[FANTASY] Draft retrospective
Chris Hafner
steals we pulled off during the draft, along with some rewards.
First round:
1. Chess Club - K. Garnett
2. 2nd Round PFs - D. Nowitzki
3. Seattle - P. Stojakovic
4. More Beer - T. Duncan
5. redrum - S. O'Neal
6. Obama - J. O'Neal
7. Granville - T. McGrady
8. Transposons - A. Kirilenko
9. Hogan's - K. Bryant
Best Pick: It's tough to have a best pick in the first round - they should
all be good. But Hogan's nabbing Bryant with the last pick of the round was
pretty inspired and edges out Granville's pick of the similar Tracy McGrady
two picks earlier.
Worst Pick: My drafting of Stojakovic, hands-down. Not only was it a
head-scratching pick even with Peja at his best in the third slot, ahead of
great big men, great swingmen, and every point guard on the board, but Peja
was just awful by his standards this year. I didn't make it to the live
draft, but that's still no excuse - I set up the rankings before hand.
Most Unfortunate Pick: The Transposons' drafting of Andrei Kirilenko was a
great pick - he is terrific in just about every category - but Kirilenko
played only a small fraction of the year. Honorable mention in this cateogry
goes to Obama, whose Jermaine O'Neal sat out much of the year.
Second round:
1. Hogan's - L. James
2. Transposons - B. Davis
3. Granville - P. Pierce
4. Obama - R. Allen
5. redrum - S. Francis
6. More Beer - E. Brand
7. Seattle Mildew - S. Marion
8. 2nd Round Pfs - B. Wallace
9. Chess Club B Team - M. Bibby
Best Pick: I'll call this a tie - LeBron James was the best guy on this
list, and Artis took a risk with him that high and it paid off. Still, Shawn
Marion is one of the best fantasy players around and was nabbed at No. 8.
Worst Pick: Tough call here, since all of these players were pretty solid.
Most Unfortunate Pick: Again, the Transposons drafted Baron Davis and got
less than half a season out of him - much less, IIRC.
Third round:
1. Chess Club - Y. Ming
2. 2nd Round Pfs - M. Redd
3. Seattle Mildew - B. Miller
4. More Beer - L. Odom
5. redrum - A. Iverson
6. Obama - P. Gasol
7. Granville - C. Anthony
8. Transposons - E. Jones
9. Hogan's - S. Cassell
Best Pick: Probably redrum's selection of Allen Iverson. Iverson had a great
year with increased assists while scoring more points per game. Honorable
Mention to 2nd Round PFs for taking a chance on Redd early and getting
rewarded with the best season of Redd's career.
Worst Pick: Hogan's pick of Cassell - there was no way of knowing this, of
course, but Cassell was oft-injured and played very poorly even when he was
around. That said, Jones, Odom, and even Carmelo Anthony were
disappointments this year.
Most Unfortunate Pick: Obama's pick of Gasol - he missed long stretches of
time with injury.
Fourth round:
1. Hogan's - S. Marbury
2. Transposons - A. Walker
3. Granville - A. Stoudemire
4. Obama - K. Hinrich
5. redrum- Z. Randolph
6. More Beer - V. Carter
7. Seattle - M. Finley
8. 2nd Round PFs - D. Wade
9. Chess Club - J. Richardson
Best Pick: All in all, this was a more productive round than the third
round, highlighted by our shared winners here - Granville's Amare pick and
Marc's Wade pick. Those are players who will probably get long looks in the
first round next year and were crucial snags in the fourth round this year.
Kenneth's pickup of Antoine Walker was a big chance that worked out as well.
Worst Pick: My Michael Finley pick. On a per-game basis, Finley was the
least-productive member of this group and was horribly inconsistent. Plus,
he was drafted one spot before Wade. Although More Beer's Vince Carter pick
looked awful early, Carter more than made up for his slow start.
Most Unfortunate Pick: redrum's Zach Randolphi pick - Randolph was hurt for
much of the year, depriving redrum of some much-needed 20/10 output.
Fifth Round:
1. Chess Club - A. Jamison
2. 2nd Round PFs - A. Miller
3. Seattle - R. Wallace
4. More Beer - G. Arenas
5. redrum - K. Martin
6. Obama - R. Jefferson
7. Granville - C. Webber
8. Transposons - R. Artest
9. Hogan's - S. Nash
Best Pick: Another tie - More Beer and Hogan's were truly inspired in
picking up Arenas and Nash this late. That's big-time production out of the
fifth round.
Worst Pick: My Rasheed Wallace pick. It wasn't an awful pick, but Wallace
was less productive on a per-game basis than any of the other guys. Happily,
I was able to unload him to Marc for Miller!
Most Unfortunate Pick: Ron Artest playing only a few games has to take the
cake for the Transposons - Richard Jefferson gives Obama-nators a strong
competitor, but Artest's loss was quicker and a more crushing blow.
Sixth Round:
1. Hogan's - D. Marshall
2. Transposons - S. Dalembert
3. Granville - C. Maggette
4. Obama - S. Swift
5. redrum- M. Ginobili
6. More Beer - J. Terry
7. Mildew - J. Kidd
8. 2nd Round PFs - R. Lewis
9. Chess Club - T. Ratliff
Best Pick. This was a pretty rough round for pretty much everybody. The
Lewis, Maggette, and Ginobili picks were pretty good, but I'm going to
shamefully give myself the award for this round for drafting Jason Kidd.
Yes, he missed time early on, but his top-of-the-league production after his
return made the noisome rebirth of the Seattle Mildew possible.
Worst Pick: There are a few toughies here - Marshall, Dalembert, Swift, and
Ratliff all stunk at times. I'll give Chess Club and Ratliff the award
because the others had longer and more impressive good stretches than the
Rattler.
Most Unfortunate Pick: No major injury problems here, but I'll give the
Transposons the award for the bad luck of having Jim O'Brien ground
Dalembert after he finished last season strong.
Seventh Round:
1. Chess Club - J. Posey
2. 2nd Round PFS - J. Magloire
3. Seattle - E. Okafor
4. More Beer - C. Boozer
5. redrum - M. Blount
6. Obama - C. Bosh
7. Granville - C. Billups
8. Transposons - Z. Ilgauskas
9. Hogan's - M. Camby
Best Pick: Obama for Chris Bosh, hands-down. He got one of the young stars
of the season with a late pick in the round, with center eligibility, no
less.
Worst Pick: Chess Club for James Posey. Not that it didn't make sense at the
time - Posey was great last year - but injuries and other issues made Posey
a complete waste of time this year.
Most Unfortunate Pick: Marc for Jamaal Magloire, who played very sparingly
this season thanks to injury.
Eighth Round:
1. Hogan's - A. Harrington
2. Transposons - E. Dampier
3. Granville - G. Payton
4. Obama - R. Hamilton
5. redrum - D. Gooden
6. More Beer - B. Barry
7. Seattle - K. Kittles
8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Parker
9. Chess Club - M. Daniels
Best Pick: Transposons for Erick Dampier, who cranked out solid production
at the center spot. Honorable mentions to the picks for Parker and Gooden.
Worst Pick: Another easy one - my pick of Kerry Kittles. How that happened,
I have no idea, but I blame the media. Brent Barry isn't far behind, but at
least he was better than Kittles and at least there was a better rationale
for drafting him.
Most Unfortunate Pick: More Beer with Brent Barry - Barry did well when he
got minutes, but one of last year's top fantasy producers sat on the bench a
lot this year.
Ninth Round:
1. Chess Club - Ku. Thomas
2. 2nd Round PFs - J. Crawford
3. Seattle - D. Anderson
4. More Beer - C. Mobley
5. redrum - A. Nocioni
6. Obama - C. Arroyo
7. Granville - M. Okur
8. Transposons - M. James
9. Hogan's - S. Abdur-Rahim
Best Pick: Chess Club for Kurt Thomas, who had a very solid year at the
center position. Mobley also played well, and Crawford had his moments.
