We’re gonna have a fun Week 20! My first-half-terrible squad indeed rolled through a schedule-friendly second half to pull a half game out of the 6th playoff spot. Breaking Batum has a light matchup as well, so I have to out-win the Batums… Ugh… Then there’s Kap’s Team who has suffered a lot of injuries 3 games ahead of me and 2.5 ahead of Batum. As KG would say, “anything is possible!” In our final week of the regular season, we had one of the biggest weeks of free agent adds as well as the passing of the Trade Deadline which saw several big moves. Here’s how the rest of week 19 went down in the REL:
1. Barking BassetHounds (118-49-4)
FAAB Remaining: $20 FAAB Moves this week: Cory Jefferson ($7)
My $5 injured Jared Sullinger for Slim’s $41 Marc Gasol. I have seen enough of these trades blow up in my face (where I lose anyway and have screwed my future) for me to be very wary in making them. Yet at the same time I felt I had to. On several other fronts (the return of Linsanity, Danillo Gallinari finally returning my investment, even the return of Deron Williams) that I began to think that I just had to do this. I would hate to narrowly a tough playoff matchup (Martyball) only to be kicking myself if I were to lose narrowly in the finals.
So what happens like the next day. Yes-Sir-Ree my $14 Wes Matthews is down. Freaking great. These playoffs are already subject to injury flukiness and I am already down. This is already giving me the “blow up in my face” nightmare.
But it is not that Marc Gasol is purely tactical. My next year plan had four drops in mind that would give me the funds for a primary acquisition of a center who does blocks plus speculate on about three or four younger players. The way I figure it is that I have the center part covered for next year. But a $5 Jared Sullinger will be very hard to replace.
So I am giving it my best shot. Next year will take care of itself.
Oh yes my FAAB. Miles Plumlee was not playing while Cory Jefferson at least was and had a good playoff schedule. Might as well give it a shot.
2. Martyball – IFBL (118-51-2)
FAAB Remaining: $10 FAAB Moves this week: Alexey Shved ($4)
3. Slim – Razzball (104-66-1)
FAAB Remaining: $11 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
After simultaneous negotiations with four managers I managed to pull off two trades at the deadline, selling off non-keepers (for me) and adding youth/ potential keepers. Over the next few posts I plan on going a bit more in depth with my keepers but for now I’ll just focus on the two trades.
The 1st big name that seemed to draw the most trade interest was Mike Conley. At 27 years old and a $28 keeper price I figured I could sell him to someone who would trade for him at that keeper value, not as strictly a 1-year rental. Youth Movement was a team with draft money to burn and tons of cheap keeper value up and down his roster. After a few days we agreed upon Conley 27 – $28, Hibbert 28 – $17, and Solomon Hill 23 – $6 for Clarkson 22 – $1, Henson 24 – $12, and Terrence Ross 24 – $6. Three non-keepers (for me) for what I believe will be three players that I keep. There’s always risk when trading away established players for youth but I feel extremely confident all three of these guys will have at the very least 25-minute roles next year and all three have the talent to be NBA starters, obviously since they have all started and thrived at some point in their short careers.
Jordan Clarkson may not seem like a starting PG yet but I feel like he has the talent to be one. Two numbers that stick out are his 4.0:1.8 A:TO ratio as a 30 min per game starter so far in LA and his 7.8 assists per game in a short 5-game D-League stint. Granted the A:TO ratio isn’t special but at nearly 15 points per game (22.6 in the D-League) the upside is blatantly obvious. John Henson has battled through injuries in his brief career but as a starter with 28 min per game he has averages of 11.7/7.5/1.6/0.6/1.9. Unfortunately Zaza has another year on his contract so odds are it’s going to be yet another season before Henson gets fully released, but with Larry Sanders now a distant memory Henson’s minutes feel reliable. Terrence Ross has taken a step back this year but I don’t mind gambling on his immense talent and with Sweet Lou a free agent next year Ross’ playing time appears to be secure.
Once that trade was accepted I had one more day to try to sell Marc Gasol. First though I had to decide if I thought I could make a run in the playoffs. A few guys are playing better but with Adams, Nurkic, and Burks down plus Amir Johnson, Beverley, Galloway, Goodwin, and Bogdanovic all struggling mightily I decided to see what Gasol could net me from a true contender. JB Gilpin – Razzball made an offer worth considering, Breaking Batum made a slightly better offer, but as far as upside vs keeper price goes Barking Bassethounds offer was the best, my Marc Gasol 30 – $41 for his Jared Sullinger 23 – $5. Once I decided I couldn’t win back-to-back titles this trade became very easy to make, especially considering I punt Sullingers worst category – FG%.
