Marvin Harrison is one of the good ones AND one of the great ones!

Little Fanfare For an Uncommon Man
Colts' Humble Harrison Stresses Substance Over Style

By Sally Jenkins

INDIANAPOLIS - There are no ploys from Marvin Harrison, no antic bids for attention, look at me, look at me, look at me. So, it may come as a surprise to learn that Harrison is the best wide receiver in the NFL, and perhaps on his way to being the best of all time, certainly better than any other wide receivers you have heard of, those garrulous self-promoters with their megaphone egos, and Klaxon mouths, and stage props hidden in their socks. Compared with him, those guys are insufferable bleaters. They are merely good. Harrison is great.

Harrison has pulled off a very neat trick: He has become great without becoming famous. He does not hold bawling news conferences, or strike ludicrous poses. He has been named to the Pro Bowl eight times and holds several NFL records yet he has passed through his 11-year career for the Indianapolis Colts without a single memorable end zone display or act of self-celebration. The result is that he is uncelebrated. He is not a star. "Well, he is," says Colts President Bill Polian, "but people don't know it."

A search for public mention of Harrison turns up almost nothing except his age, 34, his vitals, 6 feet, 185 pounds, and some statistics. Which is the way he likes it. "That's good," Harrison says. "Nothing to write about." Now, think about it. This is the age of communication, not to mention brazenness and blatant vulgarity. Do you know how hard it is to leave no real impression of yourself, nothing but a bunch of numbers and secondhand opinions?

Harrison shrinks against a wall in the Colts' complex, hands thrust deep in his gray fleece sweats, exuding an almost panicky shyness. With his slight build, he seems more fawn-like than human. He is all slim reticence. Startle him, say, by asking something personal, and he'll bolt from the building. He constantly glances away, his eyes sliding and skittering all over the hallways. The truth is, Harrison doesn't like being looked at.

"I'd prefer to play in an empty stadium," he says softly. "It would be, um, not less embarrassing, but I don't like the focus directly on me, not anything, no one, no cameras. If I had to I would just play in front of no fans."

Ask any pedestrian on the street to name the top wide receiver in the league, and he might pick Terrell Owens or Chad Johnson, notorious preeners. But ask defensive backs the same question, and you get a different answer. Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy believes that the only people who properly appreciate Harrison are the people "who have to cover him." Last winter, ESPN queried nine defensive backs: Who is the toughest player to cover in the league? Eight answered: Marvin Harrison.

It's the diminutive, semi-invisible Harrison who is on pace to break virtually every important receiving record in the NFL. He passed the 900-catch mark in the shortest period of time in league history, 149 games. His average of 94 catches per season is the all-time record -- by nine. He holds the record for most receptions in a single season (143) -- by 20. Heading into Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins, he is ninth in the league in receptions with 32.

So why haven't people heard more of him? "Because he's all substance," says Dungy. "He's not flash and dash, it's just all performance for him. Even I really had no idea how good he was until I got here."

In a 45-28 Monday night victory over the St Louis Rams last October, Harrison and quarterback Peyton Manning set the NFL record for touchdowns by a duo. They connected for their 86th score when Harrison, running a fade route, caught a lofted ball over his shoulder, planted his left foot, and dragged his right toe in the end zone. And then he jogged casually away.

Manning ran excitedly down field to greet him. Harrison tossed the ball to him. Manning handed the ball back. "You keep it, you keep it, you keep it," Manning insisted. Harrison handed it back again. He wouldn't accept it.

"I've just never been a flashy person, my work is the key to success," Harrison said during an interview last season. "It's not to go out and rant and rave about one touchdown in a game, when you still have 30 more minutes to play. My job is never done until all the zeros are on the clock."

Humility? Personal modesty? They are all but obsolete qualities among NFL wide receivers -- which is why quarterbacks on other teams openly pine to play with him. One of them is the Philadelphia Eagles' Donovan McNabb, who was a collegiate teammate of Harrison's for two years at Syracuse. "So many receivers go through their career talking about how great they are, and how much they're going to do," McNabb says. "Marvin just does it."

Read the rest of the article here:

Actual NBA Fantasy Sleepers

It cracks me up when I read one of these "NBA Sleeper" articles and among the so-called sleepers will be guys like Jameer Nelson (ya think?) or Luol Deng. Give me a break! But here are a few actual guys for the end of deep drafts that are worthy of consideration:

Anderson Varejao/Cavs - The wild Argentinian has unimpressive stats, like, who wants a four point/four rebound guy? Make no mistake, he will be taking minutes from the likes of Donyell Marshall with his active defense and rebounding skills.

Jackie Butler/Spurs - This guy is very young, but was statistically the best center on the Knicks last year. He is a post monster ready to come into his own, as soon as Pop learns to trust him. He is a must-take in keeper leagues!

Ronnie Turiaf/Lakers - He gets a shot at minutes early in the year while Kwame Brown and Vlad Radmanovic and Chris Mihm, among others, are down for the count at the season's start and the Lakers need big bodies. You already know about Andrew Bynum but Turiaf will get a chance to shine.

Steve Novak/Rockets - This guy can shoot the rock. The Rockets might be the right team for him, with teams needing to be aware of Yao's inside presence and to stay in front of TMac. Novak from the corner, YES!

Jorge Garbajosa/Raptors - He has the talent and the experience and can do a bit of everything. It may take awhile, but if you can afford to carry him while he adjusts to the American game he could be something of a Nocioni for the Raps by year's end.

David Lee/Knicks - Jared Jeffries will be out 6-8 weeks and the choices are Jalen Rose (fried), Q Rich, Balkman (hahahahahaha!) or the athletic David Lee. No one understands the mind of Zeke Thomas, so who knows, but Lee was quite productive in limited time last year. He is a nice thought in very, very deep leagues. Hey, if Zeke likes him you'll have a surprise and if he doesn't you just drop him and grab a stiff like Gordon Giricek instead.

Marko Jaric/Wolves - Who? What? Yeah, guess what, the failure at point guard is running at small forward and could be a sixth/seventh man for Minny this year. Worth a shot, perhaps?

~~~~~~~~

Sure, maybe some people will know all about Monta Ellis, but now you know about Ronnie Turiaf! Uhm, in deep leagues, okay, if you are taking a Jaric in a ten-team league the guy who takes Dunleavy instead is gonna laugh at ya!

Cards over Mets - biggest upset ever?

I have heard some fans saying that if the Cardinals, an 83-win team, beat the Mets, a 97-win team, that it would be the biggest postseason upset ever!

Ridiculous! Remember the Seattle Mariners, circa 2001? 116 victories. They lost to the 95-win Yankees, who then lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series!!!!
Arizona had won 92 games in the regular season...

How about the Cubs, who won a wonderful 116 games in 1906, only to fall in the World Series to the 93-game-winning Chicago White Sox? How about that?

Nope, that the Mets starting rotation was decimated before the series versus the Cardinals more than evened the odds. It was a hard-fought seven game series and no choke jobs anywhere. But maybe it is fate as well???

You see, the 2006 Cardinals are definitely not the worst NL club to make it into the World Series nor are they unique in the playoff era. In fact, it was a Mets team that did the same thing to a Cincinnati club that the Cardinals just did to them, back in 1973.

1973 - The Mets were a pathetic 82-79, winners of the weak East division while the powerful Big Red Machine won 99 games in taking the West. Two other Western clubs won more games than the Mets and fourth place finisher Houston matched New York's 82 wins. Clearly, the Met team was inferior. But they had one thing going for them...the best part of the team was the starting rotation. They could throw Seaver, Koosman and Matlack at you. The Reds would face Mr. Seaver twice in a five game series. The overconfident Reds lost, three games to two. The Mets then went to the World Series and played terribly in losing to the Oakland squad.

I saw game two of that series, with Willie Mays stumbling around in the outfield like a weekend slow pitch softballer after a beer or two and Mike Andrews making, how many, like, three errors in one inning? It was brutal. The Athletics won four games to three.

This year's Cards team won 14 games less than the Mets. The 1973 Mets team won 17 games less than the Reds. The 2001 Yankees won 21 games less than the Mariners. A little perspective, please. The Cardinals are not an overwhelming team. But they are not the worst team to make it to the World Series nor was their win the biggest upset. It is entirely possible that the Cardinals have the Cy Young winner (Chris Carpenter) and the Most Valuable Player (Albert Pujols) for the second straight season, so they aren't to be taken lightly.

Now that St. Louis has won, will their experience allow them to beat a better club in the Tigers? If so, it still won't equal the White Soc beating the team that won 23 more games during the regular season. The difference this year is 12 games. The Tigers are better, but who knows? That's why they play the games. PLAY BALL!

Chicagosaurus Rex

Here is what another blog has to say...

This was unexpected…

Show me one Bears fan who is happy with Chicago’s 24-23 win over Arizona, and I’ll show you someone who will be shocked and devestated sometime in January when the Bears get torched by an opponent whose kicker doesn’t blow last-second 40 yard field goals.

The Bears were significantly outplayed in every aspect of the game tonight, except luck. I’m not sure there has ever been a game where the quarterback alone accounted for 6 turnovers and the team still won.

Rex Grossman was horific, and the defense didn’t do much of anything. Sure, they held the Cardinals all but scoreless in the second half, but in crunch time in the final two minutes they melted against a rookie quarterback, and had lady luck not shanked Neil Rackers’ 40 yard field goal at the end, they’d have a long flight home.

Instead, the Cardinals defense is contemplating how 6 turnovers, 182 allowed yards of offense and only giving up three points can result in an “L”.

The Arizona offense may have scored 23, but they managed to hand the defense 14 on two fumble returns.

In all, I’m at a loss for words because I’m still trying to comprehend how this game turned out.

But two things I do know, and you may feel free to quote me on this:

1. Sometime in the playoffs Chicago will get torched much like they did last year agains the Panthers.

2. The Bears will drop like a rock in my power rankings, if no one else’s. Take away three lucky plays, and the Bears have lost to the Cards by 20 points. What I saw tonight was not a top football team.


I said this:

Luck? LUCK???!!!

The missing field goal, that was part luck, part momentum and part the fault of the coach for not going for the jugular and putting the fate of the team on the right foot of an Illinois graduate.

If it was luck, then Grossman’s six turnovers were luck going the other way and the Cards were therefore lucky to be in the game! No, there was not any luck here. There was:

1) Finally some comeuppance for an overconfident young quarterback who has to learn when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.

2) Coronation for absolutely the best defense on the planet and the defending defensive player of the year, one Mr. Urlacher. Think anyone plans on trying to block him next week?

3) A hard lesson for a veteran coach who should have known better. Denny Green pulled back on his game plan after getting a big lead. The martyball ploy backfired, as it often does.

Keep in mind that the Bears still lead the league in points scored. They were cruising for a trap game and this was it. Will Chicagosaurus Rex learn? Will the team respond as if they were beat and come roaring back? Will Arizona recover from this or will they go into a funk? It remains to be seen. I think Leinart is the real deal, but I think Grossman is, too. In fact, in experience they are close to even. Grossman has the better arm, Leinart is more fundamentally sound. I suspect we’ll see them facing off in a playoff game a couple of years down the road.

Chicagosaurus Rex. It has a certain ring to it, yes? Well he just killed every fantasy team I had (three) in which he started...except for the one that also features the Chicago defense! I still won that matchup.

Grossman has too much cowboy in him right now and presses a bit too hard to make the big play. He is still learning to read defenses and make his checkdowns quickly. If a defense kills his first two options he won't have time to make it down to number three. He is short for a quarterback so he needs to work on keeping his arm slot high and he also needs to work on having his feet stable before he unloads. Right now he is making off-balanced throws and throws off of his back foot. Maybe he was picked four times on Monday but I guarantee you there was at least one time in every previous game where the defender should have had a pick and they missed it.

Don't get me wrong, Rex has a terrific arm and when he does it right he delivers a nice ball and right where it needs to be, much like Kurt Warner did consistently in the 1999-2001 or so era. He can make all the throws. But he is a work in progress, which means he may break Bear fans hearts at times. We have to hope it isn't in a playoff game.

Here is where all those Favre comparisons come back to bite you, Bear fans. Rex is capable of throwing you right out of a game, too, just as Brett has done upon occasion. We know now that Rex can be as bad as a 2005-6 model Favre. Now the question is, can he be as good as a late 20th century model?

Theismann versus Kornheiser (oh, yeah, and about that Cardinal line...)

Did you read this article in ESPN?

Memo to Cards: Fix the O-line

By Michael Smith
ESPN.com



Really, there was nothing bizarre, shocking or surprising about what took place in Arizona on Monday night. There's an explanation for the Cardinals' coughing up 20-point halftime and 13-point fourth-quarter leads to the Bears. It's rather simple, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they're the Cardinals and that's their history and they're cursed and they're jinxed.

(Although I must admit that for some reason, no matter how many times I've tried, I've never been able to turn that franchise around on Madden, and I'm a pretty good virtual GM. But I digress…)

It's the offensive line. News flash: It's really bad. You don't have to be Ron Jaworski to see that.

Chicago's comeback was no miracle and had nothing to do with destiny. Choke jobs -- yes, even this big -- happen when you have an O-line as poor as the Cardinals'. There's an old saying in football: It all starts up front. That's where it ends, too. The Cardinals can't put people away or have any kind of killer instinct because their offensive line is killing them. Arizona failed to run out the clock because it can't run the football. We know it isn't the running back's fault. The line can't block. It's that simple.

Read it all here.

One more thing: I think that Joe Theismann is a pretty good color guy and that Tony Kornheiser is obtrusive and boring. I have a friend who thinks just the opposite. Is JT the problem or is it TK?

Bears beat Cardinals - the Perfect Storm is not enough!

No team in the history of the NFL came back from a 20 point deficit and won the game without scoring an offensive touchdown...until the 2006 Bears did it last night.

No running back ever ran the ball as many as 36 times (Edgerrin James) and gained less than 60 yards (until last night).

It had been 19 years since the Bears came back from a 20 point deficit to win a football game. Last time was against Tampa Bay in 1987 (down 0-20, won 27-26).

~~~~~~~

Flipside

No rookie quarterback had ever thrown two or more touchdown passes in his first two first quarters of action...until Matt Leinert did it.

Neil Rackers had never missed a game-winning field goal try at the end of a game...until last week when he missed versus KC. Make it twice in a row now.

~~~~~~~

This game was the Perfect Storm, come to blow away the Bear's undefeated status. Consider this:

The Bears tried to throw a 64-yard touchdown on the first play of the game. Berrian was open and Rex Grossman overthrew him. It was a sign of overconfidence, perhaps, to start that way?

The officials took away a valid first quarter interception from Nathan Vasher inside the Arizona thirty yard line on very spotty review evidence - BAD FORM! PLAYING TO THE HOME CROWD? Or am I just being a Bear fan? I thought the rule was that it required compelling evidence to overturn a ruling on the field. The replay looked like Vasher probably did catch the ball and keep it from touching the ground...

(By the way, the officials also blew it on a great punt by Brad Maynard that should have been marked out between the one and two yard line and was called a touchback. But then, Cardinal fans may say that James should have been whistled for no more forward progress just before Urlacher took the ball, and the game, away from him.)

When the Bears finally began moving the ball in the third quarter and had first-and-goal at the three, did they give it to Jones? Did they look for Clark or Moose in the end zone? No, they gave it to the slow blocking fullback, who went minus nowhere. They wound up kicking a deflating field goal.

Then Lovie tried a semi-onside kick that wound up giving the ball to the Cards on their 40! Duh.

Rex Grossman threw four interceptions and lost two fumbles!!!! Think about that. How much worse can a quarterback play than 14 of 37 for only 148 yards, no touchies and six turnovers???? I started him in fantasy football in three leagues. Ouch.

