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How good is LeBron James?  Currently LeBron James is the #1 ranked fantasy player averaging 46.80 fppg.  #2 is Dwayne Wade and Kevin Durant at 41.10 fppg.  There is a 5.7 fppg difference between #1 and #2.  How big of a spread is that?  That is the same difference as there is between #2 and #14 Dwight Howard.  It is the same difference as #12 Danny Granger and #36 Josh Smith.  Crazy.

The gap (9.4 fantasy points per game) between #1 LeBron James and #10 Chris Paul is the same as #10 Chris Paul and #47 Trever Ariza.  It is the same gap as there is between #50 Nene and #150 Kirk Hinrich.

A team definitely needs one of the top players to be competitive in fantasy hoops.  There just isn’t enough of a difference between #30 and #50.

Why was I thinking of this?  I have Dirk (#8), Deron Williams (#15), David Lee (#17) and Tyreke Evans (#26).  Four guys in the top 26 fantasy players should equate to some wins.  Any one team should only have four of the top 36.  The problem is #26 is Tyreke Evans, averaging 32.60 fantasy points per game.  #36 is GUARD (BS) Luol Deng is averaging 29.2 fppg.  A difference of 3.4 fppg isn’t enough to win games.

What does this mean?  If you draft LeBron James, you really need to try hard not to win the league.  I mean, you REALLY have to try hard to lose games.  To the point where you’d draft Andre Iguodala and Joe Johnson in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.  You’d follow that up by taking Paul Pierce, Josh Smith, OJ Mayo and Rashard Lewis in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th rounds.

The drop from LeBron James to Chris Paul exactly the same drop as Ray Allen to Flip Murray.  It’s the same difference between Andris Biedrins and Travis Diener.

We may have to ban LeBron from the league next year.  But we all know what happens when we ban a player from the league….

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We have the first trade since the late 90′s.  I think the last time the league had to worry about a trade Mookie Blaylock was involved.

Dr. Copperfield has traded forward Luis Scola’s ugly hair to DaLoot for guard Trever Ariza’s 37% field goal shooting.

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The 2009-2010 Fantasy Basketball Draft will be held on November 14th, 2009.  Time and place to be determined.  I realize this is two weeks into the season, but it is the day where most people could attend.  We can simply shorten the schedule by a week or two.  To add some fun, we’ll plan on counting the games that occur starting Saturday, November 14th.  The following week we will go back to our usual, first games beginning Friday evening rule. 

I’m looking forward to it.  Are the Rokers ready to defend their crown?  Can The Fur make the playoffs?

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In our league there are nine teams and the Average.  The Average ended the season tied for the second best record in the league (12-8).  I’m not sure what to make of that fact.  However, the Average does not qualify for the playoffs….And neither does The Fur (3-17).  The brackets are set.  Let’s hope DaLoot can beat up on 36DD two weeks in a row! 

The #1 Dirty Sanchez vs. #8 Rokers could be interesting as the Rokers have had a higher score than Dirty Sanchez in each of the past three weeks. 

The #2 36DD vs. #7 DaLoot matchup is equally intriguing as DaLoot has scored more than 36DD in six of the past seven weeks. 

The #3 David Copperfield vs. #6 Royz Boyz matchup could be interesting, they both had 199.5 two weeks ago***

The #4 Fore! vs. #5 Captain Mo could go either way.  They finished with the same 11-9 record, but Fore! had almost 300 more points.

 Here we go…. 

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The website is mostly ready for the season.  The rosters, schedule, transaction list, etc. are all updated.  Check out your roster and make sure I have the positions correct.  As I was typing in the rosters I came to a couple of realizations. 

