Give Me The Rock » Fantasy Basketball

Give Me The Rock 2012 Fantasy Basketball Awards After Party

Patrick — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:09:10 +0000

Nels handed out some fantasy hardware the other day with the GMTR fantasy basketball awards ceremony So consider this post the after party.

If you read GMTR, then you are probably aware that we post recaps every day that cover the best and the worst of previous day’s worth of games. Every day we hand out the line of the night (the best fantasy line of the night according to the GMTR player rater), waiver wire line of the night (best fantasy line among players with less than 50% ownership in Yahoo leagues) and biggest loser (the worst fantasy line among those with more than 50% ownership in Yahoo leagues).

We also kept a record of the best and worst lines on every single day, so that we could look back and summarize the year. The results end up being a very rough estimate of player value, but more interestingly, it points out players who overachieved (even for brief stretches of time) and some who crashed and burned this year.

So let’s get this party started.

Most Lines of the Night during the 2011-12 Season: LeBron James – 7

Kevin Love – 6
Kevin Durant – 5
Stephen Curry – 5
Chris Paul – 4
Josh Smith – 4

Kevin Durant may be our fantasy MVP, but LeBron does have him beat in one quirky stat this year. On 7 of the 124 days this season, James had the best fantasy game of the day. That shouldn’t come as a huge surprise since he did finish the year ranked #2 on the GMTR player rater. Durant, who was our MVP and #1 ranked player on the year, came in tied for third with 5 lines of the night this season.

A much bigger shock is that Stephen Curry had the best fantasy line on 5 separate days despite being limited to 26 games this year. All of his top lines came between day 2 and day 56 of the season and four of them came in a three week span between days 32 and 56. Oh, what Curry could have done this year if he actually had real ankles…

***

Best Line of the Year: Paul George (4.29 WARP) – Day 41, 2/3/12.

According to the GMTR player rater, George was the only player to deliver a daily WARP score of over 4 all season. On this night he dueled it out with Anthony Morrow of all people (it was the night where Morrow hit 8 threes and scored 42 points), but George came out ahead and had the best all-around game of the season with 30 points on 7-11 from three and 11-19 overall. He also added 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals, 1 block, 0 turnovers and was 1-1 from the line. It isn’t the most eye popping line we saw this year, but that is what you call an across-the-board 9-category contribution.

Kevin Love (3.93 WARP) – 3/25/12: 30 points, 21 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 blocks
James Harden (3.81 WARP) – 4/18/12: 40 points, 11-11 from the line, 5 threes, 7 rebounds, 4 steals
Kevin Durant (3.8 WARP) – 3/23/12: 40 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 threes, 3 steals

Best Player without a Line of the Night: Ryan Anderson (ranked #7 for the year on the player rater)

Anderson had a huge breakout season where he was a top 10 fantasy player on a per game basis by averaging 16 points, nearly 8 rebounds, and a league leading 2.7 threes a game. But the one thing he didn’t do this season is have the line of the night for any of the 61 games he played in.

However, it’s nothing to be worried about as it takes a good amount of luck as well as a good performance to end up as the top guy on any given night. For example, Anderson’s best game of the season came on 1/17/12 when he knocked down 7 threes on his way to 30 points against the Knicks. Unfortunately for him, Joe Johnson stole his thunder with a 27 point game and a box score filled with all kinds of stats. Anderson just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Worst Player to get a Line of the Night: Glen Davis (ranked #272 for the year on the player rater)

Ironically, Ryan Anderson’s teammate Davis did take home a line of the night on Day 101 despite finishing the year close to #300 on our player rater. Thanks to late season injuries from Dwight Howard and Anderson, Davis all of a sudden became one of the hottest players in the league at the tail end of the season (and probably helped decide a fantasy championship or two). On day 101, the Magic sat Howard, Anderson and Jameer Nelson and as a result Davis was free to jack up 22 shots against Detroit on his way to 31 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals and a block. Unless we count visits to the buffet table, it’s one of the only things where Glen Davis > Ryan Anderson.

Most Biggest Loser Nominations: Raymond Felton – 6

Michael Beasley – 4
Brandon Knight – 3
Carmelo Anthony – 3
Chris Bosh – 3
DeMar DeRozan – 3
Hedo Turkoglu – 3
Jamal Crawford – 3
Kevin Martin – 3
MarShon Brooks – 3
Tyreke Evans – 3

If you owned Raymond Felton this year, then it should come as no surprise to see him at the top of this list. Felton was atrocious for most of the season; he was so bad he even briefly lost his starting job to Jamal Crawford as the Blazers attempted to move him at the trade deadline. Pre all-star break, Felton was shooting 38% from the floor and averaging 10 points and 6 assists per game. It took a late season run to lift him up to #120 on our rater for the season with averages of 11.4 points, 6.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 41% shooting from the field. But fantasy owners stuck with Felton through the bad times; he was owned in a majority of fantasy leagues all season long.

Nastiest Line of the Year: DeMar DeRozan (-1.98 WARP) – Day 39, 2/1/12.

It’s only fitting that the worst line of the year belongs to one of the more disappointing fantasy players this season. Instead of building on a solid sophomore season, DeRozan went into the tank right from the start this year and finished at #177 on the player rater for the season. Nothing was worse than this line he put up against the Celtics on the first day of February: 8 points and 3 turnovers on 3-12 shooting from the floor and 2-5 from the line, with 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 threes, 0 steals and 0 blocks.

Marc Gasol (-1.91 WARP) – 2/5/12: 7 points, 3-14 shooting, 6 boards, 7 turnovers
Metta World Peace (-1.84 WARP) – 12/31/11: 0 points, 0-8 shooting, 4 turnovers
Gerald Wallace (-1.79 WARP) – 1/6/12: 1 point, 0-6 shooting, 4 turnovers

Most Waiver Wire Lines of the Night: Randy Foye – 4

Brandon Rush – 3
Courtney Lee – 3
Danny Green – 3
George Hill – 3
Gordon Hayward – 3
J.R. Smith – 3
Jerryd Bayless – 3
Luke Ridnour – 3
Marco Belinelli – 3

Having the most waiver wire lines is sort of like being the prettiest bearded lady at the carnival; it might be some sort of accomplishment, but it’s still not going to win many dates. Foye obviously got a big boost in fantasy value after Chauncey Billups went down for the year with a torn left Achilles tendon at the beginning of February. But despite finishing #59 on the rater over the last month of the season, fantasy owners clearly did not trust him as he was only owned in 42% of Yahoo leagues by the end of the year. Surprisingly, 2 of his 4 WWLotN came with Billups still in the lineup (Days 29 and 40). Day 29 came with CP3 out, so there is an explanation there, but Foye rocked it on Day 40 off the bench behind both Paul and Billups to finish with 17 points on 7-11 from the floor, 2 threes and 3 steals.