~~~~~~~

Rex has some growing up to do. Lovie kind of choked on this game for awhile. How in the heck did the Bears win anyway?

1) The defensive plan finally worked. The Bears stacked the line and dared Matt Leinert to beat them. He almost did but not quite. He may have, but...

2) Dennis Green choked. He got too conservative after going up 14-0. The Cards made only 6 points on the next three turnovers deep in Chicago territory when Dennis pulled in the offense and began running more often. Even after the Bears went ahead and Leinert began driving the ball down the field, he got too conservative once inside the 35 yard line and failed to make the first down that would have enabled the Cards to run out the clock, get closer for Rackers, and make the kick too easy to be missed.

3) This middle linebacker, Brian Urlacher, and this defense = both truly one for the ages. Remember in 2001, the two consecutive overtime games won by Mike Brown interceptions, or last year when Vasher returned a field goal attempt at the end of the half 108 yards to score against the 49'ers? This was better than that. Urlacher stayed optimistic and charged up. After rookie sensation Mark Anderson slapped the ball out of Leinert's hand and Mike Brown picked it up and scored, Brian found another gear somehow. In the fourth quarter there seemed to be three of him, punishing ballcarriers, stopping the run, and finally ripping the ball out of Edgerrin Jame's grasp so that "Peanut" Tillman could grab it and run it in for the touchdown.

4) Again, the wisdom of the Bear's draft, which was villified at the time for going for defense and special teams, is vindicated. Anderson caused one turnover for a touchdown and then rookie returner Devin Hester took it to the house to give the Bears the lead and the win. By the way, that is his second punt return for touchdown already in this young season. Best punt returner in a Bear's uniform since Gale Sayers!

~~~~~~~

What does it all mean to Chicago?

Lovie made some mistakes and so did Ron Turner and perhaps they have learned from them. Rex Grossman learned a hard lesson about ball security and also that he isn't quite Joe Montana yet. The coaches should have his attentive ear as they work on his reads and checkdowns and also counsel him to hold that ball with two hands until just before he throws. Rexy got away with a few poor throws earlier this year but this time the offense stunk up the place and it was his fault more than anyone else. Oh, yeah, and maybe run the ball a bit more? Thomas Jones is a pretty good back, people, eleven carries is simply not enough!

Now the Bears know that they have more work to do before they are Super Bowl-ready. Yet it didn't cost them anything in the loss column. The coaches will yell at the offense as if they blew an easy game, and at the whole team for coming into Arizona and expecting to just walk all over another NFL team.

Confidence is necessary. Arrogance will get you beat. I think the Bears came in with more arrogance than confidence and hopefully they got that smacked out of them. Time will tell.

~~~~~~~

What does this all mean to Arizona?

Yes, Dennis Green kind of choked in this game, but Lovie did similar things. I fear he will take too much heat for the loss. He has made this into a competitive team that is thisclose to being a winner. I do hope they give him more time to start banking actual wins.

Matt Leinert is a genuine NFL quarterback right now, no doubt.

Anquan Boldin, as Joe Theismann pointed out, is Sterling Sharpe 2.0. Too big, too fast, too good to cover effectively. What a great weapon!

The Cardinal line did a fantastic job of pass-blocking against the sack-happy Bears. But their run blocking still sucks. This line needs correcting in the off-season via free agency or trades and needs to be reinforced with the draft. Give Leinert and James an average line and they'll gobble up lots of yardage.

