@buni-l It's my pleasure! I love this stuff.
Punting FG% by drafting two of the best high-volume, high-accuracy perimeter scorers in fantasy basketball is an interesting start. To be honest, I only see a few players that might realistically pull you down in that category. Believe it or not, I'd actually be targeting Fox, Garland and Irving in drafts if I was trying to compete in FG%. By shedding Beasley and Hardaway, I believe you've left yourself with only two real drags in that category: Russell and Trent. I think you'll do fine here and I don't recommend leaning into this as a punt.
You definitely punted REB. Continue to do so. I don't see any issue with that on this team. TO may be more competitive than you think, but it's fine to allow yourself to slide there if I'm right in assuming that you want to stay competitive in AST and PTS.
In terms of scoring, I am sure you'll be competitive with this squad. With a few exceptions, I think it's realistic to expect 15 PPG or more from the majority of the players on your roster.
Six of your first seven picks should be average or better in AST. Conley and Hayward can pick up any slack not carried by that group. I have no real concerns there.
Despite having Porzingis and Williams, I'm not particularly confident in your chances to regularly win BLK. You can still win some weeks if Beverley, Durant and Sengun get you some extra production. It's not something I would count on unless another rim protector is available on the market.
STL should be a regular winner for you. There are really good generators from top-to-bottom here and I see multiple players that could contend for the lead in SPG this year. It's easy to find STL on the wire, so I hope you will continue to stream in strong producers in this category to pad your lead here.
It probably won't surprise you to hear that I expect you to be remarkably strong in FT% and 3PT. Fox moves you in the wrong direction for both categories, but he's simply outweighed by the other top-tier players you have rostered. Your roster moves thus far support my belief that you know this too and will continue keeping these categories as healthy as possible.
Some players I'd be targeting in the future include: Aaron Gordon, Ayo Dosunmu, Caleb Martin, Caris LeVert, Cedi Osman, De'Andre Hunter, Deni Avdija, Grant Williams, Harrison Barnes, Jae'Sean Tate, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Jose Alvarado, Kevin Huerter, Malcolm Brogdon, Marcus Morris, PJ Tucker, Royce O'Neale, Rui Hachimura, Tre Mann and Trey Murphy.
I view this team as a punt BLK, REB and TO squad. In that format, Fox is actually the top producer in fantasy basketball since the start of this season. That's a lot of value-added for a player you got in the fifth round.
There is no reason you can't regularly win or compete in the other areas. We can consider FG% as mid-level category that you can have a "take it or leave it," approach with this year, while the remaining areas should be considered your bread-and-butter categories.
This is amazing Derek. Thanks for breaking down my team and the detailed explanations.
@buni-l I'm happy to do it and I appreciate the positive feedback! Reach out to me on here or via Twitter if you have more questions this season.
@dballbball if you don’t mind while we are on this topic. Do you think I should trade Fox and Olynyk or Fox and Sengun for L. Ball? A frustrated GM with injuries wants to make that trade.
I also have an another offer for my Kyrie and Garland to get back J. Harden. I feel like I’m giving up too much or is it worth it?
What do you think of both offers?? Thanks again.
@bufanda Sorry about the mix-up! Most of what I said before will still apply.
I notice that you've acquired Barnes since my last message. How did you pull that off without losing anyone else on your roster? I can hardly believe your luck.
Your strong categories remain the same. Overall, I expect your team to still have more misses than makes in FGM/FGA. The reverse is true for your FTM/FTA, as I still believe you'll see way more positive outcomes than negative with so many guys that can regularly make an impact from the charity stripe. It's inevitable that your team shoots more from the field than from the line, so I expect that you will have some negative outcomes in terms of fantasy points generated by shooting. The key is to have the production elsewhere to offset whatever losses you incur.
One of your primary strengths should continue to be PTS. This is a high-scoring squad that doesn't feature many injury risks or below-average scorers. From a season-long perspective, you will hardly notice if Richards stays or goes from this roster. It may actually get slightly worse when you switch back to Williams, which shouldn't matter much if he's generating value in other areas.
AST will probably finish slightly above the middle of the league at the end of the year. It will be valuable enough to keep even or ahead of the penalty for TO. I still think you will be relatively low in TO versus your overall production level in other areas. As long as you keep a positive AST/TO ratio, this should be a point generator for your squad.
