The JBL Summit - July 20th

Well, what a night! 7 JBL owners descended on the Keg and the restaurant matched our class with wonderful service and food. The 7 teams represented on this evening were - Golden, Chilliwack, Idaho, French Lick, Brussels, Maui and Arctic. We talked, we ate, we drank, we talked, and ate some more. In the end, we think we've come up with some pretty solid foundation points to move forward on. So, let's recap. And I will apologize now - it's a lengthy document.

The JBL is now 20 years old. It's time to put our league rules into a Constitution. Benny has been tasked with this and will work on it over the summer months. Most of the rules are posted on the JBL website but we want to create a BIBLE of JBL rules and restrictions so it's clear for everyone.

The 1st ever JBL rookie draft looks like it's a go. We need 9 out of 13 JBL owners to say YES to the rookie draft. So far, we have 7 YES (all in attendance tonight) and 2 NO (Bangkok and Seoul). We still need definitive answers from Yuma, MBB, Belgrade, and Juan de Fuca. If we get the required 9 YES's then we will be holding the 1st ever JBL rookie lottery and draft later this year. So, how would it work?

The JBL lottery would/could be held anytime after the 9th YES vote is obtained. The lottery system proposed (for this year) would be an equal-weighted ping pong ball lottery draft. Each JBL team would have 1 ping pong ball in the hopper (so everyone has equal opportunity of obtaining the 1st rookie pick).

We propose the JBL rookie draft to be 1 round of 13 picks. Any rookies not selected in this draft would be eligible for Auction (same as years past).

The lottery proposal would be in a reverse draw order. So, the first ball out gets the 13th pick, then 12th, then 11th and so on until the last ball drawn gets the 1st rookie pick. This keeps the suspense going until the final ball is drawn.

This lottery draft would be an event in itself and I propose an evening is planned around it.

This lottery could be held at any point over the summer. It should be held before October 1st.

Our off-season roster management needs to be better refined in the coming years. Currently, on July 1st, all JBL teams are required to reduce their roster to a maximum of 10 players. On Sept. 1st - JBL rosters are reduced to a maximum of 6 players. No trades are allowed during the summer months. Finally, on October 1st, all JBL teams are required to reduce their rosters to the maximum allowable protection available to them based on the previous years' standings.

Once all JBL rosters (Oct. 1st) are trimmed - we also open up the JBL to trades. Currently, we have stated that a team that can only protect 1 player (based on previous years standings) can still only protect one player. Now, after recent discussions, we seem to be in agreement that the next JBL season should start on October 1st and teams can start to build their teams through the draft and trades. (Example: Golden finished 12th last year and I can keep 1 player. Kevin Love. After October 1st, I have always been able to trade Kevin Love. Now, I could trade Love for 3 players if I so desired and bring those 3 players into the season). This probably needs to be voted on.

So, with the rookie lottery held before October 1st - then the 2 week rookie Christmas party begins. The proposal would see 13 days of JBL rookie draft. On Oct 1st, the team with the 1st pick has 24 hours to make a pick or a trade. On October 2nd, the team with the 2nd pick has 24 hours to make a pick or a trade. And so on...This gives us 2 solid weeks of JBL build up to the Auction.

We propose that JBL teams must select a rookie. At the end of the 2 week rookie draft, JBL teams would have the option to drop/release the rookie from their team if they so desired. The rookie would then be available at Auction and awarded to the highest bidder. The highest bid would also be his salary (ie. the rookie draft salary would not apply).

We propose JBL rookies drafted would fall under the same protection rules already in place.

We propose that rookie picks could be traded for players or other picks. (ie. I could trade Kevin Love to another team for their rookie pick)

We propose the rookie draft pick would not count against any previous allotment of players. Example - Bangkok has 4 keepers spots. Now he has 1 rookie spot. So, he could have 5 players on his team before the Auction even happens. Or, he could trade one of his keepers for another player and pick. So, he would have 4 players and 2 rookie picks - now he has 6 players on his team before Auction. This is OK. Essentially, the way to look at this would be to remember that after October 1st - any roster minimums or maximums are gone and the new JBL season is underway. Further example - Golden currently has 1 keeper spot. Currently, I have 5 guys on my roster still. By October 1st, I have to reduce my roster to just my 1 keeper (Love). Once that happens I will have 1 player and 1 rookie pick. So, 2 spots. However, I could use Love and my rookie pick and trade them to another team for their 4 protected players (that would be the maximum any team could have) and their pick. So, I would have 4 players and 1 rookie pick. Golden would enter the Auction with 5 players. This would be OK under the proposed system.

