Leave it to me to go ahead and write the following words less than 48 hours ago: "if you're worried about Chris Paul -- don't be." In all fairness, that was meant as a bit of reassurance that Paul would not let the Byron Scott firing affect the way he plays on the court. Now let me say this: If you're worried about Chris Paul, you're only human.
On Friday night Paul went down with a severe ankle injury that has knocked him out for up to two weeks, possibly more. So what can we do in his absence?
The first thing you need to do is go and pick up rookie point guard Darren Collison. No, he won't "replace" Paul, but his Friday performance after the injury looked rather promising. Collison finished the gamed with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting with two assists and two steals. At the very least you can slot him into your lineup next week with the Hornets on the schedule for four games: home to the Clippers, Suns, Hawks, and at the Heat.
Collison, though, was known more for his leadership and intangibles in college, and less for his ability to take over games. His upside may be limited, but at this point you have to take what you can get.
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.
The Hornets jolted the West in 2008, nearly taking the first seed in the conference one season after missing the postseason entirely. After waxing Dallas in what would become Avery Johnson's final playoff series there, the Hornets went all the way to Game 7 against the defending champion Spurs. The Hornets lost, and didn't get close in 2008-09.
You can believe one of three things. The Hornets' short triumph could be over, more flash in the sky than formation of a new star. The Hornets could have experienced just a brief setback, a defeat at the hands of a bad match-up and an injury-riddled season. Or, the Hornets could have just ran into some structural problems in need of fixing, which they possibly have this summer.
The NBA Draft started with a no-brainer -- Blake Griffin going No. 1 overall to the Los Angeles Clippers. Then, the fun happened, with Memphis taking Hasheem Thabeet and the Timberwolves' vexing decision to horde as many point guards as they could. A few other teams lucked out when players dropped down the board and into their laps. Check out the grades for the Western Conference after the jump.
The Bucks are the first of four Central Division teams that will be picking in the range from No. 10 to No. 16, giving the rivals a chance to match wits through the middle of the draft board.
OAKLAND -- A two-day, multi-team draft workout at the Golden State Warriors' practice facility in downtown Oakland got underway on Monday afternoon, with 21 NBA teams represented and 24 potential pro prospects in attendance.
The media wasn't allowed into the gym to see the workouts, and the NBA executives weren't made available for comment. But that didn't mean there wasn't a little buzz created.
A major topic of discussion this past week was how mistreated the mid-majors have been in recent years by the NCAA tournament selection committee. Butler is definitely one of the best teams in the nation not from the so-called BCS conferences. The Bulldogs were slotted against LSU, a team from the most maligned BCS conference, the SEC.
Not only did Butler lose to LSU in the first round of the tournament on Thursday, but they came out completely flat and seemed noticeably overmatched in the first five minutes. Sure, things settled down and Butler was in the game to the end, but this game did nothing but reinforce the supposed under-representation of the mid-majors when it comes to at-large berths.
This week, FanHouse is taking a look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.
Today, we have enlisted Poseur of the And The Valley Shook blog to break down the LSU Tigers.
Let me first speak for about three-quarters of the LSU fanbase first: thank God John Brady is finally gone. I don't think I have ever loathed a coach as much as I loathe Brady. Eleven years of doing just enough to not get fired, Brady finally got shown the door as he followed up a fluky Final Four appearance with two last place finishes in the SEC West. OK, that's cheating, LSU was in last when Brady got canned, but rallied down the stretch, going 5-5 with an interim coach. So excuse us if we're a little shell-shocked, LSU fans have learned an important lesson over the past decade: don't get your hopes up.
Leave it to me to go ahead and write the following words less than 48 hours ago: "if you're worried about Chris Paul -- don't be." In all fairness, that was meant as a bit of reassurance that Paul would not let the Byron Scott firing affect the way he plays on the court. Now let me say this: If you're worried about Chris Paul, you're only human.
FanHouse 
The NBA Draft started with a no-brainer -- 
The 
A major topic of discussion this past week was how mistreated the mid-majors have been in recent years by the NCAA tournament selection committee. Butler is definitely one of the best teams in the nation not from the so-called BCS conferences. The Bulldogs were slotted against LSU, a team from the most maligned BCS conference, the SEC. 
This week, FanHouse is taking a look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.
