We’re through the All-Break, and it’s time for the stretch run! The epic 2-week ASB matchup may be the most pivotal stretch of the year, with the Trade Deadline coming and going, and several FAAB budgets waiting to get dropped on new opportunities. Sadly this deadline was pretty boring, but in a 20 teamer, there was still plenty of fresh blood to make a splash! Wow, this got morbid… Here’s how week 16 went down in the REL, with “FAAB moves this week” tracking adds from each of the past two Sundays in the FAAB cycle:
1. HateUsCauseTheyAnus (95-47-2)
FAAB Remaining: $1 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
So this week, I ended up beating JB 7-2. Although, we’ll put an asterisk next to the win, since he missed 3 games from Kawhi, among other injuries. Even with the loss, he’s still managing to hang on to the final playoff spot, and the playoff picture is starting to look pretty set.
This week, I face Niko-Cola, the team sitting half a game back from the 6 spot. Their team has been surging of late, and the emergence of Luol Deng helps them even more. According to last matchup’s stats, I should be able to pull of a 5-4 or 6-3 win. It’s hard to predict though, with all the moves I made during this past matchup. The goal, down the stretch, is simply to hold my first round bye against these last 3 playoff caliber teams.
I figured I should get a recap in this week, because I made a significant amount of semi questionable moves. Between the two trades with Slim and Yappers, I moved Vonleh, McCullough, Gary Harris, Tucker, and Dejean-Jones for Hibbert, Z-Bo, Bogut, Kobe, and Hood. Clearly, this is a win now move. These moves make my team a contender in blocks again, and the additions of Z-Bo and Bryant will definitely give a huge boost to my counting stats down the stretch. Kobe should play the rest of the year, on his farewell tour. I traded a lot of future in the deals, but I acquired the young gun that I really wanted in Hood. He reminds me a lot of a young Harden. Even if he doesn’t live up to that, he should be an all-star caliber player within the next couple years.
Looks like it’s going to be a very fun stretch run, so good luck to everyone!
– Anus out
2. I Ain’t No Jok(ic) (91-51-2)
FAAB Remaining: $33 FAAB Moves this week: Ronnie Price ($8)
Another week, and a 7-2 win that could have easily been 8-1 since I lost 3PTM by 2. My guys are continuing to look good, putting up an unbelievable 820 points last week! It was a full line too at .467/.805/51/820/339/185/64/39/111 and without fact checking I’m gonna say I would have beaten just about anybody in the league. The win pushed me up into a tie for 2nd place with Yappers. With an 11 game lead over the 7th place team I can now focus solely on getting a first round bye and not worry too much about just making the playoffs. I’ll need another solid week this week against a bottom team for that to happen though, because next week I’ll be taking on the number one team in the league, who just beat another playoff team 7-2 (for reference I would have knocked off the #1 team 5-4, narrowly losing out in 3s and assists).
The post-trade-deadline FAAB period was wild and crazy as expected. My bid of $23 was just about half of what it would have taken to get Shelvin Mack, so I had to settle for my second choice which was Ronnie Price. I was a little surprised that with all the flurry of PG activity ($47 for Mack, $34 for Augustin) that nobody else bid more than $0 for Price. He started for the Suns yesterday, he should be getting 20+ minutes for them since nobody else there is actually a PG other than the injured Brandon Knight. Even if Knight comes back I think they play Price decent minutes because having an actual PG on the court tends to help young players develop. Just ask the Sixers how that works.
I will withhold further comment on the Marc Gasol thing for now. I’m sure someone else will cover it, and I spoke my mind in the league thread. At least the part I felt like sharing.
I’m still waiting to hear more of an update on DeMarre Carroll’s timetable, though the fact that he is my only injured player at this point is a huge plus for me. Sounds as though he’ll be back for the playoffs, so I’m not too worried yet. If he comes back and plays well I think I can beat anyone with a little luck. I’ll say that it hasn’t been easy to stand pat with seemingly everyone other playoff team making large, substantial moves prior to the deadline. The thing is though that I’m not willing to sacrifice all the young talent that I’ve amassed the last couple years while I was horrible in make a push that’s only for this year. That decision is made a little easier by the fact that even as young as my team is, I still think they are good enough to win it all this year and then come back and compete next season too. Perhaps I will wish I’d made moves if I get knocked out by a team that has pulled off some big trades, who knows. Until then? I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!
3. Yappers (90-50-4)
FAAB Remaining: $10 FAAB Moves this week: D.J. Augustin ($34), Markel Brown ($5)
“Dead Team Walking”. That is how I felt after Marc Gasol went down for the year.
