Give Me The Rock

It’s hard to like a team with James Posey on it, but it’s also hard to like the group of Lame-O players clustered around LeBron James.

Too bad he doesn’t have the same kind of bad blood with the Wizards or the Bulls might get 6 good games from him each season.

Line of the Night: Tracy McGrady (6.53) had 35/6/5 with 4 threes, 2 steals and a block. According to NBA.com, the Rockets are the only team with 4 wins over the Blazers this season. We’ll see what Greg Oden has to say about that next season.

Honorable Mentions: Larry Hughes (6.34) almost had the first triple double of his career (as a Bull at least, he might have had one for another team) with 25/8/9. He, like McGrady, had 2 steals and a block. After that we drop down to LeBron (5.53) who only scored a single point in the 4th quarter against the Bulls last night. Apparently there’s some back spasms going on. But he still had 33/5/4 with 3 threes, 2 steals, and two blocks. Brad Miller (5.46) follows James with his Marcus Camby impression, scoring only 6 points (on a Biggest Loseresque 2/7 from the field), but saving himself with 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks, and only 1 turnover. Since there were only 3 games last night, we’ll end this list with Kevin Martin’s (4.82) 26/3/3 with 4 threes and a steal.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Dikembe Mutombo (3.97) continued his run at immortality with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Not a great line, but if you need blocks and rebounds this week (for daily lineup changers) or next week (if you’re already looking ahead), he will definitely get you those.

Another guy who might be available and has been playing about as well as anyone who’s likely to be available is Mikki Moore (3.85). Last night, he had 16 and 5 with 2 steals and a block, while shooting 7/8 from the floor (only 2/4 from the line, though).

The Biggest Loser: I’m going with Al Thornton (2.20) because his 3/14 shooting (for a line of 8/5/1 and a block) has pretty much singlehandedly dropped me two-tenths of a percent below my opponent in the DroppingDimes Experts League. I’m up 7-2 right now, but it’s a very tentative 7-2, and I need to at least have a chance in every category. I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling that pain.

Friday’s Tiny Dancer: To take away some of that pain, let’s celebrate T-Mac’s LotN with this weeks Rockets Power Dancer of the Week: Heidi. Hi Dee In Deed.

The Bulls beat the Cavs by a bunch last night. I’m sure they’re thinking “If only this were the playoffs.” Of course, if it were the playoffs, LeBron would have dropped 50 on them the night before.

The Rockets won their 17th straight against the Mavericks last night. I’m sure they’re thinking “If only this were the playoffs.” Of course, if it were the playoffs, they’d have to play the Mavericks again with Dirk Nowitzki. Yeah.

Line of the Night: LeBron (5.27) had 39 to follow up his 50, and further his lead in the race for Fantasy Basketball MVP. He was only 2/8 from three, but 13/27 overall, and 11/12 from the line. 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. I blame the 1 assist on his teammates. Note to self: One man can get you to the Finals. Question to self: Can one man win a title?

Honorable Mentions: Tracy McGrady (4.39) had 31/3/9 to lead the Rockets; Rafer Alston (4.02) had 24/5/4 with 2 steals; Ben Gordon (3.98) had 23/6/4 with 4 threes; Danny Granger (3.97) shot 9/23 including 0/6 from three, but ended up with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 steals to get 5th place on the night. Anything’s possible when there’s only 3 games played.

Newly Minted Big Men Luis Scola (3.76) and Joakim Noah (3.57) had 12/9 and 13/20 respectively. Scola edged Noah by virtue of his 2 steals and 2 blocks (to Noah’s 1 block).

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: I’m just guessing this is going to be tough one… Technically I guess it’s Matt Bonner (2.92) who had another one of those once a quarter (think fiscal quarters) games with 15/4/2 and a three.

Next up would be Michael Finley (2.89), but his 3/11 for 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist would be enough to get him Biggest Loser on just about any other night.

