Are you someone who enjoys beating up on inexperienced fantasy managers, or would you find it much more rewarding to test your skills by taking on a difficult challenge?

If you’re in the latter group like me, then I present to you one of the most difficult challenges I can think of for fantasy basketball: winning a league title while drafting an all-left-handed shooting team!

Can this tough task even be accomplished? Well, the stars will definitely have to align a bit — like Zion Williamson making it through an entire season — but I definitely think it can be done. And if you’re able to accomplish it, it should feel a lot like “shooting the moon” when playing the card game Hearts.

 If you’re right-handed, you’ll probably find this exercise to be pure nonsense. In that case, perhaps you’ll want to take on a different challenge, such as trying to win your league by drafting an all-foreign-born team.

For those who are actually intrigued by my idea of shooting the moon, I’ll assume that you’re left-handed like myself. Not only am I a lefty, but I grew up in the Bay Area watching Chris Mullin’s effortless jumpshot and Will Clark’s smooth-as-butter swing. Of course I like to represent lefties, and I view things from a left-handed state of mind. So I present to you …

Blueprint for shooting the moon in fantasy basketball

The way I see it, there are seven phases to accomplishing this mission. The phases don’t need to be done in order, but you do need to accomplish each step if you want to have a solid chance of winning your league. Also, your league settings do matter.

If you’re playing in a points-based league or a head-to-head category league, that’s a major plus because several of the league’s top lefties are below average free throw shooters, so it’s easier if you don’t have to worry about the FT% category.

Naturally, this mission will be much easier to accomplish successfully if your league uses an auction draft, rather than a snake draft. Auctions allow you to truly go after each player who you want to, so for those of you playing in auction leagues, I will suggest some spending goals for each phase, based on a $200 budget.

Lastly, I am going to allow for one big caveat, but we’ll get to that later.

Phase #1: Lock in your two star centers (You must get both!!)

Spending goal: Under $55 for both, hoping for $50 or less

Make no mistake, for an all-lefty team to be competitive, it’s imperative to get both of these centers. Sabonis is in the prime of his career and has emerged as one of the most valuable fantasy centers around, while Claxton is a rising big man who proved last season that you can essentially keep him locked into your starting lineup. Together they form a powerful one-two punch, where you’ll get an elite head start in both rebounds and field goal percentage. Claxton’s 2.5 blocks per game help make up for Sabonis’ biggest weakness, while Sabonis gives you point guard-esque passing numbers from the center spot. This blueprint is off to a great start, but you’ll need a couple of All-Star caliber lead guards as well.

Phase #2: Draft two lead guards with All-Star ability

Spending goal: Under $55 for two, hoping for $50 or less

Harden has made 10 All-Star teams in his career compared to just one for Fox and zero for Brunson, but this seems like a good year to fade Harden and roll with the younger duo of Fox and Brunson instead. You’ll miss out on Harden’s extra threes and assists, but Fox and Brunson will give you more scoring, vastly superior field goal shooting, and better reliability.

Do you realize how efficient your team will be at scoring the rock after completing these first two phases? The quartet of Sabonis, Claxton, Fox and Brunson combined to make 2260-of-4051 field goals last season, a blistering 55.8% FG mark. And we haven’t even gotten to Zion yet…

Phase #3: Get two stat-stuffing power forwards

Spending goal: Under $35 for two, hoping for $30 or less

This is where this blueprint gets tricky, and a lot will depend on your league settings, as mentioned above. Ideally, you’ll be able to draft Zion at a sweet discount, meaning a round later or a few dollars cheaper than expected. And then, if he somehow manages to play in 70+ games, you’ll be getting a serious return on your investment, which is what you’ll probably need to win your league. Now add Williamson to the previous quartet of players mentioned and your team’s field goal accuracy will suddenly be pushing the 60% FG threshold. Good luck to anyone trying to match you there!

Miles Bridges would have been under consideration here instead of Randle, but given the allegations, there’s no reason to risk the fun positive energy that we’ve got going on. So you’ll want to draft Randle to pair with Zion, if possible. Both players rely on their strength to overpower opponents, but they’re both very good passing big men as well, dishing out around 4-5 helpers per game.

At this point, our suggested all-lefty starting lineup looks like: Fox and Brunson in the backcourt, Williamson and Randle at the forwards, Sabonis at center, and Claxton as the sixth man. Not bad at all, but who should we surround them with?

Phase #4: Draft two shooting/scoring threats

Spending goal: Under $5 for two

After three phases, this core is looking downright dominant in FG% and rock solid in points, rebounds and assists, but very light in 3-pointers. So you’ll want to grab a couple of shooters to round out your squad. You can do this for cheap too, since not too many fantasy managers view Russell, Barrett or Kennard as must-have players. Russell doesn’t get much love because Austin Reaves will be taking more shots away from him this season, but Russell still made 2.7 threes per game after being traded to the Lakers last year.

