Empty the Bench

Michael Beasley and Kevin Durant Photo Credit: Icon SMI

See Also:
Vol. 1, Issue 1: Hoopsters 1-20
Vol. 1, Issue 2: Hoopsters 21-40
Vol. 1, Issue 4: Hoopsters 61-80
Vol. 1, Issue 5: Hoopsters 81-100

41 Kevin Durant, OKC, G/F: Once Durant learns to play within himself, improves his shot selection, and adapts to the physicality of NBA defense he’ll be a perennial first- or second-round pick. He’s not there yet, so you’ll have to deal with the turnovers and a low FG% on a high volume of shots. On the plus side, Durant is showing some intriguing versatility in the preseason thus far and should be good for some monster performances.

42 LaMarcus Aldridge, Por, PF/C: I’m as big a LaMarcus Aldridge fan as anybody but I’d like to see some more boards, assists, and blocks. I expect an improvement in his offensive stats this season now that he’ll be playing next to a potentially dominant defensive center.

43 Michael Redd, Mil, SG: Redd was underrated a few years ago, but it’s come full circle and he’s going a bit too high in drafts this year for a guy with such low steals, high turnovers, and mediocre FG%. His scoring was also down last year and he’s missed 39 games over the last two season. He’s still a solid source of points, threes, and FT% though.

44 Hedo Turkoglu, Orl, G/F: Count me among those who think Turkoglu will have a hard time repeating his breakout season from 2007-08 at the age of 29. He won’t be a 20-5-5 guy again, but should be a good source of core stats with strong threes.

45 Gerald Wallace, Cha, F: Wallace is the ultimate boom or bust pick with his extensive injury history and reckless style of play. The steals, boards, and points are great, especially with 1-2 blocks mixed in, but don’t discount the damage that FT% can do for a guy who gets to the line as often as Wallace does. His turnovers are also less than desirable.

46 Michael Beasley, Mia, F: It’s hard to peg Beasley at this point, but I would be surprised to see anything less than 17 points and 9 rebounds with some blocks and steals mixed in. The biggest question is how his shooting percentages and turnover totals will stack up in the NBA game.

47 Mike Dunleavy, Ind, F: Dunleavy was a top-25 fantasy player last season out of virtually nowhere. He should get just as much run and have just as many looks this season, perhaps even more with a playmaker like TJ Ford on board and Jermaine O’Neal out of the picture – it’s just hard to expect a repeat performance after five seasons of mediocrity.

48 Rasheed Wallace, Det, PF/C: We love Sheed here at ETB, but he’s clearly at the tail end of his career. A jack of all trades and a master of none, Sheed’s good-not-great contributions in every category play better in rotisserie than head-to-head. You should also expect to see his minutes decrease after he wore down in the postseason last year and with the emergence of Amir Johnson and J-Maxx.

49 Mike Miller, Min, G/F: Miller is a fantastic shooter who is more than capable of filling it up for an offensively challenged team. He will be relied on heavily to take pressure off of Al Jefferson, but Minnesota will also be running combinations of McCants, Foye, Brewer, and Gomes in the SG and SF spots.

50 Andre Miller, Phi, PG: Andre Miller really turned it on in the second half last season and should have even more opportunities for assists with Elton Brand inside and Thad Young emerging as a swing man. Expectations for the 76ers are high and Andre is also playing for a contract, so the motivation will be there.

Hoopsters 51-60 after the jump…

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See Also:
Vol. 1, Issue 1: Hoopsters 1-20
Vol. 1, Issue 3: Hoopsters 41-60
Vol. 1, Issue 4: Hoopsters 61-80
Vol. 1, Issue 5: Hoopsters 81-100

21 Carlos Boozer, Utah, PF/C: It’s steady as she goes for Boozer, who you can pencil in for another 20-10 season with an excellent FG% and decent assists. The FT% hurts though, and you want more blocks from your top center.

22 Yao Ming, Hou, C: I’ll be tempted to take him a tad sooner, but I can’t in good conscience recommend any of you take that risk. A healthy Yao Ming is the best center in fantasy basketball and absolutely dominates in both percentages with high-volume, efficient scoring.

