Feeling Nervous + Digging Deep WW-Style

Now that the season is under way, the waiver wire in my league has been blazing.  With 12 teams and five bench slots, it's pretty slim pickings out on the WW.  This is unfortunate because my team is struggling big time right now.  Some reasons for concern:

 

Peja - I decided to play him to try to improve in 3's this week.  Things were going great last night until he sprained his ankle.  It's unclear how long he'll be out but it sounds like it could be awhile.  This mean I will have to carry both him and Dunleavy on my bench as they recover -- probably not a recipe for success in H2H.

 

Moon - He only got 24 minutes of PT in his first game, as Mitchell played Kapono at the end of the game.  During that 24 minutes, he put up a very pedestrian line, which makes me worry that last year was a huge fluke.  I plan on running him out there a couple more times but I'm preparing myself to cut bait if necessary.

 

Sean Williams - He got zero minutes in his first game so I dropped him for Darrell Arthur.  I know Arthur is a rookie but I think he's got enough athleticism and energy that he can put up decent numbers in rebounds, blocks and steals.  Plus Memphis is going to be terrible this year so there's no reason not to play the rookies.

 

Going back to the waiver wire -- I didn't fully realize how thin it was until I tried to pick up certain players.

 

"Chalmers looks like he had a good game.  (Look up Chalmers)  Damn, already drafted."

 

"Prince might have some good value.  (Look up Prince)  Wow, someone actually drafted Tayshaun?"

 

And so on and so forth. 

 

Other guys who I had my eye on (Mason, Jason Thompson) were quickly snatched up after their strong performances.  At this point, there's not a whole lot of value left on the WW.  However, there are a couple guys I'm monitoring if I do decide to make some moves:

 

Francisco Garcia - He's hurt right now but he should be back some time in mid to late November.  Once he returns, I think he can help out in terms of steals and 3's.

 

Paul Millsap - I know he doesn't get a ton of minutes in Utah but he's ultra productive when he plays, to the tune of averaging almost a block and a steal last season while pulling down 5.5 rebounds.  He's a good fit for my team and his value would only shoot up if someone on Utah's frontline gets hurt.

 

Jordan Farmar - You'd think at some point, he'll take over for Fisher, though I think Phil Jackson probably prefers him leading the second unit.  Regardless of whether he starts or not, Farmar should be good for AST, 3's and maybe some steals.

It's not looking good for Week 1, as I'm currently down 6-3.  At this point, I'm hoping to eek out cheap wins in a couple cats to take it down 5-4.  Assists (34 to 41) and 3's (9 to 10) are the most logical choices, followed by steals (11 to 19).  With Calderon, Miller and Carter playing tonight, I should probably be able to take AST down.  3's are going to be tricky without Peja so I'm hoping Calderon and Carter can surprise me.  STL's is such a tossup cat but here's hoping Moon and Arthur go nuts with the thievery tonight.

Head Scratcher

In an effort to bolster my lineup, I decided to propose the following trade:

My Peja

for

His AK-47

As I've previously mentioned, Peja is not a very good fit for my team, given his strengths (3's, PTS) and weakenesses (FG, REB, BLK). I decided to go after Kirilenko because he was strong in all the right cats plus the other team could actually stand to benefit from having someone like Peja (he also has Okur, Lewis and J-Rich). Logical trade right?

Well, the other guy ended up rejecting my trade today. Didn't give a reason why. As I was contemplating trying to come up with a different offer, I logged into my team and noticed that he had made the following waiver wire transaction:

Dropped Jason Richardson, Picked up Michael Finley

Uh ... hello? Dropping J-Rich and Michael Finley?

I seriously had to do a double take to make sure it was not Jerome Richardson or some other Richardson that I hadn't heard of before. But, no, it was indeed J-Rich from Charlotte. I was completely confused by why the guy would drop J-Rich for Finley. But before I let my confusion set in, I immediately put in a waiver wire request on him and now I'll just have to see if I can land him (I have the 4th waiver priority).

IF I am able to land J-Rich, that would significantly alter the makeup of my team. With J-Rich, Peja and Dunleavy, I would actually be strong in 3's. His scoring would also help me a lot more competitive in PTS. In other words, he would help my team A LOT. Just gotta keep my fingers crossed that the three managers with higher waiver priorities aren't paying attention (fat chance, I know).

EDIT: The guy apparently had some computer issues and "accidentally" dropped J-Rich.  I guess that's a logical explanation.  In the name of goodwill, the league has decided to let him pick J-Rich after he clears waivers.  Oh well.  I knew it was too good to be true.

Question Marks Galore

On the eve of the kickoff to the NBA season, I'm starting to worry a bit about my team. For various reasons, many of my middle-round picks are not looking to hot these days:

Mike Dunleavy - Word has it his knee is still bothering him, enough that he'll miss at least the first game. Considering that I drafted Dunleavy in the 4th round, this is not good news to say the least. However, I did manage to grab Marquis Daniels off of waivers, who should fill the void until Dunleavy returns. There will undoubtedly be a dropoff in production with Daniels but he'll be starting in Dunleavy's place and will hopefully be able to produce some decent STL's and AST's.

Jamario Moon - It's unclear how many minutes Moon is going to get, given his weak preseason play. Given the efficiency make up of my team, Moon plays a pivotal role in securing me some blocks and steals. I'm going to keep him on the bench in cases where my lineup is full and wait to see if he can get back on Sam Mitchell's good graces again.

Peja Stojakovic - I've already mentioned how this was a mistake pick for me. However, given the question marks on my team, I'm tempted to start him if only because he should help my PTS's and maybe STL's. The ideal scenario would be for him to go off with five or six 3-PT's in a game so that I can trade him and get someone more suitable for my team in return (e.g. AK-47, Deng, Salmons).

Nick Collison - He's a minor question mark due to the surprisingly solid play of Johan Petro in the preseason.  But with Wilcox on the dinged up, I think Collison should get his minutes even if he's not at center. 

Here's my lineup for the week as well as my opponent's.

PG - Calderon (me) / Billups (him)
SG - Daniels (me) / Kobe (him)
G - Andre Miller (me) / Turkoglu (him)
SF - Amir Johnson (me) / Beasley (him)
PF - Garnett (me) / Duncan (him)
F - Al Jefferson (me) / Okafor (him)
C - David Lee (me) / Nene (him)
C - Collison (me) / Perkins (him)
Util - Brewer (me) / Bibby (him)
Util - Carter (me) / Derrick Rose (him)
Bench - Westbrook (me) / Posey (him)
Bench - Sean Williams (me) / Pietrus (him)
Bench - Peja (me) / Fisher (him)
Bench - Dunleavy (me) / Jeff Green (him)
Bench - Moon (me) / Grant Hill (him)

My opponent has a pretty solid team, with obvious strengths over my team in PTS and 3's and probably BLKS's too. I think I've got him beat in FG and TO's and I probably have an advantage in STL's. That leaves REB, FT and AST as the toss up cats. I think I can improve my REB's by rotating Moon and Williams in while Westbrook should probably be able to help me with AST's. Regardless, I would consider myself an underdog this week so I'm definitely going to have to get a little lucky.