The NBA So Far

It's 2006, and Football is a distant memory. Until pitchers and catchers report, all we have now is the wonderland of the NBA to quench our fantasy thirst. It's no secret that most owners have, at best, a casual like for the NBA- while at worst, a burning hatred. The NBA portion of the VUFSA hasn't quite caught on (the defending champ hates the fact that we even have one), so hopefully the media outlet can help fan the fire, or at least create some constructive dialogue about the league's happenings in between football and baseball.

In the meantime- it's time to look at the hands we hold one schedule rotation into the season, for those of you who haven't been paying attention.

The story of the year (or it was when I formulated this post) is the dominance of the Cellar Dwellars. With a keeper crew unquestionably unparallelled- the Dwellars suffered just one losing week in the first 9- and it was week 9 that saw them fall in more than 4 categories. Just five wins in the last two weeks have dropped Stem's charges a half a game behind Madd Skillz for first place. Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant have played as well as can be expected, and Jermaine O'Neal is playing well, but still below where a franchise PF/C with his talent should be. Michael Redd is a top 50 player this year, and Joe Johnson is most certainly not. Suprise performances from Derek Fischer and Raja Bell have given CD depth at the Guard spots. Recent bad news about Emeka Okafor (injury) and Luke Ridnour (demotion?) put a damper on things, but neither should have any effect on Stem's impending playoff run for this season.

The team that has overtaken CD on top of the standings, for this week at least, did so on an underwhelming note. Madd Skillz pulled out just 5 games against a Fan Punchers squad (the one with the .250 winning avg and didn't even start a center in the game) before jumping into first after the 7-1 loss for CD. The story for Schillinger's crew has been Marcus Camby- in both the excellence and uncertainty of his play. When on the court- Camby has been a force in 7 of our 8 categories. However, the oft injured Nugget is out for about a month following finger surgery. SKL is thin at center following a big trade that sent the team's other Center away (Ben Wallace) along with Kirk Hinrich for a superstar in Ray Allen. (Schillinger also got Kurt Thomas in the deal, who now starts at C for the team.) Ray Allen has been traded three times already this season, despite being ranked #2 overall in the league. Allen and Dirk Nowitzki give SKL two players in the top 4 in the league. Chris Webber has been an awfully nice suprise- ranked 24th despite being taken in the 9th round of the draft. It's a solid team, built around some unassuming players (Andre Miller and Shane Battier come to mind) one that will contend for a playoff spot- but will always have health to worry about. Camby is out now, and Chris Webber tends to get owies- while Jamaal Tinsley, Bobby Simmons and Shaun Livingston can't always be counted on to finish a week.

If it weren't for the continued turnaround of Andrew Stem, or his recent fall from first- we would all be talking about The Spirit of the Noc. Never one to shy away from a deal, TSN turned underacheiving Larry Hughes into playing-over-his-head Rasheed Wallace- impressive enough- before flipping Wallace and Donyell Marshall for Ray Allen and Tyson Chandler. This started the flurry of action for TSN- who has been involved in the league's last 5 deals. After trading Allen, Eli Gieryna just about cornered the market on marquee point guards, bringing Jason Kidd and Stephon Marbury into the fold, along with Carlos Boozer, Kirk Hinrich and Ben Wallace. The cost? Ray Allen, Brad Miller, Josh Howard, Kurt Thomas and Channing Frye. Jason Kidd joins the leagues #1 overall player, Shawn Marion, in the top10, while draft sleeper Lamar Odom has taken time out of his busy schedule of fighting with Kobe Bryant to be a top 25 player. Ben Wallace ranks in the top 20, and Pau Gasol an always solid top 30 player- an enviable frontcourt. Despite some frustrating games, Mike Bibby will give you a great effort, and Delonte West is having a sold year and gives TSN 4 of the top 20 PGs, with Stephon Marbury not even on that list (yet). It's a real solid roster, but frontcourt depth is an issue. If Ben Wallace goes down it kills this team, forcing Tyson Chandler to play C, plus leaving Gasol's best backup to be the underacheiving Boozer, or forces Shawn Marion away from SF. After averaging 6 wins a week over the last 5 weeks, don't be suprised to see the Red Hot Gierynas spend some time in first place this season.

