Beast of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki not only hit the game-winner in Milwaukee last night, he also finished with 32 points, 1 three, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block while shooting 48 percent (12-25) from the field, 88 percent (7-8) from the line and didn’t have any turnovers. He’s the hottest fantasy commodity to come out of Germany since Heidi Klum. Read More »

Buy Low: Al Jefferson will miss the next two games to tend to a family illness, but it’ll give him some time to rest, too. He’s shown glimpses of life and his steady uphill path to recovery should reach its peak by the beginning of December.

Andre Miller is starting alongside Steve Blake, but the chances for him taking over as the sole starting point guard are getting better. 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 »

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 point guards, shooting guards and small forwards taken care of, today we’re proceeding to the projected top 10 fantasy power forwards this season. A few of these players are eligible to play center as well, but the ones listed here are slated to start the season at power forward. As always, please feel free to share your thoughts below.

1. Dirk Nowitzki: Diggler is as steady and productive as big men come. Dallas has a stronger, deeper roster than they did last season, but it won’t affect Nowitzki’s sexy stats, which leave little to be desired. His scoring could dip a point or two, but his assists should climb a bit while his shooting percentages will remain intact. It would be great to see him make his way back into the 1+ steal, 1+ block club, but Dirk will leave his owners very happy (and, with his new headband, entertained) even if he doesn’t. 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 »