AFFL Team Pre-Draft Preview '15: Hangin' & Bangin'

Hangin' and Bangin' owners Dre and Avo

For the next twelve days, the AFFL will give you a break down of each manager and preview their 2015 Fantasy season. We will take a look at what the team has done up to this point, their current keeper situation, and take an early look at how the difficulty of their schedule. Teams will be previewed in reverse draft order, starting with 12 and ending at 1. You can further see more about each manager and team by clicking on the teams tab and visiting each team page.

4. Hangin' and Bangin'

History:

• One of the founding teams of the AFFL
• Made playoffs 4 of last 6 seasons
• 51-53 Lifetime AFFL record (49%) 0-5 in playoffs
• 5 seasons with 6 wins or less including one 4 win season
• Historically involved in the most games decided by less than a point
• Great foresight to trade for great keepers this year: Hill (4th), Evans (5th)

Welcome to team Enigma. After changing there franchise name more than any other team (7 times in 9 years), Team Bangin' remains a mystery. The franchise has had some success in recent seasons, making the playoffs every year between '09-'11, and four of the past six seasons. Only a few teams could claim such a feat. Even after a down year in 2012, the team bounced back to make the playoffs in '13, only to be eliminated in the first round. There in lies the problem. Despite the many playoff appearances the team has yet to win in the post-season. They are the only team with more than two playoff appearances that has zero post-season wins.  Incredible. This ultimately leaves H&B to feel more like a "paper tiger" than a true fantasy lion. Their resume looks great at times, but feels empty. Thus begins the mystery of what this team really is. Are they a winner or a loser? Seems like they are somewhere in-between.

H&B has had the misfortune of being involved in many of close wins and losses in the AFFL, more so than any other team. Nay a season goes by without a scoring change of some kind to a H&B match-up that would lead to a win/loss . In '07, a stat correction helped Bangin' win by less than three-tenths of a point against HBK. In '08 the team beat Varout by .6 points. In '09, a last second dump off to Wes Welker helped H&B beat Bomba by .9. In '12, BDiddy defeated H&B by .64. The list goes on. The narrow losses during these years often cost the team playoff opportunities, which would have drastically changed their image. Instead, H&B remains a team that is either unlucky or merely unable to manage their way to AFFL stardom. We don't believe in curses, but if the team continues to make the post-season and fail to win, we would have to wonder if they are indeed cursed. After all, that was their team name in '07.

Where Hangin' makes their mark is in the trading department. While injuries and other mishaps have happened during a season, the team has done a great job of trying to pick-up via free agency or trade for the right player to remain competitive. The most recent evidence of this is their foresight to trade for Jeremy Hill and Mike Evans last season in hopes of having two great keepers in 2015. The gamble could pay off in a big way, as Hangin' is positioned at the front of the draft and has two great keepers along with three picks in the first three rounds. The knock on the team is that H&B teams fall apart as the season progresses. If they can maintain proper management through the second half of a season and use their foresight to bolster their team just before the playoffs, they could well be on their way to their first post-season victory. The league has been waiting for their arrival for sometime.

2015 is a crucial year for Hangin' if they wish to change their teams image from one of pretender to contender. What exactly will define team Hangin'? Will it be the close losses? Will it be bad luck? Or will it be a new era of success built on smart play? Ladies and gentleman, I present to you.. the enigma. We're waiting to solve the mystery.

2015 Preview

Potential Keepers = Excellent

• Jermey Hill #40
  
• Mike Evans #56
  
• Travis Kelce #64
  

Schedule = Good

• x2 = Hartan and BDiddy
  

Draft

Jeremy Hill and Evans should be the two keepers kept by H&B. Hill is being drafted in the late first/early second, while Evans is going at the end of the second. Both keepers offer great value in the 4th and 5th round respectively. Kelce could be kept if the team so chooses, but we would think the better play is the RB and WR. With three picks in the first three rounds and two in the top 16 picks, H&B will have a hard time screwing this up. The team can go any direction in the first round, including QB. They will get a crack at the best WR and RBs available at pick 4. In the second round, their embarrassment of riches will give them a lot of versatility. They can grab their QB or TE there or elect to continue building depth at RB/WR. We expect H&B to walk away from the draft with a ridiculous core of players in their first five picks, potentially a top player at each position. Should they play their cards right, they could be very formidable in 2015.  

Schedule

H&B will face off against Hartan and BDiddy twice this season. Each team is radically different in how they enter 2015. Hartan will have ODBJ for a late round keeper and, most likely, Lesean McCoy in the first. BDiddy on the other hand doesn't have a keeper of any value, but has the first pick. Both teams should be solid, but initially, Hartan looks to be the stronger of the two by means of OBDJ. H&B wont get the benefit of bye weeks effecting match-ups against Hartan, as the two square off week 1 and week 12. Both teams will be at full strength those weeks. BDiddy on the other hand comes to town week 8, a week where DeMarco Murray is on bye, should they draft him #1 overall. It is likely however that both those games will not be effected by bye weeks. Week 6 has Mike Evans on bye, the week that H&B plays Bomba. Bomba will have Randle on bye that week, so both teams will lose one player as of now. Prime Time is the match-up when Jeremy Hill is on bye, week 7. PT doesn't have a keeper sitting that game out, so he begins that match-up with a slight advantage.