Andorra Highlanders

Season 1: Good, but not Good Enough:

The Sydney Machine-Tech was one the original 22 teams of the WBA. Overall, Sydney had quite a productive draft as shown below:

1. Curtis Bridges

2. Jose Bergman

3. Frank Doyle

4. Ike Frazier

5. Gilly Valentine

6. Lou McNamara

7. Jack Baker

8. Tom Hoover

9. Nick Evans

10. Russ Miller

11. Ed Cotter

12. Bob Smith

13. Bob Scott

14. Steve O'Donnell

Sydney pretty much was quiet first season, with their only change from their original roster being the addition of Ted Groth and getting rid of Nick Evans. Even though Sydney was one of the top teams in the league, with their eventual 50-12 record, the media was more focused of teams such as the Los Angeles Stars, who's method of stacking their team with players in their prime led them to a WBA-best 54-8 record, and the London Disco, whose trade of Boom-Boom Casey caught the league by surprise, but still led the East to an impressive 52-10 record. Sydney had the top-ranked offensive in the league, averaging 106.0 ppg, with top performances from Curtis Bridges whose 15.1 ppg and league-leading 10.8 apg made him a shoo-in for All-WBA PG and eventually the MVP of the league, and Jose Bergman, who led the team with 21.0 ppg, and also contributed 7.3 rpg as well as 4.5 apg and 2.8 spg. Frank Doyle led the team with 8.4 rpg, and Ike Frazier also contributed 7.0 rpg and 2.6 bpg game, helping the team have the 8th ranked defense in the league.

Having the 2nd best record in the Western Conference, but the 2nd best record of the Pacific Division, Sydney had to face the Indiana Shakers, who they easily disposed of in three games in order to face the Midwest Division Champion Midland, who received a first round bye. Sydney fans were stunned when their team ended up losing a hard fought series 4-3 -- which while nowhere near the shock Los Angeles faced when their team lost to eventually WBA Champion Fernie 4-2, was still a disappointment nonetheless.

Season 2: Many Changes, but no Longer Elite.

Before Season 2 started, Ed Cotter, Frank Doyle, and Gilly Valentine announced their retirements. While Cotter wouldn't have been missed at all, Valentine and Doyle were key contributors of the previous year's success and were likely going to be missed going into the next season. In the rookie draft, Sydney picked Johnny Tatum #26 overall, and in the second round, picked Tony Clark #54. Unlike the last season, the Sydney management was willing to make moves, as they started out by trading Lou McNamara to Roswell for a pair of future second round picks before the start of the season. The big trade however was the trading of last year's star players Curtis Bridges and Jose Bergman, as well as Ike Frazier to Winifred for John Riddle and George Grabowski. A less important trade saw Sydney receiving Pete Whitehouse from Los Angeles in exchange for a second round pick.

John Riddle did put up some huge numbers for Sydney, averaging 26.9 ppg, 10.8 rpg, and 3.9 bpg, but the team lacked the supporting cast needed to repeat last year's success. Besides Riddle, only Pete Whitehouse averaged more than 5 rpg, and the team was forced to rely on their late 2nd round pick Tony Clark to be their second best scorer with 13.2 ppg. George Grabowski led the team with 7.7 apg. However, Sydney still managed to finish with a 42-38 record which gave them the #6 seed in the Western Conference, but they ended up losing in the first round to division rival Colorado 3 games to 1.

Season 3: The Slide Begins

Being able to draft George Foster #17 overall in the rookie draft, Sydney was able to have another scoring option, but the Machine-Tech still lacked a solid all-around player to complement John Riddle. With the team not going anywhere, a mid-season trade sent John Riddle to Washington for Fred Cane and the first round picks of Roswell and Washington the next season. Now without Riddle, it was obvious that the team wasn't going to be much of a threat now, and they finished the season with a 20-60 record. George Foster did have an impressive rookie season, leading the team with 15.1 ppg and 52.1 FG%, and George Grabowski led the team again in assists with 7.9 per game, but the team had the 3rd worst defense in the league by allowing 112.1 ppg, and could only manage 34.5 rpg, with Fred Cane leading the way with only 5.4 of them. But with 3 first round picks, Sydney fans were looking optimistic towards the next season.

