Season in Review - Part III

 

4^th place – Seoul Brothers

 

This was a very good Seoul squad and was in money contention all year long. I’m not sure they were ever good enough to scare the top 2 spots but it was always going to finish in the money. Seoul was in 3^rd right up until the very last day and ultimately finished 4^th by 0.50 points. Half a stinking point. For many, that would be disaster, but for this 5-time JBL champ he really didn’t care. 3^rd or 4^th – whatever – it wasn’t a win. Move on.

Seoul was likely the busiest JBL team in the trade market this past season completing 6 trades in total. 2 with Golden, 2 with Kok, 1 with Chilliwack and 1 with Bellingham. I think I’ve lost count now of how many times Donovan Mitchell and Pascal Siakam have been traded for each other. I think it’s 3x but I could be wrong. It’s almost like Seoul and Bangkok are sharing players at times. Or some people, with cruel hearts, may say that Bangkok is Seoul’s farm team – but that’s not me – I don’t have a cruel bone in my body. Besides, their last swap, Bangkok got Mitchell, Ingles and Naz Reid for Siakam and Josh Hart. Mr. Hart only played 11 games in Seoul before getting injured so this was a clear ‘win’ for Bangkok in this deal. This is the part about Seoul that I love – he will take risks and try to improve. He will take chances. Sure, sometimes the trade might not work out – but he’s trying. If things aren’t working, no harm in mixing it up. I commend you Seoul for being an active trader in the JBL.

 

I would also like to say ‘you are welcome’ for providing you the name Terry Rozier at the end of the auction when you were looking for a late round guard to sign for $1 dollar. Why did I say it? I gave you a gem. Terry played 67 games in Seoul (more than anyone else) and averaged 20ppg while shooting 45%/39%. His ATO was 2.267 and grabbed 1.25 steals per game. All for a buck. And he will certainly be back in Seoul next year for $6 bucks. Again, you’re welcome.

 

Injuries took their toll on this team as Zion, Pascal, LaVine, Lowry, Adams, and others all missed time over the year. Steals, ATO and blocks were Seoul’s weakest categories but this was a very deep team and seemed to manage very well over the course of the year. Seoul was 950+ points for most of the year and only saw the late season fade due to everyone being injured.

 

Because he was a Shower for a lot of the year, I have to comment on Seth Curry’s performance in Seoul. He played 13 games and shot 57.1% from downtown on 3 makes a game. Curses Seth. You did not perform like that in Golden. Moving on…

 

So why was this a good team? Depth and consistency. When a team runs out Zion, Harris, LaVine, DeRozan, Lowry, Rozier, Mitchell, Siakam, Valanciunas, Adams, etc – you have a great likelihood of success. This has long been a Seoul strategy of depth over stars. Seems to have served him well.

So who does Seoul bring back from this year’s squad for next season? Seoul, right now, says only Zion and Rozier are on the list. Maybe that will change over the summer. We’ll see. We know Woo loves a bargain so he’s not going to keep someone for market value.

 

MVP

This is Zion territory. Sure, he doesn’t rebound or block as many shots as you’d like but hey, you’ll just have to live with 27ppg while shooting 61% on a boat load of shots. He doesn’t jack 3’s and contributed 57 steals and 40 blocks for the season.

 

Unsung Hero

This is Lord Covington territory again. While not scoring much (8.5ppg), he was the ONLY player in the NBA to post 80+ steals AND 80+ block as he went for 101 steals and 84 blocks in his 70 games. He also grabbed almost 7 rebounds a game and shot a very respectable 38.5% from downtown in his 60 games for Seoul.

 

Bust of the Year

I’m going with Steven Adams here. I was in a bidding war with Seoul for his services on draft night. He ended up going for $30 bucks and I remember being happy that I didn’t ultimately get him. Adams was in a new NBA city and playing with his new team definitely impacted his numbers. He produced his lowest totals in 5-6 years and only averaged 7.7ppg and 8.6reb during his 27 games with Seoul. Woo ultimately moved him on to Bellingham in a trade. I know that Seoul expected more from the big Kiwi.

 

  

3^rd place – Juan de Fuca Yo Mamas

 

Some late season drama unfolded as Juan was able to snatch 3^rd place away from Seoul. Once you read the next tidbit – you’ll know it was meant to me. Did you know, in the last 20 years, this is Juan’s 8^th time finishing in 3^rd place? Read that again. In the last 20 years, Juan de Fuca has finished in 3^rd place 8 different times now. That’s an insane stat if you ask me.

 

This team made a big early season acquisition in a deal with Idaho. They acquired Westbrook and Nunn for Fultz and Turner. You guys know I am not a fan of Westy so I didn’t like this trade for Juan. But man, it worked out really well. We know that Fultz suffered an unfortunate injury but I didn’t expect that Westy would be this good. I thought he would rest more games but he ended up playing 64 games for Juan and 65 overall. I thought his percentages would be killer (and they were since Juan finished 13^th and 10^th in percentages). That said, his 22ppg and 11.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals/game really helped Juan. The Mamas were the #1 scoring team in the JBL this season averaging almost 17ppg.

 

As mentioned, this team scored and scored and scored. Westy, Randle, LeBron, Levert, and Sexton all averaged OVER 20ppg in their Juan de Fuca games. Add in Michael Porter Jr (19ppg) and Graham (14ppg) and OG (16ppg) and you can see why they did so well in that category. They also finished 3^rd in Rebounds and 3^rd in steals and again, many of the same names contributed big time to those categories. The one non-scorer that provided some big steal and block numbers was Nerlens Noel. Really good season and he benefitted greatly from Robinson’s injury and absence.

 

I think we can safely call out Julius Randle for a career year. 24-10-6 while shooting 45/41. I know I didn’t expect those numbers under Thibs and I can also safely say that no one else did either because he went for only $23 bucks at Auction. Pretty safe bet that Julius will be back in Juan for next season.

 

Another breakout star for Juan was Michael Porter Jr who was protected for just $14 bucks and yes, we all expect him to be back in Juan for next season. He put up 19ppg and 7.3reb while shooting 54% and 45%. Add in some healthy steal and block numbers and the kid is a star in the making. Remember, he’s only 22 years old. That Denver squad with Joker (26), Porter Jr (22) and Jamal Murray (24) have a very good young core and should be very good for years to come.

 

Some of the other role players in Juan that contributed were Josh Jackson, Lu Dort, Kendrick Nunn and Lou Williams. While they didn’t help the percentages they certainly chipped in other areas and contributed to Juan’s 790 JBL man games (5^th best overall). We all know it’s hard to put up those counting stats when your guys are injured or not playing.

 

So who will be back to Juan next season? Juan has a few solid options for sure. LeVert for $18? OG for $27? Hachimura for $12? We know Randle and Porter Jr are locks to be back.  Can Juan build another contender in 21/22?

 

MVP

Julius Randle was amazing this season. Not many saw it coming but his numbers were really, really good across the board.

 

Unsung Hero

Another player that Golden lost the bidding war on – PJ Washington. He quietly put up 13ppg, 6.5 reb, shot 38% from downtown and had 69 steals and 79 blocks in 64 games. Very solid numbers. I see you PJ.

 

Bust of the Year

The better the JBL team, the harder it is to find a ‘bust’. Now, that said, I’m going with DeVonte Graham. I really thought that he would be better. Sure, he put up 14.8ppg in his 43 Juan games but he also shot 37/38 to help destroy Juan’s field goal percentage. He doesn’t rebound, steals less than 1.0 per games and obviously doesn’t block shots. For some reason he’s always taking late game shots for the Hornets but I’m starting to think that’s by design as the other team is leaving him open knowing he’s likely to miss.

