MLP San Clemente – 5 Takeaways – Dominance Prevails
Season 1 of MLP is officially in the books. It certainly appears after the 3rd event of the season that there are a lot of people still confused by the concept of MLP and that may be a reality MLP will have to accept for 2023. The complexity that resulted from the merger between MLP and the PPA has created a difficult format to follow as teams flip to Challenger or Premier halfway through the year. Having continuity in this team-based structure of MLP will be important for future growth, but the early growing pains are an unfortunate necessity at this stage. Keeping track of what is happening for 24 teams over the course of the weekend is too much soak in for most people and that is okay for now. The big question is whether you can get people invested to the point they are willing to monitor these teams throughout the course of a season where there is going to be more continuity.
1. Dominance Prevails (Gritty) – We were honored over here at NML to be entrusted with one of the six MVP votes for the Premier and Challenger divisions for the final event of season 1. After some questionable choices in the past (*cough* Lee Whitwell *cough*), it was a unique opportunity to have a say in an award that people care about, but ultimately has no bearing on anything. The votes were easy for this San Clemente event, though. Ben Johns and Jillian Braverman were the easy selections, in what we have to presume were both landslides. The best player on the winning team is often the right choice for any sport, but it was particularly easy this time around because of dominance demonstrated by both players.
Let’s start with Ben Johns. He is the best player in MLP and there should be zero doubt that whoever ends up with the 1st pick in Premier of season 2 will have a terrifying advantage over the rest of the field. Assuming he plays season 2, Ben is a cheat code of epic proportions. He didn’t lose a single game this past weekend before the Super Finals and he has only lost one game across three MLP main events this year, a men’s doubles loss to Federico Staksrud and Dylan Frazier in Daytona. That is simply absurd. Last week, I wrote about how Ben has somehow further separated himself from the rest of the pack through the first half of 2023, and MLP is another example of that. Riley Newman is the only other player that I thought could rival Ben Johns’ ability to single-handily win matches on his own, but Riley Newman was not able to bring that same level in San Clemente. Newman went 3-3 on the weekend, including a playoff clinching opportunity loss to Vivienne David and Kyle Yates.
Not only is Ben the best player with his ability to almost guarantee two game wins per match, but he is also one of the games most studious individuals. While Riley Newman relies on his athleticism to overwhelm opponents, Ben is maximizing his abilities by understanding the tendencies of his opponents and exploiting their weaknesses. There is supposed to be significant variance in this rally scoring format to 21 yet Ben Johns has proven to be relatively immune to that variance, albeit with some close calls sprinkled in and two losses in the Super Finals to the Mad Drops.
What is even more impressive about Ben’s dominance is that he has done it outside of his perfectly created structure with Collin Johns and Anna Leigh Waters. Irina has the most MLP titles but Ben has now won 3 of the 4 MLP’s that he has participated in. Another benefit of picking Ben Johns over anyone else is his knowledge of the player pool and ability to identify what is needed for him in the MLP drafting process. He banked on the rise of Etta Wright, took a shot on the upside of Meghan Dizon and understood that Tyler Loong could be an optimal men’s partner for him while still providing some more juice in the mixed game compared to Collin (which didn’t really happen in San Clemente). You know when you draft Ben that he is unlikely going to make an incorrect selection for your team.
On the Challenger side, we had questioned on this blog the fairness of allowing Jillian Braverman to join the Shuffle Draft player pool after the first event. Braverman commented on her MLP recap Instagram post that she only ever “played for fun” before quitting her corporate job, but she had played enough pro pickleball that we knew she had the potential to slant the entire Challenger season. We still don’t really know why Columbus traded Jillian Braverman for Megan Fudge, essentially giving away the biggest advantage that could be handed to them. Paul Olin went on the Inside Major League Pickleball podcast after the trade, discussing the move as a win-win for both teams. Well, the trade was definitely a major win for Dallas, who got to the finals of Daytona and won the Challenger championship in San Clemente on the back of Jillian Braverman. The fact is that Braverman is at a different level than most of the women in Challenger. She would have been a Premier pick if her name was in the player pool, and she proved that she is more than worthy of Premier with her performances in the last two events.
