Give Me The Rock » Indiana Pacers

Day 121 of 124: When Danny Granger is Away, Paul George Will Play

Patrick — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:22:50 +0000

Line of the Night: With Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and George Hill all sitting last night for the Pacers (the team is locked into the three seed in the East) Paul George (2.32) got to run wild over the Pistons and finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals on the night. Granger is expected to sit again for the Pacers last game on Wednesday, so expect another huge game from Paul to finish out the season.

Honorable Mentions: Tony Allen (2.10) has been horrible since coming back from injury in mid-April (I know, because he’s on my roto team and I’m capped with moves for the year, so I haven’t been able to dump him), but last night with a little help from the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offense, he set a Grizzlies’ franchise record with 8 steals to go along with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Says Allen about his performance, “I was alert and felt good in the passing lanes.” No kidding.

Wesley Matthews (2.01) continued to burn hot over the last month of the season, scoring 24 points, with 3 threes, 6 rebounds and 4 steals as Portland got blown out by the Spurs. Matthews got 45 minutes in this game because Jamal Crawford sat with knee tendonitis and Nicolas Batum was out again due to his quad injury. Raymond Felton (0.25) made a surprise return after missing 3 games and finished with 13 points and 7 assists. I guess that means he’s good to go for the team’s last game on Thursday, but who knows with this season.

The Spurs were led by the unexpected duo of Stephen Jackson (1.83), who had 12 points, 4 assists and 5 steals, and Tim Duncan (1.53) with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks. Duncan saw a team high 26 minutes in the game as Gregg Popovich worked his magic to seemingly make minutes disappear from the game. Duncan and Jackson, I’d watch a buddy cop movie starring those two.

Elton Brand (1.49) had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks as the Sixers locked up a playoff spot with a win over the Nets. Andre Iguodala (1.28) finished with a 14, 7 and 9 while getting a team high 41 minutes, but strained his Achilles late in the game. With a playoff spot locked up, Doug Collins said after the game he plans to rest Iguodala and Brand and probably Lou Williams over the team’s final two games. This means we’ll get a heavy dose of Jrue Holiday, Jodie Meeks, Evan Turner, Lavoy Allen and Thaddeus Young on Wednesday and Thursday, so plan your lineups accordingly.

Ersan Ilyasova (1.42) was huge yet again for the Bucks, finishing with 19 points and 15 rebounds against the Raptors. Brandon Jennings (1.09) added 25 points, 3 threes and 5 assists in the game.

The Wizards handed the Bobcats their 21st straight loss (and kept them on the trajectory to become the worst NBA team of all time). They were led by John Wall (1.01) who finished with 16 points and 14 assists. Nene Hilario (0.75) had 18 and 6 in just 21 minutes and they also got a surprise performance out of Jan Vesely, but more on that below.

Charlotte was “led” by D.J. Augustin (0.48) with the 42nd best fantasy line of the night thanks to 15 points and 6 assists. Augustin had sat out the Bobcats previous four games, and his return pushed Kemba Walker (-0.52) back to the bench for only 14 minutes. The Bobcats can’t even do garbage time right this season.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Jan Vesely (1.64) has been starting for the Wizards for a month and has quietly put together a decent run of competence over the last couple weeks, sporting a two-week WARP of 0.34. Last night in a win over the Bobcats, he had his best game of the season, going 8-8 from the floor and finishing with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals (3% owned). The Wizards still play two more games this year, so those in deeper leagues looking for a boards/steals option to plug into your lineup could do worse than grabbing Vesely.

Pick Up Lines: This is the time of the season where everything we think we know goes out the window. So it’s no surprise that James Johnson (1.56) blew up against the Bucks a couple weeks after getting mysteriously benched. Johnson finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks (34% owned). He’s worth a look for the Raptors’ final game on Thursday against the Nets.

