Give Me The Rock

Just to clarify, I’m not posting this to try to hype the game without cause. I’ll write a real review once I’ve played it a fair amount.

I’m posting this in case anyone reading is going to get NBA 2K8 for the Xbox 360 and wants to help me test it out by playing online. It comes out Oct. 2 according to Amazon.

So, if you get the game and want to play with someone who’s not yelling at their mom to get them more Mountain Dew, or someone who isn’t playing Halo 3 until 2008, hit me up.

I do not, nor pretend to, follow the Kings very closely. So at least to me, their 2006-07 season spiraled out of control faster than Lindsey Lohan’s career. A few injuries and some unexpected and underwhelming play left the Kings’ record at 33-49 and out of the playoffs for the first time since 1998. That plan worked so well, they brought everyone back to do it all over again. The Kings’ projected lineup (last season’s ranks in parenthesis: without TO, with TO).

PG: Mike Bibby (63, 71)
SG: Kevin Martin (40, 27)
SF: Ron Artest (30, 20)
PF: Shareef Abdur-Rahim (183, 195)
C: Brad Miller (137, 147)

Bench
John Salmons (152, 153)
Mikki Moore (149, 141)
Francisco Garcia (211, 205)
Kenny Thomas (222, 250)
Spencer Hawes (R)
Mustafa Shakur (R)

Vlade Divac is not walking through that door

What is up with Mike Bibby? His assists per game have fallen from 6.8 to 5.4 to 4.7 the past three years. He’s also become much more likely to lay back and bomb the three (2+ a game) then drive to the basket to finish or dish the ball. Is this transition permanent? What can you expect from Bibby this year? In a great post at Sactown Royalty, Tom Ziller has the answers.

The statistics show our brains weren’t tricking us — Bibby has had one of the worst assist rates among all point guards the last two years. He’s still an above-average player, but he’s a point guard in name only. A PGINO, if you will.

This team needs a distributor. Mike Bibby can do it. Will he? Probably not. And that sucks.

The article goes into more detail on why that is, but it’s safe to say that the old Mike Bibby was a top tier point guard, while the new Mike Bibby is a mid-round shooting guard.

Bibby: working it like he likes it

Kevin Martin deserves our respect. He averaged a line of 20/4/2 last season and, despite what any voters felt, was really the most improved player. He increased his points per game by 9.4 while keeping his shooting percentage at 47% - above his career average. Expect Martin to slightly improve his per game scoring while also hitting some threes (1.6 last season) and grabbing a steal or two (1.2). Since Bibby and Artest aren’t real go to, create-their-own-shot type scorers, all signs point to Martin leading the Kings in scoring again.

Only Ron Artest can really understand what it’s like to be Ron Artest: “I’m going to continue playing hard and out of control, like a wild animal that needs to be caged in” said Artest in 2005. Yep, that sounds about right. When Artest is not demanding trades, getting suspended for various on and off the court incidents, being arrested for mistreating people and dogs alike, and working hard to destroy the institution of music (the ESPN timeline of Artest’s career gives a full breakdown of everything), the guy can flat out play. He finished the year 30 on the player rater primarily because he led the league in steals per game at 2.1. He can also provide decent threes (1.3 per game) and rebounds (6.5 per game) for a small forward.

Unfortunately, he also leads the league in crazy. The past three years have consisted of him playing in 16, 40, and 70 games for various incidents. Maybe we’ll get 70 again from him this year, maybe not. That’s the fun you’ll have if you draft Artest. Oh, and he already hasn’t started the season well: he’s been suspended for the first seven games of the season due to his arrest on domestic violence charges (surprise!). Personally, I’d stay away from him, both in fantasy leagues and in real life.

Brad Miller: 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 28 minutes a game last season? Really? Matt Buser writes that Miller reported out of shape to camp last year and partially tore a tendon in his left foot in the season’s third game, which led to a nagging injury for the entire year. On behalf of everyone who drafted you, let me just say: “thanks for toughing it out while we kept you in our lineups week after week after week.” Miller is supposedly “healthy” and in better shape this off season, which is something you typically hear about every single player every off season. However… Miller’s average draft position in the GMTR mock draft round-up is 98.5. If he really is in better health this season, a 9th round pick for Miller is the type of pick that could win a championship.