Worst Pick: Again, my pick of Derek Anderson. It was an inexplicable choice,
and he was vasty worse than one would have even thought before the season.
Anderson was a complete non-factor.
Most Unfortunate Pick: Obama's Carlos Arroyo pick - billed as a star in the
making after his Olympic performance, he played pretty well but spent most
of his time sitting on the bench for both Jerry Sloan and Larry Brown.
Tenth Round:
1. Hogan's - E. Curry
2. Transposons - G. Hill
3. Granville - C. Kaman
4. Obama - N. Hilario
5. redrum- V. Radmanovic
6. More Beer - R. Nesterovic
7. Seattle - R. LaFrentz
8. 2nd Round PFs - Jo. Howard
9. Chess Club - D. Howard
Best Pick: Chess Club's Dwight Howard pick. With what - the 90th pick? -
Sashank picked up a 12/10 guy who blocked shots and shot a good percentage.
Honorable mention for the Transposons, who got a very productive Grant Hill
for much of the season, Marc, who picked the surprisingly effective (in
spurts) Josh Howard, and Seattle, who took a chance on LaFrentz and was
(most of the time) rewarded with good production.
Worst Pick: More Beer's Nesterovic pick - not that it was a terrible pick,
but it wasn't as good as the other picks this round.
Most Unfortunate Pick: Redrum's Radmanovic pick, although he didn't keep
Vladimir long enough to deal with the season-ending injury in the middle of
a Sixth Man Award-challenging year.
Eleventh Round:
1. Chess Club - R. Alston
2. 2nd Round PFS - J. Johnson
3. Seattle - K. Van Horn
4. More Beer - G. Robinson
5. redurm - H. Turkoglu
6. Obama - M. Harpring
7. Granville - S. Jackson
8. Transposons - G. Wallace
9. Hogan's - B. Gordon
Best Pick: This has to go to Marc for drafting Joe Johnson. Not only was he
a statistical stud compared to the rest of the guys here, but he netted
Steve Francis - a second-round pick having a big season - in trade. Props to
Hogan's for accurately ferreting out Ben Gordon.
Worst Pick: More Beer again, this time for Glenn Robinson. Yes, he missed
the whole season (see below), but he's also not a very good fantasy player.
Most Unfortunate Pick: More Beer for Glenn Robinson - the guy can at least
score, but he didn't even contribute that this year. Runner-up is Granville
for missing a lot of games from Stephen Jackson - which was another pretty
nice pick at this stage.
Twelfth Round:
1. Hogan's - A. Houston
2. Transposons - J. Rose
3. Granville - L. Sprewell
4. Obama - P. Brown
5. redrum - R. Davis
6. More Beer - T. Prince
7. Seattle - J. Jackson
8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Chandler
9. Chess Club - D. Stoudamire
Best Pick: I'm going to give this to redrum's Ricky Davis pick becuase he
was a steady producer all year. Sashank's Damon Stoudamire pick comes very
close thanks to an absolutley lights-out stretch earlier this year, but
falls just short because he either didn't play or played badly the rest of
the time. Jalen Rose also gets a mention for finishing strong after starting
badly.
Worst Pick: Granville for Latrell Sprewell. There was plenty of reason to
draft Latrell based on his performance the year before, but it didn't turn
out well at all - and it's not as if Latrell was benched or injured.
Most Unfortunate Pick: Hogan's for Allan Houston's nagging injuries this
year.
Thirteenth Round:
1. Chess Club - L. Deng
2. 2nd Round PFs - W. Szczerbiak
3. Seattle - J. Williams
4. More Beer - J. Stackhouse
5. redrum- S. Livingston
6. Obama - C. Butler
7. Granville - Q. Richardson
8. Transposons - L. Hughes
9. Hogan's - D. Christie
Best Pick: Transposons for Larry Hughes, no question. Hughes was a top-shelf
fantasy player this year, against all odds. Even missing a month isn't
enough to make him drop behind Granville's Quentin Richardson for top pick.
Worst Pick: Livingston? Huh?
Most Unfortunate Pick: Doug Christie, who had been at least solid in years
past but pouted on the bench in Orlando.
Fourteenth Round:
1. Hogan's - M. Dunleavy
2. Transposons - P. Brezec
3. Granville - M. Jaric
4. Obama - D. Wesley
5. redrum - C. Robinson
6. More Beer - C. Atkins
7. Seattle - Kw. Brown
8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Murphy
9. Chess Club - B. Sura
Best Pick: Away with your torches and pitchforks! I'm picking Sashank's pick
of Bobby Sura, because Sura was the most unlikely consistent triple-double
threat in the NBA this season. He was a big reason the Mildew made a run -
certainly more than my other pick (see below).
Worst Pick: Kwame Brown didn't work out. At. All. What's embarrassing is how
long I held onto him waiting for something to happen. Look, I'm the
Washington Wizards!
Most Unfortunate Pick: Marc with Troy Murphy - who played well when he was
around but missed a lot of the season.
Fifteenth Round:
1. Chess Club - J. Bender
2. 2nd Round PFs - D. Mason
3. Seattle - J. McInnis
4. More Beer - B. Wells
5. redrum- V. Lenard
6. Obama - G. Giricek
7. Granville - Ju. Howard
8. Transposons - A. McDyess
9. Hogan's - Ke. Thomas
Best Pick: The best pick in this round was the last pick in the whole
draft - Hogan's drafting Kenny Thomas. Thomas was a little soft earlier in
the year but came down the stretch very strongly - both during the end of
his time in Philadelphia and during his stint in Sacramento. Jeff McInnis
was very good early but was awful in the second half of the season.
Worst Pick: There are no terrible picks here given the round we were in, but
I'll caution Granville to *never* count on Juwon Howard!
Most Unfortunate Pick: Tied between Sashank for Jonathan Bender and redrum
for Voshon Lenard, since both could've been fringe contributors but sat
virtually the whole season.
Cheers,
Chris Hafner
Granville Waiters' Ghost
"Chris Hafner" <haf...@peoplepc.com> wrote:
> I thought it might be fun to look at the head-scratching picks and amazing
> steals we pulled off during the draft, along with some rewards.
Great work pulling this out. Is it me or is this the greatest
fantasy league anywhere? Every other discussion I see is...
"You won..." grunt "I didn't win..." grunt
Before it gets lost in my pecking between quotes, what were
your best/worst moves?
My best draft pick:
Amare Stoudamire in Round 4
Worst draft pick:
Gary Payton in Round 8
Doomed draft pick:
Mehmet Okur. I have no idea why, but he
would put up double-doubles when he was
on my bench but sucked horribly when I
started him.
Best signing:
Joel Przybilla
Worst cut:
There were probably 5 I cut too soon, but...
Kenny Thomas back in January
Caron Butler (one of my favorite players) after
holding on to him half the season, right before
his renaissance.
Best trade:
N/A. Most of them turned out pretty neutral.
Carmelo Anthony for Luol Deng + Rafer Alston
(w/ Chess Club B Team)
-- Rafer never made my line-up, but I managed
to broker him in the next deal. Deng was my
solid Util guy for a month: respectable points
and boards, a handful of assists, good FG%
most of the time. If you're trading your 3rd
pick, you could do a lot worse. And since I
hate Carmelo, and personality dictates all
my moves, I can't think of this one negatively.
Paul Pierce, Kurt Thomas, Rafer Alston for
Gilbert Arenas, Carlos Boozer + Caron Butler
(w/ More Beer)
-- I coveted Arenas like a pornographer. He
more or less ended up even with Pierce. I
got some good production out of Boozer and
Butler for awhile, but ultimately they were
both useless. Thomas was part of my problem
with blocks, playing center, and Rafer is
Rafer. I thought I massively ripped off
More Beer with this one but it ended up even
for me; from his perspective he might have
won out since he got a C and had too many
PFs.
