Give Me The Rock » Author: Erik

GMTR Podcast #37: All About Fantasy Basketball Leagues

Patrick — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:56:08 +0000

Erik and Patrick are back to break down everything we like and dislike about fantasy basketball in general. We talk about head-to-head versus rotisserie leagues, category based versus points based leagues, salary cap and other types of nightly draft leagues, potential improvements to the way free agency and waivers work, money leagues, fantasy basketball and gambling, as well as ways to make H2H playoffs better. Looking for an hour plus rant about fantasy basketball leagues? This is the podcast for you.

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Podcast Links
Damn Lies Fantasy Hoops Show

Let’s Talk Fantasy…

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Day 120 of 124: A Peaceful Elbow To The Head

Erik — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:22:04 +0000

It was as a foul that was heard across the NBA and the fantasy basketball universe, which unfortunately echoed and reverberated in my last remaining, ongoing fantasy basketball championship matchup. James Harden suffered a concussion as he was elbowed in the head by the Lakers’ Metta World Peace after Peace completed slam on the fast break, in LA’s double overtime victory over the OKC Thunder. It now makes it uncertain as to whether or not Harden will be able to play in Oklahoma City’s last two games of the regular season. I own Harden, and the double-stinger of the situation is that I also own the not-so-peaceful Mr. World Peace. But my rant does not end there, my finals match extends up to the very end of the season and I don’t have any moves left. Talk about “two birds with one stone…” I just got nailed with a “two players with one elbow” as Metta is in for a definite suspension by the league and it’s just a matter of how many games they will penalize him with. Ugh. Here see for yourself and decide how much malice was actually involved in the act.

Line of the Night: Now onto a more positive note for the night. Chris Paul (3.40) destroyed his former team by going two steals shy of a rare kind of triple-double. He schooled Greivis Vasquez big time as he poured on 33 points, while dishing out 13 assists. His eight steals were an obvious huge plus factor for our player rater to give him such a sweet rating for the night. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said about Eric Gordon (-1.10) who was one of the night’s bigger fantasy losers. He did score 17 points against his former team, but his six turnovers and shooting only 4-13 from the field really pulled down his rating. Needless to say, the Clippers took this one easily under Paul’s lead.

Honorable Mentions:

Serge Ibaka (2.14) benefited from being able to play forty six minutes on the floor and exploded (as can be expected of Ibaka when blessed with playing time) for an impressive 18-14 points-rebounds double-double performance that was wonderfully complemented by what Ibaka does best… SEVEN blocked shots.

Carmelo Anthony (2.13) and the Knicks had a high-scoring outing against the Hawks as they defeated Atlanta 113 to 112. Melo scored a third of the team’s total with 39 points which included three triples from behind the arc. He also added 10 boards and two steals to round out his line.

With Dwight Howard gone for the season, it can be expected for a guy like Ryan Anderson (1.89) to step up and deliver the fantasy goods. His line wasn’t impressive enough to generate many oohs and ahs, but was nonetheless respectable with 24 points and 9 rebounds, including three treys.

The Miami Heat were not only without Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh last night, but they also missed (well kind of) the services of Mario Chalmers who was out with flu-like symptoms. That situation left LeBron James (1.89) to handle and defeat the Houston Rockets (mostly) by himself. He scored 32 points (9-10 from the line), grabbed 8 rebounds, dished out five assists, and blocked two shots.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Marvin Williams (2.86) was actually the night’s second best fantasy basketball producer with a very rare ultra-efficient, high-productivity night. Well yes, it was against the New York Knicks and we all know how they can tend to allow even marginal players to shine every now and again due to their porous defense. Williams caught fire and probably felt like he couldn’t miss as his 29 points were the result of him going 10-14 from the field and him knocking down four shots from downtown. Not only did he light up the scoreboard, Marvin also rewarded his few owners (17% owned) with some peripheral category contributions via 11 boards and three blocks. Not bad.

