2010-2011 ItsTheLeague is Back - Week 0 - Post-Draft Predictions
Basketball is BACK! The main problem with a draft in early October is the nearly four-week hiatus that we have to endure between the draft and the start of the regular season.
BUT, the time is upon us, and after 3 weeks of reflection, I'm ready to impart my wisdom and rankings on the league.
12. Tastykake Phanatics - When your best big man is Javale McGee, you've got problems. Mike went small from the get-go, from his surprising (or not-so surprising) selection of Kobe at #4 overall, He paired Kobe with another Kobe-like player in Iguoudala to go after fantasy basketball's most overrated stat: points. I think Westbrook is poised for a big year in OKC, but 28 overall may have been a slight stretch. Rashard Lewis is questionable in Round 4 when a big guy was sorely needed; then, Mike reached a bit for Scola in desperate need of a C-eligible player in round 6, took the oft-injured Bynum (although, this was late enough to justify the pick), and showed his true Laker pride by rounding out the squad with an old an unproductive (in the regular season, at least) Derek Fisher. I like the pickup of Terrence Williams for Fisher in the interim, but, for now, I think Mike went too heavy in points, not enough in the big man categories, and went with some inconsistent little guys. There's potential, but it's a bit shaky. The bright side, Mike? It'll be pretty easy to prove me wrong.
Best pick: Eric Gordon, Round 7 - Gordon should breakout this year after a big summer. I like it.
Worst pick: Rashard Lewis, Round 4 - After a few years of being a fantasy stud, Lewis has been way down in the past season or two, and nothing really indicates him jumping back to being worth as much as a 4th Round selection.
11. Rattlesnakes - I think there are a lot of question marks on Cody's team, and areas that could have been shored up that weren't. Chris Paul's fantastic, but the Chauncey pick didn't quite sit right. Paul doesn't really hit three's, Chauncey does; Paul shoots great from the field, Chauncey doesn't, etc. Chauncey's also a big question mark if 'Melo leaves Denver -- where his numbers go, I don't know. Now, this would have been OK had Cody shored up those areas, but Cody's only 3-point shooters are Billups and Richardson, his FG% continued to go up and down (taking solid guys like Kirilenko and Boozer, followed by weak contributors such as Caron Butler and D.J. Augustin). Cody's fliers at the end are all big question marks: can Yao put up good numbers with a weak foot and getting only 24 MPG? How will Evan Turner's numbers be? Can Brand bounce back to his normal self? (from a fellow Achilles Tendon tearer, I don't think so). Also, how long will Boozer be out with his pre-season injury? The team has potential, I just didn't like the way it was built.
Best Pick: Zach Randolph, Round 4 - I hated Z-Bo until he broke out last year. I expect nothing less this year as Memphis fights for one of the West's final playoff spots.
Worst Pick: Chauncey Billups, Round 2 - It's not that he's not worth it, it's just that I didn't like the pairing with Chris Paul.
P.S. Yes, the rule is if you don't show up to the draft, you will be ranked last in the Reyes Review (not really, it just worked out like that).
10. Johnny's Bananas - For being pick #7, I think Trent got probably the best first and second round combo he could have gotten. Wade slipping to 7 was nice, then call me crazy, but I think Jefferson's going to be a beast in Utah. I also see this as being a big year for Jeff Green -- so why the low ranking? There's no real category strategy going on here. The Devin Harris pick hurt his otherwise pretty decent FG%, Jefferson and Okafor will kill his FT%, not much 3-pointer strength, Rose and Harris are little guys that don't get steals, and unless Jefferson can clean up his act, blocks are another weak point. Trent will score a ton, and should produce well in rebounds and assists, but being strong in 3 categories doesn't do a whole lot for you.
Best pick: Jeff Green, Round 6 - I love this pick; I was two picks behind Trent and was pissed when he went.
Worst pick: Devin Harris, Round 4 - I'm not a huge fan, and his FG% really hurts an otherwise pretty decent team in that category
9. Lightning Jeffs - Similar story here; I like the Deron and Amare combo in rounds 1 & 2. After that, it got a bit confusing. Instead of building on the FG%, assists, and rebounds those guys get, Jeff went all over the place. Terry is Jeff's only other PG, which means Williams huge assist numbers are virtually wasted. After Amare and Troy Murphy, Jeff is stacked with swingmen and little forwards, not rebounders. A team full of Kevin Martin, Rudy Gay, Vince Carter, and Nicholas Batum will often win points, threes, and FT%, but his biggest first round strengths just didn't get utilized.
