Fantasy fallout: Knicks-Nuggets brawl

If you missed the fight or you just want to see it again, you can relive it courtesy of YouTube:



Okay, on to the analysis. All ten players on the court were immediately thrown out. From the Knicks: Mardy Collins, Channing Frye, Jared Jeffries, David Lee, Nate Robinson. From the Nuggets: Carmelo Anthony, Marcus Camby, Andre Miller, Eduardo Najera, J.R. Smith.

Here are our winners and losers, both in the real world and in the fantasy realm:

Sore losers:

• Mardy Collins - "He started it!" He's sure to get a hefty suspension and some major fines. Fantasy impact: zero. If you had him in your team, you have bigger problems than his upcoming DNPs. Pick him up if you just want to have some fun in your league.
• Nate Robinson - Midget enforcer probably thought he was 7'6" and 310 pounds. His tussle with J.R. Smith was a total freak show. He's got a big heart but let's see if he can face the suspension coming his way. Fantasy impact: minimal. Expect him to be gone 5+ games. Robinson's has little fantasy value even in the deepest of leagues. When he eventually comes back, Isiah Thomas probably won't be playing him a lot to save face. Drop him immediately.
  
• Carmelo Anthony - After that sucker punch heard halfway around the world, he backpedaled a hundred meters to save his hide. Just when he was getting respectability in the league, he does something completely idiotic. Fantasy impact: catastrophic. He's going to miss at least 10 games; Stern won't go easy on him just because he's a marquee player. If you are a Melo owner, your season is probably ruined. If you're playing in an 82-game roto league, you can afford to hold onto him. Otherwise, try to make a deal with someone who's willing to roll the dice.
• Jared Jeffries - He'll get his fair share of DNPs by not keeping his cool. He's a good guy and will probably get away with a 2-game suspension. Fantasy impact: minor. He was playing really well right after getting back from injuries so treat this like an injury relapse, but less scary.
• J.R. Smith - Poor guy. How would you react if you were clotheslined from behind like that? And by a guy you didn't know existed? Fantasy impact: moderate. If you were relying on J.R. for the bulk of your treys, cross your fingers that he doesn't get more than 5 DNPs. If he's out for the long-term, try to swing a trade with someone willing to wait on him.
• Denver Nuggets - Their entire starting five was thrown out. You lose your top two scorers. It doesn't seem like the rest will be facing suspensions, but it's not impossible.
• Isiah Thomas -He's just a loser. Not only is he in the hotseat for taking on big contracts and getting questionable talent, but now he is on fire for building on guys with questionable character.
• The NBA - David Stern's campaign to clean up the NBA's image has just taken a huge step backwards.
  

Big winners:

• Stephon Marbury, Eddy Curry, Jamal Crawford - They were fortunate enough not to be on the court when the fight broke out. They will be carrying the bulk of the minutes for the Knicks, so they're fantasy value should improve. But they're Knicks, which might mean they'll suck more.
• Earl Boykins, Nene - With Melo and J.R. out, they'll be counted on to carry more of the scoring load. Nene got his first start of the season in the game and he'll be getting more minutes from here on in.
  

Just right:

• Channing Frye, David Lee, Marcus Camby, Andre Miller, Eduardo Najera - By managing not to make most of the headlines, they might get away without suspensions. They just happened to be on the court at the wrong time.
• New York Knicks - When you're as bad as the Knicks, how much worse could your season get anyway?
  

(Update: Suspensions: Carmelo Anthony - 15 games, Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith - 10 games, Mardy Collins - 6 games, Jared Jeffries - 4 games, Jerome James and Nene - 1 game. Jerome James?!?)

Full Roster Dilemmas

One of my leagues is an 8-team rotisserie format with standard categories + TOs, and with 100 games played/position. This means that we have a little more freedom in substituting bench players into the starting lineup. in other words, we really don't have a bench; we always play players who have games on that day. It often happens that there are more players with games than there are positions available.

So there our dilemma arises: who do we bench, and who do we play?

Personally, I weigh a lot of factors before deciding on my final lineup for the day. Of course, a good manager is always updated with player news, and that includes injury reports. For example, I have Joe Johnson in my team but he's out with a calf injury, so he goes to the bench, and I replaced him with Josh Howard. More often though, you find that your lineup is quite healthy and that it is inevitable that you will bench players who will surely play. As for situations like those, I usually look at the player's opponent for that day and see whether it will be easy for him to contribute in the categories. I usually don't play players going against good defensive teams. Sometimes I also consider the production ceiling, or the realistic projections of stats that a player can produce. These are just some things I consider when making decisions for my lineup. Of course, different managers, different rationales, different considerations.

