HOOPLOG: Ben Wallace

A whole new look NBA

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 23:01:57 -0800

Just to recap, here's the moves made in the past 24 hours or so:

The Bulls signed Ben Wallace (and acquired P.J. Brown and one year of his contract for Tyson Chandler's enormously long/overpriced deal)
The Hornets went insane and signed Peja Stojakovic, Bobby Jackson, and traded for Tyson Chandler.
The Lakers signed Vlad Radmanovic.
The Clippers signed Tim Thomas.
The Hawks signed Speedy Claxton.

Like I said...a whole new NBA. And the free agent signing period hasn't even officially began.

Ben Wallace NBA Defensive Player of Year (AP)

Sun, 07 May 2006 12:05:32 -0800

Detroit Pistons center Ben Wallace won the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award Monday for the fourth time in five years for his ability to guard Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James. Wallace, a muscular 6-foot-9, 240-pounder, is one of only two players in league history to win the award four times.

Fred Savage is Gangsta

Fri, 05 May 2006 12:14:51 -0800

This is completely not related to the Pistons, but here's something to get you through your Friday workday doldrums: Crazy Crazy, the folks who think Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace are quite Glorious, have released another hilarious video: Starstruck.

Mitch Albom talks to Ben Wallace

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 09:44:17 -0800

Mitch Albom has an outstanding article about Ben Wallace in today's Free Press. Here are a couple of highlights . . .

On his decision not to re-enter the Orlando game:

"What I was saying was, 'Look, if we're not gonna play to win the game … there's no need to put us out there,' " Ben says now. He claims he had gone to Saunders earlier in the game, complaining that the team was lapsing into one-on-one basketball. He felt his words were ignored. It bugged him.

"It's the kind of stuff that happens … but this time, a couple of writers were sitting a little closer to our bench and they caught whiff of it and decided to make a story out of it. … It didn't bother me. … It didn't bother Flip. … I mean, two or three games before that, Rasheed (Wallace) was having a good night and Flip was … gonna put (Antonio) McDyess in for him and I go up and tell him, 'Man, (Rasheed's) rolling … let him go. I'll come out.' But they didn't catch that."

On whether he will re-sign with Detroit in the offseason:

"Do you look at this as your one big contract chance?"

"I know this is my one and only chance right here. But I don't want to make a big deal of it. … I haven't said anything to Joe (Dumars) about it. … Me and Joe got a great relationship. We come from similar backgrounds, so I pretty much know I don't have to say anything. He already knows."

I read a lot of articles about the Pistons and various players, but this is definitely one of the better pieces I've come across. Not a big surprise — it is Mitch Albom — but it's definitely something Detroit basketball fans should check out if they haven't already.

MITCH ALBOM: Big Ben's last stand? [Detroit Free Press]

Blowing Ben Wallace Up

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 09:56:20 -0800

So here’s a phrase you weren’t ready to hear on a Thursday morning: “Ben Wallace Blow-Up Doll.”

Detroit Bad Boys has the story; a product meant (apparently) to help kids deal with seven-foot tall Afroed centers called The Inflatable Defender.

The idea is that you blow up Ben and then, uh, just kind of put him in your driveway and let your kids drive around him. Definitely don’t elbow him, though, or you’ll end up with one of those neighborhood brawls.

When we received the email this morning informing us of the “NBA blow-up doll,” we’ll be honest, we had thought of something else entirely.

All The Fun, Half The Bruises [Detroit Bad Boys]
The Inflatable Defender [Official Site]

Luke-Warm Pickups

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 09:42:32 -0800

As we near the end of the fantasy season, it’s important to recognize that you’re not going to find those awesome pickups that you always spend time trolling for during the first half of the year. And as you look for players to fill those extra games you’ve got lying around, your standards have to drop a bit. Remember – even if you play a guy who gets 2 points, a rebound and an assist, that’s 2 more points, one more rebound and one more assist than you’d have if you just let an extra game go by. With that in mind, let’s see if we can find some guys who are good bets for a single game here or there:

Nate Robinson, G, NYK
Robinson’s got a couple of things going for him. One, he qualifies at both guard positions, which mean that he’s got added value for those filling games. Two, with Stephon Marbury still out, Larry Brown may be forced to play him as Steve Francis’s backup. And three, even if he doesn’t see a bunch of minutes, he’s still a good bet for a three or a steal as long as he gets on the court. Of course, he does have the major negative of being under the rule of Larry Brown, who may be the most hated man in all of fantasy basketball, even surpassing Hubie Brown of a few years ago. As of yesterday, Robinson looked like a great play. As of this morning, it’s a slightly different story as news comes out that he was nearly sent to the D-League a month ago. But Robinson, who plays three times over the next four days, is still a nice game-filler for those of you with extra guard games.

