Dec. 11, 2007
NBA Notebook: Early-Season Fantasy Basketball Surprises
By: Jim Eichenhofer | Hornets.com

Wilkins' Warriors Current Roster
PGs - Stephon Marbury, Mo Williams, Louis Williams
SGs - Ray Allen, Peja Stojakovic, Damien Wilkins
SFs - Shawn Marion, Josh Howard
PFs - Kenyon Martin, Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Darko Milicic
Cs - Yao Ming, Andrew Bogut

Let’s face it, when it comes to fantasy basketball, everyone and their grandmother knows that guys like Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are valuable commodities. The key to success, however, comes from finding those late-round steals, players who are overlooked for one reason or another and greatly overproduce their draft status.

Using the actual order that resulted from the 14-round draft our 12-team league conducted, here are a few players who were picked extremely late – or not at all – but have been extremely valuable to their owners (the numbers in parentheses represent when each player was drafted overall):

Chris Wilcox, Seattle (10th round, 116th pick): The power forward from Maryland is the SuperSonics’ second-leading scorer, behind only Kevin Durant, averaging a career-high 14.6 points along with 8.0 rebounds. He’s also shooting a nifty 51.5 percent from the field.

Al Horford, Atlanta (10th round, 117th pick): Chosen one spot after Wilcox, the rookie from Florida is averaging an eye-popping 10.3 rebounds, ranking him No. 11 in the NBA. His offensive numbers aren’t bad for a first-year pro, either, at 8.7 ppg.

Jamaal Tinsley, Indiana (10th round, 119th pick): One of several beneficiaries of new head coach Jim O’Brien’s up-tempo attack, he’s putting up 14.8 points, 8.7 assists and 4.6 rebounds. The latter stat is particularly stellar for a point guard.

Juan Carlos Navarro, Memphis (11th round, 130th pick): “La Bomba” didn’t start receiving big minutes until he drained eight three-pointers against the Hornets a few weeks back, but he is close to leading the Grizzlies in treys. He’s also averaging double figures, at 10.1 points.

Mike Dunleavy, Indiana (12th round, 139th pick): On pace to surpass his career-best in scoring by a wide margin. His shooting percentages are solid in every category.

Hedo Turkoglu, Orlando (13th round, 146th pick): Many believed his role would diminish after the offseason signing of Rashard Lewis, but he’s off to a spectacular start and a big reason why the Magic have excelled. Averaging career-high 18.3 points.

Ronnie Brewer, Utah (undrafted): Did you know he’s averaging more points for the Jazz than both 2007 All-Star center Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko? The second-year pro is also averaging 2.19 steals, fifth in the NBA.

John Salmons, Sacramento (undrafted): The underrated small forward capitalized on the early-season absences of Mike Bibby and Ron Artest. He’s averaging over 15 points per game and shooting 46 percent from the three-point arc. Not bad for a guy who was not selected by any of us among the total 168 picks of our 14-round draft.

Nov. 20, 2007
Early Season Fantasy Awards
By Mike Trudell | Timberwolves.com

After three weeks of fantasy basketball action that were either riveting (if you’re like me) or pointless (if you’re like Michael Vick, on your way to prison), it’s time to recognize the players with some fantasy awards.

From the Chuck Norris Award for dominance all the way to the Britney Award for general poopiness, you’re covered here.

Ready? OK. Please proceed.

The Chuck Norris Award: LEBRON JAMES, Cleveland
The top photo speaks for itself, right? No caption needed. The point is, LeBriggity is tearing through the NBA like the left and right roundhouse kicks of Chuck Norris. OK, nothing is really as powerful as those roundhouse kicks, but seriously … Look at LeBron’s absurd numbers:* 29.2 points, 8.0 dimes, 7.8 boards, 1.8 steals, 1.7 blocks, and a decent 47.2 FG%. The only thing not to like is his 67.3 FT%, but just for kicks, he hit 11-of-12 from the charity stripe in a loss to Milwaukee Tuesday night. Alas, the best thing about LeBron’s stupidly good numbers are that he didn’t start producing like this consistently until after the All-Star break last season, but this year it’s all business, all the time. MVP? Certainly for fantasy. And remember, Chuck Norris has already been to Mars; that's why there are no signs of life there.
*All statistics for this column are updated through the start of Tuesday evening’s games. .

Ronnie Brewer steals more than Enron.

