MLP 2023 Season 1 – Draft Grades

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Yes, it’s draft time. The best thing about the influx of new ownerships and having to appease both legacy and new owners is that we’re going to get two drafts for the 2023 season. It makes for a weird year, but more drafts are more fun. Keep in mind, these draft grades are not predictions for MLP. Our grades account for how we think a team drafted relative to its position and which players were available at their draft slots. However, we are giving out actual opinions on the teams as opposed to the power hour of positivity draft coverage that occurred on the Tennis Channel last night.

New Jersey 5’s – Anna Leigh Waters (#1), James Ignatowich (#24), Lea Jansen (#25), Hayden Patriquin (#48) 

We are pretty high on James Ignatowich, but had some concerns about him being a team’s number one guy heading into this draft, so to take him at 24 with a number of the names on the board was a surprise to us – Tyler Loong, Andrei Daescu and Thomas Wilson come to mind. James is training with Anna Leigh these days so this definitely appears to be a bet by Anna Leigh on his potential. Lea Jansen at 25 is also interesting for this team as Jansen could easily have gone higher in the draft with her weapons and ability to cover court, but she’s not the most natural fit next to AL. This team should be a very strong Dreambreaker team as they arguably have the top two women’s singles player and, when Hayden Patriquin is your weak link in singles, you aren’t in a bad spot.

Grade: C+

Seattle Pioneers – Ben Johns (#2), Etta Wright (#23), Meghan Sheehan-Dizon (#33), Tyler Loong (#40)

Note: Seattle traded their #26 and #47 picks to Vegas for the #33 and #40 picks.

Starting a team with Ben Johns makes things easier. He is still the most well rounded pickleball player on the planet. Our current take is that Ben Johns over Anna Leigh at the #1 or #2 slot is optimal, and we really like the moves Seattle made after taking Ben. We appear to be higher than most on Etta Wright and think she could be a steal at 23 – she was the #12 overall player on our board. Then trading down on the women to get a guy that we felt like fell WAY too far, in Tyler Loong, is smart.

We are not sure how the mixed team of Tyler Loong and Meghan Sheehan-Dizon will fair, but it was interesting that Ben Johns traded down in the third round. Meghan was one of our toughest evaluations but the fact that Ben Johns was okay giving up Stratman to ultimately select Dizon to upgrade their 2nd male spot was duly noted by us. In fact, Ben going with Etta and Meghan as his women was duly noted. One other downside for this team is that neither of their women ever plays tournament singles, and we have no idea if they can really play singles, or at what level they are. On the whole though, their issues seem a lot smaller than a lot of teams.

Grade: A+

ATX Pickleballers – JW Johnson (#3), Jackie Kawamoto (#22), Jade Kawamoto (#27), Gabriel Tardio (#46)

We are individually pretty high on all of these players, but we do have concerns about the team’s energy level overall. I would imagine that the Tardio pick was driven by JW wanting to play with his friend, and Gabe probably offered as much upside as anyone that was out there at this point in the draft. However, we wonder if a more veteran and steady presence could have been more beneficial to the team at this spot. The benefit of Tardio is he offers more punch in mixed for a #2 team. This team will likely go as far as the teenager can take them.

Grade: B+

NYC Hustlers – Anna Bright (#4), Tyson McGuffin (#21), Rafa Hewett (#28), Lacy Schneemann (#45)

If one thing is certain for MLP, it is that this team will bring the energy. In our eyes, Anna Bright is second most impactful woman in the draft, so we are fine with taking her at four, but I feel like the impact women aren’t quite as impactful as the impact men. One interesting thing to note here is that this team took the lefty Rafa Hewett when Tyler Loong was still on the board. It is especially interesting because Anna spent a lot of the season playing with Tyler Loong, and Tyson has also played a few tournaments and had some success with him. One has to presume that Anna was consulted on this pick and may not be in love with Tyler’s 3rd, 5th, 7th etc. shot drive strategy in mixed, or the limited work he seems to put into his game. Lacy has good upside in mixed and can play some singles. We’ll be curious to see how her game progresses in the first half of 2023.

