For #50 – #41, click here. For #40 – #31, click here. For #30 – #21, click here. For #20 – #11, click here. And finally, here is last part of my first annual MLL Trade Value. For those stat geeks out there, here are a few numbers for you to digest. The top 50 included nine attackmen, 16 midfielders, eight defensemen, three short-stick midfielders, five long-stick midfielders, two faceoff…
For #50 – #41, click here. For #40 – #31, click here. For #30 – #21, click here. 20. Jesse Schwartzman–G–Denver Outlaws Ask four people who the league’s best goalie is. The chances of you hearing four different responses are high. Very high. Kip Turner, John Galloway, Drew Adams and Schwartzman are all phenomenal. In Part 2 I explained that there’s another handful of goalies, even after these guys, with…
For Part 1 (#50 – #41), click here. For Part 2 (#40 – #31), click here. All eight MLL teams have multiple players of the remaining thirty on the list. If MLL were a 30-team league like the NBA or NHL, then these guys would be franchise players. Some are the second or third scoring options on their team; some are defenders who don’t even draw the top assignment on…
If you missed the first part of this Trade Value series, you can find it here. Before I get back to it, some thoughts on the LXM “draft”: Teams started randomly tweeting out their new pickups before the league could make a formal announcement. All of a sudden some draft picks were forfeited unless the Steve Mock trade produces a draft pick for the Lizards in which case a different…
Over a decade ago, Bill Simmons began ranking basketball players in his annual ‘NBA Trade Value’ column. The rules are simple: Talent, salary and age all matter. If two equally talented players earn different amounts, then the cheaper one has more ‘trade value.’ Similarly, younger players are often viewed as more valuable. The idea of the list is that if the general manager of Team A calls the general manager…
Every once in a while, we will attempt to write the worst lacrosse article on the planet. This week, let’s look at the difference between lacrosse players and non-lacrosse players. In the Champion Challenge last Sunday, Quint Kessenich referred to faceoff specialists as non-lacrosse players. His point was poorly received by many. Perhaps that’s because he was right. Perhaps those who disagreed are not ready to face the harsh reality…
Overall intensity Nothing compares to competing for your country. When you don the red, white and blue, you don’t take off any plays. Every ride, every faceoff and every groundball brings out maximum effort from every player on the field. I can’t even imagine how psyched these guys get to tryout for the squad. They must have an adrenaline rush a thousand times greater than those produced by Toby Keith…
An excited group of fans were active in the comment section of the 2014 MLL Draft’s YouTube stream. Excited and, well, easily distracted fans. The topic changed multiple times per minute and discussions covered just about everything you can imagine: John Kissick: I haven’t heard quint say one thing about hop Paul E. Dangerously: tell me this commissioner doesn’t look like the principal from billy madison Jp Bennett: not sure…
Major League Lacrosse is having a contest to see who can “Fill the First” round of the 2014 Collegiate Draft. Here is my entry [in just 1,600 words!]: 1. Ohio Machine – Tom Schreiber (Midfield, Princeton) Kiel Matisz (18 points), Greg Downing (6 points), Jeff Ledwick (3 points), Chase Carraro (3 points) and Will Harrington (3 points). Those were Ohio’s top-scoring midfielders last season. The Machine was forced to plug…
This post is part of a series geared toward generating hype for the upcoming MLL season. Non-lacrosse and non-MLL fans can get to know the league’s stars better through these comparisons to NBA, NFL and NHL players. Some analogies are based on playing styles and others are based on off-field personality, but none are based on spending habits. We aren’t quite at the point where MLL players can drop $5,000…