his role as a competitor in the Games ended, came pretty quickly. Processing an | Forum

                                      Minutes are the coin of the realm in fantasy basketball. Emmitt Smith Cowboys Jersey . Just as we crave snaps, targets and touches for our fantasy football assets, when assessing fantasy value on the hardwood, we look for opportunity in the form of minutes, the most important factor when it comes to the potential for statistical success.While most NBA teams have identified their starters by this late into the preseason, we still find some battles for meaningful roles and minutes underway on the doorstep of the new NBA season. In this piece, we canvas the league for some of the most relevant position battles for fantasy purposes.Depth chart nuggets in DenverThe Denver Nuggets backcourt could offer some value for fantasy investors. Will Barton broke out with helpful numbers at a shallow shooting guard position last season, while Gary Harris was useful in deeper formats, thanks to a rich allotment of minutes. Harris is currently recovering from a partially torn groin muscle, which has led to increased preseason exposure for rookie combo guard Jamal Murray.Nuggets coach Michael Malone recently said of Murray, Were going to have him play on the ball and off the ball. Hes got to learn all the spots on the floor. Thats what a good point guard should do anyway.We identified Murray as a deep sleeper candidate this season, but its even more intriguing to consider that he could challenge an inefficient Emmanuel Mudiay for time at point guard, something Barton and Harris cant claim. The Nuggets ranked 25th in the league in 3-point percentage last season, at just 33.8 percent from beyond the arc. Murray shot nearly 41 percent from deep at Kentucky last year, while Mudiay hit only 31.9 percent of his 3-point attempts as a rookie. If we can mix some assist upside into Murrays emerging fantasy profile, Mudiays shaky fantasy stock takes another hit.Questions about whether Denver could get consistent minutes for their tandem of talented bigs,?Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic, are being answered this preseason, as the team is starting both in a uniquely big frontcourt. Last season, this pairing played together on just 184 possessions and produced a lowly offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) of just 97.6, with a net rating of negative-7.1 points. This preseason, the tandem has a 103.4 offensive rating and a plus-6.8 net rating in 117 possessions together.Denver seems to be making it clear that both could sustain minutes and value this season. Nurkic is second in the NBA this preseason, with 11.5 boards per game, and Jokic ranks 11th, at 7.7 per game. There should be enough exposure for Jokic to realize his awesome offensive upside, while Nurkic offers a cheap path to a double-double at a shallow center position. What was assumed to be a key battle has turned into a key pairing, as both bigs appear viable as fantasy assets, thanks to the teams creative deployment.Meaningful minutes in Miamis backcourtThe Miami Heat were essentially forced to speculatively pay a big price to secure Tyler Johnson during a unique NBA offseason that saw marginal talents cash in across the league. Johnson has responded with a strong preseason, recently scoring at least 14 points in three straight games while shooting 58.3 percent from the field. He has showcased solid 3-point metrics and nearly one steal and three assists per game over the exhibition season. Johnson will likely be Miamis sixth man to start the season, a role that could prove rewarding across several categories.The Heat will also find stable minutes for shooting guards Dion Waiters and Wayne Ellington. Waiters has hit half his attempts from beyond the arc this preseason, and both he and Ellington are averaging 25 minutes per game for a team in need of scoring pop now that?Dwyane Wade?is?in Chicago. Ellington ranks behind only?Klay Thompson?of the Warriors in 3-pointers made and attempted this preseason, so he could be a fine shooting specialist to target in deeper leagues.For patient investors in deeper leagues, shares of an injured Josh Richardson could also pay off down the line, as he hit 46.1 percent from 3-point range last season and could emerge as the long-term statistical winner at the 2 for Miami.Small forward battle on the BlazersThe Portland Trail Blazers were major check writers this offseason, as they gave both Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner?deals worth more than $70 million and retained?Maurice Harkless for $40 million. Crabbe will remain the teams third guard and the?de facto leader of the teams second unit, but the battle at small forward between Turner and Harkless has been interesting this preseason.The winner of this position battle appears to be Harkless, as he has been a consistent starter while offering far more defensive versatility than Turner, given his ability to guard both small and power forwards. Turner could eat into Crabbes value more than anything, as both will compete for distribution duties on the second unit. Harkless claimed awesome per-36 rates last season in a quiet breakout effort for Portland; he averaged one 3-pointer, 1.2 steals and nearly a block over this adjusted production rate. With such diverse statistical potential, Harkless is a fine sleeper now that he has apparently won the starting gig for the Blazers.Philadelphias center cityThe Philadelphia 76ers have a big problem, or rather, they have the problem of having too many bigs. Theyll need to find exposure for a trio of players,?Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor, who are?each best-served by playing center. Embiid is the most exciting offensive prospect of the bunch, given that he has averaged 10.3 points, nearly six rebounds and a block in just 14.2 minutes per game in the preseason.Noel could earn some time at power forward and as the small-ball center, especially as Embiid will reportedly cap out at a minutes restriction of around 25 per game to start the season. Given the combination of Embiids rising average draft position (currently going 101st overall), Im avoiding him with centers such as Nurkic and Houstons Clint Capela?able to be found in later rounds.The fantasy angle for Noel has always been his rare defensive exploits. With Embiid facing limited exposure, we think there is great profit to enjoy with the depth chart traffic driving Noels draft stock down this fall. Noel, after all, is just the fourth player in NBA history with at least 230 blocks and steals in his first two seasons. The other three names on that list are David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon and Andrei Kirilenko. Even in the face of competition for minutes, Noels ability to fuel big block and steal rates equates to rare fantasy impact, given that these are the scarcest of statistical categories.As for Okafor, he could be the odd man out for fantasy purposes. Not only is the Duke product still on the mend from last springs knee surgery, but his high-usage, ball-dominant game also requires him to net tons of touches and minutes to produce. Its also worth noting that he offers upside only in points and rebounds, while both Embiid and Noel help their causes with their strong defensive rates. Okafors strong surface numbers as a rookie were largely volume-driven on a barren roster, so we find it tough to believe hell return value on his inflated average draft position, which is currently 85th overall in ESPN drafts. Roger Staubach Womens Jersey . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. Troy Aikman Jersey . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. http://www.cowboysrookieproshop.com/Cowboys-Troy-Aikman-Jersey/ .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Chris Froome said he had no regrets so often, as he contemplated his bronze-medal finish in the Olympic cycling time trial, it was as if he was trying to convince himself.Not long before, a couple of hundred meters from the finish line, he had shaken his head and looked the picture of disappointment.But it was hard not to admire Froome for his determination to present a brave face after an achievement that would have made most ordinary athletes ecstatic. He even disputed the claim from British Cycling programmes director Andy Harrison that Froome had been suffering from a tight chest.I gave it everything I had, the three-time Tour de France winner said. I was absolutely dead by the finish line. [Winner] Fabian Cancellara was clearly the strongest guy on the road, so congratulations to him.At the end of the day, its been an amazing summer. I wanted to come here and try to back it up. A second medal is pretty special.Froome, 31, took bronze in this event in London four years ago, when British compatriot Bradley Wiggins was the gold-medal winner.The more colourful of the two characters sat on a throne at Hampton Court Palace to celebrate finishing first then, but that sort of thing wouldnt have been Froomes style whatever had happened on Wednesday.He is a quietly spoken, reserved type of guy, the sort of character who thanks his family for hanging in there with him during the time he has spent away, committed to his sport, an athlete who planned to rise early a day after the time trial to fit in a five- or six-hour training ride before leaving Brazil.I want to keep the body ticking over. I have not done any big training rides since I left the Tour, Froome explained.If there was a criticism that could be levelled at the British rider, it was that he spread himself too thinly at these Games. Froome gave his all in the road race last Saturday, and even when it looked like he would come up short, he refused to relax in the saddle.He knew beforehand, too, that the hilly course would make it tough for him to win, and the time trial had seemed the better bet anyway, given how well he had performed in the equivaalent Tour stage. Terrell Owens Womens Jersey. .Whether it was overconfidence, a sense of duty or his competitive spirit -- another of his admirable qualities -- it wasnt the smartest approach.[There were only] three days between the road race and time trial, Froome said after finishing 1 minute, 2.12 seconds behind Cancellara. I gave it everything in the road, I emptied myself there -- both events. Its not in my nature to try and sit up. I was here to give it everything.Froome proved with his effort how highly he values the Olympics, but as is also the case for golfers and tennis players, the Games do not offer the biggest prize in his sport.The top target for road cyclists, nearly every time, will be the Tour de France, and Cancellara, who pulled out of that early this year to focus on the Olympics, was an exception who proved the rule.Did that give the Swiss a crucial advantage? Potentially, it could have, Froome said. He was stronger than everybody else. Even in the road race, he was going really well. Tom Dumoulin [who took silver], potentially, he dropped out of the Tour with injury. He bounced back pretty well.Its one of the challenges in the cycling world. Given how big the Tour is, that has to stay my No. 1 priority for now.It has been an amazing season, to have won the Tour for a third time, and still come here and medal.Froomes asthma may also have handed his rivals an advantage, with Harrison hinting he had been struggling with a related problem for several days in the buildup to the race.Froome, however, refused to give any excuses for missing out on a hoped-for gold. Its been fine the last few days, he insisted.Hopefully, Ive got another Olympics in me. I know some people may see a bronze as a disappointment, but Im extremely happy to have medalled again.The time for Froome to mentally move on, once his role as a competitor in the Games ended, came pretty quickly. Processing any disappointment as fast as he appeared to left absolutely no room for regrets. Luckily, as he said, he didnt have any. ' ' '