Impervious Moves...

...Well not really, but I thought it would be a good headline for a scheduled post. I decided to start doing scheduled weekly posts so that I can be more consistent. I'll probably do 2-3, and Impervious Moves will come out on Sundays or Mondays. Hopefully, I'll be able to integrate it with all three sports.

I was going through my fantasy basketball lineups this morning and I noticed that over the last two months I have pretty much been stuck in the same position in the standings for the last two months in all three of my leagues. This particular league I was looking at is a 12 man league so free agency is usually scarce but I felt it necessary to make some changes. The first thing I did was drop Kyle O'Quinn and if you really just paid attention to what I just wrote you probably have the same thought I had: Why did I have Kyle O'Quinn on the team? I remember picking him up when he was somewhat productive, but obviously that didn't last too long. In fantasy basketball, you can't sleep on players who aren't producing as I had done, yet I'm wondering why I'm just floating around in 7th place. So he got dropped, and I picked up James Johnson and Paul George. With James Johnson, he's an interesting guy to have because he's producing off the bench and the players on the Toronto Raptors have been playing like they're in tank mode or something. Paul George, I had to stash him. Even though there's no definitive return date, we have a pretty good idea that he'll return around mid to late March, just enough time to make a playoff push. Other than that, I was a little worried because I also have Eric Bledsoe and P.J. Tucker on the squad and I don't like the Suns' situation at guard, but I'll keep it like that for now.



In the next league, I had actually dropped from 2nd to 4th place. Blame it All-Star Weekend I suppose as I didn't know when Yahoo! started restarted the fantasy season. I want to say it was Thursday, but I know there were NBA games on Tuesday. Anyway, this squad is primarily made up of drafted studs and amazing pick ups. There was only one player on the squad I saw as problematic and that player is Rajon Rondo. Rondo was just okay in Boston, but since he got traded to the Dallas Mavericks he's kind of disappeared. First he was inconsistent, then he had that orbital injury thing, and now he's back to being inconsistent. I went to free agency and I saw that Khris Middleton was available. He may not be a huge name in the real NBA but anyone who's been playing fantasy basketball this season and is reading this should be as shocked as I was when I found out he was available. So I picked him up and to my surprise I had an open roster spot. I went back into free agency and I found Mo Williams. I've always been a fan of Williams and he's been balling lately since he got trade to the Charlotte Bobcats. He had a 50 point game last season and I think he should remain productivity throughout the rest of the season.

In the last league, the easiest of my three leagues, but I'm in second place, I knew I was going to find someone good. There's only six players in this league and I think only one other guy and myself are still playing. I've dropped players like Dwight Howard and Kevin Love in this league and nobody picked them up. I'm never worried about finding players, but I'm still in second place. My concern was Brandon Knight. I had just picked him up right before All Star Weekend but he was still with the Bucks. Now that he plays with the Suns it makes me feel some kind of way. I picked up Robert Covington who could end up pick up of the year if Hassan Whiteside doesn't get it. I told you I knew I was going to find someone good.

And Now, Starting At Quarterback...

Cam Newton's truck protects him better than his offensive line

I've been pretty critical of Cam Newton for most of the season. He has not only disappointed me on that PhantasySteez, but also in the actual game. I'm not a Carolina Panthers' fan, but I am a Cam Newton fan and have been since he won the championship at Auburn (I'm not an Auburn fan either). I've had to stick with Newton throughout the fantasy season in which most of the season his performance has been horrendous, but I've managed to grind it out with him. In the two leagues I have him in, one going to the playoffs the other fighting not to come in last place, I've started him all season. Now during a crucial moment in the fantasy football season, it looks like he's going to sit out this week because of that weird accident that happened on Tuesday. So now I'm trying to figure out who am I going to start this week to keep my interesting playoff journey interesting.

The obvious answer of course is Derek Anderson. Anderson did start for Newton in week 1 and actually played quite well. He had 230 yards and two touchdowns with a fantasy score of 13.6 in standard leagues. Anderson has experience and shouldn't have a problem against the Tampa Bay defense. The problem is that he's available in one of the leagues I need him in, but in the other league, Roughing the Picker where the other players stalk the free agency like vultures waiting to feast, he's not available. Unfortunately, the options are very slim after Anderson.