Season 4: Sydney Hits the Bottom

When the Season 4 rookie draft came around, Sydney filled their team with some new blood, selecting Odell King #7, Alvin Simpson #14, and Vic Brown #25 overall in the first round of the rookie draft. They also picked Juan Sanchez #34 and Mitchell Gallagher #43 overall in the 2nd round. Odell King had a decent rookie year, averaging 14.2 ppg and 7.3 rpg, and Alvin Simpson showed that he could be one of the top passers in the league with his 11.2 apg (4th in the league), but the team suffered greatly without having the ability to rebound or play defense. They could only manage 32.1 rpg, with only Odell Bell having more than 5 rpg. While the team did have some nice scorers with George Foster, who repeated his rookie year success with 18.1 ppg (53.1 FG%), and Tony Clark, with his 15.6 ppg, these forwards couldn't be counted on for defensive or rebounding, and the team suffered greatly, allowing a league worst 119.2 ppg, which was almost 9 ppg worse than the second worst team. This led the team to an embarrassing league worst 7-73 record, including a 26 game losing streak to end the season. But the team was looking forward to having the #1 pick, where the team could look forward to possibly having a big time player for the first time since the departure of John Riddle a year ago.

Season 5: The Road to Improvement:

During the off-season, Sydney relocated their franchise to Utah to become the Utah Highlanders. With the #1 pick in hand, they selected SF/PF Devonta Corrigan of Amsterdam U., as was expected. In his senior year, Corrigan led the GCBA in rebounding with 13.6 rpg, and Utah obviously hoped that Corrigan could help up their team that couldn't rebound at all the previous year. With the top pick in the second round, Utah also picked PF/C Leonel Coles. However, not everything was rosy during the off-season, as the Highlanders lost their top scorer the past two seasons in George Foster in free agency. The only trade Utah did was a three-way deal deal season that gave Utah some benchers in Cory Mosley, Shane Dunn and Bud Johnson, as well as a pair of future second round picks. In the trade, the Highlanders had to give up $2.0 million to Roswell and Jack Martin to Salt Lake City. Eventually the team did struggle, and end up with the league's worst record by going 17-63, but compared to the season before, the team did make some significant improves. The team's rebounds per game went up from 32.1 to 38.3, and they allowed 110.5 ppg, which although was worst in the league, was much better than the 119.2 ppg of a year ago. Also, the fact that the team would still have their #1 pick Devonta Corrigan, who did quite well, putting up 16.2 ppg (second behind Walt Roger's 18.1), and led the team with 8.4 rpg, in addition to a likely top pick in the next season's draft could only mean more improvement for a team that was in the rebuilding stages. Alvin Simpson led the team with 9.2 apg, although he wasn't relied on to play as many minutes as he did his rookie season.

Season 6: Another Step Up:

The lottery ended up giving Utah the #2 pick in the draft. Although it would have been nice to get a huge scorer in PG/SG Dave Troychak, the Highlanders selected who was thought to be the best overall player in the draft in PF Mark Miller. The second round saw Utah selecting Elias Vandyk #30 and Kevin Mills #34 overall. The main transactions occurred later in the season when Utah traded season 9 and 10 second round picks and Justyn Grimes for Roger Mayer, and obtaining Garth Donahue from the Virgin Islands in exchange for Gus Zeus. Overall, the team continued their trend of improving slowly but steadily. Mark Miller had just a modest rookie season, with his 10.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 2.0 apg, but Devonta Corrigan made strides from his rookie year, averaging 21.0 spg and 10.7 apg, making his first all-star game, and being voted Most Improved Player. Garth Donohue helped with the scoring load at SG, as his season average ending up being 15.2 ppg. Alvin Simpson also continued to show off his John Stockton skills, with his 11.7 apg and 3.0 spg. Overall the team finished 30-50 overall, and was hoping that the streak of improving would continue with the next season.

