Sorry about the one-day delay in getting the Crumpets out, but Mom was visiting, and I couldn’t very well tell her on her last night that I’d rather sit around and blog than spend time with her, right? Right! Also, I’m going to follow that up with the perhaps not-so-sad announcement that I am discontinuing the not-so-venerable Weekly Roundup feature. Yes, it only lasted two weeks before I realized that basically every story that I spent lots of time gathering up was also being reported (in more depth, and better) by the guys at Ball Don’t Lie, who actually get paid to do it (and therefore do it in more depth, and better). It was just really redundant, so I let it go.
You guys want extra features? Suggest them! For Instance, Baker suggested the annual “Bo D’s Totally Subjective Draft and Keeper Phase Assessment”, which is still ongoing in the Game Capsules. This week – Best Keeper Decisions.
The Slamson Memorial Virtual Round Robin
| Team | VRR Record | VRR % | Actual Record | Actual % | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet Sassy Molassy | 110-30-3 | 78.0 % | 7-5-1 | 57.7 % | -20.3 % |
| The Bombay Runners | 98-44-1 | 68.9 % | 5-7-1 | 42.3 % | -26.6 % |
| Baker’s Poop Makers | 86-55-2 | 60.8 % | 11-2-0 | 84.6 % | 23.8 % |
| Ball Shaggers | 80-63-0 | 55.9 % | 8-5-0 | 61.5 % | 5.6 % |
| The Very Bad Team | 77-65-1 | 54.2 % | 11-2-0 | 84.6 % | 30.4 % |
| Dry Heat | 76-66-1 | 53.5 % | 7-6-0 | 53.8 % | 0.3 % |
| Lipsticked Pigs | 75-66-2 | 53.1 % | 6-7-0 | 46.2 % | -6.9 % |
| Slamson | 63-79-1 | 44.4 % | 5-8-0 | 38.5 % | -5.9 % |
| Bodacious D | 61-81-1 | 43.0 % | 7-6-0 | 53.8 % | 10.8 % |
| nutria on viagra | 57-83-3 | 40.9 % | 6-7-0 | 46.2 % | 5.3 % |
| Rhymenoceros | 47-94-2 | 33.6 % | 2-11-0 | 15.4 % | -18.2 % |
| Hoops! I didit again | 19-123-1 | 13.6 % | 2-11-0 | 15.4 % | 1.8 % |
The Objective Stud
| Stud | SDAAs | Min | FGM | FG% | FTM | FT% | 3PTM | 3PT% | OReb | DReb | Ast | St | Bl | A/T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kobe Bryant | 19.45 | 167 | 61 | 50.4 | 43 | 89.6 | 7 | 38.9 | 4 | 21 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 1.08 |
| Greg Monroe | 16.90 | 173 | 36 | 57.1 | 27 | 90.0 | 0 | NaN | 14 | 36 | 16 | 6 | 3 | 1.78 |
| David Lee | 13.99 | 157 | 41 | 64.1 | 12 | 75.0 | 0 | NaN | 19 | 29 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 1.44 |
| Deron Williams | 13.15 | 153 | 26 | 40.6 | 19 | 86.4 | 11 | 50.0 | 0 | 9 | 46 | 2 | 1 | 2.56 |
| Derrick Rose | 12.63 | 155 | 36 | 45.6 | 15 | 83.3 | 9 | 34.6 | 3 | 9 | 37 | 4 | 2 | 4.11 |
| Kyle Lowry | 12.36 | 134 | 28 | 46.7 | 15 | 88.2 | 9 | 52.9 | 6 | 15 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 2.50 |
| Ricky Rubio | 11.88 | 145 | 18 | 42.9 | 14 | 82.4 | 3 | 37.5 | 2 | 16 | 39 | 15 | 0 | 3.00 |
| LaMarcus Aldridge | 11.54 | 153 | 37 | 46.8 | 17 | 89.5 | 1 | 100.0 | 13 | 19 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3.00 |
| Kevin Love | 10.53 | 158 | 28 | 36.4 | 35 | 85.4 | 6 | 31.6 | 17 | 38 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0.60 |
| Chris Paul | 10.20 | 115 | 27 | 51.9 | 13 | 100.0 | 4 | 57.1 | 3 | 11 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 5.00 |
The Objective Turd
| Turd | SDAAs | Min | FGM | FG% | FTM | FT% | 3PTM | 3PT% | OReb | DReb | Ast | St | Bl | A/T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Young | -4.63 | 125 | 24 | 42.9 | 7 | 87.5 | 3 | 20.0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0.43 |
