Give Me The Rock » Fantasy Basketball

Day 45 of 124: The Return of the Golden Ticket Question Mark

Nels — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:00:18 +0000

Line of the Night: There were 6 games last night, but 5 of the top 10 lines came from only 1 game. 50% versus 16% seems like it has to have some sort of statistical significance. The game that produced those 5 lines was the Golden State Warriors versus the Oklahoma City Thunder. Is the Golden Ticket back? Monta Ellis (3.15) seems to think so. He scored 48 points (3 threes, 18-29 from the field, 9-10 from the line), with 7 rebounds, and 2 steals to win the night. If you’re willing to put money on it, NBA Betting is the best place to find odds.

Honorable Mentions: James Harden (2.27) had the next best line with 19 of OKC’s 116 points (3 threes, 4-4 from the line). Harden also had 7 assists, and 4 steals. Kevin Durant (2.26) took advantage with 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. Back on Monta’s side of the ball, David Lee (1.66) has a triple double for the dubs with 25 points (7-7 from the line), 11 rebounds, and 10 assists while Stephen Curry (1.51) scored 16 points (7-9 from the field), with 7 rebounds, 10 assists, and 2 steals. Seems like a lot of good passing from both teams. I suppose it helps that they all seemed to shooting the lights out.

Dwyane Wade (1.76) led the Heat over Cleveland with 26 points (8-8 from the line), 6 assists, and 3 steals.

The Pacers won a close one over Utah thanks to Roy Hibbert‘s (1.68) 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 blocks, and Darren Collison‘s (1.66) 25 points (10-14 from the field, 4-4 from the line), and 5 assists.

And finally, Jared Dudley (1.47) tried to make up for lost stat lines with 19 points on 3 threes, and 7-9 from the field.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Nikola Pekovic (1.92) has been talked about a lot on GMTR, but he had yet to actually win the Waiver Wire Line of the Night. Well, last night’s 23 points (9-12 from the field, 5-5 from the line), 10 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks (32% owned) was more than enough to do it. In fact, it was the 4th best line overall (right after Kevin Durant, and before Dwyane Wade. Not bad company to keep). Still only owned in a third of leagues, but I’m sure he’s been picked up in all the competitive leagues out there.

Pick Up Lines: Ersan Ilyasova (1.59) came off the bench for the Bucks to play a season-high 33 minutes. He was part of a furious comeback that fell just short as the Bucks ralled from down 17 at half time to lost by only 3. Coincidentally, Ilyasova had 17 points (8-8 from the line) to go with 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks (22% owned). He’s been a pretty consistent source of Rebounds and Blocks since Bogut got injured, but his minutes have not been as consistent and his shooting has been horrible. He should probably be on a roster in 12-team and larger leagues, but his inconsistency will probably burn owners in daily leagues.

Mike Dunleavy (1.28) had 17 points with 4 threes going 5-7 from the field, but he’s only a consideration in deep leagues right now (8% owned). If you need a three-point specialist, though, put him on your watch list and see if his minutes stabilize around 25 and his threes at 2 per game. If that happens, then he’s probably worth owning in standard leagues.

Daequan Cook (1.23) has started the last 5 games for the Thunder, and with the aid of The New Golden Ticket, he scored 17 points (5 threes, 6-8 from the field) (3% owned). If you need Threes, Cook is worth a look (rhyming!) – he’s averaging almost 3 a game in the last 6 games. Thabo Sefolosha is supposed to be back “any day now” but I’ve heard that too much this season for it to mean a whole lot. If you have a daily changes league, I’d add Cook and ride him for the threes until Sefolosha is back.

C.J. Miles (0.80) had another pretty good game (12 points, 2 threes, 1 steal, 1 block) and is only owned in 43% of leagues. I’m not sure yet if that’s the cutoff for the percentage of leagues that are large enough and competitive enough to have someone like C.J. Miles on a team, but it’s starting to seem like it’s right around there.

J.J. Hickson (0.80) has 8 points and 11 rebounds with 1 steal and 1 block. Jason Thompson started at PF for the Kings, but Hickson played a minute and a half more since it looked like Sacramento’s Forwards were struggling a bit. DeMarcus Cousins was not struggling though. He only hit 3-13 from the field, but that’s about par for him. Boom, Roasted.

Biggest Loser: Luke Ridnour (-0.75) has fallen on hard times these past few games, and despite 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist he tops the list because he’s owned in 48% of leagues and only hit 4-12 shots from the field.

Tyrus Thomas (-0.64) continued to reward the 52% of owners who manage to somehow put up with his maddening inconsistency with 2 points, 3 rebounds, 0 assists, and 1-6 shooting from the field. That comes after 8 points and 13 rebounds in the Bobcats last game (though he did shoot 3-14 in that one, so it wasn’t all roses and sunshine).

And last, but probably the true Biggest Loser because of his 92% ownership, the aforementioned DeMarcus Cousins (-0.64). Cousins had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, but did it the hard way, going 3-13 (23%) from the field and 4-6 from the line. He also had 1 steal and 2 turnovers.

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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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Day 44 of 124: Win More With Bayless

Erik — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:26:26 +0000

Injury of the Night: Chauncey Billups (1.52) hurt his achilles. At this point we’re not sure if it’s torn or not. We’ll know more after he undergoes an MRI. Bottom line is that outlook is currently not very optimistic. For now we can cross our fingers and hope it’s just strained. However, the prudent move in fantasy (for Billups owners especially) is to go and grab Randy Foye, who is the likely beneficiary of any minutes left by Billups in the wake of any missed time on his part. Foye was reasonably effective during his time as a starter this season, averaging 10 PPG, 2.0 3PPG, 4.3 APG, and 1.8 SPG. For now, the expectation is Billups may miss anywhere from a few weeks to possibly the season. Both Foye and Mo Williams will get boosts in value and production during this time. For now, we all wish Chauncey the best and are pulling for his speedy recovery.

It’s sad to see solid vets go down to such injuries. Speaking of solid vets, Line of the Night: Tim Duncan (2.80) took a sip from Fountain of Youth and took out a line from one of his days during his prime. Still remember those days? Let him refresh your memory to the tune of 19 points and 17 rebounds, while two steals and five blocked shots. Duncan’s performance proved too much for the Memphis Grizzlies to handle as the Spurs defeated them 89 to 84.

Honorable Mentions:

Chris Paul (2.76) led the LA Clippers to victory over the Orlando Magic with his 29 points (3 threes, 8-8 from the line), seven rebounds, eight dimes, and two steals. CP3 has been superb lately and should continue to deliver consistently from here on out.

DeMarcus Cousins (2.39) was a board shy of achieving a 20-20 performance with 28 points, 19 rebounds, and three rejections as he easily made short work of the New Orleans Hornets’ thin frontcourt.

