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Court Report Live Blog – 02.03 [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 4:16 pm] Join us as we live blog Friday's game action. Stop by and participate in the discussion or just lurk and take it all in. We'll get started at 5:00pm PT/8:00pm ET. Friday's schedule of games (all times ET): 7:00pm - MIA@PHI, WAS@TOR, CLE@ORL 7:30pm - MIN@NJN, MIL@DET 8:00pm - NY@BOS, PHO@HOU, MEM@OKC 8:30pm - IND@DAL 10:30pm - LAL@DEN Court Report Live Blog - 02.03 Mobile-friendly CiL link can be found here. Court Report: Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith soon for the NBA? [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 4:14 pm] The Clippers have signed Kenyon Martin to a one-year deal, but how soon he actually joins the team has yet to be determined. The Chinese Basketball Association's regular season ends on February 16, and Martin may still have to wait until after his former team's final game. In any case, he'll be the third big for the Clips when he is activated, seeing a sizable portion of the playing time that has gone to Reggie Evans (14 minutes per game) and Solomon Jones (12) over the past two weeks. Martin is going to top out at around 20 minutes on most nights, so his impact will be limited to very deep leagues. As for the statuses of fellow exports J.R. Smith, Wilson Chandler, and Aaron Brooks, Adrian Wojnarowski offered the following on Thursday: For now, China's letter-of-clearance rule still stands for Smith, Chandler and Aaron Brooks. Smith's team has slumped, and could miss the playoffs. If so, Smith could return to the NBA by the All-Star break in February. Chandler and Aaron Brooks are on teams that could make playoff runs well into March. Smith is an unrestricted free agent, and Chandler and Brooks are restricted free agents, likely to re-sign with Denver and Phoenix, respectively. Smith has significant interest around the NBA, including the Lakers, Knicks, Spurs and several more potential contenders. Based on what Woj says there, Smith may end up with a team within three weeks or so and certainly could impact the fantasy landscape down the stretch - he's currently leading the CBA in scoring at 35.2 points per game and his per-minute production in the NBA has never been in question. He's already being stashed in the deepest of leagues (5% owned) and should be on more radars while we see about his team's playoff chances. Chandler is also currently rostered in 4 percent of leagues, but he could remain in China into March and then would return to a packed Denver depth chart, while Brooks (1% owned) will be behind Stev Pressing Questions: The Miami Marlins [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 3:33 pm] For the Marlins, it's out with the old and in with the new. New name â it's "Miami" now. New stadium (see photo above). New uniforms. New manager. And, most importantly, a new wallet â one that actually opens. Since 2000, the Marlins haven't paid more than $60 million to field a team. Three times in that span they shelled out less than $22 million in annual payroll. In 2003, they won a World Series on a $45 million budget. Penny pinching has been an art form for this franchise. But things are about to change. The Marlins are diving full-on into a complete makeover, with the hope of becoming Latin America's team central to the cause. To that end, the team has hired volatile, outspoken (and fan favorite) Ozzie Guillen as the manager. It was squarely in the hunt for Dominican-born free agent Albert Pujols, but "settled" for another Dominican, Jose Reyes, instead. The team also figures to go hard for Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes, an outfielder that has drawn comparisons to Adam Jones and Chris Young, among others. As it stands, the Marlins are committed to a payroll north of $80 million, and that figure stands to jump up significantly if they sign Cespedes . It'll still likely be a modest sum by MLB standards, but it represents a clear philosophical shift. The question now is whether the changes made can put a significant dent in the 30-game discrepancy between them and the Phillies last season. If so, they'll have to score a lot more runs than they did last season, when they finished 23rd in MLB in that statistic. Of course, adding Reyes was a step in the right direction ⦠How much of a difference will Jose Reyes make to this offense? There's no reason why Reyes shouldn't thrive in Miami, at least while he's healthy. The health issue is a significant factor here, though, as Reyes has missed at least 29 