Waiver Wire Line of the Year: Kyle Korver (3.09 WARP) – Day 77, 3/10/12

Korver’s best game of the year by far came filling in for the injured Luol Deng at the beginning of March. Korver saw 39 minutes against the Jazz and finished with 26 points, hitting 6-11 from three and 10-16 overall, adding 7 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal and a block. The rest of his season was nowhere near as good (he finished ranked #153 by GMTR) but Korver had a few other decent fantasy moments here and there as Deng missed 12 games this season.

Rodrigue Beaubois (3.06 WARP) – 1/27/12: 22 points, 3 threes, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 blocks
Jodie Meeks (3.04 WARP) – 1/13/12: 26 points, 6-7 from three, 10-11 from the field, 2 steals
Landry Fields (3.04 WARP) – 1/31/12: 18 points, 4-6 from three, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, 0 turnovers

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Give Me The Rock 2012 Fantasy Basketball Awards Ceremony

Nels — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:39:27 +0000

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the annual Give Me The Rock 2012 Fantasy Basketball Awards (The Rockies? The Gimmes? Other suggestions? Leave a comment!). While a normal awards show would being with some sort of red carpet special, I have simply substituted something you’ll find just as entertaining (above). The show would then carry on with some sort of musical number by the host, but since this is just a written article that will have to wait for our video podcast (Ed. note: There will be no video podcast).

So, with that out of the way, let’s get on with it.

Most Valuable Fantasy Player: The debate for who had a better fantasy season is pretty much the same as it was for who to take with the first pick at the beginning of the season. Obviously the choice comes down to LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Unlike the start of the season, though, we now have 66 games worth of data with which to evaluate the two. According to Give Me The Rock’s Player Rater, Kevin Durant was the best fantasy basketball player of the 2011-12 season. The Player Rater is designed for Head-to-Head leagues, but for this case, it seems the results are applicable to Rotisserie leagues as well. If you look across the stats, Durant makes up for the categories where he lagged LeBron – Assists and Steals – with ones where he beat him handily (twice as many threes; 8 percentage points higher from the line; nearly a half a block per game more). He’s reliable, durable and plays a difficult position to fill. I’m sure we’ll be back to the same debate come September and October, but for now, Durant is the Most Valuable Fantasy Player. (For what it’s worth, this decision was unanimous between the three authors here)

Not sure if he’s happy or constipated

All-NBA Fantasy First Team: If you take out Durant, the All-NBA Fantasy First Team falls nicely into place with LeBron at SF, Chris Paul, #3 on the season, at PG, followed by Kevin Love at #4 taking up the PF position. The Center position is a bit of a surprise, but at #5, according to the Player Rater is Al Jefferson. Jefferson was drafted an average of 13th, so clearly fantasy owners knew this would be a good year for him, but he came through better than I think anyone could have expected with over 19 points, nearly 10 rebounds, high percentages (including 77% from the line; very good for a big man), and a remarkably low 1.1 turnovers per game. Finally, at #6, we slot Dwyane Wade at the SG position. Even though he missed a lot more games than the five guys above him, he played enough games and racked up enough stats that he deserves a spot on the fantasy first team with them.

Fantasy NBA Rookie of the Year: Another easy choice here: Kyrie Irving, ended up as the 33nd best fantasy player available making him the clear choice for ROY with nearly 19 points, 5.4 assists, 3.7 rebounds (from a point guard!), and 1 steal per game. Irving also shot nearly 47% from the field, which is pretty remarkable when you consider that he played for the Cavaliers who don’t really have a lot of guys to take the defensive heat off of him. He also shot 87% from the line, which is a very good sign of things to come. The only downside to his game was the 3.1 turnovers, but he’s a Point Guard, so high turnovers are to be expected, and consider he’s a rookie Point Guard at that, 3.1 turnovers really isn’t that bad. And yes, we all know that Erik has Irving in the GMTR Keeper League. Not sure if anyone could have possibly missed that. (And if anyone cares, my keepers are Marc Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and your choice of Jeff Teague, Mike Dunleavy, Alonzo Gee, Brandon Knight, and Kawhi Leonard. Yeah, thanks Landry Fields and Amir Johnson.)

Most Disappointing Fantasy Player: There’s a lot more room for debate when it comes to the Most Disappointing Player. Is it someone drafted high who ended up far below their average draft position? Is it someone drafted high who barely played because of injuries? Is it really fair to penalize someone just for getting injured? (Especially since owners should know who injury-prone players are and lower their expectations accordingly)

The first name that sprang to my mind was Dwight Howard, but perhaps my thoughts are overshadowed by his lengthy trade/extension controversy and his season-ending back surgery. Howard still played 54 games and ended up at #20 on the GMTR Player Rater on a per game basis. After dismissing that initial hypothesis, I moved on to Stephen Curry and forced myself to answer the question above of whether I should have known better than to draft Curry despite his first two seasons of 80 and 74 games; numbers which clearly contradicted the well-documented fragility of his ankle. Well, somebody had to draft him, but it didn’t have to be me, and to answer the question, yes, I should have known better. And anyone who drafted Curry should not be disappointed with the 26 games he played. They should be ashamed for having picked him in the first place. My cheeks are red.

So if we move on to guys who just didn’t perform and start from the top: Russell Westbrook dropped almost a full round from 12 to 23, but Monta Ellis dropped even further, going from 16 to 43. Westbrook underperformed, but still ended up as a second round player, while Ellis just couldn’t find his groove after the fairly shocking trade that sent him to Milwaukee. Maybe it was the cold weather, or maybe trying to co-exist on the court with Brandon Jennings was just too much to stomach. Either way, he still ended up only 27 spots below his average draft position and even though he played well alongside Stephen Curry in Golden State, I don’t think it’s right to fault him for something that he had no control over.

Strange how two of my top candidates are from the Warriors, because my selection for the actual Most Disappointing Fantasy Player is also from Golden State. Dorell Wright was drafted on average at #30, the middle of the third round, and ended up at 81, mid-seventh round. I was forced to tell people to keep hanging on to him week after week but things never got better. Wright managed a respectable 1.7 threes per game, but the rest of his game fell so far off the map that the Warriors were forced to cut his minutes from 38 to 27, and even that was overly generous.

Patrick wanted to go with Stephen Curry, but Erik seconded my motion for Dorell Wright, and so he is the winner. Or loser, I guess.

