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Subject: RIHC 2005-06: Final recap
Posted by: Guru
- [330592710] Thu, Apr 20, 2006, 10:24
This thread is for a general retrospective on the 2005-06 RIHC season. RIHC managers are encouraged, but not required, to post. Others are also invited to share their observations.
You may comment on any aspect of the season, including or excluding those listed below.
For League Managers:
1. How did you do, relative to your own expectations? What were your best decisions? What didn't work so well? If you could reverse one or two decisions you made during the draft or the season, what would they be?
2. Are there any changes in league rules that you would suggest for next year?
3. What have you learned over the course of this season? More critically, what would you do differently if you had to do it over - not necessarily with 20/20 statistical foresight, but in terms of general tactics or strategies?
4. How important was the draft to your success or lack thereof? To what extent were you able to make effective adjustments via free agent pickups or trades?
For outside observers:
5. Was this league interesting? I suspect the draft was of widespread interest, but did anyone follow the regular season? If so, what was interesting to you? If not, could we have done anything to make it interesting?
For participants in one of the Qualifying Leagues:
6. How did your league experience compare to that observed for the RIHC?
7. I'd appreciate is someone from each QL would post the final standings of that league in this thread. That will help me get organized for next fall. In addition, I'd like to hear from any QL commish (via email, preferably) if there were any behavioral issues which should be considered in evaluating next year's invitees for the RIHC and the AAA league(s). Beligerent behavior, or sustained non-participation are particular areas of concern.
The competition for spots in next year's RIHC will be very severe. I expect to sanction a second AAA league next season, but with only 12 spots in the RIHC, only the top four teams should feel confident of being invited to return.
One idea would be to expand the league to 14 teams next year, although I'm not sure that is necessarily "in the best interests..." But I'd invite your reactions to that idea. |
| 2 | Guru
ID: 330592710
Thu, Apr 20, 2006, 11:10
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It would be helpful if QL commishes could also identify who the team managers are. Looking over the standings in post 1, there are 4-5 teams that I can only guess at who the manager was.
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| 3 | Swish City
Dude
ID: 0931275
Thu, Apr 20, 2006, 14:24
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2005-2006 RIHC AA2
Final Season Standings
1 Footwedge - 76
2 StomoDotCom - 71
3 Flagrant Foulers (philsphan) - 64
4 Trevor Sharpe - 63
5 Swish City - 62
6 Gescom III - 57
7 Kourt Kings (chas_man) - 45.5
8 Net Taxes (Taxman) - 45
9 The lone wolves (wolfer) - 43.5
10 tastethewaste - 39
11 Easy 2 (Dr. D) - 34
12 C1's Hoop Fun (C1-NRB) - 24
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| 4 | youngroman
ID: 50818914
Thu, Apr 20, 2006, 14:44
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RIHC AA League #1:
1 Uptown Hoops (Uptown Bombers) 71.5
2 Species 66
3 Tree's Jimmy Rave! 64
4 youngroman's Luschen 63
5 team deejay 60.5
6 black eyed spleens (threespleens) 56.5
7 Tequila's UnderDogs 51
8 Frickin Idiots 42
8 Slowhand 42
10 Hubble's 39
11 Farn's Stars 35.5
12 novas superstars (wiggs) 33
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| 5 | RecycledSpinalFluid
Dude
ID: 204401122
Thu, Apr 20, 2006, 16:55
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RIHC - AAA
1 RSF - AAA 73
2 coldwater coyotes 68
3 Dilligads 66.5
3 Moses Money 66.5
5 tommyd's and1 65
6 blackjackis21 56.5
7 Da Bombers 54.5
8 Team Urmas 54
9 Leggestand 40
10 Rand Dragons 31
11 beastiemiked 27
12 Donkey Hunters 22
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| 6 | Florian
Sustainer
ID: 034815289
Thu, Apr 20, 2006, 17:44
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RIHC AA League 3
1 Florian - 80
2 Holt - 73
2 JL - 73
4 TD - 66.5
