2006-07 Hoops overvalued and undervalued

We will compare our draft board to the "experts' draft board" that is a composite of several top draft boards in this industry:

OVERVALUED
* Baron Davis (25th at guard on our board, 19th according to the experts): His health doesn't justify as much faith as the conventional wisdom claims.
* Raymond Felton (32nd at guard on our board, 20th according to the experts): Don't buy into the hype with him excessively, although he is improving.
* Andre Miller (35th at guard on our board, 22nd according to the experts): His numbers across the board don't justify a Top 25 slot
* Sam Cassell (39th at guard on our board, 27th according to the experts): Like Miller, he's not strong in enough categories.
* Ricky Davis (40th at guard on our board, 25th according to the experts): See Miller and Cassell.
* Rasheed Wallace (23rd at forward on our board, 12th according to the experts): In the few leagues where he also has center eligibility, he's worth what the experts say -- so check where you can play him in your league.
* Charlie Villanueva (37th at forward on our board, 23rd according to the experts): The change of scenery raises questions as well as hopes.

UNDERVALUED
* Tony Parker (15th at guard on our board, 28th according to the experts): Don't sleep on his offense, and he has the best shooting percentage among guards.
* Rip Hamilton (20th at guard on our board, 29th according to the experts): Frankly, we're really not sure why he gets overlooked. His production seems fairly obvious to us.
* Raja Bell (22nd at guard on our board, not in the Top 35 according to the experts): He is the epitome of the "stat sheet filler" who gets overlooked because he is not a household name.
* Gerald Wallace (12th at guard on our board, tied for 24th according to the experts): Like Bell, but much more so. He is insanely undervalued.
* Josh Childress (20th at guard on our board, not in the Top 35 according to the experts): He doesn't score many points, but he's still not a liability because of his strength in so many categories.

Mike Vili's NFL game-by-game notes for this week

He's back! Our football analyst Mike Vili has his game-by-game notes for this weekend's NFL action. Enjoy!

Houston vs. Tennessee: Beyond starting obvious Texans fantasy players like Andre Johnson and David Carr (David Carr!!!), you may want to look at the marginal ones like Wali Lundy and even some Titans. This will have more wattage than people think.

Jacksonville vs. Philadelphia: This one has the potential for some offense, but not enough likelihood to justify too many marginal starters.

Atlanta vs. Cincinnati: Much like the Jax/Philly game, beware of relying on anything other than your certain starters -- but there is the potential for some offense here.

Tampa Bay vs. New York Giants: Although the Bucs are predictably regressing with their rook QB, this game will be a surprise shootout.

San Francisco vs. Chicago: Play a lot of Bears here. The 49'ers? Remember, they are playing against the Bear defense!

Arizona vs. Green Bay: This one is another surprise shootout.

Seattle vs. Kansas City: What a mess, with all of the injuries. Don't expect much fantasy output here.

Baltimore vs. New Orleans: This is one of those darn fantasy toss-up games. Make sure you're playing the kickers, and avoid marginal starters here.

St. Louis vs. San Diego: This game will see some scoring. Your marginal players are a must here.

Pittsburgh vs. Oakland: Yet another game this week that could see the offenses going off against all odds -- just don't count on it.

New York Jets vs. Cleveland: The Browns offense will be on the way back up with the long-overdue Mo Carthon firing, but not quite yet. This looks like another field goal battle royal.

Indianapolis vs. Denver: Offense vs. defense -- which will win out? We say defense. You have to start your Colts, but don't feel too happy about it.

Dallas vs. Carolina: The amount of offense in this game may be slightly surprising. Even with Tony Romo, the Cowboys will put up some production.

New England vs. Minnesota: This is not a game for the marginal fantasy players like Doug Gabriel.

Fantasy fun of many stripes

We've got a lot of fun coming your way on THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER on SportsTalkCleveland.com this Thursday at 8 PM EDT. By the way, our apologies to those of you, probably mainly last-minute hoops drafters, who were trying to access The Mothership today when it was down. Something was going on, I believe, with our server. We'll keep a sharp eye on those technical gremlins going forward.

Here's the agenda:

8 PM: We'll review our Congress Draft from the October 12 program and update the landscape in light of the ever-changing landscape. To do this, we'll talk to our friend Jim Kushlan, one of the two hosts of THE MORNING AFTER, STC's hugely successful morning show. The other host, we might add, is our NORTHCOAST HOCKEY TONIGHT co-host Paul Teeple.

8:20 PM: We'll recap last week's hoops mock draft, with emphasis on the more interesting moments of the event. Incidentally, our recap of the event is right here.

8:40 PM: We move on to the midseason fantasy football review, with an analysis of the Buy Low/Sell High candidates right now.

9:00 PM: NFL Week 8 game-by-game analysis with Fantasy Drafthelp football analyst Mike Vili. We'll have his notes up here on the blog by the weekend as per usual.

Fantasy football for the 7th week

I, FantasyDrafthelp.com Senior Editor Rick Morris, will be filling in for our football correspondant Mike Vili this week with the NFL game-by-game fantasy notes. Mike will be back from vacation next week and back to disseminating his analysis on THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER on SportsTalkCleveland.com (Thursdays, 8-10 PM EDT). Also, quick side note: in what pains my Cleveland upbringing greatly, I will predict Tigers in six in the World Series. Cards, prove me wrong!

