JBL 33 - Year in Review

What a JBL season! 

JBL 33 is officially in the books and the Seoul Brothers have won JBL title number 6 for the franchise. Seoul peaked at the end of the season and took the lead in Week 23 and never looked back.

As always, here’s my JBL Year in Review. 

14th place – Norfolk n Chance 

No one lived up to their team’s name more than the Doctor this season. Disaster. Period. Of course, it didn’t help that he drafted Steven Adams who was lost for the season before it even began. Then the Doctor moved his prized rookie Ausar Thompson for gangster Ja Morant. Again, didn’t work out so well. And finally, to make matters even worse, he traded for Zach LaVine who then immediately got hurt and was lost for the season.

Even a dynamic duo of Jokic (easily team MVP) and Tatum couldn’t save this team from the toilet bowl.

The only saving grace is that the Doctor gets a clean slate for 24/25 while also having 14 lottery balls (13.3% chance at #1 overall rookie pick).

Keep the faith Norfolk. Onwards and upwards. The grass might be greener. Use whatever motivational quotes you want here Norfolk. It can only get better. 

13th place – Maui Ribs

Maui’s season was destroyed by injuries (and wildfires). Embiid played just 36 JBL games for Maui. Mobley played 49, Bane just 41, CP3 58, and Jacquez Jr just 44. It’s hard to do well when your studs miss so much time. The 13th place finish means some hard decisions around the 1 keeper and 1 ‘Plus One’ keeper spots. 

Clearly, Evan Mobley should be back but that means Coby White’s breakout (and Maui MVP) season is lost. White finished at 19-5-5 and shot 37.7% from deep. And is it Jeremy Sochan or Jaime Jacquez Jr for the plus one keeper spot? 

Despite the 13th place finish, Maui did finish 1st in ATO and set the JBL record for the best ATO of all-time.

Small victories Maui. Better luck next season. 

12th place – Chilliwack Offs

On paper, you would think this team would have been much better. Klay, Zion, Garland, Cade, Beal, Simons, Wiggins, Poeltl, Brook, etc. All of that added up to 12th place. And for the longest time, it was the basement.

Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis were the anchors of this squad playing 79 & 82 games respectively. The Wack was top 6 in three categories but horrible in the other four categories. I imagine Brook will be back as a keeper for next season. 

I’ll give the Wack MVP to Brook because of his ‘availability’, his cheap salary and the massive amount of blocks. I’m not sure who the 2nd keeper will be for this squad. It’s slim pickings from this group.

The Wack does have 12 lottery balls in this year’s rookie draft but is already rumored to be open to moving his rookie pick (or if he wasn’t, we all think he is now). You’re welcome. 

Back to the drawing board for the Wack this offseason. 

11th place – Golden Showers

The worst team finish since the JBL 20 Vegas Gay Love (Rudy & Kevin) debacle (12th place). Every trade Golden made was a disaster. And that’s not a good thing considering Golden made 10 deals this past year. Team MVP goes to Jalen Williams who will back next season. Jalen Johnson was a great $1-dollar draft pick and will also be returning. The rest of the roster was mostly garbage.

The only saving grace is having 5 draft picks (2 firsts, 3 seconds) in apparently the worst NBA draft in the last 25 years. Note the sarcasm. Golden will essentially have 28 balls in this lottery (26.7% chance at #1 overall).

Knowing that, I expect to get picks 7 and 9 as a result. 

10th place – Dayton Yer Daughters 

Dayton climbs another rung in the JBL standings ladder. While not much better than last season, he now can claim to have finished better than 3 former JBL champs this season. LaMelo will be back but I’m told is on thin ice after only managing 20 games this season and missing most of last season as well. Malik Monk could be the 2nd keeper for the squad but that could change. The star ‘plus one’ keeper is of course Chet Holmgren. We should note that Chet did play all 82 games after missing the entire season last year. Kudos to Chet.

Dayton’s MVP is obviously AD and that’s just for playing 76 games alone!! Never mind that he averaged 25 and 12 with 1.2 steals and 2.3 blocks while shooting 53%. Stud. How much will he go for auction next year knowing that he just played the most NBA games in his 12 year NBA career? Buyer beware. 

9th place – Arctic Circle Jerks

It feels like this Arctic squad was better than a 9th place team. Curry, Giannis, Kyrie and Markkanen. Studs. Add in the trio of RJ, Brooks, and Dort for some Canadian flair. How about Hartenstein’s breakout season? Very impressive and he may have earned himself an extension in the frozen tundra. I’m not sure Ivey or Giddey progressed as much as hoped but I could see both being on Arctic’s radar in the future. Steals (11th) and ATO (13th) were the biggest challenges this season while the team managed to finish 3rd in FG%. 

MVP goes to Giannis for 73 games played and the 30 and 11.5 while shooting 61% and getting over a steal and block per game. He’s a monster. Arctic has no rookie picks in the upcoming draft (Golden thanks you) so will be relying on another strong draft night performance as well as Markkanen and Hartenstein as likely keepers. 

8th place – Idaho Udapimps

Idaho peaked too early. Simple as that. In Week 3, Idaho was in last place with 218 points. 3 weeks later he was in 8th place with 691 points. Another 3 weeks and he was up to 6th and 852 points. And by Week 11, January 2024, he was in 3rd place at 902 points. And then his team went into cruise control and never could get over the hump. Idaho made 8 trades this year. He did well in many of them acquiring some big names along the way. So much emphasis on scoring had Idaho finishing 2nd in scoring but 12th in steals and 12th in blocks. His once 1st place 3PT% also fell off to finish 8th (this trend will repeat for another team later on).

Idaho has some great options for keepers as Ant Edwards and Paolo Banchero should be locks to be back. For the 3rd spot, is it someone like Sexton (for $14) or should James Harden (for $27) get a look? What about Corey Kispert for $6? Lots of decisions for Idaho this offseason. Idaho’s draft night pick swap trade with Golden looms larger than it did 3 months ago. Idaho will have 8 balls in the hopper now (which Golden could claim if Idaho strikes gold).

