Are We Witnessing the Biggest Travesty in Late Season Roster Management in TT History?

Yes, that is the question I am asking, and the bullseye falls squarely on the chest of Mr. Light.  He trails The Show and The Ego by 2 games for the 5th and 6th playoff seeds, and the aforementioned “gentlemen” are playing each other this week.  We are 2/7 of the way through judgment week.  Mr. Light has 35 moves left.  He has used none.  You cannot take these moves with you when the season ends and you miss the playoffs.  They will be more worthless than Monopoly money next week if Raymond does not use them effectively, and use them now.  What makes this a potential travesty of epic proportions is the fact that Mr. Light’s roster boasts the following:  Chris Andersen,  Krstic, Turiaf, Ronnie Brewer, Mario Chalmers, Stuckey.  I’ll assume for arguments sake that Kirilenko does not belong on the curb with the others, but I’d jettison him tomorrow if necessary to make the playoffs.  This is year 10, but it often appears as if Mr. Light is still in Kindergarten.

Josh Howard is the Fantasy Equivalent of Kryptonite.

One should never say never, but my resolve to avoid Josh Howard at all costs in future has become even stronger over the last few weeks, as the perennially injured stoner is again nursing injury.  It has become as predictable as the rising sun.  (Note: the Ego intially considered the Nash for Howard and B Davis a steal for The Show).

You Heard it Here First (or maybe you didn’t).

It takes no Nostradamus to predict that injuries to key players will likely play a deciding role in the forthcoming playoffs.  And I’m not talking about the myriad of currently injured players, but rather the inevitable falling of some who are improbably still healthy in this injury-cursed season.

Let’s play ball ladies and gentlemen.

Lights Out!

Recently, the Yahoo player rater has been bugging me. I don’t like how there is no way to configure it, and we are stuck with looking at a rater with the default settings (including Turnovers). Since turnovers is a bullshit category for fantasy, and we don’t include it, the player rater is always skewed. For this reason, I use a different player rater. Here are the top 50 players based on averages so far for this season.

You’ll need to click the title of this post to see it on it’s own page to see the table formatted properly.

Flambo

First of all, I’d like to wish a speedy holiday recovery to Mr. Light, who is ill.  In the spirit of the season, I will refrain from mentioning Jason Terry until later in the post.

• Measley Beasley Watch. After a respectable game in the absence of Udonis Haslem, Beasley returned to form in his last game, putting up 13 pts, 1 board, a dime and 1 block, a typical performance for the formerly prized number 1 waiver priority pickup (now ranked 173 by Yahoo).
• Quinn’s Debt of Gratitude. Since his public chastisement by yours truly,  David Lee has bounced back with big-time double-doubles in 13 of his last 14 games.
• L’il Nate= Big Man. Nate Robinson was injured during the early days of the post-Jamal Crawford-era in New York.  In the two gamesc since regaining his health, he has put up 4 treys, 60 points, 11 boards, 10 dimes and 4 steals, on 49% FG shooting and 100% FT shooting.
• Black Fraze is putting up very solid numbers for the second week in a row.  Unfortunately, it looks as if he’ll get an L for the second time in two weeks.
• Jason Terry went off in his most recent game for 4 treys, 27 pts., 10-16 FG, 3-4 FT, 7 boards and 8 dimes-  the third time in 4 games Terry has scored 26 or more.  Mr. Terry has jumped back into the Yahoo top-20, currently ranked #17.

• Did you know that Allen Iverson and Joe Dumars actually played against each other?

• Here’s an interesting blog post about the Toronto Raptors. With Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, and Jermaine O’Neal, how can this team be bad? Interesting reading there…

• Ken Berger at SportsLine writes a comparison of Greg Oden and Derrick Rose. Who would you rather have? A few league GMs joined the debate.

• Who was the better point guard, John Stockton or Isiah Thomas? We know who Quinn would choose, but is it warranted?

• For the Boston dudes, how did you celebrate “Birdmas” this year?

• BallHype is a promising blog with lots of videos and news.

• Is Lebron James as good or better than Kobe Bryant? The guys at “Kobe Bryant. Respect.” don’t think so, but they lay out their case pretty well.

• I meant to put up a short post to experiment with the tunes, and this has now taken me over an hour and a half. WTF?

• Though The Mighty is a multi-ring holder, he has never won a H2H ring. In my view, this makes him somewhat of a charlatan.

