Fantasy Related But Good Info.....
Something I Learned Today
Something I Learned Today
To quote a great Husker Du song, here are some things we learned last night.
My Season Pass Live Chat will be on Thursday instead of Wednesday this week, while Ryan Knaus will be hosting an NBA Chat at 2 p.m. today.
The Hawks Are A Good Team When Clicking On All Cylinders
The Celtics may still swear that they have no rivalry with the Hawks, but it sure doesn't feel that way when you watch them play each other. Doc Rivers got tossed and there were a few flagrant fouls in what was a very intense game, although the officiating may have been lacking. Just check out @langwhitaker on Twitter for some solid humor regarding the legendary Tommy Heinsohn. The Hawks are now 3-0 against Boston this season, which may or may not mean anything come playoff time. But it is clear the Hawks are no longer scared of the Celtics. The C's were without Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace (more on them later), but as far as I know, Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kendrick Perkins were on the floor in Boston. The Hawks' fantasy numbers weren't great, outside of Joe Johnson's 36 points and five 3-pointers, but even he didn't do much else. Josh Smith is definitely not the same player he was over the first month of the season, but I suspect he'll get it going again at some point and post some more monster lines.
Vladimir Radmanovic Is Going To Have To Play
With Anthony Randolph out for the next two months or so, and Ronny Turiaf going down last night with what might be a badly sprained right ankle, Vladimir Radmanovic is going to probably continue to start, as well as play heavy minutes for the Warriors. He had 18 points, nine rebounds, three steals and three 3-pointers on 7-of-12 shooting in a start in last night's loss to the Cavaliers. While it's possible he never shoots it that well again, he simply has to play. If you're looking at someone to pick up right now, I think he should be near the top of the heap, as Chris Hunter is really the only other option they have at PF right now. Throw in the fact that Andris Biedrins is still not anywhere close to form, and Vlad-Rad almost looks can't-miss. But then again, he's still Vlad-Rad and he plays for Don Nelson, so you can also throw all logic out the window.
LeBron James Is Pretty Good
LeBron torched the Warriors for 37 points, eight boards, 11 assists, two steals, four blocks and a 3-pointer on 12-of-23 shooting. If he is on your fantasy team, you have an unbelievable head start on the field, and we haven't seen anyone dominate fantasy lines like this since Michael Jordan. And back in the day, we banned Jordan from our league because he was just too dominant. LeBron became the fourth NBA player to record at least 35 points and 10 assists in a game this season, and not surprisingly, three of those games have come against the Warriors. It's difficult to overstate the fantasy appeal of games against GS. Thanks, Nellie. That 'Defensive Coordinator' thing isn't really working out, is it?
Melo Is Back
Carmelo Anthony returned from a five-game absence with a knee injury and posted a modest line of 24 points, two boards, two assists and three 3-pointers on 9-of-17 shooting. Not a LeBron line, but not bad for a guy who missed his last week and a half of action.
Jose Calderon Is Officially A Bust
Jose Calderon had 12 points and six dimes in 27 minutes last night, while Jarrett Jack had five points and five assists, hitting just 2-of-9 shots in 28 minutes. That, my friends, is a full-blown timeshare, which is bad news for all involved. I'm not sure if JC is the bust of the year, but he's in the hunt.
Troy Murphy + Jim O'Brien = Negative Roy Hibbert
Troy Murphy was a beast last night with 20 points, 16 boards, three assists, a steal, two blocks and five 3-pointers, while Roy Hibbert scored two points and gave us nothing else in seven minutes. It's becoming quite clear that these two simply can't function together. Or should I say, Hibbert can't function when Murphy is playing. If you're like me, you've got three more games of Hibbert in your lineup this week, and our only hope is that he was benched because the Raptors don't play a true center. And that shooting guard posing as a center (Andrea Bargnani) went off for 12 points and a career high of 17 rebounds last night (along with three blocks and a 3-pointer). Jim O'Brien's Pacers somehow overcame a 23-point deficit to come back and beat the Raptors, but I'm still mad at him.
