Owning a player in the dreaded time share is a situation all astute fantasy owners try to avoid finding themselves in. Each week I’ll take a look at a few position battles that could affect your fantasy team and then I and my Magic 8 Ball which moonlights as a crystal ball on weekends will try to predict the best course of action if you own these players or are considering adding or trading for one of them. Last week we took a look gander at the Western Conference. This week we’ll peek in at the Western Conference. If there was a Northern Conference we’d look at that next week but there’s not so we’ll just hit up the Western Conference again. Back and forth we’ll go each week like a ping pong ball, or something like that. Let’s get to it, shall we?
We visited this position battle two weeks ago and, as predicted, Carlos Delfino has held onto his starting job while Mike Dunleavy continued to come off the bench as the 6th man. Actually, it wasn’t really a prediction, the coach said that would happen. Anyway, on Monday Carlos aggravated his groin and may be lost for several games if not longer, reports are unclear at the moment. I remind you that the previous 5 games prior to the Monta Ellis deal, Dunleavy had gone off averaging 35.6 mpg/.462 FG/.100 FT/15.4 ppg/5.2 rpg/4.8 apg/1 spg/1.2 3pm. On Monday night with Delfino sidelined, Mike D again went off for 26 points, 5 boards, 3 assists and 5 threes in 31 minutes. Go ahead and add Dunleavy in your standard league if he was dropped. The kid is hot, y’all, and as long as Carlos is sidelined he should continue to see north of 30 minutes of burn per. As for Delfino, hold until further notice, he was actually playing pretty well since the big trade. Sigh.
On Monday night it was announced Amare Stoudemire will be sidelined indefinitely with a bulging disc in his back. Let’s face it, the Knickerbockers have nobody to fill Amare’s front court presence so most likely they’ll be going small a lot more down the stretch with Carmelo Anthony playing a bunch of power forward along with a sprinkling of Josh Harrelson for size matchups. That leaves us with sharpshooters J.R. Smith and Steve Novak vying for the extra minutes vacated by Amare. Let’s take a look at what both players did in the post-Amare era: J.R. played 30 minutes and dropped 9 points, 10 boards, 2 assists with a three on putrid 3-13 FG. He also aborted 9 of 10 moon ball attempts. Um, I guess he didn’t get the memo that he was cold after his first 5 or 6 heaves. Anyway, conversely, Steve Novak saw just 23 minutes of burn and posted 7 points, 2 boards and a three. Here’s the deal, good peoples, I’d go ahead and add both in standard leagues. If you’re looking purely for threes then Novak is your huckleberry. He’s a monster three ball specialist and is capable of hitting 4, 5, 6 threes on any given night. If you’re looking for a slightly more well rounded game then roll with J.R., just be aware of his vomitiatious .376 FG on the season. The good news is his career FG of .427 is considerably better. Relatively speaking, of course.
Now that the proverbial nail has been driven into the coffin of Andray Blatche’s season, Kevin Seraphin has emerged as a late season fantasy contributor. Trevor Booker and Nene Hilario are your starters assuming full health but we all know what happens when we assume things, just ask Mike Brady from the Brady Bunch. What a great show the Brady Bunch was. Anyway, this past Sunday Nene sat with back problems so Seraphin started and dropped 15 points, 11 boards, 1 block and 2 steals in 37 minutes. On Monday night it was Trevor Booker’s turn to sit with plantar fasciitis so Kevin started in his stead and posted 12 points, 5 boards and a block. Clearly when Seraphin starts he’s producing as his 10.7 ppg/7.7 rpg/1.2 bpg in 6 starts would attest. Nene should obviously be owned everywhere, Booker should be owned in standard leagues and Seraphin should be grabbed in deep leagues. If you own Nene or Booker then it behooves me to behoove you to try to handcuff Seraphin wherever you can for those streaming nights when your main guy sits. It may start to happen more often than you’d like so you gots to cover yourself. You feel me?
Bismack Biyombo is pretty much locked in for front court minutes the rest of the way so that leaves the enigmatic Tyrus Thomas and the English lad Byron Mullens vying for the other front court spot. I don’t know about you but I’ve already been there done that with Tyrus; then I went back for sloppy seconds and got pie in my face again; then I went back for sloppy thirds and got egg in my face and now I’m running out of things to put on my face but you get the idea. I’m pretty much done with him but he does provide a smattering of blocks and steals if that’s your thing. On the other hand, Mullens has come on his last two games with lines of 18 points/7 boards/2 blocks and 17 points/10 boards/1 block. If you want the sure blocks and little else then feel free to roll with Tyrus. If you’re looking for a little bit of upside for your deep league run to fantasy glory then take a whirl on Byron.
