Vegas and Week 1

Well, first off, let me apologize for a lengthy absence. In the JBL's 20th season I have clearly let the 4-5 readers down by not updating this blog sooner. Lots has happened...so let's get to it.

• The 20th JBL Draft was held in beautiful/sinful Las Vegas. The suite at Mandalay was awesome and we had 9 eager JBL owners around a 10 x 10 area all with laptops doing their thing. I guess for Golden this was a bad setting as clearly I was affected by these surroundings. Either it was Vegas, or it was not having 12 year old hot dogs nearby, or the fact that I started drinking again at 10am the day of the draft. Whatever it was, Golden screwed the pooch. I'll address the Golden issues later. For now, let's go around the JBL.
• There were some teams that should clearly be pushing for a Vegas draft every year. Bangkok and Idaho were both impressive and the Fighters squad is out to an early, yet monstrous lead. Idaho clearly used a Roulette high to stick to a game plan and he came away with maybe the best Idaho team we've seen in years.
• Another draft day success was the Arctic squad. Maybe all these years he's just needed some peace and quiet in order to be successful?
• On paper, I like the look of the Chilliwack squad. His Excel spreadsheet was the talk of Vegas for quite some time. We'll see how this team pans out over the year - but I do really like what Benny did.
• The 2 off season favorites - Bangkok and Brussels - are in good positions to make a run at their 1st JBL titles. Rick had the best 4 man core of keepers probably ever (or at least the last 5-6 years) in the JBL. He supplemented those guys with Brandon Roy, Josh Smith, Tony Parker, and others. Let me make it clear - Bangkok is my early favorite for the JBL title.
• Brussels had 2 awesome keepers in Durant and Evans. He added Granger and Brook Lopez to the mix and may have 4 All-Stars come February. Tim is counting on some breakout years from Augustin, McGee, Jrue Holiday, Splitter, T Williams, Toney Douglas, and others. So this is a team of All-Stars and breakout hopefuls. Tim will need to be right on 3-4 of these of guys in order to win it all. That being said, he's right in the mix at this early stage of the season.
• Seoul is back looking for a 3rd straight JBL title. His team is led by Dwyane Wade, a cast of aging (but still productive veterans), and the likely ROY in John Wall. Once again, Woo has done some good things and it appears he is a title contender. Veterans Ray Allen, Andre Miller, J-Rich, Garnett, and Luis Scola all appear sold on playing for this always successful JBL owner. Look at Scola's early season success!
• Arctic paid big $$$ for Rondo and Blake Griffin. There was some snickering in Vegas that $58 bucks for Rondo was way too much. Two points about this price. (1) Someone else believed he was worth it and (2) looks like this was a good move after all. Blake Griffin went for $49 bucks and again he is living up to the hype. The Circle Jerks are a big team and should have no problem being a top rebounding team with the likes of Camby, Love, Griffin, and Horford. OJ Mayo and Beasley will have to pick up the scoring load as this team isn't blessed with a 25ppg guy. Overall, Arctic looks to be in good shape to be a contender.
• Idaho is in the mix early on as well. His starting lineup consists of 6 players that everyone would want and then he has 6 players that apparently no one wants (because he has offered them all in trade to almost everyone in the league). The Boris Diaw and Reggie Evans for Carlos Boozer offers still exist. Idaho is counting on his big guns to keep him in the title hunt. He pulled off the first big trade of the season when he traded a happy and healthy Devin Harris for an under-achieving Chris Bosh. We'll see how this move pans out as this was pretty early to make a major move like this one.
• Yuma has again put together a very veteran squad led by Kobe and Nash in the back court. Despite a shitty 09/10 season from Al Jefferson Yuma was happy to have him back again this season. Yuma also has David Lee, Al Harrington, Jason Terry, Mike Conley and others to make up what is a very solid 1-12 lineup. Again, I said it last year, but what a great draft room guy Pat is. He had a very under-rated performance in Vegas for his sarcasm wit directed at Bangkok. Nicely done.
• French Lick is a team that should have been drafting from Vegas. Too bad he couldn't make it. French used big dollars to select Chris Paul - who I think is a great guy to build around. I also liked the twin tower pairings of Duncan and David West. French made an early season trade by grabbing Bargnani from CHWK for Paul Millsap. French may have the best $1 pick of the draft in Nicolas Batum. He has looked awesome early on. This is another deep JBL team for French and he's certainly in the mix.
