The Man-Child

Part two of my ode to Dwight. Tuning in on today's game against the Suns on livechannel, Carlos Arroyo has fed Dwight the ball for a dunk at least 4 times; 3 of them alley-oops. It must be a thrilling to know anywhere you slot the ball, that 8 foot wingspan and 12 foot vertical reach will be able to corral it somehow. Here's some other incredible stats.

- Turns 22 in a week
- Believes he's only playing at 10% of his potential
- In the game against the Sonics, 9 of 12 baskets were dunks
- Currently leads the NBA with 74 dunks this season, more than the totals of all but five teams!

Yep. Sure would like to be in Carlos Arroyo's shoes right now.

Yikes

It's not often a game of bball reflects comprehensively, the state of the league. But that just happened today.

Boston 104
New York 59

The best team in the league.
The worst team in the league.

Dwight

One of the main reasons we decided to start this blog was our admiration of Dwight Howard, commonly known as The Man Child. Other monikers include, "Beast" or the New Shaq. In fact, I was almost tempted to name this blog, For the Love of Dwight. Ivan's fascination blossomed when he watched Dwight's humourous side (I'll let him elaborate). My recollection of Dwight was 3 years ago in my first fantasy season when Ray had him on his team and racked all the rebound stats. He eventually lead the NBA that season in double-doubles I think, something he is replicating this season.

Well, today the Man Child exploded. career-high 39 points, 16 rebounds and 5 swats. Reports say that at one stage, the D-Man was being quadruple teamed by the Supersonics. And still to no avail. Man I love this guy.



Anyway, Ivan and my fascination of Dwight translated into a promoted draft pick in this year's fantasy draft. His default draft was at an underestimated 48! Experts look down on his FT% and high TO rate. Despite this, I elevated him to no.10 in my draft. I figure, I can sacrafice my TO stats every week for unlimited potential in rebounds, blocks and FG%. I think Ivan grabbed Dwight in the 3rd or 4th pick. Either way, he and I are laughing all the way to the bank now.

More on Dwight later.

The New Big 3?

The Beantown Express currently continues its relentless dismissal of all the stops it makes along its way to the playoffs - and why not. The Big 3, the Holy Trinity: Garnett, Pierce and Allen, are all in the top 20 for scoring and all averaging over 20ppg. Of course good things are happening in Boston but the only downside is that anything less than a ring on the finger at the end of the season will be considered a failure. Still, Doc Rivers' saliva glands probably haven't stopped leaking uncontrollably since the pre-season.

Anyway, it's without a doubt that Boston hold the big 3 in the NBA. Previously, I believe the title went to Iverson, Melo and JR Smith but only on the grounds that they were the top scoring trio in the NBA - making defensive stops and not hogging the ball is another matter. Jason Kidd brings about vintage form for another season for New Jersey but they can consider themselves unlucky as a reinvigorated R-Jeff snaps two-years in the injury wilderness to get himself close to the top 5 scorers in the league only to have Carter fall victim to his own body in his place. Likewise, legitimate contenders for the Big 3 title in Washington has seen Arenas sidelined for 3 months with knee surgery and Butler and Jamison needing to carry much of the slack. (Not without a fill in role from Blatche though, see below!)

However, focusing on the Rockets game today, it seems like a new Big 3 could be emerging. After a limp start to the season, which saw this player become the highest dropped draft after week 1 only to be the highest pickup the following week, Luis Scola might just be filling in his pre-season promise. His stats today: 10-16 shooting for 20 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists against the Heat, which is impressive support for what is highly regarded as the best 2-man tandem in the NBA. This after shooting 10-11 against the Spurs in the absence of T-mac.

Is it possible that a Rocket is gaining speed on the Boston Big 3 in the NBA?

Andray Blatche

Who?!, you might ask.

No, he's not my nomination for Player with the Weirdest Name in the NBA (actually that's a pretty good idea for a post, my nomination goes to Kaleeza Azubuike). Andray Blatche is a third-year second-round pick playing for Washington whose career averages 3.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists.