Neil Rackers is a total mystery. The guy had one of the greatest kicking seasons ever last year and this year he is falling on his face. I feel for the guy because if he had just made two kicks he would have made with his eyes closed last year, the Cards would have just won their third game and had momentum towards perhaps a playoff berth. Now they may just be playing the rest of the season to save Coach Green's job! I will say, though, that if he had kicked that ball right down the middle it might have been blocked. We'll never know...

~~~~~~~

Looking at the Bear's schedule, they are off next week, then play weak sister San Francisco at home, which should be a lot easier than Arizona. Plus I believe the Bears may be anxious to make a statement after their bye week. They then host Miami, another team they should beat. The Bears should be 8-0 when they embark on their three-game tour of the New York/Boston corridor.

The Giants, at Giants, will be hard to beat. 40% chance they lose.

The Jets, at Jets, will be an expected victory. 10 % chance they lose.

The Patriots, at Patriots! - If Rexy thought he saw coverages that confused him against Arizona and took more heat than he liked, wait until the Pats get after him. If the Bears haven't got their young quarterback settled down and reading defenses better before then, the Patriots will make it a very long day for Mr. Grossman. This is realistically a 50% probability of a loss here. Do the math, the odds say the Bears will lose one of these three games.

Losing a game or two to a tough opponent along the way isn't all bad. 13 wins will be a guaranteed first round bye this year and probably home field all the way to the end. 14 wins will guarantee it. One or two losses may be needed for motivational and teaching purposes. Then again, the coaching staff is going to be pummeling the team to an extent as if this was a loss.

You have to think the Bears will be either 10-1 or 9-2 after their road trip. The comes Minnesota, at Rams, Bucs, at Lions and Packers at home to close out the season. A record of 13-3 or 14-2 seems most likely. I cannot believe this team goes undefeated or even one-defeated. Will the offense grow up enough to make a playoff run all the way to the big game? This is the key, because barring significant injuries this defense is still the best in the NFL. As Lovie says, they aren't trying to take the ball away, they are trying to take the ball away and score it. Worked this time.

# 2006 NBA Fantasy Experts Draft part six

Blogging the Deep, Deep Draft! Part 6, rounds 13-14

At last, we come to the end of the draft! As in any long draft, there are times that we waited impatiently for someone to come make a pick and a couple of times we skipped a guy and he had to come in and pick after being passed over. There were a few times someone picked a guy who had already been selected. On the whole it has been a great draft with good guys and I found it to be an enjoyable experience. Both the Rotokingdom and Fantasy Kings sites have a lot of sharp fantasy sports players and I was privileged to be part of this particular group. I’ll have to do well in the coming fantasy season or they’ll replace me with someone better. Okay, now I said all the right stuff. Mainly I want to beat all of ‘em because I like to WIN!!!!!!! But lets go on...


13th Round
13.01 SirDunkAlot - Jared Jeffries
13.02 dcdoorknob - Jarvis Hayes
13.03 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Rashad Mccants

Here was a mistake, Santa didn’t know or forgot that McCants is injured and out for much if not all of this year. Ouch! At least he is a much better poet than Etan Thomas!

13.04 UCLAccord - Jeff Foster
13.05 Ucaimaman - Matt Bonner

You can picture him coming in and raining threes down on opponents after TDunc draws double-teams down low. You can also picture him gathering cobwebs at the end of the bench. Who knows whether ‘Pop’ will love the guy or not?

13.06 Goubs - John Salmons
13.07 baseballar13 - Fred Jones
13.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - James Jones

One word. No, two words. Jumaine Jones. James was fantasy relevant last season because he got enough time off of the bench to pop in some threes and block the occasional shot. However, the other J Jones has some similar skills. They may just kind of cancel each other out.

13.09 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Bobby Jackson
13.10 DAtaris17 - Tony Battie
13.11 bangalack89 - Quentin Richardson
13.12 KB89 - Ronnie Brewer
13.13 Mikl - Gary Payton

Nice pickup! Payton will be the starting PG while JWill is on the mend and that is worth a 13th round pick I would say.

13.14 CelticsFan3519 - Andres Biedrins
13.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Deshawn Stevenson

13.16 radar - Marcus Williams
14th Round
14.01 radar - Anderson Varejao

Hey, it’s the last two rounds! I have become weary of picking old guys. I am quite sure that Marcus Williams will be the second stringer who spells Jason Kidd and he is so quick and skilled I can see him getting 20 minutes a game for sure. He has a lot of upside and I think Lawrence Frank will finally see him as a guy he can trust to run the team while JKidd sits. This means consistent minutes with the second unit.

Varejao looked sensational during the World games. Donyell Marshall is getting up in years and is now a defensive liability. Big ‘Z’ does best with his minutes limited. It all spells time at both the 4 and 5 spots for the Wild One. I know his offensive skills are limited. I expect rebounds and hustle stats and with the last round in the draft, that should be all I need from him. This might even be the year Cleveland gives him enough minutes to help out with the points column! That would be gravy.

14.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Full
14.03 CelticsFan3519 - Dan Gadzuric

How nice is this for CF? Bogut is going to be out 6-8 weeks and Gadzuric should be the starter. Giving him big minutes to begin the season will be a nice start that may keep him solidly in the rotation for the rest of the year.


14.04 Mikl - Juan Dixon

Dixon is the guy I almost took instead of Marcus. His shooting percentages are nice, although other than scoring the basketball he isn’t much. But he does a lot of it in limited minutes.

14.05 KB89 - Marko Jaric
14.06 bangalack89 - Travis Outlaw
14.07 DAtaris17 - Sean May

I considered May instead of Varejao. Summer league play, he was a different guy, now healthy, with a decent shot.

14.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Brian Cook
14.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - David Wesley
14.10 baseballar13 - Mike Sweetney

I am a Bulls fan, but man, someone teach Sweetney to shape up his bod to NBA standards and play some defense, will ya?

14.11 Goubs - Damon Jones

Guys like Wesley and Brown on the roster are bad news for the one-trick pony man.

14.12 Ucaimaman - Salim Stoudamire
14.13 UCLAccord - Johan Petro
14.14 Dutch - Rodney Carney

This guy could actually wind up starting for the 76’ers, thus making the rest of us kind of dumb for passing him by.


14.15 dcdoorknob - Etan Thomas
14.16 SirDunkAlot - Gordan Giricek

I think it is funny that the very last guy taken is listed (at least in some sites) as a starter for Utah. But hey, Bruce Bowen is listed as a starter for the Spurs and who the heck wants him on your fantasy team? Not me, brutha!

So, how did Ucai and I fare with our final teams?

Ucaimaman
1.05 Ucaimaman - Dirk Nowitzki (PF)
2.12 Ucaimaman - Gerald Wallace (GF)
3.05 Ucaimaman - Lamar Odom (F)
4.12 Ucaimaman - Tony Parker (PG)
5.05 Ucaimaman - Hedo Turkoglu (GF)
6.12 Ucaimaman - Samuel Dalembert (C)
7.05 Ucaimaman - Brevin Knight (PG)
8.12 Ucaimaman - Smush Parker (PG)
9.05 Ucaimaman - Andrea Bargnani (F)
10.12 Ucaimaman - Primoz Brezec (C)
11.05 Ucaimaman - Jake Tsakalidis (C)
12.12 Ucaimaman - Anthony Johnson (PG)
13.05 Ucaimaman - Matt Bonner (FC)
14.12 Ucaimaman - Salim Stoudamire (G)

Radar
1.16 radar - Chris Paul (PG)
2.01 radar - Jermaine O'Neal (FC)
3.16 radar - Kirk Hinrich (G)
4.01 radar - Mehmet Okur (FC)
5.16 radar - Emeka Okafor (FC)
6.01 radar - Larry Hughes (SG)
7.16 radar - Cuttino Mobley (SG)
8.01 radar - Drew Gooden (PF)
9.16 radar - Mike Dunleavy (SF)
10.01 radar - Jerry Stackhouse (GF)
11.16 radar - Juwan Howard (F)
12.01 radar - Michael Finley (GF)
13.16 radar - Marcus Williams (G)
14.01 radar - Anderson Varejao (F)

I like to look at the elasticity of a team – how versatile are they, so I can plug in full lineups with all sorts of schedules to consider. So I do a score of the position eligibles, not including Utility because everyone plays there.

Ucai’s score:
PG-4 SG-3 Guards-7 SF-3 PF-4 Forwards-6 C-4 = Elasticity score of 31

Radar’s score:
PG-3 SG-6 Guards-7 SF-5 PF-6 Forwards-9 C-3 = Elasticity score of 39

In truth, if you have at least three at a position you will probably be fine in most cases. But the center position is usually best filled by four (because we start two every day as opposed to one each of the other positions listed). I did a bit of a dice roll here, expecting that Varejao will gain center eligibility shortly after the season starts. If not, I may have to drop him for another player. So although my E-score is better than Ucai’s I had better get the center position squared away either courtesy of Yahoo or a drop-and-add or I will fritter away my versatility advantages. One more score, the E-score of our starting lineups (first ten players chosen) = both of us come in at a 26.

Who is better? We’ll see. I am playing to win it all no matter where he finishes but since we draft in differing ways I thought the team comparisons would be worth doing. In any event, I will also post the final draft thread for the league in its entirety to help one-and-all do their fantasy drafts this year. Grins!


1st Round
1.01 SirDunkAlot - LeBron James
1.02 dcdoorknob - Shawn Marion
1.03 Baseballar13 (From Dutch) - Kevin Garnett
1.04 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Kobe Bryant
1.05 Ucaimaman - Dirk Nowitzki
1.06 Goubs - Gilbert Arenas
1.07 Dutch (From baseballar13) - Dwayne Wade
1.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Elton Brand
1.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Steve Nash
1.10 DAtaris17 - Chris Bosh
1.11 UCLAccord (From bangalack89) - Paul Pierce
1.12 KB89 - Ray Allen
1.13 Mikl - Andrei Kirilenko
1.14 CelticsFan3519 - Yao Ming
1.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Allen Iverson
1.16 radar - Chris Paul
2nd Round
2.01 radar - Jermaine O'Neal
2.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Vince Carter
2.03 KB89 (From CelticsFan3519) - Pau Gasol
2.04 Mikl - Tim Duncan
2.05 CelticsFan3519 (From KB89) - Jason Kidd
2.06 UCLAccord (From bangalack89) - Joe Johnson
2.07 DAtaris17 - Michael Redd
2.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Chauncy Billups
2.09 Goubs (From LdubLakerPrideFKUnit) - Tracy McGrady
2.10 Dutch (From baseballar13) - Amare Stoudemire
2.11 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit (From Goubs) - Rashard Lewis
2.12 Ucaimaman - Gerald Wallace
2.13 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Jason Richardson
2.14 baseballar13 (From Dutch) - Dwight Howard
2.15 dcdoorknob - Rasheed Wallace
2.16 SirDunkAlot - Brad Miller
3rd Round
3.01 SirDunkAlot - Mike Bibby
3.02 dcdoorknob - Ben Wallace
3.03 Dutch - Josh Smith
3.04 UCLAccord - Ron Artest
3.05 Ucaimaman - Lamar Odom
3.06 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit (From Goubs) - Antawn Jamison
3.07 baseballar13 - Richard Jefferson
3.08 Goubs (From LdubLakerPrideFKUnit) - Peja Stojakovic
3.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Marcus Camby
3.10 DAtaris17 - Carmelo Anthony
3.11 bangalack89 - Boris Diaw
3.12 CelticsFan3519 (From KB89) - David West
3.13 Mikl - Carlos Boozer
3.14 KB89 (From CelticsFan3519) - Raymond Felton
3.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Caron Butler
3.16 radar - Kirk Hinrich
4th Round
4.01 radar - Mehmet Okur
4.02 Baseballar13 (From Supa-FK-Unit) - Stephon Marbury
4.03 CelticsFan3519 - Jason Terry (traded to dcdoorknob)
4.04 Mikl - Shane Battier
4.05 UCLAccord (From KB89) - Zydrunas Ilgauskas
4.06 KB89 (From UCLAccord which was from bangalack89) - Chris Kaman
4.07 DAtaris17 - Jameer Nelson
4.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Andre Iguodala
4.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Mike James
4.10 Supa-FK-Unit (From baseballar13) - Morris Petereson
4.11 Dutch (From Goubs) - Richard Hamilton
4.12 Ucaimaman - Tony Parker
4.13 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Baron Davis
4.14 Goubs (From Dutch) - Luke Ridnour
4.15 CelticsFan3519 (From dcdoorknob) - Chris Webber
4.16 SirDunkAlot - Andre Miller
5th Round
5.01 SirDunkAlot - Raja Bell
5.02 CelticsFan3519 (From dcdoorknob) - Josh Howard
5.03 Goubs (From Dutch) - Chris Wilcox
5.04 UCLAccord - Charlie Villanueva
5.05 Ucaimaman - Hedo Turkoglu
5.06 Dutch (From Goubs) - Manu Ginobili
5.07 Supa-FK-Unit (From baseballar13) - Sam Cassell
5.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Brandon Roy
5.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Shaquille O'Neal
5.10 DAtaris17 - Ricky Davis
5.11 bangalack89 - Andrew Bogut
5.12 KB89 - Troy Murphy
5.13 Mikl - T.J. Ford
5.14 dcdoorknob (From CelticsFan3519) - Wally Szczerbiak
5.15 baseballar13 (From Supa-FK-Unit) - Nenad Krstic
5.16 radar - Emeka Okafor
6th Round
6.01 radar - Larry Hughes
6.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Rafer Alston
6.03 KB89 (From CelticsFan3519) - Ben Gordon
6.04 Mikl - Al Harrington
6.05 CelticsFan3519 (From KB89) - Josh Childress
6.06 bangalack89 - Corey Maggette
6.07 DAtaris17 - Andres Nocioni
6.08 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Channing Frye
6.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Tayshaun Prince
6.10 baseballar13 - Darko Milicic
6.11 Goubs - Speedy Claxton
6.12 Ucaimaman - Samuel Dalembert
6.13 UCLAccord - Tyson Chandler
6.14 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Bobby Simmons
6.15 dcdoorknob - Mike Miller
6.16 SirDunkAlot - Marvin Williams
7th Round
7.01 SirDunkAlot - Danny Granger
7.02 dcdoorknob - Delonte West
7.03 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Zach Randolph
7.04 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Kyle Korver
7.05 Ucaimaman - Brevin Knight
7.06 Goubs - Jamal Crawford
7.07 baseballar13 - Maurice Williams
7.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Jason Williams
7.09 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Luol Deng
7.10 DAtaris17 - Deron Williams
7.11 KB89 (From UCLAccord which was from bangalack89) - Stephen Jackson
7.12 UCLAccord (From KB89) - Eddie Jones
7.13 Mikl - Nazr Mohammed
7.14 CelticsFan3519 - Vladimir Radmanovic
7.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Adam Morrison
7.16 radar - Cuttino Mobley
8th Round
8.01 radar - Drew Gooden
8.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Steve Francis
8.03 CelticsFan3519 - Kendrick Perkins
8.04 Mikl - Marquis Daniels
8.05 KB89 - Bonzi Wells
8.06 bangalack89 - Rudy Gay
8.07 DAtaris17 - Kenyon Martin
8.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Joel Pryzbilla
8.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Kurt Thomas
8.10 baseballar13 - Damon Stoudamire
8.11 Goubs - Shareef Abdur Rahim
8.12 Ucaimaman - Smush Parker
8.13 UCLAccord - Randy Foye
8.14 Dutch - Ryan Gomes
8.15 dcdoorknob - Kevin Martin
8.16 SirDunkAlot - Udonis Haslem
9th Round
9.01 SirDunkAlot - Chris Mihm
9.02 dcdoorknob - Nene Hilario
9.03 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Shelden Williams
9.04 UCLAccord - Chris Duhon
9.05 Ucaimaman - Andrea Bargnani
9.06 Goubs - Tim Thomas
9.07 baseballar13 - Antoine Walker
9.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - PJ Brown
9.09 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Antonio Daniels
9.10 DAtaris17 - Jarret Jack
9.11 bangalack89 - Donyell Marshall
9.12 KB89 - Stromile Swift
9.13 Mikl - Shaun Livingston
9.14 CelticsFan3519 - J.R. Smith
9.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Ike Diogu
9.16 radar - Mike Dunleavy
10th Round
10.01 radar - Jerry Stackhouse
10.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Alonzo Mourning
10.03 CelticsFan3519 - Zaza Pachulia
10.04 Mikl - Kwame Brown
10.05 KB89 - Earl Watson
10.06 bangalack89 - Charlie Bell
10.07 DAtaris17 - Leandro Barbosa
10.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Devin Harris
10.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Derek Fisher
10.10 Supa-FK-Unit (From baseballar13) - Monta Ellis
10.11 Goubs - Raef Lafrentz
10.12 Ucaimaman - Primoz Brezec
10.13 dcdoorknob (From UCLAccord) - Rasho Nesterovic
10.14 Dutch - Kenny Thomas
10.15 UCLAccord (From dcdoorknob) - Sebastian Telfair
10.16 SirDunkAlot - Desmond Mason
11th Round
11.01 SirDunkAlot - Martell Webster
11.02 UCLAccord (From dcdoorknob) - Eddie Griffin
11.03 Dutch - Anthony Parker
11.04 dcdoorknob (From UCLAccord) - Earl Boykins
11.05 Ucaimaman - Jake Tsakalidis
11.06 Goubs - Al Jefferson
11.07 baseballar13 - JJ Redick
11.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - James Posey
11.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Jamaal Magloire
11.10 DAtaris17 - Eddy Curry
11.11 bangalack89 - Robert Swift
11.12 KB89 - Brendan Haywood
11.13 Mikl - Jamal Tinsley
11.14 CelticsFan3519 - Luther Head
11.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Desagana Diop
11.16 radar - Juwan Howard
12th Round
12.01 radar - Michael Finley
12.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Theo Ratliff
12.03 CelticsFan3519 - Darius Miles
12.04 Mikl - Matt Harpring
12.05 KB89 - Grant Hill
12.06 bangalack89 - Antonio McDyess
12.07 DAtaris17 - Erick Dampier
12.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Steven Hunter
12.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Mark Blount
12.10 baseballar13 - Marcus Banks
12.11 Goubs - Francisco Elson
12.12 Ucaimaman - Anthony Johnson
12.13 UCLAccord - Sarunas Jasikevicius
12.14 Dutch - Adonal Foyle
12.15 dcdoorknob - Tyrus Thomas
12.16 SirDunkAlot - Hakim Warrick
13th Round
13.01 SirDunkAlot - Jared Jeffries
13.02 dcdoorknob - Jarvis Hayes
13.03 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Rashad Mccants
13.04 UCLAccord - Jeff Foster
13.05 Ucaimaman - Matt Bonner
13.06 Goubs - John Salmons
13.07 baseballar13 - Fred Jones
13.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - James Jones
13.09 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Bobby Jackson
13.10 DAtaris17 - Tony Battie
13.11 bangalack89 - Quentin Richardson
13.12 KB89 - Ronnie Brewer
13.13 Mikl - Gary Payton
13.14 CelticsFan3519 - Andres Biedrins
13.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Deshawn Stevenson
13.16 radar - Marcus Williams
14th Round
14.01 radar - Anderson Varejao
14.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Full
14.03 CelticsFan3519 - Dan Gadzuric
14.04 Mikl - Juan Dixon
14.05 KB89 - Marko Jaric
14.06 bangalack89 - Travis Outlaw
14.07 DAtaris17 - Sean May
14.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Brian Cook
14.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - David Wesley
14.10 baseballar13 - Mike Sweetney
14.11 Goubs - Damon Jones
14.12 Ucaimaman - Salim Stoudamire
14.13 UCLAccord - Johan Petro
14.14 Dutch - Rodney Carney
14.15 dcdoorknob - Etan Thomas
14.16 SirDunkAlot - Gordan Giricek

Oakland Raiders really, truly bite! NFL notes for Sunday.

Art Shell was a great football player, deservedly in the Hall of Fame. His current coaching staff may be the biggest joke in the NFL today. Tom Walsh, for instance, the Offensive Coordinator:

"A wise football person once said: ``You cannot win if you don't score.''

Tom Walsh once said: ``We serve muffins and juice from 7 a.m. until 9 a.m.''

Raiders fans believe these statements might be connected.

In case you've missed out on the controversy, Walsh is the Raiders' new offensive coordinator. But during the several years previous, he was out of football and running a bed-and-breakfast in Idaho.

Walsh abandoned the doilies and scones last winter when Art Shell became the Raiders' coach. The two had worked together during Shell's first stint with the team, in the 1980s, so when Shell returned, Walsh decided to make it a reunion tour. Walsh (no relation to former 49ers coach Bill Walsh) was one of Shell's first hires..."

Yes, Walsh, under Shell, is trying to run an offense featuring deep (5 to 7 step drops) drops for his quarterbacks while his line might be able to hold off defenders for about 0.7 seconds. Aaron Brooks isn't really that kind of quarterback and he is injured. No one is sure what kind of quarterback Andrew Walter is, but he is going to be a very sore one week after week as things stand.

The infamous Randy Moss is already disgusted and talking about being traded. The team's second best receiver went right into Shell's doghouse and now that Moss is complaining, Shell has suspended Porter!!!

"Jerry Porter chatted briefly with reporters Wednesday and said he wouldn't fan the flames after the Raiders kept him on the inactive list for the first four regular-season games.

"I'm not going to say anything to (tick) them off," the wide receiver said.

That's not the way the week ended.

The Raiders announced Saturday that coach Art Shell had suspended Porter for four games without pay for conduct detrimental to the team.

Porter, 28, would be eligible to play Nov. 12 against Denver in Oakland. The suspension, if upheld after a certain appeal, would cost Porter $235,294.11, or 4/17th of his base $1 million salary for the 2006 season. Calls to

representatives from the NFL Players Association - which customarily appeals any suspension - were not returned.

Shell, through a team spokesperson, declined comment until after tonight's nationally televised game against the Broncos. A call to the office of Porter's agent, Joel Segal, was not returned.

According to a player who didn't want to be identified, Porter had words with Shell on Friday and was kicked out of practice for being an insubordinate and a disruption during the Raiders' practice.

Porter was said to have been one of several players, including receiver Randy Moss, who complained about a long practice Friday and was kicked off the field by Shell.

Earlier in the week, Porter refused the coaching staff's orders that he work out with the team's regular offense since the team was considering activating him against the Broncos, according to sources within the team.

Porter, according to the sources, balked at working with the regular offense because he didn't believe the Raiders would actually activate him.

The suspension was handed down after Friday's practice and guarantees the Raiders' leader in receptions last season won't play in Oakland's first eight games this year.

Ironically, Shell said earlier in the week that Porter had been practicing hard and hadn't been a problem.

"He's doing scout teams for the defense," Shell said. "He's working. It's not that he's not working. I've never said he hasn't worked. He's doing what he's asked to do, and you can't ask for anything more that."

Porter confirmed Shell's assessment.

"I pretty much stay quiet and do what I'm asked," said Porter, who had 76 receptions for 942 yards last season. "What am I supposed to do? I'm playing the cards the way they're dealt to me. ... I'm just practicing hard, trying to make my

teammates better."

Who knows what Shell is thinking? Porter's ridiculous suspension is certainly going to be overturned. But isn't it interesting that the continual complaints of Moss result in no consequences, while Porter has been laboring in unfair obscurity and when he complains, boom, suspension!

With the team in tatters, an outdated offense and a coaching staff that was better off out to pasture, Raider fans have to be pitied. No matter what kind of weird things they wear to the stadium, those are some faithful and energetic fans and they just don't deserve this.

Right now Oakland is absolutely the worst team in the NFL. Al Davis made a big mistake in hiring Art Shell and until he corrects that mistake I suspect the Raiders will be losers. This is good for Denver and Kansas City and San Diego. This is tough on the Raider players and fans.

~~~~~~~

I used to really admire Jeff Fischer and thought he did a fine job of coaching the Titans. The whole Billy Volek saga has made me wonder. How is it that the coach tells everyone that Volek is the man for this season, the team prepares for that, and then just before the start of the season he trades for Kerry Collins and benches Volek, then trades him, then disses him but won't say why? So what happens? Yep, the guy who couldn't make it with Oakland failed in Tennessee, too. Now Vince Young is the QB in Titanville, one year too early. The Chargers have a good, viable backup QB to Philip Rivers. The Titans are 0-5 and the season looks grim...and...Young has to try to learn on the job and on the run rather than getting a year of practice and observation like Rivers and Palmer, for two examples.

~~~~~~~

I love the Colts, but if you can't stop the run (Corey Simon would have helped) or run the ball yourself you can't win in the playoffs. Undefeated now by the skin of Peyton Manning's teeth, they are in trouble if they can't correct this quickly. Otherwise, the best QB weapon of his generation will spend another season watching, rather than playing in the Super Bowl.

~~~~~~~

The Bears are obviously great. But do you know why? Seven reasons for you:

1) They had the temerity to draft for defense and special teams this year while critics called for offense! Result? Fifth round pick Mark Anderson has 5 1/2 sacks already. Danieal Manning is already starting at Free Safety. Devin Hester is an electrifying punt returner. Dusty Dvorcek is on IR, but he proved in camp that he is a force on the defensive line. Three other rookies also made the team and the Bears are strong on special teams and on defense. Leading to point...

2) The D-Line. Unlike the Colts, the Bears can stop the run and they can run. They have the deepest defensive line in the game and defensive coordinator Ron Rivera likes to keep running in fresh troops up in there. The tackle rotation includes Ian Scott, Tank Johnson and Alphonso Boone and they are all tough. But the headliner is Tommie Harris, who is playing like some kind of Alan Page- Reggie White throwback. Then there are the ends - Anderson is actually the third or fourth option among "Wale" Ogunlaye, Alex Brown and Isael Idonije.

3) The O-Line. They aren't well known, other than Olin Kreutz. Miller, Tait, Brown and Garza join him to form a veteran crew that plays very well together both in run blocking and pass protection.

4) Rex Grossman. Yes, he is fourth on the list. Heck, the Bears won 12 games with Kyle Orton behind center last year! Rex has the arm and attitude of a, well darn it anyway, Brett Favre. He may get cocky and force it in somewhere and get picked off. But he can take this team to the Super Bowl. How long has it been since a Bear QB has been the most productive passer in the league for a month, heck, for a day? Grossman still is in the learning stages of his pro career but, like Carson Palmer last season, the end of the learning stage can be a very productive one.

5) The linebackers. Urlacher and Briggs are the best pair of backers in the league and Hillenmeyer is playing pretty well also. There is a young up-and-comer named Brendon Ayanbadejo pressing HH for playing time as well. But Briggs is having a Pro Bowl season and Urlacher is so athletic and smart and versatile he has redefined the position of middle linebacker.

