Waiver Wired: Wired: Hot Pickups for Week 22

Source: Rotoworld Basketball Articles

Marc Gasol's injury means that Ed Davis is going to get plenty of attention on the Waiver Wire this week, but he's not the only beneficiary.

Ed Davis blocks five shots in start at center - Ed Davis | MEM

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Starting at center for the short-handed Grizzlies, Ed Davis finished Saturday's game with 11 points, eight rebounds and a career-high five blocks, despite playing only 19 minutes.

Ed Davis plays well despite Z-Bo's return - Ed Davis | MEM

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ed Davis played 25 minutes and hit 6-of-9 shots for 14 points, nine rebounds, a steal and two blocks in 25 minutes of Tuesday's win over the Blazers, despite the return of Zach Randolph.

Fantasy Beat – Champ or Chump

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Justin Fensterman and Trevor Ray continue to break down the NBA. They discuss the impact of the Rudy Gay trade. Trevor will also throw out some surprise players to Justin and ask him if he sees those players as “Champs or Chumps” the rest of the season.

Rudy Gay, Jose Calderon, Ed Davis, Tayshaun Prince, Robin Lopez, J.J. Redick, Vince Carter, Metta World Peace, Nate Robinson, Larry Sanders, Tyson Chandler

Mostly NBA Notes: Andre Drummond, the Rudy Gay trade and down goes Rondo

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

Andre Drummond has the sixth-most dunks in the NBA despite averaging just 20:11 mpg. He’s one of only six players in the league to average at least 1.5 bpg and 1.0 spg and among those half dozen, his 0.8 tpg are easily the fewest. Drummond has grabbed 32 rebounds over the past two games (in modest playing time as usual), and did I mention he’s just 19 years old? Admittedly, he’s a terrible free throw shooter (he shot 29.5 percent from the line at Connecticut. 29.5!), but Drummond’s 3.92 blocks per-48 minutes rank seventh in the league, ahead of Dwight Howard. Playing with a true point guard (Jose Calderon) for the first time as a pro should be beneficial as well. In

Grizzlies newbies playing, but not starting - Tayshaun Prince | MEM

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Tayshaun Prince, Ed Davis, and Austin Daye will each play in Friday's game against the Wizards, but none of them will start.

Update: Prince, Davis, Daye likely out Friday - Tayshaun Prince | MEM

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Updating a previous item, Tayshaun Prince, Ed Davis and Austin Daye are all likely to be out again for the Grizzlies on Friday.

Prince, Daye, Davis not available Thursday - Tayshaun Prince | MEM

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

New Grizzlies Tayshaun Prince, Ed Davis and Austin Daye are not expected to play on Thursday.

Rudy Gay Trade Fallout

Source: RotoSynthesis

So far, the 'official' part of the deal has Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi headed to Toronto, with Jose Calderon and Ed Davis moseying down to Memphis. Calerdon, however, is expected to be flipped to Detroit for what may be a package of Tayshaun Prince, Austin Daye and a second-round pick.

Here's a look at the fantasy impact of all the moving pieces:

Rudy Gay: Headed to Toronto

Source: RotoWire.com NBA

Rudy Gay: Gay has been traded to Toronto in a three-team deal that sends Ed Davis, Tayshaun Prince, and Austin Daye to the Grizzlies and Jose Calderon to the Pistons, ESPN.com reports. Visit RotoWire.com for more analysis on this update.

Report: Griz, Raptors Have Trade In Place - Rudy Gay | MEM

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Sources tell ESPN's Marc Stein that the Grizzlies and Raptors have a trade in place that would send Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi to Toronto in exchange for Ed Davis and Jose Calderon.

Fantasy Beat – Baseball, Hockey, & Hoops Oh My!

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Justin Fensterman and Trevor Ray are joined by the one and only Ray Flowers. They will discuss some fantasy hockey, breaking down goaltenders and the FSTA draft where Ray drafted. The guys will also make sure you get your Fantasy Basketball fix as Trevor and Justin break down waiver wire guys like; Royce White, Ed Davis, Tiago Splitter and more.

NHL Talk: Braden Holtby, Michael Neuvirth, Henrik Lundqvist, Saku Koivu, Vladimir Tarasenko, P.K. Subban, Ryan O’Reilly, Ryan Smyth, Jay

tasy Beat – Baseball, Hockey, & Hoops Oh My!