The Brad Pitt Award: RONNIE BREWER, Utah
After nexting Jennifer Aniston, picking up Angelina Jolie is a pretty decent coup. Sure Brad, you look like Achilles and played him in a movie, but that’s still pretty solid. In fantasy basketball terms, the best pickup this season has been Brewer. Check that stats. In NBA.com leagues, the second-year player out of Arkansas is the 40th best overall player, and he went undrafted in most leagues. Though there was some chatter about him because he excelled in the preseason and was designated as Utah’s starting two guard, no one really expected this: 13.6 points, 2.4 boards, 2.3 assists, 83.6 FT%, 51.9 FG% and, most importantly, freaking 2.7 steals a night. I nabbed him right away in my Yahoo league and nba.com league, but dropped him for Brendan Haywood in the latter because I needed center depth in my NBA league. In other words, I’m stupid. Insert curse word here.

The Ocho Cinco Award: GILBERT ARENAS, Washington
If you’re going to call other teams “garbage,” guarantee victory, and say “NACHOOO!” after every three, it’d be best to put up some points. Agent 0 does just that … when he’s playing, that is. I almost had to defer this award for a few weeks, because Gilbert’s balky knee (offseason surgery) has lost weeks for a few squads that took him in the top five (he ranks 51st in NBA category leagues and 22nd in weekly average leagues like CBS Sportsline). He could miss more time now, but still, he’s still a champ when he’s in there. In his sixth and seventh games of the year he had 30 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, three threes, a steal and a block against Indiana; and 27, eight, four, three and four steals against Minnesota. After the game, Agent 0 told us about when he first said “NACHOO” against the Wolves and talked some trash about the Northwest Division. Sounds like Chad Johnson (circa 2005-06) to me.

S-Jack is back with his big smile and his bad self.

The Tank Johnson Award: STEPHEN JACKSON, G.S.
This award is two-fold. To qualify, you have to:

A) Adversely affect your squad early in the season due to off or postseason affinity for guns.
B) You must come back, and be good.

No need to rehash Jackson’s night at the club, for which he was suspended for the Warriors’ first seven games, and got you zero fantasy points. The flip side to this was that everyone knew Jackson was going to be out for the start of the season, but you may have nabbed him later than he normally would have gone in your draft (like the 10th round for me in my CBS league). Indeed, if you were able to wait him out, his 23-point, seven-assist, six-board, three-steal, two-block performance against New York on Tuesday night in his second game back made you feel like Toby Maguire after they said they were going to make Spiderman II and III - even though you suck at acting. That G.S. has won three straight (2-0 with SJ) is not a coincidence.

The “Where Are You, Bill Gates” Award: TROY MURPHY, Golden State
OK, Troy, you’re a decent player, but you didn’t need to go to me in the sixth round of my nba.com league, not when I was trying to take Andrei Kirilenko. If Gates designed the Draft Room software, the computer error that picked Murphy for me never would have happened.

No Gates Honorable Mention: Monta Ellis, Golden State; Jason Maxiell, Detroit; Chucky Atkins, Denver; Craig Smith, Minnesota

That’s right, I’m whining now. But if you’re a true fantasy rube, you would be too. The computer went on to select all four of these players for me way too early, with guys like Corey Maggette, Chris Kaman, Andrew Bogut and Jameer Nelson still on the board. Anyone who has played in fantasy leagues has suffered through the unwanted computer auto-pick when his or her system shut down. If you’re like me, you would have seen “It’s Been Real, KG (good name, right Welch?) selects Troy Murphy” and immediately vomited on your keyboard before kneeing yourself in the nose.

What a great decision it was to go completely bald, Z.

The Chris Kaman Award: ZYDRUNAS ILGAUSKAS, CV
This award is intended for the NBA player best utilizing his hair (or lack thereof, in this case) to produce fantasy points, and with certainty, it goes to Big Z. The Lithuanian shaved his dome bald after hanging on to a strand or two for the last several years, and he must have shaved 0.01 seconds off his 40 time. The Mach 3 work is clearly, obviously and definitively the reason for his resurgence: 16.0 points, 12.10 boards, 1.9 blocks, 83.9% FTs and 50.0% FGs. Compare that to 11.86 p, 7.68 r, 1.58 b, 80.7% FT and 48.5% FG. Are you kidding me Smalls? Does this mean that Nick Saban’s Alabama squad who just lost to something called Louisiana-Monroe will win the National Title next year if he shaved his slicked hair? No, because Spencer from "The Hills" is a nicer guy and fate won’t allow it.

