The Brat's Preamble: I'm not sure PCTI
knows what to make of Skillz at the moment. Notorious for building a
persona as a bad boy/disinterested participant, it's difficult to
know how much of that is legitimate and effects his plans to stay
with or bow out of PCTI in the future. Is it part of a permanent exit
strategy? Perhaps. Certainly one can see how being a part of all of
this riff-raff could be construed as a risk for someone making a
career out of basketball. Combine that with someone who doesn't enjoy
the social aspect as much as many of the brethren and it starts to
make even more sense.
Let me be clear, if that's the case,
I'm not casting judgment. In fact, I would totally understand and I
bet most others would, too. People change, interests change, jobs
change, priorities change. It happens. What I am saying is that I
really don't know. PCTI will certainly have a spot for Skillz in the
future if he's interested/able to continue.
What's easier to understand is what
Skillz brings to the table when he does lace 'em up in PCTI. Due to
some sort of combination of his coaching background, his existence as
somewhat of a curmudgeon or simply a better grasp than most of common
sense, he has an unmatched hatred for the stupid play. He loathes
players who make stupid plays and he butters his bread by doing
little more than continuously making the next easy play.
It's a ridiculously easy approach that
is almost impossible to execute, especially in PCTI when nerves get
easily frayed and teams lack cohesion. Coupled with a unique set
of skills (good handle, wide frame, great vision, craftiness around the rim) and a shortcoming
that rarely has any effect in PCTI good or bad (speed/quickness) and it makes for
one of the league's top players.
Voting Breakdown: highest vote: 1.
lowest vote: 10. There it is, the first number one vote. Three guys
got a vote for top overall player.
Lifetime Record: 3-1, a great number.
His lone loss was while he was captain in PCTI II. He was outwitted
by The Brat.
Lifetime Stats: 7.2 ppg (T-10 with
BMac), 7.5 rpg (1st, one of three guys in PCTI to average
over 7 boards a game), 17 steals (T5), 14 blocks (2nd), 73
assists (1st, the title of PCTI Assist King figures to be
Dan The Boy's after IIIII, unless Sabin starts including per game
averages in his composite stats. The Brat ain't about to crunch those
numbers on his own. Also, three of PCTI's top four assist guys won't
be on the floor in Denver.), 48.8 percent shooting (1st,
only seven guys in PCTI shoot north of 40 percent, Skillz is two
misses below 50 percent) 47.4 percent (1st, Only 19
attempts lifetime. In most cases, you'd disregard this stat on
account of the limited shots taken but considering the wealth of
missed threes in PCTI the fact that he refuses to shoot more is
commendable. Last season he was 0-3. Only Smo shot fewer)
Lifetime Bests: 16 points, (PCTI III,
game 3), 19 rebounds! (PCTI I, game 4), 8 assists! (PCTI I game 4)
Other Notes: Another epic moment from
PCTI's most famous game. Wes was getting loose offensively, cramps
were annihilating half of the brethren and Skillz was putting
together the most impressive stat line in PCTI history. 14 points, 19
rebounds and eight assists. With his famously thick legs showing no
signs of cramping, he took down the single game records for rebounds
AND assists while scoring the second most points of his career.
Spectacular.
It should be noted, Skillz continuously logs a ton of minutes. I guess he figures he does enough sitting on the bench at work to do it on vacation. If I took that approach imagine all the magic you would lose on the videos...
Last year Skillz struggled, averaging
4.3 points and 5.6 rebounds on 37 percent shooting. But his
reputation for making positive plays clearly did not take a hit. To
that point, he led PCTI IIII with 25 assists. Only seven guys had
double digit assists a year ago.
Three guys appear to have their doubts
as he got 18 percent of the votes for Most Overrated, putting him in
a tie for second place. He's part of the four-way tie for second
place in Best Teammate. He also got one vote for playing above his
ability level.
Really looking forward to getting this guy in Boston and teaching him how to shoot the 3BALL
ReplyDeleteEskildsen is as good as a competitor in this thing. My favorite thing about him is truly how dirty of a player he is and yet nobody harps on that, which should go to show you just how highly everyone thinks of the tactician.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, he gets more out (read: his body type) of less than everyone in PCTI.
I think next year, if this vote should happen again, that we add to see who is the dirtiest player in this whole thing.