- S1 INITIAL POWER RANKINGS -
WRITTEN BY: STEPHEN A. SHARPE
Welcome new GM’s and players to the first inaugural ETBL 'Rec Division'. F*ck, I am so amped for this season! So many new faces and still some familiar ones and thus shit is going to be incredible. A mix of old guys and young guys...mix of experienced ballers and lots of ballers playing in a league for the first time. Big ups to the Commish for somehow putting together this new division and establishing a standard that other leagues have failed to meet. Best jerseys in the country and teams getting it on week one just made things even more special. But let's get down to the real business. The Power Rankings will try and establish what the true order of the league will be. Even though the ETBL team made did their best trying to make things fair...there are always going to be stronger and weaker teams and I am here to expose them. This will be controversial but if you feel slighted...then get busy when the season starts and quit crying. Hard work beats talent any day of the week. Let's get to work fellas.
1. SIXERS: The most explosive team in the league and they are gonna be very good all year. The Molera brothers will be the splash brothers of this new Rec Division and they have already put in work in week 1.
2. JAZZ: GM Lewmar is an incredibly talented player in his own right but he is tasked with organizing and leading this group of players and so far his team has shown a defensive identity. They did lose a heartbreaker in week 1 to the mighty Sixers but something nice is cooking up in Utah.
3. BLAZERS: GM Suren is making sure he tries to win all the tiers and he definitely has a solid chance with this new Blazers squad. He still has some familiar teammates from the other higher tiers and so they will provide instant chemistry. The guy to watch is Richard Gillespie who looks like he might beast in this division. Built like a running back and he should certainly be running over these rec ballers.
4. BUCKS: Terrific one-two punch in Chris D'Souza and Vishnu. The rest of the guys work hard and they could make a lot of noise this season. The role guys will ultimately be the difference but until they show up consistently...they not cracking the top 3.
5. WARRIORS: This veteran squad has defence and IQ plus tons of experience. I mean they to have since they hella old. They showed up with 5 guys so if that is gonna be a common theme then these guys might as well stay home. "Warriors! Come out to play-ayyyy".
6. THUNDER: The young squad with athleticism. We seen this movie before. They got the speed, quickness, cardio, and jumping ability but do they have the brains to match it? Can they play as a team? GM Evan is making his debut as the leader but he is gonna have his hands full trying to get everyone to mesh and be on the same page.
7. LAKERS: Sneaky dark horse team. Jerseys are fire but can they make Laker nation proud? Another great 1-2 punch in Arish and Harrson but let's see if GM Tisant can put it all together. Don't know enough about the role players but they had a good showing in week 1 and we shall see if that continues.
8. HEAT: GM Sajeethan is back and he has a solid squad once again. Dissapointed us in Comp Division but he has a chance to make noise in this one. Can they find the chemistry and will everyone play their roles? I have no clue.
9. SUNS: Quite a mix of characters on the Suns. They got old vets and young inexperienced guys and just about a little bit of everything. Hard to build up chemistry right away but point god Adrien Leclair should help speed up that process.
10. KINGS: GM Abhiram is leading a team for the first time but there will be some growing pains. I do believe he has the best squad out of his brothers but that is not saying much. I am not expecting much. Maybe they sneak a couple wins. Maybe not.
11. HORNETS: This team has a star in Archu but the rest of the team is lacking as seen in week 1. Not sure if Archu alone can get them to compete so GM Abbeshan needs to pull his weight in order to stay in games and suprise a few teams. No buzz in Hornets land.
12. TIMBERWOLVES: Good win in the first week by the Wolves but they are lacking a star player and that will eventually hurt them I believe. Looks like they have solid role players and maybe they can come together as a team and suprise the league. But for now...I got them at 12.
13. CAVALIERS: GM Abilash went crazy in week 1 and still lost. That is why I have them ranked this low. This is the Kyrie led Cavs and if you remember those seasons...it was not pretty. Lebron ain't coming thru that door to save them either.
14. RAPTORS: This year will be about development for GM Shay. Inexperience and lack of stars will be too tough to overcome. Lesean will have to shoulder the load but the dinos are in serious trouble after losing to the Wolves in ugly fashion. This is a Gradey Dick-less team.