Personality Power Rankings

It's no secret one of my favorite parts about PCTI is when everyone sees each other for the first time... Each year I slap up a post that no one cares about (like most of my others), ranking who I'm most looking forward to seeing... One day I'll go back and look at my past to get a weighted average, which my guess would have Abe at #1.

Going from least excited to most...

17 & 16: Juice and Smooth: As three members of an Epicurean community, we can't get away from each other... Despite multiple on-court verbal altercations each week, the three of us get along pretty well... That said, no reason to be excited to see them.

15: Smo Orr: Been trying to get out of the Smo Orr business for a while now, but that has driven him to extend his year to year contract with PCTI despite his continued disdain for the game of basketball.  He's also relatively local, which makes him even less appealing.  The love he gets from everyone else in this thing makes me sick.

14: Jeff Sabin: Although my basketball brother, Sabin is unbearable as a captain and automatically drops on the list due to that... The fact that he's in Dallas and I see him enough doesn't help.

13: brent carney: Working on getting out of this system as well... You want to feel good about yourself? Take 21 years of verbal poundings from him and Orr.

12: Busy Donley: Absence has made the heart grow fonder (slightly) but my rivalry with the word busy, on top of his busy schedule makes it only go so far. 

11: TP: Very few topics I enjoy more than talking about the body recovering, and as of now, he's best in class. 

10: Beastley: Spent a lot of time with him already this year, plus I'm out on "popular" guys.

9: The Actor: Ever since I moved part time to Santa Monica, I've increased my time with Act... Which is good because he's very particular about who he spends time with at PCTI, and I'm not one of them... The last eight times I've been out with him he's been spotted making out at the bar, and I'll be interested to see if he can handle the spotlight now that that statistic is public knowledge.

8: Spotlight: See Beastley (popular) comment, but makes up for it due to my lifelong love for his response when telling me he was moving to London but it didn't effect his PCTI future.... As much as I love to be a hater, few people genuinely care about how you're doing more than Spot, and I appreciate that.

7: The Beast: I've been on a behind the scenes campaign to get this guy onto a PCTI contract for over three years... It's pathetic how excited I am to go to battle alongside him.

6: Hops: Sharing a bottle of red at team dinner has become one of my favorite moments of the weekend... The mutual PCTI obsession helps.

5: Sticky: Should never be this low but since I've transitioned into focusing on hoops and not the logistics of the weekend, not having the itinerary on lock for Sticky has caused us to be at frequent odds... That said, is there anyone more fun to have a drink and break down film with?

4: Ben: PCTI 1-6 would be in the top 2... But sick boy in Cincy then dehydrated boy in San Diego has me salivating for the Ben that more or less kept PCTI together during it's depleted years.  I need him back.

3: Abe: I love this guy... I don't know how else to say it.  He does or says one thing every year that I gush over. 

2: Deuce: I don't like popular, but this guy defines it... He carries the hat of PCTI's most beloved, glue guy, camera man, and friend.  As Sabin said last year, he is the most important guy in this and if he goes, so does the weekend.

1: I totally screwed up the numbers forgetting about myself, and am too lazy to re-number. 

What will happen at PCTI IX

One of the fun parts about PCTI is that, despite having the same small group of guys year after year, there's never any shortage of surprises. With that said, here's what we know will happen in Minneapolis. Sorry Kyle, you're a ball of clay so I excluded you.

The BEAST will yell at an official after claiming this is the year when he behaves...

Donley will spin middle...

Bonus: The Beast also will spin middle...

Act will spend all off-season claiming he's going to face guard an opponent, only to lose interest three minutes in to game 1...

Hops will miss layups...

Bonus: Hops will knock down a few shots late in an already decided game to boost the ppg...

Abe will come out of a timeout with his team losing and score twice in the post...and then never go back down there again...

Dan The Boy will from the bench scream at his teammates for not playing with enough energy...

Bonus: Dan will yell "help side" but not actually move over to stop the ball...

Sabin will make multiple 10 foot bank shots...

