Josh Smith is one of the most athletic players in the NBA and he proved that once again with this vicious dunk over Steve Nash. Although Smith’s Atlanta Hawks ended up losing the game, this dunk alone made it a memorable night.

Nash and the Phoenix Suns were able to win thanks to a strong second half. Amare Stoudemire led the way with 23 points, while Nash chipped in with 14 points and 13 assists. Smith was the high scorer and high rebounder for the Hawks, finishing with 19 and 12, respectively.

After being slowed a bit by injury to begin the season, Smith has been very good in January. For the month, he’s averaging 19.7 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting better than 55% from the field.

Here is the video of the Josh Smith dunk over Steve Nash:

Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
Although Steve Nash got off to a slow start after the departure of Mike D’Antoni, he’s starting to find his old self. In the month of January, he’s leading the NBA in assists — averaging more than 11 per game. Expect him to continue to play at a high level for the rest of the season.

Deron Williams, Utah Jazz
Early in the season, Deron Williams missed time due to an ankle injury. Even when he got back on the court, he wasn’t playing that well. But now he seems like he’s close to 100% and he’s back to be a very good fantasy option. His assists per game is up over 10 for the month of January.

Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets
For a player who is averaging 11 assists on the season, it’s no surprise that he’s one of the best passers in the month of January. That said, his assists per game this month is slightly under 10, which means he’s in a slump, relatively of course.

Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics
For those who drafted Rajon Rondo, they have to be pleasantly surprised by the number of assists he’s averaging this season. In January alone, he’s averaging 8.8 assists per game. Combine that with his shooting percentage, rebounds and steals and Rondo is a very solid fantasy contributor.

With Mike D’Antoni at the helm, many fantasy basketball owners are looking at the New York Knicks for fantasy production. The most difficult part is to figure out where the fantasy production will come from.

First of all, Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph both appear to be safe bets. Crawford has been very consistent over the last few years and should put up similar stats this year. Don’t expect to see a big jump in his production because although he has a green light this year, he’s always had a green light. Randolph, on the other hand, should see his production rise — due partly to D’Antoni and partly to Eddy Curry being out of the way.

At power forward, David Lee and Wilson Chandler are both interesting options. Lee is a player who can give you ten points and close to ten rebounds a night. He also shoots for a high percentage and does little to hurt a fantasy basketball team. Chandler, however, has the higher fantasy ceiling as he’s a multidimensional player who could really thrive in D’Antoni’s system.

Other players to keep an eye on are Nate Robinson, Chris Duhon and Quentin Richardson. Robinson could see his scoring numbers improve as he’s playing a lot of minutes off the ball this year. Duhon is the Knicks’ version of Steve Nash, although he’s not going to give you nearly the production. Still, Duhon is a solid fantasy option who should explode for a few big games this season. QRich, if he can get in shape and stay healthy, could produce a lot of three-pointers — just like he did previously under D’Antoni when both were with the Suns.

Shawn Marion, Miami Heat
Although Shawn Marion is usually one of the safer bets in all of fantasy basketball, his situation just isn’t as great as usual this year. He no longer has Steve Nash helping him out and is instead in a lame duck type situation with the Heat due to his expiring contract. Not only that, the Heat have a lot of players that could get time at the forward positions including Michael Beasley, Udonis Haslem, James Jones, Dorell Wright and Yakhouba Diawara.

Carlos Boozer, Utah Jazz
Before you look at his stats and conclude that he had a good season last year, don’t forget to look at his playoff statistics. With the Jazz trying to make a run in the Western Conference, Boozer was oftentimes the team’s weakest link. He’ll likely bounce back but he showed a lot of vulnerability during the 2008 playoffs.

Antawn Jamison, Washington Wizards
Early in preseason play Antawn Jamison went down with a knee injury. While he should be okay for the regular season opener, he’ll likely be slowed for a few more weeks. Additionally, Jamison is getting to the age where his stats should start to decline. Some of his stats from last year, such as his rebounding numbers, will likely be on the decline this year.

Rasheed Wallace, Detroit Pistons
Rasheed Wallace has a lot of minor aspects that could make him a fantasy basketball bust in 2008. First of all, the newly 34-year-old Wallace should start to see some of his physical skills decline soon. The Pistons are also interested in playing some of their young bigmen more such as Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell. Plus don’t forget that Joe Dumars is said to be thinking about breaking up the nucleus of the Pistons, which would most likely have a negative effect on Rasheed.

