Last night was definitely a ‘calm before the storm’ type evening, as the league has 14 games slated for Thanksgiving Eve tonight. There will be a smorgasbord of fantasy developments for owners to mull over while they stuff their faces on Thursday, so let’s wash our hands of Tuesday night and get ready for the main course.
For real-time news and information to keep up with the craziness of a 14-game night, click here to follow me on Twitter.
Also, we’ve beefed up our paid offerings with extended ‘Pickups of the Day’ articles that double as a daily ‘Waiver Wired’ columns. Along with the many other features it’s a steal for the serious fantasy owner. Click here to check it out.
The Golden Ankle
Anthony Davis was a relatively surprising scratch last night and is doubtful for tonight’s game due to his ongoing left ankle issue, which if you recall dates back to the pre-Olympic injury that almost cost him a spot on Team USA. Davis appeared to be seriously hurt until his people mobilized and said he wasn’t hurt, and he was able to play (and play well) as the Americans took the gold medal. I’m not going to sit here and say he shouldn’t have done it, as the experience was probably worth its weight in, um, gold. It’s just something for owners to keep tabs on at this point. The Hornets could (wisely) be playing it overly safe, and as a younger, slender player he profiles as well as anybody of his size in keeping the injury under control.
The Hornets had no answer for the surging Knicks without Davis, and as a result the game was over before the fourth quarter. Austin Rivers scored a career-high 14 points and even had four assists to go with two threes, but he hit just 2-of-7 free throws and didn’t have a steal or block. The fact that Sheed was yelling at him louder than the PA system obviously left a mark. If you need threes, give Rivers a look but his peripherals are way too bad to suggest a pickup in standard formats.
Al-Farouq Aminu’s recent slide continued in a scoreless effort over 24 minutes, as hit missed all four of his field goal attempts with six rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Even though Aminu has shown the ability to get down and disappear in the past, he has still posted late round value in standard formats over the past week and that’s enough to keep him while he’s working through a trough. Ryan Anderson is pretty much matchup proof, and owners wanting to watch how basketball should be played should just watch him zip around the pattern to get open. He scored 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting with eight boards and three treys, as the talk about Dwight Howard impacting his 3-point shooting gets sillier by the day. I’m not looking at Robin Lopez in any 12-14 team formats in response to the Davis ankle issue, and last night’s 17-minute performance backs that position up even if he did score 11 points with five boards and a block. The five fouls and five turnovers aren’t a good look.
Old Man Kidd
I totally disregarded Jason Kidd in my rankings this season, and getting right to the point I’m doing so going forward despite his early-to-mid round returns. Kidd posted another sleepy but effective line of one 3-pointer, three points, five boards, four assists, two steals, and one block in 25 minutes. In fairness, he has a decent shot at holding some of that value but his 53 percent mark from the field will start moving toward his typical 40 percent rate. Add in eventual returns of Iman Shumpert, Amare Stoudemire, and a warming up of Steve Novak (3-of-12 FGs, 35.1 FG% on the year) and the Knicks won’t be nearly as reliant on the wily but ancient spot-up shooter. I’m typically looking for higher upside in what I view as a likely late-round value in a few weeks, at best.
Tyson Chandler showed good activity in just 19 minutes last night, scoring seven points with 12 rebounds though he didn’t have a steal or block. I asked Knicks expert Tommy Beer what to make of Chandler’s slow start last night, and he said that Chandler says he’s healthy but acknowledged the slow start. That could mean any number of things, but we’re probably looking at a combination of the knee issue and related conditioning challenges. Last night’s effort went a small way toward assuaging fears that this simply isn’t his year, even if it came against the undermanned but scrappy Hornets.
The Knicks’ heavy hitters went to work quickly and put the game out of reach by the end of three quarters, and Carmelo Anthony looked like he was ready to challenge Kobe Bryant’s 81 points with a 19-point first quarter on 8-of-9 shooting. He finished with 29 points, six boards, four assists, and two treys, and while he’s not meeting his lofty ADP with just top-30 value I am really impressed with his game right now. I noted last year that Melo started passing as criticism of his isolation game mounted, and he has taken that approach even further this year as the Knicks are clicking. J.R. Smith (15 points, full line) is working in the flow of the offense (for the most part) and Raymond Felton (15 points, five treys, six assists) looks like he did before he got traded to Denver. The only thing that I see screwing things up is Amare’s return, unless he can be willing to accept a bench role in which he cleans up garbage and stays out of the way.
