Give Me The Rock
this is fantasy basketball
We have reached the point in every fantasy season where your flaws and draft day shortcomings are blatantly obvious. The last 2 months you have been eying your statistical trends with the same furtive glances that you solicit to women at the bar. Well, now you are past the whole glancing nervously thing, past the whole buying her a drink thing and past the whole talking about how you also ‘love kids’ because she has two nieces and refuses to talk about anything but this (children of relatives, the conversation topic I hate the most). That’s right you and your subpar amount of three pointers are now sucking face over the gear shift while stopped at a red light on the way to her place to ‘borrow that movie/book/CD/Dungeons and Dragons rule book’ that she decided you have to watch/read/listen/roll a new dwarf paladin with (that was a damn long metaphor for sex, i am proud).
The point is, you should be well acquainted with your statistical deficiencies. With this newly engraved knowledge in hand, it is time to start shopping the market. It is still very early in the season so there is no reason to treat any player at full value or even consider over paying for a player. This will make it impossible to deal with some managers as they only pull the trigger on deals in which they 100% feel they are getting a Dollars to Euros conversion rate. Try to identify these owners and avoid badgering them at this early point of the year. Creating an argument or insulting them with a trade offer that you deem worthy, but they consider an affront to god will only make it harder to trade with them later in the year (this is a note, try to never have this mentality, just because someone offered you their draft bust for your steal and you feel like gouging their brain out is no reason to shut them out at a later point in the year, you never know what will come your way).
So with you…
1. Unwilling to overpay for a player
2. Unwilling to treat your targets at full value
3. Unable to yet haggle with more conservative managers
You are left with one alternative… Gambling!
Well, i should say logistical gambling. We are not trading away our best players for someone we think will blow up later in the season, rather we are going to make calculated risks that could maximize our benefits, but also provide a soft cushion to fall back upon.
The rules…
1. Target players that are undervalued. Let me make the following awful, yet visually appealing analogy. The other morning instead of sleeping i spent three hours watching Real World/Road Rules Challenge the Duel, yes i am embarrassed, but for some reason i could not look away. The utmost of these reasons being Svetlana Shusterman…
2. Target players that are undervalued. I make a specific delineation because i want you to look for the players that will make a good last option, not just players that will revolutionize the makeup of your team. Think Hedo Turkoglu, Andres Nocioni or *gulps* Luke Walton.
3. Target hurt or devalued players. There are a ton of them. If you are sitting in the middle of the pack or even in first place and can afford to trade away some production now for increased production in the future, why the hell not? This pillar of logistical gambling is completely dependant on how deep your team is. If you had an awesome draft and have two players on the bench that you could be starting with little to no statistical hemorrhaging then reward yourself for your good draft! Trade some of your starters, move the bench up and add a quality player in the meantime. After all, your bench does not score points.
Also, look for one for one trades involving an injured player. This can get that stud on your bench into your lineup now and then bolster your lineup down the road.
4. Target players that will still have trade value. This means specialists. This early you could trade for a TJ Ford, a Gerald Wallace or an Alonzo Mourning and reap the benefits. You can do this because their specialties are continual durable productions at scare statistics that will always be in demand. Rent them for the category you need, after fortifying your totals in that stat, deal them again. This is like prostitution only without the phrase ‘double bagging.’
With those guidelines laid out, lets run down a shortlist of the 9 biggest names that you should consider acquiring, for the short term or the long term. This list does not reflect my previous advice of finding bottom of the lineup guys. I still encourage you to do that though.
1. Emeka Okafor – Why? Because his FT is atrocious. His owners in the leagues I monitor are getting 3 of 10, 3 of 12 and 5 of 12 points from FT%’s. Be a pal, help out his owner, Emeka is the perfect rental, there will always be a demand for his blocks.
2. AK-47 – His production is down. His owner is most likely disappointed and looking to move him. This all despite the fact that he is still the NBA’s biggest threat for a quadruple double and it’s only threat for a quintuple double.
3. Manu Ginobili – His production is also down. Tony Parker has become the second scoring option and it looks like Ginobili’s career as an ‘all-star’ is over for now. Compound that with the fact that he is having ridiculous trouble getting on and staying on the court. His injury problems seem like something you can ride out, especially if you can snag him for a lesser, but more consistent player.
4. Gerald Wallace – Again, production down. He has failed to live up to expectations, but still makes a solid addition to your team.
5. Zydrunas Illgauskas – Always a good big man to have producing. He is quietly doing his thing, so quietly his owner probably does not know his true value.
*the injured* Try trading for these players halfway through their injuries. At that point the owner is desperate, he wants production and recognizes that there is still too much time left before his star comes back. So for Marcus Camby that would be right now. This works so do not undervalue it, Tracy McGrady has been traded in 2 of the leagues i monitor, each owner got what they wanted and significantly improved their teams.
6. Marcus Camby- The true definition of a specialist. Shop for him while he is sidelined, the injury will hamper his offensive production when he comes back, but you can still block a shot with 4 fingers.
7. Rashard Lewis – He is out for awhile so you may wait a few more weeks. But we can surmise how badly you want him with two words… contract year.
8. Yao Ming – Do not expect Yao to pull a Shaq and take rehab as seriously as I consider Jessica Simpson a ‘triple threat’ (well, unless stupidity counts). I expect Yao to take a week of games to warm back up, but then pick-up where he left off.
9. Josh Smith – He is undervalued to begin with. I do not know what Josh Smith owners were expecting, but almost everyone I have talked to is disappointed. The injury only solidifies the fact that they are ready to move him.
There we go. Remember, try to trade for value and upside. It is still early in the year so mistakes can be hashed out, so do not fear risk taking. Just think about the risk before you take it, shop around some and I wish you good luck in landing your Svetlana…
Subscribe via RSS