Antawn Jamison – leaves game early: Jamison left Thursday's game with a left knee sprain. The injury appears to be fairly minor, so don't expect it to be much of a news item or effect him past the next day or so. He may be day-to-day for a few days at most.
Gilbert Arenas- leaves game early: Arenas left Thursday's game in the second quarter with a mild right groin strain. The team said his removal was for precautionary reasons, and he may have returned to the game if it was the regular season. There isn't anything here to worry about long term, then again we are talking about Arenas here, so you can never completely trust him for an extended period given his track record with injuries and erratic behavior.
Marcus Thornton- mediocre game Wednesday: While Marco Belinelli started and filled up the stat sheet Wednesday night against Miami, Thornton managed only four points in 16 minutes. Thornton had the worst plus/minus on the team in Wednesday's win and may be losing ground in his competition for the starting shooting guard spot as Belinelli continues to play well this preseason. Thornton can still produce from the bench but would obviously post better fantasy numbers in a starting position. Value him accordingly.
Chris Paul- off night Wednesday: In 28 minutes, Paul contributed seven points, seven assists, two steals and a block in Wednesday's preseason victory against Miami. It was an off night for Paul as he only hit two-of-nine from the field. Paul has posted merely pedestrian stats thus far this preseason as the team has limited his playing time. Most importantly, there is no reason to expect that his mind isn't in the right place and he should post elite numbers once the season begins.
Emeka Okafor- finding his stroke at the line: Okafor struggled from the field (3-of-13) in Wednesday's preseason win against Miami but still managed 15 points and seven rebounds as he converted on nine of eleven free throws. Okafor is a career 59|PERCENT| free throw shooter but has now cashed in on 16 of his 21 attempts this preseason. If Okafor can maintain this improvement from the stripe, he should see a nice bump in value as he is already a decent source of both rebounds and blocks.
Marvin Williams- returns to practice: Williams (strep throat) returned to practice Thursday. Williams missed preseason games on Monday and Tuesday, but he should be fine going forward. He'll likely be available for Saturday's contest against New Orleans.
Jamal Crawford – returns to practice: Crawford (back) returned to practice Thursday. Crawford missed some preseason action because of the injury, but he should be available for Saturday's tilt against the Hornets.
Mehmet Okur- making progress with injury: Okur (Achilles) has made "significant progress" and will travel with the Jazz to Los Angeles for the team's upcoming three-game road trip. There are a lot of positive words in this article -- "significant progress", "has entered the next stage of his comeback" -- but there aren't many specifics on what exactly that means. The unofficial timetable is that Okur will be out until December or January, but the team has not released an expected timetable of their own, so he remains out indefinitely at this point. When he finally comes back he may not even start for quite some time if at all in 2010-11 given the presence of Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap.
Amar'e Stoudemire- won't play Saturday: The Knicks will likely hold Stoudemire out of Saturday's preseason game against the Celtics to give him a chance to rest. There's no injury here; it's just a chance to give Stoudemire a rest and get a good luck at some other players such as Landry Fields, who may start at shooting guard while Wilson Chandler slides over to power forward.