Honorable Mentions: Here is something you won’t hear often – the New Jersey Nets were the best team for fantasy purposes last night. Deron Williams (2.21) nearly triple-doubled with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. Kris Humphries (2.33) added 18 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. And MarShon Brooks (1.62) scored a career-high 22 points and added 8 boards and 6 assists in the game. Brooks has now scored in double-digits in the Nets last 7 games and is an obvious must own in all leagues. I am so glad I dropped him in one of the GMTR Readers’ leagues a couple weeks ago…

// sarcasm //

Joe Johnson (2.57) continues to perform like the old (and by old I mean young) Joe Johnson since the Al Horford injury. Last night’s line against the Blazers included 24 points, 4 threes, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and a couple steals. There are no red flags in his recent lines that would suggest he’s a sell high candidate. He’s simply taking more shots since Horford went down. LaMarcus Aldridge (1.39) fantasy-led the Blazers with 20 and 11 in the game.

***

Andre Miller (2.51) had by far his best game of the season with an overtime-assisted 28 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists in 39 minutes on the court for the Nuggets. Miller also got a little extra run because Rudy Fernandez missed the game with injury. We have seen Miller explode a few times already this season only to settle back down in the Nuggets’ next game.

DeAndre Jordan (2.43) had 19 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocked shots in a win over the Mavs. He’s now back to winning the battle of the blocks against JaVale McGee at 3.1 a game to McGee’s 3.0.

And in the battle of point guards who were off to slow starts but are now heating up, Russell Westbrook’s (1.76) 36 points and 7 assists was slightly more impressive than John Wall’s (1.31) 25 points, 7 boards and 8 assists. That is now 3 straight good-to-great games from Wall, who looks to be turning a corner on the season. OKC lost the game, but Kevin Durant (2.19) out dueled everyone in terms of fantasy lines with 33 points, 8 boards, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Steve Nash (2.31) scored a season-high 26 points against the Knicks on 9-12 shooting, adding 5 rebounds and 11 assists in 38 minutes. And Amare Stoudemire (0.11) had his best game in a week with 23 points and 7 rebounds in the loss. Baron Davis can’t come soon enough for Amare.

And, of course, there is the beast Dwight Howard (2.26). In a night where there were some ridiculous rebounding numbers put up (including 19 by DeMarcus Cousins and 17 each by Love, Griffin and Chandler), Howard’s 25 rebounds were the most ridiculous of all. He also scored 24 points and blocked 3 shots in an overtime loss to the Spurs. Howard is now averaging 15.6 rebounds a game this season. Take that Kevin Love!

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: As long as we’re partying like it’s 2006, Tayshaun Prince (2.00) is swinging by that party with a 30-pack. Prince scored a season-high 29 points and hit 3 threes in a loss to the Wolves. That’s three straight 20+ scoring games for Prince, who seems to have broken out of his early season funk. Prince has never been an elite scorer – so I doubt he’ll keep this up – but is still worth a look in shallow leagues (he’s already 27% owned) as long as he’s rolling like this.

Pick Up Lines: Thanks to the Chris Paul injury, Mo Williams (1.89) returned from his own injury to play 35 minutes and score 26 points on 11-15 shooting. I have two thoughts on this. First, he got lucky that his shot was falling so well in this game, and second, he’ll continue to get some big run off the bench as long as Paul is out (see more on that below) so consider him a short-term add in most daily leagues.

It’s been a while since Anthony Tolliver (1.66) grace GMTR with his presence. But Tolliver came off the Wolves’ bench to go 3-5 from three and finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Meanwhile, Derrick Williams saw a measly 15 minutes off the bench and didn’t do much in the game. While we like Tolliver’s game as an incredibly poor man’s version of Ryan Anderson, he’s not seeing consistent enough minutes to warrant picking up.

Gary Forbes (1.37) got a season high 19 minutes and scored 18 points for the Raptors in a blowout loss to the Celtics 18 points. It was a blowout, so don’t read too much into it. On the other hand, fantasy-favorite James Johnson (-0.95) was given the start over Rasual Butler in this game. Unfortunately, he also played like Rasual Butler by shooting 1-7 from the floor and not doing much of anything else. Still, if you are a James Johnson junkie, I’d add him now as long as he keeps the starting job.

Speaking of new starters, Markieff Morris (-0.33) got the start for the Suns over Channing Frye. Morris lasted all of 5 minutes before leaving the game with a stomach virus, but he’s still worth a look in most leagues provided he keeps the starting job.

Trevor Ariza (1.16) is back after missing 8 games for the Hornets, scoring 18 points and adding 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals. That line is the ceiling of what you’ll get from Ariza, who can just as easily go 2-10 from the floor on any given night. If you can live with his horrible percentages, Ariza just might be hanging out on your wire after being dropped by an impatient owner.

Quick Hits: Mickael Pietrus (1.10) isn’t getting a ton of minutes for the Celtics, but 11 of the 14 shots he’s made so far this year have been threes and his role is slowly growing on a Celtics team that could use a little energy. Ok, a lot of energy. Last night’s 12 points and 4 threes is a line that plays in deep leagues.

