Basketball Comes to IFS!

As you may have seen in our email announcement, we launched our weekly basketball contests this week at Instant Fantasy Sports. We want to use this post to take a look at some of the players who are leading the league using our scoring system so far. Okay, if you're a fantasy basketball fan, you know that guys like Kobe, LeBron, Yao, and Garnett are always going to be top picks if healthy. None of those guys have disappointed yet this year.

Some guys you might not expect are hanging around the tops of the rankings, though. One is Carlos Boozer. His huge point and rebound averages make him a monster in our format. Another big guy to consider is Dwight Howard, who brings the points and boards like Boozer, but adds 2+ blocks per game. Remember, each block is worth 3 points at Instant Fantasy Sports. There are also two guards lighting it up: Chris Paul and Baron Davis. Paul has already established himself as an elite PG in the league and you can count on him for big points and assists every night. Baron is always an injury risk, but seems to be healthy and the focal point of his team's offense so far. Then there's a guy who savvy fantasy players have been drooling over for a little while now: Josh Smith. J-Smoove is one of those rare players who brings production across the board in every category. He's a little banged up right now, so you might want to lay off of him until he's back healthy, but a healthy Josh Smith is a guy I want on my fantasy team any day of the week.

As for football, we think you should check out two RBs this week that we don't normally recommend. Clinton Portis and Chester Taylor. Don't pick these guys over the every week studs, but if you have room at the back of your lineup, we like them as potential big producers this week.

Let us know how you like those basketball contests if you play some this week. We'll be adding daily basketball leagues shortly.

Week 10

It's week 10. And here's what you need to know about week 10 at Instant Fantasy Sports. The Patriots are on bye. The top two overall scorers, Brady and Moss, are out for your drafts this week. This should make for some interesting picks. With these guys not playing, who is the #1 pick this week? Here are some candidates:

- Westbrook - hard to argue with a RB who caught 14 balls for 90 yards last week, in addition to his rushes.
- Addai - The main cog in the powerful Colts offense. Could be a shootout in San Diego this week. Another guy who catches a lot of dump-offs out of the backfield.
- Tomlinson - Do we need to explain why LT is a good pick?
- Peterson - Dude broke the all-time record for rushing yards in a game, as you all know. He's basically the Vikes whole offense at this point.
- Owens - With Moss out, TO becomes a top option at WR.
- Wayne - The injury to Marvin Harrison has vaulted Reggie Wayne into elite status. If Harrison doesn't play or if he's limited, Wayne could have a huge game.

We don't think guys at any other positions are legit #1 options this week. Gates, always a favorite of this blog, put up a real stinker last week. Do you think you might pick someone else if you got the first overall selection this week? Leave us a comment and let us know.