Random Thoughts Again...

Well, Tuna provided some entertainment this past week by being a guest on Crikker's JBL Podcast. There is no doubting his passion for the JBL. There is no doubting that he believes he can win this season by boldly predicting a top 3 finish this 09/10 season. Can he do it? I guess we'll find out soon enough. His 1st test will be October 24th on Draft night when he has to piece together a new roster.

This week we also saw Chilliwack drop Mike Bibby and Arctic release Raymond Felton. That frees up 2 more PG's for the JBL draft as there are 8 PG's already being protected. Bibby just signed a big deal in Atlanta and will likely have to share some time with newly acquired Jamal Crawford. That being said, he's still a serviceable PG that shot 39% from downtown last year and his ATO was over 3.000.

Felton's %'s are downright ugly (40 & 28) but he can rebound, steal, and now he's playing for a long-term contract and we all know that players in contract seasons usually come up big.

With Arctic releasing Felton, he is left with Dwight Howard, Andrea Bargnani, Marc Gasol, and Ramon Sessions. This is a big team to start off and clearly Arctic will be looking to add some Guard depth on October 24th. Arctic's rebounds and blocks should be covered with this bunch. D12 will lead the NBA in rebounds and blocks undoubtedly.

I read today that Chris Bosh will miss the start of training camp with a bad hamstring. Uh oh. How does that affect his value? He needs to be healthy as he is playing for a BIG contract - whether that will be in TO or not is still to be determined. So, I expect Bosh to be healthy when the season gets going.

And what about all the guys who played in the European Championships? They played 10+ games this summer. Are they going to be tired? Are they more prone to injury now? Are they going to be better off because they won't be rusty? All points to consider when drafting them.

And what about the return of the injured stars? Namely, Al Jefferson. How good will he be? How good will his knee be? What kind of numbers can he put up? Will he be healthy? What about Amare? Will the goggles allow him to post his big numbers again? What about Andrew Bogut? Is his back healthy? There are numerous guys with injury concerns. I don't think you can trust more than one of them on your team without risking the entire season.

I am getting very excited for the JBL Draft - it's under one month to go. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.