Give Me The Rock

I missed last week’s edition due to the holidays and the fact that I was busy procuring exotic alcohols for my kicking New Year’s Eve Party. And speaking of the new year, I remember thinking to myself - all the way back on New Years in 1995 - that I couldn’t believe that we lived in such futuristic times. It was almost the goddamn millennia! At the time, I was living the high life with my Juno email on my 14K modem, playing hours of Doom. Things couldn’t get much better than that. And speaking of 1995, who remembers the movie Virtuosity, staring a yet to be famous Russell Crowe? Another thing that made me feel that it couldn’t get much better than 1995. And now it’s 2007. Damn, we really live in futuristic times.

Anyway, onto actual basketball related matters. Who’s been playing well over the last week?

Trending Up

• Ecstatic Matt Barnes’ owners might disagree, but the winner of the player of the week award goes to Devin Brown. Yes, the Devin Brown who signed as a free agent with the Hornets in mid-December. Yes, the Devin Brown whose head came from the set of a Charlie Brown cartoon. Yes, the Devin Brown who’s already received fantasy attention for his potential impact. I wouldn’t run out and pick him up immediately, but he might be a decent pick up if you’re in a deep league and could use a guy with some all-around game.
• After years of being a steadfast Mike Miller owner, I’m loving that he’s taken his game to the next level. I expected that he’d play well with Paul Gasol out, but he’s been just as good since Gasol’s return, including games of 7, 7, and 9 threes this past week.
• And speaking of Gasol, he makes the list for the second time in three weeks. Two double-doubles in three games? Yep, he’s officially back. And that Amare guy, congrats if you took a risk with him in your draft.
• If Tony Allen is still available in your league, think about adding him for the short-term. Paul Pierce is recovering slower than anticipated, in fact he’s going to be booted up for at least another week. And since Doc Rivers won’t play my man, Gerald Green, Tony Allen benefits from the extra time.
• In one of my leagues, I picked up Dorell Wright about a week ago and then dropped him 24 hours later for Trevor Ariza. I don’t think either guy is a long-term fix and while they both provided the steals I was looking for, I liked that I could count on Ariza getting consistent minutes. Of course, that was before I heard about Antoine Walker and James Posey being deactivated for being fatties, or something like that.
• Doesn’t Stromile Swift put together a run like this every year? It’s brief, but he does.

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• Wally Szczerbiak has the weeks’ biggest fall down the GMTR player rater. I wouldn’t worry too much about his overall game, as he came off the bench in his first two games back from an ankle injury. I would be worried about the plethora of injuries that he’s coming down with his year, though. Trade him if you can get anything of value back.
• Ray Allen and Troy Murphy were also working their way back from injury, and should be fine (although Murphy’s fine is much different than Allen’s).
• Steve Francis is out with a possible chronic knee injury and might have the rest of his contract bought out by the Knicks. That’s absolutely ridiculous, but it’s the Knicks so I believe anything is possible. A buyout would be great news for Francis, because he’ll have no value on the Knicks for the rest of the year.
• A few guys on this list are just heading back to established levels of play - Alston, Pachulia, and Barbosa - all had a great first two months of the season, but they are what we thought they were.
• In his fourth year of play, Udonis Haslem is almost exactly where he was as a rookie. I was excited about his potential back then, but that train has come to a screeching halt. He if can’t get it done in the current Heat lineup, he’ll never get there.
• For an in-depth discussion of Mike James’ struggles this year, check out this Fantasy Basketblog article. From my point of view, the surprise isn’t James’ play THIS year (just look at his career from (2001-2005) but his surprisingly good play LAST year. 2005/2006 looks like one of the great career years.