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Each week some of fantasy basketballs greatest strategic thinkers assemble to debate and explore interesting issues pertaining to fantasy basketball. A big thanks to Ryan Lester from Lesters Legends for bringing this together.
Sitting at the Fantasy Hoops Roundtable:
- Alex Woods, BleacherCreatureRotoTalk
- Ryan Lester, Lester’s Legends
- Your Dear Friends at Empty the Bench
- Nels and Patrick, Give Me the Rock
- Jon, Bleacher Report
- Tommy Beer, HoopsWorld
- Erik Ong, Points in the Paint
This week's topic: It's a new year and time for new beginnings. Among the players who have currently fallen short of expectations, name two to three players you believe can turn around their fantasy performance (for the better) this 2010.
That's just how the proverbial ball bounces, sometimes they're up, sometimes they're down. The good news is that when they're down, most of them bounce back up. Here are some guys we experts feel are legitimate "buy low" targets. If you can nab them in a trade this holiday season, then you may just be the one who's merry this coming 2010.
So here are my picks and also what the rest of the participants have to say as well.
Al Jefferson - Big Al had a slow start. Frankly, a rather disappointing one. Things are slowly falling into place for the Timberwolves now. Not "We're gunning to win the Western Playoffs" place, but "we're getting used to playing with each other" place. Kevin Love and Al are finally (finally!) able to play alongside each other and synergy is starting to brew. We should expect Jefferson's defensive numbers pick up soon and so should his rebounding. The scoring has already come back, the rest of his line should follow soon enough.
Ron Artest - The problem Artest owners have been having with Ron-ron is his inconsistency. As the season progresses, we're going to see him stabilize more and more. His shooting percentages will still leave a lot to be desired, but he will be a solid source of AST, 3PTM, STL, REB. That's a huge chunk of the counting categories right there. People had their arms up in the air because his line is so drastically different from what he was bringing to the table last season with the Houston Rockets. Get over it people, it was a different time and team. He's not going to bounce THAT high. What we do have, is the same Ron-ron (it's up to you if that's a good thing), and he IS still adjusting to playing the "Pippen" role in the Lakers' triangle. He's the only one who has to catch up. The rest of the team knows it. He will get it and settle in. You should be able to trade for him on the cheap nowadays.
Nate Robinson - If your fellow league member hasn't thrown "Krypto-Nate" to the FA curb yet, I would suggest taking a stab at acquiring. Nate's got the skills and we know he's not hurt. This is more of a political issue within his team, well more like a non-congruence of views between him and his coach. He's asked to be traded, he will likely get that request to fall through. On any other team, Nate will surely be an instant contributor.
Ryan Lester, Lester’s Legends
Al Jefferson is off to a slow start compared to his production the past two seasons with Minnesota. He is coming back from a serious knee injury and learning to play with a new coach in a new system. As he knee gets stronger and he becomes more familiar with the sytem, I belive he can return to the 20 & 10 levels fantasy owners have become accustomed to. Additionally, Kevin Love's return has taken some of the burden of Big Al, as well as provide him with a good interior passer. If you can get your hands on Big Al, I would do so before his asking price becomes too high.
Derrick Rose started the season slow, but has been picking up steam. His scoring average and assists have increased from October to November and now Novemer to December. While his numbers are currently down across the board, I expect those to increase as the season wears on. He's also a player I would target to acquire before he takes off.
Boris Diaw has been trending in the opposite direction. Initially it was an ankle injury that was hampering his production, but the arrival of Stephen Jackson has been more of a concern. He's a talented player though, and I feel he will eventually either adjust or get dealt somewhere. The good thing about Diaw is you don't have to give up much to get him.