Jerryd Bayless is done for the year and Leandro Barbosa was shipped to Indiana at the deadline. That leaves Gary Forbes and Linas Kleiza as your boys spelling DeMar Derozan and James Johnson at the two and three. Gary Forbes in particular has been hot lately filling in for DeRozan who had previously played in 130 straight but DeMar is expected back on March 28. On Monday, Kleiza posted 18 points, 3 boards and 3 threes and Forbes contributed 21 points and 4 threes. Go ahead and add Kleiza in standard sized leagues and Forbes in deep leagues. Both should minutes in the mid-twenties range going forward. By the way, isn’t the team name Raptors so 1980’s? Talk about getting caught up in a trend with those Jurassic Park movies. Why don’t they just wear Capezios and skinny ties on all road trips while they are at it.
Owning a player in the dreaded time share is a situation all astute fantasy owners try to avoid finding themselves in. Each week I’ll take a look at a few position battles that could affect your fantasy team and then I and my Magic 8 Ball which moonlights as a crystal ball on weekends, will try to predict the best course of action if you own these players or are considering adding or trading for one of them. Last week we looked at some position battles in the Western Conference. This week we’re going to check in on some Eastern Conference position battles. Next week it’ll be back to the Western Conference and back and forth we’ll go each week like a ping pong ball, or a tennis ball if you prefer tennis. Let’s get to it, shall we?
The Cavaliers, or as I like to call them, The 5 Non-Lebrons, lost Anderson Varejao to a broken wrist leaving an opportunity for Tristan Thompson and Semih Erden to fill the void. The grab in standard leagues is Tristan Thompson who is capable of putting up double-double type numbers with close to a couple of blocks per if he gets run. Go grab him quick, quick if he’s hanging around your waiver wire. His upside is simply too good to ignore. Word now of out Cleveland is Varejao is hoping to come back and play the final 20-25 games of the season which would tentatively have him back around March 20-25. As for Erden, though he may be the starter at the moment, he’s a deep league grab only and should be monitored in standard leagues. Be ready to pounce like a kitten if he starts to produce.
Let’s take a look at Landry Fields’ averages over his last three with Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudamire and J.R. Smith in the lineup: 30.6 mpg/11.3 ppg/8 rpg/1 apg with a steal per and no threes. On the season, he’s averaging 32.1 mpg/10.2 ppg/4.5 rpg/2.9 apg/1.4 spg/.6 3pm. I think it’s reasonable to say that Fields will not be seeing 32 mpg of burn going forward assuming everyone is healthy. Moreover, Iman Shumpert was a DNP all three games with knee tendinitis and he should see some combo minutes when he returns. Baron Davis also lurks for minutes. Add it all up and you’re probably looking at 26-30 mpg of burn for Landry which will make it tough to match his season averages going forward. Meanwhile, J.R. Smith is a triggerman who doesn’t necessarily need big minutes to produce fantasy friendly lines, particularly in the three ball department. If he gets 26-28 minutes, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect 11-12 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.7 3pm and close to a steal per. If these numbers float your boat, then float away.
In the 7 games Linas Kleiza and James Johnson have played together this month, Johnson is averaging 24 mpg while Kleiza is averaging 26.6 mpg. Linas has lit it up by his standards to the tune of 16.1 ppg/5.1 rpg/1.6 apg/2 3pm/.7 spg on .500 FG/.655 FT. Johnson, on the other hand, has also produced averaging 9.8 ppg/4.7 rpg/2.7 apg with 2 threes, 8 blocks and 10 steals over the same game span. Andrea Bargnani is expected to return in the next week or two so something will have to give in terms of minutes for both these chaps, even though neither is British. James Johnson has proven his fantasy value in standard leagues with just 25 minutes of burn and I don’t see that changing; he should still be a solid source of steals and blocks. Linas, however, will be hard pressed to duplicate his February numbers so if he comes back right after the All Star Break and has a few big games, I’d look to move him quick, quick if you can. Trading his blanket is optional.
Gerald Henderson is expected back on Wednesday and will return to the starting five pushing Kemba Walker to the bench. The question is what kind of minutes will Kemba see and will they come at the expense of Henderson? My Magic 8 Ball which moonlights as a crystal ball in Manhattan on weekends, says Henderson continues to see 32ish minutes of burn per while Kemba will see enough run at the point and the two to stay relevant in standard sized leagues. Perhaps 27-30 mpg. Think along the lines of Greivis Vasquez’ situation in New Orleans. As they said in The Bad News Bears, “Let them play!” Wrong sport, but you get the idea.