Best Fantasy Sleeper: On the opposite end of the spectrum of Dorell Wright is Ryan Anderson (another kind of unanimous choice depending on whether you think he’s the Most Improved or Biggest Sleeper). Granted, much of his success is due to the fact that he plays with Dwight Howard, who can draw five to ten players at a time on any given play. When the defense looks like a Lebanese league game it’s not hard to make a lot of three-pointers, and Anderson did, averaging a league leading 2.7 threes per game. He also grabbed 7.7 rebounds per game, made 88% of his free throws, and with so much catching and shooting, he kept his turnovers below 1 per game. All of that adds up to a place at #7 finish on the Player Rater – a full 111 spots above his average draft position. No one else in the Top 10 can claim that kind of jump, and in the Top 50, only Ersan Ilyasova even comes close. He was nominated/mentioned by both Erik and Patrick as well, but since he ended up just barely in the Top 50, I think that Ryan Anderson deserves all the praise and glory. And he also deserves Erik’s question: Is he for real? Or will he be next season’s Dorell Wright?

Speaking of Erik… He had a few additional categories and/or highlights (Patrick did as well, we’ll get to that). But first, a quick commercial break! (I mean, what kind of award show is it without a few commercials?)

Give Me The Rock now has a merchandise store where you can buy merchandises. There is only one merchandise currently available, but when Erik saw it, he immediately asked if they shipped to the Phillipines. I have ordered one of these in Bulls #SeeRed, but it’s designed to look good in Celtics Green, Laker Yellow, Nuggets Sky Blue, Hornets Turquoise, Knickerbocker Orange, Raptor Purple, Bucks Green, Timberwolves or Magic Royal Blue, Doo Doo Brown, Home Team White, Dark Gray, and Generic Gray. There’s a couple other colors too, but I’d recommend one of those.

And we’re back!

Saddest Story: Retirement due to injury of Brandon Roy, which is closely followed by waiving of Greg Oden. Poor Portland. (Ed note: Also, trading Marcus Camby… and just totally giving up. Maybe they’ll get another #1 pick to throw away.)

Three players to watch next season: Greg Monroe, Paul George, Nic Batum. You can see a little bit of George in the playoffs this season as he helped the Pacers move up to the #3 seed in the East. Hopefully they can dispatch with Orlando and then beat up on the Heat as much as they flagrantly fouled the Bulls in last year’s playoffs. Oh, sorry. The playoffs are the time for “hard” basketball and “tough” defense. That makes it okay to take off people’s heads and not get a foul call.

Pleasant Surprise of the Season: Kobe’s come back form.

Three Players Erik has tagged with “Caveat Emptor” going into next season: Stephen Curry, Eric Gordon, and Blake Griffin (because Poster Child will be the most overvalued player next season). I second that.

Now for Patrick’s unrated director’s cut:

Sleeper of the Year: Ersan Ilyasova, with a nod to Nikola Pekovic. Pek ended up at #119, so I don’t think he’s up there with Ryno or Ersan, but he did step up and play well and if not for Ricky Rubio’s injury, Pekovic might have been the key to helping Kevin Love finally get to the playoffs.

Defensive Player of the Year: Serge Ibaka. I forgot about this one, but yeah, a pretty obvious choice. Ibaka averaged 3.7 blocks per game, including 4.6 blocks over the last 16 games of the season.

Waiver Wire Player of the Year (best player to spend most of the year on the wire): Brandon Rush

Biggest Injury of the Year: Eric Gordon

Most Linsane Player of the Year: Jeremy Lin (I can’t wait to see who wins this one next year!)

Biggest “we told you so” from GMTR: Spencer Hawes. He might have finished the season well ahead of our projected 199 (he was at 87), but if you didn’t at least try to sell him after the first week you were in for some major hurt and frustration.

Biggest Miss in the GMTR Preseason Rankings: Patrick says Al Jefferson, but I think he’s being a little hard on himself. We had Jefferson at #16 in our 12/23 rankings, so the fact that he ended up at #5 I don’t think makes him a big miss. Just a bit underestimated.

Surprise of the Season: Brandon Jennings, now one of the league’s best fantasy PGs? Can’t argue with #15 overall. Too bad the owner who kept him in the Keeper League also kept Stephen Curry. There’s the light and the dark side of the force right there.

Three players to watch next season: Derrick Favors, Kenneth Faried, Charles Jenkins

That’s all we got for you for now… Congrats to the winners and better luck next time to all the losers. That applies to the players and the owners. Perhaps more so to the owners since the players at least have a real playoff after the regular season.

And here’s a real commercial that was shown during a real awards show:

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Day 124 of 124: Anybody Home?

Nels — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:18:06 +0000

When it’s the morning after the last day of regular season basketball, and the stats aren’t loading, and everyone’s rested their main guys last night anyway, and I haven’t gotten together with Patrick and Erik for our End of Year Awards yet… all I’m left with is a playoff preview… If it’s interesting to me, hopefully it’ll be interesting to you too.

I’m going to these cutesy/clever nicknames for the conferences even though I don’t think they’re really applicable. Though I do believe that if the Bulls somehow make it to the Finals, they are capable of beating whoever comes out of the West. Perhaps more so than I think the East will still win if Miami makes it. That said, I still think Miami will make it. Oops… Spoiler Alert!

Beastern Conference

Bulls vs. 76ers

Yeah, I’m going to start with my home team, but they do have the overall best record (after the tie-break with San Antonio). Even with Derrick Rose still rounding back into form, the Bulls will take this one. I’m glad that Evan Turner wanted to play the Bulls instead of the Heat. If I were a lower seed, I’d probably rather play the Bulls too, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Of course, as a Bulls fan, I was also hoping that they’d get to play Philly, because they’re an easier matchup than the Knicks. So, take that Evan Turner.

Bulls in 5.

Heat vs. Knicks

I’m really not sure if the Knicks even take one in this series. I’ll give it to them just based on Miami’s lack of mental toughness and their Center position. Tyson Chandler should dominate, but it won’t be enough.

Heat in 5

Pacers vs. Magic

Poor Magic. I feel bad for the rest of the guys on the team to have to deal with Dwight’s drama all season and then lose him two weeks before the playoffs. Glen Davis says he’s going to play, and who would have ever thought that saying something like that would carry such weight? Still…

Pacers in 5.

Celtics vs. Hawks

This is probably the closest matchup in the East (which makes sense because it’s the middle seeds), but with Garnett and Rondo rested and Pierce seeming to be the same player he always is, the Hawks just don’t have enough to take it. They’re still very undisciplined (if Josh Smith had an Indian name it would be “Settles For Jumpers”) and they are still stuck with Joe Johnson’s contract (which basically formed a straight-line cause-and-effect to the lockout) and they aren’t supposed to get Al Horford back unless they make it to the second round (see you next year Al).

