So these guys aren’t in the top ten.  They automatically hate me and I automatically hate them… Well not really of course, but I want to tease out the drama!

After the first 6 picks, ending with Chris Paul for me, it’s becomes a mess of upside players and seasoned vets all tossed around like Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton in Twister.  Then that tornado finished the job last year, ripping off Hunt’s clothes for The Sessions.

Without further ado, here are the guys I’d be ripping my clothes off for to round out my top 20:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Ah the fantasy basketball offseason.  It’s a magical time where the weather gets nicer, people get out of the arenas (unless their team is still in the playoffs) and start playing outdoor sports.  Pshhh playing outside.  Overrated.

While the NBA Playoffs enter their second round, there are still the huge events of free agency and the NBA Draft to shake things up, but let’s take an early look, nay, a way too early look, into where I am going to start ranking players for the 2013-2014 season:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Ben Affleck may get shat upon by the hip and snarky, but he had the last laugh when his film Argo walked away with the Best Picture Academy Award (TM) (C) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCbzzzt. Where was I? Oh, Surviving Christmas  is a much better holiday movie than you would expect, and is worth watching if it comes on TV in 9-10 months. Just store that in your head. If you haven’t see The Town, it’s also enjoyable. Wait, is this the basketball blog? I thought we were talking about movies. Hmmm, well, let’s talk about Andrew BogutBogut’s MRI came back and showed a protruding disc in his back. He has been ruled out indefinitely and will not travel with the team. Some of you may remember I had a minor herniated disc back in September, and it took me a few weeks to recover from, derailing my basketball career even further. Bogut is clearly a world class athlete while I get winded getting up from the toilet, but still, back pain is back pain, and Bogut has to wipe the same way the rest of us do. All of you that were so happy to grab Bogut may have to wait a couple of weeks to begin savoring his production again.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Andre Iguodala has been a source of contention in the comments recently.  Some people just want to cast him aside and leave him for dead (I may be exaggerating slightly).  Not me.  No man left behind is my motto (unless your name is Andrew Bynum, to hell with that guy).  Especially a man that was a top 50 player last year.  A man who once only hurt you in FT% and contributed across the board everywhere else.  This year he is not the same man.  A career low in FG%, REB, STL, and a nearly career high in TO’s (not to mention his lowest AST since ’05-’06).  Perhaps it is the high altitude, or maybe he is declining at the old age of 28 years.  I say that’s hogwash and I’m not sure why I say it like that, because I sound like my 80 year old grandmother.  Nevertheless, I firmly believe that he will figure out his role on the Nuggets and you should own him before he does.  Well, unless you can’t take that FT% hit.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Pau Gasol and the Lakers have had a train wreck of a season so far.  Pau is seeing nearly all his numbers being below career average (12.6/8.9/3.5/0.5/1.2 with 42% FG and 76% FT) and having “knee tendinitis” to boot.  As such, I had to move him down in the tiers because you can’t be a Victoria’s Secret model with those type of numbers.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Last night, Kobe Bryant scored over half his team’s points (40) and reached a triple double.  No, not the good kind of triple double…the kind where you also have 10 turnovers.  An absurd line of 40/10/3/3 with 5 3PM, 12-28 FG, 11-13 FT, and the aforementioned 10 turnovers.  You’ll live with the high TO’s but the Lakers can’t.  In a night of high profile college basketball, the game turned out to be very similar.  I didn’t watch, but George Hill (19/5/5/1) hit the game winning shot to win 79-77 over Kobe Bryant.  Not to mention that the teams combined for 57 personal fouls (that’s an actual number, not some sarcastic number).  Did anybody enjoy watching that?  Glad I watched the ACC/Big 10 challenge instead.  Anyway, here’s what else happened in the NBA last night:

Darren Collison – Sometimes a coach likes to put a slumping player on the bench and see how he responds.

Please, blog, may I have some more?