Let’s check on some of the overseas names who are fighting for fantasy legitimacy in NBA camps right now…

Juan Carlos Navarro – It’s a situation where he’s a good late-round flier. He could pan out to be a nice scoring/threes/assists option if he wins the starting job in Memphis, or he could be a waivers guy. He’s had some nice preseason moments and some others where he doesn’t look ready to run a team. In the 10th round, he’s a nice value pick.

Marco Belinelli – Belinelli’s hype, stemming from a great summer league, is huge. The fact is, we really don’t know what his role will be in Nellie’s offense. It looks like he might start, with Ellis coming off the bench. Even so, Monta is going to play and the Warriors have a whole lot of shots to go around. Most likely, Belinelli’s minutes are going to be somewhat inconsistent. He’s again worthy of a 9th round+ flier because of his ability to hit threes. Watch out for the Sarunas Jasikevicius factor though. Everyone LOVED Jasikevicius when he came into the League. His hype was tremendous, he was drafted early, and he never had a good fantasy moment. Still Belinelli has a fantasy skill – he’s a legit three point shooter.

Luis Scola – I’ve seen the kid play a number of times overseas as well and he’s legit. He’s a real double-double possibility every night and should get the minutes over Chuck Hayes at power forward for the Rockets. That being said, Chuck Hayes is one of these crazy guys who doesn’t do much in terms of stats (he boards), but his +/- is crazy, so expect them to share time.

Darko – I’m a huge fan. Five years ago, a European scout told me that Darko would eventually be an above average NBA center but never a superstar. That’s sort of where his career is headed and that’s totally fine in terms of fantasy. Darko can block 2 shots, get 6 boards and score 9 points in 23 minutes per night. If he gets 30 on the Grizz, those numbers should go up and should be a legit factor in your league. In a start from scratch league, Darko is probably a 5th to 6th round pick. And I think a good one.

Andrea Bargnani – If he qualifies at center, he’s value is even higher than it is already is. And it’s already pretty high. Centers who are going to hit 120 threes don’t exist anymore (“anymore” means Raef LaFrentz … which is scary). Bargnani seems to be ready to put up some nice numbers and have a very good fantasy season. His 17 points last night came from a variety of shots, including some back to the basket buckets which is nice to see.

Jorge Garbajosa – He looked healthy yesterday. Garbajosa had some value last season and could have some again if he can find quality minutes. That might be hard. He may be more in the 20 minutes per night range now until some injuries go inevitably go down. Garbajosa knows the game extremely well and can offer a little bit of everything (points, boards, assists etc.) if he gets 30+ minutes.

Please feel free to discuss your fantasy situation in the comments section. Hit me with questions, advice, etc. I’ll respond within the comments.