I don’t mean this to sound like whoever came up with fantasy basketball created a poor product.  It’s fun, definitely.  But we aren’t playing it the right way.

Fantasy football works so well because you are basically setting your lineup for a Sunday showdown, much like the NFL.  Sure, we have games on Mondays and Thursdays (and sometimes Saturdays), but the NFL plays once a week and fantasy football is played once a week in a head to head format.  It works this way because it feels authentic.  That’s really the purpose of fantasy sports, isn’t it?  To make you feel like you’re actually controlling a team of professional athletes.  Each NFL team plays once a week against another team and your fantasy football team plays once a week against another fantasy football team.  Yes, this works.

Fantasy baseball is another beast.  While there are head to head formats in fantasy baseball, rotisserie baseball is the purest state of the game.  Major League Baseball teams do not play every day from March through October, but there are games every day in that span, other than during the All-Star break.  So if baseball plays every day, obviously fantasy baseball should be played every day.  The marathon season makes you adjust constantly, but ultimately you are doing whatever is best for your team in the long haul because, well, baseball is a long haul.

But basketball is different.  There are games almost every day, but some days only have two or three games.  You can certainly set up a rotisserie fantasy league and grind out your season day in and day out.  But what if you want to go head to head?  That option exists, but I argue that it’s broken, much like head to head leagues in fantasy baseball.

For some reason, the decision was made that in head to head leagues in fantasy baseball and basketball, the appropriate length of each contest was one week.  I assume this is because of the fantasy football precedent, but is it right to do?  Why a week?  Why not two weeks?  Or two days?  The difficulty with this set up is that the balance of games played is never the same.  You could lose a weekly matchup because the players on your team only played a combined 35 games against your opponent who played 40.  How is this fair?  My response: it’s not.

So how do we fix this?  By changing the match up lengths.  Why not change the length of each matchup from one week to two days?  Or instead of a fixed number of days, why not try to get a similar number of NBA games played during each fantasy match up?

Well, we’re trying it out.  Instead of weekly matchups I’ve broken down the NBA schedule so that we have 82 regular season fantasy matchups for 10 teams.  I will be writing about how the league is working out and hopefully we can develop a real game instead of the weekly format that people seem to have been forced to accept.

Our draft was last night and below is how it shook out.  It was a regular snake draft and the scoring system is based on an accumulation of points throughout a fantasy matchup:

1 point scored = 0.5 fantasy points
1 rebound = 1 fantasy point
1 assist = 1 fantasy point
1 block = 1 fantasy point
1 steal = 1 fantasy point
1 three pointer = 0.5 fantasy points
1 missed field goal = -0.5 fantasy points
1 missed free throw = -1 fantasy point

Round: 1
(1) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – LeBron James SF
(2) Trey Bien – Kevin Durant SF
(3) Mazel Tov Amare – Chris Paul PG
(4) NY Could Have Beens – Kobe Bryant SG
** (5) Kingdom of Morland – Stephen Curry PG
(6) Team Allgood – Deron Williams PG
(7) New York Model Franchise – Dwyane Wade SG
(8) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Dirk Nowitzki PF
(9) Team Opulence – Dwight Howard C
(10) Birthright Owners – Pau Gasol PF

Round: 2
(11) Birthright Owners – Carmelo Anthony SF
(12) Team Opulence – Amare Stoudemire C
(13) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Steve Nash PG
(14) New York Model Franchise – Danny Granger SF
(15) Team Allgood – David Lee PF
** (16) Kingdom of Morland – Tyreke Evans PG
(17) NY Could Have Beens – Brook Lopez C
(18) Mazel Tov Amare – Josh Smith PF
(19) Trey Bien – Rajon Rondo PG
(20) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Brandon Roy SG

Round: 3
(21) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Russell Westbrook PG
(22) Trey Bien – Chris Bosh PF
(23) Mazel Tov Amare – Andre Iguodala SG
(24) NY Could Have Beens – Joe Johnson SG
** (25) Kingdom of Morland – Al Jefferson C
(26) Team Allgood – Gerald Wallace SF
(27) New York Model Franchise – Monta Ellis PG
(28) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Paul Pierce SF
(29) Team Opulence – Chauncey Billups PG
(30) Birthright Owners – Jason Kidd PG

