Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.
Michael Redd returned to action last night after missing the past nine games. Redd played just 11 minutes, scoring four points on 1-of-3 shooting from the floor and 1-of-6 from the free-throw line. Brandon Jennings wasn't much better shooting 6-of-21 from the floor and turning the ball over five times in 31 minutes. The most promising performance came from, you guessed it, Ersan Ilyasova -- 20 points, 8-of-13 from the floor, one three-pointer, four rebounds and four steals. Check and mate.
The Spurs out-rebounded the Bucks 46-29 and shot 51.3-percent from the floor. Tim Duncan was the leader of this joint with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Matt Bonner, yes that Matt Bonner, came alive for the first time in a few weeks with 23 points on 6-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Typical performance. He was on and off the waiver wires last season thanks to his three-point shooting. It's up to you, but I don't think he has standard league value.
Apparently, when you're a pretty good team but lose to the Warriors, it's time to make some changes. Even if you don't necessarily want to.
And that's what happened with coach Nate McMillan and the Blazers over the weekend. After losing to Golden State 108-94 on Friday night at Oracle Arena, lo and behold there was a different starting lineup for Saturday's game against the Timberwolves: Andre Miller out; Martell Webster in.
Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.
It was the premiere matchup of the evening, Kobe Bryant versus Kevin Durant. It took an extra five minutes to decide the contest, but in the end it was Kobe and the Lakers coming out on top by a three-point margin. Bryant dropped 31 points on 9-of-22 shooting, while Durant scored 28 points on 10-of-24 shooting, missing all eight of his three-point attempts.
Andrew Bynum chipped in with 22 points and 10 rebounds, but the real story might have been Ron Artest finally putting it all together. He scored 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting and picked off five steals. It's about time!
The operative phrase here is "with plenty of time to spare."
The Blazers and LaMarcus Aldridge had been working on an extension, the second of the big two the Blazers needed to lock up to ensure stability in their young, contending core (the other being Brandon Roy). The two had until October 31st to get a deal done in order to avoid Aldridge becoming a restricted agent next summer.
There had been rumors that Aldridge was unhappy about how long it was taking, given the Blazers' hyper-eager approach to Roy's five-year, $80 million deal. With Oct. 31 just 10 days away, the clock was ticking. Both sides were confident a deal would get done, but you couldn't blame Blazers fans for getting nervous.
Even skeptics chalked up Portland's Andre Miller acquisition as a win. Miller, one of the best distributors of this decade, figured to augment an already lethal Blazers offense while providing a jolt of veteran leadership. Even if you don't believe in the power of savvy, Miller's passing skills sit on a different plane than those of Steve Blake, the incumbent.
What Portland probably didn't count on was Miller causing drama ... in the preseason. Blazers coach Nate McMillan has been insisting Blake is the starter for now. But Miller told Yahoo!'s Marc Spears that coming off the bench wasn't a part of the deal when he signed with Portland. And we have a problem.
Training camps by themselves provide a fresh start for every NBA team, but sometimes, players feel the need to take things to a more personal level to cleanse themselves of the previous season.
This was certainly the case for Allen Iverson, who has gone back to his trademark braids after a year where he was traded to the Pistons, and was unceremoniously used as one of the scapegoats for his new (now old) team's horrific downward spiral.
The Tim Thomas signing in Dallas makes it official: Free agency is winding down. Yeah, Lamar Odom is still out there and so are David Lee and a few others. But once you get to Tim Thomas, it means that Free Agency 2009 is poised to jump the shark.
Whatever the opposite of a difference-maker is, that's Thomas. Dallas will be the seventh NBA stop for Thomas, who was selected with the No. 7 pick in the 1997 draft. Yes, Thomas is talented, and, yes, he can stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting.
But we've heard those things for 12 years now. The reality of the situation is that Thomas will either be unhappy with limited minutes in Dallas or he'll get plenty of playing time there, meaning the Mavs aren't going to be going anywhere.
The Oregonian's Jason Quick reports the Blazers will sign 33-year-old point guard Andre Miller to a deal. The terms look like $22 million over three years, with only the first two guaranteed. By the numbers, it's a good deal for Portland and Miller -- the PG wasn't getting more elsewhere, and the Blazers get away with a good playmaker at a fair rate for a short time.
But the opportunity cost of signing Miller is quite high for the Blazers.
Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.
Even in hard economic times, the top players like Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Kidd will leave teams and get their financial reward in other places. The squeeze will be on the lower-level free agents who must settle for minimum or various exceptions.
What hurts this class is that only seven teams really have major room under the salary cap to make something happen, and they usually aren't the NBA's biggest spenders. Unless the free agents stay with their current teams, only Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Atlanta, Portland, Toronto and Detroit have major room.
Although there has been plenty of dancing and unofficial talks the last few days, the real dealings can't start until 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Here is a breakdown by position of the five most intriguing – and unrestricted – free agents.
When Eddie Jordan got canned from the Wizards, primarily because he mishandled his roster after his starting All-Star point guard missed two years due to injury followed by his starting center going down before the start of this season, most people said the same thing.
Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.
Apparently, when you're a pretty good team but lose to the 
The operative phrase here is "with plenty of time to spare." 
Even skeptics chalked up Portland's 
Training camps by themselves provide a fresh start for every 
The 
The Oregonian's Jason Quick reports 
Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.
When 
