Found off reddit

It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about Hibachi Grill. We’re still in the hunt for a trophy. I’m currently in 5th but the point spread among the top 5 teams is pretty close.

The team now looks like this:
Dirk, Nash, Brand, Gasol, G Wallace
Big Al, J Chill, Diaw, Bell, TJ
CWebb, Turkoglu, Millsap, Head, JR

Compared with last year, the team is made up of more players acquired via trade and waiver wire acquisitions.

Drafted: Dirk, Nash, Diaw, G Wallace, Bell, TJ
Acquired Via Trade: Brand, CWebb
Waiver Wire Pickups:  Gasol, Big Al, J Chill, Turkoglu, Millsap, Head, JR

One notable waiver wire pickup who was dropped because of injury is Tony Allen. He was playing like a beast at the time and it hurt to have to drop him.

The other notable waiver wire pick ups are Big Al and Gasol who are doing a more than adequate job of filling my 2 center positions. Gasol was not a surprise but Big Al has definitely been a revelation (I think of him as Dwight Lite).

The early season trade of Boozer & Iguodala for Brand is starting to pay off. Brand appears to be playing well again. If Brand doesn’t get injured, I might have gotten the better end of the deal. The 2 for 1 trade also help open up a roster spot (which was filled by Gasol). In our 9 team league, available roster spots are incredibly valuable as there is a lot of talent to go around.

G Wallace has shaken off his early season morass and has started posting some monster lines. He is a huge injury risk but I’m trying to be optimistic. I’m hoping for a big second half. Diaw has not justified his high draft position but is still a very serviceable player. I’m mildly optimistic for a 2nd half turnaround but it appears unlikely.

At it’s core with Dirk and Brand (along with Gasol and Big Al), Hibachi Grill is primarily a power team. However we seem to be do well in 2 guard oriented categories (Assists, A/T), fairly in FT% and poorly in Steals. The team is light on guards and it’s a tribute to Nash that we’re doing well in assists.

The team looks good and I’m optimistic for a second half charge. 

Just got back into the office today. The vacation has left me in a noticeably relaxed state. 

The reorganization that started when I left is completed. People are more or less the same but things feel slightly different.

Not quite sure what to make of it yet. I still have the same uneasethat sat with me for all of the last year. I’m not sure if it is the typical unease of getting back to work after a long break.

I’m hoping for better things this year.

I’m not sure what 2007 will bring but I’m hopeful. Hopeful that I’ll behappier in general. For reasons I cannot understand, 2006 was adepressing year for me.

Yet it was also filled with days where I accomplished things I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I finished a half marathon in September. I finished a marathon in November. Running a marathon has finally sunk in. It’s part of me now. It feels like a whole world of adventure is just awaiting me.

I’ve not trained in about 5 weeks but the aches and pains have mostly faded with time. It might be time to start up again. The goal is to finish my second marathon.

What do I want to do in 2007?
1. Be more social
2. Get in better shape
3. Run a second marathon
4. Donate $X
5. Save $Y
6. Travel More
7. Get more sleep

I suspect 5 & 6 may not be mutually compatible but I’m willing to to give it a chance.

There were a whole bunch of injuries in the NBA this week. I had an injury scare or two….

Dirk sprained his ankle against the Sonics and Nash rolled his ankle against the Wizards. Dirk’s injury looked really bad on the replay but he was playing against the Clippers on Friday. I hope he doesn’t aggravate it. Nash has been the best player for my team this season.

To boost my 3pt shooting, I picked up R Butler did week. With Peja out, he is going to get time to hit the 3ball. He’s hit 6 this week, so that helps. He also looks good for a couple of steals but I’m hoping he heats up and knocks down more treys.

Bell has been on a cold streak this week. He’ll heat up again and make up for it. I noticed he has a tendency to be a streaky shooter.

Diaw continues his strong play for the team. After a slow start to the season, he is turning into the Diaw of old. G Wallace has also started turning it around. I’m hoping they start making up for the slow start.

TJ Ford has been on a tear without C Bosh around. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Bosh gets back.

L Head has been playing well for me. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when TMac and Bonzi start to get it going again. I’m contemplating selling high on him or just riding his threes for the season.

Big Al has been on a tear. With Pierce out, I hope he takes his play to the next level. I dropped T Allen to pick up D Wilkins again. With the injury to Rashard Lewis, I’m hoping Wilkins gets more playing time.

Gasol continues to gain playing time. Once he starts getting more than 30 minutes a game, he’ll start for sure. Even now, I think he’s worth playing already.

The team now looks like this:
Guards: Nash, Bell, Ford
Forwards: Nowitzki, Brand, Wallace
Centers: Diaw, Gasol
Bench: A Jefferson, R Jefferson, Webber, Head, R Butler, D Wilkins

Made another waiver wire move to help heat up the grill.

