Through another All-Star Break shortened week, and Martyball and the BassetHounds don’t wanna be separated! Both with 5-4 wins to remain tied for the #1 seed, while the race for that 6th playoff spot heats up. We had one of the hottest weeks on the wire post-trade deadline with some owners making it rain with their FAAB, and here’s how the rest of week 17 went down in the REL:
1. Barking BassetHounds (104-45-4)
FAAB Remaining: $27 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
First the good news. The trading deadline was probably a net plus for Barking Bassett hounds. My big trade deadline winner is Danilo Gallinari who is now starting. We shall see, but if he emerges as a solid contributor along side of Wes Matthews, Kevin Martin, and even CJ Miles that would be huge. The other good news is that my point guards Deron Williams and Jeremy Lin are slowly inching back towards fantasy relevance. Now maybe they will not meet my preseason expectations, but I at least have hopes of decent contributions along side of my main PG Teague and Lowry.
Now the bad news. My $5 Jared Sullivan is gone for this year. Now what to do? Well I am not going to panic and accept $.20 on the dollar. At $5 he will be a cheap foundation of any team for many years into the future, and in a dynasty league has great value injury notwithstanding.. Could I trade him? Well maybe, but probably not. I still expect to finish in the top two and H2H playoffs are just too fluky to sacrifice the future too much for. But who knows..am still mulling this over.
Anyway, completed the “other playoff teams” part of the schedule with a 5-4 victory over Kap’s Team. Small sample size alert. Suggestion to Yahoo: make the two weeks surrounding the all star break one fantasy week. As expected I lost my bid for Isaac Canaan this week. One lesson learned for this year: I will not blow a sizeable part of my FAAB too early, because chances are the guy you spend big early on will flame out.
2. Martyball – IFBL (105-46-2)
FAAB Remaining: $14 FAAB Moves this week: Isaiah Canaan ($51)
3. Slim – Razzball (96-56-1)
FAAB Remaining: $11 FAAB Moves this week: Archie Goodwin ($9)
There comes a time in all of our lives when a life or death decision has to be made. Perhaps that is a bit hyperbolic when talking about fantasy basketball but with OKC bringing in Enes Kanter the death knell for Nick Collison left a loud, sharp ringing in my ears that still hasn’t subsided. Granted he was just Steven Adams insurance but he was also my only bench PF so letting him walk wasn’t as easy as it should have been, but entirely necessary. OKC wasn’t the only team who made major roster moves though and from the ashes of the burnt Collison effigy, yes I conflagrate a life-size model of every player when I drop them, rose the flaming Phoenix (+1 pun point!) that is Archie Goodwin.
We are all well aware that the Suns traded 2/3 of their back-court and the only guard they received back was the expiring contract of Marcus Thornton. Suns management made it very clear to teams who asked that the 20 year old Archie wasn’t available for trades and that they see him as a cornerstone of their franchise. Granted Gerald Green should be the main benefactor right away but he too will be an unrestricted free agent next year, also the newly acquired Brandon Knight is a RFA and should get big offers from multiple suitors. With that said it appears Archie is well on his way to finally finding playing time… next year. For this year however we’re back to that life or death question – play for now or play for tomorrow? Considering the #2 team just lost Bosh, the #4 team is without Durant, and the #5 team just lost Melo I probably should be playing for right now. To a degree I am but the opportunity for a $1 keeper with unlimited potential was just too good to pass up. All that’s left to do now is hope and pray Archie can keep his role in the rotation for the rest of the year. I imagine Betty or Veronica might throw me a buy low offer before the trade deadline but me and my new ginger BFF have just started our love affair and it’s going to take much more than a couple of burgers and a whoopee cap to pry him from my grasp.
4. Scurry to the Left (92-59-2)
FAAB Remaining: $68 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
5. Kap’s Team (85-65-3)
FAAB Remaining: $35 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
6. Breaking Batum (81-71-1)
FAAB Remaining: $30 FAAB Moves this week: Caron Butler ($6)
That could have gone worse. We managed a 4-5 loss to the top team in the league, on a shortened week. However, after diving into the numbers, we would’ve beaten 17/19 teams, 11/19 by more than 5-4. So it could have gone better. We still hold a narrow 3 game lead over JB, with both of us facing 3 teams currently ranked 10 or less. Should be a fun race!
I wish more people had paid attention to FAAB last week, because maybe we could have been outbid for Toney Douglas. That was a wasted $9, since he never played a game for us. Oh well, maybe the aging Caron Butler can do something for us.
Looks like we are in it for this year, so any REL people that have guys who you aren’t planning on keeping, send us an offer. Mirotic is our only “untouchable”, anyone else is fair game.
7. JB Gilpin – Razzball (78-73-2)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Wooooo, wow if you had told me two months ago that with 3 regular season weeks left I’d be above .500 and only 2.5 games out of a playoff spot, I would’ve kissed you right on the *@&%.