Flambo

• Parity in the TT League?  A glance at the standings in the TTL might suggest that there’s a gulf between the haves and have-nots, with my Flambuoyant squad and the two newcomers counterposed with the wretched Hamertime, Dark Night, and Show organizations.  I maintain that this gulf is not nearly as wide as it might appear, with injuries, and matchup vagaries playing a large role in the standings to this point.  It’s only mid-week, but Lights Out is getting throttled by the perennially hapless Blountman, Mclovin is getting handled by the witless Fraze, and Yes We Can is behind the woodshed getting spanked by the suddenly resurgent Hamer.  I’m in a tightly fought 4-4 battle with the now healthy (aside from  T-Mac’s predictably sore vagina) TME squad.
• Pink Slips issued.  My free advice was a one-time feature, as many of the slackers have been kicked to the curb.
• My favorite stat of the week.   Kelly Dwyer, writing for Yahoo notes: “Chicago’s coaching staff is brand new, and though they’ve had all summer and a month into the season to find out that Richard Jefferson abuses Andres Nocioni every time he sees him, it’s still early. Those game tapes cost money, you know. And they’re soooo bor-ing.How Nocioni could end up a -18 on the game in only 12 minutes of play seems pretty shocking, but that’s how bad it was. Combine his one-point, one-rebound, three-foul, two-turnover performance with Drew Gooden needing 11 shots to score two points (Drew has missed all but one of his last 17 shots), and you can see why Chicago fell a little short.”
• Jason Terry has fallen to #20 in the Yahoo rankings.  I’m not complaining.  Meanwhile, Measley Beasley has fallen to #121.  While we all know that these rankings are far from gospel, they give a rough estimate of a player’s fantasy worth in most formats.  Will Beasley’s numbers go up, even while coming off the bench?  They very well could.  Will I regret issuing him a pink slip? Possibly.  Beasley is a scorer, and occasionally a rebounder; he’ll hit a three or block a shot every once in a while.  Right now, he looks like a poor-man’s Glenn Robinson with uncertain playing time on the horizon.  Dropping him was a gamble, and I might come to regret it-  meanwhile, TME is at the back of the waiver line….

The Main Event

I’m sure many of you have looked at box scores and thought to yourselves “Man, I wish i had drafted that guy”.  Right now, I wish I had drafted Chris Bosh and Danny Granger at picks #10 and #11 instead of Shawn Marion and Deron Williams.   Below are some players that are playing above their draft position.

1.  Dwyane Wade (drafted #5) - Simply put, Wade is the best player in fantasy right now.  The numbers are staggering - 28 points, 8 assists, 5 boards, 2.4 steals, 1.7 blocks and good %’;s.   The only thing he doesn’t do is make threes.

2.  Dwight Howard (drafted #8) - I know that D12 went in the first round in our draft, but he is currently playing like a top 4 pick.  He’s better than Kobe, Dirk and Amare right now.  Sure, the FT% sucks (58% on 11.7 attempts a night), but you can punt a category in a H2H league and still win.  His points and boards are about the same from last year (21 and 14) but the blocks really stand out.  Howard’s averaging a mind-boggling 4.0 a game and could reach his goal of leading the league in blocks AND boards.

3.  Chris Bosh (drafted #16) - I was one of many that thought a healthy Jermaine O’Neal would take away from Bosh’s production.  What I should’ve done is looked at what happened when the Suns acquired Shaquille O’Neal.  Amare Stoudemire went off after the trade.  A true big man allows Amare and Bosh to play their true position of PF (not center) and thrive.  Bosh is averaging 27 and 10 with great %.’s and is playing like a first rounder.

4.  Danny Granger (drafted #15) - Granger was build as the “next Matrix”, but he is head and shoulders about the original Matrix right now.  Granger’s averaging 24 points, 5 boards, almost three 3’s a game, 1.6 blocks with good %’s.  The only thing is doesn’t do is get steals (0.8 steals per game). He’s a six category contributor that looks to be a sure-fire first rounder next year.

5.  Devin Harris (drafted #56) -  Lights Out!! mentioned Harris in his blog.  What in the world has gotten into Devin Harris?  Five 30+ point games and one 47 point game?  His mid-range jumper is much approved so opposing defenders must honor it.  With his speed and quickness, he’s now almost impossible to guard.  He’s averaging 25 points and 6 assists, but the most impressive stat is his 9.2 free throws made per game.

