Hopefully Kobe knows who Jeremy Lin is now. After spending time between the Lakers’ win in Boston and last night’s 92-85 loss in NYC doing his best to try to say he had no clue who the NBA’s newest sensation was, Bryant got one-upped by the man who has now scored more points in his first three starts than any player ever has since the NBA/ABA merger. Lin blew up for 38 points and seven assists, incubating Derek Fisher (He had one spin move in the first half that sent Fisher back to 1996) and running the lazy Lakers all over the half-court. Read More »

Do you need a point guard? With so many little guys infiltrating the NBA these days, you’d think many teams would be aching to ship off some of their smaller contributors. But for every five me-first, get-my-own, shoot-‘till-my-arm-is-numb lil’ guys, we might have one legit point guard left. They’re a dying breed, even as teams line their benches with quick-hitting spark plugs. At this point, there are a few guys available, and you take what you can get – shoot-first or not – as long as they can run an offense. Read More »

Up: Ryan Anderson is owning opponents this season, posting averages of 19.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.6 threes per game. He’s also shooting 48 percent from the field and 94 percent from the free-throw line. Many fantasy owners expected Anderson to be good this season, but I’m not sure anyone thought he’d be this good. If you drafted him, two thumbs up; if you somehow nabbed him out of your league’s free-agent pool, bragging on your league’s message board is in order. [Hold] Read More »

Beast of the Night: Stephen Curry followed up his forgettable opening night with 21 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists, six steals and a three-pointer. He shot 58 percent (7-12) from the field, 86 percent (6-7) from the free throw line and had four turnovers. Sadly, Curry’s big night ended on a sour note when the guard landed on Kyle Korver’s foot and reinjured that balky right ankle. Keep an eye on his status. Read More »

Let’s be blunt: the Toronto Raptors are a sorry bunch, in real life and in fantasy terms. Sure, there are a decent number of potential breakout candidates on this squad whenever the next NBA season begins, but there are also timeshares awaiting a few positions. There’s no true stud here, but when you’re in the latter rounds of your draft, keep some of these Canadian dinosaurs in mind. Read More »

Bill Russell‘s 11 NBA championships. Wilt‘s 100-point *insert noun that is exponentially better than “outburst” here.* Oscar Robertson‘s 41 triple-doubles in 79 games during the 1961-62 season. Call me ignorant, but I don’t think they’ll ever break. All these things we’re aware of, but we’re also conscious they’ll never be topped because they were set in a different era.

There’s always lesser records to be broken, however. You want your name cemented into NBA history? There’s ways to do it other than winning a lot or dropping buckets. Read More »

On Twitter a couple weeks ago, WFAN Radio’s (New York) Evan Roberts tweeted a suggestion that as part of the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, each team should be allowed to void one bad contract. I thought that was an interesting idea, and did some research, and here is one contract each NBA team would probably like to void: Read More »

Beast of the Night: Jose Calderon started March off in a huge way, posting 22 points, seven rebounds, 16 assists, one steal and three three-pointers. He shot 70 percent (7-10) from the field, 100 percent (5-5) from the free-throw line and had two turnovers. This was the first time in a while that Calderon’s offense was as good as his dishing. He remains a strong fantasy play, especially if you need assists. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Dwight Howard posted 31 points, 17 rebounds, two steals and two blocks last night against the Kings. He shot 59 percent (10-17) from the field, 92 percent (11-12) from the free-throw line and had three turnovers. Howard’s averaging a career-high 23 points and 1.2 steals per game this season. He remains a stud, so long as you can handle his poor free-throw shooting. Read More »

Look, I’m as big a fan of DeMar DeRozan as anybody. When he was a senior in high school, I wrote a feature on him in Dime #39 that is still one of my favorite stories I’ve done. He’s a good guy, comes from a good family, is an incredible athlete and I think he will be a legit star in the NBA beyond just a sick dunker.

So I’m not hating on him. But everybody needs to settle down with the “DeRozan got robbed!” movement following last night’s Slam Dunk Contest. Because DeRozan did not get robbed. Read More »