Post by footy on Jun 20, 2020 15:53:10 GMT -8
Who is Footy?
G’day, Footy isn’t my real name but off screen I am 32 years old living in Melbourne, Australia. Been married for just over 18 months and its awesome! No kids yet but they are in our plans.
I am a massive sports fans and will watch anything- huge supporter of the Suns and made it to my one & only NBA game (so far) about 10 years ago. It was LA vs Phoenix at Staples the year after the Lakers won the championship. The introductions were phenomenal, Kobe gave himself a running alley oop in the lane, Hedo Turkoglu dropped 8 3 pointers, Phoenix won a nailbiter and some chick poured a beer on my head. Great night!
Up until 12 months ago I played A LOT of sport- Basketball on Monday & Wednesday nights, Aussie Rules Football on Saturdays with training midweek, Netball (great for the scenery) and did a lot of running but during a basketball game last July I collided with a player from the other team- fractured my patella (kneecap) and tore the patella tendon. Had surgery but ending up aspirating and contracting pneumonia. Was in hospital for a week and began my rehab soon after. About 3 months into recovery I slipped and re-ruptured my patella tendon so went into surgery again. This time they had a ‘donor’ Achilles tendon that they have wired into my knee to give it added support.
The last surgery was 9 months ago and I’ve been rehabbing 1-2 hours each day since and I’ve just reached the point of 125 degrees bend in my knee which means I am finally walking, sitting & standing normally. Next milestone is to be able to run. I will never be able to play sport again and that sucks but hopefully I can at least go for a run.
Future plans are to find a nice house (currently in a tiny apartment) with wifey, have a couple of kids and continue my knee rehab.
How long have I been in Sim Leagues?
My first SimLeague was in 2003 (I think) and it was the original NBN run by WillC. WillC was an awesome commish and loves his basketball. I don’t know how I got started but I’ve always loved the statistical side of sport. I must have googled ‘basketball simulator’ and that’s how I found sim leagues.
I won a couple of championships in NBN including overcoming a monumental 0-3 deficit in the finals against Outlawz and from there I was hooked!
I continued to play sim leagues on/off for the next 10 years or so but I think my last sim league was GTSL Retro about 4 years ago (?). Like many others, due to coronavirus, I was working from home and had grown sick of my Playstation games so figured I would get back into it.
I am a massive sports fans and will watch anything- huge supporter of the Suns and made it to my one & only NBA game (so far) about 10 years ago. It was LA vs Phoenix at Staples the year after the Lakers won the championship. The introductions were phenomenal, Kobe gave himself a running alley oop in the lane, Hedo Turkoglu dropped 8 3 pointers, Phoenix won a nailbiter and some chick poured a beer on my head. Great night!
Up until 12 months ago I played A LOT of sport- Basketball on Monday & Wednesday nights, Aussie Rules Football on Saturdays with training midweek, Netball (great for the scenery) and did a lot of running but during a basketball game last July I collided with a player from the other team- fractured my patella (kneecap) and tore the patella tendon. Had surgery but ending up aspirating and contracting pneumonia. Was in hospital for a week and began my rehab soon after. About 3 months into recovery I slipped and re-ruptured my patella tendon so went into surgery again. This time they had a ‘donor’ Achilles tendon that they have wired into my knee to give it added support.
The last surgery was 9 months ago and I’ve been rehabbing 1-2 hours each day since and I’ve just reached the point of 125 degrees bend in my knee which means I am finally walking, sitting & standing normally. Next milestone is to be able to run. I will never be able to play sport again and that sucks but hopefully I can at least go for a run.
Future plans are to find a nice house (currently in a tiny apartment) with wifey, have a couple of kids and continue my knee rehab.
How long have I been in Sim Leagues?
My first SimLeague was in 2003 (I think) and it was the original NBN run by WillC. WillC was an awesome commish and loves his basketball. I don’t know how I got started but I’ve always loved the statistical side of sport. I must have googled ‘basketball simulator’ and that’s how I found sim leagues.
I won a couple of championships in NBN including overcoming a monumental 0-3 deficit in the finals against Outlawz and from there I was hooked!
I continued to play sim leagues on/off for the next 10 years or so but I think my last sim league was GTSL Retro about 4 years ago (?). Like many others, due to coronavirus, I was working from home and had grown sick of my Playstation games so figured I would get back into it.
Why Phoenix?
Growing up in Australia in the mid 90s, the NBA was only accessible via the NBA Hoops show on a Saturday morning. I loved the recaps of each game and the weekly top 10 highlights and for some reason I was drawn to Charles Barkley.
Growing up in Australia in the mid 90s, the NBA was only accessible via the NBA Hoops show on a Saturday morning. I loved the recaps of each game and the weekly top 10 highlights and for some reason I was drawn to Charles Barkley.
I loved his attitude, his dunks & the Phoenix jerseys were beautiful! When I was 4 or 5 my Dad went to America for work and came home with an authentic kids Charles Barkley jersey in black-it was the best. I used to wear that jersey everywhere! I don’t know what happened to it but I have spent the last 15 years trying to find an authentic adult one to replace it. Turns out Sir Charles has never given the NBA permission to produce replicas and I have never been able to get my hands on one. If I do see one I will be buying it!
It’s been tough being a Suns fan to be honest. We have seen success but never felt it. From Joe Johnson’s broken nose, to the court ‘invasion’ when Horry threw Nash into a scorers table to Sarver selling off both the Rajon Rondo & Ben Gordon draft picks when we were on the brink of winning a championship, to the last 10 years which have sucked. It’s hard to play for an owner who pretends to want to win and fosters a toxic culture. It also impacts my support of them. Sarver is a cancer.
I don’t think we are going to be relevant for a while, Booker is nice but I think he leaves after this season. Ayton is solid but maybe a Suns player 10 years too late- we could have done with him alongside Amare. Alas, I guess that’s why I am always the Suns in sim leagues- maybe one day this non-descript Aussie can bring some pride to the organisation.
Plans for my team:
After being dealt the 18th pick in the creation draft I was really dreading the start to this league. Without a top 10 talent, these leagues can wear you down. However, I figured I would draft the ‘best value’ player at each opportunity, keep my 1sts and see what my team looked like at the end of it.
After being dealt the 18th pick in the creation draft I was really dreading the start to this league. Without a top 10 talent, these leagues can wear you down. However, I figured I would draft the ‘best value’ player at each opportunity, keep my 1sts and see what my team looked like at the end of it.
Our season started okay but we had flaws. It was going to be a frustrating season. Good enough to be on the fringe of the lotto or playoffs but with no real direction and that’s why I pulled the trigger on the Durant deal.
I love my team right now. A great mix of scoring, rebounding & youth has me excited for the seasons ahead. Although I may have overpaid for Durant we needed a genuine scorer alongside Jaren Jackson Jnr.
We should be a top 4 team in the West this year and it’s going to be fun to see how the youth in my team develops. We’ve got Durant, Jackson Jnr & Ben Simmons each locked in for 4 years and they are 3 of my favourite players in the NBA so this will be enjoyable for me
Total Words: 1009 words
Editors note: An earlier version of portions of this article appeared on NBAD