Danny Green (1.41) somehow managed to go 4-4 from three and score 18 points in only 15 minutes on the court as the Spurs blew out the Blazers 124-89. He’s been playing well recently (averaging 2.7 threes and 12 points a game over the last two weeks) despite getting his minutes reduced along with the other Spurs’ starters as they rest up for the playoffs. It’s tough to recommend picking up a guy getting 15-20 minutes a game, but somehow Green is making it work. The Spurs also play on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

The Pacers rolling with their B team allowed Leandro Barbosa (1.25) to see 29 minutes off the bench (his highest since he’s been on the team) and Barbosa made the most of the opportunity with 13 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals. With Granger a good bet to sit out on Wednesday, Barbosa should again see good minutes again in that game.

MarShon Brooks (1.07) has quietly returned to his early season form for the Nets. Against the Sixers, Brooks scored 18 points, adding 4 assists and 2 steals in 34 minutes. He’s scored in double-digits in 8 of his last 9 games and is someone to look at if you need to pick up some points on the last day of the season, which is the next time the Nets play.

With Drew Gooden (-0.99) taking a crap all over last night’s game against the Raptors (he finished with 2 points and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes), the Bucks turned to Ekpe Udoh (0.94) who had one of his strongest games with the team, finishing with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks in 30 minutes (10% owned). Unless the team decides to sit Gooden, Udoh will likely go back to seeing less than 20 off the bench for their last two games on Wednesday and Thursday and is a tough guy to recommend because of that.

Marreese Speights (0.55) finished with 17 and 10 for his second straight double-double. Who would have thought in the battle for playing time against Zach Randolph, that Speights would come out on top? Right now, he’s the better fantasy option out of the two.

Tristan Thompson (0.28) had 19 points, 9 boards and 4 blocks for the Cavs. Unfortunately, he also shot 3-10 from the floor and 6-10 from the line, but if you are looking for boards, blocks and some points, the Cavs still have games remaining on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Biggest Loser: George Hill sat out for the Pacers, which is great news for Darren Collison (-1.32), right? Turns out, not so much. A.J. Price got the start at PG for the Pacers, but Collison still got 31 minutes of run off the bench and all he could manage was 4 points on 1-8 shooting, with 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 turnovers. Hill is expected back for the Pacers last game on Wednesday, so Collison should be pushed back to limited minutes off the bench again for that one.

Zach Randolph (-1.13) played all of 19 minutes off the bench for the Grizzlies and finished with 3 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assists on 1-5 from the field. Randolph has one double-double in his past six games, not exactly what was expected from a guy who averaged 20 and 12 last season.

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Daily rankings and stats come from the GMTR H2H Player Rater (beta version). They are based on the stat Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP) an estimate of the number of wins a player produces per week in H2H leagues over a replacement (waiver wire) player.

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Day 117 of 124: Danny Granger Lines It Up

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Day 96 of 124: Russell Westbrook Will Have Derek Fisher’s Revenge On Los Angeles

Nels — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:52:34 +0000

Alternate Title: Revenge Night
Alternate Alternate Title: I miss the comfort of being sad
(I really hope everyone here is old enough to understand the reference. If you’re not, feel free to leave a comment and make me feel old.)

Line of the Night: Danny Granger (2.21) got revenge against himself one night after being the Biggest Loser. Granger came up with 25 points (3 threes, 6-6 from the line), 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks in Indiana’s win over Washington.

Honorable Mentions: Russell Westbrook (1.84) scored 17 of his 36 points (9-10 from the line) in the 3rd quarter, adding 6 assists, and 2 steals to help Derek Fisher and the Thunder win over the Lakers. I appreciate Derek Fisher and what a gentleman he is (though it seemed like he could have tried harder with the whole negotiation thing), but I call BS on him not knowing that the Lakers were going to trade him. If you’ve been around the league that long and you know the Lakers want to trade for a younger, more offense-oriented point guard, where do you think that money is going to come from? Kevin Durant (1.19) put the nail in the coffin with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks. On the other side of the ball, Andrew Bynum (1.69) racked up 25 points (10-15 from the field), 13 rebounds, and 4 blocks in the loss.

Meanwhile there was some kerfuffle about Paul Allen wanting to sell the Blazers. Well, maybe LaMarcus Aldridge (1.45) heard that and decided to showcase the team with his 25 points (11-18 from the field), 12 rebounds, and 5 assists in a win over New Orleans. I’d buy that for a dollar.

