Preseason game findings

Right,

Al Harrington might have been overlooked in many fantasy leagues but he has been solid so far. 21-5-2.5 with a steal and 1.5 3 pointers a game. If you still haven't drafted then take a look at Harrington.

Dwight Howard has been justifying his high rating with solid preason play.

Stromile Swift has adjusted a lot quicker then I expected to Houston and I would upgrade him in the rankings.

John Salmons looks like the real surprise for me so far in Philadelphia. Yes Iverson has been injured and missed some games but that means there is a chance for all players to step up to the plate and show what they got and Salmons with 20-3-5 in Iversons absense has been tops.

Andre Iguodala, see Salmons but even better with 15-5-5 and 4 steals a game with AI awol.

James Jones has stepped up with Amare injured he has 16-4-2 with 3 3pts a game and close to 1 steal and 1 block. Awesome numbers for a guy who might not even be picked in fantasy drafts prior to his preseason breakout.

Charlie Villanueva. Here is a guy who was written off by many basketball experts before the season but hey, he is making an impression with 17-5-1.5 along with 1.5 3pts, 1 steal and 1 block. If he continues to adjust to the NBA game in this fashion we are looking at a super allrounder in a couple of years.

TJ Ford. Here is a guy that went undrafted in my fantasy league and I had to wait a few days until the FA market was opened. The minute it opened I picked him up and guess what, his preseason play is making me look smart. 15-3-6 with 2.2 steals is not something you can normally expect to find on the waiver wire (my league doesn't use them anyway but hey, you know the saying)

Darko Milicic, I have to include him. Coming out from the Larry Brown shadow, finally this guy must have celebrated when LB left Detroit. In about 100 minutes in preseason he has 39 pts, 25 rbs and most impressively 12 blocks. If given 33 minutes a game that equals 13-8 with 4 blocks a game. Now how in the world is Larry Brown allowed to coach rookies. You saw what happened in the olympics with guys like Wade, Lebron and Carmelo. Note to General managers, if you hire Larry Brown, get rid of your rookies and get some veterans in. This is also a note to owner of Frye and Robinson, the Knicks rookies. Drop them asap since they are not going to be used this season. Nuff said.

Magloire to Milwaukee, Jumaine Jones to Charlotte

Trades, actual real life trades are coming up and the bigger one is J. Magloire for D. Mason (plus first round pick, money). Now this is a dream come true trade, fantasy wise for owners of Bobby Simmons who will now enjoy the minutes, shots etc. that would have gone to Mason. I can't see a benefit for Magloire owners, maybe not much damage either. Magloire complained and asked to be traded last season, didn't get his wish but kept it professional. Perhaps we will now see a Vince Carter type of improvement from Magloire (carter post trade to New Jersey) and that would be pretty amazing. Bogut owners must be crying right now as well as the few crasy people who thought that Rasual Butler might have a breakout season this year. damn....

Fantasy update

A lot of activity going on at the moment, preseason in full effect so lets give you an update.

Allan Houston is retired, finally and besides all the effect it has on the Knicks (such as them claiming his salary off insurance and not counting towards their luxury tax) we are more interested in the fantasy implications. The Knicks were hoping to have Marbury, Crawford and Houston form the strongest backcoart in the world (thats what they hoped, not my opinion) but now the workload and stats of Marbury and even more so Crawford will benefit from this decision. We wish Houston all the best in spending his 100 million in retirement, we hope he feels worthy.

KG, Lebron had some injury worries but seem to have gone past them now so these lottery fantasy picks are back on track.

James Jones and Raja Bell are showing flashes of becoming fantasy sleepers, bigtime so watch them closely or pick them up if you can.

Darko Milicic was in the news. Tinted windows got him into trouble with the law and then he got some minutes in a preseason game and had 10 points, six blocks and five rebounds for the Pistons. If he keeps this up (yeah right), you have to become concerned that he may start eating some of Rasheed or Ben Wallace's numbers.

There are minor injuries all over the place and teams being careful. Some of the usual suspects like Camby, Stackhouse but also others like Ming etc etc etc. Nothing to worry about for the regular season. Thats it for now.