Grade: B-

Los Angeles Mad Drops – Catherine Parenteau (#5), Irina Tereschenko (#20), Julian Arnold (#29), Thomas Wilson (#44)

We feel a couple of teams were saved in the draft by some very quality men falling much farther than we would have expected. In our opinion, the first three picks by the Mad Drops were all reaches and it seems like there were better options at all slots. The thing is, Thomas Wilson falling to them at the 44th pick, saves them. This may not be the consensus outlook, but taking Catherine at five was the biggest reach in the draft. She is a right-side female, with limited weapons and upside. With that said, Irina is a good fit for Catherine as a partner at number 20, though we think it will end up being a mistake to pass on Etta Wright there. We also think there were better options than Julian Arnold at 29, but he and Thomas partnered together offers upside even if the fit is not perfect. Moreover, it gives them two solid mixed teams. An advantage this team has over many is that in a Dreambreaker they have no weak link in singles.

Grade: B-

SoCal Hard Eights – Riley Newman (#6), AJ Koller (#19), Mary Brascia (#30), Lindsey Newman (#43)

Note: The Hard Eights traded all four of their draft picks with BLQK, who ended up selecting 10th.

No team rolled the dice harder than SoCal, which should not be surprising since they are literally called the Hard Eights. SoCal traded up to grab Riley Newman at number six as Riley fell due to him being unavailable for the first event of a three event season. We still had Riley at number 3 on our big board, because he is one of the few players who can win doubles matches pretty much on his own, so we obviously are a fan of taking him at 6. Things got interesting with the 19th pick. With women already flying off the board, the Hard Eights selected another male in AJ Koller. We had AJ as the 5th best man in this draft, and a top ten player, so there was definitely value in AJ at 19, but picking him here, was definitely a zag, when a lot of the conventional wisdom says two strong women is a key to MLP success.

The picks of Mary Brascia and Lindsey Newman were fine in those slots, but it obviously leaves them with one of the weakest women’s doubles team. Another interesting element with this team is that the Lindsey Newman pick gives the Hard Eights an elite mixed with their second woman, allowing them to have two strong mixed teams, as Koller and Brascia should be a formidable duo. Another concern with the Lindsey pick is that she is not a singles player nor is brother Riley. Although, we know Riley is capable to a certain degree in singles.

Grade: B

Cabo Vamos! – Jay Deivlliers (#7), Simone Jardim (#18), Allyce Jones (#31), Erik Lange (#42)

We are not sure what Cabo’s game plan was here. Jay Devilliers, in our minds, is not a true number one guy, and with options like Dylan Frazier, Matt Wright and AJ Koller still on the board, among others, it was perplexing to see him go at #7. Simone Jardim profiles much better as a right side, number two woman at this point in her career, so taking her at 18 seemed like a reach. The Simone selection was likely made worse by going Allyce Jones, leaving them with two ladies who are probably best suited to playing that right, though Simone can play the left. Simone and Allyce are both good mixed players so it would have seemed to make sense for this team to go for a high upside mixed, singles player with its last men’s pick, but instead they went with Erik Lange who is pretty much a men’s doubles specialist. We have always thought Lange has been underrated, but it’s hard to see how he fits with this team.

Grade: C-

Florida Smash – Jessie Irvine (#8), Jorja Johnson (#17), Travis Rettenmaier (#32), Collin Johns (#41)

Well, we found out that Travis certainly ranks himself as a number one male in this draft. The Smash present a weird situation for the league where a team knows one player they have to draft. We had actually predicted that the Smash would probably wait until the last pick to draft Travis knowing that no one else would pick him, but apparently they thought he was just too valuable to wait. We will see how good he is, playing with the ultimate right-side guy in Collin Johns, and arguably the second best mixed women’s player in Jessie Irvine. Overall, we think Travis is talented and has proved this is not an unreasonable slot for him, even if it was a little surprising. This team will go as far as Travis can take them. Their women’s team profiles as elite with Jorja Johnson and Jessie Irvine, which is a great match of styles. It will be interesting to see how Collin Johns meshes with Jorja Johnson in mixed and whether Collin plays the right in mixed too. How is the chemistry going to be with this team’s unique mix of personalities?

Grade: B-

Las Vegas Night Owls – Vivienne David (#9), Dekel Bar (#16), Lauren Stratman (#26), Kyle Yates (#47)

Note: Las Vegas traded the #33 and #40 picks to Seattle for the #26 and #40 selections.

