With a 7-2 win this past week against our own Pete Nice, Martyball has surged into the #1 spot of the REL. With a team full of producers with little extra fat, he’s got the driver’s seat, the catbird perch, the eye of the beholder on the REL leaderboard. I think I made some of those sayings up… It was another big week in the REL, as the top 5 continue to get stronger, with a huge gap to #6. Classist league! I thought we were done with the caste system… Here’s how everyone is thinking about their teams, and good luck to your deep dynasties!
1. Martyball – IFBL (32-11-2)
FAAB Remaining: $80 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
2. Curry burns my ass!! (31-13-1)
FAAB Remaining: $76 FAAB Moves this week: Alexey Shved ($11)
Looks like my magic ran out… first weekly loss of the season. Lost points by 22, and blocks by 4, though I did luck into two missed games by Boogie. I ran into a team that put up some big counting stats, going 511/261/142/43/33, and I managed to win the ratios, 3ptm and TO. Some breakout performances by KJ McDaniels and Cody Zeller and continued solid contributions from Biyombo, Lavoy Allen, Solomon Hill and Kyle Singler, paired with continued awesomeness from Curry helped me to a week worthy of a sister kiss. I’m still floating trade offers both ways, both giving up some of my young talent and by trying to trade off some veterans. I went back and forth on my waivers, deciding to get into a bidding war for a backup point guard, rather than pick up a youngster with questionable (if any) playing time. I enjoyed my short reign at the top.
3. Scurry to the Left (30-14-1)
FAAB Remaining: $98 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
4. Barking BassetHounds (30-14-1)
FAAB Remaining: $74 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Hohum. Shooting was a little off last week as Barking BassettHounds for the first time this week lost both ratios en route to a narrow 5-4 victory. That will happen some weeks, but hopefully not during the playoffs.
On the good side, my $1 man CJ Miles returned from injury last week and averaged about 19 minutes per game. His FG% still sucks, but I think in the long run these things normalize towards career averages. I like the idea of a $1 Thragnoff dude getting at least 18-20 minutes per game off my bench and I hope that CJ will eventually fill this role nicely. Another item on the positive side is that Danillo Gallinari’s minutes have been inching up towards 25-26 per game and I am becoming increasingly optimistic he will become an $11 bargain. I have learned that in a league 340 players deep that patience is a virtue.
On the negative side, Nene Hilario is now sidelined with plantar fascitis, which from my experience is not good. Although it is early, he is looking like a $9 auction day mistake. Not a biggie though.
I was very tempted to enter the bidding for Isaiah Canaan as he fits the profile of a $1 player I very much like (I would have won btw) but held back because I did not have an obvious drop. I might not enter the FAAB market again unless a player I am planning to drop at years end (at this point there are about 4 or 5) suffers a season ending injury (in which case somebody else gets a $1 bargain). But I might change my mind on this.
5. Breaking Batum (30-14-1)
FAAB Remaining: $67 FAAB Moves this week: Jonas Jerebko ($0)
This week didn’t go quite as well for us as last week did. We were able to pull out a 5-4 victory, but just barely. Our opponent, Mr Green, is playing for next year. He had expressed interest in Aaron Gordon before our matchup started, but wanted to wait until after to make a deal so as to not give us an advantage. We restarted negotiations on Friday. After some back and forth, our deal ended up being Burke for Gordon. Had we made the deal before the week started, we would’ve won 6-2-1, so good call by you Mr Green. As far as the deal goes, we had a need at PG, and Gordon isn’t likely to play again for months, if at all this season. We were hoping to address our other need at PF/C as well, but ultimately this worked for both teams. Hopefully Burke can keep improving and earn his $17 keeper value.
We are pretty happy with our team going forward. Collison’s minutes (and production) were down, so we had to let him go. After the big spend on Harris, we didn’t want to spend much FAAB on the hot pickups of the week, so we settled on Jerebko. If he can get more minutes, maybe he will turn into something good. Otherwise, we are still on the lookout for another PF or C to round out the roster.
6. SethDaSportsMan (26-19-0)
FAAB Remaining: $48 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
7. The Nature Boy (26-19-0)
FAAB Remaining: $88 FAAB Moves this week: Isaiah Canaan ($12)
8. Kap’s Team (25-19-1)
FAAB Remaining: $99 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Back and forth much of the week, I ended up beating Team Tough Guy Town 6-3 to move into 8th place. Filling in for injured players, I got a couple surprisingly solid spot starts from Jason Terry, Luis Scola, and Tristan Thompson that helped me overcome missed games from Carmelo Anthony and Taj Gibson. I made waiver claims for Tarik Black and Alexey Shved, but was outbid on both claims. Black and Shved should see increased playing time this week with injuries to Dwight Howard and Tony Wroten.
