Expansion League discussion thread

Borgsta · Sep 29, 2006

Kenny_01 said:
Haha, that's what I thought. But there was an article yesterday saying he was as healthy as ever, as hans pointed out.

Back injuries arent something u get over. Hes had them for about 6 years now and will no doubt miss at least 10 games to them this year. As long as its only 10 games its a good pick.

hans moleman · Sep 30, 2006

Not too many surprises in round 3.

Here's my 'Grand Final edition' of the draft analysis:

3.01 Kenny_01 - Rashard Lewis
Comparable West Coast player: Andrew Embley. Lanky guys who don't stand out too much during games, but are versatile and always seem to pick up solid no's.
Kenny warned he would pick him and he did. A guy with a great all round game: 3's, stls, low t/o's and now a 20 ppg man. Being his size, you'd think he could grab a couple more rebounds though. Nevertheless, a good pick here.

3.02 sirjames - Carmelo Anthony
Comparable West Coast player: Ben Cousins. Off field troubles don't stop these guys from playing well.
Carmelo was clutch last season and also had an outstanding world championships. I love this guy's offensive game and he shoots an oustanding % for someone who scores as much as he does. But why can't he grab more than 5 rebounds per game? An Ok pick, but I probably would've preferred a more versatile player at this point.

3.03 X_Box_X - Joe Johnson
Comparable West Coast player: Tyson Stenglein. Both guys fly under the radar. They aren't the most exciting of players but do put up solid no's game after game.
Johnson is someone I would've picked over Carmelo. The youth movement won't stop Joe from getting his, but the introduction of Speedy Claxton will mean a dip in assists (but also t/o's). X_Box_X is now officially stacked at the SG/SF positions.

3.04 morpheus - Ben Wallace
Comparable West Coast player: Darren Glass. Both are very reliable defensive anchors who are always up against the best opposition big man.
A new season, a new team and many missed free throws to come. He doesn't take too many though, so he shouldn't offset Dirk & Chauncey's excellent ft% too much. Looking at the no's, are his rebounds and blocks starting to dip? In any case, they're still outstanding no's and he'll be the only interior defensive force in Chicago. Good pick and it always feels nice to lock up a C who produces great 'big man' stats.

3.05 GeeCat - Jason Richardson
Comparable West Coast player: Daniel Kerr. Both can produce spectacular plays and it's not unusual to see either flying down from one end of the court/field to the other.
For some reason. I'm not really a fan of Richardson in fantasy basketball - I think it's because of his lousy ft%, but Don Nelson has already singled him out for improvement in that area so hopefully that'll spur Richardson to up that % this season. Has developed into a 3-point bomber, but will Nelson allow him to take so many? Unfortunately for GeeCat (who already has Marion & Carter), dunks are not a category in this league.

3.06 Showbag - Dwight Howard
Comparable West Coast player: Chris Judd. Young prodigies who are the future of their respective leagues.
Howard is already one of the leagues best rebounders and shot-blockers, but he is also already one of the league's worst free throw shooters. It's a bit surprising how much his ft% dipped from his rookie season, so there's still hope he could put up a decent % in his 3rd year. It wouldn't be surprising if he gets that coveted C eligibilty if (when?) Darko joins the starting lineup. All signs point to further improvement for Dwight so a good pick here.

3.07 voodoo_86 - Lamar Odom
Comparable West Coast player: Dean Cox. Big men with the skills usually reserved for smaller players. Often the initiator of offense and the main support for the superstars.
Last season Odom struggled to get involved offensively, which led to Phil Jackson urging Odom to be more agressive midway through the season. After that he did start scoring a bit more...but it only lasted about a month before he reverted back to his passive ways. Fortunately he had no troubles in the other areas of his game. Amazing versatility make him a good pick here.

