DNB's: Fantasy Guru: Pacific Division Depth Chart

Before we start off, here are the links to the Eastern Conference depth charts:

Atlantic Division 

Southeast Division

Central Division 

Pacific Division

Los Angeles Lakers

Position	Player	Player	Player	Player
C	D. Howard	J. Hill	R. Sacre
PF	P. Gasol	A. Jamison	E. Clark
SF	M. World Peace	D. Ebanks
SG	K. Bryant	J. Meeks	A. Goudelock
PG	S. Nash	S. Blake	C. Duhon

The Los Angeles Lakers have a straightforward chart to deal with.  Barring any serious injuries four out of the five positions have solid starters.  However, the aging Nash and Bryant may be rested more or less throughout the regular season.  That leaves some openings for minutes at the one and two spot.

Meeks has never really been a substantial threat or even a marginal sleeper throughout his career with the Sixers.  I see him as much of the same on this squad.  He may be useful for the odd three but the more athletic Goudelock may push for back-up minutes to Bryant.

At the PG, Nash will be rested plenty throughout the regular season and that gives Blake some minutes to play with.  However, Blake has really been the same old story in Los Angeles.  He has had all the opportunity to shine but with a few young bodies in there, we may see him sparsely used.  I’d avoid him in most cases; unless you are completely desperate for a couple three pointers and decent percentages.

Howard missed some time in Orlando last season and word out of camp has been good in terms of his health.  He was not expected to play in the season opener but look for the management team to push for him to play as it will create much hype for their first game.

Sure bets: Howard (early), Gasol (early), Bryant (early), Nash (early)

Sleepers:  Jamison, Goudelock, Ebanks

Pass on: Blake, Meeks, Clark, Sacre

Los Angeles Clippers

Position	Player	Player	Player	Player
C	D. Jordan	R. Turiaf	R. Hollins
PF	B. Griffin	L. Odom	T. Thompkins
SF	C. Butler	G. Hill	M. Barnes	T. Leslie
SG	C. Billups	J. Crawford	W. Green
PG	C. Paul	E. Bledsoe

The Los Angeles Clippers have have a solidified starting line-up.  On top of that, they have one of the best second units in the league with new additions Lamar Odom and Jamaal Crawford.  Both of these guys are comfortable coming off the bench and both have collected the 6^th man award in recent years (Crawford in ’09 and Odom in ’10). 

It doesn’t end there.  The Clippers have picked up Matt Barnes and Grant Hill to bolster their perimeter.  However, all these second unit guys should lose some production value.  In particular, Barnes and Hill will most likely depreciate in fantasy value.  You may be able to count on Barnes for some steals and threes, but it is unlikely that he will get any significant minutes on this team.

Another interesting second unit player is Odom.  He is coming off of a disastrous season with the Mavericks.  His year ended in embarrassment as he was called out by former teammate Dirk Nowitzki, which led to his removal from the team.  Well, Lamar is back in lala land and will look to bounce back with the other NBA team in Los Angeles.  Lamar is a versatile big man that can handle the ball.  This gives him an edge over some of the other guys he is competing with for minutes.  If he does get his act together, there is no doubt he will be utilized fully.

Sure bets: Griffin (early), Jordan (mid to late), Paul (early)

Sleepers: Odom, Crawford, Bledsoe

Pass on: Hill, Barnes, Turiaf

Golden State Warriors

Position	Player	Player	Player	Player
C	A. Bogut	F. Ezeli	A. Biedrins
PF	D. Lee	C. Landry	D. Green	J. Tyler
SF	H. Barnes	B. Rush	R. Jefferson
SG	K. Thompson	B. Rush	J. Jack
PG	S. Curry	J. Jack	C. Jenkins

There is an interesting battle for the Small Forward position brewing in the bay area.  Rookie Harrison Barnes has been impressive in camp but Brandon Rush has been right with him in the thick of things.  Aging vet Richard Jefferson seems to be the odd man out here. 

