Give Me The Rock
this is fantasy basketball
To some, Suns Forward/Center/Guard is a fantasy hero. The William Wallace of your fantasy team last year, only without the beheading, or the flashing. I for one, will never forget when i spent the first weeks of the season monitoring his stupendous production. It was amazing, a player who produced so much in every category! Unfortunately, i lacked the balls to pickup the former Hawk who was a pawn in the Joe Johnson sign and trade. I instead traded for Diaw late in the year and used his ridiculous center eligibility to propel my assist figures to champion levels; for this Diaw has gained fantasy immorality in my book (this book also includes Michael Dickerson and Erick Dampier).
To current Diaw owners, he is the third round pick gone wrong. Yahoo! users drafted him on average in round 2.9. And if you do not know already, in my opinion the most important pick in your draft is the 3rd round. If you took Diaw in the 3rd round then chances are that your team is pulling a disappearing act comparable to Britney Spear’s underwear, only your fantasy team is not fulfilling the dreams of every male between the ages of 18-24. The team that took Diaw in my league is currently down at 7th, another of my pub leagues has Diaw’s team sitting at seventh and my last pub league has my team in 7th, with Diaw.
Boris is experiencing statistical declines in all categories except FG%. He averages 3.6 less points a game, 9.9 from 13.3, on 2.3 less shots a game, 8.2 from 10.5. Considering Diaw’s low scoring average last year, the points are not hurting his current owners as badly as the reductions in rebounds and assists. His boards are down 1.7 to 5.1 and his assists hurt owners the most with a 1.6 reduction to 4.6. These reductions can be attributed to many factors, the reemergence of Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash’s 1.3apg increase or the performance of Raja Bell and Leandro Barbosa. However, I attribute the reductions to the fact that Diaw is no longer the big man in the middle drawing the defense in. The Suns in a halfcourt set rely on taking the open shot from the outside. Doing this always requires bait to draw the defense into the lane, opening up the outside for swing passes and open shots. Diaw no longer serves this role full time, he defers to Amare, because of this his fantasy value has been damaged to an almost irreparable level. If you do not buy this theory, go watch any Suns playoff game from last year, Diaw was a beast.
If you are the Phoenix Suns though, none of this matters. Not because you are winning games, but because Diaw has become a leader and a clutch performer. This point was blatantly evidenced in the now legendary Suns-Nets game from December 7th. Diaw made two clutch baskets by backing Jason Kidd down and putting up the hook shot/lay up in the lane. On these two possessions the plan was for Diaw to take it to the hole and he delivered a-la Dirk Nowitzki against San Antonio. This is no new job for Diaw as he delivered several times last playoffs.
Furthermore, the Suns could care less about Diaw’s loss of production because of his budding leadership abilities…
“I don’t consider myself as a leader, I am not the type of guy who screams during matches…”
Well Boris, you may not yell, but you are making your presence known and we can all see you rising to stand alongside Steve Nash. This Summer, Diaw served as captain of the French National team at the FIBA World Championships. This may not seem like a big deal. Afterall, to American sports teams, captaincy is nothing more than a letter on a hockey jersey. But, to international teams and international players, being team captain is a huge responsibility. This responsibility often pushes players to the next level and makes a traditional team player like Diaw an invaluable asset.
Being team captain poses no value to us in the fantasy community and as such, Diaw owners should be trying to trade him with a frantic fervor only Gary Busey could muster. Your fantasy team may be hurting, but Phoenix is getting every dime worth of Diaw’s offseason contract extension, despite what the stats say.
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