ backup center so we expect quality minutes from him pitching relief for Tree.
Sedale Threatt (off-guard to DJ): Sedale camped very well. While historically he’s not a great shooter we see signs he’s capable of turning that around, so we’re going to let him get a chance to take the next step and start some games for us the first sim. Worst case he reverts to our backup PG where he’ll be more than adequate.
The best of the rest: Small Forward Derrick McKey took a reduced role last season and did well with it. He’s another guy that is best when not over-exposed but we’re not afraid to run him out there. The enigmatic Tom Chambers brings his unusual talents to Harlem having worn out his welcome in the Motor City (and Berlin before that.) Tom had a good off-season and could contribute for us in a limited role. Ratko Radovanovic has been signed as an emergency big man who can rebound and play a little defense if called upon. Tim Hardaway looked good coming out of camp but it turned out to be a mirage; his 2025 TC death would need Miracle Max to restore him to anything remotely like an asset for us. He’ll probably not venture off the IR for us this season.
The Globetrotters are on a six year playoff run and a six-year 50-win season run. Both streaks are in jeopardy this season. Our goal this year is to make an early run at respectability but the American is going to be a battle royale with some hungry outsiders looking to unseat the old guard. I don’t know how long we’re going to be able to live on our reputation, quite frankly. We’ll give it a shot but at some point we’ll need to move assets and prepare for the 2027 draft.
