B Draft Fall 23 Preseason Preview
by Jason on
BY HARRY DEMAKES
- Nate’s team
For some reason unclear to everyone, but Nate. Nate wanted to trade out of his second pick, which was odd, because this draft had 7 surefire first rounders. The rest of the players are going to be miscasted as either 2s or 3s this season. Nonetheless, Nate going to do his dishes! Joel at 8 was the correct choice probably, unless Joel is taking his usual vacation time away from us. When he’s there, you know the story, it’s been told by me for centuries. Joel, isn’t a number 1, because in his heart he’s a secondary third piece. Ghost isn’t a bad pick either, but who’s going to pass him the ball? Troy was disappointing and I don’t see this team helping him. Apparently he’s missing games too. Don’t know Maloof, other than his bio smells like chucker. Silva is a good last pick, but I see him getting lost on this team. My forecast for this team isn’t great. Joel is going to have to score AND guard the other teams best guy. He’s not capable of doing both. I also see no one who id describe as a point guard or passer here, which hurts because these guys need someone like that to succeed. These guys feel like bottom fodder.
- Calderan
Miller was a good start, then this train went off the rails. I thought Paul could have did a lot better than the Julien brothers at 16-17, especially since they’re the same player. Like the homeless man’s version of the Mulholland brothers. Not the guys I’d want with Miller, who’s going to be facing a lot of clogged paints. Taha and Danner are good picks at the end, but Miller is going to have to do A LOT of heavy lifting. I just don’t know how this team succeeds if their opponent has someone who can keep up with Miller.
- Civale
Civale goes back where he belongs, down in the rankings. It’s mostly, because I don’t know what his rookie will bring. I also don’t know if Remy is still good. It’s been a while and his stats didn’t look great from other leagues. I like Clarke, Great One and Glynn. They all play their role well. I just don’t know who’s running point on this team. Remy? The rookie? If their rookie is a guy who can get everyone going, they’ll be in the hunt.
- Me
I’ll stick my team here, because we’ll probably be in for some absences and won’t look pretty at times. I thought Nair was the best player in the draft, yes better than Miller. Dunks only count for 2 points people! I traded up because I counted about 9 guys I wanted as a second that could guard top scorers. That was Karim, who played great last season. Eloi may be old, but he plays hard physical defense and I love that. I finished with the aging sharp shooter, who apparently works with Karim. Then of course, BIG GUNS! It’ll take us a minute to get going, but watch out!
- Cam
I thought Cam made the best trades in the draft and ended up with a very mediocre, vanilla team. Cam traded up and got Lynch, which I thought was a terrible pick. Unless Lynch and DTO channel their SDL versions, how will this team score? Lynch had a lot of dud scoring games and DTO will most likely draw the best perimeter defender. Obviously, Bauman was a great pick and I like Gray being freed from Ian’s clutches. I don’t know KG though. I do know this team probably be one of the better defensive squads. I just don’t know where the scoring will come from.
- Ian
Ian didn’t get enough of the Koller experience, so he passed on Pollock for him. Odd choice, but the good thing is he had pretty much had this team last season, so they got the chemistry here. I got a scouting report on Roberts and it’s that he can score, but he’s a traffic cone on D. I don’t know Padavick. Packard was a little reach, but he tries and Ian likes him. Of course, gotta love OTTOMATIC. There are two pretty big unknowns here, with Padavick and Packard. It’s also kind of funny Koller complained that only he rebounded last season and Ian got presumably no one who could do that again. Still, I think their experience and reliability on Koller to show up, gives them a slight edge on the field.
- Noah
Another reliable person is Pollock, who somehow fell to Noah at 6. Pollock is always consistent, game in and game out. He’ll help Robel and Noah get shots. I like Angry Ian and obviously trick or treat Kenny, who was underrated again this draft. Dias wasn’t too bad last I saw him either. This is a very solid team. The only question is who can handle the ball outside of Pollock. This also doesn’t profile as a Pollock type team. Pollock likes to run and this isn’t a running team. Still, they’re championship contenders.
- Etheridge
I’m sticking Etheridge at number 1 here. AJ, is also quite reliable. I love his defensive fire and kid gets buckets. Angelo, is a kind of a mystery. I’ve played against him twice and well, I passed on him at 9. He played on a bad 5v5 team that played no serious games. How does that translate here? I have no clue. Hanks is a great pick, he may be hurt, but the playoffs aren’t for months. So, who cares? The bench isn’t deep, but then again, I haven’t seen these guys. Maybe they’re fucking awesome? I think this team ultimately comes down to what Angelo and Etheridge bring. If Etheridge is 80% his former self and Angelo is a competent big, they’ll be in business. They feel like title contenders.