Celtics in 5.

Lesstern Conference

Spurs vs. Jazz

The Jazz are good, and the Spurs have a history recently of being vulnerable in the first round. But Utah just doesn’t quite have all the pieces yet. Their front court of Jefferson, Millsap, and Favors is pretty intimidating, though, and even Gordon Hayward seems like he might have more of an impact than I think anyone really thought he could. Perhaps with another year or two of playoff experience (and playing together experience) and a better Point Guard they could beat this Spurs team.

Spurs in 6.

Thunder vs. Mavericks

Too bad for the Mavs their attempt at a repeat ends here. I’m sure Mark Cuban did his fancy analysis and determined that the guys he has should have played better than they did, but losing Tyson Chandler left them with a much bigger hole than I’d ever thought Tyson Chandler would leave. And of course, the Thunder just continued to get better.

Thunder in 5.

Lakers vs. Nuggets

Maybe the second most interesting series of the whole playoffs. The Lakers are good… but very vulnerable. The Nuggets aren’t as good as they maybe could have been, but they’re still pretty good. Their team is finally all there, and while they don’t have anyone on the level of Kobe, Pau, or Bynum, they do have one of the deeper teams in the league. And the Lakers will be without Ron Artest for most (if not all) of the series. It’s one of only two real toss-ups in my mind, but I feel like if the Nuggets can get up 2-1 then they’ll take it in 6. If they get down 2-1, then Lakers in 6. Which is more likely? I’ll put my money down on Denver.

Nuggets in 6.

Grizzlies vs. Clippers

This is certainly going to be the most closely contested first round match-up. Each team won its home games, so the fact that it went 2-1 LA probably just means it would have been 2-2 if they’d played one more in Memphis. Since Memphis earned home court advantage with their win over the starter-less Magic last night, I’m going to say the trend continues. Both teams are still young and will probably not have the strength or discipline to stand up to the other team’s home crowd.

Grizzlies in 7.

And now that the stats are updated, here’s our regularly scheduled program called This Is Why Your Leagues Should End Before The Last Two Weeks of the Season (in which the stars of your regularly scheduled program have been replaced by a bunch of no-name actors; e.g., if Billy Baldwin replaced Alec on 30 Rock’s LIVE episode, or if Parks & Rec replaced Amy Poehler with Kristin Wiig… no, wait, that would be equally good… How about if Person of Interest replaced Michael Emerson with someone who wasn’t from LOST… no, the old people watching CBS wouldn’t know the difference… How about if the Secret Circle replaced… no… that won’t work at all…).

***

Line of the Night/Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Patrick Mills (2.70) scored 34 points (4 threes), with 5 rebounds, and 12 assists. I mean, come on. I’m not even going to comment on this…

Honorable Mentions: Only two guys out of the Top 10 lines last night were from guys over 50% ownership: Josh Smith (1.67), whose Hawks were still trying for home court advantage, had 23 points (10-14 from the field), 9 rebounds, and 7 assists, while Marc Gasol (1.62) had 22 points (8-13 from the field, 6-6 from the line), 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

Then we get to The Replacements.

Pick Up Lines: Ben Gordon (2.58) exploded as Detroit rocked the 76ers. Gordon had 26 points (8 threes, 9-13 from the field), and 5 assists (44% owned), and while I didn’t see the game and I’m not going to bother to look at the box score, I’m going to say that Philly basically threw this one so they could play the Bulls instead of the Heat. And the Bulls will make them pay.

Speaking of the Bulls, how about that John Lucas (2.03) guy? He had another 25 points (3 threes, 10-16 from the field), 4 assists, and 2 steals (2% owned). While the Bulls need a Shooting Guard from the draft this year, I kind of hope they take a Point Guard just so they can get rid of Lucas. He’s a decent basketball player, I just have to cringe way too much when I watch them and he’s in.

Jason Thompson (1.85) finished out a strong season with 17 points (7-11 from the field), 10 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks (40% owned). I think he’ll probably be rated high enough going in to next season that he’ll start off at higher than 40%.

And I think this might be a first… 3 guys with 0% ownership make the list: Jeremy Evans (1.83) with 13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks (0% owned); Chris Wright (1.71) with 25 points (11-14 from the field), 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks (0% owned); and Ben Uzoh (1.68) with a triple-fucking-double of 12 points, 11 rebounds, 12 assists, and 4 steals (0% owned).

Biggest Loser: Yeah, it seems appropriate that Michael Beasley (-1.06) makes it down here with 13 points, 1 rebounds, 1 assists, and 4 turnovers. It’s not his first time and it probably won’t be his last.

***

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 122 of 124: Chris Paul Makes a Run At Fantasy MVP

Nels — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:37:11 +0000

or: The Heat hand over home court advantage to the Bulls and Celtics

Line of the Night: Chris Paul (2.87) is trailing LeBron and Kevin Durant by a lot in the race for Fantasy MVP – according to the Give Me The Rock Player Rater, but his 34 points (4 threes, 10-11 from the line), 5 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals solidify his Bronze Medal spot ahead of that fresh-faced kid from Minnesota.

Honorable Mentions: Of course, Kevin Durant (2.28) held Paul and LeBron with his 32 points (3 threes, 15-16 from the line), 9 rebounds, and 2 steals. Of course (x2), LeBron sat out the Heat’s second-to-last game along with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, so he had no chance to get 30+ points, 3-4 threes, above average (for him) free throw shooting, nor 2 steals. DeMarcus Cousins (1.33), going against Durant and the Thunder, showed that he wanted a place in last night’s 30 Points and 2 Steals Club with 32 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Al Jefferson (1.87), meanwhile, shored up his 5th place finish with a nice double-double of 18 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. I’m pretty sure I can see the Top 5 draft picks for next year… Paul Millsap (1.64) isn’t one of them, but his Top 10 finish (most likely) after another 26 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals makes him an intriguing candidate for next year… Will he be first round material again? Hard to say…

Joe Johnson (1.66) had 28 points (6 threes), and 7 rebounds while teammate Jeff Teague (1.58) scored 21 points (6-6 from the line) with 2 blocks. Blake Griffin (1.42) (and the aforementiond Paul) fought hard against the Hawks with 36 points (17-23 from the field) and 8 rebounds, but with Miami laying down for the Celtics (the Heat scored 66 points without their Big 3), the Hawks had little chance of gaining on Boston for home court advantage in the first round. The Clippers remain tied with Memphis for the 4 and 5 spots, and I’d certainly want home court against a dangerous team like the Grizzlies.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Here’s a name I haven’t heard in a while: Travis Outlaw (2.16). With Marcus Thornton and John Salmons still out for the Kings (yes, Outlaw plays for the Kings), Travis started at SF and went for 20 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks (1% owned). It’s easily his best line of the year and his most minutes of the year. The Kings have one more game tonight, and if you’re still looking for someone to throw in there, Outlaw seems like a good play with Metta World Peace and games of 28 and 33 minutes in his last two.

