Give Me The Rock

SLAM Online reports that Adam Morrison is out with a torn ACL. Out for the season.

Might be a good time to see if Matt Carroll is available. Also, if for some reason your league hasn’t drafted yet, I’d say move Walter Herrmann (sleeper candidate extraordinaire) up your charts a bit.

Has anyone already come up with the nickname “Oak Tree” for Emeka Okafor? If not, please drop a foot note to this page any time you use that one in the future.

Last year’s rankings of this year’s players:
26 - Gerald Wallace
32 - Emeka Okafor
56 - Jason Richardson
101 - Matt Carroll
103 - Raymond Felton
120 - Derek Anderson
122 - Sean May
152 - Walter Herrmann
316 - Adam Morrison
344 - Primoz Brezec
355 - Jeff McInnis
421 - Ryan Hollins
434 - Othella Harrington
NR - Jermareo Davidson
NR - Jared Dudley

Wow. I’m really not all that interested here. And I’ve seriously been thinking about this for a while now.

So… with J-Rich joining the club, I’d say Oak Tree has probably reached a plateau in scoring. He shot 53% last season and only got to 14 points. If he could start making a few more free throws, maybe there’d be something there, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Raymond Felton, on the other hand, has probably not reached his potential in scoring. He shot only 38% last season and got to 14 points on that. One would think that with Jason Richardson on the team, he would maintain his assist numbers and also get more open looks. And the turnovers can’t get much higher, really. So, I’d put Felton at right about 75. He’s kind of an Andre Miller type player, but you trade a rebound a game for a three a game (could be the reason for that shooting percentage).

J-Rich will be J-Rich. I don’t see his game changing much with the move across the country. He’s going to get his and end up in the 50s somewhere.

Since the Bobcats waived Brevin Knight (anyone know why they did that?), Yahoo has Matt Carroll listed as the backup PG. I’m not really sure what the Bobcats rotation was like last season, but Carroll had 26 minutes a game, presumably at the SG and SF positions. He was efficient enough to end up at 101 on the Player Rater, but with Jason Richardson filling in that SG position, I don’t see much room for Carroll to increase his minutes. He might be able to crack the top 100, but that’s about it.

Then there’s Gerald Wallace. I was a GDub believer when I saw him flying through Sacramento, but his severely limited PT made me lose faith. I’m just waiting for Crash to crash now… It’s been 3 seasons of stellar fantasy play now, and a career high 72 games last season… but I still wouldn’t be able to bring myself to draft him. I just feel he is still overrated, even though logic - and the Player Rater - say otherwise. Splitting balls with Jason Richardson may hurt his overall scoring, but he will still be drafted in the 3rd round, and there’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it.

Finally, Walter Herrmann. What he did at the end of the season can’t be readily discounted. But it can be price declined. If you look at the game log, you’ve got Miami without Wade twice, Injured Washington twice, The Milwaukee Tanks twice, Indiana and The Only Quality Opponent: Chicago. He’s a definite sleepr.* But I’m not willing to put him much higher than about 90. At best, I see him playing like Al Harrington, which puts him squarely at 100.

10/12 Team Draft Positions:
Gerald Wallace - 3rd round or 4th round / 3rd round
Emeka Okafor - 4th round /3rd or 4th round
Jason Richardson - 5th round / 4th round
Raymond Felton - 7th round / 6th round
Matt Carroll - 10th round / 8th or 9th round
Walter Herrmann - 11th round / 10th round (remember, he’s a sleeper, so we’re trying to draft him lower than he could actually end up)
Sean May - 12th or 13th round / 10th round

* Sleepr is the Web 2.0 version of a sleeper

For most fans, the NBA experience consists of watching games on TV and in person, with the occasional special event or autograph signing thrown in. But this guide will help you maximize your enjoyment of the NBA. To use this guide, simply locate your skill or skills and then do what’s listed there. It’s really that simple.

IF YOU ENJOY WRITING FAN MAIL:
Email your favorite Dallas Maverick player.

IF YOU ENJOY WRITING FAN MAIL AND STALKING:
Write to your favorite Nuggets Dancer, c/o Pepsi Center, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver, CO 80204

IF YOU LIKE JUMPING OFF TRAMPOLINES
Join the Detroit Pistons’ Flight Crew.

IF YOU’RE A CANADIAN STREET BALLER
Play in NBA 3ON3 (sponsored by the Raptors)

IF YOUR CHILD IS A FATTY AND SHAQ IS NOT AVAILABLE
Sign-up for Get Fit with the Golden State Warriors.

IF YOU CAN GOLF:
Play with Tyrus Thomas.

IF YOU CAN’T GOLF:
Play softball with Tracy McGrady.

IF YOU CAN SING:
Audition to sing the national anthem at a Cavaliers game.

IF YOU’RE BETWEEN THE AGE 7 AND 16 AND HAVE ACCESS TO $100.
Go to a summer camp hosted by Sean May, Dell Curry, Brevin Knight, or the Carroll Brothers.

IF YOU’RE BETWEEN THE AGE 7 AND 16 AND HAVE ACCESS TO $250.
Go to the Sonics Basketball Summer Camp.

IF YOU’RE OVER THE AGE OF 35 AND HAVE ACCESS TO $17,500.
Go to the Michael Jordan Flight School.

IF YOU’RE A PUPPETEER, VENTRILOQUIST, OR HAVE ANOTHER SKILL THAT PEOPLE PRETEND TO FIND ENTERTAINING:
Become an in-game entertainer for the Hawks or Bobcats.

