Post by Portland on Jun 26, 2015 9:36:39 GMT -6
While we're waiting for a champion to be crowned...
2027 saw the Globetrotters bounce back by ten games over their poor 2026 campaign to post a +.500 record once again at 44-38. Unfortunately a 12-19 second half (which included a horrific 12-game losing streak) doomed us to miss the post-season by a single game. We did it by losing two of our last three contests with Joe Barry Carroll sidelined, but in truth we didn’t deserve to make a playoff appearance anyway. Our success in the early months never felt real and eventually the weight of playing our tough American Conference schedule exposed us.
The season just ended did have a few positives. Our goal going in was to become a more offense-focused team and we managed to do that while remaining a top-10 defensive squad in points allowed (missing the top ten in defensive efficiency by a single percentage point.) The acquisition of JBC in place of the departed Tree Rollins had a lot to do with it, but primarily we just shot the ball better than we ever have in my tenure as gm. After having sand kicked in our face for years we definitely held our own putting the ball through the hoop. Our new offensive slant led to us being in the top third of the ABCA in FG%, Adjusted FG%, 3Pt%, and PPS… not world-changing by any means but unprecedented in recent Harlem memory. We just needed to get more looks.
Our Achilles heel all season was rebounding, and we never cured it. Our game plan for years never really called for crashing the boards: with the natural rebounders like Rollins, Robert Parish, Kresimir Cosic, Fred Roberts, and Walt Wesley in the pivot we didn’t have to focus on it. But JBC and Alton Liston are not gifted rebounders and we were too slow to compensate in the game plan. We paid for it. Camping JBC at midseason and acquiring Wayman Tisdale at the deadline helped but it was too little too late. We finished the season ranked 26th in offensive rebounds. A couple more put-backs here and there would have gotten us to the post-season, we believe.
On certain nights we still managed to be a tough opponent. We beat Mexico City three times this season – twice in Mexico – and spanked the Pacers three times as well. ALBA fell to us twice, once on their home floor. Wins vs. LA, SMB, SFW, WAS, and the Spurs gave us a little bit of a warm fuzzy but in the end it was false confidence. The Knicks owned us again, as did the Sonics, and Franca BC made us their late-season bitch when we really needed to step up our game.
Now the off-season looms with the challenge of resigning some key players in Rimas Kurtinaitis, Tisdale, and Hank Gathers. If successful we won’t need anything more in FA than a few backups better than the ones we had last year. We need depth at SF but a lot of teams are in that boat. Not having our pick this year isn’t a concern; our fan base is used to us taking a pass on the draft. We just need to better utilize the guys on our roster and plan to compete a little smarter so we keep our place at the table this time around.
2027 saw the Globetrotters bounce back by ten games over their poor 2026 campaign to post a +.500 record once again at 44-38. Unfortunately a 12-19 second half (which included a horrific 12-game losing streak) doomed us to miss the post-season by a single game. We did it by losing two of our last three contests with Joe Barry Carroll sidelined, but in truth we didn’t deserve to make a playoff appearance anyway. Our success in the early months never felt real and eventually the weight of playing our tough American Conference schedule exposed us.
The season just ended did have a few positives. Our goal going in was to become a more offense-focused team and we managed to do that while remaining a top-10 defensive squad in points allowed (missing the top ten in defensive efficiency by a single percentage point.) The acquisition of JBC in place of the departed Tree Rollins had a lot to do with it, but primarily we just shot the ball better than we ever have in my tenure as gm. After having sand kicked in our face for years we definitely held our own putting the ball through the hoop. Our new offensive slant led to us being in the top third of the ABCA in FG%, Adjusted FG%, 3Pt%, and PPS… not world-changing by any means but unprecedented in recent Harlem memory. We just needed to get more looks.
Our Achilles heel all season was rebounding, and we never cured it. Our game plan for years never really called for crashing the boards: with the natural rebounders like Rollins, Robert Parish, Kresimir Cosic, Fred Roberts, and Walt Wesley in the pivot we didn’t have to focus on it. But JBC and Alton Liston are not gifted rebounders and we were too slow to compensate in the game plan. We paid for it. Camping JBC at midseason and acquiring Wayman Tisdale at the deadline helped but it was too little too late. We finished the season ranked 26th in offensive rebounds. A couple more put-backs here and there would have gotten us to the post-season, we believe.
On certain nights we still managed to be a tough opponent. We beat Mexico City three times this season – twice in Mexico – and spanked the Pacers three times as well. ALBA fell to us twice, once on their home floor. Wins vs. LA, SMB, SFW, WAS, and the Spurs gave us a little bit of a warm fuzzy but in the end it was false confidence. The Knicks owned us again, as did the Sonics, and Franca BC made us their late-season bitch when we really needed to step up our game.
Now the off-season looms with the challenge of resigning some key players in Rimas Kurtinaitis, Tisdale, and Hank Gathers. If successful we won’t need anything more in FA than a few backups better than the ones we had last year. We need depth at SF but a lot of teams are in that boat. Not having our pick this year isn’t a concern; our fan base is used to us taking a pass on the draft. We just need to better utilize the guys on our roster and plan to compete a little smarter so we keep our place at the table this time around.
