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Day 143 of 170: The Rich Get Richer

Nels — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:42:19 +0000

Line of the Night: While Dwyane Wade (1.40) had an outstanding Line of the Night, his poor Heat still lost to the talent rich Magic (they did get into overtime, though, which certainly helped Wade’s stats). D-Dub finished with 36 points (3 threes), 10 rebounds, 7 assists and a steal and block.

Honorable Mentions: Nene Hilario’s (0.95) defense was a catalyst for the Nuggets win last night – he had 5 steals and 3 blocks to go along with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Rashard Lewis (0.87) took advantage of the overtime game, making 4 threes and to get up to 24 points with 11 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Don’t call it a comeback – he’s been playing 18 minutes a game all season! Darius Songaila (0.22) took advantage of his 28 minutes in what seemed to be a blowout against the Nuggets (Songaila is playing for the Hornets). I’m not sure why Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony played 36 and 42 minutes respectively, when the Nuggets were up by 25 points at half time. Nevertheless, Songaila led a furious comeback to get the Hornets back within 13. (Yeah, I made up that part about the furious comeback – I didn’t see the game and I didn’t even read the recap or anything)

From a fantasy perspective, Songaila is very perplexing. When he gets the minutes, he puts up decent numbers, like his 13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block last night. But his minutes have been inconsistent all season, so who knows… If you’ve got daily lineup changes, he might be worth the risk if you need a big man and have someone who is not making the kind of contribution you need in your playoff run.

The Biggest Loser: Michael Beasley (-0.46) was doing his best to sabotage the Heat… or maybe just making Dwyane Wade look good? He shot 27% from the field, ending with 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 turnovers.

All Eyez On Me: Some competition for all those so-called March Madness games tonight with potential playoff match-ups: Atlanta hosting Charlotte, Phoenix welcoming Utah, and (maybe?) Cleveland in Chicago. Boston @ Houston is important for the Rockets (as is every game at this point), but who knows, maybe they’re better off getting a lottery pick to pick up a little extra help for K-Mart Jr., Aaron Brooks, and Luis Scola.

The Golden Ticket: I’m going to count Cleveland @ Chicago since the Bulls are still starting what is essentially a 1 + 6-9 lineup (if Derrick Rose returns).

Golden State will crash their train into San Antonio’s Alamo. Who knows which players are going to survive that wreck…

And Philadelphia @ New York might yield some big stat lines.

Friday’s Tiny Dancer: Since Quentin Richardson just won a Tiny Dancer Friday for the Heat 2 weeks ago, I’m going to award this one to the Magic instead, since they ended up winning the game against the Heat.

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Day 142 of 170: It’s March and it’s Madness

Patrick — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:37:39 +0000

Line of the Night/Waiver Wire Line of the Night : Anthony Tolliver (1.41) is currently owned in 21% of fantasy leagues. That number should get a boost as Tolliver finished with 30 points for the Warriors, going 4-8 from three with 6 rebounds and 4 steals. If you’re looking for consistency, Tolliver ain’t your guy, but he can shoot the three as good as any center this side of Channing Frye if you happen swing that way with your center.

Honorable Mentions: Monta Ellis (1.15) had 28 points, 13 assists, and 4 steals while playing all 48 minutes against New Orleans; David Lee (1.12) had an impressive 29/9/7 against the Celtics in a loss; Aaron Brooks (1.02) was a perfect 7-7 from three on the night, finishing with 31 points in a win over the Grizzlies; and Lebron James (1.00) celebrated the Cavs’ clinching the Central Division with 32 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists.

***

Former D-Leaguer and current Warriors guard Reggie Williams (0.99) scored 22 points on 8-11 shooting (4-6 from three). He’s currently on his second 10-day contract with the team and has put up some impressive scoring numbers in limited play. Unfortunately, his minutes are all over the place from game-to-game, which makes sense given the team he plays for. Still, the Warriors play 4 games next week, so Williams could make a decent (although super risky) short-term plug and play guy if your team is in need of a shooting guard.

Acie Law (0.56) had a season-high 22 points off the bench for the Bulls, but his value is likely to be short-lived as the team expects Derrick Rose to return from a wrist injury on Friday.