6) Lovie Smith and his staff, especially Rivera and Ron Turner, the Offensive Coordinator. Lovie has proven to be a leader with a vision and his team represents that vision. Rivera has been outstanding in helping to translate Lovie's concept of the Tampa Bay Cover Two into a Bear Juggernaut. Defensive Backs are the team's defensive weakness but this defense has used superiority by the front seven to allow the deep backs a chance at success. Turner has found a rythym with his young quarterback. The result is a Bear offense that isn't predictable and certainly isn't vanilla. No more four yard passes on third and eight. Not many third and eights!

7) Upper Management. Give Ted Phillips and GM Jerry Angelo their due. The team has made smart coaching hires and smart personnel decisions, leading to the current great success. A few years back the Bear's front office was part of the problem but that is a distant memory. Knowing who to sign and when to let them go is part of the process. Greater team success will lead to more players that demand top dollar, which means hard choices await down the road. For now, though, they can look at the free agent signing of Ricky Manning (who has been money as the nickel back!) and the draft and smile. The draft? Ah, right back to point one.

~~~~~~~

I still think Reggie Bush is the best rookie of this class - he has a chance to be a truly special player. But perhaps my favorite rookie is a surprise, Marques Colston, also of the Saints. With tight end size and receiver speed, he has made teams begin to roll coverages his way rather than try to double Joe Horn! Is he on his way to a 1,000 yard season as a rookie?

PS - You think the Texans are ready to admit they should have taken Reggie at the top of the draft? (Portland finally admitted Jordan would have been a better choice than Bowie, after all.)

Pacer Commentary - I fought the law and the...law won

Now that Stephen Jackson is in trouble again, it is time for Indiana executives (hey, Larry?) to consider the bigger picture. Jackson was the wildest-eyed out-of-control maniac of all the athletes who began brawling with fans during the infamous shootout at the Piston's Corral a couple of years back. That fracas cost the Pacers a chance at a championship and the hangover was felt last year as well. Now Jackson was the ringleader and principal miscreant involved in the Club Rio caper. He may be going to jail for a probation violation or for one of the offenses with which he is charged now in Indiana.

Here is the sad-but-truth:

Excerpt:

"Indiana Pacers guard Stephen Jackson was charged Wednesday with a felony count of criminal recklessness and two misdemeanor counts from last week's confrontation outside a strip club.

The charges were announced by Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi five days after the fight involving Jackson and three Pacers teammates against others at the club. Jackson was punched in the mouth and hit by a car and police say he fired a gun in the air at least five times..."

The incident is recounted here:

Excerpt:

"The Indiana Pacers' Stephen Jackson may not have caused the fight, but police say he admits jumping into it, firing his gun and kicking a man who was being pummeled on the ground.

That's why he was charged Wednesday with a felony count of criminal recklessness and misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct.
Jackson is expected to surrender today during a hearing in Marion Superior Court.

The charges could trigger even more woes for Jackson because he is still on probation from a Michigan criminal case stemming from an attack on fans during a game against the Detroit Pistons..."

Yes, Marquis Daniels was there but was apparently uninvolved and it appears that Jimmie "Snap" Hunter was out of this particular loop as well. Jamaal Tinsley's "friend" was part of the action and is also credited with ownership of a small bag or marijuana found in a compartment of the passenger side door of Jackson's car. Therefore Tinsley is involved enough to merit consternation also.

It is too bad for Jackson, but it is time for straight talk and wise action. Of course, if Jackson is led away in 'cuffs and has to do time, his contract could be voided and Indiana could walk away from his misdeeds and the obligation to pay him as well. It would be a tough break for SJax but it would benefit Indiana.

Tinsley also has a long term contract but there are teams, Miami for one, who could use some point guard help. Miami's starting PG for now, with White Chocolate out after knee surgery until probably December, is the former Glove now known as the Turnstile, Gary Payton. Payton still can shoot and he is a smart veteran but he isn't ready for big minutes anymore and couldn't guard snow in the Antarctic.

Indiana can hope for Jackson to be incarcerated, or they can trade him away. They could trade Tinsley away. It is time to get moving right now! The Pacers didn't look like a championship team this year anyway, they looked like a team that had a good shot at the playoffs and then would be eliminated within the first two rounds of competition.

The elephant in the room is Greg Oden. He already has a spot reserved in the Pantheon of Great Indiana Ballers alongside worthies such as Larry Bird and Oscar Robertson. He has already inspired a book and caused draftniks to begin drooling far in advance of the 2007 NBA rookie draft. Comparisons are being made to Russell, Duncan and The Admiral!

Imagine with me that Indiana somehow dumps Jackson and Tinsley for whatever younger talent they could scrounge up, finish out of the playoffs and get that lottery ticket that could wind up being punched, "Oden"! Indiana fans would have a built in hometown hero capable perhaps of leading the team to future championships. The bad actors would be long gone, and people like Granger, O'Neal and Harrington would still be plenty young enough to help begin a mini-dynasty!

It is supposed that the 2007 draft will be one of the strongest ever, so even if the Pacers don't get Oden, they might land one of several great big prospects like Joakim Noah of the defending national champions, Florida, or Spencer Hawes or a high-flying Paul Pierce-like Thaddeus Young. The imagination wanders...

There are more players under contract for the Pacers right now than there are roster spots, so some wheeling and dealing is in order. Teams poised to contend for the championship are often willing to deal younger talents to obtain proven veterans. Could Denver use Jackson? Would he be the key to making them a viable threat out West? Contracts and draft choices and cap rules must be considered but I cannot believe that Indiana couldn't make a trade with these two athletes and get younger for the future while, well, dumping to an extent this season.

Face it, the point is to win the championship. The Bulls stayed at it while they could, keeping older veteran players and eschewing player development while they won titles in the Jordan era. When it was over, they got real bad real fast. But they had six rings to show for it. How big a deal is it for Indiana to fall off this year for the chance to be dominant for a decade? My two cents...

Stephen Jackson & The Pacers - The Strip Club and the Damage Done

In honor of the Indiana Pacers, Stephen Jackson, and with apologies to Neil Young, to the tune of "Needle and the Damage Done."

I hear you shooting lead into the air
three in the morning and you just don't care
my, my, the damage done

Went to the strip club and you start a fight
you get run over in the dead of night
oh, oh, the damage done

poignant guitar plunkings with bass and harmonica

The Pacers had a chance to win some games
now they just have to work to clear their names
talk fast to try to save careers

I've seen the strip club and the damage done
it seems a real strange way of having fun
and now the season's shot as your handgun

poignant guitar plunkings with bass and harmonica

2006 NBA Fantasy Experts Draft part five

Blogging the Deep, Deep Draft! Part 5, rounds 11-12

By now we all have identified our weak areas that we need to shore up. Me? I want one or two more GF/SF types to balance out my lineup, preferably at least one who will knock down some threes. Typically, we begin to complain about the players we are choosing when we get to this stage. Notice this exchange after Eddy Curry is taken:

UCLAccord – “man, i hate curry (IRL and fantasy)......”

Mikl – “I understand you can hate Curry but I was thinking also to pick him this round....”

DAtaris17 – “Exactly. I definitely don't love Curry, but I saw centers who post similar numbers going 3 and 4 rounds ago. I'm pretty pleased with the pick.”

UCLAccord - “curry's basically a good scoring forward with avg boards/blocks. unfortunately, he's a C, and he should be crashing the boards. although, he is better than brezec, as long as he doesn't miss games.”

All of that translates into “Curry bites, but there aren’t all that many good centers so someone has to hold their nose and take him.”


11th Round
11.01 SirDunkAlot - Martell Webster
11.02 UCLAccord (From dcdoorknob) - Eddie Griffin

Insert your own joke here, something including driving and movies and maybe “has good hands” or something like that...

11.03 Dutch - Anthony Parker

This guy is a popular pick this year. I gotta say, though, that Yahoo rates him #356 in their preseason rankings and his career (NBA) scoring average is 2.4 PPG. Dutch has probably seen him play overseas, but I don’t have the cojones to take him myself.

11.04 dcdoorknob (From UCLAccord) - Earl Boykins
11.05 Ucaimaman - Jake Tsakalidis

Jeff is taking a guy who probably wouldn’t even get drafted at all if Pau Gasol hadn’t gotten hurt. It is a gamble that “Big Jake” will thrive with extra minutes.

11.06 Goubs - Al Jefferson
11.07 baseballar13 - JJ Redick
11.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - James Posey
11.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Jamaal Magloire
11.10 DAtaris17 - Eddy Curry
11.11 bangalack89 - Robert Swift
11.12 KB89 - Brendan Haywood

Other than screwing up your FT%, Haywood has a lot of value in the eleventh round. KB should be glad he fell this far.

11.13 Mikl - Jamal Tinsley

Tinsley – another one of those “if he’s healthy” guys. Great pick if...

11.14 CelticsFan3519 - Luther Head
11.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Desagana Diop

And now, my second round of picks since I began going for the 2-3 slots:

11.16 radar - Juwan Howard
12th Round
12.01 radar - Michael Finley

You will forgive me if I gloat a minute over these picks. I am sorry that I may have screwed up a bit in the earlier rounds (Larry Hughes in the sixth round? I must have had a brain cramp!), maybe even more than a bit. Here at the end I have mounted a comeback effort. Fins is going to be as productive as many starters and Howard IS a starter for the Rockets, although not a focus of the offense. Both these guys will get plenty of minutes and neither is anywhere near a reach. I’d say I made out very nicely here.

12.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Theo Ratliff

I commented that Supa (Diop and Ratliff) was “gettin’ himself some blocks” and he reminded me that he already had ‘Zo. Think maybe he will win that cat just about every week now???

12.03 CelticsFan3519 - Darius Miles
12.04 Mikl - Matt Harpring
12.05 KB89 - Grant Hill

This will be the best pick of the draft if Grant can make a comeback and be close to what he was. I don’t have a big enough font setting to make that “if” representative of just how iffy that is...

12.06 bangalack89 - Antonio McDyess
12.07 DAtaris17 - Erick Dampier
12.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Steven Hunter
12.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Mark Blount
12.10 baseballar13 - Marcus Banks
12.11 Goubs - Francisco Elson

For a big guy, Elson plays pretty soft. The Ole Drill Sarge will either tighten him up or we will see a lot of Jackie Butler.

12.12 Ucaimaman - Anthony Johnson
12.13 UCLAccord - Sarunas Jasikevicius
12.14 Dutch - Adonal Foyle
12.15 dcdoorknob - Tyrus Thomas
12.16 SirDunkAlot - Hakim Warrick

You know, you won’t even be drafting these last few guys if you are in a standard 12-team league. 16-teamers stretch your knowledge and demand that you take chances. In these two rounds, though, I played it safe with known commodities that will get minutes and I am pleased.

Ucaimaman versus Radar

Ucaimaman
1.05 Ucaimaman - Dirk Nowitzki (PF)
2.12 Ucaimaman - Gerald Wallace (GF)
3.05 Ucaimaman - Lamar Odom (F)
4.12 Ucaimaman - Tony Parker (PG)
5.05 Ucaimaman - Hedo Turkoglu (GF)
6.12 Ucaimaman - Samuel Dalembert (C)
7.05 Ucaimaman - Brevin Knight (PG)
8.12 Ucaimaman - Smush Parker (PG)
9.05 Ucaimaman - Andrea Bargnani (F)
10.12 Ucaimaman - Primoz Brezec (C)
11.05 Ucaimaman - Jake Tsakalidis (C)
12.12 Ucaimaman - Anthony Johnson (PG)

Radar
1.16 radar - Chris Paul (PG)
2.01 radar - Jermaine O'Neal (FC)
3.16 radar - Kirk Hinrich (G)
4.01 radar - Mehmet Okur (FC)
5.16 radar - Emeka Okafor (FC)
6.01 radar - Larry Hughes (SG)
7.16 radar - Cuttino Mobley (SG)
8.01 radar - Drew Gooden (PF)
9.16 radar - Mike Dunleavy (SF)
10.01 radar - Jerry Stackhouse (GF)
11.16 radar - Juwan Howard (F)
12.01 radar - Michael Finley (GF)

Well, Jeff (Ucai) sure has a lot of point guards! I do think he had a better start to his draft than I did, but lately I’ve been able to take advantage of the glut of 2-3-4 eligibles while he has needed to get centers and the pickings have become slim. Looking over my roster, I have no need to get any one particular category in the last two rounds but I will probably grab a third PG and a fourth C if they look worthwhile. But this is my main team and whatever I grab after this will be strictly fill-in material.

We’ve now taken 192 players! The end is in sight!!!

Today's Blog Preview - San Antonio Spurs

Go here and read this. Now. Why? Here is an excerpt:

"...SA briefly flirted with the likes of Joel Przybilla but ended up making small offers to restricted free agents Francisco Elson and Jackie Butler. Denver legitimately had a glut of big men and let the former walk. The Knicks, on the other hand… At this point aren’t there any number of high school kids who could write a simple computer code that would run the Knicks better than Isiah Thomas? I’m thinking it would start like this:

If (NumberOfPG w/ salary > $15000000 >= 1)
Then TradeForAnotherPGw/Salary>$15000000 = FALSE

Let us not underestimate the benefit of Nick Van Exel’s retirement. Towards the end of last season I took to calling him Stumpy:

”I believe that Pop is not sold on Van Exel, probably because he cannot guard anybody and a large portion of his shots fall between “ill-advised” and “really fucking stupid.” Look Nick, you aren’t Tony Parker: the teardrop has abandoned you. And so has your first step. And second. I’m not sure you even have feet at this point. Check for bloody stumps. And stop shooting the ball with more than 14 seconds left of the shot clock. You’re going to give me a polyp.”"

2006 NBA Fantasy Experts Draft part four

Blogging the Deep, Deep Draft! Part 4, rounds 9-10

I hope these blog postings help you if you/as you prepare for your fantasy basketball draft. Obviously draft picks don't coincide perfectly with rankings because people begin picking for need as well as quality. But it can make a nice tool to coincide with the rankings you might use as you make your draft decisions.


Well, first off KB89 has to be darned happy that Bonzi Wells signed with Houston! It should be a good situation for him if he can get along with little Van Gundy and play a little defense.

You get this deep and the players all have a “but” attached. Yeah, they all have butts, ha ha! To illustrate, let’s put the “but” on the end of the draftees, shall we?

9th Round

9.01 SirDunkAlot - Chris Mihm
But Kwame gets first crack at starting this year

9.02 dcdoorknob - Nene Hilario
But Kenyon is supposed to be healthy and out of the doghouse

9.03 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Shelden Williams
But Zaza and Lorenzen have starting experience

9.04 UCLAccord - Chris Duhon
But with Thabo added to the mix and Hinrich playing more point, is his burn gone?

9.05 Ucaimaman - Andrea Bargnani
But he is a Euro rookie and Bosh plays his best position.

9.06 Goubs - Tim Thomas
But Maggette is more likely to dominate the minutes at SF

9.07 baseballar13 - Antoine Walker
But Posey is the starter

9.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - PJ Brown
But young gun Tyrus Thomas and El Chapo Nocioni want those minutes

9.09 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Antonio Daniels
But DeShawn Stevenson and Jarvis Hayes want to start

9.10 DAtaris17 - Jarret Jack
But Roy will get PG time and Dixon needs his burn, too

9.11 bangalack89 - Donyell Marshall
But Gooden got the new contract and Varejao is young and improving

9.12 KB89 - Stromile Swift
But how well did he do Memphis last time around?

9.13 Mikl - Shaun Livingston
But Sam Cassell stands in his way

9.14 CelticsFan3519 - J.R. Smith
But George Karl will demand that he can play “D” or he will sit

9.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Ike Diogu
But Nellie is going small-ball which makes Dunleavy a PF and Murphy a C?

See what I mean? Now my two picks:

