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Picks and Roles provides all the vital information you need in making those tough lineup decisions for weekly leagues.

Injuries like the one to Marreese Speights garner mixed reactions. Those who took a flier on Speights are disappointed now that they've lost him for up to 6-8 weeks with a partial tear in his MCL. In his last five, Speights averaged 24.7 minutes, 12.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 60.0-percent shooting from the floor. Not quite overwhelming numbers, but promising nonetheless. With Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert both struggling to get into an offensive groove, Speights was starting to see some daylight in the rotation and many eager fantasy owners were beginning to think that they snagged this season's Paul Millsap. Unfortunately, we won't see him again until late December.

On the other side of the coin are the Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert owners. They are hoping that this will force Eddie Jordan to stick with both Brand and Dalembert in the rotation as they continue to work through their struggles -- as opposed to opting for the young Speights off the bench. Any spark to get fourth-round draft pick Elton Brand going would do at this point.

Just how bad was the beatdown that the Nuggets put on the Lakers Friday night? In case the 105-79 final score wasn't enough of an indication, try this on for size: Denver held L.A. to just 23 points in the second half, which was the lowest ever in the Lakers' franchise history.

The Nuggets were feeling pretty good about themselves after the win, and they should: it was a quality victory in which the home team executed on both ends of the court for 48 minutes. But they would also be wise not to get ahead of themselves. Because while L.A. was at the top of the standings heading in, honestly, the 7-1 record was a bit of a fraud.

The reality is, the Lakers right now are nowhere near that good, and are a far cry from playing like the team that finished last season as the world champions.

Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.

The lesson in last night's game was: what goes around comes back around. Just 24 hours after punishing the Hornets with a 124-102 victory, the Suns went into the Staples Arena and ended up on the other side of a lopsided loss. The Suns shot just 36.5 percent from the floor and pasted 12 assists to 13 turnovers. It was a pretty ugly game as each Phoenix starter played less than 25 minutes. On the bright side, Louis Amundson made sure that the Los Angeles fans went home taco-less.

Steve Nash had just five assists. There's really no need to read to much into this one. It was a road loss against the Lakers after playing on back-to-back nights. We won't hold this one against you, though owners have to be dissapointed with how the Suns performed.

Andrew Bynum returned to action for the Lakers to drop 26 points on 13-of-18 shooting. He also pulled down 15 rebounds and blocked three shots. This is great news for Bynum owners. You can know breathe easier.

Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.

It was all Phoenix last night as the Suns beat the Hornets 124-104. The Suns scored 101 of their points in the first three quarters, so you can tell where this is going. Steve Nash needed just 23 minutes to post 12 points and 10 assists. Amare Stoudemire added 21 points. Even Goran Dragic got in on the fun adding 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Unfortunately, Alando Tucker was the only Sun held scoreless. On the bright side he wasn't the worst player in the game. That honor goes to the player responsible for last night's lotto line.

On the other side of the ball Chris Paul played inspired ball after Steve Nash called him the best point guard in the league. Paul had 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting with four treys, six assists and four steals. Chris Paul is making 2.2 threes per game and is shooting 63-percent from the floor in his first nine, which is making him the clear-cut No.1 player in all of fantasy.

Be honest: you didn't think that after eight games were played in this young NBA season that we'd be talking about the Phoenix Suns as one of the best teams in the league. But after Monday night's come-from-behind win in Philadelphia to finish a five-game road trip at 4-1, that's exactly where we find ourselves.

Behind 21 points and 20 assists from Steve Nash -- his seventh 20-assist game in his career and his second of this season -- the Suns came from eight points down in the fourth quarter to beat the Sixers in Philadelphia, and claimed a share of the league's top spot in the standings in the process.

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Picks and Roles provides all the vital information you need in making those tough lineup decisions for the week ahead.

This week we have four teams -- Kings, Bucks, Pacers, and Wizards -- who play just two times. Aside from the obvious guys like Danny Granger, Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler, I would only consider Tyreke Evans and Andrew Bogut as players to slot into your lineup. Obviously, since most of us play in a "two center" league, if you have to start Roy Hibbert I could see you making the case.

Jason Thompson is another guy on the fringe this week. He's starting to look more and more like a top 50 fantasy baller this year. Brandon Jennings would be another guy you could consider. Though if it comes down to a point guard who plays four times and Jennings, you have to take the four games. Same can be said about Thompson and the other fantasy fringe players. Maximize your games played, it's Fantasy 101.

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One of the things that makes the Lakers one of the league's best teams is the size and skill of their two biggest frontcourt players, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. But Gasol has yet to play a game for the team in this young season, and now it looks like Bynum will miss some time as well with an elbow injury.

Both players are listed as doubtful for Friday night's game against Memphis, and if neither ends up being able to go, the Lakers will be forced to use some rather interesting lineups.

Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.

Surprisingly, the Timberwolves were able to make a game out of last night's contest against the Celtics. The C's pulled it off in the end, but the T-Wolves kept it close from the opening tip, and actually had the lead for most of the game.

The star of the game just so happened to be Oleksiy Pecherov, who I mentioned in Tuesday's post as a guy to add in deep leagues. Well, standard leagues, it's time to become acquainted with Mr. Pecherov. He posted a game high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting with eight rebounds, one three-pointer and a steal. You won't see him lead the T-Wolves in scoring often, but he does have the ability to put up 15 points on a given night, adding some nice range for a big man.

The Celtics were led by Rajon Rondo who had 18 points, six assists and three steals. I'm standing by my claim that he's going to lead the league in steals. Kevin Garnett added 12 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks, a steal and a burning desire to win.

It's becoming more and more frustrating as the list of "questionable" players for opening night continues to grow. The case has been made that maybe the preseason is too long -- about four games too long.

Who would have thought that of the past three No. 1 overall draft picks only Greg Oden will start the 2009-10 season with a clean bill of health. Blake Griffin is reportedly sidelined for up to six weeks with a stress fracture in his left knee, while Derrick Rose is questionable after injuring his ankle early on in the preseason. Rose is likely to play on opening night, but his action could be limited as he nurses his ankle back to health. In other news, future No. 1 pick John Wall is not serving much better. Advantage, Oden.

With less than 24 hours to go before your lineups are required to be set in stone for the week, it's only right that we discuss a few of the "questionable" lineup decisions you might need to make based on injuries and matchups.

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