fBasketballBlog

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…)

Despite taking a step back from his huge 2009-10 campaign, KD held onto his crown. (Flickr/Keith Allison)

[Read the full post at DimeMag.com]

MVP:
Kevin Durant

Biggest Letdown:
Troy Murphy

Waiver-Wire Gem of the Year:
Dorell Wright

Fantasy Rookie of the Year:
Blake Griffin

Biggest Bang-for-Your-Buck of the Year:
Kevin Love

Most Unappreciated Stud:
Dirk Nowitzki

Biggest WTF of the Year:
Kris Humphries

Most Pleasant Surprise of the Year:
Kevin Garnett

Gear-Shifter of the Year:
LaMarcus Aldridge (continue reading…)

Durant has quietly pieced together the best fantasy averages in the NBA this season. (Flickr/Keith Allison)

Beast of the Night: Kevin Durant finished with 39 points, six rebounds, five assists, one steal, one block and three three-pointers last night. He shot 57 percent (13-23) from the field, 83 percent (10-12) from the charity stripe and had two turnovers. Is it possible to have a quiet season while putting up No. 1 averages throughout an NBA season? Yep. Though he hasn’t drawn nearly as much attention as he did last season, KD has met the high expectations most owners had for him heading into this season.

Lines for Discussion:
Kyle Lowry: 6-13 FG (46%), 1-1 FT (100%), 3 threes, 16 Pts, 7 Reb, 10 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO

LeBron James: 10-21 FG (48%), 6-10 FT (60%), 1 three, 27 Pts, 10 Reb, 12 Ast, 3 TO (continue reading…)

Don't call it a comeback. After a shaky start to the season, KD has looked absolutely nasty lately. (NBA.com)

[Read the full post at DimeMag.com]

Beast of the Night: Kevin Durant posted 43 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, a steal, a block and five three-pointers last night.  He shot 74 percent (14-19) from the field, 91 percent (10-11) from the free-throw line and had two turnovers. Durant is really picking up steam lately and has been the top fantasy player during the last month or so. He’s making all his opponents look like fake tough guys.

Lines for Discussion:
Amir Johnson: 8-11 FG (73%), 4-4 FT (100%), 20 Pts, 14 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 Blk, 1 TO

Joe Johnson: 15-27 FG (71%), 2-3 FT (67%), 5 threes, 37 pts, 2 Reb, 8 Ast, 2 TO (continue reading…)

There shall be no Yao Ming here. (Flickr/Keith Allison)

Now that the NBA has announced its All-Star starters for 2010-11, it’s our turn. In case you missed it, back in late December we posted our “ballots” for the 2010-11 NBA fantasy All-Stars. The idea behind this was, “If the NBA can have us vote on each season’s All-Stars, why can’t we do the same for fantasy basketball?” Well, the people have spoken.

It’s clear that some players earned the most votes based purely on their straight-up values so far this season. In other cases, the reasons were a bit less obvious. Some races were close, others were blowouts. Below is a rundown of the results, along with my own votes and brief comments. (continue reading…)