Fantasy Island

Fantasy Basketball: Who's Hot

Andrew Bynum, LA Lakers - The big man has been a breakout player this season and you have to think he'll only get better. Has averaged 20.5 points and 10.5 rebounds over his last four games as he attempts to move in to the elite of fantasy centers.

Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets - Over the past week he is averaging 33.7 points per game. For a while it appeared he was taking a back seat to Iverson, but Melo has exploded recently for some real big games.

Antawn Jamison, Washington -  Continues to be underrated and taken for granted in most fantasy circles. Great numbers over the past week as he's averaged 27.7 points and over 11 boards.

Joe Johnson, Atlanta - The Hawaks first option has been a scoring and assist machine while pouring in the three's. Over the last week has averaged 29 points and eight and a half assists.

Marvin Williams, Atlanta - He's been an impressive scorer this year and has four straight games over 40 points.

Rashad McCants, Minnesota - The second year player had been heating up and draining lots of three's before cathing the flu earlier in the week. He's streaky as hell, but he's available in plenty of leagues.

Chris Kaman, LA Clippers - By now we all know how good he has been, but his numbers have simply been unreal of late. Averaging 22 points and 14 and a half boards over the past week.

Andre Miller, Philadelphia - His assist numbers are down, but his points are way up. He's scored 20 or more points in four of his last five games and is averaging 22 points per game over the past week.

Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix - Recorded his first double-double in ages on Dec. 22 as he scored 28 points and had 11 rebounds. Is getting healthy and his recent spike in scoring proves it.

Fantasy Basketball: Memo to Nets...Play Sean Williams

If you've watched the New Jersey Nets at all this season, it's pretty obvious that they're a bad team.

Remember, this is a team that has lost twice to the Knicks this month. That could be grounds to be thrown out of the NBA, I have to look in to that.

The Nets are a bad team in real life, but they've got some guys who are producing (and could produce) some real nice fantasy numbers. Richard Jefferson has been phenomenal, Jason Kidd is always good, and if Lawrence Frank has any smarts, he would give rookie Sean Williams as many minutes as possible.

My buddy and I were watching the Knicks-Nets game the other night and were amazed that the Nets were not giving Williams more run.

Well, last night, the Nets played WIlliams for over 40 minutes and the kid produced 11 points, seven rebounds and EIGHT BLOCKED SHOTS. Not bad. Now c'mon Frank, keep the rook in the lineup.

Fantasy Football: Moss, Owens, Brady come up short...

When Adrian Peterson danced in to the end zone late Monday night, my championship hopes in my most important league were dashed. Thanks to pickups like Justin Fargas, Derek Anderson and Earnset Graham, my team rebounded from and 0-3 start and the early injuries of Steven Jackson and Deuce Mccallister to qulaify for the league playoffs for a fourth straight year.

This past Sunday, however, it was my studs who carried me all year that did me in. Those studs would be Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. I had the good fortune and superior hindsight to draft both, and both seemed to have dream matchups this weekend. Moss was going up against the lowly Jets in the aftermath of SpyGate, and T.O. would be looking to burn his former team, the Eagles, yet again.

But, it didn't pan out.

Moss and Brady alike had their worst performances of the season, neither getting in to the end zone once. T.O. was grounded when Tony Romo injured his thumb, leaving the Cowboys vertical passing game powerless. (And please, can we stop with the "Romo was bad because Jessica Simpson was there" nonsense. It had nothing to do with it and I'm sick of hearing about this no-talent former reality star.)

Anyway, it was a painful way for me to go out, and many other owners felt the same sting of defeat. After guys like Brady, Moss and T.O. were so good all year, it takes one bad performance in a fantasy playoff week to crush your season.

Fantasy Basketball: Captain Kirk back on track...

Kirk Hinrich was a major disappointment for the first month of the season, but he's showing every indication of turning it around. Over his last four games he's scored in double figures three times and has 28 assists.

Hinrich is too good to stay down for too long, so nice job if you stayed the course or acquired him cheaply via trade.

- Hakim Warrick has put up two straight solid games for the Grizzlies. That's because he's finally got some minutes with Stromile Swift out with an illness. Let's hope he's earned some permanent run with the Grizz. I snatched him up in one of my leagues and am hoping for the best.

