Be Thankful

Even in the insulated, relatively unimportant realm of fantasy basketball, there are plenty of things to be thankful for. Here are a few of mine …
… Allen Iverson for whining his way out of Memphis and not robbing shots and value from the likes of Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol.
… Gay for finally rewarding my [...]

Fire and Ice: Louis Williams and Chauncey Billups

Each week, we’ll examine two players that have gone in opposite directions in the past week previous week and their prospects for the immediate future.

Fire: Louis Williams
Williams has been playing well all season but has been absolutely unstoppable over the past week, averaging 24.5 games, 2.8 3-pointers, 5.3 assists and 2.0 steals in his last [...]

Jeffersonian Slump

While I still hold the belief that Al Jefferson remains a great buy-low candidate, there an interesting take on his situation over at True Hoop.
Could it be that the hopelessness of the Timberwolves situation has led Jefferson into a season-long malaise? Has he lost the fire to be great because his team can’t be?
If anything, [...]

Lessons Repeatedly Learned

Some time ago in one of my 12-team/eight-category roto leagues, I grabbed Michael Redd off the waiver wire (why he was dropped, I can’t say). I immediately plugged him into one of my utility slots, well aware he wouldn’t play for a couple weeks.
Usually I don’t mind having “extra” games available at the utility position [...]

Buying Low and Selling High: Larry Hughes and Raymond Felton

The next installment in the weekly feature: “Buying Low and Selling High”, in which I’ll discuss one player playing above their head and another whose best games are ahead.
What better parallel for “Buying Low and Selling High” than to highlight one player who started his career under Larry Brown and another currently playing for the [...]

Fifth Quarter Strategy

With all the prep I do prior to the season to devise my own projections and rankings, I still ponder different ways to construct a team long after the season has started.
The most irritating thing is that it’s too late to even test the theory in an actual league. I’ll have to jot down the [...]

Fire and Ice: Earl Watson and David West

Each Tuesday, we’ll examine two players that have gone in opposite directions in the previous week and their prospects for the immediate future.
Fire: Earl Watson
Not to toot my own horn, but Watson’s possible jump in value was explored when T.J. Ford was shockingly injured.
And while he’s played only two games in the past week, Watson [...]

Does Goes Speights, Up Comes …. Jason Smith?

After all but writing off Elton Brand for dead last week, it seems his value got an enormous boost when Mareese Speights, who had been thriving this season, was lost for two months with a knee injury.
But instead of reading about an opportunity for Brand to reclaim his spot in the Sixers’ frontcourt, it seems that [...]

The Bobcats Add Some Crazy

After weeks of trying to move disgruntled swingman Stephen Jackson, the Golden State Warriors sent their “captain” and point guard Acie Law to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic on Monday.
Leaving the Warriors never really helps anyone’s fantasy value. Although Jackson was unhappy with Golden State, he’s never averaged more than 18.7 [...]

Rookie Spotlight: Tyreke Evans

As a companion piece to my weekly “Rookie Report” at the Fantasy Basketball Report, each Friday a different rookie will be looked at in-depth.
Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings has taken the NBA by surprise this season, getting off to a great start after just one season in Europe. But he was actually eclipsed in rookie [...]

Duhon Not Done

After much speculation of a shakeup in the Knicks lineup, Mike D’Antoni gave starting point guard Chris Duhon a vote of confidence on Thursday. That’s good news for the owners of Duhon, who is off to a horrid start.
In his first nine games, Duhon is averaging just 6.7 points on 39 percent shooting and has [...]

Buying Low and Selling High: Al Jefferson and Andrew Bynum

This is the first installment of the season of what I hope will be a weekly feature: “Buying Low and Selling High”, in which I’ll discuss a player who is playing above their head and a player whose best games are ahead.
It’s hard to find a pair of young big men with futures brighter than [...]

Fallout Boy: Broken Down Ford

As if the start of T.J. Ford’s season wasn’t disappointing enough, his recent resurgence was cut short on Wednesday. After scoring six early points he was removed from the game due to back spasms and will be considered day-to-day.
Injuries are always a lingering threat with Ford, who has never played more than 75 games in [...]

J.R. Smith Has Returned, Enjoy the Bench Ty Lawson

J.R. “Earl” Smith “III”* returned to the Nuggets on Tuesday after serving a seven-game suspension to start the season for a reckless driving conviction. He played 29 minutes off the bench, managing just five points on 1-of-9 shooting in 29 minutes.
Smith’s performance wasn’t all that noteworthy except for the effect that it had on the minutes [...]

Elton Brand: Slumping, Hurt or Done?

 

 

Less than 1 ½ seasons in, it’s pretty clear that the Philadelphia 76ers’ signing of Elton Brand is a complete disaster. Once one of the elite power forwards in the ultra-talented Western Conference, it seemed Brand’s transition to the smaller Eastern Conference would give him a boost as he returned from 2007’s Achilles’ injury.
However, Brand struggled [...]

Brandon Jennings: Great Rookie or GREATEST Rookie?

As a cautious fantasy owner, it’s important never to over-react to early season trends. Making roster moves based on short-term success can provide disastrous later on in the season and you need to keep a clear view of the full, 82-game picture.
With that said, Brandon Jennings is the GREATEST ROOKIE IN THE HISTORY OF THE [...]

Net Loss

In January I posed the question as to whether Devin Harris was becoming injury prone. He played in only 69 games last season after managing only 64 during the 2007-08 season, but was still highly-coveted entering this season as primary offensive weapon on the New Jersey Nets.
Harris was projected as a third-rounder with forecasted averages of 21.4 [...]

Sibling Swap

Rarely – if ever – has a pair of brothers had as big an impact on fantasy hoops than Pau and Marc Gasol in the first week of the 2009-10 season. I don’t think fantasy basketball was big was Dominque and Gerald Wilkins played, the Barry brothers were never big fantasy assets, Horace and Harvey [...]