The Start of Tradition

Last night, November 2nd will go down in history for 5 young men. On November 2nd, 4members of house @ john 3:16, and one true player disguised in a 12 year olds body participated in the 2008-2009 White's only basketball fantasy league. Now let me first get this out in plain view, this has no intention to be degrading to any race, or nationality. There are no racists here, just simply five dudes that wanted a challenging league with such few members in the league.

Everyone that knows fantasy sports knows that five people is just too few to have a league with. If this was true, it would simply be one all-star team vs another team. Kobe Bryant, Deron Williams, Tracy McGrady, and Dwight Howard would all be on the same team. There is no fun in this. There isn't that sleeper pick, or intense free agent signings when there are so few many teams in the league. That is why we decided to make a whites only league. Whites only was loosely regarded as the only rule, however Europeans, Argentineans, and Brazilians were all drafted as well. This easily cuts available picks to about 1/6th of the players in the NBA. Once again there is no racial thoughts behind this, but it simply makes for a very difficult draft class, and completely throws out all power rankings provided by ESPN, FoxSports, and countless other analysts.

These simple rules made for one hell of a tough draft session. With no LeBron, Kobe, Chris Paul to be taken in the first round, we were forced to think hard and out of the box on how to fill out 5 positions as effectively as possible. While most 9th overall picks might have consisted of Tracy McGrady or Dwight Howard, our was the Russian sensation Andre Kirilinko who gets his annual booty call out of generosity from his wife. Many in a "typical" drafting scheme might think it is hard to pick between a Baron Davis and a Deron Williams or Jason Kid. But i think choosing between Steve Blake, Luke Riddnhour, and Beno Udruch is much more difficult. Also, while your last pick might be a Brandon Stucky, or possibly even Lamar Odom, we name drop Walter Hermann. I bet many people playing Fantasy Basketball have no idea in hell who the heck Walter Hermann is. I don't think Rasheed Wallace knows who Walter Hermann is. Truth is however that he plays on the Pistons and is averaging about 8pts a game and 3 boards. That is key player stats in our league. Hurt players were drafted (Manu Ginobli in 3rd round), suspended players (Brad Miller) and rookies that have not even squeaked there new shoes on the NBA court (Joe Alexander).

We are way stoked on ourselves and our league right now. Season starts tonight. While most of you are but hurt Greg Oden went down early this season, I just feel truly privileged to have stolen Jason Kapono and his 3pt percentage in the last round. Here is my team and the round they were drafted in.

Yao Ming
Turkoglu
Manu Ginobli
David Lee
Steve Blake
Kevin Love
Beno Udrich
Jason Kapono

My prediction for the league championship will be between Andrew and Travis. Andrew jumped on Jose Calderon in the first round and has great big men in Bogut, Okur, and Dunleavey. Travis has great guards in Kidd and Hinrich. If Paul Gasol and Kaman can hold down up front, he just may be the champion.

Once again, this has nothing to do with race, nationality, or ethnicity. But strictly limiting the leagues available players to make it one hell of a tough draft for five people.