For the second straight year, I was invited to join Charity Stripe, a H2H Fantasy basketball league featuring various sports media types from outlets such as TSN, CBC, Hoopsworld, Yahoo!, RapsHQ, 82games and Rotowire. The draft was held last week, and I was picking out of the dreaded (this year, anyways) five slot. As part of the 2009-10 RotoRob NBA Draft Kit and to help you with your upcoming draft, I will explain my draft, round by round, and discuss various highlights and surprises of each round.

Round One

I was really, really hoping that Kevin Durant would fall to me here, but unfortunately — thanks to my recent Podcast — the dude picking in front of me knew this. And so I was stuck between the hated Kobe Bryant and the riskier pick – with more potential reward, albeit – of Danny Granger.

Given Granger’s recent injury history, I opted for the durable Bryant, despite my distaste for having to root for him. Sure, his name may be bigger than his slowly declining numbers these days, but Kobe still provides plenty of points, he’s a great FT shooter and will be a very good source of steals. There’s no real downside to owning Bryant, so I had to bite the bullet.

LeBron James went first over Chris Paul, and you can make an argument either way. Personally, I would have taken CP3, despite word that the Hornets are determined to reduce Paul’s minutes this year, but these two are both slam dunks.

I was surprised to see Dwight Howard go seventh overall; I had him pegged as an early second rounder, maybe reaching for him at the end of the first round. Brandon Roy, meanwhile, lasted to end of the first round, and I think that’s fantastic value.

Round Two

The second round started more or less as expected; I thought Tim Duncan went a bit early at No. 16, but I was quite pleased that Joe Johnson fell to me at No. 20. Yes, it’s another guard for me, but I was surprised to see that Yahoo! had him qualified at both backcourt positions. The beauty of Johnson is that he racks up a good amount of dimes from the off-guard position, so I wasn’t forced to reach for a true PG before I needed to. That’s why I was stoked to see he qualified there anyways. Yes, the Hawks’ addition of Jamal Crawford may affect Johnson’s touches, but when the two are on the floor at the same time, opponents are going to have a far tougher time double-teaming Johnson.

Here’s another big scorer for my team who will light it up from downtown to take care of the 3-pointers made category. The downside: he’s going to hurt my FG percentage and won’t offer anything in the way of blocks.

The first big reach of this round came right after my pick, when Jason Kidd went 21st. To me, Kidd is a third rounder these days and the fact that Devin Harris was still on the board made this pick all the more surprising. Brook Lopez going 23rd was an even bigger surprise – but, unlike J-Kidd, at least this is a reach that can be justified by Lopez’s tremendous upside. Apparently, everyone is grabbing Lopez in the second round this year.

Antawn Jamison capped the second round, and that’s another pick I wasn’t fond of — and that was before news hit that he’d miss several weeks. Better PF options like David West, Josh Smith and even Elton Brand are still on the board.

Round Three

Rashard Lewis is the first pick of this round (25th overall), and that’s far too early for a player who will be sitting out the first 10 games of the season thanks to a drug-related suspension. I wouldn’t have considered Lewis until as late as the fifth round given that he’ll miss at least 12 per cent of the season. The very next pick is Troy Murphy, and I believe that’s extremely early as well. Sure, he had a fantastic season last year, but many believe he maxed out, and I could see him still sitting there another round from now. Several of the picks this round seemed early, but those two stood out.

Needing to address my frontcourt, I was very happy to find Carmelo Anthony – a second rounder to me – still sitting there at No. 29. Yet another scorer here – clearly, putting up points won’t be a challenge for my team – and Melo also provides with me with some much-needed rebounding and will be a decent source of steals. Unfortunately, his FG percentage could hurt me and he’s not going to help me in blocks.

Right after I took Anthony, Harris was taken – a very strong pick this late. Other picks I really liked this round from a value perspective included Kevin Martin at 32, Paul Pierce at 33 and Rajon Rondo at 35. Jason Richardson was the final pick of the third round, but that was unnecessary – he could have sat there for another round and a half or so.

Round Four

I’m surprised that David West is still sitting there through three rounds, so I target him with my pick, but I don’t get anywhere near him as he flies off the board with pick 37 – a superb selection for this late. Vince Carter goes next – another great value this late, and then things settle in a bit. Shawn Marion is taken early at 41 – I believed he’d still be there a round later and once he goes, I’m thinking about nabbing Brand with the 44th overall pick. Unfortunately, he goes a pick before me, so although I had planned to build the frontcourt, Derrick Rose is too tempting to not pluck this late.

Yes, I’m getting guard-heavy here and don’t have a single PF or C through four rounds, but Rose gives me a true point guard who can deliver the dimes and yet more scoring power – I’m pretty sure if nothing else, I’m going to be heavily outscoring my opponents on a weekly basis. The athletic Rose should also pitch in with steals and FG percentage. Unfortunately, 3-pointers is not his forte, and taking him still leaves my team sadly lacking in blocks.

LaMarcus Aldridge goes at 46, a pick I really like and one I considered from a team needs perspective, but again, I couldn’t let Rose slip by. Point guards make up the final two picks of the round, with Jameer Nelson going somewhat early at 47 and Baron Davis going somewhat late at 48. That B-Diddy pick could be huge.

Round Five

The first player off the board this round is Marcus Camby – a shockingly early selection of such an injury-prone player. I wasn’t going to touch him for another round and half at least, and it wouldn’t have surprised me had he sunk even lower than that. Carlos Boozer goes 51st – nice value for this spot, assuming he doesn’t get hurt as usual or get dealt somewhere that negatively affects his Fantasy performance. Andrea Bargnani is taken next, and it could be a round too early, but there’s a decidedly Toronto-centric influence among this league, so I shouldn’t be surprised.

At 53, I’m eyeing Tony Parker, but my frontcourt is severely lacking, so I take Rudy Gay. More scoring power here and more steals, but Gay will also help me in boards. Unfortunately, my percentages take a hit with this selection.

Andris Biedrins and Al Horford are the next two picks as the run on centres – a run I have ignored, yet grown increasingly worried about – continues. I believe each of these picks is around one round or more too early, but I do understand the need to reach for size at this juncture in the game.

Mr. Eva Longoria finally goes next – a fantastic pick at No. 56, and then Mehmet Okur is taken 58th – also a wonderful pick, and one I had considered before opting for Gay.

Round Six

Stephen Jackson was still sitting there as we began this round, and despite the drama and crappy FG percentage, this dude produces, so was I targeting him. Unfortunately, he went the pick before me, leaving me scrambling for other options.

Anthony Randolph was the first player selected this round at No. 61. I thought this was early, but totally not surprising considering all the hype. Let’s hope for his owners’ sake that he’s not the 2009-10 version of Andray Blatche. Nene went next, and this was a great pick, taking yet another quality centre off the board, much to my chagrin. Al Harrington went shortly after this, right on target, and then Andrew Bynum was taken, a wee bit early I thought, but this could be just fine if he stays healthy for once. That was followed by another big man, Emeka Okafor, and then the S-Jax pick – tremendously value this late in the draft.

I need a centre badly, so I opted for Zach Randolph, who qualifies at both the four and the five. This gives me a legitimate rebounder, and yes, yet another scorer. He should give my FG percentage a much-needed kick in the pants, but could hurt my FT shooting. Unfortunately, Z-Bo is a double-double machine who doesn’t help in blocks and he won’t be contributing in 3-pointers either. Randolph was probably my first reach, but my team was looking way too small, and I had allowed the centre run to pass me by while focusing on other things (probably shiny things on my floor).

