Ryan Anderson will play Friday night vs. Wiz - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson (viral infection) is in the lineup for Friday's game against the Wizards.

Ryan Anderson will attempt to play on Friday - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson, who missed Tuesday's game with a viral infection, did not participate in shootaround on Friday but intends to play against the Wizards.

Ryan Anderson (virus) will not play Tuesday - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson (viral infection) will not play against the Nets on Tuesday.

Ryan Anderson: (Illness) Likely Out Tuesday

Source: RotoWire.com NBA

Ryan Anderson: Anderson is doubtful to play Tuesday at Brooklyn, after he missed morning shootaround due to an illness. Visit RotoWire.com for more analysis on this update.

Ryan Anderson suddenly doubtful on Tuesday - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson (illness) did not participate in shootaround and is doubtful to play on Tuesday.

Mostly NBA Notes: Al Horford blowing up, Stephen Curry on fire and Dirk Nowitzki’s reemergence

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

Previously one of the more durable players in the league, Al Horford destroyed fantasy owners last season when a torn pectoral muscle ended his year after just 11 games played. However, he’s currently averaging career highs in ppg (17.4), rpg (10.0), spg (1.0) and FG% (55.7). Horford has been a top-20 fantasy player this season despite shooting a career-low 60.7 percent at the line, which is nowhere near his career mark of 73.7, so it’s safe to expect improvement there down the stretch. Among those in the top-five in double-doubles this season, only Horford and Dwight Howard also average at least 1.0 spg and 1.0 bpg. Horford’s Usage Rate (20.59) isn’t well above league average, but it’s a career high,

Mostly NBA Notes: LeBron James going next level

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

Over his past seven games leading into the All-Star break, LeBron James has averaged 32.0 ppg while shooting a ridiculous 68.9 percent from the field (80-for-116), becoming the first player in NBA history to score at least 30 points with at least a 60.0 FG% in six straight games (it would have been seven if not for a miss late in Thursday’s win in Oklahoma City). He’s attempted his regular amount of shots at the rim over this span (6.8) compared to his season numbers (6.7, which ranks third in the league behind only Greg Monroe and Nikola Pekovic), but he’s made an insane 89.1 percent of his shots from in close during this stretch – James should be considered the best

Ryan Anderson scores 31 points w/ five 3s - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson caught fire with 31 points, five 3-pointers, four rebounds and two blocks in 31 minutes off the bench on Monday.

Hornets win w/ Anderson's 27 points, seven 3s - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson scored a team-high 27 points with seven 3-pointers as the Hornets hung on for a win vs. the Kings on MLK Day, improving their home record to 7-14.

Ryan Anderson fails to score in win - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson missed all seven of his shots and failed to score for the first time this season Wednesday, finishing a win over the Rockets with five rebounds and nothing else.

Anthony Davis benched, plays just 12 minutes - Anthony Davis | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Anthony Davis picked up a few quick fouls on Saturday and sat out most of the first half, before being benched down the stretch in favor of Ryan Anderson and Jason Smith.

Mostly NBA Notes: Chris Bosh is back

Source: Roto Arcade by Dalton Del Don

Chris Bosh finished his last year in Toronto as the 12th most valuable fantasy player, but he clocked in at 41st and 43rd over his first two seasons in Miami. This year, he’s rejoined the elite, currently sitting at No. 15. He’s done so despite averaging the fewest mpg, rpg and apg since wearing a Heat uniform. Bosh is also shooting the fewest field goals per game since his rookie season, yet he’s attempting the most 3-pointers per game ever (hitting an ugly 25.0 percent clip), but he’s somehow posting the best FG percentage (54.8) of his career. Go figure. His Usage Rate (23.24) is also the lowest since he joined Miami, but the move to center appears to have been a real benefit, as he’s made a

Day 26: Where Metta World Peace Gets His Groove Back

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Line of the Night: Kevin Durant (3.33 WARP) currently sits at the top of our player rater by a huge margin, averaging 1.44 wins/week this year in 9-cat leagues compared to the second best player, LeBron James, at 1.10 wins. And I can see why. Last night was at least the third line of the night performance from Durant so far this season as he led the Thunder to an overtime win over the Sixers with 37 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks in nearly 50 minutes on the court! With Harden gone this season, Durant has actually become a bit more of a playmaker in addition to all the scoring – he’s averaging 4.5 assists per game – up from 3.5 lasts season.

