Hello friends. This week we are pivoting over to the -phantasy suffix of my blog, as Varun has decided to take a strange surprise trip to Mexico, and he may potentially be the only person that takes interest in my musings on philosophy. Admittedly, they can be boring if philosophy and ethics are not your cup(s) of tea.
For those that don’t know, I am a fantasy sports enthusiast. The talk of the town on these blogs has been fantasy football. I’m glad to see that folks are so invested in their fantasy leagues, as it is an esoteric obsession of mine that is hard to understand unless you just experience it for yourself. I am so into this fake game that I developed a spreadsheet that combines air yards and yards-after-catch statistics to predict the top-performing wide receivers. For those curious, my metric correctly called the meteoric rise of Cooper Kupp last season. Not to brag or anything though.
This year, however, I am crestfallen. Dejected. Shattered in spirit. In the league where I am defending a glorious championship from last year, things are not looking good. My squad has lost both Javonte Williams and Breece Hall to ACL tears, and Hollywood Brown has found a place on my Injured Reserve until the week before the fantasy playoffs. Unlucky! But, such is the way of fantasy football. I will probably still make a playoff run only to lose in the semifinals or something, but it’s just not as fun knowing the star-studded, repeat-champion-destined team I put together is in shambles.
Those who really know me well will know that my real passion lies in fantasy basketball, an entirely different challenge than fantasy football. The NBA season tipped off last Tuesday, and with it, the exhilarating fantasy season has also begun. Here is the team I drafted:
(a 14 team league)
The biggest problem with this team is that some of these dudes got no heart. I have a personal policy of always drafting at least one Blue Devil on my fantasy teams, being a die-hard Duke MBB fan. Unfortunately, because both Paolo Banchero and Zion Williamson were taken before my picks, I had to settle for the single middest basketball player on the planet, RJ Barrett.
He is not good. He is less efficient than me studying for MVC while primetime NFL football is on. Besides offering occasional and inconsistent scoring, he does nothing else. For fantasy purposes, it does not make sense to draft him. Yet, I am irresistibly compelled by superstition.
The actual basketball is just the tip of the iceberg. More importantly, in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, I picked the Blue Devils to go all the way. There was no way any team could check them. Zion was unstoppable, with Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Tre Jones providing ample support. Coach K was just plain out-coaching most teams. Then came MSU in the Elite Eight. Duke probably should have won this game had RJ not missed a pair of crucial free throws late in the fourth quarter. To this day, I resent RJ for his 2019 tournament performance. I really think my life went considerably downhill after that Duke squad lost, in, like, all aspects. I really think RJ hexed me. Sad.
I hate him. I hate RJ Barrett.
Anyways, enough negativity. I am not supposed to offer fantasy football advice because there are certain folks in this class that might read it and get an advantage in their ultra-competitive, high-stakes league.
Instead, here are five fantasy basketball transactions that I think are worth making if you play.
- Add Josh Richardson. If Devin Vassell (and Joshua Primo) miss more time, J-Rich is that dude. And it’s looking like Vassell is going to miss more time.
- Add Jaylen Nowell. He’s getting 20-25 minutes a game and scoring at an elite clip. That is sufficient for fantasy-relevant production. Worth at least a speculative roster spot, IMO.
- Add Bol Bol. Of course, he will regress. He is blocking something like 7 or 8 shots per 100 possessions. But he is officially better than both Mo Bamba and Chuma Okeke, his teammates at the center position.
- Sell Bojan Bogdanovic. I don’t know how this is happening, but I guess Bogey is making threes now. My gut tells me it’s fool’s gold. Regression looms.
- Buy Jamal Murray. I watched a little Nuggets film yesterday and it’s clear that he doesn’t have all his lateral quickness back. I think it’s worth floating an offer for him while his value is low. We know how good he can be (re: 2020).
Have a fun Week 2! Or Week 8 if you’re sticking to football.
Hey Zach, I also happen to prefer fantasy basketball over football and I happen to be quite the god in my league. At the start of the fantasy basketball season, everybody in my league was roasting me for having a bad team, but little did they know that I had assembled the reincarnation of the 2001 Lakers. I even had the last pick, but I still walked all over Vishal in week one and stomped out Anton in Week 2. Even though you are a die-hard Duke fan, you never should have drafted RJ Barret in the first place. I agree with you, RJ sucks, and he’s not clutch either, but you know who is clutch, my star player Tyrese Maxey. I suggest you trade for him If you can. I also recently picked up J-Rich because I had a player out for injury and he is indeed him. I clearly made the right call as he had a whopping 46 fantasy points that day while TJ McConnell only had 3. While you hate RJ, I despise TJ. If TJ McConnell wasn’t a pro basketball player, he would probably be a professor in garbology because he scores the same amount of points as the water boys. I dropped him from the team. Overall, your knowledge of basketball is vast and I will definitely follow your tips.