Any players on JBL rosters after October 1st could be released due to injury up until 1 week prior to the JBL Auction date. Obviously, if a guy blows a knee and is out for the season, we should NOT have to keep this player through to the Auction.

For the 1st year of the rookie draft we are proposing an equally weighted system to determine the draft order (ie. each JBL team has 1 ping pong ball). Next year, assuming their is a 2011/12 NBA season, we propose that our JBL rookie lottery is weighted (just like the NBA). If you finish 13th - you would have 13 ping pong balls. 12th gets 12 balls. On down the list. The JBL Champ would have 1 ball in the pot and have a 1 in 91 chance to win the lottery. In the event that the entire 2011/12 NBA season is cancelled - we propose that the 2012 JBL rookie draft be equally weighted again.

Any rookie selected in this year's draft (2011) would keep the same salary for next season (if the entire NBA season is cancelled). (ie. no $5 dollar bump)

We propose all current keeper allotments remain in place (13th - no keepers; 11th & 12th = 1 keeper; etc)

We propose to maintain current salary cap restrictions - $200 minimum and $300 maximum. Could Lebron ($75) be traded for a future rookie pick - yes - provided the team trading Lebron meets the salary cap requirements.

All rookie picks that get traded during the course of the season would be tracked on the JBL website.

JBL teams could obtain/acquire/use multiple rookie picks if they so desired. All current salary cap and roster restrictions would apply.

We propose that rookie picks can only be traded one year in advance. For example, I can't trade Kevin Love to Chilliwack for his rookie picks in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

We propose that all 2011 rookie picks must be used and not traded to future picks. (Let's test drive the new system and see that it works before messing with it too much)

SALARY STRUCTURE FOR ROOKIES

This was the most debated and discussed topic of the evening. Trying to figure out what the JBL salary of each rookie pick should be. It can't be too high because there won't be enough value picks. So, one suggestion was to weight it the same way the NBA currently does. The NBA salary cap last year was 58 million and the 1st pick (John Wall) made 4.4 million (or 7.5% of the cap). In the JBL, some would say our cap is $260. Some would say it's $300. Others might say it's $200.

In the $260 scenario - the 13 picks salaries - based on the same % weighting as the NBA salary cap would look like this (1st thru 13th).

19-17-15-14-13-11-10-9-8-8-8-7-7

This doesn't work because no JBL team, wants to pay $7 bucks for the 13th best rookie. Our own JBL Auction history is filled with $1 and $2 dollar nuggets.

In the $200 JBL cap scenario, picks 1 thru 13 would look like this...

15-13-12-11-10-8-8-7-6-6-6-5-5.

Again, the drop off just doesn't appear to be significant enough to make those last few picks worthwhile.

So, after crunching some more numbers and looking back at some previous JBL Auctions I think I have come up with a possible salary structure. But first, just by way of history, did you know that JBL owners drafted 11 rookies on Auction night in 2010? And in the 2009 JBL Auction - 12 rookies were selected? So, we do draft rookies. Some more than others for sure.

Last year, JBL owners spent $49 on Blake Griffin, $37 on John Wall and $27 on DeMarcus Cousins. Also, $9 on Wesley Johnson, $7 on Derrick Favors, and $6 on Evan Turner. Yes, there are $1 dollar specials in there as well, but it goes to show you that we will take a chance with our JBL dollars on Auction night.

So, here's my proposal for a salary structure. From the past drafts I've looked at there always appears to be more bargain hunting going rather than paying big bucks on an unknown. That being said, there are always 2 or 3 rookies who get big bucks on Auction night. However, I think we want to make sure that rookies can be bargains and that JBL teams are rewarded for taking the risk of the kid panning out. And I don't think we want to lose that. So, I propose we go with a lower salary structure. This would also place great excitement and potential of landing that #1 overall pick and landing a future stud player and keeper for 3 years. Here's my proposed structure.