Honorable Mentions: The

Day 25: Where Chandler Parsons Is Not a Waiver Wire Pick Up

Source: Give Me The Rock by Nels

First, let’s just get this video out the way since it was on the national news this morning… your Mom might be asking you about, so you’ll need to know. I think YouTube works in all countries, but just in case: It’s Dwight Howard (in an ugly ass all white uniform) with Carmelo (in what appears to be an all orange uniform), Joe Johnson in all black (which actually works for that one), Russell Westbrook, and Dwyane Wade, all dribbling basketballs in time to the Carol of the Bells to promote their special (and generally awful) Christmas Day uniforms. If the Celtics have an all green version, I can see that working, and the Heat’s all red seems okay, but man, they really put some weird looking ones up there with the Lakers and

Ryan Anderson scores career-high 35 - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson, making another start for injured Anthony Davis (ankle) hit eight 3-pointers on his way to a career-high 34 points to go along with 11 rebounds, two steals and a block in Friday's overtime win.

Day 23: Where Kevin Love Owners Are The Most Thankful

Source: Give Me The Rock by Nels

But if you look at the lines below, a lot of other people have performances to be thankful for too. It’s like these guys knew that they had a day off today or something…

Comeback Line of the Night: Kevin Love (1.31) came back with only the 24th best performance of the night. Out of 289 players. You see why we said he was still worth a first round pick? Oh, you need to know his actual line? 34 points on 12 of 25 from the field (only 2-9 for three,

Day 22: Where Nick Young Has Swag

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Line of the Night/ Waiver Wire Line of the Night : with only three games last night, Nick Young (1.92) snuck in with an efficient 23 points, with 3 threes, 4 assists, 0 turnovers and 1 crazy-ass shot coming off the bench for the Sixers. It’s probably the least impressive line of the night we’ve had so far this year, but you don’t typically put the words “efficient” and “”Nick Young” together in the same sentence, so at least that is a surprise. And while I wouldn’t run

Day 16: Where the Sixers Have an Appetite for (their own) Destruction

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Line of the Night: It was only a matter of time before Kevin Durant (2.82 WARP) broke out in a big way; and that came last night against the Grizzlies, where Durant scored 34 points, adding 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a couple blocks. It came in a whopping 44 minutes, but if you’re the Thunder you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do when you don’t have the league’s best sixth man to give your starters a breather. It’s also Durant’s first game over 30 points this season. He truly is a microbe y’all.

Honorable Mentions: Carlos Boozer (2.00) took

Day 11: Tim Duncan in “Old Man’s War”

Source: Give Me The Rock by Nels

Line of the Night: By my count, 26 teams played last night, and while the Honorable Mentions are filled with young and up-n-coming players, one man rose above them all, just as he’s tended to do time and again for the entirety of his career. Tim Duncan (2.89) score 23 points on 9-12 from the field, with 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 4 blocks in San Antonio’s win over Sacramento. With Oklahoma City weakened and the Lakers floundering (“Hard to sell the story you’re not panicking when you fire your head coach five games in” –

Ryan Anderson likely to start for Davis Wed. - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson is likely to start for Anthony Davis (concussion) on Wednesday.

And the Preseason MVP is…

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

You can’t say that Chris Bosh isn’t a winner. First an NBA title, now the 2012-13 NBA preseason fantasy MVP, at least according to our calculations. Sporting a cumulative WARP (wins/week) of 2.00, Bosh narrowly edges out Jae Crowder (1.93 WARP) and Byron Mullens (1.81) to take home the hardware.*

Technically, this just includes games through 10/26 because that’s what was available on Dougstats, the only place I saw the preseason stats compiled into a nice exportable format. But it’s the preseason and close enough is good enough for me.

