Pat Robinson dribbled towards the paint before kicking the ball out to Skyler White at the top of the arc. Owen McCormack saw the danger and closed out hard to stop the three.
White took one dribble to his left as McCormack flew past him, then shot. The ball dropped, as it had 258 times before for him in a Cheshire Phoenix jersey.
In his third season with the club, White became Cheshire’s all-time leader in made threes. For some teams, that would have just been a player milestone. For Cheshire, it felt like a record their whole style had been building towards.
Volume Beyond the Arc
The NBA is the clearest reference point for the scale of Cheshire’s three-point volume. Cheshire attempted 34.4 threes per 40 minutes this season. Put the SLB and NBA together, and they ranked fifth, behind only Golden State, Charlotte, Portland and Boston.
Newcastle Eagles were the next SLB team on the combined table at 28.3 threes per 40 minutes, outside the top 20.
Pressure at the Rim
For all the threes, Cheshire’s offence still pulled hard towards the basket. Their shot chart was threes and rim attempts, with very little wasted in between.
Pat Robinson turned their three-point spacing into paint pressure. With shooters pulling defenders away from the rim, he attacked the gaps and finished second in the league in paint points per game.
| Player | Paint PTS Per Game |
|---|---|
| Kevin Allen | 11.64 |
| Pat Robinson | 11.60 |
| Tyrin Lawrence | 9.92 |
| Fahro Alihodzic | 9.73 |
| Nick Kern Jr | 9.39 |
When Robinson did not finish at the rim, he often got to the line. He led the league with 8.1 free-throw attempts per game. The only outcome more efficient than a good shot is a free throw, and Robinson drew plenty.
All season long, Cheshire forced opponents into the same choice over and over: protect the rim, or stay attached to shooters. Against them, neither option felt safe.
Extra Chances
In the NBA, offensive rebounding rates have risen year on year for the last six years. Once more teams know where the best shots are, the next edge is creating more chances to take them.
Cheshire were not the SLB’s strongest offensive rebounding team this season, and they were not rebounding at an NBA level. The chart still puts the shape of their offence in the right place: extreme three-point volume, with enough offensive rebounding to keep misses alive.
This was not new ground for Cheshire. They led the SLB in offensive rebounding last season, already treating the glass as part of a modern offence.
Got It Right First Time
Cheshire did not cut a player from the squad all season. They also used fewer players than anyone else in the league, with only 10 players logging meaningful minutes across the year.
| Team | Players Used |
|---|---|
| Cheshire Phoenix | 10 |
| Bristol Flyers | 12 |
| Sheffield Sharks | 12 |
| Surrey 89ers | 13 |
| Caledonia Gladiators | 14 |
| Manchester Basketball | 14 |
| Newcastle Eagles | 14 |
| Leicester Riders | 18 |
| London Lions | 19 |
* Only players who have played more than 10 minutes this season are included
In a league where several teams had to cycle through bodies, reshape roles or rebuild their rotations mid-season, Cheshire never had to search for a different version of themselves.
The summer work held. Cheshire did not spend the season patching holes or looking for a different shape. The roster fit the style, and the style stayed intact.
In London’s Shadow
Cheshire built a brilliant team and still spent the season beneath the one they could not live with.
London knocked them out in the Cup semi-final. London finished above them in the Championship. And in the final game of the season, London were waiting for them again at the O2, where they clinched the Play-offs.
For most of the league, Cheshire looked like one of the hardest teams to solve. London solved them anyway. However strong the season became, the gap at the top never fully closed.
Leaning All the Way In
Cheshire did not spend the season looking for themselves. They built a roster for the game they wanted to play, then trusted it all season.
That commitment took them to the final game of the season. It did not take them past London, but it made Cheshire one of the clearest teams in the league: high-volume, aggressive, modern, and completely comfortable with the risks that came with it.
