Basketball Free For All

After week twelve, we’ve officially reached the half-way point of the regular season, which means it is mid-season adjustment time. Now is a perfect time to evaluate your team’s cumulative performance and assess your strengths and weaknesses. For head-to-head leagues, check your punting strategy and consider whether it makes sense to adjust your strategy going forward. For roto leagues, now might be time to consider big trades to shore up any weaknesses. Any team can be improved with the right moves; just don’t make the classic mistake of making a move for the sake of, well, making a move.

Season Tracker

The 2009-10 season is 48 percent complete.

Week 13 Schedules

Four Games: CHA, CHI, DAL, DET, GSW, IND, LAC, LAL, MIA, MIL, MIN, NJN, NOR, OKC, ORL, PHI, PHO, POR, SAC, TOR, WAS

Three Games: ATL, BOS, CLE, DEN, HOU, MEM, NYK, SAS,

Two Games: UTA

Add List (players owned in 40% or less in standard Yahoo! leagues)

Luke Ridnour (PG – 38%) Since Michael Redd went down with his ACL/MCL injury version 2.0, Ridnour has averaged 13.8 points on .409/.933 percent shooting, 1.3 threes, 1.8 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.5 steals, 0.0 blocks and 1.8 turnovers in 28.5 minutes per contest. Taking a step back, Ridnour is 82nd in cumulative value over the entire season so he should have higher ownership. Grab Luke if you are looking for assists and threes on good percentages with low turnovers, which makes him a nice end of the bench point guard.

Matt Barnes (SG/SF – 29%) Barnes has been one of the few bright spots lately for the struggling Magic. He’s been a warrior playing through injuries while stuffing the stat sheet and providing solid fantasy production off the wire. Barnes has even become a leader for the Magic as he recently called out his teammates’ lack of heart and hustle. Over the past week, Matt’s hustle led to averages of 15.3 points on .581/.600 percent shooting, 2.3 threes, 7.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.3 blocks and 1.0 turnovers (good for top 25 in per game value). Expect Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy to reward Barnes’ effort on and off the court with 30+ minutes a night.

DeJuan Blair (SF/PF/C – 28%) Grizzly Blair is certainly earning his catalog of nicknames in his rookie campaign. With Coach Gregg Popovich giving Tim Duncan his first DNP-CD of the season, Blair responded in beastly fashion dropping 28 and 21 on the Thunder’s face. Expect more Duncan DNP-CDs for the balance of the season, especially on the second night of back-to-backs, and expect more burly lines from DeJuan in those games. He is a walking double-double and will have occasional eye-popping performances on the glass.

Rasual Butler (SG/SF – 26%) Just when Butler makes you contemplate cutting him after three mediocre performances on the road, he drops 33 points (tied his career high) at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who happen to have the League’s fifth best defense this season. Not too shabby. He has been seeing a steady 30 minutes a night this season and has had a few strong stretches of play over the course of the first half of the season. Butler is primarily a three point specialist but, as the Cleveland game proves, has potential for big scoring nights.

Watch List

Delonte West (PG/SG – 21%) Against all odds, West looks like he might be starting to pull it together this season despite his ongoing legal troubles. It’s not quite time to move on West in standard formats but he is worth keeping an eye on in case he starts consistently putting up his ultra-efficient lines of yesteryear. Monitor Delonte’s minutes and performance in Cleveland’s three games this week and pull the trigger (pun intended) if he continues to produce.

Robin Lopez (PF/C – 7%) After a couple of DNP-CDs, RoLo has put together back-to-back strong performances, amassing an impressive nine blocks. With the Suns in a serious mid-season rut, look for coach Alvin Gentry to redistribute minutes and possibly even make lineup changes. With all signs pointing to the Suns looking for a defensive game changer, Lopez is the natural selection for the honors. As a guide, take a look at his per-36 minute averages this season of 12.7 points on .552/.571 percent shooting, 0.0 threes, 8.8 rebounds, 0.2 assists, 0.3 steals, 3.0 blocks and 2.1 turnovers. If Robin continues to get good burn he could prove to be a great source of big man-stats off the wire. The other player to keep an eye on is rookie Earl Clark as he has also given Coach good minutes recently.

Marcus Thornton (PG/SG – 3%) Looks like the rook finally found his shooting touch again. Thornton had a tough stretch where he failed to reach double digits in scoring since before Christmas. He has done it in each of the past five games while averaging 12.4 points on .479/.857 percent shooting, 2.0 threes, 4.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.0 blocks and 1.0 turnovers, which is good for top 70 in per game value over the past week. If the Hornets fall much farther out of the playoff picture in the competitive Western Conference, Coach Jeff Bower will likely give his young guys an increased role in order to promote their development with an eye towards the future.

Vladimir Radmanovic (SF/PF – 5%) / Devean George (SG/SF – 0%) Somebody has to lace ‘em up for Golden State. Neither player is that exciting nor has much upside, but at least one of them is in line for decent minutes simply by the process of elimination. The one basic truth of fantasy basketball is that minutes are a prerequisite for fantasy value. Vlad-Rad is the more promising of the two, but has been sidelined for the past two games with injuries of his own. Golden States’ unparalleled injury woes this season have forced coach Don Nelson to giving George a season high 19 minutes on Friday night. Yuck.