Round: 4
(31) Birthright Owners – Al Horford C
(32) Team Opulence – Darren Collison PG
(33) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Stephen Jackson SG
(34) New York Model Franchise – Tim Duncan C
(35) Team Allgood – Andrea Bargnani C
** (36) Kingdom of Morland – Carlos Boozer PF
(37) NY Could Have Beens – Devin Harris PG
(38) Mazel Tov Amare – David West PF
(39) Trey Bien – Joakim Noah C
(40) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Marcus Camby C

Round: 5
(41) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Blake Griffin PF
(42) Trey Bien – Marc Gasol C
(43) Mazel Tov Amare – Mo Williams PG
(44) NY Could Have Beens – Rudy Gay SF
** (45) Kingdom of Morland – Kevin Love PF
(46) Team Allgood – O.J. Mayo SG
(47) New York Model Franchise – Danilo Gallinari SF
(48) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Troy Murphy PF
(49) Team Opulence – Manu Ginobili SG
(50) Birthright Owners – Derrick Rose PG

Round: 6
(51) Birthright Owners – Rashard Lewis PF
(52) Team Opulence – Luis Scola PF
(53) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – John Wall PG
(54) New York Model Franchise – Zach Randolph PF
(55) Team Allgood – Jason Richardson SG
** (56) Kingdom of Morland – Brandon Jennings PG
(57) NY Could Have Beens – Antawn Jamison PF
(58) Mazel Tov Amare – Hedo Turkoglu SF
(59) Trey Bien – Eric Gordon SG
(60) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Baron Davis PG

Round: 7
(61) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Kevin Martin SG
(62) Trey Bien – Tony Parker PG
(63) Mazel Tov Amare – Andrew Bogut C
(64) NY Could Have Beens – Gilbert Arenas PG
** (65) Kingdom of Morland – LaMarcus Aldridge PF
(66) Team Allgood – Andray Blatche PF
(67) New York Model Franchise – Aaron Brooks PG
(68) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Paul Millsap PF
(69) Team Opulence – Lamar Odom PF
(70) Birthright Owners – Marcus Thornton SG

Round: 8
(71) Birthright Owners – Raymond Felton PG
(72) Team Opulence – Nene C
(73) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Caron Butler SF
(74) New York Model Franchise – Chris Kaman C
(75) Team Allgood – Anthony Randolph PF
** (76) Kingdom of Morland – Trevor Ariza SF
(77) NY Could Have Beens – Jeff Green PF
(78) Mazel Tov Amare – Luol Deng SF
(79) Trey Bien – Ray Allen SG
(80) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Andrew Bynum C

Round: 9
(81) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Yao Ming C
(82) Trey Bien – John Salmons SG
(83) Mazel Tov Amare – Vince Carter SG
(84) NY Could Have Beens – Kevin Garnett PF
** (85) Kingdom of Morland – DeMarcus Cousins PF
(86) Team Allgood – Jamal Crawford SG
(87) New York Model Franchise – Michael Beasley SF
(88) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Andrei Kirilenko SF
(89) Team Opulence – Boris Diaw PF
(90) Birthright Owners – JaVale McGee C

Round: 10
(91) Birthright Owners – Jason Terry SG
(92) Team Opulence – Leandro Barbosa SG
(93) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Channing Frye PF
(94) New York Model Franchise – Rodney Stuckey PG
(95) Team Allgood – Emeka Okafor C
** (96) Kingdom of Morland – J.J. Hickson PF
(97) NY Could Have Beens – Jrue Holiday PG
(98) Mazel Tov Amare – Roy Hibbert C
(99) Trey Bien – J.R. Smith SG
(100) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Elton Brand PF

Round: 11
(101) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Ben Gordon SG
(102) Trey Bien – Anderson Varejao PF
(103) Mazel Tov Amare – Andre Miller PG
(104) NY Could Have Beens – Al Harrington PF
** (105) Kingdom of Morland – Jameer Nelson PG
(106) Team Allgood – Mike Conley PG
(107) New York Model Franchise – Robin Lopez C
(108) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Richard Hamilton SG
(109) Team Opulence – Andris Biedrins C
(110) Birthright Owners – Mike Miller SF

Round: 12
(111) Birthright Owners – Terrence Williams SF
(112) Team Opulence – Serge Ibaka C
(113) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Corey Maggette SF
(114) New York Model Franchise – Drew Gooden PF
(115) Team Allgood – Wesley Johnson SF
** (116) Kingdom of Morland – James Harden SG
(117) NY Could Have Beens – Jose Calderon PG
(118) Mazel Tov Amare – Shawn Marion SF
(119) Trey Bien – Greg Oden C
(120) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Tyrus Thomas PF

