Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
If you're not a close follower of the NBA, then just six games or so into the season, we can't necessarily hold it against you if the name Tyreke Evans doesn't ring a bell. Besides being a rookie, Evans plays for the Sacramento Kings, a team that won just 17 games a season ago, and figured to be about as bad this year with stud scorer Kevin Martin sidelined indefinitely with an injury.
But after what Evans did to Deron Williams in leading his undermanned team to a road win in Utah on Saturday, he won't remain anonymous to basketball fans for much longer.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
It's not every day that we get to see a player hit for 40 points or more in an NBA game. So on Sunday, when we had three different players meet or surpass the mark, it's definitely something worth discussing.
Especially when two of them did it in the same game.
Rome was not built in a day. But in two days, the NBA's version of Camelot sure has looked like the barbarians are at the gate.
OK, I'll try not to lob anymore historical metaphors at you. But you might want to get ready for a whole lot of consternation from the great state of Ohio, because the team with the best record in the league last year has started out 0-2. The Cavaliers fell to the Raptors in Toronto 101-91 to remain winless, and the same problems that surfaced Tuesday night in their loss to the Celtics reared their head again.
DENVER -- Chris Bosh said his contract situation could prevent him from playing for Team USA in next year's World Championships. But another big man off the 2008 gold-medal winning Olympic team has no such reservations.
Utah forward Carlos Boozer told FanHouse on Wednesday morning he wants to play for Team USA in Turkey, and his contract situation has no bearing on it.
"I definitely would love to play if I get invited,'' said Boozer, a free agent next summer. "Not at all (will Boozer's contract situation affect his decision to play). If I've got a chance to put USA on my chest again, I'll do it in a heartbeat. The contract stuff will take care of itself.''
I suppose you can say I own far too many fantasy basketball teams. I just finished drafting my eighth team, with three still pending and one currently in progress -- it's a 30-team experts league draft. Enough is enough, right?
I figure that if I talk the talk, I should at least walk the walk.
Recently I was a part of an experts league draft started up by fantasy guru Dave Gawron over at RotoCommunity.com. The league consisted of 12 fantasy experts, each from a different fantasy publication or Web site.
I had the 11th pick in the draft, which seems to be my lucky number. After the jump I'll let you in on what I was thinking as I drafted and show you how I put my strategy to work.
DENVER -- Defending champion Spain is planning to have its best players for next year's World Championships in Turkey. The nation's top point guard is recommending that the Americans do the same.
"I think they've got to do that,'' Jose Calderon of the Toronto Raptors told FanHouse. "You cannot just play for the Olympics. I think that, if you want to be on the team, you've got to be in all the good tournaments, and that is a good tournament.''
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how many members of America's 2008 gold-medal Olympic team will return for the World Championships. Several top players, namely Cleveland's LeBron James, Miami's Dwyane Wade and Toronto's Chris Bosh, are wavering about committing.
The center position is often considered the thinnest position. Possibly because most leagues require you to start at least two centers, or maybe it's because once you get past the first 12 or 15 centers you start seeing players queued up who have some serious deficiencies in their game. The one saving grace is that many of the league's top power forwards are also eligible at center.
You'll often hear guys strategize about getting out of the draft with a few centers who can rebound, block shots, and shoot a high percentage from the field while doing limited damage to their team's free-throw percentage. That's not so easy to do, however. The strategy here is to find a center who has limited free-throw attempts. If you're drafting Dwight Howard you have to be careful of his 59.4 FT% since he gets to the line 10.8 times per game. On the other hand Andris Biedrins' 55.1 FT% is manageable because he got to the line just 3.5 times per game last season.
Fantasy Basketball Rankings: C | PF | SF | SG | PG
The Raptors made one of the biggest splashes of the offseason by signing free agent Hedo Turkoglu. That move alone upgrades the Raptors' talent level and should make them better.
But perhaps as important are the lesser, more-under-the-radar acquisitions Toronto made since the end of its 33-49 season. On their own, these moves didn't register very high on the impact meter. But when taken collectively, they should dramatically improve the team's depth, which was a problem area a year ago.
Now, add Chris Bosh to the latter group as 2008 Olympians are deciding if they want to play for Team USA in next year's World Championships.
The Toronto star forward said he isn't ready to commit to going to Turkey for the event. He might not want to play next summer if his contract situation is unsettled.
"I don't know, with the possibility of becoming a free agent next year,'' Bosh said in an interview with FanHouse prior to Friday night's preseason game at Minnesota. "It's a whole bunch of things that haven't been addressed yet. ... It was fun playing in the Olympics, but it's going to take some time, though. I'm sure I'll be better able to assess the situation after the season. ... But I'm definitely considering it.''
The Raptors have undergone a minor makeover this summer in an attempt to convince Chris Bosh to stick around up north and not take off for greener, less tundra-like pastures.
They've added Hedo Turkoglu and beefed up their frontcourt with bigger bodies. Needless to say, the Raptors need to produce to prove that the investments were worthwhile.
Unfortunately, they're off to a rocky start, as training camp will begin with the franchise on the sideline.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. 
Rome was not built in a day. But in two days, the NBA's version of Camelot sure has looked like the barbarians are at the gate. 
DENVER -- Chris Bosh said his contract situation could prevent him from playing for Team USA in next year's World Championships. But another big man off the 2008 gold-medal winning Olympic team has no such reservations.
I suppose you can say I own far too many fantasy basketball teams. I just finished drafting my eighth team, with three still pending and one currently in progress -- it's a 30-team experts league draft. Enough is enough, right? 
DENVER -- Defending champion Spain is planning to have its best players for next year's World Championships in Turkey. The nation's top point guard is recommending that the Americans do the same.
The center position is often considered the thinnest position. Possibly because most leagues require you to start at least two centers, or maybe it's because once you get past the first 12 or 15 centers you start seeing players queued up who have some serious deficiencies in their game. The one saving grace is that many of the league's top power forwards are also eligible at center. 
FanHouse 
MINNEAPOLIS -- 
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