(Attention all non-RBFL readers, all five of you: I do the rankings for one of my leagues, which was started by a number of forum members of that fine establishment, RaptorBlog. They’re sort of weekly, and they’re sort of snarky, but whatever pearls of wisdom you might find in them should be pretty applicable anywhere else in fantasyland, so feel free to enjoy!)

We’re starting fresh over here. Last rankings was done by the guy who calls himself Orestes. This ought to be a drastic improvement.

Rank / Previous Rank / Team / Owner / Record / Comment

1. (-) Spanking Banana Monkeys. Dunking Banana. 25-8.
Yes, this team has the league’s best record. Yes, this team is working on a 19 game winning streak. Yes, it features perhaps the best combination of top-to-bottom depth and punchiness at the very top. Still, the Banana Monkeys have had the easiest schedule (lowest total points scored against) in the league so far, and they’ve had virtually no injury trouble thus far this year (not counting Pau Gasol, whose injury was factored into his low draft spot at the start of the year). If both of these things last, this team will win the championship. If they don’t, well, then the playing field will have evened a bit.

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2. (-) The Southern Prostitutes. Dre. 25-8. 21-12.
All it took for Andrew Bogut to break out as a fantasy star (he’s averaged 18 and 15 over his last five games) was the formation of a large nuclear mushroom cloud over the rest of his team’s starting lineup. I mean, this guy’s supporting cast recently was basically the NBDL All-Star team.

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3. (-) West Coast Fighting Sandcrabs. Grizz. 23-10.
Here’s the good news: Grizz has a Big Four consisting of Kevin Garnett, Elton Brand, Jermaine O’Neal and Lamar Odom. This is unmatched anywhere else in the league. Here’s the bad news: bit players Etan Thomas and Alonzo Mourning are his centers. Here’s the worst news: his guard rotation is Chucky Atkins, Jannero Pargo, Cuttino Mobley and Kelenna Azubuike. I kid you not. And you don’t even want to look at the bench.

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4. (-) World B. Free. adrock. 21-12.
A Tale of Two Butlers. Caron has been the 21st best player in this league this year, sandwiched right between Chris Bosh and Marcus Camby. On the other hand, Rasual Butler has been one of the most valuable free agent pickups in the league this year, logging heavy minutes and producing nice numbers in the absence of Peja Stojakovic. Well done, Team Jeeves!

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5. (-) Iron Panda Chefs. Lincoln. 17-16.
I’m not sure how long Deke’s deal with the devil (14+ rpg in his last 10 games) is good for, but I’m sure we’ll know when we see Lincoln prodding the dead 7-foot body with his pitchfork.

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6. (-) The Jerks. Dan Luff. 21-12.
Fill in the blanks with words from either one of the two lists below.

The fantasy ____(1)____ that is Shaquille O’Neal ____(2)____ all the way to the 3rd round this year, where he was ____(3)____ by the Jerks. Now Shaq is about to make his sure-to-be ____(4)____ return from his ____(5)____, enabling his owner Dan Luff to ____(6)____ at the ____(7)____, and causing him to exclaim ” ____(8)____ what I waited for! Gawd, I’m ____(9)____!”

	List A	List B
1	force	has-been
2	dropped	was reached on
3	snagged	relieved of his misery
4	triumphant	Eddy Curry-like
5	injury	annual 2 month mid-season vacation
6	marvel	wonder
7	benefits	point of this garbage
8	Yes! This is	Fuck!! Is this
9	smart	dumber than the provider for Doug Christie’s family calling package

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7. (-) East Hanover Virgin Lung Abusers. BrainlessConman. 16-17.
While everyone was falling all over themselves predicting a spike in production for Andre Iguodala in the post-Allen Iverson era, it’s actually Sam Dalembert that has appeared to benefit the most. In the new year, Dalembert has averaged 12.7 pts, 9.6 ast, 2.6 blks on 61% shooting. That’s the good news. The bad news is, according to Team Canada coach Leo Rautins, he’s a longshot for the national team because while he wants to play for us, he’s not planning to get his Canadian citizenship any time soon. Hey Leo, Steve Nash already has his citizenship. How’s that one going?

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8. (-) Scarborough Black Dogs. Efman. 16-17.
Efman sucks at fantasy. Also, he can’t spell. Finally, he’s borderline racist.

(I’m the master of diss. Don’t even try. I’ve got a file like this on each one of you.)

