ENWorld Fantasy Basketball 2005-06 (Sign up now!)

[reapersaurus]

I'm interested - thanks for the email, Misty!

 

[Black Omega]

I'm interested - thanks for the email, Misty!

WB Reap.

 

[reapersaurus]

Thanks.
There are a couple things I'd like to ask/bring up, if that's OK.

1) Is it "OK" to talk. And talk. And talk this year?
What I mean is, I don't know how it was last year, but the season before last, we all talked a lot, and I think had a lot of fun.
We had our share of fights, too.
Now, since Misty himself (who had the most objection to my "talking" that year) was the one that asked to get ahold of me, this means either:
a) you think it's OK to talk frankly this year - I tend to stir up, y'all may remember.
or
b) you blissfully forgot how I tend to stir up.

I'm just wantin' to check with y'all and make sure it's OK to play me as me. I'm not gonna cause trouble, likely, and I'm not into personal attacks, but I do speak my mind and challenge people and get discussion/thoughts out in the open. I think the internet's more fun that way.

Is that OK? Are there any concerns? Please, bring 'em up and we can address 'em. I always take that approach, of airing potential differences and forging ahead for the betterment of fun/involvement. I think I said a couple years ago, the worst thing in a game like this is to have little involvement, and it turns simply into a parade of statistics.

Follow-up bonus question : how was it last year in these areas?

2) Can we PLEASE drop the 2nd Center position this season?
I'd hate to see people's teams get rooked, and see them (or myself) spending a high % of their gameplay-time trying to fill that spot with scrubs who may play 22 minutes a game. I see no purpose inspending 33% of your team efforts trying to fill 1 position out of 10.

I mean, how was it last year?
From the look of things, there MIGHT be 5 real centers per league.
It's just about an obsolete position, and I'm guessing that we will all feel free-er if we only have to scramble to fill one Center position.
I will certainly defer to the general concensus on this, since I've only played one season. And I do realize those are the sacred-cow standard-array of stats for a league.
Can't ours be different, if y'all agree that it would lead to more fun/less work?

3) Could we get a listing of the team names in the first post, alongside the member's names?
Mine'll be Reaper's Raptors again this year. I'll try to improve on my surprise (to me) 3rd place. Of course, that was probably greatly helped by advantageous late trades.

Speaking of which,
4) Were there any disputed trades last year, or was it all played on the up-and-up?
And what is the guidelines for questionable trades this year?
I am asking for proactivity's sake, and because the questions came to mind, so I thought I'd ask them all straight from the get-go.

 

[John Crichton]

1) Is it "OK" to talk. And talk. And talk this year?
What I mean is, I don't know how it was last year, but the season before last, we all talked a lot, and I think had a lot of fun.

>snip<

Is that OK? Are there any concerns? Please, bring 'em up and we can address 'em. I always take that approach, of airing potential differences and forging ahead for the betterment of fun/involvement. I think I said a couple years ago, the worst thing in a game like this is to have little involvement, and it turns simply into a parade of statistics.

I didn't mind but then again I wasn't in any of the "problem" conversations.

Follow-up bonus question : how was it last year in these areas?

2004 was boring compared to 2003. Many factors contributed. Less trades usually mean less activity and banter. Returning to auto-draft I think will help, as others have mentioned.

2) Can we PLEASE drop the 2nd Center position this season?
I'd hate to see people's teams get rooked, and see them (or myself) spending a high % of their gameplay-time trying to fill that spot with scrubs who may play 22 minutes a game. I see no purpose inspending 33% of your team efforts trying to fill 1 position out of 10.

I don't have a preference either way. While filling the 2 Center positions was certainly a challenge I thought there were enough PF/C players to make due. True centers are a dying breed but I think that position in the fantasy leagues is overrated. Having a below-average center along with an average one will do you just fine as long as your guards produce and your PFs contribute rebounds and a high FG%.

3) Could we get a listing of the team names in the first post, alongside the member's names?
Mine'll be Reaper's Raptors again this year. I'll try to improve on my surprise (to me) 3rd place. Of course, that was probably greatly helped by advantageous late trades.

Since I was undecided I'll just go with JC's Browncoats.

4) Were there any disputed trades last year, or was it all played on the up-and-up?
And what is the guidelines for questionable trades this year?
I am asking for proactivity's sake, and because the questions came to mind, so I thought I'd ask them all straight from the get-go.

Um, I can't recall. There may have been one or two little issues but no real blockbusters like the year before. I will defer to Misty and the others to properly answer this one....

 

[Black Omega]

2004 was more challenging than 2003 in many ways for me because of all the injurioes my team had. When your 1st round pick only plays 30 games or so you know you are in trouble.