The Biggest Loser: Jason Kidd (-0.69) sat out the 4th quarter of the Mavs/Bulls matchup after the Mavs built up a big lead in this game. However, the problem we have is with the other three quarters, where Kidd was 0-5 from the floor and 0-4 from three, scoring 0 points with 4 assists and 3 turnovers.

The Weekly GMTR FreeRoll: Congrats to ayel who took home the bacon in this week’s fantasy game on 365 Fantasy Sports. As far as the picks go, West and Collison seemed like givens to me since the Hornets were playing the Warriors, but the Troy Murphy pick was ballsy since the Pacers were facing off against LeBron and the Cavs… well, almost as ballsy as starting an injured player. If you can gleam any strategy from this week’s results it is that starting a player who is injured is a bad strategy (Nels knows what I’m talking about).

All Eyez on Me: Two games tonight:

Orlando (48-21) at Miami (35-33) – So if the Magic are the new Spurs, who gets to play the role of Richard Jefferson?

New Orleans (33-36) at Denver (46-22) – Hey Chris Paul owners – the long and depressing wait for his return might soon be over. Not in this game (silly), but maybe by the weekend. And as long as we are talking about injuries, Kenyon Martin is out indefinitely with knee tendonitis. That would mean good things for Chris Andersen, but he is currently out with a sprained ankle. So that starting center gig for the Nuggets currently belongs to Johan Petro. In six starts, Petro had pulled down double-digit boards in three of those games, which unfortunately is the only good part of his game.

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Day 141 of 170: Flip This Player

Nels — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:12:16 +0000

Don’t Forget: Today is the day to play! GMTR’s Weekly Fantasy Game @ 365 Fantasy Sports. You can find more details about taking on me, Patrick, and Erik every week right here.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Okay, so when Kirk Hinrich returns from his one game suspension, the Benchabulls won’t be giving Flip Murray (0.96) another 38 minutes. That said, they’re taking it slow with Derrick Rose’s wrist injury, so if you’ve got daily lineup changes, consider putting Murray in there for one more game. Then flip him.

Line of the Night: Jason Richardson (1.23) had 27 points including 6 threes as part of the Suns 152 points barrage. The Timberwolves couldn’t deal with the heat.

Honorable Mentions: Mike Conley (1.04) has been heating up and putting it together just in time for the fantasy playoffs. Just hope he’s not the 10th round pick you’re playing against.

Pau Gasol (0.98) had 28 and 12 in the win for the Lakers; Spencer Hawes (0.92) jumped LeBron James for the 5th best line of the night with his 5 blocks; I’d rather have James’ line though with 29 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists; Troy Murphy put together a double-double with 16 and 13.

The Biggest Loser: Kevin Love (-0.40) may have singlehandedly crushed the playoff hopes of many fantasy owners with his 0-7 shooting last night. He had 7 rebounds and 3 assists, and managed only 3 points on 3-4 free throws.

All Eyez On Me: Oklahoma City @ Charlotte find both teams fighting for a playoff spot that isn’t the 8th seed! Didn’t expect that one!

Toronto hosts Atlanta in a bid to hang on to the 8th seed; Orlando has clinched a spot, but San Antonio hasn’t, so, I guess, hooray for Tim Duncan owners; Memphis and Houston will duke it out for the 9th playoff spot… oh… wait…

The Golden Ticket: New Orleans @ Golden State will probably yield some nice fantasy performances. I mean, we can pencil in Stephen Curry for 30+ points with some nice assists and rebounds, right?

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Fantasy Basketball Roundtable: Stretch Run

Nels — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:36:31 +0000

Time for another edition of the sort-of-maybe-weekly Fantasy Basketball Roundtable.

If you need help, you need help now, so let’s get right to it:
With team schedules over the last 4 weeks of the season in mind, what likely free agent player would you recommend fantasy owners pick up for a playoff run?

Ryan Lester of Lester’s Legends:

Over four weeks schedules will balance out so I wouldn’t really factor that in. I’d simply roll with guys who could get opportunities down the stretch.

Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia 76ers
The Sixers are toast. Holiday is getting the experience he needs as the Sixers build for the future. He’ll have his ups and downs, but is a decent option going forward.

Anthony Morrow, C.J. Watson, & Reggie Williams, Golden State Warriors
Marrow and Williams have been huge for the last few weeks. As long as they are healthy and in the rotation, they will produce. In deeper leagues Reggie Williams could be a nice find down the stretch.

Darren Collison & Marcus Thornton, New Orleans Hornets
The longer Chris Paul remains out, the likelihood of his return decreases. If there are only a handful of games left and the Hornets are out of it, why risk further injury. If that’s the case Collison and Thornton will continue their furious finish. Even if CP3 does come back, the talented duo should still be fantasy factors down the stretch.

Drew Gooden, Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers are a sorry bunch. Fortunately, those who were able to gobble up Drew Gooden should get solid scoring and rebounding down the stretch.

Jeff Andriesse, from Damn Lies and Statistics:

Sometimes team schedules don’t fall the way you want during playoff time in fantasy hoops. With free agents, you’d hate to let this deter you from picking up someone who could really help you. For me, Toney Douglas is the most intriguing waiver wire claim right now despite the Knicks playing just two games next week. If you can afford to stash him, or get just two games out of him next week, he plays juicy four-game slates Mar. 29-Apr. 4 and Apr. 5-11. Not only that, but the Knicks have remaining games against Phoenix, Golden State, the Clippers, Indiana and Toronto, all at Madison Square Garden. The chance that Douglas could be the Knick point guard supersedes any hesitation about his team’s two-game slate next week. I’m picking him up.

Tom Lorenzo, also from Damn Lies and Statistics:

I know everyone is talking about Geroge Hill (and rightfully so) due to the Tony Parker injury and the Spurs 16-game playoff schedule, but I’m also intrigued by DeJuan Blair and his prospects the rest of the way. Consistency — in both minutes and actual numbers — have been a bit of a problem for the rookie, but there is one thing working in his favor: the schedule. The Spurs play five back-to-backs the rest of the way. And as we know, Coach Pop is not going to have the burden of patrolling the paint rest heavily on Tim Duncan’s shoulders. In fact, he’s alluded to the notion that he was going to sit Timmy in back-to-back scenarios.

The frontcourt in San Antonio is a little thin and a little banged up. Antonio McDyess is not ready to play much more than 25 minutes per game and Matt Bonner isn’t what you would call an “interior presence.” Again, Blair needs to get some sort of consistency going. But at the very least I am going to pick him up and plug him in when the situation is right. Say, like when Duncan sits. If I can get a guy whose per-36 numbers are 15.0 points, 12.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 1.0 blocks and a 55 FG% in a starter’s role then I’m rolling that dice.

Brian from Empty The Bench:

Though we’re still unsure how long Rodney Stuckey will be out, Detroit Pistons PG Will Bynum has proved to be a spectacular waiver-wire pickup over the past week or so, especially considering the slim free-agent pickings in most leagues.

Stuckey could return as early as later this week, but even if he does, it wouldn’t be surprising to see his minutes limited to far fewer than the 35+ he’s averaged thus far. Bynum has proved he can take advantage of even the slightest uptick in minutes, and when let loose like he has been since Stuckey’s unfortunate dizziness spell, he can help owners more than you might think.

Heading into Monday’s night matchup with the Boston Celtics, Bynum had averaged incredible pers of 11.7 points (51% FG), 10 assists, 2.7 boards, and 1.5 steals over his last four games. Granted, that assists average was greatly helped by his 20-feed performance last Friday against the hapless Washington Wizards, but if anything, this just shows you what he’s capable of against lesser opponent.s

And finally, GMTR’s contribution from Patrick:

The roundtable question this week was actually a lot more difficult than I was expecting when Nels and I were kicking it around. Unless I’m missing someone, out of the teams that play 12 games over the next 3 weeks (Houston, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Toronto and Washington) none have a player that immediately jumps out as a must have addition to any fantasy team.

Carlos Delfino was my man until I saw that he is currently owned in 53% of fantasy leagues, above an arbitrary and self-imposed 50% ownership cut-off for this question. If Delfino is available in your league, he is definitely worth a look. The guy is starting for the Bucks and getting a consistent 37-40 minutes a game, averaging 13.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and a crazy 2.8 threes for the month of March.