Antonio McDyess, PF, DET
With Rasheed Wallace being suspended for tonight’s game, McDyess will likely be counted on for 30+ minutes. But even when he’s seeing his typical 20 or so mpg, he’s still a nice asset. He’ll contribute in both defensive categories, rebounds, and recently he’s been on a bit of a scoring streak. Also, with the playoffs approaching, McDyess is a strong candidate for more playing time as Ben Wallace and Sheed get a little rest now that the playoffs have been clinched. It’s also a possibility that Dale Davis will see some extra time off the Piston pine, but probably not enough to make him worthwhile.

The Phoenix Chuckers
Any of these guys – James Jones, Leandro Barbosa, Eddie House, Tim Thomas, Raja Bell – could be a fine pickup if you’re looking for threes. With Mike D’Antoni allowing his players to shoot at will, and Steve Nash putting them in position to do just that, the Suns not only take the most threes of any team in the league, they also make the highest percentage of them. The problem is knowing who’s going to have the hot hand from night to night. Last Friday, Barbosa exploded for 28 points – the next game, he was held to 10. But all of them, on average, will give you at least one three and maybe 8-10 points with a spattering of other stats.

Martell Webster, G/F, POR
While the rest of his team is a complete disaster, Webster will have an opportunity to strut his stuff over the final few weeks of the season. He’ll have his ups and downs, but in the end he’ll be a big help in threes, and should contribute in points and FT% as well. Anything more than that might be asking too much, but he’s also a candidate for one of those out-of-nowhere breakout games as well.

Recap: Warriors 105, Lakers 106

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 13:39:06 -0800

Sure the Warriors lost, but this isn't a loss I mind. A one point overtime loss on the road without JRich is nothing to be ashamed about. For the most part they played tough. Are they headed to the playoffs? Well that's another story.

Boxscore

"What I have to pass the ball?"

Most of hoops nation had their eyes on their game to see how many points Kobe would drop. Pietrus played some pretty solid defense on Kobe on the first half (5 points) and then Monty used Derek Fisher to guard him for most of the second half (25 points). Yeah don't ask. I'm over simplifying it, but basically Monty doesn't have a clue about shutting down the other team's best offensive threat. Kobe didn't really seem to be trying in this game till the 4th quarter. Maybe the unfair criticism about his 81 point game got to him.

Air France took off!

Mikael Pietrus started in place of the injured JRich and showed some flashes of why many teams in the league are interested in him. Finally getting some minutes (39), MP2 dropped a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The points are nice, especially the 2 dunks, but what I like most about Pietrus' night was his rebounding. He's a big, athletic wingman. MP2 should be rebounding like this more often. Mikael can do wonders for his offensive game if he wasn't so in love with the three pointer, developed a midrange game, took it to the hole more, and focused on rebounding.

His 1 steal and 1 block hint at the defense he's capable of. With Monty foolishly going with Fisher on Kobe in the second half, Pietrus pretty much shut down Lamar Odom. Odom was going at Dunleavy before he was knocked out of the game with a rolled ankle (keep reading), but looked like a scrub against Pietrus.

Monty- START PIETRUS INSTEAD OF DUNLEAVY. Dunleavy has had every chance in the world and still hasn't shown he deserves to be starting. Pietrus gives the Warriors defense and aggressiveness- something they need to avoid being down by so many points early in games.

T-Double had 15 points and collected 14 boards. His defense has really picked up the past few games. Aside from one perfectly timed block on Odom late in the game, Foyle had a pretty bad night. 4 rebounds in 27 minutes from your starting center is unnaceptable.

Derek Fisher really likes to shoot. No, I mean he really likes to shoot. He took 15 shots, but at least he went to the line 10 times. Have you noticed that every time he plays the Lakers he tries to be like Kobe (more so than usual)? My theory is that Fish wants to play for Phil and the Lakers real bad and he's trying to put on a show for them.

Before he rolled his ankle, Dunleavy looked like he was headed to another bad game. He's usually a pretty solid free throw shooter, but he missed both of his attempts last night. But for the first time, I think I saw why maybe some clueless Warriors fans think he's so smart. I always thought people believed this because a) his dad is a coach (which is dumb since intelligence is not genetic) and b) he's white (which is dumb because race has nothing to do with intelligence). It's because he has a big head.

His head is 3x the size of Smush's!