9.16 radar - Mike Dunleavy
10th Round
10.01 radar - Jerry Stackhouse

I knew I could hold off on small forwards/shooting guards until later in the draft. Dunleavy is a starter for the Warriors and it appears Nellie will have him at PF part of the time and perhaps at Point Forward part of the time. He should get more minutes under Nelson. If Stackhouse is a starter that is bad new for Devin Harris. But he has done well as the primary bench scorer for Dallas and while age and injuries mean he isn’t a star anymore, he can still put the biscuit in the basket and rack up the minutes.

Now for the rest of the 10th:

10.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Alonzo Mourning

Last year this guy was amazing as a shot blocker in part time work!

10.03 CelticsFan3519 - Zaza Pachulia
10.04 Mikl - Kwame Brown
10.05 KB89 - Earl Watson
10.06 bangalack89 - Charlie Bell
10.07 DAtaris17 - Leandro Barbosa
10.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Devin Harris
10.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Derek Fisher
10.10 Supa-FK-Unit (From baseballar13) - Monta Ellis

Six points in a row! Barbosa and Harris both figure big in their team’s plans. Watson and Fisher are trying for starting gigs. Ellis is there when Baron Davis goes down and could be the third guard. Bell, though, may need injuries to give him enough burn.

10.11 Goubs - Raef Lafrentz
10.12 Ucaimaman - Primoz Brezec
10.13 dcdoorknob (From UCLAccord) - Rasho Nesterovic

People are grabbing their low-end bigs now...

10.14 Dutch - Kenny Thomas
10.15 UCLAccord (From dcdoorknob) - Sebastian Telfair
10.16 SirDunkAlot - Desmond Mason

Desmond should start again and if NOK can get him the looks he got with Milwaukee he’ll be worth twice what he was worth last year. He’s a scorer and needs to be able to go to the hole. Peja can spread the defense and D West can make those 15-footers and we know that Chandler won’t clog the middle because he has no real post game. That leaves the lane open for Mason and Paul to operate.

Anyway, the trend of this part of the draft is going the other way from my draft plan. I went after bigs and points early on and now am filling in the middle. Most of the other drafters were going the other way. My little corner of the draft in rounds 9 & 10 produced a SF and a GF. But, out of the 30 picks made in rounds 9-10 that were not mine:

10 (one-third) were point guards
15 (one-half) were bigs (PF and/or C eligibles)
Only five (one-sixth) were not a point or a big.

This either means that I was smart in knowing when people would be looking the other way and I could kind of have my pick of swing players, or, that I missed out on all the good swing players early and the smart money is picking up bigs and points later in the draft. It remains to be seen which is true.

Ucaimaman versus Radar

Ucaimaman
1.05 Ucaimaman - Dirk Nowitzki (PF)
2.12 Ucaimaman - Gerald Wallace (GF)
3.05 Ucaimaman - Lamar Odom (F)
4.12 Ucaimaman - Tony Parker (PG)
5.05 Ucaimaman - Hedo Turkoglu (GF)
6.12 Ucaimaman - Samuel Dalembert (C)
7.05 Ucaimaman - Brevin Knight (PG)
8.12 Ucaimaman - Smush Parker (PG)
9.05 Ucaimaman - Andrea Bargnani (F)
10.12 Ucaimaman - Primoz Brezec (C)

Radar
1.16 radar - Chris Paul (PG)
2.01 radar - Jermaine O'Neal (FC)
3.16 radar - Kirk Hinrich (G)
4.01 radar - Mehmet Okur (FC)
5.16 radar - Emeka Okafor (FC)
6.01 radar - Larry Hughes (SG)
7.16 radar - Cuttino Mobley (SG)
8.01 radar - Drew Gooden (PF)
9.16 radar - Mike Dunleavy (SF)
10.01 radar - Jerry Stackhouse (GF)

I betcha that, at the beginning of the draft, Ucai didn’t think of Brezec when he considered his starters at Center! I’m wondering how many of my shooting guards will block more shots than Primoz this season?? Mobley and probably Hughes? (Yes, Jeff, if you read this, that was a dig). But Ucai has chosen bigs that can hit their free throws on a regular basis and that is one thing Brezec does quite well at (52% from the field and) 73% from the foul line. Can you imagine if Shaq made 73% of his free throws? We’d have to concede Miami the championship right now...

Assists, Points, Rebounds, Steals and Blocks. Those are my target categories, and hoping to do well in threes and FT%, too. I’m punting FG% and TO’s. My last two picks fit into the plan pretty well.

Now we have 160 players and every team has chosen their ten-man starting lineup. On to the reserves!


Below is the draft so far, up to the completion of round ten:

1st Round
1.01 SirDunkAlot - LeBron James
1.02 dcdoorknob - Shawn Marion
1.03 Baseballar13 (From Dutch) - Kevin Garnett
1.04 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Kobe Bryant
1.05 Ucaimaman - Dirk Nowitzki
1.06 Goubs - Gilbert Arenas
1.07 Dutch (From baseballar13) - Dwayne Wade
1.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Elton Brand
1.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Steve Nash
1.10 DAtaris17 - Chris Bosh
1.11 UCLAccord (From bangalack89) - Paul Pierce
1.12 KB89 - Ray Allen
1.13 Mikl - Andrei Kirilenko
1.14 CelticsFan3519 - Yao Ming
1.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Allen Iverson
1.16 radar - Chris Paul
2nd Round
2.01 radar - Jermaine O'Neal
2.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Vince Carter
2.03 KB89 (From CelticsFan3519) - Pau Gasol
2.04 Mikl - Tim Duncan
2.05 CelticsFan3519 (From KB89) - Jason Kidd
2.06 UCLAccord (From bangalack89) - Joe Johnson
2.07 DAtaris17 - Michael Redd
2.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Chauncy Billups
2.09 Goubs (From LdubLakerPrideFKUnit) - Tracy McGrady
2.10 Dutch (From baseballar13) - Amare Stoudemire
2.11 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit (From Goubs) - Rashard Lewis
2.12 Ucaimaman - Gerald Wallace
2.13 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Jason Richardson
2.14 baseballar13 (From Dutch) - Dwight Howard
2.15 dcdoorknob - Rasheed Wallace
2.16 SirDunkAlot - Brad Miller
3rd Round
3.01 SirDunkAlot - Mike Bibby
3.02 dcdoorknob - Ben Wallace
3.03 Dutch - Josh Smith
3.04 UCLAccord - Ron Artest
3.05 Ucaimaman - Lamar Odom
3.06 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit (From Goubs) - Antawn Jamison
3.07 baseballar13 - Richard Jefferson
3.08 Goubs (From LdubLakerPrideFKUnit) - Peja Stojakovic
3.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Marcus Camby
3.10 DAtaris17 - Carmelo Anthony
3.11 bangalack89 - Boris Diaw
3.12 CelticsFan3519 (From KB89) - David West
3.13 Mikl - Carlos Boozer
3.14 KB89 (From CelticsFan3519) - Raymond Felton
3.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Caron Butler
3.16 radar - Kirk Hinrich
4th Round
4.01 radar - Mehmet Okur
4.02 Baseballar13 (From Supa-FK-Unit) - Stephon Marbury
4.03 CelticsFan3519 - Jason Terry (traded to dcdoorknob)
4.04 Mikl - Shane Battier
4.05 UCLAccord (From KB89) - Zydrunas Ilgauskas
4.06 KB89 (From UCLAccord which was from bangalack89) - Chris Kaman
4.07 DAtaris17 - Jameer Nelson
4.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Andre Iguodala
4.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Mike James
4.10 Supa-FK-Unit (From baseballar13) - Morris Petereson
4.11 Dutch (From Goubs) - Richard Hamilton
4.12 Ucaimaman - Tony Parker
4.13 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Baron Davis
4.14 Goubs (From Dutch) - Luke Ridnour
4.15 CelticsFan3519 (From dcdoorknob) - Chris Webber
4.16 SirDunkAlot - Andre Miller
5th Round
5.01 SirDunkAlot - Raja Bell
5.02 CelticsFan3519 (From dcdoorknob) - Josh Howard
5.03 Goubs (From Dutch) - Chris Wilcox
5.04 UCLAccord - Charlie Villanueva
5.05 Ucaimaman - Hedo Turkoglu
5.06 Dutch (From Goubs) - Manu Ginobili
5.07 Supa-FK-Unit (From baseballar13) - Sam Cassell
5.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Brandon Roy
5.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Shaquille O'Neal
5.10 DAtaris17 - Ricky Davis
5.11 bangalack89 - Andrew Bogut
5.12 KB89 - Troy Murphy
5.13 Mikl - T.J. Ford
5.14 dcdoorknob (From CelticsFan3519) - Wally Szczerbiak
5.15 baseballar13 (From Supa-FK-Unit) - Nenad Krstic
5.16 radar - Emeka Okafor
6th Round
6.01 radar - Larry Hughes
6.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Rafer Alston
6.03 KB89 (From CelticsFan3519) - Ben Gordon
6.04 Mikl - Al Harrington
6.05 CelticsFan3519 (From KB89) - Josh Childress
6.06 bangalack89 - Corey Maggette
6.07 DAtaris17 - Andres Nocioni
6.08 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Channing Frye
6.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Tayshaun Prince
6.10 baseballar13 - Darko Milicic
6.11 Goubs - Speedy Claxton
6.12 Ucaimaman - Samuel Dalembert
6.13 UCLAccord - Tyson Chandler
6.14 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Bobby Simmons
6.15 dcdoorknob - Mike Miller
6.16 SirDunkAlot - Marvin Williams
7th Round
7.01 SirDunkAlot - Danny Granger
7.02 dcdoorknob - Delonte West
7.03 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Zach Randolph
7.04 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Kyle Korver
7.05 Ucaimaman - Brevin Knight
7.06 Goubs - Jamal Crawford
7.07 baseballar13 - Maurice Williams
7.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Jason Williams
7.09 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Luol Deng
7.10 DAtaris17 - Deron Williams
7.11 KB89 (From UCLAccord which was from bangalack89) - Stephen Jackson
7.12 UCLAccord (From KB89) - Eddie Jones
7.13 Mikl - Nazr Mohammed
7.14 CelticsFan3519 - Vladimir Radmanovic
7.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Adam Morrison
7.16 radar - Cuttino Mobley
8th Round
8.01 radar - Drew Gooden
8.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Steve Francis
8.03 CelticsFan3519 - Kendrick Perkins
8.04 Mikl - Marquis Daniels
8.05 KB89 - Bonzi Wells
8.06 bangalack89 - Rudy Gay
8.07 DAtaris17 - Kenyon Martin
8.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Joel Pryzbilla
8.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Kurt Thomas
8.10 baseballar13 - Damon Stoudamire
8.11 Goubs - Shareef Abdur Rahim
8.12 Ucaimaman - Smush Parker
8.13 UCLAccord - Randy Foye
8.14 Dutch - Ryan Gomes
8.15 dcdoorknob - Kevin Martin
8.16 SirDunkAlot - Udonis Haslem
9th Round
9.01 SirDunkAlot - Chris Mihm
9.02 dcdoorknob - Nene Hilario
9.03 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Shelden Williams
9.04 UCLAccord - Chris Duhon
9.05 Ucaimaman - Andrea Bargnani
9.06 Goubs - Tim Thomas
9.07 baseballar13 - Antoine Walker
9.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - PJ Brown
9.09 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Antonio Daniels
9.10 DAtaris17 - Jarret Jack
9.11 bangalack89 - Donyell Marshall
9.12 KB89 - Stromile Swift
9.13 Mikl - Shaun Livingston
9.14 CelticsFan3519 - J.R. Smith
9.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Ike Diogu
9.16 radar - Mike Dunleavy
10th Round
10.01 radar - Jerry Stackhouse
10.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Alonzo Mourning
10.03 CelticsFan3519 - Zaza Pachulia
10.04 Mikl - Kwame Brown
10.05 KB89 - Earl Watson
10.06 bangalack89 - Charlie Bell
10.07 DAtaris17 - Leandro Barbosa
10.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Devin Harris
10.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Derek Fisher
10.10 Supa-FK-Unit (From baseballar13) - Monta Ellis
10.11 Goubs - Raef Lafrentz
10.12 Ucaimaman - Primoz Brezec
10.13 dcdoorknob (From UCLAccord) - Rasho Nesterovic
10.14 Dutch - Kenny Thomas
10.15 UCLAccord (From dcdoorknob) - Sebastian Telfair
10.16 SirDunkAlot - Desmond Mason

2006-7 NBA Previews

NBA Team Previews for this year are being hosted by NBABlogPreviews

This is a great idea, having individual blogs post reviews of local teams for the world to peruse. Thirty Blogs in Thirty Days! Here are the blogs that have posted so far:

New Orleans Hornets - Hornets 24/7

Memphis Grizzlies - Beale Street Beat

Houston Rockets - Rockets Blast

Dallas Mavericks - Mavs Moneyball

Toronto Raptors - HoopsAddict

Philadelphia 76ers - Passion & Pride

New York Knicks - Bench Renaldo

New Jersey Nets - NetsDaily

Boston Celtics - CelticsBlog.com


Boston Celtics - Celtics17

I believe I am well-qualified as a Pacer commenter, since I first went to a Pacer game back when Darnell Hillman had an Afro twice the size of his head and Billy Keller was running the show and the balls were red-white-and-blue. It appears that my Indiana Pacers entry will be posted on October the 14th. I'll post the "review of the day" every day until they are completed. Cheers!

Indiana Pacers 2006-7 Preview

Indiana Pacers

Last year’s record: 41-41
President: Larry Bird
Coach: Rick Carlisle

Key Players Leaving: Peja Stojakovic, Anthony Johnson, Austin Croshere, Fred Jones, Jonathan Bender and Scott Pollard

Key Players Arriving: Al Harrington, Marquis Daniels, Darrell Armstrong, Maceo Baston, Josh Powell, Rawle Marshall, Orien Greene, John Edwards, Sean Lampley and Jimmie “Snap” Hunter

Draft Picks: James White and Shawne Williams

Last season in review: Last year’s Pacer team made a late run for the playoffs and then was ousted in the first round by the Nets. Personnel changes and injuries to key players like Jermaine O’Neal and Jamaal Tinsley hampered a team that, on paper, looked like contenders to go to the Conference Finals, if not the NBA Finals. The disappointing 41-41 record, despite outscoring opponents by almost two points per game, was enough to inspire the team to make major changes. Rick Carlisle’s reputation as a coach who gets the most out of his teams was damaged by last year’s performance, which may have been a hangover from The Brawl of a year earlier.

Team Strengths:

Forwards! The front line features “Baby Al” Harrington for a second stint with the Pacers, joining last year’s rookie find Danny Granger and team star Jermaine O’Neal. Coach Carlisle envisions this trio as a quick, athletic front line able to play an up-tempo game and be strong defensively. Now that Harrington has experienced life as a “star” with an also-ran, he is apparently quite happy to play second fiddle to O’Neal in an effort to make the playoffs and try for championships. This will be Harrington’s ninth year in the Association and he is yet just twenty-six years old! It seems he finally “gets it.” Granger has big upside and JON is thisclose to superstar status.

There is a cast of thousands (j/k) waiting in the wings to get minutes, including European star Maceo Baston and rookie Shawne Williams. Other players hoping for burn at the 3 and 4 positions include Josh Powell and Rawle Marshall (acquired from Dallas), Sean Lampley and rookie James White. In line with Carlisle’s desire to go small and fast Marquis Daniels may get some minutes at the SF slot as well. Figuring out who should be kept and who discarded from among all these candidates will be one of the keys to the Pacers future as well as success this year. It isn’t going to be easy. Of course, a trade is possible before the season even starts that would ease the logjam.

Centers: When a big lineup is needed, JON shifts to the PF slot and Jeff Foster plays center. Foster is a hustler who rebounds in bunches and plays steady defense. There is also big David Harrison, who blocks shots and commits fouls in equal abundance, backed up by John Edwards, who...well; he is a seven-footer anyway. The good news is that when big men are needed, Indiana has them and when a smaller lineup is possible, Indiana has that covered already.

Rick Carlisle has been an excellent coach in the past and last year’s underachievers were not typical of a Carlisle team. Expect him to cull the wheat from the chaff during training camp and get a good start out of the gate. Larry Bird has so far been generally right in his personnel decisions.

Team Weaknesses:

Dumb and Dumber: One day (October 5th) Rick Carlisle signs a multiyear contract extension and adds a new title as executive vice president of basketball operations. The next day comes the “Strip club shooting” incident starring Stephen Jackson and including Jamaal Tinsley, Marquis Daniels and Jimmie Hunter...

http://www.tribstar.com/breakingnews/local_story_279083344.html

That was just what the Pacers needed, both for the sake of team chemistry and to bring joy to the fan base, more controversy. It remains to be seen if a trade or trades will result. Is CEO Donnie Walsh now sorry to have upgraded Carlisle? Is Larry Bird sorry he traded Johnson instead of Jackson?

Missing the point...guard. Carlisle has a recurring dream in which Marquis Daniels displays great point guard skills and becomes this season’s Boris Diaw for the Pacers, leading to a dominant season. Then he wakes up, wipes away a tear, and considers his actual point guard options. Jamaal Tinsley is a poor man’s Baron Davis, who is often a misguided missile out there and apparently an injury just waiting to happen. If he could just give the team ten points and seven assists per game and show up defensively for 75-80 games per year the Pacers could do some real damage. Alas, Tinsley hasn’t played more than 52 games since 2002-3 and his shooting percentages are execrable.

There was controversy last year concerning who should start at point, and the other guy (Anthony Johnson) was traded to Dallas. They may well have traded the wrong guy! Now the primary backups to the brittle and erratic Tinsley are middle-aged (almost) Darrell Armstrong and smart-but-slow Sarunas Jasikevicius. Here is where Orien Green enters the picture. The Celtics loved his defensive upside but didn’t think he was really a point guard and cast him loose. Perhaps Armstrong can teach him the ways of point-guardness this season and prepare him for more usefulness down the road.

