PCTI Players' Poll: #1 Abe

The Brat’s Preamble: This was the one sure thing. But that doesn’t mean it should go without giving some credit. As this exercise has pointed out, there’s a certain arc most of the brethren follow. Abe has held the number one spot unofficially from the beginning of PCTI up until the eve of PCTI V while showing little signs of slowing down.

Everyone knew going in to PCTI I that Abe was the superior player. What few realized – or didn’t understand to the extent he’s demonstrated – was his superhuman ability to play without a drop off no matter what off the court shenanigans he partakes in the night before. Abe doesn’t get to the point of physically struggling near as quickly as the majority of PCTI and once he gets there he somehow seldom shows any ill effects. He has also demonstrated in his own often understated way, he will compete his ass off. In fact in recent years he’s been more vocal, as if embracing his alpha dog status. Much like Actor he doesn’t make a wealth of plays for others but has supreme timing on knowing when to strike and when to blend in to the flow of the game.

In PCTI IIII Abe actually had a down year. He’s been held to single digits only five times in 24 games and had never scored below nine points in any PCTI game through the first three. Yet last year he had eight points in game one, six points in game three and three points in game five. Is he showing signs of coming back to the pack, or was this simply his off year? If the answer is the latter, he still found a way to deliver for his team when they needed it, in so keeping his perfect record intact. He turned in several big rebounding performances when he failed to score well and went for a career high in scoring in game four. If he is in fact coming back to the pack, he has little to fear. At this point, the rest of us are but a speck in his rear view mirror.

Voting Breakdown: highest vote, 1. Lowest vote, 2. This obviously tells the whole story.

PCTI Record: 4-0. Or perhaps this tells the whole story.

Lifetime Stats: 14.4 ppg (1^st and it’s not particularly close), 7.0 rpg (3^rd), 38 assists (8^th, a really pedestrian number for a PCTI founding father who touches the ball a lot), 6 blocks (8^th), 17 steals (T-5, there’s a four way tie for fifth with Sabin, Donnybrook, and Skillz),  39.3 percent shooting (8^th, any argument against Abe would probably start here. He shoots a nearly identical percentage as BMac and Spotlight), 31.7 percent from three (6^th, only one third of PCTI shoots it at better than 30 percent from distance) and the all-important Sabin Productivity number: 187 (4^th)

Lifetime Bests: 23 points (PCTI IV, game four), 15 rebounds (PCTI II, game one), 4 assists…(multiple)

Other Notes: It’s worth mentioning, if you made a list of most shot attempts ranked 1-16 and a list of top PCTI scorers, ranked 1-16, the two lists would look nearly identical. You could argue that if anyone took as many shots as the top scorers in PCTI, they’re likely to average about the same amount of points. Of course the truth is that what really sets the top scorers in PCTI apart is not their ability to make shots but their ability to simply consistently create shots.

Also, as a final note to this exercise. The final question was to see if there were any gripes about PCTI that were hovering below the surface. The answer to that, by and large, is no. Six votes came in for “the videos being too expensive, I rarely watch them” and the obvious choice, “Dan The Boy sucks as commish” only got four votes, surprisingly.

As for Abe, a vote here and a vote there was all. Specifically, one vote each for overrated, most fun to see lose, has played out of his mind and off court MVP.

In closing, see you boys in Denver!  

PCTI Players' Poll: #2 Actor

The Brat's Preamble: Since the very dawn of PCTI, it's always been clear that one player was superior. As the years go by, it seems that Actor has established himself as the clear cut number two option. And lets be clear, he's earned it. Actor has changed his game and his attitude through four PCTIs and has shown a drastic dedication to winning.

To understand Actor's rise, it helps to know his history. In high school he was a member of the vaunted Father Ryan system. He was hardwired to play defense, to only dribble when the purpose was clear and to sacrifice for the team. He grew from a little-used reserve on the freshman team to one of the top players in the league as a senior. Some will say that the Actor let the success that came with his ascension go to his head. It certainly didn't help that he started spending much of his time away from the court with the David Lipscomb crew who, for reasons known only to them, worshiped him like a pagan idol.

His career took him to Rhodes College, where he enjoyed new-founded offensive freedom (and far less pressure to defend) and became a stat-stuffing guard. His persona grew quickly on campus as evidenced by him having five buddies from Rhodes in every city in the country, despite the school having a microscopic number of undergraduates in its student body.

After toiling aimlessly for several years in the ubiquitous Thompson Industries, Joe set out with a dream and a cardigan to the City of Angels, shocking even his closest friends. That's when The Doctor became The Actor. The Actor committed to his craft with vigor and was eager to learn. Around this same time PCTI was conceived.

The man who showed up at the first few PCTI's was a true work in progress. Not only were his various backgrounds still melding, he was a working actor eager to try the craft in a foreign environment. It made for a volatile player who could dazzle, frustrate and seemed ready to burn to brightly and quit at any moment.

Years passed and Actor hardened to Hollywood. With it came not only an inner-peace but the need for a sanctum from the absurdities of Tinsel Town. What did he turn to? His old friend PCTI. At PCTI three he showed up in-shape and with no mention of retirement. Gone were many of the vaudeville-like distractions. With his perspective changed from years of toil, torment and success in LA, Actor had returned to his truest basketball form. The guy who many had not seen since he was 17 years old. A man hungry to compete and with the skills to change a game.