Mario Chalmers (1.33), I guess, led the Miami Heat (at least from a fantasy perspective) to a big win over Dallas in the two teams’ first meeting since the Finals last season. Chalmers had 12 points (on only 4-11 shooting with 2-2 from the line), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. I guess it must have been the 4 steals, which tied for the highest total in that category for the night. It also didn’t hurt that the Big Three actually played like a team allowing Bosh and Chalmers (and Udonis Haslem) to take some shots instead of just having Wade and LeBron each score 35. Dirk Nowitzki (1.11) had 25 points (7-7 from the line), and 6 rebounds in the game, but Dallas’s next best players were Vince Carter and Lamar Odom. Not a good sign for repeat title hopes when you’re relying that much on a guy surprises people when he actually shows up… and Vince Carter. (Boom, Roasted)

Nene Hilario (1.30) is kind of The Man now in Washington, leading them to another loss with 16 points (6-6 from the line), and 13 rebounds. Just because the Wizards can’t win doesn’t mean Nene isn’t a fantasy winner.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Marco Belinelli (1.84) must be getting his revenge on somebody with his second straight WWLotN… I mean, I know teams don’t really give him a chance so maybe his 27 points and 7 threes are just kind of a middle finger to the NBA in general (20% owned). Eric Gordon is still “close to coming back” though, so Belinelli’s value will only last so long… make it good, Marco, enjoy it.

Pick Up Lines: Speaking of Hornets, but not speaking of someone you don’t want to pick up (confused yet?): Jason Smith had (1.50) 13 points (5-5 from the line), 9 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks (6% owned). Yep, time to scoop up that big man. Oh, you want another big man? Happy to oblige: Carl Landry (0.90) – another Hornet – had 24 points (9-13 from the field), and 7 rebounds. He’s up to 39% owned, but he’s also had 4 games of double-digit scoring with high single-digit rebounds. What, you want another big man? How about J.J. Hickson (0.70)? First big man off the bench, he might as well be starting after playing 28 minutes and scoring 12 points (6-10 from the field) with 6 rebounds and 2 steals (29% owned).

FLuke Babbitt (1.44) had 16 points on 4 threes, and 5-8 from the field, despite playing only 17 minutes (0% owned). I’m pretty sure there’s a typo in that sentence somewhere… Nope, I don’t see it.

Finally, Kendrick Perkins (0.73) has started to put together a stretch of decent games, adding last night’s 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks to give himself a positive WARP over the last two weeks (29% owned). I have to imagine it’s pretty easy to get blocks and rebounds when the only time you have to worry about scoring is when one of Westbrook or Durant’s misses falls into your outstretched hands.

Biggest Loser: Jason Terry (-1.21) is still owned in 92% of leagues, and luckily is starting for one of the teams I’m playing this week. His -1.21 is exactly what Danny Granger had last night before turning things around. Hopefully Terry doesn’t improve on his 3 points, 0 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1-10 from the field shooting.

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Day 41 of 124: Anthony Morose

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

Or: Where is John Ringo?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Day 98 of 170: Roy Hibbert is Rejuvenated

Patrick — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 13:37:59 +0000

Line of the Night: This is one of what will be many appearances for Blake Griffin (1.96) as the top fantasy player of the night. The Bucks were visiting the Clippers, so we got a taste of what happens when Ersan Ilyasova attempts to guard Griffin: 32 points on 13-20 shooting, with 11 rebounds, and 6 assists. The only weak part of Griffin’s fantasy game at the moment is that he’s shooting 62% from the line (and taking a lot of free throws).

Honorable Mentions: Mike Conley (1.95) scored 26 points adding 11 assists as the Grizzlies took care of business against Orlando. It’s his second double-double point/assist performance in a row as coach Lionel Hollins has told him to be more aggressive out on the court (Mike Conley is super coachable apparently). Dwight Howard (0.83) had a 25 and 14 for the Magic, but also turned the ball over 7 times.

On a night where Dwyane Wade (1.83) pulled a bunch of ridiculous highlight-type plays out of his ass, he also brought it home for fantasy owners with 34 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Rick Ross approves…

Jason Kidd (1.77) scored 11 points, with 9 rebounds, and 11 assists against the Wizards to almost triple-double yet again. His running mate Dirk Nowitzki (1.31) scored 24 points on 7-11 shooting. The Wizards’ best fantasy performance came from a surprise player, but more on that below.

