Crappy Christmas

Suns lost, Lakers won, Portland lost... for it being Christmas and all, yesterday was a pretty disappointing day for me. It's like the worst three outcomes possible of any NBA games. At least I didn't have any money riding on any of those, 'else I'd be really sad ;-)

Speaking of money, here's my predictions for tonight...

Chicago	5.5	+198.5
Miami	-5.5	-198.5
Minnesota	6.5	+215
New York	-6.5	-215
Charlotte	4.5	+192.5
New Jersey	-4.5	-192.5
Indiana	1	+205
Memphis	-1	-205
Houston	1.5	+184.5
New Orleans	-1.5	-184.5
OKC	10	+197.5
Detroit	-10	-197.5
Dallas	2.5	+194
Utah	-2.5	-194
Phila.	6.5	+197.5
Denver	-6.5	-197.5
Toronto	-2.5	+200
Sacramento	2.5	-200
Boston	-10.5	+210.5
Golden State	10.5	-210.5

And here's a Youtube goodie... Andrew Bogut giving props to himself.

Posting from the airport

So, I made 24 predictions last Friday. Ended up 10 right, 1 push, 13 wrong. 8/10 of my wins were on the spread, just 2 on the over/under. 6/12 games actually went under, I bet on 7/12 to go under, but I just picked all the wrong ones. Ah wells. I'll get it right eventually... hopefully... sigh.

Also, the Lakers dropped two games over the weekend. YAY!!! Maybe they're not on the same tier as Cleveland and Boston. Props to Miami and Orlando for beating up on the Lakers.

And a shot out for the little guy. Aaron Brooks, the 6 ft, 2nd year PG grabbed 10 boards against Minnesota on Saturday night. Meanwhile, Yao (all 7-6 of him) got a measly 4 rebs in the same game. Seriously, what's wrong with all the big men today that don't rebound? There's is absolutely no excuse why guys like Yao (9.2 career rpg) or Amare (9.0 career rpg) don't avg. at LEAST 10 rebounds. Speaking of little guys, here's a clip of a Nate Robinson dunk against the Celts over the weekend.



I don't got much else to post... I'm traveling for the holidays so I don't have as much time to hit up the bball sites. But, here's a Nash funny before I go. In case I don't post again before the big day, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Friday Postings

Interesting game last night. Pretty sad that the Suns lost, but it was entertaining nonetheless. Roy was just incredible. And while the Sun's perimeter D was partly to blame for that... I just want to remind any naysayers about the Richardson trade that even with Raja, Harris and Wade both hung season highs on the Suns too. The Sun's perimeter defense is pathetic as a team effort, even with Raja it wouldn't have mattered.

I'll probably rant more about the Suns in the coming games, but I'll reserve my judgment for now. I really want to see who they are planning to pick up. Hopefully, it's somebody that Porter trusts... because his use/trust of our bench is abysmal. Barbosa and Amundson are actually doing okay but they're still getting very limited minutes. I'm just not sure what's Porter's problem with them. One of the biggest complaints about D'Antoni (besides defense) was his underutlization of the bench and tiring our against starters. Porter at least started the season on the right track... often playing 10 deep and keeping Shaq and Nash ~30 minutes or less, but in the last 5-10 games, he's been worse than D'A. Shrinking his rotationto 6, barely 7, and running Shaq and Nash 35+ minutes.

In case you missed Inside the NBA after the game last night, here's a funny gif of some Portland fans celebrating, courtesy of TrueHoop...



And oh yeah, and here's my predictions for tonight.

LA Clippers	2.5	+207
Indiana	-2.5	-207
Phila.	-1.5	+193.5
Washington	1.5	-193.5
Golden State	10.5	+217
Atlanta	-10.5	-217
Chicago	12.5	+196
Boston	-12.5	-196
Dallas	-3.5	+199
New Jersey	3.5	-199
Milwaukee	4.5	+215.5
New York	-4.5	-215.5
Utah	3.5	+191
Detroit	-3.5	-191
Charlotte	3.5	+182.5
Memphis	-3.5	-182.5
LA Lakers	-8	+203
Miami	8	-203
Toronto	-6.5	+199.5
Oklahoma City	6.5	-199.5
Sacramento	12.5	+203
Houston	-12.5	-203
Cleveland	0	+198.5
Denver	0	-198.5

Delayed Reaction

Okay, this is like five days late... but let me get my thoughts about the Charlotte trade out before the first real game with Jason Richardson and the Suns tonight.

My initial reaction was a B+ for the Suns. Richardson is definately better than Raja or Diaw (1-on-1) and gives our offense a LOT more firepower. He's a career 18.8 ppg scorer. With Shaq, Amare, and Nash... now we can play like the old Suns... with 4 players capable of going off for 20-25 pts on any given night. With Porter's Shaq-centric half court offense, J-Rich can also assume the Penny/Kobe/Wade role of the slashing athletic SG who can finish with contact. I expect to start seeing that entry pass, backdoor cut with J-Rich. J-Rich from the elbow into Shaq, cut baseline behind Shaq. Shaq either takes his man, hands off to J-Rich for a layup/dunk, or swing opposite corner for a spot up 3 (Barnes?). Awesome!

Defense wise we'll slack a bit (but then Raja is a half step slower now too) and we still have Barnes , who imho, is just about as good a defender as Raja now.

My only reservations was the thinning of our bench. We sent out Diaw and Singletary, but did not return any bigs or PGs. That means our bench big and PG would just be Robin Lopez and Goran Dragic (Tragic), which is HORRIBLE in terms of depth. We also got Jared Dudley in the trade, but he's more of a SF than a true big, and he's still pretty raw that we shouldn't be expecting any major contributions this year. This trade puts us at just 12 players though and the league requires a minimum of 13 players on the roster. So we definately HAVE to sign/trade for another player... so hopefully that new player will shore up our bench a bit as well. Btw, we have two weeks to fill that last roster spot.

...

So that was my initial reactions. After a few days of thought and some media coverage, I'm ready to up my initial assessment and give the Suns and A on the trade.

First of all, Raja and Diaw clearly weren't happy with the new Sun's system. Apparently, Raja actually asked for a trade a couple weeks ago, and Diaw had some cheap parting shots for Suns after the trade. Phoenix GM Steve Kerr has gotten a lot of flack for senting mixed messages by bringing in the same type of players that would work best in the Run & Gun system rather than defensive orientated half court players. A lot of critics are saying why ruin a good thing? Why trade for the same players just to leave your mark on the team? My take on that is even if Kerr is just playing shuffling with the talents, (Barnes, J-Rich). At least these new players are players that have never played under D'Antoni and won't be consciously/subconsciously trying to sabotage the new coach.