Francisco Garcia’s (1.08) minutes have also been creeping up for the Kings. Last night’s 16 points, 5 boards, 2 steals and a block is a good representation of what you can expect from him at his best.

As much as we all love Gustavo Ayon (GUSTAVO!), the reality is that Jason Smith (0.76) is the new starting PF for the Hornets. He had 14 and 6 in 29 minutes on the court and is available in nearly all leagues provided your ok with his low upside.

And with Marcus Camby out for Portland, old man Kurt Thomas (0.55) has entered the Blazers’ starting lineup. He had 8 points, 9 rebounds and a block and makes an ok short-term play while Camby is out if you are really hurting for big men.

Injuries of the Night: Nicolas Batum left last night game against the Hawks after being poked in the eye by Tracy McGrady during the second quarter. According to Blazers Edge, x-rays came back negative for an orbital fracture and that the injury “isn’t serious”. Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com reported that Batum said he will play in Portland’s next game on Friday.

Rajon Rondo also left the Celtics game after falling on his wrist on a hard foul by Linas Kleiza when he was driving to the basket. The good news is that Rondo stayed in the game briefly to take his foul shots and is day-to-day with a wrist injury that could have been a lot worse.

In other injury updates, Derrick Rose’s injury is now being described as tuff toe. He’s described the pain as a 6 or 7 out of 10 and is questionable for the Bulls’ game on Friday. If he can’t go C.J. Watson becomes a great short-term play.

And Dwyane Wade owners have to be troubled by the fact that he’s dealing with both a sore left foot and a calf strain which kept him out of Tuesday’s game against the Spurs. He’s been day-to-day for what seems like the entire year and is officially questionable for tonight’s Heat game. It’s tough for find any more updates on Wade’s injury than that, but it’s easy to find a few dozen stories about his $230,000 birthday present. If Wade doesn’t play, look to see if Mike Miller can have a repeat performance of his game on Tuesday.

Chris Paul has missed the Clippers’ last 3 games with a strained left hamstring. According to Vinny Del Negro, Paul is currently day-to-day with no timetable for return. Randy Foye is starting in his absence, but has shot 29% from the floor in three starts. Mo Williams makes a much better pickup in Paul’s absence.

Biggest Loser: I feel like I’m picking on DeMar DeRozan (-1.43) at this point. It’s just that he’s owned in 88% of Yahoo leagues at the moment and his 11 points on 4-16 from the field with 5 turnovers was the single worst fantasy line out of 224 players last night. You would have been better off playing Jimmer Fredette (-1.17) and getting his 0-4 shooting in 6 minutes than DeRozan.

Bust Town; Population: Jared Dudley (-1.01). Dudley was mercifully removed from the Suns starting lineup last night in place of Ronnie Price. He played a total of 17 minutes and didn’t score, finishing with 1 board and 1 assist. Time to drop Dudley if you’ve been holding on to him in hopes that his shooting would improve.

***

Daily rankings and stats come from the GMTR H2H Player Rater (beta version). They are based on the stat Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP) an estimate of the number of wins a player produces per week in H2H leagues over a replacement (waiver wire) player.

Do not miss a day of the Fantasy NBA. Subscribe to Give Me The Rock right now. You can also get bonus (and easily digestible) content by following GMTR on Twitter, or become a fan of GMTR on Facebook! We are so social!

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• Time to Get REAL: Part One (2)
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New Jersey Nets‘ center Brook Lopez has a stress fracture in his fifth metatarsal and is expected to undergo surgery. This sends the Nets’ trade prospects for Dwight Howard into limbo for now. There are varied reports coming from all around revolving on how long Lopez will be sidelined. For a safe estimate, to make your decisions for fantasy, assume he’ll be gone for about SIX weeks, minimum.

In the midst of this adversity, New Jersey jumped on a chance to acquire a “serviceable” big man. They trade for the Jazz’s Mehmet Okur for a future second-round pick and a trade exception.

Fantasy Impact:

Mehmet Okur, who has been widely undrafted in most leagues is now a must-add. So if you’re in a fantasy league that I happen to not be in, go NOW and grab Okur off the FA pool. He’s lost weight and has been reported to be 100% healthy.

Brook Lopez should be dropped in all daily changes leagues, unless he’s your keeper in a keeper league. You can stash him for the stretch run in fantasy playoffs if you want, but note that this will curtail your flexibility as he will be sitting in your bench for quite awhile. There is also the possibility that he might not play at all this season.

Kris Humphries now has an opportunity to work his butt off to get the most return out of his one-year deal with Jersey to get a big pay day next season. He can now be expected to be a double-double beast and should be drafted accordingly.

Okur’s departure slightly, very slightly, clears up the frontcourt log jam in Utah. This improves the reliability of Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap a bit and also speeds up the development of Enes Kanter.

Other Stuff Like This:

• 2010-11 Top 25 Fantasy Centers (3)
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• Fantasy Basketball Preview: Utah Jazz (7)
• 2009-2010 Week 15 Fantasy Basketball Guide (6)
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No, I’m talking about the Hypocrisy that has grown to Epic Proportions. Proportions the size of Kim Kardashian’s ass.

You can click that to blow it up, but I’ll save you the trouble. It says “Khloe and Kourtney accuse Kris of using Kim for fame.”

