If there’s one thing fantasy basketball owners should know, it’s that a team coached by Mike D’Antoni is a team to embrace. While his attention to offense and disregard for defense bring up valid concerns about the New York Knicks‘ real-life success, it’s pretty much gold for fantasy basketball purposes. There are two players driving the bulk of this team’s fantasy appeal, and in this type of offense there’s always the possibility of plug-and-play success for guys who fill in for injured players, especially in the backcourt. Still, as currently constructed, the Knicks do have some potential issues that diminish their fantasy luster, though not by much. Read More »

You might have heard, but today the owners and players met once again to go over this lockout business. For a variety of reasons – not all entirely true – things had been looking hopeful in the past week or so. But alas, the news wasn’t good as both sides came out of the meetings without any further progress being made.

We could roll out 500 words on how annoying all of this is, but Twitter has been breaking down the emotional roller coaster for us over the past hour or so anyways. Take it away Twitter: Read More »

As the NBA preseason gets underway, we preview the upcoming campaign with the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team.

Added: Tiago Splitter, James Anderson, Alonzo Gee

Lost: Roger Mason, Keith Bogans, Ian Mahinmi Read More »

All due respect to T-Mac and A.I., but the 2010 free agency rush is over. After Shaq signed with Boston for the monetary equivalent of his yearly Fuddruckers budget, at this point we’re beating down sources and constantly refreshing NBA rumor sites just for items like, “Cartier Martin is getting interest from the Bobcats, Heat and Blazers.” In other words, not exactly “The Decision” … Kobe Bryant‘s squad inked the player who is probably the last significant piece to fall into place for next year’s championship picture — since Orlando, Miami, Boston and San Antonio have filled their rosters — re-upping with Shannon Brown on a 2-year, $4.6 million deal. Read More »

Lost amongst all of the Sports Illustrated covers, ESPY interviews and polls proclaiming the Heat to be nothing short of sensational, the best team in Florida could still be the Orlando Magic. For them, this summer was more about curtailing roster losses and keeping their core together. With two straight trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, Dwight Howard & Co. have the foundation to contend for years. Read More »

In less than a season, Raylan Givens is rocketing up the Austin’s Favorite TV Cops power ranking — threatening Frank Pembleton (“Homicide”), J.C. Williams and Eddie Torres (“New York Undercover”), Rick Hunter (“Hunter”) and the entire cast of “In The Heat Of The Night” — the same way Kevin Durant crashed the NBA’s elite party.

In a recent episode of “Justified” (Tuesdays on FX), Givens had gotten his ass kicked in a barroom brawl, and while his ex-wife is nursing him back to health, they have this exchange: Read More »

From the moment Game 1 was in the books until the last 3-4 minutes of the fourth quarter of Game 2, it was shaping up to be one of those games the Spurs always win when they’re in danger of a deficit. But on those possessions where they usually hit daggers, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan bricked free throws. And on those possessions where they usually get defensive stops, Amar’e Stoudemire dominated the paint and Jason Richardson was slinging jumpers. Unable to make the plays they usually make late in big games, the Spurs fell behind 0-2 in the series as it heads to their gym … Read More »

That was Brent Barry‘s line before last night’s Cavs/Spurs game, his way of saying Mo Williams needed to step up and lead Cleveland since LeBron was out with a sore ankle. After sticking a big three midway through the fourth quarter to tie it, Mo (17 pts, 8 rebs, 8 asts) was at the line with nine seconds left and the Cavs up one. He made both free throws (between shots, did you see that girl in the crowd who looked exactly like J.J. Hickson?), and although Greg Popovich drew up a beautiful play to get Roger Mason a wide-open three, “No Shot Rog” bricked to complete his 0-for-8 night beyond the arc … Read More »

Maybe it’s just us, but it seems O.J. Mayo has been playing noticeably better ever since the whole USC thing finally came to a conclusion. Since the turn of the new year, around the same time the ‘SC sanctions were handed down, O.J. has been averaging 20-plus points per game and seems like he’s literally had a weight lifted off his shoulders — getting up for more dunks than usual and showing more hang time and creativity in the air … Mayo scored 19 last night in an upset win over San Antonio. The Grizzlies were in control most of the second half, but the Spurs chipped away and cut the lead to one on Roger Mason‘s jumper with 41 ticks left. Read More »

I don’t really do fantasy basketball. Between watching a handful of NBA games every night, playing my own video-game season on NBA 2K, and trying to fit a healthy amount of college and a little bit of high school hoops into the mix, fantasy is a little more than I can handle. But I do like putting together custom lineups just as much as the next fan, hence the Create-Your-Team feature from one year ago. Time for Round Two. Read More »