My 2011 Fantasy B-Ball Roster

All of my hopes rely on that loose ball

We got the league together a little late so my fantasy basketball season commenced this morning with a 5:00 A.M. auto-pick draft. I absolutely skewered my draft board, though, so none of these picks were accidents. I'm in love with my roster. Last year my consistent headliners were LeBron, Steve Nash, Monta Ellis, Amare, Russell Westbrook, Al Jefferson, Tyreke Evans, Marc Gasol, and Joakim Noah in a 6-person league, but this year we upped it to 10 players (all close friends). So obviously than nearly cuts my elite options in half and I have to go with more specialists than last year, but I gotta a killer base to build around.

PG: Chris Paul
SG: Monta Ellis
SF: Brandon Roy
PF: Danilo Gallinari
C: Andrew Bogut
G: John Wall
F: Luol Deng
Util: Kevin Martin
Util: Eric Gordon
Util: Yao Ming
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Bench: Jose Calderon
Bench: Anthony Tolliver
Bench: Taj Gibson

Only transactions so far are picking up Tolliver and Gibson by dropping my last two automated picks, Jameer Nelson and Wes Johnson. I had all the multi-faceted point guards I needed already between Paul, Ellis, Wall, and Calderon, so Nelson was superfluous. And I'm stocked on scoring wings too between Roy, Gallinari, Deng, Martin, and Gordon, plus I just don't think Wes Johnson's gonna be that good in general.

The only guys I'm completely sore about not getting are Blake Griffin, Demarcus Cousins, and Russell Westbrook. I had all these guys skyrocketed up my draft board even before all of their impressive debuts. I actually drafted Griffin last year an entire day before he was announced a scratch for the entire season. That blew. My friend Jarod must've bumped them up even more than I did because he got Cousins and Griffin. Oh well.

I'm actually the league manager this season and I kept the same categories and rules we were under last season. It's a weekly head-to-head match-up with 10 categories: points, rebounds, assists, FGs made, FG%, FT%, 3-Pts made, steals, blocks, and turnovers. The only place I see myself legitimately struggling on a weekly basis is in rebounding and blocks. Since pretty much all of my forwards are of the small instead of power variety, I gotta rely on my monster guards to each collect those extra scrap rebounds to build on Bogut and Yao's production in that area. But if I can win the other 8 categories every single week I think I'll be content. Ha.

Last year I was the runaway regular season champion. I think it was something crazy like 23 wins ahead of second place. I never lost in points on the entire season, which made up for the fact that I only won the TO category a single time. But I actually went down in the playoffs in the championship round to my friend Ethan. He beat me 5-4. And there were three categories that were entirely and grossly winnable on my side. I'm pretty sure we tied on assists, I was literally .001 behind him in FT%, and he had 2 rebounds on me. For a basketball junkie/enthusiast/freak like myself, I couldn't have been more pissed off. But I still made some money off it since we agreed before the season to put half the pot on the regular season and half on the playoffs, even though I should've had all of it.

I don't know if it'll be interesting enough for me to throw up a bunch of updates on here, but I'll consider it. I definitely will be on here bragging if John Wall kills, Monta keeps spewing out 46-pointers, and Paul keeps dropping 16-dimers.

... and Free Enes.

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NBA 2011 Opening Night Notes

Hand gesture ... TECHNICAL!!!

The Heat lost and the Lakers won. Get used to hearing that once the playoffs roll around.

With all eyes on LeBron for his Miami Heat debut, he proved the old adage that you can take the King out of Cleveland, but you can't take the underachievement out of his teammates. I've heard that since I was a kid and never quite understood it until last night. James attempted to carry the team with his shooting touch in the second half and wound up with 31 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 8 turnovers in a loss to the defending Eastern Conference champs. Those were the kind of stat lines that Kobe initially got killed for in his early post-Shaq seasons. But oh well, it was just one game against a tough defense and Miami's got 81 more games to figure out how to creatively come up short before the postseason begins. Having the rest of his team shoot a collective 38% from the field? That's just unoriginal. Props to Chris Bosh for being scared to death by his twin Predator KG (8 points on 3-11 shooting) and Dwyane Wade for having a rusty hamstring (4-16 shooting and 6 turnovers). With James Jones slated to get all of Mike Miller's shots, it's going to be a long road to recovery hinging on that thumb.

Two Celtics notes: Shaq gained 100 pounds since his Cavalier postseason debut and Paul Pierce pulled off a day one version of his oh-my-God-I'm-injured-and-embarrassed-in-a-heap-on-the-ground-so-I-better-be-dragged-back-to-the-locker-room-so-I-can-make-my-triumphant-reentrance-two-minutes-later-with-no-ill-effects-of-my-potential-career-ending-injury shtick. It's pretty much what he's known for now.

