OJ Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies
He’s quietly been one of the most consistent scorers to come into the league in a long while. Although OJ Mayo still needs to work on his all-around game, he’s far ahead of where most scouts thought he’d be at this point in the season.

Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
Though Derrick Rose’s play has dropped off a little bit as of late, you can expect him to catch a second wind at some point. Once he fights through the rookie wall, Rose should once again claim his spot as the best rookie point guard in the league and fight for the Rookie of the Year award.

Eric Gordon, Los Angeles Clippers
Lately, with half the Clippers roster out due to some form of injury or suspension, Eric Gordon has been scoring the ball very well. Over his last five games, he’s averaging more than 21 points per game while shooting very good percentages from the field, from three and from the line.

Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
Early on in the season, Russell Westbrook wasn’t very good offensively. As of late, however, he’s started to turn it around. He looks much more comfortable both looking for his own shots and running the show as Oklahoma City’s point guard.

Photo credit: Newscom

Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
As a starting rookie point guard, Derrick Rose is playing very good basketball. He’s growing before our eyes into one of the best lead guards in the NBA. If you are in a fantasy basketball dynasty league, Rose is a player to hold on to.

OJ Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies
Enjoying a rock solid fantasy basketball season, OJ Mayo will likely be a fantasy powerhouse for the next decade. He can score, shoot good percentages and the rest of his game is slowly but surely catching up. He could move as high as the second round of fantasy drafts next season.

Michael Beasley, Miami Heat
Although he’s not getting the consistent playing time Rose and Mayo are getting, Beasley has still be productive. He can score, rebound and he’s even blocking a few shots. Once he gets comfortable, he has a very high fantasy basketball ceiling.

Rudy Fernandez, Portland Trail Blazers
He’s not great at any one category but Rudy Fernandez helps out in a multitude of areas. He can put the ball in the basket, help you with his three-point accuracy and in other traditional categories such as assists and rebounds.

Photo credit: Newscom

1. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
A lot of NBA scouts thought Derrick Rose may need a year or two before he was ready to shine in the NBA. They were wrong. This Bulls rookie point guard is already the best player on his team and he’ll be a top five fantasy point guard before too much longer.

2. OJ Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies
While the Grizzlies aren’t that good, OJ Mayo is putting on a show. He’s proving to be a very good scorer on the NBA level. Surprisingly his shooting percentages are healthy and he’s doing a good job of not turning the ball over too much. Overall, Mayo is adjusting very quickly to the NBA level.

3. Michael Beasley, Miami Heat
The Heat coaching staff has been hard on Michael Beasley — benching him for poor play. But when he’s on the court, Beasley’s natural talent shines through. He can score and rebound effortlessly and he’s destined to get better as the season progresses.

4. Greg Oden, Portland Trail Blazers
After a slow start to the season, Greg Oden is coming into his own. He’s still not starting but that is only a matter of time. Once he does, he’ll be a double-double machine for the next 15 years — as long as he stays healthy.

5. Rudy Fernandez, Portland Trail Blazers
Rudy Fernandez is the Blazers’ energy player off the bench. For your fantasy team, Fernandez can do a little bit of everything. If his minutes go up, he could really turn into a fantasy force by the end of his rookie campaign.

Ben Gordon, Chicago Bulls
Recently, Ben Gordon re-signed with the Bulls for the qualifying offer. With Gordon becoming a free agent at the end of the year, you can count on him going all out to have a great year. He’s a hard worker to begin with — he will be on a mission this year.

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.

5) Rudy Fernandez, Portland Trail Blazers
Although it’s definitely a long shot, Rudy Fernandez has a chance to win the 2008-09 NBA Rookie of the Year award. He’s the most hyped player coming from the NBA from Europe and showed in the Olympics that he has an immense amount of talent.

4) Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
The number one pick of the 2008 NBA Draft doesn’t have the best chance of winning the award for the NBA’s best rookie. He’s playing on a team that has a lot of good players and he may not be forced into a large amount of minutes in his first season.

