This is just my little write-up in regards to my keeper core and their outlook going into the draft and beyond.
Keepers - Dwyane Wade, Stephen Curry, Kevin Love, David Lee, and Greg Monroe
Background
My team has been geared the past few years to compete with Saldogg's massive and really just plain ridiculous keeper core that he has slowly built through the years through drafting young up and comers, smart trades, and ignoring the hard bashing that came with some of his draft picks. In the past few years, I have really compromised my draft picks and position (similiar to Baller this year, but not as extreme) in order to gather up some players that would be a nice core to compete w/ Sal. As hard as it was for me to give up CP3 this season, a weak NOH squad and just the uncertainty of the team itself made me look to trade him for a solid top 5 player in an effort to win now without compromising my chances in the years to come. At long last, I finally feel like I have created a keeper core that can compete w/ Saldogg and I am entering this draft with all my draft picks intact and some upgrades along the way.
Core
Premier Players - Wade, Curry, and Love. Solid - Lee Up and Comer - Monroe
The best part about this group is that they are young and there is still room for growth among most of these players.
The first would be Curry. Curry is about to start his 3rd year and I am hoping, similar to other players before him, he takes that big leap in his third season and hopefully jumps into that upper echelon talk of possibly being considered a top fantasy option like CP3, Durant, and LBJ. I will definitely need it if I am trying to compete w/ Saldogg. If Curry dosn't take that next step, his reproduction of his past two season seem very likely and I still have a solid player for years to come.
The other player would be Love. Love had an amazing season last year and surprised many on how big an impact he had in fantasy circles. What I am all giddy about going into this season is that combined with his work ethic this off season (slimming down and toning up) and a great coach in Adelman, there is a great chance that he builds on his already gaudy numbers from last season. Again, any increase in fantasy output will increase my chances in taking down Saldogg.
Lee, considered by many as a safe first round pick last season, turned out to be a decent disappointment. For me, I chalk it up to the freak tooth that decided to embed itself in his arm. If it wasn't for that, his production throughout the season would probably have mirrored more his last 3 months of the 2010-2011 season. Well, this is what banked on when I decided to trade for him. Long gone are his days of producing those NYK stats, but being from the bay area, and watching a lot of those Warriors game, I just love his chemistry with Curry and I feel that if Curry does indeed take that next step this season, Lee will be along for the ride and that means some nice fantasy production.
Monroe is a player that is filled with multiple huge ??? for my team. But following in the tracks of Saldogg, I am deciding to gamble on this young 1st year and what I saw in him during his play last season. Being on Detroit I feel is blessing for this kid. After all, there isn't that much there for him to compete with and it seems like they really like him as a person and player. Not to mention, he has good work ethics and he has a good head on his shoulders. Now, all I need for him to do is just continue to grow and build on what he did last season where we saw that added minutes in his case meant added production and growth without any of the negative setbacks like increased to's, fouls, or poor percentages. I took a really close look at his numbers before trading for him and it was nice to see that he statistically increased in all facets of his production with the added minutes and the fact that he stayed out of foul trouble and handled the ball really well speaks a lot about things to come from this kid. Only time will tell...
With all that said, I still am not fully confident I even stand a chance of taking down Saldogg's team, but I can say that this is definitely the first season where I feel I can give him a nice run.
Good luck everyone. December 12th can't come sooner for me and I am really looking forward to the draft.
It's here. I have become everything I hated in fantasy sports. The owner who has built up an unfathomable keeper core and pretty much won't trade them for anyone, but also drafts so well that he re-loads on draft picks every year. That is me now. I must say it's a lot harder to win it all with a bull's eye on my back every single day. When I joined this league I did it because I knew I could hang with some of the cafe's top notch owners. I think I've proven it.If I haven't a core of Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, LeBron James and Dwight Howard certainly has. Teams are now trying to replicate my strategy and thinking futuristically when drafting their players. Someone is gonna draft Kyrie Irving or Derrick Williams in the top 5 just so Sal can't have them. Truth be told it's an honor to be the standard-bearer for such an incredible league. I'm an NBA-head through and through and not getting to see my Lakers this year would've been hard enough, but not getting to shit on Caveman's Celtics to him, or compare rankings with Nene, or call baller out for some ridiculousness he's just pulled, or waiting 23 hours between deadlines for someone to make a pick, well that would've just compounded my angst. I'm not gonna sit here humbly and pretend like I don't think I'm the favorite; I do. But it's the challenge of living up to that hype and not putting my foot in my mouth that keeps me going in the fantasy basketball race. I love being your champion. I love being your standard-bearer. I love being your enemy.
