PCTI Definitive Mock Draft 2.0: Day of Addition

REMINDER TONIGHT'S DRAFT IS AT 9 PM ET. CAPTAIN BEN WILSON WILL HANDLE GOOGLE HANGOUT INVITE'S. SEE YOU THEN!!!!

(this began Saturday morning) 

BRENT TO DAN

Good morning DAN!!!!

Alright, we now know that Ben is going to shake things up and take the snake. Obviously we got to re-mock now. 

As a reminder, the real draft is tomorrow. Then again, anyone who doesn't know that by now probably also isn't reading the blog...but whatever.

First off, what do you think about Ben choosing to give up the top pick? Obviously this is a direct challenge to Abe and a bit of a slap in the face to Sabin. He's saying 1. Abe isn't the key to my success 2. I'm totally unafraid of a Sabin/Abe combo. I don't know about you but I've noticed that Ben's brat level has been rapidly rising this off-season. Do you think we're going to have make room for in on the Brats of Directors? 

So since I picked as Sabin last time, I'm going to let you start this mock and take the role of Sabin this time. You're on the clock. 

DAN TO BRENT

You couldn't be more accurate about Ben's rapidly rising brat level... Really not sure where it came from, but it seems like ever since he started playing really well at PCTI he's become more and more miserable (and quite frankly, I dig it).

On a side note, I like the budding rivalry between ex-friends turned enemies Ben and Abe. In a brash move, Abe fires an email last night assuming he was locked in at one... The audacity is pretty disgusting, but regardless, Sabin is taking him #1 overall.

You have to wonder, is it most important to Ben to beat Abe or not get last pick?

BRENT TO DAN 

It was an interesting twist because all indications were that once Sabin became captain this year would be about his rivalries. Now it's squarely a Ben vs. Abe rivalry and the rest of us are just bit characters.

Ben is notorious for having a definite and well thought out strategy on draft day but I can't help but wonder if he was emotionally driven to pass up on the first pick. Or maybe he does have a strategy here at the 2,3 snake. 

One thing I know is that Ben would be foolish to pass up Abe and then draft a team where he made it his job to have to guard him. So I'm going to say that with his two picks here he confirms our thoughts that he wants to join the Bored and takes you (to guard Abe) and me (to do the dirty work and free him up to be the alpha.) That would mean that he's now basically slapped Abe and the Actor in the face. 

DAN TO BRENT

It's important to remember that Ben has a master's in Sports Management and is very well trained for these situations... He knows exactly what he is doing and has a diploma to prove it.

If he goes that route he makes it clear his team might not be the most skilled, but it will be the meanest and edgiest. You and I have enough character issues, but under his leadership would be the most volatile chemistry in PCTI history.

At that point, I'm going to make a bold claim... We all know Sabin is a really emotional and loyal guy to the few people that like him, and since he's already venturing out of his comfort zone to take Abe, he goes back to his old ways and re-ignites one of the most ugly rivalries in PCTI history, passing on Actor and taking his little brother, The Nature Boy! 

That's a two prong move... He takes Beas because of his skill set and comfort level, but also puts Ben in a position to make a pick that would rival the 2006 Bengals for biggest bunch of head case fuck ups in sports history. 

BRENT TO DAN

Even before this pick I thought the mock was already setting up for Nature to be the hinge guy in this thing that could determine how everything else shakes out. 

Ben has to take Act here. Can you imagine being Ben and thinking he gave up Abe for me, you and Actor? What a disaster. Nice part is we have the rare squad that has almost zero overlap in what each of us want to do. Didn't realize it going in but I feel like this particular draft setup really puts an emphasis on these middle rounds. Interested to see where Sabin goes next. 

DAN TO BRENT

Ben's squad is on the verge of blowing up with a combination of on and off court brats. 

Sabin hasn't seen the new look Spotlight, so he has an hour internal debate with himself between his two ex-Alpha male crushes before finally settling on Donley, citing his dedication to playing and overall versatility over his friendship with The Stickman.

BRENT TO DAN

Sabin counting on two bounce back years from Nature and C-Boy. I got no problems with Donley off the board at that point. I think he's flirting with the most dreaded label in PCTI: underrated. Abe, Donley, Beas combo gives him three of the best four athletes in this thing. 

Ben is gonna take a stand here and scoop up his boy TP. Ben obviously led the push to add him to the league so he's gotta stick out his neck and show his confidence in him. He's built a team that suits his style of play, too. With me and TP he can dip his toe in the "big man" waters only when he wants to and he has two PGs to handle the ball. Somehow in a league full of wings he's the only true wing first guy on our squad. 

