FanHouse RyanGomes

Minnesota figured to struggle this season. The roster is young, the coach (Kurt Rambis) is new, and there are plenty of holes through the roster. But there's always an extra challenge in 'Sota, and this year that extra challenge comes in the form of a fracture of the fourth metacarpal bone in the left hand of Kevin Love that will reportedly sideline the power forward for 6-8 weeks.

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Love's hand smacked against the elbow of teammate Stewie Griffin Oleksiy Pecherov as Love collected a rebound. Fitting, that the injury would happen on a rebound, considering Love is one of the league's brightest young board hoarders. His absence will force cohort Al Jefferson to be even more of a vacuum on the glass.

In a rare clip where we actually get audio of a player's conversation with an official, here we have Rasheed Wallace, um, discussing a call with referee Jim Clark. Seems like 'Sheed just wants things called consistently on both ends of the floor, and he isn't afraid to let the ref know about it. Listen to the clip, and you can hear him express is fearlessness to Clark at around the :30 mark.

Honestly, I don't know how Chauncey can shoot free throws with a straight face with this going on right next to him. Nice to see Ryan Gomes get a good laugh out of it as well. Now we know why 'Sheed seemingly gets T'd up with little explanation. It's because these conversations are probably going on all night long.

[via TrueHoop]

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Jamario Moon appears to be, dare I say ... on the rise again? Ahh. I kill me. Sorry. Anyway, Moon scored 11 points with five boards plus a block and steal each last night and is now seeing a whopping 38.6 minutes per game through January. Yes, it is early, but it sure seems like the Raptors do not want to let his talents ... wane on the bench? Okay, okay, I'm done. Seriously though, if he got dropped go add him. Or better yet, just trade for him. He's a roto-gold mine with his block and steal numbers, he hustles every night, and you get to care about your team. That's important sometimes.

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J.R. Smith sighting last night -- the gunner scored 21 points for his first plus-twomp game since November 30, and only his third of the season. He did it in 28 minutes, which means he still has yet to crack 30 on the season; his fantasy value has been limited as a three point specialist but with Nene Hilario likely out for an extended period of time following the removal of a testicular tumor and Kenyon Martin dealing with a staph infection, Smith could start seeing some minutes. Make a move for him now before the competition figures out what's going on.

So, this LeBron James guy, he is some kinda good huh? You probably want to think about starting him. I hate giving obvious unnecessary fantasy analysis, but when a guy throws up a 51/8/9 line, you gotta give a shoutout.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a daily (9:00 a.m.) look at what happened last night in the NBA from a fantasy perspective. Visit early and often, or just save yourself the hassle and bookmark it.

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I was high all pre-season on Craig Smith, ever since he closed out April of last year averaging 11.3 points and 8.2 boards per game, in just over 30 minutes. Factor in the Kevin Garnett trade, and it seemed naturally that Minnesota would slide Al Jefferson in at center, start Smith at the four and let Ryan Gomes, Corey Brewer and Rashard McCants fight for playing time at the three. Hasn't been the case, obviously, as Gomes has benefited most from the trade in terms of minutes. Production wise, he's been pretty worthless though, averaging just over nine points and four boards per game in 26 some minutes. Smith has had nearly identical stats in just under 19 minutes a game. Last night, he came off the bench to rack up 20 points and nine boards in 27 minutes while Gomes played only eight. Smith is a polished rebounder and scorer, and with the T-Wolves lacking in general talent, there's fantasy production to be had here. Grab him if you need rebounding or have bench space and we'll enjoy him taking the starting role together.

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In more exciting Timberwolf (does that even work?) news, Marko Jaric returned to the floor. He played 39 minutes and flirted with a trip-dub, scoring 18 points and adding eight boards and nine assists. If he got dropped while hurt, grab him. And while we're here, it's worth mentioning that Corey Brewer started as well, and grabbed a ridiculous 18 boards, scoring six points with five dimes and four steals. If he's starting, he's worthwhile in fantasy, but he's a rookie so expect inconsistency.

Joe Johnson looked to get a little swagger back against Minny last night ... and came up "okay". He scored 21 but shot poorly again, and was again outdone by Josh Smith, who racked up this line: 28/7/2/2/7. I'm not sure there are many players I wouldn't give up for J-Smoove in a roto league right now. Johnson is a nice buy low.

Linas Kleiza scored 23 for Denver in a win, but he's still bench / low-end roster material unless Kenyon Martin gets hurt again, which certainly isn't a huge reach. Stash him if you can afford to -- he's still averaging 10 points a game.

