NBA News

For those of you reading this, it’s safe to assume you are a die-hard NBA fan like myself - and like me, who is particularly in the players I must have on my fantasy team and can’t get enough of (mostly anyone in a Cavaliers uniform), you will probably have a bias opinion whether as well.  Whether you’re voting for your favorite teams’ top rookie, or your favorite NCAA team’s top player from the previous year.  Whatever the case may be, I feel, as many of you would agree, the Rookie of the Year award is far from being over.  It’s also safe to say that Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo, Russel Westbrook, and Micheal Beasley are amongst everyone’s top choices so far - so I’m going to name a few rooks you should really keep an eye on in these upcoming weeks as their stock for both the Rookie of the Year award AND fantasy value will go up.  Before I name my picks, I want you to keep this in mind: Derrick Rose and the Bulls are struggling big time with a record of 15-20.  They wouldn’t get into the playoffs if they began today and with injuries from Kirk Hinrich, Drew Gooden who by the way could see action very soon, and Luol Deng, it doesn’t look good for their playoff hopes.  O.J. Mayo and Memphis are 11-24 and will most likely not be making it past the regular season this year.  Oklahoma City, needless to say, is the worst team in the NBA this year and though Russel Westbrook is having a good rookie season, I don’t think he should be mentioned for the top honors.  The Miami Heat’s Micheal Beasley is the only rookie in the top-4 right now who would be in the playoffs if they started today.  But you have to ask yourself, how much of the Heats success (if you would call it that) can be thanks to Micheal Beasley?  I have two words for you: Dwyane Wade.  The point that I hope I’m proving is that the Rookie of the Year award should be given to the rookie with not the big numbers, but the record to back those numbers up as well - which brings me to my picks.  Brook Lopez has undoubtedly helped the Nets immensely in the Center position close to averaging a double-double (10 points - 8 rebounds) and 2.0 blocks-per-game on top of that.  With Devin Harris sidelined with a hamstring injury, New Jersey will have to count on their 7 foot bigman now more than ever so keep an eye on Lopez.  Also, Rudy Fernandez and the 20-14, 7th seeded Blazers!  Rudy started in Brandon Roy’s position for Portlant against the Celtics, and even though he didn’t have a great shooting night (2/7 from the field with 8 points), his presence on the court absolutely helped the Trail Blazers past the Celtics last week.  Their next 2 games were against the best teams in the West - Hornets and Lakers - where Fernandez scored 19 points with 3 3-pointers, 4 rebounds, and 2 assits against New Orleans, and 14 points with 2-3pointers, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals against the Lakers.  My point:  Keep Lopez and Fernandez in mind when talking to your buddies about this years Rookie of the Year Award.

I will be doing a piece on the players in the league who you might be able to snag off Free Agency in your league.  I’ll also point out the players many fantasy owners have on their team who they should drop or trade while it’s not too late to get someone better in return.  If you have any questions or want my opinion on if you should accept a trade, add/drop a players, who to start/sit, and anything else related to the NBA you may feel free to send me questions or comments!  Thanks!

While most people believe King James is the backbone to Cleveland’s unmatched and undefeated record at home winning all 17 games at the Q, the loss of veteran center Zydrunas Ilgauskas proves otherwise.  An MRI taken on Friday showed that Big Z chipped his right talus bone and unfortunately will miss a month of action.  Fortunately for us Cavs fans who know how much reliance we can put on Anderson “Wild Thing”  Varejao, there’s not much need to worry…at least not yet.  The Cavs have gone 1-2 in their last 3 games, including an away loss to our arch enemies in Washington and a disappointing loss in Miami on the King’s birthday (12/30) where Dwayne Wade’s double-double lifted the Heat passed Cleveland.  This week isn’t going to get any easier either without Big Z when Gerald Wallace and Company visit the Q tonight and needless to say, the big game against the Celtics being aired on ESPN Friday.  But let’s take this one game at a time and talk about a couple matchups that we’ll see tonight.  Varejao will have his work cut out for him as he’ll go up against the red hot 6 feet 10 inch National Champion from UConn, Emeka Okafor who has tallied 4 double-doulbes in his last 5 games including an incredible 13 point, 17 rebound, 3 block game and win against defending World Champion Boston Celtics.  There no doubt in my mind Varejao is going to come into this game with the same energy and downright inspirational play he has been bringing to the court for the Cavaliers every game so far this season.  The big matchup in tonight’s game will certainly be Gerald Wallace against Lebron - and with Wallace putting up numbers like he did against the Celtics (23 points, 8/8 from the line, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals)  I wouldn’t say this is going to be one of the easier games Cleveland will play this season with the kind of momentum Charlotte is bringing to the Q.