Spitballin'

Well, here it is, December 3rd, 9:40pm and I find myself thinking about the JBL Rookie Lottery...

Tomorrow, we embark on a whole new chapter of the JBL Hoops League. Now, for the first time ever, JBL teams will get to select NBA rookies without having to get into a bidding war for them. I think it will add a very interesting angle once we get the lottery/rookie draft up to 100%. Once we have the ability to trade for a future pick - I think that will make late season strategies very cool.

So - with the 1st pick who will Marko select? And will he announce his new team name at the same time? I would imagine his new team will be based somewhere in Quebec? But what's funny about French cities? And he has to be selecting Kyrie Irving doesn't he? Is there even a close 2nd choice this year? I don't think so.

I wonder if any other JBL teams will make drops between now and the December 18th Auction. You have to think that Juan will release Kenyon Martin since it appears he's stuck in China. Perhaps Seoul doesn't like where Chuck Hayes lands. And Maui is awaiting word on where Dalembert and AK47 land so he can decide if they are worth the money. Trev has to be hoping Dalembert is a Knick or Heat while AK47 would probably be nice in New Jersey, Clipperville, or even back in Utah.

The rookie lottery the other night was quite fun. I wish the video taping had worked. I mean, I have the video, it's just too big to post for some reason. Maybe because I filmed it in HD? I'm not sure. Anyways, it was 8 minutes of fast paced action. Disappointing for Trev and I since our balls dropped out first. Oh well.

I can say that I know who I am targeting with my 12th pick. Hope he's still there when it gets around to me.

Benny has done a lot of work on the JBL Constitution. I think it's actually 5-6 pages with all the finer details finally being documented for all to see. We'll obviously have a lot of work to do around how the 2012 rookie lottery and draft will/should work. Will it be a reverse draw again? Should it weighted depending on where you finish? So many questions still to answer.

Will any big trades happen before the NBA season begins? Will D12 stay in Orlando? Will CP3 still be in NOLA. Will Rondo still be green? I love the speculation and I love that we are going to cram Free Agency, training camps, and exhibition games into the next 20 days. Awesome stuff.

Will Philly Woo be able to become the 1st JBL team ever to win 4 titles in a row? You know he's going to be spending a lot of time (which he'll have lots of) preparing for this Auction and trying to sprint to the finish. I think he's excited about having 2 Celtics, aged veterans who know how to win already on his team. Now, that being said, will Boston struggle with the back-to-back-to-back games during the season? Will Doc Rivers rest his aging stars in these games? Anything is possible?

Is it better to draft the guys who were playing in all these exhibition games all summer for your team? Or is it better to draft those guys who are resting their bodies? Another something to think about.

What will the effect of the new NBA coaches have on their new teams? Minnesota has to be better under Rick Adelmann than Kurt Rambis don't they? How will rookie head coach Mark Jackson do in Golden State? Will they learn to play defense? What will the Lakers look like without Phil Jackson and under new coach Mike Brown? Will they rest Pau and Kobe more? A lot of questions with a lot of teams.

In 20 years of the JBL we've had something like 30-35 owners come through the league. There have only been 6 winners. Will that trend change this season? Can some of the veteran teams will a title? Trev has 20 years of JBL experience...and no titles. Did you know that Trev's best finish was a 2nd place finish in 2007 when he paid $62 bucks for Steve Nash??

And which of the aging NBA veterans takes the biggest dip in production this year? Steve Nash? Tim Duncan? Garnett? Vince Carter? Will they have big seasons? What have their off-seasons looked like? Are they in shape?

I was looking through the 2004 JBL rosters and saw some interesting salaries...check these out.

• Paul Pierce $69
• Steve Francis 56
• T-Mac 62
• Garnett 89
• Shaq 83
• Duncan 86
• AK47 - $56
• Peja 44
• Ben Wallace 49
• Brad Miller 37
• Elton Brand 56
• Jamal Magloire 28
• Rasho Nesterovic 26
• Dwight Howard 12

I also found a binder from the 1996/97. That year, with 13 teams and the same scoring system we use today - there were 9 players who were drafted for over $80 dollars in the Auction. This year - how many guys will go over the $80 dollar barrier in the Auction? I would venture to say none. Crazy. What's changed? Who were they you ask?

David Robinson $130

Shaquille $115

Hakeem $105

Jordan $101

Webber $98

Karl Malone $95

Ewing $89

Grant Hill $84

Mutombo $80

Well, that's all the spitballin' thoughts I have for tonight...

I can't wait to hear Marko's new team name and that he's chosen Kyrie Irving with the 1st pick.

Will anyone be going after Irving with a trade offer?

And who will go 2nd to Manhattan on Monday? And how many picks will it be before the JBL rookie draft stops mirroring the NBA draft?

And lots of exciting things to talk about this week with a crazy NBA schedule ahead.

God it's nice to have the JBL back...

Rookie Lottery

Well boys, it's time. At long last. After much talk and anticipation - it's on...

No, I'm not talking about the NBA season...I'm talking about the JBL Rookie Lottery. The 1st ever rookie lottery!!

