Category: Fantasy Basketball (Page 268 of 274)

Grizzlies’ star Pau Gasol will have surgery tomorrow on the broken fifth metatarsal in his left foot, an injury he suffered during his team’s semifinal game in the FIBA World Championship. The recovery time for this type of surgery is usually three months.

Boy, how times have changed. Back in the day, NBA owners just had to decide whether or not to let their players compete in international play for Team USA. Most owners allow their players to do so, if only to avoid seeming unpatriotic. But now, with the influx of international players into the league, owners are pressured into allowing their players play against Team USA in international competition. Talk about a quandary.

Put yourself in Mark Cuban’s shoes. You’ve got an NBA franchise that depends heavily on the health of your star player, Dirk Nowitzki. And every other summer – either at the World Championship or the Olympics – he takes off to play an unknown number of games against great competition with national pride on the line. If he suffers an injury like Gasol’s, the Mavericks are in a bad way. No longer are they fighting for home court advantage in the playoffs, now they’re just hoping to make the playoffs.

But Cuban allows Nowitzki to compete, probably because the Big German wants to play for his country. Or at least he says he does. If Nowitzki announced that he wasn’t playing in the World Championship, the Germans would be enraged, asking, “Who does he think he is?” (Of course, they would ask it in German.) So he says he wants to play, but is he just placating the German fans? Only Dirk knows for sure.

Cuban wants to keep his star happy, but he’d feel a lot better if Nowitzki stayed in Dallas for the summer. It would actually be a patriotic move if he could keep Nowitzki – one of the world’s best players – out of international competition. Of course, his worldwide reputation would take a hit. He’d be viewed as an arrogant American hoping to help Team USA win by attrition.

So it’s really a no-win situation. Cuban lets his star compete and can only pray that he doesn’t get seriously injured. Just ask Michael Heisley, the owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, if that’s a good plan.

Or more appropriately, where’s he going to play?

Bonzi Wells entered free agency optimistically, hoping to parlay a 23-point/12-rebound playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs into a fat contract this summer. Surely Wells knew that GMs around the league would look at his season averages of 13.6 ppg/7.7 rpg as more reasonable expectations for the 29 year-old. Even those appear to be a bit high. Wells is going to turn 30 this month and his career averages of 12.8 ppg and 4.7 rpg certainly aren’t awe-inspiring. Throw in some unrealistic financial expectations along with his reputation for being a malcontent, and it’s easy to see why he’s still a man without a team.

His best bet was to stay in Sacramento, but they looked elsewhere and scored with John Salmons, whom the Sixers mysteriously released. (By the way, I think it’s a smart move by the Kings to keep just one malcontent on the roster.) Next, Wells was rumored to be heading home to Indiana, but only as a backup plan if the Pacers weren’t able to land Al Harrington. In fact, it’s not unlikely that the Pacers made their supposed interest in Wells public to let the Hawks and the Harrington camp know that there was another option, effectively driving down each party’s negotiating position.

Wells will eventually sign with someone, but my guess is that he’ll be making the mid-level exception ($5.5-$6 M) instead of the reported $8-$10 M he’s been asking for. He is talented, but his age and his rep are working against him and teams would be wise to avoid a long-term contract. Still, some franchise will suffer a training camp injury and panic, and/or Wells will agree to come down in price. Either way, he’ll be playing – we just don’t know where.

Drew Gooden agreed to a three-year deal worth around $23 M after originally seeking something in the neighborhood of the 6-year/$60 M deal that Nene signed with the Nuggets. That Nene deal was not representative of the market, and caused a lot of free agents to inflate their expectations. Many expected Gooden to be in another city by this time, but the stars aligned, and he’ll be back with the Cavs…The Al Harrington deal that will send the forward to the Pacers for draft picks might finally be done, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I’m not holding my breath…Bonzi Wells is still looking for a home. The latest rumor is that the Kings are talking to the Nuggets about a sign-and-trade. Wells isn’t worth what he’s asking…Isiah Thomas got a good player, but he paid too much when he signed Jared Jeffries to a 5-year/$30 M deal. Jeffries is solid, but he hasn’t shown the offensive ability to be worth $6 M a season.

John Salmons, one of my free agent gems, has been traded to Toronto as part of a 5-year/$23 M sign-and-trade deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. By most accounts, Salmons is a talented player that struggled fitting in with the Sixers and Allen Iverson, but the guard/forward shined in games that AI missed, averaging better than 14 points per contest. The Sixers will receive a second round pick and $2 M trade exception in return, which seems like a very good deal for Toronto.

Salmons had a choice between the Suns and the Raptors and apparently chose to have a shot at starter’s minutes in Toronto as opposed to playing in a reserve role in Phoenix. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doubled his stats next season, averaging around 15 points, five boards and around five assists per game.

Despite losing out to Steve Nash for MVP, LeBron James led all vote-getters for the All-NBA team, which was announced on Wednesday.

First Team
G – Steve Nash (54 wins, 19 ppg, 11 apg, 4 rpg, 0.8 spg, .512 FG%)
G – Kobe Bryant (45 wins, 35 ppg, 5 rpg, 5 apg, 1.8 spg, 0.4 bpg, .450 FG%)
F – LeBron James (50 wins, 31 ppg, 7 rpg, 7 apg, 1.6 spg, 0.8 bpg, .480 FG%)
F – Dirk Nowitzki (60 wins, 27 ppg, 9 rpg, 3 apg, 1.0 bpg, .480 FG%)
C – Shaquille O’Neal (52 wins, 20 ppg, 9 rpg, 2 apg, 1.8 bpg, .600 FG%)

Second Team
G – Chauncey Billups (64 wins, 19 ppg, 9 apg, 3 rpg, 0.9 spg, .418 FG%)
G – Dwayne Wade (52 wins, 27 ppg, 7 apg, 6 rpg, 2.0 spg, .495 FG%)
F – Elton Brand (47 wins, 25 ppg, 10 rpg, 3 apg, 2.5 bpg, .527 FG%)
F – Tim Duncan (63 wins, 19 ppg, 11 rpg, 3 apg, 2.0 bpg, .484 FG%)
C – Ben Wallace (64 wins, 7 ppg, 11 rpg, 1.8 spg, 2.2 bpg, .510 FG%)

Third Team
G – Allen Iverson (38 wins, 33 ppg, 7 apg, 3 rpg, 1.9 spg, .447 FG%)
G – Gilbert Arenas (42 wins, 29 ppg, 6 apg, 4 rpg, 2.0 spg, .447 FG%)
F – Carmelo Anthony (44 wins, 27 ppg, 5 rpg, 3 apg, 1.1 spg, .481 FG%)
F – Shawn Marion (54 wins, 22 ppg, 12 rpg, 2 apg, 2.0 spg, 1.7 bpg, .527 FG%)
C – Yao Ming (34 wins, 22 ppg, 10 rpg, 2 apg, 1.7 bpg, .519 FG%)

Allen Iverson and Yao Ming were the only two All-NBA players from teams with losing records. This is the first season of Tim Duncan’s nine-year career that he did not make the first team. Eight of the league’s nine most efficient players were honored. Ironically, the league’s most efficient player, Kevin Garnett (22 ppg, 13 rpg, 4 apg, 1.4 spg, 1.4 bpg, .526 FG%), was left off the list, probably due to Minnesota’s 33-49 record. Still, his stats dwarf Carmelo Anthony’s in just about every category, and he should have made the list. One could argue that Pau Gasol (49 wins, 20 ppg, 9 rpg, 5 apg, 1.9 bpg, .503 FG%) also had a better year than Anthony.