Friends in fast breaks,

Did you meet the Golden Spreadsheet?

WEEK 6 PICKS

• Walking Bucket Wilt OAD
  • Summary | Overall Standings | Golden Spreadsheet
• VC's Knees Survivor
  • Summary | Overall Standings | Golden Spreadsheet
• Your group picks (get in a group with friends!)

This week we released a new feature: The Golden Spreadsheet. 

Basic text colors don't exactly get across how useful this thing is. For every Survivor and OAD competition, we'll show you how many alive competitiors still have each player/team available. As the SZN progresses, this information can be incredibly helpful for strategizing. 

Imagine - It's week 17 in Walking Bucket Wilt OAD, the start of the third and final Interval. The Golden Spreadsheet shows that 80%+ of competitors have already used top players like Steph and Luka, while you cleverly chose to hold onto them until this point. You've got a massive advantage over your competitors by still having them available, and now you can understand exactly how much leverage you've got compared to the rest of the field.

Find the link to the page above above, or directly on the competition page. I'll add some insights from the Golden Spreadsheet in the stats below.

PICK STATS

Walking Bucket Wilt OAD

• Our top pick this week was D. Booker with 52 picks
  • Why this week? Was it him popping off for 51 recently? Is it because he plays HOU who gave up 40 points to different players last week?
  • Both? Yeah why not both.
• The remainder of our top picks were spread across L. Doncic (44 picks), D. Mitchell (38), and G. Antetokounmpo (36)
• What does the Golden Spreadsheet show?
  • We're already near 50% utilization for L. Doncic and S. Curry, with 220+ people having already used them in the first six weeks
  • Players like D. Sabonis, D. Murray, C. McColum, and B. Adebayo have been used 2 times or fewer
  • There's still ~75% of the season to go, we'll see how people start diversifying over time
• Interesting low volume picks: D. Ayton (1 pick), T. Haliburton (2), J. Poole (1), J. Randle (1)
• Players pick for the FIRST TIME this SZN: L. Dort!

VC’s Knees Survivor

• We're down to 60 players this week, 13.5% of our starting size
• We spread out MUCH better this week compared to last week's 71% of pickers riding PHX
• Our top pick was MIL (vs LAL) with 14 picks, followed closely by CLE (vs ORL) with 11 picks, GSW (vs CHI) with 10 picks, and BOS (vs MIA) with 9 picks
• We've got 13 teams picked, including picks involving MUCH more than just the tank targets (PHI, IND, CHI, SAC), I'm proud of the bravery
• What does the Golden Spreadsheet show?
  • Both CLE and PHX are over 90% utilized, leaving them as very high leverage going forward
  • NOP and MEM are the only other teams above 50%, and just barely

WEEKLY AWARDS

Westbrook Bank Shot Moxie Award

Boldest pick WITH a comment. You can't win a SZN competition without a little Moxie!

@LeviLeo (L. Ball): "Shooting for the 2nd segment at this point, gotta save the good guys"
GM says: LaMelo as main pick - Pretty bold. He hasn't been successfully picked this SZN due to injuries, and injury report looks like this will happen again this week. And your backup pick is... K. Murray? You ARE living dangerously

"Who's the GOAT?" Award

Our best weekly comment (or three)

@kempsoos (NOP): "You know everyone gives the NFL all this credit for marketing and creating brands but I must say the NBA has great Team Nicknames and is also really good at sneaking basketballs into their logos. The NFL logos have hardly any footballs and its a really big missed opportunity in my opinion. Plus there's only like two bird mascots in the NBA compared to the NFLs like 15 birds... no one cares about those hollow boned used to be dinosaurs. "
GM says: They say as they go ahead and pick one of the hollow-boned dinosaurs to pin their hopes on...

@yjcc (D. Mitchell): "It was a terrible week for me in sports. First, I predicted my drop from the top 10 in Wilt OAD because I became aware I was doing well and would be unable to use my winning strategy of picking randomly. I tried to emulate it by taking a riskier pick but I was unfortunately right. THEN, OSU only plays one half of football. THEN, we lose the Shillelagh to @TheCommish which triggered only a mild depression because Caleb Williams was just so impressive. Did I mention I INVERSE HOH'd all those picks? I never learn. THEN, Korea lost to Ghana with the heartrate metrics to prove I have never been more stressed on a Monday morning. Do I dare hope for the USMNT? A must-win Korea v Portugal? Makes me worried about getting a dog because this is what happens to things I care about. So maybe I can't convince you that Spida is going to blow up against the Warriors. But maybe I can convince you to avoid it."
GM says: This is just beautiful, an ode to being a sports fan in general. To double down on ALL of these picks? *chef kiss*

"I Could Sell You Kings Tickets" Award

Most convincing comment.

@YikesVikes (S. Gilgeous): "SGA, the 2018 first round draft pick has is considered for the All Star Game given his performances. 'SGA' is averaging 31 points per game this season and shooting 51% from the field. And the sharp shooter is being cheered on by his sports star girlfriend soccer player Hailey Summers. With the WC going on and his soccer girl friend cheering him on, he has to be a high scorer this week. Looking at Hailey, he already has scored! Hailey has recently posted loved-up messages such as "I love you endlessly" and "I love you dearly" on her Instagram. YES he's scored!"
GM says: You can't spell "All Star Game" without SGA. And some other letters, but let's not worry about those ones.

KD Would Retweet This Award

The spiciest/wildest take.

@Flem (MIL): "Did you know that Anthony Davis is less than 2 years older than Giannis? It feels like 200. Do you know who was president 200 years ago? James Monroe, famous for the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine opposed European Colonialism of America. Does Giannis know this? I will wager that he does not. Bucks roll." 
GM says: I have no notes. Turn in your history exam immediately, you get an A+. Do not pass go, but you may collect $200

MORE PICK COMMENTS

@wettengal (GSW): "according to the internet, the celtics and heat appear to be playing in back to back games?? or am i just drunk at 9am again? i still no nothing about the NBA, but that is just a recipe for something weird to happen. steph curry is still good, right? "
GM says: Still knows nothing, still alive, still making good picks like attacking the crumbling Bulls. It's getting REAL suspicious over here...

@BroncoCharlie (MIL): "Everyone gonna be on Milwaukee this week. Hope we dont get bucked off....."
GM says: You're not wrong Charlie, but thankfully looks less insanely tilted than last week

@Flem (D. Booker): "I hate Devin Booker"
GM says: But why Flem, why? Is this because he dumped whichever Kardashian? Something deeper? I need to know

@Merf (J. Grant): "Totally gonna extinguish your heater, Jerami. Sorry, Portland fans."
GM says: At least we're honest about knowing what impact we have on these guys 😔

@BroncoCharlie (D. Booker): "Houston's D be trippin' like Biden getting on Air Force 1."
GM says: Falling up stairs repeatedly is EXACTLY what the rockets D looks like

@Logan2273 (B. Beal): "I need some wizardry to get back in this thing"
GM says: I had my fingers crossed this was a Porzingis pick, but I'll take any Wizards-related enthusiasm, somebody needs to have some

Yours in Roundball Rock,
The GM