I kept saying stuff like "I don't understand..." in regards to the PHX offense in the early season. Like why coudn't they selectively run off turnovers and long rebounds, or why can't they move to get open shots when Shaq is drawing double teams.

Well, if they weren't happy and were pining for the old, then maybe Diaw and Bell weren't really trying their hardest. Like they heard what Porter wanted (speed it up, but also play under control) and they were just fighting the system. Like, "oh, you want slow, I'll be slow". If you don't really want to learn something, you won't do you best at it. And we need everybody trying their best.

And Jason Richardson clearly wants to be here. He's only been to the playoffs once in seven seasons and was stuck on the frigid Bobcats (on pace to win just 25 games this year) until now. Now he'll have the chance to play in a winning system and for a playoff seed and with all-star teammates in warm Phoenix Arizona.

And in his first game as a Sun, Richardson came off the bench and had a couple highlight dunks that really excited the crowd. Overall, he scored 21 points on a very efficient 8/16 shooting. One other thing I noted was that he can actually play with our 2nd unit. One of my initial reservations was the thinning of our bench. But since Richardson can create shots for himself, if he's in with the second unit, that takes the pressure off of needing Barbosa or Dragic to be a playmaking guard.

So yeah, that's basically my take on the trade for the Suns. An A for Kerr and the organization. Since I like to make predictions, I say Richardson helps us win at least an extra 2-3 games this year and we get a top four seed. I'll be sure to gloat in April if I'm right ;-)

As for Charlotte... I have really no idea why they did the trade. Maybe just cuz Diaw and Raja are supposedly Larry Brown types who play hard and make the extra pass? But that's pretty crappy reasoning to trade away your leading scorer. Now CHA will be lucky to hit 85 on most nights. If it wasn't for a 30 point 4th quarter, CHA would have been lucky to break 80 last Saturday. They had just 13 after the 1st, 33 at the half, and 56 after 3 quarters.

Like I mentioned before, Raja has been noticeably a step slower for over a year now. The Suns with Raja were abusely terribly by Tony Parker last year in the playoffs and were lit up by Wade (43 pts) and Harris (47 pts) this season. In his first game with the Bobcats, he let Stuckey, Iverson, and Hamilton all shoot 46+% from the field. Diaw on the other hand can be brillant 1 game but terribly passive the next two games, and while he might "play the right way", his inconsistency is gonna drive Brown and CHA fans crazy. The only way this is a passable deal for the Bobcats is if they were getting the '05-'06 Raja and Diaw. I don't know. Maybe this trade lights a fire under them and they revert back to their old forms. If they do, great for the 'Cats, but they clearly weren't going to under the Suns.

...

And regarding last Saturday's prediction post. 10 games, 20 bets. I got 9 right, pushed on one (DEN/GS score), and lost 10. Funny thing though, last week I mentioned that I needed to be more conservative with my over/unders, so this week, I picked 6 unders... ended up 5 right and push on 1. Actually, I only lost ONE out of 10 over/unders. That's pretty good imho. Of course, I also lost NINE out 10 spreads. LOL. I have no idea how they figure out these odds, but it's damn impressive how it always ends up close to 50/50. Ah well, more tweaking/strategizing this week and I'll try again next Friday.

Alrighty... that's all I got for now. Here's a funny/inappropriate pic from the Laker game last night. Courtesy of BDL. Who else thinks Miller's hands are just a little too low for a "friendly hug"?

Saturday Musings

There goes Mo. Cheeks. That's the fifth coach fired this year, 1/6 of all NBA coaches. Though admittedly, the 76ers are probably the most disappointing team this season. I mean everybody knew the Thunder and Wizards were gonna suck, the people (myself included) had high hopes for the 76ers. They made the playoffs last year after closing the season on an 18-5 run. In the playoffs, they played a very inspired series as they pushed the Pistons to six games when most expected them to be swept. And then this summer they add Elton Brand while losing nobody of value. I think everyone just assumed they would get a top 4 seed. Instead, right now they're in 11th place in the east and 3 games back from the 8th seed. I got Iggy and Miller in lots of leagues based on my post-season fantasy strategy and both have been underwhelming so far this season. Hopefully this change of coaches can shake the players/team out of their funk. I'll need it.

And now onto my picks for tonight. I missed my prediction post yesterday, so this is the makeup for it.

Cleveland	-5	+187.5
Atlanta	+5	-187.5
Detroit	-1.5	+184
Charlotte	+1.5	-184
Washington	+6	+195.5
Phila.	-6	-195.5
New Jersey	+4	+205.5
Chicago	-4	-205.5
Indiana	+4.5	+206.5
Milwaukee	-4.5	-206.5
OKC	+12.5	+205.5
Dallas	-12.5	-205.5
Orlando	+5.5	+200.5
Utah	-5.5	-200.5
G. State	+15.5	+228
Denver	-15.5	-228
New York	+1	+218.5
Sacramento	-1	-218.5
Houston	-4.5	+191.5
LA Clippers	+4.5	-191.5

Quickie Post

Been really busy lately... Missed my Friday Vegas prediction post too. Ah wells, I'll do it tomorrow for sure. I have/had a lot of stuff I wanted to post about the Richardson trade too, but since I already missed my chance for an immediate reaction post, I'll hold it for a more analytical post later. Richardson is playing tonight... but Monday will be the real evaluation. Shaq will be playing, Richardson should have shook the jitters off, and the team would have had a full practice. The fact that all eyes will be on D'Antoni's first return to PHX will be really interesting too.

Anyhoo... quickie post. If you were gonna click just ONE of my youtube links, click THIS one. Trust me, LOL!

I wanna go!

So, the NBA is about to announce that this year's All-Star Saturday Night events will be broadcast live and in 3-D at movie theaters this year. Sounds very interesting. Superman dunk in 3D?, Rudy's (hopefully he gets an invite) ridiculous high arcing 3s? Sign me up! Read from the LA times.

Last night was one crazy night of basketball. Big props to Sacto for putting the Lakers in their place. To be honest, I only caught part of the 4th quarter (was watching SAS/DAL then POR/ORL), so I don't really have much commentary on it, 'cept CONGRATS Sacto and "You Suck!" LA. I guess we can put to rest any more stupid talk of 70 wins. Keep in mind the 72-10 Bulls started 41-3 and the Lakers already have 3 losses (actually worse than Boston, LOL).

