FantasyNBA

New season

2008-11-25T08:47:00.000-08:00

Ok so it´s not new anymore but here is my blog for today.

Hot pickups right now.
Steve Blake - he came into training camp this year in shape and so far this season he has been solid. A big part of the gameplan for the Blazers is 3pt shooting and for now the most lethal shooter is Blake with 29 so far. Rudy Fernandez is struggling at the same time so pick up Blake if available. He should also give you around 5 ast pr. game.

Dj Augustine - Really been on fire for the last few days since he was made a starter for Charlotte.

Elton Brand seriously injured - out till 2008?

2007-08-04T03:12:00.000-07:00

Always sad when a first round fantasy player gets injured even before the season starts. The news this morning is that he ruptured his left Achilles' tendon on Friday during his daily workout.

The 28-year-old will undergo surgery but plans for the operation have not been finalized yet, the Clippers said. With Livingston out next season and possibly Elton Brand out for most of the year, who will pick up the slack for the Clippers?

Will the team go into rebuilding mode, tank the season and go for the nr. 1 pick at the 2008 draft? Last year they signed Tim Thomas as a free agent in one of the worst deals during last years offseason, he played mainly SF last season and I don´t see them giving him these Brand minutes as this team is going nowhere with Cassell as their only point guard and without Brand this team scares no one. Al Thornton should start at PF and the 14th pick of this years draft could be a surprise rookie of the year if everything goes well.

NBA Schedule 2007-2008

2007-08-03T07:17:00.001-07:00

Created the cheatsheet for those who want to have a complete, one excel sheet for all teams, all games. I play in a daily roto league on Yahoo and it´s crucial in a competetive league with that format to pick players who can play on days when there aren´t a lot of games so.

No huge surprises in the schedule this year compared to the last. The lakers, Spurs, Dallas, Phoenix are up there as usual but Chicago is a surprise nr. 3 on the list when looking at days when there are 6 games or less. Portland is feeling the Oden effect by jumping all the way up to nr. 8th place on the list while Cleveland, Miami and Sacramento fall down the list from previous years. For the excel sheet go to

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pamBwq29Za8LG3Nnhu8czaQ

Please comment on this and if you know of something similar out there let me know.

Breakout player - Rajon Rando

2007-08-01T10:13:00.000-07:00

This guy will rock next season both due to new additions, Ray allen and KG as well as no more D. West or Telfair to steal his minutes. I expect him to be playing 30 plus minutes a game. His strengths will be a lot of steals, assists, hell he could even lead the league in steals in a couple of years. His rookie season he had 128 steals in limited minutes and actually led the whole league in steals per 48 minutes and was 10th overall in total steals. He needs work on his shooting and he had poor stats in the FG and FT% categories (42 and 65%), he doesn´t shoot threes (he won´t have to with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce by his side next season). He won´t score a lot but should rebound more than average for a PG. Where do you pick this guy? If assists and steals are what your looking for then this guy should be a great backup PG, perhaps even more than that. I would say look for him to go in rounds 8-10 (in a 10 team league), also depending on how sleeper hungry your opponents are.

Garnett to the celtics

2007-07-31T03:14:00.001-07:00

This trade which is all but finalised will send KG to the celtics for forwards Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Gerald Green, center Theo Ratliff, guard Sebastian Telfair as well as two future first-round NBA Draft picks, according to the report.
Starting lineup for the celtics is pretty easy to figure out but the timberwolves is more tricky with all these new players coming in.
The biggest losers in this trade might be Ray allen and Paul Pierce while the biggest winner might just be KG since he will keep most of his stats and probably get more assists and blocks etc. than before. I believe he will be so motivated now, unlike the last couple of years where he was stuck, alone in Minnesota with no hope for a championship.

Baron Davis

2006-09-16T03:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a guy that can help your fantasy team in a huge way, when healthy and that is a big when. He missed something like 28 games through injury and his stats were 18-9 2-3pts and 1.7 steals a game. Not bad at all but we all know he should have a better season this time around and be a top 5 PG in your fantasy league IF healthy. His FG% hurts him though, bigtime... he is below 40% so be prepared to pick up a shaq or two if you want this guy in your team (and if your looking at getting something for the FG% category.

A little quote from him "My focus and where I'm headed is where I need to be at this point," Davis said in a phone interview from his home in Las Vegas. "I don't think I have to prove anything to nobody except myself. Last year I was out to prove to everybody I was back. This season, I don't care about that. I've just got a more selfish approach with the things I need to do." -

A more selfish approach.. SWEET for his fantasy owner, not so sweet for the other players in his team.

AMARE

2006-09-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

Hiya all. The start of the NBA season is crawling towards us and this is the time to prepare for your fantasy draft. One of the top picks last year was Amare Stoudemire and we all know some sorry a## that picked him last year. Who will take the chance on him this year and at what point in the draft? Second round is my guess and I for one might pick him in my draft at the nr. 13 spot. Why? I love taking risks and I normally end up losing but hey.. it´s a game right? A nice article link for amare and his progress. see below

AMARE

Whatsup fantasy!

2005-11-23T11:09:00.000-08:00

Wow it has been a while. Being busy stinks but hey, I guess its better than to have nothing to do.

I have been falling down fast in my league and I have no idea what I am doing wrong. Duncan is going strong, Ray allen as well (a trade capture, giving Jermaine oneal away). Billups was providing some good things for a while and Artest as well. Troy Murphy has been nice but I need more scoring, fast along with assists.

A lot of stuff has happened since the last post but there is no way to play catchup so I wont try.

A lot of injuries as well, a number of rookies playing really well. Hot pickups?

Send me some through comments.

