The Inaugural No Bum Dynasty League (NBDL) is in the books! The league features 20 experts (I didn’t say what they were experts in) who drafted 15 players to be on their teams forever. Each week, 20 managers will face off against each other until we conclude the fantasy regular season. After that, the fantasy playoffs will start for the top 8 teams.
Here are some quick thoughts and ideas about my picks in each round:
SubZero I was fortunate to land a top 8 pick, and the third pick, to be exact. I believe there is a clear consensus on the top 8 players, and I’m happy to start my franchise with a top-tier player. Being at number three, I was 100% confident that Jokic would be off the board. In a similar league, Jokic was drafted second, with Gumby being drafted first. So, I thought there was a chance for Skinny Engaged Luka and the 2023-24 MVP to drop to pick 3.
However, as we got closer to the start, the odds of Luka being selected 2nd were -10000. Prepared as I was, I had to jump into my next tier of players, which included Jayson Tatum and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
For my rankings, Wemby, Lamelo, Ant, and Tyrese did not meet the criteria.
My criteria was at least 1 All-NBA appearance, and JT has 3, while Luka has 4. Both are not in their prime yet, sitting at younger than 26 years old. There’s no need to look at any other stats.
But for the stat guys, here’s why I think people have JT ranked way too low at 7:
13.9 -> 15.7 -> 23.4 -> 26.4 -> 26.9 -> 30.1 -> What is the next points per season prediction? 30.2 is the floor, given this pattern. Sign me up!
1.6 -> 2.1 -> 3.0 -> 4.3 -> 4.4 -> 4.6 -> You have had some practice with these types of patterns, and if we throw in the fact that Marcus Smart, the team’s best playmaker, was traded, I think the floor is 5.5 assists with the increased usage.
5.0 -> 6.0 -> 7.0 -> 7.4 -> 8.0 -> 8.8 -> Alright, if you have not learned this pattern yet, well, “it is what it is”, and hopefully you are not relying on any mathematical tasks in your work.
1.3 -> 1.5 -> 2.9 -> 2.9 -> 3.0 -> 3.2 -> Alright, a slight variation, but I guess we need to include >=, and let’s throw in Joe Massula trying to out-math teams, and we could easily see 3s jump to 4.0 per game.
Steal, lock, and load 1 per game, as he has never been below 1.0. His Blocks are at an average of 0.7 per game.
FT% is elite, with volume improving each year.
The only small wish is for JT to be a little less Kobe-like as his FG% floats around 46%. If his life goal is to be Black Mumba, that efficiency is here to stay.
Why not Shai? A couple of reasons:
OKC team will continue to get better, and usage may not be there.
Most of Shai’s value was in high volume efficiency, which I could see potentially dip.
I think the 2022-23 season is his ceiling in terms of fantasy production. All of this to say I’m prepared to be wrong once again on Shai.
“I never liked [Lebron’s] game. To me when I was younger he was just super athletic, I wasn’t that. He was 6’8”, super strong, and I wasn’t that either
~Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
So go and grab a Snickers bar, my next pick was not until 2-18 or pick 38. Here were the names I was stewing over: Dame, Barnes, Bane, who sat at 19 (tier 5), 29 (tier 6), 36 (tier 7) in my ranks. It was really between Dame and Barnes for me. Damian Lillard having 7x All-NBA appearances was difficult to ignore. What else does Dame Dolla bring? His ability to dominate in 3 categories: PTS, FT%, 3s, while being an elite assists artist. His weakness in FG% paired with Tatum in the previous round puts me in a deep deficit from a shooting perspective. Maybe that summer heat and Spo can warm up his FG%? At this point, I felt I’m planning my parade and putting the notice on full alert!
We, Lakers, Dodgers and Rams should all do a joint parade together!!!! With a live concert afterwards to end it!! City of Champions
University of Fantasy Ball 
Leave a comment