We were between a C+ and an incomplete grade on this team for their draft. We must admit that we were dumbfounded that a team decided to build itself around a failed partnership, but we also do not have full knowledge of how things are between David and Bar, who we understood did not conclude their partnership on the best of terms. Dekel Bar and Vivienne David were mixed partners this year, and given the calibre of them as individual players, their results on the court were certainly disappointing, at best. The partnership also ended fairly abruptly with both players scrambling to find new mixed partners this summer. So why a team would take those two players with their first two picks is beyond us.

Their men’s team of Dekel and Kyle Yates should be quite strong, and their women’s team of Vivienne and Lauren Stratman also seems like a good fit, and makes sense. To upgrade to that Stratman tier of women is a trade worth making, but when Ben trades out of that spot we have to wonder if the gap isn’t as big between Dizon and Stratman as we may think. Overall, we have concerns with the chemistry of this team, keeping in mind we have limited knowledge of the situation.

Grade: Incomplete

California BLQK Bears – Andrea Koop (#10), Dylan Frazier (#15), Federico Staksrud (#34), Maggie Brascia (#39)

We are just not sure what this team gets you. Any of the picks at the spots they took them are not objectionable, but we don’t feel like either the men’s or women’s team are in the upper echelon. Both of their mixed teams should be decent, and we think Federico and Maggie Brascia could surprise some people, but we also would not call them elite. Federico over Daescu or Loong was odd.

Grade: C+

Milwaukee Mashers – Callie Smith (#11), Lucy Kovalova (#14), Andrei Daescu (#35), DJ Young (#38)

Talk about being saved by the draft. We thought that the Mashers’ choice to go with Callie Smith and Lucy Kovolova was interesting with their top two picks given that we think you could argue that both players have had relatively disappointing years, and their partnership, while it has gotten some results, has been far from dominant. We had some other women rated higher than both of them in these spots, but it set them up with a good right side and a good left women’s players.

What saved them is they were somehow able to hit it big in the second half of the draft, getting Andrei Dasecu and DJ Young with the 35th and 38th picks. Andrei provides them with a left-side dominant male and we think DJ profiles best a right side men’s player. One weakness for this team is that, outside of Callie, none of their players play singles regularly. They are all at least adequate at singles, but they definitely don’t have any elite singles players.

Grade: A-

Frisco Clean Cause – Zane Navratil (#12), Matt Wright (#36), Yana Grechkina (#36), Lina Padegimaite (37)

We don’t hate Frisco’s attempt to zag, when so many teams were zigging by going with a couple of guys with their top picks at 12 and 13, but we don’t think they took the right guys. We feel like a Dylan Frazier and AJ Koller team was there for the taking. In this draft slot, going back-to-back guys was almost certainly going to leave them with limited options. Yana and Lina at 36 and 37 may very well have been the best picks available but it is not a strong women’s team. Also, Lina seems to favor the left side, which could be an issue playing with Matt or Zane in mixed. That is a problem when you go back-to-back men and want to form two strong mixed teams.

Grade: C 

Notable Undrafted Men

Rob Nunnery – Nunnery is the most talented player that did not get selected. Rob was not in our top 48 either but he would be there based on talent alone. With him playing only a handful of events in 2022, teams clearly felt they could not take the chance on him with the inability to pick up any viable replacements. The first half of the year will be key for Nunnery to prove he can play a full schedule and that he belongs at the Premier level.

Spencer Smith – It’s not surprising to see Smith go undrafted, but you wonder if he was a better option at the end of the draft for either Anna Leigh Waters or JW Johnson.

Callan Dawson – A tricky evaluation, Callan is such a steady force but his limitations in mixed and singles made him a borderline draftable player.

Wes Burrows – Wes would have been an upside pick for a team. The issue with taking swings at the end of the draft is that you likely can’t replace them if it’s a bad choice. Burrows may never go all-in on pickleball, and that appears to be what is holding him back from seeing what his true potential is.

Hunter Johnson – He has not been playing mixed doubles recently and he continues to suffer bad losses in men’s doubles. Nevertheless, a guy who has become one of the top singles players out there probably got some looks from teams looking for a back-end, upside male.

Christian Alshon – This would have been the real home run swing and we felt he was a legitimate option for teams in the 4th round who did not like the look of their team. From what we can see, Alshon’s doubles game is not ready for the big leagues yet.

