First of all, I’d like to wish a speedy holiday recovery to Mr. Light, who is ill.  In the spirit of the season, I will refrain from mentioning Jason Terry until later in the post.

• Measley Beasley Watch. After a respectable game in the absence of Udonis Haslem, Beasley returned to form in his last game, putting up 13 pts, 1 board, a dime and 1 block, a typical performance for the formerly prized number 1 waiver priority pickup (now ranked 173 by Yahoo).
• Quinn’s Debt of Gratitude. Since his public chastisement by yours truly,  David Lee has bounced back with big-time double-doubles in 13 of his last 14 games.
• L’il Nate= Big Man. Nate Robinson was injured during the early days of the post-Jamal Crawford-era in New York.  In the two gamesc since regaining his health, he has put up 4 treys, 60 points, 11 boards, 10 dimes and 4 steals, on 49% FG shooting and 100% FT shooting.
• Black Fraze is putting up very solid numbers for the second week in a row.  Unfortunately, it looks as if he’ll get an L for the second time in two weeks.
• Jason Terry went off in his most recent game for 4 treys, 27 pts., 10-16 FG, 3-4 FT, 7 boards and 8 dimes-  the third time in 4 games Terry has scored 26 or more.  Mr. Terry has jumped back into the Yahoo top-20, currently ranked #17.

Just trying out some new stuff. Here’s a short post with some quick hits and interesting tidbits from around the Web. Hit play for some tunes while you read…

• Did you know that Allen Iverson and Joe Dumars actually played against each other?

• Here’s an interesting blog post about the Toronto Raptors. With Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, and Jermaine O’Neal, how can this team be bad? Interesting reading there…

• Ken Berger at SportsLine writes a comparison of Greg Oden and Derrick Rose. Who would you rather have? A few league GMs joined the debate.

• Who was the better point guard, John Stockton or Isiah Thomas? We know who Quinn would choose, but is it warranted?

• For the Boston dudes, how did you celebrate “Birdmas” this year?

• BallHype is a promising blog with lots of videos and news.

• Is Lebron James as good or better than Kobe Bryant? The guys at “Kobe Bryant. Respect.” don’t think so, but they lay out their case pretty well.

• I meant to put up a short post to experiment with the tunes, and this has now taken me over an hour and a half. WTF?

• Though The Mighty is a multi-ring holder, he has never won a H2H ring. In my view, this makes him somewhat of a charlatan.

• Parity in the TT League?  A glance at the standings in the TTL might suggest that there’s a gulf between the haves and have-nots, with my Flambuoyant squad and the two newcomers counterposed with the wretched Hamertime, Dark Night, and Show organizations.  I maintain that this gulf is not nearly as wide as it might appear, with injuries, and matchup vagaries playing a large role in the standings to this point.  It’s only mid-week, but Lights Out is getting throttled by the perennially hapless Blountman, Mclovin is getting handled by the witless Fraze, and Yes We Can is behind the woodshed getting spanked by the suddenly resurgent Hamer.  I’m in a tightly fought 4-4 battle with the now healthy (aside from  T-Mac’s predictably sore vagina) TME squad.
• Pink Slips issued.  My free advice was a one-time feature, as many of the slackers have been kicked to the curb.
• My favorite stat of the week.   Kelly Dwyer, writing for Yahoo notes: “Chicago’s coaching staff is brand new, and though they’ve had all summer and a month into the season to find out that Richard Jefferson abuses Andres Nocioni every time he sees him, it’s still early. Those game tapes cost money, you know. And they’re soooo bor-ing.How Nocioni could end up a -18 on the game in only 12 minutes of play seems pretty shocking, but that’s how bad it was. Combine his one-point, one-rebound, three-foul, two-turnover performance with Drew Gooden needing 11 shots to score two points (Drew has missed all but one of his last 17 shots), and you can see why Chicago fell a little short.”
• Jason Terry has fallen to #20 in the Yahoo rankings.  I’m not complaining.  Meanwhile, Measley Beasley has fallen to #121.  While we all know that these rankings are far from gospel, they give a rough estimate of a player’s fantasy worth in most formats.  Will Beasley’s numbers go up, even while coming off the bench?  They very well could.  Will I regret issuing him a pink slip? Possibly.  Beasley is a scorer, and occasionally a rebounder; he’ll hit a three or block a shot every once in a while.  Right now, he looks like a poor-man’s Glenn Robinson with uncertain playing time on the horizon.  Dropping him was a gamble, and I might come to regret it-  meanwhile, TME is at the back of the waiver line….

I’m sure many of you have looked at box scores and thought to yourselves “Man, I wish i had drafted that guy”.  Right now, I wish I had drafted Chris Bosh and Danny Granger at picks #10 and #11 instead of Shawn Marion and Deron Williams.   Below are some players that are playing above their draft position.