games in each of the past three seasons. And last season he had two DL stints because of his hamstrings, the same problem area that he dealt with in '04 w Freak Show Friday: Kick off Super Bowl weekend at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 8:00 am] Chips? Purchased. Guacamole? Whipped. Beer? Fully stocked. Pick for the big game? Still undetermined. ⦠On this week's super duper episode, Andy Behrens and Brad Evans will reveal their favorite prop bets for Super Bowl XLVI and unveil their picks to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Also, with Yahoo! Fantasy baseball opening in a matter of days, the Grizz and Big Noise will discuss their affections for sleepers at traditionally hard-to-field positions (C, SS, 3B). Caution: Behrens' unabashed man-love for Dee Gordon may fill the entire segment. Finally, in Hour 2, hoops head Matt Buser drops in to talk Dirk's slump, Tiago Splitter, overlooked All-Stars and the surprising swat prowess of Blake Griffin. Want to join the program? Here's how YOU can become a part of the Freak Show: Phone: 800.777.2907 Twitter: @YFreakShow Grab an adult beverage. Pull up a chair. And soak up the info. The Freaks are about to take the air. LISTEN TO THE FANTASY FREAK SHOW HERE The Fantasy Freak Show Podcast: Prop bets, E-Jax and the Puppy Bowl [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 8:00 am] Chips? Purchased. Guacamole? Whipped. Beer? Fully stocked. Pick for the big game? Still undetermined. ⦠On this week's super duper episode, Andy Behrens and Brad Evans revealed their favorite prop bets for Super Bowl XLVI and unveiled their picks to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Also, with Yahoo! Fantasy baseball opening in a matter of days, the Grizz and Big Noise discussed their affections for sleepers at traditionally hard-to-field positions (C, SS, 3B). Caution: Behrens' unabashed man-love for Dee Gordon nearly filled the entire segment. Finally, in Hour 2, hoops head Matt Buser dropped in to talk Dirk's slump, Tiago Splitter, overlooked All-Stars and the surprising swat prowess of Blake Griffin. Too busy fighting off fellow grocery shoppers for the last bag of shredded cheddar? No worries. Listen to the replay below: LISTEN TO PART I (NFL) HERE LISTEN TO PART II (MLB) HERE LISTEN TO PART III (NBA) HERE Roto Arcade Live, Episode 1 [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 6:16 pm] We're excited to announce the launch of a new LIVE show hosted by Justin Phan featuring Matt Buser every Thursday at 8:00 pm PT, 11:00 pm ET. In this week's installment we'll be hitting on all things New York Knicks, talk some general strategy, and hit on a couple slow starters in Serge Ibaka and Channing Frye who have recently elevated their play. To follow along with Justin and Matt, make your way over to the Vokle site. Click 'Join Event' to participate in the chat and/or send in text/video questions. Hope to see you there! Court Report: Where have you gone, Dirk Nowitzki? [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 4:20 pm] Dirk Nowitzki's protracted offensive issues continued Wednesday - and arguably hit a low point - as he scored eight points on 2-of-15 shooting and missed all five of his threes in 38 minutes of a 95-86 loss to the Thunder. Nowitzki has now averaged 9.3 points on 28-percent shooting in three games since returning from his rest period and has missed all 11 of his long-range attempts. Dirk says the swelling in his knee is gone, and now it's just a matter of working to get his shooting rhythm back and find confidence in his shooting stroke. We're in a situation where he have to take him at his word that he's feeling fine physically, and a good sign is that his non-shooting stats have been solid since returning (8.3 boards, 2.3 assists, 0 turnovers, 1 steal). Fantasy owners looking for more of a silver lining should also note that Dirk averaged 19 points on 39-percent shooting in his first seven games after returning from a knee strain in mid-January of last season, and then went on to average 22.9 points on 52-percent shooting over the remainder of the regular season (37 games). Dirk missed almost three weeks with last season's injury. It's true that many of the circumstances are different here, but it's hard to get too down on Dirk, given that his consistency of production is stuff of legend. What may be best for all involved parties is a few more games off to make sure everything is good down the stretch, but that may not be a consideration while there are no specific injury concerns. Dirk is among the most-traded players on