Round: 13
(121) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Spencer Hawes C
(122) Trey Bien – Anthony Morrow SG
(123) Mazel Tov Amare – Wilson Chandler SF
(124) NY Could Have Beens – Carl Landry PF
** (125) Kingdom of Morland – DeJuan Blair PF
(126) Team Allgood – Nicolas Batum SF
(127) New York Model Franchise – Beno Udrih PG
(128) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Samuel Dalembert C
(129) Team Opulence – Linas Kleiza PF
(130) Birthright Owners – Josh Howard SG

Round: 14
(131) Birthright Owners – Taj Gibson PF
(132) Team Opulence – Carlos Delfino SF
(133) White Chocolate Peanut Butter – Ron Artest SF
(134) New York Model Franchise – Marvin Williams SF
(135) Team Allgood – Lou Williams PG
** (136) Kingdom of Morland – Toney Douglas PG
(137) NY Could Have Beens – Charlie Villanueva PF
(138) Mazel Tov Amare – Amir Johnson PF
(139) Trey Bien – Mehmet Okur C
(140) Yao Ming’s Broken Foot – Jason Thompson PF

However, have you ever noticed that we don’t get this same feeling from fantasy sports.  People argue that fantasy sports make you a better fan because you are well informed about more players than just the team you root for (if you even root for a team).  Whether that’s true or not is another discussion, but we really have no idea which players are winners in fantasy sports.

Can Derek Jeter lead you to a fantasy baseball championship?  Can Tom Brady or Kobe Bryant?  Who knows?  While I don’t have access to the Yahoo! Fantasy Sports or ESPN.com Fantasy statistics, I’d love to see an article about whether there are certain players that always wind up on championship fantasy teams.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out that while he can’t help his team win on the court, Zach Randolph has actually been on more winning fantasy basketball teams than any other player in the NBA?  I’m not saying you’d go out and draft Randolph ahead of Dwight Howard, but it’s something to think about.

So, if there is anyone from Yahoo! or ESPN.com reading this, please pass along my idea and hopefully someone will take charge and write about it.

So what happened?  I won the league by 19 points and finished with the highest point total since we started using standard 5×5 scoring (runs, homeruns, runs batted in, stolen bases and batting average x wins, saves, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP).  I lead the league in stolen bases, wins, saves, and strikeouts, tied for the lead in WHIP, was second in batting average and ERA, third in homeruns and fourth in runs and runs batted in.  Since I know you’re dying to see it, below are the full standings (you can click on the picture for a bigger view):

Looking back, obviously by Barry Zito for Jacoby Ellsbury trade didn’t work out because of the latter’s rib injury, but the loss of Zito hardly hurt me in the end.  The late season injuries to Hanley Ramirez and Evan Longoria worried me for a bit, but it was really my pitching that brought me the crown.

Yahoo’s Fantasy Baseball has a graph view option, which will show how the top four performed over the course of the season.  My team is the orange line (obviously, since it’s at the top by the end of the season):

While the full season graph obviously shows my ascent throughout the season, it’s the “Last 30 Days” graph that shows the true separation around September 20th:

So there you have it.  In case you’re curious, my final roster was:

C: Buster Posey
1B: Adam Dunn
2B: Brandon Phillips
3B: Evan Longoria
SS: Hanley Ramirez
OF: Matt Holliday
OF: Ichiro Suzuki
OF: Alfonso Soriano
Util: Drew Stubbs
Bench: Mike Aviles
Bench: Pedro Alvarez

SP: Adam Wainwright
SP: Ubaldo Jimenez
SP: Tim Lincecum
RP: Carlos Marmol
RP: Hong-Chih Kuo
P: Kevin Gregg
P: J.A. Happ
P: Carlos Zambrano
Bench: Brian Matusz
Bench: Ted Lilly
Bench: Edinson Volquez

Theoretically Bud Light could become the Official Beer of Fantasy Football by ESPN.com or even NFL.com, both big players in the fantasy football universe.

What’s next, Coors Light becoming the Official Beer of Checking Your Fantasy Team Constantly on Sundays?