Early Holiday Season with Swaggy St. Nick
Down with the early holiday season I say, but I’m totally down with Jrue Holiday’s early season as the bellcow in Philly. He put up another huge line, scoring 19 points on 9-of-21 shooting with eight rebounds, 12 assists, three steals, and one trey, as he is coasting with top-12 value in 8-cat formats and top-50 value in the 9-cat counterparts. Yes, he toasted Jose Calderon all night, but nobody is counting. Jason Richardson hit his head during the game but stayed in play, scoring 21 points with four threes, a steal, and a block. He’s an early round value when he’s on the court right now, and owners should probably wait until he increases his perceived value before working too hard on sell-high offers.
Between Spencer Hawes (16 minutes) and Dorell Wright’s (14 minutes) decreases in playing time, Thaddeus Young has settled into a nice mid-round value. Young posted 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting with seven rebounds, two steals, and two blocks, justifying his position on many experts’ draft boards (including ours).
The most entertaining fantasy line coming from the Sixers’ box belonged to none other than Nick Young, who scored a season-high 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting with three rebounds, four assists, one block, three triples, and a perfect 6-of-6 mark from the foul line. This was good for a few thousand Swaggy P jokes on Twitter, but nobody seemed to catch Young almost getting hit in the head with a pass in the final moments as he gave the Philly crowd some dap. He is closing in on the best awful player in the NBA award, and no, I don’t think we’ll be seeing something like this for some time. Collins really wants to get him going, but Young will find a way to land back on the bench. It’s the only swaggy thing to do.
No Nickname Gets Back on the Court
It’s about time the No. 1 fantasy play (before he got injured) gets a nickname, and I’m referring to Kyle Lowry who surprisingly returned to action last night. He’s so sneaky good and still relatively unknown that I think it will be some time before we can call him something other than K-Lo. Anyway, Sneaky Spice scored 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting (no threes) with seven rebounds and seven assists in 30 minutes off the bench last night, and he’s a pretty good bet to be moved back into the starting lineup tonight. Likewise, it won’t surprise me if they keep him in a bench role for another night or two, but there is zero percent chance that Lowry isn’t starting and playing heavy minutes in the near future.
As for Jose Calderon, who scored 13 points with five rebounds, 12 assists, and a trey, he could easily fill the Raptors’ gaping hole at the wing slots. Owners will obviously want to test the market for the chance he eventually gets minimized when the wing group gets crowded, but chances are they’ll end up riding this out. DeMar DeRozan is in the same boat and played a team-high 42 minutes en route to 24 points on 8-of-18 shooting (1-of-1 3PTs, 7-of-8 FTs), but the rest of his line came back to earth as he posted just four rebounds, zero assists, and one steal. If you own DeRozan and can convince somebody that he’s going to hold his value as everybody returns, now is probably the last time to do it.
The most interesting fantasy development for me was the performance of Jonas Valanciunas (11 points, 11 boards, three assists, three blocks, 25 minutes) in last night’s close loss to the Sixers. Beat writers more or less gave him player of the game honors on the Raptors side, and criticized Dwane Casey as he held him out down the stretch. Casey really wanted the win tonight and obviously doesn’t trust the rookie, but this was Strike 1 in media land and he’ll eventually be forced to play JV if said benchings continue to result in losses. We’ve been down on the big man in our player blurbs, which I can assure you isn't on my account. Unless you’re stacked in a 12-team format, or playing in a daily league with no games played limits, I’d be hard-pressed not to add him as a long-term play.
Give World Peace a Chance
The Nets/Lakers game was pretty predictable from a fantasy standpoint, but the pickup of the day from the contest has the look of a fantasy comeback player of the year. Metta World Peace scored 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting (including four threes) with eight rebounds and two steals in 39 minutes, and Mike D’Antoni said after the game to essentially expect that every night. Of course, MWP can’t be quite that prolific, but he’s going to benefit from running the fast- and transition-breaks and has no real competition for minutes. A top-60 play on the year, I’m well past calling him a must-own player and jumping right into must-start in 8- and 9-cat formats until he cools off.
