fBasketballBlog

Yinka Dare

Career averages: 39.6% FG, 57% FT, 2.1 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 0.0 Ast, 0.1 Stl, 0.6 Blk, 0.9 TO

By now you’ve surely heard or read that the NBA lockout is all but over. This is, of course, fantastic news.

Now the question is: What does this mean for fantasy basketball this season? (Boy, does it feel good to be able to write “this season” without a cynical smirk plastered on my face and a bitter tear in my eye.) We’ll delve deeper into the fallout through the coming weeks, but here’s a quick rundown of some of the important things to keep in mind for now: (continue reading…)

These guys...

The NBA owners and players reached a tentative agreement to end the lockout and start the season on Christmas Day.

Here are the key dates under the tentative agreement:

Dec. 9: Training camp opens
Dec. 9: Free agency begins
Dec. 25: NBA regular season begins

Read up on this joyous development here:

CBSSports.com

ESPN

Yahoo

Special delivery.

In case you haven’t noticed, yesterday we finished our previews/analyses of each NBA team for what I’m tentatively referring to “2011-12.” I suppose celebrating this accomplishment is akin to hitting a technical free throw and low-fiving imaginary teammates.

Though I’ll spare you the confetti and balloons, I do want to offer this: a simple list of all 30 fantasy basketball team previews. You can also access it atop the website, no matter what page you’re on.

Here’s what’s included in every team preview:

• depth chart (free agents and players locked into overseas contracts are noted)
• list of relevant fantasy players with projected per-game stats
• sleeper
• player most likely to surprise
• player most likely to disappoint
• category specialists
• things to consider
• the team’s statistical ranks in 2010-11
• fantasy-friendliness grade
• fun bonus video

Now I’ll be working on updating those rankings.

Youngsters might not remember, but back in Minnesota, KG was one B.A.M.F. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Reddit is a wonderful thing. Reddit’s r/NBA subreddit just makes it even wonderfuller.

User Browsing_From_Work recently posted a spreadsheet including all NBA player stats from 2004-2011, scraped from NBA.com. Go have fun with it. (The best way to play with the data is to go to “File” –> “Download as” –> “Excel,” then sort and fiddle to your heart’s content.)

Using that data, here are the 10 most efficient individual player seasons from 2004-2011:

1. LeBron James, 2009-10 (CLE): 32.42
2. Kevin Garnett, 2004-05 (MIN): 31.96
3. LeBron James, 2008-09 (CLE): 30.88
4. Chris Paul, 2008-09 (NOH): 30.46
5. LeBron James, 2007-08 (CLE): 30.33
6. LeBron James, 2005-06 (CLE): 29.42
7. Dwyane Wade, 2008-09 (MIA): 29.29
8. Kevin Garnett, 2006-07 (MIN): 29.17
9. Shawn Marion, 2005-06 (PHX): 28.85

Here are the 10 most efficient players in 2010-11:

1. LeBron James (MIA): 28.58
2. Kevin Love (MIN): 28.37
3. Dwight Howard (ORL): 28.31
4. Blake Griffin (LAC): 25.63
5. Pau Gasol (LAL): 25.40
6. Kevin Durant (OKC): 24.95
7. Dwyane Wade (MIA): 24.78
8. Amar’e Stoudemire (NYK): 24.59
9. Zach Randolph (MEM): 24.43
10. Dirk Nowitzki (DAL): 23.49

Do you notice any big names missing from these lists? What other interesting tidbits do you find in this data?