Bonus: Sabin will look like his legs no longer bend after game four...

Juice will try to choke back his excitement after making a shot, so as not to smile on cam...

Bruise will hang his head dejectedly when he does everything correctly and a taller player reaches over him and grabs a rebound...

Beas will do something cool/sexy/funny in game one warmups...

Bonus: Beas will briefly go in to rage over-dribble mode...

Smo will not play much...

Ben Wilson will wear a random NBA team's shorts...

Spot will lovingly console a struggling teammate...

Deuce will need a second to change the battery...

Smooth will get called a scab by Actor under his breath every time he scores...

TP will make a shot that you were hoping he wouldn't actually shoot but you didn't say anything because he's working so hard and is a nice guy...

PCTI's TOP 10 Individual Performances, Part 3

As we approach PCTI 9 and the animosity between Dan and me begins to crescendo, I’ve started thinking about some of the best performances in PCTI history. While there have been many noteworthy accomplishments over the years by various players and teams, I thought I would limit the scope of this post to top 10 series performances all-time by an individual. Without further ado, here is a list of top 10 all-time individual performances with a few honorable mentions thrown in for good measure:

 

4: Joe, PCTI 3 Dallas

Joe averaged a huge 16.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 2.3 APG as he led his team to one of the most dominant performances in PCTI history, dispatching the Kittens in 4 games. Ultimately, Breaking Bad will be remembered as one of the best and most talented teams of all 16 teams, boasting a lineup of JT, Abe, BC, Eskildsen, Spot, Donley, Hops, and Pitto. Once the team caught its groove in the second half of game 1, it sprinted away from its opponent and Joe was a large reason why. He shot 55% from the field with 14 triples on just 27 attempts. His game 1 helped his team erase an early 18-point deficit as he scored 19 points on 7-11 FGAs and 4 bombs. He followed that with a game 4 performance in which he set the PCTI scoring record with 30 points on an absolutely sizzling 9-14 3FGAs. In the close-out game, he also recorded the second-highest Productivity score of all 8 PCTIs with 56.  As JT might say, “Your best? Losers always whine about doing their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.” This was Joe’s moment where he fucked the prom queen.

 

3: BC, PCTI 1 Lexington

2: Abe, PCTI 1 Lexington

BC averaged 15.0 PPG, 9.7 RPG, and 2.7 APG on a team that fought 6 games before bowing out in the very first PCTI. He shot an historically blazing 50% from the field on 32-64 FGAs. He also recorded 21-27 from the free throw line for 78%, which is absolutely stunning given the fatigue factor and how players were quite literally dropping out of games due to injury on day one. Without any hyperbole, BC may have recorded the finest individual session of PCTI basketball in the history of our event with 52 points and 24 rebounds in games 3 and 4. By the way, this was his SECOND SESSION of two games on the SAME DAY! In this event, games 1 and 2 were played in the morning, while games 3 and 4 were played in the afternoon. Just thinking about that makes this feat all the more remarkable. He also shot 18-27 FGAs during this session for an amazing 67% from the field. Add to that number that he recorded two of the gaudiest double-doubles in PCTI history with a game 3 of 26-14 and a game 4 of 26-10 and you begin to get an idea of how legendary his performance was. If this list was about best individual sessions, I’d have a hard time thinking that any session ever would supplant this one. This performance should ALWAYS be remembered as one of the best ever. In this moment, BC expressed with no words what it means to be a leader and a warrior. An absolutely remarkable and brilliant all-time performance.

