Rick Kamla and RotoPoll Agree: Manu Blew Up

Manu can do a lot in only 27 minutes.

Sometimes I like to compare the RotoPoll rankings against other rankings that are out there.

Last night on NBA TV’s NBA Fantasy Hoops, host Rick Kamla proclaimed that Manu Ginobili had the best fantasy line of the night. This morning, I checked the RotoPoll top games list to see if it agrees with Rick. Good news: It does. So in case you were worried that these numbers are being conjured out of thin air, there’s one tiny piece of anecdotal evidence that they’re legit.

New Features in the Pipeline

I’m constantly updating my list of things I want to do to improve RotoPoll. These ideas from comments, emails, and stuff I just cooked up in my head. So, time permitting, here are some features I’m planning to get worked in soon:

• Adding minutes to player stats
• Including turnovers as an optional category, so RotoPoll is more useful for 9-category leagues

Somewhat less likely:

• Having the trade evaluator suggest players to add to trades
• Add data and trends from previous seasons

I’m probably forgetting some stuff, and there are also some longer-term ideas (as in, less likely to get done because they’ll be harder to do), but this is what I’m hoping to tackle right now.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know at rotopoll (at) gmail (dot) com.

Fantasy Through the Ages

I’ve always wanted to see a list of the best fantasy seasons of all-time. Our friends over at Give Me the Rock have created a list that comes pretty close, covering the years 1979-2005 (Note: it’s a big file). There they are—the best 9,168 individual seasons over those 26 seasons. Awesome.

Remember that old game Jordan vs. Bird: One-on-one? That’s what the top of the list looks like.

Mark Blount and Matt Barnes: We’re 2 for 3!

We may have been a little off on Devin Brown (so far), but tonight Mark Blount and Matt Barnes redeemed us, and then some.

Barnes: 36 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 threes, 2 blocks, and a steal.
Blount: 28 points, a block, a steal, 12-14 FG, and 4-4 FT.

Nice! Remember, you heard it here first (maybe).

Who Would You Take, Baron Davis or Joe Smith?

That’s an easy one: B-Diddy. But take a look at their lines from last night and tell me which one you think was better:

		FG	FT	3pt	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	Pts
Joe Smith		4/9	4/4	0	8	1	2	1	12
Baron Davis		10/25	8/13	1	7	7	2	1	29

If you’re sensing that this is a trick question, you’re right. Actually, their performances are close to equal in value, but believe it or not, Joe Smith’s is better. I noticed this comparison because their lines were consecutive on last night’s top games list, which made the contrast easy to spot.

As you can probably guess, the biggest reason Baron’s game isn’t worth more is his poor percentages (and high volume of shots), despite the fact that he absolutely stuffed the rest of the line. For a good example of a stat-stuffer with good percentages, see last night’s #1 performer, Ron Artest.

Expect Big Things from Matt Barnes

This is NBA.com’s current Matt Barnes photo.

Hopefully you’re well aware of what Matt Barnes is doing by now.

A lot of people are probably suspicious that his numbers will drop soon, due to the depth of the Warriors bench, various injuries, and Don Nelson’s notoriously fickle lineups. However, yesterday Nelson said that he now considers Barnes his second-best player, after Baron Davis (audio of the interview can, I think, be found on the KNBR website).

Granted, Nelson said it like he could hardly believe the words were coming out of his mouth, is the same guy who likes cracking ding-dong jokes on the air, and gave Mike Dunleavy the most backhanded compliment of 2006 when he called him the team’s “best flopper,” but still… This is great news if you have Matt Barnes. Keep him.

Time to Eat Crow on Devin Brown

Yikes. Just a few hours after we sang the praises of Devin Brown, he rewarded us for our recommendation with a solid 2 points on 1-10 shooting. However, we’ll still recommend him as a good play over the next few weeks while the Hornets deal with their myriad injuries.

The BCS is like Jessica Alba (And Here’s How to Fix It)

Jessica Alba is kind of like the BCS…
Too hot to mess with.

Let’s start from the beginning. The outcry over the BCS and the desire for a college football playoff system stems, I believe, from our innate American need to proclaim someone the best at everything (the richest, the sexiest, and so on).

The resistance to implementing significant change to the current bowl system is due to the fact that the schools and bowls are already making tons of money. Let me try an analogy: If you were already dating Jessica Alba, would you be out hitting the bars and clubs every night looking to meet someone hotter, or would you be spending as much time as possible at home with Jessica?

But what I really want, and I think most other fans too, is simply to watch great, exciting football games. That’s why I was up last night witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime (did someone say “Game-changing?”) performance. And games are always more exciting when they “mean” something (like a do-or-die playoff game would—see “Madness, March”).

On PTI today, Tony Kornheiser pointed out that before the much-maligned BCS, we probably woudn’t even have seen a game like yesterday’s. As Tony said, “Baby steps.” But now that you’ve seen Boise State play (and you can admit that it was the first time, even if you vaguely recalled that they’re the team with the “smurf turf”), don’t you want to see them play again?

So here’s what I propose:

Treat the BCS bowls as quarterfinals. USC and Boise State are through to the semis, along with the winners of the Orange and Sugar Bowls. Then, next week, instead of one exciting, meaningful game, we get two. The two winners then play the week after for the true, undisputed, glorious championship of college football. The sun will shine, birds will chirp, and children will sing happily in the village square, for at last, we have crowned a champion!

It only takes one extra week and virtually nothing has to change. We still have the original bowl games. They can keep their sponsor names for all I care. We just add a couple extra games that are guaranteed to be cash cows for the TV networks and the schools. It’s like Jessica Alba brought home one of her hot friends. Everybody wins!

Guy You Need to Know About: Devin Brown

That flash of light in the night sky isn’t a meteor (or the state of Idaho celebrating by shooting off one billion firecrackers), it’s Devin Brown rocketing up the RotoPoll rankings.

Since being signed by the injury-riddled Hornets barely a week ago, Brown has stepped right in and taken on big minutes. Over his last three games, he’s averaged 14 points, almost 9 rebounds and 5 assists, and 1.7 steals and threes per contest. His only drawback is his poor shooting (35% FG and 71% FT).

I think you can look for good production from him for a while, as Chris Paul, Peja, B-Jax and David West are all expected to remain sidelined for weeks.

Also, if anyone out there has web experience and needs work, Mr. Brown’s web site could use a little updating.

Guy You Need to Know About: Mark Blount

It’s not often a guy appears on the fantasy waiver wire as a legitimate contributor, in the middle of the season, without any fanfare (such as an injury or trade). That’s why you need to know about what Minnesota center Mark Blount is doing.

Perhaps best-known as a guy who made the most out of a contract year (to put it nicely), Blount has quitely started contributing consistently over the past few weeks. His RotoPoll season rank is only up to 110 (not horrible for a backup center), but in his past five games he’s averaging nearly 17 points, 7 rebounds, a block, a steal, and shooting 62% from the field, numbers which would put him in the top 70. His charts are clearly trending up.

I’m not saying he’s the next Tim Duncan, but he’s become a legitimate first or second center for almost any fantasy team. Give him a look if you need a big man.