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9. (-) The Leithy Lions. picniclightning/Fantasy Bull. 15-18.
Let’s say there’s an undersized combo guard on the wrong side of 30 who’s been a career backup. He has a player option left on a contract that pays him 3 mil per year, a deal he’s already said he’ll opt out of to get a better one. Conveniently, this guy plays for a struggling team in a basketball backwater that just traded for him and where he has the a permanent green light to chuck the basketball to his heart’s content. And sure enough, this guy is posting a career high scoring average and making his shots at a great clip.

If this were 2006, everyone would have guessed Mike James already. But this is 2007, so say hello to this year’s version, Earl Antoine Boykins.

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10. (-) Mississauga Shoxaholic. AlWilliams20. 17-16.
Not sure if anyone’s been paying attention, but the perennially dismal Shox have not only been quite passable this season, they’ve also made several moves that can only be described as, gasp, shrewd. For instance, the pickup of Devin Brown has worked out great as he has blossomed in the PT nirvana that is New Orleans this season. In his past 10 games, he’s averaged 13.4 pts, 6.9 rebs, 4 asts and 1 stl. Shox also pulled the trigger at the right time for Mikki Moore, who in Januray has delivered 12.5 pts on 63% shooting with 9.2 boards. Now if he can only get it through his head that Bruce Bowen should never, ever be drafted by any team wishing to succeed, he’d be all set.

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11. (-) Chickz Dig Sportz. Nat. 13-20.
Quick, who would you rather have on your team, Boris Diaw or Mark Blount? Give up? It’s a trick question. Diaw has still been better than Blount, but by a meager 0.5 fp this year (10.1 fp to 9.6). Awful performance this year. Maybe it’ll improve next year once Shawn Marion is traded.

(Yep, that was a sideswipe prediction! And I will bring it up when it comes true. Just wait.)

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12. (-) Lactating Emus. pennington. 14-19.
I think I see what Bonzi Wells is doing. He figures you only really need to do about a couple of weeks worth of work to get a decent contract in this league, as long as those weeks came at the very end of the season (see Jerome James, Tim Thomas, Chris Wilcox, and Bonzi Wells himself, had he taken the Sacto Kings’ offer last off-season). So Bonzi has decided that, until then, he will just invent a wide variety of “personal reasons” or “organization issues” or “flu symptoms” so he doesn’t have to actually work for his (relatively paltry) paycheque. Which is great news for the Emus, because while Wells’ production this season has been on par with the Leon Powes and Sashsa Vujacics and Darrick Martins of the world, at least you know he’ll be there to turn it on for you come fantasy playoff time.

Oh wait, the Emus ain’t getting a sniff of the playoffs, are they? Oh well then scratch all that. Bonzi Wells just sucks.

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13. (-) Oakville Reverse Oreos. Scott. 14-19.
Player A: 9.1 ppg, 5.2, 3.5, 2.18, 0.97, 44% shooting
Player B: 10.3 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 1.1 apg, 2.0 blks, 61% shooting

Both of these players were drafted by the Oreos. The first one was drafted in the second round (18th overall) and is still in the Oreos starting lineup. Player A is Andrei Kirilenko. The other was drafted in the 14th and last round, and subsequently dropped in the first week of the season in favour of Dajuan Motherfucking Wagner. Player B is Andris Biedrins.

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14. (-) Saskatchewan Curlers. Kevin. 8-25.
The Curlers, headed by the incomparable Gilbert Arenas, are not as bad as they look. Sure, they’ve been hit by injuries and they’ve made a poor trade or two (most notably the one where Raja Bell and Boykins were shipped off for Andersen Varejao and Kurt Thomas early in the year), but, for the third year in a row, this team has been victimized by the league’s strongest opponent average. At this point, I wouldn’t walk anywhere near Kevin in a lightning storm.

Actually, even on a nice sunny day I wouldn’t, but I guess that’s just a personal thing.

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15. (-) Loserville Doormats. Orestes. 11-22.
Orestes was my predecessor in writing the rankings this year, a job he did not do very often. I would call him the Vince Carter to my MJ, but let’s face it, when he does show up, Vince Carter’s at least decent.

Oh about Orestes’ team? It sucks. It’s bad enough that Fred Jones is a freaking starter. Which is another reason it was so funny that Orestes tried to write rankings. Where’s your moral authority gonna come from if you’re such a hopeless bottom feeder?