The Warriors have an interesting bunch of players to look at here.  David Lee will most likely give fantasy owners more of the same solid value that he has given since New York.  Bogut when healthy will have plenty of touches and rebounds.  Landry is also another nice piece to consider in the late rounds for some good percentages and rebounds.  You will want to avoid Biedrins completely this season.  Fantasy owners gave him one last chance for redemption and Biedrins failed miserably.  He is a black mark on your free throw percentage and does not cover that issue up in any other category.  He is a must pass.

Klay Thompson should give fantasy owners some good value as he is slated to start at the two.  There should be some caution hovering around Stephen Curry at this stage.  Although word out of camp regarding his ankle is positive, he is a chronic case and will have issues throughout his career.  That being said, Curry is still a solid PG moving forward.  If he stays healthy for long stretches of the season, he will give more than enough value in many categories.

Sure bets: Lee (early), Bogut (early to mid), Curry (early to mid), Thompson (mid)

Sleepers: Rush, Landry, Jack

Pass on: Jefferson, Biedrins

Sacramento Kings

Position	Player	Player	Player	Player
C	D. Cousins	C. Hayes
PF	J. Thomspon	T. Robinson	T. Outlaw
SF	T. Evans	J. Johnson	J. Salmons	F. Garcia
SG	M. Thornton	J. Fredette
PG	I. Thomas	A. Brooks

Sacramento is in a serious situation at the three.  At this stage they have been experimenting with Evans moving to small forward to make room for Thornton at the two.  In their first preseason game, Evans was able to put up a nice stat line for 20 minutes.  However, I just see Evans as a little undersized for this role.  He will have difficulty covering some of the bigger SFs in the league.  Look for the Kings to experiment a great deal with their rotation. 

At this stage the bigs in Sacramento are set.  Cousins and Thompson should start the season in the starting lineup.  However, rookie Thomas Robinson is breathing down the inconsistent Thompson’s neck.  If this is another lost season for Sacramento, Robinson will surely end up starting at some point. 

The glut of small forwards on this team includes a bunch of has beens that should be devalued in the context of fantasy basketball no matter what comes out of camp.  Salmons, Outlaw, Garcia and former Raptor James Johnson will all be battling for minutes.  I give the edge to James Johnson since he is young, athletic and isn’t a defensive liability. 

Thomas and Brooks should go into the season battling to start at PG.  Brooks had a couple of stellar seasons in Houston before he fell out of favour.  A year in China may have revamped his attitude.  Look for Brooks to prove that he is worthy of his former role as lead QB on the floor.

Sure bets: Cousins (early), Evans (mid), Thornton (mid)

Sleepers: Thompson, Robinson, Thomas, Brooks

Pass on: Outlaw, Salmons, Garcia, Johnson, Fredette

Phoenix Suns

Position	Player	Player	Player	Player
C	M. Gortat	J. O’Neal	C. Frye
PF	L. Scola	M. Morris
SF	M. Beasley	J. Dudley	P.J. Tucker
SG	J. Dudley	W. Johnson	S. Brown
PG	G. Dragic	K. Marshall	S. Telfair

The new look Phoenix Suns come into this pre-season with a lot of question marks and position battles.  The only real sure bets to give fantasy owners good value are Marcin Gortat and Luis Scola. 

The real battles on this team begin at the two and three.  Michael Beasley seems like a good bet to start at the three since he is by far the most talented of the bunch.  He should be set to receive a lot of looks. 

Competing with Beasley, we have Nash era perimeter player Jared Dudley looking to stay relevant.  He has been shooting the lights out in camp and should get his minutes on this team.  Dudley’s shooting touch and his experience with Alvin Genrty gives him the edge to beat out Wesley Johnson and Shannon Brown for the shooting guard position. 

Sure bets: Gortat (early), Scola (mid), Beasley (mid) Dragic (mid)

Sleepers: Dudley, Johnson

Pass on: Frye, O’Neal, Brown

Raptors D Helps Create A Rare Home Win.

