Basketball Draft Night 2014

If you believe the hype (and the current issue of SLAM is all about maintaining the hype engine), then this current crop of NBA rookies is the best in a generation.

To punctuate this point, the editors of SLAM re-created a “Ready or Not” spread from 1996 that featured a pretty exceptional rookie class. Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, and Steve Nash to name a few. Even in their past-their-prime seasons, some of these guys provided huge value to Idle Time teams over the last decade. Shareef Abdur-Rahim was on the first championship roster, playing for Run Le-PMC (now fundamentalators) in 2005. Bryant and Camby won with the L.A. Losers in ’07. And Ray Allen was part of the back-to-back dynasty that transformed Worst to First!! into Winter Is Coming from 2011 to 2012.

Draft Night 2014

With all respect to FX’s The League (and I suppose recognition is in order, given the fact that three of Idle Time’s team names derive from the show), eight-team fantasy football leagues are for chumps. Give me sixteen teams, four divisions, and as close to a dynasty keeper format as the quorum will allow.

And yes, Draft Night is still exciting.

This year we went all high-tech with an internet-assisted lottery randomizer. draftlotto.com allowed Matt to enter in last year’s non-playoff teams, all ten of them, with an appropriate number of balls in the hopper for each. Each eligible team was listed with an email address and the first-round results were sent out simultaneously to everyone involved. In case you weren’t in the lottery draw, or just need verification of the process, the settings are saved on the site here.

We got a late start on the proceedings, and the keeper deadline has been pushed back to tomorrow, Friday, August 22. That gives you a weekend to prep, research the current crop of rookies, conduct a few mocks, and hydrate responsibly for the Draft on Tuesday night, August 26, at 8:00 PM.