Best pick: Nicholas Batum, Round 9 - Due for a breakout after several good games last season.
Worst pick: Marcus Thornton, Round 7 - Already lost his starting job in NO, unclear what his role will be. This is too high.
8. ItsTheRookie - A respectable showing in Karan's first ever fantasy draft, but he's not cracking my Top 6 quite yet. He took an interesting (read: odd) approach after grabbing Durant, one of the league's best FT shooters, by going after Camby, Bogut, and Odom. Because Durant shoots so many FTs, he'll still have a shot, but he's much weaker than he could have been. While those three players give Karan a huge advantage in rebounds and blocks, they aren't really great shooting big men, so his FG% wasn't helped much and remains weak. After the Monta-Durant-Tyreke trio, the scoring really drops off as well. No true point guard means assists are weak, but steals are still average with Monta, Artest, and the Durantula. Monta's nearly 4 TOs per game won't help that category either. Add it up, and I'm not so sure the Rookie is ready for the playoffs...yet. His enthusiasm and effort in the preseason, though, may be just what he needs to breakthrough.
Best pick: Marcus Camby, Round 5 - After grabbing Bogut, this was a solid pick to have two of the best blocking big men in the league. It started to save the Bogut pick...because...
Worst pick: Andrew Bogut, Round 4 - I like Bogut, but I think there were two things wrong here. First, it was a bit higher than I would have gone after Bogut is coming off the injury. Second, after the FT% quality of his first three picks, this was a question mark. We'll see.
7. Bye Week - First, I love the new team name, paying homage to his roots as ITL's most famous doormat. While not cracking my Top 6 quite yet, (and I say this every year), I think this will be Rojas's breakout season. Pau Gasol was a league favorite, and Steven nabbed him at #6 overall. Pairing him with Kidd is solid as well. Mike Duarte gave Steven hell for picking Gallinari in Round 3, but I like the pick, as Danillo seems like the second coming of Dirk and should further solidify his role as the Knicks' #2 (unless Carmelo comes to town...). Noah could also be poised for big numbers, especially with Boozer out early. My main problem with Steven's team is that while he does a lot of things decently well, he doesn't do anything great. Balance is good, but balance with a few really solid categories is better. After Pau and Noah, the big man categories (rebounds, blocks, FG%) really drop off (especially with the recent dealing of Landry). After Kidd, there's no other great assisting PG. Plenty of small forwards (Pierce, Danillo, Jamison, Hedo) give him good points, threes, and steals, though. Turnovers also seem low. Steven's balanced attack will serve him well, but he's not quite as strong as he should and could be.
Best pick: Joakim Noah, Round 5 - Complements Gasol well; would have been better to get one more of this type of player, but Noah could have a huge year if he gets off to a hot start with Boozer sidelined.
Worst pick:: Beno Udrih, Round 7 - A bit high here, I thought, when guys like O.J. Mayo and Andre Miller were still on the board and the PG position needed to be shored up.
6. Kevdog's Ballers - I like my team, but I'm not thrilled with it. I went for some older guys who I'm banking on returning to their former selves, and it just might not happen. If it does, though, look out. Thrilled Dirk fell to me in Round 1, although I would have happily gone Pau Gasol at 5. Loved Gerald Wallace last year, so couldn't have been happier through 2 rounds. I also think Bosh at 29th overall was a steal, and Manu (the newly named starting SG in San Antonio) could have a big year). Through 4 rounds, I think I had the best team in the draft. Then, it's a bunch of question marks. Mo Williams needs to keep his head screwed on straight, Kevin Garnett needs his knees to not buckle, Ray Allen is just getting old and losing consistency, Tony Parker has never been my favorite fantasy player but is in a contract year, and Mike Miller went down with a preseason thumb injury. Balance was the name of the game for me (after the Dwight Howard debacle last season, see #5 below): I'll be solid in both % categories, hit a few threes, score, grab some boards, and get some steals. Not as strong as I would have liked in assists and blocks, and TOs are always a question mark. I'm calling myself middle of the road.