Dunleavy rolled his ankle in the first half after landing wrong when trying to collect a rebound. If you've ever played hoops, rolling your ankle is pretty painful. It's usually not a serious injury, but one that lingers and isn't fun. On a side note- is Mike Dunleavy Jim Barnett's love child? After Dunleavy landed wrong, he blamed Mike's ankle roll on Andris Biedrins (aka the Human Foul Film) for being out of position. Huh? Look Andris might be pretty uncoordinated (his free throw stroke makes Ben Wallace's look like Ray Allen's), but how is he responsible for Dunleavy's rolled ankle? Just insane.

Baron: "Get this scrub out of here!"

Hate to say this, but the Warriors are a better team without Dunleavy getting 30+ minutes a night. Even Jessica Alba who sat courtside seemed happy to waive Dunleavy goodbye.

Jessica: "Seeya Mike! My post up moves are more fantastic than yours!"

Tough loss, but good effort. Playoffs? PLAYOFFS?! Let's not get into that.

Warrior Wonder
Aside from jacking up an impossible shot at the end of the 4th when he was triple teamed, Boom Dizzle played like a superstar last night. 29 points, 10 dimes, and 3 steals without JRich is incredible. Baron took it to the hole, set up his teammates, and played pretty good defense. Great game.

Boom Deazy even had time to tickle Devean George behind his knee as he drove past him!

Center of Attention

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 19:41:34 -0800

Thought I’d throw up a special weekend column, since I’m not sure I’ll have one for tomorrow since it’s a holiday and all. Before we get into the situations to pay attention to, I thought we should check in on some of the centers who recently won starting jobs and were popular pick ups over the past couple weeks. I expressed skepticism about all of them for various reasons, and for the most part it looks like it was pretty well-founded.

Francisco Elson: 7.8/6.7/0.6, 0.7 steals, 1.1 blocks, 55% (31-of-56), 28.9 mpg in 9 starts

Ike Diogu: 9.4/4.5/0.9, 0.1 steals, 0.6 blocks, 62% (28-of-45), 24.1 mpg in 8 starts

Eddie Griffin: 6.6/6.0/0.7, 0.4 steals, 2.6 blocks, 0.3 3s, 43% (24-of-56), 22.4 mpg in 9 starts

I know that centers are tough to come by in deep, two-center leagues, but there’s still just not a lot of value up there. Elson is the only one getting acceptable minutes, but even his 29 per game might be considered a disappointment considering that not just Marcus Camby, but also Kenyon Martin, has been out for the majority of those nine games. He’s doing about what I expected him to do – basically a Rasho Nesterovic impersonation – and while he’s not been an embarrassment, those who were hoping for 12 and 8 with close to 2 blocks per game just had unreasonable expectations. Diogu has proven to be a stud in FG%, but if he can’t be on the court enough to take even 6 shots per game, he won’t be able to help you all that much. He’s nowhere close to an asset in any other category. As for Griffin, have more typestrokes been unnecessarily wasted on a single player?

Three Situations to Pay Attention To
Los Angeles Lakers
After just writing about how much space has been wasted writing about Eddie Griffin, it seems pretty silly to follow that up by writing about Kwame Brown. As much as we want to call Griffin a disappointment and a tease, it doesn’t even begin to compare to Kwame. But there seems to be a recent shift in Kwame’s game and might be making him a more reliable – if one-dimensional – fantasy option. In his fifth season in the league, Kwame has shown an extremely limited offensive game. His touch around the basket hasn’t developed at all, and while his jumper looks decent at times, he’s never been able to hit it with any consistency. Phil Jackson seems to have realized that – and maybe Kwame has as well – and isn’t asking Kwame to score. Last night’s 18-point “breakout” game was the first time since Nov. 14 that Kwame attempted 10 shots in a game. He’s been recast as someone who’s main duty is to attack the boards, especially on the offensive end. Brown averaged 1.9 offensive boards per game in November, 2.5 per game in December, and is up to 3.3 per game so far in January. The fact that many of his shots are coming off these offensive rebounds is helping his FG%. In six games since re-entering the starting lineup, he’s shooting 54%. Here’s his overall line in those six starts:

8.8/8.2/1.0, 0 steals, 0.5 blocks, 54% (21-of-39)

It’s pretty comparable to most of those “hot” pickups listed above, but without that secondary category to help out in. Although Brown has no steals in those six games, that’s the one category he’s most likely to offer some help in. He averaged nearly a steal per game while seeing 30 mpg in 03-04, which is pretty decent for a big man. If he remains in the starting lineup he could average somewhere around 0.8 steals and blocks per game, which isn’t spectacular, but isn’t terrible. Expecting any consistency from Kwame is probably pretty foolish at this point. A game like last night’s is still the exception, not the rule. But if he can keep pounding the boards and converting some of those putbacks, he might be able to emerge as something better than just another Reggie Evans.