Denver vs. Cleveland: This looks to be a field goal fest, with the Broncos managing their season high in points and yielding more points than they have let this season -- but mostly with production from Jason Elam and Phil Dawson.

Jacksonville vs. Houston: This looks like a mediocre fantasy matchup with few marginal fantasy players to players to recommend.

Carolina vs. Cincinnati: The matchups suggest, and the pattern of the Bengals' season suggests that the Cincinnati line-oriented woes will continue to bring the offense down this week. We beg to differ. A nice shootout awaits, with Chris Henry being a nice option among the few marginal ones here.

New England vs. Buffalo: Stay away from all but the gimmes in this game.

Pittsburgh vs. Atlanta: Both offensive efforts last week, Pittburgh's great one and Atlanta's bad one, were an exception to the rule. This looks like another field goal battle.

Philadelphia vs. Tampa Bay: The Eagles will continue rolling offensively, and justifying widespread use of their players; the Bucs will continue to be sneaky good post-Chris Simms injury.

Detroit vs. New York Jets: Jones, Coles, and that's about it.

Green Bay vs. Miami: This isn't the turnaround fantasy game either offense needs. Beware.

San Diego vs. Kansas City: The Charger WRs still aren't worth playing, and on balance this is another sub-par fantasy game. Seems to be a lot of them this week, eh?

Minnesota vs. Seattle: Mo Morris won't turn his season around here, but other marginal fantasy options like new Seahawk Deion Branch will be good plays.

Arizona vs. Oakland: Randy Moss is as close to a fantasy star benching recommendation as we ever get, but we're not 100% of the way there yet. Notwithstanding the crushing loss Monday nght, the Cardinal offense will continue to progress strongly under Matt Leinart.

Washington vs. Indianapolis: Shootout!

New York Giants vs. Dallas: Two excellent fantasy offenses will turn it on Monday night. There are few marginal starters like Marion Barber, but they are worthwhile options.

Hoops Draft!

One of the biggest shows of the year, certainly in terms of audience size -- it's our 3rd annual hoops mock draft on SportsTalkCleveland.com and we're coming your way at a special start time of 6 PM EDT Thursday, October 19. Our draft board is updated and can be found here. Here's the night's agenda:

6 PM: Our hoops mock draft gets underway.
8:40 PM: Hoops draft quick recap -- full recap coming on FantasyDrafthelp.com this weekend.
8:50 PM: Quick fantasy baseball notes; believe it or not, we've got a very early sneak preview of 2007!
9:00 PM: NFL Week 7 game-by-game fantasy preview with notes from our football analyst Mike Vili.

It's a special four-hour fantasy extravaganza Thursday night on THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER -- belly up to the bar and chow down!

Week 6 NFL preview with Mike Vili

Mike Vili's notes are back, courtesy of THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER on SportsTalkCleveland.com, which airs Thursdays from 8-10 PM (EDT). Here's his game-by-game preview of NFL Week 6:

Cincinnati vs. Tampa Bay: We don't have to tell you to start Bengals -- ever -- but this may be a good game for even your marginal Bucs like Michael Clayton and maybe even Bruce Gradkowski, if you're in a bye-week bind at QB.

Washington vs. Tennessee: Which Skins' squad will show up? You'd be a fool to count on a great outburst from them given their up-and-down play and the Titans' better-than-expected showing against the Colts last week. Notwithstanding Travis Henry's effort in that game, there's not a Tennessee player that you are going to want to start.

Houston vs. Dallas: The would-be Battle of Texas will be a shootout, meaning that you throw your marginal starters in, such as Eric Moulds and Drew Bledsoe.

Buffalo vs. Detroit: Offensive mediocrity on parade. Play your obvious starters and leave it at that.

Seattle vs. St. Louis: This game won't feature many fireworks. Beware your marginal starters, such as Isaac Bruce and Maurice Morris.

New York Giants vs. Atlanta: Both teams come in off of rough fantasy efforts, and that pattern will continue for both. This certainly isn't the week to begin putting your faith in the feeble Falcon receiving corps.

Philadelphia vs. New Orleans: In this shootout, the Eagle offense should withstand the loss of Donte Stallworth and the banged-up status of Brian Westbrook. And in news we broke on our show on Thursday night, keep an eye on the status in your league of Marques Colston now that he has been granted tight end eligibility by Yahoo.

Carolina vs. Baltimore: Quite simply, this is the weekly Kicker Bowl.

Miami vs. New York Jets: Much uncertainty about which versions of each offenses will materialize here. Caution should be the theme here with your marginal starters.

San Diego vs. San Francisco: NoCal vs. SoCal won't be very compelling from a fantasy perspective, as the 49'ers in particular get completely shut down.

Kansas City vs. Pittsburgh: On paper, this looks like a relatively low-scoring game, and you should probably approach it as such, but it could become a bit more wide-0pen than that. Traditional starters should be your only plays here.

