Beast of the Night: LeBron James had himself a typically big line to the tune of 35 points, six rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks. He shot 57 percent (13-23) from the field, 100 percent (9-9) from the free-throw line and had two turnovers. Through three games, James is averaging 32.7 points on 59 percent shooting from the field and 87 percent shooting from the charity stripe. The odd thing is that he has yet to attempt a single three-pointer. The fact that he’s been such a stud without a three-pointer says volumes about his fantasy value. It’s early, but James looks like the probable top dog in fantasy basketball this season. Read More »

The Memphis Grizzlies proved to be a pretty solid source of fantasy value last season, even after one of their stars went down with a shoulder injury. With just one significant free agent (a restricted one at that), this squad should be mostly intact for another run at NBA (and fantasy) relevancy whenever the season starts. Read More »

It’s officially Back to the Future time for the Hornets. After starting the season winning 11 of their first 12 games and eliminating all of the persistent rumors about Chris Paul leaving, they’ve since lost four out of five and reality is beginning to set in. Last night in Oklahoma City — 24 hours after blowing a 17-point lead in a loss to the Spurs — the Hornets led for much of the second half until a flurry of OKC awesomeness sent N.O. home with another loss … Late in the fourth quarter, the Hornets were up by four before Russell Westbrook (25 pts, 11 asts) hit a foul-line jumper. Read More »

North Carolina has always been a basketball hotbed, but the last few years in particular have been a boom period for the point guard position. Chris Paul, Stephen Curry and John Wall headline the group of young N.C.-bred PG’s invading the NBA and major college ranks, with current prep stars Rodney Purvis and Tyler Lewis waiting in the wings.

Ishmael Smith has earned his way onto that list. The Concord, N.C., product was a four-year standout at Wake Forest, but didn’t hear his name called in the 2010 NBA Draft. Signing up with the Houston Rockets’ summer-league squad, Smith impressed the organization enough to earn a training camp invitation, where he earned a spot on the final roster. Read More »

If there is any truth to the rumors that the Knicks have been prying about Steve Nash‘s availability, Sunday provided two clear examples why New York would want to get the Nash-Amar’e-D’Antoni band back together again … In L.A., Nash delivered daggers down the stretch in leading the Suns to an upset W over the Lakers. As a team, Phoenix went bananas beyond the arc — they hit 22 threes, second-most in one game all-time, hit more threes than twos, and shot a higher percentage from deep than from closer range — thanks to J-Rich (35 pts, 7 threes), Hedo Turkoglu (17 pts, 5 threes), and Channing Frye (20 pts, 4 threes). Read More »

“Look, if you had, one shot, or one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted. One moment. Would you capture it, or just let it slip?”

This is the questioned posed by one of the greatest rags to riches stories of my generation. Eminem was faced with this choice when it came to stepping in front of the mic, but now with the NBA season underway and some key players injured, some guys are faced with this question on the hardwood. Read More »

Ranking the NBA from worst to first…

30. Minnesota Timberwolves (1-6) Last week — Lost at Miami, lost at Orlando, lost to Atlanta, lost at Houston Quickly established position as the League’s worst defensive team (114.4 ppg) and worst shooting team (38.7% FG). And they’re making a habit of not just getting beat, but getting beat up. Four of their losses have come by 20, 26, 32 and 42 points. Read More »

Sixteen games down, 16 more to go for Round One. After watching 12 straight hours of basketball yesterday, it was tough to shave this list down to just 10, so don’t get mad if your school’s top guy got left off:

1. Jimmer Fredette, BYU — The New York-bred point guard who plays like a Canadian and became a star in Utah. You know how when the Suns are down late in the fourth quarter and Steve Nash decides to stop passing and start scoring? Fredette plays like that all game long. Read More »

After going through the Midwest, South, and West regions, we’ll wrap up the NCAA Tournament Players to Watch with four from the East region:

ISHMAEL SMITH, Wake Forest, PG, Sr. These past four years must have felt like 10 for Smith. He came to Wake as the heir apparent to Chris Paul, but after leading the ACC in assists as a freshman — something CP3 never did in college — he and the program were rocked by the death of coach Skip Prosser. Read More »