Recap: Week 11

Inter-Conference Games
5-4, Sour Snails vs Human Amoebas
5-4, Rhythm Drive vs Funk Coalition
5-4, Squirtle Squad vs Chunky Monkeys
5-4, Fat Jubas vs MoRRie's Pogiboys
8-1, Poobic Heirs vs Buffy
7-2, Pooh Bears vs Phanatics

Conference Games
none
(statistics)

5-4, Sour Snails vs Human Amoebas
This is NOT a misprint, the Snails have won! Cue the party music, reserve the championship banner, get that parade started. It might have taken eleven weeks to reach their first win but the Snails did it in high style by knocking off a top team -- with four less games played no less, and Wally World in the lineup but injured. Everyone on the Snails roster rattled in at least three 3PT en route to 44 3PT on the week, and Steve Nash dropped 13.3 dimes per game in order to almost single-handedly win AST. Goooaaallllll!

In the duel of Canada versus Germany, Dirk Nowitski put up the gaudy all-around numbers (32.5 PTS, 8.5 REB, 1.5 3PT, 53.8 FG%) but in the end, it was the weak shooting of Marvin Williams (27.8 FG%) that did the Amoeba Goliath in. Zach Randolph's 1-12 shooting day on Sunday probably didn't help either, as he shot an uncustomarily poor 40.9% for the week.

5-4, Fat Jubas vs MoRRie's Pogiboys
We seem to say this every week but the Pogiboys are getting closer. This week, they lost by 5 REB; in past weeks, they've lost by close margins in other categories. Taking out a full strength Jubas team (well, Zaza went down) would have been a nice feather in MoRRie's cap. In the end, despite a poor shooting week, Al Jefferson managed to snag 13.7 REB in each of three games to power the Jubas to a win.

The Pogiboys were working short handed too, with team leader Chauncey Billups on the bench -- but in the lineup. His likely replacement, Channing Frye, would have gotten that REB win. That's how close it is each week. One decision can make or break you. Mount Mutombo did his damnest (15.75 REB, 2.5 BLK) to push the Pogiboys over the hill, but alas, it wasn't quite enough.

5-4, Squirtle Squad vs Chunky Monkeys
The Monkeys are hurting, or rather, the menagerie that is the Monkeys is hurting; Fellow Bucks Mo Williams and Charlie Villanueva are down, as is Hawk Josh Smith. Raptor Jorge Garbajosa might as well be extinct for the way he played (4.5 PTS, 2 REB). Only Bobcat Emeka Okafor managed to put up a career high 10 BLK in one game, but that all of that wasn't nearly enough to douse the fiery shooting of Squirtle Squad.

After a few weeks of off-kilter shooting, Ray Allen is en fuego again (36 PTS, 4.7 3PT) -- with a 54 point game on Friday night. Allen also had the support of Carlos Boozer (30 PTS, 11 REB, 2 STL avg) and as always, the Big Ticket, Kevin Garnett. There's some underperforming players at the end of this lineup -- David Lee and Damien Wilkins -- but who cares? The turtles are number one! Cowabunga!

And yes, I know the picture does not depict a Squirtle, it's a Wartortle, the evolved version. Next evolution is Blastoise, duh.

5-4, Rhythm Drive vs Funk Coalition
Reno's team takes over the mantle of the league's hottest team by edging out Jon in the waning moments of the week. With his win, Reno moves up to second place in the East; strangely, with his loss, Jon moves up to second place in the West. On Sunday, the game came down to Chris Bosh versus TJ Ford for PTS and TO. Bosh upchucked 6 TO but also scored 24 PTS, allowing Rhythm Drive to win PTS by 9.

Neither team had a great week but with Mike Miller's continued hot shooting (20 PTS, 2 3PT), Rhythm Drive had enough to knock off an inter-conference foe and establish themselves as a team to beat. The Funk probably shouldn't get too comfortable atop the standings, as Michael Redd is slated to miss 4-6 weeks.

