Give Me The Rock

Instead of trying to keep up with the clusterf**k of free agent signings and trades this off season, it�s much easier to let other people do the heavy lifting and then link to their work while making derogatory comments in this post about how they lack the ability to make intelligent, coherent thoughts and they�re loser hacks because of it.

Nah, I wouldn�t do that to the fantasy basketball blogging community. They�re all good people. Even the ones I don�t know. You have to be to make a conscious decision to give up your time for no pay to basically write about basketball statistics for a made up fantasy game when there are other… ahem… slightly more arousing topics available to the would-be-blogger.

So, the community has done what I could not and has stayed on top of every* trade and free agent move this summer. And, believe it or not, they�ve had some smart things to say.

I already reviewed Brand pulling a Carlos Boozer and heading to the Sixers, but Maxmillien from Sport Chit Chat chimes in on Brand and also gives a thorough review of the Toronto/Indiana trade and Corey Maggette�s move to the Warriors.

Speaking of Corey Maggette and the Warriors, it�s a great signing� for Corey Maggette�s bank account. It�s not bad for his fantasy prospects either, although I�m not sure what the Warriors were thinking with the movie. �Hey, we need to be more like the 2007 Clippers� is not something you usually hear from smart basketball teams.

Stephen at Hoops Fantasy hits us up with the good news and bad news we can expect from Maggette joining Golden State. I�d personally lean more towards the good news for fantasy purposes. Nellie Ball makes everyone better!**

Brian McKitish of ESPN reviews all the free agent signings so far in some good detail. He also makes a valid point that I neglected to mention in my post about Brand (although it was brought up in the comments by Hawthorne Wingo). Chris Kaman comes out as a big winner in the Brand signing. Not that he�s going to get any better than he was last year; it�s that the trade allows him to maintain that same level of creepy goodness.

McKitish also loves Mickael Pietrus on the Magic. McKitish loves him to the point where I was worried that he was doing something inappropriate to his body while writing about Pietrus. From the article:

Pietrus is the perfect complement to a Magic team that, first, needed a shooting guard, and second, needed a defensive presence on the perimeter. Last season, he saw meaningful minutes in only one month (March), and he responded by averaging 12.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 0.7 blocks and 1.1 3-pointers in 31.3 minutes per game.

Granted, Pietrus could be a breakout player if he slides into Orlando�s starting SG spot. McKitish is calling for Pietrus to see 35 minutes on the high end, which seems quite optimistic for a team that currently has 5 shooting guards on its roster. Pietrus isn�t quite as exciting at 25-27 minutes a game, although he still could be solid late-round sleeper material. I love you Mickael, just not that way.

The problem with sleepers is that once everyone starts calling them a sleeper, they�re likely overrated. If everything works out just right, Chris Duhon could have some legitimate fantasy value on the Knicks. �Everything� would include the Knicks finding a way to get rid of Starbury, Mike D’Antoni shunning Nate Robinson as a PG altogether, and Duhon playing up to his maximum capabilities.

Stephen Kersey of Hoops Fantasy thinks Duhon could become a 10 point, 8 assist type of player. Sure, it�s possible, but he could also remain a 6 point, 4 assist player. I think either outcome is about equally likely.

Screaming Sports discusses a whole bunch of moves and has this to say about the Bucks/Nets trade:

Look for Jefferson’s fantasy value to at least remain the same, if not go up with this trade. Jefferson will be receiving passes from Michael Redd and Mo Williams, both of whom will set him up nicely for easy baskets.

I�m not sure what�s so great about Michael Redd �s passes compared to Vince Carter�s, but ok, I�ll go with it.

Fantasy Basketball Daily discusses the current fantasy winners and losers of the off season. Beno Udrih? Always a winner.

Finally, via Pat’s Sixers Blog, Rotoworld sadly reports that Jamaal Tinsley�s magical mystery tour with the Indiana Pacers has come to an end. Store this in the �padding the word count with redundant words that mean the same thing as each other� file:

Jamaal Tinsley�s contract will likely be bought out by the Pacers, meaning there�s almost no chance he plays another game for the team.

* And when I say everything, I mean everything, including Brent Barry signing with the Rockets.

** Nellie ball guarantee does not apply to Austin Croshere or Chris Webber.

Well, that was a quick moment of relevance for the LA Clippers. A week after Baron Davis opted out of the final year of his contract and signed a 5 year $65 million contract with Los Angeles, Brand has walked away from his verbal agreement with the Clips and, according to the LA Times, signed a five year $82 million contract with the 76ers. This was after Brand�s agent, David Falk, said that he was opting out of the final year of his contract to �give the Clippers more payroll flexibility to strengthen the team around Brand.� The Sixers offer was apparently on par with that of LA�s, so someone � and the word on the street is that it�s Falk � really, really despises the Clippers. I mean, it�s like he can�t even stand the way the Clippers smell.

Sixers

This signing basically completes the 76ers roster for next season and leaves the Clippers in shambles, so it�s really only worth discussing the fantasy implications for the Sixers at the moment.

