GTBA Winter 2011 - Let the Season Begin!

Winter 2011 Preseason News

The 5^th season of the GTBA began with its first ever combine that welcomed over 35 rookies. Rookies ran 10 minute pickup games run by Dragons coach Rob Taylor. The combine concluded with a Rookies vs. Veterans game that featured previous GTBA players Nick Hailey, alongside Josh Perkins, Titus Wright, Anthony Brock and Ty Rashad. The rookies learned how quickly they would need to adjust to the league as they lost by nearly 20 points in a 10 minute scrimmage.

Since this season had such a large number of new and previous players returning after a season off. The league commissioner Paul Tan, made it clear that the league would be having a total draft of all new and returning players. With over 100 players signing up the league was forced to only accept the first 84 players who paid to participate in the draft, which consisted of the 12 team captains. Of the captains we had 7 veteran captains, and 5 rookie captains.

Below is a draft recap

Team Analysis

Hidden Dragons

Captain: Robert Taylor (3rd season as captain)

#1 Pick Josh Perkins, Shoots over new teammate Xiao Chen

The Dragons selected Josh Perkins, a 6’5” center with the 1^st pick overall, and followed it with Matt Lantry, a 6’5” rookie center to make one intimidating front court. In the 3^rd round Ty Rashad a veteran and proven scorer could either be the team’s MVP or what eventually pulls the team apart. Xiao Chen founding GTBA member was selected in the 5^th and can provide some more valuable shot blocking to the already tall lineup. Rookies also include J. Hann, D. Cuvar, and N. Journel.

TJ Ciochetto - Usual Suspects

Usual Suspects

Team Captain: TJ Ciochetto (2^nd season as captain)

The Suspects look to win back to back championships with TJ as team captain. Rookie “Strech” Thalley 6’7” center had a great combine as TJ could not pass up the size with his second overall pick. In the second round TJ got his vet big man Alex Carter who should take a lot of the load Thalley with his soft hands and ability to finish inside. James Washington also returning to the team to win his second championship alongside 3 other Tech High School players, all rookies Brian Walker, Gary Pops, and Matt Compton. What would the GTBA be without Jack Chiang, who has provided all his teams with a great attitude.

Rice Birds

Team Captain: Tyler Rehrer (1^st season as captain)

Rookie player and captain, Tyler Rehrer hopes his lack of experience with the GTBA doesn’t lead to rough season. Tyler takes over the Rice Birds and brings in two player personally recruited by himself, S.Farnsworth and T. Kemp. Both of the two first 2 picks have never seen a minute on the court with the GTBA or combine and should be interesting how they compare to the level of competition. This team could be in for a shock of a season as they have 6 rookies, Mike Jones, Jay Nelson, and Ted O’Donnel. The only GTBA experienced players are J. Liwanag who returns to the league after over a year away and H. Houng who tries to show the league why he should not have dropped to the last round of the draft.

Calvin Wilson, Rob Taylor and TJ looking so damn offical

Crouching Tigers

Team Captain: Calvin Wilson (3^rd season as captain)

Calvin surprised everyone on draft day by selecting Brandon Maddox 6’5” center, with his first pick. Rookie Chris Maynard, who had a nice combine workout moved up into the early part of the 2^nd round with his great outside shooting and ability to get the ball moving up court. Also, rookie, Q. Williams looks to be the role player the Tigers need inside and out to get the dirty work done. D. Sims who was injured on draft night will be put on IR as Calvin looks to fill the spot with a waiting list player, pending league captain approval. Other notable players are rookie J. Mann, Rondo Zhu, and J. Hester. Never a good sign when your players are already going down in preseason.

Bumble Bees

Team Captain: John VonArx (1^st season as captain)
Although a rookie captain John has spent 2 seasons in the league. The Bees could have one of the most under rated teams going into this season. B. West 6’4” and A. Brock 6’5” both vets who provide lots of length at the forward spots should pose lots of matchup problems for the smaller teams at the forward spots. The Bees also have a very defensive minded guard lineup with A. Young, Tim Hoover and M. Coutee who all can handle the rock and lock down some of the elite scores in the league. Mahdi Thompson will need to step up as the team’s center for the season as John hopes that they will be able to outscore opponents from the outside. K. Wan selected in the 7^th round is a total unknown.

Eric Su - Panda X

Panda X

Team Captain: Eric Su (5^th season as captain)

Founding Captain Eric Su looks to build upon his on 2 GTBA championships this season. Anthony Marshall one of the best scorers in the league will also have Dustin Pervine to help share the load on the offensive end. Drew Paff will have his chance this season to show that he is an elite big man without being in the shadow of Brandon Maddox. Rookie Bobby Jones, will need to find his spot on this team if he wants to help this team to the championship. Masa Kondo who struggled with back injuries last season looks to return strong and show why he was a 2^nd round pick last season. Other late round selections were Anton Lee and Justin Kirby.

