The Reason I Didn't Post Last Night

Fantasy Basketball Trade Deadline Edition...
Well, really there were a couple of reasons. Both of them will be talked about eventually here at this site. They are the fact I was at the Cleveland Auto Show yesterday, and also the fact I was deep in negotiations on some fantasy basketball trades during what would usually be my posting time. There will be time for talking about the auto show later, preferably when its not so late at night and my brain wants to function more properly. For now, you'll have to just settle for hearing about how I am a master negotiator. NBA fans, be prepared. Per game stats will be provided in parenthesis in order to provide reference throughout the post.
First, I set the backdrop. Yesterday was the last day in my fantasy basketball league, for the season, for trades to be agreed upon. At 12 AM Friday morning, the deadline passed and trades became void. I'm currently in 6th place, out of 10. 6 teams conveniently get into the playoffs and there are less than 3 weeks left in the regular season, and I'm looking to solidify myself as a worthy opponent in the playoffs, let alone make the playoffs. I needed something to stem the tide, I had been as high as 2nd place at one point this season, but hadn't distanced myself well from the other teams in the standings and eventually my team fell back to reality.
The pressure is on to get my changes right. So I looked at my team needs. I have one stark, glaring need that needed to be addressed in stat categories. That statistical category was assists. You see, my team shot itself in the foot, almost literally. I drafted Gilbert Arenas (32 games) as my premiere point guard in the 4th round of our draft, and didn't bother with many PGs outside of him. I did have Mario Chalmers (7.4 PPG 3.5 APG 1.2 SPG), but that didn't work out so well. When Arenas got charged, and later plead guilty to gun charges, I was put into an awfully precarious position of trying to achieve the assist stat. This was one of my goals in trading. Another goal was to add rebounds, something else I struggled with, all though not as easily explained why. Finally, I wanted to add to my theme. My team is a notorious 3 point shooting, highly skilled, athletic team. I wanted to add to that style of play with any changes. I feel I accomplished all 3 of these goals at some rate.
So my goals were set, but how to accomplish them. I was in contact with other teams the whole week really, trying to work on deals, find where interest was, who would be willing to give up who and for what. My main piece I was trying to shop around for talent was Ray Allen (16.3 PPG 2.7 APG 1.7 3PG). He's a really good player, but most of his best stats were in stats I'm really good at, with or without him, so he was expendable. I was specifically shopping him around for a PG, but to no avail. At one point I didn't think I would get any deals done at all. It was deadline night, all my offers had been declined, most of my interest was in Andre Miller (13.5 PPG 5.5 APG 1 SPG) or Jarrett Jack (11.1 PPG 4.9 APG 1 3PG). Little did I know I was about to fall into something much better. I logged onto facebook to see if any fellow team owners were on (my friends), and I really happened to luck out. In the following hour and a half, 4 team owners appeared on facebook, and I talked to every one of them about deals.
In the end, what I felt like was a marque deal for me was something I hadn't seen coming at all. I hadn't talked trade with the guy in months, but he happened to be on, and I thought I would inquire about his PGs. Jonny Flynn (13.7 PPG 2.5 RPG 4.4 APG) was first, but he wanted Danilo Gallinari (13.8 PPG 5.1 RGP 1.6 APG) in return, a little high of a price for me, Gallinari has had a breakout season for the Knicks, he shoots and rebounds the ball very well. I moved my thoughts to potential rookie of the year, Stephen Curry (15.6 PPG 4.2 RPG 5.3 APG). I was incredibly surprised to find the owner was willing to deal him, either for Gallinari or Allen. Since Allen was the guy I felt I could lose, I sent him away, straight up, for Curry. I like Curry a lot. He can score, shoot the 3, create assists, and even get some steals. He has a turnover problem, but my team doesn't do that a lot so I can afford it, and his 3s and assists were major points of interest.
