Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 7:07 pm  |  44 responses

Fantasy Nightmare: Richardson, Jefferson and Odom go down quick

What do Slamonline readers think of fantasy basketball?

By Ben Osborne

My fantasy draft for this season was at my man’s house in the Bronx on Sunday, October 29th. To get to it in time for the 4 PM start I left the Giants-Buccaneers game at halftime, despite it being one of the few home games that the Giants actually played well in and the amusing fact that my friend (also a fantasy owner) and I were sitting right behind the Bucs’ Quarterback’s father. What’s my point? That my priority on that day was far and away my fantasy draft.

Much like my priority every single morning since then has been to wake up and check my team (even if I’ve checked as late as 11 PM the night before). This lack of a life has been even more pronounced this season then in year’s past because after three seasons in the middle of the pack, I have spent much of this year in the basement. Hey, these things happen when your first five picks (in order) are: Allen Iverson, Chris Bosh, Lamar Odom, Jason Richardson and Richard Jefferson. I’ve subsequently reworked my team but there was a stretch in December when all five of these dudes were injured or not playing (thanks, Billy King!). That’s how you end up in last place…though I haven’t thrown in the towel yet.

There’s obviously something embarrassing about struggling at this considering I cover basketball for a living, but as any big-time fan knows, “fantasy knowledge” isn’t exactly the same as knowing the game. Besides, the other guys in my league are no slouches. Most of them played ball in college and the truth is that all of them know the game as well as I do, so I don’t have much of an advantage anyway. I just plug away like the rest of ’em, hoping Mikki Moore keeps up his surprising play and cursing myself for giving up on Brandon Roy early in the season (when he too was hurt). Meanwhile, I stick some money aside in case I stay in last (we certainly don’t play for free!) and enjoy the rambunctious trash talking that courses through the internet for pretty much the entire season.

Besides thinking that there might be a few slamonline readers who are interested in knowing that the editor-in-chief of the magazine is a rabid fantasy hoops player, I wanted to put this out there to see what you all think of fantasy basketball. It’s always gotten relatively short shrift here because we figured there were other places online that you can get this information, and because hardly anyone here is into it. If I’m not mistaken, my predecessor Mr. Jones actually hates fantasy basketball and thinks anyone that plays it is a loser. But I like it and if there’s folks out there in the SLAM world that like it too, we just may give it some more coverage on this site soon.

Let me know what you think.

I was going to discuss some of the stuff I worked on from the new issue but I want to wait til a few more people have seen it. Best I can tell it is not for sale everywhere yet.

Until next Tuesday…

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  • Ben Osborne Posted: Jan.30 at 7:10 pm
    PS—I’m also in an ACC Fantasy league and doing very well (Denis Clemente, holla!) But that thing is way too obscure to warrant any coverage on this site. But the NBA fantasy coverage is a real possibility. What do you guys think??

  • Nine XXVI Posted: Jan.30 at 7:11 pm
    Lol, fantasy basketball.

  • TheHype Posted: Jan.30 at 7:21 pm
    Tip for any other newbie fantasy player (like myself this year) do not ever, EVER EVVVVVER pick Tracy McGrady. ever.

  • bko32 Posted: Jan.30 at 7:35 pm
    I love fantasy basketball, and like you, I check my team every day, even if I’ve checked it the night before. We should start a SLAM fantasy league next year if there is enough interest???

  • Logan Light Posted: Jan.30 at 7:43 pm
    I feel your pain… My starting lineup:
    D Wade
    Ray Allen
    Tayshaun Prince
    Dwight Howard
    David West
    Emeka Okafor
    Deron Williams
    Sam Cassell I’m in last place.

  • David Posted: Jan.30 at 7:49 pm
    A few years ago I found that playing fantasy sports takes a lot of time and ultimately aren’t that much fun.

  • Boing Dynasty Posted: Jan.30 at 8:00 pm
    Ye, ill stick with association mode on 2K7.

  • Chris Posted: Jan.30 at 8:09 pm
    Fantasy all depends on who you’re playing with and how much trash you talk. Playing a public league would suck, but in a league with 6-10 of your buddies who all love ball and who will all keep up with their teams for the ENTIRE season, and who all trying to win pretty fun.

