Give Me The Rock

That’s right. Scott Sargent over at DroppingDimes.com has already clinched a playoff spot in the Dropping Dimes Experts League.

One good thing we can take from this is: obviously writing editorial articles about basketball and the NBA for some big print magazine with glossy pages does not make you good at Fantasy Basketball.

Talking about your fantasy team is like blabbing on about the wonderful finger painting your child made in kindergarten the other day. “Look, precious made the grass blue and the sun green.” How cute. Now stop talking to me.

But, since the big fantasy news of the day is either Jamaal Magloire’s first practice with the Dallas Mavericks, or 38-year old PJ Brown joining the Celtics to backup KG, forgive me for talking about a couple of my fantasy teams.

As you may know – through a mix-up somewhere in the series of tubes known as the Internet - I was invited to participate in the CBS 30-Man Expert’s League. Starting with the draft and throughout the year, I channeled my inner Forrest Gump and made idiotic moves that somehow worked out well enough to get me into the playoffs (yes, the playoffs have started in the league already some reason). And then, even though my team sucked hard last week, the team I was playing against completely fell apart and I stumbled to a first round victory.

So, I made it to the Elite Eight in the 30-Man League. And this week, I’m facing off against Brian Flood of Rotoworld and his juggernaut of a team. Somehow, in a league with 30 teams, he ended up with a starting five of Chancey Billups, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Kenyon Martin, and Brad Miller. Compare that to my team of Chris Paul, Ricky Davis, Josh Howard, Andres Nocioni, and Sean Williams and I’m feeling like mine is a little shorter than his (especially with the Ricky Davis we’ve seen lately).

Anyway, here is the entire CBS Elite Eight 30-man bracket:

CBS
1. Jake Payton
vs.
5. Ross Devonport

2. Dave Richard
vs.
3 Tony Mejia

World
1. Rick Kamla (NBA.com/NBATV)
vs.
5. Aaron Gleeman (Rotoworld)

2. Brian Flood (Rotoworld)
vs.
3. Patrick Madden (GiveMeTheRock.com)

I’m already losing to Flood this week, so if you see Chancey Billups walking down the street and you feel like talking a bat to one of his knees, I’m willing to offer you a safe house until things calm down.

In other news, here’s last week’s results from the GMTR Readers league.

Win or lose, that is solid top to bottom. This league is probably the most competitive I’ve ever played in. Week in and week out, every single team in the league is competitive (and this is in week 17!) and it has been an incredibly active and fun league the entire year. I want to thank everyone in the league for playing and keeping it so competitive. You guys are awesome. We’ll definitely do it again next year (and create a second league if the demand is great enough).

Add: Anderson Varejao (Cle - PF,C)
Drop: Morris Peterson (NO - SG,SF)

Yes, Patrick was the unfortunate soul to have picked up Morris Peterson. And this was in a weekly league, so I doubt if Peterson ever made it into Patrick’s lineup. Varejao might, though.

Add: James Jones (Por - SF)
Drop: Matt Barnes (GS - SF)

Well, it’s kind of a sad statement when it’s me dropping Barnes for Jones because he’s been playing slightly better recently. Really, I just need a F who would produce better small ball numbers than Andrea Bargnani. I know, that’s not asking much.

While we’re in the GMTR Reader’s League, I just wanted to show the scoreboard from last week:

Talk about parity! Only one game that didn’t end up 5-4 (and this was after some of them were as lopsided as 7-2 and 8-1). To give you an idea of how close the league is, the last place team (which isn’t me anymore!) is only 14.5 games behind 1st. That kind of seems like a lot, but in the Dropping Dimes Expert’s League, the last place team (also not me!) is 36 games behind. In fact, the 6th place team is already 15 games back.

So, speaking of the Dropping Dimes League, here’s the recent transactions there:

Add: Anthony Carter (Den - PG)
Drop: Jarrett Jack (Por - PG)

Jack’s FG% is a killer, but he’s probably worth having on your team. Carter is putting up numbers, though, and is definitely better for now. Steve Blake will probably be back soon, meaning that any potential for big numbers that Jack had in the short term will be gone; he played almost 48 minutes in the Blazers last game (it was OT), but didn’t really do as much as you’d expect for someone playing 48 minutes.

Add: Jordan Farmar (LAL - PG,SG)
Drop: Carlos Delfino (Tor - SG)

Farmer has dropping threes lately, but is still splitting time with Derek Fisher at the PG spot in LA. That said, he is and probably will remain more consistent than Delfino. You don’t (or at least, I don’t) want someone who scores double digits every third game and gets double-digit rebounds every fourth game. Farmer’s numbers aren’t great, but they will add consistency to your lineup.

