Give Me The Rock » Utah Jazz

Day 114 of 124: This Overtime Goes to Three

Patrick — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:08:19 +0000

Line of the Night: With Dwyane Wade sitting out yet another game on the second night of a Miami back-to-back, LeBron James (2.62) took over for the Heat last night, scoring 37 points – including Miami’s last 17 straight – adding 6 rebounds and 7 assists and going 14-15 from the line to lead the Heat to a 101-98 win over the Nets. Hey, it was the Nets, but still an impressive run from James nonetheless. Unfortunately, Miami still has two more sets of back-to-back games this season, so expect Wade and possibly even LeBron to get a couple more games off down the stretch.

Honorable Mentions: Utah and Dallas played a triple-OT game that ended with Utah winning 123-121, so it’s no surprise to see Al Jefferson (2.60) at the top of the fantasy list today. Jefferson had a beastly 28 points, 26 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in an OT enhanced 54 minutes. To which Kevin Love responded, “Hey, I do that stuff in a normal game.”

Dirk Nowitzki (2.36) played 53 minutes in the game, scoring 40 points (on 12-12 from the line), with 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Interestingly, other than Jason Kidd (1.26) who had 10 points, 5 boards, 6 assists and 4 steals in 45 minutes, no other Mavs starter saw more than 27 minutes in the game. Jason Terry (1.17) did get 54 minutes off the bench though and scored 27 points.

The Jazz meanwhile played all of their starters at least 45 minutes, so even a guy like DeMarre Carroll (0.85) – with 15 points and 6 assists – had a good game. However, it meant that Derrick Favors (2 points, 3 rebounds) still only saw 13 minutes off the bench in this one.

Jrue Holiday (2.30) continued his up and down run lately with a solid 18 points, 4 threes, 8 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks as the Sixers beat a short-handed Magic team. Andre Iguodala (1.84) – who has had his share of downs lately as well – finished with 15 points, 3 threes, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. The Sixers still have 6 games remaining this season, making a lot of Sixers worth playing despite their team wide game-to-game inconsistency.

The real Ryan Anderson (2.12) also showed up after shooting a combined 7-33 in his previous 3 games. He finished with 26 points (on 11-16 from the field), with 16 rebounds. Anderson should make a very strong play the rest of the season with Howard out, provided he can continue to shoot straight.

Jeff Teague (2.14) bounced back from a horrible game against the Raptors to have a really good game against the Raptors on the second night of a back-to-back. He finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 10 assists for only his third double-double of the year.

Speaking of bouncing back, Channing Frye’s (1.89) game went MIA over the last week, just in time to tank a lot of owners’ championship hopes. But Frye is back this week, scoring 19 points (on 8-11 from the field), with 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in only 25 minutes of run. It’s his first double-digit scoring game in his last five.

Klay Thompson (1.71) is officially on fire. Thompson scored 29 points against the Spurs, adding 8 boards and 5 assists in 43 minutes. He’s scored a total of 77 points in his last three games and has a one-week WARP value of 1.40, which is off the charts good. I think the kid is a keeper.

Finally, the Pacers beat the Wolves 111-88 thanks to Roy Hibbert’s (1.82) 12 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks. Danny Granger (1.57) added 19, 7, and 5, while David West made it a party with 22 points and 10 boards. Hell, even Paul George (1.30) looked good in this game with 18 points, 5 boards and a couple of threes. That’s four Pacers in the top-25 performances for yesterday.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: In a matter of a few games, Nate Robinson (1.95) has gone from being buried on the Warriors’ bench behind Chris Jenkins to the Warriors’ mighty sixth man getting 30 minutes a game. Yesterday was more of the good Nate Robinson, as he got 31 minutes of run against the Spurs and finished with 30 points, 3 threes, and 7 assists. Keep riding Robinson for the rest of the season if you need points, assists and threes as long as he continues to get big minutes off the bench.

Pick Up Lines: Vince Carter (1.90) played 44 minutes thanks to the Mavs/Jazz triple OT game and saw a nice stat boost because of that: 18 points, 3 threes, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. On most nights, however, Carter will see 20-something minutes and he hasn’t been consistent enough on the court to be worth picking up.

Chandler Parsons (1.79) tied his career high with 21 points, adding 3 steals against the Nuggets. At this point, everyone has probably had a ride with Parsons and I think we have all left feeling a little under whelmed with the experience. Houston still has 4 games remaining this week, so a guy like Parsons could have value for owners looking to pick up a few games this week.

The same thing applies to Samuel Dalembert (1.29), who got the surprise start in place of Marcus Camby, who sat last night due to a sore back (the second most popular injury this year). Dalembert only scored 5 points in the game, but finished with 9 boards and 7 blocks in 24 minutes. The Rockets play again on Wednesday, and if Camby can’t go in that game, Dalembert make a nice play if you need boards/blocks.

Kevin Seraphin (1.42) – who was a one man wrecking crew against my team in the GMTR Dynasty League finals – continued to roll with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 blocks while playing a season high 42 minutes in a win over the Bulls. Seraphin’s two-week WARP average is 0.59, which places him at #33 overall during that span. If that’s not a must start in all leagues at this point, I don’t know what is.

With Dwight Howard and Glen Davis out with injuries and Daniel Orton (0.09) not doing much in his a start for the Magic, PF Earl Clark (1.31) got 33 minutes off the bench and finished with a season high 14 points and 11 rebounds, adding 2 blocks as well. Clark could have some deep league value if Davis were to miss the Magic’s next game on Wednesday, but if Davis returns my magic 8-ball says the outlook is not good.

Gary Neal (1.30) scored 17 points and hit 3 threes in 25 minutes off the bench for the Spurs as they beat down the Warriors 120-99. No Spurs starter saw more than 20 minutes in the game, giving Neal a little more run than usual. Even with the Spurs’ big three likely to take some games off as the season comes to an end, Neal won’t see enough consistent minutes to be worth owning in most fantasy leagues.

Too little, too late for MarShon Brooks (1.17)? After a horrible run in March, Brooks finally might be turning things around. He tied his career high with 24 points against the Heat, adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists in the game. It’s his sixth straight double-digit scoring game and five of those 6 games have had positive WARP performances. The Nets have a horrible schedule the rest of the way though, only playing 4 games over the next 10 days. So stay away from Brooks unless it’s a spot start or steaming situation.

Raymond Felton took the night off for the Blazers to rest an achilles injury. Jonny Flynn (-0.65) got the start at PG in his place and unimpressive, finishing with 6 assists and not much else. Nolan Smith (0.91) on the other hand, got 33 minutes off the bench (to Flynn’s 24) and had a game, scoring 14 points and adding 5 assists and 2 steals. If Felton were to miss any additional time (and there is talk of him shutting it down for the year ::coughtankingcough::) Smith appears to be the guy who would benefit the most from the situation and be the one to pickup.

