Kirk Hinrich's cut and infected elbow forced him out again on Friday, give Nate Robinson a reprieve in fantasy leagues -- he started at PG vs. the Bobcats and had 12 points, four assists and one steal in 25 minutes before the lead surged past 20 points and Tom Thibodeau pulled most of his starters. Derrick Rose recently began taking part in limited 5-on-5 workouts but his return date remains a mystery, so Nate may be worth holding even after Captain Kirk returns and retakes the starting PG job.
Friday's blowout included Michael Kidd-Gilchrist's latest quiet game -- he had 10 points, seven rebounds, one steal and three turnovers in the Bobcats' 30-point drubbing. MKG's upside for steals and blocks is considerable, and presumably the Bobcats want to develop him as quickly as possible at the end of a lost season. The problem is that he doesn't seem ready for 35 minutes per game and his current role actually seems best suited for him...keep in mind that the No. 2 pick is still only 19 years old. His struggles shouldn't dissuade anyone in keeper leagues, but owners fighting for this year's fantasy playoffs can do better. In other Bobcats news…Ben Gordon, who recently clashed with coach Mike Dunlap and told him to "humble himself," never left the bench despite copious amounts of garbage time. He's unlikely to see the light of day in Dunlap's rotations, so don't think twice about dumping him onto the waiver wire.
During my live chat last Monday, Feb. 18, I approved of an owner trading Goran Dragic for Luol Deng. "Dragic is helming a terrible Suns offense that nearly set a new franchise-low for scoring a few weeks ago," I wrote. "His shot has been off lately and he's committing 3.0 turnovers vs. 6.0 assists in the past few weeks ... I'm fine unloading him for a solid mid-round player at this point, assuming you tried to pry away somebody better first and were talked down to Deng." Though it felt good leaving my hand, that one was an airball. Dragic went out that night and scored 16 points with five rebounds, 18 assists, two steals and one block. He followed that up with 20 points, three 3-pointers, 10 assists, five steals and only one turnover a night later, marking the first time all season that he's had consecutive games with double-digit assists.
Those back-to-back gems were a reminder of Dragic's bat-out-of-hell finale with Houston last season, when he racked up combined March/April averages of 16.3 points, 1.6 threes, 3.3 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.7 steals and 3.0 turnovers, with 47.4 percent FGs and 85.2 percent FTs. Those numbers were good for top-25 value during that stretch (No. 9 overall in eight-cat). He kept the party going with another double-double vs. the Celtics (minus Rondo and KG) on Friday, finishing with 19 points, five rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and two blocks.
It's even more impressive that he posted Friday's numbers in a lopsided defeat, while being harassed by Avery Bradley and Courtney Lee most of the night, and while passing to teammates who shot a combined 40.6 percent from the field. Dragic's offensive usage rate ties him for 76th in the NBA, so there's room for growth if Alvin Gentry (edit: oops, Lindsey Hunter!) starts to give him more freedom offensively. His usage rate (21.7) is similar to guys like DeMar DeRozan, Mo Williams, Tyreke Evans and Dirk Nowitzki. Among his Suns teammates, only Luis Scola (21.9) and Michael Beasley (25.6) use a higher percentage of offensive plays.
Speaking of whom, both Scola (six points in 17 minutes) and Beasley (six points in 15 minutes) were awful vs. the Celtics. Marcin Gortat didn't fare too much better with 10 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes, and until things turn around fantasy owners should make like Lindsey Hunter and bench him. His value has absolutely tanked in the past five games (including 28.6 percent FT shooting), and in the past month he hasn't cracked the top-150 in nine-cat leagues. I traded him for Kevin Martin just prior to the deadline in one league, and I'm fine with the move even if I ultimately drop Martin.
Jeff Green made his first start of the season on Friday, playing PF with Brandon Bass at C and Kevin Garnett getting a night of rest, as prescribed by Doc Rivers. Green took full advantage of the opportunity to score 32 points on 11-of-14 FGs and 6-of-7 FTs, with three 3-pointers, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, five blocks and only one turnover. Having watched Brandon Bass muddle along at PF all season, Celtics fans are surely wondering why it took so long to experiment with Green as a starter.
It must be reiterated that Green posted this monster line without KG and against a defensively inept Suns team, but don't be lulled into the assumption that this is purely a fluke. If he's on the waiver wire, grab him. Through 10 games in February, he's averaging 16.7 points, 1.2 threes, 4.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 2.0 blocks in a 32-minute bench role. The arrival of backup SG Jordan Crawford shouldn't be a disruption for Green, who is rapidly becoming indispensable for the post-Rondo Celtics this year.
