Empty the Bench

We all use the term, but everybody’s definition of a “glue player” is different, so I was forced to come up with a few of the rules when generating this list. First, players who are among their team’s top two scorers were not considered. Those are the team’s stars. Second, the glue player must be solid defensively, so no three-point specialists or instant offense guys have been included. Third, this award is about generally unsung heroes whose play leads to team success, so only the guys on playoff-caliber teams are included (Devin Harris got the shaft).

While these qualifications eliminate a multitude of great players who are integral to their team’s cohesion, this article isn’t about the Steve Nashs, Ray Allens or David Lees. It’s about the guys who don’t take all the shots, don’t get hyped as one of their team’s best players and often aren’t even considered for the All Star team — and yet they manage to be pivotal in a good team’s performance each night with hustle, defense, leadership, selfless play, grit and all-around games that complement the big scorers and big names on their squad.

There are going to be some potentially deserving players who didn’t make the cut. I know there were plenty more I wanted to add but didn’t have the space for. As always, we encourage you to suggest them in the comments and we’ll put them at the bottom of the article in the Reader Recommendations section.

Without further ado and in alphabetical order, eleven of the NBA’s best glue players:

Shane Battier, F, Houston Rockets:

2007-08 Salary: $5.883 Million

Shane Battier is the best “glue” player in the NBA. He wasn’t much of a secret among serious NBA fans, but any anonymity Battier may have had went out the window on March 16th in that nationally televised win over the Lakers. Battier’s stellar defense of Kobe Bryant held the MVP candidate to 11-of-33 shooting and helped keep Houston’s historic winning streak alive. Battier’s modest line of 14 points, 3 boards and 2 assists was overshadowed by Rafer Alston’s flashy 31-point outburst, but he was the MVP of the game. Shane had a hand in Kobe’s face on every field goal attempt and played effective, intelligent two-way basketball — and that’s modus operandi.

“I try to prepare for my opponent as thoroughly as possible. I want to know every angle on the man I am guarding to give me an edge. I read many, many pages and go over strengths and weaknesses many times before a game. Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. That is a motto I like.” - Shane Battier

Battier has been the most important Rocket after Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady for a few years now. He keeps possessions alive with his hustle, ignites the break with his outlet passes, and prevents opponents fast breaks by getting back on D. Battier has the size and discipline to guard anybody from shooting guards to power forwards, and usually draws the opponent’s best swingman. He’s also a capable outside shooter (126 treys on the season) who can run on offense and is one of the best in the league at drawing offensive fouls. He plays an infectious brand of egoless, team-oriented basketball that is exactly what you look for in a glue player.

Raja Bell, G, Phoenix Suns:

2007-08 Salary: $4.750 Million

Love him or hate him, Raja Bell is a key cog in the Suns basketball machine, a machine that has been extremely competitive for a few years now. Since making a name for himself in the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals, Raja has earned more and more playing time by playing cagey defense and markedly improving his outside shooting. He’s known for his tenacious man defense against the NBA’s more explosive shooting guards, but last season Bell managed to lead the league in three-pointers as well, finishing with with 205.

Raja is also one of the premier flop artists in the game, something I frown upon but the value of which cannot be denied. He lives to get up in the grill of Kobe Bryant, making their Pacific Division battles in the regular season and playoffs some of the most entertaining in the NBA. Bell is also very careful with the basketball, never forcing it, and thus has averaged 1.1 turnovers or less per game since joining Phoenix for the 2005-06 season.

Nine more quiet contributors after the jump…

Read the rest of this article »

We’re through the doldrums of the fantasy season and into the all-important playoffs. It’s go time (whatever that means). On Tuesday I discussed the all-important tactic of streaming players in and out of your roster to maximize games played. Another wrinkle to this time of year is keeping track of all the tanking and injuries major and minor that will have youngsters across the league earning more playing time. These are some of the beneficiaries so far, and all of them make for solid streaming options or outright adds:

Kirk Snyder, G, Minnesota Timbrwolves: Nobody made much of the Kirk Snyder acquisition before the trade deadline, and rightfully so. He’s never been much of an impact player in the NBA and his natural skill and defense are the only things that kept him on a roster. Over the last month Snyder has actually been playing some pretty good basketball though, potentially fantasy-roster worthy basketball, and now it’s time to take note. Snyder has been in double-digit scoring for four of the last five games. He’s been in the starting lineup for 12 games and managed a line of 10 points, 4.6 boards, 2.3 assists, .6 steals and .6 blocks with percentages of 52.5% FGs and 80% FTs that make him especially streamable.