The second last pick of this round (71st overall) was John Salmons – another superb selection at this juncture.

Round Seven

Lou Williams was taken first this round, 73rd overall, and considering he’s never been a starter before, I think this is a risky pick. Established PGs like Andre Miller, T.J. Ford and Mike Bibby are still on the board and developing PGs Mike Conley, Mario Chalmers, Aaron Brooks, Rodney Stuckey, Raymond Felton, Ramon Sessions and Nate Robinson are also all still available, so going with Williams could be a reach.

Two picks later, Ben Gordon is taken — a fantastic pick this late in the draft. I had been looking at him, and that leaves me torn between Jason Terry and Eric Gordon. I opt for Terry and his PG/SG eligibility; he’ll bring me 3-pointers and more scoring (!), but also will help in steals. Of course, he offers no rebounding or blocks and I’m left swearing to myself that I will address these cats…soonish.

Blake Griffin goes next. Too early for my taste, but I can totally understand taking the chance on that upside. This could be a fantastic pick. Or not. I would prefer Boris Diaw, who went next; that’s a very good pick in the middle rounds here. Eric Gordon was next off the board (I was shocked he was still there), and I believe this is also a wonderful selection this late.

A couple of picks late, perennial sleeper J.R. Smith was plucked We’ll see. Given that he’ll be suspended for the first seven games of the season, I would have waited on him at least another round, but this could be a good selection if Smith doesn’t do something stupid, as he is wont to do. The rest of the round consists of high-upside players going a bit early, but I can see taking Greg Oden here. Leandro Barbosa 84th overall is a too early, I think. Yes, he’s a good sleeper and many expect him to bounce back in a big way this year, but I’m not crazy about this pick.

Round Eight

Bibby is the second pick of this round (86th overall) and it feels early. Hell, Andre Miller is still sitting there if it’s dimes you’re after. Guess that owner really needed the treys. Jason Thompson goes next; guess that 20/20 game the other night sure jacked him up the sleeper list. I like Thompson, but it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t have stuck around for another round or so.

Shaquille O’Neal is the next pick, and again this feels early. But centres have been disappearing and I’m having my own issues with big men, so what the hell am I going to say? Still, I would have preferred Andrew Bogut, Chris Kaman or Spencer Hawes here. Of course, Bogut is taken with the very next pick, so there you go.

Paul Millsap, someone I’m looking at, is taken with pick 91, and I think this may turn out to be a huge selection. I’m up next, and still needs bigs, but again, I can’t resist the fact that Andre Miller is still there. I help myself in assists, steals and scoring with this pick, but he’s not a three-point shooter and I am still sadly lacking in blocks. Uh ya….I’ll deal with that later.

Joakim Noah is the next pick, and how soon he’s taken surprises me. I didn’t expect him to go for another two, maybe three rounds. Another big off the boards. Lamar Odom is the last player selected in this round (96) and that’s the kind of guy I could have used. Nice pick.

Round Nine

The first pick of this round raised a few eyebrows – Kevin Love? This would normally be a perfect time to take the second-year big man for the Wolves, but with news emerging a couple of days before the draft that he broke his hand and would require surgery that should sideline him for six-to-eight weeks, this is a gutsy call. I might have taken him in the last round, but there are options out there that can help you now, not two months from now.

If that pick surprised me, I was even more shocked when Anthony Morrow was the next player taken. Morrow as a top 100 pick? No. I think he’s a fringe draft worthy player, perhaps a decent gamble as a last round flier, but surely he’d still be there in the last round. You have to understand that there are still consistent big scorers like Josh Howard and Allen Iverson on the board at this time. Point guards like Conley and Chalmers are still sitting there. Potential breakout players like Michael Beasley and Thaddeus Young are still available. Quality bigs like Kaman and Hawes can still be had. This is no time to be taking Anthony freaking Morrow and all the Don Nelson-induced headaches that go along with owning him. Phew. I feel better now.

In fact, the bigs start dropping then and there when the next three picks are Hawes, Brad Miller and my pick, Kaman. I got sucked into drafting Kaman last year on an auto-pick glitch, but he was actually pretty good for me – until he got hurt, as usual. Supposedly healthy this year, I’m counting on him boosting my FG percentage, giving me some much-needed blocks and helping my rebounding. Of course, Kaman won’t be doing anything in the way of 3-pointers, steals or assists, but I think I’m covered in those areas.

Two picks later, Thad Young is taken, and I think he could provide tremendous value from this slot. Immediately following him, Iverson is grabbed – 104th overall. When was the last time you thought AI had a chance to deliver great value relative to his draft slot? It could easily happen this season.

Stephen Curry is taken next, and while I am a big fan of this kid, I don’t see it happening this year for him. I like Curry as a 13th, maybe 14th round flier based on the tremendous potential, but not in the ninth round. Chalmers is the next pick, and that could be huge. Kudos.

Round 10

The first pick in this round is Roy Hibbert – great upside, but also a great risk. That’s immediately followed by Chris Andersen, also a bit early, but if you needs blocks, you’re now set. Two picks later, Marvin Williams goes at No. 112. I think this could be a wonderful value pick. Johnny Flynn is taken next – too early, but the very next pick is fantastic – although not without its own risks, as Beasley is taken 114th overall. If not for his summer of rehab, he’s got to be a top 100 pick, maybe going as early as the eighth round.

Felton goes next, and I like this one, too. I’m up next, and once again can’t resist who I feel is clearly the top available player – Josh Howard. I am finding time and time again in this draft one particular player who slips several rounds falling to me, and I’m overlooking team needs to take the best available player. JoHo gives me yet another scorer, who will also pitch in with 3-pointers and steals. This could hurt my FG percentage a bit and won’t provide any assistance with assists, but I had to do it.

Two picks later (118), Conley is finally taken. This is great, great value at this stage. Stuckey is taken next, and that’s also a very strong pick.

Round 11

The first few picks of this round go more or less according to plan, and I didn’t have an issue with any of them. In fact, I like the Grant Hill (122) and Andrei Kirilenko (123) picks from a value perspective. My pick is two slots away and I desperately need a big man. I’m torn between taking a chance on the perpetually day-to-day Jermaine O’Neal and the upside of sophomore Marc Gasol. Thankfully, the decision is removed when JO is plucked with the pick before me. Gasol it is. This gives me a rebounder and shot blocker who will also provide a nice boost to my FG percentage. He’ll probably hurt my FT percentage and obviously won’t be bringing me any treys, but I needed Gasol on my team badly.

The next two picks are Channing Frye – hate it – and Brooks – love it. Frye is a deep sleeper who could surprise, but I wouldn’t have done anything but take a last round flier on him. Brooks is poised for a breakout year, and will return serious value from the 127 slot. Next up is Tyson Chandler, and I don’t like it. I just think he’s a shell of his former self now and I’m not sure he’s going to ever return to being a star.

I’m not thrilled with the next pick either – Chris Duhon at 129. There are better PG options still available. For instance, two picks later, Kirk Hinrich is taken, and I see him providing much more value than Duhon this year. Antonio McDyess rounds out what is mostly an underwhelming 11th round.

Round 12

Kendrick Perkins is the second pick of this round, 134th overall, and I think that’s a solid pick as one of the few dependable big men remaining. I also like the Al Thornton selection, two picks later, even though there’s talk he’ll be coming off the bench. I’ve got pick 140, and I’m looking at a pair of Pistons – Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. I need another forward option and Prince offers a more well-rounded game – I’ve already got enough scoring power. Prince will pitch in on the boards, offer me a bit of scoring and some assists. Unfortunately, his FG percentage may bring me down a tad, but overall he does a bit of everything, so I opt for the well-rounded player here.

