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I haven’t been able to update this section lately but all is not too late since there are still a lot of players you can pick up to help your team reach first place or just enough to make to the playoffs. We are down to our last month so it’s important that you play close attention to the waiver wires and fix your roster everyday. So here are some of the fantasy basketball pick ups you may still find.

Chris Andersen, PF-C, Denver Nuggets (22% owned)

With Nene out, Andersen will get the bulk of minutes at the center position and he is a very good source for blocks and rebounds. When Nene comes back, as long as you’re in a deep league you can still hold on to him.

Marreese Speights, C, Philadelphia 76ers (10% owned)

He has been up and down mainly because he is a rookie but if you’re in a deep league you have to have this guy on your roster. Good source of rebounds, blocks and fg%.

Fred Jones, SG, LA Clippers (4% owned)

The Clippers are clearly struggling and they’ve had a hard time having able bodies to play on a nightly basis that’s why journeyman Fred Jones has been given a chance. He has scored double figures in four out of the last five games and is a decent source of threes and steals. Surprisingly, he has been giving a block in three straight.

Kyle Weaver, SG, Oklahoma City Thunder (1% owned)

This guy has been under the radar of most people but he has been producing lately. 45% FG shooting for a guard with a three in the last five out of six games. An all around guy who will give you three rebounds and three assists, a steal and very good ft shooting. Surprisingly, his scoring has been up after the trade for Thabo Sefalosha to the Thunder.

Kurt Thomas, C, San Antonio Spurs (3% owned)

The veteran can still play that’s for sure as he has been playing well of late grabbing rebounds and with that occasional putbacks. The Spurs will try to be cautious with Duncan’s knee as we near the playoffs, Thomas is the only reliable big man off the bench for them. Grab him if you really need help in the boards.

Nicola Batum, SG-SF, Portland Trailblazers (2% owned)

He has been scoring double figures in three out of the last four games and has been hot shooting the three. An all around guy also who will give you steals and an occasional block. But this guy should only be grabbed if you’re in a deep league.

Michael Finley, SG-SF, San Antonio Spurs (14% owned)

He has been hot with the threes lately due to an increase in minutes when Manu Ginobili went down with an injury. He won’t be on fire every night but as long as he is getting minutes the points, threes and occasional steals will keep on flowing. Grab him now!

Brandon Rush, G-F, Indiana Pacers (3% owned)

You knew how he was capable of scoring 20 in a games in December when Dunleavy was out. Now that he is given minutes, it’s also a given that he will score in double figures in most games in the last month of the regular season. Just be sure you can take his 37% fg shooting.

Other players you may pick up:

Goran Dragic, PG, Phoenix Suns – A short term pick up if Nash will be out a little longer.
Antoine Wright, SG, Dallas Mavericks – Grab him if he is still in the waiver wires.
Francisco Elson, C, Milwaukee Bucks – The Bucks are thin at the center position and he’s starting.
Travis Diener, PG, Indiana Pacers – No Granger. No Dunleavy. Ford is in and out of the lineup.
Keyon Dooling, PG, New Jersey Nets – Good source of points and threes.

I’ll be keeping this post short because all I can say is that Devin Harris’ buzzer beater was one crazy shot!

The Chicago Bulls and the Sacramento Kings made a trade with less than 24 hours left before the trade deadline where the Bulls got Brad Miller and John Salmons in exchange for Drew Gooden, Andres Nocioni and Cedric Simmons.

This will be Miller’s second stint in Chicago while Gooden is slowly being labeled as a journeyman.

With this trade happening, it sure will free up more minutes for Spencer Hawes unless Gooden plays the center position and Jason Thompson stars at the power forward position. Andres Nocioni can start at small forward and take the place of Salmons but this is the lineup I’d like to see out there.

PG – Beno Udrih
SG – Kevin Martin
SF – Jason Thompson
PF – Drew Gooden
C- Spencer Hawes

As for the Bulls, it looks like the they aren’t done trading yet as it is rumored that Kirk Hinrich will also be moved to Minnesota together with Thabo Sefalosha for Jason Collins and Brian Cardinal. If this trade happens it would be made for financial reasons and for the Bulls to have financial relief.

This would also be a great trade for the Wolves as they get a combo guard who could play well beside Randy Foye. They also get a good defender in Sefalosha just in case Corrie Brewer doesn’t heal well for next year. As for McCants, he’ll have more DNP-CDs.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will be getting Tyson Chandler from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith and DeVon Hardin.

Tyson Chandler has been out the past 12 games with an ankle injury but hasn’t played well this year after averaging a double double, with 11.8 points and rebounds, last season. This trade also frees up some of the log jam in OKC as they were able to make a two for 1 big man trade.

Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith will be serviceable big men for the Hornets but they would be lacking the defensive presence and shot blocking ability of Chandler. They also got the rights to DeVon Hardin, who was drafted in the second round of the 2008 draft, but didn’t sign with the Thunder.

This trade looks to be more related to the Hornets’ salary cap as they would want to get the expiring contract of Smith in order to be able to offer Chris Paul more money the following year.

As for the trade’s fantasy impact, it looks like the main big men that will be playing in Oklahoma City will be Tyson Chandler, Nick Collison and Nenad Krstic. It looks like Tyson Chandler will be moving in the starting lineup with Collison going to the bench. Another would be bringing Kyle Weaver off the bench and putting both Collison and Chandler in the starting lineup. I doubt they would be doing this unless matchup problems force them to since they’ve been playing well lately with Weaver on the court.

As for the Hornets, Wilcox will get lots of minutes and you should get him if you need help in rebounds and fg%. Just don’t count on him giving you blocks on a nightly basis.

