TOP 5 NBA NEWSMAKERS FROM FRIDAY 5/7/10 TO TUESDAY 5/11/10

We have many great articles planned leading up to the 2010-2011 Fantasy Basketball season including sleepers, busts, rookies, strategy, full player rankings and projections all wrapped up into a nifty draft kit to help you win your league next year. Below, we analyze the top fantasy basketball news items from the previous week.

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5. Arenas, Gilbert G WAS returned home

After the whole stupid gun episode, Arenas served his halfway house time and now basically goes back to life as usual. I'm all about discounts on Draft Day, and after years of injury problems and then last season's legal problems, you can't find a more talented playercoming at a bigger discount than Arenas. It depends on the league scoring/roster structure and size, but I'm buying Arenas where appropriate for 2010-11.

4. Beaubois, Rodrigue G DAL is in for a bigger role

Beaubois had his ups and downs in his rookie season. He had enough ups for Mavs owner Mark Cuban to call him out, apparently. The Dallas Morning News reports that Cuban said, "I expect him to be an All-Star if he works hard. If he works hard and improves at all this summer, which will give us a great indication of if Roddy is who we think he is, somebody who is really willing to work at Dirk's level to improve his game, if he does that this summer, and he improves his game like that, he definitely will be a starter. If he doesn't, than we would be disappointed." So consider him a sleeper next season.

3. Ilyasova, Ersan F MIL had a break-out 2009-10 season

He'll play 25 games for the Turkish National team this summer. He's only 22, so he should be able to handle the extra wear and tear, and the extra experience can only help him improve even more for the upcoming NBA season. He's one to target late in fantasy drafts this fall.

2. Gallinari, Danilo SF NY will not play this summer

He'll take a break from the Italian national team. This is a good thing for Danilo, who has struggled with a bad back in recent years but actually managed to play 81 games for the Knicks last season. He averaged 15.1 points last season and could even improve upon that in 2010-11. Target him late in fantasy drafts for scoring and threes (he drained 186 in 2009-10).

1. Azubuike, Kelenna SF re-signed with GS

It's pretty crowded in GS, with Ellis and Curry established in the backcourt and Watson and Maggette also vying for time at SG/SF. Still, Azubuike is an effective player who should put up decent enough numbers to at least be considered when filling out fantasy reserve slots in deeper leagues. He'll come at a discount after missing most of last season.

ALSO

Ricky Rubio PG MIN led his FC Barcelona team to a European title. If you can sit on him in a dynasty league, then definitely do so. He'll be a star in the NBA at some point. We just don't know exactly when.

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