Phoenix had a good (kinda) win last night. The offense was flowing and running and we racked up our highest points for a game (125) and the first half (74) all season. Shaq looked awesome as he dropped 35 pts on Bogut and Co. in a vintage dominating performance. Still though, I'm a bit wary of this win. The freewheeling offense looked a bit *too* much like the old Suns. We won and scored a ton, but still let MIL shoot .468 (on the road). We need to find a middle ground between the too slow/confused offense of this early season and the pedal-to-the-metal/no defense offense of previous years. It's probably a very poor and naive analysis/strategy, but I would only like us to run (but every time) on misses. But walk it up on made shots. The old seven-seconds-or-less Suns would run on makes and misses. The Suns earlier this season weren't running even on misses. I think that could be a middle ground to work from.

Fantasy wise... I've been picking up Barea in a few leagues. For the month so far, he's avg. 19 pts, 2 rebs, and 4.8 asts. Excellent percentages, low TOs, but no 3s or steals. With Josh Howard out indefinately and the Mavs on a 9-2 streak since he became a regular part of the rotation (and now a starter), I think Barea's a good play for the near future.

Real world wise... a trade just went down that sent Mike James and Javarais Crittenton to Washington and Antonio Daniels to New Orleans. WAS also dropped Dee Brown to make room for the new players. I wouldn't pick him up now... but keep an eye on James. WAS is thin on PG and if he gets the minutes, maybe James can revert to his TOR year and do a mini Gilbert impersonation. At least for a month or two until Gilbert comes back or they hand the reins to Crittenton. Btw, the only incumbant "PG" in WAS now is Juan Dixon and he's more combo guard/off the bench type anyways.

And finally, random observation. But the Celts are 20-2 in the east and the Thunder are 2-20 in the West. If we combine and divide the two teams in each conference, can we get two .500 teams? Would those two teams be better/worse than .500?

Here's how I would split them...

C. Wilcox	J. Petro
K. Garnett	J. Smith
K. Durant	L. Powe
D. Wilkins	D. Mason
R. Rondo	E. Watson
K. Perkins	G. Davis
N. Collison	J. Green
P. Pierce	B. Scalabrine
R. Allen	E. House
R. Westbrook	T. Allen

Alright, that's all I got for now...

Another one bites the dust...

So, Randy Wittman (MIN) is the latest coaching casualty in the NBA. McHale will assume the coaching duties for MIN in the interm. Fantasy wise, the only sure thing I think is that Kevin Love's value is gonna jump. Love is a McHale favorite (enough that he gave up Mayo on draft night, lol), and I expect Love back in the starting line up and playing close to 30 min. a game shortly. If he's available in your league pick him up.

Wittman's firing makes him the fourth coach to be fired this year, following P.J. Carlesimo (OKC), Eddie Jordan (WAS) and Sam Mitchell (TOR). I know coaches get fired all the time, but 4 coaches in just over a month seems kind of harsh. I wonder what the record is for number for coaches fired in a season (excluding off seasons).

For what's it worth... I found a post on Vegas Watch listing Vegas odds for first coach to be fired at the start of the season.

Lawrence Frank (NJN), 6/1
Sam Mitchell (TOR), 5/1
Mike Brown (CLE), 7/1
Mark Ivaroni (MEM), 5/1
Eddie Jordan (WAS), 8/1
George Karl (DEN), 5/1
Randy Wittman (MIN), 3/1
Field (Any Other Coach), 5/2

Speaking of Vegas odds, I didn't do too hot with my predictions last Friday. 11 games, 22 bets, and I only won 9/22. Pretty bad. I think I'm betting on too many overs. I chose 9 overs, only 2 actually went over. The thing is, the league average per game is only 98.29. So an "average" score should be 196.58. Yet the Vegas odds gave 7 over 200, 1 right at 196, and 2 below. They're probably accounting for chances of overtime, but anyhoo, I need to be more cautious with my optimism for NBA scores.

And today for your viewing please... Garnett being a jerk to 3rd string / rookie point guard Bayless of the Raptors. Garnett gets down on all fours to mock him on D and after a Bayless turnover, Garnett comes up to get in the rookie's face. If you didn't know, Garnett was also roundly criticized for similar unsportsmanlike shenanigans against Jose Calderon earlier this year.



One good thing to know though... KG is a jerk to his teammates too. Here's him making Big Baby Davis cry... same game.



If you wanna see more crying (by other players and not necessarily caused by KG) go to Hoop Heads North.

Jason and his crazy predictions

One more post before the weekend... 3 posts today, gotta be a new personal best ;-)

So I was in Vegas last weekend after the Suns/Heat game. Didn't do too well. Placed 5 straight bets and 2 parlays, won just 2/5 straight and 0 parlays. I blame the Spurs and their blowout loss to the Rockets for ruining my last Vegas venture. They were 3 point underdogs, just got Parker back, and the Rockets were playing without T-Mac. I thought for sure the Spurs would cover... 'cept they decided to choke and lose by 20 instead. That cost me a straight AND a parlay... a $136 swing. =(

Anyhoo, that's when I came up with the idea that the next time I'm in Vegas, I'm just going to go ahead and place a small bet on EVERY game, both on the spread and the over/under. The scattershot approach. That way one miscalculation won't wreck me too much. So with that in mind, here's a practice run. Below are the odds are every game tonight and my picks are in bold. 11 games tonight, 22 picks total, one for each point spread and one for each total score. I'll be back later to post how I did. I'll doing these practice runs once a week from now on until I go back to Vegas. =)

--------------------

	Spread	O/U
LA Lakers	-11.5	+213
Washington	11.5	-213
Oklahoma City	13.5	+203
Orlando	-13.5	-203
Minnesota	6.5	+201.5
New Jersey	-6.5	-201.5
New York	10.5	+215.5
Atlanta	-10.5	-215.5
Indiana	11	+207
Cleveland	-11	-207
Phila.	8	+187.5
Detroit	-8	-187.5
Portland	8	+184
Boston	-8	-184
LA Clippers	1	+196
Memphis	-1	-196
Golden State	9	+209
Houston	-9	-209
Charlotte	4	+186
Milwaukee	-4	-186
Toronto	5	+206
Utah	-5	-206

Sky is falling...

