fBasketballBlog

What do Hedo Turkoglu and one of the summer's Hollywood blockbusters have in common? (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Round five already? This is going faster than Rick Pitino’s –

Nevermind. You get my point — each round of this mock draft is flying by. Henry at Weakside Help and I have already tag-teamed to knock down four rounds of this mock draft (head-to-head, nine categories, 12 teams, 13 rounds), with pretty solid results thus far, if I may say so myself. (That’s more of a nod to Henry’s work so far, given that he’s always taking a later round than I am.)

If you need to catch up, here are round one, round two, round three and round four.

While drafting a single rock-solid fantasy basketball team is a tough task in and of itself, trying to build 12 solid teams at the same time is much more insane. For each round I find myself attempting to see things from 12 different angles — the closest thing to schizophrenia that someone can experience in the realm of fantasy ball.

Regardless, I’m thoroughly enjoying the process and am eager to tackle this fifth round, the most difficult (and probably the most questionable) one for me so far: (continue reading…)

Ariza was the beast in a light night for the NBA. (Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)

Beast of the Night: Trevor Ariza put up 18 points, 3 threes, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, 1 block and 3 turnovers against the Clippers. He shot 35 percent (7-20) from the field and 33 percent (1-3) from the line. Ariza’s on a roll right now.

Noteworthy Lines:
Jermaine O’Neal – 9-14 FG (64%), 6-7 FT (86%), 24 Pts, 4 Reb, 3 Ast, 2 Blk, 1 TO

Drew Gooden – 7-14 FG (50%), 3-3 FT (100%), 17 Pts, 14 Reb, 2 Ast, 3 TO

Caron Butler – 11-19 FG (58%), 2-3 FT (67%), 1 3ptm, 25 Pts, 9 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 Stl, 2 TO (continue reading…)

No one stood in the way of Ellis this weekend. (AP Photo/Bahram Mark Sobhani)

Weekend Wonder: Monta Ellis averaged 33.5 points, 3.5 threes, 2.5 boards, 3.5 assists, 3 steals and 1.5 turnovers in two games. He shot 56 percent from the floor and 100 percent from the line during that stretch.

Noteworthy Lines:
Danilo Gallinari (3/19) – 6-12 FG (50%), 11-14 FT (79%), 2 3ptm, 25 Pts, 7 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 Blk, 2 TO

Brandon Jennings (3/19) – 12-28 FG (43%), 3-4 FT (75%), 8 3ptm, 35 Pts, 5 Reb, 8 Ast, 2 Stl, 4 TO

Amar’e Stoudemire (3/19) – 14-16 FG (88%), 16-18 FT (89%), 44 Pts, 7 Reb, 1 Stl, 2 Blk, 5 TO (continue reading…)

The dam’s been breached with the first two big deals of the trading season. Dallas and Washington pulled off a big seven-player deal involving Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and Josh Howard, while the Clippers got two players and some cash for Marcus Camby.

Head on over to Dimemag.com to read the fantasy analysis.

It’s likely that a few more deals will happen before the deadline passes on Thursday, so check back here for more updates and analysis.

Also, here’s a poll question: Where will Amar’e Stoudemire end up? (continue reading…)

Wade turned it on against the Celtics last night and has another challenge in Cleveland tonight. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

[Read the full, original post at Dimemag.com]

Beast of the Night: Dwyane Wade put up 30 points, 5 boards, 13 dimes, 1 steal and 2 blocks. He hit 2 threes and shot 69 percent (11-16) from the field and 75 percent (6-8) from the line. Wade did have 6 turnovers, but they weren’t enough to overshadow everything else.

Noteworthy Lines:
Marcus Camby – 3-7 FG (43%), 0-2 FT (0%), 6 Pts, 20 Reb, 6 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 Blk, 2 TO

Andre Iguodala – 11-19 FG (58%), 2-7 FT (29%), 1 3ptm, 25 Pts, 8 Reb, 8 Ast, 3 Stl, 2 TO

Nate Robinson – 10-15 FG (67%), 2-2 FT (100%), 1 3ptm, 23 Pts, 6 Reb, 8 Ast, 2 Stl, 2 TO (continue reading…)