Two-Thirds: Next Four

Looking at the second half of the potential playoff suitors, we have MELO winning their WK11 matchup to move ahead of the the rest of the crowded pack. MELO is the only Russell Conference team represented here, with ILCN, SQSQ, and SCRM all hailing from the Chamberlain Conference. [ Top Four | Bottom Four ]

MELO Melo My Mind (7-4)

We predicted that Jack’s rookie season would be a successful one but they’ve outshone expectations by starting the season off 4-1 and cementing themselves as a playoff contender. Three straight losses after that first month did give MELO pause, but they’ve recovered with two more victories right before the All-Star break.

Jaylen Brown emerged as an All-Star this season, and he now gives MELO and incredible backcourt of Bradley Beal, DeAaron Fox, and Brown. (Recall that Fox and Brown came over for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and OG Anunoby, which now looks slightly tipped in MELO’s favor.) Oh and there’s also Buddy Hield, no slouch himself.

On the season, MELO has an ODE rating of 4/9/11 behind tremendous 3PT shooting, excellent PTS, and a nice bit of thievery, ranking sixth overall in STL. What they’ve been lacking is mostly AST and BLK, and both of their percentages are less than league average.

During the past month, MELO’s defense has taken a tumble to the bottom of the league though as Andre Drummond got sent home from Cleveland to await a new NBA destination. (Strangely, Nikola Vucevic is only averaging a paltry 0.6 BLK this season.) Into the defensive breach steps Dwight Howard, who may not get an elevated role in Philadelphia, as the Sixers may start to be more spare with Joel Embiid’s minutes.

And for the long term, MELO will have 2021 RD1.2 James Wiseman, who looks legit and promising as a future franchise piece. That’s seven outright keepers, meaning MELO could even package for a trade eventually. Good problems to have!

The only blemish for MELO so far has been the low Games Played ranking — they have the second lowest GP in the league. While there have been no outright lineup violations, MELO has only fit in 22GP in four out of five weeks from WK6-10, which is flirting with disaster. Could it be rookie head coaching woes, a series of injuries, or something else? We’ll see in the next month of MELO can become a dark horse title contender but so far the future looks great here for a team that is both deep and young!

ILCN IL Conceived (6-4-1)

What does it take to go from fringe playoff contender to fringe championship contender? How about hitting on two huge picks in 2021 RD2.8 and RD4.3 Jerami Grant and Malik Beasley?! GM Frank proves his drafting chops yet again by hitting on Grant, who is now the man in Detroit and proving that he was right to leave Denver. While Beasley has been less than a role model in his personal life, his impressive PTS and 3PT makes him a perfect swingman for ILCN and helps to offset the loss of Jaren Jackson Jr. to IR for most of the season. (At this point, can Jackson ever stay healthy?)

ILCN started the season off 6-2, before going 0-1-1 in recent weeks. However, all of those matchups were close and against surging teams so it speaks well of ILCN’s dark horse title chances. Led by Luka Doncic, ILCN has the league’s top ranked offense and a more than serviceable defense. Sure, their FG% and TO are terrible, but that’s to be expected.

Enes Kanter has been a double-double machine while Draymond Green has returned to his triple-double ways. Plus it’s been a Poku Party as rookie Aleksej Pokusevski has started to get major minutes in Cleveland. How high can ILCN go? There’s two more matchups left against top contenders — WK13 versus CHMK and WK15 versus FJUB — but it looks like we’ll get to see this team of the future compete for a ring right now.

SQSQ Squirtle Squad (6-5)

More was expected from SQSQ this season, as they made a bold pre-draft move for LeBron James, hoping to cash in on last year’s first year finish. Instead, SQSQ started the season off with three straight losses and it’s been streaky ever since.

SQSQ’s fourth and third ranked offensive and defensive ratings are stellar but their last place rating in FT% and TO means they’re starting each matchup off with two lost categories. Aside from AST, SQSQ hasn’t been top three in any category this season, and it looks like Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron have an equal chance of heading to the Toilet Bowl as they do to the postseason.

Most of SQSQ’s 2021 draft came up a bust, with DeMarcus Cousins out of a job, Bogdan Bogdanovich barely returning to play, and rookie Patrick Williams already cut. At least SQSQ hasn’t stood pat, as they’ve swung some deals during the season, moving Tobias Harris for Jrue Holiday, Gary Trent Jr. for Mason Plumlee (a re-acquire from an in-draft trade), and Daniel Theis for Malik Monk. And there has been the return of John Wall to fantasy relevance, along with good seasons from Lonzo Ball and Alec Burks.

Unfortunately, unless SQSQ can really pick it up, they are likely out of the championship picture after moving all in with King James.

SCRM Screamin Eagles (5-5-1)

The second of our three new teams, SCRM has battling around 0.500 for most of the season, losing to the top teams and winning against the creampuffs. SCRM is just inside the playoff picture but with three tough matchups coming up, they could drop out without a strong finish.

This is a team built for the future though, with Anthony Davis and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way. SCRM boasts a top two ranking in STL and have the best TO in the land. Their defense is in good shape though, with Davis, OG Anunoby, Dejounte Murray, and Mitchell Robinson putting the stops on foes.

What SCRM don’t have is a lot of offense, as they are near the bottom in PTS and AST. Norm Powell has been a revelation, and he joins Gilgeous-Alexander and Davis as 20+ ppg scorers, but that hasn’t been enough to lift SCRM out of a bottom two offensive rating.

With just one more win, SCRM will have already tied what previous owner HSTL was able to muster together in a much longer season. With the chance to add more talent to an impressive core, SCRM should be headed to the playoffs as soon as next season!