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Subject: RIHC - ASB Retrospective
Posted by: Guru
- [330592710] Fri, Feb 18, 2005, 09:17
This thread is for managers in the RIHC to discuss their observations over the season to date. What's gone well? What's gone poorly? What would you like to do over?
My first mistake came with my opening pick. Not only did Yao fail to perform up to my hopes, but as the draft unfolded, I never found a good opportunity to shore up the blocks category, so a good bit of Yao's value was wasted. I ended up dealing him for Antoine Walker in January. That trade has worked out fine... but it's galling when I consider that this effectively made Antoine Walker my first draft pick.
My 3rd round pick of Carlos Boozer started out well, but he's been in a bit of a funk lately. The real hurt, though, came in round 4, when I took Jason Terry instead of Arenas. Dwyane Wade was also available at that time. Terry was a complete bust for most of the first 2 months. When Don Nelson finally got around to starting him, he started earning his 4th round status. But Arenas or Wade would obviously have made a big difference. What a dufus! (That applies to both Don Nelson and me.)
Frankly, when I look at my roster, it's hard to imagine how I've managed a tenuous hold on seventh place. While none of my top picks have outperformed, some of my later round selections have done pretty well. Guys like Haslem, Radmanovic, and Claxton (when healthy) have all worked out well, although none have been outrageous steals. Still, I'm going to spend the rest of the season scrapping to try to reach 6th place. After spending a good bit of the early months in 11th or 12th place, that would feel like a real accomplishment. |
| 1 | Mike D
Sustainer
ID: 41831612
Fri, Feb 18, 2005, 10:32
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I’m pretty happy with the way things have unfolded so far for me in this league. Patience has been key. I was happy with my draft initially, and I don’t believe I’d have made many different picks after looking at things.
I know everyone has had their share of injuries to deal with, some more than others. I’ve been bitten by a little bit of everything this season: Jermo’s big suspension, the trades of Wesley and Jackson, the latter not reporting and being out several weeks. Jaric’s on again/off again playing status. Ratliff battling minor, nagging injuries, which have hurt his usual production, especially as a 5th round draft pick. Voshon Lenard tearing his achilles very early, which was disappointing.
I got way behind in games because of all of this, and had to remain patient. As soon as people started coming back and contributing, my games played began to catch up, and I began to move toward the upper echelon of the league, which was rewarding. Of late, Jackson has been hurt, and Jaric is out again, and I’ve fallen behind again in games played and in the standings.
Through it all, I’ve been happy to be competitive. I have stalwarts Marion, Bibby, Q Rich., and Arenas to thank for that. I got lucky with the Korver FA pickup as well. Caron Butler has done most of what I hoped for, as have Gary Payton and Kurt Thomas.
I was so grateful to Bibby and Korver (and Haywood, a nice last round draft pick) that I traded their butts like the pieces of meat that they are (lol) in the Duncan deal. Duncan solidifies some need areas for me and I’m hoping “Groundhog Dog” gives me his normal production.
Not much I’d do differently this season. I wish I had more time to review rosters and trade, but it’s been tough this year. Looking back, I’m now even a little glad that I passed on the Marbury deal with Guru, one that I’d regretted for a long time, because I wouldn’t have been able to deal Korver in the Duncan deal…….he’d have already been gone. Amazing the way things work sometimes.
I think I’m in striking distance at this point in the season, and that’s always the first goal. It will take my players staying healthy, some impact from FA pickups (Alonzo? Sweetney?), and certainly some luck, for me to end with the crown.
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| 2 | Edgar
Leader
ID: 00458944
Fri, Feb 18, 2005, 10:32
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Allright, Eurogollum voice number one. Time to contribute. Gollum 2 will kick in later I suppose.
Overall our draft was high risk. Moving down and gambling on Bron has worked out sensational so far. By far the main reason we are leading the league right now. Lebron has been close to or the the best roto player in the league. Steve Francis has been solid, not spectacular but holding his own to where we selected him.
The we move up towards the second echelon of our squad. First picking up Z and later Donyell. Z started off allright then faded but seems to be on fire recently. Pretty good value for were we picked him and we could really use a C at that point. Donyell was more of a discussion between Swish and me. We liked Arenas a lot there and went back and forth a few times on picking him. It would give us a 3rd PG so we decided to get Marshall. Donyell had a career roto year last time and we knew it would be hard to copy that. However when given the minutes Donyell can still getting it done. Hmm minutes, there you have the problem. The socially unadapted Mitchell seems unwilling to play him and refuses to put in his best line-up with Bosh and C because Bosh is better at PF. Mind boggling to me!!! Still while not what we expected, Donyell has been allright mainly contributing huge amounts of 3s.
