Imagine this in a draft.
Click here to listen to this week’s Wages of Wins Podcast!
Wages of Wins Podcast – 3 on 3 Fantasy Draft Winners and Losers
On the Miami Heat Podcast Heat Freak’s Alfredo Arteaga(@UptownReport) had a fantastic idea. What if during the lockout some of the leagues top players got together and ran an ultimate 3 on 3 tournament? With that several members of the Wages of Wins Network got together and held a fantasy draft for such a torunament. Unless the top talent in the NBA suddenly decides to fufill our wishes though all we can do is speculate on who would win. To decide our winners though we decided to have two ‘impartial judges’ that didn’t participate pick grade each team and one player that did participate in the draft to talk about it:
- Mosi Platt (@MIA_Heat_Index) of The Miami Heat Index
- Dre Alvarez (@NerdNumbers) Co-Editor of the Wages of Wins Journal
- Representing the players was Devin Dignam (nag him to get on twitter) of NBeh?
Here’s a brief reminder of our other contestants:
- ArturoGalletti (@ArturoGalletti) Co-Editor of the Wages of Wins Journal and head writer at Arturo’s Silly Little Stats
- Ben Gulker (@BRGulker) of Pistons by the Numbers
- Greg Steele – Our Resident Houston Rockets writer
- James Brocato (@jbrocato23) of Shut Up and Jam
- Patrick Minto (@nbageek) of The NBA Geek
So in order here are the teams and contestants and how we graded them. Each judge had one A, two Bs and three Cs to hand out.
Devin Dignam – Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Kevin Garnett
- Mosi (B) (with some reservations) This team is limited on outside shooting except for Steve Nash. Nash also takes both the role of shooter and passer, which hurts this team.
- Dre (B) Good ball handler in Nash, great wing in Odom and best available bigs in Gasol and Garnett. It’s a strong team it’s just not the best team. (Devin agreed with this)
- Devin’s thoughts – Would give himself a B just because he isn’t the best pick for an A.
Ben Gulker – Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Arron Afflalo and Kobe Bryant
- Mosi (C) Arron Afflalo is the weak link on this team. Paul and Griffin were exciting but it just didn’t pan out.
- Dre (C+) This team was close with Paul and Griffin but Afflalo barely puts this team in the C range. That said it’s my favorite of the Cs.
- Devin’s thoughts – Ben needed another forward like player with his third pick.
Arturo Galletti – Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, Paul Pierce and Jason Kidd
- Mosi (A) You’ve got to have a great shooter, a big and a passer. Arturo has that in spades.
- Dre (A) Top Center in the league and top Shooting Guard in the league and top five wing in the league. Jason Kidd doesn’t even need to suit up.
- Devin’s Thoughts – Getting Howard pretty much sealed this for Arturo. It’s not very close.
Patrick Minton – Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Mike Dunleavy and Landry Fields
- Mosi (C) This is the worst team in the league. Fields and Dunleavy have no business playing.
- Dre (C) This team is the most fascinating to me. I don’t think they’re favorites but they have a great shot to surprise.
- Devin’s Thoughts – I think this team is weak in areas. If they’re hot they could upset some teams but they’re not good enough to compete.
James Brocato – LeBron James, Ray Allen, Zach Randolph and Andrei Kirilenko
- Mosi (B) This team has all of the components. No one is stopping LeBron and it comes down to this team and Arturo’s.
- Dre – (B) Might take Garnett over Randolph. That said easily the second best team in this league.
- Devin’s Thoughts – Zach Randolph is the weak link on this team. Also Andrei Kirilenko played well in Eurobasket 2011.
Greg Steele – Kevin Love, Manu Ginobili, Josh Smith and Stephen Curry
- Mosi – (C) Confused by Josh Smith and Manu Ginobili, especially given Greg’s excellent fantasy skills. This team will have to double team on defense, which is a recipe for disaster.
- Dre – (C) Kevin Love is great. Ginobili is not as strong in a league without free throws.
- Devin’s Thoughts – Josh Smith was to try and help Love on defense. That said Love was probably picked too high.
Listen for more banter and even more analysis about how Arturo’s team could potentially be stopped. Sorry for any participants we may have offended. Of course the only thing more fun that making fantasy teams is arguing about which teams are the best.
-Dre
Wages of Wins Journal 
brgulker
October 6, 2011
For the record, I would have picked Odom third had I read the rules correctly. And then Kobe fourth.
brgulker
October 6, 2011
And since I can’t listen right now, I hope someone gave Mosi a hard time for giving high grades to the teams with Heat players!
Devin Dignam
October 6, 2011
Actually, I hadn’t noticed that. You may have a point….
fricktho
October 6, 2011
Patrick started off strong, but then I’m not sure what happened. Who’s going to handle the ball on that team? He could have picked among a number of players that weren’t even drafted (D.Williams, G.Wallace, Igoudala, Stoudamire, Noah, etc) and been in the running.
Arturo’s team is head and shoulders above the rest.
Patrick Minton (@nbageek)
October 6, 2011
lol Mosi….of course he thinks my team is the worst, I passed on LBJ
Have fun dominating the inside every game while my “losers” like Dunleavy and Fields score 8 points on 10 shots :)
mosiplatt
October 7, 2011
@brgulker @DevinDignam:
It doesn’t take bias to give high grades to the teams with the best players.
mosiplatt
October 7, 2011
@nbageek:
Let’s take a look at hoopdata… 100% of Landry Fields threes were assisted last season. 97% of Dunleavy’s threes were assisted. Is there a passer on your team to get them the ball? No. Is there anyone on your team that commands a double-team? No. Can they get their own shot off? No. Will their shooting percentages plummet? Yes. Does that make your team the worst? By far.
mosiplatt
October 7, 2011
@nbageek:
And I didn’t even address the fact that your team can’t guard anybody. Durant is decent & Fields gives effort but Dirk & Dunleavy?
Here’s what Wade did to Dunleavy last season: http://youtu.be/cbYZfk9sWQU. Lol… Pacers coach Frank Vogel said “No mas” a little over 5 minutes into the game, Wade scored 22 pts in the 1st quarter on 9-13 shooting.
Good luck with Dirk trying to guard Dwight Howard or Zach Randolph down low. It’s a DISASTER for your team on defense…
Devin Dignam
October 9, 2011
Mosi: I’d still take my team over the LeBron-Randolph combo, which is where I think your LeBron bias comes into play :)
mosiplatt
October 16, 2011
@Devin:
My issue w/ your team is the mix of your passing & shooting roles. Nash is your best at both, but which is he? If Nash is the passer on a play then Odom becomes the shooter. Odom as shooter < Ray Allen. If Nash is the shooter on a play then Odom becomes the playmaker. Odom < LeBron. That's why I think James' team is better than yours. I think Nash can be taken out of the game by a good defender. If James' team puts Kirilenko or LeBron on Nash, what is your team going to do?