Shooting Guards: The problem is that Jackson is a space cadet, drawn to trouble like a moth to flame. The athletic and long shooting guard is an asset defensively and a reliable scorer, albeit not known for his good percentages. Thus, the never-ending supply of jokes after he fired off five shots that didn’t hit anything (“Pacer’s Jackson in mid-season form...” and etc.). Daniels fits in nicely here and rookie James White has looked good in the off-season. Then there is CBA and NBDL veteran Jimmie “Snap” Hunter, who scored 50 points in a (minor league) game last season and whose bio lists his college/University as “Life.” I thought that was clever, but then a bit of research shows that there is, indeed, a Life University and Hunter led them to two consecutive NAIA championships back in the day. Who knew?

Summary: Point guard worries and the possibilities of head case Jackson blowing up somewhere down the road make the future for Indiana rather cloudy. The Pacers came into camp with 18 players under contract and a couple more worth inspecting besides, but they can only carry 15. Therefore, the trade of Anthony Johnson for Armstrong and a couple of swing players makes little sense to the outside observer. Unless another trade ensues, the success of this season rests in large part on the fragile shoulders of Jamaal Tinsley. If Tinsley and O’Neal remain healthy and Carlisle can figure out his rotation and Jackson doesn’t do something even more stupid, the Pacers are contenders. If it all goes wrong they could conceivably miss the playoffs.

Prediction: The team will be healthy enough to make the playoffs. Are they better than Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland? No. But they should be able to find 42 wins and find themselves out of the lottery yet again, finishing ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks. They have the talent to perhaps be the fourth or fifth best team in the East. Yet injuries could knock them out of the playoffs altogether. The current Las Vegas betting line gives them 44.5 wins next year. I am a bit more conservative. I suspect they will do no better than the seventh position again in the Eastern Conference.

42-40, fourth in the Central Division.

2006 NBA Fantasy Experts Draft part three

Blogging the Deep, Deep Draft! Part 3, rounds 7-8

Since we are about to cross the one hundred player mark, it is fair to say that the star ballplayers are gone. It is fair, but it isn’t true! Every year a player we didn’t think would be all that great will just break out and cross over into the elite category. Two examples from last year are David West and Boris Diaw.

David West: Byron Scott saw something in West during training camp last year. The 2003 first-rounder had averaged 3.9 and 6.2 points in his first two campaigns with about four rebounds per contest in limited minutes. Scott gave him the starting job from day one and West thrived on the added minutes and responsibility. He began shooting better from the floor and the stripe than ever and became a consistent scoring threat. Why? In part, it was the burn! Give a good player the opportunity to log consistent minutes and he’ll give you good output. Heck, give a mediocre player burn and he’ll give you decent stats in your fantasy league (unless he is named Bruce Bowen)! Anyway, West’s 7.4 boards and 1.2 assists weren’t that great from your Power Forward, but his other stats rock: 17.1 points on 51.2% from the field and 84.3% from the line and with almost a steal and a block per game. Fantasy owners will take exactly that again, please.

Boris Diaw: He had us all fooled. I thought Boris was one of these Euro-types who just wasn’t assertive enough to be productive in the dog-eat-dog world of the NBA. But Mike D’Antoni knows Euro and saw the possibilities in Diaw, who is both tall enough to see where the ball should go and more than capable of getting it there. Phoenix was in trouble, with Amare down for the count and no depth at point guard behind Steve Nash other than Leandro Barbosa, much more a scorer than a passer. But Diaw to the rescue became the theme of the season. Boris wound up playing some at every single position, including center, even drawing comparisons to (wait for it)......Magic Johnson!!!? Okay, he isn’t quite all that but he did a bit of everything for the fantasy players wise enough to grab him off of the FA pile when he began getting minutes.

Both of the above guys began the year last year on the waiver wire in most leagues. So we can all be confident that there are diamonds in the rough out here in the middle and even late rounds of this draft. We just don’t really know who they are...and it isn’t easy to know, either. Will Adam Morrison really get the starting SG/SF position with Charlotte and throw up tons of threes? Or will they sign Bonzi Wells and put Adam’s butt on the bench? Will Don Nelson really install Troy Murphy at C, play Dunleavy at the PF position and relegate Adonal Foyle to the end of the bench? I mean, there are fifty different things, maybe two-hundred-and-fifty different things that can happen between now and October 31st to change where we ought to draft some of these guys.

Anyway, on to the draft! Round Seven:

7.01 SirDunkAlot - Danny Granger

SDAL went with Marvin Williams, too, so he is looking for young forwards to break out.

7.02 dcdoorknob - Delonte West

Here is another headache! I think that West might be the best guard Boston has, but he may wind up backing up Bassy and Wally Wonder and not get the minutes he deserves...coaches!

7.03 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Zach Randolph
7.04 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Kyle Korver
7.05 Ucaimaman - Brevin Knight

Brevin is another problematic guy, because everyone knows that Felton is being given the PG spot and yet Brevin is too good to spend much time on the pine, isn’t he?

7.06 Goubs - Jamal Crawford
7.07 baseballar13 - Maurice Williams
7.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Jason Williams
7.09 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Luol Deng
7.10 DAtaris17 - Deron Williams
7.11 KB89 (From UCLAccord which was from bangalack89) - Stephen Jackson
7.12 UCLAccord (From KB89) - Eddie Jones

I think Eddie is a viable player, especially with Gasol out for four months. But I still laugh over another fantasy blogger who thinks Rudy Gay is going to get the big minutes instead of the “fossilized remains of Eddie Jones!” Hahahahahahahaha! Great line!

7.13 Mikl - Nazr Mohammed
7.14 CelticsFan3519 - Vladimir Radmanovic
7.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Adam Morrison

Well, I am reluctant to take rookies this high but I was thinking about gambling on Adam. Supa takes my choice away, so....

7.16 radar - Cuttino Mobley
8th Round
8.01 radar - Drew Gooden

Yeah, I know, talk about fossilized remains! The Cat is beginning to slow down but so is PG Sam Cassell (here comes Livingston!) and Maggette is more of a small forward than a big guard. Cuttino should still be valuable enough to get thirty-plus minutes for the Clips and that is enough to earn his keep for me, since he gets numbers at several categories. Who else are they gonna start at the two, the punchless Quinton Ross? I really don’t think Tim Thomas is going to chase Maggette over to the guard spot. I suspect Thomas will fade into the background and a healthy Maggette will prosper at small forward, clearing Mobley for his starter minutes. Mobley not only gets a healthy number of steals, he usually blocks a shot about every two games, which is a nice bonus from a guard position.

Gooden is mainly a rebounder/scorer and that seems to be plenty good enough for Cleveland. They didn’t sign him to that big contract to sit his butt on the bench. Donyell Marshall is going to be getting less time and I think big ‘Z’ will get a few less minutes while Gooden and the wild Mr. Varejao get an uptick in minutes. Give the active Drew G thirty minutes or more and he’ll give me 14/10 with nearly a steal and a block. That’s my story and....yeah, all that. In fact, there is a slight chance that Gooden adds the C designation during the season. Slight. Hey, they have given it to Dirk before, so I can dream, right?

Round 8 continues:

8.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Steve Francis

Hey, didn’t you used to be Stevie Franchise???

8.03 CelticsFan3519 - Kendrick Perkins
8.04 Mikl - Marquis Daniels
8.05 KB89 - Bonzi Wells

We still don’t know where he’ll be playing....Bonzi with burn is worth drafting way before now. Bonzi on a team that benches him or playing in Italy? Aaargh!

8.06 bangalack89 - Rudy Gay
8.07 DAtaris17 - Kenyon Martin

Kmart recently announced he will be the player he was for the Nets, for the Nuggets. Unfortunately, no Jason Kidds have been spotted in Denver recently. Seriously, Martin likes to run and finish but do the Nuggs have the components to really run this year?

8.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Joel Pryzbilla
8.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Kurt Thomas
8.10 baseballar13 - Damon Stoudamire
8.11 Goubs - Shareef Abdur Rahim
8.12 Ucaimaman - Smush Parker

Who has a better name than “Smush?” Sounds like the kind of name they used to give Ivy League footballers back in the day, you know, along with “Pinky” and “Binky” and so on...

8.13 UCLAccord - Randy Foye
8.14 Dutch - Ryan Gomes
8.15 dcdoorknob - Kevin Martin

The Sacra-commenters think this K Martin will be an all star before long. He may get a chance this year to shine. Maybe he would have been a better choice for me than the Cat?

8.16 SirDunkAlot - Udonis Haslem

Hmm, the best pick of round seven? I don’t see one that was really great or really bad, sorry. Round eight? Kevin Martin, by dcdoorknob.

Now we do the traditional comparison of the teams of Ucaimaman and Radar:

Ucaimaman
1.05 Ucaimaman - Dirk Nowitzki (PF)
2.12 Ucaimaman - Gerald Wallace (GF)
3.05 Ucaimaman - Lamar Odom (F)
4.12 Ucaimaman - Tony Parker (PG)
5.05 Ucaimaman - Hedo Turkoglu (GF)
6.12 Ucaimaman - Samuel Dalembert (C)
7.05 Ucaimaman - Brevin Knight (PG)
8.12 Ucaimaman - Smush Parker (PG)

Radar
1.16 radar - Chris Paul (PG)
2.01 radar - Jermaine O'Neal (FC)
3.16 radar - Kirk Hinrich (G)
4.01 radar - Mehmet Okur (FC)
5.16 radar - Emeka Okafor (FC)
6.01 radar - Larry Hughes (SG)
7.16 radar - Cuttino Mobley (SG)
8.01 radar - Drew Gooden (PF)

What strikes me about Ucai’s team so far, other than the stockpiling at PG, is that he still has only one center-eligible player. Picking Parker and Knight is a good way to win in the steals category, especially with the players already on board. Interesting mix so far, but then again, like a cake, if you only see part of the ingredients it may not look as good as the finished product.

With my team, have you noticed, I still have zero small forwards. None. Bigs and smalls, no swing players at all. Is this by design, you ask, or am I just a doofus? It is by design, I maintain. I’ll find one or two viable SF-GF-F types later in the draft with no problem while others are despairing over the lack of decent big men and starting point guards. My fingers are crossed, you say?

128 down, 96 to go.

Pippen on MJ, Kobe and changes in the new NBA

Can't Compare Kobe and MJ - Says Scottie Pippen

The eras in which they played are completely different

Kobe Bryant's 81-point performance the other night against Toronto was certainly incredible, but it is unfair to try and compare what Kobe did to what Michael Jordan did in his playing career or what he could have done for that matter.

In the era when Michael played, it was a physical game. Defense was promoted. Guys took pride in it. Today defense is no longer a part of the game. Guys are driving to the basket. There are rules where you can't step in front of them. To me, it is taking away from the game seeing a guy like Tony Parker taking advantage of the rules. He is shooting 55 percent from the field. That says something about the game itself. In the history of the NBA, I'm sure a point guard has never led the league in field goal percentage. It's a different game now. It's really not about being tough and physical because the NBA isn't a physical game anymore. When you talk about how the Knicks and Bulls used to battle in the early '90s, the Oakleys, and Pat Ewings, the Masons, and how they would have the ability to use their hands to put you in a trap position. There is no way you can even triple team a guy now and stop him. Any contact is a foul. I can't compare the two players because I see it as two different games. If I'm guarding Kobe Bryant in today's game, I couldn't be the defender I was known as.

The defensive rules, the hand checking, the ability to make contact on a guy in certain areas, the ability to come over in the lane to stop guys from getting to the basket, that's all been taken away from the game. There is no contact up on the floor. The way I played Magic Johnson in the '91 Finals, I would have fouled out the first time down court. To compare how someone would have played Michael Jordan, Chuck Daly would send someone to wear him down. Even though he may get 30 or 40 points, they're going to be a hard 30 points. But in today's game, you can't put that physical wear and tear on a guy. It's a free ball type of game. If you are shooting it well, you can score 80, as you've seen because you are going to get to the foul line.

Officials have very quick whistles now because they're promoting scoring. Let's not forget, three years ago, this league was trying to figure out how they could get the scoring back up, how they could drive the fans back into loving the game, and this is what they were building on. They changed the field of rules. Those rules are huge in the game today. They benefit the perimeter guy. Back in the day, you may get one guy to score 40 points in a month. When Michael Jordan scored 40, it was all over the front page of a newspaper. Now you can pretty much have 40 points at halftime. Until the league went and changed the rules and tried to get some of that bully ball out, you couldn't come out and perform like that every night. The game was too physical. You were too sore the next day and you were just tired and physically worn down. The game seems so fun and free now. Guys are making a living just standing out there shooting jumpers.

If you want to say that Kobe could get 100, I would say that Michael could get 100. If Kobe could get 81, I think Michael could get 100 in today's game. I think the psychological style that Michael was able to master in the game, puts him far beyond Kobe. But Kobe's youthfulness has put him in a position where it looks like he is overtaking Michael. Kobe has 10 years in this league. That is a lot of experience to have and still be a very youthful player.

I would love to see what would have happened the other night if the rules had been the same as in past years. Kobe is as close to being like Mike as anybody, but you can't make the comparisons anymore. Tracy McGrady can probably, from a numbers standpoint, put up the numbers Michael Jordan put up. He has that type of ability. Dirk Nowitzki can put up those kinds of numbers. The game is built for those guys to put those shots up. If they get touched, they get to the foul line. I would say Kobe is the most polished of all of them as far as being able to handle the ball and create his own shot and opportunity. But this is what the game is going to turn into. Guys are going to start to score 40 points regularly. It may become an average.

I don't think Kobe will get 100. What he did is what like Wilt did, a once in a lifetime experience. Given the fact that he shot a heck of a percentage it could have been better, but I don't think he still could have gotten to 100. It would almost have to be perfect and the game would have to go to overtime. I think a lot of things would have to come into play for him to get that.

With that said, I am sure Phil doesn't want to coach that type of game. It's not his style. I don't expect it to happen again. Phil will probably do everything in his power to make sure it doesn't. I don't think Phil is going to try to promote what Kobe has done more than anything because he has damaged his whole team. You just scored 81 points. Do you need your teammates? Are they going to step up when you need them or are you going to continue to pound them like you've been doing and be selfish just to get some individual accolades?

From a leadership perspective I think Kobe has taken a step back. Look at what he has to live up to now. You just scored 81 points. If you scored 81 points, your team should pretty much go out and win at least 75 percent of their games the rest of the year. Is that fair to say? You just compared yourself to Wilt. Can you go out with your team and do that or are you just going to go out and score tons of points every night? Are you going to get back to the point where you are shooting a lot of shots and you're teammates are not shooting and you're losing?

(this is a post from last year, but he has a newer one up as well)

