13th - Brussels - no keepers because he's in last. But even if he could protect someone - I'm not sure there is anyone worth keeping. Anderson Varejao and Andrea Bargnani are OK values but could probably be had at Auction for similar prices. Besides, would you really want to keep them coming off such injury plagued years? Moving on...
12th - Maui - Trev has a couple of options. Nothing earth shattering by any means. Gerald Henderson ($1), Lou Williams ($3), Iman Shumpert ($1) and even Jordan Crawford ($1) have shown flashes of brilliance. A 12th place finish allows for one keeper. If I had to choose (and I do because I'm forcing myself) I would take Lou Williams and his 15ppg, solid 3PT% and 3:1 ATO.
11th - Manhattan Beach - There are a couple options here. Derrick Williams could be a decent starter next season for Minny but that's not for certain. And if I'm using up $17 dollars - I want to make sure of what I'm getting. So Williams is out. Bobby could look at Spencer Hawes for $7 bucks. He was having a great year until he got hurt. I believe he's a free agent after the season and could be somewhere other than Philly. That muddies the water so he's out. That leaves Lebron for $77 bucks. Is that a bargain? Maybe. Maybe not. But if you're a Heat fan and want to have a stud on your fantasy team - you may as well keep the guy. That's my call - Lebron will be MBB's one and only keeper.
10th - Arctic - 2 keepers for the Marcin Gortat look-a-like. As I've mentioned many times before - Arctic is loaded with potential values. Serge Ibaka and his 181 blocks (so far) is a guarantee for $14 bucks. Other choices include Ramon Sessions for $6 bucks (check out his Lakers stats); the Manimal Kenneth Faried for $11 bucks; and Derrick Favors for $13 bucks. I think the 2nd spot comes down to Faried or Sessions. I really love the potential of Faried (and he's eligible for 5 years because he was selected in the Rookie Lottery) but Sessions has also been awesome since joining the Lakeshow. Touch call Crikker.
9th - Montreal - duh, no brainer for one spot - Kyrie Irving. Again, check out these stats. 19ppg, 6ast, 4reb, 255/147ATO, 47 steals, 19 blocks and he's shooting 47/42. Holy cow. And he can be protected for just $20 bucks. And he's eligible for 5 years of protection because he was selected in the lottery. The 2nd and final spot is another tough one. It could be Jeremy Lin. It could be Marc Gasol. It could be Nicolas Batum. Or even Ekpe Udoh. I think Gasol is the most undervalued (even at $33 bucks) but Batum and Lin could be real nice pieces for their respective teams next season. And of course, keeping Lin could prove to be a valuable asset when trading with the Asian owners in the JBL.
8th - Idaho - 3 keepers for the kid. It appears it will Bynum, Rubio and Harden. DeAndre Jordan could get into the mix too because of his block potential. We saw what French did with a Bynum/Jordan pairing in the middle this season. Rubio provides the flash and dash and all those steals. And Bynum covers Rubio's poor shooting so that's a match made in heaven. The wild card in the mix could be Klay Thompson. The Warriors love this kid and since they traded Monta away the kid has averaged 18ppg. Not too shabby. But, barring major injuries and off season trades - I think we have a pretty good idea of who Idaho is keeping - at least two of them anyways.
7th - Bangkok - The Kok can protect up to 3 players but I'm not sure there are 3 values on this roster. Tony Parker is probably worth the $25 bucks for his scoring and ATO. After TP though, I'm not sure there are any other real value keepers. Rick could keep Dwight to $86 bucks but I'm not sensing that would be high on the list for the Kok to do this off season. Is Marcus Thornton a keeper for $20 bucks? Maybe. If you were related to him. At the end of the day, I would be very surprised to see Bangkok protect 3 players from this roster.
