Welcome to Fantasy Basketball Radio.
Before I was ever obsessed with fantasy basketball, my ear lobes dripped with the wet loving passion of obsession for music. As a result, it's hard for me to escape from obvious puns and absurd lyrical parallels that run alongside events in fantasy basketball.
Big Head Todd and the Monsters' "Bittersweet" has made it into a few of my updates, because it's so easy to find bittersweet moments in fantasy sports. Carlos Boozer's ankle injury was a bittersweet news story this weekend, because his absence from the lineup meant that Taj Gibson was going to finally get the kind of minutes he should have been getting as soon as Joakim Noah was injured in December. Instead, the Bulls have chosen to run out a 38-year-old Kurt Thomas at center for the past month.
Don Henley inspired today's post. He has inspired me to get to "The Heart of the Matter." So, tonight, I'm taking a look at a couple players' situations and explaining why they're worth your attention in fantasy.
Marcus Camby, Joel Przybilla, Rudy Fernandez, and Patrick Mills
Touching on some breaking news, The Oregonian announced that Marcus Camby will undergo surgery on a partially torn meniscus in his left knee. A timetable won't be set for Camby's recovery until after surgery, and that will depend on the kind of surgery needed to repair his knee. He could miss as little as six weeks or as much as nine months. This medical knowledge I am sharing came from the Internets, so take it with a grain of salt until we get the official word.
Joel Przybilla seems like the obvious benefactor of minutes while Camby is out, but I'm picking up Rudy Fernandez, whom is dealing with his own bruised knee injury, based on the belief that the team will run a smaller lineup of LaMarcus Aldridge at center, Nicolas Batum at power forward, and Rudy Fernandez at small forward. Patrick Mills could also see an uptick in minutes, especially if Fernandez is unable to play Wednesday.
Getting to the heart of the matter on Przybilla, I'm not big on him for a few reasons. Przybilla is still getting his conditioning back after being out for 11 months following knee surgery, and since returning from knee surgery, Godzilla has missed time due to illness and a sprained ankle. In the 2008-09 season, Przybilla played in all 82 games and averaged 6.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 26 minutes through 43 games as a starter. Those averages, while worthy of ownership in several league formats, are essentially Przybilla's ceiling. Expecting anymore from Przybilla would be a self-defeating delusion.
Therefore, when looking into... the heart of the matter.... regarding Camby's injury. I believe Fernandez or Patty Mills are the best players to invest in based on their higher ceilings. Even if Przybilla establishes himself as the Blazers' starting center for the rest of the season, his value would not be such that you'd have to overpay to acquire him at a later date. Swing for the fences here.
|STAR|After thought: I'm not even considering Dante Cunningham as a viable add in most leagues right now, because he's averaged an unimpressive 8.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 0.2 blocks in 25 minutes through five games as a starter in his career. Until he shows he can put up bigger and more versatile stat lines, I ain't interested in the dude.
There have been several trade rumors going around this season about Wizards players. That's par for the course for any struggling team. Completely implausible rumors get thrown out all the time when bottom-feeder teams change their rotations.
Since the Wizards acquired Rashard Lewis in exchange for Gilbert Arenas in December, Nick Young has laid claim to the starting shooting guard job that Hinrich began the year holding. Young's strong play over the last month has opened up the rumor mill to ideas that the team could be looking to trade Hinrich. While it isn't hard to believe that Hinrich would be made available for the right price, it's also worth noticing that the team doesn't have a reliable backup point guard behind him. When Hinrich went down with an injury at the end of December, Josh Howard was forced to backup John Wall at point guard.
The lack of a viable option to backup John Wall wouldn't likely stop a trade from happening, but it's worth noting. What's most important concerning a trade of Hinrich is the possibility that he could end up holding a starting job. There aren't a lot of situations that he would automatcally step into the starting gig at, but a few places that might choose to give him the starting gig are Portland, New Jersey, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Sacramento. Outside of those teams, there really aren't any squads that Hinrich would represent a defensive or offensive improvement at the position.
If Hinrich gets moved to a team that would give him a starting gig, he'd become a must-add in almost all formats. As it stands right now, in Hinrich's current bench role, he's averaged 12 points, 3.6 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.3 three-pointers in 26 minutes through seven January games. Those numbers are already worthy of ownership in deep leagues, and a move to a starting role would make him more valuable on most teams.
Other players I've been spending lots of time thinking about lately: Ty Lawson, Patty Mills (Yes, I'm obsessed.), Christian Eyenga, J.J. Hickson, Rip Hamilton, Marreese Speights, Rodrigue Beaubois, Ryan Anderson, Tony Allen, Paul George, Anthony Randolph, the Robin Lopez/Marcin Gortat suckhole, Derrick Favors, Sasha Vujacic, Kawme Brown (gag), and Eugene Jeter
Thanks for listening to FBM Radio and our text-cast while I got to the heart of the matter on the Camby injury and Hinrich's possibilities as a trade deadline mover.
Here are a few parting thoughts on things I read in the past few hours.
Brandon Jennings is targeting Jan. 31 for his return to the Bucks' lineup. He's been shooting and doing some ball-handling drills, but he still hasn't been cleared to do any running or cutting on the court. Jan. 31 sounds like an optimistic date for his return. That's just 12 days away.
Dirk Nowitzki said his knee continues to improve, and he doesn't anticipate it being an issue going forward. He also commented that the team won't put any increased weight or expectations on Rodrigue Beaubois when the guard is ready to return. Beaubois is still weeks away from returning, and Nowitzki's words made it sound like Beaubois won't be given a ton of minutes right away. With that said, I remain optimisitic that Beaubois will be on tons of end-of-season rosters and help teams win championships this season.
Kendrick Perkins is targeting Feb. 4 for his return, but he had a "phenomenal" first practice back with the first unti Sunday. Keep him as the forefront of your mind. He won't win you any leagues, but he can be one heck of an end-of-the-bench contributor thanks to his consistent 8-8-1.5+ lines. Jermaine O'Neal's persistent knee injury may force him to have surgery, which would guarantee Perkins getting significant minutes for the rest of the season. Don't be surprised if we see Perkins make a surprise return to the Celtics' starting lineup before Jan. is over.
Kyle McKeown is a writer for Rotowire.com and the editor of FantasyBasketballMag.com.
You can follow him on Twitter at @FBM|UNDER|Kyle