This is not about the game entitled ‘final fantasy.’ Call it a stupid pun of it but I just could not think of a better title for this blog entry. Let’s get straight to the point – this is about fantasy NBA. Yes, you read it right – it is my favorite topic for the past six months.
It has been a wild roller coaster ride for my fantasy teams this year. One of my teams had Gilbert Arenas who was injured for most part of the year. Another had Elton Brand and Mike Bibby to which I tanked the whole season just to get the first pick for the draft next year. As for the others, I just played with my drafted team and made a couple of lineup switches along the way. There were so many ups and downs. Some leagues ended successful, some did not. But all in all, it was a great year for fantasy NBA for me as I won the league were I deemed to be the most important of them all (as it involved pot money).
That very same league was the league I featured in my blog entry about the fantasy draft. I must admit that I swallowed my words when I criticized some of the draft picks in there. Kevin Garnett was obviously not an elite fantasy draft pick anymore. LeBron James is the man now. Dwight Howard proved that he is better than what I thought he was. I had frustrating picks and the list goes on. To think of it, I did not have an elite team with me. I was going up and down from the 6th placed team overall to the 7th placed during the middle of the season.
Losing your first pick for the whole season could really be devastating but it is not over until it’s over. We are in a head-to-head league so the elimination round scores won’t have effect when we reach the finals. All that matters is to enter the playoffs and win it all from there. Thank God, it all went as planned. I actually built my team for the playoffs. Contract year players like Iguodala and Jamison were gold during the fantasy playoffs. Researching for the best playoff teams was also helpful as I had the advantage on the number of games. Lastly, it was great to have players like John Salmons and Anderson Varejao to keep my team from crashing and burn during the regular season games.
With that, I entered the playoffs as a dark horse team. I was the sixth overall. There were only six teams to enter the playoffs so it meant that I probably had the worst team of the playoff teams. With the help of some luck, I overcame the odds when I played a team that best suited against my opponent’s teams.
Fantasy Playoffs 1st Round Ateneo Blue Eagles - 6, NikeBoy - 3
My guard-laden team got this one right. I used the triple point guard combination of Calderon, Williams and Felton to face JP’s team. It was actually a struggle on my part because I had to bench Rashard Lewis because the Magic only played two games that week. Also, Jason Williams got injured that very same week. Tough luck? Not really. My opponent had tougher luck as he gambled on an injured Pau Gasol and he had to bench the limping Chris Kaman. Thus, I had the edge on points, fg% and rebounds. I was ready to tank 3PM and ft% this week because I was facing Peja’s team.
Fantasy Playoffs Semifinals Ateneo Blue Eagles - 5, Boaston Sellticks – 4
Based on statistical projections and averages, I could have lost this one. I was facing Chris Paul’s team. However, Myk’s team was Dirk-less and he gambled too much on players which have the potential of losing fantasy value due to the returning stars on their rosters. On my side, I stayed with the well-tested ones. The only streaky player that I had was Joel Przybilla. Nevertheless, it was still an awesome gamble as he got a bunch of boards. Despite of fielding Ronny Turiaf, DeShawn Stevenson and Jeff Green, my opponent did not go down without a fight. We had to wait for the final second before we concluded that I won this match. Add to that the fact that Jeff Green had a monster performance in his last game of the week. Nonetheless, the underdog team was able to pull its tricks and reach the finals. This was my sweetest match of the playoffs as I proved that strategizing against your opponent’s squad by number crunching is very helpful.
Fantasy Playoffs Grand Finals Ateneo Blue Eagles - 5, WOO’s Your Daddy!?! – 4
The grandest stage of them all. It was the 1st placed team against the 6th placed team. I was actually lucky that Gerald Wallace will not play Paul’s final week. In addition to that, it was time to reap some benefits from my #1 pick – Gilbert Arenas. The problem though was all of my players still could not match his stat averages. A team with Rudy Gay, Steve Nash, Hedo Turkoglu, Manu Ginobili, Lamar Odom and a comebacking Brandon Roy is hard to beat. Even the stats don’t offer me a chance. Thus, I had to get streaky players such as Leon Powe, Rodney Stuckey and Travis Diener. Powe was set for a great week but the other two are so inconsistent. Even though my projections still show that I will lose, I just put faith on my final team. I even risked benching Jose Calderon and Raymond Felton for this final week. What’s more painful was to see Diener and Stuckey screw up my percentages. I originally projected to get the percentages, steals, TO’s and 3PM but it did not come true as I had to have strong luck on rebounding and blocks. Winning the final week with just four rebound and two block leads was simply great luck for me.
Funny thing though was, I was not expecting to win this. Getting a gain from my P500 investment was already cool. I had everything to gain.
So there was my fairy tale team. From virtually losing Gilbert Arenas for almost the entire season to getting Calderon off a 2 for 1 trade. From getting frustrated on Iggy’s missed shots to getting fascinated to Antawn’s double-double performance. From being a sixth placed team to being a champion.
It just goes to show that anything can happen on head-to-head and I just love its unpredictability.
My Team’s Record:
16-8 is not bad. Both of these are my favorite numbers anyway.
Fantasy Awards
As the season ends, I shall be giving my fantasy awards for those who have played exceptional.
Fantasy MVP: LeBron James
My Team’s Fantasy MVP: Antawn Jamison
Defensive Player of the Year: Marcus Camby
Mr. Fantasy Playoffs: Andre Iguodala
Fantasy Playoff Bust: Chris Kaman
Most Improved Player: Rudy Gay/Hedo Turkoglu/Jose Calderon
Fantasy Sixth Man: John Salmons
Fantasy Disappointment of the Year: Gilbert Arenas
Fantasy Rookie of the Year: Al Horford
My Team’s Best Category: Steals – Yes, that’s why I was able to steal the title this year
My Team’s Best Draft Steal: Danny Granger
Favorite Team to Beat: Myk’s Boaston Sellticks
Best Name to Describe My Team: Cinderella Team
2008 Fantasy Draft
The season ends and here we are thinking of who should be drafted first next year. Here is my list:
1) LeBron James
2) Kobe Bryant
3) Chris Paul
4) Amare Stoudamire
5) Elton Brand
6) Deron Williams
7) Gilbert Arenas
8) Dirk Nowitzki
9) Steve Nash
10) Kevin Garnett
11) Shawn Marion
12) Dwight Howard
13) Josh Smith
14) Dwyane Wade
15) Al Jefferson
16) Caron Butler
17) Chris Bosh
18) Carlos Boozer
19) Carmelo Anthony
20) Marcus Camby
21) Rudy Gay
22) Andre Iguodala
23) Manu Ginobili
24) Allen Iverson
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