A New Kind Of League: And Calderon Mania

This year, I decided to join a money league with a $100 buy-in, as I did last year, but this league had the added categories of A/TO and 3 pt %.  It adds a whole different dimension to the game because using these categories, guards become more valuable since they contribute well to the A/TO category and the standard Assist category.  You also need to hone in on players that not only shoot threes (to win the threes made category), but on those that shoot a high percentage from downtown, too.  These dynamics changed my outlook going into the draft and I ran a breakdown on basketball monster.com to see just how the added categories affected the league.

It was no surprise that they were vastly different.  The number four player overall was Jose Calderon.  He is highly efficient from the field, 51.9% FG; three point range, 40.1%, and boasts an assist to turnover ratio of 5.7:1.

My draft selection was tenth of ten.  So I inherited the fortune of picking on the turn.  I usually like to pick there because of the fact you are able to snap up two players quickly and it prevents you from having to concern yourself with runs on position since you are able to pick before the string of picks at either center or point guard.  You can guess one of the players I went with at the turn.  Yes, Jose Calderon.

My other selection at the 10/11 turn was the ultra-efficient Caron Butler, who himself ranked 9th in these categories.

The top ten goes like this:

1) Chris Paul

2) Steve Nash

3) Chauncey Billups

4) Jose Calderon

5) Kobe Bryant

6) Deron Williams

7) Marcus Camby

8) Peja Stojakovic

9) Amare Stoudemire

10) Jason Richardson

It's a vastly different landscape than you are used to seeing for fantasy leagues, though the top dog is still Chris Paul.  Five of the top ten players are point guards, and eight of the top ten are guards. 

You'll be shocked to learn that not only did I acquire Calderon and Butler on the 10/11 turn, but I also was lucky enough to land Camby at pick 30, and somehow Peja at pick 50.  So using basketball monster's breakdown, I landed four of the top ten players by pick 50.  The only concern is that Camby, Peja, and Butler are all somewhat injury prone, and Camby is already showing signs of an injury plagued year with his bruised heel.  So, at best, I am hoping to get 65-70 games from him, and hopefully he'll be healthy at the end of the season since this is a head-to-head league.  We start G, G, F, F, C, Util, Util, with 7 bench slots. 

Here's how the rest of my roster shook out, with their draft selction and then their basketballmonster ranks to the right:

10th Caron Butler (G,F) 9

11th Jose Calderon (G) 4

30th Marcus Camby (C) 7

31st Kevin Martin (G) 24

50th Peja Stojakovic (G,F) 8

51st Andrei Kirilenko (F) 40

70th Corey Maggette (G,F) 92

71st Andris Biedrins (C) 60

90th Manu Ginobili (G) 15

91st Anthony Parker (G,F) 30

110th Chris Duhon (G) Unranked

111th JR Smith (G) 102

130th Grant Hill (G,F) - Dropped in favor of Jeff Green (Unranked)

131st Shaq O'Neal (C) - Dropped in favor of Spencer Hawes (Unranked)

Considering it is H2H and we only start 7 players, I think getting Ginobili that late was highway robbery.  He'll be healthy for the H2H playoffs and the bulk of the money goes to the winner of the playoffs. 

The bench is really not as important in this league since we start 7 and bench 7 every night, but depth still plays somewhat of a role. 

The reason I selected Duhon is his 3.7:1 A/TO ratio and the fact that he'll start for the new high pace New York Knicks.  I figure this could make him a valuable commodity in the league since he'll contribute strongly to the Assist categories.  His FG% is god-awful at 37%, but he doesn't really shoot enough to make it matter.

I think with regard to the categories, I had a really smart draft.  I'll keep you updated to see if I emerge victorious and take home a nice chunk of cash.