Narrowly holding onto the #1 spot, HateUsCauseTheyAnus is still getting the league’s hate! Putting yourself on a pedestal, Adam! It was a fairly quiet week on the FAAB front for adds – minus a big-name veteran acquisition who is out for the year – but the fireworks happened on the trading block. It’s always shocking to see a team’s namesake get traded, forcing the owner to change their team name! The Freaks are no longer Greek… Here’s how week 12 went down in the REL:
1. HateUsCauseTheyAnus (69-37-2)
FAAB Remaining: $27 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
2. Yappers (68-37-3)
FAAB Remaining: $49 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
My 6-3 victory last was probably the best I could realistically expect. I lose Turnovers and FG% almost every week and this week was no exception. My opponent is the 3s leader so I expected to lose there. But I expected FT% to be close and by resting Plumlee and Chandler two games we won that category narrowly. Points was unexpectedly close but we also won that.
But that is not what I want to talk about. Instead I want to talk about what I will learn this week and what I have learned already in a trade last week.
This week I play Slim. At this point he is the clear favorite in this league, and I expect to lose this matchup best case 3-6, most likely 2-7. But I will learn how much I have to makeup to have a good shot at winning this league assuming this is even possible (which I will also learn). Now I am of the philosophy you either win or go home (second doesn’t count), and if in a month or so I conclude the chances of me winning this year are not realistic, I will be in sell mode (much like what Slim did last year).
The good news is a big part of the expected loss may be that Slim traded his two $1 keeper prospects last week for help this year while I have not yet done so with my three $1 keeper prospects. The other good news is that I learned what I should expect to receive should I decide to trade these prospects and it is not insignificant. Slim received rentals of Larkin and Bogut, and the upgrade from Sullinger to Hood (check the ranks, it is an upgrade and their keeper prices are the same). I figure that Dekker is about equal to Rashad Vaughn is about equal to Bogut (100 ranked player) and Hunter is about equal to Tyus Jones and is about equal to Larkin (150 ranked player). Now maybe one can argue that my $1 prospects are very slightly less than Slim’s (but they are in comparable tiers) so I will ignore the upgrade from Sullinger to Hood here.
Now I am also ignoring Jordan Mickey, the D league MVP of December. The reason is one little D league stat.
Hassan Whiteside 2014-2015 – age 25 – 5 blocks per game (small sample size of 4 games)
Jordan Mickey 2015-2016 – age 21 – 4.6 blocks per game (21 games – second place 2.9 blocks per game)
…well actually two stats
Hassan Whiteside – 2015-2016 FT%: 0.527
Jordan Mickey – 2015-2016 FT%: 0.778
Yes I love him enough to risk losing this year to hold. Jordan Mickey will be available only if I am in full go for it now mode and if he is not receiving minutes for the Celtics after the NBA trade deadline. He will cost a ransom (think Marc Gasol of last year or close to it). Yes I love him that much.
3. JB Gilpin – Razzball (66-37-5)
FAAB Remaining: $1 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Man, finally got out of this 7-2 rut I was in for an 8-1 victory this past week. All hail a healthy team playing the easier stretch of my schedule! This is my first time having such a good team, and at only 1.5 outta first, you can excuse my humbleness.
A lot of the success in an REL is luck – I’ll admit it. I managed to trade Joakim Noah mere days before a season-ending injury and have stayed relatively healthy otherwise. On top of that, I managed a 27-44 FG shooting (61.4%) shooting day yesterday (benching some players, but it’s still a huge day nonetheless) to take my 8th cat. I undervalued how much IT2/3 would help my FT volume, as I thought I had a punt Ft team yet I’ve won it almost every week the past two months. It’s all falling into place! Mannnnnn, I like my team.
No moves this week for me on the FAAB market, and it was gorgeous to see Jonathon Simmons shine with PT last night. I get High as Greg Kite this week, who has a strong team especially at G with the Curry/Harden combo. I’m really worried about my treys and FT% (and TO, but that’s almost always a loss for me), but I think I can nab the rest of the cats. Good luck this week, senor Kite!
4. Slim – Razzball (64-43-1)
FAAB Remaining: $9 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
There’s just no other way to put it. My team is cursed. I knew what I was getting into with Kobe and if I had no other injury issues I’d be doing just fine but Nurkic is down with a knee and certainly won’t be rushed back, Beverley is down again an ankle, Booker has a concussion, and Gerald Green went down with a knee. I’m just trying not to overreact at this point. I’m playing to win now but it’s getting increasingly harder as I tend to finish each week with more guys injured than I started it.
