Our league has been going for 8 years I think. Despite that, there is probably one or two trades each season. My thoughts are that nobody wants to lose a trade and everyone gets attached to the guys they draft hoping they keep up the good play or turn around the bad play. Or they drafted with fit in mind for their build. A trade that might be fair either side, you will have caution about doing the trade in fear or downturn or injury also.

I guess the question is around value and how you guys see it? Does a 3rd rounder and a 5th equal a second? Does a 5th and a 6th equal a 4th and an 8th?

And how often are you guys making trades. I think we all know that most work is done on the wire.

I feel like a dynasty league would have more trades because of competing vs tanking and picks.

Any thoughts appreciated.

really want to get into a dynasty league but don't have one or enought friend to do. Anyone can invite?

I am curious to know wh you all are keeping an eye on like rookies and players going into their 2nd and 3rd year and so one.

not sure why I feel so unsure drafting this season because of all the new talent. or at least players who the chance to boom . pause

Planning to go with Cade with 6th pick, but am unsure of who to go at pick 19. With a mix of guys like Giddey, Sabonis, Steph, Amen, Reaves, and Trae likely to be there, I'm not quite sure who to take.

Any thoughts?

EDIT: I agree that i hope Giddey falls, but if he doesnt who would ya’ll take?

My late night nerdy fantasy analysis time - This time, im trying to see which guys to target for BLKs without dragging your FTs. I think this one is naturally easier than the Assist + TO combo I looked into last time.

For 26-27 season projections, here are some notable blk sources:

Blocks with little or no FT cost

The middle ground

Bigger FT trade-offs

How did I calculate FT impact? Projected makes above or below a 79.9% shooter taking the same attempts. That baseline is the attempt-weighted FT% of this top-180 pool. Negative means FT drag, not the percentage-point drop in your team’s FT%.

For a lot of these guys listed in the middle ground and even a few in the drags in the 3rd table, I think a high FTA guard may be able to compensate the drag, at least to bring you to a level where you dont have to punt FT.

Giannis (very obvious one), Sengun and even Mobley could be pretty hard to recover.

Full chart saved here

I’ve had 3 pretty successful seasons punting blocks but looking at the draft list by ESPN adp (hilarious) it looks like punting 3’s could be an interesting strategy. Flagg, Barnes, Mobley, Kessler. Wanted to get this groups thoughts on if it’s viable. I’ve been seeing some great posts about different punt strategies and sounds like punt blocks or punt assists might be meta build

Who would you pick at the 10th? And who should I pair him with up with my 15th pick?

little skeptical on drafting Flagg, I feel like he isn’t established yet and there’s better players available. Kyrie is back lively and gafford are back as well so the usage isn’t going to be that high for coop.

dovovan Mitchell or Scottie Barnes as a 10th sounds soild but I’m not sure yet

Appreciate any tier lists, advice, or warnings you guys have!

Surprised nobody is talking about this. Right now they're calling it "shoulder soreness". But we know that never means anything, especially when Sweeney gave no update and just said "to be re-evaluated".

Thought this dude was a steal. But maybe not so fast

Garland and Poole shares similarities – poor efficiency/turnovers, and great threes/assists.

The environment they’re in is also similar – no supporting cast.

Is Garland overdrafted this year?

I know it’s preseason… I know, BUT…

Tatum in two games: 23/5/4 on 9/19 shooting & 19/8/6 on 8/17 shooting

Hali’s 2/3 games: 17/3/6 on 7/14 shooting & 24/3/3 on 9/14 shooting

Dame tonight (still going): 23 pts (4/10 fg, 2/5 3fgs)

All three have looked impressive so far in preseason - I think Hali has impressed me the most so far - how we feeling about em? Usually nba players’ careers fall off drastically after an Achilles tear (minus Durant in recent times)

Hey everyone, This sub helped me take home my league title, so I'm back for your help.

Who are you targeting at #3 overall?

Who are you looking at on the 2nd/3rd round turn (picks 22 and 23) to anchor that start?

What early punting strategies or build paths open up best from the 3rd spot?

Appreciate any tier lists, advice, or warnings you guys have!

Does anyone recall players in recent history who played great in the pre season but poorly in the regular season?

Or players who didn’t play well in the pre season but ended up having a good regular season?

The one i think of immediately is Anthony Bennett lol

i'm in a 10 team 9cat league, can keep 3 players at their draft round. would you prefer keeping guys who give you big value (late round player who's ADP is 3+ round ahead of where you'd keep him) or early round guys who provide less value but are higher tier players?

i can keep:

luka doncic - round 1

scottie barnes - round 2

cooper flagg - round 3

austin reaves - round 4

jalen brunson - round 5

jalen duren - round 9

kon knueppel - round 13

i'm def going to keep luka. i'm pick 6 so he'd be off the board by the time it's my turn to pick again. i could pair him with flagg who's adp is round 1-2 so only about a 1 round saving. or i can keep a guy like kon who's adp is roughly 6-7 rounds ahead of where'd keep him. duren is also great value.

