It has been a couple of days now since the Thunder traded away a big part of their future in James Harden, but that hardly stopped anyone from still buzzing about it all. Who won the trade? Did the Thunder give up on their chance to contend after making it to the Finals last season over money? What does it mean for the Rockets, who suddenly look a whole lot more interesting? Our columnist Chris Bernucca was far from thrilled with the
Daily fantasy leagues are great. However, they will never replace traditional leagues, the ‘meat and potatoes’ of fantasy hoops. One-day leagues are more like dessert. Head-to-head caught on and passed Roto in popularity because it has a bit more action over the long NBA season. While both are games of skill, luck plays a larger part in H2H success, as it’s really a series of one-week “seasons.” If you’re a fan of action, enjoy testing your skill and understand that a
(This is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS) For fans of Golden State Warriors, the “We Believe” playoff run seems like it happened about 12 years ago and not five. One of the biggest upsets in NBA history against the
A loyal reader from Singapore asked about Harrison Barnes yesterday. Almost simultaneously, Bruce Wrigley’s weekly column examined the battle between Barnes and Brandon Rush for minutes at SF. Then the rookie started last night and scored 20 points on 8-11 shooting. Is he suddenly a hot fantasy commodity? Not exactly. The Warriors were playing at home against Maccabi Haifa, which is hardly the best team in Israel, which is not the strongest foreign league. They do have a wealthy owner
In today’s column I am going to take a look at how some of the most interesting camp battles are turning out. It is very early but it’s worth looking at the impressions of people who are watching teams closely, in order to get a sense of who is gaining and who might be losing ground. If you have an early draft (and I’ve already had one and have another coming up on Friday) then it’s well worth passing on
The Western Conference, as we’ve become accustomed to, is once again stacked with playoff-level teams. This means one or more of those teams will miss the playoffs due to the level of competition, even if they end up with a winning record. The Mavericks could end up being one of those teams if Dirk Nowitzki, who has a swollen knee that has yet to improve, misses an extended period of time this season. See how the sharp-shooting big man plans
Sunday Games GSW @ LAL: Way past my bedtime, the Warriors poured it on in the second half to trounce the Lakers. Festus Ezeli got the starting C assignment for Andrew Bogut, who is being brought along slowly. The Nigerian, by way of Vanderbilt, played 22:25 and while he didn’t fill the stat sheet, appears to be ahead of Jeremy Tyler (13:17) and Andris Biedrins (11:24) in the pecking order. Round 1 in the SF “battle” went as expected. Brandon Rush started,
SF Tiers The two best players in fantasy hoops are small forwards. You can’t get both; they will go 1-2 in just about every league, for good reason. Which one to choose is more a matter of luck than fantasy expertise. Do you have first pick, or second? This is the third in a series. We’ve already looked at the best point guards and shooting guards. PF and C tiers will follow the next two days. Keep in mind that it’s very early