2025 CelticsBlog Fantasy Draft: '05-'25 Edition

[Moranis]

Going a little earlier is nicer. Gives some potential leeway for people.

[tazzmaniac]

It's so early, but we at least have two duos to compare.

Curry/Giannis vs AD/Harden

Curry and AD both appealing for blending with other stars, Giannis and Harden both production monsters who complicate team building.

Curry/Giannis is filthy. I know it came at a major cost so it'll be interesting to see how Roy fills out the rest of the starting five but that's a lethal 1/2.

It was at a major cost.  Roy will be filling out his starting lineup with a 4th and two 6th picks.  I'd rather be in Snivley's position with 5 starters in the top 36 and 7 players in the top 46.  He's also in the position to make another move depending on how things play out.  If I were in Roy's position, I would have gone with Curry and KD.  It is easy to build around two great shooters.  Making picks who fit well with Giannis will be harder.  Might not be able to pick the BPAs in the 4th and 6th rounds due to fit. 

[Roy H.]

It's so early, but we at least have two duos to compare.

Curry/Giannis vs AD/Harden

Curry and AD both appealing for blending with other stars, Giannis and Harden both production monsters who complicate team building.

Curry/Giannis is filthy. I know it came at a major cost so it'll be interesting to see how Roy fills out the rest of the starting five but that's a lethal 1/2.

It was at a major cost.  Roy will be filling out his starting lineup with a 4th and two 6th picks.  I'd rather be in Snivley's position with 5 starters in the top 36 and 7 players in the top 46.  He's also in the position to make another move depending on how things play out.  If I were in Roy's position, I would have gone with Curry and KD.  It is easy to build around two great shooters.  Making picks who fit well with Giannis will be harder.  Might not be able to pick the BPAs in the 4th and 6th rounds due to fit.

I don't think Giannis is that hard to build around.  He's a two-time MVP that also won DPOY.  He has also carried a team to a title without a clear-cut Hall of Famer next to him.

It's an interesting debate, but with Curry on the team, I'd take Giannis over Durant every time.

In terms of the cost, it came down to building around two of my top four players, and seeing how it would play out. 

[Jvalin]

There is a usage penalty so to speak with a salary cap, because you are paying for usage you don?t use and it will cost you elsewhere.

We are uncapped and that won?t be an issue here. Just the highest usage guys will get the highest usage.

The penalties mentioned above are for being under usage. It?s unlikely that will occur here with such a deep draft of stars, since one 30% usage guy and one 24% usage guy on the court means you?re good no matter what, so I included only part of your post above in my sim notes to not overcomplicate things.

My only experience is playing in just under 2 dozen salary cap leagues where the cap is. 50% of what our teams will cost, but that is my understanding of it.

Thanks for the clarification. 

Like others have said, I'll probably ignore the algorithm mechanics and just enjoy the game.

My top 4 was LeBron > Jokic >>> KD > KG. In a vacuum, I consider Timmy a top 2-3 player in this pool, but I think KD and KG are more exciting/versatile pieces in terms of team building. Was fully expecting to pick KD > KG. I then started reading about the algorithm mechanics and it messed up my thought process. At the end of the day, I'm pleasantly surprised I ended up with Jokic at #4.

Roy has a monster duo. Curious to see how he fills out his starting lineup. The draft is very deep. Chances are he'll find the pieces he needs in the later rounds.

[snively]

I'll probably make my picks early as well - off tomorrow

[theswitch]

Wow, what a trade for Roy. There's so much talent depth in this draft that I think he'll be fine filling out his roster a bit more downmarket. Top end pairings are so hard to come by and the dropoff is much steeper at the top than it is for the fourth rotation player. Fun stuff.

All good picks today. There are a couple guys I would've taken over AD and Harden (particularly the latter) head to head but it's hard to quibble and both of them will have the chance to create dynamic pairings tomorrow.

[tazzmaniac]

It's so early, but we at least have two duos to compare.

Curry/Giannis vs AD/Harden

Curry and AD both appealing for blending with other stars, Giannis and Harden both production monsters who complicate team building.

Curry/Giannis is filthy. I know it came at a major cost so it'll be interesting to see how Roy fills out the rest of the starting five but that's a lethal 1/2.

It was at a major cost.  Roy will be filling out his starting lineup with a 4th and two 6th picks.  I'd rather be in Snivley's position with 5 starters in the top 36 and 7 players in the top 46.  He's also in the position to make another move depending on how things play out.  If I were in Roy's position, I would have gone with Curry and KD.  It is easy to build around two great shooters.  Making picks who fit well with Giannis will be harder.  Might not be able to pick the BPAs in the 4th and 6th rounds due to fit.

I don't think Giannis is that hard to build around.  He's a two-time MVP that also won DPOY.  He has also carried a team to a title without a clear-cut Hall of Famer next to him.