Looking at the free agency in Roughing the Picker, there are only three, maybe four viable options that I would consider to replace Cam Newton; Derek Carr, Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, and Geno Smith. This isn't a sexy list to choose from, but times like these you gotta work with what you got. I got a thing against Derek Carr because he plays for Oakland, I don't trust his receivers, and he's burned me once this season already. Carr was on my boy Victor's team and Victor is in the playoffs, but when I had him he put up some unacceptable numbers and I don't think I really want him on the team. Bortles has been interesting to me all season because Jacksonville seems to start off slow then play come from behind. The only thing is like most I haven't watched a Jacksonville game, so I really don't know what I'm getting myself into if I pick Bortles. I like Bridgewater and in my opinion he's been getting better every week, but he plays against the Detroit Lions this week and they have a good defense. Lastly, Smith is an interesting pick, but the Jets offense is horrible. I know he had a good game last week, but once again the Jets offense is horrible.

I also have Ryan Fitzpatrick and Colt McCoy already on my team. In this league you start two quarterbacks and Fitzpatrick is most likely going to get one of the starts, but I don't know about Colt McCoy. I think he got benched or injured last week so I don't know if he or RG3 is going to get the start (RG3 is not available). So I have about five options that I need to pick from. Who would you start? Hit me up on twitter @donofalldons, google+ +Marcus Nickerson.

All Star Break Moves

There isn't another NBA game until Tuesday, so that gave my guys about four off days. My team sure could use it because I got four dudes, Mike Conley, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Martin and Andrew Bogut who are injured right now. Of the four, Conley is on the Can't Cut List. I wouldn't think about dropping or trading Westbrook. I'm feeling 50-50 ish on picking up someone for Martin. When it comes to Bogut, he might be getting the axe this All Star Weekend.

Bogut has been dependable for the few weeks I've had him on the team. However, since I picked him up I've been waiting for him to get injured, which he has. One advantage for Bogut is he leads my team in rebounding, probably why I picked him up in the first place. Martin has been dependable most of the season.  He's fourth in 3 pointers made and second in free throws made on my team. The rest of his stats are mediocre.

When I looked at the free agency list, two names stuck out to me immediately, Kyle Lowry and Robin Lopez. Both Lowry and Lopez have been pleasant surprises this season. In my opinion, neither one of these players should be in free agency as Lowry has become somewhat of a top point guard in the East and Lopez looks better than ever on his new team the Portland Trail Blazers.

I decided that I would take a closer look at these "injuries" of Martin and Bogut. Martin is going to be out for a couple of weeks and I probably could get more productivity dropping Martin and picking up Lowry. Actually that last sentecne is an understatement. I will get more production picking up Lowry for Martin. On my social networking sites I asked Kyle Lowry or Kevin Martin. I didn't get any response on Twitter but on Google+ it was an unanimous decision Lowry over Martin. So now I have Lowry on the squad.  I'm still struggling with releasing Bogut, the leading rebounder on my time. The problem is I haven't gotten any recent injury updates on Bogut. Even though Robin Lopez's scoring has improved,  Bogut has nearly 150 more boards than Lopez. I guess I'll keep him on the team for now, but he could end up getting moved before the end of the week.

Taking Over Control

In a very interesting yesterday, I went to the season-ending fantasy football meeting for my main league, Roughing the Picker. It was at the same place we had the draft, Buffalo Wild Wings in Torrance, CA. It was cool, but I'll admit it was a bit awkward for me. Awkward may not be the correct word, but for now I'm going with awkward. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself and it was good getting with the fellas. However, it was kind of awkward because for some reason I couldn't recognize everyone, and people were coming up to me giving me dap, and I knew I had just played these same guys in a grueling fantasy football season, but I couldn't put a name to a face. Weird part about it was they knew who I was. Knew my team. Knew my blog. But then again, maybe the reason why I was out of zone was because I was deeply worried about my fantasy basketball team.