Among players who are owned in less than half the leagues out there and have great schedules the rest of the season, the pickings are slim. In theory, Thabo Sefolosha is a guy who should be in for a bump in value with James Harden expected to miss the next 2-4 weeks with a strained hamstring. In reality, he’s done almost nothing in a starting role all year and has been nearly the same black hole of minutes in the 2 games that Harden has missed. DeJuan Blair COULD become a monster again if the Spurs decide to sit Duncan for the playoffs, but unlike past years, they don’t really have the luxury as they hold on to the 7th seed in the West. Wesley Matthews is seeing a nice bump in value starting for the Jazz, but all in all, he’s a shooting guard who averages 12 points and a three a game without much else.

In the end, I’ve got to roll the dice with a couple Wizards. JaVale McGee has been a disappointment to anyone who picked him up after Brendan Haywood got traded expecting a double-double machine over the last third of the season. Instead, he’s been wildly inconsistent and has trouble putting the ball in the basket unless it’s on a dunk. But if your team is in desperate need of blocks (and there are plenty of teams out there like that), McGee can provide that in bunches. Even with the inconsistency, McGee is still averaging 10 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in March. Over a 12 game span, expect McGee to haul in somewhere around 25 blocks.

And for those of you in deep leagues, Shaun Livingston (remember him?) just got put into the starting lineup for the Wizards on Monday. Granted, he didn’t do much in the start (6 points, 3 rebounds) but he did have an 18 point, 8 assist game off the bench on the 13th. The Wizards have nothing to play for the rest of the year, so expect to see a heavy dose of Livingston over the next month or at least until he gets hurt again.

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Day 140 of 170: The Final Month of Fantasy Basketball

Patrick — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:32:20 +0000

Line of the Night: I’m beginning to think that Basketball Monster is just crushing on Stephen Curry (1.22). Carmelo Anthony (1.08) may have thrown down 45 points on the Rockets, but it’s actually Curry with 29 points, 5 boards, 9 assists and 5 threes who had a better overall fantasy line. Curry currently sits on #16 on the GMTR player rater. Compare that to some of the other rookies – Tyreke Evans is at 50, Brandon Jennings 88, and of course Hasheem Thabeet is at 292 – and at least the fantasy ROY appears to be an obvious choice.

Honorable Mentions: We already mentioned Melo and his 45 points, but he also contributed 10 rebounds and was 3-5 from three; and Baron Davis (0.93) had an 18 point, 17 assist double-double in a loss to the Hornets. Poor Darren Collison (0.4) could only manage 18 points and 14 assists in that game; and hopefully you managed to grab Toney Douglas (0.6) after his breakout performance and didn’t wait for the 20 point, 7 assist encore to see if he was available.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Jrue Holiday (0.75). 18 points, 8 boards, 6 assists and 3 steals in 41 minutes for Holiday. The performance came in a blowout loss to the Knicks, so demerits there. However, point guards probably rank only second to centers in the “fuck it, my team needs someone with some upside, I’m willing to take the risk” type of player that intrigues fantasy owners towards the end of the season. Holiday’s game log displays the type of inconsistency that scares a lot of people away, but so far over the month of March he is averaging 13.9 points, 5.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.1 threes a game.

Not to get all math-geek on you, but if you correlate Holiday’s March numbers with the year to-date stats from the rest of the league, his closest comp is… Stephen Curry.*

Chris Hunter (0.63) is the latest Warrior to get a run at the starting center spot. He certainly made the most of his 36 minutes with 22 points and 7 rebounds. The Warriors were playing the Lakers, so it appears that they were forced to go big with Hunter at C and Anthony Tolliver at PF. I’d expect Hunter to go back to the bench when the Warriors return to their normal lineup (if they even have such a thing) and I’d avoid picking him up for now.

The Biggest Loser: Eric Gordon (-0.54) returned to the lineup last night after missing five games with an injury. And he played with as much rust as my first car (a super sweet 1989 Ford Thunderbird) by shooting 3-12 on the night, finishing with 10 points, 0 rebounds and 3 assists in 35 minutes on the court.