NOTE - 3 of the 5 players I have mentioned are wearing a McLovin uniform.  I might have criitized his lineup decisions but I can’t criticize his draft.

6.  Andris Biedrins (drafted #72) - The Big Latvian has made the jump from solid center to double-double machine.   He averaged close to a double-double last year in only 29 minutes per game, but has been so effective this year that opposing teams have to actual game plan for him.  His recent numbers are down a bit as a result, but you can’t argue with getting a guy averaging 15.7 points, 12.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in the 8th round.

Honorable mention:  Derrick Rose (#84), O.J. Mayo (#93), Rajon Rondo (#87), Jameer Nelson (#117), John Salmons (#96), Nene Hilario (undrafted).

Lights Out!

Biggest news I’ve seen today is the emergence of none other than Flambo’s pre-season sleeper, Mr. Enigmatic Dan Gadzuric. He busted out last night with a whopper of 11 pts (4-5 shooting), 14 rebs, 3 blks and a steal in just 21 minutes. Is this the beginning of an all-star season for this unheralded beast?

Speaking of hot hands, where did Devin Harris come from? Last week he played four games with an average of 33pts (60.7% FG%), 84.8 FT% (11 attempts per game), 4.3 rebs, 5.3 asts, 1.3 stls and 1.0 3FGM. Damn! I guess he’s trying to prove that the YouTube video of him getting punked on the streets of London was a fluke. Whatever, that’s some serious heat.

Another guy playing well of late is Rajon Rondo. Unfortunately, my nemesis of the week, Dark Knight, has Rondo and is taking advantage of my injuries to serve me something fierce this week. Last night Rondo had his first career triple-double with 16pts (50% FG%), 13 rebs, 17 asts and 3 stls. Damn, Blount-man, you should be the one writing about this.

On another note, I came across another basketball blog, not fantasy, that had some really interesting articles. It’s called The Painted Area, and I particularly like this one talking about the Cav’s offense with LeBron in the post. Check it out, there aren’t too many places on the web where you get an interesting read and learn about the game, as well.

That’s it for me today. Got my first Christmas party of the season tomorrow night, then another week before leaving freezing Prague for warm California for a nice extended break with the family. Meanwhile, I’m hoping Josh Howard plays tonight, and plays well, damn it!

Flambo

The Flambuoyant squad has been fortunate: although only 10 of my 13 draft choices are still around, I quickly identified and secured long-term replacements for two of those three spots- J. Terry and Nene.  My  13th spot is currently occupied by R. Sessions, who is playing well enough to stick around, at the moment.  How his playing time is affected by the return of Redd and Ridnour from injury will likely determine his long-term fate.  Other players on my squad could certainly be affected by injury or other circumstances, and thus become pink-slip worthy; but for now, Ramon Sessions is the only player under the microscope, so to speak.

With this having been said, I will now conduct a team-by-team survey, in an attempt to identify tomorrow’s garbage: i.e., players who should be prepared for a pink slip sooner rather than later:

Yes We Can.  :  Javale McGee.     Obvious pink slip candidate.   This is a very solid squad with only one obvious charlatan.  I should note that I’m not yet thoroughly convinced of Rudy Fernandez’s value, and Dunleavy’s uncertain return from injury should be a bit troubling.

McLovin. :  Randy Foye.  Luis Scola.  Spencer Hawes.   It was tough including these three on the list, because all three have shown flashes, and it is conceivable that they could become consistent contibutors with consistent minutes.  Also, Pietrus is not on the list because he could turn into a keeper for this squad due to Bogans’ injury.

The Mighty.  David Lee.   His lack of steals or blocks makes it difficult to justify keeping this 12-7 man around, especially since his drop in FT% is surely keeping Quinn awake at night.  Barely surviving the cut:  Jeff Green, Wilson Chandler.

Cash Money (Black Fraze).   Fagnani.  Raymond Felton.   Also,  Fraze has several other players that might be just good enough to hang onto, if there weren’t so many other players “just good enough to hang onto” on the same team.

Lights Out.    Marc Gasol.   Delonte West.    Jason Terry (whoops, I forgot he already got his pink slip).  Never been a huge Marvin Williams fan, but it appears that he is playing just well enough to deserve a roster spot at this time.

TME.   Beno Udrih.   Larry Hughes.   Marquis Daniels.   Russell Westbrook.    It’s possible that not even Troy Murphy’s job is safe on this team in flux.  The good news is that Deron Williams should return for good Wednesday and TME will finally be 100% healthy (perhaps).

