fBasketballBlog

I'd like to tell you that KG's telling the ref to "Check out these links," but he's probably saying something closer to "**** ******* *** **** *********." (Keith Allison/Flickr)

A friendly reminder: Our flash-mob mock draft at Mock Draft Central is taking place tomorrow evening (Thursday, Aug. 26). Since I’m gunning for us all to take part in a free draft (bloggin’ ain’t easy — or lucrative), I can’t predict exactly what time or how many spots (10 or 12) will be available in the slot we get, but it will be sometime around 7 p.m. EDT (it won’t be earlier than that). The good news is that you can reserve your spot as soon as the time slot is created by the good people at Mock Draft Central, so keep an eye out for an update here and on Twitter sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning about exactly when the draft will take place. It will be 14 rounds of nine-category goodness, and you choose your pick position. After the draft is over, I’ll post a round-by-round analysis where I’ll publicly laud or embarrass your picks (half-kidding). I hope you’re excited as I am.

• You’ll find Dirk Nowitzki ranked as the No. 4 overall fantasy player just about everywhere, but that doesn’t mean it’s cool. Justin at Life is Just a Fantasy…Basketball Blog talks about why he’s going with Stephen Curry at No. 4.
• Henry at Weakside Help is optimistic about the likes of Greg Oden and Andrew Bynum this season, but Pau Gasol? Pau-lease.
• Fantasy Basketball Daily is in the midst of his position-by-position fantasy rankings (based on a scoring system). Tippy’s going with Deron Williams over Chris Paul.
• The great Dan Gilbert is the guest poster for Give Me The Rock’s Cleveland Cavaliers fantasy team preview, and guess what? Comic Sans, that’s what.
• Yao Ming‘s famous foot (shouldn’t it have a nickname by now?) is declared fully healed and the big man appears optimistic. The AP report mentions his conditioning (he lost 40 pounds in the last 3.5 months, and wants to lose more weight) and that his minutes will be limited in the early going, as expected. If you’re optimistic about his fantasy value this season, giggle with glee.
• Kevin Garnett used to be a fantasy monster — now he’s relegated to being good for a highlight reel’s worth of cussing. Head over to Basketbawful to witness some of KG’s verbal diarrhea, but put earmuffs on the ears of any children that might be in the room.

It's summer. Here are some links. (TheBusyBrain/Flickr)

Yes, it’s only late July, but there’s already some delightfully juicy fantasy basketball content floating around in the ocean that is the Internet. Here are some delicious morsels:

• Henry at Weakside Help recently put up a post titled, “What type of fantasy player are you?” Are you Mr. Average? The Dan Gilbert? Ms. Bo Peep? I’d like to think I don’t fall into any of those archetypes. It’s an entertaining read that will probably make you nod and remember names and faces that you’d rather not deal with until your drafts start.
• Doneycat at Tale of 9 Cats is doing some admirable work over there. First, it was another interview with Ken Slight at Basketball Monster, then it was an interview with Steve “Dr. A” Alexander of RotoWorld fame. I’m looking forward to who he interviews next.
• Give Me The Rock continues its fruitful summer with a fantasy basketball preview of the Golden State Warriors. (They’ve already covered the 76ers, Pacers and Thunder.)
• Summer League is over, so here’s John Cregan’s (ESPN) take on what real-life player attributes can translate into fantasy value, along with which players to keep an eye on in light of those scouting observations. (J.J. Hickson, Reggie Williams and DeMar DeRozan are among them.)
• Speaking of Summer League, Basketball Monster (wow, two appearances in one post?) recently posted its Summer League fantasy player rankings, based on averages. The top five, in order, are John Wall, Nick Young (who only played one game), Coby Karl, John Lucas and Ty Lawson.

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  Could this be the face of this year's biggest fantasy sleeper? (It's Rodrigue Beaubois, by the way.) (Keith Allison/Flickr)

  Having a hard time keeping tabs on all the player movement in the NBA this summer? ESPN.com has you covered with this helpful chart.
• Matt Buser at Yahoo! Sports has an updated fantasy basketball Big Board. See how it compares with my top-25 list.
• If you want to see how players are doing during this year’s NBA Summer League games, head on over to NBA.com for a list of statistics. So far, DeMarcus Cousins (16.5 points, 11 rebounds per game), John Wall (21.0 points, 9.0 assists, 3.5 steals per game) and Reggie Williams (23.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists per game) are faring well. We’ll break down the potential ramifications of Summer League once all the games are played.
• David Lee vs. Amar’e Stoudemire: who ya got? Tom Lorenzo at FanHouse mulls this question over and comes to a tough call. (I’m taking David Lee, though as Lorenzo astutely points out, that will hinge on how well Andris Biedrins plays this season.)
• It’s looking more and more like Shawn Marion will be coming off the pine in Dallas this season, making way for Roddy Beaubois to start at SG for the Mavs. While this is bad news for Marion’s already tanking fantasy value, Beaubois immediately becomes a sexy sleeper pick.
• Nels at Give Me The Rock has posted his preview of the Oklahoma City Thunder, armed with a song parody and guidance on where to take Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook.

• “Kobe.” Michael Jordan declared that Kobe Bryant is better than LeBron James (via Lakers Blog at LATimes.com):

  While this is far from surprising, especially in light of Kobe’s recent championship and LeBron’s recent choke job followed by his controversial decision to shy away from a shot at personal greatness, MJ’s verbal stamp on the matter is certainly interesting.

• The Monkey Cage uses game theory to explore whether or not LeBron dug himself into a “suboptimal outcome.” It’s a thought-intensive read, but well worth the interesting perspective it offers.
• Sam Smith offers his take on the winners and losers of the “Great Free Agency of 2010″ over at Bulls.com.
• John Wall has already impressed a lot of NBA bigwigs, according to ESPN.com’s Daily Dime.
• Over at Bleacher Report, Jose Cruz offers his thoughts on the top-15 fantasy ballers for 2010-11. He has LeBron dropped to No. 7 overall, placed Danny Granger at No. 3 and has Paul Millsap at No. 10. This clearly conflicts with my projections, but hey — it can’t hurt to read other perspectives to help inform your decisions on draft day, so read on.

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  Check out these Links. (thinkdocreate.com)

  If you’re looking for good daily fantasy recaps (besides the ones I post here and on Dimemag.com), check out these sites:

  • Give Me The Rock – these guys never disappoint; check out today’s recap here
  • FourPointPlay – good stuff; check out today’s recap here
  • Fantasy Basketball Daily – thorough overviews of each game; read today’s box score review here
  • Rotoworld – last but definitely not least; read today’s Daily Dose here
• FourPointPlay, The Fantasy Lounge and Give Me The Rock recently posted their takes on what to do with certain players who are struggling or surging.
• Brian McKitish at ESPN.com posted his rankings of the top 130 players and discusses the scarceness of blocks and steals.
• Matt Buser at Yahoo! Sports writes about T-Mac, Iverson, Don Nelson and more in his NBA Skinny.