One final thing I'd like to point out though is that you should be happy with the decisions you make. Fantasy sports is a guessing game to a large extent and as such, very unpredictable. All analyses are only educated guesses and we can only hope for the best. Sometimes we bench players who contribute across the board. Personally, as long as I knew I made reasonable guesses and I'm happy with my decisions, I don't get that much disappointed when I bench a player who plays superbly. What mattered is that I tried to fix my lineup to get the best stats possible, and if the fantasy gods don't shine on me, then so be it.

Mr. and Mr. Smith

We have a Nuggets and Hawks game currently in progress. It's still in the middle of the first quarter, but I'd just like to say the play-by-play is downright confusing:

5:22 ATL - Layup by J. Smith. Assist: Z. Pachulia
5:37 DEN - Alley-oop dunk by J. Smith. Assist: A. Miller

What's worse is that I own both players so I don't know how I'd react to "J. Smith steals the ball from J. Smith". And then there's the matter of another "J. Smith" from the Nuggets...

Fantasy Golf: Am I bored or what?

In order to expand my fantasy sports horizons, I decided to take on a new fantasy sport. However, since football and hockey were already closed on Yahoo Fantasy Sports, and baseball far from opening, I took the sport advertised on the front page: golf.

I'm not a big fan of golf, and I don't know a lot of players, but I can at least manage to stay awake while my dad's watching golf at 2 AM (and somehow managing to outlast him). The nice thing about fantasy golf is that it's not as stressful because there aren't a whole lot of transactions aside from setting your lineup for a tournament, and tournaments don't happen all that often. It's a very relaxed and laid-back game, much like its real-life equivalent.

Here's how the game works. The fantasy golf season begins with the first tournament of the calendar year: the Mercedes-Benz Championships from January 4-7. You select your lineup from among the A-list, B-list, and C-list. There's no drafting so a player can be "owned" by any number of teams. You get to pick 2 from the A-list (e.g., Tiger Woods), 4 from the B-list (e.g., Chris DiMarco), and 2 from the C-list (e.g., Michael Campbell). From among your players, you pick 1 from A, 2 from B, and 1 from C; these are your "starters".

Scoring in the fantasy golf game is done at the conclusion of each round. The player who has the lowest score in the round nets 20 points for his fantasy owners. The other players score 2 fewer points for each stroke they are behind the leader (e.g., 18 if 1 stroke behind, 16 if 2 strokes behind), to a minimum of zero. Of course, only the starters for a team can accumulate points. In between rounds, you can change your starters so you can replace ineffective players or those who don't make the cut after the 2nd round, but you can't change the players on your team mid-tournament. Also, much like in fantasy NBA, a player can only play for your team for a maximum of 10 tournaments, which means that you can't have Tiger Woods playing for you the whole year. You can find out who's playing in a tournament a few days before it starts.

Here's the lineup I've picked for the Mercedes-Benz Championship (opening round starters are in italics):

• A-list: Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk
• B-list: Sergio Garcia, Chris DiMarco, Robert Allenby, Justin Rose
• C-list: Trevor Immelman, Michael Campbell
  

I may have to change my lineup once the tournament participants are known. But for now, I just picked the players who either made the most money last year, or whose names I recognize.

Sign up now and let's play golf! Give it up for my false enthusiasm!

Fantasy Jargon

I've created a list of terms used in fantasy basketball circles. Please see the links section for more details.

Allen Iverson Update

It seems official: The Answer wants out of the City of Brotherly Love. This snippet is taken out of rotoworld:

"Ed Snider, the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, said Friday night that the team is working to accomodate Allen Iverson on his desire to be traded. The team originally said that Iverson was sent home and would miss Friday and Saturday due to back problems, but Philly's superstar has since repudiated that claim and said that he hopes to be traded to Minnesota."

Obviously if this pushes through there will be huge ramifications both in the fantasy and the real world. AI might be just what the Wolves need to push for a championship run, and the Sixers take a big step forward in rebuilding by unloading someone with a monstrous contract whose body is slowly breaking down.

There are a few problems though. One is matching the salaries of the players. Who does Minnesota give? Ricky Davis is one option, but they have to give more than that. It's obviously foolish to give Mike James and Randy Foye despite them playing the 1 spot. Will KG want to get shipped out to Philly? That possibility I seriously doubt. Also, is AI willing to play under KG's shadow? The Wolves is KG's team and Iverson will play second fiddle to him. How will that affect him?

Still, I would like to see Minnesota get A.I. because it can help them now in a big way while KG is still in his prime. It can be an important move to get a championship, like Rasheed Wallace's entry into Detroit.