If you aren’t over the fact that this sort of thing is on the cover of a magazine with national distribution while nobody in line at a grocery store will know that the NBA season isn’t going to happen, resulting in (something like) tens of thousands of people being put out of work, then you can just stop reading now.

If you want to know what brought me to the point of writing this post… think about that headline for a second, but replace any name that starts with “K” and isn’t “Kim” with “Somebody”: Somebody and Somebody (else) accuse (a third) Somebody of using Kim for fame. It’s pretty much a Mad Libs with an infinite number of possible answers that would actually end up being true statements.

E.g., Nels [co-author of somewhat popular fantasy basketball blog Give Me The Rock] and Kris accuse Khloe of using Kim for fame.

Seriously. Khloe needs to bow the F down to Kim and kiss her sister’s planet-sized rear end that she was able to land someone as rich (and actually fairly handsome) as Lamar Odom. Especially considering she looks like an uglier version of She-Hulk.

You think she could have scored an NBA player without her super famous sister? Come On Now.

Also, it’s a crying shame that the NBA was involved in basically the biggest wedding of the year and couldn’t capitalize on it for any sort of publicity. I mean, after the highest-rated Finals in years, they actually had people who don’t really care about basketball interested. Throw in The Fame that Kris is using Kim for, and you’ve got some actual hype going on… But no, the owners and players had to ruin all that momentum by acting like Khloe and Kourtney. Guess what guys? American Football is happening and by the time you decide to pull your heads from your planet-sized piles of money, all those casual fans you could have picked up aren’t going to care anymore and you’ll be back to trying to rub a couple nickles together to make a dime.

Actual Fantasy Stuff

• Jason soldiers on with his Analysis of the Mavericks for Dime Mag
• A new blog (to me at least) The Good Point has The Optimist’s Fantasy Basketball Primer
• For those of you who joined a Fantasy Football league this year as a reaction to the dismal prospects of the NBA, fear not: I have started Fantasy Football Outsider so you can enjoy the same sort of rants, non sequiturs, and analysis you find here when there is actual fantasy basketball being played.

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• Day 151 of 170: Dwyane Wade Will Lead Them (0)
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• Day 32 of 124: Where Tyrus Thomas Beckons You with his Sweet Siren Call (59)
• Cold As Ice: Seven Players Off to Slow Starts (10)
• What a Blow, Bro! – Lopez out indefinitely (12)
• Is the NBA Lockout Over? The Owners and Players Reach an Agreement. (3)

Coming on the heels of the Melo to the Knicks, the internet has again blown up with today’s surprising trade. Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that Deron Williams will be heading to the New Jersey Nets for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, two future first-round picks and cash.

So, what are the fantasy implications of this deal?

New Jersey Nets

Here is the new depth chart for the Nets.

PG: Deron Williams, Jordan Farmar
SG: Anthony Morrow, Sasha Vujacic
SF: Travis Outlaw, Quinton Ross
PF: Kris Humphries, Brandan Wright
C: Brook Lopez, Dan Gadzuric

***

Both the Nets and the Jazz are in the bottom half of the league in possessions per game at 91.8 and 93.6, respectively (by comparison, the Knicks average 98.6 and the Nuggets 98.2). So neither player is heading to a significantly better or worse team in terms of pace. They also play the same position, so on the surface the trade doesn’t seem to affect their fantasy value in a significant way.

Both players had a tenuous relationship with their coaches/front office this season (or former coach in the case of Williams). Despite the fact that Williams is apparently not happy with the trade, it is possible both these guys come to their new teams slightly more motivated and ready to kick some ass. If you believe in that kind of intangible bullshit. Which I do. A little.

The best news for Williams’ owners is that the Nets are currently 29th in the league in points per game at 92.4, so they could use ball dominating PG who can score in much the same way that the world could use less Justin Bieber in it. And by that I mean desperately. The team’s third leading scorer is Anthony Morrow at 12.5 points a game. Williams comes to the team averaging 21 points and nearly 10 assists per game this season, and based on the collection of talent the Nets have, I would not be surprised to see his scoring numbers take a bit of a jump with a small decline in assists.

Of course, having a guy like D-Will barreling to the hoop also good news for the team’s spot up jump shooters, like Morrow, Sasha Vujacic and… Brook Lopez. Morrow especially could benefit from D-Will’s arrival, in the way that Raja Bell would have in Utah if he wasn’t 50 years old.

Unfortunately, not everyone wins in a trade. Even Jordan Famar’s biggest fans would admit his limited fantasy relevance has all but disappeared with Williams coming to town. The often injured Harris was averaging about 32 minutes a game this season. While Williams has had his share of injuries over the past few years, he’s been averaging nearly 38 minutes a game this season. Will that decrease under Avery Johnson? Possibly a little, but Lopez is averaging 34 minutes a game and Williams immediately becomes the team’s best and most important player. So in theory he should see at least as much court time as Lopez, if not more.

Overall, it will probably end up being a neutral fantasy move for Williams.

Utah Jazz

Here is more or less what the new Jazz look like.