Tommy Beer, HoopsWorld
Caron Butler - Washington Wizards: Caron has been one of the more disappointing fantasy players in the NBA this season, as his scoring, rebounding, assist, and FG% are all well below his production levels over the last few seasons. But the good news is that Butler can't play much worse. In addition, there are rumors floating around D.C. that the Wizards may be looking to put Butler on the trade market. A trade away from high-volume shooters Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison could only
help Butler's fantasy value. I'd definitely be willing to ‘buy-low' on him right now
Devin Harris - New Jersey Nets: Much like Butler, Harris is mired in a nasty early season slump. A career 45% shooter, Harris is currently converting on only 37% of his FG attempts this season - and is shooting only 20% from behind-the-arc. The Nets have very few offensive options, so Devin will continue to get plenty of attempts; eventually they will start to fall. Get him at a discount while you can.
Al Jefferson - Timberwolves: Over the first month of the season, Big Al wasn't quite living up to his preseason billing as late-first or early-second round. However, it should not have come as a huge shock, considering Jefferson was coming back from major knee surgery. Now it appears Al has shaken off much of the rust and is back to where we thought he'd be. Over his last five games, he is averaging 20.6 points and over 10 rebounds, while shooting 50% from the floor. Expect the solid production to only improve as we head into 2010.Alex Woods, BleacherCreatureRotoTalk
Alex Woods, BleacherCreatureRotoTalk
This is an excellent question. Fantasy basketball managers will want to read closely because the answers to this question are really the best buy-low candidates the league has to offer at this time. We wanted to focus our answers on players that are currently active and have not missed substantial time due to injury. For example, Blake Grifffin has yet to play so we kept him off our list. The following three players in the opinion of BleacherCreatureRotoTalk.com have the most potential to take it up a notch in the second half of the season.
Amar'e Stoudemire
Amare had a tough start to the year as he was recovering from eye surgery. With three double-doubles in his last five games Amare is clearly back on track. I was watching the game the other night and the normal Suns play-by-play guy was filling in on TNT. He mentioned how he can see Amare getting his legs back more and more after every game. Playing with Nash in the Suns offense it is hard to see a player as talented as Amare not having a huge second half.
Devin Harris
Devin Harris missed some time this year due to injury and is still a bit banged up. As a result his game is still looking pretty shabby. However, Harris is too good a player to play this bad for this long. The Nets have recovered from most of their injuries and now have some talent on the floor at all times. Enough talent that there is no reason Harris's assist totals should not be on the rise. He will eventually put it all together; find his shot and his open teammates for easy buckets. When he does, look out because as he proved last year Devin Harris is one of the best point guards in the NBA.
Chris Duhon
Duhon got off to a terrible, terrible start this year. Playing in D'Antoni's offense makes it hard to play as poor as he did. Recently has already began to turn it around. Duhon went through the slump of all slumps to start the year, but is now shooting the ball well. His assists total is back up as he is averaging nearly 7 assists over the last week. With Nate looking more and more like he is headed out of NY there is no direct threat to Duhon's playing time. We expect a productive second half.
Players whose ability to turn it around is still in question:
John Salmons, Elton Brand, Caron Butler
Nels and Patrick, Give Me the Rock
Derrick Rose - First the ankle, then the Negro. Rose seems to have recovered for the most part from his injury, so now the Bulls just need to get a coach who realizes that he's their best player and should have the ball in his hands as much as possible (especially during crunch time). The Bulls have supposedly set a mid-January deadline for VDN to turn things around, so maybe he'll figure it out by then. If so, more power to him - and by extension, to Rose. If not, hopefully they can find someone who doesn't know where their head is because it's so far up their posterior they just feel constipated all the time.
Tony Parker – Nagging injuries have slowed Parker down to begin the year and as a result he’s averaging only 16.4 points and 5.7 assists in 31 minutes a game. That is a good 5.5 points less than the 22 he averaged last season in 3 more minutes a game. The emergence of George Hill as a capable backup may mean that Parker’s 2008-09 was a career year in terms of minutes and production. However, his peripheral shooting percentages have been in line with his career average and now that Parker is healthy he should be primed for a solid second half of the season. Expect him to be over 18 points and 6 assists during 2010.
That's it folks. Happy Holidays!
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