3.08 Borgsta - Gerald Wallace
Comparable West Coast player: Daniel Chick. The intagible men, the 'one-percenters'...but only one has 10 fingers.
I remember picking up Wallace in around round 9 or 10 in last year's BigFooty draft so you can see how much he has improved last year. Of course the steal and block numbers are outstanding, but don't overlook his ability to grab boards and put the ball in the hoop. With a nickname like 'Crash', you can expect him to miss a handful of games though.

3.09 Colonel Matrix - Mehmet Okur
Comparable West Coast player: Rowan Jones. Both have haircuts "you could set your watch to". Which means they like accountants rather than athletes.
The rare C who can hit threes. The points and boards helped make him a fantasy surprise last season and a valuable commodity with his C eligibility. I don't recall Okur, Boozer & Kirilenko playing too many games together last season, so if all guys are good to go, I'll be interested to see if anyone loses out stats-wise. Good pick.

3.10 DBAH0 - Josh Smith
Comparable West Coast player: Adam Hunter. Useful at both ends of the court/field and both guys like to jump.
This guy went on a tear at the end of last season when he suddenly realised he could hit the 3. The rebounds, steals and blocks also went up considerably. If he can maintain that form and bump up the %'s a bit, then he'll be worth the pick here. However, I'm not completely sold on that happening so I think this is something of a shaky pick.

3.11 Falchoon - Peja Stojakovic
Comparable West Coast player: Quinten Lynch. Guys who play predominantly at one end on the ground and who are looked upon for one thing - scoring. As far as I know, Peja doesn't wear a glove during games though.
Remember when this guy was amongst the MVP talka few seasons back? I wonder if he can regain any of that old form on a new team with a PG in Paul who will no doubt be able to set him up with some good looks. A reason I picked Ray Allen in round 2 is because I really wanted to pair him up with Peja, but credit to Falchoon for pinching him at the last moment.

3.12 hans moleman - Mike Bibby
Comparable West Coast player: Ashley Hansen. Key position men who - when the play goes through them and they deliver - seem to be vital components to the team's success.
Surprisingly, he hit as many 3's per game as Stojakovic last season so I'm happy to pick him up. Doesn't get too many assists for a PG though, but will new coach Musselman use Artest and Brad Miller as ballhandlers and distributors like Adelman did previously?

Best pick - Joe Johnson (though none of these picks really stand out as clearly being better than the rest - which means I think that all managers did a good job this round)
Worst pick - Josh Smith. I'm still uncertain about how good he'll be this season.

DBAH0 · Sep 30, 2006

Smith's definitely the most riskiest pick so far besides Stoudemire.

However I got wowed by what he did in the 2nd half of last season, 15PG, 7.8 boards, 3.1 blocks, and 4.1 assists.

I think he'll only get better, so he could get up to 17/18 points, and I would actually prefer him over someone like Wallace, because they have Adam Morrison coming in.

Plus if he can shoot the 3, he's argubly the most versatile fantasy player around.

Probably a better strategy though was to grab Brad Miller in round 3 and then go for Josh Smith in round 4, but getting Artest in round 4 is still pretty good value.

Showbag · Sep 30, 2006

Good summary, as ever, Hans. I would categorise most of this round into the speculative category, players on the verge, but only one season away from being franchise building. With the exceptions of Wallace, Bibby and Peja who are probably on the decline.

Falchoon · Sep 30, 2006

hans moleman said:
A reason I picked Ray Allen in round 2 is because I really wanted to pair him up with Peja, but credit to Falchoon for pinching him at the last moment.

I was tossing up between Miller and Camby and 2 other big blokes, whilst having an eye on Peja and I liked Peja with his new team.

I looked at your previous selections and thought you'd probably take him and one of Camby/Miller. So I really had to take him. I was leaning towards Miller, Millers assists looked good with the Pg's I'm likely to draft and his %'s are real good guy stats particularly with Camby's injury concerns but Camby's upside is huge. He and Kirilenko have just about bought me 1 category already, Peja keeps me in the ballpark in another.

So basically I was more than happy to take Peja and let you decide which big man I should have.

X_box_X · Sep 30, 2006

Yeah, you look hard to beat in blocks, Falchoon.

