NBA Season 2012-13. Draft and off-season 2013.

10-12 would be ideal.

Might be able to get by with 8. It would just be higher scoring.

Looks like two main ways to play at ESPN:

Rotisserie: Rotisserie, or "Roto", is the most common way to play fantasy basketball. In this scoring type teams are ranked from first to last in each statistical category. Points are then awarded according to the order in each category, then totaled to determine an overall score and league rank.

Head-to-Head, Each Category: H2H Each Category is the most common type of head-to-head play in fantasy basketball. It allows you to select "X" number of statistical categories. For each scoring period, team totals are accumulated and a win, loss or tie is credited in each category based on the matchup results (i.e. 6-3-1 in a 10 category league). If selected, your league will have team schedules/playoffs and the option to set up divisions.

I'd kind of lean towards the H2H, just because I enjoy the win/loss matchups and playoffs of fantasy football.

Looks like Yahoo! supports those formats too.

Fleaflicker has a slightly different H2H, being points-based, not category.

I know the GWJ football groups are used to FF, but I know we also do the NCAA brackets over at Yahoo! and sometimes ESPN. So... whatever. I've got account all 3 places. I think I'd lean towards Yahoo! or ESPN for the H2H category mode, if people like that idea?

I prefer the H2H as well, but don't care what site we use. I think there'd be a learning curve for the point based scoring as opposed to category based. It's easier to look at the rebound column and see you're trailing by 5 boards than it is to be trailing by 15 and try to figure out what permutations could make up that gap. But I'd willing to give that a go if that's what people want.

I could probably go for that.

Fantasy basketball has never been very appealing to me because the pool of players is so small.

If you guys only end up with five or six people one thing to consider is doing two teams each. I've been in a six person hockey league for the last five or so years that does that. It works pretty well as long as you don't let somebody trade with themselves without approval.

Yeah that's a possibility. We have 5 or 6 now? Feels like a league of 12 would be about right.

Looks like the suggested rosters are PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, and 3 utility (any position). So 10 playable players, plus benches of 3 or so? 13x12=156 players on our rosters. 30 teams x 5 starters = 150 starters in the league. Feels about right. There are definitely some 6th men out there that are better to have than a starter, depending on the team and stats.

So I think 12 teams just feels right, to have a little bit of free agent action but not too much.

I think my one moment of pause is having to research all of that. (though I'm likely to get better result picking names out of a hat)

fangblackbone wrote:

I think my one moment of pause is having to research all of that. (though I'm likely to get better result picking names out of a hat)

The league I'm in is CBS Sportsline. It's pretty cool because they automatically rank players based on fantasy data, percentage of time a player is drafted, percentage of time a player is started, etc. It gives you a ton of information on which to base your draft. If you chose to leave it on autopilot it would draft the next highest ranked player automatically.

Yeah all the sites mentioned have a pre-ranking system. Some are better than others on their initial rankings.

It would be nice if we could do a live draft Sun or Mon, and just anyone who can't make it will get the auto picks.

If you guys get/have five people I'm willing to be the sixth if we're controlling two teams apiece. That wrinkle makes it more interesting.

I guess we give it until Fri night or something for interest signup here. And then that would give us 2 more days to get invites, and pre-rank before a draft. And then bam, season Tues!

I just ordered league pass, the first time I've ever done something like that. I hope I never feel obligated to watch or anything. I do plan on doing the "Watch League Pass on TV, play NBA 2k13 on Wii U controller" trick quite often.

I was expecting a one time $180 fee, it's nice that they spread it over four cable bills. I wish it processed faster so I could watch NBA TV soon.

shuref00t wrote:

Just purchased my League Pass.

I'm really confused by the various accesses. I figured it'd be a little while before NBA TV would be available on my cable box, but I went through the verification process on the League Pass website and got the completion email that starts like this:

Your NBA LEAGUE PASS BROADBAND Three Point Play subscription activation is complete!

You now have your courtside seat to the games you want and can watch the action LIVE or ON DEMAND online and on your mobile phone*!

But I have no idea where to actually watch NBA TV live online, and when I access my account here, it doesn't show the League Pass under subscriptions. Does that not start until the season does?

Blind_Evil wrote:
shuref00t wrote:

Just purchased my League Pass.

I'm really confused by the various accesses. I figured it'd be a little while before NBA TV would be available on my cable box, but I went through the verification process on the League Pass website and got the completion email that starts like this:

Your NBA LEAGUE PASS BROADBAND Three Point Play subscription activation is complete!

You now have your courtside seat to the games you want and can watch the action LIVE or ON DEMAND online and on your mobile phone*!

But I have no idea where to actually watch NBA TV live online, and when I access my account here, it doesn't show the League Pass under subscriptions. Does that not start until the season does?

