INFO: NBA FA's, and Risky Players that Have Been Signed

New Writer Allan Marcus weighs in on the not-so-great NBA Stars. Take it away, Allan!




Thanks, Mr. Thief
Here's a list of people who have not officially been signed and aren't bad pick ups. 

- Gilbert Arenas - Leandro Barbosa - Matt Barnes - Mike Bibby - Carlos Delfino - Derek Fisher - Jonny Flynn - Willie Green - Carl Landry - Roger Mason - Jodie Meeks - CJ Miles - Troy Murphy - Jannero Pargo - Mickael Pietrus - AJ Price - Michael Redd - NATE ROBINSON - Brandon Rush - Ish Smith - Anthony Tolliver - Bill Walker - Martell Webster -  Shawne Williams

The riskiest players to be signed or have been signed already:

- Brandon Roy - The risk with brandon is his knee.
- Michael Beasley - He will need to stay healthy, work on his defense and shot selection if he wants to exceed with the suns
- JR Smith - Don't get me wrong here, JR Smith is a great offensive talent from 3, mid range and inside game. He really has it all. But he needs to understand how to use it. He is a selfish basketball player on the offensive end of the floor. JR is a score first, pass second player, and his defense is a work in progress.
- Brook Lopez - Lopez has a nice post game and can play some defense. The one thing that scares me with him is the injury he had last season, the broken bone in his right foot gave me flash backs to Yao Ming.
- Matt Barnes - His tenacity, poise, and focus are all on the defensive end. His offensive game isn't as close to his defense. Matt tends to carry an attitude with him wherever he goes.
- Tracy McGrady - Happy to still have legends like him around. Two simple problems to signing him: first: he's old and second: who knows how much longer his knees will be working.
- Landry Fields - Landry tries very hard and has a lot of hustle and I give him a lot of credit for that, but unfortunately that wasn't good enough for him last year. Shooting only 25% in threes, he really struggled at the free throw line at only 56% his rebounds dropped and points dropped. I hope he can do better in Toronto and earn that ludicrous contract (NOT).
- Lamar Odom - Come on lets face it, Lamar's year in Dallas really wasn't what we were expecting, as a matter of fact it was quite disastrous. His numbers pretty much dropped in every category. I think he should do better on ground he's used to, and thats in LA.
- Derek Fisher - The dude is just old, slow and really won't be able to thrive on the defensive end of the floor or really any end of the floor like he used to.
- Jeremy Lin - After starting exactly 25 games with the Knicks, all of a sudden people put Linsanity in their heads. The money was pretty good for only 25 games. Actually, it was AMAZING for 25 games. We'll see if Linsanity can prove to everyone he can carry a dying rockets team and be worth that very generous paycheck.




Allan
Be sure to follow us ---> @FantasyThieves

Some Words of Motivation

It’s that time of year again. The time when we put socks out for Santa, put sugary candy canes on our trees, and are forced to watch an appalling marathon of movies on ABC where every one has some fake snow and a happy ending with Santa coming in the end (but you don’t actually see him) to give presents. All sounds wonderful, right? Well, rewind a couple of months to have an even more important time of your year. The eve of the Fantasy Baseball Playoffs. Some of you are fighting for that last spot, and some of you are comfortable in your position right now. 1^st place clinched? Congratulations! But you didn’t win yet, did you? No matter what position you are in, this article is for you. (Except if you know your season is over. If you are certain it is, then print out this article and save it for the Fantasy Football Playoffs.)

                  First off: if your season is over and you are headed to the lockers, applaud! I’m sure you gave it your all, and I’m also sure that you’ll come out strong next year and have an unbelievable draft and take your league. Just don’t forget about us, ok?

                  For those of you still in it, we have some advice. Don’t give up! No matter what position you are in, even if you already clinched, it’s not time to say I’m a champion! NO! The journey to the top isn’t done until you are actually on top. We don’t care if you clinched 5 weeks ago and your team has clearly been the best all year, you must keep checking on your players! This means adding and dropping players often, and checking on your team at least twice a day until you are finally crowned. We believe in you! We’ve seen so many teams in the past that were the best all year and gave up come playoff time. Guess what? They went home with zilch! Nothing! Nada! We don’t want this to happen to you.

