A quick (and late) reminder that with the 2009 NBA All-Star festivities starting this Friday, this week will be a short one for most leagues. According to the Basketball Monster weekly scheduler that I always keep handy, Minnesota, New Jersey, Orlando and Utah only have 1 game this week, while everyone else has two. So, if you play in a weekly league, it still makes sense to start someone like Deron Williams, while on the other hand, Kyle Korver… not so much.
Another consequence of the All-Star game is that a lot of injured players will just pack it in until after the break. NBA.com and CBSSports have fairly updated injury reports (some of the better that I’ve seen). You can expect Brad Miller, Andrei Kirilenko, Chris Kaman, Andris Biedrins, Yi Jianlian, Raja Bell, Steve Blake, and of course, Brian Scalabrine to all return after the all-star break.