Before speeding through a recap of Friday's 12-game slate, let's stop to check out next week's schedules:
Four games: Hawks, Bulls, Mavericks, Pistons, Warriors, Pacers, Clippers, Magic, 76ers, Kings, Raptors, Wizards
Two games: Celtics, Blazers
The other 16 teams each play three games, of course, and I've excluded them in the hopes that fewer teams will make it easier to find the one(s) you are looking for...or not find them, in which case that team is middle-of-the-pack in games played. Moving on.
Rudy Gay was shooting 69-of-182 from the field (37.9 percent) in his first nine games with the Raptors, but he went off on Friday with 32 points on 11-of-23 FGs and 9-of-11 FTs, with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Gay's points per game (21.4) and shot attempts (20.5) have jumped noticeably since joining the Raptors, but he's also averaging more threes (1.2) and rebounds (6.8) with a ridiculous amount of steals (2.6). Even his playing time has increased, and he's notched a few buzzer-beating game-winners for Toronto in just a few weeks. The only thing that has suffered is his aforementioned field goal percentage, mired at 39.0 percent. He's been hovering above 40 percent all season, so miracles aren't forthcoming, but any uptick in accuracy would send his value surging into the early rounds.
Andrea Bargnani was booed by fans in Toronto during an atrocious 13-minute stint off the bench, going scoreless with zero rebounds or blocks. He made a nice stash before the trade deadline, and was worth holding to see how he'd be deployed with the roster settling down for a final playoff run, but the early returns prove that he belongs on your waiver wire. This was his second straight scoreless game and he's failed to cracked double-digits in five straight. Amir Johnson (12 points, six boards in 32 minutes) and Jonas Valanciunas (three points, 10 rebounds, two blocks) are both part of the Raptors' long-term plans, not to mention outplaying Bargnani, and you're doing yourself a disservice if you still own him.
J.R. Smith was ejected from New York's last game and it's no surprise to hear that he's been grating the Knicks' coaching staff, even getting into a confrontation with assistant coach Herb Williams. The good news is that none of those distractions seemed to bother him on Friday, when he dropped 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting with three 3-pointers, four rebounds and four assists off the bench. He made a few puzzling decisions, as usual, but he was poised and focused as he helped New York temporarily erase a big lead in the fourth quarter. Owners looking for a homerun can justify cutting J.R. for a guy like Moe Harkless, but in general he's worth owning despite horrible 38.2 percent FGs and 64.7 percent FTs in his past 13 games.
Elsewhere for the Knicks, Jason Kidd racked up his usual across-the-board numbers in 32 minutes, Raymond Felton had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes, and Iman Shumpert started but was scoreless in just 15 minutes of action. Mike Woodson recently threatened changes to his lineup, and the loss to Toronto was the Knicks' fifth straight, so keep an eye on guys like JR, Steve Novak and Chris Copeland.
Random Question: Which rookie leads the NBA in 3-point percentage?
Answer: Pablo Prigioni at 41.3 percent. He's 33-of-80 from downtown, while shooting 46.1 percent from the field overall, numbers which defy his reputation as a brilliant passer who becomes a liability when asked to knock down jumpers.
Orlando Johnson led the Pacers' reserves with 14 points in Friday's blowout vs. the Pistons -- he made all five of his field goals, including three 3-pointers, with three rebounds and three assists. OJ has carved out a solid 10-minute role in recent weeks, but he's chum for deep leagues even with Danny Granger sidelined. Granger, by the way, is expected to make his season debut on Saturday. He'll play limited minutes and his conditioning will take a while to return, so I wouldn't gamble on him in weekly leagues even if he looks good in an adrenaline-fueled return this weekend.
On the other side of the blowout, Rodney Stuckey was the only Pistons' scorer with double-digit points (11) and the entire starting five combined to shoot 11-of-40 from the field in limited minutes. Stuckey started at SG with Brandon Knight (knee) unavailable, and reserve guard Will Bynum also stepped into a bigger role with 17 points and four dimes in 22 minutes. Most eye-catching for fantasy owners was center Viacheslav Kravtsov, who gave a passable impression of Andre Drummond with 14 points on 6-of-7 FGs and 2-of-10 FTs, with 10 rebounds. The Pistons are inevitably tilting toward developing players, so Kravtsov may stick in the rotation for the duration of the season, but his value is scuttled by the combination of his lousy FT shooting (a combined 5-of-21 this season) and Drummond's return as soon as early- or mid-March. Nothing else noteworthy came out of this lopsided affair.
Kirk Hinrich's cut and infected elbow forced him out again on Friday, give Nate Robinson a reprieve in fantasy leagues -- he started at PG vs. the Bobcats and had 12 points, four assists and one steal in 25 minutes before the lead surged past 20 points and Tom Thibodeau pulled most of his starters. Derrick Rose recently began taking part in limited 5-on-5 workouts but his return date remains a mystery, so Nate may be worth holding even after Captain Kirk returns and retakes the starting PG job.
