Give Me The Rock » NBA Cheerleaders

Day 5 of 124: Mr. Big Shot

Nels — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:09:52 +0000

Before you do anything else, head on over and watch the end of the Thunder-Mavs game if you haven’t already. Kevin Durant’s shot is easily the best of the year so far, and probably will be one of the best even after 63 more games. I mean: fade-away three-pointer from about 4 feet behind the line with 1.4 seconds and it barely catches the rim on the way through. That’s just ridiculous. They should put in one of those 25 foot hoops like they had on MTV and see how much Kevin Durant scores then.

Line of the Night: While Kevin Durant (2.50) only had the second best line with 30 points (3 threes, 10-16 from the field), 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 blocks, it was Ty Lawson‘s (2.66) 25 points (10-16 from the field), but more so his 8 steals that really impressed the Player Rater. Because the daily scores we give here are based on how much a player will help your team win a category in a given night, 8 steals is a lot when you’ve got only 10 guys starting in a standard league (obviously, it’s nearly 1 steal per starter and if you had 10 guys who all got 0.8 steals per game, you’d certainly at least be competitive in that category every week).

Honorable Mentions: Now that the bell has run for Fantasy Basketball Theory class, let’s get back out on the playground: Kyle Lowry (2.45) led the Rockets in a route of the Spurs with a near triple-double in only 27 minutes: 16 points (5-10 from the field, 4-4 from the line), 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 steals. Wesley Matthews (1.82) had a nice game in Portland’s win with 25 points (5 threes, 9-15 from the field) and 5 rebounds. Dwight Howard (1.80) showed that Kevin Love is not the only guy who can get 20+ rebounds, scoring 16 points (7-9 from the field, and an equally bad 2-9 from the line) to go with 24 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks. Since you’re already punting FT% with Howard, that is a monster line. His future teammate Deron Williams (-0.40) didn’t fare so well, going 2-12 from the field to end with 10 points, 7 assists, and 6 turnovers. Not the worst line of the night, but solidly in the bottom half and rapidly closing on the lower 25th percentile. Dirk Nowitzki (1.70) put up 29 points (10-10 from the line), 10 rebounds, and 4 assists – including that one to Vince Carter for the go-ahead-but-not-game-winning three. Pau Gasol (1.67) had another strong game with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks. I’m excited to watch Chris Paul and the Clippers go against the Bulls tonight, but after the Clippers got blown out by the Spurs on Wednesday, you have to wonder if Pau Gasol isn’t feeling a little bit smug. Or maybe he’s just still angry. Carmelo Anthony‘s (1.66) 27 points (9-10 from the line), 7 rebounds, and 5 assists were not enough to stop the Lakers. And neither were Tyson Chandler‘s (1.54) 13 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. As a Bulls fan, I still wait with barbed comments ready for Chandler’s return to Earth. I might almost feel bad saying “I told you so” to the Knicks simply because they’ve heard it so many times before.
***
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: If you had Josh McRoberts (1.45) as your Sleeper in the Office Pool, you are a winner! (And if your office has a pool on fantasy basketball sleepers, you have a pretty awesome office). McRoberts continued his solid, but not outstanding play with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. He is only 9% owned despite being the starting PF for the Lakers. Yes, Andrew Bynum is coming back tomorrow (unless he manages to get injured before then), which will push Pau Gasol (see Mentions, Honorable above) to the PF position with the Lakers also having Troy Murphy still in the rotation, but McRoberts might be able to work with 20 minutes a game. I say Wait And See in standard leagues, but in anything more than 156 player leagues, he’s probably worth hanging on to.

Pick Up Lines: I’m sorry, what? Delonte West (1.39) is the starting Shooting Guard for the Mavericks? No wonder they’ve lost 3 in a row. Is there a line outside the stadium to slap Jason Terry in the face? Or does he just laugh himself to sleep on his 30 minutes per game sized pillow? Anyway, West came up with 15 points (4-4 from the line), 6 assists, and 2 steals in only 22 minutes. He is currently 6% owned and you’re probably best to leave him there until the Mavericks figure out what a winning lineup for their team looks like this season.

Tiago Splitter (0.55) is not worth picking up right now, but with the Spurs getting launched into orbit by the Rockets, he played 24 minutes and got 10 points and 11 rebounds. Just something to keep in mind if any of the Spurs big men get injured.