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16. (-) Shaking Babies. Cacharias. 8-25.
This team has had Allen Iverson benched and Chris Webber starting for the past two scoring periods. Read that again. Then go smack your head against a wall repeatedly over the fact that we let this guy into the league this year.

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…for the next installment of Fantasy Bull.

I know that from the hundreds of desperate letters you’ve sent us and thousands of fearful voice messages you’ve left for us.
And Fantasy Bull will return shortly, trust you me.

In the meantime, stop calling the Suicide Hotline. They’ve started blocking the numbers of our readers.

There’s this person in my RaptorBlog Fantasy League (scoring system here) that has been sending me some, ahem, fascinating trade offers, one after the other.

To classify these trade offers as stupid would be to do the ancient practice of stupidity, with its stalwarts ranging from the majority of members of the US government to the stars of Jackass and Jackass 2, a disservice.

To classify these trade offers as asinine would be to disparage the art of asininity, with its rich history of practitioners from the hosts of amateur singing contests to those who believe the Toronto Raptors are on a good track for success this year.

To classify these trade offers as retarded would be… about right, actually. Here’s a brief sampling:

He offers Mike James, Chris Kaman and Chris Webber for Carlos Boozer and Charlie Villanueva.

That gets rejected.

Then he offers Carmelo Anthony (post-suspension), Bruce Bowen and Chris Webber for Kevin Garnett, Darko Milicic and Charlie Villanueva.

That gets rejected.

Then he offers Carmelo Anthony and Mike James for Kevin Garnett and Darko Milicic.

Needless to say, that gets rejected.

I can’t wait to see what is coming next. Maybe he checks to see if I would like to trade Kevin Garnett in exchange for a night with his grandmother. Who knows?

So the Answer is going to Denver in exchange for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two terrible first round picks. I would do a detailed fantasy analysis of all this, but why should I? Plenty of others already have.

Here’s a selection from around the web, ranked in order of my personal preference. Enjoy!

• Iverson headed for higher ground (Give Me the Rock)
• Iverson to Denver (ESPN.com, requires Insider access)
• Fantasy Fallout: Iverson Dealt to Denver (Yahoo! Fantasy Sports)
• Fantasy extra: The Answer is… (CBS Sportsline)
• Allen Iverson player page (Rotoworld)

We’re playing around with the title today. Can you tell we’re not satisfied with the name of this little department? Yep. Feel free to chime in with your suggestions.

• Stephon Marbury followed up a 31 point, 8 assist performance on Fight Night with a 29 point, 8 assist performance yesterday against against the Utah Jazz, even generously tossing in an overtime buzzer-beater. Some corners believe this means that Stephon got his groove back.

• David Lee had a 20 rebound game yesterday, starting at small forward in the absence of both Quentin Richardson (injury) and Jared Jeffries (suspension). Lee has the fifth best rebounding rate in the league this year, and if you need a guy who’ll grab the boards and won’t hurt you in any other category, he’s perfect. At this point, it really does seem that no matter what personnel the Knicks have at their disposal, Lee will continue to produce and produce well.

• On a night when the Knicks put it together to beat one of the league’s elite teams, Earl Boykins of all people paced the Carmelo Anthony-deprived Denver Nuggets with 29 points, 6 assists and 7 rebounds to beat the Washington Wizards. Now, if there’s one thing that seems etched in stone to me it’s that one of the Knicks or the Nuggets would go on a big winning streak after the fight, sailing on the winds of “rally together… us against the world… thugz 4 life…. etc.”. This is just what happens. The question is, which? Well, the good money is certainly not on the Nuggets, who are not only missing their best player, but also their best long-range shooter. The Knicks meanwhile have not lost anyone of significance, and also boast a suddenly conscious Marbury. Not to mention, two of their next three games are against the Bobcats and the 76ers.

• Jason Kidd notched his world-leading sixth triple double of the season, eking out another typical 10, 11 and 12 line. I know as fantasy owners we’re all supposed to go gaga for Kidd and his multi-category excellence, but can I just say something here? Kidd gets by far the most underwhelming triple doubles in the world. I realize he just passed Wilt Chamberlain for third all-time on the list of career 3D leaders, but Kidd’s mini gems are a far cry from Wilt’s, who regularly got 30+ points in addition to his double digit boards and assists or blocks. Kidd meanwhile barely hits 10 points each game, usually on something like 5 for 13 shooting or something. Not that I’m complaining, mind you! You hear me, fantasy gods!? I have J-Kidd on my team and I like him just fine! Maybe I should just delete this paragraph altogether…

• Mike Miller almost had a triple double too, busting out with a line of 29, 11 and 7, although it did take him 52 minutes and a overtime game to do it. Now that Pau is back, many people are predicting a decrease in Miller’s numbers. I don’t think so. While I think he might take marginally less shots, I also think his shooting percentage should take a hike upwards with that big guy that teams have to key in on inside.

