Hey Scoop,
I think you've answered your own question: Read the damn manifesto! (lol) It covers all the details and eventualities of this draft, future drafts, and player-to-prospect ratios.
And being fairly new to the group, you have no idea how long we've been debating the hows and wherefores of the prospects draft. Greg and I are getting quite sick of it, too. (Again, lol).
Let's see when Mike comes back and what everyone else has to say. The prospects draft is only five rounds, but by starting it on Sept 1st might give us a bit of extra time, provided everyone agrees and Mike returns from vacation.