Braverman’s ability to form a #1 mixed team with Dallas’ #2 men at both events, Brandon French and Ben Newell, was a giant edge in addition to her alpha female qualities in women’s doubles. Braverman didn’t provide the same type of dominance as Ben in Premier, but the discrepancy in skill level that she exhibited proved to be a supreme difference maker for the Mark Cuban owned Dallas Pickleball Club. Dallas was a team that was in a difficult spot after the first event and was gifted a game changer.
In my view, it is clear that the draft is only so much of an equalizer. Dominant players matter whether it is at the Premier or Challenger level. Anna Leigh Waters may not have won her team a title, but they won a lot of matches in 3 events. They were also a Dreambreaker away from a title of their own. It is probably better to have a dominant players than not, even if the Mad Drops demonstrated that balance can rule the day as well. One of the many things I think I have learned from these past 3 MLP events is that having a dominant player can guarantee a lot of wins. It’s just that there appear to be only two of them at the Premier level currently.
Dominance prevailing was the theme of the weekend for me and it came across in our MVP votes. Ben Johns and Jillian Braverman were the obvious choices in their respective divisions. Let’s see if this theme continues into 2023.
2. Player Development (Slim) – After the first MLP stop in Mesa it looked like two of the biggest misses in the Premier League, at least on the men’s side were Gabe Tardio and Hayden Patriquin. Hayden seemed to struggle with the pressure of playing with Anna Leigh Waters in mixed and Gabe Tardio profiled as the weak link on ATX. ATX with JW Johnson and the Kawamotos as the core should have been in the mix on paper, but only won one match and failed to make the playoffs in Mesa.
While the player standings on the MLP site, are probably far from an accurate representation of how players performed at an event, they do give some indication of the success, or the lack thereof, that a player had at a specific event. At the Mesa event, Gabe ranked 44th and Hayden ranked 39th in the player standings, so there is some evidence that they didn’t have exactly strong showings.
Hayden, with the 48th pick, was the last pick of the Premier draft, and Gabe was the 46th pick so it was not shocking when both players, struggled a bit at the first event, but it was also hard not to wonder if both teams should have perhaps taken more veteran players, given that that the teams had elite players in Anna Leigh Waters and JW Johnson and solid second and third round picks as well. They are both still teenagers, and I thought it was reasonable to question if maybe the moment was a bit too big for them.
By Daytona, Hayden had gained more comfort in his role, and he actually finished second in the player standings, and he had another excellent weekend this weekend in San Clemente. Over the course of the season Patriquin has demonstrated that not only is he a player that belongs on the Premier division, but he is also a players that is ready for the big lights, and the big moments. It took Gabe a little longer, but over the past couple of months we have seen Gabe’s game continue to improve, as shown by his making PPA men’s doubles semi finals with different partners. This weekend, that tour success translated to MLP success as ATX had a strong semi-final performance, and Tardio looked every part of a premier player.
It serves as a strong reminder of how quickly players, especially younger or newer players are evolving, and that potential for in season development is something teams definitely have to account for.
Heading into the season two draft, it presents a real challenge for most teams. Former NFL GM, Mike Lombardi, has talked quite a lot about paying for past performance rather than future performance. AJ Koller is an example of a missed evaluation we had due to past performance. The delicate balance between betting on upside and taking the proven commodity, will most likely be seen in the late picks of the Premier Draft.
With no ability to add or drop players, at the Premier level, a complete miss on a player can be catastrophic for a team. There are going to be a number of men and particularly women available in those late picks, who are on the rise but not yet proven. If a team takes the risk, and hits on the right player who blossoms in the second half of the year, your team could be a juggernaut – think Parris Todd and BLQK in season two. Although that upside is enticing, it is becoming ever harder for players to break into the upper echelon of players and if a team takes a player who is too far away, or whose development plateaus at the wrong time, they could be in trouble. On the flip side, taking a player based on past performance, who the game may be passing by, could prove just as fatal.