As a Serge Ibaka (2.14) owner in at least two leagues this season, I was beaming with joy to see him log yet another (and hopefully more often) 30+ minute game for the OKC Thunder. Mr. Brooks, please give Serge more minutes. Pretty please? Free Ibakaaaaa! Ee-Ba-Ka! Ee-Ba-Ka! Ee-Ba-Ka! Come on people join in! THIS was the kind of line I was projecting Serge to grow into this season and exactly why I picked him in the third round of a couple of drafts. Hey if 12 points (5-8 from the field), 13 rebounds, two steals, and four blocks isn’t third-round-value material, I don’t know what is.

Marc Gasol (2.12) had yet another spectacular fantasy line with 22 points (6-6 from the line), nine boards, two steals, two blocks. I doubt Marc will retain this pace when Zach Randolph returns to action (March-ish). He’s sharing the paint duties with “Mr. non-factor,” Marresse Speights. Go figure. With Z-Bo in the paint, its going to be a whole different story, so savor this run while it lasts folks.

What would a night of Tim Duncan playing like a youngster be without a PG getting his own serving of youth sauce? Steve Nash (2.10) was like a finely aged wine, vintage 2006-2007. Ah, a fine year for Steve Nash indeed. Those were the days when 24 points (4 threes, 9-12 from the field) and 11 assists were more common place.

If LaMarcus Aldridge (1.88) doesn’t make the all-star team, I’m going to boycott watching the NBA! Fine, maybe I can’t do that, I’d be really, really disappointed. Outraged even! How can anyone not credit him with a spot after dropping 39 points (11-11 from the line) on the Thunder, no less, and even pushing Kevin Durant to the limit? How? If Aldridge gets snubbed again it would be a true travesty of epic proportions. What say you, readers? Aldridge for All-Star in 2012, “Yay or Nay?”

***

I own/owned Chauncey Billups in a couple of leagues. When news broke that his injury “didn’t look good”, I quickly grabbed either Randy Foye or this guy, ourWaiver Wire Line of the Night: Jerryd Bayless (2.15) (25% owned). We saw his under utilized potential way back in when he was with the Portland Trail Blazers. We knew coming into this season that he would be pushing Jose Calderon for at least a time-split at the point for Toronto. As a natural scorer, it appears that JB found his true fantasy calling playing alongside Calderon. He’s now one of the Raptors’ go-to guys for offense while Andrea Bargnani is still hurt. Bayless exploded for 30 points (6 threes, 6-6 from the line) and two steals. While obviously don’t expect this to BE his average moving forward. We do project more consistent and fantasy-valuable from this point onwards. Points, Threes, FT%, and Steals – that’s the key to how you’re going to “win more, with Bayless”

Pick Up Lines: C.J. Watson (1.94) was always a solid player. We knew he just needed minutes in order for him to truly shine in fantasy basketball. The dilemma is that it’s hard for anyone to get a ton of playing time when you’re backing up a Derrick Rose. Rose barely played more than 10 minutes as he was plagued with back spasms. He’s currently listed as day-to-day and likely just needs some rest and rehab for his back. Meanwhile Watson took care of business with a sweet double-double performance, logging 14 points, and 11 assists, with seven rebounds and two steals (6% owned)

Trevor Booker (1.81) outperformed Javale McGee last night with 19 points, three steals, three blocks. I wasn’t too impressed with Booker the first time around he filled in for Andray Blatche. Nights like this are slowly allowing Trevor’s potential to grow on me. If he keeps this up, we doubt he will remain 15% owned for very long.

Chase Budinger (1.50) had a good night as Chandler Parsons didn’t. It’s difficult to recommend grabbing him off your FA pool right now as it seems that Kevin McHale seems to be applying the “play whoever has the hot hand rule” when it comes to the timeshare between Chase, Chandler and Courtney (Lee). This happened to be Budinger’s night. He chipped in 16 points with four treys, and five rebounds (35% owned).

Linas Kleiza (1.41) joined Jerryd Bayless’ scoring extravaganza with his own superb performance off the bench. Kleiza poured on the fantasy goodness with 30 points (4 threes, 11-16 from the field) (10% owned). Games like that make his occasional “knee soreness” scares and DNPs worth the risk.

Biggest Loser:

It’s mildly mind-boggling to see Al Harrington (-0.93) who actually double-doubled, as our biggest loser for the evening. Apparently his 12 points and 15 rebounds were not enough to offset his zero assists and four turnovers, that were accompanied with horrible shooting from both the field (5-16) and from the line (2-6) .

Derrick Rose (-0.87) is an understandable disappointment as he had to leave the game due to back spasms. So I’m sure his owners in the rotisserie format will just have to suck it up and end up using the four points, zero rebounds, zero assists D-Rose locked into his fantasy roster slot.

Kevin Martin (-0.86) had an off night, to put it mildly, and was an appalling fraction of his normal self as he delivered eight points and one assist for the night.

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Day 41 of 124: Anthony Morose

Nels — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:11:24 +0000

Or: Where is John Ringo?

We had a little bit of a conversation going last night on Twitter about which three-point bomber would get the Line of the Night:. Well, despite Anthony Morrow‘s (2.97) 8 threes on 13-20 from the field and 8-8 from the line to end up with 42 points, his lack of peripheral stats means that Erik was right in calling Paul George (4.29) as the winner of the three-point fantasy basketball player rater shootout. George ended up with 30 points (7 threes, 11-19 from the field, 1-1 free throws), 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and the stat that gave him the highest WARP score we’ve seen so far this year: 5 steals. George is the only player to go over 4 on the WARP scale.

Honorable Mentions: Kevin Durant (2.91) probably would have been first on any other night with his 36 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 blocks, but that just looks downright ordinary compared to the two guys above… Joining Durant was teammate James Harden (2.15) who scored 24 points (4 threes, 8-13 from the field, 4-4 from the line), with 2 steals to help OKC beat Memphis in spite of Marc Gasol (1.94)’s best efforts. Gasol’s best efforts look something like: 24 points (9-12 from the field, 6-6 from the line), 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

Despite shooting 3-8 from the floor, Ricky Rubio (2.15) made the Player Rater blush with 10 points (2 threes), 10 assists, and beating out Paul George with his 6 steals.

Paul Pierce (1.85) continues to deliver for fantasy owners, putting up another 30 points (4 threes), 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Behind Kevin Durant, he might be the best Small Ball SF out there.

Anderson Varejao (1.57) continued a run of strong games with 12 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 steals.

And Good On You to the 60% of people who held on to Brandon Knight (1.55) (despite our best efforts to convince everyone to drop him). Knight scored a season-high 26 points (3 threes), along with 7 assists and 3 rebounds. Apparently Yahoo had already thought he would be out of the league already and replaced him with a Piston logo…

Finally, Kevin Love (1.51) may not be able to get a double-double in every game this season (he’s had 2 games of single digit rebounds) but that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop putting them up: 20 points (10-10 from the line!), 10 rebounds, and 5 assists.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: I’m going to have to keep driving this Apology Train until it runs off a cliff. We’ve been telling people for a while that Amir Johnson (2.02) was dunzo… so of course he comes back with 18 points (8-13 from the field), 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks (42% owned). Because that 42% ownership shows that a bunch of people already let him go, you now have the choice of whether or not to pick him back up. After the previous 9 games, I’m going to give him another chance to soar or flop. If you’re in a deeper or more competitive league, you probably don’t have that luxury, so I’m going to stick with what I said and say that it’s better to leave him be.

