5v5 Draft Winter 24 Draft Recap
by Jason on
Winter 24 5v5 Draft Recap
A classic school yard pick ‘em went down the other night to set the stage for the Winter 24 5v5 Draft League. The tall talented players got picked early. The small “developing” players got picked late. In a world where your bio and your APR determine your worth, were our captains able to walk away with any sneaky value?
No.
But - it doesn’t mean we can’t pretend someone did! Let’s dive in.
The Brad Myatt led “Country Billy Made a Couple Milly” (Let’s pause here for a moment and discuss one thing. What an unneccassrilly long team name. Okay back to the draft). Brad, without hesitation, went with Dan Barbour with the #1 overall pick. A certified bucket getter. When the board finally came back around to Myatt’s pick at the 2 / 3 turn, Myatt went down the board for a rookie (Sam Davis) an a guy further down the APR list (Isaac Julien). Davis has an intriguing bio with some scout team experience and prior CAC MVP (although that was a decade a go). In his 30s now he’s probably not as quick as he once was, but 6’4” is 6’4” at any age. Julien’s bio isn’t as salivating but the stat line reads like a guy that could fit in on any team snagging 7 boards, and 2 plus stocks per game in his last CAC appearance (for my fantasy basketball fans, sounds like a guy with a great 9-cat game). Not wanting to wait for the board to come all the way back around, Myatt shipped out the 28th and 29th overall picks for the 21st overall pick to grab Carlos Carmona. Carmona doesn’t have much recent CAC history but looks like a spark plug scorer (double digit average but doesn’t contribute much). Might be the kind of guy that can carry the scoring load when Barbour needs a breather. Myatt had to wait 16 picks to pick again and went with Brian Horton. Horton’s stat line reads like a guy that does a little bit of everything without needing the ball much. He’s also played in a bunch of CAC recently so you have to assume he’s in basketball shape. Sometimes that’s enough to make an impact. Myatt closed out the draft with Chao Quan and Paul Orlinsky. Two guys that also have recent CAC experience that should be able to give quality minutes. Overall looks like a strong team that has some top end scoring surrounded by guys that can play ancillary roles.
Jamil Ball was originally slated to pick 7th but shipped out the 7th and 8th pick to move up to #2 (and pick up #16). Ball likely felt pressure to take Scott Moran so that his team name (Shoot First Moran) would make sense. Moran is a 20 PPG guy. The team that win have at least one (and ideally two) guys that can put the ball in the hoop. Anchoring your team with one of those is smart. (Ball himself looks like a scorer, that’s dangerous for the rest of the league). The punishment for trading up for Moran is having to wait until 16 for Ball’s next pick. Surprised to see former Washington Bullets great Chris Whitney still available at 16th overall. After spending the late 90s backing up Rod Strickland…wait..sorry, I’m getting word that this is a different Chris Whitney. The CAC Chris Whitney is a guy that can get boards which can create second shot opportunities for Moran. (I’m curious is Moran is allowed to shoot off of offense rebounds. The instructions are clearly to shoot first which I think would preclude him from shooting second shot opportunities. Note to other teams that you don’t have to cover Moran when this team gets an offensive rebound. Quick turnaround for Ball at pick 21. Which he wasn’t ready for. So he traded
that to Myatt for 28/29. When #22 overall came around Ball was ready, getting rookie Luke Altobelli. With a some high school experience, standing a 6 feet and a self proclaimed shooter, Altobelli should fit right in next to two scorers and a rebounder. After diverting for a rookie, Ball went back to the vets snagging Joe Epperson at #28 overall. A nearly 10 point per game scorer, Epperson shouldn’t be counted to do too much scoring, but it’s nice to know he has that in his bag if some of the other guys get cold for a night. He’s also at nearly a steal and a half per game. Could create some extra possessions for his scorers. With the 29th pick Ball went for size with Joe Martin. Pulling down nearly eight rebounds per game, Martin should pair well with Whitney to give the Moran’s an advantage on the glass. Ball closed out with picks 35 and 36 with two rookies. Mason Gloudemans, who should compliment the scorers and the rebounders well with his focus on hustle and defense. Charles Bansoro a self-proclaimed “Full Time Pain in the A** and “grinder”. Every team loves having a guard like that that will be a pest for the other team (think Caruso, Pat Bev, Marcus Smart). This team seems very well constructed and might be the early favorites.