I can't lie there is nothing about this game that I really find all that exciting. You have a bad Western Conference team playing against a worse Eastern Conference team. It did teach me Mark Jackson only played 54 games for the Raptors. I would have guessed he was hear longer than that. Oh well, excited or not we have a game to play. Steph Curry is not in the line-up for Golden State. This is where he started his road to the NBA up in the Raptors practice gym.

Early on this looked sloppy and very Summer League like as both teams looked like they had a nice Saturday night in Toronto. Monta Ellis hit a long 2 in the corner to open the scoring. Warriors were off and running up 6-0 and the Raptors were 0-6 from the field. DeRozan after no free throws vs Memphis got to the line for a pair and made both. After a Johnson and Johnson hook up for to David Lee sticks a jumper. Jose Calderon hits a running jumper and despite a pretty ugly start it was only 8-6 Warriors. Raptors were shooting 2-11 and the Warriors 4/12, a true classic this was not. The Monta basket to start the game was changed to 3 so make it 9-6 Warriors. At this rate this game may need every point it can. This game was not pretty with score 11-10 with 3:40 to play in first. Jose Calderon tried to hook up Bayless for a lay-up at the Raptors decided to go small. Bayless would have a chance to tie this thing at 14 with 2:42 to play. Bayless did just that and this game was tied and I pray it doesn't go to overtime. This game was crawling to life and the Warriors were crawling in front up 20-16 with 1:01 to play in the first. Nice slam by James Johnson might have awoken anyone that was napping. The Quarter ends in terms of scoring on that slam leaving it at 20-18 Warriors heading to the 2nd.

Warriors get the first four points and Linas Kleiza hits a long two on a pass out of the post from Ed Davis. It was an Aaron Gray type game and he made a pair of free throws, but Thompson hit a triple to to double the Warriors lead to 6. A rare DeRozan three his first in 9 game and he has 9 points Raptors again get the game within three points and single possession. Warriors were starting to pull away matching their largest lead of 7 with the score 39-32. David Lee would add two to that with a score in the post. Only good news for the Raptors was Demar DeRozan was looking good he had 11 points on 4-6 shooting after making a nice running jumper. But Warrior despite not being all that spectacular themselves still had a 47-38 halftime lead.

Took over 2 minutes for anyone to score but Amir Johnson finally did on a pass from Derozan. That opened the flood gates on both ends as Monta Ellis had a 3 and 2 and it was 52-42 Warriors. Raptors have played like they are in a comma for most of the game but found themselves down just 54-48. Raptors went back down 10 points and then finally decided to wake up and cut the lead to just 2 on Derozan bucket to make it 56-54. Raptors would even things up at 56 and like the Raptors the ACC crowd had woken up. Demar DeRozan would continue that with a dunk off a steal in transition the Raptors had their first lead since the first quarter. They would take a 60-58 lead to the 4th quarter.

Raptors held the Warriors to 5/22 in that 4th quarter. Raptors found themselves in another close game and the Warrior would get this game back to even at 62 points. But a Amir bucket in the paint followed by a Barbosa 3 gave the Raptors a 67-62 lead their largest of the early evening. DeRozan makes a pair at the line to push that lead to 7. After an Ellis bucket DeRozan answers with a jumper of his own. Raptors had a 71-64 lead with 7:30 to play. Raptors were all of the sudden a different team full of energy after a lethargic first half effort. Barbosa would go down and was shaken up...this will not help trade talks if he is not ok? That to be determined as was this game with 6:08 to play it was looking good for the Raptors. Under 5 to play and Raptors had the ball looking to make their lead double digits. Barbosa remained in the game but missed the shot to push lead to double figures. Raptors would have things go wrong for them in a couple ways. The first is the Warriors would get to within 4 points. Second was Amir Johnson went down and stayed down. Raptors would make a 3 with him lying on the floor to get the lead to 7. He would eventual get up and to his feet checking out on a foul by the Raptors. He appeared to bang knees on the play. No Twist so that is good....Raptors meanwhile looking to hang on with Ed Davis in for Amir up 80-75. Ed was having a good night getting on the glass keeping on his recent roll of decent play. Fitting of how this game started it would end with little drama as the Raptors would hang on to win it. Raptors take it 83-75.

