Note: This is an old post from my Multiply site last November 1, 2008.
There is always a joy for me even if the UAAP Basketball season has already ended. The reason for such is that the fantasy NBA drafting season starts again. This is what most fantasy basketball fans have been waiting for. Even if you do not win a fantasy tournament by the draft day – you win it on the waivers – fantasy drafts bring the most excitement to most of us. The pleasure of getting a formidable lineup on draft day always gives a sense of fulfilment and pleasure for me even though I do not get anything in return should I end up the champion.
This year will not be different. I joined up six Yahoo! leagues in order to satisfy my fantasy basketball craving. It could have been more but I was too busy spending my time for a Type C1 US Visa. Last year, I ended up winning our head-to-head league in HP and my goal will still be the same for this year. It is just that the glory and hunger might not be that high. I am now hungrier in getting a rotiserrie league win, especially in the 18-team 8-man keeper MEA Fantasy League because it would prove more challenging as I have been accustomed in a head-to-head environment ever since I started playing Fantasy basketball last 2006.
This year, I will provide a breakdown of two of my teams in the fantasy leagues. One for roto and another on head-to-head
Roto League
Last year, I joined the MEA League as Chad could not anymore continue playing his account. I started with a legitimate squad composed of Tim Duncan, Carmelo Anthony, Mike Bibby, Pau Gasol, Josh Childress and Anthony Parker. However, I lost Mike Bibby for a great part of the season due to injury. I observed at that time that my team has a good chance to crack at the top five to ten but my problem was, I am in an 18-team keeper league were getting good players year in and year out is quite difficult as the number of keepers are expected to increase to eight by this year. First of all, I did not see my team winning it last year because Mike Bibby is out and my first two round draft picks were autopicks. In short, I was not really able to choose who my players were. Instead of fighting fire with fire, I went the other way early in the season – I traded my key players for better potential and planned on punting to get a strong draft position come year end. I started by dealing the aging Tim Duncan for the injured Elton Brand. He is not that young but he is a better fantasy option than the Fundamental because Elton has better freethrow percentage and less mileage. TD, on the other hand, has that risk of getting pulled out for decreased playing time when it comes to the last stretches of the season. The initial 1 for 1 trade was vetoed but I pursued by getting the fifth round draft pick – Jeff Green.
In a matter of days, my ranking slipped from a top ten team to the bottom of the standings. Having two stars – Brand and Bibby – riding my bench made it worse (or better, strategy-wise). I started looking for potential from the waiver wire as well. I got Jordan Farmar, Craig Smith and Anderson Varejao in the process. These players are usually expendable but with the number of teams in our league, I can settle with having them in my starting lineup. Eventually, Mike Bibby started playing. It was the time to trade him as his value is higher. I targeted another injured player, TJ Ford, as he is younger and more efficient. He also continued to make my team sit in the last place. I ended the year getting waiver wire pickups in Spencer Hawes, Stephon Marbury and Jamaal Tinsley.
Punting, whether you like it or not, is valid. I ended up as the last placed team and am ready in picking the best fantasy potential this year. I initially had Derrick Rose in my mind because I believe that he will end up a great PG. I love PG’s when it comes to fantasy because they bring lots of stats in the table. I usually have the three to four PG strategy because I try to strengthen my points, assists, steals, FT% and threes. Having a great PG in your lineup is very important. Anyway, I already have Pau Gasol and Elton Brand guarding the fort.
I was already set in getting Rose until the mid part of this year. He ended up as the 1st draft pick for the Bulls while the fantasy monster Beasley ended up in Miami. OJ Mayo ended up in Memphis while Kevin Love in Minny. That situation just added flavour to my fantasy liking. Mayo was traded to Memphis with Rudy Gay as the only scoring option of the franchise. Juan Carlos Navarro went back to Europe so there was really no other guy to hold the rock other than Gay. Derrick Rose is in Chicago with a guard stampede but I do not really care that much. However, I started to realize that Michael Beasley is more solid. If you have a guy with solid percentages and scores a lot, he is very valuable in roto. Beasley’s rebounds are also strong. And, he has threes! That is one thing that my team lacks. I started to see Beasley as a better fantasy option than the weak FT shooting, no three point shot Derrick Rose. But because of OJ Mayo’s situation in Memphis (mind you, I was high on Mayo before I was high on Rose), I wanted to get one of them. I set up a trade that gives up Pau Gasol. Many people will criticize me for doing this but I am just too high on this year’s rookie crop because of the situation that they are in.