Luke Babbitt (0.59) with 18 points, 4 threes and 5 rebounds in a start for the injured Nicolas Batum and Sundiata Gaines (0.48) with 11 points and 7 assists starting at PG for the injured Deron Williams could be worth looks as Batum and Williams could potentially be shut down for the year.

Biggest Loser: Not a good night to be Russell Westbrook (-1.00). The Thunder not only lost to the Clippers, but were held to 77 points total, including 25 in the second half. Westbrook was a big reason why as he finished with 9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 turnovers and shot 4-16 from the field. It’s just a bump in the road for Westbrook, although it happens to be coming at a really bad time if you are playing for a championship this week.

Jordan Crawford (-1.03) shot 2-13 from the field (15%) to finish with 9 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 turnovers. Hey, at least the assists are nice.

Darren Collison (-0.96) also made his return to the court last night after missing 4 games with a groin injury. Not that anyone would have noticed, as Collison finished with 0 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 18 minutes off the bench. George Hill is expected to make at least one more start at PG for the Pacers while Collison (slowly) works his way back.

Don’t worry Thunder, brighter days are ahead.

In the Bonus: Some childhood photos of NBA players (via fBasketballBlog on twitter). Andre Iguodala looks like a mini-me version of himself. It’s amazing.

***

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 82 of 124: Trade Deadline Edition

Nels — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:58:44 +0000

Lord help me if I get any of these wrong

I’m going to try to do this in terms of Most Important…

- Ramon Sessions traded to the Lakers. He’s probably already gone if your league is anything resembling competitive, but since it’s close to the end of the season, maybe enough people are slacking off that you can grab him. Do it now. I’ll wait. Okay, now that you’re back, you can continue on, but come back to this article on how it might seem like the Lakers are trying to win, but they’re also trying to lower their payroll and it doesn’t seem to bode well for the Lakers in the future. Fun fact: Kobe Bryant is the only remaining Lakers player from their three-peat in 2000-2002.

- Nene heads to Washington giving the Nuggets enough room to sign Wilson Chandler. Go pick him up. Now. he’ll fit nicely alongside your newly added Ramon Sessions. If he’s not available, that’s okay, I think people have been hoarding him off and on for weeks.

- Stephen Jackson to the Spurs. He should have stayed in San Antonio all those years ago, but went chasing money and didn’t do too badly until he ended up in Minnesota. The Spurs sent back Richard Jefferson, which basically means that Jackson will get at least 28 a minutes a game and is certain to be more productive than Jefferson ever was. As for Jefferson, well, I guess that means we should all keep holding on to Dorell Wright. Smart move for the Warriors since Jackson’s not getting any younger, and Wright has started to heat up again and they get a conditional first round pick this year to see if they can add more young talent. Also, anyone else think it’s funny how we can say something like “Jackson will return to the Spurs team where he won a championship” even though that was 11 years ago because the Spurs are still basically the same team? 11 years. Wow.

- Nick Young goes to the Clippers. He’s already at 82% owned (though I didn’t check his numbers prior to the trade). Slotted in as the starting sG for the Clips.

On the other end of those Clippers and Nuggets deals, JaVale McGee goes to Denver. I didn’t realize the Nuggets thought so highly of Kenneth Faried, but evidently they do and they’re willing to make him the starter alongside McGee. I’m not sure where exactly Chandler fits in there with Gallinari back (and playing well), but I bet they can make it work for the Nuggets who matter.

- Marcus Camby goes to Houston (for nothing). He’s at 50% owned right now, so if you need a big man, he’s almost got to be the one with the highest potential right now. We already know that Kevin McHale has no love for Samuel Dalembert, so I can see Camby getting big minutes at Center for the Rockets. On the other side, since the Blazers get basically no one back (Hasheem Thabeet? Really?) I think that Joel Pryzbilla becomes a tentative add since the Blazers don’t really have anyone who can play Center (besides Thabeet until Mehmet Okur comes back). I mean, Kurt Thomas can play decently when he get minutes, but I can’t see them running him out there for 30 minutes a game…

- Speaking of the Blazers, they also took advantage of a panicked Nets team to send Gerald Wallace across the country for Okur, Shawne Williams, and their first round pick this year. Unless the Nets end up in the Top 3 spots, the Blazers will have a very high draft pick, plus two salary dumpable players in exchange for someone they didn’t really need since Nicholas Batum finally decided to start playing to his potential. Wallace is already owned in 99% of leagues, and even though he’ll start for the Nets (say buh-bye to DeShawn Stevenson) I wouldn’t try to trade for him or anything at this point.

I think that covers. I’m sure you’ll let me know in the comments if I missed anything, but there’s only so much time in a day…

And now back to our regularly scheduled program…

***

We’re going to do this rapid-fire style… hang on…

Line of the Night: Paul Millsap (2.37) had a nice across-the-board line with 16 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, oh and 8 f@e#*&!!ng steals!

Honorable Mentions:
Luke Ridnour (2.35) continued to play like a poor man’s Ricky Rubio (which he is) with 18 points, 13 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Meanwhile scoring Point Guard John Wall (2.29) had 26 points (11-16 from the field, 4-4 from the line), 12 assists, and 3 steals. I’m not sure how Channing Frye (1.88) rated so highly, but it must have been his shooting since he only had 12 points (4 threes), 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks. I don’t have time to check though…

Kevin Durant (1.64) had a pretty average night for him: 24 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals; as did Dirk Nowitzki (1.47) with 27 points (3 threes), 6 rebounds, 5 assists. DeAndre Jordan (1.45) continued to try to outpace JaVale McGee in blocks with 4 while adding 11 points and 9 rebounds. Finally, James Harden (1.23) continued a strong campaign (in the general sense, not like he’s actually campaigning for something) with 18 points (4 threes), and 4 assists.

I’m not sure how relevant any of these WW pickups will be since there were a lot of players being shuffled around with the trades… Like, for example…

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Roger Mason (1.59) came out of pretty much nowhere to score 19 points (4 threes, 7-9 from the field) (1% owned). He violated the 70% rule, but that’s just a rule of thumb, and not an actual rule we use in awarding WWLotN, so he still gets it. Congrats Roger. Now pass to Captain Jack.

Pick Up Lines: Gordon Hayward (1.35) played in a basketball game. He might have had 26 points, but let’s everyone in leagues with 14 or less teams just forget it happened (28% owned). We’ll all be happier.

Just when you thought it was safe to drop Gustavo Ayon (1.16) (and you probably did drop him because it was safe to drop him), he scored 16 points (4-4 from the line), with 9 rebounds (10% owned). Granted, this was against a Washington Wizards front line of Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin… so let’s wait to see if it’s safe to pick him back up again.

Shannon Brown (0.93) had 21 points (3 threes) (13% owned). So, that’s that.

The aforementioned Kevin Seraphin (0.88) had 12 points (5-7 from the field), 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks (0% owned). I hope he had fun with that, cause Nene’s coming to town and those 29 minutes will be the highlight of his season.

Derrick Favors (0.81) had 4 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 blocks, but still has a negative WARP in every time frame we look at (22% owned).