Season 7: Back to .500:

Utah only had the 8th worst record the previous season, and as expected, they received the #8 pick in the lottery. However, before the draft, they worked out a deal with their rival, Salt Lake City to move up to the #4 pick with only the #8 pick and $1 million in cash. However, the Fanatics weren't exactly getting short-changed, as they knew they could get the player they desired with the #8 pick in Cordel Parks, and save salary at the same time. So with the #4 pick, the Highlanders decided to upgrade their center position and draft John Van Horne. PG Nikos Atirides was selected with the #36 pick in the second round, but he did not stay on the team for long. Instead, Utah management pursued several undrafted rookies, such as PG James Wynn, PG Dave Berkley, SG/SF Evelio Nunez, SF Frank Evers, SG/SF Zachariah Salera, giving them all nice 5 year contracts for $2.0 million a year. However all these rookies, did gain experience with most of them playing at least some decent backup minutes in each of the team's 80 games, with Evelio Nunez was called upon to be the team's starting SG. Even with the team's overall lack of experience, they still had Devonta Corrigan, coming off an impression 2nd year, and Mark Miller would be back again, and the team was looking forward to seeing how John Van Horne would perform as their starting center. What the team saw was their team improve to a 40-40 record, which qualified them for the playoffs for the first time since Season 2. This happened thanks to another solid year by Corrigan, who scored 20.5 ppg and grabbed 10.8 rpg, as well as a slightly better year for Mark Miller, who was second on the team with 13.4 ppg, and had 5.5 rpg. In his rookie year, John Van Horne wasn't immediately flashy, but he still did quite solid with his 12.9 ppg, 7.9 rpg and 2.0 bpg. Evelio Nunez also did quite well, considering that he wasn't drafted, contributing 10.4 ppg to the team. The leader in assists was Alvin Simpson, who got 5.7 per game, but he was only playing 18 mpg, as the coach decided to have James Wynn and Roger Mayer also rotating in at the point. In the playoffs, Utah was obviously underdog, as having the #7 seed, they faced #2 seed Nebraska, who they lost two 3 games to 1. But the season did show some potential, as Corrigan, Miller and Van Horne made a young frontcourt trio that would hopefully be able to develop into stars.

Season 8: Team Does Okay Again, then Doesn't Have a Coach

The Season 8 draft was the first in three years that the team did not have a top 5 pick. With the #14 and #42 picks, Utah picked SG Jean Pierre and PG/SG Dovydas Vilijamas. In retrospect, the draft wasn't very successful, as during the season Jean Pierre struggled to put up points (only 7.7 ppg in 30 mpg), although he was the starter, and Dovydas Vilijamas spent almost the entire season on the sidelines. Neither of those two have played in the WBA since. But despite that, most of the team was returning, and while the team didn't improve overall from the previous season, they did manage a 37-43 record which again qualified the team into the playoffs as a #7 seed. But the main story of the season was the further development of their 3 big players. Corrigan had the best season of his career, as he led the team with 22.5 ppg and 11.0 rpg. Mark Miller finally got into the swing of things with his 17.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.7 spg, an improvement that gave him 2nd place in Most Improved Player voting. Even John Van Horne saw his game improve slightly, mainly in the rebounding area were he had 9.3 rpg. Alvin Simpson was back to being the team's full time PG, and he led the team in passing with 10.7 apg. However the team's lack of depth, except for Leonel Coles who had 13.4 ppg and a backup PF/C, and the lack of a true SG, made the team unable to be a serious contender in the playoffs. In fact, they got swept by Colorado in 3 games.

Season 9: Struggles Under New Ownership:

