Fantasy Basketball: F&F and Blog League Updates
A quick update of the standings in the Friends and Family League and each of the three blog leagues, with some additional commentary.
Yahoo! Friends and Family League
1. Tom Lorenzo (RotoExperts) 23-12-1
2. Phil Londen (Yahoo!) 23-13-0 (0.5 GB)
3. David Klyce (HoopsKlyce) 22-14-0 (1.5 GB)
4. Justin Phan (Yahoo!) 21-14-1 (2 GB)
4. Andy Behrens (Yahoo!) 21-14-1 (2 GB)
6. Matt Buser (Yahoo!) 19-17-0 (4.5 GB)
7. Dalton Del Don (RotoWire) 17-19-0 (6.5 GB)
8. Oleh Kosel (Fantasy Basketball Cafe) 15-21-0 (8.5 GB)
8. Charlie Zegers (RotoWire) 15-21-0 (8.5 GB)
10. Andre Snellings (RotoWire) 13-21-2 (9.5 GB)
11. Brandon Funston (Yahoo!) 13-23-0 (10.5 GB)
12. Chris Liss (RotoWire) 11-24-1 (12 GB)
Londen: I hit home runs in the draft with Pau Gasol(notes) (14th), Jason Terry(notes) (62nd), Elton Brand(notes) (107th) and D.J. Augustin(notes) (134th), among others. Danny Granger(notes) at 11th overall has been pretty much break-even so far, but what remains to be seen is what Granger’s cumulative impact will be for the entire season. Being a relatively standard head-to-head league, I decided to punt assists fairly quickly during the draft, as it otherwise meant reaching in the early rounds this year to secure elite assist production. I also completely whiffed on a couple of guys, with Marcus Thornton(notes) being the biggest bust. I’ve also had some injury problems with Jeff Green(notes), Chris Kaman(notes) and more recently Udonis Haslem(notes). Despite the draft day success, the outlook for my team is pretty murky moving forward. For my draft position (11th of 12), my team has definitely outperformed my initial expectations, meaning I fully expect to drop a bit in the standings as the season progresses. However, at this point I have playoff expectations for this team and will need continued health to my key players to meet that goal.
Phan: A lot more went wrong with my draft than I expected. Yes, I hit on some guys like Manu Ginobili(notes) (46), Lamar Odom(notes) (70), and Dorell Wright(notes) (118), but there were more than a fair share of misses. Brandon Roy(notes) (22) has hurt the most, and I’m certainly not thrilled by the early-season performances of Antawn Jamison(notes) (51) and O.J. Mayo(notes) (75) either. The strength of my team lies in its depth, which certainly isn’t a bad thing with the 13 starter, three reserve format of the league. Given the number of things that have gone wrong so far and that fact that I’m still in fourth place, I feel pretty good about my team moving forward. Drew Gooden(notes) is finally starting to come around, and I believe Jamison and Mayo will soon follow suit. The wild card is obviously Roy, and if he can give me anything down the stretch (even fifth-round value) then it should be enough to push me over the top and put me in serious contention. That’s obviously a big ‘if’, but I’m still a believer. Call it blind optimism if you will.
Buser: My team is solid but by no means spectacular. I ended up pursuing a punt points strategy after the first three rounds resulted in Dwight Howard(notes), Jason Kidd(notes), and Nene Hilario(notes). Of course my disaster pick of the draft was Anthony Randolph(notes) at 54, but it was a few weeks before the season started and I was still convinced that he was going to have a role for Mike D'Antoni. The pick does serve to show that I don't just say things to hear myself talk - my drafts are actually based on the rankings that I share with others, too. The Mike Miller(notes) injury also helped my team about as much as it's helped the Heat, and Arron Afflalo(notes) qualifies as my best waiver addition so far. One thing I need to work to balance is FG% - I've got too many low-percentage shooters on the team as it stands, working against my categorical stalwarts Howard and Nene.
1. Krypton (Budro) 4-0-0 (3980.65 PTS)
2. Fear the Deer (James) 3-1-0 (4265.15 PTS)
3. mbuser (mbuser) 3-1-0 (3915.60 PTS)
4. No More Witnesses (JD) 3-1-0 (3664.20 PTS)
5. Team Philthy (Fantapedia) 3-1-0 (3623.40 PTS)
6. Let’s get it on! (rambi b) 3-1-0 (3584.45 PTS)
7. Atlantis Hulks (R) 3-1-0 (3528.75 PTS)
8. Melmak Express (ALF!!!) 2-2-0 (3943.35 PTS)
9. Anubis (Anubis) 2-2-0 (3618.30 PTS)
10. MichaelJordanNissan (Elliot R) 1-3-0 (3522.95 PTS)
11. The Ubermensch (Mike) 1-3-0 (3068.60 PTS)
12. Team Richard (RS) 0-4-0 (3303.60 PTS)
13. MFBarkley (Nate G) 0-4-0 (3258.60 PTS)
14. PeanutButterJelly (Chris) 0-4-0 (3045.65 PTS)
Buser: I was very happy immediately following the draft, and my team has matched my expectations thus far. I knew Rajon Rondo(notes) would be a standout in the points-based format and liked where I was able to draft Lamar Odom (66), Mike Conley(notes) (103), Dorell Wright (131), Charlie Villanueva(notes) (150), and Kirk Hinrich(notes) (159). David Lee(notes) has of course been disappointing, but I have faith that he'll get things turned around before too long once he's back and healthy. I've only made two moves so far and am ranked reasonably well in terms of total points, so I do believe that's an indication of a successful draft. There are definitely a few very strong teams and things will be interesting, but if I can get and stay healthy then my team will be in the mix all season.
