DRAFTING LOCAL - By: Dan Freshman
Future NBA All-Star, Coach, Hall-of-Famer and senile color commentator Tommy Heinsohn was drafted with the Celtics’ first pick in the 1956 NBA Draft. But he wasn’t a first rounder, technically. Heinsohn didn’t fall in any round of the draft. But he wasn’t undrafted either.
Solve the riddle yet? Memo to my Rochester road trip fill-in, Joe Shahood: the answer isn’t Paul Rabil.
Heinsohn was a territorial pick. From 1947 to 1965, the NBA allowed teams to forgo the first round of the draft and pick a local player directly in hopes of increasing fan base and keeping devoted players close to home. That way, the Celtics kept the Holy Cross standout for the next…52 years. By forgoing the ’56 draft, the Celtics received over 12,000 points, 20,000 Tommy Points, 10 NBA titles and 27 years of unyielding broadcast affection for mediocre Celtics players.
To think: drafting local players can pay bigger dividends than drafting any other player available. It was good enough of an idea that the then-fledgling NBA kept it in its system for nearly two decades. And once again, the MLL needs to take a hint from its big brothers in the sporting world.
Because in the end, doesn’t every sporting franchise want a hall-of-famer screaming “I LOVE WALTA” from the top of their cigar-scarred lungs? That’s at least what I’m hoping for Mikey.
The MLL does not need to institute a territorial draft system. Otherwise, Washington/Baltimore/College Park/The Ghetto Behind M&T Bank Stadium Where I Got Mugged would be unfairly stocked with Rabil Rousers and flow-a-licious foes from all over Baltimore County. And then San Francisco and LA combined would have…Spencer Wright. Raw deal.
But imagine the fan base if a team outside the hotbeds hosted all of its local players. It brings me back to the times where during the Celtics’ dynasties, Bird, McHale and Parish all lived down the street—literally. Nothing helps fan loyalty more when one sees his starting swingman in boxer briefs at 6 a.m. picking up the morning paper off the lawn. Now imagine Paul Rabil adorning only boxer briefs picking up his paper. Somewhere out there, a few hundred boys and girls ages 5 to 50 just got giddy.
For San Francisco, San Diego, Denver and Chicago, players have ended up playing there by default. LA fans love how Michael Watson and G.W. Mix live down the street and run their youth programs—that, and G.W. is apparently the coolest guy in lacrosse, according to 17 of my sources. Baltimore, Rochester and Long Island fans already have the luxury of having their brother playing ball at Hopkins or their high school being better than half of the DIII programs out there. Philadelphia doesn’t have a team anymore. So that leaves, once again, Boston.
I swear, I won’t write about Boston again. I’m no hack like Bill Simmons, recycling joke after joke and crying that I can run any NBA, MLB, NFL or NHL team better than any real general manager. I don’t think any trade is possible as long as it works in the ESPN.com Trade Machine Generator. But spare me for a moment while I opine about the special situation that is, Boston.
Boston isn’t a hotbed. As much as Joe Carpenter from Billerica or Mikey T. from Marshfield tells you, it isn’t. Some of the biggest and closest towns to Boston still don’t house lacrosse programs. As I complained before, Boston fans were going to be heartless enough to skip out on Foxboro and stay at home. And I was right.
As much as the NCAA tries to construe the stats and find the most obscure figure possible and call it a “record,” Foxboro was a failure. Foxboro failed to crack 50,000 and top last year’s single-game attendance record, a figure that had gone up every single year in recent memory. That’s deplorable. And it’s Boston fans’ faults. But local players from blue collar towns on the Cannons would surely help rouse interest.
The most popular player on the Cannons from 2001 to 2006 was Mike Battista. Mike’s a one dimensional player. His coaches told him in college he was too slow to play at the Division I level. In the MLL, they told him he was too slow and he wasn’t good enough at defense. But he had two semblances of dodges, a wild shot and a huge fan base. So he worked. Because he was from my hometown and still lives nearby, albeit trapped in the mundane sports medicine pharmaceutical world.
In Boston, the only east coast team outside a hotbed, homegrown products come far and few alike. As a result, the few that do exist become poster boys for the entire zip code. Mike Battista was the assumed hero for my area. Max Quinzani is the pride of the South Shore, while Sean Morris is the wiz kid of the cape. The lacrosse community needs local heroes, and they’ll become eager to watch a team play if that poster boy is the team’s star. The papers will sack Morris once he comes to Boston and scores 8 points again.
In fact, I don’t even know why Morris took so long to come to Boston. Let’s face it: Chicago is a horrible city with a horrible franchise. The Baby-faced Assassin was right in saying the most dangerous thing about Chicago is the traffic. Anyone would be miserable living in Chi-town, and it’s about time the MLL saved Morris from such a purgatory and brought him back home.
Playing such a decorated career, both locally in high school and in college, Morris is arguably a bigger pickup for the Cannons than even Mikey. The old, fabric-back-strap hat wearing coaches of the Bay State will likely point to Morris and once again, make him a symbol, a small glimmer of hope for aspiring Massachusetts lacrosse players. Think Chicago fans felt the same about Morris? I doubt it.
Imagine if the MLL indeed had built up this way and kept to its local roots up until now. Boston fans would love to see a starting lineup including Morris, Jack Reid, Mike Battista and other local stars. In return, I’d even sacrifice the world’s greatest chubby man with wheels, Tom Zummo so he goes back to the Island. When the league gets bigger, stars can live in different cities. But for now, who doesn’t like seeing local guys in local uniforms?
MLL POWER RANKINGS: THE FLOW CHART
- Rochester. The only undefeated team left is fueled by local product and resident Kyle Devitte nemesis Joe Walters. Adding Brett Bucktooth is another boost to the Canuck-minded midfield.
- Denver. Dan Cocoziello is Nicky Polanco but with little man’s anger. Deadly combination. The team is stacked with talent but will go through some growing pains down the road.
- Washington. Conor Gill is back as a league stud. The Bayhawks drafted terribly but there’s already enough youth on this team for now. No need to rattle the chemistry.
- Philadelphia/Portland/Texas/Homeless. Brian Dougherty forgot he was a fat goalie and decided to let in a few too many last week. That, and the lack of a draft makes us wonder if the Barrage are poised for a fall.
- Boston. Sean Morris scored 8 points in his debut, Mikey will be back this season and Paul Rabil is still stuck with Logan Airport security for packing an illegal weapon (his lacrosse stick) in his luggage. Boston will need to win a lot of 21-20 games this year with an unproven goaltender and a new high-powered offense.
- Los Angeles. The Riptide tore up a lot of team chemistry and until draft night, they were looking old. Really old. Kyle Harrison and Da Chazz can’t be producing single digit points combined.
- Long Island. The Lizards quietly had the best draft in the league, picking up Jerry Lambe and Ben Rubeor while other teams were busy fumbling around with Stephen Peyser and GWLL busts. The upset over the Cannons is also a promising start for a turnaround season.
- New Jersey. As Quint said, a rotisserie baseball league idiot could look good with nine picks. Nevertheless, the Pride should have new hope with a new roster. A win, first, would be nice, though.
- Chicago. The Machine took a bunch of gambles on the draft, which was exactly what they needed with a team this hopeless. Trading away the first pick was a wise move for a team that needed too many pieces. I’m still not sold on Mike Leveille being a star in the league, but an opening Rookie of the Week honor was a nice start. The Machine need a clean slate.
- San Francisco. There’s no hope on Castro Street. Mike Podgajny and Sean Lindsay are good role players, but the Dragons need a star. Desperately. And it’s not going to be Stanford Club coach Drew Virk.
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