That assessment is probably still accurate. But a think a more accurate assessment might be “Got a pulse, but call in Oral Roberts for a miracle.” (Oral Roberts is not still around is he?)
I think a path to victory exists, but it is no more probable than John Kasich’s path.
Anyway, Slim made an impression on me when last year when he sold off assets near the deadline as his team got riddled with injuries and he determined that that his path to the championship was improbable. I think he made the right call. And I had predetermined that I would do likewise if any of my big four went down
Hence the moves.
The logic I used was simple. Who am I not keeping? Use these assets towards two goals (1) improve my team next year and beyond (2) get younger.
Who am I not keeping? Pretty simple.
* First Marc Gasol himself. Logic, if I am going to invest $41 in a player, I need to be sure of health.
* Zach Randolph. At $20 he was acquired at a rental and still was.
* Hibbert. My mistake of the season was drafting him for $13. I hate him with an eternal hatred.
* Chandler. I should have accepted whatever that offer was for him way, way earlier. At age 33 we are going in another direction.
* Kevin Martin at $8. If I am going in another direction with Chandler, I sure am with KMart.
* Devin Harris at $3. He always was dropable anyway.
* Deron Williams at $20 was borderline. I have since decided he is safe unless I receive an offer that blows me away.
Devin Harris: Immediate drop of an injured player for some upside. Markel Brown works for now although I might drop if a better opportunity comes a long.
Noah Vonleh ($8) and Chris McCullough ($5) at age 20 (for Randolph and Hibbert) immediately become the two youngest players on Yappers next year. So my “get younger” objective is met. Are we better next year? Well from my research Vonleh was the 9th pick in the 2014 draft and still has huge upside. Meanwhile the consensus was that Mccullough would have been similarly ranked had an injury not knocked him down the draft board. And both are in situations where they should be getting some run next year. Since I have decided I would rather have the back end of my roster be younger players with upside as opposed to the Kevin Martins, Nene Hilarios, and Carlos Boozers of the world, Deal with Anus.
Tyson Chandler – age 33 and $9 for Patrick Patterson – age 26 and $5. Deal with JB.
What do you do with a problem like Mari (er Marc Gasol). Certainly no team is going to give up something meaningful for the opportunity to pay him $41 next year. Is the only option to let him go?
Ignoring for the moment the sh*storm I created with unwise post I put on the league message board on dropping him (an option I rejected on my own btw while giving it further thought), I did find out that there was a market for him whereby I could get 10 cents on the dollar). I had two interesting offers. One was for some help this year but a possible $1 keeper next year. The second was for a little more help this year but not a keeper. Looking at my roster, I decided I was more than full already with possible $1 keepers, and this potential keeper was not likely to make the cut. So I went with the slightly better player this year in Jose Calderon. Deal with Kap. Yappers thanks Marc Gasol for his service (particularly in the playoffs last year) but it is time to move on.
Finally, the reason why I kept $44 in FAAB was that I anticipated that there might be some interesting trade deadline opportunities that catch my eye. Which there were. The two best I determined were Shelvin Mack and D.J. Augustin in that order (but not much of a difference between them). I put the same $34 bids on both, which was not enough for Mack but more than enough for Augustin. Kevin Martin and his 15 minutes per night are off the island, replaced by 25 minutes per night with D.J. Augustin in a good situation in Denver.
Meh, Yappers probably still is a dead team walking, but I am thinking we are probably still good for the playoffs and as such we still have a pulse. But we still need Oral Roberts for a miracle thereafter.
4. Slim – Razzball (90-53-1)
FAAB Remaining: $2 FAAB Moves this week: JaMychal Green ($7)
And for my 6th trade of the year I lost Hood $4, Kobe, and Bogut for Gary Harris $4, Bryce DeJean-Jones $1, and PJ Tucker $5. Odd looking dynasty trade, huh? I give arguably the best keeper and two win-now types for a solid yet unspectacular keeper in Harris, an upside gamble in Bryce, and a 30 year old on a good contract with good minutes from here on out. I can’t argue against the immense gamble but I’ll do what I can to convince you my thinking is sound. Not only to improve in the long run but also in my chances to win it all right now.
