The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

This is where to post any NBA or NCAA basketball franchises.
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djp73
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The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

Post by djp73 » 10 Mar 2021, 09:09

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@majorsupreme on the logo
This is my attempt at a completely fictional basketball league in NBA2K21. The fictional league idea has been in my head for a while and I've tried it with a few different games. Caesar's discussions about trying it made me decide to give it a go. 2K's great rebrand feature plus all the user created teams makes it the easiest choice in my mind.

Some details:
I've decided on a 58 game season with a 5-7-7-7 playoff format.
I bumped up NBA player's ages and am in the process of simming forward to get them all to retire.
I've not entirely decided when the league started but once I do I will sim 5-10 more seasons to use as league history.
I've done my best to have the league make sense regionally, I may ignore divisions.
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@mvp

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djp73
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The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

Post by djp73 » 10 Mar 2021, 09:16

In the Beginning
By the mid 2020s a number of regional basketball leagues had cropped up. With the variety of ways available to present the league to consumers these leagues gained a significant number of followers and became quite popular as an alternative to the NBA product. In late 2024 a group of owners and commissioners from all over North America began laying the groundwork for a league comprised of a number of those smaller leagues. In 2029 they began their inaugural season as the North American Basketball League. Their shorter schedule and streamlined game broadcasts attracted even more fans and the league became very successful. This is the story of the league.
Rule Differences
These are the rules that the NABL uses that are different than the NBA. All other rules are the same as the NBA circa 2021 (as far as I know).

Gameplay
Five fouls to foul out.
Possession arrow.

Draft
No Lottery, teams pick in reverse order of final standings.
Players are eligible for the NABL Draft once they turn 18.

All Stars
(the first NABL All Star game will take place during the 2029-2030 season)
Ten players per team, by conference.
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The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

Post by djp73 » 10 Mar 2021, 09:17

League Champions and Award Winners
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The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

Post by djp73 » 10 Mar 2021, 09:17

Hall of Fame
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The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

Post by djp73 » 10 Mar 2021, 09:18

2026-2027 Season

The NABL kicked off in 2026 with more questions than answers and with much anticipation. How would the numerous small leagues meld into one large league? How would the talent compare across the league? Who would emerge as the teams to beat and which players would become stars?

The season went off without any significant issues and television ratings as well as website hits and social media traffic were better than expected. Arizona, Long Beach and Hawaii established themselves as the top teams, each surpassing 40 wins on the season and making it seem as though the Western Conference would be the early power.

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In late May of 2027 the first ever NABL playoffs were set. The top eight teams in each conference prepared to face off against each other in hopes of doing battle against the other conference in the league finals.
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Eighth seed Pittsburgh was the surprise of the first round, knocking off top seeded Jacksonville in four games.
Tampa Bay took down Carolina in a thrilling five game series.
Cincinnati and New Jersey both won their series in four games.
Out West all the higher seeds held serve with Austin's game five win over Colorado Springs providing the only real drama out west.
Things were much closer in the second round with three of the four series going six games.
Third seed New Jersey's sweep of number two Cincinnati was the lone exception.
Pittsburgh continued to surprise, taking down fifth seed Tampa Bay.
Fourth seed Austin knocked off top seed Arizona and Hawaii took down Long Beach.
In the third round it was #3 Hawaii against #4 Austin in the West and #3 New Jersey against #8 Pittsburgh in the East.
Austin couldn't hang with Hawaii, falling to the Honu in a sweep.
The East provided more drama with Pittsburgh edging New Jersey in a seven game back and forth series.
Pittsburgh's Cinderella story came to an end when they ran up against a more rested Hawaii squad. The Union did manage to hang for four games, knotting the series at 2-2 before the Honu ran away with game five and six, led by championship MVP Damian Robinson, to secure the first league title.
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The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

