So I’m in a couple of Hoop-Ball listeners leagues this year. I guess it’s more of a @DanBesbris listeners leagues. One draft – normal snake 12 team draft – is set to be sometime this week, but the other draft is a little less conventional. We’re talking 24 teams, 13 roster slots dynasty league. It’s not a typo. Twenty Four teams. Let’s forget about the depth for a second there (Vince Carter, here I come!)… It’s a logistic nightmare, and I do not envy its commissioner. The guy is a saint for doing this. Just organizing all of the rules, man, that was hard to watch. His place in heaven is practically guaranteed.
We have our ‘GroupMe’ chat feed. Not all 24 team owners are there. The draft started over a couple of days ago, and we’re still not sure which owner is not there. But it’s fun, though. I got to pick 21st. Always a fan of a good challenge, I guess (actually, no. I like things that come easily for me in life). Took Dray, then Devin Booker and in the third round got Chriss. Looks like I have angered some Fantasy Gods last year and I feel like I’m doomed there… But perhaps I can get lucky?
The GroupMe chat is fun. Feels like sharing a secret. My other leagues don’t have a clue about me being a crazy fan of this stuff, so with the HB listeners it’s far more open and nice. Even someone named Aaron Bruski joined the chat, though he’s not an active chatter. Messes with our minds. If that’s really him, that is cool.
So the first few rounds of this draft were (are… still ongoing!) crazy. There’s a 6-hours limit per pick, and our main goal is to get to Oct. 17th fully-rostered. We chat quite a lot and get crazy when a guy takes a lot of time to make a pick. We are all in different time zones, so a solid several picks run is rare. And we have the ‘we don’t name names’ rule, according to which we do not talk about players not yet drafted. It did not last too long.
Oh, and now Dan Besbris covers our draft on his pod! Cool, my team is mentioned on the podcast… Aaaaand it’s completely shit. He just called my team weird and I don’t completely disagree. He had a rather long pause after noting I paired Chriss with Booker. Counting on luck, then. That’s a plan. Never fails. Oh, and he said Bruski did sign up to our league! The chat feed was buzzin’! We were sure Dan did not realize he was talking about dynasty until like pick 25… Dan, if you’re reading this, we do draft for years to come and not just a ‘win now’ strategy. Why win now when you can postpone it to… later?
This is gonna be so much fun. I hope everybody’s in it for the long run. Gonna update from time to time if anything explosive happens.
So, what made my week?
- Drafting with fellow enthusiasts, and not my stupid hometown buddies (although I am looking forward that one, too).
- The Bruski-150 that came out (Hoop-Ball)!
- Ryan Knaus’ cheat-sheet that came out (Rotoworld)!
- Integrating both lists was a blast!
- Actually maintaining productivity at work while integrating both lists (productivity=managed to stay awake during a meeting at some point).
That’s it for now, keep mocking! Write notes!
Happy drafting,
J-Ball
A Really not professional fantasy basketball blog 