The Tom Brady Award: CHRIS PAUL, New Orleans
The best passer in the NBA this year has been Chris Paul, architect of New Orleans’ terrific 8-2 start behind a league-leading 10.8 dimes to only 3.7 turnovers per game. But it’s not just his passing that has CP3 owners salivating; he also leads the NBA in steals with 3.2 per contest (our Brad Pitt honoree Ronnie Brewer is second with 2.67), adds 4.4 boards, and is hitting 90.5% FTs and 50.7% FGs. Though he sprained his ankle and has missed his last two games, CP ranks as the top nba.com player and sixth-best CBS player. Now, about Giselle…

The Pau Gasol Award: ELTON BRAND, L.A. Clippers
Last season, Paul Gasol missed the first half of the year with an injury, but came back on a fierce terror, ranking as the ninth-best player in CBS leagues despite being drafted in, for example, the seventh round in my league. Since Gasol worked out so glowingly for me, I drafted Brand in the ninth, 10th and 12th rounds, respectively, in consecutive drafts this season. His achilles injury is more worrisome than Gasol’s foot last year, but if he gets rolling around fantasy playoff time, this is a top 10-ish fantasy player, and to me is well worth the risk that he might not play at all. The league where this might end up biting me in the rear (like my favorite play-by-play guy allegedly got into a back) is my Wolves yahoo league in which we play all of our bench players. That takes away a potential three or four games every week until Brand plays. But since I’m 3-0 in that league, I’m sticking with it for now.

Dwight is the opposite of wimpy.

The Godzilla Award: DWIGHT HOWARD, Orlando
This one is pretty simple. Dwight Howard is a flat-out monster, and you can’t really argue with 22.17 points, 14.25 boards, 2.42 swats and 57.5 FG%. He ranks third in CBS leagues and 13th in NBA category leagues (those darn FTs). But to know how truly beastly big Dwight is, you have to watch him in person. The only player that can come close to matching him physically is Shaq* … Three years ago, that is.
*Or Corey Brewer

The Britney Award: LUKE RIDNOUR, Seattle
Everyone’s just piling it on Britney lately. Poor girl. She’s even getting ripped on timberwolves.com for no other reason than I can’t think of someone who’s had a worse year. Alas, after looking at 400 players in my CBS league, the player that is owned who possesses the worst fantasy numbers is Ridnour. Try a poopy 2.0 points, 1.17 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 23.8 FG%. 23.8!!!!! Come on! That’s automatic LVP, Luke, especially with Earl Watson and Delonte West set to keep eating all your minutes. Honorable mention here: Nenad Krstic, Al Thornton, Ruben Patterson and, surprise surprise, Larry Hughes.

I’ll leave you with this to chew on: Chuck Norris can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves.

Thanks for playing.

Nov. 13, 2007
If Fantasy Were Reality...
By Nick Adams | Orlandomagic.com

The great thing about fantasy sports is they are just that...fantasy. You can forget to set your lineup or make awful trades, but at the end of the day, the harshest criticism you will receive will be from that overzealous, "fan-hood" proving, sports guy in the cubical next to you who started the league which he rightfully named "(his name) = BBall Genius".

This very reason has caused the fantasy sports industry to sweep the nation. Think about it...if you are a huge sports fan, what would be your ultimate job? Besides Cheerleading instructor, I am guessing most fans would answer...being the general manager of a sports team.

What sports fan wouldn't want to run their own team, pick star players, build a championship team just to brag to everyone...I built that team with my own bare hands. This is why we love fantasy sports.

I don't participate in fantasy sports as much as the next fan, not because I don't want to, but mainly because if I did, it would consume my entire life. However, when my boss approached me about running a fantasy team for purposes beneficial to NBA websites, I decided I could take one for the team.

First, I acted like a twelve year-old kid and pretended I was a real NBA GM preparing for the NBA draft by calling my two buddies and appointing them as my consultants.

I appointed my buddy Danny as my assistant general manager and Greg my director of scouting/player personnel.

What if LeBron James had a point guard like Kirk Hinrich?

They were more than happy to assist me through the Draft process and were just as excited as I was about the entire deal. Yes, the three of us are 22 years-old, and yes, we appear to have no lives, but this proves my point as to why people love fantasy sports.

For those three pressure packed draft hours, we were all part of an NBA draft working towards building a winning franchise...in our fantasies.

But what if this draft of fantasy became reality? Let's stop for a second and consider these rosters and the infinite possibilities.

Hypothetically speaking, I will put together a starting lineup (plus three key bench players) for each of the Team Editor's twelve teams so we can just fantasize over what would happen if these lineups actually played against each other.

Enjoy and Imagine...

(note: The lineups that were put together by myself do not reflect the actual lineups that each Team Editor would produce for their respective teams.)

