Fantasy Basketball Daily News and Notes (8/25/10)

I’m still working on the Power Forward rankings and should have them up by Saturday.   Some non-basketball advice:   Get your flu shots early this year.  I got some odd strain of the flu on Friday that made my head feel like it was going to explode.  I’ve had the flu before, but nothing like this.  I thought my brain was permanently fried, but I’m finally coming out of it.

Stephen Jackson – I’ve been looking at the Bobcats roster and going over the stats at 82Games.com and I’ve changed my mind and moved Jackson to the Shooting Guard rankings.  I still think there is a chance that he’ll see a good deal of time at Small Forward, but you can find him on the SG rankings now at number 6.

Gerald Wallace – After sliding Jackson down to SG, I’m also sliding Wallace down to SF and adding him to the Small Forward rankings at number 5.  I still don’t think Tyrus Thomas is going to cut it at PF, but we’ll see as camp gets started in about a month.  Charlotte also just brought in Kwame Brown and he could see some time at PF as well.

Stephen Curry – Curry is this year’s overhyped fantasy sensation.  I actually saw someone rank him as the 5th player to come off the board in drafts.  I could see maybe the 5th PG off the board, but 5th overall?  I like Curry, but you just can’t gamble that big with your first round pick.   People keep citing his March stats, but what those guys are missing is the fact that the Warriors were basically playing with 7 players at the time and Curry and Monta Ellis were playing a two man game with three scrubs filling the other spots.  Curry even had to stay in one game after he had six fouls because the Warriors didn’t have enough players to continue.   The Warriors now have David Lee and hopefully a healthy Andris Biedrins to take some pressure off of Ellis and Curry.  And then there is the coaching situation with Don Nelson which is a little uncertain this season.   I think people are ranking Curry way too high and doing so could really come back to bite them when Curry falls back to earth.

Mehmet Okur – Okur is sliding down the rankings pretty fast as he recovers from an achilles injury.  At this point, there is no definite time for his return and it’s starting to look like he’s not going to be ready for the season opener.  Even if he does make it to the court, he’s now got to deal with Al Jefferson starting at the Center spot in Utah.   I could see Okur falling into the final rounds and maybe even going undrafted in shallow leagues.

Yao Ming – Doctors say that the hairline fracture in his foot has fully healed and Ming thinks he might be ready to go for the opener.  I’m going to have to see him on the court before I start moving him up the rankings.   Drafting Ming is going to be a gamble this season, but it could pay off huge.

Jose Calderon – Calderon tore a hamstring and won’t be back on the court for at least a month.  If the injury lingers longer it would likely give Jarrett Jack a leg up on the starting PG job, if he isn’t already in the lead.  The injury also lessens the chance that the Raptors can dump Calderon on someone.

Marc Gasol – He looks to be fully recovered from the neck injury that ended his 2009-2010 season.

Baron Davis – SBNation speculates that he has ballooned up to 260 pounds, which couldn’t possibly be good for his fantasy value.

O.J. Mayo – I’ve caught some heat for ranking Mayo so high, but did you know that he is only one of eleven players to play in all 164 games over the last two seasons and he is second in total minutes played (6233 Minutes) over those two seasons?  Consistency and dependability is a valuable commmodity.

Mustafa Shakur – The Hornets signed Shakur to backup Chris Paul.  They must feel better about Paul’s knee than I do.  AtTheHive.com breaks down Mustafa’s game.

Ishmael Smith – If Mustafa ‘2Pac’ Shakur wasn’t a cool enough name for you, the Rockets have signed Ish Smith to backup Kyle Lowery and Aaron Brooks.  The Rockets can only hope he’s the Ish.

Steve Blake – There seems to be a real battle brewing over whether Blake or Derek Fisher will start for the Lakers, at least until Kobe declares Fisher to be the starter.

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