The Razzball Elite League is back! Well, of course it is… The season has started… Worst open ever!
We’re now into year 2 of the REL league, which we launched as a barometer of true will, true stamina, and sticking with true scrubbiness from your final roster spots. It’s a 20-team league filled with your Razzball writers and Razzball readers, and with extended rosters (12 starters + 6 bench players), making 360 players owned. Thins out quicker than Miley Cyrus on a coke binge! Draft was held as a standard $200 auction, with the league a true dynasty – keep players at their drafted price for however long you want. All pickups are made through a weekly FAAB ($100 budget – and all FA adds through the year can be $1 keepers for life) and past that, it’s your standard daily 9-cat H2H.
So why recap this league with such fervent vigor?! Well, for one it’s a true testament to the deepest of knowledge and strategy, so I have no qualms in celebrating Slim was last year’s champ. Huzzah! (I hate you) And for two, you can follow the FAAB bids for pickups to get an idea of who is buzzy in the deeper leagues, and maybe get a step up on your competish even in standard leagues for off-the-radar pickups trending upwards.
Here’s how the first week played out (view the REL here):
1. Martyball – IFBL (7-1-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
2. Curry burns my ass!! (7-2-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Can we just start the playoffs now? In what will surely be my best week of the season, I went 7-2 versus a ghostship. I managed to pull out blocks with three on Sunday from Nik Stauskas. I remember thinking draft night… I need blocks, who should I get… Oh, how about Nik Stauskus… said no one ever. After leaving a lot of money on the table draft night, in part from getting too many value picks, I decided not to bid aggressively the first week. The best option I saw was the human Pap smear, but I need another wing like I need another white big man (I’m looking at you Anderson, Leuer, Zeller, and Olynyk). I’m looking forward to a fun season.
3. Breaking Batum (6-2-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
We are excited to be back in REL after a disappointing end to last year. After being in 5th-6th place all year, Slim caught fire and knocked us out of the final playoff spot. As disappointing as that was, we felt that we were in a good spot heading into the draft. With one of the top budgets to spend, and only 10 players to buy, we had it all mapped out. Then the actual draft happened. We were shocked to get Rose for $35 (but as he’s hurt already maybe we shouldn’t have been). Batum went for higher than anticipated, but we still saved $2 over last year. Several players we wanted in the $15-25 range went for $30+, so we couldn’t afford them. So rather than end up with 2-3 $1 players as was the original plan, we went for depth and mapped out several $3-11 players that we wanted. We even got high upside rookies out of it in Aaron Gordon for $15 and Nikola Mirotic for $5.
We finished the first week at 6-2-1, so we are starting the year out right in 3rd place. Breaking Batum would’ve beaten or tied 15/19 of the other teams this week, and we finished in the top 10 in all but two categories.
The first FAAB bidding went about as expected. WAY more than we wanted to spend. There may be a gem or 2 in the bunch, but if it goes like last year, who knows. Hopefully being conservative this week will pay off down the road.
Good luck to everyone this year!
4. Hoopus Alleyoopus (6-3-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Going into the auction, I had $71 and needed to replace Kemba Walker, and 6 other guys who rarely ever played that were auto-drafted for me in last year’s marathon of an auction. I wanted to spend around $25 each on a big and a point guard. I would then spend the rest on draft picks. I kept 6 grizzled vets for a total of $26, so I thought it would be smart to get some cheap, young guys as upside plays for the future of my team. I ended up jumping into the bidding for Kyrie Irving and unexpectedly landed him for $43. That scuttled my plans for another big, but I love Kyrie for that price, especially after seeing the prices that the other PGs went for. While he might have a diminished role on the new Cavs, it will grow as LeBron ages and at 22 he still has room for improvement. I got 4 rookies that I like all for under $8, which I am happy with for the long term. Then, since I am from ‘Sota, I went with the homer pick of Kevin Garnett as one of my last pickups. Feels good to have Da Kid on my squad. I probably wasn’t going to get anyone good for $4 anyway.
Looking at the contenders last year, a big key to winning in a league this deep is having contributors in all of your roster spots. The 4 rookies I selected have played a total of 5 minutes through the first week, so I do not have that at this point. I might have hurt my hopes for success this season, but it looks like I won the first week 6-3, so I will give it some time before re-evaluating my team.