8-1, Poobic Heirs vs Buffy
Ouch. Buffy is usually on the "kick" part of the "kick ass" equation; this week they were the "ass." What're you going to do though when you're the team hardest hit by injuries? The news gets worse for Buffy as breakout player Tony Allen tears an ACL going for a dunk. The return of JR Smith will hardly alleviate that pain. Also, everyone is wondering: what's up with Joe Johnson? What happened to the triple-double threat of earlier in the season? Oh well, at least the boy can still shoot -- (19 PTS, 3 REB/AST, 2.3 3PT).

The Heirs had an outstanding week with contributions from nearly everyone on the roster and it's hard to pinpoint anyone who had a spectacular week in such blow out. Oh wait, there's been a Samuel Dalembert sighting! Big Sam shot amazing, rebounded well, and swatted shots with aplomb (15 PTS, 12 REB, 3.5 BLK, 55.6 FG%, 83.3 FT%). If Sam keeps getting almost forty minutes a night, he might be able to keep up those numbers -- keep in mind though, Dalembert's done this before and faded fast.

7-2, Pooh Bears vs Phanatics
Making his own case for the team hardest hit by injuries, the Phanatics were on the receiving end of a beat down themselves. Paul Pierce and Lamar Odom are still not showing any signs of returning (although David West is practicing) and even worse, the rest of the team isn't picking up the slack. The only bright spot here? Mighty Earl Watson (36 AST over three games), but his minutes have reduced Phanatic teammate Luke Ridnour's effectiveness (7.7 PTS, 1.3 AST). It's a time share, and not a good one for the Phanatics. Hang on tight Ping, the cavalry's coming...eventually.

For the Pooh Bears, it's the Ruben Patterson show! With averages of 19.7 PTS, 6.3 REB, and 4.7 AST, Ruben is taking over as the number one everything for the injury ravaged Bucks. Actually, to be honest, it's the Ben Gordon show. Little Ben averaged 24 PTS and 4 3PT on 56.4 FG% this week and with numbers like that, he's proving to be the new-age Microwave. And he doesn't just shoot either with 3.5 REB/AST; fine, he mainly just shoots but man is he good at it.

Redd-rum

Despite a sterling three wins without the heart and soul (and fist) of the team, Carmelo Anthony, the citizens of Funk-land are in no mood to celebrate Anthony's impending return. The reason? In the immortal words of Howard Cosell, "Down goes Redd! Down goes Redd!"

In case you missed that historic call, Michael Redd, the sweet-shooting lefty with the big noggin and receding hairline, is headed to the bench for six weeks after suffering a cruel twist of fate -- otherwise known as a knee injury.

The Funk were looking forward to being at full strength again -- with Anthony and Sam Cassell both returning to the lineup -- but have resigned themselves to fighting for the conference lead with yet another high scoring marquee player dinged up. What could go wrong next? Lebron James gets injured during a commercial shoot? Matt Barnes turns Average Joe? Earl Boykins isn't tall enough to get on Splash Mountain and then gets traded (a good thing in this particular case)? The Funk are ready for anything.

In related news, the Funk are in desperate talks to move some of his pieces around for another point guard. Calling all point guard owning owners. Rumors abound that Mehmet Okur is on the block, along with a bevy of nice add-ons, including a nifty new Apple iPhone for the team who is willing to deal with Funk. Please, someone, trade with me.

Yo, Reno! (Yo, Rocko!)

With the last pick in the draft, Reno was at a decided disadvantage at acquiring a top tier star. However, that double down pick got him two coveted young bigs, Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh. Rhythm Drive is now 6-3-1, fighting for the conference lead and on a streak of three straight wins. Not bad. What has Reno put around Howard and Bosh to lead to such a stellar start of the season? Let's find out.

PTS, REB, AST: As you would expect from a roster replete with big men, Rhythm Drive can rebound. The surprising thing is that they're not ranked in the top three; they're just outside at number four. Dwight Howard is a man-beast with over 12 REB per game, but Chris Bosh isn't far behind at nearly a dozen per game himself. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is at about 8 REB per game, and everyone else in the starting lineup is solid at around 5 REB (aside from Adam Morrison).

