Yesterday I participated in two basketball mock drafts with several fantasy experts from Yahoo! Sports, Mock Draft Central, and Rotowire. I kept a running diary during both drafts, detailing in real-time some of my strategy as the draft went along. I'll post that commentary for the head-to-head draft below, beneath a list of the draft participants, draft order, and my final line-up.
Draft order
1. Tom Lorenzo (RotoExperts)
2. Andre Snellings (Rotowire)
3. Matt Buser (Y! Sports)
4. Geoff Stein (Mock Draft Central)
5. Dave Gawron (RotoCommunity)
6. Brandon Funston (Y! Sports)
7. Andy Behrens (Y! Sports)
8. Trey Kerby (Yahoo, Ball Don't Lie)
9. Carson Cistulli (RW)
10. Charlie Zegers (RW)
11. Steve Alexander (Rotoworld)
12. Kelly Dwyer (Yahoo, Ball Don't Lie)
My final team:
PG: Chris Paul
SG: Brandon Roy
G: Tony Parker
SF: Michael Beasley
PF: Kevin Garnett
F:Blake Griffin
C: Al Jefferson
C: Joakim Noah
Ut: Vince Carter
Ut: Jonny Flynn
Bench: DJ Augustin
Bench: James Harden
Bench: DeMar Derozan
In-draft running commentary:
·I've got the #2 pick, guaranteed one of Paul and Durant. Funny how top of draft board changed with "The Decision"
·Keeping an eye on Anthony Randolph and Blake Griffin. Don't know where they're projected to go this year, but if healthy I think both could finish season ranked in top-30
·Interesting discussion on the chat about Lee and Amare. Both left excellent systems, but ended up in ones just as offensively friendly. Should give Amare a chance to prove once and for all what he could do without Nash in the best possible way, as it's not exactly a half-court/traditional offense he's going to
·The older player have really faded and the young players are dominating the top of the rankings. I'm hoping to get Garnett in the 5th round
·Granger is in the top 5 or 6 in most formats, but I have trouble rating him that high because despite his excellent per-game averages he always seems to get hurt. Hard to draft on that, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with him as my best player
·Durant went #1, so I happily and quickly took Paul.
·LeBron still goes #3 and it's hard to fault it. Should still put up ridiculous numbers this year, maybe a modern-day Magic
·Dirk #4, Kobe #5. Old mainstays still great options, though age concerns start to sneak in for the thought of another full season
·Howard #6. Only in a H2H league like this
·Steph Curry #7. Wow. Can't argue with the upside, but I'm not quite ready to bank on him as my best player yet.
·Wade 8, makes sense. Then Granger…I guess have to take the upside at this point, then Deron as we enter the part of the draft where no one left seems like a good "best player on team" prospect
·Wondering who'll be left when it gets back to me for round 2. Brook Lopez, David Lee, Al Jefferson and Derrick Rose are all guys I'm currently contemplating
·Pau and Tyreke Evans finish round 1, then Amare and Melo top round 2. I never feel good with Melo this early…still think his game's too 1-dimensional. Tyreke, like Curry, is a risk so early. Basically you're projecting him to have the same career arc as the other 20/5/5 rookies, which isn't a terrible risk, but I fear sophomore slumps.
·Rondo and Lee go, which takes care of one of the guys I was hoping would slide. Lopez goes 2 picks before me as well, drat. Then Iguodala
·Went with Brandon Roy. Was surprised he was still there, and Bosh was staring right at me too, but unsure what his role will be in Miami. If I knew for sure he could give me 2 blocks and 11 boards per game, would have been more interested. He got taken right before my next pick
·Went with Al Jefferson in 3rd. Don't love the pick because of the injury concerns and possible minutes conflict (Millsap/Okur), but I wanted a big and he was the best on the board. Gave serious thought to taking Joe Johnson instead
·Duncan goes mid-3rd. In a lot of ways I like him more than Jefferson, but he seems to wear down every year and the clock is ticking
·Duncan/Boozer/Horford go mid-way through 3rd, followed by Bogut, Yao…definite big man run. Next is Zach Randolph, followed by D. Rose (darnit) and Chris Kaman to end the 3rd.