Pick Up Lines: Someone you should not agonize over is Nikola Pekovic (1.41). Somehow he’s only owned in 6% of leagues, but he’s already been picked up in all of mine… I knew it would happen if he showed any sign of repeating what he’d done the game before… but he did even better, going for 27 points (11-14 from the field), and 11 rebounds, so even though he violates the 70% shooting rule, he is a MUST ADD at this point, so stop reading and go get him already (or at least see if he’s still available – and you’re still reading this, what are you doing?)

Vince Carter (1.35) score 14 points on 6-10 from the field, with 5 assists, and 2 steals. He is 49% owned, and after his four most recent games, that number will probably edge over 50%… I have to admit, he’s starting to look a like a poor man’s vintage Vince Carter.

From once and former to current Raptors: Leandro Barbosa (1.19) might be back….? After missing a game, it seems like maybe he just needed to work his way back into thing before getting back to scoring 19 points, and adding the little bonus defense numbers with 3 steals, and 2 blocks (29% owned).

And speaking of Raptors who missed a game: Linas Kleiza (0.98) came back after missing one to score 15 points (3 threes, 6-8 from the field) (7% owned).
Patrick Patterson (0.80) 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks (2% owned)
Alonzo Gee (0.80) 20 points (3 threes), 5 rebounds (5% owned)

Biggest Loser: O.J. Mayo (-0.74) didn’t have all that bad of night with 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists if you’re in a points league where missed shots don’t count. His efficiency was terrible with 5-16 from the field and 3-7 from the line. Rajon Rondo (-0.64) didn’t fare much better, again, putting up a decent line for points league teams: 7 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, but he also turned it over 5 times while going 3-8 from the field and 1-4 from the line.

In The Bonus: FakeTeams does a midseason fantasy basketball mock draft.

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Day 40 of 124: Sleeping Giants

Nels — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:37:19 +0000

and not just the players

Line of the Night: It took a little while for Stephen Curry (2.90) to get past the whole Fragile Ankle Syndrome (which could of course reoccur at any time), but he’s finally playing like a second round pick (or first round last night) with 29 points (10-14 from the field, 2 threes), 5 rebounds, 12 assists, and 3 steals. Curry’s teammate Monta Ellis (1.99) had 33 points (3 threes, 13-21 from the field), and 3 steals.

Honorable Mentions: Sleeping Giant #2: The Denver Nuggets. With Danilo Gallinari (1.99) leading the way, the whole season, but also last night with 21 points (5 threes, 7-10 from the field), 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, the Nuggets have the second best record in the West.

Tim Duncan (1.85) is definitely a giant, and from his play earlier this season, it sure seemed like he was sleeping, but last night her woke up to score 19 points (6-8 from the field, 7-7 from the line(!)), to go with 9 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Amare Stoudemire (1.68) scored 34 points, and grabbed 11 rebounds, but fell prey to Derrick Rose (1.66) who was just pretending to sleep against Philadelphia in order to give more false hope to the 76ers. Rose scored 32 points (2 threes) against the Knicks to go with 13 assists (2 turnovers).

Since he’s been called out a couple times in The Biggest Loser, I felt it only right to mention that Raymond Felton (1.41) had 15 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals last night (pun intended).

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Randy Foye (1.83) got some extra time because Chauncey Billups was struggling with his shot. Foye scored 17 points (7-11 from the field), with 3 steals (3% owned). He passes the 70% rule, but 63% shooting is still pretty hard to keep for any period of time. And so is 27 minutes a game when you’re on a team with Chris Paul, Billups, and Mo Williams.

Pick Up Lines: Having just picked him up before writing this sentence, I am going to declare Gordon Hayward (1.75) an official Good Pick Up. Hayward scored 21 points (8-8 from the line), with 4 assists, and 2 steals (22% owned) for his 4th good-for-a-free-agent game in a row. With all the injuries going around, you might need someone who can play SG or SF (perhaps to replace Gerald Henderson who strained his hamstring and will be out at least 2 weeks).

I have to admit, I did not know which team Jamaal Tinsley (1.22) was playing for. Turns out, it’s Gordon Hayward’s Utah Jazz (yes, that was intended to be some mix of ironic and sarcastic). Tinsley got the start as the Jazz finally decided that Devin Harris had injured his brain (though they claim it’s his hamstring). JT played 34 minutes even in a lopsided loss to Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis (I don’t think anyone else on the Warriors really needs to play when those two are healthy) and he ended up with 9 points, 6 rebounds, 13 assists, and 2 steals (1% owned). If you’re in a deep league or a competitive league (or heaven forbid, both) then you probably want to snap him up on the off-chance that he continues getting those kind of minutes even when Harris returns.

(Image: Dustin Curtis)

Swimming upstream once again is John Salmons (1.21) with 19 points (3 threes), and 8 rebounds (31% owned) (pun intended). I would err on the side of “he’s already owned in every league where he should be” (and probably more than that) on this one.

Kyle Korver (1.20) did that thing he does wherein he makes threes and then you think about picking him up. To get to 16 points (3 threes) he added 5-5 from the line (13% owned), and it probably doesn’t bear repeating, but Results Not Typical.

Besides Hayward and the riskier Tinsley, I’d say a couple guys worth taking a look at are: Dante Cunningham (1.03), who had 8 points, and 12 rebounds (1% owned), and Josh Howard (0.92), who I even picked up and dropped at one point so far this year. Howard had 19 points (7-10 from the field), and 4 assists (7% owned), so while he doesn’t actually qualify as a legit pick up due to the 70% rule, I still say take a look just because when he gets the time, he can put up numbers. If anything, at least click the little flag button (or whatever you do in your league to add someone to your watch list) and keep him on your radar. Cunningham is more inconsistent with a much lower upside, but for deep league managers who need some blocks and boards, he might still have value for another month or more until Zach Randolph returns.

Biggest Loser: Of course… I/We have been telling people to keep C.J. Miles, so it would stand to reason that he go and shit a brick on the court. C.J. Miles (-1.62) had 3 points, 2 rebounds, 0 assists, and was 1-6 from the field last night.

I think it’s time to call it quits on the DeJuan Blair Experiment (-0.89). Blair managed just 3 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist, going 1-6 from the field. He’s already a pretty bad FT shooter, so when he shoots like that from the field, you have to worry.

For anyone (because there was at least one person) thinking about picking up Trevor Ariza (-0.62), you have been warned: 5 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 turnovers, and 2-10 from the field. It better be a deep league.

