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We did our draft auction last night. It's an 11-team, 8-category league, with $150 to spend on 10 starters and a snake draft for five reserves.
Teams can keep up to two players at +$10 if they drafted them or acquired them thru FAAB, or +$15 if they acquired them via trade. The kept contracts were: Melo@38, Westbrook@28, Aldridge@23, Griffin@22, Love@21, Cousins@16, E.Gordon@12, McGee@11.
The flow of the auction always produces some very surprising numbers as folks with money left scramble for dwindling stars. This year saw the highest bid ever in the league's history for a single player - LeBron@63. Next highest prices were Durant@53, Howard@51, Dirk@48, Paul@44, Rose@44, P.Gasol@41. All others sold for under $40.
I ended up acquiring an expensive stud backcourt early, with Paul@44 and Wade@38. The rest of the league was, IMO, overpaying for big men, and as a result I waited too long and saw most of them come off the board. Looking back, I should have gone an extra buck to try to grab D.Lee or A.Jefferson @23, but I didn't. Before I knew it, Josh Smith was the only top rebounding target available on my draft board, so I went $7 above my projected value to roster him at $32. I then sort of fell into John Wall@21, which was redundant of my strengths, but I think that's a great price because I see him making the leap and likely being a keeper next year @31. I went real cheap on the C's, filling in both at $1 after no one else had room for a C. I grabbed Kaman and, as a calculated late season surge/keeper stash, B.Lopez. (I also stashed a $1 W.Chandler in the reserve round, but that was probably dumb.) Then I was thrilled to find Afflalo still available for my first reserve pick.
Here's my final roster:
G Paul $44
G Wade $38
G Wall $21
G Dudley $1
F J.Smith $32
F Blatche $9
F Ty.Thomas $1
F Ry.Anderson $1
C Kaman $1
C B.Lopez $1
Reserves: Afflalo (G), Marion (F), W.Chandler (G/F), J.O'Neal (C), McRoberts (F), C.Butler (F)
Overall, I wasn't really thrilled with my draft. I do think I got two of the top five players overall, and I was shocked that Wade cost less than Dirk, Pau and Dwight. I think I added two other top-20 fantasy players in Smoove and Wall, albeit at the bottom or on the cusp of that top-20. The rest of the roster includes some players who fell at cheap, and I think good, prices, but obviously I've got four studs and then a lot of wait-and-sees. When I counted up stats, I think I'm huge in STL and BLK, which is good because I think those are generally categories that a lot of folks miss on draft day and I should be in a good strength position to trade off those stats. I think my biggest weaknesses are 3PM (with only Dudley/Anderson/Afflalo helping much there) and FT% (with not enough to offset Smoove's damage, there). I could obviously use more depth at C and may wait to see which free agent surprises with some early value so I can jump in with FAAB. I'm hopeful that J.O'Neal will have a strong start for me, but don't expect to be able to plug him in every week until Lopez returns, if he returns.
Teams can keep up to two players at +$10 if they drafted them or acquired them thru FAAB, or +$15 if they acquired them via trade. The kept contracts were: Melo@38, Westbrook@28, Aldridge@23, Griffin@22, Love@21, Cousins@16, E.Gordon@12, McGee@11.
The flow of the auction always produces some very surprising numbers as folks with money left scramble for dwindling stars. This year saw the highest bid ever in the league's history for a single player - LeBron@63. Next highest prices were Durant@53, Howard@51, Dirk@48, Paul@44, Rose@44, P.Gasol@41. All others sold for under $40.
I ended up acquiring an expensive stud backcourt early, with Paul@44 and Wade@38. The rest of the league was, IMO, overpaying for big men, and as a result I waited too long and saw most of them come off the board. Looking back, I should have gone an extra buck to try to grab D.Lee or A.Jefferson @23, but I didn't. Before I knew it, Josh Smith was the only top rebounding target available on my draft board, so I went $7 above my projected value to roster him at $32. I then sort of fell into John Wall@21, which was redundant of my strengths, but I think that's a great price because I see him making the leap and likely being a keeper next year @31. I went real cheap on the C's, filling in both at $1 after no one else had room for a C. I grabbed Kaman and, as a calculated late season surge/keeper stash, B.Lopez. (I also stashed a $1 W.Chandler in the reserve round, but that was probably dumb.) Then I was thrilled to find Afflalo still available for my first reserve pick.
Here's my final roster:
G Paul $44
G Wade $38
G Wall $21
G Dudley $1
F J.Smith $32
F Blatche $9
F Ty.Thomas $1
F Ry.Anderson $1
C Kaman $1
C B.Lopez $1
Reserves: Afflalo (G), Marion (F), W.Chandler (G/F), J.O'Neal (C), McRoberts (F), C.Butler (F)
Overall, I wasn't really thrilled with my draft. I do think I got two of the top five players overall, and I was shocked that Wade cost less than Dirk, Pau and Dwight. I think I added two other top-20 fantasy players in Smoove and Wall, albeit at the bottom or on the cusp of that top-20. The rest of the roster includes some players who fell at cheap, and I think good, prices, but obviously I've got four studs and then a lot of wait-and-sees. When I counted up stats, I think I'm huge in STL and BLK, which is good because I think those are generally categories that a lot of folks miss on draft day and I should be in a good strength position to trade off those stats. I think my biggest weaknesses are 3PM (with only Dudley/Anderson/Afflalo helping much there) and FT% (with not enough to offset Smoove's damage, there). I could obviously use more depth at C and may wait to see which free agent surprises with some early value so I can jump in with FAAB. I'm hopeful that J.O'Neal will have a strong start for me, but don't expect to be able to plug him in every week until Lopez returns, if he returns.
- Wonderboy
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