David West – West returned after missing five games with back spasms to score 12 points and grab 15 rebounds.
Prediction: West, who is currently averaging 19.7 points per game, plays even better for the rest of the year and ends up averaging over 20 points a game for the season.
Cautious Optimism
Zach Randolph – I dislike Randolph and his out-of-shape ways and so I avoid in him at all costs. That said, he’s been pretty freaking good this year. There is some discrepancy about when he’ll come back from his injury, but it sounds like it is going to be sooner rather than later. My guess is his knee is fine, but that he’s way out of game shape. Which brings me back to my first point: I dislike Randolph and his out-of-shape ways.
Prediction: Zach returns mid-February and immediately returns to throwing up 22 points and 11 rebounds a game.
Shawn Marion – He’s missed five games and counting. I’m still tempted to trade for him, mostly because this recent iteration of Marion—which I’m going to call “Bad Marion”—is still valuable in fantasy.
Prediction: I’m sticking with my prediction from last week: Marion is traded to the Toronto Raptors before February 10th.
Marcus Camby – Sometimes I get the impression that Camby can block shots with one arm tied behind his back. He back and he’s starting again, so hopefully he’ll remain healthy for the rest of the year. Here is my take on Camby: if your team is stinking it up, see if you can get Camby at a below-market-value rate and pray he stays healthy. Other than that, I’d try to avoid him. In related news, DeAndre Jordan’s value has completely disappeared.
Prediction: Camby misses a few games here and there with small injuries but plays like a top ten pick when he does play.
Mike Conley and Ramon Sessions – I’m not particularly excited about either one of these guys. In twelve-team leagues, they’re certainly helpful, but in smaller leagues I think they both are fools-gold-ish. Why? Because both of these players don’t do a lot of things: they don’t shoot threes, they don’t shoot over 44%, they don’t block shots, they aren’t great free throw shooters, and they aren’t that great at getting steals. Still, when they get minutes, they can produce. I like Sessions more because I’ve seen him raise his game and be great, like he did at the end of last year. I’ve never really seen Conley play well in the pros. Maybe he will now that he’s starting.
Prediction: Sessions will be more valuable than Conley from now until the end of the season.*
| *Will Sessions be more valuable than Conley? Give it a thumbs up or down. |
Unmitigated Wariness
Danny Granger – Is there a tougher man in the NBA? I know, I know. I also get annoyed when certain players are given the “tough” label as it is often a way for TV announcers to fill a particular story line. For example, I’m currently watching the Super Bowl and the announcers keep talking about how Hines Ward is the toughest player in the NFL. I don’t know. It just annoys me. And yet, here I am calling Granger tough. You see, I’m a Granger owner, and the guy plays through everything: broken teeth, split finger, sore knee. So I respect him for that. But sheesh, I’m getting a little sick of this 6-for-17 business. This knee thing has me very, very worried.
Prediction: My worry is a complete over-reaction. He’ll be fine, starting as early as this week.
Gerald Wallace – I’ve never collapsed a lung, but I have broken a few ribs. I know looking online is never a good idea when it comes to answering medical questions, but according to my online research, it will take Wallace two weeks to heal from his collapsed lung. The ribs are trickier. Mine made me feel like an old man for about two weeks (getting into and out of bed was a huge struggle) but after that they didn’t feel all that bad most of the time. Thing is, the injury lingers. You think they’re gone, and then you reach into your closet to get a shirt off a hanger and suddenly you feel a sharp pain in your ribs. And no matter how strong you are, it takes humans five weeks for bone to heal. So things are not looking good for Wallace. That said, professional sports players are complete freaks, and sometimes they come back from injuries much faster than mere mortals can. For example, NFL running back Marion Barber broke some ribs and came back seven days later. He led his team out of the tunnel before the game, and the camera caught him screaming and banging his ribs with his fist. He played in that game without a flak jacket. Crazy.
Prediction: Wallace misses all of February. He returns in March, but his stats are slightly lower because he isn’t quite able to play with the same aggression due to his intermittently tender ribs.
Active Worry
Andrei Kirilenko – Matt Stroup wrote an awesome piece for his Roundball Stew column in which he discussed how much it sucks when your league-mates don’t respond to your trade offers. This is happening to me in one of my leagues. Initially I was upset that the owner wouldn’t respond, but in hindsight I’m less upset, as the player I was trying to trade for was Kirilenko.
Prediction: The debate isn’t how long Kirilenko will be out, but whether or not he can be valuable if he does returns. I say no.
Andrew Bynum – His coach is saying that he’s going to be out “quite a while.” Yikes. The results from his MRI should be back late Monday night. Let’s wait for that MRI before we really freak out. In the meantime, it’s okay to be actively worried.
Prediction: I don’t have a good feeling about this one. I’m thinking this is going to be one of those “might be back for the playoffs” type injuries.
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