So, last night was a disaster by the Suns. Phoenix have so many problems, I don't even know where to start. If things stay as is, I think we're looking at a 7th-8th seed at best and a 1-4 early playoff exit again (and those are best case scenarios imho). Here's a little comic courtesy of BDL and Garbage Time Allstars. Click the image for the zoom at BDL.



The good thing though is this is the NBA, so things don't have to stay as is. A trade can really shake things up for an organization and I think the Suns definitely need a shakeup. December 15th is coming up soon and that's the date when free agent contracts signed during the past off-season can officially be traded.

I think any and all Suns trades should begin and end with Amare Stoudemire. Amare is by far the Sun's biggest asset and actually has a lot of value in the league and can get us some assets that would better mesh with the new Porter half-court system. IMHO, our priorities should be a borderline allstar (fair considering Amare is a perennial allstar) to appoximate Amare's production and a backup PG (because Dragic and Singletary sucks). That borderline allstar can be at the 2, 3, or 4 spots. Doesn't really matter. Diaw can start if necessary if the returning player ain't a big.

With that in mind, here's some of my pipe dreams... mostly realistic and all within salary cap rules. Feel free to consider additional draft picks on either sides to make it more even if necessary.

1) W/ Portland

Amare, Tucker for Aldridge, Lafrentz, Rodriguez.

2) W/ Milwaukee

Amare, Tucker for Jefferson, Villanueva, Sessions

3) W/ New Jersey

Amare, Tucker for Carter, Lopez, and Dooling

4) W/ Washington

Amare, Tucker, Amundson for Jamison, Daniels, McGee, and Young.

5) W/ Philadelphia

Amare for Brand, Williams

A noticeable trading partner being omitted are the Chicago Bulls. IMHO, Hinirch would be an ideal backup for Nash and can even play some starter minutes alongside Nash at the SG spot. However, Hinrich is currently injured and won't be able to be traded until almost the trade deadline (if he comes back in time)... if we're waiting THAT long, the season is toast and we might as well wait till summer for easier trade opportunities.

Now LIVEBLOGGING... sorta, not really

Man, even Shaq is sad... here's his Twitter posts after last night's game.

--------------------
If you cant command then u must learn to follow, but what if u aint winning when u listen, then what????????
--------------------
Whatthe hell is wrong wit da suns
--------------------

Speaking of Twitter... I hope you'll notice that I now have a Twitter feed of my own on the right hand side of the page. That is "Yokels_tv" Basically it's my retarded version of a live-blog. It'll pretty much only be updated during games, where I will text online what I usually yell at my TV set

Dangers of flying...

Man, that must be one dangerous flight from LA to New York. Cutino Mobley had played in EVERY game so far this season, averaging 33 minutes a game. He's averaged over 35 minutes and 77 or more games for the last 3 seasons. In his last game as a Clipper (Friday, 11/19), Mobley had arguably his most productive game of the season, scoring 23 points on 11/20 shooting and snagging 7 steals. Then he gets traded over the weekend, takes a flight out to New York, now suddenly he has a heart condition and is seriously considering a health related retirement. What I want to know is WTF happened on that plane?!?

Besides the fact that I had snagged Mobley in a bunch of leagues (which I have since dropped), hoping for the D'A bump, Mobley is still a very productive player. If the Knicks don't want him, I'm sure they're are lots of teams around the league (BOS, DAL, HOU, PHO, ORL, comes to mind) that would love to sign a veteran SG at the league min. If the Knicks are just trying to push the retirement agenda to get insurance to cover Mobley's salary and save cap space... I'm surprised Mobley is just going along with all this. Really weird situation in NY and I really wish we knew more.

Giant Killer

How about them Pacers, huh? The just beat the Lakers 118-117 and earlier in the season blew out the Celts 95-79. For a "bad" team that's just 7-10, they sure have beaten their share of "good" teams. Of their 7 wins, they've beaten LAL, BOS, HOU, ATL, NJ twice, and OKC. That's 6 winning .500+ teams. How they've managed to lose to the likes of CHA and CHI, I don't know. But props to the Pacers, esp. considering they're missing one of their top 3 players in Mike Dunleavy.

Speaking of Dunleavy... he's really killing me in my fantasy leagues. I've got him rotting on the bench in one of my Yahoo and one of my CBS leagues, and I really need the games played in both. Still, though, I'm reluctant to drop him considering he could be a top 60ish player if he ever comes back. I just wish there was some definative news so I can drop him now before I lose too many more weeks.

On the fantasy front... trade vetoes are really wrecking my season. I already mentioned that in CBS I had managed to get a Kidd/B.Miller for AI/Kaman deal worked out, only to be vetoed by the league. With AI's erratic performance and now Kaman's injury... that trade would have REALLY helped me. I know that trade is a bit lopsided now, but at the time A.I. was still on his way to Detroit and Miller hadn't played a game yet. On paper that was as fair as it gets. If every trade was perfectly even at the time AND in the future, then what's the point of trading in the first place? I'd like to throw in the fact that 3/12 managers (not including the traders) explained why they thought the trade WAS fair. But nobody that vetoed gave an explanation.

In my Yahoo leagues, I just worked out a Paul/Salmons for Deron/A.Miller deal, with me giving up Paul. I was the one who offered Paul and my reasoning was to keep stacking my team with Jazz/76ers players in anticipation of fantasy playoffs. That deal got vetoed too. Why? I don't know. It seems pretty damn fair on paper to me. An elite PG for an elite PG and a top 70ish player for another top 70ish player. And of course nobody bothered to post an explanation of why they vetoed as well.

That kind of league attitude really ruins the fun of fantasy imho. Now when I see a trade, I feel like vetoing just for the hell of it too. At least the Yahoo league is my keeper league and I'm the commish. I think I'll implement a new policy where vetoes must come with an explanation post. That's how it works in my "experts" league and it works out well.

Pickup wise, I'd keep any eye out for any Knicks on the FA list. Just look at the box scores of the NY/GS game to see what playing under D'Antoni can do to inflate a player's numbers. That means almost any Knick such as Chandler, Q-Rich, or even Tim Thomas are worth a look. And call me crazy, but keep an eye out for Jared Jeffries as well. Jared Jeffries is currently hurt, but he's supposed to be making his debut either this or next week. Rumor has it that D'A had him in mind for the "Marion" role before the season started. Don't pick him up right now, but keep an eye on him and be prepared to snatch him up quick if he's suddenly getting starters minutes.

