Fighting Irish Watch

Well guys, the season is starting tonight....The Fighting Irish are back for their second season....thought I'd start a team watch for one or two of people who requested it, as well as a way for me to look back on my thoughts of season & future seasons, as they were happening....

we go into tonight's game with no practice time, but a lot of spirit (I hope)....one of the original member's Lunk, dislocated his shoulder snowboarding in Japan a couple of weeks back, so he's out at least about the next month....another new member, Simon, a former rep player whose skill I'm unsure about as I haven't seen it, won't be in action tonight due to his gf making him build a fence for the new dog & having his family up from interstate

I'll give quick team breakdown:

F/C- Andrew (me), 6'3" (bball height w/shoes), 240lbs (approx), captain, original member, NBA Comparison = Mehmet Okur.

Strengths: Big, solid frame. Good strength. Uses good change of pace to get shot off. A big-time threat from long range, especially if he gets going. Can score inside and outside. Solid rebounder. Good offensive & defensive awareness. Not afraid to take the big shot. Solid bball IQ. Good halfcourt set player. Can put points on the board quickly.

Weaknesses: Poor speed. Poor conditioning. May have trouble getting his shot off against longer, quicker defenders. Tends to fall in love with the outside shot when he should attack the hoop more. Generally a slow starter, so probably more suited to a 6th man role where he finishes the game rather than starts it. Sometimes needs an opponent to give him a shot in the ribs to get him going.


G- Travis, 5'10", 185lbs, vice-captain, original member, NBA Comparison: Eric Snow.

Strengths: Combo guard. Good defense. Tenacious player on defense. Fairly good strength. Great team player. Has been only player on team working on improving his game.

Weaknesses: Does not have great lateral quickness. Tends to be foul prone as can lose his head on defense. Not much of an offensive game to speak of. Inconsistent jumpshot outside 10 feet. Poor passer. Struggles against pressure defense. Turnover-prone, although improving.


G- Paul, 5'8", 185lbs, original member, NBA Comparison: Marcus Banks.

Strengths: Former rep rugby union player. Good sparkplug player. Good facilitator of offense. Plays bigger than his size. Improving PG skills with each game. Can be good at on-the ball defense. Good hustle. Good rebounder for size.

Weaknesses: Conditioning. Inconsistent jumpshot outside 10 feet. Tends to take off-balance attempts and leave his feet, leaving him susceptible to turning the ball over. Can make rookie mistake like not shuffling feet on defense. Can look a bit lost out on the court on the offensive side of the game.


F- Doug, 6'1", 150lbs, original member, NBA Comparison: Tim Thomas/John Wallace.

Strengths: Not afraid to attack the basket. Good halfcourt set player. Capable rebounder when he puts his mind to it. Able to create a shot for himself. Has ability to slither through defenders. Can put points on the board quickly.

Weaknesses: A vaccuum on offense, once he gets the ball, you don't get it back. Sometimes too quick to pull trigger on long, errand jumper. Poor at boxing out on the defensive boards. Not a great finisher, probably due to a lack of strength & polish around the hoop. Tends to get knocked around easily by defenders. Doesn't cut or move on offense. Tardy on getting back on transition defense.


C/F- Lunk, 6'2", 170lbs, original member, NBA Comparison – Tyson Chandler/Kwame Brown.

Strengths: Of Polish descent. Very good strength & conditioning due to being a gym rat. Good hops. Good shotblocker. Capable rebounder. Thrives at playing defense. Greatest potential of anyone on the team.

Weaknesses: Poor at boxing out. Could be an excellent rebounder with some tutelage. Offensively, he’s very raw & tends to blow easy opportunities, which causes him to get down on himself & thus affects his defensive game.


F/G- Aaron, 5'11". Unsure/TBD.


F- Simon, 5'9". Unsure/TBD.


G- Will, 5'6". Unsure/TBD.


Utilities/Possibles:

F- Sam, 5'11". Unsure/TBD.



Offensively, at some point we hope to get a Motion Offense, or some semblance of one, being ran. However at present, none will be ran.

Defensively, probably a tight 2-3 zone, man-to-man defense & maybe a Box and One will be the goer on defense.

I think defense and rebounding will be what wins us games, but hoping the team's offensive skills improve as season wears on.



Will give game recap in next couple of days. If there is interest in this, more likely to keep it rolling. As always comments always appreciated.

Sweet X, good to see that you are back again...


I feel like some of the comparison are far-fetched, but I guess that's like the poor man's version.

Have a great season man.

Do you find there's much dirty play going on in your league? One of the reasons I stopped playing after we got too old for U19s and entered the open age division is that a lot of people seemed more interested in kicking ankles and throwing dangerous elbows, going beyond the physical nature of competitive basketball and looking to cause harm and injury.

