In the video, McGrady took the ball hard to the rim and dunked it on Thomas as he went for the block. If you’ve watched McGrady this season, you know that he hasn’t been taking the ball to the hole very much at all. He’s been relying on his perimeter jumper and as a result his field goal percentage is currently 39.2% and he’s averaging only 15.8 points per game.

In the fantasy world, McGrady has been very disappointing. Right now, he’s so injury prone and so undependable that he’s probably hurting fantasy teams more than he’s helping.

Is there hope for McGrady this season? It doesn’t look like it but his last four games should give fantasy owners hope. His numbers are much better and even his shooting percentage is respectable.

That said, McGrady isn’t a good buy low at this point. He’s too much of a risk to give up anything of quality. If he’s on your team already, you might as well keep him a while longer to see if his recent good play is a sign he’s coming back or just a mirage.

Here’s the Tracy McGrady video of his dunk on Tyrus Thomas:

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Del Negro has never coached before but he’s respected around the NBA for having a good basketball mind. He’s also regarded as a good communicator.

In the fantasy world, this is good news for the Bulls. Coming from the Suns, one would expect Del Negro to push the tempo. As a player, Del Negro was always best when he could get out on the court and run. Like Mike D’Antoni, Del Negro also has experience playing in Europe.

If the Bulls do turn into a running team under Del Negro, that will most help the athletic runners on Chicago such as Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas and Thaba Sefolosha. The Bulls are expected to take Derrick Rose with the first pick of the 2008 NBA Draft and Rose would definitely excel in an uptempo attack.

While this may be a shaky hire in terms of getting wins in the NBA, this is very good news for the fantasy basketball world.

It’s time for Vinny to put down the golf clubs and pick up the dry erase board.

Photo: Newscom

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While Collins is a good coach, this is very bad fantasy news for all the players on the Bulls. Collins coaches teams to play a slow pace – which will eliminate a lot of fantasy value from the Bulls’ offense.

Collins also isn’t known to mesh well with young players. That mix of slow tempo and bad youth management is a horrible combination for young athletes like Tyrus Thomas and the recently arrested Joakim Noah.

If the Bulls take Derrick Rose with their first overall pick, don’t expect Rose to play a lot of minutes his rookie year. Collins will try to win, like he always does, and that means banking on players with experience and winning know-how.

Perhaps the only player that this could help is Luol Deng. Deng can thrive in the half court setting and Collins will likely lean on Deng to produce on both ends of the court.

Photo: Newscom

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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.

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Tyrus Thomas, Chicago Bulls
Thomas is a player who looks great one night and then disappears for a couple of weeks. For a fantasy team, that is very dangerous. But with a new coach in Chicago, Thomas might get a shot at big minutes at some point in the second half of the season. If that happens, Thomas could go from obscurity to stud in a heartbeat.

Andray Blatche, Washington Wizards
Blatche, like Thomas, has a huge amount of natural talent and athleticism. Blatche has had stretches this season where he’s been a very nice fantasy player. However, he’s currently back onto the fringe of the rotation in Washington and won’t be valuable until he gets consistent time. Keep an eye on his minutes and pick him up if you notice an increase.

Luis Scola, Houston Rockets
Scola is an older rookie who has been going through growing pains. Be that as it may, he’s a good prospect who could be in line to see his minutes increase in the second half of the year. If he can get into the starting lineup, Scola has shown to be able to score, rebound and pass at the NBA level.

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