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Aaaand we're back.... and ready to resume blogging. Well, more ready than Carmelo Anthony is to resume playing for the Nuggets at this point, anyway.
So we're back by hosting this week's Fantasy Basketball Roundtable discussion. This week's topic: The NBA trade deadline is just around the corner and soon so will be the one for most fantasy leagues, what general or specific trade advice can you give fantasy managers out there?
Joining me this week at the discussion are:
Ryan Lester, Lester's Legends
Tommy Beer, Hoops World
Patrick Madden, Give Me The Rock
Need vs. Value
At this stage in the game, with all the moves you have made to improve your team (or lack thereof), your team will end up needing improvement in specific categories. To a certain extent, it may be better to place a premium on what your team needs as opposed to trading on a value for value basis. Now this does not mean you should go off and trade your Brook Lopez for someone's Peja Stojakovic just because your team needs a boost in threes. Brook simply brings too much to the table to merit a swap for Peja. What I am saying is that if there are two players who are relatively close in value, but the player you want is a bit less statistically well rounded than a player you are willing to deal, you may consider pulling the trigger to achieve what your team needs.
There comes a point where it is actually possible to improve TWO fantasy teams in a trade. It's a matter of addressing the needs of both parties. Don't try to scam the other guy. Odds are the manager on the other end of your trade proposal is not an idiot - or a complete one at the very least. Allow his team to improve as well. Very few managers are open to cooperation within a competitive structure such as a competition as this, but if you can find someone who is open minded enough to grab a win-win situation from your deal, then go for it.
Keeper Leagues
If the season is a lost cause for your team, you may want to make a play for future value. Trade away your early rounders for players on other fantasy teams who are valid keepers. Some teams, especially those who are knocking on the playoff door, may be willing to deal a keeper-value player in order to "win now" or this season at least.
Depth vs. Pure Talent
If you were lucky/skilled enough to draft a team that has had good "surprise talent" or you were active enough on the wires to form a team with good depth, you may want to consider consolidating your talent. This means going for 2:1 or 3:2 deals that net you better talent or fantasy value that uses up less roster slots. Make a play for another manager's first-round or second-round pick in exchange for your decent third rounder plus a recently improved player that you sniped from the FA pool - like say, a Mike Miller for example.
On the other side of the same coin, you may own an LBJ or a Wade, but your draft did not pan out as successfully as you originally projected; you may want to break up your stud into "smaller pieces". This move allows you to avoid poor games by poor performers that end up just hurting your team's bottomline by week's end. Corollary to that is that this will allow you to offload your busts in the deal. Just be sure you net good value in the end when you trade your stud plus dud for another manager's pair of solid players.
"Go for broke!" - just try not to break your team in the process.
Tommy Beer, Hoops World:
As always – scour your league for “buy-low” opportunities. Fantasy hoops is much like the real stock market, in that you should always be looking for opportunities to sell players from your team at the peak of their value, while trading for undervalued commodities. For instance, I own Tim Duncan on a few of my squads. Will his value be any higher than it is right now? Yes, he has put up great numbers thus far, but we also know that Coach Popovich is going to be looking to rest his aging stud plenty over the season’s final few months. "Thus, shopping Duncan right now makes a lot of sense…"
Ryan Lester, Lester's Legends:
First and foremost I am a proponent for two-for-one trades in which you get the best player in the deal. If you can package some of your depth to improve your starting lineup, by all means do so. You may lose a little flexibility in your lineup, but I rather have the loaded lineup.
Be cautiously aggressive. Don't make a deal just to make a deal, but if you see a player you'd like to add, make a play for him. Don't lowball too bad. If you insult your league mate's intelligence, don't expect a realistic counteroffer.
Be attentive. If someone is benching a player that you would like to add to your team, there's a good chance he's available. If they are tired of his inconsistency, but you see stability around the corner, make a play for him.
Don't panic. Even if you can't get a deal done, there's plenty of time left in the year. Keep working the waiver wire and stay on top of injuries. The key is to stay one step ahead of your league.
Patrick Madden, Give Me The Rock:
My advice would depend a lot on the position of your fantasy team. For those owners currently in first or second place or those almost guaranteed a playoff spot (in H2H leagues) now is the time to make a strategic trade or two aimed at maximizing the amount of games you will get from players during the final weeks of the season. Nothing worse than having your monster first place team all season make a quick exit from the fantasy playoffs based on one bad week in April. A quick look at the GMTR schedule grid shows that the Rockets, Bucks, Thunder, Spurs, Toronto, and Wizards all play 14 games over the last 4 weeks of the season, while the Cavs, Hornets and Blazers only play 11. It may be a fools errand to trade someone like LeBron, but swapping players of similar value like Brendan Haywood for Emeka Okafor will net you three additional games over the typically fantasy playoff period. Do that with a 2-3 players and you could easily have a 5-10 game advantage over your opponents during the playoffs.
For those teams on the proverbial playoff bubble, now is the time to take stock of your team. Are you mediocre because of injuries and bad luck, or is it because your players are really just mediocre? If you problem is the latter, then now is the time to take some risks. Chances are even if your team makes the playoffs, you are not going to win it all. And if you’re not trying to win it all, then why are you playing in the first place? So, trade for Paul Millsap and hope Boozer gets traded from the Jazz, overpay in a trade for someone like Darren Collison and hope that CP3’s recovery goes badly and he misses the rest of the year. It may smell a little of desperation, but who are we kidding, it is.
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