2006-2007 Season Comes to an End for Rage

The Rage raised their game somewhat for the playoff matchup against the Fusion. Their season average was 150.8 and for the series verses the Fusion it was 157.6 over the 5 possible games. The Rage had 10 games in which the starter scored 25 or less, with Marvin Willams doing that in all 5 games and Baron Davis doing it in 3. On the other hand, the Fusion only had 2 games with players scoring 25 or less. So inconsistency was a clear issue for the Rage. With a more consistent PF, the Rage could have easily stolen this series from the Fusion, but it just wasn't in the stars. The Rage lost the 1st game by 4 points with Marvin Williams only getting a BIG 5 pts. Rage lost the 2nd game by 8 pts with Williams again only providing 19 pts. The Rage would have won the 4th game had the series continued. So you can see how things could have been quite different. The Fusion was clearly hobbled with the absence of Ray Allen and Okafor.

If someone had to pick the MVP of the series, clearly Gilbert Areanas and Iggy would have to be the top 2 considered. But a closer look shows that Andre Iguodala was the main reason the the Fusion held off the Rage's upset attempt. in the 3 games that mattered, he raised his pt output by almost 13 pts per game over his season average. If he scores his season average in the first 3 games, the Rage win the series. So the MVP Award goes to AI2!

Okay, what does next year have for the Rage? Salary Cap looks great as the Rage can keep all of the key ingredients together next year and still be under the cap. But you never know with the always active Roseville Rage management. They have regularly done wholesale changes every year. After ignoring the anti-climactic FBF finals while vacationing in Tahiti, the management says their phones will be open for all trade considerations.

Early Lotto Predictions

The 2006-2007 FBF regular season is just 3 weeks away from being complete. The playoff race looks simple; Fusion faces either Spoilers or Conquest for championship.

This years lotto teams are still to be finalized, but a little look at the schedule, it is pretty easy to see who will be missing the playoffs this year. There are some tough calls like Wiz or Rush getting the final Chamberlain playoff birth. And Wildcats or Storm getting the final Russell playoff birth.

Here are my predictions for lotto finish and who owns the lotto slot:

Amazons -> Twolves
Singularity-> Singularity
Twolves -> Twolves
Bulls -> Twolves
Rebels-> Rebels
Legend -> Wildcats
Wildcats -> Wildcats
Rush -> Fusion

With one of the best draft years, the Russell Conference looks to improve the most. The Twolves did a great job in predicting the lotto picks to go after, missing with just the Falcons. Wildcats have the 2nd most picks with 2 later in the lotto. The Fusion, usually a great lotto pick predictor, missed on 3 of 4 picks he collected. The Lotto system may help the other teams but Twolves should get at least 2 of the top 3 players available this year. They need it after gutting their team of superstars KG and AI. Rebels and Singularity could both be helped enough to avoid the lotto next year. However, even 2 solid starters for Twolves may not be enough to get them back to contention immediately. Fusion will clearly be looking to package a bunch of middle range picks for cheap upcoming stars. They have too much young talent and picks to keep everything they have acquired... The question is have teams smartened up and will not keep stockpiling the league champ for years to come?

Trade Deadline January 29th - So What?

It seems activity in and around FBF has died down some. We are only days away from the trade deadline and I have heard of no rumors and have not received any offers myself.

I could really use a PF or a C...but it seems that the players most wanted are either owned by the top echelon of teams already or team are so afraid of being taken advantage of again, that their asking prices are extremely high.

My guess is that the deadline will come and go with not a single trade, or if there is one or two, they are not really critical to any teams immediate championship hopes. Maybe it's time to redraft the whole league rosters? at least then we'd have a more level playing field again.

06-07 Season Week 4 Observations

A few things that stand out so far in the FBF this year.:

1. Website is getting updated about a week late.
2. Wizapins are this years Conquest! Great Job Matt.
3. Big names dealt...KG and Carter after extended attempts to deal...
4. Injury is again having a huge impact on middle rung teams hopes...and new backups help top teams with their injuries.
5. Last years draft is looking better and better as the days go on...Deron, Bynum etc. But this years draft is currently looking very weak.
6. With 3 teams still undefeated...and so many teams "trying to lose", its looking more possible we could have an undefeated champion.

2006-07 Basketball Season Starts Tonight!!