Source: Baseball Guys by Ray Flowers

Justin Fensterman and Trevor Ray are joined by the one and only Ray Flowers. They will discuss some fantasy hockey, breaking down goaltenders and the FSTA draft where Ray drafted. The guys will also make sure you get your Fantasy Basketball fix as Trevor and Justin break down waiver wire guys like; Royce White, Ed Davis, Tiago Splitter and more.

NHL Talk: Braden Holtby, Michael Neuvirth, Henrik Lundqvist, Saku Koivu, Vladimir Tarasenko, P.K. Subban, Ryan O’Reilly, Ryan Smyth, Jay

Ed Davis puts up 18 points and 10 boards - Ed Davis | TOR

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ed Davis filled the stat sheet in a loss to the Sixers on Friday with 18 points, 10 boards, six assists, one steal and two blocks in 42 minutes.

Ed Davis goes off for 20 and 12 on Sunday - Ed Davis | TOR

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ed Davis had his fifth double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 boards on Sunday, adding two assists and one steal in 36 minutes.

Report: Bargnani could return to bench role - Andrea Bargnani | TOR

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Andrea Bargnani (elbow), who might be back by the end of January, could be returning to a bench role behind Ed Davis.

Casey: 'It will be hard to bench Ed Davis' - Ed Davis | TOR

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Coach Dwane Casey said Friday that "it will be hard to pull Ed Davis out of the (starting) line up" when Andrea Bargnani (elbow) returns.

Ed Davis plays better in Wednesday's win - Ed Davis | TOR

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ed Davis hit 5-of-7 shots for 11 points, nine rebounds and two blocks on Wednesday.

Mostly NBA Notes: Tim Duncan defying the odds

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

Tim Duncan will turn 37 years old later this season and has accrued 1,324 games during his career (including the postseason). To put this in perspective, a deep playoff run would already have Duncan already approaching Shaquille O'Neal's total games played (speaking of Shaq, how crazy is it that he never once led the NBA in rebounding or blocks in a season throughout his career?). Before this year, Duncan's mpg had decreased in nine of the past 10 seasons, including each of his past six campaigns. This career trajectory isn't unexpected, especially with the Spurs far more worried about a postseason run than finishing with the best possible regular season record, so it was safe to expect more of

Ed Davis answers call with 24 & 12 - Ed Davis | TOR

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ed Davis started in place of Andrea Bargnani (out indefinitely, elbow) and had 24 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and zero blocks in 45 minutes, while hitting 11-of-13 shots in a loss to the Nets.

Ed Davis Posts Double-Double

Source: RotoWire.com NBA

Ed Davis: Davis had 15 points (7-11 FG, 1-2 FT) and 14 boards in 22 minutes Sunday in the Raptors' double-overtime loss to the Spurs. Visit RotoWire.com for more analysis on this update.

Ed Davis goes for 24 and 12 against the Nets - Ed Davis | TOR

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ed Davis scored a career-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting with 12 rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block in Thursday's blowout win over the Nets.

Ed Davis goes for 24 and 12 against the Nets - Ed Davis | TOR

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ed Davis scored a career-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting with 12 rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block in Thursday's blowout win over the Nets.

Amir Johnson scratched, Ed Davis gets the nod - Amir Johnson | TOR

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Amir Johnson (knee) will not play in Monday's game against the Magic.

Fantasy Basketball: Pick Up Golden State Warriors Ekpe Udoh at Center

Source: Bleacher Report NBA

Phew! The abbreviated NBA season is almost halfway done. Like they say, time flies when you’re having fun.

For fans, the season has been a whirlwind of thrilling events, compressed into a short period, providing high-level basketball hoopla on a daily basis. For fantasy basketball fans, it’s been even more exciting—team managers have been rewarded with nightly scoring and point accumulation at an accelerated rate.

Instead of sometimes two or three games in a week during a standard 82-game season, teams can play maybe five

Day 43 of 124: A Not So Super Sunday for the NBA

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Line of the Night: Eli Manning, 296 passing yards, 1 TD, led the Giants…

oh wait, wrong sport.

Line of the Night: There was no way that the NBA was going to compete head-to-head with the Super Bowl, so yesterday’s slate consisted of only two early games. That means Rudy Gay’s (1.64) relatively modest 21 points and 7 rebounds in a 98-80 lost to the Celtics was the best fantasy line of the day. It’s four straight 20+ point games for Gay after that disastrous 1 point game on Jan 30.