PG: Devin Harris, Earl Watson
SG: Raja Bell, C.J. Miles, Gordon Hayward
SF: Andrei Kirilenko, C.J. Miles
PF: Paul Millsap, Derrick Favors, Francisco Elson
C: Al Jefferson, Mehmet Okur

Unless the Jazz have something else up their sleeves, Harris will become the team’s starting PG and does about 75% of what Williams does on the court. Harris has averaged 15 points and 7.6 assists in 54 games with the Nets, but he wasn’t loving his reunion with Avery Johnson and the team wasn’t loving Harris’ lack of commitment this season.

Again, on the surface, things don’t seem like they are going to change all too much for Harris. Harris gains a few nice offensive weapons in Utah, like Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson and CJ Miles when he’s rolling. So, Harris could see his assists jump up slightly on the Jazz, although 7.6 is already a career high for him. If his minutes increase back to 34-35 per game like he was averaging a few years ago, he could be in for a nice bump in fantasy value with stats up in the 18 point, 8 assist range. That’s all speculation at this point, so we’ll see how it plays out.

Any value that Favors had this season (which wasn’t much) is gone now that he’s clearly behind both Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson on the depth chart. But now that I think about it, this is usually around the time of Jefferson’s yearly knee blowout, so at least there’s that opportunity for Favors.

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Breaking News Item #1: Anderson Varejao is out for the season. In our last podcast, Patrick defended JJ Hickson and now his argument looks prescient. Like he’s a Might Morphin’ Fortune Teller. I kind of want to say that Deep Leaguers can also consider Samardo Samuels and even Leon Powe but, well, yeah, there’s not a lot of big man options on the Cavs. Also, keep an eye on Manny Harris and Christian Eyenga (even though those last two don’t really have anything to do with the PF position, seems like they’re going to get some more playing time with Varejao sitting out).

Breaking News Item #2: Or, something that will become breaking news… Troy Murphy seems to be headed to the Pistons as part of the Melo-to-NJ deal. Pick his ass up.

The proposed trade will send Anthony, Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Nuggets guard Anthony Carter and forward Shelden Williams to the Nets. The Nuggets will receive two first-round picks from the Nets, point guard Devin Harris, rookie forward Derrick Favors, guards Anthony Morrow, Ben Uzoh, Stephen Graham and Quinton Ross. The Pistons will get Murphy and Petro.

It’s probably a little early to count on the trade reinvigorating Derrick Favors, but he’s about the only other guy besides Murphy who might get a second chance once the dust settles.

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• Day 54 of 170: Get that Man a Supporting Cast (0)
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• Day 41 of 170: Nene’s Groin (16)

How inconsiderate.

No worries. New Jersey is not likely going to be the NBA’s most pitiful team this season. Anymore. That alone, is something worth cheering about!

Image via NJ.com

We, as all good role-players do, shall chug along and do our blue collar duties without question nor complaint.  Dang, did I just refer to myself collectively? Must need sleep. Besides, Patrick already gave you a quick look-see as to what their depth chart would be like assuming the aforementioned deal should rise from its sarcophagus, like an old and ugly mummy flick.

Frankly, all of this “Melo trade B.S.” is hurting the team right now, more than it is inspiring.

If it’s any consolation, for me at least, Anthony Morrow has been penciled in as the starting shooting guard. That at least saves me the future trouble of adjusting the ubiquitous:

Depth Chart

PG Devin Harris, Jordan Farmar

SG Anthony Morrow, Terrence Williams

SF Travis Outlaw, Stephen Graham, Quinton Ross, Damion James

PF Troy Murphy, Derrick Favors, Kris Humphries

C  Brook Lopez, Joe Smith, Johan Petro, Brian Zoubek

The Nets are really rubbing the grease on the word “New” ahead of the word “Jersey” this season.

What’s new? Hmmm… Owner, Coach, a truck load of new faces via off-season signings, and a slice of some MELO-dramatic pie.

Not everything new translates to something good. As far as the Nets are concerned, however, I’m leaning to believe that they’re headed for better and brighter things this season.

Front and Center

Brook Lopez – There really isn’t much to say here. He’s the hands down best, C-only eligible guy when you don’t feel like you want to punt FT%. And considering some half-insane experts out there believe that we’re about to experience one the toughest droughts at the five-spot in recent history, Brook’s value to fantasy owners only gets shinier as each C-eligible guy goes down with an injury. The Nets have loaded up on, well added more, three-point shooters. This is likely designed to spread out the defense a bit more for Brook to throw around his ever improving post-game in the shaded area. He’s a second round, early grab. No ifs or buts about it. What’s not to love? Back to back 82-games played seasons? His being primed for that “third year bump?” 20/10/1.9 is definitely not out of the question folks. Patrick and I have him at 14th overall. Nels, whose cat probably got run over by Bro-Lo in some freak accident, brings down his average by leaving him at 21. In fairness to Nels, Brook did finish last season at  23rd overall on our rater last season. Maybe he’s just not as bullish as we are.

