NBA's Rising Stars (Peaked 1400+ ELO)

Omarinator · Feb 24, 2022

What's up guys it's me (The Omarinator) back so you can rate and improve (please) my team.

My team's all about the Rising Stars of the NBA. They're here to take the NBA to the next level, so please welcome me in welcoming the next greats!

https://pokepast.es/c7a7181ad9536f2a

First up we have...

:ss/heatran:

Ja Morant (Heatran) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Toxic

Ja Morant, aka Heatran! Heatran's ability to wear down the defense over time, go in for earth (power) shattering dunks, and whirl up a storm with his magnifying shot selection makes him great. Taunt breaks stall, Toxic wears down checks, and Magma Storm and Earth Power provide great damage output. Offensive EV's help outspeed prominent mons such as 252 Timid Magnezone, and the Spatk EV's just provide more damage. Air Baloon is to provide another ground immunity and stay in with the likes of Landorus and Mamoswine. You'll wanna keep that Balloon intact!

Second up...

:ss/melmetal:

Karl-Anthony Towns (Melmetal) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 236 HP / 132 Atk / 124 SpD / 16 Spe
Brave Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
- Earthquake

The first pick of the 2016 draft, 3 time all star and newly crowned 3 point champ! KAT is a fantastic special wall with great resists and defensive and offensive abilities. You might be wondering about my ev spread - why a minus speed nature but speed investment? Well you see, I have a minus speed nature for Ice Beam, a move that allows me to lure in more physdef variants of Landorus and Garchomp and kill 'em. The investment is to creep the slow-twins and Galar cousins.

Third...

:ss/landorus-therian:

Zion Williamson (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Toxic

They say he's bad, they say he's overrated, but every damn time he shows his place in the NBA! Lando is our rocker and pivoter, a spdef variant to take care of Pult. Nothing to comment about, Toxic for the mirror-matchup, rocks are rocks, u-turn and eq provide some good damage.

Fourth...

:ss/dragapult:

Fred VanVleet (Dragapult) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower

Whaaat? A Raptors fan makes his star the cornerstone of the team? No bias guys ;)
Pult can find his way into the paint physically with u-turn or make it rain with his various Special Attacks, boosted by EV's, STAB, and Choice Specs. He acts as a breaker and end-game wincon. You'll want to chip your opponent's team down if they have no Shadow Ball resist, because trust me, this thing goes hard! Don't underestimate its damage output!

Fifth...

:ss/toxapex:

Dejounte Murray (Toxapex) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Knock Off
- Scald
- Recover

Drafted and taught in the defense-first environment of San Antonio, Dejounte Murray is a master of Defense! Laying up Toxic Spikes, annoying the offense with smart Knock Off's and Scald burns, or recovering your health with Recover or Regeneration switches. Full physdef gives a good weavile and urshifu punish, and getting up tspikes with no poison on the other team is an exciting opportunity you should take!

Last but not least...

:ss/rillaboom:

LaMelo Ball (Rillaboom) @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- Drain Punch
- U-turn

LaMelo hits hard with his creative attacks to the rim, and will facilitate his teammates and set them up with U-turn. Rilla is also an end-game wincon, these Wood Hammers hit hard - OHKO'ing a Landorus or Reuniclus sometimes! Rillaboom is somewhat straightforward - Priority, hard-hitter nuke, Coverage for steels and fires, and momentum. Nothing crazy here!

Threats

:zeraora:

If this thing finds a way to clean through your team - whether it be through setup or choiced attacks - you're done.
:mamoswine:

Its STABS are super effective against the whole damn team. Please help me with that!
:regieleki:

Hope your Landorus is alive, if not this shreds - especially in terrain!
:Hippowdon:

If this thing is physdef and Rillaboom is dead, you'll find a hard time killin it!
Some Nice 'ol replays:

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1518097623-ju8haixtdc7armr3h9dn9zkrhx66vympw
Dragapult Cleans
-------------------------
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1518103349
Stall Matchup
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https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1518132328-omw8yhl1d4thugraqpwtyqcdptf6uyfpw
Rillaboom Cleans
-------------------------
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1518183342
-------------------------

Advice would help thanks!
-Omar

r1dude · Feb 25, 2022

Very interesting RMT there, I don't know much about NBA, put this post just gives me a lot of hype.
Now onto the team, the first thing that caught my eyes is the :melmetal:

set, and the issue... yup, Ice Punch over Ice Beam is better imo, why?

(sorry if the image is small/low quality)
Versus :Garchomp:

, it's clear Ice Punch would be dealing more damage.

(melm is at -1 atk)
In Lando case, Ice Beam is clearly doing more damage, but the differences are just about 5-6%(both moves still 2HKO), compare to the :Garchomp:

calc, the differences are 32-33%(and IP can OHKO)! I think the only reason to keep Ice Beam is that you don't want Rocky Helmet/Rough Skin chip on your melmetal.

The second thing I notice is that this team lacks a defogger so the whole team can easily get worned down by hazards, you could add a :corviknight:

over

, corv also checks :mamoswine:

and

for your team, the downside of this is now you're quite weak to :weavile:

.

Hope these suggestions help.

Omarinator · Feb 25, 2022

r1dude said:
Very interesting RMT there, I don't know much about NBA, put this post just gives me a lot of hype.
Now onto the team, the first thing that caught my eyes is the set, and the issue... yup, Ice Punch over Ice Beam is better imo, why?

View attachment 409140 (sorry if the image is small/low quality)
Versus , it's clear Ice Punch would be dealing more damage.

View attachment 409141(melm is at -1 atk)
In Lando case, Ice Beam is clearly doing more damage, but the differences are just about 5-6%(both moves still 2HKO), compare to the calc, the differences are 32-33%(and IP can OHKO)! I think the only reason to keep Ice Beam is that you don't want Rocky Helmet/Rough Skin chip on your melmetal.

The second thing I notice is that this team lacks a defogger so the whole team can easily get worned down by hazards, you could add a over , corv also checks and for your team, the downside of this is now you're quite weak to .

Hope these suggestions help.

Hello! Thanks for this post! You were right, I did want Beam over Punch for the lack of Helmet and Rough Skin chip (and punishing physdef variants) but it seems it does do more. I'll get to that right away!

While this team does lack removal, I wouldn't want to add corv for the reason that you mentioned - the team is now weak to Weavile. I'd rather take my chances with Weavile over Mamo, since I've seen a lot more Weaviles on ladder. Hope this makes sense! Thanks a bunch!

EDIT: (I forgot to mention this, but while Corv helps with Hippo, it doesn't help with my eleki and Zeraora weakness)