fBasketballBlog

Natalie Portman has everything to do with fantasy basketball. (Flickr/Mira (on the wall))

Just because there’s a lockout doesn’t mean you can’t be improving your fantasy basketball game this summer.

Head on over time DimeMag.com to read my latest post: “5 Fantasy Basketball Mistakes You Made This Season and Lessons to Learn for Next.”

In it you’ll read about my “Portman Zone” of sorrow, along with discussions of five mistakes many fantasy owners likely made throughout 2010-11, and what to do to avoid them in the future:

1) You were too late on pickups

2) You were too quick/late to drop players

3) You failed to update your lineups

4) You didn’t pay attention to your team’s rankings in each category throughout the season

5) You made bad trades

Read the full post here.

BONUS:

What better way to spend the NBA lockout than by reminiscing and watching some awesome Michael Jordan footage? Cheers. (continue reading…)

In "2011-12" we might witness fantasy basketball in its truest form.

The NBA lockout has been about as horrifying as sitting in between two of your friends who spontaneously decide to make out with each other in public. Of course, if those two friends were the NBA Players Association and the NBA owners, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

Before you start thinking too much about James Dolan getting intimate with Derek Fisher, let’s move on to the point of this post.

Fantasy basketball is, thankfully, immune to such silly things as lockouts. But what the NBA lockout does mean is that any projections made for what we call “2011-12″ are made for a season that might not happen. In other words, we’re making forecasts about fantasy basketball for a season that might not even exist — a season that may be, in fact, a fantasy.

A fantasy within a fantasy — fantasy basketball in the truest sense.

Without further ado, here are my early rankings for the top 150 fantasy basketball players in “2011-12.” (continue reading…)

Rubio's assists are limited to clapping for a WNBA game. The NBA lockout: Where amazing happens. (AP Photo/Andy King)

Rookies are the sirens of fantasy basketball. Sirens are, of course, the dangerously seductive sea nymphs in Greek mythology who lured sailors to their deaths on rocky shores with their singing. When assessing the potential fantasy value of NBA rookies, it’s easy to get caught up with their ceilings while ignoring the basements of potential. This, along with the fact that most rookies can be had in the bottom half of drafts, makes them seem pretty alluring.

But consider this: Last season, in a draft class that was arguably more talented than the one we’ll see next season, only about six or seven rookies (Blake Griffin included) turned out to be worth drafting in 2010-11. There were a handful of others that had fantasy value for spurts of last season, but they didn’t turn out to be worth spending a draft pick for. Let this be a cautionary tale for fantasy owners licking their chops at the thought of drafting a rookie when fantasy basketball drafts roll around again. (continue reading…)

In light of the NBA lockout, here's a photo of some salmon. (Flickr/Andrea Pokrzywinski)

Though that horrible “L” word has finally slammed the NBA’s doors shut, fantasy basketball fans can rest assured that this young (and abruptly suspended) offseason has already offered morsels of activity to chew on. Old faces have landed in new places, which means there’s some fantasy analysis to be had.

Here’s a look at how these early-summer trades will impact fantasy basketball once this real-life mess gets sorted out. (continue reading…)