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Subject: RIHC 2007-08: Final Recap
Posted by: Guru
- [330592710] Mon, Apr 21, 2008, 09:15
This thread is for a general retrospective on the 2007-08 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 participants in one of the Qualifying Leagues:
5. How did your league experience compare to that observed for the RIHC?
6. I'd appreciate if someone from each QL would post the final standings of that league in this thread. (Please indicate who the managers were as well, if team names aren't self-identifying.) 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. |
| 1 | Swish City
Dude
ID: 0931275
Mon, Apr 21, 2008, 11:17
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RIHC AAA League #1 (Western Division)
Rank Team Points Pts Change Waiver Moves
1. Rise Of EuroGollum (Swish and Edgar) 72.5 1.5 2 32
2. Luebeck Eagles (Florian) 71 0.5 9 46
3. HOLT 63.5 -2.5 3 22
4. TD Dragons 61.5 1.5 5 24
5. Da Bomb Squad 59 1 12 84
6. Addicted 52.5 -1.5 6 41
7. tothreeball 49.5 0.5 11 15
7. blackjackis21 49.5 -1 1 16
9. Uptown Hoops (Uptown Bombers) 47 0.5 4 30
10. Farn's Stars 42 0 7 5
11. Jack Hammers 39 1 8 18
12. valkyrie5 17 -1.5 10 11
Farn commished this league, and i'm sure he can verify results, if required.
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| 2 | Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Mon, Apr 21, 2008, 12:31
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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?
In my maiden stroll into the land of the main RIHC, I knew I wanted to make a strong showing. Of course I always start any league I'm in with the intention of winning, but absent that my goal was certainly to finish high enough to warrant a return invitation. I did that so I am pleased.
The best decision, by far, was kind of guilting Dave R into not taking Jason Richardson in Round 4 (lol)! We were talking and he said he was looking at Richardson, and I gave him an "Awwwwwww man! That's who I wanted" and kind of guilted him into passing. Richardson was an absolute steal, smoking three 3's a game, 22+ PPG, a steal and a half, .7 blocks and better FG% than normal.
My worst decision was not really a poor decision, it just turned out poorly. I traded Monta Ellis to Dave R for Biedrins. Biedrins fit everything I needed at that point in the season: FG%, REB, BLK. He ended up getting an appendectomy, and this combined with the failed Chris Webber experiment materially softened his stats. I probably should have realized that my FG% and BLK were too poor to fix, but thankfully - despite Ellis absolutely blowing up in a star - I had other studs to cover Ellis strengths so losing him didn't really hurt that bad.
2. Are there any changes in league rules that you would suggest for next year?
No.
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?
Do a better job of in-draft statistical projection so as not to ignore a category for too long.......OR, have the cajones to punt a category instead of reaching in desperation (cough....Ben Wallace) for a player who hurts you in other spots. Also, don't take a weekend vacation with the guys and play golf, go to the Rotohog banquet, get drunk, and attend college football games in 90 degree heat and try to draft at the same time!
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?
My draft completely made my season. Drafting is something I tend to do well, and my biggest strength is just finding good value. Kobe, Bosh, Lewis, Richardson, Maggette, Ellis were all strong picks within my top 7 rounds. Only Bibby getting hurt caused me not to score 7 for 7. I made some nice pickups of hot players a few times during the year, and Delonte West (upon his trade to Cleveland), Jeff Foster and Luis Scola were good role players picked up later in the year.
All in all I was very pleased with my year but pledge to study up even harder, and have a few more statistical tools at my disposal next year.
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| 3 | Guru
ID: 330592710
Mon, Apr 21, 2008, 14:51
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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?
I looked back at my draft projections, and did pretty well. The biggest shortfalls were in points, threes, and steals. The players with the biggest deficiencies (vs. projections) were Walter Herrmann (a complete bust, dropped fairly quickly), Larry Hughes, and Charlie Villanueva. Those three also had the biggest impact on my shortages in scoring and threes.
On the plus side, Calderon turned out to be my steal, as a 14th rounder. He tailed off for the last month, but was a complete stud for much of the season. Kenyon Martin was also a solid contributor all year as my 15th round pick.
2. Are there any changes in league rules that you would suggest for next year?
no
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?
Last year, I intentionally punted blocks from the outset, and still managed to win. This year, I did not intend to punt any cats - although my showing in threes and steals were disappointing. Overall, though, I was happy with my draft approach.
I probably should have tried to trade away some of my excesses in midseason (e.g., blocks &/or assists) in order to improve my scoring cats. I may or may not have been able to do that, but I never really gave it the old college try. By the time I recognized my situation, it was too late to make a difference in the weaker cats.
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?
The draft was very important. The other most important element was probably health. Most of my players stayed healthy for most of the year. Kevin Martin suffered some down time, and Ben Gordon was also subject to sporadic outages, but most of my guys were healthy for the whole year. The durability of Camby and Dalembert was a particular bonus, effectively giving me a dominant tandem at center all year.
Derek Fisher was a useful F/A pickup early in the season. But most of the important contributors were draftees.
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| 4 | Mike D
Leader
ID: 041831612
Mon, Apr 28, 2008, 22:37
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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?