Boston Conquistadors
PG Steve Nash
SG Brandon Roy
SF Caron Butler
PF Lamar Odom
C Samuel Dalembert
Bench: Jason Terry, Josh Smith, Brad Miller

Bourbon St. CP3-for-1
PG Deron Williams
SG Paul Pierce
SF Ron Artest
PF Dirk Nowitzki
C Ben Wallace
Bench: T.J. Ford, Boris Diaw, Chris Wilcox

Grizzlies.com
PG Jason Kidd
SG Ben Gordon
SF Kevin Durant
PF Emeka Okafor
C Pau Gasol
Bench: Jarrett Jack, Andres Nocioni, Yi Jianlian

It's Been Real, KG
PG Kirk Hinrich
SG Joe Johnson
SF LeBron James
PF Al Jefferson
C LaMarcus Aldridge
Bench: Monte Ellis, Shane Battier, Tyrus Thomas

Mavs.com Chaparrals team huddle.

The Commissioner would be "Stern" about my proposal.

Nov. 5, 2007
Ten Players You're Sure To See In Fantasy Basketball
by Micah Hart

If you are reading this and are new to fantasy basketball, I thought I'd start our season coverage by offering some advice on how to break down your competition. I've played in fantasy leagues for over a decade now, and every year I several of the following 10 people.

10. The Cooler
Spot this guy as quickly as possible. Every league has one guy who is going to lose, no matter what the sport. You could give him five picks in each of the first three rounds to select his team and he will still end up at the bottom of the barrel. It's not necessarily his fault; fantasy-wise he is just born under a bad sign. Figure out who he is, and make deals with him, because every player he trades will turn to gold once they are off his squad.

9. The Donald Trump
So named because he likes to buy low and sell high, and another owner it's very important to recognize early on. It shouldn't be too hard. He is the guy offering you Kwame Brown, Brevin Knight, and Marko Jaric for LeBron James. As he sees it, every player on his roster is incredibly valuable, while everyone you have is roughly worth a cup of warm spit. You can deal with him as you like, but be skeptical of any trade talks, which presumably will begin something like this: "Jose Juan Barea is about to blow up. Watch, he will be the best point guard in the Western Conference by the end of the season. I hate to part with him though…"

8. The Fair Weather Friend
This is the worst type of fantasy player. If his team isn't in first place a month into the season, he is throwing in the towel. Every year in my fantasy leagues, I try to weed out the people who won't stick it out for the long haul, and every year someone ends up starting seven guys on IR for the last half of the season. If you can figure them out, feel free to beat them aside the head with say, a crowbar, for ruining your league.

7. The Lex Luthor
In every league, even amongst friends, there is one player/team who serves as the Spurs to your Suns (or vice versa). He may be your best friend in the whole world, but once you step onto the ethereal court, you want nothing more than to drop him like a sack of potatoes. If you lose, you know you are in for some serious trash talking. Even if you don't win your league, the season won't be a waste as long as you beat this guy.

6. The John Grisham
This guy is a prolific writer. Anything that happens in your league - anything - and rest assured this guy will have some commentary posted on the site within a few hours. Much like Grisham, rarely will any of it be comical or worth reading, but every now and then they may get off a juicy nugget. Often times, Grisham and The Cooler might be one and the same.

5. The Howard Dean
Invariably, in every league there will be a team that jumps out to a huge start even though their roster looks like the NBDL All-Star team. They will gloat about how they are doing, but eventually talent will rise and they will finish the season hovering around last place. Or 11th place! Or 10th place! BYAAAH!

4. The Charlie Brown
A cousin to The Cooler, this guy can never keep his lineup set, and is constantly changing things up. Of course, when he does that, the guy he benches with inevitably puts up a triple-double. So they will go back in the lineup, after which they will proceed to score four points a game until they are benched again. One of my favorite players to taunt.

3./2. The John Travolta/"Homer" Simpson
Being a fantasy manager is all about business. There is no room for sentimentality. Two types of managers who nearly often fail in fantasy leagues are the guys who can't let go, either to their favorite stars of the past or the players on their favorite team. John Travolta is the guy whose basketball roster currently features an entire all-star team - from 1997, including such luminaries as Alonzo Mourning, Cliff Robinson, and Chris Webber. Homer is typified by a guy who refuses to draft any Celtics players, and drafts as many Lakers as he can. This strategy rarely works, though having Kobe is usually a good idea.

1. The Rudy Ruettiger
Hustle guys have their place in sports, and most championships teams wouldn't win without them. As the adage goes, "You can't put heart and desire down on paper." Except in fantasy leagues, where everything is played on paper. It's all about stats! Mark Madsen may hustle up and down the court, but putting him in your frontcourt with Dan Gadzuric and Bo Outlaw is a death sentence. Try to trade this person all of your loose ends: your Royal Iveys, your Jacque Vaughns, your Jeff Fosters.

There are many other types of owners, but these should get you started in trying to decipher the people who play amongst you in your league. DO your best to exploit their weaknesses.