With this deal done, I proceeded with other potential deals. I felt 1 wasn't enough, 2 would be just fine though. I talked to someone about Luis Scola (14.7 PPG 8.5 RPG 1.9 APG), but they wanted way too much for him. He also wanted too much for Kevin Martin 20.3 PPG 1.7 3PG 26 games), who is way too injury prone to put too much stake into anyway. So I had to say thanks but no thanks. I wasn't willing to give Marc Gasol (14.9 PPG 9.4 RPG 1.6 BPG) for Luis Scola, there's just no way with the incredible breakout numbers Gasol has put up for me this year.
Speaking about Gasols, I also talked to an owner about Pau (17.1 PPG 11.1 RPG 3.4 APG). He is a topic we had visited earlier in the season. I had this crazy notion at one point that I wanted to trade Marc for Pau, and looking back at it, I'm glad the other owner refused, I feel like I got the better half of that. I offered Stephen Jackson (20.8 PPG 5 RPG 3.9 APG) for Pau, but he still wouldn't budge. I could get him for Gerald Wallace (18.5 PPG 10.5 RPG 2.1 APG), but that was the only way, and I was hardly willing to do it. You could argue Wallace has been MVP-esque this year, he's probably my second best player behind Dirk Nowitzki (25.2 PPG 7.7 RPG 2.6 APG). It was apparent that my search for more rebounds wouldn't come easily. I had sent my best offers for both Luis Scola and Pau Gasol, and been met with nothing but a dead end. Derrick Rose (20.3 PPG 5.6 APG) was another talking point with this owner, but he made it painfully apparent he wasn't willing to deal him easily either, and I don't blame the guy. There's a reason why he's currently in first place.
I got lucky though. Another team owner just happened to log on, and he had control of another player the two of us had just happened to have been talking about for a while. That player was Jamal Crawford (17.3 PPG 2.9 APG 1.9 3PG). I've liked Crawford all season, he's been a great sixth man all season for the Hawks. He's a great scorer and shooter, and at times passes the ball well and creates assists (albeit inconsistently). This owner didn't have many rebounders I liked so I settled for a few more and even more solid outside shooting in Mehmet Okur (12.5 PPG 6.8 RPG 1.1 BPG). I've had Okur before, and like his game. Those were the guys I wanted. At first, I was afraid I was going to have to give Marc Gasol, he was a major talking point of past talks about Crawford, he didn't really come up though. Stephen Jackson did, however, and I made it painfully obvious he wouldn't be an option in all of this. Maybe if I was getting a Pau Gasol caliber (really, either Gasol caliber) of rebounder I'd give Jackson, otherwise, he was staying put. Al Jefferson (17.1 PPG 9.3 RPG 49.1 FG%) was movable though. I have Gasol, and Paul Millsap (11.4 PPG 6.2 RPG 56.7 FG%), and Rasheed Wallace (9.8 PPG 4.1 RPG 1.2 APG), and others, lots of talented big men, I could afford to expend Jefferson in order to bring in Crawford and Okur, but I still needed to sweeten the deal a little. And admittedly, I almost got a steal. I almost only also had to deal Derek Fisher (7.5 PPG 2.5 APG 1.1 SPG) and JJ Redick (9.4 PPG 1.8 APG 1.4 3PG), 2 capable, but awfully mediocre PGs that would be blown away in talent by Crawford. I felt like their combined talents were enough to eqaute a fair deal, but my counterpart didn't see it that way. He wanted Beno Udrih (12.1 PPG 3.7 APG 1 3PG) (after another attempt at Steve Jack). I was willing to give Udrih, he was essentially a poor man's Crawford to me, except less of a shooter. I asked for Wesley Matthews (8.4 PPG 2 RPG 1.2 APG) also, just to add to the little bit of assist boost I could get, trading Udrih made Crawford's extra assists kind of irrelevant, so I needed to add a little. With that, we both agreed and the deal was done. An hour and a half later my goals were accomplished. I got my assists in Curry, Crawford and Matthews (but mostly Curry). I get rebounds from Okur, and they are more versatile rebounds than the solely low post scoring I would get from Jefferson. Finally, I added a lot of athleticism and 3 ability, with Crawford, Curry, and Okur. In this aspect, I think I flourished the best.
Just to conclude, my team is going from:
G JJ Redick
SF Stephen Jackson
G Beno Udrih
F Gerald Wallace
C Rasheed Wallace
PF Dirk Nowitzki
C Marc Gasol
C Matt Bonner
SG Ray Allen
SF Danilo Gallinari
PG Derek Fisher
F Paul Millsap
C Al Jefferson
SF Shane Battier
SF Ronnie Brewer

and now will be:
G JJ Redick
SF Stephen Jackson
G Stephen Curry
F Gerald Wallace
C Rasheed Wallace
PF Dirk Nowitzki
C Marc Gasol
G Wesley Matthews
C Mehmet Okur
SF Danilo Gallinari
PG Derek Fisher
F Paul Millsap
G Jamal Crawford
SF Shane Battier
SF Ronnie Brewer

basketball and fantasy enthusiasts, let me know what you think.

-Hype