One of the few bright spots in the Indiana Pacers’ slow start has been the encouraging play of second-year center Roy Hibbert. Throughout the preseason and the early part of the regular season, the former Georgetown Hoyas standout has upped all his stats. In his first four games of the ‘09-10 season, Hibbert is averaging 10.8 points, 10.3 rpg and 2.2 bpg. We sat down with Roy a few nights ago, when the Pacers were in town to play the Knicks. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki was an absolute animal last night, putting up 40 points on 55 percent (12-22) shooting from the field and 94 percent (15-16) from the line, chipping in a three-pointer along with 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 5 blocks and no turnovers. He scored 29 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter, playing like Mehmet Okur bad-mouthed David Hasselhoff. You can’t get much better than this in fantasy ball and Diggler is in for a great year. 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 »

This was color commentator Dominique Wilkins speaking on T.J. Ford in the first quarter of last night’s Hawks/Pacers game:

“He’s not a bench player. He’s a guy you have to have on the floor because he can make so many people around him better with his penetration ability.”

Even as a Pacers fan and somebody who respects Dominique’s opinion, I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that one. 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 »

Logically, after ticking off points, rebounds, assists and steals, it’s time to move on to looking at late-round players who can help you in the blocks category. This is a list of big men, naturally, so most can help field goal percentage as well, but our focus today is on blocks. Listed below, in no particular order, are some players that will likely be available in the later rounds of your fantasy drafts and can help fulfill your need for blocks. As always, let us know what you think. Read More »

Light schedule of only four NBA preseason games on a day where the biggest (rumored) news was that the replacement refs probably won’t make it to the regular season due to the League being close to an agreement with the union guys. We hit on this a little bit yesterday, but it’s funny how so many media and fans are bashing the replacements as if they’ve been so much worse than the regulars. We even heard one TV talking head praise the return of the “real” refs, because the ones they’ve had in the preseason are obviously fake refs. How long will it take for NBA players to start complaining about every call again and for the rest of us to remember we thought the “real” refs stunk at their jobs, too? About 24 minutes into the first game? … Read More »

Today we’ll continue our week-long look at late-round players who can help you fill in the statistical gaps you find yourself with near the end of your fantasy drafts. This doesn’t mean these players will necessarily help you in other categories (though most do), but they should at least offer some value in these respective categories. Without further ado, let’s look at players (in no particular order) who will likely be drafted in later rounds and could help you catch up in the rebounding department. Share your perspectives below. Read More »

There’s no question that the class of 2008 is front-loaded with talent. And now that the rookie jitters are gone and contract extensions are in sight, how will they fare after a year in the League under their belts? The reality is, a case can be made for almost 30 guys to be on this list in some way. For instance, where do Danilo Gallinari and Roy Hibbert go with such strong coach-backing? It’s still too early to close the book on any of these guys, but so far here are my predictions. Read More »

Missing the deadline for Sunday morning’s Smack, Carmelo Anthony had the performance of the NBA preseason so far in a very late-Saturday/early-Sunday tip in Beijing — in the same arena where ‘Melo and Team USA won their ‘08 gold medals. In just 24 minutes of work against the Pacers, ‘Melo dropped 45 points, going 14-of-19 from the field and 16-of-17 from the line. Oh, and he threw in nine rebounds and two blocks. Those are video-game numbers, like playing NBA 2K against the CPU on Easy mode. But then even more amazing than that might have been Indiana’s “defensive” numbers. Read More »