After throwing down one of the two or three best lines of the season earlier this week, Spurs point guard Parker did not last long in his subsequent outing- going down early with an ankle-sprain that will keep him out at least an estimated four weeks.  I do not have Parker in this league- the less-than-astute Cash Money (Black Fraze) organization will have to decide how to handle this one.  I do have Parker on my B League team, and it is very possible that I will be forced to kick him to the curb, for the following reasons-

• My man, D. Williams is out for at least another 1-3 weeks, during which I will likely be punting assists anyway, and Parker is, at best, a second-tier PG in the assists department.  With D. Will down, the additional dead weight of the recently-beloved T. Parker will be tough to overcome, especially when his dimes will likely not matter.
• Parker’s teammate, Ginobli, is floating out there on many waiver wires, might come back sooner, and is by most accounts a better fantasy player (when healthy) anyway.
• The Spurs could be in serious trouble.  The West is ultra-competitive, and if the Spurs have, for argument’s sake, say a 5-20 record when he’s ready to return, how eager will they be to rush him?  Will there be trade speculation?  Maybe an attempt to overhaul the team, given their advanced years and fragility of their starting back-court?

Other observations:

• TME (aka “The Ego”) is in some early season trouble, especially if one is to believe TME’s very own Marion-Haslem comparison. D-Will’s out now for a longer period than originally thought.  Maggette’s out.  Camby’s struggling and limited, and his motivation, playing for the sorry-@ss Clippers organization might be questioned.  Harrington’s gone, although TME might regret this move if Harrington is traded to a team, like, maybe the Knicks?  Or the Raptors? (Maybe Nellie wants his chance to attempt an 11th-hour career revival on J. O’Neal. ) Finally, the ironically healthy T-Mac just excreted a beautiful line:  1-11 FG, 1 three, 3pts, 2 boards, 4 dimes, effort.
• The Show squad resembles a doormat right now.  Although it’s very early in the season, it’s hard to imagine that The Show, as presently constituted, will ever make much noise.  Arenas returning to health would certainly be helpful, but can that alone erase the hole that will be dug in his absence?  A. Parker, W. Chandler, and U. Haslem are all fine candidates for the 13th spot on a 13-man roster. M. Daniels is a caretaker at best.  We will see how this plays out.
• A. Biedrins is a monster out of the gate, appearing poised to make the jump to elite C status.  

As expected by those in the know, the Flambuoyant organization has hit the ground running.  Let’s move on to Week 3!

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.