REB will likely be a top category for your team. Missing Williams for an indeterminate period hurts, but Richards is suitably replacing him for now. Barnes is above-average here, so that helps as well. There are several premier REB producers on this squad, so this is easy enough to predict. I link all counting stats back to TO, and I always find that major producers in this category are often conducive to competitiveness in TO. Again, I think you're keeping a really strong balance of production and efficiency.
You lose ground in a points league without Williams getting BLK early on. There are other rim protectors that are already padding leads for their managers, while you will have to wait a bit longer to see how helpful he can be there. Richards is not replacing this production with above-average value, so this category will be a bit of a weakness in terms of point generation until then. However, Smith is inspiring a lot of confidence with BLK value right now.
STL should be a goldmine for you. In particular, I like that several of your STL producers also potentially elite in at least one other category. That's an added bonus that will allow you to benefit from the extra value of STL without sacrificing easier fantasy points generated by counting stats.
You will have lots of 3PM but that will be part of the negative impact on your FGM/FGA. Overall, I'd say the additional value of 3PM is enough to outweigh your current disadvantage in FGM/FGA.
Don't change anything. This team is incredibly strong. Replace Richards when his value declines. It could be sooner than later. You have so many options for categories to build in that I believe you should take the best player available, regardless of position. Try to ensure that you're not taking on anyone who is noticeably bad in FG, FT or TO so you can preserve your efficiency.
@buni-l Fox and Olynyk is definitely worth considering. I don't rate Olynyk as highly as others, and there's no denying that Ball was generally considered a first round pick. I daresay that trading a fifth round pick (Fox) and a guy you just got off the waiver wire is worth it for someone who is projected in the top-12. This is the sort of deal that I'd try to pull the trigger on before the other manager thinks better of it.
Fox and Sengun is less convincing. I'm not saying I wouldn't do it, but there's literally no way I'm keeping Sengun on the table if the other manager will accept Olynyk. I hope you will recall that Fox is currently the highest-ranked player across the league in the build that I just reviewed. Including him and another high-profile player like Sengun makes me nervous. Technically, the value exchange is still worthwhile relative to ADP.
I'm obligated to warn you that you're trading for a star player dealing with injuries early in the season on a team with depth at his position that may be closer to contending for the top draft pick than the top seed in the playoffs. I cannot promise that rostering Ball won't come with frustrations. Injuries are unpredictable and he is unstoppable, so I'm still on-board with the trade. Fox was barely within the top-100 in per-game value last year. He was outside the top-100 on totals. Ball was top-25 in both last season. If history repeats itself then this deal is a clear steal.
It's a firm no on the Irving-Garland trade. There is absolutely nothing gained and you take on more risk. Irving for Harden is something I'd be prepared to discuss. Garland's inclusion makes this a non-starter. No amount of bad press around Irving will change the fact that he has always been within arm's reach of Harden in terms of per-game valuation. If they're both active then they're both on par with each other, in my opinion. The only difference is how they impact different categories.
@davidcanton88 Hey!
Yes, you definitely went punt AST. Don't bother trying to improve there. You'd have to sell half your team to make up the ground you lost in the draft.
Hold on Zubac unless someone is giving you a good offer. He is going to be so consistent this year as the Clippers only true big. You know exactly what you get with him and those are things that this team needs. If you're releasing a player, you should let Nance or Richards go before even considering Zubac.
This team is going to really benefit from efficiency. I expect that you will be competitive across FG%, FT% and TO as currently assembled. Your bigs won't drag your FT% down, and you have some of the best high-FG% perimeter players in Bridges and Irving to help counteract the impacts of Mitchell and Trent there. I don't see many names that concern me from a TO standpoint, so I think that will actually be a strength of this team. Keep this as a priority at all times this year. Unfortunately, you're going to need to target the sort of un-sexy players that most people overlook. You're on the right track with players like Bridges, O'Neale and Zubac. Can you add guys like Bol Bol, Bruce Brown, Caleb Martin, Cam Johnson, Cody Martin, Dorian Finney-Smith, Grant Williams, Jaden McDaniels, Jalen McDaniels, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Trey Murphy? Keep that archetype in mind all season.
You're probably just above the middle of the pack in terms of PTS. Obviously there are some elite scorers here, but you fall back in production with some of your forwards, centers and bench players. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that players like Embiid, Irving and Mitchell can be so dynamic in this category that any of them might single-handedly seem to win a week for you. I wouldn't try to address it over the efficiency categories, so try not to get too nervous about your lower-scoring weeks.