Spotlight is free falling!!!!

DAN TO BRENT

Sabin observes Spot's free fall and realizes his team doesn't need any additional rebounders, and let's it continue. 

At this point he doesn't double down on muscle and takes a guy he's always coveted, scooping up defensive captain, unifier and closet bad boy in A. Hop.... That team is deficient on inner-anger, and adding Hops to

the roster helps level the playing field. 

BRENT TO DAN

Team Sabin

1. Sabin

2. Abe

3. Beas

4. Donley

5. A-Hop

Team Ben

1. Ben

2. Dan

3. Brent

4. Actor

5. Tyler 

Ben puts that sports management degree to use and ends the #spotfall by taking Paco, uniting all three Father Ryan alums on the same squad. I just can't see him going the back-to-back new guy route and taking Rainbow here and his big situation is under control, so Bruiser over Spot here doesn't make a ton of sense, either. 

Looks like Spot is back to his original role as the ultimate bench spark plug. You think he could slide back in to this role after steadily elevating his role the past few years?

DAN TO BRENT 

Good slot to get Spot... He doesn't necessarily add to the character issue theme of Ben's said, but definitely brings a disorganized, anti-authority element this team could use. 

At this point Sabin does a snatch then snatches up the Stickman... How long will it take for him to give a motivational email to let Bruise know how important he is to the squad? 

BRENT TO DAN

Team Sabin

1. Sabin

2. Abe

3. Beas

4. Donley

5. A-Hop

6. Stickman

Team Ben

1. Ben

2. Dan

3. Brent

4. Actor

5. Tyler 

6. Spot

Picking up A-Hop and Bruiser to be the guys off the bench really gives a bash brothers element to team Sabin. 

Obviously Ben goes with Rainbow here, so he winds up with both the rookies. Two things to watch every year are the gap between Abe and the second player drafted at the top of the draft and Wes and the second to last player drafted at the bottom of the draft, and I mean that seriously. The fact that Ben gets Jeff (and that means he has no dropoff on his squad) is significant and if there's any reason why he declined to pick first - besides just wanting to shake it up and/or slap Abe in the face - my guess is avoiding the last pick is the reason. 

So, you finish out with Wes. Now I want your thoughts on these squads and any other observations/predictions you may have now that draft day is upon us. 

DAN TO BRENT

This draft played out in a really interesting way... Initially, I didn't see a purpose to having a re-draft, thinking it would be an almost identical draft process, just with different people leading the teams we laid out, and that couldn't have been more inaccurate.  

The biggest contributing factor to the difference in drafts really comes down to one thing--Ben's budding attitude issues.  And that character trait he put a premium on when drafting his team is exactly why I take his squad over Sabin's in a best of 7.  They might give a little in the way of skill, but the loose cannon mentality will bring an element of unpredictability (along with two newcomers no one knows) will make them really tough to game plan against.

Overall, I will typically side with Ben's drafting as my appreciation for him going back to school to get his master's for PCTI drafts is something I will always look up to.

Your thoughts? 

BRENT TO DAN

Pat Riley coined the term "the disease of more" when he coached the showtime Lakers in the 1980's. The basic idea is that success is the first step towards future failure. When a person or a team wins or is successful they become focused on doing, getting more for themselves instead of remembering what worked in the first place (which almost certainly involves some element of sacrifice for the greater good.) 

I bring this up because it's odd to me that Ben, who almost certainly studied this while pursuing his advanced degree, seems to be following victim to the disease of more. He could have just rolled with Abe and been immediately in the driver's seat, as I think we evidenced in our first mock. Instead he slaps Abe in the face and creates the Abe/Sabe (Abin?) combo that honestly just feels unnatural in PCTI terms. 

And maybe in the biggest proof of his inner turmoil, he goes out and scoops up PCTI's three most destructive and combustible players out there (though to be fair Sabin would be in the convo if he was available and BEAS is shooting his way up the bored too) to surround himself with a team that could spontaneously combust at any moment. 

What are the two rooks gonna think when the rest of the team is ready to choke each other out? What kind of squad have you put together when fuck up Spot, who is lucky to remember his jersey is the rational/calm/leadership guy? 

On the other side, Abe/Sabe is interesting because it's going to need a lot of scoring from Abe. My big question is what part of Abe is getting furious about all the chatters as Dan's ability to guard him? Also you got three potentially big time players in Donley, Beas and Sabin, all of whom have had huge games in previous PCTI's but all have something to prove. And It can't be stated enough: with Smo and McFish out this year, Wes's dropoff could be very significant. 

I'm ready for the real thing. We'll see you tonight.