Sam Querrey – We seriously wondered before the draft if someone had a deal with Querrey to pick him. He does not deserve a selection and it’s good to see he was not picked for the sake of publicity.

Notable Undrafted Women 

Susannah Barr – Another non-surprise from a going undrafted standpoint. Her quirky style and stretches of inconsistency continue to cause people to overlook her, but her overall doubles games is significantly better than just about all of the women drafted after Lauren Stratman. People forget she took a bronze with Vivienne David at a PPA event this year.

Cierra Gaytan-Leach – Limited movement might be the biggest hurdle for Cierra to overcome if she wants to get drafted by a Premier level team. The doubles game still needs more seasoning, but she has some high-end tools in her bag that make her intriguing.

Megan Fudge – She was a borderline player who made our top 48. You wonder if she was a better option for any of the teams picking a woman in the 4th round based on her singles ability alone. The doubles game is still fairly vanilla though.

Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments below or email us at nmlpickleball@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook too!

70 thoughts on “MLP 2023 Season 1 – Draft Grades

  • December 16, 2022 at 12:17 pm
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    i think tardio has massive upside over 2023. it makes sense for him to pair up with a guy he plays with regularly. i like that team a lot. gabe was a high risk high reward pick that anna and parris represented last year.

    jay was the most confounding pick and I worry for that team.

    Stunning how far matt fell in this draft. also tyson dropped into the 20s. and riley falling to 6 was a surprise.

    I think some of these results are likely due to advanced stats coming into the game.

    Parris not in the event raises questions about appearance fees, who gets them and how much, above and beyond the standard MLP price money.

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    • December 16, 2022 at 6:05 pm
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      Don’t disagree with any of this really. Gabe should be a very interesting test case

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  • December 16, 2022 at 12:19 pm
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    I am completely fascinated with the Challenger draft coming up, it’s actually going to be much more difficult and interesting to pick from who remains, especially on the woman’s side of things. There is a ton of value in places where DUPR simply does not reflect. It will be interesting to see which GMs have the real, on the ground knowledge of the game and these players to gain the advantages that are absolutely available. I also think that the Premier teams, had a distinct advantage in going first. The Challengers will have a much more difficult and tricky selection and when it flips in the second half of the season, many of these questions will have been answered when the first season’s Premier teams choose the Challengers.

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    • December 16, 2022 at 6:06 pm
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      Gosh this is very correct about how much of a crapshoot that draft will be. Not sure how much of an advantage can be had when it’s so up in the air and actually wonder Challenger teams get to see Premier is easier as Challenger will still be a crap shoot next go around. It will be fun regardless!

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      • December 17, 2022 at 1:51 pm
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        When is the draft for challenger? And please do an analysis of those teams!

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        • December 17, 2022 at 2:13 pm
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          Draft is Monday. Not sure when the reveal is

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    • December 17, 2022 at 7:45 am
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      I love MLP and I love drafts! Two picks that really stick out to me as interesting:

      1- When Seattle drafted Tyler Loong at #40, Collin Johns was still available. Pretty surprising that they could have had the current #1 (or #2 in my opinion) mens double team on the same MLP team, but they passed on Collin for Tyler. Says a lot about how Ben feels about Collin as a mixed player. Ben probably felt he could win mens matches with Tyler so he didn’t need Collin?

      2-BLQK drafting Staksrud when Deascu was still available. Staksrud continues to improve in both mens and mixed, but Deascu is better at both. And in previous MLP seasons I have been impressed by his singles points. Major drafting mistake IMO and would have taken BLQK from a middle of the pack team to a top 4.

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      • December 17, 2022 at 9:25 am
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        Collin’s mixed has not been good and Tyler will be a really interesting fit with those Ernes next to Ben. Nowhere to go. They are either the best or second best men’s tram

        The Staksrud one seems odd with all that was out there for men. He is improving though

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  • December 16, 2022 at 12:23 pm
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    Seattle Pioneers fan here.
    Excited about the Wright pick too. Not sure how Loong will do because of that backhand dink that he pops up at times but all around a good team.

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  • December 16, 2022 at 12:24 pm
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    New Seattle Pioneers supporter here.
    Excited about the Wright pick too. Not sure how Loong will do because of that backhand dink that he pops up at times but all around a good team.

