The Champion of TrashTalk Fantasy League: An Interview with TTFL Winner Nzo17/ESB17

He is our champion. After more than 150 nights of TrashTalk Fantasy League, the regular season has delivered its verdict. And it is original to say the least with the title TTFL by Nzo17/ESB17. He explains why through this interview.

Hi Enzo. Congratulations, you are the winner of the TTFL regular season. Your first impressions?

An absolute basketball fan, I love this game. I never imagined I could win one day. Even though it’s just a hobby, it’s a source of pride to have finished first in a game over 154 nights, with such a high level from my opponents.

You have the distinction of achieving the double since your two accounts are tied for the lead. Can you explain to us a little why?

Since last season, I have two accounts. I played in normal TTFL and in exotic league Last year. This year I played in normal TTFL with my two accounts, one of which was franchise league.

I hesitated for a long time about the strategy to adopt and finally I started the season with identical picks on both accounts. With 3 best-picks over the first 4 evenings I decided to keep a single pick for my two accounts. It was debated when I started to rank well but I don’t get any more benefit from it than if I had performed with just one account. I simply have two different teams that I care about and with which the objectives are different.

Next year I may change strategy with different picks on each account. The risk remains that the success-failure curves are different and that one of my two teams regrets the difference in choice. So I’ll see from here.

And from a collective point of view, how was the season for your two teams?

My first team, the one I’ve been a part of for the longest time, is Zenameless. We play with the goal of finishing as high as possible in the team rankings. Internally, we play the individual ranking and the first on the team at the end of the regular season wins an NBA jersey offered by teammates. After being second on the team last year, I won the precious prize this season (Wembanyama or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander jersey, I’m still hesitating if some can help me decide).

My second team is the Cavs TTFL. Wishing to participate in the franchise league, I had the chance to be recruited by the Cavs. They trusted me and I was able to repay them with this big season. We fought until the last day for first place in the conference and the league. An all-in Pritchard (I have it across the throat) got the better of us and we finished second. Now for the OPs!

In any case, I thank my two teams once again for their support throughout the season, their help and their valuable advice. It is also partly thanks to them that I was able to finish in first place individually.

Let’s come back to you a little. Can you introduce yourself a little to the community? How long have you been playing, your results in previous seasons…

I have been playing TTFL for 7/8 years but my first seasons were very random. Lots of oversights and a serious lack of involvement to achieve interesting results.

For several years I have been playing more seriously and for three years now I have spent some time refining my pick choices. My results improve from season to season in terms of ranking and best-picks.

Last year I was 682nd with 12 best picks. I wanted to do better this year.

To choose my picks I use the statistics published daily by account X (ex-twitter as everyone says) TTFL and the BFLH application. The impact table is extremely useful to me and without it I would never have had such good results. I regularly thank the team that manages this account and take this opportunity again to tell them how much their work and the time they devote to producing this content for us are a great help. Thanks to them for all this!

Can you tell us about your season? Did you imagine yourself winning? And when did you start to believe in victory?

This season I wanted to confirm my good past season by doing better. The stated objective was the top 500 and at least 13 best-picks. I never would have imagined finishing at the top of the rankings. Little by little the objective was revised upwards. Top 100, then top 50, top 10, the podium and finally the title.

It was during the month of March that I saw that the first place was accessible. I was on the podium for a while but without hoping for more so as not to be disappointed in the end. It was certain teammates who showed me the gaps in the rankings while I focused on my own progress.

On March 19 I took the lead with a Jaylen Brown pick (regularly a corer). I didn’t keep her beyond a week but I remained close. The pressure of first place is very special. It’s the only time when you only look behind in the standings and where you play to defend your place without being able to gain any. A bit like some at the Tour de France, I told myself that we shouldn’t take the lead too early to remain the hunter rather than the hunted.

On March 30 I regained 1st place thanks to a best-pick from Brunson. I didn’t lose it again until the end with a fairly stable lead so as not to be too afraid the very last nights. However the competition was at a great level, I would like to congratulate them because they pushed me to take time every day to study each pick and make the best possible choice. I finished with a good average of 45.37 points and only a hundred points ahead of the second place, which proves that the overall level was high. I didn’t want to think about the victory until the last week even though my teammates were very confident for me. It was on the penultimate pick, still 115 points ahead, that I said to myself “it’s okay, it’s won”.

Did you have any notable moments during this season? Whether from a positive or negative point of view?

The two moments when I took the lead in the ranking were special.

Otherwise the 23 best-picks helped me a lot, including 4 back to back. I write down a lot of information and rationalize quite a bit. I wrote down each best-pick to keep the statistics. The most notable were the 3 best-picks in 3 Lillard picks while many people were complaining about his random results. Same with the sequence of Fox-DeRozan best-picks in two nights.

Wemby, J. Green and J. Brunson also delighted me in addition to the classics Jokic, Shai, Doncic, Giannis or Embiid, etc.

I managed to win without having the two season records of Embiid and Doncic. My best score is “only” 88 with Giannis.

On the negative side, my worst score was 2 with Maxey when I was first. He contributed to my temporary loss of first place. I’m disappointed because he’s my favorite player on my favorite team. He had already given me a 10 earlier in the season. Little betrayal!

Otherwise Steph Curry moved to the list of my TTFL “banned” players with Paul George, Bradley Beal, Jamal Murray and others. He didn’t bring me much when I picked him and above all made scores well below his standards.

However, I haven’t had any major “depression” moments this season. Some even found that my account @depressionttfl was no longer named correctly. I still stay here to support those who have lows in the game and to remind us that we are all together, through the highs and the lows over the duration of the season.

Now, a new competition begins with the Playoffs. An even tougher struggle. Double goals?

No individual objective. I’m going to play hard for my two teams, to win the franchise league title with the Cavs (Cleveland, this is for you) and go as far as possible in PO with my team Zenameless. If the individual ranking is good, so much the better, but that will not be the desired goal. At this level of the season the most important thing is to win as a team!

Thank you for your answers. I’ll let you conclude if you have any words or advice for your adversaries.

This wonderful season is a parenthesis that is closing. I will return to the daily life of ttfleurs quickly, with the regular struggles. Success doesn’t last forever. I hope to have other good seasons, but going back to back is unthinkable.

I share a lot with other players on the networks and it’s a great pleasure that they don’t hesitate to come and share their experience of the TTFL, their successes as well as their failures!

Thank you for this beautiful game, addictive and as exciting as it is irritating. Thank you to all the TrashTalk team for the work done. Thank you to those who sent me their encouragement and congratulations, it warms my heart. Good luck to everyone for the playoffs and the seasons to come.

Thanks to you and congratulations again. We wish you to continue to shine, but also to always collect some juicy anecdotes with your account @depressionTTFL.

2024-04-17 09:45:00
#TTFL #Player #Year #Nzo17ESB17 #champion