The Drive is not so good at scoring or passing. They are ranked 10th in PTS and a putrid 12th in AST. There's only one 20+ scorer on this team, Bosh, and he's barely over the 20-point mark. Luol Deng, Mike Miller, and Dwight Howard hover around 17 points per game. That's not enough. In addition, Felton is the only good passer on the team (he averages around 7 AST but is capable of exploding on some nights). Brad Miller is no longer a premier passing center, and the only other guy who even thinks about passing is the other Miller, Mike, who's only at about 4 AST per game. Felton dishes it to his bigs and never gets the ball back, oh well.

STL, BLK, 3PT: Similarly, with few true point or shooting guards on this team, Rhythm is last in STL and also not too stellar in 3PT either (ranked 9th). In the latter category, Mike Miller's averaging almost ten three-point shot attempts per game over the last two weeks, and if he keeps that up, he could single-handedly win that category for Reno. However, this is generally not a strong 3PT shooting team. Mickael Pietrus isn't too bad, and Adam Morrison and Raymond Felton make their contributions, but there are no deep gunners here (Tim Thomas and Donyell Marshall do reside on the bench however).

If you're packing four seven-footers, you better be able to put up some blocks. With that being the case, Rhythm Drive can do the dew, rejecting enough shots to rank 5th in the league. Not bad, but not overwhelmingly stellar. Despite all this height, the only true shot-blocking threat on this team is Howard, who averages two swats per game. Bosh isn't a shot blocker, averaging just about one per game -- that's about what Mickael Pietrus contributes as a much smaller player. Big Z can still play some D (almost 1.5 BLK a game) but he's slowing down. Then again, he is 7'3" and capable of blocking five shots a night once in awhile.

FG%, FT%, TO: The real strength of this team is in FG%. Everyone on this team shoots well, often very well, with the exception of Ray Felton (38.3 FG%). Howard and Deng are in particular, spectacular, at over 54% FG-shooting each. That's good enough for 2nd in the FG% rankings. It's a different matter in FT% though. Dwight Howard hits the line so often (and the bottom of the net much less often) that he single-handedly kills FT%. Clank, second to last here. You take the good, you take the bad, with the new 21st century Shaq.

The other thing Howard does is turn the ball over -- to the tune of 3.5 TO per game. That's a huge number considering he's a big man. Oh well, what can you do? He'll get better. Of the rest of the team, only Felton, Grant Hill, and Mike Miller average more than 2 TO per game, but they are primary ball handlers so that's to be expected. The Rhythm Drive are a lackluster, but not bad, 7th in the turnover department.

Bench: As mentioned above, Tim Thomas and Donyell Marshall are available, but at this point in their careers, Thomas is a pure gunner (not that he ever wasn't) and Donyell is far off his prime. Both are good for a few 3PT, a few REB, and maybe ten points a game -- with Donyell pushing a few BLK. Purely injury fill-ins.

Bobby Jackson IS a walking injury, he needs to go, even if he has some value once every blue moon -- two years ago. The mighty mite and instigator of The Rocky Mountain Brawl, Nate Robinson, is returning soon, and he could prove to be useful off the bench as an offensive spark plug. Same thing with the Ex-Franchise, Steve Francis. He's been pretty reliable this season if you think of him as a low-level guard who can give you some decent AST numbers and maybe some scoring.

Analysis: So things don't sound so hot for the Rhythm Drive statistically. Under league rankings, they're second-to-last in power points. Taking into account a slew of injuries -- the only guys who have played 30 or more games are: Ilgauskas, Howard, Felton, Deng, and Miller -- and sporatic play, this team is still way above 0.500 and has beaten many of the top teams in the league. How they're doing it I'm not sure, since they exhibit no real strength aside from FG%.

I mean, last week, we covered a team that was great on paper but didn't win many games; Rhythm Drive is the exact opposite. They just win baby. Rhythm Drive has also played less games than anyone but the Sour Snails, another hurdle they've climbed in their winning season. This team must have a lot of heart; they must eat lightning and crap thunder.

