So we all know that Wilson Chandler and J.R. Smith (and don’t forget about poor Aaron Brooks) are currently playing in China and are contractually obligated to remain until after their respective teams’ seasons are over. But as fantasy owners begin to stash these guys in anticipation of their return to the NBA, the question on everyone’s mind at the moment is when exactly can...

A special strategy podcast dealing entirely with fantasy basketball trades. We discuss the three ways we evaluate trades, buying low and selling high, the psychological aspect of trading, 2-for-1′s, trading for injured players, trades in keeper leagues and the trade veto system. There is more information stuffed into this hour than I thought would be humanly possible. Click to...

Line of the Night & Waiver Wire Line of the Night: While Gordon Hayward (2.13) looks like the type of kid who’d get slushied in an episode of Glee, we at GMTR are glad that geeky looks are not considered as a statistical category in fantasy basketball. He’s only owned in a third of Yahoo leagues (33%) and after last night’s career performance, Hayward should...

Line of the Night: Kevin Love (2.78) did something against the Knicks last night that he’s done five other times in his career – and that’s go for at least 30 and 20 in a game. Love scored 32 points and grabbed 21 rebounds and despite that, was overshadowed by a certain PG on the other team who hit the game-winning free throw. It’s “only’ the second...

I mean, it had to be something about Jeremy Lin, right? Line of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki (2.62) has started playing like a first round pick again these last 4 games, and gets his first Line of the Night of the season by finally making some threes and blocking some shots. Last night he had 33 points (11-19 FG, 7-10 FT) with 4 threes and 3 blocks. Honorable Mentions: Marc Gasol (2...

or: I should never give up on Channing Frye Line of the Night: Stephen Curry (3.19) 36 points (6 threes, 13-17 from the field), 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks Honorable Mentions: Channing Frye (2.07) is back as the Suns starting PF and loved every one of his 41 minutes to the tune of 21 points (4 threes), 10 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Thank goodness I added him back to my...

Line of the Night: Every so often, Josh Smith (2.96 WARP) will take his game to the next level and destroy everything in sight. His 28 points (on 11-17 from the field), with 12 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 blocks in a 97-87 win over the Pacers was one of those games. Smith played nearly the entire game (46 minutes) as Larry Drew was riding him like a magical unicorn. For the season,...

Line of the Night: There were 6 games last night, but 5 of the top 10 lines came from only 1 game. 50% versus 16% seems like it has to have some sort of statistical significance. The game that produced those 5 lines was the Golden State Warriors versus the Oklahoma City Thunder. Is the Golden Ticket back? Monta Ellis (3.15) seems to think so. He scored 48 points (3 threes, 18-29...

Injury of the Night: Chauncey Billups (1.52) hurt his achilles, possibly his ACL. At this point we’re not sure if it’s torn or not. We’ll know more after he undergoes an MRI. Bottom line is that outlook is currently not very optimistic. For now we can cross our fingers and hope it’s just strained. However, the prudent move in fantasy (for Billups owners especially...

…because I’m day-to-day with flu like systems. Yes, even I couldn’t survive the grind of the condensed season. Erik and I had picked a great topic for the week (trading), prepped for it, and then I started to come down with the flu. So instead of me sleepwalking through an episode, we decided to push it back a few days until I was feeling better. So as long as everything...

(H/T: Michael Gluckstadt) In case you haven’t heard, it looks like Mike D’Antoni is likely going to go with Jeremy Lin as the team’s starting PG against the Utah Jazz tonight. D’Antoni is apparently impressed with the way Lin attacked the basket and ran the Knicks’ offense during Saturday’s game against the Nets (and equally unimpressed with the...

Line of the Night: Eli Manning, 296 passing yards, 1 TD, led the Giants… oh wait, wrong sport. Line of the Night: There was no way that the NBA was going to compete head-to-head with the Super Bowl, so yesterday’s slate consisted of only two early games. That means Rudy Gay’s (1.64) relatively modest 21 points and 7 rebounds in a 98-80 lost to the Celtics was the best...