I want to add Abe’s performance to BC’s as part of the same PCTI. Abe averaged 16.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 2.0 APG as he was BC’s counterpart and led his team to victory in 6 games. He shot 43% from the field and another 41% from deep, with 78% from the free throw line. It is hard to overstate how incredible these shooting percentages are given how exhausted all participants were from 4 games in the first 8 hours and 6 total games in 26 hours. Abe scored double figures in EVERY game, and never had a game in which he didn’t score at least 12 points or grab at least 5 boards. This all occurred while he played through the game 4 CRAMP GAME, in which overall fatigue and dehydration began to claim victims, including Abe and at least 4 others. Impressively, he also never failed to record a Productivity Rating of less than 20 in any single game, which has only been accomplished twice ever. This was Abe’s introduction to PCTI, but also PCTI’s introduction to how big of a motor this guy actually has. It was said about Secretariat in the 1970s that the horse was an unbeatable champion given that it just had a bigger engine than other competitors. In this moment, Abe became the Secretariat of PCTI.

 

1: Ben, PCTI 5 Denver

Ben averaged 22.3 PPG, 9.8 RPG, and 2.5 APG, and essentially set the standard by which all other great PCTI performances are judged. It’s not just that he averaged 20+PPG and it’s not just that he damn near averaged a double-double, it’s that he shot 50% from the field on 31-62 FGAs, shot 44.4% from deep on 16-36 3FGAs, made 11-17 FTAs for 65%, and led his team to a sweep victory. He was perhaps the biggest factor why the series was uncompetitive for the other team, which included Abe and a highly-conditioned JT. In 3 of the 4 games, he scored at least 22 points, and never had a single game in which he didn’t score at least 15 points. He also double-doubled in 3 of the 4 games, with individual outputs of 15-13, 28-12, 22-10 and 24-4. Also in 3 of the 4 games, he made at least 4 triples including game 4 where he made 6. In this tournament, he also breached the 50-point Productivity Rating in game 2 where he scored 28 points, grabbed 12 boards, dished 3 assists, had 3 steals, and shot 11-21 from the field. He also had a separate game 3 in which he passed the 40-point mark in the same Productivity category. His EFG% for the weekend was 63% and he scored 1.44 PPS, marks that are rarely seen in PCTI’s history. There’s not much in the way of description of this performance except to say that this is the standard. In my mind, this performance stands alone.

 

Sabin

PCTI's TOP 10 Individual Performances, Part 2

As we approach PCTI 9 and the animosity between Dan and me begins to crescendo, I’ve started thinking about some of the best performances in PCTI history. While there have been many noteworthy accomplishments over the years by various players and teams, I thought I would limit the scope of this post to top 10 series performances all-time by an individual. Without further ado, here is a list of top 10 all-time individual performances with a few honorable mentions thrown in for good measure:

 

8: Abe, PCTI 6 Portland

Abe averaged a stunning 18.4 PPG, 10.4 RPG, and 2.2 APG as his team won in 5 games. Statistically, this is one of the most dominant performances in PCTI history and solidified Abe’s standing as PCTI’s top player and producer. Adding to his legend, he shot 45% from the field with 15 triples in just 5 games. Abe scored in double figures in each game, and only had ONE game in which he didn’t rebound in double figures. He also broke the 20-point plateau twice, while never having a single game in which he didn’t make at LEAST two 3-pointers. He also broke the mythical 40-point mark in the SABIN Productivity Metric not once, but twice. For context, the 40-point metric has been breached just 20 times by PCTI players in 8 years. He did it twice in one series. Just a remarkable individual performance.

 

7: Spot, PCTI 5 Denver

Spot averaged 13.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 2.3 APG on a team that swept 4-0 in Denver. He shot a blazing 51% from the field and made 12 triples on 50% from deep as he laid claim to the title of PCTI’s best long-range bomber. He recorded one of the best day one sessions in history with 42 points, 11 boards, and no turnovers, all while shooting an impossible 15-22 FGAs and 10-16 3FGAs, 68% and 63% respectively. His EFG% one day one alone was 91%. For context, that is like Babe Ruth hitting 61 homers back in the 1920s while the next best guy had 20. In addition, given his efficiency, he recorded one of the best historical EFG%s in PCTI at 66.7% and a blistering 1.41 points per shot. In a sense, this was Spot’s announcement to PCTI that he was not just a popular world traveler, but an incredibly valuable player and teammate. Spotlight may have cracked the top 5 on this list had he not accepted an invitation to join the infamous QuadPod.

