2016 is here! With the calendar flipped, we now get a better glimpse of the future. 10-day contracts are on the horizon, we’re going to see more D-Leguae call-ups… It’s a fun time for the deep dynasties! Well, for the teams with FAAB that is… We had a big shake-up up top with Slim having some tough injuries, but Kap remains our leader, somehow with all his FAAB. Doing some sort of Madoff money magic! Here’s how week 10 went down in the REL:
1. Kap’s Team (59-28-3)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: Boban Marjanovic ($0)
2. HateUsCauseTheyAnus (57-31-2)
FAAB Remaining: $54 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
3. Yappers (56-32-2)
FAAB Remaining: $49 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
4. Scurry to the Left (53-35-2)
FAAB Remaining: $98 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
5. JB Gilpin – Razzball (51-34-5)
FAAB Remaining: $1 FAAB Moves this week: Solomon Hill ($0)
Wooooo, nice to be back in the winning column 7-2-0 after my 4-week winning streak was snapped against that cheating #1 Kap’s Team. I had a huge lead in the counting stats early, so I tried to toe the line and bench several guys to chase TO. I couldn’t quite limit them to get an 8-1 win, but no complaints. My main complaint will be another rant on analyzing season-long stats/matchups against other teams in the same week – especially for a deep league like the REL with a lot of disparity between top and bottom teams. I benched about 30% of my games this week, and I think all my guards from Wed-Sun.
I get a little tougher matchup this week, but my few minor injuries seem to be clearing up and I’m healthy for my schedule-friendly 2nd half run. I lovvvvvvvvvvvve James Johnson, but back-to-back DNPs made him a cut. I really wanted Donald Sloan – hero of some early wins last year – but unsurprisingly the Larkin owner was able to snatch him up to lock down BKN PGs. Solomon Hill was a nice consolation as he’s playing decent lately, is still pretty young, and was usable for a long stretch as a starter last year. Rumor is he might be on the trading block, but maybe a rebuilding team gives up something small for him and features him. Nice final roster spot guy for now.
6. Martyball – IFBL (53-37-0)
FAAB Remaining: $83 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
7. Slim – Razzball (52-37-1)
FAAB Remaining: $9 FAAB Moves this week: Rashad Vaughn ($12)
If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all. As all the bad signs pointed to last Monday, I was out games played by ton and never stood a chance in the counting stats. Going over it would be mighty pointless, and since I’m starting to fall out of contention I think it’s time to look over my team and see how it stacks up for next year. Now I’ll still trade youth for aging vets but it would have to be for a blatant increase in production.
The guards on my team are almost all PG/SG eligible so I tend to keep them all in those two positions. From the top there’s Lillard 25-$36, Reggie 25-$14, Smart 21-$21, Beverley 27-$10, Burks 24-$8, Galloway 24-$1, and Tyus Jones 19-$1, a combined $91. Obviously the group hasn’t been close to healthy all year but once they are I should be able to finally compete in my two weakest (non-punting) categories: assists and steals. Their biggest advantages seem to be in 3PTM, FT%, Points, three categories I hope to win against the top competition (when at full strength). As for keepers, Beverley is probably the 1st out but at $10 and if he’s starting again next year, he will be tough to let walk. With the addition of Reggie, Smart becomes less of a guaranteed keeper. I put him up on the trade block but at 21 years old, a high draft pick, and a reasonable keeper price I would want something pretty good back. With that the keeper price of my guards is a range anywhere from $60-$90, kind of a lot really but they are always the hardest to find in both the draft and on the wire so it makes sense that they would be my most expensive group.
The wings, SF only, have gotten better recently. From the top we’ve got Hayward 25-$22, Marcus Morris 26-$1, Kobe 37-$15, Gerald Green 29-$7, and Ingles 28-$1, a combined $46. Ingles is just the Burks filler while he’s out but he isn’t getting the minutes I had hoped for and I’ll probably let him go soon. This group does a decent job with the assists but they best contribute in 3PTM, FT%, Points, and as a group they’re even solidly contributing in rebounds. As for keepers, it’s probably just going to be Hayward and Marcus at a cool $23, but hopefully I can find another $1 wing keeper somewhere down the line. Somewhere down the line apparently means today. Goodbye Ingles, Hello Rashad Vaughn 19-$1 (I know he’s only a SG but it fits better to talk about him here). I was absolutely shocked he was dropped, and I honestly didn’t think my $21 was going to be enough to get him. An unquestionable $1 keeper who’s playing some minutes now, on a team that’s going nowhere in a hurry, and the players ahead of him on the depth chart, Mayo, Bayless, Vasquez are all UFA. In other words, I’m feeling damn lucky this morning.
