Christmas was brutal for me in the REL League in year 2, but brought sugarplums and more class warfare to the top of the league, as teams 1-7 had winnings weeks. We’re still catching up with Martyball, but they only mustered a 5-4 win against Like A Josh – IFBL and showing some cracks in the armor. Week 13 is circled my man! Here’s how the rest of the REL went down in Week 9:
1. Martyball – IFBL (60-19-2)
FAAB Remaining: $80 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
2. Scurry to the Left (54-26-1)
FAAB Remaining: $98 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
I’m considering changing my team name to “Everyone wants the D” as I haven’t had one week where I didn’t received trade offers for Draymond and Dragic. I snagged Occupydraymond for $1 last season and its paid off big time — one of the best keeper values in the league. I did contemplate trading him for Chef Curry, but with KD and Curry I’d only have $40 left in my FA budget for next year.
Week 9 was another solid 7-2 win for Scurry to the Left and the team is really “feedin’ off the D” (minus Durantula). That awkward Klay Thompson interview was hilarious. Turnovers were kept in check with no double digit weekly performances in that column. Highlights that Santa brought for week 9 included Old Boo Dudley’s historic 10 for 10 fg shooting performance, Kemba’s 42/3/7/0/1 that helped me win but not MJ’s Bob Hornets, and Andre Miller chipped in 12 dimes for the week all while moving in slow motion. I also can’t leave out that Draymond skittled again with a nice rainbow line of 10/10/3/2/2 (he should totally be in the next taste the rainbow commercial).
3. Barking BassetHounds (51-27-3)
FAAB Remaining: $69 FAAB Moves this week: Thabo Sefolosha ($5)
Well maybe my team is not as craptastic as I thought last week
Last weeks results (a 7-2 victory over JB) confirmed what I have been thinking, that is the week-to-week results of any given matchup are highly dependent on who plays and sits. Last week my injured list was the immortal JR Smith and Danilo Gallinari (and a few ones and twos). His was Leonard and Rubio (and maybe a few more ones and twos).
The good news of the week was that Henson came back and with Parker out averaged 18 minutes or so in two games. Still not enough minutes as I would hope, but enough to give me 7 blocks in two games. I will take that. The bad news of the week is that the immortal Josh Smith (have I mentioned that I really hate him) signed with Houston and knocked Kostas Papanikolaou from the rotation. With two consecutive DNP-CD I had no choice (being a contender and all that) but to cut bait and make my second FAAB move this season.
His replacement is the immortal Thabo Sefolosha. He was selected not because I am thrilled with his 18 minutes per game stat line, but because of all the choices out there he seemed to me to be the least risky. And I want to improve steals. Hey in a league of 340 players, a top 220 guy or so in your final roster spot must have some value, and anyway, he only cost me $5, leaving me still plenty in reserve.
4. Youth Movement (49-31-1)
FAAB Remaining: $69 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
I survived my first week post-Curry. I would have won assists pre-trade, instead losing by 3. I won the other counting stats, losing the percentages and turnovers. High-volume, low percentage FG from Ross hurt, but I still believe he has the skill set to be an above average scorer and decent defender. He did average a block and a steal and a half his final year of college. A bright spot for the week was Adreian Payne getting some run. I may be delusional, or just enamored with the Princess Lacey story, but I don’t see why he couldn’t be a 1/1/1 guy with good percents. He shot 85% one year in college. I didn’t make any bids this week. I didn’t see anyone who was that significant of an upgrade (for next year). It is difficult to still see myself in 4th place, knowing I will not win the league, but me and my 23 year olds will still put up a fight.