All Eyez on Me:

Atlanta (42-23) at New Jersey (7-59) sets the tone for tonight’s games – playoff teams against the lottery bound. Assuming the Hawks blow out the Nets like they did in their last game, we could see a lot of Atlanta’s bench. Unfortunately, the only fantasy worthy player coming off the bench for the Hawks is Jamal Crawford.

San Antonio (39-25) at Miami (35-32) – the best game of the night record-wise. Until this weekend’s 12 point, 10 assist game, Carlos Arroyo was doing absolutely nothing in his starting role. That was giving me a little hope we’d see the return of my boy Mario Chalmers, but now that’s unlikely, at least for the near future. And expect Michael Beasley, who has missed the Heat’s last two games, to play in this one.

* Really, it is. Two caveats though: 1) the comp match between Holiday and Curry isn’t great (78% out of 100 according to my calculations, when the top comps in the league approach 90%), and 2) Curry is still the better of the two players, especially if you are just looking at their current performance).

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Day 139 of 170: If You’re Lucky, You Can Stop Caring Now

Nels — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:09:53 +0000

I say that because this season’s playoff race is already re-diggity-donkulous. I also say that because in my leagues – where I’m the commissioner – the playoffs start this week, and thus end on April 4th, thereby avoiding that annoying last Week-And-A-Couple-Days at the end of the season. This is also good for the people in those leagues (those being mine) who own LeBron James because the LeBron Jameses clinched a playoff spot yesterday with a big win over Patrick’s non-one-name-team, the Boston Celtics. James was not the best fantasy player yesterday, though.

Line of the Night: Dwyane Wade (1.30) scored 38 points in a win over Philadelphia. I think Wade is going to be huge for the next couple weeks at the Dwyane Wades try to keep their lead over the Raptors and beat out the Bobcats so they don’t have to play the LeBron Jameses. Of course, watching those two go at it for a 7-game first round match-up would be nothing short Legend… wait for it…

Honorable Mentions: Tyreke Evans (1.20) continued to give Stephen Curry a real race for the ROY trophy with 29 points (2 threes), 9 rebounds, 11 assists, and 2 steals. Amare Stoudemire (0.93) had an eye-bulging 36 and 12, while Deron Williams (0.87) had 27 and 14 of the other kind. And I bet he’s a lot happier with a loss to Oklahoma City than he would be if he were back at Illinois. Ouch.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Nicholas Batum (0.99) goes the dynamite! Batum was #3 on the night with 22 points (5 threes!), a steal, and 2 blocks. Okay, fine, he shot 78%, so technically he’s not eligible, but seriously, at this point, what have you got? Wesley Matthews (0.73) was impressive with 29 points, but he shot 82%. I suppose Donte Greene (0.62) gives you a 50/50 shot at double-digit points and a bunch of rebounds. You’re taking your chances wherever you go. You can probably tolerate the risk in daily changes leagues, but I wouldn’t be so sure about any of these guys in a weekly league.

The Biggest Loser: Jameer Nelson (-0.52) certainly didn’t help Orlando’s chances against the surging Bobcats with his 2-10 shooting, nor did he help them with much of anything else.

All Eyez On Me: Beware the Ides of March… A day after the so-called Sunday Showcase, there’s not much going on, but the Nuggets will try to push the Lakers for the top spot in the West when they take on the now-always-dangerous Houston Rockets.

The Golden Ticket: The Lakers try to hold off the Nuggets, and they have a good chance since they’re going against Golden State. Perhaps that will give Pau Gasol a few extra shot attempts. At what point do we start wondering what team he’ll be playing for next year?

New York at Philadelphia should be a good one for fantasy lines… except there’s not a whole lot of talent going on there…

Still Waiting? … ary.

