Give Me The Rock » NBA Teams

Linsanity!

Patrick — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:06:38 +0000

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

In case you haven’t heard, it looks like Mike D’Antoni is likely going to go with Jeremy Lin as the team’s starting PG against the Utah Jazz tonight. D’Antoni is apparently impressed with the way Lin attacked the basket and ran the Knicks’ offense during Saturday’s game against the Nets (and equally unimpressed with the pathetic job Toney Douglas has done). Can Lin repeat his 25 point and 7 assist performance against the Jazz? I highly doubt it, but Lin is an absolute must grab in any league he’s available in just to see if he can.

Also, because David Sterns requires by penalty of death that it is mentioned in any post about Lin, he graduated from Harvard.

Carry on.

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Day 42 of 124: Batum Goes Boom (24)

Day 41 of 124: Anthony Morose

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

Or: Where is John Ringo?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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 40 of 124: Sleeping Giants

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

and not just the players

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

(Image: Dustin Curtis)

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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Day 38 of 124: Efficiency Wins The Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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Day 36 of 124: Kobe Bryant Passes Kareem

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

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

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

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

Honorable Mentions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

Biggest Loser:

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

Speaking of backend schedule…

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

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

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

***

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Day 33 of 124: Only Two Games

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

***

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Day 32 of 124: Where Tyrus Thomas Beckons You with his Sweet Siren Call

Patrick — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:42:07 +0000

Line of the Night: Anyone who listens to the podcast knows that I went all in on Stephen Curry (3.58 WARP) this year in my personal leagues. Well, I couldn’t be happier this morning thanks to a season-high 32 points from Curry, who shot 12-19 from the field and added 6 threes, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals in a 101-93 win over the Blazers. Does it make the two weeks he was stashed on my bench all forgotten? No. But it is nice to see him playing like the Curry of old in his third back from that ankle sprain.

And now I can almost guarantee he sprains his ankle in the Warriors’ next game.

Honorable Mentions: Kevin Love (3.17), the number one fantasy PF over the first month of the season, continues to shine with his own specific brand of basketball – 31 points, 4 threes, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks in a win over the Mavs. Ricky Rubio (1.07) added 17 points, 12 assists, 4 steals (and 7 turnovers…) in the win. He’s given the team a 1-2 punch that Wolves’ fans will be able to enjoy for at least the next three years after the team signed Love to an unusual contract extension.

The Thunder beat the Hornets in spite of Russell Westbrook’s worst efforts (more on that below) thanks to Kevin Durant (2.36) who scored a very efficient 25 points, adding 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. James Harden (1.18) managed to score 18 points by only taking 5 shots, mostly by going 9-10 from the line.

Still Wade-less (but getting close), the Miami Heat are getting mad contributions from Chris Bosh (2.21) – 27 points (on 12-15 from the field) – and LeBron James (1.86) – 32 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists. Even Mario Chalmers (1.34) had another good game with 16 points, going 3-5 from three. The Pistons’ big contribution came from… well, we’ll get to that.

Danilo Gallinari (2.21) is currently ranked number 7 on our player rater for the year thanks to games like this – 23 points on 8-12 shooting from the field, with 5 assists and 3 blocks against the Kings. Andre Miller (1.48) continues to be a nice surprise off the Nuggets bench. He had 15 points and 10 assists last night. DeMarcus Cousins (0.71) led Sacramento with 17 and 15. He is now averaging 11 rebounds a game this year (and 4.6 on the offensive glass) no doubt “helped” by the fact that the Kings are shooting less than 40% from the field as a team.

On a night where Kyle Lowry (0.13) almost had a triple double with 8-8-10 and yet shot 2-16 from the floor, Kevin Martin (1.80) was a much more palatable 5-12 from three on his way to 29 points for the Rockets, while Samuel Dalembert (0,74) added 18 boards.

And Deron Williams’ (1.48) owners have to be happy not only that he had 34 points and 11 assists in a win over the Sixers, but that he actually shot 50% from the field doing it. Kris Humphries (0.76) added 13 points and 19 boards in the game, while MarShon Brooks sat out again for the team with a sore Achilles tendon.