Pick Up Lines: Chandler Parsons (2.37) was the best player on the Rockets team last night (at least in fantasy basketball) as he scored 23 points (3 threes, 10-13 from the field), pulled down six rebounds, and got four steals (24% owned)

Jason Thompson (2.01) is an extra interesting add for the few games that remain in the season as DeMarcus Cousins is expected to face a one-game suspension after getting slapped with his thirteenth technical foul. Thompson was solid for the night with another double-double, going for 14 points and 11 rebounds. He also dropped seven dimes and got five steals for the night. (37% owned)

Landry Fields (1.51) has been kind of hit-or-miss ever since the Knicks entered the post-D’Antoni, post-Linsanity period. Last night was one of those “hit” games as Fields contributed 18 points (3 threes, 7-8 from the field) to the Knicks’ winning effort. (36% owned)

Biggest Loser:

Whoever said double overtime games are supposed to great for fantasy basketball for got to make sure Ramon Sessions (-1.16) got that particular memo. Sessions had one of his most underwhelming nights since acclimating to the Lakers’ offense. He finish with only 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in spite of logging a respectable 30 minutes on the floor.

Samuel Dalembert (-1.10) played only nine minutes for the Rockets and as can be expected was pretty much useless from a fantasy standpoint with just two rebounds and nothing else.

Part of the reason Chris Paul did so well last night was because he had to step up his game to make up for both Caron Butler (-0.97) and Mo Williams (-0.89) having off nights. Butler scored nothing and took down two boards while Williams managed nine points on awful three for thirteen shooting from the field.

***

This is my last recap for this season. It’s been a blast people! Thanks for reading, subscribing, and listening to us.

***

Daily rankings and stats come from the GMTR H2H Player Rater (beta version). They are based on the stat Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP) an estimate of the number of wins a player produces per week in H2H leagues over a replacement (waiver wire) player.

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GMTR Podcast #36: All About Keeper Leagues

Patrick — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:23:34 +0000

With the NBA season and fantasy leagues coming to an end, Erik and Patrick devote this podcast to keeper leagues: the different types of leagues and how they work, how to effectively create and run a keeper league, how to stop problems before they happen, and some general discussion of evaluating player value in keeper leagues. If you currently play in or are even thinking about playing in a keeper league, then this podcast is for you.

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Speaking of keepers…

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Day 113 of 124: Two Out of Three Ain’t Too Bad

Erik — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:46:42 +0000

If you’ve just started your championship week, good luck! Fantasy basketball season is officially over, well at least for those who participated in GMTR leagues. If your fantasy league’s playoffs also ended last night, and you won (or at least placed) then celebrate as well. Give yourselves a pat on the back for a fantasy season well played.

Break out the Moet and Chandon!

Congratulations to noy101 (GMTR Readers League, Standard Snake Draft) and to (World) PEACE OUT (GMTR Dynasty League) for winning in their respective leagues. Good Game.

As for this blog’s authors, we didn’t do too shabby. Patrick finished second in the keeper league, while Nels and I took second and third places respectively in the the Readers league. It’s nice to see that we were able to save some face and take a step up onto the winners’ podium. I unfortunately do not know the results of the GMTR Auction League that Patrick was in charge of, so we’ll let him chime in his congratulatory remarks in the comments later on.

With that out of the way, let’s move on and recap last night’s games and see how our beloved NBA players fared for us in fantasy basketball.

Line of the Night: Wesley Matthews (2.52) made the most of Portland’s need for offense in the wake of them losing LaMarcus Aldridge for the rest of the season. While it wasn’t enough for the Trail Blazers to defeat the Sacramento Kings, Matthews’ 31 points, EIGHT treys, one steal, one block, and three assists were nonetheless impressive for our player rater. Either he or Nicolas Batum will be the top fantasy performers for the team, for the remainder of the season.

Honorable Mentions:

Carmelo Anthony (2.40) had a valiant yet futile attempt to take on the Miami Heat single-handed. He and J.R. Smith (1.54) were obviously not enough to salvage a win. Melo bore the brunt of the scoring load and scored literally half of New York’s total output with 42 points! He added nine rebounds and five assists to his line. Smith on the other hand had 16 points, four three pointers, seven rebounds and three steals. JR is only owned in 41% of Yahoo leagues and looks like he’s going to remain productive for what remains of the NBA’s regular season.

Joakim Noah (2.19) steamrolled over the Detroit Pistons via an impressive 20-point, 17-board performance! He was a perfect four for four from the line and added two blocks as well.

Two Jasons did well for their teams. The first, Jason Terry (1.85) led all of the Dallas Mavericks in fantasy performances for the night via 21 points (5 threes)and four assists. While Jason Richardson (1.81) lifted Orlando versus the hapless Cleveland Cavaliers with 16 points and four treys of his own. J-Rich also logged six boards and two steals.