Worst trade:
Tyson Chandler for Ben Gordon
(w/ Obama-nators):
Most of my SGs were crapping out, and I
managed to get Ben prior to a hot streak. And
then a cold streak.
Tyson would have helped A LOT when Webber was
traded and Boozer went down. I figured I was
pretty well insulated against a Webber swoon.
Hmmm... I'd probably make that deal again.
Can't play for your Plan A and Plan B at one
position to both go down.
Essentially it was a free trade, since both
of us picked these guys up off the waiver wire,
but Tyson definitely would have helped me down
the stretch more than Ben did.
> First round:
> 1. Chess Club - K. Garnett
> 2. 2nd Round PFs - D. Nowitzki
> 3. Seattle - P. Stojakovic
> 4. More Beer - T. Duncan
> 5. redrum - S. O'Neal
> 6. Obama - J. O'Neal
> 7. Granville - T. McGrady
> 8. Transposons - A. Kirilenko
> 9. Hogan's - K. Bryant
>
> Best Pick: It's tough to have a best pick in the first round - they should
> all be good. But Hogan's nabbing Bryant with the last pick of the round was
> pretty inspired and edges out Granville's pick of the similar Tracy McGrady
> two picks earlier.
Eh, I think you can look and see who didn't participate in the
live draft. Me taking 3 SFs with the first 3 picks, for instance.
> Second round:
> 1. Hogan's - L. James
> 2. Transposons - B. Davis
> 3. Granville - P. Pierce
> 4. Obama - R. Allen
> 5. redrum - S. Francis
> 6. More Beer - E. Brand
> 7. Seattle Mildew - S. Marion
> 8. 2nd Round Pfs - B. Wallace
> 9. Chess Club B Team - M. Bibby
>
> Best Pick: I'll call this a tie - LeBron James was the best guy on this
> list, and Artis took a risk with him that high and it paid off. Still, Shawn
> Marion is one of the best fantasy players around and was nabbed at No. 8.
Marion's out of this world. I'm surprised to see Brand go so
high, but like ye sayeth, there are really no bad picks this high.
> Third round:
> 1. Chess Club - Y. Ming
> 2. 2nd Round Pfs - M. Redd
> 3. Seattle Mildew - B. Miller
> 4. More Beer - L. Odom
> 5. redrum - A. Iverson
> 6. Obama - P. Gasol
> 7. Granville - C. Anthony
> 8. Transposons - E. Jones
> 9. Hogan's - S. Cassell
>
> Best Pick: Probably redrum's selection of Allen Iverson. Iverson had a great
> year with increased assists while scoring more points per game. Honorable
> Mention to 2nd Round PFs for taking a chance on Redd early and getting
> rewarded with the best season of Redd's career.
>
> Worst Pick: Hogan's pick of Cassell - there was no way of knowing this, of
> course, but Cassell was oft-injured and played very poorly even when he was
> around. That said, Jones, Odom, and even Carmelo Anthony were
> disappointments this year.
Gotta dissent and give Eddie Jones the overall raspberry.
It's logical to think that he's be "up" due to the Shaq
Effect, but it didn't turn out that way. Kudos to Transposons
for capitalizating on it by grabbing Damon Jones, though.
> Fourth round:
> 1. Hogan's - S. Marbury
> 2. Transposons - A. Walker
> 3. Granville - A. Stoudemire
> 4. Obama - K. Hinrich
> 5. redrum- Z. Randolph
> 6. More Beer - V. Carter
> 7. Seattle - M. Finley
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - D. Wade
> 9. Chess Club - J. Richardson
>
> Best Pick: All in all, this was a more productive round than the third
> round, highlighted by our shared winners here - Granville's Amare pick and
> Marc's Wade pick. Those are players who will probably get long looks in the
> first round next year and were crucial snags in the fourth round this year.
> Kenneth's pickup of Antoine Walker was a big chance that worked out as well.
The pick-up of J Rich was pretty good too. If I had anyone
down in my "People I Hate Who Will Have Horrible Careers,"
he'd be in it prior to this season, but Sashank... I think
he said this was key to his winning the rebounding cat, and
I agree. Me, I laughed at his agent selling him on a max
contract based on his "best rebounding guard" tag, but that
definitely helped out a lot.
> Fifth Round:
> 1. Chess Club - A. Jamison
> 2. 2nd Round PFs - A. Miller
> 3. Seattle - R. Wallace
> 4. More Beer - G. Arenas
> 5. redrum - K. Martin
> 6. Obama - R. Jefferson
> 7. Granville - C. Webber
> 8. Transposons - R. Artest
> 9. Hogan's - S. Nash
>
> Best Pick: Another tie - More Beer and Hogan's were truly inspired in
> picking up Arenas and Nash this late. That's big-time production out of the
> fifth round.
>
> Worst Pick: My Rasheed Wallace pick. It wasn't an awful pick, but Wallace
> was less productive on a per-game basis than any of the other guys. Happily,
> I was able to unload him to Marc for Miller!
>
> Most Unfortunate Pick: Ron Artest playing only a few games has to take the
> cake for the Transposons - Richard Jefferson gives Obama-nators a strong
> competitor, but Artest's loss was quicker and a more crushing blow.
You're kind not to mention Webber. But wow, what a buncha busts
and surprises. I would have killed to get Artest this late, even
over Nash. Kenyon Martin, eh...
Webber is funny. I predict he'll go even later next year, but
will be a "steal" for several months. He practically carried
my team early when Pierce and McGrady were both playing poorly.
A few triple-doubles, even. The problem is that everyone knows
you want to sell high with him; he's virtually untradable
because you never known when he'll hit the wall.
> Sixth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - D. Marshall
> 2. Transposons - S. Dalembert
> 3. Granville - C. Maggette
> 4. Obama - S. Swift
> 5. redrum- M. Ginobili
> 6. More Beer - J. Terry
> 7. Mildew - J. Kidd
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - R. Lewis
> 9. Chess Club - T. Ratliff
>
> Best Pick. This was a pretty rough round for pretty much everybody. The
> Lewis, Maggette, and Ginobili picks were pretty good, but I'm going to
> shamefully give myself the award for this round for drafting Jason Kidd.
> Yes, he missed time early on, but his top-of-the-league production after his
> return made the noisome rebirth of the Seattle Mildew possible.
Kidd, hands down. I am officially a member of the fan club.
> Seventh Round:
> 1. Chess Club - J. Posey
> 2. 2nd Round PFS - J. Magloire
> 3. Seattle - E. Okafor
> 4. More Beer - C. Boozer
> 5. redrum - M. Blount
> 6. Obama - C. Bosh
> 7. Granville - C. Billups
> 8. Transposons - Z. Ilgauskas
> 9. Hogan's - M. Camby
>
> Best Pick: Obama for Chris Bosh, hands-down. He got one of the young stars
> of the season with a late pick in the round, with center eligibility, no
> less.
td had a pretty good draft, and totally fleeced Sashank for
(I remember now, I think it was) Dwight Howard and Antawn
Jamison, but I think he panicked after Jermaine O'Neal's
suspension. To be honest I didn't think Bosh would turn out
as well as he did either, but you'd have to pry a center-eligible
player from my cold dead hands.
> Eighth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - A. Harrington
> 2. Transposons - E. Dampier
> 3. Granville - G. Payton
> 4. Obama - R. Hamilton
> 5. redrum - D. Gooden
> 6. More Beer - B. Barry
> 7. Seattle - K. Kittles
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Parker
> 9. Chess Club - M. Daniels
>
> Best Pick: Transposons for Erick Dampier, who cranked out solid production
> at the center spot. Honorable mentions to the picks for Parker and Gooden.
I've got to give it to Marc for Parker. The mitigating circumstance
is that Transposons released Dampier. Otherwise, Harrington. God how
I proposed a million deals for him that Artis never responded to.
