Two New Owners

When two former champs -- including the defending champs -- exit the stage, who do you bring in to replace them? Jose and Eric-A both announced that they were vacating their teams at the end of last season. Panic ensued but after a long and arduous search, one that included an all expenses paid jaunt to Africa to look for prospects -- ala The Air Up There -- our selection committee have turned up two bonafide star owners: Trevor and Randall.

• Trevor is a huge Clippers fan and is also a writer -- the best kinds of people on Earth, obviously. We are excited for his debut on this very blog. Goodness knows somebody else needs to blog here besides me. Maybe everyone should contribute an article once in awhile. Ahem. Either way, Trevor has been eyeing SlamNation for awhile and we're excited to have him. Fun fact: Trevor apparently reads and writes Anglo-Saxon. I have no idea what this means, but it sure is fascinating! 
• Randall is a sixteen year fantasy basketball veteran, the rare Utah Jazz fan and has played in multiple fantasy leagues with Josh -- and I believe a football league or two with me. He's from New Jersey, religiously follows Linsanity, and wants to up the league ante to more cash, which seems like a declaration of "I'm gonna win this whole thing in my rookie year" to me. We should all be immediately afraid.

Dispersal Draft Rules & Results
Trevor and Randall did a quickie dispersal draft, this time a simple six round snake draft -- unlike two years ago when LeBron James was an obvious prize and we had to move things around picks wise to accommodate. Randall wanted to go #1 and so Trevor kindly took the #2 position. See below.

A quick team preview of the new keepers:

Spade (Randall)
Representing for the defending champs is no small feat, especially being thrown into Thundercats, aka the division of death, that featured all four teams winning at least eight games last season, but it looks like Spade will be just fine. In fact, they could be the pre-season frontrunners out of the gate. With a frontcourt featuring Kevin Love and real life teammates Al Horford and Paul Millsap, this team will be rock steady in PTS, REB, and even STL for a big man trio.

Love doesn't block many shots but mini-Wade Eric Bledsoe gets almost a block per game, which is an interesting team dynamic as the point guard out blocks the power forward, while the power forward has more three point range. We love Bledsoe and Kawhi Leonard in the starting backcourt, as both bring tons of STL and useful stats across the board, even if they are not huge scorers. PTS will be sixth man Kobe Bryant's job. We weren't sure where Kobe would be dispersal drafted but he's going to be pissed that he slid down to the fifth round. Even if Kobe misses a few weeks/months, his incredible scoring and all around numbers are going to be the perfect icing for a keeper core that has a great mix across all fantasy categories.

Interestingly, half of this team's core were Heffalumps' main holdovers -- Kobe, Horford, and Kawhi. Spade will basically keep that main core of the old Heffalumps, minus Faried, and add Love, Millsap, and Bledsoe. We're intrigued by what Randall's team can do on the (fantasy) court, and quite frankly, frightened more than a little.

Inept Henchmen (Trevor)
Trevor's team has slid right into the former Human Amoebas' high risk, high reward strategy. The Amoebas were buried by injuries the past two seasons but were always super talented on paper. Five of the top six dispersal draft picks were from Amoebas, and six ex-Amoebas were drafted versus just four ex-Heffalumps.

If all things go right injury wise, Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon are a perfect backcourt pairing. (Sidenote: We were mildly surprised to see Clippers' fan Trevor pass up Eric Bledsoe.) The two of them bring everything to the table you want from the PG/SG positions. A rejuvenated Dirk Nowitzki has lost his center eligibility from a few years ago but he's going to bring lots of small ball power forward stats. Whatever Dirk lacks in REB/BLK, Kenneth Faried will bring as an active double-double who basically just runs the floor to dunk and to pile up nice STL/BLK numbers. In theory, Gerald Wallace would fit that mold too but we saw how far Crash fell last year. Even with plenty of playing time in Boston, we're not sure if he was a better pick than say, last dispersal pick Kawhi Leonard. Still, why nitpick? For my Celtics' sake, I hope Wallace gets forty minutes a game and he accrues 12 REB, 2 STL/BLK for Trevor and Boston doesn't win a game all season!

With a big hole at center, Trevor reached into the free agent ranks to grab injury prone Andrew Bogut, who has played 109 combined games over his past three seasons. When he's on the court though, Bogut's a defensive force. All in all, Inept Henchmen has a nice blend of pieces but most of the team's success will come down to injuries. If Rose, Gordon, and Bogut can stay on the court, this team can challenge for a post-season berth and the Voltron division title.