Day 72 of 170: David Stern Drops the Hammer

Categorized as: Author: Patrick, Fantasy Basketball
Posted on: January 7th, 2010

Line of the Night: It might not be the more impressive looking lines, but Channing Frye’s (1.43) 22 points, 9 boards and 3 blocks against the Rockets was enough to help the Suns win and also take home the line of last night. It certainly helped that Frye was 6-12 from three in this game, solidifying his title as the best three point shooting center in the league. Well, either him or the 66% three point shooter Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Honorable Mentions: Aaron Brooks (1.07) was also 6-12 from three for the Rockets, he finished with 34 points and 5 assists; The Magic couldn’t pull off a win against the Raptors, but that wasn’t Rashard Lewis’ (1.04) fault. Lewis was 5-10 from three and had 5 steals; Monta Ellis (0.98) only scored 20 points, but compensated for that nicely with 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals; and a little love for Carl Landry (0.88) who pulled down a strong 31 and 10 double-double.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Despite the name recognition, Delonte West (0.7) is only owned in 19% of leagues. But there is certainly a good reason for that, as West is only averaging 7.3 points in 22 minutes a game so far this season for the Cavs. Coming off the bench last night, West still only got 25 minutes, but used that time to score 14 points on 5-7 shooting, grab 6 rebounds with 6 assists and 2 threes. As long as Cleveland seems content to start Anthony Parker at SG, West is going to have to be Manu Ginobili-like efficient on the court to maintain any sort of fantasy value and that’s just not going to happen on a consistent basis.

The Biggest Loser: Gilbert Arenas, who has been suspended indefinitely by Stern for his “practical joke” of bringing guns into the Wizards’ locker room after an argument with teammates. I love practical jokes as much as the next red-blooded American, but I can’t say that I’ve ever seen one that involved a loaded gun. Arenas is in all sorts of trouble and there is a chance that we don’t see him back on the court this season, giving more playing time to Randy Foye and Earl Boykins. Foye is a guy to consider picking up if he’s still available in your league.

As far as actual on the court performances go, Dwight Howard’s (-0.56) 9 turnovers overshadowed the rest of his 20 point, 12 rebound game; and Jonny Flynn (-0.63) shot 1-11 on the night, scoring 6 points with 4 turnovers against the Warriors. According to Flynn, “I couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean tonight.”

All Eyez on Me: Only one game today, so you’ll be forced to watch Charlotte (15-18) at New York (14-20) if you want to get your NBA fix. According to smart people on the Knicks, one of the reasons for the team’s modest success so far this year is D’Antoni’s willingness to ditch his “rules” and play more to the Knicks personnel strengths, which happens to be a more slowed down better rebounding team a lot of the time.

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Tags: Channing Frye, Delonte West, Dwight Howard, Gilbert arenas, Washington Wizards