Finally, I don’t think there was a baby hook without Roy Hibbert’s (1.75) name on it last night against the Bulls on his way to 20 points (on 9-14 shooting), adding 8 rebounds and 4 blocks in a win over the Bulls. If you missed the game, Brian Scalabrine was trusted with the biggest shot of the game for the Bulls, which doesn’t even happen in Brian Scalabrine’s own dreams.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Oh, Tyrus Thomas (2.77)! The Greek Siren of fantasy basketball. He lures you in with his enchanting potential and then destroys you once you actually pick him up. Well, Thomas is calling for you again – against the Wizards he blocked what I can only assume is a career high 9 shots, adding 13 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals in 33 minutes on the court. If you were starting Thomas last night despite all the horrible games leading up to this one, congratulations! If he is currently available in your league, Thomas is starting for a Bobcats team without much else, is going to get plenty of run the rest of the season, does have tons of upside, and is blocking a lot of shots right now… just don’t ask me to come save you when he shipwrecks your boat next week.

Pick Up Lines: What the hell was going on last night? With Tayshaun Prince missing last night’s Pistons’ game with a personal matter, Austin Daye (2.08) got 30 minutes of run and scored a career high 28 points, hitting 4 threes and grabbing 6 rebounds (Daye had hit only 1 three all year prior to this game). Not to rain on the parade today, but with Prince likely back for the Pistons next game on Friday, leave Daye on waivers for now unless you happen to play in a really deep league. Check out his game log from last season, Daye has had games like this in the past, only to come right back down to earth in his next game.

Linas Kleiza (1.74) saw a season high 33 minutes for the Raptors thanks to a double-OT game and scored a season-high 25 points, hitting 4 threes and grabbing 5 boards. Double-OT games aside, Kleiza isn’t seeing consistent enough minutes to warrant a pick-up, but I would watch him to see how his minutes shake out in that ever changing Toronto rotation.

Ronnie Brewer (1.53) was supposed to be a sleeper LAST season after the Bulls signed him to be their starting SG. However, with the Luol Deng injury, Brewer got the starting nod and scored 20 points, adding 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals against Danny Granger and the Pacers. Brewer makes a nice pickup while Deng is out as long as you’re not expecting anymore 20/10 double-doubles. But according to Adrian Wojnarowski, Deng is apparently going to play through his injury (torn ligaments in his left wrist… ouch) and could be back on the court by next week, making Brewer a potential short-term play only.

Chandler Parsons (1.61), who was in a bit of a funk recently, bounced back with a nice 16 point, 7 rebound, 5 assist, 2 steal, 2 block game against the Bucks. He has sneaky high fantasy value as long as he’s filling the box score like that.

Not to be outdone by Tyrus Thomas, Darko Milicic (1.48) blocked 7 shots of his own against the Mavs, adding 8 points and 7 rebounds. Do you know what I love about Darko? Absolutely nothing.

With Marcus Thornton day-to-day with a thigh bruise that just won’t quit, Jimmer Fredette (1.42) got the start and hit 5 threes on his way to 19 points in 36 minutes. Jimmer is already owned in 37% of Yahoo leagues, which is crazy high considering the little he’s been doing this year, but if he’s available he makes a good spot start as long as Thornton is out. Backup PG Isaiah Thomas (0.85) – 16 points and 6 assists – also makes a decent play in deeper leagues.

With Luke Ridnour out with a sore left knee, Wayne Ellington (1.07) got the start at SG, played 38 minutes and scored 16 points while blocking a couple shots. Ellington is a very low end fantasy option even getting big minutes and could only be worth a pickup in deep leagues if Ridnour were to miss time.

Tiago Splitter (0.93) – with 16 and 8 – continues to put up solid lines off the Spurs’ bench in limited minutes. The Spurs’ second unit seems to be working well together lately, but I’m still hesitant to believe that Splitter can continue to put up double-double type lines getting only 20 minutes a game.

Al Jefferson was a late scratch from the Jazz game with a swollen right ankle, so Derrick Favors (0.69) got the starting nod and exploded for 16 and 12 in 42 minutes. Favors has shown he can be a fantasy beast when getting the minutes, but ironically, he’s stuck in the same position Paul Millsap was a few years ago behind two very good starters. Jefferson is day-to-day with the injury, but it doesn’t sound serious, so I wouldn’t go all in on Favors.

