Well, with the 19th JBL draft in the books, who came out on top? Which teams need work? Who is really tired after staying up until the wee hours of the morning? I have the answers (maybe) on what I saw happen on the greatest night of the year. So, let me share my thoughts with you on what I like and don’t like about each team right now.

First of all, the online auction was the greatest thing ever. Despite a few hiccups with Pat’s computer and some auto-pilot errors, we flew through the draft. We didn’t start until about 6:20 and we were done before 10pm. We used to start at 7pm and go to about 2 in the morning. So we’ve gone from 7 hours to under 4 hours. Isn’t technology great?

As usual, the draft is very hard to break down because we just don’t know exactly how some players are going to perform. A quick glance at this year’s draft left me with 2 teams I really like and 2 teams I’m not that fond of. The other 8 are somewhere in the middle. So, I am giving two teams an ‘A’ grade, eight teams a ‘B’ grade, and two teams a ‘C’ grade.

ARCTIC – I love what he did on draft night. He had Dwight Howard as his big man and now he’s added super PG’s Deron Williams and Steve Nash. It must be cold up north as Arctic management brought in 4 players from Phoenix (Nash, J-Rich, Barbosa, and Grant Hill). Anytime you have fantasy players from one of the highest scoring teams in the NBA – that’s a good thing. This team appears to have lots of depth and will get stronger with the return of Kevin Love. Is there a weakness here? Hard to tell...he could be light in steals. His forwards group leaves a little bit to be desired but I think they will turn out better than expected. Beasley, despite the drunken photos plastered on the internet should have a good season – as long as he stays out of rehab. Can Yi provide some rebounds and blocks? Can Thad Young improve on his stellar season last year? This is one of the two Fantasy teams I really like. Well done Crikker. GRADE A

BANGKOK – No longer Tricky Rick he is now dubbed Sicky Rick. Maybe he should stay home more often because I like what Rick did with the Bangkok squad this year. His highest priced player is the ageless Tim Duncan at $46 bucks. And, as usual, he has a trio of top flight rookies (Evans, Griffin, and Stephen Curry). In fact, I predict those 3 will be your top three rookies in the NBA this season. Again, nicely done Rick. My one obvious concern for this team would be ATO as even true PG’s Westbrook and Lou Williams don’t have the best ATO. How long before Belgrade makes an offer for Peja? Can Manu and Duncan stay healthy? How will the arrival of Rasheed Wallace affect Kendrick Perkins’ value? How good will Jason Thompson be? Will there be enough secondary shot blockers? Can AK47 and Thompson block enough shots? I think Rick did a nice job on draft night. I put the Fighters in the middle pack. GRADE B

BELGRADE – the newbie held his own draft night. I could see his excitement thru his chat posts. I love the fact that this draft was from 2am to 6am his time. Great job buddy. Well done. I think there are several nice pieces on this team. I think Luis Scola will have a big year. And I like Courtney Lee and Mario Chalmers a lot. I think this team will struggle with FG% and 3PT% based on the number of chuckers on this squad (B-Diddy, Felton, Harrington) but I guess we’ll see what happens. How does Belgrade get those block shots? He has Turiaf and Blatche – but how does he get them in? This team should be very good in ATO with the likes of Calderon, Baron, Felton, Harris, Chalmers, etc. Belgrade has completed step one of his JBL maiden voyage, now he will have to manage the Free Agents and make the right trades throughout the season. I think he’ll have some tweaking to do as those %’s look like they will be an issue. Based on that, I’m going to give the rookie owner one of the bottom grades. GRADE C

BOSTON – Trevor got the draft rolling by taking Dirk, Paul, and Iverson right away. I liked those moves a lot. The problem was not bringing his laptops power cord. He had to make a quick drive back to Langley and get it so he was on auto-pilot for a good 45 minutes. During that time, ‘Stingy Lou’ somehow managed to draft Artest, Mayo, Okur, and Prince. Trev got back in time to find himself with just $33 dollars left and numerous spots to fill. That being said, I like what Trev has pieced together but it still looks to have a few holes. Other than Dirk, is there enough rebounders? And yet again, who is going to block shots? Can Hasheem Thabeet be a factor in Memphis? Will Nick Collison play enough minutes to be a viable Fantasy option? How will Artest mesh with the rest of the Lakers? What kind of role will Nocioni have in Sactown? I like the potential of Brandon Rush in Indiana. This team should be exceptional in steals with the likes of Paul and others. Plus, I really like the white guy content of this squad (Dirk, Turkoglu, Nocioni, Okur, Collison, Hinrich). GRADE B

BRUSSELS – Apparently Timbo got around 80% of his draft night targets. So, how will that translate to the standings – we’ll find out. He’s already on the hunt for more ATO. Well, any team with Samuel Dalembert will always need additional ATO to make up for his efforts. I like the Bosh and Boozer combo up front, however, those 2 guys aren’t the best shot-blockers in the league. So other than Sammy D and Tyrus Thomas – who’s going to block shots? Marion? Gooden? Bogut? Could this be an area of concern as well? This appears to be a very deep team with a solid bench already in place. Can Arenas and Kevin Martin stay healthy? Both could be great bargains if they play 75+ games. Can youngsters Augustin and Douglas-Roberts carry over there excellent pre-seasons? I definitely like what Tim did on draft night and he looks poised to have another solid JBL season. GRADE B