Two picks later, Francisco Garcia is selected. Normally, this would a tremendous steal at this stage of the draft, but I guess the owner picking him hadn’t heard that Garcia would miss several months with an injury. Anyways, he has since rectified that pick by dumping Garcia and picking up Zydrunas Ilgauskas on waivers. The next pick is D.J. Augustin, and that could be huge with the subsequent injury to Raja Bell. I liked Augustin here regardless of the fact his role was unclear, but with Bell out, this is a serious bonus.

The final pick of the round is Sessions, and despite the Gomes hype, I think Sessions is going to be an extremely valuable player before all is said and done.

Round 13

As we neared the end of the draft, I expected to start seeing more fliers. And it begins right away with Joel Przybilla. If Oden keeps fouling out of every game or getting hurt, Przybilla will again be a rebound machine. Two picks later, Rip is stripped off the board. How the mighty have fallen – Hamilton as the 147th overall pick? Yes, there are concerns about how he’s going to get his touches with Gordon in town, but I think this is a super value pick this late. Kudos.

Danilo Gallinari is taken next – another fine sleeper selection. Up next, I choose to go big again, grabbing the finally healthy Brendan Haywood. I’m seeking boards, blocks and FG percentage with this pick. He’ll hurt my FT percentage, doesn’t sink 3-pointers and isn’t much of a scorer, but that’s not what I need.

Two picks later, Yi Jianlian goes with the 151st selection. Another super sleeper here – this could be massive. Next is Tracy McGrady. I know – what a headache, but if you get half a season out of him, this could be an excellent return on your investment from this late slot. Definitely worth the flier.

The next pick is the deepest sleeper of all – DeJuan Blair. Yes, there’s tremendous potential here and he could surprise many, but where does the PT come from? To me, Blair is a better waiver wire selection. This is one gutsy sleeper pick.

Next up, Hakim Warrick is taken with the 154th pick. This is another fine sleeper selection. I’m not as thrilled with Mikael Pietrus as a sleeper, however. He might be somewhat valuable while Lewis serves his suspension, but I have my doubts.

Round 14

The final round opens with the selection of Randy Foye. What a great last round pick – despite the uncertainty of his role, he’s got so much untapped potential. Next up, Eddie House is taken, and I don’t see him as a draft-worthy player. Need a boost of treys? Rudy Fernandez is still available, so are Peja Stojakovic and Roger Mason Jr., and I think all three of them bring more to the table than House.

Three picks later, at 161 overall, Jamal Crawford finally goes off the board. I was wondering when this would happen and had him targeted if he was still there. What a splendid pick for the last round. Three picks after that, it’s time for my last selection. I opt for a rook, James Harden from OKC, who strikes me as an across-the-board contributor. I think he’s going to surprise some people this year. At least I freaking hope he does.

And the very final pick of the draft is another rookie, New Jersey’s Terrence Williams. This is a fine sleeper selection, as T-Will has drawn rave reviews in training camp and could also surprise people. He’ll have plenty of opportunity to do so on a weak Net squad.

Overall, I think my team is a bit guard heavy. I’m going to have to scour the wire for rebounding and blocks, but big men tend to emerge as in-season possibilities quite often. I’m confident I will rarely be outscored and I should do quite fine in assists and 3-pointers.

I think the keys for my team will be Kobe being Kobe for at least 80 games, D-Rose taking the expected leap into elite PG status, Melo producing a more well-rounded game, Gay getting enough touches to take the next step, and getting through the year without injuries to guys like Kaman, Haywood and Howard.

Let the season begin!

The results from Friday’s one day free-for-all Draftbug Blogger Invitational are in and I managed a mid-pack finish. Congratulations to Lester’s Legends who ended their day in first with 68 points and a slim one-point victory over the Sports Idiot crew. I totaled 45 points, good for a share of seventh place in the 12-team event.

The top scoring pitchers for the day were:

Felix Hernandez - 34
Ubaldo Jimenez – 31
Tim Lincecum – 24
Carlos Zambrano – 23
Clay Buchholz – 22

On offense, the top performers were:

Brian McCann – 14
Albert Pujols – 12
Orlando Cabrera – 10
Mark Teixeira – 10
Adam Jones – 9
Chase Utley – 8

I decided that Buchholz was just too much of a bargain to pass on at starting pitcher and then converted those dollar savings into Hanley Ramirez who promptly earned me the grand total of two points. I built strong up the middle with Utley and Joe Mauer in addition to Ramirez and then went cheap on my outfield and that pretty much doomed me. Franklin Gutierrez was a solid pick who earned me six points, but Andrew McCutchen and Michael Cuddyer amassed the whopping total of minus three points and it was all over. I should have spent a bit more time researching, but with the point scoring system in place, strikeout pitching is a must in this format. Lincecum earned 24 points and that was without getting the win, which is worth an additional 10 points.

It was an interesting day and a great learning experience so I’d have to recommend Draftbug for those interested in getting that one-day Fantasy fix. Thanks to Alex from Draftbug for the invite and we wish him continued good fortunes with the site.

On Friday, I’ll be competing against 11 other bloggers in the Second Blogger Fantasy Baseball Invitational Contest at Draftbug.

For those who aren’t familiar with Draftbug contests, the concept is simple — Fantasy baseball contests lasting just one day. For those that want to play the game, but aren’t prepared to make the long-term commitment it is certainly an interesting option. Each participant picks a team of players within a salary cap, and wins (or loses) based on the performance of their players in that night’s games. Cash contests range from $1 up to $55, and a freeroll (with no entry fee and small cash prizes) is offered every day.

The format allows players to obsess over all the same details as in full season salary cap games (park, opponent, lefty/right matchups, home/away splits, weather, injuries, etc.), while not imposing any future time commitments on participants beyond the current day’s contests. One and you’re done!

The format we’re using in this instance basically mimics that of the daily freerolls, where the top five finishers each win $1, which can then be used to enter real money contests on future days. The contest participants are as follows.

Alex – Daily Baseball Data
Sean – 27 Pitches
Dave H. – Rotoguru2
Dave R. – Dinks and Dunks
Charlie – FantasyBaseball 365
Josh – Future of Fantasy
Jay – Cardinals Front Office
Ryan – Lesters Legends
Mark – Poker Bankroll Blog
Tim – RotoRob
Troy – Roto Savants
Carl – Five Tool Fantasy Baseball

Stay tuned for the final results which will be posted tomorrow and a brief strategy discussion. Good luck to all the participants in this one day free-for-all at Draftbug.

As part of the 2009 RotoRob MLB Draft Kit, we wanted to present you with the results of our league draft. We’re still working away on the remainder of our cheat sheets, including our Master Keeper List, and our fifth annual top 40 prospects list.

When doing a draft analysis, I normally spend most of my time reviewing my team and strategy. For this, the second year of the highly competitive RotoRob’s Regulars League, I have decided to take a different approach and do a draft recap by round rather than singing the praises of my many astute choices (cough, cough). The league is a 15-team mixed format using daily transactions.

