Power Rankings: Weeks 4-9 Part II

In the middle of the league are these 3 teams who are caught in a three-way tie for fourth place in wins.  They are the "warrior hawks" of this league in that although they aren't the front runners just as golden state is second in the pacific to the Clippers and the Hawks are second fiddle in the Southeast to the Heat, but they have a good chance of knocking out any of the top 3 in the playoffs.


6th:
Sleeper Squad
6-2 to Chalah
6-3 to skiptomylou
3-5 to kobeking
7-2 to Rob
3-6 to Laker Gang
2-7 to Clipper Nation

Dropping this team down one place from its overall ranking as he and kobeking have the same record yet kobeking won their matchup in week 7. Although Sleeper Squad is at the bottom of the league in two categories (PTS and STL), any given week he has a good chance to win 5-6 other categories. If Andrew Bynum returns strong, and this team lives up to its name and picks up or more likely trades for more sleepers, Sleeper Squad should perform better than its current ranking.


Smooth moves: Trading for Steph Curry and Serge Ibaka have been this team's saving grace. Who would have thought that Brandon Jennings would be producing at such a high rate? Not anybody. Also, following the example of his great 10th round pick of Nikola Pekovic, Sleeper Squad went and grabbed another Nikola, Vujecic, who is playing out of his mind now too.


1 and done: James Harden, Jason Richardson, Amir Johnson, Andre Miller, Jason Maxiel, Gerald Green are all players who have recorded 1 game's worth of fantasy stats for Sleeper Squad.


5th
k1dk0be
5-4 to skiptomylou
4-5 to kobeking
7-2 to Rob
1-7 to Laker Gang
5-3 to Clipper Nation
3-6 to gmachine


In the middle of this three way tie in the middle of the league is k1dk0be's team. This team has won spectacularly in taking down one-time league leader, Rob (7-1) in week 7, but also lost devastatingly like it did in week 6 to Laker Gang (1-7). As inconsistent as this team has been in its week to week production, there haven't been many roster changes as k1dk0be has stuck with his draft day picks through thick and thin. He's sitting comfortably in the middle of the pack but needs to take more risks if he doesn't want to get left behind from the leaders of this league.


Dominant: Has one of the rare 8-1 records in the category of points and has never lost in the BLK category either (has 2 ties though).


Can't Keep it up Can He? Referring to kobe and jamal crawford's high point production as well as Brook Lopez playing like a new man since Avery Johnson was fired. Kyle Lowry and Thad Young have come back down to earth after soaring through the first part of the season. Maybe k1dk0be is on to something with all these overachievers.


4th
kobeking
Record since last power rankings:
3-6 to The Replacements
5-4 to k1dk0be
5-3 to Sleeper Squad
6-3 skiptomylou
6-3 to Challah
5-4 to Rob

A recipient of some high impact performers in December with Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony and most recently Player of the Week, Greivis Vasquez (seriously).  kobeking’s players have been playing as well as they possibly could (see Matt Barnes and Vasquez) but he still has a lot of potential with Wes Matthews making his return and John Wall has yet to make his season debut.  

A lot like LA: Call this team the Clippers for the winning streak he was having through November and most of December. Then, kobeking dropped its matchup with league bottom-dweller, The Replacements, in week 9. In essence, playing like the Lakers have been all season, in giving the 9th Ranked team in this league its first win in almost 2 months.

Pretty Dominant: Only team in this league to have 7 Wins out of 9 matchups in 3 statistical categories (3PTM, AST, STL).  Expect him to continue winning these categories with those high octane guards and wing players of his.  Competing teams will have to win the other 6 categories when matched up against this team.

Power Rankings: Weeks 4-9 Part I

Hello League-ers, after much delay, here are the first of the 2013 power rankings.  You will find below the rankings for teams 10 through 7. I'd like to dub these teams the combo of the Magic and Raptors, (Magical Raptors?).  

Similar to our lovable losers in Canada and Florida, these four teams have  some pretty awful records.  However, since the top 6 qualify, they are barely outside of the playoff picture just like how the Magic and Raps are 2.5 games out of the 8th spot in the "LEastern" Conference.  

10th

Challah
Record since last power rankings:
2 - 6  to Sleeper Squad
4 - 5 to Clipper Nation
2 - 7 to skiptomylou
4 - 5 to gmachine
3 - 6 to kobeking
5 - 4 to The Replacements
 
It has been a rough month a half for Challah as he has been on the losing side ofthe majority of matchups.  His team is firmly in 10th although he did take down the Replacements in their week 4 matchup.
 
