The Greatest Christmas Present Ever

Yep, you guessed it, Frank Stallone.

Beaten up - and bad

This was a rough week in the Give Me The Rock Readers' League, as many things transpired agin' me, like Boozer getting hurt, Turkoglu deciding to crap the bed this week, and just all around sucking to the point of suckitude. All in all, a large but not insurmountable bump in the road. Just like in Million Dollar Baby, when Mo Cuishle got beaten up a little along the way to the title. I can't wait until the sequel, when Hilary Swank tries not to get soft in her title defense. C'mon Clint, find some crazy black lady with a Mohawk and a lot of jewelry to be her foil. Everyone wants to see how Maggie handles success.

Looking back, a bunch of things went wrong. My high volume shooters - Joe Johnson, Hedo Turkoglu, OJ Mayo (even Rudy Fernandez) all shot under 40%. My rebounders tweren't a-rebounding, and with FG% down, not enough 3's were made. The three weeks previous, I had won FT%, points, and steals. But a nifty harmonic convergence of injuries, illness, and games played disadvantage conspired to bite me on the ass. I salvaged a tie in TO's thanks to the late night Kings-Lakers game. That tie could salvage my season in March. I really hope it comes down to that.

Anyway, I've got a bad assists and blocks team, so I'll need to work on/completely punt them. The silver lining of the week - both Corey Maggette and David Lee gained an eligible position. Maggette is now a SG,SF,PF, and David Lee is a SF, PF, C. Really, I don't know how that happened, but I guess now if I wanted to do a blockbuster trade, I can open it up without regard to position. That's about it.

UPDATE: Oh, thanks to wikipedia, I just realized that Hilary Swank dies at the end of Million Dollar Baby. Curse you cable, for other things being on so I flipped onto something else before it ended. No offense, Clint, but a sequel to MDB would really suck and be kind of a downer. Like Weekend at Bernie's 2.

Clip and save for posterity!

After 2 weeks in the Give Me The Rock Monster League (20 teams, 8 active players, 9 cats), I am in first place with a nearly insurmountable lead of 1-1/2 games with only 19 weeks left to play. I think my magic number is 169.

I wouldn't say it's been smoke and mirrors, but I have had David Lee and Nick Collison in my lineup the last 2 weeks and still won by a nice margin. Joe Johnson and Chris Bosh have been my cornerstones so far, with a pleasant surprise coming from Mickael Pietrus.

I've been mildly active on the waiver wire - not much out there with 200 people on rosters. I benched Nick Collison for this week, but he's worth holding onto if Chris Wilcox stays hurt for any length of time, just like the end of last year. I picked up Aaron Brooks, early during Thursday night's game with Portland. He was on my radar, and I knew that he had the potential for a big night. And last night his picture was in the boxscore on Yahoo - that means he's a superduperstar, right? He's on the bench right now, but if he ever becomes a starter, look out. He's pretty much a scorer right now, not much defense or passing. Not the best of attributes for a PG.

Anyway, here's my lineup for this week, locked and loaded:

PG - Joe Johnson (4 games)
SG - Mike Miller (3)
G - Mario Chalmers (4)
SF - Mickael Pietrus (4)
PF - Chris Bosh (3)
F - Marvin Williams (4)
C - David Lee (4)
U - Flip Murray (4)

Opponent - One Eyed Monster (Hi Jake!)
PG - Devin Harris (4)
SG - DeShawn Stevenson (2)
G - Derrick Rose (3)
SF - Danny Granger (4)
PF - Pau Gasol (3)
F - Emeka Okafor (3)
C - Brook Lopez (4)
U - Kendrick Perkins (4)

Well, I outgame him 30-27, but the key will be Devin Harris's ankle. If he can play the full compliment of games, that hurts me. He hasn't been big on assists or FG%, but free throws are very solid. He's playing 4 center eligibles, so he should win rebounding, but I'm not giving up FG% just yet. He's only got one true 3-point gunner in Stevenson, but only playing 2 games definitely helps. The 2 I'm really worried about are Gasol and Granger. Those are the money players, but I think Bosh and Johnson can cancel them out. I'm eyeing another 6-3 or 5-4 win, with wins in points, FT%,3's, and steals, losses in blocks, rebounds and turnovers, and with FG% and assists in play. Not a walk in the park, but this is a week where champions put these teams away, like the '06 Mavericks.


