Fantasy Basketball Draft Recap

Let the name calling begin.

Graham and I took part in the 1st Annual Rocking the Suburbs Fantasy Basketball draft last night with 10 of our closet friends. Well, my friends. Graham doesn’t have any. He’s married with a kid. If friends were Superman, then married with kids is kryptonite.

I want to go on record with our teams at the start of the season to show how awesome my team is compared to my fellow blogger. My players are listed first, naturally.

PG
Andre Miller vs. Mo Williams
This is pretty even. I debated between taking Miller, Williams or Devin Harris. I went with the guy that was the safest bet in Miller. Plus, I needed assists, and Mo has never averaged more than 6.4 per game, while Miller hasn’t dipped below 6.9 apg in the past 4 years. Advantage, no one.

Graham's rebuttal: Last year their points, rebounds, assists, steals and field goal percentage were nearly identical. But two factors tip the scales heavily in Mo's factor: 1- he's in Cleveland now, which means tons of assists for LeBron. But even if that number stays even, there's #2: Last year, Mo had 89 three-pointers. Miller: 103. For his entire career. Miller hasn't hit double figures in threes since 2003-04. That gives Mo Williams the edge.

SG
Hedo Turkoglu vs. Paul Pierce
If you were going off pure talent, team success and pronounceable name, Pierce would win hands down. If you were going by the least likely to be stabbed, it’d be Turkoglu. Turkoglu actually scored more points, had more rebounds, had more assists and made more 3-pters than Pierce last year. Advantage, me.

Graham's rebuttal: Yeah, but now Turkoglu has Mickael Pietrus challenging him for minutes...oh, wait, Pietrus sucks. Fine, Turkoglu's decent. But there's no way he's better than Pierce. This one's even.

G
Mike Miller vs. Randy Foye
I refuse to even discuss this. Advantage, me.

Graham's rebuttal: Yeah, Miller has the edge, but it's not as big as you think. Foye can hit threes, and he's the starting PG, which means assists. And Miller's rebounding totals will come down now that he's playing with Al Jefferson. But fine, I'll give you this one.

SF
LeBron James vs. Josh Smith
LeBron is the best player on the planet, but Josh Smith is still a top 5 fantasy SF. Is he worth a 2nd round pick? We’ll find out. Advantage, me.

Graham's rebuttal: Chris is the league commissioner. Chris got the #1 pick. Clearly there's foul play involved. Possibly a frozen envelope. We may never know.

PF
David West vs. Amare Stoudemire
Stoudemire is primed to be a fantasy beast once again, probably going for 28 ppg and 10 rpg. If West can put up the same stats he did last year, I’ll be perfectly happy. I think both Graham and I are just hoping our guys stay healthy. Advantage, Graham.

Graham's rebuttal: None. Amare's awesome.

F
David Lee vs. John Salmons
Graham loves Salmons because he’s on a crappy Sacramento team and someone has to get minutes. Just because Salmons gets minutes doesn’t mean he’ll produce. He might get filleted. Did I just make that joke? Yes, yes I did. The only thing I’m not worried about Eddy Curry eating is David Lee’s minutes. Zing! Advantage, no one.

Graham's rebuttal: That Salmons joke was terrible. But here were Salmons's stats as a starter last season: 17.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.6 steals, 49.7% FG%, 38.5% 3pt%, 81.1% FT%. With Artest in Houston getting ready to destroy the Rockets' hopes, Salmons has a whole season to spawn those numbers. Big advantage: Salmons.

C
Dwight Howard vs. Andrew Bynum
One guy is a rebounding monster who looks like the 2nd coming of Shawn Kemp, minus the sex and drugs. The other is coming off a major knee injury, only played 35 games last year, and has to share the rock with Kobe, Gasol and Odom. Advantage, me.

Graham's rebuttal: If Bynum's healthy, and he can figure out how to play with Gasol, he'll close the gap on Howard. And if Jonathan Coachman can go from WWE backstage reporter to ESPN anchor, then anything's possible.

C
Nick Collison vs. Andris Biedrins
American white stiff vs. foreign white stiff. I don’t think there’s really anyone in the front court of either the Thunder or Warriors that will keep these guys off the court. Advantage, rest of the NBA.

Graham's rebuttal: Biedrins led the league in FG% last year. Between he, Bynum and Amare, I have that category locked up every week.

Utility
Mike Bibby and Thaddeus Young vs. Rudy Fernandez and J.R. Smith
I didn’t want to take Bibby but figured I needed a backup PG. Young and Fernandez are both in the same boat. Uber-talented young guy who might not be that good in fantasy because they’re surrounded by too many other good players. Smith will be good when Iverson gets traded. Then again, Smith might end up being the Pacman Jones of the NBA. Advantage, no one.

Graham's rebuttal: Seems about right.

Bench
Rajon Rondo, Monta Ellis and Jeff Foster vs. Mike Conley, Eric Gordon and Darrell Arthur
Ellis was a steal in the 12th round. I don’t care if he doesn’t play till January. I can wait. Rondo vs. Conley is probably a wash. Jeff Foster won’t play unless once of my centers gets injured and Arthur probably won’t get enough minutes to crack Graham’s rotation. Advantage, me.

Graham's rebuttal: Eric Gordon might average 15 points as a rookie this year, and Conley's primed for a big jump. And Arthur, well, anytime you have the chance to pick someone who gets kicked out of the rookie transition program, you have to take it. I only took him though because you stole Ellis right ahead of me. Slight advantage: me.

So to recap, I’ve got LeBron and Dwight Howard carrying my team, and Graham has Amare and Josh Smith. This is too easy. Oh wait, Graham has Randy Foye. Nevermind, I’m screwed.

Graham's rebuttal: You're a fart face.