FUNBA Final Results

Greetings fellow B-Ballers!

I know everyone is wrapped up in the Predator Cup race (and rightly so), or cheering on the Flames to get a high draft pick the better to select Sasha Barkov as our future #1 centre, but the FUNBA has finished (a week ago, my bad) and it behooves me to do a recap of the final weeks for those of you who stuck with it to the bitter end.

First off, congratulations to Bob and his Thunderbay Murderball! They cruised to victory in the last two weeks crushing Darrell's finely tuned Calgary GoodFellas.

Special mention has to go to the play of Carmelo Anthony, who secured his first NBA scoring title this year by improving his slot selection and by attempting and making a ton more 3-point shots.

Brian's Calgary Sharpshooters finished 3rd by polishing off Mike's Ball-Bearings in the consolation round, a very solid finish for both GMs as neither has paid much attention to basketball prior to this pool.

The final consolation match-up was the Lethbridge SkyWalkers improbably man-handling the Edmonton Flatlanders! The SkyWalkers had been abysmal all freaking year long, largely due to a plethora of injuries, but enough guys got healthy down the stretch (especially PG John Wall and PF 'Disco' Dirk Nowitzki) that the SkyWalkers were among the league leaders for the last 3 matches of the season. The win by Lethbridge's favourite B-Ball team catapulted them out of the basement and into 5th place!

Final Standings (after playoffs)

1. Murderball
2. Goodfellas
3. Sharpshooters
4. Ball-Bearings
5. SkyWalkers
6. Flatlanders
7. Chumfeeders

Thanks to everyone who participated! It wasn't the FUNHL (it never could be), but I certainly enjoyed the hell out of myself (and until the playoffs I was in dead freaking last for the entire year).

News and Notes

For kicks, I looked up the top scoring players for the year, to see how everything shook out;

1. LeBron James-SF SkyWalkers
2. Kevin Durant-SF/SG Goodfellas

Really, no surprises here, as these guys were at the top of most people's lists.

3. Russell Westbrook-PG Chumfeeders

The warp-speed point guard elevated his game this year, and was the Chumfeeders top weapon. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL in the playoffs and the OKC Thunder's hopes to upset the Heat are torn up with it.

4. Kobe Bryant-SG Murderball

As much as I hate on Kobe, he had an absolutely fantastic season. Sadly for him, he tore his Achilles' tendon in the late stages of the season and the Lakers are all but toast as a result. Very curious to see if Bob franchises Kobe or not.

5. James Harden-SG Sharpshooters

'Fear the Beard', Harden was balls-out AMAZING for the Rockets this year, and went from #3 banana in OKC to the 5th best player in the league. He's also a ton of fun to watch, and should be the clear 1st choice as FP for the Sharpshooters.

6. Steph Curry-PG/SG Chumfeeders

He's the second coming of Allen Iverson, too short to be a shooting guard, too good a scorer to be a point guard, all he does is bomb away and fill the net. The definition of a 'volume shooter', Curry is one of the purest offensive gunners the league has ever seen. Should be a lock to join Westbrook as Chumfeeder FP.

7. Chris Paul-PG Flatlanders

Had a pretty typical Chris Paul season; lots of lobs/assists to Blake Griffin, ran one of the league's best offenses, played excellent defense (lots of steals), and missed games here and there to injury. Without a doubt a cornerstone player in his prime.

8. Monta Ellis-SG/PG Murderball

I just didn't see this one coming. Ellis is a 'Steph Curry-lite', but he scored/assisted enough to put him in the top 10 all on his own. I had downplayed him as being FP calibre, but the stats don't lie.

9. Jrue Holiday-PG Ball-Bearings

Was arguably one of the most improved players of the year as all his counting stats were career best in 12/13. Unexpectedly the best player on the BB's roster, he's probably earned an FP tag from the team.

10. Deron Williams-PG Ball-Bearings

I gave Mike some grief for taking Deron ahead of James, and while that choice still looks bad, it no longer looks horrific. Williams had a VERY slow start to the year, but his second half was exceptional, and for the last 40 games he played at a top 5 level. The BB's backcourt looks to be pretty much set between Williams and Holiday for the BB's.

Other players of note:

Damian Lilliard-PG 11th, David Lee-C 12th, Flatlanders

The Flatlanders had three guys in the top 12 scoring for the year. Am I the only person who had no idea that David Lee was capable of being a top 12 scorer in fantasy basketball?

Kemba Walker-SG 13, Greivis Vasquez-PG 14, Sharpshooters

Here are two reasons why the Sharpshooters were as good as they were - a sophmore SG on a terrible team, and vastly improved point guard on an equally terrible team. Would I FP either of them? I really don't know.

Anyway, there you be. I hope everyone had a BLAST, and I look forward to competing with you all next year.

Cheers,
Cameron