Grizzlies: A
Entering draft day, analysts knew the defending champion Memphis Grizzlies would look a little different than their team that completed the memorable championship run just one year ago. In addition to losing two of their ‘Big 3’ (O’Rourke, Welte), the Grizzlies also lost Hunter Kempton, the hero of the 2021 Finals, who decided to retire this offseason on the basis that he would never match the hype of the buzzer beating game-winner he hit to win it all, so there was no point in trying.

The fact that Memphis had serious holes to fill provided an opportunity for 2nd year GM Connor McCool to prove he could make moves in the front office when necessary. With the last pick of the 1st round, McCool took 2017 Offensive Player of the Year Chris Starling to fill the scoring void left by Taylor Welte’s departure, as well as longtime friend Tyler O’Brien to fill the rebounding void left by Connor O’Rourke’s absence. O’Brien looked to be a workhorse down low at the rookie combine.

McCool also traded his 4th & 6th picks for a 3rd & 7th, so that, by the end of the third round, he had assembled a full starting five, including Brandon “Buck” Buchanan & last year’s Most Improved Player Justin Ehrler. Three-pointers clearly won’t be hard to come by on this team. Utilizing all three reserve clauses also appeared to pay off for McCool. Even though the front office was not able to bring back Ryan Doherty (the player who assisted HK’s historic game-winner), the Blazers taking Doherty in the 5th turned one of the Grizzlies’ 7th round picks back into a 6th. Memphis brought back their Sixth Man of the Year in Eric Mattison, along with his longtime friend Chase Goldbaum. McCool also traded for Eric’s brother, Brian Mattison. According to Brian, he typically beats Eric in one-on-one.

Mavs: A-
Despite missing the combine & drafting from Vegas, Scott Witkowski was able to put together arguably the most talented team on paper. Scott entered the draft at a disadvantage in that he has only been in the league two years, and therefore was not as familiar with the league personnel as the other six GMs. However, you would not know that by looking at the team the first-time GM assembled.

Witkowski, who won League MVP honors in his 2020 rookie season, is clearly after something more than personal glory in his third year in the league. Witkowski spent his first two draft picks on Allen Brown and Dee McGrady. Both players have won a ring in the past and played significant roles on the teams they did it with. Scott eventually traded for three-time champion and coworker Jeremy Gannon. Gannon expressed interest in playing for Dallas entering the draft, but was snagged by San Antonio as trade bait. Eventually, the two Texas franchises were able to reach a deal to send Gannon over to the Mavericks.

Scott also brought on former teammate Joe Platas to add some perimeter shooting, as well as taking a chance on rookies Brandon Seal & Zach Porter. The new GM also recognized the importance morale boosts play in the BGBL, and locked in 2018 Man of the Year Rob W in the 6th round.

Bucks: B
Contrary to popular opinion, Bucks GM Trevor Gilson was sober enough to remember at least a portion of the rookie combine. With the second overall pick, Gilson took 6’5” rookie Chris Withers, who arguably had the most impressive performance at the combine despite being dressed in garbage (i.e. wearing an FSU shirt). Gilson also brought back a lot of familiar faces, including Quentin Middleton (2nd round), Cam Costello (3rd round), & Bill McKernan (5th round).

The 4th round pick, however, was probably the most exciting move the Bucks made on Sunday. On the Duffy’s napkin that was being used to submit the pick to commissioner Mike McClure, Gilson did not write the name of his 4th round pick, but instead drew a detailed picture of a man with a mullet. This, of course, was easily interpreted to mean Ryan “Mullet” Spencer, who has also been known as “Indoor Mullet” due to his increased shooting percentage indoors. Earlier this offseason when shooting indoors, Mullet reported there was something weird going on with his shot… “it wouldn’t stop going in the hoop.”

Gilson also brought in some veteran experience in Brian Becker, known as “The Wolverine,” as well as trading for AJ Outcalt, a rookie guard that impressed at the combine.

76ers: B
It was business as usual for Casey McClure, a two-time GM of the Year recipient. The crafty GM was mostly seen on Sunday engaging in trade negotiations with fellow GMs. In fact, the 76ers made six draft picks Sunday; only two of those picks were picks the franchise actually owned entering the draft. “Has Casey ever won a draft day trade?” questioned BGBL expert analyst John Mollica. The genius in the trades McClure makes is that his draft picks end up all over the place, you can never actually tell if Casey was the ultimate winner of the trade(s) without sacrificing brain cells.

The intent behind GM Casey McClure’s trades of course was to assemble the exact team he envisioned entering the season. Casey ensured he brought back the OGs. Of all the players participating in the 2022 season, only eight participated in the inaugural 2013 season. Of those eight players, five are playing for the 76ers, as Casey ensured the return of Adil Hamadeh, Mike McClure, Jared Mesches, & Marc Ortiz.