This is a drama worth watching for both for fans and fantasy players. Stay tuned!

Phoenix 161, New Jersey 157, 2OT

With only three games on today's NBA schedule, you'd expect things to be a bit slow in your fantasy NBA leagues, with very little movement in the standings. However, with the Nets and the Suns playing against each other, you can probably make an exception. The Nets have the four-headed monster of Kidd, Carter, Jefferson, and Krstic. At the other end, with Steve Nash leading the way, everyone on the Suns roster is capable of putting up 20+ points on any given night.

Today's Nets-Suns game was an instant classic. And that boxscore is a veritable fantasy goldmine; 318 total points is a lot to go around. I couldn't stop refreshing the box score because I had four players on my fantasy team in that game:

• Amare Stoudamire: Another double-double (23-11) for Amare. He's back and he's for real. Unfortunately, he fouled out in the first OT or he could've gone for 30+.
  
• Shawn Marion: A great all-around game for the Matrix, which is what Marion owners should expect. 33-9-3, 3 stls, 2 blks, 3 treys, 60% shooting, and a perfect 6-6 from the FT line.
• Vince Carter: A pity he fouled out near the end of regulation, thinking he only had four fouls (d'oh!). Otherwise, he could've added more to 31-4-9 on 77% shooting. 77% from VC? Oh my!
• Jason Kidd: Despite NJ's loss, Kidd is still a winner in the fantasy books. 38 pts, 14 rebs, 14 asts, 3 treys, 50% shooting, and 9-9 from the FT line. He had 13-8-7 at halftime and had a triple-double in the middle of the 4th quarter. 14 rebs is ridiculous for a PG. And when was the last time Kidd went for more than 30? He really got it going today.
  

Almost everyone in that game had a terrific fantasy line. Here are the other star performers:

• Steve Nash: 42-6-13, 6 treys, 64% shooting. A career high in points for Nash. And you gotta love his shooting percentages.
• Raja Bell: This guy has really been on fire lately and shows no signs of cooling down. 24 pts, 6 treys. Forget about his earlier injury troubles.
• Boris Diaw: After taking so much heat from fantasy owners and experts, Diaw had one of his best games of the season. Only 1 reb, but 16 pts, 2 blks, and 14 ast, out-dishing Nash! He might still be available in your league and he's definitely worth a gamble.
  
• Richard Jefferson: 25 pts, 8 rebs, 58% shooting. Looks like that injury is a thing of the past.
• Marcus Williams: On a night where shots were falling from everywhere, Williams had his own share. His 18 points (on 8-11 shooting) gave the Nets a much-needed boost from the bench. I still wouldn't pick him up though except in very deep leagues.
  
• Eddie House: The former Sun wasn't able to beat his old team, but he showed signs of last year's brilliance. 12 points with 2 treys. Look for him to provide instant offense off the bench for the Nets from here on in. Probably worth a pickup in deep leagues, especially if you're looking to add a few treys.
• Mikki Moore: Mikki who? Without him, the Nets wouldn't have been able to keep up with the Suns. 14 points, 7 rebs. Still has very limited fantasy value, unless he somehow manages to displace Jason Collins (who only played 16 mins) from the starting lineup.
  

It's just too bad there won't be any more Nets-Suns games for the rest of the season, having already played their other match-up last November 25 (Phoenix 99, New Jersey 93). (Incidentally, Marcus Williams put up a career-high 27 points on that night.) Boo.

(I had one other player today, Tayshaun Prince, who also had an above-average game with 20 pts on 50% shooting, with 7 rebs, 3 stls, 1 blk, and a trey to boot. It was a very good day for fantasy for me. I jumped up +3 in the standings on a day with only three games. In honor of the best fantasy day ever, I decided to name my team the "New Jersey Suns".)

The Fantasy Sports FTW! mailbag

Hi all! Punzki here, checking in. I'm really excited about Fantasy Sports FTW! and I'm looking forward to posting regularly here.

One of the reasons Borgy, Cu, and I decided to start this blog was because we are so sick of the so-called "wisdom" of the so-called fantasy NBA "experts" like Rick Kamla. Gerald Wallace is not gonna stink all season? Are you kidding me, Kamla? Face it: he's a certified fantasy draft bust and you're just trying to justify your Wallace fanboydom.

In the fantasy sports business, nobody is an expert. And we here at FSFTW are not claiming to be ones either. What we can promise is that we'll keep an open ear and try to answer your fantasy NBA questions. That's why we've opened up the Fantasy Sports FTW! mailbag just for you, our readers. Our email address is fantasy.ftw@gmail.com.