Brand will presumably slide into the PF spot on the Sixers and immediately become their best player (no offense, Andre Iguodala). While his legs have seen better days, he should still be able to keep up with the young guys and becomes the low post threat that the Sixers sorely lacked last year. Brand is still good enough to be a 20-10 guy (ok, maybe a 20 and 9 guy) while shooting 50% from the floor on just about any team, including this one.

Andre Miller�s scoring will certainly drop from the career high 17.1 a game he averaged last season � and back to the 13ish range that he has averaged most of his career. With Brand now fronting a lot more of the offense, Miller can focus on his PG duties, which will hopefully boost his assists back into the 8+ a game range (they fell to 6.9 last season). The trade for Brand also puts the Sixers in clear �win now� mode, which is good for Miller�s status with the team and his playing time � at the unfortunate expense of Louis Williams (we might have to console Nels - I believe he was in the running for the vice presidency of the Louis Williams fan club).

We�ll have to wait to see how much, if at all, Andre Iguodala is hurt fantasy-wise from this trade. Word on the street is that he could move to the SG position, which would allow Thaddeus Young move to his more natural SF position and Willie Green to his more natural bench position. Iguodala�s game is so well-rounded that I think he�ll be ok even if he loses a few touches on offense and a rebound a game because of the move to SG. Young will be a nice sleeper going into the year who will improve on his rookie season, as long as the minutes are there for him. And Samuel Dalembert… who the hell knows? I�d be afraid that he might regress a little bit by playing alongside a great player like Brand, but the opposite could be true.

Clippers

Does Baron Davis want a do over on this one? The poor Clippers just can�t catch a break. In additional to losing Brand, the icing on the irony cake is that Corey Maggette jetted to the Warriors on the same day. That leaves them with a starting 5 of Baron Davis, Cuttino Mobley, Tim Thomas, Al Thornton, and Chris Kaman. Not exactly a group I�d want to go into battle with.

But the Clippers offseason is far from over. Just ask Mike Dunleavy: “Now, we’ll just have to go out and find new good players.”

Wow, I never knew it was that easy. The Clippers DO have the cap space and are supposedly going to be meeting with Josh Smith and Emeka Okafor, so something good could be in store for them*. But as long as the Clippers have their current roster in place, Al Thornton really starts to shimmy his way up draft boards. To be continued…

* Although the amount of goodness exuded by Emeka Okafor is very debatable

According to Drive and Dish who provides no links, but Rotowire via Yahoo also says that on July 9th, The Baron will sign with the Clippers.

Did I mention it’s The Everybody Wants a Point Guard Era?

I’ll be on vacation without internet access on the 9th (I know, poor planning), and since I leave for that vacation tomorrow, I don’t really have time to analyze right now. But, here we go anyway…

As for Davis himself, assuming that his signing is enough for the Clippers to bring back Elton Brand, I see his scoring dropping slightly. He’ll probably still be in the high teens and may even get the 20 PPG he had in 07-08. I’m hoping that with Eric Gordon backing him up on the Clippers he won’t have to play 39 minutes and can preserve his oft-injured body (before 07-08, the last time he played 82 games was in 2001-02). The Clippers offensive attack will be slower than the Run-N-Gun Warriors, but with Brand on the inside, Davis should get open three-point looks and connect on 1.5-2 per game. He’ll still be taking 5 free throws (that just seems standard for him at this point) and making only 70% of them, and if he shoots higher than 44% it will be a blessing from above, or some sort of sign that the Clippers are a team of destiny.

I had Baron at 15 on my initial Point Guard rankings, and I’d say he should still be a solid second round pick. The Point Guard this hurts is Brevin Knight, who I’d already dropped to 163 with the arrival of Eric Gordon. So, unless you’re in a league with more than 12 teams, you probably don’t need to worry about him. Everyone else on the Clippers should be more or less unaffected - we still have to see where Brand and Maggette go, though.

As for the Warriors, they’d better hope Monta Ellis can make the change from SG to PG. He is already listed as just a G on Yahoo, and he played almost 38 minutes per game last season, and the Warriors still plan to run it and gun it (as far as I know), so he should be good for his 3rd round pick status. Will he move up in the draft? Probably. I think people will see this as his opportunity to take over the Warriors. And while it certainly is that, it also increases both the defensive pressure and offensive pressure on him, and takes away a scoring threat, and means he’ll have to play with Kelenna Azubuike by his side, which - no offense - is a downgrade from Baron.

Yes, Ellis is a free agent, but Golden State will give him as much money as he wants if they’re smart. Unless they can get Gilbert Arenas, in which case, well, who knows.

Okay, that’s all I can muster right now. If you have any ideas, advice, questions, etc. go ahead and leave a comment. We’re pretty awesome at responding to comments.

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.

