If there's one thing the Raptors showed is possible, you can be an extremely successful team with one star (or two stars) but you need to have the right pieces complimenting them. The NBA has always massively overrated one-dimensional volume scorers over two-way dominance. I think a Harden team could be successful with just him if you have him surrounded by a team that makes up for his deficiencies (defensive studs that can switch like no tomorrow, a rim protector and who can clear lanes for his drives, and guys who can space the floor). Instead teams are very focused on "get two superstars" and then abandon the rest of the roster. The Warriors are a great example of this in that, even before KD, they target and had Iguodala & Green who are masters at defensive switching and creating opportunities.
Harden and Westbrook are basically the exact same player. George and Kawhi are similar and fill the same niche. Heat managed to make it to the Finals based on Butler, who had been a pretty notorious malcontent over his previous 3 teams, and an outstanding supporting cast. Bucks are having trouble getting over the hump because all their problems get exposed in the playoffs and they don't have the versatility to make up for it.
gamerparent wrote:probably the furthest thing from anyone's mind right now, but does anyone want to play fantasy basketball (again) this season?
I could be... enabled.
@cybardian and @DSGamer, any interest in a GWJ league this year?
I have another friend who wants to join, but I don't know if we have enough people. I'd be happy to organize, and we could discuss what kind of league we want to start. A keeper league is definitely something I'd like to try.
i'll say that last year as my first time, I really enjoyed it. It really added an extra dimension to the season for me as well.
I've been messing around with the Yahoo sports site and it seems easy enough to set up.
I'm thinking of calling it GWJ Fantasy BBall League or something like that.
I've been messing around with the Yahoo sports site and it seems easy enough to set up.
I'm thinking of calling it GWJ Fantasy BBall League or something like that.
I'd fill a spot, at least. And Yahoo's convenient for me since I've used if for fantasy baseball for years.
I would consider it. I don’t typically have a ton of time to be very active, but I could give my best. Drafting is they best part anyway.
I'd draft and mess with my roster. Don't expect me to post/chat/do daily waiver wire reviews tho! 
Cool, if we can get a few more thant would be awesome, so let's see if we can rustle up a few more. At least we have the beginnings of the core.
I'm hearing that we want to keep it more casual so I'll try to tailor it for that. And I thought it bears mentioning that there is no payment involved.
I'm thinking draft day should be a Saturday in December, that makes sense, right? 1pm to accommodate east and west coasts? The last one I did the draft was at midnight ET and I wasn't too happy about that.
All of that sounds good!
Sounds like Chris Paul is heading to PHX for a 2022 pick, Rubio, Oubre, and some prospects. :O
Also I’ll take a fantasy spot if needed.
Man, OKC did really well in trading Westbrook.
Man, OKC did really well in trading Westbrook.
Has turned out, almost instantly, to be an incredibly savvy trade. Also the Paul George haul. They basically have all the first round picks for the next forever years.
Sounds like Chris Paul is heading to PHX for a 2022 pick, Rubio, Oubre, and some prospects. :O
I like this trade for both teams. OKC gets a few pieces to trade later, a few young players, and some cap space. The Suns get a great PG who turns them into a playoff contender and can mentor Devin Booker on Leadership. He can also mentor Cameron Payne who seems to be a talented young PG.
Hey Fantasy BBall players, for your perusal, these are the settings of the league I'm hoping to roll with.
The summary is a Head to Head Points league, where each week you face off against another team, and whoever has the most points at the end of the week wins that week. At the end of this post is how the points are scored.
In addition to bench spots there are two injured list spots on the roster.
Let me know if you are cool with it.
