Week 18 - Random Thoughts

No real theme this week....just thoughts.

The dunk contest was really bad. Cole Anthony putting on those boots and then failing like 3-4 times before making it was a really bad way to start.

Jalen Green took 9 attempts to make his first dunk.

JTA was out of his league to begin with before even putting on the Jason Richardson jersey. He does know that just because you wear the jersey doesn't mean you can jump like him right?

Obi Toppin's tap it off the backboard dunk was good but when he's telling everyone to watch the replay to appreciate it - means you've failed in the first place. I shouldn't have to watch a replay of something to get excited about what he did.

I agree with the many Twitter folks who say that D-Wade wrecked the dunk contest a few years ago when he rigged the judging scores to ensure his guy won. No big names are gonna want to do the dunk contest - even more so now.

I liked the 3PT contest and KAT certainly backed up his brash pre-contest statements that he would win and this would confirm he's the best shooting big man of all time. While he's only mid 20's if he keeps this up he's gonna have a case.

I might be in the minority but I liked the format of the skills competition. Maybe it's because my boys, Garland and Giddey, both did really well. How come Giddey can hit 3 straight corner 3's in this competition but shoots 25% from downtown for the season?

And the Rising Stars games were pretty good once the scores got closer to 50. I don't like that you can win on a free throw though.

Today's our JBL keeper deadline. Do I expect any deals? No. I don't. Why? Mostly because I think people are happy with who they have already have as keepers and I honestly think about half the league has checked out. This happens often when it's pretty clear that there are only a couple of teams who can still win. It's a 3-horse race right now and Maui is still in the driver's seat. That said, French can get into the 1200 point range quite easily if things go well so I wouldn't say it's over.

Right now, Maui has 1255, French 1137 and Bangkok 1069. Let's see how much movement there is over the next couple of weeks.

What do I think each of the 3 title contenders should do tonight? Well, Maui should acquire a solid point guard and let Eric Bledsoe walk. He's not in the Blazers plans and Maui has +26 in ATO available with some solid ATO. Hello Raul Neto. Of course, he should get Draymond and Lonzo back in a few weeks too so that always helps the situation.

Bangkok should be looking to acquire a 3PT marksman. The blocks category is too little too late but there is +39 points in 3PT% with another stud downtown marksman. 

French is staring at +65 points with a few good category moves. That gets him to just over 1200 points. Wowzers. French is close with the group he has and there are no rumblings that he's closing in on any deals. But if he could get to the 1200 range we have a race. 

Will Bangkok try and upgrade using one of his 7 potential keepers? If he doesn't, it's win for the rest of us as that's 3 really good players back into auction. Does he keep the higher priced guys like Dejounte for $42 or Tyrese for $34? Or does he keep the cheaper talent like Hart $6, Jones, $7, Rozier $11 and Edwards $19? And will Kok favourite Keldon Johnson at $20 really be considered? I'll admit, Keldon has been WAY better than I thought he would be but he's clearly the #7 guy on this list. 

I think Maui and Kok have the best collection of keepers while I think Juan and Brussels both have the best bargain value set of keepers. No stars but cheap and valued talent to form a solid core going into Auction next year.

Golden has been poking around a couple teams trying to upgrade potential keepers but with Bridges $19, Garland $19 and Giddey $12 in place it's not too bad. My concern already though is the poor 3PT shooting that Miles and Giddey will start me off with next season. They are 2 of the worst 3PT% volume guys to roster in fantasy basketball. 

After the deadline, I'll take a stab at who I think each team's keepers will be at the end of the season. Some teams are easier than others for sure. And of course, some players could get traded this offseason and become fantasy relevant again. Look at Richaun Holmes. From 15 and 10 to being a likely drop tonight. If he was traded this offseason he could be fantasy relevant again next season. But I think I have a pretty good grasp of who each time likes for next season. 

And we really do have a distinct group of tiers already. We know the top 3 teams already and then 4th place is between Brussels and the Wack. 5th to 8th is one of those teams plus Golden, Juan and Seoul. 9th to 12th is pretty locked in with Cali, Arctic, Idaho and Jizzlies while Bellingham appears locked into 13th and Norfolk is destined for 14th I'm afraid. 

So, here we are, 12 hours from the deadline and all is quiet. How many trade offers are out there in the JBL world right now? I'm betting it's very low and very quiet. But we'll see if there is any late night activity. I doubt it. But we'll see.