Kobe Bryant looked good once again with 25 points, four boards, five assists, and enough friendly calls to conjure up images of Game 6 Western Conference Final stuff. Darius Morris (three points, three assists) played well enough but is way too low in the pecking order to produce anything substantial, Pau Gasol (17 points, 11 boards, seven assists, one block) flirted with a triple-double, and Dwight Howard was intentionally fouled for much of the night. Howard hit just 7-of-19 free throws to go with 23 points, 15 boards, three assists, one steal, and four blocks. If you disregard free throws he’s a top-5 fantasy play, but what else is new.
The Nets gave us no real surprises, either, as Joe Johnson tried to rehabilitate his fantasy value with 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting, three boards, six assists, and two threes, and Kris Humphries joined him on that trek with seven points on 2-of-10 shots with 10 boards and nothing else. I wasn’t high on either player coming into this year and I’ve seen nothing to change my mind. Deron Williams’ numbers are slightly down across the board, and tonight he showed the same shot-selection issues that are the likely culprits. D-Will had 22 points on 6-of-18 shooting (including three treys) with four rebounds and 10 assists, and when factoring the ankle nuisance his owners probably wish they went elsewhere in the first round.
Brook Lopez scored 23 points with seven rebounds, three assists, and a steal in an overall active game. He's sitting on top-50 value right now while looking relatively comfortable and healthy on the floor. Owners may not be able to return ample value in a trade given the past years’ struggles, so riding this production out could be the best bet. Gerald Wallace posted a defensive gem, with season-highs in steals (4) and blocks (3) to go with seven points, five boards, and two assists. If he’s healthy, he will be worth having in lineups.
Last night was definitely a ‘calm before the storm’ type evening, as the league has 14 games slated for Thanksgiving Eve tonight. There will be a smorgasbord of fantasy developments for owners to mull over while they stuff their faces on Thursday, so let’s wash our hands of Tuesday night and get ready for the main course.
For real-time news and information to keep up with the craziness of a 14-game night, click here to follow me on Twitter.
Also, we’ve beefed up our paid offerings with extended ‘Pickups of the Day’ articles that double as a daily ‘Waiver Wired’ columns. Along with the many other features it’s a steal for the serious fantasy owner. Click here to check it out.
The Golden Ankle
Anthony Davis was a relatively surprising scratch last night and is doubtful for tonight’s game due to his ongoing left ankle issue, which if you recall dates back to the pre-Olympic injury that almost cost him a spot on Team USA. Davis appeared to be seriously hurt until his people mobilized and said he wasn’t hurt, and he was able to play (and play well) as the Americans took the gold medal. I’m not going to sit here and say he shouldn’t have done it, as the experience was probably worth its weight in, um, gold. It’s just something for owners to keep tabs on at this point. The Hornets could (wisely) be playing it overly safe, and as a younger, slender player he profiles as well as anybody of his size in keeping the injury under control.
The Hornets had no answer for the surging Knicks without Davis, and as a result the game was over before the fourth quarter. Austin Rivers scored a career-high 14 points and even had four assists to go with two threes, but he hit just 2-of-7 free throws and didn’t have a steal or block. The fact that Sheed was yelling at him louder than the PA system obviously left a mark. If you need threes, give Rivers a look but his peripherals are way too bad to suggest a pickup in standard formats.
Al-Farouq Aminu’s recent slide continued in a scoreless effort over 24 minutes, as hit missed all four of his field goal attempts with six rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Even though Aminu has shown the ability to get down and disappear in the past, he has still posted late round value in standard formats over the past week and that’s enough to keep him while he’s working through a trough. Ryan Anderson is pretty much matchup proof, and owners wanting to watch how basketball should be played should just watch him zip around the pattern to get open. He scored 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting with eight boards and three treys, as the talk about Dwight Howard impacting his 3-point shooting gets sillier by the day. I’m not looking at Robin Lopez in any 12-14 team formats in response to the Davis ankle issue, and last night’s 17-minute performance backs that position up even if he did score 11 points with five boards and a block. The five fouls and five turnovers aren’t a good look.
