Durant vs Westbrook...

Will the huge trades ever stop coming? Let’s hope not! In recent days Trieu has moved four of his top six guys in the midst of a title defense and it’s arguable but they probably got even better. With Chunky Monkey’s Kyle Lowry out for the regular season, and Kevin Love of Team Spade out for a similar amount of time, it’s looking like the Russell Conference is wide open now too. (Watch Against All Odds as they weigh some potential moves to conquer the conference.)

Trade ID#74: 

• Sour Snails receive Kevin Durant
• Another Bad Creation receive Russell Westbrook and TJ McConnell

We can debate Kevin Durant versus Russell Westbrook for days but the final story is that they are NBA MVP contenders and top-five fantasy assets. For the year, Westbrook and Durant are averaging:

• Westbrook: 31.0 PTS, 10.6 REB, 10.3 AST, 2.2 3PT, 1.6 STL, 0.4 BLK, 5.6 TO with 42.1 FG% (23.9 FGA) and 83.1 FT% (10.5 FTA) 
• Durant: 25.8 PTS, 8.4 REB, 4.9 AST, 1.9 3PT, 1.1 STL, 1.7 BLK, 2.3 TO with 53.8 FG% (16.9 FGA) and 87.6 FT% (6.4 FTA)

Both are obviously amazing but for their respective new teams, the swap makes perfect fits. The Snails were trying to get more efficient and boost their defensive stats, and aside from having an infallible line, Durant is averaging a shocking 1.7 BLK this season. With this trade Trieu’s team should get a major boost in FG% and BLK, not to mention a big drop in TOs. The AST he’ll lose from Westbrook will be replaced by the recently acquired Mike Conley and now Durant will play next to Brook Lopez to form an insanely good 3PT big man duo.

Overall, the three trades Trieu made resulted in Russell Westbrook, Hassan Whiteside, Klay Thompson, Darren Collison, and TJ McConnell going out the door for Kevin Durant, Brook Lopez, Mike Conley, and Nerlens Noel. Team those four up with Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler -- along with Avery Bradley, Dion Waiters, Gorgui Dieng -- and we don’t see any weaknesses. We think Snails are back in line as favorites to three-peat...

As for Westbrook’s new team, Another Bad Creation hasn’t participated in a player-on-player trade since 2011 (they’ve done three pre-draft draft pick for keepers trades), when they traded away Russell Westbrook for LaMarcus Aldridge and Rodney Stuckey. And now they’ve got Russell back, a better than ever Russell at that.

Even though we thought we’d never live to see the day Oliver parted ways with 2010 #4 overall Kevin Durant — our reset season — the offer was just too good to pass up. And it makes sense. With ABC vying for a division crown but caught in a 2-7 losing streak, change was finally in order. And bringing in a potentially historic triple-double player covers a lot of ground for a foundational player. Westbrook immediately moves in to lead Another Bad Creation in PTS, REB, AST, STL, and almost 3PT. With Russell unleashed in the backcourt, there’s now more balance for a team that has long suffered for lack of a point guard. Sure his FG% and TOs leave something to be desired but you don't get (a lot) of something for nothing.

Dwyane Wade will serve as Westbrook’s running mate while Aldridge, Dirk Nowitzki, Wesley Matthews, and Greg Monroe — RIP Jahlil Okafor's fantasy career — get an on-court seat to the Westbrook show. But let’s not overlook the cherry on top of this already made perfect sense one-on-one deal: TJ McConnell is back on the team also (just like we suggested) after he was cut earlier in the season and he’s been averaging a useful 9.1 PTS, 6.9 AST, 1.9 STL on 52.3 FG% over his past month of games. Clinging to one game lead over Squirtle Squad, ABC could have just made the mega-deal that will secure them the first back-to-back division title in Transformers history.

So, big congrats to both owners, and congrats to SlamNation for another league shattering trade!

Who's Playing Games?