3. Risers and Fallers (Gritty) – The benefit we get from this flip-flopping of teams is another draft in a few weeks. Drafts are my favorite part of MLP and one of the biggest storylines will be the players that move up to Premier and down to Challenger. It is such a massive difference for the players as the financial discrepancy between Premier and Challenger is substantial, especially when you consider that a selection into Premier guarantees 3 events for the season. The stakes are high in this zero-sum game where there are only 24 spots available for both the men and women. So, who is in the mix to rise and fall?
The most obvious riser on the men’s side is Pablo Tellez. He dominated MLP at the Challenger level and he has been a force in men’s doubles on the PPA tour along with getting some major singles results. As a guy that we questioned as a first-round pick at the time of the Challenger draft, Tellez is the biggest no brainer selection for Premier. The only question mark is how high Tellez will be picked.
Other names that have the potential to move up include Hunter Johnson, Christian Alshon, Connor Garnett, Brendon Long and Stefan Auvergne. Rob Nunnery said on his podcast that he feels he is a top 24 guy, but I don’t see it right now with his overall body of work in 2023. First on my list from those players to move up to Premier is Christian Alshon. His game continues to improve and the Anna Leigh Waters dating connection is a factor that can’t be overlooked. Anna Leigh will probably have the 2nd last pick of the draft and, if Alshon drops to a place where ALW’s team can pick him with their last selection, he could be the ideal fit for her team. This is not a comment intended to be gossipy, rather it is a real storyline that could influence the draft. Hunter Johnson is in the same Alshon-type mold of hard-hitting singles demon, except he has more experience on the right-side in men’s than either Alshon or Garnett. Brendon Long’s results have dipped since Daytona and Auvergne’s have mostly dipped since the first event in Mesa. Tellez and Alshon with Johnson and Garnett knocking on the door are the four most likely players that I can see moving up.
The difficulty in this exercise is figuring out who is going to drop. Hayden Patriquin and Gabe Tardio looked like prime candidates to be dropped after the first event, but both players now appear to be locks to stick in Premier. The fallers will depend on how much faith the new teams have in the old guard. DJ Young is dealing with what he called a “severe wrist injury”. Kyle Yates continues to perform admirably at MLP, but he has not been playing playing pro tournaments these days. Some unexpected weirdness could happen too as crazy people were floating on Twitter that Zane Navratil is not a Premier player. Travis Rettenmaier is a wild card due to his conflict of interest situation in the Florida Smash. Matt Wright may not have enough interest to play season 2 of MLP. Maybe someone like AJ Koller could have an epic freefall out of Premier altogether?
On the women’s side, Jillian Braverman is basically a lock to move up to Premier as she is too good for whatever chemistry concerns other players may have. After Braverman, there are a handful of players that could move up: Hurricane Tyra Black, Susannah Barr, Vivian Glozman, Ewa Radzikowska and Bobbi Oshiro are all in the mix. Recency bias can be a big factor and Black is the biggest recent beneficiary of the positive buzz. Susannah Barr has had a lot of exposure with success at this last MLP event as well and continues to demonstrate a higher level of competency in Dreambreakers. Conversely, Vivian Glozman did not help propel the Breakers to another Championship and lost 5 out of 8 points to Barr in the Super Final Dreambreaker, which brings questions regarding her ability to play a beta female role in Premier.
Who is in the falling category for the women? I expect Lina Padegimaite will drop. Lindsey Newman needs to get in the right situation to stay in Premier. Mary Brascia hasn’t had much success at MLP. Yana Grechkina was a more likely drop candidate after Daytona but she might be playing too well on the PPA Tour recently. Even someone like Lauren Stratman, who is a Premier player in my view, has the potential to drop if teams want to go with more of an unknown situation for upside. Keep in mind that some of these Challenger owners could have a special affinity for taking their own top player that provided them so much success in Challenger – Ewa Radzikowska, Susannah Barr and Tyra Black.