today's Buzz Index, as you might expect. His resume suggests that first-round numbers are eventually on their way, but his game log suggests that his days in the top 10 are finally over as he approaches age 34. I do expect Dirk's numbers to recover at least a bit as we move along, but I also expect him to be rested at points down the stretch in any case and would deal him for an "overachiever" like Paul Millsap, Marc Gasol, and Greg Monroe without Court Report Live Blog – 02.01 [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 1, 2012, 4:51 pm] Join us as we live blog Wednesday's game action. Stop by and participate in the discussion or just lurk and take it all in. We'll get started at 6:00pm PT/9:00pm PT. Wednesday's schedule of games (all times ET): 7:00pm - WAS@ORL, CHI@PHI 7:30pm - DET@NJN, TOR@BOS 8:00pm - IND@MIN, MIA@MIL, OKC@DAL, PHO@NOR 8:30pm - HOU@SAS 10:00pm - CHA@POR 10:30pm - LAC@UTA Court Report Live Blog - 02.01 Mobile-friendly CiL link can be found here. Court Report: Zach Randolph remains “on schedule” [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 1, 2012, 4:18 pm] Zach Randolph had another MRI on Wednesday and all signs point to his still being on schedule as he returns from a torn right MCL, suffered on January 1. His approximate return date remains March 1, with eight weeks remaining in the regular season (~29 team games). Notable for h2h: a March 1 return would be just over three weeks before the start of the default playoffs (March 26), and the Grizzlies are the only team with five games in both the default semifinals and finals (weeks of April 2 and April 9). Z-Bo wouldn't play big minutes in the early stages, no matter when he returns, but could certainly be back to form by the time the h2h playoffs roll around. For this reason, a stash does make sense, and he's already rostered in 60 percent of Yahoo! leagues. If he's on the wire in your league, then how quickly you should consider adding him will be relative to your team's depth and current odds of making the playoffs. With this news, Z-Bo still remains behind Manu Ginobili (77% owned) and Brook Lopez (57% owned) in the stash hierarchy. ⢠Game two for the Raptors' small lineup was a reality check as the team struggled on both offense and defense in a 100-77 loss to the Hawks, dominated by Joe Johnson (30 minutes, 30 points, 13-18 FG, 4 assists). Jerryd Bayless was the high scorer for Toronto (26 minutes, 14 points, 4-11 FG, 4-4 FT, 2 threes) but was also a team-worst -23 and played eight minutes in the second half, as Dwane Casey looked to Gary Forbes to provide some size. Amir Johnson was largely uninvolved in his 14 minutes (2 points, 1-1 FG, 1 rebound) and didn't play in the second half, ceding his time to Ed Davis (26 minutes, 11 points, 11 boards, 1 steal, 1 block). Johnson has now averaged 17 minutes, 3.5 points, 2.8 boards, and 0.8 blocks over his past eight games. At this point, he's looking like nothing more than a deep-league bench option - he's been showing next-to-nothing and Casey's big-man rotation is wide open. ⢠Brandon Knight has slu Court Report: Grab some pine, Stephen Jackson [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 31, 2012, 3:26 pm] The Bucks are 3-0 in games where Stephen Jackson hasn't played a minute, including back-to-back wins over the Pistons (103-82) and Lakers (100-89) over the past two games. S-Jax served a one-game suspension against the Lakers and then was a DNP-CD against the Pistons. When asked if Jackson would be back in the rotation for the Bucks' next game, Scott Skiles offered the following: "We're game by game with basically everything we're doing now. Different guys are finishing the game certain nights, so we'll see. We're playing pretty well right now so I'm going to make the best decisions I can to stick with what's working." Jackson said he was not surprised by the DNP-CD and it's not a secret that he's not happy with the Bucks' decision to not extend his contract. Here are his quotes after Monday's game: "I ain't surprised. They know how I feel. It ain't no secret. Everybody knows the situation. I'm going to cheer the team on and do what I've got to do. My situation is going to get better soon. But until then I'm going to support these guys and continue to collect my check." Jackson has also been linked to the Dwight Howard trade saga, but what is worth noting in the context of recent rumors that Howard wants to play with Jackson is that they share the same agent. The Bucks would love to unload Jackson, but what is less realistic is that another team will want to bring him on board