Definitely time to get on the Rodrigue Beaubois (0.76) fan express if you’re in a deep league. His WARP score was aided by the fact that his 14 points came on 7-9 from the field, cause the 2 steals is just kind of, well, his 18% ownership tells the story. I know a lot of people are real interested in him right now. I’m very hesitant to admit I’m almost one of them.

Biggest Loser: Marcin Gortat (-0.73) did pretty bad, even if he was a Waiver Wire big man, with 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist. His 3-10 from the field really hurt, though, and those counting stats are not what owners expect from him these days.

Also, the days of Mo-mentum might be over for Mo Williams (-0.71). He had 10 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, and 4 turnovers while going 4-14 from the field and adding a new roommate who’s going to steal all his minutes without even asking and probably pick up a lot more chicks at the bar too.

***

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Day 72 of 124: You Take the Good, You Take the Bad

Patrick — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:27:41 +0000

…you take them both and there you have the facts of life

Line of the Night: Not surprisingly, the Cavaliers are a team that have been allowing opposing players to go off on them. And last night was no exception as Al Jefferson (2.89) came close to a triple-double in a 109-100 win, scoring 25 points, with 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 blocks in 39 minutes on the court. It’s the second line of the night for Jefferson this season and he currently sits at #11 on our player rater. If you remember (hopefully you don’t), I wasn’t actually all that high on Jefferson going into the season, pegging him as a late second round pick at best. I screwed up on that one. Noted.

Honorable Mentions: You know you’ve entered a weird phase with (MVP candidate?) Kevin Love (2.43) when he drops 39 points and 17 rebounds on the Clippers (going 5-10 from three) and you see it as just another game. Also our good friend Darko Milicic (0.30) got the start for the injured Nikola Pekovic and scored 13 points with 4 rebounds. Pekovic is day-to-day with an ankle injury and will almost definitely slide back into the starting lineup upon his return, so I wouldn’t get too comfortable, Darko.

For the Clippers, Blake Griffin (0.26) had 26 and 12, but was also a Dwight Howard-like 6-13 from the line.

The Bucks beat the Sixers thanks to 33 points from Brandon Jennings (2.31), who was also 4-8 from three, with 7 assists. As much as Jennings started to stumble a bit in February with his shot, his March has started off great: In 3 games this month, Jennings has scored 33, 27 and 34 points. Ersan Ilyasova (1.52) pulled down another 18 rebounds in this game, and the dude is now averaging an insane 10.8 boards over the last month, which would make him a top 10 rebounder in the league if he can keep it up – putting him between Blake Griffin and Kris Humphries in terms of per game rebounding.

The Sixers were fantasy led by Thaddeus Young (0.97), who double-doubled with 14 points and 13 rebounds in 36 minutes. Evan Turner (-0.09) got his first start of the season for the Sixers over Jodie Meeks and had an interesting game to say the least – he grabbed a season high 12 boards, but also shot 1-12 from the floor and scored 2 points. Still, if he remains in the starting lineup over Meeks, Turner is a guy who could have some nice fantasy value over the last half of the season.

***

Golden State dropped 120 on the Wizards, so it’s no surprise that Monta Ellis (1.99) is one of yesterday’s best performers despite the fact that he didn’t play in the fourth quarter because of the blowout. Ellis scored 25 points (going 10-16 from the field), adding 5 rebounds and 8 assists in the win. And in Mark Jackson and Stephen Curry’s ongoing experiment to screw with fantasy owners, Curry (0.65) came off the bench in this game, played 9 minutes and scored 12 points on 5-7 from the floor. Hey, it’s better than a DNP I guess. Jackson said Curry would have played more minutes if the game was closer.

Wizard’s coach Randy Wittman called his team “unprofessional” after the game, which I think goes without saying when your fans boo Andray Blatche every time he steps on the court. Still, John Wall (1.82) is one guy who takes things seriously, as he scored 20 points (on 7-10 from the field), with 6 rebounds and 14 assists. Wall was the only starter to play more than 28 minutes (he got 38). Nick Young (1.50) came off the bench to score 25 points – although 15 came in the fourth during garbage time, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that he’s back.

Denver beat Sacramento 119-116 in overtime, led by Ty Lawson (1.88) who had 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 13 assists, as well as Arron Afflalo’s (1.84) 32 points, 4 threes, and 10-11 from the line. Three of those free throws came with 0.6 seconds left in the game to tie it up as Afflalo was fouled by Marcus Thornton (1.88) while taking a last second desperation three. Other than that mental lapse, Thornton had a great game, scoring 27 points and hitting 6-9 from three.

Raymond Felton (1.01) was placed back into the Blazers’ starting lineup in order to jump start the Blazers who were sporting a three game losing streak. God only knows how Nate McMillan connected the dots to come up with Raymond Felton = winning, but it actually worked as the Blazers won and Felton double-doubled with 11 points and 10 assists in 30 minutes. I guess this means that it’s time to get Felon back in your lineups if (like me) you were sitting on him. Marcus Camby (1.27) added 16 boards in the game.

And finally, had to mention Dwight Howard’s (1.01) 36 and 13 against the Raptors. Howard would have ended up higher on the list if it weren’t for his 4-14 free throw shooting performance, but no surprise there.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: The problem with constantly appearing on the GMTR daily waiver wire list is that it means a player is good enough to have the occasional great performance, but not good or consistent enough to be worth picking up in most fantasy leagues.

I think Gordon Hayward (2.02) is pretty much the definition of that type of player. After getting pushed to the bench for the first time this season thanks to his lackluster play, Haywood came off the bench to scores 23 points on 8-11 shooting, adding 5 assists against the Cavs. Of course, this came a game after he played 15 minutes and scored 3 points, which pretty much describes how his season has gone. With the Jazz now starting Josh Howard at SF and Raja bell at SG, I would leave Haywood and his inconsistent ways as a free agent in normal sized fantasy leagues.

Pick Up Lines: Nene returned to the Nuggets’ lineup last night after missing 10 games with injury. Fortunately for Kenneth Faried (1.86), it came in a limited capacity off the bench. So Faried got the start and saw 34 minutes of run, scoring 20 points, with 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. It’s Faried’s third double-double in 4 games, but long term he is eventually going to lose his starting gig once Nene is ready. However, he can still be a useful fantasy player coming off the bench, likely soaking up all of the Birdman’s minutes, but his usefulness will likely be limited to deeper leagues when that happens.

Brendan Haywood sprained his ankle at the start of the Mavs game, so Ian Mahinmi (1.36) got a surprise 28 minutes and made the most of it, scoring 13 points, with 5 rebounds and 2 steals. It’s the most playing time he’s seen since January and he makes a nice short-term pickup if Haywood were to miss any time with the injury.

Coming off the bench behind DeMar DeRozan, Jerryd Bayless (1.02) scored 15 points, with 6 rebounds and 5 assists in only 22 minutes against the Magic. It’s performances like this that get us hot about Bayless, but it’s tough to do much averaging 20 minutes a game off the bench, so Jose Calderon will likely have to get traded for Bayless to really have a chance to breakout this season.

