Friday, April 17, 2009

Airball Postmortem 2009: SOLAR BRAGGING RIGHTS (MAKATI)

Solar Bragging Rights - Makati (Roto) - 13 Teams, Entry Fee: 1,500

Last season i was on the way to a third place finish in this league but faltered (CHOKED) in the final five days... How, why? i RELEASED my favorite, favorite player in Jason Williams because i thought he was going to be benched in his final game... Then horror of horrors, White Chocolate hit 5 three pointers in his last game as i lost a point and dropped to 4th place (no money).... The point coming from 3PT FieldGoalsMade.

Losing at that time felt so bad that i wanted to give up Roto the rest of my fantasy career (Remember i can't give it all up because i did win a big money head to head league)... However, there's no walking away from a loss. You just can't leave with a bad taste (whitechoco-flavored) in the mouth...

This year, i made it all the way and honestly, i don't know where to start on how i won this goddamn thing. The draft wasn't too shabby, after all i had the first pick (but this was a snake draft so i was picking 26th and 27th afterward) and used it for CP3, then picked David West and Kevin Martin for the next two. i had Chandler at fifth (ugh, the injuries) then had average picks for the next five (Wallace, Odom, Randolph, Haslem and Moon)... i lucked out for my 11th pick and got Nene.

While the draft did not look too good at first glance, i pretty much had a balanced team. Somewhere along the way i picked players who helped me in specific categories... Which brings me to my fifth point...

5. YOU WON'T WIN EVERY CATEGORY, GIVE UP A FEW AND DOMINATE THE OTHERS!

That's the biggest secret in fantasy leagues (and i do believe in any stats-inclined fantasy sports league) and i am letting it out because that should be a given. While we all want to win all the stats--- the points, 3 points made, assists, steals, blocks, rebound and turnovers. IT'S NOT JUST HAPPENING! The point is maximizing what you have and minimizing the loss of points on categories you are weak at.

On October 30, i dropped Da
rko Milicic for Shane Battier. While Milicic looked promising at that time, i had enough rebounds that i preferred Battier's across the board production. His three's were falling back then and an extra steal or two did not hurt.

On December 17, i got Roger Mason. He was the starter then because of injuries to Manu Ginobili. Mason provided me all-important points, which was hard to come by because i did not have a legit scorer (aside from David West, who wasn't exactly a sure-25 point scorer)

On March 09, i got Ronnie Turiaf because he blocked 5 shots in a game the day before. With Biedrins out, he was swatting shots like it's French toast.

Going into the final weeks of the season, i got Trevor Ariza, Kyle Lowry and Courtney Lee. Sure they can hit three's but i did not need that: all i wanted was their pick-pocket abilities.

So, why i am telling you all these?

Airball had 95 points for its final score. The second placer, Eee-Cee had 91.5; he was -5 on steals (889 to 884) Assuming he stole that steal-cat that makes it 94 for me and 92.5 for him. On blocked shots? The nearest competitor was at 529 and i was at 535. Assuming he did steal the block-cat, that is another -1 for me, meaning i end up at 93. Just 0.5 away from Eee-Cee--- going into the final week? Anything could happen.

Sure, sure. Maybe it's not as simple as that, maybe there are other factors. But most of the time, it's the small things that make you win big.

Thank you fantasy gods!

The Moves That Brought Me The Gold:
Date Player Type From To By
Apr 8 5:47pm Kyle Lowry (Hou - PG,SG) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Apr 8 5:47pm Kevin MartinINJ (Sac - SG) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Apr 6 6:35pm Courtney Lee (Orl - SG,SF) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Apr 6 6:35pm Udonis HaslemINJ (Mia - PF,C) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Mar 13 5:47pm Trevor Ariza (LAL - SF) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Mar 13 5:47pm Kelenna Azubuike (GS - SG,SF) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Mar 9 11:03am Ronny Turiaf (GS - PF,C) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Mar 9 11:03am Shane Battier (Hou - SF) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Feb 26 11:23am Shane Battier (Hou - SF) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Feb 26 11:23am Rudy Fernandez (Por - PG,SG) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Jan 29 5:32pm Kelenna Azubuike (GS - SG,SF) Add Waivers Air Ball JQU!Z
Jan 29 5:32pm Trevor Ariza (LAL - SF) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Jan 26 6:02pm Trevor Ariza (LAL - SF) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Jan 26 6:02pm Roger Mason (SA - PG,SG) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Jan 3 3:43pm Matt Bonner (SA - PF,C) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Jan 3 3:43pm Shane Battier (Hou - SF) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Dec 24 7:14pm Rudy Fernandez (Por - PG,SG) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Dec 24 7:14pm Travis Outlaw (Por - SF,PF) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Dec 18 2:00pm Travis Outlaw (Por - SF,PF) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Dec 18 2:00pm Daniel Gibson (Cle - PG,SG) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Dec 17 4:29pm Roger Mason (SA - PG,SG) Add Waivers Air Ball JQU!Z
Dec 17 4:29pm Carl Landry (Hou - SF,PF) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Dec 8 4:36am Daniel Gibson (Cle - PG,SG) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Dec 8 4:36am Nicolas Batum (Por - SG,SF) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Dec 5 1:19am Carl Landry (Hou - SF,PF) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Dec 5 1:19am Brandon Bass (Dal - SF,PF) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Dec 3 11:17pm Brandon Bass (Dal - SF,PF) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Dec 3 11:17pm Jamario MoonINJ (Mia - SF) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Nov 30 8:16pm Nicolas Batum (Por - SG,SF) Add Free Agents Air Ball JQU!Z
Nov 30 8:16pm Mickael Pietrus (Orl - SG,SF) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z
Oct 30 3:28pm Shane Battier (Hou - SF) Add Waivers Air Ball JQU!Z
Oct 30 3:28pm Darko Milicic (Mem - PF,C) Drop Air Ball Waivers JQU!Z




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