Troy Murphy – Almost every season now, you get your rankings, you look at Murphy and you decide to downgrade the guy just because you fear his injury prone past. At the end of each season, however, Troy somehow seems (through per game averages) to exceed expectations. He’s where Nels really throws his mid-ball, man-crush weight around. He gives Troy only a slight downgrade at 27, which actually sounds fair considering Murphy actually finished 2010 at 20th overall. Patrick and I are less optimistic, as we have the fella at 37th and 31st respectively. That gives you, dear readers, 31.7 on our rankings. That as you can see is already fairly pessimistic. Troy will still likely score in the low teens, shoot about two treys a night, but might not be able to keep up his 10.2 rebound average from last season.

Derrick Favors – He was the Nets’ “big catch” on draft day as the picked him 3rd overall. Here’s what Jeff Eisenberg had to say in his analysis of Favors on that day.

This pick will be judged on whether or not Derrick Favors turns out to be a better pro than DeMarcus Cousins. Favors wasn’t as productive a low-post scorer or rebounder as Cousins in their lone year in college, but he also was hampered by a Georgia Tech backcourt that at times seemed to be allergic to making entry passes to him. His athleticism and upside are excellent and he’ll fit in nicely alongside center Brook Lopez in the Nets’ frontcourt. — Jeff Eisenberg

For now, GMTR has him cracking our Top 150 at 149.7, which puts him within range for a nice, comfortable seat on your fantasy team’s bench as you wait and see how he’ll do over the first couple of months of the regular season.

The Point Guard I Never Really Learned to Love

I liked Devin Harris for about a month and a half in the 2008-09 season. That was as far as that fantasy basketball fling went. Considering I just LOVE point guards, at times way too much, when it comes to fantasy hoops, I don’t know what it is exactly about Harris that turns me off. Is it his lack of threes? Is it his “OK” steals average (1.2 last season), considering he was once known as a defender during his Dallas days? In the end, I must admit that it’s his injury prone past. He’s played in an average of 66.5 games over the last couple of seasons. That being said, we at GMTR do believe that he’s capable of bouncing back this season. Until the uncertainty surrounding Harris’ possible departure from the team clears up, we’ll put a hold on further projections.

Don’t Sleep on ‘Em!

Travis Outlaw, Anthony Morrow, and Terrence Williams are all legitimate sleeper candidates. Outlaw is looking to bounce back from an injury-plagued season with the Trail Blazers and Clippers last year. Patrick and I really like him. He’s one of those guys who can quietly give you a little bit of everything. Speaking of “like,” I am actually higher on Morrow now that he’s with the Nets than if he ended up staying at Golden State. I’m looking to see him deliver a ton of threes and at impressive shooting percentages to complement ‘em to boot. T-Will has the potential to emerge as an all-around facilitator off the bench. In case you don’t draft him, you should do your due diligence and slap him on your watch list at least.

For Your 12-team Fantasy Basketball drafting guidance:

Brook Lopez – Early second, or you’ll miss out.

Troy Murphy – Round 3

Anthony Morrow – Round 7

Devin Harris – Round 7

Derrick Favors – Round 13

Travis Outlaw – Round 13. A must consider in 14-team leagues or deeper.

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• Day 165 of 170: A Night of Desirable Objects (0)
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Whew.

New Jersey Nets

The trade clears out some of the Nets depth chart, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing given all the players they had under contract. Here is the Nets new projected depth chart:

PG: D.J. Augustin, Jordan Farmar, Ben Uzoh
SG: Terrence Williams , Anthony Morrow
SF: Carmelo Anthony, Travis Outlaw, Stephen Graham, Damion James
PF: Troy Murphy, Kris Humphries
C: Brook Lopez, Joe Smith, Johan Petro, Brian Zoubek

Avery Johnson was a solid regular season coach for Dallas a couple years back, but his Mavs teams were at the bottom of the league in pace factor (an estimate of the number of possessions per 48 minutes for a team). By contrast, the Nuggets were 5th in the league last season in pace. That probably means a few less touches and scoring opportunities per game for Carmelo. However, the offense will clearly run through him, so his numbers shouldn’t be affected all that much fantasy-wise.

Travis Outlaw – who I had pegged as a sleeper going into the year – will now be buried behind Anthony. I like D.J. Augustin less on the Nets than I did on the Bobcats because Jordan Farmar is more likely to steal minutes away from him than Shaun Livingston. The rest of the team shouldn’t be affected all that much, although Troy Murphy becomes a much safer draft pick now that Favors is gone.

***

Charlotte Bobcats

PG: Devin Harris, Shaun Livingston, Sherron Collins
SG: Stephen Jackson, Gerald Henderson, Matt Carroll
SF: Gerald Wallace, Eduardo Najera, Dominic McGuire
PF: Tyrus Thomas, Derrick Brown
C: Nazr Mohammed, DeSagana Diop, Kwame Brown

Tyrus Thomas is the big winner here. Thomas could only average 22 minutes a game after being traded to the Bobcats last season, but with Boris Diaw out of the picture, he’ll start and see a big jump in minutes. Harris’ fantasy value shouldn’t change all that much on the Bobcats. Maybe he is asked to do a little less scoring, but a far bigger determinate of his value this season is whether or not he can stay healthy.