Speaking of that…

The Biggest Loser: Michael Finley. Haha. Yeah right. If he was actually on a single fantasy team, then maybe…

Tim Duncan (2.17) shot 3/11 for 6 points. He did have 12 rebounds and a steal and a block, though, so really, all is not lost.

Friday’s Tiny Dancer: For LeBron. To provide him some comfort on the lonely nights that are game nights.

And if you need more of the Cavalier Girls, do yourself a favor and check Rachel’s All-Star preview post.

aka: The Eastern Conference has a lot of bad teams in it. And very few good ones. And some mediocre ones.

Line of the Night: On the night when Boston clinched their spot, and the Jazz won their 17th straight game, LeBron James (6.35) overshadowed both. 50 points and 10 assists will do that. Especially when one shoots 16/30 from the field with 7 three pointers. Especially when one adds 8 rebounds and 4 steals, while committing only 2 turnovers. As I mentioned in my previous post, I don’t have cable, but I’ve watched the highlights on NBA.com. That’s really the best way to watch the Cavs. I like how they threw in the interaction with Jay-Z at the end there. I just hope by the time James gets to New Jersey Brooklyn, they can assemble a better supporting cast than Cleveland. Or least one that’s more fun to watch.

Honorable Mentions: On any other night, we’d probably be hearting Chris Paul (4.67) some more with his 23 points, 18 assists, 3 threes, and 2 steals. But come on, Chris, a turnover? You’re better than that!

Oh, did someone just drop Charlie Villanueva (4.63) in your league? Might want to look again at his 32 points, 11 rebounds, 3 threes, and 2 blocks. That’s a Mid-Ball stat line if I’ve ever seen one. Teammate Andrew Bogut (4.66) also had a good night, with 21/13/7, 2 steals, and 4 blocks.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Luther Head (4.04) came in at number 11 last night with 14 points (4 threes) on 5/5 shooting, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. I’m not sure he’s worth a pick-up, but if you’re one of those fantasy owners who’s constantly searching for the next naked cheerleader hot hand to pick up, then he’s worth a look.

Other than that you’ve got the inconsistent Jared Dudley (3.87) who’s been getting some extra minutes since Gerald Wallace hit the deck (for the 4th time people! This is why I won’t draft him). Dudley can get you some big man type rebounds, and he’s been making a three a game in the past 3 games.

The Biggest Loser: As we know, Boston clinched a playoff spot, and Rajon Rondo’s (1.78) 16 points probably helped the cause. But his 6/16 shooting and 5 turnovers certainly did not. The 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 0 steals, and 0 blocks didn’t do much to offset the other numbers. It’s kind of odd when someone can get 16 points and still be considered for Biggest Loser, but if you have a better idea, let me know in the comments.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, LeBron now has a supporting cast. Yeah! What? Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Wally Z, and Delonte West suddenly count as a “supporting cast”? I’m sorry, what?

If you’re still reading this instead of picking up Joakim Noah, do that now. Someone in the GMTR Readers’ League actually drafted Joakim. Wow. I was writing him an email to congratulate him until I realized he’d drafted Eddy Curry with the pick right before that one. In an interesting coinkydink, he also has Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. He is still the Illest Gauskas.

UPDATE: Also, check to see if Boobie (aka Daniel) Gibson is available. Probably want to pick him up too, since there’s no one else to play PG in the land of Cleve. In my haste to post, I didn’t realize that the Boobster had a HIGH ankle sprain. Aka not good. So… follow along below…

Cavs

Big Z probably needs some rest. Ben Wallace will give him that. I would expect Ilguaskas’ numbers to dip slightly. Wallace’s numbers can’t really get any lower… so good luck with that.

Joe Smith and Drew Gooden are pretty much the exact same player at this point. Seriously. Look at their stats. It’s sort of crazy. So, on the Cavs side, Smith will take over Gooden’s role, and probably have the same value. On the Bulls side, Gooden will fill in for Smith (arguably the Bulls best player at this point), and also keep his value. At least until Deng and Gordon start playing real minutes.

