Photo Credit: AP

We’re through five days of NBA action already and boy has it been a crazy five days! What’s more exciting? Having to shuffle your fantasy team around to gain the most out of your player,. Crazy plays, super subs and technical fouls mean nothing in fantasy play, it’s all about the box score and the cold hard facts.

I have learnt this the hard way, thinking that I had a solid team looking at the names I had in my line-up. I had my opponents telling me last week that I gave their team a knock-down by saying they picked players too early. I guess they’re laughing now seeing their players stats soar, while my strong named players sitting in dead last. Yeah, that’s right you heard it, I’m 10^th (out of 10). Dead. Last.

So what went wrong? Well during this piece I’ll go through what I’ve watched this week through fantasy eyes, and what moves I have had to make in hope that I get off the bottom.

The Good

Throughout the poor first few days, there have been some positives come out:

Learning the fantasy trade pretty quickly

I’ve picked up the fantasy game pretty quickly, and know what means what on the ESPN website. I found quite easily where to add players, drop players, trade players and check my poor standings (yeah, I’ve looked way too many times already and be let down time and time again).

I’ve learnt that you don’t just watch the players on your team; you must watch the games in general and watch everyone’s stats. This helps for when you want to drop one of your players and you automatically have the knowledge you need to know who you’re going to pick up.

Greivis Vasquez is one of my favourite players

Having the free trial of league pass helped along with Vasquez being on my team, but Greivis Vasquez is an absolute star. Through three games he is averaging 13 points and 9.7 assists (plus 4.7 rebounds if you’re interested). I’m so excited about Greivis; I’ve even made my girlfriend call her new Sim ‘Greivis Vasquez’. Next thing I know I’ll be wearing his jersey! Anyone know a good place to get your hands on a Vasquez jersey?

The Bad

My players are just really bad

Some of my players are just so awful I start to tear up. I was so happy with my draft picks that I don’t even know what went wrong. Sitting last, you can obviously assume that my players ‘suck’; but let’s give you a quick run through of who I think is playing below par:

Roy Hibbert: 11ppg, 8.7rpg. Hibbert is not the All-Star player he once was, I see David West and Paul George stealing his rebounds all the time. Last game West had 17 rebounds, George had 16, and poor Hibbert was left with 6. Come on Roy, snatch those boards, and don’t let a 2 guard beat you.

Ben Gordon: Terrible, absolutely terrible. The Cats finally notched a win and Ben Gordon had a massive 10 points…..off the bench. Forget that.

Kennith Faried: Awful against Philly, and then the same output against the Magic. That’s enough speaking on Faried for me.

Rodney Stuckey: Can this guy hit a field goal? I watched him go 0-8 and then 1-11. Please, no wonder I’m last in FG% if I have this nobody in my team.

The Funny

Probably only a once off section in this piece, but I had to include it this week! I had one trade proposal given to me this week and it was this:

I give away: JOSH SMITH

I receive: STEVE NASH

Is that a joke? I picked Josh Smith with my first pick, and he is my corner stone to lifting this team back up (Well, that is if he doesn’t get traded anytime soon). You think I will trade J-Smoove for the injured Nash? Don’t be silly. Nash is useless in L.A. in his first game or two. Yes, I will agree he will get better. However the last thing I need is another injured point guard. I have John Wall and Ricky Rubio remember.

The Changes

So I’ve ditched three players and brought in three new ones hoping to raise the team.

Dropped: Kennith Faried, Ben Gordon, Rodney Stuckey

Added: Al Farouq Aminu, DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Seraphin

I was really disappointed with the opening couple of games with Faried, Gordon and Stuckey.

Gordon coming off the bench was a disappointment already as he should be part of the Cats scoring duo (him and Kemba). This didn’t go to plan and 10ppg didn’t cut it for me when I’m in such desperate need for scorers.

Stuckey was even worse, 5ppg shooting a dismal 5% from the field. Scrap that, quickly.

Faried showed good signs….AFTER I got rid of him (See Miami game). Before that though, he gave me 4ppg and 6rpg.

Where to from here?

My gosh, my real need is some straight up scorers! Hopefully between DeRozan and Bargnani now, they can give me 2/3rds of the Raptors points (the other third can be Lowry).

I’m dead last in points! Someone shoot me a trade which includes a scorer in the package!