Old Man Kidd
I totally disregarded Jason Kidd in my rankings this season, and getting right to the point I’m doing so going forward despite his early-to-mid round returns. Kidd posted another sleepy but effective line of one 3-pointer, three points, five boards, four assists, two steals, and one block in 25 minutes. In fairness, he has a decent shot at holding some of that value but his 53 percent mark from the field will start moving toward his typical 40 percent rate. Add in eventual returns of Iman Shumpert, Amare Stoudemire, and a warming up of Steve Novak (3-of-12 FGs, 35.1 FG% on the year) and the Knicks won’t be nearly as reliant on the wily but ancient spot-up shooter. I’m typically looking for higher upside in what I view as a likely late-round value in a few weeks, at best.
Tyson Chandler showed good activity in just 19 minutes last night, scoring seven points with 12 rebounds though he didn’t have a steal or block. I asked Knicks expert Tommy Beer what to make of Chandler’s slow start last night, and he said that Chandler says he’s healthy but acknowledged the slow start. That could mean any number of things, but we’re probably looking at a combination of the knee issue and related conditioning challenges. Last night’s effort went a small way toward assuaging fears that this simply isn’t his year, even if it came against the undermanned but scrappy Hornets.
The Knicks’ heavy hitters went to work quickly and put the game out of reach by the end of three quarters, and Carmelo Anthony looked like he was ready to challenge Kobe Bryant’s 81 points with a 19-point first quarter on 8-of-9 shooting. He finished with 29 points, six boards, four assists, and two treys, and while he’s not meeting his lofty ADP with just top-30 value I am really impressed with his game right now. I noted last year that Melo started passing as criticism of his isolation game mounted, and he has taken that approach even further this year as the Knicks are clicking. J.R. Smith (15 points, full line) is working in the flow of the offense (for the most part) and Raymond Felton (15 points, five treys, six assists) looks like he did before he got traded to Denver. The only thing that I see screwing things up is Amare’s return, unless he can be willing to accept a bench role in which he cleans up garbage and stays out of the way.
Early Holiday Season with Swaggy St. Nick
Down with the early holiday season I say, but I’m totally down with Jrue Holiday’s early season as the bellcow in Philly. He put up another huge line, scoring 19 points on 9-of-21 shooting with eight rebounds, 12 assists, three steals, and one trey, as he is coasting with top-12 value in 8-cat formats and top-50 value in the 9-cat counterparts. Yes, he toasted Jose Calderon all night, but nobody is counting. Jason Richardson hit his head during the game but stayed in play, scoring 21 points with four threes, a steal, and a block. He’s an early round value when he’s on the court right now, and owners should probably wait until he increases his perceived value before working too hard on sell-high offers.
Between Spencer Hawes (16 minutes) and Dorell Wright’s (14 minutes) decreases in playing time, Thaddeus Young has settled into a nice mid-round value. Young posted 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting with seven rebounds, two steals, and two blocks, justifying his position on many experts’ draft boards (including ours).
The most entertaining fantasy line coming from the Sixers’ box belonged to none other than Nick Young, who scored a season-high 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting with three rebounds, four assists, one block, three triples, and a perfect 6-of-6 mark from the foul line. This was good for a few thousand Swaggy P jokes on Twitter, but nobody seemed to catch Young almost getting hit in the head with a pass in the final moments as he gave the Philly crowd some dap. He is closing in on the best awful player in the NBA award, and no, I don’t think we’ll be seeing something like this for some time. Collins really wants to get him going, but Young will find a way to land back on the bench. It’s the only swaggy thing to do.
No Nickname Gets Back on the Court
It’s about time the No. 1 fantasy play (before he got injured) gets a nickname, and I’m referring to Kyle Lowry who surprisingly returned to action last night. He’s so sneaky good and still relatively unknown that I think it will be some time before we can call him something other than K-Lo. Anyway, Sneaky Spice scored 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting (no threes) with seven rebounds and seven assists in 30 minutes off the bench last night, and he’s a pretty good bet to be moved back into the starting lineup tonight. Likewise, it won’t surprise me if they keep him in a bench role for another night or two, but there is zero percent chance that Lowry isn’t starting and playing heavy minutes in the near future.
