NBA All-Star Weekend

Tonight is the last night of NBA basketball before the 2012 NBA All-Star weekend in Orlando. Here is a run down of the All Star festivities...

The Rising Stars Game, Friday February 24th:

Features Rookies and Sophomores including Blake Griffin, Jeremy Lin and Ricky Rubio. The two teams will be coached by Shaq and Charles Barkley.

All Star Saturday Night (February 25th):

This includes the shooting stars competition, skills competition, 3-point Contest and the Slam Dunk Contest. Kevin Durant was just added to the 3-point contest yesterday. Russell Westbrook with be in the skills competition. The Dunk contest will feature guys you've never heard of so I wont put you to sleep typing their names. In my opinion the dunk contest needs to go away or get the true NBA stars to participate in it.

All-Star Game (February 26th):

The All-Star game(tip-off at 6:30p.m.) includes the best basketball players on the planet. Defense is very optional in the game but it is an All-Star game so it is for the fans. The ASG is always a good time and Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, and Lebron just to name a few will be there.

Enjoy your All-Star Weekend everyone!

Injury Update

Since the Rest of the World is talking about LINsanity, I will too! Here is a video of the rising star. Enjoy! If you don't know his story click here.

INJURIES

Anderson Varejao (Cavs)

Broke his wrist last week and still no timetable has been set for his return. Experts are saying around a month or longer. This is a big loss for fantasy owners.

Gerald Henderson (Bobcats)

Set to return in exactly two weeks from his strained hamstring on Friday at Toronto. Henderson was averaging 15 points per game. If you need some points he is a guy to look to pick-up

Zach Randolph (Grizzlies)

It's looking like he could return aHead of schedule in early March from his knee injury. Good news for Fantasy players, if he is available go grab him NOW.

J.R. Smith (Unknown)

Smith finally finished out the season in China and is now looking for a home in the NBA. The frontrunners for J.R. are the Knicks and Clippers. I still don't rule out the Lakers. He is a guy who will put up big fantasy numbers so you might look to add him.

Class Speaker

On Tuesday we had a special guest in class, Kurt Hochenauer. He runs the blog okiefunk.com. One thing I really took away from him was that write about something you have a passion for. My passion is sports so, of course, I am writing about one of my passions. He also mentioned you cant blog too much. I post a couple times a week and my posts aren't text heavy so I'm sure my readership won't go down with a couple posts a week.

Dr. Hochenauer did a very good job speaking and is very insightful about blogs.

Future Stars in Baseball

Keith Law came out with his yearly Top 100 Prospects of 2012 this week. You have to be an ESPN Insider to read it but the top three players are..

#1 Mike Trout (LAA)

Trout got the call-up last year and played well. He has a ton of power and one of the fastest guys in the majors. If you are in a Baseball Keeper League, you might look at him this year.

#2 Bryce Harper (Was)

Some people believe Harper will make the Nationals opening day roster. If he does watch out because he has a big time upside. Hopefully Bryce isn't as cocky as he was in Minor League ball because if he is he will have some sore ribs..

#3 Matt Moore (TB)

Moore pitched for the Rays in the Playoffs last year and beat the Yankees and will be starting with the Rays this year. He is defiantly worth a pick-up in all baseball formats this year.

Pick-Ups for the Week

Monday, February 6th, was a rough day for fantasy owners and players in the NBA. Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Danilo Gallinari and Derrick Rose all got hurt or left the game due to injury.

Carmelo Anthony:

Hurt his groin and is said to be out 1-2 weeks.

Chauncey Billups:

Left Monday's game with an Achilles injury. Billups will take some tests today(Feb.6th).

Danilo Gallinari:

Has what doctors are calling a chip fracture in his foot. George Hill had the same type of injury and missed 3-4 weeks.

Derrick Rose:

Left Monday's game with a back injury but I would consider him day-to-day.

HOT Pick-Ups of the Week:

Jeremy Lin (Knicks):

Lin got his first start in the NBA on Monday and had 28 points and 8 assists. With Amare dealing with the death of his brother and Melo out for a week or two, I think Lin is a must pick-up. Lin is owned in 48% of ESPN Leagues and 51% of Yahoo! Leagues. If he has another good game wednesday against the Wizards he will be owned in around 80% of leagues so get him while you can.

Chris Kaman (Hornets):

After being on the trading block for a couple weeks, the Hornets have decided to keep their back-up center. On Monday, Kaman responded with a double-double. Kaman is a guy to keep an eye on with several Hornets being injured.