BuzzerBeater Forums

Season 59 Draft Recap
I've long wanted to do draft recaps, but by the time I'd get around to trying to get the information, half the boys would be fired or sold, but this year, I got to it with only three players fired, so it wasn't too difficult to pull together. Here's some interesting information from the draft class this season.

Out of 48 players drafted, the following is true:
-> 25 18-year olds
-> 23 19-year olds
-> 12 PGs
-> 10 SGs
-> 10 SFs
-> 11 PFs
-> only 5 Cs

The average salary of all 48 players is $3,124.08 and they have an average height of 197.3 cm (or nearly 6'6" for us 'Mericans).

The lowest salaried player is a 19-year old PG named Kenny Navorro drafted by Hustlas with the 13th pick in the first round. Kenny's potential is as a 6th man and makes $1,316/week.
The highest salared player is a 19-year old PF named Damian Olivares drafted by The Beer Bellys with the 9th pick in the first round. Damian's potential is as a Starter and makes $8,042/week, or just over 6 times as much as Navorro. Close second to that came in at $7,268 in the form of a SF named Johnny Bourgeois with Star potential, drafted 14th in the first round by Philly Dribble.
Winner for worst player drafted is The Philadelphia Spartans 18-year old PG Benjamin Angel who is one of three players with Role Player potential and makes $1,822.
Best player in the draft is probably SG Cory Collins, an 18-year old MVP potential SG drafted by Żubr Białystok 24th overall with the 8th pick in the 2nd round.

Out of all 48 players drafted, here's the breakdown by potential:
Announcer = 0%
Bench Warmer = 0%
Role Player = 6.25% (all 18-year olds)
6th Man = 10.4% (3 18-year olds, 2 19-year olds)
Starter = 20.8% (four 18s, six 19s)
Star = 12.5% (four 18s, two 19s)
All Star = 29.2% (five 18s, nine 19s)
Perennial Allstar = 12.5% (five 18s, one 19)
Superstar = 4.2% (two 19s)
MVP = 2.1% (one 18)
Hall of Famer = 2.1% (one 19)
All-Time Great = 0%

The draft is generally a crapshoot, especially if you don't invest in it, and even if you do, it doesn't always work out, depending on your placement. But, all things considered, you know how much I like some numbers about some guys - I threw together a draft ranking by taking the total salaries involved in each team's draft picks (this ranged from $5.8K to $15.8K), divided that by 3, multiplied the result by the total of their potential and then divided by the total of the age of the players*. I'll list their "score" behind the team name.

16. San Dominica Warriors - 390.5
Total Salary: $5,857
Total Potential: 11
None drafted higher than Starter and only one with more than $2k salary (just $75 more).
Grade: F--

15. The Philadelphia Spartans - 575.7
Total Salary: $6,785
Total Potential: 14
Two Allstar potentials in the mix, including an 18-year old PF Sammy Putnam (salary only $2.2k), but a role player really brought down the potential here.
Grade: D+ - possibly a C+ if the potential gets fulfilled with solid Div IV training.

14. Carolina Rebels - 641.1
Total Salary: $8,976
Total Potential: 12
Potentials of 6th Man, Role Player, and Starter with ok, but not really good starting skills. SF Perry Downs might be worth training at 18-years old, but probably not in Div III.
Grade: D

13. Sweaty Socks - 670.9
Total Salary: $6,512
Total Potential: 17
Not a lot here skill-wise, but a 19-year old Superstar destined to retire too soon builds this draft class up a tad.
Grade: Bots get F for effing up people's draft efforts.

12. Linndale - 672.1
Total Salary: $8,531
Total Potential: 13
The second of only two Superstars in this draft class, Rolland Reynolds is also 19, but sports a decent starting skillset for him to be worthwhile in training or selling for a modest profit. Unfortunately for Speedtraps, both 18-year olds are garbage.
Grade: C-

Season 59 Draft Recap - Part Two
11. Miami Cleo - 790.4
Total Salary: $8,151
Total Potential: 16
Standing in my typical spot in rankings over the last two seasons, Miami is sporting a couple of Allstars with alright starting skills, one 18 (Ross Newell) and the other 19 (Priest Meier). Unfortunately, they play on opposite sides of the court, so probably not a good training duo.
Grade: C+