7th place – Bellingham N Eggers 

The Eggers were 1st place in 3%, 3rd in scoring, and 5th in steals. However, it was the ‘Bigs’ categories where Ham fell short – 11th in rebounds, 11th in blocks and 12th in FG% (this despite trading for Gobert half way through the season). The dynamic duo of Luka and KD certainly led this team in many ways this season. Add in very positive years from Naz Reid, Brandon Miller, and CJ McCollum and you can see why this team hung around all year.

MVP has to go to Luka for this squad since he was 34-9-10 while shooting 49/38 – damn impressive. As mentioned, rebounds were an issue all year as after Gobert and Luka, it was KD’s 6.6 rebounds a game as the next best on the squad. A little more balance in the big man stats and this squad could continue to rise in the JBL standings.

Not sure who the keepers will be for this squad beyond the obvious Plus One in Brandon Miller. Does Shaeden Sharpe at $9 make sense? What about Naz Reid for $12? DeAndre Hunter for $8? CJ for $24? Lots of options really. Or does Ham bring back a big name like Luka or Gobert? 

6th place – Juan de Fuca Yo Mamas 

Juan set the all-time scoring record in the JBL with 15,862 points scored this season. The old record was 15,610 set by Bangkok back in 2009/10. Juan was also 1st in steals this year. Unfortunately, 10th, 10th, 11th and 14th in four other categories did not get them enough points to scare the top 4 money spots. Losing Scottie Barnes was a big blow for the squad certainly, but this team did manage to hang around all year.

MVP goes to De’Aaron Fox for his 26-5-5 season with 2 steals a game. While the Kings may have fallen off, Fox remained a stud. Juan was deep this year as guys like DeRozan, Wagner, Jaylen Brown, Kuzma, and Capela all played big roles. I loved what Aaron Nesmith brought to the table as a role player too. 

I think Juan has the most 3 obvious locks for keepers in Scottie B, Wagner and Ausar. A nice little trio for them to start off 24/25. 

5th place – Brussels Muscles 

This is the 2nd year in a row that Brussels entered the final day of the season in the top 4 and ultimately ended up in 5th place. This one might sting a little bit more as Brussels has 5 excellent keepers but now only has 4 spots available. Between Sengun, Scoot, Amen, Kessler and Lively – one must go. Not an easy decision. And if there is a coin flip involved, we should livestream that event.

The ‘punt points’ model that Brussels won his 1st JBL title was employed here again this year. It almost worked too as this squad was top 6 in FIVE JBL categories. Being 14th in scoring though meant they needed to be better than 10th in rebounding. For most of the year, Brussels had 5 centers on the roster and it was always interesting to see which 3 he would start week to week. Some weeks he was right and sometimes not so much.

My MVP for this squad is Alpi Sengun. He’s not even 22 yet and putting up insane numbers.

4th place – French Lick Legends 

4th place? Say what? The 9-year run of 5 titles and 4 2nd place finishes is over. Holy cow. Amazing. Did we figure out French’s kryptonite? Doing an auction in a room with other JBL owners; having the World Series game on; having his 2 boys running around; with pizza and beer galore? Is that all it takes to stop the mighty French? OK, let’s do that again.

So what happened? Why the fall from grace? This team was 12th in rebounds and French is usually one of the best rebounding teams. In fact, did you know that French is the record holder for the top 3 rebounding performances in JBL history? 

That said, I’m going to bet that French wasn’t thrilled with Mikal Bridges’ performance. Decent numbers but not outstanding. Is JJJ living up to the hype? 32% from downtown doesn’t help.

Derrick White is my MVP from this roster. A $9 dollar keeper that put up 15-4-5 with 74 steals and 87 blocks while shooting 46/40 and a 3.366 ATO. Yummy. He will be back in French next season. But who else will be joining him? Did Keyonte George earn the Plus One keeper spot? Surely DiVincenzo will be back for $7 bucks. Another JJJ year for $20 bucks? Booker for $39? French has some options, as always.

I will say it’s nice to see the top 2 streak come to and end. This might mean he’s mortal after all. 

3rd place – Bangkok Fighters 

One of the offseason favourites. A pre and post auction favourite. A team that was in 1st from week 11 to week 22. Everything seemed aligned to see the Kok hoist his first ever JBL title. So, what went wrong? Well, lucky for you guys, I’ve taken the time to dive deeper on this.

In Period 17 (Feb 12-18), the Kok was at 1081 points. This is driven mostly by being 1st in three categories (3PT%, ATO and FG%). Kok was also 3rd in rebounds, 7th in points and steals and 8th in steals. By the end of the season, the biggest drop off was in 3PT% where they were now 9th place and in ATO where they finished 4th. That’s a 143 point drop in those 2 categories alone!

So, what the heck happened in 3PT%? The Kok was at 38.4% in mid-February and they finished at 36.8%. Looking at the last month or so of the season shows that there were some prime offenders here. Haliburton shot 34.5% on 8 attempts and GG Jackson shot 35% on 8 attempts in their last 15 games. Even Avdija (33%) and SGA (23%) were culprits on their 4 attempts per game. A collective collapse in 3%.

Of course, the ifs and buts and what ifs are always there. If the Kok had Mark Williams or Julius Randle for more time they would have likely been a lot better in some areas too. 

I’ve got SGA as the MVP of this roster as his all-round game is something else. As often discussed, having Ant, Hailburton, Murray, McDaniels and Williams as keepers makes a big difference to start the year. Great keepers and rookies who can contribute (Coulibaly) right away does wonders. Adding SGA and Sabonis as cornerstones really allowed this team to contend all season. Kok did a great job at finding quality role players as well this season. Jalen Smith (10-5, 43% from deep), Simone Fontecchio (14ppg on 47/42 with Kok), Taylor Hendricks, and Terrence Mann provided some quality games over the year. In the end, it was the 3PT% that killed the Kok’s chances. I blame Tyrese.

Kok’s keepers for next season will look a lot different than this past year as he will have younger and cheaper talents on his roster. Is it Avdija, Kuminga, Coulibaly and Bad Back Williams? Will he also protect SGA or Sabonis? Or both? 

