10 Team H2H 9 Cat. league
PG: Iman Shumpert
SG: Marcus Thornton
SF: Lebron James
PF: Josh Smith
C: LaMarcus Aldridge
G: Paul George
F: Luis Scola
UTIL: David West
UTIL: Andray Blatche
UTIL: Channing Frye
Bench: Lamar Odom
Bench: Jared Dudley
Bench: Amir Johnson
Bench: Aron Afflalo
IR: Manu Ginobli

With a bunch of underacheiving guys my team is struggling. The good news is there are a bunch of decent players on waivers including: Okafor, Stuckey, Dorel Wright, Landry, Marion, Jerebko, Thadeus Young, Ariza, Ramon Sessions and Gary Neal.. Should I rush to add anyone or just leave my team as it is? (Wow.. that did not post right the first time.. trying again..)

Pau (a.k.a., Geico Caveman) is a great example of the consistency issue…generally won’t blow up for 50 fpts. but pretty much never burns you with a game that needs to be double bagged and taken hastily to the rubbish cans.  Varejao per Dave’s comment is another good call…not flashy but very effective / consistent.  Still don’t know what to do with Ibaka…definitely fortified with multi-categorical goodness but then again, he’s gotten the following run in the past six games:  22, 18, 41, 21, 37 and 22 minutes, respectively.  Not exactly a paragon of consistency there but it’s early re: rotations and he’s only 22.

Here’s perhaps an interesting item, too.  This early in the season, might match-ups exacerbate the consistency issue?  Take Ibaka again, for example.  The two big minute games we’re both against Dallas and both somewhat closely contested…a good sign, all things considered.  Two of the short minute games were blow outs vs. Houston and Phoenix, so that makes some sense.  The other two were a close win at Memphis (Dec. 28) and a loss at home vs. Portland which are harder to rationalize.  Doesn’t appear he was in serious foul trouble and you’d tend to think he’d be matched up well, especially on the defense, vs. both those line-ups.  Might throw out the Memphis game as too early but Portland is dodgy since the game was back and forth most of the way.  Have to say, it’s fun to go deep on the analysis although a bit more respect by coaches for their fantasy constituents would be appreciated, too.  Cheers.

Who do you guys like over the course of the season in 9-cat H2H, Boozer or Chandler?

I like the analysis. When it’s this early you definitely have to look at the game situation like that to see why someone is going from 20 minutes to 30+ minutes every other game. I think you’re probably right about why his minutes are fluctuating so far this year. I’ve seen that with a couple other guys this season and there seem to be a lot more blowouts than usual so far. Good for the coaches to rest their guys in those situations, but yeah, it makes it hard on fantasy owners.

I dropped Amir Johnson so pick up Shumpert.  Should I have dropped Toney Douglas?

What do you guys think of this trade?

Nowitzki and Harden for K Love and Jamal Crawford.
He’s already knocked back Nowitzki and Wright for Love and said he wants Rose but I’m pushing my luck. Next step is try switching Holiday for Harden in same trade.
I think it’s alright, based on projections and current form.

Without turnovers (assuming that’s the one you’re not using in your 8 cats) giving up Harden and Nowitzki for Love and Crawford is not something I would take, but it’s a pretty close trade given the 4 players stats so far this season. Obviously since Harden probably won’t be playing this well all season, it’s a sell-high move, but he’ll probably still end up better than Crawford. You’ll have a hard time convincing him to take losses in 5 of 8 categories while only gaining in the percentages and assists. The gain in FGP only comes because he’s giving up Crawford… in a 10-team league is he even starting Crawford? If he’s not, then you have to convince him that Nowitzki will be close to as good as Love this year, and that Harden will make up the difference by being better than whoever his worst starter is. Not an easy proposition considering what Love is doing vs. Nowitzki so far.

Which of these two should i drop for Humphries: DeJuan Blair or Tyler Hansbrough?

Funny, they have basically been the same player this season, from the stats cats they contribute in to their overall performance. Blair has been slightly better overall this season, but Hansbrough has been much more consistent game-to-game. His shooting should also improve as the season goes on. Given those two facts, I’d keep Hansbrough over Blair, but it’s really close.

Looking at the numbers, here is where your lineup should stand based on a combo of our preseason projections and the current season stats in terms of an average a week.

pts    608
reb    252
ast    105
stl    41
blk    29
to    76
3pm    27
fgp    47%
ftp    78%

And here is what the competition should look like

pts    542
reb    212
ast    119
stl    42
blk    26
to    72
3pm    35
fgp    46%
ftp    76%

So, overall, like Nels said you are in good shape, especially if Shumpert keeps playing well. Looks like you were just the victim of a few guys starting off slowly as well as the Manu injury. You can see that your team is strong in points and boards, above average in percentages and blocks and a toss-up in just about everything else other than threes.

Even though he’s suppose to be one of your better three point shooters, benching Frye until he improves for Dudley will help your situation. Based on what we’ve seen this year, Odom is droppable in a 10 team league. Looking at the guys you mentioned, both Okafor and Stuckey have been much better than Odom and are worth a pickup. Adding Stuckey would also give you another PG. Frye may have to be dropped eventually too if he doesn’t pick things up. 

I’d go with Markief for now, since Green has only had 1 good game so far.

I would drop Crawford, but it probably depends on how the points are calculated. If FT% doesn’t matter, then I feel like Blair has the best long term potential. I would consider dropping Favors or Crawford for Speights though.

Who was your first round pick? I’m assuming Granger and that there must be something about the scoring system that ranks him higher.