Pau Gasol (1.75) had a sweet 20-10 night with, well literally, 20 points and 10 rebounds. Beyond his big man role he moonlighted as a guard very briefly by handing out five assists and knocked down not one, but TWO back-to-back shots from downtown.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Greg Stiemsma (2.31) made the most of Boston’s Big (or should I say OLD) Three getting the night off. Greg not-so-quietly scored eight points and grabbed five boards, but added four steals and six blocks! It’s a shame the Celts only have three games this week. But hey, if you need blocks, Greg’s your man! (11% owned)

Pick Up Lines: Daniel Orton (1.59), whose name made me do a double take as I thought I was reading about professional wrestling then realized that dude’s name was Randy. So yeah, Daniel who? As you can imagine, he’s not owned at all, anywhere, but had a good enough night to log a ping on our rater’s fantasy radar as he had a productive defensive night with 11 points, five steals, and three blocks. Glen Davis has a hyperextended knee and is expected to miss tonight’s game. So yeah, Orton might just be worth some stream material this week, as long as Davis is out.

Chase Budinger (1.57) broke his streak of quiet games and exploded for 19 points and five treys. He nailed four of those threes in his first 12 minutes on the court, so clearly he caught fire from the get go. He added six rebounds and a couple of steals to his performance. With Kyle Lowry back and feeling better, these nights will be seen less and less.

Derrick Brown (1.54) was the lone fantasy bright spot for the Charlotte Bobcats last night as he scored 15 points (6-10 from the field), grabbed seven rebounds, and three steals. He’s a gamble of an add, but with Corey Maggette done for the season, Brown will be getting enough burn to warrant at least a serious look in deep leagues. (2% owned)

Biggest Loser:

O.J. Mayo (-1.46) was awful in his 27 minutes on the floor for the Grizzlies as they lost to the New Orleans Hornets. Mayo scored 11 points, but he also committed six turnovers and was just three of twelve from the field.

Al Harrington (-0.89) does have a partially torn meniscus and is just gutting it out for the rest of these remaining days of the season, so we understand. But also do understand that his injury is severe enough to limit him on most nights and thus resulting in lines similar to 5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assists , 2-9 from the field.

Tony Allen (-0.85) is back in action for the Grizzlies but obviously is in need of shaking off some rust. He might not recover in time to make much of an impact as his four points, and two boards weren’t really signs of an encouraging return.

Marcus Camby (-0.77) left Houston’s game early with a sore back and only managed to log one rebound and two assists for his owners.

***

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GMTR Podcast #35: Limping to the Finish

Patrick — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:36:56 +0000

Erik and Patrick discuss all the latest fantasy basketball news, which mainly just consists of injuries. But we fill 45 minutes talking about whether to start or sit certain players for the upcoming week. Specifically, we discuss what to do this week with Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Ryan Anderson, Kyle Lowry, Jarrett Jack, Marcus Thornton, Gerlad Wallace, Andrea Bargnani and Nene Hilario.

Click to play or Download here (Right-click and Save As)
Or rock the GMTR podcast feed for iTunes.

Spoiler Alert Ahead!

***

If you can’t listen to the podcast, here are our weekly waiver wire plays.

Greg Stiemsma (5 games this week)
Avery Bradley (5 games)
Greivis Vasquez
J.J.. Reddick
Kemba Walker
Byron Mullens (5 games)
Lester Hudson (5 games)
Donald Sloan (5 games)
Deeeeeeeep League special: Jeremy Tyler

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Day 106 of 124: Easter Games Bring Renewed Hope

Erik — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:03:55 +0000

There were several interesting developments that piqued our interest over Easter Sunday night’s games. For those of you who do celebrate Easter, or are New York Knick fans, or own Derrick Rose… Happy Easter to ya!

Line of the Night: Carmelo Anthony (2.65) broke out of his slump in style, in pretty much the only way he knows how; by scoring a ton of points, well 43 to be exact. Two of his four treys for the game came at clutch times and the last one was even the game winner that took New York to an overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls. Melo added seven boards to his line. His heroics, however, could not completely overshadow the return to action of Chicago’s very own Derrick Rose (0.89), whose EIGHT turnovers soured his comeback a bit, but his 29 points, six boards and four threes showed that he’s back with a vengeance. It’s just a shame that his owners waited this long for his return only to get him for three games this week. Nonetheless, it’s good to see him healthy and on the court once again.