Sweet X, good to see that you are back again...


I feel like some of the comparison are far-fetched, but I guess that's like the poor man's version.

Have a great season man.

obviously the comparison are far-fetched if taken literally....the comparisons are meant to be taken as a guide to the player's strengths & weaknesses, as well as being taken relative to the competition we're playing in....

Do you find there's much dirty play going on in your league? One of the reasons I stopped playing after we got too old for U19s and entered the open age division is that a lot of people seemed more interested in kicking ankles and throwing dangerous elbows, going beyond the physical nature of competitive basketball and looking to cause harm and injury.

it's not too bad, it all really depends on what league you play in....I'm in social grades so it's not too bad, although some teams & players go over the top....

Sounds good. Wish there were more people around these parts who were interested in playing some fun, competitive ball without looking to intentionally injure each other.

hope you get back into it at some point Andrew....a main motivation apart from love of bball, is that I missed team sports & needed the fitness hit badly....

I'm still sore from game, which by the way we lost 27-53....I had 16pts, made 3/4 from 3pt land & apparently shot about 75% from the field for the game....shame I only went 1/4 from FT line....I didn't take many shots in the game but neither did the team, we just got dominated on the boards....the other team (they had a 6'4" guy & a couple of other 6 footers) were getting 2nd & 3rd opportunities every time down court, whereas we were 'one & done' so to speak....

I guess it didn't help that I was only player above 6 foot & when I went to the bench, we had to play Travis (who's 5'10" at a stretch) at centre when he played PG last season....our two other big guys, well one is injured for next month with dislocated shoulder, & the other one missed game because his woman was sick (he's whipped I guess)....so we were playing with 5 guards & 1 forward & it showed....

Rest assured I plan to implement West Viriginia's 1-3-1 defense to try to help solve the situation....defense is the key....I'm gonna tell the guys that if we can keep our opponents to 40pts, then we have every chance to win the game....as we scored 27pts in 34 minutes (first 6 minutes of game was lost due to lateness, missing scorers etc for which we got penalised 6pts but ahh well, a lesson learnt I guess) & outside of me & maybe Will (who had 8pts on debut), the rest of the team had 3pts total....it's not like Will & I took all the shots, as we didn't, we might have taken about 40% of all shots but accounted for what, like 90% of the team's points....rest of guys had a shocker for the most part, but considering we had 3 new players & had a few people bail at last minute, the result could've been worse....

I do have confidence that we will be competitive, & if we can shore up the defense & defensive boards, then we will be a chance....even if 60% of our team was clutching their knees less than 5mins into the game

Good to see your keeping us posted dude Sounds like you had another tough loss on sunday

Good to see your keeping us posted dude Sounds like you had another tough loss on sunday

you must have heard that from Sit....I've started season solidly, averaging at least 16ppg, probably around about 8rpg, shooting better than 50% from field & 3pt line so far....would love to shoot that well for year, but we'll see....team is averaging 30ppg but giving up more than 55ppg....but we'll improve, you just gotta have some faith....

for all the others, we dropped the game 33-62 to the top team & highest scoring team in the division....what Sit might not have told you is that after a few baskets by myself, we pulled it back to about 31-49, but I think they scored a basket or two & I subbed myself off in last few minutes, so they padded score in last few minutes....

we're 0-2 but are Fighting

EDIT: Forgot to mention that we had our 2 tallest players (aside from me) quite before they even played a game, so our team is essentially left with 2-3 forwards (only onee over 6 foot) & 5-6 guards....but we've got spirit so we'll be sweet.

Ah. I looked for the 'famed' Irish thread and here it is.

Looks like X stopped updating after 2 games in our first season of the year...

Well, not sure if he wants to fill in anyone who is interested in our exploits... but yeah, that first season was terrible. The X was our only consistent player, averaging double figures easily.

Second season, we added a few new players. Some have left, some still with us. Most notable newbies are Dragon (Ben on the forums) and another forward. We did ok, finishing with a 6-9 record... coulda been closer to .500 if not for a midseason slump (Many factors in that) and two or three really close losses...

Ah well, I say we should use this thread as a basketball talk thread. So guys like QBaller and Ty, hope to see you in here a bit so we can trade stories and discuss how to make our teams better. Yeh Mark, you should tell us about your team too. And hopefully pHLo can drop by too!

hey Will, my thumb is still rooted....it's still going to be rooted when summer league starts....guess I'm going to be an interior force, when I'm not playing point forward haha....but yeah, I guess I stopped updating this in the season at start of year since we were so crap....there also didn't seem to be much interest in the thread....but we have slowly got better & I have even become a player who can run the court a little

My hand has gotten better that its not swollen/bruised, but my middle finger is screwed. Depending what kinda position i put it in, it hurts like hell. I musta done something to it... I think after exams in a week, if its still like this, Im gonna have to get it checked out.

