Russell 2017: Voltron

Here we go with this year's draft recap and team previews. We welcomed in two new owners and celebrated the back-to-back championships of Sour Snails, who have officially reached villain status. We also took a look at our league history, and if you're looking for some more numbers, here's our breakdown from 2014 of weekly averages and how they can help. [2016 Mid-Season]
Header formatting: #2017DraftPickPosition: TeamName (2016SeasonRecord, 2015SeasonRecord)

#4 Team Cameltoe (5-12-2, 14-5)
No stranger to sixteen team leagues, new owner Felipe inherits a team that is built around Anthony Davis. The dispersal draft mixed things up, and Davis will now be flanked with Carmelo Anthony, Brook Lopez, Elfrid Payton, Mike Conley, and Derrick Rose. That’s a pretty solid keeper core. And it’s also one built to win now. As in, right now!

With that in mind, Cameltoe went with a mix young and old for his draft. Rookie gunner Buddy Hield will be counted on to man the starting shooting guard spot, and if he’s not ready, Eric Gordon will be ready to fire away in his stead -- last round pick, rookie Denzel Valentine will struggle to make the roster. And there will be quite the competition for the starting PF/C slot too, as Dwight Powell, Montrelz Harrell, and Larry Nance, Jr. were all scooped up to compete for minutes. It’s possible Melo could just slide down to power forward, opening up a starting gig for Wilson Chandler, who is an excellent fantasy player when healthy. Overall, we’re looking at Cameltoe to compete right away for a postseason berth, and if Brow can stay healthy — not to mention Melo, Lopez, and Rose — Cameltoe could be set to do some damage.

#6 So Buckets (8-10-1, 8-10-1)
After two divisional titles in 2013-4, So Buckets started to sink toward mediocrity. Well, we’re here to say that this might be our favorite rising team in SlamNation. An intensely young keeper roster is now seasoned and ready to explode onto the scene. And if nagging injuries are behind them, So Buckets has all the pieces to once again challenge for a Voltron title.

You know exactly what you’re getting with Kyrie Irving and DeMar DeRozan: Lots of scoring, some ancillary stats, and decent percentages. Rudy Gobert had an off season last year but still averaged 11.0 REB and 2.2 BLK. Now he’ll have Myles Turner helping him out, not to mention the NBA debut of Joel Embiid, who could be the next Hakeem Olajuwon. Haha, maybe. And then there’s Aaron Gordon, who is ready for a breakout to his breakout last year. Add in this year’s RD1 pick, Dario Saric, and So Buckets is brimming over with potential. Even Alex Len might average close to a double-double down in Phoenix. (Don’t forget RD5 pick Dante Exum!) Old hands Deron Williams and Jamal Crawford were nice value picks and they’ll help take Josh’s team back above 0.500. Young Jerami Grant might get a lot of run at small forward for the 76ers, but who knows what's gonna happen with that team, aside from an Embiid explosion!

#10 Snack Bears (10-9, 8-11)
Nobody expected fantasy rookie Brandon to pilot his team to the playoffs but he sure did, and unearthed Kristaps Prozingis with the 2016 #6 overall pick to boot — after Emmanuel Mudiay, Jahlil Okafor, and Stanley Johnson. He’ll anchor a front court that features Derrick Favors and Dwight Howard, the rare big men who average over 1.0 STL and 1.5 BLK apiece. (Gorgui Dieng would have been a third, if he hadn’t been moved in late December for Evan Fournier.)  Fournier and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are excellent swingmen, with Fournier set to explode this season. And we couldn’t be higher on Taiwanese-American son, Jeremy Lin, who finally gets to pilot his own team again — in Brandon’s new Brooklyn home no less.

Snack Bears’ draft featured another highly touted Euro, Dragan Bender, who could be another Porzingis, given some time. And Brandon Jennings and Michael Carter-Williams are both backups in real life, as well as on this team. With his strengths in REB, BLK, TO, the Bears sort of play a version of big ball, and Brandon filled out the rest of his roster with Bismack Biyombo, Timofey Mozgov, and Domantas Sabonis. With an extra year to refine his team, can the Bears keep ascending the pecking order?

#12 Death Star (11-6-2, 13-5-1)
After starting off the season 6-0-2, Death Star took a bit of a stumble the rest of the year but still ended up winning Voltron division by one game. They handled business in round one of the playoffs but were bounced in the conference finals. Can they do better this year? The duo of John Wall and Damian Lillard are the second best backcourt pairing in the league — next to brother Trieu’s Curry and Westbrook combo — and now he’ll have DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay to add additional firepower. Losing Hassan Whiteside will hurt a lot in FG% and BLK, but Cousins is a fantasy monster and Thien wasn’t winning FG% often anyway.

Adding Gay gives this team a scoring wing option they haven’t had in years — when they were known as Super Ninja, in 2013, with Paul Pierce — and he’s going to fit this team perfectly. Julius Randle played out his pretty much rookie year and put up an easy double double, and he was joined by preseason trade acquisition, and fellow Laker, Jordan Clarkson. Hopefully both will continue to grow.

Death Star's draft was missing a first rounder, from the Cousins trade, but they managed to grab a lot of power forward options: Mason Plume, Taj Gibson, and Terrence Jones. And Gary Harris could add a bit of punch to the backcourt, but he’ll need to compete for shots in a crowded Nuggets rotation. And last round pick TJ Warren has now been officially named the starter for the Suns. Overall, we know what Death Star is gonna do: score score and score, and most likely, win win win. The only question is how far Wall and Lillard can take them this season...