Manu Ginoboli Photo by Gail Burton-AP	Carlos Delfino Photo By David Sandford/Getty

Fantasy Basketball is probably the best fantasy sports game of them all.  While Fantasy Football is okay, you only get to play once a week and all your players always get hurt.  It's a continual trip to the waiver wire to see who's available at running back or wide receiver because the guys on you roster got hit in the head.  Fantasy Baseball doesn't get the injury problems, but you have to pay attention every day, there are SO MANY games and you have to watch your starting pitching situation constantly, a little bit too much activity to be spent on what should be a pleasant diversion.

But basketball is, as Little Red Riding Hood said, "just right".  Whether you play rotisserie or straight up against an opponent every week, it's perfect.  Eighty games, a few days off each week, there aren't many injuries, and there's quite a bit of player turnover each year to make things interesting.  There are also sufficient scoring categories to more or less emulate a REAL basketball game, not just points and rebounds, but also assists, turnovers, steals and blocks.  There are even some other stat categories you can optionally use, but enough's enough.

Anyway, my 2007-08 team, Driving the Lane, is one of my favorites. I have two terrific players, the all-everything Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics and Deron Williams, the assist machine from the Utah Jazz.  Both can score, have no problem with passing the ball to a teammate, play defense and basically, do as much as they have to in order to win.  My other guards, which had been a problem early in the year, in the persons of Ben Gordon and Jamal Crawford, are starting to come around.  Gordon, I think, had an attitude problem, as he was named in trade talks for Kobe Bryant.  Crawford just goes to sleep from time to time, and in the process, he turns the ball over quite a bit.  In fact, both these fellas had the same problem, turnovers.  Their shooting percentages were also down from what they could have and should have been.

Partially saving the situation for my team, however, was Manu Ginoboli of the San Antonio Spurs, someone I'm able to get a bargain on seemingly every year.  He's just another guy who does everything.  Need points?  He'll get them, he'll drop behind that 3-point line and start bombing.  And he hits them.   Need steals, he's pretty light-fingered, assists, no problemo.  As well as he could play though, I still needed a little more consistency overall at the guard and forward spots.  And I was most gratified to be able to grab both shooting guard Carlos Delfino on the Raptors and Andres Nocioni, a small forward  from the Chicago Bulls.  As it turns out they are both from Argentina, I now have three of the best Argentine players in the professional game. 

What the Argentines offer is consistency.  They play hard every time out.  They might not get the minutes of some of the other NBA stars, but they are productive every time out.  They'll hit all the stat categories with the exception of turnovers.  They pay attention.  They're coachable.  Unselfish.  Imagine!  In the NBA.

The center position, that had been a big worry of mine from the beginning as I had drafted them later, is working out fine.  Just as I had hoped, Emeka Okafor is continuing his impassioned play, and is once again providing rebounds and blocks galore.  My even bigger (literally) gamble was Andrew Bynum of the Lakers out of Plainsboro, New Jersey.  Although castigated by none other than Kobe Bryant just last year, Bynum shook it off, practiced hard throughout the off-season and it’s now paying off in productivity.  A legitimate 7-footer, he throws his 275 pounds around in the paint.  He’s got a real nice touch, soft hands, and seems to understand the game.  And he’ll only get better, I love it.

With reserves like Antonio McDyess of the Pistons, Shane Battier of the Rockets and Mo Williams from Milwaukee, another scoring forward would be nice, but with Gordon and Crawford as trade bait, I’m sure I can work something out.  Now that I’ve got those Argentine Bulls on the roster, anything is possible.  And Battier is another of those consistent, do-everything types.

Most of the Fantasy Football Leagues are beginning the first round of the playoffs this week.  My two entrants in my keeper leagues have as god a chance as any to proceed directly to the Championship Round.  I’m especially proud of my drafting Marshawn Lynch in one league and having somewhat lucked out in my acquisition of Derek Anderson of the Browns at quarterback.  One year removed from being the league doormat, having only joined last year and having acquired some fairly poor “keepers”, I’m now in the playoffs.

My other keeper team has been the perennial points leader in another league, with an unbelievable team, Brady at QB, LaDainian and Larry Johnson at the running backs, Marvin Harrison and Isaac Bruce, and on and on.  While Larry Johnson went down with an injury, I was able to get by with Marques Colston and I was even lucky enough to grab up Santana Moss from the waiver wire.  Unbelievable.

Stay tuned, however, as it remains to be seen whether or not Brady will play too many more games.  It would be typical for him to sit out the championship game with absolutely no warning coming from his erudite coach, Bill Belichek.  The Pats have been clinching early for the last few years.

Yes, I’ll be keeping an eye on the NFL games this weekend and especially whether the G-Men can take Philly again.  And clinch a playoff spot themselves perhaps.  The Jets may be able to play the Browns fairly even too. Some folks expect the Steelers to give the Pats a hard time for the third consecutive week.  But I’ll be watching my Fantasy guys and the Argentine Connection with the other eye, the better one of the two.