Archived Articles
*Note: This is the 50 most recent articles. We'll go back more soon.
by Stephen Fenech on 2/26/2012 12:42:20 AM
This weekend basketball world converges in Orlando, which for the time being is still Dwight Howard’s city. If you follow the NBA at all you may have heard that Howard has requested a trade from Orlando once or every fifteen minutes on loop. As the city of Orlando entertains the superstars of the NBA this weekend they also bring the full national media coverage with them. The arrival of the media will add more drama, suspense, and if you’re a Magic fan heartbreak. The odds of Howard staying in Orlando seem bleak at best and it seems like this weekend may be the final hurrah for Dwight Howard era in Orlando. The best center of the league will welcome his peers into the building he helped build to put on a final show for the hometown fans. The looming trade of Dwight Howard will drastically change the fantasy basketball landscape. A trade of Dwight Howard will likely take three or four teams to pull off, this means that starting lineups, rotations, and minutes for four teams will change. In this article I will talk about the Orlando Magic roster and touch on how a potential trade will affect each player moving forward. If you are lucky enough to own Howard on your team then I do not need to explain to you his amazing value. His numbers are outstanding as he averages 20 points, 15 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 assists. Statistically Howard is great but he adds extra value due to his incredible defense that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. There is a reason Howard is the first person to ever win three straight Defensive Player of the Year awards. He changes shots all game and is always a threat to make a great play on the defensive end of the floor. Howard singlehandedly makes the Magic defense decent, without him the defense will be a train wreck. Simply put the guy is a beast and GM’s around the league are salivating for Number twelve to suit up for their team. Howard was a first round draft pick so trading for him isn’t very likely. He is expected to be moved before the deadline meaning he will have to get used to a new system, coaches, and players. With that being said I do not foresee his production dropping, in fact I think the opposite will occur. Howard will be revitalized to be out of Orlando and his scoring will improve and be closer to the 24 ppg he was averaging last season. Howard is poised to be the top fantasy center for the next five to seven years. Ryan Anderson has clearly emerged as the second best player on the Magic this year. He is having a breakthrough season both in the NBA and in the fantasy universe. After not being drafted in most leagues Anderson has made more three-pointers than any other shooter in the league. This alone makes him a must add. Anderson has a unique skill-set, to go along with his proficiency from behind the arc he is an excellent offensive rebounder averaging 3.6 a game. Anderson is almost completely dependent offensively to the open three. Anderson is most successful when the Magic are spacing the floor well and working the ball inside to Dwight. However when the Orlando offense isn’t clicking and Anderson isn’t getting open looks he tends to become rather ineffective. I do not see Anderson getting traded, although the Magic did not pick up his contract and he will be a restricted free agent in the offseason. Anderson is a system player and the Van Gundy system is his optimal system. This alone has to decrease his value to other teams who, unless Anderson is packaged with Howard, will not have the advantage of playing with a dominant player that routinely draws double teams. When Howard leaves I think Anderson’s numbers will decrease slightly, although that is dependent on the players the Magic receive in return for Howard. For example, if the Magic were to acquire Andrew Bynum from the Lakers they would be able to play an offense similar to their current one. This is probably the only situation I can see that would allow Anderson to remain his current level of productivity. I own Anderson on my fantasy team and am considering moving him and selling high based on his current value before the trading deadline. After Anderson there is a serious decline in production, this is the area that contributes to majority of the teams woes. These players include starting point guard Jameer Nelson, shooting guards Jason Richardson and J. J Reddick, small forward Hedo Turkoglu, and power forward Glen Davis. In terms of fantasy production Davis is only a decent asset in very, very deep leagues and even then his production may not warrant that. Davis spells Howard at center and when Howard is moved Davis may become the starting center, although this would make the Magic frontline extremely undersized. Davis may be a guy to watch when Howard is moved because he may get more minutes. In the 2008 season Jameer Nelson seemed to be emerging as a star point guard, unfortunately an injuries plagued him the next couple of years and now although mostly healthy has been unable to match the production of his 2008 season. I do not see Nelson getting traded before the deadline because he isn’t a player other teams are lining up for. He is undersized and is on the third tier of point guards. I also do not see Nelson’s production taking jump after Howard is dealt, in fact I would expect the opposite occur. I see Nelson’s numbers decrease on night tonight basis, with perhaps Chris Duhon taking some of his minutes. Nelson is owned in 58% of fantasy leagues. Oh and one other thing, Chris Duhon is even worse than un-ownable. Hedo Turkoglu is the starting small forward for the Magic and was on the team that made it to the NBA finals. After that season he was lured to Toronto by a big contract. In Toronto, Turkoglu failed to live up to his contract and was traded to Phoenix for Leonardo Barbossa and Dwayne Jones. Turkoglu was traded back to the Magic in December 2010 and for the most part has not been as productive as he was during his first stint in Orlando. Turkolgu averages 11.2 fantasy points a game and is owned in 88% of ESPN fantasy leagues. Hedo is a decent option in most leagues as he does have the ability to get hot from the field and is often used as a point forward which positively affects his assist numbers. Turk may be moved with Dwight Howard due to his contract and general lack of production. Turkoglu is owed 11 million dollars a year over the next three years and the Magic will be eager to make that contract someone else’s problem. Jason Richardson came to Orlando in the same trade as Hedo Turkoglu with the hope being that Richardson would be the great scorer that he was in Phoenix. Unfortunately for the people of Orlando this has not been the case on a night to night basis. Richardson has showed flashes of brilliance like his 31 point explosion against Milwaukee earlier in the month. On a whole though Richardson has been the third leading scorer on the team at 12 points, he also averages about 3 rebounds and two assists a contest. The Magic signed him to a four year deal before the season and to this point must be a little disappointed with his overall performance. Richardson is owned in 65% of ESPN fantasy leagues and is a decent option when the Magic have a soft matchup or preferably a strong string of matchups. The same can be said of J. J Reddick who is a solid pick up when he plays a bad team. Reddick can easily get you over 20 points in a game but is just as capable of shooting 1 of 6 and getting you 3 fantasy points. I think there is definitely a chance that the Magic will package Reddick with Howard. Other teams may be looking to pick up a pure spot up shooter and the Magic may be looking to move Reddick and his inflated contract. The Magic area team in flux, in a month we will know a lot more about the future of the franchise. Howard will almost definitely be donning another uniform by the end of March but at least the fans in Orlando will have the memory of an amazing All-Star weekend where Superman was the star.
by ja on 2/7/2012 7:31:35 PM
Here at SignAndTrade we have some of the best fantasy basketball tools you can find, but what we don't have are games that will allow you to win real money. If you're an NBA "stats geek" and dominate your fantasy league every year because of it then you may want to check out the newest site in fantasy sports, BuzzDraft.com, where now you can cash in (literally) on your fantasy NBA knowledge every night.
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You are given a salary cap of $100k to make the best possible 10 player NBA roster (2 SG, 2 SF, 2PG, 2 PF, 2 C) with each player priced based on past, recent and expected performance.The key to winning is finding those undervalued players who you can get cheaply so you can save lots of your salary cap to spend on players who you know will put up points. Your strategy should also change for big field tournaments where just picking fan favorites will never put you ahead of the pack. Full details on the scoring system can be found here: http://blog.buzzdraft.com/information-desk/scoring-system
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by ja on 1/16/2012 12:00:00 PM
SignAndTrade is growing! We are very efficient with our resources, but we just don't get a chance to write as often as we would like about the most current NBA events. Our primary focus has historically been providing the best and most useful Fantasy Basketball Tools that we can so that our users can do their own analysis. There's no doubt, however, that we would like to provide even more analysis / commentary on the fantasy landscape and the NBA, already broken down for our users to easily digest and make use of without having to crunch the numbers themselves. We'd like to be able to give our users more articles - more options of how to get ahead in their fantasy leagues and more entertainment. We want the content to be fresh, and we want it to be authored by someone that loves basketball and fantasy sports. So, with that in mind, if there are any aspiring writers out there who are interested in getting in to writing on the web about fantasy basketball or the NBA in general then shoot us a note via our support page. Maybe we can work something out!
by ja on 1/11/2012 12:00:00 PM
I play in a couple of fantasy sports leagues every year.
I played football this past year. I should have won, but I didn't and I don't want to talk about it. I'd played football before so no biggie.
I played baseball and it was same as always. Long season. Lots of days. I don't even watch baseball until August usually and to be honest I play the fantasy game to have fun with friends not because I love baseball.
I am playing fantasy Hockey for the first time this year - as with baseball I am only playing fantasy hockey because some friends are playing. I don't even watch hockey. About all I know about hockey I learned by playing Pro Hockey on the original Nintendo. I actually really enjoyed that game come to think of it [mental note: dig out nintendo console to play ice hockey], but hockey just is not my sport so I'm not predisposed to be the best fantasy manager either.
I'm not going to talk about fantasy basketball in this article. Why? Because this article is about playing for fun. When I play fantasy basketball I'm out to win and I don't care if it's a money league or not. I intend to destroy you. I'm hardcore, man. When it comes to fantasy basketball I feel about like the character called "Jesus" does in the Big Lebowski " when he's letting John Goodman know what he thinks about the whole pistol incident. I feel that strongly about fantasy basketball, and I talk that much smack, so we won't talk about basketball in this article because I'm trying to keep things light.
If you're playing fantasy sports for fun there are a couple of things to keep in mind or to try as the commish:
- Keep money out of it. Even the smallest buyins can make people all crazy later regarding trades and whatnot. The exception to this is when the money will go towards a non-money prize. An example is a reusable engraved trophey or something. Something that can be reused year after year and kept in the winner's cubicle or something as a reminder of their greatness. Of course if you're playing in a big money league you can rest assured it's not all about socializing so this goes out of the window.
- Don't set up all kinds of crazy rules regarding actual gameplay. Every zany strategy should be allowed in a fun league. If someone wants to stream players then let 'em. It's for fun and it almost never works anyway.
- Say up front if trades are going to be scrutinized and by whom. Then remind everyone to be fair in their trades and that if they must throw in the towel there is a right way to quit your fantasy league. Tell them to do it the right way! Hint: trading away all your players for nothing is not the right way.
- Encourage people to talk MUCH trash.
- Make other stupid little rules such as 'names should be based on current real life events' (and need to change once a week) or set up some other goofy quota like 'teams must have atleast 2 non-US born players'. These rules aren't to improve the game, it's to keep the fun going and provide a reason to maintain interest.
The idea is to keep things fun and to cause things to mix themselves up. There's a commercial I've been seeing lately featuring this guy harassing his coworker about getting a "Trade". It's funny because it's true. Some people play fantasy sports just to make trades! It's a thrill to pull off the deal. So encourage it. Give an honor for most trades made during the fantasy season that were fair. And do whatever else it takes to keep your leagues fun for those just looking to socialize.
Maybe you hatch a few new up-and-comers who want to play in a more serious fashion in the future. Maybe you don't. But you should be able to have a good time with it either way.
by ja on 12/10/2011 12:00:00 PM
We're fresh off of the NBA lockout. I'm not sure that the ink is even dry, and we're already reminded of how stupid the owners were to end it the way they did . Don't get me wrong, I'm ready for some basketball, but one of the major issues in the lockout has raised its head again now that the "league" has vetoed a trade in which Chris Paul would go to Lakers and New Orleans would receive a slew of talent in return for a player that appears to have every intention of leaving next year anyway.
The NBA players argued that a hard salary cap limited their mobility. No, it would not have. What it would have done is limited their ability to hold their current team hostage. Chris Paul essentially demanding a trade has created a lot of hype and now a lot of drama. David Stern getting involved just added to it.
If the owners had stuck to their requirement of a hard salary cap this would be a non issue. Now, and in the future. We wouldn't even be sitting here discussing whether the commish was an idiot for vetoing a trade that would have made both team better. In what world does that occur, anyway? I mean everybody came out a winner in this trade and yet somehow the commish vetoes it? If the owners had committed to the hard salarycap Chris Paul would not be able to wiggle his way onto a team that is already paying luxery tax.