As for Jose Calderon, who scored 13 points with five rebounds, 12 assists, and a trey, he could easily fill the Raptors’ gaping hole at the wing slots. Owners will obviously want to test the market for the chance he eventually gets minimized when the wing group gets crowded, but chances are they’ll end up riding this out. DeMar DeRozan is in the same boat and played a team-high 42 minutes en route to 24 points on 8-of-18 shooting (1-of-1 3PTs, 7-of-8 FTs), but the rest of his line came back to earth as he posted just four rebounds, zero assists, and one steal. If you own DeRozan and can convince somebody that he’s going to hold his value as everybody returns, now is probably the last time to do it.
The most interesting fantasy development for me was the performance of Jonas Valanciunas (11 points, 11 boards, three assists, three blocks, 25 minutes) in last night’s close loss to the Sixers. Beat writers more or less gave him player of the game honors on the Raptors side, and criticized Dwane Casey as he held him out down the stretch. Casey really wanted the win tonight and obviously doesn’t trust the rookie, but this was Strike 1 in media land and he’ll eventually be forced to play JV if said benchings continue to result in losses. We’ve been down on the big man in our player blurbs, which I can assure you isn't on my account. Unless you’re stacked in a 12-team format, or playing in a daily league with no games played limits, I’d be hard-pressed not to add him as a long-term play.
Give World Peace a Chance
The Nets/Lakers game was pretty predictable from a fantasy standpoint, but the pickup of the day from the contest has the look of a fantasy comeback player of the year. Metta World Peace scored 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting (including four threes) with eight rebounds and two steals in 39 minutes, and Mike D’Antoni said after the game to essentially expect that every night. Of course, MWP can’t be quite that prolific, but he’s going to benefit from running the fast- and transition-breaks and has no real competition for minutes. A top-60 play on the year, I’m well past calling him a must-own player and jumping right into must-start in 8- and 9-cat formats until he cools off.
Kobe Bryant looked good once again with 25 points, four boards, five assists, and enough friendly calls to conjure up images of Game 6 Western Conference Final stuff. Darius Morris (three points, three assists) played well enough but is way too low in the pecking order to produce anything substantial, Pau Gasol (17 points, 11 boards, seven assists, one block) flirted with a triple-double, and Dwight Howard was intentionally fouled for much of the night. Howard hit just 7-of-19 free throws to go with 23 points, 15 boards, three assists, one steal, and four blocks. If you disregard free throws he’s a top-5 fantasy play, but what else is new.
The Nets gave us no real surprises, either, as Joe Johnson tried to rehabilitate his fantasy value with 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting, three boards, six assists, and two threes, and Kris Humphries joined him on that trek with seven points on 2-of-10 shots with 10 boards and nothing else. I wasn’t high on either player coming into this year and I’ve seen nothing to change my mind. Deron Williams’ numbers are slightly down across the board, and tonight he showed the same shot-selection issues that are the likely culprits. D-Will had 22 points on 6-of-18 shooting (including three treys) with four rebounds and 10 assists, and when factoring the ankle nuisance his owners probably wish they went elsewhere in the first round.
Brook Lopez scored 23 points with seven rebounds, three assists, and a steal in an overall active game. He's sitting on top-50 value right now while looking relatively comfortable and healthy on the floor. Owners may not be able to return ample value in a trade given the past years’ struggles, so riding this production out could be the best bet. Gerald Wallace posted a defensive gem, with season-highs in steals (4) and blocks (3) to go with seven points, five boards, and two assists. If he’s healthy, he will be worth having in lineups.
Where’s the Beef?
Kyrie Irving’s injury hasn’t left a whole lot of clarity as to whether or not there will be a Lester Hudson-like beneficiary. We know that Dion Waiters is a must-own player and that Daniel Gibson is a good bet to hold late-round value with a bit of upside. But between Jeremy Pargo and Donald Sloan all we know is that Byron Scott likes Pargo’s defense and that Sloan has more experience running the offense. The two backup PGs are speculative adds only with plenty of risk, and owners will want to watch this game closely tonight and be ready to move if their leagues allow in-game pickups.
