PCTI Players' Poll: #7 The Brat

The Brat's Preamble About Himself: As several guys can (Ron) attest, Bratting out is not a new thing. I've done it my whole life. I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise that I acted childish when I was actually a child. There's one especially memorable Brat-out session I can recall from sometime when I was elementary school age. I was in a hotel room during an AAU weekend complaining to my old man about my lack of minutes (despite my team winning.) My dad (the infamous DC) told me something then that is so simple but so often overlooked at every level of sports. By no means a pearl of wisdom from my dad but something that for whatever reason has always stuck with me. That is, for me to go in the game, someone has to come out of the game. In other words, it can make perfect sense that I should be playing more but it also has to make perfect sense that someone else should be playing less.

How does this apply to PCTI? Even though some of my numbers seem to point to a player that is better than seventh, you'd have a hard time arguing that one of the six higher rated players should move down the list below me.

There's also several factors working against me.

-I run funny. I look funny standing around. There's nothing I do that looks even vaguely athletic. Deep down there's probably a lot of people that feel like if they tried like I do they could consistently put up 11 and 7...and if they were 6-4 and left handed? They could do it in their sleep.

-At one point or another, I've picked apart everyone else's game. And really, who am I to talk?

-I'm consistently a high draft pick for reasons difficult to explain.

-As much as we joke, the Brat-outs often are incredibly annoying.

This next paragraph is important: I'm not saying any of this looking for a love fest to breakout in the comments section. I'm not fishing for compliments. As I've demonstrated before, I have no problem pointing out the good parts of my game. In fact, I probably do it more naturally than anyone else in PCTI and I'll do enough of it in the writing that follows. So don't worry, my sense of self worth is just fine. 

Voting Breakdown: highest vote: 3, lowest vote: 15. Fifteen definitely stings but I know I've got my fair share of detractors. In fact, I was a little surprised I didn't register more in the overrated vote, considering the reasons I listed previously. 

Lifetime PCTI Record: 2-2, captained a winning squad in PCTI II and on the right side of the KD

Lifetime Stats: 10.7 ppg (5^th), 7.2 rpg (2^nd, pretty good battle between Skillz and me for top rebounder. I have more lifetime boards but because he missed a few games when he got his face smashed, he narrowly has the better average), 9 steals (T-12 with Bruiser), 18 blocks (1^st), 54 assists (5^th), 45.7 percent shooting (2^nd), 24.1 percent from three (13^th, oooouch) and the all-important Sabin Productivity number: 231 (2^nd)

Lifetime Bests: 26 points (multiple times), 14 rebounds (PCTI I, game 3), 5 assists (multiple times)

Other Notes: I had a monstrous PCTI I. When they create a PCTI Hall of Fame they'll have to build a separate wing for my stats from the second session pf PCTI I: 26 and 14 followed up by 26 and 10, 18-27 shooting and six assists. The problem for me is, since then the hall of fame performances have been few and far between and PCTI I was eons ago. I've been solid since then but few things about what I've done have stood out as elite.

The most pleasant surprise looking back at my PCTIs: I have pretty good assist numbers. Kinda surprising since the game is rarely “played through me.” (Although I have a very pedestrian 1.4 a/t) The most troubling stat: the inability to make a three pointer. I go from (arguably) PCTI's best garbage guy to an actual game changer if I can make a jumper, it opens up other things (read: straight line lefty drives) for me if my defender feels the need to contest my jumper.

As for superlatives, I barely was a factor. I was pretty surprised I didn't figure higher in the overrated (2 votes) or playing above his ability (1 vote) categories considering my ranking. Someone is especially fond of a Brat-out and voted me as the guy he most likes to see lose. Lastly, chalk up a vote for best looking. (← thanks Beas)