. The Dropping Dimes Experts League has become a two horse race. Our resident boss man, Dennis Velasco, holds a slim 0.5 point edge over Nels Wadycki from Give Me The Rock.

Here are Dennis’ totals in each category thus far. As a reminder, we play in a 12 team roto league with weekly roster changes and unlimited add/drops.

FG%: 10
FT%: 3
3PTM: 9
Pts: 3
Reb: 7
Ast: 7
Stl: 10
Blk: 11
TO: 11

Team total: 71.

Nels trails with 70.5 points and ProFantasySports with 65 points. Me? After a swan dive in the standings, I have slowly climbed up to fourth place with 62 points

Dennis’ current roster:

PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Charlie Bell
G: Andre Miller
SF: Shawn Marion
PF: Udonis Haslem
F: Wally Szczerbiak
C: Darko Milicic
C: Shaquille O’Neal
Util: Shaun Livingston
Util: Stephon Marbury
BN: Antawn Jamison
BN: Alonzo Mourning
BN: Rashard Lewis

Anyone out there crying about how hard the injury bug has bitten their team this year can look at Dennis’ performance here as a good example of how to ride out a bad wave. I am sure ‘Shard will be put back into the starting lineup after the all-star break, and he should be a nice boost to a team already on top of the standings.

Dennis has adopted mostly a “stand pat” type of strategy in this league, with only five moves so far. One team has made 61 moves. Here there are, starting with the most recent.

5. January 20, 2007: Added Charlie Bell, dropped Mickael Pietrus
4. November 9, 2006: Added Darko Milicic, dropped Joel Przybilla
3. November 7, 2006: Added Udonis Haslem, dropped Sean May
2. October 28, 2006: Added Alonzo Mourning, dropped Robert Swift
1. October 15, 2006: Added Sean May, dropped Marquis Daniels

Sure, snagging the second pick in the draft and landing the roto monster known as the Matrix helps tremendously. Dennis has been able to play to Marion’s strengths with top three scores in FG%, steals, blocks, and turnovers. Turnovers is a category that generates some debate, but everyone in the league is subject to the same rules. Nels’ team is last in turnovers. Take that category out and Nels would be ahead by a country mile!

Like in that old Ice Cube song, “this ain’t a track meet, it’s a marathon.” Some people prefer roto leagues because it reduces the importance of the luck factor seen in head-to-head leagues. About one third of the season remains to be played, and it should be a great finish.

Peace.