Friday, April 17, 2009

Airball Postmortem 2009: CSC LIVE

CSC LIVE (Roto) - 17 Teams, Entry Fee: 1,000

And yes, let's start with the bad news. After winning last year's head-to-head format (see link: For Posterity and Pride's Sake) with virtually the same managers in this league i ended up 12th out of 17 teams this year! Ika-dose! Kakasupog! Then again, after winning last year it didn't hurt as much... And there's something to look forward to: Roto - Head-to-head alternates every other year, and as Sir Noel Z said during the start of this season i am NOT the defending champion this year but next. So there, i get a free pass for not really bringing my A-Game for this one? (or just plainly sucking in this league)... Which brings me to the first fantasy lesson of the entry...

1. INJURY BUG BITES--- HARD AND FAST.

During the first five rounds, NEVER draft players who were injured in the offseason.


Sure, you could risk it but maybe never this high because more oft than not he will slide anyway to the next few rounds. After being one of the sleeper stars last year, Mike Dunleavy missed the first three months of the season before returning in early January. Team Airball selected him in the fourth round over the likes of David Lee, Hedo Turkoglu, Stephen Jackson and Kevin Durant. Jackson and Durant became 2nd-round quality players while Turkoglu and Lee are 4th rounders.

Lesson learnt. Never again will i pick players who has the tiniest bit of an injury history. i don't/won't care if it's a hyperextended pinkie--- i am not going that way. i will pick the player who will give me full 82 games (Ok, 80) even if it means a projected -5 points, -3 rebounds, -3 assists for that season. (But of course the gambler in me says i have to errrr, gamble, but never again inside the first five rounds)


2. INJURY BUG BITES, ACCEPT IT

i've heard it all before. They lost because of injuries! Of course! That is part of the game. While it could be the reason, it does not mean you have to stop fighting! For the CSC League i already lost the aforementioned Dunleavy to injury early on. Adding insult was the fact that i was also missing Kevin Martin for the early part. Then Al Jefferson during mid-season and finally, Andres Biedrins in the latter part?

Did i stop adding and dropping people? No. Proud to say i was still competing during November to January. Although missing Jefferson was the turning point of the season (and Biedrins was the final nail in the coffin) i never lost sight of the fact that there were still worthy free agents out there. Now, the question is did it work in this particular league? Obviously not, but as you will see later when we analyze the leagues i have won (or almost won), it was this never-say-never mindset that brought me that gold trophy.

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