I eventually ended getting these keepers: Elton Brand, Carmelo Anthony, TJ Ford, the 4th pick of the 1st round, Jeff Green, Spencer Hawes, Rodney Stuckey and Jordan Farmar. I drafted Beasley and hoped that nobody gets Rose before I get to pick again. But Derrick is the 1st pick so he was eventually taken. I ended up getting OJ Mayo and everything was right in the world. In the following round, I was thinking of getting a vet or a sophomore but I was not able to resist Rudy Fernandez lying in the choices so I got another rookie. I ended up using my picks on Anderson Varejao and Antonio McDyess in the latter rounds. If you will take a look at my team, it seemed weak but it could potentially be a very strong one especially if this year’s triumvirate of Beasley, Mayo and Fernandez clicks.
Fortunately, I was not wrong in getting Rudy Fernandez as he started to light up my stat sheet with his strong performance in his first game. Forget about the time share. He is going to get his 29 minutes per game and that is what matters. I am not doubting Beasley and Mayo even if they had bad starts and I am off to ‘redeem’ from last year’s place this year.
Head-to-Head League
Here we are again with my annual dose of draft from my HP League. We are composed of twelve teams this year and even if the players have changed, we still have our yearly players as Paul, Myk, Joel and I opted to continue playing. We have ten starters and five bench players. We use the following: PG-SG-G-PF-SF-F-C-Util-Util-Util. Yes, we have three utility players because I want them to have more freedom in their lineups. We still have the usual nine categories: FG%, FT%, points, threes, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and turnovers.
I got the fourth pick and I got the best player available by getting Amare Stoudamire. It was great to get him this year because I am planning to get a big man as early as possible because I had that dilemma when everyone started reaching for bigs. I picked Marcus Camby in the second round because I wanted to solidify my rebounds and blocks. Now you see where I am going – I am targeting the big guys while everyone else were starting to discount them as they just need one C in their lineup. Perhaps, it was the effect of having some drafts prior to this one. I realized that there is a huge scarcity in the center department whereas getting a point guard is so easier now as it was before. Nevertheless, I continued to follow the traditional PF/C-PG strategy when I got my man, Jose Calderon in the third round. I have pretty much set my favoured categories: FG%, assists, rebounds, blocks, turnovers. I continued with the big man frenzy in the fourth and fifth rounds by reaching on Andrew Bogut and getting Al Horford. I got another high FG% player in Andre Miller and another center (WOW!) in Tyson Chandler. I was not planning on getting him but he was such a steal in the seventh round. Gilbert Arenas, Marcus Williams and Thaddeus Young completed my cast with Marc Gasol (steal in the 13th), Jeff Green, Ramon Sessions and Stephon Marbury.
Overall, I loved this draft because I am now cornering the big man stats without sacrificing that much in assists. I have punted three pointers but I do not care. This is head-to-head.
Other Notes: Losing
I started last month by celebrating Ateneo’s dominance of the UAAP Men’s Basketball Championship. However, I know that not everything goes your way especially when you are a sports fan. You win some, you lose some. I learned it the hard way when I started watching basketball by Grade 2. I felt sorry every time my PBA team – Purefoods – lose, whether it be in a big way or in a tightly-contested game. I have to admit that there were times when I could not battle the tears dripping out of my eyes because of the times when I thought my team could have had it. I started watching basketball when Purefoods won the All-Filipino Cup in 1993 but ever since then, I have seen them fail as they were always losing in the championship of the All-Filipino Conference. The same way goes to my NBA team – the Utah Jazz – when they failed to achieve because they had to face Michael Jordan’s Bulls. Hey, they did not even win one championship then. I was so frustrated on the 1998 series because I thought it was their year after they won Game 1. It is really difficult to be on the losing side even if I am just a spectator.
