-The news is not good for Mike Miller as reports have surfaced indicating he'll be out until January.  It looks like James Jones will pick up the extra minutes for time being and the Heat could explore bringing someone else in to fill the vacancy.  In other Heat news the preseason game against the Magic was cancelled after the cleaning crew used the wrong cleaner on the court.  The court was described as a sheet of ice and the league didn't want to gamble with hundreds of millions of dollars on a slippery floor.
 
-Joakim Noah missed his second game with the flu.  Don't worry if you see the DNP in the box score.
 
-Stephen Curry will miss Friday's game with a sprained ankle.  Right now this doesn't appear serious and Curry should be ok.  He heads into the season as possibly the biggest risk/reward player in fantasy.
 
-Jarrett Jack looks like he'll be the starting point guard in Toronto over Jose Calderon.  This has looked like it was going to be the case for some time yet everyone has grabbed Calderon ahead of Jack in most of the drafts I've done.  Unless either grabs at least 30 minutes, they'll have little fantasy impact.
 
-Doing a 180 from earlier in the week, it's possible sleeper J.J. Hickson will not start due to mental lapses on the offensive end.  Coach Byron Scott has publicly stated he's disappointed that Hickson does not have a solid grasp on the Princeton offense "especially as much as we go through it every day."  Hickson should still play a large role in the Cleveland offense but bump him down a tad for now.
 
-DeJuan Blair looks like he'll be in the Spurs starting lineup.  He has no size for a big man (6'7") and therefore shouldn't belong in the paint, right?  Wrong.  He has enough width to give himself some space in the middle and be an effective rebounder.  Over a nine-game span in January last season, he grabbed 100 rebounds for an 11.1 per game average.  He'll need to have at least 25 minutes to be effective plus hold off Tiago Splitter to be on anyone's fantasy radar.  Keep in mind to that he shot under 55 percent from the charity stripe which is his Achilles' heel.
 
-Toney Douglas could be the Knicks starting shooting guard to start the season.  It's a pretty good fit considering they tried him at the point last year and while he scored, he really never racked up the assists on a consistent basis.  Consider him a deep sleeper.
 
-Tracy McGrady sat out Friday's preseason finale with tired legs.  The sad thing is he's only 31; it's not like he's 40.  Even in deeper leagues leave him alone as this is the Allen Iverson story (a lesser version) of last year and we know how that ended.
 
-Michael Redd may not play at all in 2011.  It's a sad story about a great shooter who's just been bitten by the injury bug too often.  From everything I've read his character is outstanding so that makes this even tougher to swallow.
 
-Anyone else noticed what Vince Carter has done this preseason?  He's only averaged 17.2 points which normally wouldn't be too impressive.  However, Vince has only averaged 24.2 minutes a game which makes the point total an eye opener.  Look for Vince to improve on last year's numbers, although that's not saying much.  I know the injury history but keep in mind he's a third cousin to T-Mac and is still producing despite being almost two years older.
 
Some current box scores at 9 PM, EST (goin' all Cistulli on you):
 
Amar'e Stoudemire (23:18) – 22 points but six turnovers.  Who will miss the other more between him and Steve Nash?
 
Stephen Jackson (25:14) – 21 points eight boards and three steals.
 
Roy Hibbert (15:31) – Eight points, one rebound.  +/- is -19?  It's the preseason and he'll be very good.
 
Luol Deng (16:32) – 15 points and five boards.  This includes 10-for-10 from the free throw line.  He's falling in drafts and shouldn't be.  Deng has worked on the trifecta and should be gunning away from downtown this year.  He's +23 in the same game as Hibbert; maybe they have Hibbert guarding him which would explain a lot of things.
 
On a totally unrelated basketball note, you can catch me on www.wtam.com (click "listen online" in the upper left corner) on Sunday morning around 9:35 AM EST, talking fantasy football on Cleveland Browns radio.