While I don't necessarily disagree with the Harris trade, I will say that he could have been the perfect combination of FG%, FT%, PTS and TO for this squad. Fortunately for your team, you balanced those losses with some elite STL and 3PT production while also rounding out your rotation due to positional need. I think your team will be able to compete in 3PT, but you're going to need to address the end of your bench first. There is nobody in the utility slots, bench or IL that is really going to put you over the edge, with apologies to Bridges. You'll need to stream in snipers to boost that category if you choose to. On the other hand, I expect that you will be able to compete regularly for a win in STL. At every position I can see players that are above-average relative to their peers in this category. This isn't likely to be a category you need to address this season.
You're probably going to be in the middle of the pack on BLK. There are no true specialists on this squad, but you have some solid producers nonetheless. Can Zubac swat 7 shots more often? That would help. Overall, I'd say you can leave this category alone and accept your victories here when you get them. If you can flip Nance or Richards for someone that can keep your shooting percentages relatively strong and increase your BLK potential, then you might be on to something worth considering.
REB is another middle-of-the-pack category. You're not going to blow anyone away, but it's not like you can punt the category with so many effective bigs. Embiid and Zubac are going to be steady here all season, while I'm sure we will see our fair share of double-double games from Collins, Hartenstein and Richards. When you eventually swap out Nance or Richards for another player, I think this is an ideal category to try to address. It is far more likely to be replaceable on the waiver wire than BLK is likely to be.
The waiver wire and streaming will be your best friends this year. You have multiple replacement-level players on your squad, which allows you to swap them in and out as needed, depending on who you're matched up with and what teams have the best schedules. You should be prioritizing FG%, FT%, REB and TO with your moves on the wire, followed by STL and 3PT if needed. Those represent your best chances to win overall. You can try to address BLK and PTS by trade, but I don't expect you to find many worthwhile producers via free agency. I'm not sure that they will be reliable categories in the playoffs, so they shouldn't be treated as priorities. By all means, continue with your punt AST strategy. I don't think you really have a choice.
Good luck this season!
12 teams 9cat H2H
KAT
Haliburton
Siakam
Chris Paul
SGA
Poeltl
Markkanen
Jalen Smith
Monte Morris
Isaiah Jackson
Kyle Lowry
Ayo Dosunmu
Caleb Martin
Thakns! Amazing job btw!!
Format: 12 team 9cat H2H
1. Nikola Jokic
2. Dejounte Murray
3. Garland
4. Kristaps Porzingis
5. John Collins
6. Paolo Banchero
7. WCJ
8. Cam Johnson
9. Tre Jones
10. Isaiah Jackson
11. Bennedict Mathurin
12. Santi Aldama
Streamers: Trey Murphy III/ Nick Richards
IL: Bogdan Bogdanovic
Thanks! You folks are super!
Hey Derek! I was a big part of the forum early on but my roster has had some moves and I just want to get your thoughts again if that’s alright?
12 team, 9-cat, H2H, 2 center spots.
PG: No True PG
SG: Hart, Oubre, Giddey
SF: Lebron, Butler, Bridges, Cody Martin
PF: Davis, Barnes, Vanderbilt
C: Poeltl, Adams
Im shooting for a punt 3PM and FT%. Should I pursue a passing PG? Thought about trading Davis just because his back issue worries me. But who could I even get in return? Also thought about moving off Giddey due to the cautionary attitude over in OKC and shutdown risk. What’s your thoughts? Anyone I should pursure? Anyone you think I should try to trade?
Thanks again Derek!!
Hi managers,
This is the official Rate My Team thread for the 2022-2023 NBA season. My name is Derek (Twitter @dballbball) and I'll be your host for the year.
Drop your team in this thread and I'll let you know where you're strong or weak, and what you can tweak. Text or photo is fine.
For best results, please give me some extra context. That could include categories, league size, league type, roster size, or any other settings that could change a player or team's valuation. Otherwise, my default answer will be for 12-team, 9-category leagues in a head-to-head format.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you this season!
DB
Hey Derek! Im in a 12 team, standard 9cat H2H league with 2 IR spots & 4 centre limit. This is my current team but looking to pickup Fultz to place on IR end of this game week.
@dballbball looking to get some feedback and where I can improve:
14 team category h2h - I'm punting 3s and pts
Jokic
Garland
CP3
Mikal Bridges
Giddey
Al Horford
Zubac
Vanderbilt
Cam Johnson
Hartenstien
Isiah Jackson
Caleb Martin
Pat Bev
Bol Bol
Thanks
@spyros_lympe Is that the draft order too? Great value with the Haliburton, Gilgeous-Alexander, Markkanen, Smith, Lowry and Martin picks!