Around the end of Season 8 the Utah Highlanders lost their coach / owner. After searching for candidates, they chose Corey Daubanton, a former coach of Season 1-2 of the then Carolina Hurricanes. The first thing new management did was make re-signing Mark Miller a top priority. Unfortunately, this required the slashing of salary, and guards Jean Pierre and Dovydas Vilijamas were cut after dismal rookie season, as well as players such as Frank Evers, Evelio Nunez and James Wynn, who were still under contract for 3 more years. However, the biggest move was a trade that sent perennial 10+ apg PG Alvin Simpson, their Season 10 1st round pick, and cash to Miami in exchange for Oshodi Bombata, Albecete's 1st round pick in the upcoming draft and Miami's season 11 1st round pick. While the move did give Utah now enough room to get Mark Miller eventually re-signed to a franchise-player $11 million dollar a year contract for 7 years, and a promising young C with Oshodi Bombata, the loss of Simpson was a sign of the season to come where the team's weakness at guards really hurt the team as a whole. The Highlanders hoped to use the upcoming draft to fix the hole left at PG, but in a guard-weak draft, they ended up settling with Ryan Cuevas with the #13 pick. This pick caused some controversy, as Cuevas' poor shooting, and the fact that much better players (but unfortunately at positions occupied by Corrigan, Miller and Van Horne), were available. The rest of the draft followed with selection of PF Ezequiel Grunspan #26, SG Ales Broz #42, and C Marques Feldman #45. The pick that Marques Feldman was selected was obtained by trading Leonel Coles to Birmingham in a deal which also saw the Andorra receiving a season 13 first round pick. Before the season started, the commissioner allowed Utah to relocate its franchise to the tiny European country of Andorra. The purpose was to break competition with the Salt Lake franchise for the same market, and the team would now play in the Pyrenees instead of the Rockies, so they could keep being known as the Highlanders. Anyways, a before-season trade allowed Andorra to get an unorthodox PG in Nikos Atirides from Budapest in exchange for a second round pick and cash. The lack of any solid guards without Simpson made him start a few games. The shooting-heaving PG Atirides was second on the team with 14.5 ppg in only 21 minutes, but he did have only a 30.9 FG% and his only 2.0 apg weren't what the team was used to before. Overall the team did struggle, starting off the season with a 1-11 record. A broken arm injury to Zachariah Salera, made the team lose their best SG, so Andorra went shopping, and was able to receive Tristen Collins from Washington, who was only used as a reserve there. The trade sent Montana's season 10 2nd, Andorra's season 13 first and season 14 2nd, $0.25 cash the next season, and SG/SF Solomon Farrell as roster filler the next season in exchange for SG Tristen Collins, SF Mike Sewell, and Miami's Season 10 1st and $1 million. The trade was rather complex to just obtain a SG. Tristen Collins did help, but he had much difficulty shooting, as his 34.0 FG% cancelled out what his 10.0 ppg in 20 mpg could've been otherwise. In fact, the team overall struggled. Devonta Corrigan's scoring production went down to 17.8 ppg when he scored 22.5 the previous season, although he did led the team in rebounds again with 11.1. Mark Miller didn't quite play like he was worth $11.0 million a year, although he did contribute 7.5 rpg, 1.8 bpg, and 2.7 spg, making him voted all defensive-PF. Van Horne had a tough time shooting the ball as well. He did have 11.3 ppg and 8.6 rpg, but his FG% was only 32.7. In fact the best shooter on the team was Oshodi Bombata, who became a full-time backup PF/C to replace a struggling Ezequiel Grunspan, with his 47.6 FG%, although he only had 6.0 ppg in 21 minutes. Top rookie Ryan Cuevas did shoot poorly with only a 25.5 FG%, but he did have 3.7 rpg, 1.8 spg, and led the team in passing with 3.9 apg. He surprisingly was on the all-rookie PG, sort of showing how weak the PG class in that season's draft was. Overall the team sunk to a 33-57 record. Although Andorra didn't have their own first round pick, they were fortunate that Miami, whose pick was obtained in the Tristen Collins trade, had a big mid-season slump, and ended up with one of the worse records in the league, although they were considered by some to be playoff contenders.