Dark Knight.   Kendrick Perkins.   Rajon Rondo.    Monta Ellis.   We all know that Ellis is good enough to hang onto.  The question is whether Blount can afford to hang onto him.

The Show.   Roger Mason.    Anthony Parker.    Lamar Odom.   If you don’t believe me about Odom, look at his numbers.  Only his combined 2.4 steals+blocks/game justify his roster spot at this juncture.

Hamertime.  Anthony Morrow.  Joel Przybilla.  Leandro Barbossa.  Hamer has had some serious injury issues to contend with, so it is no surprise to find some day-laborers on his squad.

The Main Event

I think it’s safe to say that there is much less luck involved in fantasy basketball than fantasy football.  Over the course of an 82 game season, your top players will get their numbers, unlike fantasy football where 1st round picks constantly underperform (see LaDainian Tomlinson, Brian Westbrooke, Stephen Jackson).  In basketball, you can put your guys in a position to win, but sometimes players don’t get their averages and you lose.  It’s extremely devastating when this happens on a Sunday.  Over the past four weeks, TME!!! has lost 3-4 points due to herculean efforts by the opponent and sub-par performances by players in my organization.  This post is not about crying over spilled milk, it’s just a  testament to the fact that anything can happen on a Sunday.

In Week 1, I thought I had a 5-3 victory in the bag over Lights Out!. I had a 16 point lead so all I needed was Jamal Crawford and Mike Miller to outscore Quentin Richardson and Ryan Gomes.  Well, Q-Rich goes off for 28 points, J-Craw scores 1 and the rest is history; I have to settle for a 4-4.

Two weeks later, I’m in a tight, tight battle with The Show.  Going into Sunday, points, assists and rebounds are in play.   To be fair, I did win by one assist, but I lost by three points, thanks to a 4th quarter 3-point explosion by Steve Nash and 5 points from that bum named “Raja Bell.”    Also, the underperforming Mike Miller plays 34 minutes and explodes for 8 points.

This past week, I’m up 5-3 going into Sunday with 3 categories in play.  i pick up Hughes and J.R. Smith for some added 3-point and scoring punch, yet Fraze astutely picks up Andrea Bargnani (not sure if I would have wasted a waiver request, but that’s an article for another day).  Well, K-Mart goes off for a season-high 26 points, Tayshaun Prince chips in 20, Bargnani scores 14 (7-8 in garbage time) and I get zero production from Maggette, Smith, Udrih and others.  Result - a 3-5 loss.

Crazy, unexpected things happen on Sundays and you have to move 0n.  Aerial Flambouyance was knocked out of playoffs because Chuck Hayes recorded a career high 5 steals on a Sunday.  TME!!! was denied an opportunity to go for his 3rd ring in 4 years because Mike Miller and Jeff Green combined for 10 3’s on a Sunday.  The Show lost two categories this past Sunday because Randy Foye decided to do his best Chris Paul imitation.

All you can do is put your team in the best position to win and hope for the best.

Prague view

First snow in Prague

Then I did what I normally do when I wake up: check how my team performed the night before. When I went to bed, I was up 6-2 with my matchup against The Mighty. When I saw the standings, I had slipped to being down 3-5.

To top things off, Jason Terry is still going off. What a shitty day. (And now it’s snowing for real.)

Flambo

It makes me feel bad, in a way (maybe), to keep hammering on Mr. Light’s ineptitude.  Circumstances, however, have forced me to provide an update on Mr. Jason Terry, the player who was drafted with the 81st pick (for a league in which 130 players are rostered at all times),  and then was contemptuously thrown under the bus by Mr. Ray Light before he had played a single game.

Terry’s Wednesday night performance alone could have prompted this posting:  31 points, on 62% FG-shooting, 75% FT-shooting, 2 three-pointers made, 2 boards, 4 dimes, and 3 steals.  But Terry followed it up tonight with this performance, marred only by his FG shooting:  20 points, on 40% FG-shooting, 100%  FT-shooting, 3 three-pointers made, 6 boards, 5 dimes, 3 steals and 1 block.