Finally, like any good movie about high school, Carmelo Anthony (1.63) played the hot girl, dropping 37 points (with 9 boards) on the Nets just to give them a taste of what they’ll never have. But of course the Nets had the last laugh, as they beat the Nuggets 115-99. They were led by Anthony Morrow (1.37), with 18 points and 4 threes, and Travis Outlaw, who we’ll get to below.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: The Wizards had a nice game from John Wall last night, but strictly fantasy speaking, Yi Jianlian (1.51), with his 14 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals was their best performance. Yi is only owned his 4% of leagues at the moment because A) he’s averaging 17 minutes, 6.2 points and 3.6 rebounds a game so far this season and, B) last night was his first double-double of the season.

The Wizards front line pretty clearly consists of Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee with Trevor Booker coming off the bench (and Yi a distant 4th option), so leave him on waivers unless all three of those guys all tragically lose their arms in a wood chipping accident. His 28 minutes last night came because McGee is still working his way back from the flu.

Pick Up Lines: Travis Outlaw (1.22) had his once a month good performance last night. It came against Melo and the Nuggets. He scored 21 points and was 3-7 from three. He’s too inconsistent to worry about unless you’re in a deep league.

Randy Foye (0.82) continues to do what he do with Eric Gordon out of the lineup. And that’s take shots (he was 6-13 from the field) but also rack up some decent counting stats, like 20 points, 5 assists, 3 steals. As we said in the podcast, it’s now or never if you want grab Foye.

Who knew that the solution to Miami’s rebounding problem was actually Mike Miller (0.81)? Miller had his third double-digit rebounding game in the past two weeks and finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds against the Cavs. His three point shot also seems to be falling again (he’s 4 for 7 from three over Miami’s past 2 games) and he’s been getting minutes even with Wade and Bosh back in the lineup. Miller is a player who is primed for a strong finish to the season and you should try to hop on that bandwagon if you still can.

Frank Vogel Deserves a Valentine’s Day Card from Roy Hibbert Owners: We got our first look at the Frank Vogel coached Indiana Pacers and it’s great news for Roy Hibbert (0.60) owners. Grated the game was against the Toronto Raptors (losers of 11 straight going into the game), but Hibbert looked better and had more energy out there than that at anytime in the past month, finishing with 24 and 11 for his first double-double in nearly two weeks. Also encouraging was the fact that Hibbert played 30 minutes for the first time since Jan 7th. All-around great news from this game if you own Hibbert.

As far as the rest of the team goes, Paul George (0.83) is making a case for even more playing time with a 16 point, 2 block performance while playing less than 25 minutes. He’s only owned in 6% of leagues and makes a great pickup in deep leagues. Josh McRoberts started at PF and was meh, while Tyler Hansbrough had a much more impressive 14 and 6 in only 15 minutes on the court. According to people who know things, expect these two guys to split time evenly going forward, which ultimately makes neither of them worth owning.

Biggest Loser: I always judge the biggest loser by how much the lines make me cringe. Today – as far as I can see – is a pretty non-cringe day compared to some others. Zach Randolph (-0.61) had a pretty empty 10 points and 9 rebounds on 4-11 shooting. Not great, but it’s nothing that is going to kill your team for the week.

Andrea Bargnani (-0.48) finished with 12 points and 5 rebounds for the Raptors, while shooting 3-15 from the field.

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

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GMTR Podcast #16: Jim O’Brien Needs a JOB (And the NBA All-Stars)

Patrick — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:56:43 +0000

Erik and Patrick discuss the firing of Jim O’Brien and what it means (if anything) for the Indiana Pacers fantasy-wise. We also talk about the NBA All-Star starters and what our fantasy All-Star team would look it (hint: it would not involve Yao Ming) and throw out our weekly waiver wire pickups.

Download here (Right-click and Save As)
Or grab the GMTR podcast feed for itunes.

Spoilers To Follow!

