When you pick an 8-man fantasy team for one night only, you need a little luck. I took a shot with Vince Carter, who has been great in previous returns to Toronto, but the whole Mavs team was awful and Vinsanity looked like Vinsenility. My lineup finished 117th of 404 entries, so he wasn’t entirely to blame.
The winner “chuckechips” should buy Andre Iguodala a beer from his $100 first prize. Second-place “mikagawi” earned $60 thanks to productive bargains Austin Rivers and Jodie Meeks, while “nvirovec” also used Iggy to finish third and win 30 bucks. Kudos to all 15 prize winners (who shared $300 cash) and thanks again to everyone who entered.
In my other leagues last night, I keyed on the Celtics, especially Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett, thinking they might score 110 in Houston. That didn’t work, so I’m now down $40 from the original $100 bankroll this week. Nobody can win every night; you have to keep plugging away and hope for the best.
| DraftStreet 15 | Dec. 15 |
| Stars | Over $13,000 |
| LeBron James | $22,464 |
| Blake Griffin | $18,089 |
| Joakim Noah | $18,889 |
| Josh Smith | $16,906 |
| Tyson Chandler | $14,375 |
| Scrubs | Under $9,000 |
| Marco Belinelli | $8,876 |
| Alexey Shved | $8,591 |
| DeShawn Stevenson | $6,993 |
| Marquis Daniels | $7,431 |
| Andrew Nicholson | $8,928 |
| Starters | $9,000 to $13,000 |
| Nikola Pekovic | $11,283 |
| Raymond Felton | $12,841 |
| George Hill | $12,019 |
| Jeff Teague | $10,480 |
| J.R. Smith | $9,564 |
With ten games in the NBA this evening, there are over 200 players to choose from. As usual, the chart makes five suggestions in each of three price ranges: over $13,000, under $9,000, and in between. All leagues close at 7:00 EST; you can make unlimited changes to your lineups until then. Here’s one that I’ll be using in multiple $2 and $5 contests:
F Josh Smith (ATL-F) $16,906
F Andrei Kirilenko (MIN-F) $14,221
G Dwyane Wade (MIA-G) $13,679
G Marco Belinelli (CHI-G) $8,876
C Joakim Noah (CHI-C) $18,899
C Nikola Pekovic (MIN-C) $11,283
U Andrew Nicholson (ORL-F) $8,928
U DeShawn Stevenson (ATL-G) $6,993
I’m bullish enough on the Bulls to pay the high salary for Noah and with Kevin Love nursing a sore thumb, will start two of his teammates. Passing on LeBron James (by far the costliest player) and hoping Dwyane Wade is the go-to guy for Miami is strictly a guess, influenced quite a bit by their relative salaries.
Today’s Fantasy Spin previews all of Saturday’s games and recaps what happened last night.