Friday was the final night of exhibition games — hooray! — and this is a huge weekend for fantasy basketball drafts.
We’ll take a quick look here at all the results, along with what we learned, if anything. Later today, around 2:00, be sure to return for the debut of our Week Ahead column by Jeff Nichols. Every Saturday afternoon, Jeff — the master strategist behind our Fantasy Basketball Primer — will review the previous week (today, the entire preseason) and update our Depth Chart. Then he looks at the NBA schedule for the upcoming week from a team perspective (hint: start your Lakers) before giving his best advice on which individual players to start, or sit, in weekly leagues.
In leagues with daily lineup changes, your morning Spin will do the same. Streaming in deep Roto and H2H leagues is my specialty, along with finding “live longshots” in the free agent pool. I’m also playing in daily leagues at FanDuel, starting on Tuesday. If you haven’t tried that format yet, it’s a one-day points league. Each player in an NBA game that night is assigned a salary. You must fill nine positions (2 PG, 2 SG, 2 SF, 2 PF, 1 C) without going over a $60,000 salary cap. Jump to Page 3 to learn more about how it works and to enter our exciting October 31 $1,000 tournament for Sheridan Hoops readers.
October 26 Games
CHA @ DAL: The relationship between Delonte West and the Mavericks is severely damaged, but still not over. He hasn’t been released or reinstated. Rodrigue Beaubois, instead of taking a stranglehold on the backup guard position, went pointless in 16:28 last night, while other candidates (Dominique Jones and rookie Jared Cunningham) failed to impress. O.J. Mayo actually played some PG and while he was only 4-15 shooting for 13 points, he added 10 REB and 9 AST for a near trip-dub.
Rookie Jae Crowder started again, but it was Shawn Marion who took over the game, with 24 PTS, 12 REB and 3 BLK. Chris Kaman (calf) and Brandan Wright (ankle) will return before Dirk Nowitzki (knee), with recent signee Eddy Curry, much fitter than you remember, providing depth. Last night Curry started at C and scored 11 PTS, with 7 REB and 3 BLK — Elton Brand had the night off.
The Bobcats reinserted Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as the starting SF and returned Ramon Sessions to backup SG, with predictable results. MKG was 0-5 from the floor, did hit 7-8 free throws and grabbed 10 rebounds. Sessions scored 16, but I liked the previous game’s lineup much better for fantasy purposes. It was a horrible 3-17 shooting night for Kemba Walker — Charlotte shot 30% as a team — and while long-range bomber Byron Mullens missed all four 3-point attempts and 13 other shots, he did score 16 with an impressive 19 rebounds.
IND @ CHI: PG D.J. Augustin (10 PTS, 13 AST, 1 TO) has been so good while George Hill recovers from a hip pointer that we wonder how long it will take Hill to get his starting job back. Danny Granger hobbled through 22 minutes on his sore knee, scoring 10 points. One reason I like sixth man Gerald Green (10) is the likelihood of him starting if Granger needs extended rest.
As expected, Kirk Hinrich (groin) rested and Nate Robinson filled in capably, with 21 points and 8 assists. Otherwise, the Bulls used their starters extensively and they all scored in double figures.