… but really, fantasy basketball is a year-round job! Just because there are no “games” being “played” (except for the “playoffs”), doesn’t mean there’s not plenty of analysis to be done. And plenty of preparations to be made for next season. Luckily, you can count on Fantasy Basketblog to give you all the FBB coverage you could ever want – and possibly more – over the next few months. We’ll review our pre-season rankings and see how we did, give you in-depth analysis of every relevant fantasy player, pick apart all the off-season moves, and tell you who’s being taken in the NBA Draft that could make a major impact in the league next year.

From busts to break-outs, from stars to sleepers, we’ll tell you everything you need to know. Your next fantasy basketball draft is only, like, 6 months away – are you ready?

It was almost all good news for fantasy basketball players this weekend, as only one team really fell out of contention – the Timberwolves – and only 3 others – the Grizzlies, Sonics and Nuggets – graduated to the “nothing left to play for ‘till the playoffs” stage of the season. That said, now that the weekend is over, there are only 8 teams left WITH anything to play for over the next 3 days, fighting either for a playoff spot, or a better playoff spot. Obviously, if you’ve got any players on these teams (Chicago, Washington, Indiana, Philadelphia, Cleveland, New Jersey, Houston, Sacramento, or Denver), you can almost definitely count on them performing near peak levels until they have no more reason to. Meanwhile, players on the other 22 teams in the league are going to have more unreliable finishes.

There was no better proof of this than in the Indiana-Miami game on Sunday, which saw the return of Jermaine O’Neal to the Pacers, coming back from a sprained shoulder and trying (in vain) to lead his squad over the Miami Heat. The Heat, meanwhile, with nothing to play for until the playoffs, lost Shaq midway through the game after hurting his right thigh. Shaq, who is notorious for sitting out when he can afford to, might have returned to the game had this been a meaningful game for his team. But with nothing to play for, he sat out the second half and now might sit out the final two games of the season, to the chagrin of his owners. But they can’t be too unhappy with the big fella – he did play in 73 games this year, his best total since 2000. (Minor aside on Shaq - he has shot the worst FT% of his career, just 46.1%, but also put up the highest FG% of his career, 60.1%. Just thought that was interesting.)

So the lesson here is, if you’re looking to pick up players for the final 2 games of the year, if you’re in between a guy on one of the 8 remaining “have something to play for” teams, or a guy who isn’t, go for the guy with more riding on these last two games. He’ll give the effort you need from him.

So you didn’t believe us when we told you that the standings matter just as much as the box scores this time of year, huh? Well last night should remove all the doubt from your mind. Philadelphia and Cleveland are playing for their playoff lives right now, and so AI and LeBron had huge games last night. LeBron owners have got to be happy that Cleveland lost, as now they will have to continue playing incredibly hard over the next few games trying to fend off the Nets. Meanwhile, Dallas is stuck where they are at 4th place in the West, and so Dirk Nowitzki decided not to play last night, and no players saw over 34 minutes for the Mavericks.

Injuries aside, there are players in the league who will decide to simply stop playing at the end of the year. Some of them will use injuries as an excuse. Then, of course, there’s always guys like FBB fave Ruben “Sandwich” Patterson, who’s playing time for the next few games was answered in two words. “I’m done,” said Patterson after last night’s loss. Nice one, Ruben. Way to take one for the team. At least he’s honest.

Regardless, while a lot of teams are scrambling for playoff position, and others are scrambling for draft pick position, there are a couple of teams who could solidify their spot in the final standings this weekend, rendering a couple of their players useless next week. One team in this position is definitely the New Jersey Nets. 2 games behind Cleveland and Philadelphia for the 8 spot in the East, and 3 games in front of Orlando and the Clippers for the 13 spot in the lottery, a couple of Cavs and Sixers wins this weekend could render the rest of the Net’s schedule pointless. This could mean that Jason Kidd or Vince Carter might rest their ‘achy knees’ next week, opening up some playing time for, well … for somebody, I guess.