1. Y! – Londen (plonden) 89.5
2. Gilbert Subpoenas (Baggy Dizzle) 81
3. Entourage (Sunnang) 80.5
4. Pauls to the Wall (CwL) 79
5. Hi-Rolla Scola (NewBVick) 73.5
6. RM45 (TheRifleman) 69
7. LA Riots (Sheiky Baby) 66
8. OKC Plunder (Bruce R) 58.5
9. Occhionero (OCCH) 55
10. Space Jam (Jake B) 54.5
11. Drew Gooden Plenty (NickL) 42
12. Thrilla from Manila (Nick) 31.5
Londen: My strategy was a bit different than my typical rotisserie strategy due to the unique structure of the league. The categories started with the standard eight categories but modified it by splitting rebounds into offensive and defensive boards while adding free throws made for a total of 10 categories. The result was a sort of rotisserie-head-to-head hybrid. When Dwight Howard fell to me at eighth overall, I decided to punt free-throw percentage (I currently have a “1” in that category) and picked up lots of other stat-stuffers (Gerald Wallace(notes), Marc Gasol(notes), Devin Harris(notes), Lamar Odom, Andrei Kirilenko(notes), Tony Parker(notes)) while hitting late in the draft on Dorell Wright (137th). My problem is that I am burning up my games played (fifth-most games played so far) because too many of my players are playing well right now, which goes down as one of those good problems to have in a ROTO league. I need to acquire an additional center-eligible player that picks up lots of offensive rebounds and one more decent assisting player (around 5 assists per game or higher) to make sure this team can compete down the line. Otherwise, I am feeling good that this team can punt one category in a rotisserie league and still be competing for the title at the end of the year. Punting in a rotisserie league is something that I’ve never attempted, but have a real shot at accomplishing this season, which is definitely exciting.
1. T-Shirt Time!!! (Raman Mohammadi) 23-9-0
2. Wildcats (alligno) 21-11-0 (2 GB) 21-11-0 (2 GB)
3. All LeBron NoLeBrain (Scooter281) 20-12-0 (3 GB)
4. LakersHype.com – DJ (LakersHype.com) 19-12-1 (3.5 GB)
5. Samurais (Albert A) 19-13-0 (4 GB)
5. samiscookin (sam) 18-12-2 (4 GB)
7. Last Pick Everytime! (D) 18-14-0 (5 GB)
7. AC Green (Chuck, PTV99) 17-13-2 (5 GB)
9. Champagnezees (champagnezee) 17-15-0 (6 GB)
10. LeBrontourage (jo banks, Scott) 15-15-2 (7 GB)
11. Fast Don’t Lie (Kevin, Patrick) 15-17-0 (8 GB)
11. jsim (sdf) 15-17-0 (8 GB)
11. LL G.Muresan (Fitzymate) 14-16-2 (8 GB)
14. Case (In It To Win It) 14-17-1 (8.5 GB)
15. All my childress (j.vo) 13-19-0 (10 GB)
15. Pistolwhips (Pistol Whips) 13-19-0 (10 GB)
17. AlwaysSunnyInSeattle (jkorney, mikegugs20) 12-19-1 (10.5 GB)
18. Y! – Phan (jphan) 12-20-0 (11 GB)
19. The Combustive (Dell Diggler) 11-20-1 (11.5 GB)
20. cowboy monkeys (Joe) 8-24-0 (15 GB)
Phan: One word can be used to described this team’s start so far: disastrous. I’ve done my best to not overreact to early injuries and slumps, which will serve me well long-term, but it has cost me an early double-digit game deficit. Chris Paul(notes), Manu Ginobili, and Dorell Wright have held things down for me, but there has been little to no stability around that trio. Keep in mind that this is a 20-team, eight-player league, so having five of your eight players go MIA is … well, disastrous. Every roster spot begins to mean that much more. Zach Randolph(notes) missed about two weeks with a tailbone injury, while John Salmons(notes) and Caron Butler(notes) have combined to shoot just under 38 percent from the field. It’s way too early to drop those two though, so I’m just going to have to stick it out and hope they turn things around sooner rather than later. After failed experiments with Robin Lopez(notes) and Corey Maggette(notes), I am finally comfortable with my seventh and eighth players – Drew Gooden and Thaddeus Young(notes). The long climb to the top starts this week as I draw the 17th-seeded team. I remain confident in this team and don’t foresee any sort of major roster makeover in the immediate future.
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