The Premier picks are extra high stakes because there is no fallback for teams that make a mistake. We saw in Challenger a lot of messes resolved quite quickly like with Dallas getting Braverman and Miami scooping up Brendon Long. Those quick fixes off the waiver wire aren’t available in Premier. It should be fun to see it all shake out.
4. Big Dink Energy (Slim) – There is always a lot of debate with MLP about how much potential variance it offers, and also about how much of an impact chemistry and energy can have. This season showed to me that, at the end of the day, the better teams with the better players generally came out on top.
The Seattle Pioneers won their second straight event in San Clemente this weekend, and they are the opposite of an energy team. They had the best and most consistent player in the world in Ben Johns, and no other weak links. In the finals, the Pioneers beat the 5’s, a team who it looked like might have chemistry issues, after their coach Leigh Water’s comments on Lea Jansen’s paddle, but the team was able to put that aside and perform this weekend. The 5’s had the best female player on the planet and three other very solid players, playing at a high level. Having an elite player, and no real weak spot, seems to be a much bigger part of MLP success than having ‘energy’ or ‘chemistry’.
This is not to say that chemistry and energy doesn’t matter at all, as we saw a completely different Matt Wright this weekend, playing along side his partner Lucy Kovalova with the Milwaukee Mashers, and the whole Mashers team, also had a different energy. However, the trade for Wright also just made the Mashers a better team, and a chance to actually win appeared to have energized Wright. Getting a 2nd round doubles talent for a 4th round doubles talent in a trade can be beneficial, apparently.
The Mad Drops are a prime energy team, but the initial evaluation on that team did not account for Catherine Parenteau somehow transforming into possibly the clear cut #2 female in the draft for season 2.
Energy and chemistry are a nice bonus for a team, but a team needs the players if they want any chance of having sustained success.
5. Super Final Letdown? (Gritty) – We put a poll on Twitter to get a gauge on how the hardcore pickleball fans felt about the Super Finals. The concept of a Super Finals is cool, but the event felt anti-climactic for me, even though the Mad Drops had the big upset. In Premier, $60K was on the line for each player on the winning team. Huge stakes.
But in a season where there is a flip between divisions at the end of the season and no continuity, a Super Final doesn’t really make sense. I texted Slim earlier in the day “hot take but is the super finals really dumb?” Really dumb is probably too strong but I think the Super Finals works better when teams are battling all year and it feels more like a playoffs situation.It just doesn’t really work for season 1 and kind of feels like a waste of prize money for MLP.
Both matches were actually really good. The Slice had some epic games against Bay Area and upsetting Bay Area in a Dreambreaker is what MLP is made for. The jury is still out on whether the Mad Drops were the beneficiary of an emotional letdown from Seattle, but seeing Ben Johns lose twice with $60,000 on the line is quality sports television programming. I still watched some of it, but I had a hard time caring as much as I did for the finals the day before.
The results of the Twitter poll slightly favored people caring about the event, 60% to 40%, which is obviously an official result. Again, the Super Finals is not a bad concept and more exposure on platforms like ESPN2 never hurts. However, it feels like a juice not worth the squeeze situation, as some might say.
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!
Re: the super final. The energy in-person at the venue was perhaps the highest it had been for the entire event. People were stoked. I wouldn’t write it off as silly.
I also think MLP is trying to establish norms, even when they don’t necessarily make sense at the time. The biggest example is the geographically named teams. Right now, that’s obviously just wishful thinking. Moving forward, I’d say it’s pretty clear MLP wants to have teams with fixed rosters playing “home” matches in those areas (a weekend of pool play?), with a yearlong season and the super finals being the culmination of it. The shortened double season this year is to make sure all the owners are given the equal opportunity to land a premier league team in 2024+. It’ll reward the owners that actually give a crap about the sport. I really hope MLP can exist for long enough for all these things to happen. They’ve gotta be painting pretty rosy projections for the owners/sponsors right now.