Aside from this, what's with all the ankle owies? Josh Smith, Tony Parker, Devin Harris, Kevin Martin, some other guys with less fantasy impact. Guys, tape it up - or is this your way of boosting the economy by trying to pump up Johnson & Johnson? Kirk Hinrich, thank you for being so bold as to give up your thumb, as opposed to a pedestrian ankle. I salute you.

Now that's an NBA night!

Tony Parker did what Sammy Hagar could not and drove for 55. The only thing better would be if he could rap in French - oh wait, he can! Amare decided not to miss anywhere on the floor - the guy is going to be huge all year the 2nd game of Phoenix's back-to-backs as Shaq will need a hoagie break. LeBron do what LeBron do, filling up the sheet and torching Los Bulls. Tayshaun Prince is really going to piss me off this year. When I finally relent and acquire/pick him up, he'll throw out a few "2 pts, 1-4 FG, 3 reb" games. Boston won; you beat the Thunder by 13. Yay. Mario Chalmers stole the ball as many times as Ferris Bueller was absent. Charlotte lost in Larry Brown's not-so-triumphant return to NYC, but 6 Bobbin'-cats scored in double figures, so there may be some interesting things happening in Charlotte, fantasy-wise, not so much wins and losses-wise.

Atlanta didn't steal a win in New Orleans, they went out and grabbed it by the throat and wouldn't let go. 12-30 from way outside and most of them were good shots. This is going to be one dangerous little team. I don't know whether I love OJ Mayo shooting 19 times to Rudy Gay's 12 or whether I hate it. I'm just glad Marc Gasol didn't go off again because he's sitting on my bench this week. Is there a reason why Steve Blake is getting 30+ minutes a night in Portland? Some decent numbers last night, I'll give him that. I'm kinda rooting for him to be on NBA rosters for the next 8 years so he can be this generation's John Crotty. DeMarcus Nelson may be this generation's Marc Iavaroni - start, play 6 minutes, then sit on the pine (excuse me, padded chairs that have the "NBA Cares" logo on them) for the rest of the night. Or maybe it's an elaborate Don Nelson hazing ritual.

Man, I love these NBA Wednesdays where almost everyone plays and your fantasy scoreboard is active all night. Let's do it again Friday, we'll meet Stu for NBA Shootaround. You know, flip side of pillow, butter ... roll, etc.

I've been Millsapped!

millsap, verb (millsapping, millsapped) 1. In fantasy basketball, to disregard a bench player, thinking his value will be minimal, and in turn have that player's shizznit blow up. 2. In fantasy basketball, to play against an opponent by picking up a bench player on a team playing 4 games in a week, then having that player put up gaudy numbers.
"I saw that Houston was playing 4 games this week against some weak competition, so I picked up Carl Landry and totally millsapped Johnny's team."

I totally undersold Paul Millsap the other night. Now please back it up and don't come with a 2 point, 4 foul game next. Again, it's a shame Utah is not dumb, because if this guy was in Charlotte, he'd be way up in various big boards.

If I had some roster space, I might stash Millsap on my bench until late March when Utah has their 5 game week, then do some serious millsapping. Heck, 2nd Round Reach in the GMTR Monster League is millsapping someone RAT NOW!

Cheikh Samb traded - fantasy impact

Cheikh Samb has been traded from Detroit to Denver, with a few of players thrown in to make things work out for NBA salary cap purposes ( a former Knick, a former Timberwolf, and a former Georgetown Hoya). The African nation of Senegal ... rejoices? mourns? goes about what they normally do in Senegal?

The one time Fort Wayne Mad Ant (about to be Colorado 14er? (fingers crossed)) for some reason had not got a lot of playing time in Detroit. It's like they had 5 all-stars in front of him or something. Here's what Rotoworld had to say about the Samb deal:

Big man Cheick Samb was traded to the Nuggets in the Allen Iverson deal on Monday. He has some talent and has played well in the D-League, but he's not like to be worth owning in fantasy leagues this season.

Well, I guess that's that.