I don't blame Chris Paul either. The fact is the lockout is over and whatever he can get now is what he should. Blaming Chris Paul would be like blaming a kid for getting a strike in bowling even with the bumpers were up. If the rules allow for bumpers, then they can be used. We can't say here are the rules, here's the result of everything you fought for during the last 5 months of lockout, but you can't take advantage of the parts that benefit you. Paul is operating within the rules of the lockout as were the owners involved in the trade so there's really only one other group to blame.
From the AP via ABC News
But Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told a radio station the league went through the lockout to prevent this very type of deal in which small-market teams lose their superstars. Hall of Famer Magic Johnson wrote on Twitter on Friday that it was the "wrong decision" by Stern and the owners.
Good for Magic Johnson. And I agree completely. It was the wrong decision for them to get involved now and it stemmed from the fact that they recently had recently made another wrong decision.
Stern should have explained to both Mark Cuban and Dan Gilbert that they had a chance a week ago to not have to deal with this sort of thing. Maybe Cuban voted against the CBA (I think I read somewhere that he did). But this is the deal that was made. If 25 teams thought this trade was a bad idea then 25 teams should have seen this coming... it hasn't been long since the last time it happened has it? Stern should explain to the owners that they chose to cave (collectively), so now they should have to live with the result... even the parts they don't like.
Hopefully Stern will reconsider his decision... for basketball reasons.
by ja on 12/8/2011 12:00:00 PM
With a shortened season the values of existing stratagies in fantasy game play are altered.
One such strategy that should be altered (or atleast the amount of weight you put into it) is that of trying to maximize players that play on the "premium days". Here's why:
One of the main things that we see in this years shortened season is the fact that the day of week matrix looks different. There is still a disparity in the number of games played on Thursday, Monday, and Sunday, but that difference has been compressed. So, before when there were only two or three games on Thursday night there are now closer to 5 games per Thursday evening. That means another 50 players will play every Thursday... and that means you won't get quite as much of a benefit by including "Thursday night players" in your selection criteria. It matters, just not as much before.
by ja on 12/8/2011 12:00:00 PM
Every year after we get the schedule loaded we release four schedule matrices. This year we got to do it twice! Below is a description of what they are for the uninitiated. Links are also provided. Also, there is a link to them on our fantasy tools page so you can always get to them without having to dig this article back up!
The Weekly NBA Games Matrix shows for any given "fantasy game" (date range) how many times each nba team plays during that date range. You will find this information especially useful when your fantasy playoff time rolls around. Load up on players that play more often in the playoff weeks to increase your chances of winning any close games!
The Short Games Matrix is specific to the SignAndTrade.com short game schedule. It does the same thing as the weekly schedule matrix.
Days of Week Matrix shows how many games are played on each day of the week for each NBA team. It's not hard to get players that play on Friday night. But if you get several that play a lot on Thursday you'll see that you squeeze a extra fantasy points out of your team just because of when they play.
Finally, the Simultaneous Games Matrix shows how many times during the season a team plays on the same day as another team. If you have two many guys on your fantasy squad that play on the same nights, you'll have too few players one night and then too many to play the next.
If you have other ways you'd be interested in seeing this data let us know using our feedback page! We're always looking for new tools to make fantasy basketball managers lives easier!
by ja on 11/11/2011 12:00:00 PM
@JaredDudley619 just tweeted a good thought. He said he wouldn't compare his job to a teacher or a doctor. That those jobs are more valuable. That his job only exists because of the fans.
I respect his comment. And it doesn't mean that he's admitting he should be paid less because his job is less valuable. His value will be determined by what his employers agree to pay him. And they will make that decision based on how much he helps them to accomplish their own goals. That's the only thing that should go into deciding what he'll get paid... how much is he worth to his employer.
But anyway this post was meant to be much lighter. I justed wanted to give Dudley respect for the sentiment.
I've read several posts of people complaining that NBA players make too much money (see here we are back here again). That these posting individuals would do the worth the players do for so much less (like 75000 dollars was thrown out there) is absolutely stupid. First there is the issue that they COULDN'T do it nearly as well so it almost becomes moot. But, let's say they could do it as well. Would they? Hell no. Not after they had done it for a short time EVERY DAY and dealt with everything involved. Some might, but most people just want to be at home with their kids and wife at night. They don't want the drama. They don't want the rumors. The don't want to play when their back or ankle hurts. They don't want to play all taped up and barely stuck together. They don't want to break their nose on Tuesday due to a pick and then have to play the next night. Get it. It's hard people.
So when I was in middle school I used to laugh at this song by ICE-T. Then I heard it again 15 years later on a long car ride and I thought... "damn, that would actually suck. What a crappy day. And it could be like that more often that one wants to know." Anyway, here's the lyrics. I got them from some lyric page so if they're a bit off don't get all mad at me. You'll get the point either way. Try plugging in some of the crap you think NBA players might have to deal with and you'll really get the point.
It's eight a.m. I roll out my silk sheets
Get fly crash the limo back seats
Lookin' in the faces
Of some ladies that I never met
On the interview tip, no sweat
They ask me questions
I throw the words back
They say they write facts
I know that's bull crap
They're kickin' drama
But then drama's my middle name
That's the price ya pay for big fame
The cellular phone rings
Dot wanta pick it up
But it's my J-O-B I gotta kick it up
Another damn reporter
On the line with a word quiz
I gotta show cause I'm livin' with the show
Biz. Out the llimo, to the plane
In the pourin' rain
I hate flyin'
But there's no time for slow trains
another show to do
I gotta caatch my crew
They left last night
In the bus around two
The plane's a small one
No fun at all
Bouncin' round the air
Like a tennis ball
When it touches down
I wanna kiss the ground
But it's time to wreck a new town
Get to the arena, meet up with the crew
They tell me all the speakers blew
The cordless don't work
Sound man's a jerk
Somebody's gonna get hurt
I'm crazy mad
But my fans want autographs
I turn my angry frowns
Into fake laughs
I can't be rude
Cause they wouldn't understand
I in't human no more, I'm a superman
[CHORUS]
You can try
But you'll never understand this
You can try
But you'll never understand this
You can try
But you'll never understand this
The lifestyles of the rich a and infamous
Four hours till show time oh well
I might as well check in the hotel
Get a little rest
Before it's time to play
Ten brothers standin' in the hallway
All with demo tapes
They need the hook up
They heard that I was
The one to look up
I can't ditch 'em
Cause they already saw me
I'll put my head down
Maybe they'll ignore me
No chance "Ice what's goin' on?"
I listened to twenty-five songs
And after thaat
The brothers still wouldn't leave
They started lookin' at my T.V.
I was gonna break down
If they didn't jet soon
Snuck across the hall
And crashed in E's room
But then this freak came in
Thought I was E
Straddled her legs across me
Ripped off her blouse
Pushed her breast against my face
Started girating her waist. Sounds fly,
Like a hype sex thriller?
But see she looked like Godzilla
Pushed her off me
Home girl hit the floor
This is what it's like on tour
I hit the hallway it was crawlin' thick
"Could we take this picture real quick?"
Jumped into a pose
That I used a million times before
Took pictures
With the whole damn floor
I couldn't say no not to my fans
You see they wouldn't understand
[CHORUS]
Now it's show time, time to flow time
Evil lost the records
But we still gotta go time
The house is packed
Everybody's on their feet
So I say, "Throw on Rakim's beat."
E hits the fader and the crowd is lit
I start bustin' off some new shit
The stage is so smokey
That I almost fall off, I start inhalin' it
I'm tryin' not to cough
I'm catchin' problems from every angle
The mic cords are tangled
I try to flow smooth
But my words are mangled
Damn near slipped and broke my ankle
If that ain't enough
The police are hawkin'
Listenin' real close
To the words I'm talkin'
They wanna put a brother like me
In the back seat
Just because I curse the beat
They wanna tap my phone
Wanna keep my crib bugged
Call all my homes
Felonist street thugs
You might say
I think this lifestyle sucks?
I wouldn't tade it for a million bucks
Although it's all
Not glamour and gleam
It's still my dream
by ja on 11/10/2011 12:00:00 PM
Okay, this whole Michael Jordan is a sellout thing needs to be addressed by someone who admires the play for what it actually is rather than make it all about integrity or owning up to this or that. TrueHoop claiming that Jordan should have to say he is sorry or he was wrong for having a different stance at a different time when he was in a different situation makes me believe that TrueHoop is missing the point of what Jordan is doing.
Jordan was a Chicao Bull. And he would go out there and die out there for his Bulls (or atleast for the 'W'). But if they traded him then what do you think he would have tried to do the next time he came to Chicago. He would have tried to go for 75 and a 'W' against his former team.
At that time Jordan was a player. And when it came time for players to negotiate a deal then Jordan did what he needed to do for his other players and for his bank account. Telling ownership that if they can't make a profit then they need to sell their team was his way of crossing over and then letting his tongue hang out on the way to the rim. He was competing for his side in those negotiations, that's all. Good for him. That's what he is supposed to do.
Now Jordan is an owner. And guess what. He's doing his job. He's protecting his interest and those to whom he is now most closely bound to in terms of those interests. The other owners are his teammates right now and he's following the rules, but doing whatever it takes in this battle against the other team.
Everyone knows that negotiations are made up of all kinds of posturing. There have been empty deadlines on the owners' part and there have been "concessions" that the players swore they would never make. Does this mean that none of them are to be believed and that they are all full of crap. Well, the answer is both YES and NO. They're all doing what they're supposed to do in the negotiation game and trying to get the best outcome for their respective teams, but they're also all atleast somewhat full of crap.
Michael Jordan can say whatever he wants (true or not) because that's how this game played at the negotiating table. He's not the only one doing so. He's just the most obvious one and the easiest target. And that may be part of the plan. After all, if MJ would say such a thing then, considering his past, it must be news and the players better listen up. Or they can rally against him and still give the owners what they want.
It's tactics. It's nothing more. And it's brilliant.
He doesn't owe the player's a thing. Nothing other than to keep paying 15 or so of them every year should they agree to a plan that allows him to do so.
by ja on 11/2/2011 12:00:00 PM
Checking out twitter earlier and saw this tweet:
@KBergCBS - My son's lockout solution, "Flip a coin", he said.
Interesting I thought, but I propose something a little more old school basketball.
Back in my playing days when both my legs and my back could agree on what they were going to do from one minute to the next we solved things differently. When it came to basketball we didn't flip a coin. If someone made a call and you thought is was garbage you argued the call for no more than about 10-15 seconds and then when it was obvious that neither guy was going to agree then you finally just said "Fine then. shoot for it".
There was no arguing about whether you could shoot for it. It was some sort of basketball god given right to argue a call by shooting for it. And there was no taking back the right to shoot for it once it was underway. And there was no arguing afterwards. Maybe it bit of cussing and name calling and whooping and hollering about how the "ball don't lie" until the game resumed, but then the game was on and everyone was ready to roll.
I'd like to see the NBA Labor negotiations be converted into something like that. David Stern and Billy Hunter can sit down with 4 each of their crew. Hunter can bring any 4 members that are in the union. And Stern can bring any 4 owners
or employees who are currently still getting paid (coaches and assistants, trainers, GMs, webguys, whatever). What are the rules?
First is the jump ball. We'll let Jason Berger have his coin toss for this.
We'll being playing this game outside since we're doing playground rules. I need somewhere with wind. Somewhere where anything can happen during a shot.
Then comes a possesion. The team in possession runs a play (they make a proposal for some part of the CBA ). They can pretty much choose anything they want except BRI. That one has all the drama of a game winner so obviously it has to be done last. So they make a proposal and if after a short deliberation their oppenent agrees to the proposal then the ball changes hands. If not, then a brief argument (fine, call it a negotiation) can happen where ANYTHING can be brought up (past plays, potential future plays, whatever), but if they can't agree within a short time then they "shoot for it". Literally. They "shoot for it". The proposing team gets to pick a player from the defense (no player can be picked twice in a row) and makes them earn their right to take the ball back. A made shot is like a steal. They get the ball and get to drive the next topic. The topic under negotiation is still undecided and can be brought up again. If the defense misses then the proposal is done and the team that was on offense gets what they wanted. Sure, it can still be used later in negoiations, but it's basically done. It can't be brought up again independant of anything else. And it can't be used to freeze the process up anymore.
So this will go back and forth for a little while each team scoring points here and there. They'll agree on some things without arguing and they'll "shoot for it" on others, but the game will be played.