UPDATE: I already told you to pick up Daniel Gibson. What else is there really? With Gibson out, I guess Delonte West will be the PG in Cleveland… and that leaves Wally at SG. Really, this helps LeBron how? And do you really want to pick up Wally Szczerbiak or Delonte West? Maybe and maybier. If you need to pick one, go with Wally, at least he can do something. He’ll get you points and threes from the SF position (which is awesome if you’re rollin with a Mid Ball team). Delonte seems to just squander whatever court time he gets.

UPDATED:
PG: Delonte West, Daniel Gibson (INJ), Eric Snow, Damon Jones
SG: Wally Szczerbiak, Devin Brown
SF: LeBron James
PF: Joe Smith, Anderson Varejao (starter?)
C: Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace

Bulls

Pick up Joakim Noah. Did I mention that?

Unfortunately, if Larry Hughes actually plays well, this could mean the end of the Thabo Era. With Deng and Gordon both back, the addition of Larry Hughes means that pretty much every spot from PG to PF has at least 2 players looking for PT. Joakim and Aaron Gray will evidently be holding down the Center spot, but I think they can split the PT pretty well (aka Joakim will get most of it, Gray will get the rest).

Here’s the Bulls:
PG: Hinirch, Duhon (we’re back to normal here)
SG: Ben Gordon, Thabo Sefolosha, Larry Hughes
SF: Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Andres Nocioni
PF: Drew Gooden, Tyrus Thomas, Andres Nocioni
C: Joakim Noah, Drew Gooden

Seattle

They made another deal, so let’s look at the new dept chart…

PG: Earl Watson, Luke Ridnour
SG: Kevin Durant, Brent Barry, Ira Newble
SF: Jeff Green, Damien Wilkins, Adrian Griffin
PF: Chris Wilcox, Nick Collison (soon), Donyell Marshall
C: Johan Petro, Francisco Elson

If you have any of the starters or Nick Collison, you’re good to go. If not, um, yeah, why? I don’t see Newble nor Griffin nor Marshall finding themselves all of sudden in Seattle.

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In other news, Yahoo has revamped their sports pages again to make them EVEN EASIER to navigate. It’s somewhat ridiculous. No wonder Microsoft wants to buy them. They have actual usability people on their teams.

Line of the Night: Kobe Bryant (5.45) pulls out the best line of the night even with the 11 turnovers, and not only that, but he moves up to the Number 2 spot on NBA.com’s FSPI player rater for The 2007-08 Season. I’m not sure if it was the 39 points, the 10 rebounds, or the 13-15 from the line (or maybe even the 5 assists, 2 steals, and block)… most likely a combination of all of the above. Also, does this mean he’s now the front runner for Real World MVP?

Honorable Mentions: Dirk Nowitzki (5.42) put together a game that was fairly comparable to Kobe’s. A few less point, but an extra rebound and assist, and Dirk didn’t miss any free throws. Maybe if he’d taken 5 more he would have missed 2 of them.

Holy Crap Larry Hughes of the Night: Larry Hughes (5.10) had 28 points on 10-21 (same as Dirk), with 4 threes, and was also perfect from the line (on only 4 attempts, though). 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals! Larry Hughes!

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Well, since I’ve already let the Larry Hughes out of the bag, let us go with Jeff Green of Seattle (3.52). Greenie had 17 points on 8-8 shooting, and as Patrick would tell you (for the second day in a row), if someone gets WWLotN by shooting over 70%, there’s a 70% chance it’s a fluke. But guess what, there’s a 100% chance it’s Friday, and a 93% chance that I don’t feel like looking at any more lines to see if there’s someone else out there to pick. Especially when the next 2 guys I looked at were James Posey (3.43), who shot 3-9, so I’m not sure how he got rated that high at all, and Damon Jones (3.41) who made 5 shots, all of which were three-pointers.

