Last year with the Pacers, Jack teamed with T.J. Ford at the point guard position. With the Raptors, he will basically be replacing Ford.

Ford played with the Raptors and formed a powerful 1-2 punch with Jose Calderon. Last season, Calderon had the reins all to himself and his per-minute production dropped off. The Raptors hope that Jack can allow Calderon to rest a bit more and resume the successful role he played in the 2007-08 season.

In fantasy basketball, this signing is probably bad news for both Jack and Calderon. Although Jack can play some shooting guard, expect his minutes to be reduced to around 28 minutes per game. Calderon played more than 34 minutes per game last year — expect him to lose four or five minutes off of that average.

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All that said, they have some interesting fantasy basketball options. First and foremost is Chris Bosh. At the beginning of the season, Bosh was one of the best fantasy bigmen in the NBA. But recently, he has been in a major slump. His shooting percentages have plummeted and he’s settling for too many jumpers. He’s also not rebounding or blocking shots as well as usual. The good news is that this is probably just a slump for Bosh and he should be able to return to his typical dominant self soon enough. One explanation for his recent poor play is fatigue due to his play in the Olympics. If that’s the case, he’ll come around once he catches his second wind.

Outside of Bosh, the best fantasy option on the team is Jose Calderon. He’s actually been shooting the ball very well as of late. On the season, he hasn’t missed a free throw yet — which always helps in the fantasy world. He’s also continuing his insanely high assist-to-turnover ratio from last season.

Outside of those two players, it’s difficult to find a very good fantasy option. Jermaine O’Neal is decent but he isn’t producing much. He’s somewhat valuable due to his blocks but he’s a far cry from his heyday. O’Neal has been struggling with a variety of injuries so there’s a chance that he could get healthy and become a better fantasy option down the line.

Andrea Bargnani is a player fantasy owners have been waiting on to erupt onto the scene but it simply doesn’t appear as if it’s going to happen. Bargnani is now coming off the bench and is struggling mightily. His shot is way off and he’s not helping in any other category. Avoid Bargnani until he shows some signs of life.

Last season Jamario Moon was a useful player but he’s not playing nearly as well this season. Anthony Parker has been struggling shooting the ball and Jason Kapono just isn’t much of an all-around option. Joey Graham has had some decent outings but he’s not good enough to be a fantasy option.

Photo credit: Newscom

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Chris Paul, New Orleans
Although he turns the ball over more than three times a game, he easily makes up for it by posting more than 11 assists per game. In fact, Paul is the only player in the NBA who is currently averaging double-digits in assists. At 11.8 assists per game, there’s little to suggest that Paul will slow down anytime soon.

Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors
Not only is Calderon second in the league in assists at 9.5, he amazingly turns the ball over only 1.9 times per game. Last year he put up a similar ratio for the entire season, so this stretch is definitely not a fluke for Calderon. The Raptors point guard knows how to create shots without turning the ball over.

Chauncey Billups, Denver Nuggets
Billups went to the run-and-gun Nuggets and has turned around their whole culture. Now Denver takes good shots each possession and they don’t make nearly as many mistakes. Billups averages 7.2 assists and only 1.6 turnovers to give him an assist-to-turnover ratio of better than 4-to-1.

Chris Duhon, New York Knicks
Don’t look now but Chris Duhon is doing his best Steve Nash impersonation in New York. Playing for Mike D’Antoni, Duhon has been asked to create as many shot opportunities as possible. In his last five games, Duhon is averaging more than ten assists per game — including games of 23 assists and 13 assists in back-to-back affairs.

Photo credit: Newscom

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With the outcome still in question, Kobe Bryant took over in the fourth quarter. He not only scored but he handed out a team-high number of assists. Helping Bryant close out the game for the USA was Dwyane Wade, who led the United States in scoring.

Spain put up a great fight and was led by Pau Gasol and Rudy Fernandez. Gasol’s fantasy basketball future seems very bright with the Los Angeles Lakers after being very good in the Olympics. Same can be said for Fernandez, who has a chance to star for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Ricky Rubio, the 17-year-old basketball phenom for Spain, started in place of the injured Jose Calderon. Rubio proved that he can more than hold his own and upped his already sky high NBA stock. He now seems to be a lock to be a top five NBA draft pick.

Here is a video talking about what the gold medal means to the players and United States on a whole:

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This time the picture isn’t of basketball players but rather women tennis players. The picture, which has a caption regarding the tennis playing preparing for China, is reportedly at least a few weeks old.

In the aftermath of the original picture that surfaced which contained the Spanish basketball team, many players on the team apologized for any perceived racism. The NBA players in that original picture included Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers and Jose Calderon of the Toronto Raptors.

Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks, who is on the Team USA basketball squad, stated that if it were the Americans in the picture, the team would have been thrown out of the Olympics and suspended by the NBA.

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For the Raptors, O’Neal will give the team the perfect center to put next to Chris Bosh. The last Raptors have never had a very good center but if O’Neal can stay healthy, he can change all that. O’Neal is a very good center with a good low post game. In terms of fantasy basketball, a new start in Toronto is very good news for O’Neal.

The Pacers finally have a point guard. Ford should be able to step right in and produce at the lead guard position. Ford, who is also an injury risk, has been a very solid player in his career when he’s been able to stay on the court. For Ford, this is also good news in terms of fantasy basketball because he no longer has a backup who could eat away at his minutes like Jose Calderon in Toronto.

Nesterovic was a salary filler who might or might not see meaningful action for Indiana. With the 17th pick, expect the Packers to add a bigman.

Here is a video concerning the TJ Ford and Jermaine O’Neal swap:

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2) Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
Nash has been a monster lately. He’s scoring and handing out assists at a very high rate. Nash is also shooting lights out while turning the ball over late. Nash’s best fantasy days this season seem to be ahead of him.

3) Baron Davis, Golden State Warriors
With free reign in Don Nelson’s offense, Davis is having a career season. He has been scoring, assisting, rebounding and getting steals at a very high clip lately. The concern him Davis is injury but so far, he’s been uncharacteristically healthy this season.

4) Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors
With TJ Ford out with a neck injury, Calderon has emerged as one of the best point guards in the NBA. As long as Ford is sidelined, expect Calderon to put up huge numbers. Even when Ford returns, Calderon should continue to play extended minutes.

5) Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets
Paul has been a stud this season but recently he has cooled off a bit. However, you shouldn’t worry as he’ll no doubt return to his former greatness. Expect him to finish the season as the best fantasy point guard in the NBA.

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