FanHouse Von Wafer

You kids and your Twitter. There's something about 140 characters to get your point across that just seems to make sense. The whole idea got me thinking that instead of dragging out some fantasy basketball column that you'll likely just skim over, what do you say I give you 50 fantasy basketball tips and observations in 140 characters or less. You have no vote in this matter, so you're getting them anyway.

These tips are not only designed for those of you who have yet to draft your fantasy teams, but they're also for those who are looking to improve on their post-draft squads. Hopefully this is a helpful way to get out as much information as possible while keepin' it mainstream.

Josh Childress started for an NBA team. Von Wafer played significant minutes on an NBA playoff team. Linas Kleiza once scored 41 points in an NBA regular season game (this ain't no summer league, man!) And they're all members of Olympiakos B.C.

Now since Childress decided to taste the awesome flavor of Dolmades, there has been no great exodus. However, that's now three NBA-quality players that aren't even the huge stars on OBC. Which begs a question. We know the NBA elite boast teams that could defeat them pretty handily, but how would Olympiakos do against the low of the NBA?

It's time to give Rockets coach Rick Adelman some credit before it's too late. After all, who knows what's going to happen Sunday? But it must be noted that he's doing quite the job on the bench this postseason, like he's done time and time before.

The mere fact that Adelman has been able to guide the Rockets to two victories over the L.A. Lakers since Yao Ming went down makes Houston's coach the MVP of this series right now.

It was one thing to shock the Lakers in Game 4 on Sunday, the first game without Yao. It's quite another to handle the Lakers again in Game 6 on Thursday -- by a score of 95-80 -- to force an anything-can-happen Game 7 back in L.A.

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Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.

That's Ron Artest's new haircut, a "Von Hawk" inspired by a promise made to Von Wafer should the Rockets advance to the second round. Artest wasn't exactly thrilled about honoring the promise, but he delivered.

From the Houston Chronicle:

"I just got a little mohawk, a little Von Hawk with a little splash of Rockets," Artest said. "I thought it would be fun. When I first was traded, I put the Rockets' logo on it. Everybody liked it, so I did it again. I kept my word with Von. I didn't renege."

[...] "Now we can trust him," Wafer said. "He can play."

Why are we talking about Ron Artest's hair? There were two compelling basketball games on Monday night; this is the most important thing I can come up with? Fair point. But I'd argue that Artest's hair represents more than a barber with too much time on his hands -- it's also a peek inside the playful camaraderie this team has created.

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FanHouse previews each round of the NBA Playoffs.

The Houston Rockets finally got that monkey off their backs, and advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997 -- that's the good news. The bad news is who's there waiting for them: the top-seeded L.A. Lakers, who won all four of the regular season meetings between the two teams.

Cherry Picking recaps yesterday's action.

The Blazers and the Rockets are both playoff teams that have their share of obvious flaws. In fact, neither one of them have any business getting out of the first round this season. But thanks to the way the seedings shook out, one of them will advance by default.

Unfortunately for Portland fans, that team is going to be the Rockets, and the reason is rather simple: This Blazers team is just not built for the playoffs.

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The story's getting old, but Jazz fans won't mind if you repeat it. Utah again took down the Rockets in Salt Lake City, pulling away for a 99-86 win. The game remained in contention until the final two minutes, with Deron Williams finally spreading the margin with a few possessions of nasty.

But Houston can take something from this defeat: it is highly unlikely they'll shoot this poorly should the teams meet (again) in the postseason.

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Von Wafer. What a name, right? For Lakers fans the name brings up icky feelings. You see, the Lakers took Mr. Wafer a pick ahead of Warriors star guard, Monta Ellis. Ellis has turned into one of my favorite players in the league, while Wafer has been tossed around from team to team for the last few seasons.

Anyhow, despite my obvious hurt feelings over the Lakers missing an opportunity to have Monta on their squad, I was happy to see that Wafer finally secured a home with Houston Rockets. Wafer has probably been on the best roll of his career as of late, scoring double figures in all four of his games this month. But last night, he got a little too big for his britches and ended up embarrassing himself a bit. Here's the footage:



After I saw Wafer get hung like that, images of a classic NBA commercial passed through my mind. See the commercial after the jump.