Antoine, big chicken, Walker was a pretty nice pick in the 5th round and played really good ball. We decided to trade him away and Ming is excellent value. Our FG%, FT% and blocks have flourished with Ming on the team. So very happy with that trade. It also gives us a great core of C's with Z and Raef how has been a real late round steal.
Biggest bust ofcourse ir mr Smooth Marquis Daniels. We dropped him quite early in the season. It is a shame to see his talent go but he has been injured too much and now playing up to his previous level. I wonder how he will do after the break. Doug could have gotten himself a nice addition there or it could turn out to be a long story of injuries.
Other nice late rounders include Josh Howard (back with a vengeance), Troy Murphy (who we traded for Daman Jones, a solid move even though I think Murphy has more value) and Grant Hill. Grant, another gamble, has been playing great ball and we are very happy to see this guy comeback the way he has.
And then there were the obvious busts in Divac, Armstrong and Gadz (who has comeback strong recently). And the 'please drive me nuts inconsistency' of Mr. Wallace (no not Marcellus).
We (read Swish) have been pretty active on the waiver wire. Managing to get Brevin Knight, Austin Crosher (who started of hot), Al Jefferson (could be great second half) and Josh Smooth.
We will be quite busy fending off Mike D the second half of the season. It will be really really tough because his roster looks excellent at this point. If (big if) our player remain healthy we will have a shot though. Mike getting Duncan was a big boost to his already great team.
Our gollum will give his view later, give me the precious!
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| 3 | Edgar
Leader
ID: 00458944
Fri, Feb 18, 2005, 10:35
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And not to mention we picked up Kyle Korver first and the cutting him before he started bombing 3s from outside the building.
One word: 'UUUUUGH'.
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| 4 | Mike D
Sustainer
ID: 41831612
Fri, Feb 18, 2005, 10:46
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In fairness, I never thought he'd get the playing time this season that he has gotten. I felt Big Dog would be commanding PT at the small forward position, and that never occurred. I saw a logjam at the swing spots (SG/SF) with Big Dog, Green, the other AI, Salmons, and Korver. When it appeared O'Brien liked Korver enough to give him consistent, meaningful minutes, I was lucky to get him before others could. I might have dropped him early if I had him too, Edgar.
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| 5 | Dave R
Dude
ID: 3010361110
Sat, Feb 19, 2005, 00:18
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I guess everyone's draft had a "defining moment", mine came in round two. I was this close to plucking Amare and going with a PG in round 3, but opted for Iverson and ended with Gasol in the 3rd round when Amare was taken one pick before my turn. Although Iverson has been very good, I think my team would have been much better off with Amare and, say Bibby.
Kobe and Gasol missing 14 games has hurt but I'm sure we all have our tales of woes. Honestly Kobe hasn't quite been as good as I hoped but solid when healthy. I'm also pleased with JRich in round 6.
Drafting Dalembert in the 5th round didn't pan out and I knew he might have been a reach, although he's been better of late. My other Center drafted, Rasho was a total bust while I had him.
Howard ( 8th ) , Iguodala ( 11th ) and Atkins (13th ) have been wonderful and Iggy could just be the steal of the draft.
FA pickups Sura and Van Ex have filled in nicely.
I knew I would struggle in the % cats but I didn't think FT% woud be this bad.
Now that Kobe is back and if Pau is back soon, I think I still have a slim shot for the top, but it's going to take outstanding efforts from all my players. Time for a pep talk.
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| 6 | Doug
ID: 211146518
Sat, Feb 19, 2005, 04:31
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Looking back on the draft, I took a couple gambles that have paid off... especially Kidd and Webber. On the other hand Cassell and Van Horn have been major disappointments for 3rd and 5th round picks (I finally dropped Van Horn when I read he may not see more than 15 mins. per game the rest of the season, hopefully Cassell will finally be rested and healthy after the break... hmm... wishful thinking?). Obviously I was expecting Big Dog to be back on the court putting up solid minutes by now. In the later rounds, Cato and Ridnour have served me well, but my best pick has been Hughes at the end of round 8. Here's hoping he comes back strong next week... I need his crazy steals!
LOL, when I really look at it, my picks in rounds 5, 9, 10, 12, and 14 have all basically been busts. So what have I done about it? Well, picking up Pryzybila lately is looking like a great move. I've had Freddie Jones on again/off again, mainly looking for him to toss in some 3s. Hopefully Foyle shows consistent play over the second half. We'll see how it all goes. I've had a cast of characters rounding out the bench slots on my roster, and the Duncan trade allowed me to improve the quality of those bench players... I really need them to move up in the standings by taking advantage of my games played deficit and fielding a full team most nights.