What are we doing with him

Looked healthy and moving well. Is anyone taking a flier on him or is it just preseason tings

There's no rookie I'm higher on vs. ESPN this year than Yaxel Lendeborg (ESPN rank #173). I have him personally ranked at #98. 

The read is simply that his game is already well polished and has no holes. A rare rookie combination of: Maturity (5 year NCAA athlete), Smooth Jumper, Size, Agility, and Confidence 

He was Summer League MVP, posting the highest Summer League BPM ever (15.9), and set his own bare minimum for the season at 15P/6R/3-4A per game."If I get under that, then I'm ass." ~ Lendeborg

He will hit the ground running while Jimmy Butler is working his way back, leading to more trust/minutes once Butler eventually returns. 

His preseason averages so far in ESPN standard points:

TL;DR: Lendeborg is a do-it-all wing with a secured role, priced like a waiver-wire afterthought. 

i'm hoping tape grinders and local sports guru's will be kind enough to use this thread to drop some gems with players that are standing out in pre-season

raps fan here: kawhi looks very good, and CMB is getting targeted in all of my 9 cat drafts.

bball season is almost here gang, let's go!!

Why is nobody talking about this? He literally looks disengaged. The additions of Powell and Wilson are going to completely tank him.

I'm so out.

“Basket Zaragoza have publicly challenged Aday Mara's move to the Oklahoma City Thunder, insisting that the rookie center remains under contract with the Spanish club for the 2026-27 season. In an official statement, Zaragoza said it has not yet received a request for Mara's international transfer but warned that it will formally oppose one if such a request arrives.”

I've found it difficult to gauge the rankings over the years, but any input helps. Thank you!

Historically I've always avoided rookies cuz I don't have the patience to wait through their early season questionability and trying to "figure out their role". Wondering what rookies you guys are truly big on this season and what about their situations make you think they have that much upside? 10T 9Cat

ESPN Points:

What’s everyone’s thoughts on Suggs this year? From what I can gather he’ll be starting PG and should have some decent room to operate with Paolo and Franz both requiring defensive attention.

My main concern for Suggs is he tends to be injury prone. But if we can look past that and hypothetically he plays 55-60+ games, is he an absolute steal at 130? Surely he can provide top 100 or even top 80 value if he continually plays 30 minutes or so, right?

Question, our league is run through ESPN and we use Continuous FAB setting. Only problem is we want to also have the ability to pickup players same day after waivers go through without putting in a bid for last minute player scratches. Will unchecking 5 of the 7 days, say leave Monday and Friday checked for waivers allow us to do this?

I am debating whether or not to even do a roto league because it seems impossible to do trades. In baseball, you may think "well I have way too much good starting pitching, so I can trade pitching for offense.," Then you lose nothing and gain categories. In basketball every player affects all 9 categories! Last year I had far, far, far more rebounds than even the 11 had and yet STILL I could not ever come up with a trade to do because if you trade off the rebounders then you are going to usually be losing fg, blocks, and low turnover rates.

I did finish 2nd, though, so i am still tempted to do a roto. But I don't know how any trading will ever be done without losing in multiple categories just to gain in 1 or 2.

Also, it feels like you about have to do auction and guarantee getting joker or wemby or you've likely lost any chance at first. In h2h you can win with any first round pick because it's random who happens to be good during fantasy playoffs.

One of the biggest ways I like to determine future success is by how younger players finish up the later parts of the season (a sign of things to come). Obviously you need to take into account if injuries played a roll on why their usage is up etc but here are my 4 favorite players to consider.All these stats are courtesy of BBM.

Donovan Clingan (36th on year, 14th over the last 2 months)

Nothing changed here (not even minutes) but he learned to block more effectively allowing him to make such a huge leap.

Dyson Daniels (45th on year, 22nd over last 2 months)

Lets face it. This guy is better than everyone made him out to be. The previous year he had an absurd 3.0 steals per game. Steals went down last year but rebounds, assists, and fg went up. Look out!

Jalen Duren (32nd on year, 17th over last 2 months)

Slight uptick in everything over the last 2 months. Should finish top 24 imo

Neemias Queta (68th on year, 36th over last 2 months)

No he is not your prototypical "young guy" (still only 27 years old) but he was finally given decent minutes. His minutes per game only went up 1 over the last 2 months (almost 26 whole minutes) but his efficiency went up. Don't worry about Mitchell Robinson. He breaks down and never plays more than 25 minutes/game. He is a steal wherever you get him.