Reno has also been active on the waiver wire, going through Sarunas Jasikevicius, Ronny Turiaf, Juan Dixon, Kyle Lowry, Randy Foye, and Jordan Farmar at points in the season. The overrated and now super injured Kenyon Martin was cut loose early, but his potential stats are missed on this team (REB and BLK).

I have a few suggestions; as always. It's time to go big, like real big. Push REB, FG% and BLK (and push TO down if possible) to the highest levels. I'm not sure how Reno always wins, but it would help if they had some real sustainable strengths. One more big guy would make a huge difference on the boards and on defense. Build around Dwight Howard's strengths -- and drop FT%, it's a lost category with Howard around obviously. Find another traditional big guy to fill the blocks next to Dwight. Zydrunas will get old(er), Brad Miller isn't a real center, and Bosh can't block shots. Dwight needs a buddy; even someone with low-end double doubles and blocks. Chris Kaman springs to mind.

And there's also the issue of PTS and 3PT; neither of which are real strengths on paper, but somehow, Reno must win them occasionally. Should someone be brought in to pump up those areas? I dunno.

The strengths of this team is obvious with rising stars Howard-Bosh-Deng and Mike Miller and Felton in the backcourt -- plus, Mickael Pietrus could have a future as a nice PTS-REB-3PT guy. But this team might be headed for a fall since they seem to be weirdly statistically inept -- except where it counts of course, in the wins column.

Adam Morrison's top end would be to turn into a Mike Miller type player, albeit with less of an all-around game; but that'll be next year at the earliest. The bench and the lower end of the roster should be used to invest in guys like Hakim Warrick, Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson, Andrew Bynum and other young bigs that will really help this team down the road.

This team is winning big now, but can they keep it up? I guess doubters always suffer under the wrath of Reno's team -- who's poised to take me out this week!

Crazy: I would (maybe) look to move Raymond Felton. He's a great player with huge upside but if he can be moved for a big man, that would be a boon to the team. His strengths are this team's weaknesses and his weaknesses are this team's strengths. Reno could wait to pair Felton up with a few more backcourt mates, but being ranked dead last in AST and STL is a big hole to climb out of. Felton and another guy might be enough to pull a Duncan or a Brand. Or at worst, move someone to pull in a Ben Wallace or Emeka Okafor type. That would secure REB and BLK for life -- heck, trade for Shaq for the title run.

Recap: Week 10

Inter-Conference Games
5-4, Squirtle Squad vs Fat Jubas
4-4, Chunky Monkeys vs Poobic Heirs
6-3, Buffy vs Pooh Bears
8-1, Human Amoebas vs Phanatics
5-4, Funk Coalition vs MoRRie's Pogiboys
5-4, Rhythm Drive vs Sour Snails

Conference Games
none
(statistics)

5-4, Squirtle Squad vs Fat Jubas
The two best teams in the league faced off and the Squirtles sent the Jubas to the mat with a well balanced week that featured outstanding shooting (50.0 FG%). The Squirtles were suffering from some shooting woes recently but are now back on track -- more accurately, Ray Allen is back on track (53.7 FG%, 27 PTS and 3.5 3PT) and that made all the difference.

The Jubas finally got a healthy Tracy McGrady in the lineup with a huge week -- 35.3 PTS, 7 REB, 4.3 AST, 2.7 3PT -- but an injury to Dwayne Wade left the Jubas at less than full strength. In fact, the Jubas were lucky to win even four categories, as they eeked out victories in PTS (590-575) and TO (67-70) by a hair. The re-match with a healthy Wade could be exciting, perhaps in the Finals?

4-4, Chunky Monkeys vs Poobic Heirs
What is going on? The Monkeys have more ties than losses. If this were chess, they'd be the grandmaster who asks for a draw after five moves -- every game. Just like last week, the Monkeys tied in the 3PT department with their opponent. In fact, the Monkeys did a pretty good job fighting back in the AST department (eventually winning by 10) as the week came to a close but the Yao-less Heirs stuck it out for a big tie (winning PTS by only 3).