 

 

2^nd place – French Lick Legends

  

The Godfather’s pre-season favourites came up just short this year. I will preface this team summary with the fact that there won’t be a lot of negatives here since the team put up 1151 points and came up just 27 points short of a 5^th title.

 

French’s foundation to start the year was extremely solid as he was coming off a JBL championship and was bringing back 4 very good keepers in Simmons, Tatum, Brown, and Mitchell Robinson. When you start with a base like that – good things are bound to happen.

 

And I still go back to our Auction night Zoom call and remember a bit of a bidding war between Golden and French on a player. I don’t recall who the player was I but I specifically remember the Kok saying something to the effect – “Hey, should the rest of us be paying attention here as French and Golden battle over specific players?”  Hmmmm, interesting theory and likely not a bad idea.

 

Since I feel like I should mention something that French didn’t do well this season….what’s up with that rookie pick? Kira Lewis Jr? You could have drafted Quickley or Bey or Stewart. Come on man. Were you following some so-called industry expert who thought Lewis Jr would be a breakout or something? Do your own research!! OK, that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

 

So on top of the big 4 keepers – French drafted studs and solids in Chris Paul, Joe Harris, Draymond, Hardaway Jr, CJ McColllum, and Porzingis. Key injuries to CJ, the Unicorn, and Mitchell Robinson leave me confident that if those 3 guys had played full seasons we might have seen a different outcome. French was only 100 points behind Brussels in scoring and needed 12 more blocks to get +26 in that category. Injuries played a big factor here but they always do in every fantasy season.

 

Did you know that French got 70 games out of Chris Paul?? Didn’t see that one coming. CP3 put up an All-NBA type season in Phoenix and played a key role in French’s success.

 

I am going to say that Ben Simmons had a disappointing year. This was his last year on contract and will go back into the Auction next season. Overall though, I think French expected more from him. He had a good year, but not a great year.

 

Did you know French was 1^st or 2^nd in FOUR JBL categories this season? And that his worst category was a 7^th place finish in blocks!! Talk about balance. French, again, did a masterful job of covering all 7 categories. I’ll also point out that French’s HIGHEST salaried player was Chris Paul at $34 dollars!! So all you big spenders take note.

 

French is the new ‘golden’ standard in the JBL. In the last 7 years, French has won 4 titles and finished 2^nd the other 3 times. Read that again people. Four 1^st and three 2^nd’s in the last 7 years. He’s like the grade 7 kid dominating sports days against grade 1-6’s. He’s like a European football giant who just toys with the rest of the league.  He’s like Joey Chestnut taking down hot dogs. OK French, we get it, you’re really good at the JBL. Has the JBL come too easy for French? He’s mowing us down with ease. We must rise up against the power of French.

 

French was so good this year the ONLY trade he made was Duncan Robinson to Idaho to get $5 dollar Klay Thompson. Can Klay get back to his old self after 2 years away? If he does, his $10 dollar keeper price tag is going to be an absolute bargain. Of course French was the team willing to take this on. And only at the cost of Duncan Robinson. Maybe another master-stroke for French.

 

So I’m going to assume that Klay will be back to $10 bucks. We know that French is a huge Celtic fan so Tatum ($27) and Brown ($20) will both likely be back for their final contract year before they go back in the Auction. For the 4^th keeper spot, will it be Mitchell Robinson for year 4? Or maybe CP3? Or what about TJ? Some good options for French already meaning they will be a title contender yet again in 21/22.

 

MVP

I have to go with Chris Paul. Firstly because I don’t think any of us expected him to play 70 games. And secondly because his numbers were all-NBA worthy. 16ppg on essentially 50/40/93 shooting. His ATO was 3.987!! He had 100 steals in those 70 games. He even grabbed 4.4 rebounds per game and blocked 18 shots. Come on CP3 – those are insane numbers.

 

Unsung Hero

I haven’t mentioned TJ McConnell anywhere in this write-up yet so I feel like I have to gush about him here. A $4 FA pick up who ended up playing 48 games for French. He averaged 10ppg and shot 58% from the field. His ATO was 3.290 and he grabbed 92 steals for French (and had 128 steals overall). And he only started 1 game for Indy all season. Was this the FA signing of the season?

 

Bust of the Year

While I usually don’t pick on guys who get injured, I have to here. TJ Warren was a bust for French. He spent $21 bucks for the bubble breakout start and he lasted only 4 games before being shut down.

 

 

 

 1^st place- Brussels Muscles

  

So here we go. The JBL has a brand new, 1^st time champion. Timmy P. has done it. He’s broken into the most exclusive club in Fantasy Sports. JBL Champion. What a moment.

 

Before I dive deeper into why and how Brussels won the title in such convincing fashion, let’s first look back at my pre-season preview of this squad and roster.

 

 

#3 – Brussels

Despite the chat room being down on this squad, this is a very deep and talented roster. The only slight weakness, in terms of categories, I see on the surface could be in 3PT%. This team is very deep with Doncic, PG13, Kawhi, Sabonis, FVV, Wood, Bridges, and Horford as the backbone. This team has requisite late round guys like Bridges, Thybulle and Garland who could have breakout years for this squad. I like what Brussels has done here. He appears to be trying to model his ways after his good buddy French. I think we can safely say the days of Brussels and French hooking up on 10 player deals are over and done with. 

 

Why Brussels can win:

The three-headed (P-cubed) monster of big men (Plumlee, Poeltl, and Powell) all reach their lofty projections. Adding quality production from these big men only solidifies the core.

 

Why Brussels won’t win:

The 3 headed monster of big men don’t hit. And what if the Clippers duo of Kawhi and PG13 don't work out? Another possibility could be Timmy getting in the way of himself. Trader Tim loves to trade. But can he resist the temptation? Can he hold back where/when necessary? 

 

So, from this review and projection, I’d like to think the Godfather’s status as a prognosticator is back in the good books.

 

This JBL championship started with 2 key keepers. Luka Doncic and Christian Wood.  Luka was just $22 bucks and Wood was $8 bucks. Luka was 28-8-8 and Wood was 21-10. Even with Wood missing games he still put up monster numbers and only cost Timmy $8 bucks in the process.

 

Because of those cheap keepers, Brussels was able to spend some money and get some stars. He drafted Kawhi for $57, PG13 for $49, Sabonis for $44, and FVV for $36. The only other player he drafted that was over $10 bucks was Mason Plumlee for $14 bucks (and I know this pick raised some eyebrows at the time).

 

Before the season even started, Brussels also made 2 trades. And it should be noted these were the only 2 trades he made ALL season. This must have been extremely hard for Timmy to do. Not make trades. That’s not part of his makeup. But he managed. His first trade was Norman Powell to Chilliwack for Al Horford and his other trade was Matisse Thybulle to Cali for Delon Wright. I think the deal with Chilliwack was probably in Brussels favour initially but swayed back to the Wack once Horford was shut down so overall pretty even and I think both teams would probably make the deal again. The 2^nd deal with Cali definitely ended up favoring Brussels as Delon Wright, whether he was in Detroit or Sacramento, played a key role in the Brussels lineup over the year.