I feel like I need to start by saying that I like Rodney Hood. His offensive game has improved by leaps and bounds. It’s great and all but it’s also without Alec Burks, the eventual return of Dante Exum should play a role, and right now there’s actually a PG on the roster. I don’t think I can expect more improvement with less responsibility. Gary Harris doesn’t have the responsibility now but at 2 years younger who’s to say he can’t grow into it. One thing I can say is that Rodney Hood isn’t going to grow into the 1.5+ steals per game Harris has been producing lately and I believe is capable of for a very long time. In my eyes this is no worse than a push when thinking about their ceiling, the only question is what categories do you need? For me it was steals, no question. Add in the gamble of Dejean-Jones and the keeper price of Tucker and for me this absolutely makes me better next year and beyond, especially in my biggest area of need, steals.
Now for the hard part. To think about how I can win-now, I’ll now look at it cat by cat.
FG%: While I’m not exactly adding anything I’d rather pitch it this way. If I play Adam in the playoffs who’s one player that can tank FG% so bad that even a punting team has a chance? I’m calling this a win.
FT%: I lose some FT% for sure. But there is Bogut going to the other side. In a handful of playoff games he’s capable of being a drain. I’ll call it a loss but we’ll see what happens when it counts.
3s: I lose a good 2 3s per game but we’ll see what kind of minutes Dejean-Jones gets during the fantasy playoffs. An extra one per game from him and I don’t lose much. Not to mention, so I will, that that is all dependent on Kobe maintaining 3 3s per game.
Pts: I lose a lot of points. No way around it. I hope it doesn’t swing the playoff match-up but if Kobe is the difference in points then I imagine I get a solid boost to my FG% and TOs in return. Sure it’s a loss, but it also represents gains elsewhere.
Reb: Tucker is a solid rebounder for his position. Harris matches Hood. Bryce is solid with minutes so far. I gave a big so you can argue I lose rebounds too but this is one spot I think my gamble will pay off with at least a push.
Ast: Nothing big either way but I lose maybe 1 or 2 per game. This is one of my biggest strength right now and I don’t think it will be the difference in winning or losing the category.
Stl: Big win. But it’s more than that. A lot of close categories up till now and this wasn’t going to be one against any playoff team. After this trade I think I turned an easy loss into another competitive cat.
Blk: I lose Boguts blocks. Fine. I was leading the league and Nurkic will hopefully give me whatever is lost. Sure the loss of Henson hurts. Still though I think I’ll be OK.
TOs: I lose Kobe. It definitely got better.
There you go. If, and that ‘if’ is probably the single most important word I’ve written here, but IF Adam gets a full slate of playoff games from Bogut and Kobe then the result is that it will probably cost me points so that I can compete in steals, a trade-off I wasn’t at all reserved to make. Sorry, that’s a lie. This trade was offered to me a week before the trade deadline. I told him that if everything remained the same after the deadline then I would do it. A few things changed for him, but not for me, so I offered it back up and here we are now. I’m the happy new owner of 1 Gary Harris, 1 Bryce Dejean-Jones, and I’m super, wink wink, excited about the return of PJ Tucker who’s been one of my top steals guys in this league since I drafted him on day 1.
5. Martyball – IFBL (90-53-1)
FAAB Remaining: $29 FAAB Moves this week: Shelvin Mack ($47)
6. JB Gilpin – Razzball (79-60-5)
FAAB Remaining: $1 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Well, to say this was a tumultuous week would be an understatement. Starting with the matchup, I unsurprisingly limped my way to a 2-7 loss against the #1 team. But I still have some optimism, as I lost by 8 3PTM, 68 PTS, 8 STL and 3 BLK. Sure Anus is trading his rear off (it’s too many butt jokes!) in order to stay healthy, but I like my youth too much and lost pivotal games from KCP early and Kawhi all 3 games to end the 2-weeks, on top of Knight and Tyjo hurt. Wah! But the fact it was within range to have a 6-3 upset is encouraging. And with a strong effort by No Glove No Love, Niko-Cola didn’t even catch me in the standings, and now THEY have to face the #1 juggernaut Anus.
To the GM side of things, I am intent on besting Slim in trades made this season, and made not one, not two, but THREE trades! Starting on the lower end, my Tony Snell love affair has finally had it’s day in the sun. Moved him for Cory Joseph (both are $1 keepers), which fits my need for some more diming. Cojo is my former lover back in the sack! Very happy with the move, and should anything ever happen to Lowry, I got a starting PG, who is usable anyway off the bench. Snell had his shot to blossom this year and it didn’t really happen; I was kinda hoping he would be moved to the Kings who expressed interest, but when he stayed put I made the move.
Also pretty low end, moved Patrick Patterson ($4) for Tyson Chandler ($9). Patterson is kinda meh, but a great fit in a 20er due to multi-cat and low TO. That said, it seems his minutes have waffled a lot more this year, and I don’t know if there’s really anything else exciting he’ll do. Chandler is kinda meh too, but he signed that deal for 4 years and the Suns are gonna have to play him at least a little bit. A few boards and a BLK a game are welcome.
