Waiver Wire Watch (12/18/08)

Waiver-wire watch will be a series of posts keeping you updated with a collection of players close to being fantasy relevant, not must-pick-ups. Acquisition of the listed players will depend on your own team needs. However, make sure to keep an eye out for these guys.

Mike Conley has been somewhat of a disappointment this season. While many expected the second year player to improve, Conley has experienced a drop across most stat categories. Despite his underwhelming performances thus far, his only real competition for the point position is Kyle Lowry, who hasn't done much to impress anyone either. Conley is currently averaging 8pts, 4assists, and 3 rebounds in 25 mins. You'd think with Mayo and Gay at 2 and 3, Conley would be able to dish out a few more assists. He has the potential to bust out given some more minutes, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Kyle Korver has been relatively quiet this year. However, Jerry Sloan has recently expressed his unsatisfaction with his current starting lineup, and has proposed to shake things up a bit. Ronnie Brewer and CJ Miles are on their way out of the starting five, and Korver is looking to take one of those spots. If he starts, look for 25-30 minutes a game. "Ashton" Korver won't provide much else besides 3 pters, but he shoots good percentages and keeps his turnovers low, so he won't harm your team either. Look for him to be Jason Kapono of the West. Speaking of Kapono...

Jason Kapono has seen enough minutes to be fantasy relevant, but has not produced with the minutes granted. Though he has shown flashes of brilliance, he is wildly inconsistent. In his last five games, he's scored 5, 17, 7, 16, and 25 points while shooting 28%, 46%, 21%, 40%, and 68% respectively. He's getting his shots, but isn't making them on a consistent enough basis to warrant a roster spot. However, if you're up for a risk, Kapono could pay off huge.

Nick Young started off the season on fire. In fact, I even had him on my own team for a good 3 weeks. However, since mid-November, the 2nd year player that was supposed to step up in place of injured Gilbert Arenas fell off the map. Like Eddie Jordan, Ed Tapscott is keeping a short leash on all his bench players. Recently, the Washington Post reported:

"I'm going to take a little blame for Nick's troubles," Tapscott said. "I've had him thinking a little too much... Some guys are better just playing in the flow, so I gave him the release today. I said, 'Look, I'm going to play you the full segment and leave you alone and let you play.' "

In other words, Young is in line for more minutes once again. And it's not like the Wizards are going anywhere at the moment. Optimistically, Young will be a good source of points with an occasional three. Other than that, don't expect much else in peripherial stats.

Marreese Speights is the guy I'm actually most excited about on this list. Elton Brand just went down yesterday with a dislocated shoulder, and is expected to be out at least a month. In his abscence, look for Speights to get more minutes and produce. This Florida product has an NBA ready body, and can bang with the bigs of the East. The 76ers are in desperate need of some reliable post production, and while Thaddeus Young will get some of Brand's minutes, he's not a traditional PF. In his last game, Speights put up 12pts, 7 rebs, and a steal while going 6-7 from the free throw line in 18 minutes. With Brand out of the picture, look for him to get at least 25 minutes a game.

Lebron "The Six" (Lebron VI's)

Here's a link to a wordsearch-ish type of thing from Nike.com promoting Lebron James's newest shoe, The Six.

The Drive Inside

Basically, you need to find 16 words/things that motivate and inspire Lebron to do what he does. If you're up for the challenge, give it a shot. But if looking at the image gives you a headache, I've gone through the trouble of finding all 16 words and posted them below.

Once you complete the wordsearch, you're entered in a drawing to win a pair of The Six. Yes, I know you're probably not going to win, but it's worth a shot right?

Lebron The Six Answers

• witness
• family
• basketball
• akron
• vision
• four horsemen
• winning
• chosen one
• respect
• Lebron jr
• bryce maximus
• passion
• rising son
• ohio
• gloria
• fearless

(make sure you keep the two-word answers separate as two words)

Good luck with that.

Name the NBA Teams

You think you know NBA Basketball?

Try this nifty quiz and see how many NBA teams you can list off the top of your head.

I got 23/30

Brandon Roy - Your next elite combo guard

Brandon Roy is a beast. His last 3 games, he has scored 101 pts, including a career high of 38 pts last night against the Clippers. Additionally, Roy is good for at least a steal or block every game, and is averaging 5 reb, 5 ast, and a 3pt made per game.
Throw in a FG% hovering around .500 and a FT in the upper .800s, and you have yourself an elite fantasy option right there.

The scary part, Roy is still improving... As his young team around him gains more experience, and Roy has more confidence when to defer to better shooters, or post presences, Oden or Aldridge, and when to create his own offense, Roy can pick his spots and best-case scenario, Roy can evolve into a threat for 35 pts, 10 reb, or 10 ast any given night.

If you are in a fantasy league, and own Roy, you would be very tempted to sell high on him right now, but DON'T. This is not a fluke, it is in fact merely a harbinger of things to come.


Plus, the dude's got a flair for the dramatic, as evidenced by this buzzer beater from earlier in the season.