On the other hand, not having anything to play for as a team doesn’t mean that a lot of players don’t have anything to play for themselves. Just below the Nets in the standings, the Orlando Magic have little-to-nothing to play for as a team. But a bunch of their players have plenty of reason to wake up in the morning. Dwight Howard is still fighting for the ROY award and is trying to build a good rep in the league. Meanwhile, Steve Francis - whose rep is horrendous already - is trying to impress another team enough that they trade for him in the offseason. Just because your players’ team is out of it, it doesn’t mean your player is out of it, too.

Game of the Week(end)
Philadelphia 76ers at Indiana Pacers
Friday, April 15 @ 8pm EST.

Playoff implications are all over the place with this game. After a leave-it-all-on-the-floor OT win over the Heat last night, now the Sixers are packing up and heading to Indianapolis to play a playoff-position-hungry Pacers squad. I’m not saying that there’s a lot going on here fantasy-wise, but it should be a pretty exciting game. And in the end, isn’t that what it’s all about?

OK, I’ve run out of things to tell you about fantasy basketball for this season. If you are still paying attention, you’re obviously smart enough to know who to pick up for the last few games. I’ll tell you this — I’m a Bostjan Nachbar fan. Anyway, here’s something which you may or may not find entertaining, depending on how obscure your music taste is. Enjoy!

Getting to Know The Wizards a Little Better

Now in the final week, if you’ve got games to make up, it says here that guys playing more games help you make them up. I know, revolutionary thinking. Anyhow, almost all the teams in the L have 4 games remaining, but there are a couple with more or less of their calendar:

3 Games Remaining
Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors.

Good news here actually, for Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan owners. Both players are dealing with injuries, so the light schedule, combined with the push for home court as they’re just 1.5 games behind the Suns, means they will likely play in all 3 games and be well-rested for each. Houston might not have many games remaining, but the ones they DO have left to play have such big playoff implications that you’ll be seeing all of their regulars playing major minutes – possibly more than normal. Golden State, well, go Baron go.

5 Games Remaining
New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers.
Two of these teams – New York and Portland, obviously – are ready for the season to end right now. Expect them to just play things out like they have been for the past couple of weeks. Miami might not have much to play for right now either, as they’ve got home court wrapped up already. Look for Shaq to get limited minutes as he rebounds from the stomach ailment that has kept him out of a few games, as and maybe even Dwayne Wade will get some time off to rest up for the playoffs. Remember, he was seen as an injury risk going into the year, so the Heat will likely be extra cautious with him. The last 5 games he’s gotten about 34 minutes, down from his season average of 38.

The other two teams – Cleveland and Philadelphia – are going to be playing for everything over their final five games, and they really control their own destinies. Look for LeBron James and Allen Iverson to have monstrous weeks – if you’re chasing someone in points and they have either of those guys, you might want to re-evaluate your chances there. Also, role players like Iguodala, Gooden, and others are set up for a decent week.

With about one week left in the regular season (and thus, one week left in the fantasy basketball season), all eyes should be on the standings in your league. We’re getting to the point in the year where somebody’s overall value has very little to do with their actual value for your team. What really matters is where you can move up or down in the standings, and what players can help you in those categories. If you’ve got a huge lead in, say, blocks and rebounds, but need points, then a guy like Ben Wallace might not be as valuable as someone like Nenad Krstic is to your team right now.

The most important thing that you need to do is figure out where, exactly, you can move up or down, and where there is little-to-no chance of your moving anywhere. In some cases, it’s going to be obvious. If you’re within 10 or 15 blocks of someone, or 70 points, or 1 percentage point, then obviously you’ve got a great chance of overtaking them. And likewise, if you’re 50 blocks or 400 points or 10 percentage points away, odds are you’re not going to be able to catch up to anyone.

But there is always a gray area. What if you’re 45 assists behind someone? Can you make up that deficit in just one week? What about if you’ve got 25 more three pointers than the guy behind you? Can you afford to take a guy like Tim Thomas out of your lineup in that scenario and replace him with a different type of player, or do you still need the 5 – 10 three pointers that he might shoot over the rest of the season? This could make or break your fantasy season if you’re teetering in the standings. Here are a couple of hints to help you figure out if you’ve got a chance to gain (or lose) points in the standings.

