RCL Draft Recap – My Second RCL League Is A Bunch Of Thieves!

Ahhhh, it’s finally that time when drafts are becoming more and more meaningful and abundant, we’ve got the REL Auction draft on Thursday, and two RCL leagues drafting this weekend which still have spots open!  Don’t forget the grand prize in RCL of Razzball gear and a permanent imprint of your team name shaved in my head.  I mean, where else can you win a fan league and brand the resident editor?  I’m not really looking forward to the looks I’m going to get (doesn’t help I’m 6’7 and people be lookin’ anyway!), especially if a team like Your Mom wins.  Ugh.

So in order to hopefully restore my honor, my second RCL team was drafted last Thursday, and I gotta say, while I’m lukewarm to my team, you RCL leaguemates were brutal.  Here’s how the draft went down (full draft results):

Round 1, Pick 4 – James Harden – Really glad Harden hopscotched a pick and made it to me at 4.  I think he’s the clear-cut #3 guy off draft boards this year, and with SG a thin position, love having him locked down as my stud.  Fear the beard, RCLers!  Fear it!  (Wooooo! That sort of confident exuberance got me Harden.)

Round 2, Pick 21 – Ricky Rubio – I was really hoping John Wall would fall to me here, but was probably overly-optimistic I’d get my first real reach in my ranks (Wall as a first-rounder is pretty anti-establishment).  So I went with the next best available in my rankings (and who I wanted either way) in Rubio.  Given an extraordinarily small sample, I wrote that I bought an improved perimeter game and he’s 3-5 from deep this preseason.  A healthy Love will only give Rubio’s dimes love.  What’s a dime in Euro?

Round 3, Pick 28 – Dirk Nowitzki – Unlike the sweet and sexy and “imuy caliente!” pick of Rubio, Dirk is old, German, and reliable.  It’s like a Mercedes vs. a…. a Fiat?  Because J Lo sings for those?  Eh, car metaphor didn’t work.  But I’ve got Dirk ranked at 23 on my board and wanted to go ahead and grab a big.  Liking my team so far.

Round 4, Pick 45 – Tony Parker – What is this, 2002?!  Yes, my last two picks were gramps and could star alongside Johnny Konxville in the sequel to whatever-the-hell he’s got coming out now, but I have Parker at 28 on my board and he’s coming off another fantastic season.  Surprised he lasted this long.

Round 5, Pick 52 – Jonas Valanciunas – Whoaaaa, JB is putting his money where his mouth is!  Yes, the Luminescent Lithuanian, picked with my lucky number in the draft (52), is going to lead me to glory.  Sure, I may have wanted Jeff Green really bad here (and I have Green ranked higher by a few spots), but that doesn’t dissuade me from a do-it, show-it boasting regarding my rankings.

Round 6, Pick 69 – Jose Calderon – Again, you guys in my league suck.  If I had gotten Tobias Harris here (went 4 picks earlier and Yahoo having him in the 80s I believe is insane) I would’ve had so much man love I might play out the Fantasy season on Brokeback Mountain (R.I.P. Ledger).  But getting Calderon here is no joke[r] and I look forward to some really elite PG play to carry me to the finals.  Shaving my own name in my head I say, my own name!

Round 7, Pick 76 – Gerald Henderson – Going with my first true reach, I was actually relieved Greg Monroe got picked a few spots ahead of me so I wouldn’t be stuck with him.  Not a big Monroe guy, but this far down woulda been nice.  Anywho, I love Henderson this year who played some real solid ball down the stretch last season – lost in the noise of the Bobcats diarrheaing their way to a 21-61 record.  “When you’re named after a stupid owner, and every year your have a lottery pick boner, diarrhea!  Diarrhea!”

Round 8, Pick 93 – Andrew Bogut – Was first hoping the long slide of O.J. Mayo might make it to me in my longer layover between picks, and then my sights were on Wilson Chandler, who i think breaks out this year.  Alas, twas not, and twas a night before Christmas where all I wanted was a healthy Bogut season.  I needed a big, and Bogut is a stat-stuffer when healthy in everything but scoring, and I’ve got scoring pretty well shored up.  Don’t fill my stocking with coal, Bog!  Wait, do they have Christmas in Australia?  I guess it would be in the middle of Summer… Never thought about how that would work…

Round 9, Pick 100 – Brandon Knight – The talent pool gets pretty thinned out once you hit triple-digits, and with Knight at 84 in my ranks with me seeing a mini-breakout, this was a no-brainer.  Kid has great upside and I think the change in scenery and the best guard he’s been paired with in Mayo will lead to a solid season.

Round 10, Pick 117 – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Sorry to call ya out bro, but Hobo head lice!?  Taking John Henson before I could!?  For shame! First I wanted to be angry that you took him before I could, but then saw you followed it up with Robin Lopez?!  Sideshow “worst player in the NBA“?!  I’m just bitter Henson isn’t on all my teams now.  So welcome to the fold, KCP.  With all the guards in the Detroit backcourt getting banged up, I moved KCP to 96 in my ranks in what will be a boom-or-bust rookie season.

Round 11, Pick 124 – Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – A guy I have edged in my top-100 as well, I knew I could wait on MKG, then sit back and enjoy multi-cat production.  He’s still really raw but was the youngest player in the NBA last year, and while he won’t be too much of a scorer, he’ll steal and block and share the rock!  Dude, that’s an awesome new catch phrase I’ma use this year.

Round 12, Pick 141 – Ben McLemore – Keeping it real with young upside late, McLemore has carved out a starting role and will take a lot of shots.  He went 10-16 for 23 points last night.  Not married to him, but upside.

Round 13, Pick 148 – Randy Foye – Of course someone would take Corey Brewer before me!  My Mr. Irrelevant is just that… We’ll see a game or two in, but he’s my first drop if any last-minute preseason news goes down or whoever is the hot wire pickup in week 1.

What say you, Razzball and RCL Nation?  I personally like the team, and after more introspection putting the post together, have gone from lukewarm, to just above tepid.  I don’t know if that actually means more or less, so I’ll say I like it.  Think I’ll need another big man though, and hoping I can nab one on the wire.  I think I’m definitely a playoff team and will be in the RCL running.