Indiana Pacers
Let’s take a look at Jeff Foster’s line so far in January:

7.3/9.4/0, 0.4 steals, 0.4 blocks, 61% (22-of-36)

Again, not too different from the lines of those Elson/Diogu/Griffin group. Foster is quite similar – and the exact opposite – of Kwame Brown. Like Brown, he seems to be a one-category helper who is pretty consistent in that one category, but doesn’t have much of a shot of helping out elsewhere. Unlike Kwame, Foster seems to be getting the most out of his talent while Brown is getting only a portion. Foster’s upside is extremely limited – he will not score, he will not get blocks. But if you want a boost in rebounds – and only rebounds – he is probably one of the best guys you can grab. I’m not at all a fan of one category specialists because they leave you with holes in too many other categories, but situations get dicey sometimes, especially at center. I thought I was in the perfect situation earlier this year with Yao Ming and Rasheed Wallace, with a very capable backup on the bench in Brendan Haywood. Then Yao went down and Haywood became completely ineffective right around the same time. I ended up dumping Haywood, because he just wasn’t worth using. Since I’m in a daily changes, cumulative roto league, I decided to simply take the beating at center and go way under my projected games limit rather than try my luck with the dregs available on the waiver wire. My strategy is to use quality games when you have them. Right now I have a lot of point guards playing well, so I’ll go over the projected pace there and make a trade from there at a later date, even if it means not getting the best return. But in weekly H2H leagues, this strategy doesn’t work. So guys like Foster might be the best option available. And if you’re strong in blocks thanks to non-centers like Andrei Kirilenko, Shawn Marion or Paul Gasol, Foster can at least give you the boards you need from a center. He’s averaging 9.9 rpg in his last seven contests, and that’s in just 24.4 mpg. With Jermaine O’Neal iffy, he might see even more time. Foster’s no savior, but at least you know what you’ll be getting.

Dallas Mavericks
Did someone in your league pick up DeSagana Diop yesterday? It happened in my league, and I’ll admit I was about to make the move myself and was beaten to the punch by about five minutes. I’m not going to lose too much sleep over it, but man, I sure could have used that help in blocks. There’s no denying that Diop is a blocks machine – he’s second in the league blocks per minute, averaging 2.0 bpg in just over 17 minutes, which is rather ridiculous. But the big question is this – even with his ascent to the starting lineup, how much more playing time will Diop actually receive? In last night’s game he saw just 20 minutes, although it’s hard to read too much into that since the game was over early and Adrian Griffin was the only player in the game to play more than 30 minutes. One of the many problems with Diop early in his career was his total lack of conditioning, and while he’s gotten better, it’s hard for someone to start consistently playing more than he ever has and to do it at a high level. This is Diop’s fifth season in the league and he’s played more than 30 minutes in a game a grand total of two times. This is one of the same arguments I made against Al Jefferson even after he joined the starting lineup and he hasn’t broken the 30-minute mark at all in 8 starts. Avery Johnson hasn’t given up on Erick Dampier yet, and this could be one of those old-fashioned “motivation” benchings, although it might take more than that to motivate a guy who’s going to get paid $53 million over the next five seasons no matter what.

Some people want to think of Diop as a poor man’s Ben Wallace, but a homeless, penniless Ben Wallace might be more like it. Like Wallace, Diop can help out in steals; he averages 1.3 steals per 40 over his career, which isn’t bad at all for a center. Unfortunately, he also shares Big Ben’s inability to put the ball in the basket. While he’s shooting 45% this season, he’s a career 37% shooter. And it would be a miracle if he could ever get his FT% up to 50%. While he won’t shoot nearly enough in either category to hurt you too much, it’s still worth noting. The Mavs are an extremely deep team. They don’t need to have a center out there at all times, as they can get by with Dirk Nowitzki at the five for stretches. The Mavs need Diop to be at his most energetic whenever he’s out there, so it’s probably not in their best interests to have him out there for 32-35 mpg. Grab him, stash him, start him if you need him, but if there’s one lesson that his column should make you realize, it’s that finding serious help at center on the waiver wire is almost always more fantasy than reality.

Comet Gain
Chris Kaman – Wow. Just, wow. Not only a top center, but a dominant overall force the past couple weeks. Might not last when Elton Brand returns, but he’s looking more and more like a legit #1 center.

Samuel Dalembert – Like Kaman, not just a top center lately, but an absolutely dominant force. He’s not missing – including from the line – and he’s swatting away everything in sight (which unfortunately for the 76ers means many obvious goaltends). His 37 mpg so far in January is huge for a center.