Then the biggie. I decided to cash in on arguably one of the best keepers in the league, letting Whiteside go as $1 keeper. Lots of factors here. 1) He’s going to be a free agent, and while he’s getting a max deal, change scares me. 2) He’s 26, so not exactly a fountain of youth. 3) Gets soooooo many injuries, and they’re team killing if you’re built around his production. 4) Probably the biggest reason – I just don’t like to root for him anymore. The maturity issues on the court have made me lose my fandom, and this is my favorite league, so I wanna cheer for who I wanna cheer for! Luckily there was a team with a lot of $1 keeper youth I thought I could work with, and ended up dealing Whiteside and Jonathon Simmons for Jae Crowder, Clint Capela, and Dwight Powell – all players involved are $1 keepers. Crowder is 25, so even younger than Whiteside, and on a long-term deal in Boston and a mainstay. Capela is all of 21, and mannnnn was I hoping the Rockets were shipping off Dwight! Either way, Dwight is gone next year and we could easily see Capela start. Powell is 24, and his summer league numbers were gaudy. It seems to me they’re grooming him to be the starting stretch 4 when Dirk hangs em up. I love the haul, and really the only regret I have is High as Greg Kite is a scarrrrry looking team. He has elite G with a lot of cheap keepers, but had lacked a rock at big. Now he has that. Easily will be a contender next year.
I’m hoping to make one final move before our trade deadline, so if anyone is interested in a deal featured around $1 Archie Goodwin bringing in an expensive rental (more can be involved than that though), hit up the offices of JB Gilpin!
7. Niko-Cola (79-61-4)
FAAB Remaining: $80 FAAB Moves this week: Vince Carter ($0)
8. Kap’s Team (77-63-4)
FAAB Remaining: $90 FAAB Moves this week: Kris Humphries ($4)
9. Scurry to the Left (78-64-2)
FAAB Remaining: $98 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
10. Hard-N-Tha-Paint (76-67-1)
FAAB Remaining: $18 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
11. High as Greg Kite (74-67-3)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: Spencer Dinwiddie ($1), Guillermo Hernangomez ($0)
Hoping to compete next season, the goal for the rest of the year is to put together a roster that can be fully in their teams’ rotations at the start of next year.
Building off my core of Curry/Harden (@ $125), my goal for the year was to build upon my frontline with the hopes of competing in every category. The trade with JB helps me to toward that goal, acquiring $1 Whiteside for $1 Crowder, Capela and Powell.
A lot of risk with Whiteside, but I’m giddy at the thought of Whiteside/Okafor/Portis/Embiid next year. Sure, Embiid is nothing more than a wild card, but if he’s actually healthy he could be an absolute beast (and may just continue growing, as he grew 2″ this past year).
Thoughts on the trade: I’m a C’s fan, so it was tough unloading Crowder. I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity for Whiteside, who has improved this past year in his second year, and will hopefully continue in an upward trend. 4 blocks/game may be hard to sustain, but that 20/20 performance on Saturday in under 30 mins was impressive, and single-handedly giving me a chance to takes blocks each week at $1 is huge.
Thoughts on some other guys on my roster heading into next year:
Jennings ($16): Respectfully disagree with Slim’s outlook from the podcast- he found a great landing spot in Orlando under Skiles, and is going to get an opportunity to show he’s a starting PG in this league. Based on the first couple of showings, I’m buying- he’s only 26, and has significant contributions at 3s/pts/ast. He’ll start somewhere next year, and for $16 is a value if he does.
Payne ($3): Probably like this guy more than others, but he’s a starting PG biding his time behind a far-superior Westbrook. Hopefully the PT comes, but at its worst, he’s still a contributor in 3s/ST with upside in other categories in blowout situations.
Dinwiddie ($1): Thought the guy looked ready in his first pro stint last year, and has been tearing up the DLeague recently. With Jennings departure and only Steve Blake ahead of him, I’m thinking he gets a chance to show he belongs down the stretch.
Portis ($8): Crazy eyes won’t be a star, but he’s a double-double guy with minutes, which I think with be there next year.
Okafor ($25): Last night’s 31/8 looked real good- the blocks have been there and he’s average in FT pct, which is where the pundits were focusing before the year when he was on the “do not draft” fantasy list. I know my comparison to the Mailman earlier this year may have been a little overstated, but he’s gonna be a 25/9 guy in time, so good enough for $25- and paired with Whiteside, might give me a top C tandem for years to come.