  • Reggie Evans Posted: Jan.30 at 8:40 pm
    There are too many different rules in different leagues to write about who is valuable and who is not. Fantasy basketball is very specific, and is should be called Stats basketball to be more accurate.

  • Cub Buenning Posted: Jan.30 at 9:05 pm
    Ben, just be happy you didn’t have JRich and AK-47, as two of your top three.
    By the way, I hate fantasy football.

  • Simmy Sosa Posted: Jan.30 at 9:22 pm
    I know about hard times too, but I made the best of it. My draft:
    Round
    1. Allen Iverson
    2. Andrei Krilenko
    3. Michael Redd
    4. Brad Miller
    5. Andre Iguodala
    6. Emeka Okafor
    7. Jameer Nelson
    8. Zach Randolph
    9. Bonzi Wells Four of my top 5 picks have either been injured or just haven’t played well. I do have some good players and I made some good trades to be ranked 3 of 10 right now. I am down for any slam fantasy league.

  • Mr.100 Posted: Jan.30 at 10:42 pm
    Heres my Starting 5
    1.AI
    2.KB24
    3.Melo
    4.KG
    5.Stat
    I don’t play but I might if it was on slam.

  • Luke Posted: Jan.30 at 10:55 pm
    I’ve been waiting for someone, anyone at Slam to get into Fantasy bball. I’m in Australia and I play in 3 fantasy leagues (leading 2), step up your game Slam! :D

  • howard Posted: Jan.31 at 12:02 am
    these were my draft picks in order:
    1)Wade
    2)Carter
    3)Odom
    4)Josh Smith
    5)Marbury
    6)David West
    7)Brandon Roy
    8)Chris Wilcox
    9)Channing Frye
    10)Deron Williams (!!)
    11)Kwame Brown
    12)Kevin Martin (!!) got rid of Kwame/Frye and picked up Al Jefferson (FA!!) and Shaq (waivers) I was ballin the 1st 3 weeks but went into a deep funk when Roy/West/Odom/Smith/Shaq were all injured for over a month…good thing I kept them to remain in striking distance. My team is finally healthy and I’m back in contention

  • TheLogo Posted: Jan.31 at 1:00 am
    If there is a Slam fantasy league I might have to drop out of college and devote even more time to fantasy basketball.

  • Sean Posted: Jan.31 at 2:10 am
    I love fantasy bball. Check the box scores every night religiously (just ask the gf, she never gets the internet at night when shes with me). I picked up Rashard Lewis after he got injured off of waivers, hope when he gets back, he can continue playing the way he was before the injury. Got PP on that team as well, as well as Jamison who just went down today. On another note, Slam should start up a weekly fantasy column or something, I think that’d definitely be an entertaining read.

  • Russ Bengtson Posted: Jan.31 at 2:44 am
    I hate fantasy sports as a whole, but I don’t think anyone who plays is a loser. Well, I don’t think BEN is a loser, at least.

  • John Posted: Jan.31 at 2:57 am
    I lucked out with Peja Stojakovic (i fell into thinking he’d be fit and hit shots with CP3 passing to him), but other than that i’ve had a good run with injuries.

  • bja Posted: Jan.31 at 5:12 am
    That’s because Ben’s your boss Russ.

  • bja Posted: Jan.31 at 5:14 am
    Although I think my boss is a loser. And I’m not afraid to tell the world (anonymously on the internet)!

  • Jonathan Posted: Jan.31 at 8:27 am
    I think fantasy basketball could be interesting as an online column, but i would keep it out of the magazine. Most fantasy players are “internet people” anyway, and i would rather read about what makes people special in the magazine rather than how their combined points/rebounds/assists/whatever compares to those of Yaroslav Korolev.

