I’ve been a big fan of Yahoo’s Fantasy Basketball platform for nearly my entire fantasy basketball life, so when they unveiled the auction draft format this year, I was quite intrigued. I’ve always wondered about auction drafts and imagined that they’d be lots of fun, but I just never got around to them.

But since Yahoo introduced it and after reading Patrick’s case for auction drafts at Give Me The Rock, I just had to try one. So tonight, I entered a mock auction draft — $200 to spend, 12 owners (six real, six automated), head-to-head format and 13 roster spots (PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, Util, BN, BN, BN). It started out well but around 20 minutes into it, the other five real owners set themselves on autobid and I was left all alone, which explains why I still had $15 after I filled out my roster, was able to nab Paul Pierce, O.J. Mayo, Andrew Bogut and Blake Griffin at such insanely low prices, and kind of lost focus with my last batch of picks. So yes, the results below must have one o’ these bad boys appended to it:

*

My knee-jerk takeaways:

1. Auction drafts take a lot more patience and discipline than good ol’ snake drafts. Why? Mostly because you can’t finish a pick in two seconds flat. This consequently causes you to feel antsy if you haven’t bought a player in the past few minutes, which might lead to hasty bidding and regrettable purchases.
2. Computers will overbid on mediocrity early on, which is why an owner in this mock draft suggested that us real owners should nominate scrubs in the beginning so the computers would spend their money foolishly. This simple proposition proved to be true, and I wonder if the same fishing strategy can be used on newbies — like me.
3. It appears wise to nominate players that you have little or no interest in actually buying.
4. There seems to be three basic strategies: 1) burn most of your cash on the big boys early on, then rely on your fantasy smarts to land you very cheap players (ideally with solid value or upside) to fill out the rest of your roster; 2) splurge on one or two studs, then attempt to fill out the rest of your roster with talent similar to what you’d end up with in a snake draft (i.e., from best to worst); 3) wait patiently for other owners to dump their coffers, then try to fill out most, if not all, of your spots with medium-priced talent.
5. Keeping an eye on other owners’ remaining funds seems smart.
6. Owners may pay more for a player they just plain want than for one that actually deserves that amount of money.
7. I like the fact that I have a shot at every single player, no matter how small that shot actually is.
8. I like how one overzealous owner’s bid can be compounded with another overzealous owner’s n+1 bid — let the dummies pay more for Josh Smith than Pau Gasol.
9. I like and don’t like how a smart pick is a lot more vulnerable — meaning, picking Danilo Gallinari at No. 50 overall isn’t as simple as waiting for others to pass on him before clicking the “Draft” button and stashing him away on your roster unchallenged. Every pick, whether smart or dumb, is open for all to see and dare.
10. I wish an electronic auctioneer’s voice would narrate these drafts, and I wish you had the option of choosing the voice’s language/accent, like you can on GPS devices. I also wish that one of those options were “Antoine Dodson.”

While my first auction draft was surely not an accurate experience of the true nature of this beast, I’m still excited to continue participating in mock versions, as well as my first real one within the next month or so. I really wish auction drafts were somehow quicker, but I can imagine them being more fun with actual chatter with people I know.

Here are the results of the mock auction draft:

My team:

1. Deron Williams (Uta – PG) $47
2. Pau Gasol (LAL – PF,C) $40
3. Mo Williams (Cle – PG) $26
4. Al Horford (Atl – PF,C) $32
5. Paul Pierce (Bos – SG,SF) $2
6. Andrew Bogut (Mil – C) $1
7. O.J. Mayo (Mem – SG) $2
8. Eric Gordon (LAC – SG) $8
9. Chris Kaman (LAC – C) $8
10. Luis Scola (Hou – PF,C) $8
11. Blake Griffin (LAC – PF) $2
12. Andrei Kirilenko (Uta – SF,PF) $8
13. Mike Miller (Mia – SG,SF) $1

All picks in order of nomination (my picks in bold; ‘Real owner #’ = real, ‘Team #’ = automated):

What are your thoughts? Do you have any pointers regarding auction drafts?

