Full Court Press - Bombs Away! (Week 2 Power Rankings)

After a blowout win over hapless Peoria, Tokyo is making their move up the EHBA power rankings, led by 2nd round draft pick & 3 point specialist Danilo Gallinari.

The EHBA draft can be a fickle thing. With all the rookies and over-the-hill veterans, it can be tough to spot the diamonds in the rough. How to separate the wheat from the chaff, the gold nuggets from the shiny rocks? The answer to that question is a mystery wrapped in a puzzle, hidden under Michael Jordan’s bed, which is guarded by a two-headed dragon who will ask you 3 riddles in order to gain access to the mystery/puzzle hybrid. The first riddle will be: “Two legs I have, and this will confound: only at rest do they touch the ground! What am I?” If you can correctly answer that…well, we’re probably getting ahead of ourselves. The point is, it’s really difficult to predict which players will end up superstars, and which will end up disappointments. That’s why the EHBA GMs get paid the big bucks.

With that said, two weeks is more than enough time to determine the winners and losers of this year’s draft.

Winners:

Colorado – Blake Griffin at number one overall was a no-brainer. Trading him before his inevitable injury was an even bigger no-brainer, and Colorado GM Mike Comtois got a nice bounty for his walking disaster in the process. It was a safe draft for the Bears, taking proven veterans to round out the roster in John Salmons, Manu Ginobli, and Rasheed Wallace among others, but it was the right move for a team that’s trying to establish itself after a lost year.

Tokyo – Tokyo may be the biggest winner in the draft. They hit a couple of homeruns by taking Chris Kaman and Danilo Gallinari with their first two choices. Both have played huge roles in Tokyo’s hot start, as they are near the top of the league in points, 3ptm, rebounds, and FT% thanks to their new acquisitions. Just a case of the rich getting richer, as last year’s #2 seed in the playoffs is only a game back of first place to start this year.

Dublin – Dublin went youth all the way in their draft, but scored perhaps the biggest steal of the night in 2nd round pick Brandon Jennings, who is already emerging as a rookie of the year candidate. Combined with Stephen Curry falling into their laps at pick 3, and Dublin’s set themselves up for a bright future with this draft.

Losers:

Peoria – Josh Howard at the 2nd overall pick was a huge blunder, as he has yet to contribute to the club. Coupled with the fact that he is losing minutes to Shawn Marion and the emergence of players such as Curry, Jennings, Kaman, and Gallinari, all of whom were taken later, it’s already clear only 2 weeks into the season, that Peoria made the wrong choice. You’d hope that the rest of their draft could make up for it, and while Jonny Flynn was a shrewd pick in the 2nd round, later picks James Harden and Brad Miller have already been cut. As a team that’s going nowhere this season, they needed something more than this to build on.

Fitchburg – Although Fitchburg did pick up some useful players in the draft (Joakim Noah, Richard Hamilton, Corey Maggette), Allen Iverson was a disaster waiting to happen. He’s reportedly walked out of Fitchburg because he was not a first round pick, and now there is talk that he might retire completely. With the mercurial star’s history, it can’t be a major surprise. Fitchburg should have known better. Further demerits for taking known psychopath Ron Artest over breakout star Chris Kaman.

Tijuana – After trading their first 3 picks in the draft, Tijuana was left with only Rakeville’s 3rd round pick from the Troy Murphy deal, and their later picks, which were used on Ramon Sessions (cut), Ronnie Brewer, Al Thornton (cut), and Joel Pryzbilla (cut). Given the Matadors’ slow start, they could’ve used something more useful.

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Power Rankings:
1. Weymouth (-) – Another big win keeps the momentum going.
2. Tokyo (+3) – New Vegans playing a big role.
3. Las Vegas (-1) – Blowout win backed up by the stats.
4. South Carolina (+3) – Will go as far as Dwight Howard takes them.
5. Montreal (-2) – Another close win over a quality opponent.
6. Fitchburg (-) – Can Rondo keep it up?
7. Colorado (-3) – Loss to Tijuana shows team’s limitations.
8. Tijuana ( +1) – Narrow victory sign of things to come?
9. Dublin (-1) – Blowout loss to LV shows young Brawlers not quite ready for prime time.
10. Bridgewater (-) – When will we see signs of life?
11. Peoria (-) – Only question is when to start the fire sale?
12. Rakeville (-) – Good news: excel in turnovers. Bad news: Because they have few playmakers.

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League Notes:

-Tokyo GM Inkidu Ishtar is getting impatient with the league’s other owners. “Why won’t they realize they all suck and just trade me their good players already!?” he was heard screaming in a men’s restroom at a Holliday Inn Express in New Jersey.

-After leaving Foo Fighter training camp, troubled Fitchburg PG Allen Iverson reportedly was seen hiding in a closet with R. Kelly and Tom Cruise in Colorado, refusing to come out until the franchise was “nicer to me.”

- After making 26 moves in the season’s first 2 weeks, Las Vegas GM Charles Barkley was heard laughing maniacally in his office “yes, yes, cut them all, hahahahahaha…dance for me puppets! Dance!” No word on what any of it means.