  • Mackster Posted: Jan.31 at 8:41 am
    Coolest Keeper-league fantasy-site. http://www.mbahoops.dk

  • Ben Osborne Posted: Jan.31 at 10:56 am
    Thanks for all the replies so far. Just so you (Jonathan) know, any fantasy coverage would indeed be online only. Our magazine pages are too precious to give up (esp. considering the great photos we use). But it seems like their could be a home online. I also agree that it shouldn’t be a straight-forward advice column because of all the different rules (like Reggie Evans said). But if it could be funny, and maybe if it could lead to a slamonline league, I think we could be onto something. And David, I TOTALLY agree with you. I once did a public baseball league and it was awful. But now any league I do is only with people I know, which makes it much better. My NBA one that’s know in it’s fourth year is made up of 11 people, all of whom talk shit relentlessly. This raises the competitive stakes and often causes me to laugh out loud at my computer.
    Boing talked about 2K7. I happen to not be into video games at all (which might be why I have so much time for fantasy sports), but I know Sam and Lang are, and by all means they used to write about that stuff a lot on the site (and I assume they will continue to do so whenever a new game warrants their attention).
    Anyway, keep posting comments and stay tuned; maybe we can cover this thing properly by the end of the year and get some sort of slamonline league going by next year.

  • Richie Posted: Jan.31 at 10:58 am
    I’m a fantasy basketball geek and check religiously every day along with Slam online, the first two things i look at every morning. I’d be down to hear SLAM”s take on fantasy ball. I’m having a rough year with a draft that included Brad Miller, Mike Bibby, Pierce and Diaw.

  • Bryant Reeves Posted: Jan.31 at 2:05 pm
    I love fantasy basketball and have been playing for years. The one lesson I’ve learned is that the draft isn’t going to make or break your team. It is ALL about grabbing free agents at the appropriate time. Also you’ve got to run your team ruthlessly – there is no space for favorites or grabbing all the guys on your favorite NBA team…

  • No1CanCMardyC25 Posted: Jan.31 at 2:06 pm
    I consider myself a fan of the league, and then a fantasy fan. I try to separate the two. But, even though I was following the NBA long before I started to mess with fantasy I gotta admit following the stats of not only your team but consequently the players you match up against does add an element of excitement. As a Kobe owner last year I never had a double take like I did that Monday morning waking up and seeing 81 points in the stat line! The flip side of that coin was this season as a Yao Ming owner and my pre-christmas celebration was tainted when Big Yao suffered that knee injury.

  • Bryant Reeves Posted: Jan.31 at 2:06 pm
    oh yeah, my top 3 draft picks were KG, Artest and Dwight. I OWN the boards.

  • Dallas J. Posted: Jan.31 at 2:10 pm
    I’m addicted to fantasy hoops. This year I had to limit myself to one league – which was hard for me man.

  • A_B Posted: Jan.31 at 4:07 pm
    fantasy basketball sucks. So do all these stat counters. effiency rankings right? They are people not machines. Damn

  • abed Posted: Jan.31 at 5:38 pm
    AK47 was my NuMBER ONE PICK!!!!!!! ENOUGH SAID..

  • Gord Posted: Jan.31 at 5:44 pm
    One of my fantasy teams had Lamar Odom, Chris Bosh, David West, Chris Paul and Brandon Roy all injured at the same time. It wasn’t fun and I ended up dropping Brandon Roy, which I am now regretting quite a bit. However, David Lee and Al Jefferson have proved to be incredible free agent pick ups, but I’m in 3rd last in the league…it’s not good.

  • albie1kenobi Posted: Jan.31 at 5:57 pm
    when i was in high school i used to run a 4 person league, using newspaper to get stats and even wrote a simple program for me to enter all the stats and get weekly reports.
    i didn’t really mind the work, but i stopped playing because it actually took something away from the game for me. i hate rooting against a favorite player because i’m playing against him in the league, and i hate the fact that i focus more on how well individual players are playing versus how the whole team plays. i paid too much attention to stats rather than how the game should be play.
    fantasy basketball is like playing the stock market. which i guess it makes sense why the winner should get some money.

  • itai Posted: Jan.31 at 8:59 pm
    my fantasy team at one point:
    lamar odom
    paul pierce
    chauncy billups
    sam cassel
    ray allen
    ALL INJURED!
    and i had joe johnson but in the worst trade of all time i traded him away for boris diaw!