Fantasy preview for day 2

2005-11-02T01:50:00.000-08:00

Most of the teams are playing and things I will be looking out for are the following.

How are Larry Hughes and D. Marshall going to fit in with the Cavs and how many minutes are going to D. Jones vs E. Snow for guard duties.

Will Washington become the next hell hole of the fantasy world with their solid bench players taking up too many minutes thus hurting the value of their stars? If they do then maybe you should try to sell some of those stars before the others realise whats going on.

Is Bosh going to play center for Toronto (thus forcing yahoo to make him a FC), how many minutes will go to Villaneuva, will it be enough to make him worthy of a roster spot on your team?

Is Tinsley going to play for the pacers today, how are Jermaine and Artest going to play together and is Jermaine going to play center with Artest taking over the PF position?

Orlando is without Hill and someone needs to pick up those shot attempts and convert them to points and fantasy value. My guess is that Francis will be taking a huge number of shots, D. Howard will also step up. Who will be in the starting lineup is a big question. Jameer Nelson and D. stephenson are both possible starters, Turkoglu should start at the 3.

Day 1.

2005-11-02T01:17:00.000-08:00

Great games and great performances by many players.

Webber had a great start along with Iverson (even though they fell short and lost, more on that later). Both players had over 30 points with lots of other goodies to go along with it.

Milwaukee rocked with Redd, Simmons showing why they were signed to some nice contracts but also TJ Ford close to a triple double and Bogut almost a double double with 3 blocks as well. Great start and a victory in overtime. Magloire was perhaps the only lame duck in his first game for the Bucks but we will forgive him since he just arrived and must be a little confused.

New Orleans Oklahoma kicked butt bigtime and made Sacramento look HORRIBLE. What about the perfomance of guys such as Bonzi Wells (6pts 6reb 2-11 shooting) B. Miller (4pts/3reb) and Bibby with 8-4-4. Yep, the fantasy managers of those guys are not happy this morning along with Sacramento fans who like most other fans had high hopes for the season. No one stood out for the Hornets, a solid team effort. JR Smith and PJ Brown though were a little better than the others so they get some probs. Chris Paul outplayed Bibby so that is something he probably will enjoy for a long time. Oh and Mason didn't start and he struggled but you know, give the guy a couple of weeks to show what he can do.

Dallas/Phoenix, double overtime so the stats bare witness to that. Nash is going to carry the scoring load that Amare leaves behind, Dirk and Marion had great games.

Thats it.

The season starts tonight!

2005-11-01T06:32:00.000-08:00

Finally, after months of waiting and reading endless traderumors, power rankings, gossip and analysis the start of the NBA season 05/06 has FINALLY dawned upon us. I have my NBATV subscription active today and will be focused on updating this blog often. Final bits before the first jumpball.

Don't play your rookies too soon. It's a fact that they will get limited minutes at the start. The same goes for some players that just switched teams such as Stro Swift who will not be in the starting lineup. Be careful though not to wait too long in picking up those guys (if availble) or trading for them if a disgruntled fantasy owner is losing his patience.

I dropped R. Butler since the trade of Magloire for Mason is going to effect him in a big way. It already looks likely that there is going to be a logjam at the GF positions for the Hornets and the value of all of those nice sleepers is going to be reduced due to that fact. I play in a Roto league and I am already planning to fill out the team for thursday with some FA pickups. I got Mourning to cover the C alongside my 3 indiana studs (tinsley, artest and Jermaine) so that leaves me a hole in the SG position. I picked up Eddie House just for fun I guess but I would love to have someone who will make more of an impact.

Preseason game findings

2005-10-27T02:32:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-18T03:17:00.000-07:00

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?

2005-10-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

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.

2005-10-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-05T02:11:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-04T05:31:00.000-07:00

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.

Two players sign contracts

2005-09-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

Sonics re-sign Ronald "Flip'' Murray

In NBA

The Seattle SuperSonics re-signed restricted free agent guard Ronald "Flip" Murray to a one-year contract Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. "We're excited to have Flip back next season," general manager Rick Sund said. "He adds explosiveness to our backcourt and is versatile enough to play both guard positions." Last season, Murray's third in the NBA, the former Shaw University player averaged 7.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 49 games.

Bobcats re-sign Wallace

The Charlotte Bobcats re-signed forward Gerald Wallace on Tuesday to a three-year contract. Wallace averaged 11.1 points and 5.5 rebounds last season while starting 68 of the 70 games he played. His average of 1.6 steals a game ranked ninth in the NBA. Wallace was drafted by Sacramento with the 25th overall pick in 2001 and spent three seasons with the Kings. The Bobcats selected him in the expansion draft last season.

Team analysis LA Lakers

2005-09-13T05:23:00.000-07:00

What can you say about the Lakers? Kobe is a fantasy first round pick, Odom is valuable as a F but the rest? Mihm will start along with Kvame Brown and Mckie and all could have value next season but I guess they won´t be picked until the last rounds of your draft. I can see Mckie having value as a big PG working with Jackson who has a history of using tall, older guards in his lineups. If he delivers something like he did some 2 years ago or so then he would be a nice sleeper. The biggest question will be Kvame. Will he finally start to deliver on his potential or is it another bust year. Stay tuned. Depth chart:

PG - McKie/Vujacic/Bobbitt
SG - Bryant/Profit/Wafer (unsigned)
SF - Odom/George/Walton
PF - Brown/Cook/Jones
C - Mihm/Medvedenko/Bynum

