Salam, looking forward to another season. Making duas for everyone’s health and another season of increasing bonds of brotherhood between us all.

Predictions plus a little team summary below:

Medina/Dhaka
Biggz and Big O will be sure to keep Medina moving and playing team ball. The return of Anas will be a problem for many teams. Dhaka’s looking to regain their 3peat glory days. Losing the quickness and perimeter defense of Ali is big, but Mike Rawls is one of the better PGs in the league. FA will provide a veteran and strong defensive presence with newcomer Eric providing energy off the bench. Dhaka’s chemistry and transition game will be too much for Medina to handle.

Jeddah/Alexandria
Good size and multidimensional players on team Jeddah. Alexandria had a rough year but ended the regular season on a high note with a W, and went toe to toe with a strong Sarajevo team and almost pulled off the playoff upset. Alexandria’s sticking with the formula and will be led by Colin and Muhammad again. They somehow need to rebound better as a team and take quality shots. Going with Jeddah here.

Granada/Mombasa
Ammar sticks with what works: the Ahmed brothers, Omar, Kareem, and also adds Goldberg one of the top big men in the league. Mombasa swapped Pete Brown for Paul Sullivan (if this is the same Paul from D1 a couple years ago?) guys need to watch out for him. Declan O’Donnell doesn’t sound familiar. The rest of the squad is the same dangerous Mombasa, with Raza and Sadat showing year in year out how it’s done and Weiss doing what Weiss does. Going with Mombasa.

Kazan/Palermo
Kazan upgraded with MoShabazz and JHart and now will be able to spread the floor better. Newcomer youngins Musa and Shahzaib looking to make a name for Palermo. Along with convincing Mairaj to come out of retirement lol, the recruiting duo picked up AMP (buckets) and added some excellent role players, and it’ll be good to see Bilal back as well. Won’t predict my game.

Tehran/Lagos
A few newbies on Tehran. Can’t call it

Damascus/Jakarta
Omar Q always brings it, has put together a solid looking young team. Looks like Jakarta has paired some deadly shooters with bigs. I’ll pick Jakarta - veterans over youth this time

Jerusalem/Sana'a
Sharief brings back Steven Castro after a 2 year hiatus. Brother Yahya Abbassi = inspiration for all of us! A couple unfamiliar names. Rameez and LL reunite with the Imran brothers and add some punch with Humza and Lionel. I’ll go with Sana’a here.

Tripoli/Suba
Tripoli should be renamed Kabul. Muj and YoShah have a talented big and got quality role players, but they’re young. Going with the last season’s champs.

Cordoba/Kashgar
Kenny always brings a team with talent, but has suffered due to attendance issues recently. This year Kenny’s bringing a squad of 9 which is a smart move. They have all the pieces to make a run. Don’t know much about Kashgar…welcome to the league fellas!

Beirut/Islamabad
We will miss the ball movement of the Zain-Idris-Billal big 3. Islam looks to make up for the scoring punch by adding Luke who’s always dangerous on the floor but plays a different style than Islamabad. Beirut added some needed length with Ryan and Kenny. I think Luke fits into Islamabad’s disciplined system just fine and they get the W.

Baghdad/Lahore
Baghdad has showed steady improvement. You know what you get with them, aggressive up tempo game with a strong bench. Last season they showed they can execute at the end and win close games. Lahore has the talent but underperformed last season. I kept picking them only to see them lose so for that reason going with Baghdad