Fantasy Island

Fantasy Basketball: Thursday Night Action

Here's the biggest news from Thursday night's action:

-- Rasheed Wallace has been somewhat disappointing this season, even if he does qualify at the center position. But tonight against the Spurs, Sheed came alive with 23 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. His numbers are up in the month of January and lets hope that continues.

-- The Suns were a shell of a team tonight against the Jazz as Shawn Marion (elbow), Steve Nash (flu) and Grant Hill (appendectomy) all did not play. Not surprisingly, the Jazz cruised to a 108-86 win. Marion and Nash are expected back soon but Grant Hill will miss at least two weeks after surgery.

-- In the same game, Jazz center Mehmet Okur had 22 points and 17 rebounds. Okur has been hobbled by injuries all season and it was the first time he cracked double digits in rebounds since November 7th.

-- John Salmons (28 points) and Francisco Garcia (22 points) owners should enjoy tonights big performances aginst Memphis because that will change when Mike Bibby and Kevin Martin return probably some time next week.

Fantasy Basketball: Rebounding Help

In need of rebounding?

Look no further than these one dimensional glass-hounds.

Nick Collison, Seattle: Collison doesn't do much else, but he does board. He's battled through injuries, but over hte past week is averaging 8.6 rebounds and 8.5 points to go with almost a block. The Sonics seem committed to getting him minutes too, which always helps.

Jeff Foster, Indiana: Foster is an amazing case because he pulls down lots of rebounds no matter how much he plays. I have no doubt he would lead the league in rebounding if he consistently played 34-40 minutes per game. You'd be looking at a 20-board per game player. His lack of offensive skills keep him on the bench though. Still, you could do much worse for your fantasy team than the 8.5 boards per game he's averaged over the past week. A nice cheap source of rebounding.

Reggie Evans, Philadelphia: Another guy who lives smiply to rebound. I'm not sure if he even looks at a basket during a game, let alone think about shooting. He's a go-to-guy for fantasy owners for some qucik rebounding. If it's late in the week and you need to squeeze out as many rebounds as possible, look Evans way. He averages over 8 boards per game.

Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire: T-Wolves aplenty....

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been a veritable goldmine for fantasy owners this season. Sure, they're the worst team in the NBA, but what do we the fantaysy community care? They routiniely produce big numbers, you just have to watch the trends. Here's the latest on the T-Wolves and a few others to keep an eye on.

Craig Smith, Minnesota: I'm officially off the bandwagon here. He's just too inconssistent and right now just isn't getting any minutes.

Rashad McCants, Minnesota: He continues to light it up from downtown so continue to ride the wave.

Marko Jaric, Minnesota: His last three games, his minutes have been way up and so have his numbers.

Anthony Carter, Denver: Chucky Atkins just went down with a big injury, and Carter is putting up sick assist numbers. Go get him now while he's still out there.

Juan Carlos Navarro, Memphis: Don't be fooled by his 20-point outburst a few days ago. His minutes are too volatile to expect any real consistency. Only worth owning in deep leagues.

Fantasy Basketball: Conley Getting PT

Memphis Grizzlies' rookie point guard Mike Conley was a popular preseason sleeper before he A) hurt at the start of the season and B) relegated mostly to the bench when he was available.

But in his first game back from injury on Jan. 2nd, Conley was inserted in to the starting lineup and put up a very enticing line in 35 minutes: seven points, eight assists, six rebounds and three steals.

His line in the Jan. 4th game against Boston was less impressive (10 points, 4 assists), but the key here is that the talented Conley got lots of minutes with another 35.

It's unlikely that many owners were stashing Conley on their bench, so he could still be available. Conley is a very nice pick up right now, especially if you need a point guard.

--- Tyson Chandler has been a beast in the New Year, following up a Jan. 2nd 15 rebound performance with a 22 point-22 rebound outing on Jan. 4th against Golden State (Golden State being the team in the NBA least concerned about defense). Chandler has been his solid rebounding self this season, averaging 12.3 per game. A must play at the center position.

--- With Tracy McGrady nowhere to be found in Houston, enigmatic guard Rafer Alston has picked up the scoring slack in a big way. by scoring 60 points over his last three games. If your league mates are slacking, he could be available on the waiver wire.

--- There are fewer players more frustrating than Rashad McCants, or any Timberwolve for that matter. McCants and his young cohorts seem to alternate big games on a nightly basis. Case in point, McCants went off for 34 points last night. Rashad has talent and is a great sourse of three's, but has been very inconstent. See also Craig Smith, Ryan Gomes and Marko Jaric if you want further proof. The only truly reliable player for Minnesota has been Al Jefferson, who has been absolutely beastly.