I am in two fantasy basketball leagues this year. This first draft was for Fantasy Alarm and it was late in the summer season. I had spend the entire summer in LA producing and directing movies and wasn't totally up to speed. With that said, maybe you will accept my excuse for not being prepared because the draft was so early. The second draft was a different story. The Sirius XM Experts League was a month later. I had time to really over prepare, obsessively. As it stands I am in first place in the Experts League and last place in the Fantasy Alarm League. Let me draw a parallel.
In business I have to decide when a series is dead in the water. If the talent is bad, it's just bad. You have to reevaluate the decisions you've made so you can move forward. I will go through thousands of photos, narrowing it down to a couple hundred before finally settling on the perfect six for the packaging of the product.
Having a series that doesn’t sell is like being in last place in fantasy basketball. I have work to do. Being in last place is like everyone getting a jump start in a very long race. I'll accept the bad decisions I made, but that doesn't meant there aren't some players I will keep around to help me to build a winning talent base. Looking into some temporary situations with injuries, and accepting some bad decisions, anyone in last place with me, come on.. lets try to make a winning series/team here, it can still be fun.
POINT GUARD
Zach LaVine, T'Wolves - If you have Ricky Rubio, Lavine could be a quick fix. Saturday night he had five points, six rebounds, four assists, a steal and a 3-pointer in 26 minutes. Hopefully you don’t have more injuries like Rubio at one time.
Aaron Brooks, Bulls - Averaging 13 points and 5 assists per game while covering time for Derrick Rose.
Isaiah Canaan, Rockets - Averaging 9.7 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.0 three-pointers. No one really knows what will happen health wise with Rose so Canaan might be a nice fill-in.
SHOOTING GUARD
Courtney Lee, Grizzlies - He's returned from a concussion and two missed games. Since then he’s been on fire scoring 22, 17 and 11 points in his last three games. He is averaging 15.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.4 three-pointers. Memphis has fun hot streaks, you never know how far they will go and when it will start.
These next 2 on my list I owned last year and went through ups and downs with each, but I think it hurt more seeing them do well when I no longer had them on my club. I'm learning, you can’t hold grudges if a player is producing after you release him.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Pistons - KCP is averaging 13.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.9 3-pointers on the season. And over his last two games those numbers leap to 19.5 points and 3.5 three-pointers.
Jeremy Lamb, Thunder - he made his debut on Saturday and hit 8-of-15 shots and a 3-pointer for 17 points, three rebounds and a block. He will be getting minutes due to the injuries OKC is faced with alone. I'm not going to get attached, but I will use him while I need him.
SHOOTING FOWARD
Solomon Hill, Pacers - In Saturday’s start he had 28 points and has somehow scored in double figures in five straight games. Minutes shouldn’t be an issue here with all of the injuries on that team.
POWER FORWARD
Ed Davis, Lakers - He’s averaging 10.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.4 blocks in five games. This is all about minutes again. I need to get players that will be on the floor while dealing with injuries.
CENTER
Jordan Hill, Lakers - Is averaging 14.8 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 30 minutes. The Lakers just won their first game. SMH
Kelly Olynyk, Celtics - He’s averaging 13.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.0 steals in six games this season and has hit two 3-pointers in each of his last three games.
These won't make an all-star series a reality, but momentum is what I am looking for. Lets hope I can get out of last place with new direction of my club while I spend endless hours on the internet reading about basketball while everyone else is looking for the next series I'm producing.