Bust of the year, where did you hear it first?

Guess what. Amare is out for 4 months so I hope you followed my advice and avoided him in your draft. I wish the rest of my sleeper prediction will turn out to be equally spot on.

The official news is something like this:
Phoenix star Amare Stoudemire will miss four months after undergoing surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left knee.

In a news release, the Suns said Carter repaired a joint surface defect roughly one centimeter in diameter on the inside of his left knee.

``The surgery went well and other than the defect that we treated today, Amare's knee is remarkably and structurally healthy,'' Carter said in the statement released by the team. ``Given Amare's age and the nominal size of the location of the defect, I am confident the microfracture procedure performed will allow a healthy and normal return to action.''

What does this mean for fantasy players? Kurt Thomas moves to Center (he might have played there anyway) but the matrix moves to PF with Jim Jackson starting at SF and Raja Bell and Nash finishing out the starting lineup. Brian Grant will see good minutes as well from the bench and all starters will have to distribute those shots that Amare is not taking in the first 3+ months of the regular season.

Busts

Who will be taken too early in your fantasy draft? Players with freshly signed mega contracts are always a potential problem, players on new teams, new coaches etc. Trouble can come from many directions.
Many of these players will have a fine season but will be taken too early and disappoint their owners, therefore they are the BUSTS of 2006.

Larry Hughes, I am not sure about him but I have a feeling that many fantasy managers are tempted to take him in the top 30. Too early I say since I don´t feel he is worth that but he should do fine as a fifth round pick or later.

Jason Richardson, with Baron Davis in town JR is facing an uphill struggle to get shots. Only 18ppg in april goes to show what effect BD will have on the value of Richardson. Avoid this guy until late.

A. Walker, in a loaded Miami team he is not going to be of much value in fantasy. It´s the same with all the other players who´s name is not Wade or Shaq. It´s their team and they are the only players on it with real value.

Amare Stoudemire, yes you are reading correctly and don´t need glasses, AMARE is a bust. Why? Early signs in camp is that he will need surgery, that´s reason nr. 1 and nr. 2, after his stellar perfomance in the playoffs against the Spurs people will be tempted to take him nr. 1, which makes him a bust in my book. The opposition knows him better now than before and with fewer strong offensive players around they can more easily double team Amare. Leading to more missed shots. Take him in the second round if you will (and if there are news about improved health) but don´t risk your nr. 1 pick him. Garnett would be a better option or Lebron.

Sleepers

It´s time, my fantasy league draft is over and I´m ready to highlight the sleepers.

Magloire is back but many fantasy players forget quickly, not me since I picked him in the 4th round last season and suffered badly. I picked him again and I am 90% sure he will reward me with similar stats as he had in the second half of 2003-2004 season. How about 18-11 with 2 blocks for good measure.

Josh Smith of course another one of my supersleepers. In April, he averaged 14.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks in 38 minutes a night. Even though JJ is in town I expect Josh Smith to continue his strong play this season, awarding me for picking him in round 8.

Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard. Now is it right to call them sleepers? Hardly since both will be gone when round 6 comes but I expect both to have great seasons and make their owners very happy. Both might get FC status on yahoo which is priceless for the type of league I am in (PG, SG, SF, PF, C). Which by the way is the only league to play IMO.

Rasual Butler, you got that right. Here is a sleeper for you that might be available in the final round of your draft (like in my league if I didn´t take him one round earlier. No one of the fantasy experts out there highlight this guy but I´ve watched him from the day he entered the league with Miami and the other Butler. Has become a solid defender, a starting SF and a stopper for New Orleans means he gets the minutes and with minutes you will get his 3´s, scoring and all the rest. If this guy is the sleeper I think he is, and you pick him then you look like the luckiest guy in your league or the smartest (dependent on the rest of your dealing, tradings etc).

Brendan Haywood, ok I know my team is nothing but sleepers but wait a littlebit, I´ll get to the other sleepers I missed on draft day soon, maybe next week ;) Haywood is going to enjoy things more with KBrown gone, Etan Thomas looks like a bust and won´t take the minutes away from Haywood who returned to camp in a great condition with D. Wade quality six pack to show for it. Played well in the playoffs last year, is back hungry for more and I expect him to be around 16-10 with 2 blocks a game. GREAT for a guy who might be there in the final rounds of draft day.