Martell Webster, G/F, Portland Traailblazers: Whenever Brandon Roy misses time Martell Webster steps up his offensive game, and that’s the case again. Initial reports on Roy’s injury don’t look good, and there’s a lot of speculation that he could miss the rest of the season. To be honest I’m surprised Roy lasted this long and that it’s his groin, not his foot, that is keeping him out — I projected Roy to go down a lot sooner. Webster’s percentages aren’t great, but he’s a tremendous source of threes and points — he’s dropped 45 points and 9 threes in the last two games.

Wilson Chandler, F, New York Knickerbockers: Isiah Thomas is determined to get the youngster involved as the season, and the Knicks roster, wears down. Chandler has been starting for ten games and he recorded his first career double-double last night. That marks five straight games of double-digit scoring for him and over the last week he’s put up 13.0 points, 5.3 boards and just 1.0 TOs on 54.8% FGs.

Chris Quinn, G, Miami Heat: It’s looking more and more like Jason Williams, along with the Miami Heat as a team, will be packing it in and calling it a season. That means the recently maligned Quinn should get ample opportunity to produce at least serviceable fantasy stats. He’s not great, but as a starter this season he’s averaging 9.3 points, 3.4 dimes, 1.4 steals and 1.1 threes on 46.5% FGs and 83.3% FTs. That can help a lot of teams, and he’s worth a spot-start for the others.

Six more players to check out after the jump…

Read the rest of this article »

Wages of Wins - Al Horford is our ROY, and the WoW Journal backs it up with the numbers.
AOL Fanhouse - Barack Obama can save the NBA.
ESPN - Chris Webber is set to retire. He was a great player, but it’s about damn time.
Detroit Bad Boys - What if the Detroit Pistons played in the Western Conference?
NBA.com - Somebody give Gilbert some love. Rank him, grade him, he’s ever so good.
NESW Sports - Remembering (a svelte) LeBron James’s first NBA game.
Yahoo! Sports - What’s wrong with this picture? Oh my.
Newsday - “You tell Eddy Curry ‘Get your fat a– in shape or you’re not playing…’”
20 Second Timeout - David Friedman checks in with the NBA Leaderboard, Part XIX.
Odenized - After some initial technical difficulties, Dirk gives us an in-depth update on his status before those technical difficulties rear their head again after the 4:00 minute mark and Dirk turns in some hilarious play-by-play, including a late use of the term “shortbus”:

We’re about to broach one of the more contentious and divisive issues in fantasy hoops. With the playoffs just underway in most formats, it’s an issue that is more than likely rearing its head in one or more of your leagues. I’m talking about streaming: the act of making daily add/drops in order to maximize the sheer volume of players a fantasy hoops team can start in a given week. In head-to-head leagues it can cause more angry message board posts than the most lopsided of trades. As somebody who engages in streaming whenever and wherever it will give a strategic edge, I’ve already encountered protest in two leagues. It’s something you come to expect. I get it every year, and the arguments are always the same: that it’s “cheap”, that it’s somehow not fair, that it isn’t in the spirit of the game, that using “scrub” players is distasteful and that it is in some way a desecration of everything the league has been and stood for to this point.

Baloney. Not only can you stream, you should do it. I’ll give you some pointers.

Let’s take a moment and discuss the ethical status of streaming first: there is none. There is nothing wrong with streaming. First, it’s perfectly permissible within the rules. You can look them up. Nowhere will you find a clause specifically prohibiting adding and dropping players to gain a strategic edge. Second, this is a legitimate fantasy sports strategy: it takes basketball knowledge, it takes skill, it takes diligence, it takes timing, it takes the ability to project performances, it takes finesse and there are real risks built into the league (FG%, FT% and TOs). Third, this is a competition. It’s supposed to be cutthroat. So not only can you stream, as a participant in a communal contest it is incumbent upon you to maintain the competitive integrity of the league. We all frown upon those owners who give up on their teams weeks or months before the end of the season because it ruins that competitive balance. If you lose by 10 points and a couple of add/drops would have put you over the edge, you’re not much better.

Now, if you and your friends (or just the Commish) make the personal choice that streaming is somehow dishonest or offensive to the spirit of the game, then by all means put an end to it. Before the season starts. When the Commish sets up the league he can set a maximum number of roster moves, he can set up a scoring system that uses more ratios instead of pure counting stats, he can set a max number of games that can be used per position or he can simply set up a rotisserie league instead of a head-to-head league. By all means, do these things… do them before the league starts. If you set up or join a league that has settings conducive to streaming, it’s on you. We streamers don’t want to hear any crying about it after that.