5. Kap’s Team (47-32-2)
FAAB Remaining: $98 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
6. Slim – Razzball (47-33-1)
FAAB Remaining: $61 FAAB Moves this week: Matthew Dellavedova ($5)
That was a nice little 8-1 win. A few close categories, a few not so close, but nothing terribly out of the ordinary. Not too much to talk about from that really. Everyone did what they were supposed to last week so instead I’ll go ahead and foreshadow the week upcoming. 1st off no Alec Burks or Larry Sanders to start the week and who knows maybe to finish it too. Obviously this is bad. Burks I can handle since I’ve been solid in the categories he gives but losing Larry’s boards and blocks is going to put me way behind before the week even gets started. As if that wasn’t bad enough I’m also getting hit across the dome by the poor schedule fairy this week, only 2 games from both Lillard and Curry. Ouch. Meanwhile Seth gets 4 games from his 2 best players in Wall and Favors. What the hell…
With that all taken into account I had to give Allen Crabbe his walking papers. His 6 blocks this past week, would have been 7 but he sat on my bench one game, were exactly what I needed. With the above analysis though this week I’m pretty sure I will need a PG. I don’t think Matthew Dellavedova is good player or anything but as long as Kyrie Irving is down he should be at least adequate for what I need, and Cleveland plays 4 games this week. The short term upside appears to validate the loss of Crabbe and $5 of FAAB is essentially nothing at all anyway. Fingers crossed.
I feel like there should be a third paragraph talking about Jusuf Nurkic. He didn’t do too much this week but neither did Mozgov in a ton more minutes. Maybe I’m just creating rumors for the sake of my REL team but how about Mozgov to Cleveland? They went for him last year and they desperately need a center. How about Mozgov to Dallas? They need a backup big man in the worst way. Mozgov to Miami? He’d start. Houston is going for it, why not have Mozgov backup Howard? Lot’s of options that would all lead to one inevitability Mr. Anderson: Nurkic would be unleashed.
7. Breaking Batum (47-33-1)
FAAB Remaining: $59 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Phew… We were able to squeeze out a tight win against a top ten team. This is by far our toughest stretch in the schedule. Including the last two weeks we are facing 6 top ten teams consecutively including 4 matchups against top 6 teams in the upcoming weeks. Our season hinges on being able to win a few of these in a convincing manner while not getting blown out in any of them.
Last week we were able to pull off a trade we are very excited about. Last week in his recap JB mentioned Josh Smith was available. We used this opportunity to make a deal trading Wilson Chandler for Josh Smith and MKG. After the draft had JB offered MKG for Chandler straight up we probably would have taken it (we were the only two bidders in the draft). Since then a lot has changed, Chandler is having a career year and MKG has been injured but, we still love the deal. We look at MKG as a long term play while upgrading a big mistake on our part in Joe Harris. Smith is almost certainly a rental for this year unless he finds the fountain of your hidden in Houston.
FAAB was a lost cause this week as we did not want to spend. We placed several $0 bids that we expected to lose. We have a big matchup up this week that will either restart our playoff hopes or drop us into mediocrity. Good luck Scurry!
8. Hoopus Alleyoopus (41-40-0)
FAAB Remaining: $30 FAAB Moves this week: Wayne Ellington ($2)
Lost a very tight contest 4-5 to Breaking Batum this week. Missed 3 games from Lamarcus Aldridge and 2 from Kyrie, which I am pretty sure would have flipped PTS, AST and REB in my favor, and would have swung TO his way. He has a solid team too, so I feel alright despite losing.
Jameer Nelson continues to be a flaming bag of dog poop on my team’s doorstep. I picked up Phil Pressey last week thinking that with Nelson stinking the joint out this year and Marcus Smart not setting the world on fire, there might be some minutes available to Pressey. Wrong, kimosabe. Back to the scrap heap with you, Phil. Birdman and Rasual Butler have been solid so far as my other recent FAAB pickups.
I think Andre Drummond is about to come alive with Josh Smith out of the picture now. With Drummond and Griffin, I am basically punting FT%, so don’t even step to me with that noise. Aside from that category, I don’t see one this year that I am consistently losing. As such, I still like my team’s chances. Just 4 or 5 games out of a playoff spot at the moment, and once you are in all you need is three 5-4 weeks in a row.
