P&RCL Awards for 2013-2014
Best
Keepers (75 ATPs): Young Gay Love Favors. I’ve dominated this the past two years but my
Derrick Rose misstep and the Tobias Harris lackluster follow-up knock me out of
contention. And that’s saying something, because nobody had a front-to-back
awesome keeper year. Chris, however, was closest. Durant is about as sure a
sure thing as there is and one of the best keepers despite having no built-in discount
as a first-rounder. Sure, Westbrook had a couple more surgeries and wasn’t a
sure bet to come back when he did, but the reasonable expectation would have
been that he got back to where he did get back to by season’s end. Paul George
is a first-rounder in the eleventh and repaid that like he was supposed to.
(Oh, and Chris looks to win this next year easily barring some out-of-nowhere
explosion from guys like The Greek Freak, Lance Stephenson, or some other
late-round guy – or a freak international-basketball-related injury. Man, poor
Paul George.)
Best Draft (75 ATPs): Nutcrushers. Just to reiterate the rules on this one, I try to avoid hindsight as much as possible. The conception is to reward what I consider the best draft at the time of the draft, discounting people lost to injury (if it wasn’t reasonably foreseeable) or out-of-nowhere luck on a breakout campaign. But that’s really hard to do this year.
Three of
the best picks in a long time came on late-round gambles (DeAndre for me, Ariza
for Alan, and Stephenson for Connor). Of those, Ariza seems the least likely
success – Alan got quite lucky on that one, and I think he’d agree he didn’t
expect Ariza to end up as the 25th best player (by averages) on the
season (maybe top 50 if he were optimistic, but that’s quite a gap). I expected
good things from Jordan, but again, I’d be lying if I thought he’d be that good
(he ended up as the 40th best by averages and 39th by
totals; I was thinking top-60-ish). But the fact is both DeAndre and Lance are
now very interesting keeper options (Ariza less so as he’s older and a free
agent, Stephenson despite the fact he only ended up as a top-100-ish player).
Drafting
well is about more than good picks, though. (Every team had at least one great
pick – Noah in the fourth and DeRozan in the tenth for Nick, Dragic in the
fourth and Afflalo in the twelfth for Anna, Andre Drummond in the sixth and
Carter-Williams in the tenth for Vivek, Korver and Stephenson for Connor,
Gortat and Bosh for Chris, etc.) For instance, Annan’s draft: his first six
rounds are super solid (especially Lowry in the fifth), but he also drafted
Granger, Bargnani, and Gerald Wallace – all horrible picks at the time. So you
have to avoid those clunkers, too, especially in the middle rounds where team
strength is really determined. (Unfortunately, everybody had some clunkers,
too.)
Let me
stop chewing space and get to the explanation: from top to bottom, based on as
little hindsight as possible, I’m going to pick Nutcrusher’s draft as the best
of last year. Nick got gobsmacked with some bad luck, y’all. But at the time, I
thought he made a solid pick at almost every turn, building in upside at various
points. I certainly would not have predicted Pau’s year from hell after the
departure of Howard; I thought that was a great pick. Vucevic and Noah were
perhaps a little inflated, but solid big-man foundation picks nonetheless. 6th
round for Rondo, who was rumored to be coming back around Christmas, was a
great upside gamble that didn’t quite work out, but I was pissed at the time (I
wanted him). Ditto gambling on Eric Gordon, who is a straight stud when healthy
(thus the discount). The tail end of Nick’s draft doesn’t look too impressive
in hindsight, but at the time of the draft, each one of those picks had tons of
promise (except Carlos Boozer, who was just a rotation pick): a bounce-back
possibility for Manu (who did end up ranked well above a 12th
rounder); the microwave stylings of Thornton; Waiters potentially having a
breakout (which he would have, if not for corrosive personality conflicts with
Kyrie); Nene a solid pick-up for Washington; and Avery Bradley, who was on many
pre-season sleeper lists.
No, it
didn’t work out the way Nick wanted. Yes, maybe he took too many high-upside,
injury-risk guys and deserved to get burned. But it’s amazing to me that he
ended up as bad as he did. Solid last draft from Nick Quiroga.
Master
of the Waiver Wire (75 ATPs): FromDaWindowToLuol. Awards are always
interesting in hindsight. For instance, this award went to Chris last year,
mostly because of Larry Sanders. And since he flipped Sanders in a trade that
netted him Durant, I guess that worked out. But wow – if he would have kept
that dude . . .
