For those of you who are left out there still reading this site, we appreciate it. Obviously the updates have been lacking, and there have been several trades over the past few weeks involving major fantasy players (Gasol, Kidd, etc.) that we have not commented on. By now, not only are the affects of the trade observable, but other sites have covered these transactions ad nauseum. We’ll skip trying to get caught up with old news but will hopefully be back on a more consistent basis, as we usually do, with giving you a fresh fantasy perspective. Now for the big news of the day:

Injury Updates:

Yao Ming (Hou, C): Yao was having a fantastic season, averaging nearly 22/11/2 with 2 blocks per game and, as always, great percentages. As it turns out, he has a stress fracture in his left foot and will be out for the rest of the season. If I owned him, I might wait until they determine how they will treat the injury before dropping him, but it seems like he’ll be out the rest of the season to ensure that he’s healthy for the Beijing Olympics. Obviously this is a catastrophic loss on the hottest team in the NBA right now. This leaves Houston with a major problem at center; the only players on the roster that have adequate size are Dikembe Mutombo and Steve Novak. Mutombo had a good stint filling in for an injured Yao last year, pulling down large amounts of rebounds, but he has barely played all year; Novak isn’t really a low-post presence. It will be interesting to see where the Rockets go with this turn of events. If they elect to play a smaller lineup of Luis Scola and Carl Landry, whom they really like, then expect both of their numbers to go up. This injury is difficult, as Yao makes his teammates (including guards) better by taking offensive and defensive pressure off of them. I expect that watching the next Houston game will provide much insight about who will gain value from this situation. If you have space, pick up Landry on speculation.

A more pressing issue is where to draft Yao next year. He’s a first-round talent when healthy, but the key word is when. After playing nearly every game in his first three years, Yao has averaged only 53 games per season over the last three. While his injured are not related, the fact is that as a 7′6″ big man with limited athleticism, he’ll probably struggle with injuries off and on throughout his career. It’ll be interesting to see how it ends up impacting his draft stock next year.

Elton Brand (LAC, FC): Obviously Brand has been out all year, but word is that he’ll be returning sometime soon. If you had Yao, I would recommend picking up Brand (if he’s still available) as he could reproduce the 1st round value that was lost with Yao. I don’t understand why the Clippers would let him play, but if he wants to see the floor, he will…and word is that he’s hungry. When he returns, expect Chris Kaman’s production to decrease.

I know the rumors were out there, but did anyone seriously believe this trade was going to go down? In a surprising move by penny-pinching Robert Sarver, the Phoenix Suns will send Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for Shaquille O’Neal pending a physical on Wednesday. Not to jump the gun, but lets take a quick look at the fantasy breakdown for each team:

Phoenix Suns:

With a healthy O’Neal, Amare Stoudamire will slide down to his natural PF spot. It’s a mystery how O’Neal will blend with the run and gun methodology that Steve Nash and company employ, but it’s same to assume that Shaq, when healthy, will have fantasy value in points, boards and blocks with numbers similar to his season averages. However, in reality, I think this move will benefit the Sun’s wingmen – Hill, Bell and Diaw - the most. One of the big questions is how healthy Shaq can remain; if he is injured, expect a near 6-man rotation between these five Suns and Barbosa. With the extra shots to go around and boards to grab, nearly all Suns players should see a small boost in numbers. Diaw, in particular, would promise to have some of the extra value he had during Grant Hill’s injury absence and if he’s available you may want to stash him on your bench right now.

Miami Heat:

Way to go and turn around the franchise just like that. Instead of hemorrhaging money on Kazzam, they pair Dwayne Wade with a premier wing-player and defender in Marion. I’m not sure if the Heat are interested in giving Marion an extension, but regardless they’ll save lots of money and it may help in resigning Wade and also make the Heat more competitive in the short run. With this change in scenery, we’ll see if Marion benefited from a Nash Effect, similar to the impact Jason Kidd has on his teammates. My guess is that both Wade and Marion can coexist and get their numbers, keeping their value; the real question of value goes to the fringe guys like Ricky Davis, Dorrell Wright and Daequan Cook. It will be interesting to see what position they play Marion at (SF or PF) and that will impact the value of these other players. The last piece of the puzzle is the addition of Marcus Banks. Banks, whose contract the Suns have been trying to offload, will serve as a capable starting PG if Jason Williams is sidelined with injury. In 29 games starting for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2005, Banks averaged 12/5/3 with 1+ steals, an occasional 3PTM and good percentages in 30 minutes per. Banks is still very young and could easily end up gaining the most fantasy value out of any player involved on these two teams; as such it would be wise to add him to your watch list.

As crazy as the Gasol trade was for fantasy purposes, this is perhaps even more shocking as one of the top fantasy players in the game (Marion) changes teams and conferences. I really didn’t believe the trade at first until I saw it confirmed on Yahoo! sports. In a strange way, it kind of makes sense for both teams, though in the Suns case it will depend on Shaq’s health. It’s uncertain how some key elements of this trade will play out and I’m sad that the Suns no longer have three first-round fantasy selections (as they were the only team with that distinction), but it’ll certainly be fun to follow and watch.

Now back to studying for my midterm tomorrow. Thank Jago for distracting me and thus motivating me to write this bit up…but if I take another break tonight it’ll be to run down to the bar and have one drink for Mardi Gras. Cheers!