Dumped Nenad Krstic for Speedy Claxton.

Speedy has not  played well this season but I’m a "buy low, sell high" kind of guy. Even if it’s a waiver wire pickup. I spent the day looking at Krstic numbers and he wasn’t helping my team out that much. He scored a decent number of points but not much else. His rebounding avg is around 7 (pretty bad for a  fantasy center). With Gasol back, I didn’t really need Krstic that much.

If Speedy turns it around, he’ll help me out in assist and steals. His percentages are really bad around right now but I think they’ll come back up. He doesn’t shoot the three which is another category I have concerns about.

My weakest position right now is SF. RJ and Crash have not been playing well so far. I picked up and dropped Walton a couple of weeks back. I should have held onto him though the Odom injury was unexpected. He gets me treys and steals which is what I need out of my SF now.

I’ve made a slew of waiver wire pickups and drops this season.
A Jefferson
L Head
J Garbajosa
P Gasol
T Allen
S Claxton

I’m going to keep 2 of my bench spots dedicated to upside guys. (I read it in someone’s fantasy basketball blog). Right now T Allen and S Claxton are those guys. J Farmar and D West are two guys who I could potentially pickup in the future.

The Wii arrived on Thursday and I’ve spent the weekend playing around with it. If I had to pick one word to describe it: fun.

Including Wii Sports with the console was a stroke of genius. I’ve been having so much fun with just that one game. The bundle came with a stack of other games but my Wii time has mostly been spent on Wii Sports.

I’m in decent shape but my arms were slightly sore after playing with the Wii on Thursday night. It does not need to be a great workout but it could be. You can play with minimal effort but if you put your entire body into it you’ll get a decent workout. Baseball, Bowling and Tennis have the most appeal for me. Golf is too hard and the controls in Boxing just seem too random.

Lord of the Rings video game for the Wii.

Can you tell I’m in the middle of watching "The Return of the King?"

Team Hibachi Grill is starting to warm up. I hope the trend continues.

The core of the team if the trend continues is pretty solid:
Guards: Nash, Bell, TJ Ford
Forwards: Nowitzki, Brand, Wallace
Centers: Diaw, Gasol
Bench: Krstic, R Jefferson, Webber, Garbajosa, Wilkins, Head, A Jefferson,

The biggest reason for my surge appears to be the inspired play of the much maligned Diaw. He’s putting in some awesome lines for me during the last six games. I hope he continues to do this and recapture the form that he had last year.

G Wallace continues to be a disappointment on my fantasy team. He continues to rack up steals at a pretty good rate but it’s still down from last year. His blocks and FG% are down from last year which is worrisome. I hope he gets it going soon.

Gasol started last night. His first NBA game in awhile. If he recaptures some of his form from last year I’ll be in good shape. Webber has been up and down but his statline has shown glimpses of the fantasy stud he once was. With AI out, I’m hoping he becomes the main guy for that team. The last 4 games, he’s contributed quite a bit to my team. Only his FG% has been scary. If he picks that up I’ll be in good shape.

I’ve been boosted slightly by a number of waiver wire injury pickups: Head, A Jefferson, Wilkins.
A Jefferson, in particular has been amazing. The way he plays I hope he continues to start. I picked up Head to boost my treys but since TMac got injured, Head has stepped it up. Wilkins has played well but I’ve been nervous about starting him. Ray Ray is back soon so I’m considering dumping him to pick up T Allen.

Hibachi Grill is a power team. My core players are primarily forwards and centers. I need to balance the team up with some guards and wing players. Hopefully I can get some trades and waiver wire pickups to help with that.

Gilbert Arenas is one funny dude. Check out his blog and this little snippet from wikipedia:

During the 2006 National Basketball Association season, Washington Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenasbegan to shout the word as he took field goal attempts in games,explaining, "You know, a hibachi grill gets real hot. That’s what myshot’s like, so I’ve been calling it that: ‘Welcome to the hibachi’."

In honor of the man, the Killer Rabbits are now Hibachi Grill.

This has been a fairly decent week for Hibachi Grill with lots of interesting news in the horizon.

- Tied for 5th in the league
- AI is out in Philly. I wonder if my Iguodala trade was premature. Webber did have a good game last night. I hope he continues that trend
- Diaw is showing signs of life.
- Wallace registered a block last week.
- Brand had 2 good games for me followed by a bad one in SA
- Gasol starts full contact drills soon
- Oh yeah! Nash is frigging amazing. I just wished they showed that duel with Kidd on TNT. I have Dirk and Sheed on various fantasy teams but that game was boooriing.