FanHouse Flip Murray

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

Well that was one busy Monday, wasn't it? And to think, we only had three games on the schedule.

Monday afternoon we learned that the Warriors had traded Stephen Jackson to the Bobcats for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic. The early fantasy implications on this one were on display Monday night as Jackson was in uniform and in the starting lineup for the Bobcats. He had a typical Jackson line: 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting, one three-pointer, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and four turnovers. Some things remain the same.

The implications in Golden State won't necessarily be known until Tuesday night when the Warriors play the Cavaliers. Then again, it's never a given when you're talking about Don Nelson's rotation. One night Raja Bell might be in; the next he's out. Stay tuned.

Oh, yeah, and Allen Iverson and the Memphis Grizzlies parted ways. It might be safe to drop Iverson outright, unless of course the Knicks come to the rescue. Isn't that something the old regime would have done?

Wally Szczerbiak would appear to be the top NBA free agent left standing. Then again, maybe not.

With the Denver Nuggets having lost out on free-agent shooting guard Flip Murray to the Charlotte Bobcats on Thursday, sources told FanHouse the Nuggets are now looking strongly at small forward Ime Udoka.

Meanwhile, Szczerbiak, who had been linked earlier in the summer to Denver, is still looking for a job.

"Yes, the economy has affected the market, there's no question about it,'' Szczerbiak said in an interview Thursday with FanHouse. "I just have to take my time.''

Free-agent swingman Keith Bogans will sign a one-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs, sources confirmed Monday to FanHouse.

Bogans, a solid defensive player, is being looked at as an heir apparent to Bruce Bowen, who retired recently after being San Antonio's perimeter defensive stopper throughout much of the decade. The Spurs had been grooming Ime Udoka for that role, but they are electing not to bring him back as a free agent after he played two seasons with the team.

Bogans, who will sign a guaranteed deal worth the minimum of $1.03 million, last season averaged 5.6 points for Orlando and Milwaukee. He has a 7.5 average over six seasons.

So what's the word from Nuggets guard J.R. Smith on his seven-game suspension to start the season?

Well, actually there isn't one yet.

"The team said I'm not allowed to speak to nobody yet,'' Smith said Thursday, saying team officials have told him not to talk to the press until media day Sept. 25.

Smith was asked, though, if he at least wanted to make a comment on whether the suspension, handed down Aug. 28, was fair.

"You're trying to get me fined,'' Smith said.

Need a veteran point guard? There's still plenty to choose from in free agency.

The list, though, did get shorter with the news that Mike Wilks will sign a non-guaranteed contract with the Atlanta Hawks.

"I think he's got a decent shot to make the team,'' Wilks' agent, Bill Neff told FanHouse on Wednesday. "They don't have a lot of guards.''

FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.

The 2002 NBA Draft is filled with what ifs. What if Jason Williams had decided not to jump on that motorcycle? What if DaJuan Wagner had been physically able to withstand the rigors of the NBA? What if NBA scouts weren't so enamored with European prospects?

This is a draft of major successes -- Amare Stoudemire, Yao Ming, Carlos Boozer -- and abject failures -- Marcus Haislip, Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Frank Williams. And the 2002 class will be best known for not being the 2003 class, perhaps the best in league history. Yao was perhaps the most mysterious No. 1 pick of all time. Few knew more than he was 7-foot-6 and from China.

And what followed Yao was a bunch of question marks, kids who left school too early and unknown international players. The result was an uneven draft that will go down more for its misses than hits.

Perhaps inspired by watching a pair of road teams steal home court advantage on Monday, the Hawks came into Tuesday's game in Cleveland with no fear -- and for at least the first two quarters, the game looked like it'd probably go to whichever team got hot near the end.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, the first two quarters was all the time the Cavs needed to shake off nine days of rust, as Cleveland's modest five-point lead at halftime exploded into a 27-point lead by the final buzzer.

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The Miami Heat made it official on Wednesday. They're the worst team remaining in the NBA playoffs. That's just one conclusion you can draw after Atlanta won Game 5 over Miami 106-91 to go up 3-2 in the series.

How can the Heat be anything other than the worst team remaining when they came into the playoffs as an underdog and, now, Dwyane Wade is not 100 percent? Hey, it's just another way of saying that coach Erik Spoelstra is doing a great coaching job.

Miami was down 23 points at halftime, and the only reason to watch the remaining 24 was to find out who was going to commit the next hard foul and who was going to be on the receiving end of it.

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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.

Everyone knows that Flip Murray exists only in flashes. Everyone talks about "streak shooters," but Flip is actually a "streak human." He'll go a good 10, 12 days not even in existence. And then poof! he's the leading scorer for a playoff team for a week.

Flip's alive right now, y'all, racking up 30 points and five assists in a romp over Minnesota Monday night. He's averaging 24 points over his last three games. The three games before that? 23 points ... total.

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.

The Hawks rode a sterling six-game win streak into Cleveland, hoping to add with a booster of confidence, provided (as expected) that the Hawks get a shot at the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference second round this spring. Cleveland denies your request of a confidence booster, thankyouverymuch, next in line please.

LeBron James went with 22 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and one block. Mo Williams picked the 24 points, seven assists route instead. Flip Murray (22 points off the bench) called a band meeting, but only Joe Johnson (24 points) showed up.