In some respects, you have to understand where Allen Iverson is coming from. Going back to Little League and all the way through intramurals or whatever level you reached in your athletic career, we’ve all been taught that the best players start the game. Of course, it’s a little different in the NBA: If a coach really wants his second unit to have more offensive firepower or defensive stability, he might put one of his best five players on the bench, which is why Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry are annually up for Sixth Man of the Year.

That said, there are some backups who — forget what the coach might be trying to do — have no business being backups. And it’s not always because they’re so great, but that the guy starting in front of them shouldn’t be starting. Who should be taking a seat? 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 »

For a franchise that supposedly doesn’t have any money, the Grizzlies went all-out for their home opener. After introducing the Pistons to the theme from Beverly Hills Cop (cute), the Jumbotron showed a dramatic over-the-top video where Allen Iverson and Rudy Gay talked about “Grizz Nation” and defending homecourt. Then the DJ put on a Michael Myers/Halloween-inspired track, and the Jabbawockeez appeared at midcourt to dance. THEN they brought out Three Six Mafia, wearing Memphis jerseys and performing “Stay Fly” to bleed into the player intros, complete with smoke machines and everything else. 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 »

With points, rebounds and assists covered, let’s move on to discuss some late-round thieves who could help your fantasy team with a steals deficiency. Again, these players are listed in no particular order. There’s much room for discussion here, so please populate the comments section below with your reactions. 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 »

Principal D-Stern had to have been pleased with his product yesterday, as two of the NBA’s three preseason games took place outside the United States. In Taiwan, the Pacers blew out the Nuggets: Troy Murphy put up 20 points with four threes, and Brandon Rush (20 pts) knocked down six triples, but the real story was Roy Hibbert. The kid was a BEAST, going for 20 points, 11 boards and eight blocks. Granted, Nene being out meant Denver started Johan Petro at center, but he only played 10 minutes before Birdman and K-Mart assumed most of the duties inside. It’s just preseason, but in the Nuggets‘ two games against NBA teams (they smashed a team of kids from Belgrade), they haven’t looked good at all … Read More »

The second game of the NBA preseason, Bulls vs. Pacers, kind of flew under the radar for a few reasons: Nobody cared as much because it wasn’t the debut for the League or the replacement refs, it was on a Friday night when people had better things to do, and the most notable “new face, new place” involved was Bulls’ first-round pick James Johnson — only the most generic (at least in name) first-round pick in this year’s rookie class. Johnson was terrible, by the way, going 1-for-6 from the field and fouling out in 20 minutes … Derrick Rose had 17 points and three assists in Chicago’s win, while John Salmons and Luol Deng (3-10 FG, 9-9 FT) scored 15 apiece. Read More »

Even the worst team in the NBA is one monster season by one player away from getting back in the playoff race. And it doesn’t always have to be a superstar putting in an MVP-caliber effort, either. Yesterday we looked at five ‘09 Lottery teams and pinpointed one player who could get them back into postseason contention in 2010. Here are four more guys who need to step it up… Read More »

There’s only one reason why yesterday’s Wolves/Clippers trade — the one sending Quentin Richardson to Minnesota for Sebastian Telfair, Craig Smith and Mark Madsen — means anything to Wolves fans: It’s yet another reason to believe Ricky Rubio is walking through that door sooner than anyone expected. Wolves GM David Kahn is in Spain this week to sit down with Rubio’s camp and talk about that contract buyout, and then yesterday it was reported that Rubio’s Spanish squad signed another point guard (Kristaps Valters, who may or may not be the Latvian Goran Dragic), perhaps indicating they may be ready to lose Rubio. With the Q-Rich trade (3-for-1), Minnesota not only gets Bassy out of the PG picture, but they also open up a roster spot for Rubio … Read More »