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On Tuesday, the Pistons kept their hot streak going, as Chauncey Billups returned to The Palace, dropped 34, and still lost.  Don’t look now…

Tuesday’s best:  Not a whole lot of overly-impressive lines Tuesday night, but Troy Murphy takes home today’s award.  His line: 23 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 threes, 2 steals, 2 blocks as he led the Pacers to a win over the Kings.

Tuesday’s worst:  John Salmons.  Dude, Luol Deng is hurt.  You’re supposed to go back to being that fantasy stud you used to be.  This scrub played 33 minutes in the Bulls’ loss to Charlotte and scored 9 points on 4-13 shooting.  SCRUB!!

Keep an eye on:  The East playoff race.  The 15th team (Toronto) is only 5.5 games back, and two teams (Indiana and Charlotte) look awfully good right now and keep climbing the standings.  It’s gonna be a fun month.

What to watch for Wednesday: Cleveland hosts Milwaukee (remember what LeBron James did to the Deer the last time they played), Dwyane Wade lights up Phoenix (like every other team, just bigger), San Antonio plays Dallas on ESPN (and probably runs them out of the arena), and last but NOT least… the Grizzlies play the Clippers!


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Another Thursday, another crappy couple games.  The first game put me to sleep, and well, even my own team couldn’t wake me up in the second game.  With two games, there’s pretty slim pickens for the day’s best, but here it is…

Thursday’s best: Lamar Odom.  He had 23 points, 9 boards, and 4 assists with 3 blocks, but the impressive part was him going 11-12 from the field.  The Lakers shot 54%, the Suns played without Steve Nash, and the Lakers won by 26.  Go figure.

Thursday’s worst: You know what, this isn’t exactly a horrible line, but it’s a bad game for this guy.  And with two games on Thursday, he wins (or loses).  LeBron James.  Why?  I mean the guy had 21 points.  Well, he had zero assists and one rebound.  No wonder the Cavs looked awful.

Keep an eye on: Anderson Varejao.  Pretty nasty injury tonight to Ben Wallace, and he could miss some time.  Andy V will get those minutes and produce.  He might be worth a gamble in deep leagues.  Grab him now before people start to wake up.

What to watch for Friday: A few really good games worth watching if you can.  The Cavs take on the Spurs in Texas, and the Lakers travel to Denver for the second game of a back-to-back.  And… wait for it… a little bit longer… it’s coming… THE CLIPPERS AND THE KINGS!!  I mean, it’s an even matchup…


Dropping Dimes is trying out a new feature. Fantasy 30 intends to rank all of the NBA teams in terms of fantasy power. A list like this tends to lead to a lot of disagreement and discussion, but the hope is that these rankings will be fluid and updated as the year goes on. Thanks to Ron Chow for the assist. In addition to publishing updates on the Fantasy 30, once in a while we hope to produce sister articles that focus on a specific team and its roster.

#1: Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe Bryant ranks as a top four fantasy player this year. The Lakers employ two fantasy-worthy starters for center in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Lamar Odom has played well coming off the bench. Jordan Farmar has sleeper point guard potential, and the team also employs three-point threats like Derek Fisher and Vlad Radmanovic. All of this adds up to the Lakers being top dog early in the year.

Click to continue reading Fantasy 30, Version 1


K-Mart and Tru Warier
Dwyane Wade.
Al Jefferson.
Rudy Gay.

Through three rounds of a head to head draft, having these three guys from the 12 spot. Time to press the advantage in scoring, and this guy might be the best scorer left out there. Plus he provides in bundles what this team still needs lots of…three-pointers.

Round 4, Pick 1, Kevin Martin, SG, Sacramento Kings

The Fig Cap: With the Tru Warier gone, K-Mart is open 24-7! Give me the rock!

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Mock Draft: Round 4, Pick 1 - Kevin Martin


DescriptionOur one-on-one tourney was a blast to conduct last year and you can click on the link to check it out. Spoiler alert! The link takes you to the winner being crowned and the page has links to all of the match-ups.

So what better way to follow that up but to double the pleasure, double the fun and make it a two-on-two tourney, people! G’yeah! There are only four more days before the regular season comes to a close. Thankfully us hoopheads have two months of playoff action to look forward to, but fantasy play dies down in favor of baseball, golf and barbeque unless you and your buddies set up a playoff pool. So check back every Sunday and give us your ten cents for the match-ups we set up for you! Who will be the “Dynamic Duo” when all is said and done?