2nd place – Cali Fornication

It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen this kind of impact from rookie. I don’t need to say anything about how good Wembanyama was for Cali. I will say that it’s a bit ironic that it was Bangkok who drew Cali’s ping pong ball which starts Cali down a potential dynasty path here. Wemby’s stats are off the charts good. Like Olajuwon good. Insane. Cali’s title window is officially open for the next 4 years. That said, let’s look at some of the other names that Cali drafted this season.

Lebron James – 71 games, 26-7-8 on 54/41 (best ever 3% in his career) and loads of steals and blocks.

Paul George - 74 games, 22-5-4 on 47/41 with 1.5 steals

Jarrett Allen – 77 games, 16-10 on 63% and 1 block

Herb Jones – 73 games, 11ppg on 50/42 with 104 steals and 62 blocks

Donovan Mitchell – 49 games, 28-5-6 on 47/37 and 1.88 stls

Where am I going with all this? Well Cali drafted a REALLY good squad. I didn’t even mention guys like Ayton, Quickley, Jabari, KCP, D-Lo, etc. This was a talented and deep team and then he gets a Unicorn season from Wemby (who says he was about 15% of how good he can be) so we can see why Cali was the 2nd best team in the JBL this year. 

This team was also very healthy for the most part with 5 guys playing over 70 JBL teams for Cali. Games played and availability is often required for JBL success. That said, Cali played the 3rd LEAST number of man-games this season.

Usually, we talk about a strong crop of keepers for a JBL team. For Cali, he’s got Wemby and 4 other guys. Whether it's Quickley or Allen or Lebron or whoever. It's Wemby's team now and we're all just living in it. 

Well done Cali on the most successful year in your JBL history. 

1st place – Seoul Brothers 

This is JBL title number 6 for Seoul. This was an extremely well-balanced team as they were top 6 in EVERY category. 1132 points is very impressive.

How did Seoul do it? Well, a decent draft, some outstanding FA signings and numerous crafty trades got the job done. Jalen Brunson led the way with 28ppg on 48/41 shooting and 2.790 ATO. To support Brunzy, Seoul had guys like Vucevic, Porzingis, Gafford, Dejounte (multiple times), Rozier, etc throughout the year doing their thing.

A couple of key acquisitions in my mind was signing Free Agent old man Grayson Allen for $6 bucks (dropped by Norfolk) and signing free agent Alex Caruso for $2 bucks (dropped by Dayton). They are the ultimate role players for JBL rosters. We talk about these types of guys every year. You gotta have them on your team.

While Cali’s team was primarily built through the draft, Seoul’s roster was greatly enhanced via trades. Seoul made 15 trades this season. More than any other JBL team. Let’s look at some of them. 

Seoul gets John Collins, Dejounte Murray, Kristaps Porzingis 

Brussels gets Zion, Claxton, Tyus Jones, Fultz 

As mentioned, Dejounte and Porzingis played key roles for Seoul this season.

Seoul gets Daniel Gafford

Wack gets Valanciunas and Klay

I’ll bet many of us thought the Wack was getting the better of this deal. But Gafford turned out to be a star for Seoul and will likely be a keeper for them.

Seoul turned Dejounte and John Collins into Anthony Edwards, Khris Middleton and Biyombo (from Bangkok)

Seoul then turned Anthony Edwards into KAT (from Idaho) and essentially turned KAT into Bam Adebayo (from Golden).

Seoul turned Bojan Bogdanovic into Draymond Green.

Seoul turned Fultz into Trey Murphy. (not Golden’s best work)

Seoul turned Dejounte into Jamal Murray.

Did you know that Seoul and Bangkok completed 5 separate trades this past season? Did you also know that Seoul and Kok traded Dejounte Murray back and forth 3 times? Anyways...

Morale of the story. 

Building a JBL winner via trades is possible. 

Building a JBL winner via keepers and the rookie draft. Also, clearly possible.

Well done Seoul on JBL Title #6. 

 I will leave you all with some random thoughts and stats from JBL 33.

 • Juan de Fuca played the most man games at 925

 • Brussels played the least number of man games at 852

 • Seoul was the best team in a Period 6 times (Weeks 16, 17, 20, 22, 23, 25)

 • Idaho won 4 weeks, Bangkok and French won 3 weeks each

 • 29 NBA rookies appeared on JBL rosters this season

 • Buddy Hield played in 84 NBA games this season

 • 17 NBA players played in all 82 (or 84) games

 • The gap between 1st place Boston and 2nd place New York was 14 wins

 • The gap between 1st place OKC and 10th place Sacramento was 11 wins

 • 13 different Trail Blazers spent time on JBL rosters (most of any team)

 • 7 JBL teams spent all of their FA money

 • The average number of players used per JBL team was 31 players

. • Golden employed the most players (44) with Brussels (41), Bangkok (40) and Seoul (40) next

 • Maui used just 20 players last season with Bellingham (22) and Cali (24) close behind

 • Maui was the only JBL team not to make a trade this year

 • Xavier Tillman was signed as a free agent by Idaho for $110 FA dollars. He played 3 games for Idaho.

Gentlemen – that’s it for me for another season. I’m looking forward to the NBA playoffs, the NBA lottery, our JBL lottery, the NBA draft, and the offseason banter. Thanks to all of you for making the JBL so much fun each year. 

Long live the JBL.

JBL ROOKIE PICKS - YEAR BY YEAR

 

2023

Cali -Wenbamyama

Brussels - Scoot Henderson

Idaho - Amen Thompson

Norfolk - Ausar Thompson

Ham - Brandon Miller

Idaho - Jarace Walker

Brussels - Dereck Lively

Dayton - Taylor Hendricks

Maui - Gradey Dick

Bangkok - Bilal Coulibaly

Bangkok - Anthony Black

French - Keyonte George

Golden - Cason Wallace

Golden - Cam Whitmore

JBL 33 Auction results

JBL Auction #33 is in the books. And what a night it was. Chez Golden hosted 6 JBL owners while Chex Kok had another 3 in his palace.  Bidding was fast and furious with a lot of big dollars being spent early. I think many of us were also pleased and impressed with how quickly we completed this draft. Just under 3 hours this time around.  We've already had discussions about a destination draft for JBL 35 in 2025. See how many guys we can get together in the same room again. That would be fun. The banter is what makes the auction entertaining!