Very, very short term, if you had Chauncey this week in a locked weekly H2H league, you thought you'd be getting 4 games of Mr. Big Shot's big shots, but that ain't happening now. If Tayshaun Prince were to get a lot of shots, it would have been tonight. Eventually, the Pistons rotation will get figured out, and once it does, you could see a little rise in Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell. If you were in a deep league and had McDyess, you might as well drop him, since he'll be bought out. And if he really only wants to play for the Pistons, he won't be around until after you've opened a few windows on your advent calendar.

Godspeed, Cheikh Samb

A look ahead, week 2

Week 1 is nearly in the books, save for a couple of games. Personally, I like having a Knick or a Raptor on my team, because they like to those noon Sunday games once the NFL schedule goes by. Also, those Pacific division teams like those Sunday night games, so sometimes your week hangs in the balance because you need Stephen Jackson to throw the ball into the fourth row a few times. It's been known to happen.

Anyway, week 2 is coming, and there hasn't been anything earth shattering about week 1, except if you had Tyson Chandler and Baron Davis active, which was kind of a pisser. And special thanks to the guys I matched up against the the GMTR Reader and GMTR Monster league for keeping Carmelo Anthony active even though he was out 2 games for sauce + vroom-vroom. If only he didn't get 11 pts. in the 4th quarter Saturday night, it would have been perfect.

Looking back, based on Basketball Monster numbers, Chris Paul is the number 1 rated player so far, to be expected. Greg Oden is dead last, only a few spots behind the aforementioned Carmelo. Quit smiling, JJ Redick you're not too much better. Go write a poem. And the Pistons need to hurry up and play some more games, because right now Walter Herrmann is a top 20 player.

Forward, this is the first real week, as plenty of teams have 4 teamers, as opposed to the crappy Bucks, who may have wanted you to play Luke Ridnour as your PG. The Lakers are the only team that plays 2 games, maybe that will help all those Kobe opponents. Thank Jobu I don't have any real Lakers in my lineups, because that thing may not shake out for a while, and I don't want to have to sort through it in week 2.

Teams that play 4 - Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Golden State, Houston, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Utah. Here are guys who are on those teams that you think will be good plays because they have the full game complement, but will probably just piss you off:

Boston - the poster boy for this, Ray Allen.

Charlotte - Raymond Felton. Not on my watch.

Chicago - Tyrus Thomas. Damn, those blocks are appealing. Everything else, not so much. That Lamarcus Aldridge draft day trade is looking mighty smooth, Mr. Paxson. Drew Gooden will confound me again this year. He could be a non-express bus this year, a lot of pickups and dropoffs.

Cleveland - Anderson Varejao. He's on my watch list, as he'll be on the floor for the Cavs in crunch time. Cleveland needs a few more overtimes to convince me.

Dallas - Desagana Diop/Eric Dampier. Are fouls a category in your league?

Detroit - Tayshaun Prince. Every time he puts up a twenty point game, he'll come back with a 2 point game. In head-to-head leagues, I call him Roster Poison. A friend of mine who went to Kentucky used to call him Dijon, like the mustard. She probably still does. Tayshaun is like dijon mustard when it comes to a burger. It would not be your first mustard choice, and if you overdo it, it ruins the experience. Of course, if you mix it with some honey, you can have a nice chicken finger dipping sauce. Where am I going with this? I sometimes like dijon mustard, and I usually don't like Tayshaun in head to head. I'm done.

Golden State - Demarcus Nelson. Nice little story, but there's probably a reason he was undrafted. Of course, Charlotte drafted Alexis Ajinca, so maybe there isn't a reason. I've watched a ton of Duke games over the last 2 decades, and he is probably one of the least inspiring players in my memory. In his early years there, he seemed to always be good for 1 or 2 offensive fouls a game. He'll be jerked around by Nellie soon. Al Harrington, Kelenna Azubuike, tell him how it is.

Houston - Aaron Brooks. I'm starting to like this guy. I'm not one to wish ill will on anyone, but if a high ankle sprain were to happen to Skip To My Lou sometime soon, I'd like to see what would happen if he had plenty of rest (and soup, maybe a nice tomato basil).