Anthony Morrow and Paul George have nothing on Nicolas Batum… Line of the Night: Nicolas Batum (2.94) was a game time decision against Denver with a bruised knee that had already kept him out two games. Well, the knee is apparently fine as Batum hit a franchise record 9 threes on his way to a career-high 33 points and adding 3 steals for good measure. If you had stashed Batum...

Or: Where is John Ringo? We had a little bit of a conversation going last night on Twitter about which three-point bomber would get the Line of the Night:. Well, despite Anthony Morrow‘s (2.97) 8 threes on 13-20 from the field and 8-8 from the line to end up with 42 points, his lack of peripheral stats means that Erik was right in calling Paul George (4.29) as the winner of...

and not just the players Line of the Night: It took a little while for Stephen Curry (2.90) to get past the whole Fragile Ankle Syndrome (which could of course reoccur at any time), but he’s finally playing like a second round pick (or first round last night) with 29 points (10-14 from the field, 2 threes), 5 rebounds, 12 assists, and 3 steals. Curry’s teammate Monta...

And somewhere out there, Kendrick Perkins deletes his Twitter account. Line of the Night: In a year where just about all PGs are struggling (especially with their shots), Brandon Jennings (2.96 WARP) has somehow found a way to improve his FG% from 39% last season to 44% so far this season. Of course, maybe none of that really matters, as Jennings shot just 9-25 from the floor against...

Line of the Night:/Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Carmelo Anythony returned for the Knicks after missing two games, but it was Landry Fields (3.04) continuing his recent string of strong performances who took both the overall LotN and by virtue of his 43% ownership, the WWLotN. Fields had 18 points (4 threes, 7-10 from the field, 0-0 from the line), 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 0 turnovers...

Line of the Night: Derrick Rose (2.67 WARP). I got to watch some of the Bulls/Wizards game last night. Unfortunately, what I watched was the fourth quarter (when the Wizards started to clamp down on Rose and forced Carlos Boozer to actually do something on the court) so I missed most of Rose’s season high 35 points in the game. Rose was also 14-15 from the line (yay for that...

In what is becoming a weekly segment on the podcast, Erik and Patrick discuss the week’s latest injuries, including Andrew Bogut’s dim outlook, Andrea Bargnani, Carmelo Anthony and Baron Davis, the crazy tough or possibly just crazy Luol Deng, and some bad news for Rajon Rondo owners. We also discuss Erik’s series of posts where he listed the top players by position...

One milestone deserves another. One night after Kemba Walker joined Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw in being the third rookie to achieve an elusive triple-double, Kobe Bryant surpasses Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most career field goals for the Lakers. Bryant is now also on track this season (91 points behind) to surpass Shaquille O’Neal who is fifth on the NBA’s all-time...

Line of the Night: It has been one wild ride this year for Tyreke Evans (2.57 WARP). Horrible shooting performances and single-digit scoring games followed by games like this against the Jazz: 31 points, with 6 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals. Evans owners would surely appreciate a little more consistency from Evans this season, but his highs keep them coming back for more. Honorable...

Because everyone played like they were on national TV last night. (Okay, not everyone, but look at the numbers below) Line of the Night: I tried to tell people (probably a bit too gently) to hang on to Dorell Wright (3.18). Wright lit it up with 23 points (6 threes), 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the Warriors have a back loaded...

First time I can recall this season where that’s happened (the two game thing, not the thing down there with Gasol and Griffin, though maybe that too) The nice thing about only 2 games is that I can actually get this post done before I have to go work so I don’t have to work on it on the crowded El Train. The bad thing about only 2 games is that it’s very common...

Line of the Night: Anyone who listens to the podcast knows that I went all in on Stephen Curry (3.58 WARP) this year in my personal leagues. Well, I couldn’t be happier this morning thanks to a season-high 32 points from Curry, who shot 12-19 from the field and added 6 threes, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals in a 101-93 win over the Blazers. Does it make the two weeks he...

Using GMTR’s Player Rater, here are the Top 20 small forwards for fantasy basketball from December 25, 2011 to January 25, 2012. These rankings are based on competition using nine categories (PTS, REB, AST, STL, BLK. FG%, FT%, TO), for Head-to-Head leagues. LeBron James (1.35) – Everyone predicted Durant to be the best player, but somebody forgot to tell LeBron that...