Shareef. Thank you for the good times. RIP.

No other King went drafted in the mock draft roundup - and rightly so. Corliss Williamson, who was just as good as Miller last year, has retired from the NBA. John Salmons put up a triple double in one game and was alright when Artest was out. Don’t be fooled if he starts he season hot while Artest serves his suspension. Mikki Moore comes to the Kings after putting up career highs in just about everything last season. His stats won’t look quite as good backing up Brad Miller/Shareef Abdur-Rahim. But, if either goes down for any length of time, Moore becomes a decent big man who can provide a little – a little – on the offensive side. Spencer Hawes is another decently talented offensive center (read: sucks at D) who was drafted 10th by the Kings. He brings the same thing Moore does to the table. Someone named Mustafa Shakur is the Kings backup point guard. My brain cannot begin to contemplate that name.

GMTR Draft Predictions

Kevin Martin: 5th
Ron Artest: 5th
Mike Bibby: 7th
Brad Miller: 9th

I know Patrick is working on some Team Previews (he always wants to try to finish them all while I give up half way through) … but until then, check out this widget with screenshots and a video of NBA 2K8. Full disclosure: RocketXL marketing is sending me a free copy of NBA 2K8. Full disclosure 2: I was going to buy NBA 2K8 in about a month anyway.

I love the throwing the ball off people parts. That looks sweet. Also, this one from Gilbertology is kind of cool:

To start off my mini carnival of the fantasy NBA, here’s the real Carnival of the NBA #50.

Now, since I’ve been doing this (this being fantasy basketball, not blogging) for 7 years I often forget about the basics of fantasy basketball. Luckily, Fantapedia has Draft Tips which I’d classify as stepping stones for the noobs aka rookies aka beginners.

CBS Sports has some more advanced draft tips. To help you more specifically with this particular season of fantasy basketball.

I like Talkin Fantasy Sports’ list of sleepers for this season. Good picks there.

Fantasy Insider Online has their Top Ten Fantasy Basketball Offseason Impacts. Kind of an odd title, but I guess you can figure out what it means.

Finally, no. I’m not going to create a matrix of the potential fantasy impact of Shawn Marion trade scenarios. Cause I like to wait until things actually happen. Especially when it seems like the Suns are now set to wait until they get some better offers.

Don’t players realize that stating their desire for a trade means that the team trying to trade them won’t be able to get their full value, actually making the team less likely to trade them?

This man will still be only 20 years old when he playes his first NBA game?

Awesome post at YardBarker, by the way.

2007 Basketball Action - Fantasy Basketball Extravaganza! is now available for sale online over at Statfox.com. Why should you care about that? Well, Nels and I were asked to contribute our vast fantasy knowledge to this year’s edition, so you know that means at least 50% more cheerleader talk over previous years. Now, you’re probably thinking that we already provide fantasy basketball insight on this very site for free. Why should you spend good money on something that we give away on a regular basis? Good question.

1. The magazine also contains great work from the crew at Dropping Dimes and the Fantasy Lounge. Now those are people I want to get fantasy advice from.
2. It contains all the information you’ll need to kick ass in a draft all in one neat package. Player ranks, sleepers, busts, rookies, breakdowns of big player acquisitions – it’s all there. That beats having to print crap off various websites.
3. There is a slick mock draft going 13 rounds deep. You can also see where Nels’ drafted Greg Oden mere days before his “exploratory surgery”.
4. The player write-up on Mikki Moore is probably some of the greatest work I’ve ever done.
5. Having an actual editor means less distracting typos, more correct grammar usage.
6. Come on, look at the cover.

All that for only five bucks. That is one measly trip to Starbucks. If you’re looking for a fantasy basketball magazine, you could do worse than the Extravaganza. It’s available online at the moment, but it should also be hitting newsstands soon as well.

With Prizes!

I’ve taken the survey that’s over on HoopsAddict, and it’s really easy and quick, and if they get a statistically significant amount of people to respond, the results will be interesting (to me, at least).

And! Just for filling it out, you’ll be entered to win a subscription to Rotowire. Not a bad deal for 5 minutes work.