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.
Denver's previous coach wasn't bashful about title talk.
"To win a championship, you've got to talk championship,'' Michael Cooper said on several occasions as members of the media attempted to keep from snickering.
Let's just say Cooper, who compiled a 4-10 interim coaching stint before being silenced in January 2005, didn't do much more than talk championship.
Now, the guy who replaced Cooper is doing a lot of such spouting. But nobody is snickering.
"I believe this team can win a championship,'' said George Karl, who has led the Nuggets to five straight playoff berths since taking over.
Chris Andersen -- better known as The Birdman -- has a long way to grow before gaining the beard notoriety of The Hangover actor and comedian Zach Galifianakis, but I think he can pull it off (albeit in a light shade). In August, on occasion of his basketball camp in Denver, Andersen revealed to the Denver Post he would not be shaving his beard until his wedding in June 2010. Andersen even quipped that he was "the grizzly bird," which makes no sense until you really meditate on it.
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.
It's pretty much put up or shut up time for Denver Nuggets coach George Karl and his team. Karl has been saying much of this Western Conference finals series that he believes his team is better than the Lakers.
Point guard Chauncey Billups maintains the Nuggets have outplayed the Lakers for most of the series except for the closing-out of games part.
The Nuggets, however, are running out of time. They need two straight wins over the Lakers or little of what they say or believe will matter. Five questions heading into Game 6:
We talked about this a couple of times on the RoundCast, and even though the Nuggets lost in their Game 5 meeting with the Lakers, this is one highlight that surely won't be forgotten. Chris Andersen meets Lamar Odom at the rim, and rejects a slam dunk attempt with nothing more than his fingertips standing in the way of Odom putting down a monster dunk which would have undoubtedly featured the Birdman as the victim in an upcoming poster.
The first couple of views of the play really don't do it justice; make sure you hang in for the slow motion, HD-like replay where you can see Andersen's fingers bend back to thwart the dunk attempt. I'm no Nuggets fan, but this one was spectacular.
Bloggers knee-jerking on the phone + roundtable style = RoundCast.
In Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, George Karl made sure that Kobe Bryant wouldn't be the one to beat the Nuggets all by himself. Karl sent two defenders at Kobe as soon as he got the ball, which was a pretty big change from the way he chose to defend Bryant through the first four games of the series.
Will Brinson and I discussed the change in philosophy, as well as the fact that Denver's bench players (we're looking at you, J.R. Smith and Chris Andersen) were largely ineffective as the Lakers went on to take a three games to two lead in the series.
All that, plus some thoughts on the probability of the Magic being able to close out the Cavs in Game 5.
The clock is ticking on the Denver Nuggets. They seem like they're good enough to beat the L.A. Lakers in a seven-game series, but if they're going to get it done, it would probably behoove them to get a win tonight.
Will the Lakers prove to be resilient once again on their home floor? Or will the Nuggets make the right plays, close out a game and push the Lakers to the brink? Oh, and here are five more questions about tonight ...
After LeBron James hit that magical shot to down Orlando in Game 2 on Friday, many wondered if Kobe Bryant might have noticed, and have something similarly special in store for us when his team hit the floor in Denver for Game 3 out west.
As it turns out, he did.
Bryant's thee-pointer with just over a minute to play gave his Lakers the lead for good, and he finished the Nuggets off at the free throw line by hitting five of six down the stretch to give L.A. the 103-97 victory.
Carmelo Anthony, who averaged 35 points over his last five playoff games, led the Nuggets with just 21.
It seems apparent the Denver Nuggets are in the Western Conference finals for the long haul. But whether or not they can beat the Lakers and advance to the NBA Finals may hinge on a few players who haven't done much yet.
The Nuggets have every right to feel pretty good about Thursday night's 106-103 win that evened the series at one game apiece. But the Nuggets will be long shots if Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups have to keep carrying a disproportionate part of the load.
Specifically, the Nuggets are going to need more out of their front line: Kenyon Martin, Nene and Chris Andersen.
FanHouse 
NBA FanHouse walks through the 
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.
It's pretty much put up or shut up time for Denver Nuggets coach 
We talked about this a couple of times on the 
In Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, 
The clock is ticking on the Denver Nuggets. They seem like they're good enough to beat the L.A. Lakers in a seven-game series, but if they're going to get it done, it would probably behoove them to get a win tonight.
After 
It seems apparent the Denver Nuggets are in the Western Conference finals for the long haul. But whether or not they can beat the Lakers and advance to the NBA Finals may hinge on a few players who haven't done much yet.