and pay him $10 million next season at age 34. Skiles and the Bucks clearly don't have grand plans for Jackson moving forward, have liked what they've seen from Shaun Livingston since he took over at shooting guard, and don't want to throw a monkey wrench in Brandon Jennings' breakout offensive showing. Skiles did say after Monday's game that Jackson would "have an opportunity" to work himself back into the rotation at some point, but he finished 95th in per-game rank last season with 36 minutes per game and is currently 135th in per-game rank while averaging 32 minutes p Court Report Live Blog – 01.30 [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 30, 2012, 4:20 pm] Join us as we live blog Monday's game action. Stop by and participate in the discussion or just lurk and take it all in. We'll get started at 6:00pm PT/9:00pm PT. Monday's schedule of games (all times ET): 7:00pm - ORL@PHI, CHI@WAS 7:30pm - NOR@MIA 8:00pm - SAS@MEM, DET@MIL, MIN@HOU 9:00pm - DAL@PHO, POR@UTA 10:30pm - OKC@LAC Court Report Live Blog - 01.30 Mobile-friendly CiL link can be found here. Court Report: Bad news for MarShon Brooks [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 30, 2012, 3:13 pm] A Monday X-ray revealed that MarShon Brooks has a broken right pinky toe, and he's now on the shelf indefinitely. The Nets aren't sure when or how the injury happened and won't establish a specific timetable until after team doctors have a look at him. It's been all bad for Brooks lately, who also has been dealing with Achilles tendinitis and was looking at having his minutes limited in any case. This injury news means Anthony Morrow is locked in at shooting guard, Jordan Farmar will see plenty of playing time between the two guard spots, and Shawne Williams will be needed to play more minutes at small forward. ⢠Dwane Casey is searching for the right mix with Andrea Bargnani out indefinitely due to another calf strain. He found something that worked for at least one game Sunday, starting both Jose Calderon and Jerry Bayless in the frontcourt and moving DeMar DeRozan to small foward in a 94-73 win over the Nets. Bayless turned in a solid offensive game (34 minutes, 17 points, 6 boards, 1 steal) and saved Calderon from having to defend Deron Williams, while DeRozan finally showed the aggressiveness needed to snap out of his slump and finished with 16 free throw attempts in 41 minutes (27 points, 8-12 FG, 1 steal, 1 block). Bayless gets the obvious upgrade in this arrangement, which may stick given the success against the Nets, while DeRozan's performance inspires cautious optimism. Casey may roll with Calderon, Bayless, DeRozan, and James Johnson as starters and swap out Amir Johnson and Aaron Gray at center, depending on matchups, with Linas Kleiza, Leandro Barbosa, and Ed Davis rounding out the rotation. ⢠Gregg Popovich has been giving starters DeJuan Blair and Kawhi Leonard sporadic playing time in recent games, but Pop took it one step further on Sunday and played only reserves in the fourth quarter and overtime. Those reserves almost came away with a win, with Gary Neal (29 minutes, 19 points, 3 threes, 7 assists) and Danny Green (29 minutes, 12 po Pressing Questions: The San Francisco Giants [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 30, 2012, 1:05 pm] With a league-best 3.36 ERA, pitching was the backbone of a 2010 Giants squad that won 92 regular-season games en route to a World Series title. But that championship squad also was at least serviceable with the stick, ranking right near the middle of the pack in runs scored and OPS. The Giants actually improved to a 3.20 ERA last season, but offense became the obvious fly in the ointment, as the team produced 127 fewer runs than the World Series group. With staff anchors Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and closer Brian Wilson, the Giants should once again be more than adequate in the pitching department. But after an offseason that saw the team fail to re-sign '11 rental Carlos Beltran, offense remains a huge question mark. And (Pressing) Questions is what we're all about here ⦠The Giants scored the fewest runs in the NL in '11. Is there hope for rebound? Other than Pablo Sandoval, most of the other bats that the Giants hung high hopes on in '11 either suffered from injury (Buster Posey), inexperience (Brandon Belt), ineptness (I'm looking at you, Aubrey Huff), or some combination of the three. If the G-Men are to get back into the realm of respectability at the plate, several things will have to occur in addition to Panda Sandoval delivering another .900-plus OPS