I was a last-minute addition to an industry draft hosted by Brandon Funston at Yahoo! on Thursday night. Nine cats, Roto, daily lineups, start two centers and I somehow drew the No. 1 pick. The fact it is daily made me forget about Paul's three two-game weeks early in the season and I went for it. Plus, his field goal percentage and turnovers also make him the No. 1 pick in that format, at least in my opinion. I've drawn the No. 1 or 2 pick in four drafts so far, and have been around No. 10 in the others. It figures, as I was hoping for the No. 4-5 pick in all these leagues so I could put my house on Durant. As it turns out, I probably won't own him in a single league. Let's take a look at how it went down.

The Rotoworld Hoops Draft Guide is still available if you haven't signed up yet, and I actually tweaked the rankings a bit after tonight's draft. (By the way, the feedback from users has been incredible so far, which is a great feeling. Both for the magazine you can buy in stores and the online version). The magazine actually sold out quickly in my local WalMart, but then again, I do have a lot of friends and family here.

Follow Us On Twitter

I'm (finally) in full swing on Twitter.com/docktora now. Check it out. And if you're sick of me, but just want the news, you should definitely be following Rotoworld_Bk for all the Rotoworld hoops headlines that hit throughout any given day. However, if you don't follow me on Twitter, you probably missed out on seeing links to such amazing things as Darko Milicic ripping his jersey off his body, grotesquely cussing out some officials in 2007, and a LeBron James corn maze. Yep, a LeBron corn maze.

The Draft

This may not be the best draft of all time for me, but I am pretty happy with the results. I reached for some young guns and having those two picks at the turn makes you really think about your priorities. Whoever I passed on would have surely been gone by the time it finally got back around to me, so I picked the two players out of the next 24 that I liked best/wanted most and went for it. I also think that rankings should only be used as a loose guide for how you draft your team. You have to look at tiers and take into consideration your team's strengths, weaknesses and league nuances along the way when picking your guys.

I basically punted on power forwards, but most of the big names are super risky this year, so I don't feel bad about it. And a sidenote on Durant vs. Granger. Granger was better last year in threes and blocks, which is huge. But Durant doesn't have Granger's knee issue from last year, and we still haven't even seen him approach his ceiling. It's a great debate and you should take whoever you think will be the better player. I'm going with KD in non-TO leagues.

Round 1

1. Chris Paul – Rotoworld
2. LeBron James
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Kevin Durant
6. Danny Granger
7. Dwight Howard
8. Amare Stoudemire
9. Pau Gasol
10. Dirk Nowitzki
11. Brandon Roy
12. Chris Bosh

Thoughts: Can't complain about CP3 in this format. The rest of this round went about as expected, although Granger may be better than Durant because of less TOs, more threes and blocks. However, we still haven't seen what Durant is capable of, and Granger has that knee thing, and I'm also not sure he can get much better than he was last year. Seeing Dwight Howard go this early was a little surprising given the TOs and free throw percentage hit that owner will suffer, but the rest of the round was just as I would have predicted.

Round 2

13. Deron Williams
14. Al Jefferson
15. Andre Iguodala
16. Kevin Garnett
17. Steve Nash
18. Chauncey Billups
19. Gerald Wallace
20. Jose Calderon
21. Caron Butler
22. Brook Lopez
23. Tim Duncan
24. Antawn Jamison – Rotoworld

I was hoping for Jamison to fall here and he did. He's rock solid and no, I'm not concerned about the return of Arenas. I also considered Josh Smith with one of my two picks, but those percentages and turnovers scared me away. Keep in mind he hit just 59% from the line last year, although his FGP and TOs were more under control. I probably would have taken Lopez, Billups or Calderon if available, but they were gone. No real surprises here, but I'm wondering how many surprise DNPs Tim Duncan will have this year? I had no interest in him.

Round 3

25. Jason Richardson - Rotoworld
26. Kevin Martin
27. Paul Pierce
28. Jason Kidd
29. Troy Murphy
30. Devin Harris
31. Joe Johnson
32. Gilbert Arenas
33. Vince Carter
34. David West
35. Carmelo Anthony
36. Josh Smith

Once Lopez was gone, I decided to wait on my centers, as I know there have been quality ones left later in the drafts I've already completed. I think I shocked the room by taking JRich here, but I also think he's going to bounce back in a big way this year. And there's no way he would have still been around when I picked again. He'll start off with a two-game suspension, but his threes (and almost everything else) are going to be money, while the TOs will not be. Other guys in this round? Martin, Harris and Arenas are all injury risks, while Pierce, Kidd and Carter make me nervous due to their age. That said, this is exactly where they should have gone. Josh could be a cat-killer, but if he bounces back, the blocks and everything else should make up for his shortcomings. Risky. In short, no regrets (as of now) for grabbing JRich, and we have to remember that the coaching change in Phoenix is huge for him.

Round 4

37. David Lee
38. Elton Brand
39. Derrick Rose
40. Rajon Rondo
41. LaMarcus Aldridge
42. Andrea Bargnani
43. Shawn Marion
44. Monta Ellis
45. Carlos Boozer
46. O.J. Mayo
47. Rudy Gay
48. Russell Westbrook – Rotoworld

I had some interest here in Rose, Rondo, Monta, and especially Bargnani (who is a center), but had no problem deciding on Westbrook once those guys were gone. I've been accused of being overly excited by Westbrook this season, but there are a lot of other folks in the same boat. Again, it was now or never on him. I had zero interest in Marion, Boozer, Mayo and Gay this early, and was actually excited to see them go. Not enough balls to go around in Memphis and I'm done with Marion and Boozer for the rest of my fantasy career.

Round 5

49. Anthony Randolph - Rotoworld
50. Stephen Jackson
51. Mehmet Okur
52. Hedo Turkoglu
53. Rashard Lewis
54. Al Horford
55. Charlie Villanueva
56. Jameer Nelson
57. Ray Allen
58. Andris Biedrins
59. Eric Gordon
60. Nene

This pick was interesting for me. I knew I shouldn't be taking Randolph this early, but also knew that he was gone if I passed. I got two of the more intriguing young guns in the league with these two picks and have no regrets. Stephen Jackson is a potential cat-killer, Turkoglu's field goal percentage is a little scary and I'm worried about Nene getting hurt. I considered Biedrins, Gordon and Okur in front of Randolph, but decided I wanted to own Randolph and all his blocks this season – Nellie be damned. I still don't have a center, but I've got scorers, threes, assists, steals and blocks, and my percentages should be intact. Rebounds look like a problem for me early, although Jamison and Randolph should be solid there.
Continue story ...