FanHouse EarlWatson

The Thunder waived guard Earl Watson on Friday and Watson is expected to sign with the Indiana Pacers as soon as his one-week waiver period expires. The Thunder will have to pay Watson a portion of final $6.6 million of his contract and it gives Oklahoma City more roster flexibility.

The move may be an indication that former lottery pick Shaun Livingston has cemented himself as the reserve point guard and it gives Watson a chance to play significant minutes. That wasn't going to happen this season for OKC, which is preparing for the future.

It's as regular as the seasons. It's as predictable as the Grizzlies not getting the #1 seed. It's strangely comforting, like the rains of spring, only vaguely smelling like alcohol and weapon grease.

That's right.

It's that time of year when NBA players start getting themselves arrested.

We start with San Antonio Spurs and former D-League Austin Toro DerMarr Johnson, AKA Big Slim, who was arrested on May 31st for driving while intoxicated. He failed the breathalyzer and was driving 20 miles over the speed limit, "weaving and following other cars too closely" according to the police. Johnson said after leaving jail that he'd only "had a few cups of wine." Dixie cups, probably. That's some tricky stuff, right there.

Next up is the team soon to be formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics' forward Chris Wilcox. Wilcox was hanging out in his home of North Carolina when he was arrested on two counts of carrying a concealed weapon. One was probably a gun, and the other may or may not have been Earl Watson.

And finally, wrapping up the opening salvo, is Wizards forward Andre Blatche. Blatche was busted yesterday in south-central Virginia on charges of reckless driving and driving on a suspended license ... for the third time. He was clocked in at 86 miles an hour in a 70 mile an hour zone. Apparently in Virginia, the law is that anyone driving more than 80 can be tagged with reckless driving. Most impressive is that Blatche, after all his vehicular troubles, still thinks it's a good idea to go for a ride.

Guys, seriously. You're NBA players. If you're not spending your money on paying someone else to drive recklessly for you or carry your guns, what are you spending your money on? Oh. Cars to drive recklessly in, and guns. Right. Sorry.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the L. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

LeBron James can't be too happy with me. You'd think putting up his fifth triple-double of the year on the heels of being named MVP in the All-Star game would earn him top honors in this spot, right? Wrong. Tell me: what would have you thought more likely, that LBJ would put up a 26-13-11 line, or for Earl freakin' Watson to go nuts with 26 points and nine assists?

That's what I thought. Watson shot 11-13 from the field (not to mention 2-2 from the stripe and 2-3 from beyond the arc) while leading the Kevin Durant-less (flu) Sonics over the Grizzlies. His point total for the night was more than three times his average of 8.5 on the year, though it's the second time in his last four that he's stopped 20.

Also Receiving Votes:
LeBron James. Maybe I wasn't overly impressed by his trip-doub, but I was still impressed.

Deron Williams. Perhaps still feeling snubbed from the All-Star game, Williams went nuts with 29 points (10-14 FG, 7-8 FT) and 12 assists, not to mention two swipes and a pair of blocks.

Chauncey Billups. The Pistons can kiss that 10-game winning streak goodbye, as they lost to the Magic 103-85 on their home floor. How does a team go from flirting with 11 straight wins to losing by 18? Having their captain shoot just 3-13 from the floor is a start.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

Cup of Coffee
Caron Butler, much to the chagrin of many fantasy owners, is dealing with a sore hip flexor. Step in my favorite last name in basketball, Andray Blatche. Blatche helped jump start the Wiz to a near win over the Spurs until the team ran out of gas in the fourth and he posted a beasty dub-dub with 15 points and 16 boards. Bearing in mind that this outing was against Tim Duncan, feel free to jump all over/continue starting Blatche until Butler is ready to return.

Hot Cakes
Andray wasn't the only guy posting big board numbers last night though (and I'm not even counting Amare Stoudemire's 20-20 game) as Al Horford came up super-big-large against the Lakers to the tune of 15 points and 20 rebounds, all while making Pau Gasol look a lot less like he did in his Lakers opener. No one thought Horford was going to be big until the second half of the season, but, uh, here we are, and he's been fine. Expect bigger numbers going forward. And (again) I have to at least note Josh Smith's line last night -- 17 points, nine boards, nine assists and five blocks. It's just silly at this point.