**UPDATE** Miller Lite is apparently also a proud sponsor of Fantasy Draft Week on ESPN.com

Before yesterday’s moves, my team looked like this:

C: Buster Posey
1B: Adam Dunn
2B: Brandon Phillips
3B: Alex Rodriguez
SS: Hanley Ramirez
OF: Ichiro Suzuki
OF: Matt Holliday
OF: Jason Heyward
Util: Alfonso Soriano
Bench: Johnny Damon
Bench: Matt Wieters

SP: Adam Wainwright
SP: Ubaldo Jimenez
SP: Mat Latos
RP: Leo Nunez
RP: Kevin Gregg
P: Juan Gutierrez
P: Chad Qualls
P: R.A. Dickey
Bench: Ted Lilly
Bench: Barry Zito
Bench: Joe Blanton

A quick side note: I traded Stephen Drew, Francisco Liriano and Cole Hamels for Hanley Ramirez and Ted Lilly on May 16th and then Phil Hughes for Kevin Gregg on July 30th.

Yesterday was the beginning of the roster overhaul. Here’s how it broke down:

- Dropped Juan Gutierrez for Aaron Heilman after the former was placed on the disabled list.

- Dropped Chad Qualls for Hong-Chih Kuo

- Dropped Hong-Chih Kuo for J.A. Happ (Happ was available because he’s been hurt for so long)

- Dropped Joe Blanton for Carlos Zambrano (he’s returning to the starters role and I thought he might be worth the risk due to his high strikeout rate this year)

- Dropped Johnny Damon for Mike Lowell (another injured player who was still available, but should be getting some playing time thanks to the injury to Kevin Youkilis)

But then the real action started.  While I was making these moves, I was presented with the following trade proposal:

Derrek Lee and Tim Lincecum for Alex Rodriguez and Adam Dunn

While the guy in my league wouldn’t know this, I absolutely hate Derrek Lee in fantasy baseball.  I’ve had him once before and he just ruined my team, plus I always feel that his owners always think he is better than he is.  Look, I know he hit .335 with 46 HRs and 107 RBI in 2005 and I also know he’ll never do it again.  No thanks.

I countered with Alfonso Soriano for Tim Lincecum hoping that his glut of pitchers would allow him to do this (he also owns Roy Halladay, David Price, C.C. Sabathia and Matt Cain, to name a few).  My offer was firmly rebuffed, as expected.

His counter was an interesting one, offering me Carlos Pena and Tim Lincecum for Alex Rodriguez.  It was a pretty fair offer, but I had no interest in adding Pena’s .212 batting average despite his homerun numbers.  My other problem at this point was that if I traded Rodriguez (who hit his 600th career homerun as we were negotiating), I would be empty at third base, clearly not an ideal position.  It was at this time that I tried to see if Evan Longoria might be available.

I emailed the guy who had Longoria and asked him if he’d be interested in one of my pitchers, assuming he’d be most interested in Ubaldo Jimenez or Adam Wainwright.  While he’s been awesome this year, I was hoping that Jimenez would be the one he liked more, but alas, he wanted Wainwright.

While I thought it might come down to it, I wasn’t thrilled about trading Wainwright for Longoria.  The former was the #4 ranked player overall in our league and while I don’t really like to rely on rankings, it’s a tough thing to ignore when it’s a top-five player.  Luckily for me, my potential trading partner hinted that he might be interested in a combination of Mat Latos and a hitter for Longoria; now we’re getting closer.

I offered up Latos and either Heyward or Holliday, neither of which I really wanted to trade, but might be willing to give up for Longoria.  I naturally preferred to give up Heyward, he wanted Holliday, which I eventually balked at.  However, he decided to roll with the young guys and agreed to trade me Longoria for Latos and Heyward.

Separately, I was IMing with another guy in our league who was talking about how Jacoby Ellsbury was returning soon but that he was so frustrated with his injuries that he wanted him gone.  I offered him Barry Zito and the deal was accepted.  Just like that.  It couldn’t have been easier and I think it was a good move for both of us (which is my way of saying that it will help my team and I don’t care what happens to his team).

Back to the A-Rod deal.  Our negotiations kept going back and forth, with me looking for a closer in addition to Lincecum.  While I like Lincecum a lot, I didn’t think trading him straight up for Rodriguez was a good deal; luckily, my trading partner felt the same.  I told him I was looking for a closer and he offered me either Carlos Marmol, Huston Street or Bobby Jenks; I jumped at Marmol and proposed Marmol and Lincecum for Rodriguez.  At that point, we were close, but not quite there.

“How about adding Wieters?” he asked.  With Buster Posey playing most days and filling my catcher position, I was more than willing to give Wieters up.  And with that, we had agreed to exchange Alex Rodriguez and Matt Wieters for Tim Lincecum and Carlos Marmol.