10. BKDogs - 879.5
Total Salary: $9,235
Total Potential: 16
One Allstar potential player (PG Antone Norton) who is 19 with ok starting skills - also an 18-year old with Allstar potential, but worse skills and probably for the wrong side of the court as he's listed as a PG but stands 6'11" - he might be worthwhile investing some training in at Div IV.
Grade: C+

9. Motor City Waddupdoe - 908.9
Total Salary: $7,362
Total Potential: 20
This is the group with the highest total potential and all three at 18-years old. I'll write a bit more about this group below in my explanation of the calculation, but if we're going solely based on overall potential, this would be my number one draft class.
Grade: B+

8. Żubr Białystok - 940.9
Total Salary: $8,022
Total Potential: 19
Not only do they have (potentially) the top pick in the draft in 18-year old SG Cory Collins (MVP potential), but they also pulled in an 18-year old Perennial Allstar in SF Dane Estrada. If their starting skills were higher, they would have shot up this list, probably right to the top, but 18-year olds typically don't come with the same salary range we're seeing in 19-year olds these days.
Grade: B+

7. Hustlas - 942
Total Salary: $11,506
Total Potential: 14
Hustlas have the 3rd highest total salary, but lack in the potential department with this class. All three are 19 years old, with one of them being one of the worst picks, while the other two are rated at Star and Allstar with good starting skills for rookies.
Grade: B-

6. BOBBBSBURGS - 963.2
Total Salary: $9,519
Total Potential: 17
Nothing below a Star potential rating, with decent starting skills - his Perennial Allstar, 19-year old PG William Jenkins is the worst of the group, however.
Grade: F for Bots

5. The Ashkickers - 976
Total Salary: $9,301
Total Potential: 17
A decent crew of 18-year olds for Tylormade's aging crew, and while I've never reached DIV II, I have to wonder if it's worthwhile toting two 18-year olds with Allstar and Perennial Allstar potential with just OK starting skills. Still, a decent draft overall.
Grade: B

4. The Beer Bellys - 977
Total Salary: $13,678
Total Potential: 12
Here you can see how starting skills beats out potential in my rankings, with The Bellys just edging out Ashkickers. The previously mentioned Damian Olivares is doing a lot of heavy lifting for the kegerators here, with his $8k/week salary, but 19-year old PG Timothy Blanchard has a Allstar rating.
Grade: B+

Season 59 Draft Recap - Part Three
3. 209's MostWanted - 1050.5
Total Salary: $9,289
Total Potential: 19
And here we see where just a touch more potential lifts a team up in this calculation - 209's reeled in two Allstar and an 18-year old Perennial Allstar, but only one of them has OK starting skills. But, properly trained, there's some good ground to be made here.
Grade: B+

2. Lion Rebels - 1283.1
Total Salary: $11,345
Total Potential: 19
My 19-year old Hall of Fame draftee is doing a lot of the work here to push my team up to second. Decent starting skills make the case combined with his HoF potential.
Grade: A-

1. Philly Dribble - 1486.5
Total Salary: $15,887
Total Potential: 16
Blowing the rest of us out of the water with three 19-year olds averaging just over $5k in salary ends up leading the draft class for highest rated group of guys. I know potential under Perennial Allstar is typically looked down upon, but in the right situation, they could be some decent trainees. They'll probably be fired by the time this is posted.
Grade: A

*Each level of potential is assigned a number by Buzzerbeater - Announcer = 0, Bench Warmer = 1, All-Time Great = 11, etc. So, each team had three of those numbers that combined to make their potential number. This ranged from 11 to a high of 20. The age combination is simply, 19+19+18, whatever each draftee's age is. Only two teams drafted three 18 year olds, two teams drafted three 19-year olds, and everyone else was a mix of the two ages. Like most of my calculations, this isn't a picture perfect system, but here's what I'm trying to do: Value potential combined with salary (current skill level) with some measure of weight given to youth. Admittedly, this seems to favor higher salaries/skill level, but tries to factor in potential. The problem with weighting too much on potential is what if it is never realized? For example, Motor City drafted three 18-year olds - an Allstar and two Perennial Allstars, each with a salary in the lower-mid $2000 range. They all have pretty good potential, but even if it is realized, it will take them several years to come to fruition. I've played this game enough to know that while you might start with good intentions with a group, another player always comes along that looks a little prettier and training projects get abandoned. Having said that, particularly for Motor City, this is probably a great crop of guys to invest 5-6 seasons in to build a solid core.

Last edited by Baine at 2/6/2023 6:16:40 PM