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If you can’t listen to the podcast, here are the Waiver Wire Pickups of the Week that we threw out:

Tracy McGrady
Manny Harris
Randy Foye
Chuck Hayes
Carlos Delfino
Ryan Gomes

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Day 95 of 170: Mike Dunleavy Deep Sixes It

Nels — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 16:50:23 +0000

Line of the Night: On a night with 12 games (2×6) and 24 (4×6) teams playing professional basketball games, Mike Dunleavy (2.92) topped all players by making 1×6 threes, and going 12-16 from the field en route to 30 (5×6) points. Dunleavy added 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block while committing 0 turnovers and going 0-0 from the line to keep his efficiency in tip top shape.

Honorable Mentions: I was fortunate enough to bear witness to Dwight Howard (2.91) scoring 40 points on 14-20 from the field while still losing to the Bulls. Howard also gave his fantasy owners monster numbers in other categories with 15 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 blocks. Andrei Kirilenko (2.56) outplayed Kevin Love as Utah beat Minnesota with 27 points (10-13 from the field), 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 steals. That’s not even vintage Kirilenko, that’s better than vintage Kirilenko. D.J. Augustin (2.55) also scored 27 points (4 threes, 9-10 from the line), but did the Point Guard thing with 12 assists, plus 4 steals. LeBron James (2.38) was a one-man team scoring 39 points (15-25 from the field), with 8 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 blocks to lead a single star Miami team to a one-point victory over Detroit. Joe Johnson (2.15) rode the NY fast paced game to 34 points (6-6 from the line), 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals.Paul Millsap (2.15) brought back the early season Paul Millsap with 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 steals. DeMarcus Cousins (2.14) actually had a good shooting game (’bout time!) and ended up with 27 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Oh for cry pete! Ersan Ilyasova (2.58) was the highest rated player under 50% ownership because of his 25 points (9-10 from the field, 5-5 from the line), 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. If you want to continue writing him off as an inconsistent performer, then we’ll just call this one a fluke because of his 90% shooting from the field.

Pick Up Lines: Tracy McGrady (1.51) had found a groove in Detroit, putting together three nice games in a row, making him a legit pick-up now. Last night he put up 14 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists, and 4 blocks. Bringing back vintage McGrady!

C.J. Miles (1.41) continued to play like a hot pick up with 22 points (4 threes), 7 rebounds, and 2 steals. He’s getting to look like a legit fantasy player with his 32% ownership.

If you want to dig deep, let’s consider Austin Daye (1.13) and his 19 points (3 threes), and 9 rebounds, or Jodie Meeks (1.03) with 16 points (5 threes).

Biggest Loser: Just when Ron Artest (-0.98) seemed like someone worth owning, he goes for 4 points (1-4 from the field), 0 rebounds, 0 assists.

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

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Fantasy Owners: Be Afraid of Jim O’Brien. Be Very Afraid

Patrick — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:35:57 +0000

Drastic changes to the rotation. Check. Playing guys out of position. Check. Mid-season adjustments to mix things up. Check. It has all the look of a coach desperately trying to keep his job. And Roy Hibbert owners are the ones feeling the pain.

Is this man ruining your life?

Indiana Pacers coach Jim O’Brien recently decided that the Pacers best chance of winning is to play small ball. This past Sunday against the Knicks, O’Brien went with a new starting lineup that featured Darren Collison, Brandon Rush, Mike Dunleavy, Danny Granger and Jeff Foster. TJ Ford got the most run off the bench (25 minutes) while Roy Hibbert got less minutes (16) than James Posey (19).

The most worrying moment for Hibbert owners (and the move that send you into nuclear meltdown if you’re a Pacers fan) occurred when Foster fouled out of the game with three and a half minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Instead of bringing in Hibbert to guard Amar’e Stoudemire, O’Brien went with the 6-8 Posey at center. Posey was promptly scored on three times in three minutes by Stoudemire, but the damage was done. Not only did the Pacers lose the game, but O’Brien clearly demonstrated how little he trusts Hibbert right now.

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The question of whether the Pacers are better off as a small ball team is valid. The team has lost 11 of their past 16 games. Hibbert has been in a funk the past couple of weeks and the team is getting little production from the power forward trio of McRoberts, Hansbrough and Posey (sounds like the worst country music act of all time). But is the team better off with Danny Granger playing power forward?

