Another year, another first time JBL champion. Congrats again to the
Maui Ribs for a completely dominant performance all year long. I’ve already
said it here, but Maui was in 2nd after week 1 and then never
trailed again. Sure, there was a couple moments when Bangkok passed him during
an evening in Week 23/24, but the Kok never finished the night in 1st
place. That’s what I call sheer dominance from Maui. And even with all the
tanking shenanigans, I don’t believe the outcome would have changed at all.
Maui won by 125 points. It wasn’t really that close. In the last 4 weeks,
22-25, in the weekly standings, Maui was 2nd, 1st, 2nd,
and 2nd. He wasn’t fading away. Anyways, let’s dive deeper into some
of these JBL teams and performances.
Starting with champs, a lot of things obviously went right for the Ribs.
First off, getting Joel Embiid in a MVP-type season for $46 bucks at
auction? Come on. Amazing value. Look at
what guys like KAT, Jokic, Gobert, and Giannis went for. Embiid for $46 was an absolute steal. Then a
career scoring season from DeMar DeRozan. Yes please. LaMelo became an
All-Star. Mobley is likely the ROY. Desmond Bane could be the most improved
player (18ppg and 44% from deep). The list goes on and on. FVV scored 20+
points, ATO was 2.553, and snagged 112 steals while shooting 37.7% from deep.
Aaron Gordon went from 4th option to 2nd option in Denver
and averaged 15 and 6 on 52% shooting. The scary part is that this team could
have been better. Lonzo only played 35 games for Maui and Draymond only played
43. With those 2 healthy, Maui was top ATO in the JBL. Regardless, Maui’s 1216
point total is now the 2nd highest total in JBL history. And while
every great JBL team has it’s stars and breakout guys – it’s often the “role”
players that can change your fortunes. I look at guys like Plumlee and Powell
for low key big man stats. A guy like De’Anthony Melton had 104 steals. Even Bledsoe, Gay and Brissett provided value
on weeks when others were out injured. Maui put it all together this year and
is fully deserving of the JBL title. And you can expect this Ribs team to be
contending again as there are loads of potential keepers to choose from.
Lamelo, Mobley, Bane and Embiid would top my list.
French Lick moved into 2nd place in the last 5 minutes of
the NBA season. So late in fact, I had already given 2nd to Bangkok
and posted that on the JBL site. Little did I know that Klay Thompson wanted to
score 40+ points and his 3PT shooting would ultimately impact 4 JBL teams. His
7/14 performance from downtown and 41 point effort moved him up 2 spots in 3PT%
and up one spot in scoring vaulting him passed Bangkok for 2nd
place. His move also cost Idaho 7th place and dropped him down to 8th
which allowed Seoul to narrowly finish in 7th. I think I’ve already written more about
French than I have all season. They just hung around. All year. And then
whammo, on the last night, they climb into 2nd to keep an
unbelievable streak alive. For now 8 straight years, French has either won the JBL
or finished 2nd. I’ll say that again, 8 straight years of 1st
or 2nd. Dynasty.
French has used his Celtic dup of Tatum and Brown to lead the charge for the last couple of years.
However, they both head back to auction and I’m curious as to what they will go
for. I know Norfolk will be bidding them up as he’s always interested in French
targets (and so we all should be). French did everything well except scoring (8th).
And I can’t help but think having LeBron (56) and CP3 (65) and Klay (32) play
less than a full season really impacted that. That said, CP3 finished with a
4.590 ATO. You read that right. Horford, Zubac, Adams, and Mitch Rob anchored
the big man stats. Jarred Vanderbilt is an emerging fantasy player. And then
guys like Tobias Harris, Seth Curry and Norm Powell, while boring, just get the
job done. French gets 4 keeper spots and
my leading candidates for those are Klay, Vanderbilt, Horford, and Mitchell
Robinson. Guess where I’ll be ranking French in my offseason rankings.
Bangkok was the 2nd best team this season. But they
finished 3rd. Either way, no one remembers (unless you’re French and have this incredible 8 year streak running). Anyways, the Kok exceeded all
expectations. Coming out of draft night, I had them ranked 11th but
that quickly changed. For me, the trade of Herro for Haliburton was the first turning
point. Of course, Dejounte’s first All Star season also had something to do
with the Kok surge. Ant Edwards and Don
Mitchell scored the dickens out of the ball. Capela, Ayton, and Wendell got the
big man stats (outside of blocks). And Herb Jones became a thing of folk lore.
Seriously, for all the credit Matisse Thybulle gets, watch this kid and look at
his stock totals. The January trade (2nd turning point) with Seoul where the Kok gave up Scottie Barnes
(and RJ and Diallo) for Ayton, Rozier and Hart was brilliantly one-side for the
Kok. These are the type of deals you have to make in order to give a title run
a chance. Rozier scored 20+, had a 3.797 ATO, shot 45.37, and grabbed 1.4
steals in Kokland. And Josh Hart averaged 18 and 7 while shooting 50% in Kokville. The
majority of the role players Kok used this year were also really good. Aside
from Jones, look at Hartenstein, Brown, and Kennard. All put up serviceable
numbers. The
Kok should be ready to contend again next season as he has 7-8 potential
keepers. It appears that Dejounte, Haliburton and Edwards are all locks so who
will get that 4th spot? Herb? Scary Terry? Josh? Johnson? The summer
months will tell…
The Wack certainly made some impactful moves over the course of the
season. He said goodbye to Bam Adebayo and Ja Morant and welcomed Luka and KD. 4th
place wasn’t decided until the very final day of the season but it was Luka and
KD (and Ayo Dosumnu, who Golden traded to the Wack) that helped the Wack secure
it. If I asked you which 3 players played the most man games for the Wack this
season would you guess Russell Westbrook, Harrison Barnes and Jae’Sean Tate? I
didn’t think so. While the Wack didn’t employ the ‘draft 3 big guys for high
prices’ at auction – he ultimately found himself using this as the year went
on. KD, Luka and Gobert filled out those roles. Ultimately, 12th in
ATO and 9th in steals didn’t allow the Wack to make a push for the
title. This was a very good team though and had a bunch of guys that are easy
to cheer for (Finney-Smith, Barton, Claxton). I would think that getting just 9
games from Malcolm Brogdon has to be a massive disappointment. So, who are the
Wack’s 4 keepers for next season? Luka is a no-brainer in what will be his 5th
and final season before going back to auction. And then who? Barton for $8? The
All Star Andrew Wiggins for $24? Barnes for $14? One of the role players? Benny
will have some decisions to make.
OK, that’s all for today….Next up the middle tiers of the JBL….
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