With that said, let’s look at some of the finer points of streaming and anti-streaming strategy…

Read the rest of this article »

Lamar Odom, Los Angeles Lakers

There’s obviously one big reason why the Lakers haven’t fallen off a cliff following the injuries to Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol (hint: his first name rhymes with the first name of a famous Jedi), but Odom has been the unsung hero of the Lake Show’s continued success. The knock on Odom has always been that he’s too passive, too unwilling to assert himself on the court despite his rare combination of size and skills that should allow him to dominate on most nights. Lately, however, he’s been nothing short of an absolute force on both ends of the floor, especially on the glass. On the season, the 6-10 Odom is averaging a career-best 10.5 boards/per, a number that has been positively impacted by a stretch in which he’s pulled down at least 10 rebounds in 22 of the past 26 games. This includes 22 last night against Golden State (and oh, by the way, he also tacked on 19 points, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 4 blocks). Odom now has a streak going of six straight double-doubles.

Drew Gooden, Chicago Bulls

Though half of his teammates are lining up to buy the first ticket out of town this summer, Gooden seems to have taken a liking to the Windy City. Since joining the Baby Bad Bulls in the trade deadline deal that sent Ben Wallace to Cleveland, the six-year vet (it seems like he’s been around a lot longer than that, doesn’t it?) has put up some of the best averages of his career over his first 15 games with his new team. Despite the constant meddling of the team’s rotation by interim coach Jim Boylan (or perhaps because of it), Gooden is logging the most minutes (a shade under 32/per) he ever has, and his per-game averages of 14 points, 9.1 boards, 1.5 blocks, 1.7 assists, and 47% FG are all marked improvements on his stats in Cleveland. It’s not necessarily translating to team wins, though—the Bulls are 5-10 during this stretch.

Five more players patting their fantasy owners on the back after the break…

Read the rest of this article »

- Mike Bibby has made a lot of his Atlanta Hawks’ teammates better since arriving last month, but perhaps none moreso than All-Star Joe Johnson. In the first 16 games of Bibby’s stint with Hotlanta, Johnson has just torched the competition, averaging 23.6 points, 5 boards, 6.1 assists, and 3 three-pointers/per—all improvements on his overall season avearages. Veteran Anthony Johnson, who was traded to Sacto as part of the deal, was a decent fill-in for awhile, but the Hawks have lacked a real threat at point guard for some time now. That forced Johnson to surrender some of what he does best—scoring—in the name of moving over to the point and becoming a distributor. It’s not that he isn’t a good passer, it’s just that he’s much better suited to the off-guard position, where he doesn’t have to worry about setting up the offense, getting teammates involved, etc. Josh Smith has nutty skills and Al Horford is one of the finest gems from the 2007 class, but Johnson is clearly this franchise’s cornerstone.

Of course, Atlanta already had two golden opportunities to solve their PG problem for the next 10+ years. As revisionists such as myself point out from time to time, the Hawks passed up both Chris Paul and Deron Williams in the 2006 draft, instead opting for Marvin Williams, who is getting better and turning into a fine player but was somewhat redundant to talent already on the roster. Given a mulligan one year later with the fifth-overall pick, the Hawks pulled quite a head-scratcher by taking BS (Big Stiff) Shelden Williams… one pick ahead of Brandon Roy, who you may have heard of and is pretty good. Big Shelden averaged 4.2 points and 4.2 boards over his two seasons in Atlanta; he’s now Sacramento’s problem.

- Watch any Boston Celtics broadcast—which shouldn’t be hard if you’re an NBA League Pass subscriber since Boston’s crew is chosen 8 times out of 10 over the opponent’s—and you’ll understand why color commentator Tommy Heinsohn might be the biggest homer in the league today (play-by-play announcer Mike Gorman comes in a close second). When the Celtics are whistled for a foul, it’s a bad call. When James Posey knocks down a three, he’s one heckuva player. And when things start going south for Gang Green and a loss seems eminent, Tommy doesn’t need to say anything—you know he’s f’ing pissed off and wishes he could choke the officiating crew.