Add: James Jones (Por - SF)
Drop: Carlos Arroyo (Orl - PG)

Looks like I’m not the only one adding James Jones.

Add: Linas Kleiza (Den - SG,SF)
Drop: Rajon Rondo (Bos - PG,SG)

I’m still hanging on to Rajon Rondo in the GMTR Reader’s League, but I guess if you can get Linas Kleiza, it’s probably a good time to do so; he looks like he’s ramping up for another hot streak.

Add: Channing Frye (Por - PF,C)
Drop: Matt Barnes (GS - SF)

Ouch. Dude’s out cause his mother has cancer so you drop him for Channing Frye? I mean, yes, Stephen Jackson is back, and the Warriors are overloaded (theoretically) at the SG/SF position… but still, that’s crucial. (Crucial in this case meaning harsh. I’m bringing it back, one post at a time) I suppose it might be time to drop Barnes, but I’d try to get someone better than Frye right now.

Add: Morris Peterson (NO - SG,SF)
Drop: Joakim Noah (Chi - PF,C)

I feel kind of stupid for not knowing that Morris Peterson was available, but I guess that’s what happens when you’re in 4 leagues instead of 2. Yes, 2 is my ideal number of leagues. And Yahoo is still my ideal host. NBA.com is good, but Yahoo has made some subtle improvements that just make drop dead easy to navigate their site. I probably wouldn’t be so gung-ho enthusiastic about it if I wasn’t in 2 leagues on NBA.com. But, that’s a whole editorial by itself.

With Mo Pete dropping 1.9 threes a game and only 0.4 turnovers, he’s my kind of small baller. I just picked up Keith Bogans in the same league. How did I miss Peterson? Idiot. If you’re looking for threes right now, and Peterson is available, he’s looking pretty money.

And on the flip side, when Adrian Griffin is starting and Tyrus Thomas is only getting 13 minutes, Joakim Noah better not be getting enough minutes to have fantasy relevance. If Scott Skiles would go with a 9 man rotation and be sane about, JoNo might actually make the cut. But when Adrian Griffin is starting, and Skiles insists on playing Duhon, Gordon, and Hinrich together, argh. I can’t even write about it. That’s another one for an editorial. At least now I have two new ideas for good posts.

Time for another glimpse into the lives of the rich and famous.

Or, we’ll just see who the so-called experts are adding and dropping…

Add: Linas Kleiza (Den - SG,SF)
Drop: Quentin Richardson (NY - SG,SF)

Linas was worth a spot last season - but so was Q-Rich. To me, they both seem equally capable of having “big” games. If I were a true homer, I’d say that I preferred Q-Rich cause he went to Whitney Young, but I’ve never been much for gauging NBA prospects from high school performance.

Add: Ronny Turiaf (LAL - SF,PF)
Drop: Bobby Simmons (Mil - SG,SF)

I didn’t think that Desmond Mason would outhustle Bobby Simmons, but he’s doing it. And with YiJi coming on strong, and Bogut actually playing basketball instead of rugby or cricket or something (those %s are pretty awful though), it’s hard for a SF in Mil EE Wau Ke to get the stats.

Add: Earl Watson (Sea - PG)
Drop: Kyle Lowry (Mem - PG,SG)

Kyle Lowry had all the promise in the world, and I’m not sure why the Grizz don’t let him play a little more… but Mike Conley is taking over there, so that means pretty limited time for Lowry, and he’s not as efficient with it as Watson has been with his limited time in Seattle. Both were DNP-CDs, though, in their last game(s)… so who knows where that’s all going…

I was checking on my fantasy team this morning and I noticed that there was one of those little yellow news updates with the red explosion coming out of the side (so you know it’s new) next to Dwyane Wade’s name. It read:

According to the Miami Herald, Wade is making significant progress in his recovery from offseason surgeries on his knee and shoulder.

Hey, now that’s the news I’ve been waiting to hear. According to Wade, it’s still possible that he’ll be cleared to practice before Nov. 15, the target date for his return. That news makes me feel a lot better about drafting Wade in a couple leagues, especially in the GMTR readers league where we have a measly three bench spots. I wasn’t excited about losing 33% of my bench while Wade sat out for an extend time. Now if everything goes well, I won’t have to.

A couple of days ago, I wondered what the hell constituted an ankle sprain. Well, Jim Zegers of RotoWire.com (via NBA.com) steps up to the plate and breaks it down.

