Even though the NBA season tipped off Tuesday, its not too late to sign up and play fantasy hoops using TSNs Fantasy Basketball League Manager. Gather a group of friends, or find a league to join online, draft your team, set your lineup and compete in a number of different formats. The league manager is customizable, allowing you to use the categories you prefer and scoring can be either roto-style or head-to-head. Really, the options allow you to create the league that works best for you. When you start looking at players, of course familiar names will top the list. Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Chris Paul, James Harden are probably the best of the bunch but, as it is in all fantasy sports, paying attention to position, or at the very least category, scarcity is important. For instance, there are only so many point guards that play enough, and distribute enough, to have an impact in the assists category -- of the 22 players with at least 6.0 assists per game last season, 19 were point guards plus LeBron, Kobe Bryant and Monta Ellis -- so it makes sense to address that need sooner rather than later. Similarly, there are only so many bigs to go around and while there are more players that can contribute to your rebounding totals (49 players with at least 6.0 per game last season), it can be a little more challenging when it comes to blocks (34 players with 1.0 blocks per game last season), particularly because some of the top shot blockers dont necessarily contribute much else to the stat line. In any case, keep these needs in mind when it comes to filling out your lineup. Its easier to find players that can score -- 43 players over 15.0 points per game last season -- and, increasingly, shoot threes. There were 116 players that averaged at least one made three-pointer per game last season. A decade ago, in the 2003-2004 season, there were 72. Also, keep in mind that there are several notable performers injured to start the year. Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, Danillo Gallinari and Glen Davis are among the established starters on the sidelines to start the year, while rookie guards Trey Burke and C.J. McCollum could have an impact once they get healthy. No matter how you go about picking your team, though, stick with TSN.ca for news and analysis and enjoy the dribbles, the drives, the dishes and bombs from beyond the arc all season long. Detroit Tigers Store . While the pair of Spain internationals return, midfielder Xavi Hernandez will not be included in the squad after failing to recover from a muscle strain to his left leg. Tigers Jerseys China . Berkman almost left the game last off-season before signing with the Texas Rangers. He then had another injury-plagued season and was limited to 73 games. https://www.cheaptigers.com/. The same for both the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers. Custom Detroit Tigers Jerseys . George Hill had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Pacers, who stayed atop the overall NBA standings despite losing twice on their West Coast trip. Los Angeles kept it close into the second half before the Pacers finished an easy win over the injury-riddled Lakers, who have lost five straight. Wholesale Tigers Jerseys . Snedekers best result so far this year is a tie for eighth place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. He sits 113th in FedEx Cup standings and has dropped to 31st in world rankings — not the results expected from a player ranked fourth in the world only two years ago.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry, I was timekeeping a AAA minor midget game last week when the following happened. A player was skating down the wing and then wound up to take a huge slap shot. When he took the shot, the puck actually split into two pieces with both halves of the puck entering the net for a score. Should the goal be allowed or not? Has anything weird like that ever happened to you in the pros during your career? One ref at the game actually thought a goal should be allowed but after all three officials got together, there was a ruling of no goal with the faceoff inside the zone. Thought maybe a weird situation would put a bit of a change of pace to your column. Cheers,Edward Sherr Edward: As weird as it sounds, I do recall a hard shot ring off the goal post in an NHL game I worked that caused the puck to break in half. Neither chunk of vulcanized rubber entered the net but instead split off in different directions. One piece travelled toward the end zone corner while the other portion found its way into the slot. Players scrambled in both directions, instinctively chasing the black disc that was nearest their position. I recall the look of shock on each players face after recognizing only half a puck existed in two different locations on the ice. I blew my whistle to halted play for this unusual situation. A discussion then ensued as to who caused the stoppage of play with regard to the resulting face-off location. The defending team protested that the attacking team had caused the stoppage with a shot that broke the puck. They rationalized their position no differently than shooting or deflecting the puck over the boards. I settled on the claim that it wasnt "who" (which team) but "what" (a faulty puck) that caused the stoppage and the resulting face-off was taken in the end zone corner where half the puck had come to rest. The fact is, Edward, that the entire puck must completely cross the goal line to count as a legal goal. Half a puck just doesnt cut it. The officials in the AAA Midget game, therefore, made the correct call; including the resulting end zone face-off location. Amendment/Addition: You have correctly noted from Edwards question that both halves of the broken puck entered the net. While there is nothing presently in the NHL Officiating Case book or anything that I could find in the Canadian Hockey Case Book or playing rules on the subject, we need to look at rule 13 - Puck. The puck shall be made of vulcanized rubber, or other approved material, one inch (1") thick and three inches (3") in diameter and shall weigh between five and one-half ounces (5 1/2 oz.) and six ounces (6 oz.). All pucks used in competition must be approved by the Leaggue.dddddddddddd A puck that has broken in half does not conform to this rule in specified size or weight, nor is it approved for legal play. No goal would result should a puck that was broken in half and therefore deemed unfit for play (illegal) enter the net. This would include the case where separated halves found their way into the net. During the season, I had the puck split in half. Inglasco (the official puck supplier to the NHL) was having some quality control issues. You might recall that routine shots were causing the protective glass behind the goal to break at an unprecedented rate. I was told that there was a component in the puck that was causing this to occur. While that problem was quickly rectified, it brought special attention to the puck and particularly the inconsistency with which it settled or bounced on the ice. A study, conducted by an NHL-hired consultant with a PHD specializing in the field of rubber, revealed the ideal temperature at which frozen vulcanized rubber provided the optimum density to slide across the ice and minimize the bounce effect. Following the study, game puck supplies were to be kept in a special temperature controlled freezer that were installed in every NHL arena. Pucks that previously were kept cool in a bucket of ice at the penalty timekeeper bench were secured in a mini-freezer by an off-ice crew member that was in charge of pucks. Memos were sent to the head of each Off-Ice Crew on the new puck handling policy and optimum temperature that must be maintained. Linesmen were instructed to change out the pucks on a frequent basis. I will tell you first hand that the density of the frozen puck was noticeable when on occasion I was struck by one. Even a glancing blow provided an extra sting not previously experienced! With all this hoopla of information being circulated over the ideal puck temperature, Jeff Weintraub, head of the NY Islanders Off-Ice Crew (and a dear friend of all the NHL Officials) decided to have a little fun with us. Prior to a game I worked in Nassau Coliseum, Jeff entered our dressing room with a very serious look on his face and asked me if I would check the temperature of the game puck. Confused, I asked how the heck he expected me to do that. From behind Jeffs back he exposed a NY Islander puck with a hole drilled in it. Inserted in the hole was a "rectal thermometer!" What a ball-buster Jeff was. The bouncing puck also led to snow buildup being scrapped from the goal crease and around the dasher boards during commercial time-outs. Very quickly through the scraping process guys in sweat suits were replaced by scantily clad "Ice Girls." Its truly amazing the progress I witnessed during my 30 years as an NHL referee. If were lucky, we might even see the results of a study that can stop players from hitting each other in the head? ' ' '