1/9 Roster Highlights
By: 2K Insider | Wednesday January 07 2009
Latest News - Carmelo Anthony will miss the next month or so with a fractured hand, so look for Linas Kleiza and J.R. Smith to pick up the scoring slack. Obviously they can't replace what Melo brings to the team, but at least they have a veteran point guard like Chauncey Billups to help stabilize them. Luke Walton was starting for the Lakers until he injured his foot. Although Vladimir Radmanovic takes his starting spot, it's Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom who will be leaned on more by Phil Jackson. Ariza is a Laker fan favorite with his hustle, defense and athleticism. Jordan Farmar will miss about 8 weeks due to a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. Starting centers Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Darko Milicic are out for their respective teams. Anderson Varejao steps in for Big Z while Marc Gasol reclaims a starting spot in Memphis. The Clipper injury bug has hit Baron Davis and Zach Randolph, in addition to Chris Kaman. Their disappointing season continues its downward spiral. Mickael Pietrus is once again out of the Magic rotation with a fracture in his right wrist. Both Jermaine O'Neal [sore knee] and Jose Calderon [strained hamstring] are day to day for the Raptors. Returning from injury recently are Kevin Martin and Corey Maggette. Kevin Martin has been on fire in the last 5 games since missing the previous 10, averaging a cool 30 ppg. Maggette returned to the Warriors after missing 15 games with a bad hamstring. Nenad Krstic is back in the NBA, this time with the Thunder after the Nets declined to match their offer. As a result, Steven Hill was waived to make room for Krstic. Others who were waived recently include Darius Miles, Shaun Livingston, Dee Brown, Austin Croshere, Paul Davis, and DeMarcus Nelson.

Biggest Movers - Second year guard, Rodney Stuckey, has played so well lately that the NBA named him the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. He averaged 23.0 points, 5.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds as the Pistons went 4-0 for the week and 13-3 with Stuckey as a starter. Boris Diaw is playing like he did in 2005-06 when he won the Most Improved Player award. He is filling the stat sheet as the starting power forward for Charlotte, who have gone 6-6 with Diaw in the lineup. Delonte West is providing Cleveland with 3pt shooting and pressing defense as their starting 2 guard. He, along with Mo Williams, are stretching opposing defenses so that LeBron James can operate. Jarrett Jack has found a home in Indiana and won the starting point guard position. It's probably no coincidence that this is a contract year for Jack, which probably has his agent smiling. Daequan Cook has provided the Miami Heat with accurate 3pt shooting off the bench. It remains to be seen what Cook's role will be once James Jones returns to the lineup, but for now Daequan is knocking them down from deep. Rashard Lewis had a cold November, shooting 0.409 from the field, but his FG% in December was up to 0.474. He's a tough cover playing power forward because he can knock down the 3 if you sag off him and blow by slower bigs if they crowd him. Brook Lopez has made the Nets look good for taking him with the 10th overall pick in last year's draft. He has provided New Jersey with strong rebounding, good shot blocking and solid scoring down low. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of Jamaal Magloire, who has looked lethargic in limited minutes for the Heat. This was supposed to be a perfect fit for Miami, who could not afford to sign a proven center. It looks like they got what they paid for.

2K Insider, Jason Thompson is now the starter at PF for the KINGS, thanx again for the update.

Lamarcus Alridge needs a boost in the mid range shooting 78 is not cutting his jump shooting skill.

Just wondering when you, "insider," are going to adjust the spurs point guard ratings accordingly. I was under the impression that when a player is "hot" that it would be reflected in the in game ratings. I mean come on, as soon as lebron and t-mac's free throw percentages increased you were quick to raise their ratings (t-mac from 68 to 80 and lebron from 71 to 78), and parker's shooting 81% from the line and there has been no increase in his rating. Another thing, ginobili's good but there is no way his lay-up rating is a 92 and parker's only an 89. You even have carmelo, gerald wallace and corey maggette rated higher than parker (melo 91, maggette and wallace 93) so am i to believe two small forwards are better and more creative at lay-ups than the games top finishing point guard at the rim (if not the best than definitely top 2 or 3). C'mon derrick rose has a 99 rating and parker torched him into a highlight reel...watch the game or at least highlights insider!!!!

And then there's tim duncan's low post rating at 88??? The best pf to ever play the game and you guys give him an 88??? you know who else has an 88 rating??? zydrunas ilgauskas!!! are you guys serious? you actually think duncan is only as good in the post as ilgauskas?!? that is the most absurd bs ive ever heard, all the while players like dirk nowitzki and pau gasol have a 93 and 94 rating. Dirk doesn't even play down in the low block, majority of his shots are from the mid-range, and you can't make the argument that duncan doesn't post up as much as he used to (even though every time he catches a ball it's off the low block) because neither does garnett, likes to take the mid-range shot as well, and he has a 93 rating. Last time i checked duncan was still putting up 20 a game (second behind parker's 21) and he can't even gain the respect from you guys at 2k to bless him with an offensive game that parallels that of gasol even though gasol's averaging only 17 a gm?!?

Q. Rich have a good season and after return Gallinari, Knicks won three in a row for the first time since early November.