The National Foul Association is back! The Association completed its 9th draft ahead of its 9th season last night. We'll address the draft in a second but first some interesting tidbits from inside the draft room.
NFA Analytics
First off, we haven't decided on what to call this analytics movement sweeping the Association by storm right now. Foulerball is what Pgastan FC has been using for a few years but my sources tell me that they are open for another name. Foulernomics? The Association is open to ideas of naming this movement.
Anyway, during the early rounds of the draft, Oww Ming's Flagrant's (last year's champion) revealed they are using analytics and cited a fouls/minute stat. Pgastan FC, cited his fouls/game stat. This got PFC thinking that maybe he should be using a fouls/minute stat in addition to his fouls/game stat he has been using over the last few years. PFC may be contemplating firing his front office (or as Theo Epstein calls them "his nerds") as a way to shake things up. As Billy Beane said in Moneyball "Adapt or die." PFC has been using his method since the 2014-15 season and has finished 5th, 3rd, 4th, and 2nd. Two top 3 finishes may not be good enough, though he did not win the DeMarcus Cousins sweepstakes in any of those years.
We do not know how many years Oww Ming's Flagrant's has been using Analytics but he joined in 2014-15 season and has finished 7th, 2nd, 3rd, and 1st. It could be assumed that after a 1 year learning curve he has been using analytics ever since. He did win the Demarcus Cousins sweepstakes in 2017-18 season where he finished 1st and the 2015-16 season where he finished 2nd.
It will be interesting to see where the Foulerball movement takes the NFA and if other Clubs start adopting analytical methods to assess their teams.No team has discovered Fouls Above Replacement (FAR) yet but if they do they could run away with the league.
Season Changes
They Call Me Gamblor has shortened their name to just Gamblor. All other Foul Club names remain the same.
The Draft
As for the draft itself, it started out different then previous years because Cousins is recovering from a torn Achilles last January and has no timetable to return. He also joined the Warriors so who knows exactly what his playing time situation will be once he is healthy. Also, this appeared to be the first draft in which every Foul Club showed up so this could be a highly competitive year in the Association.
Here's a look at how the 1st round played out:
1. F'N FLOPPERS selected Draymond Green
2. Oww Ming's Flagrants selected Karl-Anthony Towns
3. Arlington Assaulters selected Dwight Howard
4. GG Foulin' selected Devin Booker
5. Gamblor selected Russell Westbrook
6. Ohsnappers!!! selected Markieff Morris
7. Pgastan FC selected Julius Randle
8. Rodman'sWeddingDress selected Andre Drummond
9. Baltimore Hitsquad selected Dillon Brooks
A couple of thoughts: Arlington Assaulters appeared to get lucky with Dwight Howard falling to 3 as he has been the 2nd off the board in previous drafts right behind Cousins. Oww Ming's Flagrants selected Karl-Anthony Towns 2nd overall and as defending champion and admitted user of analytics can you really question that pick? Markieff Morris at 6 for Ohsnappers!!! could be a steal as well. That forced Pgastan FC into a tough decition for 7th pick and he ended up taking Julius Randle.
Other Notable Draft Picks
- Gamblor took DeMarcus Cousins as the 5th pick in Round 2
I guess that's really the only notable draft pick not in the 1st round. I mean there were some other players that are good foulers that went later but that is the pick everyone wants to know.
Season Preview
Well given that Cousins is hurt, all 9 Foul Clubs showed up for the draft, and teams look pretty even, this league seems wide open. I don't even know how to predict a top 3 other than going by total points per team based on last year but that's not really scientific. It really does seem wide open for any club right now for the first time in NFA history.
Check back in the coming weeks for the weekly updates and any other league news that may break and of course the twice a season Donkies.
Well that's it for now.
Keep Foulin' Y'all!
FM
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