The Kitson Cup**

I used to think of myself as a very humble person in all aspects of my life. But for some reason, fantasy basketball brings out the inner jerk in me. Therefore, I will use this opportunity to gloat. I am currently sitting pretty in all three of my fantasy leagues. I know the best thing everyone likes to read about on blogs are other people’s fantasy teams, so let me begin.

From the start, is Dorell Wright the answer to all of life’s problems, or just most of them? The man is a machine. After picking him off the waivers about 7 weeks ago, I haven’t lost a game. I thought I misread his line last week when my stat-tracker said he had over a 100 points shooting at over 59% with 18 threes. But I didn’t. The team I was playing only managed 18 three pointers all week. At this stage of the season, it seems Dorell = Derrick Rose + Gilbert Arenas. Tasty. I really didn’t think anyone in GSW apart from Curry and maybe David Lee would be any good this season. Monta put that to shame and now Wright is steaming.

As I type this, Brook Lopez is currently 1-4 from the free throw line. How is this happening? I traded for Lopez and Blatche when I gave up on Marc Gasol and Tyreke Evans earlier this season. At the time I thought it was the steal of the century, however as time progresses, I am more and more uncertain. Blatche plays one good game for ever 3 bad ones and Lopez has caught a terrible case of the seemingly infectious ‘Bargnani’ syndrome. Something so terrible, the player is unable to gather more than 6 rebounds per game. Considering I love BroLo, I’m not going to give up, I just feel dudded everytime I see his O-rank of 15. There is something really satisfying for me when I own players over more than one season. It’s like being a long-term relationship. When that person is Kevin Durant, nearly all of the time spent together is awesome. Unfortunately this is hardly ever the case. But in your heart of hearts, you know it’ll work out in the end, even if Tim Duncan has seemingly stopped playing from the December-March period of the season.

While Lopez is frustrating, at least he is on my team. The thing I will remember most about this season happened before a game was even played. Smack bang in the middle of our draft, about 2 hours after we had commenced, rounds 7 and 8approached. As I had the first pick, I took Gallinari. I needed a point guard. Just one, but I had seen the Rooster in person at the Garden and owned a $25 tshirt with his name! I told myself it’s OK, I’ll nab one in 15 picks. I had my heart set on Baron Davis (don’t ask me why, I’m just attracted to that incredible beard). He was snatched early. OK, no worries. Then the dreaded run of point guards began. Manu (kinda a PG), Brooks, Mo-mo, Devin Haris, GILBERT! I kept telling myself it was OK because I knew about Raymond Felton and no-one else did. I was already jumping with joy before he was taken right out of my hands by the jerk picking before me. A season dealt a terrible crushing blow before it even began. O.J Mayo was my consolation prize (this kind of sums up my draft). It doesn’t matter if I win every league this season, this will be the thing I remember most in years to come.

Onto more positive news. I am currently leading a bloggers league made up of a bunch of people from various fantasy basketball blogs. Probably because no-one else seems that interested in it. 14 teams seemed like too many when drafting but now that I’m at the top, it doesn’t seem like enough. Tippy from FantasyBasketballDaily is currently sitting one point behind me. While he makes money from playing cash games (which international players are cruelly excluded from), I sit and dream of what could’ve been. My team is made up of Grant Hill, Luke Ridnour, Francesco Garcia and Ben Wallace. I actually don’t know how I have even won one week. But there you go. Raymond Felton is part of this team. After the horrible first draft, I reached for him in the 4th round of this one. Looks like an amazing pick in hindsight however at the time it was 4am in the morning and I was just trying to keep my body awake by doing something dashing.

The problem regarding blogging and fantasy basketball for me is that when the season starts, I don’t really know what to do. Rotoworld seems to be the ultimate source of player updates, which are extremely important. A couple of other sites provide daily rounds ups (none better than GMTR and FBD). What is left? Incoherent ramblings such as this? A narrative of my personal experiences? A weekly over view of who killed it and who definitely didn’t? I think this is one of the main reasons why fantasy NBA has never made it to the ‘mainstream’. You don’t see fantasy stuff survive on sites like the Basketball Jones, Ball Don’t Lie or the TrueHoop network. It seems to be a very niche internet community which struggles to define how it fits in with the  broader basketball world. Unlike MLB or the NFL, there isn’t (or at least doesn’t seem to be to me, at a computer in regional Australia) a solid link between the casual basketball fan and the fantasy nerd.

I’m going to go with incoherent ramblings until something better rears it’s ugly head in my mind.

Finally, if you own Roy Hibbert… suck it up sweet heart.

And very finally, I watch/listen to the Basketball Jones nearly every day for awhile now but this latest episode to me was one of the best for comedic gold.

**Every August to me is a special time of year. It is when the Fantasy English Premier League comes to life. I live amongst a group of friends whose mission in life is to watch as much EPL as possible. Personally, I can’t stand soccer. However, if it’s fantasy and it’s sports, I’ll give it a go. Two seasons ago, I managed to win their converted league during the very last game week (Malouda!). Now they have a trophy for it and it’s called the Kitson Cup. The reason I mention this at is because the name stems from an ability to play the ‘wild card’. In EPL, as opposed to the NBA, multiple teams can pick the same player and the competition is judged on aggregate points from the players in your team. However, once a season, you can trade as many players as you wish and totally revamp your entire team. This is the wildcard. I don’t know how this would ever work in fantasy NBA where people draft, but for those wallowing in the deep end of their respective leagues, it’s a great opportunity to give the season a whole new meaning.