• Belgrade is back for year #2 and his Zombies squad is built around the scoring machines Monta Ellis and Carmelo Anthony. A couple of crappy games from Bosh and Marko punted him to the land of little money winnings (Idaho) in exchange for Devin Harris. Even though Bosh was sucking, this move has left Belgrade on the 'small' side when it comes to rebounding. Lucky for him he has Odom and Shelden Williams picking up any slack in this area. The return of Bynum and Okur could also help ease the pain here. The Zombies squad also has the required European talent with Bellinelli, Dragic, Kleiza, and Okur. Marko clearly learned from his rookie year and the Belgrade squad looks much deeper than last season.
• The name may have changed but Trevor is back for his 20th JBL season. The newly christened Maui Ribs didn't spend much of his allotted $260 bucks on draft night but he does have some talent. There aren't many "stars" but there are some very good players. Andrew Bogut (who Woo regrets not keeping for $25), Jeff Green, Caron Butler, Trevor Ariza and others will hopefully lead a well rounded attack for Maui this season. Maui boasts 2 players who are clearly exceeding their fantasy expectations in Wilson Chandler and Beno Udrih. Both have had very good starts to the season. Maui does have 3 players whose starts are very disappointing though - Jason Thompson, Jamison, and Kirilenko. It's early days so we'll see how this Maui team fares over the coming weeks.
• The Juan de Fuca (JDF) team is well balanced with Joe Johnson $36 being the highest paid player. JDF went big for his young bigs by drafting Cousins and Hibbert to man the middle. Both appear to be legit early this season. JDF also has the ageless Jason Kidd in the back court and he showed on opening night he still has the potential to drop 18 assists with just one turnover. JDF has Troy Murphy waiting in the wings to assist Zach and Gerald Wallace in the front court. The JBL chatter says that JDF's back court is weak with Ridnour, Affalo, and Barbosa. At this early stage, I will disagree and say it's just fine. I like all 3 players and think they can be fantasy factors.
• Chilliwack has Lebron and Dirk. Those are the superstars. He also boasts the rebounding beast Joakim Noah, the up and comer Marc Gasol and Utah's new PF Paul Millsap. After that, there are some question marks in Chilliwack but I do like what he's done. Brooks, Carter, and Nelson are not the most appealing fantasy names but they can be productive. The knock on those guys is their lack of consistency. Benny also has 2 very large trade chips (LBJ and Dirk) to dangle if this 2 superstar method doesn't work. Could you imagine what he could get for one of those guys? Chilliwack has a reputation as a JBL title contender and despite the team's week 1 struggles I fully expect this team to climb the standings in the coming weeks.
• The expansion Ballers got off to a rough start. First off, let me say it's awesome having Bobby Hucul back in the pool. I think I can speak for everyone by saying it's great to have you back and your passion and energy for basketball exceeds many past JBL owners. Welcome back Bob! Now, let me tear into your team, er, I mean professionally and constructively analyze them. I liked where Bobby was taking this squad with the early acquisitions of Pau Gasol and Amare Stoudamire. However, after that, the Ballers are filled with mediocre talent (I can say this because my Golden team is filled with it). When Emeka Okafor is your 3rd highest paid guy - times could be tough. Bobby is hoping for big years from Ginobili, Baron, and Jamal Crawford. He will also need breakout seasons from Favors, Casspi, and James Harden - which could happen. Bob's tackled the most challenging part of the JBL - the draft. Now let's see how he handles the roster moves, annoying trade offers from Idaho, and Free Agency. Best of luck Bobby - and welcome back!
• Well, I've saved the best (actually worst) for last - the Golden Showers. What the fuck happened? I clearly must have been drunk, asleep, stoned, or otherwise to draft the crap my team is currently saddled with. I only spent $221 dollars on draft day. Idiot. Not since Crikker's rookie season have we seen such a stupid move. The Showers are filled with role players and breakout candidates. There is one 20ppg scorer. No one on this team will average 10 rebounds. The team has no established shot blockers. I will say it - this team is horrible. Looking at the standings we have some cream over 1000 points and the 11th and 12th place teams are in the 500's. Golden is at 200 fucking points!! They may as well not even be in the league. God awful. Can I blame injuries? Sure, a bit. Not having Boozer and Mo Williams obviously hurts for right now - but even when they're back this is still the worst team in the JBL. Half of my starters in week 1 didn't even average over 10ppg. Disgusting. So, what's the plan in Golden? Well, I want to see what happens over the course of a couple weeks without Boozer. Then, let's see what happens for 3-4 weeks with Boozer. And by Christmas I think you'll find Golden still in the basement and ready to prepare for next season. (I've already floated an offer to grab some keeper talent). Tuna - please don't offer me Amir Johnson for Derrick Rose. The obvious trick is to get out of 13th place as that won't allow me to keep anyone. In a way, this is actually interesting for me as I haven't been in this situation before. Maybe I should speak to Tuna about being last to get some perspective?