  • itai Posted: Jan.31 at 9:00 pm
    o yea and ak47

  • itai Posted: Jan.31 at 9:03 pm
    and big ben

  • sixthman6 Posted: Jan.31 at 10:25 pm
    i’ve been playing for 3 yrs now, won twice and this yr im in first again….its fun for me b/c it actually takes skill and knowledge of the game to win the league and u learn the more you play it…i’d definitely read the “fantasy links”.. this is my team this yr: Kobe Bryant
    Michael Redd
    Dwight Howard
    Mo williams
    Wally Szczerbiak
    Jason Terry
    Tayshaun Prince
    David Lee
    Deron Williams
    Trenton Hassell
    Dikembe Mutombo
    Jason Kapono
    Mark Blount I had to trade for Wally, Redd, Dwight, and Mo though

  • Tommy Patron Posted: Jan.31 at 10:46 pm
    Fantasy basketball, for me, sucks. I tried it last year and it really ruined my enjoyment of the NBA, and that was when I had a job with plenty of free time and a computer. I was more worried about who had the most games in the next 10 days, and who just got hurt a little, leading to who was going to get more stats because of it. Or whatever. I’m much happier just watching.

  • Chris White Posted: Feb.1 at 10:46 am
    Fantasy basketball turns grown men into Haters. For example, I am a die hard Knicks fan, but a G.Wallace owner. Watching Mr. Wallace go for 42pts on my squad last night was bitter sweet, but if someone has to piss on the Knicks, let it be someone on my team. As a Melo owner I also felt like picketing the league office after his suspension was handed down. I know that this is the “Post Palace Era”, but missing almost a 5th of the season for a punch?! Now every time I see any sort of a fight after the suspension, I want the NBA to throw the book at him….except if the suspect is on my team. Pure Hate.

  • Rick Kang Posted: Feb.1 at 5:13 pm
    Tommy Patron iz 100% correct. I know mad cats LUV Fantasy b-ball, but it just created more anxiety for me watching the games — and I’m hella nervous watching my favorite teams play anyhoo. Seeing “my” players commit turnover after turnover made me sick — becuz all I could think of is how it affected my team. I don’t care about Fantasy anymore, and my enjoyment of ball has increased tenfold.

  • goat Posted: Feb.1 at 8:07 pm
    I live for fantasy hoops. I 100% agree that it is a lot more fun when the rest of the league is full of your buddies, and full of constant chirping and banter. I’m in a 4th Annual League, that is very competitive and with high stakes (Fifty bones is a lot for a broke ass University student). I would really appreciate a fantasy column on slamonline. It’s gotta be something creative though. That’s all that I’ll say, leave the rest up to you guys, the pros. can’t wait to see LBJ rock the new cover like old man West. Oh one other thing Ben. Can we PLEASE get some love for the Euro movement on the Raptors this year? With Garbo and Il Mago going to the Rookie game (Jose got robbed) and Parker playing the (Euroleague) MVP that he is lately, how can you still deny these guys? Cheers

  • niQ Posted: Feb.2 at 12:27 am
    i been addicted to fantasy b-ball for liek 4 years now.. crazy addicted..haha i’m practically on yahoo when i’m not doing anything else..i’m in 2 leagues this year..which practically just added to my waste of time-ness..
    in my good league my first pick was yao ming.. who is currently injured but had a pretty good early season.hopefully he can dominate again when he’s back.. 2nd pick was jason kidd who’s been dominating the triple doubles as usual.. no matter how old he gets u can always count on him!

  • Schnuedo Posted: Mar.13 at 2:58 pm
    I’ve been praying Slam would hop on the Fantasy train for a while now. Once you get into it, you can’t escape it (as witnessed by Ben leaving a NFL game at half to hit up his draft). Even if it is only online, I still think there are only benefits that would come from it. Question though… I’m looking to get into a good Keeper League next season. Have a full league of people who want in. Anyone have any recommendations?

  • AdSense Money Maker Posted: Apr.1 at 2:38 am
    AdSense Money Maker Do you know how to make money from AdSense automatically? You don’t!? I’ll teach you how!

  • floe Posted: Oct.22 at 3:35 pm
    i somehow ended up with starbury as the starting pg in my fantasy team so i did what any guy in that position would do, i went and picked up curry for free. now excuse me while i go kill myself.

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