I was lucky enough to land the #5 pick in the Dropping Dimes Expert League draft held on October 12th, 2006. There may not be popular consensus on who should be the top pick overall this year, but most are in agreement who the top five in any draft should be. The order in which those five players are drafted is another story for another day. You could make it a top six depending on how you feel about Dwyane Wade and his three-point shot.

My first pick was easy; I just waited and picked the guy who was left over after LBJ, the Matrix, Dirk and KG went off the board. After that, the heavy lifting began.

The roster: (overall pick in parentheses)

1. Kobe Bryant, SG, Los Angeles Lakers (5)
2. Joe Johnson, PG/SG, Atlanta Hawks (20)
3. Lamar Odom, SF/PF, Los Angeles Lakers (29)
4. Chris Kaman, C, Los Angeles Clippers (44)
5. Rasheed Wallace, PF, Detroit Pistons (53)
6. Tony Parker, PG, San Antonio Spurs (68)
7. Chris Wilcox, PF/C, Seattle Supersonics (77)
8. Mike Miller, SF, Memphis Grizzlies (92)
9. Drew Gooden, PF, Cleveland Cavaliers (101)
10. Grant Hill, SF, Orlando Magic (116)
11. Jarrett Jack, PG, Portland Trail Blazers (125)
12. Al Jefferson, PF, Boston Celtics (140)
13. Ike Diogu, PF/C, Golden State Warriors (149)

The Q & A:

1. Which player was your best pick, value-wise? Rasheed Wallace, Round 5, Pick 5 (53)
‘Sheed has gone from a mid-to-late second rounder to a player drafted in the fifth round and beyond, all because sites like Yahoo! have stripped him of his center eligibility to start this season. Remember that he was given this positional versatility even when Big Ben Wallace guarded the fort in Detroit. Depending on how Nazr Mohammed and Antonio McDyess play to start the season, it certainly is not stretching it like Plastic Man in saying that ‘Sheed has a decent chance to regain that precious center-eligibility. He could finish the year with a career high in rebounds. And any big man who can shoot the moneyball and block 120 shots in a season is pure money in a roto league.

2. Which player was your worst pick, value-wise? Drew Gooden, Round 9, Pick 5 (101)
I needed a big man who rebounds to add to the production from my two starting centers, Kaman and Wilcox. With Odom and ‘Sheed also in tow, I figured that if my final front-court player could average 8-9 boards a game, this team would finish near the top in FG% and rebounds. Gooden is good enough. However the potential for more is just not there. He fits into my team just fine, but it always stings a bit to draft a player you need and not a player who is the best available. Danny Granger and Ricky Davis were picked right after Gooden, but a roster full of swingmen will not win a roto league. Maybe if I had taken a forward instead of Mike Miller in the 8th round, things would have worked out a little better, but Miller should have a bump in production while Pau Gasol recovers.

3. Which player was your risk/reward pick, the pick you gambled on to have a good season? Chris Wilcox, Round 7, Pick 5 (77)
It seems like a lot to ask of Wilcox, to be close to a top 75 fantasy player, seeing that he was drafted 77th overall. The others in the league seemed to like this pick a lot at the time. It smells like Wilcox is a make-or-break pick for me when it comes to taking home the title. 13 and 8 with 50-plus percent shooting are necessary to even think about giving this pick a thumbs-up. Wilcox has never been a huge shot-blocker, but that is where the value of ‘Sheed comes in to pick up the slack there at the power forward position. Troy Murphy, Josh Howard, Zach Randolph and Al Harrington were the forwards drafted shortly after Wilcox, but none of them can play center in this league.

4. Other than yourself, which manager do you think has the strongest team?
In terms of the other Dime Droppers, I like Ron’s team. Sarge’s team has too many ex-Raptors (McGrady, Rafer, Stoudamire) for me to fully endorse. Dennis has Shaq on a roto team and that does not usually work out; however if anyone can make it work, I know that D will find a way. Ron has some solid guards in Dwyane Wade and Mike Bibby, and he later added Mike James and Richard Hamilton (in the 8th round if you can believe it) to the roster. He will be paying close attention to the Jazz boxscores this year as he picked both Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur. There has been talk of AK-47 and his knees already aching, but if he stays healthy, he is a roto monster. Danny Granger looks like a great pick now that Stephen Jackson has issues and I thought Kevin Martin in the 12th round was also a great pick.

As for the other teams, the more I look at his roster, the more I am digging what the RICKROCKERS from fsru did in the draft. They have strong guard play led by their top two picks, Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups. Those two are backed up by Brandon Roy, Ben Gordon and Sebastian Telfair. Josh Smith in the third round was a bold pick. If Carlos Boozer plays around 70 games, and both Darko Milicic and Nene pan out for them, this team could do some serious damage to the rest of our league.

My 10 cents on this team:

Well, this is my team so I could either be really hard on myself or dole out some major self-props. I did okay. Though I prefer head-to-head play, I tried to adjust my draft strategy to fit the league settings. Taking KB81 was a no-brainer. I probably drafted Joe Johnson about ten picks sooner than where he will go on average, but the fan in me just could not take the gamble on the two star ex-Raptor players who were taking immediately afterwards. Yes, I want to win, and yes, I know it is weak to pick or not pick players based on how much you like them. I could not be sure that JJ would be available for me to take in the third round, and I like pairing his treys and steals with Kobe. Joe has not reached his career high in scoring yet.

I would have liked my third guard to be someone who hits more three-pointers and steals the rock more than Tony Parker, but hopefully my forward selections compensate for that (Odom and ‘Sheed). Grant Hill was also a bit of a fan pick; I am intrigued by the prospects that he will be the starting shooting guard for the Magic come opening day. His rebounding and dime dishing would be major assets at that position…as long as his body holds up.

I wanted youngsters on my bench with the potential to be fantasy playas. Hopefully Jack will log major minutes with Roy in the Portland backcourt, and if one of Jefferson or Diogu works out for me, I will have some good assets to trade, if I wish to.

Stay tuned. Peace.