Biggest Loser: It pains me to see Anthony Morrow (-1.28) heading up this list, but not because of his 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2-10 from the field. Rather because we filter this one on players who are owned in 50% of Yahoo leagues and Morrow is up at 66%. For someone we projected at 143, that is Way Way Way Too High. I can, however, forgive everyone for Metta World Peace (-0.88) because despite his 9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 4 turnovers, he was probably mostly picked up in the last round of drafts as a joke (or in deep leagues as a sleeper). And also because he had fake conversations with Siri on Twitter. And if you can make it through the first 30 seconds of his latest video pick, it actually turns into kind of a decent song. Not that Artest has any vested interest in promoting the song or anything.

In The Bonus:
FakeTeams Waiver Wire Scoops from Wednesday
RazzBall’s Daily Notes
DynastyBasketball Daily Recap
fBasketballBlog Daily Recap (a day old, but check out the site)

Artest and Taz Zavala:

Other members of the new Pussycat Dolls (I would expect them to be pimping the NBA again this season) include former Laker Girl Vanessa Curry (I wonder if Artest had anything to do with that one), and Lauren Bennett.

***

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 165 of 170: A Night of Desirable Objects

Nels — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 12:41:18 +0000

Sure, I could probably use that article title on any of 170 days around here, but I just happen to be rewatching Season 2 of the Best Show on Television right now, and saw the episode bearing the same name a few days ago. And since it fits, let’s see what objects we’ve uncovered.

Line of the Night: While the Blazers were kind of foolish to trade away anything resembling a back up Center with only Marcus Camby manning that position, you have give them that Gerald Wallace (2.54) has been a strong contributor. He’s regularly put up games like last night’s 29 points (4 threes, 5-5 from the line), and 8 rebounds showing fantasy owners that he can do what he does anywhere he ends up.

Honorable Mentions: Derrick Rose (2.25) put on display another selection of delectable delights, both visually and statistically with his 30 points (10-10 from the line), 5 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals. Rose’s teammate Luol Deng (1.83) also played a nice game with 23 points (3 threes), 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

A strong keeper candidate for next season, Wesley Matthews (1.66) put up 18 points (8-8 from the line), and 7 rebounds. His teammate Nicolas Batum (1.40) had 21 points (9-13 from the field) with 2 steals.

Al Jefferson (1.62) had a double-double with 10 points, and 14 rebounds, adding 5 assists and 3 blocks in the loss, while his teammate Devin Harris (1.21) scored 26 points on 5 threes to go with 5 assists.

Kevin Garnett (0.84) was the only Celtic to put up a decent line against the Bulls’ (aka Tom Thibodeau’s) defense with his 10 points (4-4 from the line), 10 rebounds, and 2 steals. Unfortunately for Patrick (and everyone else in the East, really), the Bulls “magic number” is down to 1 for clinching the best record in the East.

Speaking of the Bulls, Carlos Boozer (0.59) rounds out the Top 10 with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: If you’re looking to stream, there’s actually some interesting options here… For example, Taj Gibson (0.70) only had 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals (27% owned), but if the Bulls win against Cleveland, you can bet that all of their reserves are going to see an increase in playing time over the last few games. If you’re still vying for a championship (or even a third place finish), there might be something there.

Pick Up Lines: Another set of guys who are already seeing that same sort of increase in minutes are the rookies for the Jazz. Derrick Favors (0.54) played 31 minutes on the 5th, and while he only had 20 last night, he ended with 8 points, and 7 rebounds (17% owned), and since the Jazz aren’t going to make the playoffs, who’s going to stop them from giving their rookies more time? Gordon Hayward (0.47) hopes that the answer is nobody. He played almost 36 minutes last night and while he only ended up with 10 points, he was 8-8 from the line, with 3 rebounds and a steal (9% owned). Hayward can score when he’s given a ton of minutes, and really, are you expecting more from the waiver wire at this point in the season?