It’s time to revisit our 2014 post "Weekly Averages: How Can They Help?” So I ran the same methodology and put up total, weekly, and individual averages for each team through sixteen weeks. Unfortunately, ESPN only gives us season long stats in total, and without a break down of each month or so, which kind of sucks. (Would be nice to have a drop down for individual matchup totals weekly/monthly, like we have under Active Stats on individual team pages.) So instead I have to distill it all down. But no worries, I did it!

And as you can see by the following spreadsheet, we’ve got the total stats for the year, then divided by sixteen games, and then divided even more by each team’s individual Games Played number. That way you can see how you really rank accordingly, if all things were equal.

• 2017 Updated Games Played Sheet (make your own copy on GDocs to fiddle around)

Mostly what I was interested in was the impact of Games Played — and to see if there was any correlation between “moves” and free agent adds. As we'll see below, there’s not a huge correlation there, but there definitely is a correlation between how many Games Played and winning matchups, as the bottom five teams in GP are also the bottom five teams in wins. I mean if you’re playing two less games per week than your opponent — or in Jedi Knight’s case, almost five games less! — you’re going to lose more irregardless of talent. To beat a top team, you gotta play your guys, Coach Auerbach says.

If we take out the outlier owners (Thien and Chris) we get an average GP of about 26.5 games per week — out of a max of 28/29 GP depending on how many games you can fit in on Sundays. For our purposes, maxing out your lineup with 28 GP is probably more accurate. Toward that end, our best coaches are Swamp Dragons, Against All Odds, So Buckets, Sour Snails, and Chunky Monkeys. And we already mentioned the low end guys. The difference between a top tier GP team and a bottom GP team is about 12.5%, meaning you’re already handicapping yourself in each matchup by not putting up equal games.

I'm one of the culprits, so no shots fired at anyone... I've been trying to win, I really have!

Moving on from GP, the average and median for free agent pickups has been 15 moves (since Nov 1st), which takes into account roster movement including free agents and waiver wire pickups — but doesn’t subtract multiple instances of players moving on/off the same team.

Again, Thien is the huge outlier here, with 63 adds, while the lowest active owners average about 6 adds so far this season — with Sager’s Suits and Ties being a bottom outlier themselves, having made only one add all season long (Hi Big Al!). For comparison’s sake, our top three teams in adds minus Thien are Sour Snails, Squirtle Squad, and Fat Jubas and they average about 29 adds, or roughly 1.8 adds per week. However, make a move about once a week and you’re proving your worth as an active owner.

Some more numbers: Our nine teams at 15+ adds per week average roughly 9.8 wins this season while the seven teams under that activity median average only 5.4 wins. The numbers speak for themselves!

Although there is the curious case of Squirtle Squad, who ranks third in adds but has only seven wins — perhaps due to being just about exactly average in GP. In fact, there’s something strange going on in Transformers division in general as Squirtles, Another Bad Creation, and Buffy all are below 0.500, and a combined 19-28-1, while putting up higher than median GP numbers. We suspect it’s just a weird season overall for the entire division as a sub-0.500 team is likely to take the Transformers crown this year.

Overall, the most accurate to see where your team truly ranks is to see the individual breakdowns per sixteen games, which is the third and bottom set of numbers on the spreadsheet. This would even everything out assuming everyone had the same Games Played. Of course, if you’re anything like Funk Coalition, no matter how you massage the numbers, suck is still suck! But let’s hope moving forward some of our poorer performing coaches and GMs step it up in time for the post-season, otherwise Magic is coming to clean house!

Also, with some further updated analysis, my numbers now for a competitive team in each category is: 46.5 FG%, 80.0 FG%, 435 PTS, 35 3PT, 155 REB, 85 AST, 26 STL, 18 BLK, 48 TO. Mostly the same as three years ago, except with PTS and 3PT getting significantly juiced higher to account for the NBA’s three-pointers and scoring boom.