Best pick: Kevin Garnett, Round 6 - If he's healthy, this is an absolute steal.
Worst pick: Kevin Garnett, Round 6 - Such a question mark, that I just really don't know what to say about him.
5. The MonStars - Michael's high on his own team, big shocker. I, however, am not so high, but he's still a playoff team simply because of his determination. Michael planned and planned for how to do the "Dwight Howard strategy," and having been there last year, I give him a "B" for his execution. Howard and Smith is a solid combo. I also really like the Gasol pick in Round 4. Collison in Round 3, I also think wasn't a terrible pick, because he needed a PG (when you draft Howard, I think the rankings are less important, and need plays a much bigger role). Three of his next four picks baffled me, though. Arenas, Ariza, and Harrington are all low FG% guys who hit threes, a category that Michael is TERRIBLE in besides those 3 guys. I'm just not sure I would have expended three picks to only win a single category, and really hurt yourself in FG% in those weeks where D. Howard only has 2 games and can't bring you back to life. Hibbert and Millsap are quality mid-round selections to pair with the Howard/Smith combo, but beyond Collison, I'm not so sure about assists. If Arenas plays like we all know he can, then you're in good shape, but I'm not convinced quite yet. Steals and blocks are solid, but with FT% and turnovers lost causes, I think you probably wanted to be much stronger than you are in assists, FG%, and threes. My problem with the Howard strategy was that I was strong in 4 categories, so I suffered a lot of 5-4 losses -- that could be Michael's fate as well.
Best pick: Paul Millsap, Round 6 - Ready to break out with Boozer finally out of Utah. Complements Howard/Smith well.
Worst pick: Gilbert Arenas, Round 5 - As Matt Buser says on the Big Board with Arenas's ranking of 67: "This is either too high or too low… does that make it just right?" He's such a question mark that a Round 5 pick seems too high here.
4. I Felton Her Bibby's - I normally think Trent reaches much more than he ought to in drafts, but in this one, he was calm, cool, and collected. The Curry/Rondo combo pretty much locks up assists and steals on its own without killing FG%, but he followed it up with a big-man trio that will shore up boards without hurting FT% too badly (Horford, Bargnani, Aldridge). Even after taking Rondo, Trent shored up those weaknesses nicely by getting plenty of threes (Crawford, Bargnani, Frye, Curry) and high FT% (just about everyone else). Do the math, and that's strong %s, plenty of threes, mediocre in points, and a good number of boards, assists, and steals. Weak in blocks and TOs, but 7 of 9 sure ain't bad.
Best pick: Andrea Bargnani, Round 4 - I really like this pick, as Bargs broke out in a big way last year, and there's no reason to expect he won't do it better with Turk and Bosh gone from Toronto.
Worst pick: Channing Frye, Round 6 - Frye helps Trent, but this may have been a bit of a reach. Hard to believe Frye will repeat his performance from last year, but if he does, I'll eat my words.
3. Money $hooters - This may be the highest ranking Matt's ever received in ITL, but it's well deserved. A formidable front line of Lee, Lopez, and West gives Matt huge rebound numbers, high %s (huge FT% for 3 big guys), lots of points, and even some assists from big guys right out of the gate. Of course, the glaring problem is the lack of blocks that will be produced from them, but the other stuff begins to make up for it. Felton (poised for a big year in NY) and Wall (has had a monster preseason) shore up Matt's assist and steal numbers, and the Landry-for-Turkoglu trade gives Matt just additional big man help. Robin Lopez may blossom with no Amare in Phoenix, and Taj Gibson was a nice pickup in the wake of Boozer's injury. Although weak in blocks, Matt is also quite balanced across the board, but so strong in rebounds and the %s that I gave him a bump up.
Best pick: David West, Round 3 - After grabbing two bigs, Matt had to go small, right? Nope, another big, and a consistent one at that, fell to him in Round 3. I like it.
Worst pick:: Jarrett Jack, Round 7 - A bit high for a guy that will be in a fight for minutes with Jose Calderon all year.