Biggest Loser: Perhaps the season’s Biggest Loser Troy Murphy (-0.31) had another 2 minute appearance, even in a relative blow-out for the Celtics, ending up with 2 points, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists. According to Yahoo, 44% of owners ~~are still hanging on to Murphy.~~

Let’s put our ~~boobs~~ hands together for Gerald Wallace and enjoy the spoils of his victory…

***

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

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Fantasy + Basketball = Cheerleading Leias

Nels — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:22:05 +0000

I totally forgot to incorporate this picture into my post this morning, but it’s too awesome not to post.

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Day 158 of 170: Clash of the Titans

Patrick — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 13:37:10 +0000

Line of the Night: On a day where the Knicks met the Warriors in a clash of the fantasy titans, the LotN actually goes to Dwyane Wade (1.4) who used an overtime game against Indiana to score 43 points, adding 9 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks in 44 minutes. The Miami attack is what we call an unbalanced load – Michael Beasley (-0.14) was the only other starter to score in double-digits. He had 12 points.

Honorable Mentions: You know you have some insane fantasy lines when David Lee’s (1.34) 37 point, 20 rebound, 10 assist triple-double is only the third best line of the night. That’s like a week’s worth of stats rolled up into one game; Danilo Gallinari (1.07) also took advantage of the Warrior’s lack of defense to score 29 points, with 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 threes; and Manu Ginobili (1.04) had a 43 point game of his own in a win over the Magic, adding 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Did you know Ginobili is going to be a free agent this summer?

David Lee’s mission? To single-handedly win you a fantasy championship

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Jared Dudley (1.37) has been a minor bust this season, especially among those people who thought he might win the starting SF job for the Suns over Grant Hill. Instead he’s been relegated to bench duty and has had trouble getting more than 20 minutes a game. But last night he got 28 minutes against Detroit and responded with a career-high 20 points, going 6-7 from three, because as he put it “There were a lot of wide open shots out there.” All in all, too little to late for Dudley this season as I doubt anyone is in need of a streaky SF who only plays 3 games next week.

Anthony Morrow (1.09) has gotten some good run in the Warriors last two games. Against the Knicks yesterday, he got 36 minutes off the bench and scored 35 points with 3 threes. With Monta Ellis missing the Warriors’ upcoming road trip and looking more and more likely to miss the rest of the season with… flu, Morrow is a guy who could continue to get some good minutes over the last two weeks of the season.

The Biggest Loser: Dwight Howard (-0.85). 10 points and 6 rebounds for Howard, which might have been forgivable if he also didn’t go 2-11 from the line. The Spurs went the Hack-a-Howard route in the game and it worked to perfection as they won 112-100.

All Eyez on Me:

Portland (46-30) at Sacramento (24-52) – As I mentioned yesterday, Spencer Hawes is done for the year, which will provide more minutes for Jason Thompson and more importantly for you waiver wire addicts, Donte Greene. In the last Kings game, Greene dropped 21 points on the Wolves.

Toronto (37-37) at Philadelphia (26-49) – If you haven’t been paying attention to Toronto (and why wouldn’t you) Sonny Weems has recently replaced DeMar DeRozan at the two guard in the Raptors starting lineup. In four starts, he’s averaged about 11 points and 3.5 rebounds, which… was just about exactly was DeRozan was doing. Man, you take all the fun out of fantasy basketball Toronto Raptors…

Charlotte (40-35) at Chicago (36-39) – Every game counts for the Bulls as they try to sneak into the 8th playoff spot in the East. They’ll be helped by Luol Deng, who returned in the Bulls’ last game after missing 11 straight. Deng jumped right back in, playing 27 minutes in his first game back and scoring 14 points with 6 boards. This means you can say goodbye to James Johnson, who started, but only saw 17 minutes of action in the game.

***

In honor of Dwyane Wade (and since Nels’ is on vacation), here is your Saturday’s Tiny Dancer. Because you know, why look at one picture when you can watch video. This is the winner of the Heat hottest dancer contest, Odaymis.

***

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Day 59 of 170: Merry Christmas to All, and Peace on Earth to Everyone Else

Nels — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:39:52 +0000

My Christmas gift this year was to draw the actual Christmas Day post. Since the NBA has gone the Hollywood route and realized that no one actually wants to spend time with their in-laws on Christmas, they need something to distract them. And what better distraction than Cleveland @ LAL? I’m sure the NBA was hoping that Blake Griffin would be playing by now so that LAC @ Phoenix would be a decent game. What would be more interesting, though, would be to schedule the Lakers and Clippers to play in the same arena, the same day, and just close enough so that the fans could get into brawls if they were drunk enough from the eggnog and spiked cider.