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We finally pulled off our mock draft on Thursday evening, and I’m happy to say that it was privileged enough to receive the attendance of many of my favorite fantasy basketball bloggers. Here’s the cast:

- Justin from Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog (Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog)
- Patrick from Give Me The Rock (GMTR_Patrick)
- Doneycat from Tale of 9 Cats (Doneycat)
- Tippy from Fantasy Basketball Daily (supposedly “ended up” with the automatically
generated “Fantasy god”)
- Henry from Weakside Help (Weakside Help)
- Eugene, my good friend and fantasy basketball nemesis (ec236)
- West, a reader who seems to have missed the draft; next time!
- Boogerboys, an unknown participant who was on autoselect until round eight
- drafting hungover, another unknown entrant

While I don’t like leagues that are any smaller than 12 teams (too shallow, too much parity between teams, don’t get to utilize the depths of your fantasy knowledge), there wasn’t any other choice at the time slot we drafted in. No matter: the fantastic company made it easy to forget the size of our draft.

Without further ado, here’s a quick and dirty recap of our mock draft (nine categories, head-to-head), with round-by-round analysis. (Henry already posted his analysis at Weakside Help.) Especially admirable picks are in green, while questionable picks are in red. (Picks made on autoselect were exempt from color-coded and written judgment.) I’ve also decided to include the pick times for each pick, in case anyone was interested. (The average pick time was 19.2 seconds, for all you fellow inquiring nerds out there.)

Round 1:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
1	West	Durant, Kevin	AutoSelect
2	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	James, LeBron	6s
3	Boogerboys	Paul, Chris	AutoSelect
4	GMTR_Patrick	Gasol, Pau	12s
5	drafting hungover	Nowitzki, Dirk	27s
6	ec236	Bryant, Kobe	10s
7	Fantasy god	Williams, Deron	15s
8	Doneycat	Howard, Dwight	27s
9	Weakside Help	Curry, Stephen	14s
10	fBasketballBlog	Wade, Dwyane	10s

First-round comments: Gasol at No. 4 overall? Yeah, it’s a reach according to just about every set of rankings out there, but he is a C-eligible stud and getting that position filled this early saves you from potential scrambling down the line. Other than that, the rest of this round went almost as scripted, though it was a bit surprising to see Wade fall to me at No. 10.

Round 2:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
11	fBasketballBlog	Granger, Danny	17s
12	Weakside Help	Lee, David	13s
13	Doneycat	Wallace, Gerald	12s
14	Fantasy god	Anthony, Carmelo	13s
15	ec236	Lopez, Brook	15s
16	drafting hungover	Nash, Steve	7s
17	GMTR_Patrick	Stoudemire, Amar’e	31s
18	Boogerboys	Roy, Brandon	AutoSelect
19	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Evans, Tyreke	14s
20	West	Rondo, Rajon	AutoSelect

Second-round comments: While I understand why Granger would fall out of the first round, especially in a 10-team draft, it was still exciting to see him fall to me at No. 11 overall. He has top five potential, but his health does concern me. Still, knowing that I wouldn’t have to live with the fact that he was my first pick helps from a psychological standpoint. Melo at No. 14 still seems a tad bit of a reach to me, but I know I could be in the minority there. Patrick just filled up the two starting C spots required by the league’s settings with two studs — huge. Evans at No. 19 is a huge reach, given that this is a nine-cat league. The only reason to pick him this high is if you think he’ll take a huge step forward in his sophomore campaign, which doesn’t seem likely given his lack of threes, turnovers and pedestrian free-throw shooting.