Bosh did gain an

Top 35 Fantasy Power Forwards for the 2012-13 Season

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Power forward is arguably the deepest position in the league. This year, 35 power forwards might actually get drafted in many leagues. But don’t take my word for it, let’s jump right in…

Tier 1: Give Them a Hand

1. Kevin Love (4), Minnesota Timberwolves

We assumed that Love was an unstoppable force in fantasy leagues, turns out all it took was a few pushups to set him back. Yes, Love is expected to miss the first 4 to 6 weeks of the season after breaking a bone in his hand while

How to Build a Fantasy Basketball Team with Good Percentages

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Effective percentages are something of a geek out stat for me. Because the percentage categories are a little trickier to deal with than the counting categories in H2H and especially roto leagues, I like to calculate something called effective percentages. I’ve discussed this on the site many times before, but the percentage categories are ratio statistics (where made baskets are divided by attempts) and as a result, you simply cannot add them together to create an average. It can also be difficult to compare one player to another because players

GMTR Readers’ Mock Draft Results

Source: Give Me The Rock by Nels

I’m not a betting man… In fact, I’d rather bet on NFL football than bet on anything related to a fantasy basketball draft… especially a mock draft. I mean, Dirk Nowitzki at #6 is already a bit of a surprise… Let’s see what else this Readers’ Mock Draft has in store…

Round Team Player Pos Team R1 P1 Pha Jamma Slamma James, LeBron SF MIA R1 P2 donaghybets Durant, Kevin SF OKC R1 P3 Ball Till I Fall Love, Kevin PF MIN R1 P4 Erik@GMTR Paul, Chris PG LAC R1 P5 Ty Lawless Westbrook, Russell PG OKC R1 P6 StickyMamba Nowitzki, Dirk PF DAL R1 P7 Nels@GMTR Jefferson, Al PF UTA R1 P8 Stanfordhooper Irving, Kyrie PG CLE R1 P9 unclerini Smith,

Mock Draft Results and Analysis 2012-13

Source: Give Me The Rock by Erik

I know you like mock draft results. Who doesn’t? I promised on on Give Me The Rock’s Facebook page, a little bit too soon, that I would participate in a Yahoo! mock draft and post the results. Three weeks too early, it was tough to get a slot in a mock I was sure would fill up. Maybe it’s my timezone. Whatever. I finally got into one in a draft position that was requested by the most people who replied to the thread, middle position.

As you may or may not know, I’m fond of doing mock drafts. I like to get around 10 or so under my belt before my first real

Mostly NBA Notes: Point Guard Problems

Source: Roto Arcade by deldon

After posting my first Big Board earlier this month, it's become clear Rajon Rondo is one of the bigger debates in fantasy basketball. Like Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin, his value obviously depends on format, but even so, the majority seemed to think I had him ranked too low, and that's certainly defensible when you consider he led the NBA in assists with 11.7 per game last year (next best was 10.7), finished top-five in spg for the fourth straight season and led all points guards with 4.8 rpg. Rondo is clearly an elite NBA player who continues to only get better - he handed out 13.2 apg after the All-Star break last season and is coming

Top 20 Three-point Shooters of the 2011-12 NBA Season

Source: Give Me The Rock by Erik

I’ve often mused on and discussed that three-point shooting is often the “easiest” to find or scour for in the FA pool once the season has begun. Related to the streakiness of its nature, a relatively good shooter can heat up and catch fire anywhere from a couple of games to a couple of weeks. Don’t get me wrong though, if you intend to win this category, you’ve got to pile on those shooters, hard. It can get really competitive because of its abundance.

When it comes to this cat, averages can be misleading. It’s true that Chauncey Billups was lighting it up, but then again he only

Top 20 Rebounders of the 2011-12 NBA Season

Source: Give Me The Rock by Erik

Allow me to begin with a (moderately) bold prediction. We’re going to see Kevin Love edge out Dwight Howard as the top rebounder for the 2012-13 season. Hey, I did say “moderately bold.”

The rebounding category is a very interesting animal. It’s generally a multi-habitat critter, able to find homes in Big Ball (obviously), Mid Ball, and yes even Small Ball drafting strategies. The rebounds cat is what small-ball teams occasionally dip into as far as securing or competing in extra categories are concerned. While a big ball team will be looking for a rebounder who adds blocks, a small ball team

Who Should Be Picked Fifth Overall?

Source: Give Me The Rock by Erik

One of the bigger questions I imagine that would be asked in preparation for this upcoming fantasy basketball season is “Who should be picked fifth overall?” Fifth? What’s so special about the fifth pick this year?

Well as far as I see it, the first four picks are crystal clear. There’s no question, well at least there shouldn’t be, as to who are the players being considered in the Top 4. Patrick puts it in a clearer perspective that there’s a clear one-two tier, and a clear second two. Kevin Durant and Lebron James, with respective 2011-12 WARPS of 1.26 and 1.24 are the obvious “best options” for the

Who Will Be This Season’s Second-Round Steal?