Sammy D Loves Him Some Allen Iverson
Samuel Dalembert's best games this season have come when Allen Iverson has been in the lineup with him. AI returned from a knee injury last night for 16 points and one assist, while Sammy blew up in the first quarter and finished with six points, 14 boards and six blocks in the surprising win over New Orleans. And even without AI on Saturday, Dalembert had 16 points, nine boards and three blocks in that one. He's averaging nearly 12 points, 12 boards and three blocks per game over his last five, and is worth a pick-and-play whether AI is playing or not.
A.J. Price Is Now Legit
A.J. Price is playing backup point guard for the Pacers, but it really seems like he's more of a shooting guard. He had 16 points, two assists and two 3-pointers and is now averaging 16 points and two 3-pointers over his last three games, and has hit double digits in four of his last five, as T.J. Ford continues to waste away on the bench. Price is not a must-own player, but he is the man of the moment for Mr. O'Brien. Then again, remember a guy named Dahntay Jones? DNP-CD last night after averaging nearly 18 ppg in November. Cut him if you own him, as Obie may never let him out of T.J. Ford's kennel again. And don't overlook Earl Watson, who quietly had 11 points, four boards, eight assists, three steals, a block and a 3-pointer last night. It would be nice if he could do this consistently, but as long as he's starting, there's always a chance.
Draft a new fantasy team today at SnapDraft!
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Rajon Rondo Can Shoot
An NBA scout told me after watching Rondo workout a couple years ago that he was just an awful shooter. Everyone has said that, and I'm not going to argue with anyone about his ability to shoot a basketball. But the kid is hitting threes, scoring points in bunches and shooting 53% on the season and 49% on his career from the field. I really do not care if he can't shoot. In fantasy, you would never know, and the Celtics seem to be doing pretty well with him in reality. He had hit just three 3-pointers through December, but has now hit four in his last four games, and if he's going to add that dimension to his game, we are talking about a bona fide fantasy stud, if he's not one already. Oh, and he had 26 points, three boards, seven assists, a steal and a 3-pointer on 12-of-20 "shooting" last night.
Quitters Never Win, And Neither Do The Pistons
I completely stole that headline from a column by Drew Sharp in the Detroit Free Press, but it's a good one. They lost their 13th straight game last night as John Kuester put Chris Wilcox and Jonas Jerebko in the starting lineup. Nothing is working for this team, they're a fantasy wasteland and the only thing as shocking about Larry Bird letting Obie run free in Indy is that Joe Dumars is allowed to still wreak havoc in Detroit. The Darko pick should have been a heads up, but this team is simply in shambles right now, with no hope in sight. It's time to let the rookies play (Jerebko, Austin Daye), but I'm not convinced it's going to happen. If I lived in Indy or Detroit, I could not imagine actually paying money to go see one of these teams play. Well, maybe if Kevin Durant was in town or something, but man.
If Something Looks To Be Too Good To Be True, It Probably Is
Roy Hibbert, Charlie Villanueva, Ersan Ilyasova, Danilo Gallinari, Chris Duhon, Ryan Gomes, Charlie Bell and Rafer Alston were all pretty much major disappointments last night.
All of these guys were popular fantasy starts this week and all of them completely laid an egg. But it was just one game and we just have to hope they suck it up. Let's do a collective stat line for this group of eight misfits:
10-of-60 shooting, 35 points, 27 rebounds, 7 assists. Nice, and even worse if you take Bell and Rafer out, who scored 20 of the 35 points between them, but you get the idea.
Diamonds In The Rough
On the flip side, we got pleasantly weird surprises from Luol Deng, Corey Brewer, Arron Afflalo, Hakim Warrick, Luke Ridnour, Mehmet Okur, Wesley Matthews, Jonathan Bender, Brian Scalabrine and Jonas Jerebko.
Deng is playing through a fractured thumb, which, along with his lackluster play of late, has scared some owners, but he sure looked good last night against the Detroit Generals with 27 points and six boards on 13-of-18 shooting. Brewer posted one of the best fantasy lines of the night, Afflalo has quietly gotten very hot, Warrick had 21 & 10 and has also been hot, while Ridnour looks like he could be the main beneficiary in Michael Redd's absence. In case you missed it, Redd's out for the year with the exact same knee injury he suffered nearly a year ago to the day (Jan. 24 last year). Okur had five blocks, Matthews got some extra burn with C.J. Miles out, and Bender played solid minutes and had 16 points, three boards, two blocks and two threes as the Knicks were blown out by the Thunder (who have now won eight of their last 10 games!). Scalabrine started for Sheed and hit three 3-pointers, while Jerebko got an injury start for Tayshaun Prince and had 15 points and nine boards after falling out of Kuester's rotation. Many of these guys are worth looking at, although I'd stay away from Matthews, Bender, Scal and Jerebko (unless he keeps the starting job for awhile).