                  For the teams fighting for a playoff spot: I don’t think you need to be reminded, but these last few weeks (or perhaps this last week) are the most important weeks of your life! You have to take this one step at a time. Don’t look at that shiny gold crown yet. You are trying to get into the playoffs. You must check on your team constantly, look at matchups, and make sure you have the best players going that night. You’re going to have to add and drop a lot, and don’t stop! Be an implacable opponent.

                  If you made it this far into the article, you are there. You have a shot at winning it all. You are a top fantasy baseball player, and you may even be ranked near us! Cheers and welcome.  We know how hard you worked at the draft, keeping your team in check through the season, and hopefully you keep working until you are king. Email us or send us a message on twitter to let us know how you did.

Good luck

The Thieves

Trust in Your Top Players

Team names of the week----

ThatsWhatSheetsSaid

Fukudome? Fukedoyou!

King fe-lix my balls

I wanted to talk today about trusting in your top players. A lot of top baseball players have slumped recently (or are still on a cold streak,) but this does not give you a reason not to believe in them, and you should know that they will soon return to their dominant form.  These players are the ones that have proven themselves to you and the league, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t get out of their slump and perform again.

Now don’t get confused here. I’m talking about once great players that have proven to be great before and have currently hit a bit of turbulence in their careers. Please do not think that everyone who was once good will always be good in the future.  Note- this also does not apply to former great players like Sizemore who are still battling injuries (he’s out another 4-6 weeks and going to have surgery, in case you didn’t know.)

Back to the main point- this rule is very important not just in fantasy baseball, but also in all fantasy leagues. But we are going to stick to baseball for today. If you do not have faith in your top performers, you are not going to win. It’s as simple as that. Play them every night. However, for example, if Tim Lincecum has been struggling in his last couple of starts, and he is scheduled to face a great team like the Phillies next, you might want to bench him.  But please, don’t panic and act like a maniac and post tons of messages on your league board, begging to trade him. He will prevail.

Here are some superstars (or those who once were) that hit a bit of a rough patch this year, but came through. And if some of these players didn’t come through yet, they will.

     1.  Joakim Soria- Came through- when he was removed from his role as closer, owners panicked. Even in my league. He was dropped for Aaron Crow, and I quickly snatched him up. Good move, huh?

     2.  Albert Pujols- Came through- it’s been a tough season for him, but he came back earlier than expected from his injury, and started hitting immediately. A lot of owners lost faith, and I’m sure they regret that, as we move closer and closer to the playoffs (can you believe it? I feel like the season just started yesterday!).

     3. Joe Nathan, Carlos Mormol- Joe Nathan officially reinstated as the closer as of last weekend, and Mormol was pulled out of his role, just like Soria. Wow, did we get a lot of questions about him. He will work on his mechanics, and be back as closer before you know it

     4. Carlos Gonzalez- he got off to a terrible start, but drastically improved. Coming into the season he was among the top outfielders in the draft. He is sure starting to live up to those expectations now

     5. Carlos Pena- I’m the one that actually suffered with him. He got off to a terrible start, and I didn’t stick with him. I dropped him, and another owner immediately swooped him up. Bad move on my part, so I hope he slows down ;)
    One final note on trust- my team this year got off to a terrible start. I had a decent draft for a 14-team league, and I didn’t know what to do after dropping to 10^th place and 20 points under .500. After making some adjustments ( but no trades) I prevailed. I’m in a position to move into second place after this week. I stuck with my stars and this is what happened. We hope you didn’t give up yet. 
   Follow us on Twitter @FantasyThieves

 

Question from a Fan and The Answer

Welcome back!

It's a cloudy Friday afternoon here in NYC, enjoying some sushi as a midday snack. This is our first post in a while, and we want to thank you for visiting. We received a question recently from a loyal fan and supporter and we thought we should share it with our followers. The question: what to do when you're in trouble in the standings.

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"Fantasy Thief,

Thank you very much.  I have the following line-up in a traditional but deep 5x5 roto league of 15 teams and for some reason it cannot get out of the basement in hitting and pitching isn’t great either but the stats seem easier to improve.   What do you suggest I do?  Should I sit tight and expect more of these hitters to come around?  Or should I make a big deal?

