Thursday, January 1, 2009

Fantasy Market - New Years Day Edition


With New Years festivities just out the way, it's time to get back to some fantasy basketball business. If your team is at the bottom of the ranks and not currently on it's way up, look to make some significant changes before it's too late to catch back up with the rest of the pack.

Sell High (or just sell in general)

Elton Brand -
It's no secret that Brand has been a complete letdown this season. If you're team is anywhere other than the top, it's time to move Brand anyway you can. News of his recent dislocated shoulder and its recovery sounds
uncertain at best. Since he wishes to continue playing this season, he's chosen to forgo surgery, thus increasing the chances of re-injuring the shoulder. Remember Dwayne Wade a couple of seasons ago when he tried to play with a dislocated shoulder? Yea...it wasn't pretty.

Carlos Boozer - Another big-name big-man who's been sidelined by injury. Again, if you're in a position to have a deadweight on your team, then keep him in hopes of gaining a boost come fantasy playoffs. If you're duking it out with the rest of the pack, time to trade him away. From 2004-2006, Boozer was out was injured for a significant amount of time, while somehow maintaining the idea he would return midseason. That didn't happen and fantasy owners got duped. Boozer has also already announced that he will test the waters of free agency this summer, so it doesn't seem like he's in any hurry to return to Utah's line-up.

Yao Ming - Looks like the bigs are gettin no love tonight. The Rockets have played 30ish games thusfar. The most games Yao's ever played in one season since the 2004-2005 season is 57. Based on the past, this means you have about 15-20 more games of healthy Yao before his foot breaks or something like that. Start floating some offers around and see if you can get rid of him around the end of January/early February.

Buy Low

Kevin Martin -
I mentioned him in my last edition of Fantasy Market, and it may already be too late to buy low, but he's still worth a shot. Martin returned to Sacremento's line-up on Dec 30 and dropped 20 pts, 5 rebounds, and two 3pters while shooting 8-8 from the free throw line. Kmart2 is going to light it in 2009.

Rip Hamilton - Currently out with a torn groin (sounds bad right?), but close to returning. The Pistons are starting to figure out how AI is going to fit in with everything, so expect Hamilton's number to go up a bit from his current averages.

Samuel Dalembert - Other than his wack last game, Dalembert's numbers have bounced back up a bit with Brand out of the picture. He block shots and rebounds and a good rate. Other than that, point production is still very low and inconsistent. However, he's a great backup center that can get you those perepherial stats.


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