Source: Give Me The Rock by Erik

As Nels, Patrick and I are quietly working hard behind the scenes preparing all the important research, ratings, rankings, and analysis that you will need for this upcoming fantasy NBA season, I took some time out to wonder who would be this season’s “second-round steal”. You know, that one player who slipped through the cracks of the first round of the draft and ended up delivering quality first-round value nonetheless.

I’m not even going to mention Ryan Anderson in this mix, as he truly came out of nowhere but finished seventh overall on GMTR’s player rater. I don’t think there really were any Anderson-owners who spent their second-round pick on him. – Luck dogs! I’m talking about the players

Fantasy Basketball Sleepers: 15 Names You Need to Know on Draft Day

Source: Bleacher Report NBA

Any competent sports fan can tell you that drafting LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and the other stars of the NBA is a good idea during your draft. However, these 15 fantasy basketball sleepers are the ones who will help give you the slight edge necessary to take home a virtual trophy. 

These aren't even sleepers on the Ryan Anderson or Wesley Matthews level. Led by Nikola Pekovic—easily the best player in this article—these are truly deep sleepers. 

They're the ones who can put you over the top in a single category

Dwight Howard Traded to the Lakers – Fantasy Implications

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

As first reported by ESPN, it appears that the long awaited Dwight Howard trade saga has come to an end, as a four-team trade involving Howard was agreed upon in principal on Thursday evening. The teams will conference with the NBA on Friday to get league approval and make it official.

Sources indicate that the trade will send Howard to the Lakers. In exchange the Philadelphia 76ers will get Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson, the Denver Nuggets will acquire Andre Iguodala, and the Magic will get

Ryan Anderson: Acquired by New Orleans

Source: RotoWire.com NBA

Ryan Anderson: The Hornets have acquired Anderson in exchange for Gustavo Ayon in a sign-and-trade with the Magic, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Visit RotoWire.com for more analysis on this update.

Gustavo Ayon: Traded to Magic

Source: RotoWire.com NBA

Gustavo Ayon: Ayon will be traded to the Magic as part of a sign-and-trade deal sending Ryan Anderson to the Hornets, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Visit RotoWire.com for more analysis on this update.

Ryan Anderson: Acquired by Orlando

Source: RotoWire.com NBA

Ryan Anderson: The Hornets have acquired Anderson in exchange for Gustavo Ayon in a sign-and-trade with the Magic, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Visit RotoWire.com for more analysis on this update.

Magic, Hornets agree to Ryan Anderson trade - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Updating a previous report, the Magic and Hornets have agreed to a sign-and-trade sending Ryan Anderson to New Orleans and Gustavo Ayon to Orlando.

Magic, Hornets close to Ryan Anderson trade - Ryan Anderson | NO

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Updating a previous report, the Magic and Hornets have completed a sign-and-trade sending Ryan Anderson to New Orleans and Gustavo Ayon to Orlando.

Magic, Hornets close to Ryan Anderson trade - Ryan Anderson | ORL

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Updating a previous report, the Magic are close to sending Ryan Anderson to the Hornets in a sign-and-trade deal, in exchange for Gustavo Ayon.

Magic, Hornets discussing Ryan Anderson trade - Ryan Anderson | ORL

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Updating a previous report, the Magic are discussing a sign-and-trade that would send Ryan Anderson to the Hornets.

2012 NBA Draft Fantasy Basketball Impact – Part 2

Source: Give Me The Rock by Nels

Welcome to picks 11-20. If you’re looking for the guys who are still standing on the edge of the cliff looking over, picks 1-10 are over here. But there are a few situations in the second third of the first round (wow, I just wrote that) that are worth looking at, because one or two transactions could turn a rookie into a rookie with fantasy value.

11. Portland – Meyers Leonard (C)

After picking up Damian Lillard with their first pick, Portland went in

Anderson to be named Most Improved Player - Ryan Anderson | ORL

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson will be announced as the recipient of the Most Improved Player Award on Friday.

Give Me The Rock 2012 Fantasy Basketball Awards After Party

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Nels handed out some fantasy hardware the other day with the GMTR fantasy basketball awards ceremony So consider this post the after party.