6th - Yuma - Chubby has a few guys I like for next season. Despite his poor %'s I like Brandon Jennings for just $22 bucks. He can score; has good ATO; and gets lots of steals. I also like Kris Humphries for $20 bucks. I believe he's a free agent and he could wind up somewhere other than New Jersey. Depending on where he lands - his value could take a hit. That being said - if he's a starter - he can get his rebounds. He is the #5 rebounder in the NBA!! I also like Kawhi Leonard's expanding role in San Antonio. Yes, he would be $10 bucks - but the Spurs aren't getting any younger and with Timmy D and Manu starting to 'coast' - Mr. Leonard could become the 2nd or 3rd scoring option very soon. And finally there's Paul Pierce. He would be $32 bucks and he'll be another year older. He's having a pretty good season and $32 could be stretching his price just a bit but....you never know.
5th - Chilliwack - Benny could be looking at 3 or 4 keepers but for tonight's article - he's in 5th - so I'll treat it like he only has the 3 spots. Awhile ago I was hyping Javale McGee has one of the best keepers in the entire league for just $21 bucks. But now, in Denver, he's already on thin ice and his value continues to drop. It will be interesting to see if Benny keeps him or will he try to trade him in the off season? Another budding star in the Wack is Paul George. I imagine he'll back for $8 bucks. He has become a 7 category man. Mario Chalmers for just $6 bucks could be a good keeper too but the possibility of the Heat bringing in someone like Steve Nash next season scares me away from Mario as a keeper. Of course, Benny could keep Blake for $59. That's probably what Blake is worth at Auction but maybe Benny would want to wrap him up now. Evan Turner for $8 bucks wouldn't be bad either. The playing time situation in Philly needs to get sorted out though before Turner becomes a lock. Touch decisions coming in the Wack.
4th - French Lick - The Legends could have 4 keeper spots with a top 4 finish and Hildy has plenty of options to fill those slots. I would expect Ty Lawson ($10), Ryan Anderson ($2) and Jeff Teague ($6) to be locks for 3 of the spots. That's some really good cheap talent right there. The 4th spot could go to a Drew Gooden ($1) or maybe even a LaMarcus Aldridge ($40). For Gooden it depends on what the Bucks think of Udoh and whether he could steal some minutes away from Drew next season. And LA12 could be a slight bargain at $45 bucks. But you never know, he could go for less at Auction. No matter who the 4th player is in the keeper ranks in French - he should be one of the favorites for next season.
3rd - Golden - The Showers squad is hoping to have his cake (win another JBL title) and eat it too (have 4 really good keepers for 2012/13). As mentioned, I'm going with a European flair with my keeper alotment. Golden will have Gortat, Ilyasova, and Pekovic for next season. The hopeful 4th spot could go to Isaiah Thomas based on his stats since he took over PG duties in Sactown. Loving this kid. Other options include Biyombo and maybe even Jared Dudley (just to make the Kok feel better about predicting Jared would average 16-5-5 this season).
2nd - Seoul - Phil will likely have 4 keeper spots and no one to fill them. As mentioned on the Scoreboard - he would consider James Johnson if he could secure the starting SF spot in Toronto and get some regular minutes. Other than JJ though - there isn't much there worth keeping for next season. Philly Woo has always been about the present and would have no problems starting from scratch next season. I'll predict that Woo wipes the slate clean and starts from scratch next year.
1st - Juan de Fuca - Juan will have 4 spots and no shortage of players to potentially fill them. Depending on how they want to construct their team for next season - the 3 headed Mgmt group could go with cheap guys (Dunleavy, Hayward, Knight) or they could protect established/emerging stars (Durant, Cousins, Chandler). Is Durant worth $72 bucks? Maybe. Is Cousins worth $39. Probably. Is Chandler worth $28 bucks at Auction. Again, probably. So, Juan could build around the same core that has them on the verge of a 2nd JBL title.
It will be interesting to see if all the JBL teams maximize their keeper space. A team like Seoul will likely have 4 keeper spots but end up using none of them. Will anyone else follow suit. Will other JBL teams make a run for someone else's top keepers? Will JBL teams being willing to trade a keeper for a lottery pick? Would you rather have a NBA veteran at a cheap price or take a chance on a young rookie in the Lottery. The summer should be fun....
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