The rosters are made up of one each of C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, 4 OF, 2 DH, 2 SP, 2 RP and 4 other pitchers of one’s choice. We use a four-man bench so in all we go 345 players deep. In larger format leagues, having a sufficient player pool for the waiver wire is imperative in having both a fun and functional league. A fun time was had by all, and the comedy stylings of both Grey Albright and our defending champ Steve Parsons provided a chuckle or two. Let’s now take a look at how this one shook out.

Round One – Kevin Orris went with Chase Utley eighth overall and obviously believes that Utley’s hip is going to be no problem in 2009. The first five off the board were Hanley Ramirez, Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes, David Wright and Miguel Cabrera. The biggest discussion in the early going was no real surprise. Who goes after Alex Rodriguez and when?

Round Two – I can remember just a few weeks back pondering whether or not Matt Kemp is worthy of a second round pick and watching Todd Zola make the decision an easy one. Geoff Stein from Mock Draft Central made it two in a row, grabbing Kemp with the seventh pick in this round. I should have known he wasn’t falling to me in this one. A-Rod went with the 29th overall pick. It’s a decent gamble considering he’s got that September surgery planned when the Yankees fall out of the race. Full marks to Parsons for sticking to his guns on this one.

Round Three – The speed continues to fly off the board with Brandon Phillips, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford, Ichiro Suzuki, Alex Rios and Shane Victorino going in the first 10 picks of this round. I’ll take Vladimir Guerrero at 33rd overall as I’ve done in probably too many leagues this year, and pray the off-season surgery was a success.

Round Four – With the third pick of this round, Joey Votto, the young slugging Canuck, went off the board. I was really hoping he’d fall to me at the 12th pick, but the odds were long there. Isn’t it funny how a player becomes a reach only when someone else doesn’t manage to get him? The big three catchers all went towards the end of this round and in a one-catcher format I wanted a top-tier option. Geovany Soto, welcome to Team McLeod for 2009!

Round Five – It was time for the inevitable closer run and Jonathan Papelbon, Joe Nathan, Francisco Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, and Joakim Soria disappeared off the board in that order. Parsons managed to grab Dan Haren; now that’s a shocker. Five bucks says he’s already queued up Milton Bradley.

Round Six – Bob Sikon from Fantasy Baseball Trade Market picked Victor Martinez as the 11th pick of this round (86th overall). I like the potential for a rebound here. The Gas House boys jumped in with one of the big early speculative picks by grabbing Nelson Cruz with the fifth pick.

Round Seven – Nine of the 15 picks this round went the starting pitcher route, with a couple of closers tossed in for good measure. I take Aubrey Huff. Well I never was one to follow the beaten path so why start now?

Round Eight –Again, another round dominated by pitching, with Cliff Lee going as the sixth pick in this round. There are not a lot of believers in a repeat of that stellar 2008, but this is a nice potential bargain nonetheless. Derek Jeter went third in this round; oh how the mighty have tumbled. I like the 12th pick in this round in Carlos Delgado. I think he’s got one more good year left in the tank, so 30 plus homers in Round Eight makes for a solid buy. Another of the speculative picks went when Pablo Sandoval disappeared off the board. That position flexibility could be a nice option as the year progresses.

Round Nine – After eight consecutive bats it was time for me to take a look at pitching. I was pondering both Ricky Nolasco, who went later in this round, and Daisuke Matsuzaka and went for Dice-K with the 123rd overall pick. This wasn’t a big surprise as I have to have at least one former NPB guy on my squad or I tend to get a little cranky. Four more potential closers in Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol, B.J. Ryan, and Bobby Jenks went this round. The pickings were starting to get a bit slim in the closer department.

Round 10 – Chris Mulligan, who officially took over when Orris from FantasyPros911 developed computer issues, officially declares victory in the fight for Mike Aviles. It’s time for me to surrender and wave the old white flag. After doing battle with Orris in countless mock drafts this winter over the rights to be bragging about Aviles of the Royals, I officially lost the war.

Round 11 – I think I should be looking pretty solid in the speed department by picking Adam Jones with the third pick in this round. It was possibly a bit early to reach for Jones, but after watching the earlier trends in this draft I figured it was now or never. Toss in Jose Reyes and Chone Figgins and my team should be a top contender in the speed category. Five more closers, or sort of closers based on the early season dynamics, went at the back end of this round in Francisco Cordero, Brian Wilson, Kevin Gregg, Frank Francisco and Heath Bell.

Round 12 – Milton Bradley goes with the sixth pick in this round and I can hear the sobbing coming out of Portland. Parsons must be contemplating Plan E at this stage. Matt Wieters, the young Orioles catching phenom, finally disappeared with the 167th overall pick. As mentioned before, it is a one-catcher league so if one can find a substitute to make it through the first six-to-eight weeks of the season, this could end up being a fine play.

Round 13 – Kevin and Geoff end up doing battle by picking Chris Perez and Jason Motte back-to-back. Someone is going to be much happier than the other with these two picks. I gambled on Erik Bedard hoping to get at least a month or two of quality starts before he heads off to surgery. If Adam LaRoche ever shows up for the first two months of the season, our regular guy from the east coast could end up liking that pick.

Round 14 – The bottom of the barrel closers started rolling out with Matt Lindstrom, Troy Percival, and Chris Ray going. The FantasyPros911 crew continued the KC love theme, drafting Alex Gordon, and Sikon snuck in with a solid pick in Paul Konerko. I like the potential there. Mock Draft Central also managed to take a huge leap forward in the stolen base category by grabbing Willy Taveras mid-round.

Round 15 – Cory Humes from MVN managed to get the round started by grabbing another excellent bounce-back candidate in Fausto Carmona. If this spring is any indication of what lies ahead he could be a huge steal at this stage. Chien-Ming Wang goes at the end to Albright, and I have to admit he’s assembling a very solid team for Razzball. Coco Crisp goes to you-know-who. I’m waiting anxiously for that John Buck pick in the next several rounds.

Round 16 – Todd Habiger from RotoRob.com jumps in and grabs Kenshin Kawakami, shortening my queue. I really thought he’d sit another round but c’est la vie. The Denard Span pick this late also caught my attention. The potential for solid numbers in both runs scored and stolen bases this late makes this a rather attractive pick.

Round 17 – Considering my bullpen consisted of Joel Hanrahan, I figured I better start working on saves so I grabbed Manny Corpas this round. Did I mention that I was going to gamble and use both the end play and waiver wire to build my bullpen this year? I’m definitely putting my money where my mouth is with this team. The Billy Butler and Ryan Spilborghs picks this round have some solid upside potential.

Round 18 – Jason Giambi and Travis Hafner went back-to-back in this round. Each are solid speculative picks at this stage of the draft.

Round 19 – Elvis Andrus has finally left the building as the chase for some cheap steals continues. The question is can he make it to first base? There were some very interesting picks this round that saw Juan Pierre, Casey Blake, David DeJesus, Aaron Hill, Mike Fontenot, Paul Maholm and Fred Lewis all disappearing. Each of these players has some very nice upside potential entering 2009.

Round 20 – We’re heading for home and I like the Mark Buehrle pick. Nothing fancy, but steady as she goes. Habiger does something that I’ve rarely seen him do — he actually stayed awake into the later rounds and went with Colby Rasmus with the pick immediately preceding mine. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch is said for a reason. Nice pick, Todd.

Round 21 – Dave McBride of Full Mountie fame, last year’s runner-up, jumped in with Jesse Litsch of the Jays. He’s not going to give you a ton of strikeouts, but should be a good provider in Wins, ERA, and WHIP. I like the Skip Schumaker pick this round and the closer wanna-bes continued to move as Ryan Franklin, Dan Wheeler, Jon Rauch, and Todd Coffey all found homes.

