Winning in an Unwinnable League

[zike_42]

[As my last dynasty decided to not work any more, and doing all the draft classes was really time consuming I thought I would can that and do another one. I hope you like it!]

The NBA is in chaos. Having gone through an amazingly thorough destruction at the hands of a hacking syndicate the league had no money. None. It started slowly, with fake news stories about rampant spousal and drug abuse forced advertisers to leave in droves, the group went all the way and purged the league and the club of all their money and assets, leaving absolutely nothing. So as you can expect, 30 teams with 300+ players, coaches and everyone that works at a NBA basketball club were instantly without employment, or money, or hope.

The league shut down and after a few years of media bashing and soul searching, the NBA was relaunched in 2014. The catch: only eight teams remained. The front office of the league went all out, pooling as many resources as they could to get this thing right. So for those eight teams, it was like starting again. Same salary structure, same players, same schedule. Lucky for me, the plucky Czech called Honza Cizikas, the team that I was General Manager of when the league went under is one of those eight.

The eight teams are the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers and my own Sacramento Kings. As there was such a big league before and now has been shrunk to only eight, there will be a redistribution draft. In other words, a fantasy draft where all the players are put in a free agent pool (with their salary still intact) and the teams draft who they want for twelve rounds.

The order was randomised and the draft is going to be a ‘snaked’ order draft, which means that whoever picks first won’t pick until the 16th selection, with 2nd picking 15th, 3rd picking 14th etc until 8th also gets the next pick at number nine. This makes the selection process much more even. Lucky for us, the random nature of the draft wound up having us selecting second! Philadelphia will pick first.

First Round
1 – PHI – PF Anthony Davis
2 – SAC – SF Kevin Durant
3 – ATL – C Andre Drummond
4 – DET – SF Lebron James
5 – GSW – PF LaMarcus Aldridge
6 – LAL – SF Carmelo Anthony
7 – NYK – C DeMarcus Cousins
8 – BOS – C Al Jefferson

Thoughts – The Hawks taking Drummond was a huge reach and the Pistons should send them flowers for letting Lebron fall into their laps. Cousins at #7 was a steal as Atlanta should have taken him instead of Drummond if they wanted a centre. My selection was a no brainer as Durant is easily the second best player in the league behind Davis.

Second Round
9 – BOS – PF Blake Griffin
10 – NYK – PG Stephen Curry
11 – LAL – C Dwight Howard
12 – GSW – SG James Harden
13 – DET – PF Kevin Love
14 – ATL – PF Nerlens Noel
15 – SAC – PG Russell Westbrook
16 – PHI – C Chris Bosh

Thoughts – Atlanta must be going on a young (aka cheap) run with Noel in this round. Not saying he’s not good, it’s just that there are other guys that are better. I was tossing up between Westbrook and Chris Paul but I feel that Westbrook is the better player at the moment.

Third Round
17 – PHI – SF Paul George
18 – SAC – C Nikola Vucevic
19 – ATL – SF Kawhi Leonard
20 – DET – C Al Horford
21 – GSW – PG Chris Paul
22 – LAL – PF Tim Duncan
23 – NYK – PF Paul Millsap
24 – BOS – SF Draymond Green

Thoughts – I reach a little for Vucevic but I think that he’s a fantastic player to go with Durant and Westbrook. I’m surprised to see Paul drop to #20 while Green was taken way too high.

Fourth Round
25 – BOS – SG Dwyane Wade
26 – NYK – SG Lance Stephenson
27 – LAL – SG Andrew Wiggins
28 – GSW – C Derrick Favors
29 – DET – SG DeMar DeRozan
30 – ATL – PG Marcus Smart
31 – SAC – SG Victor Oladipo
32 – PHI – PG John Wall

Thoughts – John Wall at #32 is a massive steal. Not a fan of Stephenson that high while I’m really happy with Oladipo at #31 as he has the tools to be a top 3-5 SG in the league someday. Atlanta is odds on favourites to be last this season.

