Category: Fantasy Basketball (Page 256 of 274)

Kobe’s team is off to a great start, but the loss of Andrew Bynum and a grueling upcoming schedule will be a tough test for the Lakers. If they’re going to weather the storm, the young team needs Kwame Brown to ignore the boo birds and step up his game in Bynum’s absence. I cover this and more in my latest column.

CBS Sports’ Tony Mejia is reporting that there are two factions in the Suns’ camp. One is willing to trade away Amare Stoudemire and the other is dead set against it.

While Stoudemire has improved as a defender, whispers that his increasing frustration with not being the focal point of the team’s fast-paced offense have become a distraction — and could be a reason some within the organization would be willing to move him if the right offer comes along.

Shawn Marion asked for a trade in the offseason, but the Suns have been more than satisfied with his professional approach.

Something is obviously amiss, and chemistry seems to be the major issue. So where does this leave Stoudemire? Even those in favor of shipping him out know he’s among the most feared big men in the game, so getting back equal value is a must, regardless of how badly the Suns need a facelift. If GM Steve Kerr is swayed to make a move, it will definitely take someone along the lines of Memphis’ Pau Gasol or Toronto’s Chris Bosh to get a deal accomplished.

The trade deadline (Feb. 21) is approaching and these are the kinds of stories that keep NBA writers busy this time of year. Trading Stoudemire right now seems like a bad, bad idea to me. The time to move him (if at all) was last summer, when Kevin Garnett was available. The Timberwolves would almost certainly have settled for a straight up swap, but it never got done. KG is the kind of player that could have put the Suns over the top, but the Suns must have been reluctant to pull the trigger, and I don’t blame them. Stoudemire is younger and has a bright future ahead of him.

If I’m the Suns GM (and, by the way, I’d take the job if they offered it), I’m standing pat right now. The team has the best record in the West, so whatever “chemistry issues” Mejia is talking about certainly haven’t hurt the Suns too much. The biggest offseason worry – Shawn Marion – has been a pleasant surprise, so I don’t think it’s time to panic and make a bad move. You might add a piece here or there, maybe a backup point guard or an interior defender, but shipping away a young star wouldn’t be wise. Sure, if Stoudemire is truly disgruntled and is becoming a headache, and Toronto is willing to swap Chris Bosh for him, it would give me pause. But I don’t think I’d do a deal for Gasol – I don’t think he fits the Suns’ up-tempo attack.

The Suns were a couple of bench-clearing suspensions away from upending the Spurs in last year’s playoffs. I’d give this group another shot before tweaking its core.

The Lakers are off to a great start this season, but the early word on Andrew Bynum’s knee injury is that he’s going to miss eight weeks. It looks like a dislocated kneecap, which won’t require surgery but will require a lot of rest.

The team has won six straight and is 25-11, which puts them just a half game behind the Suns in the Pacific. They play in Seattle tonight and then they have the Suns, Nuggets, Spurs, Mavs and Cavs over the next two weeks. Then, after a home game against the Knicks, they play 12 of the next 13 games on the road, so if the team struggles without Bynum, things could get ugly very quickly.

In the 25 games that Bynum started, he averaged 14.6 points and 10.7 rebounds, and shot an eye-popping 65.6% from the field. During the team’s six-game win streak, he averaged 17.3 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, which are borderline All-Star numbers.

Kwame Brown will likely be the main guy to try to fill Bynum’s shoes, and while he’s a decent defensive center, he just doesn’t have Bynum’s feel on offense.

If the Lakers go into a major slide, Kobe may not stay quiet on those trade demands he made last summer, though you’d think that Bynum’s play would have Bryant feeling pretty good about the Lakers’ short-term future.

…but not this good.

Boston is 29-3 and is on pace to finish the season 74-8, which would break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls record of 72 wins. They’re getting outstanding play from their Big Three. Paul Pierce is averaging 21.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists. Kevin Garnett is posting 19.1 points, 10.1 boards and 3.6 assists a game. Finally, Ray Allen is pitching in with 18.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists to round out the dangerous trio.

But the Celtics aren’t just about offense. The team allows the fewest points in the league (87.3), and is also first in FG% allowed (.414) and 3P% allowed (.312).

Keep an eye on how Doc Rivers is using each of his stars. He isn’t using the Spurs’ model. When all three are healthy, it’s not often that the Spurs have fewer than two of their three stars on the court at any given time. There are long stretches in Celtics games when Garnett and Pierce (or Allen) are on the bench. It’s clear that he’s trying to develop his bench, and it hasn’t hurt the C’s yet, so it appears to be a successful strategy. Once the playoffs arrive, it will be interesting to see if he changes his rotation to ensure that at least two of his three stars are on the court at any given time.

So what are the chances of the C’s breaking the Bulls’ record? I’d say they are just so-so. Although they are playing great, they haven’t played the three best teams in the West – San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenix – so those should be six tough games right there. They’ve also stayed relatively injury-free, as Ray Allen is the only member of the Big Three that has missed any time (two games) due to injury.

To break the record, they need to continue to defend the way they are (not an easy task) and stay injury-free (which is even more difficult). That said, they definitely have a shot.

It’s nice that the East is relevant again.