Denver Nuggets

PG Chauncey Billups, Ty Lawson, Anthony Carter
SG Arron Afflalo, J.R. Smith
SF Andrei Kirilenko, Renaldo Balkman
PF Al Harrington, Kenyon Martin, Derrick Favors, Shelden Williams
C Nene Hilario, Chris Andersen

Facing the loss of Anthony, the Nuggets are gearing up for a rebuilding process by grabbing draft picks and Derrick Favors. In addition, Kirilenko’s contract expires at the end of this season. For now he’ll fill in the hole left by Anthony. Any potential fantasy impact that Favors had on the Nets this season is down the drain. That’s a lot of depth chart for him to climb through and by all accounts he needs the time to develop anyway. Who is going to pick up the scoring hole left by Anthony? Probably some combination of Billups, Harrington, J.R. Smith and Nene.

Utah Jazz

PG: Deron Williams, Ronnie Price, Sundiata Gaines
SG: C.J. Miles, Raja Bell, Othyus Jeffers
SF: Boris Diaw, Gordon Hayward, Jeremy Evans
PF: Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap
C: Mehmet Okur, Francisco Elson

The trade saves the Utah some money this year, although Jazz fans aren’t exactly excited about swapping AK for Diaw. Fantasy wise, things should not change all that much for Diaw, provided he can stay out of Jerry Sloan’s doghouse.

Other Stuff Like This:

• Fantasy Basketball Preview: New Jersey Nets (1)
• Fantasy Basketball Player Tiers: Small Forwards (3)
• Not a Bad Consolation Prize: Deron Williams Heading to the Nets (3)
• Time to Get REAL: Part One (2)
• Day 116 of 170: Amar’e Stoudemire Would Have Made a Shot (8)
• Day 44 of 170: The Iceman Cometh (4)
• Day 34 of 170: Ever wonder if Mark Cuban wants Devin Harris back? (5)

Here’s a quick look at who went where:

Trevor Ariza (SF), Houston –> New Orleans

Darren Collison (PG) and James Posey (SF), New Orleans –> Indiana

Troy Murphy (PF), Indiana –> New Jersey

Courtney Lee (G/F), New Jersey –> Houston

Houston Rockets – They get Courtney Lee, who as far as the stat sheets are concerned, is a current downgrade from what they had going with Ariza. IF Yao Ming recovers fully, and that is a big “IF,” they will want to re-sign him for good. They (Houston) realized that Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry fetched a pretty penny this off-season and wanted to shed some cash off their books. While Lee was known as a reasonably solid defender back in WKU, he still has to break out in the NBA. Nonetheless, his potential is there and his cheaper contract and accompanying trade exemption was something the Rockets did not want to pass up. We know he can play at the three, but whether or not Coach Rick Adelman will utilize him as the starting small forward or as a back-up to Kevin Martin (SG), will determine his fantasy value. If he will not start, expect Shane Battier to reprise his role as the team’s primary defender on the wings. I’ll be slightly optimistic on this one and count more on Lee’s potential (and Battier’s age) and expect him to at least be penciled in as a starter.

UPDATE: It has been announced (late August 12, 2010) that Shane Battier will be starting at SF. That means that Lee will likely be looked upon to be the team’s primary all-around guy off the bench a.k.a. Sixth Man. This hurts Lee’s fantasy value while slightly improves what remains of Battier’s.

Trade Grade: C+

New Orleans Hornets – For them, this just the first step in “Chris Paul courtship” process. They shed James Posey’s bloated deal and  trade away Paul’s only true competition as the team’s Almighty Point Guard in Collison. They’re trying to send their star a message that “We are committed to build a good team around you! So please stay… pretty please?” But isn’t this just a remixed version of a Cleveland-inspired song and dance that was in vouge just a couple of years ago? If Paul indeed granted the team a clean slate to fulfill its promises, this is a start. As they say, “it takes two to tango,” Chris Paul better keep himself healthy this 2010 (at least as best as he can), if he wants his value and corresponding demand to stay at its current levels. With Darren Collison, or Chris-Paul-lite, gone; it would be a huge kick in the nuts for the Hornets if Paul decides to do a “The Decision v.3.1 Beta” a couple of years down the road.

Trevor Ariza is a nice addition to the team. He will likely start ahead of Peja Stojakovic and his ailing back. This definitely downgrades what little fantasy value Peja has left, as he’s now truly just a three-point shooting specialist off the bench. At his age and health history, it comes as no surprise that his role is now a little more Kyle Korver and less Danilo Gallinari. I originally pegged Ariza as a sixth to seventh round fantasy draft target while he was still a Rocket. Well if you ascribe to the thinking that players benefit from playing alongside great, passing point guards; then we should see some improvement in Ariza’s numbers in 2010. I see him now as pick-worthy somewhere between the fifth and sixth rounds, which should roughly translate into a 10-spot rank bump. That’s already generous, considering I was already high on his fantasy prospects as a Rocket. With Paul and David West commanding most of the scoring responsibilities, I foresee Trev being able to continue being a solid counting stat contributor while CP3′s passing improves his FG%. His FT% will still leave a lot to be desired, but I don’t see him heading to the line that often anyway, so it (ideally) shouldn’t hurt your fantasy team’s overall average (too much).

