MVP, All-NIBL team, blah blah blah
Bill
Krieger... May 27, 1999
I've managed to
pull myself out of my depression and personal
hell to bring you the 1999 post-season NIBL
awards.
First off, the
NIBL 1999 MVP is the player that scored the most
nibls during the season. For the second year in a
row, the NIBL 1999 MVP is:
1999 NIBL
MVP |
|
Karl Malone (uth) |
Shorewood
Scepters |
1,063
nibls |
Karl
led the league 1,063 nibls. Two other players
also broke the thousand nibl barrier this year.
In second place, Shaq from Matunuck had 1,042
nibls and Tim Duncan of Baghdad scored 1,022
nibls. Bow down to these three owners because
these three players were also the first three
picks of the draft. "I had to draft Karl
Malone," said Shell Evans, owner of the
Shorewood team, "but I don't like Karl
Malone." Thanks Grama Shell... don't we all.
The All-NIBL team
consists of the top players at each position
based on nibls/game. Here's the All-NIBL first
team:
1999
All-NIBL Team |
Pos |
Team |
Player |
Nibls |
Nibls/game |
F |
Shorewood |
Karl Malone (uth) |
1063 |
40.8 |
F |
Elk Grove |
Chris Webber (sac) |
831 |
41.5 |
C |
Matunuck |
Shaq O'Neal (lal) |
1042 |
41.6 |
G |
West Chicago |
A Iverson (phi) |
950 |
39.5 |
G |
West Chicago |
G Payton (sea) |
977 |
37.5 |
Again,
there's some nice drafting here as all the
players on the on the All-NIBL team are first
round picks, except Iverson who was taken in the
second round. The only weird thing here is that
Shaq from Matunuck is the only Eastern Conference
player on the all-NIBL team.
Also, Shaq and
Karl Malone are the only repeat All-NIBL teamers
form last year. Last year's All-NIBL team also
had M Jordan, T Duncan, and R Strickland. Scoring
was also down fom last year... 4 of the 5
All-NIBL team players last year averaged 42 nibls
per game or better.
And, here's the
All-NIBL second team:
1999
All-NIBL Second Team |
Pos |
Team |
Player |
Nibls |
Nibls/game |
F |
West Chicago |
Antonio McDyess
(den) |
1,022 |
38.6 |
F |
Baghdad |
Tim Duncan (sas) |
966 |
39.3 |
C |
Joliet |
Alonzo Mourning
(mia) |
912 |
39.6 |
G |
Matunuck |
Jason Kidd (pho) |
944 |
36.3 |
G |
Joliet |
Kobe Bryant (lal) |
858 |
33.0 |
The
second team has some wild picks. Tim Duncan and
Zo were taken in the first round, but after that
Jason Kidd was a third round pick and Kobe and
McDyess were fourth round picks. Yikes! The
Eastern Conference has two representatives on the
second team. Matunuck again shows up with Jason
Kidd and Baghdad has Tim Duncan.
The NIBL rookie of
the year is the NBA rookie that scored the most
nibls for his team. Drum roll...
1999 NIBL
Rookie of the Year |
|
Vince Carter (tor) |
Walla
Walla |
506
nibls |
Walla
didn't even draft Vince; he was picked off the
scrap heap in week 3. Good eye, Walla... The
Bailey boys over at Walla Walla seem to have a
thing for rookies because they had four of them:
V Carter (506 nibls), P Pierce (240 nibls), L
Hughes (47 nibls), and M Dickerson (19 nibls).
It's tough to pick good rookies... just ask Jerry
Krause.