Haha. Awesome posts Stinky and sal. Both you guys have made some real savvy trades this offseason to really strengthen your already strong cores. Sal's trade with baller today made it that much harder to compete. Should be an awesome year.
I'll do a writeup for my team before the season starts for sure. Would be cool if we all did.
Oh and Boston's get CP3 this year, and going all the way.
Nice pick Fen. Kid has so much upside and he showed that he can definitely ball in the NBA. Hopefully, he can improve his fg% and lower his TOs a bit but those area all aspects of the game that can be easily fixed. Definitely saw Cousins going number one in our draft.
I am having a hard time figuring which three players go next and who will be available for me to pick. The suspense is killing me.
Hopefully, we get this draft moving at a nice pace today.
I was kind of torn between Cousins, McGee, and Millsap. Cousins has the highest ceiling but also to most warts. I need some high ceiling guys though, so he made the most sense. I actually think that the high TOs are a good thing, much like they are in a rookie PG - it shows that he's realy stretching and trying to do stuff on the court. That kind of player often has a nice bump in efficiency as they figure the NBA game out.
Fenris-77 wrote:I was kind of torn between Cousins, McGee, and Millsap. Cousins has the highest ceiling but also to most warts. I need some high ceiling guys though, so he made the most sense. I actually think that the high TOs are a good thing, much like they are in a rookie PG - it shows that he's realy stretching and trying to do stuff on the court. That kind of player often has a nice bump in efficiency as they figure the NBA game out.
Its funny how you named the three players I figured would all be gone before my pick and they all went in quick succession. Was really hoping one of them might slip through the crack, but alas, only a pipe dream. I think Cousins is a solid pick for your team no matter what. He should make strides this season, and like you said, "he has a very high ceiling."
Also, having a player like him available with your first pick was pretty nice I would imagine. At least you didn't have to give up anything to get him prior to the start of the season. Not like Sal needs any more help for this season (Ahem... Baller).
Fenris-77 wrote:I was kind of torn between Cousins, McGee, and Millsap. Cousins has the highest ceiling but also to most warts. I need some high ceiling guys though, so he made the most sense. I actually think that the high TOs are a good thing, much like they are in a rookie PG - it shows that he's realy stretching and trying to do stuff on the court. That kind of player often has a nice bump in efficiency as they figure the NBA game out.
Its funny how you named the three players I figured would all be gone before my pick and they all went in quick succession. Was really hoping one of them might slip through the crack, but alas, only a pipe dream. I think Cousins is a solid pick for your team no matter what. He should make strides this season, and like you said, "he has a very high ceiling."
Also, having a player like him available with your first pick was pretty nice I would imagine. At least you didn't have to give up anything to get him prior to the start of the season. Not like Sal needs any more help for this season (Ahem... Baller).
I made my team better with the trade so what if it helps sal. I wouldnt have rondo without that trade and my team is netter for it
Fenris-77 wrote:I was kind of torn between Cousins, McGee, and Millsap. Cousins has the highest ceiling but also to most warts. I need some high ceiling guys though, so he made the most sense. I actually think that the high TOs are a good thing, much like they are in a rookie PG - it shows that he's realy stretching and trying to do stuff on the court. That kind of player often has a nice bump in efficiency as they figure the NBA game out.
Its funny how you named the three players I figured would all be gone before my pick and they all went in quick succession. Was really hoping one of them might slip through the crack, but alas, only a pipe dream. I think Cousins is a solid pick for your team no matter what. He should make strides this season, and like you said, "he has a very high ceiling."
Also, having a player like him available with your first pick was pretty nice I would imagine. At least you didn't have to give up anything to get him prior to the start of the season. Not like Sal needs any more help for this season (Ahem... Baller).
if I had tekopp team knowing you would draft cousins 1st I would have traded with sal to get cousins and swap 1st round picks and given a 2nd round to nene for millsap. so my core would be deron williams brook lopez, demarcus cousins, paul millsap with a 5th keeper of danillo gallinari/ wesley mathews and I would still have a 1st round pick.
it would help sal's team again but who cares you team gets better. numero uno is what matters be selfish
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by Lilstinkylynx » Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:33 pm 
