Rate My H2H, 12 team, 9 Cat, Auction Draft

[sosa]

Yahoo Public
H2H
Standard 9 Cat
$200 Auction
12 Teams - 10 present for the draft
13 Players

DeMar DeRozan $11 - I nominated DeMar with my first pick because I knew that teams were more likely to pass on him while all the big names were still on the board.

Wesley Matthews $14 - Again, I used the same strategy and thought that I got him at a decent price.

JaVale McGee $19 - Overpaid for McGee, but I wanted to lock down some blocks

Deron Williams $40
John Wall $28 - Took Deron and Wall right after someone paid $70 for Chris Paul

Kyle Lowry $17 - Managed my bankroll and avoided all the top players, so I started spending right about now..

Greg Monroe $20 - Fair value if you believe in the expectations

Marcin Gortat $11 - Dirt Cheap for player of Marcin's calibre.

Danilo Gallinari $20 - Overpaid a tad, but really need the scoring and 3pt shooting

Jared Dudley $2 - Complete steal while no one was paying attention. All the teams were basically tied up at that point.

DeAndre Jordan $9 - Overpaid based on expected price, but my budget allowed me considering I already filled 10 roster spots.

Nicolas Batum $4 - Handcuff for Wes Matthews

Devin Harris $5 - Thought I needed one last PG

I thought I did very well in this auction. Although, I really wanted to add Cousins near the end...but someone dude that managed his budget very very well...beat me to the punch. He took Cousins with his last pick...using his entire budget of $50

If there's anything I'm missing...I think it's a consistent scorer.

[sosa]

Btw, Here's a list of the top 10 players by auction value:

Rose, $74
Durant, $70
D. Howard, $70
Paul, $69
Lebron, $63
Wade, $59
Love, $59
Blake, $57
Westbrook, $48
Curry, $47

[Hatchins]

You're guards are fantastic imo. You could have a great team, all depends on how high guys like jordan, and monroe perform.

[Apathy]

you shouldn't be nominating guys you want at the beginning. you should be nominating guys to get your competition to spend money. guys at the start ALWAYS go for more than guys at the end. always always. you overpaid for derozan and matthews.

your auction values were terrible but that's not surprising; most people are terrible in auction drafts. i'm not trying to be a dick, either, i'm just saying.

lowry, gortat, batum were your best picks.

in auction you want to be the last one with money. you always want to have the most money. you nominate studs until all the studs are off the board. you nominate popular sleepers, ones you dont necessarily want but wouldnt mind having for the right price. you price enforce and get most of your team by random -- by that i mean when people are sleeping, or otherwise not valuing someone properly. you dont go into anyone thinking, "i'm going to get this guy."

you keep your eye out on the knowledgeable dudes. most people have the same sleepers, so you let them bid amongst themselves on the sleepers while price enforcing. once you have more money than everyone else you can look at their team and determine what their needs are, nominate them, and force them to pay market value or more.

by the middle-end of the draft you're able to snap up value left and right because no one has the money to stop you.

[sosa]

you shouldn't be nominating guys you want at the beginning. you should be nominating guys to get your competition to spend money. guys at the start ALWAYS go for more than guys at the end. always always. you overpaid for derozan and matthews.

your auction values were terrible but that's not surprising; most people are terrible in auction drafts. i'm not trying to be a dick, either, i'm just saying.

lowry, gortat, batum were your best picks.

I disagree...You must be drafting with amateurs. Everybody tries to use their 'budget' to their advantage at some point. So, you're either going to overpay for top tier talent or you're going to overpay lower tier talent.

If you're the only one with money left, yes you can acquire a lot great value at the end of the draft...but it's rare to be the only one with money. Other teams employ that same strategy so there's always a bidding war for Middle tier talent as well.

I think Deron and Wall were great value picks. Combined they came in at less money than C. Paul. That's crazy if you ask me.

I guarantee if DeRozan and Watthews were on the board in the late rounds, they would've went for more than what I paid. Even though I slightly overpaid. A couple of teams saved their money and then at the end they all ended up driving the prices up on all the mid-tier guys.

