NBA Search Market: Week 4

I have a friend who can high jump two meters. She can high jump over Ben Wallace, even with his ‘fro out. The question she is most frequently asked is if she can dunk a basketball (she can’t). When she explains that she can’t, the asker often does not believe her and suggests it might be merely a matter of hand size and asks if she can dunk a tennis ball (she can’t).

Another friend of mine is excellent at math and is currently working as a mathematician. New acquaintances, he says, first groan when they hear what he does for a living, and then they say, “I’m horrible at math.” Sometimes they follow this up by stating how far along they progressed in the math world (I never made it past calculus, they might say to him).

A 6’ 8” friend of mine is repeatedly approached by complete strangers who ask him, “you ball?” (He does, sort of: volleyball.)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is frequently asked to sign his father’s memorabilia. Can you imagine if every day of your life someone stuck your dead father's hat or a shirt in your hand and asked you to sign it?

I once got into a cab in New York City and was surprised to see that the cab driver was female. While a small part of my brain knew that I shouldn't reference her gender because she'd probably had her gender referenced by nearly all of her passengers, a slightly larger part of my brain wanted to ask her about it anyway.

I thought I was being clever when I asked her, “what percentage of your passengers make some comment about you being female?”

She took her eyes away from the road and looked at me for a good half second, and then looked forward again. “Including you? One-hundred percent,” she said.

Let’s move on and discuss some frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding Rotoworld’s most searched players:

The NBA Search Market: Week 4



The Lingering Injured

Deron Williams, Mike Dunleavy, & Michael Redd – These three players have been lingering in the top ten for a minimum of three weeks. If you own one of these guys, you have three options:
1. Hold
2. Trade
3. Drop
Owners that own all three of these guys have a fourth option:
4. Cry
The correct answer, in all three cases, is to hold (and/or cry). If you don’t own one of these guys, trading for them is an option. I have been actively trying to trade for Williams in my league. Dunleavy scares the heck out of me, even though the latest news on him is actually positive. If I had Dunleavy on my team, I’d wait for him to play a few games and then sell him, even if I didn’t get full value for him. Perhaps I’m being melodramatic, but the sort of injury he has (they are calling it tendonitis) could linger all year. Redd should be fine, but I’m not all that interested. I find it hard to get excited about a player that gets most of his value from scoring points and hitting three pointers. I would even rather have the messy stats lines that Andre Iguodala has been throwing up recently over the relative emptiness/cleanliness of a typical Redd stat line.

Either way, my guess is that Redd and Williams owners aren’t selling anyway. I have always found that trades are difficult to pull off when a player is surrounded by uncertainty. (It is possible that the current credit crunch is an example of this behavior. I’d be more certain of this if I new what the word “credit” meant. Crunch I understand. I like crunch in my granola.) Owners seem wary of making a foolish move. But maybe you have a bold owner in your league who likes to wheel and deal in times of uncertainty. If you do, why not make an offer?

FAQ – What is the timetable for return for these three guys? The minute I answer this question, some new Rotoworld blurb will pop up contradicting what I’ve just written. So if you own these guys, your best bet is to check for updates regularly. But is a synopsis of the latest news:
Williams – He is day-to-day. He was a game-time decision on Friday (11/21) but didn’t play. Williams has missed 10 games so far this year and counting…
Dunleavy – The poor guy had only missed 10 games in his entire career going into this season. He reportedly is participating in workouts and “looks good.” But what does this mean? Is he one week away? Two? Your guess is as good as mine. Dunleavy has missed ten games and counting…
Redd – He wanted to play on Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week (11/18 & 11/18) but was not ready. The logical conclusion to make would be that he’d be ready for his next game, right? But he did not play in his Friday (11/21) game. His next three games are on Saturday (11/22), Monday (11/24), and Wednesday (11/26). You have to figure he’ll come back for one of those games, right? He’s practicing, he’s listed as day-to-day, but he still has some residual pain. Redd has missed 10 games and counting…

Deron Williams is really getting into the games, even if he isn’t actually getting into the games.