OK, as per tradition, I'm giving my thoughts on the Auction. As always, I have a few. I will say, based on my early projections, this is shaping up to be the most competitive season in a long time. Lots of teams with potential I think depending on a number of factors along the way. Who stays healthy? Who gets rested? Who gets traded?  The season begins on Tuesday and I know we can't wait to see NBA action again! 

Going into the auction I thought there were 5 teams that were better set up for success. That was Maui, French, Bangkok, Seoul and Brussels. After the auction, those are still my top 5 contenders in some order. They are all very strong squads heading into JBL 33. 

Bangkok had the chance to be the clear cut favourites coming out of the Auction but going big on Sabonis and SGA (both Golden targets by the way) might have left him a little shy in the depth department. Nevertheless, the top 6 players on this squad are insanely good and this is Bangkok's best chance to win that elusive JBL title. Can Middleton stay healthy and regain his form? If he can, that's a big win for the Kok. Can Kuminga continue his preseason magic? Or do the Warriors trade him for another star at some point and then he completely blows up? Some depth questions around Eubanks, Wiseman, and KJ Martin - can they perform if called upon? Fun fact? This is the youngest team in the JBL with an average age of just 24.0 years old. Make no bones about it, this is the strongest Kok roster we've likely ever seen. Could this finally be the year of the KOK?

Brussels is definitely the biggest squad in the JBL. Rebounds, FG% and blocks galore here with this bunch. A very strong team with 3 Blazers (Scoot, Ayton, Timelord) always gets me excited. This squad projects to get more blocks than steals. Amazing. So many picks here that I really like. Porzingis, OG, Dejounte, and MPJ. Can John Collins bounce back in Utah? Does Grimes get enough shots in NY? Where does Bojan end up after DET trades him? I like this team a lot. 

French is French. Sitting beside him watching him casually bidding up guys while watching the Phillies game on his phone, sipping a cold beer while randomly checking in on what his 2 boys were up to makes this whole Auction seems just too easy for the big man. It's disgusting how easy he makes it look. French is well aware of the 9 year run of 1st (5x) and 2nd (4x) finishes and this squad definitely keeps that dream alive. This year's version is loaded with smart picks and bargains and we can officially call them the French 76ers as he employs 4 of them to start the season (Maxey, Harris, Melton, Reed). Would you bet against this team finishing anywhere but 1st or 2nd? I wouldn't.

I love this Maui squad. The big 3 (Embiid, Bane, Mobley) get reinforcements in Lillard, CP3 (who both seem to end up in Maui a lot) as well as the steady veterans of Aaron Gordon and Buddy Hield and others gives this team a real chance to compete for another title. Love the Zach Collins pick (don't care about the price at that stage of the draft). Also getting a kid like Coby White is good since I think the Bulls will likely have to blow things up this year.  I'm going to guess that Maui puts the least amount of prep time into the JBL but came away with an outstanding roster to start the season. 

Seoul drafted on his own this year due to family commitments and things may have worked out well for him. It's very much an old school Seoul roster with lots of depth and value guys all over the place. Good ole Tendex was his guide and it has put him in a place to contend for another title. It's been 12 years since Seoul was king of the JBL. Could this be the squad that climbs the mountain again? Seoul could use a shot blocker or two but otherwise this is a very balanced squad. If you had told me that Seoul would draft Jalen Green I would have laughed at you. Nevertheless, here we are. If Zion plays 60+ games - watch out for Seoul. 

Those are my big 5. All are very talented squads that had strong keepers for the most part and then built out their rosters very well. I think any of those 5 teams could win just based on their current rosters. We know they will all change over the course of the season (OK, maybe Maui's won't change much) but those are my Power 5 contenders to start the JBL's 33rd season.

There are a number of squads that I am calling 'what if' teams that could contend if things go the right way over the course of the year. In no particular order....

Let's start with Chilliwack. The oldest team in the JBL with an average age of 29.2 years old. If we had to play all 15 guys - then the Wack would be a contender as he has the deepest roster in the JBL. A team without any likely All-Stars but one with loads of depth and big swings that could pay dividends. What if Ben Simmons is back? What if Gafford stays out of foul trouble? This team does everything pretty well and if things go right they could easily be a title contender.

My Golden squad could be good. Maybe. Second youngest team in the JBL at 24.2 years old. But it needs a lot of things to go right. Can Cade Cunningham stay healthy? And a bigger question - is he actually good? Is Devin Vassell ready for a breakout season? Can guys like Duren, J-Dub, Giddey and Eason get better? Can Jalen Johnson get minutes with the Hawks? This squad has 7 players that don't even start for their NBA team so minutes will be a concern. A lot of questions to be answered in Golden this season. 

Moving onto Cali - is this their best roster to start a JBL season? I think it just might be. Lots to like about this roster. Jimmy Buckets, LeBron, Mitchell, Allen, PG13 and oh, don't forget Wenbanyama. And how much of a leap does Jabari Smith make? I also like the Herb, KCP and Bey picks. Nice role guys. Overall, a job well done by Cali.

The new kid on the block in Dayton is back for year 2. Got his main targets in AD and Reaves and filled out his roster quite well overall. Outside of some weird obsession over Rui Hachimura ($22??) I thought the kid handled himself very well. He's got Chet to watch. LaMelo and PJ from his Hornets. I'm thankful that Dayton kept Nurkic in the household after he spent 4 years in Golden. I like the role players on this squad as well (Brown, Huerter, J-Rich, Caruso). And in true Godfather form, he took a flyer on a kid like Ziaire Williams. Dayton is learning the JBL and all is right in the world.  

Idaho took the biggest swing on the night when he drafted James Harden. The wildcard could pay big dividends for Idaho depending on how quickly his situation gets resolved. Idaho also made up with KAT after a disastrous season last year. How good can 2nd year guys Paolo and Keegan become? How long does Jaxson Hayes last on this roster? Can Collin Sexton stay healthy and be good again? The Idaho love affair with Jon Isaac continues. This type of persistence makes me wonder about Tuna's dating life back in the day. No matter how many times that girl would break up with him - would he would keep going back for more. Let's try it one more time? Oh come on. One more time. Please!  Maybe this is the year...  