Casey also tagged Eric “Erock” Johnson, who has quickly become a Philly lifer in his young career, as well as 6’4” Daniel Brown, who proved he could hit perimeter shots at the rookie combine. Philly also welcomes Andy Dominicis in his rookie season. Dominicis was actually predicted to end up with the 76ers by BGBL analyst Andrew Owers. “Andy will end up with Philly,” he said, “he fits into Philly culture.”

Blazers: B-
Despite franchise tags being reduced from three to one this offseason, 2019 GM of the Year Ham Long was able to bring the core of his franchise back to Portland (Manny Bejerano, Ozzie Jiminez, & German Torres). Portland’s Fantastic Four has been competing at a high level in this league since the Blazers franchise was established in 2019. Long’s formula has yielded impressive results so far, including two playoff berths and one Finals berth in the two years that Ham, Manny, Ozzie, & German all played together. However, many analysts question whether this same formula will work indoors. Blazers historically have been a team which thrived off hustle, stamina, and fast break points, not perimeter shooting.

Ham did make some changes though. In the later rounds, Ham picked up Xavier Flores, who has been known to knock down outside shots when given the opportunity. He also brought in Ryan Doherty, who played with the franchise back in 2020, but took a one-year hiatus to win a championship with Memphis. Matthew Geffrard, most commonly known as “Lit Kid”, really embraced being a part of the Blazers organization last year before going out with a season-ending injury. Despite the unfortunate conclusion to his 2021 season, the good news is it appears Lit Kid has found a home in Portland, as Ham snagged the hype man in the 7th round. Lastly, Ham thought it would be best to bring in some veteran experience in Tom Kern, the son of a former Olympic champion. Kern, at age 59, now becomes the oldest player in BGBL history, breaking the previous record, which was Tom Kern last year at age 58.

Warriors: B-
Surprisingly, the Warriors were not one of the more frequent teams mentioned as analysts began to predict the BGBL 2022 champion immediately following the draft. “Don’t sleep on us” is what the league’s most automatic three-point shooter Brandon “Milk” Stevens had to comment on the IG Live Stream. Milk makes a good point. After all, the franchise has made the Finals four of the past five years.

Rob Burns, taking over as GM for the injured Brandon Colon, made some very interesting moves in his official return to the front office, including selecting Wes Day in the 2nd round. Wes Day proved to be a talented ball player in his short stint in Miami in 2017, but his career became plagued by commitment and injury issues. Now in 2022, no manager is talking Wes up more than Rob Burns. Wes isn’t the only player Burns scouted in the offseason. He also brought in Hao Nguyen, who reportedly played for Palm Beach Atlantic.

Arguably the most questionable move was taking Brandon Colon in the 3rd round, a player who it is very likely will not play a single game this season. Colon, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, is recovering from an injury that could potentially keep him out until mid-August, meaning the Warriors may have to make the Finals without him.

Burns was also able to bring back two players he has played with in previous seasons in Julian Quintero & Brandon Hardy. Burns has always credited Hardy for teaching him how to play the sport of basketball back in the 8th grade. Golden State also brought in defensive guard Nick Gallo to essentially replace the hole left by Phil Lewis’s departure.

Spurs: D
GM Andrew Owers entered Sunday with a plan in mind. That plan did not involve doing the draft from his bed via FaceTime. However, after the 2021 Man of the Year came down with a brutal sickness Sunday morning, that is precisely what ended up happening. When critics claimed Owers was just simply hungover from the golf invitational the day before, Andrew doubled down on his stance that his unfortunate condition was the result of a meal at Taco Bell, not alcohol.

The Spurs’ initial plan also involved bringing home the beloved Dee McGrady, who had started his career with the Spurs franchise in their 2016 championship year. However, the only ‘Dee’ GM Andrew Owers ended up bringing home Sunday was his draft grade. When first-time GM Scott Witkowski stole Dee in the 2nd round, Owers made a quick decision to spend his 2nd round pick on trade bait, and took Scott’s coworker, Jeremy Gannon. However, it quickly became apparent to Owers that Scott viewed Dee as untradeable. Owers did end up trading Gannon to Scott for a different former Spur however in Bam Adeyemi, who had success with the franchise during their playoff run in 2017 under Alex Pavlov. Owers also had the first overall pick of the draft, which he spent on Al Starling, who led the Rockets offensively in 2018. Being the first overall pick in the NBA comes with a big contract, but in the BGBL, it only comes with high expectations. Time will tell to see if Starling can live up to them.

Despite the Spurs falling short of expectations last year, it seems Owers still feels as though a foundation for future success was built, as he spent his 3rd, 4th, & 5th round picks (Lapikas, Grill, & Hayden) on players from last year’s Spurs team that lost the tiebreaker to make the playoffs by one point. Andrew also added Pat Ekey and his friend, rookie Jovan Urdaz. According to Ekey, Jovan “is a point guard facilitator,” so fans expect to see the 7th round rookie take on some significant ball handling responsibilities.