On last week’s podcast, Erik and I threw out that the Augustin injury might set a series of events in motion that would catapult Boris Diaw back into the starting lineup. Much more anti-climatically, journeyman Matt Carroll (0.37) got the start for the Bobcats and scored 17 points on 7-10 shooting. He makes a very, very low end spot starter while Augustin is out. And hey, I actually drafted him in my 30-team league.

With Andrew Bogut leaving last night’s game with a sprained ankle, Drew Gooden (0.89) took over and played 28 minutes, scoring 11 points with 3 steals (and grabbed an incredibly weak 2 boards). Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times (no more credible source than the Racine Times in my book) tweeted that Bogut is expected to miss at least the next few games with the injury, likely giving Gooden the starting nod over that span. Ride the double-doubles for now.

Non-Pick Up Lines: I’d avoid picking up anyone else on the Bucks other than Gooden, including Mike Dunleavy (1.20) who hit 3 threes on his way to 18 points in 28 minutes off the bench and Ersan Ilyasova (0,21) who grabbed an insane 19 boards in 28 minutes off the bench for the Bucks. Scott Skiles went 13 deep in his rotation last night – giving all his starters other than Brandon Jennings less than 20 minutes of run. To quote my father-in-law, the Bucks don’t know whether they’re coming or going right now.

Danny Green (1.10) continues to do just enough off the Spurs bench to ruin any value that Kawhi Leonard might have in the starting role with Manu is out. He did have 10-5-5 last night, but it was his first fantasy worth game in over a week.

GUSTAVO! We have another Gustavo Ayon (1.15) sighting. Ayon put up 16 points in 17 minutes off the Hornets bench, shooting 8-10 from the field and adding 3 steals. While I’d love to see Ayon get more time, he’s third on the team’s depth chart right now and is not going to be fantasy viable averaging less than 10 minutes a game.

Biggest Loser (aka, opportunity does not equal success): Two players with the opportunity to get more run this week thanks to injuries completely fell on their faces last night. Lamar Odom (-1.56), who is starting in place of the injured Dirk Nowitzki, shot 2-14 from the floor (in only 17 minutes!) and finished with 5 points against the Wolves. Get well soon Dirk!

Meanwhile, Kemba Walker (-0.75) was able to take the reigns of the Charlotte offense thanks to the D.J. Augustin injury, but made the least of the opportunity by shooting 4-19 from the field in a 92-75 loss to the Wizards. The Wizards! He did have some decent peripheral stats though, finishing with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

As efficient as Durant and Harden were for the Thunder, Russell Westbrook (-0.94) nearly pissed it all away with a 5-to-7 assist to turnover ratio and 4-14 shooting performance against the Hornets. Got to hand it to Westbrook, he doesn’t half-ass anything; when he flames out, he flames out hard.

Word on the street is that teams have figured out that Byron Mullens (-0.77) is a one-dimensional mid-range jump shooter who Paul Silas described as soft as the hair on a baby’s ass (that last part may not be true). What is true is that teams are starting to shut him down and he’s losing out on minutes to shot blocking savant Bismack Biyombo (not soft!). Mullens played only 18 minutes last night, scoring 5 points on 1-6 shooting. It was a brief, but fun ride for Mullens. Now go ahead and drop him until he learns how to do something other than take jump shots.

***

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Day 31 of 124: Bargnani is Back

Nels — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:11:11 +0000

or: Timing is Everything and My Timing Sucks
or: Attack of the Big Men

Line of the Night: Andrea Bargnani (3.17) played 42 minutes in his first game back and proved why he is one of the greatest Small Ball Centers ever to have played the game of fantasy basketball (because you know that’s what the players are all really thinking about when they’re out there). Bargnani had 36 points on 4 threes, and 12-12 from the line, to go with 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block. The subtitle of the post refers to the fact that I left Derrick Rose and Andrea Bargnani on my bench this week in favor of Nate Robinson and Channing Frye. Do remember that Nels is the Conservative One (at least when it comes to fantasy basketball). I’m tying to be more aggressive this year with swapping free agents, but when it came to starting guys, I had to go with the sure thing over guys who hadn’t played in a week (I had Rose in my lineup all last week). Of course, the most painful part is that I left Luol Deng and MarShon Brooks in my lineup because I didn’t think their injuries were going to be that bad. Hopefully I’m right on one of those.

