Seoul is having a horrible week. His team is averaging 10ppg this week. Ugly. The strength of this Brothers team, as in years gone by, is his %'s, steals, and blocks. Woo's squad is set up for success in those categories so he's not going anywhere right now. He's holding on to that #2 spot. For now.
The only reason that Seoul has managed to stay in 2nd is because all the teams chasing him have some glaring weaknesses. Juan is in 3rd right now but is 8th or lower in 4 categories. French is tied for 3rd but is 11th in scoring and 8th in rebounds. Golden is 5th and I'm 13th in FG% and 10th in blocks. Bangkok is 6th but he's 11th in blocks and 9th in steals. So, until those warts are taken care of - Chilliwack and Seoul will remain 1-2 in the standings.
Bangkok changed the makeup of his team late this week when he traded Aldridge and rookie Tristan Thompson to Brussels for John Wall and Danilo Gallinari. This trade went down relatively quickly considering Golden spent almost 48 hours trying to secure the L-Train from the Kok for packages including Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry, and Jarrett Jack. Brussels sweeps in with a couple of guys who average 41% and 29% from the floor and snatches one of my favorite players away. Yes, Bangkok improved his scoring - but did he do so at the expense of his %'s? I guess we'll find out.
I attempted to make a deal with Brussels for LA but he too didn't seem to enamored with Rudy Gay and others. Tim is always a willing trade participant but never wants to show his hand. He's always looking for an offer - instead of just telling you what he wants. It would be so much easier, in my opinion, to just say - "OK, what do you want to Aldridge?" - and get an answer of "I want this guy and that guy." Then I would know what the price is. It's much harder to make a deal when it's just - make me an offer. Ben and I quickly discussed a deal earlier this week. I asked him if he liked the sound of a player A for player B - he said that wasn't enough. OK, fair enough. Done. Timbo requires a little more work.
At long last my patience with Bismack Biyombo may have paid off. Part of the very controversial deal where I sent Wesley Mathews to Idaho for Biyombo and Ed Davis - only to release Davis a week later- Biyombo finally got the playing time he deserves tonight. I say deserves because the Bobcats are like 3 and 42 and suck goat balls. They may as well play this kid. He jumps out the gym and is being compared to Serge Ibaka. When your other options are Byron Mullens and Desagna Diop - shouldn't you just say fuck it and play the 19 year old? He responded with a double-double and I hope can continue to play 30+ minutes and rack up some much needed blocks.
I finally gave up on Chuck Hayes tonight. Love the way he plays the game - but he's struggling with injuries and it appears Jason Thompson has secured the PF spot in Sac-town.
Another Golden favorite is quickly becoming Tony Allen. In his last 10 games he has 20 steals and 9 blocks while getting 13ppg. Love him right now.
This has been another week of man games lost in Golden. Jack has missed 2 games. Kleiza and Budinger have been inconsistent. I need a week where are all 12 guys are going. We'll see if I can accomplish that next week...
Saturday night I changed 20% of my roster over and brought in John Salmons, Kyle Korver and Earl Watson. Again, this move is about getting healthy bodies and dropping Budinger and Kleiza seemed like a no brainer because I just had no idea how much they were going to play on a night to night basis. Salmons, a notorious slow starter, is still starting in Sacramento and played 38 and 41 minutes in his last 2 games. So, he's worth a shot. And Korver plays for a wicked Bulls team that blows everyone out. Their upcoming schedule should lead to at least 3 more blowouts and plenty of playing time for Ashton Kutcher. Add in the fact that he's been on fire from downtown lately and hopefully I can get my squad back in the mix in 3PT% as well. And Earl Watson was brought in to help out in the ATO category. Surprisingly, Ryan actually has an Earl Watson Sonics' jersey that I bought a couple years ago for $10 bucks when the Sonics still existed. But that's not the reason I picked him up. He's in Golden to see if he continues to steal playing time from Devin Harris. The JBL ATO race is tight. There are 7 teams between 1.480 and 1.599. So, if I need a little ATO boost I can plug in Earl and his 45/17 ATO over his last 10.
And as we head to week 7 and begin the middle 3rd of the season (weeks 7 to 12), JBL teams continue to try and find the right players to improve in certain categories. My excitement level is rising (as I'm sure Montreal's is) because we are going to be able (hopefully) to plug in some special players pretty soon. Golden will be adding Brook Lopez to the squad and Montreal will be adding Manu Ginobili. For Golden, a team desperate for more FG% and blocks - Lopez is the perfect fit. Last year Brook shot 49% and had 121 blocks. I'm hoping he's healthy and can really help the squad. It's not often you can add a player like that in the middle of the season.
We also saw the first Chinese signing this week. Kenyon Martin found a home in French Lick. As per standard JBL rules - any JBL free agent signed during the course of a season must play in at least 20 NBA games in order to be eligible for protection. I'm sure Kenyon will get those as the Clippers still have 40+ games remaining. I don't think he's on French's list for protection however. JR Smith and Wilson Chandler could also be back soon. Smith's career shooting %'s usually keep him from being too valuable but who knows - he could find a home on a JBL roster. Chandler is also bound to a deep Denver team and could be worth stashing. Aaron Brooks - not so much.
And here we are on Superbowl Sunday....Giants vs. Patriots. I know that I will will stuffing my face with appies and cold beverages all day. Enjoy the game. Enjoy your Sunday. And my official prediction - Giants 24 Patriots 21.
No comments:
Post a Comment