John Hollinger writes in his latest PER Diem (Insider subscription required) that LeBron’s best bet for long term success may not be in Cleveland…or New York…or New Jersey/Brooklyn…
And it’s especially worth noting that if the Cavs are back in the 45-50 win range this season, King James might be a much more portable commodity this coming summer. If he’s looking at a Cleveland lineup with one majestically talented player and several spare parts, one would think the comparison to such arrangements in New York or New Jersey wouldn’t be dramatically different.
But those aren’t close to being the most palatable changes of uniform available. For instance, it bears mentioning that joining the Chicago squad LeBron’s team lost to Thursday night would be dramatically different. With a young star point guard, quality big men and lots of secondary help, the Bulls — who could get as much as $20 million under the cap if John Salmons opts out of his contract, conveniently opening a spot in the lineup for LeBron at the same time — would offer a more clear opportunity for long-term success.
Let me throw out an even crazier proposition — Minnesota. The Wolves will have the cap space to make a run at LeBron, depending on a few variables — or at the very least can get there fairly easily if they know there’s a chance for a player of this caliber. (Declining an option on Ryan Gomes, for instance, is done much more easily if it allows you to replace him with the best player in the league.)
Minnesota is generally thought of as one of the NBA’s least-desirable relocation options, but let’s consider it from a winning perspective. Who would you rather play with for the next five years: Al Jefferson or Anderson Varejao? Kevin Love or Ilgauskas? Ricky Rubio or Mo Williams? Jonny Flynn or West? Ramon Sessions or Daniel Gibson? Next year’s fourth pick or next year’s 24th? It’s obvious, isn’t it?
Don’t get me wrong — the T-Wolves would be a good fit for LeBron, but he’d be a pretty good fit anywhere. I just don’t see him taking his show from one cold, small-market Midwestern city to another cold, small-market Midwestern city. If he doesn’t stay in Cleveland, then there seem to be three real options:
1. Brooklyn Nets
With Devin Harris and Brook Lopez locked up for the next few years, the Nets have two All-Star caliber players already on the roster at two of the toughest positions to fill — point guard and center. Is the penetrating Harris the perfect fit alongside LeBron? Not necessarily, but if the Nets can find a sharpshooting off guard (Courtney Lee?) and face up power forward (a la Rashard Lewis), the Nets would really be in business. Plus, the move to Brooklyn would take away the stigma of playing in New Jersey.
2. Chicago Bulls
It would break the city of Cleveland’s heart if LeBron fled to the Windy City. New York or Brooklyn? Cleveland fans wouldn’t like it, but they’d understand. But if LeBron heads to Chicago, home of the team that stepped on the Cavs’ throats so many times during the Jordan era, the city might explode. From a pure basketball point of view, it’s a nice fit. They already have Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, Kirk Hinrich and maybe Tyrus Thomas. Chicago is also a threat to pry Dwyane Wade out of Miami.
3. New York Knicks
This is more about MSG and the spotlight than who the Knicks have on the roster. Playing in Mike D’Antoni’s system would be nice, and if the Knicks can unload either Eddy Curry or Jared Jeffries, they’d have enough cap space to sign another free agent to max deal. This might be a case of the Knicks having to coax Chris Bosh out of Toronto or Amare Stoudemire out of Phoenix before being able to convince LeBron to sign on the dotted line.
We’re only a couple of weeks into the season and the talk is already starting. The Cavs have plenty of time to morph into a 60-win team, but right now they don’t look it. And the longer they struggle, the louder the drum beat is going to sound.
According to Ken Berger’s Twitter page, Kings guard Kevin Martin will be going under the knife on Monday to repair a broken bone in his non-shooting wrist, and will miss around eight weeks. He is averaging 30.6 points per game, so this is obviously a big blow to the team and to fantasy squads around the country. Look for Tyreke Evans to move to off guard while Beno Udrih takes over the point.
Tyrus Thomas will miss 4-6 weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a fractured radius in his left forearm. He sustained the injury in a weightlifting accident. (Nice.) Taj Gibson will likely start at power forward until Thomas returns.