Demar DeRozan had 25 to lead the way. Raptors won the battle of the boards 51-41 and played good defense for most of the night and it helped them hang around to have a chance to win this game after a first half effort that was just not good in terms of the offense.

Warriors Are Raptors Dinner Guests At ACC

Just where would the Warriors be if they had just kept Jeremy Lin? Answer is probably the same place they are now and we never would have had Linsanity at all. Steph Curry was not going to be dethroned by Jeremy Lin anytime soon. So consider that Golden State's Gift to the NBA. This is a franchise that has seen little success in the last 20 years. Aside from the one year they made the playoffs and upset the Mavericks in Dirk's MVP Season. They brought in Mark Jackson with zero coaching experience other than what he learned sitting next to Jeff Van Gundy for a few years. Jackson has guided the Warriors to a 14-19 start. Rumors that Monta Ellis is on the market will follow this team around for the next 11 days. It seems the Warriors have never been big enough for both Curry and Ellis to live in harmony. Still on a team lacking a lot of talent aside from maybe a David Lee can they really afford to let Ellis go?

Warriors have won 3 of their last 5 games with note worthy wins over the Clippers and Hawks as part of that. Golden State seems to be one of those Western Conference teams that is not good enough to be in the playoff mix but not bad enough to cash in via the lottery. Forever in that 10-12 range in the West is not the place to live. What Jackson has tried to do is similar to what Dwane Casey has tried to do in Toronto. Take a team that rarely considered what defense was and make them more defensively aware. This comes at a price of less offense to a degree. The break neck up and down running Warriors are being slowed a bit. Still the Warriors can score the basketball with 7th best points per game in the league.

As for the Raptors it is the same old story in many ways. They have been close but can't close the deal. At least that is the way they want to look at it. If you just look at simple things, like how they start games more often than not, along with how they tend to finish quarters in general, you see the problems. While it is better to lose by 1 than it is 21 on some level. If you consistently lose regardless of the difference on the scoreboard at some point the margin doesn't matter. You see that in Demar DeRozan taking his frustrations to Twitter recently. I would see this as an important time for the Raptors if they are going to remain competitive and scrappy. It sure seems like they are just about at the boiling point in terms of losing. See this is the problem with the whole tank way of thinking. Human beings don't like losing and they tend to react to that fact in negative ways more than positive ones.

3 keys TO STOP THOSE MEN

1. Shooters all over the place. Warriors will not be shy to fire at will from 3 point line so perimeter defense is essential today.

2. Transition Defense too. When they are not chucking up 3's they will look to be running in transition so hope you got your rest on Saturday Night.

3. Little Things Matter. How you start the game, how you finish a quarter, Playing a consistent 48 minutes rather than a scattered one. All this little things are what is costing the Raptors. Take care of the basketball while your at it.

This is one of those stupid 6pm tip times that I have never been a fan of. So be advised.

Bargnani Trade Game

It has become pretty clear that the Toronto Raptors have an appetite to trade Andrea Bargnani, as much as he has for Primo Pasta and sauce. So today in the blog I am going put on my fantasy G.M hat and see if I can find a deal that makes some sense. The first team that came rushing to mind in wanting to unload Bargnani was the Golden State Warriors. Why them? Well they really have never cared about defence and Bargnani's ability to score and shoot three's fits right in the mix with what they do.

So here is the best deal I could come up with that might make some sense for both sides.