With the other moves I made earlier in the day, my team now looks dramatically different than it did a few days ago:

C: Buster Posey
1B: Adam Dunn
2B: Brandon Phillips
3B: Evan Longoria (previously Alex Rodriguez)
SS: Hanley Ramirez
OF: Matt Holliday
OF: Ichiro Suzuki
OF: Jacoby Ellsbury (previously Jason Heyward)
UTIL: Alfonso Soriano
Bench: Mike Lowell (previously Johnny Damon)
Bench: Open (previously Matt Wieters)

SP: Adam Wainwright
SP: Ubaldo Jimenez
SP: Tim Lincecum (previously Mat Latos)
RP: Leo Nunez
RP: Kevin Gregg
P: Aaron Heilman (previously Juan Gutierrez)
P: Carlos Marmol (previously Chad Qualls)
P: R.A. Dickey
Bench: Ted Lilly
Bench: J.A Happ (previously Barry Zito)
Bench: Carlos Zambrano (previously Joe Blanton)

Will it win me a championship?  I sure hope so.  A pitching staff anchored by Wainwright, Jimenez and Lincecum seems liks it should be solid enough and with three legitimate closers,one more than most teams in the league, I should be able to jump in that category.  If this were a keeper league, obviously the moves would most likely not have happened, but since it’s only a one-year league, it’s much easier to roll the dice.

Things seem to already be moving, as the guy formerly in second place dropped three points last night and combined with my 1.5 point gain, I am not firmly in second place only eight points back of first.

Quarterbacks:

1. Matt Schaub

2. Ben Roethlisberger

3. Tom Brady

4. Joe Flacco

5. Peyton Manning

6. Drew Brees

7. Aaron Rodgers

8. Brett Favre

9. Kyle Orton

10. Jay Cutler

Flacco has also been a tremendous surprise so far in 2009, especially given that many fantasy analysts heavily stressed Ray Rice, La’Ron McClain and Willis McGahee going into this season because of the Baltimore Ravens’ run-happy offense.  But there is Flacco in the top five.

Brett Favre and Kyle Orton are also surprise attendees in the top-10, especially in front of 2008-fantasy star Jay Cutler.

Running Backs:

1. Adrien Peterson

2. Maurice Jones-Drew

3. Ray Rice

4. Chris Johnson

5. Ronnie Brown

6. Thomas Jones

7. Cedric Benson

8. DeAngelo Williams

9. Michael Turner

10. Ahmad Bradshaw

Bradshaw is the biggest surprise on the list given that Brandon Jacobs came into the season with expectations of double-digit touchdowns.  But so far this season, the Giants have relied more on Bradshaw, who is paying dividends for those who grabbed him late in their drafts.

Wide Receivers:

1. Andre Johnson

2. Steve Smith

3. Randy Mos

4. Hines Ward

5. Reggie Wayne

6. Larry Fitzgerald

7. Marques Colston

8. Mario Manningham

9. Roddy White

10. Chad Ochocino

The biggest surprise on this list is Steve Smith, mostly because it’s the Giants’ second-year wideout and not previous top-fantasy performance Steve Smith from the Carolina Panthers.  Mario Manningham, also with the Giants, is another surprise, especially considering that the Giants have two receivers in the top-10 and yet Eli Manning is only the 12th best fantasy quarterback to date (and is less than four points ahead of David Gerrard).

Tight Ends:

1. Owen Daniels

2. Dallas Clark

3. Heath Miller

4. Antonio Gates

5. Kellen Winslow

6. Brent Celek

7. Visanthe Shiancoe

8. Tony Gonzalez

9. Vernon Davis

10. Chris Cooley

Not too many surprises here, except maybe that Jason Whitten is not on the list, with only 259 yards and a single touchdown so far in the season.  The Cowboys passing game continues to struggle in 2009 and Whitten has taken the biggest hit to his fantasy production.

I am ignoring kickers and defenses because we all should; they are all basically the same, don’t try to say otherwise.

So there you have it.  Matt Schaub is the top fantasy producer through week six.

Or is he?  KingMorland.com will conduct a comprehensive study on week-to-week fantasy production to be sure that Schaub is actually the real-deal.  It’s easy to have 14 touchdowns when 11 of them come in three games; did those three weeks beat out the other top competitors?  Come back another time and find out for sure.

