Those players you love to hate

Everyone who watches basketball loves to hate certain players. There are the Kobe haters, the LeBron haters (suddenly a lot more of these) etc. This is normally because the player is not on their team and tall poppy syndrome is forever high among casual fans. Just like George can’t believe Ted Danson makes $800,000, I don’t believe these players make useful fantasy additions and, no matter what spot they are in the draft, I will NEVER ever take them (again). In fact, the negative karma these fella’s have picked up along the way will consign you to a season of damnation. Like Indiana Pacers post Malice in the Palace damnation.

Mike Dunleavy Jr: There was one a time when Mike was an awesome basketball player. That time was long ago. He is now 30 and has managed to miss 79 games over the last two seasons. But worse than that? The games he actually did play.  Slow. Inefficient. Boring. Which is why when I saw this forum post at Rotoworld with some dude (#4) saying he might go in the 7th round, my cereal jumped out of it’s bowl. Dunleavy did did me in two seasons ago when I took him in the middle rounds and he proceeded to play in 18 games for the season. I know it’s petty to hold a grudge, but I would buy a Carlos Arroyo jersey before I ever draft Mike Dunleavy.

Tayshaun Prince: Maybe it’s just his Yahoo mug shot, but there is something not quite right about Prince. A 6’9 dude who was born in Compton and plies his trade on the streets on Detroit should just be better, tougher and more aggressive than Prince. I see the equivalent of a walking mop whenever I watch a Pistons game and it annoys the hell out of me. These are all pretty superficial emotions I am feeling so here are some fantasy facts. Prince has never averaged more than 5.8 made field goal attempts per game (which happened to occur last season). 5.8? That’s how many Wheat-Bix Brett Lee has for breakfast,  not the amount of field goals I want from my mid-late round draft pick. CBS fantasy had him pegged with an average draft rank of 86 last season. Basketball monster put him at 116 after the season had finished. At least when Jose Calderon ends up at 126, you know he at least had a chance to do something special. There was hope. There was life. Tayshaun gives you none of that. He is a great big jar of below average fantasy mediocrity. Yuck.

David West: This one I can’t actually rationally explain (unlike the others you snicker). In my first fantasy draft, I grabbed West in the 6th or 7th round I think. I didn’t know who he was. After a bit of research, I was pretty happy with myself. A diamond in the rough as it were. But then I traded him for an inexplicit reason and West is paying for that personal error ever since. West is the 18th pick in the uber 2003 draft class. He is also a perennial 3rd round fantasy pick. But this selection carries with it much baggage. Last season, with CP3 not around much, his field goal attempted shrunk by nearly 2 shots per game. Surely with the best player on the team sitting on the pine, the 2nd best player needs to step up, demand the ball and dominate games like J.R ‘Earl’ Smith at a summer league game. But that never happened. The Hornets instead looked to their promising young guns and Emeka Okafor who could hardly stand on one leg.

Mike Conley: This 4th pick out of the 2007 draft was so good in his rookie year, the Grizzles reached for combo guard the next year (Mayo) just as a little bit of protection, at the time giving up a much needed big man (Kevin Love). Conely is interesting as normally I love guys that have stamina and love to play lots of games per season. He has only missed two games in the last two seasons. What but actually occurs when he is on the court? Not much. Despite being a shot-adverse PG (less than 10 shots per game over three seasons), he still can’t manage to find assists (5.3 last season, a career high). A lot of this has to do with the Griz and their style of play. However I don’t care for niceties like that. See ya Mike Conely. (As a sidenote: Did you know Hasheem Thabeet will earn more money this season than O.J Mayo? Think about it. Thank you rookie pay scale.)

Kevin Martin: I end this bile of pessimism by mentioning someone who is probably on a whole bunch of these lists. But let me tell you, my story is better than yours. Last season, Martin had a scorching start. I was so excited after I drafted him nice and early that I was already looking past his injury plagued history and somehow rooting for the Kings. Then he got injured. And re-injured. If he had of played even above-average for those first days of the season, I would have been waving nicely to him in the rear view mirror. But those threes (3.6 per game). And that delicious FT% (.856 on 9.9 per game). How could I drop him? I couldn’t. Until he went to the Rockets. And injured himself again. Let me re-cap very quickly because it hurts so much. I held Martin for 32 games of zero production throughout the season. I dropped him eventually in late March. My Finals opponent picked him up and the disgusting son of a bitch scored 63 points in his last two games of the season. I lost my final 5-4. I lost points by 16. While I will forever blame Stephen Curry because he is a freak, Kevin Martin holds a special place in my heart as well.

I know you have these players as well. The irrational hatred for a player just because you can. I already feel better for sharing.