C’Mon and Diggle It, Just a Little Bit
Dirk Nowitzki (knee) said he’s hoping to resume basketball activities in two weeks and that could mean that he’s back on a basketball court anywhere between 2-5 weeks if we want to cover most reasonable scenarios. Even if his return drags out, and we don’t have too much reason to believe that it will hit five weeks, owners should have already moved on the Diggler if he was dropped. It probably goes without saying, but Chris Kaman is on fire and a guy that owners should be trying to move while the going is good. I’m in the opposite camp on O.J. Mayo, who might have enough energy at this stage in his career to be a No. 1B, or No. 1A in practice while Dirk holds the title in spirit. I look at guys like Darren Collison and Vince Carter as having their touches threatened when Nowitzki returns.
Nene? Nah.
Nene (plantar fasciitis) might make his season debut tonight, and I thought he looked fine in the Olympics but I’m not too excited here. Even if he does return and provide low-end value, he’ll be an injury risk all season so cutting anybody with consistent value is right out. I’m willing to gamble that he won’t provide mid-round value and if I lose that bet so be it. None of this tempers my relative enthusiasm on Kevin Seraphin, whose competition consists of Emeka Okafor’s bad knee, mileage, and other ailments, Trevor Booker’s bad knee, and Nene’s plantar fasciitis and history with Achilles’ and calf issues. I guess we could talk about Jan Vesely, who could end up being on his last legs despite being healthy. As for Nene’s return, it reeks of being called into action simply because Booker is hurting, which of course is a typical player reaction but wouldn’t be the best thing for his health. I know Seraphin has struggled to rebound and bounced around Randy Wittman’s patchwork rotations, but there aren’t too many players I’d stash ahead of him right now.
News and Notes
As alluded to earlier, Mike Woodson wouldn’t commit to Amare Stoudemire (knee) as a starter when he returns, and if I was a Knicks fan I’d just assume he not return unless he’s willing to fall in line with a 20 minute rebounding and putback role. I’m not going to fall all over myself to stash him and other owners will beat me to the punch. Steve Nash (leg) has no timetable for return and is feeling tingling relating to his fractured fibula. Mike D’Antoni didn’t seem too worked up about it, saying that once it went away they’d ramp him up right away. Steve Blake (abdomen) is out for the next three games on the road trip.
Wednesday Night Lights
TOR @ CHA: Gerald Henderson said that his foot injury will keep him out for another week, which gives Kemba Walker and Ramon Sessions more time to run wild. Ben Gordon left Monday’s game with a knee contusion, but the local paper hasn’t even mentioned him so I’m inclined to say he’ll go if I’m forced to guess. Just don’t be surprised if he pops up injured at the last second. We’ll watch to see how Kyle Lowry’s ankle held up and how Jose Calderon’s role gets impacted, and owners spot-starting Linas Kleiza and/or Amir Johnson during the Raps’ four-game week will hopefully get an unexpected bonus.
PHI @ CLE: As mentioned all eyes will be on the Cavs’ backcourt, but we haven’t spent much time on Alonzo Gee. He is easily in the top-100 and could see some extra touches, though the quality of those touches could go down. If you’re looking for a dark horse candidate in very deep formats, give C.J. Miles a look. There has been talk that he could join the starting lineup, but one look at his game log should tell you why you should be cautious. Will Tyler Zeller start putting up serviceable numbers? He’s on the shortlist of players trusted by Byron Scott and the biggest one just went down. I have Zeller stashed in a few deeper, competitive 12-team leagues and though he hasn’t had too many breakthrough moments, sustainable value doesn’t seem out of the question.
DET @ ORL: Don’t sleep on Jason Maxiell in 14-16 team leagues right now. He deserves to be owned in those formats until he cools off. I have found Rodney Stuckey available in a lot of leagues, and I’ve done my best to scoop him up. The guy once saw a sports psychologist and it sounds like he has simply been in his own head. We know what he’s capable of when he’s right, so give him a hard look before he gets back on track. Owners need to pay attention to reports coming out of Orlando regarding the flu, and specifically with J.J. Redick and Jameer Nelson. Both guys were sick as dogs and put up stinky lines on Monday, and owners would be wise to use updates on their health as tiebreakers on a busy night.