2. War Monkeys - Even asking questions during the draft like "So...who is the best player available here?" doesn't deter me from giving Paul a ranking this high. Somehow, he seems to make it work each year. I know I said my team through 4 rounds was the best, but Paul's team through round 5 is certainly superior: Granger, Nash, Roy, Duncan, and NeNe. Of course, the obvious question mark here is health, but, if healthy, that quintet is HUGE, and virtually wraps up several categories (assists, blocks, points, threes, FG%) on their own. I'm high on Roy this year -- he was a first rounder last year, and an injury put him into the third round this year. We all know he can play at first-round quality if he stays healthy. Somehow, Paul also got Andray Blatche at 105th overall after most of us kept skipping over him. Then, Paul grabbed DeMarcus Cousins in Round 11 (probably cause he liked his name), and the guy has been an absolute beast in the preseason so far. Frankly, I also like the Barbosa pick in Round 10, who is due to bounce back with no competition for minutes in Toronto. I don't know how he does it, but his teams are always competitive, and this year looks to be no exception.
Best pick: Tie: Andray Blatche, Round 9; DeMarcus Cousins, Round 11 - Blatche fell because people thought he had a foot injury, which wasn't the case, and Cousins was a big question mark on October 2, but is really making a name for himself in the preseason. I like both picks.
Worst pick: Baron Davis, Round 6 - I'm just not a fan of the guy, but we can't deny his assists and steals numbers. Paul's already solid in FG%, so Baron shouldn't kill him. This was just much higher than I would have taken him.
1. Loud Lezbos - Playing TheRookie in Week 1, don't disappoint me, Jay. Jayson does his research and it paid dividends, as I think he had some excellent value picks. Look right at the top of the roster -- LeBron AND Carmelo? Scary. Follow that with Joe Johnson and you have three of the league's top scorers, who hit their FTs in bunches, don't kill your FG%, hit threes, get assists, and steals. Yikes. Kevin Love will be a top 25 player next year, no question in my mind, and he fell to 47, Stephen Jackson will be the man in Charlotte once again, and he fell to 50. OK, that top 5 beats Paul's -- hence the #1 ranking. Jayson went a bit astray when he grabbed some poor FG% guys (Jennings, Stuckey), but their assists, steals, and FT% contributions make it OK by me. Jayson is weak in blocks to be sure, but his huge strengths in points, assists, steals, 3's, and FT% give him 5 almost "for-sure" categories to go with being solid in FG% and boards.
Alright, there you have it, let the SEASON begin. Disagree? Post on the message board; then prove me wrong.
BUT, the time is upon us, and after 3 weeks of reflection, I'm ready to impart my wisdom and rankings on the league.
12. Tastykake Phanatics - When your best big man is Javale McGee, you've got problems. Mike went small from the get-go, from his surprising (or not-so surprising) selection of Kobe at #4 overall, He paired Kobe with another Kobe-like player in Iguoudala to go after fantasy basketball's most overrated stat: points. I think Westbrook is poised for a big year in OKC, but 28 overall may have been a slight stretch. Rashard Lewis is questionable in Round 4 when a big guy was sorely needed; then, Mike reached a bit for Scola in desperate need of a C-eligible player in round 6, took the oft-injured Bynum (although, this was late enough to justify the pick), and showed his true Laker pride by rounding out the squad with an old an unproductive (in the regular season, at least) Derek Fisher. I like the pickup of Terrence Williams for Fisher in the interim, but, for now, I think Mike went too heavy in points, not enough in the big man categories, and went with some inconsistent little guys. There's potential, but it's a bit shaky. The bright side, Mike? It'll be pretty easy to prove me wrong.
Best pick: Eric Gordon, Round 7 - Gordon should breakout this year after a big summer. I like it.
Worst pick: Rashard Lewis, Round 4 - After a few years of being a fantasy stud, Lewis has been way down in the past season or two, and nothing really indicates him jumping back to being worth as much as a 4th Round selection.
11. Rattlesnakes - I think there are a lot of question marks on Cody's team, and areas that could have been shored up that weren't. Chris Paul's fantastic, but the Chauncey pick didn't quite sit right. Paul doesn't really hit three's, Chauncey does; Paul shoots great from the field, Chauncey doesn't, etc. Chauncey's also a big question mark if 'Melo leaves Denver -- where his numbers go, I don't know. Now, this would have been OK had Cody shored up those areas, but Cody's only 3-point shooters are Billups and Richardson, his FG% continued to go up and down (taking solid guys like Kirilenko and Boozer, followed by weak contributors such as Caron Butler and D.J. Augustin). Cody's fliers at the end are all big question marks: can Yao put up good numbers with a weak foot and getting only 24 MPG? How will Evan Turner's numbers be? Can Brand bounce back to his normal self? (from a fellow Achilles Tendon tearer, I don't think so). Also, how long will Boozer be out with his pre-season injury? The team has potential, I just didn't like the way it was built.
