• Don Nelson’s latest stroke of genius? He’ll bench a veteran “here and there” and give the team’s young players extended playing time. Things get started Friday with Jamal Crawford, who will be inactive while C.J. Watson gets the start. The only vet that Nelson mentioned as potentially being immune was Stephen Jackson, with the reason being that the W’s are thin at small forward. While Crawford has dealt with the developments in a professional manner – “I’m going to do whatever Coach thinks is best for the team. I’m going to always show up for my team.” – his agent was understandably a bit less diplomatic:
“If the coach doesn’t want to play him, he should have a valid reason why he doesn’t want to play him … What is the message that Coach Nelson is sending the team? That he does not care about winning? You would think, in this day and time when fans work hard to pay for these tickets, that the coach would field the best possible team. Jamal may not score 50 points on the Bobcats again, but he would work hard to get a win and reward the fans for their loyalty to this team in this hard time.”
Owners in daily leagues will need to be on the lookout for updates – at least Nelson was merciful enough to give notice to us a few days out this time around. Those of you in weekly leagues need to downgrade your Warriors (outside of Jackson?) just a bit when making those weekly decisions.
• Other Friday status updates: Tim Duncan is a game-time decision, as is Steve Nash. … the Hawks are getting both Mike Bibby and Josh Smith back … Nene Hilario will make his return after missing just two games with a bruised knee … Mickael Pietrus will be back for the Magic … Eric Gordon (shoulder) is not expected to play, while Al Thornton (foot) will be a game-time decision … Beno Udrih is out at least the next two games with a right foot sprain.
• Some questions are starting to be raised about Greg Oden‘s injury and, more specifically, how hard he’s actually trying to get back on the court. Here’s a blurb from The Oregonian:
Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan has joined the ranks of the confused and curious in regard to Greg Oden’s injured left knee, which caused the rookie center to miss his fourth game in a row on Tuesday. “I’m where everybody else is with it,” McMillan said. “I get a daily update and we thought, everybody thought, that he would be moving by now, if not playing. But things just keep getting bumped back.”
and this from Blazers beat writer Jason Quick:
I can’t quite get a feel for everybody, if they are starting to maybe shift it a little bit to not so much on Greg’s knee but Greg’s head. Does Greg really want to play? Is he trying to play? Because I’ve seen them urge him to get on the bike to work out during this time. I’m starting to shift more in that camp: Does Greg Oden really love basketball? You know, does he? It doesn’t look like it… I hate, you know… We should give the guy a break. It’s a legitimate injury. His kneecap is chipped. There is some swelling. But I don’t know. I just don’t see him maybe working as hard as he could to get back.
Oden is out again Friday and it looks like he won’t play Sunday, either. Joel Przybilla has averaged 5.4 points, 10.1 boards, 1.1 steals, and 1 block in 24 minutes over the past seven games and could prove to be the more rosterable player moving forward. Oden is currently owned in 75 percent of Yahoo! leagues, while Przybilla’s mark stands at 30 percent.
• Stephon Marbury is officially a Celtic. A snippet of his interview with The Boston Globe:
“This is the happiest I’ve been since being drafted, man. I’m so happy that it doesn’t even feel real. It feels, it just feels like, it feels different to finally be able to get the opportunity to go play for a team that’s established. Everyone is on the same page. There is one goal, and that’s winning a ring, winning the trophy … I don’t care what they ask me to do. I’ll play 20 minutes or I’ll play 15. It doesn’t matter who is scoring or who is doing what. It’s about one common goal: to win.”
Although we’re likely to see him on the court tonight, Marbury won’t be asked to play much as long as Rajon Rondo is healthy, so he’s only of note in the deepest of leagues at this point. Then there’s the whole matter of not having been on the court since April 6 of last season. He’ll take some of Eddie House and Gabe Pruitt’s minutes and will make for an interesting real-life plotline, but there really aren’t many sizeable fantasy ramifications here.