My pre-season comments about needing successful years from Plumlee and Poeltl couldn’t have played out any better for Brussels. Plumlee played 52 games for Brussels and Poeltl played 63 games. While neither are big names both of them put up stellar supporting numbers to go with all the scoring this team was getting from its stars.

 

Poeltl – 8.6ppg, 8reb, 61% FG, 1.73 blks

Plumlee – 10ppg, 9reb, 60% FG, 0.8 stl, 0.8 blk, 1.851 ATO

 

The breakout predictions for Mikal Bridges and Darius Garland also hit the mark. Bridges was one of only 11 players in the NBA to play in all 72 games and he put up 13ppg, 4reb, shot 54/42, and grabbed 76 steals and 63 blocks, and also produced a 2.667 ATO. He was a 6 category helper!  Garland was also very good and played in 42 games for Brussels and averaged 18ppg, shot 45/40, grabbed 1.29 steals per game and had an ATO of 1.817.

 

Brussels won because his stars (Doncic, Wood, Kawhi, PG13, Sabonis, and VanVleet) did exactly what they were supposed to do. They put up big numbers.  Having big years from his middle tier of players was essential to getting the victory. The big years from Plumlee, Poeltl, Bridges, Garland, Wright, Horford, and FA signings like Gafford, Allen, and Anthony all supported and contributed to the success of this team.

 

Brussels created a well balanced machine that was strong across all 7 JBL categories. His worst category was a 6^th place finish in 3PT%. He was 1^st in rebounds (by a long way) and 1^st in FG%. He was 2^nd in steals, 3^rd in blocks, 4^th in ATO, and 5^th in points. Dominant.  This Brussels squad averaged 6.54 rebounds per player. No other team averaged 6 rebounds per player. HUGE difference. Brussels won the FG% category at 49.4%. The next closest team was 49.0%. This FG% is now the 2^nd best FG% in JBL history! The 2018 Brussels team already holds the record for the best FG% at 49.5%. Apparently Timmy knows how to get the good shooters.

 

And I will say this Brussels team was ‘dominant’ because this squad played the fewest JBL man games of any JBL team this year. They only played 746 games. French (807) and Bangkok (800) played the most. Think about that for a second. If a JBL active roster of 12 players each played 4 games in week – that’s a 48-game week for your team. So really, Brussels played a full week less than some of the other teams due to injuries and other ‘resting’ protocols.

 

Brussels had a wonderful season. I’m sure many doubters will wonder if this was a one-year wonder; a flash in the pan; a complete fluke considering the last time Brussels was in contention for a JBL title and finished 2^nd was all the way back in 2013. Well, I hate to break it to you, I think Brussels will be in contention again next season.  Brussels now gets 4 keepers to play with. Doncic and Wood are locks. I would also think that Mikal Bridges will be back for just $14 bucks. The 4^th and final keeper spot could go to Garland or Poeltl or maybe he brings back the sure thing in Sabonis? Brussels has options.

 

What Brussels also has is at least 2 rookie picks. If you remember, Brussels traded his #7 rookie pick in the 2020 rookie draft to Cali (they took Devin Vassell) for Cali’s rookie pick in 2021. Well, this couldn’t have worked out any better for Brussels since Cali finished 13^th and now has the 2^nd best odds of winning the lottery and the pick will be conveyed to Brussels.  The JBL Head Office is also aware of a trade where Brussels will be acquiring a 3^rd rookie pick in the 2021 draft. It’s a deal like no other the JBL has ever seen and more details will come out when the 21/22 season begins. But it means that Brussels will have 4 strong keepers and potentially 3 cheap rookies to assist him in his quest to go back-to-back as a JBL Champion.

MVP

When I can list 3 or 4 guys here as a team MVP you know you've done well. Look, it could be Luka or Sabonis but I really think the best fantasy player on this team was still Kawhi Leonard. Sure, he missed some games but when he played he was dominant. 25ppg, 6reb, while shooting 51/40. He nabbed 81 steals in 52 games and his ATO was 2.560. Man is a stud. 

Unsung Hero

Again, it could be Poeltl or Plumlee or Bridges....but I am going to give some love to Delon Wright here. 10ppg with 98 steals in 63 games. He also shot 46/37 and his ATO was 3.310. A fantastic year for this 'role player'.

Bust of the Year

Tough one here for the champs but I am going with Gary Trent Jr. In the first weeks when JBL free agency opens up, Free Agents go for big bucks. In this case, Brussels dropped $36 bucks on Trent to secure his services. Well Mr. Trent only played 3 games for Brussels. So there, you goofed that one up Brussels. Nice job!

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So with all that said, this ends the 2020/21 season in review. I hope you guys enjoyed them and I look forward to the continued banter over the summer as we prepare for JBL 31. All the best boys!

Season in Review - Part II

 

9th place - Bellingham N Eggers

 

At first glance you might think the 9th place finish is a disappointment but this squad was much better than this for most of the season. Looking back at the weeks this team was in the 5th to 7th range for most of the season. Then, like the rest of us, injuries struck down these Eggers.

I admit, I wasn’t that high on this team going into the season. But they really were a very solid squad for most of the season. Big years from Beal, Allen, Hayward, Grant, and others were key contributors to their success. But also, all of those guys I just listed missed time with injuries down the stretch. The best blocking team in the JBL was almost the worst in ATO.  You didn’t see many point guards on this roster.

 Ham made a couple of significant trades this season. He traded Curry to Idaho for Myles Turner and Mike Conley. And then, since he was so strong in blocks, he moved Turner, Ibaka, and Ingles to Seoul for Valanciunas, Adams, and Tate. Since Turner got hurt shortly thereafter I think it was a pretty clear win for Bellingham. Jonas was an absolute monster for Ham in his 34 games. He put up 18 and 14 while shooting 64% from the field. Yowza.

 Bellingham also rostered one of my least favourite players in Dillon Brooks for most of the season. While being a strong Canadian, I just don’t like the kid. He takes some crazy shots for Memphis and I wish they would move him to a bench role. From a fantasy perspective, yes, he scores 17+ PPG. But the rest of the line isn’t really that helpful. 42 and 35 for percentages are not good on those volumes. He doesn’t rebound well and his ATO is meh. No blocks obviously but he does get just enough steals to make him a plus there. So really, a 2 category guy - but are those worth it for the drain on your %’s?

 So who will the Eggers bring back for next season? 2 spots and a lot of potential options. Jarrett Allen got off to a roaring start in Cleveland before tailing off and being shut down. Would he be an option for $33 bucks? What about the blocking French Canadian Chris Boucher for $16 (more on his exploits below). And if Allen is potentially worth $33 - is Jonas worth $39? Jerami Grant and his 22 PPG for $19? John Wall for another season at $14? Or maybe the young Talen Horton-Tucker for $11 if the Lakers get him a bigger role next season? Lots of time to make these decisions and it’s always nice to have multiple options.

I think the Eggers have just as much an argument as a lot of other teams on how greatly the injuries and the shut-downs impacted their roster. I think this was likely a top 8 team with some better health.

 

MVP

Bradley Beal was a standout for Ham this season. He managed to get in 60 games and was 2nd in the league in scoring. He also shot 48.5% from the field while grabbing almost 5 boards a game and 1.15 steals. While his 3PT% wasn’t the greatest he was very solid and provided good points for the squad.