Zach Wu, this is the fantasy sports blog that I have been looking for in all truth. I love the tone of the entire article and how much detail you add. But for me, I personally like Fantasy Football better than Fantasy Basketball. I love football itself so much more than basketball. Football is just so much more exciting to watch especially when I have one of my players to watch. Even if it is just my worst player, I still try to find a way to watch the game. But if we talk about basketball, I auto-drafted my team sadly. As a result, I can’t seem to be too excited to see my team lose every single week. I wasn’t even able to get one player I like. So every week so far, I have lost by at least 100 points every week. The amount of injuries I have on my team is staggering as some days, I don’t even have a full lineup. But I will try to follow your suggestions because if it can give me any edge in playing others, I will take it.
Zach — I’m enjoying the dual nature of your blog, and although the first part of this post went fairly over my head as a complete fantasy newbie, I appreciated the advice you gave near the end. I managed to lose my fantasy basketball matchup by a 744-point margin last week, so I think Team Cuatro might be in need of some self-revision.
In an entirely original idea not at all suggested by someone else, a blog post structured as an advice column could be fun. I think a non-fantasy one would be entertaining as well (a Dear Abby of sorts — Dear Zachary?). If you do, a couple of questions: why are only two of my players ever playing? Do I drop my DTD players or hold on to them?
I’m also intrigued by the spreadsheet you mentioned using to predict the best wide receivers — it kind of reminds me of watching Moneyball in AP Stats last year. I always find data being used to quantify more intangible things really interesting, so it’s cool and a testament to your passion and knowledge about fantasy that you figured that out.
Sure thing, Ivy! ¡Qué idea tan increíble!
https://tinyurl.com/philosophantasy
Hey Zach. This blog immediately caught my eye when I saw the title, and I loved the comedic tone present throughout. I can tell how passionate you are about fantasy sports by the spreadsheet metric that you put together. I’m sorry for your losses of Javonte and Breece. Truly saddening. I share your interest in fantasy basketball, and I have to say your roster looks insane, especially for a 14 team league. I have no idea how you managed to get all of Harden, CP3, Fox, Beal, and Tre Jones. That is one scary guard rotation. The name of your team is also incredible. I am currently in a massive 16-team basketball league and I drafted A.D. too. He is the poster boy of my team that I titled ADisneyworld Resort. Looking at your waiver recommendations, adding Josh Richardson definitely would have been helpful for me. I have Devin Vassell on my team and his early injury has been tough. I actually recently acquired Bogdanovic in a trade, so I guess I’m technically going against your advice, but I only had to give up Cole Anthony to get him. I’m hoping that his production is indeed real gold and that he can keep his magical 50% three point shooting clip up for at least a little while longer.
Hi Zachary,
I have Cooper Kupp. He has been carrying me but I am still in 12th place, it makes me very (very very) sad. The one week Cooper was on a BYE, I actually thought I would die. I am so sorry to heard that you lost Javonte Williams and Breece Hall, I know times must be tough for you. Even though your team is in shambles, at least you tried your best!! Hahah!! Now, I have no clue why you like Fantasy Basketball over football. Football is way more fun with the matchup projections and final standings, basketball is just straight up stressful. Like on god, why are the points in the thousands and why do we have to set our line up everyday. Fantasy basketball is like a high maintenance type of gal. Additionally, I think RJ Barrett would be devastated if he read your blog; this is basically you cyber bullying him. He is trying his best, Zachary. I really appreciate your tips for Fantasy Bball but I guess I can’t use them because you are in my league. Sad. Anyway, I am glad you wrote your blog about a topic hold so much passion for. Let me know when you want to play basketball against Ivy, Shan, Kathryn, and Louisa next time. It is always you and me vs the world. Adios!
Hi Zachary, I have Cooper Kupp. He has been carrying me but I am still in 12th place, it makes me very (very very) sad. The one week Cooper was on a BYE, I actually thought I would die. I am so sorry to hear that you lost Javonte Williams and Breece Hall, I know times must be tough for you. Even though your team is in shambles, at least you tried your best!! Hahah!! Now, I have no clue why you like Fantasy Basketball over football. Football is way more fun with the matchup projections and final standings, basketball is just straight up stressful. Like on god, why are the points in the thousands and why do we have to set our line up everyday. Fantasy basketball is like a high maintenance type of gal. Additionally, I think RJ Barrett would be devastated if he read your blog; this is basically you cyber bullying him. He is trying his best, Zachary. I really appreciate your tips for Fantasy Bball but I guess I can’t use them because you are in my league. Sad. Anyway, I am glad you wrote your blog about a topic you hold so much passion for. Let me know when you want to play basketball against Ivy, Shan, Kathryn, and Louisa next time. It is always you and me vs the world. Adios!