When BRI comes up it'll be quite a show. It has to be last possession. There will be tons of drama. They'll put it on TNT. We'll find out if there will be a deal or no deal. Then, once there is no deal (and we know neither group will accept right away here), we'll watch the arguments and find out why and if they might change their minds. Then, we'll do another commericial after we find out who will be shooting. We'll see a split screen between the two groups trying to figure out what to do and a view of the basketball goal. We'll see a flag on a flagpole so we can see the wind. The participants will see it too. Preferably it'll be a gusty, but not necessarily windy day. The participants will have to decide if it is worth it to negoiate somewhere between their current position and their opponents position in order to avoid an all or nothing "shoot for it" scenerio. Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. But in short order a decision will be made and all with very little argument. And we'll finally be watching the best basketball players in the world do their thing. We'll be watching basketball!
Real basketball. Something we can enjoy after a hard day's work. Something our kids can watch and they can dream about being a part of while they're on the playground making plays and arguing calls until one of them finally sighs and then blurts out "Fine, just shoot for it".
by ja on 11/1/2011 12:00:00 PM
I just read Zach Lowe's piece at The Point Forward about the amnesty clause. I laughed during the first paragraph when he stated "This is why it is called an 'amnesty' clause and not 'you get a chance to cut this one guy for no reason' clause.For those of you that play in my particular league here at SignAndTrade (and also for those of you who play here in a different league but made use of my league's "constitution") you certainly know what I think is funny about that. Here's the line regarding our "amnesty" clauses for my league.
Insurance
In an effort to keep injured players or unexpected midseason retirement from causing a team to be completely hopeless, the following types of insurance are available for US dollars. This money will be added to the pot for the year the insurance was purchased.
$10 Team insurance: Can be used on any one injured player for 50% relief. Player will go to waivers and then on to free agency if not claimed. Player filed against must have collected stats since the purchase of insurance before it can be used on them. (Can't buy insurance on an already injured player).
$10 Ohh, I just have to have the cap space insurance: Can be used on any one player for 100% relief. Once added to a team, a player can only be dropped after a period of 2 weeks of NBA regular season games. The only exception to this rule would apply when a player has a long-term injury (the commish will rule on this kind of drops on a case by case basis). This insurance can only be used as many times as needed by a team.
$5 Individual Insurance: Can be purchased for use on one specific player that must be named at the time of purchase. If the player is injured/retires, you will receive 100% relief of their salary. Must drop player to FA. Player file against must have collected stats since the purchase of insurance before it can be used on them. (Can't buy insurance on an already injured player).
The "Ohh, I just have to have the cap space insurance" is the one I thought of when I read Lowe's article. The managers in my league sneaky and agressive. We don't bid one player and then the next. We bid just like in the NBA. We might have 40 different players up for bid all at the same time early in the year with everyone tryingg to fill their remaining roster spots from those who's contracts expired during the previous offseason. We sign players to multiple year offers (up to 3 years) just to have something to build around in future years. Other owners who don't even want your player will make an offer anyway in hopes that you'll be forced to outbid them. Bids are open for 2 days and if a new bid comes in on a player the clock starts over for them. It's a dirty little secret (that's not really a secret at all) that we'll bid on players just to keep you from locking a player down. After all, if you lock a player down then that is one less variable you have to account for. I want your bidding to be HARD and you to think twice about bidding on the player I'm trying to get. Or if I know you really want the guy... then I just want you to have to pay more for him, because that's less money you can spend elsewhere.
But what happens if you just let him go when I try to run the price up? You "stick me with him". That's a strategy too. Fantasy owners will bid on players and hope someone else comes along and tries to run up the price. When they do they find out they just took over a bid that noone else even wanted. It's fun and it's crazy and it's trash talk heaven. But it's an opportunity to cause major damage to your team as well.
Though our amnesty clause was originally intended to keep injuries from just ruining a fantasy team's entire year it quickly became a "Ohh crap. I can't believe I actually bid $25 gazillion for Marvin Williams for 3 years! What the hell was I thinking back in October? Maybe I should have let that other guy have him for $24 gazillion! Well, I don't want to carry his contract into next year so and the year after so I'll just buy it out now." Our amnesty clause is by far now used more in this capacity than for what it was designed. In a league where your cap is 175 Gazzillion and you pick a bust (or any underperformer really) for a huge salary and then compound that by signing them for multiple years you're pretty much screwed. Unless you have amnesty insurance.
Honestly, I think the NBA must just have smart owners to see this coming. They've experienced that sometimes they make mistakes. They've acquired Dampier during free agency following a career year in which he "did the work" and then watched him not work so hard afterwards. They've seen flashes of potential and then attempted to beat everyone to the punch only to find that while the potential was there it would remain unfulfilled for
whatever reason.
I'm all for the amnesty clause especially the way it is designed (or how I understand it). If the owners are going to pay the players what they agreed then I don't really see who loses. In our fantasy league the people who spend the most buying out contracts still generally don't win that year anyway. They just sweeten the pot for those who played well and didn't have to use the amnesty clause themselves.
And as far as the idea of trading amnesty for draft picks, etc... I'm down. We're not allowed to do so in our league (not blatantly), but we'll trade a player we want to get rid of along with either draft picks or another player we would like to keep to a team that still has an amnesty "drop". The new owner will simply drop the player and enjoy the valuable little "bonus" they got for managing well.
And the other owners are all glad to see another $10 go into the pot for the winner. Everybody wins.
by ja on 7/26/2011 12:00:00 PM
I've heard a few people mention (including me as you'll see) that the nba players could just start their own league. That would show "the man". We'll forget where I stand personally on the whole lockout deal - whether I am pro union or pro ownership. Let's just talk about the merits of the idea of the players creating their own league. So my inititial thoughts on the subject were "OMG owners... you should be scared. The players might wise up eventually and start their own leagues!" It would be so cool. I mean, they willingness to play are the only real weapon they have against the owners so why not? Plus it would show they mean business. And in starting their own leagues they would prove that they know something about business and that it was not all just smoke an mirrors. Yeah! But... Okay, who's paying the salaries for this league? The players are? with their own money? So they're paying themselves to play? How long do you think that will last? Who is running the front office? You know GMs and whatnot. What about coaching? Who are they paying to coach and how much? The NBA coaches aren't leaving their huge salaries to coach in the NewNBA. And the players couldn't afford it if they did. Would ESPN, TURNER, ABC, etc be willing to pony up to buy the rights to display the games when they are already paying to show the real NBA games that's aren't even happening? I mean, the owners have guaranteed TV contracts whether games actually occur or not. So you think the TV network folks want to pay twice? Where will they play? The owners own the arenas. The players can not just throw one up in a month. And if you play in too small of a venue you don't make any money from ticket sales. What do you call your teams and how do you get branding up quickly enough to make any money off of branding? So again, from where is your income coming? Who's going to play for player insurance? You think guys that can stand to make multimillions in the big league are going to want to play in the little league just to prove a point knowing that it'll take years before salaires in the new league can catch up to even close to what they are now? What happens after a few down years? And yes... in the beginning they will all be down years. How in the hell do you bring in more people to play once the original deep pockets are no longer deep b/c they've spent everything they had getting the league going? I don't have answers for all of these and almost any one of them shows that you're basically tilting at windmills to make it happen. I'm also not ruling a new league formation out, but it's a long and tough row to hoe if that's to be part of the plan.
by ja on 6/12/2011 12:00:00 PM
The Dallas Mavericks just sealed the deal and wrapped up their playoff series against Miami Heat.
I wasn't taking notes during the game, but I noticed a few things:
1) On Lebron's first shot of the game I knew Dallas had a chance. Lebron made the shot, and that could have signaled problems for Dallas, but Lebrons reaction was the telling part. He looked super hyped at making the shot. You know, like he didn't expect to make it and had rather just hoped it would go in… pleeeease.
2) JJ Berea did an awesome job. I suppose I owe him a bit of an apology as I didn't expect him to keep it up through these finals. He did keep it up. Not only that he just got better as the series went on. Do I want him on my fantasy team next year? Probably not, unless I can get him really cheap, but I'll be damned if anyone even thought it as a topic of conversation before now. Congrats JJ Berea!
3) Dirk was 1 for 10 (or worse) at the end of the first half. But the Mavs were leading. I'm not sure how they were leading, but it was apparent that the mavericks were going to win. You just knew he wasn't going to keep shooting as poorly and if everyone else was hot and they were just waiting on Dirk to get hot… well… when they all were on it was over.
4) Miami still doesn't have the mental game. They simply didn't get it done when they needed to get it done. I mentioned this in the last article when I predicted the Mavs would win games 4 and 5. I thought Miami would just have one let down and learn from it. But they had one in Dallas and then they had a major one late in this game.
by ja on 6/7/2011 7:30:30 PM
All I've been reading for the last couple of days is how the Dallas Mavericks are outmatched. There seems to be some sort of consensus that the Heat are simply too talented, and that Dallas can't compete. For the life of me I just don't understand where people are coming from on this.
The fact is that neither team has really put it on the other team well this entire season.
The fact is that the Mavericks have lost one game by one possession and the Heat have done the same. The other game was only an 8 point win and it is a fact that even that game was closer than that score showed.
The fact is that the Heat have been unable to hold the leads they have gotten and the Mavericks have been unwilling to quit.
The fact is that Jason Terry has been playing poorly, Barea has been mostly absent (which in my opinion is not a surprise really), Stojakavic has disappeared, and even Chandler has had issues forgetting to show up.
The fact is that Dallas is not scoring well and that it is coming more from bad shooting or tentative possessions than great defense on Miami's part. Miami's defense is contributing to the tentative (and then rushed) shooting of the Mavericks, but the Mavericks are doing it more to themselves than otherwise.
The fact is, on the other hand, that Mario Chalmers has given the Miami Heat a nice little spark and what amount to "found money" points.
The Miami heat have to be a little happy though because at the same time it is a fact that Miami's "big three" have not been playing as well as they can.
So what do I think will happen in the end? I don't know. But I know that neither team should be written off in this series. I know Magic Johnson shouldn't be declaring Dallas' chance as dead just because the Heat are talented. I know that Jason Whitlock is crazy to think it is "preposterous to believe Dallas can win this series". Even Whitlock admitted Dallas was having shooting problems, but he also decided to just pretend that didn't matter and that it would continue through the series.
My expectation is that the Dallas Mavericks win tonight and again in Game 5. I've witnessed the Heat have enough mental letdowns to know that at least one more is coming. They're talented, but I'm not sure that they, collectively, have THE GAME. The mental game I mean. And since the Mavericks can win any given night just by shooting well against these Heat I think they'll take the next two. After that it's a coin toss. They go back to Miami and anything can happen there. I know I'm looking forward to it!
by ja on 6/7/2011 2:06:05 AM
It's halftime of Game 3 of the 2011 NBA finals.
A few minutes before halftime there was a Miami possession in
which Dwyane Wade drew a foul on Jason Kidd by being downright
dishonest. There is a place for flops, but as I've stated before
it should only occur when there is in fact a foul. You can
see my thoughts on this for more details, but suffice it to
say the flopping is bad for the game, and there needs to be
a way to combat it. It should be noted that it is definitely
not JUST D-Wade that does this… it is a league wide issue.
I also want to comment on the Dallas Mavs possession that followed. Actually
two possessions later. The Mavs got the ball and Jason Kidd
spotted up just outside the three point line. As Kidd got the
ball Wade came running. Kidd pump faked and got Wade into the
air, and then Kidd jumped into Wade drawing the foul. This
was a heads up play by Kidd, but for some reason Wade got all
mad. The only thing I can think is that Kidd had explained to
Wade (nicely I'm sure) that he thought Wade's little flop was
trash ball and that he was gonna "get him back". I mean, that's
the only way you take that play personally. Surely Wade realized
that he essentially just CHEATED on one end (yes flopping should be viewed as cheating when nothing actually happened), but on the other end he's getting all mad about an honest, heads up play.
by ja on 6/2/2011 11:33:41 PM
In my last article about this series I discussed how Dallas had basically coughed up game 1 by playing poorly and that if they simply played well they'd be in great shape for the rest of the series. Well, tonight they still didn't play very well, but they played better than game 1. They played pretty well for 5 of the last 6 minutes - not great, but pretty well. The Miami heat did what LeBron has been regularly criticized for... they choked. They missed a lot of shots during the final minutes, they forgot to use their remaining foul in the closing seconds and instead let Dirk have lay up, and they didn't attack the rim to make use of their home court advantage. Even though Miami lost this game with their own incompetance it is clear that Dallas was the better team.I'm going to stick with my original opinion and reiterate that general feeling is that Dallas is going to take this series.
by ja on 5/31/2011 11:47:00 PM
Tonight was the first game of the NBA finals for 2011. The following is a brief
collection of my observations from the game. I had a couple of takeaways and
they are what is discussed below.