JR Smith - Missed out on him, projected 16 points a game with over 2 3´s and nice stuff across the normal SG categories. Has the potential to go way over that and did you see this guy dunk in the slam dunk contest this year?

For me those are the biggest sleepers I could find. Ridnour will do fine with Daniels gone to Washington but he has limited upside, Stro Swift will do fine in the second part of the season but not until he learns the sets from van Gundy, TJ ford might do good but I am not convinced he is back to full strength or even close, Livingston was a sleeper until Cassell came to town plus he is seriously injury prone, Przybilla is a sleeper but since I didn´t get him I am hoping that whats his name will be back to steal his thunder (Ratliff, thats his name), Kaman yes a sleeper see archive, Telfair also take him late if you can.

Do you know some others? Next come the busts.

My squad is complete now.

Yahoo drafting is done and I am not happy with my team, too many sleepers but some things are not avoidable I guess. My complete team is this. Oh, the categories are not normal I have to say. FGM, FTM, points, 3ptm, reb, ast, stl, blocks. I guess its a league that does appreciate wild players like Iverson who I wanted to pick in the first round.

PG C. Billups (Det - PG)
SG J. Crawford (NY - SG)
SF R. Artest (Ind - SF)
PF J. O'Neal (Ind - PF)
C T. Duncan (SA - FC)
BN J. Tinsley (Ind - PG)
BN C. Maggette (LAC - GF)
BN J. Smith (Atl - GF)
BN M. Daniels (Dal - GF)
BN D. Jones (Cle - PG)
BN R. Felton (Cha - G)
BN D. Miles (Por - GF)
BN R. Butler (NOK - SF)
BN B. Haywood (Was - C)
BN J. Magloire (NOK - C)
BN T. Murphy (GS - PF)

Dont be afraid to call me the dumbest idiot in the world for adding those bench players, I was drinking octoberfest beer and not really in full control of what I was doing at the time of the last offline draft. Ast. and steals are still rather week, I guess I need some tips here.. help.

Sleepers

I am playing in yahoo fantasy league, roto league using PG, SG, SF, PF and C. So far I have picked.
FC Duncan
PF Jermaine
SF Artest
GF Maggette
PG Billups

Bench
C Magloire

The teams.
1 Marbury/R. Allen/Jefferson/Dirk/B. Miller bench Hinrich
2 Bibby/McGrady/Kiri/Bosh/Kaman bench Richardson
3 JJOhnson/Kobe/Peja/Webber/Okafor bench Swift
4 Wade/Francis/Jamison/D. Howard/Amare bench Odom
ME Billups/Maggette/Artest/JONeal/Duncan bench Magloire
6 B. Davis/Lebron/Gasol/Rasheed/Ming bench SJAX
7 Kidd/L.Hughes/R. Lewis/Garnett/B. Wallace bench Mobley
8 Iverson/Pierce/Carmelo/SAR/Illgauskas bench Boozer
9 Nash/Redd/Marion/Brand/CAmby bench Dalembert
10 Arenas/Ginobili/Carter/Walker/Shaq bench A. Miller

I am feeling confident about this season, my team name? Brawlers. Anything that you see as a problem? What other bench warmers do I need? drop me a comment and help me out here.

Eddie Curry to NY

Big trade, following the discussions about the DNA test of Curry he is then traded to the Knicks with big Fantasy implications for all involved. Knicks president Isiah Thomas landed C/PF Eddy Curry from the Bulls, along with veteran F Antonio Davis. The Knicks ship Michael Sweetney, Tim Thomas and Jermaine Jackson to the Windy City. There will also be a swap of future picks, with the teams likely exchanging future draft selections as well, according to an anonymous league executive.

Fantasy impact, well Sweetney was poised to have a big season with the Knicks but he won't have as big of an impact in Chicago. I really dont see yet what the rotations and starting lineups will be for these two teams.. need time to digest this one.