I guess not many guys will appreciate that last line as much as I do.

X, I've decided that in Summer league, I cant make early games ala before 7:30 pm... due to work. I wanna make as much money as i can and since its summer league, i'd like to give guys like Trav a chance to 'prove' he's a PG... and also then i can lend my jersey to Dev, so Brian, Dev and Michael can all play in the same game and stuff... more likely they might not make later games so it works out.

If Mark stumbles into the thread, this is telling you to come to Brisbane and work at X's accounting firm and you can join our team.

What is your team anyway. Univ based? Town/locality based? Or a bunch of friends playing in a tourney?

EDIT: Ignore my question above. Found out the answer in another thread.

Question to X: How much does Sit suck?

Question to Sit: How much does X suck?

Sit's alright....2nd best offensive player on the team (behind me ....best perimeter defender....Ben (Dragon) is team's best down syndrome sufferer overall, due to his propensity to block lots & lots of shots....he's got alright handles & passing, but still needs to improve those mental aspects of his game, and life....the biggest knock on Will would be his inconsistency offensively....that might be due to his young age (19)....maybe once he's an old fella like me (26), he'll be more consistent he's fastest player on the team I think, load him up with some fried rice and look at that little chink run....it's between him & Brad, although with the ball in hand, it's easily Will....Sit is definitely getting better though....the difference between his play at the start of the year & now is like night & day....if he keeps feeding me the rock like he did in the last game, the team will be fine


pros: one of the best guards in our league (the league has a few decent forwards, but light on the guard side), good man-to-man defender, potential to get better (especially if he listens to me & adds some of Tony Parker to his game, including an Eva on the sidelines for everyone to perve at), quick, can get to the rim almost at will, can get hot & go Kobe (rape?) someone's ass, ego.

cons: can be ineffective if he doesn't have ball in his hands, is sometimes labelled selfish at times by teammates (although Will went all Kobe on the guy & he is no longer on the team ), inconsistent offensively (mostly with his shot), not a good finisher at the rim, inconsistent FT shooter, ego.


NBA Comparison: Carlos Arroyo meets Tyronn Lue (I know he wants a Stevie Franchise comparison, but he won't get that yet. He has offense of Arroyo & defense of Lue in his Lakers' days matching up against AI)


anyways, I don't know if Sit will be so nice to me....he'll probably call me big boned or festively plump or something

haha, X is awesome. I wouldn't bash any of my team mates though so even if thats not true, i would still say hes awesome.

but yeh seriously, X is a good player. Ben is the one that sucks.

haha, X is awesome. I wouldn't bash any of my team mates though so even if thats not true, i would still say hes awesome.

but yeh seriously, X is a good player. Ben is the one that sucks.

Ben would argue that his 12 blocks in the last game would mean that he does not suck

wtf we should have an all-NLSC basketball team, sponsored by EA Sports. i would play if i was Australian.

Saw X's reply... so gotta make one for him too lol

X is our most consistent offensive player. awesome shooter (with a funny stroke, I've tried to mimic but failed)... he's consistent which is what the team needs. on defence, has told me he can hold his own defence, apparantly... but yep, he can stay in front of his man and play sound defence. Hes getting better at running the floor. He's also gotten better at using his body to box out and create space... a lot of times in first season due to us not having a big man, X couldnt outrebound other teams (thats a team problem tho)...

Pros: Awesome shooter - doesnt seem to miss, deceptively quick with the ball and without it, Good knowledge of the game, can handle the rock as well as anyone in the league among forwards IMO, consistent - never seems to have a poor game offensively

Cons: Often soft spoken (no no for someone who people need to look up to), athleticism is lacking, when he is cold- he gets really cold...

Comparison: Toni Kukoc... well that's what he's striving to be like... trying to play point forward for our team. Hitting the open jumpers and hitting players on the run.

if he keeps feeding me the rock like he did in the last game, the team will be fine

Only fed you the rock to help you get over 20 It shows i'm not as selfish as people think I am since I passed back to you on my fast break I created off the steal

I know he wants a Stevie Franchise comparison

Im over Franchise, I wanna be young Gary Payton

he'll probably call me big boned or festively plump or something

Im not that mean am I...

Ben would argue that his 12 blocks in the last game would mean that he does not suck

I would argue he was injured for most of the season ala Marcus Camby. But yep, he doesnt suck haha

wtf we should have an all-NLSC basketball team, sponsored by EA Sports. i would play if i was Australian.