| Iman Shumpert | -3.72 | 130 | 20 | 34.5 | 3 | 100.0 | 1 | 7.7 | 0 | 15 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 0.87 |
| Andrea Bargnani | -3.36 | 102 | 22 | 40.7 | 18 | 94.7 | 1 | 8.3 | 3 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.33 |
| Carl Landry | -3.16 | 106 | 18 | 46.2 | 9 | 60.0 | 0 | NaN | 5 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0.88 |
| Ray Allen | -2.92 | 108 | 12 | 40.0 | 4 | 100.0 | 4 | 36.4 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1.75 |
| Kevin Garnett | -2.48 | 100 | 18 | 43.9 | 9 | 90.0 | 0 | NaN | 4 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.50 |
| Jared Dudley | -2.44 | 101 | 10 | 43.5 | 3 | 75.0 | 3 | 50.0 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0.50 |
| Landry Fields | -2.26 | 130 | 8 | 34.8 | 4 | 66.7 | 1 | 25.0 | 2 | 14 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 1.38 |
| Luis Scola | -2.09 | 130 | 25 | 39.7 | 6 | 66.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 10 | 23 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0.67 |
| Chris Bosh | -2.03 | 119 | 19 | 41.3 | 10 | 62.5 | 1 | 25.0 | 3 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0.38 |
Game Capsules
The Very Bad Team def. Hoops! I didit again, 11-2-0 – Well, I suppose it’s true that if there’s one thing that is significantly worse than Very Bad, it’s a Britney pun. The VBT got 36 FGM and 37 assists from D-Rose, but perhaps more surprising was another Bull – Luol Deng went for 31 FGM and 49 total rebounds in a big week. The VBT’s best keeper decision was not in whom to keep but whom to let go. While Evan Turner (expensive at 177 KP) would have seemed an obvious guy to let go, getting him back in the draft for 10 KP is a pretty big reinforcement of the VBT’s correct assessment of his value (and may turn out to be a real bargain by the end of the year). Hoopsie is shaking up to be Slamson V2 – the team that gets a weekly defaul tmention of LeBron and wishes the #2 player on the team was any good. LeBron, naturally, dropped a Quad-20 without blinking (30 FGM, 21 FTM, 25 DReb, 20 assists) and Gerald Wallace’s 9 steals looked nice, but four whole-week DNPs (three injured) sure don’t help the winning thing. For Britney, the best keeper decision was probably also a deny-to-keep: Mike Miller at 119 KP might have been tempting as he’s got a history of putting up great numbers and could in principle get a ton of open three in the Miami offense. Of course, then he gets hurt (again) and you realize what a good decision it was to let him go.
Baker’s Poop Makers def. Rhymenoceros, 11-2-0 – There were three close categories, but Baker managed to win them all in the matchup against the Rhymin’ Rhino. Kobe went all silly on everybody – he only had a Triple-20, but oh what a Triple-20! (61 FGM, 43 FTM, 21 DRebs) Maybe it’s happened, but I don’t remember anybody breaking 60 FGM in a week before. That made Kevin Love’s 28 FGM, 35 FTM, 38 DReb Triple-20 look pedestrian in comparison. Baker’s best Keeper decision was to hold on to the possibly borderline Gallinari at 108 KP – right now Gallo looks like a clear-cut #3 player on the team behind Kobe and Love. Rhyme Time had a down week, but managed to get 35 FGM from Josh Smith (at .565) and 30 assists from fantasy breakout Jarrett Jack. Best Decision? Well, Nene’s O-Rank of 29 sure looked like it was worth 203 KP, but Rhymenoceros passed – and now Nene’s actual rank of 172 is making that look like a good pass.