Team analysis LA Clippers

2005-09-08T00:18:00.000-07:00

Offseason moves so far include adding Mobley and Cassell who both will start and losing Jaric and Simmons. The new guys are going to be more selfish and shoot the rock more than Jaric/Simmons so the fantasy value of Brand and Maggette could suffer. Other starters will be Kaman, Brand and Maggette with the highest fantasy value going to Brand, followed by Maggette with Mobley and Cassell being valuable but just how valuable remains to be seen. 2 seasons ago Cassell was king, last season he was the joker so it´s really hard to project which Cassell will play for the Clippers. Kaman is the wildcard with amazing potential for fantasy in blocks, rebounds. Pick him with a late pick if he is available or take a chance on him with a earlier pick. I like taking risks so I hope I will get him next season. Livingston is also a sleeper and if Cassell acts like a headcase he will have fantasy value. I hope he will even start but it remains to be seen and you should watch the starting lineup on opening night.
Depth chart:

PG - Cassell/Livingston
SG - Mobley/Ross/Ewing
SF - Maggette/Singleton/Korolev (unsigned)
PF - Brand/Wilcox
C - Kaman/Rebraca

Team analysis Indiana

2005-09-08T00:08:00.000-07:00

Back with more and this time it´s the Pacers. Last season was the brawlseason and this year Indiana will be happy to avoid any such distractions and lengthy bans that came with it. Fantas wise there are a number of players with value but Jermaine, Artest are the topdogs on this team and should both be gone in the first 3 rounds of your draft. With Reggie Miller retiring you will see Stephen Jackson get more minutes then before so he will be picked somewhere between 5-6 rounds I believe. It will be very interesting to watch how FA pickup, combo guard Sarunas Jasikevicius, who went Jordan on the Euroleague by winning the last three championships will fare during the coming season. HE might be a average, backup resource for your team in the coming year or possibly a star, it´s hard to say depending on how Carlisle sees fit to use him. Starting him as the PG with Jackson, Artest, Jermaine and Jeff Foster filling out the other starting places. Not a bad lineup at all and probably good enought to go to and lose the eastern conference finals vs the HEAT.

Wildcard for next season, Jonathan Bender again. Who knows, this kid might just start to live up to his potential.

Pierce to the Rockies?

2005-09-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

Paul Pierce is supposed to be heading to Denver for Andre Miller and Nene (possibly some other players included as well). Insidehoops is reporting this and I have to say that I am sceptical, I mean another PG for Boston? It does make sense that Denver wants to get rid of Andre Miller since they do quite well without him (Boykins is really something else plus Earl Watson has arrived) plus they are in big need of a solid SG. For Boston they want to get rid of Pierce due to his attitude of late but are they really not able to get more than Nene plus trade bait Andre Miller out of this? Could this be a part of a 3 way trade where a PG is going from Boston for draft picks?

How about the recent stories about Tony Allen, Boston´s SG for the future? Things sure look interesting in Boston and the fantas impact should be significant with Pierce probably becoming less valuable as well as the young PG duo of Boston losing value (but I guess I have already written them off regarding fantasy value in a previous post so, who cares).

"A Chicago man, shot during an Aug. 28 incident he said was instigated by Tony Allen, yesterday filed a civil suit against the second-year Celtics guard. Marktwain Johnson, shot in the left side and arm early in the morning of Aug. 28 at Chicago's White Palace Grill, claims the unidentified shooter – an alleged member of Allen's entourage – responded after Allen pointed to Johnson and told the man to ``(Expletive) him up.''

Nigel Odum, a companion of Johnson's who also filed a civil suit against Allen yesterday, claims he was then punched by Allen. Odum was treated for a fractured left eye socket.

(Tony) Allen was later seen running from the restaurant shortly after 3:30 a.m. According to a source close to Allen, the Celtics guard has been advised by his attorney, Michael Zaslavsky, not to cooperate with police. He has not been named as a suspect and is reportedly back in the Boston area. Chicago police, however, may be waiting to interview Allen during his return for an Oct. 15 preseason game against the Bulls. Gordon said his case is bolstered by the fact that the entire incident was caught on tape by a restaurant video camera.

Allen, who will make just over $1 million this season, has reportedly told friends that the incident did indeed stem from a trash-talking argument with Johnson two weeks before the shooting that may have grown out of hand.

Most of the people in the restaurant, including Johnson and Odum, were celebrating the new contract of Celtics rookie Will Bynum, a high school teammate of Allen.

Cleveland make an offer for Brazilian guard

2005-09-07T00:19:00.000-07:00

Brazilian guard Marcelinho Machado has received an undisclosed offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to sources close to the situation. Machado was named Most Valuable Player of the recently completed Tournament of Americas, which Brazil won. He averaged 23.2 points in 10 games, and was named to an all-tournament team that included NBA players Leandro Barbosa (Phoenix) and Francisco Garcia (Sacramento, rookie).

Atlanta sign a Center Esteban Batista from Uruguay

2005-09-07T00:03:00.000-07:00

Seems like they might have signed someone who will provide competition for the starting Center role with Pachulia. Esteban Batista from Uruguay averaged 18pts and 15rebs in the FIBA 2005 Americas Championship, he´s 22. Atlanta fought off the Warriors for his signature.

Breakout year article from nbadraft.net

2005-09-06T23:26:00.000-07:00

Nice overview from nbadraft.net today here. I tend to agree to most of this analysis, not all. The breakout players are:
1. Stro Swift, fantasy managers have been waiting for a breakout year from Stro and this year will be it but I tend to agree with those that say that it will take time for him to be effective due to the fact that van gundy tends to put a lot of focus on new players being introduced gradually (learning the defensive sets etc.). Look for Swift to have a great second half of the season, perhaps allowing someone else to draft him and then trade for him when that person gives up on his slow start.

