Title Chaste is the diary of Matt Snyder in his season a virgin fantasy basketball player.
Well, that didn't take long. Thanks to Mo Williams, Danny Granger, Amare Stoudemire, Brook Lopez, Jason Terry, Andrea Bargnani and Shawn Marion, I won my first career fantasy basketball game. I should also point out I owe the scheduling for the victory as well, because my team checked in as the sixth-highest scorer out of 12. Really, it could have gone either way. This victory was a sign that being lucky is just as worthwhile as being smart in fantasy basketball, just as I already knew in fantasy baseball and fantasy football. On the other hand, skill is still paramount -- as the top scorer for the week was, not surprisingly, Tom Lorenzo.
DENVER -- Defending champion Spain is planning to have its best players for next year's World Championships in Turkey. The nation's top point guard is recommending that the Americans do the same.
"I think they've got to do that,'' Jose Calderon of the Toronto Raptors told FanHouse. "You cannot just play for the Olympics. I think that, if you want to be on the team, you've got to be in all the good tournaments, and that is a good tournament.''
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how many members of America's 2008 gold-medal Olympic team will return for the World Championships. Several top players, namely Cleveland's LeBron James, Miami's Dwyane Wade and Toronto's Chris Bosh, are wavering about committing.
FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.
The great thing about innately efficient players is that even in a down year, they can contribute. Raptors point guard Jose Calderon -- the man who vanquished T.J. Ford from the weirdest platoon ever -- dealt with nagging injuries and an unkempt coaching situation in 2008-09 ... but still provided value to the Raptors through excellent shooting and mistake-free playmaking.
While Calderon's gaudless production of 13 points and nine assists per game hasn't brought much acclaim, Toronto knows the value of the efficient manner in which Calderon gets those numbers. Specifically, 13 points on only 10 shots and nine assists with only two turnovers. If Calderon makes a play, there's a better chance than usual it will produce points. That's such a boon.
The Raptors made one of the biggest splashes of the offseason by signing free agent Hedo Turkoglu. That move alone upgrades the Raptors' talent level and should make them better.
But perhaps as important are the lesser, more-under-the-radar acquisitions Toronto made since the end of its 33-49 season. On their own, these moves didn't register very high on the impact meter. But when taken collectively, they should dramatically improve the team's depth, which was a problem area a year ago.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong. "If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: 'It seemed a good idea at the time.'" -Rebecca West
Bryan Colangelo either laughs or weeps at this quote after the Raptors 2008-2009 season.
I mean, it DID seem like a good idea at the time, right? You're a playoff team, on the verge of contention. You have a legit superstar in Chris Bosh. You have an up and coming point guard in Jose Calderon, a core of veterans alongside sharpshooter Jason Kapono, and a young stud in Jamario Moon. All they needed was to jettison that black hole, T.J. Ford and minimize that bust Andrea Bargnani. And if they could do all that and upgrade their frontcourt with some muscle, that would be idea.
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 disappointments have appeared nearly across the board in Toronto. An undersold problem, though, has been the inability of one Jose Calderon to fully grasp his role as the full-time starter at point guard. Calderon has been good offensively ... but not as consistent as he had been sharing duties.
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 headline is both true and unbelievable. Minnesota is 9-2 in January, the latest triumph an overtime victory against Chicago. Al Jefferson registered as the only Wolves starter in double figures. Luckily, he made them count: 39 points on 16-29 shooting, nine rebounds and just one turnover.
Al's superhuman effort countered balanced play from the Bulls, which had six players with double-digit scoring. Joakim Noah might have had the best game of his pro career, notching 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks. Obviously, Jefferson scored on the Bulls bigs at will. But Noah got his, y'all.
The Raptors played their best game in over a week against the Blazers, after losing their last three by an average of 26 points per game. They had taken a two-point lead with under 10 seconds to play, but Steve Blake made sure this one would end with his team in the win column.
Blake may have pushed off a bit there, but I don't know, to me it looked like he just extended his arm and that Jose Calderon was playing him for the drive instead of the three-pointer. Either way, it wasn't called, so it ends up being a gritty win for Portland and a pretty tough loss for the Raps.
In this clip from TNT's Overtime, Kenny, Charles, and C-Webb discuss the firing of Raptors' coach Sam Mitchell. While debating whether the team's sub-.500 record was Smitch's fault, they also discuss the personnel of the team, and after Charles makes some kind of Playboy bunny analogy, he mentions to Kenny that he might be confusing Jose Calderon with another Jose he has a fondness for.
I love the fact that it's like 2AM when they're filming these segments, so pretty much anything goes. The NBATV show that features Webber and Gary Payton together is quickly gaining on the TNT crew in terms of entertainment value, but still, nothing beats some classic analysis from Charles Barkley.
Throughout his career, Kevin Garnett has gained a reputation for being one of the most intense players in the league. Sometimes that intensity causes him to step over the line a bit. Last night, in a game with a playoff-level feel to it, Garnett went bonkers and decided it was time for him to shut down Raptors point guard Jose Calderon. Here's footage of what happened next:
It's great to see a player of Garnett's caliber get that hyped for a regular season game. However, I definitely think he stepped over the line on this one.
Title Chaste is the diary of Matt Snyder in his season a virgin fantasy basketball player. 
DENVER -- Defending champion Spain is planning to have its best players for next year's World Championships in Turkey. The nation's top point guard is recommending that the Americans do the same.
FanHouse previews a 
FanHouse 
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. 