1. The Standings Don’t Tell the Whole Story.
Imagine you’re 70 rebounds behind the guy in front of you. Normally, that’s a pretty big difference to make up in just one week. But before you move on to the next category, take a quick look at his roster. A couple of things you want to look for – did he trade away a big-rebound guy mid-season? Have any of his big men gotten hurt over the past week or are they possibly going to see less playing time next week? What you really want to do is take a look at how his roster has been performing over the past week and the past month. Then compare that to how your roster has been doing over those same time spans. You may be surprised by what you find, and some opportunities might come up.

2. Let the Waiver Wire Guide You.
Take a look at what’s available in every single category. Odds are you’ll find a little help in every category, but sometimes you’ll find a huge stock of help in at least one area. For example, in one of my leagues right now, Chris Anderson and Travis Outlaw are available, and they’ve combined for 20 blocks over the past week. If you’ve got room for them on your roster, and you’re within 30 or so blocks of the guy in front of you, all of a sudden that’s not such a big gap to overcome.

3. Use Your Utility Positions Wisely.
This is the point of the year where your utility positions become the most important positions on your roster. Need a third or fourth big man? Need a third point guard to help in assists? This is the spot on your roster for them to go.

4. Extra Games Mean Extra Help
As we’ve been preaching for the past few weeks, do NOT let yourself end up with unused games on your roster. If you realize that you’ve got a couple extra games to play at SG, maybe you’ll get a little extra help in points or threes.

5. Know Who’s Watching
Finally, let’s face it. With baseball starting up, a lot of the guys near the bottom of your league have stopped paying attention to basketball as their chances for success have slipped away. So they might have a couple of injured guys in their lineup, which means that they could be falling faster than expected. Keep an eye on everyone else’s rosters just as much as you do your own.

As the Western Conference is settling into their playoff picture, with most of the positions filled, the Eastern Conference is in a complete state of disarray. Let’s take a look at what happened this weekend and how it might affect your fantasy players.

In the East, the big story has to be a team that isn’t even IN the playoffs right now, the New Jersey Nets. Sort of an afterthought this year as Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson missed major time with injuries, the Nets quietly went 9-6 in March, and have won 7 of their last 10 and are now just 1.5 games out of the playoffs. Keep in mind, this is a team with only two and a half players (Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Nenad Krstic) who are legitimate NBA players right now. After beating Boston on Friday behind 45 from Carter, you can count on the Big Two in Jersey to have a very strong final push. Also of note is that Krstic and Clifford Robinson are actually seeing time on the floor together, and so they should both have value over the last 5 Nets games.

On the other side of the coin, two Eastern Conference teams that are in the playoffs (for now) are struggling badly. The Cavaliers and the Wizards are both suffering from injuries to their big men (Zydraunas Ilgauskas and Brendan Haywood), and despite huge efforts from their stars (LeBron James and Gilbert Arenas), they’re both 4-6 over their last 10 and fading fast, with the Cavs in danger of falling out of the playoffs altogether.

Look for some fairly drastic attempts to turn around the losing ways in Cleveland. Jeff McInnis, who lost his starting spot when interim coach Brendan Malone took over, is now back in the starting lineup and got 45 minutes in Saturday’s win over Milwaukee. He may have been dropped in your league, and if so, he’s worth picking up again. In Washington, there won’t be any major lineup changes, as their playoff spot isn’t in terrible jeopardy. They’ll be more concerned with getting healthy, which likely means limited minutes for Antawn Jamison as he attempts to return from knee problems.

In the West, the Elite Eight should be pretty much wrapped up after Minnesota totally blew it over the weekend, losing to the Hawks. Yes, the Hawks. While the T-Wolves were certainly facing an uphill battle, their remaining schedule was much more favorable than 8th place Memphis, but now that they’re a full 4.5 games back, it’s just about over for KG and Co. Fantasy players have to thank KG for his effort despite his bad knees over the second half of the season, but he might miss some of the last 5 games of the year with the disappointing season all but done.