This is a very efficient team. The FG%-FT%-TO trio of categories should all be favorable for you this season. There are a few players that drag each category but I'm confident they'll be outweighed by more positive contributors in each area. Let's throw 3PT in as well. I don't see any drop-off in shooting beyond the obvious (Jackson and Poeltl).
PTS is on the table for this team. I don't think it's something you could classify as a strength, but you got some excellent value picks in the mid and late rounds that will buoy your competitiveness. Unless you free up a roster spot to stream in extra scoring, I wouldn't count on this in every matchup. It's hard for me to say if you should do that. I'm leaning no right now.
There should be lots of REB on this squad. Between Poeltl and Towns, I expect to see countless double-doubles this season. Jackson, Markkanen, Siakam and Smith could all have their moments this season as well. They form a solid core of above-average producers in this category. Can you find players like John Konchar, Josh Hart and Max Strus on the wire? I like them as potential additions to this team.
You have six point guards. It's probably overkill, but that has given you an edge in AST. You're probably aware that Haliburton and Paul are two of the best in the league for this category, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I expect you to regularly win this one.
Can I call this a budget BLK squad? You didn't really draft anyone who I would consider a specialist until the sixth round, and yet I think you've got a solid floor of production from as many as six players that could hover around or above 1 BPG. I'll play it safe and call it a mid-level strength that you could stream effectively if needed.
Ditto for STL. You've got Gilgeous-Alexander, who is on the SPG leaderboard, and Paul, who has been there many times before. There aren't any truly notable contributors beyond those two, but this is another area that is supplemented well by your glut of point guards. Your forward and center core helps you retain strength in this area, as players like Martin, Siakam and Towns can outproduce their peers in this category.
Overall, I don't see you as being particularly weak anywhere. Jackson is the player that sticks out most to me - only because I can't be sure what his production level will be. However, there's no debating what his potential in BLK, FG% and REB could be. Given your abundance of floor generals, I think you could also consider making a move away from one of Dosunmu, Lowry or Morris. Including Jackson, this group are all perfectly viable trade candidates that won't make or break your squad's competitiveness. I like the idea of pursuing a 2-for-1 trade in order to free up a roster spot for streaming. It should give you a higher-level producer and also give you more flexibility to address strengths or weaknesses in weekly matchups.
I'm not particularly concerned with pursuing BLK, PTS or STL on this squad, since I think you can compete well enough in AST, FG%, FT%, REB, TO and 3PT. Aside from AST, I find these to be more controllable categories. There's nothing worth punting on this squad, but you can only try to get an edge in so many areas before one move becomes counterproductive to the other. Based on early season results, I'd be looking at players like Grant Williams, Jalen McDaniels, John Konchar, Josh Hart, Josh Richardson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kevin Huerter, Max Strus, Nick Richards and Santi Aldama.
You're set up well to compete with or without any moves. Keep it up!
@johnny This is a pretty super squad. The Jokic-Murray pairing is going to generate some pretty impressive results in just about every category. Banchero and Collins are way ahead of their draft positions right now too. I don't honestly have much constructive criticism to offer.
You're probably going to benefit more from your offense than your defense. I can see some solid producers of BLK and STL on your roster, but I don't think you'll be able to stand against teams that built in these areas. In general, I'm not sure the 3-and-D archetype will work as well on your team as it could with others. You only have a few really impressive 3PT players, so I'm not sure if you'll be ahead of the curve here. Unfortunately, all of this reduces the potential of Aldama, Johnson, Murphy and Porzingis on this squad. These guys are potential trade candidates. Do not drop (yet). Jackson can be thrown into this group too, although he only satisfies half of the criteria for a 3-and-D player.
I think you should be focusing on the counting stats: AST, PTS and REB. You have a really strong base in each area, although I do think you could try to top up PTS in particular. My confidence in your competitiveness in TO will go down as you do that, but that may be a losing battle anyway.
Both FG% and FT% should be strong with this squad. Continue to keep these categories strong with future moves and I'm sure you'll be happy with the results in most weeks.
I'm pretty firm that BLK and STL are the punt categories, if you want to go in that direction. You don't have a particularly notable weakness in 3PT, but there's not a lot of high-end production in that category. Outside of these areas, I expect that you will be quite a difficult matchup for most teams. A list of trade targets could include names like Al Horford, Ayo Dosunmu, Caris LeVert, D'Angelo Russell, Franz Wagner, Gordon Hayward, Josh Hart, Julius Randle, Kevin Porter, Mikal Bridges, Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris and Tyler Herro. Waiver wire or low-end trade targets might be players like Andre Drummond, Bruce Brown, Derrick White, Jalen McDaniels, Jaylen Nowell, Jordan Clarkson, Josh Richardson, Kelly Olynyk, Kevin Huerter, Max Strus, Monte Morris and Tre Mann.