Ball Shaggers def. Slamson, 8-5-0 – The Shaggers got the best of Slamson this week helped by PG play, especially Tony Parker (38 FGM, 34 assists) and Monta Ellis (34 FGM, 27 assists). The Shaggers best move was to hold on to the now-universally-hated Ex-Mr. Kardashian at 72 KP – essentially the cost of a ninth-round lick for a player whose rankings suggest he’s sixth-round talent, and who has turned it on in the past week (.719 FG%?!?). Slamson was led by the perennially under-rated Paul Millsap, who refuses to give up the starting job to supposedly better talents behind him and went for 41 FGM and 36 rebounds this week. Slamson’s best keeper decision this year was to avoid the Nick Young hype – he could have held on to Young for only 72 KP, and Nick ended up going for 134 KP in the draft, only to shoot .391 so far on the season and to bring practically nothing in rebounds, assists, steals, or blocks.
Sweet Sassy Molassy def. The Bombay Runners, 7-5-1 – Sweet Sassy got a very narrow win this week (5-2-1 in 8 contested categories), riding on the back of surprise #2 Stud Greg “Marilyn” Monroe and his measurement-laden Triple-20 (36 FGM, 27 FTM, 36 DRebs). 3 too many free throws, Marilyn! SSM got 46 assists from Deron and another 39 from Rubio and still only won the category by 1. SSM’s best keeper decision is easy – he held on to Kyle Lowry at 72 KP and got the current #5 player in fantasy after Lowry blew the hell up. I don’t really believe in it, but it’s working. I guess Lowry is kind of a half-converse of a placebo. David Lee (19 ORebs) and Kevin Durant (19 FTM) both missed a Triple-20 by just one for the Roaches, and he needed every single one of Andre Iguodala’s 13 steals to tie the category. The best keeper decision for Bombay was the 82 KP Jose Calderon, who is currently slotted at #18 in all of fantasy. In a side note, I’m not quite sure how a team has players ranked at #1, 14, 18 , 20 and 23 and is under .500 for the year.
Bodacious D def. nutria on viagra, 7-6-0 – Bo D squeaked out a win against the ABRs, though it wasn’t exactly a squeaker with only one category closely contested. Bo D’s week, like his year, was marred by the “but”. Dwight Howard hit 24 FTs, but at a .471 clip; Tyreke Evans had 25 FGM, but on .391 shooting. In fact, Bo D’s highest-ranked player is at 49 and he has only 4 under #100 – yet is only a half-game behind the Runners. How’s that for fair? There really aren’t a lot of good keeper decisions to be highlighted for Bo D. Perhaps not falling for the temptation of a 72-KP Omri Casspi who was set to be the sharpshooting starting SF for the Cavaliers was the best there was. Of course, the ABRs had perhaps even less to rejoice in this week. Amir Johnson had 45 rebounds; Al Jefferson went for 35 FGM, 39 rebounds, and 10 blocks. The ABRs were another twam without a whole lot of outstanding keeper decisions. Shawn Marion at 82 KP wasn’t an obvious keeper, and he may only be worth about that much, but outside of that it would be letting either the decrepit Brad Miller or FIBA-not-cleared Kenyon Martin go, and a sea cucumber could have done that.
Dry Heat def. Lipsticked Pigs, 7-6-0 – In our last matchup, the Dry Heat managed to beat the Pigs despite being over 200 minutes behind. A lot of that was due to some nice three-point shooting – Brandon Jennings went 7-9 (career .351), James Harden went 7-14 (career .361), and Jeff Teague went 6-11 (career .352). Dry Heat’s best keeper decision was easily James Harden – 69 KP has gotten him the current #11 ranked player. The Pigs were led by Andrew Bynum with 22 FGM, 44 rebounds, and 10 blocks. Ty Lawson, kept at 72 KP was the best decision for the Palins, who got a possible top-20 fantasy player for a pittance.