After watching the
first half I sat in disbelief that Dallas was up at halftime. Not because
I had come into the game thinking of Dallas as an underdog, but because
Dallas had played absolutely horrible. They were up and it didn't make
any sense. Then the second half came around and Dallas just kept it up. How
Miami only won by 8 pts (or whatever it ended up being) is still completely
beyond me. Dallas, while I'm sure they are anything but happy, should take
comfort knowing that as bad as they played they still had a chance in the
last 2 minutes.
As a side note, speaking of the last two minutes, I need to say something
to Tyson Chandler... IF ANYONE COMES DOWN YOUR LANE PLEASE GREET THEM
WITH A HARD PLAYOFF FOUL. Lebron James came thundering down the lane late in the fourth and what did
I see Tyson Chandler doing? He was standing between Lebron and the hoop, but
what did he do? He ducked and backed out like he was afraid of being in a poster
or something. I've heard all these things about how Dallas is a better team now
with Chandler and that he brings a new attitude to the team. Well, that was his chance
to show it and he failed miserably. The game wasn't
over, but it might as well have been when Chandler backed out. He could have
sent a message to the Heat that attacking the paint came with a price, but
instead he told them that they are welcome any time they have the gumption to
make a go at it.
by ja on 12/5/2010 9:57:00 AM
SignAndTrade's regular readers know about the writers / experts league that we participate in at fanduel.com. Week 5 just finished and I must say that I had a terrible showing. Fortunately, I have an excuse. Kevin Durant being injured cost me big. When the guy on your team on which you spent the most money doesn't step on the floor then you can pretty much call it over. I'm still working on my "rule's of thumb" for playing the fanduel type of game, and don't want to show my hand. All in all I have had a good time in the league and I'm looking forward to the last couple of weeks.
by ja on 11/21/2010 8:54:08 AM
SignAndTrade's regular readers know about the writers / experts league that we participate in at fanduel.com. I believe we are 4 weeks into the 6 week game and this coming week will be an offweek due to the thanksgiving holiday. Having the extra week off will hopefully give me a chance to go over some of my winning strategies (and losing ones) to get better at their particular game. When our league is over I'll post some "rule's of thumb" for playing their type of game, but for now, I'll stick with just giving you my lineup for the week and what I remember about their performance. Russell Westbrook - vs Houston Derrick Rose - @ Sas Eric Gordon - @ Min Kevin Martin - @Okc Loul Deng - @chi Landry Fields - @Sac [had just come off a great game and he was cheap... didn't repeat for me] Kevin Love - vs LAC [solid game] Luis Scola - @ Okc [Yao out so expected good game... just gave me avg though] Tyson Chandler @Nor [he was cheap, and he showed me why] One of the hardest things to keep in mind, and it sounds goofy that it would be hard, is that the idea is to maximize production (as measured in fanduel points). The idea is not to spend all your money nor is it to spend as little as possible. It is to maximize production and stay within the salary constraints. Landry Fields was gamble as was Tyson Chandler... I took them so I could spend all my money. I had a much better team where I still had a couple hundred left to spend out of my 65k budget. I thought that surely I could put that money to use. So after another 30 minutes and all sorts of finagling I ended up with a team where I had spent all my money and managed to convince myself that because I spent it all I must have a better team. It's simply not true. I lost by about 30 pts (difference between 1st and 4th place) and I could have easily scored 35 more by making sound decisions regarding production rather than playing games and trying to spend all my salary cap. The lesson has been learned (i hope).... beware week 5!
by ja on 11/13/2010 1:12:55 PM
This week's match up at fanduel didn't go quite at well as the past two, but I ended up in the top 50% (4th of 9). I don't even remember what went wrong or "unexpectedly" for my team, but I know that when I saw the first place guys team, before play had really even gotten under way (early first quarters of the early games), I thought that he had a good shot of winning it. Oh, I remember now. Kevin Love put up like 5 pts that night and 2 rebounds. Or maybe it was the opposite. Whatever the deal was it was a terrible line. I'm sitting there, picking him, expecting 15 pts and 12 reb. Because that's Kevin Love. But Nooooo I got a crappy performance out of him on money night. That's alright, he made up for it the next game with a 31 pt 31 reb game when there was no money or pride on the line. Wait, that's not making up for it at all. Either way it was an awesome feat.
by ja on 11/13/2010 12:05:34 AM
Kevin Love is a bad dude. Listen. I'm playing against a guy right now that is beating me 5-4. I have a chance at winning rebounds even though I'm behind. Or I thought I did. See, he has Kevin Love. And Love just pulled down 31 boards and put up 31 points. That is freaking awesome. It's like losing a 1-on-1 game to MJ by 40. Who cares? You just witnessed something freaking awesome... Kevin Love needs a cool nickname. I don't know what it ought to be, but the dude is all over the place. Sometimes 30 pts and 30 boards and sometimes 8pts and 2 boards. Does he even have a cool name and I've just missed it? Whatever the answer... I guarantee that whatever nickname he currently has it's not good enough. He needs a better one. Who's got one?
by ja on 11/5/2010 9:32:29 AM
This week was week #2 of a six or seven week expert fantasy basketball league at fanduel where games last only one day. We had two less experts in the league this week, but the top scorers returned. This week, though, I had a better showing and tied for 1st place. Pau Gasol got a rebound to end the night and gave my closest oppenent a point to tie the game. I'd rather have won outright, but I'll take the tie over a lost for certain. Do I have a strategy for my picks? I most certainly do. And I can tell you that it continues to evolve as I play their daily games. Eventually, I'll lay the strategy out for all to see... maybe! Here's what my lineup was: PG - Russell Westbrook (@ LAC) PG - Rajon Rondo (vs Mil) SG - Monta Ellis (vs Mem) SG - OJ Mayo (@ GS) SF - Rudy Gay (@ GS) SF - Linas Kleiza (@ Uta) PF - Louis Scola (vs NO) PF - Blake Griffin (vs OKC) C - Elton Brand (vs IND) Everyone did well except Kleiza. That dude was a dud of a pick, but he was cheap. Blake Griffin and Scola are both somewhat starting to fall out of favor with me in FD competitions. They're both still good players, but they're not FD studs or even sleepers anymore. I'm not shunning them, but I'm not seeking them out anymore either. We'll see what happens next week as I make an effort to go back to back.
by ja on 10/29/2010 10:15:30 AM
I read the other day that the original rules for the game of basketball were going to be auctioned soon. I love this game, so I just wanted to give this moment the respect it deserves. Thank you, Mr Naismith, for the game. When I read the article about the auction I was frustrated that there was no link to what the original rules actually were! So I looked it up and found a copy here. Here you go. There are only 13. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands. 2.The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands, but never with the fist. 3.A player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, allowance to be made for a man running at good speed. 4.The ball must be held by the hands. The arms or body must not be used for holding it. 5.No shouldering, holding, pushing, striking or tripping in any way of an opponent. The first infringement of this rule by any person shall count as a foul; the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made or, if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game. No substitution shall be allowed. 6.A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violations of Rules 3 and 4 and such as described in Rule 5. 7.If either side makes three consecutive fouls it shall count as a goal for the opponents (consecutive means without the opponents in the meantime making a foul). 8.A goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the grounds into the basket and stays there, providing those defending the goal do no touch or disturb the goal. If the ball rests on the edges, and the opponent moves the basket, it shall count as a goal. 9.When the ball goes out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field and played by the first person touching it. In case of dispute the umpire shall throw it straight into the field. The thrower-in is allowed five seconds. If he holds it longer, it shall go to the opponent. If any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall call a foul on them. 10.The umpire shall be the judge of the men and shall note the fouls and notify the referee when three consecutive fouls have been made. He shall have power to disqualify men according to Rule 5. 11.The referee shall be judge of the ball and shall decide when the ball is in play, in bounds, to which side it belongs, and shall keep the time. He shall decide when a goal has been made and keep account of the goals, with any other duties that are usually performed by a referee. 12.The time shall be two fifteen-minute halves, with five minutes rest between. 13.The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winner.
by ja on 10/28/2010 9:36:35 AM
This is the first writeup in a series about an experts competition that I am involved in at fanduel.com - the game is still going as I type, but I've got a general idea on how it going to end up so I thought I'd start writing it up. First, a little background... for those of you who don't know about it, fanduel.com offers daily fantasy sports games on which you can place wagers or join group competitions for cash prizes. I like the concept, and I like the way they've implemented it. There are some things I would tweak, but it's a good experience all around. As it is now my team is in 2nd place. I'm down 7 points to Nels (I assume from GiveMeTheRock who is definitely an expert) going into the late games. I think I've got him though. I'm 8 points ahead of third place. Third place has 2 guys that match the two I have (Blake Griffen and Brandon Roy) PLUS he has Aaron Brooks. I think the other teams are pretty much non threats at this time, but I think the guy in third is going to take it this week. Congrats to him... and maybe I'll get lucky and be wrong about brooks getting 8 pts, but I doubt it as he should be able to do that in his sleep. My team: Devin Harris Chris Paul Joe Johnson Brandon Roy LeBron James Kevin Durant Blake Griffin Josh Smith Cole Aldrich It was a salary cap game, and Aldrich was pretty much the best guy for the money I had left... or so I thought. Really if he'd gotten 10 minutes it could have been the difference between a win and a loss for me. But he didn't and I knew he might not. That being the case, I think I would do differently is choose a guy that is "guaranteed" to play even if it is with my last few greenbacks. A few points can easily be the difference between winning and losing and a big ol' goose egg on the scoreboard does not fit well. I'll check back for completeness sake when the final scores are tallied. But it's looking like NbaPrimeTime, Sirahlst (Signandtrade.com), and then nels are going to get 1,2,3... not bad company in my opinion. ====== Update ======= Halftime of lategame update: "That's why they play the game..." - Another expert had quite a few guys that hadn't played and one of them was monta ellis. Monta has already put up a big number (30) of fantasy points and it's not quite halftime yet. That owner has taken the lead. First and second place are each holding only 1 guy that the other does not have... so it is essentially 1on1 between those two... Aaron Brooks vs Monta Ellis... and Monta has been spotted 16 fantasy points... and it's only half a game to go. Congrats to both on building quality teams regardless of who wins. =======Update2====== Cole Aldrich would not have been a difference maker. Not after what Brooks did last night. Great game! However, the lesson regarding Aldrich is still an important one.
by ja on 10/23/2010 10:03:06 PM
It looks like Jerryd Bayless has been traded from Portland to New Orleans. He'll be backing up Chris Paul, but will probably get some time at both the PG and the SG.
Based on the fact that Paul is coming off an injury and that Bayless can flat out play when given a shot he might be worth a grab - if nothing else as a handcuff. We know Paul wants to get traded too and perhaps this is a precursor to that.
One more thing that bodes well for Bayless is that he has a previous relationship with New Orleans coach that used to coach in Portland.
