The Fig Cap: Dayum!  I got skills… hello, ladies.

It’s still very early in the season, so much so some teams haven’t even played one game yet!  However, that doesn’t stop The Fantasy Jump Off from doing its thing and helping you with the 411 for your fantasy basketball team for next week.  So, as we’ll do every week, let’s check out how to maximize your roster and check how many games each NBA team has in Week Two.  Also, check out Dropping Dimes position rankings for Week Two for some extra help!

What Time Is It?  Game Time! (Week Two: 11/5-11/11)

Teams Playing Two Games: Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers

Teams Playing Three Games: Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards

Teams Playing Four Games: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Hornets, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Seattle SuperSonics, Toronto Raptors

Hoops Hot?  Hoops Cold?

As I mentioned before it’s still early in the season, but there are more than enough stats to see whose been hot and whose been cold. 

Kobe Bryant is showing that he doesn’t mind all the rumors swirling about his seemingly imminent departure from L.A. as he scored 45 points in the Lakers first game against the Houston Rockets.  Forget Showtime… it’s Audition time… for another NBA team.

Tracy McGrady is also looking good, averaging 38.5 points in two games.  Methinks T-Mac is liking Rick Adelman’s motion offense.  However, don’t worry about Yao Ming not being the main focus of the offense anymore – he’s averaging 18.0 points per contest.  Add in Yao’s 9.5 rebounds and 4.0 blocks and he’s still a fantasy stud.

Speaking of another big man, with Greg Oden out and Zach Randolph traded, LaMarcus Aldridge is the Blazers main man in the frontline, scoring 27 points in his first game.  Expect more of the same during the whole season.

Looking at the top of the points list, we see the usual suspects in Gilbert Arenas (34.0), Carmelo Anthony (32.0), and even Antawn Jamison (27.0) isn’t too much of a surprise.  However, Tayshaun Prince (34.0), Richard Jefferson (29.0), Mike Dunleavy (25.0), and Hedo Turkoglu (24.0) are due to fall back down to Earth.

On boards, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is doing damage at 18.0 rebounds per game (okay, ONE game, but I told you before it’s early), as well as Carlos Boozer who is averaging 15.5 boards in two games.  Who else is cleaning the glass prolificly?

Antawn Jamison (16.0), Marcus Camby (15.0), and Tyson Chandler (13.0) are getting busy and the latter two don’t come as a surprise.  Even Reggie Evans (15.0) isn’t too surprising since he’s basically a rebounding monster when he’s on the court.  So, if he’s available and you need rebounds, Evans is a guy to grab, but boarding is all he’ll do. 

Brendan Haywood (13.0), is also doing well with Etan Thomas out for the season and Haywood not splitting time at the five.  Chuck Hayes is starting for the Rockets even though Luis Scola looked a lot better in the preseason.  Hayes is averaging 10.5 boards in two games, however, just like the aforementioned Evans, boards are all he’ll get you.

Some players we’d expect to board more as the season goes along: Pau Gasol (3.0), Chris Bosh (4.0), LaMarcus Aldridge (3.0), and Channing Frye (2.0).

Allen Iverson is leading the league in assists at 14.0 per contest, followed by the usual suspects - Jason Kidd (13.0), Chris Paul (12.0), T.J. Ford and Steve Nash (12.0).  You probably can’t expect AI to continue to post such high dime dropping numbers, but the others?  Well, if any group can sustain those number of dishes, it’s the aforementioned players.

Players putting up high assists numbers that shouldn’t surprise too much: Jamaal Tinsley (8.0), Earl Watson (7.5), and Jameer Nelson (7.0).

Players we expect to up the dish totals: Gilbert Arenas (3.0), Kirk Hinrich (3.0), Luke Ridnour (3.0), and Mo Williams (1.0).

So, which players are making it rain with their treys snapping the twine?  Jason Terry (six triples in one game), Marcus Banks and Damon Stoudemire with four three-pointers each are doing good things from beyond the arch, however, to expect them to keep jacking and making is too demanding.  Since playing time is an issue for Banks and possibly soon with Stoudamire with Juan Carlos Navarro and rookie Michael Conley soon to be in the mix for minutes at the one, Terry is obviously the only safe bet to continue to do any damage here.

Defensively, Dwight Howard has been sick with the blocks, throwing back down seven shots in his first game.  Marcus Camby has also shown why he was last season’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year with five rejections in his first game of the season.  Yao Ming and Samuel Dalembert are couple of centers to expect to block a couple of shots, but Kenyon Martin (3.0), Richard Jefferson (2.0), and Baron Davis (2.0) will soon stop doing their best Andrei Kirilenko impersonation… speaking of whom, AK-47 is up to his old tricks and rejecting 3.5 blocks in two games thus far.  For those of you that drafted Kirilenko in the middle rounds, congratulations on the value he’s going to give you for the season.

From giving to taking, there are a lot of players that are finding it easy to rip the ball with 18 players averaging 3.0 steals per game or more.  Leading the rock thievery are Allen Iverson and Larry Hughes, each of whom stole the ball seven times in their first games of the new season.  Of those 18 players that you shouldn’t believe the hype, Jarvis Hayes (4.0), David Harrison (4.0), and Andrew Bynum (3.0) stick out the most.

As the season goes on, I’ll go a little more in depth about the numbers as well as why a particular player is hot or cold, and to what degree the trend will continue or desist.   

TFJO Tidbits

Feel free to play Josh Howard in Week Two as his two-game suspension will be served and he’ll be able to put rubber sole to the hardwood again and put up across the board stats for your team.

Sasha Pavlovic re-signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers and is a player to watch as he had a very good postseason in 2007 and should be the third or fourth scoring option for the Cavs.

Mike Bibby injured his thumb and will be out until possibly late January.  Picking up John Salmons seems to be the play to make if he’s available.  In deeper leagues, Francisco Garcia is also a player that could get some burn because of the Bibby injury.

Chucky Atkins is out for six-to-eight weeks thanks to a severe groin strain, which probably means Allen Iverson gets to play more at the point as Atkins was supposed to give AI some rest at the point and allow AI to man the two-guard position.  So, who could benefit from this?  Yakhouba Diawara.  Keep an eye on him.

Detroit Pistons rookie guard Rodney Stuckey broke his left hand and is looking to return in December.  Before the injury, Stuckey was looking good in the preseason, showing great explosiveness on the court. 

Randy Foye suffered a knee injury and is out indefinitely.  Along with the trade of Ricky Davis to the Miami Heat, Sebastian Telfair will have an opportunity to make good on his potential, but he has never done it so far, so don’t hold your breath.  Marko Jaric has experience as a starter and all in all has had relatively more success in the NBA than Telfair, so look for Jaric to assume the starting point position until Foye comes back.