Pick 1 = $15 dollar JBL salary

Pick 2 = $12 bucks

Pick 3 = $10 bucks

Pick 4 - $8 bucks

Pick 5 - $7 bucks

Pick 6 - $6 bucks

Pick 7 - $5 bucks

Pick 8 - $4 bucks

Pick 9 - $3 bucks

Pick 10 - $2 bucks

Pick 11 - $1 buck

Pick 12 - $1 buck

Pick 13 - $1 buck

I propose that picks 11-13 are all $1 dollar as that appears to be reaching the maximum number of rookies we draft every year. So, would a JBL team be willing to take a risk on a rookie for $3 bucks at pick #9?? I say sure. Why not? And if they didn't like the kid - they could always drop him up until 1 week prior to the Auction. Or they could pick at #9 and try to trade him. The options are there and it's very minimal risk (in dollars).

And how about the top 3 picks being $15, $12 and $10? You wouldn't want Blake Griffin for $15? John Wall for $12? Or Cousins for $10? Remember what they went for at Auction last year (49, 37, and 27)!! Think of how excited you would be to land the #1 pick in the JBL rookie draft knowing that Blake Griffin will be yours for $15 bucks. Think of the trade offers you would get for that pick? And if you didn't want to pay $15 bucks for a rookie - you could always trade down and try to get a $1 dollar rookie with the 11th pick. The options are endless!!

This salary structure needs to be voted on and approved.

There you have it guys...I tried to summarize our evening in here. If I've missed anything please let me know. The goal is to make the rookie draft fun. For Rick and Phil, who are currently opposed, I hope this might make them see how much fun this rookie lottery would be as well as the 2 weeks of rookie picks and trading would be leading up to the JBL Auction. Usually, we are all anxiously awaiting the 3rd Saturday in October for the JBL season to start. With the rookie draft and proposed roster changes - our JBL season will now start on October 1st. JBL teams can build through the rookie draft and through trades like never before. I think it's very exciting stuff.

Thanks to the 6 JBL owners who all took time out of their busy lives to meet for dinner tonight. I thought it was awesome and that we should definitely do it more often. And as Benny asked during dinner - how many guys are out there (aged 20+ to 40+) - that are discussing a fantasy basketball league in the middle of July when the NBA is locked out???? Unreal. The JBL truly is awesome and you guys make it that way. So I thank all of you...and to all a good night.

Night Before the Summit...

Well, we're 24 hours away from the JBL summit. It's exciting. Mostly because we'll have 7 of the JBL owners in one room. Awesome. First time since Vegas. I'm looking forward to seeing the boys. Besides having a few pops we will be discussing the proposed JBL Rookie Draft. So far, 4 of 5 JBL owners have voted YES for this idea. We will need 9 of the 13 owners to say Yes to this proposal for it to come into play. So far, I have a definitive NO from Bangkok on the proposal. Figures, the guy who always gets the best rookies says no to this proposal. Oh well.

So, we have a lot to discuss tomorrow night (assuming we stay on pace for this rookie proposal to get passed). Thought I would jot down some points here so I can remember all the topics to discuss.

• do we agree that the JBL rookie draft should be just one round? I think this is best because that would leave a bunch of rookies still eligible for auction. At most, there are 13 rookies selected in the draft. And in some cases, I would imagine some teams would PASS on their rookie picks - leaving more rookies for auction. Does everyone agree to a one round draft?


• what is the salary structure for the rookie picks? I have suggested a few ideas. Crikker has suggested an idea as well. These need to be discussed. Crikker has suggested a salary system based on the average price of the rookies across all fantasy pools (ie. If Kyrie Irving's average fantasy salary is $28 bucks - then this should be his JBL salary - regardless of where he is selected). This is a tough one to figure out...I'm interested in hearing what others have to say


• We are going to need to figure out some rules around trading these picks and whether that's compatible with the JBL website. Can we trade a player for a future pick? I'm not sure how the website can handle this? Can we trade picks for picks? Can we trade 2 players for pick? We need some structure around the transaction process and rookie picks.