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Day 38 of 124: Efficiency Wins The Night

Nels — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:52:06 +0000

Line of the Night:/Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Carmelo Anythony returned for the Knicks after missing two games, but it was Landry Fields (3.04) continuing his recent string of strong performances who took both the overall LotN and by virtue of his 43% ownership, the WWLotN. Fields had 18 points (4 threes, 7-10 from the field, 0-0 from the line), 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 0 turnovers. The Give Me The Rock fantasy basketball player rater always loves it when a guy can make a few threes, get a huge defensive number like 5 steals, and not turn the ball over. That said, the only other really guady (ie: non-efficiency type line) last night came from Anderson Varejao (1.27) and his 20 points and 20 rebounds. But when Ryan Anderson can get 20 rebounds in a game… well, it almost makes Kevin Love look like just an average guy.

Honorable Mentions:
Paul George (2.53) led Indiana over New Jersey with a very efficient 24 points (4 threes, 8-11 from the field, 4-4 from the line), and 2 steals. And since fantasy owners don’t care that the Nets lost, let’s mention Anthony Morrow (1.86) with 28 points (5 threes), and Deron Williams (1.63) (who of course I’m playing against this week) with 34 points (4 threes) and 7 assists. I’m sure those people with “Team Wins” as a category are frustrated by the loss, but you kind of have to take it with performances like those. You also have to tell your Commissioner that if they’re going to include a “bonus” or “fun” or just “extra” category, Team Wins is, in my opinion, the dumbest one you could add. The whole point is that it’s fantasy basketball, where you try to get a team of the best players from around the league and it doesn’t matter who they play for as long as they put up huge numbers.

Speaking of teams that lost, Al Harrington (1.85) put up 23 points (3 threes, 4-4 from the line), 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals in the loss to Memphis. Across the court Rudy Gay (1.75) rebounded (pun intended) from No Field Goal game with 20 points (4-4 from the line), 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks while Marc Gasol (1.57) had another strong game putting up 20 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 blocks.

I’m not sure why coaches play their starters when they’re up by 24 at half time… I mean, I guess you have to play somebody, but to give the notoriously unhealthy Andrew Bynum (1.82) 32 minutes of playing time in a season like this one, I have to question if Mike Brown is actually capable of coaching an NBA team. I’m sure fantasy owners won’t complain about the 20 points (8-11 from the field, 4-4 from the line), 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks (at least if Bynum isn’t injured at the end of the week). I mean, the Knicks were only up by 14 at half time, so I can understand the starters there playing 30+ minutes because they pushed the lead in the 3rd quarter and won by 27… but when you’re already up 24? At least Brown managed to keep Bryant and Gasol in for only 27 and 29 minutes respectively (much to the disappointment of fantasy owners – don’t worry guys, it’s a long season – you’ll need those two to be rested when the Lakers are fighting for playoff position during the fantasy basketball playoffs).

Joe Johnson (1.78) continued to his renaissance of racking up stats with Al Horford out: 30 points (3 threes, 13-18 from the field), and 4 assists. Nothing to it.

Tyreke Evans (1.62) had a near triple-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists, adding 3 steals just for good measure.

***

Pick Up Lines: Stephen Curry (0.27) had 8 assists but went 1-7 from the field and played a few less minutes due to that struggle with shooting, which allowed Brandon Rush (1.46) to put up 20 points (4 threes, 6-10 from the field, 4-4 from the line), and 6 rebounds (22% owned). Rush has been pretty decent all season, and sits at #96 on the Player Rater. Even with his minutes capped at about 27 max, I would think he’d be owned in more leagues than 22% simply due to the fact that there are a lot of leagues with more than 12 teams (though, at 96, he should be owned in 12 teams leagues, too).

Troy Murphy (1.40) played nearly a season-high 27 minutes for the Lakers (because of the blowout) and ended up with 12 points (4 threes), 6 rebounds, and 4 assists (6% owned). His minutes are still very inconsistent and he’s only averaging 18 on the year, so leave him for deep leagues.

Alonzo Gee (1.09) was part of a furious 4th quarter comeback for the Cavs that just fell short. He put up 11 points, but it was the 4 steals that really drew the Player Rater in (4% owned). Gee is up to 25 minutes per game and averaging 1.6 steals in that time. He’s not a great fantasy asset, but it seems like he should be owned in more than 4% of leagues. (Especially when teammate Ramon Sessions is owned in 31% of leagues and only ranked 200 compared to Gee sitting at 164)

Jermaine O’Neal (1.05) returned from a bruised left knee to score 12 points (5-7 from the field), with 2 blocks (5% owned). Give him a couple games to see if he can keep getting 25+ minutes and if he does, then don’t hesitate. He can put up big boards and blocks for you when he starts for the Celtics.

If you’re looking for a short (or possibly long) term fill-in at Center and don’t trust Jermain O’Neal, then perhaps Ed Davis will be more to your liking. Davis had 11 and 11, making all 3 of his free throws and blocking a shot. Even though Amir Johnson is starting in place of Andrea Bargnani, it looks like the Raptors still don’t trust him to really get the job done. Davis has played more minutes of the bench the last two games, and while he’s not going to win anything by himself, his contributions in rebounds, steals, and blocks are better than nothing.

Biggest Loser: Still owned in 62% of leagues, that might not last long if Brandon Knight (-1.04) keeps this up. After coming in second (to last) last night, Knight managed just 9 points on 38% shooting with 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 3 turnovers.

It wasn’t a great night from DeMar DeRozan (-0.70), but that seems to be about how his lines go these days. After scoring 27 in the Raptors last game, DeMar had only 9 points (3-9 from the floor, 3-4 free throws) with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 turnovers.

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Day 37 of 124: Where Blake Griffin Tears a Hole in the Space-Time Continuum

Patrick — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:05:00 +0000

Line of the Night: Derrick Rose (2.67 WARP). I got to watch some of the Bulls/Wizards game last night. Unfortunately, what I watched was the fourth quarter (when the Wizards started to clamp down on Rose and forced Carlos Boozer to actually do something on the court) so I missed most of Rose’s season high 35 points in the game. Rose was also 14-15 from the line (yay for that FT% category), adding 8 assists, a couple steals and 3 blocks. Rose now has 3 straight 30 point games – so I guess that toe is feeling ok.

Honorable Mentions: Add one part Chris Paul (2.65) and one part ego-destroying rim destruction by Blake Griffin (1.07) and you’ve got the recipe for the how to stop the Thunder’s four game winning streak. Paul had 26 points (on 12-16 from the field), adding 14 assists, while Griffin did this to Kendrick Perkins:

Griffin finished with 22 and 7, but doubt anyone is talking about his stat line today. For the Thunder, Kevin Durant (2.49) scored 36 points, with 13 rebounds and 3 blocks, while Russell Westbrook (1.67) dropped 31 and added 5 steals. Kendrick Perkins finished with the need for a lifetime of therapy.

One reason I hate owning Michael Beasley (2.39) is because of the occasional 30+ point games he puts up, which teases you just enough to keep him around through all the bad times. Last night was one of those nights for the Beas who helped spark a huge third quarter run for the Wolves and finished the game 34 points on 10-14 from the floor and 12-12 from the line in a win over the Rockets. If you’ve never had the pleasure of owning Beasley before, you will get these 30 point games from time to time spread out over the year. It is not the start of something special.