> Ninth Round:
> 1. Chess Club - Ku. Thomas
> 2. 2nd Round PFs - J. Crawford
> 3. Seattle - D. Anderson
> 4. More Beer - C. Mobley
> 5. redrum - A. Nocioni
> 6. Obama - C. Arroyo
> 7. Granville - M. Okur
> 8. Transposons - M. James
> 9. Hogan's - S. Abdur-Rahim
Ick.
> Tenth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - E. Curry
> 2. Transposons - G. Hill
> 3. Granville - C. Kaman
> 4. Obama - N. Hilario
> 5. redrum- V. Radmanovic
> 6. More Beer - R. Nesterovic
> 7. Seattle - R. LaFrentz
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - Jo. Howard
> 9. Chess Club - D. Howard
I agree, it's Dwight Howard. (For the other Howard, see below.)
> Eleventh Round:
> 1. Chess Club - R. Alston
> 2. 2nd Round PFS - J. Johnson
> 3. Seattle - K. Van Horn
> 4. More Beer - G. Robinson
> 5. redurm - H. Turkoglu
> 6. Obama - M. Harpring
> 7. Granville - S. Jackson
> 8. Transposons - G. Wallace
> 9. Hogan's - B. Gordon
>
> Best Pick: This has to go to Marc for drafting Joe Johnson. Not only was he
> a statistical stud compared to the rest of the guys here, but he netted
> Steve Francis - a second-round pick having a big season - in trade. Props to
> Hogan's for accurately ferreting out Ben Gordon.
>
> Worst Pick: More Beer again, this time for Glenn Robinson. Yes, he missed
> the whole season (see below), but he's also not a very good fantasy player.
>
> Most Unfortunate Pick: More Beer for Glenn Robinson - the guy can at least
> score, but he didn't even contribute that this year. Runner-up is Granville
> for missing a lot of games from Stephen Jackson - which was another pretty
> nice pick at this stage.
Harpring was nice. I think the Gordon and Steven Jackson picks
are neutralized by the fact that we both released them. :-\
> Twelfth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - A. Houston
> 2. Transposons - J. Rose
> 3. Granville - L. Sprewell
> 4. Obama - P. Brown
> 5. redrum - R. Davis
> 6. More Beer - T. Prince
> 7. Seattle - J. Jackson
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Chandler
> 9. Chess Club - D. Stoudamire
>
> Best Pick: I'm going to give this to redrum's Ricky Davis pick becuase he
> was a steady producer all year. Sashank's Damon Stoudamire pick comes very
> close thanks to an absolutley lights-out stretch earlier this year, but
> falls just short because he either didn't play or played badly the rest of
> the time. Jalen Rose also gets a mention for finishing strong after starting
> badly.
It was kind of inevitable Rose would go this late in a Bulls-centric
group (same with Curry compared to how high Stromile Swift went).
Having Rose PG eligible could give someone stud numbers if they
missed out on a top-tier PG and write off the assist category.
Tayshaun Prince is another strong pick but it's again neutralized
by the fact that he was released two or three times. I signed him
for one game and cut him myself.
> Worst Pick: Granville for Latrell Sprewell. There was plenty of reason to
> draft Latrell based on his performance the year before, but it didn't turn
> out well at all - and it's not as if Latrell was benched or injured.
This was a pretty bad pick all around. On the plus side, I got
rid of Kaman, Olowakandi, Payton and Sprewell shortly after
I remembered I'd started the league and was in 9th place after
a couple of weeks.
> Thirteenth Round:
> 1. Chess Club - L. Deng
> 2. 2nd Round PFs - W. Szczerbiak
> 3. Seattle - J. Williams
> 4. More Beer - J. Stackhouse
> 5. redrum- S. Livingston
> 6. Obama - C. Butler
> 7. Granville - Q. Richardson
> 8. Transposons - L. Hughes
> 9. Hogan's - D. Christie
>
> Best Pick: Transposons for Larry Hughes, no question. Hughes was a top-shelf
> fantasy player this year, against all odds. Even missing a month isn't
> enough to make him drop behind Granville's Quentin Richardson for top pick.
>
> Worst Pick: Livingston? Huh?
>
> Most Unfortunate Pick: Doug Christie, who had been at least solid in years
> past but pouted on the bench in Orlando.
Hughes should have been higher based on that whole ending
contract thing (something I'm definitely taking into
consideration next season). Richardson probably surprised
everyone. I have to give it to Sashank for getting Deng in
the 13th, Alston in the 11th and then trading for my 3rd
overall (Carmelo).
> Fourteenth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - M. Dunleavy
> 2. Transposons - P. Brezec
> 3. Granville - M. Jaric
> 4. Obama - D. Wesley
> 5. redrum - C. Robinson
> 6. More Beer - C. Atkins
> 7. Seattle - Kw. Brown
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Murphy
> 9. Chess Club - B. Sura
>
> Best Pick: Away with your torches and pitchforks! I'm picking Sashank's pick
> of Bobby Sura, because Sura was the most unlikely consistent triple-double
> threat in the NBA this season. He was a big reason the Mildew made a run -
> certainly more than my other pick (see below).
Wow. Not sure but I'd have to go with Brezec. Centers are hard
to find and to find a useful one this low was pretty impressive.
> Fifteenth Round:
> 1. Chess Club - J. Bender
> 2. 2nd Round PFs - D. Mason
> 3. Seattle - J. McInnis
> 4. More Beer - B. Wells
> 5. redrum- V. Lenard
> 6. Obama - G. Giricek
> 7. Granville - Ju. Howard
> 8. Transposons - A. McDyess
> 9. Hogan's - Ke. Thomas
>
> Best Pick: The best pick in this round was the last pick in the whole
> draft - Hogan's drafting Kenny Thomas. Thomas was a little soft earlier in
> the year but came down the stretch very strongly - both during the end of
> his time in Philadelphia and during his stint in Sacramento. Jeff McInnis
> was very good early but was awful in the second half of the season.
>
> Worst Pick: There are no terrible picks here given the round we were in, but
> I'll caution Granville to *never* count on Juwon Howard!
By that point in the pre-rankings you're pretty much dragging
10 guys at a time from one column to the left. Funny that I
don't even remember him being on my team.
Aha...
http://basketball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/nba/10499/1?date=2004-11-01&sta
t1=S&stat2=D
That was actually Josh Howard. It seems that Marc drafted
Juwan Howard up in the 10th round:
http://basketball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/nba/10499/7?date=2004-11-01&sta
t1=S&stat2=D
Marc Heiden
Chris Hafner wrote:
> I thought it might be fun to look at the head-scratching picks and
amazing
> steals we pulled off during the draft, along with some rewards.
Granville, do what you have to do in the courts to get Chris locked
into every fantasy league we do from now on. Dominating the "Best pick"
category and escaping the "worst pick" takes some of the sting off for
my late-season collapse in the actual league. (Although I suspect I'm
going to pick up a "worst" - see below.)
> Fourth round:
> 1. Hogan's - S. Marbury
> 2. Transposons - A. Walker
> 3. Granville - A. Stoudemire
> 4. Obama - K. Hinrich
> 5. redrum- Z. Randolph
> 6. More Beer - V. Carter
> 7. Seattle - M. Finley
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - D. Wade
> 9. Chess Club - J. Richardson
It's going to be ten years before anyone gets a shot at Dwyane Wade in
the fourth round again. I thought that coup alone was going to win me
the title.
> Tenth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - E. Curry
> 2. Transposons - G. Hill
> 3. Granville - C. Kaman
> 4. Obama - N. Hilario
> 5. redrum- V. Radmanovic
> 6. More Beer - R. Nesterovic
> 7. Seattle - R. LaFrentz
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - Jo. Howard
> 9. Chess Club - D. Howard
>
> Best Pick: Chess Club's Dwight Howard pick. With what - the 90th
pick? -
> Sashank picked up a 12/10 guy who blocked shots and shot a good
percentage.
> Honorable mention for the Transposons, who got a very productive
Grant Hill
> for much of the season, Marc, who picked the surprisingly effective
(in
> spurts) Josh Howard, and Seattle, who took a chance on LaFrentz and
was
> (most of the time) rewarded with good production.