• What will the rookie draft look like? Due to the structure of the JBL Auction - we can't simply do the rookie draft right before the Auction. The rookie draft would have to be at least a couple weeks before the Auction. Or, as suggested by Crikker, the rookie draft could start on October 1st and each team would have 24 hours to pick, pass, or trade their pick and then on October 2nd, the #2 team would have 24 hours to pick, pass or trade. It would build the excitement for the Auction and give us 13 days of JBL activity at the start of October. I do like this idea but we need to see what everyone else thinks.

Lots to discuss - I'm looking forward to the night!!

Rookie Draft?

Well boys, I'm back from a week in Oregon. Beautiful holiday. Beautiful coastline. Beautiful area.
And I still have another week off work!! Yahoo!
So, before I went on holidays, I was writing a lot about holding a JBL rookie draft. I've canvassed the idea with 3 other JBL owners it's looking like something that we will consider doing. However, I think that we need to put this to a vote. Every rule change we've ever considered in the JBL has been put to a vote and this is another time to keep with tradition. We have a few things to work on then while we also have some solid concepts in place already...

• I think the rookie draft should be just 1 round


• I think a JBL owner should be able to 'PASS' on their pick if they want

But after that - there are a lot of things up for debate...

1. Vote on whether to conduct a rookie draft? (need 3 out of 4 JBL owners to approve)
2. Determine the salary structure for the picks/rookies
3. Determine rules around trading of rookies
4. What are the rules around trading future rookie picks?
5. If the NBA is still locked out on October 29th - should we conduct our JBL Auction?

So - I think the best way to get the ball moving on this is to have a JBL owners summit. Get the boys together for a barbeque or something and chat about the options and rules around the issue. We would need 9 of the 13 JBL owners to say 'YES' to a rookie draft. So, let's see what the JBL owners have to say....

Rookie Mock Draft

OK, now I'm on a roll. NBA lockout and all and I'm a blogging fool. And I've even heard that a couple JBL'ers are reading it. Very cool. Ok, without further ado, here are my rookie mock draft results. Remember, I had already done the JBL rookie draft order.

So, with the 1st pick in the 1st ever JBL rookie draft.....

Yuma selects.....Kyrie Irving $20

Pat does the most boring thing in the world and takes #1 overall NBA pick here. Duh. No brainer move in my opinion.

And from here on out - I'm not providing my 2 cents on these picks - just in case we actually do this at some point here over the summer. I have to keep some analysis to myself don't I? So, I will go with my gut on these with no explanation...

And with the #2 selection...

#2 - Manhattan selects....Tristan Thompson $18

#3 - Chilliwack selects...Jimmer! $16

#4 - Belgrade selects....Enes Kanter $14

#5 - Seoul selects...Jan Vesely $12

#6 - Brussels selects...PASS (based on my recent texts with Timmy P)

#7 - Golden selects...Brandon Knight $7

#8 - Maui selects...Kemba Walker $6

#9 - French Lick selects...Derrick Williams $5

#10 - Arctic selects...Bismack Biyombo $4

#11 - Bangkok selects...Kawhi Leonard $3

#12 - Juan de Fuca selects...Alec Burks $2

#13 - Idaho selects...Kenneth Faried $1

so...there you have it...a rookie JBL mock draft. Could there be some good value rookies there?? I think so...

Anyways, that's a quick one from me tonight. Tomorrow I'm meeting JBL legend Benny Pershick for lunch to talk all things JBL from rookie draft to whether or not we should hold a JBL Auction if the NBA is still locked out. Looking forward to seeing my old pal.

Night boys.

Mock - Rookie Lottery

OK, couldn't sleep so I decided I would mock it up right here and now...

All 13 JBL teams are in a hat and I am going to reverse draw - just for fun! Here we go...

The JBL team with the #13 rookie selection is...

13. Idaho - go figure kid. Good thing this is just for fun. But maybe getting a rookie for $1 buck isn't such a bad thing.

The 12th pick goes to...

12. Juan de Fuca - the 3 headed monster might need more than 24 hours to decide what to do here.

The 11th pick goes to...