The Champ's Counterpunch

Wow, one day after the trade assets article goes up and we already got two moves! Albeit they’re both by the same team, but it’s a start! After a couple of hours of dancing around, Trieu made two huge moves that reshape his roster, in anticipation of a rock fight with Chunky Monkeys in the Finals. It’s just like Warriors-Cavaliers, move to countermove. One signs Durant, one signs Kyle Korver and Deron Williams… And on it goes. Let’s take a look at what our defending champs did today.

Trade ID#72:

• Sour Snails receive Brook Lopez and Mike Conley
• Team Cameltoe receive Hassan Whiteside and Darren Collison

Trade ID#73:

• Sour Snails receive Nerlens Noel
• Funk Coaltion receive Klay Thompson

No stranger to post-championship mega-trades, Trieu once moved LeBron James after he won our inaugural reset title -- although he failed in his title defense during an injury plagued 2011 Finals, at least he made a bold move and got to the title game again. And four years later, after winning that elusive second title in 2015, Trieu dialed up three separate trades during the 2016 season, netting Gorgui Dieng in December and then Hassan Whiteside and Dirk Nowitzki -- for DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay -- right before the playoffs started. Those moves worked out great and pushed him to a back-to-back title. Will this year's major roster shakeup power Snails to a three-peat?

Realizing that Chunky Monkeys may be slightly more offensively powered than him this year, GM Trieu was looking to make up some ground on defense while upping his 3PT shooting. In a bit of a surprise, he moved for Brook Lopez and Mike Conley from Team Cameltoe, trading in Whiteside’s youth and upside. With Monkeys boasting two stretch centers who can hit 3PT in Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka, Snails felt the need to add their own stretch big, ending up with Lopez, who is averaging 1.8 3PT per game. And while Lopez isn’t a good rebounder, he does outscore Whiteside by four more per game, and isn’t too far behind in BLK either. Sounds like Snails got what they wanted.

Also, clearly the inclusion of Mike Conley was the grease that got this trade moving as Conley is averaging 19.3 PTS, 6.2 AST, 2.4 3PT, and 1.3 STL in a comeback year after getting paid this summer. We already mentioned Trieu’s glut of guards in the trade article and including the underrated Darren Collison — now the main man in Sacramento — was easy. With a historic three-peat on the line, Trieu moved all in to bring in some veteran experience. Interestingly, Whiteside isn’t really that young because he spent a few years in basketball purgatory, and is actually only one year younger than Lopez! (Conley and Collison are the same age.)

In addition to that, Trieu had earlier agreed to a deal to send Klay Thompson to Funk Coalition for Nerlens Noel, who will likely be a defensive menace in Dallas with all the minutes he can handle. Noel is a double-double waiting to happen and will average over 1.5+ STL/BLK with sterling FG%. He replaces Whiteside’s defensive numbers nicely and is a great pairing with Lopez. Losing his beloved co-Splash Brother will hurt Trieu but Snails has plenty of 3PT from the wings already, and even has the almighty Dion Waiters ready to replace Klay’s bombardment from downtown.

Overall, Snails shifted some pieces around to pick up some lineup flexibility and additional shooting plus defensive stats so now it’s the Chunky Monkeys’ move! Or do the Snails have more deals up their sleeve? Hum…

Now let’s take a look at what Team Cameltoe got out of the deal. We already mentioned their approximate ages but the gem of the deal is still Whiteside, who is averaging 16.8 PTS, 14.1 REB, 2.1 BLK, and 56.1 FG%. And it seems like he’s underachieving a little bit this year too. (Those BLK could even rise from there as Whiteside averaged 3.7 last season.)

We love absolutely love this deal for Felipe as he gets younger and now with Willie Cauley-Stein emerging in Sacramento, Cameltoe could have the most fearsome defensive front court in SlamNation with Anthony Davis, Whiteside, and Cauley-Stein.