 

Unsung Hero

The surprise performer from this team was obviously Chris Boucher. With the Raptors signing Aron Baynes in the offseason I don’t think anyone thought Boucher (all 118 pounds of him) would play this many minutes. And even saying that - it was only 24 minutes a game. However, in those minutes (and 60 games for Bellingham) Boucher put up 13 and 7 while shooting 51 and 38 and blocking 111 shots. He was drafted for just $11 bucks so he is definitely in contention to come back next season.

 

Bust of the Year

Drafted for $19 bucks I think Kevin Love wins this award again. Whoever he’s played for in the JBL over the last few seasons he has likely won this award for them as well. On the one hand, I kind of expected this as I think he’s done. He cannot stay healthy. That said, when he does play and actually cares, he can still easily get a double-double. The problem is he cannot stay healthy and I don’t think he cares. Getting out of Cleveland would likely save his career but who is going to take on those remaining 2 years and 60 million owing.

 

  

 

8th place - Vancouver Jizzlies

 

OK, I’ll be honest, about 4-6 weeks ago, I thought the Jizzlies were the most likely team to finish 14th. I thought the same when the team was drafted. Just didn’t see them being that strong. For 19 of the 21 weeks, I was right. Then it all changed. Things were quiet in Vancouver. Not a lot of FA signings and not a single trade this season. It was quiet. Too quiet for a team to make a late season charge. Or so I thought.

Take a look at where they were in the Overall Standings at a few moments in time (21 week season).

 

Week 5 - 12th

Week 8 - 12th

Week 12 - 14th

Week 16 - 14th

Week 17 - 12th

Week 18 - 11th

Week 19 - 12th

Week 20 - 9th

Week 21 - 8th (FINAL)

 

In the last 2 weeks this squad jumped from 12th to 8th. Amazing. You don’t see that very often.

So how did they do it when they really weren’t making a lot of moves? Well, they were healthy while many other teams were struggling to field 12 healthy players. And their players got HOT.  I mean super hot.

I reviewed the last month of the season and there are some significant contributors to the Jizzlies late season success.

 Bogdan Bogdanovic averaged 22 PPG while shooting 50% and 48% and grabbing 1.8 steals per game This MVP guy Nikola Jokic averaged 27 and 10 while shooting 56% with an ATO north of 2.000 The brilliant Canadian Kelly Olynyk averaged 19 and 9 with 1.9 steals while shooting 49 and 36.

And The Process, Joel Embiid, averaged 24 and 9 and shot 50/37 with 1.1 blocks per game.

 Add in other key contributors like Coby White, Jordan Clarkson, Kemba Walker and Kyle Anderson and this team was ON FIRE for the last month.

 The Jizzlies accomplished a lot despite playing guys like Elfrid Payton (40) and Blake Griffin (29) way more games than they likely deserved. That said, the Jizz now have an opportunity to protect 3 players and build off this late season surge.  We all know the importance of having a good core of keepers for under market value helps build a contender. So who will the Jizz bring back? Let’s look at some options…

 

Bogdanovic for $12? He sparked ATL to a great season.

Jordan Clarkson for $7? Is he the 6th man of the year?

Kelly Olynyk for $8? Can Kelly O and Mr.Wood co-habitate?

What about bringing back the Joker for $72? Is that market value?

Kemba for $23? Can he stay healthy?

 Lots of options and some very important decisions for the Jizzlies if they want to build on their best ever finish (they finished 8th in 2015 as well). Things could be looking up finally for a team in Vancouver!

 

MVP

Nikola Jokic. Period.

 

Unsung Hero

I think there are a couple of options here but I’m going to give my love to Kyle Anderson. I think many of us thought that JJJ would be back to take some of those forward minutes and I know I thought Brandon Clarke might eat into some of Slo-Mo’s time. But that simply wasn’t the case. He averaged 12ppg with 6reb. He had 84 steals and 57 blocks in 69 games. He shot 47% and 36% and his ATO was 2.910. Those are some darn nice numbers

 

Bust of the Year

I think the easy answer would be Blake Griffin or Elfrid Payton based on their JBL salaries but I am actually going with Coby White. The 2nd year guard was projected by many to be a breakout star. He went for $18 at JBL auction so there was some interest. Yes, he averaged 15ppg but he only shot 41/36 and needed a late season tear to get his numbers up. Expectations were that he was going to be that lead guard for Chicago and he might even push close to 20ppg. Well, that didn’t happen and in fact he lost his starting role not long into the season. We expected more Mr. White.

 

 

7^th place – Arctic Circle Jerks

 

This Arctic squad finished smack dab in the middle of the standings. Didn’t really push for a top 4 spot was solid enough that a 5^th to 8^th finish was likely. This was a team that saw 11 guys play more than 40 games on the roster. The big 3 of Kyrie, Gobert, and Vucevic were very strong. Kyrie only managed 51 active games for the Arctic was he was more worried about 3^rd world issues; the flat earth; gun violence; and why the rubiks cube isn’t round. But anyways, if he had played a full season you wonder if Arctic could have pushed higher.

While his rookie point guard selection, Killian Hayes, didn’t pan out, he did find a rookie PG gem in Immanuel Quickley. On the Hayes note, I did agree with his pick at the time. A lot of industry experts were high on this kid. Now, for Quickley, I didn’t think that Thibs liked rookies. So while he only played 20 minutes a game he did manage 12ppg and 40.5% from downtown.

 Arctic saw good seasons from a re-born Andrew Wiggins. Bet you didn’t know he blocked 70 shots in 71 games! He also shot 48% and 38% while scoring 18+ppg, grabbing 5 reb a game and nabbing 66 steals. Those are pretty darn good numbers in my books.

 As with all the other teams, Arctic lost some quality man games from De’Angelo Russell (he only played 36 games for Arctic), Larry Nance (only 29 games), and Tyler Herro (only 46 games). Now, that said, he did get 71 games from Gobert and 70 from Vucevic so it is nice to get 70+ from a couple of studs. Not many JBL teams could say that.  

 Just like the frozen tundra of the Arctic, Crikker was very frigid when it came to trades. Not a single one. Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Maybe his hands were too busy in the ‘circle’ to hit the trade button. I know I sent him some offers at some point, but traditionally Arctic is a tough one to make deals with. Usually it takes a Pershick Christmas gathering, spiked eggnog, and some Idaho banter to get him to cave.

 While the Arctic didn’t make any trades, he sure did explore the Free Agent wire. For the final week of the season, the Arctic roster featured 10 FA’s of this 15 players. Very impressive. He found some key contributors like Jalen Brunson, Doug McDermott and Kevin Huerter along the way.

So with 3 keeper spots available where does the circle jerker go? He could consider Mr. Wiggins again for $25. Or maybe Kyrie for $53? What about Gobert or Vucevic for even bigger dollars? Or does he go the cheaper route and look at Quickley for just $7 bucks? Herro would be only $15. There are lots of options here.

 

MVP

Rudy Gobert gets the nod here for me. 14, 13, 2.7 blks. Shooting 67.5%. Dominant in 3 categories.

 

Unsung Hero

Again, a few options here but I was always surprised to see how well Jalen Brunson performed. In his 48 Arctic games he averaged 12ppg, shot 52/39 and had an ATO of 3.500. I was impressed.

 

Bust of the Year

Killian Hayes or Cam Reddish. Both didn’t last long and to be fair, they were injury drops, but I think both had some expectations attached to them and for one reason or another they failed to live up to the hype.