9. JB Gilpin – Razzball (25-20-0)
FAAB Remaining: $42 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Yikes, an absolute nail-biter of a 5-4 win over Hoopus Alleyoopus, as I was down 3-6 heading into Sunday. Luckily 11 steals from 7 players won me the category by a single swipe, but even my 7 guys putting up 90 points vs. his 9 for 68 wasn’t quite enough to win points, losing 527-521 – a category I had taken over until Mo Friggin’ Williams puts up 21. Ugh. Threes was a narrow win as well, as were TO barely eeking out 6 fewer. My team is starting to look like an absolute ratios killer, as FG% and FT% are likely losses most weeks. What I get for trading for Josh Smith! But the ratios were probably lost anyway – I was way behind in both – and Smoove’s unreal 35 dimes (won Ast by 15) and 8 steals this past week won two categories for me. Why I felt I needed to trade for him, without my binky Rubio.
I’m already looking ahead to my ROS schedule, and I play above .500 teams the next four weeks. As long as I tread water and can survive with a .500-ish record through that stretch, I get Rubio back plus play a string of weaker opponents as the calendar turns. This week will be a tough test against Scurry to the Left, but I would’ve beat them 5-4 last week, losing by a single block and 7 dimes as well. So I think my guys should be solid. It hurts MKG is likely out a few more weeks, but he’s too young to drop in this league and the Hornets need solid F minutes in the worst way once he can get healthy.
I’m thinking I’ve played this year a little too fast and loose with add/drops, as both big FAAB adds this week, Canaan and Shved, used to be on my team… Whoops! Shved was hurt, but getting run now with Wroten on the shelf, and Canaan is hurt himself, so neither backup PG is too big a deal for me to see scooped up. I was in on the Shved bidding, as well as for Pondexter, but only with marginal bids dropping Seraphin, who should still play some this week. After dropping so much of my FAAB to be sure to get Snell, it’s good I try to stay quiet with my money until there’s another big name I like.
10. Slim – Razzball (24-20-1)
FAAB Remaining: $83 FAAB Moves this week: Tarik Black ($3), Quincy Pondexter ($2)
That win could have easily been a loss but a little late Sunday night fireworks from Terrence Ross and I win FG% by .002. I needed assists and with Amir Johnson doling out 4 Sunday night I win that category by 2. More importantly though. Why did I lose 3 categories? TOs I lose by 12 but since I played more minutes overall that one makes sense. I lose blocks by 3 and with a further glance I see Harden had 7 blocks this week. FT%, which is supposed to be a strength, my opponent shot .853 so I never really stood a chance. The win puts me back into the top half of the league, remember when I was dead last? Right…
I’m having a heck of a time trying to decide if I can make a run at the title… again. I decided to let Cleanthony Early and Jordan Clarkson go, two guys whose games I think will play just fine at this level, for a pair of guys getting minutes now. What helped make these two guys expendable was because I believe there is no less than 6 high upside free agents who seem to keep falling through the cracks. I’ve had a backup bid for Tarik Black pretty much every week so far and in a slow week for moves and with me badly needing another big the move was an easy one to make. As for my other move, Quincy Pondexter, no one really wants the guy who might just be the worst per minute performer in the entire league but if he just goes 6/2/2 with a 3 then he’s going to be helpful.
The cherry on top this week came in the form of a returning Rodney Hood. With him returning and Early and Clarkson leaving I’m left with just Jusef Nurkic as my only player without a spot in the rotation. Sure Beverley is still down but I think he’s going to be fine when healthy. Amir Johnson may never again be healthy but as long a he can play through his most recent injury then very soon I’ll be dangerously close to full strength.
11. Hoopus Alleyoopus (23-22-0)
FAAB Remaining: $82 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
12. Ben – RotoGold (20-24-1)
FAAB Remaining: $50 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
13. Team Tough Guy Town (18-26-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
14. ChazTop–KevinBottom (18-27-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
15. High as Greg Kite (17-27-1)
FAAB Remaining: $38 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
16. Cigar Smoking Monkey (15-29-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
17. Like A Josh – IFBL (15-30-0)
FAAB Remaining: $85 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
18. Pete Nice – Razzball (14-31-0)
FAAB Remaining: $95 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
19. Mr. Green – Nowhere (12-31-2)
FAAB Remaining: $63 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
20. The Struggle is Real (12-33-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
