C Andrew Bynum, Los Angeles Lakers
To begin the fantasy basketball season, Andrew Bynum has been amazing. He seems to be living up to his vast potential. That said, expect his numbers to come crashing back down to earth once Pau Gasol returns. Trade him now while he’s putting up superstar numbers.

PF Chris Bosh, Toronto Raptors
Yes, Chris Bosh is a great player. But he’s playing over his head at the moment. He’s averaging career-highs in points and points — and he hasn’t missed a three-pointer this season. Trade him before he cools off.

SF Richard Jefferson, San Antonio Spurs
In the last few games, Richard Jefferson has been very good. He’s putting up fantasy stats by the truck load. But once Tim Duncan and Tony Parker return from injury, expect Jefferson’s role to be diminished.

SG Ben Gordon, Detroit Pistons
Ben Gordon is yet another player that is seeing his stats boosted by missing stars. In Detroit, both Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince have been sidelined — which has allowed Gordon to get off to a very good start.

PG Brandon Jennings, Milwaukee Bucks
In future years, Brandon Jennings will be a fantasy basketball stud. But even though he’s off to a very good start this season, remember that he’s a very young player who doesn’t have many games under his belt. He’ll be hitting the rookie wall and his value in fantasy basketball will plummet. Trade him prior to that point.

Chris Bosh - Toronto Raptors (Image: Zuma Press)

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For fantasy basketball purposes, Villanueva’s value goes up following this move. It appears as if he’s finally found a team willing to invest in him and give him the opportunity he needs to succeed. In a per-minute basis, Villanueva has always put good numbers on the board.

Last year, Villanueva averaged 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in only 26.9 minutes per game. Stretch that to 40 minutes and Villanueva would be putting up 24.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.

With the Pistons, expect Villanueva to play power forward. At 6-foot-11, he has the size to play the position. His all-around offensive game should allow him to flourish. Heading into the 2009-10 fantasy basketball season, he’s definitely a sleeper to explode onto the scene.

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Ben Gordon, Chicago Bulls (Image: Newscom)

An MRI on Monday showed that Gordon suffered a strained left hamstring. If this were the regular season, Gordon could possibly miss action. However, with the Bulls in the middle of a battle with the Celtics, you should expect Gordon to play. If you are playing playoff fantasy basketball, Gordon should be safe to keep in your starting lineup.

In the playoffs, Gordon has been very good. He’s averaging 24.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, while shooting 46.1% from the field and 40.9% on three-pointers. Gordon has hit a number of big shots for the Bulls and is the go-to scorer for the young Bulls squad.

With the Bulls and Celtics tied going into Game 5, the Bulls will need a healthy Gordon to have any chance to pull off the upset.

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Manu Ginobili, San Antonio Spurs
While it is true that Manu Ginobili will miss as many as the first 25 games of the season after undergoing surgery on his ankle, Ginobili shouldn’t be forgotten in fantasy basketball drafts in 2008. He was very good in 2007 and all indications point to him being able to return to that level.

OJ Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies
As far as shooting guard sleepers are concerned, there aren’t many with a higher upside than OJ Mayo. Mayo loves to shoot the ball and always seems to be in the middle of the action. With the Grizzlies already eliminated from the 2009 playoffs, Mayo should get plenty of minutes.

Mickael Pietrus, Orlando Magic
Stan Van Gundy loves defense. Defense is what Mickael Pietrus does best. Expect him to play a lot and produce in categories across the board. He’s not great at any one aspect but he’s a solid fantasy basketball player due to his all-around contributions.

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While Beasley is tempting due to his potential and how he performed in his freshman season, he’s not the answer. The Bulls already have a lot of talented players throughout their roster. What the Bulls don’t have is a leader. And while Mayo is a very good basketball player, he’s not a leader. Rose, by all accounts, is best suited to grow into a leadership role.

Drafting Rose and trading Kirk Hinrich to the highest bidder makes a lot of sense. Hinrich seemed to regress a bit last season and trading him now is better than seeing him regress even further.

Rose is a playmaking point guard who can make the other players on the Bulls a lot better. To win games in the NBA these days, you need to have a playmaker. Hinrich is a decent playmaker but he’s not a true playmaker. Just by bringing in Rose, players like Luol Deng, Ben Gordon and Tyrus Thomas should all improve.

Photo: Newscom

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With the Suns, D’Antoni had a very successful run. Not only did the Suns win a lot of regular season games, he ushered a fast-pace, high scoring era into the NBA. Now teams across the league are looking to score a lot of points, rather than just depend on their defense to win games.

D’Antoni’s Suns teams also produced great fantasy players. From Steve Nash to Shawn Marion to Amare Stoudemire, they all become stud fantasy players under D’Antoni. If he ends up with the Bulls, he automatically raises the stocks of everybody on Chicago’s team.

The player who will likely see his stock rise the highest is Kirk Hinrich. Hinrich struggled last season but if D’Antoni comes on board, you can expect D’Antoni to try to turn Hinrich into a Chicago’s version of Nash. D’Antoni will give Hinrich freedom to lead the team and run, shoot and score as much as he wants.

Other players who will feel a positive impact include Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that D’Antoni can turn Deng into a Marion type player and Gordon into a Leandro Barbosa type player, while allowing Thomas and Noah to reach their full potential on both ends of the court.

Photo: Newscom

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