One of my goals of writing for give me the rock (if my work is actually focused enough to be goal worthy), is to provide a go-to outlet for useful fantasy insight and discussion. So, from time to time, I’m going to talk about my fantasy teams and my fantasy participation as a case study of sorts. Maybe you can learn something, maybe I can learn something from you, maybe you’ll laugh at my sorry ass for drafting Darko on every one of my teams, or maybe it will get drowned out by the myriad of other people talking about their very important fantasy teams and leagues. I will promise you one thing, though: Good or bad, I will be different.

Today’s fantasy team update deals with the Yahoo Champions League, where my team, Dudes with Attitudes (DwA), had an absolutely spectacular draft last week. I really believe the league should fold right now and hand over the trophy to me. Of course, I believe that about every single draft I’ve ever had, but this one I feel particularly good about.

The necessary background: it’s a 10 team roto league with 11 starters (PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, Util, Util,), which, in addition to the normal 8 categories, also includes field goals made, offensive rebounds, and turnovers. Since who you draft should depend on the league’s scoring system, it is important to think about those extra categories: FGM, OREB, TO. Does that change the value of any players? I believe it does. This league gives more value to rebounders who can score and don’t turn the ball over (i.e., certain big men). And you’ll be able to see that in this team. In fact, this team practically grabs your throat and punches you in the face with that idea.

Note that this was an autodraft (unfortunately - I love the live draft) and I only ranked players to about 100, so I take no responsibility for Jaric ending up on my team, although I do take credit for his quick trip back to wavers. I did, however, knowingly target Steve Francis.

DwA, 2006 Yahoo Champions League
Round/Pick/Selection
1. (5) E. Brand
2. (16) Y. Ming
3. (25) G. Wallace
4. (36) M. Redd
5. (45) A. Jamison
6. (56) David West
7. (65) J. Howard
8. (76) M. Peterson
9. (85) T. Murphy
10. (96) D. Milicic
11. (105) J. Childress
12. (116) S. Francis
13. (125) Z. Pachulia
14. (136) B. Wells
15. (145) M. Jaric

Other than round 6, when I just missed out Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber and then reached a little for West, picks 1-12 couldn’t have gone much better. Brand, Ming, Wallace, Jamison, West, Howard, and Murphy are all built for a league exactly like this one. Other than a couple of guys, it’s not a particularly injury prone team either. Clearly, the weakest part of my team is the PG position, Francis is the only PG currently on my roster. If this had been a live draft, I would have taken a flyer on at least one more point guard not named Marko Jaric. Assists will not be my friend in this league. I might also have too many of the same kind of guy (the scoring/rebounding PF type), one of which will likely have to be traded for some assists.

Overall, it was a great start for DwA. And with Darko leading the way, this team will smooth right into 1st place without too much trouble.