Trade Grade: A- (if they ended up securing Paul in the long term); C+ (if they lose Paul anyway)

New Jersey Nets - Admittedly, I was a bit bewildered and befuddled at their move, to say the least. I did not see this one coming. Why take Murphy, a power forward, when they just drafted Derrick Favors (third overall and also a PF)? Are they trying to piss off recently signed Sean May, whose shoes will hardly taste the hardwood after this deal? Why let go of Courtney Lee, who showed brief flashes of improvement last season?

It took awhile and a cup of coffee later, but I see how this move makes sense for the Nets. Anthony Morrow will likely step in as a starter in Lee’s stead. Sleeper Alert! - There, he isn’t one anymore.

Murphy not only improves the team’s front court rotation, but adds even more firepower from downtown. Improved three-point shooting is clearly a dimension Coach Avery Johnson wants to develop. This is apparent by the team’s signings of Morrow, Farmar, and Outlaw this off season. We might see him ask Brook Lopez assert himself more down in the post, to attract double teams, and leave a lot of teammates free to take open threes. Call it Orlando-esque all you want, but I think it’s a sound game plan given the pieces the team currently has. In a nutshell, we should see Murphy do more of pretty much the same old thing he was doing in Indiana, grab rebounds and lob threes. I see his boards taking a slight hit, but he should average a hair below a double-double still. Once again, as it has been for many seasons now, the issue with Troy is his ability stay healthy.

This deal also means that second-year player, Terrence Williams, will now ever so slightly (whether you want him to or not) creep into your draft radar. Kind of like crack whore who’s so blasted, that she’s wandered into your home by mistake. Not in a bad way, but in a “it’s something you did not expect” kind of way. Unless of course that would be your kind of thing, but that’s on a whole other boat of wierd that’s probably already sailed. Anyway, T-Will should now be on your late-round radars, at least in 14-man leagues or deeper. For 12-man, he should at least be on your watch lists.

Trade Grade: B to B+ (depending on how many games Troy ends up playing for the Nets)

Indiana Pacers - They, and Darren Collison fantasy fans, are the big winners in all of this. The Pacers have long been pining for a point-guard-not-named-Ford. Collison, who showed us all, that he’s a more than serviceable PG, fits that bill to a tee. It was kind of nice to see how well Murphy and Danny Granger worked well together last season, so it was kind of sad to see him go. But alas, Indiana really has should have room for ONE injury prone guy, and it looks like Danny Granger’s got dibs on that slot. So, goodbye Troy… and helloooo Darren!

I would taper expectations for Collison this season. He’s not playing in the same system anymore and is still just a sophomore in the league. He WILL do well, but he may or may not explode/break-out depending on how well he fits in his new team. If he’s got an awesome learning curve, then that’s a bonus. Without any real and serious competition for minutes, he should on our Top 10 PG bubble, if not on the list straight away. Seeing him average a 16 PPG and 7 APG this season, would be sweet. Larry Bird lucked out on this acquisition. Word!

With Troy gone, Roy Hibbert will now be more important to Pacers’ front court as ever. We’re not questioning his defensive zeal (much), just his ability to ONLY hit the ball when going for those blocks – and stay out of early foul trouble. Watch list material or late-round flier categorization will all depend on how much you think he and his game has matured during the Summer.

Trade Grade: A-

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Line of the Night: A triple-double for Dirk Nowitzki (1.44) against the Denver Nuggets as he scored 34 points, with 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He also hit 4 threes and was 16-17 from the line for good measure. I was surprised to see it’s only Dirk’s second career triple-double.

Honorable Mentions: No triple-doubles for Pau Gasol (1.06), but he pulled down 26 points and 22 rebounds against Emeka Okafor and the Hornets, although the Lakers still lost the game; Deron Williams (0.76) had 23 points, 14 assists and 5 threes against the Knicks while Carlos Boozer (0.47) added 26 and 14; and speaking of the Knicks, Al Harrington (0.73) did ok for himself with 26 points and 17 rebounds coming off the bench for New York.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Not a strong night for lesser players. James Posey (0.44) checks in with the 12th best line of yesterday, scoring 13 points and grabbing 6 boards in 28 minutes off the bench for the Hornets. With Peja likely out the rest of the season and Morris Peterson already starting to wear out his welcome in the starting lineup, it seems like Posey can carve out 25-30 minutes a game off the bench for New Orleans. Unfortunately, the quality of those minutes will be suspect, especially on the offensive end of the floor.

Other than Posey, you are looking at DJ Augustin (0.23), who scored 9 points with 5 assists and 3 threes in 17 off the bench for the Bobcats (you can’t bag on that kind of productivity); Wesley Matthews (0.14) who scored 12 points for the Jazz against the homemade fantasy flamethrower known as the Knicks; and Larry Hughes (0.12), who got 21 minutes for the Bobcats and scored 13 points.

In other words, everyday isn’t a winner.

The best pick up I can offer you is Steve Blake. The Clippers didn’t play last night, but the news is that Baron Davis will miss the Clippers’ upcoming road trip with a bad back. Blake was surprisingly effective in the 4 starts he’s made this year for the Clippers and is worth the pickup if you are in dire need of a PG.

The Biggest Loser: However, everyday does have a loser. Usually, it’s me in the game called life, but today we’ll give it to the Nets, who think they are too good for history by winning their 10th game this season and 3rd game out of their last four. Don’t they realize that being a witness to history transcends the short-term shame they would have felt for losing 73+ games?

