Fantasy Basketball Roundtable: Stretch Run

Categorized as: Author: Nels, Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Basketball Roundtable
Posted on: March 16th, 2010

Time for another edition of the sort-of-maybe-weekly Fantasy Basketball Roundtable.

If you need help, you need help now, so let’s get right to it:
With team schedules over the last 4 weeks of the season in mind, what likely free agent player would you recommend fantasy owners pick up for a playoff run?

Ryan Lester of Lester’s Legends:

Over four weeks schedules will balance out so I wouldn’t really factor that in. I’d simply roll with guys who could get opportunities down the stretch.

Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia 76ers
The Sixers are toast. Holiday is getting the experience he needs as the Sixers build for the future. He’ll have his ups and downs, but is a decent option going forward.

Anthony Morrow, C.J. Watson, & Reggie Williams, Golden State Warriors
Marrow and Williams have been huge for the last few weeks. As long as they are healthy and in the rotation, they will produce. In deeper leagues Reggie Williams could be a nice find down the stretch.

Darren Collison & Marcus Thornton, New Orleans Hornets
The longer Chris Paul remains out, the likelihood of his return decreases. If there are only a handful of games left and the Hornets are out of it, why risk further injury. If that’s the case Collison and Thornton will continue their furious finish. Even if CP3 does come back, the talented duo should still be fantasy factors down the stretch.

Drew Gooden, Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers are a sorry bunch. Fortunately, those who were able to gobble up Drew Gooden should get solid scoring and rebounding down the stretch.

Jeff Andriesse, from Damn Lies and Statistics:

Sometimes team schedules don’t fall the way you want during playoff time in fantasy hoops. With free agents, you’d hate to let this deter you from picking up someone who could really help you. For me, Toney Douglas is the most intriguing waiver wire claim right now despite the Knicks playing just two games next week. If you can afford to stash him, or get just two games out of him next week, he plays juicy four-game slates Mar. 29-Apr. 4 and Apr. 5-11. Not only that, but the Knicks have remaining games against Phoenix, Golden State, the Clippers, Indiana and Toronto, all at Madison Square Garden. The chance that Douglas could be the Knick point guard supersedes any hesitation about his team’s two-game slate next week. I’m picking him up.

Tom Lorenzo, also from Damn Lies and Statistics:

I know everyone is talking about Geroge Hill (and rightfully so) due to the Tony Parker injury and the Spurs 16-game playoff schedule, but I’m also intrigued by DeJuan Blair and his prospects the rest of the way. Consistency — in both minutes and actual numbers — have been a bit of a problem for the rookie, but there is one thing working in his favor: the schedule. The Spurs play five back-to-backs the rest of the way. And as we know, Coach Pop is not going to have the burden of patrolling the paint rest heavily on Tim Duncan’s shoulders. In fact, he’s alluded to the notion that he was going to sit Timmy in back-to-back scenarios.

The frontcourt in San Antonio is a little thin and a little banged up. Antonio McDyess is not ready to play much more than 25 minutes per game and Matt Bonner isn’t what you would call an “interior presence.” Again, Blair needs to get some sort of consistency going. But at the very least I am going to pick him up and plug him in when the situation is right. Say, like when Duncan sits. If I can get a guy whose per-36 numbers are 15.0 points, 12.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 1.0 blocks and a 55 FG% in a starter’s role then I’m rolling that dice.

Brian from Empty The Bench:

Though we’re still unsure how long Rodney Stuckey will be out, Detroit Pistons PG Will Bynum has proved to be a spectacular waiver-wire pickup over the past week or so, especially considering the slim free-agent pickings in most leagues.

Stuckey could return as early as later this week, but even if he does, it wouldn’t be surprising to see his minutes limited to far fewer than the 35+ he’s averaged thus far. Bynum has proved he can take advantage of even the slightest uptick in minutes, and when let loose like he has been since Stuckey’s unfortunate dizziness spell, he can help owners more than you might think.

Heading into Monday’s night matchup with the Boston Celtics, Bynum had averaged incredible pers of 11.7 points (51% FG), 10 assists, 2.7 boards, and 1.5 steals over his last four games. Granted, that assists average was greatly helped by his 20-feed performance last Friday against the hapless Washington Wizards, but if anything, this just shows you what he’s capable of against lesser opponent.s

And finally, GMTR’s contribution from Patrick:

The roundtable question this week was actually a lot more difficult than I was expecting when Nels and I were kicking it around. Unless I’m missing someone, out of the teams that play 12 games over the next 3 weeks (Houston, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Toronto and Washington) none have a player that immediately jumps out as a must have addition to any fantasy team.

Carlos Delfino was my man until I saw that he is currently owned in 53% of fantasy leagues, above an arbitrary and self-imposed 50% ownership cut-off for this question. If Delfino is available in your league, he is definitely worth a look. The guy is starting for the Bucks and getting a consistent 37-40 minutes a game, averaging 13.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and a crazy 2.8 threes for the month of March.

Among players who are owned in less than half the leagues out there and have great schedules the rest of the season, the pickings are slim. In theory, Thabo Sefolosha is a guy who should be in for a bump in value with James Harden expected to miss the next 2-4 weeks with a strained hamstring. In reality, he’s done almost nothing in a starting role all year and has been nearly the same black hole of minutes in the 2 games that Harden has missed. DeJuan Blair COULD become a monster again if the Spurs decide to sit Duncan for the playoffs, but unlike past years, they don’t really have the luxury as they hold on to the 7th seed in the West. Wesley Matthews is seeing a nice bump in value starting for the Jazz, but all in all, he’s a shooting guard who averages 12 points and a three a game without much else.

In the end, I’ve got to roll the dice with a couple Wizards. JaVale McGee has been a disappointment to anyone who picked him up after Brendan Haywood got traded expecting a double-double machine over the last third of the season. Instead, he’s been wildly inconsistent and has trouble putting the ball in the basket unless it’s on a dunk. But if your team is in desperate need of blocks (and there are plenty of teams out there like that), McGee can provide that in bunches. Even with the inconsistency, McGee is still averaging 10 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in March. Over a 12 game span, expect McGee to haul in somewhere around 25 blocks.

And for those of you in deep leagues, Shaun Livingston (remember him?) just got put into the starting lineup for the Wizards on Monday. Granted, he didn’t do much in the start (6 points, 3 rebounds) but he did have an 18 point, 8 assist game off the bench on the 13th. The Wizards have nothing to play for the rest of the year, so expect to see a heavy dose of Livingston over the next month or at least until he gets hurt again.

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Tags: Anthony Morrow, CJ Watson, Darren Collison, Drew Gooden, Jrue Holiday, Marcus Thornton, Reggie Williams, Toney Douglas