Spirit of the Noc has a mere half game lead over the understated excellence of the Fightin' Akindeles. Outside of the Wade-Bryant combo over at CD, you'd be hard pressed to find a more desirable 1-2 punch than Elton Brand and LeBron James. The forwards simply carry this AKN squad, and are joined by emerging superstar and surefire keeper Chris Paul. Much like the Utah Jazz, teams in the VUFSA are questioning their pre-draft rankings, and regretting passing on Paul for up to 8 rounds. Oustide of James, Brand and Paul- only one AKN ranks in the top 30, and it's...Brevin Knight. Good depth, plus an early season surges from Alonzo Mourning and Sam Cassell are among the reasons that his team has amassed 43 wins thus far, because it sure isn't because of statistical underperformances from Al Harrington, Manu Ginobili and Andy Bogut. With James/Brand/Paul running the show, this team will be in the thick all year- but will the dropoff of some of the older contributers allow Andy Viano's team to stay at this high a level?

Even though I just mentioned his "statistical underperformance" Andrew Bogut is tied for the VUFSA lead in "franchises namesakes" as well as "JR's manlove" However, Bogut may have moved into the lead in the latter, as Andrei Kirilenko's constant hurt has got to be aggrevating Andy Bogut's Haircut, and their owner, JR Radcliffe. Bogut's Haircut and their hairless owner cling what would be the final playoff spot, if the season ended today. ABH has been hurt by the aforementioned injuries to Kirilenko, as well as the inactivity of Ron Artest. When one of your keepers and your #1 pick miss this much time, just being in the playoff race must sound awfully good. Jason Richardson may be the team's biggest suprise (64 3's for a guy who supposedly couldn't shoot) registering a top-15 ranking. David West's emergence is a close second. Allen Iverson has again been everything a superstar should be, and is so good it's not even really worth discussing. Brad Miller, Ricky Davis and Cuttino Mobley gives ABH the solid middle-ground players that every team needs, but they may need to be counted on for more until the superstars start earning their keep. The price for Miller was awfully high (Kidd) but shoring up the unquestioned weak spot on the roster (Center) was necessary, so the possibility of overpaying shouldn't have been a worry. If Ron Artest ever comes back, the starting 5 on this team looks awfully good, as Kirilenko can then move to PF, and move West to a UTIL role, wich suits him much better. Until then, however, it's a thin team that has Jamal Magloire on the active roster for this week. The defending champ can't be counted out, of course, so look for them to sneak into the playoffs and then make a run that will make everyone hate them.

The team sandwiched between Bogut and his haircut in the standings is the quiet and consistent Father Abraham. FA holds the title of most unpredictable- as outside of two tied weeks, has never played a game with a margin of fewer than 3 games. The worst player on the team right now is the team's best player: Amare Stoudamire. Lincoln Souzek has been damaged most by the NBA's decision to stop using an injured list, which has prevented Yahoo from giving us a place to stash hurt players. Thus, Amare has taken up a roster spot all year long, giving FA just 3 bench spots. Antawn Jamison has excelled in the PF spot, while Chris Bosh's center eligibility helps immensley as well. Jamison, Bosh and Steve Nash have all played very well, but pale in comparison to...Rashard Lewis? Lewis, FA's first round pick, has earned the #6 ranking in our league, and is playing well above all expectations. Nash has been quiet, but expect his numbers to spike once Stoudamire comes back, meaning FA is only getting better from here on out. It's a little concerning that the team's best SG is Gerald Wallace, but when you're set at the other 4 spots, you can overlook it. Like I said, FA is only getting better, so a playoff run is imminent.