3) OJ Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies
If there is one thing OJ Mayo can do it is score the basketball. And since Rookie of the Year voting a lot of times comes down to scoring average, Mayo has a decent shot to take home the award.

2) Michael Beasley, Miami Heat
Michael Beasley can score and rebound at a very high level. If he gets enough touches in the Miami Heat offense, he could run away with this award. However, with Dwyane Wade needing a lot of shots, Beasley might have to defer in his rookie season.

1) Greg Oden, Portland Trail Blazers
After missing his entire first season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his knee, Greg Oden is back and is eligible for the Rookie of the Year award. He’s one of the best center prospects to come out in a while and he’ll be in the spotlight all season long.

Can Derrick Rose surprise many and take home the ROY award?

Photo: Newscom

George Karl’s son is making his own name in the NBA. Coby Karl led the Lakers summer league team as they toppled the Memphis Grizzlies. Karl had a game-high 16 points to go with four assists and three rebounds.

On the other side of the coin, OJ Mayo led the Grizzlies with 15. In his first three summer league games, Mayo is averaging 18.7 points for Memphis. The loss against the Lakers was the first loss for the Grizzlies summer league team in Vegas.

Here is the Lakers versus Grizzlies highlights:

One thing we now know for certain — OJ Mayo doesn’t lack athleticism. In Mayo’s first summer league game as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, Mayo had a tremendous dunk on the fast break. You can watch the Mayo dunk video at the end of this entry.

For the game, Mayo finished with 15 points, five assists and three steals. However, all wasn’t good for Mayo, as the guard also committed eight turnovers. All in all, it was a good start to Mayo’s summer league action.

Here are some other articles we’ve written here on HoopsFantasy on OJ Mayo:

-Mayo is ranked third best in the best fantasy rookies for 2008.
-OJ Mayo player profile.
-Mayo traded to the Grizzlies.

Here is the dunk by Mayo:

OJ Mayo is one of the most exciting players available in the 2008 NBA Draft. Mayo is a combo guard who excels at scoring. While he has the potential to buy some minutes at point guard, Mayo’s biggest strength in the NBA will likely be his ability to score the ball.

Mayo entered the college basketball season as perhaps the most highly regarded prospect in all of college basketball. But at USC Mayo struggled a bit and his draft stock began to drop. But as the season went on, Mayo’s stock began to rise once again.

Now it’s looking more and more likely that Mayo will be the third player off the board. While Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose will likely go first and second, Mayo is the clearcut leader in the race for the third pick.

As far as fantasy basketball is concerned, Mayo has the upside to be a player similar to Gilbert Arenas. Mayo should be able to score right away in the NBA and he’ll get decent enough assist numbers. The thing to worry about is how efficient he will be in his rookie year. There’s a good chance that Mayo will struggle with field goal percentage and turnovers, which could make him a risky pick in fantasy basketball in 2008.

Check out this OJ Mayo video previewing his selection in the 2008 NBA Draft:

The two top prospects in the 2008 NBA draft are Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley. Which of the two players is better? While it’s difficult to say, Derrick Rose definitely has an opinion — and it’s not what you think. Rose went on record as saying Michael Beasley is “way better” than him.

It’s nice that Rose seems to be humble but that isn’t the type of quote NBA teams — or fantasy owners — want to hear. NBA point guards have to be supremely confident in their abilities. Rose saying Beasley is “way better” doesn’t exactly exude confidence.

Early indications pointed to Rose being the first overall pick in the draft. However, now that the Chicago Bulls have hired Doug Collins, the Bulls will likely consider Beasley more now due to his ability to dominate in the halfcourt sets. Collins isn’t much for fast break basketball, which would mean drafting Rose doesn’t make as much sense.

The only other player who has a chance to be drafted first overall is OJ Mayo, however that remains a long shot.

Photo: Newscom

Since winning the NBA draft lottery, many have tried to figure out who the Chicago Bulls should draft. Should they draft Michael Beasley who is fresh off of one of the best freshman seasons in college basketball history? Should they draft Derrick Rose who could be the best point guard prospect in years? Should they draft OJ Mayo who came into the season as the top regarded player entering college basketball?

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