Did you Win your league?
April 17, 2008
Several people have thanked me for helping them win their league. What about you?
How did your fantasy teams do this year? Are you pleased with your performance?
Please comment below and let me know if you think I helped your team win (or lose).
As for me, the final two weeks were rather disappointing. I played in 2 active Roto leagues this year, and was in 1st and 2nd place respectively for the majority of the season. Unfortunately, injuries and poor free throw shooting down the stretch did me in, and I finished in 2nd and 3rd place. I still won some decent prize money, but I’m pretty bummed out.
For the 2nd year in a row, poor free throw shooting from my top pick destroyed my team’s overall FT%. Last year, I picked LeBron #1 overall and he shot under 70% FT (if he shot 74% I would have won). This year, I was hoping Dwight Howard would shoot around 64%, but he put up an ugly 59% on 11 attempts per game. To let you know how destructive the Man-Beast was to my FT%, my top team had Ginobili (86.0%), CP3 (85.1%), D. West (85.0%), Harris (82.4%), Melo (78.6%), and Mike Miller (77.4%), and my team STILL finished in 2nd to last place in FT%.
But I digress. Emails have been rolling in from some of you thanking me for helping you win your leagues, which makes me feel a little better. Here’s just one example:
Hey E,
I just wanted to give you a stretch run update and thank you for all your help this season. Currently I am sitting in first place with a 12 pt lead. My team has exploded, though there is some concern because dirk is on my team, but I can’t complain because that is my first real injury of the year. I have been in 1st since the 3rd month of the season, only rarely falling to 2nd for a day or two. But I credit the recent explosion to a couple of late season trades that have really put me over the top, also thanks to your guidance.
-Ryan B.
How did YOU do?
Thanks Again.
I won 3rd place in my nfbc league- 2 blocks away from 2nd place
Hi Evil E!
I also want to extend thanks for your help because I won it all. Though I deviated a bit on your last minute advice in the championship round,(I was up against a team with Paul and Kidd and yet I went for assists instead of focusing on big man stats because the first few days my big men went cold and couldn’t block some shots.) it still is nice that you could share views with me on my roster and planned moves.
First off, I had never played fantasy basketball until this year. I stumbled upon E’s projections and rankings last year and from then on I used them to better my club. I used the rankings to draft and it keep me in 2-3 place all year long. Without the projections from E, I would be lucky to have finished 7th.
It came down to the final 1 1/2 weeks of the season and I could not gain/lose in any of the 8 categories escept for FG% and FT%. With some help from E and knowing that I only needed to focus on 2 categories, I dropped the hammer. I dropped Camby, Foye and Dalembert, while benching Josh Johnson, Roy and Granger.
I had to pick up about .2 - .4 in FT% and FG%. I used CBS “last 7″ and “last 14″ days stats and I also used fantasy basketball monster some to weed out who I wanted. I ended up axquiring, and starting, Rodney Stuckey & Chris Quinn, who ended up hurting my FT%, but the big gains came from the acquisitions of Rasho Nesterovic, Zaza Pachulia, Mikki Moore and Lina Kleiza.
I won the league by 3 points after being down 1-3 for almost 2 months. Here is the lesson. While you might like some players and some names, it is all about the number, never forget that and you will be alright.
ROTODR
Roto Evil
Thanks. I won my Yahoo H2H league thanks to the RER (Roto Evil Rankings)!
I like H2H and have played for four years and the RER really helped put me pick a winning team with limited time and research.
I started with the 10th pick out of 12 teams. I overcame the loss of Yao, my first pick, and the terrible play of Captain Kirk, my fourth round pick, because of the strength later in the draft. (Also the person in my league who picked 12th turned around and picked C Paul, my preferred second pick. D Will played great and I have no complaints, but statistically C Paul rocked this year.)
At first, I hated Okur, my sixth pick, but he really picked up for me after Yao went down. Bogut was great as an 8th pick and so was Al Horford as a 10th pick…Devin Harris as a 12th pick and the recommendation for T Outlaw and Rondo off the wire. Not to mention D West, who was a stud and recommended in the 1+ Block, 77% FT Club!
E, thanks again and I am looking forward to next year!
Worldlee
I really didn’t start reading Evil E site, until after the this season’s draft but I did my research and new where each player should be drafted, and practiced drafting before my important league started. some sleepers like Gay and Granger who people didn’t think deserved mid-round picks who eventually gave top tier stats, won most of my leagues for me. I played 5 leagues ended up with 3-1st places, a second and 3rd. Most of them are yahoo roto leagues, and one important keeper H2H which sad to say I got 3rd who I lost to the eventual champ but ended up with some good young studs for my keepers. One important trade i did was Tmac for Granger, who is a stud for the overrated Tmac who ranks out of the top 100. Another trade I got rid of D-12 the beast, who you can’t win a roto league with for couple of good players. So those are some players you want to stay away from in the future, and the 1+ Three and 47% FG Club
1+ Block and 77% FT Club is an important stat that evil E uses and I will continue using to help build a team.
E, Thanks for tips, and will continue to read your useful articles.