5 Zanyth - 59
6 Wonderboy - 58.5
7 Mike - 54.5
8 Xpdurmind - 46
9 Great One - 36.5
10 yea - 33.5
11 jtserb - 26
12 Piccolos - 17.5
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| 7 | Flying Polack
Sustainer
ID: 378582811
Thu, Apr 20, 2006, 18:50
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West 4th Street League (AA)
Season Standings View Complete Standings
1 KnicksFan - 75.5
2 Forgiven by God (Jesus Saves/Pacers Rule) - 70.5
3 highlanders(xpdurmind)- 64.5
4 Neon Madmen (Mark L)- 64
5 Flying Polack - 60
6 T-MAC never again(Bandwagon) - 51.5
7 Addicted - 47
8 CGs GIANTS (Skip To My Lou) - 42
9 RoboHoop - 41.5
10 louky - 38.5
11 TOthreeball - 38
12 wharfrats (gumby)- 31
Standings through: Wed, Apr 19
For the record RoboHoop never touched his team and Skip To My Lou didn't make a roster change after 2/15.
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| 8 | KnicksFan
Donor
ID: 030815418
Thu, Apr 20, 2006, 20:41
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My team was a disaster. I drafted poorly, and didn't use enough games because of injuries. That forced me to trade away studs like Brand for a few pieces that were worthy of starting. The plan didn't work -- I actually lost more points. My ending point total must be one of the worst ever for a manager who stayed active all season.
As a contrast, in the AA qualifying league I was in, I drafted well and was able to fly through without much trouble. I think the reason was that the AA league had a live draft, and I probably had more experience drafting than most managers in the league because I had already done 2 or 3 earlier that week.
Well, I guess I have been voted off the RIHC island, but look out for me in 2007-2008!
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| 9 | Pacers Rule
Donor
ID: 910311210
Fri, Apr 21, 2006, 01:20
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Yeah, KF, I totally agree with you there on the difference in the draft experience...slow versus fast. In my case, not only was it a fast draft, but Jesus Saves & I had to discuss every pick too in that 60 seconds or whatever. In one case, time expired and we got a player we didn't really want by accident. In the fast draft, you could have a plan in place but when that pick or two go right in front of your face, you really have to scramble and think on your feet. I think it takes a lot more knowledge to be successful in the fast draft. In the slow draft, if your guy gets taken (see Guru taking most of my preferred picks right before my turn) you have at least a few hours to scramble and come up with an alternative. With some anticipation of when players will go, You can spread out some of your research because in the first few rounds, you really don't need to weigh the pros and cons of P.J. Brown, for example. In the live draft, you'll be to him in about 20 minutes or less, so you have to be more prepared.
I'd suggest Guru you might want to integrate the live draft into the system somehow, not perhaps in the main league but perhaps one at each 'level' AAA, AA, what have you- to give people an option. I would think winning the live draft league might carry a bit more prestige. In any case, it's not so much a time drain as the slow draft, but is much more of an adrenaline rush. If you go that route, I would definitely suggest a zero tolerance policy on people who haven't confirmed their ability to attend the draft via a check-in procedure, or who ultimately no show at the live draft. For that insurance, you might need to have a manager or two on 'standby' during the predraft period and any manager who is not signed into the draft site by say 5 minutes before the draft is replaced. With a name like "RoboHoops" and never signing into the site beyond adding a couple of undrafted Centers because the computer didn't pick any Centers for your team....it's a little hard to claim that an automated process wasn't the plan all along.
I'd also suggest perhaps a little more selectivity on the part of who will be commishing RIHC qualifying leagues. Perhaps the commish needs to have proved him- or herself with one prior year's positive experience in an RIHC league of some sort. Good leadership makes a good league.
