Deron Williams (photo. Christian Kozowyck)

Every year we are invited to play in a an “experts” fantasy basketball league. A bunch of fantasy hoop geeks from sports media outlets draft a team and then write up a little something explaining why they made each move and everyone posts it on their respective site. ESPN, cbssportsline, Slam, Dime etc. Our draft was last night, and here’s how it played out:

There are 14 teams in the league. Here’s my one note to all you guys in or organizing fantasy leagues: 14 adds a strategic dimension, but honestly, a basketball league is best with 12 teams. For the second year in a row the Dime squad had the 14th pick. I’m a fan of the back-to-back picks in drafts to an extent, but with 26 players coming off the board in between picks, there are definitely times that you want to stab yourself during the 20 to 30 minutes you have to wait in between selections. I brought in a partner this year, our editorial assistant Aron Phillips (aka Go Get Em). Young Buck, and I apologize about this Aron, but he is clearly a bit of a fantasy rookie and has what I like to call “fantasy-itis.” In other words, he has trouble separating what makes a good fantasy player from a good basketball player. Tough one to cure but I broke him down last night. I said no to Aron more times last night than I was rejected in college. I gave him a couple picks and tried to be a good partner, but I’m also trying to win. The League is head-to-head with the categories (points, boards, assists, blocks, steals, turnovers, three pointers made, fg and ft percentage) each equaling one win.

The back to back and 14-team league really makes you plan ahead and think about things a little differently. With the 14th and 15th picks I was determined to get a point guard and center, knowing that 26 players later the assists and blocks categories would be tough to fill. For my point guard, our selection was actually very easy. We had thought that either Nash or Deron Williams would be available and we were right. Nash was drafted right before our pick and we jumped on Deron. I could care less if he misses the first week of games. If he’s completely healthy right now, Deron goes 4 to 5 picks earlier.

With the center spot, I was torn. Aron really wanted Dwight Howard and I of course was terrified of Howard’s free throw percentage. I was more interested in Bosh, Yao, or even Al Jefferson (Al and Bosh both give you PF and Center eligibility in this multi-position league). I’m a very strong Yao supporter. When healthy, the stats are tremendous. Take last season’s numbers: 20 points, 11 boards, 2 blocks, and absurd percentages. He doesn’t hurt you anywhere and really helps everywhere – when healthy. Bosh’s numbers are also very impressive, but the fact that he is consistently blocking only 1 shot per game ruled him out for me. Remember, 26 players were about to come off the board and that’s a whole lot of blocks. So, I did it. I took Dwight Howard and decided to punt free throw percentage for the rest of the draft. Howard can immediately help me win 4 categories (fg, blocks, boards, and hopefully points) and I’ll take that as a base. D-Will and Howard. Not bad.

And then the dreaded wait. My next two picks would be the 56th and 57th players taken in the draft. We needed best available but we also clearly needed points, threes, steals, and basically guys who help in multiple categories. When it came our turn and Jason Kidd was on the board, I looked at it as an opportunity to win a category. With D-Will and Kidd and a 14-team league, I could literally win assists. I’m not worried about Kidd’s field goal percentage at all. He’s not going to shoot enough to hurt you. He’ll probably end up shooting 40 percent but most of those shots will be threes, and he helps you so much in other categories. With Kidd, I get 100 threes, absurd dimes, boards, and steals. I also creep back into the free throw category. Although I can probably say peace to the turnover category. With the second pick, we took Hedo Turkoglu. Believe me, I didn’t go into the draft expecting to have Turk, but with what was left in the points, threes, and do-everything categories, I was pretty happy. Hedo also qualifies at both guard and forward which offers some nice versatility.

26 more picks gave us plenty of time to evaluate what categories to go at next. Clearly, we had to get some threes, but I also wanted to make sure we’re still filling blocks, as well the points category. As it got closer to our pick, we were deciding between Jermian O’Neal, Greg Oden, and Peja. Or at least grabbing two of those three. I didn’t hate the idea of JO and Oden. Remember, we’re punting free throw percentage anyway. Oden went before our pick so we grabbed JO and Peja. I’m satisfied with those picks. Both are significant health risks, but JO looks good right now. He gives us points, blocks, and boards while qualifying for either center or power forward. With Peja, there are only so many players that hit 200 threes per year and Peja is one of them.

I love the Z-Bo pick in the later rounds

When we looked at teams after the draft, rounds 7 and 8 marked the end of the talent. And by the way, Tracy McGrady went all the way to the 7th round. The 88th pick to be exact. WOW. Obviously understandable. We had the 98th and 99th. Aron really wanted OJ Mayo or Derrick Rose. I was listening a little bit, but don’t really trust rookies in fantasy (especially in non-keeper leagues). Mayo went before our pick anyway. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I was actually really hoping Zach Randolph slid to us. Yes, I wanted big Zach. At this point, he gave us really nice value (especially because I think he’ll probably eventually qualify as a center as well). We needed sure points and that was hard to find on the board. With 98th pick, he’s a great value selection and we grabbed him. On the other end of our back-to-back, I once again went against everything I stand for in fantasy basketball and selected Shaq. Like I said, we’re booting free percentage anyway (and I don’t think Shaq will shoot as many as he has in the past anyway). I have a hunch about Shaq this season and since we don’t care about free throws, getting boards, points, blocks, and fg percentage this late is a nice win. The 8th was really the round where the ugly began as Jamario Moon made an appearance, Hinrich, Battier, Rafer, Drew Gooden and Joakim Noah. Yuck. Rose actually went immediately after Shaq, which almost made Aron hit me.

I’m actually fired up about our 9th and 10th rounders. While many are essentially taking cuttables (Raja Bell, Ty Thomas, Warrick, Farmar, Millsap, Bayless), we grabbed Rudy Fernandez and Monta Ellis. I love Rudy, and think he’ll play 30 minutes a night and give you real stats day in and day out [Check out the Legend of Rudy Fernandez]. With Monta, if he comes back for the second half of the season it’s a huge win. He was the last of the injured three to go. It does mean that we need to find a starter in our last three picks and there is a whole lot of ugly out there.

It’s bad when I’m desperately hoping that Udonis Haslem or Louis Williams falls to us in the 11th round. They didn’t. With our back-to-back, we grabbed one of Aron’s guys – DeShawn Stevenson (I threw up in my mouth as Aron made the pick … though the kid does hit threes and scores a little) and Andres Nocioni, who if given minutes can really play. With the very last pick in the draft, we took Robin Lopez, though we’re first on the waiver wire so it didn’t really matter who we grabbed. Still, having Shaq’s back up isn’t the worst idea.

So looking at our squad, I like what we did with the back-to-back picks. If we stay healthy, we should win boards, blocks, assists, and field goal percentage most weeks, and have a legit shot at taking points, and threes. Steals and turnovers are crapshoots anyway. We’re trying to win 5 to 6 categories weekly, and I think we’ll have a decent shot at that. Time will tell.

The Dime Team

PG - Deron Williams
SG - Hedo Turkoglu (G or F)
G - Jason Kidd
SF - Peja Stojakovic
PF - Jermaine O’Neal (PF or C)
F - Zach Randolph
C - Dwight Howard
C - Shaquille O’Neal
Util - Rudy Fernandez
Util - DeShawn Stevenson
BN - Monta Ellis
BN - Andres Nocioni
BN - Robin Lopez (PF or C)

Yesterday the Fantasy Doctor debuted his first fantasy hoops column of the season when he ranked the 101 best fantasy players in the NBA this season. Come back later today for his Top Sleeper Picks for 2008-09.