Go back to Slovenia!

Wow, that was pretty garbage by the Suns. I don't know it would have done to their confidence/chemistry (and the fans' sanity) if the Suns had lost to the Thunder. A "contender" can't just drop a game to the Thunder, Shaq playing or not, the Thunder are basically just a bunch of d-leaguers and Durant. Glad to see them pull it out, down 16 and all, still waaayyy too close for comfort though.

If Porter insists on emphasising the half court Shaq offense, he needs to stop giving the Big Fella the nights off on b2bs. Maybe play him less minutes, but he still needs to start. If not, it throws our WHOLE team out of rhythm. Offensively, Nash and Co. still don't run & gun and we still cough up our season avg. 17 TOs. And on defense, our paint is just wide open and we get killed on the boards (gave up 15 offensive boards tonight). Last time we got blasted by the Bulls and tonight we barely scrape by a 1-14 Thunder. The next time it's b2b against NO and DAL, if Shaq sits either, I can guarantee a loss there.

Interesting note... Dragic has now had consecutive DNP-CD, after only getting 3 min. in the Laker game behind Singletary. Can we officially call this the end of the Slovenian experiment? Else maybe send him to the d-league first and get some experience. What are the odds the Suns go Spanoulis on Dragic and send him back to Slovenia after the season?

Anyhoo... enough about the Suns. I missed my fantasy update yesterday. I went 2-1 in Yahoo h2hs and 1-2 in my CBS points leagues. CBS is still as dull as ever. No trades, no chatter, nothing good on the FA wire. Even playing for money isn't exciting, since it does't really feel like I'm playing.

Yahoo wise... I did some trades. I gave up Bogut for Terry in one league and Paul/Salmons for Deron/A. Miller in another. The Bogut trade was offered to me and I took it. Was pretty stacked in bigs and needed the 3s. The Paul trade, I offered and was accepted. Remember my original strategy... load up on Jazz and 76ers... they'll pay off when it matters.

Pickup wise... Mobley is a good gamble if he's available. I think he'll be the starting SG in NY and there's always stats to go around in the D'A system. Also DJ Augustin is starting and dropping nice lines in CHA. Eric Gordon also got a starting nod and posted an excellent performance and can be worth a try. Morrow as expected has dropped in production quite a bit and could be a safe drop.

No funnies today... I need to work harder on that. Sorries.

Humble Pie

Ah humble pie, how I hate thee. Guess I got too ahead of myself with my prediction and the Lakers are really that good. God damn it hurts to type that.

There's really nothing much to rant about. They're just better right now. We played crappy (esp. Amare) and to beat this Lakers team, you need to play a near perfect game and we didn't do it. I have a lot of thoughts about the game, but everything is jumbled and its hard to make it flow so I'm just going to do it in bullet form. It's probably easier to read anyways.

• Amare had a horrible game. Worst +/- at -19. By my unofficial count he missed at least 3 easy layup/dunks that he should always make. Gasol's only 4 pts were off of him too and Amare just played miserable D in general.
• Amare needs to take more midrange shots in general. His midrange game is excellent. With Shaq clogging up the paint, when Amare drives it's just too crowded in there.
  
• When Shaq gets doubled in the post, Suns need to create more movement and make a better effort of getting a shot for the open man.
• Complain about the Shaq half court ball all you want, the Suns bench aren't really running either when Shaq's out. Why not? I don't know.
  
• Stop hammering it into Shaq on every possession. That's TOO predictable. Mix it up. Suns fans wanted PLAYS (as in plural). Not just one play.
  
• The whole offense is just messed up. Even the Nash/Amare pick and roll doesn't look crisp. Half the time, either Amare bumbles it and looses his momentum/positioning, or else it gets deflected/stolen. How the hell that happened, I don't know. They've been doing this for 4 years, even in a half court set with Shaq in the paint and Porter on the sidelines, they shouldn't forget how to do it.
• Diaw... great start, lousy end... typical jekyll and hyde performance. Damnit all we want is CONSISTENCY!
• Singletary got the nod off the bench over Dragic. First time it's happened. Can we call Dragic a bust now? Singletary is still very raw and he looks hesistant/scared when he shoots. But at least he's quicker than Dragic and I think his bball iq and passing are marginally better too.
  
• Lakers bench, just too friggin strong. Ariza for Bench MVP?
• Lakers defense, just too friggin strong. That double team on the post and 2 man zone for the weakside that was diagrammed by TNT... it's DEVASTATINGLY affective.
  
• City of Phoenix fans: PATHETIC. It's embarassing that the cheers for the Lakers were almost as loud as the cheers for the Suns. And the fact that they started a MVP chant for Kobe and it was loud enough you can hear it from the TNT broadcast, just sad, sad, sad, sad. It was like a Clipper game, that's how bad it was. I can only assume that Phoenix fans are bandwagoners because those cheers weren't there 1-2 years ago. And I really doubt THAT many LA fans from LA made the trip to make that big of an impact.
  

Alrighty, that's all I have for that game. It is after all just 1 game. We can bounce back, though some adjustments really need to be made. I don't see why we can't Run & Gun as well as play half court sets. Still run out on each possession, and if it's not there, then pull it out and wait for Shaq to come down. I hope Nash can have a sit down with Porter and get their systems sorted because with cheap Sarver's history, we don't have the assets (players or picks) to make any blockbuster trades to save the Suns.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

that is all.

=(

Lakers... 8-2... probably, hopefully

Big game tonight, Suns vs. Lakers, in Phoenix. Overall, I'm feeling good about this matchup. We've been off since Monday and we're at home... so both of that favors very favorably for the Suns. It's really amazing how much a couple days off means to Shaq. Admittingly, it's been a small sample size so far, but so far on the 2nd game of a back-to-back, Shaq has averaged a paltry 6.7 pts/5 rebs on 41% shooting over 3 games. But with 2 days rest he's averaging 23.5 pts / 8.5 rebs on 79% over 2 games. So I'm expecting a big game from The Diesel tonight. Overall, I think our starters can really hang against the Lakers starters. The real trap for the Suns will be our bench, which is pathetically weak. If Porter rolls out the all bench lineup for anymore than 2-3 minutes max, we're gonna get killed by the Lakers. We have a day off tomorow and host Portland at home on Friday. This is a big enough statement game that I really hope Porter plays our starters as many minutes as necessary to pull out the win. IMHO, that means 40+ for Raja and Amare and ~35 for Nash and Shaq. Anything less is gonna be tough.

