Winter 2024 Saturday Draft League Preseason Power Rankings
by Jason on
Ok so it’s the day after the draft. While I’m hearing rumors of trades on the horizon (one already happened and I pray for my guy @Musse 
) let me give you guys a ranking. This ranking can and probably will change but for now this is how I see it. Also it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be and I definitely did some shifting of teams while doing it. For a bonus I even gave each team a name or renamed it if you already have one:
10) Let it Go (Keith’s team aka Hoops and Dreams). So my 4 year old daughter loves Frozen. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard the Frozen song let it go. In that song there’s a line that says I don’t care what they’re going to say. Clearly this was on Keith mind on draft day and even before by making the most pre draft trades I’ve ever seen. His team name is actually fitting and not bad so props to you there. Ok, so I like Guliano as a player and he even seems like a nice guy but taking him at 10 was a reach. Players like Kopel, Costa, Morel and maybe a few other guys would’ve been a better choice. I’m not going to go into too much details about the other choices but Keith seemed to just be picking names not an actual team that meshed well to succeed in the league. Everyone he picked is a good player/guy however I don’t necessarily think it will be a good enough team in this league unfortunately for those guys
9) Thank you for being a friend (Cam’s team no name) The Ivanic pick was great I’ve been high on him since day 1. Plays the right way and can do everything. With his next pick Joe is where I wasn’t a big fan (no pun intended please don’t take offense). I love Joe as a person and as a basketball player he does some good things out there and goes balls to the wall. I just don’t think the pairing of him with Ivanic is a good one. I get it, Joe wouldn’t have been available at 25 and he’s your buddy so that makes sense but one guy I’d compare to a race car and the other a SUV. I understand the direction you went with your remaining picks too. Overall though I just don’t think this team will be good enough. They will be a tough team and may even surprise a team with an upset win but I don’t see them as contenders for a championship and are on the fringe of not making the playoffs.
8) Back to back on you B***hes (DP’s team Ball Mitzvah) I’m not a big fan of the repeat naming unless it’s the same exact team especially after winning a championship. To me it kinda takes away from your winning team but here we are. I gotta say it because I heard it from more than one person. Taking DTO at 6 was a reach. I get the mindset though and I can’t even say I agree or disagree with the reach thinking. DP wanted Ivanic at 6 who was gone and then would’ve probably traded up if DTO was gone at 16. While I’m not mad at drafting familiarity, sometimes you have to just go a different direction. Getting Wood at 16 was smart especially based off his playoff performance alone last season. The Jewish brother Josh Brown was his next pick and I liked it a lot. Josh can score in bunches and is very competitive. Taking a flyer on the rookie here was another smart decision (especially since you hit a home run with Ivanic last season) and then rounding your team out with Stull who you won a championship with last season made perfect sense. While I do have this team at 8 I think DP had a good draft and this team could mesh well and surprise some teams.
7) Am I my brother’s keeper? (Nick’s team name District 10) I get the team name and I’m not mad at it but mine is better . It feels crazy ranking my teammate of the previous two seasons so low but any team with picks 40,41 and 45 is a tough one to believe in. I’m gonna assume Chris is good but not as good as Preston 
. If Nick ever decides to transform himself from Al Horford to Joel Embiid we will all be in trouble. Blaike should get plenty of open looks on this team and if he’s on they will be a tough team to stop. On defense I assume they will be playing a lot of zone which could work or not. Definitely an interesting team which could potentially win it all
6) A Dwyer Situation (Dwyer’s team no name). I am completely unfamiliar with Dwyer and his game but he’s coming from a 5v5 environment which usually translates to higher numbers in 4v4. Not sure who told him about Ball and Kopel but this is an excellent pairing and will give opposing guards fits on both ends of the court. Taking rookies can be hit or miss so even if the two he drafted don’t pan out. This team is still very good with their top 3. This team has the making of championship contenders so I’m interested to see how they progress.
5) Gettings to it (Josh’s team Pushing P). I actually like the team name Josh picked and it makes sense too so kudos for that. I like this team overall as well it’s really balanced. My questions would be their three point shooting (no clue if Preston can shoot) and defense. Yes they have Costa who will probably be one of the best defensive players in the league again. Josh is also a good defender. But having a few good defenders doesn’t work out for the best just ask the captain of Costa Coast. Butterworth and Waldman are great reserve guys to have. Josh is fresh off a championship appearance so I know he’s itching to get back and win it all this time.
4) Not Stojakovic or Bogdanovic it’s Vlajkovic (Djordje’s team The Spice Channel). Yeah I feel like if I type out the team name Djordje selected I will have to also type PAUSE at the end of it so I will be referring to them as TSC. Djordje took the best player in the draft at 1 and didn’t make any trades. Paired him with a floor spacer in Ghost. I haven’t seen Chas play in awhile but he’s always been a feisty guard so I like that pick too. AO has improved and probably got drafted at about the right spot. 50 is 50 so you have no choice but I don’t think Tommy is the worst player in this league. He will knock down some shots so that’s a good thing to have also. Missing Chas for 3 weeks won’t be good but if they can survive that and then figure out how to play together this team can win it all.
3) The defense rests (Civale’s team no team name) I’m glad I got drafted to this team so thank you Brian. Before Civale officially joined SDL I played with him as a fill-in with Nick Lynch and man was that fun. Anyways I digress. I’ve heard that Mullings is a bucket and plays defense. He is also coming from a 5v5 space with great numbers. I’m not familiar with Cerbone but he had the 7th highest APR going into the draft so I’m assuming he can play. Sanon is a lefty defensive player that also plays smart. Landy is a good reserve guy that can get hot from three. I like this team a lot and they will be contenders.
2) Never lost (Nair’s team Riggin’ for Higgins). I’ve never been a fan of naming your team after your last round pick well in this case someone you traded for. I’m not mad at it it’s just personally not my thing. I like that Branch is active on Discord and that he was honest in his bio. Him and Nair could be the best combo in the league. I’m not familiar with Skelley but he does have a good APR but hopefully for their sake he has some height. France seems like a sandbag job based on his bio. I’m not familiar with Gilloly but he won’t need to do much until Nair misses games. Higgins is his guy so that rounds out the team. Anytime you have Nair on your team especially in SDL you will have one of the best teams in the league.
1) Emmanuel Mentality (E3 team mamba forever) again the renaming of teams is not for me but if you like it I love it. I know you’re a big Kobe guy so why not just incorporate you and him into a team name? Not gonna lie unlike last season Emmanuel killed this draft. His team wasn’t bad last season but this season he has the bullseye on his back which is completely different than being the underdog. I think they can win in a multitude of ways. I guess the only issue is managing minutes. They are the favorites to win the league right now. Will that be the case at the end of the season? Only time will tell. That’s all I got for now guys. Good luck to everyone and see you next week.