That is super interesting that the event energy was high. It seemed like a lot of energy was low and that has been shown with comments after. We’ll see what they try to do with the Super Final, but again this is a set up year for going forward.
Thank you for your time and posting, great stuff. Wasn’t a fan of Super Final. On Sunday, the team with the most points should have won. / It will be interesting and fun to see who is picked, why they were picked, and when they were picked for the second season. A lot was learned from this first season. / For me, it got confusing because of all the different rules all the tours have. Until all the tours use the same rules, it will always be confusing. / IMO, it will take a couple of years before MLP settles down, trying new things for the sport and not for your ego is great for us. I do like the card calling though, hope that stays. / Agree with your ups and downs, the Kawamotos I thought were fantastic. Too bad JW forgot his team member’s name. That was hysterical. Thank you again.
It is confusing to follow but should get easier as time goes on. Fun weekend. Thanks for reading!
Great summary. I follow MLP pretty closely and was confused by the super final. I like the idea of a “super bowl” type of finale with two different “leagues” but not sure it works out in this format. Absolutely can’t wait for the draft. Hoping Nunnery gets another shot as a self proclaimed right side specialist. Is there a MLP fantasy league, like fantasy football? Might be fun. Keep up the great work!
Yeah we are in the same boat. Nunnery has been playing better and maybe someone does take as shot on him. An MLP fantasy league would be awesome but not sure how it would work! Thanks for reading, Mike!
96 players is too much. I would follow some teams closely if it was worth investing my time. But 3 events and then a change-out is not worth my time. And the fact I can’t find the history easily also discourages an emotional investment. In a regular tournament, I can look up a player Y’s results against player Z — though they seem to be limiting that more and more too.
#1. That’s cool that you got a vote for MVP. Was it MVP for the entire season, the finals on Sunday, or the super finals? One other thing that Ben did right was the choice of Dream-breaker counter line-up on Sunday. I’m sure there were other times he also made the right choice of match or player order.
#3. Tellez is a no-brainer. I think Garnett could be another Hayden/Gabe story in season 2. On the right team, his ceiling is high and his advancement could be as quick as second event in season 2. I’m thinking he might do well on Tyson’s team. You listed 6 names but we don’t know if 6 players get moved off Premier. So if I had to pick only 3 I’d go with Tellez, Garnett, and then the last one would depend on the team make-up at time drafted. AL’s team for Alshon would be good since Alshon is already familiar with Leigh’s strategy from being coached by Leigh. There are some crazy thoughts out there. Names I’ve heard for no premier is Matt due to his own choice, Collin Johns, Jay, Erik Lange, and the already mentioned DJ and AJ. I don’t really see the conflict of interest for Rettenmaier. His Challenger team doesn’t play a premier team so what’s the problem. He could easily play in Premier and still have a team play in Challenger. No different than having a premier owner have ownership in 2 different teams — and they play each other.
Koop or Allyce on the women’s side might be a candidate for a drop if an owner wanted to take a chance on more ceiling.
#4. Maybe you can say that ATX performance was due to JW. But Gabe played lights out and I’m not sure he could have played that level without chemistry with JW and being such a good “amigo” with JW. And I’d argue that “energy” comes from being on Johns team. It energizes you to know you are likely to win! And it helps you play looser too. You mention the possibility of a win energized Matt in Mashers – and probably also their entire team. We’ve seen Dylan and JW lack of energy and some could say that affected their team’s performance. But Tyson’s team had plenty of energy. I’ll wimp out and claim too many variables to say.
#5. I didn’t care that it was a “Super Final”. I treated it as another match to watch for a junky. It could have been boring with an easy win for Pioneers. But the name “Super Final” has to go. Stupid to have a “Final” then a “Super Final”.
#Missing take-away. I was disappointed you didn’t have a take-away on how well the teams performed based on NML expectations and/or draft grades at season start.
Another take-away might have been the effect of coaching or GM’s. Hard to tell the outcome when you don’t know what is being coached of course. But I did look for a visible difference after a time-out. Some of the coaching seems ineffective in both MLP and PPA.