Round 3:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
21	West	Bosh, Chris	AutoSelect
22	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Kidd, Jason	12s
23	Boogerboys	Smith, Josh	AutoSelect
24	GMTR_Patrick	Billups, Chauncey	16s
25	drafting hungover	Johnson, Joe	30s
26	ec236	Westbrook, Russell	10s
27	Fantasy god	Ellis, Monta	46s
28	Doneycat	Iguodala, Andre	15s
29	Weakside Help	Bargnani, Andrea	7s
30	fBasketballBlog	Horford, Al	14s

Third-round comments: I was a bit surprised that J-Smoove fell out of the top 20, but so be it. Westbrook anywhere north of the fifth round is a gamble, given his poor FG%, lack of threes and frequent turnovers. Nevertheless, I understand his appeal and potential. Doneycat appears to have the early leg up on steals and blocks with AI9 joining G-Wall and D-Ho, while Weakside Help appears to have the makings of a strong small-ball team with Curry, Lee and now Bargnani manning his first three spots. Meanwhile, Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog (LJFBB from here on out) appears to be gunning for across-the-board dominance with LBJ, ‘Reke and Kidd. I was elated to get Horford at No. 30.

Round 4:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
31	fBasketballBlog	Boozer, Carlos	AutoSelect
32	Weakside Help	Jackson, Stephen	33s
33	Doneycat	Murphy, Troy	43s
34	Fantasy god	Duncan, Tim	7s
35	ec236	Bogut, Andrew	16s
36	drafting hungover	Rose, Derrick	15s
37	GMTR_Patrick	Jefferson, Al	7s
38	Boogerboys	Pierce, Paul	AutoSelect
39	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	West, David	6s
40	West	Gay, Rudy	AutoSelect

Fourth-round comments: Let the record show that I slotted in Booze in my predraft list and mistakenly pressed “autoselect” (new draft interface = some getting used to). While I’m not the biggest Boozer fan this season, I was glad to have him shore up my frontcourt with Horford and Granger. Murphy at No. 33 might have been acceptable before he landed in New Jersey, but I just have a hard time thinking he won’t take a step back with Lopez gobbling up rebounds and a potential timeshare with Derrick Favors on some nights. Bogut could make sense at No. 36 eventually, but with reports that his elbow is still touch-and-go makes that a very risky pick. Rose, like Westbrook, just has too many weaknesses to warrant anything earlier than a sixth-round pick, though I’ll grant that it’s quite possible that his offseason work on his defense and three-point shooting could translate into a fantasy surge this season. Patrick just keeps on bulking up that sexy frontcourt here with Jefferson, who somehow fell to No. 37, making him a huge steal.

Round 5:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
41	West	Jamison, Antawn	AutoSelect
42	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Gasol, Marc	20s
43	Boogerboys	Hilario, Nene	AutoSelect
44	GMTR_Patrick	Williams, Mo	7s
45	drafting hungover	Randolph, Zach	17s
46	ec236	Love, Kevin	38s
47	Fantasy god	Noah, Joakim	15s
48	Doneycat	Collison, Darren	10s
49	Weakside Help	Felton, Raymond	10s
50	fBasketballBlog	Gallinari, Danilo	19s

Fifth-round comments: It’ll be interesting to see how Noah meshes with Boozer, but I don’t have too big a problem seeing him go in the top 50, especially given that he’s one of the few remaining true centers left on the board — I just think there are other lower-risk big men left for the picking. I really dig the Collison pick for two reasons: 1) I think going in the late 40s is a solid, if not slightly conservative, valuation of his fantasy goodness this season, and 2) it shows some restraint on everyone’s part to have him fall this “late.” I can picture Collison being grabbed in the 30s of many drafts, but taking him around this neck of the woods seems much more prudent. Gallo at No. 50 is an absolute steal, in my estimation. If he stays healthy, I see him finishing with top 30 value this season, with Stoudemire and Felton really opening things up for him.

Round 6:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
51	fBasketballBlog	Turkoglu, Hedo	37s
52	Weakside Help	Mayo, O.J.	24s
53	Doneycat	Garnett, Kevin	41s
54	Fantasy god	Aldridge, LaMarcus	24s
55	ec236	Martin, Kevin	5s
56	drafting hungover	Harris, Devin	56s
57	GMTR_Patrick	Richardson, Jason	AutoSelect
58	Boogerboys	Ginobili, Manu	AutoSelect
59	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Camby, Marcus	13s
60	West	Wall, John	AutoSelect