I don't care if you talk, if you don't mind me ignoring you if it gets annoying.

I vote for keeping the second center position. There are plenty of F/C's as was pointed out and the rule effects everyone equally. It's part of the challenge of play. It's not like a few guys will always get hosed by requiring a second center. If it worries you that much, the easy thing to do is draft high on centers in the auto draft.

There was some discussion on trades, but really the controversy was about the trades not accepted and that was fairly brief. I am glad to be going back to the auto pick, it really requires a certain amount of trading unless you get amazingly lucky.

 

[Agamon]

Well. With the hockey lockout last year, looks like it might be time to see how much NBA knowledge I picked up. I'm guessing it's next-to-none. Let's find out, shall we. I'm in.

 

[Mistwell]

Thanks.
There are a couple things I'd like to ask/bring up, if that's OK.

1) Is it "OK" to talk. And talk. And talk this year?
What I mean is, I don't know how it was last year, but the season before last, we all talked a lot, and I think had a lot of fun.
We had our share of fights, too.
Now, since Misty himself (who had the most objection to my "talking" that year) was the one that asked to get ahold of me, this means either:
a) you think it's OK to talk frankly this year - I tend to stir up, y'all may remember.
or
b) you blissfully forgot how I tend to stir up.

It's a). I was wrong and you were right. It's way better to talk and stir up trouble. It makes it more interesting.

2) Can we PLEASE drop the 2nd Center position this season?
I'd hate to see people's teams get rooked, and see them (or myself) spending a high % of their gameplay-time trying to fill that spot with scrubs who may play 22 minutes a game. I see no purpose inspending 33% of your team efforts trying to fill 1 position out of 10.

I mean, how was it last year?
From the look of things, there MIGHT be 5 real centers per league.
It's just about an obsolete position, and I'm guessing that we will all feel free-er if we only have to scramble to fill one Center position.
I will certainly defer to the general concensus on this, since I've only played one season. And I do realize those are the sacred-cow standard-array of stats for a league.
Can't ours be different, if y'all agree that it would lead to more fun/less work?

The 2nd center slot for me sucked as usual last year. I am not sure that is reason to ditch the second slot, as sometimes I enjoy that challenge, but I can see the argument in favor of it.

4) Were there any disputed trades last year, or was it all played on the up-and-up?
And what is the guidelines for questionable trades this year?
I am asking for proactivity's sake, and because the questions came to mind, so I thought I'd ask them all straight from the get-go.

"Trades"? What does this word "trades" mean? I have this vague recollection of the concept from a couple of years ago...

We came up with some sort of guidelines in the last game you played, but it never came up as far as I can recall last year. I'm all for the concept of guidelines...

 

[reapersaurus]

It's a). I was wrong and you were right. It's way better to talk and stir up trouble. It makes it more interesting.

I just wanted to say, this was really cool of you to say.

I'm looking forward to the season starting, and the Sacramento Monarchs blazing a trail for the Kings and showing them how to win a championship!

 

[The Sigil]

Um, I can't recall. There may have been one or two little issues but no real blockbusters like the year before. I will defer to Misty and the others to properly answer this one....

As to trades, IIRC, there were a grand total of three trades last season. Two were swaps of 9th or 10th men for other 9th or 10th men, and the one "blockbuster" was something like Andre Miller plus Chris Mihm for Paul Pierce and an even scrubbier Center than Mihm (maybe Zaza Pachulia? Can't recall who, even though I was in on the trade).

As to the two center position thing... I just fired my way through the top 120 players (on the assumption that 10 "playing slots" per team times 12 teams means that on average, 120 players will get a lot of minutes) as listed by Yahoo's O-Rank, and found that there are 23 of those players eligible at Center... which just happens to be one shy of two per team. When you consider that rookies Bogut, Diogu, and Frye (of the top-10 picks, who probably will get playing time) are also eligible at Center, that works out to a little more than two center-eligible players per team. And I don't think there are only "5 good centers" - by my count, there were 9 center-eligible players in the top 42 as ranked by Yahoo... compare to 18 forward-eligible players and 23 guard-eligible players (note this doesn't sum to 42 as some players are eligible at multiple positions), and consider that there are, statistically, twice as many guards and forwards on the floor as there are centers, and this doesn't look particularly lopsided.

Besides, I think it's nice to make teams stretch a little bit... if there are so few teams that everyone has star players at every position, there's no need for trades. If everyone is stretched a position or two thin, it forces you to make decisions about where you are going to have your holes.

--The Sigil

 

[The Sigil]

Okay, I've updated the list of owners with teams... Krug, Mista Collins, and Reapersaurus (as far as I can tell) have said they want to play, but need to register teams. I'll PM those I can to remind them.

--The Sigil