italstallianion

I think it does matter. It helps explain some rationale behind the decision and it might help put more thought into it. Granted, I'd be angrier at the people that don't vote, but voting one-liners isn't much better. That's what happened often in the baseball redraft which is why Ytrb made it necessary to explain voting in this one. God forbid that this voting ends up like it did back in the baseball redraft, but in my opinion, it has improved a lot, even if a lot of the people here weren't in that redraft. I think we're gradually getting the kinks out, and I think that the voting in the NFL redraft will be even better.

This is also the first draft tournament for a bunch of the voters, so hopefully some of the newbies will see how veterans are voting and follow that up accordingly, especially when the NFL redraft starts shortly.

The chart doesn't have all of the roster changes.

Is everyone's team updated?

I think that JBay and I both have really good teams, and if it wasn't for WhiskeyBreath's team, I could see this being a finals matchup. Anyway, most of what will be said, has already been said, so I won't waste much time repeating everything. Here are a few things that I'd find important for the matchup. Steve Nash will be 39.5 in 3 years. Dirk is my oldest player (I'm pretty sure at least) and he'd be 35 at that time. I think that his skills would decline quite a bit in that time, and what I think really hurts JBay is that this will be one season 3 years from now, RATHER than over the next 3 years. This means that Nash won't be training Jennings in the meantime and that makes me further doubt that Jennings would become the heir apparent of Nash, especially because Nash is a coveted facilitator while Jennings has more of the star PG/ballhog game. I think another big problem for Jbay's team in a close game is Dwight Howard's free throws. He is a career 59.6% free thow shooter, and Perkins is a 60.4% free throw shooter. The reason why this is a big deal is because based on the matchups, Jbay would be required to go to the frontcourt throughout the game. This is because of the fact that Howard is one of the best players in the game, combined with the fact that my only good defenders are backcourt or mid players. So I'd imagine that Howard would have the ball quite a bit, and he'd be shooting a lot of free throws which would leave a lot of points on the board. On a similar note, an important factor in close games is frontcourt depth. One reason why I voted for Kilo's team to win a few matchups despite having less talented players is the fact that he has not only a great frontcourt, but a deep one. There is going to be a lot of chipping, grinding, and fouling, and I don't think that Howard and Perkins can be on the floor the entire game, and I think that having a deep frontcourt is going to be WAY more important than having a deep backcourt, considering that backcourt players foul less and are in better shape to play more minutes. This means that some of his backcourt players probably won't be playing much since it'll be a close game and a close series. I also think that in a close game, in addition to free throws, that 3 point shooting is going to be big. I feel that I have a lot of capable 3 point shooters (including a couple of 3 point shooting big men) and I believe that I'd have the best 3 point shooter (percentage) on the court in Kyle Korver, who shot 53.6% of 3's last year and was around there this year, albeit until an 0-fer which brought him down to 44.9% in this young season. His best 3 point shooter percentage wise is Nash, who again, might not be much of a factor when he's nearing 40. I believe that in close games, Jbay's poor front court free throw shooting and my diverse portfolio of 3 point shooters would help me in case I needed to come from behind in a game or two, and I have one of the best free throw shooting bigs in Dirk that could help me ice games too. The only other thing I'll say is that I don't have young players just for the sake of having cheap salaries. I truly believe that most of my young players will be stars or at worst, regular contributors. I think that Roy Hibbert and Blake Griffin will be a championship frontcourt for years to come, and I think that Wesley Johnson and Xavier Henry will be elite backcourt scorers. I think that Lawson and Aldrich will become very good role players and come from well coached college programs, and fit very well into my team dynamic. I think that Jbay has a very good team, and I ranked him 2nd in the power rankings behind WhiskeyBreath (ytrb can verify that) but I think that my team is better suited to win close games in championship series, especially one 3 years from now.

So it looks like WB will be in the finals (no surprise there)

You can rent her. I'd give her away once every 30 days or so.

Hey guys, one of my friends and former High School teammates is nominated for the Division 3 Heisman. I was wondering if you guys could vote for my teammate. I used to have trouble tackling him in practice (he was a running back and I was a linebacker). As a trivia note, the other running back on our team led the Detroit Lions in tackles yesterday vs. the Patriots. Anyway, here is the link, I appreciate any help here. His name is Shea Dwyer. http://www.d3football.com/notables/2010/11/gagliardi-trophy-finalists

You know, this would have been done if the teams can vote for themselves. Anyway, WhiskeyBreath and Kilo can't vote, and ytrb, myself, jbay, and Yankshater already did vote, so that means there are only 6 or so people left that can still vote on this.

I agree, but if the Sox could catch a break on money and or prospects, it does look like it'd be a great deal. Not likely, but it has potential. Imagine if you had Crawford, Reyes, and Ellsbury in the same lineup. Again not likely, but that's like the speed pipe dream vs. the power pipe dream of Adrian Gonzalez, Adam Dunn, and Jayson Werth, or the pitching pipe dream of Cliff Lee, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, and a good Dice-K and Beckett.

To your point Ytrb, if this was a fantasy team, RSFFL would have a top team, and defense would never be considered in voting.

Too much eyeliner though.

Wow Emmz, how were you able to put the writing over your photo?

