Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.
Nobody celebrates a loss quite like the Chicago Bulls. In all fairness, at first glance it looked like Brad Miller had hit the game-winner as time expired. Unfortunately, the red light never lies.
Joakim Noah had the best line of the game with 12 points and 21 rebounds. He now has reached double-digits in all but one game this season. He also added two blocks, giving him 11 total over the last four games. Teammate Derrick Rose chipped in with 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting, five assists, a steal, two blocks and no turnovers. If he's not 100-percent healthy, he sure looks like it.
For the Nuggets it was Carmelo Anthony who once again led the team in scoring with 20 points. Kenyon Martin played despite a minor leg injury and doubled up with 15 points and 10 rebounds. What about Earl? Well, J.R. 'Earl' Smith returned from hit seven-game suspension to come off the bench for 29 minutes, scoring five points on 1-of-9 shooting. He just needs to shake off the rust.
Welcome to the first edition of Home Delivery, your comprehensive roundup of last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Read along each morning as we bring the headline news to you in a format your grandpa would appreciate -- wait, what's a newspaper?
Man Ditches Agent Zero and Gets With Agent Hero
Gilbert Arenas returned to action Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks. As an Arenas owner, I'm a bit giddy over his performance -- 29 points, nine assists, 10-of-21 shooting from the floor and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line. It's easy to look at his performance and state that he's "officially back," but we need to contain ourselves and play it cool. At least for one day.
When searching for sleepers at the point guard position you are usually after two things: steals and assists. Sure, a healthy free-throw percentage helps and some three-pointers would be nice, but as Jason Kidd has shown it's not all about scoring.
In the first two rounds there are 10 eligible point guards who should fall off the board: Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Deron Williams, Brandon Roy, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Chauncey Billups, Jose Calderon, Devin Harris and Joe Johnson. If you are able to grab one of those top-tier point guards, congratulations. Now you just need to find a second point to bolster and fill out your categories and a third for, well, good measure. If not, I would suggest loading up on fourth- or fifth-tier point guards -- Rajon Rondo, Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, etc. -- where you can find plenty of star power.
Using the average draft positions (ADPs) as reported by Mock Draft Central (MDC) and Yahoo! Sports (Y!), the following five point guards are all sleeper candidates as third, and in some cases second point guards.
Every Tuesday this offseason, two of our NBA experts will go at it with a Debate in the Paint. This week, the topic is which team will be the most improved.
There are two generally accepted ways to massively improve your team's chances during the summer offseason: draft new talent, or acquire new talent by trade or free agency. But the Wizards -- my choice for most improved team of 2009-10 -- have tapped a little-known third way: let all your injured stars return to health.
That was the biggest factor in the return of the Heat, 2008-09's most improved team: Dwyane Wade got healthy, and the team got back to contention. The Wiz stand at the start of a similar path, with Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood ready to roll. Of course, Wade is more vital than either. But together, it's like signing two major free agents at arguably the two most hard-to-fill positions.
There was a lot of activity in the NBA this week, and we're not just talking about the draft. Some of the NBA's big names and better teams were in on it.
Here's a quick look at the trades that went down and what they mean:
The Thinking: The Cavaliers get an aging O'Neal, with the hope that he can have a productive year playing alongside LeBron James. The only way this trade is a success is if the Cavaliers are the 2009-10 NBA champions. For the Suns, trading O'Neal means that they are beyond tinkering and are leaning toward turning over the personnel of a team that missed the playoffs last season.
For those of us hoping that the draft would bring some exciting developments, it has at least started with a relative bang. And for Minnesota fans, it has brought with it the "good" exciting, rather than the "oh, what's that funny feeling in my stomach, oh, it's vomit" exciting. You know, their usual kind.
A report from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, where the Timberwolves faced the Suns on January 16th.
At first glance, you probably wouldn't have expected the Timberwolves to go into Phoenix and beat the Phoenix Suns as they did on Friday night. After all, Minnesota was just 11-26 before this one, and the Suns -- though up and down at times -- have begun to figure things out and seem to be a team on the rise.
But if Minnesota's win was really that much of a surprise, you probably haven't been paying close attention.
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.
What happens when of the best post players in the game gets single covered by one of the league's worst defenses? Total domination. And that's exactly what Pau Gasol did to the hapless Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night. Gasol tore up the pitiful Warriors defense to the tune of 33 points on 12 for 21 shooting. Gasol also grabbed 18 boards during his 39 minutes of play.