• Ben Wallace will miss the next four to six weeks after breaking his right leg on Thursday night. Anderson Varejao (10.9 points, 7.8 boards, 1.1 steals, 1.2 blocks in 17 starts this season) makes for a solid pickup, while rookie J.J. Hickson (per-25 minute averages of 9.2 points, 6 boards, 1.1 blocks) warrants a look in deep leagues.
• If you are still holding out hope that Andrew Bogut can help your squad down the stretch, you’ll be interested to know that he still has pain in his back when he does things like get out of bed or walk up a flight of stairs. The Bucks currently hold the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference standings, so he’s got plenty of incentive, but it’s beginning to look even more unlikely that we’ll see him again this season.
• Michael Curry is hoping that another lineup change will spark the listless Pistons – he’s moved Richard Hamilton back into the starting five, with Allen Iverson moving to the role of sixth man. AI is out Friday and may not play Sunday because of a bad back, but Curry has declared that the impending free agent will be a reserve for the remainder of the season. Here’s how the guard minutes have shaken out so far in February: AI 36, Rodney Stuckey 32, and Rip 31. Clearly Iverson gets downgraded, but perhaps he’ll be a bit more comfortable as the main focus of the second unit, and maybe Stuckey will be able to straighten things out (8.5 points, .356 FG%, 3.8 assists, 0.5 steals in February) while sharing the backcourt with a spot-up shooter. Clearly, there are no guarantees with this team right now.
• Some interesting news about Delonte West can be found here. In a nutshell: his wrist is not reinjured, but it’s not 100 percent healed either, so it’s not out of the question that he’ll deal with stiffness and soreness for at least a few more weeks. The Cavs play three sets of back-to-backs in the next two weeks, so he could be rested once or twice during that span. I wouldn’t overreact to this news, just be mindful at this point.
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sheesh it’s a coin-flip....
the rotoworld headline popped up right after i posted. looks like it’s crawford tonight, sunday it will be s-jax (oh noes! who will play SF!?!), and next friday (?) it will be biedrins
“It’s actually better for everybody, if you think about it,” Nelson said. “Rather than play a guy 15 minutes, just give him the day off. When he plays, he can play his normal kind of minutes or close to it. I’ve found over the years that it’s better to do it this way.”
http://www.examiner.com/x-441-Golden-State-Warriors-Examiner
he’s officially lost it
lol. “oh noes”? what is that matt? lol
well i guess it is somehow better for fantasy owners this way at least we’ll know to bench the player instead of having nellie play him for only 15 minutes and have the low stats count towards a game.
Trying to find some positives here.
I agree Buser…
It seems like he’s been coaching so long he just doesn’t care anymore.
hey matt i just read the roto headline for jason terry.. hes allowed to practice again. should he be picked up off waivers immediately?
absolutely
What do you guys think about Granger and Moon for Mike Miller and Baron Davis?
I would say that is a huge win for you if you get Miller and Davis, I doubt the person you are trading with would go for it though.
i’d try for someone other than b-diddy if you can, to be honest. he’s a huge hit to team FG% and i just can’t see him playing at a high level towards the end
I just read too much into Bill Simmons column about him and Baron Davis on the day of the trade deadline, it sounded like Davis was relieved that the whole fiasco was over and he was ready to go out and play now that he knew he was staying in LA.
Next night he nearly went for a triple-double, but I would obviously take Buser’s advice over mine any day of the week.
Hey Buser,
What do you think about Paul Millsap? I’m considering dropping him for Grant Hill b/c of his lack of minutes with Boozer back. Good move?
Or do you think Tyrus Thomas would be a better drop for Hill?
i’d rank the three players: thomas, millsap, hill. keep thomas for sure and it’s close with millsap, but i’d hold onto him. as a sub this season (15 g): 11/7/1.2 blk in 26 min
So I have Stephen Jackson and he’s a monster right now. The Yahoo news and notes for today said that he would be out for sunday’s game. Is this going to be expected for the rest of the season?? because i don’t think that i can get a trade solidified before the deadline
unfortunately yes. expect the ‘vets’ to sit out a game here and a game there the rest of the way
Moment of silence for Durant please… =(
I knew it was only a matter of time before one of my players went down. And a 4 game week next week makes it even worse.
