7:07 - The Shakes enter the draft room to find the Flood Gates picking first for the second straight season. I got the 4th pick and I'm targeting Kobe, but wouldn't mind taking Agent Zero.

7:10 - Safari browser doesn't seem to like certain features of this draft room. Should the Shakes struggle this season, I'll have a scapegoat!

7:30 - Leeeeeebron goes #1 overall. He'll mess around and get some triple-doubles.

7:31 - Agent Zero is on my team... Keep Shootin' Gilbert! Locker room slot machine installation is underway.

7:32 - Aslan ignores his druthers and drafts Dirk with pick 6. Settling for 25 and 9 ain't too bad.

7:33 - Switched to Explorer on the old computer. I hate to think of all the great chat I missed.

7:36 - Breed and Nutz continue to dominate the chat board with their usually incoherent banter. They might be on a PC, but they aren't PC.

7:40 - Stop Snitchin' loads up on unconventional shot-blocking by drafting AK-47 and Josh Smith back-to-back.

7:42 - Flood Gates drafts Pau Gasol. Either he is an extremely patient man, or his lack of preseason research rears its ugly grill.

7:46 - When in doubt, select a Wiz. Nice call TK.

7:47 - Nuthin' But Air takes Odom. Might have been a better play for the Shakes to take him rather than Jamison.

7:50 - Shakes pick Camby in round 6 in hopes of starting to form a shot-blocking corps. Will it pan out?

7:51 - Yuck takes Starbury in round 6. Could be the S.O.D.

7:54 - Flood Gates gets all presidential by selecting Richards Hamilton and Jefferson back to back.

7:58 - Zaza Pachulia! Zaza Pachulia!

8:04 - New Breed takes Mike James. He will be offering him to the Gates straight up for Lebron James in about 37 minutes.

8:07 - Shot-blocker #2, Samuel Dalembert is selected by the Shakes. Breed says his leg is broken, it's only a strained hammy. Got me?

8:13 - The draft is slowing down a bit as few picks have much "wow" factor. Plenty of tremendous upside potential though.

8:20 - Flood makes a Patrick Roy reference. Aslan is forced to respond. His unforced follow-up response is quite frankly surprising.

8:23 - Duck! The Breed takes Stephen Jackson in the last round. There's a 7-way tie in the "who will be the guy to take SJ" pool.

8:24 - My last pick is Kendrick Perkins. I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do: Build some scoring strength; draft guard-heavy to give myself a chance in 3's, assists and steals; draft multi-positional players to gain an advantage in games per week; and develop a shot-blocking corps. Unfortunately many of my picks are very injury prone. We'll see how things Shake out.

8:26 - The draft ends in a whirlwind. The Courts claim of D-Miles should pay dividends. Flood says his team is average. And I've just been offered my first Mummert-deal!

Round-by-round Best Picks:

1. 7 - Dwayne Wade, Nothing But Air: I had him ranked #5 overall.
2. 2 - Allen Iverson, Nothing But Air: Without FG% stats, he's a monster in our league.
3. 2 - Carmelo Anthony, New Breed: 8th in PPG last year, can only get better in supporting categories.
4. 3 - Yao Ming, Aslan Courts: Nice spot to get a C who can score, rebound and block shots.
5. 3 - Jason Kidd, The Yuck: He'll score some and should finish #2 in the league in assists an outrebound any point guard in the league.
6. 6: Stephon Marbury, The Yuck: I'm of the thinking that the Kincks have a great chance to turn things around a little bit this year. If so, Marbury will be the catalyst. (Francis went undrafted!?!)
7. 4: Andre Miller, Papertown Shakes: #6 in assists last season and not much guard depth in Denver pushing him to the pine.
8. 1: Zaza Pachulia, Stop Snitchin': Great name, face of the franchise. Tough round... not very excited about any of the picks.
9. 5: Jason Terry, Deez Nutz: A consistent player who will give you what you expect, 15 points, 5 assists and a steal or 2.
10. 3: Troy Murphy, Aslan Courts: Nellie wants to run in Golden State and Murphy is slated to play C. Could approach 20 a game.
11. 7: Larry Hughes, Nothing But Air: Was a fantasy monster before last season. If healthy, he can fill up most categories.
12. 8: David West, Flood Gates: Breakout player last season, should continue to rack up 15 and 10s.
13. 6: Darius Miles, Aslan Courts: Not sure what's different between him and my 8th round pick Gerald Wallace. Blocked shots from a G is rare.

Labels: fantasy basketball, tape-delayed blog