1.  Dwyane Wade (drafted #5) - Simply put, Wade is the best player in fantasy right now.  The numbers are staggering - 28 points, 8 assists, 5 boards, 2.4 steals, 1.7 blocks and good %’;s.   The only thing he doesn’t do is make threes.

2.  Dwight Howard (drafted #8) - I know that D12 went in the first round in our draft, but he is currently playing like a top 4 pick.  He’s better than Kobe, Dirk and Amare right now.  Sure, the FT% sucks (58% on 11.7 attempts a night), but you can punt a category in a H2H league and still win.  His points and boards are about the same from last year (21 and 14) but the blocks really stand out.  Howard’s averaging a mind-boggling 4.0 a game and could reach his goal of leading the league in blocks AND boards.

3.  Chris Bosh (drafted #16) - I was one of many that thought a healthy Jermaine O’Neal would take away from Bosh’s production.  What I should’ve done is looked at what happened when the Suns acquired Shaquille O’Neal.  Amare Stoudemire went off after the trade.  A true big man allows Amare and Bosh to play their true position of PF (not center) and thrive.  Bosh is averaging 27 and 10 with great %.’s and is playing like a first rounder.

4.  Danny Granger (drafted #15) - Granger was build as the “next Matrix”, but he is head and shoulders about the original Matrix right now.  Granger’s averaging 24 points, 5 boards, almost three 3’s a game, 1.6 blocks with good %’s.  The only thing is doesn’t do is get steals (0.8 steals per game). He’s a six category contributor that looks to be a sure-fire first rounder next year.

5.  Devin Harris (drafted #56) -  Lights Out!! mentioned Harris in his blog.  What in the world has gotten into Devin Harris?  Five 30+ point games and one 47 point game?  His mid-range jumper is much approved so opposing defenders must honor it.  With his speed and quickness, he’s now almost impossible to guard.  He’s averaging 25 points and 6 assists, but the most impressive stat is his 9.2 free throws made per game.

NOTE - 3 of the 5 players I have mentioned are wearing a McLovin uniform.  I might have criitized his lineup decisions but I can’t criticize his draft.

6.  Andris Biedrins (drafted #72) - The Big Latvian has made the jump from solid center to double-double machine.   He averaged close to a double-double last year in only 29 minutes per game, but has been so effective this year that opposing teams have to actual game plan for him.  His recent numbers are down a bit as a result, but you can’t argue with getting a guy averaging 15.7 points, 12.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in the 8th round.

Honorable mention:  Derrick Rose (#84), O.J. Mayo (#93), Rajon Rondo (#87), Jameer Nelson (#117), John Salmons (#96), Nene Hilario (undrafted).

After an extremely hectic period at work and great relaxing Thanksgiving weekend with The Main Event (the cornbread sausage stuffing was straight dope), I’m back with a new (temporary) picture from The Show’s fabulous wedding in Playa del Carmen. Whaddya think? Anyways, it certainly feels like a long way to the playa right now, and it’s just getting colder every day here in Prague. That has me thinking of heat, and who’s hot in the NBA right now.

Biggest news I’ve seen today is the emergence of none other than Flambo’s pre-season sleeper, Mr. Enigmatic Dan Gadzuric. He busted out last night with a whopper of 11 pts (4-5 shooting), 14 rebs, 3 blks and a steal in just 21 minutes. Is this the beginning of an all-star season for this unheralded beast?

Speaking of hot hands, where did Devin Harris come from? Last week he played four games with an average of 33pts (60.7% FG%), 84.8 FT% (11 attempts per game), 4.3 rebs, 5.3 asts, 1.3 stls and 1.0 3FGM. Damn! I guess he’s trying to prove that the YouTube video of him getting punked on the streets of London was a fluke. Whatever, that’s some serious heat.

Another guy playing well of late is Rajon Rondo. Unfortunately, my nemesis of the week, Dark Knight, has Rondo and is taking advantage of my injuries to serve me something fierce this week. Last night Rondo had his first career triple-double with 16pts (50% FG%), 13 rebs, 17 asts and 3 stls. Damn, Blount-man, you should be the one writing about this.

On another note, I came across another basketball blog, not fantasy, that had some really interesting articles. It’s called The Painted Area, and I particularly like this one talking about the Cav’s offense with LeBron in the post. Check it out, there aren’t too many places on the web where you get an interesting read and learn about the game, as well.

That’s it for me today. Got my first Christmas party of the season tomorrow night, then another week before leaving freezing Prague for warm California for a nice extended break with the family. Meanwhile, I’m hoping Josh Howard plays tonight, and plays well, damn it!