PUEBLO, Colo. – Last year, at the inaugural PBR Team Series Draft, the Austin Gamblers had complete control over their destiny, selecting two-time World Champion Jose Vitor Leme with the No. 1 overall pick.
This year, it’s going to be a bit different.
At the 2023 PBR Team Series Draft, which will be held on May 17 in Fort Worth (6 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV), Texas, the Gamblers have the No. 8 pick – last in Round 1. So, rather than making the splashiest pick, General Manager JJ Gottsch and head coach Michael Gaffney are focusing on something else.
“Depth,” Gottsch told Fanchon Stinger and Luke Kaufman on PBR Now! “I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned in this sport is that it’s not a matter of if guys are going to get hurt, but it’s when they get hurt, and do you have guys to fill in the holes? And we saw that firsthand last year. We first in the middle of the season, Jose got hurt, we dropped to fourth in two quick weeks. Then Jose came back, and we regained that No. 1 position. But the reality is, not just for the Gamblers, but for everybody, that depth is really key, not only in the draft but throughout the year.”
“We all know that this is a battle of attrition,” Gaffney added. “It always has been. They say you can go from champ to chump real quick, and it’s never truer than in our sport.”
The Gamblers have been known to make big moves to acquire that depth. Last season, they traded for Ramon de Lima (formerly of the Carolina Cowboys) and Dalton Kasel (Kansas City Outlaws), who became critical pieces in the Gamblers’ strong inaugural run – they finished the regular season in the No. 1 spot.
After falling short at the PBR Team Series Championship in November – the Nashville Stampede ultimately took the inaugural title – the Gamblers have not been quiet in 2023. In March, they signed Adriano Salgado, previously the No. 1 rider for the Missouri Thunder.
Adding to an already solid roster, the Gamblers made a big move picking up highly sought after free agent Adriano Salgado. By the end of the 2022 season, Salgado became the Missouri Thunder’s number one rider and finished 6th overall in the league MVP race. Welcome to the team! pic.twitter.com/4eyaGUvyYg
— Austin Gamblers (@Austin_Gamblers) March 3, 2023
“One of the decisions that we had 30, 60 days ago was, should we keep a roster spot open so you have something in the draft, or do we go after one of the free agents that’s available?” Gottsch said. “And so, after a lot of discussion, looking at tape, looking at video, doing interviews, we made the decision to go after Adriano Salgado.
“So now, arguably, with Jose, Dalton, and Adriano, we’ve got three legitimate No. 1 riders, and you back them up with Lucas (Divino), Austin (Richardson), Ramon, Zeke (Mitchell). We feel like we’ve got great depth.”
Some of the Gamblers’ acquisitions have been on fire of late. Lima won his first event in a year this past weekend in Nampa, Idaho, and Kasel is ranked No. 3 in the world standings, leading the league in 90-point rides.
“We take none of that credit,” Gaffney said of Kasel. “I don’t, especially, just because he is who he is. He’s a great professional. He loves what he does. When JJ and I first got to be around him, pre-draft last year, the interaction I had, you could tell. You can see it in his eyes – he just loves the game and just loves the sport. And to have him come into the fold on the Austin Gamblers was a real benefit to the team because of what he is and what he brings to the table and what he is as a professional bull rider. So it’d be great to be able to take the credit for any of that, or even a fraction of that, but I think you can’t legitimately do that. There’s no doubt that him, like most of the guys on our team and other teams, that they’ve bought into this.”