The Wolves – who scored 120 points on the night – were far from a one man show. Kevin Love (2.23) chipped in 29 points (on 10-15 from the field), with a measly 7 rebounds; while Ricky Rubio (2.12) nearly triple-doubled with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 11 assists.

The Rockets’ best line actually came from Kevin Martin (1.46), who was back in the lineup after missing two games. Martin hit 4-6 from three and finished with 29 points in the game. This meant that Courtney Lee was pushed back to the bench (and didn’t do much in 22 minutes), while Chase Budinger managed to still score 13 points in 21 minutes. Both take a hit in their fantasy value with Martin back. And just a note to all Kyle Lowry (0.51) owners – he continues to slide down the GMTR player rater thanks to recent games like this one last night – 11 points and 3 assists. You may want to quickly sell high on him if you still can.

Big men of the world unite! Paul Millsap (1.73) continues to play like a first round fantasy draft pick with 19 points and 15 rebounds in a win over the Blazers. Al Jefferson missed the game with an ankle injury – and the injury sounds pretty bad despite Jefferson’s insistence that he’s going to be back on the court soon – so keep an eye on that situation Jefferson owners.

Ryan Anderson (0.58) may be known more for his three point prowess than his boarding, but thanks to a truly horrific shooting game between the Magic and Sixers (more on that below) he grabbed 20 boards on the night. The downside is that he was 0-4 from three.

And Joakim Noah (1.43) – who was in a funk at the start of the season – nearly had a triple-double against the Wizards with 14 points, 13 boards and 7 assists. With 5 double-doubles in a row now, I think it’s safe to say that Noah is back.

The Suns got destroyed by the Mavs 122-99, but Marcin Gortat (1.85) had the best fantasy line in the game with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks against one of the more invisible 7-footers in the league, Brendan Haywood. And with all the talk about Rodrigue Beaubois (0.77) – who finished with 8 points and 7 assists in the start – the Mavs’ best line actually came from…

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Delonte West (2.60). West may have lost his starting job to Beaubois, but with Kidd out he got 28 minutes off the Dallas’ bench and scored 25 points on 9-12 shooting, adding 5 threes and 6 assists. Whether he is starting or coming off the bench, West will get minutes with Kidd out of the lineup and makes an ok add in deeper leagues, but his scoring in this game is a total aberration. He’s much more likely to be around the 10-12 point mark in most games. I’d guess that West’s big fantasy contribution will most likely be as spoil to any breakout potential that Beaubois has currently.

Pick Up Lines: Yesterday’s waiver wire guy, Vince Carter (2.41), chipped in another 21 points and was 5-7 from three in 29 minutes. I echo Erik’s comments from yesterday – I can’t say that I’m running out to grab Carter in any leagues – but as long as his shot is falling like it has been recently, he should get a small bump in minutes and value while Kidd is out.

Earl Watson (2.05) – our deep league special from two podcasts ago – filled up the box score with 6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks in 25 minutes for the Jazz. He’s still coming off the bench behind Devin Harris, so he only really makes sense in deep leagues at the moment or maybe as a handcuff if you happen to still be a Harris owner (again, probably in a deep league).

With Andray Blatche out of the Wizards’ lineup for a month or so (more on that below) Trevor Booker (2.03) got extra run off the bench against the Bulls (Jan Vesely started at PF and did absolutely nothing). Meanwhile, Brooker and had his best game of the season – 14 points (7-9 from the field), 9 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. His line as a starter earlier in the year when Blatche was out – 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.6 blocks – doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, but if you’re desperate for a big or are a Blatche owner, you may want to take a chance on Booker.

Mike Dunleavy (1.68) wants some love, dammit. Lately, we’ve been dismissing Dunleavy on GMTR (as well as the entire Bucks SG through PF positions), but he continues to put up nice scoring numbers off the bench for Milwaukee. And against the Pistons, Dunleavy scored 20 points and hit 2 threes in 26 minutes. It’s his fourth double-digit scoring game out of his last 5 games and he’s finally wore me down enough that I’ll say he is worth a look if you need a scorer as long as he’s getting a consistent 25+ minutes off the bench.

If you love Ryan Anderson but can’t afford his price tag, check out Matt Bonner (1.40), PF/C for the Spurs who is basically a 6-foot 10-inch three-point specialist. Bonner scored 15 points on 5-9 from three against the Grizzlies and has now hit 15 threes in the Spurs last 4 games.

Speaking of three point specialists, Kyle Korver (1.20) got the start, played 44 minutes and hit 5 threes of his own on the way to 17 points and 5 rebounds for the Bulls. The absence of both Luol Deng and Richard Hamilton helped Korver get that burn. He makes a good short-term play while those two guys are out, although both Deng and Hamilton are day-to-day and will probably be back sometime this week.

And with Thabo Sefolosha out with a right foot injury, Daequan Cook (0.90) saw 32 minutes off the bench for the Thunder and had a pretty empty 12 points. But he’s currently available in 99% of leagues, so if you happen to play in a 16+ team league and need some scoring for the week, he could be worth a play while Sefolosha is out.

Injury of the Night: The Wizards announced yesterday that Andray Blatche is expected to miss the next 3-5 weeks with a strained calf muscle. According to interim head coach Randy Wittman:

“He’s probably looking at, after the doctors looked at an MRI, maybe 3-5 weeks with a strain,” Wittman said. “He tweaked it pretty good in Charlotte, and obviously there’s a lot of bleeding in there, which leads to the inflammation in the calf. We’ve got to get that out of there first, and then we’ll have a better idea what we’re looking at.”

As mentioned above, Jan Vesely (-0.45) got the start in Blatche’s place last night, but only played 15 minutes. Trevor Booker is the guy to look at picking up, especially if you’re a Blatche owner. I’ve already dropped Blatche in the one daily changes league I had him in.

Possible Injury Rumor of the Night: So in an article about Rudy Gay, Yahoo Sports’ Marc Spears just casually threw out that Coach Lionel Hollins doesn’t think that Zach Randolph will be back on the court this season. What? How about a little elaboration please? Spears seems to be making a habit out of burying these gossipy tidbits in articles about other stuff (I noticed he did a similar thing earlier this year, although I forget about what at the moment). If you’ve held on to Z-Bo for this long, wait for confirmation from some other source before dropping Randolph.

[UPDATE: Thanks to a little detective work by Nels (check out the comments), it looks like Spears misquoted Hollins about Z-Bo in his article. Everything is still on track for Z-Bo.]

Biggest Loser: The Magic appear to be doing everything in their power to actually drive Dwight Howard away from the team. In their latest 74-69 loss to the Sixers, Hedo Turkoglu (-1.32) finished with 3 points and 3 rebounds while shooting 1-9 from the field. Hedo has shot 12-48 over his last six games and appears to have already run out of steam on the season. Don’t be surprised if he pulls a Dirk or Melo sometime soon and takes some time off to get right.