Honorable Mentions:

Kevin Durant (2.04) meanwhile, led the Thunder to an easy victory over the Toronto Raptors. It wasn’t his usual stat-stuffing line, but even a “soft” night for him still netted his owners with 23 points, four rebounds, 4 treys, and two blocks for their fantasy basketball appreciation.

While most eyes are now focused on which guard to grab over in Cleveland (Hudson or Sloan) for this week’s five-game week, it was solid veteran, Antawn Jamison (1.77) who still wound up bringing on an A+ fantasy game. He was very efficient, scoring his 34 points by making four threes to go along with completing 12 of 19 shots from the field.

Unfortunately for Toronto, they lost Andrea Bargnani, who once again went down due to tightness in his calf. Jose Calderon (1.73) served as the lone consoling fantasy performer for the team with 19 points, six dimes, two steals and three shots from downtown.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: In Houston’s convincing win over the Sacramento Kings, we saw the return to action of Kyle Lowry, who gave his owners a quiet 17:45 on the floor. It wasn’t too bad for his first game back after battling a bacterial infection for almost a month. Whether his return had anything to do with it or not, Courtney Lee (2.36) sure seemed like he was in the mood to celebrate by exploding for 25 points (3 threes). It was as if he couldn’t miss as he converted 11 of his eighteen shot attempts. He rounded out his line with four juicy steals which his owners surely appreciated.

Pick Up Lines: Even though New Jersey has only three games slated this week, Gerald Green (2.27) just made a case to be a tempting add. Gerald Wallace only played 17 minutes as he injured his leg after a put-back slam. This opened the flood gates for Green who unleashed 32 points (5 threes) on the fantasy hoops world. If Wallace will miss any time this week, look to “the other Gerald” to step in and be in for some explosive games.

Miami rested Dwyane Wade and his sore ankle. And while his missing the game was more about him getting some extra rest rather than anything serious, James Jones (2.23) took advantage of the need for extra production and delivered it in a timely fashion. Jones has been too inconsistent this season to even count on him as stream material, so simply consider his 18 points, six treys and 4 steals as a rare surprise that won’t likely be replicated any time soon. (2% owned)

Danny Green (2.20) who has been doing quite well as starter for the Spurs lately, looks like a sneaky add for this week, especially since San Antonio is slated to have five games on tap. He brought some solid mid-round value via his 14 points, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. (15% owned)

Iman Shumpert (2.09) once again returned to the fantasy spotlight via a solid performance. Both he and J.R. Smith are worthwhile adds for the Knicks’ four-game stint this week due to Amare Stoudemire’s being far from a return. Shumpert brought a diverse line to the table as he scored 15 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, dished out 6 assists, and got 4 steals on the defensive end. (39% owned) Just don’t expect all of his four upcoming games to be like this, and your expectations are probably in the right zone.

Speaking of Cleveland’s guards Lester Hudson (1.78) was just signed to another 10-day contract by the Cavaliers. And why wouldn’t they? He’s scorching hot, scoring yet another game above twenty points (26). He nailed six treys and looks like he just might carry this over through the Cavs’ five-game week. If you’re in need of assists though, Donald Sloan is your man as he dropped 14 dimes for the night.

Biggest Loser:

Paul Millsap (-1.22) should be excused for having an off night due to his fighting through a stomach virus. While his two points and three boards were underwhelming, expect him to bounce back to his regular fantasy-friendly form this week.

Tyreke Evans (-0.96) showed once again, why the Kings may want to part ways with him next season. He only managed to score six points, grabbed no rebounds and only managed one assist. Perhaps a change in scenery will do his fantasy game some good next season. For now, he remains one of the season’s bigger disappointments.

Rodney Stuckey (-0.82) killed a few field goal percentages by missing nine of his thirteen shots from the field to finish with only 11 points and 0 assists. It’s likely that he wasn’t 100% healthy. Either that, or he just got stifled by Miami’s tight defense.

The Sixers are in funk and their frontcourt tandem of Elton Brand (-0.74) and Spencer Hawes (-0.68) led the parade of awful performances for the night. Both men performed way under par and look like they need some kind of inspirational jolt or a full month’s rest. Brand had six points and two rebounds while Hawes only managed two points and five rebounds.