One guy with a good chance of breaking out (hey, it’s already happening) is Golden State’s new starting center Ekpe Udoh (1.00). Udoh finished with 17 points and 6 rebounds. Mark Jackson reportedly stated that Udoh would be the team’s starting center for the rest of the season, unless he “falls completely off the map,” so he’s definitely worth a grab if you’re in need of a big man and are looking mostly for blocks, low turnovers and decent percentages – although he is also averaging 14+ points in three starts this season (small sample size alert!).

The hot streak of Isaiah Thomas – 7 points on 2-8 shooting – is quickly and painfully coming to an end, so might John Salmons (0.88) get his starting job back eventually? Salmons scored 14 points and added 5 assists off the bench in that overtime game against the Nuggets. But the game before, he scored 1 point in 19 minutes and looked “uninterested” on the court, so the Kings might opt to stick with the slumping Thomas a little while longer.

It’s tough to be more inconsistent than Jason Thompson (0.87) has been this year. A game after getting benched for Donte Greene, playing all of 15 minutes and doing nothing on the court, Thompson was back in the starting lineup and had an efficient 13 and 8. To me, he’s a clear stay away guy in fantasy leagues as his inconsistency will drive you crazy.

Biggest Loser: Caron Butler (-1.08) has had a rough go of it over the last couple of weeks. But he hit a new low against the Wolves, playing only 19 minutes and finishing with 0 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist while shooting 0-6 from the field. Maybe he’s secretly injured, but his WARP over the last two weeks is in the negatives, which means you’re going to want to either sit or drop him in anything under a 16 team league until he gets out of this funk.

An off night for Jarrett Jack (-0.63), who was only 1-6 from the floor, scoring 3 points with 3 assists against the Blazers. Jack had been playing pretty well leading up to this game, so consider it a minor bump in the road.

***

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Day 55 of 124: Can’t Win ‘Em All

Nels — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:53:40 +0000

Line of the Night: Al Jefferson (2.95) must have been lying in wait like a lion, ready to attack the next team that strayed near his den. He tore apart the Wizards – JaVale McGee or no – for 34 points (16-23 from the field), 12 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block, and 0 turnovers. It’s kind of ironic, because I just saw this article in a Google Alert today about how Greg Monroe is a better value pick than Al Jefferson in daily fantasy leagues. That’s probably true in general, but you would have been very disappointed if you’d made that decision last night, with Jefferson’s line vs. Greg Monroe who wasn’t quite a biggest loser with his -0.60 WARP, going 1-7 for 3 points with 8 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 turnovers. Can’t win ‘em all.

Speaking of not wining them all… I picked up J.R. Smith instead of Wilson Chandler because I wanted the extra steals instead of the boost in blocks, and then I read things like this:

“He’s not stopping the ball, that’s for sure,” coach Mike D’Antoni joked, flicking his hand as if we he were taking a shot.

and from one of my most trusted sources, this:

And after hearing Mike D’Antoni calling him “a hurdle you get over,” we’re no longer expecting huge things out of Smith initially. And if D’Antoni really feels that way, it makes the Knicks’ strong recruitment of him even more curious.

So I guess we’ll have to see how that goes… I still can’t see how D’Antoni can not give Smith big minutes after the Knicks waived Renaldo Balkman (and had to eat his contract) to sign J.R.

And even more speaking of not winning them all, the Knicks finally lost (Jeremy Lin had 9 turnovers), but I still have to get in my requisite Jeremy Lin section of the post with this site: http://www.linterest17.com/. I just found out about this “Pinterest” thing recently (I know, I’m showing my age), so I think it’s pretty funny that someone came up with Linterest (plus I love a good pun and there are so many of them when your name is “Lin”).

Honorable Mentions: Kobe Bryant (2.71) scored 36 points with 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals in the Lakers win. Kevin Love (2.55) only had 17 rebounds to go with his 33 points (11-16 from the field, 9-10 from the line) and 2 blocks. Trevor Ariza (2.45) had 25 points (4 threes), 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks in the Hornets win over Jeremy Lin. Meanwhile, LeBron James (2.16) played only 30 minutes as the Heat pounded his former team. James scored 28 points (3 threes) with 5 rebounds, and 5 assists while being booed.

S_854 wanted me to call his post KNEEEEEEEE-COLA, which would have made it easy to post a picture of some Ricola cough drops and had the image part done… And while I think Nikola Pekovic (2.07) is making his first appearance in the Honorable Mentions section (at 60% ownership now, and ranked #114 on the Player Rater for the season; let’s all remember that Jeremy Lin is t 90% owned even though he’s worked his to only #152 on the Player Rater), his 30 points (13-20 from the field), 12 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks were somehow only good enough for the 7th best line of the night. Once again: can’t win ‘em all.

I bet Nikola’s quads were burning after that game

And speaking of can’t win ‘em all (it seems I can apply this phrase to just about anything), two guys I’ve owned and dropped this year: Rodney Stuckey (1.98) and Brandon Knight (1.94) went off last night. Stuckey went for 36 points (12-20 from the field, 11-12 from the line) while Knight had 23 points (4 threes), 6 rebounds, and 10 assists (probably most of the them to Stuckey).

Finally, I did win one, picking up Ryan Anderson (1.83) and riding him like the poor man’s Andrea Bargnani for another 23 points (4 threes) and 9 rebounds.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: If you guessed Rudy Fernandez in the Who Will Benefit From Danilo’s Injury Contesnt, well, you didn’t win that one. Corey Brewer (2.08) is averaging 33 minutes over the last 4 games and came up with 26 points (5 threes, 10-14 from the field) and 5 rebounds last night (7% owned).

Pick Up Lines: I’m not sure what got into the marginally fantasy-relevant Pistons players yesterday, but maybe it was Greg Monroe’s poor performance that forced some other guys to step up. Tayshaun Prince (1.92) had his best game in 2 weeks with 22 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks (46% owned). Since he’s probably owned in most leagues where he could be valuable, even though he’s had a couple good games recently, I can’t recommend more than just taking a look due to his inconsistency.

Same thing with Matt Barnes (1.69) and his 17 points (6-7 from the field, 4-4 from the line), 7 rebounds, and 2 steals (7% owned). He’s only at #151 on the Player Rater… so if you’re in a deep league, then take a look, because he’s one of those guys who doesn’t score a lot, but he will consistently give you a three, a steal, and 4-5 rebounds.

Markieff Morris (1.45) is one of the hottest-then-coldest guys on the wire right now. His averages speak to something like he had last night: 14 points, 3 steals, and 2 blocks (10% owned), but averages don’t show you that he’ll go 1-7, then 7-13, then 4-11… Still, he is at #133 on the Player Rater, so theoretically, he should be owned in more than 10% of leagues.

