Buy Low:
Devin Harris, Antawn Jamison, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Rashard Lewis and anyone else who is going to return from an injury or suspension in the near future should be targeted for low-ball offers.
Danilo Gallinari has turned from being an Italian stallion to an ordinary pony in the span of a week. His owners are champing at the bit for him to put up studly lines again, and in the meantime you should be dangling carrots in their faces in hopes of nabbing this three-point hoss. Read More »
Erick Dampier was almost the headline photo for today’s Smack. Seriously. In the late stages of the fourth quarter of Mavs/Hornets, Damp (16 pts, 14 rebs, 3 blks) was the most clutch player in the building, getting a putback off a Dirk Nowitzki miss to break a tie, catching an alley-oop from Jason Kidd on the next possession, then scoring on another tip-in with 16 seconds left. That should’ve been the dagger, but Dallas killed themselves at the free-throw line in the final seconds: Jason Terry missed one after Chris Paul got T’d up for arguing a push-off call (CP had pushed off on J.J. Barea like 3-4 times in the fourth, but didn’t get called for it until what looked like N.O.’s last-chance possession), then Barea missed two freebies to keep the Hornets alive. Read More »
There’s nothing like a good rivalry to spice things up: Shaq versus Kobe, Chris Paul versus Deron Williams, LeBron versus DeShawn (sort of). Watching Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul become nemesis’s this week made me think of other pairs who should be rivals. Here are five rivalries that I’d like to see start this year or in the immediate future. Read More »
Every NBA season begins with a bloated numbers of players dreaming All-Star dreams. Over the summer and in the preseason, you hear guys with All-Star talent promising this will be the year they break through, or guys who are barely impact players vowing to make the leap to All-Star status. Or more often than not, it’s a coach or a teammate who runs the campaign for them. Either way, each October there’s 50 “potential” All-Stars, some of whom won’t even be mentioned in the All-Star discussion come January, and some who will fall just a bit short. Who’s on that list this year? Read More »
After the first few days of NBA action, it’s time to take a gander at players who might have already frustrated impatient fantasy owners enough to make them amenable to low-ball offers, and those that have performed especially well and will get you more than they deserve in return.
It’s a bit early to even discuss this, but there are very impatient owners out there and so long as they’re flustered or overly optimistic, there are opportunities for you to jump on. Read More »
Now that the 2009-10 NBA season has finally begun, we’ll have brief overviews of the previous night’s games each day, highlighting noteworthy performances and trends, along with some recommendations. These will be fantasy-focused posts and hopefully, you’ll find these to be at least a bit helpful as you navigate your fantasy squads through the regular season. Read More »
Contrary to what Chris Webber said last night, the Celtics are not going to win the 2010 championship because they picked up Rasheed Wallace. While ‘Sheed will definitely play a role, Boston isn’t winning jack (or Larry) unless Paul Pierce performs up to Paul Pierce standards. Last night was vintage Truth, as Boston downed the Cavs in the opening game of the new season, a rare home loss for Cleveland. With a little over a minute remaining in the fourth and the Celtics up by four, Pierce (23 pts, 11 rebs) ran a pick-and-roll with KG near midcourt against LeBron and Shaq. Advantage: Boston. Shaq reached, Pierce teached, then stuck a jumper from the top of the key that was essentially the dagger. Read More »
Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…
Is it just us, or has this been — from an injury standpoint — the most destructive NBA preseason in a while? Last year Deron Williams started out on the shelf, and of course Gilbert Arenas and Monta Ellis had their issues, but we don’t remember too many other notables beginning the regular season logging DNPs due to preseason injuries … One standout who’s absence will be very noticeable on Opening Night is Pau Gasol, who as of yesterday is expected to miss the Lakers/Clippers opener with a bad hamstring. Gasol and Andrew Bynum (shoulder) missed L.A.’s last two preseason games, but while Bynum said he’s going to play Tuesday, the Lakers look like they’ll be getting their rings with Gasol in a suit and Lamar Odom in the starting lineup … Read More »