Just a tie separates the #6 and 7 spots in the standings, as a once hot Champeons club sits on the doorstep of the franchise's first playoff bid. Before losing 6 games to an expansion Big Fat Guys club, the 'Peons had won 17 games over 3 weeks. The guards on this team are stupendous. Baron Davis, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, and shit, even Chris Duhon make this the best overall backcourt in the VUFSA. T-Mac and VC's SF eligibility afford CHM a wealth of options at that spot as well. The collection of talent in the backcourt as well as the lure of top 10 overall performer (at the center spot, no less) Rasheed Wallace made the departure of Ray Allen managable. When you break it down, the starting five on Brent Whitlock's team is really insanely good- Davis, McGrady, Carter, RWallace, and Ilgauskas. Putting Duhon, Donyell Marshall and Drew Gooden in the UTIL spots makes this a top3 team, talent wise. So why the 33-39-0 mark? Well, outside those 8 players, just Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Kareem Rush, Adonal Foyle and Tony Parker remain, which presents some weekly starting linuep troubles with respect to games played. McGrady's injury also set the club back a couple weeks early in the year, when they dropped consecutive 6-2 weeks. They were hot before getting doused last week, so this team cannot be counted out. Their position, combined with so much overall talent makes this an awfully dangerous club.

Remember that Garnett/Yao-Allen/Carter (Davis) deal that everyone was up in arms about during the draft? Well, neither team has really reaped the benefit of the considerable talent trading hands, especially not Ickow's Bunnies, the team that supposedly got the better of the deal, yet stares up at their trade partner in the standings. Despite having the Western Conference All-Star starters in their froncourt (Garnett, Duncan, Yao) ICK has managed just three weekly wins, and two of those were worth a combined 9 games. To be fair, Drew Wolf's club plays games closely, garnering less than 3 games just twice all season long. Duncan and Garnett aside, there is just not a lot of fantasy talent on this club. Their #3 player in the rankings is...Morris Peterson. Yuck. Peja Stojakovic looked like a steal early on, but has dropped off considerably this season, while the overall skill of Tayshaun Prince goes to waste in the VUFSA. Corey Maggette's health is a big worry, and Jason Williams' inconsistency is as well. Besides that, the problem here is probably just too many one-dimensional players. Ben Gordon, Udonis Haslem, and Peja do not fill up stat sheets- and Chris Kaman, Matt Harpring and Yao Ming are just not good. Look for ICK to make a move, or they could fall out fast because of the lack of support for Duncan and Garnett.

Just two wins, but five losses behind ICK lurks the king of expansion teams, Baron Brendel's Big Fat Guys. Don't look now, but this is a very good squad. Brendel did some great predraft things- nabbing Gilbert Arenas to start, who is joined in the top20 by 1st rounder Paul Pierce, with Chauncy Billups, Kyle Korver, Memo Okur and Eddie Jones all falling between ranks 20 and 31. That's a very deep top5. BFG is just loaded with three point shooters- Arenas, Pierce, Jones, Korver, Billups, Mike Miller, Smush Parker and even Okur all gun from beyond the arc exceptionally well. After a thrilling week 1 win, a 5 game losing skid followed, and put BFG in the hole that they currently reside. The team is on an upswing now, and with struggling expansion rival The Fan Punchers on deck, could make a move to leapfrog ICK by the end of this week. They're close to a playoff spot, and certainly have the depth, but you have to wonder if they'll be able to keep up with the establisheds down the stretch.

Last and least we come to The Fan Punchers. It's 3:30am right now, and I'm glad that I don't have much do say about them. The Hughes/RWallace deal mentioned earlier is borderline unforgiveable. Hughes was a big name playing poorly, while Wallace was a premium position player playing really, really well. After drafting Shaq and Steve Francis to headline their franchise, you had a feeling this might be a long season. TFP has not won a single week so far, but did tie FA in week 2. They have two very good white men on the roster, Troy Murphy and Wally Szczerbiak, which is important. Boris Diaw has been pleasant, and Andre Iguodola is probably a superstar in the making. Luol Deng may need some more time to blossom into a fantasy stud, and he'll have that time on a TFP club that isn't going anywhere this season.