People who talk about themselves in the third person are God's
children.
I'm pretty sure that was me taking Juwan, not Josh Howard, though. He's
been 17/8 for years, and he struck me as a classic great fantasy player
who falls because no one would want him in reality. (See also Van Horn,
Keith.) But it turned out this was the year the bottom dropped out.
> Fifteenth Round
>
> Worst Pick: There are no terrible picks here given the round we were
in, but
> I'll caution Granville to *never* count on Juwon Howard!
...hence, Granville probably scores best pick here for the *other* J.
Howard, Josh, although all he was really doing was warming him up for
Sashank's late-night swing-man rampages.
sv0f
> I thought it might be fun to look at the head-scratching picks and
amazing
> steals we pulled off during the draft, along with some rewards.
Thanks for doing this. I need closure.
> First round:
> 1. Chess Club - K. Garnett
> 2. 2nd Round PFs - D. Nowitzki
> 3. Seattle - P. Stojakovic
> 4. More Beer - T. Duncan
> 5. redrum - S. O'Neal
> 6. Obama - J. O'Neal
> 7. Granville - T. McGrady
> 8. Transposons - A. Kirilenko
> 9. Hogan's - K. Bryant
>
> Best Pick: It's tough to have a best pick in the first round - they
should
> all be good. But Hogan's nabbing Bryant with the last pick of the
round was
> pretty inspired and edges out Granville's pick of the similar Tracy
McGrady
> two picks earlier.
I thought Bryant was a pretty lousy pick in retrospect. His turnovers
were just killers and he was injured for that long stretch.
> Third round:
> 1. Chess Club - Y. Ming
> 2. 2nd Round Pfs - M. Redd
> 3. Seattle Mildew - B. Miller
> 4. More Beer - L. Odom
> 5. redrum - A. Iverson
> 6. Obama - P. Gasol
> 7. Granville - C. Anthony
> 8. Transposons - E. Jones
> 9. Hogan's - S. Cassell
>
> Worst Pick: Hogan's pick of Cassell - there was no way of knowing
this, of
> course, but Cassell was oft-injured and played very poorly even when
he was
> around. That said, Jones, Odom, and even Carmelo Anthony were
> disappointments this year.
I must admit I thought when I drafted Ming that I had stolen him, and
yet as the season went on I began to think him over-rated. Why doesn't
he block more shorts or, for that matter, get more rebounds? Why is his
scoring so variable? Some of this was due to the early-season meshing
of his talents with McGrady's and the "coaching" of Van Gundy, but
still...
Also, I later acquired Carmelo in a trade with Granville. I dealt him
Rafer Alston, who to that point had been lights out but was showing
signs of unravelling mentally, and Luol Deng, who I drafted solely for
the purpose of trading him to a Bulls fan after a few good games. I
thought it was a steal at the time. But then I grew to hate Carmelo.
The guy does nothing but score and rebound a little bit. Few 3s, few
assists, few steals, few blocks, tons of TOs, shoots a low FG%. Is he
even the third best player from that draft anymore, or has Bosh
officially passed him? (Kaman too?)
I was able to steal Odom from Brad halfway through the season, after
Jefferson went down. I think I traded him Tayshaun Prince, Radmanovic,
and Foster. Odom was a multicat stud, especially when Kobe was out of
the line-up, until he went down the last three weeks of the season.
> Fourth round:
> 1. Hogan's - S. Marbury
> 2. Transposons - A. Walker
> 3. Granville - A. Stoudemire
> 4. Obama - K. Hinrich
> 5. redrum- Z. Randolph
> 6. More Beer - V. Carter
> 7. Seattle - M. Finley
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - D. Wade
> 9. Chess Club - J. Richardson
>
> Best Pick: All in all, this was a more productive round than the
third
> round, highlighted by our shared winners here - Granville's Amare
pick and
> Marc's Wade pick. Those are players who will probably get long looks
in the
> first round next year and were crucial snags in the fourth round this
year.
> Kenneth's pickup of Antoine Walker was a big chance that worked out
as well.
Amare and Wade were great picks. Especially Wade. Jesus Christ he blew
up this year. Richardson was a bit of a sleeper. I banked that he would
have a career year and he pretty much came through for me. He's quite
good, especially in those little ways (e.g., few TOs and tons o'
rebounds for a guard). But a word to the wise: as baron Davis got more
PT, JRich's stats dropped noticably.
> Fifth Round:
> 1. Chess Club - A. Jamison
> 2. 2nd Round PFs - A. Miller
> 3. Seattle - R. Wallace
> 4. More Beer - G. Arenas
> 5. redrum - K. Martin
> 6. Obama - R. Jefferson
> 7. Granville - C. Webber
> 8. Transposons - R. Artest
> 9. Hogan's - S. Nash
>
> Most Unfortunate Pick: Ron Artest playing only a few games has to
take the
> cake for the Transposons - Richard Jefferson gives Obama-nators a
strong
> competitor, but Artest's loss was quicker and a more crushing blow.
You are sparing my reputation and I thank you for it, but we must tell
the rest of the newsgroup the awful truth. Sometime around the end of
December, I projected that Jamison's numbers would soon drop as Arenas
and Hughes shot more and more and one day threw down for the title of
biggest ballhog on the Wizards. So I traded him to td for Jefferson,
who to that point had been having a career year (with Kidd out of the
line up and Carter still dogging it north of the border) but had had a
few bad games in a row.
About a week later, it was announced that Jefferson had been playing
hurt for the past few weeks and would in fact be missing the rest of
the season. td responded with an instant classic line: "What just
whizzed by my head".[*] I waited for him to rescind the trade but
apparently he is a man of no honor ;-)
This brought about my proudest accomplishment of the season: the
collecting of free agents and their packaging in N-for-1 trades for
marginal players, and then their packaging in trades for Lamar Odom and
Dwight Gooden. After I pulled off these trades, I felt pretty proud of
myself. I had survived the Jamison debacle. I even acquired Darko to
taunt the other players. Alas, the God's were not amused, and soon half
my roster lay wounded like Eddie Robinson's posse after visiting the
scissors store.
[*] Paraphrase. Yahoo is not letting me search the messages back beyond
February. I hope our classic discussions have not been lost. They need
to be bundled together and archived here.]
> Sixth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - D. Marshall
> 2. Transposons - S. Dalembert
> 3. Granville - C. Maggette
> 4. Obama - S. Swift
> 5. redrum- M. Ginobili
> 6. More Beer - J. Terry
> 7. Mildew - J. Kidd
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - R. Lewis
> 9. Chess Club - T. Ratliff
>
> Worst Pick: There are a few toughies here - Marshall, Dalembert,
Swift, and
> Ratliff all stunk at times. I'll give Chess Club and Ratliff the
award
> because the others had longer and more impressive good stretches than
the
> Rattler.
I am ashamed of this pick. I assume that if I ever run for president my
opponent's operative will troll the internet and this bit of bad
judgment will derail my campaign.
> Seventh Round:
> 1. Chess Club - J. Posey
> 2. 2nd Round PFS - J. Magloire
> 3. Seattle - E. Okafor
> 4. More Beer - C. Boozer
> 5. redrum - M. Blount
> 6. Obama - C. Bosh
> 7. Granville - C. Billups
> 8. Transposons - Z. Ilgauskas
> 9. Hogan's - M. Camby
>
> Best Pick: Obama for Chris Bosh, hands-down. He got one of the young
stars
> of the season with a late pick in the round, with center eligibility,
no
> less.
Though Ilgauskas and Camby also provided great value at the thin C
position. I don't know how many times I tried to acquire those guys
(but was rebuffed).
> Worst Pick: Chess Club for James Posey. Not that it didn't make sense
at the
> time - Posey was great last year - but injuries and other issues made
Posey
> a complete waste of time this year.