11. Bangkok - knowing Rick he would like this spot because it gets him a potential $3 dollar gem. And Rick is known for drafting good rookies...

The 10th pick goes to...

10. Arctic - a $4 rookie is something I'm sure the Jerks would welcome onto their already stacked JBL roster.

The 9th pick goes to...

9. French Lick - French is another team that could benefit from a $5 dollar rookie blue-chip prospect.

The 8th pick goes to....

8. Maui - more homework for Trev to do prior to the JBL draft? A possible 'pass' could occur here.

The 7th pick goes to....

7. Golden - A solid rookie for $7 bucks would be a nice addition to the Golden squad.

The 6th pick goes to...

6. Brussels - Timmy pulls into the $10 rookie hole - would he pick or pass?

The 5th pick goes to...

5. Seoul - this is the proposed $12 dollar rookie slot. I'm sure Woo would be more than happy to role the dice on a pick here.

The 4th pick goes to....

4. Belgrade - our last place team, with no current keepers, would be able to land a $14 dollar rookie if he wanted. But in the current draft class - who is the right pick?

Our final 3 teams in the rookie lottery are Yuma, Manhattan Beach and the 'Wack...moving on to the 3rd pick...

3. Chilliwack - a rookie for $16 bucks? I'm sure Benny pulls the trigger here...

The 2nd pick goes to...

2. Manhattan Beach - runner up is like kissing your sister...

And in the 1st ever mock rookie draft order the #1 pick goes to Yuma...and he would get to make the tough decision on whether he thought Kyrie Irving was the best fantasy rookie available and secondly if he was worth the $20 dollar JBL price tag...

So, to recap, here is our mock rookie draft order....and one of the proposed salary structures for each rookie draft pick.

1. Yuma $20

2. Manhattan $18

3. Chilliwack $16

4. Belgrade $14

5. Seoul $12

6. Brussels $10

7. Golden $7

8. Maui $6

9. French Lick $5

10. Arctic $4

11. Bangkok $3

12. Juan de Fuca $2

13. Idaho $1

One more thing to consider now that I've done this mock lottery. Could a JBL team trade their rookie pick for someone else's rookie pick? For example, maybe Yuma doesn't want the #1 pick because he doesn't feel any rookie in this years' draft class is worth the $20 JBL salary. And maybe Bangkok, at #11, likes the rookie class and would be willing to pay a rookie $20 bucks. Could Yuma trade his #1 rookie pick to Bangkok for his #11 spot? I think the answer should be 'YES'. It's simple. It doesn't involve any NBA players and it's easy to administer.

Where it could get more complicated is say that Yuma wants to move out of the #1 spot and Bangkok is offering the #11 pick and a player from his keeper roster (remember, after Oct 1st, all JBL rosters will be reduced to the maximum number of potential keepers per team). In Bangkok's case, he would only have 4 players on his roster. Should this pick for pick&player trade be allowed? That's a debate for another time...

Up next...my rookie mock draft using the JBL mock lottery order above...

Night all...

The Rookie Draft Idea continued...

So, I thought I would continue on with this idea for a bit because I had some positive feedback from Mr. Chris Pershick on the matter. He liked the idea, even with it's certain difficulties, and it has some room to grow...

Imagine a JBL boys night around October 1st, when off season trading finally begins. Teams are starting to think about upgrading their keepers for the 2011/12 season. We, the JBL owners, gather at a discreet location to hold the 1st ever rookie draft. Not everyone comes because of personal commitments - but the usual JBL crew is there.

I arrive with a mysterious looking large black box. Why? Because every man dreams of sticking there hand in a large black box at some point in their life. Yes, I went there.

I can imagine Rick and Phil in attendance discussing the TENDEX rankings of LaMarcus vs. Garnett and who has more value to a JBL team. Anthony would of course be in attendance trying to convince someone that Sonny Weems for $1 dollar is a stellar keeper. Crikker, Timmy, Hildy and others have also made the journey. For we are about to reverse draw for the rookie draft order.