So why am I blogging about this unremarkable guy? Cos the dude just went off in the past 3 games.

It started with a fairly innocuous recommendation from Matt Buser who cited his '20 minutes in five straight games, averaging 7.2 points, 5.2 boards, 1 steal, and 2.4 blocks' worthy for attention. Since then though, the SF, PF eligible has posted a career night shooting 12-14 for 26 points coupled with 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

I decided to add him and he followed up with a credible line of 12 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks. It gets better as Brenden Haywood limped off the court and Gilbert Arenas recently announcing a 3 month recovery, Blatche's role now becomes more than cursory support for Jamison and Butler; he represents legitimate value for the Wizards.

I'm putting it out there that if he maintains these sort of numbers; you're looking at this year's MIP.

Dumbest Nba Play Ever

Dumbest NBA Play/Player goes to the washington wizard idiot (Michael Ruffin) who decided to throw the ball up in the air. Watch as the tale unfolds:




Had he held the ball instead of throwing it up like an idiot, maybe they could've won the game.. just maybe. Watch as his team mates look at him with disgust while he clenches his head in shame. For your information, the wiz's ended up losing the game in overtime

Dorkiest Players of the previous era

4) Greg Kite



3) Horace Grant




2) John Stockton




1) Jeff Hornacek

Precedent

Michael Redd attempts the first ever levitate-from-halfway dunk today against the Cavaliers.



























Other captions for this pic
And the recipient of the 'Least masculine defensive stance in the NBA' goes to...

"AWW CRAP I TOTALLY MISJUDGED THAT... BY 20 METERS"

Most Dorky

Saw an image of Steve Blake and thought, damn this guy looks white. I made him my nomination for most out of place player (based on looks) in the NBA. Would you like to nominate someone Ivan?

Welcome

Welcome Y'all,
This is my first post on the fantastic dell's fantasy site.
My lineup is as follows:

1.	(9)	Yao Ming	C
2.	(16)	Carlos Boozer	PF,C
3.	(33)	Allen Iverson	PG,SG
4.	(40)	Dwight Howard	C
5.	(57)	Zach Randolph	PF
6.	(64)	Nenad Krstic	PF,C
7.	(81)	Rajon Rondo	PG,SG
8.	(88)	Quentin Richardson	SG,SF
9.	(105)	Chris Wilcox	PF,C
10.	(112)	Luis Scola	SF,PF
11.	(129)	Drew Gooden	PF
12.	(136)	James Posey	SG,SF
13.	(153)	Bruce Bowen	SF
14.	(160)	Jason Williams	PG
15.	(177)	Jeff Foster	PF,C
16.	(184)	Alonzo Mourning	C
17.	(201)	Rudy Fernandez	PG,SG

Note the Players in Red have been dropped from my squad.
Obviously I didn't pay very good attention to my pre-draft rankings.
Rondo is a bust and only performs when I bench him.
What's the deal?



Burita

Jermaine

should really grow his hair back.






Damn, that's a huge noggin!

First blog

First blog of Fantastic Dell's Fantasy Island blog. This is a blog for Colin and Ivan's yahoo fantasy basketball teams. Below are their respective teams.

Colin's Fungus Dells:

1.	(11)	Jason Kidd	PG
2.	(14)	Dwight Howard	C
3.	(35)	Joe Johnson	PG,SG
4.	(38)	Michael Redd	SG,SF
5.	(59)	Peja Stojakovic	SG,SF
6.	(62)	Kirk Hinrich	PG,SG
7.	(83)	Samuel Dalembert	C
8.	(86)	Richard Jefferson	SF
9.	(107)	Jamal Crawford	SG
10.	(110)	Andrew Bynum	C

11.(FA) Daniel Gibson PG,SG
12.(FA) John Salmons SG,SF
13.(FA) Tyrus Thomas SF,PF