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.
TULSA, Okla. -- It's no surprise Kevin Durant is really pushing the team angle this week.
When asked by FanHouse if he wants to play for Team USA in the World Championships next summer in Turkey, the Oklahoma City forward couldn't stop talking about how badly he wants to represent his country. Sounds as if he'd settle for the role of scorekeeper.
Asked, though, about wanting to play next February in his first All-Star Game, Durant mostly just shrugged. This is apparently not a good time to be talking about such an individual accomplishment.
Durant made news on his Twitter page last Sunday by responding to an Oct. 9 ESPN TrueHoop post that, due to his poor plus-minus rating, Durant "has been killing his team.''
FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.
The English dictionary defines relentless as "Jeff freaking Green." I'm not kidding. Go look it up. And if it doesn't say that, then your dictionary has been scared into a lie.
Jeff Green is the other-other Thunder. If Russell Westbrook is The Edge to Kevin Durant's Bono, Jeff Green is one of the other U2 members that you don't actually know because they aren't The Edge or Bono. But if you haven't been paying attention to Green because you've been too busy calling your friends to tell them Kevin Durant is breaking your mindskull, take a second look at the power forward for the Thunder. Because if Oklahoma City is going to take the next step this season, it won't be on the back of Westbrook, but the man they call Predator.
The goal of the Oklahoma City Thunder should be apparent: Rise from the dregs of the Western Conference and into the middle-of-the-pack. That's a realistic endeavor, and it will be the responsibility of coach Scott Brooks to get the Thunder there.
ORLANDO – He's only 23 years old, but Shaun Livingston already sounds like such an old soul. There is a good reason. He's been to basketball hell and back.
Livingston is continuing his miraculous comeback here -- from that horrific knee injury he suffered in the 2006-07 season -- at the Orlando Pro Summer League, hoping to earn a roster spot next season with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
He may never be the player he once was projected to be, but just seeing him on the court moving well again should be an inspiration to anyone trying to return from an injury.
"I'm not a success story yet,'' he said after his seven-point, six assist performance in a Thunder victory over the Magic Monday. "But I will be.''
It has been said of late the draft begins with Oklahoma City at No. 3. Well, Sam Presti didn't pull out a bag of tricks -- he took the somewhat expected pick, shooting guard James Harden of Arizona State. Harden figures to slide right into the Thunder line-up between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
Speaking of Westbrook, who earlier this week bristled at the idea OKC could select point guard Ricky Rubio: he's going to love feeding Harden the ball. Harden is an incredibly efficient scorer. He even finished higher than Stephen Curry in True Shooting percentage last season. While not a perfect shooter, Harden has good athleticism and he was a solid defender in college. We'll see how much of an upgrade on Damien Wilkins and Thabo Sefolosha he can become.
It's almost unfair to judge a draft after one year, but this is what we're going to do. The final edition of our Revisiting the Draft series examines the 2008 Draft and believe or not, there are teams already harboring regrets from their picks.
Despite the extensive scouting, workouts and interviews involved in the draft, teams still make major mistakes and these days, prospects don't get three years to develop. Of the 14 lottery picks in 2006, six have already changed teams and players such as Patrick O'Bryant and Mouhamed Sene are not guaranteed jobs next season.
The NBA waits for no one, especially if they are taking too long to make an impact. So while teams won't freely admit they made mistakes 12 months after draft night, they will privately admit they overestimated talent and heart, and sooner or later, that will cost front-office jobs.
Reports earlier this week had incumbent Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook offering some public friction to the idea the Thunder could draft Ricky Rubio at No. 3 and slide Westbrook over to shooting guard. In fact, Westbrook's quote (published by ESPN) to the idea was two impossible-to-misinterpret words: "You trippin'."
But in a draft day appearance on ESPN's Rome is Burning this afternoon, Westbrook stepped back from those comments, saying he trusts the franchise and will do whatever is asked of him. He did reiterate that he feels he is a point guard -- "I've been a point guard my whole life," he said -- while giving off the vibe he didn't want to cause drama for the Thunder. We'll see tonight whether OKC has any concerns with a Westbrook-Rubio backcourt.
It's been a forgone conclusion for awhile, but on Wednesday it became official: Derrick Rose is the NBA's 2009 Rookie of the Year. He received the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy during a press conference earlier this afternoon.
There were several impressive rookies this year but Rose was the run-away winner of the award, receiving 111 of a possible 120 first-place votes; O.J. Mayo (five first place votes), Brook Lopez (two) and Russell Westbrook (two) accounted for the rest.
It's trophy time in the NBA, and the FanHouse crew has submitted its ballots. Find out which players deserve to take home the hardware and which ones don't, in our NBA Awards series. Next up: Rookie of the Year.
Coming into the season, most projected the rookie of the Year race to be fairly hotly contested between Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley, the top two picks in the NBA draft. But it wasn't: while Beasley spent time learning to contribute coming off the bench, Rose became one of the leaders on a team that made its way back to the playoffs. As such, the young Bull was our unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year honors.
Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.
TULSA, Okla. -- It's no surprise Kevin Durant is really pushing the team angle this week.
FanHouse previews a 
FanHouse 
ORLANDO – He's only 23 years old, but 
It has been said of late the draft begins with Oklahoma City at No. 3. Well, 
FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in 
Reports earlier this week had incumbent Oklahoma City point guard 
It's been a forgone conclusion for awhile, but on Wednesday it became official: 
It's trophy time in the NBA, and the FanHouse crew has submitted its ballots. Find out which players deserve to take home the hardware and which ones don't, in our 
