Pre-Draft Moves: Supply and Demand

Prior to the keeper deadline in previous seasons, there's always been a lot of shuffling as owners who had surplus talent moved to extract value from their roster before the six keeper max. Some great deals could be had too, as future fantasy stars like Ricky Rubio and Ty Lawson were available for the low low price of future picks. Compared to the previous two years, this off-season was actually pretty quiet. While there were a lot of players mentioned in talks, in the end it was Squirtle Squad who made the only two trades.

• ID#31: Squirtle Squad trade Greg Monroe to Half Man Half ImAsian for 2015 RD1
• ID#32: Squirtle Squad trade Brook Lopez to Pogiboy for 2014 RD3 and 2015 RD6
• ID#33: League Mandated: Human Amoebas receive Heffalumps 2014 RD3 (originally Funk Coalition, Trade ID#18) and RD5 (originally Sour Snails, Trade ID#24). Update (10.18.13): Heffalumps receive Human Amoebas 2014 RD5.

With a roster that featured an overabundance of keepers, Brian chose to jettison two of his big men in exchange for three picks. Greg Monroe averaged 16.0 PTS, 9.6 REB, with 1.3 STL last season, a semi-breakout for him. His game is unique for a big man in that his block numbers are sub-par, and his FG% is at a measly 48.6%. It'll be a crowded frontcourt in Detroit but Monroe will be a nice building block for Oliver's Half Man Half ImAsian, where he'll split the post with LaMarcus Aldridge, Anderson Varejao, and JaVale McGee.

As for Brook Lopez, he re-established himself after a lost season due to injury and returned with 19.4 PTS, 6.9 REB, 2.1 BLK, with stellar 52.1 FG% in 74 games. His first All-Star appearance last season should have been a boon for his value but he was ultimately deemed expendable by Squirtle. (For Lopez, this is his fourth team in one calendar year. What's a guy gotta do to stick around?!) Alvin gladly snatched him up to pair with his young frontcourt consisting of Anthony Davis and Roy Hibbert. It's safe to say that they'll now be one of the league leaders in blocked shots.

To explain that last league mandated trade. With two new owners coming in, and Human Amoebas having traded away a lot of their picks -- while 100 Acre Wood Heffalumps had acquired two -- it felt only fair to switch them around and let each of them have their full complement of six picks. So while previous trades to other franchises were still honored, the commishes felt that shifting Heffa's extra picks to make up for Amoebas' deficiencies was the right move. On with the show! Update (10.18.13): A slight clerical error results in the same rationale for the trade, but now Heffas get Amoebas' 2014 RD5, meaning they'll give up two of their acquired picks but gain one.