2. Luke Ridnour, true, no Daniels will give Ridnour more value. He is never going to be a great scorer and that means that Flip will share some of those minutes when scoring is needed but Luke is a solid PG who will give you assists (around 7 a game) along with 11 points and 1 3pts a game or so.

3. Caron Butler, no doubt he will enjoy being on a team that needs his scoring (no Kobe will be nice for his developments). He will be over 20PPG next season along with nice stats for rebs and ast and steals. A solid 4th/5th round pick if you can get him there. On yahoo he is a SF so that hurts him but not many SF´s will have better stats than him.

4. Shaun Livingston, agreed will have a solid breakout season even though Cassell is now around.

5. Raja Bell, a question mark and a gutsy predition to put him nr. 5 on this list. Will he start and get the minutes at Phoenix? Jim Jackson, Nash and Barbosa are the only other Guards (maybe James Jones will play some 2 as well) so yes Raja will probably have fantasy value but how much is hard to say at this time. Watch the preseason games plus the first nights of the season just in case he is available after the draft. Don´t get too excited and pick him in the first 8-9 rounds of your draft, he is not worth that IMHO.

6. Andre Iguodala, he had a nice season last year and is poised for another similar season. No breakout for him.

7. Zaza Pachulia, will get more minutes but is a rather uninteresting player from a fantasy perspective.

8. Sebastian Telfair, agreed and he should be higher on this list due to the fact that he is basically going to get a massive amount of minutes, he will hurt you in turnovers and shooting % but should get nice scoring, assists.

9. J. R. Smith, agreed will have his breakout season next year. Very inconsistent last season and will continue to be but should improve in all areas and should be gone in the 7th round or so of your fantasy draft.

10. Kwame Brown, no. He is a dud and will not improve in any major way at the Lakers. If he had problems with Jordan he is going to have problems with Kobe.

Other names Travis Outlaw (Portland), C - Chris Kaman (LA Clippers), (Sacramento), F - Nick Collison (Seattle), G - Juan Dixon (Portland), F - Mike Sweetney (New York), G - Tony Allen (Boston), F - Dwight Howard (Orlando)

Well how can Dwight Howard have a breakout year after last season?? Dixon, Outlaw I agree with, Sweetney, Collison and Allen I dont agree with. Kaman is going to be huge. The last 2 weeks of last season he posted these numbers, 17-9 pts/reb along with over 4 blocks pr. game. Wow.. this guy can be HUGE next season and should be close to top of this list from nbadraft.

Sophomore players stepping up.

2005-09-04T04:33:00.000-07:00

How about these guys from last years draft?

1st Dwight Howard I expect him to get about 18-11-1.5 blocks to go with it. Great numbers, great player who is going to go around 3rd/4th round in most drafts.

2nd Emeka Okafor Rookie of the year, plays center position in most leagues. Predition 17-12-2.4 blocks. Worthy of a 3rd round pick, possibly even 2nd round since he is eligable for Center.

3rd Ben Gordon Sixth man of the year last year, sixth man again this year with more minutes but only very limited fantasy value. Stay away or pick late rounds, unless there is an injury to the other guards.

4th Shaun Livingston (LAC) Started slowly last year, had injuries but finished the season (the last 2 weeks) with something close to what he hopes to be his stats for next year, 11.5 pts 4.5 reb 7.7 ast 1.0 steal. It ranks him I guess about 15-20 among PG´s for the coming season, not bad at all and he has the upside. Negative point, doesn´t hit any 3´s so you need to look for them elsewhere.

5th Devin Harris Got an opportunity at the beginning of last season but then Terry took over. I don´t expect any changes next season, Harris doesn´t have value.

6th. Josh Childress Plenty of upside, negative fact that Joe Johnson is in town and he will not help the fantasy contribution of Josh. With about 14-8 along with a 1.5 steals and 3 ast he will be on someones roster in most fantasy leagues. I say go for him around 6/8th round if he is still there available depending on your needs.

7th Luol Deng, fighting with Nocioni for minutes. Not valuable for fantasy in the coming season with 10-5 as pts/rebs and little else to show for it.

8th Rafael Araujo Marshall and Murrey are both gone so I guess it´s possible that Araujo gets some more minutes with Bosh on the frontline. How much is a question but it won´t be enough to take him into fantasy land. There were some experts hoping for something from him but I guess those hopes are no longer existent, bold projection, Araujo is never going to be useful for fantasy team managers.

9th Andre Igoudala Here is a guy who made an impact last season and he will be picked in most big leagues next season. He is playing with Iverson so when Iverson gets injured Igoudala´s stats improve (along with the other PHI players). I predict 13-6 pts/reb with 4 ast, 1.5 steals to go with it, not bad for a player picked around 7-8th round.

10th Luke Jackson Injury destroyed his season last year so the next one is going to be like his rookie season. Don´t know what to expect but it won´t be enough to justify a draft pick.

13th Sebastian Telfair Will be starting PG next year for POR, will deliver good value with many turnovers for the young Blazers team. Will be similar to Livingston in value and stats (and draft round)

15th Al Jefferson A future all star in the making (most of these players are, ok) will be 15-10 with a block as well. Will see continued improvements for years to come. Will go around 7-8th rounds due to the fact being PF.

17th Josh Smith This guy is amazing, truly amazing. Blocks, rebounds and scores (and dunks) way beyond his age and position. Will be around 16-9 with over 2 blocks and a steal a game and will go early due to the excitement of owning this up and coming star. How early will people pick him? I say 5th round he is gone.