Plus, Collison is a nice approximation of Conley too, with 17.1 PTS, 4.6 AST, 1.8 3PT, and 1.5 STL over his past month of games. This real-life Boogie trade really worked out for Felipe didn’t it? And there’s rumors that our new owner is ready to move some more veteran pieces too, so if you’re interested, hit him up and say hello!

As for Funk Coalition, adding Klay Thompson helps provide additional juice to their PTS/3PT categories after their recent huge trade. While GM Jon loved Noel’s defensive stats -- acquired before the 2017 draft for Tobias Harris and an upcoming RD2) -- he was sure that a pairing of Noel and Ben Simmons alongside Karl Anthony-Towns wouldn’t result in enough spacing. So instead Jon traded the twenty-two year old Noel before he even played a game with the Mavericks and will instead ride with twenty-seven year old Klay’s 22.0 PTS and 3.3 3PT, which will fill a nice slot in-between D’Angelo Williams and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the backcourt. Team Punctuation, let’s get it! This was a pure offense for defense trade, a straight need for need, basically the best kind of trade there is.

So now let's see if either or both of these moves puts Sour Snails in the driver’s seat for this year’s playoffs. And it's not like Klay will miss a chance to three-peat, he'll just have to settle for shooting in the the Toilet Bowl instead of the Finals!

Trade Machine 2017

Well that was a bummer of a NBA trade deadline. Although Boogie going to New Orleans was pretty huge. Despite the trade deadline being a lot quieter than expected, we can still look at our own league and talk about some potential trades. As always, I'm trying to drum up some potential moves!

So as everyone positions themselves for the playoffs -- or the Toilet Bowl -- what assets are they holding and/or looking to acquire? Last year we had eleven trades on the year, so far we’re up to seven in 2017. Let’s get a couple of more trades in to beat the March 12th roster lock deadline shall we? Everyone should make a trade, just for the hell of it, take a chance! We’ll be looking at teams in reverse order of moves made this year, just to encourage some owners to shift things around! [Mid-Season Reports: Voltron | Thundercats | Silverhawks | Transformers]

Team Cameltoe (6-10)
As one of the new owners in the league, Felipe has been quiet on the moves front, but that’s likely by design. The NBA trade deadline really shook things up for Cameltoe as he owns three SAC-NO players: Anthony Davis, Buddy Hield, and Willie Cauley-Stein. Even though Derrick Rose, Brook Lopez, Carmelo Anthony, Wilson Chandler, and Nick Young weren’t on the move, this roster could have been shook up even more. So far, Hield and Cauley-Stein obviously both get tons of minutes, while The Brow could see a slight decline. This team is deep though and heading into the Toilet Bowl could have some spare assets such as Chandler, Nick Young, and maybe even Elfrid Payton available for sale. Needs: A rebounder to pair with Anthony Davis, plus maybe some STL. There’s extra BLK here, so that could mean Brook Lopez’s low REB but high BLK and 3PT is a trade target.

Jedi Knights (0-15-1)
Having already made one in-season trade this year, Jedi is always game for more. Ranking low in almost every category, GM Lum just needs to acquire assets. The off-season acquisition of Jeff Teague was a good one and he’s now the team’s best player on the team. Could Teague be sold for an extra draft pick or two? Also, Markieff Morris is balling out lately with 19.1 PTS, 8.3 REB, 1.8 3PT in the past month so he could be a target for a contender who needs a nice buff. Or most likely is Thad Young, who is averaging a sweet 1.8 STL from the wing. Won't somebody come give Jedi some talent?