I believe Lights Out! may have cited Terry’s lack of a starting spot as the reason for dropping him.  Anyone, however, who has done a minimum amount of homework over the years would know that Terry has often come off the bench, and sometimes started, during his productive tenure (fantasy-wise) with Dallas.  He has filled both roles this year as well.  Finally, I should mention that I was chastised by some (including Mr. Light I believe?) for using a #2 waiver priority request on Mr. Terry.  The #1 priority holder (TME) is still out there waiting….. waiting……. waiting…….  Maybe a player like a Bogut, Cuttino Mobley, or Thaddeus Young will fall from the sky in early March.  Will it have been worth it?

Matchup Note: Aerial Flambuoyance is currently hanging on to a 4-4 tie with the insurgent Yes We Can! organization.  The upstart had a big games-played advantage (front-loaded no less) going into the week, and had seemingly locked up boards and dimes by the close of business on Wednesday.  A 5-3 Flambo victory appears to be a remote possibility, but I would count my blessings if I walk out of this one with a 4-4.  The GP advantage notwithstanding, the YWC (Yes We Can!) squad is a very formidable newcomer, and has to be considered, along with my Flambuoyant squad, as one of the two elite teams at this juncture of the season.

Draft Redux: Of my first 8 selections in the draft, only B-15, A. Biedrins (8th round), has exceeded expectations.  Rashard Lewis has basically met expectations (below his standards in most categories, but his newfound theft-mastery balances these out).  The other 6 have fallen short, or well short (Garnett, Okafor).  This apparent shortcoming in the draft (at this juncture), combined with success in head-to-head play, illustrates the importance of the later rounds of the draft (Nate Robinson), as well as the importance of early season waiver and free-agent acquisitions (J. Terry, Nene, and R. Sessions)

Lights Out!

Interesting note: Last year, our infamous Blount-man, Louis Blount (Dark Knight), set the record for futility with 0.298 win rate. I could be wrong, but it looks like he’s trying to break his own record!

Week 3 Overall Standings

Flambo

Fantasy sports afficionados, as well as sports fans generally, are always looking for the catchy nickname to reference their favorite players.  Names like C-Webb, D-Wade, and T-Mac seem to roll off the tongue.  And they’re also easier and quicker to type- whether in a column, blog-post, message board, or even in a taunting e-mail to a buddy.  With the ascendance of Dwight Howard to stardom, in a real sense, and fantasy stardom, in a slightly-lesser sense (FT%), the First Initial-Syllable From Last Name paradigm was challenged.  I think many fans, and perhaps some writers, played with the “D-How” designation, but it just didn’t roll of the tongue (or even off the keyboard?) as smoothly as the monikers listed above.  Instead, Dwight Howard is now known almost uiversally, as D-12.  Now I will introduce you to B-15:

B-15: Andris Biedrins

Yup.  Andris Biedrins appears to have made the leap this year.  He officially became fantasy-worthy two seasons ago, and last season became almost universally recognized as a player who must be rostered in any self-respecting fantasy hoops league.  Over those two seasons, he averaged right around 10p and 10r, with 1.5-2 blocks.  He also had stellar FG%, and lackluster FT%- around 60% in both categories.  He was a respectable second center on a fantasy squad, though your team was certainly suspect if he was the main guy in the middle.

B-15 has stepped it up through the first 3 weeks of this season, averaging close to 17p, 15r, 1s, and 1.7b.  He hasn’t missed on a double-double since March.  His percentages are becoming more significant, since he shoots more of both.  His FG% is down a bit, but still a net-plus on any roster- and it should rise from its current 53%, though probably not up to the 60% of previous years (his involvement in the offense has expanded from the days when all he did was throw down put-back jams.)  His FT% is a bit more of an anchor than previously, due to more attempts, but is nothing like the anchor of D-12 or Shaq in his prime.

In any case, folks,  B-15 has arrived.

Flambo

• Jason Terry:   60% FG, 100% FT, 1 3-Pointer made,  17 Pts., 1 Board, 3 Dimes, 4 Steals, 1 Block.

Mr. Terry is an 8-category contributor tonight, with half the game remaining.  Lights Out can defend his decision all he wants; I maintain, however, that he could desperately use a guy like Terry on his squad.  Furthermore, he secretly regrets this decision.

Maybe Terry was not a “system” player for him.  Maybe Terry didn’t fit into his “grand plans”.  When he lies awake at night, does Mr. Light ever realise that his grand plans need a shakeup?  For many years now, Mr. Light’s fantasy seasons have played out like the movie “Groundhog Day”;  a guaranteed declaration that “this is my year”, with each new season, is money in the bank.  The annual unfulfillment of this declaration is money in the bank also.  As is a laundry list of blunders, such as prematurely dropping the aforementioned Mr. Terry.

