Petrosian Club Montevideo started in BuzzerBeater on Season 18. As all BB's basketball teams located in Uruguay, it took the place of a bot (called "LUB Aguada") that previously had been a human player (this player only lasted for one season).
Uruguay has four divisions in BB's professional basketball, where the D. IV is completely made of bots[1]. Petrosian Club Montevideo, then, started in D. III (league 11, that is, D. III.11) with a team full of Uruguayan players. General Manager Petrosian found difficult conditions when taking the reins of the team from the previous bot; these conditions included a very small, dysfunctional arena, baseless fandom, no good young players to build the team with, and actually a very poor culture and ethic work around the organization.
It took time for the team to develop, and it wasn't until Season 23 that the team was able to be crowned champion of D. III.11, and get promoted to a very, very strong D.II league full of historic Uruguayan general managers: D. II.1.
Petrosian Club Montevideo was prepared for the challenge. The detailed history of that developement will be featured here for the fans and fellow general managers in future entries. For now, it is enough to say the team immediately made a lasting impact in the D. II.1 league, fighting for playoff positions in every season, spearheaded by the superstar of the team and future Hall of Famer, center Antonio Pérez.
Another five seasons were needed for Team Petrosian to get the breakthrough and to make the leap in all of BuzzerBeater: to get to the first league of the country's professional basketball. Season 28 saw General Manager Petrosian crown the team champion of D. II.1, with Antonio Pérez reaching a career high in rating performance average for the season (a rating of 17.0) and also placing third in the MVP award vote.
The team promoted to LUB-1, the top professional basketball league of the country in BB, and for Season 29 was selected to play in the Eastern Conference. Coincidentally, that season was one of the toughest ever in the history of Uruguay, to the point that, with two games remaining (out of 22), there was only two games separating the leader of the conference and the last place team. Deep in the season, near the 16th and 17th games, there was only one game separating all teams. Point differential was a huge strategic factor; also the participation of teams in Uruguay's National Cup (one of the top prizes of BB's professional basketball) played a huge role.
Unfortunately, Petrosian Club Montevideo placed last in the conference, one game behind Pocitos Basketball Association, a semifinalist of the National Cup -and fellow player of D. II.1 from previous seasons; with this result, the team relegated directly. Point differential was in favor of team Petrosian, so if the team had won the last game of the season, it would have escape direct relegation, but the last game was against Atlético Yorugua BBC, one of the historic managers of Uruguay, and National Cup champion of that season: in spite of the great effort the team gave, the game was lost, and with that also the permanence in LUB-1.
For Season 30, Team Petrosian relegated to D. II.2, not one of the strongest division II leagues, yet very competitive and with a decent relegation-risk coefficient. The team has had to regroup around its two stars, Antonio Pérez and Bartolomé Hernández, the latter actually being selected as MVP of the league.[2] With incoming stars, although a weak bench, the team was able to fight for playoff position, finishing in second place while being a member of the Eastern Conference.
General Manager Petrosian expects the best of the team for Season 31, which will be narrated and broadcasted in the official site of Petrosian Club Montevideo. The players, coaching and staff are all united as one to support the GM's effort and the players performance, in the search of new heights.
[1] For Uruguay, D. IV now works like a buffer, in case the flow of Uruguayan general managers might increase up to the point where all 16 D. IIIs leagues are completed with humans. When team Petrosian joined BuzzerBeater, at that point D. IV still had a couple of teams managed by humans. Then, the Commisioner for BB decided -wisely- to transfer all remaining humans to D. III. At this moment, humans cannot relegate to D. IV, even if they place last in their respective D. III leagues.
[2] Bartolomé Hernández won the award with 158 point (20 first place votes); Antonio Pérez placed third, with 88 points (2 first places).
