End of fantasy basketball season wrap

I haven't posted much about my fantasy basketball season lately and now that we're in to the real-life NBA Playoffs, our season is over. This was the first year that our league has chipped in money to put up some cash prizes and the pay out went to the top 3 (of 12). My team didn't make the money, finishing in 7th place. Congrats to two of my boys, Al and Mitch for their second and third placed finishes.

For most of the season I found myself at the bottom of the league so fighting my way up to 7th wasn't too bad a finish. A bit of luck and a few less injuries and I could've made it to 5th, oh well, there's always next year.

Looking back, I blame my lack of success on two players. My 3rd and 4th picks, Hedo Turkoglu and Carmelo Anthony. I owned Turk last season, he was outstanding and I expected similar if not an even better performance from him this year. I believe he may have had some niggling injuries but he let me down badly with his terrible field goal percentage and high turnovers. He also failed to deliver the point guard type numbers (high assists) that I expected from him. Melo on the other hand was held back by injuries and never really got moving (he played in just 66 games, down from 77 the year before). His field goal percentage, scoring and points were all well down from the previous season. Not good enough when you draft them 36th and 37th respectively.

On the upside, my superstar turned out to be Troy Murphy who I took with the 84th pick and when the season was over he was ranked 8th on averages. Every single stat category of his was up from the year before and when one of your centres can knock down over 2 triples per game that is gravy! Other good picks were Danny Granger at 13 who had a breakout season and Devin Harris at 60 who was excellent for the first few months of the season (struggled down the stretch). My boy Steve Nash got off to a slow start to the season but finished strong, as did Al Horford.

The free-agent pick-ups that did well for me this season were Joakim Noah and Ronnie Brewer. Noah was inconsistent early which saw a number of GM's pick him up and then drop him but he was outstanding for me over the last couple of months. He had a great field goal percentage, rebounded well and blocked a few shots which was exactly what I needed. Brewer was sneaky good, shooting good clips and getting active in the other categories.

The mistakes I made as GM this season were:

• Dropping players too quickly to try and combat the slow start (from Nash, Hedo and Melo). Names such as Rodney Stuckey and the surprisingly solid Steve Blake were early cuts from my squad that went on to shine for others. I also dropped Joel Przybilla when Oden returned but Joel continued to start and produce (for someone else).
• Due to injuries, I fould myself without many shooting guards so after stealing Marc Gasol off someone, I traded him for Quentin Richardson (who stunk it up for me and I quickly dropped him).
• I traded away Danny Granger (when he was at his peak and I thought was going to be rested because of some niggling injuries) for Kevin Garnett who played a few games for me and was then basically shut down for the rest of the year. Unlucky result but I did it thinking Danny was going to struggle and I wanted to improve my rebounding and field goal percentage.

My league is now counting down to the next draft night, probably the highlight of the fantasy basketball season.

Troy Murphy, a great shooter and my steal of the draft

NBA All-Star reserves announced

The NBA has just announced their reserves for the All-Star game. Unlike the starters that are picked by the fans, the reserves are voted on by the coaches from around the league.

From the comments on Dime, the controversial picks seem to be David West from the Hornets, Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson from the Magic. People are saying the biggest snubs are Al Jefferson from the Timberwolves and Carmelo Anthony from the Nuggets.

After being named our Shooter of the Month for December, obviously I have no problem with Jameer getting a run. David West is a great player who is often over-looked when talking about the best bigmen in the league and Shard's team is doing well and he's having a good season. I'd say Jefferson didn't get the nod because he's a star on a bad team. Melo has been in and out of the line-up with injuries, trust me I know, he's on my fantasy squad!

Click on the title below to read all about the All-Star reserves.

NBA.com: Shaq, pair of Magic players highlight All-Star reserves

NEW YORK -- Shaquille O'Neal of the hometown Phoenix Suns was named an NBA All-Star for the 15th time, as the NBA today announced the list of 14 players that have been selected by the coaches as reserves for the 2009 All-Star Game. The 58th NBA All-Star Game will be played on Sunday, Feb. 15, in Phoenix at US Airways Center.

O'Neal's 15 All-Star selections are the second most in league history, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who received an invite 19 times during his Hall of Fame career. Joining O'Neal on the West bench are the Denver Nuggets' Chauncey Billups, the Los Angeles Lakers' Pau Gasol, the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki, the San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker, the Portland Trail Blazers' Brandon Roy and the New Orleans Hornets' David West.

In the Eastern Conference, three first-time selections -- Devin Harris of the New Jersey Nets, Danny Granger of the Indiana Pacers and Jameer Nelson of the Orlando Magic -- are joined by the Toronto Raptors' Chris Bosh, the Atlanta Hawks' Joe Johnson, the Magic's Rashard Lewis and the Boston Celtics' Paul Pierce. Nelson and Lewis are the lone set of teammates named as reserves, and they join Dwight Howard as the only trio of teammates on either squad.

Devin Harris makes his first All-Star game appearance

Fantasy basketball update

I mentioned last month that the stand-out pick on my fantasy basketball team was Devin Harris, it seems that the crew at Dime agree with me (see article below).

From a fantasy GM's perspective, its nice to see two of my other guys mentioned in their "most improved" discussions. Danny Granger who is my top-ranked player and a strong performer of late, Troy Murphy.

Steve Nash has picked up his game of late but has also had to sit out a few games in the last week with nagging injuries. Horford is coming on strong and Turkoglu is finding some form as well. I picked up Joel Przybilla off the free-agent list and he's been quietly very good in the minutes he's been getting behind Oden.

The NBA’s Most Improved Player | Dime Magazine (www.dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

Is there anyone in the League even close to challenging Devin Harris for Most Improved? Check out his hit list this season: Just 14 games into this season he’s given Phoenix 47, the Jazz 34, Toronto 30, Atlanta 30 and 33, and Detroit 38 - all in the month of November.

Devin’s 24.8 ppg dwarfs his previous best of 15.4 ppg last season, and he’s still dishing out more than six assists per game and coming up with more than a steal per game. His explosion this season already has the Nets saying he’s untouchable.

The only guy we think you can make a real argument for ahead of Harris is Danny Granger, who is absolutely killing it as well. His 24.7 ppg crushes his career average of 14.4 ppg.

Other candidates: Ronnie Brewer, Paul Millsap, Spencer Hawes, Troy Murphy, Thad Young.

Fantasy basketball update

I was checking out my fantasy basketball team's progress this morning and noticed that really only two of my guys are performing up to expectations so far. My number two pick, Danny Granger is ranked 10 on averages so far and I drafted him 13th. The real stand-out so far tho is Devin Harris (pictured below) who I drafted 60th and is currently ranked 13th. Also doing well is Mickael Pietrus who I got with the 132nd pick and is ranked 80th.

My stars like Steve Nash, Carmelo Anthony and Hedo Turkoglu have been very disappointing so far. Nash's scoring and assists are down while Melo and Hedo have been woeful from the field.

I'm currently 9th in my 12 team league ... 2nd in ft% and triples, 4th in assists. I'm last in fg%, rebounds and steals. With some obvious deficiencies, I pulled the trigger on my first trade this week. I picked up Anthony Morrow off the free-agent list and after his two game explosion last week traded him for bigman Marc Gasol. Gasol should help me improve in fg% and boards whilst not costing me much.

With some solid cash on the line for the winner of the league, I have a lot of work to do as the GM.