Best Pick: Zach Randolph, Round 4 - I hated Z-Bo until he broke out last year. I expect nothing less this year as Memphis fights for one of the West's final playoff spots.
Worst Pick: Chauncey Billups, Round 2 - It's not that he's not worth it, it's just that I didn't like the pairing with Chris Paul.
P.S. Yes, the rule is if you don't show up to the draft, you will be ranked last in the Reyes Review (not really, it just worked out like that).
10. Johnny's Bananas - For being pick #7, I think Trent got probably the best first and second round combo he could have gotten. Wade slipping to 7 was nice, then call me crazy, but I think Jefferson's going to be a beast in Utah. I also see this as being a big year for Jeff Green -- so why the low ranking? There's no real category strategy going on here. The Devin Harris pick hurt his otherwise pretty decent FG%, Jefferson and Okafor will kill his FT%, not much 3-pointer strength, Rose and Harris are little guys that don't get steals, and unless Jefferson can clean up his act, blocks are another weak point. Trent will score a ton, and should produce well in rebounds and assists, but being strong in 3 categories doesn't do a whole lot for you.
Best pick: Jeff Green, Round 6 - I love this pick; I was two picks behind Trent and was pissed when he went.
Worst pick: Devin Harris, Round 4 - I'm not a huge fan, and his FG% really hurts an otherwise pretty decent team in that category
9. Lightning Jeffs - Similar story here; I like the Deron and Amare combo in rounds 1 & 2. After that, it got a bit confusing. Instead of building on the FG%, assists, and rebounds those guys get, Jeff went all over the place. Terry is Jeff's only other PG, which means Williams huge assist numbers are virtually wasted. After Amare and Troy Murphy, Jeff is stacked with swingmen and little forwards, not rebounders. A team full of Kevin Martin, Rudy Gay, Vince Carter, and Nicholas Batum will often win points, threes, and FT%, but his biggest first round strengths just didn't get utilized.
Best pick: Nicholas Batum, Round 9 - Due for a breakout after several good games last season.
Worst pick: Marcus Thornton, Round 7 - Already lost his starting job in NO, unclear what his role will be. This is too high.
8. ItsTheRookie - A respectable showing in Karan's first ever fantasy draft, but he's not cracking my Top 6 quite yet. He took an interesting (read: odd) approach after grabbing Durant, one of the league's best FT shooters, by going after Camby, Bogut, and Odom. Because Durant shoots so many FTs, he'll still have a shot, but he's much weaker than he could have been. While those three players give Karan a huge advantage in rebounds and blocks, they aren't really great shooting big men, so his FG% wasn't helped much and remains weak. After the Monta-Durant-Tyreke trio, the scoring really drops off as well. No true point guard means assists are weak, but steals are still average with Monta, Artest, and the Durantula. Monta's nearly 4 TOs per game won't help that category either. Add it up, and I'm not so sure the Rookie is ready for the playoffs...yet. His enthusiasm and effort in the preseason, though, may be just what he needs to breakthrough.
Best pick: Marcus Camby, Round 5 - After grabbing Bogut, this was a solid pick to have two of the best blocking big men in the league. It started to save the Bogut pick...because...
Worst pick: Andrew Bogut, Round 4 - I like Bogut, but I think there were two things wrong here. First, it was a bit higher than I would have gone after Bogut is coming off the injury. Second, after the FT% quality of his first three picks, this was a question mark. We'll see.
7. Bye Week - First, I love the new team name, paying homage to his roots as ITL's most famous doormat. While not cracking my Top 6 quite yet, (and I say this every year), I think this will be Rojas's breakout season. Pau Gasol was a league favorite, and Steven nabbed him at #6 overall. Pairing him with Kidd is solid as well. Mike Duarte gave Steven hell for picking Gallinari in Round 3, but I like the pick, as Danillo seems like the second coming of Dirk and should further solidify his role as the Knicks' #2 (unless Carmelo comes to town...). Noah could also be poised for big numbers, especially with Boozer out early. My main problem with Steven's team is that while he does a lot of things decently well, he doesn't do anything great. Balance is good, but balance with a few really solid categories is better. After Pau and Noah, the big man categories (rebounds, blocks, FG%) really drop off (especially with the recent dealing of Landry). After Kidd, there's no other great assisting PG. Plenty of small forwards (Pierce, Danillo, Jamison, Hedo) give him good points, threes, and steals, though. Turnovers also seem low. Steven's balanced attack will serve him well, but he's not quite as strong as he should and could be.