Los Angeles Clippers - Al Thornton. I've got him on a couple rosters. Maybe it's the Italian in me, but he's going to give me the agita like I've eaten to much pasta e fagioli.

Memphis - Darrell Arthur. Nice to see you put up results when they decide to give you the start. Darko's another candidate for your 4 gamer headache as well.

Phoenix - Leandro Barbosa. Holy crap, he had a JJ Redick like week. I don't think this is what people were expecting when they thought to themselves in round 9 of their drafts, "I need a PG and some guy to hit threes."

Sacramento - Beno Udrih. Everybody who stayed away from him on draft day, remember that feeling.

Utah - Carlos Boozer. 20 and 10 - like he'll keep that up all year. No, I mean Paul Millsap. Boy, if they ever traded this guy to Charlotte. It's a shame that Utah is not dumb and Charlotte is not bright.

Oh well, off to watch some Bucks-Knicks on NBA TV. Who's genius idea was it to make the numbers so small on the scorebox in the bottom left corner? I'm in Atlanta, maybe I'll knock on their door.

Enjoy it now, Queen City

Southeast Division:
Charlotte 0-0
Orlando 0-1

With the same number of wins and losses, Charlotte could compete for the 8th seed.

Good luck tonight - we'll see how much Bron-Bron goes off on his 2004 Olympic coach. And maybe we'll get our first glimpse at what to make of the Charlotte roster. Richardson should be okay, I'm not and never will be a Felton fan, and we can see if Matt Carroll can be a back door three pointer play in your deeper leagues. Also, we'll get to see how many games Okafor plays until his back gives out or either ankle tweaks. Is there a spot for Adam Morrison in this league? Check out JJ Redick's line from last night, there may be your answer. And for those of us enjoying the free League Pass this week, we can answer the age old question, does Sean May sweat gravy or a nice Bearnaise sauce?

Dallas has its first tilt tonight - all y'all who are counting on Dirk to be your true first rounder, here's your first glimpse. And Luis Scola, we're eyeballin' you.

I gotta nap so I can stay up to watch New Orleans/Phoenix. Lots of fantasy type people players in this contest, from CP3 and Amare all the way down to Matt Barnes and James Posey. And supposedly, Shaq's minutes will be down on the 2nd game of a back-to-back. That could help you Amare owners out there, or more accurately, the legions of Robin Lopez owners out there.

Update from NBA.com/fantasy

Here is an update from the front page of one of my NBA.com fantasy leagues:

Featres Alert: Player trades, standings and the scoreboard will be available in the next 48 hours.

I'm glad they jumped right on this. And I'm especially excited by all of the "featres" we'll be getting, like being able to trade players, make free agent pickups and actually have them show up on a roster, and to see a scoreboard of my matchup. Thanks again, Rotohog! We'll be extra excited to join the Stock Exchange now!

Impressions on the first half of the first game of the year

Holy crap, KG is a bust! It's over in the leagues where I picked him in the first round! I'm taking trade offers right now, maybe I can get Kirilenko in return. If I'm lucky. Pierce has all the points, but not much else. I know that will change over the year, so if you've got Pierce, enjoy points. Look at Delonte West, getting nearly 17 minutes in the first half and hasn't missed a shot since pregame warmups. What are you waiting for in your shallow leagues - pick him up now! Seriously, West could be a nifty player on your team if you need a PG but have punted assists, as those steals could pick up, and he could approach 50% FG in the Cavs offense (both plays, LeBron left, LeBron right).

There's something interesting in the Cavs boxscore from half 1. Ben Wallace played 13 minutes, got 3 boards and a blocked shot. No way in H, E, double upside down sevens should Wallace be anywhere near your squad, but he picked up some serious PT, didn't smother the boards, and took no shots. That means Cleveland's O has to come from the other 4, which is nice. Of course, a lot will go to Bron-Bron, but that's plenty of pie for Mo Williams and Delonte West and Ilgauskas. You know this coming in to the Cavs this year, but watching it play out on TNT and Yahoo boxscores makes it all real. The non-LeBron Cavs are players to watch all year, especially the 2nd half as there schedule is much more fantasy H2H friendly, with 4 gamers abound.

