Fantasy Basketball

Here's the promised second part of the fantasy draft series. This one took place immediately after MVB threw in the towel on the NFL draft. In his defense, I've played this game for many years with my dad, and MVB was just winging it, so I did have a pretty serious advantage. For the NBA draft, Sleve (name changed) had been putting together a list of players he'd want to draft, so he was slightly better prepared for this than MVB had been for his.

As I've explained in previous posts, the general idea is to put MJ on one team, Bird and Magic on the other, then give Jordan's team the first pick from there. Sleve didn't want to take me up on that, and instead just took Magic first, letting me have Jordan. Ok, if he wanted to do that who am I to argue. So first picks: Sleve - Magic, WTH3 - MJ. (I'm going to hold off scoring this one until the end, because I think you can make very good points about each pick, so it's hard to say who "won". That said, in the future I think you have to take MJ out of the discussion, cause basically, his team just wins... anyway)

Second pick Sleve took Hakeem. As mentioned before it is my opinion that the top three picks should always be MJ, Bird/Magic. Sleve definitely threw me by taking Hakeem this early, although he would have been the first center I would have taken off the board as well. I just think there are enough quality centers that 1-6ish are pretty even. If Sleve wasn't going to I definitely was going to take Bird. MJ and Bird on the same team is just so much combined "I WIN" factor.

Third pick Sleve took LeBron. Now, this was just after game 2 of the Eastern Finals, so LeBron's stock was about as high as it's been (and probably will be until he wins a championship). However, if LBJ doesn't have to be your number 1 option he brings great size, speed, D and ball handling to a team. Like Magic he can basically play all 5 positions, and putting the two of them on the floor at the same time would allow your team to go very big without losing anything in terms of back court play. Having five 6'9"+ players on the court at once is nasty. Falling behind on size, I took Tim Duncan. Assuming you don't play centers out of position, Duncan is generally regarded as the best PF ever. He has 4 rings, plays great on both sides of the floor and is a great teammate. At this point I'm down on the overall athleticism of my team, but I have 13 rings to Sleve's 7, so I'm feeling ok.

Fourth pick Sleve took Kobe. I'm not a Kobe hater like Simmons, but neither am I his biggest fan. I respect the fact that he is a beast on both ends of the floor, but in my mind he wants to be better than he is. He sees himself as Jordan, but he also has a pout button that Jordan never showed. Plus, I'm just not sure how well he could fit into a team where he wasn't the best player. Basically, Magic+Kobe has me nervous. Wanting to solidify my inside presence I took Bill Russel. He's a bit undersized to play center these days, but the idea in these drafts is to normalize size/speed based on era, and in that case there're no worries. He's also the greatest winner of all time. One of the things I like is that my team's Finals record at this point is 24-2 (both being Bird losses to Magic) and Sleves is 8-7. My team is just full of more winners and to me that matters.

Fifth Sleve took Karl Malone. Solid pick, definitely a physical force who plays both ways, but the lack of championships hurts. Yes, he was unfortunate to go up against Michael, but in every game that mattered Malone was made to look silly next to His Airness. '98 Finals Game 6's last 41.9 second, and all that. Still a fine pick. Fifth, I added Wilt Chamberlain. This pick hurts my ridiculous 92% Finals winning percentage, but having Wilt's scoring come off the bench is just too good to overlook.

This is going long so I'll summarize the last 7 picks on both sides (not necessarily in order). Sleve - John Stockton, Dennis Johnson, Grant Hill, Chris Webber, Patrick Ewing, Oscar Robertson and Moses Malone. WTH3 - Pete Marovitch, David Thompson, Scottie Pippen, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Dennis Rodman, Jerry West and CP3.

Sleve basically lost the draft in his three pick run of DJ, Hill and Webber. DJ was a solid role player, and apparently won the 79 Finals MVP. Hill and Webber are both testaments to almost-lived-up-to potential. All three are great players who would fit into a championship team, I'm just not sure they're all timers. Ewing (while a Hoya, he's a Hoya I remember as a hated Knick, so am always ambivalent towards) never could win the big one. Stockton is a solid pick, although I can see taking Isiah over him. Big O and Moses are both great picks, and in my opinion are the strength of Sleve's later rounds.

Not much you can say about my last few picks. I've got a soft spot for Pippen and Rodman due to their Bulls affiliations. You could make the case that neither deserve to be on this team, but I took them more for their athleticism and D. The '91 Bulls combo of Jordan and Pippen were just amazing perimeter defenders and I liked both of those two in picks 8-12. West I got 12th, which is just sad, because he's the frikken logo and probably the third best guard of all time. Younger players just see a White Guy and don't think about him, so he's definitely someone who can be picked up later. Kareem changed the rules of the game (no more dunking) cause he was so dominant. Russell, Wilt, Kareem and Duncan as my bigs makes me pretty confident about controlling the post, especially compared to Hakeem, Malone and Ewing. I especially like the mental toughness edge I'd have over Malone and Ewing. Pistol Pete and CP3 could handle the ball for me, although given my overall talent, they're probably some of the first to go to the bench. Jordan, Bird, West, Duncan and Russell are probably my best starting 5, and I'd put CP3 and Pete out there when I want to run. Thompson is largely referred to as the athletic freak of the league before Michael, and would be a great sub for MJ. Ok, apparently I did have a lot to say about my last few picks, sorry.

Ok, so those were the teams. It really was pretty close until Sleve's threesome of average. As with the NFL, I heartily recommend this as a time passing activity. That said, I've clearly done this before, so don't expect a cake walk if you take me on.

Enjoy the weekend!