So, I'll ramble on for a bit until I've had enough for the night....
I guess I should start at the bottom and work my way up. What can I say about Brussels that hasn't already been said? A disastrous season and officially the worst ever in the 21 year history of the JBL. Nothing went right for Timmy this season. All the players he drafted were injured right away (Gordon, Zach, Varejao, etc). He spent all his FA money by week 3 or 4. And then his remaining players were summoned up to the big club (French Lick - 8 trades) leaving Brussels high and dry in the basement. As Timmy says though - things can only get better in Brussels. He will have 13 lottery balls with his number on it and he could land the Unibrow (Anthony Davis - Kentucky) with the #1 pick in the JBL Rookie Draft. However, Timbo's luck will need to change because based on this last season - Timmy won't win that lottery despite having the best chance.
The Maui Ribs finished the season in 12th place and suffered from poor production from guys coming off good seasons. The bidding war between Seoul and Maui for Lamar Odom ended at $30 bucks. Lamar was coming off a really good season in LA. Unfortunately, Odom never found his game in Big D and was horrible. Another guy with a disappointing season was Michael Beasley. He averaged a measly 11ppg this past year after being a big scorer for the T-Wolves last season. The pairing of CP3 and Monta just didn't work and it's back to the drawing board for Maui. Trev will have 1 keeper for next season and the choices are likely between $1 gem Gerald Henderson (15ppg, 4reb, 46% FG) or super 6th man Lou Williams $3 (15ppg, 36% 3PT, and 3.112 ATO).
Manhattan Beach finished 11th this season. And surprisingly, MBB can actually say they led the JBL after a scoring period. Of course, that was week 2, but nevertheless, MBB was leading the JBL at one time. You know how on JBL Auction night we draft 15 players? Well, MBB actually only used 14 players all season. He didn't use all of his FA money. In fact, MBB signed 2 FA's (Biedrins/Cole) all year (and that was the first week FA's were available). On top of that, MBB made exactly 1 trade all season. He traded James Harden for Joakim Noah. MBB had Lebron. They had Westbrook. And Amare. And Noah. And they still finished 11th. It shows you that the only way to have a chance at being really successful in the JBL is to make some moves. Inactivity gets you 11th. I actually liked MBB's team after the Auction. The problem was - it never changed. With a little roster juggling who knows what MBB could accomplish. With just 1 keeper spot for next season it's hard to predict who Bob will protect. It could be Spencer Hawes $2 depending on where he lands in Free Agency. However, the most likely candidate has to be Lebron James ($72). For just $77 bucks MBB could build a team around Lebron. Umm, yeah, that would be my choice too.
Montreal finished in 10th place and will get to bring back 2 players for next season. I would have to think those 2 players will be Kyrie Irving $15 and Jeremy Lin $7. That would be 2 very solid PG's to build around. The Montreal squad also has co-ownership now. David is on board and he and Marko will have to come up with a draft strategy. We've seen mixed results in the past with co-ownership so we'll see how it goes. Montreal was very active in Free Agency but made just 2 trades during the season. Montreal was a small team and relied heavily on Marc Gasol for the big man stats this season. Unfortunately, he was pretty much the only big man pulling in big numbers for the Poutang. Iggy and Batum had very good seasons from an all-round fantasy perspective but neither is a big scorer. Deron Williams had an OK year for his standards and I wonder how he'll do next season in Dallas (or wherever he chooses to sign as a Free Agent). The injuries to Manu Ginobili and Jeremy Lin were costly to Montreal but even with those 2 guys - a middle of the pack finish was likely best case scenario. Next year will be year 4 for the expansion franchise. They now have 10th, 13th, and 11th place finishes to their credit. What will next year have in store? Can they win the lottery again? Can co-ownership improve their fortunes? We'll find out next year....
Well...that's it for me tonight...next up...Bangkok and others get reviewed as I review the also-rans one night this week. Have a good one boys...