Gabe, John, Tyler and Robby focus on draft day moves

Juggernauts

Team Captain: Gabe Smith (3^rd season as captain)

Former captain of the Rice Birds, Gabe Smith hopes that the team name change can rid him of the “Birdman” nickname and erase all memories of the difficult past season as the Birds. Rookie Chris Kruithoff 6’6” hopes he can be Gabe’s second pick in a row to be rookie of the year. Theo Simmons should be a great second round pick and may need to average 40 points a game for the Juggernauts to have a winning season. Rookie V. Bradley, a very young point guard will need to show his team that he can be the point they need to run the offense before they lose confidence. J. Stealy a co-worker of Gabe’s should be a quality forward. G. Lynch and M. Lim, familiar with Gabe’s coaching style should be a good quality late picks for him. Edward Hamilton who went under the radar at the draft could be this season’s big steal, according to teammate Theo.

Samurais

Team Captain: XiaoFan Fu (4^th Season as captian)

Entering his 4^th season as captain Xiaofan looks to find the right combination of players to get to his first championship game. With a shocking 1^st round pick Xiaofan selected season 2 MVP, Titus Wright, and passing on previous teammate, Paul Tan, as he tries to shake up team for this season. Jacob Wittman and fellow big man Chris Wilson along with Xiaofan should be a quality lineup inside and provide Titus with lots of scoring opportunities. Joe Hughes the leagues enforcer will provide his usual in your face defense as he frustrates players. Chase Shao, will be a great asset to the team as he can set screens and open up Titus and Xiaofan. Trade talks involving Aaron Stanley have already started to circulate, as he wants to play with former Bees teammate Drew Hester. C. He was selected in the 7^th and will be a good spot minute player when Titus needs the occasional water break.

GTBA Winter 2011 Draft

Ninja Stars

Team Captain: Brandon Moore (1^st season as captain)

1st time as team captain, Brandon Moore, showed some inexperience in the draft, as he selected all rookies. Brandon’s first pick C. Hayes was projected to go in the 3^rd round and M. Keel was projected to go in the 5^th went in 3^rd. Guard Adam Turner and Forward Phil Johnson will also have to carry a lot of the load and hope that the gamble Brandon took with his earlier picks were worth it. M. Wu who was the 3rd Asian selected in the draft, is an unknown but Brandon had enough faith to take him with his 4^th round pick. J. Bennett, will be the only female playing this season, she played very well and might be the best player selected in the 6^th round. Finally Notable 7^th rounder Y. Wang looks to prove why he was worthy of a higher pick. Let just hope that this team is not split-up due to lack of level of play.

Scott Sauer - The red head big man

Godzilla

Team Captain: Thomas “T” Hailey (4^th season as captain)

Coming of a difficult loss in the championship last season. Zilla managed to snag big man Scott Sauer 6’6” red head center, who was not expected to drop past the 8^th pick. 2^nd rounder former IUPUI player and rookie guard, Chris Scott, was projected to go in the 1^st round, looks to provide a lot of the main scoring. Quality rookie forward Zach Barras should be able to provide a great outside threat and create matchup problems with his size and quickness. Rookie Chris Harden, had an above average combine and looked like he could finish nicely inside and could be spending a lot of time at the line. Role players B. Compton, M. Hughes and K. Cline will be great additions to Zilla as they look to return to the championship. “We will win it all”, quoted Chris Scott.

The Greek looking over his team

Kamikazee

Team Captain: Basilis “The Greek” Dimitrelias (1^st season as captain)

Going into the draft Bill had a strategy to not be the biggest man on his team. But that quickly changed when Commissioner Paul Tan dropped to him in the 1^st round. Although lacking a true center Paul Tan, Jason Marshall and “The Greek” should be able to control most of the boards. Brian Sullivan, who was one of the top 3-point shooters last season will get a lot of open second chance shots with Paul snagging offensive boards. Nate Holmes, excellent point guard skills from last season will also help spread the court with his vison and shooting ability. Other notables are Justin Lee, and rookies Chris Hawkins and K. Teng.

Hadouken

Team Captain: Robby Huang (1^st season as captain)

Always asked to be the main scorer on his team Robby looks to build a team full of nice role players to compliment his outstanding outside shooting. B. Alleto, has been one of the top passing guards in the league the past 2 season, and is ecstatic to finally be reunited with his season 3 championship teammates Robby and Dean Mazdai. Rookies, Pat McDonald and Matt Frontera, had some of the best showings in the combine impressing all the captains. In a draft day trade John “Hinrich” Saloman was traded from Zilla to reunite with former teammate and captain. J. Hudson is a rookie that is relatively unknown to the league. John Wilson, will not add much height to the already small lineup with Dean as center, but will provide the occasional 3-pointer to spark his team. If Robby’s plan for outside shooting with little to no inside presence doesn’t work, look for a trade involving his quality guards for a big guy that can stop some of the elite centers in the league.

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