 

 

 6^th place – Norfolk-in-Chance

 

Looking back at my pre-season preview of this team I see I had them ranked #9 in my power poll. I thought they would be strong in scoring (turns out they finished 2^nd in scoring) and I also thought they would be strong in 3PT% (whoops, this bunch finished 13^th). I also questioned their rebounding abilities (and this team finished 2^nd in boards). So, what can I tell you? Sometimes even the Godfather can’t predict the future.

 My pre-season preview also talked a lot about the potential of Spencer Dinwiddie and Cole Anthony. Well, those clearly didn’t factor in either. That said, I questioned the Drummond factor if he got traded as well as Trae Young’s impact with Atlanta’s new found depth. BINGO. Nailed those ones. OK, moving on.

 Who played the most games for Norfolk? None other than Enes Kanter. All 72 for the Blazers. And while I initially didn’t think he’d play much – turns out that he played loads of minutes because of all the injuries Nurkic suffered throughout the year. Kanter put up 11 and 11 and shot 60%. Great year. Bobby Portis also was a big factor as he managed 11.5 ppg and 7reb while shooting 52% and 48.7% from downtown in his 61 Norfolk games. Yes, that is correct – 48.7% from downtown!! What a fantastic $5 FA signing.

 Diving deeper into the numbers, I can now see why this team struggled from downtown. All of these high volume jackers (Trae, Booker, Lopez, Schroder, Oubre) just couldn’t find the range from deep. Even with Portis shooting at such a high clip and Lillard bombing away at 39.1% - nothing could save them from a 13^th place finish in 3PT%.

 Unlike many teams that cycled through a lot of players, Norfolk only used 21 players this season. And again, another team that didn’t make a single trade!

 Looking at this team I would say that many of their big names underachieved (Drummond, Schroder, Oubre) but his role players all overachieved (Kanter, Thad Young, Portis). It worked out pretty well overall I think. This team struggled in ATO (12^th) and Blocks (11^th) and you wonder if Dinwiddie would have helped in ATO and a few more games from Drummond would have helped in blocks. We’ll never know.

 What we do know is that Norfolk has the opportunity to bring back 3 players for next season. Will Trae Young be back for year 4 in Norfolk? I would think so at just $24 bucks. What about Bobby Portis for $10 bucks? There a couple of cheap options too. Kanter for $6 or Thad Young for $6?

 

MVP

Damian Lilllard is the man. 67 games played. 29ppg. 45/39 percentages. 62 steals. 2.487 ATO. Superstar.

 

Unsung Hero
As mentioned above, I think this team’s success was due to those middle-tier players being so good this season. Portis, Kanter, Harrelll all had good seasons. But the winner for me was the $1 dollar free agent signing of Thaddeus Young. We all thought he would be bench fodder in Chicago but it turned out that Billy Donovan loved him. At almost 33 years old, Thad put up 12ppg, 6reb, 74 steals, 40 blocks, 2.139 ATO and shot 56% from the field.

 

Bust of the Year

This is probably the toughest one yet to decide. Especially since Norfolk only used 21 players. I don’t want to say Spencer Dinwiddie because it was an unfortunate injury that made him a bust. I’m going with Andre Drummond here as only getting 46 games out of him leaves a lot to be desired. Once he joined the Lakers he put up 11 and 10 and 1 block so pretty pedestrian by his standards. I wonder where he will end up next season….

 

 

 5^th place – Golden Showers

 

Where to begin with this lot of miscreants? How about I start with the long time favourite Shower, LaMarcus Aldridge. We see these NBA aging veterans all the time. Sometimes they fade away and sometimes they just fall off the cliff. Well, LA12 fell off the cliff. I should have known after watching him in the very brief pre-season and seeing that he looked overweight, out of shape about 57 years old. Never should have spent money on him. But hey, he was a key piece in my KAT/Holmes acquisition as salary filler.

 So, like every other team, Golden lost man games from darn near everyone on this roster. Obviously those man games lost from guys like SGA (only played 34 games for Golden) or Nurkic (only 33) hurt more than others but when your big boys aren’t playing, you won’t be winning.  Curry missed time due to covid; Derrick White recovered from a fractured toe to return for 1 game and re-fracture a toe; Fournier had ‘back spasms’ for 4 weeks; and the list goes on. Cry me a river I know.

Looking fondly over this cruddy roster I realize now that I employed 46 different players this past season. Just 7 of them played 36 games or more for Golden while a whopping 27 of them played less than 10 games in Golden. Meaning? You better be good or you won’t last long in this town.

Looking back, protecting Brandon Clarke was a mistake. I was thinking he would improve on year 1 and with JJJ missing time that he would get some good minutes. Nope. Wrong. Bye bye Brandon. I should have protected Fred VanVleet. Whoops. My loss was Brussels gain. 

I took a stab at everyone’s favourite OKC breakout star Darius Bazley and he killed my percentages. For some reason I played him 35 games and he shot 39/29 on big volumes. Why Johnny why? I traded him to Idaho for Derrick Jones Jr who played just 3 games in Golden before being cut. That said, I moved up the standings and was far better off without Mr. Bazley. Consider yourself banned!

 It wasn’t all bad in Golden. I did uncover, through dumb luck, a possible rookie gem in Tyrese Haliburton. He’s likely to be back for a 2^nd year based on his impressive rookie season. I also loved watching Richaun Holmes and Beef Stewart man the middle as undersized centers. They play with such passion and energy that it’s hard to not love them. Another lock to be back is Shai Gilgeous Alexander. While I have concerns over his foot injury he will have had several months to rest before next season since OKC shut him down ages ago. In his 34 games for Golden he put up 23ppg, almost 5 reb, shot 51/43, had an ATO of 1.960 and nabbed 27 steals and 23 blocks. He will be back for $16 dollars.

 The Golden keeper crop could be Haliburton, SGA, Holmes, Stewart or Nurkic. There are only 3 spots available and loads of time to decide. Haliburton's value could depend on whether Buddy gets shipped out of Sactown. And Holmes is a free agent who wants to stay with the Kings but would look really nice in a Hornets uniform catching lobs from LaMelo. Stewart would be great if Plumlee leaves town. So, a few options with a few dependencies. We will see what happens.

MVP

While maybe not my favourite player, Khris Middleton was probably Golden's most consistent over the course of the year. He played 68 games in Golden and averaged 20ppg with 6reb. He shot 48/41 with a 2.076 ATO and picking up 74 steals. Not sexy. Just steady. 

Unsung Hero

Isaiah Stewart takes the award here as I didn’t think this kid would be this good so soon. Mason Plumlee was manning the middle just fine and then Detroit started to rest their ‘older’ guys more regularly and Beef Stew was born. He played in 36 games for Golden and averaged 10 and 7 with 1.5 blocks and shot 56% from the field. He has no neck but that’s OK – he’s beef stew.

 

Bust of the Year

It has to be LaMarcus. I spent $40 bucks on this guy and he was horrible. Just terrible. I don’t want to talk about him anymore.

2020/21 Season in Review - Part I

Well, that's 30 years in the books. 30 years of fantasy basketball. I was 17 when it all began and 30 years later I still love the game, love following the stats, and love the idea of trying to build the best fantasy team possible. And it's all possible, year after year, because of this amazing group of dudes who share the same passion as me about the NBA. 

So, as I have done in many years passed....here is my take on the JBL season that was.

