PLL Offseason Preview- Atlas LC

Day 2 of The Saloon’s analysis brings us to Atlas LC, who desperately need to shake things up after what was a disappointing season to say the least. After missing the playoffs with a 5-5 record, they beat the Chrome to head to the first overall pick game where they lost to the Archers 25-7. To be fair, they were without Trevor Baptiste and Kieran McArdle, but that game was in the Archers control the entire way. Luckily for the Atlas, they are much more talented than last season’s result would suggest. Let’s dive into the Atlas roster.

Atlas LC

Protected Players: Eric Law, Ryan Brown, Paul Rabil, Connor Buczek, John Crawley, Kevin Unterstein, Jake Richard, Kyle Hartzell, Tucker Durkin, Jack Concannon, Trevor Baptiste

Notable Unprotected Players: Kieran McArdle, Ryan Conrad, Joel Tinney, Cade Van Raaphorst, Scott Rodgers

One word that would describe this Atlas team last season? Disorganized. For whatever reason, this team just never clicked. This was especially apparent on defense. Just ask the Archers, who scored 25 goals in the first round pick game last spring. How bad was it? This clip is from the opening face-off, which was won cleanly by Stephen Kelly who quickly dished it to Will Manny for the easy goal:

Even Manny, the league’s second-best scorer, seemed taken aback by how easy of a score it was. Five Atlas defenders are all looking at the ball and completely disregarding Manny. And remember, this was the last game of the season. There are no excuses for rust or chemistry at this point. This kind of blown coverage was seen throughout the season, and at some point there needs to be changes. This is why I struggle to understand why Cade Van Raaphorst was left unprotected. The 11th pick in last year’s draft led the team in caused turnovers and was really a bright spot in an otherwise meager defense. I am a little surprised they did not protect him and try to get his former Blue Devil teammate, JIT Giles-Harris, at the #2 pick in the draft. Giles-Harris is easily the best defensive player in this class, and we have seen how defenses who played together in college excel in the PLL. The Whipsnakes and the Redwoods roster defensive players heavily from the University of Maryland and Notre Dame, respectively, and both of those units are at the top of the league. With a sport like lacrosse where having a balanced team is so important, and in a league where there are only 7 teams, I do not really buy into the theory that you have to draft the best available. Draft the player that fills a need your team has and who you trust in your system more than anything else. Alas, I am not a PLL Coach, so we have to work with what we are given.

The Atlas have lost Kieran McArdle. I’ll get more into this when I preview the Waterdogs, but there is no way they will pass on him in the draft. The 2014 MLL Rookie of the Year was 5thin the league in assists and did what he could to help the stagnant Atlas offense spread the field. Obviously, the Atlas had to keep Eric Law and his 20 goals, but where are the dishes coming from? Giving up McArdle and Joel Tinney sees the Atlas lose their 1st and 4th players in assists, respectively. They now have a big need at attack, and with the 2nd overall pick in the draft, Grant Ament out of Penn State fills that need in a big way. Last year, Ament had 96 assists, which shattered the previous NCAA single season record by a whopping 19. He sees lanes nobody else can see, and with Eric Law and Ryan Brown putting them in the back of the net, the Atlas should not be missing McArdle too much.

The Atlas will be saved when they play team lacrosse. Too often they relied on one individual to carry the load and it felt like everybody else was stuck in the mud. Just look at Week 2 when Baptiste went 20-30 on faceoffs and the Atlas still dropped the game to the Chaos 18-13. Their core of Eric Law, Ryan Brown, Connor Buczek, Kyle Hartzell, Tucker Durkin, and Baptiste will take them far, but only when they learn to work together. And no, unfortunately Paul Rabil does not make the cut for me as part of the Atlas core. He is a generational talent and certainly has more left in the tank, but I think even he would agree it might be getting tougher sharing the field with some of the young, spry phenoms such as Curtis Corley and the aforementioned Cade Van Raaphorst. His inclusion feels to me a lot like the Patriots sticking with Tom Brady. Both are legends, both changed the game, and both will play on their respective teams until they retire. Rabil’s leadership, however, could be the deciding factor in whether or not the Atlas compete for a championship in September.