W Johnson($1): Solid 3/ST contributor with PT, he played over 30 minutes first game post-Jeff Green trade. At $1, hopefully he’ll be a good role player.
Covington ($1): not sure how the Sixers shake out next year, but I’m thinking he’s still gonna get solid minutes with his ability to spread the floor for the bigs. $1 bargain…
Could go on, but High as Greg Kite is primed to compete next year. If Embiid is anything like folks thought he might be, watch out! (Alternate ending- his legs literally combust ala Kyle Broflovski in the Colorado state tournament)
12. Heat Apologist (72-71-1)
FAAB Remaining: $0 FAAB Moves this week: Jordan Adams ($0)
13. Hardenoutherr4apimp (67-76-1)
FAAB Remaining: $62 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
14. Hoopus Alleyoopus (57-84-3)
FAAB Remaining: $13 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
15. Foreign Affairs (58-86-0)
FAAB Remaining: $90 FAAB Moves this week: Bruno Caboclo ($0)
My streak just won’t end of 2-7 or 4-5 losses with my 2-7 loss to Slim this week, as I now have 13 weeks with either of those the others at the start of the year being a few 6-3 wins, good for young team to develop that kind of rhythm.
It was an eventful Allstar two week match up for my team with Domo getting traded I expected him to not stay with the Rockets so the Pistons could be interesting, the rumored possible trade voiding is troublesome but at least I’ll finally get some proper news about his back, MKG…sigh….he doesn’t have the trade value I was hoping for now and I still can’t see if he is going to develop more or level off so he’ll have to sit on my very red bench until sometime before next years draft since he showed enough that I don’t want to lose him on his cheap $4 price. No Ryan Anderson trade is a bummer as he could have upped his value for me going into our trade deadline but he’ll just be stuck at his solid value for $14 till he leaves in the off-season for a starting gig, hey maybe the Nets will pay him big and move Thad to the 3, Brook and Ryan are big pals from the Jersey days.
I got beat on Ronnie and Humphries in FAAB but I didn’t want to spend anything big on guys that aren’t long term players for me and probably aren’t long term players for the Suns..still waiting on that magical Whiteside…where are you new Whiteside. Brought Bruno back in to hang out with Bebe on the bench since Splitter is out for the year and I was never keeping his waste of $4 arse.
I also traded Cory Joseph for Tony Snell in a $1 for $1 move which is basically because Im pretty set at guard and with an uncertain MKG and who knows what Dario is I have abysmal wing depth right now. My hope is that Kings interest and some other rumblings indicate a lot of teams like him and that he just needs a change of scenery and a different coach to really get back on the path JB thought he was on last year, while Cory Joseph looks more like a young Jarrett Jack type better then bench pg but not really good enough to be a starting pg. Which is awesome for $1 but I really don’t need more guard depth and there’s some deep sleeper college pg’s right now that I’ll be going after next year so I hope this works out for me as next years rookie wings look pretty meh outside Ingram…if he even counts.
Gorgui and Clarkson are in official Im not moving them unless you blow me away with guys camp with Gorgui really looking fantastic now…Sam Mitchell games aside, but Zach Lavine owners understand my pain, don’t you just love watching Prince get minutes and starts JB, while Clarkson is putting up 2nd round value right now and with Wiggins rounding into form (please don’t be a late season only thing) im really happy about that trade with Slim earlier, Clarkson is pretty much doing what Hayward is but cheaper and with out an obvious future competition (Burks and Exum with Hood) which remains the main reason I did the trade, Wiggins continuing to show that right now is his floor not his ceiling and Jimmy looking unable to play a full slate of games year in and year out also helps.
I go against Pete Nice this week and it looks like its going to be close Im going to bet on a 4-5 loss this time but hey maybe I’ll get lucky and have a 6-3 win, not likely with 7 roster spots not producing at the moment but maybe Russell is finally free and Mudiay keeps improving,
Regardless all aboard the Dieng Train chooo choooo
16. Pete Nice – Razzball (54-88-2)
FAAB Remaining: $83 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
17. Cigar Smoking Monkey (52-91-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
18. The Nature Boy (48-94-2)
FAAB Remaining: $75 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
19. No Glove No Love (47-96-1)
FAAB Remaining: $49 FAAB Moves this week: Phil Pressey ($7), Trevor Booker ($5), James Johnson ($3)
20. The Chosen Ones (46-98-0)
FAAB Remaining: $5 FAAB Moves this week: Devin Harris ($4)
