Ranking the Keepers

At the moment, all JBL teams have up to 5 players on their roster. And we are still awaiting the first off season JBL trade in 2010. Are there any discussions ongoing? My sense is that things are pretty quiet.

So, if all things stay like this - who has the best roster heading into the 2010 Draft?? Tough call because some teams will have 4 players and some will have a big fat zero (Idaho). So, I will base it on the talent level and the salaries of the keepers on each team. OK, here we go...

12) Idaho - no players so last place ranking

11) Belgrade - will only be able to keep one player. My bet would be that it's Carmelo for $45 bucks. This is probably a bit of a bargain for someone like Carmelo, but it still doesn't rank as a super keeper.

10) French Lick - Hildy will be able to bring back 3 players. I'm guessing it will be Dalembert, Millsap and Pierce. All good players but they don't represent the greatest value. Both Millsap and Dalembert will fight for playing time on their NBA teams while Pierce will be another year older and will have to be rested to gear up for the playoff match up with the Miami Heat.

9) Arctic - another 3 keepers available. Kevin Love is the stud of the bunch. Big Al Jefferson has been moved and Love's big man competition is Darko Milicic?? Come on, Love is destined for a BIG year. Beasley will also be in Minny and hopes to prove Miami wrong for letting him go. He could be a good value for Arctic. The 3rd keeper will either be Crawford, Harrington, or Horford. All good players but their keeper price is probably what they would go for on draft night.

8) Juan de Fuca - 3 keepers available and I would bet that Gallinari, Wallace, and Randolph will make the cut. All very good talents but not the cheapest keepers out there. Still, nevertheless, they are good bargains and Wallace & Randolph are proven fantasy commodities.

7) Golden - 4 keepers available. Golden will look for Josh Smith and Derrick Rose to lead the way in 10/11. Josh will be the highest paid keeper going into the season and still represents a slight value over his auction price. Rose could blossom on a very dangerous Bulls team. The other 2 spots come down to Deng/Brooks/Collison. Golden is very hopeful of making a deal and has had (or will have) discussions with Seoul, Chilliwack, Yuma, and Maui.

6) Maui - 2 spots available. The best bargains are likely Frye, Prince and Varejao. The Cavs will finally give Varejao a chance to start now that Ilgauskas and Shaq have left town. We know Byron Scott loves defense and Varejao should play loads of minutes and fill up the box scores on a regular basis. Frye is now part of a very deep Suns team. Will he get enough time?? If he can duplicate his season from last year then he's certainly worth the money ($6 bucks). Now that Amare is gone, Frye could shine. Prince is another player who could be in for a big year. He could be worth the risk.

5) Seoul - 4 spots available for the defending champ and he's already down to 3 players. I'm betting that Nene and Bogut are really the only 2 options as Marcus Thornton doesn't appear to be much of a bargain at $15 bucks. Nene and Bogut are good options for sure. There are rumors that Bogut could be involved in an off season deal....

4) Yuma - the 3 spots in Pat-land likely go to David Lee, Corey Maggette, and Brendan Haywood. Lee should have a monstrous year in Golden State. He excelled in NY's fast paced system and nothing should change in Golden State. Haywood has been promised the starting gig in Dallas and should average close to a double-double with a couple of blocks. Not bad for $6 bucks. Maggette will take his scoring to Milwaukee and be part of a very under-rated Bucks team in 10/11. Maggette can score and will be a cheap source of points in Yuma next season. I would be shocked to see Jackson or Hill make the cut (unless Tony Parker is traded out of San Antonio - then Hill could be a great bargain).

3) Chilliwack - 4 spots in the Valley for Conley, Bargnani , Marc Gasol, Joakim Noah, and Andrei Kirilenko. Marc Gasol is a huge bargain at his current salary. And now that Bosh has left TO it's Bargnani's chance to shine. Conley is still the only viable PG in Memphis and put up surprisingly good numbers last year. The 4th spots is up for grabs in my opinion. How much impact will Boozer's arrival have on Noah? Can AK47 stay healthy?? Kirilenko should be motivated to have a great year as it is a contract year for him so he needs to perform well before he goes to play in New Jersey with the billionaire Russian owner (just a hunch).

2) Brussels - Tyreke and Kevin Durant. Both are extremely undervalued at their current prices. In fact, KD is now the #1 Fantasy player since Lebron/Wade/Bosh joined forces in South Beach. OKC is a rising team in the Western Conference and Durant should be a monster again! Tyreke is part of the young and exciting Kings team that should be a bit better this year. Tim has 2 very big pieces of what he hopes to be a championship contending JBL team.

1) Bangkok - 4 keepers and 3 of them are HUGE bargains. Kaman, Westbrook, and Stephen Curry are all way undervalued. Curry and Westbrook are rising All-Stars and provide great Fantasy stats. Kaman is one of the top Fantasy Centers and is just $14 bucks! Rudy Gay is an all around talent would be worth way more money if he played anywhere but Memphis. Rick has 4 great keepers and is poised for a big year in 2010/11.


Will any of these teams change during the summer?
Will anyone make a trade?
I can't wait for the JBL draft!!

Oh Lebron!!

OK, thought I would weigh in on this whole thing...
Lebron had every right to sign in Miami.
Lebron had every right to hold a press conference to announce where he's playing.
But the bottom line, in my opinion, is that he shouldn't have held the press conference unless he was announcing he was staying in Cleveland.
Why do that to those fans?
Did Amare hold a press conference to announce his move to the Knicks? No.
Did Boozer hold one when he moved to the Bulls? No.
Is Lebron bigger than life and those guys? Yes, but he still didn't need to do that to Cleveland fans.
Make your announcement like everyone else and move on.