We’re about two weeks away from the end of the season. Most teams have about 7 or 8 games left … which means that’s how many games your top players have left. Here are a couple of general pointers for how to close out the season successfully.

1. Do NOT leave yourself with leftover games.
This couldn’t be more important. There’s a reason we’ve been posting almost-daily one-day wonders, and it’s because even if you get a 5-point, 2-board night out of some random shooting guard, if it was making up an extra game, that’s 5 more points and 2 more boards than you would have had without him. And now, with so many players sitting out random games, it’s time to make sure you’ve gotten all your games covered. Don’t wait until the last day or two of the season to try and make up games, get it done now.

2. Watch the categories.
We’re going to cover this a little more extensively next week, but if you haven’t been dissecting the standings in your league just yet, you’d better start. Now. Know what categories you’re able to move up in, know what’s out of reach, and know where you’re pretty much stuck in a spot in the standings. This could (and should) have an affect on who you pick up to play your random missing games.

3. Constant news surveillance.
Now more than at any other point in the season, guys appear to be shutting it down. Even minor guys like Speedy Claxton possibly going out for the season opens up doors for guys like Dan Dickau. We’ve been preaching it all year – the most important statistic in fantasy basketball is MINUTES. Minutes are more in flux now than at any other point in the season. Heck, even Aaron McKie saw 30 minutes last night for just the second time all year. Manu Ginobili likely won’t play in back-to-backs again this year, so somebody’s gotta take those minutes - maybe even new Spur Glenn Robinson. These are the sort of things you need to stay on top of.

One-Day Wonders
Pick ‘em up today, so you can play ‘em tomorrow!

G – Gordan Giricek, UTH
With Raja Bell not even joining the Jazz on their road trip this weekend, Giricek is a great play. He put up 14/6/4 last night against Minnesota and should be good for something like that again Friday vs. New Orleans.

F – Othella Harrington, CHI
Othella was a mini-beast in three starts filling in for Eddy Curry last week, averaging 16.6/6.3, albeit with almost no blocks or steals or anything else. Now that he’s likely back from the birth of his child, and Curry is likely still out with his irregular heartbeat, he’s likely – yeah, likely – a good play Friday vs. the Knicks.

C – Clifford Robinson, NJN
Hey, he’s been at least useful in 2 of the last 3 games, and he should at least be good for a three pointer or two.

It’s easy to stop paying attention to the NBA in its last few weeks. There’s obviously March Madness and the beginning of baseball season to deal with. And even if your team is still in the hunt for a championship, there’s not much to do besides trolling the free agent list for temporary pick ups. All the big names are staying put, so you’re more likely to be keeping track of the Speedy Claxtons and Andres Nocionis of the world than the big stars.

So maybe not everyone is noticing what’s going on in Golden State. I obviously have, as they’re basically the only team I talk about anymore. What’s happening is that Baron Davis is putting up some absolutely insane numbers over the past couple weeks and the Warriors have won 6 in a row and 9 of their last 10. I’ve talked previously about some of their young foreigners and the promise they’ve shown (Michael Pietrus, Andris Biedrins, Zarko Cabarkapa), but the two true studs of this team are Davis and Jason Richardson. But just how much of a stud is Jason Richardson now that he’s got a new backcourt mate who functions best with the ball in his hands?

It looked like J-Rich was on the verge of becoming a true top flight player in the League. In 17 games in January and February (he was fighting through some injuries), he put up 26.4/6.3/4.6 with 2.1 3s and steals per game in 40.3 minutes on 46% shooting on 22.4 attempts per game. Those are borderline first-round fantasy numbers. But things haven’t been the same since Baron came along, and especially since he joined the starting lineup 11 games ago. Richardson missed one game due to personal reasons, but in the other 10 where he has started alongside Davis his numbers stand at 19.7/6.2/4.5 with 1.3 3s and 1 steal per game in 39.6 minutes on 45% shooting on 17.5 attempts per game.