·Dwyer goes with Kaman/Love double-feature. The way bigs are falling, glad I took a big earlier with Jefferson over Johnson
·Looking at what's out there, A. Randolph, Griffin, and Bynum are all further down the list than I would expect. Would like to get them, but am hoping they'll be there later (at least that's my current thought
·John Wall goes 4th pick of 4th round. I wouldn't have taken him that early, but he was definitely on my radar starting round 5
·I took Noah at end of 4th. Feel like I reached a little, but I wanted him, would have had to take him at top of 5th to ensure I got him anyway, and didn't want to risk getting snuck by Lorenzo on the comeback
·West and Camby went, suggesting that maybe I was right to take a center. Plus, I wanted KG as my bookend pick anyway so it worked out to what I wanted…not sure it was wise, but it's what I wanted
·After the big man run, starting to see more wings and guards in the 5th with Stephen Jackson, Felton going after my KG pick. I don't even want to watch the next 15 picks or so, because I'm certain someone else will find/pick my "sleepers" and it's giving me heartburn thinking about it. Felton getting love for his potential in the D'Antoni system
·The Cavs (Mo Williams, Jamison) go next. I like Hickson this year
·Devin Harris, J. Rich, Millsap, Galinari, J. Terry, Jameer Nelson... dangit Kelly! There goes Bynum, the first of my 3 I hoped would get back to me
·Blatche (even with the injury), Shard Lewis, Pierce, Ray Allen, Aldridge, Ginobili (I had just added him to my queue)... $&|STAR|#$&|PERCENT||STAR|##$. Dave takes Randolph! WOW, that hurt. Followed by Arenas, who would have made a good consolation prize
·I took Blake Griffin…don't love the value (would have rather gotten Anthony Randolph) due to questions about his health, but he was the last of my 3 guys still available so I went ahead and took him. Got Tony Parker on the comeback, after Tom took Brandon Jennings. Had been leaning more toward Vince Carter, but wanted a second good point guard and Parker has upside coming off of his injured year
·Hickson goes pick 3 of round 8. I like him this year. He went right after Scola and Salmons, 2 other guys with solid value
·Nobody wanted Vince Carter, so he slid all the way back to me after I passed on him last round. I think he'll be better in year 2 than he was in year 1 in Orlando, and he's decent value this late. I took a chance on Beasley in the 9th. He still has the talent and produced many similar per-minute numbers to Durant early on…worth a look on the desolate Wolves
·I had just given thought to liking Kirilenko, when he went (Round 9, pick 6). Solid value there, I think
·Getting more sparse. I had just realized Greg Oden was still out there when he went, then a minute later Okafor and Hibbert went. I had all 3 lined up as potential 3rd centers, so that mini-run kinda hurt. Instead of a big, went with Jonny Flynn and may stay in the backcourt if DJ Augustin doesn't get picked in the next 2…ok, took Augustin. Not sure about it, but he should at least have the chance to start (though apparently Charlotte's GM wasn't sold on the idea before Felton left)
·Getting very sparse. For round 12, took James Harden
·Took a flyer on DeMar Derozan for last pick
Final Thoughts:
My team looks to be good on overall talent in the starting line-up, with the Paul/Roy tandem in the backcourt and Jefferson/Noah/Garnett in the frontcourt as solid anchors. Should be fine in scoring, assists, rebounds, and reasonable in shooting percentages. I wouldn't mind another shot-blocker to go with Noah, though I should get some contributions there from Jefferson and Garnett. Similar sentiments with steals, though Paul is a good start. The only area I'm really lacking is 3-pointers, so I would either need to trade for or pick-up a few marksmen from the FA wire. Other than that, though, should be a solid team with decent upside if some of my young guys pan out.