Hey, I really get that involved then when I just try to sit in a corner and avoid moving once I find out that my team gets lucky whenever I am sitting in there. I usually hold back my emotions of joy until the last second of the game because I know that I can never be sure of what will happen. Thus, I am most of the time nervous and intense from all the action.
Of course, it is not anymore the same experience in the recent times. I have learned and matured from some of my childish experiences. You will not see me crying when my team loses. I am more active than before in the sense that if my team scores, I express my emotion loudly. If my team loses, I congratulate the winners and move on. There are some occasional excuses but I do not get affected as I used to. I still practice superstitious beliefs though. I normally do not switch TV channels a lot when my team starts to struggle.
Whether I like it or not, I have to endure losing. Most sports fans experience losing more than winning because of all the teams year in and year out, there is only one that emerges to the top. This year will not be an exception as two of my teams lost in crucial stages of the season last October. The San Antonio Silver Stars lost to the Detroit Shock in the WNBA Finals. It was just this year that I watched the WNBA and the reason why I rooted for the Silver Stars was because I have a crush on their ace shooter – Becky Hammon. There were no major attachments when I watched the Stars implode in the ending minutes of the Game 3.
My Boston Red Sox, on the other hand, lost their chances of defending the World Series crown when the Tampa Bays finally defeated them in a decisive Game 7 of the ALCS. Even if they were unable to beat the young and inexperienced Tampa Bay team, I was still happy for the Red Sox because they showed the heart of a champion by not giving up despite being down 1-3 in the series.
When Becky was interviewed moments after their loss to the Detroit Shock, she came up with the quote of the month. "There's a way to step off the court gracefully and hold your head high," Hammon said. "They beat us. Does it stink? Yeah. But in no way can you let a loss take your character or your integrity."
That quote and the Red Sox’s never say die attitude make losing moments as valuable as winning moments are. It is about upholding the spirit of sportsmanship. You fight up to the last moment and should you fail, you stand up and move on. In sports, it is not about winning that matters the most. It is about loving it and having that winning character of rising above adversity; or accepting defeat like a man.
There is always a joy for me even if the UAAP Basketball season has already ended. The reason for such is that the fantasy NBA drafting season starts again. This is what most fantasy basketball fans have been waiting for. Even if you do not win a fantasy tournament by the draft day – you win it on the waivers – fantasy drafts bring the most excitement to most of us. The pleasure of getting a formidable lineup on draft day always gives a sense of fulfilment and pleasure for me even though I do not get anything in return should I end up the champion.
This year will not be different. I joined up six Yahoo! leagues in order to satisfy my fantasy basketball craving. It could have been more but I was too busy spending my time for a Type C1 US Visa. Last year, I ended up winning our head-to-head league in HP and my goal will still be the same for this year. It is just that the glory and hunger might not be that high. I am now hungrier in getting a rotiserrie league win, especially in the 18-team 8-man keeper MEA Fantasy League because it would prove more challenging as I have been accustomed in a head-to-head environment ever since I started playing Fantasy basketball last 2006.
This year, I will provide a breakdown of two of my teams in the fantasy leagues. One for roto and another on head-to-head
Roto League
Last year, I joined the MEA League as Chad could not anymore continue playing his account. I started with a legitimate squad composed of Tim Duncan, Carmelo Anthony, Mike Bibby, Pau Gasol, Josh Childress and Anthony Parker. However, I lost Mike Bibby for a great part of the season due to injury. I observed at that time that my team has a good chance to crack at the top five to ten but my problem was, I am in an 18-team keeper league were getting good players year in and year out is quite difficult as the number of keepers are expected to increase to eight by this year. First of all, I did not see my team winning it last year because Mike Bibby is out and my first two round draft picks were autopicks. In short, I was not really able to choose who my players were. Instead of fighting fire with fire, I went the other way early in the season – I traded my key players for better potential and planned on punting to get a strong draft position come year end. I started by dealing the aging Tim Duncan for the injured Elton Brand. He is not that young but he is a better fantasy option than the Fundamental because Elton has better freethrow percentage and less mileage. TD, on the other hand, has that risk of getting pulled out for decreased playing time when it comes to the last stretches of the season. The initial 1 for 1 trade was vetoed but I pursued by getting the fifth round draft pick – Jeff Green.