The Doctor went big and paid up for the Joker. Fresh off a title in French, Norfolk must be hoping he brings a winning culture to the squad. And this is year 10 for the Doctor in the JBL. Well done. Congrats. We're happy to have you!! A lot of big names on this roster for sure. Joker, Tatum, Holiday, and Grant. Love Ausar Thompson too. Loveable Looney also a favourite of mine. I also see a lot of flexibility and options with this roster as I think there are 3-4 guys who could be improved upon. As I'm typing this I see the news that Steven Adams has been lost for the season. That's a real kick in the nuts for this squad. Sucks. 

Was this the first year the Arctic auto draft didn't wreak havoc with the Auction?  Can we just applaud Arctic for drafting the trio of Brooks, Barrett and Dort? The great Canadian trio!!  Big kahunas taking on those 3. Well done. Of course, having the big 3 of Giannis, Steph and Kyrie always helps a roster.  The middle of this roster is nice too - Markkanen, Okongwu, Smart and Ivey are all nice pieces. A pretty good start for Arctic in JBL 33.  

Bellingham can score that's for sure. Big 3 of KD, Luka and Kawhi will be very strong. If they can combing for 180+ games that would be a great sign for this squad. How many points can Jordan Poole average? Will breakout candidates like Sharpe and Mann hit? Does Schroder find magic in TO? Does Tre Jones get the starting PG spot back?  Everything around the Brandon Miller situation is intriguing to me. Can Naz Reid and Christian Wood get enough minutes to help? Time for the Ham 'n' Eggers to get to work. 

I've commented on teams ability to score a couple times. Well no one scores more than this Juan de Fuca roster. I think this team might have 9 guys who could average 20ppg this season. The Toronto boys ended up with 3 Raptors which is always a good thing. Who is going to lead this team in blocks though? I like the Obi Toppin pick and Ja Morant is waiting in the wings as well.  If they stay healthy, Juan could break some JBL scoring records when it comes to points.

OK gents, that's it for me. Another JBL Auction in the books. It was great having 6 of us in the same room again. Loads of fun. NBA season gets underway on Tuesday.  Free agents will be available on Thursday night (around 11pm PST) so make sure to get your bids in early. Good luck to all. 

JBL ROOKIE DRAFT RESULTS 2023

JBL Rookie Draft Order

First Round

1. Cali - $15 - Victor Wenbanyama
2. Brussels - $12 - Scoot Henderson
3. Idaho - $10 - Amen Thompson
4. Norfolk - $9 - Ausar Thompson
5. Bellingham $8 - Brandon Miller
6. Idaho - $7 - Jarace Walker
7. Brussels - $6 - Dereck Lively II
8. Dayton - $5 - Taylor Hendricks
9. Maui - $4 - Gradey Dick
10. Bangkok - $3 - Bilal Coulibaly
11. Bangkok - $2 - Anthony Black
12. French Lick $1 - Keyonte George
13. Golden $1 - Cason Wallace
14. Golden $1 - Cam Whitmore

Second Round
15. Golden $1 - O-Max Prosper
16. Golden $1 - Kris Murray
17. French Lick $1 - Leonard Miller
18. Arctic $1 - PASS
19. Juan de Fuca $1 - Kobe Bufkin
20. Bangkok $1 - PASS
21. Maui $1 - Jaime Jacquez Jr
22. Dayton $1 - Trayce Jackson-Davis
23. Seoul $1 - PASS
24. Bellingham $1 - Jordan Hawkins
25. Norfolk $1 - PASS
26. Idaho $1 - Brice Sensabaugh
27. Arctic $1 - PASS
28. Cali $1 - Jett Howard

OFFSEASON POWER RANKINGS

(heading into JBL Auction 33)

1. French Lick

2. Bangkok

3. Seoul

4. Brussels

5. Maui

JBL Offseason - Rules Committee Topics

 As the JBL offseason is upon us, it's the time, as always, to discuss potential rule changes or tweaks to the JBL scoring system or whatever else may come up.

You may not know this but the JBL does have a Rules Committee made up of 7 JBL owners. Idaho, Arctic, Chilliwack, Seoul, Brussels, Bangkok and Golden. 

The WhatsApp Rules Committee chat room has been frenetic over the last couple of days with loads of discussion (mostly on one topic) but a few ideas and comments have been raised that I thought I should summarize and BRIEFLY comment on here.

#1 - The JBL should have a Rules Committee and a place to discuss potential changes before moving anything to the larger group of 15 owners. We have a WhatsApp chat now. We have a Commitee. We're good.

#2 - Any rule changes or proposals in the Chat Group needs to be seconded before it could be discussed or voted on by the JBL membership. This is pretty straight forward. No issues here either.

#3 - If a rule is brought up and voted on for 3 years in a row and rejected - the proposal needs to have a 10 year window before it can be voted on again. And you can't vote on the same thing within a year. This really hasn't been an issue. But we can write it down. Sure, Benny has brought up the injured guys on draft night being protected but we don't need to make a mountain out of a mole hill in my opinion. Moving on. 

I think we already do the above 3 items and they can just be absorbed into the JBL constitution. I hate doing votes on things that are common sense. 

#4 - Once a year, the JBL Commissioner, me, has the power to make, alter, change, scrap a rule. Not for me. Not interested. Moving on. 

#5 - Shorten the JBL fantasy season. Whether it's 70 games, 75 games or ending one week earlier (this year would have been 24 weeks instead of 25 weeks). This year, because of how close the standings were the last week was a big deal. Golden went from 2nd to 4th; Brussels 3rd to 5th; Bangkok 5th to 3rd; Wack from 4th to 2nd; and Arctic from 15th to 14th. Most years, it doesn't mean a damn thing. The frustration stems from everyone sitting out the last few games of the season. Personally, doesn't really bother me but I can appreciate others frustrations. For me, I've always saved FA dollars for the last few weeks to sign the Kris Dunn's or Skylar Mayes or Trendon Watford's. Further, if you know you're not protecting a player (ie. Nurkic or whoever) - drop them and sign a FA. But sure, this one might have traction for a vote. 