Sixth-round comments: While I think it’s bullish, I’m down with taking Turk at No. 51. He should thrive in Phoenix and might have a shot at finishing in the top 40 this season. KG at No. 53 is optimistically accurate, despite whatever health concerns he brings. Aldridge at No. 54, however, is a bit high for my tastes, given his inconsistency when Oden was in the lineup for the first 21 games of 2009-10. Martin continues to fly under the radar, and should have an easy time returning the value of his No. 55 pick here, especially with Ariza out of Houston. This is where Patrick had to pull a LeBron and leave us before finishing the task at hand to tend to his one-month-old (congrats again!), but he set a very solid foundation (Gasol, Stoudemire, Billups, Jefferson, Mo Williams) for his squad. Camby at No. 59 is great, especially since that valuation seems to take into account whatever risk Oden’s return poses to his value.

Round 7:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
61	West	Davis, Baron	AutoSelect
62	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Blatche, Andray	4s
63	Boogerboys	Butler, Caron	AutoSelect
64	GMTR_Patrick	Crawford, Jamal	AutoSelect
65	drafting hungover	Jennings, Brandon	27s
66	ec236	Lewis, Rashard	3s
67	Fantasy god	Deng, Luol	46s
68	Doneycat	Salmons, John	12s
69	Weakside Help	Ming, Yao	18s
70	fBasketballBlog	Brooks, Aaron	31s

Seventh-round comments: Blatche and Jennings will go around here in most drafts this season, though both pick positions are a bit optimistic for my tastes. Yao at No. 69 would be around the absolute earliest I’d take him, but if he plays even three-quarters of the season, he’ll put up top 50 averages with no problem. Brooks at No. 70 seems straight-up silly to me, since he’ll have a real shot at notching top 40 status this season — but maybe I’m biased.

Round 8:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
71	fBasketballBlog	Randolph, Anthony	4s
72	Weakside Help	Griffin, Blake	14s
73	Doneycat	Morrow, Anthony	14s
74	Fantasy god	Arenas, Gilbert	42s
75	ec236	Gordon, Eric	Predrafted
76	drafting hungover	Bynum, Andrew	27s
77	GMTR_Patrick	Millsap, Paul	AutoSelect
78	Boogerboys	Ariza, Trevor	22s
79	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Thornton, Marcus	18s
80	West	Terry, Jason	AutoSelect

Eighth-round comments: This was a near-perfect place to take Randolph. Henry takes on two consecutive giant question marks in Yao and Griffin, but they should pay off for the most part. Bravo for him for taking the “Biggest Testicular Fortitude” award for this mock draft. Morrow at No. 73 is perfect. Arenas at No. 74 is great fun — I think he’s the most fun gamble this season and I’m in the camp that thinks he’ll surprise rather than disappoint. I dig Gordon at No. 75, and in a perfect, injury-free world I’d feel the same for Bynum at No. 76, but this is indeed a world that is far from perfect and riddles with injuries. I’d recommend waiting for Bynum to drop to the late 80s and into the 90s in most drafts. Thornton at No. 79? Grand larceny.

Round 9:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
81	West	Green, Jeff	AutoSelect
82	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Scola, Luis	12s
83	Boogerboys	Hibbert, Roy	30s
84	GMTR_Patrick	Nelson, Jameer	AutoSelect
85	drafting hungover	Kaman, Chris	13s
86	ec236	Carter, Vince	AutoSelect
87	Fantasy god	Parker, Tony	26s
88	Doneycat	Landry, Carl	8s
89	Weakside Help	Lopez, Robin	15s
90	fBasketballBlog	Hickson, J.J.	36s

Ninth-round comments: I’d still take Kaman over Hibbert 10 out of 10 times, but I understand the reasons why others would disagree. I absolutely despise TP (a nickname that I think is the most apt for him in fantasy terms) anywhere before the 10th round. Lopez at No. 89 frustrated me since I was licking my chops at the prospect of him falling to me just one pick later. (Good one, Henry.) I’m OK with Hickson at No. 90, though I foresee a healthy portion of inconsistency from him.