Falchoon · Oct 1, 2006

here's some Fantasy nerdity that's going to be hard to beat.

Based on last years stats on our first 3 rounds

Code:

 Name	Team 	GP  	Min   	M  	A  	Pct  	 	M  	A  	Pct  	 	M  	A  	Pct  	 	Off  	Def  	Tot  	 	Ast  	TO  	Stl  	Blk  	PF  	PPG  
 Allen Iverson 	PHI 	72	43.1	11.3	25.3	44.7	 	1	3.1	32.3	 	9.4	11.5	81.4	 	0.6	2.6	3.2	 	7.4	3.4	1.9	0.1	1.7	33
 Gerald Wallace 	CHA 	55	34.5	5.8	10.7	53.8	 	0.3	0.9	28	 	3.4	5.6	61.4	 	2.2	5.3	7.5	 	1.8	1.8	2.5	2.1	2.7	15.2
 Tim Duncan 	SA 	80	34.8	7.2	14.8	48.4	 	0	0.1	40	 	4.2	6.7	62.9	 	2.9	8.1	11	 	3.2	2.5	0.9	2	2.7	18.6
																									
Borgsta				24.3	50.8	0.478346457		1.3				17	23.8	0.714285714				21.7		12.4	7.7	5.3	4.2		66.8
																									
 Amare Stoudemire 	PHO 	3	16.8	3	9	33.3	 	0	0.3	0	 	2.7	3	88.9	 	2	3.3	5.3	 	0.7	0.3	0.3	1	1.3	8.7
 Chris Paul 	NOK 	78	36	5.2	12.1	43	 	0.6	2.3	28.3	 	5.1	6	84.7	 	0.8	4.4	5.1	 	7.8	2.4	2.2	0.1	2.8	16.1
 Mehmet Okur 	UTA 	82	35.9	6.3	13.8	46	 	1	2.9	34.2	 	4.3	5.5	78	 	2.6	6.5	9.1	 	2.4	2	0.5	0.9	3.5	18
																									
Colonel Matrix				14.5	34.9	0.415472779		1.6				12.1	14.5	0.834482759				19.5		10.9	4.7	3	2		42.8
																									
 Elton Brand 	LAC 	79	39.2	9.6	18.2	52.7	 	0	0	33.3	 	5.6	7.2	77.5	 	3	7	10	 	2.6	2.2	1	2.5	2.9	24.7
 Josh Smith 	ATL 	80	31.8	4.1	9.7	42.5	 	0.4	1.4	30.9	 	2.6	3.7	71.9	 	2.2	4.4	6.6	 	2.4	2	0.8	2.6	3.3	11.3
 Paul Pierce 	BOS 	79	39	8.7	18.5	47.1	 	1.4	4	35.4	 	7.9	10.3	77.2	 	1	5.7	6.7	 	4.8	3.5	1.4	0.4	2.8	26.8
																									
DBAHO				22.4	46.4	0.482758621		1.8				16.1	21.2	0.759433962				23.3		9.8	7.7	3.2	5.5		62.8
																									
 Andrei Kirilenko 	UTA 	69	37.7	4.9	10.6	46	 	0.5	1.7	30.8	 	5	7.2	69.9	 	2.3	5.7	8	 	4.3	2.9	1.5	3.2	2.4	15.3
 Chris Bosh 	TOR 	70	39.3	7.8	15.5	50.5	 	0	0.2	0	 	6.8	8.3	81.6	 	2.9	6.3	9.2	 	2.6	2.2	0.7	1.1	3	22.5
 Peja Stojakovic 	IND 	71	36.6	6.3	14.3	43.7	 	2.3	5.7	40.1	 	3.4	3.7	91.5	 	1.1	4.7	5.9	 	1.9	1.5	0.6	0.1	2.4	18.2
																									
Falchoon				19	40.4	0.47029703		2.8				15.2	19.2	0.791666667				23.1		8.8	6.6	2.8	4.4		56
																									