In a matter of days, my ranking slipped from a top ten team to the bottom of the standings. Having two stars – Brand and Bibby – riding my bench made it worse (or better, strategy-wise). I started looking for potential from the waiver wire as well. I got Jordan Farmar, Craig Smith and Anderson Varejao in the process. These players are usually expendable but with the number of teams in our league, I can settle with having them in my starting lineup. Eventually, Mike Bibby started playing. It was the time to trade him as his value is higher. I targeted another injured player, TJ Ford, as he is younger and more efficient. He also continued to make my team sit in the last place. I ended the year getting waiver wire pickups in Spencer Hawes, Stephon Marbury and Jamaal Tinsley.
Punting, whether you like it or not, is valid. I ended up as the last placed team and am ready in picking the best fantasy potential this year. I initially had Derrick Rose in my mind because I believe that he will end up a great PG. I love PG’s when it comes to fantasy because they bring lots of stats in the table. I usually have the three to four PG strategy because I try to strengthen my points, assists, steals, FT% and threes. Having a great PG in your lineup is very important. Anyway, I already have Pau Gasol and Elton Brand guarding the fort.
I was already set in getting Rose until the mid part of this year. He ended up as the 1st draft pick for the Bulls while the fantasy monster Beasley ended up in Miami. OJ Mayo ended up in Memphis while Kevin Love in Minny. That situation just added flavour to my fantasy liking. Mayo was traded to Memphis with Rudy Gay as the only scoring option of the franchise. Juan Carlos Navarro went back to Europe so there was really no other guy to hold the rock other than Gay. Derrick Rose is in Chicago with a guard stampede but I do not really care that much. However, I started to realize that Michael Beasley is more solid. If you have a guy with solid percentages and scores a lot, he is very valuable in roto. Beasley’s rebounds are also strong. And, he has threes! That is one thing that my team lacks. I started to see Beasley as a better fantasy option than the weak FT shooting, no three point shot Derrick Rose. But because of OJ Mayo’s situation in Memphis (mind you, I was high on Mayo before I was high on Rose), I wanted to get one of them. I set up a trade that gives up Pau Gasol. Many people will criticize me for doing this but I am just too high on this year’s rookie crop because of the situation that they are in.
I eventually ended getting these keepers: Elton Brand, Carmelo Anthony, TJ Ford, the 4th pick of the 1st round, Jeff Green, Spencer Hawes, Rodney Stuckey and Jordan Farmar. I drafted Beasley and hoped that nobody gets Rose before I get to pick again. But Derrick is the 1st pick so he was eventually taken. I ended up getting OJ Mayo and everything was right in the world. In the following round, I was thinking of getting a vet or a sophomore but I was not able to resist Rudy Fernandez lying in the choices so I got another rookie. I ended up using my picks on Anderson Varejao and Antonio McDyess in the latter rounds. If you will take a look at my team, it seemed weak but it could potentially be a very strong one especially if this year’s triumvirate of Beasley, Mayo and Fernandez clicks.
Fortunately, I was not wrong in getting Rudy Fernandez as he started to light up my stat sheet with his strong performance in his first game. Forget about the time share. He is going to get his 29 minutes per game and that is what matters. I am not doubting Beasley and Mayo even if they had bad starts and I am off to ‘redeem’ from last year’s place this year.
Head-to-Head League
Here we are again with my annual dose of draft from my HP League. We are composed of twelve teams this year and even if the players have changed, we still have our yearly players as Paul, Myk, Joel and I opted to continue playing. We have ten starters and five bench players. We use the following: PG-SG-G-PF-SF-F-C-Util-Util-Util. Yes, we have three utility players because I want them to have more freedom in their lineups. We still have the usual nine categories: FG%, FT%, points, threes, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and turnovers.