Oakland vs. Denver: In what will be NBC's worst prime-time game of the year, Denver's offense will gather itself enough to make the Bell Boys and Rod Smith worthwhile.

Chicago vs. Arizona: This game will be closer to the vest than many would think. Think long and hard before deploying your marginal starters here (i.e. Thomas Jones, Cedric Benson, Bryant Johnson).

Congress draft? Say what?

It's true, it's true. THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER moves to uncharted territory tomorrow evening with the first ever fantasy Congressional election draft version of our show. Tune in on SportsTalkCleveland.com at 8 PM EDT.

Here's the lineup for tomorrow's program:

8 PM: The Congressional fantasy draft ensues -- draft board and league guidelines here.

8:45 PM: We preview next week's huge NBA mock draft on the show -- remember that we have a starting time of 6 PM EDT next week for that special show.

8:55 PM: We break down NFL Week 6 with notes from FantasyDrafthelp.com football correspondant Mike Vili.

One additional note to be covered on the show Thursday night: we are happy to announce that SportsTalkCleveland.com staffer Mike Ptak, from the world-famous PRO WRESTLING INSIDER program (Tuesdays, 7-9 PM EDT), is joining us as our NASCAR correspondant. We'll be hearing from him on the program in the weeks and months to come.

Week 5 football insights from Mike Vili

Our football correspondant Mike Vili brings you his Week Five NFL notes -- as usual, to hear Mike's breakdowns, and those of our staff as well, tune in to THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER, Thursday nights from 8-10 PM EDT on SportsTalkCleveland.com.

Tennessee-Indianapolis: Not much to say that is not blatantly obvious here. Titans players will be toxic plays for quite awhile as the Vince Young era gets underway under difficult circumstances.

Washington-New York Giants: Go all in with your Redskins and Giants players, including the more marginal ones like Amani Toomer.

Detroit-Minnesota: No marginal starters (like Kevin Jones) are worthwhile plays here.

Tampa Bay-New Orleans: Remember what we've said previously, that sometimes games missing a key player can be higher-scoring than people think they will be (i.e. Big Ben misses the Pittsburgh-Miami shootout Week One). This is not to say that the Bucs won't suffer without Chris Simms, but maybe just a tad less than everyone thinks.

St. Louis-Green Bay: Another all-in game, with players like Greg Jennings seeing more production with less Packer offensive players healthy and the Rams rolling again.

Miami-New England: A huge toss-up game, with the Pats having been up and down and the Fish having been very disappointing to date. It's difficult to recommend too many players here.

Buffalo-Chicago: Surprisingly, this will be more of a shootout than people think -- and yes, we're telling you to play your marginal Bills against the Bears D. Clip and save!

Cleveland-Carolina: Although the Browns O has shown signs of life and the Panthers are getting it together at last, this will be the field goal bonanza of the week. Plan accordingly.

New York Jets-Jacksonville: Another toss-up game, with the likelihood pointing toward a fairly defensive battle and few good fantasy options here.

Kansas City-Arizona: With the Chiefs going off out of nowhere last week and the Cards making the move to Matt Leinart, this is a rare game with both teams in a huge state of transition. The Arizona offense will be better than people think quicker than people think with Leinart at the helm, so by all means don't make the rookie mistake of benching your automatic starters.

Oakland-San Francisco: Here's another "more scoring than you'd think" game. We hope you weren't rash enough to cut Randy Moss, big mouth or no big mouth.

Dallas-Philadelphia: Even if all Philly fantasy players were healthy, this was not shaping up as a shootout. We don't recommend any players other than the automatic ones here.

Pittsburgh-San Diego: The defenses will reign here -- don't go beyond the obvious starters here.

Baltimore-Denver: Neither team will go off offensively, but we're more comfortable with Bronco performers than the Raven ones.

Another unique Thursday show -- but aren't they all?

We've got a really different twist on fantasy sports coming this Thursday from 8-10 PM EDT on THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER on SportsTalkCleveland -- a bowling draft!

8 PM: We hold the first Professional Bowlers Association draft you will find on any broadcast anywhere! Draft board and details of how to draft here.

8:35 PM: Additional details on our earthshattering fantasy MMA announcement from last week's program.

8:40 PM: A preview of next week's most improbable draft yet: our 2006 Fantasy Congress draft! No Mark Foley jokes about fantasies please; those are played out by now, aren't they?

8:45 PM: How did our forecasts about "greenies" testing in baseball turn out this year? We forecast rises in strikeouts and (conspiracy theory) home runs. We were right about both -- but in a manner even WE found surprising. Details to come here.

8:55 PM: Our game-by-game preview of NFL Week Five with our football correspondant Mike Vili. As usual, we'll have his observations about each game right here on the blog this weekend.

2006 MLB playoff predictions

Our preseason pick was Mets over As in the World Series in 7. Will it change now? Read on ...

ALDS
Yankees over Tigers in 3
As over Twins in 4

NLDS
Mets over Dodgers in 5
Cardinals over Padres in 4

ALCS
As over Yankees in 6
Mets over Cardinals in 5

World Series
Mets over As in 6

So we're not adhering COMPLETELY to the prediction.