 Jason Richardson 	GS 	75	38.4	8.6	19.2	44.6	 	2.4	6.4	38.4	 	3.7	5.5	67.3	 	1.4	4.4	5.8	 	3.1	2.2	1.3	0.5	2.8	23.2
 Shawn Marion 	PHO 	81	40.3	8.8	16.9	52.5	 	1.2	3.6	33.1	 	3	3.7	80.9	 	3.1	8.8	11.8	 	1.8	1.5	2	1.7	2.8	21.8
 Vince Carter 	NJ 	79	36.8	8.3	19.2	43	 	1.6	4.7	34.1	 	6.1	7.6	79.9	 	1.7	4.1	5.9	 	4.3	2.7	1.2	0.7	3	24.2
																									
Geecat				25.7	55.3	0.464737794		5.2				12.8	16.8	0.761904762				23.5		9.2	6.4	4.5	2.9		69.2
																									
 Mike Bibby 	SAC 	82	38.6	7.3	16.9	43.2	 	2.3	6.1	38.6	 	4.2	4.9	84.9	 	0.4	2.6	2.9	 	5.4	2.4	1	0.1	2.1	21.1
 Ray Allen 	SEA 	78	38.7	8.7	19.2	45.4	 	3.5	8.4	41.2	 	4.2	4.6	90.3	 	0.9	3.4	4.3	 	3.7	2.4	1.4	0.2	1.9	25.1
 Yao Ming 	HOU 	57	34.2	8.2	15.8	51.9	 	0	0	0	 	5.9	6.9	85.3	 	2.6	7.6	10.2	 	1.5	2.6	0.5	1.7	3.4	22.3
																									
Hans Moleman				24.2	51.9	0.46628131		5.8				14.3	16.4	0.87195122				17.4		10.6	7.4	2.9	2		68.5
																									
 Carmelo Anthony 	DEN 	80	36.8	9.5	19.7	48.1	 	0.5	1.9	24.3	 	7.2	8.9	80.8	 	1.5	3.4	4.9	 	2.7	2.7	1.1	0.5	2.9	26.5
 Kevin Garnett 	MIN 	76	38.9	8.2	15.7	52.6	 	0.1	0.4	26.7	 	5.2	6.4	81	 	2.8	9.9	12.7	 	4.1	2.4	1.4	1.4	2.7	21.8
 Michael Redd 	MIL 	80	39.1	8.5	19	45	 	2	5.2	39.5	 	6.3	7.1	87.7	 	1	3.3	4.3	 	2.9	2.1	1.2	0.1	2	25.4
																									
Sir James				26.2	54.4	0.481617647		2.6				18.7	22.4	0.834821429				21.9		9.7	7.2	3.7	2		73.7
																									
 Jason Kidd 	NJ 	80	37.2	4.6	11.3	40.4	 	1.7	4.9	35.2	 	2.4	3.1	79.5	 	1.1	6.2	7.3	 	8.4	2.4	1.9	0.4	2	13.3
 LeBron James 	CLE 	79	42.5	11.1	23.1	48	 	1.6	4.8	33.5	 	7.6	10.3	73.8	 	1	6.1	7	 	6.6	3.3	1.6	0.8	2.3	31.4
 Rashard Lewis 	SEA 	78	36.9	6.9	14.8	46.7	 	1.8	4.7	38.4	 	4.5	5.5	81.8	 	1.4	3.6	5	 	2.3	1.8	1.3	0.6	2.5	20.1
																									
Kenny				22.6	49.2	0.459349593		5.1				14.5	18.9	0.767195767				19.3		17.3	7.5	4.8	1.8		64.8
																									
 Ben Wallace 	DET 	82	35.3	2.9	5.7	51	 	0	0.1	0	 	1.5	3.6	41.6	 	3.7	7.6	11.3	 	1.9	1.1	1.8	2.2	2	7.3
 Chauncey Billups 	DET 	81	36.1	5.2	12.5	41.8	 	2.3	5.3	43.3	 	5.7	6.4	89.4	 	0.5	2.6	3.1	 	8.6	2.1	0.9	0.1	2	18.5
 Dirk Nowitzki 	DAL 	81	38.1	9.3	19.3	48	 	1.4	3.4	40.6	 	6.7	7.4	90.1	 	1.4	7.6	9	 	2.8	1.9	0.7	1	2	26.6
																									