Round 22 – If Mark Teahen of the Royals can get the glove work down and finds a way to qualify at second base, he could be a huge asset this year. He’s a nice gamble for this late in the draft.

Round 23 – The end is upon us, as we close in on the two-hour mark. Caution was thrown to the wind as the Gang drafted looking to create space for that first waiver wire move. Aaron Cook could work out well for the MDC team. I got sucked in again by the annual low WHIP totals of David Bush, but what the heck? It is, after all, the 23rd round.

Recap – Overall, my team leaves me feeling fairly content. I procured my speed, a decent power base and stuck to my guns and gambled on closers and potential closers at the end. The waiver wire needs to be my friend in 2009. The speculative picks went pretty much where I anticipated they would. No serious bargains were to be had, and none should have been with as skilled a group as this one. Congratulations are in order for a job well done, and here’s wishing all the fine participants in this year’s league good fortunes as we head into the start of the regular season.

You can find the full draft results here.

Well folks, now that 2009 is well underway, is there a better way to commence the New Year than getting that first league draft of 2009 under my belt? I’m not talking mock draft, but the real deal. Thanks to Mike Kuchera at TheFantasyMan.com for inviting Team RotoRob to partake in the 2009 version of The Battle of the Fantasy Gods. A fine cast has been assembled, including:

Chris McDonnell – Fantasy Baseball
Kuchera – The Fantasy Man
Scott White – CBS Sports
Troy Patterson – Fantasy Pros 911
Tim McLeod – RotoRob
Brian Fitzsimmons – Sports Buff
Todd Farino – Fantasy Baseball Search
Brad Stewart – MLB Front Office
Jeff Boggis – Fantasy Sports Empires
Geoff Stein – Mock Draft Central
Mojo Moshovetis – Crucial Sports
Knox Bardeen – Crooked Pitch

Strategy

This league has a couple of nuances that caused me to do some serious pondering. There are no restrictions on innings pitched, no bench, and we’re doing weekly transactions. Other than that, it is your standard 5X5 rotisserie format with the customary 23 roster slots. Taking the format and rules of play into consideration was going to be a prime focus when looking at assembling a team in this year’s league. If one is going to play the game, understanding the rules is paramount when developing a solid and successful strategy.

This league is getting off to a very early start, and this definitely played into the development of my strategy. I wanted to attempt to acquire five-category players early (who doesn’t want that?), grab myself at least one, possibly two solid closers, two high risk save gambles, and build on two solid starting pitchers. In a daily transactions league I’d probably look at trying to fill my third and fourth relief pitchers from the waiver wire, but with 11 shrewd competitors all playing the waiver wire weekly, I don’t want to be chasing saves under those circumstances. The odds just get a tad long when bidding against the entire league for one category. With no bench to work from I also liked the idea of building into my team a potential strength for future trading purposes. Those were the primary reasons behind the five-four split on starting versus relief pitching. I feel reasonably confident in my abilities to procure starting pitching off the waiver wire if I want to attempt to boost my strikeouts and wins down the road.

I spent a fair bit of time mulling over my first pick (fifth overall) options, and came to the conclusion that I was going to focus on stolen bases with that selection. I was hoping Jose Reyes would fall to me and if he didn’t, I was flipping a coin between the two suspects I felt might be there as alternative options — Grady Sizemore or David Wright. Conventional wisdom would suggest I take Wright, but who says I’ve ever been conventional? With that in mind, let’s see how our starting point for the 2009 season shapes up.

Round One – Sizemore, OF: So we’re going to take the unconventional route in 2009. The stolen base potential was just too enticing and I decided Sizemore was my man with the fifth overall pick. It is pretty hard to argue with the 33 homers, 90 RBI, 101 runs scored and 38 thefts in 2008. Is the best yet to come for the 26-year-old outfielder? It would certainly stand to reason considering he’s just about to enter his prime power years.

Round Two – Justin Morneau, 1B: I wanted a solid corner this year and the runner-up in the 2008 AL MVP vote is a solid bet. I’ll take 25 homers, 125 RBI, and a .290 BA out of first base for 2009. Besides, what would a RotoRob entry be without some serious Canadian content?

Round Three – Matt Kemp, OF: It might be a bit early, but in a league of this calibre one either reaches a tad or watches them disappear off the board. The potential for a 25-homer, 35-stolen base season from Kemp is just too high for me to see him on someone else’s team.

Round Four – Alex Rios, OF: As much as I’ve crapped on Rios in the past, the lure of those stolen bases combined with the modest power potential made it so I just couldn’t lay off. The potential for Rios to repeat 20+ stolen bases, improve his power, and hopefully have a healthy Vernon Wells to provide some protection in the Jay line-up, should lead to a solid campaign in 2009.

Round Five – Brian McCann, C: I wanted a solid catcher and McCann has the potential to be the best in the business. I’ll be more than happy with a repeat of that fine 2008 season.

Round Six – Joey Votto, 1B: The potential upside from Votto in 2009 is huge. I’m hoping that he can build on that strong finish in 2008, and move into the top tier at first base this year. Is a 30-homer, 100-RBI, 15-SB season too optimistic a projection for this young Canuck?

Round Seven – Brad Lidge, RP: Well, that takes care of the stud closer situation. Normally I’d stay away from this strategy, but as I’ve mentioned earlier, with a draft this early, and the level of competition, I don’t want to be focusing on getting lucky on the waiver wire. Everything is going according to plan.

Round Eight – Joakim Soria, RP: I might as well make it two closers early and shore up my saves. Soria had a truly outstanding 2008 campaign, posting a 1.60 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and finishing second in the AL to only Francisco Rodriguez with 42 saves. The bullpen is in very good shape.

Round Nine – Johnny Damon, OF: Okay, he’s getting up there a bit in age, but batting at the top of the order for the Yankees, he has to find a way to score 100 runs. Toss in 15 homers and 20+ stolen bases and he’s a perfect fit for my team strategy.

Round 10 – Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP: I’m still a believer that the best is yet to come for Dice-K, and 2009 is going to be the year that his walks will drop and the strikeouts will rise. Of course, I do have a bit of a bias, being that he was one of my NPB scouting projects. A.J. Burnett and Jon Lester went just before my pick, and Edinson Volquez, Ben Sheets, Ricky Nolasco, Yovani Gallardo, and Ryan Dempster all went before my next kick at the can, so I think I jumped in at the right time.

Round 11 – Matt Cain, SP: At some point in time, the skill sets demonstrated by the 24-year-old Cain have to translate into some wins, don’t they?

Round 12 – James Loney, 1B: I was looking for another power bat heading into this round and the guy I had my sights on, Xavier Nady of the Yankees, was taken with the pick immediately before mine. Brad Hawpe went two picks before Nady. My outfield was solid, so why not grab another first base type and shorten the position a tad? As I mentioned several times this offseason, I see first base as a tougher position to fill in 2009 than it has been for a very long time.

Round 13 – Adam Jones, OF: Prospect alert! I’ve been targeting Jones in most of my early mocks so why not in the real deal? If in fact we don’t see the progression in his skill sets that I’m anticipating, the options are fairly deep in the outfield for 2009. Apparently Jones has done some beefing up in the offseason, so let’s hope it helps in the power department and doesn’t diminish that stolen base potential.

Round 14 – Jose Lopez, 2B: Was last year an overachievment or the commencement of bigger and better things? The 25-year-old middle-infielder has 20-homer, 85-RBI potential and with my speed already in good shape, he fits my team plan perfectly.