5. Scurry to the Left (6-3-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
6. Barking BassetHounds (6-3-0)
FAAB Remaining: $74 FAAB Moves this week: Kostas Papanikolaou ($26)
The quest for the REL crown begins anew. Runner up Barking BassetHounds (named in honor of my companion Lucy) hopes we are well positioned to contend again this year, and with a little luck and good health at our backs we can maybe take home the crown.
The first order of business in this league was to make cuts from last year’s squad in preparation for the auction. There were seven players on the cusp, but in the end I settled on five. Gone are Nikola Pekovic ($23 – wanted a center who blocks and has a better health record), Tony Parker ($22 – wanted to upgrade 2nd point guard). Anderson Varejao ($11 – see Slim’s playoff schedule column and health concerns), Jarrett Jack (felt I could get a backup PG for less than $12), and Chris Douglas-Roberts ($1 – meh). Spared this year were J.R. Smith and Carlos Boozer, each for $12.
These cuts left me $85 to distribute between 5 players. My thoughts entering the auction (by looking at supply and demand) were that the best values would most likely be at the front end of the auction. My thoughts going in were to pick up a center and PG (Favors and Teague were my targets) for about $65, a second big for about $14 (hopefully Taj Gibson), a backup PG for about $5, and a random $1 player. However, these plans were not cast in stone, and when Deron Williams became available for $20, I grabbed him. My next priority was my PF-C, but when bidding for Derrick Favors got into the $40s, I backed out. My plan B was Pau Gasol, and I was delighted to add him for $20. This left $45 dollars left to spend for three players, more than enough to pick up the last remaining PG in this tier, Jeff Teague at $32, maybe a slight overpay but whatever. That left $13 dollars left with a 2nd center my final priority. By the time my second nomination came around, I was not confident I could snag Taj Gibson for $12, so I opted instead for plan B, Nene Hilario whom I added for $9. For my final pick I became tired and/or lazy and picked up Andrei Kirilenko, a pick I came to quickly hate, and one that I swapped out for Kostas Papanikolau with $26 of FAAB (yes a slight overpay, but I have only one position I hope to use FAAB money for so hey). I want my 17th roster spot to at least have $1 keeper potential, and maybe I have that with Kostas. Time will tell.
Looking at my current roster, I feel I met three of four objectives at the auction by improving PG, blocks, and FT%. However, I did not meet the objective of getting younger, even with Kostas added. That will have to wait until next year. Oh yes and I won my first matchup 6-3 by losing my punt turnovers category, splitting the ratios, losing threes and winning the remaining counting stats. If this becomes a theme this year I will be a happy camper.
7. JB Gilpin – Razzball (5-4-0)
FAAB Remaining: $91 FAAB Moves this week: Alexey Shved ($5), Iam Mahinmi ($3), Tyler Hansbrough ($1)
The REL is the epitome of why I love fantasy basketball. While what happened following the only stat up for grabs through Sunday could’ve happened in any league, it was still probably my favorite week 1 I’ve ever followed. Up 6-3 with a narrow .414 FG% lead over .411, Mr. Green’s DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas gave him a big FG advantage. So I was forced to put in MKG (3-4 FG before getting hurt), then LaMarcus Aldridge for the late game. After LA started 1-6 then 3-11 or something like that, went on a tear in the 4th going 6-6 down the stretch. FG% was TIED at .423, but I had the star meaning by the ten-thousandths I had the lead. Then on the penultimate Blazers possession, it was a broken play and to beat the shot clock, Aldridge was forced to take a 3 and airballs it, losing me FG% on the last shot of the week. You couldn’t make up a better story, as GSW shot free throws and the Blazers never got up another shot, turning it over on the next inbounds. While it cost me the category – absolutely awesome.
I’ve recapped my REL draft with Slim on the Pod last week, so I won’t double dip there. I crushed in 3s/Pts/Reb/Ast in week 1, won FT% even though I was meh, but lost in that FG% battle and Stl/Blk/TO. Steals I think was a little flukey since I have fantastic PG depth, so sadly Ian Mahinmi was my #1 FAAB target, even though I knew I could get him cheap. Last year, I spent way too heavily early on in the FAAB market, overestimating the early pickup market. I had bids on the big buys (Roberson, Dr. Pap), but not nearly enough, semi-expecting that. Hats off to last year’s RCL winner High as Greg Kite, as Malcolm Thomas was a big target of mine, and we both bid $5 – damn that waiver priority! So Shved joins my PG depth, and since I was conservative yet wanted to replace my 3 zeros on my team, Hansbrough was a backupbackupbackup $1 bid. Nice to see the REL FAAB be a lot more aggressive this first week, and I’m happy to get 3 guys getting minutes for $9 early on. Dropping Jeremy Lamb was tough because that $4 buy on auction day was one of my favorites, but this back injury is likely to drag on at least a couple more weeks.