My parents are actually going to be at the Portland/Denver game tonight, in the 100-Level no less. But they have a friend who gets First Class tickets a lot, so it’s not even big deal to them. My mom was thinking about not going until I told her that the Nuggets were actually good. Of course, now that the Blazers are going to face them without Oden, Pryzbilla, and probably not Brandon Roy either… maybe they should have sold the tickets and used the money to buy me my dog more presents.

Now, I’m not gonna lie, I liked what Patrick did for the pic in yesterday’s post. So, here’s to ladies in Santa outfits…

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Day 38 of 170: Vlad is Rad

Nels — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:49:06 +0000

Line of the Night: / Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Vladimir Radmanovic (1.17) is not the first WWLotN to also get the overall LotN, but he is the only player in the NBA with a VL in his name. He’s also the only player to get 20 points (4 threes), 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals last night. Unfortunately, that performance wasn’t enough to get a W for the W’s. I’d argue that he’s trending upwards, but since he’s only owned in 5% of leagues, you can probably afford to wait another couple games to see if that theory holds.

Honorable Mentions: Carl Landry (1.02) (and the other Rockets) proved that the Warriors are still every bit as much fantasy gold as the team that is almost as far away as you can get in the NBA (that would be the Knicks). Landry had 22 and 9 with 2 steals and 3 blocks. Aaron Brooks (0.97) had 25 points including 5 three-pointers. Shane Battier (0.80) had 10 and 10 with 4 assists and 6 blocks.

The Biggest Loser: Richard Jefferson (-0.43) has turned into the opposite of fantasy dynamite. Last night he was even worse than that, though, shooting 23% to end with 6 points. He added 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Yee-ha.

All Eyez On Me: A little bit of Miami at Los Angeles Lakers anyone? D-Wade, Kobe, Beasley, Bynum? Could be a 2011 Finals matchup (if the Heat end up with Chris Bosh, of course).

Also, Boston is in Oklahoma City, who is running around with a 10-8 record so far this season. The Kids Are Alright.

The Kids Are Alright – The Who

The Golden Ticket: New York is in Atlanta tonight, so Fly, Hawks, Fly!

Friday’s Tiny Dancer: Here’s Radman’s reward (click to enlarge):

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Day 29 of 170: The Golden Scrolls – Morrowind

Nels — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:47:06 +0000

Yes, I know it’s a lame title, but look! Cheerleader!

Line of the Night: The internets are abuzz today and the name on the tip of everyone’s tongue is Anthony Morrow (1.28). Morrow and his band of might Warriors took down the streaking Mavericks as though there were a new deputy in town. Morrow made 6 threes en route to 27 points, adding 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in the process.

Honorable Mentions: Danny Granger (0.98) was also dialing from distance for dollars last night, connecting on 7 threes and tallying 36 points. Granger matched Morrow’s 9 rebounds and 5 assists, but fell short in steals, and shot only 40% from the floor.

Kevin Durant (0.85) made 11 of his 22 shots, scoring 28 points with 5 boards and 8 assists. The kid could be good.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Everyone’s favorite guy with two first names: Jarrett Jack (0.71) finally played like I thought he would when I drafted him far too many times in far too many leagues. Jack made all 7 of his shots (which will probably never happen again, so don’t use that as a factor in your decision to pick him up), and ended up with 18 points, 3 rebounds, and 6 assists.

The Biggest Loser: Deron Williams (-0.41) was really battling it out for the award last night. Elton Brand (-0.40) was a close second with his 4 points in 27 minutes, but Deron brought home the bacon with a near quadruple-double: 10 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, and 7 turnovers. He also missed both of his free throw attempts, and only shot 35% from the field. Jason Kidd anyone?

All Eyez On Me: Before we get to Orlando at Atlanta on Turkey Day, we have to sit through a bunch of good teams playing a bunch of bad teams. Do you think the NBA scheduled it that way on purpose? I mean, the best thing going is Dallas @ Houston. I’m sure the Texans out there are all in a tizzy, but I could, well, I guess I could care less… for example: Denver at Minnesota. There’s a matchup.