***

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GMTR Podcast #34: Tips to Win Your Fantasy Basketball Playoffs

Patrick — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:27:46 +0000

After last week’s DNP (Did Not Podcast) due to Patrick’s week long illness, we are back to talk fantasy basketball playoffs. Specifically, we discuss things that fantasy owners can do to give them the extra edge during a playoff run. We also discuss some of the latest news, including Jeremy Lin’s season ending injury and what opportunities that presents for other Knicks, and the injuries to Nikola Pekovic and Nene Hilario.

Click to play or Download here (Right-click and Save As)
Or rock the GMTR podcast feed for iTunes.

Podcast Links:
GMTR’s Sports Illustrated.com article about fantasy playoff strategy
Make the daily schedule grid your friend during the playoffs

Spoiler Alert Ahead!

***

If you can’t listen to the podcast, here are our weekly waiver wire plays.

J.J. Hickson
Kevin Seraphin
Charles Jenkins (podcast was recorded before he left last night’s game with an injury)
Iman Shumpert
Marcus Camby
Byron Mullens

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Day 99 of 124: It’s Time To Win. Make It Count!

Erik — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:15:45 +0000

We’ve reached that point in the NBA’s regular season. It’s time for Fantasy Basketball Playoffs! Yeah! So, bring out that Win Sauce and slather it all over your team’s roster. When it comes to the playoffs and the knock-out system it’s all about… “winning now!” “Do or Die!” “Put up, or Shut up!” or as this shirt likes to spin it…

Some playoffs have just started, while others are already deep into the thick of things. Regardless of the situation, teams that made it to fantasy’s post-season are ready raring to duke it out.

Many questions are abound and up in the air. Is Eric Gordon finally going to get back on the court? How risky a play is it to start guys like Nene Hilario, Andrew Bynum, Nate Robinson, Ryan Anderson? Those are some tough calls that had to be made, but now for teams in weekly changes leagues, your fate rests in the hands of the Fantasy Basketball Gods.

Line of the Night: Last night Danny Granger (2.73), brought the goods, big time, and led the Pacers to an overtime victory against the rockets. Danny blasted away from downtown for six triples, was perfect from the line (4-4) and wound up with 32 points, seven boards and two blocks to his name. That right there is the kind of quality basketball owners are looking for in the playoffs!

Honorable Mentions:

Kevin Durant (2.38) should just get handed the regular season MVP trophy so we all be done with it and begin cheering the Thunder’s real-life playoff appearance. Durant had another superlative night with 26 markers (11-16 from the field) and 10 rebounds. He and the rest of the Thunder just crushed the Chicago Bulls. Speaking of the rest of the Thunder, Russell Westbrook (2.36) was not to be outdone. Well he was actually. But just by 0.02 WARP. R-West went for 27 points (6-6 from the line), while dishing out five assists, and grabbing four steals. There isn’t a better dynamic duo in fantasy at the moment. Own either of these studs and that’s all win sauce right there, baby!

Let’s be honest. For most of the season Pau Gasol (2.12) has been overshadowed by both Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum (-1.02). Pau has quietly been producing solid lines post-all-star break, but went bonkers the moment bonkers when Bynum sprained his ankle and only managed to total 10 minutes on the floor. Gasol double-doubled in style via 26 points (11-17 from the field), and 11 boards, and in vintage Pau Gasol fashion he threw in six dimes and three blocks for good measure.

Luke Ridnour (2.04) is back and while JJ Barea is still out and dealing with a thigh contusion, expect Ridnour to keep up this kind of effort. He finished the night with 21 points (6-6 from the line), 6 assists, and three steals. Barea hopes to be back this week and Ridnour is just currently “nutting up” and playing through his own aches at the moment. It would be wise to keep an eye on Minnesota’s back court situation closely.

Ty Lawson (1.86) has been doing quite well over his last few games. Last night’s performance against the Magic was no exception. He was a smooth operator as he scored almost at-will over what poor defender the Magic threw at him as he scored 25 points (10-16 from the field). It wasn’t a score-fest for Lawson as he also managed to add nine assists and five boards to his tally for the evening.

Roy Hibbert (1.64) helped out teammate Danny Granger by doing a lot of the “dirty work”, you know, cleaning up off the glass with nine boards, swatting away unwanted shots by the opponents with five blocks; those kinda things. Oh, he added 15 points too. Overall not a bad night for Hibbert.