Well, it's my first time ordering NBA League Pass too, but I've been having trouble activating my Broadband & Mobile accounts. Apparently, I'll need to email or fax a copy of my DirecTV statement showing the NBA LP charge, and include my NBA.com All Access email address, then they'll grant me access to the online portions. So I have no idea where you can watch NBATV online either.

David Stern has been the commish since before I was born. I don't think I like the idea of him stepping down soon.

Retiring on the 30th anniversary of the day he was hired I think they said.

James Harden to the Rockets for Kevin Martin...that was fast.

I would not have predicted this after the playoffs.

Someone has to know: why didn't the Thunder just amnesty Kendrick Perkins and give Harden his money? I really don't see what Perk brings that, say, Samuel Dalembert couldn't handle.

Edit: Apparently they offered him 4 years, $55m. He really wanted that extra $1m per year!

At the least, I think they got a decent package. Kevin Martin can provide just as much or more offense, but he's not a playmaker like Harden (this makes me think the Thunder believe strongly in either Eric Maynor or Reggie Jackson). Martin's in the last year of his contract, so Jeremy Lamb is also a part of the trade, as a possible replacement.

I wonder what kind of picks the Thunder are getting.

I really hate that trade. Harden is clutch and can get buckets at will. You pay home and figure it out later. Ibaka's salary looks really dumb now. Same with Perk.

DSGamer wrote:

I really hate that trade. Harden is clutch and can get buckets at will. You pay home and figure it out later. Ibaka's salary looks really dumb now. Same with Perk.

After reading all the analysts' articles and following twitter I'm starting to think the Thunder had their reasons here, and that it wasn't just about money. Here are some of the facts that lead me to this conclusion:

1. They could have kept Harden this year, and traded him next summer.
2. He had a truly horrid series in the Finals.
3. Perry Jones III is looking damn legit.
4. Some chatter that Harden is only so efficient because he's the third option, that anyone would get a similar boost.
5. Plenty of people saying this trade is about the long-term, and Sam Presti has always been more concerned about the long-term. The luxury of having KD and Westbrook is that you know you'll be a contender regardless of the rest of the cast.

I don't like the trade. I don't hate it. I hated the Dwight Howard trade (for the Magic).

Blind_Evil wrote:

1. They could have kept Harden this year, and traded him next summer.

This makes me think that Presti and OKC ownership recognized that they have a young team and wanted to avoid the drama and distraction of the Harden extension dragging on all season. Will he sign, won't he sign? It can take over a team and a locker room. We've seen it recently with Dwight Howard, with Chris Paul, with Carmelo.

Once it was clear that Harden wasn't going to accept the offer OKC was comfortable making, they acted quickly and got some value for him.

Whether it's the ideal trade for them or not (and I think it's a pretty decent trade for OKC), there is probably some inherent value in not having it drag on all season and upset the chemistry of a young, contending team.

The Rockets tried to trade Martin last year, in the trade Stern blew up. Presumably, after that, he could never really be happy in Houston.

Glad we're picking up someone that others are unhappy to lose.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

The Rockets tried to trade Martin last year, in the trade Stern blew up. Presumably, after that, he could never really be happy in Houston.

Glad we're picking up someone that others are unhappy to lose.

Yeah, I feel like it should be obvious that Houston got the better end of this. They have a dynamic backcourt now and all they had to do was swap contracts of guys who were dissatisfied with being trade bait.

Presti suffers a strange funny fate. Hes too good for his own good. Hes too efficient at putting together these teams that are not exactly competitive but by no means the worst team drafting in the top 3.

He knows you either have to suck real bad or be real good. Limbo = death.

Lin + Harden are 23 so that gives them a young backbone to maybe lure another quality player. Have to admire how hes been taking chances and swings at every deal he can to try and improve the team.

I think you mean Morey (Dork Elvis).

Blind_Evil wrote:

I think you mean Morey (Dork Elvis).

errr right. Got my good GM's mixed up. Which means I don't think anyone 'lost'. Seems to make sense on both sides. Crazy.

It's going to be an interesting year, at least, and I'm glad that the era of Yao is over (only because it always ended in him getting injured - good guy, AFAIK).

Just to throw this out there, without Harden the Thunder could offer max money to Dwight or Chris Paul next summer.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Just to throw this out there, without Harden the Thunder could offer max money to Dwight or Chris Paul next summer.

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/oklaho...

I guess that's assuming a sign and trade or an amnesty involving Perkins?

The deal is making allot of sense from their perspective. I don't think Howard or Paul are good fits or available but the flexibility makes allot of sense down the road.

'Hi, would you like to play with Kevin Durant' is a pretty good starting sales pitch.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

It's going to be an interesting year, at least, and I'm glad that the era of Yao is over (only because it always ended in him getting injured - good guy, AFAIK).

I was really happy when this guy left:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/KtvgI.jpg)

He just bugged the hell out of me when the Jazz played them.

And I don't usually pay attention to basketball until after football is done, but I'm going to opening night on Halloween, so basketball.... Interested to see how we play with a new offense and many new and young faces.