And has Brandon Knight (-1.16) already hit the rookie wall? It’s a little early to proclaim that after two bad games, but Knight didn’t score on the night, finishing with 1 rebound, 2 assists and 4 turnovers in 24 minutes.

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Day 36 of 124: Kobe Bryant Passes Kareem

Erik — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:24:41 +0000

One milestone deserves another. One night after Kemba Walker joined Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw in being the third rookie to achieve an elusive triple-double, Kobe Bryant surpasses Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most career field goals for the Lakers. Bryant is now also on track this season (91 points behind) to surpass Shaquille O’Neal who is fifth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

(Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

On that note, I suppose it’s fitting if not even poetic that this season’s resurgent Kobe Bryant (2.87) comes away with GMTR’s Line of the Night with 35 points and 14 boards, that came along with five bombs from downtown and two blocks. While the Lakers’ matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves would have been a showcase battle between two of today’s top power forwards, Pau Gasol and Kevin Love, it was Bryant and his impressive performance that stole the show.

Honorable Mentions:

It was a night of guards as Chris Paul (2.73) had an almost equally admirable performance against the Denver Nuggets with 25 points (3 threes, 4-4 from the line), six rebounds, seven dimes, and two steals. His owners can rest easy as it looks like his recent injury is behind and he’s ready to get back to playing at 100 percent.

We did mention Kevin Love (2.28) and he didn’t disappoint. Let’s face it. He very rarely does. He outperformed Laker counterpart Pau Gasol (in fantasy) with yet another eye-popping double-double performance to the tune of 33 points and 13 rebounds.

After scaring owners with what was believed to be a tweaked ankle in the last game, Jeff Teague (2.21) opted to dowse any fears by going nine of eleven from the field to tally 24 points. He also added four treys and four dimes. This will give recently returned from injury, Kirk Hinrich more time to get into his back-up PG groove.

It’s time to call it quits (at least for me). No more Chris Bosh (2.20) jokes. Well, uh, not for the remainder of this month at least. Bosh took care of business for the Heat with 24 points and 12 rebounds. He was sweet from the foul line, making all eight of his shots from the charity stripe.

Technically speaking, Michael Beasley (2.18) deserves a shallow league mention in the “Pick-up lines” section with 18 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. Unfortunately, in spite of his good showing I’m a tad wary to recommend him as a shallow league grab. Let’s let him put together a reasonably consistent string of solid games before we ring the purchase bell.

Chauncey Billups (2.03) was more than a worthy backcourt partner for Chris Paul last night. He was on fire! He torched Denver with 32 points, nailing six treys from beyond the arc.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: If you’ve been playing fantasy hoops as long as I have, it would feel weird to you to to call out Vince Carter (1.89) for WWLOTN. Ah but time flies. Vinsanity started at shooting guard and chipped in 21 points and two steals in Dallas’ winning effort against their Texan rivals, the San Antonio Spurs. Carter is owned in 27 percent of Yahoo leagues and is probably worth a spot add for the week (or two) while Jason Kidd is still injured.

Pick Up Lines: Marvin Williams (1.82), while owned in only 26 percent of leagues, showed some promise with his hybrid-big performance last night against the Hornets. He had 14 points (3 threes, 5-8 from the field) and 3 steals. It was against New Orleans’ paper-thin frontcourt so take it with a grain of salt and act accordingly.

George Hill (1.52) is simply one of those guys who just needs minutes in order to be a fantasy-productive asset. He made the most of a slow start by Paul George to finish the night with 16 points (6-9 from the field), six rebounds and four assists. At 43 percent ownership there are enough people who are aware of his status. The other 57 percent know all too well that those said minutes come at sometimes random intervals.

Speaking of inconsistent playing time and performances, Danny Green (1.34) and Gary Neal (1.23) each had good nights as the Spurs spread out the playing time so evenly it rivaled a gourmet-prepared peanut butter sandwich. Both of them played over 25 minutes and wound up sounding off a ping on our fantasy sonar. Green had 12 points and five rebounds with three steals, while Neal had 19 points and seven dimes. Both guys only have 10 percent ownership and are currently stream, cycle, boost (or whatever you want to call it) fodder for now

Rodrigue Beaubois (1.17) now has an opportunity to return to the world of fantasy relevance. He’s been languishing in the depth of the Mavericks’ aging backcourt, but has recently started at the point, thanks in part to injuries to both Jason Kidd and Delonte West. Roddy erupted for 14 points, seven assists, and three blocks. Expect his 23 percent to rise within the coming days as owners scramble to add him and ride his performance during Kidd’s injury-induced hiatus.

Biggest Loser:

Carl Landry (-1.13) stank things up for the few stubborn owners he still has as he suffered through the chaos of Monty Williams’ straw-grasping rotation. He finished with zero points and four boards.

Kris Humphries (-0.91) joined the fantasy-repulsive side of New Jersey’s roster last night. He had an awful performance, managing to only score a lousy trifecta of points, goind one of four from the field. He managed to snag eight rebounds but the five turnovers he committed easily overshadowed that accomplishment.

It didn’t come too much as a surprise that Danny Green and Gary Neal played so many minutes, when you look at Tony Parker (-0.77) and his mind numbing nine-point, four-assist outing. He made two of eleven shots from the field, which was likely enough for Popps to want to avoid a coronary and limit TP’s minutes.

***

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Day 35 of 124: Where Kemba Walker Joins Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw

Patrick — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:29:52 +0000

Line of the Night: It has been one wild ride this year for Tyreke Evans (2.57 WARP). Horrible shooting performances and single-digit scoring games followed by games like this against the Jazz: 31 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals. Evans’ owners would surely appreciate a little more consistency from Evans this season, but his highs keep them coming back for more.

Honorable Mentions: Memphis lost to the hot mess known as the Phoenix Suns, but Marc Gasol (2.18) had the second best fantasy line of the night with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks in the game. Thanks Phoenix and your 36% shooting as a team. Or more specifically, thanks Channing Frye (more on that below).

The Suns finally (finally!) got a good performance out of Jared Dudley (1.82), who scored 20 points, adding 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in the game. The good news is that Dudley is now back in the starting lineup after the Sun scored a season low 71 points on Friday. Dudley has been dropped a ton in leagues and is available in nearly 50% of Yahoo leagues right now, but he is a notoriously streaky player, so don’t assume it’s going to be all roses for him the rest of the season. Still, if you’ve got a spot on your team and Dudley is available, he’s worth one more chance. Come on, he’s sorry, now take him back.

Kobe Bryant (1.87) nearly triple-doubled against the Bucks with 27 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals. But the Lakers’ lost thanks to a strong performance by Drew Gooden (1.45). Gooden still could qualify as a waiver wire pickup in many leagues (he is currently only 43% owned in Yahoo leagues). His second start was almost as good as his first – Gooden had 23 points and 8 rebounds against the Lakers. With Andrew Bogut out for the next 8-12 weeks with a fracture ankle, grab Gooden ASAP if he happens to be available in your league.

