There’s another private league for Sheridan Hoops readers this Friday, December 21, with no entry fee and $300 in cash prizes — $100 to the winner. Just sign up with DraftStreet (no deposit or credit card needed) and you’ll be picking your 8-man team in no time.
For many years as a baseball coach, I had to tell disappointed pitchers, “it wasn’t your night,” or some variation on that theme. Tuesday wasn’t my night in daily leagues. I tried three $5 Snake drafts, all from the same list, as an experiment to see how draft position affects the outcome. Picking second, fourth or sixth didn’t matter, as I finished just out of the money in all three.
I joined two different $2 GPP leagues with five teams in all, but made the foolish mistake of counting on Nick Young, so 97th out of 275 was my least-bad result. I did cash $5 for finishing 14th out of 165 in a Pick ‘Em game, where Tier 8 selection Jordan Crawford was my leading scorer. Didn’t miss the $80 first prize by much, so I’ll try that format more often in the future.
Tonight, there’s another qualifying tournament for the DraftStreet Basketball Championship, which pays out more than $250,000, including $50,000 to the champion. The entry fee is $11, but you can’t win it if you’re not in it, so I’m making an exception to my usual $2 and $5 limit. Finishing first tonight earns a seat in the DSBBC Main Event, one step closer to the fifty grand. There’s also $1,500 in consolation prizes to the next 39 finishers, including $350 for second place.
| DraftStreet 15 | Dec. 19 |
| Stars | Over $13,000 |
| Kevin Durant | $20,377 |
| James Harden | $19,205 |
| Blake Griffin | $16,775 |
| Chris Paul | $16,241 |
| Zach Randolph | $14,925 |
| Scrubs | Under $9,000 |
| Kris Humphries | $7,075 |
| Marcus Morris | $7,061 |
| Dorell Wright | $8,257 |
| Alan Anderson | $7,962 |
| Courtney Lee | $5,703 |
| Starters | $9,000 to $13,000 |
| Glen Davis | $12,693 |
| Jared Dudley | $10,382 |
| Goran Dragic | $12,214 |
| Jordan Crawford | $11,654 |
| Nikola Vucevic | $12,025 |
The chart offers five daily suggestions in each of three price ranges. (This is for Wednesday contests, not the Freeroll.) All leagues close at 7:00 EST, and you can make unlimited changes until then. Here’s my tentative lineup:
F1 Kevin Durant (OKC-F) $20,377
F2 Kris Humphries (BKN-F) $7,075
G1 James Harden (HOU-G) $19,205
G2 Jared Dudley (PHO-G) $10,382
C1 Marcin Gortat (PHO-C) $12,252
C2 Nikola Vucevic (ORL-C) $12,025
U1 Jordan Crawford (WAS-G) $11,654
U2 Marvin Williams (UTA-F) $6,824
Starting with the assumption that Kevin Durant and James Harden are the two best players to own, I then plugged in two C who are reasonably priced for their recent production and am hoping Crawford is a one-man team again tonight. Dudley was the best Util guy I could afford, and the last two guys are interchangeable. The Humphries pick hopes that Carmelo Anthony doesn’t play; if Melo is confirmed as a starter, I’ll make adjustments at F2 and U2.
If you want to join DraftStreet in time for tonight’s leagues, click here to get started. To enter only the Friday Freeroll (and maybe win money for nothing) here’s the signup link.
Today’s Fantasy Spin previews all 11 Wednesday NBA games in detail and looks at what happened last night, when Joakim Noah triple-doubled and Pau Gasol returned.