Give Me The Rock

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Day 130 of 170: Time to Jump on the Matt Carroll Bandwagon. There is Plenty of Room.

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Categorized as: Author: Patrick, Fantasy Basketball
Posted on: March 8th, 2008

Line of the Night: Chris Paul (4.5). I don’t say it because I love him, I say it because Paul is telling Lebron James get his meaty hands off that fantasy MVP. There’s still 40 days left to the regular season and, after a small lull mid-season, Paul is again making his case for M-V-P. Last night against the Nets, he went for 25/3/16 with 3 steals and was 11-11 from the line.

Honorable Mentions: Mehmet Okur (4.3) had 25 points and 14 rebounds (5 offensive) against Shaq and the Suns; Amare Stoudemire (4.3) had 37 points, 8 boards and 3 blocks; Stephen Jackson (4.3) danced his way to 22/7/5 with 5 threes in only 31 minutes against a Dwyane Wade-less Miami Heat*; Steve Nash (4.2) had 17 points and 15 dimes; and, oh, only 48 points for Kevin Martin (4.2).

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Matt Carroll (3.9). The NBA.com news headline on him says it all: “Becoming valuable.” I have Carroll in one especially deep league and I speak from experience when I say he’s gone from completely useless to a guy I don’t mind putting in my lineup. Yesterday, he had 21 points off 5 threes in 41 minutes against the Hawks.

The Biggest Loser: If you’re in an 8-cat league, how about Leandro Barbosa (1.7) who finished with 7/1/3 off 2-10 shooting in 32 minutes? If your league counts turnovers, than Tony Parker (1.9) who had 4 points (2-7 from the floor) and 5 turnovers, might be more your style.

Dishonorable Mentions: Travis Outlaw (0.9) and Al Thornton (1.1) each managed to score 2 points last night.

*I’m assuming a Dwyane Wade-less Miami Heat consists of Jason Williams and Shawn Marion running around the court by themselves while Pat Riley mysteriously leaves the game to “scout some college talent”.

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  • http://www.nbaroto.com NBA Roto

    Dude, what happened to Thornton last night. I just gotta think it’s an anomaly. Thornton has proved himself. But what about Josh Powell? Could Powell actually be a pickup?

    You watch the Nuggets and the Spurs last night? The announcers had an emotional love-fest over Eduardo Najera. I’m all for Najera but if he were as great as the announcers had him out to be, I’d trade Kobe for him. I actually vomited twice listening to it — once on the cat (which was unfortunate).

    Finally, my hat is off to Nels for his strong endorsement of picking up Kendrick Perkins. Nice outing last night, huh? 14 pts, 11 boards and 3 blocks.

  • http://www.FantasyBasketballPros.com Farid

    Hey, and what about my call on Carroll? You should’ve linked to Fantasy Basketball Pros, I’ve been calling that ALL week. Oh and Jimmy, I told you he was the man!

  • http://www.nbaroto.com NBA Roto

    Good point, Farid. But you know, you are a product of your leagues. And in both of my leagues, Matt Carroll was already taken. So, if I can’t benefit from it — sometimes I just don’t pay well enough attention. I will promptly right my wrongs….

  • terrance

    diaw or perkins?

    i only have one move left for the season. diaws minutes are what they are, he will see ~30 a night from here on out.

    will perkins be good from here on out while the celts rest their stars?

  • http://www.givemetherock.com Patrick

    terrance, that move is like trying to call heads or tails on a coin. If Shaq goes down for any reason, than Diaw is going to be a fantasy beast, more valuable than Perkins could hope to be. That being said, I’d go with Perkins for the rest of the year. Not only is he playing incredibly well right now (and better than Diaw), but he’s a hell of a lot more consistent of late and if the Celtics decide to rest their starters (not a given considering Doc Rivers is their coach) Perkins is in for a huge finish.

    Being I Celtics fan, I’ve noticed a change in the way that Perkins has been playing lately. Maybe it’s KG rubbing off on him, but he’s been way more intense the past couple weeks going for rebounds and blocks and finishing around the hoop. I’m encouraged about his future way more than I was at the start of the year.

  • http://www.givemetherock.com Patrick

    Farid, dude, you are totally right. You were ringing the Matt Carroll cowbell long before me. The only excuse I have for not linking to you was that it was my mother’s 50th birthday this weekend and, since she lives 300 miles away from me, I spend most of this weekend on the road. That meant I only had about one-fourth of the time I normally spend on these posts to do this particular one, which meant no time for “hypermedia” or “grammar” or “coherent thoughts”. But it was all for Mom’s, so you got to understand.

    And as a small condolence, let me say that yes, you were indeed all over Matt Carroll right from when he started being valuable. Nice work my friend.

    NBA Roto Man, I think Thornton fits into that second-tier level of fantasy rookies (behind the Lebron James’ or even Kevin Durant’s of the world) who are good in their first year, but they are just terrible inconsistent. He’s obviously worth a spot in most any league, I guess you’ve got to be willing to put up with those 2 points games every once in a while.

    As for Powell, this would have been a much cooler answer before today’s Clips game, but I really was going to say no. With both Thornton and Thomas playing, there’s just not a spot for him right now. But I have a feeling you knew that already.

  • http://www.givemetherock.com Nels

    Patrick, next time you have to travel 300 miles in a weekend, you can just be like “Hey Nels, can you cover the weekend posts for me?”

    And I’ll be like, “Sorry, I’ve got friends in town for Lebowski Fest, dude. But say Happy Birthday to your moms.”

  • http://www.givemetherock.com Patrick

    In hindsight, that would have been the smart thing to do Nels.

    And Lebowski Fest looks wicked.

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