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Fantasy Basketball Advice
February 10
Rotoworld.com
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Early on in Thursday night's loss to the Rockets, Channing Frye took a power dribble and dunked ferociously on Samuel Dalembert. Even Sammy D looked confused. After all, players like Frye don't come along very often. He's 6'11 and made 2.0 3-pointers per game last season while also grabbing 6.7 rebounds and blocking 1.0 shots. Along with Kevin Love and Ryan Anderson, it's the kind of unique athletic and shooting ability that fantasy dreams are made of. That ugly shooting slump Frye was in early on this season appears to finally be coming to an end. He got a pep talk from college coach Lute Olson two weeks ago and coach Alvin Gentry continued to instill confidence with the green light. Frye"
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I could have headlined this article with any number of the Jeremy Lin puns that I saw last night, but Linsanity is the only real way to describe the phenomena. I'm not going to pigeon-hole him into any Tim Tebow-like comparisons, because I'm sure Skip Bayless will do it for all of us later, but I will say that I'm actually looking forward to the hype. Lin has always come across as a humble kid that worked hard and never got a chance. What's not to like about that? He put up 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting with a career-high 10 assists, a steal, a block, and one nice crossover on John Wall that finished in a dunk. If you want to predict that he will be the waiver wire pickup of the year"
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On Wednesday night, we got our first look at the Los Angeles Clippers since they lost starting shooting guard Chauncey Billups for the rest of the season. It wasn't pretty for the Clips; they lost to the Cavaliers in Cleveland despite double-doubles from Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and 21 points out of Caron Butler. Randy Foye looks as if he'll be the starting point guard for the foreseeable future. His scoring was up to par (15 points, including three 3-pointers, shooting 5-for-11 from the floor), but he really didn't do much else -- and on most nights he's not going to go 3-for-6 from the 3-point line, which he did against the Cavs. If Foye is playing more than 25 minutes per game, he's"
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In the NBA's marquee matchup last night, Dwight Howard delivered one of his better performances of the season versus the Heat: 25 points (on only 14 field goal attempts), 24 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. A 20-20 is a great night by any standard, but this was already Howard's sixth of the campaign, as many as the rest of the NBA combined. However, for Howard's fantasy owners, his most exceptional line in 2011-12 came last Friday versus the Cavaliers, when Howard swatted eight shots, nearly four times his season average of 2.2 blocks per game. The truth is, when you own a player who averages 25.5 points and 14.0 boards a night, you should expect at least 10 games with 20 and 20"
Fantasy Football Advice
February 10
Foxsports.com
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Albert Einstein once warned, "Never think of the future – it comes soon enough." While I usually condemn disputing the guidance of men whose surnames are synonymous with "genius," I think our friend AE's advice is invalid in the endeavor of distinguishing keepers for the 2012 fantasy football season. So before we put a wrap on the 2011 year, let's pause to analyze and examine which players can be used as cornerstones for the next fantasy campaign. Quarterbacks Keepers: Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford Reason: Running backs were historically hailed as the foundations for fantasy teams, but in an era where passing is paramount and split-committee backfields"
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Wide Receivers have always been considered the safer picks when choosing between them and running backs in fantasy drafts. Of course they don't usually score as many points as the top backs, so there is a trade off. If you can bring yourself to keep reading I'm going to take a look at the Average Draft Position, actual finish and then the extrapolated finish of the top 30 receivers in each of those categories."