Bismack Biyombo (1.28) continues to show flashes of his potential every 5 or 6 games… this time h put up 8 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 blocks (5% owned), though it came against a Raptors front line of Aaron Gray, Amir Johnson, and James Johnson. Something to keep in mind for next season, though.

Courtney Lee (1.24) always seems just on the verge of breaking out, with games like: 17 points (4 threes) and 2 steals (7% owned), and like Markieff Morris, he is rated high enough (115) that he should be owned in more than 7% of leagues. I guess his problem is that he’ll have 2-3 good games (sometimes even 4 or 5) and then 1 bad one. And his good games aren’t all that good, so when owners see that one bad game, they decide to cut him loose. At least, that’s my hypothesis. He seems like a great guy for a daily changes league where you can play as many guys as you can. If you have to decide between him and another guy because your schedule is full for a given day, then just choose the other guy.

Everybody’s favorite pick up (or at least 34% of owners favorite) Greivis Vasquez (1.16) had another 15 points, 11 assists, and 2 steals. He’s still out there in 66% of leagues, and that’s kind of a lot… definitely worth a look to see if you can get him in any of your leagues.

Biggest Loser: Stephen Jackson (-1.10) owners have to just keep hanging on through the 2 point (1-6 from the field), 4 rebound games until Jackson gets traded to somewhere that he can start putting up points in the high teens with another half a three and a rebound per game.

***

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Day 50 of 124: Gordon Hayward and All that Jazz

Erik — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:41:41 +0000

Line of the Night & Waiver Wire Line of the Night: While Gordon Hayward (2.13) looks like the type of kid who’d get slushied in an episode of Glee, we at GMTR are glad that geeky looks are not considered as a statistical category in fantasy basketball. He’s only owned in a third of Yahoo leagues (33%) and after last night’s career performance, Hayward should now be making waves in some fantasy keeper radars out there. He had an all-around efficient shooting night converting eight of his twelve field goal attempts while making all of his five free-throws. That netted him a total of 23 points for the night and he added some solid peripheral contributions with five assists and two steals. We should expect more solid games from him down the stretch and next season as he grows into his role as the Utah Jazz’s threat on the wings. At 2.13 WARP it wasn’t a wowing performance, but it was the best for the evening and even outdid someone’s triple-double outing.

Honorable Mentions:

Tied for second we have his Al Jefferson (2.10) and the Toronto Raptors’ Jose Calderon (2.10). Al-Jeff has been a rock this season and he did again last night against Memphis with 21 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks. Calderon, on the other hand, had an uncharacteristic high-scoring evening as we all know him as a pass-first type of point guard. He led Toronto in scoring with 30 points. He converted on four treys and shot well from the field, missing only five of his 18 shot attempts. His other teammates were clearly awful as they only managed to translate only six of his passes into assists.

Tied at third (or is effective fourth) we have Rajon Rondo (2.00) and his triple-double performance, and Monta Ellis (2.00). Rondo was the lone bright spot on the Celtics’ roster last night as the Big Three were quiet offensively. Rajon notched his second trip-dub for the season with 32 points, 10 rebounds, and 15 assists. And in Rondo-esque fashion, he contributed two steals as well for good measure. Ellis on the other hand, had a big night with 33 points, five boards, 7 dimes, and two steals for the Warriors.

Kevin Martin (1.93) salvaged his butt-ugly fantasy week with an on-fire shooting night. He poured on the offense for the Rockets with 28 points, chucking five long-bombs from downtown and going nine of ten from the charity stripe. I’m not sure if last night was enough for Martin to earn the forgiveness of his frustrated owners or not, but at the very least it’s a step in the right direction.

Heat teammates Dwyane Wade (1.84) and LeBron James (1.62) round out the honorable mentions for the night. Wade had 21 PTS, 5 REB and 2 STL, while LBJ had a double-double with a 23-13-6 line.
***

Pick Up Lines:

Klay Thompson (1.45) is smart spot add for the Warriors’ four-game week. He’s been productive lately and capped off the week with 14 points (4 threes). (3% owned) For the week, he’s been a more consistent producer than Brandon Rush. Thompson’s ability to also distribute the ball makes him a candidate to get a bump up in the rotation moving forward.
Jan Vesely (1.26) did well for the evening with a solid, all-around effort with 10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 blocks; but still needs to show that he can produce these numbers on a consistent basis before we can recommend an add at this point. (2% owned)

Willie Green (1.03) was simply a garbage-time beneficiary as the Hawks got blown out of the water early on. His 17 points and three treys aren’t likely to be seen anytime soon. (1% owned)

Contrary to Green’s performance outlook Zaza Pachulia (1.01) has been a steady 8-9 point-rebound contributor over his last three games and has had some heavy burn as far as time on the floor is concerned. Owners who were devastated by the loss of Anderson Varejao may just have to settle for Pachulia’s 8-points, 9-rebound par performance as they search for a big man. (9% owned)

Biggest Loser:

Brandon Knight (-1.12) ran straight into a rookie wall last night as he was way off his season averages. He had two points, one board and two assists while shooting 1-9 from the field. We shouldn’t worry about Knight too much and chalk this up to some growing pains.

DeMar DeRozan (-0.45) once again contributed to his let-down season with yet another mind-numbing disappointment session. It was brick city as DeMar went 2-13 from the field, translating to a lousy 8-point, 7-assist, 4-turnovers performance.

C.J. Miles (-0.39) had the fantasy life sucked out of him by the Gordon Hayward vortex as he was ignorable, chipping in six point and three assists for the night.

***

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Day 22 of 124: Blast From The Past

Erik — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:32:35 +0000

No, it’s not 2006. But someone forgot to tell Tim Duncan (1.79) that last night. He played like he was back in his prime and back then he’d definitely get GMTR’s Line of the Night. The Big Fundamental picked apart whatever Phoenix calls its defense. He produced a sweet line with of 24 points (10-14 from the field), (which probably will give Marcin Gortat nightmares for the rest of the week) and 11 rebounds. He also dished out 4 assists and brought his ubiquitous 2 blocks. Classic. Vintage. Impressive. Sorry folks, it’s 2012 and lines like these are now the exception and not the rule.

Honorable Mentions: Danilo Gallinari (1.68) wound up with a weird night at least as far as fantasy basketball is concerned. He finished with 18 points, but that came off him shooting 2-6 from the field, 2-4 from downtown and 12-12 from the line. What? Yeah, I warned you it was weird. He shot 33% without really killing your FG% while winning you FT%. His 4 assists were a nice addition to his odd offensive performance, but hey stranger things have happened.

David Lee (1.50), meanwhile looks like he’s pretty much the only player who is acclimating well to the Warriors’ new coach, Marc Jackson. He dropped 24 points (10-12 from the field), grabbing 6 rebounds, and it must have been some kind of special occasion as he added a rare (for him) 2 blocks. Nonetheless, I’m sure his owners must be beaming with pride.