23 Rudy Gay, Mem, G/F/PF: Gay has the tools to be a fantasy force of nature and can contribute literally everywhere. If the 22-year-old takes another big step forward in his third season Rudy will be a borderline first-rounder next year.

24 Andre Iguodala, Phi, G/F: With Elton Brand anchored down low look for Iguodala’s FG% to rise sharply. That combined with his all-world combination of steals, assists, points and boards could make young Iggy a fixture in the top 20 in the fantasy rankings.

25 Rashard Lewis, Orl, SF: Rashard’s season rankings are always a slightly more impressive than his actual contributions and his scoring declined in Orlando, but you can’t argue with the great threes, low TOs and decent steals totals.

26 Joe Johnson, Atl, SG: After one and a half disappointing seasons Johnson came on strong down the stretch last year as addition of Mike Bibby helped take some pressure off of Big Joe. The absence of Childress could mean more shots will be there, but ATL’s youngsters are growing up and will need to be fed the ball.

27 Tim Duncan, SA, PF/C: I like to go with guys who have big upside at this point in the draft, but every team needs a center they can rely on and Duncan is as steady as they come. You know you’re going to get 20/10/3 with 2 blocks, good FG% and bad FT% – unless this the year the inevitable physical decline sets in.

28 Paul Pierce, Bos, G/F: The strong points, boards and assists are nice, but as a member of the Big Three Pierce’s numbers look more like a very good fantasy swingman than an elite option.

29 Kevin Martin, Sac, SG: You have to love the efficiency of K-Mart, perhaps the most underrated player in the NBA today. The guy is a natural scorer who keeps getting better in the volume cats while keeping his TOs low and percentages high.

30 Pau Gasol, LAL, PF/C: Gasol became a roto stud in LA last season, especially in the FG% department with 59% shooting from the field. It remains to be see how he’ll perform alongside Andrew Bynum, but his looks will likely decrease and his block totals declined last season.

Hoopsters 31-40 after the jump…

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See Also:
Vol. 1, Issue 2: Hoopsters 21-40
Vol. 1, Issue 3: Hoopsters 41-60
Vol. 1, Issue 4: Hoopsters 61-80
Vol. 1, Issue 5: Hoopsters 81-100

1 Chris Paul, NO, PG: After a breakout campaign last season Paul enters 2008-09 as the unquestioned top pick, likely to lead the league in assists and steals again with no noticeable holes in his fantasy game and experience to build on.

2 LeBron James, Cle, SF: LeBron is the ultimate consolation prize and his massive totals could even have more value than Paul’s on a H2H team that’s punting FT%. New PG Mo Williams looks good and should take some pressure off of Bron Bron.

3 Kobe Bean Bryant, LAL, SG/SF?: Kobe’s minutes are supposed to be “limited” this season. I don’t see it having much of an impact, and with these weapons Black Mamba should be able to contribute across the board – but may be asked to do less offensively.

4 Amare Stoudemire, Pho, PF/C: Nobody boosts your FG% like Amare, and few centers can actually buoy your FT% in the process. More defensive stats would be nice, but a healthy Stoudemire is a roto stud.

5 Elton Brand, Phi, PF/C: Bold, I know, but we believe in the guy. This will be the best supporting cast of Brand’s career and he came out strong in his first preseason game. Look for big contributions in points, boards, blocks and FG% with nice assist totals mixed in.

6 Dirk Nowitzki, Dal, PF: After a slow start to the season Dirk came on strong with Jason Kidd in tow and he has something to prove this season. He’s no longer the 3-point asset he was, but the assists have come on the last two seasons.

7 Kevin Garnett, Bos, PF: You gotta love a guy who contributes in every category (outside of threes) like KG does, but look for his minutes and attempts to take another hit. We’re also not convinced he can stay healthy all season with nearly 38,000 NBA minutes on his tires.

8 Caron Butler, Was, SF: Perhaps the most underrated fantasy player in the game, Caron is a stud in points, boards, assists, steals and especially FT% with no glaring weaknesses outside of the injury history. Look for him to hover in the top 5 while Arenas is sidelined.