Now onto the Lakers-Rockets! Yao is gonna be good, even in his limited minutes. He managed to foul out in his short stay, but he did all of the incredibly Ming-y things last night that made him such a pivotal force before his foot collapsed. Kevin Martin will effortlessly thrive as mass point producer as long as he has Yao and Brad Miller at the high post looking for him on cuts. He's always been a great scorer, but now he'll prolly finally be efficient. Aaron Brooks resumed his role as a Laker killer with 24 points and 9 assists, so that was refreshingly painful.

But the Lakers found a way to prevail. Shannon Brown pulled off his best Kobe impression in the fourth and notched 4 threes to finish with 16 late points. Thankfully, Kobe also pulled off his best Kobe impersonation throughout the first three quarters and managed 27 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and only 1 turnover. I was gonna write a column about how stupid it was for everyone and their mom acting like KB's crappy preseason shooting was an actual issue that proved his decline with age, but Kobe replied last night with his game and a win so I wouldn't have to. They're the two-time defending world champions, three-time defending western conference champions, and now they've upgraded their roster. Steve Blake surprisingly took over for Derek Fisher in crunch time and knocked in the dagger to add to the last of his three triples on the night. Matt Barnes worked his butt off and forced some action while he was in there, pulling down 5 boards and finishing with a +12 plus/minus score in his 16 minutes of playing time. Theo Ratliff notched two blocks in his limited time and will continue to do that every night in relieving Pau until Bynum makes his way back. The Lakers have their eyes past the Heat already. Get ready for the three-peat.

Oh, and Gasol had 29 points and 11 rebounds. That's pretty good too. And nobody cares about the Suns-Blazers.

... and Free Enes.

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2010-2011 Houston Rockets

It's almost to the point with me that I have to be reminded that Yao Ming is still alive. He's been I guess we'll see. This season is pretty much make-or-break for his career and he has the power completely in his hands (or foot) to shift the Rockets from a young and talented squad in the middle of the pack to a championship contender. And they honestly should be. This team is put together in ridiculously nice fashion.

2010-2011 Houston Rockets

Point Guard: Aaron Brooks/Kyle Lowry
Shooting Guard: Kevin Martin/Courtney Lee
Small Forward: Shane Battier/Chase Budinger/Jared Jeffries
Power Forward: Luis Scola/Chuck Hayes/Patrick Patterson
Center: Yao Ming/Brad Miller

I'm in love with their backcourt. I can admit to thinking Aaron Brooks was a fluke two seasons ago when he almost singlehandedly pushed the Lakers to 7 games in the conference semis, but I'll admit that he's a legit starting NBA lead guard. He's blindingly quick and serious long range threat who made the jump enough to be the league's Most Improved Player. And with team, he's relieved of all pressure due to the fact that he's partnered with Kevin Martin who can score 25 a night while he's texting and drinking coffee in his car from the expressway on the way to the game. They also have the perfect glue guy at the small forward in Shane Battier who's probably the only player in the league who'd be completely content if he never took a shot the whole season. Add to that talent pool Kyle Lowry, an insanely powerful finisher as the back-up point who can produce points out of nothing, and Western Kentucky's own Courtney Lee (even though he's been rumored to be a trade pawn) and you've got yourself a complete set of perimeter guys with a crazy mix of speed, scoring ability, and defensive instincts.

Coming off a FIBA All-Tournament run and with the ink on his second U.S. contract still fresh, I expect this to be the year that Luis Scola cements his NBA status. Sure he's started all 164 games for Houston the last two years and was even an All-NBA Rookie in '08, but how he performs this year alongside Yao will mean more than all of that. Hopefully he'll be able to nudge himself into double-double territory. His confidence has to be sky high right now after killing Andy Varejao and the rest of the Brazilians for 37 points as Argentina's focal point without Manu Ginobili playing for the national squad this summer. With actual expectations on his shoulders this season, he has show and prove. The 16/9/2 stat line was nice last season, but that was on a team that didn't make the playoffs and had no other post threat. This is the real test.

But bringing it all back around, barring a crazy trade for Carmelo or another player of his level, this entire season depends on how much Yao Ming can stay on the floor. It's so easy to forget, but Yao is one of maybe five players in the game that opponents literally have to switch up their entire game plans for. He's not the most nimble or even the most intimidating guy on the floor, but he's a game changer who has the opportunity to score every single time down the floor, making his teammates all that more effective. So ... that leaves me with the conundrum of whether or not I make my prediction assuming Yao is back in full force or destined to fracture another limb and be permanently debilitated. I'm gonna go with the healthy assumption just for the fact that he can afford to take a bunch of minutes off on a nightly basis with the amazing bench mob of Brad Miller, Chuck Hayes, and Patrick Patterson there to spell him. And with that assumption, I have the Rockets skyrocketing from out of the playoffs to challenging the Lakers as the number 2 seed in the West. Their lack of quality playoff advancement bites them in the but though as they lose to the Oklahoma City Durants in the second round. And that's where I stand. Now we'll see if Yao is gonna be able to stand in that same spot without the aid of crutches and a boot.

Prediction
Regular Season: 58-24
Playoffs: Eliminated in Western Conference Semi-Finals

... and do the John Wall.

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