Finally the bigs, PF and C. From the top I’m working with Porzingis 20-$28, Nurkic 21-$16, Adams 22-$11, Sullinger 23-$5, Henson 25-$12, and Booker 27-$1, a combined $73. The bigs have been wildly inconsistent so far this year but considering the age and upside this group might just be my best down the road, then again any group with the Poison Goose would be most people’s best. Not sure where I would be without him. This group has somehow kept me near the top in both rebounding and blocks and they aren’t even close to hitting on all cylinders, but they have really fubar’d my FT% several times throughout the season so it isn’t entirely a positive. As for keepers Booker is obviously doubtful but Henson is the guy that’s most likely on the outside looking in. I’ve put him on the block a few times and no one seems to want him, but that’s fine since him and Geese can carry me past most teams in blocks by themselves. This group will have a cost of around $60-$70.
So far I’m looking at anywhere from $145 – $185 worth of 10-14 keepers. Ideally I would be looking at 4-5 open roster spots and about $40 to spend on them on draft day. I may have a few more moves before I can get there, but I think I’m close. I just need to hit on one or two young guys *cough* Tyus Jones *cough* Rashad Vaughn *cough* and I’ll be exactly where I want to be.
As for this week, I’m up against anther playoff caliber team who will more than likely beat me in games played. Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic but with a little luck I may actually be able to compete this week, a few injured players have started filtering back in after all. I just hope it’s the right kind of luck that I get.
8. Hardenoutherr4apimp (49-41-0)
FAAB Remaining: $82 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
9. I Ain’t No Jok(ic) (47-42-1)
FAAB Remaining: $60 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
I’ll try to keep this matchup recap brief since I’m sure Slim will get into it more, but, my team put together a very solid 8-1 victory against Slim last week. The loss knocked him from 3rd overall to outside the playoffs for the time being. You have to feel good about that, and my guys put up some killer numbers in nearly every category with only turnovers as a loss (which I punt anyway) and blocks as the only real close category. A special shout out to Jonas’s 3 blocks on Sunday, and of all people, Shaun Livingston with 2 blocks on Saturday for helping me win the category by exactly 2 blocks. Whew!
Despite the win there were still many issues with my team. I had my first two fully healthy days on the entire season so far on Monday and Tuesday, which is crazy, though Tuesday may have just seemed healthy since the guys who showed up injured on Wednesday had Tuesday off. No luck in the injury department, except for my trading of an (at the time) healthy DMo for an (at the time) injured Willie Cauley Stein. Which by the time Yahoo processed the trade turned into an injured DMo for a healthy WCS, so I guess I got lucky with injuries there. WCS is $20, whereas DMo is only $1 to keep, but I needed a center and like WCS’s upside in blocks, steals, boards and FG% to the point where I was in on the bidding to draft him. So I’ll pay the extra money, even though I still like DMo for next year. This year is another thing entirely for him though with how Houston is going.
Then there are the continuing rotation oddities with my team. Oladipo getting 14 minutes? Dennis Schroder getting back to back DNP-CD. WTF is that? Jokic starting but only getting 5 minutes? JaMychal Green playing under 10 minutes in back to back games after playing 27 the game before that?
Oh, and I’ll complain about this for the last time hopefully, but, of course Yahoo and the stupid IL screwing with me for another week. As they let me put Rose on the IL on Sunday night, but wouldn’t let me pick anybody up unless I dropped someone, despite having an open roster spot for Monday. Again, WTF? So this week I go up against the #1 team in the league and get to play with 16 players. Thanks Yahoo. If things break my way though I could see another upset to get me back into the playoff race. At least my schedule gets a little easier after this coming week.
10. Greek Freaks (46-43-1)
FAAB Remaining: $23 FAAB Moves this week: Ian Clark ($0)
11. Heat Apologist (45-44-1)
FAAB Remaining: $40 FAAB Moves this week: Donald Sloan ($11)
This felt like a fantasy football week. I had a really good week, put up nice counting stats, decent ratios, and lost 1-8. Just ran into a buzz-saw. I won what has been my weakest category thus far this season, taking rebounds by 52. Didn’t expect 25 rebounds from Norris Whiteside, I mean Cole. I had 140 assists and loss by 25. Who puts up 175 assists in this league? I knew I would take a hit in assists with moving Jackson for butler, but 140 still would have beaten a lot of teams. However, hopefully the assists take an up-turn with Larkin (hopefully) assuming the starting pg role. To hedge the bet, I acquired Sloan. Can’t hurt to own the pg position, even for a terrible team. I guess Lawson or Jennings could find there way to Crooklyn, but I don’t see them adding a 28 year old Lawson, though Jennings does worry me a bit. I was considering Vaughn and put in a decent bid on him, but Sloan was more valuable to my team. I could have dropped Plumlee, but I have an irrational idea that he’s good and will get traded. If he doesn’t move by the deadline, he will be replaced with ease. Losing Jefferson wasn’t nice, and Zeller hasn’t lit it up, but he has been serviceable. I go up against a wounded tiger in Slim this week. He’s the definition of walking wounded, but gets five from the über sexy, in a completely platonic stat filling way, Gordon Hayward. Hopefully, five from the Hood rat can counter act some of the scoring. Hard to feel good about a 1-8 thrashing, but I feel like I can compet most weeks, when healthy.