9 Dwyane Wade, Mia, G: If you watched the Olympics you know D-Wade is back in a major way. Now on a team that needs his scoring and can run with him, look for a return to fantasy form. The TOs will still hurt though.

10 Josh Smith, Atl, G/F: Nobody has as much fantasy upside and nobody is as capable of going out and winning categories as J-Smoove. The departure of Childress should open even more minutes. Now let’s see some better shooting, especially behind the arc and behind the line.

Hoopsters 11-20 after the jump…

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I swear the following statements are written without a hint of sarcasm, irony, or humor: the Detroit Lions have made three absolutely excellent personnel moves in the past month. They have shown wisdom and foresight, been proactive, and made steps in the right direction towards turning their loser of a franchise into one that can actually succeed sometime during our lifetimes. At a minimum, the Lions can have real hope, optimism, and a belief that things actually can get better sometime after this season comes to its merciful conclusion.

All it took was firing their GM, permanently benching their starting quarterback, and trading away one of their star wide receivers for a bounty of draft picks. Before we get to the shocking trade today that sent WR Roy Williams to the Dallas Cowboys, here’s yet another indictment of the Millen Era in Motown: Williams’ departure now means that all of Detroit’s first-round draft picks from 2002 – 2005 are gone, vamoose, donezo… and in the case of Charles Rogers, trying in vein to scrape up $8.5 million.

First, the news of the day: interim GM Martin Mayhew made his case to have the “interim” removed from his title by completely hoodwinking the Cowboys in this Williams deal. In return for Roy Williams and a 7th-round pick, the Lions receive Dallas’ first-, third- and sixth-round picks in next April’s draft.

You have got to be f’ing kidding me. It’s nearly the Herschel Walker deal in reverse for Dallas.

Now, Roy Boy is (somewhat of) a brand-name player, or at least as much as one can be having donned a Lions uniform for the entirety of his career. Drafted 7th overall out of Texas in the ’04 draft, Williams–who’ll turn 27 years old in December–enjoyed his finest season in 2006, racking up 82 catches for 1,310 yards and 7 TDs. Take that season out, however, and what you’re left with is an extremely talented receiver who makes the difficult catches, often drops the really easy ones, and who failed to top 836 yards receiving in three other full seasons.

He has a big mouth, is inconsistent, can be flashy on the field, and is equally capable of making both big and boneheaded plays; in other words, he’s a perfect fit for these Dallas Cowboys.

I won’t spend much time here analyzing what Williams adds to the ‘Boys, but I do wonder how much better this team actually got by adding Williams to the fold… especially with Tony Romo out for 4-6 weeks and 40-year-old Brad Johnson behind center in the meantime. There are only so many footballs to go around between Williams, Terrell Owens, Marion Barber, Jason Witten, et al, and last time I checked the Cowboys offense wasn’t the problem–it was that inconsistent defense spearheaded by a secondary that’s in shambles.

And in case you missed it, our buddy Pacman “We Won’t Call You Adam” Jones was suspended indefinitely today for his role in a hotel fracus last week, so perhaps Jerry Jones should have been targeting a cornerback at today’s trade deadline, not a WR? Then again, stockpiling wide receivers is a proven path to glory… right, Matt Millen?

Speaking of Millen, one of the best things about this trade for Detroit isn’t just that they’ve scored a gaggle of valuable draft picks–it’s that Millen won’t be around to fuck them up next spring. And really, despite Roy Boy’s brand-name identity, this was much too high of a price for the Cowboys to pay. Yes, they deserve credit for immediately inking Williams to a five-year contract extension, ensuring he’ll play out the prime of his career in Dallas, but we’ve seen over the past few years that given proper scouting, talented, productive, Pro-Bowl caliber receivers can be had in just about any round of the draft. But whatever.

This piece isn’t about the Cowboys. It’s about the Lions turning another page, attempting to shore up their massive roster holes, and moving forward in a more positive direction with yet another of Millen’s picks jettisoned elsewhere. The sooner his legacy as Lions GM is wiped clean, the better it’ll be for one of the longest-suffering franchises in all professional sports.