While it wasn’t yet another Kevin Love (1.59) line of the night, he still managed an honorable mention-worthy performance with 26 points (11-12 from the line), nine boards and four assists. I’m up against Nels in the GMTR Readers League this week. He’s got Kevin Love, I’d be overjoyed to see Love deliver these kinds of “toned down” nights this week, especially considering how explosive we all know he’s capable of being.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Marcus Camby (1.76) has clearly taken over things upfront for the Rockets and has completely displaced Samuel Dalembert and his fantasy value. Camby in seemingly ageless form had a killer line with 10 points and nine boards that were complemented by four steals and four blocks. It looks like he’s worth a pick-up even in shallow leagues at this point. (46% owned)

Pick Up Lines: Nate Robinson (1.68) stepped up when Charles Jenkins (0.81) bruised his knee. Robinson finish the night with 17 points most of which came via his five treys. He also added seven assists and two steals. Jenkins on the other hand only played 22 minutes, but managed to notch 10 points and hand out six assists. Either Warrior is a risky play at this point as they’re clearly tugging at each others’ value, but then neither one is at 100% health. Jenkins is theoretically the safer of both risks right now, but we’ll have to wait on how the trainers evaluate his knee until we anoint a true winner between the two.

Chris Singleton (1.30) is still a deep league special, at best, right now. He lacks consistency, but his 15 points with four triples was pleasant sight, not to mention his grabbing eight boards too. While Trevor Booker and Nene Hilario are risky plays this week Singleton may at least be considered as “streaming fodder” for the week.

Richard Jefferson (1.22) is quietly carving out some solid sixth, or should I say seventh to eighth man production since being traded to the Warriors. Jefferson was a clutch play for a team I was hoping not to meet this week in one of my leagues. His team needed exactly the four treys RJ brought for him to squeeze passed an easier opponent (for me). At that point, his 16 points scored was just plain gravy

Biggest Loser:

JaVale McGee (-1.66) and his lack basketball IQ shined through last night as he was benched mainly due to, well what I surmise, his five early turnovers. That was just awful for his owners who may have been counting on him to up his game. He finished with two points and 7 rebounds.

Mario Chalmers (-1.14) looked lost, once again! Let’s just say he got “Rondo-ed” and leave at that, and hope he returns to his more effective self. He managed just two points, two assists and on rebound

Luol Deng (-1.13) must have been overwhelmed by Kevin Durant and was largely ineffective in lifting the Bulls to victory. He had a field-goal punishing 4-13 ratio, winding up with eight measely points in the process. Call it an off night and pray to the fantasy Gods he doesn’t bang his wrist the wrong way this week.

***

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Day 92 of 124: A Tale of Two Kevins

Erik — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:41:38 +0000

Alternate title: Zazaaaaaa!!!

While all, well most, eyes were on the supposed potential NBA Finals matchup between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder, us fantasy hoopheads were busy appreciating stuff like a quadruple overtime game between Utah and Atlanta or even better yet, another Line of the Night: by Kevin Love (3.93). Yes, it was kind of reminiscent of our recap a couple of days ago, except this time Kevin L outperforms Kevin D in fantasy this time around. It’s interesting considering both of these studs are separated by 0.13 WARP on our rater over the month of March. He led the Timberwolves to a win over the Nuggets via 30-20 performance, well 21 to be quite accurate. Love also added four assists, two steals, and his not-too-common three blocks. He was also pristine from the foul line, making all of his seven free throw attempts. Score this fantasy matchup for Kevin Love.

Honorable Mentions:
Kevin Durant (2.28) was the focus of attention on real-life fronts as he out-dueled LeBron James in what was being described as a potential Finals preview. There’s no doubting that KD is a serious contender for this season’s MVP award and whenever he ends up flirting with a triple-double, it only serves to concretize such beliefs. Durant poured on 28 points (with 4 threes), grabbed nine rebounds, dished out eight assists, and collected two steals. Solid, reliable, deadly. Pretty much how I’d describe his fantasy season this year.