To Golden State:

Andrea Bargnani (PF/C)-(Done for Andrea's Benefit)

Jerryd Bayless (PG)

Solomon Alabi (C)

To Toronto:

Andris Biedrin (C)

Jermey Lin (PG)

Not the greatest trade but Biedrins will rebound and can be a legit 5 in your line-up. Bayless will need to go anyway assuming you can not move Calderon and the Raptors target a point guard in the draft. I tried working this trade to include Udoh or Wright and could find not scenario that made any real sense for the Raptors. Lin is a project and makes for an excellent 3rd option at the point and can develop into a back-up you hope for when Calderon is off the books. Maybe you add a swap of first round picks for Raptors 1st pick this year for Warriors first next year in a stronger draft class. But that would leave you very thin at PG. MLSE would love to have Lin to engage the Asian Community. When he came this season there was a lot of interest from them when the Warriors paid a visit.

The New York Knicks were said to be interested in Andrea Bargnani and again another team not known for it's D under the current coach they have. How interested would they be? Well this trade would test the limits of that. I can not find any trade that makes any sense for the Knicks given their plan to try to bring in Chris Paul. If Calderon's deal was a year shorter you could come up with some things that make sense but it isn't. So despite the rumours it doesn't seem like New York is a likely landing spot. Which is to bad given they have some interesting players like Landry Fields who would be someone you would want to see come back the other way. Assuming Barbosa picks up his option you might be able to take a second look at this trade option again. That 7.1 million off the books along with Bargnani makes it more interesting for the Knicks.

How about Orlando no way Andrea Bargnani can play the Center there. Dwight is already making up for a ton of poor defenders anyway and Stan Van Gundy never liked his hair anyway. I tried to make this on work but gave up after many failed attempts. I was attempting to bring back J.J Redick and another piece in Ryan Anderson but I was denied based on the BYC's in both Redick and Bargnani's contract. Stan Van gets to keep his hair and we look for another partner to trade wiith.

Here is one if the Suns are truly crazy it does work math wise but doesn't really stand up to the whole logic test. But this team did trade for Hedo Turkoglu right?

To Suns:

Andrea Bargnani PF/C

Jose Calderon PG

James Johnson SF

Raptors 1st round pick 2011

To Toronto:

Steve Nash PG

Marcin Gortat C

The only way this happens is if 2 things are true. One that Steve Nash truly wants to leave the Suns and come home to Canada with the chances of a title in his final years being limited. Two that the Suns are convinced they can find a point guard of the future with the Raptors pick (TBD) in the draft. For that to happen you would have to believe that guy would be Irving and thus the Raptors would be trading the 1st overall pick because seems doubtful Irving would slip to 3rd or lower. The Suns would have to be insane to do this or have a gun put to their heads.

The point to all of this is moving Bargnani will be difficult to say the least. What you need is a trading partner that is a team that is not worried about his defence and has a significant need for his scoring. The BYC on his contract also makes moving him a challenge as well. That subtracts value of his contract in terms of trades. It will be difficult to make it all work but if Bryan Colangelo has showed us anything in his time here, it is that he can find ways to make deals happen. Well deals not with the Charlotte Bobcats. This is of course assuming that Bryan is the trigger man on this deal. Which we are still waiting to hear from MLSE on. Must be caught up in Leafs Playoff Fever....Wait a minute. About the great success the soccer team has had at the start of the MLS season....Um NO. To busy counting money and looking to get out while the getting is good for the Teacher's Pension Fund....DING DING....WINNER!!!!

The one thing that I have taken away from my own observations and talking with others like Jack Armstrong yesterday, is that there is no way the Raptors can start the next season with Calderon and Bargnani on floor as starters. If they do this off-season will have been a complete failure. A lot of their ability to do so will be determined by the new CBA whenever that is finally agreed too. As such all these trade ideas will need to be revisited anyway as the rules will have changed and may make trades easier or harder to execute. I have said this so many times in the last few months, it is hard to evaluate where this team is heading based on that. It is like trying to find a town you have never heard of with no maps or GPS. Not exactly easy. But what seems very easy to figure out is Bargnani is clearly on the market and likely the best asset the Raptors have to trade that they are willing too.