Friday's blowout included Michael Kidd-Gilchrist's latest quiet game -- he had 10 points, seven rebounds, one steal and three turnovers in the Bobcats' 30-point drubbing. MKG's upside for steals and blocks is considerable, and presumably the Bobcats want to develop him as quickly as possible at the end of a lost season. The problem is that he doesn't seem ready for 35 minutes per game and his current role actually seems best suited for him...keep in mind that the No. 2 pick is still only 19 years old. His struggles shouldn't dissuade anyone in keeper leagues, but owners fighting for this year's fantasy playoffs can do better. In other Bobcats news…Ben Gordon, who recently clashed with coach Mike Dunlap and told him to "humble himself," never left the bench despite copious amounts of garbage time. He's unlikely to see the light of day in Dunlap's rotations, so don't think twice about dumping him onto the waiver wire.
During my live chat last Monday, Feb. 18, I approved of an owner trading Goran Dragic for Luol Deng. "Dragic is helming a terrible Suns offense that nearly set a new franchise-low for scoring a few weeks ago," I wrote. "His shot has been off lately and he's committing 3.0 turnovers vs. 6.0 assists in the past few weeks ... I'm fine unloading him for a solid mid-round player at this point, assuming you tried to pry away somebody better first and were talked down to Deng." Though it felt good leaving my hand, that one was an airball. Dragic went out that night and scored 16 points with five rebounds, 18 assists, two steals and one block. He followed that up with 20 points, three 3-pointers, 10 assists, five steals and only one turnover a night later, marking the first time all season that he's had consecutive games with double-digit assists.
Those back-to-back gems were a reminder of Dragic's bat-out-of-hell finale with Houston last season, when he racked up combined March/April averages of 16.3 points, 1.6 threes, 3.3 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.7 steals and 3.0 turnovers, with 47.4 percent FGs and 85.2 percent FTs. Those numbers were good for top-25 value during that stretch (No. 9 overall in eight-cat). He kept the party going with another double-double vs. the Celtics (minus Rondo and KG) on Friday, finishing with 19 points, five rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and two blocks.
It's even more impressive that he posted Friday's numbers in a lopsided defeat, while being harassed by Avery Bradley and Courtney Lee most of the night, and while passing to teammates who shot a combined 40.6 percent from the field. Dragic's offensive usage rate ties him for 76th in the NBA, so there's room for growth if Alvin Gentry (edit: oops, Lindsey Hunter!) starts to give him more freedom offensively. His usage rate (21.7) is similar to guys like DeMar DeRozan, Mo Williams, Tyreke Evans and Dirk Nowitzki. Among his Suns teammates, only Luis Scola (21.9) and Michael Beasley (25.6) use a higher percentage of offensive plays.
Speaking of whom, both Scola (six points in 17 minutes) and Beasley (six points in 15 minutes) were awful vs. the Celtics. Marcin Gortat didn't fare too much better with 10 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes, and until things turn around fantasy owners should make like Lindsey Hunter and bench him. His value has absolutely tanked in the past five games (including 28.6 percent FT shooting), and in the past month he hasn't cracked the top-150 in nine-cat leagues. I traded him for Kevin Martin just prior to the deadline in one league, and I'm fine with the move even if I ultimately drop Martin.
Jeff Green made his first start of the season on Friday, playing PF with Brandon Bass at C and Kevin Garnett getting a night of rest, as prescribed by Doc Rivers. Green took full advantage of the opportunity to score 32 points on 11-of-14 FGs and 6-of-7 FTs, with three 3-pointers, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, five blocks and only one turnover. Having watched Brandon Bass muddle along at PF all season, Celtics fans are surely wondering why it took so long to experiment with Green as a starter.
It must be reiterated that Green posted this monster line without KG and against a defensively inept Suns team, but don't be lulled into the assumption that this is purely a fluke. If he's on the waiver wire, grab him. Through 10 games in February, he's averaging 16.7 points, 1.2 threes, 4.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 2.0 blocks in a 32-minute bench role. The arrival of backup SG Jordan Crawford shouldn't be a disruption for Green, who is rapidly becoming indispensable for the post-Rondo Celtics this year.
Random update: LeBron James (leg) went through Saturday's shootaround and will play vs. the Sixers.
Andrew Bynum (knees) reportedly practiced for the first time on Friday. This sounds like huge news, and he's worth a speculative add, but I'm reserving judgment until we hear how his knees react to the workout. There have been so many setbacks and qualifications about his return that it's hard to be optimistic with only 30 games remaining on the Sixers' schedule.
Deron Williams (ankle) suffered another 'tweak' during Friday's game, which he finished with 15 points, three 3-pointers and 13 assists in 40 minutes. He had platelet-rich plasma therapy during the All-Star break, he had another cortisone shot on Thursday, and he's admitted that he'll probably need surgery to clean out bone spurs in his ankles. Whether there's more going on than just bone spurs is debatable, but there's no doubt that D-Will's status down the stretch is very tenuous. The Nets are fully aware that he's ailing and they need him as close to 100 percent as possible to have any chance in the postseason, so I'm anticipating at least a handful of precautionary DNPs.