If you read GMTR, then you are probably aware that we post recaps every day that cover the best and the worst of previous day’s worth of games. Every day we hand out the line of the night (the best fantasy line of the night according to the GMTR player rater), waiver wire line of the night (best fantasy

Give Me The Rock 2012 Fantasy Basketball Awards Ceremony

Source: Give Me The Rock by Nels

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the annual Give Me The Rock 2012 Fantasy Basketball Awards (The Rockies? The Gimmes? Other suggestions? Leave a comment!). While a normal awards show would being with some sort of red carpet special, I have simply substituted something you’ll find just as entertaining (above). The show would then carry on with some sort of musical number by the host, but since this is just a written article that will have to wait for our video podcast (Ed. note: There will be no video podcast).

So, with that out of the way, let’s

Ryan Anderson, Redick, Jameer, J-Rich are out - Ryan Anderson | ORL

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson, J.J. Redick, Jameer Nelson, Glen Davis and Jason Richardson are all resting in Thursday's regular season finale.

Top 50 Fantasy Basketball Keepers for 2012

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

This is GMTR’s top 50 long-term keeper list for fantasy basketball keeper leagues. It is based on a player’s estimated fantasy value over the next five seasons. I wrote up the summaries a few games before the end of the season, so the final end of the season stats may differ slightly from the ones presented below.

A quick note about this list. It’s tough enough to predict player value for next week, never mind five years from now. Any long-term keeper list needs to balance experience (and predictability) with youth and potential. Therefore, this list trends more towards experience than one might expect because those are the

Day 123 of 124: DNP: Rest

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Day 123 provides us with plenty of examples of why you should not run your H2H fantasy league to the very end of the season. The Sixers, Spurs and Bucks basically sat their entire starting lineups last night. Stars who are even remotely hurt will sit out the final games – Danny Granger, Chris Paul and Andre Iguodala all sat with injuries. And stars that do play will often get the early curtain call, like Steve Nash and Kyrie Irving did last night. It all makes for a mess in the final days of the season.

Line of the Night: Except we can always count on the Thunder. OKC played their final game of the

Day 120 of 124: A Peaceful Elbow To The Head

Source: Give Me The Rock by Erik

It was as a foul that was heard across the NBA and the fantasy basketball universe, which unfortunately echoed and reverberated in my last remaining, ongoing fantasy basketball championship matchup. James Harden suffered a concussion as he was elbowed in the head by the Lakers’ Metta World Peace after Peace completed slam on the fast break, in LA’s double overtime victory over the OKC Thunder. It now makes it uncertain as to whether or not Harden will be able to play in Oklahoma City’s last two games of the regular season. I own Harden, and the double-stinger of the situation is that I also own the not-so-peaceful Mr. World Peace. But my rant does not end there, my finals match extends up to the

Day 119 of 124: Where the Miami Heat Declare the Regular Season to be Over

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Line of the Night: Ty Lawson (2.93 WARP). 29 points (on 10-16 from the field), with 5 threes and 10 assists for Lawson as he helped Denver to a 118-107 win over Phoenix. Lawson has now scored 20+ points in four straight games and is ranked #8 on the GMTR player rater over the last week. Unlike a lot of players this season, Lawson is one guy who is finishing the year strong.

Honorable Mentions: Brandon Jennings (2.20) is at least in the discussion of most improved fantasy player this season – he’s current #14 on the GMTR player rater YTD thanks to games like this – 30 points, 3 threes, 6 rebounds, 6

Day 114 of 124: This Overtime Goes to Three

Source: Give Me The Rock by Patrick

Line of the Night: With Dwyane Wade sitting out yet another game on the second night of a Miami back-to-back, LeBron James (2.62) took over for the Heat last night, scoring 37 points – including Miami’s last 17 straight – adding 6 rebounds and 7 assists and going 14-15 from the line to lead the Heat to a 101-98 win over the Nets. Hey, it was the Nets, but still an impressive run from James nonetheless. Unfortunately, Miami still has two more sets of back-to-back games this season, so expect Wade and possibly even LeBron to get a couple more games off down the stretch.

Honorable Mentions: Utah and Dallas played a triple-OT game that ended with Utah winning 123-121, so it’s no surprise to

Anderson posts 26 & 16; Nelson hits 16 & 13 - Ryan Anderson | ORL

Source: Rotoworld Basketball

Ryan Anderson scored 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting (including two threes) with 16 rebounds and a block in the Magic's 113-100 win over the Sixers on Monday.