Drop us an email about anything under the fantasy NBA sun. Tell us about your rants and raves, your trade dilemmas, and your potential waiver wire pickups. Should you drop a struggling Darko now, or stash him away and hope he explodes after the All-Star break? Should you sell high on Amare now for a lesser injury risk? And who really gets the better deal in that Iverson-Iguodala for Okafor-Peja trade? We want to hear from you.

(Right now we're focusing purely on fantasy NBA because it's the only fantasy sport we know, but who knows what we might get into in the future?)

The Emergence of Kevin Martin

Not so long ago the nickname "Kmart" referred to an overpaid, rim-rattling power forward who was the first overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft. Sadly, his season ended with microfracture surgery on his right knee.

Enter a new Kmart.

Kevin Martin ("Kmart2", to distinguish him from Kenyon Martin) of the Sacramento Kings has emerged this year as the team's primary offensive scoring threat. His averages of 21.9 pts, 4.3 rebs, 1.8 asts, 1.4 stls, 1.8 3ptm while shooting 52.4% from the field (at 13.7 attempts per game) and 90% from the free throw line (at 6.5 attempts per game) are truly breathtaking. This is amazing when taking into context his last two seasons in the league, where he was contributing only marginally off the bench.

The most surprising part of all this sudden improvement was that it was so... sudden. Martin was typically taken at the 8th to 11th round in fantasy leagues, and has obviously turned out to be one of the biggest steals of the year. I've been fortunate enough to grab him in three of my leagues and i must say he's performing better than some of the more established names in the business (like Peja Stojakovic, or his more established teammates mike bibby and ron artest, to name a few).

There is one thing worth noting though. The Kings got off to a rocky start as injuries saddled two of its main men, Mike Bibby and Brad Miller. As a result, Martin was thrust into a bigger offensive role and has taken the burden wonderfully. Miller has now returned but is still not his old self, and Bibby is still dealing with a wrist injury which limits his performance.

Given his draft position and current performance, fantasy owners are often faced with a dilemma with Kmart2. On the one hand, his excellent contributions across the board (not to mention his sparkling percentages) allow his owner to trade him for a more established, better proven name in fantasy basketball. In other words, he can be an example of a "sell high" player. After all, he's unproven thus far and his fantasy value may plummet down anytime. Thus, you want to get a proven contributor to be safe. On the other hand, he helps you in so many categories that one is hesitant to let go of him. Riding his hot hand seems to help you in so many ways that you it's hard to find a better player than him. The question boils down to: "Can he keep it up?"

Personally, I think it's a little of both. There's no way Martin will shoot 52% from the field all year. He takes a significant amount of jump shots and threes, and the law of averages will catch up to him. However, I don't see his numbers dropping off that much. The Kings are not exactly playing their best ball right now, but it's not because of Kmart2. In fact, they need his offense to win, and they will continue to give him the minutes to help the team. The opportunity is there and no one will take it away from him. Also, watching him play is a thing to behold. his graceful moves and fearless drives to the basket showcase his awesome talent and one can say that he has the tools to make it big in the NBA. He is not taking of his teammates misfortunes but rather he's earned his opportunity because of his talent.

My recommendation is to keep him and enjoy the ride. I believe Kmart2 is a legit fantasy stud who can help your team immensely. He is, in other words, for real.

Opinions, alternate views and objections are of course welcome. Don't hesitate to post your comments.

First Post

Hello everyone!

So, we've founded our first ever fantasy sports blog. Me and my friends have been participating in this online endeavour for about two years now and we want to share our experiences, views, opinions and analyses to the public. We hope that this blog will be helpful or at the very least entertaining to you, our dear readers.

We are currently playing only Fantasy NBA Basketball, but we are not closing the door to playing other forms of fantasy sports. =)

A quick introduction is in order. You may call me Borgy, and as previously mentioned, I've been playing fantasy NBA for about two years now. This started out as a leisure activity between me and my classmates in college, and we had so much fun playing it, it has become an annual recurrence. This year, I've expanded my activity at fantasy sports participation and I'm currently participating in four leagues - 3 rotisserie (1 public league), and one head-to-head.

Thankfully for you our readers, I'm not the only one who'll be contributing to this blog. We (me and punzki) are thinking of inviting our fellow managers to also share their views here. Soon, we will hopefully be posting more helpful stuff like which players to pick up, drop, players' rankings, and so on and so forth. We're also open to your questions, please don't hesitate to send them to us!

That's it for now... We hope to hear from you soon! Watch out for more articles. here in Fantasy Sports FTW.

-Borgy