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In Part I of the Top-50 keepers, we covered the changing nature of NFL offenses, the dynamics of keeper leagues, the near misses, the fallers, and players 31-50. Let's move on to the top 30 keepers. Rank from the previous two seasons (2010, 2009) in parentheses. 30. Brandon Marshall, Dolphins (25, 21, 15) - The on-field antics and off-field baggage leave Marshall as a less desirable commodity than upside receivers such as Dez Bryant and Dwayne Bowe in pure Dynasty leagues, but he still has the edge in keeper formats. Marshall's 609 targets over the past four seasons are more than any other player in the AFC. If he stops dropping touchdowns, Marshall could regain WR1 status under Matt Flynn"
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Welcome to the sixth-annual Top-50 keepers spectacular. A few thoughts on the changing nature of NFL offenses before we get to the proceedings: With three passers over 5,000 yards and another within 70 of reaching the mark, we realize 2011 was the year of the quarterback. Change happens quickly in the NFL, and last season brought a confluence from the lockout after-effects, illegal-contact rules inhibiting pass defenders, innovative play-callers, and a continuation of the trend away from workhorse running backs. The league's two most prolific passers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady, were buoyed by the acumen of their front office and coaching staff in targeting athletic tight ends and almost"
Fantasy Baseball Advice
February 10
Rotoworld.com
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You'll notice that the subject matter on our player news page is slowly transitioning from rumors, trades and player signings to injury updates and a handul of players proclaiming that they are in the "best shape of their life." It's a welcome sign that pitchers and catchers are mere days away from reporting to their respective spring training sites in Arizona and Florida. On a related note, below you'll find a list of prominent players who are making their way back from injury and/or surgery. I didn't tackle all of the big names here, so be sure to track our player news page for the all the latest updates. If you want to be completely prepared leading up to draft day, be sure to get the"
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Often times, fantasy owners too quickly write players off after one down season, or, at the very least, let them fall a bit too far in drafts the following spring. For one reason or another, the following hitters didn't perform up to expectations in 2011. It's probably not a wise idea to roster too many of the players below, as the reality is that not everyone will bounce back. But, many will fall farther than they should despite plenty of evidence that last season's disappointment will likely be an aberration. Consider this your opportunity to buy low. Joe Mauer, C, Twins Mauer, of course, battled physical ailments throughout the 2011 campaign. He was recovering from knee surgery during"
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As much as it pains me to leave the confetti and celebrations associated with the Super Bowl in the rearview mirror, it's time to slather on the virtual sunblock and turn our attention to the boys of summer. It won't be long until we're monitoring the daily action in Arizona and Florida, pondering which of the spring heroes will earn slots in rotations or stay behind for additional work. I begin the long road to opening day with the first installment of my positional previews. Naturally, I'll slap on the chest protector and call signals for the fantasy catchers. The top names at the position have changed for 2012, and several of the celebrated and familiar options have large questions"
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Last season was a bit of an odd year for the Yankees. There were some big positives, such as Curtis Granderson's power surge (he finished second in the majors with 41 homers and easily led the majors in runs scored), the emergence of David Robertson as a dominant setup man, and unexpected sources of stability on the starting staff from Ivan Nova, Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon. Those positives were largely outweighed by the early-season disastrous performance and long DL stint from Phil Hughes (though he was significant better upon his return later in the year), another injury-plagued season from Alex Rodriguez, Tommy John surgery for Joba Chamberlain, and the never-ending drama that is"
Fantasy Hockey Advice
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As a member of one of the hottest teams in the NHL, Jake Gardiner has been audaciously making a good amount of noise with the Toronto Maple Leafs of late. With eight points in the 12 games since New Year's, Gardiner has clearly secured a top-four role on a roster bursting with talented and NHL-capable defensemen. And the rookie shows no signs of letting up in his current productive ways. Seemingly encouraged to join in offensively at his own discretion, Gardiner displays a great deal of maturity and sense of discipline for being only 21 years old. The resulting adult-like confidence is a part of the reason general manager Brian Burke wanted the University of Wisconsin standout so badly as"
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Yesterday we discussed the most consistent forwards of the 2011-12 NHL season. Today we'll look at who has turned in the most multi-point efforts. Having the ability to post at least two points in a single game is not an easy task, but of course there are players that achieve that feat with such frequency that it appears easy from our viewpoint. Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom might be the most impressive of anyone this season. Backstrom may be on the sidelines right now, but in 38 games this season he has posted 15 multi-point nights, which is simply remarkable. Backstrom has had 26 games in which he's recorded at least one point, but in well over half of those he has had at least two."
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Time passes in funny ways. Certain events that happened 10, 20 years ago can feel disturbingly fresh (especially as you get older). At the same time, other similarly spaced moments seem more like ancient history than a contemporary occurrence. Personally speaking, it's almost hard to believe that the Calgary Flames made their run to the Stanley Cup finals in 2004. Blame it on the lockout and all that changed after it if you'd like, but it almost feels like Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff's captivating run to just short of a championship was mummified in an Egyptian tomb or carved in some prehistoric cave. Obviously, neither franchise player has gone anywhere, but they've been bumped"
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To paraphrase what Matthew Broderick/Ferris Bueller might say in that surprisingly over-hated car commercial,* an NHL season moves by awfully fast. If you don't take a step back to admire a great run or two, you might miss them. Going into Tuesday's Vancouver Canucks-Nashville Predators game, the greatest amount of attention revolved around Alain Vigneault at least pondering the idea of splitting up the Sedin twins. Naturally, that idea was exposed as ludicrous in an entertaining fashion on Tuesday as the Sedins spurred a two-point night for Byron Bitz. (Let me give credit where it's due, though; Bitz made an outstanding pass for his assist.) As it turns out, Vigneault's idea wasn't the"