Back in August, I recommended a few DTBC combinations for fantasy owners to use throughout the season. My top recommendation was GB/DAL, who have combined to score 69 points through eight weeks (8.6 ppg). This combo started a bit slow, as Dallas posted a goose egg in Week 2, over the last three weeks, it has scored 44 combined points.
Still own these two defenses? You can still hold onto them, but Week 15 is looking a little rough as the Packers play in Pittsburgh and the Cowboys visit the Saints. Green Bay just isn’t putting much pressure on the QB, so Ben Roethlisberger may be able to sit back and pick apart the Packer secondary.
If don’t own a top tier defense (PHI, NO, MIN, BAL and PIT, now that they have Troy Polamalu back), you may want to consider acquiring two good but not great defenses that combine to have a favorable schedule down the stretch. Normally, it doesn’t make sense to carry two defenses, but now that most of the teams are past their byes, it’s not necessary to hold onto bye week fill-ins because you’re probably not going to need them.
There are eleven DTs that are owned in more than two-thirds of ESPN leagues making it somewhat unlikely that they’re available on your league’s waiver wire. This list includes the aforementioned six teams along with the Broncos, Packers, Giants, Jets, Bears and Colts. If you have one of these six, it might behoove you to grab a defense with a complementary schedule.
I’m targeting nine defenses — the Cardinals, Patriots, Texans, 49ers, Bengals, Cowboys, Falcons, Seahawks and the Dolphins — that either mesh well with the Broncos, Packers, Giants and Jets, or with each other. These defenses are all ranked in the top 22 and are available in at least a third of ESPN fantasy leagues. These are defenses that relatively healthy and have had success in good matchups. Here’s a look:
I thought about awarding this to Deron Williams for his 27-point, nine-assist, seven-rebound effort in Utah’s 113-99 win over the Spurs, but then I remembered that Tony Parker isn’t exactly known for his defensive prowess. Tim Duncan is. So that makes Carlos Boozer’s line — 27 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots — all that more impressive. He went 12-20 (60%) from the field and regularly scored on Duncan, who has been named to the All-Defensive team 12 times in his illustrious career.
The final score should be no surprise. The game was in Utah, and the Jazz had their backs up against the wall a little bit as they started out the season with a 1-3 record, which included a home loss to the Rockets.
Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair had another nice game, posting 14 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes. He’s averaging 9.8 points and 8.5 rebounds through four games and is shooting better than 70% from the field. The Spurs will use him extensively during the season to keep Duncan as fresh as possible for a playoff run.
After an 0-2 start to the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers were riding a three-game winning streak into Thursday night’s home game against the Bulls. Here are the highlights:
The Cleveland faithful might think that LeBron was fouled on his last drive, but after taking a couple of looks at it, I think it was a clean play. The defender is entitled to his space, and he’s allowed to jump in the air as long as he doesn’t jump forward. This is called the “principle of verticality,” which means that a defensive player is entitled to his vertical cylinder. Joakim Noah’s defense on the play wasn’t a perfect example of this (as his body was drifting toward the basket a bit), but it was a good defensive play. LeBron was in a tough spot and obviously jumped into Noah looking for the call and the refs didn’t bail him out.
There are a couple of other things to take from this game:
1. Mo Williams’ ineffectiveness
He was 4-13 from the field (including 1-7 from long range). He did have six assists, but Mo is a scorer and he needs to be more efficient than this.
2. The Bulls’ balance
Chicago had seven players score at least seven points, and Luol Deng led the Bulls with 15. Derrick Rose didn’t shoot the ball well, but still scored 14 points and dropped 11 dimes.
The Cavs drop to 3-3 with the loss, while the Bulls are 3-2.
I just caught this list on a recent episode of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.” I can’t seem to find a video version of the list, so a heads up would be appreciated. But here is the written version on Olbermann’s own blog.
Every week, I will highlight a few players to start and a few players to sit at each position. I’m a firm believer in starting your studs, so I won’t tell you about how Drew Brees or Adrian Peterson has a tough matchup – just go ahead and keep them in your lineup. Instead, I’ll focus on the borderline guys – players you’ll only start under the right circumstances. It’s important to note that depending on your roster and situation, you may not be able to follow these recommendations. For example, if I suggest you bench a solid starter like Tony Romo, only do so if you have a clearly better option on your bench.