Check out this interesting video of Baron Davis and Steve Nash. I haven’t quite figured out the purpose of the video, other than to pimp iBeatYou.com.

You gotta hand it to Steve Nash though because he can dance. If that whole basketball thing doesn’t end up working out, he may have found a second career.

Here is the Step Brothers video of Baron Davis and Steve Nash:

First Shaq dissed Kobe in a freestyle rap, now Kobe gets his revenge in this video. Watch the video to see Shaq try to jump an Escalade.

Will Shaq be able to jump over the Escalade? Will Steve Nash help out his new Phoenix Suns teammate? Where does Kobe come into play?

You can only find those answers by watching this video:

Chris Duhon, formerly of the Chicago Bulls, has signed a free agent deal with the New York Knicks. Reports indicate that the value of the contract is $12M over two years.

While Duhon was only a spot starter in Chicago, he could become the opening night starter at point guard for the Knicks. With new coach Mike D’Antoni in charge, the Knicks needed a pass-first point guard who can distribute the ball. Enter Duhon.

While Duhon isn’t much of a scorer, he is a good passer. He makes smart passes and doesn’t try to force the issue too much. When it comes to scoring, Duhon relies on three-pointers and catch-and-shoot jumpers.

Although Duhon fantasy basketball stock won’t be overly high heading into the 2008-09 season, he definitely is a sleeper. D’Antoni helped Steve Nash turn into a Hall of Fame point guard. While Duhon doesn’t have that sort of potential, he could turn into a player who averages around ten points, eight assists and a good amount of steals and three-pointers.

Can Mike D’Antoni work his point guard magic with Chris Duhon?

Photo: Newscom

Terry Porter will be named the new head coach of the Phoenix Suns. Porter will replace Mike D’Antoni who left to become the head coach of the New York Knicks. This will be Porter’s second head coaching job. He coached he previously coached the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons.

Porter has long be a favorite of Suns general manager Steve Kerr. The two became close when they played for the San Antonio Spurs. The two have remained friend throughout the years.

With Porter as the new head coach, it’s difficult to assess how this will affect the Suns’ style of play. D’Antoni ran a run-and-gun system that relied on scoring more than defense. Porter will undoubtedly stress defense more than D’Antoni did.

However, Porter as a former point guard will likely let Steve Nash keep running the show offensively. Porter was a free-wheeling point guard himself so it’s unlikely that he’ll place too many restrictions on what Nash can and can’t do. The biggest difference for Nash is that Porter will likely require him to play more defense.

The two players who could be in for the biggest change next season are Amare Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa. D’Antoni let Stoudemire and Barbosa make mistake after mistake defensively. Porter won’t give the same leeway.

Overall, this was a good hire for the Suns. Porter is a respected coach who has paid his dues — most recently as an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons.

Photo: Newscom

If the Chicago Bulls were to hire Mike D’Antoni as their head coach, how would that affect the fantasy basketball world? The short answer is that wherever D’Antoni ends up, expect the players on his new team to become very good fantasy basketball players.

While D’Antoni’s days with the Phoenix Suns appear to be numbered, there are a number of teams that are interested in him. The team that reportedly has the most interest is the Bulls, however the New York Knicks are also said to be interested.

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

Mike D’Antoni of the Phoenix Suns has reportedly coached his final game for the Suns. On Tuesday night, D’Antoni and the Suns were eliminated from the 2008 NBA playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs after losing Game 5 92-87.

If the reports are true and D’Antoni is let go, there could be major changes in store for the Suns. With fantasy basketball in mind, this could be devastating news for players on the Suns. D’Antoni’s free flowing offensive sets allowed the Suns to have some of the best fantasy players in the game over the last few years.

Steve Nash particularly will undoubtedly suffer from the loss of D’Antoni. Nash thrived under D’Antoni, winning two MVP awards and cementing his legacy as a Hall of Fame player. If a defensive oriented coach comes on board, Nash’s offensive production could be severely hurt and he could see his minutes reduced.

The only player on the Suns who likely won’t be affected much is Amare Stoudemire. Stoudemire will likely continue to get many offensive touches. If anything, Stoudemire’s rebounding and shot blocking could increase under a new management.

However, everyone else – from Nash to Raja Bell to Boris Diaw to Shaquille O’Neal to Leandro Barbosa – will need to be reevaluated for the 2008-09 fantasy basketball season.

Photo: Newscom