Day 130 of 170: Ellis Is An Island

Categorized as: Author: Nels, Fantasy Basketball, Golden State Warriors
Posted on: March 5th, 2011

Line of the Night: When Monta Ellis (2.52) comes up with 41 points (4 threes, 11-12 from the line), 6 rebounds, and 4 assists you would think the Warriors stand a good chance of winning. And they probably do. But the only team winning last night was anyone who’s fantasy team has Ellis on it. Last night, on the Warriors, Ellis stood alone. (Actually David Lee had a pretty decent game, but just go with it for the sake of the post)

Honorable Mentions: Andre Iguodala (2.34) just keeps plugging along and throwing in some big stats every once in a while. Like the triple-double he posted last night: 22 points (6-6 from the line), 10 rebounds, 13 assists. Can’t argue with that one. Kevin Durant (2.05) scored 29 points (4 threes, 5-5 from the line), with 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Channing Frye (1.86) must have remembered that he wanted to get paid, so he made some shots and ended up with 20 points (5 threes), 9 rebounds, and 2 steals (sorry, I just can’t let that one go). Ray Allen (1.79) continued to be an efficient scorer with 27 points on 5 threes, and 9-13 from the field. Then there’s Elizabeth Vargas’s favorite player: Kevin Love (1.74) who had 21 points, 23 rebounds, and 2 blocks. And I’m not even going to explain that one. I’ll let you figure it out.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: It’s kind of scary to mention Matt Bonner (1.77) as part of a wrecking crew that destroyed the Miami Heat, but you can’t deny the fact that he had 18 points (6 threes, 6-7 from the field), and 5 rebounds. I’m thinking that’s very unlikely to happen again, but deep league owners might be interested in the fact that Bonner has played over 20 minutes in 8 of his last 10 games and is consistently making over 1 three per game. He may be the Red Rocket instead of the Blonde Bomber, but he can drop ‘em in there.

Pick Up Lines: After two absolutely horrendous games, Anthony Parker (1.34) came back with a halfway decent 13 points (3 threes, 5-8 from the field) and 7 assists. He has worked his way up to 17% ownership, so there’s definitely some sort of value there.

Damion James (0.97) is someone to put on your radar… Or at least add to the list of NBA players’ names that you know. Last night he had 15 points (5-5 from the line) and 7 rebounds, but I’d wait for another game or two to see if the run he’s having continues.

Brandon Bass (0.96) continues his fantasy-value-killing timeshare with Ryan Anderson. Last night, evidently SVG wanted Bass down low to combat Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer, and so B-Dub played 32 minutes and ended up with 16 points (6-9 from the field, 4-4 from the line) and 2 blocks. If you’re in a daily changes league, you could work some killer strategy by alternating Bass and Anderson depending on who the Magic are playing… but for everyone else, I’m not sure that either of them is worth owning since they could play 30 minutes one game and only 20 the next.

It’s nothing personal, but I hate Jarrett Jack (0.92). At least as a fantasy player. I’ve drafted him and been burned by him far too many times. That said, he has a nice 3 game run going with the Hornets right now including his lastest: 19 points (3 threes, 4-4 from the line) and 1 steal.

Biggest Loser: Anyone who owns David West (-0.81) I suppose. West is technically the Biggest Loser since he had a line of 0 points, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists, but considering he only played 4 minutes before spraining his ankle, it’s his owners who are going to be feeling the sting. (Pun!) While the sprain is still being called “severe” West says he’s going to play on Sunday. Not sure how effective a Shooter/Rebounder type guy is going to be on a bum ankle, though. Deron Williams can still pass the ball with a sore wrist, even if doesn’t score as much… I don’t think West has many other options. But, at least owners have a game on Sunday to decide if they want to start him next week.

So, the next biggest loser is Stephen Jackson (-0.81) who also makes a good cast study for the effectiveness of an injured player. His last two games, Jackson has put up nearly identical numbers which look something like 8 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 turnovers, and 3-10 from the field shooting. If you go three games back, though, he scored 35. Luckily Jackson owners, like West owners, get one more game before next week to assess how things are going.

Keep An Eye Out: While Troy Murphy (-0.65) was hanging around with the biggest losers last night with his 0 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 0-4 from the field, he is clearly still working his way back to game readiness as well as adjusting to a new team. Hard to say if he’ll be ready in time for fantasy owners to take advantage, or if he’ll only be useful for the Celtics in the real life playoffs.

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

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Tags: Anthony Parker, David West, Elizabeth Vargas, Kevin Love, Matt Bonner, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Troy Murphy