In spite of Gallinari’s impressive performance the Jazz crushed, destroyed and bullied the Nuggets into submission. Paul Millsap (1.31) led the carnage with 26 points (12-19 from the field) and 12 rebounds. At this point, it’s safe to say that Derrick Favors and his corresponding fantasy value is now shelved until further notice (or if Jefferson or Millsap get injured).

As each Detroit game goes by, I must say that Greg Monroe (1.23) and his efficient play has impressed and entertained me more and more. This time, against the Golden State Warriors, Monroe posted 25 points which included him going 13-14 from the line (a sight rarely seen from big men nowadays) and 8 boards. We’ve heard him compared to a healthy David West. But I, however, feel that would be shortchanging Monroe at this point. He’s far more dominant and able to impact your team’s percentages to a far more effective degree that I’d call him an improved version of West.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Ekpe Udoh (1.01) (2% owned) had a nice night with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 4 blocks. That’s fine and dandy. Sure. But as long as Andris Biedrins is healthy and delivering consistently mediocre lines, the undersized Udoh will have to wait for this season’s 15 minutes of fantasy fame.

Pick Up Lines: Speaking of blasts from the past, Detroit’s Tayshaun Prince (0.99) played like a revitalized champion last night finishing with 20 points and 7 rebounds. Prince has been known to flirt with nice lines every now and then but his peripheral stat contributions leave a lot to be desired leaving him painted as a “vanilla” kind of fantasy option. And so it comes as to no surprise that he’s only owned in 20% of leagues.

We’ve told you to go and grab Kawhi Leonard (0.93), we’ll likely continue to do so as seeing that more than 80% of leagues have him in their FA pools. I mean wasn’t his 12 points and 8 rebounds good enough for your discerning fantasy tastes?

Gordon Hayward (0.88) made the most of Josh Howard‘s absence due to injury to deliver a solid performance. He chipped in 19 points, while adding 2 blocks. This is a temporary issue as Howard appears poised to eat into his productive floor time once he comes back. Stay away, unless you’re in a 20-man league or deeper.

Biggest Loser: of the night was ME as I got Channing Fried (-1.38) in not one but TWO leagues by his awful, painful, and forgettable performance.
He went 0-7 from the field to give, uh, ZERO points and two rutty boards. This will be the only and last time you will ever see the words “Channing Frye” and “Consistency” in the same sentence this season (at least from me)
Remember how cool Paul Millsap’s line was? Well that came at the expense of Nene Hilario (-1.02), who in fairness to him did manage to score 18 points and get 6 rebounds for Denver. He did, however also accumulate 5 turnovers and went 2-7 from the line. Gah!

One grimy Nugget deserves another as Andre Miller (-0.98) had an awfully quiet night with just 5 points, 0 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Derrick Favors (-0.53) managed seven minutes and change to end up delivering a yawn-inspiring 2-point and 3-rebounds line. Bye-bye Derrick, we’ll talk about you and your fantasy potential next season.

With only three games last night, it was kind of quiet. Week four! w00t! w00t!

***

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Day 154 of 170: All That Jazz

Patrick — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:54:00 +0000

Line of the Night: No, the LotN doesn’t go to Melo, who willed the Knicks to their first win in seven games in OT against the Magic. Rather, it goes to a guy who gets 0.01% of the attention Melo has this year. Thaddeus Young (1.72) scored 21 points for the Sixers in less than 25 minutes off the bench, adding 7 boards, 2 steals and 4 blocks as they beat the Bulls 97-85. Young’s problem is that he likes to sprinkle in complete duds (like Sunday’s 4 point affair) in between his truly solid performances, which makes him the Nicolas Cage of the NBA.

Honorable Mentions: All it took was an injury to Jameer Nelson, a game against the Knicks and overtime for Jason Richardson (1.64) to look like his old self again. J-Rich scored 24 points for the Magic, adding 4 threes, 4 assists and 4 steals. Now, without that perfect storm of events, he can return to scoring 13 points a game. As I mentioned up above, Carmelo Anthony (1.12) led the Knicks to a much needed win with 39 points and 10 rebounds – although his strategy of taking as many shots as possible doesn’t change whether the Knicks are winning or losing.

Darren Collison (1.42) showed up against the Celtics after three horrible performances in a row last week. His 17 points on 8-9 shooting with a couple steals is almost enough to forgive the paltry 3 assists. On the other side of the ball, Rajon Rondo (1.17) “only” had 8 assists himself, but scored 22 points on 9-13 from the field.

The Bucks may have melted down (is that a politically correct phrase to use now?) in the fourth quarter against the Bobcats, but both Brandon Jennings (1.41) – 26 points, adding 9 rebounds and 5 assists – and Andrew Bogut (1.28) – 26 points (13-19 from the field), 9 rebounds, 2 blocks – had strong games in the loss.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: With the Jazz hurting and Andrei Kirilenko MIA with some nerve problems in his knee (as well as Raja Bell spraining an ankle), Utah turned to the only man up to the task of stepping into AK’s haircut. And that’s Gordon Hayward (0.93), who played 37 minutes off the bench against the Wizards and finished with 12 points, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Haywood is not going to be the most consistent player since his minutes still vary quite a bit game-to-game, but he is currently available in 97% of Yahoo leagues and makes a decent poor man’s Kirilenko while the Russian is out (he’s day-to-day, but it sounds like one of those unofficial shut down type situations).

Pick Up Lines: Speaking of the Jazz, Earl Watson (0.50) had his second really good game (out of 4) since filling in for the injured Devin Harris. Watson finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists in 33 minutes on the court. If you need a fill-in PG for the last couple weeks of the season Watson is probably the best you’ll come across (provided Devin Harris remains out). The only really bad game he’s had as a starter was the game the Jazz got blown out against Dallas this weekend.

Was I just talking about the Jazz? Right, Derrick Favors (0.93) had his first double-double off the bench for Utah with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks in 23 minutes. I’m not in love with Favors this season because he’s typically been getting less than 20 minutes a game off the bench, but with all the Jazz injuries at the moment, he’s at least worth a look in deeper leagues.

Is Jordan Crawford (0.91) really only owned in 36% of leagues right now? Crawford was a brutal 1-10 from three last night against the Jazz, but did take enough shots to score 25 points, with 5 rebounds and 4 steals. I do like some of the things that Crawford brings to the table, but the dude needs to calm down with the itchy trigger finger. Since joining the Wizards, he’s taking over 15 shots a game and is shooting 38% from the field. He’s also making 18% of his threes at over 4 attempts per game. I think it’s time his teammates staged a three-point intervention.

With Andre Blatche still injured and Trevor Booker missing last night’s game with a foot injury, rookie Kevin Seraphin (0.64) got 21 minutes of run for the Wizards and scored 6 points, with 8 rebounds and a couple of steals. The Wizards are running short on options thanks to all their injuries, but I’d want to see a repeat performance from Seraphin before picking him up.