Tonight, someone offered me Alex Avila, Charlie Morton and Justin Verlander for Elvis Andrus and Alex Rodriguez.  I think Avila and Verlander are reasonable offers but I’m not crazy about Morton and need more hitting than pitching (especially with getting Verlander).  He has Prado, Howie Kendrick, Votto, Berkman, Mauer, LoMorrison as some of his better options.  I doubt he’ll give me Votto or  Berkman, which I view as his best; I have plenty of catchers; so I feel like countering to get Prado or Kendrick along  with Verlander + Avila. Does that seem reasonable for A-Rod and Andrus? 

I’m figuring  I should sell high on A-Rod because I’m not trusting his stamina and age to keep him performing the rest of the long season.  What do you think? 

Y. Molina C

P. Konerko 1B

D. Uggla 2B

A. Rodriguez 3B

E. Andrus SS

D. Espinosa MI

P. Polanco CI

C. Blackmon OF

C. Heisey OF

R. Ibanez OF

O. Infante OF

B. Revere OF

G. Parra DH

G. Soto C,DH

D Span  

R Ibanez

Pitchers

A Bastardo

B Wilson

J Jurrjens

J Vargas

M Capps

N Blackburn

R Dempster

T Hudson

B Colon (R)

C Villanueva (R)

C Lewis (R)"

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Let me explain it to you this way-- this is a really hard team to turn around, but you still have time. Anything is possible, right? I just hope you didn't invest a lot of money in this league.

Ignore that Verlander trade, given it is still on the table. Better hitting is always more valuable than better pitching, and you are not in position to give up a great hitter at this point. A-rod will get better. No worries there.. 

My advice from this point forward: Are you in a Yahoo league? if you are, click on one of the tabs named 'research' and it will show you all the players that are on a hot streak. Give those players a chance. If you're not in a Yahoo league, go to the available players and see who is doing well. It's gonna take a lot of work to turn this team around. Make as many moves as possible with the waiver wire. No one wants to trade with you right now, and I most certainly wouldn't unless you are offering me A-rod and Uggla and Andrus for Berkman. And you don't want to to that. I would start by dropping Span, Ibanez, Dempster, Polanco, Blackmon and blackburn. Those players are doing pretty bad right now.

The Thieves

P.S. Never sit tight with a team unless you know it has talent, and have confidence in your players.

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Hope you enjoyed that. Till next time!!
If you have any suggestions for future blog posts leave a comment right here or hit us up on Twitter. Thanks!

Follow Fantasy Thieves on Twitter----> @FantasyThieves

Guest Blogger ZECommish says Patrick Ewing is the best option for the Knicks' head coaching job.

Nobody in NY wants to relive this.

After the announcement last week that Knicks GM Donnie Walsh won’t be returning next season, Knicks fans have a lot to worry about. Walsh cleaned up the mess that Isiah Thomas left behind, brought in ‘Stat & Melo’, and finally ended the Marbury-Curry era of Knicks basketball. The sad part  all of this is that Walsh left before his job was done. I mean c’mon, lets be honest, their season wasn’t that good- they did get swept by an aging Celtics team in the first round of the playoffs. To be better than a 7^th seed, the Knicks can’t keep the status quo, especially since their starting point guard is 34 years old and on the last year of what is probably his final contract. Without Donnie Walsh, the Knicks are going to have trouble replicating the success they’ve had in the free agent market while Walsh was at the helm.

            Not to state the obvious, but now that Walsh is gone, the Knicks need a new general manger. New GMs tend to try and shape their team to their own liking. This means that they will add new players, get new advisors, and most importantly (In the Knick’s case at least), hire a brand new head coach. Mike D’Antoni is the Knicks’ worst enemy right now. He’s taken a team that should be among the elite in the NBA and turned it into a team that couldn’t even win a single playoff game. How can he expect to be a championship contender when the word ‘defense’ isn’t even mentioned at practice?!? Just look at the Finals- the Heat and Mavs are two of the best defensive teams in the league! I know I wouldn’t want to drive to the basket against Tyson Chandler! Anyways, the Knicks desperately need a new coach who will take defense seriously and any new GM will hopefully understand that and give D’Antoni the axe.