John P - I didn’t know you were in a “Greg league,” had you mentioned that before? I tried to avoid mentioning any of my “work” on the nfbbc forums, so I’m curious how you found me.
Jeff - Nice job! So when are you going to buy a Ramon Sessions jersey???
RotoDr - Sweet: 1st time doing fantasy hoops and you won? Glad the rankings helped.
Worldlee - Overcoming the loss of Yao is impressive, but a Bogut/ Horford late round combo is sweet.
Van Huynh - T-Mac for Granger was a steal! Very nice trade.
I’m glad you guys mentioned the 1+ Block/ 77% FT and 1+ Three/ 47% FG articles. In the preseason it didn’t seem like those articles were getting many clicks, but I knew they would be valuable, so I’m glad some people paid attention. I will definitely re-visit those articles before next season!
Mad props to Evil for helping me when my league for the second year in a row. I stumbled across 82games before my draft and consulted its rankings somewhat, but where Evil’s advice really shined was on making mid-season moves and pick-up’s. I think there were only 3 trades in my league this year, and two were by me: Duncan and Felton for Iverson and Gordon, and then late in the year, using the down-the-stretch player values, I traded Kevin Martin and Marvin Williams for Monta Ellis.
I wasn’t sure what to do with my team before the Duncan trade, and E looked at my roster and suggested I trade him for a top guard because I had other bigs already in Camby and David West. While I hardly used Gordon at all due to his inconsistency and injury, Iverson was most certainly the man (and with Camby they were his #2 duo).
Until I read his stretch-run rankings, I hadn’t realized that Monta was so good. While he didn’t help me very much in 3’s, he was superb in points and steals, and helped out in assists. In fact, I think that in the last 2 weeks of the season, my duo of Monta and Biedrins was probably Top 12 or so.
In the end, I won my head-to-head league as the 4 seed, winning both 2-week playoff matchups by 5-4 scores, so every little bit counted. I won the semi-finals by only 4 steals, for instance. Anyway, Evil definitely knows his stuff and I will be asking his advice again next season for sure!
E,
I would like to thank you for your advice. With your help I was able to take a Fantasy Roto Crown. I think Roto leagues are definitely the hardest to win.
I particulary liked the schedule grid that your site provided. It was an invaluable resource when making trades in the second half of the season.
Keep up the good work. I am sure you have helped many teams take home the Champions trophy this year.
Mark
PS This was the tightest race in the history of our league and I won it on the very last night. Too close for comfort, but worth all those nerve racking nights.
Took 1st in one league, 2nd in the other both H2H. My first place team went wire to wire built around Nash/Camby/Baron/Deron/Granger/Dunleavy. Ended up getting Devin Harris, Biedrins, Haywood to be a dominant 3s, assist, boards, blocks, steals team. Obviously I got pretty lucky in the draft. Tried trading a PG for a legit scoring F or C for balance midway through the season but couldn’t get anything done.
Guys that get a block/steal/3 per game are absolutely incredible for stabilizing you in those categories each week (Even the mighty Marcus Camby had some down weeks for blocks). Shane Battier/Granger were pretty integral to the team in that regard.
My second place team was more interesting, I think, because it was built around guys who shoot great FG% while compiling big man stats with low TO. Ran with Rondo/Harris as my back court for most of the season to emphasize a team that featured Amare/Al Jefferson/Tyson Chandler. The finals pairing wasn’t favorable for me at all as I was unable to take points resulting in a 5-4 loss. Shooting ~51% as a team for the season was amusing, though.
well…i built around arenas…
and i also traded for wade early in the season…
that’s a MONSTROUS backcourt, right? great season ahead…right?
heh…
i guess the lesson is to be careful with dudes coming off of injuries…
but E, you made the rest of my team good enough to keep me competitive until like the last month when i got more injuries.
i’m coming back next year for more.
-Mouser.
Took the win in my league, 12 team 8-cat roto. Tough league, I’ve been playing for years, won it once before. Core of the team was Dirk / D Ho / Baron / Granger / Outlaw / D. Lee / B. Roy … E helped me focus in on a couple big pickups; Monta and Delonte West.
Was rollin’ with E from draft prep through the whole season, will be back next year.
E
I stumbled onto you through 82 games.
I was looking for websites wth useful basketball
information.
Thanks
I see a pattern that Granger was on almost every winning team. I also had him and won a Roto league. I had my eye on him since last season. He appeared in E’s Amazing Club picks. I would have to say that E’s mentality for the stats a winning team needs helped alot of teams that were always in it to win it every year but just couldn’t hit the top spot. It tweaked my mind set just enough to make the final push and bring it home.
Secondly, the roster grid is an invaluable resource in making second half trades.
Thanks again.
Mark
Thanks guys. That’s a good observation about Granger Mark. Looking back at my 1+ Block article, I said:
“Go after the players entering their primes instead: Outlaw, Howard, West, and Granger.”
I drafted David West in one league and Josh Howard in another (disappointing), but for some reason I let Granger fall too far. He could have really helped out my Man-Beasty FT% as well. D’oh!