- Hours after posting about my high hopes for Craig Smith, he went out and dropped 36 points on Tuesday. Of course, he followed that with an eight-point performance the next night. It's never easy for fantasy players. Minnesota is such a young team that playng time is bound to be volatile. Here's to hoping Smith has earned and can keep some minutes.

- Here are two stat lines from Thursday night you won't see again soon: Kareem Rush scored 22 points against the Bulls and Kirk Humphries scored 16 points and had 12 boards against the Mavericks. Can you say FLUKE?

- Paul Millsap had a big game in the absence of Mehmet Okur. If Okur misses an extended period of time Millsap should benefit Big Time.

- Joel Przybilla had his second straight game with 10 rebounds on Thursday. Watch to see if he continues to play because he fills up the stat sheet with blocks and rebounds.

Fantasy Basketball: Craig Smith coming alive...

Minnesota's Craig Smith has been a big contributor lately, and I was able to pick him up today in both of my leagues.

On December 6th Smith had 20 points and nine rebounds and on December 8th he had 16 points and eight rebounds. If he continues to get minutes, he should produce so I am psyched to see what Smith can do from here on out.

-- Another pickup I made today which was Portland's Steve Blake. Blake is reliable for three-pointers and a solid amount of assists. Anything else you get tis gravy, and he was better than some of the other stiffs I had sucking it up on my bench.

Fantasy Basketball: Juan Carlos Cools Off...

Juan Carlos Navarro of the Grizzlies was one of my favorite waiver wire pickups so far this year. He hit the three consistently and every night seemed to offer up a new surprise with lots of rebounds or assists.

Well, Navarro has cooled off considerably lately, having scored only four points in his last two games. That hurts, and it means I was forced to cut him in one of my leagues. I held on to him in another, deciding to give him one last shot tonight. We'll see, but I'm not optimistic.

Fantasy Football: Bush out for the Season?

Word came down yesterday that Reggie Bush suffered a fairly serious knee injury and could have been out for the season. The Saints are backing off from saying he is done for the year, but he will definitely not play this Monday night.

When Deuce McAllister got hurt in Week 1, most thought Bush would turn in to some sort of Fantasy Super hero, but it didn't happen. If you're not in a Points Per Recpetion league, I think Bush is overrated. I was involved in a deal early in the season that included Bush, but the other owner backed out (in very poor fashion) of the deal. It turns out I was able to keep the then injured Steven Jackson, who helped me make a strong push towards a playoff spot after an 0-3 start. So sometimes those deals you don't make are best ones.

As for Bush, I won't draft him next year unless he falls pretty far. A big name, but he just hasn't produced the way we thought he could.

Fantasy Basketball: Headaches for Kidd Owners?

Jason Kidd reportedly sat out last night's loss to the Knicks with a "migraine headache".

But, rumblings are that Kidd is actually "On Strike", sitting out in hopes of getting a beefy contract extension or a trade. This should be interesting.....

Kidd has always had some issues if it's wife abuse or whatever. He is a weird guy so this news doesn't surprise me if it is in fact true.

Fantasy Basketball: Maxiell on the Rise

Detroit Piston F/C Jason Maxiell has been phenomenal the past week.

Over his past four games, he's pulled down 40 rebounds and is scoring at a nice clip too. I had Maxiell pegged as a preseason sleeper, and after Rasheed Wallace went down with an injury, Maxiell showed what he could so, taking full advantage of the PT.

Maxiell looks like he has earned a steady share of minutes, so enjoy the benefits if you were qucik enough to snap him up. The center eligibility is a big plus too.

Fantasy Basketball: Bibby and Injury Issues

The news came down recently that Mike Bibby will not rush back from his thumb injury. Us Bibby owners who have been patiently waiting will have to wait another 5-7 weeks until he returns.

If you're languishing at the bottom of the league, like I am in the league in which I own Bibby, it's time to make a move on him. I can't afford to wait any longer and I offered him up for Rajon Rondo to the guy who is winning the league. I think that's more than a fair offer, but it was rejected.

I refuse to drop Bibby so I just offered him for Jordan Farmar. Let's see what happens.

The bottom line is that when you're in the bottom of the league, and you're being hammered by injuries, you can't wait for guys to get healthy. You have to make a move before you get too buried.