IF YOU OWN A CAMCORDER AND ENJOY WATCHING THE CLIPPERS:
Make a fan video.

IF YOU OWN A CAMERA, A COPY OF PHOTOSHOP, AND A GRILL OR OTHER HIBACHI-LIKE DEVICE
Enter the “Are you Hibachi enough?” contest.

IF YOU’RE AN ATTRACTIVE FEMALE WITH DANCE SKILLS
Audition to become an NBA dancer, preferably for the Lakers, Mavs, Heat, Spurs, or Rockets

IF YOU’RE AN UNATTRACTIVE FEMALE WITH DANCE SKILLS
Get a lesson from the Knicks Dance Team.

IF YOU’RE A FORMER CHEERLEADER OR GYMNAST AND ARE ATTRACTIVE (FEMALE) OR ENJOY TOUCHING WOMEN IN INAPPROPRIATE PLACES WITHOUT THE THREAT OF GOING TO JAIL (MALE):
Try out for the Detroit Work Force or Utah Jazz Stunt Team.

IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE EVALUATING PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYERS
Become the Director of Player Personnel for the Houston Rockets.

IF YOU HAVE BALL HANDLING SKILLS AND COURT VISION:
Try out for the Celtics. (Credit to Basketbawful)

In case you missed it, Brevin Knight turned in a stunning 1 point, 7 assist performance last night in his first game back from surgery of the abdomin. Not too excited about the 4 turnovers, but the 3 rebounds is decent. And that made for 25 fantasy points in my HoopsAddict.com league, which is better than than the 10 points that Keith Bogans put up last night (that’s right, I’ve been forced to play Keith Bogans!) … so Knight is going back into my lineup for the game tonight against the Rockets of Houston.

Hooray for something!

So this is ripped straight from the Daily Dime

My sources in the dunk community say Hollins can dunk from the free-throw line off a two-footed jump, which ain’t something you see every day. Bobcats teammate Emeka Okafor, meanwhile, reports that Hollins has “make-believe” vertical ability.

Two-Footed from the free throw line!?!?!?! Either Ryan Hollins is out of this world or everyone that has ever witnessed this dunk was high on PCP. This guy has to be in the dunk contest… HAS TO BE. The dunk contest has gotten increasingly stale over the years. Nate Robinson’s win last year proves it, his inferior dunks won out due to the innovative/nostalgic dunk over Spud Webb. As opposed to the more impressive dunks from Iggy. If Ryan Hollins can come anywhere near doing this, he has to be in the show. The funny thing is, if he does it, half of the people watching will not know what they just witnessed.

Hollins is 7 foot and was a collegiate high jumper at UCLA where he cleared 6′10 at the PAC-10 championships. This season he has played 46 minutes and has an impressive 13 fouls in that time. Also, he has gotten to the line 13 times. I am now at the peak of my interest and must see him play, time to goto a bar and ask to put the Bobcats game on.

Here is all I could find…

or: How to survive with only 3 bench spots in a 24 team league when even players on team contending for the playoffs are taking time off

In the HoopsAddict.com league, my 3 bench spots are being taken up by:
18th pick Jason Richardson (5-7 weeks left)
31st pick Michael Redd (4-6 weeks left)
66th pick Brevin Knight (3-4 weeks left)

Pretty much I’m the Hornets right now. And picking up players is made all the more fun by the fact that this is a points league. So, I can’t even pick up any specialists to try to keep myself in competition for a few categories (as I could with H2H or Roto). I suppose I cursed myself by saying how I was playing it safe with Richardson and Redd as my first two picks, but it doesn’t get much more solid than 80, 82, 78, 72, 75 and 67, 82, 82, 75, 80. That’s only 21 + 24 = 45 games missed over the past 5 years for both guys combined.

So, what have I done to try to stay in the game? I picked up Rasual Butler, Ronny Turiaf, and Jason Maxiell. That’s right. That’s what it looks like in a 24 team league. And actually, the Butler pickup was a while ago, or I’m sure someone else would have taken him. I’ve also been playing Jannero Pargo while Chris Paul is out, but I’m sure I’ll have to find someone else when Paul gets back.

So what do you actually do when your Top 3 picks are out?

Well, as far as I can tell from anecdotal experience, you just pick up some other guys and hope you can keep yourself close. I’m sorry that there’s not better news. At least you probably don’t have a spreadsheet projecting that if everyone keeps up their average FPPG for the remainder of the games they have left before reaching the limit that you’ll end up in 14th place. Yeah, one spot up from where I am now. It’s okay. I see that as a challenge. That’s what fantasy basketball is all about.

Nels stole my post idea for today, but since he did a stand up job, kudos to him. In fact, in my search for a new topic, I went out of my way to find something that he may enjoy.

Instead of me jib-jabbering away like usual, how about a little video posting. First, if you can stand, or possibility even like, Rick Kamla, you can watch today’s entire NBA TV Fantasy Hoops show, thanks to the NBA Video Podcast feed. I last about 10 minutes with Rick, but maybe your tastes differ.

Nels is right, one day of games tells us nothing except about what happened yesterday, and drawing conclusions now probably harms our perceptions of player value more than it does to help it. Let’s just enjoy that start of the season - and watch some video.

Here’s Adam Morrison’s 41 foot fallaway three.

How about some highlights from day one - including video of the Bulls utter destruction the Heat.

Thabo Sefolosha Fastbreak Dunk

A Tyrus Thomas Putback Dunk



And in case you missed Day O’Lebron on ESPN yesterday, including his commercials (or are they really some kind of hybrid video/ad?), it’s Lebron on the Daily Show.