Regeln » model, with some concerned it could open the door

Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we pose a question to a rotating panel of ESPN fantasy basketball experts to gauge their thoughts on a hot topic. Todays contributors are DFS expert Renee Miller and ESPN Fantasys Kyle Soppe and Joe Kaiser.LeBron James and Jimmy Butler rank 11th and 12th, respectively, on the Player Rater on a per-game basis. In points leagues, which player would you rather own going forward this season and why?Renee Miller: This is really close, but what decided it for me was thinking about my response to a trade offer of James for Butler. Im taking the James side. One key factor is that I think James and the Cavaliers make a priority of taking care of James body. Hes a lesser injury risk, and while he may have nights when he plays fewer minutes or rests, ultimately, I think you have a better chance of getting a full season out of him.So far, however, James and Butler are both averaging 35 MPG. Butler has a slightly higher player efficiency rating (27.9 vs. James 25.6), but James wins in usage rate (29.8), assist ratio (28.1) and rebound rate (12.2). Those peripheral stats add up in points leagues, and James is a legitimate triple-double threat, whereas Butler lacks in the assist department, averaging just 3.9 APG.If you own Butler, I think youre very happy with his production so far this season, and his dual position eligibility is a plus. Hes an energetic player averaging almost two steals per game and is a primary reason for the Bulls current winning record. Overall, though, Id prefer to own James, and youve got to be feeling good about getting him in the latter part of the first round.While its great for Cleveland to have Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love around James, there is no doubt that this is still very much his team -- not to mention one of the best teams in the league -- and James nightly stat lines prove it.Joe Kaiser: As great of a season as Butler is having, which was no certainty heading into the campaign after Chicagos questionable additions of Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade and Michael Carter-Williams, Im still going with LeBron.Both players are playing right around 35-36 minutes a night and, while they are similar statistically in almost every way, LeBron is the far superior distributor (9.3 to 3.9 APG) and that allows him to score 5-10 more fantasy points on a consistent basis.Kyle Soppe: For me, Its James. Dont get me wrong, Butler is a fantasy monster and will continue to be so, but the high floor of The King makes him my pick here.I imagine the argument against James is that he could take a hiatus at some point this season, but he has played more than Butler in three consecutive seasons and is actually averaging more minutes this season than the Bulls All-Star. They are neck-and-neck on the Player Rater right now despite James taking the fewest shots per game of his career (17.1), converting his free throws at the fourth-lowest rate of his career and averaging a career-low 1.6 blocks-plus-steals per game.Butler, on the other hand, is shooting a career-best percentage from the field, from the 3-point line and from the free throw line (while attempting a career high in shots and free throws) in addition to averaging 10.3-percent more rebounds than he ever has. The stats seem to suggest that Butler isnt a great bet to build on his current numbers while James is unlikely to regress ... so no, I dont think Butler passes him when all is said and done this season.Wholesale Nike Free .S. hockey team after paying his dues as an NHL general manager for more than three decades and giving up a lot of his free time to help USA Hockey. Discount Nike Free .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. http://www.cheapnikefree.net/ . Sgt. Eric ONeal says most of the arrests at Monday nights game were for public drunkenness, though one person was taken into custody on suspicion of trying to steal a seat from the stadium. Cheap Nike Free . -- Hunter Smith scored the winner with just 12 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oshawa Generals edged the host Sarnia Sting 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Nike Free Clearance Sale .S. Open champion Justin Rose birdied the first hole with a blind shot he hit to a foot of the pin, and he stayed in front Tuesday until he completed a 4-under 67 for a two-shot lead over Jason Dufner in PGA Grand Slam of Golf.Guenther Steiner says the Haas team did not exceed the budget it set aside for its debut season in Formula One this year.Haas became the first new team to join the grid since 2010, entering the sport with a controversial technical partnership with Ferrari. That tie-up included an engine and as many parts as the regulations allowed, while the team also worked with Italian chassis designers Dallara.Much was made of Haas business model, with some concerned it could open the door to fully-fledged customer cars in future, though Steiner says it helped the team control spending for its first season.?When asked if he had to ask team owner Gene Haas for money during the season, Steiner said: We didnt. We made a budget and we stuck to it pretty good. It seems like everybody goes into F1, in the old days, they didnt know what they were doing.I think we can say our business plan worked even if a lot of people questioned if it could work beforehand and said we would be just like one of the other ones who came in in the last years. I think we have shown we do what we say we are going to do, and we did the same iinternally.ddddddddddddWe said to Gene, this will be the cost of this, and we stuck to it. So we didnt have to go back.Haas exceeded all expectations in 2016, finishing 6th and 5th in the opening two races and finishing the season with 29 points, enough to finish eighth ahead of one of F1s four manufacturers, Renault. With big rule changes on the horizon for 2017 Steiner is braced for a different scenario next season, though he believes most financial decisions for the whole year will be based on how the teams fare in winter testing.If you run a business, and I see F1 as a business, if you have to go back every five weeks saying oh, I need another two million, it gets old pretty quick. Then the trust is lost. We didnt do that and I hope we dont ever have to do that.Next year the risk is much bigger because of the upgrade but its like, what do we want to achieve? We will see in February [when winter testing starts] where we are and then you see what you really need to do. ' ' '