Ben Wallace – The old Big Ben is back; 13.8 boards and 2.7 blocks so far in January. Now about that 29% from the free throw line in that span…

The Hold Steady
Rasheed Wallace – Has slowed down a bit, his rebounding leaves a lot to be desired from a C, but he’ll keep raining in those 3s and getting the blocks.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas – He’s staying healthy, he’s hitting his shots, and is more than respectable on the boards and in blocks. A steadying force in the middle.

Brad Miller – A couple of down games recently, but he’s still one of the top 30 or so fantasy players in the league.

The Fall
Shaquille O’Neal – You knew you were punting free throws; but 15/10 with just 1 block per game in January leaves a lot to be desired.

Brendan Haywood – Back in the starting lineup after a two-game absence, but still too inconsistent to be counted on.

Joel Przybilla – Nothing more than a blocks specialist now that Theo Ratliff is on a run of good health.

I’ll do my very best to answer any relevant big man questions in the comments here, so feel free to ask away on guys not mentioned (or mentioned) here.

Game Night: Pistons

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 11:00:16 -0800

While all eyes are on Rick Sund, the Sonics’ GM explains in this article that there won’t be any moves for at least two to three weeks, until Coach Hill has had a chance to take a look at his new rotation.

Hill also tossed in this beautiful swipe at The Magician, “You can't rotate 10 or 12 guys. You've got to have 8 1/2, nine guys max. And maybe Robert (Swift's) that half guy. And Robert's got to play.”

Amen, Bob. I can’t count how many times I anguished over the chaotic substitution pattern Weiss used during his reign. Of course, if the Sonics lose five in a row, Hill may be changing his tune. Losing tends to spoil one’s plans.

Anyway, the Sonics are, as they say up in Canada, “in tough” against the Pistons in Detroit tonight. One big fear is who will guard Chauncey Billups – because Ridnour is going to have a hell of a time defending him when he posts up. Oh, and there’s the question of getting rebounds when you’ve got Frenchie going up against Big Ben, and Radman trying to box out Rasheed Wallace. Oh, and can Sugar Ray put any stops to Rip Hamilton? Yikes.

Folks, the Bob Hill era may be experiencing its first slaughter tonight. That’s okay, though, because even Phil Jackson couldn’t help the Sonics tonight. But there’s no need to worry, Sonic fans, because right after the Pistons it’s a trip to the Big Apple for a matchup with Isaiah and his Big-Money All Stars!

Standings Management: How Much is Enough?

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 09:22:14 -0800

With most teams having played somewhere between 12 and 14 games so far, we’re still only about 15-18% of the way through the season. What that means for your fantasy team is that it’s still early. Really early. Early enough that with all the trades (both in real life and in your fantasy league), injuries, PT battles, and other factors still to come, it’s not yet time to really take a look at your standings to find statistical categories that you think you can make a run in. Remember, your goal is to be in first place at the end of the year, not the middle. And no, I’m not just saying that just because I’m not in first place right now in my league.

Anyhow, the biggest part of fantasy basketball, obviously, is getting the best players on your team, keeping up on who’s worth picking up, and all the other things that we talk about here at FBB on an almost-daily basis. But another important part is managing the standings with an eye on the end of the year. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today, and we’ll revisit the subject every couple of weeks as the season progresses.. And despite it being really early in the year, some teams might be in position to take advantage of some things going on in the standings.

Some teams are right now dealing with some extremes. Some might be woefully far behind and thinking about punting a category (which is a whole different article). Others, though might be way far ahead in a category. How do you play this situation? For example, if you’re dominating the field in blocks, is it worth having Alonzo Mourning on your team? After all, if you’re really that far ahead in blocks, his value is really being wasted on your squad.

But, how much is enough? How far ahead do you have to be in a certain category before you can start trading for other concerns? Well, it’s different in every situation and I’m sure there’s some crazy algorithm to figure out an exact number, but instead, let’s look at some things to keep in mind:

Look at averages, not totals.
Sure, your standings are generally in rotisserie-style totals, but it’s just a quick cut-and-paste into a spreadsheet and you can turn your total numbers into averages. This will give you a much better idea of just how much leverage you have. For example, if your team as a whole is averaging 10 blocks per “night” (with a “night” being defined as all of your starters playing one game), and the guy behind you is averaging 8 blocks per game, you can trade away 2 blocks and still maintain your lead.

Where’s the “bunch”?
In a lot of statistical categories, you’ll notice bunches of guys in the same area. Now, as I said in the beginning, these bunches will shift as the season progresses, but nonetheless you have to be worried if the category you’re dominating has a bunch at the next tier, for a couple of reasons. One, the more teams there are somewhat near you, the more teams there are with a chance to make a move and pass you. Two, if you suffer an injury to a contributor in that category, you’re now at risk of moving really far down the standings there. If the bunch is further down in the standings, you’re at far less risk if you do decide to trade a contributor.