More on the Detroit Lions and the possible dawn of a new day after the break…

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Their sixth-consecutive run for a NBA title fell short yet again. The Big Trade that everyone anticipated this summer never happened. And with most of their salary-cap dollars tied up until next summer, they barely dipped their toes into the free-agent pool.

Detroit Pistons GM Joe Dumars ultimately chose to keep his cards and call the rest of the league’s bluff once again: outside of Boston and LA, has the rest of the Eastern Conference, and the NBA at large, really caught up with his Pistons over the past few months? Though many–including myself–were calling for change after the team’s meltdown against the Celtics in last season’s ECF, it’s hard to blame Dumars for sticking with his big guns one more time.

After all, three of his four core guys are still perennial All-Star considerations; the other one regressed some last season but has been named to the NBA’s All-Defensive Second Team 4 years in a row and counting. They have a deep, versatile stable of big men and a second-year guard in Rodney Stuckey who many think has superstar potential. The playoff-retarded Flip Saunders has been replaced as head coach by Michael Curry, whom the players reportedly already hold in higher regard than they ever did Saunders.

Like it or not, for all the criticism leveled at the Detroit Pistons they’re still better stacked than most NBA teams. They will compete for a title again this season… but can they get over the hump one more time before the core is likely broken up next year?

As part of the legendary Blogger NBA Team Previews Series hosted annually by Jeff Clark and the good folks at Celtics Blog, Empty the Bench takes an in-depth look at the 2008-09 Detroit Pistons. We’ll be back later this week with another preview, this one penned by my esteemed colleague Andrew Thell and focusing on those up-and-coming Minnesota Timberwolves. (Links to the rest of the blogger previews at the bottom.)

Read the 2008-09 Detroit Pistons team preview after the break….

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What a pathetic effort.

Say what you will about the Vikings offense failing to score in the first half against the Lions and barely eeking out an embarrassing 12-10 victory over Detroit. The most disappointing offense on the field Sunday was the Carolina Panthers. Top to bottom, the whole unit stunk. After racking up 58 points in the previous two weeks, putting just 3 on the board was a slap in the face.

And it really stung for fantasy owners as the bye week blues likely had Jake Delhomme, Stevonne Smith, Mushin Muhammad, DeAngelo Williams, and Jonathan Stewart all starting in your league – they all let you down.

It starts at the top with Delhomme who, despite throwing for a respectable 242 yards, had a shit game. The former Saint entered Sunday 7-1 vs. Tampa Bay and 4-0 at Raymond James Stadium in his career and 4 TDs in his last two games. He didn’t throw for a single score, tossed three interceptions, and completed just 10 of his 39 pass attempts (51.3%). The performance netted an abysmal 38.6 QB Rating – nearly 80 points south of 38-year-old Jeff Garcia’s tally.

But Delhomme had some help in posting those pitiful numbers. All three of the interceptions came off deflections from Carolina receivers. In the first quarter Dante “You’re Dead to Us” Rosario tipped one to Tanard Jackson. Later Muhsin Muhammad lost a mid-air wrestling match for the second INT. And then in the final minute Stevonne Smith had an opportunity to salvage some dignity for this unit but instead let a ball go right through his hands in the endzone – and right into the hands of cornerback Aqib Talib.

Pathetic.

The offensive line and the running game weren’t any better. Usually either Williams or Stewart will post a strong effort, the difficulty is just in predicting which it will be. Their combined stats weren’t worth starting as the Panthers netted a meager 40 total yards on the ground. DeAngelo rushed 11 times for 27 yards (2.5 YPC), never busting off anything over 7 yards. Stewart only got 6 carries, which he converted into 12 yards (2.0 YPC).

Again, pathetic.

The Bucs defense is good, but it’s safe to say nobody saw a letdown like this coming. If you, ahem, live in Vegas then the performance resulted in the Panthers failing to cover the spread by a whopping 23 points.

