The aftermath....
Friday, October 14th will go down in JBL history. Why?
Because my kid (how can he really be 19 years old now?) participated in his
very first JBL auction. Sitting at the table with him and Maui it brought back
great memories of when the JBL all began. I started the JBL at 17. Ryan is 19.
It’s been a LONG time. I never thought that one day my son would be in the JBL…but
here we are.
It was fun watching Ryan sweat over his bids and seeing the
uncertainty of an auction draft. At one point, while bidding for LeBron, he
said his heart was beating out of his chest!
All that said, I think he handled himself pretty well for his first ever
fantasy draft of any kind.
So, as always, people want to know the Godfather’s thoughts on how the
Auction played out…
Initially, the day after the draft, based on my projections…I thought
the JBL was easily split into 3 distinct tiers. Maui was alone in the top tier. The second
tier featured 7-8 teams that all had similar projections and based on their
current rosters, I would say had a really good chance at competing for the JBL
title. And the 3rd tier was filled with teams with work to do and
wishing for some luck.
We all know that the majority of teams will face injuries, make trades
and sign Free Agents, so these early season projections are always difficult.
I’ll also drop my favourite pick from draft night for each team.
Maui was a cut above everyone else. It wasn’t close (and still isn’t
really). His keeper core of Embiid, LaMelo, Bane, and Mobley was outstanding. He
added a very good rookie at pick 13 in Jeremy Sochan. Since he made that pick
it looks like Sochan is going to start at PF for the Spurs. The rich may have
gotten richer since he would be his PLUS ONE keeper. Anyways, Maui got a
potential steal in Damian Lillard at $40. Take out his injury-riddled last
season and Dame averaged 29ppg and 30ppg the prior 2 years. He’s had a year off
to rest and recover. I think the potential is there for a big scoring season.
Maui also added the aging Chris Paul. Yes, he’s 37 years old. Last 3 seasons he’s
played 65, 70 and 70 games. Maybe diet does mean something. I should take note.
Maui is the oldest JBL team (tied with Cali) at an average age of 29
years old. It’s filled with veterans like Lowry, Hayward, Seth Curry, Aaron Gordon, and
Finney-Smith. Solid role guys that need to stay healthy. There aren’t many projected
weaknesses on this squad so we’ll have to see if they can stay healthy. Last
year, I projected Maui 4th in the pre-season ranks and he ended up
winning…so there.
Favourite pick – Isaiah Jackson for $22. I know it’s pricey but if
Indy flips Myles and I-Jax is turned loose – he could be a blocks monster.
French Lick came in at #2 in my pre-season ranks. Why? Just
because they’ve been 1st or 2nd for 8 years straight. I will say I was a bit surprised to see French
land the big ticket item in Jokic. French typically goes the balanced route but
here we are again looking at a very strong French squad. No matter what method
he uses – he puts out strong teams. Outside of Joker, I’m not sure this team
has any All Stars. He might have the ROY in Paolo. But I do know they are just
deep and do everything well. Always fun
to watch French at work. French was ranked 2nd last pre-season – he finished
2nd in the standings – and I’m putting them right back into 2nd
again.
Favourite pick – Caleb Martin for $3. The starting PF on a very good
Miami team. Yes please.
I had Chilliwack in the 3 hole. The guy who had $40 bucks left for 2
players at auction. Benny was controlling the late part of the draft. Another deep and talented team here. Is this the year that Luka
wins MVP? Will Okongwu overtake Capela
in ATL? Will Monte Morris be the PG Washington has been looking for? Where does
Mike Conley play most of his games? Will Jalen Duren become the monster Center
that Detroit wants? Lots of interesting story lines to watch for this very good
Wack squad.
I ranked Wack 7th last pre-season and they finished 4th.
Favourite pick – Will Barton for $4 – just because he came up for
auction 4th overall after featuring in the rookie draft pick swap that saw Bangkok acquire his services only to be dropped a week later.
Brussels came in at #4. Again,
some interesting things to watch for….can Ben Simmons find his old form? Will
Lauri Markannen be the #1 in Utah – and what does that look like – can he
average 20ppg? Does Brunson become a New York legend (I’m guessing yes)? Is
Walker Kessler the next Mark Eaton? I
know Brussels loves his 2nd round rookie Jovic – can he be the
latest great find in Miami? Brussels is one of the youngest rosters in the JBL
but they appear to be very good on paper. I ranked Brussels 1st last
preseason and they finished 6th so they clearly he won’t mind this lower ranking.
Favourite pick – Ayo Dosunmu for $4. Starting PG’s are always nice to
grab for cheap.