Round 10:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
91	fBasketballBlog	Stuckey, Rodney	49s
92	Weakside Help	Barbosa, Leandro	6s
93	Doneycat	Cousins, DeMarcus	30s
94	Fantasy god	Brand, Elton	53s
95	ec236	Harrington, Al	8s
96	drafting hungover	Allen, Ray	33s
97	GMTR_Patrick	Frye, Channing	AutoSelect
98	Boogerboys	McGee, JaVale	37s
99	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Miller, Andre	8s
100	West	Holiday, Jrue	AutoSelect

Tenth-round comments: I hated my pick here. It took me a full 49 seconds to finally close my eyes and swallow the pill that is Stuckey. Don’t get me wrong — he’s worth No. 91 overall, but there were a bevy of other sexier picks that I wish I had gone with instead, especially since I’m still skinny at the C spot at this point. So when Doneycat took Cousins (whom I like this season) at No. 93, I slapped myself on the forehead. Allen at No. 96 could be a huge steal. Yeah, he’s getting older, but we all know that shooters have good longevity in real life and fantasy land. McGee at No. 98 is understandable, but I just can’t see him taking the enormous step forward that so many are expecting — way too much inconsistency in the cards, methinks. But with his incredible blocking abilities, I can’t say too many bad things about that pick.

Round 11:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
101	West	Turner, Evan	AutoSelect
102	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Williams, Reggie	17s
103	Boogerboys	Williams, Terrence	17s
104	GMTR_Patrick	Calderon, Jose	AutoSelect
105	drafting hungover	Gordon, Ben	24s
106	ec236	Okur, Mehmet	47s
107	Fantasy god	Biedrins, Andris	27s
108	Doneycat	Childress, Josh	13s
109	Weakside Help	Thomas, Tyrus	4s
110	fBasketballBlog	Dalembert, Samuel	8s

Eleventh-round comments: Williams should have no trouble returning top 75 value, so that was a very savvy pick by LJFBB. Gordon does hold a lot of promise, but with an ankle that still isn’t fully healed and T-Mac around to eat into minutes at SG, I’d try to avoid him at all costs. Biedrins, Childress and Thomas are all peachy keen at this stage. I was relieved to grab Dalembert at No. 110 to plug up my second C spot. He’ll surprise owners in Sacramento this season, especially since they’re ready to unleash a faster offense.

Round 12:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
111	fBasketballBlog	Kirilenko, Andrei	22s
112	Weakside Help	Hill, George	7s
113	Doneycat	Chandler, Tyson	59s
114	Fantasy god	Okafor, Emeka	6s
115	ec236	Odom, Lamar	5s
116	drafting hungover	Favors, Derrick	6s
117	GMTR_Patrick	Diaw, Boris	AutoSelect
118	Boogerboys	Varejao, Anderson	21s
119	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Beasley, Michael	17s
120	West	Maggette, Corey	AutoSelect

Twelfth-round comments: AK-47 has a lot going for him this season, and though I expect him to miss at least 15 games this season, I have no qualms with taking his talents here. Hill was a great pickup here for Weakside Help, as was Varejao for Boogerboys. Not much to roll your eyes at here.

Round 13:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
121	West	Smith, J.R.	AutoSelect
122	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Augustin, D.J.	15s
123	Boogerboys	Splitter, Tiago	5s
124	GMTR_Patrick	Thompson, Jason	AutoSelect
125	drafting hungover	Oden, Greg	30s
126	ec236	Haywood, Brendan	12s
127	Fantasy god	Marion, Shawn	21s
128	Doneycat	Kleiza, Linas	4s
129	Weakside Help	Ibaka, Serge	8s
130	fBasketballBlog	Miller, Mike	34s

Thirteenth-round comments: Augustin could be a winner here, though I still think Shaun Livingston has a really good shot at winning the starting PG gig in Charlotte. Taking Oden at No. 125 overall seems about right to me, and he could end up giving the best return on investment of the entire draft. Kleiza at No. 128 might be my favorite pick of the draft. He’s one of my favorite sleepers this season and should get plenty of minutes in a weak Raptors SF spot. Ibaka is a rock-solid take at No. 129, as he should continue to roll with blocks and a potential starting gig. Miller at No. 130 boggles my biased mind. He could be a top three three-point maker this season in Miami, so it was no-brainer to take him here. I used up 34 seconds to give me more time for my next pick.