Here's
something... just for grins, the best and worst
picks for each round of the NIBL draft. I haven't
figured this out yet, so I hope Aruba doesn't pop
up too many times. The vaunted NIBL software
doesn't handle trades too well (at all?), so some
of these may be off. Also, if you waived a guy
that you drafted, then I didn't include him in
this list.
|
|
Best Pick |
|
Worst Pick |
Rnd |
|
Team |
Player |
Nibls |
|
Team |
Player |
Nibls |
1 |
|
Shorewood |
K Malone
(uth) |
1,063 |
|
Cap City |
T
Gugliotta (pho) |
629 |
2 |
|
West Chicago |
A Iverson (phi) |
950 |
|
Sioux City |
Z Ilgauskas (cle) |
40 |
3 |
|
Matunuck |
J Kidd
(pho) |
944 |
|
Shorewood |
S Cassell
(mil) |
26 |
4 |
|
West Chicago |
A McDyess (den) |
966 |
|
Sioux City |
J Jackson (por) |
18 |
5 |
|
Bolingbrook |
C
Williamson (sac) |
452 |
|
Shorewood |
E
Williams (den) |
30 |
6 |
|
Baghdad |
D Wesley (cha) |
514 |
|
Shorewood |
L Longley (pho) |
56 |
7 |
|
Shorewood |
M Jackson
(ind) |
403 |
|
Walla
Walla |
E Johnson
(mil) |
23 |
8 |
|
Sioux City |
H Hawkins (sea) |
410 |
|
Walla Walla |
M Dickerson (hou) |
19 |
9 |
|
Shorewood |
C Oakley
(tor) |
464 |
|
Baghdad |
A Davis
(ind) |
27 |
10 |
|
Cap City |
T Ratliff (phi) |
483 |
|
Shorewood |
J Wallace (tor) |
13 |
What's
up with Cap City... with the worst first round
pick (Googs with 629 nibls) and an outrageous
last round pick (Ratliff with 483 nibls).
Shorewood was a little erratic as well with the
best picks in rounds 1, 7 and 9 and the worst
selections in rounds 3, 5, 6 and 10.
I look at all this
crap and I look at the four playoff teams (West
Chicago, Aruba, Cap City and Elk Grove)... what
made these teams winners?
- West Chicago
rocks with 3 players on the first and
second All-NIBL teams. That means with
his first four picks, Don Fenton picked
three of the top 10 players this year. Is
Don that good or do the rest of us suck?
- Last year
(1998), the ends of the draft wound up in
the playoffs. That is, the teams that
picked first in the draft (Aruba, West
Chicago) and the teams that picked last
in the draft (Manila, Walla Walla) made
the playoffs. This year the opposite
happened and all the playoff teams
emerged from the middle of the draft:
6th, 7th, 11th and 12th picks out of 14
teams.
- It's obvious
why West Chicago made the playoffs (and
won the title!), but how did Aruba and
Cap City do it? Neither team had any
player that made the All-NIBL cut.
Aruba's best player was Hakeem, who was
11th in the league in scoring, and Cap
City had M Finley at 18th best in
scoring. Well, Cap City had the
second-fewest points scored against it
(3342) and won their last three games
with the late season emergence of Gary
Trent and his bad self. Aruba had a truly
balanced attack with 5 players averaging
better than 28 nibls/game.
- Maybe it was
momentum that propelled these playoff
teams? Cap City won four of their last
five games, and Elk Grove won all five.
Aruba only lost once all season (to
Shorewood in week 4), so the Thong were
on a season-long roll. Oops... West
Chicago lost their last 3
regular season games as a tuneup to
winning the NIBL crown.
So, how do you
pick a playoff team? If you can figure it out,
let me know. One oddity, though... West Chicago
drafted 12th and yet Don Fenton drafted the first
two guards in the draft (Payton and Iverson).
(Well, Scottie Pippen, the 11th pick, was a
forward/guard) Are the rest of us focused too
much on big men and forwards? Got me? I doubt
Iverson and Payton will be around for Don Fenton
next year.
yow, bill
PS - So, Karl
Malone put six stitches in B Grant's head on
Tuesday night. OK, no problemo. Let's wrap it up
at home tonight Blazer and then Karl Malone can
go home and beat on his wife and kids. Go Blazer!
|