Trade Evaluation

The following trade just went through in my hoops league: Team A traded Michael Redd and Corey Maggette to Team B for Joe Johnson and Jarrett Jack. Was this a lopsided trade? Should it have been vetoed? Clearly, Team A won out with this deal. Johnson is a significantly better fantasy producer than Redd, while Jack and Maggette cancel each other out. The question is, does the gap between Johnson and Redd warrant a veto? Tough call. I did not vote against the deal, because I'm against regulating trades too closely; however, I can't blame owners who did.

All about Brandon Jennings

As you probably know by now, 20-year-old Brandon Jennings burst onto the scene tonight with 17 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. Those like my bud/rival The Thief who invested a mid-to-late round draft pick on the phenom are feeling like Ashton Kutcher right about now (pretty pleased with themselves). Gotta let 'em have that, though.

Those who did not have the foresight to draft Jennings should immediately check their league's wire, just in case he's miraculously still there. Here's the scoop on the electrifying guard....

In his senior year at powerhouse high school Oak Hill Academy, Jennings averaged 32.7 points, 7.5 assists, and 5.1 rebounds, and 3.7 steals per game. His performance earned him the Naismith High School Player of the Year Award.

Jennings was planning to play college ball at Arizona but could not pass the college entrance exam. Being 18 he was not able to enter the NBA draft, so he opted to play for the Italian club Lottomatica Roma. In 16 Euroleague games, he averaged 7.6 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.2 steals in 19.6 minutes.

This year, he was able to enter the draft and was selected by Milwaukee with the tenth overall pick. Just days ago Bucks Coach Scott Skiles named Jennings the team's starting point guard.

For a comprehensive look as the flashy youngster's skills, check out this scouting report on nbadraft.net.

To see him in action, watch the YouTube video of him at McDonald's (below). Exceptional moves and quickness. Don't know that I've ever seen a better crossover. Yeah, you heard me, Answer!

Draft Analysis

Thoughts from my hoops draft:

Best Picks

Derrick Rose (Round 4) - Been going in Round 2.
Boris Diaw (Round 8) - An elite fantasy producer at times.
Trevor Ariza (Round 8) - Produces across the board.
Blake Griffin (Round 8) - Stud in waiting.
Luis Scola (Round 9) - Poised for a big year with Yao out.
Michael Beasley (Round 10) - Huge upside for this late. Picks like this win leagues.
Nate Robinson (Round 11) - Averaged 1.7 threes, 17.2 points, and 4.1 assists last season.
Brandon Rush (Round 12) - Will start for Indy.
Stephen Curry (Round 13) - Will be a steal if given PT.
Marreese Speights (Round 14) - Will have nice value if he overtakes Dalembert.

Worst picks

Kevin Garnett (9th overall pick). Too much of a risk coming off the injury. In fact, he's still not 100%. The Celtics will most certainly limit his minutes, which they can afford to do given their depth. This epitomizes the age-old adage, "You can't win your league in the first round, but you can lose it."

Al Jefferson (11th overall pick). Too high given his injury. No telling when the Achilles tendinitis will flare up.

Gilbert Arenas (1st pick in Round 2). This is way too high for a guy who has played just 15 games in the last two seasons.

Steve Nash (Round 3). At 35, this could be the year he drops off.

Kevin Love (Round 8). This is perhaps my man The Thief's downfall: picking up injured studs in hopes that they will be back to old form by the end of the year. Usually, it doesn't work out. Love is out six to eight weeks, and my guess is it will take him at least a month to get on track in a best-case scenario. The Thief would have been much better off taking Scola.

Fantasy Basketball Draft Results

Below are the results of my fantasy basketball draft. (12 teams. Categories are points, threes, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. Starting rosters spots are PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, UTIL, UTIL.) I've marked my picks and those of my legendary friend/rival The Thief in parentheses. If I get a chance, I'll follow up with some analysis.

Round 1
1. Chris Paul
2. LeBron James (The Thief)
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Danny Granger (Me)
5. Kobe Bryant
6. Dwight Howard
7. Chris Bosh
8. Kevin Durant
9. Kevin Garnett
10. Amar'e Stoudemire
11. Al Jefferson
12. Josh Smith

Round 2
1. Gilbert Arenas
2. Joe Johnson
3. Brandon Roy
4. Tim Duncan
5. Dirk Nowitzki
6. Chauncey Billups
7. Deron Williams
8. Devin Harris
9. Pau Gasol (Me)
10. Caron Butler
11. Andre Iguodala (The Thief)
12. Jason Kidd

Round 3
1. Rashard Lewis
2. Steve Nash (The Thief)
3. Antawn Jamison
4. Carmelo Anthony (Me)
5. Rajon Rondo
6. Paul Pierce
7. Kevin Martin
8. Carlos Boozer
9. Brook Lopez
10. Jose Calderon
11. Tony Parker
12. Gerald Wallace

Round 4
1. Baron Davis
2. Vince Carter
3. Elton Brand
4. LaMarcus Aldridge
5. Al Horford
6. Ray Allen
7. Troy Murphy
8. Michael Redd
9. David West (Me)
10. Andris Biedrins
11. Derrick Rose (The Thief)
12. Mehmet Okur

Round 5
1. Andrea Bargnani
2. Shawn Marion (The Thief)
3. Rudy Gay
4. David Lee (Me)
5. Stephen Jackson
6. Manu Ginobili
7. Hedo Turkoglu
8. Ben Gordon
9. Jameer Nelson
10. Al Harrington
11. Andrew Bynum
12. Marcus Camby

