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 »

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 »

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…

Added: Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Fabricio Oberto, Paul Davis

Lost: Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas, Oleksiy Pecherov, Juan Dixon Read More »

With point guards, shooting guards and small forwards taken care of, today we’re proceeding to the projected top 10 fantasy power forwards this season. A few of these players are eligible to play center as well, but the ones listed here are slated to start the season at power forward. As always, please feel free to share your thoughts below.

1. Dirk Nowitzki: Diggler is as steady and productive as big men come. Dallas has a stronger, deeper roster than they did last season, but it won’t affect Nowitzki’s sexy stats, which leave little to be desired. His scoring could dip a point or two, but his assists should climb a bit while his shooting percentages will remain intact. It would be great to see him make his way back into the 1+ steal, 1+ block club, but Dirk will leave his owners very happy (and, with his new headband, entertained) even if he doesn’t. Read More »

Imagine the disappointment that swept across the NBA TV studios when they found out LeBron was sick and going to miss last night’s big preseason game between the Cavs and Wizards. No tense ‘Bron/DeShawn encounters, no real reason for highlight montages of LBJ taking Washington’s heart in the playoffs, no smooth segues to talk about Mike Miller wearing LeBron’s signature shoes. And to top it off, starting in LBJ’s place was Jawad Williams, who scored 21 points (4 threes) in his last Smack mention of the season, a Cleveland loss … Gilbert Arenas put up 18 points for the Wiz, while Miller scored 24 (5 threes) and Randy Foye scored 21. However, Antawn Jamison hurt his shoulder in the first quarter and didn’t return. Read More »

Just like Prom Night, the new NBA season holds promise for a handful of youngsters to lose their (All-Star Game) virginity. At the same time, each incoming crop of first-timers means there are some ASG incumbents who will be spending that February weekend at home — or at least be restricted to hitting the clubs in whatever city All-Star takes place. A while back, Gerald Narcisco nominated some 2010 first-time All-Stars; here are the guys who stand to lose their spots when the big game goes to Dallas next year: Read More »

Missing the deadline for Sunday morning’s Smack, Carmelo Anthony had the performance of the NBA preseason so far in a very late-Saturday/early-Sunday tip in Beijing — in the same arena where ‘Melo and Team USA won their ‘08 gold medals. In just 24 minutes of work against the Pacers, ‘Melo dropped 45 points, going 14-of-19 from the field and 16-of-17 from the line. Oh, and he threw in nine rebounds and two blocks. Those are video-game numbers, like playing NBA 2K against the CPU on Easy mode. But then even more amazing than that might have been Indiana’s “defensive” numbers. Read More »

Every NBA team has a go-to guy, and there’s really only room for one. And it’s not strictly who takes the last-second shot. It’s the guy who regularly gets the ball when things are getting tense in the fourth; the guy expected to calm things down when teammates are getting sloppy; the guy called upon to snuff out an opponent’s rally, or spark a rally of his own; the guy who’s not just supposed to make shots, but make the right decisions. Bottom line: Who do you want the offense to run through when everything is on the line? From #30 to #1 (one per team), these are the League’s best go-to guys… Read More »

Harrison Barnes, a 6-6 wing out of Ames, Iowa, is the best high school ballplayer in the country. As he navigates through the hectic recruiting process, Barnes agreed to chronicle his thoughts for us during each of his five official visits. First up is North Carolina, where Barnes visited on Sept. 3. Here’s an excerpt:

… At about noon, I got a tour of campus on a golf cart and got to see where the dorms were, where the Dean Smith Center was, and I saw a few classes and walked around a little bit.

After that I had lunch with Coach (Roy) Williams, and then I got to see the North Carolina museum. Read More »

Before you skip the article and head directly to the comments to destroy me, just hear me out. And for fans of the Celtics, Cavs and Magic, it’s not that you don’t think it’s possible, but rather that the thought of the Wizards beating you in the second round of the playoffs makes you sick. But the more and more I think about it, the more and more I convince myself that the Wizards could win the championship this year. Read More »