What do you guys think about a Mo Williams for David Lee or Mo Williams for Mehmet Okur trade?
I am in a 14 team, 11 cat H2H league.
PG – Jason Kidd, Mo Williams, TJ Ford, Larry Hughes
SG – Kevin Martin, Ray Allen, Manu Ginobli
SF – John Salmons, Mike Miller
PF – Jeff Green
C – Andray Blatche, Louis Scolia
Obviously I am guard heavy and I am punting the TO and BLK categories but I am dominating in all of the guard cats. Do you it might be the right time to sell extremely high on Ray Allen since once Pierce and Garnett comeback his stats will come back down to earth? Boston has an anemic 2 games played in the 2nd week of playoffs (Mar 31st for our league) and only Houston plays fewer games than Boston after March 23rd.
Any help is appreciated!
No one in their right mind would accept Mo Williams for David Lee or Mehmet Okur.
if you are dominating guard stats then larry hughes has no business being on your roster. ray allen is a good sell, as you’ve got plenty of threes otherwise and he’s really more of an asset in roto
even though he is going to take over the starting SG job for the Knicks soon? There is no one else worth picking up on the waiver wire that is a PF/C. I figure its better me to have him than someone else and maybe I can trade him if he has a few more games like he did Friday night.
Why is the Mo Williams – David Lee trade so bad? They are #41 and #36 respectively for the last 30 days and Mo Williams is 17.5/3.2/4.2 with 95% ft and 2 3pt/game
Williams-okur is more of a stretch but dont you think that Okur is going to see a decline in his stats now that boozer is back?
yeah if there’s nobody else that’s a different story, and i do like the plan to flip him as soon as possible
i think the mo williams trade offers are reasonable. not sure why ryan feels that way
I would do mo Williams for David lee.
He can get the rebs you need to be competitive.
Btw who was your first round pick? I am guessing you lost out on jefferson + granger with that roster
As a matter of fact, you mite want to hold on to Mo
3′s ft% stls looks like the only thing you got going for youself
guy who has David lee says he thought it was a fair trade but that he doesn’t need a PG (he has five players that are PG eligible) so that is too bad.
Im actually #1 in the league in FG% and field goals made, #2 in pts and FT made and competitive on a weekly basis for rebounds. You have to remember its a 14 team league so teams are stretched pretty thin.
I took Caron Butler at #11 and Chris Bosh at #18, whom I’ve both traded in the past couple weeks (thankfully). Funny thing is, I have 4 of the 12 players I drafted still on my team (Williams, Allen, Salmons and Scola) It’s fair to say I am a little trade happy.
why not keep williams and offer up allen for big-man stats instead? you could aim high and try for gasol or murphy
There is a guy currently in 7th place (6 teams make the playoffs) so I offered him Ray Allen for Durant straight up because he needs to win the next two weeks in order to make the playoffs. He replied like I had told him I slept with his mom and his sister…at the same time.
Over last 4 games, Allen has put up 26/5/4 with 60% fg and 20 3ptm. Not to mention he is 95% from the FT line which must be some NBA record. Ray allen is 14th overall the last 30days and Durant is 7th, I know Durant has been amazing but so has Ray Allen and I didnt think it was that big of a stretch, oh well.
I was thinking Murphy and Gasol but they both happen to be on the team in last place who hasnt set his line-up for like 3 months and probably forgot the league existed, hate people like that.
What do you think about Ray Allen for Tim Duncan? The trade analyzer says its about as even as you can get (+0.10 overall for me) but I am worried about Duncan’s health and that he would kill my FT%
As always thanks for the help!
hey sorry to be so annoying, one last question I promise. What do you think of Mo Williams for Al Harrington, again trade anaylzer has a +0.06 advantage for me.