Round 6
1. Russell Westbrook
2. Eric Gordon
3. Monta Ellis
4. Jason Terry
5. O.J. Mayo
6. Nene Hilario
7. Jason Richardson
8. Mike Bibby
9. Leandro Barbosa (Me)
10. Emeka Okafor
11. Anthony Randolph (The Thief)
12. Mo Williams

Round 7
1. Ron Artest
2. Tyrus Thomas (The Thief)
3. Richard Jefferson
4. Paul Millsap (Me)
5. J.R. Smith
6. Zach Randolph
7. Andre Miller
8. Jamal Crawford
9. Jason Thompson
10. Charlie Villanueva
11. Lamar Odom
12. Andrew Bogut

Round 8
1. Trevor Ariza
2. Jeff Green
3. Boris Diaw
4. Spencer Hawes
5. Blake Griffin
6. Shaquille O'Neal
7. Josh Howard
8. Chris Duhon
9. John Salmons (Me)
10. Allen Iverson
11. Kevin Love (The Thief)
12. Wilson Chandler

Round 9
1. Mario Chalmers
2. Greg Oden (The Thief)
3. Jermaine O'Neal
4. Luis Scola (Me)
5. Peja Stojakovic
6. Rasheed Wallace
7. Brad Miller
8. Raymond Felton
9. Rodney Stuckey
10. Marc Gasol
11. Jonny Flynn
12. Tyreke Evans

Round 10
1. Chris Kaman
2. Marvin Williams
3. T.J. Ford
4. Courtney Lee
5. Thaddeus Young
6. Mike Conley
7. Andrei Kirilenko
8. Al Thornton
9. Luol Deng (Me)
10. Richard Hamilton
11. Michael Beasley (The Thief)
12. Tayshaun Prince

Round 11
1. Aaron Brooks
2. Roy Hibbert (The Thief)
3. Ronnie Brewer
4. Nate Robinson (Me)
5. Samuel Dalembert
6. Joakim Noah
7. Mike Miller
8. Chris Andersen
9. D.J. Augustin
10. Kirk Hinrich
11. Kendrick Perkins
12. Louis Williams

Round 12
1. Mike Dunleavy
2. Antonio McDyess
3. Yi Jianlian
4. Hakim Warrick
5. Matt Barnes
6. Tracy McGrady
7. Francisco Garcia
8. Corey Maggette
9. Brandon Rush (Me)
10. Tyson Chandler
11. Brandon Jennings (The Thief)
12. Ramon Sessions

Round 13
1. Ronny Turiaf
2. Corey Brewer (The Thief)
3. Kenyon Martin
4. Ryan Gomes (Me)
5. Hasheem Thabeet
6. Larry Hughes
7. Yao Ming
8. Shane Battier
9. Terrence Williams
10. Anthony Parker
11. Jeff Foster
12. Stephen Curry

Round 14
1. Channing Frye
2. Jarrett Jack
3. Luke Ridnour
4. Randy Foye
5. James Harden
6. Darko Milicic
7. Grant Hill
8. Zydrunas Ilgauskas
9. Brandon Bass (Me)
10. Brendan Haywood
11. Rasual Butler (The Thief)
12. Marreese Speights

Round 15
1. Glen Davis
2. Anthony Morrow (The Thief)
3. Joel Przybilla
4. Chris Douglas-Roberts (Me)
5. Drew Gooden
6. Jamario Moon
7. Travis Outlaw
8. Delonte West
9. Jrue Holiday
10. Rafer Alston
11. Beno Udrih
12. Danilo Gallinari

Round 16
1. Nenad Krstic
2. Kelenna Azubuike
3. Jordan Farmar
4. Kyle Lowry
5. Rudy Fernandez
6. Udonis Haslem
7. Anderson Varejao
8. Derek Fisher
9. Carl Landry (Me)
10. Roger Mason
11. Julian Wright (The Thief)
12. DeMar DeRozan

Round 17
1. Daequan Cook
2. Thabo Sefolosha (The Thief)
3. Chris Wilcox
4. Tyler Hansbrough (Me)
5. Erick Dampier
6. Robin Lopez
7. C.J. Watson
8. Andray Blatche
9. Martell Webster
10. Steve Blake
11. Kyle Korver
12. Andres Nocioni

Complaints

Now that the season is over, it's time to whine. I don't have a lot to complain about, but there's always something.

I ended up winning FSWA Industry Insiders League 3 pretty handily. In fact, I finished with 96.5 points, while the second-place guy came in at 79. Overall, it was a good league: daily lineup changes, nine pitching slots, 14 hitter slots, plenty of bench spots, and a commish who posted entertaining blurbs. Initially, I had a beef with the use of OBP and SLG instead of AVG and HR, but that ended up making things interesting...as did the limit on games started for pitchers. In fact, I really capitalized on the latter by keeping my P slots filled with relievers and racking up Ws and Ks that didn't count against the limit.

But my one complaint had to do with the way they selected the overall champion across the four FSWA leagues. They did this by taking the stats from the top three teams in each league, putting them in one pool, and calculating the roto results from there. (I ended up finishing third. Michael Jones from Fantasy Sports Publications took the crown.) Sounds fair enough, but the problem is that you play to win your specific league, right? I had a sizable lead in SB, Ks, and Ws, so I traded away Ellsbury and Lester. I also left 21 starts on the table. Had I known we'd be calculating the overall champion the way we did, I obviously would have done things differently!

To me, the better way would have been to simply go by who finished with the highest total points. Of course, that sounds biased considering that it probably would have put me on top, but I firmly believe that's the fairest way. You could argue that those in stronger leagues would have a disadvantage, but so what? Isn't that the way it works in sports? Ask the Tampa Bay Rays!

I'd be interested in hearing what you all think about this...and what complaints you have from your leagues.