<crying in the corner>
> Eighth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - A. Harrington
> 2. Transposons - E. Dampier
> 3. Granville - G. Payton
> 4. Obama - R. Hamilton
> 5. redrum - D. Gooden
> 6. More Beer - B. Barry
> 7. Seattle - K. Kittles
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Parker
> 9. Chess Club - M. Daniels
>
> Worst Pick: Another easy one - my pick of Kerry Kittles. How that
happened,
> I have no idea, but I blame the media. Brent Barry isn't far behind,
but at
> least he was better than Kittles and at least there was a better
rationale
> for drafting him.
I can only assume that you missed that i drafted MARQUISE DANIELS.
Kerry Kittles could have retired one game into the season and still
been more productive than MARQUISE DANIELS.[**]
[**] Though Posey and Daniels sure have lots of potential, don't they?
> Ninth Round:
> 1. Chess Club - Ku. Thomas
> 2. 2nd Round PFs - J. Crawford
> 3. Seattle - D. Anderson
> 4. More Beer - C. Mobley
> 5. redrum - A. Nocioni
> 6. Obama - C. Arroyo
> 7. Granville - M. Okur
> 8. Transposons - M. James
> 9. Hogan's - S. Abdur-Rahim
>
> Best Pick: Chess Club for Kurt Thomas, who had a very solid year at
the
> center position. Mobley also played well, and Crawford had his
moments.
So it must be said. I drafted Kurt Thomas. He was my second C. I
explicably released him. Later in the season, I made several N-for-1
traded to acquire Mobley. Then, just minutes before the trade deadline,
I sent Mobley to Australia for...Kurt Thomas. Granville noticed this
cycle in the fantasy universe. We call that deja vu.
> Tenth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - E. Curry
> 2. Transposons - G. Hill
> 3. Granville - C. Kaman
> 4. Obama - N. Hilario
> 5. redrum- V. Radmanovic
> 6. More Beer - R. Nesterovic
> 7. Seattle - R. LaFrentz
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - Jo. Howard
> 9. Chess Club - D. Howard
>
> Best Pick: Chess Club's Dwight Howard pick. With what - the 90th
pick? -
> Sashank picked up a 12/10 guy who blocked shots and shot a good
percentage.
> Honorable mention for the Transposons, who got a very productive
Grant Hill
> for much of the season, Marc, who picked the surprisingly effective
(in
> spurts) Josh Howard, and Seattle, who took a chance on LaFrentz and
was
> (most of the time) rewarded with good production.
I remember the night of the draft that there were laments all around
when I drafted him. Others were set to pick him in the next round. One
comment was to the effect that they forgot he was even available
because Yahoo! ranked him so low. My plan with him and Deng was to
package them in trades as they peaked midway through their rookie
years. I did this. But then a funny thing happened -- Howard never
peaked. Luckily I didn't needed his boards but I coulda used his
blocked shots. <insert Kelvin Cato joke here.>
> Twelfth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - A. Houston
> 2. Transposons - J. Rose
> 3. Granville - L. Sprewell
> 4. Obama - P. Brown
> 5. redrum - R. Davis
> 6. More Beer - T. Prince
> 7. Seattle - J. Jackson
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Chandler
> 9. Chess Club - D. Stoudamire
>
> Best Pick: I'm going to give this to redrum's Ricky Davis pick
becuase he
> was a steady producer all year. Sashank's Damon Stoudamire pick comes
very
> close thanks to an absolutley lights-out stretch earlier this year,
but
> falls just short because he either didn't play or played badly the
rest of
> the time.
Also, I released him almost instantly. Stoudamire piled up stats for
someone else.
> Thirteenth Round:
> 1. Chess Club - L. Deng
> 2. 2nd Round PFs - W. Szczerbiak
> 3. Seattle - J. Williams
> 4. More Beer - J. Stackhouse
> 5. redrum- S. Livingston
> 6. Obama - C. Butler
> 7. Granville - Q. Richardson
> 8. Transposons - L. Hughes
> 9. Hogan's - D. Christie
>
> Best Pick: Transposons for Larry Hughes, no question. Hughes was a
top-shelf
> fantasy player this year, against all odds. Even missing a month
isn't
> enough to make him drop behind Granville's Quentin Richardson for
top pick.
Mad props to the Transposons. I waited all year for Hughes to revert to
hid old form. I even sent him mail making fun of his rare off games and
signed them "G. Arenas" and "A. Jamison". Nothing worked.
> Fourteenth Round:
> 1. Hogan's - M. Dunleavy
> 2. Transposons - P. Brezec
> 3. Granville - M. Jaric
> 4. Obama - D. Wesley
> 5. redrum - C. Robinson
> 6. More Beer - C. Atkins
> 7. Seattle - Kw. Brown
> 8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Murphy
> 9. Chess Club - B. Sura
>
> Best Pick: Away with your torches and pitchforks! I'm picking
Sashank's pick
> of Bobby Sura, because Sura was the most unlikely consistent
triple-double
> threat in the NBA this season. He was a big reason the Mildew made a
run -
> certainly more than my other pick (see below).
I released Sura that night, blaming the pick on my dog's fascination
with white Florida State PGs or some such nonsense. I re-acquired him
several times -- I think Marc even made fun of me for this on the Yahoo
message board -- but was long gone for his resurgence.
> Fifteenth Round:
> 1. Chess Club - J. Bender
> 2. 2nd Round PFs - D. Mason
> 3. Seattle - J. McInnis
> 4. More Beer - B. Wells
> 5. redrum- V. Lenard
> 6. Obama - G. Giricek
> 7. Granville - Ju. Howard
> 8. Transposons - A. McDyess
> 9. Hogan's - Ke. Thomas
>
> Best Pick: The best pick in this round was the last pick in the whole
> draft - Hogan's drafting Kenny Thomas. Thomas was a little soft
earlier in
> the year but came down the stretch very strongly - both during the
end of
> his time in Philadelphia and during his stint in Sacramento. Jeff
McInnis
> was very good early but was awful in the second half of the season.
You drafted McInnis originally? I remember acquiring him from Brad. Did
you release him?
> Most Unfortunate Pick: Tied between Sashank for Jonathan Bender and
redrum
> for Voshon Lenard, since both could've been fringe contributors but
sat
> virtually the whole season.
The Bender pick. Sheesh. I still have memories of that grainy Zapruder
footage from a few years ago. A skinny seven footer taking over the
MacDonald's all-star game, maybe even breaking MJ's previous record for
that game. Picking him was a prayer combined with the mistaken
assumption that I was building a team for the future rather than one
for this year.
Marc Heiden
Granville Waiters' Ghost wrote:
> Doomed draft pick:
Magloire for me, obviously. Dislocated ring finger? More like
Dislocated Desire To Play For The Hornets. Wanker.
> Worst cut:
Easy: I dropped Chandler when we were all griping about him in December
for Othella's sudden emergence.
> Best trade:
Like a lovely autumn road trip with an ex-girlfriend I'll never speak
to again, I'll always have that sweet moment when the arbitrator
announced Jermaine O'Neal could come back early, right after I swapped
Troy Murphy for him.
> Worst trade:
Duncan+Murphy for Nowitzki+Crawford would have been a huge winner for
me (and kept me afloat in the standings) were it not for Duncan's ankle
injury. But I refuse to regard this trade a loser because it got Jamal
Crawford on td's roster. Nixon to China was nothing in comparison!
> Eh, I think you can look and see who didn't participate in the
> live draft.
We were talking about that during the live draft. I remember taunting
people about drafting up Curry. (And Crawford, but then I drafted him
myself.) I was sitting in a free crazy-expensive room at the Venetian
Hotel in Las Vegas during the live draft - having returned to the US
about two weeks prior, lounging about in the room while my ex lectured
at a pharmaceutical conference.
I recall some "oooh, he's going to regret that" when the Halos drafted
the then-lackluster Gordon in the ninth round.