Honorable Mentions: Kevin Garnett (1.63) channeled young KG yesterday and led the Celtics with 24 points (on 9-12 from the field) and 9 rebounds.

Court Report: Where have you gone, Dirk Nowitzki?

Source: Roto Arcade by Matt Buser

Dirk Nowitzki's protracted offensive issues continued Wednesday - and arguably hit a low point - as he scored eight points on 2-of-15 shooting and missed all five of his threes in 38 minutes of a 95-86 loss to the Thunder. Nowitzki has now averaged 9.3 points on 28-percent shooting in three games since returning from his rest period and has missed all 11 of his long-range attempts. Dirk says the swelling in his knee is gone, and now it's just a matter of working to get his shooting rhythm back and find confidence in his shooting stroke. We're in a situation where he have to take him at his word that he's feeling fine

Day 40 of 124: Where Brandon Jennings Defies the Odds

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

And somewhere out there, Kendrick Perkins deletes his Twitter account.

Line of the Night: In a year where just about all PGs are struggling (especially with their shots), Brandon Jennings (2.96 WARP) has somehow found a way to improve his FG% from 39% last season to 44% so far this season. Of course, maybe none of that really matters, as Jennings shot just 9-25 from the floor against the Heat, and yet led all fantasy lines last night thanks to 31 points (going 7-14 from three), with 8 assists and 4 steals. Jennings is going to

Court Report: Zach Randolph remains “on schedule”

Source: Roto Arcade by Matt Buser

Zach Randolph had another MRI on Wednesday and all signs point to his still being on schedule as he returns from a torn right MCL, suffered on January 1. His approximate return date remains March 1, with eight weeks remaining in the regular season (~29 team games). Notable for h2h: a March 1 return would be just over three weeks before the start of the default playoffs (March 26), and the Grizzlies are the only team with five games in both the default semifinals and finals (weeks of April 2 and April 9). Z-Bo wouldn't play big minutes in the early stages, no matter when he returns, but could certainly

Day 39 of 124: Efficiency Wins The Night

Source: Give Me The Rock by Nels

Line of the Night:/Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Carmelo Anythony returned for the Knicks after missing two games, but it was Landry Fields (3.04) continuing his recent string of strong performances who took both the overall LotN and by virtue of his 43% ownership, the WWLotN. Fields had 18 points (4 threes, 7-10 from the field, 0-0 from the line), 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 0 turnovers. The Give Me The Rock fantasy basketball player rater always loves it when a guy can make a few threes, get a huge

Court Report: Bad news for MarShon Brooks

Source: Roto Arcade by Matt Buser

A Monday X-ray revealed that MarShon Brooks has a broken right pinky toe, and he's now on the shelf indefinitely. The Nets aren't sure when or how the injury happened and won't establish a specific timetable until after team doctors have a look at him. It's been all bad for Brooks lately, who also has been dealing with Achilles tendinitis and was looking at having his minutes limited in any case. This injury news means Anthony Morrow is locked in at shooting guard, Jordan Farmar will see

Court Report: Week 6 Dashboard

Source: Roto Arcade by Justin Phan

Each Sunday, the Dashboard centralizes all the crucial information fantasy managers need to dominate their weekly head-to-head matchups or climb the standings in their rotisserie leagues. The Dashboard covers schedule analysis, status updates, adds, drops, watch list candidates, and deep league targets for managers of all skill levels. Quite simply, it is a comprehensive weekly cheat sheet packed with every bit of information that you could possibly need.

Week 6 Schedule Grid

Click here for a full season schedule grid.

GMTR Podcast #27: Early Season Surprises and Disappointments

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

In what is becoming a weekly segment on the podcast, Erik and Patrick discuss the week’s latest injuries, including Andrew Bogut’s dim outlook, Andrea Bargnani, Carmelo Anthony and Baron Davis, the crazy tough or possibly just crazy Luol Deng, and some bad news for Rajon Rondo owners. We also discuss Erik’s series of posts where he listed the top players by position over the first month of the season and highlight some of the bigger fantasy surprises and disappointments so far this year.