Yes, I know there were some other games in addition to the Wiz/Jazz last night too. Spencer Hawes (0.62) scored 14 points and had a couple blocks for the Sixers. He’s actually been putting up some decent point/block numbers over his last 4 games – although I don’t know if I trust him enough to actually pick him up; and Brandon Bass (0.47) has been playing well lately for the Magic, with five double-digit scoring games in a row. His latest included 14 points (7-9 from the field) and 6 rebounds against the Knicks.

With the Spurs missing 4 of their starters last night, did anyone step up enough to be worth a short-term pickup (other than George Hill, who scored 27 points, but is owned in 50%+ of leagues)? Eh, no. Maybe Tiago Splitter (-0.19), who was the best of the fill-ins with 14 points and 9 boards in 28 minutes. James Anderson started for Ginobili and scored 5 points in 18 minutes, Matt Bonner had 6 points in the start at PF, and Gary Neal had 8 points on 3-14 shooting off the bench.

Biggest Loser: A mostly invisible game for Landry Fields (-0.74) against the Magic. Fields started, but managed only 3 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in 25 minutes on the court. Melo seems to have zapped Fields mojo in the month of March.
***

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Day 150 of 170: Short on Games, Short on Impact

Nels — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:12:34 +0000

Only two games last night. Not much going on… so let’s keep it short like Keira Knightley’s hair…

Line of the Night: Paul Millsap (1.98) had the best line with 33 points (13-20 from the field), 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks. I mean, we all know he’s pretty good right? I can understand if you’ve forgotten since he is down to #30 on the season after being in the Top 5 for a while there at the beginning.

Honorable Mentions: Fun facto: Anthony Randolph (1.78) is German! Randolph can put up lines like: 31 points (14-20 from the field), 11 rebounds, and 2 steals like he’s going to go on a double-double streak of 50+ games. And with Kevin Love out, possibly for the season (cause they’re not going to rush to get him back), Randolph should get to continue to put those kind of lines up. If only he could get his act together and get back in the mix, the Timberwolves would have a pretty decent front line going. Trevor Ariza (1.26) had a nice game for the Hornets, with 14 points (3 threes), 9 rebounds, and 4 steals, and even though he’s played 40 minutes per game in 4 of his last 6, his numbers (even last night) have not really reflected that.

The Mavericks played for the first time this week, and now they’re going to crank out 3 games in 4 days, so I bet Mavs owners are happy about that… Dirk Nowitzki (1.20) had 30 points (5-5 from the line), 11 rebounds, and 4 assists while Shawn Marion (0.75) continued an improbable resurgence after missing a game with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. If he had made a three-pointer in the past three months, this would be some vintage Shawn Marion action. Chris Paul (0.90) had a double-double in his two favorite categories: 24 points and 12 assists. Al Jefferson (0.88) also had a double-double in his two favorite categories: 22 points and 13 rebounds (and 11-17 from the field).

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Devin Harris is injured, so Earl Watson (1.08) got 41 minutes of play and reminded people that he can actually play some pretty good ball when he gets the minutes: 14 points (3 threes), 8 assists (3% owned). Unfortunately for fantasy owners who are still competing, Devin Harris is “day-to-day” so unless picked up Watson after his mediocre game on the 23rd, then it’s probably too late for him to make any sort of difference.

Pick Up Lines: If you’re really still looking for pick-ups, Marco Belinelli (1.00) is probably the best candidate you’re going to get. You know that because he is actually owned in 20% of leagues, which is impressive for this point in the season. Last night he had 14 points (3 threes, 5-8 from the field), 4 assists, and 2 steals.

Okay, I might have stretched the truth a bit on that last one because Peja Stojakovic (0.63) has had two very nice games just like Belinelli including last night’s 16 points (4 threes, 6-10 from the field) and 4 rebounds (12% owned). If you’ve got daily changes, remember that the Mavs will play tomorrow and Sunday. They also play 4 games next week and 5 the week after that (and I hope that you’re not actually still playing then because you’ll want to talk to your Comissioner about that one.

Jonny Flynn (0.45) had 13 points (3 threes), 5 assists, and 2 steals (11% owned). That’s just an FYI, not a recommendation.

Jarrett Jack (0.13) scored 15 points (26% owned). He had a run earlier this month of some nice scoring and steals. Will he be able to do it again? I certainly wouldn’t take my chances.

Biggest Loser: For some reason, I consistently think that Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry (-1.38) are kind of the same person. Obviously it has something to do with them both being Power Forward’s who played for Houston, but at this point, they could not be more different. One night after Hayes had a triple double, Landry went for only 3 points and 1 rebound.

In The Bonus: Short.

***

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Not a Bad Consolation Prize: Deron Williams Heading to the Nets

Patrick — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:24:39 +0000

The Russians have a long and storied history of coming in second place, so instead of moaning and bitching about his team’s inability to get Carmelo Anthony to agree to a trade, Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov immediately had his team shift gears and make an arguably more impressive move (at least in terms of cost/benefit ratio) by acquiring Deron Williams from the Jazz.

Coming on the heels of the Melo to the Knicks, the internet has again blown up with today’s surprising trade. Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that Deron Williams will be heading to the New Jersey Nets for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, two future first-round picks and cash.

So, what are the fantasy implications of this deal?

New Jersey Nets

Here is the new depth chart for the Nets.

PG: Deron Williams, Jordan Farmar
SG: Anthony Morrow, Sasha Vujacic
SF: Travis Outlaw, Quinton Ross
PF: Kris Humphries, Brandan Wright
C: Brook Lopez, Dan Gadzuric

***

Both the Nets and the Jazz are in the bottom half of the league in possessions per game at 91.8 and 93.6, respectively (by comparison, the Knicks average 98.6 and the Nuggets 98.2). So neither player is heading to a significantly better or worse team in terms of pace. They also play the same position, so on the surface the trade doesn’t seem to affect their fantasy value in a significant way.

Both players had a tenuous relationship with their coaches/front office this season (or former coach in the case of Williams). Despite the fact that Williams is apparently not happy with the trade, it is possible both these guys come to their new teams slightly more motivated and ready to kick some ass. If you believe in that kind of intangible bullshit. Which I do. A little.

The best news for Williams’ owners is that the Nets are currently 29th in the league in points per game at 92.4, so they could use ball dominating PG who can score in much the same way that the world could use less Justin Bieber in it. And by that I mean desperately. The team’s third leading scorer is Anthony Morrow at 12.5 points a game. Williams comes to the team averaging 21 points and nearly 10 assists per game this season, and based on the collection of talent the Nets have, I would not be surprised to see his scoring numbers take a bit of a jump with a small decline in assists.

Of course, having a guy like D-Will barreling to the hoop also good news for the team’s spot up jump shooters, like Morrow, Sasha Vujacic and… Brook Lopez. Morrow especially could benefit from D-Will’s arrival, in the way that Raja Bell would have in Utah if he wasn’t 50 years old.