Yeh, when Jing was thinking of coming here for exchange, I wanted him to join our team and if we somehow got Mark we'd have an all-nlsc starting 5... how sad

Saw X's reply... so gotta make one for him too lol

X is our most consistent offensive player. awesome shooter (with a funny stroke, I've tried to mimic but failed)... he's consistent which is what the team needs. on defence, has told me he can hold his own defence, apparantly... but yep, he can stay in front of his man and play sound defence. Hes getting better at running the floor. He's also gotten better at using his body to box out and create space... a lot of times in first season due to us not having a big man, X couldnt outrebound other teams (thats a team problem tho)...

Pros: Awesome shooter - doesnt seem to miss, deceptively quick with the ball and without it, Good knowledge of the game, can handle the rock as well as anyone in the league among forwards IMO, consistent - never seems to have a poor game offensively

Cons: Often soft spoken (no no for someone who people need to look up to), athleticism is lacking, when he is cold- he gets really cold...

Comparison: Toni Kukoc... well that's what he's striving to be like... trying to play point forward for our team. Hitting the open jumpers and hitting players on the run.

I would argue that Tim Duncan is soft spoken....besides, I can rile up a bit if needs be....but that's just the sort of person I am....I don't think Trav's ego could handle the truth I think I'd be being false if I was trying to act like a dickhead....but yeah, I'll try & be a bit more outspoken in future & more of a leader....

btw, I don't need to be point forward....I'm just trying to improve my handle & passing....I'd be happy to improve my post play....just work on everything....so yeah, I'll leave guard duties to you, I'll just hit people when they are open....

as for the going stone cold, yeah, that happens to me as it does to every other player on the team, but as long as I'm contributing in other areas like passing, defence, rebounding, I can offset it....also going inside & mixing it up....

I would argue that Tim Duncan is soft spoken....besides, I can rile up a bit if needs be....but that's just the sort of person I am....I don't think Trav's ego could handle the truth Laughing I think I'd be being false if I was trying to act like a dickhead....but yeah, I'll try & be a bit more outspoken in future & more of a leader....

Don't worry, I don't mind it. It's just something Sam Mackinnon was criticised for too. Not that bad!

btw, I don't need to be point forward....I'm just trying to improve my handle & passing....I'd be happy to improve my post play....just work on everything....so yeah, I'll leave guard duties to you, I'll just hit people when they are open....

Hmmm... I dunno if you need to be point forward. You know I've always bitched about bringing the ball up and stuff... I just trust you with the ball than most of the team.

Hopefully others post in this thread... its looking like a sit and x thread now lol

damn didn't know about this thread. I have decided to play more regularly fuck the risks of my shoulder i can't stand the sidelines no more. That 12 blk game for final game of the season got me itching to play. Plus i'm getting as fat a jing next thing you'll know i'll start bitching about my weight like he does.

wouldn't mind reading my comparison and description profile.

Only fed you the rock to help you get over 20 It shows i'm not as selfish as people think I am since I passed back to you on my fast break I created off the steal

You are selfish. Stat-padder.

yeah, Will, you should reward all your big men for running the court....we'll get Ben running too....I'd like to see a fastbreak dunk from Ben....it's gonna happen

I'll get to your description later Ben....

Well, there were two passes in the same posession in one of our games, where the second one woulda been perfect for Ben. Andrew remembers them cause he said he wasn't Vince Carter... Too bad Ben was still injured... ok onto Ben's 'profile'

Pros: Blocks a lot of shots, solid rebounder on the defensive end, he can jump and can run the floor as well as any big man, solid handles/passing

Cons: Tries to tip the ball back in (a bit too much) rather than pulling the offensive board and going back up strong, Injury-prone (This is debatable but as I see it, Ben has been injured before requiring surgery and the season ending injury on his shoulder required surgery which he opted not to have... plus somehow injured his finger before the first game of season... Ben can fill us in on if he's actually injury-prone)... Takes too many mid range jumpers/three pointers, would rather see you drive in and take a shot closer in the hoop... could probably help to develop some low post moves

NBA Comparison: Marcus Camby... from his injuries to his awesome defence and to his ability to run the floor... has Camby written all over him.

I had a feeling last night my comparison would be to Camby. Yes I am fairly injury prone have had a few season or long term injuries during my time which are broken hand (from punching glass backboard), operation on my lower back to remove abscess that took me out of the game for over a year . Torn tendon in right shoulder (most recent) from too many blocks. I think there were a few wrist, ankle or knee injuries that kept me out for a few games as well.

I had a feeling last night my comparison would be to Camby. Yes I am fairly injury prone have had a few season or long term injuries during my time which are broken hand (from punching glass backboard), operation on my lower back to remove abscess that took me out of the game for over a year . Torn tendon in right shoulder (most recent) from too many blocks. I think there were a few wrist, ankle or knee injuries that kept me out for a few games as well.

[drunk]u old bastard [/drunk]