CHIBA 2011-12 – TRIPLE TROUBLE

Sorry for the lateness of this post.  I had imagined in my head all the interesting and fun things I could write – but when it came down to putting it into words – I ended up with a few unsatisfactory versions – the smackdown (in which the lack  of ability to communicate subtlety of tone and parody made for a collection of artless brags, the analysis – which was just dry and numbers heavy (and BORING) – and required too much research to support my arguments, and then the quick and dirty – which was just too much like a regular e-mail (well – MY regular e-mail), to use as a proper wrap on the season.

So after tearing up a couple of false starts – I’m gonna roll with this one lest my recent CHIBA title be lost to the tides of HISTORY.

For naming purposes – we calling this:

TRIPLE TROUBLE

With apologies to the non-SALLY members of CHIBA – this title represents the next step in the evolution of a fan-alytic (I’m stealing Shandler’s term here to make it sound more distinguished…) champion.  I now hold 3 titles in each rigorous fantasy discipline – and I have to say that I am proud of each and every one of those titles.  It’s no small achievement to win either league but this one was perhaps the most unlikely – given the craziness that was the shortened season – and given both my draft position and early misses.  But therein lies a story.

Of course the next goal is to conquer the Auction (CHIBA) – and though I do think the draft is fun (and rewarding) – an auction is a more challenging format with many more strategic implications.  If we can just get rid of those Miles rules on the player callouts – I’ll be ready to rock next October.

THE GET FRESH CREW

Well it started off on 8th Avenue.. When I made up the name called the Get Fresh Crew. It was Amare, my two homeys TLaw and ADrew

For posterity the Get Fresh Crew (CHIBA 2011-12 CHAMPIONS) – was my alliteration to 2nd round pick John Wall’s rookie Dougie dance – and to one of the greatest rap songs ever.  I like the name and it will be remembered now that a title has improbably been delivered to it.

For the record – I really thought at some point in the last month as my team began to falter – that I was done.  Le’s team played amazing for a late stretch – and he of course outmanaged me in almost every way (except for burning his Barkleys too early).  Somehow I hung on – more out of luck and circumstance than any action I can take credit for.

In any case – here’s how the title was won – for those of you out there still yearning for your first – patience and fortune are what I prescribe – and perhaps a few tips from someone who’s been here and done that – and did it again – and yet again for a third time.

THE DRAFT

The auction will (potentially) make this irrelevant – but in a draft situation the rule of thumb is the same as in the NFL’s week long spectacle – grab the best player available in first few rounds – and then to worry about needs (positional) and categorical in the later rounds (5-8) – while still aware that if a highly rated value is out there – even if he doesn’t fit – you should grab him (with a caveat for one category specialists).

That said – I did reach a bit early both for Amare (over Steph Curry and Josh Smith) for hometown reasons and because I was an Amare guy (never a Melo guy) – and in John Wall (over Bogut and Kobe) because I mistakenly thought he had actually spent time on the offseason working on his jumper.

Amazingly I received 8th round value! out of the artist formerly known as Amare – and still won CHIBA?  Unpossible!  That’s because first round values don’t just pop up in the 3rd round of CHIBA – we really are usually that good.  But I admit a great amount of fortune in the health of Andrew Bynum – though there was no way I was passing on him when he came to me in the 3rd round.  Absolutely the key to my season – and a late first rounder (only because he can’t stay healthy again… can he?) next season.

The secret to Bynum’s increased rebounding and block rates.

As for the rest of my draft – I went solid and got value out of Pierce, Boozer and even Teague (who’s laughing now Mikey?).  And Kyrie Irving was another calculated gamble that worked out much better than I expected.  I’ll admit that I was considering Toney Douglass before I took Kyrie – and I was already looking at Teague – but I felt he might still be around later.  So I rolled the dice again – and a guy with no real college record turned into a PG that someone next year will take as their #1 PG or at a healthy auction price…

Can you comprehend how much rode on that one decision (Irving over TD23)?  (Steve can)

As for the reserve draft – well not to be immodest – but I win the reserve draft almost every year.  Not sure why that is (maybe you guys need to prep a little deeper?) – but though I agonized over Rubio – Kris Humphries was a huge piece for me in the 9th round.  At times so were Sammy D (who made it on my roster the entire season) and the Turk for half a year.  Even players I waived like AntRand and Beaubois had their startable moments this season (though on other teams).  And of course keeping Ty Lawson was a great benefit – it helped me gamble on PGs like Irving and Teague – and led to 4 productive guards I could rotate in and out all season long in a guard depleted league.

SOUR GRAPES PART I

Just a quick word on keepers (because I can hear grumbling in the background) – it was a rule decided on before last season – AND I actually drafted Tyson Chandler as a keeper in that reserve and traded him (I believe) – as valuable as Ty Lawson was – Ibaka and Ty Chandler were even more valuable.  Yes it created an advantage for some teams – but EVERY other team has a responsibility to be aware of the rules and also had every opportunity to try to acquire an asset for this year.  If you didn’t – that’s on you bruh, not me…

Nuff said…

The SQUAD

I felt that I had ended up with a prototypical CHIBA squad (or at least my prototype) – PGs and high FG% and REB forwards – a bunch of usable centers in case my Bynum gamble fell flat (as it has on more than one occasion).  I knew I was weak in 3’s and a little light on blocks – but I felt I could excel in every other category.  The advantage of those non-3 pt shooting PGs is also that they tend to shoot for higher FG% – Lawson 48%, Wall 47%, Teague and Irving 46%.  Straight Shooters baby!

Without a major scorer – I depended on a full team effort for PTs – and I hoped to hang close to the other bottom teams in 3’s to be able to scrounge points in the category if I needed it (and indeed it turned out that I did).

THE SEASON

Games Maximization Baby.

Fantasy Games Played

Linsanity 534

Fresh  527

Whores 527

BS Boys 513

Showers 510

Durantulas 510

Bunch of teams between 502-509

Thons 485

Haoles 475

Maximizing your weekly lineups by having 10-11 startable players is a key strategy.  Also checking waiver pickups with big game weeks reap immediate benefits – and not being afraid to sit your star in a 2 game week for a scrub with 4 games at times – breaks a rule – but is generally statistically rewarding.

Two notes: – only Linsanity broke what would’ve been a games cap rule (66×8 = 528) but even that did not necessarily help him over the superior team.  Though a games max is probably a prudent rule to add in – it’s not strictly necessary in a weekly move league.

As for the teams with abnormally low GP – that was mostly due to injury – and the worst kind – the day to day injury or the last minute – ‘D Rose is out’ injuries.  Lots of those in this short season.

THE TRADE – SOUR GRAPES II

Some rumblings about the deadline deal I made with Paulie – but I not only lost that deal – it almost cost me the title.

I got 19 games of Lebron, 6 of Holiday, and 2 from Favors for cumulative stats of:

19 3’s, 125 AST, 22 BLK, 600+ PTS, 46 STL, 162 REB, and a cum 49% FG

Paulie got 22 games of Wall, 20 games of Pierce, and 4 games of Amare for cumulative stats of:

37 3’s, 254 AST, 32 BLK, 800 PTS, 58 STL, 244 REB and a cum 44% FG

Even with Amare going down – it’s clear that Paulie won the trade and if I hadn’t made the deal – I would’ve had a stronger team going down the stretch.

There’s more advanced VAR analysis that can be done – that does make it closer – but essentially my depth allowed me to deal 3 startable and productive players (if not for Amare’s injury) for One.

For those of you thinking Paulie dealt the title away – think again.

TO BE CONTINUED