Fifth Round
33 – PHI – SG Kobe Bryant
34 – SAC – SF Jabari Parker
35 – ATL – SG Jimmy Butler
36 – DET – PG Kyrie Irving
37 – GSW – SF Rudy Gay
38 – LAL – PG Kemba Walker
39 – NYK – SF Nicolas Batum
40 – BOS – PG Ricky Rubio

Thoughts – Hopefully by now people’s starting five has been done and I’m pretty happy with mine. I may have overlapped a little with Durant and Parker I think that either of them are big enough to play PF, giving us even more firepower.

Sixth Round
41 – BOS – C Joel Embiid
42 – NYK – PF Carlos Boozer
43 – LAL – PF Kenneth Faried
44 – GSW – PF Greg Monroe
45 – DET – PF Jared Sullinger
46 – ATL – C Jonas Valanciunas
47 – SAC – PG Damien Lillard
48 – PHI – PF Terrence Jones

Thoughts – I have a feeling that Embiid is going to be a super stud in this league and I was debating in getting him over Vucevic in the third round! Lots of big guys going this round but I pick BPA with Lillard.

[To be continued with second half of draft]

[zike_42]

[Continued fantasy draft]

Seventh Round
49 – PHI – C Brook Lopez
50 – SAC – C Joakim Noah
51 – ATL – PF Julius Randle
52 – DET – SF Tobias Harris
53 – GSW – C Kelly Olynyk
54 – LAL – SG Bradley Beal
55 – NYK – PG George Hill
56 – BOS – SF Mike Dunleavy

Thoughts – Dammit! I had my eyes set on Lopez as soon as last round started and he goes one spot higher than our pick. Oh well. Beal at #54 is a massive steal while Olynyk one spot above him is the opposite.

Eighth Round
57 – BOS – PF Markieff Morris
58 – NYK – C Chris Andersen
59 – LAL – C Gorgui Dieng
60 – GSW – SG Klay Thompson
61 – DET – PG Michael Carter-Williams
62 – ATL – SG KJ McDaniels
63 – SAC – PF Zach Randolph
64 – PHI – SG Danny Green

Thoughts – Quite a few players went for cheap, young guys but as we have Parker and Oladipo on the squad we can spend a little bit more. Randolph gives us another good big man that has experience but is also an expiring contract. I wanted Klay Thompson to drop to us but that’s what happens with drafts.

Ninth Round
65 – PHI – PG Brandon Knight
66 – SAC – SG Monta Ellis
67 – ATL – C Bismack Biyombo
68 – DET – C Henry Sims
69 – GSW – PG Reggie Jackson
70 – LAL – PG Trey Burke
71 – NYK – SF DeMarre Carroll
72 – BOS – PG Kirk Hinrich

Thoughts – If Atlanta wasn’t the favourites for last place before, they’re odds on now. Biyombo is useless and to draft him over a guy like DeAndre Jordan (who is still on the board) is ludicrous.

Tenth Round
73 – BOS – SG Tyreke Evans
74 – NYK – SG Marco Belinelli
75 – LAL – SF Wesley Johnson
76 – GSW – SF Matt Barnes
77 – DET – SG Rodney Stuckey
78 – ATL – C Kyle O’Quinn
79 – SAC – SF Chandler Parsons
80 – PHI – SF Gerald Green

Thoughts – Hands up anyone who knows who Kyle O’Quinn is? Anyone? That’s what I thought. I was tossing up between Parsons and Gordon Haywood but went with Parsons because he’s slightly better now and has one less year on his contract.

Eleventh Round
81 – PHI – PF Dirk Nowitzki
82 – SAC – C DeAndre Jordan
83 – ATL – PF Ed Davis
84 – DET – PF John Henson
85 – GSW – PF Mirza Teletovic
86 – LAL – PF Mason Plumlee
87 – NYK – PF Marreese Speights
88 – BOS – C Jusuf Nurkic

Thoughts – Our salary is probably going to be astronomical but I couldn’t look past such a defensive giant in Jordan. It seems that the rest of the league is picking young guys who will round out their roster on the cheap while I’m still going for BPA even if it blows out our budget.