But Kobe was outdone by Kemba Walker (1.86), who actually triple-doubled with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, adding 2 block against the Wizards for good measure. 10 boards and 2 blocks for the 6-1 Walker? I was going to chastise the Wizards, but he actually is a very good rebounder and shot blocker for his size. It is the first triple-double by a rookie this season and he becomes the third player to have a triple-double in Bobcats’ franchise history. The other two? That’s right, Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw.

Despite giving up that triple-double, the Wizards beat the Bobcats behind JaVale McGee’s (1.82) 22 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks. John Wall (1.51) also finished with 13 points and 10 assists in the game.

Andre Iguodala (1.54) triple-doubled himself, barely crossing the threshold with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a blowout win over Detroit. Louis Williams (1.42) chipped in 17 points and was 3-4 from three.

Without Carmelo Anthony for the second straight game, Amare Stoudemire (1.77) finished with a big 23 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks in a 97-84 loss to the Rockets, while Tyson Chandler (1.47) scored 14 points (5-7 from the field), 11 rebounds and 2 steals.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Starting his second game in a row in place of the injured Kevin Martin, Courtney Lee (1.37) scored 14 points and racked up 4 steals in about 30 minutes. Lee is one of those low upside guys who is not going to bust out in a starting role (a la C.J. Watson), but is good for about 10 points, a three and 1-2 steals a game whether he is starting or coming off the bench. Martin is currently day-to-day with plantar fasciitis in his right foot and may or may not be available for the Rockets’ game on Monday (got to love NBA injury reports).

Pick Up Lines: A quiet night overall considering there were six games.

Luc Mbah a Moute (1.33) scored 10 points, adding 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in 38 minutes against the Lakers. So why did Mbah a Moute see so much run when he was getting less than 20 minutes a game prior to that? One, Stephen Jackson was suspended for this game for “verbal abuse of an official and failure to leave the court in a timely manner”. That’s not the Stephen Jackson I know. Second, the team used him defensively to guard both Gasol and Bryant at times and he was moderately effective, at least against Gasol. Keep an eye on Mbah a Moute for now, but the Bucks’ rotation is a mess and he is a defensive first guy whose stats barely translate into fantasy basketball even when he’s getting a consistent 30+ minutes a night.

Gordon Hayward (1.25) busted out with 21 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a couple steals in a win over the Kings. I liked Gordon as a mild sleeper going into the year simply because the SF spot on the Jazz was wide open for him with the departure of Andrei Kirilenko. Hayward has effectively crapped all over that opportunity – this was his first double-digit scoring game out of the Jazz’s past 6 – but the minutes will continue to be there and he could be worth a pickup if he can get his shot to start falling with consistency.

Chase Budinger (1.13) is back on the court for the Rockets thanks to the Kevin Martin injury. After racking up a few DNPs, Budinger followed up a 21 point game on Friday with a 19 point game against the Knicks. Budinger makes a decent spot start as long as Martin is out if you need a scorer, but don’t get too optimistic about him, he’s likely to return to the abyss when Martin returns from injury.

Biggest Loser: Tayshaun Prince (-0.93) returned to the court last night for the Pistons after missing two games for personal reasons. He should have taken an extra day off, as his 6 points on 3-9 from the field was the least impressive line among guys actually owned in some leagues.

Right behind him was Channing Frye (-0.89), who scored 2 points on 1-9 shooting in only 14 minutes on the court. On the positive side, Frye and Dudley are now back in the starting lineup for the Suns. So Frye bombed in the start, but all he has to do to turn things around is hold onto the starting job, actually get some minutes and start playing much, much better. Easy, right?

And Andray Blatche (-0.67) had 4 points, 1 rebounds and 0 assists in only 8 minutes off the bench for the Wizards before leaving the game with tightness in his left calf. Blatche had been replaced in the starting lineup by Jan Vesely anyway and is currently in Randy Wittman’s doghouse, so I’d have a short leach with Blatche if he were to miss time with that injury.

***

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Day 34 of 124: Friday Night Basketball is like Monday Night Football

Nels — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:01:29 +0000

Because everyone played like they were on national TV last night. (Okay, not everyone, but look at the numbers below)

Line of the Night: I tried to tell people (probably a bit too gently) to hang on to Dorell Wright (3.18). Wright lit it up with 23 points (6 threes), 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the Warriors have a back loaded schedule. Anyone who hung on to Wright will have 4 game weeks one after the other right when they count the most.

Honorable Mentions: Dwyane Wade (2.96) returned to help the Heat beat New York, scoring 28 points (6-6 from the line), with 4 assists, 5 steals, and 2 blocks in his first game back. Save it for the playoffs DWyane!

Paul Pierce (2.92) continued to carry the Celtics like it was 2005 (or 2006). Pierce scored 28 points (4 threes, 4-4 from the line), along with a near triple-double of 10 rebounds and 8 assists, adding 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Anything else you want from a stat line?

Joakim Noah (2.46) seems to have finally gotten his head screwed on straight, scoring 15 points (6-10 from the field), with 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks. Granted, that came against a Bucks team who is now starting Drew Gooden (see below for Gooden’s monster offensive, but not defensive, line).

Russell Westbrook (2.39) probably won you the steals category last night with 7 of them, and also put up 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 11 assists (and somehow the Player Rater was okay with his 7 turnovers).

I know someone who is counting on Deron Williams (2.24) to carry his team now that Andrew Bogut is out at least 8 weeks with his fractured ankle. Deron didn’t disappoint with 27 points (5 threes), 10 assists, and 2 steals. Not going to make up for the blocks, but it’ll help with #winning the other cats.

Josh Smith (2.22) continued to take advantage of Al Horford’s absence with a near triple-double: 19 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 blocks.

I dropped Kyrie Irving (2.09) for Drew Gooden yesterday and Irving felt so disrespected that he put up 32 points (12-20 from the field), 6 rebounds, and 2 steals just to show me what I’ll be missing. I know, Kyrie. But I had to. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up by drafting you in every league I’m in next year.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: I know you want it to be Drew Gooden, but you’ll have to wait because Rodrigue Beaubois (3.06) score 22 points (3 threes, 9-15 from the field), with 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 blocks (11% owned). I’m not sure what’s more confusing: That the Give Me The Rock Fantasy Basketball Player Rater gave him the second highest score of the night despite the 2 turnovers and only 1-1 from the line, or that Rodrigue Beaubois got 4 blocks… Come on, how tall is that guy? He’s listed at 6′ 2″ which probably means he’s like 5′ 11″. The only guys on the Jazz with Blocked Attempts were Earl Watson (1), Devin Harris (2), and Al Jefferson (2), which means that at least one of Beaubois’s blocks was on Big Al. Ouch.

Pick Up Lines: Rudy Fernandez (2.35) returned from a strained achilles tendon to play 33 minutes and score 23 points (5 threes, 9-11 from the field), getting 3 steals as well (18% owned). If he gets back to averaging his 28 minutes game like earlier in the season, then he’ll be worth owning.