NO @ IND: Give Brian Roberts (13 points, three treys) a look as a spot-play in 16+ team formats. The Hornets could be without Anthony Davis and they need able bodies at this point. So far, Roberts has been ‘able.’ The real intrigue is on the Pacers’ side of the ball, though, as their offense is bogged down because their three best offensive players can’t get anybody else a shot. George Hill has been a better fantasy player than he has been a point guard this year, as he doesn’t get into sets quickly and misses open guys. Teams have been fine singling up both David West and Roy Hibbert, knowing they’re not doing anything to get teammates going on a consistent basis. If the offense continues to stay in the freezer, it’ll take just one spark from ice-cold D.J. Augustin to resuscitate talk of moving Hill to shooting guard. Lance Stephenson is a half-step ahead of Gerald Green in the group of fringe plays that can’t be counted on with Indy struggling.
LAC @ OKC: Caron Butler (shoulder) is a game-time decision, leaving Matt Barnes as a low-end play in standard formats if Butler can’t go. Owners should keep in mind that Doc has Jamal Crawford holding his value going forward, but I’m worried about Chauncey Billups as long as reports continue to be positive regarding his rehab. Billups was ruled out of the upcoming four-game road trip, but if I had to guess it sounds like a return in the first half of December looks more likely than the second half. Plan accordingly. A lot of people rolled their eyes at a high ranking for Serge Ibaka, but he’s a top 10 and 20 play in 9- and 8-cat leagues, respectively.
MIL @ MIA: Dwyane Wade (foot) expects to play on Wednesday, and owners can only hope that he got the proper time off to fully heal. As usual, fantasy owners won’t be nearly as fixated on Miami as they will the Bucks, and in particular Ersan Ilyasova. I’m attached to the anchor and it’s heading out to the bottom of the sea. Larry Sanders is another guy that will keep owners up at night, but it sure looks like Scott Skiles enjoys sticking him out there for 25 minutes a night with the directive of ‘Chopper, sick balls.’ Mike Dunleavy shouldn’t really have been on waiver wires with a mid-round value through nine games, and he’s a case study in riding the roller coaster. Per usual, anybody not named Monta or Brandon is on perpetual thin ice in Skiles’ rotary club.
SA @ BOS: This was covered in detail 24 hours ago, but tonight we’ll get to see who joins Danny Green as the winner of the small forward injury contest in San Antonio. Will Gary Neal or DeJuan Blair somehow break through? Maybe Tiago Splitter, Boris Diaw, or Matt Bonner? I wouldn’t go betting my dog to say that it couldn’t be Nando De Colo or returnee James Anderson that grabbed 15 seconds of fame tonight. On the other side sits uber-boring but bountiful Boston, and a Rajon Rondo that will be gunning for an assist record as inane as Tyreke Evans’ 20-5-5 rookie marketing push.
WAS @ ATL: A.J. Price has one game to prove the Shaun Livingston timeshare is a fluke, and I don’t think he can do it. The Wizards need more of the veteran leadership that Livingston has. Bradley Beal made some noise and with one more solid effort he’ll land in must-own status for 12-team leagues. That doesn’t mean that the inconsistency will end, but rather that he has shown enough promise to justify the stash. Jeff Teague will likely be benched and still put up early round numbers, but that will go unnoticed as the Josh Smith trainwreck seeks to get back on track. If fantasy owners watch one thing, try to see if he’s visibly avoiding contact a la Andris Biedrins. He has airballed four of his 23 free throws and made just 31.8 percent of them. If that is really in his head, then maybe it’s time to reassess our expectations. For now, I’m still on Doc’s bandwagon that it’s time to hold and target the first round pick.
CHI @ HOU: It’s not a home-return, but it’s the Omer Asik game tonight as the free agent acquisition plays his former mates for the first time. The Bulls are pretty much an open book right now, though owners not on the Nate Robinson bandwagon will want to consider the upside if injury risk Kirk Hinrich goes down. Robinson’s current late-round value makes him a stash with some utility, as well. James Harden left Monday’s game early due to the flu, likely burning some owners (including me) in the process. It would have to take a pretty bad report on his health for me to not have him in lineups, even though he burned me last time out. If we get a report that Carlos Delfino’s groin injury is less than minor, then owners will want to give strong consideration to Marcus Morris and added consideration to rookie Terrence Jones.