This is the invite link to join up if you're ready to go for it: https://basketball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/nba/6681/invitation?key=1cc33a46ab3da93a&soc_trk=lnk&ikey=3dd8092b88865f6c
Draft Type: Live Standard Draft
Draft Time: Sat Dec 19 1:00pm EST [ Add to My Calendar ]
Max Teams: 12
Live Draft Pick Time: 1 Minute
Scoring Type: Head-to-Head - Points
Max Acquisitions for Entire Season: No maximum
Max Trades for Entire Season No maximum
Trade End Date: March 4, 2021
Allow Draft Pick Trades: No
Waiver Time: 2 days
Waiver Type: Continual rolling list
Waiver Mode: Standard
Allow injured players from waivers or free agents to be added directly to injury slot: Yes
Can't Cut List Provider: Yahoo Sports
Trade Review: League Votes
Trade Reject Time: 2 days
Post Draft Players: Follow Waiver Rules
Max Acquisitions per Week: 10
Weekly Deadline: Daily - Today
Start Scoring on: Week 1
Playoffs: 6 teams - Week 14, 15 and 16 (ends Sunday, Apr 11)
Playoff Tie-Breaker: Higher seed wins
Playoff Reseeding: No
Lock Eliminated Teams: Yes
Divisions: Yes (2 divisions)
Playoff Seeding Options: Division winners awarded top playoff seeds
Make League Publicly Viewable: No
Invite Permissions: All Managers Can Invite
Send unjoined players email reminders: Yes
Roster Positions: PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, Util, BN, BN, BN, IL, IL
Players Stat Category Value
Field Goals Attempted (FGA) -1
Field Goals Made (FGM) 1
Free Throws Attempted (FTA) -1
Free Throws Made (FTM) 1
Points Scored (PTS) 1
Total Rebounds (REB) 1
Assists (AST) 1
Steals (ST) 1
Blocked Shots (BLK) 1
Turnovers (TO) -1
Hey Fantasy BBall players, for your perusal, these are the settings of the league I'm hoping to roll with.
The summary is a Head to Head Points league, where each week you face off against another team, and whoever has the most points at the end of the week wins that week. At the end of this post is how the points are scored.
In addition to bench spots there are two injured list spots on the roster.
Let me know if you are cool with it.
Looks good to me. Thanks for setting this up Gamerparent!
Sorry double post
Yeah, no worries Roke.
I wanted to do It after having so much fun last season.
I hope it's ok but I basically imported the points system from ESPN but we are using Yahoo, which has a different default setup. I didn't want to mess up my mind with something different. Lol.
Also feel free to invite people you know that might be interested. I asked two of my friends to join.
I don't think I've ever, ever hated working anywhere so much that I'd turn down $50M a year.
I don't know if I could EVER hate working somewhere that wasn't literally re-enacting slavery in 1848 to turn down FIFTY MILLION A YEAR.
To be fair, he’s still going to make $40 million, right? What this amounts to, in my opinion, is the following.
1 - Houston squandered the last of their assets very quickly
2 - It seems like players really don’t like the Houston owner
Man, all the trades happening.
Covington traded to Portland for Ariza & 2 1sts and then Jrue Holliday to the Bucks for Bledsoe, George Hill, 3 1sts and 2 pick swaps.
Bucks going all-in.
Bogdanovic and another player for three Bucks players with the only one I've heard of being Ilysaova.
Which Bogdanovic?!?
Should I start a new thread for Draft day, or wait for start of the new season in dec?
Wow that is a lot for Holliday. I would have done that in a minute too if I was the Pelicans.
Wow that is a lot for Holliday. I would have done that in a minute too if I was the Pelicans.
Yeah. They got a haul similar to the one they got for Davis.
Should I start a new thread for Draft day, or wait for start of the new season in dec?
Probably wait til December.
I’m Benjamin in the fantasy league, changed my team name to make it apparent who’s who.
Which Bogdanovic?!?
Bogdan!
Deni Avdija said on ESPN that he learned to speak English by playing Call of Duty.
So that's a week one suspension for using slurs, right?
Excited that the Hornets got Lamelo. The Ringer’s Jonathan Tjarks says it best: the Hornets will have an identity and some interest this year, at least.
Also, looks like that Bogdan trade isn’t happening. Apparently nobody in the Kings or Bucks realized that you can’t trade a restricted free agent without signing him first.
They went to ask Bogdan and he said “naw”.
This draft is so weird. Every lottery prospect has huge red flags. Unproductive, can’t shoot, no elite skills, can’t or won’t play defense, lazy, barely played, and/or doesn’t even seem to like basketball.
All those things are true and I still don’t think it’s the right time to give up on them. Albatross contracts get traded yearly, I have no doubt a bad team with cap space would take Al Horford to help them create culture, or a contender trade an underperforming and overpaid starter for Harris. Untradeable contracts just don’t exist in my opinion. See Rashard Lewis, Gilbert Arenas..
Look at all the raves about the shooting the Sixers added after trading an albatross contract 
Wouldn’t shock me if Presti flipped Horford at the deadline or next year for future assets, same as with CP. The cost to come off him for Philly was relatively low, a future first and the 34th pick last night.
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