The Main Event

10. The Dark Knight - With Louis’ computer on the fritz, I had the honor and pleasure of informing him of his swept status. Boy, I miss making those calls. Louis always gets off to a slow start in TT and blames it on his focus being on fantasy football. The real story is that he is a poor evaluator of talent so his drafts suck. Either he drafts injury prone guys or guys that are already injured. Louis better hope that his fantasy football winnings offset his fantasy basketball losses this year.

9. The Show - I’m just not feelin’ the defending champs squad this year. 7 of the 13 guys on his roster are questionable. Odom is the sixth man and his numbers are down. Brewer is a fringe waiver wire guy. He picked up Sessions after his weekend explosion, but Ridnour is back on Wednesday. Miller is going to walk into a timeshare with Hawes. Arenas is out until 2009 and Okur is struggling out of the gate. Parker is solid but will be inconsistent as option #4 on the Raptors. Thibault has some work to do.

8. Hamertime - Missing the draft can be a killer and Hamer is officially punting assists every week. Shaq was a nice pick up but this squad is missing the typical balance of a Hamermesh-led organization.

7. Lights Out! - how many times this year will Q-Rich and Ryan Gomes outscore Mike Miller and Jamal Crawford by more than 16 points? It happened on Sunday, giving Ray a 4-4 tie, but will probably never happen again. The fact that Ray only got a 4-4 against a TME!!! team down 2 of its first 3 picks is not a good sign.

6. McLovin - I like McLovin’s squad on paper, but he has to get better guard play from Foye (0-for-10 yesterday) and Harris. He has a nice collection of bigs and should be in the mix for a playoff spot his first year in. Bosh is a monster.

5. TME!!! - middle of the pack only because there are still a lot of question marks surrounding this squad. Will Camby come back and play like last year? Can Deron Williams elevate his game to an all-star level? Hawes could be a nice sleeper, but can T-Mac and Maggette stay healthy?

4. Cash Money - Fraze is notoriously slow at making moves during the week and re-working his roster so this will probably be his squad thru XMAS. He’s soft at PG, strong at center, but needs AI2 to play better. Yao’s health could be an issue and he might have reached for Dunleavy a little in the draft considering his knee is still a problem.

3. Yes We Can!! - don’t be fooled by his Week 1 victory because The Show is ranked #9 in my power rankings for a reason. With that said, Lamont has some nice balance and the best player on the planet.

2. Aerial Flambouyance - Gerard’s squad has two players that should benefit from today’s trade. Iverson should score more in Detroit and J.R. Smith should be elevated to starter in Denver. Shy Guy is soft on assists since Terry and Robinson get none, but he has some nice pieces.

1. The Mighty!- Quinn’s sweep might be deceptive because his numbers weren’t that impressive, but a sweep is a sweep. Quinn got a steal with Billups in the 5th and should be competitive in blocks with Oden hurt if Thomas and Josh Smith keep playing well. Overloaded at point guard with Billups, Calderon, Nelson, Rose and Williams.