As I dive into the team reviews, as always, please don’t take anything personal. It’s all meant to be in good fun. Sure, I’ll take some jabs at some teams and decisions but it’s just for the love of the game. I will do a team-by-team review and provide the yearly awards for each team. And to qualify for these team awards the player must have spent at least 50% of the season on your JBL roster. I think I will go with ‘MVP’ – which I will define as your team’s best overall player from a fantasy perspective. I will award an ‘Unsung hero’ award to a player who I feel overachieved for your squad. And finally, I will award the ‘Bust of the Year’ award to the player on your team that failed to live up to expectations (and yes, this honour does not require the 50% of games rule).

Without further ado, here we go…..

14^th place – Idaho Udapimps

Where do I begin with this squad?  Coming into the season, Idaho was poised for a breakthrough year. In the past 3 seasons, Idaho was coming off back to back 2^nd place finishes and the year before that was a 3^rd place finish. The youngster was ready and primed with 4 keepers (JJJ, Carter, Ingram, and Ayton) and was ready to take the final leap. To say things went off the rails fairly quickly is a bit of an understatement. Even though after the 1^st week, Idaho was sitting in 2^nd place overall and the sky was the limit. But that was as good as it got. It was all downhill from there. We all thought Idaho made a shrewd move early when he traded Westbrook/Nunn for Turner/Fultz. That deal initially looked to be in Idaho’s favour until Westy turned into a 2^nd half monster and Fultz was lost to a torn ACL after just 8 games. 

Idaho, like many other teams I will summarize here, was devastated by injuries all season. The Jaren Jackson Jr. situation was beyond comical as he was ‘almost ready’ for about 18 weeks and ultimately ended up playing just 11 uninspiring games. It’s seasons like this that make JBL owners shy away from players in future auctions. 

Idaho shot for the moon and traded Milton/Biyombo for a then underutilized Hassan Whiteside. He got a couple of Whiteside gems but those were too few and far between and Whiteside was ultimately found out in SacTown and rode the pine.  Idaho again swung for the fences and traded Conley and Turner for Stephen Curry. He had a MVP-type season but even his heroics could not prevent Idaho from falling to the basement. 

The Idaho squad was littered with underachievers. And that’s a pretty typical statement when we are talking about the 14^th place team. All good plans didn’t come to fruition. The list is long of players that didn’t live up to Idaho’s expectations. Wendell Carter Jr. was jettisoned from Chicago after not being able to figure things out. Lauri Markkanen regressed and even lost his starting gig. Gallinari was injured and coming off the bench in ATL. Aaron Gordon struggled with injuries and then his trade to Denver didn’t help his numbers. 

There were a few standouts on this team. Ingram, Ayton and Dejounte Murray all had good years (and they didn’t miss many games). I also think Danny Green showed some good fantasy value in Philly.   

Idaho will not have any keepers for next season and that means that guys like Ayton and Ingram will both be back in the auction. Good news for the rest of us.

A 14^th place finish also means that Idaho gets 14 ping pong balls in the JBL rookie lottery in a supposed very deep rookie draft. Could Idaho win the lottery and tease us with another coin flip decision?? Remember the last one netted him Ayton over Doncic. And to think that coin flip ultimately gave Brussels Doncic who was the initial building block which resulted in a 1^st ever title for Brussels this season. I’m not sure Idaho will remember this coin flip decision quite as fondly as Brussels is right now. 

MVP

This one is clearly Steph Curry. He played 43 games in Idaho and averaged 34PPG, 5REB, 5AST, 1.2 STL and shot 49.0% and 42.5%. An absolute fantasy monster.

Unsung Hero:

Danny Green. I can admit that I thought Danny Green was done. I thought he was on the backside of the career and I didn’t think he would still be this valuable from a real life or fantasy perspective. He averaged 10PPG, 1.3 STL and 0.9 BLK for Idaho while shooting 41.5% from downtown. A very nice role player for this squad.

Bust of the Year:

Oh the choices. So many to choose from! I think, based on how Idaho typically values his players, that there a number of guys who could win this award. Lauri Markkanen? Wendell Carter Jr? Danilo Gallinari? Isaac Okoro (predicted by Idaho to win ROY)?  With all the choices, I am going with Wendell Carter Jr here. He was a prized Idaho keeper and expectations were high. Not only in Idaho but also in Chicago. He failed to live up to those expectations in either place and Chicago even traded him away. That’s winner winner chicken dinner

13^th place – Cali Fornication

Another team with pretty high expectations coming into the season. Cali was coming off a 5^th place finish the year before and was hoping to improve on that this season. If you had told me at the start of the season that Patrick Williams, one of Cali’s prized rookies, would lead the team in Fantasy man-games played at 71, I don’t think I would have believed you. But the kid did, 71 games, mostly starts for Chicago too. So, while that’s impressive, it could also be part of the reason for Cali’s final plot in the standings. This Cali squad, whether deliberate or not, was another Punt Points team. Unfortunately, they also turned out to be a punt Steals and punt ATO team as well. Last year using this punt points approach worked out much better as Cali was strong in every other category. This year….not so much. 

The heavy hitters of this Cali team – Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Clint Capela, and Victor Oladipo – just didn’t play enough games to make a big enough impact. KD only played 32 games for Cali. AD only played 36. Oladipo just 29. At least Capela played 63 and played them very well. His numbers were outstanding and he played a huge role, in my opinion, in Atlanta’s success this season. 15ppg, 14reb, and 2 blocks while shooting 60% from the field? Yes please. But overall, when you’ve got a lot of eggs into the basket – those eggs better not be sucky. Or something like that. 

The rest of the Cali roster was filled with some decent role players (Royce O’Neale, Bruce Brown, Robert Williams) but may of them even underperformed. And I will say this, did Cali do enough to try and improve the squad over the course of the year? Only one trade. And that was a blockbuster of acquiring Matisse Thybulle from Brussels for Delon Wright. That was it. No other trades. And on the FA wire – did they do enough? Why was Otto Porter still on this roster at the end of the season? I tried looked up his games for the last month of the season – and, oh wait, he didn’t play for the last month! Tyus Jones? Tomas Satoranksy? Dario Saric? Was there nothing better on the wire to try something a little different?

Usually, the one silver lining of finishing 13^th in the standings has to do with the ping pong balls you get in the next JBL rookie lottery. Unfortunately for Cali, he traded his 2021 rookie pick to Brussels so it will be Timmy hoping for one of Cali’s 13 balls to come out 1^st. 

Cali does get one keeper for next season. Who will that be? Is it the recovering Kevin Durant? Maybe one of this prized rookies – Patrick Williams or Devin Vassell? Will it be the Timelord in Boston who racks up the blocks? Will it be Capela for his sure-fire numbers? I think we all know it won’t be AD as Cali seems to have lost his shine of the Unibrow now. Lots of time still to decide but Cali will be starting from scratch pretty much next season. The only thing that makes this season worse is if that Cali ping pong ball comes out first in the lottery. 

MVP

First off, AD qualifies because he played 36 games for Cali but he’s not the guy. KD only managed 32 so he’s not an option. And actually, I think the award is pretty simple. It’s Clint Capela all day, every day. I listed his numbers above and he is clearly worthy of Cali’s MVP.

Unsung Hero

There are a few options here since Cali’s team is really filled with role players who may have overachieved during the year. For me though, it comes down to the 2 Williams boys. Patrick or Robert. Both were better than I thought they would be. I didn’t think Chicago should have taken him at #4 but there he was starting games and producing decent numbers. And with Timelord I was just thinking he would be a 3^rd wheel behind Thompson and Theis but we know that he forced his way into more playing time. Timelord was 8 and 7 with 1.8 BLK’s and shot 72% from the field. I’m giving this one to the Timelord.