> I've got to give it to Marc for Parker. The mitigating circumstance
> is that Transposons released Dampier. Otherwise, Harrington. God how
> I proposed a million deals for him that Artis never responded to.
I realized mid-way through this season that Tony Parker has been on
every fantasy team I've ever had. I'm not sure what that means.
Granville Waiters' Ghost
"sv0f" <sashan...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> [*] Paraphrase. Yahoo is not letting me search the messages back beyond
> February. I hope our classic discussions have not been lost. They need
> to be bundled together and archived here.]
Why not? I'll file through them tomorrow.
And if you're wondering if lawyers ever work, the answer is
no.
Chris Hafner
news:1114128004....@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Chris Hafner wrote:
<snip>
> > First round:
> > 1. Chess Club - K. Garnett
> > 2. 2nd Round PFs - D. Nowitzki
> > 3. Seattle - P. Stojakovic
> > 4. More Beer - T. Duncan
> > 5. redrum - S. O'Neal
> > 6. Obama - J. O'Neal
> > 7. Granville - T. McGrady
> > 8. Transposons - A. Kirilenko
> > 9. Hogan's - K. Bryant
> >
> > Best Pick: It's tough to have a best pick in the first round - they
> should
> > all be good. But Hogan's nabbing Bryant with the last pick of the
> round was
> > pretty inspired and edges out Granville's pick of the similar Tracy
> McGrady
> > two picks earlier.
>
> I thought Bryant was a pretty lousy pick in retrospect. His turnovers
> were just killers and he was injured for that long stretch.
Ah - right. I forgot about the injured stretch.
> > Third round:
> > 1. Chess Club - Y. Ming
> > 2. 2nd Round Pfs - M. Redd
> > 3. Seattle Mildew - B. Miller
> > 4. More Beer - L. Odom
> > 5. redrum - A. Iverson
> > 6. Obama - P. Gasol
> > 7. Granville - C. Anthony
> > 8. Transposons - E. Jones
> > 9. Hogan's - S. Cassell
> >
> > Worst Pick: Hogan's pick of Cassell - there was no way of knowing
> this, of
> > course, but Cassell was oft-injured and played very poorly even when
> he was
> > around. That said, Jones, Odom, and even Carmelo Anthony were
> > disappointments this year.
>
> I must admit I thought when I drafted Ming that I had stolen him, and
> yet as the season went on I began to think him over-rated. Why doesn't
> he block more shorts or, for that matter, get more rebounds? Why is his
> scoring so variable? Some of this was due to the early-season meshing
> of his talents with McGrady's and the "coaching" of Van Gundy, but
> still...
I have had Yao in the past and found the same thing. And beyond his scoring
and his mediocre blocking and rebounding, he doesn't do anything. Center
obviously isn't a big assists or steals position, but it helps to get
*something* out of him. That's one reason why Brad Miller was so valuable
for me this year - he wasn't a huge scorer except in stretches, but he did
just about everything.
> Also, I later acquired Carmelo in a trade with Granville. I dealt him
> Rafer Alston, who to that point had been lights out but was showing
> signs of unravelling mentally, and Luol Deng, who I drafted solely for
> the purpose of trading him to a Bulls fan after a few good games. I
> thought it was a steal at the time. But then I grew to hate Carmelo.
> The guy does nothing but score and rebound a little bit. Few 3s, few
> assists, few steals, few blocks, tons of TOs, shoots a low FG%. Is he
> even the third best player from that draft anymore, or has Bosh
> officially passed him? (Kaman too?)
I'd take Bosh over Carmelo.
> I was able to steal Odom from Brad halfway through the season, after
> Jefferson went down. I think I traded him Tayshaun Prince, Radmanovic,
> and Foster. Odom was a multicat stud, especially when Kobe was out of
> the line-up, until he went down the last three weeks of the season.
Odom's prowess with Kobe gone was pretty eye-openening. I think that guy
would really benefit from being on a non-Kobe team.
Richardson was definitely a nice pickup, as he improved dramatically this
year. But wow - Amare and Wade in the fourth round. I'm guessing they go
rather higher next year.
I'm not really sure you missed that much with Jamison. I had him in two
other leagues, and despite his nice points production, he didn't really do
that much else all that well. If you played him as a power forward, you
were giving up rebounds and blocks. If you played him at small forward, you
gave up everything else.
<snip>
> > Worst Pick: Chess Club for James Posey. Not that it didn't make sense
> at the
> > time - Posey was great last year - but injuries and other issues made
> Posey
> > a complete waste of time this year.
>
> <crying in the corner>
I'm right there with you, Sashank. I held on to the guy for a ridiculous
amount of time in my other leagues, just waiting for him to heal and get
back to his form of last year.
> > Eighth Round:
> > 1. Hogan's - A. Harrington
> > 2. Transposons - E. Dampier
> > 3. Granville - G. Payton
> > 4. Obama - R. Hamilton
> > 5. redrum - D. Gooden
> > 6. More Beer - B. Barry
> > 7. Seattle - K. Kittles
> > 8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Parker
> > 9. Chess Club - M. Daniels
> >
> > Worst Pick: Another easy one - my pick of Kerry Kittles. How that
> happened,
> > I have no idea, but I blame the media. Brent Barry isn't far behind,
> but at
> > least he was better than Kittles and at least there was a better
> rationale
> > for drafting him.
>
> I can only assume that you missed that i drafted MARQUISE DANIELS.
> Kerry Kittles could have retired one game into the season and still
> been more productive than MARQUISE DANIELS.[**]
>
> [**] Though Posey and Daniels sure have lots of potential, don't they?
At least you had some sort of rationale for drafting Daniels. Kittles?
KITTLES??!?!??!
> > Ninth Round:
> > 1. Chess Club - Ku. Thomas
> > 2. 2nd Round PFs - J. Crawford
> > 3. Seattle - D. Anderson
> > 4. More Beer - C. Mobley
> > 5. redrum - A. Nocioni
> > 6. Obama - C. Arroyo
> > 7. Granville - M. Okur
> > 8. Transposons - M. James
> > 9. Hogan's - S. Abdur-Rahim
> >
> > Best Pick: Chess Club for Kurt Thomas, who had a very solid year at
> the
> > center position. Mobley also played well, and Crawford had his
> moments.
>
> So it must be said. I drafted Kurt Thomas. He was my second C. I
> explicably released him. Later in the season, I made several N-for-1
> traded to acquire Mobley. Then, just minutes before the trade deadline,
> I sent Mobley to Australia for...Kurt Thomas. Granville noticed this
> cycle in the fantasy universe. We call that deja vu.
I tried to do that with Jeff McInnis after releasing him early, but
fortunately you refused to trade him to me - a fact for which I was very
thankful in the second half of the season.
<snip>
> > Fourteenth Round:
> > 1. Hogan's - M. Dunleavy
> > 2. Transposons - P. Brezec
> > 3. Granville - M. Jaric
> > 4. Obama - D. Wesley
> > 5. redrum - C. Robinson
> > 6. More Beer - C. Atkins
> > 7. Seattle - Kw. Brown
> > 8. 2nd Round PFs - T. Murphy
> > 9. Chess Club - B. Sura
> >
> > Best Pick: Away with your torches and pitchforks! I'm picking
> Sashank's pick
> > of Bobby Sura, because Sura was the most unlikely consistent
> triple-double
> > threat in the NBA this season. He was a big reason the Mildew made a
> run -
> > certainly more than my other pick (see below).
>
> I released Sura that night, blaming the pick on my dog's fascination
> with white Florida State PGs or some such nonsense. I re-acquired him
> several times -- I think Marc even made fun of me for this on the Yahoo
> message board -- but was long gone for his resurgence.
Every time I put him in the lineup, I cursed myself under my breath. I had
to go back to check the numbers every so often to make sure it actually was
a good idea.
I mean, come on - Bobby Sura?