The podcasts this week will be full of MLP. I’m just hoping we get some truths and not just self-promotion or excuses. Likely >80% of the content will be auditions for the next draft.
#1 – this was just for up to the finals. No super finals included.
#3 – I guess we’ll see. It will be interesting.
#4 – Gabe upping his game was the difference maker.
#5 – Super Final the day after is still tough.
We will have a where NML was right and wrong article that goes up before the draft so people can see all of that! Coaches will be a necessity going forward for sure.
Superfinal isn’t what it could be. Always good to see high-stakes pro pickleball, no question, great to get some exposure on an ESPN channel, but otherwise didn’t make sense. The exhausted MLP champs against the (well-rested) 2nd best team in MLP, not really a fair fight, pickleball didn’t put it’s best foot forward.
Totally agree on Tellez coming up. Tardio will probably stay Premier, but remain a later pick, which makes me think about which late pick do you want to let Ben draft? Some of the scenarios get pretty scary. Are Matt and Lucy still dropping out for the 2nd half of this year’s MLP?
Season 2 will be another short season, there will be some draft gaffes, but I think the overall quality of the picks will go up drastically from the poor showing we saw in season 1.
Not yet sure on the dominant players thing, need more data. I think the results show that only Ben can reliably overcome the MLP results randomization, and I’d be interested to know if MLP is happy with their system making a chopped salad of results or if they want it to be still more randomized such that even Ben gets swallowed by the system.
Looking forward to the NML Draft Preview!
Does anyone really become exhausted playing at MLP? Each player only plays two games, often with a break in between. Even when playing a dreambreaker, each player only plays a few points at a time.
Then, they get a 1-2 hour break before their next match. The Pioneers also had a full day of rest between the event final and super final, so I doubt any of them were tired. The Mad Drops simply brought their A-game and a lot of fire.
lol yeah, the Pioneers basically played one more match than the Mad Drops since Seattle got a bye, then they had 24 hours in between the San Clemente final and the Super Final. The exhausted team vs well-rested team narrative makes no sense.
I just watched Tyler Loong’s latest podcast. He says fatigue may have been a factor for the Pioneers in the super final, and it may have affected Meghan in particular. He didn’t really like the super final being held the day after they won the event final. Fatigue aside, the Pioneers were super high after winning the event final, and then they had to come back the next day and play again, which wasn’t ideal.
It seemed like something that may have happened.
Really agree on one team being tired wanting a break and the other rested and wanting to play. That IMO, was the game changer. And of course, not really fair.
It is tough sometimes.
I didn’t get to watch the Super Finals, was instructing Pickle, – but I understood the premise.. not sure why they went for a Monday time slot, even on a holiday for many.
If I were MLP – I would have had a weekend of semi-finals for season. Top 4 teams in each division square off – teams seeded (I’m highly seeded – Moss), and play on Saturday night – ESPN2/ESPN Ocho. Make it a separate event – a week to promote.
Sunday – Finals on ESPN2/ESPN 8
Costs would have been higher to have another event – but I think it would have made sense.
Ups: This seems obvious now on the mens side.
Downs: I was thinking Collin – he’s become Ben’s right side, but that role won’t exist for him, unless he’s a 4th round pick for top male player.
I was thinking AJ, but he looked much better this weekend. DJ is too erratic.
But the big question, he said jokingly, is Sam Querrey a top 10 player after six months? I feel bad mocking him, but he’s great for the sport, and the bit I saw he did look much improved. Does he remain a Top 48 player?
Lastly, loved your work, and when I’m at work – and matches are going on in PPA or MLP – I hit refresh on this page all day long. As they say somewhere, I’m not sure exactly the location “Y’all bust it”.
There is a lot to comment on here. First, I want to say how much I enjoy this site. At the beginning of 2022 I had never even heard of pickleball. Over the last year I have become a pickleball-viewing junkie and this is my go-to site for content.