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| 10 | Swish City
Dude
ID: 0931275
Fri, Apr 21, 2006, 09:40
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What a season. And what a finish too! Massive congratulations to Mike again, he held us off brilliantly. To lose (effectively) by 4 3s and 2 assists over the course of a season is pretty devastating, but i really can't argue with who won. When someone's been out front for that long, they deserve it. When i look back to the standings at the ASB, we were 12 points behind Mike, so to get so close comforts me a lot to know that we had a massive 2nd half. In the closing month or so, I never lost hope that we could retain our title. But that's us got the complete set of podium positions in the first 3 years of RIHC, so i can't be too disappointed at that.
Our draft turned out to be kinda weird in hindsight. Baron's percentages murdered us at the start, and it took a long time for Joe Johnson to get going, although he was spectacular when he did. And we had our fair share of busts, with Marshall epitomising this. I mean, he just flat out sucked this year. On the flip side, Boris Diaw was probably the main reason we were as high as we were at the break. Getting near 3d's from your 15th round pick is something that you just can't put a price on. The ASB was a real turning point for us, as we decided to punt FG% and try to trade our way to the top.
Our trades worked pretty well. Kobe was just unbelievable after he arrived, as was Mike James, and Michael Redd might be the most consistent scorer in the league. Probably the difference maker was our trade to obtain TMac. When he went out of commission for the season, we did not really have anything to show for trading away Iggy, Knight and Krstic. Seeing Krstic bust out and become a legit C as soon as he was moved was particularly frustrating. When i look at TMac's numbers and how they would have helped us at the end, i just sort of shake my head a bit. Maybe Wilcox for Darko wasn't the smartest thing either, but at the time, the blocks race was paramount. I didn't really expect Wilcox to morph into Superman when Collison was out, either.
FA wise, we did well this year. Stackhouse, Wilcox, Watson, and especially Fisher are a few that stick out as major contributors. FAs became vital for us when TMac went down and we were lucky to get some pretty high quality ones to keep us in the hunt.
Overall, i just feel mixed about it all. In many ways, i'm more proud of our performance this year, as we were so far behind at the beginning, and managed to come very close to winning by the end. And we did it whilst tanking a cat, which Doug proved last year could be done with a degree of success, even in a league as tough as this. The averages tell me that since the ASB, we beat everyone in FT%, 3s and points. So for that, i'm extrememly happy, as our change of tack worked out as best as it possibly could statistically. I remember setting targets to catch in these cats after we made the trades, and i think we achieved them all (at least)! There's just a tinge of regret when i see our IS spots are occupied by a certain A.Stoudemire and T.McGrady. Not to mention the random sitting of Mike James (i.e. the potentially crucial 4 point swing factor in assists and 3s) on the final day. But them's the breaks.
As usual, i had a hoot with Edgar. I mean, the guy puts up with me emailing him virtually every day about "draft this" and "Free Agent that". He deserves a medal :) EuroSmeagol will be back next year to have a crack at regaining our title, so don't get too comfortable, Mike :)
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| 11 | StomoDotCom
ID: 54213285
Fri, Apr 21, 2006, 10:25
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So close man. I was in first for a good portion of the season (let alone being in the top 3), but injuries in the late to Bosh, Cassell and Bonzi (I guess with some DTDs) just couldnt put me over the top. Then stars rested for playoffs....ah. 2nd is fine. Huge congratulations to Footwedge who had a lot more injuries and yet just poured it on.
Congrulations to all and it was a fun season. See you guys in the finals next year.
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| 12 | Footwedge
Leader
ID: 29017810
Fri, Apr 21, 2006, 16:11
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Thanks to everyone in the AA2 for a great season. I guess this shows every dog has his day. It was close to the end and I never really felt comfortable. It seemed like the last month was a competion for steals and I fortunate to pick up some good theives for the stretch run.
I think my injuries being early was good as it helped me build a good supporting staff for Kiro and Yao when they got healthy. When Stomo got his injuries there just wasn't time or players left to make up the difference.