And now, the moment everyone who picked up Drew Gooden (2.04) has been waiting for: 23 points (10-10 from the line), 15 rebounds, and 6 assists (36% owned). If that ownership number doesn’t shoot up in the next couple of days, then we’ll have a very good idea of how many dead leagues there are out there. Probably more than 20,000 of them under the sea. Anyway… consider yourself lucky if you managed to snag Gooden, because while no one wants to start him and playing him for 33 minutes a game, he has shown that when he starts and plays 33 minutes a game, he can put up double-doubles like that consistently. He averaged 14 and 9 for Chicago in 2007-08, but I think he just missed out on Scott Skiles… Well, now Scotty gets to beam him up to fantasy superstardom! (Sorry, that was just stupid)

Bill Walker (1.76) came off the bench to light it up for he Knicks with his 21 points coming off of 7-10 three-pointers. He also had 7 rebounds (1% owned). Carmelo Anthony sat that one out, so I wouldn’t count on that kind of thing happening too often.

Someone you might want to consider picking up, though, is Klay Thompson (1.70), who had 14 points (6-8 from the field, 2 threes), and 3 blocks (3% owned). He’s getting 17 minutes per game and has shown flashes of some three-point shooting ability. He’s a GF in Yahoo leagues, so that might be worth something… Deep league owners should take a look, and he could have value in some smaller leagues (but probably still bigger than 12 teams) if he starts getting 20+ minutes per game. Also, he’s on Golden State, which as I mentioned has a very nice back end schedule.

Speaking of backend schedule…

Josh Smith hasn’t been the only one stepping up since Al Horford’s injury. Marvin Williams (1.55) has played 20+ minutes in the last 7 games and last night he connected on 5 threes for 22 points (6-9 from the field), to go with 8 rebounds (24% owned). He’s not really consistent in any categories, but he can contribute across several and if his playing time keeps going up, he’ll probably continue to get picked up in leagues of increasingly smaller size.

Biggest Loser: Dwight Howard (1.24) had 28 points and 16 rebounds, and his 10-17 free throw shooting was actually pretty decent for him, so obviously he was not the Biggest Loser. But when you know that he scored 42% of his teams points, then you might start thinking that one or more of his teammates is going to be gain the dubious distinction. You can see where this is going: Hedo Turkoglu (-1.10) had 3 points (1-7 from the field), 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 6 turnovers while Jameer Nelson (-0.88) scored only 2 points (1-4 from the field) with 0 rebounds, and 0 assists. The Hornets (4-15) beat the Magic by 26 points. Dwight Howard may not be asking for a trade anymore, but you know he’s not going to stick around with teammates like that.

In The Bonus: Erik debates Is Kyle Lowry better than Derrick Rose over at Pippen Ain’t Easy. I think he did that just to rile up Bulls fans over on a Bulls-centric blog. And he got in a bunch of links back to GMTR, so Bravo!

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Day 33 of 124: Only Two Games

Nels — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:05:08 +0000

First time I can recall this season where that’s happened (the two game thing, not the thing down there with Gasol and Griffin, though maybe that too)

The nice thing about only 2 games is that I can actually get this post done before I have to go work so I don’t have to work on it on the crowded El Train. The bad thing about only 2 games is that it’s very common for one team to dominate the charts and the Pick Up Lines are pretty thin. I mean, only 41 guys played last night in the NBA, and Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo were not two of them… Slim pickins [sic].

Line of the Night: Marc Gasol (2.03) made up for his fairly appalling performance in the Grizzlies last game with 18 points (8-8 from the line), 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. Which Gasol will go in drafts first next year? There’s probably sports betting online going on already for that one.

Honorable Mentions: Kevin Garnett (1.77) provided some support for the Celtics with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 4 blocks. Yahoo’s NBA home page claims it was all Paul Pierce (0.90) and his 44 minutes, 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists, but Garnett actually had the higher +/- score, indicating he was a big part of the Celtics come back. Funny how three days before the C’s destroy the Magic and then they almost get blown out themselves… Is Boston tougher than we think? Am I talking too much about normal basketball instead of fantasy basketball?

With Chris Paul back, Mo Williams (1.75) only managed 18 points (with 4 steals), while Chris Paul (1.68) also had 18 points (10-11 from the line), with 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals. So, who’s the big loser with Paul back? Anyone who’s read GMTR for more than a day should be able to figure that one out (even if you don’t actually know who, you should be able to figure out where to look based on the words I used in the question. The answer is in the question).

Caron Butler (1.14) also had a nice game for the Clippers with 17 points (3 threes), and 2 steals. Since there were only two games, it makes sense that the next guy is also a Clipper: Blake Griffin (0.92) had 20 points (only 4-8 from the line), with 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks, and 3 turnovers. I mention the turnovers because that’s Paul, Butler, and Williams combined for only 3 turnovers, so that plus the FT shooting was was kept Blake’s otherwise monster line from scoring higher.

The other Grizz played hard, but to no avail… Mike Conley (0.59) had 4 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals (the 4 steals, obviously the key there), while Rudy Gay (0.55) scored 24 points (3 threes), and grabbed 7 rebounds

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: E’Twaun Moore (1.65) (I’m just going to play it off like I’ve heard of him, since he is from East Chicago) got 17 minutes of run for Boston with Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo out with injuries. When you’re starting Mickael Pietrus and Avery Bradley (which the Celtics did), there’s bound to be a rookie breakout game. Moore did that with 16 points on 4 threes, 3 rebounds, and a block (0% owned). I wouldn’t count on him making 4 threes on 5-6 shots every 17 minutes (especially since he only had 6 points in a career-high 19 minutes the game before), but he’s worth keeping an eye on while Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo are out. I suppose if you’re in a 20+ team league, he’s worth an add until those two get back.

Pick Up Lines: Speaking of guys getting time with Allen and Rondo out: Mickael Pietrus (0.64) had 12 points on 3 threes (out of 8 he took) with 4 rebounds and 2 assists (4% owned). He had 14 points in his previous 30+ minute game, but then he missed a game right after that, so I’m not going to recommend him except, again, in those 20+ team leagues.

Randy Foye (0.32) is actually ranked #68 over the past week. Last night he only managed 7 points on 2-2 from the field and 2-2 from the line and I was going to mock the Player Rater for ranking him so well because of performances like that, but he started a bunch of games for the Clips there for a second (5% owned). If Chris Paul gets injured again (which, honestly, could definitely happen) or if Billups or Mo Williams miss some time, Foye has shown that he can do some fantasy damage. This is certainly more useful information for owners with daily changes, but if the injuries are significant, he would be a must add.

Biggest Loser: Sorry, Chauncey Billups (-0.50), but Chris Paul is back. With Mo Williams playing crazy good right now, Billups minutes dropped to only 22 in Paul’s second game back, allowing Billups to only get to 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists with 4 turnovers.

The funny thing about having only 2 games is that Dwight Howard (0.12) ended up with 16 points (50% from both the field and the line 16 rebounds 0 assists

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