1. For sure, it is very beneficial to be able to draft the cream-of-the-crop players to your team. Ben is a master on the court and a good coach and team leader. A deep run in the playoffs of every event is almost guaranteed with Ben on your team. Anna Leigh did underperform a bit in the first two events, only going 10-7. However, this weekend AL went 10-2, including 6-0 with Hayden in mixed. The two losses were a couple of odd clunkers with Lea sandwiched in between crushing their opponents Friday and then beating Etta/Meghan in the final.
Dallas Pickleball Club GM Dave Fleming stole Jill Braverman from Columbus.
2. It is no coincidence the 5s and ATX both improved their results with each event. Hayden was a clear weak spot in Mesa. By San Clemente he was carrying the team with consistently-strong play.
3. I think Pablo Tellez and Connor Garnett have to be at the top of the list for a jump to Premier on the men’s side, with Alshon possibly third. I have seen very little of Hunter Johnson, so I’m not sure about him. Regarding who to drop, obviously Hayden has to be off that list, and probably Gabe Tardio as well. Some owners/gms may not like Hayden’s attitude/behavior on the court, but he seems like a good kid, and he proved he belongs in Premier with his play in Daytona and San Clemente. If he’s still there at pick 47, AL’s team could draft him again. Regarding AL’s team possibly drafting Alshon, AL said in a recent podcast the 5s allowed James to choose his own partner and he chose Hayden. Her new team may do the same. So, who does get dropped from Premier? Why no mention of Rafa Hewitt? The Hustlers’ results decreased steadily from Mesa to San Clemente, going from a final loss to quarterfinal loss to fourth from last. In San Clemente Rafa went 1-5, including 0-3 playing with top female Anna Bright. I also barely even see or hear his name at PPA tournaments. Sure, he could be seen as a solid veteran by some team, but I would much rather draft a young riser like Connor Garnett. The same could be said of a few other veterans whose games plateaued a while ago. Speaking of which, what happened to Andrea Koop? She may be back on the court following a rib injury, but her game did not come back. She went 0-6 in San Clemente, getting beaten badly. Her points-won % was the lowest of any MLP player this year. BLQK finished dead last. If you are a Premier GM for season two and you see that performance, are you going to draft her?
4. Skill comes first, energy second. That said, I do love to watch teams with energy. The 5s were my team. I love the fire that AL/Hayden/Lea/James bring to the court. I find it difficult to get excited about players and teams with limited emotion and energy.
5. Being a pickleball-viewing junkie, of course I watched and enjoyed the super finals. However, it does seem a little unnecessary and anti-climactic after only a mini three-event season. It makes more sense to have a super final at the end of a full season. With only three events one shaky event knocks a team out, and the super final just ends up being between the winners of the first three events again (Chicago did not win an event, but they were hot over the first three).
Final thoughts…
While I am excited about the new draft in July and the rest of the year, I have to say I’m sad that the team I’ve become a passionate fan of, the New Jersey 5s, is already done after only three events, and the players will likely all be separated and dispersed to other teams. I will likely be a fan of whichever team drafts ALW, but will I like her new teammates as much as Lea/James/Hayden? While I will continue to root for James, will I be a fan of his new team? I don’t know.
I am curious how many season two GMs may try to get some of the successful players back together again, assuming it will be possible. While I doubt Ben will be able to draft Etta again, and ALW probably won’t be able to draft Lea again, what about ALW drafting James or Hayden again, or JW drafting one or both Kawamotos or Gabe again, etc.? Or, will we see almost completely new teams?
Dan,
Good call on Rafa, if he was right handed he’d be gone for sure.
Back to Andrea Koop… She was drafted 10th. Of course, one bad event is not going to drop her from first round pick to out of Premier. The question is where does she get drafted in July? GMs will have to count on the fact that the next MLP event is not until September, so there is plenty of time for Andrea to get healthy and get her game back in good form. I hope she can.
