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Chris Webber

My most vivid memory of Chris Webber was the infamous time-out. April 5, 1993, it was the Fab 5’s second consecutive trip to the NCAA Championship. Michigan was down by two points to North Carolina with 11 seconds left in the game. Chris Webber got to a loose ball near the sidelines. Two Carolina players converged on Webber immediately. Webber puts his hands together to form a “T” in an attempt to call a time-out. Michigan did not have any time-outs left and in resulted in a technical foul which sealed the game for North Carolina. Not the way you want to end your collegiate career.

Last year, Chris Webber played in 75 games. Do you remember the last time Webber played in 75 games? I don’t. You have to go back to the ‘99-‘00 season. Can he do it again?  Or will he take more “time out” from the floor?

Round 5, Pick 9: Chris Webber, PF, Philadelphia 76ers

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Draft Blog: Round 5, Pick 9


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DescriptionWith this team starting the season with Elton Brand, Pau Gasol

, Lamar Odom, and Peja Stojakovic, it is time to start building the backcourt. Taking this as a real-time situation, my second round pick will be down and out until the New Year. If this happened to you while doing a messageboard or e-mail draft, hopefully you had enough rounds left to take a reasonable stab at adjusting to Pau’s unfortunately injury.

There are some young point guards with sizzle to their name heading into this year. However, I want to ensure I have a solid core I can rely on. Forced to try and get lucky with the waiver wire to make up for the loss of Gasol, I want as many players on this roster where I can just put them into the lineup and not have to think about them anymore.

Round 5, Pick 8: Richard “Rip” Hamilton, SG, Detroit Pistons

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Draft Blog: Round 5, Pick 8


Andre IguodalaAre you a music fan? One of my favourite music memories of recent years is Snoop Dogg being featured in the MTV Icon tribute to Metallica. Working his unique flow to “Sad But True,” this was proof that sometimes the unexpected works out very nicely. Now, I am sure there are a legion of metal-heads out there that found the same performace blasphemous, but to each their own.

Building a basketball team involves finding underrated or underappreciated players and hoping that they fit in well with the core players already on your team. Here is a player who will fit into any fantasy team and make it better. There are still 20 ppg players available, players who are on everyone’s sleeper list, and players who have played in All-Star games. But I think this pick may not be so unexpected, and he should be on everyone’s hot list already.

Round 5, Pick 7: Andre Iguodala, SG/SF, Philadelphia 76ers

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Draft Blog: Round 5, Pick 7


Andres Nocioni

Andres Nocioni is the “Argentinean Pitbull.”  He is relentless on defense and fearless in crashing the boards. Case in point in the picture, Nocioni is giving a lesson to the New York Knicks on how to grab a rebound. In fact, I will wager my NYC counterpart that Nocioni will out rebound both Eddy Curry and Channing Frye this year!

Round 5, Pick 6: Andres Nocioni, SF, Chicago Bulls

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Draft Blog: Round 5, Pick 6


Morris PetersonRound 5, Pick 5: Morris Peterson, SG/SF, Toronto Raptors

Poor Morris Peterson.  He’ll never get a chance to shine, but it’s not so bad being like the Barney to another player’s Fred, the Rocky to Bullwinkle, the Milli to Vanilli.  Yes, folks, Mo Pete is the classic wingman… the Goose of the NBA.  But, despite the unsavory associations of playing second fiddle, don’t sleep on Peterson because he’s got game.  Maybe not Jesus Shuttlesworth game, but there ain’t nothing wrong with Mo the Baptist, so let me stand up and TESTIFY!

Vince Carter (hold your boos, T-Dot), Jalen Rose, Rafer Alston, and Mike James were several players that held Peterson back from the guard and forward positions and from coming to the forefront and getting his looks.  But, now they’re all gone and there’s only Chris Bosh as the number one option on offense with Peterson sliding in as the veteran second option.  And since Rose left last season, Peterson really has stepped it up and it should continue this upcoming season.

Want proof?  Read the book of Peterson, chapter 5, verse 5. 