Click to play or Download here (Right-click and Save As)
Or rock the

Court Report: Bargnani, Bogut headed for MRIs

Source: Roto Arcade by Matt Buser

Andrea Bargnani called Wednesday's calf injury "much worse" than the the first one, which cost him six games. Bargnani is due for an MRI on Thursday but figures to be lost for a while in any case. As we saw during his first stretch of missed games, the Raptors will struggle mightily on offense for as long as he's out. Aaron Gary will likely remain as the starter center by default, but will top out at 20 minutes on most nights. That leaves a combined 124 minutes behind Gray at center and between the two forward spots, which will be divided between James Johnson (SF/PF), Linas Kleiza (SF/PF), Amir Johnson (PF/C), and Ed Davis (PF/C). That means regular playing time for all four players - Johnson deserves near-universal roster

Court Report: The Knicks finally get a win

Source: Roto Arcade by Matt Buser

No, we're not going to see the Knicks win like this on most nights. Carmelo Anthony and Iman Shumpert combined for 1-of-16 shooting, six assists, and four turnovers, while Landry Fields, Amar'e Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler combined for 22-of-34 shooting, nine assists, and no turnovers. The Knicks pounded the hapless Bobcats to the point that Mike D'Antoni saw fit to give playing time to all 13 of his active players - his five starters averaged 29 minutes. New York out-rebounded Charlotte by 20 (53 to 33) and out-assisted them by 16 (26 to 10). A win is a win, and the Knicks sure needed this one, but what will be more notable is how they follow up this

Court Report: Week 5 Dashboard

Source: Roto Arcade by Justin Phan

Each week, the Dashboard centralizes all the crucial information fantasy managers need to dominate their weekly head-to-head matchups or climb the standings in their rotisserie leagues. The Dashboard covers schedule analysis, status updates, adds, drops, watch list candidates, and deep league targets for managers of all skill levels. Quite simply, it is a comprehensive weekly cheat sheet packed with every bit of information that you could possibly need.

Week 5 Schedule Grid

Click here for a full season schedule grid. Hat tip to kiwishaq on the busersports forums.

Week Five, quality

Court Report: Channing Frye, please report to the bench

Source: Roto Arcade by Matt Buser

Alvin Gentry adjusted his starting five on Wednesday - replacing Channing Frye and Jared Dudley with Markieff Morris and Ronnie Price - in what he described as an effort to get more scoring out of his team's second unit. Morris only last six minutes because of stomach flu but his two-way play to this point of the season means this move clearly can stick. While this should largely remain a timeshare with Frye, a more consistent 25 minutes for Morris will produce good numbers - he's averaged 11.1 points, 1.6 threes, 6.9 boards, 0.7 steals, and 0.7 blocks in the eight games where he's

NBA Fantasy Basketball: Finding Waiver Wire Help for Steals and Blocks

Source: Bleacher Report NBA

By this point in time you should be aware of what your team’s shortcomings are and be working on ways to shore things up if you want to win a fantasy basketball championship.

If you are new to fantasy sports and you have not yet found the expanded standings, allow me to open up a whole new world. It’s one thing to check your standings every day and see what your place you’re in, how much ground you’ve gained/lost, but it’s another to know why.

If you look at your expanded standings, you’ll be able to see what stats you are dominating in and which ones are keeping you from the top spot in your league.

To shore up a category, the ideal solution is to find a trading partner and deal from one of your strengths

Day 23 of 124: Off the Wall

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Line of the Night: As long as we’re partying like it’s the year 2006, Joe Johnson (2.89) is crashing that party. On a night where a few guys blew up (more on that below) JJ scored 27 points against the not-exactly-defensively-inclined DeMar DeRozan and the Raptors, and filled up the box score with 3 threes, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks in 36 minutes. One reason to be encouraged if you’re a Johnson owner: since the Al Horford injury, Johnson has had scoring games of 23, 25, and 27 points.

Honorable Mentions: The Sixers continue to look like one of the NBA’s best teams with

Court Report: So about that Zach Randolph injury…

Source: Roto Arcade by Matt Buser

Remember that question mark that was attached to the Court Report's title two days ago? It turns out that Zach Randolph's right knee injury was pretty serious, after all. The Grizz were slow to release official results of Z-Bo's MRI, and have now announced that he's suffered a slight MCL tear that could keep him sidelined for up to eight

Court Report: So about that Zach Randolph injury…

Source: Roto Arcade by Matt Buser

Remember that question mark that was attached to the Court Report's title two days ago? It turns out that Zach Randolph's right knee injury was pretty serious, after all. The Grizz were slow to release official results of Z-Bo's MRI, and have now announced that he's suffered a slight MCL tear that could keep him sidelined for

Day 9 of 124: One Tough Break

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Yesterday’s biggest fantasy news is the…

Injury of the Night: Manu Ginobili (currently the seventh ranked player on the GMTR player rater) broke a bone in his left hand during the Spurs game on Monday and is expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks with the injury. That’s one big nasty ass pill for Manu owners to have to swallow. In Manu’s place over the next month we’re going to see more of rookie James Anderson and Danny Green, as well as Gary Neal when he returns from injury.

