NBL Fantasy: Round 3

Hi guys, Banksy, Boydie and Benny here again – aka the Basketball Blokes. Another week of intriguing basketball around the league, with all teams now on the board in the win column, proving what a tight and competitive league the NBL is producing. The round had some amazing highlights – from Melbourne United clinching the grand final replay game against the Adelaide 36ers, to Andrew Boguts massive 134 point fantasy round, to Drmic giving Goulding a nice big shiner!

But…. It’s finally here! The final lockout before overall rankings kick off is this Thursday 25th – 7.50pm AEDT, so it’s not too late! For those that have missed the boat so far, the season long game kicks off as of this week, Round 3 of the NBL competition. Make sure you get your teams in below to be in the running for the overall $10k prize!

Enter the Official NBL Fantasy competition!

PRIZE GIVEAWAY

We all know that your disappointed about no prizes being available for NBL Fantasy Gameday this season. Fortunately for us Banksy won a haul of prizes last season. To mark the beginning of the overall scoring in season long fantasy starting this week, Banksy has decided to give a prize away to one of our listeners.
We will be giving away 1 (one) basketball signed by the entire 2017-18 NBL Champion Melbourne United Basketball Club players. To win you will need to do the following:
1. Like our Facebook page and share our competition post pinned to the top of our
profile: Basketball Blokes on Facebook
2. Follow us on Twitter: Basketball Blokes on Twitter
3. Respond to the following question on Twitter using the hashtag
#BBBlokesBonanza
The question is: Who is your favourite NBL Fantasy selection on your team and why? It could be that they are unique, cheap, good looking or a good locker room fit. Give us your answers and we will pick our favourite response and announce the winner in our podcast the week concluding week 6 of the NBL season. Head over to Twitter and give your response.

 

POSITION CHANGES

As stated by the NBL, this year there will be position changes throughout the season. What we didn’t expect was the amount that were sprung on us when lockout lifted after Round 2 without warning, as well as to see these changes so early in the season:

Adelaide
Nathan Sobey – PG/SG
Anthony Drmic – SG/SF

Brisbane
Adam Gibson – PG/SG
Cam Gliddon – SG/SF

Cairns
Mitch Young – PF/C
DJ Newbill – SG/SF

Illawarra
Tim Coenraad – SG/SF

Melbourne
Mitch McCarron – PG/SG

NZ
Armani Moore – SF/PF
Jarrad Weeks – PG/SG
Tai Wesley – PF/C

Perth
Terrico White – SG/SF

Sydney
Daniel Kickert – PF/C
Deng Deng – PF/C

Now while these changes might not make a whole lot of difference to your Round 3 team, a number of them are very fantasy relevant for the rest of the season. The one glaring miss of the changes above is Bryce Cotton remaining as just an SG. If you, like us, have watched the Wildcats play this year you can see for yourself that while Damien Martin might start as the PG, it is Cotton who is the play making player on most offensive possessions. Let’s see if there are further changes in the next few weeks that might make this change.

 

THE AND1 CLUB

The players that have attained the maximum price rise for the week of $100K. An important list as these are the guys that will have a low break even heading into Round 3. Expect further rises for this crew over the coming rounds. Jump on before the boat sails!

THE BASELINE CUT SQUAD

These are the top 10 players that have not scored enough to maintain their price which have received significant cuts. A lot of these players were mentioned throughout the podcast. If you have some of these guys in your current lineup, strongly consider giving them the chop!

 

ROUND 3 TRADE TARGETS

Time to discuss the all important trade targets for your team. We think there is 2 things you should be looking to do to improve your team for this round and therefore the start of the major prize competition. Firstly, you should be targeting the cash cows we have mentioned a couple of times in our podcast and in our DT Talk articles. The 2 we have highlighted are Dave Barlow and Brian Bowen. These two are averaging 49 and 21.3 fantasy points respectively and are still under priced at $750k and $400k and remain absolute bargains. Secondly, as official scoring starts Round 3, you need to make sure that you have your high scoring captain in your team, someone who will score you BIG points so most likely a player that is on a double at least this week, possibly over the next couple of weeks, so check the schedule and ensure you have your captain in there! See our captain selections below as to who are some good high scoring players to bring in! Finally, ensure that all players starting on your court are on a double to maximise your fantasy score for the week. If not, make use of your two trades for the week to get as many players with an appealing schedule on your court!

 

ROUND 3 CAPTAINS

5. AJ if he plays/Kay – AJ has the Bullets at home, followed by United on Monday night. Two great match ups, but will he be ready to go with some unknown around his ankle. If he can’t go, Kay plays Brisbane and then Melbourne at home. The double double threat at Perth and two good matchups should see Kay continue to score well.

4. Cotton – Phenominal form, massive minutes and massive shot attempts.  Last years MVP is running the show in Perth and put up almost a third of their shots last game out. Add 2 fantasy friendly match ups and you have a fine captain selection.

3. Newbill – Highest fantasy scorer on average in the league over the preseason.  Currently the highest scorer on average so far in the season proper after two rounds – yet only 8% owned. If you want a unique captain option that can go big, Newbill is your guy!

2. DJ Kennedy – A massive 75 fantasy points in his first showing before sitting out United’s second game of the season. Back in for game 3 with a 41 and showing no ill effects after a week on the sidelines. Came off the bench, but still managed 30 odd fantasy points in the first quarter. His average of 58 fantasy points over his two games played is only 2 points behind Boone, and fourth best in the league.

1. Boone – If you listened to him being interviewed after their last game, he said he was down on himself after just 7 rebounds againt the Breakers. He didn’t say he barely played the second half in that game or make excuses – instead he said he spent the week working on his rebounding game to ensure it didn’t happen again, and that he plans on leading the league in boards. He went out there and put up 15 points and 16 rebounds. Guaranteed double double both games. Note this: Both Boone and Bogut lead the league, both averaging exactly 11.6 boards each. Boone will be well aware of this. Boone wants that rebounding title!

 

THE SCHEDULE