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    • December 16, 2022 at 3:33 pm
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      I was watching him today and thinking the same thing about his backhand dinks. I’m surprised he’s never changed style. He was popping them up today.

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  • December 16, 2022 at 12:36 pm
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    You have to wonder how the team owners only being presented with a limited pool of players to draft into the premier level effected draft decisions?

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    • December 16, 2022 at 6:07 pm
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      Not much. The draft pool had all the players that should be there other than Parris

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      • December 17, 2022 at 5:16 am
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        Not according to some team owners. They were only presented a limited pool.

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        • December 18, 2022 at 12:29 pm
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          name some players that weren’t in the pool. thanks.

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          • December 18, 2022 at 7:10 pm
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            Draw your conclusions from the dupr post on Instagram of available challenger picks. If it smells like like PPA meddling, looks like PPA meddling, it’s PPA meddling.

      • December 18, 2022 at 4:39 am
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        Someone on Reddit mentioned Parris is suing MLP over her injury? Have you heard anything about this?

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        • December 18, 2022 at 10:35 am
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          No we have not. What could she be suing for?

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  • December 16, 2022 at 2:54 pm
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    Callan Dawson, mixed and singles weakness not withstanding, is a better player than most of the men drafted…. would’ve adapted to play singles and with the right female, could have held his own in mixed.

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      • December 16, 2022 at 8:22 pm
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        1) Callan isn’t a “better player” than most of the men drafted. There’s an argument that he’s a better men’s doubles player than most of them. But men’s doubles is only probably 40% of the equation. In my opinion, draft selections should (roughly) be made by weighing mens/women’s doubles at 40%, mixed at 40%, and singles at 20%. Well, Callan would be one of the worst mixed players in this field. And probably the worst male singles player. That’s a big liability.
        2) I don’t think Spencer smith should’ve been drafted either. He’s a very poor right side player. At the end of the draft, you’re probably looking for a #2 male player who can play the right, because most top males like to play the left. Spencer also is probably the opposite of a “force” in mixed. Spencer can play singles. But that’s not enough.
        3) The last few male players taken in this draft all had one thing in common – they aren’t a liability in any of the 3 events. Tardio, Yates, and Patriquin are all respectable singles players. They are all decent at mixed, and they’re all solid right side men’s players.
        Basically, if you like your team, you don’t take a big risk taking on some sort of liability at the end of the draft. If you don’t like your team, maybe you swing for an up and coming player.

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        • December 17, 2022 at 12:01 am
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          1 – that is probably fair. Although it’s not like Callan gets no mixed results. Those PPA mixed fields are hard to judge for middle tier teams.

          2 – Spencer’s men’s doubles results are strong given his partnerships and, while not a force in mixed, go through his results and they will probably surprise you. A no brainer better mixed player than Yates

          3 – this is mostly a fair comment. We’ll see about Kyle’s mixed though but it’s probably fair to say it is not a liability. Spencer definitely falls into the no liability category as well. People forget he can play singles.

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  • December 16, 2022 at 6:56 pm
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    I’m wondering whether any senior pros will be drafted in the Challenger division. I think they might have enough tournament experience to serve in a bit of a player/coach role. Is there a public list of those who put their names in for the Challenger draft?

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    • December 16, 2022 at 11:58 pm
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      We would be shocked if they did. Not sure if there is a public list yet

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      • December 17, 2022 at 3:16 am
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        Agree completely. Love the grades you assigned! I think I am anticipating the Challenger league draft much more now. Querrey & Sock are gonna make things interesting, I think!

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        • December 17, 2022 at 9:21 am
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          Thanks! FYI Sock is not included in the draft pool but Querrey is

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    • December 18, 2022 at 12:36 pm
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      i would think dave W dayne g Derisi or Witsken could get drafted. the only question is can they commit to the schedule. I also think Beth could play in that tier.

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      • December 18, 2022 at 7:48 pm
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        They are not allowed according to Dayne on social media today

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        • December 18, 2022 at 10:11 pm
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          I see Altaf pretty high on the list and expect he’ll be drafted. I think he’s eligible to play senior pro in 2023 and was likely the only senior pro who had a high enough DUPR to make the cut-off (and was willing to forgo the new NPL senior league.

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  • December 16, 2022 at 9:14 pm
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    Thanks for the analytics.

