Clan-Members » enrys initial appeal when Marsh clubbed th

Before we dig too deep into things, let me lead by saying this -- if you prefer Russell Westbrook over James Harden?for your fantasy basketball team, take him. Dont think twice.Nobody is going to laugh at you and question the pick. In fact, theres a good chance many will agree with it. Jim McCormick made a strong case for drafting Westbrook first, and he even found a way to weave the great Oscar Robertson into the story to support his case.Its true -- Westbrook is a triple-double waiting to happen just about every time he steps on the floor. Hes a better rebounder than Harden, he gets more assists than the Rockets star and, without Kevin Durant around to shoot 19-20 times a game, its a foregone conclusion that Westbrooks scoring will skyrocket from the 23.5 PPG he averaged last season.To be completely honest, I was firmly on the Westbrook bandwagon not too long ago as well.So what changed?While I still see Westbrook and Harden as the clear top two picks in fantasy hoops this season, all it took was an explanation from new Houston Rockets coach Mike DAntoni for me to re-evaluate my stance. DAntoni, as you know by now, announced early in Rockets training camp that Harden would move to point guard this season.Hes more or less responsible giving rhythm to the team, thats what a point guard does, DAntoni told reporters late last month. Hes going to be on the ball, and hes going to be distributing the ball, and it will take some adjusting. Hes got a lot more responsibilities as a point guard. A playcaller, a good basketball mind, hes already telling guys we can do this, we can do that.This is meaningful for the following reasons:It closes the assist gapNaturally, Harden running the point means theres a good chance his assist numbers are going to bump up from the 7.5 APG he posted last season. Already, were seeing a change in his role during the preseason; he dished out 10 helpers in his first exhibition game and followed that up 11, 15, and 8 in his next 3 contests.As mentioned above, this was one of the main areas where Westbrook (10.4 APG) had a big advantage over Harden last season, dishing out 2.9 more assists per game. You can see the players stats in the chart below:Fast-forward to today, and suddenly its not unreasonable to envision that gap closing entirely with Harden taking on more of a distributor role and Westbrook losing a future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer on the receiving end of his passes.They are trending in opposite directions as far as assists go, and it wouldnt be surprising if both ended up averaging right around 9 APG this season.DAntoni widens Hardens advantage from 3-point landWithout a big assist advantage to hang his stylish hat on, Westbrook is only noticeably better than Harden in one category -- rebounding -- which happens to be the easiest to address on the waiver wire. Experienced fantasy hoops players know how simple it is to stream bigs in and out of the lineup to win the rebound category.The same cant be said of 3-point shooters. They are not a dime a dozen -- at least not the good ones.Sure, as McCormick mentioned in his story, you can always hit the waiver wire to find a 3-point specialist or two if you draft Westbrook over Harden, but too often those specialists come at a cost. Why? Because theyre a complete non-factor in all the other categories aside from scoring.Wouldnt you know it, this also happens to be the one category where Harden has a huge advantage over Westbrook.Harden made 2.9 3-pointers per game last season to Westbrooks 1.3, and that was before DAntoni arrived. This season, you can expect that discrepancy to grow. Harden will have the perpetual green light from long range under DAntoni and almost surely take and make more 3s than last season. The same cant be said of Westbrook, who has never made more than 1.5 3-pointers per game in any of his eight NBA seasons. Thats one part of his game thats unlikely to change with Durant gone.Any way you slice it, Harden is a much bigger 3-point threat than Westbrook.Harden is now eligible at PG and SGSo the biggest advantage Westbrook previously had over Harden -- dishing out assists -- probably is reduced, and Hardens biggest previous advantage -- making 3-pointers -- is probably even more extreme. Unbelievably, neither of these may matter as much as the fact that Harden is now draftable at both shooting guard and point guard.Value-wise, this gives Harden a huge boost over Westbrook, who is only point guard-eligible at ESPN and most other prominent fantasy sites. As Ive been saying since the start of September, its important to draft a top-level point guard early in drafts this year due to a huge talent drop-off at the position from pick 30 to pick 50, and now drafting Harden makes that possible.What Hardens dual eligibility does is take the edge off during the draft process. If you draft him, you can always look for another point guard in rounds two or three and utilize Harden at the SG spot. You could also be in range for someone like Chicago SG Jimmy Butler in the second round, which would then allow you to use Harden as your primary PG.The point is, having a quality point guard and still managing to find a good shooting guard isnt easy this year, with shooting guard again being one of the thinnest positions, and drafting Harden provides flexibility you simply cannot get by selecting Westbrook.Think of the flip side. If you draft Westbrook, you still have to find a shooting guard and someone -- shooting guard or not -- who can make up for Westbrooks lack of 3s.Its a close call, but the more I look at it, the more I prefer Harden -- who missed only one game over the past two seasons compared to 17 by Westbrook -- as my choice for the No. 1 pick. David Montgomery Jersey Large . The 26-year-old Ireland striker, who has four goals this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with his new club. Custom Bears T-shirts . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. http://www.custombearsjersey.com/ . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. Custom David Montgomery Jersey . He just needed to be his best twisting, turning acrobatic self. "I didnt need to be anybody else, I just needed to be myself and be aggressive," said Burks, who scored a career-high 34 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Authentic Custom Bears Jersey . -- Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings were back at practice for the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday despite being hampered by hamstring injuries.Australias Mitchell Marsh was given out caught and bowled off his boot against New Zealand during the third ODI - but only after the big screen came into play... Matt Henrys initial appeal when Marsh clubbed the ball into his toe and back into the bowlers hands was quickly turned down by the umpires.But after a replay clearly showing Marsh was out appeared on the big screen at Seddon Park - and the home fans booed - Ian Gould and Derek Walker went to the TV umpire, with Marsh subsequently given his marching orders. Marsh vents his frustration after being given out Refleccting on the incident, Australia captain Steve Smith said: It wasnt until we saw something on the big screen that the decision went upstairs, so I was a bit disappointed about that.ddddddddddddHe was out, there was no doubt about that, but if I get hit on the pad next time and its missing leg, do I stand there and wait until its going to show that on the big screen? New Zealand went on to win the match by 55 runs to take the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series 2-1 - but will they win the two-Test series against Australia? Find out from 9.25pm, Thursday, Sky Sports 3. Also See: McCullum bows out with win Third ODI scorecard As it happened Live cricket on Sky ' ' '