Who’s ready to make a move?
Remember, this early in the season, some teams’ current output is not necessarily representative of what they will do over the course of the year. Just like an injury can bring your team down, a player returning from injury can boost another team’s numbers. A great example is the return of Samuel Dalembert. If you’ve got what seems like a great lead in blocks, but the guy behind you has Dalembert, your lead really isn’t as good as it seems, because Dalembert will help the other team catch up to – and quick.

Now, if you take a look at all of these things and still decide that you can give up some of your advantage in that category, don’t just look to trade one-category guys. For example, if you’re dominating boards, don’t just try to trade players like Zach Randolph or Ben Wallace. Trading strong-rebounding PG’s like Jason Kidd or Andre Miller is just as helpful for your team if you can get quality guys who don’t rebound like Chauncey Billups or Steve Nash in return.

Remember, this early in the year, it’s dangerous to make moves like this, but making the right call could have huge benefits for your fantasy squad down the line.

Ron Artest in Penthouse interview

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 17:00:57 -0800

Pacers forward Ron Artest talks about new ideas in upcoming Penthouse interview:

"Artest wants to fight Ben Wallace on pay-per-view for $10 million. His sensitive side finally shows itself!"

Another recent quote to Chicago Sun-Times, "Most of the places I go, fans love me ... They all want me on their teams"

And finally, another recent quote from the court-side:

"I'm going to continue playing hard and out of control, like a wild animal that needs to be caged in," Artest said.

How long will he last this season?

Overall Rankings: 31 to 60

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 09:59:37 -0800

1 to 30

31. Chauncey Billups – We love PGs here at FBB, and they don’t come more rock solid than this one.
32. Jason Terry – No, seriously, we love PGs, especially ones who were able to finish 30th on the player rater while only getting 30 mpg. The FG% will go down (way down), but everything else will go up.
33. Jason Richardson – J-Rich has only improved during his four years, and the Warriors are primed to be this year’s version of the Suns.
34. Kirk Hinrich – News that Duhon and not Gordon will be his starting backcourt mate is a bit of a buzzkill.
35. Zydrunas Ilgauskas – He’s proven he can stay healthy, but there are many weapons on Cleveland, whereas last year he was one of just three.
36. Ben Wallace – That FT% hurts more than you think and he’s not the same as he was three years ago; still, there’s hope for a contract year rebound. Literally.
37. Dwight Howard – It’s easy to get too excited about “what might be,” but he’s a stud in the making, no doubt.
38. Emeka Okafor – Hope for a few more blocks than last year and that his back doesn’t get too cranky.
39. Shaquille O’Neal – And even this might be too high. Let’s talk about Shaq for a moment. It’s near impossible to win with him on your team, that’s why you can’t do it unless he’s your fourth rounder, because you need that many studs to help you finish near the top in the other seven categories. Because kiss FT% goodbye. And for the love of god, don’t do something stupid and draft someone like Ray Allen or Chauncey Billups to “offset” Shaq. That’s just about the worst thing you can do, because it won’t even come close to bringing you out of the cellar, and you are wasting the value of a player like that. But therein lies the problem. Since you have to wait until the fourth (maybe third) round to realistically draft Shaq, unless you have already drafted players that compliment him, you probably can’t even afford to draft him anyway.
40. Lamar Odom – Could be primed for a huge year, but this is his seventh season, so time might be running out; just not enough 3s, steals or blocks to be truly great.
41. Larry Hughes – The steals and assists will go down, but he’s a solid all-around contributor.
42. Andre Igoudala – Absolutely love his all around game; he’s an Artest in the making. That’s a compliment, by the way.
43. Manu Ginobili – If only the Spurs weren’t so deep that he was limited to just 30 mpg.
44. Corey Maggette – His FT% dominance can’t be overlooked, but other than that he’s an oft-injured, points-only swingman.
45. Richard Jefferson – Like Odom and Maggette, lack of help in steals, blocks and 3s hurts his value.
46. Michael Redd – Not a favorite around here, but he is top dog in Milwaukee, which counts for something.
47. Andre Miller – Has missed three games in his career and averaged 8.2 apg after the break last year; that’s a nice and steady mid-round pick if there ever was one.
48. Marcus Camby – Injuries are already bothering him; has the talent to justify being taken here (much earlier, actually), but he will always be a risk.
49. Zach Randolph – If he can go 20/10 with percentages of 50 and 80, you can look past the rest of his game; he’s certainly The Man in Portland, which is mostly good, but might hurt his FG%.
50. Rasheed Wallace – Center eligibility, 3s, blocks, durability make for a nice package.
51. Cuttino Mobley – Bombs away. And away, and away, and away; could be back to old 40 mpg self.
52. Donyell Marhsall – Have to think he’ll get his minutes once the rotation shakes out; fantasy God with enough PT.
53. Rafer Alston – Moves into a perfect situation, especially if Sura won’t be available.
54. Carlos Boozer – Not much at all separating him from Randolph.
55. Richard Hamilton – Don’t take him any higher, but he’s durable and consistent.
56. Tyson Chandler – We think he’ll be a better guy to have on your team than Camby this year.
57. Josh Smith – If you can deal with some ups and downs, you’ll likely have a first place blocks finish to show for it.
58. Chris Webber – Could be the steal of the draft at this spot … but probably not.
59. Josh Howard – If Avery plays him as much as he says he’s going to, this will end up being low.
60. Bobby Simmons – Going for steady, all-around contributors in the middle rounds isn’t a bad strategy.