8. The Nature Boy (5-4-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: P.J. Hairston ($0)
9. High as Greg Kite (5-4-0)
FAAB Remaining: $86 FAAB Moves this week: Malcolm Thomas ($5), Chris Johnson ($3), Drew Gooden ($3), Sebastian Telfair ($3)
I entered my inaugural REL draft with two strategies in mind:
1 – Get either LeBron (if less than $75) or Harden (if less than $65) and play for this year; or
2 – Tank it, draft Paul George and every rookie I could buy.
While LeBron went for $77 (I bid him up to $75), I won Harden at $55 and tried to piece together the best squad I could from there. With my remaining funds, I focused on getting one board/blocks guy and another quality PG. Ended up with Hibbert and T Parker- kind of ehhh. Depth is an issue too. Outside of Harden, Richard Jefferson is my only SF. Seriously… this is why you don’t drink and draft. At the end of the day, I have a very solid core (Harden, M Conley, Parker, M Gasol, Hibbert), but unless I can make some serious acquisitions through free agency, I’m going to flutter in the middle of the pack.
10. ChazTop–KevinBottom (5-4-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
11. Mr. Green – Nowhere (4-5-0)
FAAB Remaining: $68 FAAB Moves this week: Andre Roberson ($32)
Its good to finally have basketball back!
After doing a thorough review of my keepers from last season it was pretty easy to see what was missing. While dealing Harden last year for DeRozan and cap space was necessary, it did leave me in a bit of a situation. My keepers included about 10 guys you could consider top 200, and I’d say 4 or 5 you could peg as top 100. In a 20 team league that should be okay. The cream of the crop was probably DeRozan and Noel, which is where the problem lies. They’re both good, but at this point, no better than top 40. So, what was missing was clearly a top 20 talent.
Unfortunately after the $74 Harden experiment last year, the question was how to get a top 20 talent without spending $40 or more. That was gonna be tough. The plan going into the draft was gonna take it even farther. My plan was that the most expensive player on my team this year was already on my roster predraft, a $29 Jonas Valanciunas. So the draft goal was get a top 20 talent for under $30. Preferably a young guy too, just to make it more difficult. Hmmm.
Seeing everyone’s keepers predraft was pretty surprising. There was a lot more money available than I expected there to be. Lots of teams with $100+, which I didn’t really see coming. Of course there were more big money players available too. LeBron went for $77 right off the bat and that seemed pretty in line with last year. Then Harden went for $55 a few picks later, which is about $20 less than he cost me last year, so great value for High as Greg Kite!
My first real target was Rubio, but JB bid him up to $30, which was still good value since he fit my team so well, but getting over my limit so I had to cut ties. What I got a few picks later though was just what I was looking for. I only had togo one pick over my limit to get a clear top 20 talent. The fact that he’s out for the year is the reason I was able to get Paul George for $31. At that point I figured I might as well take the out-for-the-season discount on another potential elite talent. For about half the price of Wiggins and Parker I got Joel Embid ($21).
In the end I think this closes my Harden trade as a $74 Harden for a $20 DeRozan, and the cap space to sign a $31 Paul George and a $21 Joel Embid, with $2 to spare! Next season here I come!
12. Ben – RotoGold (4-5-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
13. SethDaSportsMan (4-5-0)
FAAB Remaining: $66 FAAB Moves this week: Brandon Davies ($9), Gary Neal ($9), Lance Thomas ($9), Shawne Williams ($5), Nick Calathes ($2)
14. Kap’s Team (4-5-0)
FAAB Remaining: $99 FAAB Moves this week: Ronnie Price ($1), Jason Terry ($0)
15. Pete Nice – Razzball (3-6-0)
FAAB Remaining: $95 FAAB Moves this week: Kendrick Perkins ($5)
16. Cigar Smoking Monkey (3-6-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
17. Like A Josh – IFBL (3-6-0)
FAAB Remaining: $85 FAAB Moves this week: Garrett Temple ($15)
18. Team Tough Guy Town (2-6-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
19. The Struggle is Real (2-7-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
20. Slim – Razzball (1-7-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
