TGIF: Sports of Boston Basketball Draft

Welcome to the inaugural Sports of Boston Friends and Family Basketball league draft. Like our previous fantasy leagues, we use Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. This is a 12-team league and we set up the scoring categories as such:

FG%

FT%

3PTM

PTS

REB

AST

STL

BLK

TO

The roster spots contain slots for: PG,SG,G,SF,PF,F,C,Util,Util,Util, and three bench spots.

The league members consist of SoB contributers of the past and present as well as friends of ours, including our fellow blogger “Shotgun” from The Blue Workhorse. Tensions were high last Sunday as draft time approached. Some members of the league were not able to be present and left their draft up to their pre-ranks. This made for some interesting draft choices.

The Results…

The Blue Workhorse (”Shotgun” from The Blueworkhorse)

1. Chris Paul
2. Deron Williams
3. Rashard Lewis
4. Hedo Turkoglu
5. Chris Kaman
6. Andrei Kirilenko
7. Jamal Crawford
8. Kirk Hinrich
9. Zach Randolph
10. Marcus Williams
11. Drew Gooden
12. Chris Wilcox
13. Paul Millsap

Chris Paul was the consensus #1 this season. CP3 dominated the ‘07-’08 season with a career high 21.1 ppg and leading the league in assists and steals. Some may be scared to draft him because they want to see this output on a consistent basis and not just one year. I like Hedo Turkoglu. Naysayers point out that he had his best numbers ever and wont repeat. Yeah well, Turk also averaged the most minutes per game of his career which lead to his increased production. That trend will continue this season so, don’t be scared of a dip in his numbers.

SOB - KJ (our friend KJ, not an SoB member but, an SOB)

1. Kobe Bryant
2. Baron Davis
3. Yao Ming
4. Brandon Roy
5. Mehmet Okur
6. Mike Miller
7. Jason Terry
8. Shane Battier
9. Jamario Moon
10. Beno Udrih
11. Ricky Davis
12. Ramon Sessions
13. Bobby Sessions

Ugh, I’m sorry but, I don’t like Yao Ming. When he is healthy he is great but, he is never healthy. Yao hasn’t played a full season since ‘04-’05 and is more than likely to miss 20 games again this season. Can Baron Davis flourish in his new surroundings? More importantly, can he stay healthy enough to make an impact? After all, last season was the first time he played in more than 70 games since ‘01-’02.

SoB - Dan (Former contributor Dan)

1. LeBron James
2. Marcus Camby
3. Andre Iguodala
4. Andris Biedrins
5. Lamar Odom
6. Andrew Bogut
7. Tony Parker
8. Anthony Parker
9. Kenyon Martin
10. Jameer Nelson
11. Boris Diaw
12. Shaquille O’Neal
13. Luis Scola

Hard to believe Camby dropped that far but, I guess everyone was turned off by the potential for injury. I think Biedrins was quite a stretch here but hey, maybe Dan knows something we don’t. I’m a Tony Parker fan (and not just because of Eva Longoria). He is one of the more consistent PG in the game and is a fantastic shooter (48.8 FG%) to boot.

You’re My Boo (our reader, Adam)

1. Amare Stoudemire
2. Al Jefferson
3. Carmelo Anthony
4. Kevin Durant
5. Corey Maggette
6. Al Horford
7. Tracy McGrady
8. Derrick Rose
9. Manu Ginobili
10. Monta Ellis
11. Al Thornton
12. Andray Blatche
13. Louis Williams

Big Al looks to put up big numbers again in his 2nd year in Minnesota. He’ll put up numbers just like Carlos Boozer except he will throw in the blocks as well. As for Kevin Durant, I still need to see improvement out of last season’s rookie of the year before anybody can commit to him. The points look pretty but, the FG% from last season (43.0) sure doesn’t.

SoB - Pete (yours truly)

1. Dirk Nowitzki
2. Dwight Howard
3. Jason Kidd
4. Mike Dunleavy
5. Ray Allen
6. Stephen Jackson
7. Mike Bibby
8. Francisco Garcia
9. Ronnie Brewer
10. Tayshaun Prince
11. Rashad McCants
12. Antoni McDyess
13. Ben Wallace

Outside of the top 4, you have to start thinking of your first round pick. Dirk is a pretty damn good consolation prize. Dwight Howard’s FT% is god-awful but, everything else he does makes up for it. Jason Kidd that early might hurt me but, I couldn’t ignore how he fills up the stat sheet every night.