Case in point: Friday night’s game against the Utah Jazz, which Boston eventually dropped 110-92. The Celts were called for seven more fouls overall than the visitors, a fact that was clearly wearing thin on Mr. Heinsohn as the game spiraled towards its conclusion. He was already fed up and had made numerous disgusted comments about the officiating… then ref Violet Palmer blew the whistle on a phantom offensive charge (I think on Rajon Rondo, but not positive). Andrew and I waited… and waited… and waited for Tommy’s remark. Silence. More silence. Then, after a full minute or so… “I gotta say this…” Silence—Tommy is rethinking what he was initially going to say. Finally, the Heinsohn Payoff: “Violet is no flower tonight.” Ha! Classic Tommy.

Now, don’t mistake my assessment of Tommy’s rampant homerism as a criticism, because it’s not. The man has been associated with the Boston Celtics franchise for over 50 years as a player, coach, play-by-play announcer, and now color guy. He’s an institution not just in Boston but in the NBA. Sure, his whining can be grating at times (especially when you’re rooting for the other team), but his opinionated personality and knowledge of the game generally lends itself towards an entertaining broadcast. One question though: does this recognition of his perepheral contributions to the game earn me a Tommy Point?

Thoughts on Glen Davis’ actual weight, Seattle’s shameful on-court product, and why the Dallas Mavericks are (eventually) screwed after the break…

Read the rest of this article »

- The Sports Hernia - The Utah Jazz realize how useful a tree shedder can be
- All on the Field - Chuck Hayes’ free-throw shooting is something to be cherished
- Forum Blue & Gold - Flashbacks can be painful; just ask Principal Seymour Skinner.
- The Score - The Raptors kind of suck without Chris Bosh; they’re just okay with him.
- Hardwood Paroxysm - Lance Allred is not your typical NBA player.
- Blog Maverick - Mark Cuban weighs in on blogging (again).
- Moderately Cerebral Bias - Mixed results for teams involved in trade-deadline deals
- Queen City Hoops - Nazr Mohammed’s NBA career in a nutshell
- Stop Mike Lupica - Remembering the 2000 Philly 76ers through a media guide
- Roto Rob - Juan Carlos Navarro’s rookie season compares to… Matt Maloney’s?

- 3 Shades of Blue - A look at the upcoming free agent market with a Memphis spin.
- The Plain Dealer - LeBron James isn’t sweating the DeShawn Stevenson hate.
- Washington Post - Gilbert’s future in the District is hazy at best.
- New Jersey Star-Ledger - Richard Jefferson wants to stay in Jersey. Great.
- Boston Globe - Someone please sign Gerald Green already. Gerald, please mature already.
- Jones on the NBA - One more thing, Gerald: you might consider calling Joe Dumars.
- Philadelphia Inquirer - The Birdman: “There wasn’t no answers at the bottom of no cans.”
- Express-News - Bruce Bowen: “I’m a Christian. Sometimes we feel wrongfully accused.”
- Cavs News - A history of and fond recollections for Clarence “Foots” Walker.
- HoopsVibe - GM John Paxson has traded his crown for a dunce cap in Chicago.
- Brew Hoop - Disgusted fans wearing paper bags on their heads never gets old. Never.
- You Been Blinded - Smush Parker likes his women wholesome, classy, and modest.
- YouTube - The best, most unintentional David Brent impersonation you’ll see all week.

“You got to build and you got to start from nothing. But I feel in a couple of years, we’re going to be there. We’re going to be one of the top teams in the West, too. We coming — most definitely.” - Al Jefferson

The Minnesota Timberwolves currently have the second-worst record in the NBA at 15-50. They’re on pace for 18 wins this season, the lowest total since the emergence of Kevin Garnett as franchise savior. Without a recognizable superstar like Miami’s Dwyane Wade or Seattle’s Kevin Durant and with a clown like Kevin McHale running the show it would be easy to think that Minnesota is the worst franchise in the NBA. They’re not. Far from it. The Wolves are a team in flux to be sure, one that won’t be competing for an NBA title for several years, but they have an impressive core of young players and are poised to break out as a legit playoff team in the next three seasons.

The franchise is currently defined by the epic move that sent Kevin Garnett, the best player in team history, to Boston for a gaggle of youngters. Garnett was shipped to Bean Town for the services of the relatively unknown Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair as well as a 2009 first round draft pick and the return of Minnesota’s first round draft pick from the Ricky Davis-Wally Szczerbiak trade. Gerald Green and Theo Ratliff are already gone. Still, it was a solid move for Minnesota. It had become increasingly clear that the Wolves would not be title contenders with Garnett and his massive contract that was inked before the current collective bargaining agreement. They needed to start over with a fresh crop of youngsters, and this was as big of a return as could be expected under the circumstances.