Picking out of the 3rd hole was Kevin Gillooly (Sauce Castillo, I appreciate the reasonable length of the team name). Gilooly made Michael Brady the highest drafted rookie of the season. Brady clocks in a 6’6” with some high school ball experience. We’ll see how much of that skill he has left but anyone with that size plus any level of organized experienced should be make a major impact. Jacob Miller was Gilooly’s pick at 12. Miller can be a 15 PPG guy who’s played in the last three draft sessions. Miller also looks like he crashes the glass, plays D and dishes out the rock well. Honestly, with that stat line and experience, probably should have been a top 10 pick. Nice get for Gilooly. Gilooly kept things moving at 17 overall with rookie Aidan Chaney. Chaney didn’t make it as a pro hooper but my guess is he has a potential career as a hype man. The “full time ankle snatcher” and “green bean machine” (which is something I’m concerned to find out the meaning of) made quite an impression on the draft chat. Also, it sounds like you must be a deity to successfully score on Chaney at the rim. Good luck. Gilooly went back to the vets for the 26th pick, grabbing Dan Buckley. Buckley looks like a board crasher, especially on the offensive side. Fits the mold of this team that seems to have a lot of size. Jordan Goldberg came off the board at 31 who comes back to CAC after nearly a decade away. Might take a bit for him to get his basketball wheels under him but profiles as a versatile guard that might allows the Castillos to switch up their lineups. He also clock in at over 6 feet tall. Taha Jenning as teh pick at 40 who’s got recent CAC experience and can also chip in 7-8 points per game. Lastly Gilooly went with Dan Barry who played in the most recent draft league where he put up nearly 6 points per game. Some good experience to round out the roster.
Skates picked out of the 4 hole. We always knew it was Skates’ pick because their would be a lull in the draft speed. But when Skates did finally lock in he picked Kyle Miller who has the second highest APR of anyone on the board and can be a 20/10 guy. No one would complain about having that on their team. Skates (when we were able to get his attention) went with the 4th highest APR guy Angelo Cerbone with the 11th overall pick. Cerbone snags over 8 boards per game and can get you 10+ points. Two major rebounders to start Skates’ team off. We notified Skates it was his pick again at 18 and he went with Ben Brown. Brown claims to be defender. With Brown defending and Miller/Cerbone on the glass, this team is still lacking some ball handling and playmaking in the backcourt. Dylan Russel was the pick at 25 who adds more defense with his nearly 2 steals per game. Man it’s going to be a pain to play this team if they’re all defense and rebounding. At #32, Skates went with rookie Tyler Pontes. Pontes might get thrusted into some lead guard responsibilities. He claims he’s knowledge for the game is great so this could sneakily be the perfect late round pick for this team. Also claims to like to “play D” so the defensive identity for this squad continues. Othniel St Ulme went off the board at #39 overall. St Ulme can get you a steal a game so he fits in the defensive identity of this team. With Skates’ final pick, #46 overall, he went with Chris Jenco. A lanky playmaking defender who’s APR suggested he should have gone much earlier in the draft. If Skates can get Jenco to match the defensive identity of this team, it’s going to be really hard to get buckets.