I certainly don’t feel great about my team, but a nice 6-3 win last week losing the %s and TO. Frustrating that I keep losing FT% even though on paper I have a great FT build, and I was winning FG% until my opponent’s final two guys played – Tyler Z and Boston Clam Crowder going 12-22 from the field. Just awesome to see those guys have the Lakers on a shortened week’s Sunday…
I thought PG was going to become a strength for my team, but assists look like they’ll be a tough win against the top teams even with Rubio flashing a 14 over the weekend. I’m still excited for Knight in Phoenix, but he likely loses and assist or two per. But Ibaka/Whiteside is looking like an unstoppable twin tower combo and I don’t have any non-PG high-TO guys. If I do squeak into the playoffs, I think I could compete in FT%/3s/Pts/Reb/Stl/Blk/TO and be a tough one to top in those cats. Just gotta keep the hot streak going in the easy stretch of my sched.
So it’s always good to see your former players get mad FAAB dropped on em. I drafted Canaan for a measly $1 on draft day, but obviously never would’ve seen a trade and starting role. And I held Archie G all last year only to see the Suns go further G heavy before thinning it out on the trade deadline. Oh well… No adds for me this week – I had bids on a few guys that went but I’m not surprised I missed any of em. Besides, Jakarr Sampson is probably my last out and make a big statement yesterday to stay in the rotation. Sucks to see O’Quinn stuck in DNPs now – I have to hold his mix of FT%/3s/Stl/Blk and hope he gets into a good situation next year. My team is better than last year, but that trade has still been horrific. Nice work Mr. Green.
8. Pete Nice – Razzball (77-75-1)
FAAB Remaining: $17 FAAB Moves this week: Ish Smith ($7), Joey Dorsey ($1)
9. Hoopus Alleyoopus (77-75-1)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: Leandro Barbosa ($0)
10. Youth Movement (75-75-3)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: Tyler Ennis ($5)
It’s a good thing I wasn’t playing for this year, because two shortened weeks with half my team injured would have killed me. Injuries to Collison, Harris, Olynyk, parsons, and a few mixed games by other players highlighted my last two weeks. The good news is Reggie Jackson now has a chance to showcase his talent to earn that big contract. If he doesn’t sign with the Pistons, Dinwiddie’s spot start looks very promising with a 12/3/9/3/0 line. I did get hurt with the trading deadline with McDaniels and Singler being traded to backup roles, though Singler looks like he will start for awhile, while (stutterer) Durant is out. I was fortunate to profit on Augustin while he was a top 10 point guard, though Parsons’ back does worry me long term. Finally, I reunited Tyler with his long lost brother James Ennis. Tyler, the smaller Ennis, I see having some nice defensive upside, and will be playing behind the Cal Ripken of basketball, MCW. While big brother James appears to be in line for more minutes with Bosh’s condition. Hopefully he can solidify a role for the future.
11. Team Tough Guy Town (73-75-5)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
12. ChazTop–KevinBottom (72-78-3)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
13. The Nature Boy (73-79-1)
FAAB Remaining: $53 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
14. Mr. Green – Nowhere (67-82-4)
FAAB Remaining: $3 FAAB Moves this week: Joffrey Lauvergne ($5)
Another week, another victory; Over a top 10 team no less….again. It really is a tale of two seasons for me. The first ten weeks my team is riddled with injuries, and facing most of the top teams. Not surprisingly my guys went 28-60 over that stretch. Wow, that’s really, really BAD isn’t it?! In the seven weeks since then my team has gotten healthy, exchanged guys like Josh Smith, Tony Wroten, Trey Burke, and Kyle O’Quinn for Victor Oladipo, Khris Middleton, DeMarre Carroll, and Aaron Gordon. All while spending basically the same amount of money. They’ve also gone 39-22 over that seven week period. That’s pretty close to a complete turnaround there.
Now to a very busy post NBA trade deadline waiver period. Shockingly I missed out on Isaiah Canaan. I know eh? I thought for sure my $8 bid would be enough. Well actually, if I’m telling the truth instead of living in a dream world, I figured he’d go for $50+ and it turns out I was right. $51 seems about right. I did manage to get my paws on, [goes to the interwebs and checks spelling], Joffrey Lauvergne. Yep. I even managed to watch him play a bit on Sunday night, although I’ll admit I already had him as my #2 FAAB target prior to ever seeing him play. Turns out I bid just the right amount since there was actually another owner in on him. Sorry Slim! The other two I was looking at were consolation prizes, though Tyler Ennis did interest me since I can’t for the life of me seem to find a decent young PG to add. Dropping Dinwiddie early on and missing out on Clarkson later are hurting right now. Looks like I’ll be point guard heavy at the draft next year, which is fine.
My goal for the season is to continue to win the last three weeks, and perhaps sneak into a top 10 spot to end the season. After my 20th place first half I think that would be quite the accomplishment.
15. SethDaSportsMan (65-88-0)
FAAB Remaining: $14 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
16. Ben – RotoGold (64-88-1)
FAAB Remaining: $50 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
17. High as Greg Kite (61-90-2)
FAAB Remaining: $1 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
18. Like A Josh – IFBL (58-92-3)
FAAB Remaining: $85 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
19. Cigar Smoking Monkey (58-94-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
20. The Struggle is Real (49-104-0)
FAAB Remaining: $72 FAAB Moves this week: Jason Richardson ($7), Josh McRoberts ($6)