Instead of a moribund franchise that was doing little more than treading water and weighing down class act Kevin Garnett’s career, Minnesota has been reborn as a talented young group of athletes that actually has a future.

Make no mistake, Minnesota is clearly a rebuilding team. But that’s not the worst place to be in the West. It’s better to be a rebuilding team if you can’t vie for a title right now. Competing with the Lakers, Suns, Mavs and Spurs is a fools errand for a young team, but as their veteran leaders age all of them figure to fall off after about two years, which is when a squad like Minnesota can expect to get into the mix again. Strategically, truly rebuilding is a better position to be in than the middle of the pack.

Coming into the season this team was built around the inside-outside duo of 23-year-old power forward Al Jefferson and last year’s first-round pick, 24-year-old guard Randy Foye. Unfortunately, Foye went down with a stress reaction in his knee late in the preseason. We didn’t really have a handle on where this group of kids could be as a result, and it wasn’t fair to judge the team until Randy Foye returned to action. Now that he’s been back for over 20 games, ETB checks in on the status of this work in progress.

Backcourt:

Keepers: Randy Foye, Rashad McCants, Sebastian Telfair
Expendable: Greg Buckner, Marko Jaric, Kirk Snyder

Minnesota drafted Brandon Roy with the 6th pick in the 2006 draft, then flipped him to Portland him for Randy Foye, a player they fully expect to be the leader of their backcourt during this rebuilding process. The big question with Foye is figuring out if he’s more comfortable playing a point-guard or a combo-guard role in the NBA. He has fostered ball movement, but he’s also shown a propensity for scoring that lends itself to more of a two-guard role. I see him as a combo guard who would benefit from a pairing with a true point.

Either way, Foye is a potential beast in the backcourt who has a knack for clutch play. And the Roy trade looks bad on the surface, but if you look at their per minute averages from last season, Foye posted nearly identical stats to ROY Brandon Roy (per 48 minutes: 21.3 points, 1.7 threes, 5.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.4 steals for Foye; 22.7 points, 1.3 threes, 5.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.6 steals for Roy). Foye is a strong defender, a passionate player, a strong rebounder and a decent outside shooter who can also take the ball to the basket. He just needs to figure out if he’s a point guard or a shooting guard. I still fully expect him to be an impact player though.

The rest of Minnesota’s backcourt, Al Jefferson, and a Timberwolves checklist after the jump…

Read the rest of this article »

20 Second Timeout - Some well-deserved praise for Golden State Warriors color analyst and ETB favorite Jim Barnett, one of the most interesting, informed and articulate in the NBA.
BallHype - We’re in the midst of The Golden Age of Sports Literature.
Le Basketbawl - Don’t forget to participate in Week 2 of the Oh! Face Challenge.
Craig’s List - Could this be an innovative new way to keep up with Rip Hamilton? Lovely.
Ball Don’t Lie - David Stern will eat your children and steal your thunder.
Third Quarter Collapse - How might the resurgent Orlando Magic fare in the playoffs?
AOL FanHouse - Baron Davis ain’t the only one who can Cool it Now.
Detroit Bad Boys - Do the Detroit Pistons take non-contenders too lightly?
HoopsAddict - Blake Murphy exposes/hacks at Bryan Colangelo’s Achilles Heel.
Newsday - Stephen A. Smith to get canned? So long, and thanks for all the Cheez Doodles.
The Star-Ledger (via BDL) - Devin Harris will be a 20 PPG player.
ESPN - Greg Oden is finally pain-free, practicing, and looking just 45-years-old again.
AOL Video Blog - Some memorable NBA commercials, but where’s Eastern Motors?
Softpedia - Wii to be an Olympic event. Nintendo: get crackin’ on Wii NBA, post haste.
Pick Axe and Roll- Another example of the regularly in-depth Nuggets postgame recaps.