Indy Cornrows has a good analysis of the Pacers’ power forward position (jump to the second half of the post) that looks at the offensive and defensive ratings for the five guys who have played the position this season (Foster, Granger, Hansbrough, McRoberts, and Posey). You can probably guess what the results show: the Pacers don’t really have any good options at the position.

Out of all the mediocre to bad options, McRoberts is probably the best of the bunch, with a +3 differential at the position. Technically, Granger has been ever so slightly better than McRoberts at PF, but Granger doesn’t particularly like playing power forward and sacrifices a lot on the court playing out of position. So by playing small, the Pacers get a less effective Granger to get more minutes for Brandon Rush, Mike Dunleavy and Paul George. It ends up being a little bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic; the Pacers are going down no matter what lineup they use because they don’t have the personnel. In that way, maybe the hate should be directed at Larry Bird rather than Jim O’Brien, who is simply making shit sandwiches in the most creative ways that he can think of.

The Pacers don’t play again until Friday, so we will have to wait and see if they continue to break out the small lineup. O’Brien’s recent comments suggest that he is committed to small ball for the long haul. If that’s true, Roy Hibbert’s fantasy value is about to come crashing down, while Rush, Dunleavy and even Paul George could see increased value. Although with George, 20 year old rookies don’t typically make the most consistent players for fantasy purposes, even when they are getting minutes.

The alternative scenario sees the Pacers’ small ball lineup crash and burn and O’Brien quickly has to return to a more traditional lineup. Hibbert owners have to decide which is the more likely scenario and move accordingly: either sell Hibbert now at a discount or hold him and hope he makes his way back into the rotation and can find his groove again. I personally think the latter will happen and Hibbert will be starting again, but it could be a long rough patch ahead for those of you counting on Hibbert in fantasy leagues.

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Day 24 of 170: You’re Either In, Or You’re Out

Nels — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:47:39 +0000

Line of the Night: Danny Granger (2.58) just kind of fill up the box score to get this one. It helped that the Pacers were playing the Clippers, so I guess if the Pacers are the league’s punching bag, that makes the Clippers the Pacers punching bag. Granger wasn’t “remarkable” per se in any category, but ended up with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 threes, 2 steals, 2 blocks.

Honorable Mentions: Jameer Nelson (1.63) had 15 points and 12 assists, shooting 6-8 from the field as Orlando beat up on Phoenix. Arron Afflalo (1.61) is now up to 55% ownership, but seriously, if he’s still somehow available in one of your leagues grab him. Last night he went for 16 points (4 threes) and 11 rebounds.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Brandon Rush (2.02) had 14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 threes, 2 steals, and setting him apart: 5 blocks. Given that he’s a 6-6 GF I doubt he’s going to come up with that many blocks with anything resembling consistency, so I’d say wait and see. He did just start playing for the Pacers 9 days ago, and he started yesterday, so maybe he’s just working his way into the lineup.

Pickup Lines: Okay, I know it’s not the fault of anyone reading GMTR, but Wesley Matthews (1.13) still has only 35% ownership. Last night he had 20 points, 10 rebounds. 3 threes, and 2 blocks. Greg Oden’s surgery won’t have an impact on Matthews, but Brandon Roy is out for at least one more game, and clearly, when Roy is out, Matthews is in.

And if you thought that Goran Dragic (-1.12) was going to be In since Steve Nash was Out, well, turns out Nash’s “goran” injury wasn’t enough for Goran to make a name for himself. He will continue to be known as: That guy that Derrick Rose dunked on when Stacy King went nuts.

The Biggest Loser: I’m tempted to go with Gary Forbes (-1.38) because, it’s like: Dude, you had a chance to take over JR Smith’s position on the Nuggets and you pretty much blew that. But since no one has ever heard of Gary Forbes, I have to go with Jason Richardson (-0.87) who is having a good fantasy season so far, but came up with only 7 points on 3-7 shooting (missing both free throws), with 1 rebound, 1 steal, and 2 turnovers.

On Tap: Top of the Pops goes to Oklahoma City @ Boston. It’s going to be a good game, but with Boston’s defense, it’s probably not going to be awesome for fantasy owners (too bad for me with Kevin Durant on 2 of my teams).

