What’s up? What’s good? Friday night marked Midnight Madness in the college basketball ranks, and hoops brings me out of hibernation. I’m going to be your fantasy basketball financial advisor for this season. I’ll scour the numbers to find whose pimp hand’s getting stronger and whose fantasy game is fallin’ off. NBA.com’s Fantasy Sports Performance Index (FSPI) is a great tool. Basically, I’ll leg out the work so you don’t have to.

Last year I teamed with various other partners to bring you “NBA: Are You For Real”. AYFR discussed people who came out of nowhere to put up big numbers. Of course, we also looked at guys who weren’t playing up to the expectations of fantasy owners. This will have a similar concept, but focus much more on the numbers. Do you know who ended last season as NBA.com’s top player in FSPI?...... LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Carmelo Anthony... ? Nope, it was Shawn “The Matrix” Marion. Kobe was second, King James third, KG came in sixth. World Championship stud, 'Melo finished last season ranked 30th. How far and away did Chris Paul win the Rookie of the Year Award? Well, it was well deserved considering he finished at 15th in the league, and was the only rook to crack the top 85. My boy Charlie “Cholly” Villanueva was the second ranked rookie at 86. I’m expecting more nice numbers from him, as his game should mesh quite well with fellow second year guy Andrew Bogut, whose injury won't cost him much missed time, in Milwaukee.

Now on the other end of things, Stromile Swift and J.R. Smith started last season on almost everybody’s sleeper list (including my own). They ended up disappointing and missing even the top 200 at 208 and 250 respectively. They’ll be sleeper topics again this year, and for differing reasons. The Stro Show has come back to Beale Street as the Rockets sent him and rookie Rudy Gay to Memphis for Shane Battier. Pau Gasol’s injury frees up all kinds of opportunity for minutes, scoring and rebounds for Stro. After being dealt twice this summer, Smith will now suit up for Denver. He could give them the sweet shooting wing guard they’ve been looking for to complement the penetration of Andre Miller and the all around package ‘Melo brings to the court. Not to mention the fact that Smith is currently the only shooting guard listed on Denver’s depth chart.

Amare Stoudemire is back and looking healthy. I have no doubts he’ll play better than his 299 ranking from last season. Another guy coming off of injuries who will improve is Charlotte’s Emeka Okafor (157). The former UCONN Husky has averaged at least 13 points and 10 boards per game the past two seasons. In limited preseason play he’s already pulling down six boards per. Carlos Boozer (106) and Zach Randolph (109) both barely missed being top 100 players last year. Both have put up strong showings in their first preseason action and should post high teen scoring, near ten boards, and high field goal percentages.

A team that I personally plan on keeping an eye on is the Toronto Raptors. They’re going to start employing a Euro/Phoenix Suns style running attack. T.J. Ford, one of the league’s fastest players, will get the rock up the court quickly and have Fred Jones (look for big numbers from him as he flourished in a similar offense under Ernie Kent at Oregon) and Morris Peterson on the wings with Chris Bosh scoring at will down low.

And just to show you how serious my hoops sickness gets, I dug all the way down to the very bottom of the list. The numbers go through 439. Detroit’s Jason Maxiell finished the year at 429. He’s averaged 13.5 points, shot over 66 percent, and put up two blocks per so far this preseason. He learned a lot facing off with Big Ben Wallace last year and will get much more playing time this year with Ben now a Bull. Outside of Maxiell and the newly acquired Nazr Mohammed, the rest of Detroit’s front line is looking OLD. You won’t have to draft him, but you should certainly keep an eye on him.

That’s just a sample of what’s to come. Halloween is the night for candy, but to me the sweetest treat that night will be the opening tip for The Association’s 2006-2007 season. If you have a hoops question on any level from high school to the pros, or if you’d just like to talk hoops, never hesitate to email me. For now, take your preseason stats with a grain of salt and good luck in your drafts. I’ll see you knuckleheads next week.

The views expressed by TalentedMrRoto.com represent only the views of the writers; they do not represent the views of the NBA or any NBA team.