[Disclosure: I hold a long position on Bayless in one of my keeper leagues]
by ja on 10/7/2010 2:47:11 PM
At SignAndTrade.com the bidding process is a sort of free for all. There might be bids going on for 30+ players at the same time. Imagine being on the floor at the stock market and trying to keep up with everything. That's about what it is like. Actually that's probably a little over the top since bids usually have a 24-48 hr window, but it's not uncommon early on to have 40+ bids going on at once. Sometimes someone gets lucky and is able to slip a decent player through at a GREAT price. Kobe never gets through cheaply though.... GREAT players demand GREAT BIG contracts, but Joakim Noah might just get through for 2/3 of his value. However, If Mike Bibby is the first player in your SignAndTrade.com league (with more than 10 teams) to be won in the bidding process, then you can look at the team who won him and know two things: (1) They are new to the SignAndTrade.com process and (2) They better be a fast learner or they will be drafting in the lottery the coming year. I'm not saying their doomed... I'm just saying they better be a fast learner. You see, at the beginning of the year everyone still has all of their salary cap space. So people are either being REALLY stingy and trying to be a little cool with it so they can spend it later on some steals once everyone else has blown their entire wad or they are being really aggressive to try to get some early leverage so they can push people around with what's left of their money later. The new guy doesn't know these things. The new guy just sees... I have $100 to spend and I can open bidding on Bibby at $5. I like Bibby. Let's do it. Maybe he'll slip through. What they don't realize is that OF COURSE HE'LL GET THROUGH! Every other team is probably just going to let that bid go right on through. Why, because they could get Bibby for 5 anytime they want him. He'll still be going for 5 after all the stars are gone if no one bids on him. But, you might need that 5 to put a big enough bid on Dwight Howard later. So the question becomes... Bibby now or a chance at Howard later? The other thing to keep in mind is that there are probably 50 guys in the league on Bibby's tier. There's just no reason to spend your money on one of them early. Be wise and don't spend your money all in one place. Your first year in this type of system the smartest thing to do might just be to bid on players that have already been put out there. Atleast then you know there is a chance someone else wanted him (of course they could just be hoping someone will take the bait so they can "stick them" with the contract).
by ja on 10/7/2010 2:34:40 PM
One of our biggest regrets with the blog portion of this website is that we don't get a chance to write as often as we would like. Our primary focus tends to be the Fantasy Basketball Games portion of the site and providing the Fantasy Basketball Tools that we provide so that you can do your own analysis, but there's no doubt that we would like to provide more analysis of the fantasy landscape already researched and ready to be consumed. So, if there are any aspiring writers out there who are interested in getting in to writing about fantasy basketball or the NBA in general then shoot us a note. Maybe we can work something out!
by ja on 10/1/2010 11:31:30 AM
I was reading yet another article on the ramifications of Miami's great off season moves and realized I had not really read any articles with any sort of numbers. I haven't seen any predictions about the numbers guys will be putting up for their fantasy owners. That's about to change and I'll tell you exactly how I got there. Three years ago the Boston Celtics added Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to their team in a similar coup to what Miami pulled off this year. Three stars and one basketball. Everyone knew something was going to have to give and those guys made it work. They all gave up a little in order to be a stronger team. In the images below you'll see their stats the year BEFORE (2006) and the first year (2007) in which they played together. Then you'll find a table that was the average difference in their stats between 2006-2007. Finally, you will see what those average differences projected onto Wade, Lebron, and Bosh would look like. Note: Some minor tweeks were required because in applying the projections guy's were made to play more than the possible number of games and that sort of things... so those were backed back down to the max number.
[caption id="attachment_1207" align="aligncenter" width="307" caption="Paul Pierce's 2006-2007 Stat Comparison"] [/caption] |
[caption id="attachment_1206" align="aligncenter" width="292" caption="Kevin Garnett's 2006-2007 Stat Comparison"] [/caption] |
[caption id="attachment_1205" align="aligncenter" width="314" caption="Ray Allen's 2006-2007 Stat Comparison"] [/caption] |
[caption id="attachment_1204" align="aligncenter" width="172" caption="Summary of 2006-2007 Stat Comparison"] [/caption] |
[caption id="attachment_1210" align="aligncenter" width="256" caption="Wade 2010 Prediction"] [/caption] |
[caption id="attachment_1209" align="aligncenter" width="273" caption="James 2010 Prediction"] [/caption] |
[caption id="attachment_1208" align="aligncenter" width="270" caption="Bosh 2010 Prediction"] [/caption] |
|
So, is Lebron really going to be the 8th best fantasy player? My gut says no way... he's Lebron... he'll be top 3. But he simply won't have to carry the load anymore. Not only that but coaches are going to want to rest him and keep his minutes down to minimize injury odds. Same for Wade and Bosh. Are these numbers hard fact... no way. There are tons of variables, but I bet they are not as far off as one might think at a glance. A guy in one of my auction leagues last year offered the highest contract ever for a multiyear lockdown of LeBron. It was a good move last year, but he still has him for two more years at that same price... still such a good deal? Probably not. I'm taking Kevin Durant before I take any of those three this year... and now I have the numbers to back it up.
by ja on 9/24/2010 11:34:30 AM
Keith Smart has apparently taken over the head coaching job for the Golden State Warriors. Who is this Keith Smart though? He is best known for his own version of "the shot" (no, not in Cleveland not wearing a number 23) which he made while in college where he played for the Hoosiers. It was the game winning shot for the 1987 NCAA championship. I don't have any bold predictions about what it means that Don Nelson is no longer the coach of Warriors. I will say this though - I just do not see any possible way that a team could play less defense than the GSW did under Don Nelson. What if Smart is from the exact same mold as Nellie? Well, then there is the possibility of worse defense. He's a new headcoach and there is some concern he might be too green for the job. The players may just run right over him. Even if that weren't the case he is taking over the job and replacing the winningest NBA coach ever. The simple odds are that Don Nelson will have run his own system atleast a little better than his protigee. If Smart runs the same systems then the GSW will likely be less efficient at it this coming year. In that case, even average players may look like fantasy studs against the GSW... even more so than previous years. I don't think that will happen though. Let's assume more defense is played. With more defense comes less possessions and probably less scoring. That goes for both their own players and for their oppenents. From a fantasy basketball perspective this all means that counting on the fact that a player is playing against the Warriors will automatically improve that players fantasy output may no longer be a safe bet. It also means that there won't be as many shots to go around in for Golden State and it will be important to get a feel for who is getting those shots (Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis is the answer). There's also the fact that defense is hard work. Especially grind it out, half court, contesting the shot defense. This can wear down bodies and make shots more difficult to get on the other end. Unless you are in phenomenal physical shape, having to work hard on defense probably means a couple less minutes and a little less production on the offensive end. I'm leaning towards Smart trying to add a smidge of defense to the GSW game plan. I'm just not sure it will do any good because they don't have great defenders on the team. I'm keep my fantasy options on GsW limited to David Lee (there are a lot of offensive rebounds to be had), Stephen Curry, and Monta Ellis. And I'll keep assuming that when I have two relatively equal players to choose from and one of them is playing GSW that night that the best play is the one playing the Warriors.
by ja on 3/5/2010 9:12:09 PM
Just saw Stuckey MIGHT have had a seizure and is being taken off the court. I was watching the game and he walked off the floor during a timeout. A few minutes later they showed replays of him having problems on the sidelines. It is not known what exactly is going on and we wish the best for him. However, from a fantasy perspective owners should be keeping an eye on Will Bynum, Richard Hamilton, and Ben Gordan as they will all be leaned on more than they have been. ======= Updated: Stuckey is now (15 minutes later) being reported as conscious and in stable condition. So hopefully all is well, but keep an eye on how it develops and if you have a roster spot available it might be worth grabbing any one of three mentioned above while things are in limbo.
by ja on 11/12/2009 7:29:50 PM
Sitewide Announcement:
There have been several updates released today to make things a little more convenient to work with and to fix some confusing issues. We hope you like the changes! If you have your own suggestions be sure to submit them via the feedback page (the link is in the footer of every page) or via a post in the forum. Many of these changes came from suggestions from our users. Below is the listing.
Updated News logger to not have so many false positives on stories that relate to
a particular player. This will take a few days for the old stories to expire, but it should start looking better daily.
Updated teamhome so that it will load faster based on changes in logic regarding calculating
each teams total points.
Updated leaguehome so announcements can now be expanded (or not).
Updated leaguehome so recent transactions are available for view (or not).
Updated gameview page in several ways.
For those who purchased livestats: the page will reload itself every so often automatically.
For all users: Playernames are now clickable. The columns that were not useful to the user are now gone.
Updated gameview with a fix for coloring players who have games. There were patches of a few
minutes before a player's game started in which they appeared to not be set as on the court. Once
the game started their coloring changed to look as expected. However, for that few minutes it
was definitely confusing... now no more confusion... atleast not about that.
Hope you all like the changes. Keep the suggestions coming.
by ja on 11/3/2009 10:25:50 AM
Manu Ginobli is one of the more fun players to watch. You never really know what to expect from him, but it is often the case that whatever he does is entertaining. Many of you are already aware that recently Manu put his KungFu on a bat (yes, a flying, blind, halloween type, could have been a vampire bat) during a game and managed to not only knock it out of the air, but then went on to pick it up and escort it off of the court. He appeared to get out of the incident unscathed. Well, Manu had to get a rabies vaccine yesterday. They don't know if the bat had rabies or not, but better safe than sorry. I spent 6 weeks waiting to start foaming at the mouth a few years ago when I got bit by a dog... and this dude attacked a bat... intentionally! This incident reminds me of one of another incident involving a flying creature at a sporting event. Randy Johnson, the Big Unit, who, by the way has the coolest nickname EVER, once hit a bird while pitching. It was pretty awesome. Unintentional, and sad, if you are a bird fan, but still awesome in it's own sick little "I can't believe I just saw that" sort of way. It is below also. Ginobli and the bat video: Big Unit and the Bird Video:
by ja on 10/28/2009 11:01:04 PM
One of the things we did during this offseason was add a section to the NBA Team pages that is reserved just for the smaller sites with a focus on specific teams. We hope you can help us come up with a list of them. If you are from Phoenix, for example, maybe you know of a great site that covers the Phoenix Suns. Ideally it is one that is written locally and with locals as the focus, but that is not a requirement. It might be the sports section of the local paper, or it might be someone's blog. If they write well and provide good info, then we want to know about them and we'll likely provide a link from our NBA team page. You can check out the Dallas Mavericks SignAndTrade page to see an example (the black area with the white text). If you want to see a particular site listed please provide us some info about the site including a brief description, what's greate about them, and a link. Then you can either respond to this post or send us a message via the feedback link in the footer. Thanks for everyone's help. When these links are in place we think it will be of great use to those interested in researching individual teams. Nobody knows about and reports on a team like someone who is dedicated to just them. And the good stuff comes from someone who is not a marketing arm of the team itself.
by ja on 10/28/2009 11:12:47 AM
CLICK HERE IF YOU JUST WANT TO SEE THE CURRENT SEASON'S NBA SCHEDULE WITH TELEVISED GAMES - You can choose whichever team you want from there. Now... on to the blog entry. Last year when I was setting up the nba schedule for the website (click to see NBA schedule by team - including TV) I started to wonder how many games each team gets to play on national TV. You know, ESPN, TNT, and the networks ABC, CBS, FOX, etc. I did not include those that play on NBA TV, or Canadian TV. It turns out that it is not at all evenly distributed. It doesn't even pretend to be. Instead there are some teams that get ZERO (0) and some that get 25. Let's start with those that that only get 0. You know they have to feel CHEATED. They are Sacremento (they were in the list last year too), Charlotte, New Jersey, Milwaukee, and Houston. Those that were in this list last year and made it out of the ZERO category are Indiana (1), New York (5), and Minnesota (1). Congrats! Some only got 1 game. Those include Toronto, Oklahoma, Memphis, Indiana, and Minnesota. I'm still perplexed at how any team can be limited to zero or one... but thems the breaks I guess. Who do you think got the top value of 25 games? Well, if you read last year you won't be surprised. The same three teams are the top three again. Boston, Cleveland (one word, Lebron), and the Lakers (you love 'em or you hate 'em, but you watch 'em + they are the defending champs). The next three highest are Orlando (24), Denver (22), San Antonio (20). 5 of the top 6 are the same ones as last year. Orlando knocked Dallas out of the top 6, but other than that it looks pretty much the same. [Corrected due to reader feedback... thanks ronald] Just like last year out of the 8 teams with the most nationally televised games, 5 of the 8 are western conference. Of the top 4, it's three (3) for the east and one (1) for the west. [End corrected section] I still don't have an opinion on this... just something I thought was interesting to see. I have listed the entire set of data below. Also, I don't know if they change which games are played on the major networks throughout the season (perhaps add some or remove some) so these numbers would ofcourse be off if the TV schedule changes.
