There are always players who you could classify as “unsung heroes.” Such was the term used by Michael Jordan for some of his Bulls teammates back in his second three-peat with the team, namely for guys like Ron Harper, Jud Buechler and Steve Kerr. This season, there are five players in particular who have made significant contributions to their respective teams and are putting the league on notice, even if they haven’t been. Read More »

They’re panicking in Los Angeles. Or something close to it. While you could reasonably write off Friday’s blowout loss in Denver to tired legs from a back-to-back and the high altitude, there aren’t many excuses the Lakers can make after the Rockets (who were supposed to stink this year, remember?) went into Staples and thoroughly outplayed the champs … Trevor Ariza was the main story going into the game. He received his ‘09 championship ring in his first trip back to L.A. and was playing in front of his hometown crowd, but by the end it was all about Aaron Brooks. Read More »

From worst to first, ranking the NBA through the first couple of weeks…

30. New Jersey Nets (0-7) — They’re dropping like panties at R.Kelly’s house in Jersey, with starters Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, CDR and Yi Jianlian all missing games with injury and/or illness.

29. Minnesota Timberwolves (1-6) — The only bright spot of this past week was Jonny Flynn outplaying Brandon Jennings head-to-head. And the Wolves still lost that game. Read More »

If you’re purely interested in the best interest of Allen Iverson, you’re glad the Grizzlies had one of their business-as-usual losses against the Clippers last night. Having gone 0-3 since A.I. joined the lineup earlier in the week, for Memphis to win after Iverson had left the team for undisclosed personal reasons — even if it was against the Clips — would have brought up all the same criticisms of Iverson you saw in Detroit and at various points throughout his runs in Philly and Denver. Mainly, that A.I.’s team is better without him, and that certain young stars (i.e. O.J. Mayo in this case) are better off when he’s not in the picture … Instead, the Grizzlies did what they typically do with or without Iverson, putting up a lot of points while giving up even more. Read More »

Allen Iverson made last night’s Grizzlies/Kings game worth checking out from the beginning, but Kevin Martin made it worth staying until the end. What was originally billed as A.I.’s big debut turned into K-Mart’s showcase, it may have been the best game of the season so far, and it was a hell of a timely ad for NBA League Pass as the free preview week wraps up … Checking in to a nice ovation from the Sacramento crowd, Iverson looked like he was just testing out his hamstring in his initial rotation, a scoreless five-minute stretch of the first quarter. Read More »

They fetched donuts, they rode the pine at times and they got their feet wet. Now members of last year’s rookie class are ready to contribute. Of course we know that this year, Derrick Rose will continue his rise to that Deron Williams/Chris Paul point guard status and O.J. Mayo will build on his sensational rookie campaign. But there are several sophomores who have flown under the radar that you might need to start keeping tabs on. Here’s my five. 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 »

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: Blake Griffin, Rasual Butler, Sebastian Telfair, Craig Smith, Kareem Rush

Lost: Zach Randolph, Mike Taylor, Fred Jones, Paul Davis Read More »

With the exception of the Rockets, you can probably count on each of last year’s Western Conference playoff teams returning to the postseason in ’09-10. That makes one spot up for grabs. For me, the top two candidates for the West’s eighth and final playoff berth is going to be between the Clippers and Suns (although the Thunder, Grizzlies and Rockets aren’t far behind). Read More »

Logically, after ticking off points, rebounds, assists and steals, it’s time to move on to looking at late-round players who can help you in the blocks category. This is a list of big men, naturally, so most can help field goal percentage as well, but our focus today is on blocks. Listed below, in no particular order, are some players that will likely be available in the later rounds of your fantasy drafts and can help fulfill your need for blocks. As always, let us know what you think. Read More »