The Golden Ticket: Luckily for us fantasy players, Golden State will continue through Texas, stopping San Antonio. Will the Spurs be able to slow talk them into only 90 points?

New York is playing Sacramento, so look out for Knicks and Kings tonight! And Phoenix is playing Memphis, so that should work out well for somebody, right?

And since I still feel bad about the downtime last week (and because I’m moving the site again, and hoping to get in everyone’s good graces in advance): Cheerleader 2!

—–

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Hawks A-Town Dancer Making a New Name For Herself

Nels — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:32:25 +0000

I’m afraid this is just too awesome not to post.

First, please go to this post from 2 seasons ago. The immediately relevant part is the first A-Town Dancer you see there.

Okay, back? If you didn’t bother looking, let me just tell you there was a picture of (now former) Hawks A-Town Dancer. Why is that relevant?

Said, Hawks dancer, who’s real name is Briana, is now making money entertaining men in a different sort of way. And she’s probably getting a lot more of said money than she did as a dancer. She is making porn. Well, she’s not really the one making it, but she’s starring in it.

I almost laughed out loud when I first read this, but then I turned off SafeSearch and did a Google Image Search for Brandy Blair.

I know what you’re saying, that looks pretty tame… but notice the watermark. It doesn’t say Give Me The Rock, that’s for sure. And by now, you’ve probably also noticed the pics below…

So, it’s not like she got a tattoo that says: “I’m doing it for money” but those are the tame ones. Try an image search yourself, and I think you’ll find the proof is in the pudding. And by pudding, I mean, well… you know.

Thanks: Guyism

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Where Have You Gone Friday’s Tiny Dancer

Patrick — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:40:05 +0000

It is mid-summer, which can only mean one thing (in addition to my manscaping routine being in full go-mode): NBA dance team auditions are going on across the county. A lot of them have already happened, including the big one: the Laker Girl tryouts. According to my new favorite website – UtimateCheerleaders.com – 500 dancers showed up in El Segundo to try out for 22 spots in the Laker Girls squad.

Hey, and they have video of the thing. You’ve got to ask yourself, what the hell are some of these girls thinking?

The site also keeps us all up to date on audition dates for every NBA team. For the thousands of beautiful female readers that we have in the Chicago area, the Chicago LuvaBulls are holding their auditions on Saturday, August 1st. I think it’s about time that GMTR puts a man on the ground to attend this thing in person and report back on the festivities (…looking in Nels’ direction).

And if you think the point of this post is just to show cheerleader pictures, well you’re dead wrong. It’s to show cheerleader pictures and try AND to try to coerce Nels to attend one of these things.

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Dwight Howard: Prince of the Paint

Erik — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:28:26 +0000

At this point in the season, I believe that there is no real contender to Dwight Howard’s being the Best Big Man in the NBA. I called him out as a fantasy force over at Points in the Paint early in the pre-season and addressed his definitive advantage in the head to head format while admitting that he is still a rotisserie liability. I had him floating just outside the TOP 10-12 guys in my Top 72 players for head to head. As of December 1st, my list’s last update, I probably too generously placed him at 8th. Which reminds me… I’ll be updating my head to head mini-Big Board soon.

Dwight is the hands down best big ball strategy core player so far into this season. In general, free throw percentage is given up in the strategy so Dwight’s “drawback” in that cat is far less painful in head to head as compared to roto.

It’s the BLOCKS baby!

images via www.orlandosentinel.com through Yahoo! images

His immense fantasy power today comes from the leap in his blocking average. From 2.2 last season to 3.2 this year.

Check out his line-to-date: 20.2 PPG, 13.8 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 3.2 BPG, 57.8 FG% (12.1 attempts), 58 FT% (10.9 attempts), 2.7 TOs, through 36:12 MPG

Other notable contending big men are:

Marcus Camby: 12.1 PPG, 13.9 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.0 SPG, 2.7 BPG, 50.2 FG% (9.4 attempts), 72.2 FT% (3.7 attempts), 1.6 TOs

Andris Biedrins: 13.9 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.3 SPG, 1.7 BPG, 55.8 FG% (10.2 attempts), 55.7 FT% (4.6 attempts), 2.0 TOs

Tim Duncan: 20.4 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 3.6 APG, o.5 SPG, 1.8 BPG, 51.4 FG% (15.6 attempts), 68.7 FT% (6.3 attempts), 2.2 TOs

Fine, he no longer has a perfect NBA attendance record on his sheet, but his stat bumps are worth it – fantasy value-wise.