This
year wasn’t as close as previous ones in my opinion, where a case could have
been made for multiple peeps (with me coming in “second” every year; I’ve never
given myself this award, which blows my mind). That changes this year. I always
tend to have the most transactions, but I easily got the most production off
the waiver wire last season: long stints of DJ Augustin (a top-100 guy over the
second half), DeMarre Carroll (top 50-ish), Manu, Terrence Jones (top 50), and
the Gorgui Dieng explosion I rode into the playoffs (top 50 over the last
couple months). Sure, Chris and Dad both rode the Gerald Green train for
spates, and Alan jumped on the Courtney Lee Memphis renaissance, but I think I
earned this one.
(By the
way, if you want a sure-fire way to continually win the regular season but lose
in the playoffs – just like the Bulls – just be really active on the wire.
Goddamnit.)
_________________
Here's where the ATP rankings end up after last year's finishes and awards:
(As a quick reminder, here's how you earn ATPs: League Championship: 500 ATPs; Second Place: 200 ATPs; Third Place: 100 ATPs; Seventh Place (winner of the Consolation Bracket): 75 ATPs; Master of the Waiver Wire: 75 ATPs; Best Keepers: 75 ATPs; and Best Draft: 75 ATPs.)
1. Chris
Quiroga (Young No Mo Still Gay, Thabeet Goes On, Young Gay Love Favors): 1875
ATPs
(Rank
last year: 2.)
2014 Best
Keepers (75)
2014
League Champion (500)
2013
League Champion (500)
2013 Best
Draft (75)
2013
Master of the Waiver Wire (75)
2012 Best
Draft (75)
2012
Master of the Waiver Wire (75)
2009
League Champion (500)
2. Bob
Josephson (Balding Ballers): 1400 ATPs
(Rank
last year: 1.)
2012
Master of the Waiver Wire (75)
2011
League Champion (500)
2011 Best
Draft (75)
2011 Best
Keepers (75)
2010
League Champion (500)
2009 Best
Draft (75)
2009
Third Place (100)
3. Nick
Quiroga/KC Tajaran (Nutcrushers): 925 ATPs
(Rank
last year: 3.)
2014 Best
Draft (75)
2013
Second Place (200)
2012
League Champion (500)
2011 Best
Keepers (75)
2009
Master of the Waiver Wire (75)
4. Andy
Josephson (Something Clever, Del Harris Del Negro, Metta World Peas,
FromDaWindowToLuol): 800 ATPs
(Rank
last year: 4.)
2014
Master of the Waiver Wire (75)
2014
Second Place (200)
2013
Third Place (100)
2013 Best
Keepers (75)
2012
Seventh Place (75)
2012 Best
Keepers (75)
2011
Second Place (200)
5. J.J./Jon
Jay Tajaran (Moo Moo Mussolini, Mao Meow ZeMeow, TEAM CHAMPIONS, Vujabitches,
Style Points): 425 ATPs
(Rank
last year: 5.)
2014
Seventh Place (75)
2011
Seventh Place (75)
2010
Second Place (200)
2010 Best
Draft (75)
6. Alan
Robey (Brew-Ha Bandits): 375 ATPs
(Rank
last year: 6.)
2014
Third Place (100)
2010
Master of the Waiver Wire (75)
2009
Second Place (200)
7. Connor
Doyle (nee Angelo Alexander) (Knights of Rodanthe, Liberal Elite Media, Los
Baby Jesuses): 300 ATPs
(Rank
last year: 7.)
2012
Second Place (200)
2010
Third Place (100)
8. Annan
Moy (Arbitrageurs, Phi Slamma Jamma, Joakim Noah 4 EVR, Deez Nets): 250
ATPs
(Rank
last year: 8.)
2013
Seventh Place (75)
2012
Third Place (100)
2011
Master of the Waiver Wire (75)
9. Vivek
Raval (28 Light Years Old): 175 ATPs
(Rank
last year: 9.)
2011
Third Place (100)
2010 Seventh
Place (75)
10. Anna
Robey (Block O): 150 ATPs
(Rank
last year: 10.)
2010 Best
Keepers (75)
2009
Seventh Place (75)