The Travis Outlaw Watch continues, as he scored 20 points with 7 boards and two assists in 22 minutes. Same amount of time for Martell Webster. The result? Four points and one dime. Don't say I didn't tell you to grab him.

I just love how the NBA is going all over the world for exhibition games. It's just like The Bourne Identity, but instead of espionage and car chases, it's playing basketball and eating good food ... so ... it's nothing like The Bourne Identity.

Back on point: T-Wolf forward Ryan Gomes is keeping a 10 day diary with the Star Tribune and it's fun to see his takes on a different part of world that's probably very different from what he's used to:

"Our hotel is like staying in a castle. It reminds me of reading about the ancient times of Western civilization back when I was in school. You can see the river from our rooms, and you can sit out on the balcony and watch all the boats going back and forth [from one continent to the other]. [...]

"We haven't met too many of the Turkish people yet, but it's Ramadan here and in the morning you can hear the call to prayers. It just echoes. It's nothing like anything I've ever heard before." [...]

"And it's good food, too: Fresh fruit, grilled chicken, fish, pasta. I think it gets two thumbs up compared to what we might have expected." [...]

Maybe Ryan and Matt Damon can team up for Bourne 4: Offensive Rebound Terror.

(via TWolvesBlog.com)

Well, it looks like it's official: Kevin Garnett will wear Celtic green next year, teaming up with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to form one of the most potent (and definitely the most expensive) trio of players in the entire league. From the Boston Herald:

A league source just confirmed that the Celtics and Timberwolves have finalized a deal that will bring Kevin Garnett to Boston in exchange for Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff and two first round draft picks.

Garnett is expected to arrive in Boston this afternoon for a physical.

Garnett has agreed to a three-year extension with the Celtics beyond the two remaining on his contract, guaranteeing that he will be a Celtic for the next five years.

That's pretty much the same package everyone was talking about yesterday, except that there are now two first-round picks instead of just one headed to Minnesota. It's far too early to say who actually won this trade (especially considering four of the five players Minnesota received are 24 years or younger) but we do know one thing for sure: Boston's depth took a huge hit.

Tanking, relative to fixing games, is small potatoes. But it's an issue for the league nonetheless, and David Stern's big offseason priority before Tim Donaghy ruined the world was reversing any institutionalized tanking problem.

Step #1 was apparently interrogating Celtic Ryan Gomes. Gomes, you'll remember, made some damning comments to the press as Boston's season wound down. In short, he admitted the Celtics were tanking.

Stern sent some guys to talk to Gomes after the season, according to a Steve Bulpett report in the Boston Herald.

Said Gomes, "They called me on my home phone. We did a conference call and they taped it. We ran through what was said. I just told them the things that were said weren't meant to be taken that we were out there trying to lose. [...] The guy (NBA official) read my quotes to me and then asked me to explain what I meant. I told him, and things seemed OK."

In truth, things are OK. Lady Luck negated the unsavory tactics Boston and Milwaukee employed. (And we can be sure Ryan Gomes isn't getting within 10 feet of a beat writer next season without a PR flak on his hip.)

Today, The Boston Globe asks some of the Celtics how they plan to improve in the off-season. Surprisingly, none of them said a thing about Oden or Durant; maybe they were worried about getting fined like Ainge or jinxing the franchise. What you get instead is a pretty good picture of who knows how to work and who doesn't.

Take, for example, Ryan Gomes:

"I want to be better at defending from the 3 spot. I've worked on my shooting range there, and I want to be able to guard the smaller forwards better."

That translates roughly as: "I get that I'm a tweener, albeit a skilled one, and to have place in this team's rotation I need to turn that into versatility." Now, take a look at what Gerald Green had to offer:

"Probably my defense. I'm going to watch film, play in pickup games and just try to do something every day defensively."

Green finished the season on a mightily inconsistent tear, won the dunk contest, and saw his "next T-Mac" rep gain momentum. "Just try to do something every day defensively" makes it sound like, on his word, he'll periodically remember that part of the sport. Or it's an acknowledgment that he's so far behind, a little bit of the basics every day might help. Somehow, that second option seems unlikely.

It's also fun to read these thinking that ODEN OR DURANT is echoing in these players' heads. Each one would spell very different things for the Celtics' future, so you wonder how much their comments here are preparation for these two scenarios. Though I'm probably giving them way too much credit.