(Russell Conference) Thundercats

One thing's for sure with the Thundercats division, there's no Lion-O in this group. While such luminaries as Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant reside here, no one team seems to have any advantage on the other. For example, Funk Coalition has a weak front line, the Chunky Monkeys are going with a small ball lineup that could boom or bust, the Heffalumps are already reeling from a big injury, and Team Moribe might boast the most balanced lineup but is chock full of volatile personalities. This division will provide plenty of fireworks though as each team is built to run and gun with stellar point guards and lots of offensive firepower. What's missing is the big men. The best (traditional) center in this division? Um, Marcus Camby? So look for very little defense and fantasy fireworks from this group. Thundercats Ho!

Chunky Monkeys (Evan)
Interesting enough, both of the owners who lucked into the top two picks decided to go small ball with their fantasy studs. Evan was fortunate enough to have stats monster Chris Paul fall into his lap and immediately decided to draft a mini CP3, Monta Ellis (with reports indicating a bit of regret afterwards). That should be a very good offensive and steals pairing. Evan revealed his small ball strategy by going with two sweet shooting big men, Andrea Bargnani and Mehmet Okur, in Rd 3 and 4. For the fifth starter, small forward Trevor Ariza fits the bill as a (surprisingly) good scorer and an absolute monster for threes and steals. Basically he's perfect for this team and it's going to be a rare week that the Monkeys lose the STLs category.

As much as we like this starting five, the bench gets thin pretty quickly. Sixth man Leandro Barbosa is supposed to return to his former status as offensive spark plug but his minutes have dropped off with Jason Richardson back in full health. Someone will have to step up as the sixth man if Barbosa falters. Third guard Mike Conley and reserve big man Rasheed Wallace support the starters very well skill set wise but aren't overly spectacular. And the rest of the bench is very young with Net's swingman Terrence Williams just coming into his own and rookie James Harden still finding his place with the Thunder. Starvin Marvin Williams might play a big role actually as he's somehow managed to become a Shane Battier type player (almost 1/1/1). Overall the Monkeys seem ready to play small ball and dominate the AST-3PT-STL-FT% categories.

100 Acre Wood Heffalumps (Jose)
This is how you build a team around Rajon Rondo. Surround him with sweet shooters and defensive minded big men. Oh wait, this is Kobe's team? What? Fine, this is Kobe's team. Rondo will just pick his pockets once in awhile, for old time's sake. With Kobe's age a concern, he slipped down to pick seven, where Jose was more than happy to pick him up. By pairing him with karmic foe Rajon Rondo, and adding shooting juggernaut Kevin Martin, any concern over Rondo's lack of scoring was eliminated. The Heffalumps will have the wide ass of Al Horford and the corpse of Marcus Camby playing inside and swatting shots, and they'll combine to be a very fine REB/BLK duo. Small forward Thaddeus Young gets a lot of minutes and a lot of upside hype but fantasy wise he seems pretty average. If he turns out to be a plain Jane, Andrei Kirilenko is experiencing a bit of a resurgence and might be a better fit in the starting lineup with his defensive prowess.

The rest of the bench is all small guys, with SG Jason Terry, and PGs TJ Ford and Ty Lawson coming off the pine. What happens when Marcus Camby goes down for a few games (which is inevitable)? AK47 can slide over so that Horford plays center, but is that enough rebounding and defense to compete? Or rather, is that enough rebounding and defense to prevent a Kobe outrage? Maybe Jose can figure out a way to get Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown. Quick, call Chris Wallace!

Update: Kevin Martin exits stage right for at least two months, putting the "ouch" in "Heffalump." Luckily, late round pickup Quentin Richardson has been shooting spectacularly so he could help pick up the scoring slack. And it's not all bad injury news as Tyrus Thomas' injury has opened the door for last round pick Taj Gibson to get some starters minutes.

Funk Coalition (Jon)
GM Jon had a plan and basically stuck to it with mind numbing rigidity. After having a trade in place to snatch up Deron Williams, it wasn't even necessary as Williams fell to him anyway. With a well documented love of guards, the Funk went Deron, Joe Johnson, and Tony Parker right out of the gate, setting up an ideal three guard rotation. Add in long range bomber JR "Hiroshima" Smith and the backcourt is balanced and solid.

The Coalition then set out to secure the front court with one dimensional defensive big men. Andris Biedrins, Joakim Noah (via trade), Chris Andersen, and Tyson Chandler all have the same lanky builds, feature some fantastic hair, and won't score more than ten points a game. Together, they should rebound and block enough to keep pace with the rest of the league but none of them are more than part time players so that could be a problem. What Funk won't have problems doing is scoring. Aside from the four guard backcourt, PF Lamarcus Aldridge is an excellent offensive player and bench players Chris Duhon, Ryan Gomes, and Francisco Garcia (if he returns from injury) can also contribute a bit in the points and shooting department. In a totally unbiased evaluation, the Funk are anticipating a 7-1 divisonal record. Just saying.

Team Moribe (Mikey)
For pure entertainment value, I'd want documentary cameras trained on Team Moribe 24-7. For starters, you have Agent Zero, a one man reality show -- who happens to be justifying his first round selection. Then you have Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O'Neal, and Ben Wallace on the same team. If you're going to reunite the entire Malice from the Palace crew, shouldn't you be obligated to install metal detectors at every entrance to the player areas? Every day could be a battle, complete with guns, knives, or nunchucks. And are there moodier players than Shawn Marion and Tracy McGrady? I think not. Luckily, Kevin Love will be around to Twitter everything while JJ Redick sits around trying to figure out how he can be cool -- and how to launch his rap career. Maybe Artest will sign him to his label. And then punch him in the face during a practice cypher. Entertaining right? But how will this team play on the court?

Well, despite being confused about the positional requirements, Mikey has assembled a team with many interchangeable pieces. A starting lineup of PG Arenas, SG Jackson, SF Andrew Iguodala, PF Shawn Marion, and C Jermaine O'Neal will be very effective, especially with Marion and O'Neal playing so well in the early going. Artest will come off the bench to start some trouble and Kevin Love will come in to rebound once his hand heals. What this team will be lacking is a big man if/when O'Neal gets injured. Venerable Ben Wallace is looking good in his return as a Piston but can he really keep it up? If he can't, Team Moribe will be light in the BLKs department. Oh and if Gilbert Arenas goes down, the backup point guard position might be a little light with only Jarrett Jack behind him. In any case, I'm keeping my eye on this team, even if I'm physically keeping my distance, and ordering extra security guards when they come into my arena...