Kennard was even better, drilling 3.1 treys per game after being traded to the Grizzlies mid-season. His overall value is shaky however due to inconsistent minutes. You could opt for Barrett instead, crossing your fingers that he’ll become more efficient this season. Even if he doesn’t make a lot of treys, he should still be good for close to 20 points per game, and you may want to load up on Knickerbockers after drafting Brunson and Randle.

Phase #5: Target two cheap point guards for depth and insurance

Spending goal: Under $5 for two

One way for an all-lefty team to exceed expectations and possibly win a league title this season is for Simmons to have a major bounce-back year. If that happens, he’ll help fill in the gaps for all of the non-scoring categories, while also further damaging your already shaky free throw percentage. The good news is that you shouldn’t have to spend a lot to land Simmons, nor will you need to target him with one of your early round picks.

With lefty Kevin Porter Jr. no longer a viable option for this season, instead we’ll turn to the veteran Conley for added depth. Conley will be available for very cheap and very late in drafts, but he can still fill up the stat sheet from time to time. A couple of other point guards to consider include Hayes and Payne, but you would need to be in a very deep league.

Phase #6: Draft a couple of defensive-minded role players

Spending goal: Under $3 for two

Sometimes it’s tough to find impactful defenders late in drafts, but there are a few lefties who fit that bill. At the top of your target list should be Jones, who should get some extra minutes early in the season due to the unfortunate Trey Murphy III injury. Over 144 NBA games, Jones has racked up 233 steals and 102 blocked shots, so he’ll be a welcome addition to this team.

Vanderbilt has averaged at least a steal per game in each of the past three seasons, but you may want to opt for Oubre instead, thanks to his higher fantasy ceiling. Payton II will need an injury or two to really make some fantasy noise, but he has averaged a stout 2.6 steals and 0.6 blocked shots per 36 minutes over his past two seasons combined.

Phase #7: Grab a couple of big men at the end

Spending goal: $1 each or early season pickups

Plumlee’s converted left-handed jumpshot is about as ugly as it gets — Mully is rolling over in his grave, as Charles Barkley would say — but thankfully, most of Plumlee’s shots are point-blank looks, as his average distance on shot attempts last season was 2.7 feet from the rim. He also has strong upside if Ivica Zubac were to get hurt.

Pick your poison between Bagley and Wiseman as far as which of the Pistons’ southpaw bigs you think is more likely to have useful value in Detroit, or you could avoid them altogether and opt for Hartenstein or Lofton instead. Hartenstein has shown sneaky per minute value in the past and, while Lofton totaled just 176 minutes played last season, he finished the year with a bang — 42 points and 14 boards on 17-for-25 shooting in Memphis’ regular season finale.

You may need to cycle through three or four of these big men before you find one who sticks and is useful, but it’s no problem dropping them and moving on. Just remember that if you decide to replace one with a right-handed big man, let’s hope they still throw down left-handed dunks from time to time.

The Queen of spades

In Hearts, you can’t shoot the moon without the queen of spades. Unlucky to some, the Black Maria is a powerful card that can be a major game-changer. So if drafting only lefties is the equivalent to getting all of the hearts, who exactly is our queen of spades?

Since the goal for this challenge isn’t just to draft all lefties, but to do so and WIN, we should be allowed to draft just one right-handed player. The queen of spades shall be the right-handed player of your choosing, and you better choose wisely if you want to pull off the victory.

Here are my queen of spades suggestions for 2023-24:

Left-handed waiver wire watch

Miles Bridges (CHA); Jae’Sean Tate (HOU); Joe Ingles (ORL); JT Thor (CHA); Derrick Jones Jr. (DAL),;Darius Bazley (BKN); Sandro Mamukelashvili (SAS); DeAndre Jordan (DEN); Vince Williams Jr. (MEM)

Left-handed rookie watch

Sasha Vezenkov (SAC); Kobe Bufkin (ATL); Brandin Podziemski (GSW); Kris Murray (POR); Leonard Miller (MIN); Amari Bailey (CHA); Jordan Miller (LAC); Toumani Camara (POR); Trayce Jackson-Davis (GSW)

So there you have it, my (almost) All-Lefty fantasy Blueprint for 2023-24. Now that this challenge has been made, I’d love to hear if any of you are crazy enough to attempt it!

As for me? I believe I’ve drafted six left-handed players in the first eight rounds before, but it’s extremely difficult to continue having all the lefties who you want fall into your lap each round. So I know that beyond a sound game plan, you’ll also need a lot of luck.

Alas, I’m not sure if I’ll ever accomplish my goal of shooting the moon for fantasy hoops, but if I manage to pull it off, I’ll probably retire from fantasy basketball.

(Photo of Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox: Kyle Terada / USA Today)