2020–21 National Basketball League (England) season

2020–21 NBL season
League	English Basketball League seasons
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The 2020–21 NBL season was the 49th edition of the English Men's National Basketball League.

It was announced that there would be no promotion or relegation following the 2020–21 season, due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1] The NBL2 and NBL3 seasons were indefinitely suspended, later cancelled, and the NBL1 season structure was revised into regionalised schedules, due to the ongoing situation presented by the pandemic.^[2][3]

NBL Division 1

Team changes

Promoted from NBL Division 2

• Team Newcastle
• Essex Rebels

Relegated to NBL Division 2

• Liverpool
• Westminster Warriors

Team changes

• Essex & Herts Leopards to Oaklands Wolves
• Barking Abbey to BA London Lions

Teams

Club	Location	Last Season
BA London Lions	London (Barking)	12th
Bradford Dragons	Bradford	8th
Derby Trailblazers	Derby	3rd
Essex Rebels	Colchester	D2 Sou, 1st (promoted)
Hemel Storm	Hemel Hempstead	4th
Leicester Warriors	Leicester	9th
Loughborough Riders	Loughborough	6th
Nottingham Hoods	Nottingham	10th
Oaklands Wolves	St Albans	11th
Reading Rockets	Reading	7th
Solent Kestrels	Southampton	1st
Team Newcastle	Newcastle upon Tyne	D2 Nor, 1st (promoted)
Thames Valley Cavaliers	London (Uxbridge)	2nd
Worthing Thunder	Worthing	5th

Regular season

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Solent Kestrels (C)	19	17	2	1718	1201	+517	34	Qualification to Playoffs Quarter-finals
2	Thames Valley Cavaliers	19	17	2	1761	1497	+264	34
3	Hemel Storm	19	14	5	1735	1574	+161	28	Qualification to Playoffs First Round
4	Derby Trailblazers	19	14	5	1645	1496	+149	28
5	Team Newcastle	19	13	6	1601	1542	+59	26
6	Essex Rebels	19	9	10	1625	1705	−80	18
7	Worthing Thunder	19	9	10	1554	1637	−83	18
8	Loughborough Riders	19	8	11	1577	1560	+17	16
9	Reading Rockets	19	7	12	1682	1717	−35	14
10	BA London Lions	19	7	12	1484	1595	−111	14
11	Bradford Dragons	19	7	12	1501	1604	−103	14
12	Leicester Warriors	19	5	14	1535	1673	−138	10
13	Oaklands Wolves	19	4	15	1513	1795	−282	8
14	Nottingham Hoods	19	2	17	1285	1620	−335	4

Playoffs

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Awards

Award [4]	Name	Team
Player of the Year	Greg Poleon	Hemel Storm
Team of the Year	Greg Poleon	Hemel Storm
	Hakeem Sylla	Thames Valley Cavaliers
	Taylor Johnson	Thames Valley Cavaliers
	Ian Smith	Solent Kestrels
	Travis Charles	Solent Kestrels
British Team of the Year	Kyle Jimenez	Loughborough Riders
	Orlan Jackman	Solent Kestrels
	Andre Arissol	Solent Kestrels
	Morakinyo Williams	Leicester Warriors
	Blayne Freckleton	Thames Valley Cavaliers
Coach of the Year	Matt Guymon	Solent Kestrels
U-19 Player of the Year	Blake Bowman	Derby Trailblazers
Defensive Player of the Year	Andre Arissol	Solent Kestrels

Statistics

Player of the Week Awards

Week	Player	Team	Ref	Week	Player	Team	Ref	Week	Player	Team	Ref
1	Ian Smith	Solent Kestrels	[5]	15	Travis Charles	Solent Kestrels		28	Mike Williams	Hemel Storm
2	Hakeem Sylla	Thames Valley Cavaliers	[6]	16	Orlan Jackman	Solent Kestrels
3	Blake Bowman	Derby Trailblazers	[7]	17	Taylor Johnson	Thames Valley Cavaliers
4	Travis Charles	Solent Kestrels	[8]	18	Greg Poleon	Hemel Storm
5	Mike Williams	Hemel Storm	[9]	19	Hakeem Sylla	Thames Valley Cavaliers
6	Zaire Taylor	Worthing Thunder	[10]	20	Greg Poleon	Hemel Storm
7	Kyle Jimenez	Loughborough Riders	[11]	21	O'Showen Williams	Reading Rockets
8	Seth Hawley	Thames Valley Cavaliers	[12]	22	Taylor Johnson	Thames Valley Cavaliers
9	David Moya	Team Newcastle	[13]	23	Howard Crawford	Worthing Thunder
11	Max Richardson	Worthing Thunder		24	Ian Smith	Solent Kestrels
12	Greg Poleon	Hemel Storm		25	Brandon Federici	Team Newcastle
13	Hakeem Sylla	Thames Valley Cavaliers		26	Max Richardson	Worthing Thunder
14	Ethan Price	Essex Rebels		27	Tom Ward	Worthing Thunder

L Lynch Trophy

The 2020–21 L Lynch Trophy was the inaugural edition of the competition, organised by participating clubs to mark the return to play for men's basketball. 16 teams, the 14 NBL Division 1 sides and the Myerscough and Charnwood academy sides, were split into four regional groups. Each group was intended to play all games within one "bubble" venue. The top 2 sides from each group would advance to the quarter-finals, therein playing a knockout format to determine the overall winners.^[20][21]

Group stage

Group 1, Myerscough

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Derby Trailblazers	3	3	0	263	224	+39	6	Qualification to quarter finals
2	Bradford Dragons	3	2	1	239	214	+25	4
3	Myerscough College	3	1	2	233	196	+37	2
4	Team Newcastle	3	0	3	193	294	−101	0

Group 2, Oaklands

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Thames Valley Cavaliers	3	3	0	273	228	+45	6	Qualification to quarter finals
2	Hemel Storm	3	2	1	273	236	+37	4
3	Reading Rockets	2	0	2	141	168	−27	0
4	Oaklands Wolves	2	0	2	154	209	−55	0

Group 3, Loughborough

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Loughborough Riders	3	3	0	260	217	+43	6	Qualification to quarter finals
2	Nottingham Hoods	3	2	1	239	243	−4	4
3	Charnwood College	3	1	2	234	250	−16	2
4	Leicester Warriors	3	0	3	235	258	−23	0

Group 4, Solent

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Solent Kestrels	3	3	0	305	208	+97	6	Qualification to quarter finals
2	Worthing Thunder	3	2	1	243	255	−12	4
3	BA London Lions	3	1	2	245	249	−4	2
4	Essex Rebels	3	0	3	213	294	−81	0

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

References