Tomorrow night, November 30th - the balls will be in motion and the rookie draft order will be determined.

In the future, it would be nice to have a bigger crowd for just such an event, but because of the NBA lockout and my upcoming 10 day jaunt to Hawaii - we have to do it and we have to do it now.

So, at approximately 7:30pm tomorrow night - under the watchful eye of Maui and Golden and a future JBL'er Ryan - the rookie lottery will get underway. Ryan is pumped up to be drawing the balls from the plastic cake tray. I've never seen an 8 year so stoked about some plastic golf balls before!

And don't worry JBL faithful - the whole process will be filmed and posted to YOU TUBE for your viewing pleasure. We will explain the process, show you the container and balls, and conduct the reverse draw. All will be captured on video. We will complete the process in one shoot and it shouldn't take more than 3-4 minutes.

So where will the video be posted??? Right to the JBL's very own YOU TUBE profile.

That's right fellas. We're on YOU TUBE.

You can find us at 'JBLHOOPS1' or under the email address jbl.hoops@yahoo.ca.

GAME ON!!

Thank God. The NBA season is saved. And more importantly - the JBL Season is saved.

I honestly think I was depressed. Now, it's fun time. The next 30 days before Xmas is going to be NBA crazy! Player movement and free agency. Signings and trades. More games per week than in years past. Oh my God this is going to be awesome!!

I will get back to blogging soon! But for now, it's Grey Cup. And afterwards....possibly the Rookie Lottery. Stay tuned.

For Those Needing a Fix...

Check out the Strat-o-Matic website and Basketball Prospectus as they simulate the 2011/12 NBA season. If you need a boxscore fix...this is the place to go!

http://basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1883


Did you also check out the finalized keepers for the upcoming season (whenever that is)??


What do you think about Manhattan Beach keeping Pau and Amare. That's 2 pretty big names to hold over. A very similar strategy appears to be happening in Idaho with Lebron and Dwight Howard under wraps for next season. Idaho will have just $76 bucks for 11 players when the Auction happens. And what do we make of Turkoglu and Diaw being identifed as keepers? Really? Boris Diaw and Hedo Turkoglu are keepers?? OK.


And what's going on with Juan de Fuca? They are scheduled to protect Kenyon Martin even though he signed in China for a year? Will K-Mart be able to get out of the deal and return to the NBA this season? Perhaps.


There are a few JBL teams that I really like the looks of heading into the next NBA season...


Yuma - I like Conley, Pierce and Humphries. I think Pierce was a little over-looked last season and he quietly had a very productive year. And Mike Conley appears to be an under-the-radar type PG - but check out those numbers. He too had a very good season.


I also like what Arctic is bringing back. Tyreke, Serge Ibaka, and DeRozan. That's potentially two 20ppg guys and a league leading shotblocker. Not bad if you ask me. I think Demar is ready to explode in TO next year and take over as the face of that franchise. Sure, he doesn't get many steals or blocks, but it's always nice to have a 20ppg guy for just $10 bucks.


I also like the Bangkok, French Lick, and Chilliwack squads a great deal. French has Stephen Curry and DeAndre Jordan for cheap money and I think both will have big years. Bangkok, coming off a disappointing 2nd place finish (after leading most of the season), brings back a very experienced core. And Chilliwack has 3 big studs to build around. How good can Blake be in year 2? I mean, honestly, in his rookie year Griffin averaged 22 and 12!! My God that's impressive. I think everyone in the JBL knows I am also quite fond of Joakim Noah and Marcin Gortat. Our summer summit had rumblings of a potential trade offer of Chilliwack's big 3 for Golden's big 1. I can definitely see that heating up again if the NBA gets a season scheduled.


I am excited to see how Kevin Love plays under a coach like Rick Adelmann. I thought, all along, that Rambis shouldn't try to play in the triangle offense with the core of players he had. Now, with a coach like Adelmann, what will become of Mr. Love? Well, let's remember the kind of numbers that Chris Webber was putting up with Adelmann as his coach and the kind of offense that Sacramento had way back when.

Check out the 2000/01 Sacramento Kings.
http://www.dougstats.com/00-01/SacramentoKings.html
Webber averaged 27 and 11 and 4 assists. Wow. He also had 93 steals and 118 blocks. He was a fantasy stud. Now, I'm not saying that Love would ever average those type of numbers but I do think that Minny will be a better squad with Adelmann at the helm. And Love did average 20 and 15 on a 17 win team last year. I guess only time will tell. And of course, we need a NBA season!!

I was on TWITTER today and noticed a few tweets from guys like Glen Davis stating that they should take the 50/50 BRI split and get back to playing. I wonder how long before the rest of the players pipe up to get a deal done. I think it's coming and I think we could still see NBA basketball on Christmas Day. Fingers crossed.

So, I think it's time to try and set up a dinner with the JBL boys so we can do the rookie lottery. It would be nice to time the lottery with the announcement of a NBA labour deal so we can do the lottery; do the rookie draft over 12 days; and then do the JBL Auction just before the season starts.

Lottery Delayed....