Pick Up Lines: Marco Belinelli (2.16) showed up again with 23 points (9-14 from the field), 4 assists, and 3 steals (22% owned). Yeeeeeeee-hoo… cares?

We’ve been pushing Jason Thompson (1.38) for a while and I’m sure that’s why he’s up to 39% owned… Again, the Kings have another game tonight, so you could add something like 22 points (9-11 from the field), and 6 rebounds to your totals if he’s still available.

Gustavo Ayon (1.32) had another nice line with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 blocks (5% owned), but let’s keep in mind that the Hornets are sitting on Emeka Okafor, Chris Kaman, and Jason Smith. The first two have histories of injury, but I’m mentioning it so that we can all be cautious about drafting Ayon next year since he’ll probably have more competition for the starting job than he’s had this year.

Derrick Favors (1.16) had a double-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 blocks (33% owned). It’s kind of crazy how Utah can have 3 big men who all put up pretty awesome numbers. I suppose it helps that Paul Millsap can play Small Forward, and I have no idea what their chemistry is really like, but the numbers are pretty nice, and they managed to make the playoffs with the win last night. Utah is definitely a very interesting team going into next season.

Biggest Loser: Paul Pierce (-1.10) only played 18 minutes against the Heat B-team, but he managed to turn the ball over 6 times while only scoring 8 points and adding 2 rebounds and 1 assist. I know it’s the end of the season, and it was a smart move to limit his minutes, but there are guys who can do a lot more (or in the case of turnovers, a lot less) in 18 minutes on the floor, so I’m sticking with Pierce as the Biggest Loser.

***

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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.

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

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.

***

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Day 119 of 124: Where the Miami Heat Declare the Regular Season to be Over

Patrick — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:26:14 +0000

Line of the Night: Ty Lawson (2.93 WARP). 29 points (on 10-16 from the field), with 5 threes and 10 assists for Lawson as he helped Denver to a 118-107 win over Phoenix. Lawson has now scored 20+ points in four straight games and is ranked #8 on the GMTR player rater over the last week. Unlike a lot of players this season, Lawson is one guy who is finishing the year strong.

Honorable Mentions: Brandon Jennings (2.20) is at least in the discussion of most improved fantasy player this season – he’s current #14 on the GMTR player rater YTD thanks to games like this – 30 points, 3 threes, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals in a 106-95 win over the Nets. Jennings has now scored 20+ points in 5 of his last 6 games. However, he and Monta Ellis (-0.33) with 12 points on 5-14 shooting, are still a work in progress in terms of their ability to co-exist together.

After missing a game with a thigh bruise, Ersan Ilyasova (2.18) returned to the lineup and went right into beast mode with 17 points, 17 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks for the Bucks. The big question for next season: is Ilyasova worth a second round draft pick, which is what he’s played like over the past month of the season?

David West’s (2.10) 32 points and 12 rebounds was not enough to prevent the Pacers from losing to the Sixers in OT. It’s West’s third double-double in four games, but it’s too little too late to turn around a disappointing year in which West is averaging a weak 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.

The Utah/Orlando game was full of fantasy goodness. Paul Millsap (1.81) had 18 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals in a 117-107 OT win over the Magic. Al Jefferson (1.49) added 21 and 10 with 3 blocks and Devin Harris made it a party with 21 points and 7 assists.

For the Magic, Jason Richardson (1.33), Jameer Nelson (1.32) and Ryan Anderson (1.28) combined for 65 points and shot 13-29 from three. Glen Davis (1.09) double-doubled with 17 points and 13 rebounds and has made a more than adequate Dwight Howard replacement over the past couple of weeks (well, at least for fantasy purposes).

Derrick Rose (0.40) returned for the Bulls after missing the last three games and had 11 points and 8 assists in 32 minutes. The Bulls don’t play again until Wednesday, so Rose should be good to go again for that game, I’d expect.

***

Injury Report: Dwyane Wade left Miami’s game against the Wizards early in the first quarter after dislocating his left index finger. The good news is that there was no break and for now Wade just has his finger in a splint, however, the Heat could easily decide to sit Wade for Miami’s last three games, especially now that Chicago has the number 1 seed in the East locked up. Wade owners still playing in this final week may want to come up with a plan B in case he doesn’t go.

Channing Frye partially dislocated his right shoulder in Saturday’s game. A similar injury last season kept him out about two weeks, so consider his season over. Markieff Morris should see a good bump in minutes, although his recent game log doesn’t inspire confidence about what he’ll do with those minutes. Hakim Warrick could also get some extended run, although he won’t do much other than score and board a little.

Deron Williams missed yet another game for the Nets with a calf injury and admitted that he’s basically done for the season. No need to hold onto him anymore unless you’re in a keeper league. Sundiata Gaines will continue to start in his place.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Shannon Brown (2.74) is still starting in place of the injured Grant Hill (Hill was a game time decision on Saturday, but didn’t play) and made the most of it yesterday with 28 points, a season high 6 threes, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks in 41 minutes against the Nuggets. With Hill threatening to return this season, it’s a little risky to use Brown for the last few games of the season since his minutes get cut if Hill decides to step on the court.

Pick Up Lines: Kenneth Faried (2.26) is still only owned in 42% of Yahoo leagues, and his inconsistency is a big reason why. Last night, Faried put up a huge 18 point, 14 rebound and 3 block game against the Suns. However, it came two games after a 4 point, 4 rebound performance against the Rockets. Like most rookies, Faried is going to be up and down, and as a result it’ll be tough to trust him if your season is on the line this week.

Utah went with their big lineup against the Magic (a team starting Glen Davis at center) and everything came up Derrick Favors (1.73) (32% owned). Favors finished with 16 points (on 8-11 from the field), with 11 rebounds and 2 steals in 36 minutes. Unfortunately, Favors saw less time than that in his previous two games combined, so the Jazz big lineup is still very much a situational play. With the Jazz playing Phoenix and Portland next week, it’s tough to know exactly how they will roll, although the last time he faced Portland, Favors only got 17 minutes of run.

Cartier Martin (1.56) scored 22 points, going 4 -8 from three with 5 rebounds in 38 minutes off the bench for the Wizards. (1% owned). The minutes and points are both a season high for Martin, who hadn’t scored in double-digits in the Wizards’ previous five games. Starter Chris Singleton only played 7 minutes in this game, so consider Martin unlikely to put up a repeat performance over the teams’ last three games.