20th Jameer Nelson When given the minutes he showed that he is going to be around for a while. Does a lot, scores, 3´s, steals and is a good backup to have if taken around 8/9th round or so. Projection 15-4-5 pts/reb/ast with 1.5 3´s/steals for good measure. Doug Christie is gone and Dooling is in so in total it should have no big effect on minutes since Nelson played on the court with Francis last season.

Thats it I believe. Did I miss someone? The West/Allen cancel out eachothers value at Boston but I think I caught everyone else who might have some value next season. Give me feedback if you think I missed something.

Team analysis Houston

2005-09-04T04:20:00.000-07:00

Tmac and Ming are 1 and 2 round picks in most fantasy leagues but the big problem with Houston is the lack of the third option. Bob Sura, Juwan Howard, David Wesleyand new additions Stromile Swift, Derek Anderson are not good enough to support the two superstars and they are fringe fantasy players at best. Not much else to say about the Houston team. Other than the superstars, stay away from picking players from the Houston Rockets.

Team analysis: Cleveland

2005-09-04T03:58:00.000-07:00

Lebron is a fantasy superstar and he should continue to improve next season. He is young and will learn in the coming seasons that great personal stats aren´t always what ´s needed to win games, sometimes players need to give up the rock a little more, bring others more into the game to win and get into the playoffs. Next season is too early for this though and he will continue to get more of everything. Am I being a little harsh? 7 assists a game or so is not the hallmark of a selfish player you say and your right. How about this for a statline during the last 2 weeks of the playoffs. 34pts, 2.6 3´s 11 rebs 7.8 ast 2.5 steals and 0.8 block average. Now tell me how is it possible that this player isn´t picked nr. 1 in every fantasy draft in the world? I guess it will be due to the fact that he is listed as a SF. Despite that many fantasy managers will pick him nr. 1 overall and I am pretty sure they will not regret it.

Larry Hughes has joined after a superstar fantasy season of his own at Washington. He will suffer fantasy wise though as he won´t get the shots he got used to last season. Donyell Marshall has also joined but has limited or no fantasy value at Cleveland. Illgauskas is a fantasy star, top 5 center and he will continue to deliver in points, rebs and blocks.

Who is going to play the point this year with Mcinnis gone? Lebron again or will Damon Jones sign or will they trade Gooden for a PG. We will watch and see what happens. Maybe they sign Payton :)

Team analysis Chicago

2005-09-04T03:46:00.000-07:00

What a surprising season last year. Team of rookies making it into the playoffs with 47 wins and home court advantage. Not much activity this summer except resigning Duhon and Chandler, the team is together and should be even stronger. Fantasy wise you have 3 good guards who give you benefits, Duhon, Gordon and Hinrich but only Hinrich who really gets the minutes to contribute significantly. Chandler has just signed a contract and I am going to say he is going to get more minutes and more value next season. That said, he is a rebound and block specialist with limited value on offense. Then again with Gordon on your team, you have a player who can score well over 20ppg if given the minutes and is actually ranked 11th in point per 48 minutes with close to 30. Will he get the minutes? No, I don´t think so since I think it´s going to much of the same in the coming season as the last one. Deng and Nocioni split the minutes at the 3 and as long as they are both healthy they will reduce each others fantasy value down to a very late round pick.

Team analysis Charlotte

2005-09-04T03:39:00.000-07:00

Charlotte did a fairly good job last season with 18 wins and Okafor as rookie of the year. No major roster changes, good rookies are coming into the picture but they won´t contribute to your fantasy roster next season unless some injuries occur to the starting 5 of Knight, Bogans, Wallace, Okafor and Brezec. Felton will get good minutes , maybe up to 20 a game but May will get less. Okafor is going to be huge next season, no doubt about that and he could register something close to what he did in December where he got 18pts-13reb which would rank him about 3-4 among fantasy centers. His back was not a problem last season as many feared and I am sure that he is stronger physically after having had one full season at NBA level. Other fantasy players on this team are Wallace and Knight but neither of those should be taken high since Knight ´s value is decreased due to Felton and Wallace blocks and steals better than average but otherwise is just one of so many GF´s out´s there.

Team analysis Boston

2005-09-04T03:27:00.000-07:00

It´s the Rick Kamla review again. Highlights are his Jefferson projection of 13.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks next season, doable for sure. Steady decline of Pierce with the bold projection that he might be traded to Denver for Nene plus other players. Fantasy players on this Boston team are Pierce, Jefferson and Lafrentz. Walker is gone and Payton is not returning, the team is getting a lot younger and inexperienced so we should see the young players getting the minutes they need to develop but not enough to contribute to your fantasy team. Sleeper of the year on the Boston team is Jefferson for sure but most fantasy team owners won´t be surprised by that.

TEAM analysis Atlanta

2005-09-04T02:42:00.000-07:00

I wish I had the time (and I was paid the money) to do a detailed analysis of every team in the league from a fantasy perspective but I don´t so I have decided to review other people´s analysis and add my own opinion on it. I´ll start with the reviews from Fanball, Rick Kamla is a great resource so I will follow this one up with a review of his analysis.

Atlanta, worst record last year in full rebuilding mode have added Joe Johnson to their roster along with some solid draft picks and zaza pachulia as a starting center. 4 players on this team have fantasy value if JJ plays the 1, Josh and Josh in 2-3 and Harrington the 4 position. Hopefully Yahoo will give him that F position that he lacked last year (I should know since I traded for him). Overall great info from Rick, like the info about defense first minded head coach, for me that is not the greatest strength of this group of players he is given, which can be a good thing I guess for their development but at the same time will limit their enjoyment and interest in staying in Atlanta for a long time together (the Josh/Josh pair especially).

Negative´s from his analysis, none really. He is spot on about Williams not contributing much this first year, something that was also evident from his poor play during the summerleague. He is very coachable and will be great in 2-3 years time but next year is not a year you want him on your fantasy roster.

