My 2008-09 H2H Team: The Fun Police

This is the third year of our keeper head to head league. It's a 12 team league with 16 players per team, so drafts are pretty deep. We held four over from last year. The typical scoring categories (PTS, REB, AST, STL, BLK, 3PTM, TO, FG%) with the exclusion of FT% and the inclusion of FT made.

Keepers:

• Dwight Howard- A no brainer in this format because his FT% does not automatically lose it for you every week. Dominant in rebounds, blocks, and FG%; very good in points and FTM.
• Kevin Garnett- Has devolved from a fantasy super stud to merely a star. Yes, he will get you 18 pts/10 reb/4 ast/ 1 stl/ 1 blk on 50% FG% and solid FTM numbers (at the minimum), but the 22/13/5 salad days are gone for good.
• Lamar Odom- Not necessarily keeper worthy, but considering what I had on this team, he was one of the better alternatives. Unfortunately, he may be coming off the bench this year, but he should still get decent 16/8/3/1/1 numbers as a baseline.
• Chris Kaman- A lot of my friends don't like the Kaveman, but I'm on him this year. No deferring to Brand and Camby is a high post guy, so all he has to worry about is avoiding injury this year.

We started the open drafting come Round 5, I picked 8th:

• Round 5: Mike Miller- I don't really know why I drafted him here. I really wanted a PG, but didn't want to reach for a Mo Williams or Devin Harris. And for some reason, I didn't want to grab Dunleavy or Hedo even though they're all similar players. I think he should do well, 18/6/3 with 2 3PTM.
• Round 6: Jermaine O'Neal- A slight reach here with the 65th pick, but I expect that he should return to form in Toronto playing along side Chris Bosh. Look for 18/10/2 with 2 blocks and a lot of FTM
• Round 7: Tracy McGrady- Ugh... I really wanted Deng here, but he was taken just before TMac. With O'Neal, I'm hoping both will play 70+ games a piece (not combined). If he can play, 22/5/5 with decent peripherals is nothing to sneeze at.
• Round 8: Rajon Rondo- Tony Parker was still there, but at this point, scoring isn't my priority. Rondo is better in steals and should improve his assist totals as well, not to mention he rebounds very well for his position.
• Round 9: Marcus Williams- A reach this early. I was expecting he would win the GS PG job with Monta Ellis out, but it looks like he's merely a backup. He's got skills, but needs run.
• Round 10: Mike Conley- I like this pick. A good value for a PG with a lot of upside on a bad team. He has competition from Kyle Lowry and Crittenon, but if he plays well, he'll play. Period.
• Round 11: Monta Ellis- After a not so good mid rounds, I think I get huge value from Monta in the 11th round. If he comes back healthy after the 30 game suspension, he would be a huge scoring boost at the All Star break.
• Round 12: Travis Outlaw- With Martell Webster out for a while, he could provide solid across the board numbers: 15 /6 with 1 ast, stl, blk, and three.
• Round 13: Jason Maxiell- If he can get more playing time, he could be a rebounding and block monster. But right now, he's relagated to being a spot fantasy starter with upside.
• Round 14: Shaquille O'Neal- He's no longer dominant but he can still putup decent numbers. And being drafted in round 14, there's very little investment. Low risk, decent reward, never a bad thing.
• Round 15: Linus Kleiza- He's on a high octane offense and shoots the three well and also rebounds. At worst the sixth man on the Nuggets.
• Round 16: Anderson Varejao- He's free agent fodder. As of this post (10/23), he's already been dropped and Sean May was picked up because May rebounds as well, but has a better chance to score more with the Bobcats.

Overall, I have production from top to bottom. With daily player moves, this should help and keep my numbers high. Marcus Williams looks like a big midround mistake, but getting Conley and Monta Ellis were good value picks. I'm not a favorite in this league, but if my injury-prone players can stay relatively healthy, I'll be a player.