Honorable Mentions: I’m not sure why Chris Bosh (2.55) was so far behind Bargnani in WARP because their lines are very similar except for the threes and steals. Bosh had 35 points (10-16 from the field, 14-14 from the line), 7 rebounds, and 1 block. Ryan Anderson (2.23) bounced back from one of the worst games of any player ever to give his owners 24 points, 5 threes, and 8 rebounds. Classic Ryan Anderson. (Yes, I intended that to be ironic) Next up are a bunch of your more traditional big men: Tyson Chandler (1.88) had 20 points (9-10 from the field), and 17 rebounds; Marcin Gortat (1.41) is setting leagues that count double-doubles on fire with another 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks; and Amare Stoudemire (1.41) had his best game in a while with 18 points (7-12 from the floor, 4-4 from the line), and 8 rebounds.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Landry Fields (2.14) has been playing 36 minutes per game in the last 4 for the Knicks. Only 29 last night, but he scored 18 points to go with 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks (39% owned). Classic Landry Fields. Of course, Baron Davis is expected to start playing this week, so I’m going to have have to where B-Diddy’s minutes come from before I can recommend picking Fields back up (at least in the 61% of leagues where he was dropped). Fields has been playing well, but so has Iman Shumpert (Shumpert is 65 on the Player Rater over the last 4 games versus Fields at 71). It does give New York the chance to ease Baron into the rotation, but it makes it hard for fantasy owners to know who to hang onto…

Pick Up Lines: Marcus Camby (1.82) returned to form (and more) with 3 points, 22 rebounds, 2 steals, and 5 blocks (40% owned). I’m not sure how he turned the ball over 4 times, considering he only took 2 shots, but he played almost 32 minutes, which is his most in a while. Since he’s probably already owned in all the snatch-n-grab leagues, you can probably give him one more game before making a decision.

Leandro Barbosa (1.34) is definitely the best guy on the Raptors bench, and last night he was their second best player (9th overall on the night) with 19 points (7-14 from the field, 3 threes) with a steal and a block (26% owned).

The Magic were smart and actually rested their starters in a blowout win (Tom Thibodeau, are you paying attention?) so Chris Duhon (1.17) go some extra run and ended up with 8 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals (1% owned).

Derrick Brown (1.05) started at PF for the Bobcats and played 33 minutes against the Knicks. Brown had 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals (1% owned). I’ve picked him up in a 14-team league (dropped Courtney Lee), so hopefully that gives you some sort of guide about how I feel about Brown. With the fading Boris Diaw and the still up-and-coming Bismack Biyombo behind him, Brown seems like he could be in for some significant minutes if he can play well consistently.

James Johnson (0.99) is another nominee for an award I just made up called The Streaker. The statue will feature a nude man running. No one wants to win that award, but Johnson certainly appears to be trying with his 18 points (4-4 from the line), 10 rebounds, and maddening inconsistency. Two games ago, he had 23 points (10-17 FG shooting) with 6 rebounds and 2 steals, but then followed that up with 7 points on 3-8 with 2 rebounds. There is a reason he is only 20% owned. That reason is Inconsistency.

Go ahead and post your NBA Betting Predictions in the comments with other nominations for this prestigious award.

Here’s a name you haven’t heard in a while: Quentin Richardson (0.76) (8 points, 2 steals, 1% owned). That’s all.

Biggest Loser: Raymond Felton (-0.94) managed 10 points and no one expects big rebounds or good shooting from him (0 rebounds, 2-6 from the field), but 2 assists and 6 turnovers in combination with no rebounds and bad shooting is just not going to get it done.

