• 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….

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!

Fantasy sports afficionados, as well as sports fans generally, are always looking for the catchy nickname to reference their favorite players.  Names like C-Webb, D-Wade, and T-Mac seem to roll off the tongue.  And they’re also easier and quicker to type- whether in a column, blog-post, message board, or even in a taunting e-mail to a buddy.  With the ascendance of Dwight Howard to stardom, in a real sense, and fantasy stardom, in a slightly-lesser sense (FT%), the First Initial-Syllable From Last Name paradigm was challenged.  I think many fans, and perhaps some writers, played with the “D-How” designation, but it just didn’t roll of the tongue (or even off the keyboard?) as smoothly as the monikers listed above.  Instead, Dwight Howard is now known almost uiversally, as D-12.  Now I will introduce you to B-15:

B-15: Andris Biedrins

Yup.  Andris Biedrins appears to have made the leap this year.  He officially became fantasy-worthy two seasons ago, and last season became almost universally recognized as a player who must be rostered in any self-respecting fantasy hoops league.  Over those two seasons, he averaged right around 10p and 10r, with 1.5-2 blocks.  He also had stellar FG%, and lackluster FT%- around 60% in both categories.  He was a respectable second center on a fantasy squad, though your team was certainly suspect if he was the main guy in the middle.

B-15 has stepped it up through the first 3 weeks of this season, averaging close to 17p, 15r, 1s, and 1.7b.  He hasn’t missed on a double-double since March.  His percentages are becoming more significant, since he shoots more of both.  His FG% is down a bit, but still a net-plus on any roster- and it should rise from its current 53%, though probably not up to the 60% of previous years (his involvement in the offense has expanded from the days when all he did was throw down put-back jams.)  His FT% is a bit more of an anchor than previously, due to more attempts, but is nothing like the anchor of D-12 or Shaq in his prime.

In any case, folks,  B-15 has arrived.

As we enter the 3rd week of the season,  you can start to get a feel for the kind of productivity you will get from key personnel on your roster.  Typically, your first seven picks should be be consistent performers while the latter part of your roster is stocked with specialists (Peja Stojakovic), players with upside (Derrick Rose, O,J, Mayo), 6th men that can explode with an injury to a starter (Ramon Sessions, Spencer Hawes) or injured stars (Gilbert Arenas, Monta Ellis).

So I’m going to take a look at the first seven rounds of the TT draft and call out a steal and bust in each  round.  *Note that injuries will not factor into a bust determination.

Round 1:

Steal - Dwyane Wade (5th overall) - D-Wade is arguably the best player in fantasy right now.  CP3 and Lebron are great, but Wade is averaging a mind-boggling 26.2 points, 8.0 assists, 6.5 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 1.7 blocks on 48% shooting from the field.

Bust - Shawn Marion (10th overall)- it’s early but Marion doesn’t seem too motivated to get a new contract with pedestrian averages of 10.3 points and 8.5 boards.  The steals and blocks are nice, but where are the 15+ points and the threes?  Honorable mention - Kevin Garnett (9th overall) - averaging 14.6 points and 10.0 boards and Elton Brand (6th overall) only averaging 0.7 blocks.

Round 2:

Steal - Chris Bosh - only averaging 27 points and 11 boards with great percentages

Bust - Steve Nash - points (14.0), assists (8.3) and shot attempts (9.7) all down from last year.

Round 3:

Steal - Jose Calderon - might be the 2nd best PG behind Paul right now.

Bust - none right now

Round 4:

Steal - Pau Gasol - Bynum will eat into numbers but 20/15 from last night is a sign of good things to come.

Bust - Andre Iguodala - looks lost in Sixers offense.  Only averaging 11 points, 5.3 boards and 4.8 assists on 38% shooting from the field.

Round 5:

Steal - Chauncey Billups - there is no way that Mr. Big Shot should have fallen this far.   He’s a top 6 PG whether in Detroit or Denver.

Bust - Mehmut Okur - 3’s down from last year and only averaging 15 points as 2nd scoring option.  If he can’t average 18+ points now, what will happen will DWill comes back?

Round 6:

Steal - LaMarcus Aldridge - Averaging 19.3 points, 6.5 boards and 2.0 blocks.  Numbers might slip a bit when Oden comes back.

Bust - Ray Allen - too two-dimensional (3’s/points) to draft this high.

Round 7:

Steal - Stephen Jackson - the best player on a bad team is always good to have.  Averaging career highs in points (22.3 points) and assists (5.7).   Honorable Mention - Tony Parker.  Pre-injury TP was averaging a ridiculous 27.4 points and 5.8 assists.

Busts - Luol Deng - Point (13.3), boards (5.9) and FG% (39%) all down from last year.

Later this week I will look at some Round 8-13 steals (i.e Andris Biedrins) that are blowing up right now.

Stud of the Week

Lebron James (Yes We Can)
LBJ had a monster week, dropping 41 PTS on da Bulls not once, but twice in one week. In between these performances was a monster 27-8-9 performance. Undoubtedly the Stud of the Week.

