My Addiction: Fantasy Basketball

It’s official: I’m not a blogger, I just like to talk when I feel like it.

With that being said, I would like to get back into the habit of writing in this again. In my defense, I’m graduating this year so ever since the fall semester started, school has been kicking my ass. But I won’t get into that boring stuff.

A lot has happened since my last post: the 49ers got a new head coach in Mike Singletary, the Arizona Cardinals actually almost beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl, A-Rod admitted to being on steroids, Tiger Woods finally came back, Don Nelson went crazy by sitting his starters…the list goes on. But let me talk about one thing that has taken over my life aside from school, work, sorority, and my boyfriend: Fantasy Basketball.

So it’s Week 19 and I’m currently getting my ass handed to me on a silver platter, 3-6. Don’t let that fool you though; I’m pretty proud of my team (even though I’ve made some horrific management decisions in the past couple of weeks) and I’m sitting comfortably at 4th place with less than three weeks until the playoffs. It’s not my fault that I’ve got 5 players not playing and my opponent’s ugly team decided to all of a sudden get better in a month’s time.

I started this season with a pretty random bunch, with everyone talking shit about all the guys I picked up. Mind you, I got the 12th spot in the draft.

• Deron Williams (injured or not, I know I wanted him)
• Dwight Howard
• Andris Biedrins (an accident, I didn’t mean to pick him as my third round)
• Devin Harris
• Andrei Kirilenko
• Rip Hamilton
• Zach Randolph
• Rajon Rando
• Travis Outlaw
• Drew Gooden
• Earl Watson
• Jason Kapono
• Marc Gasol

Looking at that list, I realize I only have half of the same people I started with. Here’s who I have going into the Playoffs (for now):

• Deron Williams
• Dwight Howard
• Aaron Brooks (a pick-up after dropping T-Mac, a guy I got in trade for Devin Harris and Biedrins—THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF THE SEASON)
• Monta Ellis (part of the Harris-Biedrins deal)
• Rip Hamilton (thank God for coming back into the starting lineup)
• Rashard Lewis (the only good thing that came from theHarris-Biedrins deal even if it still doesn’t fully make up for it)
• AK (after dropping him when he got injured and picking him back up a week later)
• Drew Gooden (because I have a gut feeling that he’s going to be amazing as a Spur)
• Marc Gasol (my SAVING GRACE this week)
• Eric Gordon (my favorite pickup, even if he’s injured his week)
• Larry Hughes (a pick-and-drop guy who I’ve finally decided to keep since being dealt to the Knicks)
• Zach Randolph (I need him back ASAP)
• Peja Stojakovic (got in a trade early in the season with DJ Augustin for Rondo—second biggest mistake of the season)

You don’t have to tell me twice that my team would be AMAZING if I had just kept Rondo, Devin Harris, and Biedrins but I couldn’t beat the excitement of trading. Monta being on my fantasy team definitely makes me dislike him more and more every game that he doesn’t play (as well as other reasons that I hope I can get into in time). Rashard’s numbers in the beginning of the season made him look so valuable but ever since I got him (when Jameer Nelson got injured), he’s only had one statistically beautiful game. And I won’t even get into my horrific decision to get T-Mac.

Inner struggles I’m going through right now:

1. To keep Monta or no? There’s talk that he’s unhappy at Golden State and that it’s actually some of the reason why he didn’t go with them to their recent road trip. His arrival keeps getting pushed back and with the playoffs in two weeks, I’m getting impatient. And who’s to say he’ll even put up numbers when he does come back? I’m so close to dropping him and picking up someone to help me get my blocks back up.
2. Drew Gooden—ugh. Sometimes, I have no idea why I’ve held on to him for so long. I’m counting on this gut feeling about the Spurs, but who knows? When healthy, his numbers are impressive though, but by next week, if he’s not playing, I’m going to have to take some action.
3. The trade deadline was yesterday therefore all I’ve got to choose from is whoever is on the waiver wire. Good enough pickups include Rashad McCants, Nenad Krstic, Thabo Sefolosha…and any of the Warriors bench considering Don Nelson’s going to be playing them more often.
   

Sigh. I hope this weekend fairs better than the rest of this week. $20 and my pride is on the line. I spent the majority of the season having my smack talk say “My new name should be ‘I can beat the boys’!” Figures it would come back to bite me in the ass!