I tried to get this up before Fantasy Basketblog got anything written. I failed. That won’t stop me from adding to the analysis anyway though.
Portland Blazers
Blazers Blog does an excellent job of analyzing the trade that will send Magloire to Portland for a bunch of guys who won’t be on the Blazers any more. (I don’t really know anyone’s name on that team any more).
The part that really matters to fantasy managers is all the way at the bottom:
PG: Jack 25, Dickau 15, Roy 8 (DNP: Rodriguez)
SG: Webster 25, Roy 15, Dixon or Outlaw 8
SF: Miles 25, Outlaw 15, Roy or Webster 8
PF: Randolph 28, LaFrentz 15, Aldridge 5
C: Pryzbilla 28, Magloire 15, LaFrentz 5
It would be sweet if those numbers were points or rebounds, but they’re actually minutes. Probably more useful that way. I agree with BlazersBlog Moderator on the numbers here.
In case you’re a little confused, here’s the totals:
Martell Webster: 25-29
Joel Pryzbilla: 28
Zach Randolph: 28
Jarrett Jack: 25
Darius Miles: 25
Brandon Roy: 22-26
Raef LaFrentz: 20
Travis Outlaw: 15-19
Jamaal Magloire: 15
Dan Dickau: 15
Juan Dixon: 4-8
LaMarcus Aldridge: 5
I think that LMA might get more than 5 minutes a game. If that’s true, those minutes will probably come at the expense of LaFrentz, who becomes more of a marginal fantasy player than ever.
Milwaukee Bucks
Really, this trade appears to be about clearning out space for Charlie Villanueva and Andrew Bogut to develop. I’m not sure that’s going to increase their respective fantasy values necessarily, but it will increase their minutes. If they can maintain their output with an increase from about 29 minutes each to around 33-34, they will both easily be in the top 100 next year. Should they both come close to double-doubles (a possibility) and give a little something else along the way, they could see the top 75 players.
It’s hard to say how the minutes will shake out in Milwaukee, but the starting lineup now looks like:
PG: Steve Blake/Maurice Williams (this one will probably play out in training camp… but either way, you’re not going to really be drafting either of these guys unless one can prove he’s going to get the minutes)
SG: Michael Redd
SF: Bobby Simmons
PF: Charlie Villanueva
C: Andrew Bogut
Dan Gadzuric might be someone to look at in deeper leagues, since he’ll probably see an uptick in minutes from last season’s paltry 12 per game. Brian Skinner, who has shown some fantasy value with shot-blocking and rebounding will start behind Charlie V and once again be a non-factor.
Count it.