Dan Schwartz was supposed to pick out of the 5 spot but Tibbs subbed for him. Tibbs gave us our second rookie of round 1 with Andrew Cooper. Cooper has D3 experience as well as experience being a practice player for St. Joes. He’s young and can shoot. Assuming that’s all true, he’s likely going to be one of the best scorers in the league. Emmanuel Okharedie got his name called with the 10th pick. Okharedia can score, get boards, rack up assists and get steals. Sounds like a pretty lethal one two punch with Cooper. Antonio Khoury got picked at 17. He’s got HS experience and literally just put his name in his bio. You can’t teach that kind of confidence. Watch out folks. A third rookie got added with Derek Erion at 24. Talk about confident bios. Erion didn’t even write one. But at 6’6” 200 pounds, Derek is going to be ready to push kids around in the paint. Remy Baudet finally came out of the green room at the 33rd pick. A player with 20 PPG on their resume should probably have gone earlier. Rare to find that kind of scoring this late. With the 38th pick, Matt Killeen got picked. That’s me! I CAN’T BELIEVE I MADE THE TEAM!!!! Seriously though. I last played 6 years ago and I can promise you I haven’t gotten better. But I’ll put my fourth quarter free throw shooting up against anyone. Kunal Chawla rounded out the team at pick 47. Never hurts to add someone who’s played in this league before and has a 7 PPG season on their resume.
Shawn Wise with the narcisstically named “Wise Shots” pick at 6. Wise quickly took Tyrone Mullings at 6. A consistent 16-17 PPG scorer who spiked for 5 assists per game in a recent season with nearly 3 steals per game. Mullings looks like the kind of guy who can set his teammates up for success but can get his own if needed. Drew Debari fell to the 9th pick despite having the third highest APR. DeBari (sorry I missed the capital B the first time), is coming off a 17 PPG season with almost 9 rebounds per game and 4.5 assists. That’s a well rounded stat line that can allow him and Mullings to play off of each other as needed. With the 20th the pick Wise went with Dainis Klavins. Klavins gives Wise another double digit scorer. Klavins also dropped nearly 4 dimes per game in his last season. Wise started his draft with three well rounded players. At #23 Alex Yuen could finally relax as he heard his name called. A year ago Yuen grabbed 10 rebounds per game. He can also be a double digit scorer if needed. Wise continued with his draft at pick 34 with Corey Fein. Fein’s stat line are pretty consistent. 6-7 points per game, 3-4 rebounds pre game and nearly a steal per game. Seems like another guy that can fill in any role that’s needed. That’s the theme for this team through the draft at this point. Joe Maalouf at 42 and Patrick Aspell at 43 rounded out Wise’s draft. This looks like Maalouf’s first foray into the draft league but he did play in another league in the fall. Aspell played in this league last session. I think we’re going to find teams that take players who are already in basketball shape from the previous session are going to off to hot starts. Aspell and Maalouf should contribute to that.
The final captain to pick was Alex Biskelonis. After trading down from 2 to get the 7 / 8 picks Biskelonis started his draft with Nika Sulakvelidze and rookie Brock Mickley. Let’s start with the rook. Mickley brings HS experience and potentially could have played in college but decided to kick it with the boys instead. My guess is Brock is going to be a high level play maker. His INTRAMURAL championship experience will serve him well come playoff time. Nika his a consistent 10 rebound per game guy. A good big to play off of Brock gives Biskelonis a good foundation at the start of his draft. With the 13th pick (I don’t remember how Biskelonis ended up with the 13th pick) we saw the “Old Kevin Love” Ben Jerome get drafted. There was some debate if this meant Kevin Love who’s old, or Kevin Love from the olden days. Either way, 6’4” 250 with some range will play on any team. Another rookie for Biskelonis at #27 with Jameson Luks. A former football player at 6’2” 225, I have to imagine Luks is going to make going to the rim not an enjoyable experience. Biskelonis continued hammering rookies with Maynard at pick 30. Maynard was a HS team captain so you know his bounce pass is elite. HS may have been a while ago but those fundamentals stay with you forever. Oh and look, at pick 41, ANOTHER ROOKIE! Devin Peck. Peck stands at over 6 feet, he’s only played pick up but getting his request to play with Andy Sealund (pick 44) fulfilled should mean his heart is fully in it. Sealund played HS ball. Hopefully we’ll see some synergy between Peck and Sealund. Not sure how many guys in this league have played together or know each other well. That bond will be helpful.
With all the information available here, I think Shoot First Moran and the Hoopa Loompas (Skates’ team) are the favorites. However with so many rookies it’s hard to make a clean call. I’m looking forward to a fun season and excited to be back at CAC after taking half a decade away to have a kid. See y’all on Tuesday.