In that win now vain I made another trade. Sullinger, Vaughn, and Tyus Jones for Hood, Bogut, and Larkin. Sure there’s no shortage of risk with the new guys but it appears to me like I got significantly better right now and basically just swapped out Sully for Hood as far as keepers go. The trade is pretty low end considering most of the fireworks this year but as they say, “it’s not the size of the trade that counts, it’s how you use it.” At least that’s what she keeps telling me.
This week I’m up against the #2 team. I don’t have much of a chance with all of my injuries but who knows, stranger things have happened.
5. Kap’s Team (63-42-3)
FAAB Remaining: $98 FAAB Moves this week: Pablo Prigioni ($0)
6. Martyball – IFBL (64-44-0)
FAAB Remaining: $83 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
7. I Ain’t No Jok(ic) (61-45-2)
FAAB Remaining: $41 FAAB Moves this week: Nene ($12), Lance Thomas ($3)
Things weren’t looking too good about halfway through the week, but my guys managed to put together a 6-2-1 win against a team that I would expect to beat most of the time. That London game, and it being the only game for ORL/TOR, really threw a wrench into my week. We overcame though, so no more complaints about that.
More injuries last week of course, which is becoming the norm. Ronnie Price had surgery so he’s gone, replaced by the always exciting Lance Thomas, woohoo! JaMychal Green is also gone as, despite playing well when he gets on the floor, he’s just not getting on the floor much any more. Nene has a ton of injury risk, but he’s a guy who’s definitely in the rotation for the rest of the year as long as he’s healthy. Couldn’t pass it up so he was my big FA pickup of the week.
My team has climbed into 7th place now, just two games out of the final playoff spot now. I’m also only two and a half games out of 4th place, so there’s plenty of room for improvement. Lets keep this train rolling guys!
8. Scurry to the Left (59-47-2)
FAAB Remaining: $98 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
9. Niko-Cola (56-50-2)
FAAB Remaining: $85 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
10. Hardenoutherr4apimp (56-52-0)
FAAB Remaining: $82 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
11. High as Greg Kite (54-51-3)
FAAB Remaining: $13 FAAB Moves this week: Jarrett Jack ($53)
12. Hard-N-Tha-Paint (54-53-1)
FAAB Remaining: $20 FAAB Moves this week: Tyler Ennis ($0)
13. Heat Apologist (52-55-1)
FAAB Remaining: $40 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
Didn’t see that one happening. Beat a playoff bound team, 6-3. Aided by the Demi-Godzilla known as jimmy buckets, solid across the board production, and, most importantly, by my competition getting hammered by injury. Won 3ptm thanks to olynyk (8) and Gordon and hood (9), and then trading hood away. Won blocks thanks to Bogut (7), and traded him away. Won assists, at least in part thanks to Larkin (13) and traded him away. Of the three, Hood is a keeper, Larkin is borderline at $11, and Bogut is a rental. In return, I received a 23 year old, $5 Sullinger, and two 19 year old, $1 projects in Tyus Jones and Vaughn. All three are in crappy situations, with time shares and deep depth charts, but the upside is there. I won’t belabor their potential, I believe slim did in a previous post, but $1 players open up a lot of possibilities. Just ask the $1 draymond owner. After losing Al Jefferson and mike Conley, I knew I was in for a rebuilding, and I figured I would act early before the market was saturated. I’m set up for next year, with a large amount of money for a few spots. I’m looking at you Simmons. Having said that, I’m not done with moves. Donald Sloan is available. I sent offers out and received some luke warm interest. All the guy did was have 29 assists to 8 to, 17 rebounds, and shoot nearly 50% for the week. He’s no superstar, but he is the guy right now. I’m not necessarily campaigning for him, but if a contending team needs assists in bunches, he’s available. I could move a keeper plus Sloan for a better keeper. Conley is available too, but I don’t need to move him as he still has a fair keeper value.
14. Foreign Affairs (48-60-0)
FAAB Remaining: $91 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
15. Hoopus Alleyoopus (46-60-2)
FAAB Remaining: $38 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
16. The Nature Boy (41-65-2)
FAAB Remaining: $80 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
17. Pete Nice – Razzball (37-69-2)
FAAB Remaining: $83 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
18. The Chosen Ones (38-70-0)
FAAB Remaining: $12 FAAB Moves this week: Ronald Roberts ($0)
19. No Glove No Love (35-73-0)
FAAB Remaining: $65 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
20. Cigar Smoking Monkey (33-74-1)
FAAB Remaining: $100 FAAB Moves this week: n/a