Lebron's legend/reputation or whatever you want to call it will forever be tarnished now.
He was the man who destroyed Cleveland basketball.
Even if he wins NBA titles in Miami - his critics will always respond with "Well, of course you won, you had a frickin' All-Star team".
Lebron is taking the easy way out in his attempt to build his legend.
Jordan built one in Chicago on his own...
Magic built the Lakers...
Bird built the Celtics...
Duncan/Robinson built the Spurs...
Olajuwon had his Rockets.
Sure, these teams all had luck, good signings, good Management, and good supporting casts - but they never all made a pact to join a team together in attempt to win a title. They made their own legend with the team that they started with.
Also, let's say Lebron and his crew win the next 3 NBA titles...the problem for Lebron is that Wade will have 4 titles to his 3 and Lebron will be still be 2nd fiddle.

I am looking forward to seeing what kind of team Miami is able to build for next season. It looks like there are loads of players willing to come and play in South Beach. Every team in the NBA will be gunning for them next year. Lebron will be booed in Cleveland. Bosh will be booed in TO. And Dwyane Wade will be cheered for bringing both of them to HIS town. Wade is the hero. Wade is the alpha male. Wade is the big dog. Lebron and Bosh can't overcome that because Miami was already Wade's town. If they all went to New York - an argument could be made that Lebron is the alpha male - but since they joined Wade in Miami - he's the king.

I really think that a team in the JBL should draft all 3 studs from Miami. Wouldn't that be something? How much will they all go for?? They have all lost some value since they joined forces -but they are still going to go for big bucks in the draft? Can someone pull it off? It would be very cool!

Deals That Make Sense....

I love this time of year. All these NBA free agents just waiting to sign...and loads of trade rumours throughout the league. Most of the trade rumours never happen -but there are a few that seem to make sense and should happen...

There are rumblings of a 3 way trade involving the Knicks, T-Wolves, and Warriors.
David Lee goes to Minnesota.
Al Jefferson goes to the Warriors.
Monta Ellis goes to the Knicks.
This makes complete sense doesn't it.

David Lee and Kevin Love would be the twin white towers in Minny. They could add in Ricky Rubio next season and try to field an all white guy line-up.
Al Jefferson, despite his slow return from knee injuries, is exactly the type of big man the height challenged Warriors could use.
And Moped Ellis would love the up tempo, shoot when you want Knicks style. The Knicks could pair Ellis with Amare.

Latest rumblings are that the Warriors are not interested in Big Al. I'm not sold that Al is done. You would think there would be some interest in his services.

Anyways, I still think this 3-way should happen.

And what about all the rumours of a sign and trade deal involving Chris Bosh. If you were running the Raptors, don't you have to get some assets back for him. You can't just let him walk for nothing. So, what would be the best deal???

The Knicks and Raptors apparently have discussed Bosh to NY for David Lee. At least you get a guy back who can be 20 and 10. Maybe you could get NY to throw in Wilson Chandler or Gallinari to sweeten the pot.

What about the Rockets?? Maybe you could get Aaron Brooks, Luis Scola, and some draft picks?

If Bosh wanted to go to Miami - would Beasley and Chalmers and a #1 pick be enough?? Not in my mind.

Bosh to Chicago? I'm sure you could get Luol Deng and Taj Gibson. Deng and Turkoglu play the same position so maybe you could move Deng somewhere.

There are some options here...and the Raptors have to get something in return.

So where will the big boys sign??
Amare looks like he's headed for NYC.
Where will Lebron, Wade, Bosh, and Boozer go???
My new guesses...
- Lebron stays in Cleveland
- Wade lands in Miami or Chicago
- Bosh joins Wade wherever he lands
- Boozer goes to New Jersey to tutor Derrick Favors

Of course, I can change my mind again in an hour.

Early Signings....

Steve Blake is a Laker. What a great signing (in my humble opinion). Blake and Derek Fisher should be a great tandem (assuming Fish re-signs). Blake can pass and is another excellent 3-point shooter. He should play a bulk of the PG minutes as the season wears on. I like this signing a lot for LA.

Amir Johnson re-signs with the Raptors. Huh? What is Colangelo doing? 6-7 million a season for a guy who has averaged 5 and 4 in his career? Don't like it one bit.

Channing Frye re-signs in PHX. 5 years and 30 million. Not a horrible deal in the big scheme of things. With Amare bolting, the Suns need Frye. They have Lopez, Frye, Earl Clark and now Hakim Warrick. Frye has the unique big man ability to spread the floor. He is a very tough cover for any opponents big man. His Fantasy value next season should be very appealing again because of the Suns system.

Hakim Warrick signs with PHX. A 4 year deal for 18 million. He will be charged with replacing Amare's 23 and 9. Good luck with that. Warrick will be given every opportunity to start at PF. Because of where he is playing - he will be a worthy JBL draft pick.

Drew Gooden signs with Milwaukee. Gooden has played for 8 teams in 8 seasons and now calls Milwaukee his home. Despite Gooden's changing zip code, he's still been a serviceable player on most of the teams he's played for. Obviously, there must be something to his personality to be traded/moved that many times in 8 seasons. Maybe the Bucks will bring out the best in him. Gooden/Bogut/Ilyasova/Larry Sanders should be just fine rebounding next season for the Bucks. Although it's a lot of money, I think this was probably a good signing for the Bucks.

John Salmons re-signs with the Bucks. Again, I like this signing. Salmons was very good in Milwaukee last season after his move from Chicago. We know Michael Redd's knees are done so Salmons is very important to this team. Milwaukee has numerous offensive weapons now and they could be ready to push for a top 4 seed in the East. I like the potential of the Bucks next season because they are so deep. Fear the Deer!!!

OK, that's all for now....