Although my draft had many holes I would say Billups(4) James(9) Turkoglu(14) were major bargains for my team along with free agent Kenny Thomas.
Looking forward to giving it another shot next year.
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| 13 | Trevor Sharpe
ID: 123492115
Fri, Apr 21, 2006, 17:49
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Ended up a bit further back than I would have predicted.. plagued by percentages all season long and could never effectively recover. Tried to make a push near the end but that failed. Losing the Internet for the last two months of the season hurt a bit but I stayed in there with doing my lines up a week in advance. Ending up with games not played kind of hurts. Davis was great till the end in getting hurt, Gordon picked it up for me near the middle but had to make a move at the end dropping him to get higher percentages. Diaw was my prize pickup as anyone who got him in FA can attest.. oh well, better luck next year. Congratz to Footwedge. See ya next year.
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| 14 | lionprideguy
Leader
ID: 906204
Sat, Apr 22, 2006, 04:49
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Hey everybody,
First and most important, thanks to everybody for a heck of an RIHC league this year and everybody's participation, discussion, comradarie, and combined competitive efforts to make it as fun a league as I've seen. It was a fun year and an honor and real thrill to be a part of it. I don't think there has been a fantasy/roto hoops season that has held my attention and complete interest, from the first day of the draft announcement, to the final day of the season, quite like this year. Somehow I'm both sad that it's over, as it was such a constant thrill, and ready for a chance to reclaim all those hours every week! For Guru's questions:
1. How did you do, relative to your own expectations? What were your best decisions? What didn't work so well? If you could reverse one or two decisions you made during the draft or the season, what would they be?
Of course we all hope and expect to challange for the championship from the start, but coming out of the draft I also knew that I hadn't quite compiled the right balance and team through the draft and would need to make some adjustments along the way. After some initial challanges, I realized by midseason I would need to re-set my sights and do everything I could to try to earn a return invitation next year and get another chance with my gained experience. When making the mid-season trade to take the Shaq FT% anchor, I knew it would kill any chance at winning the overall title which would be near-impossible in tanking a category, but was hopeful the added gains in FG% and Blk would bring enough added points to get me into a high enough place for a return invite.
This trade for Shaq ended up being one of my best moves of the year, although I do feel terrible that I know it didn't turn out as well for Doug as we both had hoped. I kept watching Eddie Jones to hope he would go on a tear with Steals and 3's so it would remain an even deal. But the gains in FG% and Blk for me by the addition of Shaq gave me a big second-half boost. Other than that, picking up Chris Paul at 5.12 ended up being as huge as I had hoped he would be. Looking for the secondary impacts of an NBA trade also continued to be helpful, as David West ended up being a solid guy for me all year long across just about all categories, after Magliore was traded from the Hornets.
My biggest mistakes ... starting in the draft, I didn't feel good about the Brad Miller draft pick from the moment I entered it. I wanted to take Elton Brand and only didn't because I had him the previous year, and so was biased against it. In a league where I finished just 4 blocks out of another 2 standings points, and with such close competition, trading Miller's numbers for Brand's would have put me in third place at least all by itself I think. For three years in RIHC and RIHC AAA leagues now, I don't think I've ever made a good pick in rounds 6 and 7 and should just trade those away forever from now on. Tayshaun wasn't bad, just wasn't as good as he was in the past and I think I offered him to every other team in our league this year 2 or 3 times. Eddy Curry was, of course, terrible and I benched him the second half of the season only because I was too stubborn to cut him altogether. Neither the trades for Artest, or Harrington for Mobley, worked out since I had to bench Mobley and Artest's FG% cost me a standings point or two, but those are the chances you take.
3. What have you learned over the course of this season? More critically, what would you do differently if you had to do it over - not necessarily with 20/20 statistical foresight, but in terms of general tactics or strategies?
and
4. How important was the draft to your success or lack thereof? To what extent were you able to make effective adjustments via free agent pickups or trades?