Team |
home |
away |
total |
Cleveland Cavaliers |
13 |
12 |
25 |
Boston Celtics |
14 |
11 |
25 |
Los Angeles Lakers |
14 |
11 |
25 |
Orlando Magic |
12 |
12 |
24 |
Denver Nuggets |
12 |
10 |
22 |
San Antonio Spurs |
8 |
12 |
20 |
Phoenix Suns |
10 |
8 |
18 |
Portland Trail Blazers |
10 |
7 |
17 |
Miami Heat |
5 |
10 |
15 |
Utah Jazz |
7 |
6 |
13 |
Dallas Mavericks |
5 |
8 |
13 |
Chicago Bulls |
4 |
9 |
13 |
New Orleans Hornets |
2 |
7 |
9 |
Washington Wizards |
4 |
4 |
8 |
Golden State Warriors |
7 |
1 |
8 |
Los Angeles Clippers |
3 |
5 |
8 |
Atlanta Hawks |
4 |
3 |
7 |
New York Knicks |
5 |
0 |
5 |
Detroit Pistons |
0 |
4 |
4 |
Philidelphia 76ers |
1 |
1 |
2 |
Toronto Raptors |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Minnesota Timberwolves |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Indiana Pacers |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Oklahoma City Thunder |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Memphis Grizzlies |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Charlotte Bobcats |
0 |
0 |
0 |
New Jersey Nets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Sacramento Kings |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Milwaukee Bucks |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Houston Rockets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
by ja on 10/16/2009 10:24:52 AM
We haven't been posting regularly this offseason as we have been focusing almost exclusively on improving the site and our tools, but this had to be shared. The NBA has released an " NBA Video Rulebook" and it is great! Those of us in the know about how the game is played and officiated know that there a ton of rules and that it is not an easy game to officiate well. Add to this the fact that on all levels of competitive basketball the rules are applied differently. In addition, the NBA is always looking to "improve their product" and therefore updating their rules or adding new ones. All these things combined could certainly cause someone to be confused on some calls (or ticked off) even if they are a die hard fan. For those who are just trying to get into becoming an NBA fan... well let's just say it can be a lot to learn. Here's a screenshot. More description follows the screenshot. [caption id="attachment_972" align="aligncenter" width="691" caption="Screenshot of NBA.com Video Rulebook"]  [/caption] The video rulebook covers tons of issues including sections on "NBA's most misunderstood rules", "rules history", "illustrated referee handsignals"... and that's just some of the supplemental stuff. That doesn't even include all the detail they go into explaining the rules, when their applicable, how they are applied, etc. It is BY FAR one of the best things I've seen the NBA do to help people understand the game and to become more knowledgeable about it. Kudos to them.
by ja on 10/9/2009 2:22:03 PM
The SignAndTrade 2009 Fantasy Basketball Draft Kit will help you prepare for your drafting and / or free agent bidding no matter where you play your fantasy basketball. (SignAndTrade, Yahoo!, ESPN, CBS). At a price of only $5.00, this guide is by far the best buy for your money when it comes to fantasy basketball drafting guides. The guide is packed with data and the online version can even be tweaked by you! See the screenshots of the online version towards the bottom of the preview page to get an idea about what’s in the guide. In addition to the online version you will also be able to access a "formatted for print" (pdf) version. It's easy to purchase and the transaction is secure. Just follow these steps.
- Create a free SignAndTrade account (you can skip this if you already have one)
- Sign In (if you’re already signed in skip this too)
- Go to the “Member Home” page (when you login, this is the first page you see)
- Click the “Premium Addons” icon on the “Member Home” page. It is the icon that has pictures of various tools / accessories on it.
- Click the “Purchase draft kit” link. After the purchase that link will instead read "Open DraftKit".
The account is free and takes just a minute to create. There is no obligation to purchase the kit just because you created an account. In fact, we would prefer you create an account even if you decide not to buy the kit. You can then make use of the forums, play our fantasy games, or use any one of our other free fantasy basketball tools. We have quite a collection of fantasy basketball tools and they are for all levels of users from novices to hardcore fantasy players. The goal is to help you win your league whether you play here at SignAndTrade or if you have a league with one of the other guys. We are committed to providing what fantasy sports players want so if you have ideas let us know. You can also send us ideas using the feedback link at the bottom of all of the pages.
by ja on 10/9/2009 2:23:28 PM
Players who got a Double-Double |
Roy Hibbert |
Points(20) Rebounds(11) |
Players who got a Triple-Double |
None |
Scoring: (30 pts or better) |
None |
Assists: (12 assists or better) |
None |
Rebounds: (13 rebounds or better) |
None |
Efficiency: (35 eff or better) |
None |
Crossing the Line (The Curry line: TO > [AST+STL+BLK]) |
Stephen Graham |
Ratio (0.3333) Assists (1) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (3) |
Earl Barron |
Ratio (0.2500) Assists (0) Steals (1) Blocks (0) Turnovers (4) |
Gerald Wallace |
Ratio (0.2500) Assists (0) Steals (1) Blocks (0) Turnovers (4) |
Carmelo Anthony |
Ratio (0.2000) Assists (1) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (5) |
David West |
Ratio (0.2000) Assists (0) Steals (0) Blocks (1) Turnovers (5) |
|
by ja on 10/9/2009 2:59:32 PM
| Players who got a Triple-Double |
| None |
| Scoring: (30 pts or better) |
| None |
| Assists: (12 assists or better) |
| None |
| Rebounds: (13 rebounds or better) |
| None |
| Efficiency: (35 eff or better) |
| None |
| Crossing the Line (The Curry line: TO > [AST+STL+BLK]) |
| Brandon Bass | Ratio (0.7500) Assists (1) Steals (1) Blocks (1) Turnovers (4) |
| Tyreke Evans | Ratio (0.6667) Assists (4) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (6) |
| Rudy Gay | Ratio (0.5000) Assists (1) Steals (2) Blocks (0) Turnovers (6) |
| Elton Brand | Ratio (0.5000) Assists (1) Steals (0) Blocks (1) Turnovers (4) |
| Steve Blake | Ratio (0.5000) Assists (2) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (4) |
| Hasheem Thabeet | Ratio (0.5000) Assists (0) Steals (0) Blocks (1) Turnovers (2) |
| Michael Beasley | Ratio (0.5000) Assists (1) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (2) |
| Othello Hunter | Ratio (0.5000) Assists (0) Steals (1) Blocks (0) Turnovers (2) |
| James Posey | Ratio (0.5000) Assists (1) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (2) |
| Luc Richard Mbah a Moute | Ratio (0.5000) Assists (0) Steals (1) Blocks (0) Turnovers (2) |
| Ben Gordon | Ratio (0.4000) Assists (2) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (5) |
| Kevin Durant | Ratio (0.3333) Assists (0) Steals (1) Blocks (0) Turnovers (3) |
| Mario Chalmers | Ratio (0.3333) Assists (0) Steals (1) Blocks (0) Turnovers (3) |
| LaMarcus Aldridge | Ratio (0.2500) Assists (0) Steals (1) Blocks (0) Turnovers (4) |
| Sean Marks | Ratio (0.2500) Assists (0) Steals (1) Blocks (0) Turnovers (4) |
| Corey Maggette | Ratio (0.2000) Assists (1) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (5) |
| Joey Dorsey | Ratio (0.0000) Assists (0) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (3) |
| Greg Oden | Ratio (0.0000) Assists (0) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (3) |
| Samuel Dalembert | Ratio (0.0000) Assists (0) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (2) |
| Ryan Anderson | Ratio (0.0000) Assists (0) Steals (0) Blocks (0) Turnovers (2) |
|
by ja on 10/23/2009 10:24:12 PM
This table is a modified version of what can be found at NBA.com via their “Transactions” page. During the off season it actually useful because it shows all transactions… not just the current month. I have removed items like players being fined and coaching / management related transactions. All that should be left is related to player exchanges / signings. A wise fantasy owner keeps in mind the player transactions as they can affect both the style of play an player is forced to accept (and therefore their stats), but they can also affect where the player is in the pecking order. For example, Richard Jefferson probably won’t be expected to run the team in San Antonio like he did in Milwaukee.
Wednesday, Sept. 30 |
- L.A. Lakers signed guard Thomas Kelati.
- Philadelphia signed forward Rashad Jones-Jennings.
|
Monday, Sept. 28 |
- L.A. Lakers signed forward Tony Gaffney, forward David Monds, forward Mickael Gelebale and forward Michael Fey.
- Philadelphia sgned forward Brandon Bowman, guard Dionte Christmas, guard Sean Singletary and guard Stromile Swift.
- Charlotte signed guard Antonio Anderson and forward Stephen Graham.
- Memphis signed guard Thomas Gardner, forward Leon Rodgers and forward Mike Taylor.
|
Saturday, Sept. 26 |
- Denver signed forward Joey Graham.
- Portland signed forward Ime Udoka.
|
Friday, Sept. 25 |
- New York re-signed guard Nate Robinson.
- Washington signed center Paul Davis and guard/forward Vincent Grier.
|
Thursday, Sept. 24 |
- New York signed forward David Lee to a one-year contract.
- Charlotte signed guard Ronald "Flip" Murray to a one-year deal.
|
Wednesday, Sept. 23 |
- Charlotte signed guard Raymond Felton to a one-year contract.
|
Tuesday, Sept. 22
|
- Chicago re-signed center Aaron Gray.
- Denver acquired guard/forward James White from Houston for draft rights to forward Axel Hervelle.
- Minnesota waived guard Chucky Atkins.
|
|
|
by ja on 9/21/2009 11:13:27 PM
This table is a modified version of what can be found at NBA.com via their “Transactions” page. During the off season it actually useful because it shows all transactions… not just the current month. We have removed items like players being fined and coaching / management related transactions. All that should be left is related to player exchanges / signings. A wise fantasy owner keeps in mind the player transactions as they can affect both the style of play an player is forced to accept (and therefore their stats), but they can also affect where the player is in the pecking order. For example, Richard Jefferson probably won’t be expected to run the team in San Antonio like he did in Milwaukee.
Thursday, Sept. 17 |
• Portland signed forward Juwan Howard to a one-year contract.
• Minnesota signed guard Sasha Pavlovic to a one-year contract.
• New York signed guard Sun Yue.
• Sacramento signed guard/forward Desmond Mason to a one-year contract. |
Wednesday, Sept. 16 |
• L.A. Clippers re-signed forward Brian Skinner. |
Tuesday, Sept. 15 |
• Philadelphia signed guard/forward Rodney Carney.
• Sacramento signed forward Jon Brockman. |
Monday, Sept. 14 |
• Dallas re-signed forward James Singleton.Released guard Greg Buckner. |
Tuesday, Sept 8
|
• Portland signed forward Jeff Pendergraph. |
by ja on 9/6/2009 6:18:00 PM
This table is a modified version of what can be found at NBA.com via their “Transactions” page. During the off season it actually useful because it shows all transactions… not just the current month. I have removed items like players being fined and coaching / management related transactions. All that should be left is related to player exchanges / signings. A wise fantasy owner keeps in mind the player transactions as they can affect both the style of play an player is forced to accept (and therefore their stats), but they can also affect where the player is in the pecking order. For example, Richard Jefferson probably won’t be expected to run the team in San Antonio like he did in Milwaukee.
Wednesday, Sept. 2 |
• Golden State signed center Mikki Moore.
• Atlanta signed center Jason Collins. |
Tuesday, Sept1
|
• Boston signed guard Marquis Daniels. |
Thursday, Aug. 27 |
• Memphis signed forward Trey Gilder.
• Denver re-signed center Johan Petro. |
Tuesday, Aug. 25 |
• Atlanta signed forward Joe Smith.
• Cleveland signed guard/forward Danny Green. |
Friday, Aug. 21 |
• Portland signed rookie forward Dante Cunningham to a multi-year contract.