Quarterbacks

1. Drew Brees
2. Aaron Rodgers
3. Tom Brady
4. Philip Rivers
5. Peyton Manning
6. Tony Romo
7. Matt Schaub
8. Donovan McNabb
9. Jay Cutler
10. Matt Ryan
11. David Gerrard
12. Trent Edwards
13. Kurt Warner
14. Ben Roethlisberger
15. Kyle Orton
16. Matt Cassel
17. Eli Manning
18. Brett Favre
19. Jake Delhomme
20. Joe Flacco

Running Backs

1. Matt Forte
2. Maurice Jones-Drew
3. Adrian Peterson
4. Donald Brown
5. Chris Johnson
6. DeAngelo Williams
7. LaDanian Tomlinson
8. Frank Gore
9. Brian Westbrook
10. Brandon Jacobs
11. Michael Turner
12. Steve Slaton
13. Kevin Smith
14. Steven Jackson
15. Clinton Portis
16. Pierre Thomas
17. Ryan Grant
18. Ronnie Brown
19. Marion Barber
20. Beanie Wells

Wide Receivers

1. Calvin Johnson
2. Larry Fitzgerald
3. Andre Johnson
4. Steve Smith
5. Randy Moss
6. Greg Jennings
7. Roddy White
8. Marques Colston
9. Anquan Boldin
10. Vincent Jackson
11. Reggie Wayne
12. Terrell Owens
13. Dwayne Bowe
14. Eddie Royal
15. Wes Welker
16. T.J. Houshmandzadeh
17. Chad Ochocino
18. Lance Moore
19. Hines Ward
20. Bernard Berrian

Tight Ends

1. Jason Whitten
2. Tony Gonzalez
3. Dallas Clark
4. Antonio Gates
5. Greg Olsen
6. Dustin Keller
7. Chris Cooley
8. Kellen Winslow
9. Visanthe Shiancoe
10. John Carlson

Defenses

1. Pittsburgh Steelers
2. Tennessee Titans
3. New York Giants
4. New York Jets
5. Baltimore Ravens
6. Chicago Bears
7. San Diego Chargers
8. Washington Redskins
9. New England Patriots
10. Indianapolis Colts

Kickers

They are all the same.

2. Kevin Garnett (2)
Though he doesn’t want to touch the ball for a game winning shot, he is more than happy to grab the rebound and kick it out for a game winning assist.

3. LeBron James (8)
The new triple-double machine of the NBA, how long until he averages one for a whole season?

4. Kobe Bryant (3)
Moves down again, not because of his lack of play, but because of great play by others.

5. Yao Ming (5)
An 86% free throw shooter out of the center position is amazing.

6. Chris Paul (11)
He is slowly becoming the best point guard in the league.

7. Dwight Howard (13)
Moving up significantly thanks to his increased scoring. He may pass Yao this year as the best center in the NBA.

8. Steve Nash (6)
Losing his spot as best point guard in the NBA, but can still dominate the assist category with Amare and Marion on the wings.

9. Caron Butler (NR)
Getting many more looks now that Arenas is out, Butler’s scoring was the only thing holding him back from being a top-10 fantasy player.

10. Tim Duncan (9)
20 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks per game will get you in the top 10. He’s even shooting 70% from the line!

11. Dirk Notwiztki (5)
Moved down because he doesn’t shoot as many threes, but he still fills it up every night.

12. Marcus Camby (17)
Well on his way to another Defensive Player of the Year Award, the only question is if he can make it through a whole season.

13. Paul Pierce (12)
Garnett may be getting most of the hype, but with the game on the line, they want the ball in Pierce’s hands.

14. Deron Williams (18)
Another fantastic point guard; the battles between Williams and Paul for the next decade will be great to watch.

15. Carlos Boozer (14)
His 35 and 15 nights are great, but can he play any defense?

16. Tracy McGrady (10)
Back from an elbow injury and playing well. If his back holds up, he will be a beast this year playing alongside Yao.

17. Josh Smith (20)
He is a monster defensively, but offensively he is a big question mark. He will hit a couple of threes, but at the same time shoot 5-18.

18. Vince Carter (16)
Came back from an ankle injury and is playing well again. Don’t underestimate his ability to finish the year averaging 25-5-5 again.

19. Baron Davis (NR)
Nothing like a game against the Knicks to really get you going. Davis is a great talent, who just needs to stay healthy.

20. Antawn Jamison (NR)
Similar to Caron Butler, it was consistent scoring that kept Jamison out of the Top 20. With Arenas gone, it’s time to step up.

Dropped from the Top 20: Gilbert Arenas, Amare Stoudemire, Allen Iverson

Honorable Mention:
Manu Ginobili
Kevin Martin
Allen Iverson
Amare Stoudemire
Rashard Lewis
Andre Iguodala
Ray Allen
Jason Kidd