I think I've got a decent shot to move up a couple slots in the rankings before seasons end, especially with guys like Korver hitting 3s, my Cs grabbing boards, Webber and Kidd putting up 3Ds, and Hughes hopefully coming back strong. Oh, and in case anyone didn't notice, yes, I'm tanking the points category. There's a time when you need to face facts, cut your losses, and focus on the areas where you really CAN improve.
In a perfect world, I can see myself finishing with as many as 65 points in the standings (I only have 50 now)... that would be a MAJOR accomplishment, but I'll still be really happy if I can even hit 60 again by season's end.
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| 7 | Swish City
Dude
ID: 0931275
Sat, Feb 19, 2005, 10:47
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Well summised, Edgar. You've covered a lot of the points that i was going to mention, but since i'm a sucker for these kind of threads, i'll chip in with some of my own thoughts. After all, we really wouldn't be EuroGollum if we didn't have 2 differential personalities whose opinons fly in the face of each other occasionally :)
I guess we set the precedent for ourselves in the draft-order-draft when targetting Lebron. I'm thrilled with the way that's worked out, but something tells me that there's not much hope of getting him anywhere close to his draft spot of #9 next year. This really set the tone for a high risk-reward draft, that, as things stand, has worked out better than either of us could have envisaged. Some very risky picks in there - Hill, Murphy, Raef have worked out great. Marquis Daniels was a big mistake, although not many would have predicted the ludicrous spate of injures the Mavs swingmen have experienced thus far. And it did have a weird upside for us in that we lucked into the emergence of Josh Howard, who has been absolutely outstanding value.
We have also been quite active on the trade front. I must confess to having been a little gobsmacked when Guru accepted Walker for Yao. As he mentioned in the Regular Season RIHC thread, logistically, it made sense - but you look at it from a draft position point of view...well, we have to feel pretty good about that. We actually did a lot of research to see who people were getting for Yao in ESPN leagues, and strangely, Walker popped up quite a few times. Its worked out quite well for both sides - Guru got the improvements in the cats he wanted and has absorbed the poor shooting numbers pretty well so far. Yao has been on fire lately, and is a big reason why our % cats and blocks are trending strongly upwards in recent times.
I echo the frustration of Edgar on the Marshall front. It's sad (not to mention bad for us!) to see this guy dwindle away on the Toronto bench when he's capable of so much more. I think about that Non-Arenas pickup almost everday. DM been better of late, but we really want a trade that gets him into a starting lineup somewhere. He's got Korver/Q/Damon Jones tenacity from downtown when given the chance. As i see it, a traded Marshall could be the difference for us. Those missing rebounds could really hurt by the end.
I think we have a really serious shot at winning this year. Dave and Mike still present extremely potent threats. I actually thought Doug was in good shape also until he lost Hughes. But Dave now has Kobe back with Gasol on the mend too, and Mike pulled off a master stroke in landing TD. I have a feeling it's going to be a real nailbiter.
On a final note, i have to say that i'm a little disappointed in AP10s contribution so far. For a league with this level of public visibility, it's important for everyone to put the required effort in. He looks to have fallen behind in games played to the point where he can't recover. Hopefully, he can try and tow the line a bit after the ASB.
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| 8 | Guru
ID: 330592710
Sat, Feb 19, 2005, 16:41
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On that last note, I have emailed AP10 several times, but never received any response. His team hasn't been touched since Jan 28, and that activity was also preceded by several weeks of dormancy.
I hope he's OK. It's always a bit unnerving when someone apparently disappears.
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| 9 | blackjackis21
Leader
ID: 034837521
Sat, Feb 19, 2005, 22:40
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Overall, I'm pretty dissapointed in my team so far. I'm in a huge hole at this point, at am going to struggle the rest of the year just trying to get into the top 6. I suppose R. Jefferson's injury is the easy cop-out excuse, and while that certainly hasn't helped, I wonder how he would have done with the (re)emergence of Vinsanity. I actually have 6 players in the top 75 or so, using Yahoo's season total rankings, which isn't too bad. However, there's a big drop from there to Sprewell.
Guys who have significantly outperformed my expectations: Tinsley (when healthy), Joe Johnson, and Brevin Knight (oh wait, that's right, I dropped him for Trenton Hassell...)
Guys who aren't earning their paycheck: Sprewell and Harpring and to a lesser extent, B. Wallace and Dampier (though he looks to be turning things around).