DEN @ MIN: Nikola Pekovic (ankle) will play tonight, and on a busy night owners will want to weigh their options carefully as he could be limited or rusty. J.J. Barea’s ankle situation has been weird to track. After he was called doubtful early yesterday morning, he later said he’s optimistic that he will play. This follows a strange quote from Rick Adelman saying he’d be out for the rest of the (calendar) year, which Adelman immediately then corrected to mean the “end of the month.” Maybe Adelman was hiding something, or maybe he got his weeks mixed up. I know I’m probably getting a day of the week clock for Christmas this year, so I can relate. Whatever the case may be, Alexey Shved owners are watching Barea’s status closely as he is the only thing keeping Shved from playing monster minutes. While things could get crowded in Minny’s backcourt, I’ve said a few times that I like Shved’s chances of being the last man standing in an injury-riddled guard unit. Ty Lawson has seen his confidence shooting the ball erode, and it’s a perfect time to target him as a buy low guy. He won’t shoot 37 percent from the field and 53 percent from the foul line all year.
NYK @ DAL: Darren Collison has really struggled in the last week and owners may want to consider moving him if he has a big night. As I mentioned before, I think his value will take a hit before O.J. Mayo’s does when Dirk returns. Shawn Marion (knee) hasn’t looked healthy and on a busy night owners will want to go with safer options if they can. Vince Carter (hamstring, hip) has looked even worse, but somehow he was still shoulder-tapped in crunch-time on Monday against the Warriors. We’re calling that a coaching error with Mayo on fire that night.
POR @ PHO: This game has the potential to be a fantasy bonanza with both squads having very little bench, relatively porous defense, and plenty of guys that can light it up. If Goran Dragic doesn’t get off the schnied against the softer Portland interior then maybe Alvin Gentry does have it out for him. I’m kidding, sort of.
LAL @ SAC: This could be a trap game for the Lakers, but they love to stick it to the Kings in Sacramento. And for Sacramento, it’s anybody’s guess what lineup Keith Smart trots out even though he said after Monday’s laugher loss that he would be sticking with Aaron Brooks and John Salmons as new starters. That was before influential Sacramento writer Ailene Voisin called for Geoff Petrie’s job and ripped Smart, echoing what not-so-influential Sacramento writer yours truly has been saying since Isaiah Thomas was given the Stephen Curry treatment last season – that NBA scouts think Smart and his offense are a joke. Petrie made comments about the Kings’ inability to play in a halfcourt set, and he may be realizing that things got worse than he thought they could get -- and that a traditional point guard with clout needs to be installed. The only point guard on the roster is Isaiah Thomas, though don't count on anybody in Sacramento to figure that out. The bottom line is that anything could happen and owners need to be ready for everything, and a loss to the Lakers at home could be the beginning of the end for Smart.
BKY @ GSW: Stephen Curry said his ankle was fine after Monday’s career-best game, and we haven’t heard anything about it so owners may have dodged a bullet. Still, handcuffing him to Jarrett Jack isn’t the worst idea. Andrew Bogut (ankle) is supposed to return to practice on Monday. The Warriors have a horrible track record of letting players return early and I’m braced for the worst as a Dubs fan. Harrison Barnes has been the nicest fantasy surprise for the Warriors recently and quickly achieved must-own status. I’m still concerned about his rebounds and some of the flukiness of those recent results, and also the fact that Carl Landry was held back quite a bit in Barnes’ big night on Monday. Bay area beat writers threw a fit with Landry on the bench that long, and with Bogut’s potential return looming there are a few threats to Barnes’ value. He has enough going for him to ignore those issues for now. Lastly – I dare you to drop Klay Thompson. I have absolutely no worry about his ability to turn it around, though it would be nice if all the rah rah coach-by-narrative stuff would go away so the kid could just concentrate on playing and improving his defense. It also doesn't help that as he has botched his end-of-game assignments that the coach and the organization have thrown him under the bus. Like it’s not their job to make sure he’s doing the right things.
And on that note, good luck tonight guys and Happy Thanksgiving. No chat on Thursday and the Doc will be handling Thursday’s Dose.