With LeBron James and Chris Bosh sitting last night to rest up for the playoffs and Dwyane Wade exiting early do to injury, SOMEONE had to score for the Heat, and that someone was Mike Miller (1.24), who led the team with 16 points, hitting 4 threes and adding 10 rebounds (6% owned). Miller has been a huge disappointment during his tenure in Miami, but if the team decides to sit Wade for precautionary reasons for their last two regular season games, Miller could be in for some big minutes. It’s something to keep an eye on.

Another guy finishing the season off strong is Brandon Rush (1.20), who went for 19 points (3 threes, 8-11 from the field) and 7 rebounds against the Rockets (36% owned). He’s averaging 13 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.6 threes and a block per game while getting about 30 minutes of run over the past two weeks. Dorell Wright has an ankle injury and could miss more time, making Rush a potential must grab for teams still playing.

With Nate Robinson missing his third consecutive game with a hamstring injury, Charles Jenkins (0.37) has picked up the pace his last three games. Against the Rockets yesterday, Jenkins got 40 minutes in the start and finished with 16 points and 8 assists. He now has 29 assists over his last three games. At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t see Robinson back on the court this year, so ride Jenkins if you are still in need of a PG.

Biggest Loser: Putting aside Dwyane Wade’s (-0.82) nothing in 3 minutes before his injury, there is Andre Miller (-0.76), who scored 8 points, with 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 turnovers in 28 minutes off the bench against the Suns. Miller is still averaging some nice assist numbers late in the season, but the rest of his stats are anemic, and he isn’t worth a fantasy play anymore unless you are specifically looking for assists.

Spencer Hawes (-0.75) shot 2-7 from the field and 1-4 from the line to finish with 5 points and 7 rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. Hawes has been coming off the bench for 7 games now, and his minutes have been slowly deteriorating. Stay away from him over the Sixers last few games.

Kyle Lowry (-0.74) only played 7 minutes in last night’s game against the Warriors, finishing with 0 points, 0 rebounds and 3 assists before being benched for the entire second half. When asked about Lowry after the game, Rockets coach Kevin McHale said, “I was trying to win the game.” Ouch.

***

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Day 118 of 124: Joe Johnson Schools The Celtics B-Team

Nels — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 12:45:25 +0000

Line of the Night: With the Big 4 (Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Rajon Rondo) sitting for the Celtics last night, Joe Johnson (3.10) took it to the Celtics B-Team racking up 30 points (3 threes, 11-18 from the field, 5-5 from the line), with 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. I’d be pretty pissed if I were Johnson too, considering the Celtics kind of flaunted the fact that because they’re in a division that doesn’t include Miami or Chicago, they are guaranteed a top 4 seed in the playoffs, even though the Hawks have (and already had before the game) a better record. If it weren’t for the “Divisions should mean something” rule, Boston would be battling it out with Orlando for 5th and 6th place (though Orlando might not have much battle left in them at this point).

Honorable Mentions: Kevin Durant (2.60) had an easy night against Sacramento, going for 29 points (9-15 from the field, 9-10 from the line), 14 rebounds, and 7 assists. James Harden (1.95) also had a nice line vs. the Kings with 20 points (6-6 from the line), 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. Finally, Serge Ibaka (1.76) did not slow down either against Sacto. Iblocka had 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 blocks. Of course, Ibaka is only averaging 4 blocks over the last 4 games compared to the 4.6 he was at over the last 16. (Are you kidding??? 4.6 blocks per game for 16 games??? That’s reblockulous! (Okay, sorry, that didn’t work as well I thought it would; How about this one then: Oklahoma City should make a swimsuit calendar of the players and call it Thunder Down Under. KD might look a little scrawny, but I bet ladies would like to see Harden and Ibaka with their jerseys off))

Meanwhile, in games that didn’t involve the Thunder, Tim Duncan (2.08) has recovered very well from his bout of Old and last night had 21 points (10-15 from the field), 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. I bet people who’s seasons ended last week are wishing they could have gone one more round with the Young Tim Duncan in their corner. Owners who were stuck waiting for a month and a half right out of the gate for Manu Ginobili (1.45) are probably wishing they could retroactively add his 20 points (3 threes, 6-9 from the field, 5-5 from the line), 6 rebounds, and 7 assists.

Gerald Henderson (1.88) put up 32 points (6-6 from the line), 4 assists, and 2 steals against the Grizzles, and the Bobcats even outscored the Grizzles for 3 quarters, but Mike Conley (1.65) wore them down with 20 points (7-10 from the field), 7 assists, and 3 steals, and the Grizz ended up taking it. They only won by 5, though, so probably didn’t cover the spread.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Perhaps more notable than Brandon Rush (2.27) winning WWLotN with 20 points (9-12 from the field), 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks (35% owned) is that the Warriors started Mickell Gladness at Center. I’m sure he was filled with a sense of cheer, delight, felicity, gaiety, glee, high spirits, hilarity, joy, mirth, and pleasure at getting the chance to start in an NBA game. Yes, I’m making fun of his name. Perhaps I shouldn’t, since this is actually his 3rd start now for the Warriors, and he’s played in 22 total games this year (8 for the Heat, and 14 for the Warriors – there are certainly some jokes about the outstanding Centers that those two teams have fielded this year. I’m sure whatever you come up with will be at least as funny as whatever I’m going to write… Punchline: Eddy Curry).

Pick Up Lines: With Kyrie Irving back for the Cavs, Manny Harris (1.73) was freed up from defenses and managed 19 points (3 threes), and 12 rebounds (1% owned). Harris’s last few games haven’t been great, but he’s available and played 40 minutes last night. Someone who did not play 40 minutes for the Cavs? Lester Hudson. Ouch.

Is anyone really going to pick up Mike Bibby (1.60) just because he had 12 points (4 threes), 4 assists, and 2 steals (2% owned). The correct answer is b’0′. (Database geek joke!)

Who knew Francisco Garcia (1.44) was still around? He’s filling up the stat sheet like he rarely does anymore with 9 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks (2% owned). Multi-cat contributor!

This guy is probably already owned anywhere that he might had some utility: Vince Carter (1.39) with 19 points (8-8 from the line), and 9 rebounds (34% owned).

Keyon Dooling (1.39) took advantage of his chance to actually play to put up 17 points (3 threes, 7-10 from the field) (1% owned). When the Big 4 return next game, Dooling will go back to 30-team-league-only status… but Avery Bradley (1.31) will not. Since he was the only decent player left on the floor for the Cetics, I’m a little surprised he didn’t end up higher, but I guess the defense didn’t really have any else to think about (sorry K-Dool), and Bradley took 22 of the Celtics 81 shots. He managed 12-22 for 28 points, and added 4 steals and 3 assists (17% owned). Bradley is playing well enough right now that he’s worth a plug-n-play even if the rest of the C’s are back.