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Day 138 of 170: We Like Them Young: The Stephen Curry Edition

Patrick — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:06:15 +0000

Line of the Night: Stephen Curry (1.79). On a night where Luis Scola (1.13) dropped 44 points on 20-25 shooting against the Nets, Curry’s fantasy line was still miles ahead of everyone else. Curry scored a not too shabby 35 points himself, going 5-7 from three with 6 boards, 10 assists and 4 steals as the Warriors spanked the Raptors (and not in a good kind of way). So much for the return of Monta Ellis affecting Curry’s offensive game, at least at the moment (although Ellis (0.55) who had 31 points and a career-high 5 threes, got his fair share as well).

***

Honorable Mentions: The aforementioned Luis “Scoring Machine” Scola has now had 4 straight 20+ scoring games and might be the real winner from the Tracy McGrady/Kevin Martin/Carl Landry trade; the uber bingo Josh Smith (1.16) finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 5 steals against the Pistons; and Jose Calderon (1.05) pulled down his first double-double of the season (sadly) with 24 points and 12 assists. He was 7-8 from three and 8-12 from the field. Calderon got 32 minutes of run in this game compared to Jarrett Jack’s 17. Rather than a trend for Jose, we’ll chalk this great game up to the fact that the Raptors were playing Golden State and, more importantly, they got blown out in Golden State.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Toney Douglas (0.91). TD, who is currently owned in 4% of leagues, got the start at PG for the Knicks yesterday and scored 21 points with 8 assists as they blew out the Mavs 128-94. I’d go on, but you should have stopped reading when I said “starting for the Knicks” and immediate went and added him in every league.

Travis Outlaw (0.49) got 41 minutes yesterday for Clippers and finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. He was one of the only positive things on the court for LA and is worth at least checking out if your team needs some mid-ball. Matt Bonner (0.73) had 21 points in 21 minutes off the bench for the Spurs; and another Knick, Bill Walker (0.44), has strung together a couple strong games in a row coming off the bench.

Something that Just Made Me Throw-Up in my Mouth a Little: Don Nelson is six victories from becoming the NBA’s all-time winningest coach

The Biggest Loser: Mike Conley (-0.55). Not really known as a model of consistency, Conley could only manage 6 points and 2 assists in 27 minutes against the Nuggets. He’s been playing well enough otherwise, so it is more of a fluky game than one of those extended Mike Conley-I’ve-given-up-on-life type slumps. At least for now.

All Eyez on Me:

New Orleans (32-34) at Phoenix (40-26) – Chris Paul has returned to practice and could, possibly, maybe be back in a week. Or not. Despite his assurances otherwise, you’ve got to think some of it depends on the Hornets’ playoff chances after this week.

Boston (41-23) at Cleveland (51-15) – Expect Antawn Jamison to play in this one. MRI tests showed only a cyst in his ailing left knee. And the last time LeBron James faced the Celtics, he had a 36/9/7 in a blowout win.

Utah (42-23) at Oklahoma City (40-24) – Nice playoff implications in this game as these teams are battling for the 4th spot in the West. Jazzbots takes a look at three important questions for the Jazz, including the injured Andrei Kirilenko and the rejuvenated C.J. Miles.

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Day 137 of 170: Jeff Green and the Franchise Kid

Patrick — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:52:21 +0000

Line of the Night: Jeff Green (1.16). On a night when Kevin Durant (0.99) scored 32 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and set a franchise record with his 36th 30 point game this season (I’m going to assume the franchise lineage extends back to Seattle, which seems wrong in my opinion), Green actually had a even better game against the Nets with a season-high 27 points on 11-16 shooting. He added 6 boards, 3 threes and 3 steals as OKC squeaked out a win 104-102. OKC is currently battling Utah for the 4th seed in the West. Drink that in for a minute.

There future’s so bright, Russell Westbrook has to wear shades

***

Honorable Mentions: Baron Davis (1.08) has never been afraid to lose with style. He had 24 points on 10-15 shooting, with 7 assists and 5 steals in the Clippers loss to the Bobcats; and in a surprising turn of events, Richard Jefferson (0.97) makes a non-biggest loser appearance on GMTR with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks in a start against the Wolves. This game comes after a 0 point, 17 minute performance for Jefferson against the Knicks, so I wouldn’t cash out my 401k to buy Richard Jefferson futures; David West (0.87) scored 30 in a loss to Denver for the struggling Hornets.

