We have a new fearless leader! The Barking BassetHounds with a 7-2 win catches them up with Martyball – IFBL for a tie at first. And we thought Marty would never be caught! On the other end of the playoffs, now there’s 7 teams within 4 games of each other vying for the #6 playoff spot. It’s class warfare! The fatsos up top gliding in and all us poor people scratching and clawing to stay alive! Here’s how the rest of week 15 went down in the REL Dynasty League:
1. Barking BassetHounds (92-39-4)
FAAB Remaining: $27 FAAB Moves this week: Miles Plumlee ($8)
This past week was one of those weeks I will gladly trade for any of my playoff weeks. Not one of my players missed any games, and as a whole my team shot much better than the previous week. Meanwhile my opponent lost Durant for (I think) 2 games and Kemba Walker remains out for a few weeks. The results was a 7-2 victory over Scurry to the Left, moving me into a tie for first. The losses were in blocks (which is becoming a theme post Henson-Martin trade) and of course turnovers.
I made one free agent move, swapping Lance Thomas for Miles Plumlee. It is not that I was particularly unhappy with Thomas (I expect him to go for about $10 next week), it was just that he provides value mostly in scoring, which is really not a need of my team, particularly post Henson-Martin trade. After having a couple trade offers rejected (as I expected) for blocks specialists, I decided to swap him out.
Not that I am particularly elated to get Miles Plumlee (I made three $8 bids and he was choice three), but he will be a hold till at least after the trade deadline. If his situation changes so that he is getting 20 minutes or so a game, he will provide value in blocks, which is a need of mine. If not, I still have sufficient funds to go in another direction.
The tough part of my schedule continues with a last years finals rematch with Slim (who like last year at this time has really been moving up lately). I am sort of disappointed this this occurs during a week that is truncated because of a stupid all star game.
2. Martyball – IFBL (94-40-2)
FAAB Remaining: $65 FAAB Moves this week: Reggie Evans ($3)
3. Slim – Razzball (87-47-1)
FAAB Remaining: $21 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Words can not adequately describe how close I was to trading away Andrew Wiggins this past week. There’s no need to get too into the details but I would have gotten a better player (at least for this year) and a significant draft day savings, about $20. There were several problems that kept me from making the deal. First, I think Wiggins is going to be a superstar and at $38 I think he will be a bargain as soon as next year. Second, the player I was going to get is 25 and in the midst of a breakout, but he’s had several nagging injuries over the past couple of years and the risk simply felt too high. Also, he has a poor playoff schedule which meant he really wasn’t going to make much of a difference as far as winning this year goes. So after much deliberation I wouldn’t do the 1-for-1 swap. But… he has another 25 year old player that would have put this trade over the top for me and I actually sent a trade offer that included Wiggins. The first and only offer I’ve made that included Wiggins. Now I was absolutely positive I would have regretted this trade next year but the gains for this year and the draft day savings next year would have made the potential reward worth it (probably… maybe…). I did receive a final counter that involved Wiggins plus Nurkic but I think by now we all know how I feel about him.
I had a few $0 bids in this week but no one fell into my lap and I’m perfectly fine with that. My last two players are my Nets, Bogdanovic and Jefferson, and I still want to see what happens there leading up to the trade deadline.
With 5 weeks left in the regular season I do have a few tough matchups remaining. I’m not going to miss the playoffs though so at this point that’s where all my focus will be going. As for trading I don’t really have anyone I want to move or any position/stats I’m trying to fill, but if I’m not getting better then I’m getting worse so I am certainly open to nearly any negotiation (except Nurkic).
4. Scurry to the Left (82-51-2)
FAAB Remaining: $68 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
5. Kap’s Team (75-57-3)
FAAB Remaining: $35 FAAB Moves this week: Kent Bazemore ($4)
6. Youth Movement (69-64-2)
FAAB Remaining: $5 FAAB Moves this week: Andre Roberson ($0)
I knew I would regret letting McGary go. I was worried I would have too many players to keep and end up with like $100 on two players to spend next year. I was worried about the youth on the frontcourt already there. I also have a feeling yesterday will be his best game on the year. I somehow managed to pull out a W, inexplicably moving up in the standings with a 5-4 win. My big spend on Clarkson is looking solid, aiding the threes, FT and steals. I didn’t comment on my trade from last week, sending Augustin over for my man-crush Chandler Parsons. He is so wonderfully multi-category goodness. My budget for next year goes down a little, but I still plan on having about $100 for 5-6 slots. Augustin has stayed hot, but his future is kinda hazy in my eyes, so even at $1, I felt a $22 Parsons was good value. I will enjoy my week back in the playoff picture, before being summarily dismissed over the next two weeks.