Quadruple overtime can do wonders for fantasy basketball performances. Utah and Atlanta’s starting centers did not disappoint us in that regard. Atlanta eventually came away with the victory (133-139). On the fantasy front, they were led by our very own Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Zaza Pachulia (2.31) 15 points, 20 rebounds, 3 blocks (36% owned). I’m not sure, but this was probably the best fantasy performance of Zaza’s NBA and fantasy career. It’s been a pleasure to own him in my 16-man H2H league, and he is one of the key factors that I am doing so well in that league. Not to be outdone (much) was of course, Utah’s Al Jefferson (2.21) who also had an impressive double-double. His however was more geared towards scoring as evidenced by his 28-17 night. He added, like Zaza three blocks to round out the line.

Raymond Felton (2.07) looks like he’s finally found his groove. Well at least we hope so. At least for tonight, he was in good form and got his shooting stroke down pat. He finished with 24 points (4 threes), five rebounds, seven dimes, and two steals. Not bad. We hope he can keep this up. Unfortunately, there’s news that he may miss Thursday’s game. Stay tuned for developments.

Dwyane Wade (1.95) and not LeBron ended up being the best performer for the Heat. He led Miami with 22 points (3 threes, 6-10 from the field, 7-7 from the line), dishing four assists, and getting things done on the defensive end with three steals and two blocks. Good, but unfortunately not enough to beat the roaring Thunder.

Luke Ridnour (1.58) did well as almost everyone in the fantasy basketball world was surprised to see the recently scorching JJ Barea miss a game due to a thigh contusion. Ridnour stepped up his game and delivered 25 points and six assists for the night. It was a good shooting game for him as he made nine of his fourteen shots from the field and all five of his freethrows.

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Pick Up Lines: Gordon Hayward (1.74) is locked and loaded. It’s clear sailing for him from here. Well most nights that is and at least we know for sure that is starting job isn’t at any risk. He helped Big Al out by contributing 19 points (10-11 from the line), eight boards, five assists,and rounded out his line with two steals and two blocks. (41% owned). Both he and teammate C.J. Miles (1.33) will be good for some mid-late round value moving forward. Miles chipped in 17 points (3 threes), 6 rebounds, and 2 steals (36% owned) for the night.

Technically, Charles Jenkins should be up here. But he was so way out of our radar range that our automated rating machine missed him completely! He blew up for 26 points, two boards and six assists as he filled in for the injured Nate Robinson who technically was supposed to be filling in for the injured Stephen Curry. You get what we mean. As far as Jenkins goes, we have to wait on word on the status of Robinson’s sore hamstring before we can put out an “add” order just yet. If Nate is due to miss more than a couple of games, then Jenkins should present to be an interesting PG experiment for fantasy, this late in the season. His teammate, Brandon Rush (1.54) on the other hand, is on our radar. Rush did his best to step up and did, while coming with an un-Brandon Rush-like line of 10 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks (18% owned)

Biggest Loser:

Thaddeus Young (-1.38) was just horrible with six points and three boards for the Sixers. While normally reliable, Antawn Jamison (-1.11) was just atrocious with two points and a board for the Cavaliers.

Jamal Crawford (-1.09) was a field goal killer for his owners as he went 1-10 from the field to finish with four points and one assist for the night. Yuck! Gag! Barf! … and that’s from a neutral, non-Crawford-owned perspective.

On the one hand it must be sheepishly funny to see how Dorell Wright (-1.08) must have punished owners still holding a candle to his fantasy value. ZERO points, four boards, ZERO assists; was not only not pretty; it was just so far removed from last year’s averages that people simply have to laugh it off or suffer brain damage in attempting to understand what went wrong with his value.

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Other Stuff Like This:

GMTR Podcast #33: Breaking Down the Deadline Deals

Patrick — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:36:47 +0000

Erik and Patrick discuss all of the trades that went down before the deadline and what effect they have on fantasy value – especially for guys potentially on a lot of waiver wires like Kenneth Faried, Ekpe Udoh and Steve Blake. Also we talk about what to do with Stephen Curry and what to expect from Wilson Chandler now that he signed with the Nuggets. And finally, we throw out our weekly waiver wire recommendations.

Click to play or Download here (Right-click and Save As)
Or rock the GMTR podcast feed for iTunes.

Spoiler Alert Ahead!

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If you can’t listen to the podcast, here are our weekly waiver wire plays.

Shallow Leagues:

Nate Robinson
Klay Thompson
Jerryd Bayless
Wilson Chandler

Deeper Leagues:

Kenneth Faried
J.R. Smith
C.J. Watson
Tristan Thompson
Kirk Hinrich
Samardo Samuels

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