For Oliver, Ricky Davis stepped up with 16.25 PTS, 4.5 REB, 5 AST and 2.25 3PT to support Kobe and Caron. The other good news is that sophmore phenom Monta Ellis is back, and he's ready to be re-inserted into the lineup. Evan himself has a Warrior in his starting lineup, sadly that Warrior is Keith McLeod. Who? Yeah, exactly. McLeod dropped 16 PTS and 3 AST/TO/3PT total, dooming the Monkeys to yet another tie. Actually, Jorge Garbajosa and his one game dud might have something to do with the tie. Let's not finger anybody out though, at least it's not a loss!

6-3, Buffy vs Pooh Bears
Make no mistake, Buffy may be hobbled with his entire bench down for the count, but they're still capable of beating any team in the league. Tony Allen is a monster during Paul Pierce's absence, doing a nice approximation of Ron Artest in his prime -- 21.25 PTS, 6 REB, 3.75 STL on 58.5 FG% and 82.6 FT%. Aside from that, the two Knicks, Jamal Crawford and Eddy Curry are kind of nice too. The Baron is still his fine self and even if Joe Johnson is suffering from some weird disease (he's turned into a pure scorer, without any all-around stats) Buffy is strong.

The Pooh Bears couldn't compete this week, but there are some good things happening in the point guard department. Mike Bibby found his stroke -- scoring 28.3 PTS on 51.8 FG% -- and Andre Miller isn't suffering from his trade back East -- 17.3 PTS and 8.7 AST per game. The rest of the team though -- especially AK47, Josh Childress, Ruben Patterson and Tayshaun Prince -- had a terrible scoring period. The Bears suffer from a let down after last week's big win. Walk it off, walk it off.

5-4, Rhythm Drive vs Sour Snails
Dammit, I thought the Snails got one there. But the site didn't update yet and Reno snuck in a few extra points on Sunday, taking the PTS category (427-406) and the win. I guess the Snails will keep waiting for that first victory. It hurts that a suddenly healthy Ron Artest and Wally Szczerbiak were on the bench while Jason Richardson stayed in the lineup while hurt. That could have been the win right there. Maybe next week.

These two teams are the ones who have the least Games Played on the season, the reason for that? Injuries, to be sure, but also a bit of mismanagement? We're not sure. Sam Spade will be looking into that one. One thing Sam won't need to look into is why Mike Miller is dropping a mind boggling 4 3PT a game; he's averaging more than ten attempts for his last eight games. That's a green light to chuck it from afar and Mike's not hesitating -- or missing (53.3 FG%). Mr Bosh is back too, and right back to his 20-10 numbers.

8-1, Human Amoebas vs Phanatics
The beatdown in Motown as the Amoeba engulfed the entire Phanatic team and spit them back out disheveled and confused. Ping's team couldn't do anything right, even losing the TO battle despite playing four fewer games. Who had a good week for the Phanatics? Um, Drew Gooden (18.75 PTS, 11 REB, 58.3 FG%)? But Drew isn't leading anybody to a championship anytime soon. It's just sit and wait until Odom and Pierce come back for the Phreaks I guess, it could be a long winter of discontent for the Phanatics fan(s).

It's not like the Amoebas had a great week, but the Big German blitzkrieged the Phanatics into quick submission with 29 PTS and 10.75 REB on 51.2% shooting. Heil Dirk! Despite a lot of swingmen and smaller players, the Amoeboid are really good at REB. Like, really good (ranked 2nd in the league, but barely off the lead). Dirk, Zach Randolph, Amare Stoudemire, Ben Wallace, and Jason Kidd can all clean the glass, which gives the Amoebas second chances galore.

5-4, Funk Coalition vs MoRRie's Pogiboys
Alvin had Jon on the ropes as the Pogiboys were edging the Funk on FT% but then horror of horrors, late turnovers cost them a crucial category. It's not often that Funk wins the TO battle but in this case, the Pogiboys three extra GP -- plus the (apparently fortuitous) early week injury to TJ Ford -- enabled the Funk to stumble into a victory. Who were the TO culprits that led to a loss? LA Clippers Elton Brand and Chris Kaman led the Pogiboys with 17 and 14 TO respectively. It hurts when your big men are fumbling the ball away -- the next closet TO guy? Alonzo Mourning with eight. Buy some stick'em guys.