Morpheus				17.4	37.5	0.464		3.7				13.9	17.4	0.798850575				23.4		13.3	5.1	3.4	3.3		52.4
																									
 Dwight Howard 	ORL 	82	36.8	5.7	10.7	53.1	 	0	0	0	 	4.3	7.3	59.5	 	3.5	9	12.5	 	1.5	2.7	0.8	1.4	3.4	15.8
 Dwyane Wade 	MIA 	75	38.6	9.3	18.8	49.5	 	0.2	1	17.1	 	8.4	10.7	78.3	 	1.4	4.3	5.7	 	6.7	3.6	2	0.8	2.9	27.2
 Steve Nash 	PHO 	79	35.4	6.9	13.4	51.2	 	1.9	4.3	43.9	 	3.3	3.5	92.1	 	0.6	3.6	4.2	 	10.5	3.5	0.8	0.2	1.5	18.9
																									
Showbag				21.9	42.9	0.51048951		2.1				16	21.5	0.744186047				22.4		18.7	9.8	3.6	2.4		61.9
																									
 Gilbert Arenas 	WAS 	80	42.3	9.3	20.9	44.7	 	2.5	6.8	36.9	 	8.2	10	82	 	0.7	2.8	3.5	 	6.1	3.7	2	0.3	3.6	29.3
 Jermaine O'Neal 	IND 	51	35.3	7.5	15.8	47.2	 	0.1	0.2	30	 	5.1	7.2	70.9	 	2	7.3	9.3	 	2.6	3	0.5	2.3	3.5	20.1
 Lamar Odom 	LAL 	80	40.3	5.6	11.6	48.1	 	1	2.7	37.2	 	2.7	3.9	69	 	2.3	7	9.2	 	5.5	2.7	0.9	0.8	3.2	14.8
																									
Voodoo 86				22.4	48.3	0.463768116		3.6				16	21.1	0.758293839				22		14.2	9.4	3.4	3.4		64.2
																									
 Joe Johnson 	ATL 	82	40.7	7.7	17	45.3	 	1.6	4.4	35.6	 	3.2	4	79.1	 	1.2	2.9	4.1	 	6.5	3.3	1.3	0.4	2.3	20.2
 Kobe Bryant 	LAL 	80	41	12.2	27.2	45	 	2.3	6.5	34.8	 	8.7	10.2	85	 	0.9	4.4	5.3	 	4.5	3.1	1.8	0.4	2.9	35.4
 Tracy McGrady 	HOU 	47	37.1	8.7	21.5	40.6	 	1.6	5	31.2	 	5.4	7.2	74.7	 	1	5.6	6.5	 	4.8	2.6	1.3	0.9	1.9	24.4
																									
X Box X				28.6	65.7	0.435312024		5.5				17.3	21.4	0.808411215				15.9		15.8	9	4.4	1.7		80

Falchoon · Oct 1, 2006

Code:

********************	FG%  	3pM  	FT%	Reb	Ast  	TO  	Stl  	Blk  	PPG  
Borgsta**********	47.8%	1.3	71.4%	21.7	12.4	7.7	5.3	4.2	66.8
Colonel Matrix***	41.5%	1.6	83.4%	19.5	10.9	4.7	3.0	2.0	42.8
DBAHO************	48.3%	1.8	75.9%	23.3	9.8	7.7	3.2	5.5	62.8
Falchoon*********	47.0%	2.8	79.2%	23.1	8.8	6.6	2.8	4.4	56.0
Geecat***********	46.5%	5.2	76.2%	23.5	9.2	6.4	4.5	2.9	69.2
Hans Moleman****	46.6%	5.8	87.2%	17.4	10.6	7.4	2.9	2.0	68.5
Kenny************	48.2%	2.6	83.5%	21.9	9.7	7.2	3.7	2.0	73.7
Morpheus********	45.9%	5.1	76.7%	19.3	17.3	7.5	4.8	1.8	64.8
Showbag*********	46.4%	3.7	79.9%	23.4	13.3	5.1	3.4	3.3	52.4
Sir James********	51.0%	2.1	74.4%	22.4	18.7	9.8	3.6	2.4	61.9
Voodoo 86*******	46.4%	3.6	75.8%	22.0	14.2	9.4	3.4	3.4	64.2
X Box X**********	43.5%	5.5	80.8%	15.9	15.8	9.0	4.4	1.7	80.0