• L.A. Clippers waived forward Mark Madsen. |
by ja on 9/6/2009 6:09:55 PM
SignAndTrade is growing! In a purely grassroots fashion SignAndTrade.com has been growing by basically every measure. We appreciate you spreading the word. We have had a lot of positive feedback regarding our fantasy basketball tools. We've learned from both the positive and negative comments. In addition, we've consulted fantasy basketball experts from various areas around the web to find out what they are looking for in a fantasy basketball tools provider. Their comments have provided us a valuable understanding of the types of tools that fantasy sports players have on their wish list and we have some pretty cool projects in the pipeline. One thing we have been asked about on various occasions is whether we plan to do a fantasy basketball draft kit this year. The answer? Yes! We believe we can produce a draft kit that is more feature packed than what the "big boys" provide. We believe we can do it at a better price as well... we'll get to that later. It won't be free, but it will be substantially less than the other traditional providers. We do not expect the kit to be ready to roll out until late September to early October, but this should still be in plenty of time for most drafts. Stay tuned for details including a content outline as well as pricing and release dates!
by ja on 8/20/2009 1:48:37 PM
This table is a modified version of what can be found at NBA.com via their “Transactions” page. During the off season it actually useful because it shows all transactions… not just the current month. I have removed items like players being fined and coaching / management related transactions. All that should be left is related to player exchanges / signings. A wise fantasy owner keeps in mind the player transactions as they can affect both the style of play an player is forced to accept (and therefore their stats), but they can also affect where the player is in the pecking order. For example, Richard Jefferson probably won’t be expected to run the team in San Antonio like he did in Milwaukee.
Wednesday, Aug. 19 |
Orlando signed guard Jason Williams. |
Tuesday, Aug. 18 |
Milwaukee acquired guard/forward Carlos Delfino and guard Roko Ukic from Toronto for forward Amir Johnson and guard/forward Sonny Weems. |
Monday, Aug. 17 |
Phoenix signed forward Taylor Griffin. |
Friday, Aug. 14 |
Denver re-signed guard Anthony Carter. |
Thursday, Aug. 13 |
Philadelphia signed center Primoz Brezec.
Miami acquired guard/forward Quentin Richardson from Minnesota for Mark Blount. |
Wednesday, Aug. 12 |
Cleveland signed forward Leon Powe to a two-year contract.
Houston signed center David Andersen to a multiyear contract.
L.A. Clippers acquired guard Rasual Butler and cash from New Orleans for a 2016 conditional second-round draft pick. |
Tuesday, Aug. 11 |
Washington signed forward/center Fabricio Oberto. |
Monday, Aug. 10 |
Boston re-signed forward Glen Davis.
Philadelphia re-signed guard Royal Ivey. |
Friday, Aug. 7 |
Atlanta re-signed forward Marvin Williams to a five-year contract
Boston signed center/forward Shelden Williams
Denver traded Steven Hunter, a 2010 first-round pick and cash to Memphis a future second-round draft pick
Portland signed guard Brandon Roy to a multiyear contract extension |
Thursday, Aug. 6 |
NBA suspended Orlando forward Rashard Lewis 10 games for violating anti-drug policy |
Wednesday, Aug. 5 |
Detroit signed forward Austin Daye
Houston signed guard Jermaine Taylor to a multiyear contract |
Monday, Aug. 3 |
Minnesota signed center Ryan Hollins to an offer sheet |
by ja on 8/6/2009 8:58:12 AM
The 2009-2010 NBA schedule has been posted and is available for view on our nba schedule page. You can currently view the schedule for any team. We will be making some changes to the page to add some more ways of looking at the entire schedule (we'll keep HOW it will change a secret for now). We will say that the changes that are in the works are based on user suggestions so hopefully you will all like them. Everybody keep the suggestions coming!
by ja on 8/3/2009 4:47:25 PM
This table is a modified version of what can be found at NBA.com via their “Transactions” page. During the off season it actually useful because it shows all transactions… not just the current month. I have removed items like players being fined and coaching / management related transactions. All that should be left is related to player exchanges / signings. A wise fantasy owner keeps in mind the player transactions as they can affect both the style of play an player is forced to accept (and therefore their stats), but they can also affect where the player is in the pecking order. For example, Richard Jefferson probably won’t be expected to run the team in San Antonio like he did in Milwaukee.
Saturday, August 1
|
Oklahoma City signed guard Kevin OllieMilwaukee requested waivers on guard/forward Bruce Bowen |
Friday, July 31 |
L.A. Lakers waived guard Sun Yue, re-signed forward Lamar Odom to a four-year contract.
Denver acquired forward Malik Allen from Milwaukee for forward Walter Sharpe and guard/forward Sonny Weems. |
Thursday, July 30 |
Chicago waived forward Linton Johnson and guard DeMarcus Nelson
Dallas signed forward Drew Gooden
Indiana signed forward Solomon Jones to a multiyear contract
Toronto traded guard/forward Devean George and cash to Golden State for guard Marco Belinelli. Signed center Rasho Nesterovic to a one-year contract. |
Wednesday, July 29 |
New Orleans signed free agent forward Ike Diogu
Memphis signed Sam Young to a multi-year contract |
Tuesday, July 28 |
Indiana signed point guard Earl Watson
Milwaukee signed point guard Brandon Jennings
Dallas signed free agent forward Tim Thomas
Charlotte acquired center Tyson Chandler from New Orleans for forward/center Emeka Okafor |
Monday, July 27 |
Oklahoma City acquired center Etan Thomas, a second-round selection and a conditional second-round selection in the 2010 NBA Draft from Minnesota for guards Chucky Atkins and Damien Wilkins |
Saturday, July 25 |
San Antonio signed centerTheo Ratliff |
Friday, July 24 |
Portland signed guard Andre Miller to a three-year deal |
Thursday, July 23 |
Milwaukee agreed to terms with forward Ersan Ilyasova |
Wednesday, July 22 |
Detroit signed forward Chris Wilcox |
Tuesday, July 21 |
Philadelphia signed guard Jrue Holiday
Sacramento agreed to terms with forward Sean May
Toronto signed guard Jarret Jack
Orlando agreed to terms with forward Matt Barnes on a two-year contract |
Monday, July 20 |
Atlanta signed rookie guard Jeff Teague
L.A. Clippers acquired guard Sebastian Telfair, forward Craig Smith and forward Mark Madsen from Minnesota for forward Quentin Richardson
Phoenix agreed to terms with guard Steve Nash on a two-year contract extension. |
Sunday, July 19 |
Memphis signed center Hasheem Thabeet. |
Friday, July 17 |
Los Angeles Clippers acquired guard/forward Quentin Richardson from the Memphis Grizzlies for forward Zach Randolph. |
Thursday, July 16 |
San Antonio signed forward DeJuan Blair. |
Wednesday, July 15 |
Denver signed guard Ty Lawson. |
Tuesday, July 14 |
Atlanta traded the rights to forward/center David Andersen to Houston for an undisclosed second-round draft pick, cash and future considerations.
Chicago reached a contract settlement with forward Tim Thomas and requested waivers on him.
Indiana signed guard Dahntay Jones to a four-year contract.
Utah re-signed G Ronnie Price. |
Monday, July 13 |
Atlanta re-signed guard Mike Bibby and center Zaza Pachulia.
Charlotte signed forward Derrick Brown.
Chicago signed guard Jannero Pargo.
Cleveland signed guard/forward Anthony Parker.
Denver acquired guard Arron Afflalo and forward Walter Sharpe from Detroit for a future second-round draft pick and cash.
Phoenix agreed to terms with foward/center Channing Frye on a two-year contract. |
by ja on 7/15/2009 7:48:33 PM
Sunday, July 12 |
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Saturday, July 11 |
Dallas re-signed guard Jason Kidd
New York signed forward Jordan Hill
Oklahoma City signed guard James Harden, center Byron Mullens and forward Serge Ibaka
Toronto signed guard Jarrett Jack to an offer sheet |
Friday, July 10 |
Minnesota signed guards Jonny Flynn and Wayne Ellington
Orlando signed forward Brandon Bass
Phoenix signed forward Earl Clark
Sacramento signed forward Omir Casspi
San Antonio signed forward/center Antonio McDyess
Utah signed center Mehmet Okur to a multi-year contract extension
Memphis waived guard/forward Jerry Stackhouse
Portland signed forward Paul Millsap to an offer sheet
Portland extended coach Nate McMillan's contract through 2011 season |
Thursday, July 9 |
Chicago signed forwards James Johnson and Taj Gibson
Cleveland signed forward/center Anderson Varejao to a multi-year contract
Dallas traded guard Jerry Stackhouse and cash considerations to Memphis for guard Greg Buckner; traded forwards Devean George and Antoine Wright to Toronto for forwards Shawn Marion, Kris Humphries, center Nathan Jawai and cash considerations as part of a four-team deal
Orlando traded forward Hedo Turkoglu to Toronto for cash considerations and acquired cash considerations from Dallas as part of a four-team deal
Toronto traded forwards Shawn Marion, Kris Humphries, center Nathan Jawai and cash considerations to Dallas; acquired forwards Devean George and Antoine Wright from Dallas and forward Hedo Turkoglu from Orlando; sent cash considerations to Orlando and a 2016 second-round pick to Memphis as part of a four-team deal
L.A. Clippers signed forward Blake Griffin
Toronto signed forward DeMar DeRozan |
Wednesday, July 8 |
Atlanta re-signed guard Mike Bibby to a three-year contract.
Boston signed forward Rasheed Wallace to a two-year contract.
Charlotte signed guard Gerald Henderson.
Dallas signed guard Quinton Ross.
Detroit signed guard Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva to a five-year contract.
Golden State signed guard Stephen Curry.
Houston signed forward Trevor Ariza to a multiyear contract.
Indiana signed forward Tyler Hansbrough.
L.A. Lakers signed forward Ron Artest to a five-year contract and re-signed guard Shannon Brown to a two-year contract.
Milwaukee signed guard Jodie Meeks to a three-year contract.
Sacramento signed guard Tyreke Evans.
San Antonio agreed to terms with forwards Antonio McDyess, Marcus Haslip and Malik Hairston.
Toronto re-signed forward/center Andrea Bargnani to a five-year contract. |
Tuesday, July 7 |
Dallas signed guard Rodrigue Beaubois. |
Monday, July 6 |
Dallas signed guard Jason Kidd to a three-year contract. |
Wednesday, July 1 |
Chicago named Randy Brown director of player development.
L.A. Lakers announced guard Kobe Bryant declined to terminate the final two years of his contract.
Utah signed guard Eric Maynor to a two-year contract. |
June |
Tuesday, June 29 |
Milwaukee extended qualifying offers to guard Ramon Sessions and forward Ersan Ilyasova.
New Jersey exercised the contract option on forward Jarvis Hayes for next season. |
Friday, June 26 |
Phoenix traded center Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland for center Ben Wallace, guard-forward Sasha Pavlovic, a 2010 second-round draft pick and cash. |
Thursday, June 25 |
New Jersey traded guard Vince Carter and forward Ryan Anderson to Orlando for guards Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee and center Tony Battie.
Golden State traded guard Jamal Crawford to Atlanta for guards Acie Law and Speedy Claxton.
New York traded guard Quentin Richardson and cash to Memphis for center Darko Milicic.
Sacramento traded the draft rights to forward Jeff Pendergraph to Portland for guard Sergio Rodriguez, the draft rights to forward Jon Brockman and cash.
Los Angeles Lakers traded the draft rights guard Patrick Beverley to Miami for a 2011 second-round pick and cash.
Washington traded the draft rights to guard Jermaine Taylor to Houston for cash.
New York traded a 2011 second-round pick and cash to the Los Angeles Lakers for the draft rights to guard Toney Douglas.
Minnesota traded the draft rights to guard Ty Lawson to Denver for a 2010 conditional first-round pick.
Dallas traded the draft rights to center BJ Mullens to Oklahoma City for the draft rights to guard Rodrigue Beaubois and a future second-round pick.
Denver traded the draft rights to guard Sergio Llull to Houston for cash.
Miami traded the draft rights to guard Marcus Thornton to New Orleans for two future second-round picks.
Detroit traded the draft rights to forward Chase Budinger to Houston for a future second-round pick and cash.
Dallas traded a future second-round pick to Portland for the draft rights to guard Nick Calathes.
Charlotte traded cash to Oklahoma City for the draft rights to guard Robert Vaden. |
Wednesday, June 24 |
Minnesota traded guards Randy Foye and Mike Miller to Washington for the 2009 No. 5 draft pick, forwards Etan Thomas, Darius SongailaOleksiy Pecherov.