 

6: DK, PCTI 8 San Diego

DK averaged 9.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and obliterated every PCTI assist record with 9.0 APG as his team swept in San Diego. Essentially, he erased anyone’s name who had been attached to the assist category and etched his name in permanent ink. While his scoring number may not overwhelm, to have 3 games out of 4 with at least 8 assists is a remarkable achievement. In addition, his day two performance included 26 assists, including 16 in game 3 as his team scored 57 points in the second half alone. Like Cy Young’s 511 wins in baseball, this assist record may in reality never be broken. He put PCTI on notice that he is triple-double threat when playing with a high-octane offense. Even more, Dan solidified his reputation as the gasoline that ignites a fire. When you add in the fact that Dan accepted the challenge of guarding Abe on the other side of the ball for much of the weekend, this performance goes down as one of the all-time great performances in history. This was Dan at his very finest.

 

5: Sabin, PCTI 3 Dallas

Sabin averaged 19.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.5 APG as he captained one of the most underperforming teams in PCTI history, the Kittens. En route to getting swept in 4 games, Sabin shot 59% from the field and 79% from deep, while canning 9-10 from the free throw line. Sabin scored in double figures each game, with at least 19 points in 3 of those games. He also cracked the 40-point mark in Productivity twice in 4 games. His EFG% of 70% for the weekend and 1.6 PPS may be marks that aren’t seen for a while. Ultimately, this performance was meaningless as his team was not competitive on day 2, and Sabin’s reputation took a hit as a horrible drafter and underwhelming captain. It would take years to repair the damage caused by the Kittens year, but the shooting percentages are startling to look at. Although the Kittens will make another post as one of the worst 5 teams in PCTI history, this was his personal best from a shooting standpoint.

Sabin

PCTI's TOP 10 Individual Performances, Part 1

As we approach PCTI 9 and the animosity between Dan and me begins to crescendo, I’ve started thinking about some of the best performances in PCTI history. While there have been many noteworthy accomplishments over the years by various players and teams, I thought I would limit the scope of this post to top 10 series performances all-time by an individual. Without further ado, here is a list of top 10 all-time individual performances with a few honorable mentions thrown in for good measure:

 

Honorable Mention 4: BC, PCTI 5 Denver

BC averaged 13.5 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and nearly 2 assists as his team swept in Denver 4-0. He also shot 47.2% from the field and 40% from 3. BC had two double-doubles in this series, including a 13-10 effort in game 1 and a monster 21-16 showing in game 3.

 

Honorable Mention 3: Joe, PCTI 5 Denver

Joe averaged 20.0 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and nearly 3 assists on a team that was swept 0-4 in Denver. He never had a game where he scored less than 17 points, and made an astonishing 22 triples in just 4 games. Joe would’ve graded higher on this list were it not for his 39% FG and his team getting swept, but this was a remarkable performance and perhaps Joe’s best PCTI performance from a conditioning standpoint.

 

Honorable Mention 2: Beas, PCTI 5 Denver

Beas averaged 14.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and nearly 4 assists on a team that swept 4-0 in Denver. Beas also shot an efficient 43% from the field with 7 triples. This series also includes one of the greatest single game performances in PCTI history, with a game 4 effort of 29 points, 5 boards, 5 assists, 11-15 FGAs, 4-6 3FGAs, and 3-5 FTAs. He also slapped up a Sabin Productivity Rating of 49, one of the best marks of all time.

 

Honorable Mention 1: Ben, PCTI 6 Portland

Ben averaged 14.4 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 2 APG on a team that won in 5 games. Ben was at his efficient best in this series at 47.5% FGs with 6 triples and 77% FTAs. For good measure, he threw in 6 steals and combined with Abe to form an indomitable 1-2 punch that overwhelmed the opponent. It says quite a bit that this was only Ben’s THIRD best performance on this list.