Funk dropped in 53 3PT this week behind a career high for Matt Barnes (19.5 PTS, 6.25 REB, 2 STL, 1 BLK and 13 3PT). For the Pogiboys, the backcourt is in trouble, as Chauncey and Gerald Wallace are both hurt, and replacements Derek Fisher and Damon Jones aren't pulling their weight. Hey, least Stephon Marbury is back to his glory days -- scoring over 20 points and dropping 6 AST last week (not to mention 2.67 3PT a game).

The Itchy & Scratchy Show

Under the statistical analysis, it looks like Oliver's Poobic Heirs should be a top team. First off, they have the best inside-outside combination in the game with Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming. The rest of the roster shines with breakout stars and hidden gems: Caron Butler, Kevin Martin, and Monta Ellis. However, the Heirs are coming off of two losses and are mediocre at 4-5 -- not what our pre-season rankings expected. Even with Ming's injury ten days ago, that still doesn't account for the other losses. Even worse, after some research, those four wins have come against Jose, Alvin, Ping, and Trieu's teams; the four worst teams in the league. Things that make you go ummm...

PTS, REB, AST: This team should be offensively explosive. Shooting guards Bryant, Martin, and Ellis provide buckets from everywhere and Yao and Caron Butler are both over 20 points per game. The team is ranked 3rd in PTS but that could be higher since Kobe and Yao have both missed some games -- plus, Kobe can single handedly win PTS any week he decides he wants to. This team also has a strong presence on the boards with big men like Ming, Andrew Bogut, Rasheed Wallace, and when he plays, Samuel Dalembert. That combination is good enough for 4th; Ming's missing board work will be replaced by rebound specialist Jeff Foster, so this category shouldn't suffer much of a let down. Caron Butler, while not a big man, contributes about 8 REB per night -- awesome.

The Heirs are about middle of the pack in AST -- ranked 7th. It's passing by committee as the only true point guard on this team, Kirk Hinrich, only averages 5.8 on the year, and he's been slumping recently. However, Kobe, Caron, Ricky Davis, Devin Harris, and to a lesser extent, Monta Ellis and Andrew Bogut can all contribute a handful of assists a night.

STL, BLK, 3PT: The Heirs are ranked 3-4-5 in STL-BLK-3PT. Not bad at all right? Few teams are this balanced in all three. With a collection of useful bigs and smalls, the Heirs are very competitive against most teams. Caron Butler does a lot of things -- and we mean A LOT -- but his most valuable contribution might be in STL, where he's back up to around 2 per game. Everyone else on this team does a good job picking off passes and 80% of the roster is over one steal per game.

Yao, Rasheed and Dalembert are all around 2 BLK per game, and they anchor the frontcourt. Bogut isn't much of a shot blocker, but Shane Battier can pick up some of his slack. That's plenty of blocks against most teams -- the only thing preventing the Heirs from dominating here is that Dalembert isn't usually worthy of a starting spot, but he may be pressed into action now.

For three pointers, it's the Triple-K's (Kobe, Kevin, Kirk) and Shane Battier; all four of these guys can put up about 1.5 to 1.75 3PT per game. Nothing crazy, but add in the contributions of Rasheed (his 3PT are down from last year) and Monta Ellis, shooting behind the arc isn't much of a problem.

FG%, FT%, TO: The good news gets even better here. Sure the Heirs are ranked dead last in TO, but who cares? They're good everywhere else. And take a look at this: they are ranked second and first in FG% and FT%, respectively. For those who need to know, 81.5% from the line will take FT% every week, and 47.9% from the field is pretty much gonna win that category too. Keep in mind, this team can score, they're not like the other high FG% teams that are more likely to run out the shot clock than run-and-gun.

