The New York Knicks made a pair of trades on Friday that had NBA and fantasy basketball analysts scrambling. Their first trade sent Jamal Crawford to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Al Harrington.

While the main point of this trade for the Knicks was to create more salary cap flexibility in 2010, this trade should be a great fantasy basketball-wise for Harrington owners. There’s a good chance that Harrington will start at center for the Mike D’Antoni Knicks, which will mean a lot of shot attempts — specifically, three-pointers. With his increased minutes and his role moving him to center, he can expect his rebound numbers to also go up. Now is a great time to buy low on Harrington before he becomes much more valuable on the Knicks.

The future for Crawford on the Warriors is much less clear. While in theory Crawford would flourish under Don Nelson, the question is how many minutes will he play. Right now he should get minutes but once Monta Ellis returns, Crawford could getting his playing time pinched. It’s going to be difficult for Nellie to juggle minutes between Crawford, Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Kelenna Azubuike and the new sensation Anthony Morrow.

As of right now, consider Harrington’s fantasy basketball stock way up and Crawford’s about the same with the possibility it could drop.

Photo: Newscom

Post from: Expert Fantasy

C Al Harrington, Golden State Warriors
Fitting perfectly into Don Nelson’s offense, Al Harrington can play center and can also drain the outside shot. For big immobile centers, Harrington is a matchup nightmare. As gets morn comfortable in Nelson’s system, Harrington should continue to get better and better.

PF Rashard Lewis, Orlando Magic
With Hedo Turkoglu staring at small forward, Rashard Lewis has spent a majority of the season at power forward. Lewis was signed to a mega contract in the offseason and has helped the Magic become one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Although he hasn’t been dominant this year, Lewis has been a marksman from deep.

SF Peja Stojakovic, New Orleans Hornets
When Chris Paul is looking for an open shooter, the one he hopes to find wide open is Peja Stojakovic. Stojakovic has long been one of the best shooters in the NBA. This season, he’s currently leading the NBA in three-pointers made per game. That alone has made him a valuable commodity in the fantasy world.

SG Jason Richardson, Charlotte Bobcats
Coming over from the Golden State Warriors in a trade, Jason Richardson has lived up to expectations. He’s arguably having his best season to date in his career and a lot of the damage he’s doing is from the perimeter. In college at Michigan State, a lot of people questioned his outside shooting. Nobody questions that anymore.

PG Baron Davis, Golden State Warriors
When Baron Davis wants to shoot a three-pointer, he’s going to find a way to get an open look. The Dallas Mavericks are still having nightmares from last year in the playoffs when Davis killed them with his outside shooting stroke. This season, Davis is having a great season and is shooting it well from beyond the arc.

Post from: Expert Fantasy

PG Baron Davis, Golden State Warriors
Davis was the playoff hero for the Warriors last season. He was amazing during the postseason, playing at a level we hadn’t seen from the point guard out of UCLA. That said, he’s being drafted too high in fantasy drafts. First of all, Davis is a huge injury risk. Davis misses games in bunches and playing in Don Nelson’s fast paced offense won’t help keep him healthy. On top of that, Davis isn’t an overly consistent player. Players such as Deron Williams and Mo Williams produce at a similar level and are each much safer picks.

SG Allen Iverson, Denver Nuggets
Iverson is still a very good player but fantasy owners have been slow to react to the fact that Iverson is no longer the number one option on his team. Playing next to Carmelo Anthony, Iverson is going to be the second option on most nights for the Nuggets. Since Iverson’s value mostly comes from his scoring, the fact that he’s second on the totem pole hurts. He’s still a good player to have but not as high as he’s being drafted.

SF Tayshaun Prince, Detroit Pistons
Prince is an example of a good NBA player doesn’t always make a good fantasy player. Prince is a fine player in real life but his contributions simply don’t translate very well to fantasy basketball. He doesn’t do anything that great and he’s prone to disappearing for games at a time. Name recognition, rather than fantasy potential, is the reason he’s drafted as high as he’s drafted.

PF Al Harrington, Golden State Warriors
Harrington is being picked relatively high in fantasy drafts. And honestly, I’m not exactly sure why. Harrington is a solid player but he’s not a great fit for Don Nelson’s system. He struggled mightily at times in the playoffs last year when seemingly everyone else on the Warriors was playing well. Nelson has already sent Harrington to the bench, which is even further proof that should lead you away from drafting him this year.

C Ben Wallace, Chicago Bulls
Undersized centers don’t have a long shelf life in the NBA. Wallace is getting up there in age and could start to see his game fall off. He’s already not as good as he was on the Pistons and there’s no reason to believe he’s going to be able to find the fountain of youth and bounce back this season. With all the other center options out there, Wallace is a player you should just allow another owner to draft.

Post from: Expert Fantasy