I can say that I've already put some time into the 2011 JBL Draft and trying to figure out the best combination of 3 players that I could protect. It appears that the 3rd member of Gay Love changes nightly as Brand goes off (20 and 17) and Wright fizzles. Then another night, someone else plays well and I start to consider them. So, at least I have something to do. I guess I should be preparing for the upcoming MLB Draft....well, no, not really. I am the Pearl Necklaces of the baseball pool. I draft a squad, sign a couple of FA's during the year, make a couple of bad trades and then come June's NBA draft I'm preparing for the JBL again. So...my warning to all those JBL'ers that are in the baseball pool - make sure if you want a guy that he doesn't end up in Kirby's Puckett because he could be there a long time.
There are some other interesting battles in the standings that I am interested in as well...
- The battle for 4th between French, Arctic and Chilliwack. Benny's got a long way to go but his roster is looking impressive these days.
- The battle for 8th is actually quite interesting too. Now, normally you never think an 8th place race would be that way - but in the JBL - 8th place is the difference between 2 keepers and 3 keepers. And currently we have 4 teams in the hunt. Yuma, Juan, MBB, and Brussels all have a shot at the top 8. And, if you include my Golden squad, essentially we have 5 teams battling for 2 very important spots. Why are they important spots? Well, lets look at the potential keepers on these teams
Golden - Gay, Love, Scola, Brand, Gordon, Perkins, Beaubois
Yuma - Conley, Nash, Pierce
MBB - Fields, Batum, Stoudamire
Juan - Afflalo, Cousins, K-Mart, Hibbert
Brussels - Holiday, Lawson, Lowry, Young, Gallinari, Z-Bo, Udoh
So, as you can see, all teams have something at stake - that extra keeper could be very helpful to a lot of teams in the chase.
- I'm also watching the Maui squad quite closely as the Ribs are on the barbeque, I mean rise. mmmm, Ribs. Maui has put together a big team and has potential to move up in rebounds, steals, blocks, and 3PT%. Can he get in the hunt for 8th? Maybe. Just maybe.
- And yes, I'm watching Belgrade to see if he can close the gap on Maui. There are 6 weeks left and he's been better with the addition of Boozer and Monroe (I think Monroe as outplayed Love by himself this week!!). All that being said, I don't think the Zombies are going to make it.
Listening to the Mike & Mike on ESPN this week talk about NBA contraction gave me a potential idea for future JBL seasons. They were talking about what the NBA would do if say New Orleans was contracted. Who would get Chris Paul? Who would get David West? And so on....
This discussion got me thinking about a potential wrinkle to the JBL...hear me out.
What if the last place team's players became available for protection on July 1st?
Let's use this year as a potential example.
So, Belgrade finishes in last place (hypothetically) - which means he can protect no one off his roster. However, what if other JBL teams were allowed to pick up players off his roster??
Belgrade did his best to grab some keepers and try to move up but fails...so, on July 1st, his roster is essentially "contracted" and other JBL teams are allowed to acquire his players (if they so choose). I was thinking in reverse order of standings...
So, in this example, let's say Maui finished 12th. That would give him the 1st pick (if he wanted) to grab a player for protection. Let's play this out...
12. Maui - selects Greg Monroe $2
11. Brussels - maybe Tim likes his set of keepers and he decides to "PASS"
10. Juan de Fuca - selects Carlos Boozer $30
9. MBB - Bobby loves Lakers and selects Andrew Bynum $15
and so on....
My suggestion would be 1 round of picks only.
Of course, just because MBB acquires Bynum in this 'dispersal draft' doesn't mean he HAS to protect him - just that he has the option. We would still reduce rosters on July 1st (max 10), Sept 1st (max 6) and Oct 1st (maximum allowed per team) and teams would still have to comply with roster limits after the draft (ie. MBB's roster is at 10 players on July 1st, then we do the dispersal draft and he selects Bynum; he would have to release another player to stay at 10 guys)
So, part of the penalty of finishing last is the 13th place team doesn't get any keepers but also that the rest of the JBL could 'poach' good keepers from that team.
So while Belgrade is loading up on potential keepers he would also have to wary that if he doesn't get out of the basement that other teams could pick up these keepers.
What do you guys think of the idea?
It's just adding another off season wrinkle that would keep us JBL'ing in July (a time when usually no one is looking at the JBL stats - except Golden and Seoul)
What are the negatives? Would this prevent teams in 13th or 12th from making deals?
I'm just throwing the idea out there...I need you guys to tell me what you think.
And I'm not proposing we start this after this season...it would be after next season.
Cheers,
John
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