Basketball demands we break down its players not just by stats, but by the time and place they occur. That’s not the case in NBA fantasy hoops, though, where cold calculations rule the day and the matchup. Who are the Fantasy Doctor‘s choices for this week’s best pickups? Hit the jump to find out. Read More »

“What ifs” in sports can run deeper than still waters. What can be a simple question or proposition on the surface, may also result in major changes to a player or players’ careers and, in some instances, even swing titles. Read More »

FRESH PICKINGS: Nikola Vucevic (62 percent owned in Yahoo!, 71 percent in ESPN) Although Nikola Vucevic is already heavily owned, his recent string of play should get his ownership up to close to 100 percent. Read More »

David Stern dropped a $250,000 fine on San Antonio on Friday afternoon, then said he doesn’t want to talk about it any more. Good luck with that – the topic of what a coach can and can’t do with his team will be white-hot because of mistakes both the league and the Spurs made with Starter-Gate. It’s wrong to meddle with a coach’s team but Gregg Popovich had ways to achieve the same result (resting his four best players) without sending them home on Southwest Airlines without telling the NBA, too. Read More »

Halfway through this play Sunday night at Staples Center, Dwight Howard points to Laker teammate Jodie Meeks — slightly ahead of him — motioning where Meeks needs to be to cut off Terrence Jones in the open court. Meeks never got there in time. Without anyone to stop him, the Rockets’ rookie blew up Meeks with the full facial slam. Read More »

Back in the preseason when the Lakers had all five starters together (a rare occurrence, we know), there were stretches where they were cooking better than Walter White on Breaking Bad. Mike Brown‘s failed experiment hid for a time what we saw once more Sunday night at Staples Center: In barely third gear, this team is dangerous once again. They had 40 points after one quarter without Steve Nash, who was off doing Gangnam Style, a Dwight Howard (28 points, 13 rebounds) who claimed afterward he’s still at best 80 percent healthy and a Pau Gasol who hasn’t decided to really play. Read More »

Back in the day, fierce rivalries amongst the baddest big men in the game were warranted, and universally expected. Chuck could talk smack to Karl Malone about how much better he was. Shaq hated on David Robinson, and went out to turn him into a human pinball whenever they matched up. Hakeem went at the Admiral when he felt disrespected during the 1995 Western Conference Finals. And Bill Laimbeer just wanted to cheap shot everybody. It was a different era back then, and most would argue it made for more interesting basketball, more drama. Nowadays, everyone is teaming up, and with so many NBA players first meeting each other at earlier ages and then practically growing up together on the court, rivalries are scarce. As far as big men go, Andrew Bynum is probably the largest wild card, only because of the increasingly weird Andrew Bynum things he does. So we think we’re speaking for most fans when we say thank God for DeMarcus Cousins. Read More »

The big names signed on the dotted line – or in Deron Williams‘ case, on the iPad – weeks ago, and the pool of talent is pretty much completely dry. But for contending teams, and even those who are just in the market for a veteran to give them a few good minutes or a few good pre-game speeches, there are still a couple of names available. None of these guys will be making consistently key contributions for a contender, but they’re all still viable NBA players. Read More »

Five years, two NBA Finals appearances, consistently one of the top teams in the East, All-Star appearances all around, and one championship ring all make up the time Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen spent as part of the Boston Celtics’ Big 3. With KG and Allen becoming free agents, the main question surrounding the Celtics this offseason is: “Have we seen the final Celtics game of the Big 3 era?” Read More »

Beast of the Night: Kevin Love posted 28 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, one steal, four blocks and four three-pointers in a losing effort against the Grizzlies. He shot 46 percent (10-22) from the floor and 100 percent (4-4) from the free-throw line, and had two turnovers. Love has racked up eight blocks in his last three games, which is completely out of character. If he can somehow lift his blocks per game next season, he’ll make a run for top three status. Read More »