And I can’t NOT mention Will Bynum (0.73), who had 20 assists for the Pistons in a win over the Wizards. It was the most for Detroit since Isiah Thomas had 21 in 1985. Way to distribute the shit out of the ball Bynum.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: I love me some Quentin Richardson (1.11). In his second waiver wire appearance this week, Q-Rich knocked down 7 threes for the Heat on his way to 23 points and 7 rebounds. I will admit that Richardson is a good source of threes if you need that kind of thing, just be prepared for games like the 10th (3-8 shooting, 8 points) or the 9th (2-8 shooting, 7 points).

Louis Amundson (0.83) had a nice 11 point, 10 rebound double-double for the Suns, but it came in a game where Channing Frye didn’t play. Frye was serving a one-game suspension from the NBA for getting all up in Danny Granger’s face. So it basically means don’t pick up Amundson.

The Biggest Loser: Courtney Lee (-0.51). Lee had been playing really well for the Nets recently, but yesterday he came crashing down to earth with a 2-9 shooting performance, scoring 6 points with 2 rebounds in 30 minutes.

All Eyez on Me: Plenty of NBA action today. Toronto heads to Oakland to face the Warriors, which should provide a boost to their struggling offense. Monta Ellis is back, which should eat into Stephen Curry’s offense a little. Raptors HQ previews the game like a confused parent who has given up on their troubled child.

Denver (44-21) at Memphis (35-31) – Time to check in with everyone’s favorite second-pick-in-the-draft-and-former-D-Leaguer Hasheem Thabeet, who is back with the team with mixed results.

New York (22-43) at Dallas (45-21) – The Mavs have won 13 straight games and some of that success (2% of it? 5%?) belongs to Rodrigue Beaubois, who has filled in admirably for the injury Jason Terry. How is Terry? Well, he’s already returned to practice, which should mean he’s on schedule for a return in about a week, maybe even less.

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Day 136 of 170: Brandon Roy and the Chocolate Factory

Nels — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:04:19 +0000

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Line of the Night: Brandon Roy (0.84) scored 41 points in 42 minutes against the Warriors of Golden State. Even better for Portland, they won the game. Roy shot 63% on 22 field goal attempts while grabbing 8 rebounds, along with 2 steals and a block.

Honorable Mentions: Andray Blatche (0.62) blew it up with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals, and – oops, he did it again – 7 turnovers. The Big Blee-atche is averaging over 4 turnovers a game in his last 9 games. So, the question becomes, where do you draft a potential double-double machine who could probably average 3 turnovers for a whole season?

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: You know your team is in trouble when James Johnson has suddenly become a potential fantasy player. Derrick Rose had an Oops, I Did It Again of his own as he continued to bring the pain against Dwight Howard. And, of course, by “bring the pain” I mean to himself. Rose sprained his wrist – no results yet – and with Luol Deng and Joakim Noah already out (and Taj Gibson playing when he probably shouldn’t be) you have James Johnson starting, playing 28 minutes, and getting me to talk way too much about him for the 13 points (1 three), 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block that he got in that time.

You’ll probably also want to snag Acie Law or Jannero Pargo, one of whom will be the starting PG for the Bulls now. Hard to say who’s going to get the most minutes since they were pretty even last night after Rose left the game. The whole Bulls player rotation is probably going to look like some sort of Circus with VDN as the ringmaster.

The Biggest Loser: Brad Miller just sneaks out of the doghouse with his 49% ownership rate, but that’s good because, really, LaMarcus Aldridge (-0.49) is the more deserving anyway. Aldridge had 14 points mostly thanks to some good free throw shooting, but his field goal percentage was a Toxic 28.6% on 14 attempts. Aldridge also had 8 rebounds, but then went ahead and canceled that out with his 6 turnovers.

All Eyez On Me: For record-vs-record tonight, there’s the Lakers in Phoenix. Fun times with the purple on purple!

LeBron James is supposed to return tonight against Philadelphia if we’re Lucky. He’s a star. I’m hoping he does for so I can stop cry, cry, crying in my lonely heart. Perhaps he’ll even be Stronger than yesterday.