In case you were thinking about picking

Court Report Daily – 12.28

Source: Roto Arcade by Yahoo! Sports Staff

The Court Report Daily is a running report of news, notes, injuries, transactions, coachspeak, and anything else related to fantasy basketball, maintained and updated daily with analysis by Matt Buser and Justin Phan.

Wednesday's games (all times ET):
IND@TOR (6:00pm) - Frontcourts in the fantasy focus here, with Roy Hibbert, David West, and

Day 2 of 124: Supersize Me

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Line of the Night: Despite being taken out of the game in the fourth quarter after rolling his right ankle yet again, Stephen Curry (2.22 wins/week) led all fantasy lines last night with 21 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists and 6 steals as the Warriors beat the Bulls 99-91. Curry owners will certainly take this performance over Sunday’s horrible outing, but it’s a little troubling to see him go down with an ankle injury in EVERY game. Curry is day-to-day and is expected to play in the Warriors next game, but eventually one of these injuries is going to get serious for Curry. I’m not saying you should shop him around, but as a Curry owner I’m taking offers…

Honorable Mentions: The

Fantasy Basketball Roundtable: Who Is This Year’s Breakout Fantasy Player?

Source: Give Me The Rock by Nels

We are bringing back the fantasy basketball roundtable this year between three different fantasy basketball blogs. Every week one member of the roundtable will propose a question to the writers on all three sites and all those who choose to will answer.

Hopefully this will lead to lots of good discussion, and hopefully a healthy amount of friendly disagreement as well. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll even learn something by reading what we all think.

To kick things off for our first fantasy roundtable the question was posed by Will from RotoProfessor Basketball. Here is the question and the collection of answers that was received this week:

Who will be the guy this year that comes out of nowhere and ends up being a

2011-12 Fantasy Basketball Round Table: NBA Sleeper Edition

Source: Bleacher Report NBA

We are bringing back the fantasy basketball round table this year between three different fantasy basketball blogs. Every week, one member of the round table will propose a question to the writers on all three sites and all those who choose to will answer.

Hopefully this will lead to lots of good discussion, and hopefully a healthy amount of friendly disagreement as well. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll even learn something by reading what we all think.

To kick things off for our first fantasy round table, the question was posed by Will from RotoProfessorBasketball. Here is the question and the collection of answers that was received this week:

Who will be the guy this year that comes out of nowhere and ends up

Real Draft Results: GMTR Readers League

Source: Give Me The Rock by Erik

Last December 17th, we had our Give Me The Rock Readers League draft. It was, to quote Russell Peters, “Mind Blasting!” No, I didn’t really mean to say “mind blowing.” Lots of things blow my mind, this draft BLASTED it! So without further ado…

Prologue

Allow me to give a little background to how my mind was blasted out of my skull. When Nels, Patrick and I were prepping the pieces we were planning to roll out for the upcoming (at the time) fantasy basketball season, I mentioned to them that I wanted to do a little experiment. For those who are new to reading GMTR, I am a gamer. I play boardgames (far more complex ones than your garden

Fantasy Basketball ADP Report: Finding Sleepers and Busts

Source: Bleacher Report NBA

Everyone wants to know who the sleepers and busts of the fantasy basketball season are going to be. But you can't just ramble off names of guys you like or don't like. Sleepers and busts are all based on value and value is determined by where a guy is going to be drafted.

If you are taking a flier on a guy like Jordan Hill in the last round and he flames out, that's not a bust. That's the risk you take at that point in the draft. However, if you take a guy in the Top 25 and he finishes the season as the 50th best player in the league, that's a bust. A guy doesn't have to play poorly to be a bust—he just has to play worse than expected. And a guy doesn't have to play great to be a sleeper—he just has to exceed