> > Fifteenth Round:
> > 1. Chess Club - J. Bender
> > 2. 2nd Round PFs - D. Mason
> > 3. Seattle - J. McInnis
> > 4. More Beer - B. Wells
> > 5. redrum- V. Lenard
> > 6. Obama - G. Giricek
> > 7. Granville - Ju. Howard
> > 8. Transposons - A. McDyess
> > 9. Hogan's - Ke. Thomas
> >
> > Best Pick: The best pick in this round was the last pick in the whole
> > draft - Hogan's drafting Kenny Thomas. Thomas was a little soft
> earlier in
> > the year but came down the stretch very strongly - both during the
> end of
> > his time in Philadelphia and during his stint in Sacramento. Jeff
> McInnis
> > was very good early but was awful in the second half of the season.
>
> You drafted McInnis originally? I remember acquiring him from Brad. Did
> you release him?
Grrr .... yes. For Austin Croshere, I believe.
<snip>
Cheers,
Chris Hafner
Chris Hafner
news:1114123990....@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> Chris Hafner wrote:
<snip>
> I'm pretty sure that was me taking Juwan, not Josh Howard, though. He's
> been 17/8 for years, and he struck me as a classic great fantasy player
> who falls because no one would want him in reality. (See also Van Horn,
> Keith.) But it turned out this was the year the bottom dropped out.
> > Fifteenth Round
> >
> > Worst Pick: There are no terrible picks here given the round we were
> in, but
> > I'll caution Granville to *never* count on Juwon Howard!
>
> ...hence, Granville probably scores best pick here for the *other* J.
> Howard, Josh, although all he was really doing was warming him up for
> Sashank's late-night swing-man rampages.
Ah - in this case, the grades are flopped. Josh Howard was pretty useful
this year.
Cheers,
Chris Hafner
Chris Hafner
news:x-7D82B4.18...@news1.east.earthlink.net...
> In article <3cq9ovF...@individual.net>,
> "Chris Hafner" <haf...@peoplepc.com> wrote:
>
> > I thought it might be fun to look at the head-scratching picks and
amazing
> > steals we pulled off during the draft, along with some rewards.
>
>
>
> Great work pulling this out. Is it me or is this the greatest
> fantasy league anywhere? Every other discussion I see is...
> "You won..." grunt "I didn't win..." grunt
>
> Before it gets lost in my pecking between quotes, what were
> your best/worst moves?
>
> My best draft pick:
> Amare Stoudamire in Round 4
Despite the lost time due to injury, Jason Kidd in Round 6 - although I was
very happy with Brad Miller in Round 3.
> Worst draft pick:
> Gary Payton in Round 8
Boy, I have quite a few to choose from. Probably Peja Stojakovic in Round
1 - not that he was worse than, say, Kerry Kittles or Derek Anderson, but
you have to get more value than that with the No. 3 pick overall.
> Doomed draft pick:
> Mehmet Okur. I have no idea why, but he
> would put up double-doubles when he was
> on my bench but sucked horribly when I
> started him.
Kwame Brown. He was supposed to be much-improved this year, but mostly he
was just irrelevant.
> Best signing:
> Joel Przybilla
Kenny Thomas, Lorenzen Wright, or Bob Sura. Thomas was a mainstay down the
stretch, Lorenzen turned into a 15/10 guy once I picked him up, and Sura
gave me a near triple-double during one amazing multi-week stretch.
> Worst cut:
> There were probably 5 I cut too soon, but...
> Kenny Thomas back in January
> Caron Butler (one of my favorite players) after
> holding on to him half the season, right before
> his renaissance.
Jeff McInnis early - I could've really used his early-season form to fill in
for the injured Jason Kidd. Instead, I was forced to scramble to find
something, anything to put in the point guard position. I was nearly ready
to mortgage my team to Sashank to get McInnis back.
> Best trade:
Brevin Knight and Rasheed Wallace for Andre Miller (w/Marc).
Brevin was a one-category wonder and Wallace was mired behind Okafor,
Miller, and LaFrentz on my bench - Andre Miller was inconsistent, but very
good when he was on.
> Worst trade:
I only made one trade, and I kinda liked it.
Cheers,
Chris Hafner
sv0f
> > > Worst Pick: Another easy one - my pick of Kerry Kittles. How that
> > happened,
> > > I have no idea, but I blame the media. Brent Barry isn't far
behind,
> > but at
> > > least he was better than Kittles and at least there was a better
> > rationale
> > > for drafting him.
> >
> > I can only assume that you missed that i drafted MARQUISE DANIELS.
> > Kerry Kittles could have retired one game into the season and still
> > been more productive than MARQUISE DANIELS.[**]
> >
> > [**] Though Posey and Daniels sure have lots of potential, don't
they?
>
> At least you had some sort of rationale for drafting Daniels.
Kittles?
> KITTLES??!?!??!
Kittles has a large adam's apple and you should have known better than
to draft him, that is true. But with his year there was no uncertainty
about when to cut him -- as soon as humanly possible.
The thing that was so hard about Daniels and Posey is their tremendous
potential. You invent scenarios in which they'll emerge from their
funks to dominate the rest of the season. But like Webvan stock, they
were up, then they were down, and there ain't gonna be no turnaround.
What's the legal term, Granville? seductive danger?
> > > Best Pick: Chess Club for Kurt Thomas, who had a very solid year
at
> > the
> > > center position. Mobley also played well, and Crawford had his
> > moments.
> >
> > So it must be said. I drafted Kurt Thomas. He was my second C. I
> > explicably released him. Later in the season, I made several
N-for-1
> > traded to acquire Mobley. Then, just minutes before the trade
deadline,
> > I sent Mobley to Australia for...Kurt Thomas. Granville noticed
this
> > cycle in the fantasy universe. We call that deja vu.
>
> I tried to do that with Jeff McInnis after releasing him early, but
> fortunately you refused to trade him to me - a fact for which I was
very
> thankful in the second half of the season.
[Pounds head against keyboard.]
For the other fantasy players, Chris and I were simultaneously working
on two trades. One had him acquiring McInnis. The other had me trying
to get Marion. At one point, the second trade was Marion plus a good
player for Garnett plus a not so good player! We nixed this reasoning
that it would disrupt the fantasy pantheon too much trading one fantasy
god for another. Can you imagine a powder-blue statue of Krishna next
to Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peters? It just wouldn't be right.
td
> >Best Trade
> Like a lovely autumn road trip with an ex-girlfriend I'll never speak
> to again, I'll always have that sweet moment when the arbitrator
> announced Jermaine O'Neal could come back early, right after I swapped
> Troy Murphy for him.
>
>> Worst trade:
>
> Duncan+Murphy for Nowitzki+Crawford would have been a huge winner for
> me (and kept me afloat in the standings) were it not for Duncan's ankle
> injury. But I refuse to regard this trade a loser because it got Jamal
> Crawford on td's roster. Nixon to China was nothing in comparison!
Since both of those deals included me I'd be inclined to
swap the characterazations. O'Neal's suspension
hit me like Mothra's emergence from the sea hits
Tokyo. I still don't know why but I just overreacted.
In fact, Im sure you still giggle about this at night, before
we pulled the trigger on the deal I sent you a "heads up"
email about the length of the suspension because I didn't
want to "take advantage of you". The silence in response
should have been deafening. It wasn't. Oh well.
I really had to swallow hard on the Crawford deal and
"swallow" is the operatvie phrase when talking about
Crawford. I was only too happy to part with Duncan though.
I've had him on fantasy teams two of the last three years
and he is one of those guys whose real life value doesn't
translate to phat fantasy numbers. I traded for him
knowing that I could flip him pretty fast for a big name
fantasy stud.
I debated about who to throw in on the offer. Murphy or
Gasol?? Both were on the IR I believe at the time. I reasoned
Gasol would be the guy to come back first and strongest
because Murphy had spent a long stint on IR the previous
season with plantar fascitis which tends to be chronic.
Once again I was totally undone by my inability to see
the future. I gambled and lost.
td