- His minutes have taken a hit since Kyle Korver came to town, but Utah Jazz second-year man Ronnie Brewer has proven to be one sneaky sonofabitch and a frequent beneficiary of Deron Williams’ excellent court vision. Currently leading his team in field-goal shooting at 54% on the season, the lanky 6-7 Brewer assumed his role as starting SG since the Jazz’s first game after averaging just 12 minutes a night during his rookie season. His overall line isn’t eye-popping — 11.9 points, 3.1 boards, 2 assists, 1.8 steals — but he does what’s asked of him very well: chip in modest contributions across the board, stay active on defense, and shoot a high percentage. It seems like every time I tune in a Jazz game, Brewer attempts more point-blank dunks and layups than jumpers, a testament to both Williams’ ability to find open teammates as well as Brewer’s knack for floating to unmanned parts of the court and making himself available. Just for the record, he was my pick for this season’s Breakout SG.

- I’m not sure I’d call the situation “fascinating,” as ESPN’s Doris Burke did during Sunday night’s telecast of the Pistons-Bulls game, but coach Flip Saunders has some decisions to make over these last 20 games as to what his playoff rotation will look like. Before the arrival of veterans Juan Dixon and Theo Ratliff, Detroit’s second unit was largely comprised of young, unproven players like Rodney Stuckey, Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson, and Arron Afflalo. Dixon has since gobbled up Afflalo’s minutes, and lately has been the first guard off the bench, ahead of Stuckey. With Rasheed Wallace sidelined with a sprained ankle, Ratliff stepped right into the starting lineup Friday night against the Knicks and has played well in his first two games as a born-again Piston, averaging a solid 7.5 points, 6.5 boards, and 2.5 blocks in 24 minutes against the Knicks and Bulls. Another vet, the ball-hawking Lindsey Hunter, will also be worked back into the rotation shortly.

It’s a long-standing axiom that coaches tend to opt for veterans over young guys come playoff time, but last year Daniel Gibson and Anderson Varejao proved during the Cleveland-Detroit Conference Finals that youth can be served on the big stage. My best guess is that Detroit’s guard pecking order off the bench this postseason will be split between Dixon, Stuckey, and Hunter, with minutes being allotted based on the situation or need. Afflalo will likely see little to no minutes. In the frontcourt, Ratliff and Maxiell will get most of the burn behind Antonio McDyess and Rasheed Wallace. It just makes more sense to utilize a healthy Ratliff’s size and shot-blocking ability, though I don’t want to see Johnson glued to the bench, either. Stay tuned.

- Speaking of Sunday’s Pistons-Bulls matchup, there was a lot of talk during the game about the Bulls’ lack of any leadership amongst the players negatively impacting their on- and off-court demeanor and contributing to their underwhelming performance. I totally agree. Just a few days after Tyrus Thomas was suspended for skipping practice, Chris Duhon was fined and benched for sleeping through the Bulls’ Sunday morning shootaround after he had a late night chartering a plane roundtrip to catch his alma matter, Duke, take on North Carolina. You’d think he’d be at least somewhat remorseful, but there he was on the bench, laughing it up throughout and joking around with a teammate about something in the waning seconds of yet another loss. And there was Shannon Brown checking in late after Ben Gordon fouled out, casually walking up to Larry Hughes with a huge smile on his face and a joke to tell.

Duhon has fallen out of interim coach Jim Boylan’s rotation and will likely be leaving town this summer, but it seems like he’s ready to book his ticket out over a month early. Thomas… who knows what is going through this talented bonehead’s head. Gordon wants to get paid by somebody, anybody, and seems to have little to no allegiance to Chicago. And after the game, rookie Joakim Noah proved once more that he’ll say something idiotic if you put a mic in his face, telling reporters that “there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have beat that team. I think Detroit’s a great team, but I still feel like we’re better than them, really. I feel like we’re a better team.” Somebody please find a muzzle for Noah and and a player with leadership skills for Chicago. Please.

My prediction for this year’s All-Rookie First Team, thoughts on the recent dominance of Rasheed Wallace, and the Eastern Conference playoff race after the jump…

Read the rest of this article »

Our man Jimmy over at NBA Roto has been doing an ongoing series of excellent fantasy hoops interviews with NBA bloggers. The recent guest list has included Pryceless at OutsideTheNBA.com, Farid with FantasyBasketballPros.com, Nels over at GiveMeTheRock.com, and Ryan Lester of LestersLegends.com among other notables.

This weekend Jimmy asked your humble narrator, Andrew Thell, to weigh in on Philadelphia 76ers Thaddeus Young and Louis Williams, Portland Trailblazers Martell Webster and Travis Outlaw, and New York Knick Nate Robinson. We also discuss the fantasy prospects of Brandon Bass and Craig “Rhino” Smith, while suggesting Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey may deserve the “Idiot of the Week” award for cutting Gerald Green outright. Enjoy.