Round 15 – Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B: Now, here’s a guy that is getting very little respect. PETCO Park is far from being a hitter’s paradise, but the proven 20-80 power out of Kouz is just too tough to pass on at this stage of the draft.

Round 16 – Orlando Cabrera, SS: He is still waiting to find a home for this year, but the speed and runs scored potential out of O-Cab makes him a decent option. Cabrera was also the last shortstop on the board with at least some potential, making this decision a very easy one. When I decided to go with a heavy outfield/first base mix for this team it had to be at a cost, and my middle-infield would be that cost.

Round 17 – Scott Baker, SP: The Twins just keep cranking out those young arms, and Baker is poised for what could be a breakout campaign. He’s young, throws strikes and in Round 17, this has the potential to be a steal. The 27-year-old finished last season with seven quality starts in his last eight appearances, a 3.45 ERA (eighth best in the AL), 141 strikeouts and 11 wins. That is more than enough to get my attention.

Round 18 – Jorge Posada, C: I’m hoping for at least a bit better upside out of Posada than some of the last round gambles at catcher. A 15-homer, 60-RBI season out of Posada as my second catcher will suffice.

Round 19 – Trevor Hoffman, RP: I’m not a huge fan of Hoffman heading into this season, but I simply couldn’t ignore the save potential this late. I gambled here and it looks like, with his subsequent signing by the Brewers, that he could be a nice bonus. Thirty saves in Round 19 has a nice ring to it.

Round 20 – Ubaldo Jimenez, SP: With Jimenez heading into his third season, I like the potential upside here. It wasn’t all that long ago that drafting starting pitching from the Rockies was a huge taboo, but not anymore. The 25-year-old has to cut down on the base-on-balls, but I really like the high strikeout potential. He could close in on the 200 K mark in 2009.

Round 21 – Chris Ray, RP: It’s getting near the end, so why not do some gambling? And Ray is a good candidate to gamble on. George Sherrill is not the long-term solution and, if healthy, Ray could either put me over the top in saves. Or, he could be one of my first cuts. But that’s why they call it a gamble.

Round 22 – Wandy Rodriguez, SP: What do you want for a 22nd round pick? Now that Rodriguez has conquered his road woes, a 14-win season and upwards of 175 strikeouts could make him a very valuable end-game play in 2009.

Round 23 – Aaron Hill, 2B: I had several options for my middle-infield with my last pick and decided to go with Hill. He managed a solid 2007 campaign, and if he can bounce back from his concussion woes of last year, Hill could be a nice bargain. There are several candidates still out there, and let’s face it, anyone knowing me fully realizes that I will be making some moves over the next several months.

Overall, I’m happy with my effort. I have a decent power base, my usual top three potential in stolen bases and a strong bullpen with a couple of solid starting pitchers to anchor my rotation. We’ll see how my strategy of building a strong outfield and shorting first base holds up as the season progresses. What will eventually make the difference, as always, are the gambles one takes, and I believe with this effort I’m heading in the right direction from both a risk and upside perspective.

Thanks again to Mike for getting this project underway and to all of the skilled participants in this year’s league. Welcome to the 2009 season!

If you’re ready to face the challenges of competing against some of the best, the RotoRob’s Regulars Fantasy Baseball League is the place to be this spring and summer. On the strength of our inaugural edition, we are heading into our second year with an even stronger cast of characters to challenge the masses.

Our first season saw two highly esteemed regulars, Steve Parsons and Dave McBride, finish first and second, respectively, and both are back to try to claw their way to the top in 2009. Added to this list we have our RotoRob Football champs, the Kings of the Avatars, Jeff and Robert Graup, and the comedic stylings of Todd Habiger, who has promised to not let his team be the joke of the league in 2009.

Once again this season, we’ve assembled a fine group of experts to challenge our readers, including:

• Geoff Stein – Mock Draft Central
• Cory Humes – MVN
• Bob Sikon – Fantasy Baseball Trade Market
• Grey Albright – Razzball
• Kevin Orris – FantasyPros911
• Tim McLeod – RotoRob
• Jordan Frank – RotoRob

The league is a 15-team, standard 5×5 format with daily transactions, and the live draft date will be scheduled for early March. If the idea of playing the game with some of the best in the business appeals to you and you’re up to the challenge, please feel free to contact me as soon as possible. We have only four open slots heading into our second year and would like to give our regular readers the opportunity to fill those open slots.

To the winner goes the obligatory bragging rights, and of course the opportunity to explain the method to your madness in an article here on RotoRob.com.

The participants in the league include Elliotte Friedman, CBC’s hockey and basketball sideline reporter; Eric Smith, who covers the Raptors for the Fan 590; Adam, who covers the Raptors for Hooplife.ca; Tommy Beer, an analyst for Hoopsworld.com; Ryan, from HoopsAddict; Tim Chisolm, from TSN; Scott Cullen, from TSN.ca; Ali Lila, who calls himself White Chocolate; and Muhammad Lila, a CBC News at Six reporter.

My indoctrination into the league got off to a shaky start when my team was somehow omitted from the draft selection – a process that was videotaped and put up on YouTube for dramatic effect. Well, imagine the dramatic effect that had on me when I watched the whole damn thing and failed to hear my team name picked! It turns out just 11 teams in this 12-team, H2H league where picked from the hat, but the commissioner managed to address that situation, and I wound up with the 10th overall pick.

Not great, but at least I had a friggin’ pick now!

I was sitting on Al Jefferson as my first round pick, having ranked him 10th overall, but when Deron Williams slid to me, I had to bite. That selection drew its share of pissed off reactions, which made it all the more satisfying. But when Big Al fell to me in the second round, I felt like I had somehow stolen the equivalent of two first-round talents. Not too shabby, considering I was batting in the 10-hole. Things were looking up.

My goal heading into this draft was to aim for a well-balanced team, but my specific focus was to make sure I didn’t leave myself short in dimes – a trait I’ve been known for in my excursions into expert leagues before. Getting D-Will with my top pick certainly helped address that, and I later added Ray Felton, Rafer Alston and Mike Conley for good measure.

For scoring, both Williams and Jefferson will help, but I’m hoping my third rounder – Jason Richardson – will come close to repeating his 2007-08 season. My fourth rounder – Kevin Durant – could easily wind up as the top scorer on my team. Other picks that should help in scoring include Ricky Davis and Rudy Fernandez.

I’m good in rebounding with Jefferson, Andrew Bogut, Chris Kaman, Andrei Kirilenko (assuming he bounces back in that area this year), Chris Wilcox and my last-round flyer – Spencer Hawes.

I love this team’s 3-point shooting with J-Rich, Alston and Ricky Davis. And I should be in solid shape in blocks thanks to Big Al, Bogut, Kaman and AK-47. I’ve got steals covered with Williams, Richardson, Kirilenko, Davis, Alston and Felton.

Where I may fall a bit short is in the percentages, especially FT shooting. On the FG percentage side, Williams is great for a guard, Jefferson rocks, and Bogut and Wilcox will both do well. In terms of FT shooting, Durant might be my best, and it’s not a major strength for anyone else on the team.

But the beauty of a H2H league is I can still do extremely well even if punting one or even two categories, so I’m not too worried.

Anyways, let’s review the draft results, round-by-round, with my commentary after each round.