Spencer Hawes is expected out at least two more weeks and, let’s be realistic, it’s not looking good for him to stay healthy the rest of the way this season. That leaves minutes at the center position for the taking. Over his last 5 Nikola Vucevic has averaged just about 20 mpg/11 ppg/5 rpg/1.2 bpg/1.2 spg. Conversely, over that same game span, Lavoy Allen has also averaged 20 mpg but has posted 6.8 ppg/6.8 rpg/.6 bpg/.6 spg. Vucevic’s game seems a bit more polished so he’s your spec grab in standard leagues. Lavoy, who doesn’t use a capital V for whatever reason (see: JaVale), could be considered if you’re in need of center depth in your deep league or leagues. Some of you have more than one league so I’m just covering my bases here, man.
This is a deep league special so those of you playing in standard and shallow leagues can feel free to skip this particular position battle. Nothing to see here, move along, move along. Anyway, by now it’s clear that Stephen Jackson is D.O.A . in Mill-e-wah-que, so someone has to fill the shooting guard void and for most of February that’s been Sean Livingston who’s averaged 22.7 mpg in 13 games. Unfortunately, he hasn’t translated the minutes into much fantasy success with averages of 7.8 ppg/2.5 rpg/2.3 apg/.8 bpg/.5 spg/.2 3pm/.396 FG/.871 FT. Numbers that really aren’t getting it done in deep leagues where you might consider grabbing him. Beno Udrih, on the other hand, has actually been worse but, in fairness to him, hasn’t seen the minutes. Right now I wouldn’t touch either of these players in anything but the deepest of leagues but go ahead and monitor Udrih. If he gets some burn, he’s capable of being a useful fantasy contributor. The last game before the All Star Break he did post 8 points, 4 assists and 3 steals in 25 minutes. By the way, “Mill-e-wah-que” is Algonquin for “the good land.”
This week was definitely a unique one in the fantasy basketball world. Below is a list of players that have started to pick up the pace and should be scooped up in all leagues where they are still available on the waiver wire.
(PG, NYK)- Jeremy Lin has absolutely rocked the sports world during the last week and rightfully so. The Harvard graduate has played at a super-star level with Anthony and Stoudemire sidelined, scoring at least 20 points in each of his five starts (including a 38 point performance against the Lakers).
The guard hasn’t dished out less then seven assists in all five starts, and has literally carried the Knicks on his back as of late, leading them to five straight victories.
It’s apparent that Lin has solidified himself as the Knicks starting point-guard for the future, and he should be picked up in all fantasy leagues if he is still available for some reason.
Even once Anthony and Stoudemire return to the floor, Lin should be able to post solid numbers consistently (even though you can’t expect him to keep up the torrid pace that he has been playing at as of late).
Greivis Vasquez (PG, NOH)- With Jarrett Jack sidelined for the last bunch of games (and expected not to return for at least another week), Vasquez has taken full advantage of his starting opportunity.
The Venezuelan is averaging 13.5 PPG, 7.6 APG, 3.8 RPG, and 1.6 SPG in 32.6 MPG during his last six games.
Vasquez is clearly a must add in all fantasy leagues right now and should continue to post these numbers until Jack returns to the floor. Even then, Vasquez will cut into Jacks minutes and could remain as a solid contributor.
Expect a very similar week to what the guard just had.
Linas Kleiza (SF, TOR)- Kleiza has been known to go off when given the opportunity to play solid minutes, and now could be the time for him to shine.
During his last five games, the forward has dropped 16.6 PPG, including a 30 point performance. Even though Kleiza’s minutes aren’t exactly where they should be, averaging just 24.2 MPG during five games, his playing time will definitely increase with leading scorer Andrea Bargnani sidelined indefinitely.
Kleiza can consistently provide scoring above anything else, and should be picked up in all fantasy leagues if you’re in need of a solid forward.
Randy Foye (SG, LAC)- With Chauncey Billups out for the rest of the season, Randy Foye has slid into the starting lineup for the Los Angeles Clippers.
In three games as a starter, Foye is averaging just over 12 points per contest. Foye is a very solid guard option who can go off on any given night. The great thing about Foye is that he can contribute all across the board, as he is an efficient shooter, passer and defender.
Foye’s minutes should continue to increase for the remainder of the season and his fantasy production should keep climbing upwards as well. The guard should definitely be picked up in your league if you’re in need of a consistent guard.
Ersan Ilyasova (PF, MIL)- Ilyasova has been on fire recently, averaging 15.3 PPG and 11.3 RPG during his last three games. The forward has shown flashes of brilliance in the past and now could be the time for him to really come out of his shell.
With Andrew Bogut out for the rest of the season, Milwaukee is in need of solid big man to step up and replace the production that Bogut used to provide.
Ilyasova’s minutes will continue to rise if he can keep up the production, which we expect him to.
Pick up the forward if he is still available in your league and ride the wave that he is currently on.
Brandon Ribak, CEO/Co-Founder of www.FanSkills.com, provides you with weekly advice, strategy and tips on how to win your fantasy basketball league. If you have any fantasy questions or would like to contact Brandon, please reach him at brandonribak@gmail.com.