There was another suggestion about a trophy or something for whoever is leading the JBL after 65 games before the "silly season" starts. My first thought was wouldn't this just be another award for French? This suggestion, for me, was more of a side bet than something that needs to be put into the JBL constitution.

Then we get into some actual discussions around potential changes to the JBL scoring system.

As we all know, Points are weighted 20%, Rebounds are 15% and the other 5 categories (FG%, 3PT%, steals, blocks, ATO) are 13%. Yes, it adds up to 100%.

I think the first place we need to start though is do we need to consider a category or weighting change to adapt to a changing NBA?

If the answer to that poll is yes - then we dive deeper into possible changes.

If the vote is NO - everything I've written from here on is irrelevant.

A.  Early discussions have members of the Rules Committee liking the idea of changing Rebounds from 15% to 13% (same as all the other categories) and adding that 2% to Points (bumping it up from 20% to 22%). This takes some value away from the big men and adds more to scoring. 

B. Another suggestion was changing 3PT% to 3PM. There are literally hundreds of points to support either side. It's really a personal preference on this one. I think the biggest argument to move to 3PM is that it evens out the value of the little guys compared to the big guys in the JBL. Big guys don't shoot 3's and are of no help in a 3PM category. 

So a couple comments:

1. Moving to 3PM (a counting stat) means that injuries and 'resting' now affects another JBL category. Can't move up in this category if your player is resting and not making 3's.

2. If the JBL is trying to mirror the NBA's move to the 'little guy' it might be good to look at the most successful NBA teams right now. What if NBA teams were ranked based on JBL categories? Who would win?  The math has been done. The highest correlation was 3PT% followed by FG%. The lowest correlation was steals and blocks.  Top 5 NBA teams by JBL categories -- Memphis, Boston, Denver, Atlanta, Golden State.  Bottom 5 NBA teams using JBL weightings - Detroit, Miami, Houston, San Antonio, Portland. 

The best NBA teams shoot the 3 really well...not just a lot. 

I'm moving on from this one as it's not about trying to change anyone's mind about whether 3PT% or 3PM is the better category to use. Or which is more reflective of today's NBA. Or what other fantasy leagues use. I'm not bothered either way. 

For me, it's simple - do JBL owners want to switch from 3PT% to 3PM? Yes or No. 

That's it. That's what it comes down to. The 15 JBL owners. What do WE want to use. 

Moving on....

Another suggestion floated was moving from ATO to just assists. Again, moving to a counting category means your guys need to be healthy and playing to accumulate points.  

Sure Trae Young averaged over 10 assists a game (741 assists) but he also turned the ball over 300 times. Those turnovers should be factored in. ATO allows that. It does make guys like Al Horford and Tyus Jones more valuable because of their outstanding ATO. So be it. I'm OK with that. 

Again, if we're trying to mimic the NBA then I'm sure most NBA coaches hate turnovers and try to avoid them at all costs. So we should continue to factor them in. I am fine with ATO as it is. But hey, maybe there is appetite for just Assists? I haven't heard that. 

Another comment came up that I am a supporter of Free Throw percentage. I can't recall stating that. Maybe I did at some point. The JBL used FT% for one season. I remember we all hated it. I do not support bringing it back. 

Another comment about setting our JBL lineups WEEKLY or DAILY. This was voted on prior to last year's JBL season. The vote was 11-3 in favour of keeping it WEEKLY.

And I will comment again, the only CBS options are Daily or Weekly. It's not like we can do it a couple times a week. 

Obviously Daily moves would allow better roster management for those in-week injuries and end of season 'resting' nights.

That said, this requires more time from each JBL owner to stay on top of things and ensure they make the switch each and every day (if they wanted). There are countless times where owners haven't even updated their lineup to start the week.

I think moving to Daily only gives the JBL diehards even more of an advantage because they are going to be actively updating their rosters to maximize games played each week. 

One JBL team played 927 man games this year and at the bottom of that list a team played 848 man games. 79 games difference. That's like given your opponents a 2 week head start before your team starts gathering any stats. 

I don't know if there is any new appetite to vote on this again. 

I'll end with a more structured proposal for everyone to think on. But it starts with this statement and ultimate JBL poll. 

1. Do JBL owners want to make any changes to our categories or weightings?

If the answer to that is YES - then here's an idea.

For next season 2023/24

Change rebounds from 15% to 13% and add that extra 2% over to Points (bumps them up from 20% to 22%)

For 2024/25 season

Bump Points from 22% to 28% and all other 6 categories move from 13% to 12%.

This puts more focus on scoring and gives JBL teams another year to think about keepers and how they will build out their teams for the future weightings. 

Or you just do the first part - move rebounds down from 15% to 13% and carry the hell on as is. 

The other item that might have interest to move to a vote is switching from 3PT% to 3PM. 

I'm not sure of anything else yet that has been 'seconded' to move to a vote. 

That's all for now....

JBL 32 - Year in Review

Another JBL season completed. Another French Lick title. 5 in total now. 5 in the last 9 years. The other 4 years French finished 2nd. I know I say it all the time, but this is getting to a bit ridiculous isn't it? 9 years in a row of either 1st or 2nd place? Dynasty.

My year in review won't be as comprehensive as in years past but it is a tradition that must be upheld.

I'm starting with one of our expansion teams, the Happy Valley Vandalizers. I will say nothing about this team name. That horse has left the barn already. I shall just refer to them as Happy. Simply, this franchise struggled across the board. If we only did points, they were 4th in that category. They had scorers in Tatum Randle, Kuzma, Clarkson, Keldon Johnson and on and on. Everywhere else, shocking. Last (15th) in 4 categories and 14th in another. And it wasn't like they were close in steals or blocks. They were miles behind. Hopefully they will learn from their 1st year and come back stronger in year 2. And while their place in the standings wasn't pretty - trading away their rookie pick was an absolute disaster. While it's still a lottery ticket, it's the Wenbanyama sweepstakes! Brussels has the right to pick swap with Happy so we will have to see how the balls bounce this summer.  So no keepers for Happy and they don't have either of their rookie picks so no 'plus one' for them either. Happy will be starting from scratch.