season. For starters, offseason acquisitions Melky Cabrera and Angel Pagan will need to be all that they can be. Cabrera did just that for the Royals in '11, hitting .305 with 18 home runs and 20 SB. He'll get a chance to leadoff for the Giants, but AT&T Park was the toughest venue for offensive scoring in '11, so the Giants, and fantasy owners, should be happy if they can get something in the neighborhood of .280, 15/15. As for Pagan, he's also a candidate to leadoff and is comparable to Cabrera in that he's a switch-hitter with a similar career OPS (.750 for Pagan, .730 for Cabrera) and a nice combination of pop and speed. But in terms of durability, Pagan can't hold a candle to Cab Bracket Big Board: Solving the Murray St. puzzle [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 30, 2012, 8:01 am] The Bracket Big Board takes into consideration past returns, current performance and expected future gains in determining who should be included among the field of 68 (31 automatic and 37 at-large bids). Essentially, the Bracket Big Board is a cheat sheet designed for amateur bracketologists if they were filling out a Tourney Pick 'Em '12 entry today. The Triple-B, the second-most accurate bracket predictor among macro-sites over the past four years, is updated every Monday until the dance card is unveiled March 11. Regardless of sport, the pursuit of perfection is almost always an impossible endeavor. Every pass must be crisp. Every loose ball tracked down. Every coaching decision spot on. One misstep during a game's most critical juncture could be the difference between a great season and an unforgettable one. Ask random fans to name clubs that came close to immortality and most would struggle to list one. However, ask which one's achieved true greatness and inevitably the '72 Dolphins, '76 Hoosiers and, most recently, the Lady Huskies squads of '02, '09 and '10, are rattled off. This year, a dwarfish school in southwest Kentucky, probably best known for being the Alma mater of Ernest P. Worrell, may soon join the ranks of the everlasting. At 21-0, Murray State, arguably the most dominant small conference club in the country, is winding a historic path. Rookie head coach Steve Prohm has done a masterful job building on what current Texas A&M head honcho Billy Kennedy started. The Racers, loaded with experienced upperclassmen and a number of versatile, slashing athletes, are offensive thoroughbreds capable of stringing together multiple wins against traditional powerhouses. Active on the offensive glass, aggressive to the cup and incredibly deadly from three (42.2 3PT%), the overseers of the OVC are an exciting team to watch. That is, for the handful that have seen them. Future office pool prognosticators need to get familiar. Balanced across the board, the Racers Court Report: Week 6 Dashboard [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 30, 2012, 7:24 am] Each Sunday, the Dashboard centralizes all the crucial information fantasy managers need to dominate their weekly head-to-head matchups or climb the standings in their rotisserie leagues. The Dashboard covers schedule analysis, status updates, adds, drops, watch list candidates, and deep league targets for managers of all skill levels. Quite simply, it is a comprehensive weekly cheat sheet packed with every bit of information that you could possibly need. Week 6 Schedule Grid Click here for a full season schedule grid. Hat tip to kiwishaq on the busersports forums. Week Six, quality games. 1 game: BOS, MEM, MIA, TOR Week Six, best schedules. POR: @UTA, CHA, @SAC, DEN DET: @MIL, @NYK, @NJN, MIL, NOR NOR: @MIA, PHO, @SAS, @DET GSW: SAC, UTA, @SAC Week Six, worst schedules. ATL: @TOR, MEM, PHI CLE: BOS, @ORL, DAL CHA: @LAL, @POR, @PHO WAS: CHI, @ORL, @TOR, LAC Status Updates â quick hitters from around the league ⢠D.J. Augustin will likely miss the Bobcats' upcoming four road game trip with right big toe inflammation. More specifically, he has tiny cracks in the sesamoid bones embedded into the tendons in that toe. The injury is debilitating, and has sapped much of his explosiveness and lift. Augustin has been in a walking boot to keep pressure off the toe, and has been receiving treatment -- ice, electric stimulation, an oral anti-inflammatory -- over the last week. He's in less pain, but will have to make it through a full practice before he considers playing. ⢠Carmelo Anthony (ankle, wrist sprain) is doubtful for Tuesday's game against the Pistons, according to coach Mike D'Antoni. ⢠MarShon Brooks has a broken little toe in his right foot, and there is currently no