I’m personally looking forward to the Bulls 3rd game in their Circus Trip. They’re playing Dallas and if they win, they’ll have the same record as Dallas. I’m not sure that’s significant, but it’s true.

The news of Tony Parker’s impending divorce and the implications thereof haven’t had an effect on him after one day. He played well against the Bulls and the Spurs won to move to 9-1. But now they’re going to go into Utah and face the Jazz’s Not On The Ballot All Star Paul Millsap.

The Golden Rule: Make sure you get all your Warriors and all your Knicks in all your lineups because it’s happening again: The Knicks are playing the Warriors! I might even put David Lee in the lineup because there’s going to more possessions than the Exorcist franchise and the injured may just rise from the bench and run the court.

In The Bonus: LeBronception | JR Smith Advice

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Day 15 of 170: Paul Millsap Versus The World

Nels — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:01:34 +0000

or: Following The Hornets Blueprint

Line of the Night: Paul Millsap (1.42) showed once again that dominating the Heat inside will lead to success. That’s in real basketball, but it has proven to translate well to fantasy basketball as well. Millsap played 43 minutes in the Jazz’s overtime win over the Heat, scoring a career high 46 points on 19-28 (including 3 threes – yeah, what?), 9 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal with only 1 turnover. I’m not sure how you can take 28 shots and only turn the ball over once, but fantasy raters (and owners) love stuff like that.

The Dean’s List: LeBron (1.18) had a triple-double with 20, 11, and 14. He seems to be doing pretty much what people were predicting he would. Kevin Love (1.02) had 23 points and 24 boards.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Mike Dunleavy (1.28) let it be known that he does in fact still play in the NBA. This was a rare night, though, as Indiana shot 64% from the field as a team and torched the Nuggets for 144 points. I wouldn’t count on 31 points and 6 threes from Dunzo more than about once a month.

Pickup Lines: Arron Afflalo (0.95) is putting up some nice numbers and flying just under the radar at 49% ownership in Yahoo leagues. If line of 17 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals doesn’t get you to consider taking him home… well, maybe he’ll put on some makeup and try a little harder. We’re not talking lipstick on a pig here.

Austin Daye is still starting for the Pistons, and finally had a decent game. I’d wait for another one before I consider dropping anyone for him though. He’s certainly proven underwhelming so far.

Tyler Hansbrough (0.67) had 20 points and 9 boards with 1 block, but like Daye, I’m not picking him up until he’s played like that for a few games. Especially since that Pacers game was against the Nuggets who had just played the Bulls the night before. (Fun fact, though, this is the first time we’ve ever tagged Tyler Hansbrough in a post on GMTR)

The Biggest Loser: Chris Kaman is like the Grinch, except instead of stealing Christmas presents, he takes Games Played away from owners in fantasy leagues with Max Games Limits. Kaman has played one good game this season, and this was not it: 2 points on 1-3 from the floor, with 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 turnovers. Maybe he should watch some game footage of Paul Millsap to remember what it’s like to be someone who scores and rebounds.

On Tap: There’s always plenty of games on Wednesdays, but I think you’ll probably notice a trend as the season goes on. There’s not a lot of interesting matchups. I believe the NBA has some sort of contractual obligations to show the good games on Thursday and Friday nights. That’s how we end up with Charlotte at Toronto tonight. They have to play each other some time, right?

Utah is going into a SEGABABA (I’m just gonna keep saying it) against Orlando. After beating Miami in OT, it’ll be interesting to see if there’s anything left in the tank. If I were in a league with daily lineup changes, my money would be on: No.

And let us not forget that the Division Leading (!) Cleveland Cavaliers are playing against an opponent from arguably as weak a division in the New Jersey Nets tonight. Another chance for the Cavs to solidify their spot at the top of the Central Division.

The Golden Rule: The explosion of fantasy goodness that come but twice a year happens tonight! The Warriors of Golden State will be in Madison Square Garden to run suicides against the Knicks. I’m pretty sure both teams would be happy to settle things with a three-point contest. And actually, a team three-point contest would be kind of cool.

In The Bonus: Buy Low Candidates | No, seriously, Buy Low

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