Round 14:

Pick	Team	Player	Pick Time
131	fBasketballBlog	Udrih, Beno	50s
132	Weakside Help	Azubuike, Kelenna	7s
133	Doneycat	Batum, Nicolas	47s
134	Fantasy god	Chandler, Wilson	10s
135	ec236	Beaubois, Rodrigue	36s
136	drafting hungover	Casspi, Omri	8s
137	GMTR_Patrick	Artest, Ron	AutoSelect
138	Boogerboys	Williams, Louis	52s
139	Life is Just a Fantasy … Basketball Blog	Monroe, Greg	8s
140	West	Hawes, Spencer	AutoSelect

Fourteenth-round comments: Urdih started and finished the season strong last season and he appears set to continue his role as the starting point guard in Sac-Town. I wouldn’t be surprised if he finished the season with top 70 value. Azubuike is a solid pick-and-wait option, and if his knee heals up well he’ll be a good pick here. Chandler is a solid selection here because of Azubuike’s continued rehab, though he stands to lose value as the season wears on. Monroe is intriguing this season, which makes him an ideal last-round pick.

FINAL ROSTERS:

West			LJFBB			Boogerboys
	Player	Acquired		Player	Acquired		Player	Acquired
G	Rajon Rondo	R2 P10	G	Tyreke Evans	R2 P9	G	Chris Paul	R1 P3
G	John Wall	R6 P10	G	Jason Kidd	R3 P2	G	Brandon Roy	R2 P8
G	Baron Davis	R7 P1	G	Marcus Thornton	R8 P9	G	Paul Pierce	R4 P8
G	Jason Terry	R8 P10	G	Andre Miller	R10 P9	G	Manu Ginobili	R6 P8
G	Jrue Holiday	R10 P10	G	D.J. Augustin	R13 P2	G	Louis Williams	R14 P8
G	Evan Turner	R11 P1	F	LeBron James	R1 P2	F	Josh Smith	R3 P3
G	J.R. Smith	R13 P1	F	David West	R4 P9	F	Nene Hilario	R5 P3
F	Kevin Durant	R1 P1	F	Andray Blatche	R7 P2	F	Caron Butler	R7 P3
F	Chris Bosh	R3 P1	F	Luis Scola	R9 P2	F	Trevor Ariza	R8 P8
F	Rudy Gay	R4 P10	F	Reggie Williams	R11 P2	F	Terrence Williams	R11 P3
F	Antawn Jamison	R5 P1	F	Michael Beasley	R12 P9	F	Anderson Varejao	R12 P8
F	Jeff Green	R9 P1	F	Greg Monroe	R14 P9	F	Tiago Splitter	R13 P3
F	Corey Maggette	R12 P10	C	Marc Gasol	R5 P2	C	Roy Hibbert	R9 P3
C	Spencer Hawes	R14 P10	C	Marcus Camby	R6 P9	C	JaVale McGee	R10 P8
GMTR_Patrick			drafting hungover			ec236
	Player	Acquired		Player	Acquired		Player	Acquired
G	Chauncey Billups	R3 P4	G	Steve Nash	R2 P6	G	Kobe Bryant	R1 P6
G	Mo Williams	R5 P4	G	Joe Johnson	R3 P5	G	Russell Westbrook	R3 P6
G	Jason Richardson	R6 P7	G	Derrick Rose	R4 P6	G	Kevin Martin	R6 P5
G	Jamal Crawford	R7 P4	G	Devin Harris	R6 P6	G	Eric Gordon	R8 P5
G	Jameer Nelson	R9 P4	G	Brandon Jennings	R7 P5	G	Vince Carter	R9 P6
G	Jose Calderon	R11 P4	G	Ray Allen	R10 P6	G	Rodrigue Beaubois	R14 P5
F	Pau Gasol	R1 P4	G	Ben Gordon	R11 P5	F	Brook Lopez	R2 P5
F	Amar’e Stoudemire	R2 P7	F	Dirk Nowitzki	R1 P5	F	Kevin Love	R5 P6