timetable for his return. He will see a foot specialist on Monday. ⢠Baron Davis probably will not make his Knicks debut for another week or two as he works his way back into basketball shape after nine months away from the court. ⢠Luol Deng (torn wrist ligament) has been shooting and dr Court Report: Status Check [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 27, 2012, 1:53 pm] Andrew Bogut is out "indefinitely" because of a fracture in his left ankle, but we should have a more specific idea of his time frame after he undergoes more tests on Friday, including a CT scan. According to the Journal Times, some members of the Bucks organization are still holding out hope that this will be a matter of weeks and not months. You should make an attempt to roster Drew Gooden and Ersan Ilyasova where possible, but you may also want to hold Bogut until the results of his Friday tests are made public. ⢠Status updates: Dwyane Wade (ankle) will be a game-time decision .. Carmelo Anthony (misc) will sit out the next two games (Friday and Saturday) and says his playing hurt has been a drag to the Knicks on both ends of the court .. Initial tests on Andrea Bargnani's calf revealed no significant damage but he's without a timetable at this point .. Baron Davis won't play this weekend and will be re-evaluated after a team practice on Monday .. Rajon Rondo said his wrist is about 45 percent and he doesn't look particularly close to returning. The Celtics have won three straight and are looking at some winnable games in the immediate future (Fri IND, Sun CLE, Tue @CLE, Wed TOR) .. Ray Allen (ankle) will be a game-time decision on Friday .. Al Jefferson (Achilles tendinitis) went through Friday's shootaround and will be a game-time decision .. Bobcats on Friday: Gerald Henderson (back), D.J. Augustin (foot), and D.J. White (knee) are all out, Byron Mullens (hand) is questionable .. Luol Deng (wrist) shot a lot during a Thursday workout and still appears to be targeting a Sunday return .. Vince Carter (foot) and Delonte West (hamstring) are both game-time decisions for the Mavs on Friday .. Dirk Nowitzki (knee) is still targeting Sunday for his return .. Nuggets on Friday: Arron Afflalo (groin) and Rudy Fernandez (Achilles) will play, Ty Lawson (ankle) is doubtful .. Ben Gordon's shoulder has all kinds of problems and has been bothering him since the pre Court Report: Andrew Bogut out for 2-3 months [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 27, 2012, 1:53 pm] Andrew Bogut underwent more tests on Friday, including a CT scan. Reports are now surfacing that he'll need between two and three months to recover from his left ankle fracture. This ends his fantasy hoops season for all intents and purposes, as even the early side of that timetable is into the beginning of April. Drew Gooden becomes a must-add in most formats and Ersan Ilyasova should see enough minutes moving forward to gain plenty of fantasy relevance. The Bucks will likely look to bring in a veteran free agent big to shore up the team's depth, but it won't be anyone that will challenge Gooden's minutes or have a fantasy impact. ⢠Other status updates: Dwyane Wade (ankle) will be a game-time decision .. Carmelo Anthony (misc) will sit out the next two games (Friday and Saturday) and says his playing hurt has been a drag to the Knicks on both ends of the court .. Initial tests on Andrea Bargnani's calf revealed no significant damage but he's without a timetable at this point .. Baron Davis won't play this weekend and will be re-evaluated after a team practice on Monday .. Rajon Rondo said his wrist is about 45 percent and he doesn't look particularly close to returning. The Celtics have won three straight and are looking at some winnable games in the immediate future (Fri IND, Sun CLE, Tue @CLE, Wed TOR) .. Ray Allen (ankle) will be a game-time decision on Friday .. Al Jefferson (Achilles tendinitis) went through Friday's shootaround and will be a game-time decision .. Bobcats on Friday: Gerald Henderson (back), D.J. Augustin (foot), and D.J. White (knee) are all out, Byron Mullens (hand) is questionable .. Luol Deng (wrist) shot a lot during a Thursday workout and still appears to be targeting a Sunday return .. Vince Carter (foot) and Delonte West (hamstring) are both game-time decisions for the Mavs on Friday .. Dirk Nowitzki (knee) is still targeting Sunday for his return .. Nuggets on Friday: Arron Afflalo (groin) and Rudy Fernandez (Achilles) will play, Ty Freak Show Friday: Call in starting at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 27, 2012, 7:51 am] The