FanHouse Rasho Nesterovic

Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.

Even in hard economic times, the top players like Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Kidd will leave teams and get their financial reward in other places. The squeeze will be on the lower-level free agents who must settle for minimum or various exceptions.

What hurts this class is that only seven teams really have major room under the salary cap to make something happen, and they usually aren't the NBA's biggest spenders. Unless the free agents stay with their current teams, only Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Atlanta, Portland, Toronto and Detroit have major room.

Although there has been plenty of dancing and unofficial talks the last few days, the real dealings can't start until 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Here is a breakdown by position of the five most intriguing – and unrestricted – free agents.

With all the Alex Rodriguez and Madonna nonsense going on, it's brought up a lot of debate as to whether or not a player's personal life is something that should be covered with such zeal. Personally, I'm more on the side that says somebody's family life should be exactly that, and unless they're breaking the law or endangering others, it really shouldn't be any of our business. I don't care whether your A-Rod or Rasho Nesterovic, your home life should be just that.

Still, I understand the coverage of the story. I mean, it's baseball's best/highest paid player reportedly having an affair with an aging pop icon as his wife leaves him for another rock star. It sounds like an epically bad movie of the week, and it's the kind of thing people are interested in reading. So while I generally don't like reporting on stories like this, I understand that readers want it, so I'll do it and just shower afterwards to feel better.

Tabloids aren't always bad, though, as there are times when they save a lot of people quite a bit of pain. Like any of you New Yorkers out there who complain about the Post or Page Six, you should probably be grateful they exist, because if they didn't you'd likely have to be watching Barry Zito pitch every five days.

Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the on-again, off-again deal that would send Jermaine O'Neal to Toronto for T.J. Ford is officially on, and has been agreed to in principle by both clubs. The Raptors will also send Rasho Nesterovic and another player to Indiana to match O'Neal's huge salary that he's owed, about $44 million over the next two seasons.

Both O'Neal and Ford have a history of medical issues, so the obligatory team physicals may yet have something to do with this deal actually being completed. But if all goes well, the Raptors can have Jose Calderon running the team without any drama, and the Pacers can begin rebuilding with a solid point guard in place, along with the 11th and 17th picks in the first round of Thursday night's draft.

Tom Ziller called the T.J. Ford part of this deal back in April, as Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo all but guaranteed that Calderon would be staying in Toronto, and also mentioned that he wasn't sure if the two point guards could happily co-exist. This seems to be a good deal for both sides, and is probably just the first trade of many that we'll see between now and the end of tomorrow evening's Draft festivities.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

Cup of Coffee
Rasho Nesterovic had a brilliant run in March, averaging nearly 14 points, seven boards and a block per game for the month. However, Chris Bosh is now back. And that means a) the end of Rasho's monster (relatively) fantasy run and b) the Raptors should stop being so awful. Not that it matters to you as much. However, Rasho should only be used as a number two center at best while owners in daily leagues should only start him for favorable matchups (see his 10 points, three boards and one turnover in 25 minutes off the bench against Denver last night).

Hot Cakes
Jamario Moon is also benefiting from Bosh's return. He has three straight games with double digit rebounds and posted 15 points, 15 boards, three blocks and a steal last night. It's entirely possible that he's unowned if your league is shallow enough, so notice the resurgence.

Dirk Nowitzki will miss the next two weeks. If you own him, I'm sorry, but you may have just been booted from the playoffs. Brandon Bass is the best bench guy the Mavs have available, but it will probably end up being Malik Allen that fills in because of his size. Expect Jason Terry and Jason Kidd's scoring to go up while field goal percentages go down. Josh Howard will have to step up his game too, if the Mavericks want to think about making the playoffs.

Gilbert Arenas thought he was returning last night, but it wasn't to be. He could be back as early as Tuesday at Portland. In fact, he was so confident he was playing last night, that he showed up without a blazer to the game against the Pistons. It's risky to play him in his first game back, but if you're desperate, I'd take the gamble.

Brandon Wright scored six points and had three blocks last night ... in 11 minutes. That's ridiculous per 40 production, but it's also a decent lower end forward total. Wright's still not posting every day big numbers, so he can be had, and he's a nice source of blocks.

It would probably be worth giving a shout out to Lamar Odom for last night's line: 19 points, 22 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and two steals. Disgusting. Playing the Warriors is good for fantasy production.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

Cup of Coffee
Stephen A. Smith rolled over in his vocal-chord enhancing cyborg chamber last night as Rasho Nesterovic posted a very nice line -- 16 points, five boards and three blocks -- with Chris Bosh beginning to sit out a week with a knee issue. Nesterovic isn't going to set the world on fire, but he can be a nice option in deeper leagues for boards and blocks over the next week, and as long as Bosh stays injured, he's a cheap filler. Plus, he kind of looks like Dwight Schrute, so that's a bonus.

Hot Cakes
It's safe to say Devin Harris is going to take that starter's job in New Jersey. He scored another 21 off the bench last night with five boards and two dimes in 35 minutes; Marcus Williams had eight points with three boards and two dimes, plus four turnovers in only 18 minutes. Get prepared to see Williams' minutes continue to dive.

Luis Scola went off for 18 points and 14 boards against the Nuggets. With Yao Ming done for the season, you could really see that Scola felt a need to carry the offensive load. Unlikely he's available in your league, but if he is, get ready for a boost in value for the remainder of the season.

In bad news, the blogosphere may implode on itself as Stephen A. Smith has come out and openly admitted his silly addiction his stress reliever: Cheese Doodles. (I smell endorsement!) He also thinks that the Knicks should trade Eddy Curry for a bag of said powdery, delicious and cheesy snack food.



How much do you think RASHO NEST-ER-O-VIC is worth then? And more importantly, wouldn't getting a bag (assuming a large bag) of doodles back for Curry actually be a good deal for the Knicks at this point? I mean, admit a mistake, dump some salary, sign the Doodles for the league minimum and move on.