One by one we would stick our mitts into the black box to pull out ping pong ball after ping pong ball. And of course, all the ping pong balls have been decorated to represent their JBL teams. The first ball out is 13th, then 12th, then 11th and so on...The drama would increase as we approach the #1 selection. And ultimately, our rookie draft order would be set. Looking at the calendar, I'm thinking Saturday night, October 1st is the perfect night for this. Off season trading opens and we set the order for the rookie draft.

Crikker's rookie draft idea goes a little further and allows the team with the #1 pick 24 hours to make their selection. They could post a short article on the JBL website announcing who they are taking with the #1 selection. Once the pick is made, the 2nd team is on the clock and has 24 hours to pick or pass or even trade. So, the rookie draft can actually take place for 13 days possibly as we approach the JBL draft (October 29th this year people).

Imagine the excitement and options of being able to pick a potential stud rookie...very cool.

Some things I've thought of that would need to be addressed. My idea of the rookie draft would be for the upcoming season. So, whatever your protection allotment from the previous year was - the rookie draft would be extra to that. Example - if you were allowed to protect 4 players - you can do so - plus, you would be adding a 5th player in the rookie draft (assuming you make a rookie pick).

Other things...can a rookie draft spot be traded for a current NBA player - my thoughts on this would be 'no'. Example - let's say I have the #1 pick in the rookie draft and I am only allowed to protect one player based on my previous years results. Yes, it will be Kevin Love. Could I trade the #1 pick in the rookie draft to Bangkok for LaMarcus Aldridge. Again, my thoughts on this would be NO. The rookie draft option would be to add a rookie to your team from the previous year.

Now, that being said, once the season started, I think that trading your future rookie draft spot for an established NBA player would be allowed. I will have to check with CBS to see if we can do this. And we would have to log all trades involving rookie draft spots to keep track.

Another potential issue - what about setting a limit of how many rookie picks a JBL team can acquire in one season?? Let's take Belgrade's team from last year. He finishes last and has no keepers but in the final days heading up to the keeper deadline he starts to trade his established players for rookie selections. Let's even say he trades 12 players for everyone else's rookie spot in the rookie draft. Belgrade could now draft 13 rookies (for a total of $118 dollars) and then buy 2 more players at Auction (one at say $60 and another at $82). That would be 15 players (13 rookies) for $260 bucks. Should we allow this? My initial thoughts would be 'NO'. I would propose that a JBL team could not have more than 2 rookie draft picks (their own and one other). This would mean that JBL teams, yet again, would have to use some strategy about when they would make that one trade to get another rookie pick. Would Belgrade have traded Boozer to Golden for my pick? Or Greg Monroe to Phil for his pick? If he could only make one trade for a pick - which would it be? And would his choice be different if the chances of securing a higher rookie pick was different?

So, there's a lot to think about here. I'm still not totally sold that this is a good idea, but at least it got a couple of articles out of me. Anyone have any additional thoughts on the matter? I'm all ears....

Next up - I think I'll conduct my own rookie draft lottery with all the JBL teams and see how it looks - then try to make some rookie picks for each JBL depending on their JBL team needs.

That's all for now...signing off.

Lockout? Have no Fear - An Idea is Here...

Oh no. This doesn't look good. The NBA has locked out the players and if you read the issues - this doesn't look good for the JBL. The two sides are a LONG way apart and I don't think we're going to have a resolution any time soon. Remember 1998-99? The 50 game season. The JBL remembers. If my memory serves, due to the timing of it all, the NBA season had actually started by the time we could get all the guys together. Well, that won't be happening this year. Our JBL draft will live on. It's either October 22nd or 29th. So keep those dates open. And yes, even if the NBA is still locked out - we are drafting!!! Why? Because we are a league! We are the JBL! And damn it - that's one of my favorite nights of the year!

The JBL draft could look very different in October if the NBA isn't playing any ball. No summer leagues. No rookie camps. No exhibition games. No Free Agency period. Everything will be up in the air. But that could actually be exciting. Where will David West end up? Will Nene go back to Denver? How much are they worth? Is Ricky Rubio any good? Who's the starting PF in Cleveland? Oh man, the risk-reward opportunities out there will be huge!! As exciting as the 'chance' will be in drafting - it would be very sad knowing that the season wasn't starting a couple of night later.

