Not much except that, with the per diem paid over the table in NBA instead of under it in college, they need to get the donuts before practice, carry their teammates' bags and stay out of the way of the veterans.
Oh, about that last part? The Nets' Terrence Williams, rookie out of Louisville, may need to work on it a bit.
Freaky Friday in NOLA. The greatest point guard in the world -- Chris Paul. A festive atmosphere, the home opener for the Hornets. Tyreke Evans, rookie point guard for the Sacramento Kings, had a big challenge ahead. Never mind he was coming off an underwhelming debut Wednesday in Oklahoma City. For the 20-year-old wolf in wolf's clothes, this was the proverbial uphill battle.
And though it didn't end with glass slippers or even confetti, Evans proved he belongs in the NBA.
You kids and your Twitter. There's something about 140 characters to get your point across that just seems to make sense. The whole idea got me thinking that instead of dragging out some fantasy basketball column that you'll likely just skim over, what do you say I give you 50 fantasy basketball tips and observations in 140 characters or less. You have no vote in this matter, so you're getting them anyway.
These tips are not only designed for those of you who have yet to draft your fantasy teams, but they're also for those who are looking to improve on their post-draft squads. Hopefully this is a helpful way to get out as much information as possible while keepin' it mainstream.
As draft day nears it's important to know where to find the best value. Once you've built your foundation early on in the draft, your next step is to fill in categories and find players who complement your core guys. If your team is built around bigs with high field-goal percentages, rebound rates and shot-blocking abilities, you might want to exploit that by adding another value big man later in the draft. In head-to-head leagues your goal is to win each week, whether it be 5-3 or 6-3 or 8-0. Just win.
At the same right you don't want to leave the draft without depth at any position. Today I'm going to give you five late-round value sleepers at the power forward position who should outperform their average draft position. I used Mock Draft Central (MDC) and Yahoo! Sports (Y!) as a reference point.
Every season, the NBA is filled with a few abjectly awful teams. These squads trudge through their affairs, offering spirit in infrequent spurts while otherwise counting down the days until summer vacation. You take bad players and strip their motivation, their energy ... and it's ugly quickly.
The 2009 NBA season could be considered the season of Twitter, as the NBA was at the forefront of the explosion of the micro-blogging service. Twitter became the go-to communication tool for many NBA players because of its ease of use and because it enabled them to reach their fans without the help of mainstream media.
But if the 2009 season was the season of Twitter, then the 2010 season might be the year of Ustream. Ustream (and competing services such as Justin.tv) is a web platform that allows for "lifecasting" and streaming of live events via a web cam or some high-end phones.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, bringing lots of excitement to the American people as he made history. These days the country of Israel is experiencing similar excitement, as Omri Casspi of the Sacramento Kings is making his mark in the history books, becoming the first Israeli baller in the NBA.
Casspi, 21, has been one of the hottest names in European basketball the last few years, starring for Maccabi Tel Aviv. He now has the entire country of Israel celebrating its first representative in the best basketball league in the world. In this exclusive FanHouse video, we catch up with Casspi, a talented player known for his toughness. We also hear from his teammates Donte Greene, who tells us about Omri's hip-hop nickname, and Jason Thompson, who says Casspi reminds him and a taller, right-handed Manu Ginobili.
It's almost unfair to judge a draft after one year, but this is what we're going to do. The final edition of our Revisiting the Draft series examines the 2008 Draft and believe or not, there are teams already harboring regrets from their picks.
Despite the extensive scouting, workouts and interviews involved in the draft, teams still make major mistakes and these days, prospects don't get three years to develop. Of the 14 lottery picks in 2006, six have already changed teams and players such as Patrick O'Bryant and Mouhamed Sene are not guaranteed jobs next season.
The NBA waits for no one, especially if they are taking too long to make an impact. So while teams won't freely admit they made mistakes 12 months after draft night, they will privately admit they overestimated talent and heart, and sooner or later, that will cost front-office jobs.
ESPN.com reports the Blazers have agreed to give Dallas the No. 24 pick, the No. 56 pick and a 2010 second round choice to move up ... two spots, to No. 22. The Kings sit at No. 23. I think it's safe to say Kevin Pritchard has his eye on a player he thinks Sacramento also covets. I wouldn't be surprised if said player was Israeli forward Omri Casspi, who had a marvelous workout in Sactown a few weeks ago.
This would be trivial if Pritchard didn't pull the same move last season. The Kings picked No. 12 last June, with the Blazers at No. 14. Coveting Arizona guard Jerryd Bayless -- who had been reported to be at the top of Sacramento's wish list -- Pritchard worked up a swap with Indiana to move up to No. 11. The silver lining for Kings fans is that Bayless barely got off the bench while Jason Thompson shone.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.
(Man, how long has that fork been in dude's back? Looks rough.) The Kings have not been above .500 since December 4, 2006. Officially eliminated from playoff contention earlier this week, Sacramento hasn't been able to put together a winning streak of even two games since the second week of November. The Kings boast (boast?) the fifth-worst defense of the modern era. To date, Sacramento has racked up an 0-24 record against the East.
Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. What went wrong? What went wrong?! Wrong question, Holmes. Everything went wrong.
Rookies. What do they know?
Freaky Friday in NOLA. The greatest point guard in the world -- Chris Paul. A festive atmosphere, the home opener for the Hornets. Tyreke Evans, rookie point guard for the Sacramento Kings, had a big challenge ahead. Never mind he was coming off an underwhelming debut Wednesday in Oklahoma City. For the 20-year-old wolf in wolf's clothes, this was the proverbial uphill battle.
As draft day nears it's important to know where to find the best value. Once you've built your foundation early on in the draft, your next step is to fill in categories and find players who complement your core guys. If your team is built around bigs with high field-goal percentages, rebound rates and shot-blocking abilities, you might want to exploit that by adding another value big man later in the draft. In head-to-head leagues your goal is to win each week, whether it be 5-3 or 6-3 or 8-0. Just win. 
FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.
The 2009 NBA season could be considered the season of Twitter, as the NBA was at the forefront of the explosion of the micro-blogging service. Twitter became the go-to communication tool for many NBA players because of its ease of use and because it enabled them to reach their fans without the help of mainstream media. 
Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, bringing lots of excitement to the American people as he made history. These days the country of Israel is experiencing similar excitement, as Omri Casspi of the Sacramento Kings is making his mark in the history books, becoming the first Israeli baller in the NBA. 
FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.
ESPN.com reports the Blazers have agreed to give Dallas the No. 24 pick, the No. 56 pick and a 2010 second round choice to move up ... two spots, to No. 22. The Kings sit at No. 23. I think it's safe to say Kevin Pritchard has his eye on a player he thinks Sacramento also covets. I wouldn't be surprised if said player was Israeli forward Omri Casspi, who had a marvelous workout in Sactown a few weeks ago.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.