Sager’s Suits and Ties (3-13)
New owner Matt has only made one pickup this season: Adding Al Jefferson and dropping Willie Cauley-Stein back in November. That’s not looking so hot now with DeMarcus out of Sacramento. But no matter, Sager’s Suits and Ties are on the come up and looking to make some noise in the Toilet Bowl as they slowly heal up. For one, Blake back! SST could use some extra PTS, REB, 3PT or maybe they’ll just accept their losses in those categories and think about moving Lou Williams, who has a ton of value but isn’t likely a keeper heading into next season. Who couldn’t use 18.6 PTS and 2.1 3PT for their post-season run? For all the talk about no point guard post-dispersal draft, Matt’s team is actually pretty good in AST but could use a better long term option at the position. Fact: STT is ranked number two in FG% meaning they can take on some poor shooters if necessary!

Snack Bears (3-13)
Brandon’s team already participated in a major trade this season, but word on the street is that he could be looking for another deal. Snack just beat our lone undefeated team with a big man lineup but going into the future what they really need is a point guard or two as they are very low in 3PT, AST, and STL. So if they are looking to balance out their lineup some, perhaps someone wants to move for Dwight Howard? Even in his post-prime, Howard is averaging 12.6 PTS, 12.6 REB, and about a block and steal per game, along with tremendous FG%. So if you’re looking for a small-to-big trade, this is the team to talk to! Rumors also swirl that Evan Fournier is on the block for a guard who does less scoring, but provides more defensive stats.

Fob Stars (8-8)
This team was shaken up in the mega-three teamer a month ago but is fighting hard for the Chamberlain Conferencee wild card playoff spot so another move could be possible. For one, Marcin Gortat and Tyson Chandler are both oldies averaging over ten rebounds a game. They’re very similar players at this point, with Gortat scoring more. If you need a bump in big man stats, Gortat is your target. Also there is the astounding James Johnson, who absolutely fills up the box score but likely isn’t a keeper, so he could be available. And for real cheap help, maybe Trevor Ariza’s 3PT/STL combination intrigues you? We aren’t quite sure how Fob looks post-mega trade it seems like they could use one less scoring type — Ryan Anderson, Tobias Harris, Jamal Murray — in exchange for someone who gets some more defensive stats.

Team Spade (11-5)
Damn Randall was quick to snatch Tim Frazier off the free agent pile! Having cycled through love/hate relationships with John Henson, Ty Lawson, and CJ Miles all season long, let’s hope Spade has found a useful piece in Frazier for the stretch run. The thing is, this contender already has a lot of guard stats, and could probably use more frontline help — especially in BLK. With Kevin Love out for awhile, there’s a dearth of REB too. Could someone like Jrue Holiday, JJ Redick, or even Kyle Korver net Randall some frontline insurance? We think so, as they have a pretty big glut of smalls and is working with the likes of Ersan Ilyasova and Jared Sullinger at the back end of their roster.

Another Bad Creation (7-9)
It’s likely a non-winning team will take Transformers division this year, as ABC is tied with Squirtle Squad at 7-9 for the division title and a post-season spot. After starting off 6-2, ABC has gone 1-7 the past two months and they desperately need a shakeup. It seems like Oliver’s squad has a lot of scoring and is pretty even across the board, but they could use REB help as their top guy there is Kevin Durant with 8.3 per game — where are you on the boards LaMarcus Aldridge?! There’s a couple of useful pieces here that might intrigue someone, namely all-offense bigs like Dirk Nowitzki, Greg Monroe, and Jahlil Okafor. What ABC desperately needs is a point guard option to carry them through the rest of the season as Tony Parker is not the solution. Do we hear a team with lots of spare point guard options coming (should TJ McConnell come back to the team) to call on ABC? Let’s hope so!

LA Buffy (5-10-1)
It’s been a weird season for Buffy as they have picked up some good wins but also lost to Snack Bears handily and somehow managed to tie Jedi Knights in W15. Roger’s been busy since the year started and has been mining the free agent wire for potential finds. This team is decent in most categories but is very weak in AST, STL, and BLK. Even with the return of Khris Middleton that won’t change much. With Isaiah Thomas almost single handedly carrying this team, Buffy is just looking to make a Toilet Bowl run to grab another high pick. If they swing the other way though, and go for more of a rebuild, they have a little bit of everything on offer. REB? Zach Randolph or Kenneth Faried. BLK? Robin Lopez. All-around glue guy? Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. PTS? Maybe Danilo Gallinari or George Hill is available. Even the recently hot Bojan Bogdanovic could add something to a contender. Lots of options here while this team has some clear weak spots to easily negotiate around and fill.