Anyways, time to run. Again, sorry my absence from the Chronicles. I will do my best to document the 12 teams that matter in the JBL over the coming weeks. For now, I don't think the Golden squad is even worth discussing. Best of luck JBL'ers. Have a great season! The race for the 20th JBL Crown is underway!

Cheers,

JE

Roster Moves

Well, it's Saturday morning, October 16th and the Juan de Fuca Yo Mamas are on the clock. I got an email from Ron this morning that the 3-headed MGMT team is working on the final 2 cuts. I guess the pre-season play of DeJuan Blair has made things interesting. With only 3 keeper spots I would have thought that Zach, Wallace, and Gallinari were locks. Now, with Blair stepping up his game and maybe even earning the starting nod in San Antonio - he could be worth a look. Anyways, he said he would have his drops to me by tonight.

So, what's going on in the JBL with just one week until the 20th Draft??

Golden hooked up with Chilliwack on a trade. Aaron Brooks for Andrei Kirilenko. I know why Benny did this. He is loaded with bigs and to get his hands on a potential 20ppg PG for just $16 bucks - no brainer. Why did I do it? Well, for one, I didn't see Brooks being in my top 4 at the time. I also liked AK47's potential in a contract year. Yes, I was concerned about his injury history, but this deal was a minor one when our rosters are less than 1/3 full.

After reviewing the state of the Center position in the NBA I decided it might be prudent to get a cheap Center prior to the draft. That's where the AK47 for Anderson Varejao deal came up. Trevor pulled the trigger from a Palm Desert house where he is relaxing before he makes the trip to Vegas. This deal certainly had some interesting "hair" involved. If anyone remembers the Center's I rolled with last season during the JBL this was a must move for me prior to the draft. Yes, Varejao is injured right now but he could be the starter for a really bad Cleveland team that is going to want to run as often as possible. I am hoping Varejao's upside is somewhere around 10ppg, 8reb, 80stls, and 80blks with some decent FG%. I'm not asking him to be Brook Lopez, just a #2 Center who can get me some all around mediocre numbers.

Why did I drop Josh Smith?? Well, based on all the other JBL rosters this is clearly a draft with loads of top notch talent and I didn't want to be sitting there for an hour without the ability to get some! Josh Smith is a fantasy beast - but at $48 dollars that represents his top end value. So he really wasn't a 'bargain' - just a good player at the right price. At least that's the way I see things at the moment. If he breaks the $50 dollar barrier I guess I might regret the drop.

Seoul is down to Nene as a keeper. The 2-time defending champ is looking for the 3peat and is going in with a fantastic bargain in Nene and all the money in the world to try and build another winner. The tendex is being reviewed and Woo is able to start from scratch in his attempt to pull off something that has only been once before in the JBL. The only question remains is can Woo survive all the temptations of Vegas (the ladies, the smokes, the beers, the gambling, and the farting)???

Yuma ended up keeping just David Lee and Brendan Haywood. He released S-Jax, Maggette and George Hill. No real surprises here. Maggette would have been option if he was healthy but he is always a guy available at the end of the draft for that price anyways. Even though Haywood is in a potential time share with Tyson Chandler I think he's still a bargain at $6 bucks because of his ability to block shots.

With the Manhattan Beach Ballers returning to the JBL this season - blocks will be in high demand. Quick - how many players in the NBA blocked over 100 shots last season?? 19. That's it. So, with 13 teams in the JBL it isn't difficult to determine that it's going to be difficult to get your hands on those precious shot-blockers. That's why I like the size of the Chilliwack team - he has 3 guys on his roster ALREADY that blocked over 100 shots last season.