4. Scurry to the Left (98-71-2)
FAAB Remaining: $68 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
5. Kap’s Team (95-72-4)
FAAB Remaining: $27 FAAB Moves this week: Kris Humphries ($8)
6. Breaking Batum (94-76-1)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Another win, another game lost in to JB. We now hold the slimmest of leads for the last playoff spot, 1/2 game. Hopefully we own the tie breaker, having beat JB earlier in the season. Mr Green, can you help by playing spoiler? That’d be greeeeeaaat…
Speaking of last week, we had a great one. We would have beaten all 19 teams. I don’t know if a contender purposefully sat players for matchup reasons, but I’ll take it! We feel pretty good heading into the playoffs (if we make it). Had a playoff berth been guaranteed, we probably would have pulled the trigger on a blockbuster, giving up Mirotic. But since we don’t even know if we will make it, we just couldn’t do it.
Good luck JB, should be a fun final week!
7. JB Gilpin – Razzball (93-76-2)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Oh man, who woulda though after Week 12 my 48-59-1 12th place team would be a half game out of the playoffs the final week?! I’ve won 7 straight including one against 2nd place Martyball, and after screwing myself out of a couple of wins trying to bench for %s, I feel like a horse’s arse. Of course, to manage a team losing Rubio almost the whole year and over a month without Kawhi into a near-postseason makes me feel like only half a horse’s arse. I’ll take one cheek.
Of course Batum gets a cakewalk final matchup and I have to play a playoff-worthy Mr. Green team. He’s really bounced back this second half, but before he gets all elitist and says he woulda beat me last week, I was benching a lot of guys to ensure my 7-2 win.
A big factor vs. Senor Green will be if Hassan Whiteside can go tonight with his bum ankle. If he sits, I only get 2 games out of my premiere boarder. And sadly, another factor will be if Amundson plays tonight, because if he goes I’ll get 5 games outta him. Which could be a good or bad thing, dude misses FT and turns it over like a big man MCW! Good luck in your matchup Batum, and Mr. Green – sucks I gotta face a solid team. Good luck this week!
8. Pete Nice – Razzball (88-81-2)
FAAB Remaining: $5 FAAB Moves this week: Maurice Harkless ($10), Bernard James ($2)
9. Hoopus Alleyoopus (86-84-1)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: Matthew Dellavedova ($0), Jakarr Sampson ($0)
10. The Nature Boy (83-87-1)
FAAB Remaining: $38 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
11. Mr. Green – Nowhere (80-87-4)
FAAB Remaining: $3 FAAB Moves this week: Seth Curry ($0)
It’s entirely possible that there are actually other owners updates below mine right now. And I don’t just mean the teams that don’t submit updates either. That my friends, is a long time coming! Feels good.
An 8-1 victory over a team that was ahead of me in the standings last week. Feels just as good. My seemingly ambitious goal of a month ago where I wanted to make the top 10 by the end of the season, despite a 28-60 start, is within reach. I’m in 11th place now, just a game and a half out of 10th. My win last week makes it 52-27 in the last nine weeks. Let me say that again, 52-27! That’s a .658 win percentage! Holy S#it!
Time for the rematch this week. Are you ready JB? I see you’re only a 1/2 game out of that final playoff spot. Right where you wanted to be, with a shot at the playoffs after Rubio went down early in the year. Now you just need to close the deal.
Always be closing JB! Always be closing!
12. Team Tough Guy Town (79-87-5)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
13. Youth Movement (79-89-3)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
I guess I have to change my team name to “late 20’s movement”, having added a couple “old” players to the team. Summing up all my trades on the year, I dealt Curry, Coles, Biyombo (waiver), Kevin Martin, Clarkson (waiver) for Conley, Reggie Jackson, Parsons, Hibbert, and Rodney Hood. I did not expect to contend this year, but wanted to put myself in position to be competitive next year. With Collison (who hopefully has a starting job next year), I have three PG2, which in a 20 team league is obviously an advantage. I didn’t like giving up Clarkson’s point guard eligibility, but I don’t see him ever being an assist guy. I also see a lot of bigs being available, whether in draft or unprotected, so I wanted to stockpile point guards. My keeper bigs are solid, in unspectacular, in Hibbert, Olynyk, Zeller, and Harris. I didn’t like giving up Henson, but I think Hibbert is still better next year for blocks. Of course, Ross finally gets some run over the weekend as the trade is executed. I needed to clear out some roster spots. I found myself having too much money to spend on too few spots. I have my nucleus in place, with a good amount of youth still, allowing me to spend liberally for only a few roster spots next year.
14. SethDaSportsMan (80-91-0)
FAAB Remaining: $14 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
15. ChazTop–KevinBottom (74-94-3)
FAAB Remaining: $80 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
16. Ben – RotoGold (74-96-1)
FAAB Remaining: $50 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
17. High as Greg Kite (69-100-2)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: Dwight Powell ($0)
18. Cigar Smoking Monkey (63-107-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
19. Like A Josh – IFBL (62-106-3)
FAAB Remaining: $85 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
20. The Struggle is Real (52-199-0)
FAAB Remaining: $61 FAAB Moves this week: Andre Roberson ($5), Anderson Varejao ($3), Kendall Marshall ($2), Lucas Nogueira ($1), Sergey Karasev ($0)