Runners up:
Tony Parker (Cash Money) - Recipient of the Flambo “Gold Standard,” TP was on fire before he got hurt.
Amare Stoudemire (The Mighty) - Another co-recipient of the “Gold Standard” with a line that could possibly be the best of the year.

Scrub of the Week

Yao Ming (Cash Money) - Certainly not playing like a first rounder. Maybe he’s tired after a long summer. Maybe he’s playing hurt. Serious underperformance from Yao in Week 2.

Runners up:
JR Smith (Aerial Flambuoyance) - only 1 3FGM in the last three games (sans Iverson)
Shawn Marion (TME) - EJ went so far as to compare him to Udonis Haslem

Rookie of the Week

Marc Gasol (Lights Out!) - Gasol’s a BEAST. 27 PTS, 16REBS, 3 BLKS, 9-11 from both the field and the stripe against Golden State. Sleeper of the year candidate. Inconsistent, but not bad for a C off the waiver wire.

Runners up:
Michael Beasley (Aerial Flambuoyance)
Derrick Rose (The Mighty)

Matchup of the Week

TME vs McLovin - Despite admonishments to set his lineup, McLovin served up a Big n’ Tasty 6-2 to TME. Will EJ be able to overcome his squad’s myriad injuries?

On a night when Amare scored 49, Tony Parker established the early-season gold standard in box scores, with his .611 FG%, .900 FT%, 2 Three-pointers, 55 pts., 7 boards, 10 dimes- line for the night. His goose-eggs in steals and blocks can be forgiven, due to his sheer six-category dominance. The categories that have relegated him to second-tier PG status in the past: no 3-point shooting (3 in last two games), and mediocre FT shooting, were overcome on this night. It’s obviously way too early to state that Parker’s overall shooting has jumped to the next level, but, damnit, what a performance!

Update: Amare’s .810 FG%, 1.00 FT%, 49 pts, 11 boards, 6 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks, line from tonight, is probably the actual “gold standard” so far. Damn! But I chose to talk about Parker instead. So deal with it, Quinn.

Although I own Parker in another league, the often-bungling Black Fraze is this league’s owner, sporting the sheepish grin after this performance. Incidentally, Fraze has improbably assembled a decent-looking squad, maybe even a #4 or a #5 seed, the presence of Hinrich notwithstanding.

Other observations:

• the usually move-judicious Show squad is tied for the lead, with the judicious-to-the-point-of-lunacy Lights Out squad, with 5 roster moves after 8 days. I predict that Anthony Carter will be the next Lights Out roster casualty. While the Show may not have any obvious future roster casualties, he appears to have 6 or 7 players competing for the last 3 spots on the bench.
• TME injury update. Injury-prone Ginobli and Maggette are out. Camby has returned with limited effectiveness. D. Williams could return Friday. The Uber-Man of injury, Tracy McGrady, remains “healthy”, for now. TME’s amazing, near-miraculous run with injury-prone players two years ago, may have induced him to abandon logic, and conclude that “once you have one injury-prone player, might as well snatch up as many as you can”. We shall see how this plays out.
• L’il Nate went off tonight, doing almost all of his damage in the second quarter. 5 3’s, .75 FG%, 1.00 FT%, 24 pts., 3 boards, 5 dimes, 2 steals.

Stud of the Week

Chris Paul (Lights Out!)
CP3 has almost single-handedly kept me in it this week. Three games averaging 21.7 PTS, 5.3 REBS, 12.0 AST, 50% FG, 87% FT, 7 ST. There’s really nothing to add. He was drafted first, and played like it.

Runners up:
Kobe Bryant (The Show) - 24.0 PTS, 7.7 REBS, 3.7 AST, 5 ST, 47.2% FG, 83.3% FTM
Amare Stoudemire (The Mighty) - 22 PTS, 11 REBS, 64.1% FG
Josh Smith (The Mighty) - Steals and blocks machine

Scrub of the Week

Ray Allen (Yes We Can) - He’s supposed to have game, but started the season slow. Serious underperformance for him, but he should come around sooner or later. 10.7 PTS, 3.7 REBS, 0.7 AST, only three 3FGM.

Runners up:
Stephon Marbury (Lights Out!) - spectacular bust
Jermaine O’Neal (McLovin) - started the season slow, should improve
Ricky Davis (The Show) - 3-of-16 from the field in 3 games. Now on waivers.

Rookie of the Week

Michael Beasley (Aerial Flambuoyance) - Debut wasn’t great, but has improved every game, and is also getting more PT. 25 PTS, 4 REBS, 10/16 FG, 4/4 FT, 2 BLKS against Charlotte.

Runners up:
Mario Chalmers (Dark Knight)
Derrick Rose (The Mighty)

Matchup of the Week

The Mighty vs Dark Knight - Quinn looks poised to pull off an opening week sweep against the Blount-man. Ouch!