9. JB Gilpin – Razzball (39-41-1)
FAAB Remaining: $18 FAAB Moves this week: Charlie Villanueva ($16)
I can find a million things to whine about (John Henson coming back after a month out just in time for this week with 7 blocks, Wesley Matthews hitting 21 treys and being the 3rd best fantasy player the past week, Jared Sullinger suddenly back in Stevens’ good graces for a big week, etc.), but it comes down to having two elite players in Rubio and Kawhi hurt making it impossible to win against the best teams. Sure Barking had a couple injuries to his role guys, but a loss by 3 steals, 15 assists and 14 treys with those guys out and an empty spot due to a 2-for-1 trade make me still optimistic I can sneak into the playoffs. Plus I would’ve beaten Barking 5-3-1 in week 8. Figures.
Anyway, another week another trade. I think I’m finally done making trades. Slim didn’t seem to enthused when I told him of this last one, but I moved Victor Oladipo ($26) + Beno Udrih ($1 – a throw in) for Tony Wroten ($1) and Kyle O’Quinn ($1). A lot of reasons here, but first and foremost, I watched the past few Magic games and not liking what I’m seeing from VO at all. He’s playing offball, Elfrid is facilitating and Tobias/Vuc are the main offensive options. Oladipo can’t hit threes that well, and is relying on driving for scores which leads to inflated TO. While he’s young and a good talent, the money was an issue too. I dropped from $188 in keeper budget to $163 for next year for 16 out of 17 spots filled – with Austin Rivers ($1) and Kevin Seraphin ($1) on the bubble. I now have the flexibility to pick up one more quality guy in the draft. Roster comp had become a major issue, as I lost 29 Pts/6 Reb/7 Ast/1 Stl/2 3PTM on Friday with Rivers/Udrih on my bench and two dead spots at C. Luckily none of that swung any categories (although makes Stl/Ast even closer), but I needed a big man in the worst way. My rebranded squad (when healthy) should be competitive in all cats – likely losing REB – but solid %s and low TO from non-PG. O’Quinn perfectly fits that concept with the ability to chip in a trey, shoots great FT%, and doesn’t turn it over. While O’Quinn still hurts with the light playoff schedule, Wroten is 4/4/4 over Oladipo’s 4/3/2 and I get two useful players to help depth. Slim, you are a god for putting this together! One last comment – O’Quinn hasn’t played big minutes the last two games, but they’ve been against CLE and CHA that like to run small, so I’m not too worried there.
I may have overspent on Villanueva, but I had an open spot and wanted who I wanted. Turns out The Nature Boy bid $14, so I was spot on. A big that hits treys and can chip in a block is exactly what I needed. Given it may not last all year, but he’s running some blast-from-the-past game with the second unit. And as I’ve noticed once the year began, my second half is against all sub-.500 teams except Martyball in week 13 and the rebuilding Youth Movement in week 19. Only 8 games out of the playoffs, it’s time for my run.
10. SethDaSportsMan (39-42-0)
FAAB Remaining: $22 FAAB Moves this week: Joel Freeland ($7)
11. Team Tough Guy Town (37-41-3)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
12. The Nature Boy (36-44-1)
FAAB Remaining: $88 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
13. ChazTop–KevinBottom (35-45-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
14. Pete Nice – Razzball (35-45-1)
FAAB Remaining: $45 FAAB Moves this week: Maurice Harkless ($10)
15. High as Greg Kite (33-47-1)
FAAB Remaining: $30 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
16. Ben – RotoGold (33-47-1)
FAAB Remaining: $50 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
17. Like A Josh – IFBL (32-48-1)
FAAB Remaining: $85 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
18. Cigar Smoking Monkey (32-48-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
19. Mr. Green – Nowhere (27-52-2)
FAAB Remaining: $56 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
20. The Struggle is Real (24-57-0)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