Bad as this may sound, my biggest change if I had the chance to do it again, would have been better preparation for the draft. I wasn't as prepared as I had been in previous years and it showed a few times, especially in the early rounds as I was trying to catch up. I thought I would be able to pick up scorers and 3's more easily during the season than I did. I also ended up sitting on the #1 waiver wire priority all season waiting and looking for the right player to come through and not wanting to waste it, but would have been better off using it early on and then being free to make claims much more often.
Overall, just a huge thanks to Guru for making this all possible, and to all the managers with whom it was a thrill and honor to be able to compete all season long. It's amazing that after all season and over 1,000 player games for each of our teams, it was so close that just 4 more blocks and 3 more threes would have gained me 3 more standings points, the difference of playing Ben Wallace the final night and Mobley once the week before. Now I can only hope for an invite back!
Congratulations to Mike, the Euros, Klyce, and everybody involved. Thanks for a great year!
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| 15 | Mike D
Leader
ID: 041831612
Sun, Apr 23, 2006, 21:39
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For League Managers:
1. How did you do, relative to your own expectations? What were your best decisions? What didn't work so well? If you could reverse one or two decisions you made during the draft or the season, what would they be?
I was gunning for the top spot this year, and was fortunate to hold on and win. I’m pretty happy with the way things unfolded for me in this league. Patience was key. I got lucky early on with the Alonzo FA pickup (before I dumped that washed-up, unhealthy backup---lol).
2. Are there any changes in league rules that you would suggest for next year?
Not really. I liked the number of games, and the creation of the 2 Injury spots. I was really "for" those spots, but ended up utilizing them and feeling that they were "right." I like the categories, the number of teams, and the slow draft is still nerve-wrackingly fun.
3. What have you learned over the course of this season? More critically, what would you do differently if you had to do it over - not necessarily with 20/20 statistical foresight, but in terms of general tactics or strategies?
I learned that it is never, ever over, until that final "day after." The run Swish and Edgar made was incredible. Simply incredible. I was shocked back to reality when they actually took the lead for a day in the final week. I seriously thought it was wrapped up in the last few weeks, even when they were inching closer. After such a great run, to come up short, all I can say is amazing job. Some great FA pickups at the right time as well. I would have felt bad about losing after being ahead so long, but I resolved myself to the fact that it might happen. I just figured it was more a case of their team managing well and getting the right mix of luck, health, and decisions, as opposed to mistakes on my end. And when that happened I figured I'd just tip my cap. So I'll tip it anyway.
4. How important was the draft to your success or lack thereof? To what extent were you able to make effective adjustments via free agent pickups or trades?
I was happy with my draft initially, and I don’t believe I’d have made many different picks after looking at things. I therefore think it was a huge factor in my success. Alonzo was a blocked shots freak when I got him, and he boosted me way up even long after he had been released. But mostly I relied on my draft picks to get me where I thought I could be, then made a couple of late deals that were very helpful as I traded from strength and weathered the losses.
I know everyone had their share of injuries to deal with, some more than others. I was pretty lucky for most of the season, and only was hit late (Nelson, Bosh, Wally, Nelson again). And I think it showed. I got way ahead in games because of all of this, and had to remain patient and play the guys I thought could succeed regardless.
Through it all, I was happy to be competitive and the draft ended up being my foundation.
Not much I’d do differently this season. Looking back, I really feel lucky that the early deals I offered were rejected, and that I turned some tasty ones down. I think all of them would have hurt me in hindsight. Raja Bell was packaged many times, and I'd have needed 3s even more if I had traded him. Amazing the way things work sometimes.
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| 16 | skinneej
Leader
ID: 040625911
Thu, May 04, 2006, 14:55
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1. How did you do, relative to your own expectations? What were your best decisions? What didn't work so well? If you could reverse one or two decisions you made during the draft or the season, what would they be?
