In continuing with my sleepers theme, I'm going to give you the lowdown on five small forwards whose value exceeds their average draft position (ADP). The position itself houses three of the top five players in fantasy hoops -- LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Danny Granger. As you'd imagine it's a little top-heavy. That's not to say, however, there's no value to be had.
Many of these swingmen have dual eligibility at either shooting guard or power forward. For this exercise I am going to use the player's "true" position, which in this case is small forward. As a reference I used the ADP's from Mock Draft Central (MDC) and Yahoo! Sports (Y!).
Sure, the NBA Finals aren't even halfway over (or are they? Orlando can win at least one game, right?), but the rest of the league is officially looking toward the future. The Raptors and 76ers have completed the first trade of the summer, sending sharpshooter Jason Kapono south to Philadelphia in exchange for bruising forward Reggie Evans.
Raptors prez and GM Bryan Colangelo announced the move this afternoon. From Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: "We're changing the dynamic of our club with this move," Colangelo said. "This obviously addresses a few areas of need. ... [The Sixers] probably had too many bigs and we probably had too many finesse players."
PHOENIX -- The competition was there for Jason Kapono. Or maybe Rashard Lewis. Even veteran Mike Bibby might come out of the field the champion. The one thing that was certain was the second-year man from Miami wasn't taking this title, no way, no how.
PHOENIX -- Chris Bosh was voted in by the coaches as an All-Star reserve for the Eastern Conference, but a sprained knee is keeping him from participating in the actual game. That doesn't mean he can't comment on the festivities, though.
In part two of my conversation with Bosh, he gave me his thoughts on Mo Williams (who got in because of Bosh's injury), the H-O-R-S-E competition and which one of his teammates has the best trick shots. We discuss it all, after the jump.
Elie Seckbach, the AP-recognized Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
PHOENIX -- One of the main events at All-Star weekend is the Three-Point Shoot-Out. Sharp-shooter Jason Kapono isn't one of the league's most recognizable faces, but his spotlight is this contest, which he's won two years in a row. In this video we talk to him about going for a third title, and you'll be surprised who in Phoenix Jason is worried about. We also hear from Kobe Bryant and Mike Bibby.
All-Star weekend is less than two weeks away, so the press releases are coming fast and furious as to who's going to be participating in all of the events. We told you about H.O.R.S.E. on Tuesday, and today, we bring you the field for the 2009 Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout.
Jason Kapono will defend his title and attempt to win the event for the third straight year, and he'll be facing a group of players that collectively have a total of zero three (and counting) prior appearances in the competition.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive NBA reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.
In this video we catch up with WNBA star Candace Parker who tells us about her dunking ability. You might be surprised to hear what she has to say about it. We also interview her brother, Anthony Parker, the star of the Toronto Raptors. Around 2:15 into the video find out from Candace which sibling is more popular.
No, really. According to the NBA's rule book, there must be at least 0.3 seconds left on the clock for a player to be allowed to attempt a jump shot. If there's less time on the clock, a team can only score by converting a tip-in or alley-oop from the in-bounds pass. It says so right here.
The idea, I suppose, is that it's literally impossible for a human being to catch and release in three-tenths of a second. But if that's true ... then Jason Kapono simply isn't human. From Eric Pincus of HOOPSWORLD:
I also chatted with Jordan Farmar about his appearance on the television program "Sports Science" in which he fed a pass to Jason Kapono - who was able to hit the shot in just .22 seconds. The NBA rule says a player can't catch and shoot in less than .3 seconds but Kapono was able to get it done. Farmar said they should change the rule, they proved it! He also said it Kapono did it on his second shot. The first was over .3 seconds after which they analyzed his release, worked with a coach and then hit it at .22 on the very next try.
That's freaking awesome -- and if seeing is believing for you, you can watch it on YouTube. I can't imagine many players being able to pull this off in a game situation -- it'd have to be the perfect pass and the perfect release, not to mention the ball actually going through the hoop -- but Farmar has a point: if someone can do it, it's time to change the rules.
Did you cringe while watching this? I did. Jason Kapono did a nice thing and probably saved T.J. Ford some dough by preventing Ford from bum-rushing the official, but man, was restraining him by the neck really a smart idea? I know Ford isn't made of glass, but I would considered just picking him up around the waist and carrying him to the locker room myself before doing that. As for the rest of the Raptors, they ended getting waxed by 17, falling to the Jazz 96-79 despite the Power Ranger-esque jerseys.
Am I the only one who thinks we've had more talk from the All-Star weekend participants this year than ever before? I mean, the Dunk Contest participants have been completelyout of control with their comments, and now we have Rip Hamilton stirring things up for the Three-Point Shootout.
First Rip released a video of him practicing his tramp ball, which was a response to Jason Kapono's slightly more impressive version. Now Rip's starting up the talk by claiming that at least one of his competitors has no chance to beat him, and he's talking about Kobe Bryant.
"I know for a fact Kobe can't beat me in a shootout, so that's one down," said Hamilton, who at 46.0 percent on the season is well ahead of fellow Pennsylvanian Bryant's 35.4 percent. "I just gotta figure out a way to beat the other guys."
Hamilton also assessed himself as the toughest competitor in the six-man field ...
I love Rip -- and I love when players talk like this -- but I have to take issue with a couple of things here. The reason I mentioned that Kapono's video was more impressive was because Rip's was clearly edited, presumably to take out a string of missed attempts. Kapono's was not, and he only missed (I think) one shot the entire time.
I also don't know if Rip can truly say he's the toughest competitor in the field, especially when Kobe's involved. Did you see Kobe play defense against Wade the other day? No one competes harder than Kobe, period. But again, all this talk and bravado is very exciting, and should make for one heck of a Saturday night.
In continuing with my sleepers theme, I'm going to give you the lowdown on five small forwards whose value exceeds their average draft position (ADP). The position itself houses three of the top five players in fantasy hoops -- LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Danny Granger. As you'd imagine it's a little top-heavy. That's not to say, however, there's no value to be had. 
Sure, the 
Elie Seckbach, the 
All-Star weekend is less than two weeks away, so the press releases are coming fast and furious as to who's going to be participating in all of the events. We told you about 
No, really. According to the NBA's rule book, there must be at least 0.3 seconds left on the clock for a player to be allowed to attempt a jump shot. If there's less time on the clock, a team can only score by converting a tip-in or alley-oop from the in-bounds pass. 
Am I the only one who thinks we've had more talk from the All-Star weekend participants this year than ever before? I mean, the Dunk Contest participants have been 