First Round

1. LeBron James Team Steroids
2. Chris Paul RapsHQ Runni…
3. Kobe Bryant Eazy E’s
4. Dwyane Wade TSN Takedown
5. Amare Stoudemire Cabbage Blat…
6. Dirk Nowitzki Starbury Bea…
7. Caron Butler CBC Shot Cal…
8. Elton Brand TeeBall
9. Kevin Garnett media whores
10. Deron Williams RotoRob
11. Shawn Marion TSN.ca
12. Allen Iverson White Chocolate

I would have taken Chris Paul first in a turnover league, but it’s hard to argue with LeBron at one, considering that 30-10-10 season is coming one of these days. I was surprised to see Flash goes this high, and Caron Butler as well, but this round was mostly on track. Having Williams fall to me at 10 made my pick a no-brainer. I got the player I felt was the best available off the board and solved my age-old assist crisis in one fell swoop.

Second Round

1. Danny Granger White Chocolate
2. Chris Bosh TSN.ca
3. Al Jefferson RotoRob
4. Steve Nash media whores
5. Josh Smith TeeBall
6. Carlos Boozer CBC Shot Cal…
7. Baron Davis Starbury Bea…
8. Tim Duncan Cabbage Blat…
9. Dwight Howard TSN Takedown
10. Yao Ming Eazy E’s
11. Jose Calderon RapsHQ Runni…
12. Chauncey Billups Team Steroids

I love Granger, but this felt too high for me and Bosh going this high in the round also surprised me. But hey, it worked out for me, because I like Big Al more than either of those two, so I felt like I was sitting pretty after two rounds, and well on my way to a balanced attack as well. Nabbing Josh Smith this low was a solid pick.

Third Round

1. Pau Gasol Team Steroids
2. Joe Johnson RapsHQ Runni…
3. Marcus Camby Eazy E’s
4. Andre Iguodala TSN Takedown
5. Carmelo Anthony Cabbage Blat…
6. David West Starbury Bea…
7. Kevin Martin CBC Shot Cal…
8. Paul Pierce TeeBall
9. Rudy Gay media whores
10. Jason Richardson RotoRob
11. Vince Carter TSN.ca
12. Rashard Lewis White Chocolate

Gasol as the top pick in this round is a reach; I had him scheduled to be picked early in the fourth round. I think Team Steroids reached for Billups too soon in the last round as well, but it didn’t jump out at me like the Gasol pick did. I really like the Joe Johnson pick in this round – I think that’s a great value selection. I was happy to get J-Rich here to fill my SG slot, giving me positional flexibility (I can use him at SF as well) and filling in the area I had yet to address with my first two picks – 3-point shooting.

Fourth Round

1. Ron Artest White Chocolate
2. Andrew Bynum TSN.ca
3. Kevin Durant RotoRob
4. Brandon Roy media whores
5. Hedo Turkoglu TeeBall
6. Antawn Jamison CBC Shot Cal…
7. Mo Williams Starbury Bea…
8. Josh Howard Cabbage Blat…
9. Jason Kidd TSN Takedown
10. Andre Miller Eazy E’s
11. Stephen Jackson RapsHQ Runni…
12. Rasheed Wallace Team Steroids

Bynum’s selection here jumps out at me as too high. I guess when Camby went high in the third round, Scott felt that he better take a No. 1 centre off the board. Personally, I would have preferred Bogut or Mehmet Okur here, as Bynum is still a risk, as far as I’m concerned. With the propensity of power forwards that also qualify at centre, I think Bynum is a borderline No. 1 centre. Mo Williams before Jason Kidd and Andre Miller? That surprised me, and I think that TSN Takedown and Eazy E’s said ‘thank you, very much,’ and nabbed themselves solid No. 1 PGs in the process. Some may think I reached for Durant here, but I wanted to fill my SF slot (he also qualifies at SG, so that’s a bonus) and get a guy who could potentially score close to 30 PPG. There’s major upside here, and that was another goal of mine – try to focus on players poised to take their games to the next level. Williams, Jefferson, Durant, Bogut, Conley and Hawes all fit into this category, and Fernandez is a major sleeper, of course.

Round Five

1. Michael Redd Team Steroids
2. Al Horford RapsHQ Runni…
3. Gerald Wallace Eazy E’s
4. Tyson Chandler TSN Takedown
5. Emeka Okafor Cabbage Blat…
6. Mike Dunleavy Starbury Bea…
7. Devin Harris CBC Shot Cal…
8. Greg Oden TeeBall
9. Mehmet Okur media whores
10. Andrew Bogut RotoRob
11. Jamal Crawford TSN.ca
12. Andris Biedrins White Chocolate

Horford going second in this round continues the trend of centres going far above slot. I love “the other” Big Al, but I had him going in the middle of Round Six. Tyson Chander’s selection here kept that pattern alive. The Dunleavy pick was a superb selection; I was primed to grab him if he fell to me, and I started thinking he might for a while there. But when Oden was grabbed (again, perhaps two rounds too early), I’m sure media whores was stoked to get Okur and I was only too happy to take breakout candidate Bogut. Not only did this give me a true centre (Jefferson qualifies there), but it really provided a shot in the arm to my team’s rebounding and shot blocking capabilities. Bogut is slagged as a bust because he went No. 1 overall and got a the huge contract, but he just keeps getting better and we haven’t come close to seeing the best he has to offer yet.

Round Six

1. David Lee White Chocolate
2. Tracy McGrady TSN.ca
3. Chris Kaman RotoRob
4. Corey Maggette media whores
5. Lamar Odom TeeBall
6. LaMarcus Aldridge CBC Shot Cal…
7. Mike Miller Starbury Bea…
8. Samuel Dalembert Cabbage Blat…
9. Peja Stojakovic TSN Takedown
10. Tony Parker Eazy E’s
11. Zydrunas Ilgauskas RapsHQ Runni…
12. Ray Allen Team Steroids

Wow, I love David Lee as much as the next person; in fact, he almost single-handedly carried my expert team to a title a couple of years ago, but this is way too early. On the other hand, getting T-Mac in the sixth round? Sweet score. I was primed to take McGrady, and suck up all the panic attacks that owning him entails, so in a weird sort of way, I was happy the choice was taken out of my hands. But then came the glitch. I had a quick Internet hiccup (there was a thunderstorm), and that’s all it took for the system to autopick Kaman for me. Now, if you’re going to be screwed into an autopick, there are worse ways to go – a couple of years ago, I got stuck with Eddie Jones this way. Yikes! So, I sucked it up, and figured, what the hell, that takes care of my second centre. I had planned to take Richard Jefferson in this slot to give me a true SF, but maybe it’s for the best – RJ seems to be struggling to find his offense in Milwaukee. Other picks that jumped out at me in this round: Ilgauskus — this is way too early for Big Z – another centre getting pulled up the draft. However, Ray Allen lasting to the end of this round provides a great value pick.

Round Seven

1. Richard Jefferson Team Steroids
2. John Salmons RapsHQ Runni…
3. Brad Miller Eazy E’s
4. Mike Bibby TSN Takedown
5. Luol Deng Cabbage Blat…
6. Jermaine O’Neal Starbury Bea…
7. Randy Foye CBC Shot Cal…
8. Rajon Rondo TeeBall
9. Michael Beasley media whores
10. Andrei Kirilenko RotoRob
11. O.J. Mayo TSN.ca
12. Jason Terry White Chocolate

There goes RJ – a nice pick this late in the draft, giving Team Steroids a nice one-two coup in the middle of the draft. I was planning to take J.O. in this round, and got scooped, but that may be another situation where the pick you don’t make winds up being your best choice, as Starbury should count his lucky starts if O’Neal plays 65 games. So then I set my sights on Beasley, but got beaten to him by one freaking pick. My consolation prize is an athlete who openly cries in front of the media. That’s okay – he’s sensitive. And although he has never touched his numbers from three and four years ago, AK-47 remains a top shot blocker, and that’s shaping up like an area where I am going to be very competitive in. Plus, this pick seems to piss off a couple of people, so that’s always sweet.