Twelfth Round
89 – BOS – PF Serge Ibaka
90 – NYK – C Samuel Dalembert
91 – LAL – SG Giannis Antetokounmpo
92 – GSW – PG Patrick Beverley
93 – DET – PG Tony Wroten
94 – ATL – PF Dario Saric
95 – SAC – PG Derrick Rose
96 – PHI – PG Mario Chalmers

Thoughts – I pick up former MVP Rose with the second to last pick and I apologise to the Greek Freak if I spelled his name wrong.

As you can guess, we have the biggest payroll by far. At $139 million, we are $64 million over the cap which hopefully means we have the best team. Atlanta on the other hand has a payroll of $27 million, or $47 million under the cap. I sign Joe Johnson, Pau Gasol and Josh Smith to round out our roster to 15 players. Unfortunately for Victor (Oladipo) he’s not quite at the level to play in an eight team NBA so I send him down to the D-League for court time.
We’re ranked first in the league in the pre-season so let’s not let them down. Here is our 2014-2015 Sacramento Kings –

PG – Russell Westbrook
SG – Monta Ellis
SF – Kevin Durant
PF – Joakim Noah
C – Nikola Vucevic
6th – Damien Lillard
7th – Zach Randolph
8th – DeAndre Jordan
9th – Pau Gasol
10th – Josh Smith
11th – Derrick Rose
12th – Jabari Parker
13th – Chandler Parsons
14th – Joe Johnson
D-League – Victor Oladipo

[PointGuard]

Looks like Glen Taylor must be the owner of the Atlanta team.

[zike_42]

Looks like Glen Taylor must be the owner of the Atlanta team.

It's so crazy how little money they spent. They do have some nice young talent though like Nerlens Noel and Andre Drummond. Try scoring against them!

[zike_42]

November

Even before the season started, the Atlanta Hawks were a joke. Out of their twelve players, all but three were forwards. I decided to strike and get a steal.

Sacramento trade:
PG Derrick Rose
SF Chandler Parsons
C DeAndre Jordan

Atlanta trade:
2017 1st round pick

Why – Our salary was much too high, even for the Kings. I decide to trade some big contract guys to the Hawks who could absorb that much salary. Jordan is a rental with an expiring contract while Rose is the prize. He should start for ATL and put up 20 points a game which will make them less sucky while Parsons was the price they needed to pay to get Rose. Getting a future first rounder out of this is pretty good on our part as well. I sign Kyle Lowry, Gordon Haywood and Marc Gasol to fill out the roster. I never thought that I’d ‘fill out a roster’ with those three guys.

We have an up and down month, winning our first four games and then going 1-3 for the other four, putting us at 5-3. Guess who we’re behind? That’s right the 7-3 Atlanta Hawks. They’re proving that team ball is king with six players in double figures, led by Derrick Rose’s 16.4ppg, 5.3apg and 5.0rpg, while five other Hawks are scoring at least half a dozen points a game. Sharing is caring after all. Detroit on the other hand went for a winless month, losing all eight of their games even with Lebron James.

The only reason we are above .500 is because of Kevin Durant. He’s averaging 25 points and 6 rebounds a game while shooting 51% from the field. Damien Lillard is also doing well with 16 points in 27 minutes but the rest are pretty average. Joakim Noah is shooting 38% from the field and being outplayed by Zach Randolph while Russell Westbrook is being outplayed by Lillard by a fair margin. We need an upgrade at PF because Joakim Noah is not fitting in well there while I’m not a fan of Monta Ellis starting at SG. After one month I’m feeling that I didn’t put enough emphasis on creating a team, instead I went for BPA every time. That might have to change.

Western Conference
Atlanta – 7-3
Sacramento – 5-3
Los Angeles – 2-3
Detroit – 0-8

Eastern Conference
Golden State – 3-1
New York – 5-3
Philadelphia – 5-5
Boston – 3-4

(I have no idea how Golden State got into the East, just roll with it)

League Leaders
Points – Kevin Durant (SAC) – 25.3
Assists – Chris Paul (GSW) – 9.0
Rebounds – Anthony Davis (PHI) – 10.5
Blocks – Anthony Davis (PHI) – 2.4
Steals – Lebron James (DET) – 2.5
Efficiency – Kevin Durant (SAC) – 23.3

[PointGuard]

[B][align=center]
(I have no idea how Golden State got into the East, just roll with it)

Probably a major seismic event.