• With 1.3 seconds remaining in the Heat/Hornets tilt yesterday, the New Orleans were down by two courtesy of a Dwyane Wade bank shot. They had two timeouts. At that point, Chris Paul, in dueling with Wade, had enjoyed another fine game, going 8 for 15 from the field and getting to the line pretty much whenever he wanted to (12 FTs). Really, he was the sole reliable scoring option for his team. So, what does Byron Scott do coming out of the first timeout? He gives Paul the duty of inbounding the ball, seemingly to either Jannero Pargo or Rasual Butler, neither of whom plant fear into the hearts of the opposition exactly. You could tell Paul was none too happy. After surveying the situation for about 2.5 seconds, CP called a timeout to get a redo. Coming out of the second timeout, Scott had Paul doing the inbounds again. This time he flung it dejectedly to Pargo way out on the perimeter and Pargo took a ridiculous 28 footer that barely grazed the rim. Hornets lose. Not to second guess or anything, but I’m thinking you give your best player the shot in that situation and see what he can do. Maybe I’m off my rocker.

• Incidentally, with Peja Stojakovic and David West undergoing surgeries and gone for a while, Butler has just become verrrry valuable indeed. Especially since he’s playing pretty well, all things considered.

• We thought Gilbert Arenas’ 60 point overtime game was big, but we didn’t know it would be so big as to have an aftermath. Kobe Bryant, the loser in the Staples shootout from Sunday night, apparently had a few sour grapes he wanted to take out in public. Specifically, here’s what he had to say about Gilbert’s monster night:

“He doesn’t seem to have much of a conscience. I really don’t think he does. Some of the shots he took tonight, you miss those, and they’re just terrible shots. Awful. You make them and they’re unbelievable shots. I don’t get a chance to play him much, so I haven’t gotten used to that mentality of just chucking it up there. He made some big ones, but I’ll be ready next time.”

Pot, may I introduce you to kettle. Kettle, pot is over there talking smack about you with all those reporters.

A bit late today, but I was waiting for the big suspension news to drop. And since it did, let’s get right to it.

• ‘Melo got 15 games, JR got 10 and Nate got 10. Melo’s suspension especially is a lot more than I said I expected it to be over the weekend.
• The red-hot Gilbert Arenas scored 60 points yesterday to carry his team to an overtime win over the Lakers. He is now averaging 39ppg over his last 7 games after an up-and-down start to the year. I hate to say I told you so, but I did sorta kinda say that Gilbert might end up being close to the most valuable player in fantasy this year, way, way back when.
• On a heartwarming personal note, I traded Gil away from my H2H team this past weekend, and that 60 point game was his touching farewell. Adieu, Sweet Gilbert! (For the record that trade went like this: Gil + Mehmet Okur + Monta Ellis + Paul Millsap for Kevin Garnett + Brad Miller + Lamar Odom).
• Vladimir Radmanovic started to take advantage of the window of opportunity at small forward in Odom’s absence yesterday, notching 27 points on 11 of 16 shooting, including five treys. Take advantage of this while it lasts, since when Odom comes back, there will be a serious logjam with him, Odom and Luke Walton all competing for time on this suddenly extremely deep Laker team.
• Jason Maxiell also did like Vlad Rad and performed in the pinch, busting out with a double-double as he helped fill in for Rasheed Wallace. To me Maxiell has always been an Ike Diogu type of guy–he has the potential and tools to flourish, but his skills aren’t obvious enough to force the issue (in the way that, say, Andris Biedrins’ skills are), so he will need to be given an real, patient opportunity somewhere down the line before he can become Udonis Haslem. And I don’t see it happening this year in Detroit.
• Without a veteran alien breathing down his neck and ready to check in as soon as he made a mistake, Shaun Livingston has been fantastic. In the four games that the plantar fasciitis-hobbled Sam Cassell has been (mostly) absent from the bench, he has averaged 16 pts, 8 assists and 4.5 boards with excellent percentages. Of course, the Clippers have lost all four of those games, so maybe don’t get too jacked up about Livingston’s “arrival” yet.
• Is there a huskier team out there than the Utah Jazz? Think of this lineup, commonly put out there by Jerry Sloan: Deron Williams, Derek Fisher, Paul Millsap, Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur. Have you ever seen them all charging down the court on a fast break at once? My god. The floorboards beneath them shake like wrestling mats.
• Finally: Andrea Bargnani, 6 shots blocked. Not bad for a rookie who’s probably available on most waiver wires out there…

In case you haven’t heard, there was a bit of a tussle last night at Madison Square Garden.