So I’m going to take a look at the first seven rounds of the TT draft and call out a steal and bust in each  round.  *Note that injuries will not factor into a bust determination.

Round 1:

Steal - Dwyane Wade (5th overall) - D-Wade is arguably the best player in fantasy right now.  CP3 and Lebron are great, but Wade is averaging a mind-boggling 26.2 points, 8.0 assists, 6.5 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 1.7 blocks on 48% shooting from the field.

Bust - Shawn Marion (10th overall)- it’s early but Marion doesn’t seem too motivated to get a new contract with pedestrian averages of 10.3 points and 8.5 boards.  The steals and blocks are nice, but where are the 15+ points and the threes?  Honorable mention - Kevin Garnett (9th overall) - averaging 14.6 points and 10.0 boards and Elton Brand (6th overall) only averaging 0.7 blocks.

Round 2:

Steal - Chris Bosh - only averaging 27 points and 11 boards with great percentages

Bust - Steve Nash - points (14.0), assists (8.3) and shot attempts (9.7) all down from last year.

Round 3:

Steal - Jose Calderon - might be the 2nd best PG behind Paul right now.

Bust - none right now

Round 4:

Steal - Pau Gasol - Bynum will eat into numbers but 20/15 from last night is a sign of good things to come.

Bust - Andre Iguodala - looks lost in Sixers offense.  Only averaging 11 points, 5.3 boards and 4.8 assists on 38% shooting from the field.

Round 5:

Steal - Chauncey Billups - there is no way that Mr. Big Shot should have fallen this far.   He’s a top 6 PG whether in Detroit or Denver.

Bust - Mehmut Okur - 3’s down from last year and only averaging 15 points as 2nd scoring option.  If he can’t average 18+ points now, what will happen will DWill comes back?

Round 6:

Steal - LaMarcus Aldridge - Averaging 19.3 points, 6.5 boards and 2.0 blocks.  Numbers might slip a bit when Oden comes back.

Bust - Ray Allen - too two-dimensional (3’s/points) to draft this high.

Round 7:

Steal - Stephen Jackson - the best player on a bad team is always good to have.  Averaging career highs in points (22.3 points) and assists (5.7).   Honorable Mention - Tony Parker.  Pre-injury TP was averaging a ridiculous 27.4 points and 5.8 assists.

Busts - Luol Deng - Point (13.3), boards (5.9) and FG% (39%) all down from last year.

Later this week I will look at some Round 8-13 steals (i.e Andris Biedrins) that are blowing up right now.

Lebron James (Yes We Can)
LBJ had a monster week, dropping 41 PTS on da Bulls not once, but twice in one week. In between these performances was a monster 27-8-9 performance. Undoubtedly the Stud of the Week.

Runners up:
Tony Parker (Cash Money) - Recipient of the Flambo “Gold Standard,” TP was on fire before he got hurt.
Amare Stoudemire (The Mighty) - Another co-recipient of the “Gold Standard” with a line that could possibly be the best of the year.

Scrub of the Week

Yao Ming (Cash Money) - Certainly not playing like a first rounder. Maybe he’s tired after a long summer. Maybe he’s playing hurt. Serious underperformance from Yao in Week 2.

Runners up:
JR Smith (Aerial Flambuoyance) - only 1 3FGM in the last three games (sans Iverson)
Shawn Marion (TME) - EJ went so far as to compare him to Udonis Haslem

Rookie of the Week

Marc Gasol (Lights Out!) - Gasol’s a BEAST. 27 PTS, 16REBS, 3 BLKS, 9-11 from both the field and the stripe against Golden State. Sleeper of the year candidate. Inconsistent, but not bad for a C off the waiver wire.

Runners up:
Michael Beasley (Aerial Flambuoyance)
Derrick Rose (The Mighty)

Matchup of the Week

TME vs McLovin - Despite admonishments to set his lineup, McLovin served up a Big n’ Tasty 6-2 to TME. Will EJ be able to overcome his squad’s myriad injuries?

