After a blockbuster deal with Mike for the 5th overall pick, CLO obtained a 2nd, 3rd 6th and 2013 First. With these extra selections, CLO set himself up to be an instant Championship contender. With the picks of Aldridge, Melo, Rose and Rondo in the first 3 rounds it seems he went for best value regardless of age. He also picked up Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant which may be the best backcourt in the league this season. CLO has a great all around team with no holes to speak of. Moreover, he solidified his bench with few sleepers who may have big years in Kaman, Green and Kawhi Leonard. All in all, CLO had the best draft and will only improve if DROSE comes back to MVP form.
It seems Mr. Gallimore went with the best value approach and it payed off well. His first three picks are studs in Love, a young center in Marc Gasol and slasher James Harden. Although he may have reached for Luol Deng, Deng may be the centerpiece for a D-Rose’less Bulls team this year. In the mid-rounds John stayed with this approach and got a steal in David Lee who has 20 and 10 potential every year when healthy. He got arguably a top 5 PG in Tony Parker and I think the steal of the draft in Kyle Lowry in the 9th. Even though his “internet went out” and was simultaneously jerking off Buddy, John had a great draft and has a win-now squad that will be extremely competitive considering he has most players in their respective primes.
Andrew had a very, very good draft. He has arguably the best young frontcourt in Big Bynum and Cousins who could be a top 10 player in the league if he keeps his head on straight. The Jennings and Evans selections are a tad questionable since they are both boom or bust players but his mid-round picks have great potential to be 2 of the top 3 ROY candidates in MKG and Damian Lillard, who was also co-MVP of the 2012 Las Vegas Summer League. Andrew rounded out his youth movement with very good late round picks with Thaddeus Young and Chandler Parsons. I really like his draft and may be 1 or 2 years away from being Championship caliber.
Tick started off with a good value pick of CP3 at the 4 spot but went for the “young potential” we know he all likes with Serge Ibaka who IMO was drafted rather high. Tick redeemed himself with a very good draft after his 2nd selection snagging Bobcats #1 target Steph Curry, a value pick in Joe Johnson and young stud PG Ricky! Bargnani was also a steal in the 6th round and grabbed 2012 #3 pick Bradley Beal who may take some time to develop but is worthy of 7th round selection. Tick later picked sleeper Derrick Favors and as Mike would say Gustavon Ayyyyonnnnnn. Even though he hasn’t been home in 2 months, Tick looks to have a very solid team and saved himself from being the laughingstock of the draft, unlike his FF team. All in all, Tick should be a force for years to come.
Like his Fantasy Football team, Phil drafted a solid middle of the road squad. Although forward heavy Phil got great value in Griffin, Smith Millsap and Pau, who will only benefit with Steve Nash pick & rolls and sets off the Princeton offense. However, Phil did have some questionable picks in the fifth and six rounds with Mike Conley and gunslinger Marcus Thornton who shot around 44% last year. In the later rounds, Phil got some quality players in sleeper Gerald Henderson, scorer Marshon Brooks and undervalued forward Taj Gibson. Overall, Phil had a very solid draft and will only get easy points from his 4 double-double machines mentioned earlier.
Boles better known as Otis Smith in fantasy basketball circles actually put together a nice team. With a value selection at 8 and 12, he selected arguably a top 3 PG and top 5 Center in the league with D-Will and Big Al. He further solidified his roster with the selection of Rudy Gay in the 3rd round. However, he went boom or bust in the 4th with Monta Ellis, a player who puts up more shots than Rocks Ward on a Saturday night. Boles wasn't without faults either, he stuck to the win-now path up until the 9th and 10th rounds when he went for Andre Drummond who needs at least 5 years to develop, and an underachieving tweener in Mike Beasley. I will say however Z-Bo in the 7th round is a steal and Boles had a good all-around good draft.
Mr. Zente's draft approach was interesting to say the least. This squad does have great potential considering he has consensus #1 pick and fantasy stud LeBron James. Knowing Boles is still distraught over Luke's 1st selection; other members of the league must be jumping for joy considering Luke has yet to see a Center he doesn't like. The problem I find with Luke's team is that he is quite thin at the other positions including the selections of Philly’s backcourt in Holiday and Turner, players who both had a tough time scoring last season but played solid defense. Considering defensive statistics rarely lead to many fantasy victories, these selections are troubling even with the addition of Club 17. Also, Luke picked a few homers including Luis Scola and Jeff Teague. He must be quite happy now that he can watch his boy Scola do work while wearing his very popular Rockets jersey. Yayy!
While Mike picked the Durantula with the 2nd overall pick, a move everyone saw coming he also started the draft off with a bang, trading for CLO Collins 5th Pick, while giving up his 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 2013 1st Round selection. With that 5th selection Boom got D12 and solidified his starting line-up with two of the top five players in the league. Mike also blended some veteran talent to surround them with including the picks of Roy Hibbert, who I feel is the league's 4th best Center and Eric Gordon the injury prone but studly SG. Mike also made some BOOM or bust picks with the selections of Jeremy Lin and OJ Mayo but if these picks do pan out, he's gonna be hard to beat. Even with a thin bench and a player with worse anxiety then John Gallimore in Royce White.
Anthony had young on his mind during the draft. With his first two selections of Irving and the Brow he solidified his PG and PF position for years to come. The reason I can’t rank myself higher is because of the reaches I took in regards to Klay Thompson, Terrence Ross and the worst pick of the draft Nikola Mirotic (Who?). Also, the Center position is a cause for concern seeing as Javale McGee and Deandre Jordan have a combined IQ of 40. This team is a few years away but if his reaches pan out he will hard to beat for the duration of the 10-year dynasty.
One's gotta believe auto-draft was on heavy for Dylan's selections. He drafted the top player on the board in Russell Westbrook with 7th pick and Ty Lawson a few picks later. Dylan looks to have gone for the win-now approach considering his next few picks (minus the Dragic pick) of Paul, Pierce, Dirk, Amare and a hobbled D-wade who are all well on their way to receiving their AARP cards. While I feel his drafts selections are a tad lackluster, I do see his vision and attempt at winning early in this 10-year Dynasty League.
- Anthony Hatfield
