The marathon NBA season came to its end last week and for some, it’s a blessing in disguise. Everyone had players that didn’t live up to expectations this season. We are going to look at some of these poor souls with one minor disclaimer: The excessively injured will not be included. Read More »

FRESH PICKINGS: Isaiah Thomas (55 percent owned in Yahoo!, 59 percent in ESPN) After recent clamoring from the Sacramento locker room and a minor injury to Aaron Brooks, Isaiah Thomas has finally been given a chance to start. Read More »

The last time James Harden played against his old team, he had a nightmare game, a half dozen of his shots blocked back into his face. This time, he made his first shot in Kevin Durant‘s face, and was good enough to drop 25 points (still only 9-for-33 shooting against OKC this year). But while the first half played out like a tape from the old And1 video game, the second half became a mismatch, and the Thunder went on to win 124-94. Read More »

FRESH PICKINGS: Kawhi Leonard (56 percent owned in Yahoo!, 68 percent in ESPN) After singing Kawhi Leonard’s praises a few weeks ago, he did me dirty by taking a little extra time to heal his bum knee. Now back in action, he put up 17 points, four rebounds, two assists, five steals and three treys in his first start back. In fantasy, Kawhi is a steals specialist, and while he isn’t going to wow you in any other category, he’s not going to hurt you anywhere either. Read More »

So Team USA has found their groove. It goes something like this: mess around for a few quarters, and then get one of their guys – preferably Carmelo, Durant or Kobe – hot and watch them drop bombs video game-style from the perimeter. It worked against their last few opponents, and they did it again yesterday in their 119-86 shellacking of Australia in the first medal round game. Team USA took an 11-0 Aussie run to the chin to start the second half, and we actually had a somewhat competitive game through three quarters. Then, the Yanks went on a 45-20 run to end the game, and it started with Kobe Bryant … Read More »

Considering the rare tragedies and triumphs that dominated Wednesday’s sports headlines — from the death of Junior Seau to Jered Weaver throwing a no-hitter for the Angels — nothing in the NBA playoffs could have happened to make the day feel any more surreal. Not even the fact that the Clippers and Grizzlies delivered the best game of the night. Wait a minute: Clippers? Grizzlies? Playoffs? You’re talking about playoffs? … Having been on the wrong side of that incredible Game 1 fourth-quarter comeback, Memphis faced a gut check in Game 2. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Dwight Howard finished with 29 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks against the Bulls last night. He shot 58 percent (11-19) from the field and 70 percent (7-10) from the charity stripe, and had four turnovers. If you take free-throw percentage out of the equation, Howard is the No. 2 fantasy basketball player this NBA season. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Brandon Jennings finished with 31 points, four rebounds, eight assists, four steals and seven three-pointers last night. He shot 36 percent (9-25) from the floor, 75 percent (6-8) from the free-throw line and had zero turnovers. Since Jan. 17, Jennings is averaging 24.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.9 steals and 3.6 threes per game, while shooting 45 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free-throw line. For the season, he’s putting up top 10 averages. Read More »

Buy Low: DeMar DeRozan has just about flatlined since his hot start to the season. Since Jan. 6, DeRozan has averaged 11.4 points, 2.9 boards, 1.0 assist, 1.0 steal, 0.6 steals, 0.2 threes and 2.8 turnovers per game, while shooting 35 percent from the field and 73 percent from the free-throw line. That’s good for top 300 value, which is nothing to write home to Compton about. This makes DeRozan a low-risk buy-low candidate, the best kind. Andrea Bargnani’s nearing return will help take some pressure off of DeRozan, who still has an appealing ceiling. If he finds that touch he had in the first handful of games in 2011-12, it’ll be well worth spending 50 cents on the dollar for. Read More »

By now you’ve seen the shoe Hedo Turkoglu has been playing in this season, the adidas adiZero Crazy Light. But we guarantee you’ve never seen it like this. Introducing three of Hedo’s home and away player exclusives. Check ‘em out: Read More »