I’m putting the Golden squad at #5. I’ve finished 5th two
years straight so why not start off here. Many of you know I wasn’t happy
post-draft. And it’s not because the team isn’t projected to do OK – part of me
just feels like I let my kid (and myself) down. He’s watched me talk JBL for many years and
then I drafted this team? I was giving him pointers on how to handle the pressure and how to budget. And then I waffle on picks? I overspend on others? I
auto-drafted Ricky Rubio because I wasn’t ready. Not my best work. That said,
analytically, this team could be OK. This is year 4 of my Nurkic being in
Golden and my love/hate relationship with him. I have bad feelings. The final
year of SGA is ahead. All 5 in Golden. Not a bad $1 rookie all those years ago. I have to admit I have fallen
for Tari Eason much like I did for SGA all those years ago. I like the looks of that youngster I tell ya. Anyways, we’ll
see how this squad gets on. I ranked Golden 3rd last preseason and
finished 5th.
Favourite pick – one of my only pre-draft targets I actually secured
was Jaylen Nowell for $1. A per-minute monster last season in Minny I’m hoping
he can expand his role on the highest scoring team in the NBA.
I have the Kok in 6th.
Last year, as he well noted, I ranked the Kok as 10th and
they wound up in 3rd place (although they spent most of the year in
2nd). How could I be so wrong?? Well, I think Mr. Haliburton’s
arrival in Kokville had a BIG factor in the move up the standings. I’ll spend some more time on
this Kok squad because the readership is quite low and frankly he might be one
of the only people who really cares what is written in this space. That’s why I
love Bangkok. LOL.
This Kok squad was loaded with good keepers to start the auction.
Keeping Scary Terry for $11 might have been a stronger play (since he went for
$30) than keeping Herbalife Jones – but we’ll see.
Drafting a stud like Jayson Tatum was a strong and bold move and based
on his opening night performance certainly appears to be worth every penny.
Strong secondary pieces in Wood and OG will provide some support to that strong
keeper core of Dejounte, Edwards, and Haliburton. There are a lot of question marks to watch
with this squad. Does Suggs learn how to shoot (he was 36/21% last year)? Does
Patrick Williams make a leap? How does Darius Bazley get on in OKC (another
poor shooter at 42/29%)? Can Mark Williams beat out Mason Plumlee for minutes??
I do like Williams a lot as a prospect. Does Jaden McDaniels get to touch the
ball in Minny? I like this squad, I do,
and it has a chance to compete for sure.
Favourite pick – Andre Drummond for $3 bucks. If he gets even close to
20 minutes he will be a nice source of rebounds and stocks. When other backups
like Hartenstein and Isaiah Jackson were going in the $20’s – Drummond is a
bargain.
I have Cali in 7th to start the year. The theme team is
over it appears but it does still feature Vucevic, Valanciunas and Porzingis.
Add those 3 to James Harden and Paul George – who I both thought should have
gone for more – and this team has potential. Love the rookie Jabari Smith. Sure wish Timelord could stay healthy. This
opening night lineup in Cali is quality. Last year I ranked Cali 9th
in the preseason ranks and they finished 9th…hmmmm. Not bad.
Favourite pick – Porzingis for $36. This could be the ultimate
risk/reward pick. This is the big swing for the fences. Love it.
I have Seoul in 8th to start the season. I think Seoul has
maybe 6 guys that could average 20ppg maybe. Highest scoring JBL team by a mile
but some other holes to fill. Last year I ranked Seoul 5th to start
the year and they finished 8th. Seoul cashed in his chips to get
Scottie and Morant for this season so let’s see how that plays out. Highest
paid guy is $37 bucks – talk about balance. Who is going to block shots on this
team? Brook and ??? Lots of 3pt gunners but will the percentage be OK? One thing we know about Seoul is that he
still has 2-3 trades with Bangkok coming so this team will certainly change in
the coming months.
Favourite pick – Jaylen Brown for $37 – just so French couldn’t get
one of his cornerstones back.
I have ‘The Kid” in Dayton ranked at 9th in his first ever preseason rank.
Can we just appreciate again the nuance and style of this team name again as
well. From the original franchise Dayton Yer Sistas where Cord would make crude
comments about Trev’s sister and Mom – to the now modern age Dayton yer
Daughters play on words. For all you JBL owners with daughters (and that’s a
lot of you)…this is brilliant (and creepy) if I do say so myself. I enjoyed
watching Ryan prepare for this draft. He had his targets and budgets and he did
pretty well. We knew LeBron, his GOAT, would be going to Dayton. We knew any
Hornets players would likely be targets. Rozier, PJ, Plumlee and even prisoner
Miles all ended up in Dayton. On paper, the team is pretty good and I actually think it has a greater chance of finishing higher than this rank at
the end of the season. All of this and he will still have Chet for year 2. I
like what the kid did here. The Godfather is proud.
