Court Vision is a breakdown of the weekly schedule to help you set your fantasy lineup.
The Golden State Warriors continue to warm the hearts of fantasy owners in need of a helping hand. Just look at what Brandon Jennings did to the Warriors last night -- 55 points on 21-of-34 shooting (61.8-percent), seven treys, five rebounds and five assists. There seems to be a running theme with young players performing at their peak against Golden State.
In the Warriors past five games, three rookies, a sophomore and a Danny Granger each led their respective teams in scoring. Jennings with his 55 points, Tyreke Evans dropped 32 points, Jonny Flynn had 19 points and Danilo Gallinari had 19 and 10 against the Warriors. This must kill Stephen Curry who is not seeing the early minutes most expected him to get.
At any rate, it's nice to see the Golden State Warriors show up on the schedule when you're looking at your weekly matchups. Let's see who gets the lucky draw this week.
Jazz star Deron Williams had to leave his team on a road trip to return back to Salt Lake City due to a family illness. He'll miss tonight's game in Philadelphia, but the Salt Lake Tribune reports he could rejoin the team in time for the Jazz's game in Cleveland Saturday. Jerry Sloan has named rookie Eric Maynor the starter in Williams's place; Andrei Kirilenko will also hilariously serve as a back-up point guard for the shorthanded Jazz.
Similarly, Al Jefferson is out for two games due to a family illness. The Wolves have been in bad shape with Jefferson, the team's best player, and Dallas figures to be an able foe tonight. If nothing else, Minnesota's second tier will have ample opportunity to prove itself in Jefferson's absence -- especially considering Kevin Love is still out.
Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.
The lesson in last night's game was: what goes around comes back around. Just 24 hours after punishing the Hornets with a 124-102 victory, the Suns went into the Staples Arena and ended up on the other side of a lopsided loss. The Suns shot just 36.5 percent from the floor and pasted 12 assists to 13 turnovers. It was a pretty ugly game as each Phoenix starter played less than 25 minutes. On the bright side, Louis Amundson made sure that the Los Angeles fans went home taco-less.
Steve Nash had just five assists. There's really no need to read to much into this one. It was a road loss against the Lakers after playing on back-to-back nights. We won't hold this one against you, though owners have to be dissapointed with how the Suns performed.
Andrew Bynum returned to action for the Lakers to drop 26 points on 13-of-18 shooting. He also pulled down 15 rebounds and blocked three shots. This is great news for Bynum owners. You can know breathe easier.
Imagine a world where upon trading most of your veterans and turning the team over to unproven youngsters, you have growing pains and lots of losses. It's almost as if rebuilding entails some necessary and unavoidable period of truly sucky basketball!
This is all news to one David Kahn, boss of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who blew up the team this past summer.
I wrote in September that perhaps there would be no worthy center to start for the West in the All-Star Game.
But this isn't the way I want to see that solved. Do it on the court, not with the ballot.
When the All-Star ballot came out Tuesday, Phoenix power forward Amar'e Stoudemire strangely was listed as a center. Yes, Stoudemire has played center before, but he's started all eight games for Suns this season at power forward, with Channing Frye being the starting center.
It is true the ballot, which was selected by six media members from around the country, had to be decided upon before the season began in order to provide time for printing. But it has been apparent since at least September that Frye would Phoenix's starting center, with Stoudemire at power forward.
The NBA isn't just made at Staples on Sunday afternoons under the lights, or in a Friday night showdown at the Garden. It's every night, players stepping up and making plays.
It's guys that will eventually be answers to trivia questions making huge shots that endear them and their teams to the hearts of young fans who first make a connection with this crazy, random, beautiful game.
The heroes aren't just the guys on posters and All-Star ballots, sometimes they are journeymen who show up every day, don't shoot a great percentage and get the job done.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Al Jefferson wasn't even born when the incident happened in 1984. But he's seen the old footage.
"The only thing I knew about Kurt (Rambis) from him playing is the highlight of Kevin McHale knocking him out,'' said the Minnesota forward.
Jonny Flynn wasn't born when Rambis won the last his four titles with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988. But Flynn has seen the highlights as well.
"I remember he had the high socks, the thick glasses and the short shorts,'' said the Timberwolves point guard. "That was my first impressions about him. I said that when we first talked on the phone, and we got a good laugh about it.''
It's becoming more and more frustrating as the list of "questionable" players for opening night continues to grow. The case has been made that maybe the preseason is too long -- about four games too long.
Who would have thought that of the past three No. 1 overall draft picks only Greg Oden will start the 2009-10 season with a clean bill of health. Blake Griffin is reportedly sidelined for up to six weeks with a stress fracture in his left knee, while Derrick Rose is questionable after injuring his ankle early on in the preseason. Rose is likely to play on opening night, but his action could be limited as he nurses his ankle back to health. In other news, future No. 1 pick John Wall is not serving much better. Advantage, Oden.
With less than 24 hours to go before your lineups are required to be set in stone for the week, it's only right that we discuss a few of the "questionable" lineup decisions you might need to make based on injuries and matchups.
You kids and your Twitter. There's something about 140 characters to get your point across that just seems to make sense. The whole idea got me thinking that instead of dragging out some fantasy basketball column that you'll likely just skim over, what do you say I give you 50 fantasy basketball tips and observations in 140 characters or less. You have no vote in this matter, so you're getting them anyway.
These tips are not only designed for those of you who have yet to draft your fantasy teams, but they're also for those who are looking to improve on their post-draft squads. Hopefully this is a helpful way to get out as much information as possible while keepin' it mainstream.
Minnesota star center Al Jefferson missed Tuesday night's 129-100 preseason loss to Denver at the Pepsi Center. But Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis said the primary reason was Jefferson being under the weather rather than the sore left Achilles that kept him out of practice Monday.
"Yes, he would of if this was an important game,'' Rambis said when asked if Jefferson would have been able to play Tuesday had he not taken ill and been left at the team hotel in Denver.
Court Vision is a breakdown of the weekly schedule to help you set your fantasy lineup. 
Jazz star 
Home Delivery
Imagine a world where upon trading most of your veterans and turning the team over to unproven youngsters, you have growing pains and lots of losses. It's almost as if rebuilding entails some necessary and unavoidable period of truly sucky basketball!
I wrote in September that perhaps there would be no worthy center 
The 
It's becoming more and more frustrating as the list of "questionable" players for opening night continues to grow. The case has been made that maybe the 
DENVER -- Big Al's health is no big concern.