Biggest Loser: There were a couple guys with pretty high ownership levels that were worse than Carmelo Anthony (-0.49), but since Anthony was supposed to be supporting the comeback of Amare Stoudemire (0.30) with 40 points against what can aptly be described as a hapless Cleveland Cavliers team, Melo’s 12 points, 1 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 turnovers, and 5-13 from the field is my pick for Biggest Loser. Maybe he’s just saving it for the playoffs… or maybe he’s trying to tank it because he’d rather play the Bulls than the Heat in the first round. Either way, good luck with that.

***

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Day 117 of 124: Danny Granger Lines It Up

Nels — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:57:38 +0000

Line of the Night: Danny Granger (2.01) is no stranger to the Line of the Night. It’s hard to say what his preferred line was last night. Was it the three-point line, behind which he made 4 threes for 12 of his 29 points? Or was it the free throw line, from behind which he made 11-11 shots for (obviously) 11 points. Granger also had 5 rebounds. His relatively weak WARP score for a LotN is due to the fact that he only shot 7-20 from the field.

Honorable Mentions: Granger’s teammate David West (1.82) has not done as well as most had hoped, moving up to only #94 on the season with 21 points (9-14 from the field), 14 rebounds, and 7 assists. Too little, too late, as my friend JoJo once said.

LeBron James (1.76) and the Miami Heat kind of had their way with the Bulls, LeBron ending with 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists. Of course, the Bulls sat Derrick Rose, a wily veteran move by Tom Thibodeau, not letting the Heat play against the full Bulls team in their last meeting before (theoretically) the playoffs. Rose also got to rest, which was good, but it’s also nice to let the Heat get a little overconfident and not let them game plan for a (hopefully) ECF matchup.

Those who waited so long for Eric Gordon (1.76) have been rewarded with 6 games, 4.5 of which have looked like this: 27 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Gordon is definitely a guy to keep if you’re in the sort of league that lets you keep players… but other than that, well, I’m sure you probably just want to forget about it. See also: my friend JoJo. (Who, by the way, has a new album coming out which has one of the longest Wikipedia entries I’ve ever seen for an album. I guess maybe I shouldn’t consider her a punchline because clearly there are some rapid JoJo fans out there)

Injury of the Night (sort of): Dwight Howard is shutting it down for the season. I think Kelly Dwyer summarizes quite nicely. Of course, I can only hope that either the Magic hang on to 6th place so the Heat don’t get the luxury of playing them, or that they drop down to either 7th or 8th and the Bulls end up either 2nd or 1st, respectively. Of course, playing New York or Philadelphia isn’t a bad reward for winning so many games without Derrick Rose either.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: It seems like neither the Bucks nor the Pacers were real focused on defense last night, as the end score was 118-109. George Hill (1.39) played 38 minutes and went for 22 points (8-12 from the field), 5 rebounds, and 8 assists (36% owned). We’ve seen him enough on here that I’m sure you’re familiar with his game, but he’s on a streak over these last two weeks that I would say makes him a must own player for anyone still trying to battle it out for whatever place they hope to achieve in their league. The Pacers have 3 games left, which is the lowest of anybody, but since 5 games is the best you can do, Hill is still a good option the way he’s playing. Especially with Indiana at home against Philadelphia, Detroit, and even Chicago (since they always seem to get psyched to playing my boys).

Pick Up Lines: Chase Budinger (1.29) continues to play pretty well, and even though his WARP is exactly 0.00 for the season, he might end up on the positive side with a couple more games like 22 points (4 threes), and 6 rebounds (32% owned). Over the last 2 weeks, he’s at 0.26.

When Mike Dunleavy (1.28) plays, he is highly unlikely to give you anything great, but he is also highly likely to give you something. It’s a bit annoying, and probably what leads to his 38% ownership rate, but sometimes you have to take what you can get and when he’s at #98 on the Player Rater because of games like 23 points (3 threes), and 8 rebounds, then somebody’s got to play him. Milwaukee’s got 4 games left, so definitely think about it.

Milwaukee may have 4 games left, but don’t expect 4 more games like this from Luc Mbah a Moute (1.10)L 16 points (7-11 from the field), 11 rebounds (3% owned).

Gustavo Ayon (1.07) tried to right his ship with the winds of overtime in his sails. He managed 9 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists, but it came in only 22 minutes, so don’t be fooled (5% owned). His time may come again, but it won’t be this season.

Not even sure if I should mention Jose Barea (1.00) since he’s 43% owned, and I’m sure he’s been picked in any league where people are still competing at this point, but he did have a double-double with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 12 assists, and I suppose that deserves mention just because.

Biggest Loser: Luol Deng (-0.89) takes it for his lackluster 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, including 5-15 from the field, and 1-4 from the line. Carlos Boozer (-0.47) wasn’t far behind, though with 10 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assists on 4-11 from the field. It’s a tough matchup for those two going against LeBron and Chris Bosh, I’ll give them that.

Rodney Stuckey (-0.77) is definitely a nominee for the Most Inconsistent award. Last night he did manage to score, racking up 4 points, with 1 rebounds, and 3 assists, on 2-8 from the field.

***

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Day 116 of 124: Fear the Beard

Patrick — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:59:01 +0000

No, not that beard, the other one.

Line of the Night: James Harden (3.81 WARP) went off for 40 points (on 12-17 from the field and 11-11 from the line), adding 5 threes, 7 rebounds and 4 steals in a win over the Phoenix Suns. This is by far Harden’s best game of the season – it’s a career high in points, and ties his season high in threes and steals. It also comes after two not so great games, so if you were worried about Harden’s mediocre performance coming into the home stretch, this is a statement game which basically says “everything’s cool”.

Honorable Mentions: In addition to Harden, Kevin Durant (2.06) had another strong game for the Thunder with 29 points (shooting 8-8 from the line), 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks while playing a game high 41 minutes. Make sure to save some of that for the playoffs, Kevin.

Carmelo Anthony (2.73) had an even better game last night than he did against the Celtics on Tuesday and yet again fell just short of the LotN with 33 points, 5 threes, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in a win over the Nets. Not quite good enough… I think that’s the working title of Melo’s book about his time with the Knicks. Boom, roasted.