Free Agents 2006.

2005-08-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

As always, sadly it takes a final year of contract for some people to step up and the crop of players who see possible free agency at the end of next season is large. Hoopsvipe has a nice overview of all the players so I won´t repeat all those names here but just highlight the ones I believe might be in for a solid season due to this situation.

Stojakovic wants out of Sacramento, already requested that last season. He has a player option and he will have a great season again, probably worthy enough to be picked in the third round in your fantasy draft.

Joel Przybilla, what an end to last season he had and he will play in a similar fashion if given the minutes in Portland. For blocks there are few players who will be better next season plus he does fine in rebounds and scoring to merit pickup at around 60th place at draftnight.

Jason Terry Superb in the playoffs last year, not many other guards who will be Free agents next summer. Take him at 70 if available.

Bonzi Wells, at Sacramento he will have plenty of changes to drive to the hoop or post up. Is a solid player with a bad attitude but this coming season he will be picked around 70-80 in most fantasy leagues and it will prove to be a bargain.

Hot pickups

2005-03-18T04:25:00.000-08:00

It´s late in the year and hopefully things are close and exciting in your fantasy league. Here is a list of potential FA´s in your league that could help during the final weeks of the season.

Jameer Nelson has been very good recently and with Orlando´s season all but over he should get plenty of minutes to develop his skills. No rookie wall here.

Posey - seems to be finally back to where most previous owners hoped he would be in the beginning of the season.

Bostjan Nachbar - Nice GF - good numbers recently.

D. Wesley has been playing great and the return of Bob Sura hasn´t hurt him at all, quite contrary.

T. Outlaw is getting picked up for good reason. Has been blocking and showing skills of a potential future fantasy superstar.

Zarko Cabarkapa

2005-03-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

Out of what seems like nowhere, Warriors forward Zarko Cabarkapa had a huge game on Monday against the Rockets. In 32 minutes, Cabarkapa put up 26 points, 10 rebounds, one assist, one steal, and five 3-pointers.
ViewsIs this the same Cabarkapa that scored a combined 24 points in his last 14 games? The same guy who grabbed eight rebounds in the same 14 contests? Prior to Monday, Zarko Cabarkapa was only valuable in high stakes Scrabble or Boggle games. We are skeptical in regards to whether or not he can build on this solid game, but fantasy owners should watch with a keen eye.

Brad Miller out for 4-6 weeks!

2005-03-13T07:41:00.000-08:00

Big news from Sacramento, a freak accident in practice rules Brad out for the rest of the regular season. Who will get his minutes and fantasy value out of this? Brian Skinner should be the biggest benefactor since he has been playing excellent ball during the last few games. You should expect about 12-10-2 from him along with over 50%FG, 1 steal plus 2.5 blocks a game.

Other players who also should benefit are Kenny Thomas and the regular starters such as Peja.

Fantasy Sports News, Games & Leagues at Fanball.com

2004-10-21T01:44:00.000-07:00

A very nice rookie/sleeper report from Fanball.

Dwight Howard, PF, Magic
The number one overall pick has impressed his teammates with his size, skills, and athleticism, and he'll be the Magic's starting power forward this season. He's averaged 29.5 minutes, 13.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist, and 1.3 steals through four preseason games. Those numbers are pretty close to what Stoudemire averaged in his rookie campaign, and Howard would be the most exciting first-year fantasy player were it not for…

Emeka Okafor, PF/C, Bobcats
Okafor began the preseason with a solid 18-point effort against the Wizards, but his numbers have slipped since. He's also piled up only 15 rebounds through three games. However, a lackluster start hasn't dampened our outlook for Okafor. No team offers a more wide-open canvas for success than the Bobcats, and Okafor only has to contend with guys like Gerald Wallace, Primoz Brezec, and Tamar Slay for shots. Emeka will be a big part of the offense, and we're confident that the rebounds and blocks will come.

Andres Nocioni, SG/SF, Bulls
This Argentinean swingman is adjusting to the NBA much more quickly than teammate Ben Gordon, and it's looks like Nocioni might be the starting shooting guard on opening day. Nocioni, who will also log some minutes at small forward, scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against the Celtics on Tuesday night, and that bumped up his preseason averages to 12.3 points and seven rebounds. Along with Howard and Okafor, Nocioni looks the most ready to contribute to fantasy clubs right now.

Luol Deng, SF, Bulls
Sticking with the Bulls, Deng has also been impressive in recent games. Deng posted 17 points and seven rebounds on Saturday and followed up with 18 points and 12 rebounds on Tuesday night. His numbers just keep getting better, and Luol appears to be more comfortable with each passing game. As such, Deng is certainly worth a late-round pick in any type of fantasy league.

Ben Gordon, SG, Bulls
Gordon, who was the third overall pick in the draft, is looking like only the third-best rookie on his own team. The driving scorer has struggled with the speed of the pro game and has gone just six-for-30 from the floor and averaged 6.5 points through four contests. While head coach Scott Skiles is prepared to deal with an adjustment period, we're souring on a guy who looks like he won't be much help to fantasy teams early in the season.

Josh Childress, SG/SF, Hawks
Childress has started all four games for the Hawks, but he's amassed only 15 points, 18 rebounds, and six assists over those contests. The Hawks have other options at the two guard spot (Jon Barry, Boris Diaw, and Tony Delk), but it looks like head coach Mike Woodson is willing to hand Childress the job, at least to open the season. With Antoine Walker and Al Harrington hogging the offense, though, the rookie will likely continue to operate quietly in the background.