Durant for Allen doesn’t make sense for the person with Durant
Allen for Duncan looks alright but you were punting blks? I don’t
think you need to make that trade
Mo Williams for Al harrington? Say bye to your #1 FG%
I looked ahead at my schedule and the problem with my lineup is that there are times when I will have to sit jason kidd, ginobli, allen, williams or martin because there are only 4 possible spots for a PG or SG and neither of those players have dual elgibility. I figure its better to get something for a player I’m going to have to sit on several occasions.
The only reason why I thought Allen for Durant makes sense is because they guy that has Durant absolutely has to go 7-4 or 8-3 each of the next 3 weeks or he wont make the playoffs.
Thanks for the suggestion though, we will see what the guy who owns Harring has to say
i think duncan is going to be okay health-wise. if you really want big-man stats, don’t go after harrington
you are absolutely right, I just need filler for the position, it seems like Harrington will at least score and make 3′s so the loss of Allen would be softened. We will see what happens.
hey Matt,
how about their 6th man Corey Maggette? will he be losing minutes as well?
thanks Matt you rule!
i can only assume that he will sit in favor of wright and randolph at some point. it’s only speculation, though, as nellie hasn’t named him yet
thanks
Who should I drop for Terry? Felton, Delonte West, Nate Robinson, or Manu.
frankly i’d hold on to those guards – have anyone else that might be expendable?
I have a pretty stacked team. Some of my “lower teir” players are Josh Howard, Richard Jefferson, and Tayshaun Prince.
depending on your team’s needs dropping jefferson for terry is a solid move. howard too.
yep
Too early to grab Terry for those players
buser
Should durant be dropped?
I’ve heard he might be out more than 2 weeks
where did you hear that? You should try and deal him for someone like Kobe or CP3 if someone in your league has a Kevin Durant fetish like the losers in my league do.
Hi everyone. Mr. Buser, do you think Grant Hill will have PF eligibility soon? I badly need a PF in a 17-team league, with only Turiaf and the disappointing Speights at PF.
he certainly should, but i have no direct insight in terms of him actually getting it
Hey, Buse.
What in the world is happening to Luol Deng’s minutes? Yeah, they brought in Salmons, but isn’t it drastic how far his minutes have fallen?
They’re paying him over 10 mil avg a year and he played 17 minutes last night!
I guess he did have that hand injury?
Haha, as soon as I posted that I got my answer. Too bad, but better that than have him be in minutes limbo. He wasn’t doing much for me anyway.
I’m also interested in your thoughts on Tyrus Thomas’ minutes. Seems like they’re down slightly since the Salmons/Miller acquisition. Do you think he’ll get back to 30+?
Buser what do u think about Marcus Camby. Do you think he will be shut down and should I try to trade him now before Kaman gets back?
Not Buser, but when I’m in contention for a title, I try to make any move I can that will have a minimal effect on my team, but reduce the possibility for disaster. For instance, I just dealt Camby and Maggette for David West. West is a similar player, and I’m losing some blocks and FG%, but I dealt away two colossal risks for a (knock on wood.) reasonably safe player. If all players play to potential or near potential, I’ll lose the deal, but it’s worth it to deal away all that risk.
agree with JH. i’d absolutely be shopping him to see what i could get, but don’t just give him away to get him off your roster
Any news on Dunleavy and Arenas Matt?
Are any of them worth owning up to know because i can pick any up.
dunleavy is done and there’s no reason for arenas to come back, but he’s not yet been ruled out completely. if you’ve got a roster spot to waste, you could do so on arenas, but there’s a minuscule chance it will pay any returns
I’ve been thinking about adding Thabo Sefelosha in my 12 team league. He seems like a quality add with Durant out, but what do you think his production will be when Durant comes back? Even with Durant back, would he still warrant a roster spot? Some of my “weaker” players are Chalmers, Sessions, Larry Hughes and the recently added Jason Terry. Which of those should I drop to add Sefelosha? Or should I pass on him?
i don’t think i’d drop any of them for sefolosha. he had a great game against memphis, but that’s not real hard to do. in deeper leagues, i like him as a pickup and i do think he’s their starting SG even when durant is back, but there’s not huge statistical upside there
I don’t know that I’d drop any of those players to add Sefolosha. The players I’d be most likely to drop are Hughes and Chalmers, but they’re big steal players and that’s what Sefolosha does best as well. Seems like you’d be trading for a lesser version of the same player. On the outside chance that you desperately need to improve your FG%, you could drop Chalmers for him, but that’s not a huge difference and you’d be giving a lot for it.