By all accounts, Rajon Rondo should be at least a little bothered by the Celts' need to add a veteran point guard. It certainly did not look like it last night as he squared off against potential backup Sam Cassell and went off for 24 points, eight assists, four steals and five boards. Quite impressive, Mr. Rondo. Too bad Danny Ainge is still getting someone else. Which means that fantasy owners should think about selling on Rajon.

Atlanta's been a good story this year; all that languid youth finally approaching expectations and making the postseason look (almost) reachable. Some would owe it to patience (Billy Knight has refused to sell low on guys like Marvin Williams, who's worth his weight in copper all of a sudden) and some might point to the good karma of not stooping to the tanking games of late 2006-07. Hell, some would just owe it to Josh Smith, who's been incredible.

But a Western road trip have turned things toward sour, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution beat writer Sekou Smith wonders if success might again slip away from Hawks fans.

Perhaps even more outlandish is that the Hawks seem to be tight-roping that dreaded point of no return, that fork in the road where they have to make an immediate and radical change of some kind or risk watching their entire season go down with their current (11 losses in their past 15 games and six of their last seven) slide.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

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Mike Bibby returned to action Wednesday night, coming off the bench to score 19 points with six boards (no dimes) in 28 minutes. Kevin Martin came off the bench to score 22 points with four boards and two steals in 29 minutes. Ron Artest came off the bench to score four points (two of 10 from the floor) with two boards, four dimes, a block and a steal in 29 minutes. Meanwhile, Beno Udrih, John Salmons and Francisco Garcia combined to score 22 points. It was a good run, gentlemen, good run. The latter trio will not see their fantasy value dissipate completely, and odds are pretty good some sort of injury to the first set will prompt some more playing time, but we are about three games away from the regular rotation returning. Bibby, Artest and Martin are good to start now in all fantasy leagues; Udrih, Salmons and Garcia are usable lower end starters now, or even better, nice buy lows if you have room to stash and gamble on an injury.

Hot Cakes
I too am curious why Royal Ivey was flirting with a triple double and putting up nine points, eight boards and six assists last night. It is because Mo Williams had the stomach flu. (I was curious about the stats, not the reason.) Don't freak out and grab Ivey just yet, but an injury to Mo means you know who to swoop on when your opponent reaches for Charlie Bell.

But you know who you need to snatch up now? Carlos Delfino. He's been acting like he wants to break out for about a month now, and he went off for 26 points (five threes), seven boards, six assists and four steals. That is, in fact, ridiculous. Anthony Parker certainly has fine this year, but the Raptors need a reliable sparkplug-type off the bench, and Delfino fits that role perfectly (how's that Jason Kapono ink-job working out?), meaning he should see plenty of minutes in the future.

B-Ball, B-Fast runs weekdaily and covers last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

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You don't need me to tell you that Baron Davis is a "good start", especially on nights when he scores 34 with 14 assists. Which was the case on a slooooow night (number of games and surprising stat-wise, despite the fact that over 400 points were scored between just 4 teams) for the NBA. But this is the "L" we're talking about; there's always news.

Kelenna Azubuike scored more than Al Harrington last night. Does that say something about Harrington's season? Um, yes. Harrington's averaging almost 15 points a game but his overall numbers, treys excepted, are way off from previous years. Consider him a nice buy low at this point, especially considering the fickle nature with which Don Nelson tweaks his rotation. Azubuike is in the same boat -- behind Baron Davis (fragile?) and Stephen Jackson (crazy?) -- he could be in line for starter's minutes at the turn of a knee start of a lapdance drop of a hat.

Hot Cakes/Broken Eggs

Luke Ridnour is out indefinitely according to news sources out (and north) west. He's been dealing with a quad injury and has missed more practice and there are rumblings his days in Seattle (or wheva') could be over. Earl Watson is the best pure passer between he and Delonte West and should be grabbed if he's available in any leagues.

Quentin Richardson is headed to the bench, although Isiah Thomas says it's because of injury and not his stellar play, which means it's Jared Jeffries Time! For those of you that don't know, Jeffries is lengthy wingspanned defensive specialist who averages 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks per 40 minutes for his career. Which is what we in the biz call a "liability". Don't waste your time.

Randy Foye on the other hand, is an offensive bonus at point guard and he's now been cleared to practice. If he's somehow still available in your league, get your snatch on. If he's already owned, take one last stab at buying low. Sebastian Telfair and Marko Jaric have filled in admirably while he's been hurt, but it's Foye's team.