Just like the NBA season, the JBL is delaying the rookie lottery that was scheduled for this weekend. I hoped to hold the lottery on Sunday, Sept 25th but due to lack of time and lack of JBL owner witnesses (only 1 other JBL owner was apparently available) we'll have to postpone the lottery and rookie draft at this time.

Don't get me wrong here though. We will be holding a lottery and a rookie draft before we start the next JBL season. But, at this point, because of the lack of progress being made by the NBA and the players - there really isn't any urgency to get this done. We're not even sure if there will be a 2011 NBA season at this point. Best case, it appears the NBA would be looking at a January 2012 start and a shortened season.

So, the new lottery date, in my mind, is the usual JBL Draft night date. For 20 years we have used one of the last 2 Saturday's in October as our draft night. So, I am proposing the rookie lottery be held that night. We could get all the boys together and do the lottery and then grab a bite to eat somewhere. Boys night out! I'll post a poll on the JBL site to see if the 22nd or the 29th works better. Of course, not everyone would be able to attend and not everyone would be required to attend or be online. It's just a boys night to draw some golf balls out of a hat to see who gets what pick in the rookie draft. Sounds to me like an excuse to get out of the house and hang out with the guys. Brilliant.

The Balls are Ready!

The balls are ready to go! With the reverse draw style of this lottery - you want your ball to stay in the container for as long as possible. The first ball out will get the #12 pick in the rookie draft. The last ball out will get the coveted #1 selection in the October rookie draft. The lottery excitement is scheduled for next weekend - either the 24th or 25th depending on who's around and who wants to be a part of JBL history. I know the NBA is still locked out - but it's time to start to think about NBA rookies because each JBL team could add a very interesting player to their roster in the next couple of weeks.

Lottery Time

Well, after a 10-2 vote in favor of a rookie lottery the wheels are in motion to have the balls rollin' next weekend. Either Saturday or Sunday (24th or 25th) I plan to get the lottery going. I will need a couple of witnesses to the event and think I can post the results either on the JBL website or here on the Chronicles (or both).

I wasn't able to locate ping pong balls but did find a dozen white plastic golf balls for $2.00 bucks. So, dimples and all, I have written the team name of all 12 JBL teams on each ball (remember we only have 12 teams now that Belgrade has folded up shop).

I'm still tying to figure out what I can use to shake, toss, turn, jiggle, wiggle, twist, and pop those balls around before selecting them one by one. I may let Ryan do the honours. He'll have no idea the significance of the moment - but maybe one day he'll be running this thing when we are all said and done.

I know it doesn't really feel much like NBA time right now. The NFL season is underway and the NBA is locked out and there is no end in sight. But, the JBL is fun and having a rookie draft and having guys thinking about their JBL teams might ease the paid of knowing that it doesn't look like we'll be holding our annual JBL draft on the 3rd Saturday in October. Think about that for a moment. For 19 of the last 20 years, that 3rd Saturday has hosted the JBL Auction. It's been held on my birthday (23rd) and Trev's birthday (26th) yet somehow we're always there for the draft. This could (likely) be just the 2nd time that the JBL draft isn't hosted on that night. Sad. Very sad.

I admit I haven't done much in terms of preparation for the NBA season as it just doesn't look like there will be one very soon. Throw in the fact that for the first time ever the Golden Showers team has just one keeper and I don't have very many tough decisions ahead of me. Kevin Love is coming back to Golden barring any beach volleyball ACL tears.

I am excited about the rookie draft. I think it will be fun. The lottery, just because it's a lottery has some drama. Once the order is determined some guy's will begin to evaluate their position and who might be available at that spot and whether they want to draft him at that price or consider trading up or down in the rookie draft.

By October 1st, all JBL teams must reduce their rosters down to the maximum number of keepers available to them. A number of teams have several cuts still to make (myself included). Then, once all those cuts are made, we'll start the rookie draft on October 1st and work our way through 12 rookie picks. And I definitely think there is some homework to do on the rookies as I don't see the NBA order being the same as the JBL rookie order based on potential playing time for some of these kids. It will be interesting to see what order we pick in and how many trades will be made. I think some teams willl trade down while others will want to move up and try to grab Irving. If he is the #1 pick his JBL salary will be just $15 bucks. Remember guys like John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins both went for waaaay more than that last season. There is value to be had here and whoever lands the #1 rookie pick is going to be really, really glad they have the chance to land Irving (or whoever the feel is the best fantasy player available for $15 bucks).

I'm excited to see what other moves October 1st brings. That date is now essentially the start of the 2011/12 JBL season. Roster limits go out the door. If you could only protect 2 players for next season based on last year's standings - it's now 'next season'. In other words, if I wanted to turn Kevin Love into 4 players - I can do that. Will there be any blockbuster JBL trades in October. I doubt it. With no NBA season on the horizon I just don't see anyone making any moves. But never say never. You never know.

Anyways, that's all for me. I miss the JBL prep that I would normally be doing. I'll have to settle for rookie draft reading. Which, I have to say, is an exciting new part of the JBL. I hope this works out well and everyone enjoys it. The next thing to figure out will be how to do the lottery next season??? I'm all ears for your ideas and suggestions on that matter...