            Here’s where things will get interesting: who will the next coach of the Knicks be? As I see it, there are a couple of options, each with their own pros and cons. The first option is what most Knick fans are probably hoping for, Phil Jackson. Jackson (a former knick) would be an extremely high profile and glamorous choice considering the five rings he won at his last job with the Lakers (and the six that he won with the Bulls). From that description, Jackson seems like the obvious choice for the Knicks (If he wants to come). However, he does bring along some question marks as well. First off, Jackson isn’t on the young side (He’s 65) and has balked at retiring a couple of times already. This makes it hard to know how long Jackson would stick around if he did in fact take the job. My second concern with Jackson is as follows: Phil’s 11 championships have come with players such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal. Those are some of the greatest players ever! That begs the question; can Phil Jackson win a championship without a player like that on his team? Now sure, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony are great basketball players, but they aren’t at the same level as Kobe or MJ. I just don’t know if Phil will be able to lead a team without the best player in the league and I am not interested in having the Knicks become the test case. The next viable option for coach would be Jeff Van Gundy. Van Gundy has proven to be successful with all different types of teams (especially with the Knicks) and would be a perfect fit for the head-coaching gig. Unfortunately, Van Gundy seems to really like being a commentator for ESPN and doesn’t seem to be interested in giving that up to be a coach again. The third choice would be to hire internally. The most qualified current Knick employee for the position would have to be assistant coach Herb Williams. Williams definitely knows the players and the system, which is an obvious plus, but probably isn’t head coaching material. When Williams was interim head coach in 2004, the Knicks played horrendously and the job was quickly taken from Herb and given to Larry Brown. This leads me to believe that the Knick’s front office doesn’t have much confidence in Williams as a coach and he probably will not get the job this time around. I know what you’re thinking: “Oh god, this list is not sounding very good, we might as well just stick with D’Antoni”. Well don’t worry; my fourth option will hopefully end your fears.

Why not?

              Now before you jump to conclusions, hear me out, I’m 100% serious about this. I think that the dark-horse candidate for the head coach of the New  Knicks should be Patrick Ewing. That’s right, Patrick Ewing. Now let me tell you why: Ewing obviously knows the way the Knicks do business, he has a great basketball mind, and he’s already working his way up to being a head coach someday (he is now an assistant coach for the Orlando Magic). Ewing would have an immediate connection with Amar’e (because they play similar styles on the court), would have a great relationship with the fans, and would finally be able to do what he never could as a player in New York: Win a championship. Yes, it would be a bit of a risk because this would be his first head coaching job and he might have some trouble at first getting used to it, but just as he did with his job as assistant with the Magic, he’d settle in and become a great asset to the organization. This is why I think that Patrick Ewing is the best option to be next head coach of the New York Knicks. 

Follow me on Twitter- @ZECommish
Follow Fantasy Thieves- @FantasyThieves

The NBA season is winding down...

...And here are the two most shocking and disappointing things that happened this season fantasy-wise and not.

#1 That Magic trade...
We all were looking forward to a great run by the Magic after that trade they made this year. They got their star back in Hedo, gave up Lewis who was doing terrible, and all the commentators on TNT thought they would be unstoppable, but...
Gilbert shot 34% from the field, and under 30% from 3. coming off the bench, this isn't great.
Another player- Jason Richardson saw almost every stat drop, including his points, his 3 point percentage, and his free throw percentage. This, as you may have seen, didn't fit so well with the Magic or your fantasy team!
Also- they got no bench!! Malik Allen, Earl Clark and Chris Duhon. enough said there.
Sadly, their season ended in the first round, which was yet another disappointing playoff run for Orlando.

#2 The Draft
And how bad some of the players came out to be in their first year- No complaints on Wall and Wesley Johnson. But let's start with Evan Turner. I don't have anything against him, and he seems like a nice guy and all, but was drafted second, and avgs 7.2 ppg per game. he also struggles with his jump shot, which he'll have to work on this summer. He came in with so much hype. Maybe it's a rookie slump? We have to wait and see..
Another player- Derrick Favors. Terrible free throw shooter, but not a bad defender getting about a block a game and 5 rebounds. but his scoring is atrocious, gets 6.8 ppg. This is just disappointing for a 2nd pick.

Well that about rounds up this post and the NBA season...keep looking back for articles about the MLB and ways to help your team.

Thieves

Follow us on Twitter @fantasythieves

Let's give a warm welcome

Hello
You are probably here now because you found us on Twitter. Congratulations, you have made it to the most prestigious, most interesting blog in years for fantasy sports. YOU are here for a reason. You are here to win your fantasy sports league, and we understand that. That is why in each post on this blog, you will find informative, but useful information to make sure you take home that prize, and brag to all your amigos about it. But please, a great magician will never reveal his secrets. Welcome to this blog.