CHILLIWACK – oh Benny. You’ve done very well. I think you should be the envy of the JBL. I think we could have a record setting rebounding squad here. Seriously, look at those guards and the rebounds they provide. He appears to have enough scoring with two top 5 scorers in Granger and Kobe. But will those bulky power forwards (Noah, Horford, Gasol, Biedrins) provide enough secondary scoring? Well, you know what, he addressed that with the late night signings of Lewis, Maggette, and T-Mac. He has blocks galore with the crew he’s assembled. What about ATO? Can Charlie V last the season in the Wack as he certainly doesn’t seem like a Benny-type player? What about T-Mac? Will he be healthy? Can Terrence Williams provide some value? Can Jason Kidd stay healthy? Despite all these questions, I think this is a really good team and it could be the front runner out of the gate – just like last year. GRADE A

FRENCH LICK – depth, depth, and more depth. When your most expensive player is $39 dollars – you are usually a very deep and talented team. Hildy has done the Johnny model and even been able to own 3 players from his beloved team, the Celtics. Rondo, Pierce, and KG will be the heart of the squad. Anyone else wondering why Paul Pierce went for just $24 dollars? I like the looks of this team a lot. He will need to keep some horseshoes in his back pocket as there are some health concerns with this group (Oden, Butler, KG). Like most teams, where will the blocks come from? I guess he’s hoping for a quick return of Marcus Camby. GRADE B

GOLDEN – ok, apparently drinking all that 2-litre Father John’s beer wasn’t the best idea I’ve had. And then, adding another 4 Kokanee on top of that added to the problems. I liked my additions of Wade, Josh Smith, and LaMarcus Aldridge. Then, I forgot to spend my money and wound up with a very un-Johnny like roster. That being said, I don’t hate my roster, but I have a lot of “IFS” on my team. There are a lot of question marks going into the season. Will Corey Brewer be a factor? Can Luol Deng stay healthy? Will Carl Landry have a role in Houston? Can Shaq stay healthy? Will Brandon Jennings and Omri Casspi be factors or will they be waiver wire fodder in a couple of weeks? And the biggest question mark has to be Anthony Randolph. The biggest super-sleeper and breakout predicted player of the 09/10 season is still an unknown. He plays in Golden State with an unstable line-up and apparently he’s going to come off the bench behind Maggette. So, can AR put up 15 and 7 and a couple of blocks or will he be 9 and 5? I hate to think that the success of my squad is dependent on one player – but it almost feels that way. Right now, with all these question marks, I just don’t know where I stand. GRADE B

IDAHO – oh Tuna. You were primed for a big season and I feel like your draft left me wanting more. I wanted more sure things from you. Do you really know what kind of season Amare is going to give you? And do you really feel comfortable with your guard group? Crawford, Flynn, Stuckey, and Duhon? Really? What’s their combined FG%? I like Parker and Ellis but those other four leave something to be desired. How good will Okafor be? He has great potential playing with Chris Paul but he didn’t play a single pre-season game. What kind of year will Elton have? Can Roy Hibbert live up to the hype? Nothing jumps out at me here. However, Tuna is always one to make (or at least offer) trades so if he sees something he doesn’t like – he will always be willing to make some moves. GRADE C

JUAN DE FUCA – well, now that you’ve coupled Kevin Durant with my boy Brandon Roy, I officially hate you guys. Just kidding. I like the addition of Roy to this group. I also really like the additions of Wallace, West, and Bynum. Is there enough ATO on this squad? What will the GS boys bring (S-Jax and Morrow)? I like the potential of this team a lot. They have a lot of solid players who have proven Fantasy track records. What kind of year will Zach have? Can Rafer Alston be a valuable fantasy player again or will TJ Ford be the better option. I like the potential big man rotation having JO on the bench. Juan de Fuca is usually a top team and I don’t see that changing this season. GRADE B

SEOUL – Come on, everyone has to admit having Philly Woo in the draft room is worth the price of admission. We all knew that Woo has a man crush on Pau Gasol’s greasy hair and now we know that Woo is willing to pay $52 bucks for his services. Woo also took the chance that AI and Zach will still pass to Rudy Gay. And then, to cap it off, Woo bought Vince’s services. That left Phil with a lot of holes to fill and not that much money to do it. Of course, he does Jamison waiting in the wings (until he decides to have the Elton Brand surgery). How long will Woo go with a guard lineup that includes DeRozan, Harden, Udrih and Miller? Will Azubuike be able to duplicate his season from last year? Can Tyson Chandler and Chris Kaman be fantasy factors again? No matter what the issues, he always has Lebron. GRADE B

YUMA – welcome back Mr. Elliott. How much more enjoyable was the draft room with Pat? Despite his CIA/FBI encrypted, password protected, proxy server laptop – he managed to do just fine when it came to drafting his first JBL team in a long time. He took the first player up for auction – Al Jefferson - and he hopes for a return to prominence before his knee injury. He also hopes that Michael Redd can stay healthy and for $20 bucks it seems like a good risk. Pat took some aging veterans and hopes they can continue their solid Fantasy play (Allen, Bibby, Terry, Rasheed, McDyess). I like the potential of this team and with some good Free Agent management he could be a factor all season. GRADE B

So, there it is...a quick JBL draft review. The season starts Tuesday, October 27th and then we’ll open up the Free Agent bidding. I think we have a lot of balance amongst the teams and it looks to be another competitive JBL season. Best of luck to all the teams. Thanks again for participating in the world’s greatest fantasy basketball league!!