New Team 8 Championship Season Recap
What an adrenaline fueled season for New Team 8! On the heels of our first ever championship this college football season, the fantasy basketball team overcame a tremendous amount of adversity to deliver back-to-back champions.
Let’s recap the season for you, our fans - the lifeblood of New Team 8!
Draft Day
Draft day for New Team 8 was a culmination of months of scouting, speculation, and anticipation. For New Team 8, it was a crucial opportunity to lay the groundwork for a championship season.
But along with the nerves comes excitement, a sense of possibility and anticipation. Fans eagerly awaited the unveiling of their team's picks, speculating on who might be the next superstar to don their colors. Every selection is met with cheers or jeers, as hopes and dreams are pinned on the shoulders of young athletes taking their first steps into the spotlight.
And amidst the nerves and excitement, there's an undeniable sense of drama. In the end, draft day is about more than just picking players; it's about building the foundation for championship aspirations. And as the dust settles and the final selections are made, teams and fans alike are left with a tantalizing glimpse of what the future might hold.
New Team 8 held the number 2 overall pick in the draft. After anxiously waiting, we were able to select the anchor and soul of our franchise, Giannis Antetokoumpo, PF of the Milwaukee Bucks.
2023/24 New Team 8 Draft
League scoring was head-to-head with nine categories:
Field Goal Percentage (FG%)
Free Throw Percentage (FT%)
Three Pointers Made (3PM)
Offensive Rebounds (OREB)
Defensive Rebounds (DREB)
Assists (AST)
Steals (STL)
Blocks (BLK)
Points (PTS)
The Regular Season
The season started with Matchup 3 (Nov 6 - 12). With 6 matchup acquisitions, New Team 8 was dedicated to the strategy and streaming players throughout the season to produce results.
New Team 8’s immediate dominance took the league by storm and surprise. During the second league week, the league commissioner took action to attempt to stall New Team 8’s momentum, unilaterally implementing a strict two player acquisition limit per matchup.
“I’m proud of how the team handled the arbitrary midseason rule change,” said The GM. “We made the necessary adjustments to overcome adversity and continue to put our team in the best position to win.”
This led to the first of the championship-caliber transactions, when we added Nic Claxton from the Brooklyn Nets from Free Agency on November 27th.
New Team 8 remained undefeated and maintained dominance through the remainder of the 2023 calendar year, including celebrating the NBA on Christmas Day with the New Team 8 extravaganza. Not only was this the debut of the limited-edition New Team 8 Christmas jersey, but it also introduced the world’s first virtual brat toss ™.
Unfortunately, adversity again struck undefeated New Team 8 when LaMelo Ball went down on January 26th with an ankle injury. The second rounder would not see action the rest of the season.
New Team 8 rallied around a few rookies on the waiver wire to help fill the void left by LaMelo, including Amen Thompson and Brandin Podziemski. Both would end up being dropped for the final roster spots but we thank them for their service to New Team 8. Collin Sexton would be added during this period as well.
Just when the team began to settle into their rhythm, adversity struck again. This time, Karl-Anthony Towns went down with what appeared, at the time, to be a season ending injury. The third rounder was dropped leading into the playoffs on March 11th.
With the top playoff seed securely in hand, the second championship acquisition occurred with the addition of Trey Murphy III on March 11th. At the time, New Team 8 was trying to stop the bleeding and solidify the roster going into the playoffs, but it was unknown how crucial he would become.
Heading into the playoffs, New Team 8 had one last roster spot available after managing the IR situation, which led to the addition of the third and final championship transaction, GG Jackson on April 5th.
Championship Game
Adversity struck again and again over the two week championship, none greater than when Giannis Antetokounmpo went down on April 9th. New Team 8 was now in a particularly difficult situation; for the first time all season, New Team 8’s top 3 draft picks were all unavailable. Collin Sexton, picked up for the playoff run, was also out the last 5 games with a cold due to his unwillingness to take DayQuill. Add in the rest management for Kristaps Porzingis and Derrick White from the Celtics, and the final iteration of New Team 8 hardly resembled the one that was drafted last October. We started the last day of the championship with only two remaining draft picks, Brook Lopez and Nikola Vucevic. New Team 8 needed championship performances from the newest editions and they delivered.
All year, the team relied on Giannis and KAT to dominate offensive and defensive rebounds, but with both players unavailable, the team turned to Nikola Vucevic and GG Jackson on the final day to secure the win in the offensive rebound category. Despite a ridiculous 28 blocks from Wemby, New Team 8 shot-blockers Porzingis, Vucevic, and Lopez held down the fort on blocks. Despite a lower-than-normal field goal percentage, the high volume of shots from new New Team 8 players like Jackson, Murphy, Immanuel Quickley, and Jalen Green helped secure a victory in total points.
Finals MVP, Trey Murphy III, did it all while securing 3PM. He played 300 minutes, hitting 30 threes, making 29/32 free throws, shooting .500 from the field, securing 40 defensive rebounds, and adding 11 steals.
Season Awards
Final record: 1st place, 125-37
Regular Season MVP: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Finals MVP: Trey Murphy III
Executive of the Year: The GM
Clutch Player of the Year: Giannis Antetokounmp
Sixth Man of the Year: Derrick White
Most Improved Player: Kristaps Porzingis
Rookie of the Year: GG Jackson