F	Al Jefferson	R4 P7	F	Zach Randolph	R5 P5	F	Rashard Lewis	R7 P6
F	Paul Millsap	R8 P7	F	Derrick Favors	R12 P6	F	Al Harrington	R10 P5
F	Channing Frye	R10 P7	F	Omri Casspi	R14 P6	F	Lamar Odom	R12 P5
F	Boris Diaw	R12 P7	C	Andrew Bynum	R8 P6	C	Andrew Bogut	R4 P5
F	Jason Thompson	R13 P4	C	Chris Kaman	R9 P5	C	Mehmet Okur	R11 P6
F	Ron Artest	R14 P7	C	Greg Oden	R13 P5	C	Brendan Haywood	R13 P6
Fantasy god			Doneycat			Weakside Help
	Player	Acquired		Player	Acquired		Player	Acquired
G	Deron Williams	R1 P7	G	Andre Iguodala	R3 P8	G	Stephen Curry	R1 P9
G	Monta Ellis	R3 P7	G	Darren Collison	R5 P8	G	Stephen Jackson	R4 P2
G	Gilbert Arenas	R8 P4	G	John Salmons	R7 P8	G	Raymond Felton	R5 P9
G	Tony Parker	R9 P7	G	Anthony Morrow	R8 P3	G	O.J. Mayo	R6 P2
F	Carmelo Anthony	R2 P4	G	Nicolas Batum	R14 P3	G	Leandro Barbosa	R10 P2
F	Tim Duncan	R4 P4	F	Gerald Wallace	R2 P3	G	George Hill	R12 P2
F	Joakim Noah	R5 P7	F	Troy Murphy	R4 P3	G	Kelenna Azubuike	R14 P2
F	LaMarcus Aldridge	R6 P4	F	Kevin Garnett	R6 P3	F	David Lee	R2 P2
F	Luol Deng	R7 P7	F	Carl Landry	R9 P8	F	Andrea Bargnani	R3 P9
F	Elton Brand	R10 P4	F	DeMarcus Cousins	R10 P3	F	Blake Griffin	R8 P2
F	Emeka Okafor	R12 P4	F	Josh Childress	R11 P8	F	Tyrus Thomas	R11 P9
F	Shawn Marion	R13 P7	F	Linas Kleiza	R13 P8	C	Yao Ming	R7 P9
F	Wilson Chandler	R14 P4	C	Dwight Howard	R1 P8	C	Robin Lopez	R9 P9
C	Andris Biedrins	R11 P7	C	Tyson Chandler	R12 P3	C	Serge Ibaka	R13 P9
fBasketballBlog
	Player	Acquired
G	Dwyane Wade	R1 P10
G	Aaron Brooks	R7 P10
G	Rodney Stuckey	R10 P1
G	Mike Miller	R13 P10
G	Beno Udrih	R14 P1
F	Danny Granger	R2 P1
F	Al Horford	R3 P10
F	Carlos Boozer	R4 P1
F	Danilo Gallinari	R5 P10
F	Hedo Turkoglu	R6 P1
F	Anthony Randolph	R8 P1
F	J.J. Hickson	R9 P10
F	Andrei Kirilenko	R12 P1
C	Samuel Dalembert	R11 P10

‘Twas an all-around jolly good time. I think I’m very competitive in threes, but took on one or two too many risks and could’ve bulked up my center position a bit better. Still, I’m satisfied with my mock draft and would be excited to see how my squad would stack up with the others here. While I think some of these final rosters are a bit healthier than others, I’ll leave it up to my readers to decide which final roster looks the strongest. Vote in the poll below and let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

Much thanks to Mock Draft Central for offering a spiffy mock-drafting platform to us fantasy basketball junkies. And nothing but the biggest fist bumps to my fantasy basketball buddies for turning up, offering some fun in-draft chatter and helping to make this a great mock draft. I’m looking forward to the next time we do this.

