• Hedo Turkoglu has been very instrumental in the Magic’s ability to win four of it’s past five playoff games, but what’s worth noting for fantasy purposes is that he’s likely to be in a different uniform next season. Fanhouse is reporting that he will opt out and, given their precarious position relative to the luxury tax threshold, will likely be out of the Magic’s reach as an unrestricted free agent. Detroit, Memphis, and Portland are mentioned as possible suitors with cap room.

• The Ricky Rubio situation continues to develop. Here’s an excerpt from a DraftExpress update:

“The bottom line here is that Ricky has a large buyout—5.75 million Euros, both for this year and the year after. Depending on the team that selects him, he’s going to make a decision on whether he comes over or not. If he’s not satisfied, there is a very real possibility that he doesn’t come. His buyout is going to cost him a lot of money, and if it doesn’t make sense for him, he won’t do it. He is going to have to pay for the privilege of playing in the NBA”

According to the source, Rubio’s decision is going to come down to two things: winning and the role he’ll play for the team that picks him. The size of the market of the team that drafts him is apparently irrelevant, since his appeal will be on a global scale, reaching far past his team’s city limits.

With that in mind, it appears that the Memphis Grizzlies will have to make a very strong sales pitch to Rubio for him to move off his initial stance of not wanting to play for them. Rubio’s concerns stem from a number of factors, ranging from the potential poor fit of playing alongside a very ball-dominant guard in O.J. Mayo, to the negative experiences conveyed to him by the likes of Juan Carlos Navarro and Pau Gasol.

The piece says that “the Grizzlies have not made it a secret that they consider O.J. Mayo to be their point guard of the future” and “At this stage, Rubio appears unlikely to pull out of the draft”, with teams like Sacramento, Dallas, Indiana, Portland and New York looking like his camp’s best-case scenarios. If anyone can point me to the evidence of the first statement, I’d greatly appreciate it. As for the second, a rumor already exists that the Grizzlies wouldn’t have a problem trading down in the upcoming draft if someone gave them enough cash-in-hand to make it worth their while. (Ironically enough, you’ll also find talk about how comfortable the Grizzlies are with Mike Conley as their point guard when you follow that link.)

• This Grizzlies blog post suggests that there are only three satisfactory outcomes for the team on draft day: acquire Blake Griffin, acquire Ricky Rubio, or deal the rights to Rubio for a major package.

(more…)

The ping-pong balls have spoken and the Clippers will pick first on June 25, at which time they will select Blake Griffin. That leaves a month before picks are made that actually count, and plenty can and will happen in the interim. With that said, there are no shortage of early mock drafts now that the lottery order has been set. Even if we can’t say with any amount of certainty who is going to end up where, these early mocks give us a chance to see what the early buzz is all about and allows us to get more familiar with the top draft prospects.

There was no shortage of impact rookies in 2008-09, with Brook Lopez, O.J. Mayo, Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, Russell Westbrook, Mario Chalmers, Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, and Marc Gasol leading the charge. Let’s get an early look at who might end up where as we start scouting the potential 2009-10 rookie class. We’ll use four mock drafts for reference: DraftExpress, NBADraft.net, RealGM, and ESPN. An asterisk (*) denotes the highest projected draft slot for the player.

(more…)

The Consensus Keeper Rankings have generated quite a bit of excellent discussion, and it also seems like a good time to get an early glimpse as to how the majority feels about the top 25 for re-draft leagues heading in to next season. I’m soliciting any and all of you to send me your current top 25 for next season – I’ll compile them all as they come in and post the results in a few days, depending on the response.

Assume 9-category h2h as the settings, and anybody that is feeling frisky can send along their roto top 25, as well. Please just type your numbered list(s) in an email – no attachments (excel, word, etc). I’ll post both of mine when the consensus ranks go up and join in the ensuing discussion. And while there’s no need to overthink it at this juncture, be sure to put some thought into it so that everyone can benefit.

Your recently-completed Yahoo! league, Basketball Monster, and Rotoworld are good places to go for some help putting your list together. Click here when you are ready to submit.

**Don’t forget to add your profile to the Yahoo! Fantasy Profile Registry if you have yet to do so**

The methodology will be simple – I’ll post a poll with a number of players to choose from, and the player with the most votes gets the nod for that position. Polls will stay live for 24 to 48 hours – if there is a run-away winner, we’ll come in on the short side, and if it’s close between two or more players, we’ll leave it open a bit longer. As for settings, assume whichever you personally prefer – the rankings should skew towards whatever settings the consensus uses, as well.

Note: closed polls immediately show up on the “Polls Archive” page, so you’ll be able to track voting there as we move along. I’ll make a new post every so often, as to avoid getting multiple pages deep in terms of comments. If you have an active conversation going in the previous post(s), by all means keep it going – just start new conversations here.

Rankings List
47. Tony Parker (27, SAS – PG)
46. Nene Hilario (26, DEN – C)
45. Carlos Boozer (27, UTH – PF,C)
44. Al Horford (22, ATL – PF,C)
43. Chauncey Billups (32, DEN – PG)
42. Tyrus Thomas (22, CHI – PF)
41. Paul Millsap (24, UTH – PF)
40. Rashard Lewis (29, ORL – SF,PF)
39. Gilbert Arenas (27, WAS – PG)
38. David West (28, NOR – PF)
37. O.J. Mayo (21, MEM – SG)
36. Caron Butler (29, WAS – SG,SF)
35. Andrea Bargnani (23, TOR, PF,C)
34. Andris Biedrins (23, GSW – C)
33. Monta Ellis (23, GSW – PG,SG)
32. Russell Westbrook (20, OKC – PG) (more…)