Bust of the Year:

While I’m sure Cali ownership may vote for AD here my ballot is going to Victor Oladipo for a couple of reasons. First off, Oladipo was protected by Cali for $25 bucks. And what did he get for those $25 bucks? 29 games of crap. Sure there was 20-5-4 but 41 and 33 %’s are not good. And when you’re injured all the time – that blows goats. I think the expectations for Victor were super high and he failed to live up them. 

12^th place – Bangkok Fighters

To say the Kok always has high expectations is an understatement. The Kok believes his team will win one day. The Kok dreams about winning the title. And the Kok’s nightmare came true when Brussels beat him to the prize. The Kok will be buying Brussels a nice bottle of something from here until eternity unless the Kok wins a title or the JBL folds. I can say for sure I'm not folding it...

This year’s version of Bangkok was "alright". I actually had them ranked #7 in my pre-season power poll so I kind of liked this bunch. Guess that one was a bit off. This Kok team was built around 3 Bucks – Giannis, Jrue and Donte.  Jrue Holiday probably had his best fantasy season is many years and he always seems to be in Bangkok. Giannis was amazing and despite missing 11 games still put up monstrous numbers. Not sure why he bothers trying to shoot 3’s and his frequent jacking certainly didn’t help the Kok’s 11^th place finish in 3PT%. And Donte was a solid role player all year and contributes well in 3-4 categories. 

When you look at the Kok across the 7 categories – he didn’t do anything great (steals was his best category at 7^th) but he didn’t suck at anything completely (12^th in blocks). Every other category was in between – which ultimately led to the 12^th place finish. 

Of course, like every other team, Bangkok was hit with injuries and losing Jamal Murray (aka The Headmaster) was a massive blow to the Kok. Pun intended. He lost man games from Hunter, Wiseman, Siakam, Kleber, and others. I’ll give Kok credit, he certainly threw everything he had at the league as Bangkok saw 36 players call the Kok home this season. That’s a big number for the Kok. Of course, some of those shots in the dark included Troy Brown Jr, Dwayne Bacon, Justise Winslow, Torrey Craig, and the crappy version of Jaxson Hayes. But hey, at least he was trying. I think if Jamal Murray had stayed healthy that the Kok could have found himself a spot or two higher in the standings. 

That said, a 12^th place finish is the best place to finish if you are in the 9^th to 12^th slots. You get your 2 keepers AND you get 12 ping pong balls. We also know that the Kok will be shooting for the 1^st ever back-to-back-to-back lottery wins (Zion and Wiseman). We’ll see where he lands this year. 

Now, for those 2 keeper spots, we already know about the Kok’s infatuation with Anthony Edwards. The kid was pretty amazing down the stretch and Rick has to hope that he continues to improve and shoot the ball at these higher numbers. The hiring of Chris Finch in Minny, while doing nothing for their porous defense, at least helped turn around Edwards game. Throw in that the rookie played in all 72 games and you can clearly see his upside. 

That said, let’s do a quick comparison:

Player A:  19.3 PPG, 4.7 REB, 1.310 ATO, 82 steals, 35 blocks, 41.8% FG, 32.9% 3PT in 72 games

Player B:  15.7 PPG, 5.9 REB, 2.159 ATO, 79 steals, 18 blocks, 43.5% FG, 35.1% 3PT in 51 games

Player C:  13.0 PPG, 3.0 REB, 3.359 ATO, 77 steals, 28 blocks, 47.2% FG, 40.9% 3PT in 58 games

These are 3 rookie guards that will likely all be keepers. I’ll let you guys figure out who is who – but that should be pretty easy I think. Assuming they all improve on these numbers in year 2, we should see some pretty big smiles on JBL owners faces. So who would you rather have from this player group? A, B, or C?

The question for the Kok then is who is going to be that 2^nd keeper? For awhile there it looked like DeAndre Hunter for $7 would be a nice option but he hasn’t been able to stay healthy and now with Bogie’s arrival in ATL and the competition from Reddish, Snell, Hill, and others I’m not sure there is a big path to minutes. Now, if ATL trades or moves on from John Collins then maybe Hunter is worth the risk. Is Wiseman for $20 a worthy investment? Not sure about that. But also that would mean that the Kok has had the #1 rookie pick for 2 years and neither Zion or Wiseman are still on the team, What about Keldon Johnson for $15? I guess that depends on what the Spurs do this offseason. Could the Kok just bring Jrue Holiday back for $44 bucks? You know that Jrue will likely be a Kok target at auction so the he could simply remove any drama and just sign him now for likely market value.   

Anyways, enough about the Kok. He’s definitely got some added pressure now that Brussels has beat him to the JBL’s ultimate prize.

MVP

There isn’t much here to debate and I’m not going to try and justify anyone other than Giannis. The numbers speak for themselves. 

Unsung Hero x2

The surprise here for me is Keldon Johnson. I didn’t think this kid would be a fantasy impact at all. Little did we know that LaMucus (as the Kok calls him) turned up to training camp as a 57 year old aging power forward.  Keldon was a key FA signing for the Kok who played 64 games for him and averaged almost 13PPG with 6REB while shooting 48% from the field. Some really good production from an unexpected source. 

Another unsung hero of this roster was Joe Ingles. In his 35 Bangkok games, he averaged 13ppg, 5ast, and shot 46/44. Really good numbers and I think he should be NBA 6^th man of the year. 

Bust of the Year

There is only one option here for me. Hassan Whiteside. A $34 dollar venture that went sour really quickly. He only played 7 games in Bangkok before being shipped out to Idaho. 

11^th place – Maui Ribs

What can you say about this Maui squad?  It was beautiful. Bold. Bashful. Brilliant. A team built only of players whose last names begin with the letter B. A theme team idea that had never been done and came into play before the season began. Did the Godfather know this was going to happen? Yes. Did the Godfather maybe provide some advice to Maui on his quest? Maybe. 

How did the idea come to fruition? It began in essence after seeing that Maui’s best 2 keepers at the start of the year, appeared to be Davis Bertans and Lonzo Ball. And maybe a random comment of ‘what if the team only consisted of players with last name starting with B?” So, the next step all came down to the rookie lottery. What if Maui was able to get LaMelo Ball and have the Ball brothers and 3 dudes with the last name starting with B? After the rookie lottery, where Bangkok won the 1st overall pick again there were some definite doubts it could happen. Maui had the 2nd pick and it was all about waiting to see who the Kok would take at #1. If Ball went 1st overall to Bangkok - the theme team idea may have died right there. Alas, Kok took Wiseman and that left LaMelo for Maui and the theme/dream team was born and on track.

Maui is an original JBL member. 30 years in. They’ve been located in many places before they found a forever-home in Maui. Remember Lubin My Pole? Remember the Fanny Bay Fillies? All good - but nothing beats some Maui Ribs. 

When a theme team is born there are usually some key players that are absolute must haves in order for it to work. In this case, with only B players available - one would think that Jimmy Butler, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker would all be must drafts. Well, just to make things a little more interesting, Maui decided to only get 1 of those guys! And Jimmy didn’t disappoint. Sure, he missed some games - but he was every bit the fantasy star we know he can be (ie. 108 steals in 52 games). That said, having Beal and Booker definitely would have helped in the scoring department.