Flambo

• My man, D. Williams is out for at least another 1-3 weeks, during which I will likely be punting assists anyway, and Parker is, at best, a second-tier PG in the assists department.  With D. Will down, the additional dead weight of the recently-beloved T. Parker will be tough to overcome, especially when his dimes will likely not matter.
• Parker’s teammate, Ginobli, is floating out there on many waiver wires, might come back sooner, and is by most accounts a better fantasy player (when healthy) anyway.
• The Spurs could be in serious trouble.  The West is ultra-competitive, and if the Spurs have, for argument’s sake, say a 5-20 record when he’s ready to return, how eager will they be to rush him?  Will there be trade speculation?  Maybe an attempt to overhaul the team, given their advanced years and fragility of their starting back-court?

Other observations:

• TME (aka “The Ego”) is in some early season trouble, especially if one is to believe TME’s very own Marion-Haslem comparison. D-Will’s out now for a longer period than originally thought.  Maggette’s out.  Camby’s struggling and limited, and his motivation, playing for the sorry-@ss Clippers organization might be questioned.  Harrington’s gone, although TME might regret this move if Harrington is traded to a team, like, maybe the Knicks?  Or the Raptors? (Maybe Nellie wants his chance to attempt an 11th-hour career revival on J. O’Neal. ) Finally, the ironically healthy T-Mac just excreted a beautiful line:  1-11 FG, 1 three, 3pts, 2 boards, 4 dimes, effort.
• The Show squad resembles a doormat right now.  Although it’s very early in the season, it’s hard to imagine that The Show, as presently constituted, will ever make much noise.  Arenas returning to health would certainly be helpful, but can that alone erase the hole that will be dug in his absence?  A. Parker, W. Chandler, and U. Haslem are all fine candidates for the 13th spot on a 13-man roster. M. Daniels is a caretaker at best.  We will see how this plays out.
• A. Biedrins is a monster out of the gate, appearing poised to make the jump to elite C status.  

As expected by those in the know, the Flambuoyant organization has hit the ground running.  Let’s move on to Week 3!

1. Injuries

2. Lack of Productivity

3. Decent productivity, but upside players are available on the waiver wire

4. Need to rotate roster spots to combat injuries

TME!!! has been forced to make some difficult decisions in Week 2 due to a roster that can’t get healthy. 2nd round pick, Deron Williams, is still out with an ankle injury. 3rd round pick, Marcus Camby (sore heel), is on a minutes restriction. Corey Maggette (hamstring) and Al Harrington (sore back, trade demands) are both out as well. Plus, my first round pick, Shawn Marion, is no better than Udonis Haslem right now. One of the keys in H2H leagues is to try to keep your head above water while your team deals with injuries or sub-par production. 4-4 ties or even 3-5 losses are OK as long as you stay around .500. Both The Show and The Dark Knight are in jeopardy of starting the season 4-12 and 2-14 respectively. That’s a tough hole to get out of in a league as competitive as ours. Sweeps are rare and even 6-2 victories are hard to come by. Tough decisions like dropping Gilbert Arenas or Monta Ellis will have to be made if these owners want to stay in the race.

TME!!! made a tough decision by dropping Manu Ginobili and an easier decision by parting with Al Harrington. Ginobili was a great value in the 12th round, but healthy players are paramount with injuries mounting. Harrington has upside, but is clearly in Don Nelson’s doghouse and won’t have value until traded. I’d rather have two starters playing 35+ minutes in the Warriors fantasy friendly offense than waiting for Ginobili to get healthy or Harrington’s back spasms to go away.

Good strategy or bad strategy? Only time will tell.

Lights Out!

For some historical reference, The Mighty was the first to win the league in back-to-back seasons, winning the title back in 2001 and 2002. Both titles occurred when we still used the rotisserie format, with Mighty staples such as John Stockton, Brevin Knight and Speedy Claxton. Since then, small ball has continued to be the defining strategy for Quinn, and this year is no exception.

Round 1, Pick 4: Amare Stoudemire
No surprises here. Amare has already set this year’s “gold standard” with a huge line a few nights ago. One of the elite four of this year’s draft.

Round 2, Pick 17: Josh Smith
The defensive stud of fantasy hoops. Smith alone can sometimes win the BLK category in a given week. No big scoring games this early in the season, but has been amazing in STL and BLK. Unfortunately, a high-ankle sprain has sent him to the bench for a few weeks. A solid pick, but some bad luck early on for Quinn.

Round 3, Pick 24: Jose Calderon
Showing his proclivity for PGs, Quinn went with Calderon in round 3. Though a little bit unproven, he has shown that when on the floor, he is a serious fantasy stud.

Round 4, Pick 37: Vince Carter
Playing out of Quinn’s native New Jersey, Vince gets the call in round 4. All alone now on the Nets, Vince could have a big year. Or he could sulk like he did in Toronto. Looking like the former in week 2.