~~~~~~~

Scottie Pippen, one of the great stars of his or any other time, was to an extent overshadowed by his famous teammate. But if any player in the NBA (under the height of 6' 10") was a better defender than MJ, it was Pippen. The ball ran through Pippen in Phil Jackson's Triangle Offense and Pippen was the key player in the team defensive schemes of John Bach. Perhaps the Bulls never would have won a championship without Air Jordan, but one could say the same concerning Pippen. Together they dominated the NBA for the last six full seasons they were together. Now, as you can see, Pippen has a blog. This above is one of his entries, enjoy!

Small-ball vs. Big-ball

Give Me The Rock presents a fantasy basketball lesson:

It wasn’t that I learned this lesson the hard way… it was more that I fought the law, and the law won. As such, I feel an important part of Draft Guide 2005 is to explain the difference and thereby the results of, picking a small-ball versus a big-ball fantasy basketball team. The following explanation and analysis is applicable to both H2H and Roto leagues that score based on categories as opposed to fantasy points. (It can be applicable in leagues that utilize fantasy points, but it might involve some equine transforms and double integrals)

First, let me go over the defintions so we’re all on the same page.

Small-Ball: This strategy consists of loading up on points guard types who will dominate categories like points, assists, steals, three-pointers and FT%. That right there is enough to get your 5 of 9 categories. That’s the idea. Small guys are good at those things, so it’s called “small-ball.”

Big-Ball: You’ve got the opposite of small-ball here. Load up your roster with big guys who will win Points, Rebounds, Blocks, FG%, and TOs (because they don’t really handle the ball).

First thing you’ll probably notice (if you think like me, that is) is that both of these strategies are trying to win points. Well, yes. There’s a ton of points going around the NBA (has something to do with scoring being the object of the game), so you can usually count on players trying to get some of that action. But, those same players are not going to try to get lots of rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks too. Well, some of them will. But most of them will focus on either rebounding and blocking, or assisting and stealing. It just so happens that those who are good at R&B have high FG percentages and low FT percentages. Those who focus on A&S are just the opposite. So, it all works out in the end. That is, it all works out if you know who fits into which category.

It’s kind of like sorting out your Magic cards into decks by color. You might not think to do it when you first start playing the game, but when you do figure it out, it’s like a revelation.

I’m sure someone wants to know if you should plan your strategy before the draft. I’d recommend against that. General fantasy draft knowledge says that you should pick the best player available for at least the first 2-3 rounds. If the best guy on the table fits with the Big Ball strategy, then that sort of throws the whole small-ball thing out the window, eh? Yeah…

Often, though, in the first two rounds, you can pick up guys who will fill in a lot of different categories. That’s usually why they’re in the first two rounds. Lebron, Dirk, Shawn… those kinds of guys give you greater flexbility in choosing your strategy. Other guys you’ll see in the first two rounds will be highly rated because they totally dominate a couple of categories. Garnett, Kirilenko, Iverson, Stoudemire. Don’t let the desire for flexibility prevent you from taking someone who can win you categories almost single-handedly. If you pick Garnett, and you prefer small-ball style players (just as a matter of personal preference), you can certainly trade him for a small baller (or five) after the draft.

That said, once you’re past the 3rd round, your strategy should be emerging. It might not be fully formed, and it shouldn’t guide your picks absolutely until after the 4th round, but if you have a faint glimmer of which strategy will fit best with your first 3 picks, it will help you decide between players who are close together in the rankings later on.

Mid-Ball?

Here’s my advice, don’t try for a Mid-Ball strategy. I did this last year just to see if I could do it. Disastrous. I was going for the combo of Points, Rebounds, Threes, and TOs. Right off the bat you can see that I don’t have 5 categories. I thought maybe I could pull out FG and FT percentage sometimes, but guys who get rebounds and shoot threes (while they are my favorite kind of players) do not shoot a high enough FG nor FT percentage consistently enough for you to win either of those categories. Only having 4 categories you can count on winning is like giving up on the first day of the season. Unless you’re a fan of the Toronto Raptors, you’re probably not cool with that strategy. There’s just such a precise pool of players required to make this strategy work, that it’s unlikely you’ll get all of them on your team. And when someone takes your guy right before your pick, the whole thing goes down the tuba. And tubas have pretty big holes.

2006 NBA Fantasy Experts Draft part two

Blogging the Deep, Deep Draft! Part two, rounds 5-6

I have my trusty cheat-sheet in hand, 260 names of NBA veterans and rookies, already with 64 names crossed out or highlighted (my picks). There is also a wide variety of numbers, checks, stars and other hieroglyphics that I can barely decipher and I am the goofball who is making them!

By this round in the draft I turn to a new friend, Basketball Monster/, to help me decide how to go forward. BM has all sorts of customizable settings and is based on last year’s performances. It doesn’t tell you who will get better, healthier or more minutes. It is probably only as good as the way you set it up. But it is a helpful tool to organize your thinking as you (if you) are looking to win cats.

But maybe you aren’t. Some guys just take the “best player available’ approach, expecting to win different categories against different teams based on what their strengths and weaknesses are. I have used that way myself but this year, in such a big league, I thought the cat method would be wiser. I happen to know that Ucaimaman uses the “best player no matter what” philosophy, so it will be educational to see which of us fares better at the end of the day. Just for a comparison, here is Ucaimaman’s team after four rounds:

1.05 Ucaimaman - Dirk Nowitzki
2.12 Ucaimaman - Gerald Wallace
3.05 Ucaimaman - Lamar Odom
4.12 Ucaimaman - Tony Parker

What do you think? He isn’t establishing one particular category that I can see. No doubt that Dirk is the best player, but then he got to pick ten places ahead of me. I often wind up playing Ucaimaman in various leagues in playoff situations, trying to beat him to win a championship or get to a championship. He is darned tough to beat, so he will make a nice comparison to me as we draft, I think.

To review, here is my team so far...

1.16 radar - Chris Paul (PG)
2.01 radar - Jermaine O'Neal (FC)
3.16 radar - Kirk Hinrich (G)
4.01 radar - Mehmet Okur (FC)

Point guards and centers! Do I know what the heck I am doing? Is it true that big guards/small forwards will be easy to pick up in the middle of the draft? Can’t say for sure until I get there, I guess.


The 5th round

5.01 SirDunkAlot - Raja Bell

I think this guy is one of the more underrated choices in fantasy drafts. Phoenix lets him play to his strengths and his defensive abilities will keep giving him plenty of burn to stroke those threes.

5.02 CelticsFan3519 (From dcdoorknob) - Josh Howard
5.03 Goubs (From Dutch) - Chris Wilcox
5.04 UCLAccord - Charlie Villanueva
5.05 Ucaimaman - Hedo Turkoglu

Ouch. Targeted GF gone!

5.06 Dutch (From Goubs) - Manu Ginobili

Or I could have used Mano...

5.07 Supa-FK-Unit (From baseballar13) - Sam Cassell
5.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Brandon Roy

Here he is, the first rookie! Roy (acronym for Rookie of the Year?) is rated in the top 50 by Yahoo’s Brandon Funston at the time of his selection and in this crowd he is the 72nd pick. LDub may very well be on to something here...

5.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Shaquille O'Neal

The Shaq Line is reached at pick 73. Really, if you are punting FT% then Shaq is a great asset. The trouble is knowing how long you can wait before you grab him. Any pick after 60 or so becomes a bit of a risk. By the way, Tony Parker is a nice companion to Shaq with his great FG%, high scoring and lousy FT%. But Ucaimaman already took Mr. Longoria...

5.10 DAtaris17 - Ricky Davis
5.11 bangalack89 - Andrew Bogut

Doggone it, I wanted Bogut and thought he might fall to me! But I also wanted Ricky D, a much better fantasy player than in reality, I would say.

5.12 KB89 - Troy Murphy
5.13 Mikl - T.J. Ford
5.14 dcdoorknob (From CelticsFan3519) - Wally Szczerbiak

Wally Wonder may be a pinup to the lady fans, but he has the knees of a fifty-year old. So I am told. For DC’s sake let’s hope they are only 49 for now...

5.15 baseballar13 (From Supa-FK-Unit) - Nenad Krstic

Baseballar with the unkindest cut of all....I was hoping that Krstic and Bogut would last until my picks and I could choose between them. In fact, I decided that Krstic would be better for me than Bogut, since his FT% is higher and is already established in the pecking order of the Nets. Bogut has to become the big dog in the post for the Bucks this year – will he succeed? Pretty likely he does, but Krstic is a pretty safe get.

Faced with no Krstic and the first group of likely SF-SG types depleted, what do I do?

5.16 radar - Emeka Okafor
6th Round
6.01 radar - Larry Hughes

That’s right, I go stark raving mad! Both of these guys, you might start their outlook for this year by saying, “If he’s healthy...” Which is also how you start the outlook for JON. Who I have also drafted. I could have had Dalembert, Maggette, Nocioni....hmmm. Am I a total idiot?

Well, maybe. I am in a draft with fifteen other veteran fantasy ballers. What will separate us? Skill to a small extent (theoretically) and luck to an extent as well. I looked over the vast array of athletes available who have injury worries and these are the guys who I think will play at least most of the season. JON was good for 70-or-more-games before the infamous Detroit brawl occurred. Last year’s injury woes look like a fluke. Okafor had a bad ankle, and ankles are less problematic than either knees or feet. He should be an absolute stud on the boards and blocking shots if he is in the game. Hughes is my big dice roll. 73 games is the most he has ever played. Cleveland wants him to do a lot of scoring and he fills in crooked numbers all over the stat sheet. If he gives me 65 or more games of what he can do, I will be okay. If he gives me 40, I am in big trouble.

The upside of all of this is that I see the talent level of my two picks is above the other remaining players. So I get brave and take these two guys. My entire draft and likely my season depends in large part on whether these guys are healthy enough to compete at a high level this year. So color me brave, or color me stupid! But you sure can’t color me safety-first.

6.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Rafer Alston
6.03 KB89 (From CelticsFan3519) - Ben Gordon
6.04 Mikl - Al Harrington
6.05 CelticsFan3519 (From KB89) - Josh Childress

How is it this guy can shoot lights-out and rebound pretty well, too, but Atlanta keeps his minutes so low? Give the guy minimum 35 minutes a game, will ya?

6.06 bangalack89 - Corey Maggette

I don’t know Corey, but man he sure can score and help your FT% as well. Does Tim Thomas really start ahead of him this year?

6.07 DAtaris17 - Andres Nocioni
6.08 Dutch (from SantaKlaus02002) - Channing Frye
6.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Tayshaun Prince
6.10 baseballar13 - Darko Milicic

Man, somebody had to take him. Darko has the talent and flashed some of that late last year. But he still didn’t really produce much. Risk/Reward pick here.

6.11 Goubs - Speedy Claxton
6.12 Ucaimaman - Samuel Dalembert

I almost took Sam instead of Okafor. I don’t trust Philly management, but if I was the Philly coach I would put Dalembert in, tell him he is the starter and stick with him through his inconsistent times. He is still growing into what he can be, let him grow, darn it! I think now I am sorry I took the chance on Emeka and didn’t take Sam, who will probably play around 80 games this year. Of course it is Ucai who gets him!

6.13 UCLAccord - Tyson Chandler
6.14 SantaKlaus02002 (from Dutch) - Bobby Simmons
6.15 dcdoorknob - Mike Miller

I bet you, after the draft, we are thinking that Mike Miller got drafted way too low...

6.16 SirDunkAlot - Marvin Williams

I suppose I will go with Shaq in round 5 and Mike Miller in round 6 as the best picks of those respective rounds.

Since I kind of randomly chose Ucaimaman as a foil to my team going forward, lets compare rosters so far:

Ucaimaman
1.05 Ucaimaman - Dirk Nowitzki (PF)
2.12 Ucaimaman - Gerald Wallace (GF)
3.05 Ucaimaman - Lamar Odom (F)
4.12 Ucaimaman - Tony Parker (PG)
5.05 Ucaimaman - Hedo Turkoglu (GF)
6.12 Ucaimaman - Samuel Dalembert (C)

Radar
1.16 radar - Chris Paul (PG)
2.01 radar - Jermaine O'Neal (FC)
3.16 radar - Kirk Hinrich (G)
4.01 radar - Mehmet Okur (FC)
5.16 radar - Emeka Okafor (FC)
6.01 radar - Larry Hughes (SG)

Well, more of my guys played on the US National team.....wait, is that a good thing??? I can say that at least I won’t have to reach for centers later in the draft. You might say, dude, that is because you reached for yours already! (Very funny, ha ha.). We have now picked 96 players. Still 128 more to go!

Zeke Thomas - In a class by himself

Recently I saw an article in which Isiah Thomas complained about not being considered on par with the 'Big Three' of the 80's and 90's on the NBA scene: Magic, Bird and Michael. He stated that he "...beat them more than they beat me." and expressed dismay that his reputation was not greater.