On the bright side: Larry Sanders is emerging as a force as a fantasy asset.  Challah can try to flip this guy now while his stock is ever so high.
 
Dilemma:  This is a team of efficient but not spectacular performers. Although Kemba Walker is emerging as a force, Challah won’tbe able to contend with the rest of the league in 3’s, AST or STL.  He might be better served consolidating his stats in 5-6 main categories.  That way he can eek out some 5-4 victories focusing on his strengths of REB, BLKS, TO.

 
9th
The Replacements
Record since last power rankings:
6-3 to kobeking
2-6 to Rob
3-6 to Laker Gang
3-5 to Clipper Nation
3-6 o gmachine
 4-5t o Challah

Theever revolving door of players for The Replacements means whatever iswritten here seems to be subject to change as soon as he sees a dealthat he likes and decides to blow up his roster again.  Only onewinning week in the last 6 and that was last week against acontending team so hmmmm, good thing I didn’t post where I had himafter week 8.

Be Wary, Competitors:There is more bite to this team than meets the eye.  Based on his stats from week 9, he could have also taken down Challah (5-3)and would have been close in being on the losing side of some 4-5,3-5 matchups with k1dk0be, skiptomylou, Sleeper Squad and Lakers Nation.  The Replacements rank high in FG% FT% as well as REBs.  Although his record will probably teeter around .500, he can upset some teams if he can sneak out an advantage in two or three more categories.

Side kicks:Has Bosh and Wade but not Bron, has Pau,  Metta, and Nash but not Kobe. Felton and Amare but not Melo. This team is heavily invested in the 2nd and 3rd options on 3 of the premier teams in the NBA.  Makes it easy to watch his fantasy players, but unless the top gunners on each of these teams go down, can’t imagine these Robins putting up Batman type numbers.

8th
gmachine
Record since last power rankings:
2-7 to Rob
2-7 to Laker Gang
3-6 to Clipper Nation
5-4 to Challah
6-4 to The Replacements
6-3 to k1d k0be

Tale of two seasons basically at this point.   Has hit a losing streak with inconsistent performers across the board.  However, Al Jefferson and Jrue Holiday are playing at  all-star levels and that Dirk guy  is  going to get himself back into shape soon so things are looking up. Plus, the two month wait on Eric Gordon is finally over  so hopefully the aachy breaky knee of Gordon’s holds up and pushes gmachine upward in the standings.

Hardly Healthy: gmachine took a gamble on some injury prone guys in Gordon and Anderson Varejao. He has also had to wait on Dirk to get healthy and start contributing while depending on some fossils like Jkidd and streaky young guns like OJ Mayo to provide relief in the meantime. If he ever has his full roster playing and contributing, his team can be a nightmare to match up against.


Passing and Punting: really good at passing (8-1 in the AST category matchups). Seems to be punting a certain category (1-8 in BLK matchups)

7th
skiptomylou
4-5 to k1dk0be
3-6 to Sleeper Squad
7-2 to Challah
3-6 to kobeking

4-5 to Rob

4-5 to Laker Gang

Closely contending in mosto f his match-ups, skiptomylou has been on the losing end on almost all of those close battles.  His draft predictions on Damian Lillard and  Andre Drummond have looked to be solid choices, but in the long run, there just doesn’t seem to be enough firepower in the heart of his roster to make this team a legit threat.


Not too shabby: With Dwight starting the season playing like KostaKoufos, skiptomylou has been winning his matchups due to the strongplay of his guards Monta, Klay, and Lillard (has since faded but was solid early on). That is why he has won the majority of his matchups in 3PTM, AST, and STL. If only forwards, Rudy Gay could reawaken his early season beast mode and Josh Smith can keep up his recent tear, then this team can probably sneak up a couple spots in the standings.


Poo Poo Percentages: 1-8 in both FG% and FT%, but what can you expect with gunners like Monta and Klay? Also, Dwightand Drummond are in that exclusive category of shooting better fromthe field than from the free throw line.

Video: Lebron Will Shake Your Hand

It is well-documented that Lebron kind of has this thing where he tends to leave dudes hanging.  But before you label him as a big hand holding hatington, note that if he zips a lead pass which is not caught and hits you in the face, you will indeed get a hand hug.

Highlight: Jimmer shakes and Isaiah celebrates

Jimmer with the nice change of pace crossover and pretty adorable how Tyler Honeycutt pulls Isaiah back from celebrating too far onto the court.