Timmy P texted me the other day to see if I had any changes in mind. I didn't at the time. And no one had emailed me any ideas. But that got Johnny thinking. And now I have an idea. I am very confident I have posted it here before so I thought I would revive the idea. It comes in a couple of potential phases. The main crux of my idea focuses on the NBA rookies...

Why not have our own JBL lottery? We can't do it based on last year's standings (we could in the future), but why not try out a lottery system? One of the challenges of doing this is that we use the CBS auction room to do our draft. If we continued using that (and I think everyone loves its ease and speed) then we would have to implement a rule that the lottery and draft picks were done ahead of the auction portion of the draft. Then we could load the rookies onto their JBL teams and then conduct the Auction.

So, we put all our names (or ping pong balls) in a hat...or a bowl...or a trophy...of a hollowed out ham....and we reverse draw for order. First team out of the hat gets 13th pick...next gets 12th...and so on - all the way down to #1 pick. That would be our order for our 1 round of picks for the incoming NBA rookie class. And to be clear - this would be for Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams - not for Ricky Rubio. And in future, we too, could weight the chances of winning the lottery depending on where you finished in the prior years' JBL standings.

So, we would establish our rookie draft order. My next proposal would be a salary system that is based on a scaled salary system. I have tried a number of different ones this morning as I type this. Initially, I thought a $2 decrease from #1 to #13 (so $26-24-22-20 all the way down to $2 bucks for the #13 pick.) More on potential salary scales later - but for now - let's use this idea of 26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2 - even though I know in my head it's too 'rich' for the idea.

My proposal is for just one round of NBA rookies being picked. All other rookies would be available via auction as in previous years.

Also, I would propose that JBL teams could "PASS" on a rookie selection if they wished. The spot would be left blank and the draft would continue on (example below)

10th - Joe Blow $8

11th - PASS

12th - Stinky Stinkerson $4

13th - PASS

So...let me go through some of the PRO's and CON's of this system...

And if I miss any please make sure to email me your thoughts...

THE GOOD:

• The JBL becomes even more NBA-like
• teams would now have the opportunity to prepare for a rookie draft
• Down the road, previous years standings could be incorporated into our own lottery system where the bottom teams had a higher chance of getting the 1st pick (just like the NBA)
• I would also propose that in future years your draft pick could be used in JBL trades (can you imagine trading say Luol Deng for a future 1st round pick). And because we would only have 1 round of rookie picks - you could only trade one year in advance. I don't think trading my 2017 pick to Chilliwack works...
• In this system - you could get some real bargains from the rookie crop based on the salary system (Blake Griffin for $26 bucks in year 1!!)
• JBL teams can make their own assessment of team needs and rookie values. Just because the T-Wolves thought Derrick Williams was the #2 pick - if your JBL team is stacked with 4 forwards - maybe you want to grab Brandon Knight or Kemba Walker with the 2nd pick.
• JBL teams could still 'PASS' on a rookie if they didn't think they were getting value from the 12th or 13th draft spot - so they are being forced to take someone.
• Also, could you imagine the potential trades that could be done in this window. Let's say Yuma won the lottery and had 1st pick and the clock was ticking (we could have our own clock in the room as well!) and then Bangkok pipes up and says (use his voice here) - "Ummm, Pat, you know, I'll give you LaMarcus Aldridge for that #1 pick".
• It adds another fun layer to the JBL auction process.

THE BAD

• The most obvious one in my books is the loss of the free-market system. In years past - everyone would have a chance to draft Kyrie Irving and his auction price is set by the JBL. This JBL rookie draft takes that equal opportunity away.
• This would probably extend our JBL draft day by maybe 30-45 minutes (like that's a bad thing really)
• We would have to manually place these players onto their JBL teams before the Auction could begin (again, big whoop)
• Would JBL teams start to tank near the end of a JBL season to try and increase their odds of getting the #1 pick in next year's rookie draft? Well, maybe, but it's still a lottery and there would be no guarantee you'd get the 1st pick. Also, we have a great system in place where the lower you go in the standings may increase your chances of the #1 rookie pick - but it also decreases the number of players you can protect. So, if we used last year's standings, Belgrade has zero players coming back but maybe wins the lottery and can pick Kyrie Irving for $26 bucks. Is that really worth 'tanking'? I think it's risky.
• There isn't enough rookie talent to warrant salaries ranging from $26 down to $2 (and I think the salary scale needs to be adjuster to a lower price point - so read on)
• We lose the ability to take those late draft rookie sleepers (last year's Greg Monroe for $2 bucks)

So, just for fun, let's look at the top 13 picks in the real NBA draft last season with the concept that they were picked in the same order in a JBL rookie draft (with JBL salary idea)...