If you hadn’t already figured this one out, it’s officially time to give up on Amir Johnson (-0.73) who only had 5 points and 3 rebounds, as well as Boris Diaw (-0.57), who turned in another 4 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 1-6 from the field. How you like Diaw niow? (Edit: Just got a tweet that someone’s not giving up on Amir yet in their deep league. So, if we’re talking 18+ teams, then fine, you can hang on see if he comes back from his current #291 rank in the last 7 days. If we got to 16 teams (x13 players) that gets iffy… Anything less than that, and it’s time to cut him loose. Coincidentally, Diaw is #292 in the last 7 days.)

Finally, a tough night for the (to this point) surging Marc Gasol (-0.51). Gasol only came up with 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists while going 2-7 from the field.

***

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Day 30 of 124: Where the Magic Have No Tricks up Their Sleeve

Patrick — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:33:07 +0000

Line of the Night: Kevin Love (2.54 WARP) celebrated the return of Kevin McHale to Minnesota by really bearding it up and having a bounce back performance in a loss to the Rockets. After being mentioned in the biggest loser portion of our post on Sunday, Love scored 39 points – going 5-5 from three and 13-19 overall – and added 12 rebounds in the game. The increasing creepy Kevin McHale approves.

Honorable Mentions: In that Wolves game, Ricky Rubio (0.23) dished out 12 assists (including a few sweet no look/behind the back passes), but he also turned the ball over 5 times and shot 2-10 from the field. I followed some of that game on Twitter (big mistake) and it sounded like God had come down from the heavens to play point for Minnesota. Luke Ridnour (1.08) continues to impress in a more human-like way as Rubio’s backcourt mate; he had 17 points and 8 assists. Oh, and how about the team that won? Kevin Martin (1.49) led the Rockets with 31 points and hit 4 threes on the night, while Kyle Lowry (1.47) had his second career triple-double (just two?) with 16 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

Josh Smith (2.47) went into boss mode against the Bucks and finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks in 40 minutes. Joe Johnson (1.16) also scored 28 in the game. Not many of the Bucks’ showed show up to play in this game, the exception being Brandon Jennings (2.19), who scored 21 points, adding 5 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. That’s now four straight 20+ scoring games from Jennings, who has really stepped up his game this season and is actually shooting half-decently. Mike Dunleavy (-0.22) scored 17 points in 31 minutes off the bench for Milwaukee and is only owned in 4% of leagues night now, but I’m not mentioning him in the pick-up lines below because a) the Bucks’ rotation is a mess right now and b) he’s Mike Dunleavy.

***

James Harden (2.25) helped lead the Thunder to a 20-point win over the Pistons with 24 points, 5 threes, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. As I’ve mentioned in the comments on a number of posts this year, I was big on Harden coming into the year and he’s a great guard to own if you’re playing the percentages. Overall, it really was a team effort for OKC last night. Russell Westbrook (1.17) had a 24, 5 and 6 and even Serge Iblocka (1.09) chipped in 10 boards and 5 blocks.

A rejuvenated Kevin Garnett (2.06) somehow helped the short-handed Celtics hold the Magic to a franchise-low 56 points and 25% shooting on the night (tip – it involved a lot of fouling that wasn’t called by the refs), and hold Dwight Howard (-0.56) to 4-15 shooting. Garnett chipped in his own 14 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals (!) and 2 blocks in the game. As much as the Celtics’ fan in me would love to see this type of Garnett show up for every game the rest of the season, I doubt very much he has enough gas in the tank to put up these type of numbers consistently.

The Spurs beat the Hornets and were led by Tony Parker (1.04), who scored 20 points but more importantly dished out a career-high 17 assists. A lot of those assists went to Tim Duncan (1.16), who scored 28 in the game, including the game winning running hook with 1.4 seconds left. For the Hornets, Trevor Ariza (1.91) has proven to be a nice pickup for anyone who grabbed him after he returned from injury. He had 18 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in the game and even shot the ball well (7-13) which has always been the big problem for Ariza. Jarrett Jack (1.71) also chipped in 26 points and 9 assists.

