FanHouse Francisco Garcia

Three prospects from basketball-crazed Israel -- Doron Shefer, Lior Eliyahu and Yotam Halperin -- have been drafted by NBA teams in the past. But all were second-round picks, and none of the three made the league. But Omri Casspi took a major step for Israeli basketball by making into the first round, where the Kings picked him at No. 23.

There had been fears Casspi would be selected by a team seeking to "stash" him in Europe for a year or two, keeping his salary off the books but preventing another team from grabbing the talented forward. That won't be the case with Sacramento. The Kings need a talent infusion now. After speaking with team officials, Casspi told media he would be in the NBA in 2009-10.

Casspi will be competing for minutes with Donté Greene, an electric forward acquired in last year's Ron Artest trade. Andres Nocioni seems to be the de facto starter at the position, but there have been suggestions he'll be traded this offseason. Francisco Garcia also spends some time at the three, and begins a five-year deal this season.

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 Rockets have the (gulp) No. 2 seed in the West right now, thanks to Luis Scola. The monster outplayed Tim Duncan (!) on Sunday, turning out 19 points, 17 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Scola's defense (with help from the overall outstanding Houston barricade) limited Big Fundamental to 8-of-22 shooting and just six rebounds.

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.

During the ABC pregame and halftime shows Sunday, the panel somehow argued that Tony Parker is underrated and should be mentioned in the same breaths as Chris Paul and Deron Williams. Later, it was decided that Williams is wildly overrated. I guess this makes Paul overrated, or something. I don't know. I'm confused.

All I know is that D-Will went off against the Raptors, offering up 25 points and nine assists. Sure, Parker also went big with 30 points and nine assists. But Parker had six turnovers. Williams offered just one.

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Yesterday we had the overview; today we have the predictions. The Pacific Division appears to be no better than a two-team race, with a third team potentially in the mix, and the last two teams, well, finishing in last. Let's start things off in the cellar and work our way up, shall we?

The Los Angeles Clippers (again, regal) are going to have a tough go of it due to the enormous drop off in talent they have between their starting lineup and the players coming off the bench. In fact, if you want a visual of said drop off, go watch this, and pretend the guy jumping off the building is falling in the space between the talent of the Clippers' starting players and that of their bench players. And the parachute not opening represents the gigantic FAIL that the Clippers can expect this season anytime the bench takes the floor to try and hold onto a lead. It's not going to be pretty, folks.

Up north where the Golden State Warriors play, it won't be pretty either, at least for the first few months of the season. That's because their best player (apologies, Mr. Maggette) decided to engage in low-speed moped riding during the off-season (this still amazes me ... the moped = injury part), which will lead to his absence from the lineup, and an unavoidably bad start for the Warriors.

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
If you don't get the Bad Boys reference, I'm sorry. It appears my time has passed me by. Anywho, Kyle Lowry got the most run of the trio of young Memphis point guards last night, seeing 32 minutes and scoring 24 points with four assists and two steals. Javaris Crittenton had 30 minutes and scored 17 points with four assists and a steal, while Mike Conley, Jr., scored zero points (0 for six shooting) with one assist and a steal in 16 minutes. All of this is important, because for the rest of the season, the Grizzlies are essentially having a tryout for point guard. Whoever is playing well will keep getting the run. I love Conley, and he's legit, but I think people undervalue Lowry. Since it appears he's not going to have a tremendous leash, well, adjust accordingly.

Hot Cakes
Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes are both starters now (do these guys have dirt on a slew of NBA coaches?). Hughes put up eight points with five assists and two steals in 25 minutes while Gooden went nuts, albeit against Memphis, for 21 points and 14 rebounds. It's classic sell high on either guy, although they're certainly doing their best to spite LeBron James at this point.

Mike Miller has been out almost the equivalent of a week in NBA games for the Grizzlies, but is expected to return tonight. Consider holding him out one more game because back injuries = bad field goal percentage.

B-ball, B-Fast is a week-daily look at what happened last night from in the NBA from a fantasy basketball perspective. Come early (9:00 a.m.) and often, or just bookmark it and save yourself the hassle.

Cup of Coffee
Hedo Turkoglu is averaging over 18 points, six boards and four dimes per game this season. That's fairly absurd given where he was drafted in fantasy leagues. It's surprising when his previous his previous career high line reads: 14.9/4.5/3.2. It's even more surprising when you consider that Rashard Lewis just signed. Turns out, instead of Lewis ganking Hedo's time (surely they would start Lewis at the three over Hedo, no offense, right?), well, they're both getting plenty of run, alternating at the three and four. The awkward thing? Hedo's stats (18/6/4) are better than Lewis' (19/5/2.6). Hedo's certainly a sell high -- his value is maxed even if his performance isn't going to drop -- but Dwight Howard's inside presence, and the ability of Lewis, Keith Bogans(if only temporarily) and Jameer Nelson to stretch the floor have made him a legitimate fantasy star.