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Two-on-Two Tourney Begins!


Baron Davis and his beard taking a jumperMost of us fantasy fanatics are in some sort of consolation play this week. After all, only two teams in each league can vie for the championship. How are things over in the “real” NBA? Well, the Golden State Warriors are playing almost .600 ball and are still trying to claw into playoff position. How’s that for a tough break?

In my league with family and friends, the teams in the consolation bracket battle for draft position next year. The winner of the consolation playoffs gets the first overall pick, the runner-up gets second pick and so on. It’s enough incentive for everyone to continue setting their lineups, and it’s enough of a prize that people take it seriously enough to put forth the effort. If you have a league with little GM turnover year to year, this is something you can do so that everyone can enjoy fantasy hoops right to the very last day, not just the finalists.

Perhaps the NBA should adopt a consolation playoff format and the winner gets first pick in the draft. This certainly would guard against bad teams tanking it at the end of the season.

Click to continue reading Consolation Playoffs in the NBA?


Kobe Bryant damn I'm good
The shoot-out in the wild Western Conference has been great to follow, has it not? The top nine teams are separated by only 6.5 games. Every day the standings shift. Right now Phoenix sits in sixth while Dallas ranks seventh! This bodes well for fantasy owners as the best teams in the West should all be playing meaningful games down the stretch. Here’s a rundown of each team’s fantasy playoff schedule.

Click to continue reading Playoff Primer 2008: Western Conference


Ron Artest Fig

The Fig Cap: This is McFarlane Toys’ rendition of Artest.  Booty to be slapped not included.

Allen Iverson is the paragon of the “thug” element in basketball’s current era of tattoos, cornrows, mean mugs, and putting out hip hop records.  However, AI is the paragon because of all of his offcourt shiznizzle.  So, if anyone has been the epitome of “thug” on the court (and in the stands), there is no question that it’s Ron Artest.  Sure, okay, fine… why beat a dead horse?  We all know about The Malice in the Palace and all that, but I WAS TRYING TO MAKE A POINT!!!  In any case, despite the bad rap (and I don’t mean Artest’s record), the Tru Warier has some game and ironically enough, plays lockdown defense.  But, that’s not all the boy from the QB can do.

Round 4, Pick 6: Ron Artest, SF, Sacramento Kings

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Mock Draft: Round 4, Pick 6 - Ron Artest


Mike Bibby

Alright the fiancée is in the next room… I have a confession to make… I have a man crush on Mike Bibby, okay let me clarify I have fantasy basketball man-crush. I am not attracted to his latte colored skin nor do I think his headband highlights the shape of his eyes. I just think that Bibby is a solid fantasy player. For the past three seasons, I have either drafted or traded for Mike Bibby in at least one of my fantasy basketball leagues. I can’t really pinpoint what started the infatuation.  Bibby is not a top five point guard. It could even be argued if Bibby is a top 10 point guard, heck, in our mock draft he was the 13th player taken that can be slotted in the PG spot!

Round 4, Pick 5: Mike Bibby, PG, Sacramento Kings

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Mock Draft 2007 Round 4, Pick 5 - Mike Bibby


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The Fig Cap: Boom Dizzle My P-Nizzle!

Anyone remember Special Ed?  No, not as in classes, but as in the rapper from the late 80’s/early 90’s.  “I Got It Made,” “I’m The Magnificent,” “Come On, Let’s Move It.”  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Seriously, whenever I see Martin with his fresh cut fade, I always think of Special Ed.  To paraphrase Mars Blackmon, “It’s gotta be the cut.”  Anyway, the aforementioned three songs I mentioned all apply to Martin, appropriately enough.  He’s certainly got it made now after signing a five-year deal with the Sacramento Kings.  Martin has played magnificently when given the playing time (sorry, got to pop my collar right now knowing I called Martin’s crazy game when Peja Stojakovic was hurt a couple of seasons ago; although I’m still waiting for Francisco Garcia to get his well-deserved burn) as last season proved.  And now with his 2006-07 performance, he moves it (as in his draft stock) up all the way to the fourth round of this mock draft. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Special Kev.

Round 4, Pick 1: Kevin Martin, SG, Sacramento Kings

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Mock Draft 2007: Round 4, Pick 2 - Kevin Martin


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