[Apathy]

amateurs?

i was a former fantasy writer for ESPN and played with all of those guys. matthew berry, who's won multiple awards, was the founder of TMR and co-founder of rotopass, formerly wrote for rotoworld, and is the current senior director of fantasy at espn... been playing with him since i was 16. pierre becquey, brian mckitish, joshua whitling. they started on TMR (where i started) and we've known each other for seven years. i think i know what i'm talking about.

in fact i beat all of those guys (eric karabell, neil tardy, keith lipscomb, and others also participated) in an auction keeper draft two years ago. i won from start to finish. it was my first auction draft. we kept four players, and my keepers ended up being kevin love, stephen curry, jason kidd and joakim noah, all at great prices. i had to let monta ellis (well, i actually traded ellis for chris paul just to ensure my 1st place victory -- if you remember that was the year he went down in the 2nd half of the season and was shut down once the hornets were knocked out of playoff contention. i won going away anyway) and andrew bogut, who were also at good prices, too.

the funny thing is i don't think my "credentials" make me any kind of authority. i hate appeal to authority. judge my words and strategy for myself. i should note that you didn't even reply to where i went in detail about how my strategy works. and it's not even "my" strategy; it's pretty basic. it's all about the execution. it's not some genius idea.

but i'm not talking out of my ass, i can guarantee you that, and i resent the implication.

in any case if you dont believe me invite me to your league this year or next. money or not, i don't care. i'm down and chances are i'll win it.

[sosa]

Whoa...I didn't have any knowledge of your credentials or the credentials of your league.

However, I am still not impressed with the strategy you mentioned, for it is too simplistic and naive to think that no one else is employing that budget strategy. Everyone reads the same stuff online and usually ESPN writers guide the majority of fantasy players. I personally like to evaluate players on my own and formulate my strategy without the help of the so-called experts.

If you want to compare championship runs. I've won 2 out of the last 3 years in a serious ($) 20 team H2H keeper (2 players/year) league.

I started out taking over an existing team with Wade and Brad Miller in '06. I moved Wade and my first round pick for LeBron. I drafted Carmelo with my next pick and then moved both Melo and LeBron for a Chris Paul and Dwight Howard package. By '08 I was holding my first championship banner. In '09, I should've won again if Paul didn't get hurt and I wasn't snowboarding while it happened. Otherwise, I would've picked up Collison and that probably would've been enough to win. With a healthy Paul and Howard last year, I came back to regain my title.

I would love to join any league you're in. Let me know the time and place and we'll go toe-to-toe with our own strategies.

[Apathy]

Whoa...I didn't have any knowledge of your credentials or the credentials of your league.

dont worry about it. i dont take offense. im fine with someone attacking my logic but obv attacking me as a person... =P

However, I am still not impressed with the strategy you mentioned, for it is too simplistic and naive to think that no one else is employing that budget strategy.

naive? what do you mean? yeah, it's simplistic. that's why i said it's all about the execution. but why is simple bad? einstein said make everything in life as simple as it can be, but no simpler.

that's why auction leagues are the ****. there's really nothing you can do about this strategy. what, do you think people are NOT going to bid on chris paul, lebron james, amare stoudemire et al? there is a huge rush in drafts, auctions. it's all about preparation imo. you need to know how much you value this guy at, and be confident in these valuations. so if dude isn't valued properly, boom, you bounce. it's a very flexible and disciplined strategy. after 50 players go off the board i normally won't have more than two or three. it's similar to poker: i can play optimally, and while i may not be guaranteed to win this bid or this league, over the long run i am +ev.

in general i have a very radical valuations of players compared to anyone else i've read or encountered. that's great imo; it's better to zag when others are zigging. and these are universal human biases i'm capitalizing on; it's not a gimmick and has nothing to do with naivete. it's like eating healthy: you know what foods are healthy, but do you have the discipline to follow through on it?

Everyone reads the same stuff online and usually ESPN writers guide the majority of fantasy players. I personally like to evaluate players on my own and formulate my strategy without the help of the so-called experts.

agreed. i think most people are absolutely terrible at fantasy sports, and that includes "experts." (well, "analysts." espn always made sure to say analysts, hahahaha.) brian mckitish, the dude who does espn's top 200 big board, is a total fish. there, i said it.

If you want to compare championship runs. I've won 2 out of the last 3 years in a serious ($) 20 team H2H keeper (2 players/year) league.

I started out taking over an existing team with Wade and Brad Miller in '06. I moved Wade and my first round pick for LeBron. I drafted Carmelo with my next pick and then moved both Melo and LeBron for a Chris Paul and Dwight Howard package. By '08 I was holding my first championship banner. In '09, I should've won again if Paul didn't get hurt and I wasn't snowboarding while it happened. Otherwise, I would've picked up Collison and that probably would've been enough to win. With a healthy Paul and Howard last year, I came back to regain my title.

I would love to join any league you're in. Let me know the time and place and we'll go toe-to-toe with our own strategies.

invite me to your league[s] anytime. i'll do the same. what's your e-mail? i dont have any open spots this year but who knows. i am always looking for leagues. (i play fantasy baseball too, although not quite with the same vigor.) plus there's always next year; i'm not going anywhere.

[sosa]

My 20 team league is full and we're drafting this sunday. We actually just add 2 new managers. I would've loved to have had you join.

I'm interested in any H2H league for money or not. I prefer auction drafts but I'd also play if it were just regular snake style.

Let me know mrjackpan@gmail.com