If we weren't willing to give up peanuts (and taking on his $7 million salary) to get him from the Braves, then I don't see us giving up more money and a high draft pick for him.

I'm wondering if there's a correlation between myself, WhiskeyBreath, JBay, and Ytrb all doing the baseball draft, and Kilo, Yankshater, Coco, and Jacoby all being new to the draft and draft voting.

I think that the voting here has gone A LOT better than the voting in the baseball redraft. Some of that voting was retarded. Besides, I think different people are building their teams and voting in different manners. It seems that you and Kilo (and even Coco and Jacoby to an extent) are very similar in your ways of thinking, building a team, and voting, and then there are other methods of accomplishing this task, like the methods that WhiskeyBreath, Yrtb, Jbay and I took. There are even other ways to handle it, like the "when in doubt, draft everyone on my favourite team" method that boston22407 and Suns did. My point is, and I think what WhiskeyBreath and Ytrb are trying to say is, while teamwork and meshing are important abilities to building a team, nobody has PROOF that the players would go well together, and it really does seem like a cheap cop out when your team isn't as talented as your opponents. I'm NOT saying that this is the case with your team YH or Kilo's team, but that's what it looks like. Unless the players have played together in the past (ie Stockton and Malone, Pippen and Jordan) then there really isn't any evidence to suggest that one team's players would mesh together better than anothers, with the only exception being the presence of locker room cancers. So that argument really doesn't have much weight. It also seems like a pattern that the person who brings up teamwork, is the owner of the less talented team.

You would think that, since you're probably the only one that's making a change.

Should we just have everyone that wants to make a pick, to then make one? I mean it seems that 1 or 2 people will be using the waiver wire, and it's not like there's that much great talent that hasn't been drafted, and we all technically had 30 or so chances to draft those particular players anyway.

Team Chemistry is one of those things that you can't really prove or disprove, unless you have obvious lockerroom cancers on your team, and I don't think that any of the final 4 teams have them.

Who knows, but I think it's more likely that we would have NOT won the title in 2007 than the likelihood that we would have won the title in 2005.

And in addition, the main (and perhaps only) reason why letting Cabrera go looks bad is because of how the replacement players did in that timeframe, and that's clearly hindsight that can't be used to fairly judge the decision to let Cabrera go at the time the decision was made. I think it was a reasonable expectation that some of the replacement SS's could perform up to a reasonable level, and just because they didn't, does not mean that Theo made a mistake by letting Cabrera go.

I hope that you guys automatically passed me and didn't waste 4 hours waiting for my picks (that won't be made)

The only problem I have with this is that it doesn't mention the draft picks that these FA's got the Red Sox organization. For example, we drafted Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie with the picks for Orlando Cabrera, and Craig Hansen and Michael Bowden with the picks from Lowe, and Clay Buchholz and Johnathon Egan with the picks from Pedro. And don't forget Daniel Bard and Kris Johnson for Johnny Damon.

First, I think that both teams here are very good and deserve to be in the final four. Here, we have 2 different styles of management, much like my matchup vs. Yankshater. WhiskeyBreath has the more talented team, but Kilo's team seems more balanced and versatile. I do like WhiskeyBreath's starting 5 over Kilo's because he has proven stars at spots 2,3,4,5 and Collison is a year more developed than Wall (albeit with less potential). Kilo's team, while having a very good frontcourt, has an overrated and seemingly old for his age SF, a good complimentary piece (albeit not a star) at SG, and a PG with the potential to be one of the best in the game, albeit with less experience than Collison. I'd take WhiskeyBreath at the 2 and 3 spots by a large margin, Kilo at the 4 by a small margin, a tie at the 5, and Kilo with a slight edge at the 1. Overall I'd give WhiskeyBreath the edge at the starting lineup. I'd rate WhiskeyBreath higher if he started Harris over Collison, but I'd still give Kilo the edge at the 1. What really makes this decision easier is the bench. I'd take Harris (who I think should be starting) over Felton, as Harris is a complete player with defense, scoring, play making, vision, and 1 on 1 abilities. I'd also take Evan Turner over JJ Redick, which I'll admit I am biased against Redick, but I think that Turner has the talent to be more than a bench player, while I see Redick as a good 3 point option and free throw shooter, but of little other contributions. I'd give Kilo the edge at backup SF (Landry over Casspi) but I'd give WhiskeyBreath the 4 with Millsap over West, but that's because West is very soft at the PF position, especially on the defensive end. West is a good offensive piece, but I think that he can be handled by Millsap and Smith's defense, while I think that Mr. Glass West would fold trying to defend most PF's (except for Aldridge who might be the only softer starting PF in the NBA). Anyway, I'd give a slight edge to WhiskeyBreath there. For backup center, I'd give the edge to Kilo, because he has a good offense/defense set with Ilgausakas and Gortat, whereas I'm not a big fan of DeAndre Jordan and I think that Hickson is more of a PF and wouldn't adjust well to the C position. In total, I'd give Whiskeybreath the edge on the bench as well, winning the 1, 2, and 4 (slighty) spots, while Kilo takes the 3 (slightly) and the 5 spot. I think that it's closer than the talent discrepency would say, but I think that WhiskeyBreath has the top team in the league for a reason, and that his team would beat Kilo's in a 7 game series.

The first time or the second time?