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 »

Contrary to what Chris Webber said last night, the Celtics are not going to win the 2010 championship because they picked up Rasheed Wallace. While ‘Sheed will definitely play a role, Boston isn’t winning jack (or Larry) unless Paul Pierce performs up to Paul Pierce standards. Last night was vintage Truth, as Boston downed the Cavs in the opening game of the new season, a rare home loss for Cleveland. With a little over a minute remaining in the fourth and the Celtics up by four, Pierce (23 pts, 11 rebs) ran a pick-and-roll with KG near midcourt against LeBron and Shaq. Advantage: Boston. Shaq reached, Pierce teached, then stuck a jumper from the top of the key that was essentially the dagger. Read More »

As we anticipate the commencement of the brand spanking new 2009-10 NBA season, let’s take a look at a handful of fantasy “gangs.” To be more specific, let’s give fun names to certain groups of players who have similar attributes — for fantasy purposes, of course. Hopefully, this post will do two things: offer you some helpful glimpses into what you should expect from these players heading into the regular season, and present you with an amusing read to help you rediscover your smile (especially if you drafted Blake Griffin) and regular breathing patterns amid all the tense eagerness for tonight. 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: Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels, Shelden Williams, Lester Hudson

Lost: Leon Powe, Stephon Marbury, Mikki Moore, Gabe Pruitt 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: Tyler Hansbrough, Dahntay Jones, Earl Watson, Luther Head, Solomon Jones

Lost: Jarrett Jack, Marquis Daniels, Rasho Nesterovic, Stephen Graham, Maceo Baston Read More »

Now that we’ve covered late-rounders who will help fill in your teams’ scoring and rebounding weaknesses, let’s move on to assists. Again, these are players who will likely be available in the later rounds of most fantasy drafts but could offer good value in this specific statistical category and are not listed in any specific order. Read on, respond and let us know if you’d remove or add someone to this list. Read More »

It might be just the preseason, but the vibe inside the Boston Celtics’ visitor locker room in Madison Square Garden last night felt like a regular season game. KG’s demeanor was intense as he paced back and forth throughout the locker room. Marquis Daniels and Eddie House had their eyes fixated on the television set, watching game tape from the last Knicks/Celtics match. And ‘Sheed was kicking back at his locker listening to his headphones, while giving off that signature “I don’t give a f***, don’t talk to me” vibe. Read More »

Big things are expected out of the Lakers and Celtics this season. Obviously, with the addition of Ron Artest there are high expectations for the Lakers to two-peat. There’s even talk of the Lakers challenging the ‘95-96 Bulls’ 72-win season. For the Celtics, as long as Garnett, Pierce and Allen are healthy, they’re always going to have a legitimate chance at a chip. They won one in ‘08, but caught a bad break last year when KG went down and missed the entire playoffs. Now that KG is back and healthy again, the Celtics are expected to give Orlando a good run for the East’s top spot. Come June, we may very well see a rematch of the 2008 Finals between Boston and L.A. Read More »

For NBA teams, the quest for a title starts right now as training camp opens this week. While the Lakers are the champs and arguably the favorites to win it again this year, the rest of the league did not sit idle during the offseason. A lot of teams - especially the ones in contention for the chip - made some bold moves during the summer that strengthen their roster. I ranked the five teams who I thought made the best offseason upgrades. Read More »

When the NBA season gets underway, nobody has a longer list of scheduled ass-bustings on his calendar than Mario Chalmers. And not in the sense of getting lit up — more like dishing it out. All summer long, it seemed every out-of-work PG either brought up Miami as a possible destination (or the media did it for them), as if Chalmers would be a small obstacle in their taking a starting job next to D-Wade in the Heat backcourt. If and when those guys get signed, and just to the public in general, Chalmers will get to show them why Pat Riley wasn’t interested. And now you can add Rafer Alston to that list. Read More »