On Sunday evening, following an exhausting Saturday of indulging in various extracurricular activities at the Okeeheelee golf course, GMs and players from around the league gathered together for the 2021 BGBL Draft. This year’s draft provided the fans with many unexpected trades & steals, but the consistent theme appeared to be bringing players home, reuniting them with the franchises & cities in which they have been beloved for years. The second round alone saw Rudy Viton, Quentin Middleton, & Josh Robles all returning to the GM that had initially drafted them in their rookie season (76ers, Warriors, & Spurs, respectively). Each of the three had previously won a championship with their respective franchise in their rookie season and were all happy to return home in 2021.

There was very little hesitation to engage in trading in this year’s draft. In fact, Ryan Spencer’s Nets were the only franchise to not execute a trade on draft day. Overall, some impressive moves were made by all GMs to secure the guys they believed they needed to win a championship. Below is an analysis of each GM’s draft and their associated grade.

Spurs: A
Despite the dominant Warriors bringing back all five starters from their 2020 championship season, it’s hard to argue that this Spurs team isn’t the most talented on paper. Andrew Owers, returning as a GM for the first time since bringing San Antonio a championship in his debut season, made it clear he intended on putting together a team to compete. In the third round, he passed on his good friend Brynjar, a rookie which he specifically recruited, to select veteran Allen Brown, arguably the steal of the draft. Allen Brown is clearly first round talent, but fell in the draft due to commitment & communication issues. Some GMs in the league weren’t even sure Allen Brown had a phone. To Owers’s excitement, he later found out that Allen Brown not only had a phone, but that his phone sent blue texts as opposed to green. Brandon “Buck” Buchanan, who Owers selected in the 4th round, was also considered a significant steal, as Buck was selected in the 2nd round of the 2020 draft just a year earlier.

Although many are concerned with how all the talented pieces brought in to San Antonio will work together, Owers also provided small foundations for chemistry. With the #2 overall pick, he selected Adam Lapikas, and then with his 5th round pick, selected Collin Grill, two Newman alumni who played together in high school. Additionally, he also brought back Josh Robles, and Josh’s good friend, rookie Eric Lynch, who he traded for post-draft.

76ers: A-
After losing out on the Witkowski lottery, GM Casey McClure began to re-envision the team he wanted for the 2021 season. On the Saturday night preceding draft day, McClure spent the evening killing a bottle of Jack with his good friend and former teammate for three seasons, Rudy Viton. As the night got late and the bottle grew empty, the two eventually agreed it was essential Viton return to Philly for the 2021 season. So, in the 2nd round, McClure did not take any chances, and went ahead and snagged the former champion & 2014 Rookie of the Year. “I’ve already ordered my Rudy Viton jersey,” exclaimed longtime BGBL fan Joe Barbusio seconds after Rudy was selected.

GM Casey McClure has historically been known for his draft day trades, but he may have outdone himself in 2021. McClure traded out of the 3rd & 7th rounds to double up on 4th & 5th round draft picks. When Philly lifer Jeremy Gannon was selected, Casey McClure used one of the 5th round picks to trade for his longtime friend. This makes three out of the past four years that Jeremy Gannon has been drafted by a team other than Philly. By trading out of the 7th round, Casey also ensured that this Philly team has potential to go 8 players deep. McClure selected three-point specialist Nick Chiocca in the 6th round, who, last time he stepped onto a BGBL court, dropped 30 points & 8 three-pointers in a single game.

Warriors: B+
The Warriors arguably started the draft with more talent than they ended it with, but the defending champion’s front office deserves some credit for the moves they pulled off to secure the guys they wanted. They essentially utilized the sign-and-trade on Connor O’Rourke, who won 2018 Defensive Player of the Year as a rookie with the franchise. Sending O’Rourke to the Grizzlies allowed Golden State to secure their two highly coveted big men (Cruise & Q) with the 2nd & 3rd round picks they received in return. “I can’t believe that worked!” exclaimed franchise center James Cruise after facetiming into the draft via Brandon Colon’s phone. The team’s 4th round pick was utilized on Phil Lewis, meaning all five starters from the 2020 championship team would be returning. Late-round picks Brandon Hardy & Dominik Lysaght should be able to provide significant contributions off the bench in their first season wearing Golden State uniforms.

