The IronDog Chronicles

Enough of the ranting of draft day tools…Here are the results:

Rules: 10 Team League, 11 man roster with 2G, 2F, C, 2 Util, 3 Bench, Head-to-Head each week, players gathered from waivers are forced to be held for two weeks, 7 Categories (Points, Assists, Rebounds, Blocks, Steals, 3 Pointers Made, FT %). That last one is a trickster…

1st Round (#2 Pick) - I get the second pick in the draft. I hate the second pick of the draft. It’s like getting on the 8 yard line in football. You don’t have enough room to run great pass routes and you’re still a distance away from the goal line.

With that said, I was hoping that Kevin Garnett would fall to me at number 2.

Hope falls…Garnett goes as the number one pick, and I go with LeBron James.

My Call - I’m a little nervous with my LeBron pick. Building most NBA fantasy teams, I’m led to believe that you build with great power forwards and point guards and then fill in the spaces from there.

With LeBron, I get a shooting guard who can do everything, but he’s coming off a year in which he played 100 games and a tough summer in the FIBA games, workouts, and a heavy trip to China with Nike. I’m nervous.

Yet, LeBron is still strong and young…The cynic in me is panicking, but I think that I’m going to be alright with this one. However, I do share the same feeling that most Steven Jackson owners have in fantasy football.

Who knows…? Maybe, I’ll put the three-way trade tool to work in the first week.

2nd & 3rd Round (Picks 19 & 21) - I outlined my two picks as Dwight Howard and Deron Williams…I get neither. However, the Howard pick is not my fault because he goes at the #16 pick. I hoped that Pau Gasol or Chris Bosh would fall to me. Yet, our league is too smart as both falls at #17 and #18 respectively.

What lands in my lap are the choices between Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, or Tim Duncan. With big men a valued commodity, I roll with Duncan. Even though he may only end up playing about 60 games this season. I figure that he is still one of the most consistent players in the league.

At #21, I make a bizarre move, and I select Chauncey Billups over Deron Williams. Why?

In our league, FT % and 3 Pointers Made count the same as assists. Even though I figure that Williams will beat Billups on assists, I figure that I’ll win on Free Throw percentage, points, and 3 pointers because Billups is a better shooter, and he didn’t play a ton in Vegas this summer.

I think that I overthought this one…I now have the best team…in 2005.

Rounds 4 & 5 (Picks #39 & #41) - My top three choices here are Luol Deng, Mike Miller, and Rasheed Wallace.

Deng was my “sleeper” pick of last year when I picked him off waivers during the last week of pre-season play. This year he goes in the first pick of the fourth round at #31 between Emeka Okafer and Gerald Wallace…Tough loss.

Despite his long bouts with tendonitis, I roll with Mike Miller because I like his three point ability, and there are three choices of power forwards that I can go with at the next slot with Wallace, Zach Randolph, and versatile, yet banged-up Jermaine O’Neal.

Easy call…I roll with Rasheed. He has both forward and center eligibility. He was embarrassed in last year’s conference finals, and he’s lost twenty-five pounds. I’m expecting a steady and strong year from one of the most talented players that have ever walked in Chapel Hill. He’s my guy, and I get him.

Great selections…I’m happy with my performance in these rounds.

Rounds 6 & 7 (Picks 59-61) - I have outlined Jason Richardson, Andrea Bargnani, Manu Ginobili, and Al Harrington here.

On a wild-card front, my hopes were heightened by Raymond Felton falling and falling into my lap. Yet, someone grabs the “Latta Wonder Boy” one pick ahead of me at #58.

Richardson goes way earlier at pick #37 to the same team who swipes Dwight Howard. I roll with Ginobili because he’s a jack-knife type of guy who can get stats in all sorts of ways. Plus, Ginobili is durable.

I then go with a bold move after looking at the pre-season stats of Bargnani. I loved his game last year, but he was too young to turn into an every day player for me. This year he’s going to play a lot of center with Chris Bosh on the front line. I like this call. I grab him over everyone’s ’sleeper’ pick in Al Harrington. Wow…This guy could either push me over the edge, or he could be too valuable to dump by December.

I like Harrington a lot, especially now, because he’s with a true developer in talent with Don Nelson, who has done great work with similar players such as Sprewell, Terry Cummings, and Nowitzki. Yet, Al Harrington has been everyone’s pet project since he entered the league as a high-school eligible in ‘98…Something to think about.

Half of me says neither trust an Italian named Andrea nor trust a second-year pro…But I liked the way he developed at the end of the year after a bad sprained ankle. I have a feeling that he could be this year’s Luol Deng…I’m rolling with him.

Rounds 9-10 (Picks 99-101) - With a aging Billups as my point guard, I need a back-up point guard. All that’s left are Jameer Nelson, Jamal Tinsley, and Rajon Rondo.

I grit my teeth, and roll with Rondo.

I hate the guy because he weighs a wispy 160 lbs. I also don’t think he has the experience to lead the Celts. However, he’s going to be starting at point guard with KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce on the floor. He is a lot like Rafer Alston on the Rockets…He can get an assist just by pushing the ball over halfcourt. That’s an edge in the assist category, and I figure that I can grab Tinsley off waivers with the short roster.

I grab Rondo with Pick #79…My question…What are the chances of Danny Ainge dropping a line to Portland for either Jarret Jack or Steve Blake? Hmmm…

With the next pick, I’m stunned. Al Harrington falls to me. Yet, I’m swayed by the bold possibility that Boris Diaw is here.

I play scared and draft Diaw because I don’t think he’ll be around by the end of the draft. Each and every draft holds one mistake. I may have made mine in the third round, but I think this one is a crusher at the end of the draft. I could have had both Harrington and Diaw…damn.

The bright side is that I think Diaw is going to have a great year. He was out-of-shape for the beginning of last season, and I think the Suns could win 70 games with a lot of time going to Diaw in order to keep Stoudamire healthy…Good pick.

10th Round (Last Pick) - I take the boards and points and the two position eligibility and take Nick Collison with the second to last pick of the draft at #101.

He performed solid at the end of last year, and he produced several double-doubles.

With that said, I’m eyeing Marvin Williams already…Please go gentle on this one my fellow Chapel Thrillians…This roster goes only 11 men deep with no injured reserve. I’ll make the call today.

Feel free to follow along throughout the season…Now, back to the books.

Sleuthin’,

BD