7. Team Tough Guy Town (68-63-4)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
8. Hoopus Alleyoopus (69-65-1)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
A 7-2 win looks like it will put me into a 3-way tie for the 6th and final playoff spot. My schedule the rest of the way is 2 middle of the pack teams, the 1st place team, and 2 of the bottom 3 teams. As the great John Randle once said “I like this kinda party.”
Blake Griffin going out for 4-6 weeks is a pretty big blow since I have no depth and my team relies on my big guns. I have a feeling he isn’t going to miss that much time, and the all star break is in there, so hopefully this injury doesn’t take me out of the running for a playoff spot just as I got into the running. It would be great to see Larry Sanders back right about now. On a positive note, James Johnson is back from irrelevance and 15/17 from the field in his two games back. Good for a block and a steal per game too, so if he sticks in the starting lineup he is worth a look in shallower leagues. DJ Augustin is making me look like a genius with 20 ppg, 9 apg, 2 3pg, and shooting 50% from the field and 95% from the line in the past two weeks.
9. Breaking Batum (69-65-1)
FAAB Remaining: $45 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Well the race for the 6th seed just got interesting. There are 4 teams trying for the last playoff spot that are all within 1/2 game of each other, and 3 more teams within 3 games. 7 teams, 1 spot. This should be fun.
Anyone else dislike how Yahoo does the all-star break? With 4 days worth of games for this match-up, then 3 days for the next one, this could make/break several teams. (I wonder if there is an option to make this one long week? That would solve the scheduling problem, as Mr Green pointed out last week.) The short week is when we got knocked out of contention last year, so we are hoping history doesn’t repeat itself. I have the feeling that we will be hard sellers or buyers come Feb 23.
Our match-up vs. Pete was very disappointing. He beat us 6-3, with us losing points by 7 (stupid MKG injury!). Had we played Pete the previous week, we would have won 7-2. Maybe we just had a good week before, or maybe this was a bad one. Time will tell.
10. The Nature Boy (67-67-1)
FAAB Remaining: $53 FAAB Moves this week: Mitch McGary ($25), Tim Frazier ($10)
11. Pete Nice – Razzball (66-68-1)
FAAB Remaining: $25 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
12. JB Gilpin – Razzball (65-68-2)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Infuriating 5-3-1 win. I benched guys throughout the week to try and lock %s, I lost both and tied assists. Kawhi, Patrick Patterson and Cory Joseph didn’t get a single dime in the second half of that game that would’ve won it, plus when I projected out my week I didn’t factor in Rubio getting benched Sunday. I was winning FG% until Kawhi missed his last 4 shots losing by .004%, and was up .030% in FT% going 11/15 Sunday, but a dead team’s low volume got 13/14 and won it .805 to .782. A few bounces and it’s an 8-1 win. Figures with my luck this year.
7 teams all vying for that #6 spot. I should say 6. I’ll try, I have an easier schedule, but it’s not going to happen with the knocks I’ve had this year.
13. ChazTop–KevinBottom (60-74-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
14. Mr. Green – Nowhere (57-76-2)
FAAB Remaining: $8 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Another week, another victory. Nothing to see here but a 6-3 beat down. Lets ignore the fact that my opponent is basically a no-show with #1 fantasy player parked on his bench. Though I am a little disappointed that I couldn’t manage to win FG% or FT%, narrowly losing both.
To make myself feel better, had I played MartyBall again this week I would have once again knocked him off. I would’ve also beat other playoff teams like Scurry to the Left, Kaps Team (7-2), and Team Tough Guy Town (6-2). A little odd that I would have been better off facing two of the playoff teams than a checked out 18th place team.
Anyway, that makes it 29-16 in the last 5 weeks. 29-16! Nothing to sneeze at there! The easier schedule continues next week when I get to take on the 19th place team. The short week could make for some surprises though. Since there’s no benefit to finishing last in this league, let’s see how respectable this team can be.
15. High as Greg Kite (57-77-1)
FAAB Remaining: $1 FAAB Moves this week: Tony Wroten ($3)
16. SethDaSportsMan (57-78-0)
FAAB Remaining: $14 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
17. Ben – RotoGold (55-79-1)
FAAB Remaining: $50 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
18. Cigar Smoking Monkey (51-83-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
19. Like A Josh – IFBL (50-83-2)
FAAB Remaining: $85 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
20. The Struggle is Real (45-90-0)
FAAB Remaining: $90 FAAB Moves this week: Robert Sacre ($1), Tarik Black ($1)