    Just have to say… Did anyone else watch the match between Isner/Sock and Waters/Irvine? What an amazing match. Hint… skip game 1 its boring… but games 2 and 3, oh my! I was on the edge of my seat. Isner may have the nastiest drop I have ever seen when he hits it right, and Sock has insane quick and powerful hands. Needless to say I was very impressed considering the minimal amount of pickleball they’ve played. Very fun to watch.

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    • December 17, 2022 at 12:02 am
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      Thanks! Although what we do is not analytics 😂

      We still need to watch this. We had seen Sock earlier in the day look like the best of the 4. This is a fascinating result. It has been said somewhere that Sock was the best of the tennis Americans who play pickle.

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        • December 17, 2022 at 6:56 pm
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          We would be better served to have analytics though lol

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    • December 17, 2022 at 2:23 am
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      Grant: Jessie sure didn’t like AL coming over and stealing her balls. Quite the poses. I don’t see them partnering again if it can be avoided.

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  • December 16, 2022 at 10:59 pm
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    I cannot adequately express my disappointment of BLQK not drafting Andrei. I really don’t get it. Wow, just wow. I feel like this team had a chance to take it all, and let it slip. My bet is on Seattle to take the cup.

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    • December 17, 2022 at 8:29 pm
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      Could not agree more about BLQK

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  • December 17, 2022 at 4:57 am
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    Appreciate the grades. I feel like it’s impossible to grade the picks without knowing more about the rules. Are they published somewhere? For example, drafting Riley. He’s not going to play for 33% of the time he’s with your team, so the rules regarding replacement players become critical to evaluating that pick.

    Does Stone’s team have to forfeit MD since they won’t have 2 men for the first event? Or, if they get to pick up someone as a 1-tourny replacement, is there a waiver wire, some approved list of eligible players somewhere?

    And your description of the Pioneer’s picks, e.g. “it was interesting that Ben Johns traded down in the third round.” — was Ben actually in charge of their draft? There doesn’t seem to be a Seattle Pioneers web page listing front office personnel. I’m not as high on the Pioneers as others, and think they’re 2nd tier, but I’m very much looking forward to the season!

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    • December 17, 2022 at 9:22 am
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      They will get a replacement from somewhere.

      We assume Ben was making key decisions. It would be insane to do something without Ben. That will be an ownership announcement to come it appears

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      • December 21, 2022 at 12:42 pm
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        Regarding “they will get a replacement from somewhere”

        Rob & Adam, on their podcast today (12/21) said the replacement player must come from one of the men who was drafted in the challenger league, but was on one of the eliminated teams.

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        • December 21, 2022 at 1:26 pm
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          Either that or someone not drafted at all we expect. Eden Lica for example

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  • December 17, 2022 at 5:25 am
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    Didn’t Nunnery already bail on a contract? That’s a good reason not to take a risk on him, this is serious business now and you need people you can trust to treat it like a profession.

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    • December 17, 2022 at 5:43 am
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      He bailed on his original PPA contract but that was likely due to personal reasons that won’t happen again anytime soon. To me he had better upside than the later drafted men. My guess is that he replaces Riley Newman.

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    • December 17, 2022 at 9:23 am
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      There’s a lot that goes into what happened we think. He has committed to MLP and there’s nothing that would indicate he would leave MLP mid season

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  • December 17, 2022 at 6:33 am
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    Not according to some team owners. They were only presented a limited pool.

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    • December 17, 2022 at 7:31 am
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      Ray: Did all team owners have the same pool in all rounds? And by limited, do you mean the 48 names on the premier list that was on the mydupr blog?

      NML: Why is it taking so long for comments to post (spinning circle)? More bots to control spamming?

      Reply
      • December 17, 2022 at 10:04 am
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        What I found is that comments weren’t posting at all, and what work is to double submit.. you get a message from the site that you submitted a duplicate comment and it deleted one of them automatically, but it does post your original comment in a timely manner that way. Not a great fix, but it worked around

        Reply
  • December 17, 2022 at 9:59 am
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    MLP/PPA gets a failing grade for their draft presentation! There is so much potential for excitement and analysis surrounding a draft and this had none of that. Really hoping it improves by next season.