Tha Truth (a friend of SoB’s Geoff)

1. Carlos Boozer
2. Tim Duncan
3. Michael Redd
4. Peja Stojakovic
5. Greg Oden
6. Gilbert Arenas
7. Tyson Chandler
8. John Salmons
9. Kevin Love
10. Nick Collison
11. Matt Barnes
12. Mike Conley
13. Earl Watson

Our friend here wasn’t present at the draft and apparently doesn’t know how to pre-rank players that well. Carlos Boozer in round one and Peja Stojkovic in round four are stupid. We won’t waste time on Gilbert Arenas.

Xnbury’s Celtics (SportsofBoston’s Jeff)

1. Elton Brand
2. Danny Granger
3. Jose Calderon
4. Vince Carter
5. Mo Williams
6. Emeka Okafor
7. Randy Foye
8. Leandro Barbosa
9. Marvin Williams
10. Ryan Gomes
11. Jeff Green
12. Hakim Warrick
13. Andres Nocioni

Elton Brand seems like a risky pick considering he only played in 8 games last season but, he played full seasons in the three previous seasons so don’t sweat his ability to stay injury-free. Emeka Okafor: 13.8 ppg and 10.7 boards per game is good. The 57% on free throws leaves something to be desired.

BAAAWWWLLIINNN (former SoB contributer Dev)

1. Kevin Garnett
2. Chauncey Billups
3. Jason Richardson
4. Ron Artest
5. Samuel Dalembert
6. Josh Howard
7. Al Harrington
8. Rajon Rondo
9. Raymond Felton
10. Charlie Villanueva
11. James Posey
12. Ronny Turiaf
13. Tyrus Thomas

Expect Jason Richardson’s number of three pointers to go down this season. He made 243 of them last season which was good for the 4th highest total ever for a single season. His previous career high was 183. The pick of Rajon Rondo was probably just some home town fever so don’t read too much more into it than that.

SoB - Geoff (SportsofBoston’s Geoff)

1. Shawn Marion
2. Caron Butler
3. Kevin Martin
4. Andrew Bynum
5. Gerald Wallace
6. Devin Harris
7. Luol Deng
8. Richard Jefferson
9. Joakim Noah
10. Nene Hilario
11. Mickael Pietrus
12. Travis Outlaw
13. Spencer Hawes

Shawn Marion was arguably the best fantasy hoops player of the past few years. He hit a small snag last season but, he is in a contract year. He is like CP3 light. Andrew Bynum was on his way to being one of the best Centers in fantasy basketball last season until his injury. He may be quite a steal in the draft if he can stay healthy all season.

SoB - Chris (SportsofBoston’s Chris)

1. Allen Iverson
2. Steve Nash
3. David West
4. Rudy Gay
5. Brad Miller
6. Jermaine O’Neal
7. Richard Hamilton
8. T.J. Ford
9. Grant Hill
10. J.R. Smith
11. Brook Lopez
12. Yi Jianlian
13. Vladimir Radmanovic

It is pretty remarkable that David West fell that far in the third round. Over 20 ppg, 48.2 FG%, and 85 % free throw shooting that late in the draft is highway robbery. T.J. Ford is a great source for FG% and assists, especially in round eight.

SoB - Mike (SportsofBoston’s Mike)

1. Dwyane Wade
2. Pau Gasol
3. Joe Johnson
4. Paul Pierce
5. Michael Beasley
6. David Lee
7. Troy Murphy
8. O.J. Mayo
9. Thaddeus Young
10. Chris Duhon
11. Andrea Bargnani
12. Derek Fisher
13. Morris Peterson

Considering he has missed over 60 games during the past two seasons, I would call Dwyane Wade a risk/reward pick. However, the upside was too big to ignore in the first round. Joe Johnson is another favorite of mine. After the break last season he shot 47.5 % from the field and averaged over 23.2 points, 6.6 assists, and 1.2 steals.

SoB - KC (SportsofBoston’s KC)

1. Chris Bosh
2. Josh Smith
3. Antawn Jamison
4. Rasheed Wallace
5. Andre Miller
6. LaMarcus Aldridge
7. Zydrunas Ilgauskas
8. Ben Gordon
9. Raja Bell
10. Rafer Alston
11. Wilson Chandler
12. Kendrick Perkins
13. Steve Blake

Josh Smith is just a beast on the court. He has over 200 blocks in each of the past two seasons and his steals are incresing every year. Rasheed Wallce was the only player last season with 100+ three pointers and 100+ blocks. 100 three’s from a Center? Unbelieveable.

There you have it, the SoB basketball draft. I can’t make any predictions since the season is so long. We will just have to see how things play out. Every week I will bring you the happenings in the SoB league in my weekly reports on fantasy basketball so, keep an eye on us and see who knows thier stuff.

Tags: Allen Iverson, Amare Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitzki, Draft, Dwayne Wade, Elton Brand, Fantasy, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Shawn Marion, TGIF

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