Day 102 of 170: Good Players on Bad Teams

Categorized as: Author: Nels, Fantasy Basketball, Philadelphia 76ers
Posted on: February 5th, 2011

Line of the Night: Elton Brand (2.65) has worked his way up to #30 on the Player Rater, and last night’s game was one of his best (or perhaps the best) of the season: 33 points (14-23 from the field, 5-5 from the line), 16 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. I’m definitely putting him on my draft radar for next season. I think he should be a decent value pick, since it seems like he’s sort of flying under the radar for a lot of casual fantasy owners. Just something to think about for those leagues where you’re not playing against other GMTR readers.

Honorable Mentions: Amir Johnson (2.52) is another guy who’s flying under the radar because he’s a good player on a crappy team. Last night he had 19 points (8-10 from the field), 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. One of his best games of the season as well, but not out of the ordinary for him at this point. Baron Davis (2.08) had a Point Guard double-double with 22 points (4-4 from the line) and 13 assists, adding 4 steals. It’s harder to hide as a good player on the crappy Clippers these days because of Blake Griffin, but since they’re still 19-30 (losing by 1 to Atlanta), Davis is still technically a good player on a bad team. Andre Iguodala (2.04) had been hiding out his whole career on the 76ers, and while everyone knows how good he can be, playing for Philadelphia tends to make him a much less sexy fantasy pick. Last night’s 18 points and a crazy 16 assists (along with 2 blocks) put him up to #34 on the Player Rater. J.J. Hickson (1.75) is one of the few Cavs players that people actually own at this point. He pretty much defines Good Player on a Bad Team (though, the Good Player part is somewhat questionable due to his consistency), and demonstrated again last night with 31 points (including a surprising 9-10 from the line), and 15 rebounds.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Anthony Parker (1.60) is still building back to the good player he was just starting to be on the Cavs before getting injured. Last night was his second nice game in a row with 18 points (4 threes, 5-7 from the field), 5 assists, and 3 steals. I’d wait one more game, but since he’s playing for the Cavs who are struggling to field a team that would be competitive in the NCAA, he should be up in the 30-35 minute per game range. He’s definitely a better option than Christian Eyenga, Joey Graham, and Manny Harris (sorry Manny).

Pick Up Lines: Raja Bell (1.42) is almost the complete opposite of a good player on a bad team… He plays for a very good team and is just kind of “meh”. How’s that for brilliant use of diction. Bell’s 20 points (7-11 from the field), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals are definitely inflated stats because he played 40 minutes due the Andrei Kirilenko’s absence and Gordon Hayward’s total inability to guard Carmelo Anthony without fouling him.

Ramon Sessions (1.27) is someone I’d recommend picking up along with Parker (and I can stand by that statement since he is currently starting for two of my teams). The 20 points (8-13 from the field, 4-4 from the line) are more than what you should expect on any sort of regular basis, as are the 11 assists, but those are numbers that he can put up every few games and the games in between aren’t ones where wanders like a ghost out there on the court. Of course, that’s probably why he is up to 48% ownership.

Often when analyzing Waiver Wire players on a daily basis, we come up with the same guys over and over. But not over and oer consistently. Just over and over because they’re inconsistent enough that nobody wants to pick them up, but good enough that they can put up stats that we have to mention. Yes, I’m talking about Rudy Fernandez (1.27) (and, of course, Ersan Ilyasova). Fernandez had 19 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals last night, and while he should probably be owned in most deep leagues, his 16% ownership rate is probably already reflective of the reality that is his inconsistent performance.

I’m only going to mention Eddie House (1.12) because when someone can make 2-4 threes per game, they’re going to end up with a few points. Take House’s 16 points on 4 threes last night. He also had 2 steals, which is something he’s fairly decent at doing.

I remember Patrick posting something about Sam Young (0.98), so I guess he must be a professional basketball player. I’m not ready to call him a good player on a bad team, because, well, the Grizzles actually have a winning record. And he’s a second round pick who’s averaged 16 minutes per game up until January of this year. Sure, that’s better than I can do, so who I am to cut him down. I’m not ready to pick him up, but he did start for the 13th straight game for the Grizz, and scored 19 points (7-10 from the field, 5-5 from the line) while he was at it. It doesn’t look like he’s figured out how to do much beyond put the ball in the hole, so unless you’re desperate for pure scoring, it’s probably best to leave him for the other 95% of leagues where he’s still available.

Biggest Loser: The Other Young: Nick Young (-1.04), who – through no coincidence – is also a pure scorer, had 17 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists last night, while shooting 7-20 from the field. Young is owned in 77% of leagues, so perhaps there is hope for his brother from another mother with the same last name. Now… Whatever happened to that Thaddeus character?

Return from Injury: Wilson Chandler (-0.74) played 20 minutes in his first game back after missing three. Clearly his game was off, though, as he ended with only 3 points, 2 rebounds, 0 assists, and went 1-6 from the field. Good for me, though since I’m playing a guy who has him starting this week.

In The Bonus: CBS Sports Week 16 Planner | Deep League Pick-ups | Fantasy Basketbear is Amusing | Kevin Love is an All Star (Thank the Basketball Gods)

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Daily rankings and stats come from the GMTR H2H Player Rater (beta version).

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Tags: Anthony Parker, Elton Brand, Ramon Sessions, Rudy Fernandez