The Curse and the Big 10 NBDL 1st and 2nd teams
So I've gone and done it. I've ruined Butler's season.
I picked them to beat UIC, and they then went out against UIC, who was without its coach and without several players that straight up quit, and they lost to UIC in overtime.
On the bright side, things can only go up after my 0-4 start to my own NCAA Pick'em Challenge.
On another note:
I was looking at the NBDL website, actually trying to find former Illinois star and first round draft pick Frank Williams. When looking at this, I started wondering: What other big name college stars have fallen to the wayside in the D-League? Specifically looking at the Big 10 players, I found 9 Big 10 players spread out among the 12 NBDL teams. Some of them I don't remember at all. Some of them were big-time talents that either the scouts didn't think would translate to the NBA well and dropped in stock. Some were former big stars who were even drafted and floundered into the NBDL.
So, here we go, based on only the statistics easily found on the NBDL website(since I've never seen an NBDL game, nor live anywhere near where any of the teams are), here is.... your All Big-10 1st and 2nd teams.
Slotting in as the star of this writer's team is shooting guard Vince Grier, former Minnesota star. Averaging close to 20 a game(18.7) and hitting 54% of his field goals, Grier is making the most of his time in the NBDL, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's given a chance in the NBA by season's end. The rest of my first team includes the aforementioned Frank Williams, averaging 15.8 ppg and 4.6 apg for the same Sioux Falls team Grier is on, a couple of Michigan State products in Aloysius Anagonye, averaging 9.6 with 5.7 boards and 1.4 steals a game and Alan Anderson, hitting 49% of his shots for 14.2 ppg, and finally at center, Rick Rickert, who is having a fairly successful NBDL season so far at 14.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 55.6% shooting.
An honorable mention and 6th man award goes to Jared Reiner of Iowa, also on the Sioux Falls team. Rounding out the 2nd team is Kevin Burleson, Tyler Smith and Marcus Taylor. Marcus Taylor being the same one that was drafted high a few years ago after coming out of Michigan State.
Overall, MSU and Minnesota have 3 players each in the D-League, with Iowa, Illinois and Penn State each being represented too. I don't know if this is an honor or not, but I thought I'd mention it.
On a side note - I think I know why these guys are in the D-League. Many of the scores are scores like 129-118. Apparently these guys don't play a whole lot of defense down there.
And the big ha-ha this week goes to:
Well, me, for going 0-4, but also for Barry Bonds, who tested positive during the 2006 season for amphetamine use. He supposedly received the uppers from career bench player Mark Sweeney(brother to Kansas City star Mike Sweeney). As one of the most scrutinized players in professional sports, he didn't learn his lesson that you shouldn't just pop things in your mouth because someone says they're ok? I don't buy the story at all, but even if Sweeney did have uppers in his locker that he handed out, Barry has no one to blame but himself.
Tom Hicks is no longer the top dog for giving out bad contracts for too much money! The owner of the LA Galaxy just signed David Beckham to a ridiculous contract that eclipses what A-Rod got from the Rangers by a healthy margin. The total contract value is $250 million, 2 million less than what A-Rod got....
BUT IT'S OVER 5 YEARS!
A-Rod's average of 25.2M is ridiculous and he could never possibly live up to it. Ok, we all know. So then how does it work that Major LEague Soccer, which gets nowhere near the television contracts or the ticket sales that baseball gets, can afford to have one of its teams put out $50M a year to one player!
This might have to get a post all to itself, comparing it to other leagues.....
I picked them to beat UIC, and they then went out against UIC, who was without its coach and without several players that straight up quit, and they lost to UIC in overtime.
On the bright side, things can only go up after my 0-4 start to my own NCAA Pick'em Challenge.
On another note:
I was looking at the NBDL website, actually trying to find former Illinois star and first round draft pick Frank Williams. When looking at this, I started wondering: What other big name college stars have fallen to the wayside in the D-League? Specifically looking at the Big 10 players, I found 9 Big 10 players spread out among the 12 NBDL teams. Some of them I don't remember at all. Some of them were big-time talents that either the scouts didn't think would translate to the NBA well and dropped in stock. Some were former big stars who were even drafted and floundered into the NBDL.
So, here we go, based on only the statistics easily found on the NBDL website(since I've never seen an NBDL game, nor live anywhere near where any of the teams are), here is.... your All Big-10 1st and 2nd teams.
Slotting in as the star of this writer's team is shooting guard Vince Grier, former Minnesota star. Averaging close to 20 a game(18.7) and hitting 54% of his field goals, Grier is making the most of his time in the NBDL, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's given a chance in the NBA by season's end. The rest of my first team includes the aforementioned Frank Williams, averaging 15.8 ppg and 4.6 apg for the same Sioux Falls team Grier is on, a couple of Michigan State products in Aloysius Anagonye, averaging 9.6 with 5.7 boards and 1.4 steals a game and Alan Anderson, hitting 49% of his shots for 14.2 ppg, and finally at center, Rick Rickert, who is having a fairly successful NBDL season so far at 14.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 55.6% shooting.
An honorable mention and 6th man award goes to Jared Reiner of Iowa, also on the Sioux Falls team. Rounding out the 2nd team is Kevin Burleson, Tyler Smith and Marcus Taylor. Marcus Taylor being the same one that was drafted high a few years ago after coming out of Michigan State.
Overall, MSU and Minnesota have 3 players each in the D-League, with Iowa, Illinois and Penn State each being represented too. I don't know if this is an honor or not, but I thought I'd mention it.
On a side note - I think I know why these guys are in the D-League. Many of the scores are scores like 129-118. Apparently these guys don't play a whole lot of defense down there.
And the big ha-ha this week goes to:
Well, me, for going 0-4, but also for Barry Bonds, who tested positive during the 2006 season for amphetamine use. He supposedly received the uppers from career bench player Mark Sweeney(brother to Kansas City star Mike Sweeney). As one of the most scrutinized players in professional sports, he didn't learn his lesson that you shouldn't just pop things in your mouth because someone says they're ok? I don't buy the story at all, but even if Sweeney did have uppers in his locker that he handed out, Barry has no one to blame but himself.
Tom Hicks is no longer the top dog for giving out bad contracts for too much money! The owner of the LA Galaxy just signed David Beckham to a ridiculous contract that eclipses what A-Rod got from the Rangers by a healthy margin. The total contract value is $250 million, 2 million less than what A-Rod got....
BUT IT'S OVER 5 YEARS!
A-Rod's average of 25.2M is ridiculous and he could never possibly live up to it. Ok, we all know. So then how does it work that Major LEague Soccer, which gets nowhere near the television contracts or the ticket sales that baseball gets, can afford to have one of its teams put out $50M a year to one player!
This might have to get a post all to itself, comparing it to other leagues.....
posted by Matt at 3:41 PM
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