2011 Draft Order

2011 League Draft doc

*Toilet Bowl winner and runner-up get picks #1 and #2, then it's reverse order of standings, no snake. (Hot Gems & Buffy)
**Champion and runner-up get last and next-to-last picks respectively. (Sour Snails & Chunky Monkeys)

First round overall #1 and #2:
Hot Gems (9-9)*
LA Buffy (8-10)*

Every round afterwards:

1. Human Amoebas (3-15)
2. Fob Stars (4-13-1)
3. Jedi Knights (4-12-2)
4. Funk Coalition (5-12-1)
5. Morrie's Pogiboys (7-11)
6. Squirtle Squad (8-10)
7. LA Buffy (8-10)*
8. Hot Gems (9-9)*
9. Fat Jubas (9-8-1)
10. Bayside Bombardiers (11-7)
11. Half Man Half ImAsian (11-7)
12. 100 Acre Wood Heffalumps (12-6)
13. Korea! Korea! (12-6)
14. Nande Reburonsan (13-5)
15. Chunky Monkeys (9-9)**
16. Sour Snails (16-1-1)**

Tie breakers:
8-10: Squirtle tied with Buffy, but Buffy had more categories won, 1-1
9-9: Chunky Monkeys beat Golden Ticket, 1-0
12-6: Korea beat 100 Acre Wood, 1-0

Gearing up for 2011

Welcome to the new season! It's a dark dark world as the Lakers are the two time champs but our league champion, Trieu, is loving both his and the Lakers' big wins. So, are we ready for the 2011 season? Everyone is in right?

Keepers declared by Oct 7th-ish, we draft asap after that. It should only be a six round draft this time around. A little rules refresher if needed as well as links to final standings from last year and rosters:

2010 Rules | 2010 Final Standings | 2010 Rosters

Possible rules changes:
1. Lineup Changes: Last year it was "Daily - Lock at First Game of the Day," I'm changing it to "Daily - Lock Individually at Scheduled Gametime." I doubt there's much argument here and we only didn't change it last year because the setting was locked.

2. Games Played Limits: This is the big one. Last year it was 32 and we voted it down to 22 after our WK2 games. However ESPN would only allow it to go as low as 25 for a seven game week. This year ESPN changed that and we can move it to any number we want. So can we do 22 again now that it's available? Or go even lower? Remember, if you are one below the cap number, the entire next day's slate counts, so you can go over the soft cap of 22, making the hard cap about +7 of our set number.

3. Waiver Wire: Currently waivers is "Move to Last After Claim, Never Reset Order." Free Agents are exacty that, free for the taking I believe.

I've been wanting to try ESPN's Free Agent Auction which gives each team $100 to use throughout the season to do blind auctions for free agents. "Simply put, FAAB is an in-season salary cap that covers all your free-agent needs." I love the concept but am only using it in one league this season for football. I'd want to try it but don't know if anyone else would be up for it. How FAAB works.

4. Anything else? Payouts for next year's winner, additional rule changes, administrative details?

[Update 10.12.2010] #1 and #2 were instituted, meaning lineup changes are now daily and the soft cap for games played limit per week is now 22 games, assuming a normal seven day matchup.

Draft Day Manifesto

"Matthew Berry will tell you that you can win your league with the help of four simple words: "point guards" and "power forwards." Of course, there are plenty of other successful draft strategies, but the "point guards/power forwards" philosophy is one that has worked for me for years, and I'm not about to abandon it now.

For the uninitiated, the point guards/power forwards strategy is fairly simple and straightforward, but to simplify the name of the strategy, it's all about what one of our editors calls "multicategoricalicity," defined as "a player's propensity to contribute in multiple unrelated fantasy categories."

Essentially, the strategy involves loading up on guards who can score, dish, steal and hit 3-pointers (typically point guards) and big men who can score, rebound and block shots (typically power forwards). Fill around them with a few quality swingmen who can score, drain the 3 and create steals and a few centers who can bolster your rebounding and shot-blocking numbers, and you'll have yourself a well-rounded squad that can compete in categories across the board."
-More at ESPN's 2011 Fantasy Basketball Draft Kit-