In the waning minutes of a Denver Nuggets blowout of the New York Knicks, JR Smith was out on the break and about to dunk the ball or lay it up when Knick scrub Mardy Collins fouled him hard, slamming down both forearms on Smith’s shoulders. It was a “message” foul since even at the tail end of a blowout, Denver had all of its starters still in the game and was busy sprinting and dunking at every opportunity. On any other night, Collins would’ve been called for a flagrant foul, JR would’ve shot two free throws, and the whole thing would have ended right there.

Unfortunately, that’s when JR Smith popped up and got in Collins’ face, looking for a showdown. Then, the tiny moron that is Nate Robinson stepped in, yelping like a dog, and shoved Smith. Things deteriorated from there, as Smith and Robinson got entangled and careened into the 2nd row.

At about this time Carmelo Anthony apparently felt it was time to step in and take a leadership role in this bullshit, as he charged from way in the other end of the court to lecture Collins a little bit, a speaking appointment that ended with Carmelo raring back and clocking Collins in the face when he wasn’t quite looking. Jared Jeffries, who had been playing peacemaker up to that point, got blood in his eyes and ran after Anthony, but Melo was too busy too busy showing his chicken feathers, backpedaling hard after his suckerpunch. Nate Robinson (aka, “pound for pound the biggest idiot in the league”) freshly freed from his business with Smith, popped after Anthony, all “hey you want a piece?”

Everyone on the court was ejected, an NBA record. A lot will be suspended. Let’s run down the after-effects of this little bit of nonsense for some of the major players in this one.

• Stop trying to trade for Carmelo Anthony. My personal bet is on a 5-10 game suspension for Melo, and between that and the possibility of Allen Iverson coming to Denver, Anhony’s value is going down despite his scorching start to this season. In his absence, Linas Kleiza looks primed to get a bit of burn at small forward.
• Stand pat with JR Smith. He’s had a good start to the season, but most fantasy owners have been trying to trade him anyway recently. He’ll miss games, but the reasons to worry about JR’s value have more to do with longterm things like his relationship with George Karl and the potential Iverson trade than with this fight. In the interim, however, do look at someone like Yakhoba Diawara if you are in need of guard minutes to replace Smith’s.
• Drop Nate Robinson. He doesn’t contribute enough in any one category (>10 points, >1.5 assists, >1 steals) to have him on your team in the first place, although his percentages this year have been better than I expected them to be. And the kid is just so hateful a character in every single way that I would’ve found a way to get him off my team even if he were having a better season.
• Since Quentin Richardson is out with back spasms, Jared Jeffries was not bumped off the Knicks starting lineup yesterday in favour of the revenant Channing Frye. That said, Jeffries’ game is such that he had minimum fantasy value anyway (his history is that of a stat repellent with yucky percentages), and now that he’s due to miss at least some time, he’s definitely a good drop.
• Marcus Camby, Andre Miller and Eduardo Najera from the Nuggers and David Lee and Channing Frye from the Knicks were all ejected because they were on the court at the time of the melee, but my bet is that their fantasy values will all remain the same since none had a significant role in the fight and as such none stand much of a chance of getting suspended by the league. The Nuggets might lean on Miller and Earl Boykins a bit more in the next few games as JR Smith serves his inevitable suspension.

Short one today, as yesterday’s NBA slate only had three games.

• Adam Morrison was demoted to the bench last night in an effort to re-energize the rookie who’s shot 37% from the field thus far this year. It worked well enough as Morrison went 7 of 12 for 22 point game and 7 rebounds. Unfortunately, this bench move was a wake-up call to the wrong guy as far as us solipsistic fantasy owners are concerned, since anyone with half a shred of sense has already dropped Ammo from their team. The guy who really does need a jolt is Gerald Wallace, who somehow held on to his starting spot despite being one of the biggest disappointments thus far this year. He grabbed six steals, but had another poor shooting and rebounding game.
• Let’s stay on Gerald Wallace for a second, even though I know it hurts. His biggest problem this year has been his complete lack of blocks. He has averaged 0.4 blocks in his 33 mpg. Last time he had this low an average was 2003/04, when he was playing 9.1 minutes a game. If I were him, I’d be beefing up his security in crowded places right now.
  
