Welcome to the final Wednesday-night edition of the preseason blog. Tonight we'll be looking at exceptional lines, blurry rotations, and some stat trends that have stood out this preseason. Take a seat, break out your draft board, and let's do some learnin'.
Marco Belinelli: Is the Starting Shooting Guard. That's all you really need to know, but allow me to elaborate on what this means for your draft. Belinelli has been the Hornets' starting shooting guard all preseason. While several teams have thrown out random lineups for good and odd reasons alike, Belinelli has been cemented into the starting two-guard spot in every single preseason game the Hornets have played. Through seven preseason games, Belinelli has averaged 14.7 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.1 steals, and 2.3 three-pointers in 26.7 minutes per game. What's this mean for the over-drafted Marcus Thornton? It means Thornton has been tied to the end of the Hornets' bench. What does this mean for your draft? It means you should let someone else take Thornton around his ADP (Average Draft Position) of 74, and you should draft Belinelli with one of your final two picks. For some reason, he's still been there in most drafts. He shouldn't be.
Tyrus Thomas: An Argument for Growth. Thomas has averaged 14.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.2 blocks in 24 minutes per game this preseason. His 24 mpg are good for fourth highest on the team this preseason. The Bobcats are still using Thomas off the bench this season, but, if their preseason stats have any significance, we should see Thomas enjoy a larger role this year. In only 21 mpg while playing his final 25 games of last season with the Bobcats, Thomas averaged 10.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 0.9 steals, and 1.5 blocks. He can contribute to fantasy teams in limited minutes, and his role should be expanded this season in the Bobcats thin frontcourt. Look for Thomas' stats to rise modestly in parallel with his minutes.
Boris Diaw: A Ball of String for the Bobcats. Taking a play out of Mike D'Antoni's old Phoenix playbook, coach Larry Brown used Diaw as the Bobcats backup point guard Wednesday, and Diaw dished seven assists. D.J. Augustin remains the teams' starting point guard, but with Shaun Livingston and Sherron Collins battling injuries, Diaw was used as the backup point. Such usage would put Diaw in position to be an even more solid contributor in the assist category. Diaw has already shown the ability to rack up assists out of the forward position (4.9 apg in 2008-09, 4.0 apg in 2009-10). Letting him be the primary facilitator for stretches would put Diaw in position to contribute even greater assist numbers.
The Bobcats' Rotation: In their second-to-last preseason game, the Bobcats' starting lineup consisted of Boris Diaw playing 39 minutes, Gerald Wallace playing 39 minutes, Steven Jackson playing 36 minutes, D.J. Augustin playing 36 minutes, and Nazr Mohammed playing 16 minutes. Tyrus Thomas and Gerald Henderson received the bulk of the bench minutes, with Thomas playing 26 minutes and Henderson playing 18 minutes.
Derrick Rose: Stop Drolling, Dude Ain't Dat Good. Rose can get to the rack at will, but, until he starts hitting threes and collecting over a steal per game, he won't live up to the ADP of 34th that people are drafting him at. He has taken at least one three-point attempt in each of the Bulls' preseason games, and, while that does suggest he'll be shooting threes more frequently, it doesn't mean he's shooting enough to be a worthwhile contributor in the category. Over the past two seasons, he's finished ranked 90th (2008-09) and 75th (2009-10) in Yahoo!'s system. Even ESPN's player rater had him ranked as only the 53rd player at the end of the 2009-10 season. Not to make this personal or anything, but: Guess how many times I've drafted Derrick Rose in fantasy? If you guessed zero, you, sir or madam, are a genius. That isn't to say I would never draft him. Rose is great when it comes to scoring, rebounding, and dishing assists, but he gets drafted at least two rounds too early in every draft. Darren Collison is being drafted an average of 15 spots lower than Rose this season (49 ADP), and that just doesn't make any sense. I'm taking Collison's superior assists, threes, steals, and free-throw percentage long before I consider Rose this year. I ain't trying to hate, this is just the truth.
Brian Scalabrine: Signs That It's Still Preseason. Scalabrine played 31 minutes Wednesday, and his stats don't matter. I just felt I should give the oversized leprechaun some play, because I sure as all-heck won't be mentioning him when the minutes start to matter next Tuesday. Let's pretend he went for a triple-double, like me and my friends used to do with Tremaine Fawlkes.
Jose Calderon and Jarrett Jack: The Dickensian Aspect. They were the best of point guards, they were the worst of point guards. This compliment of Doublemint endorsed guards will limit each others' fantasy value all season, and their minutes could both go south this season with the Raptors commitment to playing DeMar DeRozan, Leandro Barbosa, and Sonny Weems big minutes at shooting guard. I'm not drafting Calderon or Jack in any standard leagues. Let someone else deal with the headache.
Jason Kapono. Where Did You Come From, Where Did You Go. Cotton-eyed Kapono started the Sixers' final two preseason games at small forward, and he looks like the favorite to start there Opening Night. Coach Doug Collins hasn't said as much, but the Sixers' are my beat here at Rotowire.com, so I'll be bold and say: The Sixers will start Spencer Hawes, Elton Brand, Jason Kapono, Andre Iguodala, and Jrue Holiday Opening Night. Louis Williams, Andres Nocioni, Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young, and Marreese Speights should man the second head of the Hydra.
Yao Ming: Jump Jump. Yao is afraid to jump for fear that he will land on someone's foot down low and put too much stress on his surgically repaired foot. At 7-5, I say, "Why jump?" Stand, my friend. Stand, and reach.
Derrick Favors: Trade Me! Trade Me! In an effort to get himself traded to the Denver Nuggets, Favors put up 16 points (5-of-7 FG, 6-of-6 FT), four rebounds, and two blocks in 24 minutes Wednesday.
LeBron James: Remember to Capitalize the Letter "B" in His First Name. I don't really have anything to say about James, but I do have something to say about this Dateline-styled report that ESPN is running on him tonight. Did anyone else see this thing? It's ridiculously hilarious. All of the footage looks washed out with a filter that either puts a glare or smoke on it, the statistics look like they came straight out of the 1980s, and the garish gold fonts that labeled him a carpetbagger were just absurd. I suppose the best word to describe my feelings on the production level of the report would be: Whack. That report was whack, my friends. In fact, I don't even know what they were reporting about. As soon as I saw carpetbagger fade onto the smoke-filtered image, my preoccupation drifted to the self-surprise at which I was then gawking at the TV screen.
That wraps up my final Wednesday-night preseason blog. I thank you for your patience with my rambling, and I leave you with some questions that I have not been able to answer myself this preseason:
Who is going to start at shooting guard for the Timberwolves?
When are the Pistons going to cut ties with Rip and Tay?
How long will it take DeMar DeRozan to develop a three-point shot and take the fantasy world by storm?
How far will the sissy-fication of sports be taken? Football players can no longer hit each other, and basketball players can no longer touch, scream, taunt, or complain. I grew up a Piston Bad Boy. Basketball is supposed to be rough and mean.
Why would the NBA restrict players from wearing shoes that can make them jump higher