On the fantasy front... not much to report. I picked up Rasho in a league. He's starting and has quietly put up 14/8/3 and 2 blks over his last 3 games. If he's still available, I'd definately make the pickup. On a related note, McGee got the starting job last night, but he still had the same amount of minutes and actually a worse line (5 pts, 5 rebs). Morrow also had another good game on Tuesday, but his FG% is still ridiculously through the roof, so I have to think that his numbers will drop to normal (i.e. low teens) soon, cuz nobody shoots 70+% for long. The amazing thing is that he's actually primarily a jumpshooter and actually attacks the basket very rarely, which makes the FG% just that much more incredulous.

And now some funnies. Apparently Shaq has a twitter account now. Most bloggers are reporting that this "THE_REAL_SHAQ" is really the real Shaq. So, here's some good excerpts. Surprisingly (or not), a lot of his posts has to do with food, "um um um". =)



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Subway it is turkey n cheese um um um lol about
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I need help subway or schlotsskys for lunch, big game tonite
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Im at dinner wit the wifey deluxe burger in phoenix, um um um
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ABOUT TO EAT DINNER, I PASSED UP 20 MCDONALDS TODAY. I COULDNT DO IT I'M ON A DIET,BUT MCDONALDS FRIES R THE BEST UM UM UM
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At the barber shop, gotta b sexy for the game tomorro. Us supermodels always have to stay fine, lol
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About to sit in the cold tub for about 20 min, then i'm a shoot some free throws
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SHAQ
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Im at a italian restaraunt, the fettucini was fabuloso
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And finally, i say things to make you earthlings think. For example, How many legs would a sheep have if you called its tail a leg? A smarty arty would say 5 but the super intelligent specimen, such as my self would say calling its tail a leg doesn't make it a leg..... A ha got you
--------------------

Alright, that's all I got for now. Will probably be posting a gloating/ranting post later, depending on how the game goes tonight. Let me leave ya with a hot clip... Denver cheerleader makes their announcers speechless, courtesy of FanIQ.

Rookies

So, Dragic was given extended minutes last Friday because of Nash's suspension and I was hoping for a breakout game... so of course Drgaic had to disappoint. He had an unspectacular line of 5-4-4 on 28% shooting in 30 minutes against the Kings. I know it's early in the season, but I'm ready to declare him a bust. Physically, he's rather pedestrian, lacking speed, strength, and hops. His passing is unimaginative and his judgement is questionable. A lot of times he'll drive into the lane, only to get caught in the air, and try to dump a bad pass off in traffic. His shooting has been bad too, averaging 36.1% for the season. Shaq gave him TONS of open looks in the Sacto game when the Kings' defense collapsed into the paint and more often than not, Dragic would give up the shot and pass the ball around, burning both clock and excellent scoring opportunities. Though I don't really believe in PER (Player Efficiency Rating), it's never good to be last in anything, and according to ESPN's Hollinger, Dragic has the WORST PER of all NBA players per 100 minutes. That's just sad. At this point, Dragic's ceiling seems to be career backup at best, and most likely 3rd stringer/back to Europe when his rookie contract is up. It's amazing that Porter has played him so much thus far. If it was D'Antoni, Popovich, or Larry Brown, he'd be probably be permanently glued to the bench by now.

Of course Dragic's disappointing performance so far is only magnified by all the other excellent rookies around the league. Seriously, this is one of the strongest overall rookie classes (not necessarily draft class since some rooks are holdovers from previous drafts) I can remember. Rookie performances are naturally erratic, but promising rookies should at least show some flashes of brilliance every few games. So here's a compilation of some of the best single game rookie lines thus far this year.

Player	Team	Min	Pts	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blks
Derrick Rose	CHI	42:29	26	10	6	0	0
Anthony Morrow	GSW	41:54	37	11	1	0	0
OJ Mayo	MEM	44:16	33	3	5	3	0
Marc Gasol	MEM	35:42	27	16	1	1	3
Darrell Arthur	MEM	27:10	11	15	1	1	2
Michael Beasley	MIA	30:46	20	8	3	2	2
Mario Chalmers	MIA	30:32	17	7	8	0	0
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute	MIL	44:12	19	17	2	1	1
Kevin Love	MIN	30:13	20	8	2	1	0
Ryan Anderson	NJ	26:57	17	5	0	1	0
Brook Lopez	NJ	34:11	25	9	2	2	4
Russell Westbrook	OKC	27:37	19	10	6	1	1
Marreese Speights	PHI	20:00	17	7	1	0	1
Robin Lopez	PHX	30:19	14	7	0	0	2
Rudy Fernandez	POR	29:22	25	3	2	2	1
Greg Oden	POR	24:10	11	11	0	0	4
George Hill	SA	35:47	17	6	5	0	0
Jason Thompson	SAC	22:05	18	10	0	0	1
JaVale McGee	WAS	27:05	13	11	0	1	3

That's quite a list, 19 players altogether. Honorable mentions also go out to Kosta Koufos (UTH), Bobby Brown (SAC), Nicholas Batum (POR), Roy Hibbert (IND), and DJ Augustin (CHA) for earning minutes and playing good games, though none of their lines were notable enough to include in the above table.

Speaking of rookies, Oden has looked great in his last two games. He's only playing ~24 minutes a game, but he's avg. 12/9, 3.5 blks over his last two and is making a big difference on the defensive end. Once he gets up to 32-35 minutes and assuming he stays healthy, I think he will be making a legitimate run for ROY honors. So if you haven't yet, now's a good time to jump on the Greg Oden bandwagon. Image courtesy of Bust a Bucket.



And since it's Monday, it's time for more fantasy updates. In Yahoo, I went 1-2 for the week, though the two losses were 4-5 and 6-7, so at least I kept it competitive for the most part. Need to know info... Tyrus Thomas, Brandon Wright, and Kevin Love have all lost their starting jobs in the past week. I've dropped Thomas and Wright already and I'd suggest you to do the same if you have them. Their team's rotations are just too fickle to leave things up to chance. Love you might want to hang on to in deeper leagues if your bench can afford it, but in shallow leagues, go ahead and drop him.