Fantasy Basketball Mock Draft – Round Four

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 09:43:18 -0800

(For rounds one, two and three, just scroll down)

Players already on the team are in parentheses.

Team L: Jason Richardson (Lamar Odom, Gilbert Arenas, Brad Miller)
Team K: Larry Hughes (Pau Gasol, Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce)
Team J: Zydraunas Ilgauskas (Chauncey Billups, Dwayne Wade, Vince Carter)
Team I: Rashard Lewis (Joe Johnson, Andrei Kirilenko, Jason Kidd)
Team H: Michael Redd (Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash)
Team G: Kirk Hinrich (Steve Francis, Kobe Bryant, Elton Brand)
Team F: Richard Jefferson (Manu Ginobili, Amare Soudamire, Mike Bibby)
Team E: Andre Miller (Ben Wallace, Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O’Neal)
Team D: Marcus Camby (Chris Bosh, Shawn Marion, Stephon Marbury)
Team C: Andre Iguodala (Baron Davis, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming)
Team B: Emeka Okafor (Ron Artest, Lebron James, Shaquille O’Neal)
Team A: Jason Terry (Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Peja Stojakovic)

In round four of our mock draft, we’re seeing basically an extension of round three. With only about one round left of “solid” players (more on that later in the week), your goal in the fourth has to be to start setting yourself up for the later rounds. You want to be worried about team needs, but at the same time, you want to be able to take the best player available (BPA). There’s nothing worse than really stretching for a guy this early just because your team is really lacking in a category so far. So what you’ll see happening in our mock draft is that teams are settling for someone who at least comes close to qualifying as a team need and a BPA.

The fourth round, perhaps more than any other, is where your draft preparation will really come into play. If you’ve ranked players about 50 or 60 deep, it will make your fourth round much earlier. All you have to do is take your draft sheet, identify the 4 or 5 highest-ranked players, and then choose the one among those who best serves your needs. Take, for example, Team H. The top available players there (according to our lists) were Redd, Hinrich, Jefferson, and Miller. We would have those guys ranked with Jefferson first, then Hinrich, followed by Redd and Miller. However, we felt like this team needed some scoring punch, as it’s possible that neither Dwight Howard nor Steve Nash will put up 16 ppg this year. The highest scoring player among our BPA’s was Michael Redd, so he was the choice there, despite the fact that we had ranked Jefferson and Hinrich ahead of him.

So, what teams do you think look the best so far?

Fantasy Basketball Mock Draft – Round Three

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 09:06:30 -0800

(For rounds one and two, check the previous post)

Players already on the team are in parentheses.

Team A: Ray Allen (Kevin Garnett, Peja Stojakovic)
Team B: Ron Artest (Lebron James, Shaquille O’Neal)
Team C: Baron Davis (Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming)
Team D: Chris Bosh (Shawn Marion, Stephon Marbury)
Team E: Ben Wallace (Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O’Neal)
Team F: Manu Ginobili (Amare Soudamire, Mike Bibby)
Team G: Steve Francis (Kobe Bryant, Elton Brand)
Team H: Dwight Howard (Tim Duncan, Steve Nash)
Team I: Joe Johnson (Andrei Kirilenko, Jason Kidd)
Team J: Chauncey Billups (Dwayne Wade, Vince Carter)
Team K: Pau Gasol (Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce)
Team L: Lamar Odom (Gilbert Arenas, Brad Miller)

Round three of our mock draft is arguably the most important round. The first two rounds have put the top talent on your team. The third and fourth rounds will dictate how the rest of your draft will go. A team that is weak in a category after two rounds might be a coincidence. A team that is still weak in those categories after three rounds is a problem. Take, for example, the case of team J, who after three rounds has maybe 1.5 blocks per game to his name. He will need to reach for size at some point in the draft – maybe not in round four, but in the middle rounds he will certainly have to take someone whose strength is blocks, perhaps well before he should be drafted. You don’t want to be put in the position of having to consider drafting Adonal Foyle or Theo Ratliff. Making the right moves here will save you from that fate.