Arctic has protected the 3 guys I thought he would - Horford, Love, and Beasley. It could be argued that Horford is near his peak value - but looking at his stats he's one great fantasy player. Love is looking like a double double threat every night and Beasley is out to prove everyone who doubted him wrong. The Arctic squad looks very well equipped heading into draft night. I like this team's foundation.

Bangkok is having a very quiet off season. He has his 4 keepers (Westbrook, Curry, Gay, and Kaman) and is apparently sitting back just waiting for the season to begin so he can claim his 1st ever JBL title. I have to say (again) that I am a HUGE fan of this roster heading into the JBL draft. Although the firing of Don Nelson in Golden State does hurt Curry's value slightly. That being said, he's still a great bargain and probably a top 10 Fantasy player this coming season. Kaman and Griffin appear to be getting along just fine in LA and Gay appears to be a 20ppg player. And Russell Westbrook looks like he's Rondo, Kidd, and Nash rolled into one. OK, I'll say it, going into the JBL draft, this is the best line-up..

So, in my mind, who are the top 5 teams heading into the JBL draft??

1. Bangkok
2. Brussels
3. Chilliwack
4. Arctic
5. Golden

So, one week to go. I am excited. Very excited. I can't wait. This is the 20th JBL season and I am really looking forward to the entire experience.

PRESEASON ARRIVES!!!

Finally! At long last! It's here! The NBA preseason is underway which means the JBL draft can't be far behind! OH boy am I ever excited. I can barely contain myself. In the 3 days since the NBA preseason games began I have already spent more time analyzing those boxscores than I spent all year on boxscores in the baseball pool (yes, that would explain my 12th place basement finish). Now I know how Pearl felt in the JBL and how the other baseball owners must have viewed me. I didn't make any trades. I hardly ever signed or dropped players. MLB players just died on my team. Oh well. Congrats to Crikker for winning the league. Apparently it was his 1st Fantasy league win. Well done then, well done.

Anyways, back on topic. NBA preseason rocks. What would John Wall do? Who would PHX start? What kind of line-up would Cleveland play? What can we learn from one pre-season game. The simple answer is not much - but maybe lots.

In Washington we learned Wall is the real deal. We learned that Coach likes to play a 3 guard set with Wall, Arenas, and Hinrich. We learned that Yi Jianlin is the only real big man on the bench. We learned that McGee's JBL Auction value just tripled.

Some others jumped onto the Fantasy scene in Cleveland. Jamario Moon, Daniel Gibson (Boobie!), and Ramon Sessions all became fantasy relevant again.

DeMarcus Cousins made his mark in Sacramento against a small PHX team posting a monstrous double double.

Brook Lopez showed he might be the 2nd best center in the Eastern Conference.

Michael Beasley is trying to prove he can be fantasy relevant again while Darko tries to make believers out of potential JBL suitors.

Lebron and Bosh showed they can play together while Wade's hamstring strain could affect his auction value. Also, it's very likely that all of Miami's bench will be drafted simply because of the number of blowouts this team will/should have this coming season. Might as well get Eddie House on the cheat sheet.

The Bucks proved that they may have too much talent to make any of their players super Fantasy studs. On any given night - they could have 6-7 guys lead that team in scoring. Yes, I am aware that Jennings and Bogut are their biggest stars - but look at tonight - Jennings is absolute garbage and they do just fine. The Bucks are not fantasy friendly.

Kyle Korver proved that he can shoot. And he will go for more than $1 dollar on draft night.

Yao played 12 minutes and will be on a strict time limit this season. That news crushes his fantasy value. The question remains - will Bangkok draft him still? And for how much?

Charlotte scored 72 points tonight. That's about right.

Blake Griffin was very quiet tonight. Was that by design? Or was that because of the now 20 pounds heavier L-Train (17 & 7) defending him? And Rudy Fernandez did his best job to peak the interest of all the other teams who were thinking about inquiring about his services that still wondered if he had "it". And Wes Matthews (for the moment) quieted all those people (myself included) who thought the Blazers severely overpaid for his services.

Robin Lopez interests me. He's the only true big man in PHX and could be a cheap source of rebounds. Turkoglu looked like the Toronto version. Jason Thompson reminded the SAC coaches he was still on the team. Tyreke gave Timmy a boner. I know it.

Still waiting for those final few drops to come in...
Who will get punted?
Just 10 days until the final cuts are made....