Still no Kobe Bryant for the Lakers, but L.A.’s big men were able to take advantage of a Warriors’ team starting Mickell Gladness at center and Jeremy Tyler at PF. That frontcourt isn’t going to fly against a normal NBA team, never mind one with Gasol and Bynum. So, it’s no surprise that Pau Gasol (2.72) had a huge triple-double in the game, finishing with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. He also 3 blocked shots for good measure. Andrew Bynum (1.91) had 31 points (on 12-14 from the field) with 9 rebounds. Kobe missed his 7th straight game, but is supposedly targeting a return to the court on Friday against the Spurs. If you’ve been hanging on to Kobe all this time, keep an eye on situation and be ready to get him back in your lineups for Friday.

Dirk Nowitzki (2.60) dropped 35 points on the Rockets, hitting all 12 of his free throw attempts and adding 3 threes and 5 rebounds, while playing a team high 39 minutes. Vince Carter (1.05) was the team’s second leading scorer with 23, although he’s been decidedly more man than amazing this season (I think Nels or Erik might have used that line before).

Rudy Gay (2.60) had his fourth straight 24+ point game against the Hornets with 26 points, 3 threes, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Over the past two weeks, Gay has played himself up to #12 on the GMTR player rater and has averaged nearly 24 points and 6 boards a game during the run. Better late than never, I guess. More on the Hornets’ top performance below.

Paul Pierce (2.37) continued his run of strong games with 29 points (on 9-14 from the field), with 5 rebounds and 14 assists! Speaking of strong finishes to the season, Pierce is #7 overall on our rater over the past two weeks – not bad for an old guy during a crazy season where players are going down left and right. Glen Davis (1.17) returned to the court for the Magic after missing a game with a knee injury and exploded again for 27 points and 7 boards. It’s time to get him back in your lineup to ride out the rest of the season.

31 points, 6 assists and 3 steals last night for Monta Ellis (2.31) in a tough loss to the Wizards. He’s also on a tear as the season comes to an end and looks to be fitting in well with the Bucks’ rotation, which is a good thing to note for draft day next season.

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Two guys who made their return to the court last night were Kyrie Irving (-0.01) and Nene Hilario (0.46). Irving jumped right back into the starting lineup despite missing the past 9 games, played 20 minutes and wasn’t all that great, scoring 9 points with 4 assists. Still, at this point in the season get him back in your lineups and hope for the best. This also means it’s time to say goodbye to Lester Hudson and Donald Sloan.

Nene’s return was slightly more productive as he finished with 14 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks in only 18 minutes off the bench. Not surprisingly, he also had a negative impact on Kevin Seraphin (-0.03), who only played 29 minutes and finished with an empty 14 points and 5 boards. I’d be hesitant to start either player at this point as the rotation shakes itself out.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: No Derrick Rose or Luol Deng for the Bulls, but they did have Richard Hamilton (1.66) – woo-hoo! – who scored 22 points on 9-13 from the field, adding 4 threes and 6 assists as the Bulls completely destroyed the Bobcats by a score of 100-68. Hamilton’s season has been derailed by injuries (which have held him to 24 games so far) but if you are in need of a scorer, he does have three 20+ scoring games out of his last five and the Bulls still play two more games this week. He’ll continue to get plenty of shots for the Bulls, especially if Rose and Deng continue to miss games (and it sounds like they will).

No word if Bobcats’ Coach Paul Silas beat up anymore of his players after the loss.

Pick Up Lines: As somewhat expected, Sundiata Gaines (1.60) stepped up in Deron Williams’ absence with a huge game – 18 points. 4 threes, 6 rebounds and 6 assists against Mike Bibby and the Knicks. Yes, I’d be a little skeptical about this game since it came against the 53 year old Mike Bibby. Still, the good news if you are looking to grab a PG like Gaines is that Williams is more likely than not done for the season (although not officially yet), so Gains should remain in the starting lineup. The bad news is that the Nets only have one more game this week and three on the season, so he really only makes sense in a spot start or streaming situation.

James Johnson (1.50) had his first multi-steal game in about a month (which is not good if you are a defensive specialist), finishing with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals for Toronto. He’s now put up three decent games in a row as the Raptors are down both Bargnani and Calderon, and would be worth a look in deeper leagues if the Raptors didn’t also only have only one more game this week. Given their bad schedule, he’s also a guy to stay away from.

Two guys loving the Kobe injury? Matt Barnes (1.42), who got his the hard way with 6 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in a win over the Warriors, as well as Metta World Peace (1.27) who scored 18 points and added 9 assists. With Kobe’s return on the horizon, both Barnes and Peace will likely see their fantasy values take a hit, so the party is over if you’ve been riding either guy while Kobe has been out.

Mike Miller (1.25) went 3-4 from three and finished with 13 points and 6 assists in 22 minutes against the Raptors. Miller primarily gets his fantasy value from threes, but if your team is looking for threes, there are probably better options on your wire (Steve Novak maybe?)

Jerome Dyson (1.21). No, he doesn’t make vacuum cleaners; Dyson is a 24 year old rookie PG for New Orleans who has played all of 5 games this year. But with the Hornets currently playing for nothing this season, they apparently want to get a look at some of their younger guys (both Xavier Henry and Darryl Watkins also saw 25+ minutes, with much, much less success on the court). As a result, Dyson saw 27 minutes off the bench and scored 24 points, hitting 14 of 16 from the line and adding 3 steals. As a result of his extra playing time Greivis Vasquez only saw 26 minutes and nearly triple-doubled the wrong way – 9 points, 9 assists and 7 turnovers. It’s tough to say whether Dyson will continue to get enough minutes off the bench to be fantasy worthy, but I imagine he’ll be more of a thorn in the side the Vasquez the rest of the season than a legit fantasy player himself.

Nicolas Batum started the game for the Blazers, but sat out the second half after possibly aggravating his knee injury. So Luke Babbitt (1.01) got the start in his place in the second half of the game and responded with 16 points, 2 threes and 5 rebounds while getting 35 minutes of run. It makes sense for the Blazers to simply shut Batum down at this point, making Babbitt worth a look for the Blazers remaining three games.

Biggest Loser: I’ve never had the “pleasure” of owning Tyreke Evans (-1.30) in any leagues, but I can imagine the feeling is sort of like those experiments where scientists make chimps push a button and they either get a banana or they get shocked with electricity. Last night was definitely a shock from Evans, as he followed up a 20 point game against the Blazers with 5 points on 2-8 shooting, with 3 rebounds and 1 assist in 38 minutes on the court. 38 minutes! Imagine what a guy like Derrick Favors could do with all those minutes?

Detroit lost to Atlanta by a score of 116-84 and one reason why was Rodney Stuckey (-0.88), who shot 0-3 from the floor for the Pistons, finishing with 0 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in 21 minutes.

Danilo Gallinari (-0.64) missed all 7 shots from the floor and had 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.

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