The Biggest Loser: Tony Allen (1.02) just barely cleared a rating of 1, with his 1 assist and 1 turnover last night. Most of the minutes he should have had were taken up by James Posey’s awesome performance. Eddie House and Kendrick Perkins were also near the bottom of the ratings… Good thing for the Celtics Ray Allen was back to help them take out the Mavericks. I’m telling you, though, as soon as Ray Ray goes down again, Tony Allen is money.

Leandro Barbosa (1.73) had a pretty awful night, and the expectation are a bit higher for him than for Tony Allen. Barbosa was 2-10 with 2 rebounds and 3 assists. He’s still at #54 on the GMTR Player Rater, though he’s slipped to #89 on NBA.com’s ratings for the past 10 days.

Happy Friday.
Happy Super Sunday.

Happy All-Star announcement day for Brandon Roy.

Blazer Dancer Melissa in honor of Brandon Roy

Line of the Night: LeBron James (5.78) outscored the Blazers by 2 (and the Cavs got 22) in the 4th quarter to not only win LotN, but the game. That said, how awesome is Portland going to be when they finally have Greg Oden? Pretty awesome. Maybe then they’ll be able to stop LeBron’ 37 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.

Honorable Mentions: Brad Miller (5.45) had 22 points and 21 rebounds, and a very un-center-like 5 assists. Don’t forget. This is Brad Miller. This is 3 blocks Brad Miller, though. Not one to be easily shown up, Marcus Camby (5.38) had 13 and 19 with 5 blocks. Teammate Allen Iverson (5.34) scored 34 with 12 assists and 4 steals.

Honorable Mention Achievement of the Night: Patrick likes to throw in these extra categories, so I thought it was worth mentioning that Baron Davis (5.20) is now the #1 player on NBA.com’s FSPI Player Rater. Yes, his 23 points, 5 threes, and 9 assists (2 turnovers!) pushed him ahead of Chris Paul. He’s still #7 on the GMTR Player Rater, but even then, who would have thought that???

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Anthony Carter (4.81) had 18 points on 8-10 shooting, but as Patrick says, if anyone has a great night by shooting over 70%, it’s probably not going to happen to often. Darko on the other hand (4.64) might have been dropped in some leagues, but had 14 and 16 (only 60% shooting, so it’s okay) with 5 blocks. Pau Gasol has been playing off and on, and I guess when he’s off, it’s time for Darko to turn it on. On off. Off on. On. Off.

Speaking of injuries (anyone pick up Tony Allen yet?), while Ben Gordon and Luol Deng remain out indefinitely, and Chris Duhon kind of only sort of plays while injured, Thabo Sefolosha can help prop up your rebounds, steals, and blocks a bit. If the Bulls are smart, they’ll relieve Duhon of his responsibility to the team completely once Gordon can play again.

If Darko and Thabo are not available, you could take a long hard look at yourself and ask if you want Andrea Bargnani (3.93) on your team.

Eddy Curry Line of the Night: Eddy Curry (1.44) played 4 magical minutes in which he had more turnovers (2) than rebounds (1) which was more than anything else he had. Thanks for Tyrus Thomas, Big Eddy! (Of course, it took me 2 years to realize that the Bulls could have/should have taken Brandon Roy; I’m afraid I’ll think that every time Ben Gordon takes a shot now)

The Biggest Loser: Yi Jianlian (2.06) played 28 minutes last night, which is usually good enough for a fantasy basketball Util/Bench player, but Yi came up with only 4 points and 6 rebounds.

Runner-up: Andres Nocioni (2.13) was 2-12 for 7 points and 4 rebounds, and his 5 turnovers were certainly a key part of the Bulls showing Minnesota how it’s done. I have a friend from Portland (I grew up with Clyde Drexler) who keeps encouraging me to hop on the Blazers bandwagon. I feel bad since I gave up on the Blazers when I moved to Chicago (at which time they were still the Jailblazers), but after losing to Minnesota, I watched Brandon Roy taking over against Atlanta, and I’m starting to see Portland as a possible personal savior for the season.