My finish was about where I expected to be most of the season, but it took a strong run at the end to get there. Drafting Marion with the 4th pick worked very well as he was the top player for the second year in a row I believe based on averages. From there my next 4 picks did not work out near as expected, but I was able to fill the holes with trades and FA pickups. The best decision was to give up on 3s about midway through the season and focus on the other categories. I was able to go from dead last in assists to finishing midpack after dumping 3s. In the end, I was still able to avoid finishing dead last in 3s after some of the FA pickups and fill in players started to hit more of them. Taking two high risk players in Artest and Grant Hill in my first 5 picks turned out to hurt me especially when Artest sat out nearly two months. I would definitely redo the pick of Hill, but Artest did have some value after all. In the 30 games that he did play for me, he managed to still end up 3rd on my team in steals. This helped my team to finish near the top in that category, and I was able to later trade him and add help at center where I needed it with Brad Miller.
2. Are there any changes in league rules that you would suggest for next year?
The one thing that caused some trouble was the Trade review period and when Yahoo completed the trades. I know there is not anything we can do about their system, but shortening the review period to 24 hours would at least keep trades from taking 4-5 days to complete as some did. Props to Guru for seeing this problem and manually completing several of the trades when the system was not doing it properly.
3. What have you learned over the course of this season? More critically, what would you do differently if you had to do it over - not necessarily with 20/20 statistical foresight, but in terms of general tactics or strategies?
The competition was the best thing. I focus probably 75% of my fantasy time on hoops, so I enjoy competing against other top hoops managers. My draft approach is usually pretty consistent, but I did make a few changes this year, not all of which worked out. I don't usually give up on any category, but since this league also had the goal of finishing in the top half to get an invite for next year, I felt that it was the right choice. Had I been in a normal league, I probably don't make that decision. I didn't have much shot at finishing first either way at that time of the season, but my goal was to finish 3rd which I nearly did. I definitely learned to be patient on some of my trades when I did not see immediate results. It took nearly two months before I caught the next guy in assists and then I was able to pick off several others quickly. Blocks and FG% also had several teams closely bunched, so focusing on those categories the last month allowed me to pick up about as many points as I possibly could have.
4. How important was the draft to your success or lack thereof? To what extent were you able to make effective adjustments via free agent pickups or trades?
This year, I would have to say the draft was only about half responsible for the overall finish. My #2 pick Marbury started off slow in Larry Brown's system and it took him a while before the numbers starting looking more Starbury like. He never did quite get to the level that I had forecast him for based on per game avgs, and then his late season bickering with Brown and the subsequent injury really hurt my team. I talked about Artest as my #3 pick, but the fourth round pick of Kurt Thomas also didn't work out as expected. While his numbers were fairly solid over the first half, he never reached the scoring potetnial that I thought he would have in the Phx offense, and then his season ending injury added to my woes at center. I also will never draft Grant Hill again ever!!
The good picks were Jamison in the 7th, Kaman in the 10th, Felton in round 11 and Frye in rd 13. Jamison was solid in the early going, and due to his strong play I was able to trade him for Brand. This was important since I was able to dump 3s, and add fg% and blocks which were two key areas for my team and not lose ground elsewhere. Kaman played well most of the year and has positioned himself as a potential top 10 center going into next year. Felton started off slow since he was splitting time with Knight, but I stuck with him and he rewarded my team down the stretch with a 17 pt, 10.5 ast final month while adding nearly two steals per game. Frye was the steal of the 13th round and was pretty solid until his injury. The Euros made the overall steal of the draft with Diaw as the next to last pick. That has got to be the best pick I have ever seen in the last round in any draft. It is rare to find a gem like that, but kudos to them for the pick.
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| 17 | Tree
ID: 1411442914
Thu, May 04, 2006, 15:03
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at some point, i do plan on doing this...ugh..where does the time go?
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