Worst Loss Ever

Normally we would do a re-cap of a game. But there really would be not much point in doing so. After one quarter of play the Warriors losers of 6 in a row coming in had 45 points. They shot 81 percent in that quarter. At the half they had 84 points. A kid playing NBA 2k11 would have been hard pressed to match those numbers. But this was not a video game, it was reality and it was sad and pathetic. The 139-100 final was flattering to the Raptors it should have been worse.

I am tired of the excuses that are made for Jay Triano. The reality is when it comes to defence his team does not play it. The Raptors were short handed in this one with no Amir, Reggie and Jose Calderon would only play a half leaving with a hamstring injury. But all that said there was a complete lack of defensive effort on the floor on full display. Andrea Bargnani even Triano admitted earlier in the year has not improved as a help defender. He is let's be honest pretty much defenceless. While you can place the blame for that on Andrea it is Jay's job to change it. He hasn't and this team has had far to many performances like this. Sam Mitchell lost his job for far less. A Sam Mitchell team would rarely get total embarrassed as often as it has happened under Triano in less than 3 years. At the very least under Sam there was some evidence of accountability something that is clearly lacking under Triano.

I have watched this team for 16 years and been a fan for most of that time. I started covering the team with the blog for the last 3+ years. I have never seen a worse performance than what I watched last night. I was embarrassed personally for wasting my time watching this garbage. It was a low point in the 16 years that I have watched this team play basketball. If this team continues down this path to no where I am not sure that many can take it.

This was suppose to be a season about development. So ask yourself this question. Where has been the development on this team defensively, as a team, or even as individuals. I have seen next to none. That no matter what excuses people care to offer is on Jay Triano. He has failed to show any signs he can get a team to play acceptable defence on a consistent basis. While many will point to Bryan Colangelo for putting this group together, which is true some of the blame is his. That still does not factor in the lack of accountability on this team. The lack of perimeter defence, transition defence or anything with word defence in it.

Andrea Bargnani has proven to be a one denominational player and when he fails to do that he is a complete train wreck on the floor. He will never be the franchise player of this team for a very simple reason. No one can honestly have any respect for a guy that shows no effort on the glass or on defence. If you are a player scrapping for minutes on this team, how does it make you feel when you see that. I have heard the expression many times you want your best player to be your hardest worker. Andrea is not even close to that. Chris Bosh for whatever you think of him now, always gave an effort most times he stepped on the floor for a practice or a game. The guy that acts like a franchise player on this team is Demar DeRozan. He is not setting the world on fire with his defence either. But he is far less of a finished product than Bargnani and you do see a work ethic in DeRozan to give you hope for his future.

When you play Calderon and Bargnani on the floor together you are basically giving a team a 5 on 3 power play in basketball. One or both have to go. Which might be a tough task especially with Calderon who yet again pulled up lame. I remember I got hammered by some for calling him injury prone. Sorry to break the news to you folks but he is.

There are 10 games left in this season. While firing Jay Triano at this point is just a pointless and mealiness gesture. He has shown zero reason that he deserves to keep his job. If Jay Triano was from Boise, Idaho does anyone honestly believe he would have lasted this long? He out lived coach after coach as an assistant. He eventually was given the head coaching job making him the first ever Canadian Head Coach in NBA History. Jay Triano is a great person and a great Canadian, no one can or should take that away from him. That being said, do I care more about Jay than I do a franchise that I have supported from Day 1? Nope sorry I don't. His time is up and he needs to go. The longer he stays it is just wasting time.

After 16 years of this, I can honestly say that was the worse loss I have seen. I can also say as a fan it is one of the few times I have felt truly embarrassed to be a fan of the Raptors. Even when Kobe Bryant lit up this team for 81 you could rationalize that by saying well it was Kobe. There is no rationalizing away the fact the Jay Triano has coached this team to the bottom of the league on defence. He has to be gone if there is any hope for this team going forward.