Round 5, Pick 44: Chanucey Billups
What? Round 5 and only two PGs? But all things considered, a steal for Quinn at this point. Now playing for his hometown Nuggets, Billups could be even more of a steal.

Round 6, Pick 57: Mo Williams
Small ball lives. Mo played great last year until he got hurt. Now on the Cavs and getting to play with Lebron James as a SG, Mo should get a lot of looks from behind the arc. Assists may go down a little bit, but a good pick at 6.

Round 7, Pick 64: Greg Oden
This was a bit of a gamble, but with a base of Amare and Stoudemire, Quinn probably felt this year he could have some solid bigs to go with his guards. Unfortunately already injured, it still remains to be seen how good Oden really is.

Round 8, Pick 77: David Lee
I’m a big fan of David Lee, and I would have loved to get him around here. Unfortunately, hindsight is 20-20, and it looks like Lee is having trouble in D’Anotoni’s system, and has lost his starting spot and is back as sixth man. Regardless, I think Lee is a double-double machine with good percentages, and he’ll eventually come around.

Round 9, Pick 84: Derrick Rose
Gambling on a rooking with tremendous upside. Potential Rooking of the Year winner on a Chicago squad that seems to have lost its identity. Kirk Hinrich already getting injured probably won’t help Rose much, as he was already getting loads of PT. So far, looking like a good pick at 9.

Round 10, Pick 97: Chris Duhon
Another PG, now from his former hometown of New York. I don’t know much about Duhon, and would never draft him personally but a starting PG on a D’Antoni team should get stats. Moot point, however, as he has already been dropped.

Round 11, Pick 104: Thaddeus Young
Had a solid end of the season last year, and showing a lot of promise. I like this pick at 11, and there’s definitely upside here. Quinn was a little impatient and already dropped him, so now Young is wearing a Lights Out! uniform. Thanks, Quinn.

Round 12, Pick 117: Jameer Nelson
Another PG. Someone’s gotta throw the ball to Dwight, right? That was my logic two years ago, and I found that Nelson is extremely frustrating to own on a fantasy team. I don’t like him, and don’t like this pick, but it’s Round 12. He should have been dropped before Thaddeus Young.

Round 13, Pick 124: Jamario Moon
Skywalker Moon adds more blocks to this squad. Not much to say here for a last rounder other than he’s already been dropped.

Overall, I think Quinn really had a slightly different strategy this year. Securing a solid pick in Amare with the number 4 pick allowed Quinn to have a firm base in the big categories (REBS, BLK) and backing it up with Josh Smith means this squad won’t be a pushover in big categories, and Amare’s great FT% fits in with the other Gs. TME recently ranked this squad at the top of his Week 1 Power Rankings. Unfortunately, some players have already been hit with injury, but as long as nothing major happens, this is a team that should be competing in the playoffs.

What do you think?

Flambo

Update: Amare’s .810 FG%, 1.00 FT%, 49 pts, 11 boards, 6 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks, line from tonight, is probably the actual “gold standard” so far. Damn! But I chose to talk about Parker instead. So deal with it, Quinn.

Although I own Parker in another league, the often-bungling Black Fraze is this league’s owner, sporting the sheepish grin after this performance. Incidentally, Fraze has improbably assembled a decent-looking squad, maybe even a #4 or a #5 seed, the presence of Hinrich notwithstanding.

Other observations:

• the usually move-judicious Show squad is tied for the lead, with the judicious-to-the-point-of-lunacy Lights Out squad, with 5 roster moves after 8 days. I predict that Anthony Carter will be the next Lights Out roster casualty. While the Show may not have any obvious future roster casualties, he appears to have 6 or 7 players competing for the last 3 spots on the bench.
• TME injury update. Injury-prone Ginobli and Maggette are out. Camby has returned with limited effectiveness. D. Williams could return Friday. The Uber-Man of injury, Tracy McGrady, remains “healthy”, for now. TME’s amazing, near-miraculous run with injury-prone players two years ago, may have induced him to abandon logic, and conclude that “once you have one injury-prone player, might as well snatch up as many as you can”. We shall see how this plays out.
• L’il Nate went off tonight, doing almost all of his damage in the second quarter. 5 3’s, .75 FG%, 1.00 FT%, 24 pts., 3 boards, 5 dimes, 2 steals.