• Just in case any of you are getting any funny ideas: No, JJ Redick will never be any kind of decent fantasy option.
• The New Orleans Hornets rank last in the league in scoring per game (91 points) and next-to-last in field goal percentage (0.432). And yet the Amazing Chris Paul (new official name) continues to average over 9 assists per game.
• Golden State coach Don Nelson shuffled Andris Biedrins out of the starting lineup yesterday in favour of Adonal Foyle, in an attempt to put a body on Yao Ming. Didn’t work, as the red-hot Yao produced a monster 38 and 18 effort. Over his last three games, Yao is averaging 34 points, 11.3 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game to go along with his usual dazzling percentages. There is no finer pivot on the planet.

• The Boston Celtics youth auditioned for their possible starring roles in Philadelphia yesterday. None of them did great, but none embarrassed themselves either, with the exception of Sebastian Telfair, who had 4 fouls and no points. Delonte West acquitted himself well 13 points off the bench and Al Jefferson had 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. That last stat is interesting, because Jefferson is certainly capable of swatting them when he’s in the right frame of mind. And put him next to Dalembert in Philly and you have possibly the best young shotblocking duo in the L.
• Gilbert Arenas continued his recent onslaught yesterday with 34 points en route to blowing out Melo and the Nuggets. Over his last five games, Agent Zero has averaged 37 points on 51% shooting, 5.4 assists and 2.4 steals. By the way, Arenas is by far the sexiest name to have on your fantasy team this year. Everybody wants him. He’s like the Rachel McAdams of fantasy basketball.
• Etan Thomas has a sprained ankle, so Brendan Haywood, though hobbled himself, made his first start of the season last night. He made the most of it too, registering a double-double and two blocks. He also peed on Etan’s empty locker and called his sister a whore after the game. No wait, he didn’t do that. It would’ve been a fitting next episode in that series though.
• Well, if there was any proof needed that Andrea Bargnani is not the next Darko Milicic, it was proffered in last night’s Raps/Magic game, where the two Euro bigs squared off against each other off the bench. The rookie Bargnani absolutely torched the Magic to the tune of 23 points (including 5 threes), 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Darko, meanwhile, had a “meh” night with 8 points and 7 boards. The one bright side for the Magic? Their Serb is a scant three months older than the Raptors’ Italian, and has seen much less game action over the past few years.
• The rap against Drew Gooden has always been that he’s not quite as sharp as you’d like your NBA player to be. And, given that you don’t really need your average NBA player to be sharp at all, that’s really saying something. Of course, Drew somehow managed to vindicate that as he injured himself trying to out-dunk LeBron James in pre-game warmups the other night. Think about that for a second. Isn’t that like trying to out-dumb George Bush? Or trying to out-slur Charles Barkley?
• Speaking of Cleveland, it was Anderson Varejao Wig Night last night, and my favorite bench player in the league responded with a 16 and 10 night, including a stunning 8 for 11 from the line. I really like him in fantasy point leagues (he just doesn’t give enough blocks for roto), and have been sticking pins in my Donyell Marshall and Gooden voodoo dolls (I get them custom-made) all season on his behalf.
• Vince Carter has made a ton of threes this year, over 2.3 per game. Already this year he’s had nights where he made 9, 6 (twice) and 5 (also twice) triples. If he keeps this up, it would make this year a significant step above his best season for threes, his sophomore year, when he piled up 162 made three pointers. We’re not quite in Ray Allen territory here, but we’re getting there.
• Ben Wallace had his best statistical game as a Bull yesterday, scoring 15 points, grabbing 20 rebounds and blocking 5 shots. He’s been coming on strong of late, so the window for trading low for him may be closing. Personally, I would avoid him in roto, since you really have to have structured your team right in order to be able to absorb as big a hit in FTs as Big Ben (47% this year) will lay on it.
• Fantasy cipher Anthony Johnson left the game against the Lakers yesterday with a sprained ankle. On the plus side, Johnson was, as usual, wearing a very nice neckless. (Sorry, I’ve been hanging on to that one for a while now.)