fBasketballBlog

A Kaveman resides in Dallas this season. (Flickr/gamerscoreblog)

Depth chart:

Relevant fantasy players and their projected draft round (PDR) and per-game stats:

Everybody loves Kevin. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Beast of the Night: Kevin Love finished with 39 points, 12 boards, one assist, one steal and five three-pointers last night. He shot 68 percent (13-19) from the field, 80 percent (8-10) from the free-throw line and had five turnovers. While Love’s rebounding, assists and shooting percentages are down from last season, he’s improved his three-point making, scoring and stealing. There’s not much else to say about this top 10 stud.

Lines for Discussion:
Kevin Garnett: 5-9 FG (56%), 4-4 FT (100%), 14 Pts, 10 Reb, 2 Ast, 5 Stl, 2 Blk, 3 TO; he’s putting up top 85 numbers so far this season, which is about what owners should have expected

James Harden: 8-11 FG (73%), 3-3 FT (100%), 5 threes, 24 Pts, 5 Reb, 4 Ast, 1 TO; though he continues to come off the bench, Harden’s minutes are up from last season, along with his field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, threes, points, rebounds and assists

Kyle Lowry: 4-13 FG (31%), 7-8 FT (88%), 1 three, 16 Pts, 10 Reb, 10 Ast, 3 Stl, 4 TO; his poor field-goal percentage and frequent turnovers have been the only knocks on his top five fantasy value so far (continue reading…)

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?

Yep, looks like a maverick to me. (Ralph Orlowski/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Depth chart:
PG: Jason Kidd, J.J. Barea*
SG: Rudy Fernandez, Jason Terry, Rodrigue Beaubois, DeShawn Stevenson*, Dominique Jones
SF: Shawn Marion, Caron Butler*, Corey Brewer, Peja Stojakovic*
PF: Dirk Nowitzki, Brian Cardinal*
C: Tyson Chandler*, Brendan Haywood, Ian Mahinmi

* unrestricted free agent (continue reading…)

Ellis was put up big-time numbers in big-time minutes this past weekend. (Flickr/Keith Allison)

[Read the full post at DimeMag.com]

Weekend Wonder: Monta Ellis averaged 27.5 points, four rebounds, eight assists, 2.5 steals, one block and 3.5 threes in his two games over the weekend.  He shot 54 percent from the field, 86 percent from the line and averaged 3.5 turnovers in that stretch. Ellis hit a career-high seven three-pointers and played all 53 minutes of an overtime victory over the Magic on Friday night. He has been a top-15 stud all season long and has held up well despite playing heavy minutes once again.

Lines for Discussion:
Kris Humphries (3/11): 8-8 FG (100%), 3-3 FT (100%), 19 Pts, 20 Reb, 1 Stl, 4 TO

Dorell Wright (3/11): 12-17 FG (71%), 8 threes, 32 Pts, 6 Reb, 1 TO (continue reading…)