The day has finally arrived. The summer filled with trades and rankings, and projections is over. Now the proof will be in the actual games played.

Are Tmac, Baron, JOneal, AI, Kirilenko, Boozer, Maggette, Brand, Amare, Wade, Webber going to avoid past injury problems and thus totally change the landscape of the FBF competition?

Who will be this years Chris Paul? Will the draft class of 06' breakout this year and pass the production of Paul? Will Milicic actually be an NBA center and even come close to the better that Melo, Wade and Bosh hype?

Will the Fusion actually go undefeated this year in FBF? Will a Commissioner (David or Dave) win the FBF title back? Or will we have a surprise Champ? Will Kurt complete his dismantle of the Twolves and finally deal KG? Will Pablo's risk work out or will it send him back to the cellar? Will Oden actually even come out of college this year?

Who will be the sleeper team in FBF this year?

All these and more questions will begin to be answered tonight!!! The ball is in the air.....

2006-07 FBF Projections

The following are 2006-07 projections; The past few years I have attempted to be objective in predicting players improvements or declines but clearly no one can be completely objective. So this year I used an outside source for my stat projections to limit bias. In the past I have attempted to predict fantasy points per game and total win lose records. While I again have done that, I am keeping those to myself and only presenting more broad predictions. Teams with an asterisk would be lotto teams. Actual lotto and playoff teams seemed easier to predict this year because so many teams are attempting to rebuild. However, the order of the lotto teams is much harder to predict. In my projections, only 6 games separate the bottom 4 teams. This year I have placed each teams projected division finish in parenthesis next to the team names. Just because a team ranks low doesn’t mean that that team isn’t on the right track. Some teams have harder schedules and may have holes in their lineup that can be filled with one player and thus make a huge difference in their results. Lower teams should take the challenge to prove my predictions wrong.

Proj. Finish	Team
1	Fusion (V-1)
2	Spoiler Makers (A-1)
3	Conquest (R-1)
4	Dust Devils (J-1)
5	JAM (V-2)
6	Ducks (A-2)
7	Dragons (J-2)
8	Rage (V-3)
9	Hilltoppers (J-3)
10	Waves (A-3)
11	Wicked (R-2)
12	Storm (A-4)
13	Gangstez (J-4)
14	Rush (J-5)
15	Abuse (A-5)
16	T-Wolves (R-3)
17	Bulls* (V-4)
18	Wizapins* (J-6)
19	Wildcats* (A-6)
20	Falcons* (R-4)
21	Amazons* (V-5)
22	Singularity* (R-5)
23	Legends* (V-6)
24	Rebels* (R-6)

Fusion beats Spoiler Makers for their 2^nd title in 2 years.

Dynasty-Meter

The goal of all teams in a keeper league is to develop a dynasty. A dynasty is a team that has mastered the system of balancing salary cap with the need for certain types of players as well as developing players for the future. I took 6 categories and weighted 2 of the most important (Studs and Role Players) and totaled the scores. The Stockpile category considers future draft picks. This system rates how well teams are doing in the dynasty building process.

Dynasty Rating	Team	Studs Rating	Bigs Rating	Role Players	Bench Rating	Potential Rating	Stockpile Rating
37	Fusion	8	6	6	6	6	5
30	Rage	6	5	6	5	6	2
28	Dust Devils	12	6	2	3	2	3
28	Spoiler Makers	12	3	4	3	5	1
27	Jam	4	5	6	6	4	2
22	Conquest	10	6	3	1	2	0

Just missing the top 6 were; Twolves (21), Wildcats (20), Hilltoppers (20), Dragons(19), Gangstez (19), Rush (17), Wizapins (15)

FBF POOL - When Will FBF Site Be Updated?

Join the pool today. The last update was September 24th. David has been hard at work in moving the site to a new server. Man of the owners have nothing better to do than to check each and every day what transactions have been made by their fellow Managers. Some of us freaks, even have FBF as our home page and some refresh page multiple times per day (shh it wasn't really Antione doing this!).

So the pool begins today. Put in your vote. Pick a date between now and the begining of the NBA schedule which is Oct. 31st. So basically, 24 days. We have 24 teams and 24 days...Get your pick in first!

tongue in cheek David...we love you...but hurry up!!!