Alright, thanks for the insight guys, I’ll stick with my current lineup for now and keep tabs on Sefolosha.
Matt.. Anyone.. I’m looking for some trade advice in my keeper league.
I’m in 1st place with a 6.5 game lead over 2nd place, but I’ve decided to fold. I only have 1 move left before I’m maxed out.. and my opponents will be able to use 7 per round in the playoffs. Despite that, I still thought I had a decent shot, but now Durant is out up to a month, and even though Durant wants to play this week it sounds like the Thunder are really going to baby his injury, which is fine with me.
And the top teams in my league had big injuries to Amare, Jefferson, Granger, and Nash.. But they completely reloaded thanks to the last place teams who are playing for next year. My opponent (the 6th place team) has 67 3ptm, 795 pts, and 278 reb going into today with 8 players playing today, it’s ridiculous.
The guy I’m playing got Vince Carter, Ray Allen, Dirk Nowitzki, and Richard Hamilton for Danny Granger and Jeff Green. Another team gave him Gerald Wallace and Jermaine O’Neal for Al Jefferson.
Then this other fool traded Marion, Turkoglu, Aldridge, and Brad Miller to the 2nd place team for Amare (after Amare was injured) and Raja Bell. Then a few days ago he got Joe Johnson, Billups, and Rudy Fernandez from the same guy for Devin Harris and Roger Mason.
So the other playoff teams are stacked, and I don’t like my chances anymore.
We get 5 keepers, so the 6th round is pretty much the 1st round of the actual draft.
Today I traded Tyrus and my 12th rd pick to the 3rd place team for Elton Brand and his 7th rd pick.
I was initially going to turn around and trade Brand because a couple of the bottom teams want him as a 5th keeper and are willing to give me an 8th rd pick.
I’m obviously keeping LBJ, CP3, and Durant. I’m also planning on keeping Westbrook. But I started to wonder if maybe I should keep Brand over Brook Lopez… Because I could probably get a 6th round pick for Lopez from someone.
So Matt… Will Brand be ready to go at the start of next season? What do you expect out of him if he’s healthy? And should I keep him over Lopez?
I know Brand is past his 20 pt, 10 reb, 2 blk days.. But there will be a lot of talent available early in the draft, so if I could have two 6th rd picks and two 7th rd picks I should be able to draft a pretty solid team around me keepers.
Thanks!!
brand should be ready – he’s got almost 8 months between the date of his surgery and camp opening. just like everyone else, i have no idea what to expect from him in philly next season. they may have a different PG, as andre miller is a FA. that’s a tough call. i’d probably be inclined to keep brand and lopez over westbrook, but i really can’t fault you for thinking otherwise. clearly you need to make a trade
Thanks Matt,
It’s a tough decision between Westbrook and Lopez.
Someone who has two 6th rd picks is willing to trade them to me for Lopez and Andersen. It’s a tough call between Lopez and Westbrook. Lopez is ranked 36th as a 20 year old rookie. He looks like he’ll be a reliable player and should easily average 17 pts, 9 reb, 2 blk next year with great percentages.
But Westbrook seems too special, he’s averaging almost 21 pts, 6 reb, 6 ast, and 1.2 stl over the last month. The lines he’s been putting up lately have been amazing if you overlook the poor shooting. I have no clue how high his ceiling is. His FG% is weak, but most rookies guard struggle shooting.
I’m just going to keep my fingers crossed that Brand can stay healthy for a full season, or atleast long enough for me to sell high on him next year. I was talking to another manager in the league and he said it’d really help brand if the 76ers got a good shooter in the offseason to spread the floor for him. He’s right, Philly is last in the NBA in 3pt shooting with 4.2/game at 31.9%