Fantasy Basketball Daily News and Notes (7/3/11)

It looks like greed is going to destroy our fantasy world this fall with the current NBA Lockout, which REALLY SUCKS.  I’ll continue to post whatever news might be available, but I doubt there’s going to be much happening over the next couple of months, especially considering the fact that most websites aren’t allowed to post much NBA content during the strike.  If you check out some of the bigger sites like NBA.com, ESPN or CBS, you’ll see almost no player news, photos or features.  It’s like basketball just vanished.

Hopefully they’ll get this thing resolved soon, otherwise the NBA risks losing a lot of fans just when the league was starting to pick up some steam in popularity.  It looks like poker just moved up to #1 on my hobby list for the next several months.

The last of the NBA news before the Lockout went into effect:

NBA Free Agency – Free Agency was set to begin July 1, but that’s now on hold.  There won’t be any signings until the lockout is resolved.  Here are the top 40 NBA free agents as rated by CBS Sports.

J.J. Hickson (SAC) – One interesting trade that happened just before the lockout was J.J. Hickson going to Sacramento with Omri Casspi going back to Cleveland.  Cleveland also got a future first round draft pick thrown in.  Sacramento got the better player in the deal in the short term,  but this trade may have been influenced by the impending lockout.  It also signals  how hight the Cavs are on Tristan Thompson.  He could get big minutes with Hickson now out of the way, so keep an eye on his stock.

Contract Options Exercised/Extended – Rodrigue Beaubois (DAL), Dominique Jones (DAL), C.J. Miles (UTA), Gordon Hayward (UTA), Derrick Favors (UTA), Christian Eyenga (CLE), Stephen Curry (GSW), Ekpe Udoh (GSW), Taj Gibson (CHI), Nazr Mohammed (OKC), Wes Johnson (MIN), Wayne Ellington (MIN), Serge Ibaka (OKC), James Harden (OKC), Eric Maynor (OKC), Byron Mullens (OKC), Cole Aldrich (OKC), Goran Dragic (HOU), Brian Cook (LAC), Louis Amundson (GSW), Avery Bradley (BOS), Luke Babbitt (POR), Larry Sanders (MIL), Brandon Jennings (MIL)

Qualifying Offers Extended – Greg Oden (POR), Hamed Haddadi (MEM), Marco Belinelli (NOR), Jeff Green (BOS), Patty Mills (POR), Derrick Brown (NYK)

Shannon Brown (LAL) – Opted out of his contract with the Lakers and will test free agency.  Brown’s final destination will likely depend a lot on the condition of Kobe Bryant’s knee.

Nene (DEN) – Nene will opt out of his contract with the Nuggets.  This could be good news for newly drafted Kenneth Faried.

Lorenzo Charles – Charles, 47, died last Monday in a bus crash.  He was the hero of NC States 1983 National Championship team and is best remembered for dunking a last second shot that was going to be about 2 feet short of the basket against Houston for the win.

Harrison Barnes (North Carolina) – Barnes is now considered the top pick in the 2012 NBA draft.  Sports Illustrated has an early look at the class of 2012.

ShamSports.comComplete list from Sham Sports of all contract option opt in/opt outs, contract extensions/denials, qualifying offers, rookie contract extensions/denials that occured prior to the NBA Lockout.

Hoop DoctorsTop 5 Guys likely to return out of shape after the lockout.

Wages of Wins2010-2011 Top Underpaid Players.

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