Hot Cakes
Willie Green was Philly's leading scorer last night (again). He tossed up a twamp spot to go with six rebounds and four assists on 50 plus percent shooting. Consider those last few things to be huge bonuses. He's now averaging 15.5 points per game in December, and shooting at a 58 percent clip. You want to sell high if you can.

Dorell Wright is a freaking tease. One night he's going for 19 points and 17 boards; the next it's all four points and one rebound; then he follows that up with 16/12/4/1/2. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the big games were against the Warriors and Suns, respectively. Wright looks like he's going to keep starting at the three for Miami, so you want to own him, but until he starts developing some consistency, it might be better to use him for daily purposes.

John Salmons continues to start (37 minutes) in the place of Kevin Martin and is the best fantasy replacement for K-Mart over the next month and a half. But Francisco Garcia has seen 30 plus minutes over the last three games - with his instant offense/high octane scoring ability, he's worth using in all leagues with that much court time.

Broken Eggs
Tracy McGrady left Monday's game against Philly with an ankle injury. He was questionable for Tuesday as of this morning, but shallow daily leagues want to grab Bonzi Wells. He's a nice add in any size league though, because he'll be going off anytime T-Mac goes down.

It's bad that the Kings' rising star Kevin Martin is down for a while with injury. The team's two best young players--you know, the people you develop when you can't win--play the same position. That would be John Salmons and Francisco Garcia, and we saw this before when Ron Artest missed some time.

From The Sacramento Bee:

García's long-range shooting ability brings a benefit, Theus said, as it would open the floor more offensively and maintain spacing that allows Artest to operate in the post and possibly avoid being double-teamed so often ... Salmons, who averaged 20.7 points and led the team in assists (4.0 per game) while starting for Artest in the first seven games, is effective in isolation play and known as a strong defender.

Both have some point guard skills, but aren't cut out for that position. Which is a shame, since the Kings could still use some help there. The bottom line, though, is that these two swingmen could probably play well together, and could turn into very good players. But unless Artest moved over to power foward, the team went small, and the known world ended, the two are going to get in each other's way.

Or they could follow Kelly Dwyer's advice and start trading everyone. Scorch the earth, and let Martin, Garcia, and Salmons scamper around with impunity.

B-Ball,B-Fast is a daily (9:00 a.m.) look at what happened the night before in the NBA from a fantasy basketball perspective. Check back early and often, or just save yourself the trouble and bookmark it.

Cup of Coffee
Richard Jefferson wasn't a popular guy in fantasy drafts this year. Owners drafted him somewhere between the 60-75 range, depending on the size and parameters of the league, based primarily on injury and a decline in production over the past three years. Those who took the gamble are getting paid handsomely, as Jefferson is averaging a career high 25 plus points per game after pouring in 36 against the Cavs last night. The assist and rebound numbers are down a bit, but he's efficient as ever from the floor and his range has improved (on pace for a career high in three's at a career high percentage); there's no reason to think, barring injury, that he doesn't finish what he started in 2004.

Hot Cakes
Jefferson wasn't the top scorer last night though, as Amare Stoudemire went off against the Pacers for 42/14/4. There were talks before the season started that he was ready to take his game to an even higher level than we'd seen before; he's "only" averaging 19.3 and 8.6 boards per game this year, both below his career numbers. But he's doing it in 28.6 minutes, which is nuts, really. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but if you can weasel your way into getting him, now would be a good time, before the Suns start really ratcheting up his minutes.

All Brevin Knight does is pass and steal - 9/1/8/2 last night - which as a fourth guard in fantasy, is flat out superb. There's a chance he's available in some leagues and Sam Cassell is still dealing with injury. Sam-I-Am is like 89 in alien years, so this probably won't be a one time thing.

Daily leagues should note that Chris Mihm is your starting center in Los Angeles with Andrew Bynum sick right now; he scored 11 points with seven boards and two dimes in 32 minutes last night. With two games against Golden State on the horizon (12/09 and 12/14) he could make a very nice streaming option.

Someone that could be more than a streamer, depending how his situation shakes out, is Anderson Varejao. He signed yesterday with the Bobcats, leaving the Cavs seven days to match the Bobcats offer. Varejao's made it known he doesn't care to play for the LeBrons and there are salary cap issues involved, so they may let him walk. If he ends up in Charlotte, he's a very nice add as a fourth forward or second center; Jared Dudley's value would take a hit though.

Broken Eggs
Kevin Martin left the Kings game against Utah last night with some sort of strained groin. Besides the obvious "Ouch" joke, it's worth noting that John Salmons ended up with 21 points, six boards and two dimes in 27 minutes. Either he or Francisco Garcia will start at the two with Martin hurt, but expect it to be Salmons who sees the biggest temporary boost in value.