fBasketballBlog

An assist is an assist, no matter how awkward it looks. Right, Kobe? (AP)

Here’s a quick roundup of just a small sampling of fantasy basketball resources available to use before, during and after your drafts:

• Give Me The Rock has you covered for all your ranking, scheduling and team-preview needs with its 2010 Basketball Draft Guide. Oh, and give the boys a bone. Pimpin’ (fantasy basketball goods) ain’t easy.
• Basketball Monster is just what it sounds like — in a good way. Even without a membership, get valuable access to player rankings, team analysis, trade analysis and schedules, among other things. I love that site, and not just because it uses colors, too.
• SleeperBot offers a clean, straightforward and nifty Tiersheet application to help you with your drafts. It breaks players down by position and tiers, and comes equipped with drag-and-drop functionality for individual players and for entire tiers. You can double-click to highlight players’ names and e-mail yourself a snapshot of your Tiersheet. Check it out for H2H and roto formats.
• If you’re looking for authoritative lists of average draft positions, look no further than busersports.com.
• Having a hard time thinking of names for your fantasy basketball teams? FantasyTeamNames.net can help.

• 

  Check out these links. (Stefano A/Flickr)

  I recently had my debut in Dime magazine’s print edition with my 2010-11 fantasy basketball preview. By the time it went to print there were already a few things I wish I could’ve changed, but I still stand by the vast majority of it.

• To continue the vanity, here are my posts on DimeMag.com about risk vs. reward players, and the 10 most intriguing fantasy basketball players with new teams this season.
• The guys at Give Me The Rock unveiled a podcast discussion about the Miami Heat. All three guys have wonderful radio voices. Patrick also posted his list of this year’s breakout players.
• Yahoo’s Roto Arcade is killing it with the stuff they’re putting out lately. Check out their head-to-head guiding principles, roto strategy primer and life-after-Don Nelson overview.
• Over at Weakside Help, Henry challenges many owners’ perceptions of delicate guys like Andrew Bogut and Troy Murphy.
• Lester’s Legends has a list of value picks that can help you win the three-point category.
• You want position rankings? Head over to Rotoprofessor (small forwards) and Damn Lies & Statistics (point guards).
• As always, Fantasy Basketball Daily has your daily dose of fantasy basketball news and notes.
• I’d like to end this post with a non-fantasy basketball item, but one I think most of you will enjoy: Brett Favre recently getting hit in his now-infamous groin with a football. Read into this what you will.

If Scalabrine can win a championship, why can't you?

October is here and with training camp in full swing, it’s finally time to unveil my completely subjective list of the top 300 fantasy basketball players for 2010-11.

The link to the page of rankings will always be found at the top of this site.

The rankings are based on nine categories, and a link to the Google Spreadsheet version of the list is available. You can download it in several formats (PDF, HTML, CSV, etc.), and if you’d like to save your own editable copy of the online spreadsheet, just click on “File” then “Make a copy.” This will allow you to sort columns and edit cells to your heart’s content.

That’s pretty much it.

If you want other perspectives, I recommend taking a gander at the rankings offered by Give Me The Rock, busersports.com, MFBarkley and ESPN.com.

Yep, I got a problem with ranking Dwight in the first round -- even in a head-to-head league. (DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Dwight Howard is many things, including: jacked beyond decency, the NBA’s best center and one of the most divisive fantasy basketball players alive today.

First off, let’s be clear that in roto leagues drafting Howard in the first round can only be seen as a masochistic self-challenge and ultimate test of your fantasy skills — a test which will almost always lead to a non-first-place finish. In head-to-head leagues, however, Howard is seen by the vast majority of experts and fantasy basketball owners as a top-12 fantasy asset. This assertion is, of course, always followed up by a warning that starts with something like, “…so long as you…” followed by a brief mention of punting categories and building around his strengths.

Let the record show that I fully agree with the idea that “Foul on You” is worth a pick in the first round, so long as you are disciplined enough to follow up by constructing the right roster with your remaining picks.

But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t like placing Howard in the first round of my fantasy rankings — even for head-to-head formats.

Here is my reasoning: (continue reading…)

My list of the top 10 fantasy centers for 2010-11 is now live over at DimeMag.com. (It’s based on nine categories.)

Here’s a preview:

1. Brook Lopez
2. Dwight Howard
3. Al Horford
4. Al Jefferson
5. Nene
6. Andrea Bargnani
7. Marcus Camby
8. Marc Gasol
9. Joakim Noah
10. Chris Kaman

Feel free to comment here or there about the list.