Maui successfully drafted an entire roster of B players and I’m not sure many other owners knew what was happening at the time. Godfather knew but that didn’t stop me from stealing Darius Bazley away from Maui when he needed another player. In case you don’t believe in karma, that decision clearly shows it does exist as Bazley was jettisoned for scrap parts way too late into the season. Maui - you are welcome for not being saddled with that percentage killer.

Maui suffered an early blow losing his only true source of rebounds in Thomas Bryant very early in the season. This team became focused on steals, ATO and 3PT% where they finished 5th, 5th and 2nd respectively. Without many Bigs in the B name category - Blocks, FG% and rebounds were always going to be tough. Maui wound up 14th in all of those categories.

All that said, Maui got some really nice years from Brogdon, Miles Bridges, RJ Barrett, the Ball brothers and the late season additions of Khem Birch and Oshae Brissett. Injuries to previously mentioned Bryant, Bagley, Beasley, Barton, and others hurt this team and it pretty much goes without saying that all JBL teams were impacted by the covid season. Guys like Bertans and Bledsoe did not perform well and since the theme team was in effect it’s not like Maui had endless FA options to replace these guys. Or many trade options. Not that he’s ever been a massive trader it goes without much surprise to tell you Maui didn’t make any deals this season.

Maui’s 11th place finish, while it doesn’t get any accolades or trophies will be remembered in Maui though as there is some pride in knowing that he limited himself to drafting from a list of just 47 players while the rest of us were open to 300+ players. And while doing that, Maui still beat 3 other teams. Is that more of a win for Maui or a loss for the other 3 teams? Now, that said, if you were going to build a team while only selecting players with a last name starting with a certain letter - I do think that B is a pretty good, if not the best option. So congrats to Maui for pulling that off and staying committed for the entire season. Well done. Shame on the 3 of you that fell below the Maui-line. Finishing 12th to 14th wasn’t bad enough - it just got worse since I am reminding you that you finished behind a B-named theme team. 

Now, who will Maui be protecting to go along with his 11 ping pong balls? LaMelo certainly appears to be a top option as the likely ROY winner. What about his teammate in Charlotte - Mile Bridges who would be a cool $6 bucks? Is the Canadian RJ Barrett in the mix? What about Brogdon? Or what if the Pacers trade Myles Turner and they continue to play Oshae Brissett? In his 21 games for the Pacers he averaged 11 and 6 while shooting 48/42 with 19 steals and 20 blocks. A sleeper option to keep an eye on. 

Maui has had some strong years based on his lottery success. Remember this is team that’s had Anthony Davis for 5 years, Porzingis for 5 years, Oladipo for 5 years so the lottery luck could be about to strike again for Maui. Pairing LaMelo and another top rookie could be the start of another contending Maui squad. Did you know that in the last 19 years that Maui has finished in the money (top 4) nine times!! 9 times. But still no JBL title. Maybe JBL 31 will be that year?

MVP

This is another tough one but I am going with Jimmy Butler here. 21-7-7 with 2.1 steals! Big production.

Unsung Hero

There’s a couple of options here that I like. Desmond Bane was a nice find of the FA wire who shot 43% from downtown. Khem Birch and Oshae Brissett were great late season finds as well. But the unsung hero of this squad, for me, was $1 dollar Miles Bridges. He started the season coming off the bench for Charlotte since they added Gordon Hayward in the offseason. I think we all thought he would be bench fodder for them. However, some injuries allowed Bridges to play more minutes down the stretch. In fact, over his last 30 games he averaged 16PPG, 6REB, 0.6 STL, 0.9 BLK while shooting 51% and 42%. Very impressive. 

Bust of the Year

This one has to be Davis Bertans. Another keeper who failed to live up to any expectations. He signed a big offseason deal and now he sucks. Outside of the 39.5% from downtown he failed to really help out Maui in any other categories. 

10^th place – Chilliwack Offs

To say the Wack didn’t live up to expectations is an understatement. As we know, Benny put a lot of this eggs into a couple of baskets. Big dollars invested in Karl Anthony Towns and James Harden to pair with keepers Ja Morant and De’Aaron Fox led to high hopes for this squad. Unfortunately for the Wack, Harden showed up in a fat suit and wanting out of Houston….

Pre-season rankings even had the Godfather very high on this team. Maybe that was the kiss of death.

Just like other teams the Wack was never fully healthy. Between Harden wanting out of Houston and then injury and covid issues in Brooklyn and KAT missing some time due to covid restrictions this team was never fully healthy.

Benny made some moves and acquired Norm Powell for Al Horford. Initially this looked like a big win for Brussels as Horford was on fire for the young OKC team. Then the deal swung to the Wack’s favour as Norm Powell went off and Horford went to the bench for the tanking Thunder. 

Seoul and Chilliwack made their annual trade and swapped underperformers Lord Covington for Buddy Hield. Both seemed to come out of their early season funks right away and Buddy ended up playing 61 games for the Wack and averaging 17ppg while shooting 40% from downtown. Pretty even deal when you look at the numbers. 

Despite Buddy’s 3pt% heroics, the Wack finished dead last in that category and also struggled in Points (13^th) and Rebounds (13^th). With Buddy (40% and Powell (40.6%) bombing away from downtown and making a lot of 3’s, I was a little surprised to see this team finish last in the 3PT% category. The rebounds was more obvious as the Wack’s top rebounders were Bam (8.7) and Harden (8.0) and Ivica Zubac (7.2). I do like Zubac as a #2 center and he actually led the Wack in games played as he appeared in all 72 games for the Clippers and the Wack this season. 

As the season progressed and the Wack’s hopes of a money-run began to fade, he re-acquired Bam Adebayo (and LaMarcus Aldridge) from Golden for KAT and Richaun Holmes. Unfortunately for the Wack, Aldridge only suited up for 4 games before announcing his retirement. However, the prize of Bam for one more keeper season was enough for the Wack. He will likely now pair Bam and Morant as his 2 keepers for the 21/22 season. The only wrinkle, is James Harden actually a better keeper than Morant? Hmmmm. 

I stand behind my lofty projections for this squad at the start of the season. They were poised, on paper, to be a top team. But I think the Wack can blame Fat Harden for the comedy of errors and injuries that ensued over the course of the year. The Wack can take some comfort in the season as at least he beat the Kok and Idaho and won a couple of side bets. However, this 4-time JBL champion has suffered through a dark stretch over the last 8-9 years and this 10th place finish is not overly inspiring as they head into next season. 

MVP

Wow, who would have thought it would be this hard to figure out a team’s MVP? Ja Morant was nice but I expected more. De’Aaron Fox was pretty darn good too. James Harden? Bam? You know I am very fond of Bam but I’m going with Harden. Despite missing a lot of games he still put up monster numbers in Brooklyn. And think of this, Harden played 20 fewer games than Bam but still almost scored the same amount of points (1,197 to 1,083).

Unsung Hero
For me, it’s Derrick Rose. All of us thought he was done. Why do I say that? Because Benny won him at auction for $1 buck. So not a single other owner thought he was worth $2!!  Rose was active in 42 games for the Wack and put up almost 15PPG while shooting 46.5% and 38.7 and his ATO was 2.740. Great year for Mr. Rose.

Bust of the Year

It comes down to 2 aging veterans here – Rubio or Favors. I expected more from both of them. Favors AVERAGED 5 and 5 with 1 block. I expected more. Rubio, despite Minny being without D-Lo for long stretches only shot 39/30 while averaging 8ppg was also disappointing. Take your pick gents.