J.R. Smith, SG, Hornets
With David Wesley nursing a sore hamstring, Smith has started all four exhibition games. He kicked off his career with 19 points, fell back to five, rebounded with 22, and most recently scored nine on Tuesday. Thought to be the best shooter in the draft, Smith hasn't disappointed, knocking down nine three-pointers in the first three games. He'll be relegated to bench duty once Wesley returns, but Smith will remain in the rotation and could take over at shooting guard once his defense improves.

Sasha Vujacic, PG, Lakers
Veteran Chucky Atkins is starting at the point for the Lakers, but Vujacic is beginning to make some noise. Sasha posted 12 points, six assists, four rebounds, and one steal in Sunday's game and came back with 10 points, three assists, six rebounds, and one steal on Tuesday. Atkins is clearly not the future at point for the Lakers, so Rudy T could turn to Sasha later this season.

Shaun Livingston, PG, Clippers
With Marko Jaric sidelined by a broken thumb, Livingston has been starting for the Clippers thus far, but that role will likely end when Jaric returns later this week. The team likes what they see, though, and the rail-thin rookie could take Jaric's job later this season. For now, he's a backup.

Fantasy Sports News, Games & Leagues at Fanball.com

OregonLive.com: SportsFlash - Pacers' Bender sits with sore knee

2004-10-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

sleOregonLive.com: SportsFlash - Pacers' Bender sits with sore knee

Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Kwame Brown

2004-10-05T04:59:00.000-07:00

Sleeper einn til. Mun betri seinnihlutann en thann fyrri. Er enntha bara 22 ara gamall og baetir sig a hverju ari. Why not?Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Kwame Brown

Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Mickael Pietrus

2004-10-05T04:43:00.000-07:00

ER sleeper.

Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Mickael Pietrus: "Mickael Pietrus #2 | Guard-Forward | Golden State Warriors"

Nene hilario - Nene continued his improvement with 11.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 53 percent shooting.

Fantasy sleepers a stodu C

2004-09-30T02:45:00.000-07:00

Pretty sure that these are not sleepers to most people but to some maybe.

Jamaal Magloire - What an end to last season he had.
Dalembert - young mutombo

for some sleeper guards:
Manu Ginobili, Spurs
The only thing preventing Manu from fantasy stardom in his second season was the fact that his coach, Gregg Popovich, didn't completely trust his decision-making, kept him on a short leash, and started Hedo Turkoglu in front of him. After the Spurs gave Manu $52 million and Pop watched from the opposing bench as Manu dominated Team USA en route to a gold medal, we don't see that trust issue being a problem going forward. Manu has the versatility to fill up your fantasy scorecard in virtually every category, and projections at about 17 points, six assists, six rebounds, and over two steals per game frankly seem conservative for one our favorite sleepers at any position.

Marquis Daniels, Mavericks
If your squad fell apart midseason, you may not have even heard of this guy. We'll let the numbers speak for themselves: in April, Daniels averaged 20 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 2.3 steals on 52 percent shooting in 42 minutes per game. You can bet that Daniels' emergence late in the season won quite a few fantasy titles and that the champ wants his guy back on the squad to defend his crown. Despite a crowded Mavericks' rotation with plenty of scorers, step in and swipe Marquis before it's too late. The Mavs paid him $38 million after his stellar rookie campaign, and he doesn't need a ton of shots to add value to your lineup.

Gerald Wallace, Bobcats
Wallace flashed that certain something in limited minutes with the Kings, warning us to act quickly if he ever got a chance at extended playing time. In that regard, Wallace hit the jackpot when he was selected by Charlotte in the expansion draft, as the Bobcats easily have the emptiest rotation in the Association. Wallace, a 6-7, 215-pound perimeter player, is the kind of athlete that can fill up a stat line on the boards and on the defensive end of the floor. With starter's minutes on a team that has little help besides rookie Emeka Okafor, there's no reason he can't be a capable fantasy contributor in the neighborhood of 15 points, seven boards, and a handful of blocks and steals. Think Al Harrington with less polish and a bit more explosiveness.

Jason Terry, Mavericks
J.T. has fallen off the fantasy radar screen a bit, but that's what happens when you play for the Hawks. Instead of being stuck in the NBA's least desirable location in front of empty seats every night, Terry suddenly finds himself running one of the highest-scoring shows for the NBA's most player-friendly owner. For a dude with career-high averages at 19.7 points, 7.4 assists, 4.2 boards, and 1.9 steals, I'd call that a pretty good swap. With apologies to Steve Nash, Terry is a much more dangerous scorer off the pick-and-roll with Dirk Nowitzki, and J.T. just might see a few three-pointers in Dallas. You can count on a statistical resurgence.

Ben Gordon, Bulls
A trendy pick for this season's Rookie of the Year, the most common criticism of Gordon's NBA projection—that he'll struggle to defend bigger guards—won't make a bit of difference in your fantasy totals. Consider for a moment that Dwyane Wade averaged 16.3 points and Kirk Hinrich 12 points in their rookie campaigns and that Gordon is widely regarded a much more polished, complete scorer than either of the above. In addition to scoring, despite measuring in at only 6-3, Gentle Ben has some serious athletic ability and vision. He averaged nearly five boards, over four assists, and more than one takeaway per game in his senior season at UConn.

James Posey, Grizzlies
Posey was considered little more than a defensive stopper and a quality role player when he left Houston for Memphis in free agency last summer. With career averages of 10 points, five boards, and two assists, he's not going to jump out from anyone's stat leader cheat sheets on draft day. But if by chance you had happened to bring along your 2003-2004 season splits, you might notice that Posey averaged 17.2 points, six boards, and two steals per game after last year's All-Star Break, including an 18.4 average in February and a 20.6 spot in April. Yes, the Grizzlies' rotation is arguably deeper than any in the league, but Posey's lock-down defense keeps him on the floor and in coach Hubie Brown's penthouse.