My team is especially frustrating because the categories that I'm relatively stong in, I'm not SO strong that I can afford to trade pieces of them away. On the other hand, my weak categories are SO weak that it's going to be incredibly tough to improve to the point of gaining ground in the standings. These two things combined make it incredibly tough to find a trade that helps me without hurting me.
I guess my best hope is for my guys to just flat out play better. Hopefully they can all stay healthy and I can find a few free agent gems.
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| 10 | Slackjawed Yokel
Leader
ID: 052347519
Sun, Feb 20, 2005, 23:27
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Looking at the draft grid, my first five picks were probably the strongest of the field. With Dirk, Nash, Amare, (finley), and Wade I have a very solid nucleus. And my 6th round pick of Okafor didn't turn out to be much of a stretch either. But, several of my picks didn't pan out like I had hoped, and that has left some glaring holes on my team. Namely, Welsch in the 10th was supposed to be a prime source of steals which I expected to be a weakness anyways, and Rose wasn't worth an 8th round pick. The late picks I used on injured players hoping for breakout years also were wasted on Kwame and Bender. Injuries to Abdur-Rahim and Okafor have left me hurting a bit for boards.
But the big deal with my team is that I'm struggling to find the right balance. I'm leading by 1100 points in points scored and 1.2 percentage points in FG%, but have been struggling in steals and threes. I have been able to gain ground in 3's from where I was early on through waiver wire pickups, and players getting healthy. But as I try to come up with moves to help me in steals, it invariable hurts me in other categories in which I'm in tight races (3's, boards, blocks).
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| 11 | RecycledSpinalFluid
Dude
ID: 204401122
Mon, Feb 21, 2005, 00:03
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Its been an interesting rollercoaster ride so far. From being #1 to hanging down in the 10-11 range, I've worked my way back up to #6.The strange:- Having 4 of the top 25 rebounders (total) and still only be ranked #3 in that category.
The not-so-strange:- Elton Brand. This guy is so consistent (seasonally) that its scary. Plug it in as 20 points, 10 boards, 3 dimes, 2 blocks with a 50% FG%.
Best return on investment (Draft):- Vince Carter - 3rd Round. His move to Jerzy coincided with my move up the ladder. Too bad he loaffed those first 20 in Toronto. 26-6-5 from him puts him at an elite level. Keep it up VC!
- Earl Boykins - 14th Round. Just call him Jimmie Walker because he's DY-NO-MITE! Things look to get even better with Karl in charge. His stat I love most is 8 blocks...thats just silly.
Best return on investment (Free Agent):- Nazr Mohammed. Excellent early return on the big man. The ASB couldn't come any quicker, as the grind of being a start was catching up to him. Let hope Thomas doesn't find a way to screw up his second half production.
High hopes for the future:- Mike Dunleavy. Picking it up over the last few weeks after laying a stinker for the first few months, plugging in a 17-7-3 clip for February. Excellent!
- Eddie Griffin. Hopefully he responds well to McHale as the coach. If his last game is an indicator (9-10-4 blocks), we're in for good things.
The big "I have No Comment on that at this time":- Stephen Jackson. No comment.
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| 12 | Rand
Donor
ID: 083231216
Mon, Feb 21, 2005, 12:21
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You know the season is a disaster when you can't even out-point an abandoned team. Last place, freakin' last place! In other leagues and other years, I would look down at the last place teams and wonder how anyone could be so bad. I mean, it's not that hard, it's not rocket science.
Simple fact is that you can't compete without stud players. Losing Kirilenko, Davis, and Magloire has left me dazed and confused. Obviously these guys were to be the foundation of my team and without them I have very little to compete with. Of course I've only myself to blame for taking Baron in the first place.
I certainly can't blame all my troubles on losing 3 of my top 4 draft picks (and Redd is OK, but he doesn't have what it takes to carry a team). From the 8th round onward I drafted a bunch of bums. Except for maybe Deng and Joe Smith they've all basically stunk. My mid-round picks of Eddie Jones, KMart, Tony Parker have all been fine but without my big guns (AK-47 and Baron) I've just been spinning my wheels all season and going nowhere. Simmons was a decent pick-up, and Nailon had some good nights, but over-all the waiver wire has not been easy pickins for me either.
I'm hoping some of my high-priced talent start putting up huge numbers and at least give me the dignity of rising above the inactive team. This is the worst fantasy sport team I've ever had, and it just happens to be the one I've got playing in the best league I've ever been involved in.
I'm enjoying watching the top teams compete, and believe it's important for even a lowely team like mine to keep giving it a college try. It really is tough to deal with being so bad in such in cool league, but perhaps the second half will be a little more successful for my humble team of losers.
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