The Golden Ticket: Denver @ New Orleans is loaded with fantasy potential. Unpredictable fantasy potential, though. And the Knicks visit Memphis, so you gotta think Zebo or OJ or Rudy Gay is going to go off. And are the Bulls now a Golden Ticket team since they are basically starting an entire second string of NBA players?

Don’t Forget: Play GMTR’s Weekly Fantasy Game. No, really. It’s fun!

Friday’s Tiny Dancers: Congrats, Brandon. Here’s your new harem.

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Day 135 of 170: I win for me! FOR ME!

Patrick — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:08:24 +0000

Line of the Night: Jason Kidd (1.31). Playing his former team in the Nets, Kidd finished with 20 points, 9 assists and 4 steals in 44 minutes on the court. He was also 5-8 from three in the game as the Mavs won 96-87. This brings up the interesting question, after being left for dead in a lot of drafts this season, where do you think Kidd gets drafted next year?

Dear Jason Kidd, try not to look so old…

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Honorable Mentions: Rasheed Wallace (1.01) is owned in an insane 76% of leagues. Really, that’s crazy based on his 9 points and 4 rebounds this year. Wallace didn’t exactly help the Celtics offensively last night as they got embarrassed against the Grizzlies – he only scored 11 points in 22 minutes on the court – but he did boost his fantasy line with 6 steals and 3 blocks. Believe it or not, that is good enough for the third best line of the night; Dwyane Wade (0.95) had 27 points and 8 assists and he was also 15-17 from the line; and Rudy Gay (0.92) scored 28 points with 8 rebounds in a win over the Celtics, but more importantly, he turned the Boston crowd against the C’s like Rocky against Ivan Drago.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Rasual Butler (1.21) has been starting for the Clippers for most of the season and is still only owned in 45% of leagues, which is an indication of just how mediocre a player he has been this season. But Butler has been known to bust out every once in a while and last night he was 12-19 from the field to finish with 31 points and 6 threes against the Heat. He’s a decent addition in deep leagues, but a little too inconsistent for the average fantasy league.

Carlos Arroyo (-0.32) still started for the Heat last night, but Mario Chalmers (0.65) got the bulk of the minutes, finishing with 12 points, 6 assists and 4 threes. Keep an eye on the playing time situation there.

The Biggest Loser: As tempted as I am to nominate Kendrick Perkins (-0.54) for the second straight day (or the Celtics in general), I’ve got to go with Dirk Nowitzki (-0.51) and his 3-16 shooting night. Dirk did power his way to 12 points, 5 boards and 4 assists, but also turned the ball over 5 times. Bad shooting + turnovers is a quick recipe for failure when you’re talking fantasy basketball.

The Weekly GMTR FreeRoll (where Roger Mason can suck it): Congrats to long-time GMTR friend doneycat for his win in this week’s GMTR fantasy game on 365 Fantasy Sports. It was a close one this week as only 7 points separated first from fourth. In a week where there was slim pickings at a lot of positions, doneycat had solid picks from start to finish, especially at the very tough flex spots, where both Kris Humphries (13 points, 8 boards) and Wes Matthews (14 points) came through for him.

All Eyez on Me:

Three games tonight and all are fairly decent fantasy ones. Portland (38-28) at Golden State (17-46) is your golden ticket game. In case you are still holding onto him, Andris Biedrins is mercifully done for the year after getting abdominal surgery earlier this week. That means Anthony Tolliver and Chris Hunter are guys who are going to get a lot of play the rest of the season. And some rookie named Reggie Williams got 34 minutes off the bench in the Warriors last game.

Chicago (31-32) at Orlando (45-20) – Means great things for the Magic’s offense, but especially Dwight Howard.

Atlanta (40-23) at Washington (21-40) – Something we like to call a leading indicator… Andray Blatche has been playing like a beast since the trade deadline, but there are some troubling signs to his game. First, he’s turning the ball over at an insane rate; he’s had games of 5, 4, 6, and 8 turnovers in the past couple weeks. Second, because of the turnovers, coach Flip Saunders can’t actually trust Blatche to be on the court when it matters. Blatche was on the bench at the end of the Wizards/Rockets game on the 9th because he had been a turnover machine in the game prior to that.

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