ROY BEATS ROCKETS AT BUZZER

JRich to Phoenix in 5 Player Deal

The NBA's latest 5 player trade just sent Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley, and a future 2nd round pick to Phoenix for Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, and Sean Singletary.

Not that the Bobcats were going anywhere this season anyways, but I'm not sure what Michael Jordan is thinking up there in Charlotte's executive offices. Richardson was their top scorer, and giving him away leaves them with who? Gerald Wallace? Emeka Okafor?

Maybe Jrich was meshing with Larry Brown's system. Who knows? It was so sudden.

Bell and Diaw are valuable additions to the team. Optimistically, Larry Brown can put together a vague poor man's version of the Pistons circa 2004: no star player, great team chemistry. Realistically, Bobcats are about to get a nice lottery pick this year.

Phoenix's offense has been in a recent funk. Jrich may potentially give it a spark and allow them to run a bit more like they used to.

Lebron Posterizes Toronto

For your viewing pleasure:
Here are some highlights of Lebron's complete destruction of the Raptors from last night. The 4th dunk is the straightup ridiculous.



I couldn't even look this good on a 7ft rim...

Fantasy Market (12/9/2008)

Image from www.all-nba-all-basketball.com

Sorry to have gone such an extended period of time without updating the blog. Final exams are coming fast, which equates to less time for blogging. However, a lot more time should clear up after the 17th. Without further ado...

Buy Low

Kevin Martin: Under normal circumstances, Kmart2 is a highly efficient scorer. He's capable of putting up 22+ points a night while shooting a respectable 45% from the field. This year was supposed to be his year; Ron Artest was shipped out of Sacramento to Houston, making Martin the clear cut first option on offense. However, an ankle sprain has severely dampened the start to this young phenom's season. After missing 12 games last month, Martin attempted to come back too quickly and re-aggravated his injury. There's no doubt that those fantasy owners out there who used an early draft pick on him are frustrated, making Kmart a perfect buy low candidate. Ankle sprains have plagued the league this year, and each sprain has sidelined their respective player for an extended period of time. However, Kmart at 100% is a great asset in pts, 3pters, and FT%. Despite the current abscence of a timetable for return, Kmart is worth targeting in your league.

Mike Miller: This season, the Timberwolves have resorted to spreading more shots around to the younguns on the team like Foye and McCants. As a result, Miller has experienced a significant droppoff across a number of statistical categories. However, the Timbercubs are far from proving that they can even be competitive with the rest of the west with the system they're currently running. Just yesterday, Kevin McHale announced that he would replace Randy Wittman as headcoach of the Twolves. With McHale at the helm, expect the Twolves to look for more production from Miller. I predict that he'll be able to at least raise his statline back to last year's level, if not higher. He has also recently missed two games due to a minor ankle sprain, so you could potentially use that to your advantage in targeting for him.

Deron Williams: I don't know how low you could actually acquire him for, but Deron hasn't had the hottest start to the season. After missing numerous games at the beginning of the season, and making one premature attempt at a return, Deron's ankle now seems to be completely healthy. Though his assist numbers have picked up right where he left off last year, his shooting has been subpar at best. He's averaging just under 12ppg (18ppg last year), and is shooting .41FG% (down from 50% last year) at the moment. Expect these numbers to rise significantly in the coming months. Boozer has been out with an injury the past couple of weeks, dampening Williams's production. Once (or if) Utah can get running on all cylinders, Deron will continue his qualitative and quantitative growth as a player. Williams will challenge CP3 for the league's best point guard title. Expect averages of 20pts, 11 assists, and 1.5 threes after the new year.

Sell High

Paul Millsap: The Jason Maxiell of the West has been an absolute monster in Carlos Boozer's abscence. Starting in Boozer's place, he's been averaging 17pts, 11rebs, 1.4stls, and 1.1 blocks while shooting ridiculously well from the floor and respectably from the line. The only problem is that Boozer is close to returning, and Millsap will return to his role coming off the bench. Trade him away while you still can for a low-end consistent starter like Rip Hamilton.

Allen Iverson: The Answer has been anything but since being traded to the Pistons. Curry and the Pistons have already discovered what Karl and the Nuggets have known for the last 2 years; AI can't run the point. Getting shifted to SG in the starting line-up might be the spark Detroit needs, but I doubt it. Rodney Stuckey isn't really a pure point guard either. The Pistons are a mess right now, and AI absolutely must stop dominating the ball for them to succeed. His point production is down, FG% isn't great, and TO's at a high rate. Use is name appeal and get rid of him if you can.

OJ Mayo: I have been hating on this guy all year, and thus far he's proven me wrong. Don't sell him immediately; he's been lighting it up from everywhere for the Grizz and doesn't look like he's slowing down. But come the All Star break, I expect him to cool off a little like so many rookies have in the past. The fatigue of the long NBA season will catch up, causing a slight statistical drop across the board. Shop him around and see what kind of value you can get in return; there's no rush to get rid of him yet.