Here’s a video I saw on ESPN.com where they analyze if Amar’e Stoudemire will leave or will he stay and run ‘n gun as a Phoenix Sun.

In the 2009 All Star game, Shaq opened the introductions with a dance presentation with the Jabbawockeez. It was so hilarious that this could have been one of the best All-Star game introductions.

This just tops everything from Nate Robinson winning the slam dunk competition to Derrick Rose winning the skills challenge to even Shaq winning co-MVP honors with Kobe Bryant in the All Star game. This was just a crazy display of dance skills. It sure looks like Shaquille O’neal can retire from the NBA and pursue another career in dancing.

The Jabbawockeez, who won the MTV hip hop dance reality series America’s Best Dance Crew, looked really small and were just like decorations to Shaq. But of course they’re not because the Jabbawockeez are really good. They actually made Shaq’s dance better and this was better than his dance moves against Lebron James and Dwight Howard in the All Star game before.

So here’s the video of Shaquille O’neal with the Jabbawockeez: (more…)

Chris Paul and Jada Crawley

New Orleans star point guard and his pregnant girlfriend, Jada Crawley at the Fabulous 23 cocktail party and dinner reception held on February 13, 2009 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The two are expecting a baby boy and this was planned.

President in Barack Obama who focuses on change has influenced Allen Iverson to cut his braids. But will this change in hairstyle help change the direction of the Detroit Pistons? According to Iverson, “they’re definitely not where they want to be.” Hopefully this haircut could bring that change so here’s the video of Iverson when his East All Star teammates first saw him without the braids. (more…)

You're out Porter, You're in Gentry

League sources say that team officials of the Phoenix Suns were meeting on Sunday afternoon with Alvin Gentry to finalize a deal for him replace Terry Porter as head head coach of the Suns.

As this deal is being finalized, Terry Porter said that he hasn’t heard anything from Suns officials and they will be meeting later today.

Gentry, who has had head coaching experience with the Los Angeles Clippers, Detroit Pistons and Miami Heat, is the lead assistant and will be taking over the Suns for the remainder of the season.

Reasons for the firing of Porter are obvious as he wasn’t able to bring the defensive mindset that the management was looking for when he was in Detroit. Another is that the whole offense of the Suns became too slow and was focusing too much on Shaquille O’neal. These led to the trading of D’Antoni’s favorite Boris Diaw and crowd favorite Raja Bell to the Bobcats for Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley in December. Coach Porter also loosened up the offense and it looked like they were winning again but losing 8 out of the final 13 games convinced management that it was time for him to go.

This could be great news for Phoenix Suns fans as Amar’e Stoudemire might not be traded after all. It also looks like they have a good relationship with coach Alvin Gentry as he has been with the Suns since 2004. Let’s just hope that Gentry learned a thing or two from D’Antoni’s run ‘n gun system as this will boost the production of all the Suns players except Shaquille O’neal.

If Amar’e stays, look for the Suns to go to him more and play Phoenix Suns basketball with all the running. Steve Nash’s career will be rejuvenated after it took a step back for half a season this year. Look for them to score more this second half and I’m pretty sure that fantasy owners of Suns players and Suns fans are all excited with this.

Nate Robinson

Nate “Lex Luther” Robinson bested dunks of defending dunk champion Dwight Howard in the 2009 All Star Dunk Competition in Phoenix. The two advanced after beating J.R. Smith and Rudy Fernandez in the first round.

The highlight of the first round featured a throwback by Rudy Fernandez to the late Fernando Martin. It was still a great tribute even if throwbacks were a little old for this competition. He only scored a 42 from the judges in spite getting his first try on a behind the back pass off the backboard and slammed it in with his right hand. I felt that he should have gotten a better score than that.

There were some sick dunks in this competition too, as we saw Dwight Howard throw it off the side of the backboard, catch it with one hand and throw it down with power. We also saw how Dwight Howard put on a show by wearing his signature Superman cape and coming out of the phone booth and catching a pass from Jameer Nelson to dunk it on a 12 feet high ring.

The highlight of the event would be Nate Robinson as after his second dunk, he went straight to the locker room and people felt that he might have injured something in that dunk. He came back later wearing green from his jersey to his shoes and socks to even his arm sleeve. This was his armor and kryptonite to Superman and it served him really well as he was able beat crowd favorite Dwight Howard.

Dwight Howard’s dunk from the free throw line wasn’t that spectacular compared with Nate Robinson’s dunk over Howard that won the people’s votes and crowned him the Dunk Champion in the 2009 Slam Dunk competition.

How do I rate this All Star Dunk Contest?

I give this a 7.5 out of 10. I wasn’t really blown away by the dunks this year even if I try to convince myself that I wasn’t expecting too much after what Superman Dwight Howard did last year. The players were trying to do too much and even though they did it, it really took a long time and a lot of tries before they were able to execute the dunks.

I’m talking about the Pau Gasol pass off the back board to Rudy Fernandez which took 100 tries before Fernandez was able to complete the dunk. J.R. Smith also had a hard time doing one of his dunks because of bad timing and passing from Sonny Weems, whom I haven’t even seen play this year.

Of course, this contest wasn’t just about dunks that failed to please the crowd. This was Nate Robinson’s night. He and Dwight Howard put on a show during the Finals but Nate Robinson was really the kryptonite to Superman. It was fun to see how little Nate got so high in his dunks and won the people over the text lines. He will be looking to defend his title against Lebron James next year in Dallas.

Oh yeah, by learning in this contest that Lebron James will be entering the dunk contest next year, I’d have give this contest an 8 out of 10. Looking forward to next year..