Blazers: B
This year’s Blazers team should look a lot more like the 2019 team that made the Finals as opposed to the 2020 team that finished in last place. German Torres & Manny Bejerano, who played on the team that nearly won the Finals, have returned after a season’s absence. GM Ham Long ensured his guys would be returning by utilizing all three of his franchise tags, including one on 5-year veteran Ozzie Jiminez, who has never played for any other franchise. However, this did not stop the experienced GM Ham Long from making a pick in the early rounds. He traded hi 4th & 5th round picks away for a 3rd & 7th from Casey’s 76ers. This allowed him to secure rookie big man Brynjar Gudmundsson, who impressed many at the combine. Additionally, the 7th round pick ended up essentially becoming a 6th round pick, since it was traded for Bryan Murphy, who had initially been selected in the 6th round and, was already considered a steal at that point in the draft.

Morale should not be an issue for Portland this year, either, as Rob W & Lit Kid headline the bench. Expect this Blazers team to make some noise, both literally and figuratively, as they rebound from their 2020 sophomore slump.

Grizzlies: B
Rookie General Manager Connor McCool was given a call less than two weeks before draft day in which he was given the offer to establish his own franchise. McCool excitedly accepted the offer, and was able to put together a pretty respectable team in his GM debut. According to two-time champion John Mollica, this Grizzlies team is actually “the team to beat” in 2021. McCool was able to secure Taylor Welte with the #3 overall pick. Welte was the #1 overall pick in last year’s draft, & led the 2020 Raptors in points(17.9), assists(2.4), & steals(2.6) in his rookie season. McCool then traded away his 2nd & 3rd round picks for his former teammate Connor O’Rourke. In 2018, the duo’s sole season together, McCool won MVP & O’Rourke won Defensive Player of the Year. Memphis’s Big 3 was now complete.

In addition to the Big 3, McCool added 5 very solid role players in Justin Ehrler, Ryan Doherty, Austin Morris, Eric Mattison, & Hunter Kempton. The Grizzlies are the least experienced team in the league this year, as all 8 players have each only played one full year in the BGBL (McCool started a second season but suffered a season-ending injury in the opening game). This Grizzlies team should provide a very intriguing storyline to monitor throughout the season.

Nets: C+
The best part of GM Ryan Spencer’s draft was getting his beloved Nets logo pulled out of a trash bag at Ground & Griddled sports bar. This is only Spencer’s second year as a GM, but for the second consecutive year, “Mullet”, as many people call him, was able to secure the first overall pick in the draft via the lottery. The obvious move after winning the lottery was selecting last year’s MVP Scott Witkowski, and that’s what Mullet did. After all, many were referring to the 2021 BGBL Lottery as the ‘Witkowski Sweepstakes’.

However, Mullet’s picks following Witkowski were questioned by many around the league. Similar to GM Casey McClure, GM Ryan Spencer appeared to value team chemistry over talent, selecting players he believed he had a solid connection with who would increase team morale. However, the difference is Ryan Spencer did not make trades so that he was drafting these players at their proper draft value. Instead, he drafted players in the early rounds who would have likely been available in the later rounds. Regardless, Spencer did make some decent picks, including drafting 8-year veteran Bam Adeyemi in the 4th round. Bam, one of just four players to play in every season since the league’s commencement, will now be playing for the 7th franchise of his career, a league record.

Lakers: C-
“Lakers must’ve been drunk when they drafted,” commented Spurs GM Andrew Owers of his adversaries. Whether Lakers GM Trevor Gilson stands by his draft picks or not, he probably would not deny the validity of Owers’s statement. Gilson spent the weekend drinking for 48 hours straight, only taking small breaks for sleep, and although nobody is criticizing his golf game, the peanut gallery came out in full force regarding his draft strategy.

Gilson’s Plan A went out the window when Memphis grabbed Taylor Welte with the third overall pick. The rookie GM was initially hoping Welte would fall to the 2nd round, since the tagged Scott Scala essentially replaced the franchise’s first round pick. However, Gilson did use this as an opportunity to bring the core from last year’s team that made the memorable playoff run back by snagging Cam. Gilson would later trade for Janeski to lock in four returning players from the 2020 team. However, this may have been overshadowed by their departures. The Lakers missed out on bringing back Quentin Middleton & Bam Adeyemi, who were key players in the 2020 campaign. Instead, it appears LA got older, acquiring two of the three oldest players in the league in Bill McKernan & Tom Kern. Two-time champion John Mollica was brought in for his championship experience, as he & Christian Janeski are the only two players on this team who have been to the Finals. It will be interesting to see how those two mesh, as the two former GMs have had their differences in the past. Overall, LA may have their work cut out for them, but then again, there were doubters last year, too, and we saw how that turned out.