Danny Granger is Clutch:Danny Granger continues to make his bid for a spot on the All-Star team. 37 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 block seems all-star enough. But when you start hitting game winners on the road, folks are going to start paying attention. On a redo of the 2005 NBA Draft, who gets drafted higher: Deron Williams, Andrew Bynum, or Danny Granger?
Randy Foye Matches Career High:Randy Foye continued his hot streak, dropping 32 points and 6 assists on the Thunder. Foye also hit 6 of his 9 three point attempts. Foye might not be a point guard, but dude can definitely score. Foye has averaged 23.3 points and 4.3 assists in January, helping the Wolves win all four games they've played this month. Maybe Roy for Foye wasn't so bad after all? Naaahhhh, I won't go that far yet.
Crystal Ballin'takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.
Ah. The Land of Lakes. Where anything can happen. The first rounder could be O.J. Mayo, it could be Michael Beasley, it could be Kevin Love, it could be Larry Bird or it could be traded straight up for Joe Smith a few first rounders. Seriously, Kevin McHale could do anything. But ... oddly, the Wolves might be set up to have a pretty freaking good draft this year if they play their cards right.
Picks: #3, #31, #34 Needs: Assuming they think either Randy Foye or Sebastian Telfair will work out (and they'll probably go through with the experiment anyway even if they don't) at point, they'll look for frontcourt depth (and defense) to compliment Al Jefferson. They also need a legit scorer to keep A's in the seats, though, and that's something they might address first.
Best case scenario: McHale stays away from the phone lines and ends up with either O.J. Mayo or Michael Beasley. Mayo gives them a safety net if Foye/Telfair fail and Beasley would be a pretty nasty tandem with Baby Al down low and allows them to look for frontcourt help (Roy Hibbert?) late in the first round when they package 31 and 34 to move back up.
That's right. Randy Foye, the fifth/sixth pick from the 2006 NBA draft was back in uniform last night as the Timberwolves took on the Chicago Bulls. That's one less built-in excuse for why the Timberwolves are so dreadful this year and one more shot of rocketfuel to the Fire-Randy-Wittman train. Foye, playing for the first time all season after being sidelined with an injured left knee, looked pretty solid, finishing with a steal, a couple of assists, and 11 points on 4-8 shooting in about 18 minutes of play.
Outside of Minnesota, the other main reason why Foye's return matters to the NBA is because of Brandon Roy's spectacular season. Kevin McHale fanatics will recall that on draft day, McHale traded Roy for Foye in a move that at the time was too soon to call. Ironically, it was Roy who had the reputation for being injury-prone. Now, um, Roy is looking like the best player taken in the entire draft and is, in the words of Bill Walton, "a future hall of famer." Nonetheless, with Foye back on the court, pundits will now have fair evidence to make their assessments of the deal.
Oh, by the way, the Timberwolves lost last night. But they'll have a rare chance to face Bulls tonight again (back-to-back) at the Target Center.
Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.
Welcome to the first edition of Home Delivery, your comprehensive roundup of last night's 
When searching for sleepers at the point guard position you are usually after two things: steals and assists. Sure, a healthy free-throw percentage helps and some three-pointers would be nice, but as 
Every Tuesday this offseason, two of our NBA experts will go at it with a 
There was a lot of activity in the NBA this week, and we're not just talking about the draft. Some of the NBA's big names and better teams were in on it.
For those of us hoping that the draft would bring some exciting developments, it has at least started with a relative bang. And for Minnesota fans, it has brought with it the "good" exciting, rather than the "oh, what's that funny feeling in my stomach, oh, it's vomit" exciting. You know, their usual kind. 
A report from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, where the Timberwolves faced the Suns on January 16th.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. 
That's right. Randy Foye, the fifth/sixth pick from the 2006 NBA draft was back in uniform last night as the Timberwolves took on the Chicago Bulls. That's one less built-in excuse for why the Timberwolves are so dreadful this year and one more shot of rocketfuel to the Fire-Randy-Wittman train. Foye, playing for the first time all season after being sidelined with an injured left knee, looked pretty solid, finishing with a steal, a couple of assists, and 11 points on 4-8 shooting in about 18 minutes of play. 