1. John Wall $26

2. Evan Turner $24

3. Derrick Favors $22

4. Wesley Johnson $20

5. DeMarcus Cousins $18

6. Ekpe Udoh $16

7. Greg Monroe $14

8. Al Farouq Aminu $12

9. Gordon Hayward $10

10. Paul George $8

11. Cole Aldrich $6

12. Xavier Henry $4

13. Ed Davis $2

So, from that exercise, what did I learn? I would say that along the way there I could definitely see some JBL teams being very disappointed in their selections (Turner, Favors, Udoh, Aldrich)...but I could also see some JBL teams being very happy with their bargains - Wall, Cousins, Johnson, Monroe, Davis)...I also think the proposed salary levels would have to be adjusted to reflect the risk.

So, what about the argument that there isn't enough rookie talent? And I get it - it's a crap shoot - but it is for the NBA GM's as well. Remember the great debate on whether Oden or Durant should have been picked #1?? What would have happened in the JBL??? So, let's see what kind of JBL talent and salaries would have looked liked if we nailed the 2010 rookie class...and yes, it's lacking in depth, I'll admit that...

#1 - Wall $26 (less than his auction salary)

#2 - Cousins $24 (less than his auction salary)

#3 - Fields $22 (more than auction) - so this a case where we would lose the ability to find a gem in the rough. But I would also argue that no one in the JBL owner group would have taken the #39th pick in the NBA draft with the #3 pick in the JBL draft. Fields would have been up for auction anyways

#4 - Monroe $20 (more than auction)

#5 - Johnson (more than auction)

others that would get drafted - Ed Davis, Jordan Crawford, Derrick Favors, Evan Turner, Aminu?

So, just like the NBA draft - there are no guarantees - that's why I would advocate the ability for a JBL team to "PASS" on a pick. So, a team may have the 6th pick in the JBL rookie draft - and may choose to pass because $16 bucks might not be a good value there. And that would be fine with me.

I think the biggest hurdle from JBL owners would be the chance to grab those cheap rookie sleepers at the end of the auction. Well, in some way, those would still be there. The NBA has 30 first round picks - we would only have 13 rookies selected (and that's if all JBL teams used their pick). Would Landry Fields have been there last year on auction night? Absolutely.

I would predict, that many JBL owners in a rookie draft would be looking at their NBA GM's and probably try to mirror what they did if there was a doubt. Let's check out this theory and I will quickly mock the 2011 rookie class (because there are some guys - like #5 Valencious in TO who isn't coming to the NBA this year anyways - so he certainly wouldn't go #5 in our rookie draft). Let me also do this with a different salary structure in mind - how about this one - check out a quick mock draft with a new salary structure...

1 - Irving $20

2. Williams $18

3. Kanter $16

4. Thompson $14

5. Walker $12

6. Knight $10

7. Vesely $7

8. Jimmer $6

9. Shumpert $5

10. Faried $4

11. Leonard $3

12. Biyombo $2

13. Burks $1

So - there could be some rookie bargains there in my mind...and I think that type of salary structure might be better...

And of course - let's say you get the #1 pick - do you have more faith in Kyrie or Jimmer? The options are endless...yet still, if you don't like your options - you could 'pass'.

So, I think I've rambled on enough on the topic. I think you get it. But let me add one more piece to this...we are facing a NBA lockout and the real possibility that we don't get to do the JBL this season...so why not try something new...we may not even get to see if it works if the NBA doesn't come back...but it might be worth a try...

With that...I'll say Happy Canada Day and I look forward to some feedback on the idea.