Give Me The Rrrrrrrrrroarrr! - a look at my GMTR Monster team

Well tonight starts the season - huzzah! - and I thought I'd give a li'l insight to a draft I had recently in the Give Me The Rock Monster (20 team) League, what happened and how it all went horribly wrong. Kinda like the end of a Monk episode, but with slightly less Traylor Howard - she once had 2 guys AND a pizza place! BTW, I had pick #12, right smack in the gooey center of it all.

Round 1 - Chris Bosh (TOR) I like Chris this year, love the percentages, and with his Yahoo center eligibility, allows me to go a few different ways - as the non-shot blocking center of a small team, or another cog in a big team. I will mention, that Brendan of 2nd Round Reach picked next, and his autopick was set to "alphabetical", as his 1st round pick was Rafer Alston. B, if you can pull off the playoffs in this league, you may become a Fantasy Hall of Famer. The beauty of these drafts is when someone screws up, you can see it immediately in chatbox postings. Mine: "Brendan must think it is an And1 draft - round 2, Escalade; round 3, The Professor."

Round 2 - Joe Johnson (ATL) I would have loved Calderon here for my double Raptor fix, but he went 5 picks prior. Martin and West were on my board, but they went right before me as well. I decided to lock up a PG since I wouldn't be picking for a while, so I went with JJ as he still has Yahoo PG eligibility and his post Bibby arrival splits were stellar. And besides his time on the pine during Tankapalooza 07, he is an 80 game player (which I'll need with Bosh) and a league leader in mpg since Mike Woodson has as much faith in his bench as an NBC exec does in a show he puts up against American Idol on Wednesday nights. Am I right, industry people?

Round 3 - Mike Miller (MIN) - Pick #52, and a lot of the bigs I liked were either off the board or too early to pick. I wanted a scorer, and a guy who shot threes, decent % numbers, and had some roster flexibility. Well that screams Mike Miller. I was counting on some decent bigs being left on my comeback at #69.

Round 4 - David Lee (NYK) Like DL42. Until this guy blows out a knee Livingston-style, I will be all over him this year. I love the percentages and the boards should be +10 this year, as he's got to get over 30 minutes a night in an up-tempo system. And 6 out of every 10 shots Jamal Crawford takes have to land somewhere, why not in the paws of Mr. Good Things?

Round 5 - Marvin Williams (ATL) I had come up short in a few drafts of getting Marvin, and I figured that at #92 was a good a spot as any for him. I expect a slight uptick in minutes with Childress gone (but not a great amount), but the key for me is that Marvin is an 80% FT shooter, and no Hawk got to the line more than he last year. I think he purposely tries to get fouled, since he's a horrible finisher. But hey, play to your strengths. A steal a night is very doable for Marvin, and this guy better bust his heiney in an RFA contract year (just like David Lee).

Round 6 - Nick Collison (OKC) I keep targeting the same players, like Collison. Double double, percentages that won't kill, and maybe can get some hustle categories a night/week. For some reason, I love center-eligibles who don't block shots. They have to be one someone's team. Maybe I can trade him for a reboundless team's castoff. Dare to dream.

Round 7 - Mikael Pietrus (ORL) You know what my team was missing? Guys who had been yanked around by Nellie but still had some nights where he lit up the stat sheet. And since it was a hair too early to pick Kelenna Azubuike, I went with the Frenchie. Quick aside: when I tried out for "Stump the Schwab" back in the summer of 2005, I got past the written test and the 3-man mock game, and was in a one on one with an assitant producer. He asked me to name as many Golden State Warriors as possible, and the first one I mentioned was Mikael Pietrus. Then I went with Dunleavy (go Duke!), and eventually I got to Boom Dizzle. September 2005, I took a trip to New York, taped an episode of STS, and got eliminated in a first round tiebreaker. Thanks a lot, Mikael Pietrus!

Round 8 - Mario Chalmers (MIA) 149 pick in, I hoped to get lucky, especially after his double double the night before in the preseason and his likely startitude for the Heat. If anyone wants to make an offer for him a few games into the season, I'll listen unless he blowses up. And stay away from the weed, Mario, especially that Pineapple Express shizznit. God's vagina and whatnot.