Pickup wise, I don't have much new to report except to re-recommend Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and JaVale McGee. I've picked them up in 1 league each. Anthony Morrow also had a spectacular game this weekend (37 pts, 11 reb) in his first start for the Warriors. If he's still available, you can give him a try too. However, keep in mind A) he's a rookie, and B) he's playing for Nelson (notoriously fickle with his rotations). Morrow is not going to get 20 shots and shoot 75% every game, so don't feel too bad if you missed out on him. FWIW, he's been picked up in all of my fantasy leagues already though I fully expect him to be dropped from 4/6 of my leagues by next weekend ;-)

On the CBS front, I'm happy to report that I went 3-0 in my CBS leagues last week. Remember the scoring system at CBS is point based. You don't have to try and balance points and fg% or assists and blocks. All statistical categorical contributions are boiled down to just one number (fantasy points), so all player value decisions are fairly cut & dry. Either the new player has a higher fpts/game or he doesn't. Even schedule or games played doesn't really matter since fpts are averaged over the week so stats remain *fairly* even. Post draft, it almost feels like your team is running itself. While this is very easy and hassle free, IMHO, it also eliminates a lot of the skill/strategy and ongoing upkeep of fantasy basketball that makes fantasy fun and engaging. I don't know... regardless of how I do at CBS this year, I don't think I'll be reupping next season. I know my readership is small ;-), but if anybody knows of any money leagues with a more Yahoo like h2h setup, please let me know!

Suspension Time

So, the NBA finally acted on the altercation between the Suns and Rockets on Tuesday. Took them long enough. Anyway, end result. Alston and Barnes suspended 2 games each, presumably because they're the ones that started it in the first place. Nash is suspended 1 game, presumably for escalating the conflict. Shaq and T-Mac just got fines.

Overall, I think it was a bit harsh. IMHO, it should just be Alston and Barnes 1 game each, rest just fines. And if Nash got 1 game, I think T-Mac should have gotten 1 game as well. T-Mac's shove of Nash escalated the situation as much as Nash entering in the first place. But ah wells, it's not like the Suns aren't used to BS suspensions from the NBA front office.

And on a related, but sad front, Barbosa will also be missing some games due to the death of his mother. So tonight we'll really get to see what Dragic is all about. He's been pretty disappointing for most of the season so far, but he's looked a bit better in his last two games (at least shooting wise), so I'm tentatively hopeful for a breakout game.

On the fantasy front... Luc Richard Mbah a Moute has taken over Charlie V's starting job in Milwaukee and I'd strongly consider him a pickup in deeper leagues. Also JaVale McGee is popping up on my radar. He's quietly had 3 solid outings, posting avgs. of 11.3 pts, 9 rebs, and 1.67 blks over his last 3, on excellent percentages. With how weak WAS's front is, keep an eye on McGee. He's definitely worth a play if he can keep getting his minutes. If he can maintain it, a 12/9, 2 blk guy is definitely worth playing.

I don't have any funnies to close this post, but here's a little trivia game. We can all probably name lots of coaches and players in the league, but what about owners? How many can you name off the top of your head? To make it easier, I've listed all 30 teams in the league for you. Highlight the blank space to see the owner's name. FWIW, I got 10/30 before I gave up (~5 min.) The ones that I got right are in bold italicized.

Franchise	Owner
Atlanta Hawks	Michael Gearon Jr.
Boston Celtics	Wyc Grousbeck
Charlotte Bobcats	Robert L. Johnson
Chicago Bulls	Jerry Reinsdorf
Cleveland Cavaliers	Dan Gilbert
Dallas Mavericks	Mark Cuban
Denver Nuggets	Stan Kroenke
Detroit Pistons	William Davidson
Golden State Warriors	Chris Cohan
Houston Rockets	Leslie Alexander
Indiana Pacers	Herb Simon
Los Angeles Clippers	Donald Sterling
Los Angeles Lakers	Jerry Buss
Memphis Grizzlies	Michael Heisley
Miami Heat	Micky Arison
Milwaukee Bucks	Herb Kohl
Minnesota Timberwolves	Glen Taylor
New Jersey Nets	Bruce Ratner
New Orleans Hornets	George Shinn
New York Knicks	James Dolan
Oklahoma City Thunder	Clayton Bennett
Orlando Magic	Richard DeVos
Philadelphia 76ers	Ed Snider
Phoenix Suns	Robert Sarver
Portland Trail Blazers	Paul Allen
Sacramento Kings	Maloof family
San Antonio Spurs	Peter Holt
Toronto Raptors	Tanenbaum Peddie
Utah Jazz	Larry H. Miller
Washington Wizards	Abe Pollin

Return of G-Od.

So, last night was another big NBA night. Dwight Howard had a monster line in their win over the Durant-less Thunder, posting 30-19-3-10, that last 10 being a ridiculous 10 blocks. The Lakers (sadly) also won their 7th straight, and was nearly a 20+ pt road blowout for most of it before the Hornets made a push and a game of it in the 4th.

The biggest news items though were probably the return of Greg Oden and the "fight" between the Rockets and Suns.

Oden only played 16 minutes and looked very rusty. He had a measly 3 pts, 2 rebs, 2 blks, 2 TOs, and sadly the ONLY negative +/- for the whole Blazers team at -6. His first stint was in the 2nd quarter and defensively he looked fine. Blocked a shot, altered a few more, generally okay. On offensive though, it was just plain bad. The Blazers kept trying to force feed him, even when he clearly was not in post position or did NOT have his guy pinned. The good news is that when he did catch the ball, Oden almost always drew a double/triple team from the heat, the bad news is that Oden passed very poorly out of coverage. Anyway, all of that led to a lot of TOs, deflections, and poor/rushed attempts after bumbling away most of the shot clock. He and the Blazers offense clearly looked uncomfortable out there and I don't understand why McMillan is rushing him in his first game back. Why not just let him get into the flow of the game, play D, rebound, MAYBE get a put back or two (if he can snag those o. boards). Wait until he's in shape and comfortable before calling plays for Oden. His second stint, Oden just looked tired/winded on both offense and defense, at that was that. Still though, I have high hopes and expectations for Oden and I'm sure his best days are still and will come. For any doubters/haters out there, Oden is not Bowie, Kwame, or Kandi at all. He's legit and he's gonna be a force in this league.

While Oden underwhelmed last night, Rudy Fernandez was AMAZING! 25-3-2, 2 stls, on excellent percentages. He's gonna make the Rookie team this year for sure, though probably below Rose and Mayo for guards. Though imho, if Rudy was on the Grizzlies and was getting 35-40 minutes and a green light to shoot, he'd probably be putting up as good or maybe even better numbers than Mayo.