Post by djp73 » 10 Mar 2021, 09:18

2027-2028 Season

Season two saw the Honu and Blaze rise to the top with 45 wins each. the Omaha Mammoths were hot on their heels with 40 wins. Once again it seemed the top teams were out west. Hawaii was the heavy favorite going into the playoffs as the reigning champions.
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Guard Kris Lucas of the Nashville Sound led the league in scoring. the 23 year old out of Kansas was a scoring machine.
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Mario Garibaldi led the league with over 18 rebounds per game.
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Kansas City's Sarunas Stojic was the top dimer, averaging 10.9 per game.
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Mario Garibaldi, the Montreal Dragons 22 year old 7'3" center from Italy, took MVP honors for 2028. The Dragons finished 36-22, tops in the East due in large part to his efforts. Garibaldi also won the Defensive player of the Year as well as the league's first Most Improved Player hardware.
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The Virginia Beach Seawolves took Guard Casey Hall with the first overall pick in the inaugural draft and the 19 year old straight out of high school rewarded them by earning Rookie of the Year honors.
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The Austin Espress' Wally Graves went back to back with the Sixth Man of the Year award. The 26 year old seven footer from Arizona State could be a starter on a number of teams in the league but says he likes his role with the team, backing up Mac Long and Perry Butler and providing a spark off the bench.
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Honu head coach Lucas "Lucas" Lucas led his team to the first seed in the West for the second straight season and was awarded with the first ever Coach of the Year award.
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All-NABL and rookie All-NABL teams were named.
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After all the awards had been given out it was time for the playoffs. Hawaii and Montreal came in as the top seeds in each conference while teams like Louisville, Fort Worth, Oakland and Carolina were looking to upset the teams at the top.
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While there were a few "upsets" between closely ranked teams none was as surprising as the Louisville Liberty taking down the Montreal Dragons and league MVP Garibaldi in an intense series that went five games. Hawaii was able to take down Fort Worth but the eighth seed Express didn't go without a fight, taking the reigning champs to game five. Two other series went five games with Las Vegas outlasting Alaska and Long Beach topping Omaha. Arizona swept Oakland. Back in the east St. Louis swept New Jersey while Bronx took care of Tampa Bay in four games. Jacksonville win their series against Carolina in four games as well.
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The second round was full of surprises. Most notably was fifth seed Las Vegas knocking off the reigning champs Hawaii in a five game series. Also in the west Arizona held serve over Long Beach, winning in six games. Both series back east went six games with Jacksonville taking down Tampa Bay and Louisville upsetting St. Louis.
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In the third round match ups it was a tale of two series with fifth seeded Las Vegas sweeping number 2 Arizona out west and Louisville sneaking past Jacksonville in a series that went the full seven games.

Las Vegas would take on Louisville in the second ever NABL championship series.

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In a series that went six games Las Vegas came out on top, led by forward Marc Tinsley who averaged 11.3/8.2/4.0. Both teams used a balanced attack with several players on both sides scoring in double digits each game.

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With that the second season for the NABL was in the books, the league had been a great success so for.
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The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

Post by djp73 » 10 Mar 2021, 09:18

2028-2029 Season

The NABL's thirrd season started off with the league's first team rebrand. Seattle, who shared the nickname “Express” with the Austin franchise, elected to reinvent themselves as the “Lightning”. The Austin and Seattle ownership worked through the decision on their own. “We had franchises from a number of leagues coming together so having some overlap in branding was somewhat expected.” a league spokesman said. “We allowed them both to keep the Express name and they came up with a solution on their own.”

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Once the season rolled around there were some surprises in the East as Buffalo, Providence and Tampa Bay all pushed past Montreal to claim the top three playoff spots. For Buffalo and Providence it was their first playoff appearances.

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Out West the playoff field looked quite familiar with Hawaii, Long Beach, Omaha, Arizona and Las Vegas all making their third straight playoff appearances.

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St. Louis guard Donnell Carney led the league in scoring, putting up 26.9 PPG. Nashville's Kris Lucas, the leader last season, finished second.

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Carolina's 7'2” beast Ekpe Udoh led the league with 15.2 rebounds per game, edging out Mario Garibaldi, who led the league last year.

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Sarunas Stojic once again led the league in assists per game at 12.3 per game, nearly two more than the next closest player.

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Mario Garibaldi made it two straight MVP and Defensive Player of the Year Awards.

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Vancouver's BJ Cox averaged 15.5PPG, 10.6RPG and 3.5PAG, stuffing the stat sheet and taking home rookie of the year honors.

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Omaha got nearly 23PPG from sixth man Rolando Lydon, earning him the league's Sixth Man of the Year award.

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Toros Patrick Evans III picked up the Most Improved Player award.
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Honu head coach “Triple L” claimed a second straight Coach of the Year award after leading Hawaii to their third straight 40+ win season.

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MVP Mario Garibaldi headlined the All-League squad and BJ Cox led the All-Rookie squad.

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After the awards were all doled out it was time to move onto the NABL's “second season”, the playoffs.

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The only upset in the first round was in the East with the sixth seed Bronx Ballers taking down the third seeded Tampa Bay Admirals in five games. Virginia Beach took Montreal to five games but couldn't close them out. Providence and top seed Buffalo each won their series in four games. Out West all the top seeds prevailed with Las Vegas and Arizona being the only series to go five games. Hawaii and Long Beach each won in four games while Omaha swept Albuquerque.

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In the second round there was more drama with three of the four series going at least six games. Providence made quick work of The Bronx, sweeping them in four games. In the other series in the East it was top seed Buffalo taking down Montreal in six games. Out in the West it was Long Beach over Omaha in six games. Hawaii and Arizona gave us a tremendous series with the Honu prevailing in seven games. The top two seeds in each conference made up the final four teams with Hawaii vs Long Beach and Buffalo taking on Providence.

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The conference finals were somewhat anti-climatic with Hawaii and Buffalo handling Long Beach and Providence in five games each. This set up a championship series between the top two teams in the league with Hawaii being the favorites going in.

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Hawaii claimed their second league championship, running through Buffalo in five games. Big man Dimitris Alexandris led the way for the Honu.

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The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

Post by djp73 » 10 Mar 2021, 09:18

2029-2030 Season
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The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

Post by djp73 » 10 Mar 2021, 09:19

2030-2031 Season
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The League - NABL 2030 and beyond

Post by djp73 » 10 Mar 2021, 09:19

2031-2032 Season
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