The Latest Wounded

Kevin Martin – The president of the team says Martin isn’t ready to return anytime soon. Whatever that means. You probably can’t use him this coming week. FAQ – Is it just me, or does it seem like there are a lot of guys who have lingering ankle injuries this year? Martin has missed seven games and counting…

Proof of Concept

Jose Calderon – Interest in Calderon spiked when he tweaked his hamstring. After having what I call a “throat clearing” game in his first game back from injury, Calderon proved that he is healthy in his second game back when he set season highs in both points and assists. I call these sorts of games “Proof of Concept” (PoC) games. He’s back. FAQ – Did Calderon just drop 26 points and 15 assists on New Jersey? Yup.

Career Highs In Points

Andrea Bargnani – At any given moment, I have five or six guys I want to pick up. Bargnani, after his career high 29-point outburst on Friday (11/21), is an easy add in twelve-team leagues. He’s a tougher case in ten-team leagues, because he’s pulled this Tyrus Thomas rollercoaster act before, like when he had 15.1ppg and 4.7rpg in February of last year. But what if he keeps it up this time? Most owners have finite benches, and so the real difficulty becomes figuring out which guy to drop. I hate his microscopic steals and assist totals. But what has me so tempted this time around is his increased block rate (.5 in 2007, 1.5 in 2008) and percentages. If these numbers are for real, then Bargnani is a SF/PF/C eligible guy who can help you out in six or seven of the nine fantasy basketball categories. He’s currently ranked 48th on Basketball Monster, one slot ahead of Wilson Chandler. FAQ – Does anyone else think Bargnani looks a little bit like Pablo Schreiber (Nick Sobotka from Season 2 of the The Wire)?

D.J. Augustin – He scored a career high 26 points in his first game as a starter. So he can score. But what about the other categories? Well, he has yet to block a shot. He has only four steals all year. Before Friday’s 7-for-11 performance from behind the three point line, he had been 5-for-26 (19.2%) for the year. His shooting percentage is in the low forties. He shot 78.3% from the free throw line at Texas. He’s not immune from turnovers. So he doesn’t appear to be a guy who fills the stat sheet. FAQ – Pick him up? Yes, if you have someone to drop, but be reasonable.

D.J.’s college stats.

Anthony Morrow – Morrow followed up his career high 37-point game with a 25-point game. His seven point game on Friday (11/21) was considerably less impressive. So where does that leave us? Well, everyone is raving about him, and it seems that he can really play. FAQ – But will he get the minutes and/or shots now that Jamal Crawford is on the team? Will Morrow become a most dropped player by this time next week? My guess is that he’ll lose some value, but still be worthy of a roster spot. We’ll have to wait and see.

The Big Trade

Al Harrington – The trade will be fine for Harrington, but it might screw with the fantasy dreams of Wilson Chandler, Jamal Crawford, Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Morrow, among others.

I almost never like when the players I own get traded, especially if they’ve been in a groove before the trade. Take Jamal Crawford. He will essentially be starting a new job and moving all at the same time. As someone who has moving phobia, it makes me anxious just thinking about it. Perhaps I’m still scarred from a 2006 Julio Lugo (yes, baseball) trade that ruined what could have been a career year for Lugo. But not all trades are bad. Last year, Devin Harris owners got a nice boost after he was traded to New Jersey. Who knows how this thing will shake out, but count me among the wary when it comes to the value of any player affected by the trade not named Al Harrington.

Steve Alexander on the trade.

Not everyone thinks Harrington will help the Knicks.

The Crawford side of the trade.

Free Darko on the trade.

Oh, That Was So Last Week

JaVale McGee – After two unimpressive games as starter, people are starting to lose interest in McGee. Maybe he’s like Ben Gordon, who seems to play better off the bench. He might get a chance to test out this theory if he keeps playing this way. FAQ – Do I hold onto this guy? Yes, if you can. Remember all that hype from last week? A lot of it was true. For example, the guy really is seven feet tall. He could click and start to throw up some double doubles. Hold him if you can, and if he’s on the wire in your league, keep one eye on him for the next few weeks.