Portland acquired the 2009 No. 22 draft pick from Dallas for the 2009 No. 24 draft pick and a 2009 and a 2010 second-round draft pick. |
Tuesday, June 23 |
Milwaukee traded traded center Fabricio Oberto to Detroit for forward Amir Johnson.New York extended qualifying offers to guard Nate Robinson and forward David Lee.
Charlotte extended a qualifying offer to guard Raymond Felton.
San Antonio traded forwards Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas and center Fabricio Oberto to Milwaukee for forward Richard Jefferson. |
Monday, June 22 |
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Thursday, June 18 |
Miami extended qualifying offers to forward Jamario Moon and center Joel Anthony. |
Monday, June 15 |
Philadelphia announced that guard Royal Ivey declined the player option on his contract for the 2009-10 season, making him an unrestricted free agent. |
Monday, June 12 |
Utah exercised its contract option on center Kyrylo Fesenko. |
Tuesday, June 9 |
Toronto acquired forward Reggie Evans from Philadelphia for guard-forward Jason Kapono. |
Friday, June 5 |
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Thursday, June 4 |
New Orleans guard Devin Brown exercised his 2009-10 contract option. |
Wednesday, June 3 |
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Monday, June 1 |
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May |
Friday, May 22 |
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Friday, May 22 |
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Thursday, May 21 |
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Monday, May 18 |
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Thursday, May 14 |
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Monday, May 11 |
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Thursday, May 7 |
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April |
Wednesday, April 29 |
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Tuesday, April 28 |
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Wednesday, April 15 |
San Antonio assigned guard Marcus Williams to Austin (NBADL). |
Tuesday, April 14 |
New York signed forward Chris Hunter from Fort Wayne of D-League. |
Monday, April 13 |
Toronto signed guard Quincy Douby through the 2009-10 season. |
Thursday, April 9 |
Chicago re-signed guard DeMarcus Nelson for remainder of the season.
Cleveland signed guard Jawad Williams.
New York signed center Mouhamed Sene . |
Wednesday, April 8 |
Spurs signed guard Marcus Williams; waived forward Malik Hairston. |
Tuesday, April 7 |
Chicago Bulls signed forward Linton Johnson III for the remainder of the season. |
Sunday, April 5 |
Cleveland Cavaliers released guard Eric Snow. |
Saturday, April 4 |
Oklahoma City Thunder recalled forward D.J. White and guard Kyle Weaver from Tulsa (NBADL). |
Wednesday, April 3 |
Toronto Raptors signed guard Quincy Douby to a second 10-day contract and. Assigned forward, center Nathan Jawai to Idaho (NBADL). |
Wednesday, April 1 |
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This table is a modified version of what can be found at NBA.com via their "Transactions" page. During the off season it actually useful because it shows all transactions... not just the current month. I have removed items like players being fined and coaching / management related transactions. All that should be left is related to player exchanges / signings.
A wise fantasy owner keeps in mind the player transactions as they can affect both the style of play an player is forced to accept (and therefore their stats), but they can also affect where the player is in the pecking order. For example, Richard Jefferson probably won't be expected to run the team in San Antonio like he did in Milwaukee.
by ja on 7/15/2009 7:49:10 PM
Shaquille Oneal finally got traded to a team where perhaps he will be appreciated. Cleveland traded Ben Wallace and Pavlovic to the Phoenix Suns for Shaq. Lebron James will be happy. Shaq will be happy. The rest of the east... not so much. Does this make Clevand any better? Absolutely! Cleveland has a legitimate big man now that is a threat on both ends of the court. Shaq is a good passer, a guy capable of putting up 30 points, can average a double double in 30 minutes, and can defend even the best centers. Plus he's a veteran who has seen a thing or two. Does it make Phoenix better? Probably not, but they might be able to keep Amare now (if they want to - rumor has it he is on the block as well). Nash was obviously unhappy last year playing a slower game. He repeatedly said things during interviews that were basically "we play fast ball and with Shaq we can't. This is an exercise in futility, but I don't call the shots so I'll do my best to work with this terrible scheme." He was undermining his coaching staff while trying to come across as someone just doing what he was told. That's fine, but without Shaq the pressure will likely be put on Nash to do something rather than complain he has bad tools to work with. Hopefully he will be happy and be able to put something together that will enable a second round playoff run, but I'm guessing not. If, as an elite player, he can't work with Amare and Shaq, I'm not convinced he's got much more left. So, from a fantasy perspective, do I take Shaq? Oh yeah. In keeperleagues I would start working to trade for him now. You might get a good deal. For yearly draft leagues, I'm not sure what round, but maybe as early as round five. He's definitely on my radar and will probably be a sleeper for most teams. You might get him later, but if you don't take him don't be surprised when he burns you during the season. On the other hand, if you have Ben Wallace. It's probably time to dump him for anything worth while you can get. He didn't give you that much anyway. Also, if I had Nash, I'd be shopping him. That really has nothing to do with the trade, just the fact that he seems to be puttering out. He'll still give decent numbers, and probably be elite in assists, but I'm leaning towards a steady decline (especially if Amare gets traded). �
by ja on 7/15/2009 7:50:00 PM
The NBA is apparently looking in to some pretty good ways to start capturing statistics, analyzing games, and providing detailed statistical data about player activity during games. According to a story at this link STAT, LLC and the NBA are working on an automated system using cameras to film and the computers to extract information from the game film. The NBA and STATS LLC are testing a new manner of statistical collection during the finals using six high-definition cameras placed around the arena. The cameras will track the 10 players on the court, the three officials and the ball. A dot placed over all of them can measure the heights and distances of their movements, allowing a coach to see, for example, how far a defender was from the player he was supposed to be covering.
“Player tracking is the heart of the new NBA stats collection,” NBA executive vice president of operations and technology Steve Hellmuth said.
Hellmuth said teams are particularly interested in the program as a way to monitor defensive performances.
Hellmuth and STATS vice president of strategic planning Brian Kopp demonstrated how the system could also be used to evaluate the judgment of the officials by replaying a goaltending call against Orlando’s Dwight Howard in Game 3. It showed the height of the ball in meters, and the number was reducing by the time Howard swatted it away, meaning it was on its way down and the call was correct.
The league hopes the technology will be ready for use by next season’s playoffs, where it could be an asset to the teams involved and the broadcasts. I wish they would work a little farther. Let's work on getting this data realtime. This would allow the computer to make calls if the refs miss them. It may seem far fetched, but the system can already identify goal tending. It's not a big jump to add some sort of middle layer that utilizes a collision detection mechanism to identify fouls (atleast shooting fouls anyway). The ability for coaching personnel to truly see what happened on the court will be greatly increased with this technology and if used properly (by the coaches / GMs) it should make for more competive games and more productive practices.
by ja on 7/15/2009 7:50:56 PM
I was reading an article the other day on Minnisota's difficulties find the perfect GM for their organization and situation. It occured to me that while I thought I knew everything a GM was supposed to be responsible for it might be that I was wrong. I mean, what does it take? What does a GM have to do? We fantasy players play the role every year... how close is it to the real thing... if at all close. Here's some excerpts from an article about GMs. Anywhere there is a blank line with the "..." I have excluded some content. The article was a good read, but was mostly about the difference between coaching and GMs as well as the difference in the hiring processes of the two. We need not include the whole thing. You can just go to the original article.
Hiring an NBA coach is like hiring a tax accountant: By the middle of April each year, you know exactly where you stand. Hiring an NBA general manager is more like hiring a financial advisor: He takes control of your entire portfolio, makes decisions for some distant horizon and assures you during the bumpy times that the plan is sound, that time and patience are your friends and, by the way, that past performance is no guarantee of future results.
...
"It's harder to find capable GMs than it is coaches because there are so many hats you have to wear as GM," said Pat Williams, a longtime NBA executive who held the GM job in both Philadelphia and Orlando. "It's a leadership position. It's an executive position. You have to judge talent. More so, you have to judge the people you're working with. It requires a level-headed, cool approach. You have to have endless energy, for it's a 24/7 job..."
...
As difficult as it is to hire a good coach (and downright rare to land a great one), the process is relatively straightforward. The GM, almost always a basketball man himself, sits down with the job candidate and listens to his pitch, probing about overall philosophy, the style of ball the coach wants his team to play, his vision for each roster member. Gauging the potential coach's leadership style, getting a sense of his personality and ambition, the boss does the usual due diligence of talking with others (those offered as references as well as those who know the man from various points in his career -- basketball is a remarkably small industry).
...
How a future GM works both the board and the phones on draft night, how he (or heck, she) builds consensus or resolves disputes, how he navigates free agency within his owner's budget or demands, and how he pounces or pulls back at the trading deadline can't fully be known until he actually does it. And doing it in one place doesn't mean replicating it in a second; even Jerry West, who built multiple champions across a couple of generations with the Lakers, didn't get the same results in Memphis, trading away Kendrick Perkins, procuring Troy Bell and building a club just good enough to get swept 12-0 from three consecutive first rounds.
Everything about a GM is once removed, even twice or thrice removed, compared to coaching. NFL honcho Bill Parcells once said, if he was going to have to cook the meal, he ought to be able to shop for the groceries. But that level of power and control is rare in the NBA -- Gregg Popovich has it, Pat Riley had it, Mike Dunleavy recently got it. Candidates for these front-office jobs have basketball philosophies, but they're mere architects, dependent on the contractors (coaches) and the laborers (players) to actually enact the plans. In Hollywood terms, the coach is Spielberg or Scorsese; the GM is more like the screenwriter.
Also, they're typically hired not by basketball people but by businessmen, by owners, who then entrust or meddle to varying degrees. The criteria by which they choose the GM vary, too. A number of GMs are former players, though not nearly as many (12) as coaches (18). Some are reputed capologists, experts in understanding and finagling the NBA salary cap. Others are numbers crunchers, dedicated to the type of statistical analysis that has swept through baseball's front offices.
Basically, GMs are responsible for designing the team. The GM normally chooses the coach (the style the team will play) and chooses the players that the coach will have available to utilize. The GM does contract negotiations and is responsible for drafting, trading, adding, and dropping players. Sometimes coaches and GMs are on in the same. It's rare, but certainly not unheard of for this to be the case. In college the coach and the GM role is filled by the same person (the head coach), but in the pros they are typically seperate. With most fantasy sports sites the participants get to wear a little bit of each hat. They get to draft their team (GM), add/drop/trade (GM), and choose who to play (coach). At SignAndTrade the participant gets the same and gets to do a little more of the GM thing by having to also deal with a salary cap, long term contracts, trade rules regarding salaries, and more. If you really want to try to get a feel for being an NBA GM, give SignAndTrade.com's fantasy basketball game a try. It's the closest thing to an actual GM most of us will ever actually want to be a part of.
by ja on 7/15/2009 7:59:27 PM
It's really been bothering me. Every time I think about it I cringe. I'm talking about the intentional foul that was not called against the Mavericks at the end of game 3 vs the Denver Nuggets. A Dallas player fouled Carmello Anthony to keep him from shooting and expected that the refs would call a foul there by forcing Denver to take the ball out of bounds again. The refs failed to blow the whistle and Anthony got an uncontested look at a three pointer which he made putting Denver up by one point. I hadn't been able to put my finger on what exactly bothered me more. Was it that Dallas must not have told the refs they intended to foul? Was it that the refs didn't make the call? Was it the apology made shortly thereafter by the league admitting that they missed the call? Or was it that there was no way to fix it? I've decided that it is the last one. And then I realized WHY it bothers me so much. Because, well, they can fix it and for some reason have chosen not to do so. It turns out the NBA has replayed portions of games after the fact atleat five times. Not too long ago the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks replayed an entire minute of a game in which some shady business was undertaken by Atlanta's official scorer. The game ended up being important later in the season as it would be part of determining playoff seeding. So I ask David Stern what's more important - determining playoff seeding or determining correctly who wins a playoff game? If you know you made a mistake, and the two teams are going to play each other again then why not follow the same precedent. Just replay the final seconds. You could start where Denver originally took the ball out OR you could start where the fouls that were not called took place. In either case the purity is back. It is a shame that the NBA has come to this. I read so many things from fans discussing how the game is corrupt and that brass choose the winners and losers. I know it's a bunch of poo, but I don't understand why the NBA chooses to let things that they do have some control over continue to provide fuel for these people's fire. Replay the game, douse the flames, then we can really move on.
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