Fantasy Basketball Regrets

Like Frank Sinatra said, "Regrets, I've had a few...." Unfortunately for me, though, my regrets from this fantasy basketball season are not "too few to mention." You see, this year doing it "my way" meant being ultra-aggressive on the waiver wire. In years past I've screwed myself by holding a death grip on guys with seemingly ginormous upside (you know, the Stromile Swifts of the world). As a result I missed out on some unexpected waiver-wire gems. So this year I resolved not to make that same mistake. On the bright side, my strategy landed me some commodities like Wes Matthews, Shane Battier, Luke Ridnour, and Marcin Gortat. On the not-so-bright side, it cost me some legit studs.

My biggest regrets:

• Dropping Dorrell Wright - Man, it hurts to type those words! I drafted Wright in the late rounds but dumped him soon after, when it looked like he'd be battling with Reggie Williams for Stephen Curry's leftovers. Now Basketball Monster ranks him 19th overall for my league's format, and his 2.6 threes per game leads the NBA. Ouch. That'll make your ego feel like Josh Koscheck's eye after tangling with George St. Pierre.
• Dropping Kyle Lowry - I picked up Lowry when Aaron Brooks got hurt, and he immediately helped me out. But then I dumped him a week or so before Brooks was supposed to come back and send Lowry back to the bench. Of course, Lowry is still starting and is currently ranked 27th in my league according to Basketball Monster. I'm rooting for Brooks to retake the job just so I can feel like less of a schmuck!
• Dropping Hedo Turkoglu - I waited and waited for Turkoglu to get acclimated in Phoenix before finally giving up on December 13. I figured even if he ended up getting traded, I'd have a shot at picking him up before anyone else. Well, surprisingly, someone snatched him up on December 16 and lo and behold, Phoenix shipped him to Orlando a couple of days later. What timing. As I predicted at that time, Turk has regained his old Magic form and is ranked 22 in my format over the last two weeks!
• Trading Paul Millsap for Roy Hibbert - Those of you who have been following me since my Rotoworld days might remember my friend The Thief. For those who don't, he's the kind of guy who will offer you Marcus Banks, Sebastian Telfair, and Semi Erden for LeBron in hopes that you will accidentally press Accept, and the rest of the owners will all be unable to vote against the trade due to a church retreat. His bag of tricks were effective when our league was in its infancy, and some owners knew as much about fantasy hoops as Liza Minnelli. Now not so much, but he still has his moments, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I contributed to one here. The Thief traded me Hibbert last year when the big guy was starting to show signs of dominance. Shortly thereafter, of course, he dropped off like Blockbuster Video. This year, The Thief drafted him again, Hibbert started resembling Kevin Garnett again, I fell in love again, and the Thief traded him to me again...this time for Paul Millsap. Seemed like a great deal for me at the time, because Hibbert was ranked higher, and I was desperate for a center. Fast forward to January, and Millsap is ranked 42 while Hibbert is at 81 and going all Blockbuster again (note the capital "B" there). Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and I feel dumber than Eddie Griffin. The Thief strikes again! (At least I got the better of him in my Darren-Collison-for-Rashard-Lewis deal.)

So, yeah, that's enough regret to impress Troy Murphy. But the good news is I am still in contention thanks to some not-so-horrible moves and my strategy of punting points. By trading away scorers, I've been able to beef up my other categories. We'll see how it pans out, but my goal is to win four out of six categories all the way to the championship. If it works, I guess the record will show that I too "took the blows and did it my way!" Kind of.

Do you have any regrets this year?