We May Be In Stage 6 With Tyrus Thomas
In case you missed my six stages of owning Tyrus Thomas yesterday, check it out. We appear to have entered Stage 6, when you have just cut him and he wakes up for seven points, six boards, six steals and two blocks just after your best friend picked him up. We know he's going to get hot again, but we just don't know when. It looks like it might be happening right now, and I picked him up in a league or two last night. Let the cycle begin!
Injuries Are The Key To Fantasy Championships
Not that this is a new discovery, but everything can be taken away from a fantasy owner in an instant. Dwyane Wade went down with a right wrist injury and it was unknown if he'd return to the game or not. He did make it back, but one look at his stat line will tell you it was not a 'normal night.' Hopefully he's fine, but we probably won't know more until later today. And in case you missed it, he had just 13 points, 3 boards, 6 assists, 0 steals and 3 blocks on 6-of-12 shooting.
Vince Carter sounds doubtful for tonight with his shoulder injury. That could easily change today, but for now, I wouldn't count on seeing him tonight. Hello, J.J. Redick.
Pau Gasol is also doubtful for not only tonight, but the entire week, with his hammy. Hello, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom.
Andris Biedrins was highly ineffective last night and it was not just because he picked up a bunch of early fouls, He finished with zero points and five fouls in 13 minutes and simply doesn't look like he has his timing back. The Warriors need him more than ever since Turiaf went down with an ankle sprain last night, and Randolph's season is essentially kaput for the next two months. Hang onto Biedrins if you own him, and hope he gets it going soon. Turiaf could miss several games after rolling his right ankle, which is another reason that Vlade can't fail.
Ben Gordon tweaked his groin just six minutes into last night's embarrassing loss, which means he'll be very shaky for the rest of the week. Prince was already out with a knee injury, and the team obviously needs Will Bynum (ankles) back ASAP, not that it matters now that they've lost 13 in a row.
Rasheed Wallace looked like a solid play this week, especially with the (not so) surprising news that Kevin Garnett will miss another 10 days as he recovers from his hyperextended knee. Garnett hasn't even run yet, for those of you scoring at home, while 'Sheed had an undisclosed foot injury that no one from the Celtics decided to mention until just before tip-off, and it now sounds like he'll miss multiple games going forward, at least according to Doc Rivers. Hopefully he's not stuck in your lineup this week.
C.J. Miles was out an illness allowing Matthews to play well, Andrei Kirilenko to start, and Ronnie Brewer to quietly post an effective line. Miles is iffy for his next one, as well.
Al Harrington returned from a calf injury but played just 17 minutes Monday, finishing with nine points and zero rebounds in a blowout loss to the Thunder. Harrington had the calf wrapped while on the bench and is now saying his knee hurts as well. Owners have to hope he's OK for the next one. We should have more news on Tuesday, but it's also possible he was just rested since the Knicks didn't even bother to show up for this one.
Josh Howard (thigh) and Tim Thomas (foot) are iffy for Wednesday, so watch for new news on them if you own them.
Devin Harris is still questionable for Wednesday and while I'm not sure why, I get the sense his wrist injury is going to keep him out of that one. As Rick Kamla and Dennis Scott said on the fantasy show yesterday, Harris a prime "shut-down" candidate this season for the hopeless Nets. He's always banged up and if he continues to deal with semi-serious injuries, they may pull the plug on him after the All-Star Break. Just something to think about.
Ty Lawson was out again with his ankle injury but I suspect he'll be back for his next one.
A lot of you are waiting for the results of Mike Miller's MRI on his tweaked calf, and that's a good plan. But given his recent injury history and the fact he simply can't stay healthy, feel free to dump him for a hot free agent if you want to.
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=subHead vAlign=top colSpan=3>Caron Butler questionable w/ family matter </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=vaLabel colSpan=3>Caron Butler - G/F - WAS - Jan. 12</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>Caron Butler missed the Wizards shootaround on Tuesday to attend to a family emergency.