Last week in my main fantasy basketball league, The Syndicate, I was matched up against the league leader, All the KING'S Men. I already lost to this chick once. Yeah I said it, I lost to this CHICK once. Again don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with females on that PhantasySteez. In fact, I love it and encourage. I can't wait to teach 2 Cs how to play. I'm just saying, I've already lost to her once. It's my only loss in this league this season, so I was kind of anxious all week. I mean, this girl has what's turning out to be a fantasy dream team. check it out...

This lineup has wrecked havoc in the league. Highlighting her squad is LeBron James, John Wall, Damian Lilliard, Klay Thompson and Blake Griffin. My team is highlight by Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, Deron Williams, and Russell Westbrook. As you can see, the two of us have the two most dynamic players in the NBA, but in my opinion, the rest of my squad are role players. Also, let's not forget that Westbrook is injured, so is Deron Williams, both who have been in and out all season. Not to mention I had to find someone to replace Ryan Anderson who was out all of last week and probably for most of the remainder of the season. 

I picked up Jonas Valanciunas to replace Anderson, and I had came up with this grand scheme to drop him on Sunday for another center. My theory was to start more players than she, as she only had one player for Sunday. But I was sitting there at Buffalo Wild Wings while the winner of our fantasy football league was presented the trophy and we went over rules, I was worried about my fantasy basketball team when I noticed something. First thing I noticed was that I was winning on Sunday morning with four players starting to her one. But then I wondered how was I able to overcome such a fantasy basketball juggernaut. The answer is simple...

In the screenshot above that I took today, she has Jrue Holiday on the bench, but yesterday she had Holiday starting. Holiday has been injured since last Wednesday in the fourth quarter and is expected to be out for at least a month. My worthy opponent failed to notice this and kept him in the lineup. Isn't that cute? She could've picked up someone like Kyle Lowry, Nick Young, Reggie Jackson or Darren Collison. She didn't, I scored more points. I won. I claimed first placed.

I Got Russell Westbrook and Al Horford On the Same Team

Fantasy Football is over, and yes I lost in all three of my main leagues, Roughing the Picker, Coast2Coast Ballers and Thieveland Ohio. Congratulations to Mr. Hindsman who did end up winning the Coast2Coast Ballers league. I like how Big Mike had to confirm that I didn't win...

Yes, I didn't win. The leagues that I did win championships in were just random leagues that I didn't pay as much attention as I did with my three main leagues. However, when it comes to our fantasy basketball teams, the roles are reversed my friend...

Even though I'm way overdue when it comes to managing this team and writing this post, I must make some adjustments though as there are still many weeks left in the fantasy basketball season. I could easily slip down a few spots before the All-Star break. For some weird reason, I have both Russell Westbrook and Al Horford on the same team. Both Westbrook and Horford got injured last Friday. Westbrook is expected to be out until after the All-Star break. Horford is done for the season.

At this point, I'm not too concerned with replacing Westbrook. I think I already have a lot of guards on my team already with Mike Conley, Deron Williams, Brandon Jennings and Brandon Knight on my squad. My squad is PG heavy so I should be able to hold out until Westbrook gets better. However when it comes to Horford, I'm not that deep when it comes to center. I got Spencer Hawes, Ryan Anderson and Horford as eligible centers. I was already feeling that this position was the weakest link of my team, and now I have to replace Horford, who ironically is my team's leading rebounder and is out for the rest of the season.

When I looked at free agency it was kind of difficult to decipher who had the most value because of two reasons. One, I don't really watch much NBA, and secondly there aren't as many resources when it comes to fantasy basketball like there is in fantasy football. After going over who was available in free agency I had narrowed it down to two players: Andrew Bogut and Robin Lopez. At first neither of these two seemed too appealing to pick up, but I looked at the stats over the past two weeks and I decided to go with Bogut. Bogut had accumulated the most rebounds over all the other available centers in free agency in a two week time period. In most of the matchups that I've had so far, my team has come short in the rebounding department. I still may  have to consider dropping one of my guards to pick up another rebounder though.