Season 10: A Surprising Resurgence

After the disappointing Season 9 performance, the team again went through many changes throughout the season. John Van Horne was becoming a free agency, so management hoped that Al Herbert, the draft's top center, and cornerstone of Paris U.'s championship team, would be available to take his place. This still would have the team lacking a solid PG, but Sacramento offered to trade their #7 pick for Van Horne if he was re-signed, which was accepted. Andorra still was under cap restraints, as they had money reserved for a new contract for Tristen Collins, so they cut bench players Mike Sewell, Ezequiel Grunspan and Addison Stanton, as their minutes didn't amount to much, and traded down the #7 to the #16 pick, hoping that they could still get a good PG down there. Unfortunately, during the draft, C Al Herbert was taken #4. Andorra could have taken a different center, or the top PG in the draft in Evelio Jackson with the #5 pick, but management wanted to get the best center that they could to replace Van Horne, and traded their first and second round picks the next season and the #5 pick for him. This move was somewhat questionable, but luckily for the Highlanders, another one of the top PGs of the draft, Pete Nelson, was still available with the #16, and the team drafted him immediately. One big non-draft off-season move was the re-signing of Oshodi Bombata for a 5 year contract worth $6.25 a year. By refining his skills at a Big Man Camp, and his off-season improvements, he was eventually decided to replace John Van Horne as starting C instead of Al Herbert. With all the moves, with Oshodi Bombata improving as a player, and the team now having a real PG in rookie Pete Nelson, allowing the team to not be forced to play Nikos Atirides, the Andorra Highlanders were able to have a strong season after a somewhat slow start, leading up to a surprising 52-28 record. A trade before the all-star break sent Miami's first round pick, a move designed to add more depth to the team's PG position, as Walt Coleman was not the flashiest player, and therefore was cut after the deal was made. This focal point for Andorra's strong play was the resurgence of Devonta Corrigan, who after an off-season consisting of almost being traded to Montana, and a well-publicized break-up of his abusive wife, was able to now focus completely on basketball. He led the team with 22.9 ppg on 53.6% ppg, as well 11.2 rpg. Although the team was solid with a 52-28, they only managed to obtain the #6 seed in the strong Western Conference, forcing a first round showdown with a high-powered Oregon Bears team. Game 1 of the season was perhaps on of the biggest embarrassments in team history, as Andorra lost 137-77. This loss embarrassed Coach Daubanton, and he was determined to make some changes in time for the next game. This resulted in a shocking one point win over the Bears for game 2. Although there was some hope for the Andorra fans that they could salvage the series, they were unable to win either Game 3 or 4 at home, thus ending their season.

Season 11: A Disappointing Setback

After a surprisingly successful Season 10, hopes were up that the Andorra Highlanders could repeat this season, and perhaps make a solid postseason run.

The team was looking sharp in the preseason and in the early games of the season, scoring big points. However Coach Daubanton still was in a quandary over who his starting PG should be, and neither Pete Nelson nor Ray Estrada seemed to show anything to stand out amongst the other. The team was winning, so Daubanton shouldn't have been worrying at all, but he was so desperate, that he made what turned out to be a major blunder in trading one the league's bright young centers in Al Herbert to Brooklyn for a flashy, but inexperienced PG in Daren Benson. What ended up happening was that, although Benson appeared to have solid numbers, he wasn't much of a team leader, and therefore Andorra was unable to win as many games as was initially expected. This was especially due to the team's defensive play, where the team gave up an abysmal 105.9 ppg, which was over 8 ppg more than the previous season. All and all, Daubanton continuously showed frustration amongst Daren Benson, as well as the team's $11.0 million man, Mark Miller, for being underachievers. Minus those two distractions, Devonta Corrigan had another stellar year, averaging 21.9 ppg on 56.3% shooting, and 10.4 rpg. Corrigan finally was selected to the all-star game as the starting SF, and was selected 2nd-team all WBA. Also showing improvement was Tristen Collins, who improved his FG% to 47.2% from his previous high of 39.5%, and was second on the team with 5.2 apg and third on the team with 15.1 ppg. Although the team ending up being somewhat disappointed by their play throughout most of the season, they did end up with a 42-38 record which was good enough for 2nd place in their new home in the Atlantic Division, and the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference. However, as was expected, the Highlanders only managed to win one game in a first round showdown against the Brooklyn Rage, eventually succumbing to defeat in 4 games.

Looking ahead

Team management has publicly displayed displeasure at Mark Miller and Daren Benson since the end of the season, and it appears that neither will be on the team next season as Benson is being allowed to become a free agent and Miller likely going to an expansion team. With the cap savings involved of a possible Mark Miller departure, fans will be curious to see whether or not Andorra becomes active in free agency or not. No matter what happens, it's still clear than Corrigan is going to be the leader of the team, and it is hoped that Oshodi Bombata and Tristen Collins will continue to improve as they have over the previous seasons.