Round Eight

1. T.J. Ford White Chocolate
2. Derrick Rose TSN.ca
3. Raymond Felton RotoRob
4. Zach Randolph media whores
5. Charlie Villanueva TeeBall
6. Troy Murphy CBC Shot Cal…
7. Al Harrington Starbury Bea…
8. Leandro Barbosa Cabbage Blat…
9. Thaddeus Young TSN Takedown
10. Marvin Williams Eazy E’s
11. J.R. Smith RapsHQ Runni…
12. Richard Hamilton Team Steroids

I love the Derrick Rose pick here, even though it’s a bit gutsy. I chose a much safer (and less dynamic) option in Felton, yet again thinking that “I won’t get screwed in assists…I won’t get screwed in assists…” Z-Bo is a tremendous pick in the eighth round and I also love the Marvin Williams pick – I wanted him in Round Nine coming the other way. Young, however, feels early. Others seemed quite stoked about this pick, but maybe I’m just not as high on him as most. I didn’t love the Harrington pick here, either.

Round Nine

1. Manu Ginobili Team Steroids
2. Gilbert Arenas RapsHQ Runni…
3. Shane Battier Eazy E’s
4. Anthony Parker TSN Takedown
5. Jameer Nelson Cabbage Blat…
6. Kirk Hinrich Starbury Bea…
7. Matt Barnes CBC Shot Cal…
8. Monta Ellis TeeBall
9. Mickael Pietrus media whores
10. Rafer Alston RotoRob
11. Al Thornton TSN.ca
12. Jason Maxiell White Chocolate

And so it begins – the round of taking players who are currently out with long-term injuries. Manu, Hibatchi and Ellis all go in this round, but with just two bench slots, it seems early to use up half your bench on a player who won’t play for two months (Ginobili) or longer (Arenas, Ellis…although reports on Arenas coming back earlier make this choice much easier to swallow). But hey, you’ve got to take risks to win, and each of these three owners had the balls to go get marquee talents in the ninth round. I don’t like Battier here – it’s too early, and although he helps in everything, he really doesn’t excel in anything, especially since defensive acumen and leadership aren’t fantasy categories. Jameer Nelson here could be a very solid pick. Once he was gone, I opted to take another PG (I shall not leave dimes on the table) in Alston. Skip to my Lou could kill my FG percentage, but the threes are sweet.

Round 10

1. Jamario Moon White Chocolate
2. Andrea Bargnani TSN.ca
3. Ricky Davis RotoRob
4. Luis Scola media whores
5. Drew Gooden TeeBall
6. Kenyon Martin CBC Shot Cal…
7. Beno Udrih Starbury Bea…
8. Ronnie Brewer Cabbage Blat…
9. Wilson Chandler TSN Takedown
10. Ben Gordon Eazy E’s
11. Nick Collison RapsHQ Runni…
12. Tayshaun Prince Team Steroids

Moon scares me…I am not liking the reports I hear; Bargnani, on the other hand, could prove to be a great pick. I opted for a safe scorer – going with Davis, who could put up big numbers on a Clipper team that no longer has Elton Brand. I love the Prince selection at the end of this round; he could be poised for a big season.

Round 11

1. Boris Diaw Team Steroids
2. Joakim Noah RapsHQ Runni…
3. Jeff Green Eazy E’s
4. Nene Hilario TSN Takedown
5. Andray Blatche Cabbage Blat…
6. Kevin Love Starbury Bea…
7. Luke Ridnour CBC Shot Cal…
8. Chris Andersen TeeBall
9. Brook Lopez media whores
10. Mike Conley RotoRob
11. Chris Duhon TSN.ca
12. Francisco Garcia White Chocolate

I’ve soured on Noah this fall; maybe I’ll be proved wrong, but I’m not that high on him right now. Chris Andersen is a seriously deep sleeper – that pick could have been had in the last round, in my opinion. I may regret taking Conley over Duhon here, but it just seems to me that Conley’s upside is far higher, even though Duhon seems to have the job nailed down.

Round 12

1. James Posey White Chocolate
2. Shaquille O’Neal TSN.ca
3. Rudy Fernandez RotoRob
4. Rodney Stuckey media whores
5. Ramon Sessions TeeBall
6. Udonis Haslem CBC Shot Cal…
7. Tyrus Thomas Starbury Bea…
8. Kendrick Perkins Cabbage Blat…
9. Nate Robinson TSN Takedown
10. Travis Outlaw Eazy E’s
11. Brandon Bass RapsHQ Runni…
12. Antonio McDyess Team Steroids

We’re starting to see players that I would have assumed would be available on the waiver wire here. Posey? Sessions, to a lesser extent? Certainly Bass as well could have been had later on. It’s hard to believe Shaq has fallen to the 12th round…wow. I went for the media darling sleeper here in Fernandez as it felt like people were starting to reach for their sleeper picks (once Blatche went in the previous round, it was getting to that time). Stuckey follows in this pattern and so do Thomas and Robinson – all of which could be fantastic picks.

Round 13

1. Andres Nocioni Team Steroids
2. Amir Johnson RapsHQ Runni…
3. Raja Bell Eazy E’s
4. Marc Gasol TSN Takedown
5. Rashad McCants Cabbage Blat…
6. Marcus Williams Starbury Bea…
7. Hakim Warrick CBC Shot Cal…
8. Delonte West TeeBall
9. Robin Lopez media whores
10. Chris Wilcox RotoRob
11. Vladimir Radmanovic TSN.ca
12. Sean Williams White Chocolate

Johnson is another sleeper pick that’s gained tremendous media appeal. We’ll see – I love the shot blocking, but the dude can’t really score. The Gasol pick was sweet – another great sleeper, and Marcus Williams may fall into that category once Nellie realizes that Captain Jack isn’t really a PG. I wanted Warrick here – I love that pick by CBC, but I settled for Wilcox. My team was feeling a bit small, so I wanted another big rebounder here. Sean Williams is another super sleeper – man, would I love to see how many shots he’d block with 30 MPG.

Round 14

1. Ryan Gomes White Chocolate
2. Louis Williams TSN.ca
3. Spencer Hawes RotoRob
4. Kelenna Azubuike media whores
5. Tim Thomas TeeBall
6. Earl Watson CBC Shot Cal…
7. Paul Millsap Starbury Bea…
8. Jerryd Bayless Cabbage Blat…
9. Stephon Marbury TSN Takedown
10. Yi Jianlian Eazy E’s
11. Grant Hill RapsHQ Runni…
12. Ben Wallace Team Steroids

And so it ends. I went for a flier and tried to bring in more rebounding with Hawes. What the hell. If he sucks, I will use the wire. I love CBC getting a starting PG (for now, anyways) in Watson this late, although I really expected Russell Westbrook to go before him and he’s still sitting on the wire. Millsap is a great final pick, and so are Marbury and Jianlian.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with my team. I feel like I stuck to my plan and didn’t get sucked into any runs for centres, PGs, injured players or what have you. I walked away feeling pretty stoked about my team — especially given my low draft standing.