Best pick: Joakim Noah, Round 5 - Complements Gasol well; would have been better to get one more of this type of player, but Noah could have a huge year if he gets off to a hot start with Boozer sidelined.
Worst pick:: Beno Udrih, Round 7 - A bit high here, I thought, when guys like O.J. Mayo and Andre Miller were still on the board and the PG position needed to be shored up.
6. Kevdog's Ballers - I like my team, but I'm not thrilled with it. I went for some older guys who I'm banking on returning to their former selves, and it just might not happen. If it does, though, look out. Thrilled Dirk fell to me in Round 1, although I would have happily gone Pau Gasol at 5. Loved Gerald Wallace last year, so couldn't have been happier through 2 rounds. I also think Bosh at 29th overall was a steal, and Manu (the newly named starting SG in San Antonio) could have a big year). Through 4 rounds, I think I had the best team in the draft. Then, it's a bunch of question marks. Mo Williams needs to keep his head screwed on straight, Kevin Garnett needs his knees to not buckle, Ray Allen is just getting old and losing consistency, Tony Parker has never been my favorite fantasy player but is in a contract year, and Mike Miller went down with a preseason thumb injury. Balance was the name of the game for me (after the Dwight Howard debacle last season, see #5 below): I'll be solid in both % categories, hit a few threes, score, grab some boards, and get some steals. Not as strong as I would have liked in assists and blocks, and TOs are always a question mark. I'm calling myself middle of the road.
Best pick: Kevin Garnett, Round 6 - If he's healthy, this is an absolute steal.
Worst pick: Kevin Garnett, Round 6 - Such a question mark, that I just really don't know what to say about him.
5. The MonStars - Michael's high on his own team, big shocker. I, however, am not so high, but he's still a playoff team simply because of his determination. Michael planned and planned for how to do the "Dwight Howard strategy," and having been there last year, I give him a "B" for his execution. Howard and Smith is a solid combo. I also really like the Gasol pick in Round 4. Collison in Round 3, I also think wasn't a terrible pick, because he needed a PG (when you draft Howard, I think the rankings are less important, and need plays a much bigger role). Three of his next four picks baffled me, though. Arenas, Ariza, and Harrington are all low FG% guys who hit threes, a category that Michael is TERRIBLE in besides those 3 guys. I'm just not sure I would have expended three picks to only win a single category, and really hurt yourself in FG% in those weeks where D. Howard only has 2 games and can't bring you back to life. Hibbert and Millsap are quality mid-round selections to pair with the Howard/Smith combo, but beyond Collison, I'm not so sure about assists. If Arenas plays like we all know he can, then you're in good shape, but I'm not convinced quite yet. Steals and blocks are solid, but with FT% and turnovers lost causes, I think you probably wanted to be much stronger than you are in assists, FG%, and threes. My problem with the Howard strategy was that I was strong in 4 categories, so I suffered a lot of 5-4 losses -- that could be Michael's fate as well.
Best pick: Paul Millsap, Round 6 - Ready to break out with Boozer finally out of Utah. Complements Howard/Smith well.
Worst pick: Gilbert Arenas, Round 5 - As Matt Buser says on the Big Board with Arenas's ranking of 67: "This is either too high or too low… does that make it just right?" He's such a question mark that a Round 5 pick seems too high here.
4. I Felton Her Bibby's - I normally think Trent reaches much more than he ought to in drafts, but in this one, he was calm, cool, and collected. The Curry/Rondo combo pretty much locks up assists and steals on its own without killing FG%, but he followed it up with a big-man trio that will shore up boards without hurting FT% too badly (Horford, Bargnani, Aldridge). Even after taking Rondo, Trent shored up those weaknesses nicely by getting plenty of threes (Crawford, Bargnani, Frye, Curry) and high FT% (just about everyone else). Do the math, and that's strong %s, plenty of threes, mediocre in points, and a good number of boards, assists, and steals. Weak in blocks and TOs, but 7 of 9 sure ain't bad.
