…and the lottery fought.

Round / Actual Pick, Avg. Proj. Pick / Player / Position
1. (1, 1) L. James - SF
2. (24, 24) J. O’Neal - PF,C
3. (25, 25) D. Howard - PF
4. (48, 54) A. Iguodala - SG,SF
5. (49, 47) B. Davis - PG
6. (72, 62) A. Bogut - PF,C
7. (73, 65) T. Ford - PG
8. (96, 81) T. Prince - SF
9. (97, 110) D. West - PG,SG
10. (120, 118) K. Perkins - PF,C
11. (121, 116) S. Jackson - SG,SF
12. (144, 146) J.R. Smith - SG
13. (145, 185) Ty. Thomas - SF,PF

Click this link to see the Give Me WLS AM 89 team in a more comprehensible table. You can see the full results of the draft in the spreadsheet mentioned here (though all the picks aren’t necessarily in order), or at Dropping Dimes you can see a picture of half of the players I drafted (maybe the only picture of Tyrus Thomas you’ll see on a fantasy basketball site all season) along with the results of the draft.

So, there’s that.

Yeah, I won the so-called LeBron James lottery. I guess it’s not really a winner’s attitude, but I’d never actually envisioned myself getting LeBron. As such, I never really thought of what a LeBron James strategy would look like. So, without any sort of game plan in mind, and a half hour to come up with something - anything- I choked for the next 12 rounds of the draft. Luckily, I wasn’t bringing PMad down with me. We didn’t do the team drafting thing like I think Skeetz and Taz somehow managed to pull off. You can see the Uwe Blab Confab roster here.

Let me start with the questions that Dennis wants me to answer (I’m assuming he doesn’t care if I post it here rather than email it to him):

1. Which player was your best pick, value-wise?

I’d say Bogut was probably my best value pick. Bogut was actually my second choice at that point, but Nenad Krstic was taken 5 spots before I could get him. Sam Dalembert was taken 3 picks before me. At that position in the draft, I think I’d rather have Bogut than Dalembert, though. Bogut will be out for the first few weeks of the season, but I think his potential for improvement over last year’s numbers will make up for that.

2. Which player was your worst pick, value-wise?

Worst pick value-wise was probably Delonte West. I was derided fairly roundly after making that pick. Of course, most people said they were waiting until the 10th round to consider West, I was picking at the end of the 10th round, so he might not have been left at that point. I’m just hoping he can block 0.7 shots a game again this year. And maybe Tony Allen won’t be on the Celtics anymore. That would help.

3. Which player was your risk/reward pick, the pick you gambled on to have a good season?

Iguodala is my upside risk. West was another upside risk, but I already put him as my worst-value pick. I took Iguodala a little earlier than I wanted to, but I am certain he wouldn’t have been around at pick 72. So, I’m counting on him to hold up to his late 4th round/early 5th round pick. I guess it wasn’t that much of a risk, but I took him earlier than I wanted, so I consider it a gamble.

4. Other than your own, which manager do you think has the strongest team?

I think the Fantasy Lounge team is probably the best one besides mine. Or really even including mine. I realize it’s not easy, but you can see the team over on the Dropping Dimes recap page.

Now for the category by category analysis:

FG%: I got 3 guys in the top 32 of players with over 400 attempts.

FT%: I did manage to pick up Howard, who attempts a lot of FTs and shoots pretty poorly. I also didn’t get anyone who shoots FTs well; My Team FT% comes in around 71%. So, I’m not really punting the category, but I’m certainly not placing a high value on i.t
3PTM: I picked up LeBron, Baron Davis, and Stephen Jackson. I’m hoping that the other guys can chip in enough to get me a decent rank in threes.

PTS: LeBron was number 2 in the league last season. He better at least come close to that or else I’m left with Dwight, S-Jax, Jermaine, and Tayshaun to help me out here. That’s a Jackson 5 set up if I’ve ever seen it.

REB: Dwight Howard. #1 in the league. After that I’ve got Bogut, and then I’m looking at LeBron again. Maybe Perkins will up his minutes enough be a solid contributor for me here. Jermaine was getting 9 per game, but who knows how many games he’ll be playing in.

AST: Once again, my big source is LeBron. He’s backed up by Baron Davis, who I hope can duplicate last season’s numbers in Nellie’s fast-paced style a la Steve Nash. Davis and TJ Ford are both in the second tier of assists according to Fantasy Basketball Guy. I saw one (single) article that Iguodala might be running the point a bit in Philly, which could up his numbers in this category a little.

ST: My gamble, Andre Iguodala, is in the 7th tier of steals according to the fantasy basketball guy. LeBron is in the 8th tier (though unlisted). Another category that I’ll just have to hope I can hang around in.

BLK: I’ve got no one higher than Jermain with 117, but Howard and Perkins were both over 100 as well. And Perk only played 20 minutes/game for 68 games. As the starting C for the C’s, he should be able to get into the top tier in blocks. In case you were wondering, the Perk Is a Beast blog is one of the main reasons I went with Perkins as my second Center.

TO: I’m not sure about this one, but I do have LeBron James and TJ Ford. Baron Davis probably won’t be helping me out if he plays more games this season. Ay yi yi.

So there’s my somewhat ominous beginning and I expect the rest of the season will continue in the same fashion.

And here’s some interesting news (seen elsewhere, of course) about my worst pick value-wise.