It's an interesting debate, but with Curry on the team, I'd take Giannis over Durant every time.

In terms of the cost, it came down to building around two of my top four players, and seeing how it would play out.

It was a daring move and Curry is a great fit with Giannis.  It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Only having 10 participants helps with the talent pool available in the 4th and 6th rounds.  I assume you didn't start off offering 2nd, 3rd and 5th.  How much haggling was there? 

[smicker16]

This is really fun to follow along and see everyones thought process.  Lebron at #1 is impossible to pass up.  Best player during this generation and that year with the Heat he was a monster.

I do like the pairing of Curry/Giannis and AD/Harden.  It is tough for me to imagine who ends up available in the 6th round, but I have to imagine it will be some pretty talented players there still that Roy could easily fit in around those two.  And in basketball I do think the top talent matters so much where it is worth the risk of paying up to pair those two together.  Excited to see how the rest of it plays out!

[tazzmaniac]

Wow, what a trade for Roy. There's so much talent depth in this draft that I think he'll be fine filling out his roster a bit more downmarket. Top end pairings are so hard to come by and the dropoff is much steeper at the top than it is for the fourth rotation player. Fun stuff.

All good picks today. There are a couple guys I would've taken over AD and Harden (particularly the latter) head to head but it's hard to quibble and both of them will have the chance to create dynamic pairings tomorrow.

I'm not a fan of Harden or AD but I think the pairing is good start.   

[Roy H.]

It's so early, but we at least have two duos to compare.

Curry/Giannis vs AD/Harden

Curry and AD both appealing for blending with other stars, Giannis and Harden both production monsters who complicate team building.

Curry/Giannis is filthy. I know it came at a major cost so it'll be interesting to see how Roy fills out the rest of the starting five but that's a lethal 1/2.

It was at a major cost.  Roy will be filling out his starting lineup with a 4th and two 6th picks.  I'd rather be in Snivley's position with 5 starters in the top 36 and 7 players in the top 46.  He's also in the position to make another move depending on how things play out.  If I were in Roy's position, I would have gone with Curry and KD.  It is easy to build around two great shooters.  Making picks who fit well with Giannis will be harder.  Might not be able to pick the BPAs in the 4th and 6th rounds due to fit.

I don't think Giannis is that hard to build around.  He's a two-time MVP that also won DPOY.  He has also carried a team to a title without a clear-cut Hall of Famer next to him.

It's an interesting debate, but with Curry on the team, I'd take Giannis over Durant every time.

In terms of the cost, it came down to building around two of my top four players, and seeing how it would play out.

It was a daring move and Curry is a great fit with Giannis.  It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Only having 10 participants helps with the talent pool available in the 4th and 6th rounds.  I assume you didn't start off offering 2nd, 3rd and 5th.  How much haggling was there?

No haggling.  I paid heavy freight upfront, because there was a ticking clock.  If there had been more time between picks I might have come in a little lower, but I didn't have time.

I also made a couple of trade offers that would have been less expensive once Jokic started to fall.  But, I preferred getting two guys.

My rule of thumb has always been that fair value tends to be that if you want to move up into a round, you need to give up picks in the next two rounds, and get back a pick 3 or 4 rounds lower.

So, for a 1st rounder, it would be 1st + 4th or 5th for 2nd + 3rd. Obviously, not all first rounders are created equal, but you get the gist.

By that metric, I certainly overpaid.

[theswitch]

Wow, what a trade for Roy. There's so much talent depth in this draft that I think he'll be fine filling out his roster a bit more downmarket. Top end pairings are so hard to come by and the dropoff is much steeper at the top than it is for the fourth rotation player. Fun stuff.

All good picks today. There are a couple guys I would've taken over AD and Harden (particularly the latter) head to head but it's hard to quibble and both of them will have the chance to create dynamic pairings tomorrow.

I'm not a fan of Harden or AD but I think the pairing is good start.

Oh I missed that first trade and that AD and Harden are a duo. Yeah, that's a fun pairing. I would've still picked another pairing instead of them but they offer plenty of complementarity and flexibility.

[Moranis]

CFF not sure if you saw but I responded to your pm. No need for you to send a list, I will just wait for you to draft before I pick.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

CFF not sure if you saw but I responded to your pm. No need for you to send a list, I will just wait for you to draft before I pick.

Thank you, much appreciated! I?ll try to get on here before 12 if I can to not hold up the end of the round too much.

[smokeablount]

Do people want to do 5 minute picks and come away with 2 players on either Thursday or Friday? If 6+ people agree before the draft ends today we can go for it, if not, 1 per day this week for 4 total players and we wait to do 2 a day until next week.

In 40-45 minutes I will kick off the draft today by posting picks #11 + #12 on behalf of RodyTur10.

[snively]

I'm down with 2 a day