Funk Coalition (6-10)
In the midst of another major roster balancing, Funk has gone 0.500 since a 0-4 start to the season. That's not bad! All their big men are gone and now they’re finally getting their recent trade assets back to health. If Ben Simmons return anytime in the next month, Jon’s team could have a shot at more Toilet Bowl glory. Having said that, there’s also a clear need for another point guard type here as there’s no backup behind injury prone D’Angelo Russell. Kent Bazemore has been playing pretty good post-Korver trade, but what this team really has on offer is either Nerlens Noel (yet to pay dividends from a draft day trade) or Derrick Favors, neither of whom has made much of an impact pre-All Star break but could be lined up for a better second half. If you got a spare point guard, come talk to me!

Swamp Dragons (9-7)
In a dog fight for the wild card spot in Russell Conference, the Swampies need a break as they are finishing up the year against two super contenders from their own division. Losing Jabari Parker for the year really hurts but there’s a chance Jusuf Nurkic just got a new lease on fantasy life with this trade to Portland. Well balanced, Eddie’s team is mostly lacking in BLK, with Robert Covington basically leading this team in that category. Looking over the roster, there’s not much Swamp needs, outside of maybe an upgrade on the erratic Reggie Jackson, who has been injured. Most likely though, Swamp looks like a seller, as they have some likely non-keeper assets that could be moved for other assets. Anyone want to roll the dice on Jackson returning to form? Or maybe buy-in on Malcolm Brodgon or Willy Hernangomez?

Chunky Monkeys (15-1)
Our Cavaliers to Sour Snails’ Warriors, there’s two true contender this year and now that Evan and Trieu have both lost a game apiece, they’re eyeing each other for some pre-playoff moves. So any trade these GMs make would be likely aimed at taking each other down. Toward that end, Chunky trails Snails in PTS, REB, STL, and FT%. Do they double down on their strengths or push to catch up in those categories? The big Serge Ibaka to Toronto trade likely gives him more playing time, which will really help Monkey’s frontline. The Otto Porter fleecing earlier this year has been delicious, quietly making Jae Crowder redundant and a trade chip. With Chunkys all-in for a title, the likes of Seth Curry and Clint Capela should be available for cheap and maybe a package of Crowder, Curry, and Capela can net them the right piece for their championship hopes. Curry and Capela are definitely not gonna be keepers on this team, but could be on a lower tier squad. So, who wants to trade now for later?

Fat Jubas (11-5)
As the second best team in Chamberlain Conference — and one of only two teams in Chamberlain with a winning record — Eric’s team is the default dark horse to take out Sour Snails before this year's Finals. Their WK8 matchup was actually pretty close, with a few percentage points in both categories and a handful of PTS, 3PT, and TO going Trieu’s way. Jubas will get another look at Snails in the regular season closer, and maybe they’ll be able to hone down what else they need to complete a playoff upset. Of course, that’s assuming they’re healthy. Right now there’s five players on the roster who are hurt, with Chris Paul and Pau Gasol coming back soon. Analysts have determined that what Jubas needs right now is STL/BLK, and they are likely shopping some scoring to get it. Does Austin Rivers or Will Barton interest you? Or maybe a bigger deal for Harrison Barnes or Jonas Valanciunas? Jubas has plenty of PTS but not enough defensive stats. So, who’s selling swipes and blocks and willing to help Jubas dethrone the defending back-to-back champs?!