Rudy is a baller and each Blazers game I watch this year, I am constantly saddened and reminded about the completely ineptitude of the Phoenix front office. For those that don't know, Phoenix actually had the draft rights to Rudy in the '07 draft. Except cheapskate Suns owner Robert Sarver, who's always worring more about the lux tax than winning games, decided to sell Rudy's rights to Portland for $3 mil cash and a dump of James Jones' $3 mil expiring contract. So basically, they sold Rudy for $6 mil. Right now, I'd rather have Rudy than Barbosa on the Suns. Rudy is a bigger and more natural SG guard, just as good of a shooter, arguably a better passer, younger, and so much more clutch. Bah, if I was going to rant about the PHX front office and their draft/trade decisions, I'd go on forever so I'll just stop now.

The Hatorade

Alright, I have to admit, the Lakers are looking pretty good *so far* this year. They're 1st in the league in points scored (106.8), 1st in opponent's score (84.4), 1st in differential (22.4), and 2nd in opposing FG% (39%).

Last night in particular, they were very impressive. Or else the Rockets were just very pathetic. HOU started off on a roll and went up 16 points early in the second. They then proceeded to suck it up for the rest of the game and ended up being routed by 29 pts. Here's some important notes I took away from the play-by-play:

2Q, 11:00 - HOU up 32-16, Aaron Brooks layup. Everything is still good.
2Q, 7:35 - HOU up 41-31, Vujacic made 3 (LAL already cut the lead by 6, HOU should've called timeout to reinsert some starters)
2Q, 6:54 - HOU up 43-33, Odom off. reb, layup (lead is still 10, but obvious that the HOU bench isn't making anymore gains, and 5 minutes have already elapsed. That should be enough rest for the starters, again, should've called a timeout)
2Q, 5:31 - HOU up 45-38, Bynum layup (FINALLY, HOU calls a timeout to reinsert Yao and McGrady, but not Artest?!? After coughing up 9 pts of their lead and over half of the second quarter over. LA counters with reinserting Kobe & Gasol)
2Q, 4:54 - HOU up 45-40, Kobe jumpshot (HOU calls another timeout, NOW puts in Artest)

By this point, what was looking like a rout of LAL is suddenly anyone's game. Why waste this timeout, when all three Houston stars should have been put in 2-3 minutes ago, when the lead was 10? Now all the momentum is on LAL's side and they're at home! By halftime, the score is 48-50, Lakers, and the Lakers never look back. Their bench (random 4+ Bynum and random 4+ Gasol) blow it wide open at the beginning of the fourth, turning a 9 pt lead to a 19 pt lead in the first 6 minutes, all while Kobe is on the bench. By the time Kobe enters at 5:54, the rout was on and the game was essentially over.

It's important to note that the HOU stars didn't exactly play big minutes. Yao (27), T-Mac (32), Artest (32). What the hell was Adelman saving them for. You're up 16 on the road against LA, you should be going for the knock out blow. They didn't play Saturday night and their next game isn't until Wed, why are they resting? If it's a real blowout, they can rest in the 4th, but don't let the opponent get back in the game in the 2nd quarter! Bah, it was just so frustrating to watch. Attention NBA: LA now officially have a "big four". Whether it's Bynum, Gasol, or Odom... odds are their bench lineup will have 1-2 better players than your bench. Opposing teams, you can beat LA. Just play your starters 35-40 minutes, else that LA bench will kill you. Saving your stars is gonna get you blown out.

Still though, I'd like to temper overly excited LA fans that their schedule hasn't exactly been tough. POR, LAC twice, DEN, and HOU. 4 of which were at home at Staples (including one of those @ LAC games). Their upcoming schedule will be a bit tougher, their next 6 games include 3 real road games (none of that Clippers @ Staples crap) against 3 (arguably 4) tougher opponents in DAL, NO, DET, and PHX. Gimmes against CHI and DEN round out the next 6 games. If the Lakers come out of that 4-2 or better, then maybe I'll admit they're really the team to beat.

All that LA ranting aside, it's also Monday, so it's time for another fantasy update. For the week, I went 2-1 in my Yahoo leagues and 2-1 in my CBS leagues. In the Yahoo format, I'm sure my initial 76ers/Jazz strategy doesn't look so great right now considering the slow start by all the 76ers and the continuing injury to Deron Williams. All I can say is stay postive. For the 76ers, it's all about team chemistry. There's nothing physically wrong with any of them (as far as I've read), so just hope that the team will "click" sooner or later. As for the Jazz, hopefully you picked up Boozer or AK too because both of them are putting up great numbers and should continue to do so. And if you got Okur too... oops, well, sorry to inform you that he's been given permission to return to Turkey today to attend to "personal matters". Not exactly sure what's going on, but it's probably serious for him to leave the team. And considering it's out of country and all, I wouldn't expect Okur to be back for at least a week or two. In the meantime, expect Millsap to pick up most of Okur's minutes, so give him a whirl if you're in need of some traditional big man numbers.

Other fantasy notes to be aware of....

• Hinrich is out for 3 months. I don't see any real pickups available though. Maybe a flyer on Hughes, but I think it just means more minutes for Ben Gordon. So if you have Gordon already, be happy.
• Parker is out a month. If he's still available, Roger Mason should see a bump in minutes and stats for the Spurs.
• Telfair and Love have both begun starting for the Wolves and are posting decent numbers. Both are worth a pickup if they're available in your league.
  
• Chandler has taken the starting job from David Lee. Despite his excellent preseason performance, it's long been known to Suns fans that D'A has never been a big fan of Lee's game. I'm still not convinced about Chandler, but if you have Lee, you can think about trading him or cutting him depending on your league's depth
• Sessions has been sent back to the bench by Skiles in favor of Ridnour. In 3 games off the bench though, Sessions has still managed to produce some very serviceable stats with avgs of 18.6 pts, 3 rebs, and 4.6 asts. Skiles is reportedly not happy with Session's defense and he's notoriously fickle with his rotation from his CHI days. Still though, Sessions remains a strong play. In fact, if you can manage to trade FOR Sessions without giving up too much, I'd definately do it.
• Brandon Wright and CJ Watson are both starting in GS.
• Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is putting up some steady stats in MIL.
  

I'll leave ya with this gem, courtesy of BDL and Basketbawful. Dirk Nowitzki, tough enough to make kids cry.