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Draft Blog: Round 5, Pick 5


Mike JamesRound 5, Pick 4: Mike James, PG, Minnesota Timberwolves

With the number of point guards that have gone off of the board already, I’ve noticed that only three of them had a field goal percentage [last season] over 47%: Dwyane Wade, Steve Nash, and Jason Terry.  With Terry already being on this squad, and not exactly being the biggest dime-dropper out there, I decided to ensure that along with my two big-men, I’d lock up another top-12 point guard – by my estimation.  I’d even consider arguing that James could be better than Terry this season…

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Draft Blog: Round 5, Pick 4


Baron Davis 

When Mike Montgomery was coach of the Golden State Warriors, there was an obvious rift between him and his star point guard.  Not anything to the Larry Brown/Stephon Marbury level, but it was pretty bad.  For example, when Montgomery would call a play, the PG in question would run another play.  Yeah, I think it was time for someone to move on, and in today’s sports market, it’s ALWAYS going to be the coach.  So, good bye Montgomery… hello, Don Nelson!  From the 1988-89 season to the ‘94-‘95 season, Nelson had moderate successful teams with the Warriors, making the playoffs four out of his seven season, even winning 50 and 55 games during two seasons.  Why mention all of this?  Nelson was voted one of the 10 greatest coaches of all-time during the ‘96-‘97 season, had great regular season success in his prevoius stop with the Dallas Mavericks, and those that handle the rock for him - Sidney Moncrief, Tim Hardaway, Steve Nash - always excelled under his running offense.

Baron Davis will love playing for Uncle Nelly.

Round 5, Pick 3: Baron Davis, PG, Golden State Warriors

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Shaq

There are a lot of fantasy owners who hate Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq aka “The Big Aristotle”, “The Diesel”, “Superman” amongst other names was the 50th player chosen in this draft?!?! Shaq is the most dominant center in this era and a future Hall of Famer, as well as being named one of the Top 50 players ever while he was still in the middle of his career. For Pete’s sake, Chris Kaman was chosen before Shaq?! Sure Shaq’s free throw percentage is crap (career 52.8 FT%) and he misses a few games (he has missed an average of 15 games in the last 5 years), but does he truly deserve all this hate to be chosen behind Chris Kaman? 

Chris Kaman?!?!

Round 5, Pick 2: Shaquille O’Neal, C, Miami Heat

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Round 5, Pick 1: Chris Kaman, C, Los Angeles Clippers

While the “looks” may have waved bye-bye to this guy quite some time ago, fantasy production is all about “opportunity.”  And what better way to increase a player’s opportunity than to increase his minutes per game by about 27%?  This is exactly what happened in Los Angeles, when former MAC big man Chris Kaman was given about 33 minutes a game last year.  One quick glance at his stats, and nothing crazy may jump out at you, but something tells me that Kaman may be one of the best second centers in fantasy basketball this season – if not a solid C1.

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Draft Blog: Round 5, Pick 1


Josh SmithThis round saw 33% of the picks go towards the C spot as the hypothetical draft we are drafting for starts two centers.  Excellent segue or not, at this point of the draft, let me catch you readers up on the logistics of the league.  First, the non-specific, we are not drafting for H2H or ROTO, in particular, so we’ll do our best to mention them in our blog posts.  Second, the positions - PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, Util.  We won’t be drafting a bench (unless we have time), but hopefully from the Util picks we make you’ll get an idea of who we like at the latter end of the draft.  Of course, if you have questions or commments, please leave them below. 

Thanks for stopping by Dropping Dimes.  Round Five is on the way.

4.1. Josh Smith, SG/SF, Atlanta Hawks
4.2. Kirk Hinrich, PG/SG, Chicago Bulls
4.3. Mehmut Okur, PF/C, Utah Jazz
4.4. Stephon Marbury, PG, New York Knicks
4.5. Peja Stojakovic, SF, New Orleans Hornets
4.6. Marcus Camby, C, Denver Nuggets

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Draft Blog: Round 4 Recap


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