Teams in the PBA League will fill their rosters Monday when the PBA Draft takes place at Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine.

A total of 17 players out of a pool of 21 will be drafted starting Monday at 4 p.m. when the draft is held live on FloBowling.

Seven of the eight teams have two spots to fill, while the Brooklyn Styles are the only team that will draft three players. Each team had the option to protect up to three players heading into the draft.

Norm Duke, the player/manager for the Dallas Strikers, talked recently about the playing environment the teams will face when the PBA League competition is held in July at Bayside Bowl.

“It is a remarkable atmosphere – none like any other I’ve ever experienced,” Duke said in a recent FloBowling podcast. “The fans are so very close to you. It’s a party atmosphere. There’s tailgating going on at 7:30 in the morning, we start at noon. So people are in the mood and it is outlandish how hard it is to throw a shot in that environment.”

For that reason, Duke said as a manager he puts a lot of emphasis on experience within that specific environment when determining who to add to his team through the draft.

“You need to be experienced at it really,” Duke said “So, as managers, when we go through that draft, a lot of the times we look at players like AJ Johnson who have actually been on a team. That’s huge because you have to get over it. It is scary. Even for players like Walter Ray (Williams Jr.), Pete (Weber) and I, it’s scary to us, but it’s just so electrifying. It’s the best environment on earth but it’s also the hardest.”

Of the 21 players available in the draft, just five were on teams last season – Dick Allen, DJ Archer, Rhino Page, Kyle Sherman and AJ Johnson.

In order to be eligible for the draft, players had to finish among the top 40 on the PBA Tour points list after the USBC Masters. Since four players outside the top 40 were protected by teams – Ryan Ciminelli, Weber, Williams and Matt Sanders – that means four players within the top 40 will be left out of the PBA League.

The draft will consist of three rounds with only those players in the top 30 in points eligible to be drafted in the first round. In the second and third rounds, all players in the top 40 are eligible. The first two rounds will consist of eight picks each, while the third round will allow the Brooklyn Styles to select its third player.

Players Eligible Starting With First Round

Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill.
Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo.
Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C.
Rhino Page, Orlando, Fla.
Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo.
Shawn Maldonado, Houston
Andres Gomez, Colombia
DJ Archer, Friendswood, Texas
Darren Tang, San Francisco
Mykel Holliman, Collierville, Tenn.
AJ Chapman, Wichita, Kan.
Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas
Patrick Girard, Canada
Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich.
Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev.

Players Eligible Starting With Second Round

Nicholas Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn.
Mitch Hupé, Canada
Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y.
Thomas Larsen, Denmark
AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill.
Zacharay Wilkins, Canada