So what do you get with Actor nowadays? A combo guard with dynamic scoring ability, a competitor on defense and an athletic force on the glass. Actor has never been a playmaker but he makes up for it with an innate ability to stay just ahead of the flow of the game. In a typical ten possession sequence for the typical combo guard, he would look to score three or four times and create plays for others three or four times. The game would always be going through him. Actor rarely will make those sort of plays for others but he has an innate ability to choose when to try to make his three or four plays and when to stand aside and let the others on his team do their thing. The result is a guy who always seems to have control of the game but rarely is dominating the ball in a way that can hurt his teammates. 

Actor seems poised to have a successful run as PCTI's clear cut no. 2 (call him best supporting actor?) Can he ever challenge for the top spot? It's certainly possible.

Voting Breakdown: highest vote: 1, lowest vote: 7

Lifetime PCTI Record: 3-1, knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten after an unsuccessful captaincy in IIII.

Lifetime Stats: 10.6 ppg (6^th, a mere two points behind the Brat for fifth. Six guys average double figures), 4.8 rpg (7^th, the leader in a log jam of guys who rebound about the same. Five guys average between 4.5 and 4.8 rebounds a game), 23 steals (2^nd and every one of them coming on poke outs from behind), 8 blocks (6^th), 43 assists (6th) 42.4 percent shooting (7^th, very few guards shoot north of 40 percent in PCTI), 35.1 percent from three (trailing only Skillz and by a fraction, Sabin) and the all-important Sabin productivity number: 179 (5^th)

Lifetime Bests: 30 points! (PCTI III, game 4), 9 rebounds (PCTI I, game 5), 4 assists (multiple times)

Other Notes: The single-game scoring record and a nice round number to boot. Actor's 30 point game was a long range shooting display: 9 made threes on only 14 attempts. Actor has had a few dogs in his PCTI career, including an epic 2 points on 1-14 (0-7) shooting in the ribbon cutter, PCTI I, game one. But such is life for the few guys in PCTI who can find their own shot whenever they choose. Never underestimate the responsibility they have to make something out of nothing when the rest of us are standing around expecting them to score. Actor's PCTI IIII was rather pedestrian but there's no question that his metamorphosis in to a win at all costs competitor has impressed the brethren.

But there are still traces of Actor of Years Past. He finished second in the voting for Guy You Most Enjoy Seeing Lose (behind a former player, who won in a landslide). I am sure Actor delights in this honor. He received two votes for best teammate and one vote for playing above his ability. He did not receive a vote for Best Looking, probably because of his teethstick.  

PCTI Players' Poll: #3 Beas

The Brat's Preamble: Beas's grip over PCTI can be described only one way: a force of nature. Combining a mix of athleticism and competitiveness that is almost unmatched with a team-first attitude, he is overwhelmingly one of the most highly regarded players.

The biggest thing going for Beas may be that he looks the most like a ballplayer at all times. Really it's a landslide. He scores a 1600 on the eyeball test. He's always in a stance on defense, he attacks the rim on offense and he's clearly naturally good looking in general (more on that in a moment.)

What's not as striking, by and large, are his numbers. Name the stat, and there's a guy in the bottom half of the balloting who does it just as well.

But the vast majority of PCTI clearly believe the best is yet to come for Beas. I certainly count myself among them. If you are able to combine talent with consistent effort, by PCTI standards you are elite. And few do it better than Beas.

Voting Breakdown: highest vote: 2, lowest vote: 7. The top three ranked players were the only ones to not receive any votes below seven.

Lifetime Record: 1-1, loss in the KD and a win last year.

Lifetime Stats: 7.7 ppg (T-8 with Cockboy), 4.5 rpg (11^th), 10 steals (11^th, for perspective 8 steals in PCTI IIII tied for first with Sabin), 0 blocks (16^th), 24 assists (10^th, 14 assists in PCTI IIII, tied for third with The Brat), 35.5 percent shooting (11^th), 28.1 percent from three (7^th), and the all-important Sabin productivity number: 61 (14^th, not sure if this stat builds over time)

Lifetime Bests: 21 points (PCTI III, game 4), 7 rebounds (multiple times), 7 assists (PCTI III, game 4)

Other Notes: My favorite Beas stat through both PCTIs: On both final days he has matched his point total from the first part of the weekend. In PCTI he had 21 points combined in games 1-3 and closed impressively with a 21,7, and 7 line in game four. A performance that was marred by the final score (106-80 loss) and Actor's 30, 5 and 4 line.

In PCTI IIII he had 24 points combined in games six and seven, matching his 24 points through the first five games. This was big in helping his squad take the series.

How is this explained? Certainly with only two PCTIs where every lady would like to wind up, under his belt there is a limited sample size. But for our purposes where is the fun in that? Is he a superior athlete who hits his stride while others are fading? Is it a competitive streak that makes him well fitted for the role as his team's closer? Or is he simply a really slow starter? How annoying is it that every sentence I'm writing is a question?

I look at Beas taking home the title of Best Looking as a win for all of us. He got eight votes and the rest of us shared eight votes. I don't think there's a guy in here who wouldn't be proud of keeping it that competitive.

You would think that perhaps Beas would make a case for most disappointing player considering how highly regarded he is among the brethren, yet he did not receive a single vote. He did get three votes for Best Off The Court (sharing second with fellow quadpoders Spot and A-Hop) and got a pair of votes for Favorite Teammate.