Give Me The Rock

or: The Return of the Midnight Snack Club in a more fun and useful format also known as Forums!

With the amount of discussion that’s taking place over in this seemingly innocuous post, now seems like the perfect time to announce the GMTR Fora (aka the Midnight Snack Club Redux).

Head on over and sign up straight away! Then ask some questions! Or post some incites! Or even insights!

Join the Crowd!

Well, it seems that my reputation proceeds me. (It also seems that Nels told us authors to try to link back to GMTR as much as possible)

Anywho, today’s, or really this week’s, question comes from the Front Lines of Los Grizzlies de Memphis.

What’s the deal with Pau Gasol. How’s Hakim Warrick going to be when he gets back?

if this was Nels, he’d probably make some comment about the grammar in the above question, but my grammar probably ain’t all that good either.

You can bet that the Grizz are a bit anxious for Pau to get back. Check out that Pau-er he’s packing in those guns. Looks like an alien might bust out of that shoulder or something.

Anyway, Pau’s been cleared to practice, but only if there’s 6 people or less on the court. Stats.com says there will be an announcement about his status coming this week. So, it would probably be smart of me to hold off on actually doing the analysis until we hear about that. But I’ve got stuff to do the other nights this week… so, tonight’s the night.

Let’s just look at this practically. When Pau gets back, is it going to take something away from Warrick? Well, I mean Stromile Swift and Jake Tsakalidis are scoring 15 points (combined), so, if they never see the light of the arena again (probably for the best), Pau can take those points, and a little more without anyone even thinking something’s wrong (except for Strom and Jake). Now, except for maybe Chucky Atkins, I have to think that the guards on the team can’t really score any less than they are right now. So if Chucky stops chucking, that’s going to get Pau to 19-20 points a game, which is his average form last season, and Warrick hasn’t even had to sacrifice yet. H-Dub is only playing 32 minutes a game, and his backup is list as Lawrence Roberts.

Now, I’m not sure how someone goes 14-15 from the line and then sits out the next two games, but Lawrence Roberts has done just that.

So, pretty much all the minutes at C and PF are wide open for Warrick and Gasol. I do have to say, traditional thinking says that Pau coming back will make Warrick’s stats come down a skosh. But the guys only at 16 and 6, and there is not a lot of talent walking around that locker room.

Not packing much in the ladies locker room either, if you know what I mean. (Yes, it’s my unofficial job to scout the cheerleaders now - I suppose mabeuf could help, but he seems to have some serious reporting to do, and those other two are married so they can’t scout the cheerleaders without fear of the Wrath of a Woman Scorned)

Warricks FTs have been a lot better recently, and his FT%is pretty solid. I found him at number 102 on the GMTR fantasy basketball player rater (yeah, I know a think or two about search engine links). I have to think it’s a pretty solid bet he’ll end the season right around there.

Moving on…

Another letter in the mailbag was telling me to post the link to the Carnival of the NBA number … wait for it … 38! Might want to grap a non-fat soy latte before you sit down with that one though.

Also, someone sent me this clip of Ronny Turiaf powdering his hands. Maybe his palms are sweating because he’s nervous that he’ll actually get into the game. I don’t know… but if you feel the urge to send me something, who am I to stop you? As you can see, even if it’s not really worth posting, I’ll do it anyway! Here’s the direct to Rachel hotline… there’s a reason it’s called HOTmail. Let’s get it crackin!

It’s Friday, and I’ll probably be doing something else at midnight (like playing Xbox 360!), so I’ve updated the Midnight Snacks links early today (yes, I do actually try to do it every night before I go to rest my weary head). If you don’t want to miss out on anything, or if you just really like RSS feeds, you can subscribe to the Midnight Snacks feed right here. There’s lots of good stuff to read - all fantasy basketball related.