Oh and did anyone else see the 60 Minutes interview with the Nets likely new owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail D. Prokhorov? Some really, possibly unintentionally, funny stuff in there like when they showed his normal work day and where a computer would typically be (he doesn’t use one) he had a giant spread of all kinds of food. That was great. But you’d think the richest man in Russia could spring for a dentist to fix his teeth.

Alright, if you want an actual player to focus your hate on today, we’ll go with Morris Peterson (-0.4) for lack of a better choice. Peterson started the game, but only saw 16 minutes on the court, scoring 5 points on 1-5 shooting with 1 rebound and 0 assists. Carmelo Anthony (-0.04) was 3-16 from the floor and finished with a measly 10 points against Dallas, but compensated for his bad shooting night with 9 rebounds, a three and a steal. It’s not great, but it’s something according to Basketball Monster.

All Eyez on Me:

Phoenix (47-26) at Chicago (35-38) – The Suns head to Chicago in what should be a dominating game for Amare Stoudemire. Robin Lopez is done for the regular season with a bad back, putting an end to his solid second half of the season. That means Channing Frye is back in business. And Blog a Bull spends some time on the Bulls’ position in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Los Angeles (27-46) at Milwaukee (40-32) – Player to watch in this one: Steve Blake, who should get the start at PG with Baron Davis out. And good news for anyone counting on Andrew Bogut down the stretch; he had a solid 18 point, 11 rebound game for the Bucks on the 28th after really struggling the previous week.

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Don’t miss a day of the Fantasy NBA. Subscribe to Give Me The Rock  right now. You can also get bonus (and easily digestible) content by following GMTR on Twitter, or join the Give Me The Rock Room on FriendFeed to get posts, Twitters, and Midnight Snacks all in one place. You can even become a fan of GMTR on Facebook! We’re so social!

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Honorable Mentions: Kevin Durant (1.27) filled up the box score against the Sixers with a 33 point, 5 rebound, 5 three, 3 steal night; Marcus Camby (1.21) grabbed 19 boards with 5 steals against the Rockets; and Rashard Lewis (1.15) had a 20 and 11 with 5 threes against the Knicks.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: I think it’s fair to say that most people had given up on Mike Conley (0.94). And rightly so – through the first month of the season Conley was averaging 8 points and 4.8 assists in about 27 minutes a game. But with Iverson officially out of the picture now that he’s signed with Philadelphia, Conley can stop waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under him and focus on playing basketball. In last night’s win over the Wolves, Conley got 33 minutes of burn, scoring 20 points while hitting 4-7 from three. More than 3 assists would have been nice, but we’ll take what we can get from Conley.

Desperate for Free Agents? Mickael Pietrus (0.58) got his 10th consecutive start at SF for the Magic and scored 17 points; and Chase Budinger (0.47) had 19 points and 5 rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench for the Rockets.

Yes, Heeeeeeeeee’s Back: Allen Iverson is returning to the Sixers after signing with the team yesterday. He’s expected to join the team for next Monday’s game against Denver and will start in place of the injured Lou Williams. While I am personally not in love with Iverson’s game, I guess you have to pick him up if he’s available in your league since he’ll be starting (and therefore happy) as long as Williams is out. But when Sweet Lou returns, things could be ugly again.

The Biggest Loser: I thought T.J. Ford (-0.67) might have gotten hurt when I saw this line: 0 points, 0-4 from the floor, 0 rebounds and 1 assist in 20 minutes. Nope, not hurt. Just all bad.

Chris Bosh (-0.62) wasn’t hurt either. Instead, he battled foul trouble early and then sat a lot of the second half as the Hawks ran away with a 146-115 win. Bosh finished with a season low 2 points, adding 5 boards in 16 minutes.

All Eyez on Me: Three games tonight:

Boston (14-4) at San Antonio (9-6) – In the epic battle of which team can be the oldest, the Celtics deftly countered the Spurs’ Antonio McDyess signing this offseason by bringing in Rasheed Wallace. And while the Spurs could argue they are basically getting what they expected out of McDyess, I don’t think there is any argument to be made for Sheed’s 9 points and 4 rebounds a game for Boston. Hopefully you didn’t draft Wallace expecting him to put up a line similar to what he had done with the Pistons.

Miami (10-7) at Denver (13-5) – It was somewhat of a shaky start to the year, but Michael Beasley has come on strong, scoring in double-digits in each of the Heat’s last 7 games. He’s also averaging about 9 rebounds a game over that span.

The Golden Ticket: Houston (10-8) at Golden State (6-11) – The Dream Shake looks at what is wrong with the Rocket’s defense. But what I really want to know is if the Warriors have even heard Don Nelson say the word defense at any point during this season.

***

Dont miss a day of the Fantasy NBA. Subscribe to Give Me The Rock  right now. You can also get bonus (and easily digestible) content by following GMTR on Twitter, or join the Give Me The Rock Room on FriendFeed to get posts, Twitters, and Midnight Snacks all in one place. You can even become a fan of GMTR on Facebook! We’re so social!

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