| 2007 DRAFT RECAP AND GRADES |
| TEAM DOUBLE STUFF predraft: first time captain aryn christman got extremely lucky when jon biddle was assigned to her team right out of the gate. the addition of biddle instantly adds credibility on both sides of the ball to team christman, giving her a consistent offensive weapon, at least from the triple line in, and one of, if not the best defenders in the league. combined with aryn, who is one of the top eight shooters in the game, the team had a solid foundation to build on. the next player assigned to join team christman was fourth year stalwart ben elliott. while he has yet to play up to his abilities on court (only one all-star appearance in his 4 seasons), ben is a tough inside player who can hit shots when it matters. this will be ben's second time playing with bff jon biddle, and it should be fun to watch two of the league's biggest bodies play together down low. coming off a season in which he say very little action thanks to his being in bavaria throughout most of it, diggity dank elly hopes to re-establish himself as one of the top all-around players in the league this season. dank can do it all- shoot from all twelve spots, play defense with the best of them, and is an elite scrummer, which was an area the stick-thin biddle and heavy-footed elliott may have struggled with. christman pretty much found herself on 2004's xdeathx, which isn't a bad thing at all. xdx was one of the top teams in the league that year (and was the only team to really challenge the double bluffs at all after week one), though most sbl pundits would agree that offense was their weakest point. christman will change that, and this will be a team to look out for this summer. pick 1: winning the draft lottery gave aryn the luxury of taking any of the 37 players entered into the draft pool. she took jamie fabian off the board first, which makes total sense to me. he's a reliable player, he's not terribly bad (as some other round one picks were), and he's in super-tight with the ben/bidd/dank crew, so they'll make sure he's around. with four obvious starters already on board, jamie makes the perfect 5th man. pick 14: after watching the draft snake all the way down and back, aryn finally got her back to back picks, and at 14 took a huge gamble on sbl rookie bob spohn, who i don't believe she or anyone on her team actually knew. and just to fill everyone in, bob works at the lube with many of the sbl's elite, and has a killer set shot and some killer tattoo's of killers. he'll be on the roty watch. pick 15: though he was m.i.a. for all of last season, one cannot argue the merits of adding a billy picciotto to any roster. he only played one full season in the sbl, but wouldn't you know it, it was playing alongside biddle and co. for sdeathx in '04. should he be convinced to return, which at this point is a gamble anyone would be willing to take, he'll be fighting for an all-star spot AT LEAST, perhaps even a player of the year. picks 28 and 29: with her final two selections in the draft, aryn took a shot at the pj & the ladies franchise by selecting the significant others of both rando knight and pj nespor. nespor's wife cassie nespor went off the board first, followed shortly by rookie tara shawley, girlfriend of big rando. while cassie has played before and proven herself a good supporting castmate who won't bitch about lack of playing time but can be use if you need her, tara is a total unkown. not that it really matters- that's what last picks are for. GRADE: A- aryn did an admirable job of filling out her roster in her first foray into captainship. without any of her teammates around to guide her, aryn got everything she needed. perhaps no rookie has been more pumped to play in this league than bob spohn, and while he hasn't gotten the hype of tony mastrian, he'll be around just as much and be just as valuable to his team. fabian was pretty much a no-brainer to go number one to this team, he fit too perfectly. i really like the tara/cassie selections at the end. can you begin to imagine what ben eliiott will be able to do with the g.f.'s of two of pj & the ladies most important players? if there wasn't an intense rivaly between double stuff and the pj&l, there is now. overall, i don't see much weakness in this squad. rumor has it that biddle and dank will be staying at iup this summer, but biddle has assured me he'll be back as often as possible. while the talent level will drop off if the two of them aren't around, jamie fabian and billy picc have both proven themselves as capable fill-ins, and as i've said, spohn will be good. big ups to christman for her work. |
| TEAM B. FRANKOVICH predraft: 2006 sbl player of the year runner-up bryan frankovich got off to a quick start in his third adventure into captaining when mike moroco was added to his squad in the first round of team announcements. morocovitch has played together twice before (2003's weenises strike back and '04's hoosier daddy), both times reaching the sbl finals. both are excellent hitters with range well beyond the homer line with plenty of skill inside. frankovich actually seems to have grown more since last season, and seems more determined than ever to get either that elusive sbl championships or that elusive sbl player of the year- perhaps both. mike frankovich was reunited with little brother bryan shortly after. mike has worn the same colors as bryan in each of his 3 seasons in the league, and had his best campaign last year when he was voted an all-star. though not on par with bryan or mikey's tip in abilities down low, mike is extremely long, and will alter a lot of his oppositions tip in attempts. he's vastly improved as a shooter over the past two years, but his range is still extremely shaky beyond the double stripe. the final player added to team morocovich pre-draft was the first player taken in 2006's draft, patrick nespor. though i doubt anyone wpould name him as one of the 20 best in the league, pat does stroke shots from the side pretty well, and more importantly, he wins. in each of his 2 sbl seasons, he's made the finals. anytime you get a team with two of the top five players, they're going to be good. the obvious questions marks will be mike frank and nespor, both of whom will need to continue to improve if captain bryan is going to hoist that first earnest. at any rate, at least the draft will be almost meaningless- neither of the top four players ever, ever misses a game. pick 2: it was pretty much a formailty that seth salcedo would end up playing for team b.frank. bryan has been talking about the return of sal for quite some time now, and rumor has it he's more big rando now than billy weisberg. if this is the case, perhaps this year he'll not only be able to get the ball to the rim from beyond the single line, but also be the bodyslammer instead of the bodyslamee when it comes to battling the sbl president. pick 13: gavin st. john goes off the board to frankovich here, which seems fitting since frankovich was the one who added him to the draft board in the irst place. i've done some research on this kid, and the only thing pictures have told me is that he's got bangs. other than that it's anyone's guess, but for bryan's sake he'd better be more salcedo than o'mahoney. pick 16: with his starters and first couple of bench spots looking solid, bryan caould take the risk on "homerun superstar that may come for a week or two cause he's in the army and doesn't live in these parts" andy esenwein right here. pick 27: teddy ballgame will be saddened to hear that for the 3rd straight season his sister, who has yet to actually show up, got picked before him. pick 20: as with esenwein three rounds earlier, bryan could roll the dice on addam stainbrook showing up a time or two this season. like andy, addam is in the army. unlinke andy, addam isn't a homer threat, but makes up for it with tough defense. GRADE: B+ frankovich did a good job with this draft, and feel free to go back and look at how many times i've said that in the past. congrats to bryan for finally getting it right! salcedo gives bryan a teammate who people won;t hate, which is much needed because the brunt of the league is very anti-bryan and mikey. and it's incredibly hard to win games with the referee's pulling for the other team. getting andy esenwein and addam stainbrook as your 7th and 8th players would have been nice for any team in the league. both are all-star calibur who will be more than useful should they ever show up, but won't really be needed thanks to the already solid bench. st. john? who knows. but i doubt we can put him in the player of the year mix. finally, ted's sister. my favorite part of the draft. how red will ted gilliland's face get when he realizes that his baby sister is not only playing alongside mike moroco, but arch-nemesis seth salcedo as well? priceless! all in all, bryan did an admirable job filling out his roster. it had all the makings of an great draft. unfortunately for bryan, nothing really seems to have changed from the last few seasons. i'm thoroughly convinced that no team with bryan as it's go-to guy can win in this league... as good as he is statistically, he's not a leader. maybe if an olsavsky or a mcclelland or a tomko, or hell, even a rando kight were on this team, they'd be the favorite. as much as i'd like to see it happen, bryan won;t be winning a championship this season. |