And here’s something that’s not fantasy basketball related, but really needed, since it’s Friday, and I’m sure we (by we, I mean me) need a diversion from the whole “Orange Roundie”-gate thing…

I’ve got plans - big plans! - for other posts - real posts! - but until then…

Midnight Snack Club chat room should be on tonight… Talk about whatever kind of fantasy basketball stuff you want. Or NBA in general. Or anything else that you want.

Rachel’s “advice” column will start soon… but first she needs some letters from people asking for advice. No one has used the link on the right side to email her yet, so why don’t you be the first to give her a try. Take out the NOSPAM part and you’ll be good to go. She’s ready and waiting.

Finally, through all the fault of my own, Give Me WLS AM 890 is in 1st place in the Dropping Dimes Experts League. Of course, Baron Davis is out now, so we’ll see how long that lasts. Probably not for another 21 weeks.

Here’s the pictorial evidence, if you’re a true non-believer (click for the full size version):

Here’s your Midnight Snacks, Breakfast Club style. I’m pretty sure no one cares about the delay. If you do, go ahead and leave a comment. Feel free to ponder why it wasn’t posted at midnight last night, and instead it’s here early in the morning. Did that make you feel frustrated? Disappointed? Lost? Heroes?

I digress…

In case the Tiered Rankings over at Fantasy Basketblog weren’t enough to satisfy you (and what fantasy freak is ever satisfied), Yahoo is posting their rankings by position. Not as nicely tiered, but done by position nonetheless. Maybe this is more clear for some of you, maybe less for others. Either way, it is what it is.

When the Editorial Advisor at the San Diego State University Daily Aztec says he knows nothing about fantasy football and that his writing isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, his basketball sleepers are definitely something you should check out. I’m quite sure that not all of the players he picked actually count as sleepers (some are really just undervalued players), but you can read it, as I did, nonetheless.

And then you too can say nonetheless twice in one post. Try it. It’s fun. And even if it isn’t fun for you, I did it nonetheless.

That’s right, it’s Tyrus Thomas Day.

No real fantasy basketball incites today. There’s evidently some Agent Zero incites, though.

I could probably write something more about the Midnight Snacks in Midnight Blue over on the right, but I played some actually real basketball today, so I’m tired. So, if you’re reading in an RSS Reader, there’s a few new ones up there if you want to click through and check em out. Or else you can subscribe to the Midnight Snack in Midnight Blue feed.

And to southwest chicken wrap things up, a friendly reminder that on Sunday, you can pose all your fantasy questions to me (and maybe Dennis from Dropping Dimes, and maybe some other people who show up) in The Club (aka the Midnight Snack Club Chat Room). Yes, that’s right: Sunday night at 10PM CT you can find me in da club.

For those who haven’t caught on yet, I’ve started a little group I like to call The Midnight Snack Club. If you’re wondering where the name comes from, well, it’s a not-all-that-imaginative fantasy basketball version of Jordan’s Breakfast Club. So, far, the club has one member. But that’s about to change…

Not only do you have the Midnight Snacks in Midnight Blue over to the right (they’re not sponsorsed links!), but there is an Official Midnight Snack Club Chat Room. It’s late notice for this week, at least, but I plan on being in the chat room every Sunday night (and maybe more often), starting at about 10 PM Central. So, not really Midnight… but kind of close. The idea is more in following with the Breakfast Club, in that it doesn’t so much have to start or end at a certain time, but just that you’re so freakin’ nuts about fantasy basketball that you’ll do whatever it takes to win. I’m hoping the chat room will provide for a unique real-time opportunity for fantasy basketball freaks (or even people who are in their first league ever) to meet, chat, set lineups, discuss possible trades, and come up with more buzzwordy phrases like unique real-time opportunity.

The password is “roc” - a nod to the Unofficial Official Give Me The Rock Spokesmodel. If you’d like to discuss the spokesmodel in the chat room, that’s okay too. See you there.

And if I don’t see you there, The Club (as it will now be known) will keep a history of everything that happened so you can view when you’ve got time. And you can post questions that people will see the next time they visit The Club. How’s that for pretty cool?