Arctic pulled off a final day miracle and climbed out of the basement and into 14th. There are a couple of positives to take away from this season for Arctic. They will have 1 keeper spot and their prized rookie (Jaden Ivey) available to them for next season. Will it be Kyrie for $27? Will it be Jalen Green for $20 in year 3 of his rookie deal? Regardless of who they bring back, they should try to employ less 'jackers' next season. Having Dillon Brooks (32%), RJ Barrett (31%),  Dennis Smith (19%), and even Jalen Green (33%) all chucking shots from anywhere and everywhere is a recipe for disaster for anyone's percentages. The 3-headed Center monster of Gobert, Allen, and Adebayo to start the year didn't quite work as planned. I blame Gobert. He's hurt Minny and now Arctic. Mange merde Rudy.

In 13th is our other expansion squad, Dayton. They were doing alright halfway through the season and were fighting for top 8 for a long time. Then injuries struck (lost Cade after 12 games and Vassell went down too). And ultimately, his obsession with LaMelo made him cash in a lot of chips to acquire the kid. LaMelo played in only 14 games before going down with injury for the season. Dayton played almost 70 fewer man games than the top teams. Can't win with that many injuries. All that said, Dayton was playing the long game from the start. He drafted Chet Holmgren knowing he would miss the season. He cashed in all hope of a top 8 finish to acquire Ball. So it will be LaMelo and Chet and 13 lottery balls to start his 2nd campaign. Not a bad core to begin Season #2.

Idaho finished 12th. Not top 8 as he told us. That's odd. An Idaho prediction didn't come to fruition? Oh well. This was another team struck hard by injuries throughout the season. He sold the farm to get KAT but only got 14 games from him. Brandon Ingram only played 45 games in Idaho. Idaho can look forward though to JBL 33 as he does have 2 keepers plus Keegan Murray coming back. We all remember the deal that netted him Paolo Banchero but handed Jaren Jackson Jr to French Lick. 4 years of Paolo over 2 years of JJJ?? A word to the wise, if French wants to make a trade, you should problem question it right away since, well, you know, he wins every frikkin' year!!  Who gets the other keeper spot is still up for grabs but we all hope for a more competitive Idaho squad as that keeps the JBL entertained all year long. When Idaho is a contender, we get 500+ trade offers while this year I barely cracked 100 from him. Come on Idaho, get it together!

Norfolk finished 11th this year. A much better showing after his last place finish the season before. Norfolk was one of the top scoring teams for a long part of the season but faded away in the 2nd half of the year. No team played fewer man games than Norfolk. Again, loads of scoring with his Fantasy MVP Donovan Mitchell leading the way. Add in DeRozan, Jerami Grant, Jimmy Butler and the always injured Kevin Durant and you can see why they were doing so well at times. However, this squad was last in rebounds and 13th in blocks. When James Wiseman and Zach Collins are 2 of your best rebounders, trouble is brewing. The good news for Norfolk is he can build on this success with his rookie Benedict Mathurin coming back plus 2 more keepers. Norfolk also didn't make a single trade. Not one. I think you have to take some chances in the trade market to try and build the squad. The other thing I will note is that Norfolk was 10th going into the final day and dropped to 11th. Just keeping this in case the lottery ball Gods fall a certain way. 

Cali moved into 10th on the final day of the season. These Cali boys were BIG and finished 2nd in rebounding. And considering Cali couldn't score - maybe they should have contacted Norfolk about a trade. Oh well, too late now. Cali featured Vucevic, Porzingis, Valanciunas and others to lead the rebound line. They got a great year from likely 6th man of the year Quickley. Loved the KCP and Powell draft picks as they provided good depth. Another team that didn't make a single trade this year. Jabari Smith, after being placed on the JBL trade block very early in the season, had a decent year and now that Silas has been fired in Houston, maybe he'll have a chance to improve next year. It will be Jabari and 2 keepers for Cali next season. Can they build off this season and look to move up the ladder in 23/24?

Congrats to the highest scoring team in the JBL, Bellingham & Eggers. That only got them 9th though and it shows just how tough it is to build a balanced team across all 7 categories. While they were 1st in scoring, their next best category was 6th in steals and then 8th in ATO. Nothing else was in the top 10. Only made the 1 trade this year - acquiring Bam Adebayo and Hamidou Diallo for Anthony Davis and Kenyon Martin. I think we can say that Bangkok won that deal quite handily, especially after Diallo went down with injury. This team will be able to bring back 2 keepers (they don't have their rookie pick, Johnny Davis, for obvious reasons) and will have to find someone to pair with Kawhi and his $12 dollar final year salary. Is it Dinwiddie for $15? Or maybe someone else. 

The Seoul Brothers ended up in 8th place. A terribly disappointing season for this franchise. Top 10 in every category except for rebounding. Quick, who played the most man games for Seoul this season? Did Tobias Harris come to mind? No? Me neither. But 74 games in Seoul led the way. Trader Phil made 8 deals this season. The whole Zion experiment failed miserably. Only 18 games for Seoul this season. I think Ja Morant was in and out Seoul at least a couple times this year. Bradley Beal was acquired, traded away, acquired again and then ultimately rage dropped. We know Nic Claxton will be one of his 3 keepers but who will the other two be? Ja Morant? Brunzy? Zion? So with all the craziness, injuries, trades, adds and drops, the squad finished 8th and we're calling it a horrible season in Seoul. My point? It's OK to make trades and try things in the JBL.

The JBL 31 champs ended up in 7th place this season. Early season injury struggles had the Ribs in the 10-13 range for a long time. Then came the Dayton lifeline and the reality that Maui had too many good keepers and too few spots to keep them. We all know how difficult it is to trade with Maui but when Myles Turner, Marcus Smart and Kevin Huerter were on the table it was hard to pass up. Maui gained about 200 points within weeks and a top 8 spot was secured long ago. Ultimately, injuries struck this team down and they were one of the lowest man games in the league. Only Bruce Brown and Evan Mobley eclipsed 70 games for Maui. Maui has a strong core available for next season. They have their rookie Jeremy Sochan available and then will have to decide who gets the other 3 spots. Embiid, Bane, Mobley, Aaron Gordon and even Huerter could be options for the Ribs. 