Deep League Special

DeAndre Jordan (PF/C – 3%) / Craig Smith (PF/C – 3%) The Clippers front line is starting to show some cracks, despite their depth at the four and five. Blake Griffin is out for the season with his kneecap injury. Chris Kaman is a big man with back issues and is currently listed as doubtful for Monday’s game against the Nets. As back issues tend to linger, Kaman’s day-to-day status could extend beyond the current week. Smith has stepped up big time in the past couple of games (16.5 points per game) but is dealing with injury issues of his own. Keep an eye on these two players as one or both of them should have decent value as long as Kaman is sidelined.

Kris Humphries (SF/PF – 2%) The recent trade that sent Humphries to the New Jersey Nets opened the door for an increased role for him. So far, the early returns are looking good and Kris could end up being a strong play going forward. In his two games as a New Jersey Net, Humphries has averaged 12.0 points in .400/.750 percent shooting, 0.0 threes, 8.0 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.0 blocks and 1.5 turnovers  in 22 minutes per game. Unfortunately for the Nets, the Nets are 0-2 since gaining Humphries, but that is not really a surprise considering how historically bad this team is. If Kris gets good run in another couple of games and provides decent production, his ownership level will start trending upward.

Jordan Hill (SF/PF – 3%) At this point, Hill probably only deserves deep league watch list status. But in coach Mike D’Antoni’s world, things can change rapidly, as Jordan’s teammate Nate Robinson learned the hard way earlier this season. But after Hill’s strong showing against Detroit on Saturday (he was a +17), D’Antoni is leaning towards giving Hill a chance to earn significant minutes. Looking at his per-36 minute stats from this season, (warning: small sample size alert; based upon only 117 career minutes) Hill averages 16.3 points on .545/.625 percent shooting, 0.0 threes, 8.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 2.2 steals, 2.2 blocks and 2.5 turnovers. It is also important to note that he is averaging 6.8 fouls in that same time  span.

Amir Johnson (SF/PF – 3%) Amir is another promising young forward who is worth monitoring right now. In Sunday’s early game against the Mavericks, Johnson put up 10 points on .556/.000 percent shooting, 0 threes, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 turnover in about 22 minutes. After the game, Amir was praised by Coach Jay Triano for his defense against Dirk Nowitzki. Unless you play for the Golden State Warriors, playing solid defense is one sure-fire way to force your way into the rotation.

George Hill (PG – 6%) The sophomore point guard out of IUPUI is turning heads around the Association based upon his strong play this season, especially on the defensive end of the floor. Defense and Pop are like peas and carrots. As a result, Hill has gotten strong run the past few weeks and has logged time at both guard positions. Over the past five games, Hill is averaging 10.8 points on .575/.667 percent shooting, 0.8 threes, 2.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.4 blocks and 0.8 turnovers in 29.4 minutes. This recent production put Hill just outside the top-1oo in per game value over the past week.

Stay the Course

Omri Casspi (SG/SF/PF – 50%) Casspi has had a hell of a run for the Sacramento Kings, who absolutely killed it in the 2009 NBA Draft. Unfortunately, Kevin Martin has returned to put the buzz kill on Omri’s feel-good rookie campaign. In the two games since K-Mart returned to action, Omri has seen single digit field goal attempts (resulting in back-to-back six point games), although his minutes are still relatively stable. Casspi’s production was too good to respond to these stink bombs by cutting him. At least give it two more games before giving Casspi the old heave-ho.

Cut

Beno Udrih (PG/SG – 56%) Like Casspi, Beno has also been affected by Kevin Martin’s return to action on the hardwood. Unlike Casspi, it is probably time to thank Beno for all of his hard work and hand him a pink slip. The primary difference between Casspi and Udrih is that as a guard, Udrih is more directly affected by Kevin’s return and the impact is completely negative. It’s hard to recommend cutting a player who has posted top-75 cumulative value through the first half of the season but that value was based largely upon Martin’s absence and the Kings’ need for someone to replace his scoring.

Buy Low

Josh Smith (SF/PF – 99%) After a scorching start to the season, Smoove has cooled down a bit over the past couple of weeks. Perfect opportunity to buy low, especially considering the fact that Smith has performed better after the All-Star game throughout his career. Josh’s recent numbers have been subpar, with him putting up 12.7 points on .467/.543 percent shooting, 0.0 threes, 8.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 0.6 steals, 1.6 blocks and 2.3 turnovers over the past couple of weeks. Some impatient owners may be starting to panic so throw out a lowball trade offer to the Josh Smith owner in your league and see if he bites.

Sell High

Corey Maggette (SG/SF – %) The injury-thinned Golden State Warriors are having to lean heavily on their few healthy players with Monta Ellis and Maggette handling the heaviest workloads. Over the past couple of weeks, Maggette has been one of the hottest players in the league, averaging an impressive 29.3 points per game on .556/.915 percent shooting, 0.2 threes, 7.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.0 blocks and 2.3 turnovers in nearly 40 minutes per game. These staggering numbers are good for first round value, which is unrealistic for Corey to keep up for the balance of the season. At some point the Warriors will get more healthy bodies back and Maggette’s role will decrease meaning his value is probably at it’s apex right now.

Mystery Man

Chris Duhon (PG – 64%) Duhon’s recent play has been putrid. Positively wretched for a starting point guard in the NBA. However, it is hard to cut bait with him knowing that he has started in all 40 of the Knicks’ games this season and will most likely continue to do so for the remainder of the season. After all, Duhon has proven to be a streaky player and is probably poised for a productive stretch of games. Duhon is an extremely frustrating player to own who does just enough to keep you from cutting him from week to week. The outlook is cloudy with a high chance of frustration.