Favourite pick(s) – all the Hornets. As many of you know, Ryan and I
watched probably 65+ Hornets games last year. I hope we can do that again. It’s
my chance to hang out with him and watch the games. He loves watching them so he drafted as many
as he could. We all remember the Golden Sonics theme teams of the 90’s. Like father, like son.
I have Arctic in 10th to start the year. Last year I had
them 13th in the preseason and they ended up 10th. I
actually really liked the big 3 they grabbed. Well, I say that begrudgingly
because I wanted at least one of those 3 centers. Arctic starts the year with a big 5 (ok,
maybe 6) and will need to work the waiver wire or make a deal to balance out
the roster. Maybe one day I should go
this route because you know I love to find my FA gems.
My favourite pick was the $1 dollar auto draft of Grant Williams. With
no Timelord and no Gallinari this little bowling ball could be quite valuable.
I have Juan de Fuca in 11th to start the year. Last time
around it was a 6th place preseason rank but they finished 11th.
Losing Michael Porter Jr (who is back again) for the season was a big factor in
that last season. I like KAT, I like Sabonis, I like Booker. I like this core.
Again, it’s the other pieces I will be watching. Can MPJ
stay healthy? Can Hunter live up to that 4/95 contract? Is Kendrick Nunn good?
Can Simons still be the monster WITH Lillard playing? Again, lots of potential
here for this team to move up the standings.
Favourite pick – Kendrick Nunn for $3. I’ve had him before. He can be
sneaky good and with the Westbrook situation who knows…
I have Idaho in 12th to start the year. I actually have him
higher, slightly, but ranking him here gets him fired up and creates more buzz
for the JBL masses. A fired up Idaho is a FUN Idaho. There are lots of good
players in this squad. Zion, Trae, Ayton, Fox, Murray x2, Ingram and on and on….But
there are also a lot of question marks. We’ve already seen Montrezl and
Thybulle play (or not play) limited minutes. What will John Wall do? Big wildcard in Westbrook. Jonathan Isaac? He
could be great or he might not play at all.
Can JJJ stay healthy? Anyways, I don’t
need to go on because this Idaho roster won’t look anything like this by Xmas.
Idaho was ranked 11th to start last season and he got to 8th.
We look forward to the umpteem thousand
trade offers in the coming 7 months.
Favourite pick – Jaren Jackson Jr for $10 bucks was good value. Will
he be back sooner or later? He’s a sure fire keeper at that price if he can stay
healthy (see what I’m doing here,
increasing the hype on JJJ so we all get ridiculous offers this weekend)
I have Bellingham in 13th to start the season. Last year they
ranked 12th to start the year and finished 13th. This is
the ‘show me’ year for Bellingham.
Season 4 about to launch with previous campaigns of 13th, 9th,
and 13th…time to make the move!
Starting with a $7 dollar Kawhi always helps. Adding in Giannis and AD create a BIG 3 but
who else will provide a big fantasy season? Will the new contract boys, Poole
and Herro, earn their dough? Is Tre Jones the man in SA? Can Dinwiddie retain
his Dallas form? Can Oubre do what Miles
did last season? Will Cole Anthony emerge over Fultz? Loads of questions – like every other team.
Favourite pick – Josh Primo for $1. Good Canadian kid and he’s getting
the ‘Kawhi’ treatment?? Hmmm. https://airalamo.com/posts/san-antonio-spurs-josh-primo-kawhi-leonard-treatment
Unfortunately, Norfolk starts the this season ranked where he finished
the last one – 14th. His pre-season rank last year was also 14th
so I’m sure he’s hoping I’m wrong this time around. This new Norfolk squad has
the makings of a much better team anyways with Durant, Jimmy Buckets, DeRozan,
Mitchell, and Jerami Grant on board – just to name a few. The Doctor spent big
dollars on Collin Sexton so we’ll see how that one plays out. Caruso and
Alvarado should grab plenty of steals. Mathurin could be a really fun rookie to
watch. This squad might have five guys who could average 20+ PPG so I’m sure Norfolk
is much more excited about this roster’s potential.
Favourite pick – Alex Caruso for $2. Another former Shower and he has
a chance to play a lot with Lonzo out. A fun player to watch.
Bringing up the rear in their first ever JBL season and pre-season
rank – is the Happy Valley Vandalizers.
Our opening night leaders may have peaked but who knows. This
squad will need a lot of things to go right to be competitive in year 1. But
stranger things have happened in the JBL. I like the Keldon Johnson pick. I can
only imagine it won’t be long before Bangkok tries to acquire him. James
Wiseman for $26 was interesting. Let’s see how they manage their Free Agents.
Let’s see what a Happy trade offer looks like. Lots of unknowns with this team
and owners still.
Favourite pick – Getting Evan Fournier for $1 was good business.