All the big men are fair to excellent free throw shooters (Ming is at 86.7%) and the small guys all have pretty decent FG% -- with both Kevin Martin and Caron Butler flirting with hitting about half their shots. Three 20-point guys shooting near fifty percent (add in Yao's 52.2%)? These guys never miss! And it's not the Mamba isn't striking accurately either, since he's at a healthy 47.5 FG%. I wish I could shoot like the Heirs...in real life. No wonder I'm always picked last at the gym.

Bench: The bench usually consists of Sam Dalembert, Devin Harris, Antonio McDyess, and currently, Jeff Foster and Devin Brown. Sam and Devin Harris can both help this team -- in BLK, AST, STL -- but there's no room for them in the lineup! I mean, who would you take out? Battier? Sam is slightly iffy too, as his ceiling has always been higher than his actual production. Since this team does suffer from the occassional injury, having this sort of depth isn't a bad thing. Jeff Foster is the white Reggie Evans and he should help dull the pain from losing Yao. Nobody knows how Devin Brown suddenly re-emerged but here he is -- Devin's going bananas in PTS, REB, and 3PT -- how long he'll stick around is up for debate. McDyess needs to go, his bench spot could be used more wisely -- for a ball boy, a cheerleader, a mascot, whatever. Actually, he's not too bad now that I look at it, but he does nothing that Foster or Dalembert can't.

Cure: There's nothing particularly wrong with this team. They might be the best all around team out there (ranking poorly only in TO). However, a combination of bad luck, bad injuries, and um, more bad luck has dropped The Poobic Heirs below 0.500 in the standings. This record wouldn't normally be alarming given the circumstances, but here's the truth: every time this team has faced an average to good team, they've lost. They've had one amazingly stellar week (in WK 7) but for the most part, they're losing close battles in sporadic categories. Whenever they face an opponent that specializes in a category or two, they seem to come out on the losing end.

Kobe-Yao-Caron are an incredible trio. Yao is the best center in the game and his numbers (and not to mention his percentages) are incomparable. In fact, I'd value him over Kobe and Caron at this point; even if Kobe and Caron are much sexier in the stat sheet.

It's pretty hard to recommend any changes for this team. In general, maybe tinker with the side bits -- such as Battier, Bogut, maybe Ricky Davis -- and maybe deal some of this depth to get a player that will push one or two categories from "very good" to "dominant." With the two percentages already locked up each week, taking three other categories consistently shouldn't be too hard. Build up another strength and maybe, just maybe, let one of the categories down a bit. It's hard to concentrate on eight categories at once, which may be the main reason the Heirs struggle against the good teams in the league -- theyr'e too well-rounded.

On the other hand, they could become a world beater since they are so good at everything. It's tempting to say that this team will get healthier and better, but to an extent, players like Monta Ellis and Kevin Martin may have already peaked. It's hard to imagine Yao and Caron getting much better, and it seems like Ricky Davis, Rasheed, and Battier are as good as they're going to get. There is room for improvement from Kirk Hinrich however, who started off the season on fire but has struggled recently and is currently dinged up. That leaves Kobe, who hasn't quite hit his stride yet -- even at 28 PTS 5 REB/AST -- he'll get better.

The Poobic Heirs should be much better than their record right now, but for some reason they're not. Write if off as a blip on the radar, but after ten weeks, is something wrong? You, dear reader, can decide for yourself.

Crazy: You could conceivably move Kobe (or Caron) but you'd have to get some surefire category helpers in return. Kobe for Garnett? Kobe for Joe Johnson and Baron Davis? It could all happen. But it behooves Oliver to look around for some side bits first, I mean, Kobe is Kobe, Yao is Yao, and Caron for Kwame was the biggest theft (almost) ever. Another strong all-around point guard could help, as could another big man who can really push REB/BLK over the top. The most movable pieces here? Maybe Monta (who is most valuable as a PTS guy but isn't a huge STL or 3PT guy) and Battier and Bogut. Trading some of these pieces on a 2-for-1 would allow Dalembert or Devin Harris to enter the lineup.