Unfortunately, not everyone wins in a trade. Even Jordan Famar’s biggest fans would admit his limited fantasy relevance has all but disappeared with Williams coming to town. The often injured Harris was averaging about 32 minutes a game this season. While Williams has had his share of injuries over the past few years, he’s been averaging nearly 38 minutes a game this season. Will that decrease under Avery Johnson? Possibly a little, but Lopez is averaging 34 minutes a game and Williams immediately becomes the team’s best and most important player. So in theory he should see at least as much court time as Lopez, if not more.

Overall, it will probably end up being a neutral fantasy move for Williams.

Utah Jazz

Here is more or less what the new Jazz look like.

PG: Devin Harris, Earl Watson
SG: Raja Bell, C.J. Miles, Gordon Hayward
SF: Andrei Kirilenko, C.J. Miles
PF: Paul Millsap, Derrick Favors, Francisco Elson
C: Al Jefferson, Mehmet Okur

Unless the Jazz have something else up their sleeves, Harris will become the team’s starting PG and does about 75% of what Williams does on the court. Harris has averaged 15 points and 7.6 assists in 54 games with the Nets, but he wasn’t loving his reunion with Avery Johnson and the team wasn’t loving Harris’ lack of commitment this season.

Again, on the surface, things don’t seem like they are going to change all too much for Harris. Harris gains a few nice offensive weapons in Utah, like Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson and CJ Miles when he’s rolling. So, Harris could see his assists jump up slightly on the Jazz, although 7.6 is already a career high for him. If his minutes increase back to 34-35 per game like he was averaging a few years ago, he could be in for a nice bump in fantasy value with stats up in the 18 point, 8 assist range. That’s all speculation at this point, so we’ll see how it plays out.

Any value that Favors had this season (which wasn’t much) is gone now that he’s clearly behind both Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson on the depth chart. But now that I think about it, this is usually around the time of Jefferson’s yearly knee blowout, so at least there’s that opportunity for Favors.

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Day 46 of 170: Do You Think I’m Sexy

Patrick — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 12:14:38 +0000

Line of the Night: Andrei Kirilenko (2.61) was questionable to play in last night’s Jazz/Magic game with a right quad injury. His decision to play worked out well, as AK finished with 17 points, 13 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks in an old fashioned Utah beat down of Orlando. We’ll forgive Kirilenko for rocking the worst haircut since Rod Stewart wanted you to think he was sexy, because he’s on pace to have his best statistical year since 2006. One warning sign, however, is that AK’s minutes are up to nearly 34 a game from 29 last year, so hopefully his hair can hold up under the additional workload.

Honorable Mentions: Kirilenko wasn’t the only Utah player to have a great fantasy game yesterday. Deron Williams (2.06) was aggressive all night long on his way to a season-high 32 points. He also dished out 9 assists and hit 4 threes. Al Jefferson (1.85) scored 16 points, adding 8 boards and 3 blocks. C.J. Miles (0.97) scored a season-high 26, while assistant coach Scott Layden had a season-high 36 high fives.

Say what you will about Andrew Bogut’s (2.13) propensity to get hurt (and we’ve said plenty) but as long as he’s on the court he’s a dominating Aussie force of nature. Against the Rockets, Bogut put up a 24 point, 22 rebound double-double, adding 5 blocks in nearly 40 minutes on the court. It was Bogut’s fourth straight double-double since returning from back and elbow injuries earlier this month.

It was the NBA’s official double-double night: David West (2.00) had 24 points (on 11-18 shooting) and 13 rebounds in a Hornets loss to OKC; the good Doctor Love (1.82) had a 27 point, 18 rebound double-double. His prescription for you is more rebounding; Marcus Camby (1.74) put up season-highs in points and rebounds with 16 and 18 against Phoenix; how much of a surprise has Roy Hibbert (1.61) been this season? He had 13 points and 14 rebounds (not to mention 6 assists and 3 blocks); DeJuan Blair (1.26) had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs; and Russell Westbrook mixed up the formula with 29 points and 10 assists. He almost made it a triple-double with 7 turnovers. Whoops.

LeBron James (1.67) didn’t have a double-double, but almost posted a trip-dub with 25 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists as the Heat held the Warriors to 86 points. Also no double-d for Serge Ibaka (1.60) but he got the start with Nenad Krstic sitting with a back injury, and his 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks was good for the 11th best line of the night. Finally, Derrick Rose (0.77) scored 29 points for Chicago and did everything but literally drive a stake through Kobe’s heart in a win over LA.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Luke Ridnour (1.93) posted a season-high 20 points and 10 assists in a win over the Pistons. Ridnour can be a passable fantasy PG when he’s starting, but with Jonny Flynn currently rehabbing in the D-league, that might not be too much longer. At the very least, they’ll be splitting time at the position and that should wipe out any fantasy value Ridnour currently has.

Linas Kleiza (1.50). Erik’s favorite Lithuanian posted a double-double of his own with 26 points (4 threes) and 12 rebounds while going 11-16 from the field. That’s two straight games of 30 minutes for Kleiza after a long run of sub-20 minute games. Will it keep up? Probably not, which is why I’d be hesitant to add him.

Sonny Weems (1.37) took advantage of a fast paced Nuggets/Raptors game to score 21 points, adding 7 rebounds and 4 assists. He’s an incredibly streaky shooter, but if you can catch him during a hot streak he can be a very good scorer.

With Carmelo Anthony out with a knee issue, Gary Forbes (1.29) got his second start in his place and had a much better game with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals. Forbes is available in about 99% of leagues, but unless you are a Melo owner, his value will be too short lived to be worth a pickup.

Jose Calderon sat with some mysterious foot injury, giving Jerryd Bayless (-0.93) the spot start. Bayless was horrible – with 3 points on 1-9 shooting – but it is a situation to keep an eye on to see how serious Calderon’s injury is.

Biggest Loser: Damn Nicolas Batum (-1.13). 71 percent of leagues are being patient with you and this is how you repay them: 0 points, 1 rebound and 0 assists while shooting 0-7 from the field. That has to be in the running for worst line of the year. Still, Batum was looking good leading up to this game and I think you’ve got to hold onto him and hope he bounces back.

On Tap: Utah (17-7) at Dallas (18-4) – The Mavs come to this one looking for their 12th straight win. Gordon Hayward will probably get another start for Utah in place of the injured Raja Bell, but it’s CJ Miles who is likely to take advantage of the extra playing time.

Miami (16-8) at Sacramento (5-15) – Tyreke Evans is shooting under 40% from the floor so far this season and an MRI shows that he has an inflamed arch in his foot. He’ll take a dose of tough pills and play through it, but be on the lookout for Pooh Jeter if Evans were to miss any time.

Cleveland (7-15) at Houston (8-14) – It was a hard lesson for Byron Scott to learn – 6th and 7th men are only valuable to your team when you actually have 7 quality players. When you have 4, it doesn’t work out so well. Anyway, the new Cavs starting lineup features Antawn Jamison at PF and Daniel Gibson at SG. That’s a plus for fantasy purposes (sorry JJ Hickson owners) although we’ll see if it translates into actual wins.

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