Best pick: Andrea Bargnani, Round 4 - I really like this pick, as Bargs broke out in a big way last year, and there's no reason to expect he won't do it better with Turk and Bosh gone from Toronto.
Worst pick: Channing Frye, Round 6 - Frye helps Trent, but this may have been a bit of a reach. Hard to believe Frye will repeat his performance from last year, but if he does, I'll eat my words.
3. Money $hooters - This may be the highest ranking Matt's ever received in ITL, but it's well deserved. A formidable front line of Lee, Lopez, and West gives Matt huge rebound numbers, high %s (huge FT% for 3 big guys), lots of points, and even some assists from big guys right out of the gate. Of course, the glaring problem is the lack of blocks that will be produced from them, but the other stuff begins to make up for it. Felton (poised for a big year in NY) and Wall (has had a monster preseason) shore up Matt's assist and steal numbers, and the Landry-for-Turkoglu trade gives Matt just additional big man help. Robin Lopez may blossom with no Amare in Phoenix, and Taj Gibson was a nice pickup in the wake of Boozer's injury. Although weak in blocks, Matt is also quite balanced across the board, but so strong in rebounds and the %s that I gave him a bump up.
Best pick: David West, Round 3 - After grabbing two bigs, Matt had to go small, right? Nope, another big, and a consistent one at that, fell to him in Round 3. I like it.
Worst pick:: Jarrett Jack, Round 7 - A bit high for a guy that will be in a fight for minutes with Jose Calderon all year.
2. War Monkeys - Even asking questions during the draft like "So...who is the best player available here?" doesn't deter me from giving Paul a ranking this high. Somehow, he seems to make it work each year. I know I said my team through 4 rounds was the best, but Paul's team through round 5 is certainly superior: Granger, Nash, Roy, Duncan, and NeNe. Of course, the obvious question mark here is health, but, if healthy, that quintet is HUGE, and virtually wraps up several categories (assists, blocks, points, threes, FG%) on their own. I'm high on Roy this year -- he was a first rounder last year, and an injury put him into the third round this year. We all know he can play at first-round quality if he stays healthy. Somehow, Paul also got Andray Blatche at 105th overall after most of us kept skipping over him. Then, Paul grabbed DeMarcus Cousins in Round 11 (probably cause he liked his name), and the guy has been an absolute beast in the preseason so far. Frankly, I also like the Barbosa pick in Round 10, who is due to bounce back with no competition for minutes in Toronto. I don't know how he does it, but his teams are always competitive, and this year looks to be no exception.
Best pick: Tie: Andray Blatche, Round 9; DeMarcus Cousins, Round 11 - Blatche fell because people thought he had a foot injury, which wasn't the case, and Cousins was a big question mark on October 2, but is really making a name for himself in the preseason. I like both picks.
Worst pick: Baron Davis, Round 6 - I'm just not a fan of the guy, but we can't deny his assists and steals numbers. Paul's already solid in FG%, so Baron shouldn't kill him. This was just much higher than I would have taken him.
1. Loud Lezbos - Playing TheRookie in Week 1, don't disappoint me, Jay. Jayson does his research and it paid dividends, as I think he had some excellent value picks. Look right at the top of the roster -- LeBron AND Carmelo? Scary. Follow that with Joe Johnson and you have three of the league's top scorers, who hit their FTs in bunches, don't kill your FG%, hit threes, get assists, and steals. Yikes. Kevin Love will be a top 25 player next year, no question in my mind, and he fell to 47, Stephen Jackson will be the man in Charlotte once again, and he fell to 50. OK, that top 5 beats Paul's -- hence the #1 ranking. Jayson went a bit astray when he grabbed some poor FG% guys (Jennings, Stuckey), but their assists, steals, and FT% contributions make it OK by me. Jayson is weak in blocks to be sure, but his huge strengths in points, assists, steals, 3's, and FT% give him 5 almost "for-sure" categories to go with being solid in FG% and boards.
Alright, there you have it, let the SEASON begin. Disagree? Post on the message board; then prove me wrong.
Labels: nba, power rankings
posted by K.C.R. at
11:52 AM
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