So Buckets (9-7)
In a dogfight with Swamp Dragons for a playoff spot, So Buckets has hit a 1-3 swoon and needs to finish strong to return to the playoffs. To be honest, they don’t really need much, as this is a well assembled roster post-CJ McCollum acquisition. The bigger question is how often Joel Embiid plays down the stretch and how much better Aaron Gordon will get now that Orlando’s front court has been cleared a bit. Josh’s team has six clear keepers, which leaves rookie Dario Saric on the outside looking in. Here’s the thing: Saric is good! With recent averages of 16.8 PTS, 6.9 REB, 1.8 3PT on good percentages, Saric could maintain his value even with Embiid and Ben Simmons around. So who might want to make a movie for a potential keeper? Or does someone trying to make a push want to take a look at Jamal Crawford’s offense for a rental? I guess a lot depends on if So Buckets makes the playoffs or not, as a fall into the Toilet Bowl might entice them to keep their roster intact to make a run at a top draft pick.

Squirtle Squad (7-9)
Brian’s been making a lot of moves this year, thirty "adds" to be exact, more than doubling the league average. (FYI: The league averag is sixteen, although if you take out Thien’s huge outlier number of sixty-three, the average drops to about thirteen adds per owner). A lot of this is due to them battling for a division title and a playoff spot, and they’ve done well in going 3-1 in recent weeks, picking up steam against division rival Another Bad Creation. GM Brian has also savvily been stocking his roster with upside as he plans for a future with Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the way. With that in mind, Squirtles are holding onto rookies Marquese Chriss, Thon Maker, Caris LeVert, and Denzel Washington even though none of them are really fantasy relevant yet.

You know who doesn’t fit with this youth movement? Thirty year old Goran Dragic! With averages of 20.3 PTS, 6.2 AST, 1.6 3PT, Dragic could be a very useful piece for a contender -- traded away last year for the opposite reason -- and we just mentioned how many teams need point guards. With Zach LaVine out for the year anyway (leaving this team very light in the 3PT department), Squirtles could look to shed a veteran to better align their team with their bright future. Or they could just sit tight and win the Toilet Bowl and go draft a franchise guard as the perfect complement to Dark Giannis.

Sour Snails (15-1)
And now we get down to the two brothers who are whipping us all in moves and free agent grabs. While Trieu has only sifted through the free agent pile five more times than Squirtle, they’ve assembled a hell of a productive bench. A bench full of guards! Dion Waiters has been on fire while Darren Collison and Tim Hardaway Jr. have also been quietly excellent. And then there’s TJ McConnell and D-League sensation Yogi Ferrell who has just inherited the Dallas starting gig. Having Avery Bradley injured hasn’t made this team miss a beat and that could make Bradley open for offers. We’re not sure how Snails will look to three-peat against the LeBron-led Monkeys, but rumors are that they want to upgrade their frontline and could move some of these extra guards to improve on Gorgui Dieng and Juancho Hernangomez to better combat Evan's bigs. So, who needs some guards, selling them right here!

Against All Odds (12-4)
A recent name change from Dragon Warriors declares Thien’s mission for the year: upset championship, assemble the true believers! With Boogie leading the way, can Against All Odds make it to the Finals again and try for their first title? Well, it’s not for lack of trying! GM Thien has gone through sixty-three "adds" this seasons so far and is our leader in Games Played. However, there’s only five sure keepers on this team — pre-draft trade acquisition Jordan Clarkson was kept this season but he could be challenged by Gary Harris or Mason Plumlee — and that leaves room for AAO to upgrade. For one, they have an excess of REB, AST, and STL. And while they aren’t outright bad anywhere except FG%, they could use a boost in BLK if they wanted to, as they only have Cousins and Plumlee averaging less than 2.5 BLK combined. We don’t know what kind of deals AAO could be interested in but maybe a big could work, with an injured Rudy Gay on the block or maybe a two-for-one with some of those aforementioned side pieces to consolidate. Either way, congrats to the best manager and coach in the league, Thien!