It's everybody's expectation to win the league, especially after the draft, when everyone thinks they've compiled the best team ever created (lol).
My percentage categories were better than ever (15 points combined) and that provided a nice boost in historically low cats for me. I thought I would do better in 3s, and was disappointed in that result.
Looking at the draft, Hinrich really underperformed his 4th round pick. I pulled the trigger too quickly on a couple of my picks (Gomes and Jack). And outside Amare and AI, most of my other players accepted their roles and were steady, if not standouts.
2. Are there any changes in league rules that you would suggest for next year?
You mean outside of instituting the mandatory trading rule that I've proposed previously? I guess not.
;)
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 would honestly try and trade earlier. Everyone says that, no one usually does it. I passed up some deals that would have helped me. Ok, maybe 1 from Species. But still. Trading earlier would have left me more time to balance categories instead of it being so late.
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?
It was very important from the standpoint of a few cornerstones on my team. But outside of them, I was definitely able to pick up some valuable fresh meat during the season. So this season it was more of a mix.
Brendan Haywood all the way back on 11/2 was huge (pun intended). I got excellent mileage out of Beno Udrih until he went down (and of course I released him). The Wilcox for R. Davis deal helped me at times, since Wilcox ended up getting hurt. Of course, I didn't have R. Davis anymore when he really blew up. Warrick was a nice pickup. Al Thornton gave me big stats, until I traded his butt. Late trades for Roy and Deng worked out well overall, and if Roy hadn't been hurt for awhile, I think I could have exhaled before the last day of the season.
Another tough year in the RIHC. Clearly, skill is not enough to win a league of this caliber, and lady luck can be a good friend to have.
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| 5 | Pacers Rule
Sustainer
ID: 910311210
Tue, May 06, 2008, 01:24
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RIHC AAA #2 Final Standings
We had significantly more dialogue within our league, which made for a more interactive league for about half of us who posted regularly. I've found the interaction greatly enhances the game, assuming managers can be positive contributors and understand the 'vibe' of RIHC.
As far as rule changes go, I still really like the IL/IS as a way to minimize the impact of injuries. I wish there was a less subjective way to determine eligibility, or at least more of a shared understanding and committment to follow the rules/procedures, whatever they are determined to be. I also like the concreteness and simplicity of (miss 5 games, become IL eligible) when the injury is day to day but lingering. It helps to even the tables, and encourages managers to take more risk/reward picks b/c there is at least a degree of a safety net with the IS/IL.
I think the # of Games Played strikes the right balance of requiring activity without mandating undue roster churn.
I like that the system favors allowing trades made between managers to stand. We had some real nonsense in terms of attempting to block trades that should have never happened. It would be good if managers could understand the system at season's start and then not complain about it when they aren't able to block other manager's legitimate fantasy activity due to elbow grease and the power of persuasive suggestive 'selling' of upside. It's all about sell high, buy low, right? Some managers seemed to feel if a trade *seemed* to favor one side it should be blocked. In some cases, trades that some tried to block ended up working out to the opposite manager's favor in the end, which says a lot about whether attempting to block the deal in the first place made any sense whatsoever.
I would favor an alternate Head to Head format league under the RIHC banner. By nature, that divison would seem more interactive, with new challenges each week.
I'd favor reducing the RIHC season length about 2 weeks and GP accordingly. The final weeks of DNP's due to playoff issues seems to be a weak and random way to settle close races at the end.
I liked the weekly recap idea that someone (Edgar?) proposed.
It would be good if everyone understood a slow draft was truly a slow draft as opposed to badgering managers who used some of their clock to seek a trade or finalize decisions before committing to a pick. Conversely, failing to keep up with the draft and missing a couple rounds worth of picks created a bit of early angst among the group and generated some significant conflict.
For standings, Necro Butcher's Scar was Tree, Indy Dream was me and Syndney's Picks was WonderB. The rest of the teams should be readily identifiable.
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| 6 | E'ville Destiny
Leader
ID: 29017810
Tue, May 06, 2008, 12:45
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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?
After the draft I felt I had a top 5 team, but as MikeD pointed out who doesn't.
I wanted to secure Centers and Point guards early and that worked well. Leaving me to pick SG/SF in rounds 9-14 where I found good contributors plus a big bonus in Dunleavy(10) and Hill(14). The risk on Jefferson(2) and Aldridge(5) paid off well for me.
I'm still kicking myself for passing on DWill in favor of GWallace in (3). I was concerned with stuffing some steals and blocks, which were my worst catagories, along with assists. As it turned out Wallace missed 20 games and had a poor year in blocks. Also I traded Jamison for T Parker hoping to revive my assists and that failed miserablly as I stayed about the same in assists while losing three positions in scoring down the stretch.
2. Are there any changes in league rules that you would suggest for next year?
No
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?
Probably not a lot I would change in general. I think getting in some extra games early if possible would help me. I ended up trying to fill games played in the last few months and that was when I fell in the rankings because I was forcing in injured and under performing players.
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?
Draft was a huge key for me. I was a little slow to pull the trigger on waivers many times because the players seemed fairly even, but a few of those pickups could have really helped. I remember one night going back and forth for an hour over an aquisition and finally deciding to sleep on it. Of course he was picked up the next morning and had a good stretch as an injury replacement.
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