    Very interesting that Collin was available when Ben’s team drafted Loong. Wonder what the thought was there. I think I’d take Collin’s consistency over Loong’s flashy play especially when playing an event that will use rally scoring. Drive and crash play isn’t as effective when the other team can score on your serve. Ben must really not think Collin is a good mixed player.

    Biggest mistake in the draft was BLQK not taking Deascu. He and Dylan would have been a top tier mens team and he is a better mixed player than Staksrud. While Staksrud continues to improve in doubles, he won’t grow 12 inches and won’t be able to take over like Deascu in mixed. As far as singles, I was super impressed with Deascu’s singles points during the previous MLP…I just don’t understand this choice by BLQK. 🤷‍♀️

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    • December 17, 2022 at 11:46 am
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      They continue to underwhelm in their draft coverage. Major missed opportunity. They get one final pass from us because of all the changes and rush to get this done. However, at a certain point, they need to do a better job.

      Definitely interesting on Ben but not surprising. We had Collin way lower than Tyler in our rankings but Collin gets a bump if he was put with Ben.

      Mistske by BLQK for sure in our view. Missed opportunity but Andrea plays in APP as well as Dylan. Surely they were consulted and these players see them in person every week

      Reply
  • December 17, 2022 at 11:21 am
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    Horrible decision by BLQK. But that’s Ritchie. Way too active of an owner, and got lucky drafting Parris at 19 last year. There’s a really really low chance that any team that Ritchie actively manages wins a title again.

    Reply
  • December 18, 2022 at 6:12 am
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    I can’t be the only one who thinks Cabos VAMOS has one of the better teams? Don’t forget Jay is one of the best mixed players! And ignatowich was the #11 male taken? People talking about wondering why Staksrud went over Daescu and Loong. But why would Ignatowich go over Staksrud in first place? Staksrud has had even better singles results and staksrud is I think better at doubles ??

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    • December 18, 2022 at 10:40 am
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      You might be the only one. Is Jay one of the best doubles players because of Jessie? We tend to think so but we’ll get to see more this year. Ignatowich is the more dynamic doubles player over Staksrud as it stands now but we think he went too high as well

      Reply
    • December 18, 2022 at 12:30 pm
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      i would be shocked if CABO made the top 6. shocked I say.

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    • December 18, 2022 at 3:38 pm
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      Got to agree. I am not high on Cabo Vamos.

      Reply
  • December 18, 2022 at 12:41 pm
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    did anybody else notice that a representative of CathP was sitting next to mama waters in Vegas, watching the action. Interesting to speculate. would not be my first choice for baby W.

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    • December 18, 2022 at 7:48 pm
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      Did not see that. Was it her trainer or Athena?

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      • December 20, 2022 at 10:07 am
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        A

        Reply
  • December 18, 2022 at 3:59 pm
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    I like the teams in this order:

    Hard 8 s – 2 really dominant men who can carry their mixed partners, esp. Riley with Lindsey

    Pioneers – Ben wins almost all of his matches with Tyler and Etta. Can Dizon win some with Etta? Loong/Dizon will not win many.

    Mashers – I may put this team as my number 2…it all depends on the DJ who shows up. Lucy/Callie should be the best womens team.

    Mad Drops – this team is probably the most under the radar, but has a lot of balance. Arnold seems to get better and better and Wilson seems like an ideal doubles partner for him. Irina, while not someone I am high on, seems to play her best at MLP. CP is solid.

    Hustlers – Can Tyson lock down that left side in mens doubles? If so, he and Rafa will be successful. Would think AB plays with Rafa to take the left side. Tyson/Lacy is an even bigger question mark

    Reply
    • December 18, 2022 at 7:49 pm
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      Good point on Hustlers with AB and rafa. That allows them to form two strong mixed teams potentially like BLQK did

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      • December 20, 2022 at 10:12 am
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        i see hustlers outside the top Six. I think they will struggle in every event, save for ab and rafa mixed. and that in itself is a crap shoot given the reverse stack.

        Reply
  • December 20, 2022 at 10:18 am
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    i see ATX with the potential to either flame out completely or win the entire event. very binary.

    Jw is the only given.

    Jackie has improved her offense a bunch. If jade can also improve her offense, J+J could surprise, and win a lot of matches in women’s and mixed. Gabe also has the ability to either crash and burn because he’s not ready for the moment, or to seize the opportunity and take the next step in his development. This team could go either way.

    Reply
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