With no real topic grabbing my attention, I thought I’d take an extended look at three players bublitchki mentioned in the post below. Hopefully we can shed some light.

Gerald Wallace — Here’s what I wrote about Wallace before the season started: “‘Failed’ sleeper picks usually make good value picks the following season, and that looks like it might be the case with Wallace.” Wallace finished 87th on the player rater last year despite missing 12 games and seeing only 31 mpg in the contests he did play. What had me most worried about him was his shooting. He came into the season a 45% shooter from the field and a 61% shooter from the line. Not catasrophically bad, but his form leaves a lot to be desired. But his steals and blocks made him a very nice target, not to mention the fact that he is arguably the #2 offensive option on his team. This is always one of the keys to finding guys who can help your team. The closer to the top option a player is for his team, the more you can count on him for consistency. For example, Nick Collison is going through a slump right now, which isn’t too surprising. He’s at best the fourth option on his team, so bad games can be expected. Only Emeka Okafor is clearly ahead of Wallace in the pecking order on the Bobcats. Now, will Wallace keep going at the pace he is? Of course not. He’s shooting 56% right now and there’s just no way that will continue. His 2.7 spg is also quite likely to come down, but you can’t rule out the possibility that he will average around 2 per game. His blocks are for real, and that’s a huge asset from a SG/SF.

The 5 3s that he hit in his last game won’t happen again this year. I feel confident in saying that. He attempted four total in the season’s first five games, so this could be a complete mirage. If he can somehow manage to average 0.7 to 1 3pg, though, that will only help his value more. Don’t count on it, though. His tendency to get banged up is a bit troublesome, but a concussion and an injured wrist aren’t like knee/back/hamstring issues. Wallace signed a three-year extension with the Bobcats in the offseason, so he’s clearly in their plans and a mini-slump (which will happen at some point) shouldn’t affect his playing time too much. Basically, he’s obviously not going to keep playing at this level, but it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see him finish in the top 50 or 60 this year.

Bonzi Wells — It’s hard to explain Bonzi’s newfound rebounding prowess. He’s always been a pretty good rebounder and was a borderling rebounding machine at Ball State, but this is completely unexpected. He’s had four games of at least 11 boards so far this season, whereas he didn’t even have ten games like that in his entire career up to this point. One thing he has going for him is playing for Rick Adelman, who loves to run his starters out there for big minutes, and Bonzi is seeing a career high 35 mpg. Still, he saw close to 32 mpg in two seasons in Portland and averaged only 6.0 and 5.3 boards then, nowhere near the 8.4 he’s averaging now.

Bonzi seems like the kind of guy who’d really turn it up in a contract year, but this is still out of nowhere. The 2.0 spg he’s averaging are also very nice, but he’s not really helping out anywhere else. Both of his percentages are lousy, and the rest of his numbers are quite pedestrian. Still, as long as he’s seeing 35 mpg for the Kings, he should be an obvious fixture in fantasy lineups. It’s hard to see him ever being a difference maker, and you never know when he’ll have one of his famous blackouts, but he’s a very solid player for now.

Marquis Daniels — Daniels was a popular sleeping pick coming into the year, as most folks thought it was just a matter of time before he overtook Doug Christie as the Mavs starting SG. Well, that has indeed come true, but Daniels still isn’t making his owners too happy. In nearly 32 mpg this season Daniels is averaging a very ordinary 10.6/3.4/2.6 with just 1.0 steals, 0.3 blocks and 0.2 3s. In his three starts it’s been a little better — 12.0/3.0/4.7 — but not much. So what’s the problem? Well, it’s the pecking order in Dallas, and where Daniels finds himself on it. Everyone knows that Dirk is option #1, and Jason Terry seems to be pretty locked in as #2. Avery Johnson seems to really love Josh Howard, as after a very weak two-game stretch, he’s been back with at least 38 minutes in each of the last three games. Keith Van Horn doesn’t start, but he comes off the bench firing. And Jerry Stackhouse hasn’t played a minute yet this year (and who knows exactly when he’ll be back), but you can be assured that he will be looking out for himself. So that leaves Daniels opportunities limited.

Still, you shouldn’t give up on him. Daniels was 10th in the league in steals per minute last season, and hasn’t come anywhere close to matching that this year. But you have to think he’ll come around there as long as he keeps getting the minutes. He’s shooting a career high from both the field and the line, and is a career 46/76, which is pretty solid. He’s not going to get you many 3s, but that helps keep his FG% up, so it’s not so bad. Lots of people have been hoping for a repeat of his performance at the end of the 03-04 season and into the playoffs. But if you look back at those last 11 games of the 2004 season when Daniels broke out big time, he averaged 42.3 mpg. That’s Allen Iverson minutes, and the Mavs were a different team then. In those 11 games, they averaged 114 points per game. This season the Mavs are averaging 99 points per game. So expectations should be tempered. And it’s pretty important that he establish himself before Jerry Stackhouse gets back. But he should certainly be held onto, and once those steals start coming, you’ll be happy you did.