Andre Iguodala, 76ers
When draft experts start throwing around the name Scottie Pippen as an NBA comparison, fantasy hoopsters take notice right quick. The lanky six-time champion once averaged 22 points, almost nine boards, about six dimes, and nearly three steals per game back in the day. You don't throw around projections like that for just anyone, and Iguodala certainly has the build and the versatility to get there eventually. For now, the 76ers are desperate for someone who is willing to do everything but score, as Allen Iverson and Glenn Robinson have that covered. That leaves all of the other fantasy goodies—boards, assists, steals, fast-break buckets—to willing participants like Iguodala, who will make it difficult to keep him off the floor.

Jamal Crawford, Knicks
Crawford was handed the keys to the Bulls' franchise last season and that landed him in this feature a year ago. Then he shot less than 39 percent from the field, turned the ball over 2.4 times per night, got in his coach's doghouse, forced a trade out of Chicago, got a fat new contract, and landed in a three-guard rotation in New York. So how in the world is he a sleeper again this season? Well, it takes some vision, but the argument goes something like this: Crawford is no longer on most fantasy owners' wish list (true), but he still has serious skills (true), gets paid too much money to sit (true, at least outside of the Big Apple), and starting two guard Allan Houston is destined to miss significant time with his ailing knees (guaranteed). Crawford will perform capably as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate and will put up huge numbers when Houston is in street clothes.

Antonio Daniels, Sonics
The Sonics quietly lost veteran point guard Brent Barry to free agency this summer, but fortunately, they got a taste of life without him when he missed a chunk of the year with a hand injury. Daniels got the bulk of the minutes at point guard in his place, and in February he averaged almost 11 points and over seven assists per game. For the sake of reference, dishing the rock out at that rate for a full season would have ranked him sixth in the entire league. Daniels will have to hold off second-year guard Luke Ridnour for the starting gig. However, Luke is oft-injured and still has some maturing to do, while Antonio had an outstanding 6:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in 32 starts last season.

Kirk Hinrich, Bulls
Was there a more surprising fantasy contributor than Hinrich last season? Even the most ardent Bulls' fans thought Kirk would be little more than a gritty, gutty hustler in the mold of general manager John Paxson—only to be pleasantly surprised by their first break in the draft since, well…heck, it's been a long time. Hinrich made the All-Rookie team by putting up 12 points and finishing eighth in the Association with 6.8 dimes per game. More importantly, he helped fantasy owners by chipping in with 3.4 boards and 1.3 steals each outing and led all rookies with 14 double-doubles—yes, more than LeBron and 'Melo. A second year under demanding coach Scott Skiles and a more stable backcourt mate in Ben Gordon should help Hinrich improve upon a less-than-desirable 39-percent shooting clip and 2.7 turnovers per night.

J.R. Smith, Hornets
Consider this our deepest sleeper of the bunch. There is no question that Smith is going to wow you with a couple ultimate highlights—and when we say high, wait until you see this kid jump—but it's difficult to rely on a rookie who may not see much playing time. However, there are two ways in which Smith does see the floor regularly. The first is that both Jamal Mashburn and David Wesley get hurt, which is not only possible, but borderline probable. The second is that the Hornets bow to the demands of Baron Davis—not to trade him, but to pick up the tempo and become a less prodding, more aggressive, open-court squad. Davis will drool over Smith's talent, and Baron's got some leverage as the franchise's most valuable player. You probably don't even need to draft the youngster, but we urge you to keep an eye on him.

CBS.SportsLine.com - NBA Rumor Mill

2004-09-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

Rumors galore at sportsline. Very much up to date.CBS.SportsLine.com - NBA Rumor Mill

Roto Times Fantasy Sports

2004-09-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

A great website for fantasy NBA.

Roto Times Fantasy Sports

NBA Fantasy Basketball Player Rankings

2004-09-24T04:41:00.000-07:00

NBA Fantasy Basketball Player Rankings

Another good overview to use for the upcoming season.

Fantasy Sports News, Games & Leagues at Fanball.com

2004-09-24T03:53:00.000-07:00

Fantasy Sports News, Games & Leagues at Fanball.com

Interesting overview of the players going up and those going down in fantasy value.

Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Steve Blake: Ankle Injury, Out 10-12 Weeks

2004-09-23T02:06:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Steve Blake: Ankle Injury, Out 10-12 Weeks

Steve Blake: Ankle Injury, Out 10-12 Weeks

RotoWire.com Staff - RotoWire.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Update: Blake underwent successful surgery to remove a chipped bone from his right ankle and is expected to miss 10-12 weeks.

Recommendation: With training camp set to begin in less than two weeks and the regular season opener scheduled for November 2, Blake, who suffered the injury in a pickup game at his summer camp, could miss over a month of the regular season.

Olympics and effect on players next season

2004-08-15T04:13:00.000-07:00

The fantasy value of the players who are participating in the olympic games is likely to be cut due to fatigue. These big guys need their rest during the offseason, often they have minor surgery to fix a small or big problem that plagued them during the NBA season. The players most effected are the injury prone and the big guys in my opinion. I don´t believe that Tim Duncan for one will be as good next season as the last one due to this. There are plenty of young guys playing in Athens these weeks and they could benefit if their bodies can take it.

A few other NBA players in the olympics:
Carlos Arroyo
Pau Gasol
Manu Ginobili
Allen Iverson
Vladimir Radmanovic
Darius Songaila
Yao Ming