1. Captain Mo looks like he’ll have a competitive team for the first time since the late 90′s.
2. Royz Boyz could struggle.  I almost feel like Royz Boyz thought the NBA was replaying the 2007-2008 season again.  Is Brandon Roy better or worse when the Trailblazers add Greg Oden, Jarryd Bayless and Rudy Fernandez?  Is Chris Kamon better or worse with Baron Davis and Marcus Camby (and without Corey Maggette)?  Will Mo Williams get more shots in Cleveland than he did in Milwaukee?  Will Mike Miller get more shots in Minnesota than he did in Memphis? 
3. DaLoot fell apart in Round 3…two rounds later than he fell apart in last year’s draft.  Vince Carter is a big question mark.  A reach here in there is part of the fun of the draft, but reaching on picks 5-12 is going overboard. 

Happy to have Rashard Lewis playing forward again in the Pitchadeuce Fantasy League.

Thanks to the host of the draft and thanks to the out-of-towners for making the trip.  Always a good time.  Good luck to all!

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The 2008-2009 Fantasy Basketball Draft is set….

October 25, 2008 at 1pm.  Same location as last year.  Directions will be emailed out. 

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Start thinking about October 25, 2008 for the Fantasy Basketball Draft to be held in Minneapolis. 

There have been many off-season moves and some injuries / trades that will definitely impact the coming season. 

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Something has to be done, right? Obviously for the Suns the Shaq trade didn’t work. They traded for him specifically to have an inside presence against the Spurs. That obviously failed miserably. Tim Duncan is clearly on the downside of his career. However, he averaged 24.8ppg, 13.8rpg, 2.6apg and 2.8bpg the five playoff games vs. Phoenix. For the season, his averages were 19.3ppg, 11.3rpg, 2.8apg and 1.95bpg. I don’t think Shaq helped. Steve Nash just can’t stop Tony Parker either. I like Steve Nash and really like how he plays. I just don’t think he has the physical ability to stay in front of Tony Parker. Parker averaged 11 more points per game in the playoffs than he did in the regular season.

Is it time to break up the Suns? I think so. Good luck finding a taker for Shaq. He has two years left at $20 million per year. Nash has one year left at $12.2 million and a team option for a second year. Boris Diaw, the guy who averaged less than nine points, five rebounds, and four assists per game during the season, is still owed three more years at $9 million per year with a player option for the fourth. If they could find a way to unload Shaq this summer they have a “chip and a chair” to turn things around.

Phoenix is the team who traded Joe Johnson for Diaw and pieces and also traded Luol Deng for a box of Wheaties (what turned out to be Nate Robinson and Jackson Vroman).

The Mavs basically traded Devin Harris for Jason Kidd (yes, Keith Van Horn somehow made millions of dollars in this trade too). In the Mavs first round series, Jason Kidd was able to hold Chris Paul to 24.6ppg, 12apg, 5.6rpg and 2spg. In other words, if New Orleans could play Dallas every game Chris Paul would be a first ballot Hall-of-Famer by the All-Star Break, 2009. But Jason Kidd scored too. 8.6ppg, 7.5rpg and 6.8apg. AND “ason” (which is Jason with no “J”) shot 42% from the field. What do you do when you aren’t shooting well? You get to the free-throw line. Jason Kidd got to the line eight times per game?  No.  Eight times in FIVE games. With Dallas, Kidd averaged 9.9ppg, 9.5apg and 6.4rpg. Kidd will make $21 million next season. With the Nets, Devin Harris averaged 15.4ppg, 6.5apg and 3.2rpg. Harris made $3.9 million this season.

Kidd has one more season at $21 million. Nowitzki is owed $38 million the next two years with a player option for a third year. Josh Howard has two more years at $10+ million per year with a team option for a third year. Jason Terry is owed $41 million for the next four years. Erick Dampier has three years and $30+ million left on his contract. On a positive note, Dampier is only slight below his career average of 8.1 ppg (he averaged 6ppg this year).

On second thought, maybe the Mavs don’t need to break it up. Michael Finley ($18.5 million), Shawn Bradley ($5.2 million) and Juwan Howard ($1.2 million) come off the books this summer. The Mavs have $68.1 million tied up next year for Kidd, Nowitzki, Howard, Dampier and Terry.

As a Timberwolves fan who had to suffer through poor management and decisions for so many years. I will enjoy watching these two franchises struggle for the next few years.

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