Combine Dwight with anyone of these 3 and you’ve got yourself a definitive dominant edge in the big man numbers in fantasy head to head. Personally speaking, I would prefer to have paired him up with TD. Their combined shot volume from the field will give almost any team an almost sure W in the FG cat.

Enter…

The “Double -D” combo of Dwight and Duncan:

I know of at least 3 fantasy managers who have chosen to build their fantasy teams around D-Ho and Timmy-D. Combining these 2 guys give those teams what I call a consolidation of power and resources. Which basically means needing less players to dominate key categories of choice. This concept is even more valuable and important in deeper leagues. Hmm… I think I should write about this in more depth in a separate post. Anyway… Yes, one of those 3 guys is in my 18-man head to head league. You can imagine how he’s been owning the other teams in the big man cats!

We are pretty much in week 12 of 24 in the head to head calendar – the half way mark. It’s time for the cellar dwellers to make their key trades and moves to get their teams’ butts in gear for that second half push. If you’re playing the big man game and you own Dwight on your fantasy team, kudos to you on your choice. Build around him and you’ve got a solid base for the big cats.

I personally think Dwight was really planning on doing a lot more shot blocking this season. Here he is talking about the “The Art of the Block” in an interview sometime before the season began.

I sadly didn’t get to build any big ball teams around Dwight this season. But you can now officially consider me a “D-Ho” for him for next year, if ever I decide to go the big man strategy!

To make this an official GMTR take, here are what Nels and Patrick have to say about Dwight Howard and his season so far:

Nels

Okay, I’ll admit it: Dwight is a lot higher than I expected him to be this season. He’s at number 21 and 11 on the player rater (depending if you have turnovers of not), both of which are higher than his average ranking on the mock draft spreadsheet, and a lot higher than both Patrick and I had him on our Big Board (which was at 55).

His numbers are what I expected, with the sole exception of the 3.2 blocks per game, and really, I think that’s what’s got him that high up the rankings. Player Raters love defense, and 3.2 blocks a game is bordering on the believability of a Gossip Girl plot line. I mean, he’s beating Marcus Camby by more than a half a block per game.

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, but Howard would have been a much better 3rd round pick in the 10-team Battle of the Bloggers League than my pick of David West (adding to LeBron James and Al Jefferson).

Patrick

The majority of the talk about Dwight Howard going into the season (at least coming out of GMTR) had to do with Dwight Howard’s free throw percentage and how it affected his value. I’ll do something dangerous and actually look back at the Dwight Howard prediction from our player guide:

“It’s hard to say if he can best position 73, though, since he doesn’t seem like he’s going to improve his FT shooting, and his turnovers are still very high. I would go as high as late 4th round if you believe in his upside.”

Ouch. That is what you call a buy oil before it hits $200 a barrel type prediction. Not our best moment. Interestingly enough, Howard has spit in our faces by NOT improving his free throw percentage at all and yet becoming a great fantasy player (at least through this point in the season). He’s shooting 58% from the line in 08-09 compared to 60% last season. Most of his other stats are on par with last season as well.

Basically, Howard has increased his value due to two stats: turnovers and blocks. His turnovers have gone down from 3.2 a game to 2.7 and his blocks have increased from 2.2 to 3.2. So, for Howard to maintain his ridiculous fantasy value he’ll have to maintain those numbers, which I think is unlikely, but not completely out of the question. He’s averaged 2.7 turnovers or less a game a couple times in his career already, so that seems possible. His blocks are a career high by a wide margin. I can see some regression as the season moves along, but he has increased his block totals every year he’s been in the league, so it’s likely he’ll finish the year north of 2.1 blocks a game (his career block trajectory would put him somewhere in the 2.5 block a game range).

~0~

Since it’s GMTR policy for me to fulfill a cheerleader quota and I, of course, wouldn’t want to void my fantasy multi-million dollar contract with the team, here’s my token Orlando Magic Dancer pic:

image by nolimits via Flickr

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