The Jump Off

Let's do this! For a week we've been harassing each other with texts and emails. People are staring at the spreadsheet awaiting their picks. As soon as a selection goes out, the nation is atwitter with commentary and evaluation. So while we're heading into the homestretch, why not take a quick look at the first six rounds?

Round One
Nothing surprising up top. Lebron, CP3, and Dwayne Wade in short order. This being a dynasty league, taking LBJ was definitely the right move despite CP3's fantasy dominance. And while Kevin Durant and Danny Granger are hyped as the next best things, Wade is still a numbers monster -- if he can stay healthy. The only semi-surprise was Lakers' fan Steve passing up Kobe Bryant at five (very defensible since Kobe ain't that young anymore) and nabbing Dwight Howard. If you draft Dwight, the rest of your draft has to be carefully orchestrated and built around his strengths. It was a bold move and could pay big dividends as many of the lower drafting GMs were hoping to get Howard. A slew of big men went in the latter half of the first round, in this order: Bosh, Nowitzki, Stoudemire, Jefferson, and Gasol. We'll see if that was the correct choice since all of them come with some red flags (age, injury, situation). The big shocker in Round One was Mikey's drafting of Gilbert Arenas. He's counting on the Hibachi returning to fantasy prominence but this was a huge gamble with Arenas' injury history. In a slightly smaller surprise, Suns superfan Eric-L takes old man Steve Nash, who has another two years max at elite level.

Round Two
Things get a little crazy at the top of the round as Eric-L backs up his Nash pick with up and coming center Brook Lopez. Eyebrows were raised all around but the seven footer threw up a 27 PTS, 15 REB, and 5 BLK line on opening night to calm the critics. The second round was full of point guards as eight were taken (bookended by Devin Harris and Monta Ellis), with six in a row at one point. Last year's rookie sensations, Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook, went very early as their youth was a big selling point. Other than that, it was old stalwarts like Tim Duncan, Joe Johnson, and Paul Pierce getting value picked. This was the foundation round as whiffing on a top two pick could cripple you for years. For example, is David West worthy of his 2.03 draft pick? Would Carmelo or Devin Harris been better? Pierre obviously didn't think so.

Round Three
Now we're getting into some serious future selections and reaches. Andrea Bargnani at 3.02. Eric Gordon at 3.06. Anthony Randolph at 3.13. All promising players but round three value? We'll see. Andrew Bynum went early to Thien on the strength of a fantastic opening night line and that forced Steve to draft yet another Magician, Vince Carter. Chris snaked David Lee from a lot of wish lists and will be rewarded with extreme rebounding numbers and double doubles. Alvin, Roger, and Eric-L rolled the dice on semi-healthy Caron Butler, Elton Brand, and Kevin Garnett. Round three was interesting as it set the tone for "Playing to win now or building for the future?" For example, Roger went Duncan and Brand in Rounds Two and Three, meaning he's going for the ring this year. Steve did the same with Jason Kidd and Vince Carter. Brian seems to be rolling the dice on potential as he takes Randolph early to pair with a still recovering Al Jefferson and Carmelo Anthony. It's tricky winning now and later, who can pull it off? Who wants to be the next Joe Dumars? Oh wait...

Round Four
The inevitable big man run. As everyone without a top tier PF or C figures out they can't compete without some big men, Carlos Boozer, Tyrus Thomas, LaMarcus Aldridge, Nene, Okafor, Horford, Bogut, and Okur get drafted in quick order. Scattered into this round are versatile forwards like Jeff Green, Shawn Marion, and Rudy Gay. In other news, Eric-A is recreating the draft class of 2009 as he has Rose, Gordon, and Beasley on his roster. Has anyone done this before? Built a team around one whole draft class? I mean, I guess doing this for 1984 would've worked out very well. Thankfully, the 2009 has been touted as one of the best of all time. Eric-A has to take Mayo next, right? OJ, come on up!

Round Five
As everyone looks to round out their starting five, it becomes easier to project draft picks based on need. Evan needed a swingman, he takes Trevor Ariza. Steve, Eric-A, Jose, Jon, and Mikey needed bigs, they selected Jamison, Millsap, Camby, Biedrins, and Jermaine O'Neal respectively. Same with teams missing shooting guards, which had been an undrafted position on most teams because the position is so deep. The big reach here was Stephen Curry at 5.01 for Trieu, but maybe it's the perfect selection since he probably wouldn't have made his way back. With thirty plus names before you get to pick again, most owners just drafted who they wanted and damn the value or position. Oliver's curious selection of Richard Hamilton (limited upside, limited fantasy game) at 5.04 was interesting since he declared that he hated him right afterwards. A little Detroit love-hate perhaps? Do tell. Toward the latter half of the round, rookie PGs Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans flew off the board based on one good game and a lot of pre-season hype respectively. Let's say one of them booms and one of them busts. Which one will it be?

Round Six
This was the "let me lock up my starters" round. Remarkably, Mikey has been the only owner to draft his team totally positionally and right in a row. PG Arenas, SG/SF Iguodala, SG/SF S Jackson, PF Marion, C O'Neal, and sixth man Kevin Love. A classic NBA setup. Everyone has a good looking starting five positionally wise by the end of this round and a few undervalued veterans who dropped for various reasons are getting picked up. Hello Boris Diaw, Michael Redd, and Hedo Turkoglu. And the Blake Griffin experience has started as Brian took him at 6.04! That could be an absolute steal as I know some owners were talking about taking Griffin two or even three rounds earlier pre-injury. It was shooters galore the rest of Round Six as Michael Redd, JR Smith, Manu Ginobili, Raymond Felton, Leandro Barbosa, and Danilo Gallinari's 3PT potential dominated the round. I'm so excited to have the starters and sixth men drafted, now it's on to reserves and bench players. And who's looking forward to meeting Mr. Irrelevant? I am, I am!