It may be that he was feeling a bit jealous about former teammate Joe Dumars being inducted into the Hall of Fame. It may be that Zeke's unrelenting line of post-playing days failures have begun to grate on him (Especially since Dumars has been a very succssful executive with the Pistons). But I thought it would be worthwhile to investigate Thomas's claim a bit.

Below are the scoring-rebounding-assist totals per game for the careers of Jordan, Bird, Johnson and Thomas.

Michael Jordan - 30.1 - 6.2 - 5.3
Larry Bird - 24.3 - 10 - 6.3
Magic Johnson - 19.5 - 7.2 - 11.2
Isiah Thomas - 19.2 - 3.6 - 9.3

So Air Jordan was the best scorer, Bird the top rebounder and Magic the assist leader. I looked into other areas:

Shooting percentages

Mike - 0.497 -0.835 -0.327
Larry - 0.496 -0.886 -0.376
Magic - 0.52 -0.848 -0.303
Zeke - 0.452 -0.759 -0.29

Steals/blocks/turnovers

Mike-2.3 -0.833 -2.7
Larry-1.7 -0.8416 -3.1
Magic-1.9028 -0.4 -3.9
Zeke-1.9009 -0.3 -3.8


Championships and MVP's

Mike-6 -5
Larry-3 -3
Magic-4 -3
Zeke-2 -0


(Yes, I know, I need to learn how to format this stuff neatly. It all looks great on my excel spreadsheet...)

The categories = Points -Rebounds -Assists -Championships -MVP -FG shooting -FT shooting -3pt shooting -steals -blocks -to's


In any event, I compared all these categories and assigned values to each of them. The top player in each category received 4 points, the second guy 3, the third guy 2 and the last guy 1 point. All-in-all, eleven categories to help compare the relative dominance of Michael versus Larry versus Magic versus Zeke.

Jordan led in five of the categories - scoring, championships, MVP's, steals and fewest turnovers. Bird led in four - rebounds, FT %, 3pt %, and blocks by a fraction over MJ. Johnson led in two, assists and FG %. Thomas didn't finish first in any one category.

Michael also racked up 3 second places, 2 third places and 1 last place.

Bird had 2 second places, a second place tie with Magic and 3 thirds and 1 last place.

Magic had that tie, plus 4 other second places, 3 thirds and a last place.

This left Zeke with 1 second, 2 thirds and.....8 last places in the category listings!

By the point system, the final toll was:

Michael Jordan with 34 points
Larry Bird with 31.5 points
Magic Johnson with 29.5 points
Zeke Thomas with 15 points



Michael comes out as the best of the best, with Bird and Johnson also having outstanding careers, while Thomas lags well behind. Other pertinent information further separates the 'Big Three' and little Zeke:

Defensive Player of the Year = Jordan once

All NBA defense = Jordan first team 9 times. Bird second team 3 times

Finals MVP = Jordan 6, Magic 3, Bird 2 and Thomas 1

All-NBA 1st/2nd teams = Jordan 10/1, Bird 9/1, Johnson 9/1, Thomas 3/2
Jordan and Bird - Rookie of the Year winners

Jordan was an outstanding ballplayer whose defensive abilities thrust him head-and-shoulders above even the most gifted of his peers. Magic and Bird would be considered part of his superstar peer group. Thomas is revealed to be a star but not in the same class as the 'Big Three' who dominated their era. Sorry, Zeke!

You were the guy who organized the All-Star game freezeout of Jordan in his first All Star appearance. Maybe you were the guy who led the Pistons to run off the court without shaking hands with the Bulls after the Chicago team knocked you out of the playoffs in 1991. That lack of class had a lot to do with you being left off of the Dream Team, eh?

But you made up for it. You drove the CBA into bankruptcy, took over the coaching reins of an Indiana Pacers team on the way up and failed miserably, failed as the head guy up in Toronto, made a disastrous mess of the New York Knicks as GM (unless finishing last with the highest salary is a kind of success) and now you get to coach the group you put together this year...so we have to give you credit. You are much better at screwing things up than Magic, Bird and Jordan all put together. There you are in a class by yourself!

2006 NBA Fantasy Experts Draft part one

Blogging the Deep, Deep Draft! Part one, rounds 1-4.

By Kimbal aka Radar

I was invited to join a group of fantasy basketball veterans to play in a large H2H league. Now, when I say large, I mean sixteen teams. With fourteen man rosters, doing the math means a two-hundred-and-twenty-four–man draft! Now, thirty NBA teams times five starters is one-hundred-and-fifty players that start, including at least one Bruce Bowen. Obviously one needs to know whether Rasual Butler will be worth much of anything this year when drafting that deep. I accept the invitation, with players from both Rotokingdom and Fantasy Kings sites participating.

The fun begins when I am randomly selected to be the sixteenth, and last, drafter. So I am not going to be getting LeBron or The Matrix. I resign myself to starting behind the eight-ball. But there is a bright side in that, as I tell myself, “Dude, you’re getting two of the seventeen best players in the game!” Su-u-u-u-u-u-re.

We agree on standard cats and rosters:

Standard 9 category, Head to Head - FG%, FT%, 3PTM, PTS, REB, AST, ST, BLK, TO

Standard positions - PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, Util, BN, BN, BN, BN

Now, one of the first things I do is check out the Yahoo player ‘cards’ to determine who has what eligibility. No use drafting Rasheed Wallace as a center if Yahoo has him listed as a PF...or should I say it is a gamble to draft ‘Sheed and expect him to get center eligibility. I also wanted to see what cool designation they were going to give to Boris Diaw, but Yahoo simply lists him as a ‘Forward-Center’ which is rather boring of them.

After we quibble over whether we want turnovers as a category or not (we do) and whether there will be time limits on the draft (yes, 24 hours) we get down to it:

1.01 SirDunkAlot - LeBron James
1.02 dcdoorknob - Shawn Marion
1.03 Baseballar13 (From Dutch) - Kevin Garnett
1.04 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Kobe Bryant
1.05 Ucaimaman - Dirk Nowitzki
1.06 Goubs - Gilbert Arenas
1.07 Dutch (From baseballar13) - Dwayne Wade

(This seems too low for D Wade...but all of these guys are primo..)

1.08 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Elton Brand
1.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Steve Nash

(I wonder if Nash, like Samson, loses his strength along with his hair?)

1.10 DAtaris17 - Chris Bosh
1.11 UCLAccord (From bangalack89) - Paul Pierce
1.12 KB89 - Ray Allen
1.13 Mikl - Andrei Kirilenko
1.14 CelticsFan3519 - Yao Ming
1.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Allen Iverson

People are already making trades! In any event, things begin in a normal manner and none of the early picks surprise me. As a group we drafted the top eight players with the top eight picks, so we must know what we are doing. I think that after those top eight the opinions become a bit mixed concerning who to take. But there are no mistakes in the first round as far as I see it.

As it gets close to my turn, I decide that my first choice will be a point guard, either Iverson or Chris Paul. When Supa goes with Iverson, then I select Paul, who as the NBA Rookie of the Year scored well, with good FT% and assists and a ton of steals. I also considered how Dwyane Wade increased his scoring by 50% and boosted his numbers generally across the board in his second season in the league. LeBron saw his numbers increase dramatically in his second season. In fact, the truly outstanding rookie usually makes a big leap in production in his second season, if injuries are not a factor. Paul was a good bet to make people wish they had drafted him somewhere between, say, Brand and Ming. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

1.16 radar - Chris Paul
2nd Round
2.01 radar - Jermaine O'Neal

My next pick was going to be for Pau Gasol. Keep in mind this draft began before Pau’s injury, so I saw him as an obvious choice. I didn’t want to be dragged down by Tim Duncan’s terrible FT% this year and was afraid to invest a top pick in Amare, who had yet to prove he was recovered from microfracture knee surgery. So it was between O’Neal and Gasol and possibly Okur. For some reason, mainly because I figure JON is going to block more shots, I take him instead of Gasol (and immediately hope that Okur will be available in the third round)! This turns out to be incredibly bad luck for KB89. Then again, it was me who last year drafted Amare in half of his redraft leagues! Later we learn that Gasol will miss four months after surgery but right now none of us know this, so KB made a good choice at the time.

Anyway, it is early but I can see that I am doing okay on points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. I may be punting FG% and not sure about FT% and 3PTM. I like to figure out early in a H2H draft where my strengths are and draft accordingly, but within reason. I am not going to jump thirty places ahead to get a shot-blocking center! But I very well might jump, say, three....The draft continues:

2.02 Supa-FK-Unit - Vince Carter
2.03 KB89 (From CelticsFan3519) - Pau Gasol
2.04 Mikl - Tim Duncan

(Mikl probably will decide to punt FT% now)

2.05 CelticsFan3519 (From KB89) - Jason Kidd
2.06 UCLAccord (From bangalack89) - Joe Johnson
2.07 DAtaris17 - Michael Redd
2.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Chauncy Billups
2.09 Goubs (From LdubLakerPrideFKUnit) - Tracy McGrady
2.10 Dutch (From baseballar13) - Amare Stoudemire

(The last two picks are big injury risks with high upsides. Gutsy to draft them this high!)

2.11 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit (From Goubs) - Rashard Lewis
2.12 Ucaimaman - Gerald Wallace
2.13 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Jason Richardson
2.14 baseballar13 (From Dutch) - Dwight Howard
2.15 dcdoorknob - Rasheed Wallace
2.16 SirDunkAlot - Brad Miller
3rd Round
3.01 SirDunkAlot - Mike Bibby

(I am thinking maybe SirDunk is a Sacramento fan?)

3.02 dcdoorknob - Ben Wallace
3.03 Dutch - Josh Smith

(Josh was a 15 point, 3 block, 1 steal and 8 boards per game monster after the All-Star game last year. Is he AK47 part 2? Yet Yahoo lists him as a backup to Childress!!!)

3.04 UCLAccord - Ron Artest
3.05 Ucaimaman - Lamar Odom
3.06 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit (From Goubs) - Antawn Jamison
3.07 baseballar13 - Richard Jefferson
3.08 Goubs (From LdubLakerPrideFKUnit) - Peja Stojakovic
3.09 SantaKlaus02002 - Marcus Camby

(Looks like Santa is going for good FT% now, taking Nash, Billups and now Camby.)

3.10 DAtaris17 - Carmelo Anthony
3.11 bangalack89 - Boris Diaw

(Oh-oh...I wanted Boris this round. Only one more center-eligible I really want now.)

3.12 CelticsFan3519 (From KB89) - David West
3.13 Mikl - Carlos Boozer

(Now I am getting pumped! They took Boozer before Okur!)

3.14 KB89 (From CelticsFan3519) - Raymond Felton
3.15 Supa-FK-Unit - Caron Butler

I would have liked to have Butler here, so I will go guard again. Boozer and Felton are gone but I preferred one center and one guard above them and now I can take them here.

3.16 radar - Kirk Hinrich
4th Round
4.01 radar - Mehmet Okur

Drafting those guys, I am still doing good for points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. These are my categories I intend to consistently win. Okur, like JON, is a FC so he can play center, forward and power forward. Paul is a PG but Hinrich is just a G, which means he plays PG, SG and just plain G positions. I like having a bit of flexibility for scheduling and injury purposes. Also, I have two top-rated centers already and my point guards are definitely covered. I am still looking pretty good for FT% and 3PTM as additional strong categories....and I am now absolutely for sure punting FG% and TO. Did I mention that I am a Chicago Bulls fan? Drafting Captain Kirk guarantees at least a bit of Bulls flavor to my team.

You ask, what is punting in basketball, I thought that was a football term? Punting is when you deliberately decide to ignore a category and expect to usually lose it. If I decide that I am punting FT%, then I am not afraid to pick up Shaq because he will help me win in other areas and I am ignoring FT%. In H2H, it would be unwise to pick up Nowitzki and Nash, with their outstanding FT shooting, and then bring Shaq on board to ruin your category anyway. In my case, I am punting FG% and TO so I don’t worry about that phase of my potential draft pick’s game. I’ll still take a guy with good FG% if he helps me in my target categories, though. You don’t get points for being the worst in a category...Otherwise Shaq would be a first round draft pick!

Why punt at all? Because you can’t win every category, so punting is the simply the flip side of trying to score in your target categories. Again, I am not looking to find the worst FG% shooters, I am looking for guys who score, rebound, get assists, steal and blocks. I just don’t care about FG%. Make sense?

Here is the rest of the fourth round:

4.02 Baseballar13 (From Supa-FK-Unit) - Stephon Marbury
4.03 CelticsFan3519 - Jason Terry (traded to dcdoorknob)
4.04 Mikl - Shane Battier
4.05 UCLAccord (From KB89) - Zydrunas Ilgauskas
4.06 KB89 (From UCLAccord which was from bangalack89) - Chris Kaman

(KB covers for his Gasol loss here a bit, with an underrated center in Kaman.)

4.07 DAtaris17 - Jameer Nelson
4.08 SantaKlaus02002 - Andre Iguodala
4.09 LdubLakerPrideFKUnit - Mike James
4.10 Supa-FK-Unit (From baseballar13) - Morris Peterson
4.11 Dutch (From Goubs) - Richard Hamilton
4.12 Ucaimaman - Tony Parker
4.13 bangalack89 (From UCLAccord) - Baron Davis
4.14 Goubs (From Dutch) - Luke Ridnour
4.15 CelticsFan3519 (From dcdoorknob) - Chris Webber
4.16 SirDunkAlot - Andre Miller

We have reached the Webber Line in round four – Webber being the player who is so much better in fantasy than he is in real life, so you want to draft him, but you never know when he is going to go down and never get up. The next line to cross is the Shaq Line, that place where Shaq’s other great stats finally overcome your aversion to his free throwing miseries and you take him. Everyone knows that Shaq is a great player in real life, much, much, much better than Webber. Yet in fantasy Webber goes first...

Not counting my picks, what do I think are the best value picks in rounds 1-4?

Round 1 – This is tough, all picks were completely understandable, which means no one screwed up. I will give it up to dcdoorknob for wisely taking the Matrix in the #2 slot, because it is tempting to go KG there and his numbers are beginning to drop just a hair.

Round 2 – Tough again. Maybe baseballar with Dwight Howard at 2:14. I think the guy is ready to be a stud this season!

Round 3 - Josh Smith at 3.03 by Dutch. Dutch seems to be reaching, but in fact Josh really turned it on near the end of last season and so Dutch is probably getting the equivalent of Kirilenko with fewer injury risks.

Round 4 – KB89 saves the day by taking Kaman, who is maybe the last really top-notch fantasy center available. Kaman just keeps getting better and really has no glaring weaknesses, unless you demand three-pointers from your center...and I got the last of those guys when I took Okur. He has to draft with the injury to Pau in mind going forward. He’ll get Gasol back after Christmas sometime and be so much stronger then but it was wise to go center here and Kaman was the best choice.

My best pick – Getting Paul in the first round. I didn’t think he would drop so far and was glad to get him.

My worst pick – Maybe I reached on JON at the top of round 2. I figured getting rid of Artest/Peja and adding his old Buddy Baby Al makes him both the focus of the offense, the acknowledged leader of the team and happy. Does that translate into production? Maybe pure dumb luck saved me from taking Pau but I may be sorry I didn’t take VC here. Time will tell.