A Dirk-less Dallas team beat the Suns 93-87, but Marcin Gortat (2.06) was the best fantasy player on the court in this game with 19 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocks. Gortat is now ranked 22 on our rater for the season and is at least in the discussion for the top-5 fantasy centers in the league. For the Mavs, it looks like Shawn Marion (1.68) is going to be the fantasy winner while Dirk sits out this week. Marion led Dallas with 29 points and hit 4 threes in the game.

Jamal Crawford (1.30) scored 26 points in 32 minutes off the bench for Portland. I was going to mention him in the pickup lines section, but then I saw he’s already owned in 66% of leagues. Carry on.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: With Luol Deng out with a mysterious wrist injury that may or may not require surgery, Richard Hamilton (1.61) took over some of that scoring slack for the Bulls with 22 points on 10-16 shooting, adding 10 assists in a team high 42 minutes on the court. If Hamilton is still hanging out in your waiver wire, stop reading this and grab him immediately. The double-digit assists are a fluky thing, but he is going to score a bunch for the team – especially while Deng is out – and gives the Bulls a much needed Ray Allen type to play off Rose and Boozer.

Pick Up Lines: Jordan Farmar (1.17) played 32 minutes off the bench for the Nets in that Bulls game and finished with 22 points and 3 threes. While 32 minutes was a season-high for Farmar (he’s averaging 20-23 a game recently), he has become the team’s primary guard off the bench and is definitely worth a look in deeper leagues if you need scoring, assists and threes.

When we discussed Dirk on the podcast, Erik talked about picking up the entire Mavs rotation, including (I think) Ian Mahinmi (1.10). Mahinmi saw a season high 29 minutes off the bench against Phoenix and finished with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks. Meanwhile, Lamar Odom (-0.19) had another pedestrian game with 11 points and 5 assists. There are no guarantees that Mahinmi is going to see this much run again (he only got 18 minutes in the Mavs first game without Dirk) but he’s worth a look in deeper leagues while Dirk is sidelined if you need a big.

Goran Dragic (1.10) is starting to see more run for the Rockets, which includes getting some time at SG alongside Lowry. Against the Wolves, Dragic scored 14 points and added 3 steals in 23 minutes. We’ve seen Dragic’s ability to put up huge double-double numbers when he’s gotten the chance to start in the past, so definitely keep an eye on him and his minutes.

Jodie Meeks (1.10) was probably dropped in your league after his ridiculously slow start to the season. While he hasn’t quite entered flame thrower mode yet this season, yesterday’s 15 points, 3 threes and 5 rebounds at least got our player rater’s attention. Checking his game log, as long as you only play him every 4th game, you should get a nice double-digit scoring performance.

Kings’ backup PG Isaiah Thomas (0.67) got 28 minutes of run and finished with 11 points and 8 assists. Thomas has been part energy injection, part mop up guy for the Kings (and there is a lot of mop of duty to be had with the Kings), but his extended run also had something to do with John Salmons, who played only 18 minutes after recovering from the flu this weekend.

Has it been a while since you’ve taken a ride with Grant Hill (0.42)? Maybe it’s time for one more run together for old time’s sake. Hill had one of his best games of the season provided you don’t play in a league that counts turnovers with 19 points and 8 boards (and 8 TOs) against Dallas. Hill has now strung together three decent games in a row and is seeing well over 30 minutes a game recently.

One category beasts: Zaza Pachulia (0.81) grabbed 14 boards against a Bucks team that shot 40% on the night and Avery Bradley (0.85) had 3 steals against Jameer Nelson and the Magic.

Biggest Loser: Round up all the bad performances we’ve had this year and I don’t think you’ll find anything quite as bad as Ryan Anderson’s (-1.29) 0 points, 0 rebounds and 2 assists on 0-8 shooting against the Celtics. Playing with half a team, the Celtics’ somehow held the Magic to historic scoring and shooting lows. Anderson was only one of 13 bad players who stepped on the court for the Magic yesterday, he just happens to be the one owned in 92% of leagues.

With Jamal Crawford’s nice game off the bench for the Blazers, Nicolas Batum (-0.85) only saw 18 minutes off the bench and didn’t do much. He didn’t score and only grabbed 2 boards in the game. I wouldn’t worry too much about Crawford yet if you own Batum. Remember, this game came against the Kings.

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