When the ankle inverts, or rolls on the outer edge of the foot, ligaments on the outside of the ankle may stretch beyond their normal elastic limits. In more severe cases they can tear, either partially or completely.

Ouch. He ends the article with this informative piece of info for Durant owners.

I would not expect Durant to play in those [preseason games] and realistically, the season opener on Halloween night is in doubt despite his promise to be ready.

Be prepared to get Durant out of your lineup for Wednesday if that’s the case.

The Wolves bought out Juwan Howard’s contract on Monday. The buyout amount wasn’t disclosed, but Howard was due about $7 per year over the next two years. Speculation is that Howard will likely to end up with the Cavs to help out Lebron while Anderson Varejao is still MIA with his a contract dispute. That would put Howard right behind Drew Gooden on the Cavs depth chart (unless you think Donyell Marshall is the answer) and possibly makes him a decent pickup in deeper leagues.

If you were on the fence, now is the time to get Yi Jianlian in your starting lineup. Jianlian will be in Milwakee’s starting lineup for their opener on Wednesday, with Charlie Villanueva coming off the bench. I don’t know if you’d actually call Yi’s preseason encouraging – he averaged 10.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks in 8 games – but it certainly wasn’t a disaster. I expect Villanueva to overtake him for the starting spot eventually, well, unless some Chinese Triads are extorting Buck’s owner Herb Kohl.

This news is a little stale, but Chucky Atkins is expected to miss six to eight weeks after severely straining his right groin. Unlike the ankle sprain, I’m not at all interested in finding more out about a severe groin strain. I’ll just assume rehab involves six to eight weeks of lying on a couch trying to avoid pornography and other naughty thoughts.

In a blast from the past, Penny Hardaway made the Heat roster, which is probably an indictment on Miami’s bench more than anything. He doesn’t have any fantasy relevance, but it’ll be nice to see him on the court after missing the past two years with injuries.

A mere three weeks after it started, the CBS Experts league draft is done. It was a 30 team league with “experts” from CBS sports and around the Internet. I wrote about the start of the draft, but here is how it ended.

My team (Round/Pick/Player):

1.11: Chris Paul (PG NO)
2.50: Josh Howard (SF DAL)
3.71: Ricky Davis (SG MIA)
4.110: Andres Nocioni (SF CHI)
5.131: Walter Herrmann (SF CHA)
6.170: Robert Swift (C SEA)
7.191: Speedy Claxton (PG ATL)
8.230: Sean Williams (PF NJ)
9.251: Fabricio Oberto (C SA)
10.290: Carlos Delfino (SG TOR)
11.311: Greg Oden (C POR)
12.350: Greg Buckner (SG MIN)

I got to be honest with you, I’m not Mclovin my team. But that probably has to do more with going 30 deep than anything. In fact, after the seventh round (pick 191 for me – Speedy!), strategy went out the window and I just started picking guys with cool names. Fabricio Oberto, Carlos Delfino. Those names make me really happy.

Overall, I like what I have at the PG position (with Paul) and at the SG position (with Howard). I’m also kind of excited that Ricky Davis is going to the Heat (I had no idea that he’d be traded at the time), but it works out for me and Davis will be great until Wade returns. Instead of picking a center in the fifth round, I went with my boy Walter Herrmann (who I couldn’t pass up at pick 131). Hermann is going to be good this year, but the CBS positions are much more restrictive than Yahoo, so I’ve got both Howard and Herrmann on my team as guys who can only play at SF. That sucks… for me.

I’m a little worried about my PF position, where I drafted Andres Nocioni. He had a pretty crappy year last year, but I’m banking on him improving (and staying healthy dammit). As mentioned in the previous post, the CBS Experts league is a points-based league that leans heavily on points and assists, so I could care less that Nocioni isn’t a typical power forward. Still, I’m a little worried. Nels, you might have to give me a pep talk about Nocioni. Please tell me he’s going to be healthy this year.

Overall, I’m most worried about my center. I was hoping to grab Zaza Pachulia or Joel Przybilla in the fifth round, but they went well before the pick got back to me. So, in the sixth, I was forced to grab the last guy with any hope of being decent – Robert Swift. Yes, the guy who didn’t play a single regular season minute last season. Yes, I’m worried about that. But that’s what happens when you pick your first center after 170 guys have already been picked.

My bench is obviously weak, but that is to be expected. Fabricio Oberto and Carlos Delfino might actually start for their respective teams this season, which makes them worth a late round pick just on principal. There was crap left by round 11, so I said what the hell and drafted Oden. Even if he comes back for a week at the end of the season, he’ll be worth it. Greg Buckner? I think that was auto pilot.