12. Hoopus Alleyoopus (42-46-2)
FAAB Remaining: $38 FAAB Moves this week: P.J. Hairston ($33)
13. Niko-Cola (42-46-2)
FAAB Remaining: $88 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Down Goes Frazier! Down Goes Frazier! Down Goes Frazier! Okay it was not exactly like that, but we were excited to take down the number one team. Two weeks ago we made a deal with ourselves. Looking at the schedule at the time we had the number 2 team followed by the top placed team. We were sitting in 15th place 9 spots out of the last playoff spot trying to come to grips on if we had a shot. We felt it was to early to know for sure. We decided that we had to go 8-10 over the next two weeks against the two top teams or we didn’t have a shot for 2 reasons. One crippling defeats would have put us way out of the playoff race and two we are going to have to beat top teams come playoff time so if we are getting blown out, making the playoffs would not end well. We have never been the type to stop and rebuild so we were dreading the prospects of that. We are ecstatic with our combined 12-6 the last two weeks. We are not your average 13th placed team!!!!
Against the league we did very well also. Ranking as a top 3 team in 5 statistical categories and 5th in two others. Not a perfect measure, but it lets us know we can compete with any team any week. We also made a move at the very end of last week. We shipped off the young Bebe Nogueira for the service of the veteran David Lee. Pretty sexy I know. We are literally just hoping Lee can keep around 15 minutes a game, contribute more than Nog which was zero and who knows come trade deadline time more minutes could open up if he is traded or if the Celtics trade other big men.
We have also updated our trading block putting Lance Thomas, TJ McConnell and Omer Asik up. Thomas is probably the most desirable but he is very redundant for our teams. We have 7 total SG and 8 total SF another PG or C could really help the team out.
Week 11 brings us 16th ranked The Nature Boy who we would have beat 7-2 last week. This is the point in our schedule that should ease up a bit and allow us to pick up some ground on 6th place. We hope everyone’s New Year has started great and good luck to all of the teams this week.
14. High as Greg Kite (41-47-2)
FAAB Remaining: $66 FAAB Moves this week: Wesley Johnson ($17)
15. Foreign Affairs (40-50-0)
FAAB Remaining: $91 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Well I expected a beat down and got it going 2-7 almost going 1-8 with turnovers safe thanks to an injured Mudiay not there to kill that. Not even some unexpected big games out of Rivers could make a dent. This week I go against No Love No Glove in what should be a more competitive match.
The big news for my team is the two recent trades I’ve made shipping out Big Willy($20) for Donatas oh my back ($1) and David F*** this im done with you Lee ( a Disastrous $10) for Lucas Nogueira ($1). Willy was tough to part with but I felt that Donatas was an excellent buy low as I fell like his poor start is all about that back and that he’ll recover from that this season and has a chance next season to continue off his strong second half last year, especially given the Dwight situation and the chance the rockets just let him go to greener pastures. Im not worried about his back since Sully recovered fine from that and hes young still. I feel like im also selling high on Willy while I still have the chance at $20 he doesn’t feel worth it and with Omri’s quality play at pf and Gay able to slide and Kosta things aren’t looking good for him to build enough value to justify that cost to keep him going forward especially for me who wants as much money free as possible (without gutting my quality keepers) going into next years draft. As for Lee…..what a disaster draft pick he has been, I just ran out of patience with him even if he could be traded this year and maybe suddenly get some quality value back I just don’t care to wait around hoping for that, Lucas is cheap at $1 and hopefully a summer league performance or trade to some team with an opening could lead to him building up some value and hype going into next years pre draft trade window.
I missed out on Boban by changing my bid back to 0 this morning from $2, kicking myself now for that shouldn’t have been so stingy with the cash. Austin’s two outbursts have me all excited hoping that maybe he can build on that and look like hes a potential 6th man atleast but he’s abit of a chucker who looks to have just gotten hot like he did a few times last playoffs so i remain skeptical.
But hey I need to cheer myself up somehow with Clarksons great three game stretch being rewarded with Scott saying he should go to the bench……F*********** he really is the Tank commander isn’t he.
16. The Nature Boy (37-52-1)
FAAB Remaining: $80 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
17. The Chosen Ones (33-57-0)
FAAB Remaining: $16 FAAB Moves this week: E’Twaun Moore ($2)
18. Pete Nice – Razzball (31-58-1)
FAAB Remaining: $83 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
19. No Glove No Love (27-63-0)
FAAB Remaining: $67 FAAB Moves this week: Jeff Withey ($27), Kirk Hinrich ($0), Anthony Brown ($0)
20. Cigar Smoking Monkey (26-64-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