The other important thing to note is that in the third round, we see the end of the third tier of players. DM and I agreed that this drop happens right around where Steve Francis was drafted in our mock. The drop from him to Dwight Howard is pretty significant. While you can make arguments that maybe Joe Johnson or Lamar Odom belong in that third tier, everyone taken after Francis at least makes you hesitate before you pick them.

So after three rounds, which teams look best? I think Team A looks pretty strong, with three players who could have been first round picks last year, as well as the best overall player in the game. Team B certainly has a ton of upside, but after LeBron he took two major question marks. Teams picking in the second half of the first round certainly appear a lot weaker than the teams with earlier picks. The teams with the earlier picks not only got their pick of the top tiers, but also got two of the third tier players. This might even out over the next couple of rounds – we’ll see later this week. Tomorrow, the fourth round.

Thursdays with Thurl

Thu, 11 Aug 2005 09:21:21 -0800

Hello, I’m Thurl Bailey. You may know me from the Utah Jazz, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Utah Jazz. I am also an actor , a singer , and a motivational speaker. Your are now a guest in my palace of love. Every Thursday, only on FreeDarko.com, I will be providing the soundtrack to your lives. Specifically, I will be posting a few hoops-blogosphere-relevant musical delights from my archives. Let me now turn it over to my good friend, TrentonHasslesCarmelo.

Thanks, Thurl. So, that’s the deal. We welcome comments, suggestions, and requests. It’s hard to say exactly what will pop up on Thursdays with Thurl, but suffice to say, the selections will be more “What the Kidd Did” (Jason Kidd) than “Whats Up Doc” (Shaq/Fu Schnickens). More “Now You’re Mine” (Gangstarr) than “Basketball” (Kurtis Blow). And more Etan Thomas’ slam poetry than Wayman Tisdale’s smooth jazz. Oh, also, we are doing this sort of half-ass—through yousendit.com (no telling when the link might expire)—as FreeDarko is not a true audioblog. Before we get into this weeks goods, I want to remind you that if you search the FreeDarko archives, you can find previous audio posts, including the FreeDarko anthem, 4-Ize’s “ Ron Artest ,” Ultramag’s “ NBA All-stars 1989 ” (courtesy of Cocaine Blunts + the only known mention of Randy Pfund’s name in a rap song), and Young Gunz’ laughable New Jersey Nets rendition of “ Takeover .” With that said, let’s get into today’s gems:

“The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh,” recently re-released on DVD, is a cult classic (starring Dr. J and many other 70s hoopsters), with a ludicrous plot about some psychic named Mona (played by Stockard Channing) who advises that a struggling NBA club form a team of only players born under the sign, Pisces. The soundtrack is still hard to find, but I did manage to get my hands on this nice groove by Phyllis Hyman, which absurdly enough is a plea to the psychic, Mona, to guide the Pittsburgh team in the right direction. I would give my left leg to see this movie re-made with LeBron cast in the Dr. J role:

Phyllis Hyman – Magic Mona

There was a time—in the early/mid 90s—when hip-hop was good. It was a time when you would leave school in the middle of the day to cop Wu Tang Forever (cf. Catchdubs), when people thought Foxy Brown and Shyheim were the same person, and when Cypress Hill still had credibility. Around this time, I was buying on average an album a week, and I believe that period of reckless spending ended upon picking up “From Where?!?!!!” by (Mad) Skillz. It was with this album that I realized that punchlines and Large Professor cameos do not a classic album maketh. A lot of these albums were simply not timeless, with Skillz epitomizing this truth. However, the man resurfaced many years later with an unreleased album full of Neptunes gems, and for whatever reason (I can’t remember the backstory, but I’m sure you can google it), shortly after the 2004 NBA Finals, he released this mixtape diss to Shaq, enlisting the help of fellow sometimes-Virginian, Ben Wallace. My guess is that Wallace had no idea what he was getting into:

Skillz feat. Ben Wallace – Shaq Diss

This last one is a somewhat disappointing mini-bio of Kevin Garnett, done by Styles P (sometimes) of The Lox. It was included in a KG commercial for And1 Shoes, which indicates how old it is. For Timberwolves fans, this was a time of hope. It was also the last time Styles P would be even remotely associated with the state of Minnesota.

Styles P – Kevin Garnett Commerical

Thurl and I bid you adieu. Come back next Thursday for more instant classix.