Round 9 - Derek Fisher (LAL) I'll admit it, I choked. I have no problem dropping him for one of my patented waiver wire pickup du jour. Also another one of the 2005 Warriors I mentioned to the ESPN associate producer in my Stump the Schwab tryout. Another side note on that, he asked later to name as many Sacramento Kings as I could. This was post Webber trade, so admittedly I was stumped, so all I could come up with was Bibby and Kevin Martin. He was actually impressed that even though I was at a loss, I came up with the 12th man on the Kings. How far you've come, K-Mart.

Round 10 - Sean Williams (NJN) - Complete flier, haven't decided on whether to hold him until he has a big 5 block game, or dump him quickly. That's what my Derek Fisher spot is for.

Wrapping up, I think this is a biggish team, but who knows. I've got some scorers, some shooters, some rebounders. Maybe things can come together for a string of 5-4's. And we'll see what kind of crap is left over in the free agent pool. First-a glance: not-a so much.

NBA - It's Fantastic.

I just had a draft on NBA.com, my money league. It's a shallow league, 100 players. It started at 11:00 AM EDT. It should have ended around noonish. It finished around 3:00 because it kept locking up. There were players I couldn't find, and now post draft I don't know who I'm playing in week 1 for this h2h league. Oh, by the way, the season starts in less than 2 days. I enjoyed nba.com last year, but this could kill it for me and throw it back to Yahoo. Yahoo is not 100% perfect, but at least it worked. Good luck, NBA/Rotohog. I think you've managed to piss of a chunk of the fantasy hoops community. I hope you can handle a strongly worded commentary or email.

GMTR live draft - Anything is Possible (but not always justifiable)

Somehow, I achieved entry into the Give Me The Rock readers league (12 team, 9-cat, H2H), and I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling Turkish kids! (Please do not click link - long story short, I was writing for Full Court Press Fantasy Basketball, it got hacked by Turks, and I'm just now up to writing again.) Anyway, the draft was Tuesday night I got pick #9, and I thought I'd give all y'all a little insight to one of the most mediocre minds in fantasy basketball.

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Round the 1st: Top 4 goes as expected. This year, drafts start at pick 5. In this one, #5 went with Shawn Marion. Color me nonplused (or mauve), but I'm not on the Marion train this year. I can't explain it, I just don't feel it. Anyway, better opportunity for me to get someone I liked here, Nowitzki, Garnett, or Wade (I'd say Brand, but at worst he would be off the board by Nels at #8). I kinda was leaning Wade, but then Brand, Nowitzki, and Wade went off 6-7-8. Well, that pretty much locked me into Kevin Garnett. All those years I wanted KG, I finally get him and it's at number 9. Yay. I still like KG here, and I think his stats will continue from last year since Boston made no significant roster upgrades since July (my apologies, O'Bryant family).

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Well, that left me with 5 guys who I would look for at pick #16, which was 6 picks away. None of those five were PG's, and I had to figure a couple of those would go off the board. I liked Butler (pts, steals, FT%), Jefferson (pts, rebs, blks, FG%), Bosh (pts, rebs, FG%, FT%), Boozer (pts, rebs, FG%), and Granger (all-around, would be a SG in a big-leaning lineup). Well, most of them came off the board - Butler: 10, Bosh: 12, Jefferson: 13, Granger: 15. I guess that left ...

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Round the 2nd: Carlos Boozer. I will say Josh Smith was a possibility. But now that Yahoo! took away his SG eligibility (why wait until now?), it's just not the same anymore. You changed, J-Smoove. Okay, so now I got a couple of PFs, one with C eligibility. I think I'm leaning biggish, although without the blocks and more points. We'll see how this plays out. The last time I drafted Boozer, he was out for 3/4 of the year. Stay healthy, guy who is from land where you can see Russia from your front porch.

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Round the 3rd: Okay, 16 picks until mine, I had to figure who would go off the board. I'm thinking the next level of PG's (Billups, Davis, Nash, Calderon); a couple more bigs (West, Duncan); interesting PF's (Lewis, Smith), gunning SG's (Richardson, Martin). I figured someone would grab Dwight Howard; I had no interest. Paul Pierce might be available, but I really had no interest in him since I had Garnett (Boston's fantasy playoff schedule is brutal, my little wishful thinking). I still don't see how the Lakers roster will shake down, so I'll leave Gasol and Bynum for someone else. Andre Iguodala was a possibility, helping me to shore up steals, decent percentages. And I'm a hair higher on Carmelo this year than in previous years, as I like the percentages and there should be more boards available since the Nuggets have less guys on the team who got UMass put on probation. They guy I really want is ...

