| 2005 TEAM BY TEAM DRAFT RECAP AND GRADES |
| TEAM CHICKEN LEG pre-draft: dennis lackey made perhaps the most surprising acquisition with his choice to go with sharon high senior terry shernisky, an sbl rookie who few in the league have ever even heard of, let alone see shoot a basketball. while many may argue that taking a rookie pre-draft is perhaps the dumbest move a captain could make considering the importance of landing that top-notch player in order to remain competitive, dennis seems to have nabbed himself a hot commodity. rival captain, and perhaps the best shooter in sbl history shelley goodpastor also was looking long and hard at shernisky, and it seemed unlikely that dennis would have gotten his number one guy had he waited until the draft. many have called shernisky "jon biddle with a shot", and if these words hold true, we could be looking at the greatest rookie ever to jump his lanky white ass into the sbl. pick 1: when it was discovered that lackey would be unable to attend the draft, a few changes were made and dennis was handed the top overall pick, enabling him to snatch up sbl hall of famer jamie moroco in the #1 slot. moroco took over the drafting duties for her new squad, but brings much more to the table, including leadership, her .500 lifetime average and 5 seasons of experience. while she may not be a top-10 player as she was a few years back, one can never question drafting a player like jamie. pick 14: by taking lenny crist at 14, team lackey/moroco may well have created the greatest defensive team ever. with the top 2 psyche-out artists in league history now having the oppurtunity to double up on some poor sap, expect few shots to find their way home against this dominating D. pick 15: lackey (as being channeled by moroco) pulled his second shocker of the team building phase with it's selection of jukebox hero captain danielle hennon in this position. the move was doubley surprising considering few would have expected hennon to go this high, and even fewer would have guessed lackey would have the stones to draft sbl president nate tomko's own girlfriend out from under him. hennon, while having few real oppurtuities to shine in her 2 season career, can be a solid leadoff hitter, though anything shot from beyond the double line is nothing more than a prayer. pick 28: with his top 5 already set, lackey was able to gamble a bit with his next set of back-to-back selections. at 28, he took ween farmartino off the board, seemingly in an attempt to reform the weenises strike back, a former team of his that made it to the sbl championship a few years back. ween, whose attendance can only be called sporadic over the last handful of seasons, is a deadly middle homer and triple shooter if she ever shows up. but if anyone can get her to come, it's pimpass lackey. pick 29: sam lynn went here, and i think this may be the only moment in sbl annals that a team had more females on it than males. (i'll have to look that up) anyway, sam is another solid hitter who may or may not ever show up, something lackey seemed to be stockpiling as the draft wore on. pick 42: by the time you're on to the final rounds of the draft and the 7th, 8th, 9th positions on your depth chart, who you draft no longer matters on the court, only when examining the roster. sbl co-founder chris hvizdak, mia for 3 seasons, falls at 42. pick 43: jeff meyers. if he ever comes, which won't be more than once, he gives team lackey the rugged inside force and scrummer they desperately, desperately need. pick 56: piss on the sbl for letting steve mentrek fall this far, even with his checkered sbl attendance over the last couple seasons. mentrek is a stud, a 2-time player of the year finalist, and it seems very likely he'll find his way to quite a few games this year. grade: C- i think the draft started out well for lackey. moroco and crist add a combined 10 years of experience to a very young team. moroco also brings a very solid leadoff hitter, which lackey needed big time, and the possibilities are endless for the stereo psyche outs from lackey and lenny. i would have no problem with danielle at 15 normally, but this team really needed to add another physical defensive presence. it really doesn't matter how many psyche outs are accumulated if the other teams in the league can pile up assists on every miss. 4 of the final 5 selections were purely for show, but this team may need their final pick to show up to be competitive. overall, i'm very torn on this team. they look like they can be this season's cinderella because they've loaded up on good hitters and psyche-outs, but i really would have liked to seem them add a reliable bruiser. |
| TRAIN ON TED'S SISTER predraft: ben smith likes homers. mikey moroco doesn't shoot homers. match made in heaven? ehhh... ben has only played one season, and he was used sparingly last year as a member of the double bluff winning machine. in fact, he was a relative unknown until the very last week of the regular season, and really has only played 2 good weeks of baseketball in his career. i'd have been more comfortable had ben landed a real stud. not taking anything away from mikey, but he just doesn't add anything huge to this team... no double plays, no scrumming, he's not gonna hit .650 or drive in 75. ben, however, seems thrilled with this pick, and i'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt. perhaps mikey is ready to step out from the shadow of bryan frankovich and become a player of the year contender, and perhaps ben already knows this. pick 2: katie kelly. ben tried to say he was considering others at this juncture, but i don't think he was fooling anyone. katie is the second coming of shelley goodpastor, and with her and mikey batting ahead of him, ben may have 100 rbi to go with his 35 homers. plus, she can battle down low as good as either ben or mikey, and she can probably put the clamp on shernisky's testicles. pick 13: stud frankovich give the t.o.t.s. the final piece of the puzzle, a big man to tip in and break up under the glass. he does like homers, which has to be a little unsettling for mr. smith, but it's small price to pay considering every other big man on the board at 13 was either unreliable or a rookie. pick 16: the addition of jason betts works for me at 16. he's not a great elayer, but he is reliable, and can fill a void if needed. besides, he's a fun muther and ben really didn't need any particular aspect of his team worked on besides scrumming, something betts is more than happy to step in and do. pick 27: ted's sister. i'm sure allison gilliland would be devastated to find she had slipped 10 spots from her position in last years draft. pick 30: it had to be agonizing for a once-proud member of the sbl family like sean hood to watch players like ween farmartino, ali szabo, greg lackey, mike frankovich and ted's sister get taken well ahead of him. hood's not a bad player. in fact, he can have moments of all-star play. he just never seems to string together enough good games in a row to be considered an everyday starter anymore. this may be a good oppurtunity to get in a few good games, however, as jason betts can easily be passed on the depth chart, and stud frankovich is likely to miss more than one or two weeks this season. pick 41: patrick nespor, third member of the pj triumvarite, is a nice little pickup here. if patrick is anything like his older siblings, he should be a solid player who shows up every week. and hell, even if he doesn't, he'll be able to bang shots left and right whenever we play at the tubbietronic superdrome. pick 44: jeremy battyani may be the best, most reliable player to be taken in the final 2 rounds. if he showed up last season while wearing hoosier daddy brown and never playing, he'll surely be willing to suit up for ben smith. pick 56: considering joel lepak was one pick away from going undrafted, i'm glad ben took him here. joel deserves better than that. oh, he'll never play for ben, that's for sure, cause even if he does come once or twice, joel is all pj & the ladies. he'll end up on that team, probably cost them a win or two, and ben will get another late-round player who rarely comes in exchange. grade: B the core of ben, mikey and katie are gonna score runs. none of them miss much, and all are capable of drilling nearly every shot on the court. they lack the size to compete with most teams inside or during the scrums, but stud frankovich should tackle half of that when he shows, which for this teams sake down low had better be often. getting betts and hood in the middle rounds was a good move, virtually ensuring ben he'd never have to play shorthanded. picking up ted's sister was pretty, and a rivalry with ted's new team is a given. finally, once would be hard pressed to find a better final 3 picks in the draft. pat and battyani are nice late round additions for any team, and having joel gives ben trade bait for dealing with a stacked pj & the ladies team. all in all, ben did a nice job. he gambled with katie, opting for offense over defense. he could have grabbed a kip corbett or pat lackey and been a little more balanced, but i think he'll be alright with the team he's got. |