I am really interested to see how player selection and retention will work in 2024 (and beyond, I’m assuming). Not being able to make any transactions in the Premier level outside of trades does not seem sustainable. I’m also assuming that teams and players (and fans) will want more continuity than redrafting at the end of every season. But if that’s the case, I would find it hard to see a Challenger team competing after getting promoted, especially if their draft takes place after the top 24 players are gone. I’m sure this is all stuff that’s been talked and thought about, but I’m curious to see what the model ends up being.
Once the “permanent” draft happens, I’d bet we see things like contracts, free agency, and maybe annual drafts of new up-and-coming players. Players can and should get released from teams for poor performance. A challenger team that gets promoted could release a weaker player and then try to sign a high level free agent.
If it’s a true promotion-relegation system, it’ll be interesting to see how they incorporate an annual draft, if it does happen.
This sounds like it is going to happen.
Great summary as always!
I only saw the championship match of the Owners/Sponsors/MLP Employee tournament.
James Blake was an absolute beast out there.
Does anyone know if he is going to give Pickleball a try at the pro level?
Regarding next season draft, it seems to be about value at the level drafted. Ben Johns clearly performed to the value of his spot selected (2 overall, 1 gender). Arnold (29,13) and Patriquin (48,24) way out performed their draft spots and had some spectacular matches, but part of their overall success was due to where they were selected and who their teammates were. For the Mad Drops, they selected Parenteu (5,3) and Tereschenko (20,11) before getting Julian and then picked up Wilson (44,21) at the end; the 5’s selected Anna Leigh (1,1), James (24,11) and Lea (25,14) before Hayden. If Arnold and Patriquin are top ten overall picks, are they as successful with different teammates? GM’s are going to have some big decisions to make – the older names such as Irvine (8,4), Koop (10,6), Bar (16,8), and Navratil (12,5) drafted early did not have much overall team success. Was it their play or team construction?
It will be interesting to see how the owners and GM’s approach it but one thing we should all request from MLP is a standard way to report results and stats. The player rankings for all three MLP weekends do have the same data listed, seems silly to me.
Hayden played great in Dayton and San Clemente, but I don’t buy him as a top 10 pick. Imo your first male player should be someone who can take over in gender and mixed doubles, and as well as he played, it should be noted that he played the right with James in men’s and had AL as his partner in mixed, and I don’t think his PPA track record would support that either. Personally it’s hard for me to see him as a top 10 male, much less top 10 overall.
He’s a good player who earned his Premier spot and will be an asset to his team, but top 10 is too rich for me
I see Big H as a complimentary player, a very good one. But in two years, especially if he hits a nice growth spurt – he could easily be that #1 player.
He’s 18. Unfortunately his growth spurt is probably not coming as he hasn’t grown for about 2 years.
Agree with you on Hayden. My point was that of he is being lauded for a great tournament, while more experienced higher drafted players are “trashed” for less successful play. If Jay, Zane, or DJ had fallen to the 48th spot, and played on the 5’s with the other players they had, I don’t think we would be talking about disappointing results for them and maybe its a 5 win. We are talking about Alshon, Garnett, the Johnsons moving up, but the question becomes not only who goes down, but where are people selected. Do any of the challenger players get selected in the top ten males? If someone was a top ten male in Premier, do they drop totally out or do they fall to the bottom? Also, we can see the women are critical to a team’s success, but watching the super final and the Mad Drops literally crushing the Pioneers, where do you stop drafting women to bring on your male players?
Hard for us to really evaluate the players with the inconsistent data posted by MLP.
Nadal: I guess what we need is a spreadsheet/table with player name, draft spot, and % matches won/loss. Of course matches would be partner influenced but better than nothing to evaluate if the player outperformed or underperformed their draft spot.
This would be great
Expectations are a funny thing and impact evaluation of players. Overperforming your expectations or underperforming expectations versus actual performance relative to draft position.
for any NFL fans out there, the 5 Takeaways is starting to remind me of Peter King’s MMQB. I look forward to it every week there is a tournament. Great Job guys!!
Thanks so much Jim! That’s an amazing compliment and we really appreciate you reading!