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J-J-J-Joe Johnson PG eligibility please Mr. Yang? Thank you. I'll just throw out his post Bibby numbers: Pts - 23.2, 3's - 2.5, rebs - 4.6, asts - 6.6, stls - 1.2, FG% - 47.5%, FT% - 80.3%, TO's - 2.8. 4.6 rpg is a nice little figure for a bigball team at PG. I've got my 3's guy, and FT% won't be hurt. It's a shame JJ's game is not more geared to getting to the line, like say a Kevin Martin. So now I've got 2 PF's and a PG that fits my style. Are you happy, Talented Mr. Roto(ol)? And now that I had Johnson, I focused on a guy who would play nice with him.

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Round the 4th: Hedo Turkoglu SG/SF eligible - at nearly 6 rpg, he's a SG in my biggish lineup. 2 threes a game - keep on chuckin'. I'm a little concerned about the TO's, that's not part of the overall plan. If you're going to pass it this year, Hedo, dish it to Pietrus, he'll probably be open. So right now, I've got a biggish team that can score, shoot pretty well with the clock on or off, shoot some 3's and no huge injury risks. I can play with that.

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Round the 5th: I am now in my third year of being on the David Lee love train. Please keep rebounding, please keep being efficient, if you can steal a ball or 2 a night, that would be great, but don't get into foul trouble so you lose PT to Eddy Curry (snicker). Please do all the little things that Zach Randolph doesn't do (that's a lot of little things). And please Coach D, play him 30+ a night. I don't ask much. I don't think pick #57 is too high for Lee. I knew I wanted him, and I think he's a late 50's to 60's value. The ceiling isn't too much higher, but we shall see this year with the Knicks as he plays for his pre RFA year. Anyway, he's a PF/C and he'll be my 1st or 2nd center. Whee!

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Round the 6th: Pick #64, and I could have went a few ways. In my mind, I wanted another scorer, and there aren't a whole heck of a lot left in this realm. Josh Howard was high in my queue, and his 7 rpg would have been great in my G spot (focus! get your head out of the gutter!). Alas, he went in pick #63. Okay, so what do I like? Points, rebounding for a guard eligible, good FT% at a high volume. Well, that's spelled Corey Maggette. He'll have plenty of opportunities to score and shoot free throws in the city by the city by the bay. Maybe he can do it from a better percentage from the field than Captain Jax. Wouldn't that be nice?

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Round the 7th and beyond: Okay, here's where I start to get goofy. It's getting to be late in the 7th round, 80 or so guys off the board. I was hoping on Horford, Chandler, even Deng in my spot. All gone in the 7th. One guy was hanging around in my queue, taunting me. 2009 Kia Motors ROTY, Michael Beasley. I really couldn't tell you what Pam's distant cousin will do this year. He'll be on the court so he should do something, and hopefully not be early last season Durant-esque. In the next round, I think I caught the fever, and the only prescription was more rookie - OJ Mayo to be exact. Right about this time, I think I'm losin' it, and not the Tom Cruise / Shelley Long tour de force. Round 9, I went to my lower-middle class version of David Lee, Nick Collison. Maybe he can be not so much of a stiff. And good God, did I draft Al Thornton? He could be seeing the bench in the Clips 2 game weeks and maybe even their 3 game weeks.

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Rounds 11-13, the bench rounds, your flier picks. I opened up another packet, got a few cups of sugar, some water and ice, stirred until dissolved, then swigged a couple of quarts of the rookie Kool-Aid: Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, and Brook Lopez. I wouldn't have any problem dropping a single one of them yet, but they all intrigue me. Gasol and Lopez could be interesting pieces to deal as November turns into December, especially if they are getting burn and can block the ball. Since I don't really have a blocking team, I wouldn't mind dishing one or both if they can average over 1.5 a night.

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I'll try to throw up more things over the course of the year, but best of luck to the other 11 dudes in this league.