The rebound, assist and FG% numbers are the same, but he’s taking big hits everywhere else. Getting those 3s and steals cut in half is a big deal, but it could just be the result of a small sample size. But those five missing shots per game are the big thing to look at. It’s also worth noting that his playing time is roughly the same, so his declining numbers can’t be blamed on seeing more time on the bench. No, this looks like a trend and is probably a pretty good buzzkill for those that have Richardson in keeper leagues. As it stands now, J-Rich comes in at #25 on the average PR and should probably be looked at as a top-30 player heading into next year. As for Baron Davis … we’ll talk about him more in the offseason.

With no games going on at all last night due to the NCAA Championship, I thought that today it might be interesting to look back at the last 5 champions to see how much NCAA success translates into NBA success.

2000
Michigan State
Mateen Cleaves DETROIT, 14th Overall 2000
Andre Hutson MILWAUKEE, 52nd Overall 2001
Morris Peterson TORONTO, 21st Overall 2000
Jason Richardson GOLDEN STATE, 5th Overall 2001

Jason Richardson clearly has the brightest future in the NBA out of all these players. He’s established himself as a guy who can be a star on a bad team – now he just has to find out what sort of role he can play on a good team. Nonetheless, he’ll probably be at least an early-to-mid-round fantasy pick for the next 5 years or so. Morris Peterson should enjoy a long if unspectacular career in the NBA as well, but nobody else on the roster made much of a dent in the L.

2001
Duke
Jason Williams CHICAGO, 2nd overall 2002
Shane Battier MEMPHIS, 6th overall 2001
Carlos Boozer CLEVELAND, 35th overall 2002
Mike Dunleavy GOLDEN STATE, 3rd overall 2002
Chris Duhon CHICAGO, 39th overall 2004

C’mon – back in 2001, nobody would have believed you if you said that the best NBA player on this team would be Carlos Boozer, but that’s what seems to have happened. Now while nobody agrees with what he pulled in Cleveland, ditching them for the Jazz, he’s a double-double every night with terrific FG% and is the surprise of this class. Battier has carved out a nice role for himself in Memphis despite the stat-killing rotation, but the combo of Jason Williams and Mike Dunleavy taken 2/3 in 2002 has been a total bust. Chris Duhon has actually found a nice niche for himself as well in Chicago this year and 10 years down the road it could be that he and Boozer had the best NBA careers out of this championship team.

2002
Maryland
Chris Wilcox – LA CLIPPERS, 8th overall 2002
Lonny Baxter – CHICAGO, 44th overall 2002
Juan Dixon – WASHINGTON, 17th overall 2002
Steve Blake – WASHINGTON, 38th overall 2003

While it’s still early, the Terrapins may end up being a team that wins an NCAA championship without producing a single double-digit scorer in the NBA. Wilcox might be that guy if he ever gets out of Elton Brand’s shadow, but that’s a big if. Dixon has had nice spurts in Washington but doesn’t appear to be anything terribly special. Steve Blake might enjoy the longest career of any of these players – he’s turned out to be a very reliable backup PG.

2003
Syracuse
Carmelo Anthony – DENVER, 3rd overall 2003

Talk about top-heavy. Anthony’s trials and tribulations since coming into the league have been well-documented, but he can score for sure, and will be a big name in the L for quite awhile. Of the rest of the squad, only Hakim Warrick appears to be NBA-worthy.

2004
Connecticut
Emeka Okafor – Charlotte, 2nd overall 2004
Ben Gordon – Chicago, 3rd overall 2004

Well here are two guys that have certainly lived up to expectations so far. On a cruddy team in Charlotte, Okafor has been as promised, if not better – his offensive abilities are much stronger than expected. Gordon, on the other hand, has been one of the more incredible stories this year, becoming a 4th-quarter stud and giving Okafor a run for his money in the Rookie of the Year balloting. And UConn isn’t done yet – Charlie Villanueva has announced he’s entering the draft this year and he should be a first round pick, while Josh Boone could also end up playing some in the big leagues.