The Nets lost at home to the Rockets despite D-Will's solid double-double and nice games from C.J. Watson (17 points, three triples, four rebounds, five dimes) and Brook Lopez (27 points on 13-of-21 FGs, six rebounds). Watson started at SG because Joe Johnson was resting his foot after a plantar fasciitis flare-up -- Johnson went through part of Saturday's practice but remains questionable for Sunday.
The Rockets were the beneficiaries of Johnson's absence and D-Will's pain, stealing a win in Brooklyn behind Carlos Delfino's 22 points (including 6-of-9 from downtown), five rebounds, five assists and one steal. Delfino started on Friday but he'll likely shift back to a sixth-man role with Thomas Robinson inbound from Sacramento. Delfino's upside takes a major hit in a bench role, but he's been a top-100 fantasy player all season and should get even more perimeter looks with Patrick Patterson and Marcus Morris traded away. Chandler Parsons, meanwhile, scored 10 points with a decent all-around line in 40 minutes, showing no ill effects from his recent ankle sprain.
Maurice Harkless scored 19 points in Friday's loss, tying his career high, while chipping in nine rebounds (six offensive) with one steal and one block. Moe even hit a 3-pointer tonight, and as Matt Stroup pointed out before Friday's game there's simply no reason he should be available on waiver wires. He has the faith of rookie head coach Jacque Vaughn, no competition for minutes, and he's a 19-year-old player on a developing team with the third-worst record in the NBA and 27 games left on the schedule. Game on.
Kenneth Faried had six points, four rebounds and a block in 23 minutes on Friday, his lowest playing time this month. He hasn't done much in the past three games, but one look at his February averages should calm his owners -- 12.6 points on 57.5 percent FGs, 9.6 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 0.9 blocks in 30 minutes per game. Ty Lawson blew up again for 27 points, four rebounds and 12 assists, and he seems to be in cruise control, but the bench also deserves praise for keeping Denver in the game. Wilson Chandler made 8-of-15 shots for 22 points, Andre Miller racked up 19 points, seven assists and three steals, and Corey Brewer scored 12 points with two assists. They all played under 30 minutes, but the only players under 20 minutes were Kosta Koufos and JaVale McGee, as George Karl once again proved unafraid to play small lineups for long stretches.
The Kings stumbled in Atlanta on Friday, their fourth consecutive loss, but Isaiah Thomas provided a bright spot with a career-high 30 points, four 3-pointers, six rebounds and nine assists in 37 minutes. He made 9-of-18 FGs and 8-of-9 FTs, and he's now averaging 19.1 points, 1.7 threes, 4.7 assists and 1.0 steals in February. To be kind to Keith Smart for once, I'll say that unleashing IT2 late in the season is better than not doing it at all. Thomas' big game overshadowed mostly solid nights from DeMarcus Cousins (26 points, 13 boards, three steals) and Tyreke Evans (15 points, eight boards, six assists).
Jarrett Jack scored 30 points to help the Warriors earn a much-needed win over the Spurs. He made 11-of-22 FGs and 7-of-9 FTs, with 10 assists, a steal and a block. The All-Star break was wonderfully timed for Jack, who has battled a variety of bumps and bruises, and in the Warriors' past four games he's averaging 23.0 points, 2.3 threes, 7.0 assists, 0.8 steals, while making 52.5 percent FGs and 90.5 percent FT. Those are simply elite fantasy numbers, and as long as Mark Jackson deploys small lineups there are no obvious impediments to Jack's rest-of-season value. Andrew Bogut was out last night with back spasms and neither Stephen Curry nor Klay Thompson played particularly well (a combined 11-of-31 shooting), but the Warriors also got a big lift from David Lee, who scored 25 points and grabbed 22 rebounds.
The Lakers always seem to struggle vs. the Trail Blazers, but they came away victorious on Friday thanks to Kobe Bryant's 40 points, as well as Dwight Howard's 19 & 16 with two blocks (Dwight 'tweaked' his troublesome shoulder, but appears to have avoided any serious aggravation). This was Kobe's first 40-point game since December, and his owners can only hope that he decides to commandeer the Lakers' offense for a final playoff push (the Lakers are 3.5 games behind the Rockets for the eighth seed). Antawn Jamison pitched in 16 points and six rebounds in 21 minutes, continuing his recent surge of efficient bench play (16.7 ppg in past four games). Until he steals more minutes from Earl Clark (11 points, five boards in 30 minutes) I'm not biting on Antawn for sustainable value. Clark also sprained his pinkie finger during the game, though it didn't cost him any time and shouldn't be a factor going forward.