The “love ‘em” players are listed in the order that I’d start them this week.
This should go without saying, but just in case: Aaron Rodgers should be in your lineup against a Bucs’ pass defense that has yielded 2.3 pass TD per game this season…Donovan McNabb has a very good matchup against a struggling Cowboys secondary…Matt Hasselbeck faces the Lions. Two words: Start him…Cincinnati’s pass defense is ranked 30th in the league, so Joe Flacco should have a nice fantasy line this week…As it stands, Matt Cassel has his last great matchup of the season this week, coming off a bye against the Jaguars’ 26th-ranked pass defense…So, last week, was the Titans’ pass defense that good or was Jacksonville’s pass defense that bad. Alex Smith faces Tennessee’s league-worst pass defense this week and is a pretty nice start…I’m a little hesitant to recommend him again after his brutal showing against the Titans, but David Garrard has another nice matchup this week against the Chiefs and isn’t a bad start…For the desperate, Jason Campbell is a sneaky good start against a Falcons defense that has struggled to stop the pass in recent weeks.
The Hornets have struggled early on in this season, and were 1-3 heading into a home game last night against the red-hot Mavs. Chris Paul responded with 39 points (on 14-23 shooting), seven assists, five rebounds and two steals in 45 minutes of playing time. He had the high efficiency score of the night (+41). Funny thing is, it wasn’t even his high game of the week. He posted a +42 against the Knicks on Monday.
The Hornets have two All-Star caliber players (Paul and David West) and a pretty good center (Emeka Okafor), but not much else. They need a wing or two who can knock down shots and take the pressure off of Paul and West. Peja Stojakovic and Morris Peterson are both past their prime and Julian Wright is a fine complementary player, but he’s not a shot-maker. Stephen Jackson and Rip Hamilton are reportedly available, and they’d both be a great fit in New Orleans if the Hornets are willing to take on some long-term salary to try to make a run this season.
- SPORTSbyBROOKS gives us one more reason to hate Sasha Vujacic. (Hint: He’s dating the girl in the picture.) They also have a strange story about Dwight Howard, as told by porn star Mary Carey.
- RED’S ARMY says that people should forget about LeBron James joining Kobe in Los Angeles. Are there actually those who think this might happen?
- PRO FOOTBALL TALK reports that the 7-1 Minnesota Vikings face potential blackouts after this week’s bye. Seriously. That’s pathetic.
- LARRY BROWN SPORTS wonders if the sign that the Chiefs posted is aimed at a certain running back with the initials “LJ.”
Johnson is only 75 yards away from becoming the team’s all-time leading rusher, and a group of Chiefs fans are petitioning the club to release him before that happens.
An online petition started by Chiefs fans asks general manager Scott Pioli to deactivate Johnson and keep him on the sideline so he cannot pass Priest Holmes for the team rushing record, or join the team’s Ring of Honor at Arrowhead Stadium.
“While we are thankful for his service, we feel that Larry has been a black eye on the organization and has no business being mentioned” among the team’s all-time greats, the petition reads.
After his Twitter blow up a few weeks ago, I don’t think Johnson is in any danger of donning a Chiefs uniform again, but you never know. These Chiefs fans are figuring it’s better to be safe than sorry.
I thought about awarding this to Deron Williams for his 27-point, nine-assist, seven-rebound effort in Utah’s 113-99 win over the Spurs, but then I remembered that Tony Parker isn’t exactly known for his defensive prowess. Tim Duncan is. So that makes Carlos Boozer’s line — 27 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots — all that more impressive. He went 12-20 (60%) from the field and regularly scored on Duncan, who has been named to the All-Defensive team 12 times in his illustrious career.
The Hornets have struggled early on in this season, and were 1-3 heading into a home game last night against the red-hot Mavs. Chris Paul responded with 39 points (on 14-23 shooting), seven assists, five rebounds and two steals in 45 minutes of playing time. He had the high 
