The first week of the season is in the books, some teams have played up to four games, so it’s time to start trying to identify some early trends. Let’s look at some situations that may be on your mind.
I wasn’t too concerned about Boris Diaw coming into the season, even though he was coming off an out-of-nowhere career season and the Suns were going to be integrating Amare Stoudemire back into the offense. He was just too integral a part of the Suns success last year to think that he’d suddenly get lost in the shuffle, especially after they committed to him long term in the offseason. How do I feel about him now? Not as good, obviously. It was encouraging to see him back in the starting lineup on Saturday, just one night after he came off the bench and saw only 16 minutes. But he’s still out of sorts, as he hasn’t registered an assist in consecutive games. For all the talk about Amare Stoudemire impacting his numbers, it may be that Kurt Thomas is actually stealing his thunder. Diaw flourished as the starting center for the Suns last year, but with Thomas doing a fine job of manning the middle, Diaw’s playing a bit out of his comfort zone.
So what to do? Relax, that’s what. You’re not going to do something ridiculous like drop your third/fourth/fifth round pick after a single week. That’s just not an option. You can look into trading him, but there’s no way you’re going to get equal value. So just try to ride it out. It’s not like Phoenix is succeeding with Diaw playing at a subpar level. The team is off to a 1-3 start, so things aren’t exactly clicking for the Suns. You do have to worry that there are a whole lot of capable bodies for a finite number of minutes. At this point, only two players on the Suns are sure things, those obviously being Steve Nash and Shawn Marion. Leandro Barbosa and Kurt Thomas are off to hot starts; Raja Bell, Stoudemire and Diaw are not. That’s not to mention Marcus Banks and James Jones, or the newly signed Jalen Rose, or Jumaine Jones, who hasn’t taken off his warm ups yet. As long as Diaw stays in the starting lineup, things are bound to get better. He might stay around the 30 mpg mark as opposed to 35, but if he can string together a couple of consecutive 16/7/9 games, he should win back the trust of D’Antoni and fantasy owners alike. Remember, everybody has bad weeks; sometimes they just happen at the beginning of the season.
I also wasn’t too concerned about Stephon Marbury and took him in the fourth round of my draft. How do I feel now? I’m worried, I’ll admit. But I’m still hopeful. Marbury was simply awful on Saturday night, shooting 1-of-9 and turning the ball over 6 times while registering just a single assist. It doesn’t get any worse than that. On top of that, Steve Francis exploded for 25 points while Nate Robinson continued his sparkplug ways that make him perhaps the only player the fans in MSG actually enjoy cheering for. Still, the only game the Knicks won this year was the game Marbury played well in, as he registered 19 and 8 in the season opener. He also played 46 minutes in that game, 41 in regulation. And he played 38 in the next game after dropping to just 26 in the pathetic Saturday outing. It’s hard to see Isiah giving up on Marbury; at the same time it’s hard to see him keeping Marbury out there on nights when he clearly doesn’t have it, especially with capable guys like Francis, Robinson and Jamal Crawford around. This is going to limit his value. One of the best things about the true superstars is that even on off nights, they are going to out there getting their minutes no matter what, and will be contributing in other ways. A good example of this was Gilbert Arenas on opening night, when he shot just 2-of-12 and scored 7 points. He was still out there for 38 minutes and was able to rack up 11 assists, 5 boards and 2 steals. Marbury likely won’t have the same kind of leeway. Again, you just have to ride this out and hope for the best.
The Warriors are just 1-2, but they are pretty much a mess. Monta Ellis is leading the team in scoring and Mickael Pietrus in rebounding. That’s not right. Jason Richardson is clearly not there yet, Baron Davis is up to his old tricks of hitting about one of three from the field and two of three from the line, something’s wrong with Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy is, well, still Mike Dunleavy. Those four players are all making obscene amounts of money, so you’d think that the Warriors would have no choice to play them. But Don Nelson’s in charge and he might decide to shake things up. He might not have a choice, especially since some of the other players on this team are playing so well. Andris Biedrins joined the starting lineup for the team’s blowout loss to the Jazz and looks to have at least some short-term value. We’re longtime Biedrins fans, as he’s shown great ability to board and block in his limited opportunities in his first two years. Still, I’m not convinced he’s going to be a long-term answer for the Warriors, or at least I’m not convinced Don Nelson sees him as one. He’s actually sort of what they need, a player who does the gritty thing and absolutely never looks for his own shot. So he’s worth grabbing and seeing how this shakes out, but don’t feel bad or surprised if you end up throwing him back out there in a few weeks.
I took a flier on Ike Diogu in our 12×13 league over the weekend, jettisoning Eddie Jones for him. Jones looks terrible and doesn’t seem to be taking advantage of the opportunity to assert himself as a main option on the Grizzlies. I’m pretty sure I’m the biggest Jones fan in my league; if I want him back, I bet I could get him. Diogu has played 22 or 23 minutes in each game so far, and I figure that Murphy, Biedrins and Adonal Foyle have all started at center so far, maybe Diogu’s chance isn’t far behind. He’s a great scorer, that much is clear. If Nelson’s just trying to shake things up, or Murphy needs some time off, Diogu could get the call. More of a hunch here than anything. Pietrus started the season opener and has seen decent time off the bench in the past two, but I’d stay away from him. I picked him up when he became a starter last year, watched many of his games, and he’s just a disaster out there. He is playing for a contract this year, but it’s hard to see Nelson becoming too infatuated with him. As for Ellis, he’s a dynamo, that’s for sure. He’s all SG and no PG, so let’s get that clear. He can score, but Richardson and Davis remain the two biggest roadblocks to PT on this team. As is the basic refrain of this column, if you own those guys, there’s not much you can do at this point. It’s a combustible situation, and the Warriors have a very tough back-to-back tonight and tomorrow, first at winless Dallas, then in Oklahoma City for the Hornets first game there this season. So the ugliness may continue, and then who knows what will happen?