I hope you don’t mind, but I’m continuing my break from point guard related columns. I mean, by this point you all know what’s going on. At least you should. And if you don’t, you probably never will. Instead, I’m going to talk about managing your roster in non-weekly leagues. Because while it’s of course vital to have the right players, it’s just as important to know how to use them. A lot of owners like to use the strategy of taking “games in hand” during the first half of the season and saving them up for a big run in the second half of the season. This is a risky strategy that can pay off if it’s managed perfectly, but more often than not, you’ll end up leaving games on the board, which is the absolute worst thing you can do, and really, is unforgivable.
I’m of the thinking that if you have quality games, use them no matter what. If you go ahead of the pace, that’s fine. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that you should just be throwing everyone on your roster into the starting lineup when they have a game. But if the situation presents itself, you have to go for it. When all is said and done, it doesn’t matter when you accumulate the stats, just that you accumulate them. Take my current situation, for example. I find myself +2 to +3 games at both PG and G. So does that mean I’m holding off on using games there to stop from getting too ahead of the pace? Not at all. I’ve got Kirk Hinrich playing some of his best ball of the season, a healthy Brevin Knight racking up assists and steals, Bobby Jackson getting a consistent 35 mpg and knocking down a bunch of 3s, Marko Jaric going through one of his good stretches with Troy Hudson ailing and Richard Hamilton and Cuttino Mobley, who I never take out of the lineup. There is really no reason to have any of those guys on my bench right now. The only reason you should save games is if you think you’ll be able to get a higher quality performance at a later date. I can’t be assured of that with those six guys above.
But I can be sure of that when it comes to my center situation. This is where I’m saving up my games, as I’m -11 there. This is my preferred way of saving up games. I look around my league and see teams who are -5 to -7 at every position, and it’s just going to be very tough for them to make up all of those games with quality performances. Yes, the waiver wire does have some better pickings later in the season as the teams at the bottom of your league probably pay less attention, but it’s still unreliable. But if you go under at one position, you can deal with that. Like I’ve said in some previous columns, I have serious center issues, which gives me something in common with probably 80% of you. Rasheed Wallace continues to be a pleasant surprise, but when Yao Ming went down and Brendan Haywood lost his marginal value at the same time, I was left with just one option. But I didn’t go the Erick Dampier/Lorenzen Wright/Francisco Elson route. Quality is quality, and those guys weren’t going to give me quality. It helped to know that Pau Gasol would eventually qualify at center (that made my weekend, as he qualifies there as of Saturday in Yahoo leagues).
I’m taking a chance here and hoping that I can trade from my one strength to help my weakness. As I continue to go over the pace at the guard positions, those players become less valuable to me. As the trading deadline nears, I put myself in a position where the value of those players will be higher to everyone else in my league than they will be for me. While there’s still no surefire way that I’ll be able to pull something off, it should help me out. Even if I’m not able to make a deal to help make up those games at center, at least I’ll be able to focus my waiver wire pickups. If you find yourself down games at every position, you have to constantly play the wire, picking up and releasing players every day over the last month just based on who is playing that night. If I’m on target except for center and am in need of blocks, I can hone in on specific players to help me in that one category. I’ve found that’s the best approach at the end of the season, using your games to make up ground in one category. A couple years ago I needed a boost in 3s at the end of the season and had no problem using my extra games on Walter McCarty during the last month, to help me specifically in that one category. This year it could be a guy like DeSagana Diop or Theo Ratliff who comes aboard to try and get me an extra 20 blocks or so over the last few weeks.
So what’s the bottom line? Don’t be afraid to use quality games when you have them. Don’t save up too many games in hand; it’s harder than you think to use them all, especially if you only have a few bench spots to play with. And if you must save up, try to focus on one category and position. Has anyone out there come up with any other strategies for dealing with this situation?