UPDATE: Well, well, well, it looks like I got a little too lathered up about Charlie Bell heading to the Miami Heat. According to a Bucks’ press release, they have decided to match the Heat’s 18.5 million offer to Charlie Bell. After the Yi Jianlian situation, it’s apparent that the Milwaukee Bucks are ready to play hardball with their players. Bell was a potential sleeper candidate in Miami, but on the Bucks he’ll return to backing up both Williams and Michael Redd. He can still average close to 30 minutes a game off the bench for the Bucks, but he’ll be a secondary offensive option on this Bucks team instead of becoming a focal point of the Miami offense.

Charlie Bell is on his way to Miami, hopefully in a speedboat driven by Will Smith. On Monday, the Heat signed restricted free-agent Charlie Bell to an $18.5 million five-year offer sheet. The Milwaukee Bucks can still choose to match that deal, but here’s what Charlie has to say about the situation:

I hope they don’t match it. The Bucks said they didn’t have this kind of money and didn’t want to give me a long-term deal, so I would hope they stick to what they said and let me go… I’m really thankful Miami stepped up.

Wow, tell us what you’re really thinking Charlie… Bell has already said he’ll go and play in Greece rather than return to the Bucks. No disrespect to Milwaukee here, but he’s a great fit on the Miami Heat. Bell will likely compete with Jason Williams and Smush Parker for the starting point guard spot. Even if J-Will wins out at the point to start the season, 1) Williams gets hurt a lot and 2) Bell can still earn some decent playing time off the bench on a Heat team that is not particularly deep, and 3) the Heat really, really… really need someone other than Wade and Shaq who can score.

Last season, Bell started 64 games for the Bucks and took advantage of the situation, averaging 14.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.6 threes, and 1.2 steals a game in his starts. If he does end up playing for the Heat, expect his scoring to get even better. If he ends up starting, well, expect even better things. I hate the term sleeper, but it’s the easiest way to describe how I feel about Charlie in Miami.

Charlie Bell, making friends in Milwaukee

In other news about people who like to speak their mind, it looks like Dikembe Mutombo will be back with the Rockets for one final year. Mutombo told KRIV-TV in Houston, “It’s a great organization. I have a great relationship with the owner. I have a great relationship with the mayor and I love the city. I have been blessed.”

Even at 40 years old, Mutombo was a decent backup center last season when Yao Ming was injured, grabbing rebounds and blocking shots with little regard for something we like to call “offense”. If Ming gets hurt again - and that’s not the craziest idea in the world - there’s no reason to think Mutombo can’t duplicate what he did last year. In 32 starts, he averaged 5 points, 11 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks a game. Plus, it gives me the chance to break out this picture again.

I want to make that into a poster.

How about a bunch of fantasy talk about players who don’t have any fantasy relevance? I didn’t anticipate the column going in this direction, but it’s August and Team USA doesn’t play in any fantasy leagues as far as I know, so the following qualifies as big news this month.

• After all that attention, Reggie Miller is not making a comeback for the Celtics. Miller told the Indianapolis Star, “Physically, I know I could have done it, but mentally, when you do something like this, you’ve either got to be all in or all out. And I’ve decided I’m all out.” Personally, I think Reggie made the right decision. Seeing a 42-year old Miller playing garbage time for the Celtics would be on the same level as watching a 40-year old Michael Jordan hobble around the court for the Wizards.
• So Reggie Miller isn’t walking through that door, but James Posey is on his way to the Celtics, which is the final stake in the heart of my obsolete Celtics fantasy preview (it will be updated). Fantasy wise, it’s tough to get excited about Posey. He’s probably going to backup both Pierce and Garnett, but I don’t see him getting much more than 20 minutes a game off the bench to shoot some threes and play some D.
• The Orlando Magic sign Adonal Foyle after the Warriors bought out the remainder of his contract. Foyle arrives to presumably backup Dwight Howard. He certainly fits the Orlando style of play more than that of Golden State, although 15 minute a game defensive centers typically don’t make good fantasy plays. Remember when people would actually draft Adonal Foyle in fantasy leagues? Ah, simpler times. We listened to music on something called Compact Disks, Saddam Hussein was one of the world’s most devious tyrants, and the words “Paris Hilton” actually referred to a hotel in France.
• On Monday, the Rockets’ Rafer Alston was arrested on felony assault charges for stabbing a guy IN THE NECK at a “Manhattan nightspot.” Well, it’s not dog flighting, but it is Altson’s second arrest this summer. The Rockets have signed Mike James and Stevie Franchise (that’s also news to me) to compete with Alston for the starting point guard spot. It’s been a bad summer for Alston and - with those two signings - it appears that the fall won’t be getting any better.
• Finally, I couldn’t say enough good things about Ballhype, the Digg of all things sports. Not only is it a great place to browse the online world of sports related media, but yours truly has been featured in the Commenter’s Corner on Ballhype for a witty comment I made about Bruce Bowen and guys’ balls. Stay Classy San Diego.

From Fantapedia, the Winners and Losers of the summer transactions.

It’s a good quick-and-dirty analysis. Read it real quick to catch up on your fantasy analysis.