Our 6th place team was the Juan de Fuca No Stocks. 13th in steals and 14th in blocks. That's all that held this team back from a potential top 4 finish. Juan made 2 trades this year - both with Idaho. Always nice to see. Who led Juan in blocks this season? If you said Santi Aldama with 43 I'd give you a medal. Sabonis (39) and Royce O'Neale (38) were 2nd and 3rd. That kinda says it all. Lots of talent on this squad led by the Kings duo of Sabonis and Fox. Juan will have a tough decision to narrow down his keepers to just 3 players. Jamal Murray, Bobby Portis, Franz Wagner, Anfernee Simons, and even Sabonis and Fox could be options to come back. A very impressive year from Juan that's for sure. 

What a disastrous final day in Brussels. Dropping to 5th is heartbreaking considering they had been in the top 4 for most of the season. Brussels showed that scoring isn't important at all as they finished dead last in that category. Top 6 in every other category though including 1st in blocks and FG%. 6 trades this year for Brussels but one could go down in history. Imagine if the pick swap with Happy Valley nets them Victor Wenbanyama? Franchise defining moment. This squad is also primed for another strong campaign next year as Walker Kessler and 3 others will be back. Expect Sengun and Markkanen to be back. The other spot is likely for Fultz, Murphy or Okongwu.  Depending on how the lottery balls shake out this summer this could be the team to beat in 23/24.

Golden getting 4th place was a bit surprising considering how the final day of games was going. Although, Golden had been a member of the top 4 for quite some time leading up to the final week. It all appeared to be lost and a 5th place finish awaited until Kris Dunn and Kelly Olynyk's final game performances that catapulted Golden into 4th. For starters, KO was not going to play. But he did and he shot 9/13. Kris Dunn was 11/18 in the game as well. Ultimately, Golden's FG% was 48.8422 and Maui's was 48.8363. Had Golden missed 2 more shots - Brussels would have finished 4th. 

Golden was strong across most categories but struggled in blocks and ATO to end the season. The role players, as with all great JBL teams, played a significant part of the success this past season. Olynyk was fantastic. Dunn, in his 18 games in Golden averaged 14-5-6 with 1+ steals and shot 55/50.  It was a deep squad that overachieved considering the trades to acquire Duren and Jalen Williams many months ago.  Golden has rookie starlet Tari Eason coming back (and he'll have a new coach in Houston) as well as 4 other spots to fill. Golden sold the farm for Jalen Duren so he will be back (and he'll have a new coach in Detroit); Thunder faves Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams (thanks Seoul) will also be back as well as Darius Garland for one more go around. 

Bangkok started the final day of the season in 5th place but made major moves to climb all the way to 3rd place. The final day saw the Kok climb 20 points in scoring; 13 points in steals (18 steals on Sunday) and 13 points in blocks (14 blocks final day). Young stars Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton are the cornerstones of the franchise. Kok isn't afraid to swing for the fences either acquiring Anthony Davis and Stephen Curry during the season. AD's run in Bangkok was very impressive but it was Kenyon Martin Jr that won that trade as KJ averaged 15 and 6 and shot 60% in his 30 games in Kokville. They also got key contributions from other role players (or maybe burgeoning stars) like Jaden McDaniels and super-backup Drew Eubanks as well as Jonny Kuminga, Josh Green, and Herb Jones. To be successful in the JBL you need your core star players but you also need to discover those outstanding role players and Kok's been doing that very well the past couple of seasons. Bangkok will be fully loaded for next season with rookie pick Mark Williams back along with 4 others. I'd expect Tyrese, Ant, and Scottie Barnes for sure. Who gets the 4th spot is still up for debate. Regardless of who it is, the Kok is primed for another title run next season already. 

Chilliwack ended up in 2nd place and threw everything they had at making the title run. In the end, it came up short, but credit to them for pushing all their chips in and really going for it. This team was loaded with fantasy talent and might have 3 All NBA players (Luka, SGA, Pascal) when it's all said and done. Injuries to Capela and Andrew Wiggins (only 36 games) really hurt this squad in the long run.  I don't really have much else to analyze with this bunch. Super talented team that racked up 1090 points. Many JBL years, that total wins. And it might not be close. But now we all have to deal with the French-factor and that means that 1090 just simply isn't good enough. Outside of maybe DPOY Brook Lopez, I'm not sure who else is a surefire lock to be back as a Wack keeper. Maybe Zubac? Maybe Wiggins? Maybe Conley?

And finally we have our 5-time champs French Lick. 1st place again. 1202 points. We knew they were going to win the title since about January 15th when they took over the lead (by 100+ points) and never looked back. What impresses me about this year's French squad is that he went about it slightly differently than years gone by. French drafting Jokic for massive dollars was very surprising. He rarely throws all his eggs into one basket. For many of us, that plan fails, but not for French. French was top 4 in 6 categories and 12th in scoring. Another team that didn't care about scoring and perfected all the rest. So French drafts Joker and then surrounds him with stud role players and blossoming stars. French paid $30 for the Suns 4th option Mikal Bridges. Then he gets traded to Brooklyn and averaged 27ppg. He leveraged his star rookie Paolo to get a BIGGER star in Jaren Jackson Jr. (21-7-3 in his 29 French games). But it's not those guys that won French the title - it's the Josh Hart's, Kyle Anderson's, Al Horford, Derrick White, De'Anthony Melton, Jarred Vanderbilt's of the world. Those role players are better than our role players. And you can't tell me he's simply having some good luck in knowing which guys to grab each and every year for the last 9 years. A couple years is lucky - 9 years running is knowledge, skill and research. Is there a silver lining for the rest of the JBL heading into next season? Maybe. French doesn't have many surefire value keepers. Yes, thanks to Idaho, Jaren Jackson will be back in French for WAY under value but after that, I'm not sure who has that extreme savings. Regardless, French is the favourite for next year. I don't care who he keeps, protects, what rookie pick he gets or if he auto-pilots the auction. French is the favourite. Period.

OK, that's it for another year in the JBL. As always, you guys make it fun. We chat hoops all the time. Ryan and I get to watch games together. The JBL is a pretty cool place be live in....