Falchoon · Oct 1, 2006

Code:

********************	FG%  	3pM  	FT%	Reb	Ast  	TO  	Stl  	Blk  	PPG  		
Geecat***********	7	3	8	1	11	3	3	6	3	=	45
Sir James********	3	8	2	7	10	5	5	8	2	=	50
Morpheus********	8	5	5	2	5	2	7	5	11	=	50
Hans Moleman****	6	1	1	11	8	6	11	8	4	=	56
Kenny************	10	4	7	10	2	7	2	11	6	=	59
X Box X**********	11	2	4	12	3	10	4	12	1	=	59
Borgsta**********	4	12	12	8	6	9	1	3	5	=	60
DBAHO************	2	10	9	3	9	9	9	1	8	=	60
Showbag*********	1	9	11	5	1	12	6	7	9	=	61
Falchoon*********	5	7	6	4	12	4	12	2	10	=	62
Voodoo 86*******	9	6	10	6	4	11	7	4	7	=	64
Colonel Matrix***	12	11	3	9	7	1	10	8	12	=	73

Falchoon · Oct 1, 2006

Formatting is doing my head in, more nerdity required

Falchoon · Oct 1, 2006

and all that with a 8000 chip lead Borghetti, multiskilled

voodoo_86 · Oct 1, 2006

Argh I thought yesterday was a great day, then I wake up (yes, I only just woke up) to find pretty much every player I was considering for my next pick is gone

Nice work on the nerdiness falc, makes for interesting (if not pretty in my case

) viewing

X_box_X · Oct 1, 2006

If anything, those stats support my case that it's better to have a pick from 7-12 in the first round than what it is to have a pick from 1-6. The difference between pick 1-6 and 7-12 is not a hell of a lot.

voodoo_86 · Oct 1, 2006

I'm not so sure I agree (at least for the first 3 rounds). I think it was easier to pick at the end of the 2nd that it was at the end of the 3rd, thus for the people 1-6 to have a quick succession pick between rounds 2 and 3 was more of an advantage in my eyes. Where as the players seem to becoming more even for the bridge between rounds 3-4. Plus you have that 'ultimate star' type player that someone down the track may be willing to give up a truck load for so you can iron out any other deficiencies you may have.

Personally I think it all pretty much evens itself out in the end though, and while there's obviously a great deal of skill involved, it also comes down to a few educated guesses and a lot of luck as the season unfolds.

hans moleman · Oct 1, 2006

Thanks for the stats Falchoon - especially the roto standings - it's good to know where the teams stand comparatively at this stage.

Showbag said:
I would categorise most of this round into the speculative category, players on the verge, but only one season away from being franchise building.

Yeah, good point...we definitely reached the '2nd tier' stars in round 3.

Kenny_01 · Oct 2, 2006

Falchoon should just rename his team to Kenny's Allstars

Falchoon · Oct 2, 2006

Kenny_01 said:
Falchoon should just rename his team to Kenny's Allstars

Stojakovich > Lewis

Kenny_01 · Oct 2, 2006

Kenny's Allstars looking omnious post trade...

PG: Jason Kidd
SG:
SF: Rashard Lewis
PF: Shawn Marion
C: Boris Diaw

Kenny_01 · Oct 2, 2006