I hope this helps!
@brandonbourassa You sure were! I'm here to help.
You should have two point guards on your roster. Giddey and James are a nice start, but you won't compete in AST with just those two. Lead guards are essential if you don't want to punt that category, but you should have at least two so that you're reducing the risk of having open spaces in your starting lineup that can't be filled with your bench players. Positional eligibility is very important.
In a league with two center spots, I would want to be sure that I have at least four center-eligible players in order to maximize my potential there. Be sure you maintain that balance no matter what your future moves are. There's no harm in adding another.
You have eight players that can play small forward. There is no way that you will ever be able to play half of these guys at the same time. Martin and Oubre, in particular, seem to be the least valuable of the bunch. They can go in order to secure other positional needs.
This group probably won't win PTS and I'm not confident in its ability to win BLK either. You have some solid producers in both, but it's not a category that's well-distributed across your roster. Too many players are outright negatives in both departments. AST is a mid-level category at best, but you absolutely need point guards if you want to do anything in this area. There are too many counterproductive FT% players for you to do much there, and I'm not about to recommend you trade them, since you'll need their production in some of the remaining categories. By default, you should be trying to win the remaining categories: FG%, REB, STL and TO. I believe you should make a decision between AST and PTS, and let that guide your question about whether or not to trade Giddey. If you go that route, then you had better start building for better BLK or PTS production.
Players that are essential to retain or replace at equal value if you want to be competitive in FG%, REB, STL and TO are Adams, Barnes, Bridges, Butler, Davis, Hart, James, Poeltl and Vanderbilt. Martin isn't bad, but he's not better than any of the aforementioned players, hasn't played a game yet this season, and is superfluous at his position. Oubre simply doesn't have value in this build, especially since you want to punt 3PT. Giddey is easily your best trade chip, but only if you're making a switch from AST to BLK or PTS.
On the subject of trades: your team's identity changes every time you make a deal. There is no narrative-based reason to make a trade, so I disagree that you should consider trading Davis, Giddey, or anyone else for anything other than a specific positional or statistical need. If, however, you were to say that you want to trade Giddey so that you can improve your competitiveness in FG% and TO by removing him from your roster, then I might agree. If you said that you want to trade Giddey for a point guard-eligible player that can give you solid FG%, PTS and/or STL production, then I could talk myself into it. How you frame the question of what adds, drops and trades to make is very important, and it's a mathematical question that shouldn't overvalue the news cycle. As it relates to Giddey, I think that if you trade him and transition from AST, you could try to flip him for point guard-eligible players in the top-50 to top-75 draft range who could help you build FG%, PTS, STL and TO. That's a pretty small list, but it should include names like CJ McCollum, De'Aaron Fox, Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Maxey. I am not advocating for this, but technically Ben Simmons does qualify in this build, and comes with the added bonus of BLK and REB production. In keeping with that theme, you could also decide to address your point guard needs using the waiver wire and use Giddey to secure another high-level center. I'd be willing to consider deals for players like Clint Capela, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, John Collins, Jonas Valanciunas, Jusuf Nurkic and Kristaps Porzingis in that scenario.
You should absolutely be swapping out the Martin-Oubre duo for streamers at other positions. Again, you'll likely need to decide between AST, BLK and PTS, so the routes you could take will vary depending on what you decide there. I'm not sure who's available, but you could go for any of the names below.
AST: Ayo Dosunumu, Dennis Smith Jr., Derrick White, Jaden Ivey, Kelly Olynyk, Larry Nance Jr., Monte Morris, Patrick Beverley, Tre Jones and Zach Collins
BLK: Bol Bol, Brook Lopez, Derrick White, Gary Payton II, Ivica Zubac, Jalen Duren, Monte Morris, Nic Claxton, Onyeka Okongwu, Patrick Beverley, Walker Kessler
PTS: Ayo Dosunmu, Bol Bol, Brook Lopez, Chris Boucher, Dennis Smith Jr., Derrick White, Isaiah Stewart, Jaden Ivey, Jaylen Nowell, Jeff Green, Malcolm Brogdon, Marcus Morris, Nick Richards and Tre Mann
Good luck and keep me up to date on any big changes!