I got the fourth pick and I got the best player available by getting Amare Stoudamire. It was great to get him this year because I am planning to get a big man as early as possible because I had that dilemma when everyone started reaching for bigs. I picked Marcus Camby in the second round because I wanted to solidify my rebounds and blocks. Now you see where I am going – I am targeting the big guys while everyone else were starting to discount them as they just need one C in their lineup. Perhaps, it was the effect of having some drafts prior to this one. I realized that there is a huge scarcity in the center department whereas getting a point guard is so easier now as it was before. Nevertheless, I continued to follow the traditional PF/C-PG strategy when I got my man, Jose Calderon in the third round. I have pretty much set my favoured categories: FG%, assists, rebounds, blocks, turnovers. I continued with the big man frenzy in the fourth and fifth rounds by reaching on Andrew Bogut and getting Al Horford. I got another high FG% player in Andre Miller and another center (WOW!) in Tyson Chandler. I was not planning on getting him but he was such a steal in the seventh round. Gilbert Arenas, Marcus Williams and Thaddeus Young completed my cast with Marc Gasol (steal in the 13th), Jeff Green, Ramon Sessions and Stephon Marbury.
Overall, I loved this draft because I am now cornering the big man stats without sacrificing that much in assists. I have punted three pointers but I do not care. This is head-to-head.
Other Notes: Losing
I started last month by celebrating Ateneo’s dominance of the UAAP Men’s Basketball Championship. However, I know that not everything goes your way especially when you are a sports fan. You win some, you lose some. I learned it the hard way when I started watching basketball by Grade 2. I felt sorry every time my PBA team – Purefoods – lose, whether it be in a big way or in a tightly-contested game. I have to admit that there were times when I could not battle the tears dripping out of my eyes because of the times when I thought my team could have had it. I started watching basketball when Purefoods won the All-Filipino Cup in 1993 but ever since then, I have seen them fail as they were always losing in the championship of the All-Filipino Conference. The same way goes to my NBA team – the Utah Jazz – when they failed to achieve because they had to face Michael Jordan’s Bulls. Hey, they did not even win one championship then. I was so frustrated on the 1998 series because I thought it was their year after they won Game 1. It is really difficult to be on the losing side even if I am just a spectator.
Hey, I really get that involved then when I just try to sit in a corner and avoid moving once I find out that my team gets lucky whenever I am sitting in there. I usually hold back my emotions of joy until the last second of the game because I know that I can never be sure of what will happen. Thus, I am most of the time nervous and intense from all the action.
Of course, it is not anymore the same experience in the recent times. I have learned and matured from some of my childish experiences. You will not see me crying when my team loses. I am more active than before in the sense that if my team scores, I express my emotion loudly. If my team loses, I congratulate the winners and move on. There are some occasional excuses but I do not get affected as I used to. I still practice superstitious beliefs though. I normally do not switch TV channels a lot when my team starts to struggle.
Whether I like it or not, I have to endure losing. Most sports fans experience losing more than winning because of all the teams year in and year out, there is only one that emerges to the top. This year will not be an exception as two of my teams lost in crucial stages of the season last October. The San Antonio Silver Stars lost to the Detroit Shock in the WNBA Finals. It was just this year that I watched the WNBA and the reason why I rooted for the Silver Stars was because I have a crush on their ace shooter – Becky Hammon. There were no major attachments when I watched the Stars implode in the ending minutes of the Game 3.
My Boston Red Sox, on the other hand, lost their chances of defending the World Series crown when the Tampa Bays finally defeated them in a decisive Game 7 of the ALCS. Even if they were unable to beat the young and inexperienced Tampa Bay team, I was still happy for the Red Sox because they showed the heart of a champion by not giving up despite being down 1-3 in the series.
When Becky was interviewed moments after their loss to the Detroit Shock, she came up with the quote of the month. "There's a way to step off the court gracefully and hold your head high," Hammon said. "They beat us. Does it stink? Yeah. But in no way can you let a loss take your character or your integrity."
That quote and the Red Sox’s never say die attitude make losing moments as valuable as winning moments are. It is about upholding the spirit of sportsmanship. You fight up to the last moment and should you fail, you stand up and move on. In sports, it is not about winning that matters the most. It is about loving it and having that winning character of rising above adversity; or accepting defeat like a man.
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