2/11/2005 04:33:00 PM|||Shep|||Sorry, I couldn't pass up that post title. (I also considered: Raptors in Mourning? ... but it wasn't quite as good.)

Anyway, as I'm sure you're well aware (as a self-respecting fantasy manager, I would hope you'd have heard) ... Alonzo Mourning has reached a buyout agreement with the Raptors making him a free agent on Tuesday. I've already picked him up. I wouldn't advise you to do the same unless you've been out looking for a third center (which I actually was, seeing as how my "centers" currently consist of Mehmet Okur and Chris Bosh).

Old School

Here's what the have Heat done in the last 5 games with 96 minutes available at C and PF. Shaq: 36; Haslem: 39, Doleac: 18; ZhiZhi Wang played 7 minutes (that's a total of 7 minutes)

That leaves 3 minutes/game available for Mourning, right? Technically yes... but seriously, if you had Shaq on your team and magically got another center capable of playing 20 minutes/game, would you continue to play Shaq for 36 minutes each game? I highly doubt it. More importantly, would you still play Mr. D for 18 minutes a game?

I can understand why The Other Van Gundy is hesitant to put Doleac in for more than 18 minutes a night, but Mourning? Pssssh. Might as well hand him those 18 minutes right now.

The New Math

3 free + 8 from Doleac + 5 from Haslem + 6 from Shaq = 22. That's plenty of time for Mourning to grab 7 rebounds (according to Dean Oliver's rule of a rebound every 3 minutes for a big man who doesn't want to get run out of the league), and probably even score 10 points with Wade out there to set him up. I don't want to get too overoptimistic here... but the dude hasn't had less than 2 blocks/game with the exception of his 2003 "season" with the Nets where he still blocked 0.5 shots in 18 minutes with 1 kidney. He's a good FG shooter, and a decent FT shooter for a big man. He turns the ball over quite a bit, but perhaps with the new school Miami team around him, he can avoid that pitfall.

Adding It Up

If you're looking for a good 3rd center, Mourning is your guy. He's the best you'll find on the waiver wire. At least in my league he was. If you're counting on Shaq to carry you through the season, you also might want to consider picking up Mourning. If you're a Haslem owner, I wouldn't be signing any pink slips. He'll be just fine. In fact, if you didn't get your hopes up too much that he would keep playing like he has been the past 5 games, you'll be just fine. But don't expect anything more with a healthy Mourning around. I say healthy, because, to be fully truthful in my disclosure, he is a bit of a risk. But he won't be as much of a dissappointment as Karl "#2 in everything" Malone. I'm sure there are some owners who hung onto Mourning for a month (he was on the IL, easing some of the burden). Those folks should be handsomely rewarded. And by handsomely, I mean because Mourning is a good-looking guy.

Count it.

|||110816151281964380|||Mourning in (with) Heat?