FanHouse Beno Udrih

Who's Got Next is a weekly look at some of the top players widely available on the waiver wires.

The injuries are starting to kick in, so now we have to start looking at players who are getting more burn in the absence of the fallen few. I wrote earlier about the injuries to Kevin Martin and Tyrus Thomas.

The obvious front-runner in Sacramento is Beno Udrih who is now the starting point guard for the Kings. Tyreke Evans will also see an uptick in value, but it's less likely that he's still available in your league.

In Chicago it'll be Taj Gibson's role to step in and replace Tyrus Thomas at the power forward. Gibson dones't have the upside or the dfensive powress that Thomas does, but he should make for a nice short-term add. Is he Paul Millsap? Probably not. But when the opportunities are there, you have to take advantage.

Let's take a look at a few other players widely available who can help you in the week ahead.

Consider the Kevin Martin injury the official start of the fantasy basketball season. It's easy enough to draft players based on projections, but it's not until a top 5 player goes down with a serious injury do we really start to put in the hard work. Remember last season it was Gilbert Arenas who first broke the hearts of fantasy owners, followed by Carlos Boozer, then Elton Brand and Al Jefferson.

You can say that savvy Carlos Boozer owners were really the only ones who possibly came out of last year's major injuries unscathed -- thanks to Paul Millsap. The Kevin Martin injury is closer to the Gilbert Arenas injury in terms of fantasy impact. Ben Udrih is not going to replace Martin's production, and if you're lucky enough to be able to pick up Tyreke Evans you're still falling short of being able to breath a sigh of relief. Evans is not Martin, though he's probably the best option available at this point -- if he's even available.

I'll do my best to give you the best insight I can on Kevin Martin's injury, as well as a few words on the injury to Tyrus Thomas.

What a night for Kevin Martin. The dynamic guard for the Kings -- and currently the league's No. 3 scorer -- learned Thursday morning his sore wrist was actually a fractured navicular bone, a pretty brutal injury in terms of risk and recovery. Sources tell FanHouse Martin was strongly recommended by at least two doctors (including Sacramento's team doctor and a separate hand specialist) to undergo reparative surgery or to put the in a cast for 6-8 weeks. The franchise, however, left the decision to Martin, who kept a third option -- play through it wearing a soft cast -- open temporarily.

Martin told reporters he'd sleep on it and make a decision Friday. Sanity has prevailed over machismo, and Martin told the Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick today that playing with a soft cast has been ruled out. Martin will either put a hard cast on the arm, or undergo surgery.

What a night for Kevin Martin. The dynamic guard for the Kings -- and currently the league's No. 3 scorer -- learned Thursday morning his sore wrist was actually a fractured navicular bone, a pretty brutal injury in terms of risk and recovery. Sources tell FanHouse Martin was strongly recommended by at least two doctors (including Sacramento's team doctor and a separate hand specialist) to undergo reparative surgery or to put the in a cast for 6-8 weeks. The franchise, however, left the decision to Martin, who kept a third option -- play through it wearing a soft cast -- open temporarily.

Martin told reporters he'd sleep on it and make a decision Friday. Sanity has prevailed over machismo, and Martin told the Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick today that playing with a soft cast has been ruled out. Martin will either put a hard cast on the arm, or undergo surgery.

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Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.

The biggest story to come out of the NBA last evening was without a doubt the news out of Sacramento, as we learned that Kevin Martin may miss the next six-to-eight weeks with a broken wrist. A tough break, considering that Martin was ranked third overall in standard, eight-category leagues.

There have been some reports that Martin might try and play through the injury, but we need to assess the situation in Sacramento from a fantasy perspective should the Kings be without Kevin Martin. You can disregard Desmond Mason now that he is longer a King, and with Andres Nocioni facing a possible suspension after being arrested for driving under the influence his role might redefined.

The rest of the team? Go young or go home.

A lot of Kings fans, myself included, spent the 2008-09 season bemoaning the inability of Sacramento starting point guard Beno Udrih to cleanly pass the ball. But let me assure you: Beno has no problem passing the blame.

A candid, borderline cheerful Beno discussed the abominable 17-win season with Sacramento media Monday. And his opinion on what went wrong was impossible to misinterpret: blame coaches Reggie Theus and Kenny Natt.

"Sometimes last season, I didn't know if I was a small forward or a point guard," the 6'3 Udrih said. "We were definitely confused. We didn't have roles."

Before we get started, it should be noted that NBA bloggers are kind of hard to please when it comes to teams spending money. On the one hand, we sneer in disgust when teams refuse to spend money, patting their fans on the head as we chastise ownership for being "cheap" and turning a profit without ever seriously pushing for a title.

On the other, we tend to flip out when someone spends irresponsibly. There is a salary cap and a luxury tax, after all, and handing off a bazillion dollars to that small guard who has difficulty with creating his own shot and thinks he can tell you what his nickname should be when it should clearly be Iggy can draw our ire as well. Not that I'm naming names.

So it's kind of a sticky situation to begin with. Of course, the Raptors have just poured maple syrup over their particular situation in regards to Andrea Bargnani.

Over the next six days, we'll take a look at each team's needs heading into the NBA Draft on Thursday, June 25.

First up, the NBA's Pacific Division:

Golden State Warriors

Picks: No. 7 (first round); none in second round.
Needs: A true point guard; a decision-maker/passer/high basketball IQ type, and it wouldn't hurt to have another big body up front.
Possibilities: Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, Jonny Flynn, Tyreke Evans (pictured), Jordan Hill.
Put it into the equation: For more than a year now, the Warriors have been wrestling with the issue of whether or not Monta Ellis can play point guard. If they end up drafting one, that will tell exactly what the Warriors think.

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

(Man, how long has that fork been in dude's back? Looks rough.) The Kings have not been above .500 since December 4, 2006. Officially eliminated from playoff contention earlier this week, Sacramento hasn't been able to put together a winning streak of even two games since the second week of November. The Kings boast (boast?) the fifth-worst defense of the modern era. To date, Sacramento has racked up an 0-24 record against the East.

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. What went wrong? What went wrong?! Wrong question, Holmes. Everything went wrong.

Rook Check takes a look at the progress of NBA Rookies throughout the season.

The story going into yesterday's game between the Clippers and the Warriors was obviously the fact that it was Baron Davis' first game facing his former team. But that wasn't the case when the final buzzer sounded. Because while Davis played well (though not well enough to get his team the win), another guard on the court stole the show, and chances are, you've never heard of him.

Warriors' rookie Anthony Morrow got his first career NBA start, and made the absolute most of the opportunity. He scored 37 points on 15-for-20 shooting, and also grabbed 11 rebounds. Morrow was an undrafted free agent, and was signed by the Warriors after playing well for them during Summer League.

If you had never heard of Morrow before yesterday, don't worry: neither had Baron Davis, who praised Morrow's amazing performance afterward:

"Oh my God, who was that guy?" Davis said. "He just came out of nowhere. We had watched him and coach told us he can shoot. But he's just one of those guys. Nellie keeps guys like that on his team, and when he got the confidence to score, he got hot. He got hot. He got hot. He couldn't miss."

While Morrow was on fire against the Clippers, he'll likely face a tougher challenge when being defended by ... oh, just about anybody else. The Clips have a habit of allowing a guard on the opposing team to go off; Beno Udrih torched them for 30 the game before during the Clippers' loss to the Kings. Still, that was an exciting first start for Morrow, and he'll get his chance to prove it wasn't a fluke this Tuesday when the Warriors host the Blazers.