So yesterday was one of the most exciting days of the year – fantasy basketball draft day. Like we’ve said before on here, we are fantasy monogamists. Only one league for us, so this is a monumental moment. How did things go? Pretty well, I think. I’m not entirely thrilled with my team, but I think there are plenty of solid pieces. So I hope you’ll indulge me as I go through my picks and my thought process that led to them.
Round 1, Pick #4
Shawn Marion
I was debating this pick all day, never assuming for a second that the Matrix would fall to me. I was going back and forth between Dirk, Kobe and Gilbert at #4, and convinced myself to go with each of them at different points. But then when Kobe went #2, I knew that either KG or Marion would fall to me, and it ended up being Marion. I’m not concerned about this tailbone injury in the slightest. So there’s a slight chance that he might miss a game or two to start the season. I’ll take six straight years of near-perfect health as a better sample size. I’m not expecting him to shoot 52.5% again, but everything else should be about the same. Getting him at the top makes it easier to not worry about category specialists since he’s such a force in boards, steals and blocks while adding 3s from PF.
Round 2, Pick #21
Jermaine O’Neal
I don’t love this pick, but this was a tough spot to be in. Two players who I would have gladly taken in this spot, Joe Johnson and Andrei Kirilenko, went directly before I was up. I didn’t want to risk a pick on Tracy McGrady, and narrowed my choices down to O’Neal and Vince Carter. I highlighted Carter, but just couldn’t click the “draft” button. For some reason, I really like O’Neal this season. I preach getting 80 games from your early picks, and O’Neal has played in 95 in the past two seasons and is already fighting nagging injuries, but I still pulled the trigger, with his center eligibility being the final factor. I love that his FG% has improved so much over the past few seasons, and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that he stays on the court for at least 70 games.
Round 3, Pick #28
Michael Redd
Vinsanity almost fell back down to me, as he went directly before this pick. I was very excited, then had to quickly adjust. This was another tough spot to be in, but after taking a pretty decent risk with O’Neal I figured it would be best to take a sure thing, and Redd qualifies there. He finally started hitting 3s like we always thought he should last year, is a healthy player in his prime years and offers quality percentages. I wouldn’t mind if his scoring dropped off a bit as long as his modest increases in 3s, assists and steals remained at last year’s levels.
Round 4, Pick #45
Stephon Marbury
Well if you read yesterday’s column, this pick shouldn’t be much of a surprise to you. I needed a PG and Marbury fit the bill here. Not much else to say since I said about everything already, but I really think Marbury’s past consistency can’t be discounted and he’ll return to being a top 30 player.
Round 5, Pick #52
Andre Miller
But just in case things don’t work out with Marbury, I decided to back him up with the always solid Miller. We like Miller a lot as a PG2 and not necessarily a PG1, and that’s exactly what I did here. He never misses games, shoots well and if all the preseason hype is to be believed (I don’t necessarily believe it, for the record), he’s going to seriously rack up the assists this season. By getting Redd and Marion early it let me get a couple of PGs who don’t hit all that many 3s.
Round 6, Pick #69
Deron Williams
My own little point guard run, which followed a center run, as Samuel Dalembert, Emeka Okafor and Shaq went directly before this pick. I probably didn’t need another PG, but I thought Williams was the best player out there, so I went for it. Honestly, I probably could have waited since he was ridiculously low on the Yahoo rankings, but I took the player I wanted. I’m not necessarily looking forward to an entire season of dealing with Jerry Sloan, but there’s just not much in the backcourt besides Williams. I wouldn’t mind seeing more steals, but I’d settle for solid percentages. Again, one of the great things about having Marion to anchor your team.
Round 7, Pick #76
Zach Randolph
Yeah yeah yeah, go ahead and blast me for this one. But at least let me present my thinking. After taking three straight PGs, I figured it would be a good idea to take a big man. I had my sights set on Andrew Bogut, but he went a few picks earlier. So looking at my board, I saw a bunch of names that didn’t really excite me too much. So I went with the guy who will be the unquestioned top scoring option on his team, who is just 25 years old and may (may) be ready to mature, who put up 18 and 8 in an off year last season and has career percentages of 47/76. How’s that for some rationalizing?
Round 8, Pick #93
Kevin Martin
Here’s one for the FBB masses. I’m pretty sold on Martin and love him as a mid-late round stabilizing pick. It’s always tough to gauge how a player who has a very solid season completely out of nowhere will follow it up, but he’s young, starts for a high scoring team and should get better. He also plays on a team with a bunch of question marks – Mike Bibby’s already hurt, Ron Artest is Ron Artest and I have this ominous feeling about Brad Miller this year. So Martin might have a chance to pick up some slack as a serious scorer.
Round 9, Pick #100
Tayshaun Prince
No complaints about this one here, consider it a tandem pick with Martin. I was going to seriously consider Channing Frye for my second center, but he was taken right before and in retrospect I’m fine with that. Prince went from being underrated to slightly overrated last year and it looks like he’s back to underrated. He’s the youngest key contributor on the Pistons and might assert himself a bit more offensively this season. At the very least he’s a solid percentages guy who will see 35 mpg and has an outside shot of being a 1/1/1 guy. I’ll take that at #100.
Round 10, Pick #117
Joel Przybilla
I couldn’t wait to take a second center any longer, not after Tyson Chandler, Nenad Krstic, Chris Wilcox and Kendrick Perkins all went between this pick and the last one. The Przy is a notoriously bad free thrower, but he doesn’t shoot all that many of them, so it shouldn’t be too bad. His health issues are certainly a concern, especially since my other center has his own. I could be in deep trouble here. Still, Przybilla is one of those guys who I wouldn’t mind seeing with only 25-28 mpg. He’s proven he can get 2 bpg and 8 rpg in that amount of PT, and it will keep his free throws attempted down. Could be worse.
Round 11, Pick #124
Eddie Jones
Ah, my old favorite. BV knew this one was coming, he called for it in Round 10, but I told him he’d have to wait one more round. I knew he’d be there. I’m expecting a serious drop off, and he’s on my bench to start the season, but the Grizzlies are rather depleted, so he might have no choice but to assert himself as a scorer early on. He did average 1.8 3s and steals last year, not bad for the 11th round.
Round 12, Pick #141
Derek Fisher
Not sure exactly what I was thinking here, but I don’t mind it. The worst case scenario is that neither he nor Deron Williams can consistently get 35 mpg, but once Fisher gets healthy the two of them should receive the majority of the playing time in the backcourt. I’m not expecting a repeat of his post-all-star break contract push last season, but grabbing another guy who’s capable of around 1.5 3s and steals this late doesn’t seem like a bad idea.
Round 13, Pick #148
Bonzi Wells
Just a speculation pick here. I know he hasn’t acclimated himself to the Rockets at all yet, and he and Jeff Van Gundy might just never work out. But last year Bonzi showed that he can put up some serious numbers if given the opportunity. And Tracy McGrady is quite likely to miss at least a decent chunk of time at some point in the season. If that time comes when Wells has established himself as a contributing member of the team, he could find himself as the team’s top scoring option behind Yao. We’ll see. Worth a last-round flyer.
So that’s my team. I’ve got some serious issues at center and might have to cut bait on one of those last three guys if someone on the free agent list emerges as a decent option in the middle in the early going. If Fisher and Jones stay on my bench, I’m a little light on 3s, but full seasons from Deron Williams and Kevin Martin should help with that. I feel pretty good about my percentages, with no killers at all except for the Przy at free throws. A couple of solid pickups and I should certainly be in the thick of things. BV will present his team tomorrow.