Until next time…

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Happy Friday, readers.

It’s time for another edition of Fantasy Friday. If you’re new ’round here, click on over to the inaugural matchup to read a quick description.

Alas, the girls have been kicking the boys’ butts, with Jessica Alba besting Dwyane Wade, Jessica Biel beasting Dwight Howard and, most recently, Kristen Stewart outdoing Dirk Nowitzki. Ouch.

Let’s see if the men can get their first win in this battle of damaged goods: Danny Granger vs. Jennifer Aniston.

The parallels between the two are simple: nobody seems to want them despite their obvious gifts.

Ms. Aniston has always been beautiful and even if you dislike her, it’s hard to deny that she’s a stunning gal at age 41. The strange thing is that she seems to have the hardest time finding a good guy to stay with her (unless you’re in the Bill Simmons camp and think her stubborn singlehood is a PR move). How can this be? How can a lady this pretty (just watch how men’s heads turn when they pass by one of those Smart Water ads on the street) and mildly talented be spurned so many times by so many men? There must be something wrong with her (besides her ever-rising age), right?

Granger is in the same boat. We know he’s immensely talented and a fantasy force to be reckoned with. He hits threes like his next meal depends on it, scores in bunches, and is a pretty good thief and blocker. The dude should be a no-brainer as a top-seven fantasy player when you look at his averages. Why, then, is he slipping to the latter parts of the first round, and beyond? Because he’s so maddeningly unhealthy. At the ripe age of 27, he isn’t all that young anymore, and his chances of regaining consistent health are getting slimmer by the day.

Both Ms. Aniston and Granger are worthy of admiration, but it seems that many have a hard time seeing either as a keeper.

So the question is, who would you rather keep: Danny Granger or Jennifer Aniston? Vote in the poll below and let us hear your thoughts in the comments section.

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A friendly reminder: Our flash-mob mock draft at Mock Draft Central is taking place tomorrow evening (Thursday, Aug. 26). Since I’m gunning for us all to take part in a free draft (bloggin’ ain’t easy — or lucrative), I can’t predict exactly what time or how many spots (10 or 12) will be available in the slot we get, but it will be sometime around 7 p.m. EDT (it won’t be earlier than that). The good news is that you can reserve your spot as soon as the time slot is created by the good people at Mock Draft Central, so keep an eye out for an update here and on Twitter sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning about exactly when the draft will take place. It will be 14 rounds of nine-category goodness, and you choose your pick position. After the draft is over, I’ll post a round-by-round analysis where I’ll publicly laud or embarrass your picks (half-kidding). I hope you’re excited as I am.

• You’ll find Dirk Nowitzki ranked as the No. 4 overall fantasy player just about everywhere, but that doesn’t mean it’s cool. Justin at Life is Just a Fantasy…Basketball Blog talks about why he’s going with Stephen Curry at No. 4.
• Henry at Weakside Help is optimistic about the likes of Greg Oden and Andrew Bynum this season, but Pau Gasol? Pau-lease.
• Fantasy Basketball Daily is in the midst of his position-by-position fantasy rankings (based on a scoring system). Tippy’s going with Deron Williams over Chris Paul.
• The great Dan Gilbert is the guest poster for Give Me The Rock’s Cleveland Cavaliers fantasy team preview, and guess what? Comic Sans, that’s what.
• Yao Ming‘s famous foot (shouldn’t it have a nickname by now?) is declared fully healed and the big man appears optimistic. The AP report mentions his conditioning (he lost 40 pounds in the last 3.5 months, and wants to lose more weight) and that his minutes will be limited in the early going, as expected. If you’re optimistic about his fantasy value this season, giggle with glee.
• Kevin Garnett used to be a fantasy monster — now he’s relegated to being good for a highlight reel’s worth of cussing. Head over to Basketbawful to witness some of KG’s verbal diarrhea, but put earmuffs on the ears of any children that might be in the room.

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