“It’s a letdown for us,” Stevonne said after the game. For us too, Stevonne, for us too.

Past Sea Hammocks of the Week:
- Week 1 Sea Hammock – Tom Brady
- Week 2 Sea Hammock – Hurricane Ike
- Week 3 Sea Hammock – Ronnie Brown
– Week 4 Sea Hammock – Jason Garrett
- Week 5 Sea Hammock – LaDainian Tomlinson

Mushin Muhammad Photo Credit: Icon SMI

Tally-ho! We’re moving right along with the scintillating NBA Blogger Previews series, with the Western Conference’s Southwest Division the latest to be sliced up, dissected, and analyzed by a panel of experts. Will Jason Kidd be more successful in his second season in Dallas? Can Tracy McGrady finally get past the first round of the playoffs? Have the Spurs gotten too old and too slow? Is this the Year of the Hornets? Are the Grizzlies the NBA’s absolute worst?

Check out the previews below to get the answers to these questions and more. As Andrew mentioned last week, we have our own previews coming up this week too: tomorrow we’ll take an in-depth look at the Detroit Pistons, and a few days later it’ll be the Minnesota Timberwolves under the ETB microscope. Until then, however, enjoy the following previews.

Dallas Mavericks
Jake Kerr: Mavs Moneyball

Houston Rockets
grungedave and UofTOrange: The Dream Shake  

Memphis Grizzlies
Joshua Coleman: 3 Shades of Blue

New Orleans Hornets
Rohan: At the Hive
ticktock6 & mW: Hornets Hype
Ryan Schwan & Ron Hitley: Hornets247.com

San Antonio Spurs
Graydon Gordian: 48 Minutes of Hell

More 2008-09 NBA Blogger Previews

Eastern Conference:
- Atlantic Division
- Central Division
- Southwest Division

Western Conference:
- Southwest Division
- Northwest Division
- Pacific Division

Bonus Glen Rice in Shanghai, China, video after the break!!

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Heading into the Philadelphia 76ers’ 60th season the franchise has spared no expense in putting a competitor on the floor. They’ve made the always tricky transition from “rebuilding” to “win now.” This summer alone they’ve signed Elton Brand as an unrestricted free agent, re-signed Louis Williams, and signed free agents Theo Ratliff, Kareem Rush, Royal Ivey and Donyell Marshall.

Amid all the spending GM Ed Stefanski made one eyebrow-raising move: inking last season’s face of the franchise, Andre Iguodala, to a massive contract. The tagline for the 2008-09 Sixers is “Come Run With Us,” and there’s little doubt that Iggy’s fast hands on defense and athleticism in the open court will be a big part of that running game.

But is a player who has never proven himself better than a strong second fiddle really worth $80 million?

Although Iggy (I’ve been told to stop calling him that, not going to happen) still flies under the radar of the very casual fan, he’s become something of a polarizing figure among dedicated NBA observers. Some see an elite 24-year-old athlete with limitless potential who can throw down a vicious dunk on one end and make an equally dazzling play on defense moments later. Others see an unrefined kid who leans on his natural talents to the extent that he has not, and probably will not, develop a polished offensive repertoire.

It’s not hard to see the detractor’s angle, especially after his flop in the first round of the playoffs last year. Iguodala lacks a fluid jumper, doesn’t have a strong perimeter game, doesn’t take care of the ball, struggles to create his own shot and generally doesn’t perform well in the half-court set. Matched up against the Pistons and Tayshaun Prince he posted a meager 13.2 points on 33.3% FGs with 4.3 TOs per game for the six-game series. He also attempted 14 three-pointers in the series and hit just 2 of them, good for 14.3% from behind the arc.

The big knock on Andre has been his inability to become a leader on offense, and so he forced the issue. The results were dismal and the Sixers lost despite great performances from role players and an apathy from the Pistons that bordered on insulting. It was proof in many people’s eyes that Iggy lacks it and that he will never be a true superstar and will never earn the fat contract.

The issue isn’t that simple though.

Putting The Andre Iguodala Dilemma into perspective after the jump…

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Thanks SLAM Online