 

T-10: DK, PCTI 7 Cincinnati

DK averaged 10.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 3.5 APG on a team that won in 6 games. In something of a coming out party, Dan shot 43% from the field and with a remarkable 50% from 3 on 32 attempts. Dan may have posted one of the best day ones in PCTI history with 41 points, 6 boards, 8 assists, 11 triples, 56% from the field, and a stunning 69% from deep. This may have been the moment that Dan announced his presence with authority as a scorer/shooter to the rest of PCTI.

 

T-10: Ben, PCTI 1 Lexington

Ben makes his second appearance on this list by averaging 14.8 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 1.3 APG in PCTI’s inaugural event. Ben also shot 44.6% from the field with 16 triples as his team succumbed in 6 games. What cannot be overstated in this performance is how grueling this particular event was. Ben played 4 games on DAY ONE alone, and 6 total games in about 28 HOURS. This is just mind-blowingly good production over 6 games, including one of PCTI’s best ever individual games with his game 2 performance masterpiece of 29 points, 7 boards, and 11-16 FGAs with 7 triples.

 

9: Sabin, PCTI 8 San Diego

Sabin averaged 15.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and nearly 3 assists as his team swept in THE DIEGO. He shot 51% from the field with 6-14 from deep. Sabin scored in double figures in each game and recorded a day 2 session of 38 points on 17-26 FGAs for 65%. This was Sabin’s first PCTI championship after years of disappointments and failures, and he rode this populist wave to an MVP. Although Sabin has stated on many occasions that he was not even the best player on his own team, this team was uniquely constructed to bring out his best individual abilities and it did. In a way, the team’s game 3 performance in which it came from down 7 to being up by 28 in the 2^nd half was the seminal moment of his weekend and the realization of his PCTI chemistry experiments from years past.  

Sabin

Last Picks, Historically

I thought I'd take a minute to explore the numbers of all the last picks in PCTI history, for no particular reason.  Aside from the team-dependent W/L numbers, I thought I could get an idea of the value that each of the last picks provided to their team throughout the years using EFFpg.

I admittedly do not remember if Wes was last pick in PCTI 1, so that's an assumption.  I also forgot about Pitto being the last pick two years in a row, but that kind of drives home the point: draft with your head and not your heart.  A caution, if you will.

See you in Minny.

1: Wes  7.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.8 apg, 0 spg, 3.3 EFFpg, 4-2 W/L
2: Pitto 13.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.1 apg, 0.8 spg, 9.3 EFFpg, 3-4 W/L
3: Pitto  8.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3 apg, 1.5 spg, 7.3 EFFpg, 4-0 W/L
4: Wes  1.1 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.1 apg, 0 spg, -1.1 EFFpg, 3-4 W/L
5: Wes  3.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 0.5 spg, 1.8 EFFpg, 0-4 W/L
6: Wes  1.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.4 apg, 0.6 spg, 2.2 EFFpg, 1-4 W/L
7: Wes  (3 games, 3 DNP's not averaged)  3.7 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 1.7 apg, 0.3 spg, 4.7 EFFpg, 2-1 W/L
8: Wes  (0 games, quit, not averaged)

Last picks, lifetime:
Pitto, 11 games: 127 pts, 44 reb, 27 ast, 11 stl, 94 EFF, 7-4 W/L
Wes, 25 games:  82 pts, 63 reb, 25 ast, 6 stl, 44 EFF, 10-15 W/L
Combo, 36 games:  5.8 ppg, 3 rpg, 1.4 apg, 0.5 spg, 3.8 EFFpg, 17-21 W/L

Ben, lifetime:  13.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.95 apg, 0.8 spg, 6.98 EFFpg, 20-23 W/L

PCTI8 Pre-Season Awards Review

As we anticipate PCTI9, let's take a look at how predictions vs. reality shook out from PCTI8.

Awards were as follows:

• MVP: Sabin.
• ATT: brent & The Boy.
• High Rebounder: Sticky (9.8 rpg).
• High Scorer: Sabin (15.8 ppg).

Each accurate selection received one point.

Mad props to Act and and TP for their selections.