weekend between conference championships and the Super Bowl is one of the slowest on the sports calendar. Only the die-hardest of fans enjoy the Pro Bowl, a meaningless exhibition played half-heartedly by the game's supposed best. But despite the lack of on-field excitement, there is plenty off it. With fantasy basketball in full swing and baseball almost ready for business, owners still face difficult decisions on a daily basis. Fanalysts Brad Evans, Scott Pianowski and Justin Phan are here to help. On this week's info-rich episode, Brad and Scott will discuss the Peyton Manning/Jim Irsay standoff in Indy, DeMarco Murray, the Fresh Prince of Detroit, Joe Mauer and marginal Buccos galore. Meanwhile in Hour 2, hardwood hero Justin Phan joins the program to talk about the Knicks' downward spiral, Andrew Bogut's fractured wheel, why James Johnson should be on your roster, Eric Gordon and college prospect Thomas Robinson's pro upside. Have a pressing question? Here's how YOU can join the show: Phone: 800.777.2907 Twitter: @YFreakShow Throw another log on the fire. Sip on a hot drink. And prep your ears for two hours of fantasy goodness. The Freaks are about to take the air. LISTEN TO THE FANTASY FREAK SHOW HERE The Fantasy Freak Show Podcast: Manning, Mauer and ‘Melo [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 27, 2012, 7:51 am] The weekend between conference championships and the Super Bowl is one of the slowest on the sports calendar. Only the die-hardest of fans enjoy the Pro Bowl, a meaningless exhibition played half-heartedly by the game's supposed best. But despite the lack of on-field excitement, there is plenty off it. With fantasy basketball in full swing and baseball almost ready for business, owners still face difficult decisions on a daily basis. Fanalysts Brad Evans, Scott Pianowski and Justin Phan are here to help. On this week's info-rich episode, Brad and Scott discussed the Peyton Manning/Jim Irsay standoff in Indy, DeMarco Murray, the Fresh Prince of Detroit, Joe Mauer and marginal Buccos galore. Meanwhile in Hour 2, hardwood hero Justin Phan joined the program to talk about the Knicks' downward spiral, Andrew Bogut's fractured wheel, why James Johnson should be on your roster, Eric Gordon and college prospect Thomas Robinson's pro upside. Too busy watching Liam Neeson whoop up on voracious wolves? No sweat. Listen to the replay below: LISTEN TO PART I (NFL) HERE LISTEN TO PART II (MLB) HERE LISTEN TO PART III (NBA) HERE Court Report: Bargnani, Bogut headed for MRIs [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 26, 2012, 5:17 pm] Andrea Bargnani called Wednesday's calf injury "much worse" than the the first one, which cost him six games. Bargnani is due for an MRI on Thursday but figures to be lost for a while in any case. As we saw during his first stretch of missed games, the Raptors will struggle mightily on offense for as long as he's out. Aaron Gary will likely remain as the starter center by default, but will top out at 20 minutes on most nights. That leaves a combined 124 minutes behind Gray at center and between the two forward spots, which will be divided between James Johnson (SF/PF), Linas Kleiza (SF/PF), Amir Johnson (PF/C), and Ed Davis (PF/C). That means regular playing time for all four players - Johnson deserves near-universal roster consideration, Kleiza and Amir should be very solid options, and Davis should also see an uptick in his season averages. It's hard to say that Leandro Barbosa's stock also improves here, given that Jerryd Bayless is back from his ankle injury. We'll have to see what happens to DeMar DeRozan, who finally turned in a solid performance on Wednesday (44 minutes, 17 points, 6-11 FG, 4-4 FT, 8 boards, 2 steals) but was really pressing during Bargnani's previous absence. ⢠Andrew Bogut said he's "not optimistic" as he waits for a diagnosis on the left ankle sprain he sustained on Wednesday night (lowlight here). X-rays were negative, but check out this particularly foreboding quote from Bogut after the game: "But tomorrow's the day of reckoning where I go under the MRI machine and find out my fate." We won't know any specifics until the results of his MRI are announced, but you do have to expect at least some time off here. The immediate fallout is more playing time for Drew Gooden, who has averaged 15.2 points and 8.6 boards in his five starts on the season. Ersan Ilyasova also gets a boost and was already seeing more time recently - his averages over the past five games include 9 points, 11.2 boards, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks in |